text: September 19, 2019 * The Toughen Up Princess achievement now requires 100 Luck to be completed and to earn the Deaths Door skill. * Drop rates have been reverted to old, lower rates after having been drastically increased this past wipe. They will continue at this new rate into the new wipe as we assess them for appropriateness. * Guildhalls, moving forward, will only be able to be constructed within 30 squares of select Good and Evil Hometowns. * Corrected a bug where the lightning rod composed of pure magic has loaded on 2 mobs every boot. * Random Boon generator is functional again, pending our ability to relearn the command to activate it (stand by...). * Display toggle now includes an option for 'experience', allowing players to track exp gained on individual kills if they choose to do so. September 13, 2019 * Fixed Nova spell so that it triggers properly when cast. * Innate list updated so that it now shows innates that a character will gain at higher levels as well as those available at level 1. * Resolved 4 separate Crash Bugs involving various code errors and mechanical corrections. * Pets will now recall with the group during group recall. August 4, 2019 * Isolated and removed a bug where Boon rewards appear to double for players who have Bloodlust active. * The first room of The Royal Mausoleum of Castle IceCrag is no longer portable, preventing players from cheesing past the locked gates. * Upgraded a few God commands for ease of use. July 27, 2019 We're Back! * MOTD has been permanently adjusted reflect Lohrr's participation and contributions to Duris during his tenure as Overlord. * A tribute mob is planned, in his honor, to be added to the world when we wipe. Please submit ideas/suggestions to the Idea channel for consideration. * Players may now peruse Auctions while memorizing/praying for spells. However, the added distraction will prevent effective meditation. * Stay Tuned for additional bug fixes/adjustments as they become available. January 9th, 2019 * Just a reminder, that automaton crews require ship frags of 3000, and never required any crew exp as far as I see. * Duris Survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdv5gLwVaOkTDQMSfaUNYbQHLJnc4ssXUz6R5yoaVbXCzJc8A/viewform January 6th, 2019 * The Para-Elemental Plane of Smoke will no longer repop with players inside. * Small updates to The Para-Elemental Plane of Magma. * The code to reset epic zones that weren't designed to be reset is now disabled. * The severed wings of a turkey named 'Dinner' should go away now. December 3rd, 2018 * The holy shield of blessed defense and an ancient crown of elven royalty now have ac in the right direction. * Certain rooms in The Para-Elemental Plane of Smoke, Sea Kingdom, and Pit of Dragons are no longer teleportable. * A crashbug regarding a quest in The Para-Elemental Plane of Smoke is fixed. * Ehkahk, the Prince of the Para-Elemental Plane of Smoke now shouts for help. November 21st, 2018 * The proc for the legendary cutlass 'Sanguine Song' has been tweaked. * The proc for a green bladed dagger named 'Sepsis' has been tweaked. * The proc for an astral metal hammer named 'Frozen Star' has been tweaked. * The 'epic share' command has been updated. -It still defaults to share to group, but you can now target your group ('epic share group') or a specific individual ('epic share <name>'). -The number of people that a task can be shared with is now limited to misfire cap for blood, 20 for nexus, and 150% of the suggested group cap size for zone (rounded up). -Tasks obtained before this boot can no longer be shared. * Thanksgiving is here! -The severed wings of a turkey named 'Dinner' is now an artifact, with more hp regen and less move regen. -It also has a tendency to make the wearer somewhat eccentric. -The innards are now the undigested remains of a dead turkey. -Items received from opening these now range from ival 50 to 140. -The food received is now a delicious slice of Thanksgiving Turkey (still only targets as thanksgiving and turkey; slice and delicious will work next boot). -You now have a chance to just make a bigger mess when attempting to get the artifact, and will always make a bigger mess when the artifact is already obtained. November 19th, 2018 * Next copyover sharing tasks will be limited! If you have a task at boot, it will no longer be sharable!!! -New tasks will have available shares based on zone suggested group size, misfire cap (for blood), and 20 (for nexus). * New chars no longer load with double eq. * Githzerai can now be Paladins. * The "wear all" for newbies now happens after seeing the room. * A bug where PvP logs were created for people who weren't in the room of the killer nor victim at the time of kill has been fixed. * You can no longer use acc while on parole (applies mainly to low level multiclass). * The proc for a wicked waraxe covered in runes has been tweaked slightly. The damage is the same, but it should now show via toggle damage. * The message for trying to use rage while it's up is no longer the same as for berserk. November 16th, 2018 * Monk attacks shifted slightly (should be one more at 56). * The spell 'vampiric touch' now gives a flat hitroll bonus instead of a percentage. * The actual bonus attacks from dexterity now occur at the beginning of a round (just after the messages) instead of the end. * Coins loading on mobs adjusted slightly (total value the same or increased). * All mobs that use mana now get the bonus instead of just Psionicist mobs. * The spell 'essence of the wolf' now gives up to 6 bonus attacks of both the caster and target are 56. * The ancient ropers of the underdark now hit a little harder. * Bandages are no longer transient, but other newbie items that used to be transient are transient again. * Good Clerics no longer load a set of brilliant white clerical robes instead of a thin priest gown. -They now load both because one is on body, and the other is about body. * Arrows, bandages, and the fishing pole now load inside the bag regardless of level. * Hawkvision and UD Vision now show in score under Enchantments. November 13th, 2018 * You can no longer 'teleport' into the epic stone room of The Temple of the Sun. * BeRSeRKeRs no longer have a base damage penalty. -They now get a small damage bonus while under the influence of berserk. -They now learn berserk slightly faster than other classes. * Minotaur exp is slightly easier now. * All BeRSeRKeRs now get '2h flaying', but only RaGeloRds can master the skill * All flaying weapons are now !dodge, !parry, etc. * Newbie equipment got a small overhaul: -You no longer load with items you can't use. -You automatically start with arrows in your quiver, bandages and torches in your container. -Under level 3, you will automatically wear all if you're completely naked and loaded a newbie set. -There is a new newbie weapon, a great flail, which is 2h flayinig. -The two newbie 2h swords now have slightly different stats. -Everyone starts with a fishing pole now (in their container). -Blighters now load a cap made of decaying matter for their poor heads. * A bug with the display of specialize options has been fixed. * Damage messages with a lot of ansi codes no longer overflow the message buffer ('pyrokinesis' now shows to victim messages correctly). * Ships, mines, and guildhalls are now visible to those without infra / ultra at night. * The bug where the mud tries to kick you out of a locker you couldn't afford to enter is fixed. * It should be slightly harder to find Niev the Mad. * A bug regarding the spell 'putrefying flesh' has been fixed. -It now runs 4 or 5 waves, and 'decaying flesh' runs 3. * You can now 'innate shift astral' or 'innate shift_astral' in order to leave the prime plane. November 12th, 2018 * Another reminder: The short-jump spells like 'dimension door' have a maximum distance of 90 rooms at level 56 for Shadowmages (less for others). -This means if there is over 90 rooms between two zones, there is no reason to expect to be able to jump between them. -If you could jump between two zones that were far apart on the map, then it was due to a bug and you should have been punished for abusing and not reporting. -Nobody's going to be punished for jumping over 90 rooms. I don't expect you to sit and count. November 10th, 2018 * You can now 'toggle exp' to see how much experience you gain after a kill. -This is limited to those who can see experience via number (level >= 39). * The spell 'detonate' now does less damage (a lot less unsaved than before), and has less variance. * When a Pyrokinetic's 'detonate' goes through shrug, there is no longer a shrug message shown with the damage. * The Pyrokinetic skills disperse flames and flame mastery should now test correctly (affected by skill level and character level vs caster level). * The item values for backstabbers are now congruent with their backstab multipliers. * Due to the massive amount of magic items dumped into the waters of Duris, some fish will now be sparkling, yielding slightly better stats. * Fish thrown back into the water now exhibit new behavior. * Immortals now have access to a 'boon display <boon id>' option. November 6th, 2018 * The spell 'water form' is now available to the Water Magus spec. * The spell 'fire form' is now available to the Fire Magus spec. * The spell 'earth form' is now available to the Earth Magus spec. * The affect earth aura now grants stone skin on a timer. * The Water Magus spec now heals when their Water Elemental pets take enough damage. * The spell 'dread wave' is now spell damage type water (only water damage in game). * Water damage now heals Water Magus with water aura and Water Elementals. * Earth damage now heals Earth Magus with earth aura and Earth Elementals. * The Fire Magus spec now has innate fireshield. * Rooms flagged Air Plane now heal Air Elementals and Air Magus with air aura. * Rooms flagged Earth Plane now heal Earth Elementals and Earth Magus with earth aura. * Water Elementals and Water Magus with water aura now heal while underwater. * When someone who is holding their breath or drowning surfaces or gains the ability to breathe underwater, they now get a message that they can breathe. * A new epic skill melee mastery has been added. -This skill requires 100 in two weapon fighting. -It is available to classes: Warrior, BeRSeRKeR, Mercenary, Ranger, and Reaver. -Since it is the same as the innate, the Swordsman spec does not use it. -The Guardian spec also does not get this skill. * The epic bonus moves cap has increased from 16 to 20. * The epic bonus shop option has changed from a negative (yeah, bug) discount, to a bonus to selling items. * A new command, appoint, is available to group leaders that no longer want to lead (Format: 'appoint <new leader>'). * Updated level cap so the cap at 50 is like 30, since it's the "multiclass" level. November 4th, 2018 * Fixed a few typos. * The fraglist will now populate with the race and class of the fragger as people gain / lose frags. * A swirling gateway from the spell 'gate to ardgral' no longer procs on random commands (like leaving the room via south). * Food changes: -Alatorin - the Forge City: -A glazed rack of caribou ribs, a bloody haunch of olyx meat, some stew with a zing, the gored tongue of a swamp troll, the bloody heart of Birch Scruden, a bowl of white dragon egg soup, a bowl of wyvern egg soup -Fish from fishing: -A piranha, an impressive lobster, a rainbow trout, a speckled perch, a small conger, a deep sea lobster, a cave perch -Myrabolus: -a dietary supplement -The Chasm of the Misty Vale -Some wineberries -The Depths of Duris: -A juicy osquip steak -A delicious Thanksgiving Turkey lost a lot of regen. * A