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The Escapist Game Circle: Psychonauts
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aahh escort missions.... the bane of gamers all over the globe.
Finally got a chance to load up the game on my PC yesterday. The wireless 360 controller works pretty damn well, and I really enjoyed the first hour or so I was able to plug into the game. Definitely looking forward to get in some more time tonight.
I've played this game through to the end twice, once on the PC and once on the Xbox. The first time through, I didn't bother collecting everything and had a great time. The second time, I collected everything and while it wasn't necessary, it gave me that extra bit of challenge to actually finish the game again.
In terms of some of the complaints that I've read so far, I think they're valid. But really, not one of those things was so frustrating to me that I put the game down. In fact, if I had to point out one thing that kept my hands glued to the controller and also puts this title in my top 10 favorite games, it would be VARIETY. I never got bored at seeing the same objects or textures ad nauseum. I'm playing Doom 3 right now and for me that is boredom incarnate in terms of maintaining my enthusiasm for what I'm looking at. The scares are great, but man am I sick of looking at metal walls and grates. But I digress.
I truly appreciated the variety in this game. Every level was unique. In terms of gameplay, it added or removed different pieces of the control scheme for effect. The first time I got to smash buildings as Goggolor was sublime and I smashed away with the glee of a five year old with a sand castle. In the dance party level, rolling the ball along the race course and playing a little 3D version of pinball was a good change of pace. It was these small tweaks to the gameplay which forced me to continually change my style of play to suit the environment that made this game sustainable.
The other elements of the game also helped to cement its status in my mind. The visual themes and styles were always changing giving my eyes some new candy every hour or so. The voice acting was first rate, also. There was rarely, if ever, a missed line or a character that wasn't memorable. When I missed rescuing Dogan the first time through, I actually felt bad. That kid is cute. The music was just right, too. It acheived a good balance between memorable melodies without crossing the line into annoying territory.
There really aren't many games I'll play more than once. But every single one on my top 10 list gets dusted off now and again for another go and Psychonauts is definitely in that category for me.
I just met the guard who has implied that I need to find the Milkman. Unfortunately I've never gotten anywhere near the 800 arrowheads needed to purchase the cobweb duster. Time to start dowsing, I guess. Bleh.
Anyone else run into this wall? I don't remember if I ever did or not, but by the third time I played it through, I was enjoying the dowsing so much i always had plenty of arrowheads.
I'm one of those people who has to hunt down every last collectible in a game, so I didn't have a problem. But he's right--you have to have 800 arrowheads and be level 20 in order to continue the game at that point. Bit of a roadblock, that.
I'm currently just past the Milkman Conspiracy, it's weird, I bought the game over a year ago as a starter to video gaming. He stopped in the paintings, got frustrated when he couldn't figure it out. I have to say both times through I've thoroughly enjoyed the humor.
I'm playing the PS2 version, and the only thing that really bugs me is the camera. Otherwise, the imagination is just top notch. The Milkman conspiracy threw me a few times, in that I kept falling off the world. But the men in black were awesome.
And that is the reason for the goggles.
430 arrowheads and counting...
I played this game on the PC up until the part where you have to fight your dad, and scale a bunch of rotating metal screens that are ON FIRE, while he juggles threateningly an arm's length away, and if I get knocked off, I fall into the water and die.
I did that about 20 times before I quit and uninstalled. Great game, great story, great puzzles, bad pacing.
@JtheYellow: Both times I've played this game, first time a while back, second time just now for this Game Circle, I've gotten to those metal screens and died over and over and over again. The first time, I recall, I went to a guide to figure out what I was doing wrong. This time, I started doing it wrong again, died a few times, and experimented to figure it out again. To my mind, the way they set it up is highly contradictory to the way they want you to approach it. Very counter-intuitive, and it bit me both times.
@Game Circle: For the game as a whole, I was reminded of how awesome and cohesive each of the individual brains are. The themes used to tie each together, but make them wholly different experiences from the rest, are wonderful. The human pinball machine, the Escher-like schizos brain, each serves the purpose well.
On the art side, it amazes me that the characters themselves are so hideous, and I still find all of them so endearing. Most likely due to the quality of the writing and ever present humor.
Probably too much to ask for given the financial success of Psychonauts, but I get to the end of the game and I really wish that I could fly off on a mission and keep going! The one game is not enough! I want there to be more.
Then again, feeling this way about an IP is better than the way I feel about Star Wars after Lucas finished the prequels. Maybe we're all better off just letting it ride off into the sunset, never fading from glory. Now I just have to keep telling myself that..
I really have to chime in with disapproval of the final level. It was infuriating (and I was playing on a PC).
Err...no. PoP let you rewind time if you erred, somewhat removing the pain of the checkpoint save system. I don't know if that's all, but I don't recall the same amount of cursing going on when I completed SoT.
I found the end very frustrating, but I did get past it eventually. I picked it up off of Steam a month or two ago. It's possibly one of my favorite games ever, because it's so complete in terms of defining a real world. The Goggalor level is the one that cemented it for me - it's like someone took 5 different smaller games and stuffed them into this one, just for the variety.
Collecting a lot of arrowheads and buying the cobweb cleaner and the device that attracts mental energy to you from the camp store made the experience a lot better. There are so many figments through the whole game that collecting only the ones you encounter directly will get you as far as you need - level 30 is probably the highest you need to go in terms of 'required' achievement. Playing the game a second time through and making an effort to get as many figments and cards as I could did make the overall game easier in terms of added abilities, though.
Something interesting - there's a lot of times they put in dialogue that isn't needed in the normal course of the game, but still funny. For instance, you can take Mr. Pokeylope all around the camp at the end of the game, and each character will have different things to say. As you 'solve' different minds in the game, it's worth wandering around and talking to everyone you can find, as the conversations and situations change as people move around the camp. There's a number of videos on Youtube that show some of the conversations, including the extra little movie you get at the ending if you reach level 100 (which I have not been able to do).
Oh, and another thing, for anyone who hasn't seen it: Double Fine, the people who made Psychonauts, have regular comics on their website drawn by staff:
Scott Campbell, one of the cartoonists, was definitely involved in Psychonauts just looking at the style. He and others have shown up in various small press comics efforts - I noticed Campbell in the recent Flight 4 anthology:
I was really looking forward to this game. I'm a massive Tim Schaefer fan, and was excited from when they first announced it. But I think I made an error buying the PS2 version. I've never finished it. I simply can't outrun the rising water when you fight your Dad. It was driving me completely nuts. Every time I log into Steam I'm half tempted to buy it again, but I don't know that I can be bothered to play it all from scratch.
The Milkman Conspiracy is a great level. And Lungfishopolis, as no-one's mentioned that yet. Though I was stuck for a good while on the boss fight at the end. Also, the first time you face the brain tank. Drove me round the bend. Maybe that's PS2 controls as well. Nightmare.
So I've finally beaten Psychonauts, and it was good. The final level, it was not so good. The escort was slightly frustrating, I missed one of the grinder areas because I thought I was supposed to jump below and it was above. Man were those bunnies annoying. I found the most frustrating thing to be, dun dun dun, the metal screens. I tried it for almost all of my 11 or 12 lives once and had to leave to go to a party. I told myself if I took another two hours on it, I would give up and watch some spoiler video. I turned off the sound, turned on some music, and took quite a few deep breaths. Heh, eventually I managed to relax enough to think of trying different moves on the screens and I found that if I pressed cancel it would force me to release and wow, hey, I could actually double jump instead of fall again. Unfortunately it still took me half an hour after I figured that out.
The unfortunate closing to this escapade? My sound messed up on my PS2 right after Raz leaves the mindscape. I'm still shell-shocked about it all, the game was fantastic, imaginative, and good storytelling. On the otherhand, it had pockets of frustration unimaginable.
One level that I don't think gets enough credit is the card level.
And I kind of wish you could see a creator's commentary on a game. I'm not quite sure I see all the subtleties in the level design, especially after rereading the article on Psychonauts.
The key to the Meat Circus is to use Telekinesis on the bunny to hold it in place so Olly can get to it.
The card level, or Black Velvetopia, was actually the first level completed for the game, used as a demo to get the Microsoft deal (which eventually fell through anyway, and within a year of its release, Majesco's CEO stepped down after disappointing sales from Psychonauts and Advent Rising.)
I just read Lara Crigger's article The Milkman Cometh, which gives a very solid recap as to how the Milkman Conspiricy is a great example of deep art in games.
But I pose a question. In this case, to what degree is the player involved in the artistic quality of the game? Does the fact that Psychonauts is a game, as opposed to a book, movie, or painting, add to the art, detract from it, or simply serve as a mechanism to view the developer's artistic vision?
Seems to me like it serves as a mechanism. You can't entirely appreciate a fully 3D world without exploring it. It would be possible for the entire story aspect to be told without me ever taking control of Raz, so I don't think the story aspect is somehow furthered by the platforming aspects.
I've ordered up the game (PC), I'll see how it plays. If this is the first one of many of these discussions (or threads?) that's cool, since I might well own other games, and not have to wait 2-4 weeks for delivery :)
I've heard good things, and hopefully the mechanics mentioned won't stop me at any point.
As with most people on this forum I hated the last level, I was getting so pissed that I didn't even finish the game. I just lost interest, a game that had been so well crafted and level designs that were unique, to come to the Meat Circus and find that all of a sudden we are back to the most irritating platform levels almost killed the game for me.
It is like playing the original Half-Life and getting to Zen only to find your back to jumping puzzles and it's FPS roots to have something that was so plot driven and thrilling and go back to that before the end of the game, just leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
In the end I will play psychonauts again, I loved it to much. The Milkman Commeth, Lungfishopalous, Waterloo, and Running against the Bull. The next time I will spend more time trying to interact with people and enjoy the dialogue that occurs between the characters so that when Raz finds their brains his reactions make more sense instead of seeming to care for characters that have no depth to me.
As a note to the editors, I really enjoyed this concept of the monthly game club, please keep it up. :) I look forward to next months game.
It is. We'll be doing another one for next month. Stay tuned.
Great, I'll be on the lookout. Seems a good way to focus a discussion on specific games without going into huge discussions on the merit of them vs. others, or on why people are discussing this game and not another (like so many "What's your fav FPS game!11!" and the like).
Somewhat more critical discussion of specific titles, good stuff.
First post to The Escapist (you can thank Yahtzee for bringing me here)!
Playing Psychonauts was some of the best adventure gaming I'd managed to pull since Grim Fandango (and a $10 copy of Full Throttle!).
@Lara Crigger, now you make mention of the differences between the rest of the game and the final level, it does make sense in context - taking into account Rasputin's past, shunning and then psychic development. However, I feel that the steep learning curve required for the final level was a little harsh. I've been playing platformers for far too long and I had to give up when attempting to manoeuvre the metal grates.
You argue the gameplay wasn't as difficult as some levels in K&D and PoP:SoT, and maybe it's just I was playing the PS2 version (now have it on PC and will give it another shot if I can get over BioShock) but Raz wasn't as well equipped to tackle certain sections of that level as those characters were in J&D and PoP.
Overall, I felt the dark, twisted humour and story-telling in Psychonauts was the most refreshing thing for a long time. Better yet, it was a game that didn't feel the need to hold your hand at every stage and really allowed you to explore and experiment and search freely. Even though the game is fairly linear there was enough reward and room to explore that provided that extra depth and replayability. And replayability is something found in short supply when it comes to adventure gaming. I've finished the original Monkey Islands and some Lucas Arts games a number of times to see what else could be accomplished but honestly, Indian Jones from Lucas Arts was one of the only adventure games that allowed you to select one of three styles that affected the way some segments of the game play out.
Ok, going to try Psycho again with a 360 controller on my PC. Back to bitch about the shoddy PS2 controls in a minute ;)
In related news, Tim Shafer had some great things to say on the subject of creativity at Leipzig.
"Schafer addressed a fact that many creatives know too well; that being creative isn't always easy.
A lumberjack has it easy, he said. A lumberjack just sees trees and he knows it's his job to cut them down.
"...Being uncomfortable is an important part of the creative process... [that's] when your brain does its best work."
Good stuff.
The Zero Punctuation video was excellent, seems to encompass most of the points in this thread actually. I can't wait until my copy comes (2-3.99 weeks remaining!).
Jeez, I TOLD you guys not to play the PS2 version! :) It absolutely reeks. Worst port I've ever played. StolenName and somnolentsurfer, you owe it to yourself to get the PC version. I even had problems in the exact same places as you did (especially that stupid brain tank - on the PS2, it took me an hour to beat; on the PC, five minutes). It's really like playing a totally different game.
Look, it's $20 on Steam; that's like, what, five lattes? Just do it already. :)
I think the player is intimately involved in what would make a game like Psychonauts art, as opposed to a book or movie. Books, movies and paintings are passive experiences: The artist creates a certain artistic vision, and the audience intakes it. But games go a step further by allowing the audience to actively interact with the creative vision. (Sometimes - in the case of mods or user created content - the audience can even add to the creative vision.)
I think that the artistry in Psychonauts relies on that interactivity. If we simply viewed a painting of Boyd's suburban mindscape, or read about his arson in a book, it wouldn't be the same; it wouldn't be art. But the fact that we can actively interact with and change these environments, and through these interactions discover more information about ourselves - that's what I think elevates The Milkman Conspiracy to "art".
Let me return the question: What do you think? Does Psychonauts being a game help, hinder or make no impact on the artist's vision?
In the specific case of Psychonauts, I think that the vast majority of the artistic quality is passive. The interaction in the game is both limited and linear. Dialog trees are essentially non-existent, but is essentially all prescripted. The gameplay is very basic and has no bearing on the surrounding story or setting (which is not to say the reverse isn't true).
As such, the artistic portion of the game is entirely in the hands of the developer, and the gameplay simply sets the pacing of the story. Certainly, it does this well, but you could tell the exact same story in film and not lose anything.
With a handful of exceptions, of course. First, gameplay keeps the player entertained when the story slows down, possibly improving the quality of the piece. Second, in the Milkman Conspiracy, because the player has to take on the role of the various citizens, the player, more than at any other part of the game, becomes Raz.
The other major exception to this, is the Bull in Edgar's mind. The hatred you gain for that bull could only exist in a game.
I've got a Steam press account, believe me - I've already got it and am grabbing a 360 wireless hub for the PC so I can use the controller ;) That's acceptable right?! haha.
Games such as Psychonauts and Okami need to be played to fully appreciate their level of story telling. If this was viewed as a purely visual medium like film, Trillinon - spot on the money - that bull wouldn't be hated though we'd still be rooting for Raz. There's a certain amount of exploration that has to be done in order to fully experience the world Raz resides in - and the minds of the NPCs. For instance, if you didn't sit and patiently absorb the ramblings the Agents make you might not understand the insanity the Milkman has or his actions once Raz is done in his mind further down the track.
For some part, the removal of player control has a significant effect during the cutscenes. When the dentist is stealing brains I genuinely felt like slapping him and screaming at Raz to wake the hell up! I wouldn't have had that same experience had I been passively watching Raz previously. Even though in some films (lets say Dumb and Dumber - Jim Carey ya'll!) I felt like hitting the actors for doing ridiculously stupid things.
Aw - the Double Fine website's been changed, so the comics are now elsewhere:
There's in fact a lot of new things on the website...
Not really having anything to do with the game itself, I just wanted to note that I bought the game when it came out (directly from DoubleFine, as it didn't have a publisher then where I live), and was rewarded for my faith in the game by having someone from the team draw a little smiley on the receipt, saying "Thanks"... Made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Then I was blown over by the game, of course.
I'd buy the game, but for some reason the Demo on Steam decides to force-reboot my PC whenever I open it. So I'm a little apprehensive ordering it off Steam in case the full version does the same thing.
Saying that, its £5 from Play.com, and at that price it doesn't matter if it doesn't work :D
OK guys, since this is the last week of Psychonauts' tenure as our game circle game of the month, it's time to let loose. Feel free to spoil everything.
Let's start the discussion on strengths and weaknesses.
I think the game's second most important strength was the concept. You and the 'normal' world, and then a series of skewed altered states based on the mind of whoever you were invading at the time. I think this opened up the game to present a lot of varied experiences that wouldn't have been possible any other way, and it was on the strength of these experiences that the game went from "neat" to "must play."
After that, I think the games greatest weakness was the overall story. Yes, the episodic writing was superb, and couldn't have been better. But I don't think the overarching whole was particularly well written. Raz's story was pretty lame, and discovering his background didn't have nearly he impact it was supposed to. After all he'd been through to that point, it made his background seem - instead of troubling or intriguing - lame.
Aside from that, the whole game had a kind of episodic feel, as if it were merely part one of a possible multi-part saga. And then it ended. And everyone had a nice G.I. Joe belly laugh and that was it. Obviously if it had performed better at retail a sequel might have alleviated that, but even when you're expecting a sequel you want episode one to feel complete.
I didn't feel that the overall story was weak because there were so many substories within the game. It does a good job of having the extra plot, without burdening the player. Raz's story was one of many, and he just happened to be the lead character in terms of action. I'm playing the game through again, going out of my way to get dialogue from every character as it changes through the game. (and holy crap there is a lot there)
I'd argue that since it's really an adventure game at heart, the point of the game is the playing around in the real(ish) world, and not the conclusion. FPS shooters usually have a sort of 'boss escalation' where every enemy encountered in order must be bigger than the one before it to match the player's rise in ability; the adventure game isn't as linear in the escalation of abilities, so the problems can stay the same with different tools available to solve it. Hmm... There's probably an near-academic paper that can be extracted from that last sentence.
Here's another thing to look at, along those lines - apparently Tim Schafer went and created Myspace pages for all the camper characters, and used the comments for each to outline the personality traits and changes for each: (links posted about halfway down the page)
I was entertained enough by Psychonauts and the adventure form, that I acquired Grim Fandango and I've been trying to play it - I've been having some trouble with stability, though. Next stop is probably SCUMMVM...
539 arrowheads... (also, I finished BioShock.)
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Things you can do with Sextant.org:
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A group of protesters, allegedly owing allegiance to BJP's student wing ABVP, today clashed with police at Jantar Mantar during a demonstration demanding speedy punishment for the rapists of the girl who died after battling for life.
The hitherto peaceful protest turned violent at around 1 pm when a group among the protesters carrying flags and banners of ABVP tried to take out a march from Jantar Mantar to Connaught Place but police prevented them from moving ahead, following which the clash erupted.
While one group went ahead with the peaceful demonstration, another group tried to break the iron barricades and police called in more reinforcement. Protesters managed to break some of the barricades but police immediately contained them.
Police, meanwhile, started an exercise to identify the miscreants and is taking them away from the spot. At Jantar Mantar, young and old, men and women gathered at the protest hotspot from morning in an outpouring of grief and anger at the rape and death of the 23-year paramedic student.
A group of protesters sat on a one-day hunger strike at Jantar Mantar while others shouted slogans holding placards in their hands.
India Gate and Raisina Hill, where violent protests had taken place last week, remained out of bounds for public today as hundreds of policemen in riot gear guarded the area.
"The entire central vista including Rajpath, Vijay Chowk and all roads leading to India Gate will be closed for general traffic. Kamal Attaturk Marg has also been closed. All travellers are advised to avoid these roads," police said.


