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Posted: October 11, 2019 01:17 AM CDT
Updated: October 11, 2019 01:17 AM CDT
2006: New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle dies when the small aircraft he owns crashes into a 42-story apartment building in New York City. Also killed was certified flight instructor Tyler Stanger. The National Transportation Safety Board would later find that the probable cause of the crash was pilot error, but was unable to determine whether Lidle or Stanger was flying the aircraft at the time of the crash. Lidle, who was 34 when he died, spent eight seasons in the MLB, also pitching for the New York Mets, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Oakland Athletics, Toronto Blue Jays, Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies. [ + - ]
2002: Former President Jimmy Carter wins the Nobel Peace Prize for his work "to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development" through The Carter Center. Carter formed The Carter Center in 1982 to advance human rights and alleviate unnecessary human suffering. He is the only U.S. president to have received the honor after leaving office. [ + - ]
2001: The Polaroid Corporation files for federal bankruptcy protection. Almost all the company's assets (including the "Polaroid" name itself, which had become almost synonymous with instant photographs) were eventually sold to a subsidiary of Bank One. They went on to form a new company, which also operates under the name Polaroid Corporation. The "new" Polaroid Corporation would also file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, this time on Dec. 18, 2008, resulting in a further sale and the present-day Polaroid Corporation. [ + - ]
2000: NASA launches STS-92, the 100th space shuttle mission, using space shuttle Discovery. [ + - ]
1998: Pope John Paul II canonizes the first Jewish-born saint of the modern era: Edith Stein, a Catholic nun killed at Auschwitz. [ + - ]
1991: Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, law professor Anita Hill accuses U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexually harassing her while she had worked for him at the Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Thomas reappeared before the panel to denounce the proceedings as a "high-tech lynching." The U.S. Senate would ultimately confirm Thomas by a vote of 52–48 on Oct. 15, 1991. [ + - ]
1991: Comedian and actor Redd Foxx, best known for his starring role on the sitcom "Sanford and Son," dies from a heart attack at the age of 68 in Los Angeles. Foxx, whose real name was John Elroy Sanford, also starred in the short-lived TV shows "Sanford," "The Redd Foxx Show" and "The Royal Family." [ + - ]
1984: Aboard the space shuttle Challenger, astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan becomes the first American woman to perform a space walk. [ + - ]
1984: Future Hockey Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux makes his NHL debut with the Pittsburgh Penguins against the Boston Bruins, scoring a goal on his first shot on his first NHL shift. [ + - ]
1977: Actor Matthew Bomer, best known for his role as con artist Neal Caffrey on the USA Network show "White Collar," as well as for roles in such shows as "Chuck" and "Glee" and in movies such as "In Time" and "Magic Mike," is born in Spring, Texas. [ + - ]
1976: President Gerald Ford approves George Washington's posthumous appointment to the grade of General of the Armies of the United States by executive order as authorized by a congressional joint resolution earlier in the year. The ranking ensured that Washington, who retired as a lieutenant general, would never be outranked by another U.S. Army officer. [ + - ]
1976: Actress Emily Deschanel, best known for her role as Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan on the TV drama "Bones," is born in Los Angeles. [ + - ]
1975: The sketch comedy/variety show "Saturday Night Live" debuts with George Carlin as the host and Andy Kaufman, Janis Ian and Billy Preston as guests. [ + - ]
1972: The World Hockey Association, started to compete with the NHL, makes its official debut when the Alberta Oilers defeat the Ottawa Nationals 7-4 at the Ottawa Civic Centre. The league would last for seven seasons before ceasing operations in 1979, with four teams, the Edmonton Oilers, New England Whalers, Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg Jets, merging with the NHL for the 1979–80 season. [ + - ]
1971: John Lennon releases the song "Imagine" as a single in the United States. It would go on to peak at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. [ + - ]
1969: Actor Stephen Moyer, best known as vampire Bill Compton in the HBO series "True Blood," is born in Brentwood, Essex, England. [ + - ]
1968: NASA launches Apollo 7, the first successful manned Apollo mission, with astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn F. Eisele and Walter Cunningham aboard. Its 11-day Earth-orbital flight allowed the crew to check life-support, propulsion and control systems, clearing the way for the flight of Apollo 8 to orbit the Moon just two months later. [ + - ]
1968: Actress Jane Krakowski, best known for the TV shows "30 Rock," "Ally McBeal" and "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt," is born Jane Krajkowski in Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey. [ + - ]
1966: Actor Luke Perry, best known for his role of Dylan McKay in "Beverly Hills, 90210," is born in Mansfield, Ohio. [ + - ]
1963: French writer, artist and filmmaker Jean Cocteau dies of a heart attack at age 74 in Milly-la-Foret, France. He is best known for his 1929 novel "Les Enfants Terribles" and the films "Blood of a Poet," "Les Parents terribles," "Beauty and the Beast" (1946) and "Orpheus." [ + - ]
1962: Actress Joan Cusack, best known for movies such as "Working Girl," "Married to the Mob," "In & Out," "Addams Family Values," "Runaway Bride" and "Toy Story 2," is born in New York City. Cusack, who is the sister of fellow actor John Cusack, earned Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress for her roles in "Working Girl" and "In & Out." [ + - ]
1961: Comedian and actor Chico Marx dies from arteriosclerosis at the age of 74 in Hollywood, California. Marx, whose real name was Leonard Marx and who was the oldest of the Marx Brothers comedy team, was known for his adopted persona of a dim-witted albeit crafty con artist, seemingly of rural Italian origin, who sported a curly-haired wig and Tyrolean hat. [ + - ]
1961: Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young, who led the San Francisco 49ers to three Super Bowl titles, is born in Salt Lake City, Utah. Young was named the Most Valuable Player of the NFL in 1992 and 1994, and the MVP of Super Bowl XXIX in 1995. He played collegiately at Brigham Young University and is also an inductee of the College Football Hall of Fame. [ + - ]
1958: NASA launches the lunar probe Pioneer 1. Due to a programming error, the probe never reached the moon, instead reaching a peak altitude of 70,712 miles. It would re-enter the Earth's atmosphere after 43 hours of flight on Oct. 13, 1958. [ + - ]
1946: Rock singer Daryl Hall (right), one half of the blue-eyed soul duo Hall & Oates with John Oates (left), is born in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. [ + - ]
1932: Country singer Dottie West is born near McMinnville, Tennessee. West was the first female country Grammy winner, winning in 1965 for her top-10 hit "Here Comes My Baby Back Again." Some of her other hits included "Would You Hold It Against Me," "Paper Mansions," "Country Sunshine," "Last Time I Saw Him," "A Lesson in Leavin'" and "Are You Happy Baby?" She dies at age 58 on Sept. 4, 1991, from injuries she suffered in a car accident five days earlier. [ + - ]
1925: Author Elmore Leonard, best known for his westerns and crime novels, several of which have been turned into movies and TV shows, is born in New Orleans. Among his most well-known books are "Get Shorty," "Out of Sight," "3:10 to Yuma," "Rum Punch," the basis for Quentin Tarantino's "Jackie Brown," and "Pronto," which introduced the character of U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, the central figure in the FX drama "Justified." Leonard died at age 87 on Aug. 20, 2013, of complications from a stroke suffered three weeks earlier. [ + - ]
1910: Former President Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first U.S. president to fly in an airplane. He flew for four minutes with Arch Hoxsey in a plane built by the Wright Brothers at Kinloch Field in St. Louis, Missouri. [ + - ]
1884: Eleanor Roosevelt, the longest serving first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945 as the wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, is born Anna Eleanor Roosevelt in New York City. [ + - ]
1844: Henry Heinz, the American businessman of German descent who founded the H. J. Heinz Company, is born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. [ + - ]
1809: Along the Natchez Trace about 70 miles southwest of Nashville, Tennessee, explorer Meriwether Lewis dies under mysterious circumstances at an inn called Grinder's Stand. After gunshots were heard in the predawn hours, Lewis was found badly injured by multiple gunshot wounds, from which he died shortly after sunrise. Although the official explanation for his death was suicide, others feel the 35-year-old explorer, famous for being part of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, was actually murdered. [ + - ]
1767: Surveying for the Mason-Dixon Line forming part of the borders of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and West Virginia (then part of Virginia) is completed. [ + - ]
The first successful manned Apollo mission launches, John Lennon releases the song "Imagine," George Washington gets a posthumous promotion, and Anita Hill accuses Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment, all on this day.


