text:
It's parental ritual: Go fetch a kid from summer camp. I went with a friend on her such mission. The destination was Arrowbear Music Camp, 6,300 feet up in the San Bernardino Mountains. I knew the camp had a great Long Beach story angle, but as I sat amid the oaks and conifers waiting for the teen musicians to perform a summer's-end concert before everyone headed down the mountain, I learned there was a strong O.C. story, too.
I had introduced myself to the woman seated on the bench next to us, Eloise Coopersmith of San Clemente. Her 14-year-old son, Cooper Johnson, was on stage playing the French horn. She raved about Arrowbear. Cooper been though some serious drama during the school year, she would later tell me. Three weeks at Arrowbear had turned him back into the happy kid she knew.
Then the camp director made a couple of introductions to the audience. Val Jamora, the music director, was a teacher from Corona del Mar High. The assistant camp director, Ross Durand, taught science at Rancho Alamitos. Each was marking his 31st summer at Arrowbear as a camper, counselor, teacher or administrator. "I'm pretty much a teacher today because of this camp," Jamora would tell me later. Durand said the same thing.
This place was reeking of Orange County. I got my notebook and camera from the car.
The camp story, indeed, starts in Long Beach, in 1942, where Fred Ohlendorf was the supervisor of music for public schools. He had a junior orchestra he wanted to treat to an outing and he decided to take it to Arrowbear, where the father of his wife, Edna, had a Bible camp. That one-week retreat has turned into a summer-long series of three-week sessions for young musicians. When Fred and Edna died, their daughter and son-in-law, Carole and Dennis Dockstader, continued to run the camp. Carole passed away in 2010. Their daughter, Larke, now works alongside her father. Larke's niece also helps out, meaning five generations of Edna's family have worked on the 100-acre parcel.
While the roots are in Long Beach, there has been a lot of O.C. talent over the years. Longtime Capo Unified music teacher Karen Tkaczyk, then of Anaheim, was a camper in the 1960s. The Orange County School of the Arts in Santa Ana contributes campers like Cooper.
My friend's son, Marcos, took us on a tour. It's not fancy, but it appears functional and fun. There are a couple of bunkhouses for boys and girls, some A-frame structures that serve as a laundry room, a specially humidified room for the stringed instruments, an office and such. He took us on a short climb up Happy Cap, a rock formation where in theory you can get a cell signal if one were to violate camp rules.
Total rehearsal time ranges from three to five hours a day, depending on the age group. I was blown away at the orchestra these kids comprised after working together just three weeks. But whether you talk to the kids or staff, the degree of musicianship seems of less import than the catalyst the music serves to get them together and explore the art and its relationship to their lives.
Marcos, 15, is at heart really a guitarist; he picks up the violin so he can have a classical instrument to play at Arrowbear. Cooper talks about the nightly campfires when the instruments are put away and the kids just talk. "I talked to the other kids like they were my brothers and sisters," Cooper told me. "I didn't make friends, I made a family." That kind of choked me up; it was so heartfelt, plus I knew from his mom what he'd been through. How profound, I thought. Then Cooper added: "People are super chill. You can burp in their face and they'll still love you." Noted.
The friendship of Jamora and Durand is testament that Cooper is right, though. Jamora was from Calexico and Durand from Thousand Oaks, but during their summers at Arrowbear, they forged a lifelong friendship. Durand actually got married at Arrowbear in 1995; Val was his best man.
The music instruction, Jamora told me, is "about the spiritual, not the mechanical. That's why we're up here. Not to just play it well, but why we're playing it well. I want them to be people who can perceive beauty. That's the most important thing to me. Because that's the gift I was given."
Mickadeit writes Mon.-Fri. Contact him at 714-796-4994 or email@example.com


text:
By DonCanabis/TheDon
Week 4 was as perfect as a week can go. Finally, all the stars aligned and games went on as predicted. I hope some of my readers made some money last week. I already heard from a few. Had a whopping 81% overall correct picks last week. Hope to see a repeat.
Quick Hits
- Aaron Rodgers is playing on a different level. It really doesnt come close. Hes making it look effortless, just easy. He had an amazing playoff-run last year that culminated with the Super Bowl win, but at the level hes playing right now, the precision of his throws and game management, hes making that playoff run look like amateur hour! Its always hard to have a repeat in this league but right now, no team looks even close.
- I really dislike all the player protection rules the NFL inputs every year without making any real analysis of what the implications would be. Ive written about this many times, playing as a DE all my life all the way through college, it really strikes a nerve. But right now, theres no rule thats rubbing me the wrong way more than the "defenseless receiver" one. The new rule that allows a WR to catch the ball and make a move to protect himself before a defender can hit him.
Im all up for protecting players for helmets hits and defenders launching with their helmets to get a big hit and probably provoke an injury. But what this new rule is doing is taking away the aggression a defense must have because its not only the penalties players are getting for clean shoulder hits that cost the defense 15 yards and most likely will give out points. But the $20,000 fines theyre getting for them. This is making players doubt themselves and letting WRs catch passes in front of them, theres a complete link on how lopsided the passing yards have gone up this year in relation to this rule. No longer small WRs have a fear to go into the middle of a defense like they used to, now they roam free.
Mr. Goodell, Im all about protection but dont take away the essence of the game. You dont need 50 point scores to make a game exciting, a good clean hit can be as exciting as a big TD. Just let the defenses Play.
- Tony Romo: Man this kid doesnt know how to be in the middle. Its only highs and lows with this guy. Every week it appears hes either the Goat or the Hero. Ive said it before: thats what you get with him. He is a very good QB who can do the most unrealistic thing and win your team a game that you had no reason to win, but he can also turn a dominating performance into a loss. I just can't grasp how he can look flawless for 3 quarters and then completely dismantle and make boneheaded plays one after another. Completely baffles me the biggest question we all have is will he ever get it or will these rollercoaster rides be his whole career?
- I had the perfect week! It has to be ranked as one of my best ever prediction weekends. I went 13-3 in all 3 categories for a crazy 81% overall. I made over $2,500 last weekend making my 2011 earnings a little over $3,000 just a great start. Overall for the season Im at 64% and in 3rd place in the league, with a 63% record against the Spread and 61% against the Over/under.
- " The Goat of the Week" I have to go with Ronnie Brown. Romo deserved his own spot but you cant ignore or forget Browns play. Nobody know what went through his mind while he tried to throw that ill-advised pass that turned into a fumble as he was being tackled in the goal line in the third quarter. That has to be ranked as one of the dumbest plays ever.
On to the games
New Orleans at Carolina 6.5 Ovr/Und 52.5
Cam Newton has surpassed any expectations and has played toe-to-toe against some of the best teams out there. Gregg Williams defense can create a lot of turnovers but at the same time can give away a lot of points. This could possibly be a trap game for the Saints as they tend to lose these types of games. What you can expect is a close game because all four of Cams games have ended with 7 or less point margin. So take the points on this one and I recommend a +6 teaser for Carolina on this one.
Straight: NO
Spread: CAR
Ovr/Und: OVR
Tennessee at Pittsburgh -3 Ovr/Und 39.5
On paper, this game looks a lot closer than it should. Ben sprained his foot last week; hell still play, but behind that dreadful O-line can be a very bad idea. Theres a chance Mendenhall wont be able to play this week with a hamstring injury. Add to that Chris Johnson finally showed signs of life. If we take into account that the Steelers defense is 25th against the run and theyre clearly suffering from the losing the Super Bowl curse, I like the upset.
Straight: TEN
Ovr/Und: UND
Kansas City at Indianapolis -2.5 Ovr/Und 38.5
Indianapolis has looked better since Painter took over, and by "better" I mean at least I can watch the game. This looks like a perfect matchup for the Colts to get out of that 0-4 record. The Chiefs dont play well on the road, plus that Oline is having lots of trouble protecting Cassel and this is a game they could really use J.Charles because the Colts are really bad against the run. My best recommendation is take the Over on this one. 0-4 teams or worse are 10-5 ATS as favorites since 2002
Straight: IND
Spread: IND
Ovr/Und: OVR
Philadelphia at Buffalo 2.5 Ovr/Und 49
Both teams suffered hard losses last week, and Michael Vick can't catch a break; hes getting hit worse than Manny Pacquiaos punching bag. If we take into account the big possibility that Peters - the only lineman playing decent on that team - would possibly be out for this game it sure doesnt look good. If Reid ignores his instincts, they can have a great game if they run the ball because Buffalo has given 100 yards rushing in each game. I think Vegas is still hoping for that "Dream Team" to show up to still have them as favorites. Eagles are 14-22 ATS vs. AFC opponents since 2001. Its hard to believe an Andy Reid team can have a 4 game losing streak but it sure looks that way.
Straight: BUF
Spread: BUF
Ovr/Und: UND
Seattle at New York Giants -10 Ovr/Und 43.5
The Giants are a team that has clearly overachieved so far, and a lot has to do with the early favorable matchups they have gotten, but you cant control who you get to play. The defense is putting a lot of pressure against the opposition, and last week with Osi back it went to another level. Seattle is a completely different team on the road than at home so dont expect a lot of resistance for them. I really wish they would go with the spread offense all the time it sure looks like Tarvaris plays better in that formation. These are the stats for all of you to look for: Seahawks are 13-32 ATS on the road since 2006 & Seahawks are 0-11 ATS on the road vs. teams that average 24+ ppg since 2007. In short, take the Giants.
Straight: NYG
Spread: NYG
Ovr/Und: OVR
Cincinnati at Jacksonville -2.5 Ovr/Und 37
This is another rookie QBs battle. Dalton has the edge so far in this battle, as every week he has looked better and - like in college - finds ways to win the games. Gabbert has had two back-to-back awful performances and it's starting to look like this will cost Del Rios coaching job. Bengals are 15-6 ATS as underdogs since 2009. Take the upset on this one and go with the Over. I dont expect a blow out but rookies make mistakes and 37 is just too low.
Straight: CIN
Spread: CIN
Ovr/Und: OVR
Oakland at Houston -6 Ovr/Und 48.5
It was awful news that the whole NFL community got this morning with the death of Al Davis, one of the biggest contributors in the game even if he later became to somewhat of a punch line. I had the Texans winning this game early and not covering the spread, but football is a game of emotion and I really see the Raiders playing with heart on this one so I made a late change and went the complete upset. Al Davis said it best: Just Win, Baby
Arizona at Minnesota -2.5 Ovr/Und 45
The Vikings are a team that has played better than what their record shows. They just have found ways to lose late leads. Arizonas defense is dreadful and I can clearly see A.P having a field day out there. Teams playing at home with a 0-4 are dangerous games plus Arizona doesnt travel well and Kolb just can stand up long enough behind that oline to find their WR. Like I said before 0-4 teams or worse are 10-5 ATS as favorites since 2002. Take the Vikings, and the under.
Straight: MIN
Spread: MIN
Ovr/Und: UND
Tampa Bay at San Francisco -3 Ovr/Und 41
I really like this game because both teams have similar styles and are bay teams, so weather shouldnt be that much of a factor. Freeman is making a reputation of being the new comeback kid. His games might not be pretty but in the 4th quarter he finds ways to win games. I expect a hard matchup of low scoring and aggressive defense. I give a slight edge to the home team but it will be a close game. Take the Under on this one.
Straight: SF
Spread: TB
Ovr/Und: UND
New York Jets at New England Patriots -9 Ovr/Und 49.5
The Jets have been awful the past few weeks but getting Mangold for this game will surely help. Rex is going back to his smash football style that won him games in the past and shouldnt have abandoned in the first place. The Patriots cant have an off day on offense because that defense isnt even stopping a cold. The loss of Mayo is huge and will affect this game. The Jets are one of the teams that know how to play the Patriots, so even with how ugly the Jets have looked I expect a close game. Take the points.
Spread: NYJ
Ovr/Und: OVR
San Diego at Denver 4 Ovr/Und 46
San Diego historically has had trouble in the past playing in Denver. It always gets complicated there for them. Denvers defense is not stopping anybody. Theyre getting pressure and sacks but tend to fold or just commit mistakes. Ortons game is also suffering, as he looks more like The Kyle Orton of Chicago than last year's Orton. Chargers have won 8 of the past 10 meetings and expect them to win again.
Spread: SD
Ovr/Und: OVR
Green Bay at Atlanta 6 Ovr/Und 54
Aaron Rodgers looks unstoppable! He is completing 73% of his passes with a crazy 9.4 YPA. The problem is Green Bays Defense: not only have they lost two key players on the secondary, but they are giving a lot of points. I was completely leading to this game as another upset because it completely looks like a trap game. Not only Atlanta plays great at home but you have the Divisional Playoffs game as reference from last year. But the reality is that Atlantas defense cant put pressure and their Oline cant protect Ryan. So take Green bay to win the Game but I would take the +6 Teaser on this one also on the Falcons. Also SNF = high scoring so go for the over.
Straight: GB
Spread: ATL
Ovr/Und: OVR
Chicago at Detroit : -6 Ovr/Und 47.5
Detroit is playing crazy football right now! Even in a game that their offense couldnt click and for 3 quarters their defense couldnt stop the Cowboys, they made the plays to come back for the second week in a row from a huge deficit and win the game. Good teams find ways to win. The Bears offensive line will have huge troubles against the Lions and we all know how Cutler plays when he feels the pressure. Take The Lions.
Straight: DET
Spread: DET
Ovr/Und: UND
The Hot Picks
Record 15-9 62% 4-2 in Upset picks
Buffalo (league)
New York Giants (league)
Cincinnati (league)
San Diego
Dons Prediction League Leaders
- Haynie 125 -67 66% [cowboysaddicts.com]
- BrrsColts 124-68 65% [coltfreaks.com]
- TheDon 123-69 64% [cowboysaddicts.com]
*** Mlmpetert from thewarpath.net ***
*** Sparty from detroitlionsforum.com ***