text: 28 Jan 2014 11:00 Air Seychelles today announced the appointment of Manoj Papa as its new Chief Executive Officer. He succeeds Cramer Ball, who has tendered his resignation. Mr Papa joins from South African Airways, where he held the position of Acting General Manager: Commercial, overseeing the entire commercial portfolio for the airline. As part of this, he was also instrumental in developing the Long Term Turnaround Strategy for SAA. Manoj Papa started his career with South African Airways, working across different functions including finance, and varied commercial functions in the airline including sales and distribution, sales strategy, the frequent flier program and e-commerce, as well as a period as SAA's Regional General Manager for Asia and Australasia. He joined Etihad Airways in 2007 later serving as Vice President Corporate Strategy until he returned to South African Airways in 2012. Joel Morgan, the Seychelles Minister for Home Affairs and Transport and Chairman of Air Seychelles, welcomed the appointment of Mr Papa to run the national airline. He said: "Manoj Papa is an experienced airline professional and strategist with the credentials to lead Air Seychelles in the next phase of its development. With our new routes, new aircraft on order and new service offer now across the network, we are in a stronger position than we have ever been. "I put on record our grateful thanks to Cramer Ball, who has been instrumental in revitalising our national carrier. Cramer was seconded to Air Seychelles in January 2012 as part of a partnership in which Etihad Airways acquired 40 per cent of our airline and secured a five year management contract. He took us into profitability in his first year of leadership and has rebuilt the foundations of this proud airline." James Hogan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Etihad Airways, also welcomed Mr Papa's appointment. He said: "During his five years with Etihad Airways, Manoj played an important role in developing and implementing our long-term growth strategy and I am delighted to welcome him back into the wider Etihad Airways family. The insight which Manoj has into our business and strategic model will be crucial in ensuring the continuity of our commitment to the ongoing success and growth at Air Seychelles." Mr Ball was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Air Seychelles in January 2012. In his two-year tenure he successfully helped restructure and re-engineer the business with a view to achieving commercial sustainability. The turnaround program saw the introduction of a new network plan, new aircraft, new product and service initiatives, and new staff training and development opportunities. In February 2013, the airline was able to report a net profit of US$ 1 million, a remarkable turnaround after three consecutive years of losses. The year culminated in the airline receiving the prestigious four-star rating from Skytrax. Mr Ball will stay on to ensure a seamless transition until Mr Papa officially assumes the position of CEO on 1 March 2014. Kontakt Als internationale Fluggesellschaft bieten wir wahre globale Präsenz. Erfahren Sie hier, wie Sie mit dem nächstgelegenen Etihad Büro in Verbindung treten können.Kontaktdaten anzeigen Ihre Meinung Wenn Sie uns einen Kommentar, ein Lob oder eine Beschwerde schicken möchten oder auch nur eine Frage an uns haben, klicken Sie bitte hier Klicken Sie auf "Gefällt mir" Besuchen Sie unsere Facebook-Seite! Folgen Sie uns auf YouTube Besuchen Sie unseren YouTube-Kanal! Folgen Sie uns Etihad Airways | Etihad Deals | Etihad Hilfe | Etihad Prämien