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PLEASANTON — A small, little-used city park will get a $420,000 upgrade and a new name to become a more visible northern gateway to the downtown.
The City Council has agreed to rename the 0.75-acre Main Street Green Park as Rotary Park in recognition of three local Rotary clubs' contributions to this park, and to an upcoming renovation.
The $420,000 overhaul, to begin in the fall, will redo landscaping and add a plaza, paths, benches, game tables, two bocce ball courts, a shade trellis, space for public art and an 11-space parking lot.
Rotary clubs will donate $25,000 for an illuminated 12-foot-tall vintage clock to mark the entrance of the park at the corner of Main Street and Vervais Avenue and just north of Arroyo Del Valle.
"This park will serve as a northern gateway to the downtown," said Susan Andrade -Wax, Pleasanton's director of community services. "This is a significant improvement at this entrance to the downtown."
She said she expects the old-style clock to become a district Pleasanton landmark similar to the iconic archway sing over Main Street.
To be sure, the Main Street Green Park has had a low-profile.
"I would guess most people in Pleasanton don't know its name," said Brad Hirst, a local Rotary Club leader. "It doesn't even have a sign."
Local Rotarians want that change, providing a plaza for people to relax, eat lunch, play bocce ball,or begin hikes on a trail along the arroyo.
The park renovations will be done in two phases, the first to be completed by April in time for a May 1 Rotary celebration of 50 years of service in Pleasanton. The second phase — with the bocce courts — will be done later, possibly in 2015, Andrade-Wax said.
The landscaping will include no-mow grass and other low-water-using plants.
Rotary sought the name change because it has made improvements to the park in the past, in addition to its contribution of some $25,000 to purchase the vintage clock.
Three clubs joined forces on this project — Rotary Club of Pleasanton, Rotary Club of Pleasanton North and Tri-Valley Evening Rotary.
Under Pleasanton's policy, a park can be named after a service club if it has ties to that park and the club has made contributions to the community.
Another Pleasanton park — the Lions Wayside Park — was renamed to recognize the Lion's club contributions to that park and the community.
The Main Street Green Park site was used as the city's corporation yard several decades ago before the city outgrew the small site.
Contact Denis Cuff at 925-943-8267. Follow him at Twitter.com/deniscuff

subset: commoncrawl


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Mutant Chronicles 3rd Ed. RPG
The Mutant Chronicles Kickstarter is a re-boot of the amazing techno-fantasy roleplaying game from the same team who produced the successful Achtung! Cthulhu Kickstarter and award winning game designer Jay Little.
You can still join the Kickstarter! Click on this link to benefit from all the great deals.
Stretch Goals will still be broken with post Kickstarter Pledges and there will be new Add On's announced! Join in while you can!
We funded the 400 page full colour hard cover Mutant Chronicles: Dark Symmetry core rule & setting book with cover by Wayne Reynolds along with 10 Guides (Mishima, Bauhaus, Capitol, Imperial, Cybertronic, Whitestar, The Brotherhood, Luna & Freelancers, Cartel & Orbitals, Heretics & Mutants), the Dark Symmetry Campaign, The Dark Soul & Apostles Guide, Dark Legion Campaign and much more. Core book PDF's will be sent out in July, print versions in August along with any accessories and as many of the other books as possible. A second wave of shipments will deliver the final books by Dec 2014. Backers will receive pre-print PDF's to assist with proof reading and final PDF's of each book as they are completed.
- PDF Master Pledge £40 - Now Worth: £127
- PDF Subscription Pledge £100 - Now Worth: £242
- Setting Book Master Pledge £250 - Now Worth: £435
- Necromagus Pledge £400 - Now Worth: £620
- Nepharite Pledge £700 - Now Worth: £933
- Dark Apostle Pledge £900 - Now Worth: £1,313
- Dark Soul Pledge £1500 - Now Worth: £1,973
Jay Little is re-designing the rules and a large team are re-writing the setting guides and supplements to include brand new material alongside the existing storyline. You can expect the usual high quality production values that Modiphius is known for (just check out the comments from backers of the Achtung! Cthulhu Kickstarter).
Awesome new art will reveal never before seen parts of the Mutant Chronicles universe alongside the existing fantastic images by Paul Bonner, Peter Bergting and Paolo Parente. Here's what to expect in each book. Check out more content outlines on this page.
Mutant Chronicles: Dark Symmetry Core Book:
- A d20 based cinematic system with 8 attributes that is fast and furious.
- Lifepath & point buy character generation
- Full details and rules for life in the 25th century, the colonies and space travel
- The Dark Legion, their Heretics and Apostles, how they operate, their different tactics and creatures
- The five big Corporations (Imperial, Capitol, Bauhaus, Mishima, Cybertronic), the Brotherhood, the Cartel and Whitestar.
- The future history that led to the exodus from Earth, a timeline leading up to the first outbreak of the Dark Symmetry, the first Corporate War, the rise of the Brotherhood, the Dark Legion invasion and through 700 years of stagnation to the Second Corporate War and return of the Dark Legion.
- Plots, adventure seeds, GM advice and plot secrets
- Now you can join the assault on the citadel in the first great war with the Dark Legion, hunt down Heretics or go on the fateful mission to Pluto or even Nero!
Mutant Chronicles: Dark Soul:
- Replaces the Algeroth and Ilian Guide books - however all the Apostles will be more heavily represented in the core book.
- Nepharite's Guide to The Dark Soul, The Apostles, The Dark Symmetry
- Full details on Pluto and Nero
- The Dark ships & Citadels
- The Dark Legion universe
- The true ancient history of the Dark Legion, their 'last war', the in-fighting and politics.
- More tactics, creatures, equipment, ships and plot seeds.
Mutant Chronicles: Dark Eden
- Dark Eden turns the focus of the setting, storyline and plot to Earth.
