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Jun Gao Knocks Off World Medalist to Win Third Round
(Beijing, China) - Jun Gao (Gaithersberg, Md.) defeated Sayaka Hirano (JPN), 4-1 on Wednesday to advance to the fourth round in Olympic table tennis competition.
"It was the first time we've played each other, so I just wanted to get out there and fight," Gao said of her match against the three-time World Team Championships bronze medalist.
The two players felt each other out during the first game before Gao took the win, 14-12.
With her rhythm down, Gao controlled the second game, dropping only one point, but the third game would be another close one with Hirano earning the win, 12-10.
"I was too relaxed. I hit down the line three times in the third game and kept missing, otherwise I would have won that one," said Gao who came back from a 7-9 deficit to hold at deuce (10) before losing 10-12.
Gao returned to form in the fourth with a 11-7 win and edged out a nail-biter in the fifth, 14-12.
"She played wonderfully," said Coach Doru Gheorge (Colorado Springs, Colo.) "The Japanese player is really tough and every game gets harder and harder, but I knew she could do it."
Gao will play Wu Xue (DOM) in the fourth round at 11 a.m. on Thursday. Gao has beaten Xue in two of their three previous meetings.


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EWWNP means Exploring Wild and Wonderful Number Patterns Created by Yourself! Investigate what happens if we create number patterns using some simple rules.
This article takes the reader through divisibility tests and how they work. An article to read with pencil and paper to hand.
It starts quite simple but great opportunities for number discoveries and patterns!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Book your Train ticket to WokingUnited Kingdom
#1 distributor of train tickets and rail passes
The simplicity of one-stop-shopping
European experts
Woking, the ideal destination for families!
Woking is located in the south of England, 25 miles kms away on the southwest of London. It is famous for car lovers to house the Mc Laren car racing team. The old village is a pleasant place to stroll about.
Literature lovers will be pleased to learn that Herbert George Wells, considered as one of the fathers of Science Fiction, lived here and wrote the world-famous "The War of the Worlds".
If you are with children you should head the Birdworld, where you can have a walk around this 26 acres big park and watch different birds such as parrots or Snowy owls. There is even a little safari train! Another option for family leisures is the Leisure Centre and Pool on the Park.
In Woking is the first Mosque built in Britain at the very end of the 19th century. If you need anything, head the Peacock Centre.
Train Station(s)
While you're there
Travel forum
From our travel community
Read all


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11225 W. 6th Ave.
Lakewood, CO 80215
New 2019 Grand Design Imagine 3170BH
- Bunkhouse
- Dual Entry
- Booth Dinette
- Walk-Through Bath
- Pet Dish Drawer
- Outside Kitchen
With any Imagine by Grand Design you will get a lightweight travel trailer that is towable behind most medium duty trucks and SUVs. The three year limited structure warranty will provide security while the 47 cu. ft. exclusive drop frame pass through storage allows you to pack all your favorite outdoor gear. The oversized tank capacities will allow you to stay a little longer when full hook-ups aren't a choice. Some of the inside features include upgraded residential furniture, large panoramic windows, and a Bluetooth stereo. It's time to stop compromising and start living your dreams today!
Thank you!We just wanted to leave a testimonial and thank you. Manny was our sales representative and he and all the folks we dealt with at Windish RV in Lakewood were polite, helpful, attentive and paid attention to the details that made our experience In buying a pre-owned travel trailer very enjoyable. Many times it is the small things in life that make a big difference and this group takes care of the small ... More » - Curt from Thornton, CO
Stock# 19T3451
Interior Color: CAPPUCCINO
|36 ft 11 in
|Ext Height
|11 ft 2 in
|Int Height
|6 ft 9 in
|Interior Color
|Hitch Weight
|794 lbs
|Gross Weight
|9495 lbs
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|7947 lbs
|Fresh Water Capacity
|52 gals
|Grey Water Capacity
|78 gals
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|39 gals
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|35000 btu
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|4400 lbs
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|6 gal
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Airstream of Colorado is not responsible for any misprints, typos, or errors found in our website pages. Any price listed excludes sales tax, registration tags, and delivery fees. Manufacturer-provided pictures, specifications and features may be used as needed. Inventory shown may be only a partial listing of the entire inventory. Please contact us at 303-274-9009 for availability as our inventory changes rapidly. All calculated payments are an estimate only and do not constitute a commitment that financing or a specific interest rate or term is available.


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After posting how good Bodhi is sleeping at night and napping in the day in his 18 month update, last week he decided he's not so keen on napping! Arghhhh. It's like he's suddenly realised that there is fun stuff going on downstairs and he doesn't want to miss it.
For ages he was having his nap between 10 or 11am for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours, and he'd easily go down for this nap. Then he started getting a bit more difficult to get to sleep so I moved his nap time back to after his lunch (which I gave to him pretty early). A couple of days a week we have to pick Charley up from nursery at 3, so his nap has to fit in with this.
Charley is at nursery until 3 on a Monday and Tuesday so we haven't been doing much on these days as he's been so good at napping and I've taken advantage of having these few hours to get some stuff done. The rest of the week we're out and about, so we don't stay in for him to have a nap then.
So I've been wondering if we need to do some activities in the morning to burn off his energy, so that he will go down for his nap more readily, as I don't think
I will he will be able to last the whole day without a nap.
Hopefully he will also enjoy going out, meeting some other little people and doing some different activities.
The trouble is to get to any activities mostly means going in the car, which means he is likely to fall asleep in the car on the way back (most activities start half way through the morning). Then there is the dilemma of trying to transfer him into his cot from the car without him waking up.
Then I need to factor in lunch and picking up Charley. Ideally, we would have lunch out so that he's eaten before we get home and I could transfer him to his cot, otherwise he might fall asleep in the car without having had lunch and then he may need lunch after he wakes up, which would mean its late for lunch and picking up Charley!
Routines for little ones seem such a nightmare sometimes, trying to get it all perfectly timed!
Anyway, so today I tried the 'new' routine. We went to the local swimming pool for a little splash about, which didn't go quite according to plan as I'd got the swim times wrong but after a little wait we did get in the
freezing pool. Then we or rather I had a sandwich, Bodhi didn't seem to like his, whilst out. By this time it was gone 12.30 and I was sure he'd fall asleep in the car, but he didn't. So I was able to put him in his cot when we got home and he went to sleep really easily and nearly had 2 hours. Wahoo.
Early days though, so I'll try not to be too smug just yet. Tomorrow we're going to a playgroup within walking distance, hopefully this will work out too. I'm not ready for him to stop napping in the day yet!!!!
Did your little ones suddenly stop napping? What are your routines like?


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For all the rhetoric about how much illegal immigration costs California and other states, economists who have studied the issue say the underlying numbers are conflicting and conflated.
In fact, the cost of illegal immigrants do not outweigh benefits, according to one expert.
"There's a significant body of estimations, of literature out there, that shows there's a 'net plus' to having undocumented immigrants," says James Gerber, professor of economics and director of the international business program at San Diego State University. "It's not an argument for (illegal immigrants), but it's just a serious attempt to provide a numerical estimate of their physical presence.
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
Gerber cites a variety of studies, including those conducted by the National Academy of Sciences, the Public Policy Institute and the University of California, Davis.
"The majority of (illegal immigrants) pay social Security taxes," Gerber said. "Many of them pay income taxes. They all pay sales taxes. They pay property taxes from the rents they pay for the places they rent. Many of them are property owners, in fact."
Gerber's remarks came in response to recent statements made by supporters of Arizona's polarizing new immigration law.
The vice president of Local 1613 of the National Border Patrol Council, representing Border Patrol agents in the San Diego and Imperial Counties region, praised the Arizona law during a Thursday news conference.
"There are millions of illegal aliens in this country, and until we start taking steps like this, we'll continue to be overrun," said agent Shawn Moran. "The infrastructure of our state is going to be worn down. Hospitals are going to close down ... I hope (the law) stands up to all the legal challenges that occur in Arizona."
Addressing a Tea Party gathering in Ramona on April 24, U.S. Rep. Duncan D. Hunter (R-El Cajon) said that California spends between $10 and $20 billion on illegal immigration.
"It's health services, it's education, it's jails," he said.
While skeptical of those figures, Gerber says they have a galvanizing effect on public opinion.
"It's quite common when we have an economic downturn to look for scapegoats," he said. "Obviously, immigrants had nothing to do with the financial crisis, which has had a terrible impact on the state of California and other states around the nation."
Gerber says the supply of illegal workers tends to hold down labor costs -- and thus consumer costs -- especially in agriculture, construction and tourism.
"Locally, for example, tourism in San Diego could not exist in anything near its present form without undocumented immigrants," he said. "They come to find jobs, to try to better their futures to create opportunities for their children. So when they come, they add an element of dynamism, energy and entrepreneurial activity to the economy."
Whatever the purported benefits, Uncle Sam still has little tolerance for employers of illegal immigrants.
The government is now seeking the forfeiture a venerable restaurant and bakery in San Diego, the French Gourmet, whose owner faces criminal charges stemming from a 2008 Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid.