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Modern Warfare 3 update re-balances weapons
Developers Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games have pushed a new update to all versions of the best-selling Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
All versions of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 received an update yesterday, but what did it add?
The latest update addresses a few weapon balancing issues, including fire rate normalization for Assault Rifles with mounts and reducing the hip-spread for the low recoil, Type95 rifle. Modern Warfare 3's map "Dome" will also see a few tweaks, as the developers attempt to fix a number of exploits players have discovered.
According to the official patch notes on the Modern Warfare 3 forum, the sixth title update for the game will include additional improvements to address lag, and a few other minor tweaks to help the game run smoother for fans.
Other updates are currently "in development and/or discussion," including updates to Modern Warfare 3's spawn system, and a few tweaks for competitive system link players.
Additional improvements to address lag. Fix for Melee Jump. Clan Tag Validation (remove buttons from clan tags). Improve Host Migration logic. Prevent stat loss when player loses connection from server (internet pull / drop).
Hot Fix Updates:
Fire rate normalization for Assault Rifles with undermounts
FMG9 Re-balancing (Nerf)
Akimbo FMG9 Re-balancing (Nerf)
Type95 Re-balancing (Nerf) - Reduce hipspread
Fix for ACR with Red Dot / Shotgun
Fix Type 95 bug related to dropping it
Fix map exploits on Dome
Xav de Matos posted a new article, Modern Warfare 3 update re-balances weapons.
Developers Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games have pushed a new update to all versions of the best-selling Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.


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A very Happy Birthday,
as sunny as it can be,
For one whose friendship
through the years,
Has meant so much
to me!
A special friend is a blending of
loyalty and trust and love...
Just like you!
Happy Birthday!
There are very few people
with your special warmth
and understanding, your
ability to listen and give
good advice, and your
sensitivity to others.
And I just wanted you
to know how much I
appreciate the difference
your friendship has made
in my life.
Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday to the
best friend in the world.
Thank you for all the
heart-to-heart sharing,
for your love and support
and encouragement, for
helping me become a
better person. You have
given me many things -
the most important of all
the gift of your friendship.
I Bless The Day You Were Born!
There's so much about
life worth celebrating,
the small victories, the
day-to-day pleasures,
the simple joys of friendship.
There's so much worth
celebrating, ...and
sharing these little
things with a friend like
you is really what it's
all about.
Happy Birthday
There have been times
when your thoughtfulness
and kindness have been
a source of encouragement
and inspiration.
You are a dear friend.
Happy Birthday
You're such a special
friend, It's a joy to
remember you
anytime... especially
on your birthday.
Hope It's Happy!!
It's so nice....
...sharing special moments
with a friend like you!
Happy Birthday
When a friend that I care
about has a birthday, I like
to give them something
that no one else can...
...my friendship.
Have a very happy birthday.


