text:
As a volunteer at a Duval County Public School at which my wife teaches, I am disappointed when I hear references to the "better" schools in St. Johns County.
That statement disparages Duval educators. On the contrary, my wife and her colleagues are incredibly professional, educated and diligent.
St. Johns has the distinct advantage of educating fewer children from challenging socioeconomic circumstances.
Those circumstances often result in less engagement from the family in the child's education, putting more of the burden for that education on the school and, specifically, the teacher.
I contend that Duval schools could be rated better for educating in a more challenging environment.
Art Mills, Jacksonville
I found it almost funny but really sad that according to the Today in History section, in 1973 the Senate began the Watergate hearings, investigating a once popular President Richard Nixon.
Now, 44 years later, many are saying we're in the same "Waterboat" again!
Another president being questioned about his actions. Didn't 44 years teach us anything?
Carl J. C. Hafner, Jacksonville
Early this week, someone inside the government learned that President Donald Trump discussed a plot regarding laptops on aircraft with the Russians and leaked it to the press.
The worst possible spin is put on it — namely, that disclosing this deeply compartmentalized secret to the Russians jeopardizes the security of the free world and endangers U.S. cooperation with a mysterious key ally were that ally to be exposed. Reporters take that spun story to every Republican they can find to rub their noses in it.
Not one news report mentions the fact that in March, the administration quite publicly banned laptops from being carried in the cabins of aircraft coming to the U.S. from 10 airports in the Middle East based on security concerns.
It would not be much of an intellectual leap for the Russians to deduce that there was actionable intelligence on a terrorist threat involving laptops from that ban long before their office visit with the president.
Now we finally learn that the mysterious ally is Israel, which is apparently unconcerned, judging by their public reaction, despite reporters' desperate attempts to find any Israeli official who'll slam the president for them.
That is also no great surprise, given the historic and well-known U.S. cooperation with Israeli intelligence and the fact that a threat from laptops was no earth-shattering revelation.
To say the press has made a mountain out of a molehill with this whole story would be a gross understatement. What possible reason could the press have for doing that?
Lee Handford, Jacksonville
the MAINSTREAM MEDIA
not enough ACCOUNTABILITY
The Times-Union editorial on fake news was conveniently forgiving of the mainstream media, placing much blame on Internet media.
Unfortunately there are frequent instances of the purveyors of deceit being articles in the Times-Union by The Associated Press and Washington Post.
Most of their published articles on politics are so manipulative and adversarial that I don't read them anymore.
Their political views belong on the editorial page, so I can read the rest of your paper like an informed citizen should. We need much more accountability for what is written.
Chuck Smith, Ponte Vedra
There are an increasing number of articles suggesting that President Donald Trump should be impeached.
The "reasons" given would be humorous if the topic were not so serious.
He fired FBI Director James Comey.
He may have said to Comey that he wished he would let go of the Russian/Trump investigation (something that Trump had a perfect right to do).
He passed high-level (code word) info to Russians (a presidential right no matter how disgusting, no matter how stupid).
Trump is only about 10 percent into his presidency (obviously, he will be a one-term president). We need to give him more time than that. He'll undoubtedly do more "less than presidential" things, but he does hold the office.
Fred Mathis, St. Augustine
The Preamble to our Constitution reads: "We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
If one takes a moment to compare these words with those being regurgitated by our 111th Congress, it's easy to see the perils of greed. Our general welfare has been set aside for purpose of political survival. Party affiliation has replaced the idea of nurturing the common good.
Thankfully, our forefathers had the vision to make impeachment of a president by a dysfunctional Congress virtually impossible. It would take a two-thirds majority of the Senate to impeach and they know it. Then again, it's a headline grabber, fundraiser and hides the most lucrative shell game invented by man:
Roger Robinson, Jacksonville


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BUDDY GUY STONE CRAZY! 180g LP
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Item Number: ADALP14723
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Out of Print For Over 20 Years!
Remastered & Reissued On 180g Vinyl!
Alligator Records presents the remastered reissue of their all-time best-selling title on 180g vinyl! The internationally renowned iconic blues guitarist Buddy Guy has over 2.3 million career units scanned. 2010's Living Proof has scanned 85,000 copies.
Buddy Guy is a pioneer of the Chicago blues sound and has served as an influence to some of the most notable musicians of his generation, including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan. In the 1960s Guy was a member of Muddy Waters' band and as a house guitarist at Chess Records.
Guy is ranked 30th in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.
"A native of the Baton Rouge area, he combined a blazing modernism with a fierce grip on his roots, playing frantic leads heavy with swampy funk on Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor" and Koko Taylor's "Wang Dang Doodle" as well as on his own Chess sides and the fine series of records he made with harp man Junior Wells."
- Rolling Stone Magazine
"The artist at his frantic and frenzied best...savage guitar and fiery vocals"
- Rolling Stone
180g Vinyl
Buddy Guy, guitar, vocals
Phil Guy, guitar
J.W. Williams, bass
Ray Allison, drums
Side A:
1. I Smell A Rat
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text:
I am just launching this new site in the last few days and could use some feedback from some more experienced developers.
We are supplying free ad free site searches and I am wondering how the look and feel of the process is to experienced (and inexperienced) people.
Any feedback would be appreciated:


text:
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text:
CHOGM meet: PM explains why he won't participate
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today wrote to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, regretting his inability to attend CHOGM to be held from November 15 to 17.india Updated: Nov 10, 2013 21:54 IST
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday wrote to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, regretting his inability to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to be held from November 15 to 17.
"The Prime Minister's letter (to Rajapaksa) was delivered by the High Commission of India in Colombo. The Prime Minister informs that he is unable to attend personally," ministry of external affairs spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said.
"External affairs minister Salman Khurshid will represent the PM at the meeting," he added.
Commenting on the Indian PM's decision to skip the meet, Sri Lanka's external affairs minister GL Peiris said, "It will not affect the success of CHOGM. The Indian Prime Minister was invited. Sri Lankans would have been happier if he came."
It is believed that the letter, whose contents were not disclosed, does not talk about the reasons behind Singh giving the meet a miss.
Political parties in Tamil Nadu and a section of the Congress have opposed India's participation in the CHOGM meet, alleging that the Sri Lankan government had committed gross violation of human rights and had no plans to devolve powers to the ethnic Tamils.
The PM's decision came in the wake of such protests.
Meanwhile, minister of state in the Prime Minister's Office, V Narayanasamy, attacked Sri Lanka for not fulfilling its commitments towards the Tamil population.
"I've been telling right from the beginning that people's sentiments are running high," the minister told a television channel.
(With agency inputs)


text:
Dear all,
Here is my problem:
I was using hibernate 2.1.8 with Oracle 8, and TomCat - Spring for showing data from a db.
I have changed to Oracle 10, and there are no errors at all, but the data is not retrieved.
I am using the correct Dialect (Oracle9Dialect) I guess, and the driver for Oracle 10 (ojdbc14-10.2.0.3.0.jar)
The funny thing is that testing the code without TomCat, gives correct results, but when running it under TomCat, the data is not there (returns null or 0).:confused:
Any clue in this?
Thanks in advance,


text:
Elvis & Bruce Lee
"Long Lost Elvis and Bruce Lee Films"
The New Gladiators film was found in the back of a 1963 GMC pick-up truck. Also found in the garage was a 40 minute demonstration film in which Elvis Presley does a complete demo of Kenpo Karate. This is the only known footage of Elvis doing karate in the world!
Another "rare film" was found as well...
A pristine 16mm film never before seen of Bruce Lee performing at the 1967 Long Beach International Karate Championships.
Bob Wall ("Ohara" in Enter The Dragon) says this is the absolute best footage of Bruce Lee he has ever seen actually doing Jeet Kune Do. The color film was professionally shot and was preserved in mint condition.
Both of the Elvis Presley and the Bruce Lee films are locked up in a safe spot awaiting future projects.
Buy Elvis Presley Gladiators
Elvis and Bruce Lee Films
The New Gladiators
Truth About Elvis
The Real Elvis
Elvis in Texas
TAO of Elvis
Elvis Gospel
Lisa Marie
Elvis and Elvis Presley are Registered Trademarks of Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc.