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A Rare Snow in Atacama Desert of Chile
A rare snowfall in Atacama desert of Chile has delighted visitors to one of the world's driest areas.
Residents of San Pedro de Atacama say the weekend snow was the heaviest in three decades for the desert city, which is 750 miles (1,200 kilometers) north of the capital, Santiago. But local officials say they are concerned the snow and rain that fell over the weekend could cause some rivers to flood as has happened in the past.
The national tourism office says the road to San Pedro de Atacama was temporarily blocked due to the unusual weather. Officials have not ordered any evacuation although they expect more rain in the area.
Source: Miami Herald
Related Posts:
A Rare Snow in Atacama Desert of Chile Reviewed by Eli Snow on 9:11 AM Rating:


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A place for two of the most misunderstood kinds of Americans: Atheists and New Jerseyites.
Location: The Garden State
Members: 132
Latest Activity: Jun 25, 2016
Started by Howard S. Dunn. Last reply by Wayne Davison Nov 2, 2015. 2 Replies 0 Likes
Started by Paul Howard. Last reply by Janice Rael Sep 23, 2015. 3 Replies 0 Likes
Started by DarwinsDamsel. Last reply by Janice Rael Sep 23, 2015. 20 Replies 1 Like
The 2015 All South Jersey Humanist Summer Picnic (Gloucester County Humanists, Camden County Humanists, South Jersey (Shore) Humanists) will take place on Sat June 6th at Parvin State Park, $5 adults, potluck lunch, details on our Meetup groups.
if you're looking for a group to join, i have a page on facebook that has links to many local nj secular and atheist organizations. here's the address: https://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Jersey-Atheists/199475453415840
Hello to all fellow New Jerseyans. I live in Spotswood and am proud to be here with all of you guys. Thanks
I am open to persuasion by a well-stated case. But my strength is never to yield to force.
I am proud to be a part of a people who have done much for the good of humanity. Prouder still am I of the fact that I have freed myself from unwarranted belief in a supernatural king of the universe. Indeed, I wonder how such a bright inquisitive people have still not realized that "god" is unnecessary.
Thousands of years ago my ancestors tore up their corner of the world with spear, arrow, and sword, proclaiming, "Believe this or die!" Well, we got our prideful communal ass well and truly kicked in our own turn. But the immoral legacy of coerced conversion was carried forward by the two daughter religions of Judaism even unto these very days of ours.
Funny, it rarely works but on it goes. I am not a Xtian. If you smite me on my left cheek, back off. Cause there's a haymaker soaked in knock-out drops coming straight at you.
I will not bend my knee. As Mahatma Gandhi said, you can kill me. Then, you'll have my big fat ass to bury. NOT my obedience.
<Roooar!> LOL!
OK, I'm up here in the one red county in a blue state. It's filled with people who profess belief in "god" -the Xtian one, naturally- and can't tell you jack-shit about their "beliefs". This devotion to a nebulous idea of an invisible, omniscient god is both wearisome and worrisome.
At a time when observable fact should be governing our decisions, too many people feel that simple submission to "god's will" is ALL that is needed to improve the quality of life for everyone. Never mind the tens of thousands of "true" Xtian" confessions; it'll all be ironed out once Jews, Muslims, Wiccans, atheists, and all other believers in the treasonous falsehood that "Jesus" is not the be-all and end-all of, you know, EVERYTHING, are extirpated from the midst of the world's only "legitimate rulers".
I'm stuck up here stifling in the arrant ignorance of an antique world view. And without a car as I am, I haven't much chance to meet in person with people like myself. Those who understand that wishin' and a'hopin' is no excuse for complacency and denial of the genuinely observable.
Just joined. Am in Sussex County. With the bears. Oh my.
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I have struggled with this for a few years now. Every Halloween, my workplace encourages employees to dress up. Innocent enough. My first year or two, I did dress up mostly because I was new (only explanation I can come up with). But the last couple years, I haven't. This morning I sit here not dressed up because I have to wear a suit for an off-site meeting – and I'm glad I have this off-site meeting because it gives me an easy out.
Anyway, the issue for me is this: I'm in my early 30s (an optimist might say – a pessimist would say late 30s, and I suppose a truthful person would just say "I'm 35") and I'm just not sure dressing up is OK anymore. When I consider this question, part of me feels like Scrooge or just a big poop when I conclude that it's really lame and it's childish behavior. The other part of me thinks it's no big deal at all and that if people want to do it, why not just have fun with it.
One thing I have always wondered about is for those who do dress up, how do they decide what to wear? It is always kind of funny to see the quiet, unsuspecting person with an outrageous costume. And overall, I should add, that the people who tend to get really, really into this, in some ways, can be downright scary – though scary in a different way than Halloween fright. Some people get so excited about dressing up as someone else, it begs the question: do they prefer this character to their real self?
Anyway, it's equally funny to me to see the people who are obviously conflicted about dressing up in the first place who barely wear a costume (like a doctor's coat and a stethoscope or something lame like that). I imagine the thinking for these people might be that it's better to wear something than to be one of those non-participating, stuffy people who don't wear costumes…like me the last few years.
One factor that might change my thoughts re dressing up: Pabst. Actually, while I still champion Pabst, I must say that I haven't been drinking it much lately – have Schlitz and High Life Light in the fridge presently. Anyway, I'd find wearing a costume a bit more understandable when alcohol is the beverage of choice rather than coffee because the coffee people drink during the day makes them talk a lot and then they talk even more about costumes in focused, uncomfortable conversations.
What are your thoughts?


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As Naima Washington's blog-post on Black Skeptics noted, these sort of events tend to be decried as "balkanization", "dividing the Movement", or similar crap:
when we ask everyone in the secular community to celebrate along with us, and we set aside one day out of the entire year to do so, there's a problem! Last year, some very intelligent and insightful atheists declared efforts to organize a Day of Solidarity for Black Non-believers as segregation! Those same people are otherwise dead silent about the segregation, hostility, and alienation directed towards black atheists within the secular community year-round.
This is bullshit.
What events like the Day of Solidarity, the Women in Secularism conference, the African Americans for Humanism conference, etc. do is a)discuss issues not given much space or weight in the "general" (rea:, male, white, straight, cis dominated) conferences, groups, or writings; and b)highlight speakers and activists not given much space in the same "general" venues. To complain about them because we "shouldn't have to" have such separate events is a lousy, blinkered argument for not having such events, or not supporting them. After all, we "shouldn't have to" have skeptics or atheist conferences either, since that's how all people ideally should deal with the world anyway, right?
So on that note, here's my (admittedly measily) list of black atheists, skeptics, and nonbelievers that write stuff everyone should read:
Bridget R. Gaudette, contributor to Black Nones, blogger at Freethoughtify and Emily Has Books; she also currently has a kickstarter going for her next book: Grieving for the Living, so go contribute!!
Ian Cromwell, also a contributor to Black Nones, blogger at The Crommunist Manifesto
Anthony Pinn, author of African American Humanist Principles and The End of God Talk
Sikivu Hutchinson, author of Moral Combat and the forthcoming Godless Americana, contributing blogger at Black Skeptics
G. Andrews AKA Flexx, blogger at Human2O


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The UK Council of Caldicott Guardians strategy recognises the significant changes in
the delivery of health and social care since the "Report of the Review of Patient-Identifiable
Information"(the Caldicott Report), chaired by Dame Fiona Caldicott in 1997.
Part one of the strategy sets out three primary objectives for reforming the Council - leadership,
skills and innovation. Part two sets out nine strategic aims for reforming the Council over
the next 5 years and how each aim will be achieved.
UK Council of Caldicott Guardians 5 Year Strategy 2011-2016 (PDF, 178.0kB)
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Source :http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116754§ionid=351020401
Press TV
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates confirms that American security firms Xe Services LLC, formerly known as Blackwater, and DynCorp have been operating in Pakistan.
The two firms are operating in private capacities, Gates said on Thursday, adding that the companies were abiding by Pakistani laws.
However, he said that if the Pakistani parliament votes for a ban on the presence of the firms, the US government would comply with it.
Blackwater won notoriety for having gone on a shooting rampage in a heavily trafficked Baghdad intersection in September 2007 killing more than a dozen Iraqi civilians.
Blackwater Worldwide changed its name to Xe Services LLC in February 2009, after it came under international criticism for its disregard for civilian lives.
Two former Blackwater mercenaries have also been charged with the 2009 murder of two Afghan civilians in Kabul.
Asad Durani, former head of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), had earlier told Press TV that the notorious firm, Blackwater, was involved in the deadly drone attacks on Pakistani territories, which usually result in civilian casualties.
"I learned somewhere that these people are employed certainly for the logistic support at the drone bases. That is understandable," Durani said earlier in January.
Gates, meanwhile, said that Washington is considering sharing its Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology with Pakistan.
"These UAVs are useful and we have a budget for them," Gates said in an interview with a privately-run Pakistani television on Thursday.
He claimed that the drones had proved productive in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"We are working together with Pakistan army in this connection," Gates said, adding that discussions were underway with Pakistan military leadership on technical matters in this regard, a Press TV correspondent reported late Thursday.
Defense officials in his delegation later said that the US will provide 12 Shadow drones to Pakistan.
The Shadow drone is about 3.3 meters (11 feet) long and has a wing-span of 4.2 meters (14 feet), with sensors and cameras feeding video images back to operators on the ground.


