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Baltimore is a traveler's haven, thanks to its rich history, its eclectic entertainment options and overall feel-good vibe. This city is also easily accessible -- planes, trains or automobiles, take your pick. The image of that thriving Inner Harbor, with its open-air concerts, buzzing restaurants and parades, is famous. But that's just the beginning. Read on.
Visit the Vessels, Skip the Shopping
The Inner Harbor's draw is defined by its thriving entertainment, shopping included. But it's also at the heart of Baltimore's wonderful maritime history. Four historic vessels, including a submarine, are docked here, and all have become veritable museums, so visitors can climb aboard and step back in time. The U.S.S. Constellation, for one, was built in the mid 1850s and was the last of the Navy's all-sail ships; a canon is fired off this ship daily.
Hike the Hill, Skip the Gym
Your hotel might feature a gym with fancy equipment. But not this view. Federal Hill Park is historic, a critical lookout point during the Civil War, and located in one of the hottest neighborhoods in Baltimore. But that elevation gives you plenty of chance to break a sweat; hike the grass or climb the stairs off Battery or Warren Avenues. The huffing and puffing will be worth it: The birds-eye views of downtown and Inner Harbor are spectacular (think sunrise hike). Joggers will like the trails throughout the park, too.
See the 'Hood, Skip Downtown
The shopping and dining opps will tempt you to stay downtown. But much of Baltimore's charm also stems from its many historic, eclectic neighborhoods, so it's worth taking time to pay them a visit. Fells Points, for example, resembles an English village; its cobblestone streets will remind you that this is one of Baltimore's oldest zones and its pubs will quench your thirst. And Otterbein, just west of Inner Harbor and with its historic row houses that date back to the mid 1800s, is ideal for a relaxing morning stroll.
Watch Outdoors, Skip the Cinema
In the mood to catch the latest rom-com at the local cinema? Why watch it indoors when you can enjoy a flick al fresco? The neighborhood of Little Italy hosts an Open Air Film Fest every summer, on Friday nights throughout July and August. Movies are projected from a resident's third floor window onto the wall of a popular Ciao Bella Restaurant. Bring your own dinner -- Little Italy is home to more than 30 restaurants, so you won't lack take-out options -- and lawn chair. Popcorn is provided. The festival always opens with "Moonstruck" and closes with the classic "Cinema Paradiso."
Explore the Tattoo, Even If You Don't Get One
Among Baltimore's more intriguing museums is one dedicated to electric tattooing. America's fascination with this unique form of body art dates back to the late 1800s and was rooted in its popular carnival culture. Several prominent tattoo artists are on exhibit and, even if you're not game to get your own tattoo, there's a wide array of designs, portraits and historic photos. Then again, if you are game, there's a tattoo studio here, too.
Take the Kids Exploring, Skip the Playground
Need to keep the little ones busy? Head straight to the third floor of the Maryland Science Center, where the Kids Room offers plenty for children (8 and younger) to touch, feel and do. They can explore a colorful Baltimore streetscape or meander through deep sea coves in the undersea world. There's even a dedicated zone for kids younger than 2, complete with bog blocks and crawl-friendly waterbeds. Once they've spent some energy, take time to marvel at the dozen-plus life-size dinosaurs on exhibit.
Go Ghost Hunting, If You Dare
Buffs of the supernatural will tell you that a historic city like Baltimore is bound to have residents who have been around for a long time, even after they've passed on. Baltimore Ghost Tours leads several spirit-themed tours under the cover of night. Their evening "Original Fells Points GhostWalk" takes small groups to homes, pubs and shops of this once-raucous harbor town where things purportedly go bump in the night. Tickets for these summer and fall tours are $15 (a bit cheaper if you buy them online). There's also a 21-and-older ghost pub crawl that sells out early.
See the Garden, Skip the Water
Those harbor views are spectacular. But don't miss the visuals at Sherwood Gardens, too, one of the great free things to do in this city. The 6-acre property is a haven for flower buffs, featuring some plants that date back to the 1700s. Dogwood and cherry trees abound. But the biggest draw here is the tulip; some 80,000 blubs are planted here annually to create a breathtaking scene.
Take a Tour, Bring Your Appetite
Blue crabs are a culinary staple in Baltimore, of course. But chefs are serving up plenty more, and driving a burgeoning foodie movement here. Charm City Food Tours offer several culinary excursions aimed not only at showcasing what's on the plate but the city's architecture and culture, too. They take hungry travelers through historic neighborhoods, like Mt. Vernon and Federal Hill, and partner with restaurants to serve up specialty dishes and signature drinks throughout. Tours cost about $55 and last about 3-1/2 hours.
Gabe Saglie is senior editor for Travelzoo, which features hotel, airfare and a bevy of local deals in Baltimore.


text: Welcome to Dream Seaker Fishing Charters, Fishing northern Lake Huron area and the lower St. Mary's River system departing from Hessel, DeTour Village, Drummond Island and Mackinac Island. Lake Huron has one of the most healthy and diverse fisheries then any of the other Great Lakes. Fishing charter rate is $600.00, click here for a full rate schedule. Gift Certificates Available.

subset: commoncrawl


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Is there anyone out there, who has dared to install a more current
version of ABIWORD on an SGI running IRIX 6.5.11~20? The page
http://freeware.sgi.com/index-by-alpha.html has an install tardist file
for AbiWord 1.0.3
George M. Benedikt
So I took a crack at compiling Abiword 2.0 but was ultimately defeated because the SGI X server doesn't seem to work with Xft2/Xrender extension.
Any clues from you all?


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This is the time of year I usually indulge myself with a list of awards, handing out praise and criticism, perhaps bearing a grudge or two and exacting a little revenge here and there.
But this year I'm only going to hand out one award because I don't think there's ever been a more deserving winner of any award than this. It's for the unluckiest rider of the year, and the winner is former factory Yamaha rider Ben Spies whose 2012 season was such a tale of unmitigated disaster that it was (ironically) round 13 before he even had an incident-free race. I've been working the GP trail for a quarter of a century and I've never known a rider suffer so badly, week in, week out.
For the rest click HERE


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As a member of the OMG's Board of Directors, Neil Henderson will help ensure that the high-level design language standards defined by the OMG, such as the Unified Modeling Language(TM) (UML(R)), meet the needs of embedded software engineers. Stephen J. Mellor has been elected to the OMG's Architecture Board, which acts as the technical gateway for all standards issued by the OMG. The appointments demonstrate Accelerated Technology's commitment to promote a range of interoperable design tools from different vendors to help embedded engineers take advantage of high-level software design processes such as executable UML.
"Accelerated Technology, with decades of experience in embedded and real-time systems, has rapidly become a critical participant in the success of OMG's modeling standards, especially through their leadership in the Executable UML process," said Dr. Richard M. Soley, chairman and CEO of the OMG. "Having taken two major leadership positions, on the OMG Board of Directors and Architecture Board, Accelerated Technology is poised to make a major impact on all of OMG's activities. OMG is delighted to have the support of the company, and specifically of leading figures like Stephen Mellor and Neil Henderson, which will ensure high quality, rapidly-delivered and broadly relevant modeling standards to the real-time and embedded development community."
"We are excited to be active participants in the OMG," said Neil Henderson, general manager of Accelerated Technology, a division of Mentor Graphics. "The complexity and concurrency in many of today's embedded software projects need the standards and platform independence that executable UML offers. We are helping to drive those standards."
Accelerated Technology co-sponsored the Object Management Group Technical Meeting held in Athens, Greece, April 10-15, at which Mellor gave a well-received keynote presentation entitled "Agility in Modeling." The presentation proposed that the design and programming communities unite and focus on developing executable models that can be used to verify designs before translating them to traditional languages used to program embedded systems.
Accelerated Technology offers Nucleus BridgePoint(R), a complete executable UML tool suite that utilizes the Eclipse standard framework. This framework allows the seamless communication between high-level design tools and the development tools and RTOS used by the embedded software engineer.
About Mentor Graphics
Mentor Graphics Corporation (Nasdaq: MENT) is a world leader in electronic hardware and software design solutions, providing products, consulting services and award-winning support for the world's most successful electronics and semiconductor companies. Established in 1981, the company reported revenues over the last 12 months of over $700 million and employs approximately 3,850 people worldwide. Corporate headquarters are located at 8005 S.W. Boeckman Road, Wilsonville, Oregon 97070-7777; Silicon Valley headquarters are located at 1001 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, California 95131-2314. World Wide Web site: http://www.mentor.com/.
Accelerated Technology, a division of Mentor Graphics Corporation, is located in Mobile, Alabama and has engineering sites, sales offices and distributors worldwide. As a leading provider of royalty-free, embedded real-time operating system (RTOS) software, Accelerated Technology helps developers accelerate product time-to-market in a wide range of embedded device applications. Its comprehensive Nucleus RTOS includes a high-level design UML suite, graphical prototyping tools, kernels, middleware and Eclipse-based development tools. For more information, please visit www.acceleratedtechnology.com or e-mail us at email@example.com.
Mentor Graphics, Accelerated Technology and Nucleus are registered trademarks of Mentor Graphics Corporation. UML is a registered trademark, and OMG, Object Management Group and Unified Modeling Language are trademarks of Object Management Group. All other company or product names are the registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.
Mentor Graphics/Accelerated Technology Jennifer Tanveer, 251-208-3400 ext 3415 Email Contact or Mentor Graphics Sonia Harrison, 503-685-1165 Email Contact