text:
Mixed Media
If you think that working with paint, or charcoal, or ink, or clay, or paper, or any other traditional medium isn't quite enough, that visual art can be much more expressive by combining different mediums and even adding in such elements as fibers, pieces of cereal boxes or greeting cards, photographs, or just about anything you find, then welcome to the world of mixed media.
"Mixed media" is a broad definition that covers many arts and crafts and tends to refer to visual art that combines various traditionally distinct visual art media. Your imagination and creativity can use whatever you feel best expresses your ideas.
Contact Art & Design
Contact Admissions
Administrative Assistant
Admissions Office
229 Main Street
Keene, New Hampshire 03435


text: Following is some company-related and market news which could have an impact on the local market. ----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2359 GMT ------------ INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG S&P 500 1465.77 0.4% 5.780 USD/JPY 78.32 -0.08% -0.060 10-YR US TSY YLD 1.8695 -- 0.000 SPOT GOLD 1774.25 0.27% 4.790 US CRUDE 98.98 -0.02% -0.020 DOW JONES 13593.37 0.40% 53.51 ASIA ADRS 124.62 1.79% 2.19 ------------------------------------------------------------- GLOBAL MARKETS-Fed stimulus plan spurs risk rally; dollar slips SE ASIA STOCKS-Jakarta hits record high, Thai at 16-yr high STOCKS TO WATCH -- FRASER AND NEAVE LTD - Insurer Prudential's stake in Fraser and Neave has fallen to 7.991 percent from 8.0263 percent. It is a substantial shareholder of Fraser and Neave through its deemed interest held via units including Eastspring Investments and M&G Investment Management Ltd. - Fraser and Neave has agreed to sell its 56.05 percent stake in Frasers Property (China) Ltd for S$261 million ($212 million)to a unit of Shanghai-listed Gemdale Corporation, as it streamlines its property business in China. -- ARA ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD - ARA Asset Management received approval on Friday from the Singapore Exchange to list the first yuan-denominated real estate investment trust (REIT) in the city-state, which a source said could raise $700 million. -- SEMBCORP MARINE LTD - Rigbuilder Sembcorp Marine's wholly-owned subsidiary has bought UK-based SLP Engineering Ltd from Smulders Group for 2.5 million pounds. -- CAPITALAND LTD - Property developer CapitaLand said it has priced $400 million worth of fixed rate notes due 2022 at a coupon of 4.076 percent, marking the first time it is tapping on US dollar bond markets. -- SWIBER HOLDINGS LTD - Oil and gas services firm Swiber Holdings said it will issue S$80 million worth of senior perpetual securities at 9.75 percent. Australia and New Zealand Banking Group and DBS Bank are the joint lead managers and bookrunners of the issue. MARKET NEWS > Wall Street ends at multi-year highs on Fed > Bonds sag as Fed move raises inflation jitters > Dollar pinned down by Fed, markets wary of yen > Gold posts second day of gains after Fed stimulus > Oil prices push higher as Fed stimulus supports > Key political risks to watch in Singapore ASIA-PACIFIC STOCK MARKETS S.Korea China Hong Kong Taiwan India Australia/NZ OTHER MARKETS Currency Eurostocks JP bonds ADR Report LME metals STOCKS NEWS US Europe Asia DIARIES & DATA: Singapore diary U.S. earnings diary European diary Asia Macro TOP NEWS Front Page Asian companies U.S. company News European companies Forex news Global Economy Tech, Media and Telecoms Financials General/political A multimedia version of Reuters Top News is available at: topnews.session.rservices.com (Reporting by Charmian Kok; Editing by Eric Meijer)


text:
I have always been fascinated by kimchi. And I've been curious about making it at home but never got around doing it till last week. The reason I didn't try it before is that I was afraid I was going to mess something up in the process of making it, thereby poisoning myself and the entire household. But then I read this inspiring book, Wild Fermentation, and decided that it was about time for me to overcome my phobia!
Some foods are preserved with salt or sugar, vinegar or dried by the Sun or with cold air. Well, fermentation is just another way of preservation. Think wine! It breaks down enzymes your body would not otherwise digest from certain foods(e.g soy beans); it lends additional layers of flavors and texture to foods; it adds nutritious elements to the food; and it helps you get through periods where fresh food might be scarce (well not so much nowadays as food keeps traveling across oceans).
I was surprised as to how easy it was to make kimchi. Now I've got a big jar of it in the fridge, waiting. Last Friday Steven made a beautiful sautéed tofu dish with my homemade kimchi. That was good.
Because it is Fall, I opted to make the traditional baechu kimchi. Baechu is the name for Napa Cabbage in Korean but the word is also related to the way this particular kimchi is made.
I am a bit sensitive to smells and kimchi has this pungent aroma that rings bells in my brain signaling me to 'chuck this thing away immediately!' It's spoiled! I am sure everybody has issues with certain food smells here and there… think of anchovies, fish sauce, shrimp paste or preserved tofu, all stinky but extremely healthy. My sister-in-law hates the smell of alcohol so abstains from all wine, beer and spirits. Poor girl! I have to admit, that I struggle with the smell of certain wines. I could not conceive the idea of living without so many dishes that you can make with these amazing legacy ingredients left to us from our ancestors. Don't be shy, give it a try!
Here's my recipe adapted from the book:
Homemade Baechu Kimchi
1 medium Napa cabbage, rinsed and roughly chopped
2 carrots cut into fine strips
1 bunch of red radishes rinsed and sliced
6 tbsp of sea salt
1 large onion cut into chunks
8 cloves of garlic (or more)
1 (or more) red Poblano pepper, seeds removed
3 (or more) red Jalapeño peppers, seeds partially removed
5 tbsp fresh grated ginger
How to:
Fill two deep salad bowls with cold water. Add equal amounts of salt to them and mix till dissolved. Add Napa cabbage, carrots and radishes and cover with a plate to soak for 4-6 hours making sure veggies are submerged at all times. Drain vegetables (do not discard the brine). Taste. The Napa cabbage should already be slightly tender at this point. It should be salty but not too salty. If too salty rinse some with cold water.
Add peppers, garlic and grated ginger to food processor and pulse to form a smooth paste. Add onion and pulse till smooth. Transfer pepper paste to vegetables and mix well. Stuff veggies into a clean 2 liter glass jar. Press them down to add as much as possible. Veggies must be completely submerged at all times. If needed, add a bit of brine just to top off. Using a small zip lock bag, fill it with some brine and place it on top of the veggies as a weight.
Let jar stand at room temperature till ready for use. San Francisco is not that warm so it took about six days. If you live somewhere warm, taste it every day for doneness as it's likely to be ready sooner. When it's sufficiently ripened, move jar to the fridge for longer term storage.
Eat your kimchi as a side dish with your meals. Mine turned out fairly mild so I'll add more pepper next time. I am super proud of my first kimchi! I will definitely experiment with different veggies and roots in the future.


text:
"Americans have an abiding belief in their ability to control reality by purely material means... airline insurance replaces the fear of death with the comforting prospect of cash."
Related quotes
"The only instance where five purely-negative words have had a highly positive, motivational impact, are Winston Churchill's "Never, Never, Never, Never Give-Up". -Nabil N. Jamal"
"Pure guts. That's Eli. I mean, he's a Manning. He's an incredible player. To be hurting the way he was – I know he had to have been hurting, but to get the ball down there 50 yards over the top of the safety for a touchdown, that's Eli. You're going to start expecting those out of him. He's a great athlete."
"Empty brains can be depository of knowledge or can be reserved for asininity,choice is purely personal."
"My connection with Jesse and Linda is purely professional. I'm mean, we're friends, but I didn't know that was an issue."