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Mandel Ngan / AFP - Getty Images
President Obama is greeted as he tours a tornado-stricken area of Moore, Okla., on Sunday.
President Obama resumed his role as the nation's comforter Sunday, vowing to the people of Oklahoma "we've got your back" six days after a ferocious tornado tore a deadly path there.
The president's tour of the city of Moore included visits with victims and first responders and a firsthand look at the destruction wrought by a twister that rated the most powerful on the five-step scale used to measure a tornado's might.
Surveying piles of rubble that a week ago was a tidy suburban neighborhood, Obama walked along Eagle Drive to what was Plaza Towers Elementary School. Seven children died in the school.
"Obviously a picture is worth a thousand words; we see what the people of Moore have been dealing with," Obama said in brief remarks, the mangled wreckage of the school building serving as his backdrop.
Monday's storm ripped a 17-mile gash through the city, flattening entire blocks of homes, two schools and a hospital. Less than an hour after sirens warned residents of the twister's approach, 24 people were dead and 377 hurt.
Scott Olson / Getty Images
A monster tornado hit Moore, Okla., Monday afternoon, leaving at least 24 dead.
"This area has known more than its share of heartbreak, but the people pride themselves on the 'Oklahoma standard,' Obama said. "Oklahomans have inspired us with their love and their courage and their fellowship."
The president noted that a day before the Moore tornado struck, a smaller, deadly twister struck about 40 miles away. Afterward, he said, a bible was found in the rubble opened to the book of Isaiah.
"'And a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind and a covert from the tempest,'" the president quoted the passage, adding, "God has a plan, but we are an instrument of his will."
The Moore tornado was the most powerful in a flurry of 76 tornadoes that touched down in 10 states over a three-day span. The outbreak caused an estimated $2 billion to $5 billion in insured losses, according to disaster modeling company Eqecat.
At least 1,200 homes in central Oklahoma were destroyed by Monday's tornado and at least another 12,000 were damaged.
Obama, in rolled up shirtsleeves and khakis, was led on the tour by Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate and local officials. The scene has become familiar; the president arriving at the scene of tragedy to offer solace and support.
Obama took similar walks to Sunday's through the remains of Joplin, Mo., and Tuscaloosa, Ala., each ravaged by tornadoes in 2011. He paid a call to the New Jersey shore last fall when Superstorm Sandy devastated the region. He delivered consoling remarks after a gunman's deadly spree in Newtown, Conn., in December and when a fertilizer plant exploded in West, Texas, last month.
He found more heartbreak Sunday but also a community – hardened by experience -- that has already started to get back to its feet. Hundreds of volunteers have joined affected homeowners in literally pushing the rubble to the curb. Jeff Gorman, who hid in a cellar under his garage as the twister flattened his house, told The Oklahoman, "Everybody's just doing what they gotta do."
Obama vowed the nation would be there to help.
"This is a strong community with strong character," the president said. "There's no doubt they're gonna bounce back. But, they need help, as anyone would need help," calling on "every American to step up" and provide support.
"When we say, we've got your back," the president said. "I promise you, you have our word."
Reuters contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- Panoramic photo illustrates the devastation around the Garlands' home
- Tornado birth: Mom endures labor as twister destroys hospital
- Post-tornado peril: Victims could face deadly fungal infections
- Tornado victims identified
- Full coverage of the Oklahoma tornado tragedy on NBCNews.com
This story was originally published on Sun May 26, 2013 9:33 AM EDT


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Kuhr used his position to have government workers move a tree that fell on his property in East Northport while he was working in Albany. He allegedly told crews in Suffolk Country, who were in high demand at the time, to clear the tree from his driveway.
Governor Andrew Cuomo recognized this, as did many, as an abuse of his power which resulted in Kuhr receiving the boot just before a nor'easter descended on New York. When asked about the decision Cuomo said, "When we found out about it, we fired him immediately."
The governor has been praised for making an example of the former director and firing him on the spot. However, the real question is, how significant was Kuhr to the recovery effort? If he can be let go in between two devastating storms and no one notices, than what does the director of the State Office of Emergency Management really do?
It has even been reported by aides in the governor's office that Kuhr's termination will not affect the cleanup of the hurricane. While Kuhr was not the senior aide to Cuomo with regard to the recovery effort, his salary makes it seem like he was.
Kuhr was making $153,000 annually, according to the Daily News, filling the role of directing the state's emergency management, where he was not in charge of the overall recovery and seemingly only got one tree moved – the one from his own property
As people begin to worry about not having heat, electricity or running water, it's nice to hear that there are public officials with six figure salaries that don't really play a vital role in doing what they are payed for.
The governor keeps asking for money from the federal level for relief. He may just want to look around Albany and make some cuts.


text:
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text:
Jake Shimabukuro at the Calvin Theater
Northampton, MA
Saturday, Dec. 1st at 8pm
Hilltown Families and Iron Horse Entertainment Group have partnered up to offer a chance to win free tickets to see adult venues in the Pioneer Valley for a PARENTS' NIGHT OUT! You pay for the sitter, we'll pay for the tickets!
For November we are pleased to offer a chance to win one of two pairs of tickets to see Jake Shimabukuro. at the Calvin Theater in Northampton, MA at 8pm on Saturday, December 1st, 2012.
Win tickets and take your spouse, partner or good friend for a night out. Deadline to enter to win is Tuesday, 11/27/12 by 11:59pm (EST). More details below.
In his young career, ukulele wizard Jake Shimabukuro has already redefined a heretofore under-the-radar instrument, been declared a musical "hero" by Rolling Stone, won accolades from the disparate likes of Eddie Vedder, Perez Hilton and Dr. Sanjay Gupta, wowed audiences on TV (Jimmy Kimmel, Conan), earned comparisons to Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis, and even played in front of the Queen of England.
With his new record Grand Ukulele, Shimabukuro's star may burn even brighter. An ambitious follow-up to 2011's Peace, Love, Ukulele (which debuted at #1 on the Billboard World Charts), the Hawaiian musician's new record finds him collaborating with legendary producer/engineer Alan Parsons, best known for his work on Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, The Beatles' Abbey Road and his own highly successful solo project. Parsons ended up helping Shimabukuro expand his sound, bringing in a 29-piece orchestra and a big-name rhythm section, including drummer Simon Phillips (The Who, Toto), session superstar bassist Randy Tico and Kip Winger (Winger, Alice Cooper), who helped with the orchestration.
Discover more about Jake Shimabukuro at www.jakeshimabukuro.com.
Your chance to win one of two pairs of tickets to see Jake Shimabukuro at the Calvin Theater in Northampton, MA at 8pm on Saturday, December 1st, 2012, is as easy as 1-2-3 (4)! To win simply:
- SHARE YOU FAVORITE COMMUNITY HOLIDAY EVENT IN WESTERN MA below (one entry per household) and be sure to tell us your
- FULL NAME (first/last) and where you
- LIVE (TOWN/STATE) must include your town to be eligible.
- ACCURATE EMAIL (we never share your email address).
- We'll randomly draw a winner and will share the results below.
IT'S THAT SIMPLE! — Deadline is Tuesday, 11/27/12 by 11:59pm (EST).
If you don't win you should still go. Tickets are available at the Northampton Box office, online at IHEG.com, or by calling 413-586-8686.


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Father Mark Lane, a CFCA preacher, lives in the Brooklyn area and witnessed the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. Here is a recent email from him:
Slowly the enormity of the devastation and disruption is dawning on many of us. Every hour seems to bring new images and stories of the force of Sandy and her aftermath.
I say "slowly dawning on us" because some of us at first survived with little or no problem.
The Oratory Church of Saint Boniface where I live in downtown Brooklyn, just across from Wall Street in lower Manhattan, was relatively unaffected. We did not lose power, and we had no flooding.
We did feel the force of the wind. We watched trees stripped of the last of their leaves, and some branches and awnings and debris blow past our windows in a mad and scary parade.
'The full impact'
We woke thinking that the storm had passed without too much damage. But hour by hour, day by day, we see more and more the full impact.
Little food is now on the shelves in supermarkets, people are still walking about in a daze or trying to get around without public transport, and now we still have limited bus and subway service. What is available is extremely crowded.
The traffic is backed up for miles, seemingly everywhere, sirens and horns are blasting from morning to night. We live near approaches to the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, and they are jammed with traffic that barely seems to move.
Usually the view from our area of Brooklyn is of the island of Manhattan. It is at night lit up like a Christmas tree – a beautiful sight twinkling on the waters of the East River that divides us – but the whole lower half of the city is now eerily dark. No power, no water, no phones …. everyone there is fleeing uptown to eat, wash and recuperate.
'Chaos and debris everywhere'
The parish secretary lives on the south shore of Long Island. She told of their harrowing night.
The water rose so quickly that her family retreated upstairs as their lower floor flooded with the surging tide. She said they just huddled together and prayed. They feared they were not going to survive.
In the morning they came down to see appliances upended, furniture floating about, food and clothing bobbing on ripples, and even fish left in the receding wake. Soon she said she felt lucky as all around the devastation was apparent.
This morning I walked down the street and saw mile after mile of buses trying to get people over the bridges into the city so they can go to work. All the tunnels into Manhattan from this side are flooded.
I am due to preach this weekend on Long Island, but cannot reach the local parish by any electronic means. Much of the east end of Long Island is without power, as are great sections of New Jersey, Connecticut and New York.
'Good will and resilience'
Some 2 million people still have no power. Relatives and friends are telling us it is harder and harder to get by. It is particularly difficult for the young and the elderly.
But there are also signs of the extraordinary good will and resilience of many. One of the priests from my community, Father Michael, runs a homeless service program in the city. He got on his bicycle the morning after the storm and rode into the city to check in on people.
We, like many other places, have started collections of food and money to help Father Michael and many others like him.
The images from New Jersey and other coastal areas of New York and Connecticut are particularly heartbreaking as whole communities have lost everything.
Slowly but surely the city is getting back on its feet. Politicians have put aside their differences. The president, mayors, governors and the rank and file of essential services have shown great leadership and determination to get this right.
'We know we will recover'
Some in the National Guard carried patients in Roosevelt Hospital down 18 floors to get them to other facilities. Courage, generosity and resolve are everywhere. A little reminiscent of the aftermath of 9/11.
Once again the people of the greater New York area are opening their hearts, helping one another, getting down to the task of getting back to life and getting on with business.
I think most of us fully realize that we have been fortunate. The refrain of people in front of floating cars, battered homes and fallen trees has been consistently optimistic and grateful. We know we will recover.
I am keeping in mind that for many in our world, these are all-too-common realities, and not exceptions. To be really poor means to have few options. In my mind that makes the work we all do for CFCA all the more vital and urgent.
Keep us in your prayers. We need them! It will be a long road to recovery. But recover I am sure we will.
NOTE: Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by this massive storm. If you are a sponsor affected by Hurricane Sandy or interested in helping sponsors affected, we invite you to consider the CFCA Sponsorship Assistance Fund. The fund was created after Hurricane Katrina to help sponsors in times of crisis†continue their sponsorships.