- Learn about the many tribes that have made the mutated irradiated old Earth their own; Whitestar, The Sons of Rasputin, The Templars, Crescentia, The Lutherian Triad
- Massive storyline that unfolds through a apocalyptic series of events across the solar system.
- Vast battles, deep rooted conspiracies, ancient hatreds and a major reveal of the Mutant Chronicles storyline. It's going to be a bad day to be a hero...!
- The Guides:
- More detailed lifepath generation based on each Corporation or Faction with new careers and roles.
- Specific equipment, ships, vehicles, their colonies and resources
- Plots and storylines and how the faction differs between the Dark Symmetry (First Corporate & Dark Legion War) and Dark Legion era's (Second Corporate & Dark Legion War).
- Geographical Guide to one of the worlds or regions of the Solar System with planetary maps and local information.
- New guides covering Luna, Freelancers, Mutants, Cartel and more!
The Campaigns:
- Three campaign are planned set in each of the three main eras: Dark Symmetry, Dark Legion and Dark Eden.
- Dark Symmetry will take introduce characters as lowly freelancers and Luna Police Department cops investigating the first outbreaks of the Dark Symmetry through the rise of the cult and on through the great events of the Corporate and Dark Legion wars up to the final assault on the citadel. It leads up to a very cool surprise!
- Writers include Dave Allen (Enemy Within) and Clive Oldfield
- The Dark Legion campaign will take you through the epic events of the Dark Legion era (the same as the 2nd Ed RPG).
- The Dark Eden campaign will gear the plot up to apocalyptic proportions through a series of major events across the Solar System as well as focusing heavily on the Tribes, vast mutated creatures and irradiated wastelands of old Earth.
Supporting our Kickstarter is easy! Just follow these steps:
You can easily check your Shipping total using the Pledge Calculator. If you want to add ADDITIONAL ADD ON's or PLEDGES for friends just add the cost of the Add On or extra pledges to your total Pledge (using the green 'Manage My Pledge' button) and we will confirm what you wanted in the post Kickstarter survey.
Visit our store to choose from popular pledges if you prefer to use Paypal.
- Help support the Kickstarter with a range of graphics here
- Download the Free Beta Quickplay with Adventure & Pre generated characters from DriveThruRPG and get a taste of the new system!
- Check out some of the revealed artwork here
- Read about the expected Core Book and Guide book content here.
- We unlocked a Savage Worlds conversion in PDF!
- Pledge for Achtung! Cthulhu print & PDF bundles. See Add on's
Mutant Chronicles, created by Target Games, now Paradox Entertainment was one of the bigger names in gaming in the 1990's with the Doom Trooper collectible card game translated in to 16 languages, three boardgames, a SNES and Mega Drive Doom Trooper video game, the massive Warzone miniatures game and the Mutant Chronicles 1st and 2nd Edition roleplaying games with more recently a Hollywood movie, Fantasy Flight Games pre-painted miniature game and last year the reboot of Warzone by Prodos Games. Watch our video for examples of the stunning art from the world or check out the art here and here
The Mutant Chronicles story took you on this full throttle dieselpunk sci-fi ride through a solar system beset by corporate intrigue and the invasion of a terrible dark alien force. With technology failing due to the insidious effects of the Dark Symmetry humankind must fight back against the Dark Legion hordes whilst dealing with in-fighting and conspiracy from within.
The Solar System is a roaring mayhem of death and war. The surfaces of the inner planets have been swept clean by the violent onslaught of the dark legions storming hordes of Nepharites, Razides, Pretorian Stalkers and Undead Legionaries. In the enormous cities of the far and distant future, heretics devoted to the destruction of humankind stalk the dark backstreets and gloomy alleys spreading their teachings of greed, jealously and war [From the 2nd Edition Back Cover]
In the late 21st century a growing madness of plagues, wars, terrorism and environmental collapse led to the rushed terraforming of the colonies by the major corporations, an exodus from Earth and the final cataclysmic nuclear war. It takes hundreds of years to re-establish life as we know it on the inner worlds of our solar system. Imperial, Capitol, Bauhaus and Mishima now rule from their homes in the steaming jungles of Venus, the caverns of Mercury, the deserts of Mars and the many orbitals and asteroid homes of the solar system. Luna City is a vast neutral sprawl, many hundreds of years old, built up and over the first colony and mines.
A fateful exploratory mission to Pluto unleashes an ancient evil force 'The Dark Symmetry' upon the thinking machines of man. As technology fails (and even fights back), mankind is beset with conspiracy and corporate intrigue from within. Dark things gather on the edges of the colonies and whilst corporate war consumes the greatest armies of man, the Dark Legion's citadels rise up throughout the worlds of the solar system and terrifying armies march out to consume all. They were defeated long ago, they will not be defeated this time...
As the Dark Symmetry's malign influence on humanity grows, the Brotherhood with their strange powers, arise to unite the corporate armies as one and fight back.
We filled in the gaps in the original storyline, expanded the backstory and plotted secret events that will carry your adventures through a 1000 years of future history. Now you can play during the early days of the Dark Symmetry with investigations of foul cults and technology turning on mankind, through to the brutal Corporate Wars and then fight the Dark Legion as they pour forth from their citadels across the colonies.
MUTANT CHRONICLES and related logos, characters, names, and distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks or registered trademarks of Mutant Chronicles International Inc. All rights reserved.
Find out more about the design process, interviews with the team, and Fred Malmberg of Paradox Entertainment on our Inside Mutant Chronicles page
If we unlock hardcover and or full colour versions of the books, your pledge or Add On is automatically upgraded for free!
If you want to get ALL the books in print either choose PRINT MASTER (£60/$96) and then select Print Add On's as the books as unlocked or choose SETTING BOOK MASTER for £250 (saving you £150) on the main setting books and guides or the massive unlimited NECROMAGUS for £400 - this is worth approx £620 (saving you £220) and includes EVERY SINGLE book we unlock in print and bonus PDF's!
Here's a graphic explaining what you get in our most popular and recommended pledges. You can see details of other Pledges in the right hand column. Check shipping using the Pledge Calculator.
To add these to your pledge just go to the big green 'Manage My Pledge' at the top right and increase your pledge by the total of the Add On's you want. We confirm what you want in a survey after the Kickstarter. You will have about 6-8 weeks to add to your pledge or change it. To work out your shipping is easy - see the Shipping section below. Add On's are marked: BOOK, ACCESSORY, MINIATURES or SPECIAL so you know whether they are included in the Necromagus Pledge or above.
Dark Soul & Apostles Guide is now a full colour softback!
Dark Symmetry Campaign is now a full colour soft back!
Dark Legion Campaign is now a full colour soft back!
The PDF Master Upgrade is for pledges at PDF Master and above that want to benefit from the Subscription bonus offer. It does also include the PDF Decks.
Check out the T-Shirt Designs Options on this page! You can choose any of the logos on any of the designs shown!
Yes that is an Achtung! Cthulhu d10 in the Dice Collector set :-)
Special Bonus! Dark Symmetry Art Master & NPC Art Master,Art Fanatic, Dark Apostle & Dark Soul pledge artworks will all feature in the Villain or NPC Decks!