Magical Green Mushroom from the Sylvan Woods is no longer food, but still used via eat command. * Immortal command which food updated. * DE now shows which food variables give which stats. November 1st, 2018 * You can now use the peruse command to see the effects of food before you buy it. * The spell 'identify' now works on food as well. * You will now get a notice when you have too many people on your racewarside in a zone or on a continent (this message is sent every time you move). * You can now enter a slime covered well in Dirk'nspire Stronghold to get to The Chasm of the Misty Vale. * You can now use the recall command to recall things that you petition. * The helpfile for lifespan now pulls directly from the code. * The helpfiles for Specializations now show lost spells (in bright black&). * The helpfiles for Specialiaztions now show lost skills in bright black as well (used to be dark cyan, but that matched the gained skills / spells). * There is a new menu option 6, that allows you to check the timer on your (well) rested bonus. * The deaths door command no longer works if you have a PvP timer. * You can no longer quaff a bottle of ToRMeNTeD Souls if you have a PvP timer either. * You can no longer change ownership of the frag level cap while it's on a timer. -This is so the side with less frags has a chance to catch up if they manage to frag first. * The bloodlust damage bonus now shows the actual increase in damage correctly. -You now see MAX at the end of the bonus if it is at max. * The spells 'judgement' and 'apocalypse' have been tweaked. * Range spells no longer go through doors. * Immortal command users updated. October 30th, 2018 * A reminder from April 21st, 2015: * * To clarify: CAMPING VAULTS is considered cheesy, and therefore not only frowned upon, but specifically NOT allowed. This also applies to having port targets camped at specific locations. That means, NO characters camped at places like Shaboath Island or Dragonnia to use as a target. * To clarify further, it does not matter how you leave the game: Camping, Renting, Voiding, etc are all NOT allowed in order to have a port target. October 23rd, 2018 * Food that doesn't have a default move regen bonus now gets half of its hp regen bonus, or 1 (whichever is greater) instead of 15 * the hp regen bonus. * Epic bonus Movement Regen Bonus is now a flat bonus, capped at 8. October 23rd, 2018 * I owe everyone an apology. As of Aug 13, 2014, the wisdom spell damage reduction has been using the caster's wisdom instead of the target's. That's finally fixed. * Energy containment now blocks less damage from elemental spells. October 22nd, 2018 * Finally reverted the mess with Trolls using 2h weapons in 1h, and added Trolls to the giant avoidance innate so the helpfile would be accurate. * Items no longer sink immediately when dropped (it takes about 3-4 minutes). * Items flagged to levitate no longer sink at all. * Certain item types that sink are no longer converted to shields. October 21st, 2018 * You no longer lose epic bonuses when you lose frags. * Characters affected by slow now still get at least one attack per round. * There is no longer a 4 attack maximum per round for BeRSeRKeR rage. * The spell 'aura sight' once again gives detect invisible and sense life above level 41. * The spell 'concealment' once again gives Shadowmages hide when not cast in a water room (Swamp / Slime rooms are not water rooms). * The extremely old bug with the spell 'protection from undead' always casting on the caster even when it says it's casting on another character has been fixed. * You can no longer cast any sort of wall spells using a potion, scroll, staff, or wand. * Trolls now have the same limits on 2h weapons as Minotaurs: They can use a 2h in primary hand as a 1h, but can only use a shield or 1h weapon in their secondary hand. * A considerable amount of information will no longer show up in PvP logs: -Checking score will no longer reveal: Coins in Bank, Playing Time, Received Data, Send Data, Title, Group Leader, Master, Followers, Epic points, Task, Epic Bonus, Consenting, Stat Pool Timeout, or Bartender Quests. -Using the quest command should no longer show anything in PvP logs. -Partial quest completions should no longer show up in PvP logs. * The dark rod named 'Punisher' now hits a little harder. * The masters set no longer has a typo when you remove an item. * The spell 'frost beacon' now procs when someone enters the room instead of leaves. -The chance for noticing you've been spotted has been tweaked and is based on caster's wisdom, target's intelligence, save spell, target's size, and level difference. * Each wipe will now automatically have auction money pickups disabled for the first week. -The time of the first boot after each wipe will be recorded for the duration of the wipe (I'm not sure what else it may be useful for). * You should no longer get bartender quests for The Chasm of the Misty Vale (the old one). * The Shock Reaver spell 'lliendils stormshock' now gives better descriptions to the victim in score when it afflicts them. * Numerous typos have been fixed. September 22nd, 2018 * Updated level cap so the cap is 30 for all like circle levels, since it's the "spec" level. * The spell 'molten spray' now does less damage if you're not an Elementalist. * The spell 'scathing wind' now does more damage if unsaved rather than it being harder to save when cast by an Elementalist. * You can now see mines in the room at night with normal dayvision. * Mobs that are supposed to go to a random spot on EC no longer have a path to get to KK instead. * Mobs no longer try to spam cast 'dread blade' without a weapon to cast it on. * Mobs no longer try to spam cast 'shambler' when on an invalid terrain. * It should now be easier to figure out that a haze filled glowing archway is the portal out of the newbie zone II, Ailvio. * The first-week disable for auction pickup of platinum has expired. * The spell 'frost beacon' no longer always shows a message to the person triggering the block. It is based on the wisdom of the caster, the intelligence of the victim, and the level difference between them (and a bit of randomness). September 21st, 2018 * Numerous typos fixed. -The word "blonde" is a noun referring to a female with blond hair. All other uses of the word blond, are spelled without an e. * A longsword named "Whistler" should be a relevant item again. * The helpfile for Instruments has been updated, explaining that you can 'lore <instrument>' to get its level. * You no longer need detect magic up in order to see faerie sight in score. * You can now ride mounts through the ocean (at a highly increased movement cost - You try keeping your head above the waves with some jerk in platemail on your back). * You can now dismount while on a mount and in water if you have a boat to use. * Minotaur rage now grants an extra attack (does not give more than one with multiple stacks). * BeRSeRKeR rage no longer counts as a stack towards Minotaur rage. * Minotaur rage now procs a little more often for BeRSeRKeRs and Monks. * The spell 'frost beacon' now gives a message to the victim when it spots them (soon to have a chance for victim not to notice). September 18th, 2018 * Reaver Update: -Reaver spec teachers can now be targeted by their spec (flame/ice/shock). I still need to make an Earth Reaver spec teacher. -All the Reaver spec spells that buff weapons now require the weapon to be wielded in primary or secondary hand to be buffed. -The upper buffs for weapons require the lower circle buffs to be on them first. -The buffs will be removed if the weapon is removed. -Each buff now has a tag that shows after the weapon when checking equipment / looking at the Reaver. -Reavers once again get 'eshabalas vitality', but it has reduced effectiveness. -All of the Reaver spec spell weapon buffs now actually do stuff. -The spell 'ferrix precision' now gives some max agility at higher levels. * Nunchucks are no longer numchucks. * Getting coin objects from a container now shows the item you got, not "some coins." * Rangers once again get the spell 'mielikki vitality'. * The spell 'mielikki vitality' now has reduced effectiveness when not cast by a Druid. * Spec mobs now use their spec spells (there was an issue with them thinking they never had a slot for them). * Mounts summoned at level 8 can no longer have 0 max hitpoints. * The command for death's door can now be used at level 20. * Minotaur rage now has a decent setting for proc rate for the classes: Mercenary, BeRSeRKeR, Monk, and Warrior. * Bartenders now let you know how long until you can do another quest. * Updated a few of the toggle hint messages. * The recall command now has a ? option to show options. * Cleaned up the ansi on nchat. Added a : to "You tell your racewar" for consistency. * You can now differentiate between 'minor globe of invulnerability' and major 'globe of invulnerability' if you have 'detect magic' up. * The duplicate message for song of protection in score has been removed. September 15th, 2018 ...---=== We have wiped. ===---... * Load percentage minimum raised from 50% to 67%. -After a failed load, the next item is guaranteed to load. -The exception is artifacts which have 1/2 chance to load (max 50%). * Typo in the spell 'aid' fixed. * Groundfighting now significantly reduces bonus damage while not standing, but does not eliminate it entirely. -You take 1/3 of the normal bonus damage. * Immobile mobs (para/sleep/bound) no longer auto-stand. * Teleport items should now give better messages. * The innate 'Spirit of the Rrakkma' now gives more ac and more shrug (almost the same cap on shrug) per Githzerai in group. * The Chasm of the Misty Vale has gotten an update and is now The Chasm of the Misty Vale. -The old zone is not entirely removed from the game, but should be unreachable. -The new zone is bigger and has three exits from the zone that are player accessible. -The new zone has an epic stone awarded upon quest completion. * The unique, the wailing face of a drow banshee, got a facelift to become the wailing face of a pygmie banshee. * Hybrid herbs now give less benefits when smoked. * Outposts are disabled for this wipe. * The Conjurer spec spells 'electrical execution', 'dread wave', 'magma burst', and 'acidimmolate' now all stack rather than extend. * The messages for 'magma burst' now show properly. * The spell 'dread wave' now has 4 waves for the Water Magus spec, and 2-3 for others. * The "& - L" ansi on the website no longer shows, although it doesn't do anything either atm. * All the shield spells (fireshield, coldshield, etc) no longer show messages if terse is toggled. * The Holyman soulshield procs have been slightly nerfed. * The spell 'firebrand' no longer shows a shrug message and continues 50% of the time. * The spell 'psychic crush' now casts 30% faster. -Its damage has been reduced by about 10%. * The spell 'detonate' does about 30 more damage. * The spell 'pyrokinesis' got an overhaul: -Damage decreased slightly, but not applies both fire and psionic damage to PCs as well as NPCs. -The additional damage Pyrokinetics do now increases with power. -Damage from a failed save was increased to match similar spells. -There is now a chance to reduce combat speed when it hits hard. -When cast on a fire-based character, the caster now uses their understanding of fire to try to slow or stun the target and applies only psionic damage. -Some of the energy is also diverted to increased psionic damage on fire-based targets. * Summoned mounts now are 2 levels lower (can no longer be above the level of the summoner). * Summoned mounts now have 20% less hitpoints. * Cavaliers' mounts now get