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Strange stuff happens in bathrooms, both in real life and in games. Bowels are a reminder that we are organic machines that need fuel, processing, and excretion. While games are full of strange foods, there aren't as many bathrooms and I've always wondered why so few RPGs have bathrooms when they're trying to create a sense of total immersion. Is role playing only limited to the heroic? Here are the 7 strangest bathroom scenes I remember from the games I've played through, inspired in part by Brian Ashcraft's piece on The Most Amazing Places to Pee and Poop in Japan.
Silent Hill: I don't ever want to use the bathrooms in Silent Hill. They are dimensional portals to hell. According to Max Tegmark's Multiverse hypothesis, there are four levels of alternative universes with the ultimate being the mathematical universe hypothesis which is summed up as: "Our external physical reality is a mathematical structure." In chaos theory, they say a butterfly flapping its wings can cause a hurricane on the other side of the planet. In Silent Hill, it's mathematically possible for the flush of a toilet, the valve opening as a result, the siphon tube draining all the contents, and a biochemical reaction all in proper conjunction to cause a rupture in our normal dimension. Possibly into nirvana, but more likely than not, into the horrors of a Silent Hill bathroom like in part 4 where it leads to Walter's Otherworlds. Or as in 1, into a bathroom where all the doors and sinks are dripping blood and a mutilated corpse hangs next to a shotgun with a sign written in crimson that reads: "The Monster Lurks," and you're not sure if you should pick the gun up because you don't want that corpse to come to life and dip your head in the murky toilet though you really want that shotgun.
Resident Evil (GC): The Spencer Mansion is supernaturally huge. The most shocking thing about it, though, aren't the zombies or the killer dogs. It's the fact that throughout the entire mansion, there's only one bathroom. What's worse is that there's a zombie there to clog up the mess. The architect behind the mansion had some serious issues, what with all the death traps and obscure puzzles blocking entries. I just can't get the question out of my mind though; after dinner, when all the countless researchers had to relieve themselves, did they all line up at that one bathroom? What about for those suffering from paruresis or if multiple people had to go really bad at the same time? It's no wonder they all eventually became mindless zombies.
Indigo Prophecy: If most videogame bathrooms had janitors, they'd need to be fired ASAP. Almost every bathroom I've seen is a corrugated mess of corrosion and fluids that I don't even want to think about. To top that off, don't use any of them if you value your life. Indigo Prophecy was David Cage's first step in reinvigorating the adventure game genre and it began with a murder. You, the protagonist, kill some poor balding sob who just wanted to relieve himself in the crapper. The term, crapper, did not get its origins from Thomas Crapper who did much to popularize toilets in the 1800s, but has its etymological roots in a Dutch word (krappen meaning to cut off or separate) and French one (crappe meaning chaff or rubbish). Whether in French or Dutch or English, the guy still ended up in a crappe of krappen crap, and it was your job to figure out why.
Mister Mosquito: Who would have thought being a mosquito could be so hard? They're members of the nematocerid flies and the majority of them don't suck human blood, even though their ectoparasitic counterparts have given them a bad reputation. Even among the ones that do, it's the females who are specifically looking to get nutrients so they can produce eggs. The vampirism is solely undertaken to feed her babies, without which their whole generation would die out. In Mr. Mosquito, the mosquito is a vector for exposing the social dichotomies that exist naturally within the Yamada family, leading to what some may consider a breakdown in the household and others, liberation of anachronisms. Mister Mosquito is allegory for the digital nuclear family, replete with boxy polygons. The plight of mosquitoes is never made more precarious than in the Stage 4 bath scene versus Rena. She is idyllically bathing, but refuses to share a little bit of blood with Mister Mosquito who, traditionally, wouldn't be collecting the blood, but braves both the water and the goliath human in order to dispel gender tropes and help his line to survive through winter. Way to strike a blow against mosquito stereotypes!
Sims: We forget how strange it is that our lives are on invisible tracks that revolve around bathrooms. Sims reminds us of the microcosm of our needs on a speedrun that can either be insanely addictive, or just plain disturbing. Wake up, carry out hygiene, balance your budget, go to work, mingle with friends, cry from loneliness, babble in Simlish, eat, crap, sleep, repeat. I got depressed playing this game (despite the fact that I really enjoyed it and thought it brilliant) because it corresponded so much to my own daily life.The game has no victory. Only temporary relief in the censored bathrooms. I couldn't help but think of my life in terms of Simisms and Simhoods. The only true end is either quitting or death.
Déjà Vu: "You are waking from a stupor that feels like a chronic headache after a week in Vegas. You notice your right palm is covered with dried blood; but you can neither see nor feel any wounds. You feel a sharp pain your left forearm. Rolling up the sleeve, you find a tiny puncture on your arm. Has a doctor injected me with a medicine? Then you realize you can't remember who you are!!" Thus begins the Hangover prequel, Déjà Vu, for the NES with you presumably waking on the toilet seat, your jacket hanging on the door. It's a fantastic noir tale that had me gripped when I first played it and still compels me. The thing that's most suspicious to me, though, is that full roll of toilet paper because every public bathroom I've ever been to that looks as messed up as this one not only was missing the door and the toilet lid, but never had a full roll of clean toilet paper (especially as the janitors are on strike!). The first thing I'd immediately investigate is, who put the toilet paper there?!
Persona 4: The Greeks and Romans used big bathhouses not just as places to lave, but social gathering points to discuss business, politics, and the latest gladiatorial games. When I grew up in Korea, I remember being taken to bathhouses and hating them. Most recently, I went to a Chinese bathhouse where a fat naked Chinese man tried to get me to strip completely for my massage. I ran out in my boxers, scared, and some kid laughed at me and asked why I ran, to which his father answered I was a strange American. Kanji Tatsumi's dungeon is a steamy bathhouse full of monsters like the Egotistical King, Daring Gigas, Monopolizing Cupid, Nizam Beast, and Crying Table. Whenever the characters can't accept the parts of themselves they'd rather hide, a big boss battle ensues with themselves. The Sauna environment made me wonder how everyone avoided getting their clothes drenched in sweat. The whole level is a purgatory of the emotional crap they want to flush away.


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Neleh (Marquesas)Kathy (Marquesas)Rob (Amazon/All Star)Burton (Pearl Islands)Sandra (Pearl Islands/HvV) some early ones I remember
For me, Tracy from Micronesia is one of the most underrated Survivors (strategist and maybe challenge performer to be exact) ever. She manipulated the manipulator (Joel) and because of her, the outcast trio (her, Kathy and Chet) survived until the tribal swap, where I believe she could have done some damage on the faves if Chet hadn't called it quits. She wasn't relying so much at being friendly with people, but her social game was good in terms of convincing people to vote her way and convincing the right people.
I don't remember much about Marquesas, but I remember thinking Sean was hilarious.
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Clearwire confirmed in a regulatory filing on Thursday that Craig McCaw is stepping down as head of the wireless company's board of directors.
McCaw's resignation is effective on Friday, Clearwire said in the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Clearwire, which is majority owned by Sprint Nextel, said that the move is not due to any disagreements with the company, but did not offer any additional information about McCaw's reasons for stepping down.


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From: email@example.com
Lots of exciting things going on at the end of May:
1. A British Day hosted by the National Institute for Genealogical Studies;
2. Graduation Ceremony hosted by the University of Toronto and the National Institute for Genealogical Studies;
3. Professional Research and Business Skills hosted by the Association of Professional Genealogists-Ontario Chapter;
4. Librarians and Genealogists - A Year Later...
5. The Ontario Genealogical Society's Seminar 2005 hosted by the Essex and Lambton branches.
These activities are starting on Thursday May 26th and will all be held in Windsor, Ontario (Across the river from Detroit Michigan).
Here's some general information.
1. A BRITISH DAY: Religion, Welfare and our English Ancestors Need more research hints and tools to find your English ancestors? Join two instructors and experienced genealogists from the National Institute, Dr. Penelope Christensen and Ryan Taylor, on Thursday, May 26th for a day of learning more about the evolution of parish registers, finding more than just BMD facts, England's poor law and the parish chest. Also included, non-conformist records, for information not found in parish records.
For more information or to register: call 1-800-580-0165 or online:
Go to www.genealogicalstudies.com
Click on the menu item INFORMATION
Click on FIELD TRIPS
Click on Research Academy in Windsor: A British Day A description of the lectures is available. When ready, click on Register to complete the registration process. Call if you need help 1-800-580-0165.
2. Graduation Ceremony hosted by the University of Toronto and the National Institute for Genealogical Studies ----- FREE, everyone is invited...
The National Institute for Genealogical Studies and the University of Toronto FIS/PLC invite you to come celebrate with them and their students during the evening of Thursday, 26 May 2005. Activities (all held at the Cleary International Centre) will include a presentation on the importance of education and certification in the genealogical community, a few short speeches, and an introduction of our graduates. Mingle with students, instructors and leaders at a reception following the formal program.
For more information or to register for this free event: call 1-800-580-0165 or online:
Go to www.genealogicalstudies.com
Click on the menu item INFORMATION
Click on FIELD TRIPS
Click on An Evening with the National Institute and the University of Toronto Click on REGISTER, click Add to Cart and continue the registration process. Call 1-800-580-0165 if you need help.
3. Professional Research and Business Skills hosted by the Association of Professional Genealogists-Ontario Chapter Also on Thursday May 26, Topics include Practical Information on Certification; Deadly Advantages-Information at a death of a person; Writing Family History from a Professional's Point of View; and Working with Librarians-Going for the Win-Win Options. The program is intended for:
* family historians and genealogists who want to upgrade their skills;
* actual or potential for-hire genealogists who want practical advice;
* everyone who wants to keep up with recent genealogical techniques.
For more information: http://www.rootsweb.com/~onapg/program.pdf or call 416-861-0165.
You can include your $65 registration fee for this OC-APG event with your OGS Seminar 2005 registration or it can be mailed directly to Louise St Denis 30 Wellington Street East, Suite 2002 Toronto ON M5E 1S3 (Cheque payable to Association of Professional Genealogists-Ontario Chapter)
4. Librarians and Genealogists - A Year Later...
Also on May 26th. Topics include: One Library and 4000 Branches-How the Family History Centres Run; Patrons Looking for French-Canadian Ancestors; Romancing the Genealogist; Using Genealogical and Historical Serials to your Advantage.
For more information: http://www.ogsseminar.org/preconference.html or firstname.lastname@example.com or 905-815-2042 ext 5037
5. The Ontario Genealogical Society's Seminar 2005 hosted by the Essex and Lambton branches Three days filled with lectures - starting on May 27th to May 29th. Lectures include: Solving Complex Research Problems; Using Genealogical Proof Standard; Using the Internet; Marriage Records in 19th century Ontario; Using the English Census Online; Adoptions in Ontario; Military Records; Irish Records; Place Names; Border Entry Records; Newspapers; Genetics; Surnames; Railroads; PERSI; Crown Land Records; Family Tree Maker; French in Michigan; Scottish Research; Foremothers; Non-francophone in Quebec; Burton Library; Canadian Lumbermen; French Canadian in SW Ontario; Ontario Migration to Michigan; Lambton Room; Ontario Vital Records; Tracing UEL Ancestors; French Canadian Research; Passenger Lists; War of 1812; German Research; Black History; Catholic Records; Real Estate Agents; Research Trips.
Don't forget to visit the Exhibitors area.
For more information: http://www.ogsseminar.org
If you have any questions about any of these activities, feel free to give us a call toll free at 1-800-580-0165
Louise St Denis
The National Institute for Genealogical Studies www.genealogicalstudies.com firstname.lastname@example.com


