text:
NASCAR Team Owner and Pro Football Hall of Fame Coach Joe Gibbs and BrightSky, a leading supplier of diabetes testing supplies and prescription medications, today announced the "Defy Diabetes" movement to engage people with diabetes or at risk for diabetes in regular, sustained activities to improve their lives and to reward healthy choices. As part of launch activities, Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) team member Darrell Wallace, Jr. will drive the No. 54 DefyDiabetes.com Toyota Tundra in the NextEra Energy Resources 250, on Feb. 22, 2013, at Daytona International Speedway.
Through social media and local, grassroots activities, Defy Diabetes will seek to build partnerships to support persons with diabetes (PWDs) and those at risk through a wide variety of programs and actions. These include encouraging better menu options at popular restaurants to mobile apps that help users take control of their condition. Information and tools are already available atDefyDiabetes.com.
"This is something I'm very passionate about, and I know personally how important and needed it is," said Gibbs, who was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes more than 20 years ago. "My career in football and racing would have been impossible without the ability and support to manage my diabetes. I'm grateful to BrightSky for its commitment to help make the Defy Diabetes movement possible."
As part of the Defy Diabetes campaign, Coach Gibbs is joining physicians and educators to develop a series of inspirational "Coach's Corner" videos to inform and motivate others to Defy Diabetes.
More than 26 million Americans have Type 2 diabetes, and studies show that by 2020 more than half of all Americans could be at risk for developing the disease.
"We are honored to work with Coach Gibbs, Darrell Wallace, Jr., and the entire Joe Gibbs Racing team in the Defy Diabetes movement," said Tim Hargarten, chairman and CEO, Sanare LLC. "BrightSky is committed to raising awareness about the staggering growth rate of diabetes while providing free tools and resources to empower people to defy the effects of this terrible disease."
Darrell Wallace, Jr. will appear in his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Daytona International Speedway driving the No. 54 DefyDiabetes.com Toyota Tundra, which was unveiled today.
"I'm grateful to BrightSky and Joe Gibbs Racing for giving me the opportunity to make my Daytona debut driving the No. 54 DefyDiabetes.com Toyota Tundra," said Wallace. "It's awesome to be a part of such an important mission to help and support those fighting diabetes, which affects so many people and especially the African-American community."
Nearly 20 percent of all African Americans over the age of 20 have diabetes, almost twice the rate of non-Hispanic Caucasians. Darrell plans to send messages about the truck and the Defy Diabetes movement through his own social media channels.
For more information on Defy Diabetes, visitDefyDiabetes.com.


text:
I think I am finally sober enough after drinking myself into unconsciousness after the Vikings again, crapped all over themselves – and all of us who cheer for the Purple.
To tell the truth, I actually thought that there was a chance to win it. After all the fumbling and self-inflected wounds, I still thought the Vikings had a chance to kick a field goal as time expired. Oh, tortured souls are we.
Since I don't want spent too much time rehashing the game, here are my Mini-Hits versions for my points of interest.
- Based on how the game ended, and ignoring the fact that he signed an extension, I am not sure Brad Childress should keep his job. To all those you think I am just now piling on – please read some other posts. I have never held Childress in the highest esteem.
- The evening was very exciting on Facebook, as 90% of my friends grew-up in Minnesota and North Dakota. The status updates were amazing.
- So the NFL came out and said that the hit in the picture on Brett Favre should have been a 15-yard plenty. Awesome. So why was it not called? The ref was right there.
- The purple started running with some authority in the fourth quarter and then they would call a stupid pass play. Just run the ball.
- I thought that Joe Buck and Troy Aikman talked about the Saints defense and their coordinator way too much. Even though Vikings out gained the Saints.
- I have watched the Saints several times this year, and I thought they looked very average.
- Even though the Vikings lost, I think it is safe to say we were the better team.
Vikings Side-Note: Offensive Linemen Bryant McKinnie was kicked out the NFC All-Pro team. What the hell?
Super Bowl Prediction
The Saints showed a ton of holes and the Colts defense is better than people think. add that with Peyton Manning pretty much in the zone, and I see the Colts winning 34 – 17.
The Saints are not going to get away with the boarder-line hits on Manning. There is no way.
US Soccer Bits
- US soccer stat Landon Donovan scored his first goal in the English Premier League. Donovan's goal came in the 19th minute during Everton's win over Sunderland. Donavan is starting for Everton and has continued to improve and look more comfortable every time he steps on the pitch in his 10-week loan.
- US Striker Charlie Davies continues to recover at amazing rate – could play in the World Cup.
- Stuart Holden will play for Bolton for the remainder of the season. Check out Holden's website here.
- The World Cup schedule for ESPN/ABC was released. The first US group stage game against England will be on June 12 at 2 pm EST on ABC. Click here for the full schedule.
Timberwolves Talk
I follow the NBA and enjoy watching most teams, but they only team that I really have any connection with is the Minnesota T'Wolves. For the casual fan, this season has probably been very difficult to watch. And while I have yelled at the TV plenty of times, I know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
"A light at the end of the tunnel"? Really?
Yeah. I will do a full post on the state of the Timberwolves down the road, but this team as plenty of draft picks, will have cap room and have pieces for a competitive team. Plus the rights to Ricky Rubio.
So I decided to play GM with ESPN's Trade Machine and came up with this trade that would reshape the T'Wolves.
If you can't read this picture, the Wolves give up Al Jefferson, Brian Cardinal and Mark Blount's expiring contracts, and Ramon Sessions to the Phoenix Suns, the Wolves would get Amare Stoudemire, Jared Dudley and Channing Frye from Phoenix and Joe Johnson from Atlanta. Atlanta would get Leandro Barbosa. At best, there is a 0.005692% chance of this actually happening. But let's play pretend. After this trade, the Wolves starting line-up would be
- PG – Flynn
- SG – Johnson
- SF – Corey Brewer
- PF – Amare
- C – Frye
You would still have Kevin Love, Jared Dudley and others off the bench. You would give your best player in Jefferson and back-up PG in Ramon Sessions – but Sessions is not your future – and Cardinal and Blount don't play. This is a just a dream, but I would love to think that anything can happen with David Kahn. Like I said, this probably will not happen. But my point is, THERE ARE OPTIONS!!
I will do a more in-depth look at the Wolves and the possibilities that are available this off-season, suitable free agents and draft picks.
Until then, I will relish the Wolves win over the Clippers!!
Wolves Side-Note: Has Corey Brewer finally figure it out? Looks like it.
College Basketball Hits
- Jay Bilas' Midseason Awards.
- The Minnesota Gophers were dominating the MSU Spartans, but then end up losing 65-64. I still can not figure this team out. They really have no "go-to player". Then again, neither does Purdue.
- Ohio State took a hit with Evan Turner out after breaking two vertebrae is his lower back. But since he has returned he is leading the No. 24 Buckeyes in points per game (18.4), rebounds per game (9.9), and assist per game (5.5). It may take while, but this Buckeye team is not cupcake.
- UNC has fallen out of the Top-25 for the first time January 2006. Currently the Tarheels record is 13-7 and are 2-3 in the ACC – but there is still time.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Tappan Zee: A Bridge to a New Era
The first shovel isnt even in the ground for the new Tappan Zee Bridge, but a movement is already brewing to secure toll discounts for area residents, raising questions about the fairness of such a policy.
State Sen. David Carlucci and Assemblyman Ken Zebrowski have introduced matching bills that would allow the Thruway Authority to give Rockland and Westchester residents 40 percent discounts on the cost of crossing the 3-mile twin span.
Those toll rates have yet to be set. After The Journal News first reported in August that estimated tolls on the new bridge could be nearly triple the current $5 cash price, Gov. Andrew Cuomo directed Thruway officials to create a panel to study how they could be lowered. That task force wont be formed until the state learns whether it will receive a federal low-interest loan for the bridge construction costs, something that would affect the size of the toll increase.
Brian Conybeare, special adviser to Cuomo on the $3.9 billion project, said the task force would consider all options, including possible resident discounts.
An estimated 43 percent of all E-ZPass trips on the Tappan Zee in April 2012 were made by Rockland and Westchester residents, according to figures provided by the Thruway. A Thruway spokesman said the agency doesn't track where drivers live when they pay the toll with cash.
Carlucci, D-New City, said toll discounts are important for the local economy and would encourage Westchester and Rockland residents to cross the bridge to go shopping, visit family and work. Its important that we try to strip the barriers between the two counties to the best of our abilities, Carlucci said.
Tarrytown Mayor Drew Fixell agreed that if area residents dont get a reduced rate, local businesses could suffer.
Zebrowski, D-New City, said locals shouldnt be burdened with paying for much of the replacement project, noting that the Tappan Zee is critical for the whole region. He also argued that Rockland residents are forced to use the bridge because they have fewer direct mass transit options to Westchester and New York City. In many cases, they must transfer between transit systems.
Its certainly not the type of commute people in Westchester have, people in Long Island have, where they can hop on a train, Zebrowski said.
Zebrowski compared his discount proposal to a Verrazano-Narrows Bridge discount program offered to Staten Island residents.
The state recognized that Staten Islanders have fewer transit choices, MTA spokeswoman Judy Glave said. There is no subway there.
MTA toll hikes in March will raise the round-trip cash toll on the Verrazano to $15 and to $10.66 for those with E-ZPass. Staten Island residents without E-ZPass will pay $8.53, while residents with E-ZPass will pay $6 for three or more trips a month or $6.36 for one or two trips.
Transportation analyst Charles Komanoff said giving discounts on the new Tappan Zee to certain residents will only mean higher tolls for everyone else. He questioned why some groups would be entitled to the break and not others, calling the idea bad public policy.
Why is it societally appropriate for residents of Westchester to get that benefit, but not residents of the Bronx? he said. Why residents of Rockland but not residents of Orange? Why not have a double discount for residents of Tarrytown and Nyack and a lesser discount for residents of White Plains and Spring Valley?
He also argued that Westchester and Rockland residents shouldnt be compared to Staten Island residents. Because of the way the MTA distributes its revenue, tolls from the Verrazano have been subsidizing MTA mass transit for decades.
Rochelle Jobsky said the proposed bills are unfair to Tappan Zee commuters like her who live outside Rockland or Westchester. She currently pays $60 a month under the Thruways commuter plan, which covers up to 20 trips during a 30-day period.
Im not particularly interested in subsidizing the commute of people just because they live in a different county as I do, said Jobsky, who lives in Paramus, N.J., and regularly drives to Sleepy Hollow. Why are they singled out for preferential treatment?
Jobsky said elected officials should focus on a plan that doesnt place the toll burden on commuters.