accelerated healing perm, instead of regeneration, at level 51+. * Paladin and Anti-Paladin mounts now have a higher base ac and gain less ac per level. * Mounted characters no longer receive damage reduction from having armor class below 0. * Races that lost 50 moves: Quadruped, Dracolich, Wraith, Shadow, Asura, Titan, Avatar, Bralani, Incubus, Sucubbus, Deva. * Beholderkin lost 25 moves, and Spectre lost 40. * Increased Disharmonist Song of Harming damage by 20%. * Songs of Harmony, Discord, and Storms all have slightly increased damage. * Rapier and dirk chance to work doubled. * Horns, spears, and tridents are now considered dirks, if they are one-handed. * Rapier and dirk damage reduction increased 5%, and damage bonus increased 5%. * Failed leg sweeps now move you to kneeling instead of prone. * Whirlwind movement drain down 20%. * Moved movement drain property into dam_factor array. * Changed ansi on the wear-off message for whirlwind. * Whirlwind now lasts between 5 and 20 sec based on level. * Whirlwind now reduces the current combat pulse when activated. * Whirlwind now reduces the combat pulse even more. * Whirlwind now shows the wear-off message when running out of moves. * Whirlwind now stops when you have less than 2x the amount of drain, instead of dropping you below 0 moves. * Blade barrage now verifies that nobody fled inbetween attacks. * Blade barrrage now sends a message to the Ranger when it finishes. * The delay for blade barrage is now skill based instead of level based. * The cooldown for blade barrage has been reduced. * The spell 'asphyxiate' does slightly less damage per wave. * After using 'innate shift astral', you will be granted a 4 second hide. -This hide is removed if you move before the 4 seconds are up, but you can save to rehide (until the 4 secs are up). * Minotaur rage now procs slightly more often and can have 2 stacks. -A second stack is slightly less effective than a first stack. -It is possible to have two lesser stacks if you get a third second stack between when the first wears off and when the second wears off. * Minotaur rage now gives some max strength as well. * The rage skill now reduces combat pulse, counts as a stack of Minotaur rage, and the damage bonus from rage is decreased slightly. * Auction pickup disabled for the first week of the wipe. September 13th, 2018 * Gnomes, Kobolds, and Monks all have innate calming removed. * The 'auction info' command now properly tells you if you don't have the appropriate body part to wear an item. * Paladin holy weapon procs no longer give full heals. * For multiclass casters, spells of the primary class that are more than 1 circle above the secondary class's, are now set to the secondary class's circle + 1. -This means, if you had a Paladin / Cleric, your 'heal' spells would be in circle 6, not 8. * Changes to default race sizes: -None to Tiny: Parasite, Shadow, Deva. -Medium to Small: Harpy, Whiner. -Medium to Large: Death Knight, Barbarian. -Large to Medium: Shadow Beast. -Medium to Huge: Storm Giant, Wight. -Medium to Giant: Fire Giant, Frost Giant. -Medium to Gargantuan: Dracolich. -Giant to Medium: Plant. * A lot of racial spell pulses have changed, and all races now have a default spell pulse. * The 'wither' spell should now work right with objects or traps. * A huge battleaxe named 'DwarfSlayer' now procs 'disease' instead of 'wither' if the target is already withered. * The spell 'earthen maul' now uses fire damage when cast in Underdark Lava or Fire Plane rooms. * The spell 'devitalize' (Warlock only) can no longer add moves if you're really low. * The spells 'blur' and 'sense life' now only give a refresh message if they do something. * When dropping equipment from being overweight during the spell 'word of recall', you now drop a randomly selected worn item until you're no longer overweight, or you're naked. * Clerics once again have access to the spell 'divine fury'. * The spell 'apocalypse' has received a small buff. * Destroying guildhalls (Imms only) no longer causes a variety of issues. Eq that was in a destroyed guild hall gets moved to a chest in heaven. * The town portals from UD guildhalls now go to Khildarak Stronghold and EC guildhall town portals go to Shady Grove. * Lancer once again rewards a mask when given the gnomish blueprints of improvement. * Some fingerless gloves of su-monster skin now have some AC associated with them. * The Kobolds in Kobold Settlement are now actually Kobolds. * A grate key from The Ruins of Undermountain no longer has a chance to break, as it is a quest item. * Epic bonus adjustments: -They now start at 0 and increase when you gain frags. -They decrease when you gain epics not through bottles / pvp. -This bonus will still drop off over time as well. * The mud no longer crashes when you try to empty a container into a non-container. * A flaming sabre from the Druid spell, 'flame blade', is now Illuminated. * Patrolled roads are now flagged twilight instead of being dependent on the time of day (regular roads are already twilight). * All NPC health has been decreased by up to 14% at max level. * All NPC damage has been increased. * Pets now do less damage than other NPCs. * Necromancer pets do more damage to other NPCs than other pets do, but the same reduced amount to PCs. * Players that make a new character on a different racewar side before their one-hour timer is up, will now have their characters saved and can leave if they don't want to wait. -There is also a message letting players know this. * The Wizard skill arcane block now reduces damage by up to 40%, instead of reducing damage to 40%. * A grubby toe no longer has bad ansi in the long description. * Throwing a crumble-loot, throw-returning item no longer crashes the mud. * You can now throw from primary / secondary / third / fourth / held / shield wear locations. -Items still must be flagged throwable 1 or 2 rooms to be thrown. * You can now throw darts from your inventory. * Throwing multiple weapons at once is still disabled. * Guild applicants no longer give the guild prestige when gaining epics. * Race changes now reset racial innate effects (ie ultravision or waterbreathing). * The spells 'aura sight' and 'animal vision' now replace old spell effects instead of just refreshing. * A nasty looking drow named Xaves is now more open about his quest (start by asking hi). * Githyanki can be Anti-Paladins this wipe. May 18th, 2018 * A goblin earring is now usable by Warriors only instead of not usable by them. * Fixed a bug with the 'identify' spell showing 'Invalid Spell' when there was no spell in that slot at all. * Hylga, the barkeep, can now be targeted as bartender, and barkeeper. * The oaken staff of the woodlands now gives protection from undead instead of protection for undead. * The Plant innate branch now checks the same flags as bash. * The mace of mentality can no longer be acquired from bartender quests. * A minotaur anti-paladin is now an Anti-Paladin instead of Warrior. * Blighter specs now have the shield block skill. * The locker sort (equip sort) options have been cleaned up a bit. -You can now "equip sort ? types" to get a list of categories, as well as "equip sort ? <category>" to get items in each category. -The coloring on the locker chests should be better now. -Sorting locker chests by class should no longer be offset by 1 class. * The 'regeneration' spell now allows you to regen in battle again. * Monk %max health hits now do touch damage. That means you can now vamp from them. * PC pets can no longer be quest mobs (flags shouldn't show, and quests shouldn't work). * Single-kill boons no longer show the line "You have killed 1 of 1 ..." since it's superfluous. * You now always have access to your own locker (so you can "enter locker <your name>" instead of just "enter locker" if you want to. * A wild rabbit from Bloodstone Keep is now a Herbivore instead of Human. * Trying to unlock a keyless chest now gives the proper response. * Pets charmed with 'song of charming' now have their own flag, so the dismiss command works properly for other pets. * Shopkeeper corpses are now sent to a special room only accessible by Imms. -This is to prevent killing shop keepers for their stuff and reselling it to them, yet allowing us to keep track (for a limited time) of items sold. * Barantoosil from Charing now sells a few things. * The descriptions for sunblade, longsword of Justice no longer refer to it as a whip. * You can no longer room kick someone through a locked door, even if they have passdoor up. -The same applies from room kicks from the spell 'squall'. * The ansi from being poisoned by various means has been fixed. * The Kobolds in The Kingdom of Torg are now actually Kobolds. * When typing list in a room where you can make a guild, the sign now has proper spacing. * Mobs that have their own hit type messages (ie plant crushes vs hits), now vamp when not wielding a weapon if they have vamp touch. * Plant innate branch can now be used with vamp touch. * A new toggle, toggle barter, is available to turn on / off the use of treasures to purchase items when you don't have the money. -Magical essences (that add item effects) are now flagged (magic) so you can no longer accidently barter them off. * The rename code should now update guilds as well, so you no longer get kicked next time you log in, while a "ghost listing" of your old name remains in the guild. * The rename code should also now work properly regarding ships in all cases (was looking for ships with the new owner name instead of old to update). May 8th, 2018 * Reset zone alignments. * Bartender quest max set to 20 at all levels. November 7th, 2017 * Changed 'eq sort earring' to 'eq sort ear'. * The Undead Outpost is now actually a real Undead hometown. There are no crimes there however. * Orog Encampment is now an Evil hometown (again, no crimes though). * Nax is now a Neutral hometown (no crimes). * Invasion alarms sound a bit more often. -Alarms for Evil hometowns turned on. * Race Deva is now officially a Theurgist pet race. * When making a new character and selecting a hometown, you can now type either a prefix of the first word of the hometown, or a full word. -Examples: 'Thar' -> Tharnadia - City of Humans, 'life' -> The Plains of Life. * When encountering errors with hometowns, Evils will now be assigned to Shady Grove instead of Tharnadia - City of Humans. * The fraglist command now checks for abbreviations only, not in-fixes ('frag war' no longer goes to mountain dWARf, but to WARrior). -You now see what fraglist you're looking at (ie Frag Information for Warrior:). * The Royal Bank in Plane of Fire, Brass now has a mithril bank counter and exchanges money like a proper bank. -However, only Neutral racewar can enter lockers there since it's not a hometown. * Fixed a crashbug involving custom chests losing their keywords. * Fixed the references to Eastern Daylight Time; we are now on Eastern Standard Time. -This is now changed with just setting a boolean EST on or off. * Shopkeepers no longer keep junk in their inventories. * When purchasing something at a shopkeeper that produces said item, it should now replenish properly (no longer is the produced item moved to #1 on the shopping list). * You will now see "<mob> moves to a different position." during those moments where they were suddenly standing. -PC pets do not 'move to a different position' anymore. -PC pets will still auto-stand with the regular stand message about every 8-9 sec. November 4th, 2017 * Lockers fully re-enabled.. -The bug with lockers duplicating cash is fixed. -The bug with lockers causing crashes via dropping coins is fixed. -The bug with lockers causing people to