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A diluvian dinosaur, at that.
The Yorkshire Post today reports, on its front page, that there has been an upsurge of home schooling in recent years. In Bradford, for example, the number has increased from 269 to beastly 666 - an increase of 148% over 4 years. In the county as a whole, 4,500 children are being home schooled, 45,000 in the whole country.
The rise is attributed to several reasons - bullying, mental health, poor choice of school or even lack of places, and "personal choice". Unless "personal choice" is a euphemism for it, there is no mention of the dinosaur: fundamentalist/literalist religion.
At the moment, the article is available in the print edition only. Previous stories have appeared on-line so it may pop up later.


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St Maarten And St Martin
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Philipsburg Travel Guide
Philipsburg © Jorge Brazil
Philipsburg is the capital of Dutch St Maarten and the only town of consequence on the island. It has two main streets, Front Street (Voorstraat) and Back Street (Achterstraat), connected by several bustling thoroughfares, and filled mainly with duty-free shops, cafes, hotels and courtyards overflowing with flowers.
The town has an unusual setting, sitting on a narrow stretch of land between Great Bay, on the south coast of the island, and the Great Salt Pond (a huge marsh). It is the port of call of hundreds of cruise ships, filling the primary need of the day-tripping passengers who come ashore to shop for everything from Italian leather goods and Japanese cameras to native crafts. Philipsburg's nightlife is regarded as among the liveliest to be found in the Caribbean.
Architecturally the town, founded in 1763 by John Philips (a Scots captain in the Dutch navy), is quaint, with characteristic pastel-coloured West Indian houses lining the streets, and a few Dutch colonial landmarks, including Fort Willem, built in 1801, and Fort Amsterdam, constructed nearly 200 years earlier.
Become our Philipsburg Travel Expert
We are looking for contributors for our Philipsburg travel guide. If you are a local, a regular traveller to Philipsburg or a travel professional with time to contribute and answer occasional forum questions, please contact us.


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Exploring newbies looking for resort in EU with sexy vibe
Forums Érotique Voyage & Fun Voyage & Vacances
For the period july/august we are looking for a sexy resort in Europe to spend a week. We are very new and very shy... a swingers resort (like Macarena) or 24/7 nudity (like Cap d'Agde) is still a step too far for us.
We read about Temptation Resort in Cancun Mexico, which is topless optional and sexy vibe but no sex in public. Something like that is what we're looking for in Europe.
Any tips or advice welcome. Thanks!
Cap D'Agde isn't as "full-on" as it all appears to be. Yes, you get full on swinging at clubs like Jeux de Main or Tantra, but Glamour for example is far more docile. Same for the beach, if you go to the dunes, you're going to get people having sex in your face, but that's a small part of the beach, and the rest of the beach is visited by families. As for nudity, you don't really have to be nude. In fact, most swingers aren't... that's one way of spotting the swingers from all the nudists 🙂
Also bear in mind, Cap D'Agde is a whole village, so if you don't like one place, you just go to the next. Unfortunately there aren't any "open-minded" resorts in Europe like Temptation, so unless it's a take-over organised by SpicyMatch, your other option is Cap D'Agde.
From our experiences, smaller resorts, or sailing boats, etc, which are available in Europe, can be more "problematic", because you get the "pressure" of being part of a small group of people, whereas somewhere like Cap D'Agde, you have the liberty of doing your own thing, be as "vanilla" as you like, and no one will even realise.
Thanks for your input, much appreciated.
We are going spring bank holiday macarena


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About Aliens
Build your own Alien
Why I believe in UFOs
What Would You Say to an Extraterrestrial?
Finding life we can't imagine
Alien Life: Will We Know It When We See It?
Bob Lazar 25 years later
The Bob Lazar Interview
Stanton friedman retires
Stanton Friedman interview
The Eerie Silence: Are We Alone in the Universe?
5 Most Mysterious HIGHLY Forbidden Places On The Planet
5 Terrifying Cases Of Alien Abduction
Aliens are everywhere
Alien worlds and extraterrestrial life – where are they?
Where Are All The Aliens - Tim O'brian
John Hodgman - Where are they
The search for extraterrestrial technologies
Astrobiology and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life
Are we really alone in our galaxy?
The Drake Equation
Mysteries That Could Prove Alien Life Exists
5 Strongest Signs Of Aliens and Alien Life
The Search for Life in the Universe
Where are all the Aliens?
About our Cosmos
How radio telescopes show us unseen galaxies
The design of the Universe
Distant time and the hint of a multiverse
Is this our final century - Martin Rees
Gravitational Waves - Allan Adams
The story behind the Mars Rovers
The discovery that could rewrite physics
Cern's Super Collider - Brian Cox
How we explore unanswered questions in physics
The Search for the Theory of Everything
The Particle at the End of the Universe
Black Holes and the Fundamental Laws of Physics
Our Unlikely Universe
Pluto's moon - Charon
Why are we alone in the galaxy
The universe is big
A Physicist Answers Why We Are Here
New Horizons mission to Pluto
Multiverse - One Universe or Many
The Mysterious Architecture of the Universe
Chemical scum that dream of distant quasars
How Large is the Universe?
To Infinity and Beyond: The Accelerating Universe
Infinite Worlds - A Journey through Parallel Universes
James Webb Space Telescope
Telescope image gallery
Hubble image gallery
The Voyagers 1 and 2
Curiosity's Revolutionary Experiments
Is the Universe Infinite?
Are There Other Earths?
Mysteries of a Dark Universe
Is our universe the only universe?
The Dark Side Of The Universe
Gallery of our Solar System
Ripples From The Big Bang - Listening to the Beginning of Time
Philip Kim - Relativity and Quantum Physics
The Space Shuttle
Sean Carrol at the 2018 LogiCal-LA conference
How the Universe came from nothing
5 Mind Blowing Facts About Space
What Lies Outside The Observable Universe?
4 Creepiest Things in Outer Space
Lawrence Krauss at the 2018 LogiCal-LA conference
Why Did Our Universe Begin?
The Expansion of the Universe
Let's look for life in the outer solar system
Daniel Eisenstein - Dark Energy and Cosmic Sound
About science
My friend Richard Feynman
The Theory of Relativity - Suketu Bhavsar
Amazing History of the Telescope
For the Love of Physics - Walter Lewin
Electromagnetic Induction - Walter Lewin
Newton's Laws - Walter Lewin
The Mystery of Light - Walter Lewin - July 19 - 2005
Rolling Motion and Gyroscopes - Walter Lewin
Electric Charges and Forces - Walter Lewin
Magnetic Levitation Aurora Borealis - Walter Lewin
Hooke's Law - Walter Lewin
Weight Weightlessness in Free Fall - Walter Lewin
Friction - Walter Lewin
What Is Time? | Professor Sean Carroll
The greatest show on Earth - Richard Dawkins
Evidence for evolution - Richard Dawkins
What went wrong at the LHC
Quantum Reality: Space, Time, and Entanglement
Infinity - The Science of Endless
Double Slit Experiment explained
When Will Time End?
How Physics Can Revolutionise Biology
The secret life of physicists
Black holes at the Large Hadron Collider
Quantum Fields
The significance of the Higgs Boson discovery
Beyond the Higgs
The Extraordinary Theorems of John Nash
Einstein's Greatest Mistake with David Bodanis
Why we need the explorers
The Great Debate
On the Shoulders of Giants
Science and democracy by Lee Smolin
Building a Big Bang Machine on the Moon
ESO podcasts
The H-Index
Will we ever travel in time?
Smashing Physics
NOTHING - The Science of Emptiness
The surprising beauty of mathematics
Marcus du Sautoy - "The Great Unknown"
The magical world of quantum physics
How a Giant Telescope Works
About Nature
How we discovered DNA
Why does the world exist?
How we found out evolution is true
Richard Dawkins on Darwin
Richard Dawkins on Evolution
Quantum Biology - An Introduction
Four billion years of evolution in six minutes
Why is Life the Way it Is - Nick Lane
Our Miserable Future
How Did the Humanities Evolve?
About Philosophy
Don't fear superintelligence
Symmetry, reality's riddle
What We Cannot Know
The Physics and Philosophy of Time
Pascal Cagneux at the 2018 LogiCal-LA conference
David Deutsch - What is Truth?
Why are we here? - Cornell Thomas
Is immortality possible?
10 Mins On Theory of Knowledge
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Dear All,
Greetings from Washington University in St. Louis. It looks like we are in for a nice warm early spring in many parts of the country. I hope you are all well and your spring is arriving in a timely fashion wherever you are.
There is another celebration we have just left behind – the wonderful and festive March 8. So, a belated Happy Women's Day to you all! The Iranian women sociologists celebrated the day with a speaking event in Tehran, here. Iranian Azari women activists celebrated the women's day with a day of hiking, among other things! Here.
Here, in the U.S., my totally amazing friend Safoura Nourbakhsh and a team of writers, translators and scholars just celebrated the Women's Day with the publication of the second issue of their online publication Zannegar Journal. The journal is a great resource for academics and activists specializing in women's studies who read Persian and work with that language. Congratulations to Safoura and friends. We look forward to future editions. In the mean time, do check out the first two issues here and don't forget to share the link with your Persian speaking friends.
Simin Daneshvar Dies on Women's Day
In a rare coincidence, Simin Daneshvar, one of the greatest fiction writers of modern Iran, and one of the most articulate defenders of women's rights, died at her home in Tehran in late hours on March 8th. Born on April 28, 1921 in the historic city of Shiraz (my own hometown), Daneshvar studied Persian literature with Dr. Sayyah (a woman Professor) and the great Iranian Rumi scholar Badi'uzzaman Forouzanfar and received her PhD in 1948 from Tehran University with a thesis focused on the treatment of beauty in Persian literature. Even though Daneshvar had started writing her own prose years earlier, her marriage in 1950 to Jalal Al-e Ahmad , the highly acclaimed and somewhat controversial, Iranian short story writer and social critic, at first appeared as a possibility of keeping her in the shadow of her well-known husband.
In 1952, Daneshvar traveled to Stanford as a Fulbright fellow and studied creative writing with the American novelist and Pulitzer prize winner, Wallace Stegner. Later, Stegner who visited Daneshvar and Al-e Ahmad in Tehran, spoke of her in most moving terms. Below, I post a short video that Iranian students made in 2004 about Daneshvar's visit in 1952 to Stanford. If you don't speak Persian fast-forward to minute 4:55 where Stegner's letter about Daneshvar is read in English:
Indeed the tragic death of Al-e Ahmad in 1969 (the same year in which Daneshvar published her major novel Savushun) could have overshadowed her literary achievement completely. In reality, with Savushun, which sold about half a million copies, Daneshvar established herself as one of the most articulate literary voices of the 20th century Iran.
For the English translations of Savushun and her other works, visit Payvand News, here. Daneshvar's funeral was held in Tehran this afternoon. She was laid to rest in the segment of Behesht-e Zahra cemetery where many other Iranian writers, and artists are buried. For more pictures and a full report on the event, go here.
To honor Simin Daneshvar and her legacy of freedom and dignity for all human beings, and to celebrate the recently passed Women's Day, I would like to introduce to you a woman who is very much alive though sentenced to 11 years in jail for being an advocate for reform, women's rights and human's rights: Narges Mohammadi. A graduate in the field of physics and engineering, and an advocate for reform and human rights in Iran, Mohammadi was sentenced to eleven years in jail last September. Over forty women activists like her are in jail in Iran, as we celebrate Women's Day this year. All highly educated and intelligent, none convicted of any crime other than their dedication to human dignity and freedom which is viewed as a security risk, and equated with spying for the enemy, at present. Read more about Narges Mohammadi, here.
A Brief Touch on Iran/Israel War Politic
I would really like to keep war politics out of this window. Somehow it should be dedicated totally to women. But I have come across a piece of exciting news which I would like to share with you. It is the kind that our media seem to always miss: nations' reluctance to go to war. In a poll conducted this month by Professor Shibley Telhami of the University of Maryland and Israel's Dahaf Institute, only 19 percent of Israelis said they would support an Israeli unilateral military action against Iran. The poll would have likely made headlines if it were 60 or 70 percent in favor of such a military action. Let us hope the two nations leaders learn from their respective people. Read more about the poll here.
Visual Delight
Time for our visual delight before closing this window. I leave you with two beautiful painting of an Iranian woman artist Jamileh Vafakish. Have a great week,