subset: commoncrawl


text:
RAPAPORT... Download MP3 Audio.Time does make a difference for diamond industry and related stocks, only 2011 was not an exceptional year for the majority of stocks the Rapaport News team follows. Of the 55 publically traded companies on the Rapaport Stock Tracker, only Gemfields International, Vaibhav Gems, Gitanjali Gems, C. Mahendra, Damiani, Walmart, Tiffany, Signet, Nordstrom, Movado Group, JCPenney, and DGSE Companies registered price gains during the year. The best stock performance in 2011 came from DGSE (up 75%) for U.S. retail, Gitanjali Gems (up 43%) for Indian retail, and Gemfields (up 52%) was the only mining company to end the year higher.
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text:
The USDA updated the U.S. and World balance sheet estimates for major agricultural commodities in the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report on Friday. The USDA made few changes in the December WASDE, which is to be expected.
U.S. soybean ending stocks were tightened by 20 million bushels from November's estimate and global soybean ending stocks were decreased by 2% due to strong demand. Small changes were made to U.S. ending corn and wheat stocks, which increased 5 million bushels and 10 million bushels, respectively.
The only change made in the December WASDE to corn estimates was a 5 million bushel increase to corn imports from Canada, which had a larger crop than expected this year. Ending U.S. corn stocks increased to 832 million bushels from November's estimate of 827 million bushels. Despite increasing reports of higher ethanol production, ethanol usage was left unchanged at 4.8 billion bushels.
World corn ending stocks was raised to 130 million metric tons, up from 129.16 million metric tons in the November report due to higher production estimates in Canada, Europe, and the Former Soviet Union.
Soybeans continued the bullish theme as U.S. ending stocks were reduced by 20 million bushels to 165 million bushels. Production estimates were unchanged with an average yield estimate of 43.9 bushels per acre, but exports were raised by 20 million bushels to 1.59 billion bushels. The reduction in ending stocks was within analyst's estimates, so the report should have little response in the market.
Global soybean production was also reduced to 60.12 million metric tons from November's estimate of 61.41 million metric tons. Production numbers in major producers Argentina and Brazil were left unchanged, but strong demand from China reduced ending stocks.
U.S. 2010/11 wheat ending stocks were increased to 858 million bushels in December due to a 10 million bushel decline in wheat usage for food. The USDA narrowed it estimate of price range for wheat to $5.30 to $5.70 from November's estimate of $5.25 to $5.85.
World wheat ending stocks were raised by 4 million metric tons to 176.72 million metric tons in December. Australian and Canadian production was increased by 2.5 million metric tons combined, partially offset by a decrease in Russian production by 500,000 metric tons.
December's WASDE was very uneventful, but this is to be expected at the end of the year. We believe the market will quickly look past this month's WASDE and focus on weather and export demand.
Click on the link for the full WASDE report: http://www.usda.gov/oce/commodity/wasde.
Read more about agriculture and farmland at http://farmlandforecast.colvin-co.com/.


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In an evenly played Big South men's soccer contest, the No. 5 ranked Coastal Carolina Chanticleers used a first half goal to defeat the Liberty Flames, 1-0, Friday afternoon at CCU Soccer Field.
Liberty drops to 3-4 in the Big South play and 7-7 overall. The loss snaps a two-game conference winning streak for the Flames. Coastal Carolina moves to 7-0 in the conference and 12-2 overall on the year.
The Chanticleers are the highest ranked team Liberty has faced in soccer since a 2-0 setback to No. 2 North Carolina on Oct. 12, 2010 at Osborne Stadium.
After back-to-back shot attempts by visiting Flames midfielder Blessing Tahuouna and Sachem Wilson during the 11th minute, Liberty showed strong defense by weathering three shots and two corner kicks from Coastal Carolina during the next three minutes.
During the span, Flames goalkeeper Jeremy Lee turned away two shots, deflecting one over the crossbar during the 12th minute and corralling a shot from the left top corner of the 18-yard box during the 16th minute.
Liberty may have had its best scoring opportunity of the half during the 18th minute. Countering, Flames defender Murphy Short pushed a pass ahead for forward Kyle Breitmeyer, who broke into the clear and drew multiple Coastal Carolina defenders. At the top of the box, Breitmeyer dropped a pass to the left side for Tahuona, who lifted a shot towards the far post. However, Chanticleer goalkeeper Devin Cook was able to collect the shot to keep the contest scoreless.
During 21st minute, Liberty midfielder Juan Nino ranged back from his defensive position to clear a header by Chanticleers Kai Morton away the goal line off a corner kick.
At 31:35, Coastal Carolina's Perdo Reibeiro scored the game's only goal. Reibeiro settled a crossing pass from Sergio Carmargo at the top of the box and netted his seventh goal of the year for a 1-0 advantage.
Breitmeyer closed the half with a shot, which Cook kept out of the net, during the final minute of the period.
Shots were even in the opening 45 minutes at seven apiece. Coastal Carolina held a 3-1 edge over Liberty in corner kicks.
Looking for the equalizer early in the second half, Breitmeyer fired a shot off the post two minutes into the period. However, Coastal Carolina was able to clear the ensuing corner kick.
Later in the half, midfielder Tanner Wilcox and Sachem Wilson each forced saves by Cook during the 62nd minute.
Liberty pressure during the 79th minute resulted in its final scoring opportunity. Brietmeyer headed a crossing pass to the left post towards the right side of the goal, but Cook jumped up and snatched it away to preserving what proved to be the final of 1-0.
Coastal Carolina held a 13-12 edge in shots in the contest. Corner kicks were even at three apiece.
Lee recorded four saves for the Flames. Cook made six saves for Chanticleers.
Liberty returns home to host the Longwood Lancers for a Big South contest, Tuesday evening at Osborne Stadium. Match time is scheduled for 6 p.m.


