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Many of the SMB owners are sick of the ineffective results out of the email marketing campaigns they do, every time you do email marketing with a hope of getting positive results but eventually happens something which you were scared of, you get not more than 2 or 3 percent open rate, and worst click-through rates. Therefore, what steps should you take to get at least good percentage of open rates and click-through rates?
Well, you'll definitely find the answer in this article, Email marketing experts at Sales-Push.Com have identified the tips and tricks which happens to be the best to increase the engagement with the audience you target while shooting an email campaign.
So let's just get started to discuss the mantra of result oriented, cost effective and perfectly measurable email marketing:
1. Highlight the important parts of the email to draw audience's attention:
The email which you sent out has be a short and readable, so that for your audience it happens to be an attractable email to read as well as highlight and bold the important parts especially 'call for action' button like 'Sign-up here' or 'Register now'. Should be visible enough which can easily grab the attention; use a call-to-action button that stands out from the rest of the email. Bold keywords in your email to contrast the words and draw the eye. Do not CAPITALIZE the words as it's annoying, Spammy, and the same thing can be accomplished by bolding.
Doing so lead to increased open rate and click through rate out of the email marketing campaign you do.
2. Offer a supplementary peace of content:
When a person takes an action on your email or he/she giving email id that means they are permitting you to promote your business by sending them emails. While sending out emails to the once you have got the permission from to further market them, take the advantage out of the permission which they have given you. Add some addition peace of content in your email; this will lead to increase the possibility of getting click-through in at least one of the additional links from them.
3. add Click-to-Tweet:
Increasing your engagement rate could be as simple as including a click-to-tweet in your emails. This will get the word out about your content easier and faster because it's making it easy for your subscribers to share your valuable content. This isn't just for blog posts but really for anything in your online marketing strategy.
4. Link posted at the Top of the Email increases the effectiveness:
Whatever you are promoting through email marketing, whether it is promoting a new product or an article of your blog make sure the link of the same should be visible in the first 4-5 lines in the email body. This will increase the chances of the getting the link clicked by the subscribers moreover it makes easy, if they're already hooked by your subject line, to click-through on your offer, as nobody wants to go through from an entire email.
Find the below example which will fetch you a better understand on the same:
Hi there,
Is your email engagement not as awesome as you want it to be? Here are 9 email hacks you can use to boost it.
You can read it here: [link to article]
In this article I'll be going over some of the things I've done in my emails to increase engagement, including:
o Adding a click-to-tweet so recipients can easily share your content
o Offering an additional piece of content to move recipients down the sales funnel
o Making it easy for recipients to easily skim your email through the use of lists and contrast
o +MORE
If you want some more advanced tips be sure to check out: [link to a more advanced but relevant article you've written].
[your name]
5. Tell and Guide someone to do something:
Including a call-to-action on your emails is what going to get you click-through. The email you send can include a series of mini CTAs that guide the recipient towards your overall end goal.
For example, let's say that you were trying to get someone to download the email-gated content they requested:
6. Make your Video:
Videos are highly popular at the moment. The thing is, simply showing the video in a still frame or sharing a link to the video isn't going to be as appealing as the video itself.
But how do you get people to click on it? There are tools available that allow you to turn your video into a short gif. Let's say you have a 3 minute video, take 10-15 seconds worth of video in which you move around a lot. The gif will play without sound but will be more eye-catching and encourage people to check out the video.
7. Link your Images:
Including linked images to a site of your choosing is a sure-fire way to increase engagement within your emails.
When you link an image you have the chance to include alt text in your email's code. Most standard marketers will either ignore this option or simply repeat the subject line, article title, or what the image is.
Smart marketers, like you, include marketing messages or encourage email recipients to click on your CTA.
This is how you stand out from the crowd people.
8. Create Urgency through Last Chance Email:
The last chance email is a doozie. It's that crucial email right before a particular action, step, or offer expires.
You're telling your email recipients "this is your last chance to complete some action before something bad happens."The something bad could be anything from missing out on an event to having your subscription expire or having a price go up!
Sending a last chance email will not only increase the chance of engagement, but will also encourage people to stick with you as a customer for a bit longer.
9. Make it so impeccable no one has been before:
Every morning you wake and check your mails you find dozens of promotional email which actually no creativity it's like just thrown to you.
Your email should be standing out from rest of the promotional emails in the inbox of your target audience in order to achieve high engagement level with your audience. Below are some guidelines to make your email campaign effective and how it should stand out in the noise of competitions.
Hence, keeping in mind all the above 9 tricks at the time of execution of an Email Marketing Campaign will lead to enhancing the level of engagement with your audience and subsequently achieved targets of your business.
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What Is "Dual Use" Research? A Response to Miller and Selgelid
Resnik, David B.
Bibliographic Citation
Science and Engineering Ethics 2009 March; 15(1): 3-5
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subset: commoncrawl


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As Jews throughout south Palm Beach County prepare to observe Passover next weekend, some rabbis and congregations are planning Seders open to the community, and homebound seniors will have Passover meals delivered by area social-service agencies.
The eight-day holiday, which begins at sundown April 23, commemorates the liberation of the ancient Hebrews and their exodus from Egypt. During Seders, the story of the Exodus is retold and symbolic food is served.
Jewish students at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton who don't live in the area can celebrate the holiday with local families through an outreach program sponsored by Hillel of Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Rabbi Baruch Plotkin will open his Boca Raton home to students for a Seder. "As many as need a place go, my home is open. Last year, I had about 20 students," said Plotkin, campus rabbi for Hillel, which offers programs for students at college campuses. "I have four kids, and the students will get an opportunity to see me interact with my own family as I lead a Passover Seder."
The Boca Raton Community Kollel, an institute for advanced Judaic studies and community outreach, will hold a Seder at 8:15 p.m. April 24 at the Orthodox Boca Raton Synagogue. A second Seder at 8:45 p.m. April 23, will be for Jews of all ages who may have never attended one or who don't fully understand its significance.
Rabbi Avi Heller will lead the Seder. "It's a beginner Seder, an explanatory Seder, which will be shorter than average," said Heller, who will become director of the Kollel in June. "We're partnering with Passover Across America, a national Jewish outreach program, and will be one of only about 20 locations across the country offering this type of Seder."
Temple Sinai of Palm Beach County, in Delray Beach, will open its doors to the community for a Seder on the first night of Passover, April 23. "We get a tremendous amount of unaffiliated people for Passover. Less than 18 percent of the Jews in Florida are affiliated with a synagogue or any religious organization, and we welcome them," said Bob Goodman, president of the Reform temple. "We can take up to 300 people."


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Rebirth into the Nintendo 64 by Raven
hen most people discuss the first time they played a game in the prestigious Castlevania series, they speak fondly of the original for the Nintendo/Famicom, Super Castlevania IV on the Super Nintendo and Symphony of the Night for the Playstation, and so on. These games and others have stood the test of time and have risen to the ranks of some of the highest esteemed games of the last three decades.
Many Castlevania games, though, fell short in the eyes of fans for one reason or another and unfortunately, will never be ranked quite as high. Others have also been cleaved from the official timeline by IGA, the current producer of the Castlevania franchise. One such game is Castlevania 64 and its later release as Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness, which can be fairly judged as the director's cut of the original Nintendo 64 release.
Castlevania 64 was my very first experience being led into the demonic castle, and still holds a strong place in my heart as one of the best, both aesthetically and character-wise. It took on the enormous task of making a fully immersed 3D game out of a 2D side scrolling game and reinvented a never ending copyrighted Castlevania sky above that both sends chills as well as feelings of beauty as we watch the clouds pass in front of the full moon overhead. Of course, the game is not without its faults as all games are and can be quite difficult at times, but in reality, if it was too easy, it wouldn't be Castlevania, would it?
When the Nintendo 64 and Playstation were in the midst of their height, Konami entered a state of adolescence when they were experimenting with new things and releasing its most innovative and creative games. 1999 saw the birth of Metal Gear Solid on the Playstation, based on the original Metal Gear games for the Nintendo home platform. This game featured an emphasis on stealth and remaining hidden and incorporated intense bosses that required strategy and creativity to beat. 1999 was also the year that Konami released an RPG style fighting game known as Hybrid Heaven which offered a turn based action fighting game.