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At the upcoming Club Industry 2005 Conference, a panel discussion titled "Demystifying the Accreditation Certification Controversy" will focus on the ins and outs of the accreditation certification issue. The following buzz words will be discussed, defined and clarified: education, certification, continuing education, accreditation and licensure.
The consensus that will eventually be reached will have a profound effect on not only the fitness industry, but also on the health care industry.
As opposed to waiting for this viable issue to be resolved, however, some of the nation's most progressive clubs have already taken the bull by the horns by recognizing the value of credible, accredited personal trainer certification options and creating business and financial models that have demonstrated the return on investment (ROI). I encourage each reader to consider our newest triad: accreditation, credibility and profitability.
Starting with its commitment to service excellence, comprehensive programming depth and professional accountability, while still keeping its eye on ROI, Equinox Fitness Clubs set the tone in the 1990s with the Equinox Fitness Training Institute (EFTI). Some of the potential financial benefits of accredited certifications include increased revenue per member, increased member revenue per square foot and increased nonmembership dues revenue. Other advantages include increased membership referrals from existing members, increased use rate of group exercise studios, reinforcement of the connection between the club and regular users, membership retention rates of 70 percent or higher and improved customer satisfaction and lowered service and support costs. Certification can also position the club to sell a value-added experience rather than just a cheap price.
Variations of these results have been achieved by several clubs who have revised their business models by acknowledging the accreditation and continuing education process for their fitness teams. These clubs include Gainesville Health & Fitness Center, Gainesville, FL; Saw Mill Athletic Clubs, Mt. Kisco, NY; Shula's Athletic Club, Miami Lakes, FL; Genesis Health & Fitness Clubs, Wichita, KS; and Brick Bodies Fitness Clubs, Baltimore.
Now you may ask yourself the following reality check question: how can these clubs realize the upside of the previously mentioned benefits by just hiring accredited personal trainers? The issue goes beyond personal training and should also focus on what clubs have done with the accreditation concept. Quite simply, accreditation has been used to drive our core business — membership.
Take for example the CLAY club in New York. It is launching its new continuing education program. Unlike some clubs who focus just on personal training, Robin Brown, CLAY owner and visionary, has opted to focus on her entire fitness team, group exercise and Pilates instructors and personal trainers. The CLAY goal is simple, but complex — developing programming synergy between the various departments so that the club can attract new members, retain existing members, grow fee-based service offerings, increase group ex studio utilization rates, increase gross and net income and energize each member's club experience.
Compare the CLAY approach with the following IHRSA observations. IHRSA has consistently found that clubs with "unacceptably high" attrition rates tend to have a weak customer relationship management program. This means that the club does not have a cost-effective, member-centric focus or plan. As an enticement to close the sale, these clubs tend to over-promise and under-deliver. Once a new member walks through the front door, no formal mechanism prevents him or her from leaving through the back door. If anything, the club tends to respond only after it receives the membership cancellation notification.
Our industry is in the business of making a credible ROI. We define the ROI by analyzing the financial benchmarks and key ratios. As you analyze your club's financial profile, you should consider the potential upside of incorporating this new triad into your organization. If you look at these buzz words (education, certification, continuing education, accreditation and licensure) in a vacuum, you will miss the broader upside picture — profitability.
Join me and the rest of the distinguished panel of speakers at the Club Industry show in Chicago this November as we discuss the implications of accreditation from both narrow and broad-stroke perspectives.
Bob Esquerre, MA, MES, NSCA-CPT, NASM-CPT, ACE-CPT is a fitness consultant and owner of the Esquerre Fitness Group. He is a Reebok Master Trainer with certifications as a medical exercise specialist from AAHP and personal training from NSCA.