be sent to The Void if they couldn't afford locker charges is fixed. -The order of items in chests / locker room / containers should stay constant now. * When dropping coins with toggle echo on, it now shows the amount and coin type dropped. * Renting / entering game no longer reverses the order of items in containers. * There is now a message for when a Summoner fails an attempt at 'contain being'. * Fixed a crashbug with mortals looking at exits leading to nowhere. November 2nd, 2017 Lockers re-enabled.. enjoy. October 31st, 2017 ---=== STORAGE LOCKERS TEMPORARILY DISABLED ===--- * The command practice all no longer crashes the mud if used without a teacher present. * The spell 'feeblemind' should no longer crash the mud. * Major overhaul of locker code. -Only visible change should be an increase in help / sort options. -You can now equip sort <weapon type> (longsword / mace / axe etc). * Bards are now flagged as semi-casters. -This means they don't get any first or second circle spells. -The spell 'mirror image' has been moved to 3rd circle for Bards. * Secondary-hand bonus dexterity attacks have been fixed. * Monk barehand damage color fixed in attributes. * The order command now works right when ordering 2.zombie or such. * All object timers are now saved instead of just the first four. -This only affects the staff of blue flames right now. * The spell 'ray of enfeeblement' now has a fail message to caster. * You can now mount your own pets even if they are aggressive to stuff. * When using the trample command, your mount now unhides and goes visible. * When moving to a new room, your mount now unhides. * All undead are now immune to the decay effects of the Negative Plane. * PC pets now have a 30 second feign death timer. * Fixed a bug where some items being in the primary hand could cause a divide-by-zero error when doing damage. * a shady chemist now targets as shady or chemist. * Changes to innate command: -You must now use the full name of the innate as part of the command (only the last word can be abbreviated). -Examples: 'inn plane shift air' or 'inn plane s air' but no longer 'inn plane air'. 'innate bite dog' or 'inn b dog' would work for innate biting a dog. -You can now list a single innate with 'innate list <innate name>'. * Changes to the spells 'decaying flesh' and 'putrefying flesh': -Cast times have been reduced by 67%, but there is now post-cast lag equivalent to the reduction in cast time. -The number of waves for 'decaying flesh' is now static at 3, and 'putrefying flesh' is 4 or 5 at levels 51+. -The dot damage from the spells is now equivalent to the base damage of consume + a very small bonus for multiple stacks. * Changes to the consume command: -The consume command no longer consumes two stacks if there's only one. -The damage for consume has a base of 8 to 12 (level dependent) with a multiplier ranging from 1 to 2 based on the number of stacks. -This damage is applied (slightly randomized) once for each stack consumed (stops if victim dies). -The way spells are regained through consume has been tweaked: -You start with one point towards regaining a spell. -You gain one point each time a stack is consumed. -If you have 'putrefying flesh' un-prayed, you will attempt to gather four points. -Otherwise, you will attept to gather two points. -When four points are gathered, you will regain one 'putrefying flesh' at the cost of four points. -If you don't have any un-prayed 'putrefying flesh', you will will regain one 'decaying flesh' when two points are gathered at the cost of two points. -If you reach a point where no more stacks will be consumed (none left or dead victim) and have 'putrefying flesh' un-prayed, yet only two or three points, you will regain one 'decaying flesh'. * Mukrok, the guardian troll is now really a Troll. * Shop keeper overhaul: -DE updated to version 3.10 to reflect changes. -In DE, you can now see and set some of the act2 bits on NPCs. -There is now an act2 bit for shop keepers (not settable, done automatically). -The order of commands in DE has changed slightly to reflect this. -Shop keepers no longer operate under a shop_keeper proc. This means that shop keeper + bartenders retain their bartender proc in the proper place, as well as mobs with regular procs. -This means you should now see the appropriate (Q), (Q), or (Q) flag if you have toggle quest on. -All zone files with shopkeepers have been updated to get the new shopkeeper act2 flag. -Shop keepers who's shops are flagged no-roam no longer wander when the keeper is not flagged sentinel. -When not in their shop room, non-roaming shop keepers now try to return there when someone executes a command in the room they're in. * Random mob long descriptions are now full sentences and end with a newline (as it should be). * All races now get heights and weights (and are set on NPCs too). * Unarmed people have at least 1d4 base damage. * Fixed a couple of typos in disguise. * Castle Gate rooms (can be read gate-guard rooms of outposts) are !exp from pve now. * Locker fixes: -Guild lockers no longer dupe when two people try to enter the same guild's locker. -The cost of entering a locker with more than 400 items has been reduced (unless >2000 items). -When trying to update an old locker file, the MUD no longer loads the owner's pfile and drops their equipment at their last save point. -Instead, old lockers should all update properly. * Stampede hit chance and lag have been tweaked: level difference now has a 2% per point effect, agility of victim now decreases chance, and base chance is random based on whether or not the victim has aware. October 10th, 2017 * If you insist on afk'ing in zones with a timer / trigger to stop your character from voiding, you must have offensive off! Actively participating via getting engaged by area spells etc is unacceptable. Especially for non-casters. October 6th, 2017 * The icecrown of the frost revenants and the boots of inertia are not currently in game due to issues. October 3rd, 2017 * Fixed ship crew bug and restored ship crew exp. * You can now 'look in <ship>' to see inside non-battleship ships with less than 10 rooms. -You see more with farsee. * Having toggle terse on no longer hides spell damage messages. * All shambling mounds are now race Plant. * A tarnished gold key from The Keep of Evil no longer breaks. * You can no longer trample without footing. * Damroll now affects damage done by sweeping thrust. Damage from weapon dice on sweeping thrust increased. * Trying to 'practice all' at a non-caster teacher no longer gives you spam messages. * A shadow monster can no longer be targeted as elemental. * Orcs and Githyanki now have newbie starter bags. * A lot of damage messages should now use the battle alert -=[ .. ]=- and -=[ .. ]=- brackets. * Falling on your face from a badly failed combination attack now puts you prone. * Ship crews now have an exp cap of 2 times the captain's level squared (6272 exp at level 56). September 28th, 2017 * Overhaul of the weather code: -Weather now only exists on the surface map and Tharn ruins (and zones connected to them). -The spell 'control weather' now works properly (not available atm). * There is now a zone flag to flag zones at Underdark. -Right now, only BogenTok, The Twisting Tunnels of the Durian Underdark, and The Depths of Duris are flagged as UD. * The command 'world stats' now lines up properly. * Attempting to home (via the 'home' command) should now respond better and be nicer to Imms. * Memtimes should be reduced slightly. * Avengers should now be partial casters and not semi-casters (lowest spell circle 4 not 3). * Reavers now get 'magic missile' at third circle not second, and they no longer get 'chill touch'. * Ice Reavers now get 'frost bolt' at fifth circle not fourth. * Paladins now get 'bless' at third circle not second. * The age old bug where people were seeing the possibility of memming in circles they don't have has been fixed. * The shutdown code has been tweaked such that we can now initiate a copyover at boot, even if a countdown has not been initiated. * The ghost of Gilman Quintaragon, Conjurer, in Quintaragon Castle, is now a Conjurer. * Mobs that have 'group stornogs spheres' now use it when appropriate. * Having a shield in a primary or secondary hand now prevents the bonus dexterity attack with that hand. * The spell 'faerie sight' now requires some faerie dust to give DI. -It now gives detect good, detect evil, and detect magic by default and farsee with some faerie dust. * Spells should no longer give multiple wear-off messages. * The mud no longer attempts to check for gaining an epic level when a character isn't high enough level to need epics. * Mobs now use innate strength when appropriate. * The skill sweeping thrust got a considerable rework. -A lot of the messages have been tweaked. -The damage amounts should show if toggle damage is on. -The chance modifiers for level and stat difference have been tweaked. * A typo in the pipe-destruction message for smoking was fixed (no double articles). * A drow bard in The Docks of Quietus Quay is now actually a Bard. * There is now a way out of the epic portion of The Keep of Evil. * The look out command should now work again on ferries. * The various vitality spells are now mutually exclusive with the effects of some heirloom Blue Haze. * The recite command has been tweaked: -Reciting a scroll with multiple offensive spells will not stop upon killing it's target, but continue to cast the remaining spells at the next target of the same name (ie 'rec scroll 2.ladybug' will potentially kill 2., then 3., then 4. ladybug). * The spell 'identify' has been tweaked: -The help file has been updated to reflect the chance of inaccuracy (which has always been there). -It is also a little more colorful and neat now. * The typo where attempting to get all from an empty container gives a non-capitalized sentence in response is fixed. * -=(PvP)=- achievements now look neater (effects unchanged). * A carrot had a few typos fixed in its short and long descriptions. * Duris's attempt to auto-capitalize sentences has been tweaked to skip leading spaces and non-alphabet characters. * Duris now attempts to capitalize every sentence in an "act() sequence." -Noticeable when a mob has a multi-sentence room message and such. * The message for using forge has been tweaked slightly. * The prevention of dimming to mobs with the COVER flag has been replaced with an actual NO_PORT flag. -This means you can dim to COVER mobs again. -The code for checking all 'dimension door'-type spells is now located in one function. -This includes windwalk, dimension door, shadow travel, and spirit jump. -The NO_PORT flag isn't set on any mobs yet. -The NO_PORT flag also applies to portal spells, such as 'wormhole'. * You can now smoke your herbs in all Underdark flagged rooms. September 19th, 2017 * Using bad ansi in a 'soc n' command no longer hangs the mud. * Mobs using their bite abilities now run out of poison like PCs do. * Mobs should now only cast (un)holy word if they have the alignment to do so. * You should no longer lose an extraordinary amount of exp if you die on a circle level. * AI for mobs that get ranged has been tweaked. * Just a reminder, you use 'auction pickup' to get platinum from your donations. September 16th, 2017 * The terminate command now requires a reason and is logged in the cheaters file. * Your local drug dealer is now known as a shady chemist. * The cycle_mud script no longer goes to sleep if it's exiting (not bringing the MUD back up). September 16th, 2017 * It is cheating to range to death mobs who can not track to you. * It is also considered botting to have your character