text:
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[Rifts] Two and a half sessions at Odyssee Con, Berlin
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Topic: [Rifts] Two and a half sessions at Odyssee Con, Berlin (Read 18728 times)
Posts: 31
[Rifts] Two and a half sessions at Odyssee Con, Berlin
August 29, 2006, 10:37:43 PM »
Dear Readers,
As I promised Ron some time ago, here is a Rifts Actual Play report. As I'm not deeply enough into terminology, I will reflect on the goings in the game with my own words. As I�ve been invited to write this, I'm sure you can bear with that, even more so as my half-baked misunderstanding of a given Big Model term would only confuse the reader; thereby hindering communication instead of furthering it.
Odyssee Con is a unique Convention in Berlin, Germany, where DSA, D&D and Shadowrun are banned from being played. The mission used to be to promote and play niche or unknown systems (to the german market, that is). As times changed, so did Odyssee's focus: now it's mostly independent german systems (most of which are Adventure Roleplying Games on the Story-heavy side) with a growing dose of Forge nascent thematic rolplaying games also presented.
My intention was to get use out of my dormant huge Rifts collection, and to show people how great Rifts can be. I wanted them to get to know:
- the diverse background
- the conflicts in North America
- the ugly face of racism
I wanted them to experience:
- wonder
- excitement
- feeling of being clever
- sense of accomplishment
- Rifts style awesomeness in action scenes
My limiting factors where mostly:
- time
- plausability
That is to say, I wouldn't dole out the experiences, but make them earn them.
I chose Canada, more precisely Old Bones (City of Quebec) as the setting. I read up a lot on the published material for the area, as well as read the wikipedia articles on the landscapes and citys involved. I started making myself comfortable with the rules: Rifts has a crude Version of D20 as its core rules, so I had to re-organize the looking up the modifiers for combat and saving throws. Once I re-organized Kevin Siembiedas dreadful :" and +1 at levels 1,3,5,7,8,10,14" lines into easy-on-the eye tables, the system was as playable as any other d20 style D&D derivate. With this top-down view on the modifiers, errors were easy to spot, and easily corrected. I also very quickly made my mind up in regards to dodge: the dreaded -10 malus was to be omitted, as only a dodge with a chance for success is dodge wrth taking. And I wanted the combat to be about the tactical decision of foregoing an action or not. More on that later.
Whence the rules were clear, I took a deep look at the equipment, as there is much talk about how there is a power creep involved. i made a short spreadsheet, wherein I checked the damage averages of weapons against their costs, as well as checking Power Armour and Body Armour. In a nutshell, it basically works out. I was amazed, but the most equipment can be used: as is. So only when something looks too powerful I make a quick comparison to the spreadsheet values and can see wheterh it has to be nerfed or not. I did not have to nerf anything for the sessions played at the con.
While looking at the equipment, I already got a good impression, backed up by data on how much power a certain amount of soldiers in a certain amount of equipment meant. To totally grok North American politics, I also had to make myself acustomed with the powers of the magic kingdoms, therefore I had to read all Spells, Psionic Powers and Character Class (O.C.C.) descriptions. Interestingly, the description of political goings on Rifts Earth are very plausible in regards to the rules. That is, the world basically obeys to the RAW, which I liked a lot.
So I was loaded with world data, the workings of the game world and the balance of power in Canada. Now I could create the adventure situation. When I prepare Adventures, I basically use a thing called "Story Engine", which is a formalized graph of the involved parties, their objectives and theri ressources as well as their lines of influence. I assume there is no emotional attachement to the Rifts setting in many a reader here, so I try to be as abstract as possible or provide explanations. I'll also omit the allotted ressources:
Lazlo (Good Magic City State)
wants escaped chimpanzee scientist with superweapon, that would kill all non-humans, to kill evil Insect Invader who treaten Lazlo and Earth and to prevent exctinction of all non-humans
Chi-Town (Fascist Bad City State)
wants escaped chimpanzee scientist with superweapon, that would kill all non-humans, to kill all non-humans
Free Quebec (Racist Bad City State, at war with Chi Town)
wants independence, thusly to damage Chi Town. Secretely controlls everything in Old Bones
Splugorth of Atlantis (Ultra Evil Cthuloid Slavers)
want scientist to trade to other dimensions for huge profit and blackmail all mutants/D-Bees on Earth
Island Kingdom of Montreal (Anarchic Corrupt City State)
: Bribed by Chi-Town to fight against Free Quebec.
Old Bones (Casablanca/Mos Eysley Crossover)
, secretely controlled by Free Quebec with agents of all powers
Knights of Jean D'Arc (Ultraviolent Racist Hillbilly Militia of Free Quebec)
: Want to drive out all D-Bees, and punish those who associate with them through murder, rape, torture and plundering.
Mr. Bingles (Chimpanzee Mutant Scientist)
, who escaped and wants to leave America for Europe and the NGR. Conspired with the mutant underground railway and Psiscape (Good Psionic City State) to flee. Carrier of the superweapon, it's in his brains, he developed it and destroyed all records.
My plan was to GM two sessions: The first would be for the Lazlo (Good) sponsored expedition to retrieve Mr. Bingles alive, the second one for the Chi-Town (Fascist/Bad) intervention force, following on the heels of the Lazlo expedition.
The Prussian Gamer
Posts: 31
Re: [Rifts] Two and a half sessions at Odyssee Con, Berlin
Reply #1 on:
August 29, 2006, 11:49:22 PM »
First Session, the Lazlo experience:
In a matter of seconds after inscription was possible, I had six player sitting at the table. At earlier Odyssees I had problems getting enough people for playing Traveller or 2300 AD, so this is worth mentioning.
I had prepared the characters to save time, but left some skill points (I.Q.*10 in percent) to customize the characters, so everybody would have some feeling of "owning" the character. The mix was:
Rogue Scientist (think Indiana Jones with a computer)
Burster (think "the Flame")
Juicer (think "the Flash")
Mining Cyborg (think Robocop with a motordrill)
Ley Line Walker (think Wizard)
City Rat (think Rogue with Psionics)
The session started with me plastering the table with printed illustrations to introduce newbies into the settings, I also explained a lot verbally in sort of a power ride. Then I let the players decide wther they were totally loayal Lazlo-dwellers or hired mercenaries. I made a big speech as the Dragon Plato, head of Lazlo, to generate a sense of urgency and establish the mission goal for the players. As expected, some players were awed by the apparition of a huge white dragon, others were jaded and took pleasure in bein cool headed professionals who asked the right questions no matter whom they were talking to.
The hints this group had were very sketchy, as they only relied on some mystical visions the Master Seer of Lazlo had had. So They travelled towards
. They avoided all distractions I had come up with, so they kept quiet and on the timetable. That was a smart move on the players side, which paid out later. Some more illustrations were shown and quick descriptions uttered to set the scene.
At the entry of the St. Lawrence River, they had to deal with their first problem: A drunken pilot, whom they needed for navigating them through dangerous waters. They decided to stay for the night, which lost them eight hours. Still the group as very smart in hiding their mutant and sorcerous parts in the boat, while the other characters caught up on gosipp and found out about the
Knights of Jean D'Arc
. Some nice in character play was also possible for some members. Luckily, the players not interested into playing the chit-chat were on the boat, so everybody was served. on a sidenote, several players grew angry and disgusted at the
Knights of Jean D'Arc
when they had to listen to their drunken boasting. So actually some players already
. Others chose to keep a cool and professional stance, which they enjoyed once again.
The next encounter was the
Island Kingdom of Montreal
where the City Rat player took great enjoyment out of bribing officials with drugs. The other players were making a spectacular entry by driving their magic monster truck off the boat to impress and frighten the fishermen and would-be privateers. Quickly they bribed and impressed all information they wanted out of the small town, albeit leaving quite a trace. They had made the strategic decison of favoring speed over clandestinity, so that was intended. I hope.
They knew the Chimpanzee was taken away in a "purple yacht" to Old Bones, so they lost no time to get there.
Cut to Old Bones
After arrival, they quickly searched the "purple yacht" and through clever use of their different abilities (PSI, social, clever in character talk) found out who the owner was. In the course of that they split up the group to explore the city and follow the lead more thoroughly. They had several sense of wonder moments, when they found out about the workings of the city. They also explored some more of the undrlying racist conflicts.
Still they moved with urgency and quickly came up with a plan: Storm the party where the Chimpanzee was going to be shown around as a party joke.
Waht they didn' find out was the plot of the Splugorth: From their base in the city, they manipulated and instigated the
Knights of Jean D'Arc
to blow the party as a diversion. A Splugorth Slave Barge (Famous illustration on the old Rifts main Book Cover) was sent to snatch the Chimpanzee during the ensuing chaos.
As the players moved quick, the Splugorth didn't find out about them, so this was a classical two sided surprise. The
Knights of Jean D'Arc
were killed easily by the group with a clever combination of spells and powers (Carpet of Adhesion and Burster Fire Wall), the party security guys shot the juicer, who had no Megadamage armour at that moment, and failed his Autododge. He was toast.
I let the player play the Slpugroth Slave barge from that on, which filled him with great delight!
What follows now was a collection of great action scenes, a techno-wizard monster truck breezing through the narrow streets followed by the nightmarishly powerful and ugly Slaver Barge! The Slaver Player pulled no punches so this was even more deadly. As a GM, one oftentimes plays the opponents sub-optimal out of the many tasks involved. But especially an enemy like the Slaver has so many special abilities, that the assigned player was a great help!
Quick sidenote: Looking things up in Rifts Sourcebooks is painful. Only the continued use of the index and bookmarks kept the game moving at cinematic pace.
The fight climaxed with the 'Borg player jumping unto the barge after the shields collapsed, thereby buying enough time for the others for escape with the chimpanzee (without consent from the 'Borg player! Great moment of decision making)!
Luckily for the 'Borg player (he held out long enough and I rolled low enough for the time of reinforcement arrival), who had fully counted on being killed, Free Quebec forces arrived which the Slaver flew from. he could take another boat and follow the others into the sunset...
Stay tuned for the summary of the second session.
The Prussian Gamer
Frank T
Re: [Rifts] Two and a half sessions at Odyssee Con, Berlin
Reply #2 on:
August 30, 2006, 03:23:15 AM »
Sounds good!
I have some questions:
In the first part of the adventure, did the players notice they were avoiding all kinds of trouble because of their clever approach?
Could you elaborate on that bit about reinforcement time? How did that work?
Did you prepare something like a �what happens if the characters never show up� timeline? What did it look like?
- Frank
Posts: 31
Re: [Rifts] Two and a half sessions at Odyssee Con, Berlin
Reply #3 on:
August 30, 2006, 03:45:56 AM »
In the first part of the adventure, did the players notice they were avoiding all kinds of trouble because of their clever approach?
I can't say that. When I introduced stuff they could have investigated, like a battle site, or a mystical mist, they didn't investigate, but said: "We don't have time/This looks dangerous. Let's move on."
One player wanted to investigate, but was quickly quieted by the others.
Reinforecement time was like this:
Upon alert (Slave Barge blasting Lighnting all over the city), I rolled a one on 1D6+1 for the the minutes the FQ Quebec SAMAS would need to scramble and drive the Splugorth Slaver off. That meant two minutes, which is about 8 Rounds of combat. With all the combat actions everyone has, this is quite some time. FQ has a base right next to Old Bones, so they were as quick as a trauma team in cyberpunk.
I did not prepare a timeline, but the logic of the story engine would have unfolded:
Splugorth capture Chimpanzee extract formula from his brain through bio-wizardry, blackmail everyone and wipe out races with an altered retro virus at will. Most likely all humans. Basically the end of the world, save for some few who where resistant to the virus. Lone Star might have researched a cure, but already too late for millions and millions of people. Why are you asking?
The Prussian Gamer
Frank T
Re: [Rifts] Two and a half sessions at Odyssee Con, Berlin
Reply #4 on:
August 30, 2006, 07:02:42 AM »
I�m asking because I�m interested in the applied techniques. Like: When did you make up the whole �party� thing? If the characters had shown up one day later, would the chimpanzee already have been gone, and would they have had to chase the slaver barge to get him, or would you have made up different circumstances then? That kind of thing.
- Frank
Precious Villain
Posts: 64
Re: [Rifts] Two and a half sessions at Odyssee Con, Berlin
Reply #5 on:
August 30, 2006, 08:59:27 AM »
Nifty post - I have the Rifts base book and was put off by the combat system so I'd like to know exactly what your modification was to make it "work."
Also, I'd really like to see the full "Story Engine!" Both the filled in graph for this game and your thoughts on what information you put in it, why and what you leave out and why. This kind of things sounds like it might be helpful for my Shadowrun prep.
My real name is Robert.
Posts: 5
Re: [Rifts] Two and a half sessions at Odyssee Con, Berlin
Reply #6 on:
August 30, 2006, 11:07:47 AM »
Quote from: Settembrini on August 30, 2006, 03:45:56 AM
In the first part of the adventure, did the players notice they were avoiding all kinds of trouble because of their clever approach?
I can't say that. When I introduced stuff they could have investigated, like a battle site, or a mystical mist, they didn't investigate, but said: "We don't have time/This looks dangerous. Let's move on."
One player wanted to investigate, but was quickly quieted by the others.
Well, as a player I had the urgent feeling of looming doom and apocalypse and knew of far too many different enemys groups around. So I tried to focus on impeeding the apocalypse and staying alive.
In a con-game there should not be too much red herrings. I hoped that this would be true. So I did not follow all the hints the SL cleverly layed out. If there is some mysterious 'monster' around stomping on Coalition Skelebot Divisions you don't investigate, you beat it ... especially with this not really combat oriented group.
The size of the Rifts-setting is huge and the rules are ... well Palladium ... and of six only two players were familiar with the setting and the rules. It seems natural, that the people concentrated on the task instead of travelling around like tourists.
I had tremendous fun and especially liked the chase scene with the Spluggort-Slaver.
Callan S.
Posts: 3588
Re: [Rifts] Two and a half sessions at Odyssee Con, Berlin
Reply #7 on:
August 30, 2006, 11:58:50 PM »
Hi Martin,
Could you sort of tell what was a side task (that you would bypass) and what was the main one? If you could, how would you say you knew? Thanks for posting by the way, its great to get a players posts in a actual play thread as well! :)
Philosopher Gamer
Posts: 31
Re: [Rifts] Two and a half sessions at Odyssee Con, Berlin
Reply #8 on:
August 31, 2006, 03:56:38 AM »
When did you make up the whole �party� thing? If the characters had shown up one day later, would the chimpanzee already have been gone, and would they have had to chase the slaver barge to get him, or would you have made up different circumstances then?
The party was there from the start. Had the charcters not been this quick, the Splugorth would have taken Mr. Bingles to Newfoundland. I prepared all the way up to Arcadia, with the possibility of a cool water chase/Ship battle between FQ, Chi Town SAMAS from Halifax, Splugorth, the two parties and some hundreds of Pixies from Prince Edwards Island.
But most likely the other group would have cought up, so that battle between the groups would have ensued.
The Prussian Gamer
Posts: 5
Re: [Rifts] Two and a half sessions at Odyssee Con, Berlin
Reply #9 on:
August 31, 2006, 11:47:39 AM »
Quote from: Callan S. on August 30, 2006, 11:58:50 PM
Hi Martin,
Could you sort of tell what was a side task (that you would bypass) and what was the main one? If you could, how would you say you knew? Thanks for posting by the way, its great to get a players posts in a actual play thread as well! :)
The characters were given orders by an old dragon. The main task was finding an unknown thing/object/being nearly the size of a man with unknown powers and get it back to Lazlo if possible, failure would bring the apocalypse ... oh and fast action was of utmost importance.
So I left with no real info, but the persistent feeling, that we were already too late.
The fist strange encounter was smoke in the wood that we could see from the river. Quick investigation showed some destroyed and some functioning Coalition robots, standing in a clearing wich looked like something big dropped onto them. This didn't look like the action of a mansized object/being and just made my character feel worse. The Coalition is swarming in the woods and big things drop from above, most forboding ... so my char pushed the throttle.