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NEWS- Huja crushes: As Dems winnow their Council candidates
You can attend forums, you can blog, you can seek endorsements, but the Democratic candidates most likely to get on the November ballot for City Council were the ones who phoned it in.
And Satyendra Huja had the party faithful on speed dial.
On a beautiful June Saturday afternoon, more than 400 Democrats filed indoors to pick three candidates for City Council from a field of five. A couple of hours later, Mayor David Brown, Holly Edwards, and Huja emerged with their names destined for the November ballot.
"The big surprise was Huja bringing in more people than anyone else," says Brown.
In fact, first-time candidate Huja, who spent 31 years as city planner, pulled in more votes than incumbent Brown– 304 to Brown's 261. Edwards placed second with 279 votes.
"The advantage I had when I ran the first time, I had a lot of time to make phone calls," says Brown. This go-round, attending Council meetings cut down on his dialing time. The incumbency has another liability.
"Being on Council," Brown says, "you make decisions not everyone is going to like." (Meredith Richards learned that lesson the hard way when the incumbent councilor was ousted at the 2004 convention.)
Huja was pretty sure that incumbent Brown and Edwards, who is a parish nurse and Public Housing Association of Residents coordinator, would be nominated.
"I was surprised to be first all along," say Huja, 65. His strategy: "I kept on the phone every night. Everybody likes to talk to the candidates and to be asked for their vote."
The only one admitting surprise that Holly Edwards got the nomination is Holly Edwards. "I know the nomination depended on who showed up, and you have no way of determining that," she says. And of those who do come to the convention, "The bottom line, how they voted, is between them and that piece of paper."
Like Huja, Edwards, 42, is a first-timer. "I'm the new kid on the block," says Edwards. "For me it was a numbers game. The only person I knew was going to be a shoo-in was David Brown."
Longtime activist and former School Board chair Linda Seaman came in fourth with 188 votes, followed by newcomer Jennifer McKeever at 149 votes.
"I think we had five great candidates, and it's inevitable two people are not going to get the nomination," Seaman says.
"Maybe I'm more disappointed," she continues, "there will only be one woman on City Council. I heard throughout the campaign the great desire to have more women. Having one woman who also happens to be the only black– I don't think that's good for the city."
City Councilor Kevin Lynch's pre-convention endorsement of Brown, Edwards, and McKeever didn't seem to help McKeever.
"It proved there is no substitute for the personal connection and calling people," observes Lynch. "Huja did an admirable job."
Lynch expected Brown and Edwards to be nominated, but thought the votes would be closer between the other three candidates.
And while he's pleased 426 ballots were cast, "I was hoping this would be the year we'd break our old record of 650," he says.
Last-place candidate McKeever, whose early campaign start seemed to give her an edge in the race, thinks Lynch's endorsement "definitely injected a lot of energy into the campaign," she says. "It really is about the phone calls," she says.
As a resident of the north side of town, McKeever is pleased with her showing in Clark, Tonsler, and JPA– the city's southern precincts. "That was very gratifying," she says.
Like so many others, she thought Brown and Edwards would be nominated. "Huja was always the wild card," she says. "He was on the phones."
Some party insiders expect McKeever to run again. "This was a great initial toe-in-the-water thing," she says. And undeterred by her finish, the ardent blogger put up a post entitled, "When fifth place feels like first."
Except for 2002, when Rob Shilling stunned the populace with a rare Republican victory, officially nominated Democratic candidates typically cruise to victory, and so far, the Republicans haven't floated any sacrificial candidates. However, independent Peter Kleeman will be on the ballot.
Dems say competition is good, but those who showed up at Charlottesville High June 2 had to pledge that they won't support anyone who opposes a Democratic nominee.
Chief teller David RePass, who kept track of the voting, doesn't like the term "loyalty oath" and insists the pledge is mainly to keep out ringers. "Otherwise, anyone could come in– even Republicans," he says.
And Dems who decide to support Kleeman, who unsuccessfully sought a Democratic nomination in 2000, won't be kicked out of the party. "People may have changed their mind," says RePass. He explains that the pledge is merely indicative of their intentions "when they walk into the convention."
Satyendra Huja got the most votes of any of the Dems.
Mayor David Brown came in third in the June 2 Dem convention to nominate three City Council candidates.


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Beloved Middleborough teacher dies in crash
James Braga killed in crash on Route 44
A beloved former teacher and soccer coach at Middleborough High School has died in a weekend car crash in town.
Authorities say 61-year-old James Braga was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash Saturday night on Route 44.
Images: Crash kills teacher
Police say two vehicles were involved and the driver of the other vehicle was hurt. The other person's name was not made public.
Because the crash remains under investigation, police did not release additional details.
"My father was extremely privileged to live in this town and spent every day enjoying this community," said the victim's son, James Braga. "My father was not afraid of this moment, and I think what he would be most upset by is how upset this town is right now."
Family and friends say Braga was a Middleborough native and Vietnam-era Air Force veteran who was dedicated to the children of town. He taught business at the high school until retiring several years ago, and also coached boys' soccer.
He is survived by his wife and three sons.


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Saturday, April 4, 2009
Last Chance, Leslie!
Here are some better pictures of my giveaway pillows, now stuffed with the pillow forms ... but I still haven't heard from my giveaway winner, Leslie! Unfortunately, I think I am going to have to go to my backup pick. I'm giving Leslie through the end of the day to contact me. Tomorrow morning, I will announce the new winner.
This is a good reminder to everyone to take a moment to check your settings, and make sure you are aware if your account is set to "no-reply", and if your account is "private". If it is and that's the way you want it, that's cool ... but make sure you let somebody know how to get a hold of you, especially if you ask a blogger a question or enter a giveaway!
19 comments:
Boy she is going to really miss out on a great give away. Love the new blog look.ReplyDelete
I agree with Cathy, she is really going to miss out if she doesn't speak up.ReplyDelete
I noticed the new look also. very clean and attractive.
Those pillows are soooooo GREAT!!!! I hope she gets ahold of you so that she doesn't miss out!!!ReplyDelete
Too bad! She is definitely missing out! Your pillows are definitely keepers.ReplyDelete
oh no - silly Leslie, she's going to be gutted if she doesn't get in touch...but that gives the rest of us a second chance, right?ReplyDelete
it is a shame that Leslie is going to miss out on your giveaway. I will cross my fingers, as the pillows are gorgeous!ReplyDelete
She is definitely going to miss out! But I have to say I think some people have bad blogging etiquette. If you enter a giveaway you should at least check back with the blog to see if you have won. One of my previous giveawy winners even asked me which blog it was and what she had won as she had entered too many giveaways to remember.ReplyDelete
That will be a great loss for Leslie but a big win for someone else.ReplyDelete
You wouldn't consider a re-draw?ReplyDelete
Just trying to be PUSHY...
Hurry Leslie...you don't want to miss out on those beautiful pillows!ReplyDelete
hey, that really is too bad! but, i think you have been kind and given lots of time for a response. your nicer than i, with my giveaway, i had to do the pick a couple times since there was no info, and didn't even give them a chance like you.ReplyDelete
I kinda wish it wasn't an option, everyone should have their email in the profile . . . builds better community :)ReplyDelete
Hope Leslie pipes up soon!
I feel bad for Leslie, but one's loss is another's gain. I hope she gets in touch with you...If not, I'm sure she'll be making some changes on her dashboard when she finds out what she missed.ReplyDelete
I hope I'm the back-up.ReplyDelete
These are really gorgeous.
Andi :-)
oh bummer!ReplyDelete
no one knows leslie!!
wow. I hope she contacts you!
adorable pillows!ReplyDelete
oh well lets hope the next person that will win them will answer you right away!
- AnonymousApril 4, 2009 at 8:36 PM
Ut oh.. to bad, great Easter / Spring pillows too.ReplyDelete
My name is Lydia...is that close enough to Leslie? HAHA! I would take those in a heartbeat. BEAUTIFUL!ReplyDelete
How sad if she missed out. I love those pillows..Found your blog through, Olivia and ME.ReplyDelete