text:
The Wilmington, NC office of Schnabel Engineering, Inc. is looking for a Staff or Senior Staff Geotechnical Engineer to join our team.
The selected candidate for this position will assist project managers with the design of geotechnical engineering and pavement design projects and will provide support during the construction phase of the project. Primary geotechnical responsibilities will include defining the subsurface investigation and testing programs; scheduling and coordination; performing geotechnical engineering analysis; performing foundation and pavement designs; and preparing logs and writing engineering reports. Duties will also include attending meetings and field observations during construction. Must be willing to travel; some overnight travel should be expected.
Qualifications for the position include:
Base salary is dependent upon experience and qualifications.
For 60 years, Schnabel Engineering, an employee-owned company, has been focused on solving problems related to the earth and environment through specialization in geotechnical, geostructural, dam and tunnel engineering. We are an ENR Top 250 engineering firm dedicated to excellence in client service, high quality, and value added solutions. If you have an interest in joining our team, please apply below.
Candidates must undergo and successfully complete a background check, which may include criminal history, motor vehicle record and credit check, plus a drug screen.
EOE AA M/F/Vet/Disability


text:
Call premium time
By Ivan Merc
Many renewing season ticket holders are paying for the future, not the present
Do you really think that Arsenal performances in recent years have been disappointing? Me too. But the biggest Arsenal shareholder is probably of another opinion.
One year ago Stan Kroenke owned 40% of St.Louis Rams when his partners decided to sell their 60% and they already had a buyer - Shahid Khan. But suddenly Kroenke made a decision to exercise his right of first refusal to purchase the stake that Khan wanted.
The team itself at this time had lost 88% of their games in past three years
Nine out of ten games! And Kroenke bought it out. Why? Because even at this bad point the team was still generating EBITDA of $29m (thats earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization). Is it now clear why he bought an extra 37% of AFC this spring?
He doesnt care about sport results. He cares only about profits. And Arsene Wenger is the ideal manager for Kroenke as he generated club profits. The only chance for AW to be sacked is if he make several consequent annual financial losses. Kroenke doesnt care if Arsenal play in Champions League or not. He cares about profits. If 10th place brings the same money as 2nd it is ok for him.
Lets say Arsenal offload several hugely overpaid losers, reduce the wage list to £70m a year and do not need European competition to make profits. We all know that this is very possible the same (but new) mediocrities with reduced wages under AWs management can achieve the same profits.
So trophies are a bonus but not a goal. The ultimate goal is profits. What kind of profits? If Kroenke spent £400m and bank interest is 4% then AFC must generate at least £16m profits to cover interest. And lets say 1% for pocketing. So £20m annually. And manager is (and was) able to operate with all other club resources.
I guess this model was created by Fiszman and the new stadium was the easiest way to reach stable profits (compared to winning trophies). And that is why David Dein was kicked off the club because he was the only director who is keen to bring sport success to the club. And who preferred sport success to profits.
So you can forget imagining Dein coming back with todays regime. And we can forget that AW could be sacked by todays regime as long as he is bringing profits.
The 2011 Deloitte Annual Review of Football Finance stated that in last five years Arsenal spent £500.1m for wages plus net transfers. Man United spent £609.6m at the same period for the same budget items. It means that in average Arsenal was annually only £22m short of Man Uniteds spending, but spent much more badly than Man United.
The Boards responsibility as they understood it was to make profits. Arsene Wenger had full credit to spend profits before and he spent a lot. But after onlinegooner even the Daily Telegraph now admits that Arsenals general transfer policy has been to invest heavily in the player contracts of the existing squad but pay relatively less on transfer fees.
All transfers and wages decisions were made by manager. All the current team is his handmade achievement. Denilson / Diaby / Bendtner / Almunia / Squillaci / Eboue / Fabianski etc. is the best ever Arsenes Arsenal.
£60K a week for unsellable losers is Arsenes Arsenal. A mentally defective team is Arsenes Arsenal. A provincial-minded transfer policy is Arsenes Arsenal. Happy as second best is Arsenes Arsenal (to be honest I have forgotten when we were second best and played Community Shields).
I didnt buy Xabi Alonso because it would kill Denilson (AW, autumn 2008). Denilson was finally killed, but not by Alonsos arrival of course, but by the incubator policy, which failed in two out of two episodes in Monaco and in London. (Who knows maybe the Brazilian lad could have successively played all these years for the likes of West Brom if not told that he is under AWs protection and not to fight for a place in the Arsenal team.)
But AWs incubator obsession is not only useless, but dangerous for AFC now. And AWs sport debility involves a serious lack of commercial revenues. And therefore it forces Gazidis & co to get money from every source they can imagine. The recent season ticket price rise is one of them. They are afraid of not getting serious sponsors contracts with a losing team. So the attendees must compensate.
I always thought that Gooners are some kind of community and not clients. But the current AFC policy shows that Gooners mean nothing for the club and the club started to replace loyal Gooners with so called plastic fans who can pay more but have no roots with the club, no knowledge of club history and no emotional connection with the club. The problem is that plastic fans will easily leave the club when concluding that for this money they can buy winning entertainment.
This is a huge danger losing loyal long-term supporters and their families. But our Americans dont realize it. They treat Gooners as consumers.
Did Gazidis & Co ever hear Stanley Marcuss phrase? Consumers are statistics. Customers are people. I guess never. But Gooners are even not customers, they are more.
So the current Board and ownership are destroying Arsenal Football Club.
At the same time it is not the Board and Kroenke, but Arsene Wenger to blame for all sport failures after moving to the new stadium. And Americans and French are currently happy with each other. Thats it.
Is there light at the end of tunnel? Yes, there is. But it may be the lights on the front of an oncoming train.
If you buy a business after being several years on the Board you definitely understand what are you buying and how you (or your management) are going to run this business. If you dont tell the interested parties about your intensions and you dont reveal any plans it often means that you need full control and you dont want to co-operate with a blocking stake.
So I guess silent Stan would do his best to get extra shares up to 75%. And then he would be able to de-list the club from the plus markets exchange and put extra debts on the club. And nobody and nothing (such as promises during the takeover bid) could stop his attempts to do it. But as it stands today Usmanov will not sell and Kroenke will not get full control.
The takeover bid valued the club at £731m. By offering £14K per share Usmanov showed that he is ready to pay around £870m. I cant imagine who else could even think about buying the football team for this amount of money. Especially a losing team.
Usmanov bought most of his current stake at a significantly lower price than £14K per share. So he would not need to spend £870 billion, but around £630m for 71% of the club.
Why would he want to buy? Because he needs publicity in western markets. Usmanovs Metalloinvest will launch a 20% flotation on the London Stock Exchange. So Usmanov needs more recognizability for better flotation results. They say good results means that Usmanov and Co will get around £2.5 billion for this 20%. That would cover the Usmanovs AFC cost easily.
So we can assume that Usmanov is able to buy. And that he is the only one who has the potential to get full control. Not Kroenke, but Usmanov. And he will buy and Kroenke will sell. I guess it could happen quicker than we can imagine. (Eds note, Kroenke gave an undertaking when buying the shares of Lady Nina and Danny Fiszman that he would not sell for 12 months, so we are looking at April 2012 at the earliest)
You could argue that Kroenke never sold his sport assets. But Kroenke never found himself in the market with only one other player. What will happen after the re-sale? The future will show. Maybe somebody will sell 0.6% to Usmanov now and we will discover the future very quickly.
Another opportunity to change things is if the E******s were 40% unsold. But I dont believe that will happen.
And I cant blame the Gooners who renewed season tickets as I understand that most of them pay for the possibility to watch Arsenal in the future. To watch Arsenal without the special values, without current Board duffers and without Arsene Wenger. So season ticket renewing now is a form of tax. Or call premium in business terms.
The Black Scarf marchers were singing, We want our Arsenal back!
They will never get it back in any scenario.
The more realistic chant would be We want our Arsenal to win!
But it is not possible with current regime.
4th July 2011 09:00:00
Comments and Reaction
User comments on this article are now closed. If you want to continue the debate, why not do so on the Gooner Forum.
danalovAFCXI 11:53am 4th Jul 2011
so the gist of this article is whoever wins control of the club we the fans lose. Oh happy day. - Post No. 10415
gooner1 12:23pm 4th Jul 2011
if every season ticket holder boycotted one game it would be enough to get the boards attention. - Post No. 10419
Dan 13:10pm 4th Jul 2011
Brilliant piece, certainly tallies up with the stories I heard as to why Dein was sacked (stabbed in the back). I think a lot of the blame lies with the board to be honest but a certain amount has to lay at Arsene's door, if he is being made to tow the party line then he has to be strong enough to come out and say it for the sake of the club. Heard over the weekend that Sky have pulled out of showing the Emirates cup, again as you say we are simply less and less marketable as every season passes, so expect further price rises I guess. - Post No. 10433
CD 13:31pm 4th Jul 2011
You are completly right Ivan, we have simply become a commodity. Remember everyone who it was who sold us down this river, the very supposed "custodians"!!!! - Post No. 10436
Richard Ansell 13:37pm 4th Jul 2011
Too right Ivan - it's all about profits now and winning a trophy comes a poor second. Granted it is good to keep the club on a sound financial footing, but for Christ's sake we have two billionnaires as major shareholders and yet behave like Blackpool. Again Wenger is doing nothing, saying everyone is playing a waiting game - bollocks I say. All he is doing is convincing Fabregas and Nasri that they are right to jump ship to a team that actually cares about winning trophies. Wait for RVP to start thinking about his position too. Wake up Wenger, the good ship Arsenal is heading for the rocks and I suppose you will do the honorable thing and go down with her. I would rather you just gave the tiller to someone else before it is too late. - Post No. 10438
Boris 13:51pm 4th Jul 2011
Very good article, so so True. We want our Arsenal back!!!!!!!!!! - Post No. 10442
Dan h 14:00pm 4th Jul 2011
It's obvious every year we listen to promises of investment in the squad but it never comes to fruition.The money made from transfers has been invested in contracts to keep squad players happy the £40m from the Adebayor/Toure sale was never fully re-invested in the team. I think investment coming from the USA is down to one thing only they believe there is a gap in the market for PPV t.v & fully intend to expore these revenue streams..Time will tell i supose our board are just happy to come in the top 4 & bank the CL money buying young players & selling on for a profit.I have a feeling 2011/12 isn't going to be a season for the faint hearted umongst us gooners! - Post No. 10446
JM - LONDON 14:59pm 4th Jul 2011
I think your spot on mate, I doubt Stan Kroenke got driven around Highbury and Islington one wet Monday morning and thought 'Oh what a lovely place and full of lovely people, I must get involved in this part of London and invest in the local football team'. Personally, for me, the jury is still out on Stan Kroenke but you only invest in things to make a profit - thats just plain and simple, we all do it to some extent or other. Occasionally however we might buy a mates young son an Arsenal shirt or similar just to ensure their committment to the Arsenal at an early age, maybe Stan Kroenke might feel a little generous and and invest like this too?. And your dead right on the season ticket front, I don't have one (shift worker, wouldnt get to half the games anyway, hence have never bothered pursuing one) but if I was honest and the box office emailed me offering one (or two), and even given my work commitments, I would be very reluctant to turn them down. And finally, I desperatly hope CESC stays, the other 2 jack ******* aren't in the same league should be sold immediately to the highest and preferebly a club where neither actually wants to go. - Post No. 10458
Sam 15:58pm 4th Jul 2011
The American franchises are completely different to English football. An NFL franchise can move cities and is almost certainly Kroenke's motivation with the Rams, who are a leading candidate to move to the huge revenue generating Los Angeles market. The Glazers own NFL's Tampa Bay and much has been made of how the Buccaneers spend the least of all 32 NFL franchises and a potential correlatation and restriction of spending at United. However, Manchester United's spending has not been restricted despite the club's debt mountain or the Glazer's businesses in the struggling mall sector. - Post No. 10466
Jekyll 16:10pm 4th Jul 2011
Your key paragraph is the fifth one. Perhaps Wenger's plan this summmer is to sell the star players and bank the cash, thus making up the cash shortfall of missing out on top 4 next season that way, keeping Kroenke happy and therefore keeping his job. - Post No. 10468
Steve 17:13pm 4th Jul 2011
At the point Kroenke exercised his right to buy the Rams they had just drafted the number one quarter back of that college year. Who they will build a team around for the next 10+ years. In fact, in his first year they narrowly missed out on the play-offs and look good for making them next year, lockout permitting. - Post No. 10470
goonerpearty 19:14pm 4th Jul 2011
All red and silver members should just renew there memberships but dont go to any games.And all season ticket holders should sell there tickets back to the blood suckers.do that and see what happens.they might listen to us at some point. COME ON YOU REDS. - Post No. 10478
Rob 19:25pm 4th Jul 2011
This is a first class article. And if you think it through - 'Frightening' in it's implication for our future. - Post No. 10479
Cornish Gooner 19:53pm 4th Jul 2011
This is the sort of article we need to read - well argued and difficult to counter. However, is not the real villain behind all this, the vehicle that makes it all possible, the emergence of London as a quasi City-State where the majority of the desirable properties are now bought by non-doms? London is now an unrecognisable country to that where the majority of us live. The only hope for us supporters is either to own up as "Arsenal Alcoholics" and go for the cure OR for those "plastic fans" to surprise us all and move their "loyal support" elsewhere. - Post No. 10482
GaryFootscrayAustralia 20:03pm 4th Jul 2011
Ivan, a very well constructed piece...and going by the other replies to your post, hitting the right notes with those of us willing and able to read into the machinations of Arsenal PLC as opposed to Arsenal Football Club...but best of all, it's way, way over the heads of the dills who would normally tell you to "f**k off and watch Spuds / Chavski / Orient / Barnet" for daring to speak the truth... - Post No. 10483
Block G Gooner 21:23pm 4th Jul 2011
The longer this summer goes on the more I am regretting renewing my season ticket...............the club we love has died the day we the fans are talking about EBITA....christ its like being at work now being an arsenal fan. I just want my old club back. - Post No. 10489
Seven Kings Gunner 21:33pm 4th Jul 2011
A disturbing read - however with the sums of money to be made for just achieving mediocrity, winning trophies will be the last item of any of the board's list of priorities. The clever bit is the fight between the "AKB's" and the "AMG's" - this sideshow allows the board to continue mopping up our money whilst Wenger takes all the flak. The fact that AW is a willing accomplice, makes the task of jolting the board back to a more results driven business more difficult. As fans we all need to be of one voice and that looks like an even tougher job than buying a proper centre half! - Post No. 10491
jim 1:21am 5th Jul 2011
Well said. too many plastic fans with no ties to the club. People from Islington & Hackney have a right to a ticket, nopt some numpty from cornwall - Post No. 10504
Oxy-Moron 9:09am 5th Jul 2011
Excellent, thought-provoking and slightly scary article. I have stated before that this man is known as "Silent Stan" because if he did open his mouth we wouldn't like what we heard. - Post No. 10525
jonbromano 12:37pm 5th Jul 2011
May be a cynical view but definitely a well thought out view of the club's current state. Who is the lesser of the two evils? I say Usmanov as no matter what he will want to win! - Post No. 10538
Al 14:40pm 7th Jul 2011
Wenger needs to back his mate and speak out against the board it's unacceptable the demise of our good name. In my opinion afc is in debt to David Dein for the excellent work he put into our club and I think he needs to come back he galvanised afc and we need him back now true gent and true gooner. - Post No. 10632
16th February 2018
Frozen North Provides Relief For Arsenal
Rare comfortable away win for Gunners v Ostersunds