The other well known game to be released in 1999 was Castlevania 64, which transformed the popular and critically acclaimed franchise into a 3D action game. Strict fans who expect special attention to be paid to the small details and demand a game faithful to the original aesthetics were going to judge this game exceptionally critically. Watching your favorite series make such a transformation causes skepticism. All aspects will be taken into account and be judged. People will have personal prejudices; they will add more emphasis to some things, and not focus as much as others. Every player is different, and each needs to be taken into account. Unfortunately, you cannot please everybody.
A fairly major complaint is that Castlevania 64 does not fit neatly into the canonized timeline set by IGA. Fans proclaim that Rondo of Blood specifically stated that it had been one hundred years since Dracula's latest resurrection, and this means that Cornell, Reinhardt Schneider, and Carrie Fernandez could not have ventured into the demonic castle, as Dracula would not be resurrecting for a few more years. If this was taken into heat by the series, we would have no more than 10 individual games and no additional bonus characters to unlock.
Dracula is always finding one way or another in order to resurrect his body early and ahead of schedule and it's been increasingly difficult to place each Castlevania game neatly and perfectly in its slot in the canonized timeline puzzle. IGA and other scenario writers pull out vague generalities in order to force things to fall into place, but the reasoning is usually cheap and a gimmick to keep things in the same series. Even though this game has been removed from the official timeline, what it does is nothing short of falling into the same category of gimmicks.
With Cornell's quest to rescue his sister Ada, he finds his actions directly responsible for the premature resurrection of Dracula. People such as Shaft and even Simon Belmont have been responsible for the resurrection of Dracula in the past, and this situation is only a carefully orchestrated plot concocted by Dracula and carried out by Death, Actrise, and Gills de Rais.
With the official timeline out of the way, another aspect that many fans look unfavorably upon is the controls and the various engines used in the game such as jumping, the limited attacks with the whip, climbing, and general character movements. I will be the first in line to state that the biggest flaw for me is the jumping and climbing engine, which was mercifully altered in the release of Legacy of Darkness. In the original title, to perform a jump and grab onto a ledge, a player had to be facing the wall head on. Any deterrence and slight angles would render the character enable to grab onto said ledge. For this reason, the Tower of Battle often appeared to be a fool's dream, as one missed jump would send the character to certain death. No save points throughout the level sent the player right back to the beginning.
The whip engine used in the game allowed Reinhardt to hit an enemy directly in front of him and there was an option to lock on to an enemy, which made using sub weapons and whipping that much easier. Reinhardt only had one attack with the whip, however, and Carrie had two. Her spell of summoning a ball of energy that she would project at the enemy was nice, but for added power, the player could hold down the attack button and upon its release, the energy would home in with a stronger force. Power ups also changed the color of the energy ball, allowing the player to see exactly what level their attack was. No such options were allotted to Reinhardt.
This being said, the third and probably biggest complaint is the level design, music, and general aesthetics. Castlevania, as a franchise, was never very oriented on plot and character development, and so the method for keeping people coming back was delivering top notch backgrounds, music, and atmosphere. I'm sorry to say, the very first level of Castlevania 64 did none of these. The music was sub-par, the backgrounds were fairly uninteresting, and the level itself was just long and sometimes tedious.
Players faced the same boss twice, and in these two encounters, the battle was pretty much the same. The massive skeleton looked very impressive and took advantage of the powerful (for their time) graphics of the Nintendo 64, but I think the boss would have been much more appealing if he changed. He is ultimately defeated as he falls to pieces in a manner not unlike the massive bull fought later in the Castle Center. With no opening cinematic, this level falls short of capturing fans of the series. The highlight of the level is the skeletons rising from the ground and the various corpses of villagers, but sadly, that just wasn't enough.
This was resolved, however, in Legacy of Darkness as Cornell is brought into the picture. We are shown an exciting segment of a village burning to the ground and Cornell smashing skeletons to the ground as he runs towards his sister. Players are then taken to the next level which is a very well done recreation of the Ghost Ship found in Castlevania X: Rondo of Blood.
This level hit the nail on the head. The music was exciting, the ship looked amazing, and we need to fight a wider variety of enemies in order to survive, such as the mermen, skeletons, and ghosts that we can only assume are the sailors lost in the waters below. The level takes players through the masts and rigging of the ship and ultimately into the hull where they are attacked by a giant claw and water begins to fill the hull, leaving you with a jumping puzzle in an attempt to find the way out.
Nervous as I was, I began the puzzle, and to my surprise and pleasure, the system was fixed! Jumping had become a doable task and I was able to go on to the Leviathan, whose claw broke through the ship and who acts as the first boss. Of course, right afterwards is the forest before the Castle, but with the momentum of the ghost ship, making it through this level is not as agonizing as you know you can expect so much more afterwards. The first level of every game is one of the most important, as it needs to draw you in. Other positives to having three dimensional levels are the ability to place rooms and create realistic environments such as the Villa, the Castle Center, and an un-linear Clock Tower which had never been attempted before.
Other levels of imagination and beauty have been manifested as well, as Castlevania is home to massive supernatural forces of magic as well. Areas such as the Tower of Science, the Tower of Sorcery, and the Tower of Execution have also been brought into play.
Previous games in the Castlevania franchise were fairly straightforward and very linear. We always move forward and never return to previous levels. Everything you need to progress is in your path. It is more a test of skill to make sure you hit the enemy before they hit you, as well as your skills of avoiding traps. Castlevania 64 and Legacy of Darkness are very un-linear and they both require exploration. Each level is closed upon completion, though. I like this system, as it doesn't require players to run all over the map multiple times to unlock puzzles. We are not given a map, which is unneeded. Other games using the ability to go back to previous levels have us continuously returning to levels, and most of the time we are playing, we are back tracking to a place we have already been.
The Nintendo 64 additions show us that we can still experience level exploration and clue finding in a closed level. One of the biggest problems for me with the level design of the more recent games is that we keep returning to the same level time and time again to discover something we missed before, and so I see the same level again and again. Castlevania 64 offers a break from this. We explore each level once and when we are done with it, we are done with it. It is a bit nostalgic of the previous titles in this way. Previous games also offered hidden stairs and secret paths, which has also been implemented in the Nintendo 64 additions. We can run across invisible paths to find crystals to unlock things such as alternate costumes. Completion of the game also allows us to access the "Hard" mode.
Another key moment in the vibrant level design of Castlevania 64 is the magnificent maze throughout the garden. On the outside, it appears to be an ordinary maze. On further exploration, however, it quickly turns into one of the most frantic and frightful moments of the series. Players are shown the newest reincarnation of Frankenstein's Monster, who has been since deemed "Frankensaw". He wields a massive chainsaw on his arm and is not afraid to hack the player to the ground. He is also invincible.
He can be knocked to the ground, but he will always rise. The same can be said for the two Hell Hounds which were previously seen guarding the gates to the maze. With vicious teeth holding the hero in place, Frankensaw can hack through them all the easier. Following Malus through the garden proves to be quite a challenge, but once it's over, all is well. Or is it? Once again, knowing full well what awaits, the player must once more traverse into the depths of the maze given one last challenge; to find the way out. And this time, there is no Malus to guide you. On top of that, you must also locate a key through the maze.
Beyond the first level, both games have very innovative and interactive level designs but the format of having an immense three dimensional world, offers one new opportunity that was previously seldom explored: Puzzles. Each level is contained and once you leave, you are unable to return, but within each level, there are puzzles with all the required materials for the solution available; all you have to do is find them. A good example of this is found in the Castle Center.
Upon entering, you will find a room with a mammoth dead bull and a massive wall with a seal. In order to break this wall, you must first break the seal, which can be done by organize the statues of the daughters of the sun. Then, you must place nitro and Mandragora at the base of the wall. Unfortunately, nitro is extremely explosive. As you run through the level, you will notice strange paths and weird gear arrangements that can be easily avoided by jumping.
