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In restaurant world, it's called amuse-bouche: a dish that is supposed to pack complex favors and taste into a single bite.
What playwright Matt Hoverman has done with his "Christmas Shorts," at San Jose's City Lights through Dec. 23, is created a quintet of amuse-bouche for the season. He has put together five short plays (the longest barely clocks in over 15 minutes) all set during the holidays. Structurally, there's really nothing to hold them together, but they have a tonal cohesion that fits in well with the literal translation of amuse-bouche: "mouth amuser."
Hoverman -- a well-regarded young writer whose new play "Who You See Here" is scheduled to open on Broadway next year -- wants to have fun with some of the conventions of Christmas while also making at least a few points about love, family and the glories of the season with a light touch.
So, in one play, a young couple fight an amusing battle on Christmas Eve over whether to go home for the holidays. In another, "two dudes living the dream" (they're in their 30s but still act like they're living in their college frat house) face a Christmas horror in the form of one guy's ex-girlfriend. In yet another, a couple dressed in biblical garb find themselves at a fertility clinic (in Bethlehem, Pa., of course) on Christmas Day.
There is a delightful absurdist quality to most of the situations, but they are all grounded in some reality. Anyone who has ever sat down to write
Hoverman wrote his plays in 2009 and since then, the collection has become popular with smaller regional theater companies looking for something different for a holiday show. It's easy to see why. Not only does Hoverman put some bite in the humor while not going too dark, but the program is designed to be done with a small cast playing multiple roles.
For its production -- which includes a snappy set by Ron Gasparinetti and a terrific lighting design by Nick Kumamoto -- City Lights has put together a very nice cast of local actors who clearly revel in the opportunity to play some very different roles in the space of one night on the stage.
While all five performers do well, Lanky Jimmy Allan emerges as something of a standout. He brings some real poignancy to the part of a young writer discussing his holiday-themed play with his teacher (the work is called "Simon the Gay Elf"). He is very funny as one of the dudes living the dream, suggesting more than a bit of Jim Parsons in TV's "Big Bang Theory" -- which is a very good thing. And he brings goofy charm as the guy dressed as Joseph for a Nativity play and finds himself in the fertility clinic with a stranger dressed as Mary.
Jeff Newton plays most of the older male parts and his skill with understated delivery and the double take serve him as well as the teacher trying to critique "Simon the Gay Elf" and a man trying to write Christmas cards while being constantly interrupted by the wife. Morgan Voellger gets perhaps the most diverse roles, ranging from the woman who wrecks the dudes' Christmas to the Mary in the fertility clinic, and does well with each. Luke Chapman and Sara Renée Morris get a chance to shine in the opening "Going Home" and make the most of it. They are believable as a couple and show a sure touch for physical humor.
To give the set of plays a little bit of a spin, City Lights has brought in five up-and-coming directors from the Bay Area and given them each one of the plays. Diahanna Davidson, Jeffrey Lo, Jenny Hollingworth, Heather Noelle Robinson and Janice Wessner bring a sure touch and something different to their plays without disrupting the flow of the evening.
I particularly like Lo's work on "The Student." The piece with "Simon the Gay Elf" could easily go over the top, but Lo keeps it grounded and understated without losing the humor.
A couple of the plays in "Christmas Shorts" are slighter than others, more sketches than fully realized vignettes, and anyone looking for deep contemplation of the human condition will have to go elsewhere.
But at just over an hour, it is a perfect little holiday diversion -- funny, entertaining and with just enough warmth of the holidays.
Follow Charlie McCollum at Twitter.com/charlie_mccollu.
'christmas shorts'
By Matt Hoverman
Through: Dec. 23
Where: City Lights Theater Company, 529 S. Second St., San Jose
Running time: 1 hour,
10 minutes (no intermission)
Tickets: $16.95-$39.95, www.cltc.org
Theater review


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Replacing the culture of entitlements with one of mutual responsibility.
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These middle class retirement programs, Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, will cause federal spending to jump by half, from twenty percent of the economy to thirty percent by 2035. This tsunami of spending is a major threat to limited government because it runs on auto-pilot with automatic increases locked in by each program's governing laws. While other programs are constrained through annual budgets, entitlements get the first call on resources. Other goals such as defense or national security must compete for an increasingly smaller share of what's left. This "locked in" spending is steadily undermining the economic future of younger generations who face a debt burden of $175,000. The moral and ethical challenge from the entitlement tsunami is undermining our democratic system as more Americans become dependent on the government and other priorities are automatically preempted.
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This could be a step in the right direction, but as it is now it seems like going for the neuclear option to me an virtually removing magic till the late game. How do you (the community) feel about it?
I already preposed a charge here.
Addtional facts revealed in later statements:
- The number one was used as an example; so think more in terms variables when reading the quoted statement.
- Offspring are naturally able to use magic and do not take upkeep.
- Strategic spells will be castable remotely (not tied to any particular caster and their location).
- Spell cool down and/or cast time will be used for strategic spell.
- Essense will not increase for units, you will have it or not.
- The AI will be modified to really work to gain and hold shards.
(if you find info not listed here, please post it so I can add it easier so everyone is up to date)
I think this system can work. I think there are going to have to be magic traits and skills at soverign creation so that people who want to play a magic heavy game can have bonuses that allow this. Without this games will always be restricted to the same amount of magic, with no options to play a more/less magic based game (With only diffrences based on finding a luck shard or two).
MOM had many powerful bonuses for magic using players: Bonuses from taking 11 spell books, runemaster trait, archmage trait, nodemaster and a ton of others. As things currently stand there is only arcane (magic research) bonus.
I like the idea of global pools, but I'm concerned about 2 things. Concern one is that starting locations are getting kinda full what with the gold in .8 and now shards. Secondly, whats the point of imbuing champions if your main dude has unlimited range and can effect battles he is not in?