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I think this is a good idea but I feel the logistics would be difficult if not impossible. I also do not see how the administrator could neglect any of my post. They are all so insightful and intriguing that they must be read by every reader on this forum. I do not know how you would distinguish between this faq and a list of my posts. I just think it might cause some jealousy among the other posters at the forum. I mean take my 2001 reference in my last post. It is hard to believe that I write here free of charge.
Frankr, how DO you do it??
I suppose you're right about Twain, Ingersoll and Mencken. (Haven't read any Ingersoll. I'll look into finding something.)
You can find some of Ingersoll's writings at these free sites:
I take this excerpt from the last of those references. It is about Ingersoll rather than by Ingersoll.
The following masterpieces of elegiac eloquence are unsurpassed in the repertory of the English classics, for lofty and noble sentiment, exquisite pathos, vivid imagery, tenderness of feeling, glowing power of description, brilliant command of language, and that immortal and seldom attained faculty of painting in the soul of the listener or reader a realistic picture whose sublimity of conception impresses the understanding with awe and admiration, and impels the mind to rise involuntarily for the time to an elevation out of and above the inconsequent contemplation of the common and sordid things of life.
Ted, thinking of elegies now that there has been yet another death in the family
I am sorry for your loss. I have been to two funerals in tha past week myself, both very young. One a former student another a cousin of fourteen whose heart gave way. In my not so many years I have come to be a firm believer in showing up. There is little we can do or say but I have learnt (that's Virginiaese) that Woody Allen was correct when he said 90% of life is showing up. I think it part of the human condition that we are strengthened by other's presence after death the loved one. I do not know why. I cannot tell you how many times I have been thanked for showing up. It far exceeded any merit I deserved. I was also very thankful to the many who showed up for my father's wake and funeral. I digress, I am sorry for your loss.
Thank you for the kind words, Frankr. Somehow, each death brings back the grief of all the earlier ones, not that I ever forget for long. I am sorry about your losses too. I agree that it helps to have other people around. It was terribly painful for me as the caregiver too not long ago, when all I could do was help extend a life, contrary to the wishes of a brave, generous, and resigned patient. I asked a hospice nurse once how she could stand to work around us weepy people. She said that what really hurt is people in the patients' families who show no reaction. What admirable people those nurses are.