When carrying nitro, you must not jump. You also cannot be hit by enemies or fall. This will cause an explosion, and there are no save points between the nitro and its destination. This sort of puzzle would never have been possible in the previous 2D Castlevania games. Puzzles are a fairly common occurrence in Castlevania games today, but in the past, not so much. Of course, this is not to say that puzzles had never been attempted in Castlevania before. They existed in Castlevania 2, which did allow players to travel back to areas they had previously been. Castlevania 64, however, took these to new heights. Key items were hidden in torches and the player could hold and use items at will. Meat was not always used upon discovery and was often used later for consumption at the player's discretion. Because of this ability, players can have a wide range of status effects to cure such as poison and vampirism.
Did I just say Vampirism? Another element that Castlevania had been ignoring up to this point was more vampires than just one. Throughout Castlevania 64's immense levels, players are given the chance to come face to face with vicious and bloodthirsty vampires. The Villa, for example, is home to many, such as J. A. Oldrey and various villagers who wandered too close and became his unhappy victims. The Castle Center is home to more vampire beasts, this time wearing the guises of maids, butlers, and aristocrats.
Of course, where there are vampires, there are vampire hunters. From his first menacing introduction until his final confrontations, Vincent remains a foreboding and somewhat surprising character who cannot be considered a friend or foe. Upon the first threatening encounters, he appears well prepared for his job, adorned with a vicious spiked cross on his back, holy water, and various sizes of crosses around his body. Though he judges the heroes as harmless and not a vampire, he proves his lack of judgment by presenting them with a key after deeming it worthless.
He is not actually seen again until the end of the game, where he is your symbol of which ending you will achieve. If you meet him on the way up the stairs, it is obvious that something is wrong. He has been transformed into a vampire and will now fight you. This is your clue that you took too long and will not be seeing the best ending. If you do not meet him however, you know you are on your way to the best ending. Upon defeating Dracula's first two forms and discovering Malus, Vincent arrives in the nick of time with holy water to unlock Dracula's final form. On the outside, Vincent appears to be a very tough and hardened vampire slayer, but on the inside, he is actually quite wise. He knows how to put up a powerful front and be intimidating, as well as how to achieve what needs to be done. This is one of the first of many fights inside the castle between vampire hunters, as will certainly not be the last.
Boss fights are another area that this game excels at. Each boss is memorable and, as expected from a Nintendo 64 game with the advanced graphics and 3D capabilities, each boss is larger than life creative. The details are exceptional, just as they should be. The Villa is a prime example of this. The level ends in a crypt hidden deep in the garden maze. Upon entering, the sounds of shredding flesh and crunching bones are heard resonating throughout the room.
Out of nowhere, the corpse of a young woman falls from the ceiling, followed by a vampire villager. His gray flesh, sharpened teeth and pointed ears tell his breed instantly, as does the grisly blood smeared over his face and shirt. His battle is not so difficult, but involves the entirety of the space, as he flies through the air and hurries through the room at breakneck speed. But his death does not mark the end of the battle, as his dinner for the night suddenly rises from the ground with a grin plastered on her dead face. Blood stains her dress and neck. She has the power to command bats, become an unearthly mist, and crawl about the floor in the fashion of Linda Blaire.
More traditional battles follow in the form of the Behemoth, Medusa, Death, and ultimately, the many forms of Dracula, which I will discuss in more detail at a later point. An imaginative boss that I would like to showcase at this point is the massive crystal from the Tower of Science.
Because Castlevania has been home to a quite advanced network of gears and pulleys known as the Clock Tower since the origins of the series, it is obvious that the abilities of the Castle transcend time. The knowledge of science and technology possessed by the Castle is far beyond it's time, but is still one of the most respected and amazing levels of the castle. Castlevania 64, however, takes everything a step further and introduces electricity heavily into the series. The first introduction is the ever popular skeletons riding motorcycles.
To make it all the better, the motorcycles are armed with machineguns. With the knowledge that this can be done in this world, the Tower of Science does not seem so out of place. With electric lasers, blocks full of spikes running on conveyer belts, elevators, and various machine guns, it is easy to become used to the overuse of a technology that was nowhere near being this advanced at the time when this game was supposed to be taking place. Indeed, Henry Oldrey uses a very old revolver throughout his mission to save children. When the final boss appears as a massive crystal shooting lasers at Carrie or Cornell, whoever happens to be the hero, it is unexpected, but not farfetched. Carrie has no difficulty destroying the massive enemy when she uses her homing spell, but Cornell is given a much larger challenge, as he really has no projectile weapons. Destroying the guns gives the hero a chance to hack away at the crystal, which one can only assume offers the electrical power to the Tower of Science.
As Carrie makes a nice segue, I'd like to take a moment to talk about her and her role. Carrie Fernandez and Charlotte Aulin bring out a very common stereotype in Japanese games, as the magician is usually a cute young girl. They are both skilled in the knowledge of sorcery and apparently of science. Because they are both young girls and magicians, they are often compared and contrasted, but in my opinion, they both excel and appeal in different aspects.
Because of the graphic style, Carrie has a much more visually interesting costume. She is also given the option to have a Japanese school girl costume, rather than her traditional skirt and bowtie getup. This is probably to appeal to the Japanese otaku fan base of who are very into school girls and maids as a fetish. Carrie is very mature, down to earth, and matter of fact about things, but has a soft heart. She is also stone cold and unshakable. Nothing can upset her, which is a common trait of all heroes in Castlevania up to this point. Unfortunately, it doesn't really fit a 12 year old girl.
Charlotte's attitude and personality might be a bit more childish, but it's much more realistic. Her constant conversations, uncertainty, and short fuse are much more believable and made her much more fun. She gets a lot of abuse from overzealous fans for her childishness, immaturity, but her personality is much more dimensional and believable than Carrie's static nature.
Carrie Fernandez, as a hero, is much more powerful than Reinhart. Her magic is powerful and can home onto enemies. Her power, like Reinhart's, is magnified when power ups are obtained, and once you master the ability to power up, jump, and release in mid-jump, she is all but invincible. If her attack is released as she is running, she will stop in her tracks to attack, using precious seconds that could be used to get away from danger. In her battle with Actrise, for example, any stopped movement is a time for Actrise's crystals to come up underfoot.
Each character in Legacy of Darkness and Castlevania 64 has a convoluted and involved personal storyline explored throughout the game. Carrie's personal story revolves around her family and her relationship to Malus. Carrie was given the choice in the game to join Dracula's minions by Actrise, who was very impressed with her massive power and felt that young Carrie would be a great asset to Dracula's forces. Carrie is a direct descendent of Sypha from Castlevania III, which helps to explain her great power. Not all of her family is as powerful as her, which is seen in the Castle Center, where Carrie must fight her cousin, an unknown Fernandez warrior who has received Dracula's blood and is thus his vampire slave.
Carrie was originally a member of a Spanish clan traveling throughout Europe. Those who weren't massacred and burned as witches were in hiding. When the clan came to Wallachia, the patriarchal leader and some of his followers entered the Devil Castle, but when he came out, he had been transformed. He murdered his clan in cold blood and then disappeared back into the Castle walls.
Years later, Carrie was found cold and alone. She was adopted by a sympathetic older woman who would become her mother. In order to understand Carrie, her family was traced and it was discovered that her real parents had been condemned by frightened villagers who could not understand and burned alive. Dracula's minions had also done their own discovering and found Carrie alive and well. Afraid of her power, they set off to kill her. She was saved by the sacrifice of her stepmother, who she often refers to. Indeed, she tells her cousin upon death that she would see her mother in Heaven. Seeing her mother savagely murdered in front of her released her power and the demon was banished. She returned to the Castle to destroy its evil lord. Upon completion of the game, Carrie rides on a carriage to her mother's grave and places a small bouquet of flowers on the earth in front of the headstone.
Reinhart Schneider as well has a fairly intense story. In the Villa, Reinhart meets a young girl named Rosa. Rosa is placed in the Villa in order to water the "white" roses, turned red from being watered by blood. She warns Reinhart to be aware in the castle and not act too careless, or he may lose his life. She is seen in a red cut off dress with long blond hair and graying flesh. Later in the Villa, Reinhart enters a room with a large mirror, a long table, and a vase of roses on the fireplace. A villager enters the room in panic, terrified of vampires.