Will imbued champions start using the intelligence of the sovereign as well? Can you unimbue someone?
Oh, there will certainly be advantages to having a caster "on site".
MoM had a Channeling rate where you would pay up to 3x the cost when tossing tactical spells from the outside.
Yes, shard (resources in general) distribution is a delicate thing. I don't like the idea of all the resources that get auto-spawned near your starting location, and adding one shard to the list only makes things worse.
However, if they implement a way to tie the number/distribution of shards to N° Players/territory , that would be cool!
Thank you for the info mr Bradwell, it's really awesome to read about gameplay before seing it implemented. Lots of good ideas on these boards.
I would also encourage scouting more for a good location to build your capital instead of having the essential resources right next to you when you start the game. Because then founding your capital really becomes a matter of one click in the beginning of the game instead of searching for a suitable location. But I trust Brad on finding the best solution.
On the point of imbuing champions - your sovereign would not be able to cast spells into tactical combat if he was not in it, and characters would still have an intelligence statistic, which affects the power of tactical spells (global spells would possibly be affected by the sovereign only).
In general the preposal fits with the back story, with the exception of the sovereign generating mana. Where does the mana they are generating come from? And why do your offspring (also able to use magic naturally) not generate mana?
I do not disagree that having the sovereign produce mana is needed, but I would like to know how it fits into the setting.
Yeah, if the initial location is going to have all these goodies, there's not real decision to be made. May as well just start the player with the city already placed. Perhaps sprinkle goodies nearby and give the player a 5-turn 'wait' period where nothing happens (AI doesn't start cities, mostly) or whenever they build their city. Or something at any rate where scouting around a few turns doesn't hurt you.
I am very excited about the new magic system.
I do concur with some others though that the GMP should be just for the Channelers to draw from as they please, and perhaps they should be limited to how much they can draw from the GMP per turn, based on their stats, abilities, and equipment. Whereas imbued champions and offspring need to have a mana limit per turn that is based on their stats, abilities and equipment as well, but doesn't draw from the GMP. This daily limit should completely regenerate each turn. I say this only because I'm greedy, and I don't like to share my mana with anyone.
Presumably, since the AI does not have knowledge of uncovered places on the map, it would have to scout in the first few turns as well, which would even it up.
Still holding out hope that you learned enough from the disastrous launch to start caring about us, the customers who paid for your product.
and since I answered your question, I'd like to ask WHO you are making games for?
Well that's funny since you wrote you don't have any.
Goontrooper, I share some of your concerns. But the proposed system does make sense if you look at it another way; Sovereigns are the only people who can naturally use magic, everyone else just doesn't have the required 'link', whatever that may be. When a sovereign imbues a hero, he gives that hero access to his(the sovereign's) magic. How much mana the hero can use and how well he uses it depends on his stats, but the actual 'juice' for the spells is coming from the sovereign. So the 'global' mana would really just be the sovereigns mana.
For other settings this system makes less sense, I agree, but for this particular setting it fits quite well IMO.
I do agree however that there needs to be a way to determine how much mana a hero can use each turn, otherwise all imbued heroes would feel the same. The wisdom stat could be used for this, with the intelligence stat determining how well the mana is used (how much damage it can do, for instance).
I have a question though; are there still different mana pools for each element, or is it all put in a single pool? Because it would feel a bit silly to me if, for instance, you have a lot of water nodes and then you use all the mana they produce to cast fire spells...
Frankly, Imbued heroes should be given the capacity to toss around a single spell (or small selection thereof), as determined by the sovereign . Kinda like some of the units with magical abilities can now. The difference being that they should draw from the global pool, and have their total expenditure per combat be limited by some stat; wisdom or some such.
In no way and for no reason should they ever be as powerful as our Sovereign in terms of casting.
I really don't understand the perception that one lonely little champion running around would be capable of burning through several thousand stored mana that seems to be prevalent among the detractors of this method. My understanding of what is being proposed in the Global mana pool is that you generate mana every turn just like gold and materials, and use it as you need it. Running low? Don't cast for a few turns.
Yeah, sure looks like they haven't cared at all....jesus man.
They seem to think there will be no limit to how much each caster can use (and there is no offical word on that yet). The only time it would matter would be if it burns mana in auto combat (which if it wasted mana it would be bad). The solution is not give champions there own mana pool (as some want), but rather to limit how much they can use and give a setting for how auto combat should use mana (e.g. none, conservative, scaled, overkill).
It seems such a system will make summons virtually useless. You simply can't afford the mana upkeep if you want to use mana in your battles, at least until you get a lot of shards under your control. Likewise, mana upkeep for imbued champions means that no champions will be imbued, at least until late in the game. These changes weaken magic. I don't think magic needs to be nerfed. Military squads alread rule.
You people saying the current system is fine are bleeding crazy...
Having extensively whored the current system, and I mean extensively, no it isn't.
What we have now is a horrific, broken system. You move four(or three) essence and gain another caster with just as much essence. No loss.
In the case of a stack of newly created channelers and your sovereign, you're multiplying your short term damage output, end of story. There is no trade off, your long term damage output over the course of that single encounter is exactly the same. If you had twenty mana, and you now have eight, four, four and four, you still have twenty mana. You still get to cast your ten flame darts and do around 50-60 damage, but you get to cast eight plus on the first round, instead of two or three.
They rapidly level through experience, far faster than you can gain access to higher level spells. Your sovereign can burn their entire starting essence pool creating mini-me nukes and still get 16 essence in time for the nice summons without any trouble at all. Each caster independently regenerates mana, changing your initial regeneration rate of one into four.
Four casters is basically four times as good as one more powerful caster without even taking logistical advantages and other niceties into effect. Your imbued champions will level faster because they can more rapidly combat powerful enemies, spend less down time healing, the list goes on.