text:
Tiny Tim Trifle
Total TimePrep: 35 min. + chilling Bake: 20 min. + cooling
Makes16 servings
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1-1/3 cups sugar
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 4 large egg whites
- 1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
- 1/3 cup fat-free evaporated milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract, optional
- 1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup baking cocoa
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3-1/2 cups cold fat-free milk
- 2 packages (1.4 ounces each) sugar-free instant chocolate pudding mix
- 1 carton (8 ounces) frozen fat-free whipped topping, thawed
- 1 candy cane, crushed
- In a large bowl, beat butter. Gradually add sugar; beat for 2 minutes. Add the eggs, egg whites, sour cream, milk, vanilla and peppermint extract if desired. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture just until blended.
- Pour into a 13x9-in. baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.
- For pudding, in a large bowl, whisk milk and pudding mixes for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set. Crumble the brownies; place half of the crumbs in a 3-qt. bowl or trifle dish. Top with half of the pudding and whipped topping. Repeat layers. Sprinkle with crushed candy cane. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.
Nutrition Facts3/4 cup: 267 calories, 9g fat (5g saturated fat), 50mg cholesterol, 352mg sodium, 40g carbohydrate (23g sugars, 1g fiber), 7g protein. Diabetic Exchanges: 2-1/2 starch, 1-1/2 fat.
Every product is independently selected by our editors. If you buy something through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Recommended Video
Nov 7, 2012
I substituted brown rice flower and splenda, and this still turned out fabulous!
Jan 29, 2012
Maybe I did something wroong, but this WAS NOT GOOD! The pudding was runny and there wasn't enough of a "Great" taste for the dessert. Sorry, but We didn't like this at all!!!
Jan 22, 2012
I made with sugar-free brownie mix and added chopped pecans and made sf pudding according to the box directions. I used fat-free Cool Whip and crushed peppermint candy in my Magic Bullet. My family raved over this - delicious!!!
Dec 19, 2011
So yummy and got a great review at our family Christmas! Only thing I changed was just using the box directions for the pudding instead of the extra milk and mix.
Dec 17, 2011
Oh...and fat free whipped topping has lots of sugar so used less and only on the inner layer. Nothing on top.
Dec 17, 2011
Yes, I'd make it again but not with directions given. Pudding directions are obviously wrong. 2% and even Fat-free milk is fine but follow the pudding box directions and use the directions for pie filling to avoid major "sog"-factor. They make sugar-free peppermint candy too by the way. I like my brownies soft and chewy so use a different recipe and the walnuts in it are a nice touch too. Also, might not be as pretty to look at in the trifle...but tastes better when individual servings are topped with peppermint ice-cream! My husband and I are both diabetic and have heart health issues but diabetic friendly does not always mean totally sugar or carb free. However, if you have no self control and/or don't know to manage carbs appropriately to include desserts like this then it is probably better to go totally sugar-free and reduce the carbs as low as you can when doing desserts. For me, control becomes an issue anytime chocolate is involved! Easily done though just by going with diabetic brownie mixes if you don't know what substitutes to use in a recipe. For recipe substitutes, we don't use butter or margerine...we use SmartBalance instead. Egg substitutes and egg whites. Blend rolled oats in a blender until powdered to a flour consistency and make a flour mixture that is 1/3 all-purpose flour, 1/3 oat flour, and 1/3 wheat to boost the overall health-factor of any recipe that calls for all-purpose flour. And eliminate or cut the salt by half or more. And Splenda of course. Blue Bunny sugar free vanilla ice cream with sugar free peppermint candies folded into it for peppermint ice cream.
Dec 15, 2011
The cake tasted good but had a fair bit of sugar. My husband made it and found that the thawed whipped topping didn't look like the picture. Didn't use candy canes but crushed cookie crumbs. Company did like it.
Dec 15, 2011
Well, I did it! I made this with a sugar-free brownie mix (two of them), added the peppermint flavoring and sour cream. I also used the sugar-free puddings (the boxes are 1.4 oz) and it set up just fine. The only sugar in it was the peppermint on top. Everyone raved about it and asked for the recipe. It looked so pretty!
Dec 15, 2011
We did not like the browine/cake part of this recipe - it was very dry. Would not make again.
Dec 10, 2011
Correction: I meant to write sugar free or fat free whipped topping :^)


text:
Main Content
DHPA Jewish Historical Resources
Whitley County
Whitley County Jewish History Jews living in Whitley County during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were a part of, not apart from, mainstream culture. According to one report one hundred Jewish individuals lived in the northeastern Indiana county in 1900. Most Whitley Jews resided in Columbia City, but a few families lived in South Whitley and one family lived in Churubusco. Possibly due to their small number, the local Jewish community did not erect a temple or synagogue, a Hebrew school, or kosher businesses. Rather, Whitley Jews befriended their non-Jewish neighbors, attended public schools, occasionally went to Christian Sunday school, and joined interfaith choirs. Yet through individual and group activities, the Whitley Jewry maintained their cultural heritage.
Chicago Fair Building, Columbia City


text:
In November, we reported that Harrison Ford was open to returning for Star Wars: Episode VII. Today, we've learned that the scruffy nerdherder Han Solo will likely appear in the upcoming, long-awaited sequel. This casting clues us in to at least a few details about the script. First, at some point we have to see what takes place about 35 years after Return of the Jedi. It doesn't mean the film will begin or take place during that time, and Han Solo's appearance may be a flashback, but if I recall correctly, there wasn't a single flashback in any of the previous Star Wars films. The most you got was a recording of events that had already happened.
Hit the jump for more. Ford will be seen later this year in the Jackie Robinson biopic 42, the thriller Paranoia, and the adaptation of Ender's Game. [Update: Trusted reporter Geoff Boucher now says that this is far from a done deal. More after the jump.]
[Update: Geoff Boucher, who recently moved from the LA Times to EW, Tweeted that his source tells him Ford's involvement is not yet a done deal, and might not be for some time:
Harrison Ford deal? My source says not yet."It will not be for weeks and perhaps months."
— Geoff Boucher (@geoffboucher) February 15, 2013
Though the actor's return is not guaranteed just yet, Boucher's update does confirm that Ford has indeed been approached about reprising his role. Here's hoping he ultimately decides to sign on. Our original story follows below.]
Latino Review is reporting that Ford is set to return, and I trust them because they have a good track record when it comes to scoops. As we previously reported, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher spoke with George Lucas last summer to discuss returning for the next Star Wars movie. If all three will return (and I find it baffling that they would only bring back Han Solo, and Ford seems the hardest to get of the original trilogy lead actors), then I find it even harder to believe that the next film would only show them in a flashback. Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope are connected by baby Luke and Leia, so it's tough to imagine going to Episode VII, and discovering Luke, Leia, and Han are DEAD. What a triumphant way to start off your new movie. That should be in the opening crawl.
Click here to catch up on all of our Star Wars coverage, or peruse the recent links below:
- STAR WARS Screenwriters Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg Talk STAR WARS: EPISODE VII; Frank Oz Willing to Return to Voice Yoda
- Watch Steve Talk About STAR WARS Spinoff Movies, DIE HARD 6, SPIDER-MAN, the STAR TREK Sequel and More
- RUMOR: John Noble Circling Villain Role in STAR WARS: EPISODE VII? Plus, Concept Art for Young Han Solo from STAR WARS: EPISODE III
- Editorial: Need STAR WARS Spinoffs Featuring Old Characters, We Don't
- STAR WARS Spinoff Films Include a Boba Fett Movie and a Young Han Solo Film
- Disney Confirms Standalone STAR WARS Films
- Rumor: First Standalone STAR WARS Movie Centers on Yoda
- THE COLLISION: Episode 35 – J.J. Abrams and STAR WARS
- Producer Kathleen Kennedy Explains How She Got J.J. Abrams to Direct STAR
- ARS: EPISODE VII; Won't Confirm 2015 Release
- STAR WARS News: Film Might Have Female Protagonist; Abrams Comments on Getting the Gig; May Not Have Agreed to 2015 Release
- It's Official: J.J. Abrams Will Direct & Produce STAR WARS: EPISODE VII; Lawrence Kasdan & Simon Kinberg Consulting on the Film
- Lucasfilm Postpones Plans for Further STAR WARS 3D Re-Releases