actively progressing (exp or skills) while you're not at keys. September 15th, 2017 * We have wiped!!! * This wipe is gonna be a no gimmick wipe. -So, don't expect anything out of the ordinary. -Nothing has changed as far as exp / group caps / etc. -The level cap is at 56 and will remain there for this wipe. -The only change to the rules is that being botted by another player while you're afk is illegal and will be punished. * Mobs flagged with cover are no longer dimmable. -Sa'Dah is now flagged with cover. September 5th, 2017 * A new command 'chaos' has been added. Type 'chaos ?' or "chaos help' for details. * Up to 1500 random mobs will auto-load until wipe. -There is now a boon for a top-tier faerie bag upon killing a random mob. * Changed 'time' command to show EDT instead of EST. * The mud now defaults to auto-approval of new characters again. * Mobs are at 1% max health until wipe (Minimum 1 max hp). September 5th, 2017 * Chaos Policy (this has been pretty standard since I've been doing it) -Chaos does not begin before the last week of the wipe (It's been shown and shown again that it gets boring fast). -Chaos leveling will occur in the fashion such that, on the day before the wipe, 56 will be available. -Working back from that, the day before 55 will be available, the day before that 54 will be available. -This linear process will continue, starting at level 51 being available on the 9th, 6 days before the wipe. -Equipment bags will probably not be given out, but rather we will have a boon that makes all random mobs drop a max-tier faerie bag. -This will coincide with spam production of maybe 1000 or 2000 random mobs wandering the map. -If I have the time, I will reduce mob hitpoints on the 9th to coincide with the start of chaos. *Help file redirects (ie help ships redirects to help ship) are working right again, and now work for 2 word help entries (such as help quick thinker -> help quick thinking). *The weird A (Ã) that was appearing under Herbs: in score for some clients is gone. *The typo that said hardcores got 5 deaths during creation is fixed. September 1st, 2017 * We will be wiping on September 15th. July 23rd, 2017 * Max bloodlust for level 50+ is 100% now. Addicted to blood exp bonus applies to those over level 49 too. July 8th, 2017 * Max bloodlust doubled. June 16th, 2017 * The order command now has proper lag again. * When you 'order followers east' or such, all followers now respond again. June 14th, 2017 * The order command now has lag again. * There are now two random boons, which will change shortly after boot and every hour after. June 14th, 2017 * The spell 'decaying flesh' no longer crashes the mud. * You can now 'open door' in The Entrance to an Abandoned Temple and A Turn in the Passageway in the Temple of the Earth (after the appropriate switch has been triggered). * The gnome weaponsmith in Ashrumite Village now sells mining picks and high quality mining picks. * Overhaul of the order code: -You can now order follower to order your first follower in your room. -You can now order x.follower to order your xth follower in your room. -You can still order followers to order all of your followers in your room. -You can still order <name> to order a follower by name. -You can now order all.<name> to order all of your followers that go by <name>. June 7th, 2017 * The epic store has been tweaked a little (prices are the same). -You still can't buy in bulk, but will now get an error message instead of buying the wrong item. -You can now buy items by name (ie buy bottle buys the first bottle in the list - tormented souls not past experiences). * Typo fixed: The High Mountain Trial is now The High Mountain Trail. * The pets of a Diabolis now have more hps. * Hitpoints for Necroancer pets in general have a slightly higher average, slightly lower cap, and lower variance. * Zealots now get innate aura of protection (blue), and Healers get innate aura of spell protection (magenta). * The innate improved skewer is back in the game for Dark Knights and Crusaders. -This affects the chance to skewer not the duration or anything else. * The damage from tainted blade has been tweaked. * Violators gained a new spell in 9th circle, 'putrefying flesh'. -This is similar to decaying flesh but adds 3 (as opposed to 1) stacks for up to a total of 9 (instead of 5). -The damage from these two spells has been tweaked, as well as the consume option. * Enslavers now do more damage with psychic crush as well as have a slightly better chance to bash/stun the victim. * Controllers can no longer summon Vampires, Angels, Zombies, nor Eladrin. * Summoners can no longer conjure elite mobs. * Thadeus Crav is now an elite mob. * Runestones/monoliths are no longer takeable. They have also gained a distaste for being inside containers (including corpses) or in the hands of PCs. -If they realize they're in such a state, they make their way to the floor. * The Great Shaboath once again pops when empty. * A Jagged Pinnacle, the first room after entering pentagram in The Realm of Barovia Continued is no longer portable. * The rooms of the primary part of the Negative Material Plane are now flagged as Negative Plane and require protection from undead in order to traverse them unharmed. * A few circumstances where you were underwater but could breathe without water breathing have been removed. -This means you will drown on the Water Plane without it. * Druids have managed to link the base of The Pale Tree in Abandoned Elven Homestead to the Temple of the Earth via touching stones. * A Black Marble Hallway south of Lord Du'Maathe is no longer portable. * A huge dracolich at the beginning of Vecna's Tomb now blocks people from leaving north. * The survivor of Nital now loads hidden. * The Palace Library in The Keep of Evil is no longer portable. * A nefarious pit fiend from Avernus in the Valley of the Snow Ogres is now a much more uncommon sight. -Also, he only carries a gory string of cyclops eyes half the time. * The sphere of wind now loads on Akadi and the dagger of Wind now loads on Yan-C-Bin Prince of the Elemental Plane of Air. * An ancient ki-rin at the beginning of Bahamut's Palace now blocks people from walking east. * A general overhaul of the fishing submitted by Sniktiorg. -Includes new underdark fish. -Includes a direction from whence the sounds of fishing comes. * Strained Lungs will now show in score for when you've been smoking too recently to smoke more. * Mild precipitation no longer stops people from smoking. June 5th, 2017 * Skills display tweaked. * The spell 'planetary alignment' should now show 'You feel weaker.' instead of 'Your feel weaker.' when wearing off. * The blacksmith in The City of Newhaven now has a proper message for selling things. * The crumbling locket of air now targets as air instead of fire. * When unable to repair objects, shop keepers should now all have a generic repair-fail message (instead of using the sell-fail message). May 10th, 2017 * The Tharnadian Armoury now has a forge. * A handcarved pipe is no longer 45 copper. * Numerous typos fixed. * You will now start with newbie eq when using the auto-level option. * Pipes break a little easier now. * There are now messages when the various effects of smoking wear off. * The various effects of smoking now show in score. * Added a few Immortal commands. May 7th, 2017 * A new zone, Arcorar - the Great King Forest, has been added south of Arcium, the Plagued Kingdom. * The default toggles for new characters should now be set properly when using the auto-level option. May 5th, 2017 &+


text:
A very simple residential neighborhood, and a good place for a stroll.
Creativity isn't strictly about exotic locations, unique content, or fancy equipment.
It's about what's inside, and how you bring it out.Read More
A very simple residential neighborhood, and a good place for a stroll.
Creativity isn't strictly about exotic locations, unique content, or fancy equipment.
It's about what's inside, and how you bring it out.Read More
I'll be slumbering under the stars tonight. The sun is slipping below the horizon, and I'm settling into my sleeping bag for a glorious night under the Milky Way.Read More
I'm a fifth generation Nebraskan, this was my first home and will be my last. I was born in the badlands of the western end of the state. I grew up in the cattle country of the Panhandle.Read More
Last summer my daughter Havana and I were driving along Highway 20 -- one of the prettiest stretches of Blue Highway in America -- across the top of Nebraska. Approaching Cody -- A Town Too Tough To Die -- we saw a small football field nestled between hills just outside of town.
It pulled me straight in like a visual magnet.
As I stepped out of the car, I was mesmerized. The air was so fresh. That giant crystal clear blue sky was littered with puffy white clouds. Gentle prairie sounds hummed all around. I walked across the field and stooped to pick a blade of the sweet long grass.
I knew I had to come back in autumn. As it has been my entire life, a good chunk of my focus this fall would be football -- in Nebraska.
It's about the game, but more about community. Life in a little Nebraska town.
My story and film about the Cody-Kilgore six-man football team is now on ESPN.com.
My life runs in circles. Books lead to planes. And then to cameras. Then back to books and found images.Read More
Yesterday was Boxing Day. Havana and I were on the bullet train bound for Osaka. We blasted past Mount Fuji.
It seems like just yesterday when she was born. One of my favorite and most important of the more than 10 million images I've made in my career happened right after she appeared.
Now her 14th birthday is right around the corner.
We're traveling through one of the places I love most, and a land she's asked to see for more than a third of her relatively short life. It's a pleasure share with her.
She's learning again how important friends are. Our first day here two friends, Karou and Rie, took time led us through Harajuku and Roppingi Hills, giving generously of their time and consideration.
Two days ago, Christmas day, Gen broke away from work and took us through the city on an itinerary he created for Havana. He's my favorite creative director and one I've worked with on four continents over the years. Talking with him always makes me quite reflective and introspective. The twinkle in his eyes always brings a slow smile.
Watching Havana navigate a foreign land is fun. When she took her first step, I was in the room.
Her first day of school I delivered her, wide eyed and excited. John Hiatt's "Circle Back" playing premonitionly on the sound system in the car. I remember thinking that the things he referenced would all happen, I just thought it would happen slower.
Which circles back to this trip. I'm on the road, a lot by anyone's standards. When I'm home, we go for long walks and talk about our worlds.
One of the people I turn to regularly for advice counsels me that my world is vast — as is her's — and that changes perspective, and that I especially need to pay attention to that while I am working and teaching.
I've always been on the road — I was 14 the first time I visited Europe and the Middle East. Pretty exotic for a kid from rural Nebraska. I was hooked immediately.
Havana got a much earlier start, and I think she'll be on the move for a long time too. She was on planes regularly hopscotching the country before she started preschool. She's spent time in Paris, Zurich, Istanbul and Tokyo. She speaks regularly with friends living in Europe. I envy her future.
I learn a lot about communicating from her.
It helps me refine my message — something that's fairly critical to a storyteller.