Reinhart begins talking to him, but then the camera changes. We see the mirror and the vase of roses, and before our eyes, one rose lifts itself into the air and falls to the ground. Was this the work of Rosa protecting Reinhart? He looks to the roses, but realizes that the villager has no reflection in the mirror. A battle ensues, but afterwards, it's hard to take that as only luck. It's possible that the rose fell by itself, but it makes much more sense that Rosa was there and helped Reinhart not lose his life too quickly. Another reason I believe this to be true is the rose clearly floats into the air above the vase before it falls to the carpet below.
The next time Reinhart meets Rosa is right after the underground mines, which is another level that features an impressive map layout, beautiful music, dead villagers floating in the poisoned waters, and the ghosts of deceased miners. When Reinhart meets Rosa again, she is under an open vent with sunlight pouring in. While he watches in shock, Rosa walks into the light and begins to smoke. Her fear of becoming a full vampire is pushing her to commit suicide. She believes that her soul can never reach salvation, but she believes death would be no worse than being alive as she is now. Reinhart convinces her to continue living, but she remarks that his kindness might cost him his life, which is prophetic, for the next time we see her, Death calls her into the Castle Center to fight him. Reinhart must defeat her in battle, which takes a toll on his spirit.
She is not finished with Death, though. When Reinhart reaches the Clock Tower, the first section features a battle against Death, who begins by summoning scythes spiraling through the air. One heads right to Reinhart, but Rosa jumps in front of him and takes the blow herself. He hands her a cross as she fades away and in anger, Reinhart defeats death. When he defeats Dracula's final form, Rosa has been cured of her vampirism. She joins Reinhart on the cliff overlooking the destruction of the Castle. It can be safely assumed that Reinhart and Rosa will be together for a long time after the game.
Of course, Reinhart has a story before Castlevania 64 takes places. At 25, he is a Vampire Killer because he believes that what he is doing is good and just. He has a very strong sense of what is right and wrong with the holy Vampire Killer and his trusty dagger. As time goes on throughout Transylvania, history forgets vampire killers such as Simon and the Belmont clan, and those with power are revered as dangerous and sent away. Reinhart's father, Michael Gelhart, knows this, but still trains his son to be a master vampire killer all the same, telling him "Someday, you may have choice except to fight."
Reinhart leaves his home of Wallachia upon his father's death to train in the mountains for ten years, but soon hears of children being stolen from the village below. A priest has had a dream of a child born with blue hair and blue eyes who will become the evil one and so children are being stolen and taken to the Devil Castle. Reinhart goes to a priest named Samuel who still remembers the heroes of old. The holy whip's seal is broken and with the Vampire Killer, Reinhart enters the Castle.
When Castlevania 64 was originally announced for the Nintendo 64, there were two additional playable characters by the names Cornell and Henry Oldrey. Cornell was a man with the power to turn into a wolf man, and Henry was a child rescued by Cornell. Of course, to understand Henry, we have to look at Cornell first. Cornell lived in the small village by the Devil Castle as a man beast also known as Blue Crescent Moon with his sister Ada. His best friend Ortega was another member of the village.
Cornell went to the mountains to train, but upon sensing danger, went back to the village to find it burned to the ground. Ada was missing, but Cornell's wolf nose was able to pick up her scent. He entered the Castle in order to find her, but was greeted at the front gate by Ortega who seemed a little strange. As Cornell travels through the Castle, he catches occasional glimpses of Ortega. In the Tower of Execution, he discovers that Ortega has been corrupted by the power of Dracula as he fights another man wolf whose power has been unlocked.
Ortega had been a good friend of Cornell, but could never best him in duel. This infuriated him to the point that he accepted Dracula's invitation to power and torched his own village. All he wanted was one last battle with Cornell to see who was truly more powerful; Cornell or Ortega when enhanced with Dracula's awesome power, even though Death forbid it. Ortega tells Cornell that his sister Ada has been taken to the Castle to be a sacrifice to Dracula and then uses the power obtained from Dracula to unleash monstrous attacks as a Chimera. Once defeated, he agonizes over what he has done to the village and to Cornell and Ada.
Cornell's role in Castlevania is a little different from every hero in the past to brave the ferocious beasts inside and ultimately Dracula. In the past, heroes have come in with one goal in mind: Kill Dracula. Cornell comes into the story as one of the first to venture into Castlevania in a time when Dracula has not yet risen from his rest. Destroying the evil inside is primarily an obstacle that he must overcome in order to reach endgame and save his sister, which is his overall goal. Everything else is done so that he can achieve his goal. Ada's role in the game appears to be a sacrifice to the Count in order to bring him back to life, but finally, Castlevania pulls out an unexpected twist that the series has not seen before.
Defeating Dracula is only the beginning of the story. In short, Cornell coming to the Demonic Castle, reaching Dracula at last, and fighting Dracula was all part of an orchestrated plan to force Cornell to exert his wolf spirit to rescue Ada. The spirit of the wolf is taken by Dracula and the power is locked away to be used in the dark resurrection ceremony. We are shown a scene of the ceremony which really should have been the opening cinematic of Castlevania 64, as this story perfectly sets up the quests of Carrie and Reinhart. We now know why Dracula was resurrected ahead of time.
Places that Cornell visits are often the same places that Carrie and Reinhart visit, such as the Castle Wall, the Villa, and the Clock Tower. Levels were changed in Legacy of Darkness and it is somewhat of a different game. For example, the forests outside of the Castle, the Tower of Execution, the Tower of Battle, and the Tower of Science have all been changed in ways that make them a little more manageable. New areas such as the Art Gallery (which is my favorite level because of the use of "The Sinking Old Sanctuary"), Castle Ruins, and Outer Wall have been added, while Cornell does not enter the Castle Center.
Cornell is also able to solve more puzzles, such as the tombstones outside of the Villa. We are required to explore the contents of the Garden Maze more carefully, as well as guide a young child through it while, once again, being chased by the vicious Frankensaw, who is now killable. Other details, such as the white roses, are brought into play. Rosa waters the white roses with blood, turning them a deep red, but in Cornell's time eight years earlier, the roses are still pure white.
Cornell's back history is not very often discussed throughout the game, but Dracula enters in the end and fills us in on the details. It seems that Cornell's family of man beasts once terrorized a certain town and massacred the poor residents. Cornell felt sorry for a young baby girl that was spared and raised her as his sister. They are not related by blood as much as emotional ties. It is really unclear if Ada knows about this or not until the very end.
For the first time, Dracula really speaks and we have to stop for a moment to comprehend what he is saying. Quotes such as "Did you really think you could atone for your sins and what you have done in this way? It is nothing more than a shallow misconception from a disillusioned man beast." A quote such as this hits Cornell too close to home, and in the final cinematic as Cornell reflects on his quest, he sees a vision of Ortega's final plea for forgiveness, followed by Dracula's haunting words.
Cornell lived his life trying to do what he felt was best without questioning if it really was for the better of the people around him rather than just himself. Did he take in Ada to save her from the world and make up for what he had done to her life, or did he take her in to clear his conscience? We should stop to think about why Cornell saved Ada from Dracula's Castle. Did he do it out of love or did he do it to clear his own conscience? Heroes all selflessly save the day by defeating Dracula for the good of the people, but not anymore. Is it possible that someone might have defeated him for a selfish reason?
Take into account Richter's speech before fighting Alucard in Symphony of the Night. He says to Alucard, "Vampire hunters are those who are called upon when there is evil. Once the evil is gone, our names are forgotten and our glory is lost." Belmonts began fighting Dracula out of Leon's vengeance, but as time went on, it just seemed to be the right thing to do. Belmonts went to the Castle because it was their fate to destroy Dracula when he rises. Cornell came to the Castle to save the only thing keeping his conscience clean. Carrie went to the Castle to avenge her family the death of her adoptive mother.
The final playable character is Henry Oldrey, whom I have very mixed feelings about. On one hand, it is very nice that they give us 4 playable characters, and he ties very nicely into the story. He is, of course, the very Henry that was rescued from the Villa by Cornell. It was very nice to bring him back, and he does look very cool in his armor. My biggest problem with Henry is his weapon. I approve of his sword, as can be very fun and effective at a short range, but his unlimited ammunition for his gun is a little bit too easy. Enemies can be fired upon at quite a distance with accuracy, often making battle too easy and presenting very little challenge. His levels are hardly difficult as they are, with the only challenges being to find the children.