text:
A Guide to the Centennial Farmers Alliance No. 3344 Records, 1886-1985
Historical Note
The Centennial Farmers Alliance No. 3344 was a farmers union chartered on December 11, 1886 in Bell County, Texas, in response to the excessive cost of agricultural supplies, the falling price of cotton, and absorption of profit by production middlemen after the Civil War. Numerous farming unions were formed across the country and particularly flourished in the South in the 1880s, including the National Farmers' Alliance and Industrial Union, more commonly referred to as the Southern Farmers' Alliance, which eventually claimed a membership of almost three million. Strategies for economic improvement employed by farmers alliances included cooperatively owned stores and mills as well as trade-agreements in which committees promised merchants their members' cash business in exchange for low prices. Farmers' organizations also called for changes in governmental land policies, railroad regulation, and the use of silver as legal tender. Though the movement was largely unsuccessful, it served as the roots of the Populist Party.
Barnes, Donna A. "Farmers' Alliance," Handbook of Texas Online. Accessed November 5, 2010.
Scope and Contents
The Centennial Farmers Alliance No. 3344 Records, 1886-1895, consist of a ledger documenting the activities of the agricultural organization's political activities. The ledger includes minutes of Alliance's meetings, most of which were recorded by Secretary W. H. Madely, as well as accounts of the organization's finances, membership lists, and quarterly reports.
Access Restrictions
This collection is open for research use.
Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
Centennial Farmers Alliance No. 3344 Records, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
Processing Information
Basic processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for the Briscoe Center's "History Revealed: Bringing Collections to Light project," 2009-2011.
Detailed Description of the Papers


text: You have selected to view our car leasing for personal use, a personal car lease is a great way to get a brand new car for a small initial payment and a fixed monthly cost over a set term and mileage. There are no worries over depreciation or hassle trying to sell your car, at the end of the contract you simply hand the car back to the finance company. Our prices are some of the most competitive personal leasing deals currently available in Glenrothes. Once you have decided which car is of interest to you, just click on the 'view details' button to see the full information relating to this particular deal.


text:
AMERICAN MEDICAL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION wrote -
BENEFITTING AMAA's YOUTH FITNESS FUND
For the 2015 "RUN the Boston Marathon® with AMAA" program, we've partnered with CrowdRise to encourage AMAA members to unite and fundraise for our 2014-2015 Youth Fitness Fund. Just imagine the impact our group of medical and health professionals can have when harnessed to send a fitness message to the community in a fun and compelling way!
The Problem: Over 30 percent of children ages six to 11 are overweight, 15 percent are obese, and three out of five children ages nine to 13 don't participate in sports or other coached physical activities outside of school. These overweight and unfit children are more likely to remain unhealthy in adulthood and have an increased risk for developing life-threatening medical conditions such as Type II diabetes and heart disease.
The Solution: The American Running Association (ARA) and its medical division, the American Medical Athletic Association, are united in efforts to deter youth obesity in the U.S. and promote higher levels of physical activity for school-age youth. Donations made to ARA and AMAA's Youth Fitness Fund will benefit national RUN A MILE DAYS, held annually in May. Funds will support distribution of free materials such as the 8-week walk/run training schedule and posters, as well as help with onsite activities during the week-long event. To learn more about the program, go to www.runamile.org.
The ARA and AMAA also host an annual cross-country championship for middle schoolers through high school students from Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. This event, held in November, is entering its eighth year and has grown to over 500 participants.
Support for the ARA/AMAA Youth Fitness Fund will help expand the organizations' efforts to increase the number of grass-roots youth running events nationwide.
To create your fundraising campaign, click here.
CrowdRise offers lots of prizes for you to use to get your friends and family motivated to donate to your fundraiser. Click here to check it out, choose a prize, and e-mail everyone you know about it.


text:
|System: PS2
|Review Rating Legend
|Dev: Flight-Plan
|1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid
|4.0 - 4.4 = Great
|Pub: Atlus
|2.0 - 2.4 = Poor
|4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
|Release: Nov. 11, 2008
|2.5 - 2.9 = Average
|5.0 = The Best
|Players: 1
|3.0 - 3.4 = Fair
|ESRB Rating: Teen
|3.5 - 3.9 = Good
by Amanda L. Kondolojy
The PlayStation 2 may be on its way out, but the system has no shortage of JRPGs to keep players entertained as the systems lifecycle draws to a close. Eternal Poison, which was originally released as Poison Pink earlier this year in Japan, is best described as an RPG with attitude. This title has a style all its own and features smart-yet-traditional gameplay and a killer narrative.
The story revolves around the mythic demon land of Besek, which has recently appeared in the land of Valdia. Besek not only has symbolic significance as a bad omen, but Beseks demons have been attacking people and have kidnapped the princess of Valadia. The story is told through several different perspectives, and you can select different characters to play through the entire story. Although core story elements remain the same for each character, it is interesting to see the different motivations for each character, and see how their individual actions contribute to the story as a whole.
The story is definitely one of the best aspects of this title, and the multi-faceted story is reminiscent of RPG classics like Suikoden 3. Although the core elements of the story in each characters journey remain the same, each time through seems to yield quite a few surprises. Although youll have to create a new game file with each character and start from the beginning, the new story elements for each character are definitely worth the repeat playthroughs.
One aspect of this title that definitely makes it stand out is its visual style. The characters in Eternal Poison have a very pungent gothic style complete with heavy makeup, fancy clothes, and a certain melancholy demeanor. While games like The World Ends With You have briefly touched on gothic culture, this title really revels in it. Everything, from the characters to the beasts, looks like it was ripped from an alternate version of Alice in Wonderland, and the games world is very easy to get swept up in.
The battle system in Eternal Poison is fairly standard as far as RPGs go, but it has a few unique tweaks that make it a little more memorable. As you might expect, the attack system is strictly turn-based, and each character will have a set of physical and special attacks they can use during each turn. The twist with the mechanic comes in the form of an overkill system, which is triggered when you hit an enemy with a power that exceeds the enemys remaining HP. When you initiate the overkill, you are then able to bind the enemy and can either summon these monsters in a future battle or grind them up in a giant monster cauldron and extract their abilities. While the latter is a tad gruesome, it fits the games overall aesthetic, and works well as an interesting way to level up.
Although the battle system in this title is not groundbreaking, it is a great vehicle for telling the games stellar story. It is important to note that if you are looking for a title that has a deep or evolving battle system, this title definitely isnt for you. As you progress in the game, the battle system doesnt really change, and there arent many customization options beyond choosing party formations and equipping different weapons. With Eternal Poison, it is all about nuanced storytelling, and if that is something that appeals to you as an RPG fan, then youll hit the jackpot with this title. But if not, then you may want to keep looking.


text:
sisypheantask posted a photo:
via Instagram bit.ly/2SV3RSk
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
Name *
Email *
Assistant Professor of English with research areas in digital literacy, privacy and social media, and queering rhetorics.
This blog serves as a place to think through things, record thoughts, share interesting stuff, and hold conversations. Welcome!
Visit my electronic portfolio


text:
Monday Men Style: They Like Booties Too
Monday Men Style: Framed
I'm writing this in a cab ride, on my way home, after a late night at work. In the last two months, I've been so busy, school and work have kept me away from my outlet for far too long. I've missed creating stories on my page, like I've miss my mother's fruit cakes with hard icing! Wait… Xmas is around the corner!! I've missed listening to the fashion dilemmas others get themselves into, and sharing my own twisted, draping ways to get them out of it. I've missed helping others look like a spent the rent money on an outfit when it cost no more than dinner at Daniel's restaurant; after a Groupon! Last, but not least, I've missed my man craze outlet disguised as weekly themed-posts for men. Ohh how I've missed searching high and low for broad, well-dressed backs, let me frame the ways.


