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Wine Glass Fridays (on Sunday, just for this month) Painting Event
Instructor:Christina (NEW WINE GLASS PAINTING EVENT)
$25 pp includes all supplies needed to paint your own special wine glasses
(2).This month you will be painting two (2) Frosted Snowflake Wine glasses.Mustregister
Ladies Bingo Night - A fundraiser for Toys for Tots
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Bingo cards $5 each or 3 for $10
Taylor Feighery (Indie Rock) will perform at Blumenhof Winery in Dutzow, MOon Friday, December 16 from 4-7pm.
Zero Friction (Acoustic Rock Duo) will perform atBlumenhof Winery in Dutzow, MO on Saturday, December 17 from 2-5pm.
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This article may contain outdated information that is inaccurate for the current version of the game. It was last updated for 1.24.
are fundamental advances in civilization and are the primary determinant of
cost. Institutions, if not embraced by a country, will cause an increasing tech cost penalty on the country by
per year up to a maximum of
per institution. Embracing an institution requires that institution to be fully present in provinces containing at least 10% of a country's
(modified by local
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), after which it requires an amount of ducats dependent on the remaining development in provinces where the institution is not fully present. New World natives cannot embrace institutions until they reform their governments (for natives in the North American and South American technology groups) or religions (for natives in the Mesoamerican and Andean technology groups), but receive all the institutions of their advanced neighbor when they do so.
There are a total of 7 different institutions that appear throughout the game (except for the first which is present at the beginning of the game in 1444), at roughly 50-year intervals starting in 1450 and ending in 1700.
Each year all provinces an institution can spawn in are randomly given a chance to spawn the institution. Each eligible province for an institution has a 10% chance to get it to spawn in that province. If only 3 provinces can get it to spawn there is a 90% * 90% * 90% = 72.9% chance that it won't spawn in the beginning of that year. If none or only a few provinces are eligble for spawning, it can take years or even decades for an institution to show up.
The spread of institutions is modified on both a global and a provincial level. Global modifiers affect the spread of institutions in all provinces in a nation, local modifiers affect the spread of institutions in a specific province.
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and policies also affect spread rate:
Developing a province gives that province an immediate increase in the oldest non-present institution equal to 16.66% (slightly under one sixth) of the new development of the province. The increase is capped at 10% (60 development). The development required to bring an institution with 0% presence to 100% presence is of 601 cumulative development points, because for 600 points (reaching 36 dev starting from 11) you get 99.96%. The required development within a province of a given starting development is summarized in the table below.
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, astronomers Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin published the first evidence that there might be another planet in our Solar System. Known as "Planet 9", this hypothetical body was estimated to be about 10 times as massive as Earth and to orbit that our Sun at an average distance of 700 AU. Since that time, multiple studies have been produced that either support or cast doubt on the existence of Planet 9.
While some argue that the orbits of certain Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs) are proof of Planet 9, others argue that these studies suffer from an observational bias. The latest study , which comes from a pair of astronomers from the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), offers a fresh perspective that could settle the debate. Using a new technique that focuses on extreme TNOs (ETNOs), they believe the case for Planet 9 can be made.
Extreme Trans-Neptunian Objects are those that orbit our Sun at average distances greater than 150 AU, and therefore never cross Neptune's orbit. As the UMC team indicate in their study , which was recently published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , the distances between the ETNOs nodes and the Sun may point the way towards Planet 9.
These nodes are the two points at which the orbit of a celestial body crosses the plane of the Solar System. It is at these points that the chances of interacting with other bodies in the Solar System is the greatest, and hence where ETNOs are most likely to experience a drastic change in their orbits (or a collision). By measuring where these nodes are, the team believed they could tell if the ETNOs are being perturbed by another object in the area.
As Carlos de la Fuente Marcos, one of the authors on the study, explained in an interview with
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"If there is nothing to perturb them, the nodes of these extreme trans-Neptunian objects should be uniformly distributed, as there is nothing for them to avoid, but if there are one or more perturbers, two situations may arise. One possibility is that the ETNOs are stable, and in this case they would tend to have their nodes away from the path of possible perturbers, he adds, but if they are unstable they would behave as the comets that interact with Jupiter do, that is tending to have one of the nodes close to the orbit of the hypothetical perturber".


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Gun-control hypocrisy: OK to kill black kids
Exclusive: Kathy Shaidle recaps toughest, smartest discussions on air
Rush Limbaugh
Limbaugh pointed out the hypocrisy of the media and liberal politicians in the wake of the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre. He wondered why they weren't calling for gun control after dozens of black children were murdered in Chicago over the past year.
"The deaths to gun violence in the city of Chicago, pick a week, any week in the last three months," Rush said to listeners. "Add 'em up over a month. It dwarfs what happened in Newtown, Conn. Now, these are urban kids in Chicago. They're not upper middle-class whites" (FREE audio).
President Obama was chosen as Time Magazine's "Man of the Year," and Limbaugh said he was disappointed but not surprised.
"That's the new demographic," he explained. "Yeah, we've been making jokes here about the low-information voter, and it turns out Time Magazine honors Obama 'cause he got 'em. He turned low-information, apathetic voters into people who vote" (FREE audio).
Michael Savage
The Washington Post, while known for its liberal bias, nevertheless chose Michael Savage's new book "Train Tracks: Family Stories for the Holidays" as one of their recommended "Twelve Books of Christmas."
The Post said Savage has "the knack for evocative detail, and this series of short vignettes features some indelible images, such as the immigrant father who, insisting that nothing be wasted, forced his son to wear dead men's trousers."
On the air, Dr. Savage had an original idea that he believed might prevent another school shooting.
"Let's make sure there's an armed ex-policeman or ex-military security guard in every school in America," Savage suggested, and "pay for it with the union dues that are extorted from the union members" (FREE audio).
Sean Hannity
The Sandy Hook mass murder prompted Hannity to consider the overreaction of government and the media: "Now I'm not saying we shouldn't act, and act intelligently – but not rashly. What I've been hearing is mindless. You need a reasonable, thoughtful way if you want to prevent tragedies like this. I think liberals view this as their tipping point. And I think they're trying to help, but like the 'Great Society,' what they are going to try to implement is going to be problematic.
"It's hard to see fact through the fog or cloud of emotion," he added. "The fundamental flaw in our thinking here is that criminals will obey laws" (FREE audio).
Aaron Klein
Obama appears set to appoint Chuck Hagel to lead the Department of Defense, prompting Aaron Klein to reveal some problematic facts about Hagel's views on Israel and other foreign policy issues.
Klein challenged the first lady's assertion that voter suppression was a widespread problem in the latest election. He also revealed the president's ties to the radical Muslim Syrian opposition (FREE audio).
Mark Levin
President Obama travelled to Connecticut to memorialize the victim's of last week's shooting, but Mark Levin noticed something troubling about his speech (FREE audio): "There he is, in the middle of that little town … and he named four instances where there were, what, massacres? But he left one out. I immediately realized – and my brother emailed me too – what happened to Fort Hood?"
Levin continued, "Because, ladies and gentlemen, first of all, Fort Hood is a military enclave, it's a base. You can't have more control than that. [T]hey had all kinds of rules of who can carry weapons and who can't there. But, number three, it had nothing to do with gun control. It had everything to do with political correctness run amok, costing the lives of 13 human beings."

subset: commoncrawl


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WORCESTER, Mass. (courtesy Clark University sports information) – Visiting Brandeis University scored three first-half goals en route to a commanding 5-0 victory over host Clark University in non-league women's soccer action on Saturday evening.
Sophomore forward Dara Spital (Miami, Fla./Gulliver Prep), who scored the game-winner for the Judges in Friday night's season-opening win over MIT, continued the stellar start to her season with three assists, including a pair in the first half as Brandeis broke open the game with their three-goal outburst over a 12-minute span.
The Judges got on the board in the 21st minute when Kelly Peterson (Houston, Texas/Clear Lake) scored off of a feed from Alec Spivack (Miami, Fla./Miami Palmetto Senior).
Less than five minutes later Brandeis was at it again, this time as Spital set up Mary Shimko (Bay Village, Ohio/Lake Ridge Acad.) for the first of her two markers on the day.
The third goal of the first half came when Spital fed Holly Szafran (Newton, Mass./Newton North) for her first collegiate score at 32:18.
It took just 42 seconds into the second half for Szafran to collect an assist as she connected with Sapir Edalati (Great Neck, N.Y./Great Neck South), making the score 4-0.
The scoring wrapped up 3:03 later when Spital notched her third helper of the contest on Shimko's second tally of the contest. It was her first collegiate multi-goal game.
The Judges controlled the ball for most of the contest, launching 22 shots on the Clark goalkeeping duo of freshmen Gabby Paolini (North Potomac, Md.) and Corrie Desrosier (Shrewsbury, Mass.). Brandeis sophomore Michelle Savuto (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) made one save in the second half on the only shot on net for the Cougars.
Brandeis, now 2-0 on the season without having allowed a goal, will play host to Roger Williams on Wednesday, while Clark remains in Worcester to host Framingham State.


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This is Whispers, a play quilt I've made for my new cousin. I took it outside for some photos last week, and now it just needs a label, then I can send it off to England.
I chose again to use colouring to create a medallion-style effect from a standard block layout.
Can you pick what blocks I used?
It takes a while looking at it to spot the layout, which I like.
Quilts should encourage you to look deeper. One of the first things I do when looking at pieced quilts is to try and work out the blocks and how it was pieced; partly it's curiosity, partly I like the challenge!