NEW ADD ON: 20 CARDINALS CROWNS (NO GRAPHIC): £20 / $32. Weight 0.2kg. SPECIAL. Campaign Coins will be creating the metal Cardinal's Crowns to use as Chronicle points. These are mini versions of the limited edition Medallion seen above - with the Cardinals Crown main design on one side and the Dark Legion design on the reverse, so they could also double as Dark Symmetry points.
If you just want Achtung! Cthulhu Add On's just pledge £1 then increase your pledge amount based on what you want! All Achtung! Cthulhu Add On's are SPECIALS.
More will be added soon!
Shipments will be sent from the UK. It's really easy to calculate how much shipping you need to add to your Pledge total. Simply check the weights of the items (Pledges & Add On's show the total weights) in your order and compare it to the table below. You can also use our Pledge Calculator to work out the shipping for you.
Tracked and faster Courier shipping options will be available later on. The Dark Symmetry Core book, as many of the other books that are ready and all the miniatures and accessories will be shipped in Wave 1. Split shipping options will be available for those want to receive products as they're finished.
Currently you can select the following sets (with more to be unlocked)
- Bauhaus - Noble Officer, Templar, Venussian Ranger
- Imperial - Blood Beret, ISF Field Agent, Wolfbane
- Capitol - Luna P.D. Detective, Free Marine, Veteran with attitude
- Mishima - Ronin, Demon Hunter, Shadow Walker
- Cybertronic - Technologist, Attila, Field Asset
- Brotherhood - Keeper of the Art, Inquisitor, Sacred Warrior
- Corporate Agents (5 figure set)
- Heretics (5 figure set)
- Villains (3 figure set
- Whitestar (3 figure set)
- Dark Symmetry Creatures: Cable Marionettes (3 figure set)
- Dark Symmetry Creatures: Malignants (3 figure set)
Next we will be unlocking Civilian Heroes, Dark Legion Creatures and more. There will also be a set of incredible floor plans by one of the leading designers in the industry.
Our guarantee to you: We will be unable to show all sculpts before the end of the Kickstarter, so if you don't like the final unveiled designs of miniatures we will refund the Miniature share of your pledge.
Sets cost £15 each. Miniatures will come with Warzone cards where appropriate and we'll also be providing conversion rules to take your heroes and adventurers in to the Warzone game or from Warzone in to the RPG.
See the massive list of press on our Press page here - here's a selection of interviews and features:
- Doom Trooper Radio Interview
- iCV2
- The Examiner Interview
- RPGNet Interview #41
- Bring Your A Game Interview
- Tabletop Gaming News - A Little Better!
- Geek News Network
- Undergopher interview
- Nerdup interview
- Shut Up & Take My Money Interview (from 7:37)
- Combat Phase Podcast Interview
- Geek Native interview
- Beasts of War
- Tabletop Gaming News
- GMS Magazine Interview
- RPG Pundit
- Dorkland Interview
- Obskures interview
- SFX Magazine
- Game Knight Reviews
- Channel 2 interview!
- Gaming Gang Podcast ( 21:38)
- Beasts of War
- Forja y Desvan TV in Spanish & English
- Geek Apocalypse (Ep 51) Interview
- Interview
- MisdirectedMark Interview
- Mad Adventurers Society Interview
- Gamers Codex Interview
- io9 Feature
The Retailer Pledge which allows you to select a minimum four copies of the Dark Symmetry core rules & setting book at wholesale pricing.
You will need to email us to confirm you are a valid retail store (otherwise your pledge will be reduced to a Print Master Pledge with credit). You will be able to add some additional select items using our Retail Price list.
Modiphius launched in 2012 and ran the hugely successful Achtung! Cthulhu Kickstarter in April 2013. Check out some of the wonderful feedback on the Kickstarter page or check out our interviews and reviews on our website.
Modiphius was founded by Chris Birch, who's background includes the production of big ranges of merchandise for fashion and video games companies. Backers of Achtung! Cthulhu will testify to the quality of product they have been receiving. Chris co-wrote Starblazer Adventures and Legends of Anglerre, the FATE based games prior to launching Modiphius and has played everything from D&D and Ogre to Flames of War and Pandemic. Chris lives in London with his wife Rita who looks after customer service, orders and admin.
We have a growing team of designers, editors, writers and artists to bring these worlds to life, and we expand the team to suit each new project. We're passionate about creating great quality, fantastic stories and growing the family of friends who love what we do.
Risks and challenges
Any project like this can suffer delays from many sources; writers, artists, layout, design, editing, proof reading, printing and shipping. With so many people involved in a project it's highly unlikely that there will not be some drama. Of course people have lives and you have to build in leeway for events that can slow things down. We have considerable experience in producing large volumes of different types of products for deadlines so are confident we can deliver quality products in the timeline we have set.
Having produced and delivered the main shipment of our first Kickstarter we've learned lessons about allowing more time for the variety of issues that can come up, and having a wider pool of creatives to fill in the gaps when needed. We've also simplified our shipping and pledge calculator to make it easier for backers to understand the options.Learn about accountability on Kickstarter
Funding period
- (40 days)


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LONDON, England (CNN) -- Somewhere in South America right now a head-banger is getting very excited.
The crowd went wild when Iron Maiden took to the stage in Colombia earlier this year. They're going back in March, 2009.
Veteran hell-raisers Iron Maiden have announced five new tour dates in Brazil, within months of playing to capacity crowds in some of country's biggest music venues.
Last March, they packed the 40,000 capacity Palmeiras Stadium in Sao Paulo. Next March, they'll be following in the formidable footsteps of Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton, rock band Kiss and the Pope, no less, to wow the crowds at the Autodromo de Interlagos.
The race track is one venue they don't expect to sell out.
"Capacity is about 400,000. I don't think we'll get 400,000," Iron Maiden's manager Rod Smallwood told CNN, "We're set for about 60,000 and we hope to go past that."
The band has every reason to be confident of strong ticket sales in South America where fan loyalty verges on fanaticism. Watch part one of Iron Maiden Revealed »
When the band last toured Curitiba in Brazil in March 2008, thousands of ecstatic "Maiden" supporters kept them awake overnight by booming Iron Maiden music outside their hotel.
Across Latin America, they sold 250,000 tickets in less than one week to nine concerts in seven countries. In Colombia, they set a new record for the fastest ticket sales of any event.
Rapid ticket sales are expected this Saturday when seats go on sale for three new concerts in Latin America: Venezuela, Colombia and Chile.
Tickets for concerts in Brazil are due to go on sale next week -- along with seats for four concerts which are still to be announced, in four more countries, two of which will host Iron Maiden for the first time.
"We've always had tremendous success with the fans down there (in Latin America)," said Smallwood.
But why, many may be moved to ask? What is it about Iron Maiden and South America? Are they in love with Iron Maiden or is it heavy metal as a music genre that's really captured their hearts? What do you think? Sound off below.
Malcolm Dome, presenter of British heavy metal radio station TotalRock has a theory.
"The Latin way of life seems to connect with heavy metal enormously," he told CNN. "It's not just in South America, it's the Latin communities in Spain and Portugal."
