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Klei Entertainment strikes quickly and without warning in Mark of the Ninja, delivering a nearly perfect stealth game that takes you by surprise and leaves you breathless.
The Pros
- Perfectly executed stealth gameplay
- Well-designed levels offer multiple paths and options
- Diverse upgrade tree, collectibles, and New Game+ offer plenty of replay value
- Mechanics-driven graphics are also quite beautiful
The Cons
- Schlocky ninja story falls apart in the endgame
- Minor control hiccups
- New Game+ a bit too easy with all of your carryover gear
Mark of the Ninja Review:
Mark of the Ninja is a fitting title for a game that leaves such an indelible mark on the stealth genre. The 2D side-scroller from Klei Entertainment feels like a mash-up of two of its previous fan-favorites, N+ and Shank, blending the agility and high-flying acrobatics of the former with the hand-drawn art style and comic book gore of the latter. Those are just bullet points, however. At its bloody, sword-pierced heart, Mark of the NInja is a masterfully assembled stealth game that is highlighted, first and foremost, by instant-feedback mechanics that turn the surrounding world into a shadowy, murderous playground for your dark ninja arts.
Ninja Un-Gaiden'ed
The first thing you need to do is unhook yourself from the concept of an action-based ninja game. While you'll plunge plenty of swords into plenty of soft bits, you'll also receive equal or greater rewards for running through levels without alerting anyone or stopping any hearts. Whether you go the bloody or bloodless route, Mark of the Ninja rewards the careful, measured approach.
This is actually supported by the game's backstory, which introduces the main playable character as a ninja in a clan renowned for not drawing a blade until a kill is guaranteed. This means that you can't simply run amok across a level without a care for who hears you. It's not so much that the odds are stacked heavily against you -- though that is increasingly the case in the later levels -- but rather that you can't actually dispatch your pursuers unless you go about it quietly.
The story is the stuff of cheesy ninja fiction from the '70s, but in the best sort of way. You volunteer to save your clan by becoming a sort of super-ninja powered by magical tattoos, though the body art carries a heavy price: once your mission is completed, you've got to off yourself.
The unfolding story eventually reveals that things are not quite as simple as they seem, of course, and eventually your adventure comes to embrace an old ways vs. future technology sort of theme. You know... classic ninja stuff. The only real plot stumble comes at the end. I understand what Klei was going for in the final chunk of the game, but the exposition supporting it doesn't come across clearly enough. It's a minor complaint in the larger picture, but it's one worth mentioning.
Since we're talking complaints, I may as well also take a moment here to mention the controls. While Mark of the Ninja's protagonist is extremely agile and responsive, it can be a bit too much at times. This might be more user error than design flaw, but more than once I found myself trying to react quickly to a situation, only to end up performing some accidental repeated action because I moved too quickly.
Unadultered Stealth
Mark of the Ninja's underlying influences are a bit of a mash-up, the Shank-meets-N+ vibe I described at the outset, but the true success is Klei's masterful execution of the game's stealth elements. Moving through each multi-path level, you feel like the badass ninja that so many games aim for and fail to deliver on. You're at your deadliest when bathed in shadow, and the game's design supports this with instant feedback on the screen that gives you a clear sense of how your sneaking is perceived in the world around you.
Noise, whether it's caused by you or your foes, is realized visually as an expanding-then-contracting bubble that emanates outward from the source. You might not see the soldier patrolling in the next room, but you can "hear" him as the tiny ripples of his footsteps pace back and forth. You can run at any time to move quickly from A to B, and you're able to instantly tell where your footfalls can be heard based on the sound bubble that then surrounds you.
Light works largely the same way. There's no oblique shadow play going on, nothing where you're worrying over whether you might be seen where you're standing. It's all very black & white, as it were. If you enter a pool of light and your ninja is illuminated, enemies looking in your direction can see you. If you're standing in the shadows, they can't. Some endgame enemies cart around sensors that will spot you no matter what, but these are built on the same principles that sound is; stay out of the detection zone and you'll be safe.
Using sound and light to your advantage is fundamental to finding success in Mark of the Ninja. Sometimes you'll want to make a noisy run or dart quickly through a pool of light to draw attention in a certain direction, allowing you to more easily position yourself for a kill or slip quietly by. You can always peer through vents and doors and even hide in plain sight by concealing yourself behind certain parts of the environment.
You can also really mess with the minds of your enemies. Bodies can be stashed in secret locations to keep your presence a secret, but it's oh so much more fun to toss a corpse off of a ledge and into a group of living soldiers, and then watch as they go crazy with fear, shooting in random directions and muttering to themselves.
As you proceed through the game, you'll unlock additional tools and combat abilities to aid you, spending currency on an upgrade tree divided into three sections: ninja skills, noisemakers, and combat tools. You'll also unlock new outfits that offer different cost/benefit options, such as a non-lethal-focused costume that allows you to run noiselessly in exchange for your ability to carry a sword.
Do you want to become more lethal from the shadows or a more capable martial artist for those occasions when you're discovered? Maybe you want your laser fence-confusing smoke grenade to also stun enemies? Or replace your caltrops with a swarm of flesh-eating insects? These are all options that you get to explore, with a New Game+ mode allowing you to carry over your unlocks in exchange for a stiffer challenge.
All of these skills and tools become available for purchase gradually as you proceed through the story's 5-6 hours. The unlocks match the pacing of each level perfectly too. You'll never feel either underpowered or overpowered, though the drip-feed also makes New Game+ pretty easy to breeze through, even with the amped up difficulty.
Landing The Killing Blow
Mark of the Ninja is as close to perfect as a game can be. Any criticisms I can level fall short of being even minor annoyances within the bigger picture. In an age where the lines between non-action genres increasingly blur to support a more fast-paced direction, this is stealth gaming done right. An achievement made even more remarkable for pulling it off using a 2D presentation. If you play only one Xbox Live Arcade game in 2012, there is no better option out there than Mark of the Ninja.