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Seize another 365 days
Lisa Calderone-Stewart celebrates another year of living with cancer.
Guest blog post by Lisa Calderone-Stewart
Today is my second "Carpe Diem" day. In cancer circles, "Carpe Diem" (Latin for "Seize the Day") is each anniversary of the day you first received your "cancer" diagnosis.
I was told about my lymphoma on June 2, 2009. My bile duct cancer was discovered in August; I was given "six months" as my life expectancy.
My CAT scan from this past October showed cancer at my last remaining bile duct. In 99 percent of patients, that CAT scan would indicate maybe another week or two of life.
I guess I am in that 1 percent of the population—because I'm not dead yet!
So what is living like—when everyone (yourself included) expects you to die?
It's weird!
I was initially prescribed medication with no thought to "long-term side effects" because I was a "short-term patient." Well, I had to get off the steroids, which outlived their benefit. I had an allergic reaction from taking another drug too long.
Last September, I had trouble reading words on my laptop computer, but it seemed silly to buy new glasses for just another few months of life. Finally, this February, I had a check-up and got new lenses. What a difference to not squint so much all day!
I floss my teeth less often, because it hurts my back to lean forward and look in the mirror. Why worry about tooth decay when your teeth are supposed to outlive your liver? But pain in one tooth dragged me back to my dentist! No cavity; just a need for Sensodyn toothpaste. I guess all my body parts are getting more sensitive.
Despite weekly trips to the chiropractor and massage therapist for pain management, I had resisted their payment plans. Paying for five or 10 visits ahead of time saves money, but only if you're alive for so many appointments. Well, guess what? I finally started payment plans in March. I might live long enough to do it again.
It seemed ridiculous to sign up for another year's subscription for a magazine. But I did that, too, so I could keep reading Newsweek each week and U.S. Catholic each month.
People often say, "It must be so difficult to die." Actually, the dying is easy. You don't have to lift a finger—it just happens, with no effort on your part at all.
It's the living that can be difficult!
There are still bills to pay, papers to sign, and other details to manage. So often, I have to ask, "Will I live long enough to worry about that?" It's a question that still has no answer.
I already bought family birthday and Christmas presents for my "final year," but that year is up. For the first time in 12 months, I started "shopping" again—both online and with the cascade of catalogs that daily fall from my mailbox. I expected to be taken off their lists, since I hadn't made a purchase in more than a year, but their persistence paid off—they didn't get the memo about my impending death.
I keep hoping my friends don't get tired of me. They thought they were signing on for a couple of months of "service," not a potential year or more! How long will they keep driving me places, bringing me groceries, calling me to check up on me? How long can they keep believing I only have a few months left, when every few months, I still seem to have a few months left?
Every so often I bump into someone I haven't seen for a long time. It's kind of fun to see the look on their face. You know what they are thinking, "Oh! She's still alive!" I love to say, "Yes, it's true! I'm not dead yet!"
I'm still eating, still flossing, still reading and writing articles, still trying to "seize the day."
Still living—at least for a few more months!
Guest blogger Lisa Calderone-Stewart is the director of Tomorrow's Present and an author and speaker on youth leadership. Read more about her interfaith youth program in Student Teachers, from January 2006.
Lisa was diagnosed with terminal cancer last year. For more on her story, see "The dying wish of a youth ministry pioneer." You can also read Lisa's personal blog Dying to Know You Better, and she has a novel, Made To Write, available at the link. Her blog posts on USCatholic.org can be found at Final Thoughts.
Guest blog posts express the views of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of U.S. Catholic, its editors, or the Claretians.


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Jean Paul Gaultier knows how to make an iconic ad campaign and the spring/summer 2013 is no exception. Calling on pop idols – Madonna, David Bowie, Boy George and Grace Jones, this JPG campaign is more like a poster for the wall than an advert, and I absolutely love it.
Shot by Sebastian Kim, everything about the campaign works – from the in your face lights to the poses and most of all the models perfectly embody their characters, from Hannelore Knuts as David Bowie to Jeneil Williams as Grace Jones and Maria Kashleva has totally perfectly 80's favourite Boy George, but for me this campaign is all about Latvian model Ginta Lapina as Madonna – seriously wow!!!
I am so hoping that there is more imagery from this campaign as I would love to see the icons solo as well.
What do you think of Jean Paul Gaultier's pop icons campaign? Any musical legends you think should have been included?


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"Downfall" is not an adjective, nor is it a noun for a type of person. Definition of downfall
You can say that a person has "fallen down" of course, when they fall on the floor, or fall down the stairs.
You can say that someone is "downtrodden", meaning that someone else has treated them as an inferior, sometimes leading to the downtrodden person actually feeling inferior. A very domineering husband might have a downtrodden wife.


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Have Americans Given Up On McMansions?
Kaid Benfield, The Atlantic, 12 February 2012 (hat tip NC)
After many years of dramatically increasing home size in America - from an average of 983 square feet in the 1950s up to 2300 square feet in the 2000s, despite declining household sizes - the trend appears finally to be going in the other direction. The real estate research firm Trulia found in 2010, for example, that the median "ideal home size" for Americans had declined to around 2100 square feet. More than one-third of survey respondents reported that their ideal preference was lower than 2000 square feet.
The biggest factor is the Jumbo loan limit of $417,000. Before the crash we still had a private market in loans. With the Federal Government, through FANNIE and FREDDIE being the end purchaser of most mortgages, it is very hard to get a loan that the won't purchase.
The primary purpose of those homes was to house the boomers, and the teenage echo boomers. As the boomers get older and start to retire, many of them are going to want to cash out on the value of their homes.
Good luck!


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General News
: Local News
Suspected Drunken Driver Finds Pond with Truck
Submitted: 05/10/2013
Stevens Point
- The Portage County Sheriff's Office wants help finding a man they think drove a truck into a pond.Police think Michael Finch drunkenly stole his business partner's truck late Wednesday night or Thursday morning.Sometime early Thursday police think he drove it into Jordan Pond, near Jordan Park.But then he showed up at his business partner's hotel room. "He presents himself back at the hotel where the registered owner of the truck is, asks the individual where his truck was. That guy seemed surprised. Said, 'it was in in the parking lot at eight o'clock where I left it'. He says, 'it's not there now'. Then the owner of the truck notices the guy is dirty and disheveled and bleeding, asks him about it, and the guy disappears," says Portage County Sheriff's Lt. Michael Morgan.Use Ctrl/Tab to Indent for Closed Cap »Finch is about 30 years old, and from the Green Bay Area.The Sheriff's Department says they'll likely charge him with a number of traffic offenses, and community corrections in Green Bay will be putting a warrant out for his arrest.
Written By: Lyndsey Stemm
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I'm not entirely sure the Rolls-Royce Phantom is a car. Now, obviously, it does all of the car stuff. It moves from point Ato point B under its own power, and it's got all of the car pieces, like tires and a steering wheel and seats and a trunk. And it consumes gasoline and requires oil and brake fluid and washer fluid, just like a car.
But Rolls-Royce has elevated this vehicle so far beyond the reality of its components and mechanics that it somehow transcends being the very thing it is. The Phantom could easily be a very small luxury condominium, or a land-bound yacht, or the world's largest bespoke clothing accessory.
"Bespoke" is a word you're going to hear a lot around Rolls-Royce. To the Brits, it means, custom- made, but at heart, it means, "Yeah, we can do that," and Rolls does a big business in it. The Phantom buyer can choose colors, interior upholstery and amenities, and the sky is the limit. No, seriously. This car is, in terms of trim, almost infinitely customizable. If you can dream it up, Rolls-Royce will do its best to build it.
Factory representatives love to tell stories of bright purple cars with lipstick-red leather interiors and wood trim dyed to match, and of the custom accessories developed to kit them out.
Here, though, we've got a car more representative of the typical Phantom, assuming there is such a thing. The styling is nothing if not majestic.
For 2013, the Phantom receives a mild update, adding LED headlamps that are more compact, use less power, and incorporate adaptive lighting that adjusts to the Phantom's speed. The bumper design has been massaged, and the weird, round foglights made rectangular to mesh with the rest of the design better.
Otherwise, it's unchanged. The hood goes on forever and leads to a passenger cabin that sits almost as high as an SUV's. The rear has a bustle- back slope that hides the 16-cubic-foot trunk.
The cabin is not an automotive interior as you know it (unless, of course, you already own a Phantom). The seats are chair-height and pillow- plush. Lamb's-wool carpet encourages bare feet. There are navigation screens that fold up out of the rear picnic trays (which are for-serious wood and chrome, you know), so you can give your driver proper directions - although, contrary to what you'd think, Rolls-Royce says many Phantom owners are more than happy to drive themselves. The wood-laden dash, with its 8.8-inch, full-color display and newly updated navigation system, is for them.
The list of amenities quickly ascends to "Of course, there's a " territory: cool box between the rear seats; wraparound "lounge" seating in the rear; carbon-fiber shafted umbrellas mounted in the doors that include a special drain function so they can be put away wet without fear of mildew; wine decanters and special Rolls-Royce tumblers in folding cubbies; and rear-hinged doors for the rear cabin that power closed with the touch of a button.
Those coach doors (don't call them "suicide doors") require a hard push to open, but then it's more elegant to have your driver open them anyway.
Piloting the Phantom is a bit like driving a high-end motor home, not just because you're moving along in almost half a million dollars worth of machine, but because it's got its own specific gravity. The Phantom drives like a small, unusually agile building. It's not ponderous, just huge.
Acceleration is brisk when you want it to be. It should be, with a massive V12 under a hood that stretches out forever. The 6.75-liter V12 uses direct injection for a slight improvement in fuel economy, and it's capable of cranking out 531 pound-feet of torque.
The Phantom doesn't hesitate to get its mass moving, as there's always an acre of power on hand. It's capable of a 5.7 0-60 sprint, and top speed is an electrically limited 149 mph, but really, to ask such questions of this car seems somehow ... vulgar. An eightspeed automatic transmission is also new.
Self-leveling air struts keep constant tabs to preserve the magic-carpet ride. The car itself rides on a hand-welded, aluminum spaceframe that provides bank-vault stiffness. It's as sturdy as a sports car, but a specially insulated floor prevents any harshness from reaching the cabin. The 21-inch wheels with run-flat tires are built specially for Rolls-Royce.
I could go on, with over-the-top details like the five-part painting process, or the interior leather hand-selected from the hides of Alpine bulls, or the 28-layer wood veneer whose grain matches across all of the up to 43 pieces mounted in the interior, but after a while, you'd probably start to think I was making stuff up.
Let's just say that the Phantom is much, much more than a mere automobile - and that's not just marketing hype. Rolls-Royce has taken great pains to ensure that its name means something, and it succeeds tremendously.
It's hard to put a specific price on a particular Phantom, of course, thanks to the high level of bespoke options. The Phantom Series II that I was fortunate enough to experience stickered for $398,970.
Chris Jackson is a freelance auto writer from Ann Arbor, Mich.