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7UP's 'UP Anthem' 2014 Commercial – What's the Song?
In 7UP's latest commercial, the soft drink is aiming for a montage of feel-good moments to create a warm, happy feeling — and they hit the mark. It's hard not to feel nostalgic watching a series of fun, sweet, momentous life occasions emblazoned with short inspirational captions. A young girl dancing with her dad at her quinceañera is inscribed with "Grow Up." A charity team constructing a house is titled "Build Up." A man proposing to a woman is headed "Step Up." So what is the moving track playing in the commercial?
The song is up-and-comer Roméo Testa's cover of For King and Country's 'Light It Up,' a fitting choice for the 7UP 'UP Anthem.' The Californian's debut EP, 'The End,' features six soul-infused songs, including the 7UP feature.
"The song feels like it was written for me," the 18-year-old singer says on his website. "I felt in tune with the part about letting go of your inhibitions, know it's going to be okay because you have people who love you."
It sounds like Roméo is the perfect rep for 7UP's feel-good idea — he totally gets it. You can purchase 'Light It Up' here: http://smarturl.it/RomeoLightItUp


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Village of Hoffman EstatesHome Menu
Calendar of Events
Hoffman Baby Clinic
By Appointment Only
- Date: 11/12/2019 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
- Location: Village Hall Frank Alexa Training Room
1900 Hassell Road
Hoffman Estates, Illinois 60169
Return to full list >>
Ages two months to kindergarten. Hoffman Estates residents only.
For more information, click here.


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huston we have a problem


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Notice: On April 23, 2014, Statalist moved from an email list to a forum, based at statalist.org.
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
st: RE: Listing the first 5 observations
"Cohen, Elan" <firstname.lastname@example.com>
"firstname.lastname@example.com" <email@example.com>
st: RE: Listing the first 5 observations
Wed, 29 Aug 2012 14:29:08 +0000
How about:
bys age (random): l if _n<=5
- Elan
-----Original Message-----
From: firstname.lastname@example.com [mailto:email@example.com] On Behalf Of Damian Finlayson
Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2012 10:23
To: firstname.lastname@example.com
Subject: st: Listing the first 5 observations
This seems like a relatively simple query but no matter which way I
try I cannot get it to work.
I am trying to randomly select a number of observations according a
set criteria.
Say I have 3 variables: var1, var2 and random. Var1 consists purely
of unique values (such as names). Var 2 has groups/categories (e.g.
age). Random consists of unique random numbers.
I would like to get stata to sort each category (age) by a random
number and then list the first 5 names for a given age say 49.
The command I am trying to use is:
list var1 if age == 49
but I cannot seem to amend this command so that only the first 5
observations (as per the random number) are listed. If I use in 1/5
it does not work as the first observation for age 49 could be the 53
observation the second at 114 and so on. If I ask for all
observations I could end up with thousands of names being listed.
Thanks in advance for your help,
* For searches and help try:
* http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
* http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
* http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
* For searches and help try:
* http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
* http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
* http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/


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Just imagine the hours of fun your child will have with this adorable harbor seal puppet!
This toy encourages creative play and imaginative thinking while starting your child's love of marine mammals. Harbor seals are the third most common type of patient found at The Marine Mammal Center and some would argue, the cutest seal on this shore! A favorite with the staff and volunteers here, this soft, plush puppet looks remarkably like the real animal. See for yourself, and get a helping hand at playtime with this fabulous puppet!
App. 19" long. Imported.
Plush contains small parts not for children under 3 years.
Also available: Turtle Puppet, Sea Otter Puppet, Sea Lion Puppet, and Monk Seal Puppet.
People who bought this item also purchased:


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Bright Aisle Mobile App
Having Trouble With the App?
General IssuesNetwork problems
This is the leading cause of problems with loading the app. The app needs a strong, stable internet connection in order to load content. Interruptions in service will prevent the app from completing all the necessary validation and content retrieval network calls to our web server. Slower data, like 3G or weak WiFi, can prevent these network calls from completing before timing out, halting the loading of the app. In some rural areas, cellphone networks are maintained by regional carriers, and licensed for use by larger carriers (and vice-versa for many prepaid carriers). These networks don't always have the same 4G speeds, as prepaid phones speeds are often throttled by the larger carrier, giving preference to their regular customers during peak network traffic, or a regional carrier might not have built up the same level of data speeds found in the cell towers owned by the larger national companies. Verify that you have a 4G connection, if on cellular data, or more to an area with a stronger WiFi signal.Corrupt files / apps
Apps, like any computer program, are not impervious to files getting corrupted, thereby affecting the performance of the app or causing it not to load. Data can be corrupted when content and updates aren't able to complete downloading before network issues interrupt the downloading or the file system runs out of storage to receive the download. Smartphones are also not imperious to computer viruses, which can affect a single app or the entire phone. The first step with app problems should be to uninstall and reinstall the app entirely.Memory issues
Like on a computer when you have too many programs open, a phone can start to run sluggish is you have too many apps open and running in the background. A lack of memory can cause an app to run more slowly, or perform network operations more slowly, as it fights with other apps for memory resources. If there isn't enough available prior to launching an app, then the entire phone system can start freezing or the app won't even open when launched. In this case, close as many of the open apps as you can, or restart your phone entirely. Like with a computer, restarting can fix many of the performance issues related to memory, as it clears it during restart.Faulty hardware
If an internal phone computer that is used by the app is faulty, then this can cause the app to stop functioning when trying to initialize that component. Examples of internal components used in apps are bluetooth low-energy connections, NFC, camera, and the GPS. If any of these are not functioning in the way the app expects, then the app can freeze. (For example, you might be able to connect to a bluetooth headset, but the bluetooth protocol that is used to detect proximity beacons throughout the store might not be functioning properly, but might go widely unnoticed in day-to-day phone usage.)


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Who likes Christmas? Me too! My favourite thing is hearing all those lovely Christmas songs played on repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And thanks to the digital age and your parents now having a firm grasp of iTunes, we have a top 40 this week absolutely chock-a-block with your usual festive favourites. Wham!, Sir Cliff, McGowan, Mariah: they're all there. But fear not, futurists! There are some new Christmas efforts doing the rounds too. And for ease of eye (and ear in some cases), we've rounded them up here. With handy ratings, too… go forth.
Asobi Seksu – 'Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight)'
It is, of course, a cover of a song from fellow New Yorkers The Ramones. And it sounds rather like what would happen if My Bloody Valentine cobbled together a Ramones cover. In ten minutes. Which essentially, it is. A bit shoddy, really. The key question: is Christmas really about fuzzy guitars and glacial wailing? Should all Christmas songs actually have sleigh bells or an appropriate 'jangle' going on? Probably. Loses out on all counts, really. 5/10
Malcolm Middleton – 'We're All Going To Die'
The 'credible novelty hit' of the contenders. Rather like, say, 'Mad World' it has no actual reference to Christmas. It merely sums up the feeling you get when you're in the town centre trying to buy socks for Gran. Kill, kill, kill. Just a thought, though: wouldn't this be more amusing if it was released by Kate Middleton? 6/10
Shaun The Sheep – 'Life's A Treat'
The true heir to the great British Christmas single. In that it's a massive, irritating pile of wank. File next to Mr Blobby, Bob The Builder and something with Timmy Mallet. Horrendous wankers, all of them. Especially bad here is the video, which involves some kind of rave sheep. 2/10
The Killers – 'Don't Shoot Me Santa'
"Oh Santa, it's been a long, hard year," croons diminutive career climber Brandon Flowers. Yes, yes it has. Especially if you don't like The Killers – 2007 must have felt like forever. The second 'look at us' effort of the winter (after that eerie Lou Reed collaboration) feels a bit too much. Please stop now, The Killers. It's kind of like a Wild West Nativity play, and just as jumbled and confused as that premise sounds. Weird. And in a way, equally as offensive as Shaun The Sheep. 5/10
Frightened Rabbit – 'It's Christmas So We'll Stop'
In the Scottish head-to-head with Malcolm Middleton, we're going to have to plump with this effort. Quite lovely and rather understated, it sounds like it was recorded in a cabin in the middle of a field of pure white snow. Kinda like Bing Crosby (see video below) on whiskey and Tennants. Mmm. 8/10
Super Furry Animals – 'The Gift That Keeps On Giving'
An actual present given away by SFA! Available to download for free on Christmas Day, this track's from the ace and entirely underrated (already) Hey Venus!. And the title is entirely appropriate. Is it a slick marketing thing? Yes. Do we care? No. 9/10
Fucked Up – 'David Christmas'
Sounding like a modern day sludge-rock Slade, the seasonal offering by these sweary ones is a little bit useless, actually. It'd be easy to suggest that it's for 'fan's only', but that would be to imply that Fucked Up fans like Christmas. But they probably don't. They probably like torturing goats. The b-side however, is a heck of a lot more intriguing, if compositionally a lot less appealing… read more here. 5/10
Leon Jackson – 'When You Believe'
Of course, the actual winner of the Christmas top slot fight is the pre-ordained X Factor track each year. This year's turkey gobbler is particularly mawkish. Apparently-not-as-good-as-Ryhdian (I didn't watch it, haven't a clue) doucher Leon offers a vocal delivery as flat as a washboard. The chord changes as you swoop into the big chorus are rather odd. Even Westlife would have considered this album filler material. In the song's defence, Mariah and Whitney do make a better fist of it in the original (we have YouTube in the office, y'know). 4/10
Of course, this is our favourite Christmas clip of them all. Odd, non?
- - -