text:
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Very kind. Thorough and had great communication.
Many thanks for your fast and efficient service
Excellent communicator, fast response and timely service.
Wonderful quick results,amazing and fast,
Thanks once again for your excellent customer service.
It worked. My horrible co worker is moving on to a better job. Im thrilled for both of us. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Thank you for your kindness. I have felt the effects of one of your spells already. I feel so more positive and spiritually clean now.
Best spells!
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text:
crest(redirected from is crested)
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Legal, Financial, Encyclopedia.
a projection, or projecting structure or ridge, especially one surmounting a bone or its border.
alveolar crest alveolar ridge.
ampullar crest (ampullary crest) the most prominent part of a localized thickening of the membrane that lines the ampullae of the semicircular ducts, covered with neuroepithelium containing endings of the vestibular nerve.
dental crest the maxillary ridge passing along the alveolar processes of the fetal maxillary bones.
iliac crest the thickened, expanded upper border of the ilium.
[TA] Acronym for calcinosis, Raynaud phenomenon, esophageal motility disorders, sclerodactyly, and telangiectasia. See: CREST syndrome.
crest(krest), [TA]
1. A ridge, especially a bony ridge.
See also: crista.
See also: crista.
2. The ridge of the neck of a male animal, especially of a stallion or bull.
3. Feathers on the top of a bird's head, or fin rays on the top of a fish's head.
Synonym(s): crista [TA]
[L. crista]
crest(krest) a projection, or projecting structure or ridge, especially one surmounting a bone or its border.
ampullar crest the most prominent part of a localized thickening of the membrane lining the ampullae of the semicircular ducts.
frontal crest a median ridge on the internal surface of the frontal bone.
iliac crest the thickened, expanded upper border of the ilium.
intertrochanteric crest a ridge on the posterior femur connecting the greater with the lesser trochanter.
lacrimal crest, anterior the lateral margin of the groove on the posterior border of the frontal process of the maxilla.
lacrimal crest, posterior a vertical ridge dividing the lateral or orbital surface of the lacrimal bone into two parts.
nasal crest
1. (of maxilla) a ridge, raised along the medial border of the palatine process of the maxilla, with which the vomer articulates.
2. (of palatine) a thick ridge projecting superiorly from the horizontal plate of the palatine bone and articulating with the posterior part of the vomer.
neural crest a cellular band dorsolateral to the embryonic neural tube that gives origin to the spinal ganglia and other structures.
occipital crest, external a ridge sometimes extending on the external surface of the occipital bone from the external protuberance toward the foramen magnum.
occipital crest, internal a median ridge on the internal surface of the occipital bone, extending from the midpoint of the cruciform eminence toward the foramen magnum.
palatine crest a transverse ridge sometimes seen on the inferior surface of the horizontal plate of the palatine bone.
pubic crest the thick, rough anterior border of the body of the pubic bone.
sacral crest any of various ridges or tubercles on the dorsal surface of the sacrum, named for their location as median or as lateral or medial (relative to the dorsal sacral foramina); used alone it usually denotes the median sacral crest.
seminal crest see under colliculus.
sphenoidal crest a median ridge on the anterior surface of the body of the sphenoid bone, articulating with the ethmoid bone.
supramastoid crest the superior border of the posterior root of the zygomatic process of the temporal bone.
supraventricular crest a ridge on the inner wall of the right ventricle, marking off the conus arteriosus.
temporal crest of frontal bone a ridge extending superiorly and posteriorly from the zygomatic process of the frontal bone.
turbinal crest
1. (of maxilla) an oblique ridge on the maxilla, articulating with the nasal concha.
2. (of palatine bone) a horizontal ridge on the internal surface of the palatine bone.
urethral crest a prominent longitudinal mucosal fold along the posterior wall of the female urethra, or a median elevation along the posterior wall of the male urethra between the prostatic sinuses.
crest of vestibule a ridge between the spherical and elliptical recesses of the vestibule, dividing posteriorly to bound the cochlear recess.
A projection or ridge, especially of bone.
a narrow elongated elevation, as the iliac crest.
CRESTAbbreviation for:
Calcinosis Raynaud Esophagus Sclerosis Teleangiectasia
Carotid Revascularization Endarterectomy versus Stent
Clinical Resource Efficiency Support Team (Medspeak-UK)
Cocaine Rapid Efficacy Screening Trial
crest(krest) [TA]
A ridge, especially a bony ridge.
Synonym(s): crista [TA] .
Synonym(s): crista [TA] .
[L. crista]
crest(krest) [TA]
A ridge, especially a bony ridge.
Synonym(s): crista [TA] .
Synonym(s): crista [TA] .
[L. crista]
1. a projecting structure or ridge, especially one surmounting a bone or its border.
2. a term describing the upper margin of the neck; root of the mane in a horse.
3. in canaries, a crown of long feathers on the head, all radiating out from a central point; inherited as a dominant trait.
ampullary crest
linear thickenings of the walls of the ampullae of the semicircular canals.
dental crest
the maxillary ridge passing along the alveolar processes of the fetal maxillary bones.
epicondylar crest
ridges which extend from the epicondyles of the humerus to the shaft.
ethmoid crest
located on the inside surface of the nasal bones of the pig and dog.
external occipital crest
an extension of the external occipital protuberance to which the ligamentum nuchae is attached.
facial crest
the prominent crest on the external aspect of the maxilla of horses stretching from beneath the orbit to the middle of the molar teeth. The masseter muscle is attached to its ventral surface.
crest hair
see mane.
iliac crest
the thickened cranial border of the ilium of dogs and cats.
neck crest
the fatty, fibrous tissue above the nuchal ligament which gives the stallion's neck its characteristic elevated contour.
neural crest
cords of nervous tissue which detaches from the developing spinal cord in the embryo; contribute tissue to the somatic and autonomic ganglia, and many other structures.
nuchal crest
the thick, transverse crest on the occipital bone.
palatine crest
a low transverse ridge on the palatine bones.
petrosal crest
divides the cranial cavity into cerebellar and cerebral compartments.
renal crest
the median ridge in the pelvis of many kidneys onto which papillary ducts open.
reticular c's
the mucosal folds in the ruminant reticulum that form the cells of the honeycomb compartments of the walls.
sacral c's
the median crest is the fused dorsal spines of the sacral vertebrae; the lateral sacral crest is the fused articular processes.
sagittal crest
the ridge in the middle of the skull which extends forwards from the occipital protuberance; more pronounced in some species, breeds and individuals.
trochanteric crest
a ridge which runs between the greater and lesser trochanters and forms the caudal wall of the trochanteric fossa.
urethral crest
a longitudinal ridge in the roof of the pelvic urethra formed from two folds of urinary bladder mucosa which fuse after separate origins at the ureteric orifices.
vestibular crest
divides the vestibule of the inner ear into the spherical and elliptical recesses.