"I think it's got a lot to do with what heavy metal represents -- passion, energy, emotion, rebellion, a slight anarchy. I think it's the part of the Latin mentality," he added.
Iron Maiden may have been formed in a London pub the 1970s, but it wasn't until 1985 when they took to the stage at the original "Rock in Rio" concert that their South American fan base began to swell.
The band played one gig as guests of British compatriots, Queen, that was broadcast live across the continent winning them new fans, many of whom have stayed loyal over the years.
Heavy metal has not always been viewed with the same sense of awe by fans in South America, according to Cristiane Richardson, a Brazilian who presents the weekly heavy metal radio show Sonic Attack from London.
"It started perhaps as a novelty," Richardson told CNN, "Maybe it was kids rebelling against the samba or the church, but for many years it was looked on as a joke almost."
"[But] it slowly gained credibility and now if you go to a Havana show you'll see several generations -- fathers bringing their sons and nephews. Older people appreciate it as well. It's not just young kids."
She said Iron Maiden's sheer hard work has also won them fans.
"They make an effort everywhere they go to meet their fans and to learn the local language."
Claudio Vicentin, the editor of South America's best-selling heavy metal magazine Revista Roadie Crew, said, for some fans, heavy metal songs are their first introduction to the English language.
"In Brazil and South America many heavy metal fans begin to learn English translating the lyrics and singing together the lyrics on concerts."
"The fans here are very passionate about music. And then, once you like heavy metal, you are going to die listening to heavy metal. You are not going to love Iron Maiden just for one summer."
What is it about the music? "It's the energy of the sound," Vicentin said. "The guitar riffs, the melodies, the heavy drummer sound and the voice of the singer."
Right now, the band is taking a rest from a grueling schedule that started with the first concert in the "Somewhere Back in Time" tour in India last February. From there they went to Australia, Japan, the U.S., Latin America and Europe.
The tour resumes on February 9, when they'll pack up their version of a tour bus, Ed Force One, a 757 airliner decked out in Iron Maiden logos and take again to the skies for the first scheduled concert in Dubai.
As in previous legs, lead singer Bruce Dickinson will be in the pilot's seat, flying the entire band and their roadies from city to city.
One thing that will change is the line up.
"It will be different from last time," Smallwood told CNN. "We'll have pyros with us which we didn't take last time (and) there'll be a few songs we didn't do last time."


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FDP Forum / Non-Fender Gear Reviews / How many overdrive pedals? (This message was last edited by vegetablejoe at 07:49 PM, Jan 2nd, 2013)
(This message was last edited by Ricey at 10:17 AM, Dec 25th, 2013)
FDP Forum / Non-Fender Gear Reviews / How many overdrive pedals?
SDSU Aztec for LIFE
Jan 10th, 2012 09:25 PM Edit Profile
I've reached a point where I find that playing with two OD pedals is very advantageous. In my case, I would use the first one as a clean boost, then the 2nd one for leads. This gives us 4 different tones, assuming your including your clean sound. I know SRV did this in the matter of having an 808 on all the time, and hitting a TS9 for his leads. Currently I have my klon centaur first providing a boost, as it is the most transparent OD I own and as a matter of fact, know of. I use the TS9 to really bring the balls. I was wondering if 3 OD pedals can even add more, but apart of me thinks it would be overkill. I have a 808 Malaysian tube screamer coming in the mail, and cant wait to combine it with my klon and ts9
Rick Plays The Blues
May I try that again?
Jan 10th, 2012 10:29 PM Edit Profile
Never did this with three pedals but occasionally used two pedals and preamp od from the amp, which is kind of the same thing.
I set my gain usually rather low, so if I want to increase gain, I need to switch on some more pedals.
I use a Maxon OD-808 and a ZVex Box of Rock, Maxon in front.
I like it, that these two sound very different so I can get a cool sounding mix of both with both on. In case of some preamp dirt, the boost side of the BOR of course again adds gain, so if I use e.g. my Marshall Vintage Modern with just low gain, Maxon and BOR with low gain, turning on the BOR boost and drive AND the Maxon gets me quite a lot of fluid gain :)
And I have an awful lot of variation with just a few switches.
I could well imagine doing this all with pedals as well.
Modal Magic
Contributing Member
MBJ, Highway Hound.
You Can't Bend It Aussie!
Jan 12th, 2012 08:50 PM Edit Profile
I was comparing the modelled TS9 on my Distortion Factory with the Ibanez TS808 RI. Anyway, I kicked them in together and oh my! what a sound.
Sort of like dipping your French Fries in mash and gravy. Yum.
Spud on spud.
usa/east bay sf
Ain't no time to hate
Jan 18th, 2012 01:08 PM Edit Profile
On my main pedal board I have a CAE/MXR MC-402 booster (both clean and OD)> zendrive clone > DOD Hardwire OD > BB+ (2 settings), so a total of 6 options. This gives me the ability to tweak my gain/volume/tone in a variety of ways - for example I use the CAE/MXR OD setting with the tone fairly dark so I can kick in a woman type tone at any point without messing with any tone controls, the Hardwire I set at fairly high gain but with a slight volume dip for crunch chords that won't overwhelm vocals, etc. Of course I can layer them for a variety of palates.
In addition I use a 2-loop pedal which allows me to kick my main pedal board in/out in loop 1, along with a TC Nova System multieffects unit (which has it's own drive/boost options)in loop 2.
For me the main advantage is that I find OD pedal response to vary from room to room - this way I know I'll usually have at least one or two options that will work right.
I use a similar concept with delays, setting one pedal (DD-6)for long, single rep delay, another one (RV-3) for deep reverb with rockabilly style slapback, the TC Nova for U2 edge style delays. Get some really lush textures when layering all.
Contributing Member
Axe Victim
Jan 18th, 2012 02:52 PM Edit Profile
I've never been able to get two OD pedals to provide "my sound" when used together, including trying two Maxon OD-808 units (one acting as a boost).
They always sound too compressed IMHO and your signal doesn't cut through the band mix as well.
Rick Plays The Blues
May I try that again?
Jan 18th, 2012 10:36 PM Edit Profile
I can imagine that some pedals, including my beloved Maxon OD-808, do not take a boost too well.
When I stack pedals (solid state all of them), I use all of them to add distortion, not increase the signal level (all set for unity gain volume-wise)
And I personally like it better to use very different pedals, which then lets two very different overtone structures mix together.
A boost in front in my ears only works really well with tube gear.
Contributing Member
Axe Victim
Jan 26th, 2012 10:27 AM Edit Profile
Interesting, thanks.
Power Trio
West Virginia
Jan 26th, 2012 01:08 PM Edit Profile
all i use is a sparkle drive.
my main amp is a pro rev RI and it has a built in boost function that sends it over the top for solos
bascially its the effects loop with nothing
plugged into it and the in and outs set at 5 or more.
its gives a boost effect thats SRV heaven.
Contributing Member
Buckeye Country, USA
Motorcycles, Guitars, and Golf
Jan 26th, 2012 01:14 PM Edit Profile
"When I stack pedals (solid state all of them), I use all of them to add distortion, not increase the signal level"
Ditto! Although, I use my TonePress compressor on occasion for a slight lead boost. It adds more sustain when it's above unity gain.