One of my favourite parts is these modified log-cabin quarters I used as the setting triangles:
The fabrics, apart from the cream background, are from Michele D'Amore's 'Habitat' line for Benartex.
It was a lovely day, though since I took these photos it's been cold and wet again (this is good news; the weather patterns move from here across to the alpine areas and Falls Creek had over 20cm of snow today and is expecting up to 50cm tomorrow and more throughout the week - just what we want in the lead up to skiing!).
I mentioned when I was quilting this that on Simon's recommendation i used a gumleaf motif to reflect the ciolours fo the quilt, so I took a few photos with eucalyptus and the pale blue sky of a really hot (or somewhat cool in this case!) day:
Simon was right; the colours are spot-on!


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I have been planning my training around recovery, good nutrition and more recovery. So that's working. I haven't done the thousands of kilometers that everyone is doing in preparation for The Race. So, I should be fresh. But what's going to happen on the day?
If only I could know the answers...
Well, things changed a little after I spoke to Brian Ferris, a Grafton to Inverell veteran with 26 starts. As I expected, and in some way hoped, he had arranged for a few guys to meet and do a long ride. Three of them preparing for The Race.
I called Peter, who has done the big race twice (or more), the night before to see what he was doing. Yes, he was doing Brian's ride and he was also doing a longer, harder ride on Sunday...
- I'll see you tomorrow, Peter!!!
Wednesday came and the five of us left Zupps as the sun came up. And without much talk, we started our journey North. We headed towards Strathpine and Petrie, where we turned into Dayboro Road. This is a good stretch to get warmed up for the 7 km Mt Mee Rd climb to Ocean View (350 m) and beyond.
Mt Mee, as it is known, is another one of my favourites (Yes, I do have a few). At 5-6%, it gives the rider few alternatives on how you want to do it. Having the new shorter cranks, I chose to test them by riding out of the saddle for most of the climb (apparently a disadvantage of having shorter cranks). So, big chain ring and out of the saddle this time...
Then over Mt Mee Village, on a beautiful undulating road, climbing another 220 m. Down the other side on a fast descent and left on D'Aguilar Hwy. Through Woodford and Peachester, with a couple of efforts and another climb followed by a 12 km descent. Great riding all the way to Glass House Mountains Village for a snack.
The scenery was just breath taking as we rode trough forests and sighted some of the famous volcanic crags of the Glass House Mountains.
Distance: 200.5 km
Time: 6h 57min
Ascent: 2145 m
Just 190 km and 5.5 km from home! I could not stop so close to the 200 mark so a loop of the Jinker Track gave me the extra kilometers to reach that highest number ever...
Almost home...
Loosing a race
A couple 1 hours spins on the rollers (Thu & Fri) and the Club Road Race Championship was next. Well, that could be a long story but I will make it short and just give a little description of how to mess up a sprint.
The race was at Elimbah, a 17 km loop with 115 m of ascent, most of the groups having to do three laps. I started in a group of six which got disintegrated after 10 or 12 kms. Because of the strong wind, I tried to hold the group together for a while but someone had a different plan. I followed his move dropping the rest of the guys.
From there, it was matter of sharing the work as evenly as possible and making sure there was something left to react to an attack or for a sprint at the end. Very few words were said for the 40 something kilometers. The pace was identical for the three laps - 36 km/h. I thought I could push it to 38 but wasn't sure if I was able to drop my riding mate, he was the more experienced of the two.
The course profile and my HR
Before I knew it, we were in the final three kilometers. I started calculating how many short turns we would make each other take before the sprint. He gambled by taking a longer turn which persuaded me to overtake him with one kilometer to go.
Because of the terrain, I could not see the finish yet so I kept looking and increasing my speed. My time to gamble came with 300 m to the line...
HR, speed and elevation of the finish
But I forgot one thing: the wind. As I accelerated, I kept my line and protected my mate (the dark rider) all the way to the finish. Stupid mistake!
My impression
A different Zupps
Still feeling good on Sunday morning, I managed to leave on time to do the Zupps Ride, usually 90 km. Anything more than that would make me too tired for the rest of the day and for work.
After chatting to a friend for a while, we found ourselves strugling at the back of the 80 plus bunch, which became a bit messy with the increase in speed. I decided to move to the front and with the legs begging for a workout I decided to keep going and break away from the bunch.
The move turned into a real break as the group decided not to react at first. Then, one guy came across but he didn't last as I used him to take a rest and then speed away again. I was never going to succeed but I wanted to use it as a good work out by staying away for as long as I could.
And that was it, helped by a young rider called Sam, by a couple of traffic lights and a small crash in the chasing bunch, I stayed away for 12min 45sec or 9.2 km...
A great way to finish my week.
Week 10: 457.5km/16h12min


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I'm exploring the web to find sites I like
Playa de Arena Gorda, Punta Cana. Dominican Republic
nice vacation spot
Posted by: ryuicho on Jun 23, 2014
see all reviews
#23 of 80 Hotels in Punta Cana-Bavaro
based on 20 review(s)
Standing on the beach of Arena Gorda, the Hotel Riu Palace Punta Cana(all inclusive 24 hours) is surrounded by a garden of palm trees, where you can enjoy the very best in quality, service and luxury.
Share your experiences with others. Don't forget to send your review to Debbie by using an easy form.
Riu Palace Punta Cana
Posted by:
Tracy on Mar 14, 2011 >
1 contribution(s) Canada
Visited on: Mar, 2011 | Leisure | Family and Kids
1063 people found this review helpful
Recent visit to Riu Palace. (March 6-13) Fabulous staff,nice accommodations,very disappointed with pool(too small), food terrible. Had to constantly track down maid for towels that should have been left in room. Rooms were clean and staff very accommodating. All in all this hotel is about 3.5 star. Would not recommend for families. Kid's program almost non existing.
Room Number:
March 6-13,2011.
pedestrian at best
Riu Palace Punta Cana
Posted by: carl
on Mar 12, 2011 >
1 contribution(s) United States of America
Visited on: Mar, 2011 | Leisure | With Spouse/Partner
721 people found this review helpful
we were there 3/3-3/10/11 and would not go back. We have been to about 14 all inclusives and this is supposed to be a 5+gold apple. The truth is it might be considered a four apple without gold. The beach is fantastic and the pool area is very good, but we arrived and I told the woman at the front desk we were on our honey moon and was there any possibility to give us a good room. She said we would get a special room and not to worry. We arrived at our room which was a typical room, but it overlooked a construction sight. I went back to register my dismay and she said maybe tomorrow we would get a better room ( let me add that I had given her $5.00 when she initially said she had arranged a special room for us.)
The food is pedestrian at best. The buffet is the usual which I expected, but since they claim to have 5 gourmet restaurants we arranged to try them. The Krystal is the best and in truth it is very good, but the Brazillian restaurant is poor quality meat and we would have been better off going to the buffet. The Italian restaurant is ok, but not special, the Japanese restaurant is poor. The adds claim to have domestic and imported alcohol. There is some truth as they had stoli vodka, jack daniels black and vo, but not much else and the after dinner liquors were standard cheap house brands. The shows at night were what we expected and they worked hard to put on the shows. Even though this in an all-inclusive every one expected a tip and I gave out $1.00 to the waiters, maids etc. every time. There is a language problem, but I consider that minor. The room did smell musty and the room safe is not a key in number, but is a regular key which makes no sense for a hotel as new as this. I think I am generous in giving this a four apple rating and I can not believe apple rates this a a 5+ gold apple. Caveot emptor or let the buyer beware.
Room Number:
Can't wait to go back!!
Riu Palace Punta Cana
Posted by: Amanda
on Feb 1, 2011 >
1 contribution(s) Canada
Visited on: Jan, 2011 | Wedding | Family and Kids
752 people found this review helpful
I had a fantastic time & am anxious to go back as soon as I can! :)
Room Number:
We arrived at the airport on time, weather was beautiful but overcast at first. But the beauty of the place made up for that & it didn't take long for the sun to poke thru! :) Our travel package included transportation to and from the airport. We were with a group of 18 & had our own mini bus which was nice, air conditioned & we had more than enough room. I almost felt bad that we didn't bring more ppl from the airport b/c there were plenty of seats available.
We had to wait a while for our room ~ our travel agent neglected to mention check in was at 3pm and we arrived around 1pm. When we did get our rooms they did smell musty, but we were prewarned of this. Makes complete sense when you're in a tropical environment. I mean, let's be real about that one. My aunt was smart to bring air freshener so that helped. Our air conditioner worked very well, as did the ceiling fan. We left it on low with the fan on & it made a huge difference.
The cleaning staff were friendly & kept everything clean & tidy. There were no real 'specific' time they would come, but we didn't care b/c we knew it was GOING to be done & we didn't go to hang out in a hotel room anyway! We went to experience the land, beach & surroundings.
Our fridge was stocked up everyday, never out of anything. We used a lot of the bottled water b/c you can't drink the water there, but there was never a shortage of it handy. Anything we did need that wasn't there or needed more of, we put in a request and got it.
I brought my own pillow case b/c I was worried about the detergent they use & if my skin would react to it. I removed it everyday after waking up so it didn't get washed & I was glad I brought it.