text:
What will cause the Singularity?
The most common theory revolves around Artificial General Intelligence. But while Strong AI could well play a part in causing a Singularity, it should not be thought of as the only route to an intelligence explosion. Broadly speaking, a Singularity can occur when there is a closed loop between technological improvement and an increase in intelligence. For example, consider a group of thinkers smart enough to dream up and create 'Technology X'. Technology X is, in some way, better than natural intelligence. This 'greater-than-human' intelligence enables, among other things, improvements to technology X, which lead to further increases over natural intelligence. And so it goes on.
Notice that it does not matter who or what is becoming more intelligent. In 'Signs of the Singularity', Vernor Vinge outlined several possible developmental paths, which included the classic AI scenario, but also the 'Biomedical' scenario: "We directly increase our intelligence by improving the neurological operation of our brains". Recall the closed-loop: improved neurological operations increases intelligence, which leads to further improvements on the neurological operations of the brain.
In the AI and biomedical scenarios, an individual—human or computer—becomes increasingly intelligent. But developmental paths need not be so simple. Take, for instance, Vinge's 'Internet' scenario: "Humanity, its networks, computers, and databases become sufficiently effective to be considered a superhuman being". In and of itself, each part may not be superhumanly intelligent. Considered apart, the networks, computers and databases may not be intelligent at all. But superhuman intelligence might exist as an epiphenomenon—a characteristic of the system as a whole.
One can imagine a scenario whereby networked computers and databases enable global teams of researchers to form collaborative groups to tackle complementary problems and derive effective solutions. These solutions could be discovered by machine-learning tools, analyzing data from many seemingly unrelated studies, uncovering patterns too complex for humans to discover alone, but which point them in the right direction for future work. These collaborative groups' insights could bring improvements to their networks, which would then be even more effective at organizing teams of specialists into collaborative groups. This would lead to further improvements—improvements that would have been tremendously difficult (if not impossible) to design with a legacy network. Again, this would close the loop between improvements to a technology and an increase in intelligence: We could cause an intelligence explosion.
Let me emphasize the notion of superhuman intelligence as epiphenomenon. It need not be the case that people in and of themselves are getting smarter. We are no smarter than our ancient ancestors, in the sense that their brains are pretty much the same as ours. A caveman child adopted by a modern family and raised with 21st century schooling and university education would grow up to be a perfectly normal human adult. And no particular technology must be superhumanly intelligent, either; there may never be a 'Singularity App' for your Android phone. But some future combination of humanity+ technology could be considered superhumanly intelligent.
With that in mind, consider 'Eureqa'. Eureqa is a system that uses evolutionary computing to breed equations defining laws of nature that scientists haven't been able to discover on their own. It works by stringing together simple mathematical expressions to create large banks of equations. Each equation is tested to see how well it fits experimental data. The majority of these equations are sheer nonsense, but by chance some fit the data a little better than others. In an analogue of sexual reproduction, the software saves these equations for 'breeding', combining one half of a 'father' equation with one half of a 'mother' equation. Sometimes, it alters a term in the equation, to mimic random genetic mutation. Over thousands of generations, equations emerge that fit the data quite well.
Eureqa's ability to 'discover' the laws of nature is helped by the fact that physical laws are always invariant in some way; there is always some aspect of these equations that cannot change, no matter what Eureqa does to it. However, there are an infinite number of equations that fit the data perfectly and are also invariant, which makes things quite complex for the humans analyzing Eureqa's discoveries. Michael Schmidt, a computer science PhD student who created Eureqa with Hod Lipson, used the following metaphor to describe the deficiency of an early version: "It's like arguing with a teenager. It just keeps coming back with things that are irrelevant".
Schmidt and Lipson worked on this problem for six months, developing an algorithm that can extract laws of nature by analyzing measurements from an experiment. Beginning with data collected from a simple harmonic oscillator consisting of a mass slung between two springs, Schmidt and Lipson refined the algorithm until it could handle one of the most complex systems of all: The chaotic double pendulum. Such a pendulum swings its arms in a way that's virtually impossible to predict. Because there is seemingly no pattern whatsoever, it would be almost impossible for a human to find an equation describing the motion of the pendulums. Their evolutionary algorithm, though, was able to breed an equation describing the kinetic and potential energy of the system. Not only that, the equation 'discovered' by Eureqa shows that energy is always conserved. It had 'rediscovered' the first law of thermodynamics, one of those immutable laws of nature.
That was in 2009. Since then, Schmidt has tweaked the algorithm, fine-tuning it until, now, he is confident anyone can use it. "That's a pretty big deal in the world of evolutionary algorithms", he told New Scientist consultant Justin Mullins. "It could turn anyone into a Newton or Einstein".
Turn anyone into Einstein? Did someone say 'intelligence explosion'?
It gets better. Since the system was automated and made freely available online, thousands of people have used Eureqa for all kinds of things from particle physics to Australian football statistics. What is particularly interesting, though, is Eureqa's help in understanding the behavior of 'Bacillus Subtilis'. When exposed to harsh conditions, this bacterium can transform into a spore with a relatively tough shell. Gurol Surel, a biologist at the University of Texas Southwest Medical Center, has been scrutinizing the network of genes governing this transformation in order to find out what drives the cell's decision to differentiate and transform the bacteria into a spore. Using fluorescent markers attached to proteins, Surel was able to study which genes are active at any one time, and he ultimately built up a database showing which factors switch different genes on and off. He then devised a mathematical formula that described the data.
Surel's equation had about 16 variables, making it pretty complex. Could Eureqa do any better? Indeed it could: It evolved an equation that described the data using only 7 variables. But, more importantly, Eureqa came up with a biological law of invariance that is equivalent to a conservation law in physics. As Justin Mullins said, "it's one thing to find an equation that seems to describe your data but quite another to find a natural law that has much broader predictive power". What Surel's work with Eureqa suggests is that something as complex as biology can be reduced to laws—something that many philosophers of science have doubted is possible. But, there is a problem. And it might be a sign of the Singularity.
According to Lipson, the equation Eureqa 'discovered' is "symmetric, it's beautiful, it has to be true". Lovely. So, what's the problem? Simply this: "We don't know what it means". People can sometimes struggle to understand equations describing systems with only a handful of variables. But some systems, such as those found in biology and climate science, could have many more variables, perhaps millions. Justin Mullins explained how "Lipson speculates that his algorithm will allow laws of nature to be extracted from data at rates that are currently unheard of, and that this kind of machine learning could be the norm".
Of course, we should not give too much credit to evolutionary computing. In the case of the 'B. Subtilis' equation, there would never have been a suitable experiment had Surel not spent years studying the bacteria. Eureqa cannot perform that kind of work. Furthermore, it cannot understand the equations it generates. On the other hand, a trained scientist can understand the equations, but would not have been able to generate them, because doing so requires knowledge of systems too complex for human intuition. But together, a team of scientists using Eureqa's unique ability can generate equations describing complex systems, be able to understand their use, and recognize their beauty.
We might be at the beginning of a new paradigm in science, in which teams of researchers feed networked computers enormous datasets, enabling future evolutionary algorithms to run experiments leading to equations that describe ever-more complex systems. Perhaps the mathematical formulae discovered by these teams would lead, among other things, to even more effective computer networks and Eureqa-type algorithms. We would be using equations that we know to be true from their symmetry and beauty. But, increasingly, we would not be able to understand why they are true.
One way to visualise the Singularity is to imagine the outline of a square. This square represents the limit of human understanding. Inside the square is everything the human mind knows and can know. We do not know how much of this square is filled in, how much of what can be known is known, or how many questions we have left to answer or even formulate. Whatever the case, it would be reasonable to suppose that this square hardly represents the sum total of all knowledge in the universe. There must be theories, ideas, concepts that lie beyond the boundary of the human mind. But the boundaries of the square are not fixed; technology is our trump card. It can be used to augment our minds, both individually and collectively. In a small way, this is what Eureqa does when it builds equations. But there is still some way to go before we reach Singularity technology. Somehow, we have to harness the power of human and machine thinking so that equations like this can be understood, and not just appreciated for their beauty. If future generations can achieve and expand upon this capability, then what these thinkers will learn lies beyond the boundaries of our current intellectual capacity.
I will leave the last words to Lipson: "This is a post-singularity vision of Science".
Image courtesy George Ioannidis


text:
Last Sunday, Terry Childs, a network administrator employed by the City of San Francisco, was arrested and taken into custody, charged with four counts of computer tampering. He remains in jail, held on US$5 million bail. News reports have depicted a rogue admin taking a network hostage for reasons unknown, but new information from a source close to the situation presents a different picture.
In posts to my blog, I postulated about what might have occurred. Based on the small amount of public information, I guessed that the situation revolved around the network itself, not the data or the servers. A quote from a city official that Cisco was getting involved seemed to back that up, so I assumed that Childs must have locked down the routers and switches that form the FiberWAN network, and nobody but Childs knew the logins. If this were true, then regaining control over those network components would cause some service disruption, but would hardly constitute the "millions of dollars in damages" that city representatives feared, according to news reports.
Apparently, I wasn't far off the mark. In response to one of by blog posts, a source with direct knowledge of the City of San Francisco's IT infrastructure and of Childs himself offered to tell me everything he knew about the situation, under condition that he remain anonymous. I agreed, and within an hour, a long e-mail arrived in my in box, painting a very detailed picture of the events. Based on this information, the case of Terry Childs appears to be much more -- and much less -- than previously reported.
A man and his network
It seems that Terry Childs is a very intelligent man. According to my source, Childs holds a Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert certification, the highest level of certification offered by Cisco. He has worked in the city's IT department for five years, and during that time has become simply indispensible.
Although Childs was not the head architect for the city's FiberWAN network, he is the one, and only one, that built the network, and was tasked with handling most of the implementation, including the acquisition, configuration, and installation of all the routers and switches that comprise the network. According to my source's e-mail, his purview extended only to the network and had nothing to do with servers, databases, or applications:
"Terry's area of responsibility was purely network. As far as I know (which admittedly is not very far), he did not work on servers, except maybe VoIP servers, AAA servers, and similar things directly related to the administration of the network. My suspicion is that you are right about how he was "monitoring e-mail"; it was probably via a sniffer, IPS, or possibly a spam-filtering/antivirus appliance. But that's just conjecture on my part."
Like many network administrators who work in the rarified air of enterprise network architecture and administration, Childs apparently trusted no one but himself with the details of the network, including routing configuration and login information. Again, from the source's e-mail:
"The routing configuration of the FiberWAN is extremely complex. Probably more so than it ought to be; I sometimes got the feeling that, in order to maintain more centralized control over the routing structure, [Childs] bent some of the rules of MPLS networks and caused problems for himself in terms of maintaining the routing.
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Adventures of Lynk
Share photos of your Chow Chows!
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Adventures of Lynk
A week away from being 1 year old, Lynk is growing up so fast!
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Re: Adventures of Lynk
OMG, look how gorgeous Lynk is! Love the wind swept fur look, and the action photo with his one paw up while walking!
Re: Adventures of Lynk
Nice looking boy and welcome to the site. Nice scenery too.
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text:
Almost everyone I talk to is outraged about receiving a $115 bill from the state for the Department of Forestry. The only reason that it is not $150 is that we already pay the Kelseyville Fire Department for fire protection.
The state forests are used by, and belong to, all residents of California. Why are we singled out to pay? People who live in Clearlake and Lakeport don"t have to pay, nor do the thousands of people who live in the Bay Area who come up here on the weekends with their dirt bikes, ATVs and guns to play on forest lands.
Either let everybody pay this outlandish fee or let the people who build their homes in brush piles (Malibu Canyon, Carmel and Tahoe) foot the bill.
While they"re at it, maybe they should audit the forestry big shots who rig their overtime so they can collect $100,000 yearly retirement.
John Smith