Directly and indirectly we talk about what's important information and what's not. How delivery is key. Fast is crucial. Directness is extremely important. Subtly not so much.
She's an analog girl connected digitally to the world. She reads 1,000's of pages a week of properly printed materials, makes her own greeting and holiday cards with ink and paper, and yet she lives attached to her electronic umbilical cord — her iPhone is never far from her grasp.
It's that combination of near and far, new and old, fast and slow that I'm reaching for.
After six months of shooting and traveling around the prairie lands, I'm excited to announce the launch of Straw Hat Visuals' new artistic and storytelling endeavor -- The Nebraska Project.
To me, Nebraska is not only my birth place, but a rich terrain for the imagination and the journalist. It is a place of cowboys and poets, buffalo and meadowlarks.
Often overlooked as the middle of nowhere, Nebraska is actually the center of everything, providing sustenance and grit for the country.
Some stories are small, like the 60 year romance between Rodney and Delores, and some are as big as the Nebraska sky itself.
There are many more stories to tell and ways we can together preserve and record the beauty of America's majestic frontier.
I hope you enjoy our project and learning more about Nebraska - the land and people who make it great.
When I was young, my parents would organize holiday trips to visit their families. Mom's family lived in eastern Nebraska. Dad's siblings were scattered throughout the country, but his mother was in southeast Nebraska.
They didn't have a lot of resources. Most of their money went to education -- various college degrees and books. Not a lot of spontaneous spending.
Travel was accordingly frugal. Mom would bake bread, make sandwiches and cookies. She would freeze small jars of water and milk, serving the dual purpose of keeping the small cooler cold, and eventually, quenching our thirst as they melted.
We only travelled by car. The family Ford was a rolling fortress. All cars then were giant hunks of solid American steel. Ours was basic, and perfect.
Trip preparations started a week in advance with Mom making sure everything was perfectly organized and prepared.
Gas money set aside in an envelope on the table by the door. They did have a gas card for emergencies, but seldom used it. Cash, always paid in full. Children of the Great Depression - they didn't go into debt. (Mom owned three houses in her life. Two of them she had built and when she got the keys, the carpenter got his money right then.)
Letters were written and posted to folks we would be visiting, confirming their status. It wouldn't do to drive 400 miles to find nobody home -- although I am not sure where any of them would have gone except to visit us. My Dad made one long distance call every two weeks at the most, and never talked for more than three minutes. Mom didn't make any, seriously. Never, just too expensive.
Planning the route was pretty simple, not a lot of paved roads went where we were headed.
Packing the clothes was done well in advance. Sorted by day, everything neatly folded, and stacked into the old Samsonite suitcases.
They made sure there were a few frames of film left in the camera, just in case we needed to photograph something more than the usual group portraits.
Good bonding experience. We had hours to talk, and talk. Family history, practical information related about how the crops were doing as we rolled across the state -- important information for our farmer relations. We read, did crossword puzzles, and played car games usually involving memorizing some arcane trivia my Dad had studied.
A week on the road meant hours in close proximity, lots of sharing.
Times change, traditions remain.
We are still travelers. Constantly in motion. For right or wrong, I flew more than 400,000 miles in 2013.
This time our flight to Istanbul was at noon. We packed that morning. In fairness my wardrobe hasn't changed much since I was two. It's winter so that means hoodies not t-shirts, the only seasonal variation. For a few years, I got crazy and wore white running shoes instead of black, but that fad changed, and I'm back to basics -- and as an aside, very amused that Chuck Taylor's are so incredibly popular again. I always wore mine out so I couldn't still be using them, but still I wonder...
We checked connections, confirmed hotel reservations, made sure the credit card companies were advised that we would be using our cards in Europe and Asia the next few days, and wrote to our friends during the 30 minute drive to the airport.
Havana did do some advance planning, she made sure she had the right books, music and films downloaded to her old iPad (didn't want to risk losing her new one -- it's her lifeblood). With me constantly traveling, we are not always in close proximity, but are somehow always electronically connected. Even when I'm home editing, my office in a building a scant 150 feet from our living room most of our communication on school days is seemingly via wifi.
We got to our hotel in Istanbul 11 minutes ahead of when we planned to be there. Pulling into our hotel just in time for Havana to have some Salep before dinner.
My extended family now includes some of the world's great photographers, storytellers. In Istanbul, it's Kerim Okten, a wonderful journalist, who had just returned to his hometown after a multi-year stint as chief photographer for the European Press Agency in the United Kingdom. One of the tough cadre of globe trotting photojournalists I've spent my life with all over the planet, he dropped everything to take us to his favorite little coffee shop. It was a sweet venue riverside on the mighty Bosphorus perfect for relaxing and looking a first Asia and then Europe - Istanbul being the only major city in the world spanning two continents.
It's odd how well I know this foreign capital. Laura and I shot a short film here two years ago and spent a little time getting to understand the rhythms of the place.
Sultan Ahmed Mosque, commonly called the Blue Mosque.
I loved showing this place, in person, to Havana. Sunrise over the Bosphorus. The Blue Mosque at sunset, surrounded by the haunting, lovely sound of the call to prayer, form the terrace of the Safir restaurant. Walking through Taskim, site of this summer's massive protest, it took three tries to get down the road to a favorite bookstore and a lovely CD store... not because we had to stop in the jewelry and dress stores, although we did plenty of that, but because the riot police and protesters blocked our way. No danger, but enough drama to get Havana's interest.
Unlike most of the American cities we visit, Istanbul is teeming with life at night. Shops, restaurants... throngs of people coursing through the streets well after sunset. But make no mistake, it's happy, kind, and friendly.
The traffic here is crazy, but we saw no accidents. It might crawl, sometimes it zips along, but never stops.
Just like our travel schedule.
I grew up on a beach in Florida. As a child, the idea of the far north always fascinated me. I loved reindeer and Santa Claus. Snow was something from the movies, not real life. My birthday cake on my 6th birthday donned three trolls. My favorite part of Disney World was Epcot's Norway.
So for me, the chance to spend a winter week in the arctic circle was like a childhood dream come true.
Tromsø, Norway, is a long way away. It takes all 24 hours to get there on a good day. On bad days - like our travel through New York, Paris and Oslo last week - it takes closer to 32 hours. You leave home in the dark, you arrive in the dark and wake in the dark. Sunshine is rare in the winter and snow is expected.
We were meeting friends up there. Leigh Birch, a Brit who now lives in California. Dionys Moser, a Swiss photographer and tour guide. Raymond Hoffman, a German photographer who lives in Sweden with his Icelandic wife. Pascal Richard a native of France who runs Professional Services for Nikon Switzerland. We were all there to see the Northern Lights.
Tromsø is considered one of the best places in the world to see the Aurora Borealis. But going to Tromsø doesn't guarantee a northern light sighting. When we first arrived, our chances to see the lights appeared dismal. Clouds were predicted every night and the amount of solar activity was uncertain.
Instead of counting on the night to make our images, we took advantage of the day. Bill, Leigh and I got up early one morning to watch the sun rise over a fjord. Norway's landscape is frequently hidden behind clouds and snow, but on a clear day it is breathtaking, almost unbelievable. We used a D800 with a 14-24mm f/2.8 along with a Lee Kit-SW150 Super Wide Filter Holder.
We drove down icy roads with the heat cranked in the car. We told stories and listened to American music on Norwegian radio.
We returned to Tromsø in time for a late breakfast and a nap. We woke to the phone ringing. Raymond was calling and he was excited. The weather had changed. The clouds would part.
We left the hotel at 5:30 p.m. so we would be out of the city lights by sundown. At 7 p.m., with our tripods set and the intervalometers running, Raymond pointed to a small streak in the sky. The light show was about to start.
The experience of seeing the northern lights is hard to explain. It's something I had heard about and seen in pictures, but it is something I had to see to believe. Watching the green clouds move across the sky, change form and disappear as suddenly as they came, helped me understand why people in this part of the world believe in the supernatural. It is easy to imagine something you see every night.
We were lucky. We got to see the lights two nights in a row. Mostly, it gave us time to absorb what we were seeing. To fully appreciate the experience we were having.
You cannot easily capture the lights on video. As bright as they are, they are too dark for proper video capture. To fix this problem, we brought our Nikon's - two D4s and one D800 - to photograph the lights, doing time lapses using intervalometers. We tried different exposures. Some time-lapses were captured at 6 second exposures, others at 10, still others at 30.
Bill and I move so quickly sometimes, especially with sports photography, that it is nice to slow down. This trip was short, but was also a nice change of pace. We went to have fun with friends, and we left with some amazing photos.
Next year, Bill and I are teaming up with Dionys and Raymond for a photo tour in Tromsø. I can't guarantee we will see the lights, but I promise it will be spectacular.
Currently, the world's attention is on the athletes and what's happening inside the stadiums. But sometimes it is fun to look outside and explore. With the wonderful words of SI writer Alexander Wolff, Laura and I created a short video on the spirit of the city and the paradoxes that make it unique. Hope you all enjoy this view of London, now SI. com.

subset: commoncrawl


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Fresh off of their release of Step Brothers (Karate In The Garage), which served as an appetizer for their highly anticipated album, Starlito and Don Trip are back with a video for their single "Good Cop Bad Cop" which will appear on Step Brothers THREE. As usual the lyrical duo delivered a strong and powerful social message that many can relate to during these trying times. This is true reality rap. Take a look at the video above.
Directed by Charles M Robinson
Produced by Greedy Money
Follow @LITO615 @MrDonTrip respectfully


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This week's culture guide offers a selection of the broad swathe of contemporary art. From practice-based spiritual work to high-modern abstraction, these exhibitions together provide an insight into the diversity of current artistic practice.
Sh-Ken-Ta – Yuhana Nashmi
As part of the public programming accompanying the 65th Blake Prize, artist Yuhana Nashmi will construct a shkenta. Built of locally sourced mud, bamboo and hair from Liverpool hairdressers, Nashmi engages with the ancient religion and practices of Mandaeism and his own Mandean heritage. The resulting structure will be one of four remaining shkenta worldwide.