text:
Boiled to its essence, the Court held that "Gentry remains good law because, as required by Concepcion, it does not establish a categorical rule against class action waivers but, instead, sets forth several factors to be applied on a case-by-case basis to determine whether a class action waiver precludes employees from vindicating their statutory rights." Slip Opinion, at 3, 61. Specifically, the Court explained that the Gentry test was rested upon the prohibition on of exculpatory agreements – a generally applicable contract defense to all contracts under CCP § 1668 (which is required to avoid FAA preemption under Concepcion) – which a court determines by applying the following test:
"[W]hen it is alleged that an employer has systematically denied proper overtime pay to a class of employees and a class action is requested notwithstanding an arbitration agreement that contains a class arbitration waiver, the trial court must consider … [1] the modest size of the potential individual recovery, [2] the potential for retaliation against members of the class, [3] the fact that absent members of the class may be ill informed about their rights, and [4] other real world obstacles to the vindication of class members' rights to overtime pay through individual arbitration. If it concludes, based on these factors, that a class . . . is likely to be a significantly more effective practical means of vindicating the rights of the affected employees than individual litigation or arbitration, and finds that the disallowance of the class action will likely lead to a less comprehensive enforcement of overtime laws for the employees alleged to be affected by the employer's violations, it must invalidate the class arbitration waiver to ensure that these employees can vindicate [their] unwaivable rights . . . .'"Slip Opinion, at 40-41 (quoting Gentry, 42 Cal.4th at 463).
Applying this test to the meal and rest period claims at issue, the Court's analysis turned heavily on the fact that, subsequent to Franco I, the California Supreme Court held that attorney's fees were not recoverable as a matter of statutory right in Kirby v. Immoos Fire Protection, Inc., 53 Cal.4th 1244 (2012). Slip Opinion, at 41-42. As explained by the Court, this fact rendered such claims distinct from the analysis set forth in Concepcion, as it created a "means" based barrier to litigating the claim (i.e. a barrier rooted in a lack of choice), as opposed to an "incentive" based barrier (i.e. a barrier rooted in choice). Slip Opinion, at 58-59 ("preemption under Concepcion occurs if the arbitration process would make a prevailing claimant whole, but the amount in dispute is so small that a claimant does not think it worth the effort to pursue relief; preemption does not occur under Concepcion if a claimant lacks the means to pursue a claim in arbitration because the cost of pursuing relief on an individual basis — whether in arbitration or court — exceeds the potential recovery."). Based thereon, the Court held that such unwaivable claims were dependent the class action mechanism, and that a class action waiver would have an impermissible exculpatory effect:
We conclude that, as established by the attorney declarations, Franco cannot pursue relief for violations of his unwaivable statutory rights to rest and meal periods unless his case can be brought as a class action. This is the type of case where the plaintiff lacks the means to vindicate his unwaivable statutory rights absent a class action. (See Coneff v. AT&T Corp., supra, 673 F.3d at p. 1159 [applying Concepcion and distinguishing between plaintiffs who lack incentive to pursue claim and those who lack means to pursue claim].) "In contrast to the facts in Concepcion, [Franco] has demonstrated that [he] would not be able to obtain representation or vindicate [his] rights on an individual basis." (Sutherland v. Ernst & Young, LLP, supra, 847 F.Supp.2d at p. 536.) "Without the possibility of recovering costs and attorney's fees, an individual plaintiff would undoubtedly have an impossible time securing legal representation . . . given the minor amount an individual plaintiff would likely recover relative to the cost of prosecution." (Kristian v. Comcast Corp., supra, 446 F.3d at p. 52.) Where, as here, an arbitration agreement operates "as a prospective waiver of a party's right to pursue statutory remedies," it will be "condemn[ed] . . . as against public policy." (Mitsubishi Motors, supra, 473 U.S. at p. 637, fn. 19.) If a "prospective litigant [cannot] effectively . . . vindicate [his or her] statutory cause of action in the arbitral forum, the [FAA] will [not] serve . . . its remedial and deterrent function." (Id. at p. 637.)Slip Opinion, at 60.


text:
Alex Brandon / AP
National Guard, Maryland State Police, and local police work together to help a resident evacuate from Crisfield, Md., Monday. Thousands of volunteers and emergency personnel have descended on the 10-state region hit by the storm.
While everyone else was clearing out of Ocean City, Md., ahead of Superstorm Sandy, Trent Smith was heading straight toward the danger.
Smith, who traveled with a team from Indiana, was among among the hundreds of doctors, firefighters, paramedics and other emergency personnel and volunteers converging on the East Coast to help devastated areas with rescue and recovery efforts.
Smith described a nerve-wracking drive from Baltimore to Ocean City, a beachfront resort town that was expected to see widespread damage from the massive storm. It took Smith and 14 other emergency personnel more than four hours to make the 135-mile drive to the coast as they endured flooded roads and 50 mile-an-hour winds, arriving at 5 p.m., just before the storm made landfall up the coast.
"We were basically the last vehicle to come in off of the interstate before they shut it down," he said.
Smith and his team, assembled by Indiana's Department of Homeland Security, expect to spend the coming days working long hours with little sleep, but Smith said the work will have its own rewards.
"The vast majority of people that work for (the) department do this because they have this internal feeling that 'I want to help,'" said Smith, who normally works as a public information officer for the Indiana state police. He has responded to other disasters including Hurricane Katrina.
Most people traveling to the East Coast to help with the recovery are, like Smith, part of organized groups coordinating with the American Red Cross, government agencies and other aid organizations. But some are heading out on their own, driven by a desire to help in whatever way they can.
As the Hackensack River surged over a berm, hundreds of people were forced out of their homes as the water levels overwhelmed Bergen County. NBC's Katie Tur reports.
Kristoffer Strayhorn, a volunteer firefighter from Washington state, was among those who just wanted to get to the disaster zone and see what he could do to help.
Strayhorn, 40, has family in the New Jersey area and tried to fly out earlier in the week but he was unable to make it before the region's airports were closed ahead of the storm.
He's currently scheduled to fly out Thursday to help his family and, he hopes, others who have been affected.
Strayhorn said he feels "an obligation to go and help these people who didn't manage to get out of the situation."
His family is in and around Carlstadt, N.J., which was hard-hit by flooding. He has heard only briefly from family members since the disaster struck, with communication hampered by power outages and widespread flooding.
Strayhorn, a volunteer firefighter in tiny Cosmopolis, Wash., said he's never done anything like this before.
Related: Rescuing residents in flooded New Jersey
"My wife thinks I'm crazy, but at the same time she understands that I have family there," he said.
Many others were already on the road or had set up operations by Tuesday.
Watch aerials from the New Jersey State Police of the devastation from Sandy along the New Jersey Shore. Raw video.
A team of urban search and rescue personnel from Ohio, including two doctors from University of Cincinnati, were on their way to the disaster site Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the university said. They are working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The American Red Cross has 1,700 disaster workers from across the country deployed to help with recovery efforts, and spokeswoman Anne Marie Borrego said the agency wasn't looking for any more volunteers at this point.
Still, she said there was plenty of other things that people can do to help.
The Red Cross is taking cash donations to help with the effort. In addition, it is looking for people who can donate blood. That's because it had to cancel about 300 blood drives in the area due to Hurricane Sandy.
"What we really could use is blood donations," Borrego said.
Related: How you can help Sandy's victims
More content from NBCNews.com:
- The big picture: Assessing Sandy's devastation
- Northern N.J. towns submerged when surge overcomes levee
- 50 homes burn as six-alarm blaze rips through Queens
- Storm seen as unlikely to delay election
- The superstorm, by the numbers
- Your images of Sandy's fury
Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook


text:
After the Tracy Morgan homophobia mess erupted last week, Tina Fey tempered her stern condemnation of his remarks with a telling quip – noting her "30 Rock" co-star is "generally much too sleepy and self-centered to ever hurt another person."
The attempt at humor went to the heart of what's so vexing about the episode – and perhaps to what Morgan needs to do to make amends.
We expect the comic to be outrageous, whether via the silliness of his "30 Rock" alter ego Tracy Jordan, his decidedly beyond-bawdy stand-up act or past public antics that primarily involved taking off his shirt. What we didn't expect from any of the variations of Morgan's public persona was an outrageous leap over the line from humor to hate.
For a guy whose brand of comedy, at least up recently, generally didn't inspire deep thinking, Morgan's case presents some complicated questions: Are there boundaries for comedians? Who is the real Tracy Morgan? And can he redeem himself and save his career?
Morgan's statement – it's impossible to call it a joke – about killing his son if he found out the child was gay, put him far out of the realm of stand-up, to our mind, no matter what the context.
It's impossible to know what drove him to the most idiotic of his utterances on a Nashville stage this month and whether his subsequent apologies are sincere. But as for saving his career, we're betting Morgan has a good shot. His pledges to return to Nashville to offer a mea culpa – and, more importantly, meet with gay youths and a mother whose son was killed in an anti-gay attack – puts action behind his words of regret.
But there are other reasons – beyond swift damage control efforts that include plans to make an anti-bullying PSA for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation – to expect Morgan will emerge from his self-dug hole, particularly compared to other performers whose comebacks have faltered to varying degrees.
Michael Richards' racially fueled stand-up meltdown in 2006 was captured on video and endlessly replayed. Mel Gibson's audio-taped rantings gave voice to past reports of hate speech and other bad behavior. While the first public account of Morgan's controversial comments flew via Facebook, the written words don't pack as much punch as hearing them tumble from his mouth.
Another difference is that Richards' and Gibson's careers were in differing states of downturn when they became engulfed in their respective scandals. Morgan, in addition to probably getting slack in some quarters for his seemingly out-of-character misstep, is at a highpoint in his career, given his "30 Rock" success and recent HBO stand-up special.
Whether he's a stand-up guy is another matter, but his moves suggest he's headed in the right direction – quickly waking up to his error and stepping away from the self-centeredness Fey joked about. The bottom line, though, is whoever the real Tracy Morgan is, only he can save himself and end up back on "30 Rock" relatively unscathed. Otherwise, we hear Charlie Sheen is looking for work.
Hester is founding director of the award-winning, multi-media NYCity News Service at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. He is the former City Editor of the New York Daily News, where he started as a reporter in 1992. Follow him on Twitter.