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"Shake it a-baby!"
As a species, humans have a baffling obduracy to live wherever we darn well please on God's green earth as long as Antarctic estates aren't included in the realtor's docket. From nomadic tribes to big business promulgators, we seem determined to plant our roots in every plot that fills both this planet and extraterrestrial acreage beyond–just as soon as lunar engineering is up to mass-developmental snuff. To top off our hunger for property, we play this game of land seizure with little regard for the progenitors of mythology: natural cataclysms that the cosmos allotted to each region of this planet long before we staked our mortgage claims.
In this country alone, the North bears the brunt of inhuming ice storms, the East is pummeled by hurricanes, tornadoes ramshackle the Midwest as they bypass the amicable route to Oz, the Northwest lives in the shadow of eight active volcanoes, tsunami-watch spans each coast, and here in California earthquakes reign supreme. Quite frankly, the United States is a veritable smörgåsbord of Mama Nature's paroxysms.
In a country so tempestuous–even when we eschew the hailstorm that is bipartisan politics–finding invulnerable settlement means betting on a game of renter's roulette. If someone ends up sowing their seeds in Tornado Alley, I understand that uprooting their entire life and relocating to milder climes when the cyclones amass is no cheap feat, but I can't help wondering what convinced our nation's migratory predecessors to hunker down in different disaster zones in the first place. I suppose when you contend with 23-foot long Ripper Lizards and giant sloths scrambling all over Pangea, the occasional lava flow is a small price to pay for a plot of arable land.
Personally, I took up residence in Los Angeles knowing that its toothy, clawed remnants of the Holocene epoch reside in the Page Museum and the only risky natural business I'd be facing was the fact that this be earthquake country. Besides the slight desk tremors that occasionally pique the excitement of Oregon school children, the first bona fide earthquake I ever experienced occurred at 6:30a.m. Hollywood time when our bed staged its own Evening with Fred Astaire and my boyfriend awoke with an inhuman, deep-sleep yell that aided the tectonic plates in rattling me to the core. This wake up call only reached a magnitude of 4.7 on the Richter Scale, but watching my Las Vegas memorabilia topple from the shelves and feeling the wall sway behind me was enough to instill an utter terror of bigger things to come.
And rumor has it in the scientific community that we SoCal residents ain't seen nothing yet. Based on the geophysical research of Stanford seismologists, apocalyptic tidings of a massive earthquake hitting Los Angeles sometime in the next 30 years have swept across the internet via scientific forums and volatile comment sections alike. Expected to exceed 8.0 on the Richter Scale, this prophetically minacious tremor is fanning the already voracious flames of Godzilla-esque destruction hypotheses–that is, if his latest film depiction hadn't been more aptly titled Hundreds of Humans and Their Tribulations, Two M.U.T.O.s, and Fleeting, Incessantly Interrupted Glimpses of Godzilla.
Some of the more imaginative voices of the online peanut gallery have taken these whisperings of catastrophic tectonics and ran with them until they've woven cautionary tales befitting Cormac McCarthy's The Road. Commenting on Tech Times' review of Ker Than's (associate director of communications for Stanford's School of Earth Sciences) take on the impending LA quake, one such doomsayer predicted that, "[a]fter only a few days the Los Angeles area will be like a war zone. Eventually it will become uninhabitable. Thousands will die not from the quake but from the aftermath… I have had a dream over and over of a very long mass of weary looking people walking east on the interstate up the grade toward Barstow and the refugee camps set up there by the government. When you look back to the west all one can see to the horizon is smoke rising up from what was once a modern civilization now destroyed by mother nature. It will happen. My dreams always come true."
Whether or not this commenter was film director Roland Emmerich posting under an alias is yet to be verified.
Unfortunately for us Angelinos, the aptly denoted "Big One" bodes more substantiated probability than the portentous theories that mankind will perish at the hands of bath salt zombies. According to Ker Than's article for Stanford News, scientists have found a way to predict a future quake's ground movement and shaking hazards by examining the ambient seismic field, or pressure pulses generated and projected through the earth's crust by colliding ocean waves. While these ambient waves are notably "billions of times weaker than the seismic waves generated by earthquakes," scientists like Marine Denolle have now learned how to mathematically compare these surface measurements to the temblor waves that occur deep within the earth.
By examining these "virtual earthquakes," scientists verified a supercomputer's prediction from 2006 concerning the San Andreas Fault in the Carrizo Plain, northwest of Los Angeles. This prediction suggested that if said fault should rupture, the seismic waves produced by an earthquake would be "funneled toward Los Angeles along a 60-mile [sedimentary] conduit that connects the city with the San Bernardino Valley." To make matters worse, Los Angeles is a sitting duck atop a large sedimentary basin that study coauthor Eric Dunham compared to a jiggly dollop of gelatin in the midst of a plastic foam bowl. This means that if you're lucky enough to have set up shop in the plastic foam terrain that circumvents Los Angeles, you might not have to hold on as tight as we Gelatinites strike vogue poses in our doorways to fend off falling furniture. Other cities unfortunate enough to have been founded upon these suicidal basins of sediment include Tokyo, Seattle, and parts of the Bay area, all of which simultaneously stand on the tectonically fruitful circum-Pacific seismic belt. Home to 75% of the world's active and dormant volcanoes and 81% of the world's largest earthquakes, this horseshoe-shaped calamity hotbed is a natural exemplar for a sequel to Pacific Rim: Pacific Ring of Fire.
I guess the moral to this disastrously consequential story is hire some scientists to dig in your dirt before inspiring 10 million people to come inhabit your city, you technologically ill-adept Chumash, Tataviam, and Tongva tribes, Spanish explorers, and gold prospectors of yesteryear. That, or just relax all you internet harbingers of doom. For no matter how many Essential Survival Kits-in-a-Can we accrue from California Surplus Mart, Mother Nature is going to do her thing, and because we'll be a part of that natural ebb and flow no matter where we reside, there's little point in toiling our lives away in premature fear. After all, a major quake hasn't occurred along the San Andreas Fault in more than 150 years, and if that's not enough to smooth out your apprehensive gooseflesh, we still have a supposed grace period of three decades to decide whether volcano, blizzard, tornado, or hurricane territory would be a more suitable habitat for relocation.
- Doomsayer. "Dystopian Dream." Tech Times, Comment Section, 28 Jan. 2014. Web. 24 May 2014. <http://techtimes.com/articles/2967/20140128/los-angeles-brace-yourself-for-a-bigger-earthquake-scientists-predict.html>.
- Than, Ker. "Stanford scientists use 'virtual earthquakes' to forecast Los Angeles quake risk." Stanford News, 23 Jan. 2014. Web. 24 May 2014. <http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/january/la-quake-risk-012314.html>.
- "Is it true that scientists are predicting a really big earthquake will sink western California?" How Stuff Works, 7 Feb. 2001. Web. 24 May 2014. <http://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/natural-disasters/question567.htm>.