May 24 – June 1, 10am – 4pm
Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre
31 Sheperd St
We Are Here Now
Running for only a week, this exhibition at Redfern's 107 Projects is the work of community housing artists. The artworks on display are a powerful assertion of the place of these individuals within a rapidly gentrifying city. Staking a claim to the increasingly stratified inner-city, this show forms part of National Reconciliation Week and reinforces the often ignored lives of its participants.
Opening May 30, 6 – 8pm
107 Projects
107 Redfern St
Tues – Sun, 11am – 5pm
Urbanism – Jeremy Alaban
Taking the essential fragmented nature of urban living as a starting point, Alaban's abstract canvasses meditate on disjunctures and disunities in the built environment. Just as construction can often be a disrupting force, Alaban's paintings reveal the processes of their own fabrication with the stitching of the canvas affecting the texture of the image.
Opening May 31, 6 – 8pm
Disorder Gallery
Door 108, Bourke and Stanley St
Thurs, 4 – 7pm, Fri – Sat, 11am – 5pm
A Shadow on the Glass – Maximilian Daniels
In this new collection of work by emerging Sydney artist Maximilian Daniels, abstraction and process are drawn together in reference to colour and technique. Inspired by the way that natural light and reflections on glass can create their own natural form, Daniels has sought to reflect this occurrence in his own layered images. Reminding us how abstract art often has its roots in observation, Daniels' work continues his inspection into abstraction as a contemporary technique.
Opening May 31, 6 – 8pm
76 Paddington St
Tues – Sat, 10am – 5pm


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A mix of flowing sequences to warm the body, raise awareness of breath, hold poses/stretches which will encourage flexibility and balance and tone. To book a place email - email@example.com £45 for 5 classes or pay per session £10. Every Monday Evening.
Back to All Events
Earlier Event: 19 JuneOpen Lecture by Dr Edward Packard
Later Event: 20 JuneGardening for Wellbeing


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Freedom Ring
Freedom Ring
from 120.00
The Arabic text on this ring translates to "Freedom". It is meant to symbolize the current struggle the United States right now among civilians & authority.
Please email us with specific size.
*Black Gold is a PVD-plated Gold ring that is meant to wear with time & allow the gold to show over time.
Allow 7-14 business days for your order to arrive.


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ImagesHover to zoom
Product Code WA5560-3312
Wet/Dry Nose Ear & Brow Trimmer
$29.95 $26.95
$29.95 $26.95
- Product Description
- Product Reviews
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Stainless Steel
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Wet/Dry Nose Ear & Brow Trimmer is rated out of 5 by 22.
Rated 5 out of 5 by ShaneCharlie from Nose hairs be gone! An excellent little product, powerful enough and lightweight Great value for money. Perfectly suited to trim those annoying little nose hairs. Highly recommended!
Date published: 2018-04-26
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Date published: 2018-02-23
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Date published: 2019-07-25
Just wondering if this one is rechargeable?
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Date published: 2019-03-12
I will need to use this, as my husband has dementia. Is it pretty easy for me to use?
Anyone could use this trimmer. For trimming ears, it would be easier for you because you can see what you are doing. This trimmer can do no harm.
Date published: 2018-05-17
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Date published: 2017-09-06
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John "Blood" McNally – The Vagabond Halfback (Packers / Steelers)
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Subscribe For Free!!! Apple Podcasts | Android | Email | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | TuneIn | Spotify | RSS | More
This episode we fire up the DeLorean and head back to learn about the life and career of John "Blood" McNally, the Vagabond Halfback. He played for multiple NFL teams, but he made his biggest dent on the league with the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers. So strap on your seat belt, and let's get ready to take this baby up to 88mph.
Connect with the show:
- Visit the show notes for this episode
- Visit me on the web - my about page
- Contact the show
- Follow me on Twitter
- Subscribe on YouTube
Are you interested in sharing your favorite football moment on the show? This is your chance to share your story with all my listener's.
Pro Football Hall of Fame - John "Blood" McNally
Packers History - John "Blood" McNally
Steelers History - John "Blood" McNally
Sports Illustrated - "Is that you up there, Johnny Blood"
Pro Football Researchers - Johnny Blood: The Vagabond Halfback
Merriam-Webster Dictionary - Vagabond definition
YouTube - Don Hutson on Johnny Blood
Below are some relevant items to this episode. (Note - these are affiliate links, so if you click through here I will get a small commission at no extra charge to you. I would appreciate your support of the show.)


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The protective armor that keeps us from living/
How many people do you know that are really comfortable in their own skin? Can you risk the vulnerability of letting the world, or even yourself, really see you and not just the protected public self we allow to be seen? What do we fear most – rejection by others or even self-rejection? We spend quite a bit of our time creating that acceptable outer self to avoid what we fear most - that we may not be worthy of being loved and accepted for who we are at our authentic core. So why is that the case for so many of us?Read More


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Expedition Information
Journey with The Walking School Bus (TWSB) across India where we will collaborate with two of our partner communities and schools in the scenic hills of Uttarakhand to improve access to education. As a TWSB Expedition Goer, your work will support the implementation of our holistic and research-based approach to providing access to education.
This summer's Expedition is focused on ensuring curricular sustainability by:
• Working with the Himalayan Public Schools' teachers on the ground to develop and implement lesson plans that leverage our offline educational content.
• Collecting data to understand the impact of our reading program and intervention.
We will also implement aspects of our nutritional model by:
• Installing a Community Supported Agricultural Garden to improve nutritional diversity and agricultural knowledge.
This trip aims to mutually benefit our volunteers and school and community partnerships through the implementation of our holistic approach to educational attainment. As a bonus, we provide a curated travel experience that gives Expedition Goers a true taste of the diverse and rich Northern Indian culture, sights, and monuments so present in Uttarakhand.
We will work with our partner schools to:
1 . Improve access to curriculum by monitoring our new Solar Power Classroom and installing a Water Catchment System with remote sensing. As well, we will be working directly with students and teachers to integrate the SiMBi reading app into their curriculum.
2 . Improve access to nutrition by implementing our nutritional projects which include: a. Implementing a Community Supported Agriculture program (CSA) at HPS Suyalgarh that will be maintained by the communities and schools involved. The CSA farms help our schools to incorporate the best agricultural and educational practices into the classroom. b. Building Water Catchment Systems to provide a much-needed water source for the village, especially during the dry season. It also enables communities to maintain the garden and chicken coops.
Arrival: Thursday, july 5th
Arrive in Delhi by 7:00 pm on July 5th and proceed to Stops Hostel to become acquainted with the Expedition team. After dinner, sleep early in preparation for our 5:00 am departure to Uttarakhand.
Day 2: friday, July 6th
Take an early morning train to Kathgodam, a charming hillside town in Uttarakhand. Here, we will have the option to withdraw money for the upcoming week. We will arrive to the guest house by 4PM where we will enjoy a welcoming dinner while a guest speaker briefs us on the Expedition.
Day 3: SATURDAY, JULY 7TH
Wake up to a beautiful, expansive hill view. We will go over the trip itinerary in depth over breakfast. At 9 AM, we will leave for the Himalayan Public School (HPS) where our team will meet the teachers, students, and the community. After the orientation, monitoring and evaluating the situation, we will dive into our projects:
1. Book project: An exciting art project with renowned Indian illustrator
2. Data collection: Collect literacy data & collect access data
3. Educators will further develop and integrate curriculum
4. CSA Workshop: a briefing on the garden, sourcing of materials
The 'River View' lunch: As a part of the hill experience, we will walk the bridge to reach our lunch area overlooking the river. At 4 PM, we will travel back to the guest house and will indulge in team bonding games, while breathing in the fresh mountain air! We will end the day with a home-cooked North Indian cuisine with local flavours.
Day 4: SUNDAY, JULY 8TH
We will visit the city of Almora, a blend of mountain beauty, ancient cultural influences, sanctified spots, thickly wooded forests, scenic valleys, and quaint cafés. Here, we will visit the Zero Point, the Bright End Corner, the Chitai Temple, the Sun Temple, and Kasar Devi. We will have lunch at Mohan's Cafe.
Wake up early and enjoy the sunrise with a cup of traditional chai. Depart for HPS post breakfast; the day's agenda includes:
1. Data Collection: Literacy
2. CSA Garden
3. An Art workshop in unison with Chopra & HPS
Following the day's projects, we will head back to the guest house to enjoy a relaxed dinner, and prepare for yet another meaningful work day.
Leave at 8:30 AM, and continue our projects at HPS Suyalgarh:
1. Data Collection: Literacy
2. Curriculum Dev and teaching
3. CSA Garden
4. An Art workshop with students from HPS (link Ruchi's Art workshops).
5. Library Sorting
After a productive morning, we will stop for lunch at the awe-inspiring Dhokaney Waterfall and then spend some time exploring the neighboring trails. We will depart for the guest house by 5 PM and sleep early to be ready for the next day.
Return to HPS Suyalgarh to continue our projects:
1. Data Collection: Literacy
2. Curriculum Dev and Implmentation
3. Library Construction
4. An Art workshop with students from HPS
Embark to Mukteshwar, an hour's drive from Chopra, for lunch and to visit the must-see Chauthi Ki Jaali. We will end the afternoon with a pitstop at Café Chandi Maati.
Today is power-packed as we will complete the Expedition's projects: the Library, the book project data collection on nutrition, and implementation of CSA Garden. We will end the evening with a unique, experiential storytelling session. Pack our bags after our last dinner at the guest house.
Load bags into the car and spend the first half of the day completing projects for HPS Suyalgarh. Bid farewell to the school and community teams, enjoy one last local lunch, and depart for Bhimtal at 3 PM. Post a lovely 2-hour hillside drive, we will reach Bhimtal located 1370m above sea level. Stay in Bhimtal overnight and enjoy the sights.
We leave the hotel early for a little picnic at lake Garuda tal. one of the pristine lakes of Sattal in Uttarakhand.
Lunch at Birdsong Cafe.
Depart for Delhi where we will say our goodbyes.