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Always on the go- No more worries about running out of battery power! You can power your system with this 9-Cell Lithium-Ion Primary Battery from Dell. With a capacity of up to 97 WHr, the battery lets you work seamlessly when you are on the move for business trips or vacations. This battery provides uninterrupted reliable performance you need to get the most out of your system. This product has been tested and validated on Dell systems. It is supported by Dell Technical Support when used with a Dell system.
This product comes with 1 year limited warranty. For more information about warranties, please click here: www.dell.com/warranty.
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Today, Consumer Brands, LLC announced the completion of a multi-million
dollar financing with Black Diamond Ventures, a well-known and long
established private investment group, led by proven entrepreneurs.
Consumer Brands is a highly innovative company, leading the development
of premier high-quality internet domain assets and brands.
"We are very pleased to have BDV and their investors as our trusted
business partners; they have already added tremendous value to our
company, and we look forward to working closely with them going forward"
says Michael Gleason, Managing Member and Chief Executive Officer of
Consumer Brands. "BDV continues to be a great fit for us, because they
have a unique understanding of the both the internet and digital media
Consumer Brands sources revenues from networks and verticals within the
communications, technology, and healthcare industries. Mr. Gleason
explained, "A little moreabout what we do here -- We build online
brands targeting consumers; our online brands are websites and mobile
sites with audiences of new and recurring visitors. Our key mission is
to build these audiences by creating useful, powerful, and engaging
content. We use organic search, social media, mobile apps and publisher
syndication for distribution. This enables us to monetize visitor
traffic through ad revenue, lead generation and performance-based sales."
Mr. Gleason continued, "Our value strategy is to segment our brands into
focused product, service, and knowledge categories with high-level
experts driving the content. Our experts are well-known leaders in their
respective fields, and they are incentivized through performance. Our
premium domains, through which we host Consumer Brands' content, each
have a coherent demographic; this gives rise to high-yield lead
generation, performance-based sales, and ad revenues. We anticipate that
the totality of our segmented brand traffic will be on the order of a
large traditional publisher."
Rob Ukropina, Managing Director of Black Diamond Ventures' Newport Beach
office, commented, "It is a distinct pleasure to sit on the Board of
Managers of Consumer Brands, a company full of bright, ethical, and
highly motivated people. They're going to be difficult to compete with;
and our investors, of course, like that very much."
Legal aspects of the transaction were handled on behalf of Consumer
Brands by Gene Mueller of Mueller Carey, PLC, and on behalf of Black
Diamond Ventures by T. Hale Boggs of Manatt, Phelps and Phillips, LLP.
For more information, please visit http://www.consumerbrands.com/
and http://www.bdventures.com/
[ Back To SIP Trunking Home's Homepage ]


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Sprint (NYSE:S) shares have run up by almost 20% since it announced its Q2 earnings last month, but questions surrounding its subscriber growth still remain. The third largest wireless carrier in the U.S. recently shut down its outdated iDEN network, which has been a big contributor to Sprint's core CDMA platform net-adds in a saturated market. Last quarter, for example, the iDEN recaptures as well as the acquisition of subscribers from the U.S. Cellular deal helped Sprint add about 194,000 postpaid subscribers to its core CDMA platform. Excluding these non-recurring adds, Sprint would have reported a net loss of upward of 200,000 postpaid CDMA subscribers in Q2. Going forward, with the iDEN network shut down and the U.S. wireless market nearing saturation, Sprint will find it even tougher to find new subscribers given its lagging 4G LTE coverage compared to rivals Verizon (NYSE:VZ) and AT&T (NYSE:T).
Unlimited Plans Limit Future Growth
The U.S. wireless market is getting increasingly saturated with the number of wireless connections having exceeded the population in mid-2011. While Sprint has so far managed to dodge the bullet by banking on an accelerated iDEN shutdown to add new postpaid subscribers to its core CDMA platform, the going might get a lot tougher in the next few quarters. In the last two quarters combined, Sprint added a little over 200,000 postpaid CDMA subscribers despite recapturing almost thrice as many from the iDEN network. Now, without the iDEN network, it will be challenging for Sprint to find new subscribers. To be completely fair, even Verizon and AT&T are likely to have benefited from the iDEN migration in the past several quarters so the issue won't be Sprint's alone. However, the fact that Sprint's LTE coverage far lags the wireless leaders, Verizon and AT&T, could hamper its wireless growth in the coming quarters.
It is to mitigate this impact that Sprint is aggressively pushing its unlimited plans, even going so far as to offer a lifetime unlimited guarantee on its plans recently. Sprint is also splurging on its Network Vision strategy to increase LTE coverage to about 200 million POPs by the end of the year. As a result, Sprint's wireless capital expenditures have burgeoned, increasing by about 70% year over year to over $1.7 billion last quarter.
The carrier has also used its recent infusion of cash from Softbank to buy out Clearwire and use its huge swathe of 2.5 GHz spectrum to bolster LTE capacity in densely populated areas. While the acquisition gives Sprint the spectrum depth and capacity to continue offering unlimited plans in the near term, the big focus on unlimited plans could limit its future ARPU growth potential. The carrier's smartphone penetration in postpaid is the highest among the major carriers at almost 80%, limiting the upside to its high postpaid ARPU of $64 in the longer run if it doesn't eventually make the transition to tiered data plans.
Meanwhile, the larger national carriers, Verizon and AT&T, have long stopped offering unlimited data plans and are instead focusing on increasing penetration of their shared data plans. Shared data plans give carriers more control over how much data they can afford to offer for a particular price without straining their networks. These plans are also beneficial for many users as they can use multiple devices in the same data bucket, potentially decreasing the per device costs for a family.
Further, as the demand for other connected devices rises, shared data plans will make it easier for users to manage all their device plans from a single account and further spur data demand and ARPUs. Increasing the adoption of high-speed LTE is also causing wireless data consumption to shoot up, but Sprint stands to benefit only if the unlimited plan users switch to tiered plans and buy into the upper tiers. Sprint is likely to miss out on this huge growth opportunity if its offer of unlimited data guarantee doesn't translate into enough market share gains to help offset the potential ARPU impact.
Sprint's Q3 results will be very important in this context for it will give us insights into the carrier's performance in the absence of iDEN as well as the adoption of its lifetime unlimited plans. We will also be observing Sprint's EBITDA margins to see how much of a positive impact the iDEN shutdown has had on the metric in the face of the acquisition of Clearwire's loss making business.
Disclosure: No positions.


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Scientists Unveil Lightweight Rootkit Protection 168
DangerFace writes "Scientists are set to unveil a lightweight system they say makes an operating system significantly more resistant to rootkits without degrading its performance. The hypervisor-based system is dubbed HookSafe, and it works by relocating kernel hooks in a guest OS to a dedicated page-aligned memory space that's tightly locked down. The team installed HookSafe on a machine running Ubuntu 8.04, and found the system successfully prevented nine real-world rootkits targeting that platform from installing or hiding themselves. The program was able to achieve that protection with only a 6 percent reduction in performance benchmarks."