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Guillen said he and general manager Ken Williams discussed call-up candidates Friday. "He named a couple of players," Guillen said. "He named [catcher Tyler] Flowers. He named Getz, and I think [Josh] Fields should be here. He named Fields, Getz [and] pitcher Carlos Torres. I don't know after that. We mentioned that we need a lefty for the bullpen."
August 31, 2009
Tyler Flowers, come on up!
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KFC's Big India Plans
After making KFCs a common sight in big Indian cities Yum Brands is now targeting second-tier markets as it looks to ring up $1 billion in system sales and 1,000 stores by 2015.
Niren Chaudhary, president of Yum's India operations, said the company, whose other chains include Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, is counting on a new wave of growth in India propelled by favorable demographics.
"By 2030, India will be the largest consuming class in the world, ahead of the U.S. and China," Mr. Chaudhary said in a recent interview. India's young population with a median age of 28 is another attractive market feature, he said. "The demographic dividend India has is unquestionable," he said.
Yum has been in India since the early 1990s and has gained scale in big cities like Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai. In its year-end financial report on Feb. 4, the company said it ended 2012 with 593 KFCs and Pizza Huts in India - many in crowded city markets, airports and shopping malls. India system sales (the total of Yum and its franchise partners) grew 29% over the previous year, with same-store sales growth of 5%.
Mr. Chaudhary said Yum could invest $100 million over the next three to four years adding new stores in small towns like Baroda in the state of Gujarat. "The model is strongest in the emerging towns – that's where the bulk of our development is going to be," Mr. Chaudhary said. "Our game plan is to get into as many of those towns as early as possible."
The company is seeing dual benefits in small markets like Coimbatore and Visakhapatnam where it has already launched KFCs, he says. "We get a top line similar to big cities at rentals which are much more affordable."
India's roughly $350 million in annual system sales makes up just 3% of global sales for Yum. But one sign of the nation's growing importance is that it is one of only three countries reported as a separate "division" in Yum's financial results, along with China and the U.S.
China has been the major Asian growth engine for Yum in recent years. But the Chinese government's investigation into antibiotics use in KFC's poultry, and the resulting media coverage, has taken a major toll lately, with a same-store sales decline in China of 25% in January and February combined.
India's restaurant industry is expected to grow from about $14 billion in annual revenues in 2012 to $26 billion in 2015, according to Franchise India, an industry group. Nearly two-thirds of Indians now eat out at least once a week, the group's data shows.
Besides the early entrants in fast-food like McDonalds and KFC, there are newcomers to India like Dunkin Donuts and, in the coffee arena Starbucks, which just opened in Delhi last week.
There's still plenty of room for growth, as 70% of the market is made up of small mom-and-pop stores rather than restaurant chains. Still, restaurants face the same massive regulatory constraints that all Indian retailers do – an array of licenses need to be secured and renewed regularly, and supplying fresh ingredients quickly on India's ramshackle road infrastructure can be tough.
KFC's menu in India has some of the old standards familiar in the U.S. – buckets of fried chicken drumsticks and boneless strips. There are tweaks, of course, for the local market, like the vegetarian chickpea patty sandwich and hot wings with chili lemon sprinkles. "It gives it a bit more of a kick than other international markets," Mr. Chaudhary says.
Yum is still in the early stages of rolling out Taco Bell in India. There are a handful of stores in Bangalore, with more planned. Mexican food has yet to really catch fire in India, despite – or perhaps because of – the similarities in ingredients like tortillas and red beans to their Indian counterparts. Mr. Chaudhary said people are sometimes turned off because they're expecting an Indian taste out of food that looks somewhat Indian.
The company is experimenting with fusion concepts like the "Kathitto" – a cross of the burrito and the Indian kathi roll. "When a consumer sees this, he says, 'Yeah, I know what to do with this food," Mr. Chaudhary says.
"I believe this is a dream opportunity," Mr. Chaudhary said of the growth potential in India. "We've reached a point of inflection and are beginning to accelerate."
Amol Sharma is an India Correspondent for The Wall Street Journal. Follow him and India Real Time on Twitter @amolsharmawsj and @indiarealtime.


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Seriously, WTF? Why Javascript developer, even working for such a big company as Facebook, needs to know how to re-implement build-in language elements? Knowing everything about everything was bane of elementary education - we have all been trained (at least here, in Eastern Europe), that when we need to know something we shouldn't use 'outside' sources such as books then and Internet now. Why? Personally, I didn't know any developer who didn't sometimes read the documentation, especially if it takes less than 3s if you know what you are looking for.
In case that 'implementing sqrt()' task will ever occurs again, here are two of my JS implementations:) :
//in this way calculators implements square roots: var ownSqrt = function(number) { return Math.exp(Math.log(number)/2); }But if it is forbidden to use Javascript Math object constants at all, the best way is to use approximation like this:
var ownSqrt2 = function(number) { var x = number; while (Math.abs(x*x-number) > 0.001) x = (x*x+number)/(2*x); return x; }There are a lot of different algorithms on Wiki, and their implementations all over the Web.


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I.R.C. § 7275(a) Tickets —
In the case of transportation by air all of which is taxable transportation (as defined in section 4262), the ticket for such transportation shall show the total of--
I.R.C. § 7275(a)(1) —
the amount paid for such transportation, and
I.R.C. § 7275(a)(2) —
I.R.C. § 7275(b) Advertising —
In the case of transportation by air all of which is taxable transportation (as defined in section 4262) or would be taxable transportation if section 4262 did not include subsection (b) thereof, any advertising made by or on behalf of any person furnishing such transportation (or offering to arrange such transportation) which states the cost of such transportation shall--
I.R.C. § 7275(b)(1) —
I.R.C. § 7275(b)(2) —
if any such advertising states separately the amount to be paid for such transportation or the amount of such taxes, state such total at least as prominently as the more prominently stated of the amount to be paid for such transportation or the amount of such taxes and shall describe such taxes substantially as: "user taxes to pay for airport construction and airway safety and operations."
I.R.C. § 7275(c) Non-Tax Charges
I.R.C. § 7275(c)(1) In General —
In the case of transportation by air for which disclosure on the ticket or advertising for such transportation of the amounts paid for passenger taxes is required by subsection (a)(2) or (b)(1)(B), if such amounts are separately disclosed, it shall be unlawful for the disclosure of such amounts to include any amounts not attributable to such taxes.
I.R.C. § 7275(c)(2) Inclusion In Transportation Cost —
Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit the inclusion of amounts not attributable to the taxes imposed by subsection (a), (b), or (c) of section 4261 in the disclosure of the amount paid for transportation as required by subsection (a)(1) or (b)(1)(A), or in a separate disclosure of amounts not attributable to such taxes.
I.R.C. § 7275(d) Penalty —
Any person who violates any provision of subsection (a), (b), or (c) is, for each violation, guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not more than $100.
(Added Pub. L. 91-258, title II, 203(c)(1), May 21, 1970, 84 Stat. 239, and amended Pub. L. 91-680, 3, Jan. 12, 1971, 84 Stat. 2064; Pub. L. 97-248, title II, 281A(b)(1), Sept. 3, 1982, 96 Stat. 567; Pub. L. 112-95, title XI, Sec. 1104(a), Feb. 14, 2012, 126 Stat. 11; Pub. L. 115-141, Div. U, title IV, Sec. 401(a)(323), Mar. 23, 2018, 132 Stat. 348.)
Prior Provisions
A prior section 7275, act Aug. 16, 1954, ch. 736, 68 Stat. 866, which related to cross references, was repealed by Pub. L. 89-44, title VI, 601(i), June 21, 1965, 79 Stat. 155.
2018--Subsec. (b)(2). Pub. L. 115-141, Div. U, Sec. 401(a)(323), amended par. (2) by substituting "taxes," for "taxes, shall".
2012—Subsec. (c)-(d). Pub. L. 112-95, Sec. 1104(a), redesignated subsec. (c) as subsec. (d) and added a new subsec. (c).
Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 112-95, Sec. 1104(a)(2), amended subsec. (d), as redesignated, by substituting "subsection (a), (b), or (c)" for "subsection (a) or (b)".
1982--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 97-248 redesignated former par. (1) as pars. (1) and (2) and struck out former par. (2) which provided that a ticket for transportation, if it showed amounts paid with respect to any segment of such transportation, had to comply with former par. (1) with respect to such segments as well as with respect to the sum of the segments.
1971--Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 91-680, 3(a)(1), inserted "and" after "and (b),".
Subsec. (a)(2), (3). Pub. L. 91-680, 3(a)(2), (3), redesignated par. (3) as (2), and struck out reference to par. (2). Former par. (2), which prohibited airline tickets from separately stating the amount paid for the air transportation and the amount paid for taxes, was struck out.
Subsec. (b)(1). Pub. L. 91-680, 3(b), struck out "only" after "state such cost".
Subsec. (b)(2). Pub. L. 91-680, 3(b), substituted provisions authorizing advertising to separately state in the prescribed manner the amount paid for the air transportation and the amount paid for taxes, for provisions prohibiting advertising from separately stating the amount paid for the air transportation and the amount paid for taxes.
Amendment by Pub. L. 115-141, Div. U, Sec. 401(a)(323), effective March 23, 2018.
Amendments by Sec. 1104(a) of Pub. L. 112-95 effective for taxable transportation provided after March 31, 2012.
Section 281A(b)(2) of Pub. L. 97-248, as amended by Pub. L. 98-369, div. A, title VII, 714(b), July 18, 1984, 98 Stat. 961, provided that: "The amendment made by paragraph (1) [amending this section] shall apply with respect to transportation beginning after the date of the enactment of this Act [Sept. 3, 1982]."
Section 4 of Pub. L. 91-680 provided that: "The amendments made by the third section of this Act [amending this section] shall apply to transportation beginning after June 30, 1970."
Section applicable to transportation beginning after June 30, 1970, see section 211(b) of Pub. L. 91-258, set out as Effective Date of 1970 Amendment note under section 4041 of this title.


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Managing Director & Senior Partner
Jean-Christophe Gard is a core member of the Marketing, Sales & Pricing and Insurance practices at The Boston Consulting Group.
Since joining BCG in 1999, Jean-Christophe's client work has centered on the insurance and financial services sectors. He is a topic expert on go-to-market advantage.
Before joining BCG, Jean-Christophe worked at Groupe CS Communications & Systems.