The current system is bad, really bad. If you don't basically imbue every champion you get your hands on, you're playing stupid. Monumentally stupid. Which would be a good thing to do since it's a free win that the ai absolutely cannot handle even a little.
I myself was hoping for a vastly different solution than what we're getting, but this is just plain shitty as it is. Personally I was hoping for individual spell sets and a significantly slower power curve on champions leveling bonuses, but that system is not to be as it would require a major rework across multiple mechanics, tech trees would have to change, the spell research system would have to change, the spell book would need to be an individualized item, etcetera etcetera.
I'm a fan. I have hope. I have faith.
With that said, why not just change "shard" to "node" and be done with it. Call whoever owns the microprose MoM license and buy the rights to it. It worked. It would work with this system, and if all other changes flowed into that path it would see success. It may/may not become a classic at that point, but its easier working from an established baseline.
Alternatively (and I'm repeating myself like a broken record) - make the sovereign, essence and shards the unique aspects to your game. There are a ton of games around with resources, champions, buildable cities/units, etc... stand out like I thought you were going to initially.
Have a global mana pool, it makes sense from a design and strategic perspective. Take sov, shards, essence out of the equation.
The sovereign is your customizable ruler. Done in other games, a fixture here, and a good design base.
Shards are essentially just another resource, and can be abstracted as needed but unique usage to the game:
Essence is another resource, but by making it a unique stat to the sov it can be a unique parameter to the game - making the sov unique, and thus the game unique.
Essentially make essence a key strategic feature, everyone has it but how they use it can change the course of their game.
I'd buy that game.
My apologies, I did a cardinal sin and created a new topic with above.
I am glad to see recent comments from Frogboy, looks like re-design is heading in the correct direction (that is making Elemental a Strategy Game with RPG elements). Overall, very very positive.
I also liked the casting range design of AoW2
In my last game I was getting kids with 400+ essence. With all the temple of essences and such it was nuts. If it wasn't for the bug that reset mana to zero i'd have a gargantuan mana supply. As it is I had 6 kids running around with 10/400 mana available. Plus my 10-15 normal champions had leveled up to ~100 mana and 20 int each. Somewhat silly
I admit I haven't read the whole thread, so I don't know if this has been discussed:
I really like the idea of implemeting the Global Mana Pool (GMP). It allows for a lot of options, tactical and strategic choices.
The Role of Essence:
Suggstions / Comments
A caster's essence controls the amount of mana that caster can channel. This opens the option for Caster-based use of tactical spells (like MoM), and allso allows for controlling the power of spells by mana cost. All mana is drawn from the GMP.
Options to consider:
A. The caster can cast any spell with a mana cost less than or equal to the caster's total essence. There is no cap on how much that caster can cast per strategic turn - all mana is drawn from the GMP.
e.g. Urrumi the Sovereign has 15 essence. In each tactical combat turn he can cast a spell of up to 15 essence, as long as the global mana pool can support it.
B. The caster can cast any spell with a mana cost less than or equal to the caster's total essence. The caster can channel mana per strategic turn in an amount equal to his essence. Mana is drawn from the GMP.
e.g. Urrumi the Sovereign has 15 essence. In a single tactical combat, he can cast any combination of spells whose total mana cost does not exceed 15. These spells can only be cast as long as the global mana pool can support it.
C. Consumables that currently restore caster mana instead add to the GMP either as a one-time boost, or as a per-turn resource.
The caster has an personal mana pool equal to his essence. The caster can cast any spell with a mana cost less than or equal to the caster's total essence. The amount of mana channelled in combat is based on his personal mana pool.
The GMP under this option is primarily for global spells, or for global spells castable in tactical combat (as in MoM).
Essence under this scenario serves both to restrict the potency of the casters spell (cannot cast a spell with a mana cost higher than the caster's essence), and to restrict the total amount a caster can channel over a number of turns, based on his mana regen rate / implementation.
A. The personal mana pool regenerates independtly of the global mana pool, at a rate determined by the developers. (e.g +1 per turn).
i. The caster cannot cast if his personal mana pool is empty. OR
ii. The caster can cast if his personal mana pool is empty, drawing instead from the GMP (likely at higher cost).
B. The personal mana pool recharges fully between turns, drawing from the GMP The caster can cast an amount in combat equal to his remaining mana pool. A couple of possible implementations depending on how much casting the developers desire:
i. Caster mana recharges slowly in combat (e.g. 1/turn), drawing from the GMP. OR
ii. Caster mana only regenerated out of combat, between turns, drawing from the GMP.
iii. (OPTION) Caster can cast when out of mana, drawing from the GMP at higher cost.
C. The personal mana pool can be recharged on demand, drawing from the global mana pool.
i. Caster mana recharge is possible on both the strategic map and (potentially at higher cost) from within combat.
ii. Caster mana recharge limited to the strategic map.
iii. As (ii), but allowing the caster to channel from the GMP once his own mana is depleted, at higher cost.
D. A combination. Each caster independently regenerates their personal mana pool, but can also tap the global mana pool to recharge at a faster rate, either between combat or just on the strategic map.
E. Consumables such as currently exist can still be used to restore caster mana.
#3: Strategic Spells
A. All strategic level spells are caster-independent and draw from the global mana pool. Imbues and the like are either limited by the casters essence or alternatively, lower the casters essence by a set amount.
B. Some strategic spells are caster dependent. They still draw from the global mana pool, but require a caster to cast them.
C. Some strategic spells are caster dependent and draw from the caster's personal mana pool.
Well, these were my thoughts this far. The developers really have a lot of possible directions to go with this - spell costs, mana sources and regen can all be balanced based on the implementation chosen.
At first I thought the small and VERY VOCAL handful who think this game is the best thing EVAR (no names, but you'll know as soon as you see 'em post) were simply sycophants or worse, plants. Their glowing recommendations of everything the game has to offer and pretty serious anger at those expressing anything but love for it was pretty disturbing.