Restaurants and Bars:
I had no problem with the food on the resort. The buffet was delicious & had a huge variety to choose from. The menus daily were pretty consistent but there were always a selection of different things to choose from. If people complain about the food being the 'same' they would likely be the same ppl who would complain about their favourites not being served more than once. You can't please everyone unfortunately. ;)
Our group at at most of the restaurants. I personally ate at the Steakhouse, Luigi (Italian) and the Bodaga restaurant (Brazillian). I enjoyed them all ~ but wished I had chosen a different item at the Italian restaurant. I had a pasta originally with shrimp in a cream sauce but I substituted the shrimp for chicken. It didn't have a lot of flavour to it, but I tried my cousin's stuffed chicken & it was phenomenal! I was craving pasta which is why I chose that. Had I known the little buffet they had in there had pasta I'd have chosen the other. There's a good variety at the little buffet. (sorry not sure the proper name of it)
The steakhouse was delicious & I LOVED the open atmosphere with the wind blowing thru. I ordered the chicken which was fantastic!!
The Brazillian was good as well.. I have never had so much meat in all my life, lol. I thought we got to choose from the selection, but what you read on the menu is what they serve you!! ALL of it. On top of the mini buffet.
We visited every bar, lol. The lobby bar was cozy & enjoyable, plenty of room to sit & they had the piano man playing in the evenings.
There was a bar in the entertainment lounge that was huge, some nights it took some time to get our orders from the waiters/waitresses but other nights they were right on the ball & fast. With so many ppl there it's understandable to have to wait. I ended up ordering two at a time with a glass of ice so I didn't have to wait 'between' drinks, lol. ;)
The pool bar was awesome.. full of spunky, friendly & fast staff. They played music & laughed with you, remembered you & your drinks. I loved them all.
Service on the beach & the common grounds was great with the number of ppl there. I was impressed how they remembered where everyone was sitting, especially on the beach! lol
Clean & Gorgeous!!! I LOVED taking in every aspect of this place. Every morning they had gardening staff out trimming the loose branches/twigs off the bushes. They used machetes which was extremely cool to watch & realize they did all of that beauty with a big blade, by hand.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
I personally only went on the shopping excursion which wasn't so much an 'excursion' rather than a shuttle bus, but it was nice to see more of the countryside & go to a local mall. Many of the stores were overpriced, but there were a TON of name brand stores so the real shopaholic would be in seventh heaven.
Some of our group did the snorkling excursion, parasailing & had a massage at the outdoor beach spa. No complaints from anyone.
Other Comments:
I cannot imagine anyone complaining about this place. Other than the musty smell that you probably wouldn't be used to ~ but again, should be expected in tropical climates. Bring some air freshener & your own pillow case (or pillow like my aunt did b/c she can't sleep without it) and it'll be fine!
We tipped a couple of US dollars a day to the cleaning staff & every once in a while to the wait staff/serving staff/bartenders b/c they really really did an outstanding job. I personally would have tipped them everytime but my funds didn't allow for it. I LOVED my experience and am already planning another one as soon as possible.
I met the entertainment staff who were friendly, outgoing, hilarious & easy on the eyes, lol. They are forever in my heart making my experience that much better.
As mentioned in the beginning, we went for a wedding. My aunt got married. It was incredibly beautiful & an experience I'll never forget. The pictures she had taken were some of the best I've seen. The only complaint I heard from my aunt about the wedding being there was having to be involved in some of the planning taking her time from the beach!! lol
Nice ground but smelly
Riu Palace Punta Cana
Posted by:
frank on Jan 16, 2011 >
1 contribution(s) United States of America
Visited on: Jan, 2011 | Leisure | With Spouse/Partner
698 people found this review helpful
I was quite dissapointed in this resort. Although it was very nice to look it our room smelled like mold. It looked clean, but something wasn't right. Being that it is winter here I wore a coat, and I have tried everyting and cannot get the smell out.I only wore a third of the things I took but everything had to be washed. The pillows smelled like old shoes, I couldn't even sleep on them. There are no non smoking room, and every morning I could smell smoke coming through the vents. I have stayed at other hotels where they allow smoking and I don't recall having this problem. If you like to gamble this is not the place to stay, my basement is larger than there casino. We went to the Hard Rock $40.00 for taxi, but the place was beautiful. I would stay there if I went back. I was also surprised that they didn't give us any survey to fill out. ( I guess I know why). Anyway it was beautiful to look at, if you can get past the smell.
Room Number:
no delays came in on time. Everyone is trying to sell you time shares. We had transportation which was there on time. We were told it is $175.00 from the airport to the hotel if we didn't.
Nice to look at they smelled. They need some upgrading.
Restaurants and Bars:
Reminded me of the buffets on a cruise. Other restaurants were ok, nothing to get excited about. Everytime I asked for a drink that they didn't know how to make they put a banana in it. I found this quite amusing.
Very nice to look at, they could use some new covers for their chairs, the towels were always damp, and sometimes they didn't even look clean.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
We did not take advantage of these
Other Comments:
If you can handle staying somewhere smelly go for it. The people were very nice, However it's not for me.
wonderful relaxing vacation
Riu Palace Punta Cana
Posted by:
denise on Oct 25, 2010 >
1 contribution(s) United States of America
Visited on: Oct, 2010 | Leisure | With Group
775 people found this review helpful
I have one question for the person who told us rui palace punta cana is not worth your money - stayed april 2010. Did you write up the review you did to ensure they would always be able to accommodate you? I have stayed at this resort four times in the past three years. I have gone to the Domincian 7 times total in the past six years. While there are issues at the rui palace they are not specific to the rui but to be expected at any resort in the Caribbean.
The staff at the Rui Palace Punta Cana is very willing to accommodate people's individual needs. The is a large amount of staff at the front desk, so if you have to wait it is not long.
Rooms are large with everything you could expect. wet bar, safe, iron, jet tub, hair dryer, laundry service. maid service twice a day. wet bar service once a day and by calling.
Restaurants and Bars:
Staff is very willing to meet your needs and are willing to help with special requests. restaurants are clean and comfortable. tables are spaced nicely apart from each other. staff is very willing to pull things together to accommodate large parties.
GREAT - could not ask for more. plenty of chairs, clean, shade with trees and umbrellas. as much sun as you want. drink servers are always available.
We LOVED the Palace!!!
Riu Palace Punta Cana
Posted by:
Janine on Aug 12, 2010 >
1 contribution(s) United States of America
Visited on: Mar, 2010 | Leisure | Family and Kids
775 people found this review helpful
We stayed at the RIU Palace March 8-15, and cannot say enough good things about this place. We have stayed at the Palace before, in Riviera Maya, and while we loved that one too this is the one we will go back to! I honestly cannot undestand any of the negative reviews I have seen posted!
Luckily we had been pre-warned by our friends who had been to Punta Cana before about the airport situation. While it was fairly seamless, DO NOT put your bag down. If you do, you run the risk of people who are not really airport workers picking it up and carrying it for you – then expecting a tip. Once we walked through that crowd of men at the bottom of the ramp, we found our tour company easily and were pointed straight to our bus that took us to the hotel. It was about a 35 minute drive.
Check in was very fast. We arrived around 1:30 and were ushered straight to our room, but not before we were given a mango margarita, which was tasty!
Rooms: We were given Room 1162, which faced the fountains and was right in the middle of the hotel. We paid a little extra per person when we booked the trip to make sure we weren't facing the back of the hotel, like we did in Mexico. If you want a nice view, it's worth it. (The back of the hotel faces construction basically.) Yes, the room smells a little musty when you walk in, but you are in the tropics where it is damp, so what can you expect? By the second day, you can't even smell it anymore. I do however; suggest packing some fabric softener sheets in your luggage to keep it from picking up that musty scent. I put it in the drawers and left some in my luggage which helped alleviate that problem.
When we walked into our room, we noticed it had two queen sized beds, but before we could ask where our 8 yr old daughter would sleep, they were back in the room with a cot for her.
Each room had the typical RIU mini-bar and stocked fridge. We told housekeeping on the first day to keep the beer coming and gave her a tip – needless to say – she made sure my husband had extra beer everyday.
The air conditioning worked the entire time that we were there, and kept the room nice and cold!
Restaurants and Bars:
Restaurants: While it is true that people line up before 8am to get their seating choice in the ala carte restaurants, it's slightly unnecessary. I would stroll over there around 9 and there was no line and never really problem getting a seating time. That said though, we did only try two of the ala cartes while we were there, because we were with my 8 year old daughter. The menus for each place were good, but with only 5 or so entrée choices, it was dicey when it came to her.
Breakfast: I am not normally a breakfast eater, but the buffet there was excellent. They have so many different items to choose from that you couldn't go wrong.
Lunch: This was my least favorite meal of the day. Nothing spectacular-burgers, nachos, pizza, lamb chops, some kind of beef stew, etc. The salad bar wasn't anything great either. I will say that one day they had Paella and that was outstanding. If only they had that everyday!
Dinner: I will say that the Italian restaurant was outstanding (and I come from a hard core Italian family). Their food rivaled anything I have had in NJ/NYC. They had a hot and cold antipasto bar that was excellent. It's hard to find a place that cooks calamari correctly, but they did! The only slight disappointment I encountered was the steakhouse. Their food was alright, but if you are in the mood for a big juicy steak, you will be disappointed. I had the rack of lamb and had no complaints on that. When I go back there though, I will avoid the steakhouse. Everyone else raved about the gourmet restaurant and said the Chilean Sea Bass was outstanding. I heard the Japanese steakhouse was decent.
Most nights, again due to our daughter, we ate at the buffet and were never disappointed. They have different food every night, with theme nights 4x a week. We missed the first "Dominican Night" when we arrived (unfortunately we were at the steakhouse) but heard all about the giant lobsters they were serving. We did make DN later in the week and they had sea bass that night, which was excellent. If anyone tells you the buffet isn't fantastic, then I don't know what they possibly could have eaten there. The selection is wonderful!