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Arizona TPT-1 Form/Accounting CreditPosted on September 21 2010 by admin
The accounting credit is one item on the sales tax return that is often miscalculated or even sometimes forgotten. The following is a description of the credit as seen in the instructions of the sales tax return.
The State of Arizona provides a credit for accounting and reporting expenses. The accounting credit is applicable only to state Transaction Privilege Tax or Severance Tax; it does not apply to city, county or other taxes. (See Table 1 of the TAX RATE TABLES for the state business classes eligible for the accounting credit.) The Department allows this credit to taxpayers who file and pay their transaction privilege taxes timely and in full. If these conditions are not met, the accounting credit will be disallowed.
The accounting credit rate for your classification should be preprinted on the form. If you are preparing a blank form, you can find the accounting credit rates in Table 1 of the TAX RATE TABLES. The credit rate for retail sales is .056%. The accounting credit is calculated by multiplying the accounting credit rate by the net taxable amount. The credit cannot exceed $10,000 for a calendar year. [See A.R.S. section 42-5017 and Arizona Administrative Code (A.A.C.) Rule R15-5-2007 for more information.]
A business entity which files a single Arizona income tax return that includes income from more than one transaction privilege tax license should file form 51T – Election for accounting and reporting expenses credit with the Department of Revenue if it is expected that the credit for accounting and reporting expenses for all transaction privileges tax licenses will meet or exceed the $10,000 amount for the calendar year. This election form should indicate how the credit will be allocated among the licenses.
One of the reasons this credit is sometimes miscalculated is the format of the TPT-1 form. The accounting credit rate is next to the total tax amount on the form. Sometimes the preparer applies the rate to the total tax amount instead of the net taxable amount. This results in a lower accounting credit. Several years ago I noted this mistake on a couple of clients. Because the clients had not exceeded the $10,000 threshold we were able to go back and amend the sales tax return for the additional accounting credit.
Remember to carefully check the calculation of the accounting credit.
Kane Lavin, CPA
Dealership accounting is such a specialized area it can be difficult to find the information you need to run a dealership business. As a service to our clients, and other interested parties who are involved in or in need of dealership accounting, we'll gather all of the information for you. We ' ll keep you up-to-date on the latest laws and regulations and we will even add our own personal insight into what else is occurring in the dealership world. We will provide these posts weekly and hope to get your input and feedback on the various topics. We will also share that feedback with others, as we find appropriate. We hope you find it informative and worthy of your time.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Healthline Blogs
Dr. Paul Auerbach is the world's leading outdoor health expert. His blog offers tips on outdoor safety and advice on how to handle wilderness emergencies.
Sep 14 2012
Vision and Falls in Elders
In the past, I wrote about the impact of wearing bifocals on the risk of falls. The concept remains that having two different foci of vision that are easily confused while walking would cause a person to fall. What about other causes of dimini...
Sep 11 2012
Cardiac Arrest During Long Distance Running Races
An article titled "Cardiac Arrest During Long Distance Running Races," written by Jonathan Kim MD and his colleagues, was published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine (2012;366:130-40). Medicine for the outdoors is not only about hi...
Sep 07 2012
Sunbeds and Skin Cancer
"There is no such thing as a safe tan" is what I have been taught for nearly 40 years, beginning with medical school at Duke University. In that regard, nothing has changed. All persons who go outdoors need to recognize that exposure to sunligh...
Sep 06 2012
Hantavirus in Yosemite National Park
Our National Parks are a treasured heritage, and one of the ways in which we appreciate the outdoors. Millions of visitors flock to the parks in order to camp, hike, climb, swim and most of all, appreciate the wonder and natural beauty of Ameri...
Aug 30 2012
Untreatable Gonococcal Infection
Why discuss a sexually transmitted disease in a column about outdoor health? The reason is because we were all young once, many of you are young now, and I know that travelers to exotic locations who are on vacation, out of their daily routines...
Aug 27 2012
Antibiotics for Kidney Infection
Kidney infection (pyelonephritis) is a serious infection. It commonly follows a bladder infection, as bacteria ascend from the bladder via a ureter to a kidney. It is often unilateral (one-sided, involving a single kidney), but can on occasion ...
Aug 24 2012
Blood Pressure Measurement as a Hint About Vascular Disease
Doctors frequently speak about a patient's "vital signs." These are heart rate (pulse), blood pressure, and respiratory (breathing rate). Blood pressure in most patients is taken using a blood pressure cuff, commonly placed on the arm, but som...
Aug 13 2012
Immobilization Techniques After Wrist Fracture Reduction
After a person breaks (fractures) a bone, the treating clinician may attempt to straighten (reduce) the fracture in order to correct the deformity and restore the anatomy. This preserves function, facilitates healing, reduces pain, may reduce b...
Jul 23 2012
Nanofiltered C1 Inhibitor Concentrate for Treatment of Hereditary Angioedema
Hereditary angioedema is one of those conditions that frightens even seasoned emergency physicians, and would be one of the last conditions I would ever want to encounter (again) in an outdoor or wilderness setting away from advanced medical care ...
Jul 16 2012
Are Our Children Too Fat?
Working and playing in the outdoors rely on a certain degree of physical fitness and overall state of health. Current medical knowledge supports the concept of ideal body weight, at which a person is neither too fat nor too thin. When we consid...
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Three headlines for Friday, April 20, 2012, plus a tip about what's coming up:
• What's hot now: Laketon Township man rattled by explosive device placed in neighbor's car's gas tank
LAKETON TOWNSHIP - A firework or other explosive device was planted in the gas tank of a car in Laketon Township, causing minimal damage but rattling some nerves.
• Crime and courts: Steele school employee charged with CSC was suspended, investigated in 2007
Muskegon, MI -- A Muskegon middle school employee recently charged with criminal sexual conduct involving a student was suspended in 2007 and investigated by police for "inappropriate behavior," but nothing came out of that investigation, according to a school official.
• Make sure you don't miss: Lookback: 1891 fire devastates Muskegon's Pine Street downtown business district
The fire which erupted in Hampshire's Livery Stables devastated the heart of Muskegon's business district, including the county courthouse.In just over 6 ½ hours, the fire leveled 17 city blocks and 250 buildings from Clay to Iona Avenues between Terrace and Spring Streets. The 80 acres left in ashes in 1891 pale in comparison to the Great Chicago fire of Oct. 8, 1871, which lay waste 2,112 acres.
• Coming up: Holland woman identified as victim in tragic Mother's Day fatal crash in Blue Lake Township; Two kids in critical


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An old treat from a very young chef.
- 300 g fish (mixture of smoked and white)
- 300 ml white wine
- 300 ml water
- 60 g butter
- 60 g flour
- couple of tablespoons of cream or milk
- 250 g grated cheddar cheese
- 1 carrot finely diced
- 1 stick of celery (finely diced)
- 1 leek finely sliced
- 1 tblsp olive oil
- salt and pepper
- packet of ready made puff pastry
- 1 beaten egg
- Preheat the oven to 200°C.
- First make sure the fish is skinned and boned and chopped into chunks.
- Place the fish into a saucepan and add the wine and water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5-6 minutes until the fish is just cooked. (Do not overcook)
- Remove the fish to the dish (4 individual ovenproof ramekins or large casserole dish ) and reserve the poaching liquid.
- In another saucepan, melt the butter and add the flour. Whisk for a few minutes and allow the flour to cook away any raw flavour.
- Add the poaching liquid slowly, whisking all the time and continue cooking on a medium heat until the sauce resembles the consistency of custard. If the sauce is too thick whisk in some cream or milk until it thins out. Taste the sauce for seasoning. If you are using smoked fish it may be salty enough.
- Then add in the grated cheese whisking until melted in. This will thicken the sauce slightly. Turn off the heat and set the sauce aside.
- Saute the carrots and leeks in the olive oil or butter if you prefer. After a couple of minutes add the leeks and soften the veg for about 5 minutes depending on the size of the dice. When cooked, with still a little bite, add to the cheese sauce.
- Pour the sauce over the fish, covering well.
- Roll the pastry out until it is about 1/2 cm thick. Cut out a round slightly bigger than the dish you are covering.
- Brush the rim of the bowl with beaten egg and cover with the pastry disk. Brush the pastry with the egg wash and put a small slit in the top to allow the steam to escape while cooking.
- Bake in the oven for about 20 mins for individual pies or 30 - 40 mins for the large pie. Or until the pastry turns golden brown.
- Cool for a few minutes before eating, especially if it is for children as it will be very hot.


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The Syracuse University Department of Athletics and the Carrier Dome staff are encouraging fans to purchase tickets in advance to avoid long lines at the box office when the second-ranked SU men's lacrosse team hosts No. 6 Johns Hopkins at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 14.
Fans are encouraged to visit SUathletics.com to purchase tickets ahead of time and utilize the "Ticketfast" delivery method to obtain their tickets directly after purchase. In addition, fans are encouraged to get to the Carrier Dome early on gameday. Gates will open at 12:30 p.m. in anticipation of a large crowd.
Adult single-game tickets are $10 and tickets for youths 12-and-under are $5.
There will also be more parking options available to fans for Saturday's game. In addition to the surface lots around the Carrier Dome, patrons will be able to park in the South lot at Manley Field House and take a shuttle to College Place similar to football and men's basketball games. More police officers and parking personnel will be on hand to help alleviate traffic backups around the Dome.
The cost for parking is $10 per vehicle.
Syracuse and Johns Hopkins have combined to win 19 of the 38 NCAA Championships in men's lacrosse since it became an NCAA-sponsored sport in 1971. Both teams enter this weekend's matchup with 3-1 records.