text:
Seems that the next discussion has to be postponed until December.
If nobody else appears, I can take that one myself, but it probably won't start until after the 9th in that case, due to my involvement in the WCA:s. But then, my idea is to tackle all the three Lothlórien chapters at one time. What do the others think?


text:
There's an underlying assumption in most of the thinkpieces spawned by emergent speedreading apps: that you'll be using them to catch up on the massive assortment of thinkpieces you don't have the time to ingest.
Velocity, Spritz (which is actually proprietary tech, not yet an "app"), and the 2006 web-based spreeder all facilitate speedreading via a method known as Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP). RSVP, as spreeder marketing copy explains, focuses on "silencing subvocalization" (which, in turn, is defined in Velocity's copy as your "inner voice"). spreeder and Velocity accomplish this by basically flashing words at you really fast. Spritz adds its own "Optimal Recognition Point," often a vowel, in red so as to excise time-consuming eye movements. In each case, the eye is presented here as the blood-brain barrier, with the text ever trying to pass through it more efficiently. This is a rather unique method for dealing with the stresses of the war-like domain of the longread; now you can "read" everything.


text:
Chris Stapleton
To see all cities check out our City Guide here
|Jul 4, 2020
Sat 2:00PM
|D.C. Jam: Foo Fighters & Chris Stapleton
FedexField - Landover, MD
If You Need 2019 Chris Stapleton Tickets Please See The Listings Above. Each Line Represents A Different Date Which All Together Make Up All The Chris Stapleton 2019 Dates. To Start Searching For Chris Stapleton 2019 Tickets Please Click The View Tickets Button On The Specific Date That You Wish To See The Event. It Will Then Take You To The Inventory List Of Tickets Instead Of The Chris Stapleton Schedule 2019 Dates That You Were Seeing Before You Clicked The Button. You Can Then Use The Venue Map Along With The Ability To Sort By Price, Section, Row, And Quantity To Help You Determine What 2019 Chris Stapleton Tickets You Want To Buy Since You Have Already Seen The 2019 Chris Stapleton Schedule And Used That To Select The 2019 Chris Stapleton Dates You Are Interested In. Then All You Have To Do Is Follow The Easy Steps By Filling Out Our Order Form And The Hit Submit And Your Order Will Be Securely And Quickly Processed Using Our Secure Online Ordering Process.
Thank you for the great experience. We truly enjoyed the show. Thank you for making it all happen.
Great customer service + excellant prcing = very happy customer!


text:
Special offers
Please ask for special offers our personnel. If you like to stay longer than 5 nights in our hotel, you can get a special discount of 15 % for the whole stay. (exception of periods of special events or fears in Hamburg). The booking with discount has special cancellation conditions, this booking cannnot be cancelled and has to be prepaid.
* with key-word Long Stay in the comment


text:
Happy Thanksgiving week! The countdown is on! Are you ready for the big day? I finally decided on our menu. Whew. I am glad that is done. Now, we just have to buy the groceries and make everything. No biggie. We are keeping it simple this year since we are hosting a small group.
Josh is making a rotisserie turkey. We will also have salad, sourdough stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry orange sauce, roasted vegetables, potato rolls, and Apple Cinnamon Crumble for dessert. That's right, no pumpkin pie. Gasp! I love pumpkin, you know that, but not in pie form. It's a texture thing. Instead, we will be enjoying Apple Cinnamon Crumble with vanilla ice cream. Happy Thanksgiving to us!
I made this Apple Cinnamon Crumble when we were in Illinois. Everyone loved it, including myself, so I thought why not make it for Turkey Day? It's such an easy dessert, which is important since we will have a lot going on in the kitchen. And I don't really do pie crusts. This summer, I did master a beautiful peach pie, but I don't want to stress out on Thanksgiving. I want to keep things easy peasy.
You can't mess up this Apple Cinnamon Crumble. You combine sliced apples with fresh lemon juice, vanilla, sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Next, you make a cinnamon oat topping that contains a healthy portion of butter. It's Thanksgiving so it's ok to splurge. Plus, I consider this dessert healthy with all of the apples and oats. The Dr. never said the apple a day couldn't come in the form of Apple Cinnamon Crumble:)
I combined everything in a large skillet. If you don't have a skillet, you can use a baking dish. I like the rustic look of the skillet though:) Bake until bubbly and serve warm, preferably with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Add this Apple Cinnamon Crumble to your Thanksgiving menu-even if you are making a million pies. You can never have too many desserts on Thanksgiving! That is why I am still thinking about adding Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars to the menu too. For round 2 of dessert:)
Apple Cinnamon Crumble
- Prep Time
- 15 minutes
- Total Time
- 1 hour
For the Filling:
- 8 cups peeled cored, and sliced apples
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
For the crumble topping:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup old-fashioned oats
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter diced
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl, combine apples, lemon juice, vanilla extract, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and flour. Gently toss until apples are well coated. Let the apple mixture sit while you prepare the crumble topping.
For the crumble topping: in a large bowl, combine the flour, oatmeal, brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Stir together with a whisk. Mix in the butter with your fingers until the mixture comes together and you have big crumbles.
Place the apple mixture in a 12 inch skillet. Sprinkle the crumble mixture evenly over the apples. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the crumbly is browned and bubbling. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Note-you can make the crumble in a large baking dish or individual ramekins. You can also make the crumble ahead of time-just store the unbaked crumble in the refrigerator and bake when ready! Store the crumble in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
If you like this Apple Cinnamon Crumble, you might also like:
- Apple Toffee Galette from Two Peas and Their Pod
- Easy Apple Cobbler from Miss in the Kitchen
- Apple Crisp from Recipe Girl


text:
CHESAPEAKE, Va. - (March 24, 2014) - UMES brought home its second straight Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference bowling crown this past weekend in a marathon duel with Florida A&M that required 14 games rolled over six hours.
The third-ranked Lady Hawks now await word from the NCAA later this week about whether they will be invited to its national tournament. UMES already qualified to defend its 2013 U.S. Bowling Congress championship later this spring.
UMES' protracted win over Florida A&M pushed both squads to the physical limits of competition often seen in a double-elimination format.
FAMU, which came into championship Sunday with one loss in the tournament, earned a spot in the finals against the undefeated and top-seeded Hawks by besting North Carolina A&T in a semi-final elimination match early Sunday. The Rattlers then turned around and defeated UMES 4-3 in the first match, forcing a second best-of-seven Baker game match.
(The Baker format pits five bowlers from each team in a single game where each participant rolls two frames.)
The championship match went to the Lady Hawks, who staged a dramatic come-from-behind performance that saw them win the final two games to edge FAMU 4-to-3.
"We stayed positive and kept fighting until the very last shot," junior Mariana Alvarado said.. "We overcame a lot of adversity today and we are happy with the end result."
Alvarado was named the MEAC Championship Most Outstanding Player and an All-Tournament Team selection. Megan Buja, the team's lone senior, was also named to the All-Tournament Team.
"It's amazing to have won three MEAC Championships in my career," Buja said. "Today was a roller coaster but we stuck together and never gave up. This just shows how determined we were to win."
Head Coach Kayla Bandy was named the MEAC Championship's Most Outstanding Coach.
"It feels good to win my first MEAC Championship with these eight girls," Bandy said. "They have worked so hard preparing for this tournament, even though it showed more so on Friday and Saturday. They still were able to grind through the adversity today."
The win gives UMES its seventh conference title in women's bowling.
The match was taped for a delayed broadcast on ESPNU on March 31 at 10:30 p.m.
Bandy utilized numerous line-up changes throughout the day and UMES bowlers changed balls several times. At one point Buja was bowling anchor, junior Valerie Riggin was leading off and Alvarado was anywhere between second and fourth.
"I tried to arrange the lineup based on who was in the pocket the most," Bandy said. "We used the 10th frame on several occasions to start preparing for the next game. The lanes were tough for us today but we worked through it slowly, physically and mentally."