But as I see more of their respective posts, I've come to realize they just expect little to nothing from Stardock. "Indie" means you get a free pass and anyone questioning Stardock is a Bad Man™. The great irony is that many of those commenting the post and/or complaining the loudest are most likely Stardock's biggest allies. People who've been here since the alpha and are still posting despite the disastrous state of the game. They WANT the game to work and WANT Stardock to fix it.
That said, I have this one piece of advice for people who are completely satisfied with the game as it stands now. Expect more! Don't be satisfied with a broken game that has the potential to be at the top of it's very narrow but very rewarding genre. Fantasy TBS games come along far too infrequently to simply accept one that's as busted as Elemental without holding the developers' feet to the proverbial fire.
Stardock has made some great strides in the right direction, but it's going to be a huge uphill battle from here. And telling them "No, don't fix it, it's great" does NOTHING to help Brad, Stardock or us.
For number one to work, a per turn limit on mana use is the only meaningful option. If it just sets the largest spell that can be cast it will either be too easy to get to the point all spells can easily be cast and make it meaningless or will make it too hard to get many casters that can cast more than the smallest spells. And essence will just be the ability to cast spells, period. Another stat (e.g. wisdom) would be used instead.
Personal mana pool contradicts the back story.
So, with this new system, are Channellers really not that special anymore? Because now, when you Imbue a Champion, the Champion starts with a really small mana pool and has to work up to being as strong as the Channeller. But with the new system, the Champion can be immediately as strong or stronger than the Channeller if they have a higher Intelligence (which is common with the more Adventuring types). So if I was in this world, I would try to get a Channeller to imbue me and then stage a revolt since I was the stronger.
Also, with mana being a shared resource, will we be able to fluoridate our enemies' essence?
The diffrence is your sovereign generates mana (no explanation as to how), your offspring do not cost mana, and Imbued champions require mana upkeep.


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I hope my friends don't read this and, if they do, they don't think I'm talking about them… even if I am.
I am single. Most of my friends are not. Although I love women and all the benefits of being with one, the itch for one is more like an intermittent tingle caused by dry skin. Those who know me may try to attribute my 'un-super-bummdness' regarding my singleness to previous unfavorable relational experiences. But the only thing my previous relational experiences have convinced me of is what women to stay clear of, not to stay clear of all women. (And yes, I'd like to think I've also done some work on myself and eliminated certain unbeneficial and juvenile attitudes.)
With the exception of perhaps one of my friends, all other people I know and know of who are "well of age" and are "still single" are conspicuously unhappy about that particular aspect of their lives (I'm sure people asking them why they're "still single" at "this age" doesn't help). Some folks are so disgruntled about their solo status that they've turned into consistent cantankerous citizens; the irony, of course, being than an individual who absolutely sucks to hang out with will only further perpetuate said singleness.
Me and my one mentioned friend (and by mentioned, I mean brought up in a very anonymous and abstract fashion which barely merits the word 'mentioned') are probably the only two people who observe most couples and say to ourselves, "Whew, thank God I'm not stuck in one of those messes."
I am positive the lack of envy- or even slight admiration- towards most of the relationships I notice plays a huge role in my rather pessimistic outlook towards being married (yes, I believe in marriage only, meaning the purpose of dating is to find someone to marry, not someone to cohabit with, or someone just to satisfy those tingly desires for warm moisture-filled softness). No need for Dr. Phil to put this puzzle together. After much mind-wrestling and bumbling around in the cob-web infested formation which is my brain, I think I may have figured out why my friends' relationships just don't look like much fun.
Relationships seem like a big game of tug-of-war.
Almost every relationship I've observed seems to be a constant power play for complete domination. Even the very few I've partaken in have been plagued by one or both parties trying to take over. At the time, I can only recall one instance when a friend of mine got the evil eye from his wife for getting himself wrapped up in a conversation concerning a passion of his and leaving her to make sure the rowdy young 'en doesn't disappear. His reaction to "the look" (which scared even me) was a perfect degree of acknowledgement which resulted in a graceful understanding that there was in fact no problem (he grabbed the little one as he had done millions of times in earlier parts of the day), and there was no sense in trying to create one because whatever may be bothering her may as well not be. He wasn't going to waste one more brain cell on frivolities. This particular couple seems to be one of- maybe- three couples who may have a balanced marriage. Both husband and wife seem to actually partake in activities they like. Both husband and wife seem to have their own friends and the opportunities to spend time with them, and both of them like to shoot guns (I'm not entirely sure if this last part added any weight to my argument. I just think it's romantic when couple shoot together). But such matrimonies are about as rare as a politician who reads the bills he votes on.
I guess what I'm saying is: why can't grown-ups stop trying to control one another? Most blogs and articles on relationships focus on why he or she does what he or she does and how is it that you can convince he or she to do what you want he or she to do. I understand the dynamic between a team who has to balance bills, jobs, and kids is a complex one, and that many problems arise because one partner is not doing precisely that which is his or her responsibility. But I'm not necessarily talking about that. I'm referring to a point in time way before getting to this more complicated stage. I think once you develop the domination dynamic early on, it actually become a bigger problem as life is magnified with kids and jobs and various activities.
I want to propose a different way of thinking concerning relationships. Firstly, as I've been talking about, stop trying to control your wife or husband. Men, leadership and domination are not the same. A good leader leads by doing and inspiring, not by shouting orders and cutting down. And women, get off your feminist high-horse and stop trying to rule your man to make up for the thousands of years we've been clubbing you on the head and dragging you to our caves. We personally were not there.