text:
Strangelove Logic May Fuel Asia Arms Race
Strangelove Logic May Fuel Asia Arms Race
Let's congratulate the real winners from China's latest economic disclosures: Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman and European Aeronautics Defense and Space.
Forget the Potemkin growth target Premier Li Keqiang served up today at the opening of China's rubber-stamp parliament, the National People's Congress. It's always hard to take Chinese numbers seriously. Who among you economists really believe Chinese leaders can simultaneously "declare war" on the pollution choking Beijing and Shanghai, reduce debt, rein in shadow banks, reverse engineer the nation away from exports and still grow 7.5 percent in 2014?
No doubt China will come awfully close to meeting that number by the end of the year -- even if it doesn't. The risks of having Warren Buffett, George Soros, executives at Wal-Mart and, of course, 1.3 billion Chinese citizens publicly fretting about a China crisis are too great for Beijing to allow gross domestic product to fall to 6 percent or less.
The number coming out of Beijing that really matters is 12.2 percent. That's how much the central government is upping its defense spending this year as Li's boss, President Xi Jinping, works on building the strongest military Asia has ever seen, equipped with an expanding navy as China extends its reach into waters around the region. What better way to flex China's muscles than spending an amount -- about $132 billion -- greater than the annual GDP of Hungary.
The trouble is, Chinese spending will reverberate around the region, much to the delight of the above-mentioned giants of the global defense business. It hardly matters that the U.S. military-industrial complex has largely been banned from selling its wares to China since the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989. Western defense contractors will get rich selling to all those in China's orbit -- Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and others.
At last month's Singapore airshow, regional rivalries, territorial spats and worries about keeping shipping lanes open had suppliers salivating. North Korea's provocations have since given an additional boost to demand. On Tuesday, a North Korean rocket missed a China Southern Airlines airplane carrying 220 passengers by all of seven minutes. Suddenly, declining U.S. budgets and the drawdown of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan must seem a lot less problematic for weapons makers.
The bump in spending, while higher than last year's, is generally in line with China's recent expansion of its defense budgets. National People's Congress spokeswoman Fu Ying insisted that the added billions haven't altered China's path toward "peaceful development." She went on to say China needs military might to ensure peace in Asia, as a few regional rivals are promoting the idea that China is a threat. Dr. Strangelove would be proud of the logic.
In fact, China's arms buying is feeding a very dangerous dynamic in Asia. Its military expansion only gives nationalist Prime Minister Shinzo Abe more political ammunition in his fight to boost Japan's own capabilities and perhaps even rewrite its pacifist constitution. Abe's new favorite buzzphrase is "collective self-defense," which is his way of creatively interpreting a document imposed on the country after the war. The concept would allow Japan to engage in military operations to defend its allies.
China boasts the second-biggest military budget in the world after the U.S.. Officially, its outlays are still around five times less. Many analysts, though, believe China significantly understates its expenditures. Last month, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency estimated that the true figure in 2013, before this latest boost, was $240 billion, about twice the declared budget.
If China believes that kind of spending will go unanswered in Tokyo, Manila, Seoul and Taipei, where governments have direct access to a U.S. military-industrial complex craving new business, it's dreaming. It's all a bit too reminiscent of the movie "Dr. Strangelove" for me. China says it's trying to reassure the world, only to unnerve it to benefit of arms dealers.
(William Pesek is a Bloomberg View columnist. Follow him on Twitter at @williampesek.)
To contact the author on this story:
Willie Pesek at firstname.lastname@example.com
To contact the editor on this story:
Nisid Hajari at firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
DivX Player .MKV Files: Audio Format Not Supported, Use KMPlayer Play .MKV Files Without Issues
I downloaded a video file the other day that had a .MKV file ending and was having a lot of trouble playing this file in the typical video players I had installed. Typically when all else fails I can use DivX Player and install an additional audio or video codec to play pretty much any video file with sound. This file was causing me a little bit more of a problem so I had to do some reading so below I explain some information I found, some things I tried, and the overall final step I took to play this .mkv video file.


text:
Last week GamePolitics broke the story about the illegal brass knuckles sent to them in EA's press kit for Godfather 2, and now there is an update: EA won't comment on the issue, but the company would like the items back, please.
The site received this somewhat surreal phone call over the weekend. "I hope you're enjoying our Godfather II press kit, including the novelty brass knuckles. To help you take proper care to dispose of the item, we're sending you a pre-paid shipping package," a company representative said over the phone. No further comment could be pried from the company.
The idea of sending actual brass knuckles to members of the gaming press was a bad one, but it looks even sillier to claim the metal weapons are novelty items and then ask for them back. It's hard to know how all this madness made it past the legal department, or if a PR person simply became overzealous, but it looks like this story will come to an end with no brass knuckle-assisted brawls at E3 this year.
A pity, that.


text:
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Joe Willie Goodlett, 8, of Taylorsville, shot his first deer on New Year's Day with a 223 rifle at 75 yards.
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It's a hot summer in the Northeast — but not as hot as the quirky little market for guinea hens — the latest fad for the monied set looking to do battle against Lyme disease carrying ticks.
These hens, with their patterned plumage and stark white faces, are the latest backyard accessory dotting Hamptons estates and suburban horse farms because of their voracious appetites for all things buggy, including the dreaded deer tick.
Just ask Rob Schuster, whose Schuster's Poultry Farm in Lakewood, NJ, has sold a record 60 guinea hens this year — 10 times the amount he sold all last summer.
"I've got Pearls, Lavenders, French. Every once in a while I grow a Splash," said Schuster, referring to the varieties of guinea fowl that he breeds on the farm his grandfather started in 1942 after fleeing Nazi Germany.
At times, Schuster has had trouble keeping the hens — which run between $6 and $10 per keet, or baby, and $25 or more for an adult — in stock.
The bull market in guinea hens is being sparked by talk of this summer being an extremely bad season for Lyme disease.
Dr. Richard Ostfeld, of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, in Millbrook, NY, said the harsh tick forecast is caused by a boom last year in the population of white mice — carriers of deer ticks.
The guinea hen craze initially took off after Christie Brinkley ran an experiment on her Hamptons property in 1990. It concluded that the birds eat a lot of Lyme ticks.
More recent Cary Institute research, however, indicates that in a natural setting "there's only a slight effect of reducing tick numbers" with guinea hens, said Dr. Ostfeld.
The trick is getting them to go into wooded areas where the ticks reside and making sure they stay on your property, since they tend to roam.
Still, Schuster said guinea hens are better at eluding predators than other tick-eaters, such as chickens. "They can run and fly at the same time, and they can survive on their own out in the wilderness." But the guinea hens are loud, which can upset neighbors.
One of Schuster's clients told The Post that it was the infection of a neighbor's dog with Lyme disease that led him to start buying guinea hens four summers ago after learning that they eat up to 1000 ticks a day.
A week ago, Anthony Ritossa, the chief investment officer of the Ritossa Family Office, drove to Schuster's farm, some 75 miles from his home in a tony Westchester County neighborhood, to buy four keets after being unable to find them elsewhere.
"If the guinea hens are trained properly, they are probably the most effective tick control out there," said Ritossa, who lures them into bushes with small amounts of feed and places the keets in a coop to train them to stay on his property.
It's a boutique market, with sales often conducted via craigslist and other websites where one can order the keets, which are delivered by Fedex. One site, Purely Poultry, offers 29 colors of Guinea Keets for $3.85 each for a minimum order of 15.
Blue Moon Farm in tony Millbrook, NY, reports selling about the same number as Schuster this year.
When Schuster runs out, as he has periodically this year, he often buys guineas at local livestock auctions. This year he bought them at Harkers Auction in Tabernacle, NJ.