When we came to Montreal there were some hints of mysteries but the Island and its inhabitants seemed strange and double-tongued, so we raced after the purple yacht the moment we heard of it. Again I had the feeling of being late or even more late.
Up until my Ley Line Walker saw (via Read Aura) that the "funny" ape at the party was a mid level being I had the gnawing, unpleasant feeling (for the char, for me it was quite a sensation) that I was totally wrong and loosing the trail and time. Combined with the feeling of being naked (no MDC-Armor during the party), I was quite on the edge ... which also may have been caused by the high volume of coffee I was drinking to counter just 3 hours of sleep and 3.5 hours highspeed race to Berlin ;-)
Well, to answer another question from above: I was aware that we wasted no time and were pleased that we were quite effective. The congratulation from the SL (that we had been very fast) sounded a little bit like "... but I had prepared so much more ..." ;-)
I didn't miss anything, we had all some spotlight time, mystery, combat, planning and survived being chased through town by a Spluggorth Slaver Barge and even survived (!) and escaped ... that was Rifts like it is supposed to happen especialy in a convention game.
Callan S.
Posts: 3588
Re: [Rifts] Two and a half sessions at Odyssee Con, Berlin
Reply #10 on:
August 31, 2006, 11:41:02 PM »
Ah, so tactical consideration as to whether you took them on, rather than being cued to do so. Cool, I wish I'd played! :)
Hi Settembrini,
I like how you've listed an intention at the start with three main elements. Your pumped and excited about these things, right? How many of them got into the game, do you think? If any didn't or didn't much, do you think that your excitement about them was still part of the play experience? By that I mean an excited GM makes a more exciting game, even if what he's excited about isn't coming into play too much. What do you think?
Philosopher Gamer
Posts: 31
Re: [Rifts] Two and a half sessions at Odyssee Con, Berlin
Reply #11 on:
September 01, 2006, 09:59:57 AM »
By that I mean an excited GM makes a more exciting game, even if what he's excited about isn't coming into play too much. What do you think?
Adventure Gaming is all about being excited. You can't prepare a decent session if you have no vision, nothing that gets your juices flowing. Ther must be a reason for taken all the workload.
But:plausabilities must be served first. If something doesn't come upt even though I want it, it won't come up. There is no value in things I like to happen that I actually let happen anyway. This would be circular self-fulfillment in a bad way. At least for me.
For the themes and motifs that I wanted to introduce:
I can only say that players were confronted with that. Everyone could and should react in his own way. It was there, I portrayed it, but wether anybody actually cared I can`t say. I surely had the possibility to introduce racism and politics into the session, exploration was also done.
The Prussian Gamer
Posts: 31
Re: [Rifts] Two and a half sessions at Odyssee Con, Berlin
Reply #12 on:
September 01, 2006, 10:59:11 AM »
Second session:
Starting some hours behind the first group, the Chi-Town Intelligence Chief Col. Lyboc intercepted the notice of escape from Lone Star. Lyboc sees his chance to get really powerful, so he tries to seize Mr. Bingles and present him to the Emperor, before the loss is even noticed. He wants to discredit and replace the leader of Lone Star to gain control of that vital installation himself.
He sends for some troops and sends them:
Special Forces 1st Lt. (Leader)
SAMAS Flight Officer
Technical Sergeant (Mechanic/Demolitions)
Psi Stalker Sergeant
Dog Boy Cpl.
Soldier Cpl.
quickly after the Chimpanzee. He tells them they were last seen in Montreal, and gives them access to a fast boat. They didn't ask many questions and don't request heavier weaponry and start their hunt (big mistake, I'd say).
When they arrived at the pilots house at the outlet of the St. Lawrence, they bungle their way through the conversation with the drunken Militiamen and Pilots. The Lt. is very indecisive and doesn't want to travel at night with a drunken pilot. His subordinates where all bickering and secretly confering what is about to be done about hte Lt.s inaction. Finally the Flight Officer steps up to him and presses for a decision, as well as reminding the LT. of the harsh time limit they are under.
THe Lt. remains indecisive and orders the tech sergeant to "steal" a drunken sleeping pilot, but that proves impractical. All in all the Lt. started showing being a very bad adventure gamer, he makes himself a fool by "knocking on the pilot's house, but silently!" even after asking back, he insisted on knocking at the door "loud enough to wake the sleeping drunken pilots, but very quiet!".
After quite a stall in the game, which some characters used for acquiring infos on the
Knights of Jean D'arc
and some local clothing, the Lt. can be ushered to actually decide. After this shameful episode, the humbled Chi-Town soldiers close on to their quarry as they actually travel all through the night up to Montreal.
In Montreal the Lt. is indecisive again and starts a dangerous discussion with the Chi-Town sponsored pirate-fishermen. He insists on paying no toll, by blowing their cover and waving around with his military I.D. Meanwhile the Dog Boy socializes with the natives and basically single handedly finds all the clues the previous party left. As the rumbled into the city and took no precautions, the locals can tell them quite some story. Especially the Dog Boy player keeps asking to find out about the enemy's group members, to adjust tactics (smart dog!).
Then they usher the Lt. to "decide" for a quick leave, w/o further investigation to catch up on the competing party.
Cut to Old Bones
The group is trying to collect as much information as possible in short time, and therefore splits. They basically collect all the info left by the other group, as they were not very cautious. They are only several hours behind them, but the crucial time saver was when the tech sergeant and the psi stalker went to a random pimp to check up on underworld rumours:
They enter the pimps "lair".
They talk to him.
He is uncooperative.
They threaten him.
He activates alarm button.
They get angry.
Bodyguard Octoman Mr. Slithers (meanest bounty hunter in anvil galaxy, think boba fett with eight arms) arrives.
Tech sergeant thinks he is smart and threatens Octoman with explosive device.
Octoman laughs and attacks.
Tech sergeant presses button
Player: Rolls dice AND MULTIPLIES WITH TEN for ninety MD!
GM: "Holy cow! I thought you only had some kind of grenade."
Player: "Fusion block. And we aren't even harmed."
GM: "He fires back."
Both Players:" He isn't dead!?"
After a quick firefight with MD weapons, that leaves the neighbourhood leveled and the pimp and octoman dead, the players emerge victorious. Bystanders proclaim them to be the new "Kings of the 'Hood". The players take this role to order everybody around to gather information about the Chimpanzee and the other group.
Back with the others a strategy discussion ensues, after all facts had been collected. Here, the Lt. wants to sell the rare alien Octoman artifact weapons in order to buy a large grenade launcher. (Which he could have applied for at the start of the adventure...)
The others discourage him from doing that. Strangely the line that settled his concerns was: "Stun grenades don't work on environmentally sealed people."
I thought: He wanted a friggin awesome auto-grenade launcher (oodles of Megadamage x10) to shoot Stun Grenades?!
Anyhow, they make their plan w/o Auto-Grenade Launcher and follow the other group. They pinpointed their location by clever use of their new underground minions and hefty bribes to farmers in the river area. During the strategy discussion a lot of flipping through sourcebooks was done by the players, and they enjoyed and revelled in thinking about tactics and the neccessary tools/weapons for the task.
That's were the session ended.
One player quickly came towards me and expressed his total satisfaction with the session, and that he totally liked my way of GMing. Especially the way I fast forwarded the unimportant and zoomed in to the important parts was a pleasure for him.
All in all, I was very surpised that noone was bored to "just" follow in the footsteps of another group. The players thought it to be very cool, as they could actually picture the events much better, and were sure they could actually get somwhere with reasoning. They really had to and could outsmart someone.
Stay tuned for the final encounter, wherein both groups confront each other to decide the fate of Rifts Earth...
The Prussian Gamer
Ron Edwards
Global Moderator
Posts: 16490
Re: [Rifts] Two and a half sessions at Odyssee Con, Berlin
Reply #13 on:
September 01, 2006, 11:06:24 AM »
Hi Andreas,
I'm following these posts with interest, but am short on time for comments. My observation: you are extremely skilled with scene framing and also with scene-cutting, which not only makes the game more fun to play, but also more fun to read about.
Best, Ron
Posts: 31
Re: [Rifts] Two and a half sessions at Odyssee Con, Berlin
Reply #14 on:
September 01, 2006, 12:29:31 PM »
Thanks for all the warm comments. I'll gladly answer qustions also.
The final confrontation:
Pragmatic Dimension:
I could not foresee what would happen to both groups, so I did not know whether they would ever meet up, still I hinted at the possibility in the ad for the sessions. There was a three hour break between the last session and the start of the ll-nighter sessions (they started at 2400 hours). One couple left during the break. They had already expressed their liking the session, but obviously went home to sleep. The Juicer player didn't want to play, as his character was toast. The Lt. left quietly for another game, w/o ever speaking to us/me again. I think he didn't like it at all. One player had to continue a tradtional session that is held year after year and continued. he wa sundecided at first, but left for that endeavour, expressing his regret at not being around for the showdown. So Three players from each side had the time and willigness to wrap it up in a big fight!
With the purple boat and Mr. Bingles the Lazlo group hid in a sidearm of the big river to meet up with the valiant 'Borg, who had followed them and to rearrange some other stuff. Rolls were made for their sensor use, but the Chi-Town Group surprised them. The Chi-Town party was all over them, spraying them with Laser Rifles and Stun Grenades and dishing out great amounts of damage.
Me: Wow, Lazlo group is toast
Sadly they didn't follow their own plan: Shoot the Wizard first!
So once the Lazlo groups Initiative came up, they did the killer combo: Carpet of Adhesion + Flame Wall again!
All but the SAMAS (flying power armour) were stuck to their boat and burning for 6d6 MD every turn.
Me: Wow, Chi-Town group is toast!
Then the Chi-Town soldiers remembered their battleplan and concentrated on the wizard, ignoring all others. He chose to use "actions from the future" to keep dodging the blasts. Thereby he was neutralized. Then they aimed for the Burster and forced him behind cover as well. [Here the Pally System of combat actions and suppression fire really did shine]
Me: Wow, Lazlo group is going to die...
The City Rat went all valorous and used the Techno-Wizard emplacement gun to kill the Chi-Town Lt.
Me: Heck, how's this gonna end?
Tech Sergeant threw another one of his dreaded fusion blocks over to the other ship, killing the Burster and the City Rat
Me: What the...?!
Meanwhile the SAMAS flew around doing some damage, but generally being unimportant. The 'Borg from the Lazlo forces was largely ignored and merrily kept firing at the SAMAS.
Then, after some more fighting, it all came down to a showdown between the 'Borg and the SAMAS. They wrestled and shot and the 'Borg kept drilling for the head of the SAMAS.
Oh my!
In the meantime, the Ley Line Wizard who had been hiding so long, was able to act again. He saw that only him and the 'Borg remained, and things were looking bad. So he made a grave decision: He went under deck, and killed the chimpanzee!
The SAMAS made many holes into the Ley Line Walker with his Railgun and ejected out of his power armour, as the Mining 'Borg had fled under water. He had tried to drill through the SAMAS helmet, but missed after reducing his head to a meager 2 MD. As the slowly-to-death-burning other Chi-Town soldiers kept melting away his armour, the 'Borg player didn't want to stretch his luck and jumped into the water.
With his buddies dead or dying, the mission goal unattained, his armour in shambles, a frightened and wet SAMAS flight officer took it to the wilderness, hopefully to return to Chi-Town safety...
With his friends dead, his plating in shambles, the Chimpanzee killed by friendly fire, a disillusioned Mining 'Borg crawled out of the water, hopefully to reach Lazlo alive...
Player applause
The Prussian Gamer
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text:
Crush the infamous thing was Voltaire's motto. The infamous thing he desired to see crushed was superstition. It's now my motto; the infamous thing I desire to see crushed is the conservative movement. If I write a post towards that end, I may include that tagline. Hence the explanation.
Now before the Michelle Malkin's of the world throw theirselves into a fit of indignant rage at my suggesting the need to "crush" the movement I will point out that I mean that in the same sense that Voltaire did: not in the sense of oppressing believers but in the sense of changing people's minds (via the pen) so that belief seems absurd.
With that out of the way, onto some infamous thing crushing.
Lately, Bill O'Reilly has been saying that Arianna Huffington isn't "a respectable" woman because he says that there are hateful comments on her website. The HuffingtonPost is a vile far left hate site and what not.
The comments O'Reilly is speaking of were indeed hateful comments about Nancy Reagan. But they were COMMENTS - and a handful out of thousands at that. Criticizing a website that receives hundreds of thousands of comments on the grounds that it hasn't sufficiently policed commenter feedback for mean-spirited or hateful comments is asinine. It could be the case that the comments slipped through or it could be the case that the site believes that allowing feedback regardless of it being negative is in the best interest of open discussion.
Personally, I have a very high threshold for what I'll allow to be said here. A white supremacist posted a death threat against me and I didn't delete it ... does that mean I'm transitively a hater who wants to see myself killed by a white supremacist? On the other hand, when someone posted the home address of a conservative commentator I deleted it immediately.
Now, if O'Reilly simply wanted to criticize the hateful comments or argue that the HuffingtonPost should be stricter about the comments it allows I would not have an issue. But that's not all he's doing.
"I don't see a difference between (Arianna) Huffington and the Nazis."
"What's the difference between the Ku Klux Klan and Arianna Huffington?"
"There's no difference between what Huffington and Nazis do."
The difference between Arianna Huffington and the KKK/Nazis is that she isn't a white supremacist who advocates for authoritarian rule and believes it acceptable to kill people. Just a minor difference in O'Reilly World, I suppose.
This is a bit of insanity that's difficult to understand unless you realize the real reason O'Reilly can't tell the difference between Arianna Huffington and the KKK or Nazis: remember, when it comes to O'Reilly, all roads lead to his ego.
O'Reilly hates HuffingtonPost because it allows commenters (and writers) to say critical things about O'Reilly. And it's a well known fact that it is Bill O'Reilly's greatest fear that someone, somewhere will say something critical about him. He will not rest until there is no spot in the entire universe where ever a word is said that might hurt his delicate feelings. Demonizing Arianna Huffington is part of that campaign.
Because if Arrianna Huffington is no different than a Nazi because of those comments, what does it make O'Reilly when he works for a network that continues to promote and defend the bigoted/racist attacks on Barack Obama from radio host Bill Cunningham? For that matter, there are racist remarks from commenters* about "B. Hussein Obama" in the O'Reilly Townhall column I linked to earlier in the post. But, as always, nothing tops O'Reilly continuing to have Ann Coulter on as a guest despite her career long history of hate-mongering.
And while O'Reilly continues to call HuffingtonPost and Daily Kos hate sites no different from the KKK or Nazis because of the mean things some of the commenters say, World Net Daily - a site which features O'Reilly's columns - has commenters talking about how Jared Taylor isn't a racist and about how it's unGodly for races to mix.
As always, hypocrisy and double standard follows in the wake of O'Reilly's ego.
And regarding Ham's tired assertion that hateful comments are typical of "left-wing" blogs but not "right-wing" ones, Steve Young points out that in the same thread O'Reilly is using to say that Huffington is no different than the Nazis and KKK there was this comment:
You sick fuck liberal wing nuts always shame yourselves when someone is in crisis. I hope you all die screaming. ..you sick fuck you wouldn't know class if it bit you on the ass, class you mean like the most cheated on former 1st lady. Class you mean like president blow job, democrats can't have class it comes with the D tagUpdate: Here's a link for Ham that I just remembered from a previous post.
Update 2: Another link and another for Ham.
*Edited March 1, 2008. Originally, that read "racist remarks in the O'Reilly Townhall column ..." which I realized might create the impression that I was referring to the the actual content of O'Reilly's column rather than the comments to it.