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My 5 Noble Truths
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What You Probably Didn't Know About London [VIDEO]
The Olympic Games direct the attention of the world to London this summer, but how much do you really know about the UK capital? YouTube's resident knowledge bestower C.G.P. Grey shares a fascinating lesson on London and the City of London — yes, they're two different places.


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Steroids didn't boost Hall vote
There's no room at the Hall of Fame — for now at least — for the boys of steroids.
Baseball stars Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were legitimate Hall of Fame candidates before there was any hint that they boosted their late-career accomplishments with performance-enhancing drugs.
But that didn't help them or other stars from Major League Baseball's steroids era — home-run sluggers like Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa — in the recent balloting for Hall of Fame admission. For the first time since 1996, no player — either from the steroids era or any other — was admitted to the Hall, and, strikingly, neither Bonds nor Clemens came close.
Holdover candidates like former Houston Astro Craig Biggio (68.2 percent) and pitcher Jack Morris (67.7 percent) came close, but they fell short of the required 75 percent vote cast by reporters who cover Major League Baseball.
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Both Bonds and Clemens resented the results of the vote, but were not surprised.
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Not being admitted to the Hall — or a delayed admission — is a relatively small price to pay perhaps. But it's a price nonetheless, reminding that violating the rules has consequences even for those who once enjoyed the adulation of millions of people.
News-Gazette.com embraces discussion of both community and world issues. We welcome you to contribute your ideas, opinions and comments, but we ask that you avoid personal attacks, vulgarity and hate speech. We reserve the right to remove any comment at our discretion, and we will block repeat offenders' accounts. To post comments, you must first be a registered user, and your username will appear with any comment you post. Happy posting.


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GALATI GEAR XT Rifle Case
The XT rifle case fits CAR-15, folding Mini 14, folding HK91/93 and other similar sized weapons. It has four magazine pouches and accessory pouch.
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On an old dairy farm in Upstate New York, Gidon Coll is growing apples. His landscape of young trees, trellised in rows, looks more like a vineyard than an orchard, and the fruits bear exotic names like Virginia Crab, Roxbury Russet and Newtown Pippin.
The Newtown Pippin is a chance seedling — a genetic lucky break. It originated 270 years ago on Long Island, Coll explains, when 95 percent of apples in North America were grown for drinking rather than eating.
"It was Thomas Jefferson and George Washington's favorite apple," he says, "and they used to make ciders out of it.
"Till the mid-19th century, cider was more popular than beer in this country."
In the late 1990s, Coll founded the creatively named Original Sin Corp. to help revive the Founding Fathers' preferred alcoholic beverage. His brewery is bringing back heirloom apples using modern planting techniques, with dwarf trees spaced 3 to 4 feet apart, "similar to growing grapes," he says.
"We're even growing a Kazakh apple. Known to be completely disease resistant, they grow wild in the towns and mountains."
Like the stuff they're made from, today's artisanal ciders have names — Landsdowne, Fox Barrel, The Saint — that sound more like medieval watering holes. They're part of a growing line, including Original Sin, that will be highlighted during this year's Savannah Craft Brew Week, which runs Aug. 26 through Sept. 2.
"What's really interesting is we just got back from England, and ciders are very hot," says Michael Volen, Brew Fest chairman and CEO of The Distillery on Liberty Street, the festival's de facto home base. "Ciders have always been hot there. They've always had a good local cider on.
"I've got a friend of mine who absolutely swears on ciders. As soon as he gets in, the first thing he wants to know is do we have ciders on tap."
But ciders — especially American ones — haven't always enjoyed a good reputation among the craft brew crowd.
Unlike their drier European brethren, most modern New World versions run a gamut from sweet to sweeter.
"American tastes in general skew a little bit sweeter right now," explains Jacob Sanford, certified beer nerd and general manager of The Distillery. "It's all about the apples they use. If you have an apple with very little residual sugar, it's going to create a drier, champagnier cider."
That means you'll need more than a trip to Kroger to fill your cider barrel.
"It's not something you'll see at the grocery store," Sanford says. "Sure, you could make a cider out of a Fuji apple or a Granny Smith, but is it gonna be good?"
At the same time, the sweetness of mainstream American ciders like Woodchuck — available in most convenience stores — helps them reach out to drinkers who aren't crazy for the hoppiness of an IPA. In Sanford's words, they tend to be more "user-friendly," and there's a definite gender line.
"Ladies love cider," he says. "It's really refreshing and really crisp and looks pretty in the glass, but also you don't feel sloshy and full when you drink a couple glasses of cider as compared to some people with beer."
"It's juice, it's booze — what's not to like?" says Erica Backus, director of public and media relations for Visit Savannah, which organizes the festival.
One tactic of artisanal cider lines like those produced by Original Sin and Minnesota-based Crispin Cider Company is to bridge the gap between sweet and sour by presenting the naturally sugary fruit juice alongside flavors like molasses, rice syrup and brewer's yeast.
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Trying these artisanal ciders side-by-side exposes your palette to a surprising range of flavors — from sake to steak sauce. That's a good match for the festival, which for the fifth year will be helping Coastal Empire drinkers develop an appreciation for different tastes through dialogue with more than 130 brews — and thousands of instant friends.
"Traditional ciders in this country were more in line with what a beer drinker could drink, what could be considered more sophisticated," Coll says, praising the Brew Fest from New York. "The whole industry's slowly gone in that direction, and new ciders are very much more in that mind frame. It's having an impact. ... Cider's absolutely become hot the last year or two. We actually can't produce enough product to meet the needs."
He's expanding his orchard to include 50 different kinds of the fruit, but it's just scratching the surface. There are more than 7,500 apple varieties worldwide — a pretty good guarantee that the cider masters' creative barrels are in no danger of running dry.
What: Savannah Craft Brew Fest
When: Aug. 31-Sept. 2, international tasting, grand tasting, concert; Craft Brew Week runs Aug. 26-Sept. 2
Where: International Trade & Convention Center, Hutchinson Island
Cost: $40 and up; $10 designated driver
Info: www.savannahcraftbrewfest.com
The Distillery's beer gurus serve expert advice and a wide range of craft brews on tap and in bottles. www.distillerysavannah.com, 912-236-1772
The 2-10 p.m. Sept. 2 Rhythm & Brews Concert is an outdoor show at the Westin's Grand Prize of America Road Race Track featuring the Heavy Pets, Stokeswood and Jason D. Williams, as well as Sister Hazel and the North Mississippi Allstars. Bring chairs and blankets and enjoy craft brews and great live music. Doors open at 2, music starts at 3. Tickets are $40, $50 at the door, with bundling packages available with other Brew Fest events. For more info, visit www.savannahcraftbrewfest.com.