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BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- The chairwoman of the Birmingham City Council's transportation committee is demanding the firing of the transit authority director, accusing him of misleading city officials about the agency's finances and causing an unnecessary shutdown panic in recent months.
In a letter obtained by The Birmingham News, Councilwoman Kim Rafferty assails executive director Peter Behrman as ineffective and asks for his removal.
"I have a vote of no confidence in Mr. Behrman's ability to effectively manage the BJCTA in the best interest of the city of Birmingham and transit riders," Rafferty wrote.
The letter was addressed to Mayor William Bell and copied to council members and Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority Board members. The BJCTA board has the authority to hire and fire directors; Birmingham is the largest municipal contributor to the system.
Efforts over two days to reach Bell, who has been a critic of the BJCTA, for comment on the letter were unsuccessful.
The essence of the grievance goes back to the city's fight over how much was owed for past transit service and how much the city allocated in its 2012 budget. System officials said the BJCTA's lack of funding threatened to shut down city bus routes.
But Rafferty now says the city was misled into believing the BJCTA faced imminent shutdown of 14 Birmingham routes without more money, while in reality the agency had more than $6 million in surplus.
"It became very apparent that the executive director did not fully disclose the revenue we had," she said in an interview. "That would have completely prevented the shutdown scare we had this fall, notwithstanding what the city owed."
Rafferty's letter represents a dramatic break between her and the BJCTA leadership.
Behrman has apologized for miscommunication during his tenure and promised improvements.
"Certainly we'll do our best in the future to make sure everyone understands what's being communicated," he said today.
Behrman said there were changes in his agency during the last budget season, including a new chief finance officer and a new budget procedure. Since then, he said, he's made improvements, including a system in which more than one person prepares the financial plan.
"Mistakes were made by everybody on both sides of the table," he said. "We now have a budget that everybody agrees with. We learn and we move ahead."
In August, Behrman had said a cut in city funding would create a $4 million deficit and force the agency to slash routes and lay off employees. Birmingham had allotted $10.8 million for transit service in fiscal 2011 but had reduced that to $7.9 million for fiscal 2012.
Bell at the time questioned the BJCTA's figures in addition to calling for more cuts and efficiency measures for the agency. The question over funding and the threat of service cuts widened a rift between the City Council and the mayor.
Finally, late last month, both branches agreed to approve $10.8 million for mass transit, $2.9 million more than was in the budget, halting planned cuts that were set to take effect within days.
Rafferty said she's learned that it was all a sham.
Some board members said they were unaware that the agency actually had a surplus at the time they pleaded with the city for additional emergency money.
Longtime board member Guin Robinson, who resigned his seat this week, said he raised questions about the numbers during budget deliberations because the tallies showed more money than he understood was available.
"The staff told me they were not aware of whether the city knew or not. At that stage of the budget process, the board and the city should have had the information," Robinson said. "If staff did not know until then, they should have. I do not think we were purposely misled, but we were misled just the same."
Board Chairman Patrick Sellers said the authority would investigate.
"We're looking into those allegations and the opinion of our City Council person to see what truths come out of it," he said.
While Rafferty rails against Behrman, not everyone is ready to change leadership again at the BJCTA. Behrman has been in charge about a year and a half.
Council President Roderick Royal said the city owed money to the system and finally paid, irrespective of any surplus.
"We can better use our time by not throwing darts, and cooperating with the management rather than always disparaging them at every turn," Royal said.
In addition, Royal cautioned against micromanaging the system from City Hall.
"The mayor and the Transportation Committee chairperson should step back and let the professionals of transit handle the transit," he said. "Eventually, continuous meddling will cause no one worth their salt to be interested in the job as director of the BJCTA."


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- 7 total posts
- 1 review
- 6 comments
Reviews by mezmerizing_bootay
BBL With Doctor Salama. So Nervous! - Aventura, FL
Hey Bootyfuls, I am new to this site.. but have been stalking this site for 3weeks straight ever since i joined it. Im 27yrs old 5'6 145lbs and im not sure what my waist is ill have to measure it. But im a 34C and close to 40hips. I am so excited about getting the BBL done. Im so... READ MORE
Recent comments from mezmerizing_bootay
@ThattGirl.. No sorry i meant to say i have an appt to meet with Nancy or Dr. Salama.. But i dont have an opening until next year in Feb 2013.. But i mean i dont want them (doctor) to touch my legs during surgery.. Just my upper portion... READ COMMENT
@truth2 Oh wow thanks alot for telling me this.. Yeah i want my legs to not be touched. I want my legs to remain thick.. Was it hard to heal? And how long did it take for your love handles to heal? READ COMMENT
Do you already know how you want to look? Are you going by yourself.. and will you be traveling from out of state? READ COMMENT
Thanks so much for the support. Yeah Im going to stay positive better energy.. yeah I cant wait to see the results also :) READ COMMENT
Sorry for being so rude.. Heyyy blossomedLily :) READ COMMENT


text:
Birmingham police will be out in full force Friday night to try to stop revelers from firing their guns in celebration.
It will be the second year for "Operation Crackdown," an effort to snuff out New Year's gunfire.
"When you walk out your door Friday night, you're going to see more police officers than you've seen in a long time," said Capt. Moody Duff, commander of the Birmingham Police Department's Field Operations Bureau.
More than 150 officers, in addition to the regular patrol force, will fan out over the city in search of violators.
A bullet fired into the air can climb up to two miles. When it comes back down, it can reach a speed of 300 to 700 feet per second. A velocity of only 200 feet per second is sufficient to penetrate the human skull.
"It's a quality of life issue and we are going to tackle it aggressively," said Police Chief A.C. Roper who will join officers on the streets Friday night.
Last year's operation yielded 43 arrests.
Authorities believe the beefed-up presence made a difference in the crucial 12-hour period of 6 p.m. New Year's Eve through 6 a.m. New Year's Day.
The department's ShotSpotter system, which detects shots and triangulates the location, recorded 420 incidents of gunfire on Dec. 31, 2009, down from 1,187 over the same 12-hour period the previous year.
The ShotSpotter system uses sensors to detect gunshots and alert police to the location. The system is supposed to speed police response times and can apparently differentiate between gunfire and firecrackers.


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DC Tri Club member Daniel Head (#195) is just out of the water with a time of 01:14:33. It's a cold, rainy and windy day in Taupo, NZ.
Still raining in Taupo, NZ. Daniel has crossed the 56 mile marker on the bike.
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LSU defensive back Tre'Davious White was the only Tiger named to the SEC's All-Freshman team Thursday. Each of the 14 teams had at least one player honored. The teams were voted on by the SEC's 14 head coaches, who were not able to vote for their own players.
Arkansas, Ole Miss and South Carolina each placed a league-leading four members on the team, while Florida had three. Ole Miss wide receiver Laquon Treadwell is the SEC's Freshman of the Year, while Florida defensive back Vernon Hargreaves had earlier been named to the All-SEC First Team.
The entire team is listed below.
2013 SEC All-Freshman Football Team (* - ties)
TE - Hunter Henry, Arkansas
OL - Laremy Tunsil, Ole Miss
Andrew Jelks, Vanderbilt
Alex Kozan, Auburn
Denver Kirkland, Arkansas
C - Jon Toth, Kentucky
WR - Laquon Treadwell, Ole Miss
Marques North, Tennessee
QB - Maty Mauk, Missouri
RB - Alex Collins, Arkansas
Kelvin Taylor, Florida
AP - Pharoh Cooper, South Carolina
DL - Chris Jones, Mississippi State
A'Shawn Robinson, Alabama
Robert Nkemdiche, Ole Miss
Darius Philon, Arkansas
LB - Darian Claiborne, Texas A&M
Leonard Floyd, Georgia
Skai Moore, South Carolina
DB - Vernon Hargreaves, Florida
Tony Conner, Ole Miss
Tre'Davious White, LSU
Cameron Sutton, Tennessee
PK - Elliott Fry, South Carolina
P - Johnny Townsend, Florida
RS - Pharoh Cooper, South Carolina


text: does anyone know how long a shroom trip lasts for? How many shrooms would it take to get a first timer high? how much does one shroom cost? and can anyone explain a weak-average shroom trip? I really want to try them but kinda nervous never tried any drug besides weed before. You guys think I should try it?