Secondly, if you are someone who thinks finding a mate is supposed to solve a self-esteem or anxiety issue you have, stop it. You are a fool for thinking like that. No human being can fix your emotional head problems. That's between you and you and you and God. All you do by such thinking is put pressure on the poor sap you tricked into putting up with you. So, to sum it all up, do not get into a relationship if you're looking for someone to complete you.
Thirdly, I suggest everyone find someone equal with them in intellect. It pains me every time I hear a friend say to me," My wife doesn't care about this. She's more into shopping and watching her shows." On the contrary, this scenario is fine if both individuals are on the same page as far as interests and intellect.
From my understanding, a relationship- a marriage- is supposed to be a partnership. The Bible calls Eve a helper, not a slave. A partnership allows for each individual to do what he and she is good at without constant interference and vetoes from the other partner. You don't have to be in each other's business about everything. We are still autonomous beings.
These are my observations and they are subject to change. But since I can read and write and posses the keypad and internet connections to transfer said thoughts to an electronic screen, why not?
Nathan Horton
9:21 am on Friday, February 22, 2013
Great article Paul. I am thrilled and proud to say I got very lucky when I found my wife. We work well together, both understanding the needs of the other. We often talk about acquaintances who are in these miserable looking marriages. They are never together, and when they are with their spouse, they are miserable. What is the point of being married if you never spend time together? I am proud of the relationship that I have and would not trade it for anything. I hope that others who are seeking a soulmate, get as lucky as I did, and don't fall into the first relationship that seems kind of ok. Hold out for the keeper. Remember, good thing come to those who wait...Right?
Paul L. Dragu
6:38 pm on Friday, February 22, 2013
Thank you Nathan. It was nice meeting you last night. Had a good time with you guys.
Amy Jellicoe
8:55 pm on Friday, February 22, 2013
That's an awesome article Paul. If my sister could take some time out of her life and stop looking for a spouse, and read this article, she'd find the some happiness in life. I try to tell her these same things that you say, but she shuts me down. Why? Because I'm married, I have kids, therefore I'm disqualified from telling any miserable single person that they can't find happiness from another human being.
9:25 am on Saturday, February 23, 2013
It's fear based insecurities that cause people to act this way. The couples you are describing just need to grow up. Sometimes it takes years of practice, and being with someone else who is immature. So I'll just add here that people are usually with who they are supposed to be with and when they've outgrown them and there is no hope of that person changing, then its time to move on.
Paul L. Dragu
4:39 pm on Saturday, February 23, 2013
I agree that certain couples need to grown up. In fact, I think most people need to grow up. However, I'm not a big fan of this outgrowing and moving on deal that is so popular these days. The oath one makes on a wedding day lists no disclaimers about outgrowing being a reasonable excuse to abandon ship. That's Hollywood stupidity that's infected the masses. What is "thick and thin" if it's not working out how to live together when it's not easy? (it's not sickness because that's stated in a different part of the oath)
Oasis Counseling Center
1:01 pm on Monday, February 25, 2013
It is agreed that relationships are work and that a person should not look at relationships as a way to make their lives complete. It is normal for people to seek out others, though - part of the human condition. Good article overall - lots of food for thought for people to think about their own motivations for being in relationships.


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Help get county potholes repaired (From Droitwich Advertiser)
Get involved! Send your photos, video, news & views by texting BA NEWS to 80360 or e-mail us
Help get county potholes repaired
10:30am Friday 1st March 2013 in Local
WORCESTERSHIRE County Council is urging residents and businesses to report potholes and other defects spotted on roads across the county so that highways engineers can investigate and repair quickly.
Potholes form on roads where conditions have been icy or soggy for some time – they're far more likely to pop up in large numbers following lengthy wet and freezing spells such as the weather experienced over much of 2013 to date. When temperatures drop, water on the roads freezes and expands, increasing the potential for surface damage, leading to potholes.
Feedback from residents shows that maintaining Worcestershire's road network is considered one of the most important council services, and with this in mind the council will be investing an additional £2.5 million in roads maintenance and improvements over the next two years to 2015.
Highways gangs are touring the county finding and fixing any problems on the roads now milder conditions have returned. The more support residents and businesses can provide by telling the council about potholes, the more quickly the highways team can respond and have the problem fixed.
People are being encouraged to help out reporting any potholes and other defects spotted through the many channels available. Reports can be sent quickly and easily via the online 'Report It' section on the council's website www.worcestershire.gov.uk/reportit.
Residents can also get in touch on the move via the County Council App, which also has a 'Report It' feature that allows users to pinpoint the problem on an interactive map and send in photographs. The free app is available on iPhones and Android devices and can be downloaded via the App store or Google Play. Alternatively people can call Worcestershire Hub's dedicated Highways line on 0845 607 2005.
11:24am Fri 1 Mar 13
old misery
4:52pm Fri 1 Mar 13
5:49pm Fri 1 Mar 13
9:03am Sat 2 Mar 13
Highway law states that highway authorities are under a duty to inspect roads and to maintain them to a fit state to enable traffic and pedestrians to use them.
7:34pm Sat 2 Mar 13
The Doosra
9:17pm Sat 2 Mar 13
old misery wrote:Oh dear: there hasn't been an HWCC since 1998!
What do the vehicles running around with" pothole inspection" or whatever their fancy title do. My grandson tripped on a potholed ridden footpath cut his face and smashed his glasses. We notified HWCC and tried to make a claim the reply was basically unless we could pinpoint the exact pothole "tough"so dont expect any further reports from me
The Doosra
9:21pm Sat 2 Mar 13
Redhillman wrote:You have absolutely no idea have you? Where in the article does it say or even hint at the council palming off its legal obligations? The council is merely asking the community to play its part inspeeding up the process whereby potholes are identified.
So the council are trying to encourage residents and businesses to do their job, the job we pay them do to. It's like asking people to take their own rubbish to landfill. The highways department have a legal responsibility to inspect and repair roads, they should not be getting away with palming off their obligations on to the public.