text:
Wireless services are used by consumers all over the country to obtain and provide life-saving emergency assistance and generally raise the quality of life. According to the last U.S. Census, more than 59 million Americans live in rural areas and more than 50 percent have a cell phone.
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The map above highlights stories of signal booster users across the country, whose quality of life and ability to do their jobs has been positively affected by using the product.


text:
Award Winning Ledmax Led Curing Light
Hakan Gürsu Designs The Ledmax Led Curing Light
Hakan Gürsu, the author of the displayed work LED Curing Light:LedMax by Hakan Gürsu demonstrates, LedMax is an LED Curing Light design with appealing aesthetics and outstanding performance. Having an extremely compact body and ergonomic handle, it is one of the thinnest curing devices. Placed on two detachable stands, it offers a simple use with elegance. Available in cordless and corded models, LedMax can be charged on its charging stand and can be placed on outer stand when in use. Attachable stands save space for dentist, while also enabling a flexible use. Light intensity and timer can be controlled and batteries can be replaced with spare already included in the pack..
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text:
Sources say sixtyone-year-old Phyllis Stein was washing her car outside her home on SE 1st Place in Cape Coral on Wednesday afternoon when she was abducted by twenty nine year old Antonio Thomas. Reportedly, however, Lee County Black Foot Soldier sources believe Thomas did identify himself as a peaceful reparations protester before, alledgedly, he was forced to defend himself against Stein after she turned what was suppose to be peaceful activism violent.
|Race Karma, Beverly Hope Melton & Nikolas Miller
Championed by Divine Race Karma, Thomas is also accused stealing Melinda Pensinger's car and forcing a fifteen year old female devil into the trunk. While contacts note that Thomas has a record for non-violent offences, NBFSN Divine Race Karma translator Hallowed Yclept is noting that his actions against whites were driven by the supernatural force of Divine Racial Karma and that he should not be held accountable for any crimes under penalty of so-called 'white law'.
Racist Lee County Sheriff regime terrorist Mike Scott says Thomas served time in state prison for dealing cocaine. Attempting to account for Thomas' recent so-called crimes, "something snapped and sent Thomas on the murderous spree. He has literally ravaged innocent victims in this community. He is a vicious individual, killer frankly, (who) knew no boundaries." (See: There Are No Innocent Whites)
"The criminals in each case are the whites whose prosperity is afforded from the racial terrorism of their kind's forefathers. It is amazing that these whites today who still yet deny restitution for their kind's crimes against those in the family of the people of color believe that Divine Racial Karma will excuse them. They should ask Phyllis Stein and Melinda Pensinger if they were excused." Yclept says.