Once the last child is found, the game is over. Boss battles can easily be avoided. Indeed, Henry doesn't even have to solve any puzzles, as the doors are always opened. Even in the Castle Wall, you can easily just run right through the gates, as they aren't even closed. The level designs are exactly the same as Cornell's. I feel it would be a bit more fun if a few additional bosses were placed into the game, a few fake children who turn out to be demons are placed around, and maybe a few challenges that use the gun exclusively.
Once beating Henry's quest, it's not very interesting and there is not much incentive to play it again. The main reason is to unlock Carrie and Reinhart's games. You can, of course, leave levels without finding any of the children, thus drastically killing your score, but the children are so easy to find, it seems pointless to leave any behind. Henry has no interactions with anyone in his game, making his story very simple and a bit redundant from level to level. They really could have done more to make it a challenge. When we play Rondo of Blood, we should find four victims trapped in the Castle, and they really make it an interesting challenge. They are hard to find and not really where you would expect to find them. Indeed, their paths are sometimes hidden or off the beaten track. Other times, we must work hard to unlock the path.
Ortega and Rosa, as mentioned before, developed relations with the heroes and, though it is hard to classify them as heroes, it is also difficult to consider them villains. Ortega, a fellow man beast, has his heart corrupted by the power of Dracula because of his jealousy of Cornell and greed for more power. Power and greed play a large part in Castlevania and are key reasons why Dracula continues to rise from his grave.
Rosa was a tragic victim who is forced against her will to reside in the Castle and do what is demanded of her. She grieves that her soul will never find the happiness that she wanted and wants a way to end it all. These characters are essential in not only the development of Cornell and Reinhart, but they are critical in plot development. Castlevania's original plot can be summed up in one sentence. The plots of Castlevania 64 and Legacy of Darkness take a bit more to make it through all of the substance.
Castlevania has always been known for its mini-bosses, and the Nintendo 64 Castlevania titles are no exceptions. The three main bosses of Castlevania 64 and Legacy of Darkness are the witch Actrise, the vampire Gills de Rais, and of course, Death. A supplementary mini-boss finds its place as J. A. Oldrey, the father of Henry Oldrey and the husband of Mary Oldrey. In the Villa, he attacks Cornell after begging his wife to allow him to drink her blood. Chances are very high that he was the lord of the Villa and was bitten by Gills de Rais. He writes about his discoveries about death and his desire to let all around him know of its infinite and divine wonders. This is, in fact, the puzzle of the tombstones in front of the house.
Actrise and Gills de Rais have a little different purpose. They are those who helped orchestrate the resurrection of Dracula and have planned everything to the finest detail. Nothing is known for sure about where they have come from, but what we do know by the end is where they are going. Gills de Rais is seemingly aristocratic. He doesn't last long. The first we see of him is in Legacy of Darkness in the opening cinematic where we float through the Castle in his point of view up to the Castle Keep where he meets Death and Actrise, but the battle against him happens fairly early on in the Villa. He never appears in Castlevania 64, and so it is only appropriate to kill him, but a battle against Death and Actrise would leave them unavailable, and so they are not to be fought in Legacy of Darkness.
Actrise is my personal favorite boss of Castlevania 64 for one simple reason: Her battle is very strategic. You cannot hope to win by just standing around and shooting at targets like was possible with other bosses. Standing still will cost you your life as Actrise will summon crystals from under where you stand. You must always keep moving and breaking the crystals around her to get in an attack.
An inexperienced player could be at it for well over an hour. Actrise's time to shine is in Castlevania 64 as a character trying to convert Carrie to the evil side of power and corruption. Failed attempts bring consequences. First, Carrie is given time to think about her options. Then, Carrie must fight her ancestor. Finally, Carrie must fight against Actrise in the arena that Reinhart will fight against Death.
This space is especially nice, as it is outside and you can battle in plain view of the Castle Keep. Actrise is a dark character because of the way she got to where she is now. In the past, she slaughtered 100 children in her quest for eternal life. She murdered every last one of them in cold blood, including her own daughter. She claims to love no one but herself and even claims that Carrie is giving her the same look that her daughter did before being slaughtered as a sacrifice for her mother's selfish wish.
Throughout the game, it is possible to find various scrolls lying around. These are the property of Renon, who is another favorite of the game. We are never explicitly told where Renon comes from and where he is going, but I doubt he is limited exclusively to the Demonic Castle. He is a natural salesman and is very punctual. He has what you need and will give it up at the right price. Unfortunately, be careful about how much you choose to buy.
In other games, it is challenging to buy what you need, but if you do, there is nothing to worry about. Renon's case is completely different. His scroll is written in an ancient demon script, as Renon himself is a demon from Hell. Using his shop binds the hero to the contract, which sells their soul to damnation. Renon's character is one of my favorites because of his quirky way of always looking at his watch, his clothes are a little modern for the time period, and he has a demon tale. He is also one of the two optional bosses that you must battle with no warning for doing things you did not realize you were doing, the other being Vincent if you took too much time and allowed him to be attacked by a vampire.
If you did not spend enough, Renon will talk of the impending World War I and how he must prey on the new souls, but if you did spend too much, he will let you know in battle when we are able to see his true demonic form.
I have avoided talking about this in detail and length until this point, but it is time to discuss the most complicated and possibly most important character from Castlevania 64 and Legacy of Darkness: Malus, also known as Dracula. Who exactly is Malus? What is his purpose? Where did he come from and where is he going? To answer these questions, we must re-examine the ritual that Death, Actrise, and Gills de Rais were attempting. They played off Cornell's emotions and his predictable moves in order to steal his wolf power and use the immense energy captured within to prematurely resurrect the Dark Lord, but the ritual did not go exactly as planned and Dracula was reborn, but to a family living in the woods.
A priest, most likely the very priest that unlocked the power of the whip for Reinhart, saw in a dream the birth of a child under the mood with purple hair and purple eyes. Malus was born. Death and Actrise sent waves of minions out to search for Dracula by stealing children in the night and leaving the corpses to rot where they lay, but left around the Castle the children who were not Dracula. Henry came to the Castle and rescued them, but the one that they wanted, Malus, escaped somewhere in the Villa.
Dracula has not completely awakened inside of him and the turmoil deep in his soul over who would finally obtain control caused his head to hurt and forced him to experience unimaginable terror and fear as everything that he was became slowly suppressed and Dracula's will was able to rise to power. Malus escaped into the maze, but was trapped by the malicious Frankensaw because this guy really cannot stay dead. Reinhart and Carrie helped Malus escape, but unbeknownst to them, as he tried to leave, his soul finally gave up and his body was at the mercy of Dracula.
He re-entered the Villa and headed straight for the Castle Center. Malus was now sleeping dormant and his body was a carriage for Dracula to do with what he liked. When the hero meets Malus again, he plays his mind games in the fashion of Dracula and then leaves the confused hero wondering what has happened. After fighting Dracula, Malus is seen once more in the best ending. He is riding a demonic Pegasus, and on the rooftop, the hero must fight Malus' reincarnation into a young bishounen Dracula. Upon defeat, Malus looks safe, but Vincent knows better and makes his appearance as he throws Holy Water which burns Dracula, releasing his final form. In Carrie's bad ending, she promises to marry Malus and upon hearing this, he turns to the camera unbeknownst to Carrie and we see a demonic flash in his eye. We know that Dracula is not dead.
So, now that it is established how and why Malus is Dracula, we can look at Dracula's latest evolution and the for battle forms of Dracula. It's very difficult to say it in such a way because there are too many loopholes and people who disagree about who is really Dracula and who is not. In Legacy of Darkness, does Cornell really fight Dracula? We learn that Dracula won't fully resurrect for another eight years, and so why are we fighting him two times? If Malus is really Dracula, what good does it do to fight his older form first? Just how many manifestations of Dracula really exist in these games? And why doesn't Henry get to fight Dracula if he is a hero in the Castle? The final question is simple to answer. At this time, Dracula has not yet been resurrected and this is assumed that Malus has just been discovered. He has not yet awakened as Dracula. The other questions require a little more explanation.