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So, the Olympic Games are finally upon us. Whether we perceive this global extravaganza to be a triumphant social gathering which reveals all that is remarkable about the human spirit or yet another corporate feast of plenty, it nevertheless provides us with a pertinent moment to evaluate the operations of power in contemporary liberal societies. Not only does it illustrate how our post-industrial lifestyles are increasingly defined by "event-based" experiences, it also shows how terror has become normalized in the current historical conjuncture. As securitization policies become more visible, the corporate militarization of public space appears routine. It is even to be applauded as a reasoned and rational choice.
For the past few weeks, the British public has been caught in an emotional cross-fire which hallmarks liberal societies. From one direction, we have been encouraged to positively embrace the "spirit of the Games" as it promises to transcend the daily miseries affecting people the world over. The official sales pitch is that this is more than a sports event; it reveals something of the ethical possibility for global togetherness and peaceful cohabitation. From another direction, however, we have been made acutely aware of the dangers forever lurking in our midst. That we need to "secure the Games" is not in any doubt: from what exactly, only speculative reason or a catastrophic passage of time may begin to reveal.
The security operation witnessed today is an Olympic effort. More than 18,000 military personnel are deployed on the streets. This includes some 1,000 combat support troops - a number which is greater than British forces on the ground in Afghanistan. They are accompanied by state police and private security personnel - who, by conservative estimates, add another 30,000 staff. Drones hover over the London skies. HMS Ocean (the Royal Navy's biggest warship) is moored in the Thames; RAF Typhoon jets remain on permanent standby with the directive to use "lethal force," while surface to air missiles are deployed on housing estates in East London, leaving us in no doubt to the lethality of the freedom our liberal societies thankfully receive.
None of this appears "out of the ordinary" for us, despite its schizophrenic (dis)orientation. We have learned to fear what we actually produce. One only has to track the various terrorist elevation systems still in background use to evidence this paradox. The more significant the public occasion - the more the spectacle of celebration - the more the risk of something catastrophic happening is heightened. Color-coded systems of anxiety management have come to resemble the fear heartbeat of nations. Compulsive securitization invariably becomes the allied response.
While many in the post-9/11 moment questioned the abandonment of democratic principles and the violent excesses of the Global War on Terror, the privately driven securitization of all aspects of life has continued unabated. Indeed, as Walter Benjamin(1) understood all too well, what previously appeared "exceptional" (especially the abuse of power) quickly comes to reside in the normalized fabric of everyday. Although the "War on Terror," for instance, is perhaps notable by its absence from the discursive arena of political polemics, its militarized logic has been sophisticatedly incorporated within an expansive strategic framework that connects all things endangering.
Stephen Graham has pointed out how this security terrain is embodied in the Olympic Mascot "Wenlock." As Graham wrote, "For £10.25 you, too, can own the ultimate symbol of the Games: a member of by far the biggest and most expensive security operation in recent British history packaged as tourist commodity. Eerily, his single panoptic-style eye, peering out from beneath the police helmet, is reminiscent of the all-seeing eye of God so commonly depicted at the top of Enlightenment paintings." For Graham, this represents the onset of a new type of surveillance society which openly declares its strategic priorities: "Olympics are society on steroids. They exaggerate wider trends. Far removed from their notional or founding ideals, these events dramatically embody changes in the wider world: fast-increasing inequality, growing corporate power, the rise of the homeland security complex and the shift toward much more authoritarian styles of governance utterly obsessed by the global gaze and prestige of media spectacles."
Underwriting this security effort is a catastrophic imaginary which defines contemporary liberal governance. The Games for their part have produced their own novel and fitting headline - "Olympic-geddon" - to account for all potential disasters that could erupt and force the capital's vital networks to breakdown. This shift toward an all-hazard spectrum of threat is the real legacy of the militaristic vision of full-spectrum domination. Threats have become indistinguishable from the general environment. Every petty anxiety can become the source of our deepest fears. And all potential racial prejudices are waiting to be resurrected as the nature of the threat offers no clear profile in advance.
But what actually is "security"? Our problem here lies in the question. Ever since Thomas Hobbes wrote his landmark text "The Leviathan,"(2) security has become the foundation stone of modern politics. Security is not, however, a "what": it is a "how." While Hobbes wrote of the anarchical war of all against all to prevent the masses from resisting the injustices of feudal exploitation, beneath the veil of his sovereign deceit was the arrangement of social elements into preferable hierarchies. Liberal security today maintains this same inner logic, which is less about showing some allegiance to the principal referent object for security (i.e. the State, the People, the Games), than it is with guaranteeing entitlements to resources deemed essential to contested ways of living.
Like Sauron, the all-seeing eye in J.R.R. Tolken's wonderful trilogy, the controlling gaze nevertheless has its weak points. It is insecure by design. This, however, is not a source for lament or dismay. It is a further condition of possibility. That the system cannot be made totally secure only serves to ratchet up the securitization all the more. Resilience thus becomes a new term of art for a security-conscious society that has all but abandoned the dream of final security in exchange for a profitable existence. Those attuned to the age of global risk-taking are, after all, the real moneymakers.
Any informed critical theorist knows that the political depends upon the ability to bring into question what is not seen as problematic. This drives us to question why something is not on the public agenda. How does power operate to prevent us from critiquing its most visible traces? Questioning the unquestionable requires making the implicit explicit. When we do so, it allows us to really open up the functioning of power as it impacts upon everyday lives. This is not about abstract esotericism. It is about the desire to question power - especially liberal power - on the basis of its effects.
So, what still remains largely unquestioned? Many of us will now be familiar with the G4S security debacle which led its director Nick Buckles to apologize for the "humiliating shambles." But who are G4S? And, more importantly still, what are the political implications of this shift toward a private security provision? The company is the world's largest private security provider with some 657,000 employees and a "unique global footprint" that covers 125 countries. Beyond such marquee events, it also provides a range of global security details, including providing safe passage for the global financial elite; airport and embassy security; leisure tourism; and managing asylum centers, prisons and other detention facilities for less savory elements within societies.
While politicians have taken G4S to task over its contractual failures, the critique of private security provisions, in principle, is absent from the debate. It is left to us to raise the questions of public accountability and political legitimacy. Private contractors invariably work for the private interest. They service particular constituencies. They are allegiant to the flag of currency exchange and profit making. While such organizations claim to be professional and socially responsible, it is a mistake to see them as apolitical. Embodying the (neo)liberal pursuit of power and its will to planetary rule, they represent a profound change in the logic of liberal security governance more generally as the political and the very nature of sovereignty itself is replaced by a technocratic ensemble of private/public, military/policing, local/global contractors. As G4S's social responsibility statement proclaims: "Our size and scale means we touch the lives of millions of people across the globe and we have a duty and desire to ensure the influence we have makes a positive impact on the people and communities in which we work."
While the distinction between private security contractors and the military is ultimately a false dichotomy as the lines between the private and the public have long since been abandoned, the British soldier has nevertheless returned as the reliable face of civic protection. The British soldier embodies the freedom society is said to enjoy as a result of soldiers' sacrifice and commitment: making the streets safe from Kabul to Islington, so we are left in no doubt that our protection cannot be otherwise. But what does it mean politically to have trained killers on the capital's streets? Should this have happened in North Korea or Iran, politicians would have undoubtedly lambasted the despotic state of military affairs. We, however, reason it to be an efficient use of resources to maintain the democratic peace. So, we fail to question what it means to live in a time when the distinctions between war and peace, global and local, private and public, soldier and citizen, blur.
We are invariably left to ponder here the perceived source of threat. One hundred thousand soldiers on the streets of Manhattan would not have prevented 9/11. The horrifying violence of that day illustrated the futility of conventional force. And, yet, conventional force is the only illusion of power that liberal societies can hope to maintain as the ability to wage war has become one of its most profitable and dependable exports. Militarism of the social aside, this psychological brinksmanship represents a brazen show of potential force that is to echo Susan Sontag's famous paraphrase "shocking and awful." Whether the intended audience for such a performance is external or internal, it is clear that militaristic posturing - as both a symptom and defense of the emerging punishing state - demands a more serious discussion than is currently being entertained.
It is well documented that President George W. Bush tried to instill a military spirit into the civilian bodies of American citizens. As he once famously declared, "Every American is a soldiern and every citizen is in this fight." While some may explain this in terms of the logic of "exceptional times," it does not account for the more normalized practices of militarism we witness in our liberal societies today. George Chesterton observed some time before the Olympics buildup, "The only place you could be sure of seeing a British soldier used to be outside a pub in a garrison town at chucking-out time. Now there are soldiers on talent shows, parading in sports stadiums and singing on daytime television." From soldiers dancing on television screens, the rewarding of garrison towns with royal patronage to the subsequent militarization of the public realm, this is what we are witnessing on the streets of London today: "We have turned the reality of war into an emotionally nourishing theatre ... [which] serves an ideological and financial function."
Some will invariably counter here that the militarization of the public realm is unfortunately reflective of the dangerous world in which we now live. After all, none of us would wish to be blown up by a suicide bomber. Where is the freedom in that? While the high-profile nature and location of the Games undoubtedly makes it a target, what is required is a more somber and considered reflection. It was common after 9/11 and 7/7 to question why these people hated us. While many politicians and embedded academics insisted that we were endangered simply because of who we were, the simple law of physics tells us that we need to account for our actions and our histories of violence. Only then can we deal with the problem at the level of power (hence, political contestation).
Michel Foucault(3) put forward the idea of the bio-political in order to critically assess the racial-, gender- and class-based dimensions to securitization practices. Foucault was acutely aware that making life secure was not about setting limits as if everything stemmed from legal declaration. It was all about creating certain conditions that benefited particular constituencies. By determining what needed protection as a matter of risk assessment, disposability is concealed behind the objective mask of scientific verification. This brings us to one of the most sinister dimensions to Olympiad security.
The placing of rapier missiles on the Fred Wiggs Tower block in Leytonstone, along with five additional sites across the city brings into critical question the very meaning of the term "Terror." Not only have the tenants living in marginal social conditions expressed their concerns that the missiles actually make them more of a target, they have pointed out the somewhat obvious point that sleeping with a high-velocity missile system on your rooftop is truly terrifying. While the residents have famously protested with banners proclaiming, "This is not a war zone," their opposition was overruled by High Court Judge Charles Haddon-Cave, who stated that missile deployment was lawful and proportionate to the level of threat faced. He did, however, note that the residents' concerns demonstrated "something of a misapprehension" about the equipment.
This is not a critique of the tremendous effort and dedication of the athletes. Neither is it a challenge to major sporting events and their genuine ability to have a marked impact upon the emotional well-being of people. It is to question who benefits financially and politically from Olympiad security in the longer run. While it is too early to tell the lasting effects, if the previous experience of the Games in Athens is anything to go by, when private contractors feasted on a security bill of some $1.5 billion, domestic taxpayers can be forgiven for seeing this in hindsight as perverse given the current social conditions with the weight of austerity selective in its target audience.
Major sporting events will always be deeply political. For too long, we have placed politics in a neatly defined box such that it becomes the ownership of a distinct political class. This has benefited only a select few, despite the fact that some of the most significant political moments in the history of human struggles asked a blessing neither of politicians nor universal moral theorists. Neither do we wish to banish from memory the victory of Jessie Owens from the 1936 Olympics, nor the dignity showed by Tommie Smith and John Carlos as the idea of global revolt entered the political lexicon during the troubled year of 1968. And just as Diego Maradona claimed some divine intervention against the forces of British colonial oppression in 1986, so the terrain seems ripe for a further act of Argentinean political defiance as the Falklands question refuses to go away. We should not, however, be blinded to the wider political project at work here. As Will Self critically explains:
"The modern Olympics is a fatuous exercise in internationalism through limbering up and then running down to entropy. The modern Olympics have always been a political football - nothing more and nothing less - endlessly traduced and manipulated by the regimes that 'host' them. This one is no different, presenting a fine opportunity for the British security state apparatus and its private security firm hangers-on to deploy the mass-suppression and urban paranoiac technologies in the service of export-earning. Some Peace. Some Freedom."
Olympiad security provides us with a glimpse into a possible future. It is a bit like the airport experience where the idea of perfect regulation of life is played out - albeit with lifestyle benefits more seductive than the latest perfumes. Overtly militarized enclaves deploy the most advanced security technologies to ensure the frictionless (i.e. resistant free) circulation of all things commodifiable, so that, as with airports, once you enter "the zone," you begin to realize that you have no political rights. Our choice is straightforward. Either we accept this manufactured simulacrum of experience or we can demand the return of the political into social discussion. This requires us to start questioning that which is concealed within the vacuous politics of normative deliberation. It is not to accept the privileged boundaries of the debate. It is to question the framing of the question such that we expose the power and violence of the discursive framing as originally conceived.
1. Walter Benjamin, "Illuminations: Essays and Reflections" (New York, Schocken Books: 1968) p.257.
2. Thomas Hobbes, "Leviathan" (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press: 1991).
3. See in particular, Michel Foucault, "Society Must be Defended"; Michel Foucault, "Security, Territory and Population: Lectures at the College de France 1977-1978" (New York, Palgrave Macmillan: 2007); and Michel Foucault, "The Birth of Bio-Politics: Lectures at the College de France 1978-1979" (New York, Palgrave Macmillan: 2008).