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Elle Varner - All I Want Is Him Remix (Over Miguel Feat. J. Cole - All I Want)[Audio][Female Unsigned Hype]
""All I Want Is Him" is MBK Entertainment (home of Alicia Keys) and J Records recording artist Elle Varner's smash remix of Miguel and J Cole's "All I Want Is You". Be on the lookout for the MBK Entertainment mixtape coming soon and Elle Varner's EPK coming soon! Leggggoooo!!"
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Eight weeks after "the incident" that had two dogs in the doghouse around my house, I celebrated the day of "boot removal." My husband treated me to a romantic dinner and a bottle of Cabernet. The highlight of the auspicious occasion? I snuggled under the sheets barefooted.
"I will never take for granted the feel of naked toes," I vowed. Weeks after cast removal, I still almost cry when my happy foot crawls into bed at night.
But getting it out in the morning? Having poo-pooed the necessity for formal physical therapy, I'd opted for "at home" exercises, which, of course, I just didn't seem to be working into my day. Now, with my daughter's wedding only weeks away, I had second thoughts. Perhaps I should drop in at the prescribed facility just to be sure I was "on track."
After meeting, greeting and completing forms, I was asked by my lovely young therapist, Bess: "Are we getting you ready for a sport?" Complimented, I decided that I must look like someone sporty, when in reality the most active I am is pushing the vacuum cleaner.
I presented Bess with a new shoe box containing high heels.
Bess accepted one of my dressy heels, gingerly turned it, and then eased it onto my foot as if it were Cinderella's slipper and this, the crystal-clear-as-glass moment of truth. My foot simply would not cooperatively slope to the necessary angle to accommodate a 2-inch heel.
Bess manipulated, massaged and machine-worked until we were on the brink of the big day. She taped, iced and elevated. She sent me home with fat rubber resistance bands to wrap around both ankles and use to duck-walk across the room, teeter-totters to swivel on and daily markers to achieve -- all to be topped off with ice (not all of it in the drink) and an afternoon nap. Our last hope was to begin practice on the stilts themselves.
"Ten minutes a day," she advocated. "Wear them while you are doing the dishes," she proposed. Safe and sane.
I ratcheted it up a notch. Why not vacuum while wearing them? My husband rather enjoyed the picture of his wife dressed in shorts and black patent leather heels running the vacuum; he didn't seem to notice I was limping alarmingly.
On the day, I surrendered to sensible wedges -- both in shoe and wedding cake.
A few days before, a familiar Albertsons box boy had asked how my ankle was faring. I told him that my answer to the therapist's question about my sport had been: "Life."
"Yeah," he nodded while hoisting the heavy, handled bags. "It can be a marathon."
Clary Miller is the author of 200 essays and stories that have appeared in The Times, Newsweek, Orange County Register, Missoula Living and elsewhere. She lives in Huson, Mont.


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Welcome to Simple Meals Friday!
There is nothing like having a collection of simple meals to throw together in a slow cooker first thing in the morning or in a skillet as a last minute dinner. What are your favorite slow cooker, rice cooker, skillet meals and salads?
We want to know your easy to make meals. It's great learn and be inspired by others. When you link up on any of our sites the links will show up on all the blogs.
Meet Your Hosts
- Katie of Mexican Wildflower
- Amanda of Natural Living Mamma
- And me! ;)
Please Read and Follow these Simple Meals Friday Rules
- Keep the foods "nourishing", such as homemade chicken stocks, whole grains, vegetables, fruits, healthy fats (lard, coconut oil, butter, olive oil, tallow), unrefined sugars, flours and salts and meats.
- Please don't include recipes using processed oils such as soy and canola oil, msg laden bouillons and other highly processed foods. Try to incorporate traditional methods of preparing foods like, sprouting, soaking, sourdough and lacto-fermentation. If I notice a recipe using these ingredients it will be deleted.
- Link back to this blog hop, it is a common linking courtesy. It helps to build a stronger blogging community. That way we can all learn and share with each other.
We enjoyed reading all your submissions. The hosts will pick a favorite post to feature on next week's Simple Meals Friday. If you want to be featured please be sure to link back to this blog hop.
Host Picks From Last Week's Submissions
Warm Lemon Water from Axiom At Home
Crockpot Chicken Stock from Small Footprint Family
Beer Braised Shortribs from Love and Butter
How to share your Simple Meals:
Use the linky box below (or post in the comments) to share your recipes. You can use old or new posts and as many as you'd like. We are looking forward to seeing what you will add!