text:
Dr. Christian Bruch
Member of the Executive Board
The Linde Group
Dr Christian Bruch graduated from the University of Hannover with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He completed a PhD in Thermodynamics at the Swiss Institute of Technology (ETH) Zürich and, in 1997, commenced work as Project Manager Research at the ETH.
In 2000, Dr Bruch moved to the electric utility company RWE, where he ultimately assumed the role of Head of Research and Project Development at RWE Fuel Cells GmbH.
In 2004, Dr Bruch joined the Tonnage business at Linde's Gases Division. In 2005, he became head of Tonnage Business Development Airgases.
Dr Bruch moved to Linde's Engineering Division in 2009, after being appointed General Manager of the Air Separation Plants product line.
In 2013, he became a member of the Board of Directors of the Linde Engineering Division.
Dr Bruch has been a member of the Executive Board of Linde Aktiengesellschaft since 2015. He is responsible for the Engineering Division.
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EPA Decision Preserves Scrap Tire Markets
Feb 23, 2011, 05:29 ET
Rulemaking Safeguards 20 Years of RMA Advocacy and Environmental Success
WASHINGTON, Feb. 23, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced a rulemaking that will preserve scrap tire markets and ensure the continued success of scrap tire management advocacy by the Rubber Manufacturers Association over the past 20 years.
The rule allows annually generated scrap tires that are removed from vehicles to be used as fuel by an industrial facility. Cement kilns, pulp and paper mills and electric utilities are the major users of tire derived fuel (TDF).
In its proposed rule, EPA recommended that annually generated tires be processed to remove the metal before being considered a fuel under the Clean Air Act. However, that provision would have merely increased the energy consumption, air emissions and costs associated with delivering tire derived fuels to industrial customers without any environmental benefit.
RMA recognizes that EPA is still requiring processing of whole tires removed from historical scrap tire stockpiles. RMA continues to encourage EPA to consider a more expansive definition of processing to allow these whole tires to be combusted as tire derived fuel. RMA continues to evaluate the final rule for additional insights and impacts on the tire industry.
"EPA clearly listened to the arguments advocated by RMA and other key stakeholders to deliver a rule that ensures continued improvement in scrap tire management efforts in the U.S.," said Charles A. Cannon, RMA president and CEO. "While we are still analyzing several aspects of this final rule, the big picture is that this is a victory for the environment and for RMA's scrap tire advocacy efforts."
RMA efforts were instrumental in the outcome of this EPA rulemaking. The association recognized early in this process that to protect tire derived fuel markets, a coordinated, common sense approach was necessary.
RMA spearheaded efforts to promote the use of scrap tires as tire derived fuel, stressed the importance of this key market to the health of the overall all scrap tire marketplace and highlight the dire environmental consequences should scrap tire stockpiles again be allowed to grow. RMA coordinated outreach, education and advocacy to the EPA, the Administration and the states about the critical role tire derived fuel plays in managing scrap tires, economizing fuel resources and protecting the environment.
When RMA began its scrap tire efforts in 1990, about 11 percent of scrap tires went to end use markets, and one billion scrap tires were in stockpiles across the country. Today, fewer than 100 million tires remain in stockpiles and over 80 of scrap tires are utilized in end use markets. Tire derived fuel markets consume just over 50 percent of the scrap tires generated annually.
"Scrap tire markets are mature and stable; scrap tires are recognized as a valuable commodity and are used in a number of applications, including tire derived fuel," Cannon said. "RMA is extremely proud of these accomplishments, thanks to sound state regulations, sustainable, cost-effective markets and steady industry efforts."
The Rubber Manufacturers Association is the national trade association for tire manufacturers that produce tires in the U.S. All RMA press releases are available at www.rma.org.
SOURCE Rubber Manufacturers Association


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In Alaska, fears of a GOP civil war
The GOP civil war may be coming to Alaska — and with it possibly the clearest test of whether the party can unite to win the Senate in 2014 or repeat the kind of bloodletting that proved so costly the past two elections.
A three- or even four-way primary is taking shape in the must-win state for Republicans, with candidates representing every corner of the GOP ideological map aiming to unseat first-term Democratic Sen. Mark Begich.
Story Continued Below
Joe Miller, whose tea party-fueled Senate bid in 2010 imploded amid an endless string of gaffes and an overzealous private security team that handcuffed a reporter, is trying again. Threatening to split the establishment wing of the party are Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell, who has already entered the race, and Natural Resources Commissioner Dan Sullivan, who is mulling over his plans but is believed to be leaning toward running.
And lingering in the background is Sarah Palin, the perennial wild card, who's unlikely to jump in but isn't ruling it out.
( PHOTOS: Sarah Palin's career)
It all comes against the backdrop of a state Republican Party in turmoil after cycling through three chairmen in a year. A takeover by Ron Paul supporters was reversed by stalwarts of the old guard, leaving some activists bitter but heartening national party operatives focused on the mechanics of a victory operation.
Sen. Mark Begich, who prevailed in 2008 by about 4,000 votes over Republican incumbent Ted Stevens just weeks after his later-overturned felony convictions, should be toast — in theory. But he has relentlessly courted moderate voters and looks as well positioned as a Democrat can be in a red state that Mitt Romney carried by 15 percentage points.
The competition for Begich's seat — which Republicans need to win under almost any scenario to capture the Senate — is a microcosm of the party's broader struggles. This is the third election in a row in which establishment favorites in key races face serious challenges from insurgents.
( PHOTOS: Senators up for election in 2014)
But free-for-all primaries in red states such as Georgia and purple states like Iowa pose a serious threat to the GOP's hopes of regaining the majority. Veteran Republican incumbents from South Carolina and Kentucky also face primary challenges that could force them to the right and allow Democrats to at least make them sweat in the general election.
After losing winnable races from Nevada to Delaware in 2010 and Indiana to Missouri in 2012, Republican leaders in Washington resolved not to blow a third chance to win the upper chamber. But outsiders risk a backlash if they weigh in too actively or early, so they're choosing more often than not to stay on the sidelines and let things on the ground sort themselves out.
Still, "I don't expect to see the kind of squabbling we saw in 2010," Miller said in a phone interview. "I do believe the party will unite behind our nominee in 2014."
( PHOTOS: Republicans on how to fix the GOP)
The wait-and-see approach is manifesting itself in Alaska. After returning from a six-week deployment to Afghanistan as part of the Marine Reserves, Sullivan is expected to make his intentions clear by the end of September.
A super PAC recently formed to boost Treadwell — the group's treasurer is Sen. Lisa Murkowski's former spokesman — but some donors are holding off on giving until Sullivan announces his plans. Among those worried more about electability than ideology, there's concern that the two could divide votes and open the door for Miller, who has a high negative rating but can win a three-way primary with relatively narrow support. He beat Murkowski in the 2010 primary with just under 56,000 votes.
Palin said on Fox News recently she's not planning to run "as of this date" but added that "I certainly would never say never in this case."
This internecine conflict will not be resolved until the primary on Aug. 19, 2014 — just 2½ months before the general election.


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Lipscomb sophomore distance runner Katie Bunker along with a number of teammates are on a mission trip to Haiti. The following is an update from Bunker on the trip.
The end of day number two of Lipscomb Track and Field's mission trip to Haiti has arrived much quicker than I expected. The past two days have flown by; jammed packed with travel, food, sleep (or lack thereof), and, of course, children! Friday morning we started our trip in an incredibly painful and unexpected way, as the news of the passing of our teammate Matt Deery crushed the hearts of each of us. The announcement was made as we packed up the cars in front of Allen Arena at 6 a.m. Though difficult as it was, we pushed forward in the midst of this sadness, knowing Matt would never want to keep us from our mission in Haiti.
With heavy hearts, we traveled the 15 hours south to Miami with a fairly uneventful but successful trip. A short night's rest rejuvenated us, and we woke up this morning to leave for the airport at 5 a.m. After climbing onto the tiny, ten-row plane, we had a smooth and timely flight into Cap Haitien.
An open-air bus owned by the Cap Haitien Children's Home (CHCH) picked us up from the small airport, and we were instantly thrown into the Haitian culture. The short five-minute drive to the orphanage was eye-opening, and at that moment, the trip became real. Upon arrival to CHCH we quickly settled into our "dorms" and took a short tour of the orphanage. Then with slight uncertainty we began the awkward introductions to the 50 or so kids who are currently living here.
It didn't take long though before each member of the team was playing with, laughing with, or talking with several smiling, bright- eyed children. After only a short hour or two, I found that I could name almost half of the kids! We all made bonds with children quickly, and I found myself with a special friend the whole day: a sweet, crazy, but sometimes shy 5-year old named Negina. I'm excited to build this friendship and many more the rest of the week!
The love we experienced today as we played with and got to know the orphans here was incredible—love shown through singing at the top of our lungs in a language we don't know, wildly dancing around with the little girls before bedtime, or getting schooled in basketball by a little boy half your size (Alexander). If today was any indication as to how the remainder of our trip will be, I can say right now it's going to be phenomenal. God has already started and is going to do amazing things here at CHCH, and we are so blessed to be a part of it.
Until next time,


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Continuing on now with our primer, of sorts, for level 85 entry level tanking, we come to another important part of getting ready for tanking and those would be the glyphs you choose.
With the new glyph system in Cataclysm, there are three types of glyphs to look at.
Prime glyphs provide a small boost to a spell or ability. Oftentimes, these are small percentage based boosts.
Prime glyphs tend to be pretty cut and dried and there really aren't that many variations in them from one variation of a spec to another.
The main glyphs that you'll be taking for tanking as a warrior are the following: Glyph of Revenge, Glyph of Shield Slam, and Glyph of Devastate.
Keep in mind that as prime glyphs, these aren't game changing glyphs. They'll make your main rotational abilities hit a little harder but they don't add a lot of flash to your play, just makes it a little more solid.
The major glyphs are the things that really change things up but even here, you won't find your playstyle changing much; they'll just make things a little easier.
As with the prime glyphs, the choices are fairly simple as there really aren't that many options available to you in these slots.
The two must-have major glyphs are Glyph of Sunder Armor and Glyph of Shockwave. Both of these glyphs serve the dual function of helping you with single target as well as multi-target threat. The lower cooldown on Shockwave lets you use your signature ability for aoe threat/control more often while the Sunder glyph lets you spread around those Sunder Armors a lot more easily, letting you take less time to tab around mobs and land a few Devastates on them to keep them on you..
It's important to note that the Glyph of Sunder DOES work with the Devastate spell, which makes it an inarguable choice. The third slot is really just down to preference but you will likely want to choose between Glyph of Thunder Cap if you're having rage issues, Glyph of Resonating PowerG if you want just a little more range on your Thunderclap or Glyph of Rapid Charge if you want to really get more use out of Warbringer and the warrior's unmatched mobility in a fight.
The final type of glyphs are the minor glyphs. These glyphs really have little effect during most fights and just serve the purpose of improving the quality of life.
The only really serious one here if you raid would be Glyph of Demoralizing Shout which is a must-have if you're ever responsible for keeping up that debuff.
If you run a lot of heroics, you might want to grab Glyph of Intimidating Shout which turns your Shout into something like the DK's Hungering Cold which can save lives in the right situations.
The last thing for minor glyphs would be Glyph of Command. It's almost completely unnecessary but it saves you a global cool down once every 2 minutes and who knows, maybe someday that will save lives.
Stick around next week where we'll be taking a hard look at finalizing the spec now that everyone's getting back into raiding.