Highway law states that highway authorities are under a duty to inspect roads and to maintain them to a fit state to enable traffic and pedestrians to use them.
11:56pm Sat 2 Mar 13
Iain Leav
12:41pm Tue 12 Mar 13
1:10pm Tue 12 Mar 13


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Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions ...and related Microsoft controversies
Posted 16 March 2012 - 09:03 PM
99% of what I see on any website about Win8 is very much negative, and this article is no different (it has many similar links in it too).
Also, all of the popular articles on pcword's Windows 8 section are overwhelmingly negative about Win8 too, and so are the comments. Even toms' hardware are publishing similar articles now. Even the comments on anantech's few articles are quite negative. I don't recall Vista being received so badly so soon.
I think it's obvious that it's going to be such a catastrophic failure (you think Vista had bad press?) And unless there are MAJOR changes until it's released which is extremely unlikely I definitely won't be running it, neither will we upgrade at work. Totally out of the question. Win8 has already failed and is history as far as I'm concerned (along with Bob, WinME and others). I've already moved on to waiting for Win9 which MS truly can't afford to screw up so badly.
Posted 16 March 2012 - 10:36 PM
This post has been edited by tomasz86: 16 March 2012 - 10:38 PM
Posted 16 March 2012 - 11:38 PM
tomasz86, on 16 March 2012 - 10:36 PM, said:
Losing to the older iPad pretty badly IMO (not only in what was shown but overall too). Then again, most Windows tablets will probably have far lesser screens than the iPad 3 (3MP IPS LCD!), far less apps, battery life that's no better, yet without beating the iPad on the price point. But hey, at least it runs your good old x86 apps, Flash and ActiveX-based websites, right? Oh wait... I don't even see what it has to offer over Android even. I mean WOA is so unlike Windows that it's practically pointless.
Then again, being far too late to the market, it seems like people don't want of a Windows tablet anymore, that they're priced to fail anyway and so on. Analysts like IDC already predict Win8 being a failure.
Posted 17 March 2012 - 12:05 AM
Posted 17 March 2012 - 12:21 AM
tomasz86, on 17 March 2012 - 12:05 AM, said:
WOA is hardly better. They can remotely wipe apps from your computer (that you already paid for) and all. And you can't install another OS on it ("secure" bootloaders, yay!) You can't sideload apps, it works only through the app store (which have to be pre-approved just like Apple does). It's as locked down as it comes. If you want full control (like side loading) then you will need to root it too.
But if that's your thing then Android seems like a vastly superior option still (it *is* open source, heavily customizable and thinkerer-friendly). I'd sooner buy an Android device than a WOA device for sure, but Apple has what seems like a really slick product to most people.
Posted 17 March 2012 - 12:37 AM
CoffeeFiend, on 17 March 2012 - 12:21 AM, said:
I've been using an Android tablet myself (Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9') and I like it although it's still far from perfect. Especially the UI is very slow and the available apps are also not ideal, especially the office related ones. And I need to learn Linux first in order to be able to go deeper into it.
By the way, Android 3.x (Honeycomb) is not open source
Posted 17 March 2012 - 06:51 AM
tomasz86, on 17 March 2012 - 12:37 AM, said:
There's a whole lot more of them than for Windows though and it just might stay that way: there's TONS of Java developers around (that's what most universities teach), and Android is a nice system -- whereas Win8 will most likely flop anyway, will not have nice inexpensive devices, and almost nobody develops using WinRT or XAML in the first place. That's one of the reasons I'd buy an iPad first: tons of highly polished apps, cheap, for pretty much everything (Personally, I won't be editing documents by typing on a LCD screen). The other being that they have better hardware overall than pretty much everybody else's and I don't expect Win8 tablets changing that either. There are going to be lots with poor screens, short battery lifes, slow CPUs, overheating, shoddily built, feature light versions for sure, while struggling to compete with Android and iOS devices at the same price point still. And those that people are getting excited about seem very much unlike a tablet I'd want to use e.g. the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga with its super high TDP Intel i7 draining your battery and producing massive amounts of heat, which has double the thickless, double the weight, and has half the screen resolution of the iPad 3 while also showing all fingerprints... and its 1000$ price point. Oh and the iPad 3 also has 2 cameras, does 1080p video capture, has image stabilisation + autofocus + face recognition, etc.
tomasz86, on 17 March 2012 - 12:37 AM, said:
That's untrue. The source is available online at AOSP. Just follow the directions.
Posted 17 March 2012 - 10:19 AM
CoffeeFiend, on 16 March 2012 - 09:03 PM, said:
Very interesting set of articles, thanks very much. Especially good was the batch of writeups from Info/Computerworld that I got deeper and deeper into as I clicked on successive links from one article to another.
A commenter to the Tom's Hardware piece offered some incisive observations. Writing about Windows 8 and Metro, "Marcus52" (he's on page 3 of the comments) said the following:
2) I clicked an email link in Firefox in my Yahoo email account to send someone an email, and it opened up my Hotmail account and tried to make me use that for my Yahoo business! I NEVER connected the Yahoo account to anything on my computer, only the Hotmail account. BAD, Microsoft, BAD!
3) In Vista and Win 7 (and every version of Windows before), there are settings reached via "Advanced appearance settings" (Personalization>Window Color>Advanced appearance settings. . .). This appears to be gone entirely from Win 8. I want MORE from an updated OS, not less!
4) Things opened up by Metro cover the entire screen, and there's nothing you can do about it. My small screen on my second computer is 21" and on this computer it's 27", I don't need 27" of screen for anything except games! I feel like I'm getting slammed in the face with a giant window, most of which has nothing on it.