text:
Welcome to the Most Affordable San Diego Gaslamp District Hotel
Comfort Inn Gaslamp Convention Center hotel is the ideal vacation destination for budget-conscious family, leisure and business travelers. Situated perfectly in the heart of downtown San Diego, Comfort Inn is the most affordable of all the hotels located in the historic Gaslamp District, the city's premier entertainment, dining and shopping district.
Composed of 16 city blocks of a seemingly limitless array of restaurants, nightclubs, boutiques, galleries and retail stores, our hotel is surrounded by exciting entertainment choices. Less than a mile away from the hotel is the San Diego Convention Center, and the world-famous San Diego Zoo & Balboa Park Museums, SeaWorld San Diego and the exotic land of Mexico are all less than 30 minutes away.
Guests of our hotel are offered a fine list of amenities. All 103 of our boutique guest rooms feature a microwave, mini-fridge and free high-speed wireless internet. And downstairs in our business center we have copying, scanning and faxing services all for free.
Mornings you'll wake up to a complimentary hearty American breakfast including homemade Belgian waffles, eggs and sausages. And for guests needing an invigorating workout, we offer free admission to the local BodyWorks Life Enhancement Center.
Travelers visiting San Diego will find exclusive offers and affordable hotel rates. For the most affordable and convenient in San Diego Convention Center hotels, Comfort Inn Gaslamp Convention Center is the smartest and most affordable choice. Make an Online Reservation Today. We look forward to having you as our guest.


text:
Eastern States Cup and POC Sports are proud to announce the 2012 POC Eastern States Cup Downhill Mountain Bike Race Series. The series is the USA Cycling Eastern Regional Championship and five USA Cycling State Championships are being contested within the series. The POC ESC has over $35,000 available in cash prizes to amateurs and pros in 2012.
Reaching new heights during its third season, the POC ESC has grown to 14 races and welcomes three new venues. Returning is the $1000 POC Team Challenge and new this year is the $1000 Loeka Women's Challenge. The POC ESC's championship payouts for Cat1 Juniors, Men's Pro and Women's Pro Classes have been increased and a finals cash purse for the top three men in Cat1 19-29 has been added. The pro payouts at each race have increased up to $1600 with up to $500 going to the pro winners.
"We are very excited about our partnership with The Eastern States Cup" Said Willie Ford, Director of Marketing, POC USA. "We are honored to be part of such a great series and we're all looking forward to a great season of racing. It's going to be fun."
The Series starts off with two USAC Pro Gravity Tour National Series races. The POC ESC/Pro GRT races each have $5000 purses and are used to qualify racers to the USA World Championship Team. The best national and international racers will be there to compete against the POC ESC regulars. Pros like Aaron Gwinn, current UCI World Cup Champion and Amateurs will compete on the same courses as at the renewed Mountain Creek Bike Park and at Plattekill Mountain on consecutive weekends. The Mountain Creek race will be the inaugural USAC New Jersey DH State Championship. Mountain Creek's new course will feature the infamous Rock Garden section. Plattekill will showcase a new Pro GRT track on the super steep North Face side of the mountain.
Every POC Eastern States Cup venue offers big mountain racing in a close geographical area. Mountain Creek, Jiminy Peak and Windham are new to the series this season. Jiminy Peak's race will be USAC's first Massachusetts State DH Championships on what's guaranteed to be a really fast course. The Windham Mountain track will be the same one used for the 2012 Windham UCI World Cup. The series will be part of the 11th Annual Pats Peak Mountain Bike Festival in New Hampshire. In addition to downhill, the festival offers XC and 6-12-24 hour endurance racing.
Killington, Mount Snow and Attitash all have two POC ESC races in 2012. Mount Snow offered some great tracks in the series last year and they're building more this season. Killington is reuniting their Beauty and The Beast races as part of the series. Attitash Mountain features miles of DH trails, tons of attractions and swimming in the Saco River. Plattekill Bike Park will host The Stephen Porraro Memorial Race in August and three holiday races: The Pro GRT Memorial Day weekend, the Floodwaters Classic on Labor Day weekend and the Plattepallooza Festival during the finals on Columbus Day weekend.
The series will again work with VonCooper Racing and Productions to bring the popular POC Video of the week to the racers and the world. VonCooper produced a 2011 POC ESC DVD that will be available at races this summer. Oliver Racing brings its famous Bureau's Sugarhouse and Maple Kettle Korn 4th place prizing to every class at all POC ESC events. Taking pictures for the series is East Coast action Photographer, Matt Delorme. Matt's pictures and feature articles have been in many national and international magazines and websites. Delorme will also write up a post race reviews.
The Eastern States Cup provides high-level racing, multiple USAC Championships at great venues. The POC ESC strives to provide fun and professional events. The series format will reduce travel, offer fair pricing and provide a set structure to racers.
May 20 Mountain Creek, NJ – Pro GRT 2x points NJ State Championships
May 27 Plattekill, NY – Pro GRT 2x points
June 3 Attitash, NH
June 10 Pat's Peak, NH
June 24 Mount Snow, VT
July 15 Windham, NY
July 29 Killington, VT
Aug 5 Mount Snow, VT
Aug 12, Plattekill, NY
Aug 19 Killington, VT – VT State Championship Finals
Sept 2 Plattekill, NY – NY Championship Finals
Sept 16 Attitash, NH – NH State Championship Finals
Sept 23 Jiminy Peak MA – MA State Championships
Oct 7 Plattekill, NY – ESC Finals 2x points
Source: George Ulmer


text:
Vatican Conference to Examine Catholic Identity in Health Care
Participating Church leaders and health-care professionals will focus on sanctity-of-life issues and compassionate and palliative care.
VATICAN CITY — The Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers announced Nov. 13 that its upcoming international conference will discuss how health facilities can maintain a Catholic identity in secular societies.
The conference will be "devoted to the study of all aspects of hospitals as privileged spaces, to fulfill both individually and collectively the baptismal mandate" to minister to the sick in imitation of the Good Samaritan, said the council's president, Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski.
The council's 27th international conference will take place Nov. 15-17 and will address the theme "The Hospital, a Place of Evangelization, Human and Spiritual Mission."
The gathering will bring together Church representatives as well as health-care professionals. Up for discussion will be several key issues: respect for life from conception to its natural end, compassionate care with full respect for the sick person's identity, and palliative care, which focuses on relieving and preventing the suffering of patients.
Representatives from the European Congress of Catholic Doctors as well as Italian Minister of Health Renato Balduzzi will participate. They will address such concerns as maintaining hospitals' Catholic identity in the secularized Western world and promoting more effective health care in developing countries, where easily preventable diseases such as malaria continue to claim untold lives.
"Health-care workers who are inspired by the faith and Christian morality must be the promoters and pioneers of ethical training to accompany their professional preparation," noted the council's secretary, Archbishop Jean-Marie Mupendawatu.
Archbishop Mupendawatu emphasized that the focus of health care should be on the patient as a person, who "reveals the face of God" in his suffering. He ended his remarks by quoting St. Thérèse of Lisieux, who found joy in suffering by offering up her pain to God.
"I have come to the point of suffering no more, because all suffering endured for God has become sweetness," she wrote.
The meeting will begin with a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica presided over by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.
The conference will conclude with a Nov. 17 Mass in St. Peter's Basilica and an address by Pope Benedict XVI.
The council was established by Blessed Pope John Paul II to provide a forum to discuss Catholic-related health-care issues. Some 120,000 Catholic health-care facilities operate worldwide, putting into practice Christ's command in St. Matthew's Gospel to "Go, preach and heal the sick."


text:
- Font:
- +
- -
With absurdly low temperatures gripping the eastern half of the United States and Canada, several cities and towns have cancelled school for the day, leaving parents with youngsters stuck indoors — a recipe for cabin fever.
For those looking to keep their kiddos occupied, there's a way to use the extreme cold for some entertainment (and sneak in a little science education, too). Here, LiveScience has rounded up a few fun experiments that can be done with just a little time outdoors (make sure to bundle up!), from making frozen soap bubbles to creating your own colorful snow. (There's also one experiment to make sure the little ones don't try.)
Frozen bubbles
Kids love bubbles. And while summer is typically the time to crack open a bottle of bubbles, there's a way to make them work in the winter. If it's cold enough outside ( this post at the blog Apartment Therapy recommends temperatures below about 9 to 12 degrees Fahrenheit, or about minus 11 degrees Celsius), you can make the bubbles freeze. The trick is to blow them up in the air so that they have time to freeze before hitting the ground or another surface. The bubbles will form crystalline patterns and some might break, looking a bit like the shell of a cracked egg. Don't have any bubble solution handy? The post also has a simple homemade recipe. [ See More Science Experiments for Kids ]
Maple syrup candy
Do just like Half Pint did in the "Little House on the Prairie" books and make your own maple syrup candy. Just heat butter and syrup together, according to this recipe, and after it cools, you can pour it onto fresh snow and it will harden into something like maple taffy. Yum!
Magic balloons
Okay, so maybe they're not magic, but they will seem that way to the kids, and this one is quite easy. Just inflate and tie up a balloon, then stick it outside and watch it deflate. Bring it back inside to warm up and watch it re-inflate. (This is a nice lesson in the volume of a gas, in this case, air volume, changes with temperature, shrinking in the cold, as its density increases, and expanding in the heat, as its density decreases.)
Make your own snow
This one is for those of you experiencing really cold temperatures. Meteorologist Eric Holthaus demonstrates it nicely in a video posted to Youtube (see it also below): If it's cold enough outside, you can take some boiling water throw it up in the air (make sure it will blow away from you), and it will freeze into snow. When Holthaus did his experiment in Viroqua, Wis., it was minus 21 F (minus 29 C) with a wind chill of minus 51 F (minus 46 C).
How does water turn into snow ? Colder air holds less water vapor than warmer air, while the boiling water is giving off lots of water vapor (that's the steam you see rising from the pot). When the hot water is thrown into the cold air, the air gets more water vapor than it can hold, Mark Seeley, a climatologist at the University of Minnesota, explained previously to LiveScience's Life's Little Mysteries, so the water vapor clings to tiny particles in the air, crystallizing into snow. Seeley says it has to be quite cold to attempt this one, somewhere in the region of minus 30 F (minus 34 C) or lower.
Do NOT try this at home
One "experiment" to make sure the kids don't attempt is triple-dog daring anyone into sticking their tongue to that frozen flagpole. Maddie Gilmartin, 12, of East Kingston, N.H., gave this one a try and, sure enough, her tongue was frozen to the pole, as the New York Daily News notes. Her parents tried to blow warm air on her tongue and douse it with warm water to get it unstuck, but to no avail. Eventually the paramedics were able to free her; and her tongue is expected to recover, though it could take up to six months for the swelling to go down.
Why does this happen? The tongue is warm, and when it touches the frigid pole, the pole saps that warmth and cools the tongue, causing the body to send more heat to the cooled area. But the high thermal conductivity of the metal pole means it sucks up that warmth faster than the body can resupply it to the tongue. The upshot: The moisture on the tongue freezes in the pores of the tongue and the metal and, voila, you're stuck.
Follow Andrea Thompson@AndreaTOAP,Pinterest andGoogle+. Follow us@livescience,Facebook&Google+. Original articleon LiveScience .
- Photos: The 8 Coldest Places on Earth
- See Video of Making Oobleck with Google Glass
- Snowflake Gallery: No Two Alike, of Course
© 2012 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.