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Eskimo poems from Canada and Greenland, Volume 1973, Part 1
C P I, 1973 - Literary Criticism - 149 pages
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Abba Kovner Aj-ja-japape aja aja'ja ajaja'ja Aja-hai-ja aja'ja ajaja'ja aja Ajai-jija ajaja'ja aja aja'ja angakoq Angmagssalik bench blows past blubber breath called Caribou Eskimo Charm chorus Copper Eskimo dance Delight dogs drum East Greenland Eskimo song Eskimo woman eyes fear feasting-house feel Fifth Thule Expedition harpoon helping spirits hunter Igjugarjuk Iglulik Eskimo Igpakuhak Ija-ija ijaja-a-ijaja-aje inland International Poetry Forum Ivaluardjuk Jon Anderson kayak Kibkarjuk Kilime killed KNUD RASMUSSEN Let me fetch little song live look magic songs magic words Man's Song Maybe—yes meat melody mind Musk Ox Musk Oxen Nakasuk narwhales Netsit never once Orpingalik Padloq Piuvkaq poet qag-e Rasmussen reindeer Samuel Hazo seal shaman shout sing singer skin Snehyttens Sange snow hut song contest song festival SONGS OF DERISION souls sung taboo Tatilgak translation Unaija-unaija upstream Uvavnuk village voice walrus wife wind winter women wonderful


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Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University men's and women's outdoor track and field teams had an opportunity to run in front of a home crowd for the first time this season as FSU hosted the annual Bulldog Invitational on Saturday (April 7) at Top Taggart Field.
The Bulldogs had a pair of NCAA national-qualifying performances on the women's side with senior Tina Muir in the 1,500 meters and Jessica Pilling in the hammer throw.
Muir won the 1,500 meters in a time of 4:27.28 with sophomore teammate Samantha Johnson placing second (4:37.05) in the event and junior Shelby Janutol fourth (4:51.43). Meanwhile, Pilling was victorious in the hammer throw (53.36m).
FSU's Zoey Hohmann won the 400 meters (56.82) and took second place in the 200 meters (25.52)
Shea Van Klompenberg placed second in the 400 meters (58.67), Briana Raasio claimed second in the shot put (11.13m) and Alesha Reed was fourth in the high jump (1.46m). Pilling picked up fourth place in the discus (32.22m) with Raasio taking fifth place (31.96m). Raasio also was fourth in the hammer (38.25m).
Ferris State also had the top two finishers in the javelin with Christa Cwiek first (34.11m) and Raasio second (33.98m).
FSU was second overall in the women's 4x400-meter relay (4:19.15).
On the men's side, FSU's Spencer Gerber won the 1,500 meters (4:00.14) and Alex Best finished first in the 3,000 meters (8:42.28). Andrew Harper was the runner-up in the 3,000 (8:46.19) and Kyle Garner placed second in the 110-meter hurdles (16.26).
Ryan Stankey came in first in the shot put (15.64m).
Senior Justin Price finished first in the 400 meters (29.04) and was second in the 200 meters (22.71) while Sean Steeno claimed third place in the 100 meters (11.33) and fourth place in the 200 meters (23.22).
Thomas Lyons took fifth in both the 100 meters (11.65) and 200 meters (23.32).
Brian Murphy wound up third in the 400 meters (50.88) and Luca Cutraro was fifth in the 400 meters (52.28).
In the 800 meters, freshman Blake Garver took second (1:57.37), William King was third (1:59.24), Connor LaRowe came in fourth (2:01.81) and Carlvin Dorvilier placed fifth (2:06.78).
JJ Vandenberg netted second place in the shot put (13.30m) and was third in the hammer (48.67m) while David Jimpkoski was fifth in the shot put (12.33m) and Stankey placed fourth in the hammer (44.41m) along with fifth in the discus (39.15m).
The Bulldogs men finished second and third overall in the 4x400-meter relay with times of 3:28.90 and 3:40.95, respectively.
FSU is next in action on Saturday, April 14, with selected members heading to the Don Kleinow Invitational at Adrian College and others taking part in the Hillsdale Outdoor Meet in Hillsdale, Mich.


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General Motors, a company that has made strides to lower the carbon footprint of driving, is taking heat from 10,000 of its customers for a donation its charitable foundation made to an institute that casts doubt on climate science, according to a report from McClatchy.
The outrage stems from a leaked internal document from the rightwing Heartland Institute that was made public last month. A detailed strategy and funding memorandum, the document showed that GM had given the group $30,000 since 2010.
The campaign to press GM on their funding of a group well known for its campaign to deny global warming was organized by Forecast the Facts, an public advocacy group that has historically aimed to cast light on how meteorologists coverage of severe weather and climate change impacts public perceptions of how those phenomenon are related to man-made global warming.
The group set up a page on their website and has been posting short expressions of outrage by current and former GM customers upset by the revelations. A couple samples include:
"You're currently synonymous with the eco-friendly Chevy Volt, therefore this revelation will send a mixed message that will do maximum damage to your PR at the height of all the press you're getting for your comeback. Knock it off now, or I'm never buying another GM vehicle, even an electric." -Martin, Northville, MI
"My roots with G.M. go way back to my grandfather, Martin Menton, working for Fisher Body in the old day, & his sons followed suit, joining General Motors in their design dept., so what G.M. does is always important to me for personal reasons and as a tax payer, for economic reasons. Let's not give the anti-climate people any encouragement by contributing to their organizations! Be careful with our money & your reputation." -Cinthia, Fountain Hills, AZ
"There's very little to be lost if you believe that man has a part in global warming and it turns out down the road the he deoesn't. But being determined that global warming is a hoax and then finding out when it's too late you're wrong, will only bring disaster to you and our planet. One would think that a company like GM would be looking to the future and would be doing everything it can to ensure that the future even comes; not supporting an organization which tells you to close your eyes and pretend there's no danger that may make the future be tomorrow." -Alayna, Deer Isle, ME
According to McClatchy:
Many companies support the Heartland Institute, but Forecast the Facts focused on GM because it got taxpayers' dollars in the auto bailout, and "people really care about GM and what it stands for in American society and in the American economy," said the group's campaign director, Daniel Souweine. No taxpayer dollars went from the GM Foundation to Heartland, however.
The foundation's $15,000 annual gift in 2010, repeated in 2011, went to the Heartland Institute's general funds, not its climate program, said GM spokeswoman Carolyn Markey. Heartland also takes a free-market approach to other areas, including education, insurance and health care.
Sarah Laskow, at Grist.org, also reported on this story and was subsequently contacted by media personnel from GM. She writes:
GM got in touch to let us know that the company does not support Heartland's position on climate change and that "the donation through GM Foundation was designated to general funds not specifically toward climate related matters." Also that "Through the GM Foundation, we associate with and provide donations to a variety of organizations. These also include organizations that strongly support the science behind climate change." The examples: Ceres: the World Environment Center and Global Green.
So do with that what you will. It's clear that GM is taking this negative attention seriously enough to put the PR people on the case. I'd note that general funding is often more valuable to nonprofit organizations than funding earmarked for specific projects. It gives organizations the flexibility to do whatever they want, which in Heartland's case included promoting climate skepticism. If the GM Foundation didn't support the organization's position on climate change, they could have earmarked the funding to go to a program they did believe in.
McClatchy points out the long history of Heartland's climate denial and how completely detached it is from the reality presented by the world's leading scientists:
Heartland contends that global warming has stopped, a view that's contradicted by global data and reports from many scientists, including those at NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA, for example, has reported that each of the last three decades has been warmer than the decade before.
Heartland, however, sees global warming as part of a "liberal political agenda," according to its website. It argues that warming rose mostly from natural causes and has stopped, and that the benefits of "moderate warming" will probably outweigh the costs. The organization plans to fund a K-12 curriculum saying that climate science is controversial.
Climate science research, however, overwhelmingly reports that continuing warming is driven mainly by human use of fossil fuels. One summary, from the National Academy of Sciences, said: "Climate change is occurring, is caused largely by human activities, and poses significant risks for — and in many cases is already affecting — a broad range of human and natural systems."