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Google "Ram Zerimar" and you'll find an assortment of fan art, pictures of his own home-made suit of Mandalorian Armor, and several book covers featuring our very own Boba Fett. What do we know about Ram Zerimar? The story goes that he is actually sniper in the U.S. Military named Ray Ramirez, and that through some turn of events ended up working with Karen Traviss. But who is he really? Through a chance of fate I discovered that he was still active on the Mandalorian Mercs forums while he is stationed in Afghanistan!
Ray, I must admit I'm a huge fan, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me!
You're welcome! Thank you for having me.
How and when did you initially become a fan of Boba Fett and are you a member of the BFFC site?
I've been a member of the BFFC for a few years now! I became a Boba Fett fan from the moment I saw him on screen. My uncles were all soldiers in the U.S. Army so it was a big influence. Boba Fett just jumped out at me because he wore OD green armor that looked like it had seen a lot of rough days. It had history but mainly, he just looked bad and was the part. He was like the G.I. Joe of Star Wars. It was an arguement on a playground in the third grade about who was going to pretend to be Boba Fett and who was going to be Chewie that made me realize I was already a die-hard Fett fan. It escalated into a fist fight and when it was said and done, I got to be Boba for the rest of recess. I know it sounds extreme now, all these years later, but I was a Mando at heart even then, and there was no way I was going to be a stinking Wookiee. I was swallowed by the detention sarlacc, but I made it out just fine. I also remember trading a Luke, Han, and Yoda for a Boba Fett figure that year. I still have it to this day.
That's awesome! So then the next question would be how you came about creating your alter ego: Ram Zerimar. Who is he and what made you want to create a suit of custom Mandalorian armor for him?
When I was stationed at Fort Drum in 1998, I was a member of the 4/31 Infantry scout sniper section. Our net code names were just our last names backwards and our last 4. That's where the Zerimar can from. When you serve in the military, your last name becomes your first name and everyone called me Ram. No one outside the Army ever called me Ram. Sometime around then the X-Wing Alliance game was out for PC and I signed in as Ram Zerimar. I've used the name for everything Star Wars. When I was younger I always said if I had a character in Star Wars it would be a super commando. Even though not much was known about them then they always fascinated me because I was into everything soldier. The few chances I had to role play, Ram Zerimar was my Mandalorian name. There is something about an exceptionally skilled soldier that everyone loves. I'm not immune to it either. I decided to build a set of armor after coming home from Iraq. I had missed every Star wars celebration to date and I swore that if I survived Iraq, Id go to the very next one. I never expected it to be so well received let alone become a canon character.
That is really the cool part. That's every fan's dream isn't it? How is it to become a canon part of the Star Wars universe?
I'm STILL not over it. I don't think I will ever be over it. It never gets old. It really hit me when I actually heard Boba Fett interact with Ram in Zaria's Bar in the audio book version of Bloodlines. It still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Here is my childhood Star Wars hero talking to my personal Star Wars alter ego as one of his 100 supercommandos. their best shooter at that. As a fan I couldn't imagine it be any better. Seeing other people enjoy what I did with the armor is also very very awesome. Seeing fan art is always such a compliment. Its really hard not to smile ear to ear when it happens. Not so long ago on the Mandalorian Mercs forums I saw a custom Ram Zerimar action figure. it made my whole month. Here in Afghanistan there isn't much to be happy about with guys dying all over the country. It was really awesome to see that, mainly because I never thought I would. I never had plans to make something like that.
Tell us what you can about your relationship and history with Karen Traviss. How did you originally meet her and become involved with her work on Mandalorian language, culture, and technology? To what degree are you still involved?
This is a long one. Well, I was deployed to Iraq in 2004 and the Republic Commando game was still in development. I'd try to keep up with news about the game every so often because it sounded like something really different and I was looking forward to seeing what kind of military detail was going to be in the game play. I found out that Lucas Books was having a tie in novel written for around the release time, and it was called "Hard Contact" and was going to be written by Karen Traviss, it would focus on the special operations aspect of the conflict between the Separatists and the Republic. I remember thinking to myself "How on earth is this woman going to know anything about Special Ops Troopers and make it sound convincing". I ordered the book anyway but didn't get to read it until I got home in January of 2005. WOW, was I wrong. It was not only the best soldier story I'd read in a long time, it was the best Star Wars story I'd read in a long time. I'd say I've read about 90+ % of the SW novels that have come out since Timothy Zhan started it all with the "Heir of The Empire" series, and this one really stuck with me long after I had read it mainly because I had just spent a year in combat on a 4-man sniper team, and the RC's operated in 4 man teams and I could directly relate to some of the events in the book through personal combat experience. Then a few months later, I received an Insider Magazine and I saw on the cover that there was a short Republic Commando Omega Squad story written by Karen Traviss. I got really happy and went straight to the story. Again I was thoroughly impressed with the level of detail in tactics and realism she brought to the Star Wars universe. She also introduced Kal Skirata, and you know as well as I do that any Mando fan loves Kal'buir. After reading those stories, I was left feeling appreciated. I remember thinking, "This woman really took the time and invested the energy to find the little details about what soldiers do, and she worked hard to get it right. It shone through in her writing and I felt like I had to say thank you for that. She knew what it was REALLY like.
I decided to write a letter to the Star Wars Insider Magazine and I asked them to thank her for me for taking the time to get things right, and for bringing the realism that the Star Wars universe needed when it came to dealing with soldiers. I was surprised to see they printed my letter in the next issue of the Insider. It was the first time I had ever written to any publication of any kind, and there was my letter. They had passed on my thanks. A week or so later I got an email from the Star Wars fan club saying that Karen was trying to contact me. For some reason I wasn't getting her email traffic but she sent me a letter in the regular mail, and then her email situation got ironed out and we were able to correspond through email. We've been really good friends ever since, and she has really been a source of support and guidance for me over the last few years.
After a month or so of talking Star Wars and military life, and everything else, she told me she was working on the sequel to Hard Contact, called Triple Zero, and she asked me to read through the book and to give my opinion on the sniper scenes. That's when we talked about the ballistics and tactics and kit, and the Verp sniper rifle was born. I added my two cents and she went with it. She asked if I could be a beta tester for Mando'a when she was developing it. When she sent me the list it was only a couple hundred words long. You could have a conversation with it to a degree but it lacked a lot of the military words. I just helped to fill in a few tiny gaps. I [have] helped a few times here and there since then. My expertise is at her disposal.
That is incredible! Since your name was featured in her books, do you feel you have reached a certain level of celebrity amongst the Star Wars fan community, specifically costumers?
No, not really. I don't think celebrity is the right word. I certainly don't feel like one. I know quite a few people recognize the armor. They have an appreciation for the work I put into it and I'm glad for that. I've heard a lot of people find the Ram Zerimar armor inspirational and has made some people decide to build a set for themselves as well. I think that's great because I'm just returning the favor to the costumers that inspired me to do the same.
I'm just glad to have been and continue to be a positive part of whats going on, on "Mandalore". I've met some really awesome people because of whats happened in the last few years. I feel privileged to have contributed, and to know that people are taking positive things from the Mando culture even if it is representing a population of hardened killers. They can still be the nicest killers you'll ever meet. I'm happy that Ram is a character that doesn't get hated on. There are tons of haters out there, but my fellow Mando'ade have been nothing but respectful and appreciative. I'm grateful for that.
Do you ever get recognized in public by fellow fans or costumers? Ever sign an autograph or photo?
No, not really. I look different every few months. That's just habit, besides, the only con I ever went to was Celebration 4. I think I might have signed a little kid's Jango bucket as Ram once or twice. It was a ton of fun.
Why do you think a character like Boba Fett has so many fans? If you think about it, this one man with less than 5 minutes of screen time has now spawned an entire culture. It's absolutely astounding to think of just how huge this culture has grown in a few short years.
Boba brought with him a ton of flavor to the screen. Mystery and mystique are powerful character multipliers. Unlike a lot of other Star wars characters, Boba Fett told countless stories by just standing there looking hardcore. His armor tells stories, as well as makes you ask questions. The galaxy is a huge place, and his armor pretty much says "I've been around the block a few times, been there, done that, and I don't care who you are I'll take you out. Done it once, I'll do it again!". Not many can pull that off by just standing there. He struck fear into everyone around him and he worked for the top dogs. The heroes were afraid. Han was crapping his Corellian pants right before he got lucky and sent Fett flying. I think a lot has to do with the cool factor of his helmet and armor, but there is a heck of a lot more to Fett than that.
True that! So what is your favorite Fett moment from the movies, and favorite Fett moment from the EU?
I have a few favorite Fett moments from the films. The first being when he tailed Han after the Star Destroyer dumped its trash before jumping to light speed. I remember thinking "Wow, this guy is a pro!", he wasn't fooled, he was just as cunning as Han and he had experience. I really liked the scene in Return of the Jedi when Leia/Boush pulled the thermal and Fett whipped a lightning fast draw (even if the RF stalk was on the wrong side) it showed how fast and lethal he could be from a dead calm. This guys was all business. It was really cool to see him use his jet-pack for the first time too. It was like he was the ultimate soldier, and that was back then before even the mention of Mandalorians. My all time favorite EU moment was in Dark Empire when they made it official that he was back in business. I remember thinking there must be a catch to this, or this guy must be an impostor. But it was legit, and the man was back. I was really happy about that because all those years I refused to believe he was killed off. The guy was just too hard core, too crafty, too experienced to be done for. After that, i've been looking forward to all of Fett's new adventures. I havent been let down yet.
I remember when those comics came out too, HUGE relief! That was back around the time this site got started up. What is, in your opinion, something that we can take away from Boba Fett and his Mandalorians that we can apply in our own, everyday lives?
If there is anything that anyone can take from Boba Fett's character its this: NEVER, EVER QUIT. A quiter would have never made it out of a sarlacc. A quiter would have never made it through his childhood. The man is a machine and he makes the world around him bend to his will, not the other way around. No matter how bad things might get, one thing is for certain He wont quit. Mandalorians as a whole have a lot to offer in the way of positive traits that we can borrow from. Like equality between race and gender, loyalty, and strong family ties. But its also important to remember that it is a partial representation of a fictional warrior culture of a people predisposed to extreme violence, made for entertainment. We can find positives in there but we can't fool ourselves into thinking it's all good and dandy.
When you're not fighting for our country overseas, do you have a favorite Star Wars video game you have played if so what is it and why do you enjoy it?
If I had to pick one favorite game it would have to be X-Wing Alliance. I really loved that game. I liked the story, and even though the ship models were a little funky, I felt the game-play was pretty immersive. And you could fly a Firespray in it. Very cool. Republic Commando is a close second. And I really thought Bounty Hunter had some potential to be a shebs kicker. It was awesome to play as Jango and the cut-scenes were pretty cool, but the play felt rushed. I really would like to see a second try at it with Boba as the main character in a huge, multi-world, open ended Star Wars scum and villainy fest.
A sequel of Star Wars: Bounty Hunter featuring Boba Fett? Sounds like gold to me! Maybe someone reading will take note. Speaking of sequels, there is another post-"Legacy of the Force" series of books in the works also that could possibly feature the Mandalorians and at least one stand-alone Mando book to be written by Karen Traviss. Where do you hope to see the books and culture progress to in the near future?
I just hope that they don't fade into the background where they have been for years until recently. I'll always look forward to reading Karen Traviss' work. It's sure to be stuffed with gritty soldiering. She will no doubt treat them with the respect and attention to detail they deserve. I' will always like to hear about what they Mandos are up to but not at the expense of there integrity as competent elite soldiers. Not that some of the other writer are bad, their writing style and stories have broadened the Star Wars universe, but its hard to write about what you don't know about. In my opinion some writers just don't fully understand soldiering, or have a realistic concept of combat or its flow, as well as combat tactics. Tactics are what really kill it for me when I read characters that are supposed to be awesome soldiers making very fundamental basic mistakes. I just cant buy into that. As long as Mandalorians are portrayed as highly professional experienced guns for higher that are more than just guys and gals that wear cool armor, I'm cool with that.
I've had the pleasure of meeting Jeremy Bulloch and he is absolutely the nicest man in the world with his fans. Have you ever had the chance to meet him, Daniel Logan or Temuera Morrison?
While at C4, I got to meet both Tem Morrison and Jeremy Bulloch. They both signed my helmet and they both really liked the armor. Mr. Morrison actually said it was the best Mando he'd seen to date and he also said he would have liked to have had a similar paint job. It was really cool of him to say so. I didn't get to meet Daniel Logan, though I did see him walking through a crowd.
Do you plan on attending events as Ram Zerimar in the future or have you retired the costume and character?
I'm currently deployed in the Middle East. It's a good chance I'll be working out here in the outer rim for a while. I'm not sure if I'll be making it to any [conventions] but I'd like to. It was a fun experience and I met some of the nicest people I [have] ever met in my life. (Much Love to the Dune Sea brothers and sisters!!!) The armor that made it out to C4 is pretty much retired, but I am working on a new set that will have much of the same flavor as the first. I'll show up as Ram again one day, but I'm trying to do my part in the war thats going on now as well as "make my way in the universe" as Jango would say. People seem to like the character even if he's had just a small part so i'll keep him around for a while.
Ray, on behalf of Aaron and the rest of The Boba Fett Fan Club staff, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me. I just wanted to tell you that you are living the dream every Fett-fan has had in getting to fight alongside our anti-hero. Your contributions to not only the Mandalorian culture, but to this country we call home can never be repayed. When I think of of my Mandalorian Heros, the last name Zerimar sits right up there with Fett sir. Oya!
It's been a pleasure and an honor. Thank you guys for putting together a great site for people to catch up on their favorite bounty hunter. Take it easy and stay safe. The universe is a dangerous place no matter where you are. - Ray