text:
LACEY, Wash. — One day last winter Margarite posed naked before her bathroom mirror, held up her cellphone and took a picture. Then she sent the full-length frontal photo to Isaiah, her new boyfriend.
Both were in eighth grade.
They broke up soon after. A few weeks later, Isaiah forwarded the photo to another eighth-grade girl, once a friend of Margarite's. Around 11 o'clock at night, that girl slapped a text message on it.
"Ho Alert!" she typed. "If you think this girl is a whore, then text this to all your friends." Then she clicked open the long list of contacts on her phone and pressed "send."
In less than 24 hours, the effect was as if Margarite, 14, had sauntered naked down the hallways of the four middle schools in this racially and economically diverse suburb of the state capital, Olympia. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of students had received her photo and forwarded it.
In short order, students would be handcuffed and humiliated, parents mortified and lessons learned at a harsh cost. Only then would the community try to turn the fiasco into an opportunity to educate.
Around the country, law enforcement officials and educators are struggling with how to confront minors who "sext," an imprecise term that refers to sending sexual photos, videos or texts from one cellphone to another.
But adults face a hard truth. For teenagers, who have ready access to technology and are growing up in a culture that celebrates body flaunting, sexting is laughably easy, unremarkable and even compelling: the primary reason teenagers sext is to look cool and sexy to someone they find attractive.
Indeed, the photos can confer cachet.
"Having a naked picture of your significant other on your cellphone is an advertisement that you're sexually active to a degree that gives you status," said Rick Peters, a senior deputy prosecuting attorney for Thurston County, which includes Lacey. "It's an electronic hickey."
In the fall of 2009, Margarite, a petite, pretty girl with dark hair and a tiny diamond stud in her nose, was living with her father, and her life was becoming troubled. Her relationship with her father's new wife was tense. Her grades were in a free fall.
Her social life was deteriorating. A good friendship with a girl had soured, abetted by a fight over a boy. This girl would be the one who would later brand Margarite's photo and forward it.
Margarite's former friend is tough and strong-willed, determined to stand out as well as fit in, according to those who know her. Her parents, recent immigrants, speak limited English and were not able to supervise her texting.
In the shifting power dynamics of middle school girls, the former friend understood well that she who sneers first sneers best. The flick of a cutting remark, swiftly followed by "Just kidding!" The eye roll. As the animosity between the two girls escalated, Margarite felt shunned by an entire group of girls and was eating lunch by herself. At home she retreated to her bedroom, alone with her cellphone and computer.
Her mother would later speculate that Margarite desperately needed to feel noticed and special. That December, just before the holidays, she took the photo of herself and sent it to Isaiah, a low-key, likable athlete she had recently gotten to know.
After the winter break, Margarite was preparing a fresh start. She would move back in with her mother and transfer to a school in a nearby district.
But one night in late January, a few days before her transfer, Margarite's cellphone began vibrating around 1 a.m., waking her. She was being bombarded by texts — alerts from worried friends, leers from boys she scarcely knew.
The next morning in her mother's car, Margarite lowered her head, hiding her reddened eyes, her terrible secret.
"Are you O.K.?" asked her mother, Antoinette, who like other parents and children who agreed to be interviewed asked to be identified by only first or middle names to protect their privacy.
"Are you sure?"
But her mother knew otherwise. Earlier that morning a parent had phoned Kirsten Rae, the principal of Margarite's school, Chinook Middle, complaining about a naked photo sent to her child. The child knew at least a dozen students who had received it.
The principal then called Antoinette. The police wanted to question Margarite. On the drive to school, the girl sobbed uncontrollably, feeling betrayed and degraded.
The school was buzzing. "When I opened my phone I was scared," recalled an eighth grader. "I knew who the girl in the picture was. It's hard to unsee something."
Meanwhile, another middle school principal in Lacey had begun investigating a sexting complaint that morning. Ms. Rae realized that Margarite's photo had gone viral.
Students were summoned to Ms. Rae's office and questioned by the police. Their cellphones were confiscated.
Ms. Rae went into crisis management. Parents were calling, wanting to know whether their children would be arrested and how she would contain the spread. She drafted a letter for school families. Administrators planned a districtwide voicemail to the families of middle school students. Chinook teachers would discuss the issue in homerooms the next day.
By late morning, Isaiah and Margarite's former friend had been identified and pulled out of class.
Then Isaiah's mother, Jennifer, got the call. "Naked?" she shouted. "How naked?"
When Jennifer, who works for an accountant, arrived at the school, she ran to Isaiah, a tall, slender boy with the startled air of an unfolding foal. He was weeping.
"I was in shock that I was in trouble," he recalled during a recent interview. "I didn't go out of my way to forward it, but I felt responsible. It was bad. Really bad."
He told the police that the other girl had pressured him into sending her Margarite's photo, vowing she just wanted to look at it. He said he had not known that their friendship had disintegrated.
How had the sexting from Margarite begun? "We were about to date, and you'll be like, 'Oh, blah blah, I really like you, can you send me a picture?' " Isaiah recalled.
"I don't remember if I asked her first or if she asked me. Well, I think I did send her a picture. Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Mine was, like, no shirt on.
"It is very common," he said. "I'd seen pictures on other boys' cellphones."
Mr. Peters, the county prosecutor, had been hearing that sexting was becoming a problem in the community. In a recent interview, he said that if the case had just involved photos sent between Isaiah and Margarite, he would have called the parents but not pressed charges.
"The idea of forwarding that picture was bad enough," he said. "But the text elevated it to something far more serious. It was mean-girl drama, an all-out attempt to destroy someone without thinking about the implications."
He decided against charging Margarite. But he did charge three students with dissemination of child pornography, a Class C felony, because they had set off the viral outbreak.
After school had been let out that day in late January, the police read Isaiah his rights, cuffed his hands behind his back and led him and Margarite's former friend out of the building. The eighth graders would have to spend the night in the county juvenile detention center.
The two of them and a 13-year-old girl who had helped forward the photo were arraigned before a judge the next day. (Margarite's former friend declined to be interviewed, as did the girl who helped her.)
Officials took away Isaiah's clothes and shoes. He changed into regulation white briefs and a blue jumpsuit. He was miserable and terrified.
"My socks got wet in the shower," Isaiah said.
Sexting is not illegal.
Two adults sending each other naughty pictures, dirty language? Just garden-variety First Amendment-protected speech.
A November 2009 AARP article, "Sexting Not Just For Kids," reported approvingly on the practice for older people, too. In women's magazines and college students' blogs, coy guides include pragmatic tips like making sure to keep your face out of the photo.
But when that sexually explicit image includes a participant — subject, photographer, distributor or recipient — who is under 18, child pornography laws may apply.
"I didn't know it was against the law," Isaiah said.
That is because culturally, such a fine distinction eludes most teenagers. Their world is steeped in highly sexualized messages. Extreme pornography is easily available on the Internet. Hit songs and music videos promote stripping and sexting.
"Take a dirty picture for me," urge the pop stars Taio Cruz and Kesha in their recent duet, "Dirty Picture." "Send the dirty picture to me. Snap."
In a 2010 Super Bowl advertisement for Motorola, the actress Megan Fox takes a cellphone picture of herself in a bubble bath. "I wonder what would happen if I were to send this out?" she muses. The commercial continues with goggle-eyed men gaping at the forwarded photo — normalizing and encouraging such messages.
"You can't expect teenagers not to do something they see happening all around them," said Susannah Stern, an associate professor at the University of San Diego who writes about adolescence and technology.
"They're practicing to be a part of adult culture," Dr. Stern said. "And in 2011, that is a culture of sexualization and of putting yourself out there to validate who you are and that you matter."
The prevalence of under-age sexting is unclear and can often depend on the culture of a particular school or circle of students. An Internet poll conducted for The Associated Press and MTV by Knowledge Networks in September 2009 indicated that 24 percent of 14- to 17-year-olds had been involved in "some type of naked sexting," either by cellphone or on the Internet. A December 2009 telephone poll from the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project found that 5 percent of 14- to 17-year-olds had sent naked or nearly naked photos or video by cellphone, and that 18 percent had received them. Boys and girls send photos in roughly the same proportion, the Pew survey found.
But a double standard holds. While a boy caught sending a picture of himself may be regarded as a fool or even a boastful stud, girls, regardless of their bravado, are castigated as sluts.