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Fremont, Calif.-based ZNYX Networks, which designs server solutions for carrier-grade and mission-critical environments, unveiled its ZNYX ZX2040 AdvancedTCA (ATCA) hub switch with integrated shelf manager based on the eight-core Intel Atom processor C2000. The ZX2040 was designed to work with the ZNYX Ultra5 ZX2000 5U ATCA blade server platform to enable it to be upgraded from a 10-Gbit fabric connection to a 40-Gbit solution.
ZNYX takes advantage of the Atom C2000 processor's virtualization technologies to enable customers to run their applications directly on the ATCA switch, thereby freeing resources for revenue-producing operations.
Based on the Ultra5 ZX2000 blade server platform, the ZX2040 features four QSFP 40-Gbit ports for external connections to the system, 8 GBs of DDR3 ECC memory, an on-board mSATA connector and the Broadcom Trident Plus 480G switch fabric.


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Way Back When
(The Spirit is pleased to share with our readers vignettes of life in the 19th Century as originally reported in past issues of the newspaper. These reprinted stories include their original headlines and spelling.)
Local Intelligence
March 4, 1896
(Note: Although the Women's Christian Temperance Union is best known for its crusades against alcohol, the organization had a much more extensive focus. Founded in Ohio in 1874, WCTU eventually grew to hundreds of thousands of chapters, some of which sprang up in this area. This reprint illustrates the wide-ranging goals of the group.)
Declaration of Principles, WCTU
We believe in the coming of His Kingdom, whose service is perfect freedom, because His laws, written in our members, as well as in nature and in grace, are perfect, converting the soul.
We believe in the gospel of the Golden Rule and that each man's habits of life should be an example safe and beneficent for every other man to follow.
We believe that God created both man and woman in His own image, and therefore we believe in one standard of purity for both men and women and in the equal right of all to hold opinions and to express the same in the home, on the platform, in the pulpit and at the ballot-box.
We believe in the prohibition of the liquor traffic, the opium and tobacco traffic, the gambling house and haunt of shame; we believe in a living wage: in an eight-hour day; in courts of conciliation—and arbitration; in justice as opposed to greed of gain; in "peace on earth and good will to men."
We therefore formulate and for ourselves adopt the following pledge, asking our sisters and brothers of a common danger, and a common hope, to make common cause with us in working its reasonable and helpful precepts into the practice of everyday life.
Pledge---I hereby solemnly promise God helping me, to abstain from all distilled, fermented, and malt liquors, including wine, beer and cider as a beverage, and to employ all proper means to discourage the use of and traffic in the same.
To confirm and enforce the rationale of this pledge we declare our purpose to educate the young; to form a better public sentiment; to reform as much as possible by religious, ethical and scientific means the drinking classes; to seek the transforming power of divine grace for ourselves and all for whom we work that they and we may willfully transcend no law of pure and wholesome living; and finally we pledge ourselves to labor and pray that all these principles, founded upon the gospel of Christ, may be worked out into the customs of society and the laws of the land.