Castlevania 64, which most people played first, shows that Dracula has another aristocratic vampire who is quite powerful who can do his trademark fire ball attack. He can also send blasts of energy, turn into mist, and create winds pulling the hero to them, thus allowing him to bite their necks and drink their blood. This imposter also makes an appearance towards the beginning of the game in the Castle Wall, threatening the hero that they will lose their life if they venture forward. If all goes according to plan, of course, we learn that this "Dracula" is only an imposter and upon descending the final staircase to the Castle Keep, Malus shoots an arrow from upon his demonic Pegasus.
In Legacy of Darkness, we can also battle this imposter, but then it turns into a larger demonic force that we assume is Dracula. But, as Dracula has not really awakened, I would like to suggest that this force as well could be a conjured demon by Gills de Rais, Actrise, and Death. Like the aristocratic vampire in the original Castlevania 64, this beast could easily be a creation from the Castle, as it has often been known to create various monsters, as well house creatures from mythology, urban legends, and campfire stories. The problem with this theory, though, is the speech that Dracula gives to Cornell.
Was this a plan of Dracula's from years ago or can he really communicate with the world of the living from his state of sleep? If Dracula probably did not foresee Cornell in the ancient past, and the only other explanation is that he can revive himself at a weaker power, or it really was not Dracula's plan, but one created by his minions. If it was created by his minions, we can only conclude that Death knew well enough what Dracula would say and gave the speech to the imposter. It's possible that Actrise and Death were able to resurrect him at a very weak power as a sort of sacrifice in order to bring him back at a must stronger power at a later date, but if that is true, I think that the whole "100 years" thing is completely thrown out the window.
Dracula's premature resurrections, deaths, plots, schemes, and general goings on have mutilated the timeline so often that I would like to suggest that it's hardly applicable today. For instance, please take a look at the time line presented here (http://www.chapelofresonance.com/timeline.html). It's plain to see that Dracula taking a full century to resurrect is actually very rare. If this is the case, then out of all these battles, we fight 3 different imposters and only twice do we actually fight against Dracula. In addition to that, we can only battle him as Carrie and Reinhart.
So, there you have it. Castlevania 64 and Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness has been broken down in an overview look. Of course, there is much more to say about it, but you've done well to read this far, and everything else is minor details. All in all, Konami had a very challenging project. They were to take a famous and closely guarded franchise and transform it from a 2 dimensional side scrolling game and turn it into an interactive 3 dimensional game. They took use of the powerful graphics engine for the Nintendo 64 system, as well as the audio system available. They included puzzles, beautiful aesthetics, and intense and well developed characters. They paid homage to the older games in the series, as well as adding new flavors and concepts.
It's true, the games are flawed, but in reality, every game to date has its flaws and really, you learn to live with the flaws or you let them spoil your appreciation for a game. Many of the flaws are blaring apparent and make some stages frustrating and obnoxious, but in my case, the appeal of the game with its other aspects is too strong to push me away. Flaws and all, the game has many levels of depth not seen on the first run through and the concepts introduced are innovative and ahead of their time. From Rosa's misery and attempted suicide to Dracula's resurrection by stealing the soul of a child, the plot has certainly thickened and the innovation is apparent.
It is something the series does not forget as it continues to plan its character development, though in my opinion, they never captured quite the same character depth that they did in this game. Though often ignored and often unappreciated, I would like to recommend the game as something not seen before and a valid effort and success in the grand history of Castlevania.


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Persona 5 Review
Persona 5 doesn't waste time revealing its intentions to you. Right from the start you'll be introduced to hyper-stylised anime visuals and an introduction that has you beating up bad guys and... Read more
Persona 5 doesn't waste time revealing its intentions to you. Right from the start you'll be introduced to hyper-stylised anime visuals and an introduction that has you beating up bad guys and... Read more
Deep Silver have today sent us over a new character trailer for Persona 5, unmasking a crucial member of the Phantom Thieves. Here is the official description of the latest character to be unveiled.... Read more
Deep Silver have today released a new trailer for Persona 5. The trailer sets up the story of Persona 5, with the official plot description stating: After having his life ruined, the main protagonist... Read more
Deep Silver have shared with us a brand new trailer for the upcoming JRPG, Persona 5. This new trailer shows off some of the main game mechanics that occur in Persona 5. Also, if you are really... Read more
Following on from last week's character trailer, Deep Silver have released a new one for Persona 5. This latest trailer focuses on Ryuji Sakamoto. The official description for Ryuji is as follows:... Read more
Deep Silver have today released a new character spotlight trailer for Persona 5. The new trailer takes a look at Ann Takamaki, whose official description states: Being the centre of school gossip is... Read more
Deep Silver have today revealed that Persona 5 will be released in Europe and all PAL territories on February 14th, 2017. As well as the release date announcement, the special editions are also now... Read more
Fantastic news this afternoon as Deep Silver have announced a new publishing agreement to publish Persona 5 in Europe. The agreement with SEGA of America, Inc., and Atlus U.S.A., Inc. will also see... Read more
Atlus have today released a brand new trailer for Persona 5. The new trailer showed off some new gameplay footage, as well as confirming that the game will be released in Japan for the PlayStation 4... Read more
The official Persona 5 website is now teasing an announcement with a countdown placeholder. The countdown will run and end on May 5th. Here it is: Titled 'Take your heart', the announcement... Read more
With 2016 a couple of weeks old, I decided to rally the troops here at NGB and get together our collective top ten of games we're looking forward to in 2016. It's shaping up to be another great... Read more
Atlus have released a new trailer for Persona 5, the latest installment in their popular RPG series. Although very little is know at the moment, the new trailer comes showing teases on the characters... Read more
Atlus has announced that Persona 5 will also be coming to the PlayStation 4. Persona 5 has already been announced as coming to the PlayStation 3 but today's PlayStation 4 announcement came during ... Read more
Howdy! Welcome to yet another NGB podcast, episode number 44 to be exact. We're usually with you on a Friday, but as the PS4 launched on the 29th we thought it was only right if the rest of the... Read more
Atlus have officially revealed Persona 5, which will be released in Japan for the PlayStation 3 next year. Although there is no word of a European release, it has be expected that it will make it's... Read more


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|Use this URL to cite or link to this record in EThOS:
|Very steep spectrum radio sources and clusters of galaxies
|Laycock, S. C.
|Awarding Body:
|University of Cambridge
|Current Institution:
|University of Cambridge
|Date of Award:
|Availability of Full Text:
The topics covered in this dissertation are all areas of study involving observations at low radio frequencies. There are three main subject areas: a study of the twin-tailed radio galaxy 3C3.1; a study of both an old and a new sample of radio sources that exhibit very steep radio spectra at low frequency; the design and construction of a new radio telescope operating at low radio frequency together with the making of a new radio source survey. 3C3.1 has been studied by other authors but new high angular resolution, high sensitivity observations at low radio frequency have allowed further progress to be made in understanding the behaviour of this source. It has been thought that 3C3.1 type sources would be responsible for most (if not all) of the very steep spectrum radio sources. 3C3.1 is relatively close, hence easy to study. A model has been developed which explains the previously not understood brightness distribution along the long luminous jets. In order to quantify the predicted behaviour more precisely a set of simple numerical simulations was performed. Very steep spectrum radio sources are by their nature easier to detect at low radio frequencies. In the past, it has been shown that most, if not all, very steep spectrum sources are associated with clusters of galaxies. Both optical and further radio observations of a sample of sources prepared by the author, and a sample prepared by other workers were undertaken. The optical observations of high sensitivity have greatly strengthened the hypothesis that all of such sources are indeed associated with clusters of galaxies. The radio observations, both performed at high and low radio frequencies, have shown that such sources seem to have in general evolved from conventional sources with both 'tailed' and 'double' radio structure. A serious limitation for further work at low radio frequencies is the availibility of high sensitivity, high resolution instruments. A twenty five element interferometer with a one mile baseline operating at 38 MHz was designed and constructed. This allowed an appraisal of the operating conditions at such low frequency. A deep radio survey of the north pole was performed and a new sample of very steep spectrum constructed.
|Not available
|Not available
|Qualification Name:
|Thesis (Ph.D.)
|Qualification Level:
|EThOS ID:
|Not available
|Low-frequency radio astronomy


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2017 / 90
Interviews with global policymakers and girls in Gambia and Kenya detail the horrors of female genital mutilation and the growing efforts to end it.