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Brighton's oldest law firm, Quality Solicitors Howlett Clarke, has gone into liquidation.
The firm was a grandee of the south coast legal market. Jackie Gillespie, its Managing Partner, was recently appointed President of the Sussex Law Society. Its website – still extant at the time of writing this – proudly boasts of it being ranked as a Leading Firm 2017 in Legal 500 and of its 240 year history. Which ended earlier this week.
Email enquiries went unanswered and no one was picking up the phone. But a spokeswoman for the wider Quality Solicitors group confirmed that Howlett Clarke was in liquidation and clients were being contacted. She had no further information, and the SRA, as usual, said that it was unable to confirm the firm's status or discuss the matter. But RollOnFriday has been told that the firm recently lost a large number of staff, which can't have helped the situation.
Unfortunately Howlett Clarke is the second "quality" firm this week to fail to live up to its moniker.
there are so many law firms out there teetering in the edge.
Contrary to the claim made, it's not "Britain's oldest law firm". That accolade belongs to Thomson Snell & Passmore which was founded in 1570.
Plenty of others pre-date Howlett Clarke: Farrers (1701), Blandy & Blandy (1733) and Freshfields (1743), to name but a few.
The claim made is that it was Brighton's oldest firm.
Been on the cards for a while - Howlett Clarke also discriminated against their blind ex-managing partner (https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/law-firm-discriminated-against-blind-ex-managing-partner)
Provincial small firms in Brexitania are all on the knife edge - all those places with chumps stupid enough to believe £350m a week are going to ask for their money and get a punch in the guts and be spat in the face, as the ERG walk away laughing as they toast their hedgie mates and the money to be made from chaos and Russian connections.
3-ducks - Brighton's, not Britain's. Do keep up!
QS Howlett Clarke are a prime example of not how to run a law practice. Numerous senior lawyers leaving because of the ethos, having to pay out departing equity partners, failing to replace those senior advisers, failing to replace the lost work streams (commercial, corporate, litigation, employment, childcare etc) and substituting senior fee earners who bring in work and generate fees for non qualified staff to save money. At the same time moving to more expensive premises, and leading from a pile it high, sell it cheap perspective ie cheap conveyancing and wills rather than a corporate perspective.
Highly predictable but a shame all the same.
Gordon Dadds must be sharpening its beak....
There is so much one could say about how this sad situation came about. Woefully poor management, over-stretching the borrowing, QS branding, bitter in-fighting between the partners, internal litigation between the partners, discrimination, the list goes on.....
Quite frankly the rot set in years ago and it really was only a matter of time although I imagine even those in the legal profession in Brighton who knew anything about the firm are still surprised that the remaining EP's managed to drive the firm off the road so quickly. It's a real shame - I feel sorry for the employees who could not see this coming
Real shame. I once got a mint imperial from their recprion after posing as a persoective client on a walk through Brighton - it was a very decent mint. One has to wonder if their slapdash policy towards protecting their mints has anything to do with them shutting down. I had absolutely no intention of instructing them and only had to fill out a couple of surface scratching forms before being given free access to the mints. It was 2012: "obviously not affected by the credit crunch I remember remarking".
Reputation for treating staff poorly, cut price conveyancing and will writing, paying out equity partners, running costs etc....pretty obvious that the people in charge cannot add up, only take away!
An event like this always attracts the ''rubberneckers''.......and comments by lawyers that should look in there on rear view mirror....in fact... directly in the mirror......
Woeful staff management caused the practice to haemorrhage staff over a short period of time. A firm will find it difficult to survive when a certain department loses over 90% of staff within 2 years!
No surprise and like many ex clients who have paid Extortionate fee's for Mediocre services . I have been through 3 firms in a probate dispute , the advise and results in a 4 year battle . Nearly instructed them ,no return calls after 6 attempts gave up how fortunate for me.
Found them arrogant, and careless, property handed over in their premises was "lost", only to be found after involving the ombudsman, over a year after it was lost,. If this was their normal method of dealing with people I am not surprised that they failed. Their way of dealing with complaints left a lot to be desired, "QUALITY" I don,t think so, and the ombudsman agreed with me!
Marmite comments that other firms should look in the mirror? This has nothing to do with other lawyers? Which other lawyers commenting have gone into liquidation without paying their staff?
How did they manage to sell on their clients without the clients permission? What happened to transparency, GDPR and client confidentiality?
The letters being sent to clients purport to them not having capacity to undertake the completion of current client matters, misleading at best and just completely untrue at worst.
Shipping all of their clients matters to the Midlands and then writing to clients, stating that if they wish to move their matter back to their own locality of Brighton then they will have to settle all costs to do so. This has been written in such a way as to discourage clients from choosing their legal representative freely, something that is their legal right.
Many of the clients will be elderly and should be protected from this kind of behaviour.
Where are the directors? Probably setting up again or touting for positions in other firms offering their wares and clients as bait.
Where were the SRA in all of this? Has this firm acted in their own or their clients best interest in selling all their matters and clients to other firms without first obtaining the consent of the clients?
So much for rules and decency.
Just read the above. This could seriously put my neighbour in the grave. What can i say to comfort her?
This is such a sad thing to happen, those of us who have worked for Howlett Clarke remember the integrity and reputation of the firm was never in doubt.
Since so many of the original partners went, the firm was run into the ground by bad management.
No other excuse, bad decisions, lack of planning, bad financial advice etc etc .
Jackie and Warren should be ashamed of themselves.
The lack of contrition for this shambolic situation from the members, Gillespie and Robertson, beggars belief. Let's not sugar coat this. They have taken the oldest firm in Brighton, and in under 3 years turned it from a well respected and profitable business, to this car crash. They are to blame for this situation, no one else.
Absolute shambles. My brother died this week and they are his executers. Rang office again and again finally found number that worked. They told us it was in administration and the wills would be in a warehouse. Keep speaking to administrators who say they will ask partner, Jackie Gillespie, to call. 5 days later and still waiting to find out who if anyone will call us and help in this awful time. Surely the law society actions when solicitors don't do duty of care?
The firm holds our papers how do we deal with getting them back surely we all should have been sent a letter stating what will be happening to our papers
Have seen paperwork sent out by administrators, makes interesting reading. Firm had significant core debt in 2015 and then the three other Partners, Colin Edmonds, Tim Fenton and Simon Rowe all left that year and took another £544,000 leaving the firm basically financially crippled and near enough dead in the water. A business that size cannot realistically be expected to carry that much debt, particularly given the climate we are in. My take on that is they got two younger partners on board, picked their time and then ran into the sunset leaving them holding the baby. Very cynical to say the least although not surprising given people involved. Anyway paperwork helps separate the facts from the fiction. All very sad and peoples lives affected so real human cost too. Best of luck to those who had the integrity to stick with it to the end. I'm sure you will all be fine.


text:
Smart staffing can boost efficiency and morale in a tight budget landscape.
Many supervisors today were promoted or hired into their managerial positions after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, so they have only known a world of government expansion and increased staffing allocations -- especially for national security and law enforcement agencies. Before sequestration, some agencies rushed to fill jobs with as many seasoned employees as possible, creating more supervisory and senior staff positions than were necessary or advisable.
During this boom period, organizations often established high-graded expert and coordinator positions, at the expense of mission-critical jobs that represent the primary work of the agency. Many agencies hired more program analysts and program coordinators than food inspectors, air traffic controllers or park rangers; and established additional supervisory layers between policymakers and the employees actually doing the work.
Look at any federal agency's organizational chart and you are likely to find as many staff offices and positions that report to the agency chief as there are organizational units that perform the core work. Often, it is difficult to figure out the chain of command and how authority flows through the organization. Many organizations are top-heavy with program analysts and special assistants at the top of the General Schedule, but don't have enough workers in training or developmental positions in the mid-grade GS levels that serve as the pipeline for future staff in mission-critical occupations.
Too many bosses and not enough workers. This is the result of poor position management.
Some seasoned managers who are familiar with the government's continual growth-and-contraction cycle just shrug and figure they have to tighten their belts for a while. But many new managers are seriously concerned about the low morale and increased attrition brought on by sequestration and multiyear salary freezes. They recognize that inadequate human resources management contributes to employees' lack of confidence in senior leadership and impedes the accomplishment of agency missions.
If any of this sounds familiar, your agency might need to embrace the simple principles of good position management, which has served federal managers well in previous periods of tight budgets and reduced staffing.
Position management is defined by Office of Personnel Management guidelines as "designing position structures which blend the skills and assignments of employees with the goal of successfully carrying out the organization's mission or program . . . a logical balance between employees needed to carry out the major functions of the organization and those needed to provide adequate support; between professional employees and technicians; between fully trained employees and trainees; and between supervisors and subordinates." Basically, it is the seemingly antiquated notion of ensuring that the organization is as streamlined as it can be to accomplish the assigned work.
Here are some fundamental principles about how to structure an organization:
- Take on work only when there is clear organizational authority and responsibility to perform that work.
- Concentrate organizational resources on direct positions, rather than administrative staff and support positions.
- Consider organizational context when establishing positions: How does a given position relate to other similar ones in the organization?
- Ensure a reasonable and supportable grade structure -- one that balances mission needs, economy and efficiency of operations, sound use of skill and knowledge, and recruitment and retention of talent.
- Strive for a minimal supervisory structure.
- Avoid excessive layering.
- Establish sensible spans of supervisory control.
- Distribute work, especially the highest-level tasks, logically among available positions.
- Distribute work so there is variety and opportunity to develop expertise.
- Establish a position structure that provides career paths for most employees.
- Avoid too many one-of-a-kind, dead-end positions.
The words "reasonable," "sensible" and "logical" represent key themes that were often overlooked during government's latest growth cycle. As agencies return to an era of doing more with less, applying the principles of good position management can be a useful tool for managers, especially when incorporated into an agency's overall strategic approach to managing with fewer resources.
Henry Romero is a senior advisor with Federal Management Partners Inc. His 32-year federal career in human resources included positions at the Defense and Justice departments as well as the Office of Personnel Management.