text:
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This is a very interesting game I played on this site, with 9 consecutive knight moves!
| Read More
This is a question that has been circling my mind for a while.
I have heard some people say that playing blitz creates bad habits of not calculating enough, and playing more by "instinct".
I have also heard people say, and I agree, that what's m... | Read More
This is a blitz game I played today, featuring my favorite opening as white, and the opening I have been actively studying for the last few months.
It was a very enjoyable game for me, because as I played I could see many of the concepts, themes ... | Read More
Here is another of my games, where I planned to use the Dragon as black. My opponent did not follow main lines, yet somehow we reached a Sicilian position. The position was clearly a Najdorf, but since I don't know much about it, I decided to cont... | Read More
Following an emerging theme on my games, and also inspired by a very interesting thread in the Chess.com forums about studying openings, I present another game of mine.
In this game, I was out of my mental book by move 2 and this was truly a firs... | Read More
This post presents another game I played recently, but now it will have a little background story.
In a recent post, I questioned the usefulness of spending time learning opening lines at my level, where most of my opponents don't follow mainline... | Read More
This is another commented game of mine, I just thought I could make a better title than just adding up to the chapter counter.
This blitz game was played online with a 10 minute clock, and though it is full of positional and tactical errors, it w... | Read More
Continuing with my comments on some of the games I play, this post has another game with a 15 minute clock played online.
This game brings me to wonder if dedicating time to studying main opening lines is really useful at my level. Practically no... | Read More
Here is another of my games, played online with a 15 minute clock.
I particularly enjoyed this game, because despite I have pretty much no knowledge on white's opening, I managed to use some concepts from other openings I have reviewed to handle ... | Read More
Here is a recent game I played, again with a 15 minute clock.
The position seemed clear to me, I could see what my opponent's intentions were and acted accordingly.
Unfortunately, I found myself without enough time to reach an endgame, and I cou... | Read More
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The Awesome Knight
by ravl 5 years ago
To blitz or not to blitz?
by ravl 7 years ago
Spanish to the end
Playing it by ear
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|Home » Discuss » Journals » The Magistrate » Archives
The Magistrate's Journal - Archives
Posted by The Magistrate in Religion/Theology
Thu Oct 06th 2011, 01:37 PM
The argument concerns what motive persons are acting under when they kill. No one on 'Team Theist' has made even the slightest attempt to engage, let alone deny, the fact that a great deal of killing in human history has been done with explicitly religious motives, even to the point of being required as a matter of doctrine taught to believers. The only response has been to claim that atheists have killed a great many people, a plain fact which no one on 'Team Atheist' would think of denying, but in making this response, there has not been, and will not ever be, a successful attempt to demonstrate this is in any way required by atheism, in the same sense that a great deal of killing can be traced directly to actual doctrines and dogmas and ritual practices of various religions.
Communism, and for that matter Anarchism in its late nineteenth and early twentieth century form, viewed religion, specifically locally dominant Christian sects, as a major prop of the Capitalist order, as one of the forces arrayed to keep working people quiescent in the face of the injustice routinely perpetrated against them by an exploitative social order. By and large (there were exceptions) these Christian bodies regarded Communists, Socialists, Anarchists, Syndicalists, indeed just about anybody agitating and organizing and acting to end the exploitative economic order in the here and now, as damnable criminals at war with the order God ordained. In short, each regarded itself as at war with the other, and behaved accordingly. Where this war became more concrete reality than metaphoric hyperbole, people were killed, and they were killed in the struggle over what the economic, social and political order of a place was going to be. Where Communists came to power, first in Russia, they did indeed attack religion, just as they attacked aristocracy and property. The Orthodox Church took an active role in the counter-revolution embodied in the Civil War, and clergy looked on the killing of Reds just as enthusiastically as commissars watched their firing squads at work. As matters developed, the clergy came out on the losing end of that fight, and there are consequences for this. The Communist government set out quite conciously to break anything that had taken part in or lent support to or even offered potential grounds for counter-revolution, considering this a necessity for consolidating the revolution and establishing the new Communist order.
Matters in China followed a somewhat different path, and certainly featured a great deal less singling out of religion, as religion occupies a somewhat different space in Chinese society than it does in the West. There was some specific antagonism towards missionaries and Christianity, but this had more to do with long-standing xenophobia and resentments of the privileged position Christians came to enjoy in the latter days of the Ch'ing Dynasty, and whole system of foreign privilege bound up in the 'Unequal Treaties'.
Posted by The Magistrate in General Discussion
Wed Oct 05th 2011, 12:35 PM
The attempt to link the sentiment to the authority of the revered President Lincoln must be rejected, since he did not say this. The statement must then stand or fall on its own. It is therefore necessary to examine somewhat the actual historical background.
Mr. Lincoln was no particular friend of the large corporation. In the later stages of his career as a lawyer, a large railroad he did some work for attempted to short him on his fee; he sued, and on receiving a judgement of five thousand dollars remarked on the pleasure of having such a corporation put into his hands for the fleecing. Mr. Lincoln also expressed himself frequently on the primacy of labor over capital, and in support of the right of workers to strike.
In regard to the Civil War, the question of Mr.Lincoln's relation to and attitude towards banks and bankers is complex. It is certainly true that some banking and mercantile interests at the North did not wish prosecution of the war, as it interfered with what had been peace-time sources of profit in lending to, and trade with, the South. This was particularly true in New York City, where early in the war there was actually talk of the city seceding. However, the Federal government had no difficulty raising funds for the war, particularly after the Treasury Secretary's early threat to 'print money till it takes a thousand dollars to buy a breakfast' if funds could be got no other way. The money of the north backed the war, and profited from doing so. President Lincoln's administration set up, as a war finance measure, a system of national banks. His administration also sold, through Jay Cooke, a leading banker, tremendous sums of government bonds, bringing in funds essential to successful prosecution of the war. You are free to draw your own conclusions, but it does not seem to me a good case could be made for President Lincoln regarding 'the money power' as a dangerous enemy arrayed against him during the Civil War.
Posted by The Magistrate in General Discussion
Sat Sep 24th 2011, 01:41 AM
People do not look at the matter of class squarely in this country, and, by and large, also lack any comprehension of what real wealth is. The tale is that this is a society without class boundaries, and that hard work is the respected route to prosperity and wealth: the facts are that this is a stratified society, in fact one in which the stratifications are growing increasingly more rigid; and that work, and the people who do it, are held in contempt, while the sharpster and the grifter are honored; and that damned near the surest way to a life of straitened circumstances, and often outright poverty, is to dedicate oneself to working hard at hard work.
People generally knowing, in their bones if not in so many words, what the actual facts of a society around them are, most are quite reluctant to identify themselves with their actual status as workers, members of the working class, and so the idea that 'middle class' is a measure of income arises, and has a collision, fortunate or unfortunate depending on ones point of view, with a very inaccurate perception of what the actual patterns of income, and its sources, are.
But 'middle class' is actually just a bastardization of bourgeoisie, or persons who make their living from the proceeds of a stock of capital, usually in trade or manufacturing or lending, or a body of knowledge, such as medicine or law or accounting, or even pedagogy. A person who sells labor, however skilled or at however dear a price, is not and cannot be classed as a member of the bourgeoisie.
What the United States had, for a period of several decades after President Roosevelt's New Deal was a prosperous working class, and large elements of this prosperous working class sold its birthright for a mess of racial and culture war cant sold by propagandists for the plutocrats perched on the pinnacles of wealth in this society. We no longer have a prosperous working class,and on present lines of development, are unlikely to ever see such a thing again.
Posted by The Magistrate in Israel/Palestine
Fri Sep 16th 2011, 05:02 PM
There are several facts here people need to take notice of.
First, since the end of the Cold War, there has been very little real over-lap between the strategic interests of the United States and the interests of Israel. Support for Israel alienates Moslems, universally and in the region, and thus threatens stable access to fuel resources for the United States. The idea some attempt to sell, that the U.S. uses Israel to maintain access to and control of oil is risible.
Second, support for Israel is, in the domestic politics of the United States, becoming deeply tinged with fundamentalist Christian fanaticism, which leads increasingly to support for Israel being identified, among the general populace, with far right lunacy. It is worth noting many of these fundamentalist Christian supporters of Israel are, in actual fact, profoundly Anti-Semitic, in that they view Jews as having murdered Christ, and believe all Jews who do not convert to Christianity during the 'coming tribulations' will be killed as followers of the Anti-Christ. Their only real interest in Israel is the degree to which its existence is a prop in support of their beliefs in the imminent return of the Christ, and its attendant apocalyptic horrors and millenial reign of Jesus directly and physically over the earth. Israeli leaders who accept support from this element are making a contemptible bargain, that brings them into disrepute by association, rather like a candidate running on a 'law and order' platform would suffer by accepting an endorsement from a local Klavern.
Third, certain elements of cultural over-lap between the United States and Israel are fading away. One of the great unspoken facts of support for Israel here has always been the shared characteristics of a frontier/settlers society: we had Indians, they have Arabs, and expansion into a hostile frontier existence defined self-image of both societies to a fair degree. Fifty years ago popular culture here presented our expansion into the western plains as a fight between good White soldiers and settlers and bad, cruel Indians who above all could never be trusted. Today, these images are pretty much reversed, and the supply of people who grew up taking the former picture as an elemental frame of their moral universe and self-image as Americans is dwindling fast.
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Posted by The Magistrate in General Discussion
Wed Aug 03rd 2011, 03:45 PM
Three main factors.
First, racial: backlash against the civil rights movement, which large portions of white working class people saw as solidly against their economic interest, and certainly against their self-image as 'better' beings.
Second, patriotism: left opposition to the Viet Nam war split left activists from white working class people, who saw such opposition as un-patriotic, and as siding with a national enemy.
Third, 'counter-culture' and 'liberation' issues: many white working class people saw the whole counter-culture movement as an offensive display of indolence and parasitism, and reacted to things like 'women's lib' in the same manner as they did to civil rights for Black people.
The unifying element in all this is that, during the sixties and into the seventies, the left in this country ceased to focus on economic issues, on general betterment of working people, and focused instead on promoting things that many white working people were actively repelled by.
Posted by The Magistrate in Editorials & Other Articles
Mon Aug 01st 2011, 04:52 PM
"This ignorance has been given larger voice by President Obama's unwillingness (or inability), since coming into office, to vigorously 'Fight the Good Fight' against stupidity, and the relentless use of disinformation by the Corporate Lobbyist party."
Posted by The Magistrate in General Discussion
Thu Jul 21st 2011, 12:21 PM
It tilts power towards towards the most sparsely populated and politically retrograde areas of our country, and gives an effective veto power over the majority of people in the real centers of the national life. Look at the mischief done in Washington, and at the balking of measures not only a majority of Democrats but a majority of the populace support, and you will see always the sickly pug-marks of mediocrities from wide, empty spaces, who could not manage to get elected to a county commission or state legislature in a populous state, but who can rise to the top of a tiny pool, and then dig in like ticks to national office and the perquisites of seniority. A vote for senator in a state with 600,000 odd persons has twenty times the weight of a vote for senator in a state with twelve millions of residents; each of those six hundred thousands have twenty times the influence of each of those twelve millions in the nation's political life; that is not only wrong, it is the very reverse of democracy, it makes aristocrats of those six hundred thousands, and peasants of those twelve millions.
Posted by The Magistrate in General Discussion
Tue Jul 19th 2011, 11:37 PM
The governing elite, whether in office or in the board-room, wants to welsh on its markers. It is getting to the point where the Treasury bonds held by the Social Security Trust Fund will need to be redeemed in cash. To do so, there will need to be either some reduction in spending on other items, or some increase in taxes. Neither politicians nor those who purchase politicians in wholesale lots want to do either thing. What they do want to do is continue to use the regressive pay-roll tax as a principal source of general revenue, as they have in effect been doing with the amounts collected by this levy in excess of immediate pay-outs for many decades. The F.I.C.A. tax already amounts to over a third of taxes collected against income by the Federal government. Keep the F.I.C.A. rates going up, as rates on income and capital gains are cut further for the wealthy, and as benefits for Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid are reduced, and this proportion will only increase. The aim is to produce a Federal tax system sufficiently regressive as to shock even a medieval cleric.
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Posted by The Magistrate in General Discussion
Tue Jul 19th 2011, 04:23 PM
To take the tripe argument that 'government must do its budgeting like your family does' seriously for a moment, what family, faced with expenses greater than income, suggests Dad should ask his boss for fewer hours down at the plant, so he will take home less pay?
No proposal that does not increase taxes, and increase them substantially on the possessors of the bulk of the country's wealth, is a serious proposal for bringing the Federal budget into better balance.
Any proposal which does not do this, and instead introduces structural, long term reductions in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits, is not a proposal to bring the Federal budget into better balance, but rather a proposal to sanctify the looting of the Social Security Trust Fund, and turn the regressive pay-roll tax on wages into the chief source of general revenue for Federal expenditures on war and tax credit paid out to big business.
The cold fact is that three things make up the present deficits; revenue forgone by the tax cuts enacted by Bush and preserved by President Obama, the costs of warfare in the Near East and Central Asia, and the loss of revenues attendant on the collapse of employment in our economy over the last three years. Anyone who wants to end deficits must look to raising revenues, curbing wwar outlays, and increasing employment.
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Posted by The Magistrate in General Discussion
Wed Jul 13th 2011, 11:18 PM
At present, people in poverty, and well above the poverty level, pay no federal income taxes. They do, however, when employed, pay payroll taxes, sales taxes, and other regressive levies at federal and local levels. So your purported 'fix' to this national sales tax does not improve matters. By structuring it as a refund, whether monthly or quarterly or annually, you require payment first, which will tend to reduce consumption, and raise the immediate cost of necessities for the less well-off. The end result will be that people who are at the poorer end will have less spending power.
Federal 'hidden taxes' barely exist; the effective federal tax on corporate profits runs at less than fifteen percent, with many business paying nothing, or even receiving payment from the government in accordance with various refundable credits. Note the tax is on business profits, before you run off on the assumption one sixth of prices reflect taxes: business profits run on average between five percent and fifteen percent, so you are speaking of between one and two percent of gross receipts reflecting collection of taxes from consumers. The chief increase in 'prices' owing to federal taxes are the openly stated excise taxes, and the payroll tax, which is a wholly regressive levy, and designedly so. These things, in effect existing consumption taxes levied against the wages of working people, are not addressed by your proposal.
Touting as an advantage that purchase of second-hand goods would be exempt is risible, but does open a window into one of the real motivations behind these 'consumption tax' proposals, which is a feeling that the poorer and less well off spend too much on themselves, try and have more than they deserve, and to live more like their betters. In earlier times, these feelings issued openly in sumptuary laws, which forbid people whose income was below certain levels from purchasing certain items, or wearing certain articles of clothing. It is odd how people who continually chant, when it comes to investment and business activity, that to tax something is to reduce its supply or frequency, turn around and deny that taxing consumption would reduce the amount of consumption in society.
The great favoritism in the tax codes, before which all others pale, is the taxing of income from appreciation of capital assets at a much lesser rate than the rates at which taxes are levied on wage income, and the exemption of the sale of financial instruments from any sales or excise tax at all.
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Posted by The Magistrate in Religion/Theology
Fri Jul 01st 2011, 01:55 PM
Your line here is a reaction to statement of a fact, variously phrased, that religion has been the motive for the killing of a great many people down the course of human history. Being a religious person, and one who conflates 'religion' with 'good and moral', this troubles you, particularly when it is stated by persons who do not believe there is any Deity, and that all religion is therefore fraud and lies. So you attempt to throw the charge back at them, and claim atheism is the motive for mass murder on a scale that dwarfs killing done from religious motives. In doing this, you engage in a variety of distortions of meaning and shadings of fact. They are pretty obvious, but worth stating openly, as you persist in them so energetically; room must be left for the possibility you really are not aware of what you are doing.
When people say religion has been the motive for killing a great many people, they do not mean that people who hold religious beliefs have killed a great many people, from whatever motive: that would be a wholly unremarkable observation, and hardly worth the typing out. They mean that people have killed other people from motives of religious belief, killed to suppress a dissident sect in their society, or to extend the range of dominion their religion exercises, or killed to enforce a code of behavior inherent to their religion, or killed as matter of religious ritual or rite. And in fact a tremendous number of people have been killed down the course of human history over these directly religious motivations. These are killings which, it could be fairly claimed, would not have taken place without religion, or more precisely, without the religious beliefs the killers felt directed them to kill others as a matter of sacred duty.
When you say in response, 'well, atheists have killed lots and lots of people,' you fail absolutely to tie this into any element of atheist doctrine or belief that requires such killing, and so do not actually mirror the statement you are attempting to defend against, that religion has been the motive for a great deal of killing, that a great deal of killing has owed to the killers subscribing to a religious belief the killing they engaged in was required by their Deity, by their holy law. Since there really is no 'doctrine' of atheism beyond the statement that there is no Deity, it is hard to see how you could tie killings by atheists into some atheist doctrine, in the way that, say, the persecution of heretics or wars of conversion can be tied directly to items of religious doctrine, or the killing of persons on a high altar by priests, or in funerary rites, can be tied directly to requirements of religious ritual or enforcement of a sacred code.
Adopting the standard you wish to apply to killing by atheists, you would have to accept that every killing throughout human history by a person who held a religious belief was a killing that should be charged up to the account of religion, and that it would owe to religion, regardless of its actual motivation. This would chalk just about every death from human agency since we first appeared as a species to the account of religion; indeed, it would include a great many of the killings you ascribe to atheism on religion's side of the ledger, since the actual agents of death, the guards in the camps, the personnel of the squads that carted away the grain, were as a matter of practical fact shot through with persons who retained religious beliefs; even if they were acting on the order of an atheist, they were the ones actually doing the killing, after all.
Posted by The Magistrate in General Discussion
Tue May 24th 2011, 04:28 PM
When a man says he loves his wife, loves his daughter, and loves a good hamburger, he had better be meaning something different in each instance. 'Value' has a similar variety. The sort of things people value in life, finding them to be reasons to live, are the sort of things indicated by the old bromide 'the best things in life are free', in the sense that they cannot really be bought with money, and so have no price, huge though their worth might be..
Money, in whatever form it exists, has as its value only what it can be exchanged for, and the fact that it can be exchanged for anything depends on a widespread belief that it can be exchanged for things of real utility, now and in the future. When that belief is shaken, or when the utility of the thing desired by a purchaser is obviously greater at the moment than any future exchange likely to be managed with monies proffered might be, it becomes difficult if not impossible to exchange money for anything, and this applies not just to paper but to gold, cowrie shells, or anything else you could name.
Mr. Smith in 'Wealth of Nations' expounds at some length on the falsity of believing gold and silver have inherent value, and that their possession constitutes wealth in and of itself. He roots the real basis of price in grain, the essential foodstuff, reckoning gold or silver to be worth what they will exchange for in terms of grain, and in doing so follows (doubtless unknowingly) the practice of ancient China, in which the salaries of officials under the Han were reckoned in amounts of grain, so that a man was said to hold a 'hundred bushel' office, or a 'thousand bushel' office (the actual unit was the picul, a unit of weight rated at about 60 kilos, deriving from the largest load a porter could hold up under for any distance). There was plenty of coin in circulation at the time, copper cash were plentiful and in general use, and silver by weight as well as gold were used in trade, there was even some paper money issued; this 'weight of rice' standard was not a thing resorted to in the absence of the concept of money. The price of money was known to fluctuate; the amount of grain or of silver a pile of copper cash could be exchanged for was known to vary, year from year or season from season or place to place, but the value of grain was constant, in the number of meals it could provide, the amount of life it could sustain.
Posted by The Magistrate in General Discussion
Sun May 22nd 2011, 06:23 AM
What justification could be needed after that?
Posted by The Magistrate in General Discussion
Sat May 21st 2011, 04:38 PM
As someone said back a long time ago 'The trouble with our modern corporations is that they have neither bodies to be kicked nor souls to be damned.' Nothing lacking either of these attributes can be considered a person, in any meaningful sense. The idea that a corporation has rights of political expression, that can be wrongly restricted, is both nonesensical and pernicious. The persons who are shareholders and officers and directors of a corporation can have, and express, their political views, and do so quite freely on their own account. The idea that the corporation itself has political views, and must be allowed their free expression, is just a means to let corporate officers amplify their views using other people's money, often without their consent. No one, after all, polls share-holders concerning whether money should be donated to politicians, or paid out in dividends. All a corporation is, or needs to be, is a legal device that allows contracts to be entered into without being personally binding on the person who signs them, and for shielding the whole of an investor's capital from liens associated with the failure of one business he or she has invested in.
Posted by The Magistrate in General Discussion
Wed May 11th 2011, 09:47 PM
Are instances where private individuals claim for themselves the generally conceded rights of a state to employ violence for a political end. The great distaste for such action expressed by states is, at bottom, a trade guild matter, quite analogous to the reaction of a union carpenter to the sight of someone constructing a new back-porch and steps on a three-flat, without being in possession of a union card.
States generally proceed against such actions using the vocabulary of criminality, and treat them as violations of the state's criminal law, out of a view that this is a superior course politically, because it stigmatizes the persons who have set themselves up as the state's enemies as ,mere felons, and obviates any acknowledgement of their actual political ends and aims. The persons who thus challenge a state frequently insist on being accorded the status of combatants, describing themselves, when under arrest, as prisoners of war, and declaring criminal charges against them have no validity, and criminal courts no jurisdiction over them or their actions, because of their combatant status.
It is certainly possible for a state to make the calculation that its interests are better served by regarding such persons as being just what they themselves claim to be, namely combatants engaged in war with the state. At the price of perhaps according a certain political legitimacy to such persons, the state might greatly simplify the task of dealing with them in some ways. There would be no need for arrest, for instance; no one tries to arrest enemy combatants, they try to kill, maim, or capture them. Incarceration of a prisoner of war is not based on a finding of guilt at a trial, where evidence is presented and cases argued; an enemy combatant if captured is simply held prisoner, until exchanged, or until repatriated at the conclusion of hostilities.
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On the night the Democrats became the first major U.S. political party to endorse gay marriage, some convention delegates remembered how it used to be—back in the days when, as one said, "you're scared because it's not OK to be who you are."
The U.S. Catholic bishops' point man on sexual abuse has said that the hierarchy's credibility on fixing the problem has been "shredded" and that the situation is comparable to the Reformation, when "the episcopacy, the regular clergy, even the papacy were discredited."
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Thursday night was fateful day in NBA history, as the landscape of the league shifted rather dramatically. Between 60 players entering the league through the 2013 NBA draft and the Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets agreeing to a blockbuster deal, much changed.
Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett are set to put on new uniforms for the 2013-14 season as soon as the moratorium lifts in July, and they weren't the only All-Stars on the move. Jrue Holiday was traded as well.
Some teams shored up certain holes by adding quality rookies, while others failed to change their title odds. In fact, the Toronto Raptors were the only team in the Association that didn't make a single move on June 27.
It's only natural that we take a look at the new landscape now. Free agency will certainly alter it throughout once more, but let's get an early picture of the scene.