Photos of girls tend to go viral more often, because boys and girls will circulate girls' photos in part to shame them, explained Danah Boyd, a senior social media researcher at Microsoft and a fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society.
In contrast, when a boy sends a revealing photo of himself to a girl, Dr. Boyd noted, she usually does not circulate it. And, Dr. Boyd added, boys do not tend to circulate photos of other boys: "A straight-identified boy will never admit to having naked photos of a boy on his phone."
Policy makers are beginning to recognize that a uniform response to these cases does not fit.
"I hate the word 'sexting,' " said Andrew J. Harris, an assistant professor of criminology at the University of Massachusetts in Lowell, who is leading a study of the practice among adolescents to help develop policies to address it. "We're talking about a lot of different behaviors and a lot of different motivations."
There is the high-tech flirt. The troubled attention-seeker. A couple's consensual exchanges. Drunken teenagers horsing around. Pressure from a boyfriend. Malicious distribution. A teenager who barrages another with unsolicited lewd photos or texts. Or, as in a 2009 Wisconsin case of "sextortion," a boy, pretending to be a girl online, who solicited explicit pictures of boys, which he then used as blackmail to compel those boys to have sex with him.
The content of the photos can vary widely too, from suggestive to sadistic.
Adults in positions of authority have been debating how to respond. Many school districts have banned sexting and now authorize principals to search cellphones. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, at least 26 states have tried to pass some sort of sexting legislation since 2009.
"The majority of states are trying to put something in place to educate kids before and after the event," said Justin T. Fitzsimmons, a senior attorney at the National District Attorneys Association who specializes in Internet crimes against children. "We have to protect kids from themselves sometimes. We're on the cusp of teaching them how to manage their electronic reputations."
But if the Lacey students were convicted of dissemination of child pornography, they could be sentenced to up to 36 weeks in a juvenile detention center. They would be registered as sex offenders. Because they were under 15, however, after two years they could petition a court to remove their names from the registry, if they could prove they no longer posed a threat to the public.
Rick Peters, the prosecuting attorney, never intended for the Chinook Middle School students to receive draconian sentences. But he wanted to send a scared-straight message to them, as well as to the community.
Yet when the local news media storm cascaded, the outcry was not about the severe penalties for a felony sexting conviction. It was about why Mr. Peters had not also arrested Margarite.
"She's a victim," Mr. Peters said. "She made an ill-advised decision to share that picture with her boyfriend. As far as she knew, that was as far as it would go.
"What good would come from prosecuting her? What lesson could we teach her that she hasn't already learned now 1,000 times over?"
Eventually a deal was brokered for the three teenagers who were charged. The offense would be amended from the child pornography felony to a gross misdemeanor of telephone harassment. Isaiah and the two girls who had initially forwarded Margarite's photo would be eligible for a community service program that would keep them out of court, and the case could be dismissed.
Those three students would have to create public service material about the hazards of sexting, attend a session with Margarite to talk about what happened and otherwise have no contact with her.
After Margarite and her mother approved the conditions, Mr. Peters signed off, pleased.
Throughout last spring, on Monday afternoons after school, Eric Fredericks, Isaiah's math teacher, met with the three students to help them develop their material.
Margarite's former friend made a PowerPoint presentation, with slides copied from the Internet.
The younger girl made a poster dense with warnings about sexting's consequences. She concluded: "I am a 13 year old teen that made a bad choice and got my life almost totaled forever. I regret what I did more than anything but I cant take it back."
Isaiah created a two-page brochure, citing studies from the Internet, accompanied by a tumble of adolescent feeling:
"Not only does it hurt the people that are involved in the pictures you send, it can hurt your family and friends around you, the way they see you, the way you see yourself. The ways they feel about you. Them crying because of your mistakes."
Ms. Rae has yet to distribute the material. Chinook, with 630 seventh and eighth graders, still has students who know those involved in last year's episode. She wants to give Isaiah, Margarite and the others more time to distance themselves.
While the case was on its way to resolution, prosecutors and district educators decided to put its aftershock to good use.
"After the story broke, parents called us because they didn't know about the law that could send kids to jail for a bad choice," said Courtney Schrieve, a spokeswoman for the North Thurston Public Schools. "Kids didn't know about it either. So we decided to turn this into an opportunity to educate teachers, parents and students."
In October, Ms. Rae, the police, prosecutors and Mr. Fitzsimmons of the National District Attorneys Association held separate forums about sexting for Lacey's teachers, parents and student delegations from the four middle schools.
The students then returned to their homerooms to teach classmates what they had learned.
Elizabeth Colón taught a session with Jon Reid. Both are eighth graders at Chinook.
"Most of the questions were about penalties," she said. "Kids wanted to know if they would get into trouble just for receiving the picture."
Jon spoke about long-term consequences. "I said that people may look at you differently," he said. "They'll know what kind of person you were, even though you changed."
One spring evening, the three students who had been disciplined met for a mediation session with Margarite and two facilitators from Community Youth Services. The searing, painful session, which included the students' parents and Mr. Fredericks, lasted several hours. Everyone was asked to talk about his or her role in the episode.
Mr. Fredericks listed all the people who had spent hours trying to clean the mess the students had created in a matter of seconds: police officers, lawyers, teachers, principals, hundreds of families.
Then it was Isaiah's turn. He looked Margarite in the eye. "He poured his heart out," Mr. Fredericks recalled. Isaiah said that he was ashamed of himself, but that most of all, he was sorry he had broken Margarite's trust. Then he asked for her understanding and forgiveness. "He cried," Mr. Fredericks said. "I choked up."
The former friend who had forwarded the photo, creating the uproar, was accompanied by her mortified father, an older sister and a translator. She came across as terse and somewhat perfunctory, recalled several people who were there.
One of the last to speak was Margarite's father, Dan, an industrial engineer.
"I could say it was everyone else's fault," Dan said. "But I had a piece of it, too. I learned a big lesson about my lack of involvement in her use of the phone and texting. I trusted her too much."
He had not expected the students to be punished severely, he continued. But they needed to understand that their impulsive actions had ramifications.
"When you walk out of here tonight, it's over, you're done with it," he said, looking around the room.
"Keep in mind that the only person this will have a lasting impact on," he concluded, is his daughter.
The photo most certainly still exists on cellphones, and perhaps on social networking sites, readily retrievable.
"She will have to live with this for the rest of her life."
When the police were finished questioning Margarite at Chinook in January 2010, her mother, a property manager, laid down the law. For the time being, no cellphone. No Internet. No TV.
Margarite, used to her father's indulgence and unfettered access to technology, was furious.
But the punishment insulated Margarite from the wave of reaction that surged online, in local papers and television reports, and in texted comments by young teenagers throughout town. Although the police and the schools urged parents to delete the image from their children's phones, Antoinette heard that it had spread to a distant high school within a few days.
The repercussions were inescapable. After a friend took Margarite skating to cheer her up, he was viciously attacked on his MySpace page. Kids jeered, telling him to change schools and go with "the whore."
The school to which Margarite had transferred when she moved back in with her mother was about 15 miles away. She badly wanted to put the experience behind her. But within weeks she was recognized. A boy at the new school had the picture on his cellphone. The girls began to taunt her: Whore. Slut.
Margarite felt depressed. Often she begged to stay home from school.
In January, almost a year to the day when her photo went viral, she decided to transfer back to her old district, where she figured she at least had some friends.
The episode stays with her still. One recent evening in her mother's condominium, Margarite chatted comfortably about her classes, a smile flashing now and then. But when the moment came to recount the events of the winter before, she slipped into her bedroom, shutting the door.
As Antoinette spoke about what had happened, the volume on the television in Margarite's room grew louder.
Finally, she emerged. The smell of pizza for supper was irresistible.
What is it like to be at school with her former friend?
"Before I switched back, I called her," Margarite said. "I wanted to make sure the drama was squashed between us. She said, were we even legally allowed to talk? And I said we should talk, because we'd have math together. She apologized again."
What advice would Margarite give anyone thinking of sending such a photo?
She blushed and looked away.
"I guess if they are about to send a picture," she replied, laughing nervously, "and they have a feeling, like, they're not sure they should, then don't do it at all. I mean, what are you thinking? It's freaking stupid!"