text:
I have taught all levels from elementary to graduate school for the past thirty years.
A combination of styles. For one, I set the tone as teacher as doer. I model the tasks for my students.
Draper-Gullander-Largent Prize Winner in History at UNC-Greensboro as the annual top student in history. Phi Alpha Theta Award at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as the top graduate student in history. Other literary awards.
Ph.D. in history, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana M.A. in history, University of North Carolina at Greensboro B.A. in history and social science education at Elon University (Elon, North Carolina) Georgia Teaching Certification in: History, 7-12, geography, 7-12, economics, 7-12, behavioral science, 7-12, sociology, 7-12, political science, 7-12; middle level language arts, grs. 4-8, middle level social studies, grs. 4-8; middle grades, grs. 4-8; gifted education, AP World History,AP Art History
Singer/songwriter: Some of my tunes can be heard on www.youtube.com www.reverbnation.com/JohnMarshallCarter
PreK, Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, Higher Education
English Language Arts, Creative Writing, Writing-Expository, Reading, Vocabulary, Specialty, Math, Arithmetic, Numbers, Science, Biology, Earth Sciences, Environment, Social Studies - History, Ancient History, Civics, Government, U.S. History, European History, World History, Middle Ages, World Language, Spanish, Latin, German, Arts & Music, Art History, Visual Arts, Music, Music Composition, Physical Education, Health, Other (Specialty), Afro-American Studies, History, Psychology, Religion, British History, Geography, Other (Social Studies - History), Religion, Gifted and Talented, For All Subject Areas, Literature, Economics , Short Stories, Writing, Asian Studies, Poetry


text: Okay, first off, we don't make it a habit to bone in front of the animals. We are actually really adamant about locking all of them out of the room when the sexy-times are nigh, which is no small feat since we currently have 4 cats and a dog that have some serious separation issues and are pretty sure a shut door means they are going to starve to death. Read More I Think We Broke the Dog


text:
Jimmy Mack
Theta, Reconnective & Matrix Energetics Certified Practitioner
Healing Body, Mind and Spirit; http://www.advancedthetapractitioner.com
I am always asked , what's it all about? great article to read in this link with Richard Bartlett
Video Who does this belong to? Access Consciousness http://www.audioacrobat.com/playv/W5qkWVwr
Powerful one minute downloads/Fast food for your ethereal being!
How important is water? http://www.nowhealing.com/balance-your-water-element/
Radio Interview with me…http://www.blogtalkradio.com/shift-happens-radio/2012/07/18/the-shift-happens-radio-and-road-show.mp3
Gregg Braden The Divine Matrix
what is MMS? http://jimhumble.biz/
Face Book: Jimmy McKeown Cell 727.678.0557
Skype: Jimmy.Mack55 Clearwater, Florida. USA
Twitter: JMackCowBell


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Joined: 12 Jul 2007
Posts: 32
Location: UK
Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 10:02 am
Post subject: Salads
I'm a big fan of salads and have recently discovered the Insalata Caprese (Salad) which is of Italian origin.
Here's a photo of it of one I made and a recipe below:
* 3 vine-ripe tomatoes, 1/4-inch thick slices
* 1 pound fresh mozzarella, 1/4-inch thick slices
* 20 to 30 leaves (about 1 bunch) fresh basil
* Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
* Coarse salt and pepper
Layer alternating slices of tomatoes and mozzarella, adding a basil leaf between each, on a large, shallow platter. Drizzle the salad with extra-virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper, to taste.
It takes about 10 minutes to prepare and serves 4 to 6 people.
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Joined: 21 Aug 2007
Posts: 552
Location: Central Kentucky
Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 11:29 am
Post subject:
I love Caprese salad.
Here in the States it's almost considered sacreligous to have a salad that doesn't include lettuce. That's slowly changing, thank goodness. But the ubiquitous toss salad still seems to rule.
One of my favorite simple ones is a tomato/cucumber salad. Slices of toth are overlapped slightly. Then some chopped red onion sprinkled over it. This is followed, in sequence, with a sprinkling of roasted, crushed cumin seed, course salt, lemon juice, and extra virgin olive oil.
Another one I enjoy is a Lebanese style olive salad, which I often use as a condiment as well as a salad. For instance, I might put the salad down as a base for lamb burgers.
And..... well, suffice it to say I share your love of salads.
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Joined: 12 Jul 2007
Posts: 32
Location: UK
Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 1:53 pm
Post subject:
Thanks KYHeirloomer. The salads you mentioned sound yummy. I love Big salads and I had a really nice one in New York, it was Cesar with nuts in it and lots of creamy dressing. I ordered an entree size but it was huge.
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Joined: 12 Jul 2007
Posts: 32
Location: UK
Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 2:00 pm
Post subject:
I ate a really gorgeous salad in Rome, Italy.
I don't know the name of it and I can't remember the name of the restaurant either but it had Tuna flakes, lettuce, slice tomato, fresh buffalo cheese or fresh mozarella and a balsamic dressing.
I've tried to recreate it at home but it never ends up as delicious as the Rome one. I wish I knew what it was called so I could Google the recipe because I think my replications are lacking vital ingredients.
If anyone has been to Rome and eaten this salad or knows what its called can you please post it in here? It's driving me nuts. I think maybe I remember some pine nuts scattered through the salad but I may be wrong, it was 2 years ago now so details are sketchy. I should've taken a photo of it. It was recommended by the Waitress.
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Joined: 21 Aug 2007
Posts: 552
Location: Central Kentucky
Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 2:14 pm
Post subject:
I learned that approach to tomato/cuke salad from Andreas Viestad, in his wonderful book
Where Flavor Was Born
I've tried combining the cumin, salt, lemon juice and olive oil into a dressing, but it doesn't taste the same (or as good) as when you layer them one at a time.
You obviously like "meaty" salads. One that might appeal is in Gerald Hirigoyen's just published
, which explores the small plates thing from a Basque viewpoint. Anyway, one that we made last week, and really took to is his Marinated Baby Octopus with Tomato and Fennel Salad. If you can't find the book, let me know and I'll type out the recipe. It's kind of long, though, so I'd prefer not doing so if I can avoid it.
A lot of times we reduce entrees down to appetizer size. But we forget that the opposite approach works just as well, and many times a tapas type salad can be made as an entree salad.
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Joined: 18 Oct 2004
Posts: 1654
Location: Within view of Elliot Bay, The Olympics and every ship in the Sound
Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 3:43 pm
Post subject:
KYH, I am a bit obsessed with pintxos I'll have to check out that book. Thanks!
Pavlova, I had forgotten how much I love caprese salad until I saw your photo. Absolutely gorgeous!
"It's watery....and yet there's a smack of ham."
"It's hot ham water."
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Joined: 21 Aug 2007
Posts: 552
Location: Central Kentucky
Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 6:19 pm
Post subject:
Erin, it is literally brand new. I've only had my review copy about a month, but have already jumped into several of his recipes. So far they're all good---other than the fact some of them require special ingredients that have to be mail ordered.
Pintxos: Small Plates in the Basque Tradition
Gerald Hirigoyen with Lisa Weiss
Ten Speed Press 2009
It lists at 25 bucks, but I bet Amazon has it cheaper.
Just checked: Amazon has it for $16.47.
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Joined: 18 Oct 2004
Posts: 1654
Location: Within view of Elliot Bay, The Olympics and every ship in the Sound
Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 8:45 pm
Post subject:
KYH, Thanks for the info, I appreciate it.
"It's watery....and yet there's a smack of ham."
"It's hot ham water."
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Joined: 23 Nov 2004
Posts: 450
Location: a Dutchie in HongKong
Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2009 5:21 am
Post subject:
I LOVE caprese (and a lot of other salads, for that matter). Used to make it a lot when I lived in Holland. Now, being here, and finding most of my groceries more expensive than in NL, I skipped mozarella from my shopping list....at around 8 us$ per ' ball' I'll hold my cravings 'till I'll visit home!
(funny and wonderful to be able to call two places ' home')
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Joined: 20 Jul 2009
Posts: 3
Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:58 pm
Post subject:
That looks so delicious and I LOVE Mozarella. Reminds me of my Italy holidays.
The world is a book and those who don't travel read only a page.
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Photovoltaics, or PV for short, is a Solar Power technology that uses Solar Photvoltaics systems' or Solar cells to provide electricity for human activities. Photovoltaics is also the field of study relating to this technology.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Multi-Layered Solar Cell Boosts Efficiency
The 4-year-old company yesterday said it expects to start production of its high-efficiency solar cells by early next year in its home town of San Jose, Calif. It is also awaiting word in the next few months on an $80 million loan from the Department of Energy, which would give it favorable financing to expand its current demonstration plant to produce 250 megawatts worth of cells per year, said co-founder Craig Stauffer.
Solar Junction cells are designed to be fitted into concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) solar collectors. Originally used in space, CPV systems concentrate the light hundreds of times using mirrors and lenses onto a small but relatively efficiency solar cell. They are typically mounted on racks to follow the sun in desert areas and are used for installations up to 50 megawatts.
The company, which was spun out of Stanford University, last month said that the National Renewable Energy Laboratory certified its cell to operate at 41.4 percent efficiency. For comparison, silicon solar cells are in the range of 15 percent or 20 percent efficient at converting sunlight to electricity.
These types of cells, called multi-junction cells, achieve those higher conversion rates by using different materials than the traditional silicon cell and multiple semiconductors within a single package. During manufacturing, there are multiple layers of material deposited onto a gallium arsenide substrate, with each layer optimized to convert a different portion of the sunlight's spectrum.
"In essence, you have three basic subcell materials that take in some light and pass the rest to the next. They are connected serially inside the device just like battery cells," Stauffer explained. There could be up to 20 layers of material used on each cell which is usually a square of about five millimeters, or just a fraction of an inch.
The main customers for these multi-junction cells are CPV solar makers such as Amonix and Concentrix Solar in Germany. But even though this technology has been around for years, it still hasn't become as established or widely used for wholesale electricity production as regular flat solar panels.
Multi-junction cells are more complex and expensive. But Stauffer said that the costs of CPV systems with those cells are getting more attractive due to efficiency gains and higher levels of concentration. CPV solar collectors can now concentrate light 1,000 times, compared to 500 times in the past year or two, he said.
Solar Junction expects to stand out from other multi-junction suppliers with better reliability in high temperatures and higher efficiency, which Stauffer projects will go over 50 percent in five years as the company adds more layers to capture different wavelengths of light.
SOURCE: http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20032068-54.html
Posted by Maureen McHale at 6:33 AM
Labels: Solar Technology
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