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text:
In the eight or so years the Gloucester Catholic High School girls swim team has been around, the Rams have qualified for the playoffs nearly every year.
While their success rate of making the playoffs is solid, their success rate once they get there isn't so hot. The Rams are still looking for their first postseason victory.
However, they hope it arrives on Monday in what should be a very winnable first-round meet against Bishop Eustace at 4 p.m. at GCIT. The Rams are the fourth seed while the Crusaders own the fifth seed in the NJSIAA Non Public B South brackets. The winner faces top-seed Mount St. Mary's in the semifinals.
It's definitely a winnable meet since the Rams already beat the Crusaders this season, swiping a 98-72 victory last month.
"I really want to win," senior Brittany O'Brien said. "It would be great for all of the girls to experience something like that since we have worked so hard this season. I know we are going to give it our best shot."
The Rams have come close to winning in the past. Last year as the No. 5 seed, the Rams were tied heading into the final event with No. 4 Elizabeth but only were able to get second place and lost. One year the Rams ended the meet tied but lost on a tie-breaker.
This year should be no different. Rams head coach Kevin Nolan expects a another tight one and the difference could very well lay with swimmers in the outside lanes. A swimmer taking fourth place instead of fifth or fifth rather than a six might sway the outcome one way or another.
"You never know what will happen. Bishop Eustace will be very tough," Nolan said. "I know it's going to be a battle. We may have won earlier against them but that won't mean anything. It all depends on how we swim that day and I hope it works out our way."
Bishop Eustace was the No. 3 seed last year in Non Public A and lost to top-seed Immaculate Heart, 95-75, in the finals. This season Eustace is 3-6 but records can be deceiving, especially when it comes to power points, which are determined by times. The Crusaders power-pointed one meet with 2,757 points, which was only about 200 points less than the Rams best power-point meet.
This will also be the second time the Rams are the higher seed and host a playoff meet. However, Nolan cautioned against thinking that means anything once the first horn sounds. The other year the Rams played host they lost pretty soundly to Wildwood Catholic.
"I think going through what we did last year and losing in the final race will help us with experience," O'Brien said. "We know it should be close again and will be able to handle that even better if it comes down to that. We really want to get that first playoff win."
• ACCOMODATING RENEGADES: Even though Shawnee is the No. 2 seed and Clearview is the No. 7 seed in boys South A, today's playoff meet will be held at 4 p.m. at GCIT, which is the Pioneers home pool, as part of a playoff double dual with the Clearview girls meet against Egg Harbor Township.
Shawnee agreed to the change of venue since Pioneers head coach Steve Skinner is the boys and girls coach and with both meets originally scheduled to start at 4 p.m. obviously couldn't be at two places at the same time.
While the Renegades were nice enough to agree to the change, the Pioneers still don't plan on doing them any favors.
"We want to beat them and we think we can beat them," Pioneers junior JT Lumpkin said. "We need everyone to swim their fastest from the middle lanes to the outside lanes. The whole team needs to be fast to win this meet."
• SCRAPING THE ORIGINAL PLAN: This was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Woodstown boys swim team. The Wolverines took a sizable hit with graduation last year and the returning core was young and inexperienced.
Instead of enduring a trying winter, the Wolverines finished the year 9-2 and just missed the cut for the South B playoffs. They were the ninth seed in a field where the top eight qualify.
Individually, the Wolverines excelled as well. Matt Simmermon took third in the 50 free and fourth in the 100 free at the SJISA Coaches Invitational, and then finished in second place in the 100 free at the Tri-County Conference Swimming and Diving Showcase. Grant Ashcraft took the 100 backstroke at the Showcase, and the 200 medley relay also won the Classic Division title there.
"Even though we lost a lot of seniors from last year, we still achieved all of our goals," Simmermon said. "We proved a lot of people wrong and got out and surprised a lot of people. Everyone on the team did great this year and dropped a lot of time."
Contact Eric Goldstein at 856-845-9478 or email@example.com