Beach/Pool: I do suggest getting down there early and getting your towels. Most people would set theirs up on the pool chairs, but I didn't bother with that. I headed straight for the beach loungers each morning and picked our spot. Not that you would have a hard time finding a chair, but we wanted to sit close to the water, yet near the smaller palm trees. The beach is a little crowded, but it didn't bother us. There is drink service. We learned years ago to bring big insulated cups with us, and have them filled at the pool bar on the way to the beach. The waiters would get us refills in them though, if we asked.
Each day around 4, we would go up to the pool to unwind a little more before dinner. It's a really nice sized pool, and the pool bar is great. By the way, if you throw them a few dollars in the morning, they will remember that and make you some strong drinks all day long! There is entertainment at the pool during the day, as well as games. We chose to return to a RIU Palace because they have a no spring breakers policy, and while there are families there, it is not over-run by screaming kids, like I have witnessed at other hotels.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
Activities off-site: This is the only bad spot on our trip. We signed up for the quad adventure, and are sorry that we did! Other tours had 25 or so people on them…ours had the 3 of us and a tour guide…NOT GOOD! For $180, we were driven in the middle of nowhere through a shanty town, where he would stop every few minutes in an effort to get us to buy things from the locals who would have a stand set up in the middle of nowhere. My husband is a BIG guy (and a cop) and we didn't feel safe at all. We were consistently harassed throughout the tour, and treated poorly if we chose not to buy their wares. After that harassment, we flat out refused to even look at what they had. It was absolutely ridiculous. I can't forget to mention that I got to ride through a garbage dump, and the guide, who obviously had no knowledge of quads, got himself stuck in the mud in the middle of nowhere. Some farmer had to come along with a tow-rope to pull him out. When he did, they got into a nice little argument because he wanted money for that. It was absolutely ridiculous. We were going to go on the catamaran/ snorkeling adventure, and really wish we had. That will be our choice next time, for sure!!
Other Comments:
Staff: The people that work for this resort are top notch and all work their tails off! The waiters at the buffet spoiled my daughter all week long. They decorated our table with flowers each morning and night, all made it a point to come speak and joke with her, and hung up the pictures she drew for them. If you go to the buffet, ask for Marino. He is far and away the best employee they have there!
We went to the plaza each night and were treated like gold by the outside manager, Alejandro. He would have a table for us, no matter how crowded it was, and always had our drinks ready for us.
*One thing I need to say here is to PLEASE tip the staff!!! I could not believe how many people I saw who didn't do that all week long! I know it's all-inclusive, but these people work HARD. A few dollars goes a long way for them – and they are unbelievably grateful when you do.
Nightlife: As I said, each night we would go sit in the plaza for some drinks, music and a show. It's really a great, laid back atmosphere. The bands would play at night, and many people would get up and dance. It's a good chance to show your skills if you take a dance lesson at the beach during the day.
Twice a week they bring the vendors in. If they give you a price, go at least half of what they are asking. You can always shop and barter at Caribbean street too. No matter where you buy from, they all have the same stuff.
The nightly shows were pretty good. They have Grease, Las Vegas Night, a Michael Jackson impersonator, Latin dance shows, and a magic show. If you're expecting a Broadway production, try to remember that you're on vacation. I personally thought they were pretty good. Everything wraps up there around 12am, but there are bars inside the hotel and a disco at one of the other RIU's as well as a casino. Be forewarned about the casino, I heard nothing good about it.
Other comments: Aside from the tour disaster, we had a fantastic week at the RIU and are already planning our return trip for next year. I highly recommend this resort, especially if you are looking to just relax and enjoy the sun!
Absolute Nightmare - don't waste your money
Riu Palace Punta Cana
Posted by: Nick
on May 31, 2010 >
1 contribution(s) United States of America
Visited on: Apr, 2010 | Leisure | With Spouse/Partner
790 people found this review helpful
My wife and I stayed at the Punta Cana Palace from April 24 to May 1, 2010. We have visited all-inclusive resorts in the past, but this was our first visit to one of the Riu properties. Prior to arrival, we anxiously awaited a truly memorable holiday; when all was said and done, it was definitely memorable, but not for the right reasons.
Do you remember being a child and really wanting the latest new toy for Christmas? You told your parents how much you wanted it; you dropped hints about how much it would enhance your quality of life. Maybe you even ripped pictures out of the catalogs and left them out where your parents had to see them. When Christmas morning rolled around, you were convinced that all of your hard work would pay off. Once your presents were opened, however, you found you got nothing but socks and underwear.
Our trip to the RIU was like getting socks and underwear.
Before I get bogged down by our concerns, I'd like to touch upon what we really enjoyed during our stay. Visually, the property looks amazing – very palatial. Upon arrival, we both felt a sense of satisfaction hearing the other guest on our transfer bus speak about how jealous they were that we got to stay there. The designers have definitely mastered the art of creating a great first impression. The lobby is literally breathtaking, from the replicas of paintings and sculptures to the stained glass ceiling.
However, much like a Hollywood movie set, this was merely a façade – once you got past that first impression, there was nothing left to see. By the end of our trip, we were the ones jealous of those staying at the other resorts because, surely, they had a better stay than we did.
As I mentioned previously, we had never stayed at one of these properties, but our travel agent raved about what a phenomenal trip she had there. We had seen their properties on other vacations and decided that we deserved to be pampered, so we booked our holiday at the Palace.
We are both savvy travelers and immediately jumped online to check out some of the reviews from recent travelers. My heart sank as I read time and again how miserable people had been while staying there. People complained about the food, about how rude the employees were and about the conditions in the rooms. Surely, this could not be the same resort we had heard about. After digging further, we realized that some were confusing the two Palace resorts with each other. For the next 4 months, every time we read a bad review, we attributed it to the Palace Macao and all good reviews were about the new Palace. We were ready to be blown away.
Apparently, they were talking about the proper Palace all along…
Your Arrival:
Traveled with Apple Vacations - flight was fine, but when once we arrived at the airport and took our luggage to the parking lot, they had no idea where our van was. Our attendant had us walk through the sweltering heat for almost 30 minutes before he finally just stopped and told us to wait, so he could figure out what was going on. Ten minutes later, he came back and escorted us to a tiny minivan where we were crammed in with 5 other people. How luxurious was it? There wasn't even enough room for the luggage; I had to keep my bag in my lap for the 30 minute ride to the hotel. How much money did we spend for this?!?
For starters, the A/C only worked occasionally. I realize that because of the local climate, you can expect some humidity, but you should have some control over the rooms themselves. I hung some clothes up on our first day and by the time I put them on towards the end of the week, they were damp – how is that luxury? And having to huddle directly under the ceiling fan to get any relief in the room was ridiculous. The A/C did work sometimes, so we knew it was functioning, just not very well…
The overall appearance of the room left much to be desired as well. For starters, the moisture was creating rust on the appliances (light fixtures, wall sconces, drawer handles, etc) which just took away from any feeling of "luxury". The bed was hard as a rock and the bathtub leaked all over the bathroom floor. We were finally able to figure out how to control the bathtub, but it meant we had to sacrifice one of our towels to control where the water was leaking from every day.
While in the "comfort" of our own room, we assumed we might be able to watch some television to relax. Yet another wrong assumption. Out of the 100+ stations the satellite service offered, only about 10 were in English. And the reception was so poor, you could only watch it for about an hour before you started to get dizzy and couldn't watch anymore. Initially, I thought it might just be our television, but when I checked the bar, I could see that the reception was just as distorted. I understand that the resort is trying to cater to an international clientele, but the fact that they can't provide quality reception is totally unacceptable.
During those moments we decided to relax in our hot, damp rooms watching television programs we couldn't understand, we were constantly interrupted by various employees of the hotel. Maid service is totally unreliable. Our sheets weren't changed once during the entire week (we saw the same stain every time we pulled the blanket back). We had a couple of days that they never came by at all. And you could never count on any regular time. With most hotels, if you leave for the day, you know that by the time you come back, the room will have been handled; that was not the case here. A few times, we came back to the room around 4:30 or 5 and it hadn't been completed yet. (And yes, we were tipping them every day, so that shouldn't have been an issue…)
I'm sure you may be saying by now "if the 'do not disturb' sign was out, they would have stayed away." However, we never got a 'Do Not Disturb" sign. We asked for one 4 times (2x with the front desk and 2x from housekeeping) and one was never brought to us. I can't speak for all of the guests, but some of like a little privacy. Having the maids knock while they're unlocking the door doesn't really allow you a chance to get dressed or anything. The last night we were there, I had to put out a handwritten "Do Not Disturb" sign on the doorknob… and they still walked in!
Restaurants and Bars:
My wife and I are both huge foodies. We love trying new dishes and exploring what local cuisines have to offer. The chefs at the RIU, however, seemed so focused on pleasing everyone, that they let all of us down in the process. I understand that with such an international clientele, it must be difficult to make everyone happy, but the food was so bland and unappealing that it just turned us away time and again.
At the buffet, most of the items were not labeled, so it was difficult to determine what was what. It was like a culinary Russian Roulette. Even the salad bar was beyond basic – the dressings had no flavor and what few vegetables they had were all soggy. I realize that the humidity adds to the overall sogginess, but there are dozens of other resorts in the Caribbean that can counter it – why can't RIU?