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|2004-07-15, 19:00
|Link #41
Team Player
Join Date: Apr 2004
Suikoden II was the best story ever told in a video game, bar none. For anybody out there who played 3 as their first Suikoden game, go back and find the older ones. 3 was a step forward in graphics, but two steps back in storytelling.
Chrono Trigger gets honorable mention as the best story on a cartridge, and it has a worthy sequal, although the story to Chrono Cross is convoluted enough to make it hard to follow sometimes. Earthbound was a great game, but hard to take seriously. :P
For all the Final Fantasy debate going on, VI had the most interesting characters, and VII was probably the most original story in the series, but I don't think the series has managed to outdo itself plot-wise since IV (FF2 in the US). Yes, the graphics are old, but the twists in the story are still incredibly cool. And Kain is still the most badass 16-bit sprite ever.
|2004-07-15, 23:51
|Link #42
Junior Member
Join Date: May 2004
|2004-07-18, 23:17
|Link #44
tsubasa o sagashite
As for games I've recently played:
AIR: I've only played thru Minagi and Kano's scenarios, and the story told in these scenarios is by far one of the most beautiful and aesthetic stories I've ever read. I've yet to even touch the other two sections of the game that take place after the three girls' scenarios. I guess there's one of the reasons it was one of the top selling bishoujo games in Japan.
Baldr Force: If you can ignore the ero, the way the story is told is really interesting. Depending on which path in the story you decide to take, you get to see the whole picture, one angle at a time. Whether it's from the viewpoint of the terrorist freedom fighters, the insidious corporation or from the military, each viewpoint offers something to think about, and their combination brings together a nice whole.
|2004-07-19, 00:12
|Link #45
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2003
Chrono Trigger+Radical Dreamers+Chrono Cross
This is the best storyline ever, changing history to save the world creating a time anomaly wichs opens multiple alternate dimensions.
Ok that sounds lame but it really isnt. Those who dont like Cross ovbiously dont understand the whole story. Its actually impossible to understand without the Radical Dreamers part. Its a masterpiece, should become a book.
|2004-07-19, 20:54
|Link #46
Join Date: Jan 2004
Tsukihime and its affiliated sequels, Kagetsu Tohya and Melty Blood..... Hands down the greatest story in any game, anime, manga, TV or movie I've personally ever seen.
Incredibly deep but tangible, complex without being confusing, tragic without angst, incredibly humorous and bittersweet at many times. Very life-like characters, all are believable despite the incredible nature of many of them. Delves into philosophy about life, death, and the meaning of our existences, without sounding preachy or corny.
One of the best things I love about Tsukihime is that it's not afraid to go to the extremes if necessary. If a character needs to die for the story to be better, than so be it. There's a sort of raw, unadulterated sense of depth and intensity to the story as a whole. The story's unrestrained and very raw, for the lack of better words.
I love it.
|2004-07-22, 02:43
|Link #49
Join Date: Dec 2003
The problem with these threads is that people dont care to always post best plot, they just wanna mention all their favorite games plot or no plot.
There have been lotsa posts about games with truly good plots, and it seems in this particular thread most are, just saying that best plot is in the eye of the beholder.
|2004-07-24, 22:34
|Link #50
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Canada Eh!
Age: 32
i surprised no1 has said Silver Star Story Complete and its counterpart Lunar2 :eternal blue............. Both these games are MEGA story line in depth blah blah blah, but ina fun way. for my 3rd fav plot would be um, um, um (not to manny liked this but) Grandstream Saga, i throughtly enjoyed this game ^^
|2004-07-25, 00:13
|Link #51
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2003
Its impossible to find the game with the best plot, because someone will always disagree.
So the thread idea is not to vote on the game with the best plot or show off games you played, but just to tell what games you thought had great plot, y'know, have a discussion and stuff.
|2004-07-29, 11:20
|Link #52
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Oxford, UK
Well, to shamelessly rehash what other have said, my choices would be:
FFX (Sanjuronord pretty much says what I think on the subject)
and a couple new "nominations" if you will:
Skies of Arcadia
I was gonna say the Shenmue series, but the actual plot is rather bland. Its the detailed world that makes it come alive, rather than brilliant writing.
Same with Max Payne. If you look at the plot on its own, its nothing special, but the game plays it out well.
|2004-07-29, 14:08
|Link #53
I will hve to go with Xenosaga ep1, FFVI and FFVII, and Chorno Cross and Chrno Trigger.
Xenosaga is a story with a game on the side. For me...it's unique to spend the whole time watching a story and little time playing the game. I just don't like the fact that they will be changing the character designs for Ep 2.
FF6 is what got me addicted to the final fantasy world (I played it when it was FF3 on SNES). It had alot of game play (a time when there were like 0 side quests), extensive amounts of characters each with their own history and personality. The plot was well done b/c it touched on everyone's past and showed you why they were fighting for the cause. I also loved Kefka by the half way point.
FF7 was just emotional. I was left speechless when Aeris met her end. It also created another villian for me to love. The story was pretty well developed that just sucked you in and made you feel the emotion that the characters would be going through. I didn't like the semi-cliffhanger ending but I guess the movie will clear some things up...hopefully.
Chrono Trigger was fasinating with the different time periods you ventured to. I loved how it showed how the actions of the past affect the future. The multiple ways to the final boss was interesting also. It was just pretty in-depth with all the time periods and the reasoning why something happened.
Chrono Cross wasn't that bad. I think that some of the characters could've been explained a little better. The transfer points were scarce which was a pain when switching worlds. I did like how the story related to Chrono Trigger and some of the events in there.
|2004-07-29, 15:21
|Link #54
Begin Activation!
i'm sorry but i like phantasy star (not on-line thats blasphame) but the original 4 were good (well 3 was errrrr) like ff 7 i also like shining force and the good old forgotten realms (boy am i gonna get flammed for that sorry thought we where goining on about RPG'S)
|2004-07-29, 16:34
|Link #56
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Totally in Japan.
Tactics has a good story. It's not like, Shakespeare or anything, but it's good.
Xenogears has an ok story. It gets really freaking annoying as a game once you hit the 2nd disc, and it's just a whole lot of text.
Star Control II had an excellent story. Humorous, epic, and a side-race who were a bunch of hot space chicks who flew around in spaceships called "Penetrators".
My favorite storyline, because it's more grounded in reality and feasibility than most is the plot from Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. In Civ I-III your peaceful end goal is to get your colonists on the first spacecraft to hit Alpha Centauri (The nearest habitable solar system.)
SMAC is the story of the colonists who got there. They fragment into factions, fighting each other, and ultimately, what they realize is a sentient planet.
The flavor text behind every unit, every world wonder, and every research discovery is fantastic. Some of the best writing I've ever seen in a game.
|2004-11-09, 23:59
|Link #57
Naruto Otaku
I'd say:
1. Final Fantasy VII : This game is so fun, I get tempted to play this game every day! The plot is unforgetable, they try so many things in this game that make me enjoy it even more.
the Unique-ness:
-Cloud is gay, Well in Japanese Version he is
- All the mind blowing twists
- You get a clean look at every characters background.
It's just so fun to play, so many extra things to do! And the plot makes other plots look impudent.
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Guiding Light
Thursday, April 16th, 2009
Alan has an idea for Phillip and Natalia's wedding falls apart.
As Beth walks down the stairs, Phillip nearly collapses as he jogs. She teases him, calling him a slacker. They talk about how lucky he is to have been pardoned. He can't understand why his son wanted to help him at all. Beth is sure that he did it for her but wishes she could have helped get him free. He came back knowing he was going to prison. She wonders why he came back then. He says he wanted to make amends and he is healthy enough to do it. When he asks her out to the movies, she turns him down; she has class.
At the mansion, Alex wakes up her hungover brother and asks him what's gone wrong. He claims he is relaxing. He's lost everything and his family hates him. Alex pulls him up and slaps him, telling him he's acting like a spoiled brat. He tells her she doesn't know the terrible things that have been going on. Although he loves Phillip, he knows that he's come home to destroy him. It terrifies him that everyone has already forgotten the terrible things his son has done.
Downstairs, Lizzie offers to spend the day bonding with her brother. He walks away and sends Daisy a message while she's at the wedding. Marina stops her from answering much.
At the church, Doris begins the ceremony. She's slow and tells them that they need to be aware of all of the consequences and responsibilities. When she asks if there are any objections, Olivia blurts out, "No… body's objecting." Doris continues to talk about how sacred marriage is and how it shouldn't be entered into as a matter of convenience. Doris gets a call and steps out. While they wait for her, Frank asks his father to tell a joke. He can't think of any that are appropriate. The wedding guests joke around.
Olivia chases Doris down and realizes there was no real call. Doris prompts her to tell Nat how she really feels before she walks out of the church and out of her life. They slip into a back room. Olivia refuses to stop the wedding; she wants to do the right thing for once. She wants Nat to be happy more than she wants her for herself.
Mallet and Marina slip out. He checks his messages and discovers that Child Protective Services want to move their meeting up until today. She starts to panic and refuses to let anyone take their baby. James arrives, looking for Daisy and his sister Emma. He slips in as Daisy gives Rafe a welcome home hug. He tells her that he is back for good. She's happy for him. After some awkward moments, she walks off to sit. James sits down behind her.
Natalia lights a candle and says a prayer. Frank joins her and she recites a Bible passage. She's happy that he understands her faith and how important it is to her. He's eager to grab Doris but she tells him to give her a minute. Doris returns with Olivia and the ceremony resumes. Marina is called up to sing. As she does, James and Daisy text back and forth until she notices he's behind her. They continue, teasing and rolling their eyes at each other until the song finishes.
Emma reads a poem about love. Everyone smiles. "That was lovely," Doris says. After Emma sits down, the vows start. Frank tells Nat that she is beautiful, a gift from God. He had given up on love until he met her. He vows to always take care of her and her son. There's nothing he wouldn't do for her. Natalia thanks him and begins to cry. Olivia hands her the ring and hopes it gives her strength. Nat feels blessed; this is a dream come true for her and she is sure that God has blessed her. For her, God is love and love allows you to feel God's gift. She wants to devote her life to Frank... but before she can finish, she chokes up, apologizes and runs out. Olivia goes after her.
Natalia runs down to the park. She begs God not to forsake her. Olivia catches up with her.
"So when does the Greek dancing start?" James asks everyone back in the chapel as they stand around. He and Daisy trade barbs. The family continues to worry. Frank decides that he needs to find Natalia and runs off.
At the mansion, Alex finds Phillip playing video games and eating cookies. He asks her out to the movies. Alan walks in. They ask him along. He turns them down; when he wants to see a movie, he has a private screening. He wonders if his son has any plans other than slacking around, eating his food and drinking. Alan wants to get him a job on the board at Spaulding. Phillip says no but Alan thinks it's the only way for him to gain Lizzie's trust back. Phillip offers to think about it after the movie.
Phillip and Alex go to Spaulding to see Alan. Phillip agrees to take a seat on the board. Alan is thrilled and offers to call Lizzie. They call her over and fill her in. Before they can have a press conference, Phillip reads over the statement he is supposed to read. He realizes that it says he is supposed to seek the help of a psychologist. He's outraged. Alan tells him that he needs to do this to prove his sanity to his own daughter.
Next on Guiding Light:
Bill asks Lizzie out for another date.
Frank asks Buzz if he brought up his doubts with Natalia.
Alan warns that the tests may show that Phillip isn't well.
Natalia blurts out that she doesn't love Frank, she loves Olivia.
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Posted 5 years ago
(20 items)
This is a photo of Frank Spors (seated in chair) and his Company Employees taken in March 1921. Spors & Company were located in Le Center, Minnesota (Formaly Le Sueur Center). They were a marketing company that sold items through mail order, to drug stores, salesmen, and the public. They were noted in early years for fountain pens that are collected today. They produced a large catalog similar to Sears and Montgomery Ward and sold similar items. Spors went out of business in the early 1960's. Anyone who collects fountain pens would know of Spors & Company.