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God and Evil
Living in a world marked by sin, it doesn't take long before you hear the question, "If God is both all good and all-powerful, then why is there evil in the world?" This is a fair question. Pastor David attempts to shepherd us through this difficult topic in Secret Church 4, "Who is God?"
- The problem (0:20)
- Insufficient answers- atheism (3:16)
- Insufficient answers- christian science, new age, dualism, fatalism, process and open theism (5:47)
- The greatness of God- God over evil (7:30)
- The goodness of God- God behind evil (8:48)
- The presence of evil- God amidst evil (16:13)


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AV-8 Harrier Jet
Also known as jump jets, the AV-8 Harrier was primarily used for light attack or multi-role tasks by the US Marine Corps. Use this printable stencil to add to your collection of aircraft designs. Great for shirts and premiums.
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Application Information
Scholarship Overview
This scholarship is for graduating seniors from Jamestown High School in Jamestown, New York. To qualify for this scholarship, applicants must show the traits of having good character; applicants must also be hard-working, cooperative, and have a good sense of humor. Applicants must be nominated by faculty members.
How easy is it to apply?
Not too bad
This scholarship's application process may have items such as essays that could take a couple hours.
How much competition is there?
Relatively little!
This scholarship has a relatively low number of applicants.


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Serrano Hotel
Kimpton Hotels - San Francisco Review
Travelers love this boutique hotel's eclectic style - typical of Kimpton Hotels flair for their west coast regional chain. Rooms are very clean and with very comfortable beds and a helpful staff. The one minus can be the location which is close to the not-so-nice "Tenderloin" area that borders numerous Union Square hotels. The location is very convenient to both the BART subway trains to connect to all areas of the Bay Area and the Muni bus central lines. It's a dog friendly hotel so bring along your dog or cat too (check for details). Personally, we've stayed in Kimpton hotels and like their personal and unique style versus the larger corporate "bland" chains.
Can you say "WOW!" The lobby was just grandoise,
with snacks served, game boards that you can play with, impecable service. I had reserved a normal room, requesting for the highest floor available. We
got the 14th floor!!! Had a wonderful view of the city, very quiet. The room was tiny I admit, but beautifully decorated (not plain or too friffy). My
boyfriend really enjoyed the in-room Nintendo game. *grin* I would definately visit this hotel again, and this time stay for more than just one night.
(J. August)
L.T. from NYC writes, "The Serrano Hotel, just two blocks from Union Square, has the best of both worlds; the luxury of a
large hotel coupled with the level of service of a smaller chain with Kimpton Hotels. The location is great, rooms are newly redecorated and the staff is extremely helpful.
A theme of games runs throughout the hotel -- you can order "Trouble" or "Sorry" or "Monopoly" (or more) with your room
service. The hotel also is pet friendly -- to small pets.
405 Taylor Street