Flavors aside, the "variety" was a let-down as well. Every breakfast and lunch, the same dishes were rolled out – watery eggs, overcooked pancakes and undercooked bacon. After a while, every dish seemed to look alike.
And the problems weren't limited just to the main Dining Room. Even when we tried the ala carte restaurants, the results were underwhelming. One night we visited the Italian Restaurant – Italian food is a personal favorite – and it was horrible. I ordered a sea bass in some type of cream sauce and what I received was 2 fish sticks in a bowl of melted butter. That's high class dining?
We also visited the Japanese restaurant one night. At first we had high hopes, because it looked nice (again, appearance is the only high point) and the sashimi appetizer was pretty tasty. However, before the end of the meal, 3 tables in the dining room (mine included) had to leave because we all felt sick. I guess we shouldn't have had the shrimp…
By the way, the fact that the "24-hour room service" only provides salad, a club sandwich and nachos, doesn't really count as an alternative dining option.
Another issue with the common areas was the fact that so many visitors were allowed to just walk onsite. We were constantly harassed by tour operators at the pool and on the beach. People kept trying to sell us everything under the sun and if you turned them down, you risked having an unfortunate argument on your hands. My wife and I witnessed a tour operator dealing with a couple by the pool area. When they said they weren't interested, he kept nagging them. Eventually, it got to the point where he was accusing them of taking money from his kids by not purchasing his tours. He even used this line: "You're obviously rich, you can afford to stay here! Shouldn't I have the chance to get rich? You have to give me money so I can take care of my kids!"
Then, on the way to dinner, we had to run the gauntlet of vendors and various people trying to sell more junk to us. I heard a few guests express similar frustrations as ours. Isn't that why the shops are located nearby? If we want something, we can go there. Don't the guests deserve some level of respect? We are, after all, the ones paying to stay there.
Other Comments:
Taken individually, these events would have been easy for us to accept. We know sometimes that "things just happen". When they all happen at once, though, it's no longer just a minor inconvenience. It was a 7-day nightmare and a tremendous waste of money as well as our valuable time. What was supposed to be a stress-free vacation was one of the most agonizing weeks of my life.
Visit the Grand Palace at your own risk.
Excellent service
Riu Palace Punta Cana
Posted by:
Vince on May 16, 2010 >
1 contribution(s) Canada
Visited on: May, 2010 | Leisure | With Spouse/Partner
741 people found this review helpful
The resort has a luxurious look from the entrance out front to the lobby and beyond.The best service we have recieved at an all inclusive in ten years.If you are a reasonable person take any bad review with a healthy dose of skepticism.The level of service far exceeds the price for the resort.We love the design of the Riu Palace resorts.The square to enjoy drinks and listen to the entertainment provides a cozy atmosphere at night.We stayed at the Macao a few years ago and enjoyed it and this resort is improved in comparison.If there is anything to complain about it is that the tropical sun has weather beaten parts of the buildings roof and fountains, but they are still wonderful to look at.
Your Arrival:
Check in was quick, we had a short wait for room and off for something to eat.
Room is quiet, firm mattress, we had third floor court yard fountain view.Air conditioning is good with vents in bathroom and shower!It was not the biggest room we have ever had but well appointed and everthing from the lamps to the tv,mini fridge and bar worked well.Two tier floor design is nice touch.
Restaurants and Bars:
The lobby and entertainment bars are beautiful in design and service is quick.Sports bar is great place to run and check your favourite teams progress or demise while your wife shops across the hall.It is also 24 hour service and snacks which is great if you leave early for a trip before restaurant opens in morning.The Krystal is the best restaurant, fusion gourmet.Italian has best antipasti bar as usual.If you are a serious carnivore the Brazilian is for you, most of the women won't get past the first couple of portions though.
If you have never been here the beach is great, white sand breezy, and no fighting for chairs at this resort.Clientele is a little more classy they won't show up at five in the morning to tie ten chairs together with towels.The grounds are immaculately kept,tall palms reach up to third floor level.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
Typical caribbean dance lessons, scuba in pool.The spa has all inclusive steam, sauna and european jacuzzi.
Other Comments:
If you are a prude the beach and pool area will shock you.Great for couples on romantic getaway.
As much as I'd like to say otherwise, but most of the reviews about the food are correct... It's terrible. As in REALLY bad- read below
Riu Palace Punta Cana
Posted by:
Adam on Mar 29, 2010 >
1 contribution(s) United States of America
Visited on: Mar, 2010 | Leisure | With Spouse/Partner
718 people found this review helpful
Your Arrival:
Un eventful. We took a taxi as the bus from our booking service (Apple Vacations) was slow and packed. Got to the resort VERY quick thanks to the Dominican version of Mario Andretti. Ended up paying $35 and well work the $$$ for the fast service and adrenaline rush of a white knuckled ride.
Not quite 5 star in my opinion but didn't experience the musty atmosphere as others have. It was adequate and room service staff was OK. No theft, which is nice. We locked everything up in the safe. I would give it a 3+ star rating.
Restaurants and Bars:
Disappointing... We expected the cuisine at a 5 star resort to be a highlight in our vacation. We were ready to leave after 7 days to eat some "people food". Due to the nature of all-inclusive, we were held captive and subjected to some of the worst meals I've had the displeasure of enduring. (Some worse than my time in the Marines)
In speaking with patrons of other resorts, the island has a problem sourcing quality meats and other foods. Combine that with the fact that yesterday's custodian is cooking tonight's main course and you get the picture. Although the buffet looked presentable, I had to stick to about 3-4 things that seemed edible. The breads and desserts must have been professionally prepared and shipped in from off-site as they were good. Not great, but pretty good.
The breakfast was a disappointment. I was hoping to satisfy my hunger with an omelet that looked amazing on the outside, only to be disappointed with raw egg on the inside. Great way to start your day...
No option for other, non-buffet restaurants for Breakfast and Lunch. You're stuck with a buffet. Enjoy…
The dinner restaurants were just OK. Some were more edible than others. Japanese menu seemed to be the most palatable of the 5.
Skip the Crystal room- the chef couldn't burn toast to save his life.
The Brazilian steakhouse was interesting: you get a diverse menu with plenty of options, but it's purely for decoration as they don't take an order. In Fogo-de-chao fashion, they bring a skewer of meats around to each guest; I can only assume its cat, rat, stray dog or other exotic mammals as it didn't taste at all familiar. Even the chicken didn't taste like chicken... The meats were dry, bland, cooked too slowly and weren't trimmed and cut properly. Skip it.
The other restaurants weren't better or much worse and completely forgettable.
A quick note about the bars: The barkeepers are friendly, but almost uninterested in mixing up a watered down excuse for a drink without a tip. If you slip them a couple bucks early on, the service is quite good. But, the choice of booze is on par with the spring break resorts in Mexico; bad booze with an aftertaste similar to that of rubbing alcohol. I'm sure this does the trick for somebody in thier late teens/early 20's, but if you appreciate a good drink with top-shelf liquour, you're barking up the wrong tree.
If your palate can't discriminate between Kibbles-N-Bits and a Filet Mignon, please disregard the above rant. You'll enjoy the cuisine experience.
Great beach! Water was perfect and the sand was white and soft. There is a reef off the coast a bit which really cut the hieght of the waves, which is good for kids and relaxing near the shore.
The pool was great too. Very warm water. But, tile was missing allover as well as some stool-tops on the swim up bar. The pool needed a bit of renovation as well as a filter change but didn't stop us from enjoying the festivities. You'll have to turn a blind eye to the taste of suntan lotion in the water. No resort in the world gets rid of this.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
The resort itself didn't have that much of a night life. They had a Dominican band most nights but they stopped around 9. There was a broadway-type show at the theater which was amusing. Only one or 2 bars in the place were open past 10.
The water activities are amazing- Scuba diving is great even with a stronger than average underwater current. I really enjoyed it.
We also did a zip-line canopy tour, I'd highly recommend! It was fantastic and the guys there know how to have a good time. If you choose to do any of the off or on-site activities, do NOT book online as you can negotiage for far less once you're down there.
Riu Palace Punta Cana
Posted by:
John Kenneth on Feb 8, 2010 >
1 contribution(s) Canada
Visited on: Feb, 2010 | Leisure | Family and Kids
636 people found this review helpful
Smelly.Room had an odor but clean.After one week you got use to the smell whatever it was.When we got home that odor was in our clothes(clean ones never worn and dirty ones),my luggage may need to be thrown out along with some clothes.We will never recomend the riu palace punta cana to anyone and if your thinking on going there DONT.
Your Arrival:
Smelly but looked clean
Restaurants and Bars:
restaurants O.K. bars only saw 2.One at the pool and the little lobby bar.
Beach beautifull,pool nice,grounds neat.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
did not see much
Other Comments:
Highly overated.I give it a 2 or 3 star tops


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Customer Success Story: Extole "Likes" SendGrid's Deliverablity Expertise and ISP Mediation SolutionsCarly Brantz
Extole is the leading provider of social engagement applications that drive measurable results on and off Facebook for leading brands and agencies. Extole uses email to drive customers to the point of sale while generating positive social recommendations using their Refer-A-Friend solution. To support its business model, Extole built and managed its own in-house, proprietary email system, but as their business grew and demands increased, their system lacked key functionality to properly track and manage their email streams.
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Read the entire case study to learn more about how Extole uses SendGrid and to find out what Extole's Senior Director of Customer Success, Mike Stocker had to say about the benefits they received by switching to SendGrid.


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07.23.2009 | By Jack Rico | No Comments">No Comments
Rated: R for disturbing violent content, some sexuality and language.