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2013 NCAA Division III Men's Tennis BRACKET
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - The NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Committee has selected the 44 teams that will compete in the 2013 NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championships.
Farmingdale State (12-1), who won their third straight conference title on Saturday, April 27, will face Drew University (11-6) in the First Round at host site Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont on Friday, May 10. Second round action will be on Saturday, May 11 and Third Round on Sunday, May 12.
The Rams have posted 12 wins this season and are led by sophomore Justin Vijungco (Forest Hills, N.Y.) who repeated as the Skyline Player of the Year after going 8-1 at first singles and 8-4 at first doubles with senior teammate Ryan Musalo (Massapequa Park, N.Y.). Musalo is currently 7-3 at #2 singles. Senior Alex Bessarabov (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) increased his school record in wins to 43 after posting a 12-1 record at third singles. He also holds the school record for doubles wins with 36 (10-2 in 2013).
Drew won their 13th straight conference championship, their sixth in the Landmark, with a 5-4 win over the University of Scranton on Saturday, April 27th. Drew is led by 3-Time Player of the Year, senior Raul Smego (Ponce, Puerto Rico), who has competed at both No. 1 and 2 singles this season finishing 9-5 in dual matches during the regular season. Hunter Lathrop went 10-2 at second singles and Djedjy Hill is the third singles player with a record of 5-4.
The teams will play a single-elimination tournament with the first, second and third rounds played at regional sites, May 10-12. Kalamazoo College will host the team championships finals, which will be held May 20-22 at Stowe Stadium in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Student-athletes selected to the individual championships will be announced Wednesday, May 8.
The championships provide for a 44-team tournament. Automatic qualification (AQ) is granted to 30 conference champions, which form "Pool A." Seven teams are selected from true independents and schools from conferences that do not have an automatic bid for their champions (Pool B). The remaining seven teams are selected from those teams in conferences with automatic bids that did not win their conference's AQ and the remaining Pool B institutions (Pool C).
The teams are geographically paired, whenever possible.
The champions of the following conferences received automatic qualification:
- Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference - Franciscan University of Steubenville (11-5)
- American Southwest Conference - University of Texas at Dallas (14-4)
- Capital Athletic Conference - University of Mary Washington (14-10)
- Centennial Conference - Johns Hopkins University (19-2)
- City University of New York Athletic Conference - Baruch College (12-4)
- Colonial States Athletic Conference - Marywood University (13-4)
- Commonwealth Coast Conference - Nichols College (17-5)
- Commonwealth Conference - Elizabethtown College (15-3)
- Empire 8 - Stevens Institute of Technology (15-7)
- Freedom Conference - Wilkes University (15-3)
- Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference - Earlham College (19-2)
- Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference - Coe College (31-1)
- Landmark Conference - Drew University (11-6)
- Little East Conference - University of Massachusetts, Boston (14-3)
- Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association - Kalamazoo College (9-12)
- Midwest Conference - Grinnell College (22-11)
- Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference - Gustavus Adolphus College (22-9)
- New England Small College Athletic Conference - Williams College (18-3)
- North Atlantic Conference - Colby-Sawyer College (14-7)
- North Coast Athletic Conference - Kenyon College (23-3)
- Northern Athletics Conference - Concordia University (Wisconsin) (16-9)
- Northwest Conference - Whitman College (18-6)
- Ohio Athletic Conference - Ohio Northern University (18-4)
- Old Dominion Athletic Conference - Washington and Lee University (17-4)
- President's Athletic Conference - Grove City College (8-5)
- Skyline Conference - Farmingdale State College (12-1)
- Southern California Inter. Athletic Conference- Claremont Mudd-Scripps College (26-3)
- Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference - Trinity University (Texas) (18-9)
- University Athletic Association - Washington University in St. Louis (17-5)
- USA South Athletic Conference - North Carolina Wesleyan College (14-9)
The following schools, listed alphabetically, were selected to the championships from Pool B
and Pool C candidates:
- Babson College (8-5)
- Skidmore College (11-8)
- University of California, Santa Cruz (11-5)
- Vassar College (9-12)
- The College of New Jersey (11-1)
- University of Wisconsin, Whitewater (19-11)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (15-2)
- Amherst College (25-7)
- Middlebury College (18-4)
- California Lutheran University (17-4)
- University of Redlands (14-8)
- Case Western Reserve University (21-6)
- University of Texas at Tyler (19-6)
- Emory University (9-5)
Emory is the defending national champion, having defeated Kenyon, 5-3, to claim the team
title. For more information about the championship, including a championship bracket, log on to www.ncaa.com.


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A few thoughts before I head off to Citi Field for a rubber match with the Twins:
- American Idle: I'm not sure what's worse: the fact that Carl Pavano threw a complete game three-hit shutout, or that he almost had as many hits as the entire Mets lineup. Pick your poison, because both were fatal to the Mets yesterday.
- Jeff Francoeur: One of those three hits was a bunt single from our OBP-challenged right fielder. He made an outstanding throw to nail Denard Span at third, but if Angel Pagan doesn't take his spot in the lineup when Carlos Beltran returns, it will be a crime.
- Dueling Mustaches: At some point during the game, SNY ran a side-by-side photo of Pavano and Keith Hernandez, comparing their mustaches. I saw it at the stadium so I couldn't hear the commentary or take a screen-cap, but the awesomeness of it all was not lost in translation.
- Johan Santana: I think it's unfair to pin this loss on Santana alone (the lineup generated absolutely nothing), but it's reasonable to wonder what he has left: he's really struggled this season. He's coming off of elbow surgery and dealing with troubling accusations of sexual assault, and he's not getting any younger. The Mets will be paying him a lot of money over the next three or four years ($78 – $97.5 million, depending on whether his option is picked up), and it's safe to say that they won't receive proper value for that money. But what's done is done, and they'll have to make the most of it. We would do well to adjust our expectations for him: Santana will be up-and-down throughout the rest of the season, and the end results will be thoroughly mediocre. It's unfortunate, but that's where we are.


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Trump International Hotel & Tower Toronto in Toronto, Canada
In the midst of Toronto's financial and entertainment districts stands this stunning 65-story hotel. Travelers can unwind at the luxurious spa and wellness facility, take a dip in the indoor saltwater pool, or enjoy a mouthwatering meal at the restaurant and lounge located on the 31st floor. Average nightly rate is $456 and up.
Copyright © 2018, Chicago Tribune


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At Cupped Wings Guide Service we strive to ensure our guests receive the best duck hunting experience that North East Arkansas has to offer. We are uniquely situated between several well known WMAs that winter millions of waterfowl. We hunt on over 10,000 acres of flooded rice, beans, timber, cypress breaks & willow swamps. We offer all inclusive packages that include lodging, prepared meals, bird processing, guiding, etc.. We also offer guided hunt only options in addition to daily non-guided pit or blind leases in addition to daily timber hole leases in proven killing holes. We offer a family friendly environment with top notch accommodations, guides and locations. North East Arkansas has quickly become a mecca for some of the best duck hunting in the country and we are sitting at "GROUND ZERO"! We are just 25 minutes north of Memphis, TN in Crittenden County Arkansas. If you are duck hunting in Arkansas and looking for the best place to book your guided duck hunt, you have found the right place. We realize when it comes to booking a guided waterfowl hunt there are many options out there. We do not over book and do not over hunt any of our farms. Rest days are just as important as the days when you are laying the hammer down. We do this to ensure quality! For us, it's not about booking every available spot every day of the season, but rather it's about fun, fellowship and the quality of the hunting experience. Can accommodate group sizes from 1 to 12. We believe once you book with us, you will come back every year. Visit us at http://cuppedwingsguideservice.com to learn more about our duck guide service in North East Arkansas!
Come to Devils Lake for great fishing. Fish Locators Guide Service helps make the fishing trip you wont forget. We find the fish so you can catch them. Guided summer and winter fishing for jumbo perch, walleye, pike, and white bass on Devils Lake North Dakota. Complete fishing packages. 20+ years of experience, so go fishing with the best. Please click on our website, www.fishingdevilslake.net, or call Leonard Laber (701) 652-5773.


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Former Minidoka Sheriff Admits to Love Affair
RUPERT, Idaho (AP) — The former Minidoka County sheriff who pleaded guilty to using county credit cards to buy gas for a female county employee testified he had a romantic relationship with the employee. The Time-News reports that Kevin Halverson testified Friday to the relationship at a preliminary hearing for Alicia Daniel.
Halverson pleaded guilty in July to felony misuse of public funds after buying less than $300 worth of gas for Daniel. Daniel is charged with felony forgery. Prosecutors say she falsified work timecards.
Halverson testified he met Daniel in Boise on two occasions when Halverson was attending conferences. Daniel called in sick on those days. Prosecutors allege she falsified her time cards and misused sick leave, costing the county just over $2,000.


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YOU would think it would be hard to shock the bubbly television personality Kerri-Anne Kennerley.
In a year, she was famously sacked from her long-running television morning show on Channel Nine, suddenly appeared on Dancing with the Stars on Channel Seven, and was told she had breast cancer - and survived it.
Three months ago routine medical tests showed the former talk show host had vitamin D deficiency.
''I was quite amazed. I never thought I would be vitamin D deficient,'' Kennerley says.
''I never thought I needed it because I play golf. I'm a girl from Queensland who grew up in the sun.''
Vitamin D deficiency, which has been dubbed the ''silent disease'' has become one of the high-profile conditions that appears to have come about as a result of such strong ''sun safe'' messages.
Without regular sun exposure, bones become deprived of calcium. Brittle bones are then more prone to fractures and could lead to the more serious condition of osteoporosis.
Australia's largest vitamin D study to date was conducted on 24,000 people over two years. The study, released in October last year, found up to 58 per cent of Australians are deficient in the vitamin.
Like many Australians, Kennerley says in the past 15 years she became incredibly careful of her sun exposure.
''Obviously a little too careful,'' she says. ''I had a bone scan 15 years ago and I had fantastic bones. That clearly has deteriorated because I have kept the sun away from my skin.''
Now, the golfer, walker and dancer is careful to get 20 minutes of sun a day before 10am and after 3pm. ''If you are going to go for a walk before 10am, you don't need sunscreen,'' she says.


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Want to remind yourself or a friend about this program? Fill out this simple form and klru will email you a reminder on the day that it will air.
Curious George, Spy Monkey / Castle Keep
series: Curious George
air date: 7/12/13 8:00 AM
Curious George, Spy Monkey: Nothing is more fun for George than reading his spy book "Double-Oh Doggy." Unless of course he can become a real Double-Oh Monkey! George goes undercover and follows the Man with the Yellow Hat, trying to solve the mystery of what surprise the Man is going to buy for George. But in order to stay completely hidden George needs proper spy gear like "Double-Oh Doggy. " So using recycled materials from home, George builds his very own periscope. George can now stay hidden from the Man as he trails him around town - but will the ever eager Charkie blow his cover? EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVE: To learn how mirrors can work as tools. Castle Keep: While George practices his golf swing, Bill shows him how a little leverage can send the ball high in the air - much to the dislike of Jumpy Squirrel in the tree! So when George and the Man with the Yellow Hat visit Uncle Tam in Scotland, George is very happy to be able to practice his swing at the Castle Golf Course. But then a pesky squirrel steals his ball and runs off, and George is sent on a wild chase throughout the castle. Luckily, he remembers the principle of leverage, and he's able to pry open windows, pull book cases, spin wheels to lower a bridge and ultimately accomplish the perfect swing not only to retrieve his ball, but to uncover a special family document that will keep the castle in the family's possession. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVE: To show how leverage (the action of a lever pivoting about a point) works.
WARNING: Email reminders for this program have already been sent out. Your reminder may not reach the intended address in time for this program's airing.
Back to TV Schedule