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TOGAF, The Open Group Architecture Framework, is a detailed method and a set of supporting tools for developing enterprise architecture. It describes the process for acceptance, production, use and maintenance of enterprise architectures. TOGAF is used worldwide by numerous architects to design, evaluate, and build the right architecture for their organization. TOGAF is an open standard, managed by The Open Group. According to TOGAF, enterprise architecture (EA) is "the fundamental organization of a system, embodied in its components, their relations between each other and the environment, and the guidelines and principles that govern the design". TOGAF assists in the integration and management of IT resources from a strategy and business driven point of view. During this workshop, TOGAF 9 is employed to explain the basic elements of enterprise architecture and to show how this framework can be used when documenting enterprise architecture.
This course is meant for those that wish to gain a firm knowledge of TOGAF 9, or for those that wish to apply TOGAF 9 to their daily work activities. It is well suited for those that wish to be TOGAF 9 certified. It is of interest to business-, enterprise- and IT-architects, as well as consultants. This course is a preparation for the TOGAF level 1 multiple-choice exam at one of the Prometric test centers. Please refer to the website of The Open Group for more information on TOGAF certification.
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TOGAF has become a de facto standard in enterprise architecture and the demand for TOGAF expertise has risen in recent years, which translates into a rising demand for TOGAF certification. Participants of this workshop get an overview of the TOGAF 9 concepts and techniques and are better prepared to participate in, and work with enterprise architecture projects which use TOGAF as an enterprise architecture process. As a result, the chances of success of an enterprise architecture program increase, better deliverables are obtained, better support of IT-resource planning and decision support is achieved and better communication is created with the stakeholders of the enterprise architecture program. Simply put, it increases the added value of enterprise architecture !
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It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
If someone could pm me a GP it would be awsome, I'll resend another GP after I get my game tomorow around 12ish
I too would give anything for a European Region Guest pass. My amazon order has been delayed and wont be here until the end of the week. Been waiting so long for this game.
In return i am more than happy to return the guest pass and/or help in game.
Please PM me if you are able to help me.
Thank you in advance.
PS - please make sure to update/remove your posts once someone helps you out to allow everyone the chance of getting one.
I would love a guest pass if someone could please PM me one.
I will also send one once I get the game.
No longer needed, I got one elsewhere.
I would love to get one as well if possible.
need GP
i will send mine when got enough money to buy
My CE won't arrive until tomorrow after work, 5 ish, but I will have at least 1 GP. Will edit when I get it. Do DE's get guess passes?
Would like a Guest pass aswell
Where is the.. GP options ? As I can't see it when I visit my D3 account!
Reporter: What's behind Blizzard success, and how do you make your gamers happy?
Blizzard Boss: Making gamers happy is not my concern, making money.. yes!
I wouldn't mind trying the game out.If anyone wants me to do so pm me a GP.
I would love a guest pass please. My retail order hasn't arrived yet, hopefully tomorrow.
If anyone lets me have a spare one I will give them the one I get when I get my box. Thanks!
I'll edit this post if I get one.
Originally posted by IceAge
Where is the.. GP options ? As I can't see it when I visit my D3 account!
Are there any restrictions on who can use Global Play?
At the launch of Diablo III, Korean players who log in to the game at an IGR (and are not playing using a full Diablo III license they purchased themselves) will only be able to play in the Asia game region. In addition, players who are using a Diablo III "guest pass" (available after Diablo III launches) will only be able to play in the game region in which they redeemed the guest pass.
Never mind! I got the answer So , I think we should see the GP option in our game account page , after 0:00 , when the game launches ( Europe only ) .
If I am not limited to 1-2 GP keys to send, I will drop a few-several keys here
PS: Also the limits for Guest Pass or Starter Edition ( this is not available until 30 days after the game has launched )
Players on Starter Edition game licenses have the following restrictions:
Act I up to the Skeleton King is available
Level 13 cap
Matchmaking available only with other Starter Edition players
No Real Money Auction House access
So just like the beta it seems
Reporter: What's behind Blizzard success, and how do you make your gamers happy?
Blizzard Boss: Making gamers happy is not my concern, making money.. yes!
I missed playing the beta, and im thinking about purchasing the game. If anyone could please spare a Guest Pass that would be great! Thanks
I haven't tried out the beta, but very interested in the game after seeing serveral youtube video's. If anyone has a spare guess pass, wold apperciate one.
edit: Got a GP key. I love the TES community!!
If anyone has a spare, I'd much appreciate a guest pass
MMO's played: Ragnarok Online (For years), WoW (for a few weeks only), Guild Wars, Lineage 2, Eve, Allods, Shattered Galaxy, 9 Dragons, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Star Trek Online (Got someone ELSE to pay for it), Champions Online (Someone else paid), Dofus, Dragonica, LOTRO, DDO and more... A LOT more. I've played good AND bad. The bad didn't last long. :P
Would also love a Guest Pass, thanks
Id like a guest pass too. Send me ap m
Hey, if you need a buddy for your Guest Pass --> firstname.lastname@example.com
Before anyone give a guest pass to any of these bum check out their pos history. I bet some of them where the same mocking D3 on other thread.
Would really like a guest pass for EU region, pm me for email, thank you in advance
Would die for a guest pass! My email is : email@example.com


text:
I am having a very strange issue. I have a datagrid which is binding to an observable collection of type Person The selected item is bind to an Object Person. I have 2 textboxes firstname and lastname. When ever user selects an item from grid, the textbox values gets populated. user can edit the values and click submit button, values gets updated.
Source to Target works correctly - i.e. able to display from viewModel When I update the values gets updated.
Lets say user selected an item with firstname john, lastname smith The problem is user edits the firstname to johnny and he doesn't click submit button instead he selects a different item from datagrid, so when I go back to the original selected item. In the grid the selected item is shown as John smith, but in the textbox the value is shown as Johnny smith.
How to solve this problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated.