Rick Plays The Blues
May I try that again?
Jan 27th, 2012 02:01 AM Edit Profile
Lefty - interesting, I do the same with my compressor ... it is first in the chain, mainly adds sustain, but adds a little signal level as well.
And you know what. On a very few occasions, I have all these on in the following chain: comp, od-808, BoX Of Rock distortron, BOR boost ... with all pedals on, I get some feedback turning more into endless sustain. I call it my tapping sound :)
Contributing Member
LA-la-land, CA
Insert clever comment here
Jan 30th, 2012 06:24 PM Edit Profile
"Never did this with three pedals but occasionally used two pedals and preamp od from the amp, which is kind of the same thing."
I do this too. Although one of my pedals, a RAT, is more of a fuzz. I also have a clean boost as the last pedal before the amp, which gives yet another flavor of OD.
I used to have a 3rd OD, an older Fulltone Full-Drive 2, for just a little dirt, but I never could bond with it, and now it's in the "for sale" bin....
super mario
tone to the bone no other way
Feb 5th, 2012 08:57 AM Edit Profile
I think it is more the norm for most folks. I've made it a regular part of my small collection of pedals. With the Fender amps (silver face DR and black face PR), it is two levels, with the PV Classic 30 (including its OD channel) I have three. Currently the pedals of choice is a DOD Preamp/OD 250 reissue in front of a Cmatmods Signa Drive (which has a three way toggle for additional OD levels - Marshally OD (up position), Clean Boost (middle) and TS (down position and is lower output more compressed sounding). So "if" you figure the options of the Signa Drive, then it expands greatly. Typically it is either "up" or "down" on the toggle. The 250 is darker and adds some grit to the Fender clean at the lower volume levels. As the Peavey can get dirty via channel switching, I tend to bypass the 250 and use just the Signa Drive when using that amp.
Massachusetts, USA
Feb 17th, 2012 07:32 AM Edit Profile
I always use two. I've got my ZVEX BoR set for light dirt, but it adds a lot of color and also has a built in clean boost. I've also got an MI Audio Crunchbox that I use to get the cranked Marshall tone on an occasional solo.
Jun 18th, 2012 01:35 PM Edit Profile
I've got a TS-808 going into a Zvex BoR and love the option of either or both, plus boost. I recently picked up a hand painted BoR to replace a Vexter version, and to my ears it definitely sounds different (darker, slightly noisier), the Vexter was perhaps closer to the 808, which I liked, but the hand painted gives me more variety, which I like. The Vexter was easier to keep on all the time and vary with just the volume on the guitar. I also have a Fuzz Factory to send things over the top....
pie solves everything
Jan 2nd, 2013 06:51 AM Edit Profile
I use a dirt box and an eq pedal for dirt and boost
Brown Sound in a Box and BOSS 7 band
But I have used two od pedals in the past to do the same thing
Jan 2nd, 2013 07:38 PM Edit Profile
Two od pedals is my norm. The 1st for crunch chords and the second for lead boost. I have a lot of fun mixing up the pedals and their order and discovering combinations that click.
Choosing which to use from among the od pedals that I can't seem to let go is as much part of the fun as playing:
Beano Boost >Sunface >Skreddy Screwdriver >V. Rat >Mooer Cruncher > TS clone >Jetter GSR >KOTv4 >Timmy
If there's extra space on my PT Nano board, I add a mini-sized clean boost, for those times when I need to play louder clean rhythm behind two loud lead guitarists who love to turn up their amps and play without pedals.
The od pedal combination becomes a challenge when the rehearsal studios we use provide purely solidstate amps. Finding which od pedals sound great with ss amps at gig volume (two at a time) is a long drawn-out process.
Dec 25th, 2013 08:13 AM Edit Profile
MXR Distortion+ or Rat set to low gain into TS808 or TS-9 set to low gain into crunchy amp with EQ in effects loop to add back the lows cut by the Tubescreamer is a great 80's type of sound.
The distortion pedal adds a little "hair", the Tubescreamer provides a mid boost and tightens up the lows going into the amp and the EQ compensates for the lows cut by the Tubescreamer. Adding the lows back in after the amp preamp creates a tight punchy sound.
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Steve Downie (torn ACL) out for season; does this put more pressure on Avs to sign Ryan O'Reilly now?
Good question. I would say, if it doesn't put any pressure on the Avs to sign O'Reilly, something is wrong with them. It should.
As you may have heard by now, Steve Downie is done for the season already with a torn ACL. Brad Malone has been called up from Lake Erie, but Chuck Kobasew is the man who likely will fill Downie's spot in the lineup for now. (I've been tough on Kobasew before, probably a little unfair even. So I'll keep a wide-open mind on his play going forward).
But what about the question of O'Reilly?
Well, I see it like this: While I still believe the Avs' offer to O'Reilly is fair – five years at $17 million or $7 million over two years – Downie's injury makes it more imperative that the Avs do something to make up for his loss. Yeah, maybe Kobasew and Malone light it up in place of Downie, but otherwise the Avs still have a problem now with depth at the forward spots. Adding your leading scorer from last season, a 21-year-old kid with leadership and talent, wouldn't be such a bad idea.
The Avs can cling to principle all they want with O'Reilly, but when your hand is forced by things such as injuries, you can't sit on principle forever. You have to do something to, you know, give yourselves the best chance to win hockey games. That might mean having to give in and pay a little more than you feel you should to a player.
I think it's time for the Avs to stop pretending they don't need O'Reilly and find a way to get this thing done.
One of the Avs' big problems in this whole thing with O'Reilly is: he has a great situation in Russia.
While I do NOT know exactly what he's making over there, more than one person in the game I trust believes he's making at least $4 million in the KHL – TAX FREE.
*Update: I don't think it's tax-free after all.
He's playing with his brother Cal, too. And he's not married, has no kids. He's got no commitments anywhere. He can afford to do what he's doing, and not feel pressured to sign a deal he doesn't want with the Avs.
And it's up to Greg Sherman and the rest of Avs management to realize this. They have a big competitor for O'Reilly's services, and that gives him leverage. That means that they may have to overpay in their estimation. OK, that's life. He has the leverage, so you have to recognize it. You can't cut off your nose to spite your face.
This Downie injury reinforces the fact that depth is a luxury that sometimes you have to pay a premium to attain. The Avs can add a quality player if they choose right now without costing them any other asset besides money. And with about $16 million to play with under the salary cap – plus Downie's $2.65 million now coming off the cap because of long-term injury relief – the Avs can well afford to do this.
So, my view now is: it's time for the Avs to swallow some of their pride and make their team better. And that means signing Ryan O'Reilly and getting on with life.


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Cory Isaacson – CEO & CTO, CodeFutures Corporation
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With 2nd International Big Data Expo (www.BigDataExpo.net), co-located with Cloud Expo Silicon Valley (11th Cloud Expo), due to open in four weeks' 'time at the Santa Clara Convention Center, CA, let's introduce you in greater detail to the distinguished individuals in our incredible Speaker Faculty for the technical program at the West Coast conference...