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Re: Backspace in insert mode
I've just upgraded to viemu 2.0, i like the new features.. But, backspace in insert mode is not the same anymore, nothing happends. How can I fix this problem?
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I've just upgraded to viemu 2.0, i like the new features.. But, backspace in insert mode is not the same anymore, nothing happends. How can I fix this problem?
Seems to be some problem when I let viemu remove the keybindings. I have a keyboard setup where I have deleted some clashing bindings and that setup works fine.
Henrik, the keyboard management code was probably overzealous. Maybe there is some other key bound to Edit.DeleteBackwards? You can find this out in Tools|Options|Keyboard: type the command name and open the dropdown to see what keys are assigned. You can also check the list of commands ViEmu removed in Tools|Options|ViEmu->Keyboard, probably the command is there with some other key assignment.
The documentation has detailed instructions on how to fix these situations once you know it is happening. Please let me know if I can be of help with this.
Actually I do not know how I managed to get it to work. When I let viemu handle the clashing bindings I saw in the Tools|Options|Keyboard that there was no binding at all for Edit.Deletebackwords. But now it works, maybe it could be something with VP suite that I uninstalled while trying this.
However, it works for me now
It's ok then. Just let me know if you need anything else!
Actually, I'm running into this problem as well.
I just installed ViEmu 2.0 into two different copies of VS -- one copy where I previously had some 1.4.X installed and another one completely fresh. I have the default ViEmu keyboard mapping scheme selected, with no modifications to saved keybindings or anything. When I first start up VS, I run into this same problem with backspace not working in insert mode, and I've noticed a second one as well -- the CTRL-Tab that switches between files is also nonfunctional. I haven't yet noticed anything else that's not working, but I also haven't done a lot of development in VS lately, so there could be others.
I have discovered a workaround -- if I deactivate the ViEmu keybaord mapping by returning it to Default Settings, and then re-activate the ViEmu keyboard mapping, then everything works fine. It's mild annoyance, not too bad for the time being, but it strikes me as odd that that would fix it.
Perhaps of use to J is that when I first startup, the list of 'Current clashing keybindings' is empty, but after I do the unload/reload thing, the list shows the following:
Edit.MakeLowercase=Text Editor::Ctrl+U
Edit.ViewWhiteSpace=Text Editor::Ctrl+R, Ctrl+W
Edit.ToggleWordWrap=Text Editor::Ctrl+R, Ctrl+R
Edit.IncrementalSearch=Text Editor::Ctrl+I
I notice that neither Backspace nor the CTRL-Tab combo is listed in there, but again it's odd that the behavior changes. Perhaps some problem with the initialization?
EDIT: After posting & re-reading the thread, I decided to investigate the mapping for Edit.DeleteBackwards, and it is indeed blank on VS startup, and properly mapped to Backspace after the unload/reload.
Last edited by epetrusic (2006-09-29 15:53:28)
Thanks a lot for the detailed feedback. Indeed, it's useful, and I need to have a detailed look at this as soon as I can. It's causing trouble at several customer's installation.
Keybindings are a pretty dark corner of Visual Studio - some keybindings are configurable, while others are set by the system at an undefined stage during VS startup (for example, the basic editing ones - Left, Right, Up, Down, etc...). Possibly, ViEmu is doing its thing at an inappropriate moment in time.
I'd like to fix this for the time being, and I plan to implement a completely different keybinding handling for a future versions, which won't require messing with Visual Studio's keybinding table. It will be the only way to get a 100% rock solid solution.
I'll post about the solution as soon as I can properly investigate it.
Thanks and best regards,
Is the misbehavior happening every time you start up Visual Studio? Or, is there any way to cause it to repeat?
If so, I would like to send you an instrumented build to help determine what is happening.
I followed up with E. Petrusic by e-mail and determined the cause. Here is a detailed description of the problem and a way to fix it. I hope to fix this reliably and release a new build shortly, but it should only cause trouble on a few machines and only depending on the circumstances in which ViEmu scanned the keybindings list for the first time.
Hello Eric,
I have reviewed your log file & viemu.vsk file in detail. Indeed, the vsk file doesn't store any keybindings - that's why backspace, etc... don't work on startup. An empty keybinding list is being loaded.
I could repro it by installing your ViEmu.vsk file in my machine.
The source of the problem seems to be that ViEmu is loaded at a very early stage in the startup process in your installation. I don't know the reason, and the startup sequence is undocumented, but I'm looking for a reliable fix for this problem. Hopefully, I will be able to come up with one shortly.
But, anyway, this is only important the first time ViEmu scans the keybinding list in order to remove clashes - in the case of your setup, ViEmu scanned an empty list of keybindings (it hadn't been loaded yet), removed & saved the clashing ones (that is, none), saved it as ViEmu.vsk, and set this scheme as default. No wonder there are no keybindings anymore on startup.
It is very annoying, but the solution is simple: reset everything and perform a rescan. Here are the steps again:
(1) Remove everything done by ViEmu automatically to date:
(1.1) Go to Tools|Options|ViEmu->Keyboard
(1.2) Click "Restore" under the left list (say yes to the MsgBox)
(1.3) Click "Forget" under the left list (say yes to the MsgBox)
(1.4) Go to Tools|Options|Keyboard
(1.5) Make sure that the current scheme is "ViEmu" (if not, select it
from the combo box)
(1.6) Click "Delete" to delete the ViEmu scheme
(1.7) Select your prefered "base" scheme from the list
(1.8) Click 'Ok'
Now, everything should be clean again. Let's make ViEmu rescan the
keyboard and remove & save the clashing keybindings:
(2.1) Go to Tools|Options|ViEmu->Keyboard
(2.2) Make sure the list of keys to scan for clashes is to your taste:
"Default" doesn't remove Ctrl-V/Ctrl-C for Copy/Paste, "All"
removes those too - click on the desired button
(2.3) Click on "Save and remove"
Now, the left list should be populated with the removed bindings, and
the right list should be empty. Everything should be fine.
I apologize for the problems. This only happens on a few machines, and I hope to find a reliable solution and release a new build shortly. But, anyway, you shouldn't have any more problems with it after doing the above steps.
Please get in touch with me if something doesn't work as expected or if I can be of help in any way.
Best regards and thanks for your patience,
Currently installed 3 official extensions. Copyright © 2003–2009 PunBB.
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Top 15 Movies in Theatres this week
Here are The Top 15 Movies based on FoundLocally's analysis of how many screens across Canada (out of about 2000) cinema owners devote to each movie. Movie theatre owners anticipate which movies should draw more people and therefore allocate more screens. ( for week of Wednesday, November 21nd)
EDITORS NOTE: But, is that the "chicken" or the "egg"? Some consider it more more relevant
estimate a movie's staying power (ie best viewing bets, week after week) and screen percentage AFTER their first weekend of release. This is
more indicative of REAL audience demand for a movie, not just the critics' prespective. See how last week's * (new) movies rank in this week's ranking.
Multi-screen cinemas also have theatres of different sizes (the larges theatre halls are typically those closest to the popcorn stands), so just seeing the count of cinmas showing a movie is not exact. When a movie is UNEXPECTEDLY POPULAR, theatre owners can swap slarger & smaller halls with another film (made even easier now with digital movie distribution---no lugging of flims between projectors), so they can pack everbyody into the hall ideally suited for the movie AUDIENCES WANT TO SEE.
We are no longer collecting and aggregating theatre showtimes, instead LINKING DIRECTLY TO THEATRES, who have now integrated reserved seating into their offerings.


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Living Collections
The Arnold Arboretum's living collection is celebrated as one of the most comprehensive and best documented of its kind. Its rich holdings include temperate ligneous plants from around the world, and the collection is particularly strong in its representation of the flora of the eastern United States and eastern Asia. Many of the plants originate from collecting expeditions, others derive from horticultural experimentation, and some were existing vegetation when the Arboretum was founded in 1872. Each of these plants—over 15,000 in all—has a story to tell, and they are preserved as both scientific and horticultural specimens to enrich our understanding of biodiversity through the institution's research, education, and outreach efforts.
The living collection is expanded through the efforts of a propagation team located at the Dana Greenhouses. Accessions are planted and maintained by a crew of dedicated arborists and horticultural technologists, under the guidance of a comprehensive Landscape Management Plan. Plant labeling, mapping, field-checking, and record keeping is facilitated by a curatorial staff, which participates with other members of the horticultural staff in longterm collections planning and repropagation efforts.


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Be honest. When you rolled out of bed this morning, who among you thought they'd be reading about the neuroanotomical correlates of poo-flinging in chimps today? In a study published in the latest issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, psychobiologist Bill Hopkins and his colleagues report that poo-flinging (and any-other-object-flinging) is, in fact, a sign of high-order brain development. The researchers report that chimps who threw more and with greater accuracy had more developed motor cortices and significantly better communication abilities than inaccurate, non-flingers.
But here's the interesting bit: the motor cortex in these chimps also had more connections between it and a region of the brain known as the Broca's area — connectivity the researchers say could have played an important role in the evolution of higher-order brain development in humans. The researchers write:
It is suggested that during hominin evolution, after the split between the lines leading to chimpanzees and humans, there was intense selection on increased motor skills associated with throwing and that this potentially formed the foundation for left hemisphere specialization associated with language and speech found in modern humans.
In other words, when it came to the development of human speech, we may have had to fling before we could fly.
Via Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B
Top image via


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San Pasqual soccer coach John Burson said the Eagles have improved, but "this (loss) also shows there is also a lot of work to be done."
Oceanside It took playing the elite teams in the 19th annual Southern California Classic tournament to kick-start the season for the San Pasqual boys soccer team.
The Eagles, coming off a San Diego Section championship campaign, opened their schedule with mixed results before reaching the tournament final for the third time in four years.
In the Showcase West title match, though, the Eagles couldn't overcome unbeaten San Clemente in falling 3-1 on Monday at Oceanside High.
Senior Eric Ledesma scored a tying first-half goal for San Pasqual (5-3-2). But the Tritons (11-0-1) responded to avenge a loss to the Eagles in the final two years ago as senior Bryce Kaminski finished with a hat trick for a team-high 13 goals on the season.
"To start the season, we weren't playing that great," said Ledesma, referring to San Pasqual's early 2-2-1 record.
"Then, when we started the tournament, we started getting our way of play. It's just going to get better after this."
As a SoCal Classic highlight, the Eagles recorded a 6-1 semifinal victory over St. Augustine on Saturday. In the first four tourney games, senior Wayde Scibilia had two hat tricks and eight goals overall for 10 on the season.
"Overall, the tournament was encouraging," San Pasqual coach John Burson said. "The guys started having fun and working for each other, finding our form. But this (loss) also shows there is also a lot of work to be done."
Eagles goalkeeper Aron Herrera made six of his eight saves in the second half.
San Marcos took the Boys Premier title by topping Vista 2-1 on a late goal by freshman Andy Rios.
• In the Girls Elite final, Steele Canyon lost to Rancho Cucamonga 1-0.
Tag(s): News San Pasqual News