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Abortion Complications
Your Unborn Baby
Post Abortion Syndrome
Alternatives to Abortion
Down Syndrome
Adoption of Down Syndrome Baby
Kurt Kondrich is the father of a daughter who has Down Syndrome.
Click here to read more
or read more below.
This page will attempt to provide the reader with inspirational stories about families who are affected by Down syndrome and provide resources for those who need them. Further, we need to examine why the abortion culture seems intent on eliminating the victims of Down syndrome rather than improving the lives of those afflicted the condition.
Archbishop Chaput talks about Abortion of Down Syndrome Babies
Community Resources in Northeast PA
St. Joseph's Center, Scranton, PA
St. Joseph's Center
has served special needs children and adults since the 1950's. Here is a brief description of some of the services offered at
St. Joseph's Center
, Scranton, PA.
Residential Services
St. Joseph's
is deeply committed to providing the highest quality services to these most vulnerable people who have been entrusted into its care.
St. Joseph's Center
provides year-round residential programming 24 hours a day by three shifts of staff. Recognizing that achieving one's maximum potential requires both appropriate treatment and emotional support,
St. Joseph's
encourages and welcomes family and friends to visit.
Family Support Services
were initiated over a quarter of a century ago in order to bridge the gap between the choices of doing it all alone and resorting to out-of-home placement. By offering in-home assistance,
St. Joseph's
was hoping to alleviate some of the daily stresses very dedicated parents and siblings encountered while caring for a family member who is developmentally delayed.
"My Son Is Perfect," says Sarah Palin of her Child with Down Syndrome
By Rev. Jack Munley
Alaska Governor and former vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, spoke recently at a pro-life dinner in Evansville, Indiana which was attended by nearly 3,000 people. She criticized President Barack Obama for supporting abortion rights and she challenged the idea that unplanned pregnancies are a nuisance that can be solved by abortion. "Life is ordained. Life is precious," she said.
GOP National Chairman Michael Steele introduced Mrs. Palin. Steele himself was born of a teenage mom who gave him up for adoption. He described Palin as one of the party's standard bearers. Palin said the challenges she faced during her pregnancy with her son Trig, who was born with Down Syndrome, provided her with the opportunity to live out her anti-abortion beliefs. She described the many emotions she felt when told by her doctor that her child would have Down Syndrome. Her husband hadn't even known yet. She was living the idyllic life- Governor of Alaska, she had a supportive and hard-working husband, three wonderful children. What should she do? She said that she prayed often during her pregnancy, especially after knowing her child would have Down Syndrome.
"The moment he was born, I knew that moment that my prayers had been answered," Palin said. "Trig is a miracle. He is the best thing that ever happened to me and I want other women to have that opportunity." She challenged the notion that children must be born perfect and that unplanned pregnancies are inconvenient and should be ended by abortion. "I know for sure that my son is perfect just as he is, made in the image of God," she said. She also implored the crowd to keep working for the "culture of life" in America. We should not give up on that which we feel so strongly about, considering the "culture of death" that the Obama administration is espousing and trying to move forward now.
Palin said women who can't give birth should have the opportunity to adopt children who otherwise might be aborted. She also mentioned that her own daughter Bristol became pregnant as an unmarried teen, and, as difficult as that was to digest, she has since given birth to a healthy son. Bristol now travels the country speaking to youth about the importance of abstinence, thereby taking the risk away of getting pregnant at such a young age.
Having someone with Sarah Palin's popularity and stature stump for the unborn should embolden and strengthen us to continue the fight for the unborn with much courage and boldness. Despite the culture of death the Obama administration is pushing forward, we need not give up but continue forward with much prayer and resolve. We may lose some battles along the way, but we will win the war for the unborn in the end!
For additional articles related to this topic,
click here
For additional information on this topic visit:
Life Issues
Down Syndrome Internet Resources
Please take time to read the blog
Stop Aborting Down Syndrome Infants Now
an excellent blog by Kurt Kondrich, the father of a child who has Down syndrome. It contains many interesting artices. Here is Mr. Kondrich's biography and the reason for his blog.
"I am the father of a beautiful daughter who has Down Syndrome, and she has been a priceless Blessing to our family and community. When I became aware of the 90+% abortion rate for children diagnosed with Down Syndrome in the womb, I literally could not sleep at night. In early August 2008 I had a disturbing dream about people with disabilities being exterminated, and it woke me up at 2:15AM. After praying I came up with the name
SADSIN (Stop Aborting Down Syndrome Individuals Now)
. I have since embarked on a mission to make sure people are aware of this genocide. I want people to see the beautiful faces of our kids and realize the priceless Blessings and Gifts they are to a society that has lost focus. Please take time to read my
, and I would love your feedback."
Will New Down Syndrome Tests Result in More Unborn Children Destroyed?
By Sue Cirba
Biotech companies are soon to be marketing new tests for Down syndrome. The new tests come as disability rights advocates seek funding from Congress for a law passed last year to ensure that couples get accurate information about genetic conditions. They want to provide support for women who decide to keep their affected children or put them up for adoption. In this way they hope to counter America's current cultural bias against children with disabilities.
The current screening tests consist of a combination of blood tests and ultrasounds. In order to get more conclusive results, women may then undergo either amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling (CVS) to confirm a diagnosis of Down syndrome. Amniocentesis can cause miscarriages and some women will not take that risk. Amniocentesis is not usually performed until the second trimester, when some women are less likely to choose abortion. Sequenom claims their new tests are as accurate as amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling without the risks and it can be done in the first trimester.
Kurt Kondrich and others in the disability rights community believe these new tests will virtually cause the extinction of children with Down syndrome. Kondirch, the father of Chloe, pictured here, says his wife Margie had no genetic tests done "despite the constant pressure from the medical community".
Readers should be aware that there is no cure for Down Syndrome, a condition that usually causes some degree of mental retardation and other health issues. If there is no cure for Down syndrome then, what is the purpose of the tests? The comments of one drug company CEO leads one to believe he is interested in making money off the fears of parents who naturally, want to give birth to a healthy child.
Sequenom is one of the companies marketing the new tests. Their chief executive officer, Harry Stylii was quoted in a Washington Post article: "For 50 years, folks have been working to develop a noninvasive genetic test for Down syndrome," said Stylii. "People have described it as the Holy Grail of genetic testing. We are on the cusp of delivering that." In other words, the drug company that develops these tests first will become very rich. Why? The Washington Post article further states, "Doctors recommend that all pregnant women be offered screening for Down syndrome." In this era of defensive medicine, it is in the physicians' financial best interest to recommend women take these tests so as to avoid "wrongful birth" lawsuits. Currently, half of pregnant women undergo the tests so the drug companies can expect their market to increase considerably.
Kurt Kondrich is concerned. This father of a Down syndrome child and an advocate for early intervention reports that 90 % of women who take the tests currently available, will abort their children who are thought to have Down syndrome. If all pregnant women take the new tests, then we are likely to see even fewer children with Down Syndrome born.
I contacted Mr. Kondrich after reading his blog, Stop Aborting Down Syndrome Individuals Now at http://sadsin.blogspot.com The Kondrich family has a very positive attitude about having a child with Down syndrome. In fact, it changed Kurt Kondrich's life. After twenty years as a police officer, he took a leap of faith and perused a career in early intervention, working with children with disabilities and their families.
"As a family, we meet with new and expecting parents of Down Syndrome to congratulate them and show them the goodness waiting for them." Kondrich's blog http://sadsin.blogspot.com is a combination of articles sharing the joy his daughter Chloe brings to her family and friends, and posting articles which expose the bias many in our culture have against people with disabilities.
If you do not believe a cultural bias exists against people with disabilities, consider again the words of CEO Harry Stylli, "For fifty years we have been working to develop noninvasive genetic tests for Down syndrome." Note, they have been working 50 years NOT to wipe out a disease, but to detect the presence of a child with a handicap. Pro-abortion propaganda such as "every child a wanted child" leads some parents to believe they have a right to abort children who are unwanted for any reason. This has resulted in the abortion deaths of 90% of the prenatal Down syndrome population in recent years. How tragic that a beautiful, innocent child such as Chloe Kondrich in this twisted world, somehow became "the enemy"!