5) Metro decides how to put apps in columns, you don't. You can move them around, but you can't change the column structure. You can't put apps in some parts of a group without other columns being filled first. The solid background color is about as well done as a solid color background can be, but you are out of luck if you want anything different. Hate the app colors? Tough.
There are good things about Win 8, like the way storage is being handled. Very nice. I'm still leaning towards Win 8 over Win 7 when I upgrade my Vista machine, but really, there shouldn't be any question, Win 8 should be a no-brainer choice between it and a previous version of Windows.
Curiously, the "fixingwindows8.com" website that the Tom's Hardware article refers to, seems to have disappared off the face of the Earth. I wonder if MS lawyers leaned on the guy to shut it down, on the pretext of unauthorized use of the Windows 8 trademark.
Posted 17 March 2012 - 10:34 AM
tomasz86, on 16 March 2012 - 10:36 PM, said:
Very good comparison!
My only experience with a tablet is for a few minutes at a friend's house, so I can't offer a well considered opinion on what it's like to use them, but based on that video the iPad looks so much sleeker and polished. What's with these huge, blocky, single-color tiles in Metro? Based on looks, if I were in the market for a tablet, there's no way I'd pick a Metro device.
This post has been edited by JorgeA: 17 March 2012 - 10:41 AM
Posted 17 March 2012 - 10:44 AM
Not that I want to help Microsoft succeed with this Metro monstrosity, but there is a simple fix for this problem where users can't figure out how to get things done in Win8. The default Windows 98 bootup process includes a "Welcome to Windows 98" that offers to take you on a tour of the OS and how it works. A sensible and useful feature. It would be so simple (and it's certainly desperately necessary) to do something like that for Windows 8, but I guess that the novelty-crazed developers at Microsoft are way too cool to find good ideas in the past.
This post has been edited by JorgeA: 17 March 2012 - 10:44 AM
Posted 17 March 2012 - 11:04 AM
maybe MS didn't like the naked truth
Posted 17 March 2012 - 12:04 PM
JorgeA, on 17 March 2012 - 10:44 AM, said:
There's also a video of the same old man using OS X for the first time. As you probably already guessed he has far less problems getting adapted, despite having perhaps 20 years of experience with Windows and never having used a Mac. Most likely a video featuring Linux (with GNOME 2 or KDE) would beat Windows hands down as well.
JorgeA, on 17 March 2012 - 10:44 AM, said:
That would help figuring out how it works. But it still wouldn't make it work in a sane manner.
The only thing they have to do to turn this disaster into a success is to make Metro optional (for tablets), but that won't happen.
I mean, they've essentially taken the touch screen interface from 2 failed products that weren't selling (Windows Phone and the Zune) and they're now forcing that onto all users on their desktops and laptops. Yeah, like that'll fly.
Nice links you found BTW.
Posted 19 March 2012 - 08:59 AM
Here's the best I could come up with -- the Google cache -- but the only graphical element I get is the YouTube video.
Any word on the grapevine as to what happened to that website?
Maybe I'll try the internet Archive.
Posted 19 March 2012 - 09:21 AM
Posted 19 March 2012 - 02:03 PM
If they would make the charms menu easier to get to with a mouse and allow you to stay on the desktop it could be better. I hate that I keep getting thrown back and forth from the metro desktop to the traditional one. The charms menu is fine but I always find myself on the left side of the screen when I need it. I hate that the shutdown is 3 clicks or more. I do shutdown my laptop and I want to be able to close it out quickly. In the dev preview I thought it was easier to search for apps than it is now too because there was a start button. I am a MS fan but this is hard to like. Maybe on a touchscreen I will see how it all makes sense but right now it really doesn't.
Posted 20 March 2012 - 08:15 AM
"Where is the Desktop?"
"Where is the Start Menu?"
"Where is the Control Panel?"
Doesn't look too good.
Posted 20 March 2012 - 08:29 AM
simple logic
I turn on PC, I get greeted by this screen of squares (tiles)
I click on one of them
it either drops me into another confusing flat area or desktop without any icons and menus
so while I try to find minimize or X button or start menu or ANYTHING
I also stumble upon various sidebars popping out when i come with mouse in certain screen edges
and those bars provide some more confusing "functionality"
screw that
Posted 20 March 2012 - 09:42 AM
Posted 20 March 2012 - 10:10 AM
cyberpyr8, on 19 March 2012 - 02:03 PM, said:
My displeasure with Windows 8 has eased a little bit since the Consumer Preview came out, as they made some of the functions and utilities easier to get to. But by and large it's still harder to get things done in Win8 than in Win7, and I still have to look at that fugly Metro start screen every so often. Every time I saw XP's default "Luna" theme I expected the Teletubbies to come hopping over the crest, but the Metro screen makes me think I'm stuck in a kindergarten. I wouldn't want that on a phone or a tablet, let alone a 23" monitor. The iPads and Android screens I've seen out there look so much sleeker.
That was an excellent promo for Office, BTW -- glad you posted it. If I didn't have Office already, it would make me go out and buy it, no joke. I'll even start poking into OneNote, a program I've never ever opened.
Posted 20 March 2012 - 10:18 AM
JorgeA, on 20 March 2012 - 10:10 AM, said:
cyberpyr8, on 19 March 2012 - 02:03 PM, said:
My displeasure with Windows 8 has eased a little bit since the Consumer Preview came out, as they made some of the functions and utilities easier to get to. But by and large it's still harder to get things done in Win8 than in Win7, and I still have to look at that fugly Metro start screen every so often. Every time I saw XP's default "Luna" theme I expected the Teletubbies to come hopping over the crest, but the Metro screen makes me think I'm stuck in a kindergarten. I wouldn't want that on a phone or a tablet, let alone a 23" monitor. The iPads and Android screens I've seen out there look so much sleeker.