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A few weeks ago Sam Mustafa announced his latest rule set he would be publishing, "Maurice", which would cover the rump of the 18th Century and include Campaign and Imagi-Nations aspects… This was especially interesting to me as I have really enjoyed Lasalle since its release (it's the first time I've been totally excited and passionate about Napoleonics in 35 or so years of wargaming) and if Maurice was going to be anything along a similar vein I expected something worth getting excited about. Furthermore I've really wanted to get into 18th Century in some form, and the WSS (War of the Spanish Succession) has always interested me (because of my childhood memories of reading about John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, and Prince Eugène of Savoy, defeating the dastardly French at Blenheim & Ramillies, etc). What's more for me the WSS has always held that 'Old School' feel about it that brings back memories of pouring over Charles Grant's "The Wargame" as a teenager and dreaming of one day having those large 18th Century Armies like in the book…
Anyway, Sam has now released Maurice Lite this week, a free basic version of Maurice, so any and all can get a feel for the basic system and try out some games with the basic system. I was able, co-incidentally, to play my first game a few days ago as well, and so have been able to digest the rules and get a sense of how they play. So here's my first take on things…
In Maurice Sam Mustafa has endeavoured to bring some different concepts together to interact – while these aren't necessarily original individually the way they are combined is to some degree I believe. Some of the key ingredients (including some of these concepts) are:
Cards – everything you do in the game is driven by cards, if you want to activate units to move or charge, or artillery to bombard (i.e. fire beyond canister range) you must play cards to do so. Cards have multiple uses, each card having a command span and some other function – if you activate units you need to play enough cards to total the command span from your C-in-C to your closest unit (of the group you are activating – of which more below). However this means using up cards that might have other benefits (such as making your units shoot better, or defend in combat better, or so on). This means every turn you must weigh up the pros & cons of taking one action over another, it also means the further your troops are from the C-in-C the more costly in cards having them do anything will be. And if you have no cards in your hand you can't do anything! Furthermore you only get to do 'one' action or event with your cards in your round (turn) and then it's your opponents round – unless of course you have a "Coordinated" card for example (which allows two move or rally actions).
Once you activate units you may also be able to play a card to enhance their actions, for example if you charge you might then be able to play an enhancement card to improve your units combat scores for the subsequent combat, but beware as your opponent may trump (or rather interrupt) your action (see below).
Forces – in Maurice there is no fixed command structure – you have your C-in-C (who rarely if ever moves), and you have all your units. Forces are formed 'on the fly' each time you choose to do anything; a force is all units of the same type, in the same formation, within a certain distance of each other (2BW – Base Widths). So there is not going to be combined arms, mixed formations, or such, that you might see occur in other rule sets, as these will make your army near un-manoeuvrable – and you need to focus on maintaining supporting groups of like units. This all feels right to me for 18th century warfare; the rules reward you for maintaining analogous groups of units in identical formations in close support of each other. The full version of Maurice will introduce optional notables of varying quality (typically minor nobles or princes or such who aspire to be generals and think a lot of themselves) that you then need to assign command of some of your army to – what do you do with that incompetent prince of the realm who's society station says he must command your best cavalry?!
Army Size & Units – typically your army is going to be about 11-16 units of infantry, cavalry, or artillery. Infantry and cavalry are essentially the same as in Lasalle if you are familiar with that (i.e. 4 bases each), while artillery is individual bases. As was done historically if you have more than 1 artillery base you can form them into 'ad hoc' batteries (in fact you definitely want to do this due to how forces work as noted above) – such batteries might have all stands in contact – or be in a more dispersed formation (i.e. gun line) but being careful to comply with the force proximity rules (see above). Dispersing artillery all through your army will be ineffective and costly – it needs to be concentrated at a key point. Because the scale is abstract these units can be almost anything – infantry & cavalry might be companies & squadrons, and gun bases 1-2 real guns, or they might each represent 4-12 battalions/regiments or 8-16 guns or so respectively (e.g. if a scaled down battle of Blenheim or Ramillies).
However for my armies' and this review's purposes I'm assuming they are going to be (nominally) single infantry battalions and cavalry regiments, and about 2-6 real guns per artillery base (and will talk assuming these general terms from here on – in fact this is the logic I will use in building my new WSS armies).
Volley Fire – is something that may happen every turn – it's the only thing you can do always, but watch out because if you do your opponent gets to reply… And it can be very bloody! There are also interrupt cards (see below) that might cause it to back-fire, allowing your opponent to discharge first in the volley fire phase or out shoot you! Volley fire includes canister (short range) artillery fire.
Interruptions – the cards allow the opposing player to potentially interject on any action the active player takes, if the active player volley fires the opponent might be able to interrupt with a card giving him first discharge, or with one reducing the opponents firing effectiveness (remembering the active player himself might have played a similar card already to modify his or his opponents firing before the opponent interrupted). As a result if your opponent has cards you can never 100% guarantee your planned action or that firing will go exactly as you intend.
Events – are cards which instead of activating a force (see above) allow you to choose to have a specific event happen – these can be of various types and obviously the full version will have a more comprehensive selection than the 'Lite' edition. Events may include 'life saving' type actions for a single unit, guaranteed activations (for troops far from the C-in-C's command span), a disadvantage for or effect on your opponent, etc. What's more players can potentially develop their own custom events to include in the deck for specific historical refights or key imagi-nation or scenario factors (e.g. "complete 1 stage of your pontoon bridge construction" or such like)…
Army Morale – is relatively simple in Maurice Lite, if you loose half your units (rounded up, of any type) you break. Obviously in the full version of Maurice army morale is handled in more detail and is affected by the type of unit lost, the loss or gaining of objectives, etc.
An Introductory Game
In our first game we didn't have any appropriate troops (at least in 28mm) so we have used Napoleonic armies – you'll have to excuse the uniforms and headgear in the photos. Cam setup first, putting a force of 3 cavalry off to one flank with 2 more close enough to join them fairly rapidly, forcing me to counter him – however I banked on 3 of my cavalry holding him off before his other 2 cavalry could aid them, and so put my remaining single cavalry unit on the extreme opposite flank opposing his infantry (where he had no cavalry) – in fact this proved annoying more to me than Cam as due to how forces work I simply never could spare the resources to activate that unit so far away from my C-in-C. The remainder of the set-up was conventional with our infantry facing off against each other in line, both sides deployed in 2 ranks, with my sole artillery unit in the centre covering the infantry's left flank… And we both placed our C-in-C's near but not exactly in the centre (to try and reduce the command distance to the further units, especially my cavalry mentioned above).
The game started with Cam's French infantry advancing aggressively on my British infantry on my right, infantry move fairly rapidly in the game (4BW in line) and also shoot 4BW, so it only takes a couple of 'rounds' to get into volley fire range of each other, and by the use of a "Coordinated" card Cam was also able to move a second force in the same round, his reserve cavalry starting their way to join the cavalry on the French right – however I then played an "Unexpected Delay" interrupt on him adding 8BW to his command radius and forcing him to burn up 2 more cards to complete the action (so it ended up costing him 4 cards from his hand to move his reserve cavalry force). On the subject of movement cavalry move 8BW normally, so there is the common 4 to 8 move ratio (or rather 1 to 2) familiar I suspect to many Old School gamers – however in Maurice cavalry are further restricted to a 4BW move when they are 'near the enemy' (i.e. within the 4BW Musketry & Canister range), this ensuring they cannot contact infantry in charge combat without at least being at risk of suffering one round of volley fire.
On my first round I initially passed to draw extra cards into my hand as I wanted to try and save some good cards I had got initially for key actions I planned in a few rounds time (basically the less aggressive action you take each 'round' the more card replenishments you get – passing gets you 3 new cards, rallying or artillery bombardment 2, marching 1, and charging or an event 0 – so there is an incentive to occasionally be passive and build up your hand of cards ready for 2-3 rounds of aggressive actions).
Cam now advanced his cavalry on his right, and then charged two of my units – in what was an ineffectual drawn combat first up. I then countered Cam by charging my cavalry back at his, in the next round. Cam had modifying cards ("Stirrups In") to give his cavalry a combat bonus both times – however the end result after both rounds of combat was a somewhat bloody but drawn affair (both sides ended up with 2 to 3 DISR – Disruptions – on each unit after the 2 separate combats; note that a unit can't charge when it has had 4 DISR and is destroyed when it gets to 5). The result for now being my cavalry and the French were stalemated, at least until someone did some rallying as no one wanted to risk combat when only 2 DISR from destruction (see the third game photo). Next Cam's infantry moved into musketry range of my line of redcoats, and I immediately called for a volley fire phase – I played "Deadly fire" to modify my shooting (a to hit bonus) but Cam then smacked me with a "First Fire" interrupt and got to shoot first despite being the 'passive' player (as it was my round I was the active player and should have shot first).
Firing is resolved by throwing a dice for each stand eligible to fire at a target unit (artillery get 2 dice in canister range) and the to-hit number is adjusted if a (firing) unit is reasonably disrupted (i.e. 2+ DISRs) or otherwise disadvantaged (e.g. target in cover) – in ideal conditions you have a 50% chance of hitting, better if modified by a card. All hits are then rerolled to convert into DISRs (versus the Lasalle mechanic where you arbitrarily get a DISR for 2 hits, 2 DISR for 5 hits, etc). This means the DISR effects are a bit more variable than in Lasalle, and it's less about steadily grinding the enemy down with attrition and is more fluid with greater chances of dramatic results either way.
Needless to say Cam's firing reduced the effectiveness of my return fire a little due to the damage he inflicted first – however both our firing was pretty bloody (mine aided by the 2 extra dice I gained from my artillery's canister fire at the end of my line) and we inflicted 8 DISRs in total each on the other side's opposing units (see the fourth photo). This was just a little scary to be honest – as both of us ended up with a unit on 4 DISR immediately (i.e. 1 hit from destruction) and others with 2 or 3… I then charged – with my infantry – into Cam's line of Frenchmen and we rolled our combat scores for each unit modified appropriately (see page 19 of the Maurice Lite PDF). Cam's first unit (with 4 DISR) was basically wiped away instantly, it's base factor was 6 -4 for 4 DISRs and -1 for outnumbered (2 of my units faced it) = 1 plus a die roll (Cam scored 2 so at 3 total it was well below my two opposing units and his unit was destroyed regardless of the difference as only 1 DISR was needed to 'finish it off'). All units in charge combat suffer at least 1 DISR – so it always incurs a cost to the active player even if he/she wins all the actual combats – and it does mean a defending unit starting on 4 DISR will always be destroyed (as was Cam's case above), and will be destroyed even if it wins the combat (an unusual quirk that some players may find hard to get used to).