Release Date: 2009-07-24
Starring: David Johnson, Alex Mace
Film Genre:
Country: USA
Official Website: http://orphan-movie.warnerbros.com/
Go to our film page
Spanish helmer Jaume Collet-Serra begins 'Orphan' like your usual thriller, with scare alerts and false alarms, but it then becomes savagely violent and because it's source is an innocent child, that savagery is heightened to a surreal peak that makes one twitch and uncomfortable. The first hour is a pure frightful delight, but it's second half discombobulates into a typical, laughable yet unpredictable Hollywood fare.
So you have an idea of the story, some have compared this film to 'The Good Son' starring Macaulay Culkin, but the similarities stop at the first half. 'Orphan' is the mother load of all evil child movies. It's sick and beyond anything you'd expect. The script has parts where it is absurd and ridiculous, but what about 'Friday the 13th' and 'Nightmare on Elm Street' movies and we all love it, don't we? Orphan is actually better than those films. The first half is as good as any suspense movie as I've seen since The Strangers, regrettably the rest of the film cannot be defended. What it could have been.
In this premise, the tragic loss of a couples' (Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard) unborn child has devastated them. It has taken a toll on both their marriage and Kate's fragile psyche as she is plagued by nightmares and haunted by demons from her past. Struggling to regain some semblance of normalcy in their lives, the couple decides to adopt young 10 year old girl. At the local orphanage, both John and Kate find themselves strangely drawn to a young girl named Esther. Almost as soon as they welcome Esther into their home, however, an alarming series of events begins to unfold, leading Kate to believe that there's something wrong with Esther – this seemingly angelic little girl is not what she appears to be. Concerned for the safety of her family, Kate tries to get John and others to see past Esther's sweet facade.
Director Jaume Collet-Serra is known in the circles for making the horror remake 'House of Wax' co-starring one rich and young Paris Hilton. This is by far a better offering than the aforementioned. The protagonists Peter Sarsgaard and Vera Farmiga are well-cast in the role, however, the manner in which the movie handles the other children, Daniel and Max, are perturbing. The film uses them as pawns in a demented game of danger and peril.
The climax is rather startling, combining the logic of the situation with audacity in exploiting its terror. Yet you have to hand it to 'Orphan.' You want a good horror film about a child from hell, you got one. This film is not for minors and I say this with all frankness, do not take children to see it. You'll thank me for it later.


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Titan Quest: Ragnarok expansion released!
Holy crap! Talk about a surprise for the holidays!
THQNordic (who got the leftover properties after Iron Lore was dissolved and THQ went bankrupt) announced a renewed development on the original Titan Quest and it's expansion, Immortal Throne back in 2016. Those of us who love the game were treated to new graphical updates and tweaks, gameplay fixes, tweaked and fixed spells, and loads more including WORKING MULTIPLAYER years after the original Gamespy system went offline.
Well unbeknownst to me (and apparently lots of other fans), THQNordic have been working on a surprise! A BRAND NEW EXPANSION! Yesterday, Titan Quest: Ragnarok was released upon the land and it's going to be one hell of a great Christmas for a lot of us loyal fans of the game! A completely new expansion with a new landscape, new quests, new rewards, and more!
They're celebrating by discounting the expansion 25% off this weekend on Steam!
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About Private Wealth Management
Baird Financial Advisors serve as true partners to families and individuals across the United States. We have access to award-winning research and dedicated financial and estate planning experts who can help address all aspects of your complete financial picture. And being employee-owned and independent makes us different from many other firms. We're free to offer advice that is solely in your best interests – without worrying about outside shareholders.
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|Gay Asian Amateurs
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Thứ Hai, 20 tháng 7, 2015
ANZAMEMS 2015 - Medieval Conference in Australia
Kiera Naylor collected the tweets from the Australian and New Zealand Medieval Association for Medieval and Early Modern Studies conference at University of Queensland in Brisbane. The conference was held from July 14-18, 2015.
Could the Vikings slay cancer? - Medieval News Roundup
Our latest medieval news roundup takes a look at cancer research in Iceland, a new Byzantine research centre in Turkey, and the discovery of the remains of a boy in Siberia who lived back in the 12th century.
|Photo credit: Yamalo-Nenets regional Museum and Exhibition Complex
Thứ Hai, 13 tháng 7, 2015
Thứ Tư, 1 tháng 7, 2015
What's being found, what's being restored - Medieval News Roundup
Recent news for medievalists, including the restoration of a 15th-century manuscript, and the discovery of a Norman castle. And check out the great video from the people behind Just for Laughs Gags:
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I am working on our textbook today and writing a chapter about one of my favourite topics – the Phillips curve – which describes a relationship between some measure of inflation (wage, price) and some measure of excess supply of labour (usually the unemployment rate). I wrote my PhD about the Phillips curve developing models which demonstrated the inadequacy of the mainstream macroeconomics take on the subject. Today I read a strange tale in the UK Guardian – ONS inflation slip-up leaves millions out of pocket – which has some relevance to the chapter I am working on at present. The point is that if you believe the mainstream neo-liberal economic theories that are forced onto students in our universities around the world then you might expect a massive drop in the UK unemployment rate right now. Why? Read on.
In going back through my notes and documents on the topic, I was reminded of few paragraphs in Lester Thurow's marvellous little book (1983) – Dangerous Currents – (now out of print) (pages 184-85):
If Newton and his contemporaries had behaved as the economics profession is now behaving and had access to the modern computer, it is likely that the law of gravity would never have been discovered. In Newton's day, deviant celestial observations were made that did not fit into the existing epicycle theory of heavenly motion, but each such observation could be and was explained with an addition of another epicycle to the system. Given enough epicycles, all patterns were theoretically explainable. Eventually, however, the computational difficulties forced Newton to rethink the existing theory to obtain a simpler set of results based on gravity. But with the modern computer Newton would never have been forced to look for anything new. The computer would have made short work of the necessary geometric computations, making a new theoretical approach seemingly unnecessary.
Like "deviant" celestial motion at the time of Newton, deviant observations in the labor market keep being reported. But each was and still can be made consistent with the orthodox theory. Usually some market imperfection is hypothesized, and as we shall see, each is posited ad hoc and after the fact. At some point it becomes necessary to examine the weight of the evidence to see the extent to which the labor market is or is not working in accordance with the theories of the equilibrium price-auction model. And if it is not, to develop new micro-economic approaches.
Keep that quote in mind.
Please read my blog – Money neutrality – another ideological contrivance by the conservatives and Islands in the sun … – for background discussion to today's blog.
The Phillips curve is in the area of macroeconomics that focuses on inflation and unemployment. It has been a major arena for fighting out the battle relating to the usefulness of aggregate demand management (fiscal and monetary policy) in reducing unemployment to some irreducible minimum.
The Phillips curve in its various guises promotes a relationship between these macroeconomic aggregates (inflation and unemployment) and raises the question of the existence and nature of a trade-off between nominal and real economic outcomes. Prices are nominal aggregates whereas unemployment is a real variable.
The Phillips in the "curve" is A.W. Phillips who in his now famous 1958 Economica publication established a relationship between nominal (that is, money) wages growth and the unemployment rate. By 1960 (Samuelson and Solow) this relationship was discussed in terms of a trade-off between price inflation and the unemployment rate.
The original curve was drawn something like this:
So there was an inverse relationship found by Phillips. This relationship was understood way before Phillips published his paper and it is an interesting discussion as to why it was his version that became the most well-known. But that is beyond this blog (I covered this in my PhD and also in our 2008 book – Full Employment abandoned.
The reasoning was pretty simplistic. If the government currently inherits point A (with some inflation and some unemployment) but desires for political reasons to reduce the unemployment rate they can do so by increasing aggregate demand (that is, increasing their net spending or reducing interest rates).
As the economy improves – the labour market tightens and workers are able to bid up money wages (the actual wages they take home in dollar bill terms or direct debits).
Firms were considered to have fixed markups over costs, so the stronger demand in the labour market pushes up prices in the goods market. The inflation rate increases as the economy moves from A to B on the "curve". There is a lot more to it than that – why is the curve shaped in a convex way? What is the exact adjustment path between A and B? etc. But these are all complications that we can ignore here.
The point was that there was a perceived "trade-off" between in inflation and unemployment which policy makers could exploit. A whole industry of bright young minds went into modelling this relationship and coming up with "socially optimal inflation-unemployment" mixes.
Note: that the concept of an irreducible unemployment rate does not mean zero unemployment. There will always be people moving between jobs and firms looking for workers to fill newly created vacancies.
The unemployment associated with these movements is referred to as frictional and was considered to be around 2 per cent of the labour force. Hence the old benchmark was that full employment meant a 2 per cent unemployment rate.
I remember when I started to estimate these relationships for my PhD, my then supervisor (at Manchester University, UK) said that I would be trapped in the Phillips Curve industry for the rest of my days (as a joke). I did eventually escape but only just and my next Phillips curve is always just around the corner. In fact, we are working on a new model that incorporates underemployment.
So that seemed to be settled though. It fitted with the Keynesian framework which explained fluctuations in output and employment in terms of aggregate demand (spending) variations and considered unemployment to be the result of deficient demand.
The debate centred on how flat the Phillips curve was – so how much inflation would occur as you drove the economy to full employment. The extreme position was the "reverse-L" models of aggregate supply which considered the Phillips curve to be a right-angle.