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by Brett Harrison
What I'm about to tell you really happened. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent. Mainly me.
I have spent many a New Year's Eve by myself and in recent years have actually gotten used to it. I usually make a nice meal, watch a movie and hang out with my cats. I may sound in denial, but I really don't mind it at all.
I don't get a lot of invitations to parties. and at my age (54) being out New Year's Eve without some place to go to is not smart. But not too long ago I was one of those sad sacks who sat around mumbling to himself how lonely he was and why couldn't he find a young lady to take to a party or, better yet, bring home for New Year's Eve.
And I have also been at parties when other people were swapping saliva at the stroke of midnight while I did my best to enjoy the food, watch the ball drop on TV and feebly attempt conversation with the other dateless schmucks and schmuckettes.
I'm sure most of you have been to at least one New Year's Eve party where you didn't kiss anybody at midnight. Even Don Juan struck out once in a while.
But how many of you have been to a party where the person you really wanted to kiss most in the world was standing right in front of your eyes kissing someone else at midnight?
Let's have a show of hands.
If you guessed that I had to put my hand down to finish this article, you guessed right.
I've never taken a date to a New Year's Eve party and have never met someone there whom I kissed at midnight, but I have been to two parties where the girl I wanted to kiss ended up with a lucky guy other than yours truly at midnight.
It's not a good feeling.
The first time happened in 10th grade when I was home on Christmas break in 1973, my first year at the Solebury Boarding School in New Hope at age 15. My best friend, Richie Kuvalski, talked his parents into letting him throw a New Year's Eve party in their newly paneled basement. Richie, ever the mindful host, brought a TV and stereo to the basement. Girls, drugs, alcohol, good food and good music were all in plentiful supply. I will neither confirm nor deny imbibing anything other than the food, but let's just say I would not have been in a condition to drive had I had my license yet.
It was actually a pretty good time. Although I was never a popular kid, being the best friend of the host had its advantages. I was actually treated like a human being by most of the revelers, which was not a common occurrence in my life. I even got to choose the music once in a while. Then Cindy-Lou Poodleschmeitzer arrived.
Cindy-Lou had fair skin, medium length dark-brown wavy hair and the face of angel. I had a crush on her all through 9th grade. Although I had pretty much forgotten about her since graduation, seeing her rekindled old feelings. I chatted with her sporadically throughout the evening but was no braver than I had been in 9th grade. Nothing was going to happen, and by 11:23 p.m. I had pretty much resigned myself to getting wasted, stuffing my face and enjoying the very loud rock music that was blasting out of Barry Kuvalski's state-of the-art sound system. Foghat sounds so much better in quadrophonic, as I'm sure you will agree.
Then it happened.
As we unlucky few watched the ball drop on Times Square on TV I noticed in the corner of the room Cindy-Lou inspecting the tonsils of one Bobby Schmootz, who was in my 9th grade class and was rumored to be gay. Cindy-Lou and Bobby had entered together but I assumed as friends, not as dates.
My heart broke.
I spent the rest of the party drowning my sorrows in whatever food and party favors were left and finally left at 2 a.m. Fortunately, my house was only several blocks away, so I got home safely. Then I spent the rest of what was left of the night listening to Uriah Heep, a '70s hard rock/progressive band (for you youngsters), and I crashed on my parents' couch at about 5.
That was the last time I ever saw Cindy-Lou. About 20 years ago I caught up with a mutual acquaintance, who informed me that Cindy-Lou had gotten married and divorced. Children were not mentioned.
Some years later (in 1983), now in Philly, I had a similar experience at age 25. I was at a party where everybody knew each other. Debbie Flibbage, on whom I had a huge crush at the time, was there. Debbie wasn't a super- hottie like Cindy-Lou, but she was very intelligent, funny and had a Katharine Hepburn-like sophistication and a smoldering sensuality about her.
At some point in the evening, the host asked everybody what their New Year's Resolution was going to be. When it got around to Dwayne Stooble, he announced that his first New Year's Resolution was to kiss Debbie at the stroke of midnight. Everyone laughed, including Debbie, but damn if at midnight that wasn't Dwayne and Debbie swapping spit.
Hello, Heartbreak, my old friend. We meet once again.
The second episode had a slightly different, if not completely satisfying, ending. As it happened, Dwayne and Debbie never became an item. It was just a "New Year's Thing," I guess. But the pain of wanting somebody so bad that it hurt motivated me to call her that week and ask her out. We got together twice. It was nice, but there really wasn't much of a connection. I could tell she didn't like me a fraction of how much I liked her, and I didn't see the point of pursuing it.
But there was something else, too. I'm a huge movie buff, and at some point the discussion turned to Steven Spielberg's modern classic, "E.T," one of my favorite movies. She said she thought it was overrated and that Spielberg on the whole was manipulative. Not only did I disagree with her, but I found her stance pretentious. I may bump into Debbie one day, and I may not, but I'm pretty sure a Steven Spielberg film festival will not be the place.
So here I am again, 4 days before New Year's Eve and no date and no party invitations coming in. And I'm fine with it.
I'll do some cooking, put on a movie and listen (no TV this year) to the ball drop on the radio.
And maybe I'll kiss Simone or Neela at midnight. I know they're cats, but they're pretty cute and they are my girls. Come to think of it, I'll probably have to kiss both. They tend to get jealous.
I know how they feel.


text:
I've always liked fish, especially steamed with ginger, green onions and a light
coating of soy sauce. Chinese people believe that eating fish will make you smart.
I have yet to understand why. [Maybe you need to eat more fish, dummy. – Ed.]
have tiny brains and swim in polluted waters. Dolphins, on the other hand, have
huge brains. Eating dolphins would make much more sense, but then Greenpeace
would have me arrested. Drats.
Since I'll never have seared dolphin over a bed of greens, I'll have to take
part in Finding Nemo-mania. First, I'll watch the movie. Then I'll play
and review the game. Afterwards, I'll wait patiently for Nemo the Microwave
Fish Dinner.
Finding Nemo, the PS2 game, opts out of the standard movie tie-in 3D
platformer, instead offering a mix of 2D stages, Crash Bandicoot-inspired
towards-the-camera swim races and old-school throwback challenges.
While the movie is intended for a broad audience, the marketing and feel of
the game points towards the younger tykes. But after getting their feet wet,
the difficulty will start to push the patience of the wee ones.
The game begins with you playing as Nemo, a clownfish looking forward to going to school. Throughout the game, you switch between Nemo, Marlin (Nemo's constantly worried dad) and Dory, a fish with woefully poor memory. Nemo gets fish-napped, and it's up to Marlin and Dory to rescue him. The three fish play identically, but in some areas Marlin and Dory must switch back and forth, using their different sizes to navigate through a system of pipes and switches.
Most of the stages are simple 2D left to right scrolling affairs that involve
swimming through and around obstacles, occasionally stopping to attack an insolent
sea crab. Instead of normal attacks, the fish must push a floating bubble towards
their enemies, encapsulating them in bubbly submission. Once trapped, a simple
pop is all it will take to obliterate your enemies. Now if only it were so simple
in real life.
There are also some sections that have you racing towards the camera while swimming through rings for speed boosts and items. Each stage in the game has various optional challenges as well, such as collecting all of the items or swimming through all of the hoops.
of Finding Nemo recall the classic pyramid arcade hopper, Q-bert.
Instead of hopping on a giant mound of cubes, you must bounce from jellyfish
to jellyfish. The diagonal controls aren't adjusted very well, especially when
you are trying to bounce on every jellyfish. Thankfully, the game does offer
unlimited lives, so if at first you don't succeed…
Yet where Finding Nemo does fail is in its difficulty for its intended
audience. The game seems geared towards the under 12 crowd, but despite the
simplistic controls and goals, Finding Nemo can be a touch hard too quickly
in specific areas, such as navigating through the pipe currents or the sliding
block puzzles. Plus, there's an instance in the game where a wildly counter-intuitive
arrow tells you to push an object. If you are a parent, prepare to offer some
Then again, really young kids probably aren't out to beat the game. Some can just be entertained by swimming about, which each of these fish does masterfully.
I don't know exactly how Pixar shares its movie production resources with
their video game developers, but the animation and textures of the main characters
in Monsters Inc. and now Finding Nemo
on PS2 really capture the look and feel of the characters. The three main fish,
especially Dory, swim and move with beautiful fishy finesse. The supporting
characters don't look quite as good; the sea turtles look great, but the shark
looks poor next to the detailed, wide-mouthed original. The watery environments
engender the murky depths of the sea to a tee. Interspersed in between levels
are FMVs from the movie, edited suitably to create a proper narrative throughout
the course of the game. The game also features all of the voice talent from
the movie plus some generic if unobtrusive music.
I completed Finding Nemo in one evening, but the target crowd should
be able to stretch that out longer. The difficulty fluctuations are notably
aggravating, kind of like going to McDonalds, finding a little kid playing with
his Finding Nemo toy, and then eating a fish sandwich in front of him
while saying, "Mmmmm…Nemo-licious!" Still, the game does manage to be Nemo-licious
thanks to its ability to accurately capture the narrative and feel of the movie.
Now who wants to go to Sea World?