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How do the premium users watch the hihger quality videos?
It does not say anything about higher quality videos. ( someone correct me if I'm wrong. I usually watch CR videos off my IPod Touch.. as a standard member. Not too sure if there is high quality as I have not purchase premium membership yet, but I'm planning to do so in the near future)
I believe "higher quality streams" means that theres a better download rate on the video, instead of being capped at a low rate. Thus, less videos freezing/buffering.. etc. However, I don't think many people experience slow videos/buffering at all.
ShiningJusticexX32 wrote:
Will dramas ever be available for premium members to stream on android? Or will that forever be an all access pass thing?
If you want premium access to both Anime and Drama videos, you need to upgrade to All-Access Membership.
Though, with Anime Membership, you can still watch the non-premium Drama videos with advertisements while connected to a WiFi network.
First post said that higher quality videos were available but they currently are not. We do have higher quality videos ready but there is no way for users to select it yet. As such, I removed the statement for the first post but it will become available in a future update to the app.
Former Crunchyroll Employee
think a photography class should be a requirement in all educational programs...
Everyone has to pay the piper. you are paying for the convenience of using it on your phone or device. I don't pay for the site so I have to wait for shows, have commercials and no mobile support. I am 100% okay with this because otherwise you would get shit quality anime with no updates or guarantee of release. I can't believe that people are seriously complaining about this given the current world situation, all of this could cease to exist for a VERY long time.
I really like this app. The anime plays more smoothly than on my computer sometimes!! I'm so glad you guys didn't forget android people.
coooooool thanks
curious when will you make one for Tai Seng for Android? i want to be able to watch Tai Seng TV on Android.. i want to dump my iphone
I still want an app for my windows phone and support hasn't replies to my membership "problem" and its been 3 days so much bad news 4 me.....
hmm..... i downloaded the program , i turn on the wifi , ad then the program , and it still asked me for an account , what the hell ?
and how to use wifi to watch anime on my phone? , there's no wifi option there
giniroshourai wrote:
Sweet! I was thinking about upgrading to premium. I still am, actually.
The 3G streaming is sure one reason to upgrade. I really don't care about higher quality streams on my phone.
On the computer, yeah gimme higher quality, but on my phone? Eh...
Premium is the way to go. I've tried other video streaming services such as Hulu Plus and had nothing but problems and grief. The Crunchy Roll service has always worked great for me. I got it for the Anime but with access to all the drama series, I've started getting into them too.
stereo_1999 wrote:
if you have a premium membership HQ will show up on the top right of the screen while the movie is playing.... to bad my 3g sucks because movies are slow in hq, But when i'm on wifi its ok.
Well, IMO, a 720p stream on a 3 inch screen is kinda pointless.
Just stopping in to say thanks. Been watching HOURS of content as I house sit sans computer. You have made my Evo into a lifeline. Thanks
busy busy busy
Having used the iOS version of the app till now on my iPod Touch, and having just upgraded my aged razar to the Galaxy S today, I thought I would try out the Crunchyroll app for Android, to see how it compared.
I would say that the android app has its high and low points...
At first glance, the thing that I liked the most about the Android version of Crunchyroll, was that the videos didn't cut out early on me. On my iProd the video always ends shortly before the audio, and in shows like Naruto, although I hear the audio for the sneak peaks I can't see the video or corresponding subtitles.
The thing that I missed the most from the Android version of Crunchyroll was the recently added list that exists in th iOS version. This is a feature that is not critical, but I find it useful.
One other thing that I noticed was that in one of the videos that I checked out, there was massive video degradation on the Android version. Being that it was an older video I figure it was probably a transcoding error as i was on wifi at the time that I spotted the issue and had a good minute of video buffered.
Small bugs aside the android version looks nice and I can hardly wait to see what is to come in the future. All I can say is "Keep up the good work, Crunchyroll.".
vodavid wrote:
The blackberry isn't exactly great for this kind of thing. The resolution on any blackberry is also extremely small. So even if there was an app for it, it would be too pixelized for viewing/reading subbies. Even Youtubing sucks on it. Speakers are kind of muffle when on high. Thus, that is why there aren't that many great entertainment apps on the BlackBerry App World. Who knows, maybe they will fix this with the next generation of blackberries.. lol.
P.S. I have a bb bold 9780, only reason why I still have a bb is because of bbm.
BBM is really saves credit. I'm planning of buying Bold 3.


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15th July was a significant milestone for Scaled Composites as the team march towards the first solo flights of VSS Enterprise (SpaceShipTwo).
For the first time VSS Enterprise flew with crew on board. As planned, the spaceship remained attached to VMS Eve (captive) for the duration of the flight and numerous combined vehicle systems tests were conducted. In addition and for the first time, the two crew members on board VSS Enterprise, evaluated all of the spaceship's systems and functions from end to end in the air. Objectives achieved.
Congratulations to the whole team!
Mission Details:
– WhiteKnightTwo (VMS Eve) flight number 33
– SpaceShipTwo (VSS Enterprise) flight number three in captive carry configuration.
– Flight Time: 6 hours 12 minutes
– VMS Eve crew: Mark Stucky, Peter Kalogiannis, Brian Maisler
– VSS Enterprise crew: Peter Siebold, Michael Alsbury


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On Nov. 2, Lancaster County and voters throughout the country will go to the polls. Please do not take your right to vote lightly.
In Lancaster County Council District 2, we once again need to vote for our County Council representative Charlene McGriff.
She won the June 2010 primary and now she's been placed on the ballot for the Nov. 2 General Election. She is unopposed but the history in District 2 races has shown us that we need to punch or mark the ballot even if someone is unopposed.
I do not want the absentee ballot process to override her primary win.
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For the past several months, members of the Emmetsburg Community School Board and school administrators have been tossing around the idea of building an addition onto the district's West Elementary facility. The possibility of a new, full-size gymnasium with seating for around 300, a new hot lunch kitchen and commons area and administrative offices would comprise the proposed addition.
While talk is cheap, the old adage says "money talks."
With West Elementary being built in the early 1950's and having two additions, the most recent in the early 2000's, the school is the oldest facility in the school district. Space concerns have grown tighter and tighter after the district closed the South (Little Red) Elementary in the 1990's and moved all Kindergarten classes to West. With enrollment increasing slightly in past years, there are numerous occasions on any given school day where students are found in the hallways of the building, participating in such activities as Talented and Gifted programs, Reading Recovery and Title One programs. And, administrators note that in 2014, there will be a need for an additional classroom, due to class size.
With those concerns in mind, the district brought architect Matt Bayse of FEH and Associates of Sioux City to West to evaluate the building, visit with the staff and develop a possible plan for an addition. Once those rough plans were completed, Bayse met with the board earlier this month in a special work session to talk about the issues.
Bayse reported that he had developed a rough plan for an addition costing roughly $2.6 million, noting that such a plan would be the most economical solution for the district's projected needs.
"This is actually the best time in the past 30 years for construction projects," Bayse told the school board members. "Bids have been really good lately because contractors are hungry for work."
According to Bayse, construction bids of late have run in the range of $105 to $160 per square foot, making it a little tougher to give a more precise estimate.
"After looking at plans and talking with Matt, we're thinking we might be closer to the $2.8 million figure with unknowns, but this is still a very good time to consider building," noted board member Rick Brennan.
"Have we totally not given any consideration to building out here at the high school?" asked board member Karla Anderson.
Superintendent John Joynt noted that the possibility had not been discussed but could be.
"I think the community would have problems with bringing fourth graders out here to the middle school," observed board member Tammy Naig.
Anderson asked if the basic building at West was still structurally sound.
Bayse indicated that the original West building, which was constructed in 1950, and had been added onto twice, was still very functional. "The structure is sound, there just need to be some interior upgrades to adapt to technology."
As the board talked about Bayse's preliminary plan, the discussion turned to possible ways to fund a construction project. Brennan noted that through borrowing against the district's Physical Plant and Equipment Levy fund, or PPEL, the construction could be paid off in eight years, at current projections. "To me, the shorter time frame on something like this, the better," Brennan explained. "We have to take care of the kids, that's what this is all about. Having kids out in the hallways to have classes, is, in my book, simply unacceptable."
"For all the problems I've heard about at West, this is truly the best time to build and to borrow to do this," Bayse added.
When a question was raised regarding possible financial risks of borrowing against PPEL funds, which can only be used for equipment, buildings and repairs, and not for salaries, Brennan was matter-of-fact in his response. "There's always going to be risk in borrowing, but the key is to mitigate that risk and, in this case, do what's best for our kids."
A second work session focused on potential funding for such a project with Matt Gillaspie of Piper Jaffray of Des Moines, who re-iterated the point that interest rates for borrowing were at historic lows from .3 percent to 1.7 percent for a recent bond re-financing he had worked with another school district.
"You basically have a couple of options, using your PPEL funds or to use your Sales Tax Income funds, but those are not as secure as PPEL funds," Gillaspie noted. "Generally speaking, PPEL funding is the best option for you, as it gives you better rates and less fees in the long run."
With lots of information to digest and consider, and a request for the architect to re-work his preliminary plans for a possible addition to better fit the existing space at West, the board will continue to discuss the matter in an upcoming Superintendent's Advisory Committee meeting.


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Defending champion Zheng Jie was knocked out of the ASB Classic in the first round last night going down to unseeded American Jamie Hampton.
Hampton won 7-5 6-1 and will face either New Zealand's Marina Erakovic or Canadian qualifier Stephanie Dubois in the second round.
Erakovic got her tournament off to a winning start in the doubles opening round match which ended the night session.
Erakovic and her British partner Heather Watson defeated the New Zealand duo of Paige Mary Hourigan and Claudia Williams 6-0 6-1 to advance to the second round.
- NewstalkZB/nzherald.co.nz