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CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cuyahoga County Prosecutors Office, which has made recent headlines for aggressively pursuing decades-old rape cases as part of a statewide initiative, this week will host sex crimes detectives and other law enforcement officers for two days of free training with national experts on handling such caseloads and working with victims of trauma.
But days away from the event, only 65 participants have signed up –- about half of the event's capacity -- despite invitations sent to police chiefs, prosecutors and detectives in dozens of agencies.
And three of the cities – Parma, Cleveland Heights and Lakewood – that so far have committed none of their officers to the training, are among the suburbs that have sent the greatest number of sexual assault evidence kits to a state lab for DNA testing as part of the initiative to solve old rape cases. Cleveland police sent the most, with more than 1,300 untested kits.
The training, which will take place Thursday and Friday at Cuyahoga Community College's Eastern Campus, will be provided by the National Center for Victims of Crime. According to the agenda, a team of national experts will address issues specific to investigating and prosecuting cold case sexual assaults – interviewing victims of decades-old crimes, working as a team, organizing the caseload and preparing for court. Panelists also will help attendees understand the special needs of victims and the long-term effects of trauma on the brain.
The training program is one of only a handful awarded this year by the National Center for Victims of Crime, said the prosecutor's witness victim coordinator, Teresa Matthews, who obtained the grant on behalf of the office.
So far, the list of registrants includes officers from Cleveland, East Cleveland, Euclid, Brook Park, Strongsville, Bay Village, Akron, and members of the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department, the state's Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Metroparks rangers.
Representatives from the county's Witness Victim Service Center, Rape Crisis Centers in Cleveland and Youngstown and the YWCA Northwest Ohio also will attend.
But the Parma Police Department, which recently sent 32 old rape kits to a state lab for DNA testing, cannot send its two sex crimes detectives this week because they are in Kansas City for training on handling hostage negotiations, said police spokesman Sgt. Kevin Riley.
Riley said the out-of-state training had been a long-standing commitment, and that the department was notified of the sex crimes seminar on Aug. 14, leaving little time for a change in plans.
A spokesman for the Prosecutor's Office said plans for the seminar were solidified only within the past couple weeks.
Riley said that staffing issues require that Parma police officers take on a variety of responsibilities, rather than dedicate themselves to one caseload. For example, while the two detectives have been out of town this week, other officers have had to handle the reported sexual assault of a 6-year-old boy, he said.
When asked if the department deals with many hostage situations, Riley responded, "Not that I can think of."
He cited the department's assistance with a Brunswick case last year that ended with police gunning down the suspect after a 30-hour standoff.
"You don't see it all the time," Riley said. "But you know the implications of something like that. We want our guys to be trained and certified."
Cleveland Heights police sent 28 rape kits for DNA testing, and Lakewood police sent 51, though neither department, so far, has signed up for the free training seminar offered this week.
Lakewood Police Chief Timothy Malley did not return a call for comment today. And Cleveland Heights Police commander said in a voice mail message that his department is interested in attending the training and will look into it.
Law enforcement officers who wish to attend can register here.