Total cost per person for the Expedition is 750 USD which includes all food, transportation, and accommodations (excludes airfare to and from Delhi). In addition, we are asking that each Expedition Goer raise 1250 USD to contribute to the projects in Uttarakhand, India. 100% of funds raised go to our projects. In fact, our projects cannot be implemented without these funds. TWSB will help you meet your fundraising goals by creating fundraising pages for each volunteer. You will be issued a tax receipt for the amount raised.
If you would like to join us for this remarkable adventure or have any questions, please contact us:
email@example.com or, firstname.lastname@example.com


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Artist H.R. Giger first entered (and seriously disturbed) the consciousness of the wider public in 1979 with Ridley Scott's Alien, which continues to spawn prequels, sequels and spinoffs -- including Scott's own Prometheus -- and an array of pop-culture detritus (e.g., toys, action figures, video games, an entire line of Aliens vs. Predator comics). Credited with the design of the titular Alien and awarded an Oscar as part of the film's visual-effects team, Giger was essential to Alien's success: His ever-mutating biomechanical critters -- whether gestating in creepily vaginal seed pods, attaching unexpectedly to a face, exploding from a chest cavity, extruding a set of telescoping metallic teeth or dispatching a crew member with a skull-popping head bite -- remain nightmarishly frightful, their primal power undiminished by the highly variable quality of the endless iterations.
Belinda Sallin's Dark Star: H.R. Giger's World explores the origins of Alien's brood and Giger's other equally unsettling creations, offering an impressionistic profile of the surrealist in his final years. Much of the film consists of long tracking shots, as the director's camera curiously probes the crowded corners and shelves of Giger's gloom-enshrouded house in Zurich, Switzerland, with its hoarder-level clutter of paintings, prints, sculptures, books and macabre objects. Despite Giger's thematic preoccupation with sex and death -- subjects that obsessively recur, often in combination, in his dream-derived images -- there's also evidence of a childlike whimsy in his home, especially in a fantastical garden that he sometimes traverses by a self-designed miniature railroad.
The film features all the usual documentary accoutrements: archival footage, interviews (with Giger, family members, associates, fans and outside experts), and vérité glimpses of the artist as he sketches, pets his cat, dines with friends and visits his own museum for a book-signing. But because Dark Star emphasizes the experiential -- those long explorations of Giger's house -- and avoids a chronological organizing structure, the film is somewhat stingy on biographical detail, which often proves frustrating.
Sadly, Dark Star also seems the victim of poor timing: Giger gives Sallin tremendous access, but he's clearly suffering from some unspecified infirmities during the film's shoot -- he died shortly after it wrapped -- and he struggles to articulate his thoughts. As he sits gnome-like in a chair or shuffles unsteadily from room to room, Giger offers occasional insights into his life and art, but he's painfully halting and deliberate in his speech, and the level of introspection is relatively slight.
Devotees of Giger's art will find much to delight them, but more casual fans will find that Dark Star fails to fully illuminate.
Dark Star: H.R. Giger's World Directed and written by Belinda Sallin. Starring H.R. Giger, Stanislav Grof, Sandra Beretta and Leslie Barany. Screens at 7:30 p.m. Friday through Wednesday (June 5-10) at Webster University's Moore Auditorium, 470 East Lockwood Avenue. Call 314-968-7487 or click here.
Cliff Froehlich is executive director of Cinema St. Louis, which presents the St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase from July 19 to 23.
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|Student Life
We encourage physical fitness and recognize the benefits of instilling exercise habits in childhood and the important lessons learned through playing as part of a team.
St. Cassian students have a wide array of opportunities to particiapte in sports' activities that nurture and stimulate phisical and cognitive abilities. Participating in sports promotes self esteem, builds team-work, promotes a healthy well-balanced lifestyle, and increases academic performance.
Cougars sports are a source of pride throughout St. Cassian School. The following sports are offered at our school:
- Soccer (Co-ed : Grades 5-8)
- Volleyball (Co-ed: Grades 5-6 and 7-8)
- Basketball (Boys and Girls Teams: Grades 3-8)
- Softball (Girls: School and Rec Teams)
- Track (Co-ed: Grades 1 – 8)
- Cross Country ( Co-ed: Grades 1-8)
- Cheerleading(Grades 1 – 8)
- Baton (K-8)


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April 2019's Preview of "5 Good Things To Share!" - Hay Fever Edition/
This month's theme is focussed around Hay fever and allergies. If you or your loved ones suffer from hay fever or Spring time allergies, this month's email update could have something to help you.
Here's a preview of what's in the April 2019 edition:Read More


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'Pokemon Go' captivates Lititz
Ok, most everyone has heard by now of the "Pokémon Go" smartphone game where users hunt Bulbasaurs, Snorlaxs, and other hard to pronounce virtual creatures.
The game, inspired by scavenger hunting geo cachers, is this summer's viral phenomenon that's swept over Lititz Springs Park.
As phenomenon's go it's drawn mixed reviews, labeled everything from a government conspiracy and CIA data collecting device to a harmless virtual reality game that's inspired children to get out of the house and exercise.
Players such as Gage St. Pierre tried to explain the game Tuesday, which may sound like a foreign language to those unfamiliar with Pokémon.
"You get the better Pokémons by hatching eggs which you get by walking a certain distance," advised Gage, who sat on benches at Lititz Springs Park with his brother Luke and their schoolmate Declan McCarthy.
The game has become incredibly popular as well with college students such as Warwick High School grads Caleb Stork and Derek Fry.
"I caught a Psyduck near that bench over there and a lot of Rattatas," Stork announced.
"They're all over the place," said Fry, referring to the virtual reality creatures that appear randomly on a smartphone when positioned in a precise location.
Fry noted the game has helped inspire people with mental health issues and depression "to get up and out of bed in the morning."
"That's a side-effect that (developers) didn't see coming," he said.
But the game appears to have captivated non-millenials, such as Amy Johnson, 29, a stay-at-home mother who's working on an associate's degree in psychology.
"So far I have caught 11 Pokémon," Johnson said referring to "Poke Stops" locations revealed on a smartphone map generated by the Pokémon Go app.
It works like this: the game uses your phone's GPS to post real-world locations to spot Pokémon and collect items.
When found, the game unlocks your smartphone's camera, opening a view of Pokémon in the real world. Once you spot them, you flick a "Poké Ball" toward the creature to capture it.
"I have found Pokémon mostly in parking lots such as the ones in Wal-Mart in Ephrata and Little Caesar's on Lititz Pike," Johnson said." A few have jumped out while driving to and from Lancaster City from Ephrata."
She noted that "I was the passenger while playing the app."
But not everyone has been so careful as multiple reports have surfaced of distracted players injured while walking.
Waves of players cropping up in public have spawned public confusion and suspicion.
Lititz Police Chief Kerry Nye admitted his department knew nothing of the Pokémon phenomenon until this past weekend when players had to be coaxed to leave Lititz Springs Park at closing.
"We actually had an incident at 2 a.m. (Tuesday) where three guys were walking on somebody's private property doing this Pokémon game and an officer just came upon them," Nye said.
He said it's important to alert players of the danger of venturing on private property any time.
"The repercussions could be trespassing or even more than that if the homeowner sees someone in his backyard in the middle of the night," he said. "Who knows what will happen?"
Nearby, Ephrata Police have responded to calls of Pokémon Go crowds gathering since the app has appeared.
"We had calls on two separate gatherings/locations," Ephrata Chief William Harvey said. "None required police intervention, and the callers were briefed on what was going on."
There are no known/reported issues or criminality at this time, he said. But there's been at least one incident (not in this area) of players robbed after being lured to a bogus "Poke Stop."
Harvey said both instances in Ephrata were citizens calling in who were curious about a small group of teenagers gathered at a location.
"It appeared suspicious to the callers, (but) there was no criminality or crimes committed," he said.
Harvey said many of his officers are parents of teens, and along with their social media presence, they were familiar with the app from the start.
He cautions the public that this is only a game.
"Just as long as there are no crimes, ordinance violations, and they apply safety at all times," he said. "Remember, this is only a game." The biggest point that needs to be made is that participants need to be mindful and respect others' property (residential and businesses), and not trespass or damage other's property."
"I expect our citizens, when they observe suspicious activity, to call it in," he said. "One might not be able to distinguish between a virtual scavenger hunting game and criminality."
Harvey said Pokémon Go warns players to keep aware of their surroundings during their virtual treasure hunt. But after only a few days since its release, it has already led people into a string of bizarre incidents.
"People have ended up in hospitals after chasing nonexistent animals into hazardous spots," he said. "I will finally warn players not to break the law or endanger themselves while 'Pokémoning,'" he said.
Patrick Burns is social media editor and staff writer for the Lititz Record Express. He welcomes your questions and comments and can be reached at email@example.com or at 721-4455.


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50 Cent Sued for Alleged Violent Attack He Didn't Commit- Snoop Dogg Family Sitcom- Jonas Brother Reality Show- Ne-Yo Engaged- more
Charlie Sheen's screen funeral on sitcom Two and a Half Men was watched by 28.7m in the US - the highest ratings for the show since it began in 2003. more
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Beverly Hills Hotel Named City's First Historic Landmark
Hotel & Resort June 27, 2012
The city of Beverly Hills has named the Beverly Hills Hotel as its first historic landmark. The announcement was made by the city's Cultural Heritage Commission. Celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, the Beverly Hills Hotel opened in 1912, prior to the founding of the city of Beverly Hills.
A celebration for the designation will take place on Sept. 12 in a special gathering for the Beverly Hills community. The event will include the opening of a historic time capsule, placed at the property's front red-carpet entrance in 1993, when the hotel closed for a two-and-a-half-year refurbishment. The capsule's location is marked by a gold plaque that indicates that it is to be opened during the hotel's centennial year. While its contents are reportedly unknown, artifacts including a cigar from frequent guest Milton Berle and drawings from a frequent celebrity guest are rumored to be inside. A new time capsule will be planted, and the mayor's office will issue a proclamation declaring the ceremonious day Beverly Hills Hotel Day.
Other anniversary activities include ongoing dining, spa and anniversary packages, and the book launch of "The Beverly Hills Hotel -- The First 100 Years" by Beverly Hills resident Robbie Anderson, great-grandson of the property's original owner and official historian for the hotel.
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