That was an excellent promo for Office, BTW -- glad you posted it. If I didn't have Office already, it would make me go out and buy it, no joke. I'll even start poking into OneNote, a program I've never ever opened.
OneNote's quite a nice tool, especially for scatterbrains like me. I can categorize my notes (and add contextual arrows and other signs between them) so I can streamline my thoughts as if I were doodling on paper.
I even have one tab solely dedicated to a shopping list, and some small financial tidbits (who owns me what, and what I still need to settle). And when I stop doing work and go down a rabbit hole of interest, I can often pin some useful links in OneNote to get back to.
I'd never thought of opening it if someone didn't tell me to try it, and I've been using it quite a lot since. So yeah, you should try it.


text:
Invite a friend
Night at the Movies
Parkland Community Library, 4422 Walbert Ave, Allentown, PA | Get Directions »
Each month, the Parkland Community Library hosts the
exclusive screening of a unique and often award-winning film. Under the licensing agreement, the library is not permitted to list titles here. Please call or come into the library for the information.
(Note: The editor stopped by the library to check the title. It's Paranorman.)
Event Details
Where | Parkland Community Library 4422 Walbert Ave, Allentown, PA 18104 |
Next on | This event is over. |
Time | 6:30 pm–8:30 pm |
Website | http://www.parklandlibrary.org |
Phone | 610-398-1361 |
email@example.com | |
Price | $0 |
More About Parkland Community Library
Parkland Community Library began as a grass roots effort in a small building in Guthsville, where it served residents of South Whitehall, Upper Macungie and North Whitehall. Its collection grew quickly, and by 1981 the library moved to a new building at its current location off Walbert Avenue. Now also serving a portion of West Allentown, the library is a valuable community resource, providing programs for adults and children and offering a rich collection of books, magazines, DVDs and music CDs. Library users borrow about 300,000 items annually and thousands more attend its multitude of programs. The library has continued to grow; plans call for its eventual move to a new 32,000-square-foot building in Upper Macungie.
Other events here
- Fresh Air Fund Interviews Weekly on Thursdays,
- Author Book Talk & Signing Thu, Jun 6, 7:00 pm–8:00 pm
- Adult Summer Reading Club Mon, Jun 10, 10:00 am–9:00 pm
- Night at the Movies Tue, Jun 11, 6:30 pm–8:30 pm
- Book Quest Tue, Jun 18, 7:00 pm–8:30 pm
- Edible Book Contest Thu, Jun 20, 6:00 pm–8:30 pm
- Books into Movies Tue, Jun 25, 7:00 pm–8:00 pm
- Knitting Circle Thu, Jun 27, 1:30 pm–4:00 pm
Ann Wlazelek
4:42 pm on Wednesday, January 9, 2013
I didn't know the library was offering free movies. how nice! thanks for letting readers know.


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Nothing's braver than a teddy bear. A teddy bear that jumped from an airplane at about 9,500 feet, that is. Lawrenceburg resident Troy Woods, a statewide record-holding skydiver and jumping instructor at the Jumping for Fun Parachute Center, has jumped from planes for charity before. Last year Woods broke the state record (80 jumps in one day) while he raised funds for a boy battling leukemia. On June 1 he will strap stuffed teddy bears to his chest as a fundraiser for Kentucky Children's Hospital with the help of his daughter, Christina.
Copyright © 2013
The Anderson News is your source for local news, sports, events, and information in Lawrenceburg, KY and the surrounding area.


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text:
It was the mid-1980′s, and the Cold War was still going strong. America had won the Space Race with the triumphant moon landings of the sixties and seventies. Now the superpowers competed to pioneer a new space — the one beneath our feet.
To achieve those ends, the Soviet Union commissioned a deep drilling project in the icy wastes of Siberia. A team of geologists drilled about 14.4 kilometers (about 9 miles) beneath the Earth's surface, when something strange happened — the bit started to spin wildly, and temperature sensors recorded temperatures over 2,000 degrees. No doubt baffled, the scientists lowered a mic down the well shaft to get a better idea of what they were dealing with. What they heard horrified them (the sounds start at about the 2:00 mark) and confirmed people's worst fears for centuries; that Hell was real, and it lay right beneath our feet!
…er, except not.
This one is pretty classic in terms of urban legends. It isn't exactly certain where the story began, and it has been elaborated on extensively over time. I remember seeing lurid headlines in the Weekly World News as a kid in the 90′s talking about the Devil coming screaming out of a well to hell drilled in Alaska, incinerating all the unfortunate scientists at the site and spreading doom and gloom all around. The story freaked me out as a kid, as the one-two punch of being A) a kid and B) a Bible literalist tends to make one a bit credulous. Even as a teen, hearing the clip featured in the above video scared the crap out of me.
Evidently a lot of people feel the same way, because this one still makes the rounds on paranormal and religious sites of all kinds. And why not? If Hell really did exist in a real, physical place, that would be a really scary thing. It would confirm many people's worst anxieties about the after life and their potential place in it. It would also raise some pretty uncomfortable moral and theological implications, which we won't get into here. The point is that Hell is scary, and that fear is what gives this urban legend (and most others while we're at it) its staying power.
Needless to say, it isn't true. The recording is believed to be a looped recording of a scene from the B-grade horror flick Baron Blood. To me it almost sounds like it could be a doctored recording of any public space, looped and made to sound all sinister. There is a small kernel of truth behind this sordid tale, as is the case with most good urban legends. There really was a deep drilling well that reached close to 9 miles underground in Soviet Russia. It was located on the Kola Peninsula, not in Siberia. The drill did hit an empty pocket, but there were no hellish sounds from within. Temperatures reached a toasty 180 degrees, and the geologists found water and natural gas, among other things of scientific interest.
The truth is a whole lot less exciting than a literal gateway to hell, but being the compassionate sort I'd rather that be the fact than to have millions of people suffering and burning forever.