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The holidays are coming to a close, which means it's your last chance to flaunt some festive tips (well, until New Year's Eve, that is). Spruce up your nails this holiday with this easy holly how-to. Just follow the steps below.
Photo courtesy of nailside
What you'll need:
- Green nail polish (try essie's "Pretty Edgy")
- Forest green nail polish (try essie's "Going Incognito")
- Toothpick
- Mechanical pencil
- Metallic blue nail polish
- Metallic red nail polish
- Clear top coat
How to do it:
- Paint your nails with two coats of the lighter green polish for the base. Let dry completely.
- Using the forest green polish, start on the right side of the nail and make a straight stroke from the center to the tip. Allow the polish to drip and form rounded edges, making each stroke shorter than the next. Refer to our Cloud manicure for assistance with this step.
- To make the veins on the leaf, dip your toothpick into the metallic blue polish (you can also use the forest green polish) and draw a curved line from the bottom left of the nail to the right. Add a few smaller veins coming out of either side of the longer curved vein.
- Finish off the holly leaf with some berries. Dab the tip of your mechanical pencil into the metallic red polish and place a few dots on the vein at the bottom left of your nail.
- Apply a clear top coat to finish.
By Carolyn Schultz, Staff Writer
How are you styling your nails for the holiday? Tweet us at @ruelala, then check out our weekly Mani Monday column.
Not a Member and like The (Style) Guide? You'll love Rue La La. Join now.


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Rio Grand Valley Square Dancing(Mission, McAllen, Pharr, Alamo, Donna, Weslaco)Check out the Rio Grande Valley Square Dancing site for full dance schedules.
Randy Dougherty3058 E. Des Moines St.Mesa, Az 85213
480-924-1309602-617-1841 mobile
Encouraged by active dancing parents at age nine, Randy has enjoyed the wonderful world of square dancing for almost 40 years. A football injury (broken leg) at age 15 created a boring six-month lay-up. During this time, he was inspired to give calling a try. He first occupied his time practicing singing calls. Feeling good about the fun he was helping dancers to have, he attended the 1967 Central Iowa Callers Clinic in Des Moines, Iowa. In the next six years, Randy called square dances in Minnesota and surrounding states while he finished high school and college. In 1972, Randy took on a teaching position at Fridley Grace High School. During his summer breaks, he found himself traveling farther and farther from home. In 1979, he left his teaching position to devote full time to his professional calling career.
Throughout his career, Randy has recorded hits for many record companies and is currently on the very popular Royal Records label. Some of his more recent recordings consist of: Wings of a Dove, Sally Was a Good Ol' Girl, Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, This Train, It's Who You Know, Irresistible You, Angels Among Us, That's The Kind Of Woman I Like, and My Daddy Was an Old-Time Preacher Man.
To date he has attended, and called for, over 30 National Conventions. Over the years, Randy has put his teaching skills to work inspiring thousands of newer dancers, and has also contributed time and energy in working with several beginning callers. He is an accredited Callerlab Caller Coach.
Randy has been an avid supporter of Callerlab since it's inception. In the late 70's he became a dues-paying member and was able to attend his first convention is 1981. Since that time, he has served three terms on the Board of Governors of Callerlab, served on the Executive Committee for two years, and many instructional panels. Randy has been honored with a Special Recognition Award from Chairman Mike Seastrom for his assistance in taping all the session at the 1993 National Convention in order to establish the frequency count in use today.
Pharr South, 1402 S. Cage, Pharr Map
Wiley HutchinsonCasa De Vale (CDV)Victoria Palms (VP)
Wiley Hutchinson was born and raised near Lovilia, Iowa. His singing career began in school, when his music teacher chose him for voice lessons. Wiley sang solos for school functions and for church.
In 1960, Wiley began teaching and calling square dancing around Iowa and other Midwestern states. In 1983, Wiley with help from his wife, Ruth became Winter Texans, teaching and calling square dances in the Rio Grande Valley. Twenty three years later, Wiley and Ruth are still teaching and calling dances in the Rio Grande Valley as well as Iowa and several Midwestern states.
In 2005, Wiley was honored by the City of Hildago, Texas as the Outstanding Entertainer for 2005 and placed a brick at the Dodge Arena in his honor. He was recognized after approximately 17 years of being instrumental in helping organize square dance activities during Border Fest.
Wiley and Ruth have scheduled dances for several Midwest States for 2006, lessons and dances in the Rio Grande Valley for 2007.
Wiley and Ruth have celebrated their 51st. Anniversary; have two children, six grandchildren and one great grand daughter.
TROPIC STAR RV RESORT, 1401 S. CAGE BLVD, Pharr Map
Darryl LipscombC (956) email@example.com
Darryl began squre dancing at the age of twelve, and made calling his full time profession in 1978. Darryl spends five months a year in Mission, Texas where he conducts a winter program for all the Winter Texans who choose to spend their winters in the "Texas Tropics" of the Texas Rio Grande Valley. Darryl calls a full range of programs, beginners thru C-3. Darryl is also one of the staff callers of the Worlds Largest Beginner's Class, and the South Texas Square Dance Jamboree in McAllen, both sponsored annually by the McAllen Chamber of Commerce. Darryl, having recorded for several different record labels, is currently a staff caller for Global Music Productions. When dancing to Darryl, you are assured of smooth flowing, innovative and exciting choreography. Darryl enjoys calling all levels of square dancing equally; however, he admits working with beginners is especially exciting!
Joe Saltel(956)283-7581www.joesaltel.com
1401 S. Cage Blvd, Unit 126 Pharr, TX 78577
Joe has been actively calling and teaching Basic through A-2 since 1971, and recently began calling C-1. He has been a featured caller for many festivals, conventions, and special dances in over 38 states (including Alaska and Hawaii), Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Denmark, Sweden, England and Japan. Joe is a member of Callerlab and is BMI/ASCAP licensed. As a recording artist, his voice can be heard on the Alliance, Chinook, DJ & Hi-Hat labels, as well as many CD's and cassettes. Joe is also a member of SAG, and he choreographed and appeared in a made-for-TV movie, "Blue Skies".
Joe and his wife Chris married in 1982 & they have led eight successful tours/cruises. Chris held a managerial position for 19 years, and has always supported Joe's calling career. Their 21-year-old daughter, Tanya, is an accomplished young vocalist, has trained for dental assistance, works & attends college in WA. They all recently moved from their home of 19 years on the Northern California coast.
Joe and Chris spend November - April running a full square dance program in Pharr, TX. The remaining months they will maintain a smaller program, tour and travel domestically & internationally to call at festivals & special dances. Joe enjoys what he calls his vocation and avocation, and feels fortunate to be part of this great activity.
TROPIC STAR RV RESORT, 1401 S. CAGE BLVD, Pharr www.rvresorts.com/resort22.htm Map Tip-O-Texas, 101 E. Sioux Rd, Pharr www.rvresorts.com/resort18.htm Map TEXAS TRAILS, 501 W. Owassa, Pharr www.rvresorts.com/resort16.htm Map
Jerry Story(956) 358-8277
Jerry began his calling career in 1970 at the age of fifteen. His travels have taken him to such places as Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Holland, Austria, Germany, Czech Rep.,England, Japan, Mexico, Canada, Australia and the Caribbean. For the past seventeen years, Jerry has resided in Mission, Texas with his wife of 23 years and two sons. Jerry and Kristine run a winter square dance program at ElValle Del Sol R.V. Park. Most every weekend you will find him doing festivals somewhere in the world. Jerry is tremendously dedicated for the preservation of the art of Squre Dance calling and the Square Dance activity.