Continuing the combat results Cam had also got a bad roll for his second unit and it was also destroyed (despite only having had 1 DISR initially). Our remaining units on both sides all got fairly similar scores, and the result was the rest of the British got thrown back with generally 1 DISR inflicted to each unit on either side (see the fifth photo). This seemed quite bloody – but considering the abstract nature of time in the game, and the fact the charge combat is considered to include point-blank musketry and such – it may be appropriate as modelling a prolonged 'real-time' assault (e.g. anything from 15-60 minutes) in a single round or pair of rounds in game time. I personally have no issue with this abstract non-linear concept of time in wargames, but others may dislike it.
Effectively almost all focus went on the infantry at this point by both of us – I burnt up all my cards rapidly in my next two rounds following up the volley fire phase with charges – keeping Cam's infantry on the back foot. Cam tried to rally and reorganise his. My initial success above was particularly decisive as it effectively broke his line in two, and as a result prevented him from activating all his infantry in the same round (as they were now 2 distinct 'forces', while mine still maintained their line and integrity as a single force). When my second charge smashed the 'second line' unit in the centre as well (see sixth and seventh photos) it was a pretty decisive event – Cam's infantry on his flank were now isolated from his C-in-C and needed a loft of 'span' points to be activated to take any action.
However it wasn't all one way and Cam started to slowly eliminate my units with his volley fire (Cam was so perturbed by the initial outcomes of volley firing he refused to initiate a volley fire phase in his rounds after the first occasion, instead relying solely on his reply-fire in my volley phases). We were both being very aggressive and pouring modifier and interrupt cards into firing and combat, and at this stage were rarely attempting to rally or take other actions. As a result after about 4 rounds each focusing on the infantry Cam had lost 3 infantry units and I had also lost 3, plus my right flank cavalry unit as well (that got decimated by unanswered volley fire)! I had actually even spent a "Valeur et Discipline" event card on this latter unit earlier to automatically clear the first 4 DISRs off it – but the next two volley fire phases immediately plastered it with 5 DISRs again and it was gone!
However despite losing more units I was in the stronger position – I had cut Cam's infantry in half and effectively isolated his 5 right flank units from the 1 surviving one in the centre (and would destroy another one of these infantry units in a couple more rounds). However by this stage I had completely exhausted my cards by repeated charges and such, and was forced to pass a round to draw some fresh cards into my hand, followed by attempting to rally my cavalry who had been sitting around doing nothing for several rounds (Cam had already managed to partially rally his cavalry, as he couldn't effectively activate his infantry on the other flank with his current cards). While I set out to slowly eliminate Cam's remaining infantry our cavalry finally both initiated new charges against each other. One of my units was destroyed, but otherwise the results were again indecisive elsewhere – with most units being left (again) with 2, 3, or 4 DISRs and needing to rally again (to try an remove them).
It's worth noting at this stage that Cam's 2 reserve cavalry units had meanwhile ended up stuck in no-mans-land – they didn't move again after the first round as there simply wasn't the resources Cam could spare to reactivate them – my aggressive pressure on his infantry, and the indecisive cavalry combat on the flank, drew all his actions and left this remaining cavalry stranded. The sole attempt to activate them later in the game I managed to interrupt with another "Unexpected Delay" – this time Cam didn't have the extra cards to compensate so his initial activation cards were lost and the cavalry didn't move!
In Maurice you will need to ensure your reserves are well placed to support a specific part of the line rather than trying to manoeuvre half-way across the table. Cam's 2 reserve cavalry would have been better deployed in line, more to his left, and thereby could have provided a viable cavalry 'force' to easily counter attack my main infantry breakthrough with minimal cards needed for activation…
After this we had a few rounds of more activity – Cam's victorious cavalry unit (see the eighth photo) pressed into the rear of my position alone, overrunning my C-in-C's position and forcing him to move his headquarters (moving your C-in-C costs 'a card' for activation so normally will only be done if absolutely necessary by most players – however as I had no cards left in my hand – again – to discard at this time I had to lose a morale point instead). However that was about the last offensive action Cam's French force could manage – my infantry continued to volley fire & charge Cam's isolated infantry on the flank, whittling them away with no easy way for him to respond, and as both armies were now effectively reduced to their last morale point(s) and Cam felt the French had no viable way to inflict more casualties before more of their infantry were destroyed he conceded and we called the game a narrow British victory…
The whole game had taken under 2 hours to play – and we probably cycled through about 20 or so 'rounds' (turns) each – so as can be seen it was fast, furious, tense, but also fun. Obviously we were both being fairly aggressive, and tended not to plan too well for building a strong hand of cards to conduct a coordinated attack; and only resorted to the rally action if absolutely necessary or low on cards (in fact as mentioned I depleted my entire hand twice and was forced to pass to draw 3 fresh cards to restart my hand each time).
Overall the game played well, and was fast and exciting. Cam and I had both agreed it was fairly tense, although Cam was a bit shocked by how easily infantry could be destroyed when given a 'one-two' punch by the enemy of volley fire (with bonuses) then a charge (with bonuses). Combat bonuses from cards, while not decisive, are effective – if your volley firing is hitting more than 50% of the time it becomes pretty destructive when combined with a following charge combat. This of course makes rallying significant and next game we probably won't be so super-aggressive, nor so glib about rally actions.
Straight up cavalry vs. cavalry combat looks to be rather indecisive, primarily due to the lack of volley fire which means its quite hard to do that decisive amount of consecutive damage to reach 5 DISR (or to double the defender outright in the charge combat) – which is probably as it should be, at least for the WSS anyway… Bring in supporting fire and/or numerical advantages and that changes but not in a hugely dramatic way. It sounds right to me that cavalry fights should be a bit of a grind-a-thon and take some time to reach a decision. We didn't get around to having any cavalry vs. infantry fights in this game so can't easily report on that, and as a result I'm not sure how decisive volley firing against an incoming cavalry unit will be, but I suspect cavalry won't be hugely successful charging infantry head on (again this sounds vaguely right for my understanding of at least the early 18th Century)…
I'm not sure if there is a lot of incentive to take artillery – which may or may not be historical. Maurice specifically ignores the small 3pdr & 4pdr battalion guns of the era (although you could argue they are represented indirectly by the infantry volley fire range and effectiveness), so artillery units per se only represent the larger 6pdr to 24pdr heavy guns in the army that would be grouped into ad hoc batteries at key points – in the WSS at least these can be relatively scarce so having only 1-2 or even 0 may not be unhistorical. However if you do have 3-4 in your army it may take some figuring out to use them effectively (although the bombard action is a good way to accumulate fresh cards into your hand, while hopefully playing less than you acquired to activate it and inflicting some damage on the enemy in the process).
Sam has made an effort to try and create the ebb and flow feel of battles, both in the way battle lines manoeuvre, but also in the rise and fall of command energy – lack of cards creating natural lulls for one side or the other as they replenish their hands… As a result there is an incentive for players to not always be super-aggressive or such, regardless of the 'current opportunity', due to the disadvantage of 'clearing your hand' of all cards…. There may develop a lot of subtlety involved in how and when cards are used or held/accumulated, but it will likely take several games to start to get a feel for this as a player and to see how successful Sam has been in this area.
As I have already commented elsewhere I do not doubt it is one of those games that will go through at least 3 phases of 'appreciation' for each player – initially it may seem a bit abrupt, abstract, and/or bloody or such as players get their heads around the mechanics and learn to not just charge forward and attack at all costs (as Cam and I did above); then as their knowledge of the basic mechanics improves there may be a perceived OTA (One True Army) by more competitive players and/or the fact it may be perceived a competitive advantage exists in some particular area for one troop type or other (e.g. an all infantry army or such) – but which will then lead to trying alternate tactics and discovering the true extent of what Maurice might offer; however I suspect that players who persevere will eventually (and this will be the true test of Maurice's success) find the full potential of the system and the ability to truly enjoy the subtleties which will go beyond that OTA stage – and this may prove to be a bit of Nirvana for the Imagi-Nation fans at least.
But don't expect at any stage all aspects will match the conventional wargamer's view of the world, and aspects of the game will not be to some people's liking (if you want to move and shoot everything every turn you'll be disappointed). It's also clearly not a 100% historical rule set, so the purists may quibble – but for me it's got enough of the historical aspects to feel right without being complex or tedious – and yet seems fun and quick and fairly intuitive, which is all good in my books. While one or two events in the game were unusual or surprising to us – and there is that somewhat "empty battlefield" feeling towards the end of the game too – overall it played well and I think has lots of potential (especially if you can get your head around the somewhat abstract space & time aspects of the scale). I'm well known for liking games that take away a wargamer's all-knowing god like powers and/or that introduce uncertainty into the sequence or actions available to the gamer, without being completely random, and I think Maurice has lots of promise for this – and look forward to exploring it further – in fact Cam and I have another game planned very very soon…
P.S. I've also already started musing over whether, if it fulfils it's promise, it might eventually be backwards compatible 50 years or so, with just a little modification, to do ECW (or similar later renaissance era conflicts), where the rise of the musket & decline of the pike first began…
Acknowledgement: Title image used with thanks from Steve Cady's Castles of Tin blog post "Wargames Factory WSS Cavalry – Part 2".
Post Script
I've since been asked if it was fun? The answer is yes – definitely – although also interspersed with tension, and the odd surprise (as alluded to above). On one occasion I think I scored a mass of volley fire hits on Cam's French infantry (like about 10-12 spread over 4 targets), only to fail to convert almost all to DISRs despite a 50% chance to do so – I'm sure that amused Cam while also being a contrasting relief to the initial couple of volley fires that decimated his troops! I enjoyed the card play aspect – although it can seem a bit distracting at first and led to some procrastination over decisions later in the game on my part! It seems (on first look) to certainly have the right mix of fun & game aspects versus historical feel, and simulation (the latter would clearly be the least significant of the 4), and I can certainly imagine having some great abstract-campaign, linked scenario, or table-top-teaser type games with the system. It seems perfect for those pontoon bridge building actions and such like of C. S. Grant's! I'm looking forward to having our second bash at it this weekend (its just a pity my new WSS armies are still several months or more away as they are only just beginning construction)…
You can read on with our Second Game & More Thoughts and there's also further discussion in the TMP thread "Maurice – First Game Impressions".


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About Me
- Name: Arrrgh Matey
- Location: Washington, United States
I'm a 21 year old student at Central Washington Universtiy, majoring in computer science. G33k p0w3r!
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Bruins at the Bell Centre tonight. So without further ado:
Brad Marchand and his buddy are vacationing on a tropical beach, and Brad complains to his friend that he's striking out with the ladies.
The friend tells Brad that it's his bathing suit that's the problem. Too big, too old-fashioned, and just doesn't look good, the guy says.
He tells Brad that he should wear a Speedo, stuff a big potato in it, and the girls will be all over him.
Brad listens to him, agrees, and heads back to the beach in his new bathing suit, but instead of attracting the ladies, all he hears are people laughing at him.
He goes back and tells his friend that it didn't work.
"You have to put the potato in the front," explains the friend.