This was considered to be consistent with the leading thinking on inflation at the time characterised by the concept of an inflationary gap. This gap was measured by the excess of nominal aggregate spending above the "full capacity" level of output (and spending necessary to support that output level).
Up to full employment (or full capacity), firms react to increased demand by increasing output and employment (and unemployment falls – ignoring participation rate changes which even out once a particular level of activity is reached). They do not seek to increase prices because they would endanger their market share.
Arthur Okun also talked about catalogue pricing where firms with relatively stable costs project a price for the period that their current catalogue is valid. They are dis-inclined to change the prices because customers would see it as a breach of faith (in the announced prices in the catalogue) and with millions of product lines price adjustment becomes expensive (changing labels, etc).
However, once the economy is at full capacity, firms can no longer increase real output and so respond to increasing aggregate spending by increasing prices.
So the economy shifts from being a quantity-adjuster to a price-adjuster in the face of nominal demand variations. In this context, the Phillips curve is very flat if not dead flat up until full employment.
The other key point was that unemployment above the frictional level was considered to be involuntary and thus beyond the control of the individual workers to improve their own circumstances.
Mass unemployment was seen in terms of demand deficiency – that is, a systemic failure to produce enough jobs. An individual worker alone could not relax this constraint to improve their job chances.
Please read my blog – What causes mass unemployment? – for more discussion on this point.
There is every reason to believe that this describes the current situation in most advanced nations. Increasing the demand for labour through government spending is unlikely to add to cost pressures and firms are likely to welcome the extension to their order books and increase real output to meet the demand.
In the Keynesian notion of an inflationary gap – you either had unemployment or inflation but not both together. The flat Phillips curve was challenged by the stagflation of the 1970s – which saw the coincidence of the twin evils.
The Phillips curve became an arena where the ideological struggles in economics about the role of government was fought out.
The next bit is quite complicated and I will just skim. During the Great Depression, the discipline of macroeconomics emerged in its own right and was driven by the work of Keynes (and others). Prior to that microeconomics – the study of individual behaviour – firms, household, individual consumers – dominated and was based on the rational, optimising assumptions that define mainstream theory today.
Accordingly, optimal outcomes were considered to be achieved if these self-seeking individuals interacted in free markets, each pursuing their own maximum welfare. The system of exchanges envisaged in the text books (which do not occur in the real world) coordinated these self-seekers to deliver the best for everyone.
Any discussions at the time of the "macroeconomy" was done in terms of microeconomic principles whereupon the macroeconomy was just an aggregate of the individual relationships. It was total fudge and led to "aggregation inconsistencies". The fudge to overcome these fatal flaws was in the form of the representative household and firm etc – so one household was assumed to act for all in the same way they considered an individual consumer might act.
The important contribution of Keynes among many was to emphasise the fallacy of composition. These compositional fallacies proved the mainstream microeconomic-to-macroeconomic analysis wrong.
What applies at the individual (micro) level does not apply at the aggregate (macro) level. If you cut the wage of an individual firm's workers the firm will enjoy lower costs but probably not a major drop in their sales. So they might put more workers on (that is debatable).
But if you then apply this "micro" logic to the entire economy and cut the wages of all workers – sure enough costs go down but so does demand (spending) and hence sales because all workers are now poorer.
There are many fallacies in mainstream micro-based reasoning. It was this recognition of the existence of these fallacies that really defined the terrain for what we now call macroeconomics.
Please read my blog – Fiscal austerity – the newest fallacy of composition – for more discussion on this point.
But during the dominant Keynesian period, the economics profession was largely split into two separate narratives. The macroeconomists – who considered that demand drove output and employment; and the microeconomists – who held onto the believe in free markets and government deregulation etc.
That tension was still very patent when I entered the profession in the early 1980s although by then the resurgence of the mainstream micro influence was very much in full sway.
In the 1960s, the micro arm of the profession which was largely anti-government intervention, pro-deregulation, anti-welfare etc began to regain the centre stage. This was the period when the idea of a "government budget constraint" entered the literature. Accordingly, the government was bound by the same principles as the household.
This analogy – totally erroneous from the outset – drove a huge literature which provides the basis for the attacks on government deficits and borrowing.
During the 1950s and 1960s the micro-economists attempted all sorts of ploys to show that the dominant macro models – which put government intervention at centre-stage – were "irrational", "inefficient" and/or reliant on a deeply flawed understanding of human behaviour.
They mainstream (the micro-economists) wanted to regain the dominant position and integrate macroeconomics back into the "choice-theoretic" paradigm. That is just a fancy term for seeing all behaviour in terms of rational individual action based on free markets and self-interest.
The aim as to explain all economic outcomes in terms of the "micro" model. So when individuals were free to choose they would deliver optimal outcomes to all.
So how to explain unemployment? Well far from being seen as involuntary – unemployment now was considered to be an optimal outcome (initially) where individuals traded leisure for work because they could get more satisfaction from an hour of the former than spending the income derived from an hour of the latter.
Unemployment was thus considered to be a "voluntary" state – freely chosen and optimal.
How does that fit into the Phillips curve? Not easily but here goes.
Milton Friedman and Edmund Phelps in two separate papers attacked the basic concept of the Phillips curve. They claimed that workers were really concerned with real wages not money wages – so what the money you earn can buy rather than the money per se.
This was an old battle and it is clear that workers are concerned with both money wages and the real equivalents. The mainstream (which I now call the neo-liberals) said that a concern with monetary aggregates was "irrational" but that claim is easily dismissed.
For example, most workers have nominal commitments (like a mortgage) where they have to come up with $Z per week or default on their loans. Say a worker earns $1000 per week which buys a basket of goods and services (X).
The worker can take a real wage cut in one of two ways: (a) with an unchanged nominal wage – so prices rise and their $1000 only buys a basket Y, which is less in real terms; or (b) with a reduced nominal wage.
Most workers will prefer option (a) because it means they can still pay their nominal commitments and reduce their real standard of living by cutting back on what they buy elsewhere. Option (b) may immediately threaten their solvency.
The point was that the original Phillips curve was largely thought of in nominal terms although as I discussed in my PhD thesis this was only the stylised textbook version. The literature clearly realised that workers were also concerned with real equivalents.
Whatever, Friedman and Phelps claimed that you had to include not only unemployment in the Phillips relationship but also expected inflation. The reasoning is simple. Workers want to maintain a particular real wage and so at each level of unemployment and the higher they expected inflation to be the higher their money demands would be (to preserve the real wage equivalent).
So there was a family of Phillips curves envisaged each one denoting a particular expected inflation rate.
So what? The mainstream claimed that the economy would come to rest when the expected inflation rate equalled the actual inflation rate. This would be a stable inflation rate because workers were receiving the real wage consistent with optimal outcomes.
This was a very important point in the development of the neo-liberal paradigm. The unemployment rate that was consistent with stable inflation was called the natural rate – later the NAIRU (non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment).
Please read my blog – The dreaded NAIRU is still about! – for more discussion on this point.
Full employment as genuine policy goal was abandoned with the introduction of the so-called natural rate hypothesis (NRH) and its assertion that there is only one unemployment rate consistent with stable inflation. In the NRH, there is no discretionary role for aggregate demand management and only microeconomic changes can reduce the natural rate of unemployment. Accordingly, the policy debate became increasingly concentrated on deregulation, privatisation, and reductions in the provisions of the Welfare State with tight monetary and fiscal regimes instituted. High unemployment persisted. The fact that quits were strongly pro-cyclical made the natural rate hypothesis untenable.
But the idea of a cyclically-invariant steady-state unemployment rate persisted in the form of the NAIRU concept, first introduced in the mid-1970s. The NAIRU was constructed as meaning that when unemployment is above it then inflation should decelerate and vice-versa. While various theoretical structures have been used to justify the NAIRU as a viable concept, the conclusion from each is simple: there is only one cyclically-invariant unemployment rate associated with stable price inflation.
The NAIRU concept has dominated macroeconomic policy making in most OECD countries since the late 1970s and the "fight-inflation-first" strategies have exacted a harsh toll in the form of persistently high unemployment and broader labour underutilisation. Under the sway of the NAIRU, policy makers around the World abandoned the pursuit of full employment as initially conceived.
Of-course they couldn't admit that so they started redefining what full employment meant. So if you read this literature you will quickly realise that the neo-liberals define full employment as being the NAIRU which is divorced from any notion that there has to be enough jobs available to meet the desires of the available labour force. So in one small change in taxonomy governments have been able to turn their failure to provide enough jobs into a success – well we are at full employment now because we are at the NAIRU. So it is a pernicious concept indeed.
Consider the following diagram which now embodies these developments. There are now two Phillips curves (PC1 and PC2 – noting that I didn't start counting today at 0!). PC2 reflects a higher rate of expected inflation than PC1. PC1, for simplicity, assumes zero inflation. The unemployment rate in this diagram at A is the natural rate (expected inflation = actual inflation = 0).
Now go back to our earlier story with the government expanding spending to reduce unemployment. The economy moved to B to exploit the trade-off which might be very flat indeed (so there might not be much of an inflation spike if any).
But according to Friedman, as the firms pay higher money wages and inflation starts to rise workers increase their expected inflation rate. And as they build those expectations into their wage demands the labour market starts to contract again. This is a complex story but basically firms start laying off workers again because at the even higher money wages it is considered unprofitable to keep them on.
The economy starts moving back to and eventually hits point C where expected inflation = actual inflation – now higher than at point A. Note – the unemployment rate is back to the natural rate.
The lesson they wanted to impart – the government cannot buck against the natural rate – and if it tries to do so it will cause inflation without any real gains.