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The Lightning All-Time All-Dog Team
The nominations are in and the list has been carefully whittled down to 21: The Bolt Prospects Lightning All-Time All-Dog team, a celebration of the very worst of the Lightning's first 14 years in the league. The rules were simple: no player whose rights are currently held by the Lightning could make the list (no need to poison present day morale) and only players with 10 or more games in a Lightning jersey could carry home the coveted silver dog dish. The competition was fierce, but in the end, the liquidy nasty stuff sank to the bottom.
Image Courtesy haggul.com
So without further adieu, the Bolt Prospects Lightning All-Time All-Dog Team, sponsored by former Chicago Blackhawks coach Alpo Suhonen and, of course, Michael Vick.
The Worst Line. Ever.
LW Gordie Dwyer/C Dan Kesa/RW Reid Simpson
When the biggest claim to fame of your career is that you got suspended a bunch of games for leaving the penalty box, you can probably expect to make the All-Dog Team. Such is the fate of Gordie Dwyer who, after he left the Lightning, had brief stops with the Rangers and Canadiens. At present, Dwyer is out of hockey.
But, the title of Worst Forward in Lightning History clearly goes to Dan Kesa who after spending three seasons with Detroit of the IHL was promoted to the NHL with the Lightning under GM Rick Dudley and Head Coach Steve Ludzik's "Give a minor league cronie a chance to make a fool of himself in the NHL." program. After leaving the Lightning, Kesa never played another NHL game and two years afterwards he was playing for Omsk in the Russia Superleague. It's a shame a polar bear didn't eat him. Like Dwyer, Kesa is also out of hockey.Â
On right wing on this line, Reid Simpson, who was acquired in the deal with Chicago for Michael Nylander. Simpson played 26 games with the Lightning which as its highlight included his jaw being broken in a fight. After short stints with St. Louis, Nashville, Montreal and Pittsburgh, and with the Rockford Ice Hogs of the UHL, Simpson has spent the past two seasons with Podolsk in the Russian Superleague. Last season he beat out Lightning property Evgeny Artyukhin for the league PIM title, which we think is a bit like being the toughest member in a Girl Scout Troop.
The Second Worst Line. Ever.
LW Andrei Nazarov/C Bill McDougall/RW Zdeno Ciger
The great tragedy of Andrei Nazarov's career is that for all his efforts he still finished second to Krzysztof Oliwa for most penalty minutes ever accrued by a European. Nazarov, who was acquired in the Bryan Marchment deal from San Jose, saw the high water of his NHL career come in a brawl filled tilt against the Flyers in 1998-1999 which spilled into the parking lot after the game when Flyers captain Eric Lindros threatened Nazarov and his wife on the way to his car. Nazarov had a long NHL run with Calgary, Anaheim, Boston, Phoenix and Minnesota before finally hanging them up, "them" of course being his fists because he did precious little with his skates or stick. Nazarov is out of hockey.
Here's one for the old school: center Bill McDougall, who after two fantastic seasons with Adirondack of the AHL and two short cups of coffee with Edmonton and Detroit came to Lightning camp and fooled Phil Esposito into giving him a contract in 1993-94. 22 games and just 3 goals later his NHL career was over. McDougall spent the rest of his hockey life in Italy, Switzerland and Germany before landing in the OHA Sr. A League with the Dundas Real McCoys. Beer anyone? McDougall is out of hockey.
On right wing? The incomparable (in a bad way) Zdeno Ciger, who after being presented with a golden opportunity to play with Vincent Lecavalier took 27 games to decide he was allergic to playing hockey with the Lightning. After a bizarre claim of a phantom ilness, Ciger returned to Slovakia to play three seasons for club team Bratislava. Mercifully, Ciger is out of hockey.
The All High Busted Draft Picks Line
LW Nikita Alexeev/C Jason Bonsignore/RW Alexandre Daigle
Nikita Alexeev, who was selected 9th overall in the 2000 Entry Draft and who GM Rick Dudley truly believed was the best player in that draft, played parts of three seasons with the Lightning amassing a mighty haul of 18 goals and 35 points in 144 games before being dumped to the Chicago Blackhawks for fourth liner Karl Stewart. He was big. He was fast. He was soft as warm butter and had no hands. Now a UFA, it's hard to believe NHL teams haven't been beating down Alexeev's door.
At center, the long flowing locks of Jason Bonsignore who is considered one of the bigger busts of recent NHL history. Acquired in the Roman Hamrlik deal from Edmonton, Bonsignore played 58 games for Tampa Bay scoring just 2 goals in a Lightning jersey. After leaving the Lightning, he never played another NHL game splitting time between the AHL, the Swiss League, parts of two seasons in the ECHL and one year in Finland. Bonsignore is out of hockey.
On right wing? Alexandre Daigle who played 32 games in a Lightning jersey and scored 6 goals and 12 points. It's not that Daigle was exceptionally terrible for Tampa Bay, but c'mon, it's Alexandre Daigle. After leaving Tampa, Daigle played one year with the Rangers before quitting hockey for two seasons to pursue a failed career in Hollywood as an actor/producer. He resurfaced in Pittsburgh and Minnesota before spending last year with Davos in the Swiss league.
The All-PR Hype Line
LW Jimmie Olvestad/C Ryan Johnson/RW Matt Elich
Remember when former Lightning GM Rick Dudley was calling Swedish left winger Jimmie Olvestad the second coming of Magnus Arvedsson? Remember when the Lightning were playing Olvestad on Vincent Lecavalier's wing? Remember how he made Mikael Andersson look like Clark Gillies? Yeah, we do too. Olvestad scored just 3 goals in 111 games over two seasons with the Lightning before he was exhiled to the AHL and later returned to Sweden to play for Djurgardens where he continues to play hockey to this day.
At center on the all-hype line is another Rick Dudley five star All-PR Hype gem: Ryan Johnson. Acquired from the Panthers for Mike Sillinger, Johnson was lauded as a psuedo Mike Peca with hitting and faceoff skills that were the class of the league. Unfortunately the paper thin Johnson usually bounced off his opponents, had little to no balance and wasn't a terribly good faceoff man either. He had 7 goals in 94 games with the Lightning before being dealt back to the Panthers. He's spent the past 3+ seasons with the St. Louis Blues but has never surpassed the 7 goal, 21 point season he had in Tampa Bay in 2000-2001. What does it say for a player when his career season still lands him on this list?
On right wing, possibly the mother of all overhyped young Lightning players: Matt Elich. One six point game in a training camp scrimmage and Elich was exalted by local talk radio as the Lightning's version of Daniel Alfredsson. Elich's straight line speed was undeniable, but he had a peculiar habit of tripping over the red line and his poor balance coupled with his poor hands made him a poor excuse for an NHLer. Elich scored 1 goal in 16 NHL games before washing out of the league. After leaving the Lightning organization Elich spent parts of four seasons in the ECHL and UHL before playing 4 games last season in Austria.
"My Grandma Could Beat That Guy Up"
RW Mick Vukota
Although Reid Simpson got his jaw broken what seems like seconds after being acquired by the Lightning, he actually wasn't even close to the worst "enforcer" in Lightning history. That title belongs to Waiver Draft pickup Mick Vukota, who probably couldn't have even beaten up Abe Vigoda. Long before the HBO show Entourage made "hug it up" a national catch phrase, Vukota was wrapping his loving arms around opponents and holding on for dear life, occassionally throwing in a failed attempt at the old Arn Andersen spinebuster for effect. Vukota missed his calling. Any man who likes to hug that much could've easily given Richard Simmons a run for his money in the self improvement guru sector.
The Worst Defensive Pairing Ever Conceived in Any Universe and in Any Dimension
D Ian Herbers/D Eric Charron
After playing parts of six seasons for the Detroit Vipers of the IHL, Ian Herbers enjoyed the same cronie callup from Rick Dudley that Dan Kesa received in the infamous season of 1999-2000. How bad was Ian Herbers? He was one of only two defensemen I ever saw in a Lightning jersey who made me want to gouge my eyes out rather than have to witness him pretending to be an NHLer. It's no coincidence he was in the British league two seasons after leaving Tampa Bay. Good thing too: they don't have a death penalty over there, and the way he played was definitely criminal. He's now the coach of the Johnstown Chiefs in the ECHL. He couldn't have outskated anyone in that league either.
The other defenseman who made me want to gogue my eyes out? Eric Charron. Charron scored 1 goal and 5 points over parts of 3 seasons with the Lightning and amazed crowds at the Thunderdome with his unwavering ability to lose races to loose pucks and turn the puck over with poor decision making on the odd occassion it actually did end up on his stick. Charron bounced around the Caps and Flames organization after his days in Tampa before doing a grand European tour of the German, British and Russian leagues. Now 37 years old, Charron has spent the last three years in the LNAH, a Quebec senior league known more for its bench clearers than anything else.
The Second Worst Pairing. Ever.
D Mathieu Biron/D Kaspars Astashenko
Mathieu Biron didn't make me want to gouge my eyes out. Mathieu Biron made me want to gogue Rick Dudley's eyes out for trading veteran defenseman Adrian Aucoin to get him. Like Elich, Biron had good straight line speed but also exhibited all the balance of Jason Wiemer after a late night bender at The Hideaway. Biron played just one year in Tampa going scoreless in 36 games. The following summer he was taken off waivers by the Florida Panthers. Aucoin? He went on to have three straight 30+ point seasons with the Islanders. Great deal Duds! Biron played parts of two seasons for the Panthers before moving on to the Caps organization. He's spent the last two seasons with Worcester and Hamilton of the AHL.
Was there ever a more meteoric rise and fall than that of 1999 5th round pick Kaspars Astashenko? The Latvian born defenseman split time between Detroit and Long Beach of the IHL in 1999-2000 before being promoted to Tampa for 8 games late in that year in his rookie pro season. How good was Astashenko? So good he was converted to forward the following season. After 23 games in a Lightning jersey Astashenko's career in the NHL was over. He played two more seasons in the AHL followed by two more in Finland before returning home to Latvia. The man, the myth, the legend: Kaspars Astashenko.
A Highly Hyped, Really Bad Pairing
D David Wilkie/D Bryan Muir
Acquired from Montreal in the deal that also brought Darcy Tucker and Stephane Richer, David Wilkie came to the Lightning promoted as an offensive defenseman who was a sure fire NHL power play quarterback. Unfortunately, to be a power play quarterback in the NHL one has to have the ability to skate and Wilkie had none. Slow of foot and woeful in his own end of the rink, Wilkie scored 2 goals and 14 points in 75 games over two seasons. After playing his final game in Tampa, Wilkie played just 1 more game in his NHL career with the Rangers before moving on to the Augusta Lynx of the ECHL the following season. In 2002-2003 Wilkie became an assistant coach and later interim coach of the Lynx. He went 24-32-6 and missed the playoffs and his coaching career ended as abruptly as his Lightning career did.
One of these days someone is going to explain to me how Bryan Muir keeps getting NHL gigs. Acquired by Dudley as the other half of the Michael Nylander deal, Muir's primary attraction was the 100 mph slap shot he allegedly possessed. I say allegedly because Muir's shot was sighted about as often as the Sasquatch and hardly compensated for mediocre defensive play and timid physical play. After Tampa, Muir latched on in the Avalanche organization for three seasons before a short stint with the Kings. He's spent the last two seasons in the Caps organization. And Nylander? He's had 50 or more points in 6 of the last 7 seasons including 26 goals and 83 points last year for the Rangers. But Muir and Simpson were well worth it, weren't they Lightning fans?
The Worst Goalies Ever to Put on Pads
G Rich Parent
It's hard to say whether 1998-1999 or 1999-2000 was the precise nadir of the Tampa Bay Lightning franchise, but one thing is clear: '99-'00 had its highest share of dogs. That year the Lightning had six different players appear in net, and none was worse than journeyman minor leaguer Rich Parent. Take a fish out of water and it flops around wildly. Put Rich Parent onto frozen water and he flops around wildly too. Parent went 2-7-1 in 14 appearances for the Lightning with a 3.70 GAA and .878 save percentage. Parent appeared in 7 more NHL games the following year with Pittsburgh before heading overseas to Germany for parts of five seasons. Parent was out of hockey last season, thankfully.
G Dieter Kochan
As truly horrific as Parent's statistics were in 1999-2000, Dieter Kochan's were actually worse. It should be noted, however, Kochan at least has an excuse for his poor performance. After playing 43 games with the BC Icemen of the UHL that year Rick Dudley had the genius idea to throw a rookie from A level minor league hockey against a perennially elite (at the time) Dallas Stars team. Oops. That year Kochan went 1-4-0 with a 4.29 GAA and .847 save percentage. Over parts of three seasons with the Lightning, Kochan went 1-10-1 with a GAA that hovered just below 4. After leaving the Lightning organization Kochan played just one more NHL game for the Minnesota Wild. He was shelled allowing 5 goals in a loss. The rest of Kochans days have been split between Bridgeport and Houston of the AHL with a brief stint with Novosibirsk of the Russian league sprinkled in. He went 6-14-1 last year for the Aeros in the "A".
So what have we learned today?
1.) It speaks volumes about the shameful history of goaltending in Tampa that other dogs like JC Bergeron, Mark Fitzpatrick, Bill Ranford and John Grahame actually escaped making this list. It would not be a stretch to say the Lightning have had the worst goaltending in the NHL, overall, over the last 14 years.
2.) Rick Dudley shouldn't be the General Manager of an Applebees, let alone an NHL franchise. Seriously, any man who brings a UHLer up to play his first NHL game against one of the best teams in the NHL and charges people money to watch it has no place overseeing the delivery of my riblets.
3.) Most underappreciated arm of the Lightning operation: public relations. PR spinmeisters like Jay Preble and Bill Wickett actually Jedi mind tricked a healthy number of Lightning fans into believing stiffs like Mathieu Biron were going to be good NHL players. That's not just skill folks, that's a gift.
So, there you have it: The Lightning All-Time All-Hype team. Any dogs you think should've made the list? Let us know in comments.
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Welcome back! I hope you enjoyed your Memorial Day weekend. Here are a few updates on previously reported stories to ease you back into the work week.
Winnemem Wintu War Dance: This past weekend, as I reported here previously, the Winnemem Wintu tribe blocked off a 400-yard stretch of the McCloud River, an area central to their coming of age ceremonies. The reason for the blockade is due to the Forest Service's ongoing refusal to grant mandatory closures for these ceremonies, resulting in teenage girls being heckled and abused by boating tourists. The direct action happened peacefully, with the Forest Service only requesting that their banner be taken down.
"I arrived at the ceremony just as the banner was being strung up on a cable over the river. Members of the Winnemem, Karuk, Yurok, Hoopa Valley, Pit River, Miwok and other Tribes and activists from Earth First!, Klamath Justice Coalition, Klamath Riverkeeper, Occupy Oakland and the American Indian Movement worked together to erect the banner and to keep boaters from going up the river. […] After the closure banner had been in place for over an hour, U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Coast Guard officials demanded that the banner be taken down. To avoid arrests, the Tribal members and activists complied with the request; this was a "practice run" for the upcoming Coming of Age ceremony."
Not everything was peaceful, however. On Sunday, after most supporters had left, and the blockade taken down, several boaters buzzed through the waters in a show of defiance. Aware that they were being taped, one can be heard on camera advising his friends to not "flip them off." Another made the sign of the cross at them, a move that some tribe members saw as an act of hostility. Video coverage of the entire weekend can be found, here. This war dance was a "practice run" for the tribe's coming of age ceremony, where it seems defenders will risk arrest to ensure the ceremony is undisturbed. I'll post future updates as I receive them.
U.S. Religion Census and the Least Religious Places: At the beginning of May I noted the release of the 2010 U.S. Religion Census by the Association of Religion Data Archives. At the time I noted that the data showed the growth of non-Christian denominations and houses of worship with "Buddhist congregations were reported in all 50 states, and Hindu houses of worship in 49 states." Another data-set that has folks talking is the ongoing drop in church attendance in the United States, and that some states, Maine in particular, less than 30% of residents belong to a church or religious organization.
"Maine has fewer residents who claim a religious affiliation than any other state in the union. The Pine Tree State is the only one in the country in which less than 30 percent of the population belong to a religious denomination or independent Christian church, according to a census conducted every 10 years by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies. This follows a Pew study that found 40 percent of Mainers pray daily — the lowest percentage in the nation. "What's alarming about those numbers is that more than 300 years after the country was founded by people seeking religious freedom, the large numbers of nonaffiliated folks out here is just the norm," the Rev. Steve Lewis, academic dean of Bangor Theological Seminary, said earlier this month."
I happen to live in the second-least Christian state, Oregon, which hovers right around 30%. Much has been written about the lack of formal, congregational, religion in Cascadia, and of the rise of the "nones"in general, with little in the way of a decisive consensus on what these trends ultimately mean for religion in America. The question I have is why, when there are now several American states where formal Christian adherence is in the minority, do we still insist on the fiction of "Christian America" or even "Judeo-Christian America." Where are the "spiritual but not religious" politicians who do away with a Christian identity entirely? Shouldn't states like Oregon and Maine be ready to elect non-Christians to high office, so long as their policy stances line up with a majority of voters?
Want to See Dan Halloran's Scar? Speaking of non-Christian politicians, New York City Councilman, congressional candidate, and Theodish Heathen Dan Halloran recently underwent surgery to remove a benign brain tumor. By all accounts the procedure was a success, and Halloran is already active on social media, sending out a picture of his scar.
"So I'm home and trying to adjust- my balance isn't at 100% but I have my health otherwise in tact. The doctors are still somewhat at a loss to explain the rapid progress, lucky circumstances, and I'm not taking it for granted. I can't push any harder or faster but am doing everything I can. I started using a voldyne 2500 to improve my lung capacity…. but that's gonna leave a mark."
We'll have plenty to say about Halloran here at The Wild Hunt once he's back on the trail, but for now we simply wish him a speedy recovery.
That's all I have for now, have a great day!