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Video highlights of team Hydros' Little Cup experience so far.
Category: Media
Highlights from the 2013 ICCCC so far.
ICCCC 2013 – Day One Highlights
What is the C-Class all about? Hows that for a summary.
Video courtesy of Sailing Anarchy.
A few video summer highlights from the American C-Class team The Cogito Project from Clarksail's Willy Clark and Sam Moore.


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Get an overview of this hotelHotel in Rishikesh with rooftop terrace and 24-hour front desk
Situated in Rishikesh, this hotel is within a 15-minute walk of Lakshman Jhula, Laxman Jhula, and Ram Jhula. Triveni Ghat is 2.5 mi (4 km) away.
Hotel Features
Along with a rooftop terrace, this hotel has 24-hour room service and dry cleaning. Other amenities include laundry facilities, a 24-hour front desk, and a front-desk safe.
Room Amenities
All 25 rooms offer 24-hour room service, ceiling fans, and showers.Information missing or incorrect? Tell us!Opens in a new window
Hotel Amenities
Hotel Amenities
Rishikesh Sadan features a rooftop terrace, laundry facilities, and dry cleaning/laundry services. This Rishikesh hotel also offers 24-hour room service and a safe deposit box at the front desk. The property has a 24-hour front desk.
- Rooftop terrace
- Luggage storage
- 24-hour front desk
- Dry cleaning/laundry service
- Laundry facilities
- Safe-deposit box at front desk
- Total number of rooms - 25
- Number of floors - 2
- Number of buildings/towers - 1
- Airport transportation (surcharge)
Family Friendly Amenities
- Family Hotel
- Rollaway/extra beds available
- Laundry facilities
Room Amenities
- Daily housekeeping
- Phone
- Private bathroom
- Room service (24 hours)
- Ceiling fan
- Rollaway/extra beds available
- Iron/ironing board (on request)
- Shower only
- Connecting/adjoining rooms available
Where to Eat
24-hour room service is available.
Hotel Policies
Check-in time starts at noon
Special check-in instructions:
Check-out time is 10 AM
Payment types
- Pets not allowed
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on property policy.
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card or cash deposit are required at check-in for incidental charges.
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges. Special requests cannot be guaranteed.
Hotel Name
- Rishikesh Sadan
- Rishikesh Sadan Hotel
- Sadan Hotel
We should mention
The property has connecting/adjoining rooms, which are subject to availability and can be requested by contacting the property using the number on the booking confirmation.


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Toolbox for Employment
College of Lake County - WPDI
Monday, March 10, 2014 from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM (CDT)
Who's Going
San Francisco, California
London, United Kingdom
Florence, Italy
Event Details
Learn about creative employment options, building social capital, and how different employment scenarios may affect benefits.
Parents, Teachers, Professionals and Others are Welcome!
Vital information regarding employment, social security and other benefits for those with disabilities will be offered, as will examples of solutions that others have found.
Marsie Frawley - Senior Consultant, Griffin-Hammis Associates, LLC
Cindi Swanson - Disabilities Ministry Coordinator, Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, Naperville, IL
CEU's Available
3 hours of CEUS approved for:
- licensed nursing home adminstrators
licensed clinical professional counselors
LPC, LSWs and LCSWs
For More Information:
Nicole Jorwic - The Institute on Public Policy for People with Disabilities
630-915-8339 firstname.lastname@example.com
When & Where
Southlake Campus - College of Lake County
1120 South Milwaukee Avenue
Vernon Hills,
Monday, March 10, 2014 from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM (CDT)
Add to my calendar
College of Lake County - WPDI
The Workforce and Professional Development Institute provides training, consulting, and cutting-edge courses for businesses, professionals, and the community.


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WEST SPRINGFIELD – United Bank was named the state's "No. 1 Lender to Women" in fiscal 2011 by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
United Bank approved the highest percentage of total loans to women of all participating SBA lenders.
Joanne Sheedy, RCA portfolio manager, accepted the award on behalf of United Bank at a recent meeting of participating lenders held in Boston.
Robert H. Nelson, Massachusetts district director, applauded lenders for supporting SBA loan programs, which he called "a tremendous benefit to our businesses and economic recovery in Massachusetts."
Insurance group moves
HARTFORD – A Windsor-based insurance brokerage firm that has seen significant growth since launching in April 2010 is moving to Hartford, joining the ranks of many of the nation's largest insurance companies.
Hybrid Insurance Group will move to 30 Lewis St. on Jan. 2. The company, owned by Earl O'Garro Jr., will be the only minority-owned insurance brokerage firm in downtown Hartford.
The company attributes its success to a "tenacious group of brokers and underwriters as well as client base that has been incredibly supportive."
Rockville Bank ranks high
ROCKVILLE, Conn. – Bauerfinancial Inc., of Coral Gables, Fla., the nation's leading bank rating and research firm, recently recognized Rockville Bank, as a superior 5-star-rated bank.
The rating denotes that Rockville Bank is one of the best in the nation in terms of its overall financial performance. Rockville Bank has earned the superior rating for the last 26 consecutive quarters.
Big Y opens pharmacy
GUILFORD, Conn. – Big Y Foods Inc. has announced the opening of its 38th pharmacy in their World Class Market here.
Pharmacy manager Paul Dimmock will be working alongside pharmacists Robert Frye and Jane Gray to staff the pharmacy.
Big Y Pharmacies hold special wellness events throughout the year, including flu shots, cholesterol, osteoporosis and blood pressure screening. In addition, they offer a Prescription Savings Club on 90-day supply of over 300 select generic prescriptions.
Flooring outlet expands
Due to expanding business, they had outgrown their combined showroom and warehouse space just as their old lease was expiring. The new lease was negotiated by Cresa Partners of Albany, N.Y., who had initially placed ProSource at their current site.
CresaPartners was retained again as a commercial tenant representative to investigate
site options and negotiate with prospective landlords.
Youth photo franchise open
SPRINGFIELD – Local entrepreneur Nicole Brown-Collins has opened the new TSS Photography of Springfield and will be the local representative of the youth photography company.
TSS Photography has over 200 franchise units around the world, and a staple of their business strategy is making each of the surrounding communities a better place.
The company says franchisees like Brown-Collins serve as positive role models and are actively involved in youth sports, school activities, and community programs.