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2ND INTERNATIONAL BIGDATAEXPO SESSION TITLE: Scaling Big Data in the Cloud
"There are many techniques for partitioning a database, all under the heading of "sharding." But regardless of which technique you are referring to, the purpose is basically the same – spread your data out in a manner that allows parallel processing across multiple servers, allowing your database to scale with load. Done correctly, the results can be pretty amazing, frankly even surprising some of us on the dbShards team. In short, sharding really works."
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One of the most important and blazingly original writers of his generation, George Saunders is an undisputed master of the short story, and Tenth of December is his most honest, accessible, and moving collection yet.
In the taut opener, "Victory Lap," a boy witnesses the attempted abduction of the girl next door and is faced with a harrowing choice: Does he ignore what he sees, or override years of smothering advice from his parents and act? In "Home," a combat-damaged soldier moves back in with his mother and struggles to reconcile the world he left with the one to which he has returned. And in the title story, a stunning meditation on imagination, memory, and loss, a middle-aged cancer patient walks into the woods to commit suicide, only to encounter a troubled young boy who, over the course of a fateful morning, gives the dying man a final chance to recall who he really is.
A hapless, deluded owner of an antiques store; two mothers struggling to do the right thing; a teenage girl whose idealism is challenged by a brutal brush with reality; a man tormented by a series of pharmaceutical experiments that force him to lust, to love, to kill—the unforgettable characters that populate the pages of Tenth of December are vividly and lovingly infused with Saunders's signature blend of exuberant prose, deep humanity, and stylistic innovation.
Writing brilliantly and profoundly about class, sex, love, loss, work, despair, and war, Saunders cuts to the core of the contemporary experience. These stories take on the big questions and explore the fault lines of our own morality, delving into the questions of what makes us good and what makes us human.
Unsettling, insightful, and hilarious, the stories in Tenth of December—through their manic energy, their focus on what is redeemable in human beings, and their generosity of spirit—not only entertain and delight; they fulfill Chekhov's dictum that art should "prepare us for tenderness."
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Prime Minister David Cameron will spell out plans to dilute Britain's membership in the European Union on Friday (18 January) in the Netherlands, a move that could reshape its role in the world, upset some of the premier's allies and decide his government's fate.
On Monday (14 January), when the date for the long talked about speech was finally fixed, the Conservative leader disappointed some in his party by rejecting calls for a quick referendum on leaving the bloc. But he did seem to offer the public the prospect of a vote after renegotiating London's terms of membership.
In what could be one of the most fateful speeches on Europe by a British leader since World War Two, Cameron is expected to say the euro crisis and the closer integration it is driving is a chance for Britain, which has rejected the single currency, to establish a more arms-length relationship with its 26 partners.
Critics say his manoeuvring risks setting in chain an unpredictable sequence of events that could see Britain quit the Union – willingly or unwillingly – and leave the world's sixth largest economy looking like an offshore version of Switzerland or Norway, with considerably less influence than it now wields.
But Cameron, leading a party and a country with a strong anti-European streak, dismisses such talk as fear-mongering. He says he wants Britain to remain in a reformed EU but to seize back control of areas of public life where he and others believe Brussels' influence has become overbearing and pernicious.
In his speech, Cameron is likely to identify major policy areas – from immigration to employment law and legal affairs – where he wants to claw back core competencies from the EU.
"Right now I think there are a lot of people who say 'I would like to be in Europe, but I'm not happy with every aspect of the relationship, so I want it changed'. That is my view," he told the BBC in an interview on Monday.
With anti-EU feeling on the rise at home, he is likely to promise a rare referendum on any new settlement he manages to broker, part of a process that risks upsetting many countries in the EU, by far Britain's biggest trading partner.
"It would be an act of mutual weakness for the UK and for Europe if Britain were to leave the Union," French European Commissioner Michel Barnier said on Monday.
That message was reinforced by a French diplomatic source in the office of President François Hollande who said Britain could not have an "a la carte" Europe: "Britain cannot be like Norway in terms of its obligations and still benefit from the single market," the source said.
JoaquÍn Almunia, the vice president of the European Commission, said a British decision to leave the EU would be "very bad" for other member states and "a disaster" for London, and he thought it would be "extremely difficult" for Cameron to renegotiate ties with the bloc.
"When you belong to a club you cannot be an influential member saying I don't want to accept this provision," he told the BBC's Hardtalk program.
Cameron on a tight spot
Britain joined the bloc in 1973.
Cameron is in a tight spot. Opinion polls have consistently shown that a slim majority of the British public wants to leave the EU and a powerful clique inside his own party is pressuring him to call an "in or out" referendum.
He is also in danger of being outflanked on the issue by an upstart political party whose popularity has surged.
Yet prominent business leaders, the opposition Labour party, and figures like former Labour prime minister Tony Blair have warned that his stance risks damaging inward investment and damaging Britain's standing on the world stage.
The issue is potentially career-ending for Cameron. Margaret Thatcher, one of his predecessors, was ousted by her party over the EU and it is a subject that has triggered bitter infighting.
The United States, a close ally, is watching closely. A senior US official made an unusually forceful diplomatic intervention into what is an emotive domestic debate last week, saying Washington wanted Britain to stay inside the EU and remain a "strong voice".
That appeared to be a calculated message sent at a time when Cameron was putting the finishing touches to his Europe speech.
Anti-EU rhetoric to deepen coalition rift
Many Britons blame the EU for what they regard as excessive immigration and say they want Britain to seize back full control of its borders and for British judges to not be subordinate to supranational bodies such as the European Court of Justice.
But many others in the EU are growing exasperated by what they see as Britain's new doubts about the European project.
An ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned on 10 January that Cameron risked isolating Britain and paralysing European integration if he held a referendum, while Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny has described the idea of Britain quitting the EU as "disastrous".
Complicating matters is the pro-EU stance of Cameron's coalition partners in the two-party government, the centre-left Liberal Democrats.
Their leader Nick Clegg has described talk of repatriating powers from Brussels as a "false promise wrapped in a Union Jack" and strong anti-EU rhetoric in Cameron's speech could deepen rifts in the coalition.
Liberal Democrat foreign policy spokesman Martin Horwood said flirting with an EU exit would be taking an "insane risk" with the British economy.
"There are alarm bells ringing in governments around the world that Britain is on some path to exit and that David Cameron hasn't stood up to the Euroskeptics, or Europhobes, in his own party," he told Reuters.
However, anything less than offering a vote containing an option to quit the EU would anger many Conservative lawmakers.
"He could unite 95% of the Conservative Party if he were to announce a renegotiation of the terms of our relationship with Europe followed by an in-out referendum," said Peter Bone, a Conservative Euroskeptic lawmaker.
Any member state has the right to secede from the European Union, though none has ever done so.
Cameron says he is acutely aware of the economic benefits of trading with a single market of 500 million Europeans. The bloc accounts for around half of Britain's trade.
Opposition leader Ed Miliband, whose Labour Party has a 12-point opinion poll lead over the Conservatives, said on Sunday (13 January) it would be "incredibly dangerous" to commit to a referendum on Britain's EU membership: "The prime minister," he said, "Is sleep-walking us towards the exit door."