This simple idea led to the resurgence of the mainstream micro-macro.
The advent of the inflation in the mid-1970s as a result of the OPEC oil price hikes was used as evidence that Friedman was correct even though the price inflation had nothing to do with excess demand for labour and associated wage demands.
Friedman's emphasis on expectations in 1968, which changed the direction of policy in the 1970s, was rooted in developments a long time before this.
By extending the role of inflation expectations to the labour market, Friedman was able to solve the problem that Phillips's 1958 model and subsequent developments presented for neoclassical (micro-based) monetary theory. Phillips's model clearly refuted long-run neutrality – the notion that there was no trade-off between monetary variables and real outcomes.
The Keynesian consensus was that the government could choose, indefinitely, a combination of real output and inflation defined by the Phillips curve.
While the development of what is called the Expectations-Augmented Phillips Curve was not based on empirical grounds, the cost instability after the first OPEC oil shock in 1974 and the resulting inflation was very fortuitous indeed. It gave the Monetarist developments a credibility that they could not get in terms of the theoretical debate. I won't go into that debate here.
The Monetarists challenged the notion of a stable Phillips curve to justify their demand management and stabilisation policy stance and that view was given an open slate by the price chaos in that period (after the OPEC shocks). The Monetarist explanation seemed almost self-evident, especially when the Keynesian approach to inflation and unemployment seemed to be inapplicable when both were present.
English writer Skidelsky termed this period the end of the Keynesian era.
So the biggest development since Phillips was seen to be the expectations-augmented Phillips curve of Friedman (1968) and Phelps (1967, 1968). This model had major policy implications and spearheaded the resurgence of pre-Keynesian macroeconomic thinking in the form of Monetarism.
The concept of the natural rate of unemployment (NRU) became central to the idea that the trade-off between inflation and unemployment captured in the Phillips curve was in fact a trade-off between unemployment and unexpected inflation. Once expectations are realised as workers gain more information the trade-off vanishes. At this point there is only one unemployment rate consistent with stable inflation – the NRU.
The business cycle was now characterised in terms of swings in expectations and mistakes made by workers about the actual inflation rate. This version replaced the long-standing Keynesian view that the business cycle is driven by demand fluctuations.
You should start to be appreciating why the mainstream think that austerity is good. They really believe that the business cycle is supply-driven rather than driven by demand fluctuations.
Now the mainstream theory then took this idea further with the introduction of the misperceptions theory of the business cycle.
Accompanying Friedman and Phelps attack on the prevailing view that there is a stable trade-off between inflation and unemployment was an attempt to reclaim the terrain that mainstream (neo-classical) monetary theory had lost after the Great Depression.
Friedman's 1968 paper "The Role of Monetary Policy" argued that monetary policy could only have real effects in the short-run, at an increasingly worse trade-off. The starting point was classical monetary theory, which suggests that monetary policy cannot have real effects but only change the price level.
All that a monetary expansion it does is alter prices and nominal incomes in a proportionate way. To gain a short-run trade-off in this paradigm Friedman had to appeal to the notion of expectational errors and adaptive learning behaviour.
Accordingly, when labour markets tighten and demand pressure pushes money wage rates up, workers supply more labour because they mistake the rise in money wages for a rise in real wages. It was assumed that workers supply more labour when their real wages rise.
These economists assumed that information was asymmetric so firms do not make these relative price mistakes. The firms know the real price level and thus realise that the real wage is actually falling because the rise in money wages is less than the rise in inflation. This is why they are prepared to increase employment (according to marginal productivity theory).
So the business cycle upswing is all about supply-shifts driven by the workers being deceived about the price level increase in relation to their money wage increases.
Eventually, the workers turn up at the shops and realise that the price level has risen further than they thought.
As workers realise their errors they withdraw the extra labour again – because they do not want to supply more labour at lower real wages. As a consequence, the economy's output and employment levels fall again – to their natural levels.
So the downswing in activity is a supply withdrawal from workers.
So this unemployment rate that is commensurate to these natural output levels and stable inflation – the natural rate of unemployment – was considered to be insensitive in the long run to monetary policy. The only way the workers can be induced to supply higher hours than are implied by the natural rate of unemployment is for the monetary authority to maintain ever-increasing money wage rate inflation.
This drives the price level ahead of money wages and continually trick the workers – for a time.
There were many versions of the way misperceptions worked but the crucial point of the exercise was not related to the research program of Phillips.
It was to restore classical monetary theory to the dominant position by way of reconciliation between its neutrality properties and the empirical finding of a short-run trade-off between inflation and unemployment.
The economy oscillates around a natural rate of unemployment (which is invariant (neutral) to monetary and aggregate fiscal policy), because economic agents make expectational errors. The errors cannot be exploited permanently without ever-accelerating inflation.
So they would explain the current rise in unemployment (which is above most of the conservatives estimates of the NAIRU) as being driven by workers withdrawing from work because they think the real wage is lower than what it is. It is just a matter of time before they will find out and offer their labour again.
Going back to Thurow's Dangerous Currents, he says of this notion (tongue in cheek):
… why do quits rise in booms and fall in recessions? If recessions are due to informational mistakes, quits should rise in recessions and fall in booms, just the reverse of what happens in the real world.
Given that quits are not countercyclical then the orthodox labour market model that constructs unemployment as being a supply-side phenomenon is plain wrong.
What this means is that the misperceptions-type models which construct unemployment as being driven by workers withdrawing their supply rather than there not being enough jobs is not a description of the way our world operates.
The data violently contradicts that central notion of mainstream macroeconomics. Labour supply shifts do not explain shifts in employment and unemployment.
But the empirical reality did not stop my confreres in the profession. Before long – about 10 years – this story had become even more extreme and morphed into rational expectations. In other words, workers could not be fooled because they knew as much about the economy and factored all policy decisions into their decision making.
In other words, there was not even a short-run trade-off to exploit. The workers could never be tricked.
You will all have heard the finance report on TV quoting some bank economist or another saying the "market has already factored that in" – which is left over from the Rational Expectations onslaught.
Please read my blog – The myth of rational expectations – for more discussion on why RATEX is very kooky (and plain wrong).
It morphed however into the nonsensical notions of Ricardian Equivalence which is, in part, driving the austerity push now. These households and firms know full well (it is alleged) that taxes will be higher in the future to "pay back the deficits" so they save instead of spending which means that fiscal policy is ineffective because as fast as the government spends the private sector saves. So the story goes.
Please read my blog – Ricardians in UK have a wonderful Xmas – for more discussion on this point.
I was thinking about all this today when I read the report in the UK Guardian (March 21, 2011) – ONS inflation slip-up leaves millions out of pocket.
The story is about how the UK Office of National Statistics has now been found to have miscalculated the UK inflation figures between 1997 and 2009.
Apparently, they have been understating the true inflation rate for 14 years which has left "Wage earners, pensioners and benefit claimants … worse off for the past 14 years …"
The Guardian says that:
… these figures masked the extent to which real incomes have been eroded by rising inflation … "Real wages have been squeezed more than CPI would have suggested … Effectively, wage earners have been fooled".
First, Friedman predicted that workers could be fooled temporarily but not for long. Our UK wage earners must be pretty stupid indeed.
Second, now that they have found out that they have been getting screwed for so long the mainstream textbook models that are taught to students every day would predict that there will be a major withdrawal of labour.
Certainly unemployment will rise but that will be because of the austerity cutbacks. The students will be taught, however, that it is a supply correction around the natural rate as workers find out what the true inflation rate has been.
Of-course, most nations are currently recording unemployment rates well in excess of the estimated NAIRUs (natural rates) so things are really strange if you believed any of this.
I don't and our textbook will not subject students to this rubbish.
That is enough for today!


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- Length:5.50"
- Width:4.25"
- Color:Red
- Material:Canvas
- Model:Rookie
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Recycled Firefighter specializes in producing durable, eco-friendly products made from recycled fire hose and fire station gear. The company was started by a fire service worker who knows firsthand the strength and durability of these materials.
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Protecting Our Rivers and Streams
The quality of the water in our rivers and streams is a reflection of the health of our entire watershed ecosystem. The impact of any land use practice on the quality or quantity of water can be substantial. Clean rivers are a must for healthy, sustainable aquatic life and for pleasurable, safe recreation.
One of the primary threats to water quality in the Nashua River watershed are the pollutants that make it to streams, rivers, lakes, and ponds in stormwater runoff. Rain water and melting snow wash pollutants such as nutrients (primarily nitrogen and phosphorus), oil, grease, sediment, bacteria and heavy metals into nearby waterways. The sources of the pollutants include lawns and agricultural fields, roadways and parking lots, uncollected pet waste, and erosion from development.
The NRWA works to maintain and improve the water quality in our rivers through our Water Monitoring Program where dedicated volunteers are our eyes on the rivers and streams throughout the watershed, and help to gather water quality data, monthly from April through October. This program has been in existence for two decades, creating a historic record of the health of our local waterways that helps us to better assess current conditions. The NRWA Water Monitoring Program's Quality Assurance Project Plan has been approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, and New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, and ensures that the data collected is accepted for assessment reports by each of these agencies.
The legacy of aging infrastructure in urban areas is also something we work to improve. For example, NRWA works on site-specific projects including tracking sources of bacteria in the City of Fitchburg. NRWA has educated businesses about the importance of closing illicit floor drains in Lancaster, and the annual Monoosnoc Brook Clean-up in Leominster celebrated its 25th year in 2011. More on NRWA water quality projects.