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March 15, 2010by supportThe League was beyond excited that Streetfilms attended the 10th annual National Bike Summit and documented from an advocates viewpoint what it is like to participate in an event that seems larger than us all - the bicycle movement.
March 15, 2010by supportThe 10th National Bike Summit ended last Thursday, March 11th, with a momentous Congressional Reception,
March 15, 2010by Darren FluscheWhen the Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood stood on a
March 15, 2010by supportThe League of American Bicyclists was more than thrilled to have Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood join us at the Congressional Bike Reception on the third day of the National Bike Summit on March 11, 2010. We were even more excited with his support of bicycling as a vital part of America's transportation system.
March 13, 2010by supportRep. Tom Petri (R-WI) graciously pedaled a League of American Bicyclists' pedicab, sponsored by Planet Bike, on March 11th for the National Bike Summit Lobby Day.
March 12, 2010Congressman Jack Kingston (R-GA) and Senator Merkley (D-OR) join the 10th Annual Congressional Bike Rideby supportYesterday, BikePortland.org asked whether the
March 12, 2010by Darren FluscheSecretary of Transportation Ray LaHood energizes and thanks the crowd at the League of American Bicyclists National Bike Summit on March 11, 2010.
March 11, 2010by Darren FluscheCheck out what they're saying about the tenth National Bike Summit on Twitter, if you're into that kind of thing.
March 11, 2010by Darren FluscheCongressman James Oberstar, Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer, and Illinois Congressman Daniel Lipinski received awards from the League of American Bicyclists for their dedication to bicycling. They rallied the 700 National Bike Summit attendees who are set to take Capitol Hill by storm today.
March 10, 2010by supportThe League of American Bicyclists announces 51 new Bicycle Friendly Business (BFB) award winners at the 10th Anniversary National Bike Summit in Washington, D.C., March 10.


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Not a fan of Mission: Impossible? Well then, you might just be a Suppressive Person.
That's an exaggeration, but according to ex-Scientology member Amy Scobee, Tom Cruise is "viewed as a complete god" within the controversial religion.
Scobee spoke with E! News about her experience in the church....
Scobee, who left the church in 2005, knew Cruise and ex-wife Nicole Kidman well, even hiring their household staff at one point.
So why is the actor so revered within the COS?
"Because of his influence," she said. "He was awarded the meritorious award of valor...He's viewed as integral."
For more on Scientology, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes divorce settlement, and more, tune in to E! News tonight at 7 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.
—Reporting by Maureen Heaton and Michelle Falls


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The Redford government has changed course on its plans to tag the land titles of homes in flood zones — and says homeowners who make improvements to ward off future damage won't be singled out in the real estate documents.
While Alberta's associate minister of regional recovery and reconstruction, Rick Fraser, said the changes show the province is willing to improve its speedily-developed policies, critics accused the government of making plans on the fly and confusing homeowners.
On Friday, the province announced it had scrapped plans to put a "location notice" on land titles to identify properties in the newly-dubbed floodway or flood fringes.
Homes registered under the disaster recovery program will still have a notice placed on the document stating they received cash to rebuild after the floods, however, the mark will be removed if property owners follow the mitigation steps put in place by the province.
For people living in the floodways, the notice will remain to inform any new buyers the province won't step in with more cash in a future flood.
"We have to be adaptable. When we feel there are better ways to do things, we need to make those changes for the betterment of Albertans and the province as a whole," Fraser said in an interview on Friday.
Fraser said future homebuyers can still check the property on the province's flood-mapping hazard website. The government is also working with the real estate sector to develop plans to ensure new buyers know the home's flood history, he added.
But NDP MLA Deron Bilous said the changes are causing uncertainty among Albertans and raising questions about the Redford government's long-term plans for flood prevention.
"They're acting in a very impulsive and reactionary manner," he said.
"Albertans want to know that leadership is going to be consistent, that they're going to make decisions that are well thought through and not just knee-jerk reactions."
According to Fraser, the plan to stick a flood identifier on all the homes in flood zones was first meant to identify potential hazards for future homeowners.
The province figured using the marker on land title documents was the best way to go about protecting consumers. But pushback from those hit by the devastating spring floods — and those who live in the newly mapped flood zones but weren't hit by the June deluge — convinced the government to tinker with the policy.
Fraser said the province is moving as fast as possible to get life back to normal for people in hard-hit communities. It's also working to make its flood maps sensible for the entire province, not just areas hit in the historic spring floods this year, he said.
Emma May of the Calgary River Communities Action Group called the changes announced Friday an improvement and urged the province to continue to work with affected communities.
"There are still a lot of details that need to come out, but it is very much a step in the right direction," she said.
Liberal MLA Kent Hehr said the province did well to improve its initial policies, but said unless Alberta implements a public flood insurance program, it'll be left on the hook when future floods hit.
"The plan in place does not protect family and communities and the public purse going forward in the future."
Wildrose Municipal Affairs Critic Bruce Rowe questioned whether the province's flood zone maps will stand up in another flood.
He said Friday's announcement suggests to people living in flood zones not hit this year, "that the process of flood mapping is irrelevant as future floodways may now be determined simply by where the next flood strikes."
Fraser acknowledged that mapping will change over the years and vowed the province will adapt as needed.
"We also have to recognize as flood mapping evolves and as community mitigation happens, some of these designations may change. That's another large part of why we're evolving this policy," he said.
Under the updated policy, the disaster recovery program notice will be removed from properties in the flood fringe when it is certified that the province's flood mitigation measures have been put in place.
The province also modified the mitigation measures, announcing Friday it had expanded the choices to safely disconnect power and for acceptable basement finish materials.