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The worst recession since World War II? Shaping up that way
WASHINGTON — The government's report Friday of an 8.1 percent unemployment rate equals the jobless number that the Obama administration has projected for the entire year. Few economists think that optimistic projection will hold, and many think that more big job losses are likely, with grim implications for the housing and banking crises.
Employers shed another 651,000 jobs in February, the Labor Department said Friday, pushing the nation's unemployment rate up from 7.6 percent to 8.1 percent. That's the highest jobless rate in a quarter-century and a clear sign that the deep U.S. economic recession isn't abating.
The monthly Employment Situation Summary also revised the jobs numbers for December and January downward, for a combined 161,000 more lost jobs than had been reported earlier. This pointed to a steeper economic contraction early this year than all but the gloomiest forecasters had projected.
Underscoring the rapid pace of decline, the department's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that payroll employment has fallen by 2.6 million people in the past four months alone. Over the past 12 months, the number of unemployed has increased by about 5 million. Some 12.5 million Americans are now jobless.
"This is what falling off a cliff looks like," said Larry Mishel, the president of the liberal Economic Policy Institute. Mishel looked at trends in the first 14 months of past recessions and concluded that "we've seen the sharpest decline in employment and the sharpest decline in private sector hours worked — a 5.5 percent decline — than in any recession in 50 years."
Tables attached to the jobs report included some lesser-known indicators that point to even greater trouble ahead, especially in the sagging housing sector.
One is a near-doubling of the unemployment rate of college-educated workers over the past 12 months to 4.1 percent from 2.1 percent. For workers with some college or associate degrees, the jobless rate has grown from 3.8 percent to 7 percent in the same period.
There now are more than 4.5 million unemployed in these two categories, more than a third of all jobless workers.
That means that consumer spending, the engine that powers most of the U.S. economy, is likely to sputter even more. Workers with the highest incomes tend to have the best credit scores and access to the best mortgage rates, and now the top customers for credit card companies and mortgage lenders are joining the ranks of those who're falling behind on mortgage payments and losing their homes.
The increasing number of white-collar workers who are losing their jobs threatens to produce a new wave of foreclosures on top of the steep numbers of foreclosures on sub-prime mortgages, which were given to the weakest borrowers. It suggests that a housing recovery will depend on a jobs recovery.
"A 4 percent rate might look pretty low, but it's doubled in slightly more" than a year, said Jay Brinkmann, the chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association. "It is very difficult to deal with the mortgage issue separately, without realizing so much of it now is going to be driven by job losses," Brinkmann said in a conference call Thursday before the numbers came out.
President Barack Obama took note of Friday's jobs numbers during a graduation ceremony at a police academy in Columbus, Ohio. He said his multifaceted economic rescue plan aimed to reverse the steep job losses, but he pleaded for Americans to give his $787 billion economic stimulus plan and his housing plan time to work.
The revisions to the December and January job losses, along with the fact that most economists now expect a much more severe economic contraction in the first three months of this year, call into question some of the assumptions in the Obama administration's financial rescue plans.
The nation's 19 largest banks are undergoing so-called "stress tests" by regulators to gauge whether they have enough capital to withstand a "severe" downturn, in which the unemployment rate hits 10.3 percent.
When it was unveiled last month, that seemed like an improbable number. Now, however, "the severe downturn scenario is looking more and more like the good (case) outcome of our economy," said Campbell Harvey, an economist at Duke University in Durham, N.C.
"Unemployment takes a while to come around, so you can be past the trough of the recession and unemployment continues to increase. Part of the problem is what we've got now has got to get worse," Harvey said. "Even if we had a recovery in summer of 2009, the numbers will continue to get worse throughout 2009."
How much worse?
Harvey is a research associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research, the organization that calls recessions. He and colleagues at Duke recently did a survey with CFO magazine and found that chief financial officers of corporations expect to slash 5.7 percent of their work forces this year. That's about 6.3 million additional private-sector jobs lost, and implies an unemployment rate of 12.2 percent — and those numbers reflect only planned layoffs, not closures as companies are shuttered.
Few mainstream economists are projecting an unemployment rate much higher than 10.5 percent, but mainstream economists admittedly have been wrong for much of the past 18 months.
(Margaret Talev contributed to this report.)
Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report
Adminstration's economic assumptions
To ask a question about this story or any economic question, go to McClatchy's economy Q&A
It may be a decade before Dow's back to 12,000, oracle says
Obama lends a little help to homeowners who face foreclosure
Fed, Treasury try another tack to lubricate lending machinery


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Q&A with Soccer's Kevin Murray
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Through its first five games of 2005, the UCSD Men's Soccer team has rolled up a record of 4-1 and allowed a measly two goals against. One of the vital cogs in the Triton defense is senior Kevin Murray, a second team All-CCAA selection last year when he started all 15 games for Coach Derek Armstrong. "Kevin came in as a forward and was converted to a defender," says Armstrong. "His greatest value is reliability. He gives us great consistency and steadiness in the back. He's also got that doggedness you like in a player and has turned into a bit of a leader for us." The 5-8
Q-What's been responsible for the team's excellent start this season?
In the past off-season, everyone put in a lot of work—more than in the past—and that's made a difference. For a lot of us, this could be the last chance we'll have to play soccer at this high a level.
Q-What was the team's feeling after suffering its first loss in the CCAA opener last week at Cal State L.A.?
There's still a long way to go, though. One loss isn't going to get us down.
Q-Looking at the team's early season play overall, how would you gauge it's chances in the CCAA?
Every team is the league is tough so it should be a close race. Last year was very disappointing and is one of the reasons so many people put in so much work in the off-season. There is a real hunger to get back to the post-season again.
Q-Last year's team narrowly missed the conference championship and NCAA Playoffs. What is the strength of this year's club and is it capable of being better than last year's?
It's not just our defenders but really overall team defense, including our forwards. You won't find many good soccer teams that don't have a strong defense.
I think this year's team is better than last year's. We have the experience of last season to build on, know what are shortcomings were and where we need to improve. Sometimes we didn't get properly motivated for easy games and let a couple get away. That's something we want to avoid this fall.
Q-How important is chemistry on the soccer field?
I think it's also beneficial that all the players on the team are also friends. We hang out all the time, even in the off-season, we surf together and a number of us are in Sigma Chi Fraternity together. A lot of that transfers over to the field and makes us more cohesive.
Q-Who are the leaders on the field?
Dustin Tannenhaus (junior) is also a pretty motivational-type of guy who can rally the team when it's needed.
Q-Speaking of the four seniors you came in with, how would you briefly describe each?
Q-What about Kevin Murray? How would you describe yourself?
Q-What have you learned from Derek Armstrong?
He's very passionate about what he's doing with us. He pays a lot of attention to details and has a great knowledge of the game.
Q-What do you enjoy most about soccer?
Q-What brought you to UCSD?
I'm going to graduate in June with a degree in psychology. I hope to work somewhere after that and go to business school and get an MBA at some point down the road. I don't really have any set plans. For awhile, I'm just going to see what the world brings my way.
Carl Lostrom (Men's Cross Country) - September 13, 2005
Clark Petersen (Men's Water Polo) - September 6, 2005


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