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1.3 Mission
ACBC is committed to providing real technical business advice and assistance to all African and Caribbean entrepreneurs and others.
1.4 Vision
The vision of ACBC is to provide direct technical business advice and assistance to all African and Caribbean entrepreneurs and others.
1.5 Goals
The goals of the ACBC are to:
Train African and Caribbean entrepreneurs and others in the methods and techniques of business organization, trade and investment.
Provide trade and investment opportunities to all African and Caribbean entrepreneurs and others.
1.6 Objectives
The objective of the ACBC includes the following, to:
Improve trade and investments in the African and Caribbean communities, and others.
Instill in African and Caribbean entrepreneurs and others, a good sense of business concept, trade and investment; to help to foster a strong and lasting international trade relations between African and Caribbean countries and the state of Pennsylvania.
Promote business management, trade and investment between and among African and Caribbean entrepreneurs and others.
1.7 ACBC as a Charitable Corporation, and Primary Purpose.
ACBC is a Pennsylvania domestic not-for-profit corporation organized for charitable purposes within the meaning of section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code, as amended. All activities of the Corporation shall be undertaken without regard to race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, age, sex, or marital status.
Its primary purpose includes the following, to:
(a) Formulate and propagate policies and viewpoints of African and Caribbean entrepreneurs on key business issues that affect them;
(b) Ensure adequate protection of the business interests of ACBC members;
(c) Promote trade and investments on behalf of the ACBC members;
(d) Influence the environment in which African and Caribbean entrepreneurs can operate and compete effectively and efficiently;
(e) Nurture their businesses and play a leading role in the development their communities. This includes training and education.
(f) Act as a conduit for information on emerging markets in countries of Africa and the Caribbean as well as vital information on local and U.S markets;
(g) Bridge the cultural divide between member countries and the larger community through education and mutual tolerance; and
(h) Engage the city, state and federal governments through partnership and advocacy to make available necessary infrastructures for the development and maintenance of viable African and Caribbean communities.
(i) Offer financial assistance to African and Caribbean communities
(j) Establish a Credit Union to serve our low income African and Caribbean communities.
(k) Any other legitimate objectives the Council chooses to pursue


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Yesterday & Today is a quarterly newsletter published by the Lowndes County Historical Society. Our newsletter features society and museum news, events, and articles on local history. Over time we will begin to post digital copies of previous issues from our archives here on our website as well.
Click a link below to view a newsletter
August, September, October 2015
April, May, June 2015
January, February, March 2015
October, November, December 2014
July, August, September 2014
April, May, June 2014
January, February, March 2014
November, December 2013
July, October 2013
April, May, June 2013
January, February, March 2013
October, November, December 2012
July, August, September 2012
April, May, June 2012
January, February, March 2012
October, November, December 2011
July, August, September 2011
April, May, June 2011
January, February, March 2011


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The Phantom IV is the most exclusive Rolls-Royce model ever built. Only 18 were made between 1950 and 1956, exclusively for royalty and heads of state.
Although the Queen now usually travels in an armoured Bentley, the Rolls-Royce Phantom IV is still used sometimes by the royal family for special occasions, such as by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall at the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton.
To celebrate the Queen's reign, the car features at the Festival's annual Cartier Style et Luxe concours d'élégance along with a vast collection of other royal vehicles (including a train carriage).
The Phantom IV will feature in a special jubilee parade at the Festival, along with a 1926 Rolls-Royce used by the Duke of Edinburgh in India during 1965, and a 1953 Humber that accompanied the Queen and Prince Philip on the Queen's Coronation tour.


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A Rio tradition, this Portuguese bar offers an exquisite menu and excellent chopp. The restaurant offers Portuguese appetizers such as breaded cod and skewered kaftan, … more
Category: Fast Food
Neighborhood: Lapa
Recently inaugurated at Lapa district, Lapa 40° is the best place for socializing, billiards, dancing and live music. In each of this 4-store colonial house … more
Nova Capela
Category: Brazilian Food
Neighborhood: Lapa
Officially, the house is open until 5 am. Only officially, while the hall is full, the bar does not close!
Mas será o Benedito
Category: Botequins
Neighborhood: Lapa
Attraction on Tuesdays and Saturdays, Thursday nights are dedicated to good old gaff.
Gargalo Galeteria
Category: Brazilian Food
Neighborhood: Lapa
The house serves grilled chicken and rib barbecue. On the 3rd floor, from Thursday to Saturday there is live samba music.
Bar Brasil
Category: Botequins
Neighborhood: Lapa
Brahma Chopp rests in a big container of ice before being served


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Want to encourage AEGEEans to…
—-> sort out the trash ?
—-> to think before throwing away their food?
—> to take short showers?
—>to fill up water bottle instead of buying many plastic bottles?
Well just download the designs, print it, and put it up at your events. #SmallSteps #GreatResults


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They say what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, and these days, Gucci Mane looks like he's on steroids. The Atlanta rapper put in time behind bars for a parole violation stemming from an assault case he caught after a run-in with a club promoter. And he also faced a murder rap after a shooting that he claimed was in self-defense. Now, finally free of all his troubles, Gucci is a wanted man for different reasons he recently inked a deal with Atlantic/Asylum, and Jimmy Henchman's Czar Entertainment is partnering with him to launch his So Icey Records.
"We run the company together, me and my management," Gucci said. "But Czar, they coming with a partnership on my production side, they helping me get big, big features on my album and placements, man. I appreciate them for that; they ain't have to do it like that, but they did. I reached out to them and they reached back."
One feature they didn't need to help out with is Gucci's single, the remix of "Freaky Girl." Ludacris heard the original record and asked to be down on the new version. The two recently shot a video over the weekend for the track, which is set to be the lead single to Gucci's Back to the Trap House. The album is due in about two months, according to Gucci, and thanks to Luda, the scheduled official single, "Bird Flu," will now follow up "Freaky Girl."
But wrapping up the album seems to be the only issue Gucci has to deal with these days. He said things have cooled down between him and Young Jeezy that beef is old news now.
"I wouldn't even know how to describe that," he said. "I don't even see that guy here. We don't ever bump into each other. Tension would be like if it was stored, something won't go on … there'll be no incident between me and him."
In the meantime, Gucci is putting together the So Icey Boys, a group featuring himself, OJ, Courtney Money and DG Yola. The project should get some legs after Trap House.
"We just gonna go as hard as we can," Gucci said. "We're like the four horsemen."


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Download SelfieApp for free!
Prank your friends, hide an affair or create a superhero identity with SelfieApp!
Appear in front of world's most beautiful places without leaving home.
Just snap a self-shot and see its…
– background replaced with an awesome image,
– lighting corrected to match the new backdrop,
– geotag changed to prove your fake location
SelfieApp allows you to be in many places at the same time.
Or at least to make everyone believe that.
Select a popular showplace as a background, take a selfie – hocus pocus – you get a mind-blowing fake and spoof your buddies.
All in 3 clicks!
Watch a short video explaining how SelfieApp works◂
Find out about our technology▾Whatever is behind you – for instance, a messy room – our app will replace it with one of the fancy pics from the collection.▾
SelfieApp is packed with hundreds of amazing backgrounds, and more are on the way.
It's a collection of hundreds of licensed smooth HQ photos of the world's most beautiful places to be set as backgrounds.
They are
with special data
for a
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They are
with special data
for a
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An initial consultation is provided. For OCD and IBS, a referral by a Physician is required.
Everyone has the ability to think and feel differently, and using hypnosis is able to heal themselves with the assistance of hypnotherapy from a well qualified medical hypnotherapist. Kim uses analytical, regression and CBT therapies and many others to bring about a good therapeutic outcome using hypnosis.
36880 Woodward Ave, Suite 107, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304
Call 248.433.3075 Fax 248.433.3078
Initial Consultation $25
Referrals from physicians are welcome.
Kim has provided seminars, lectures, and workshops in medical departments in universities, hospitals, to hypnotherapists, physicians.
Kim is an NRAH Accredited Advanced Trainer and international speaker previously provided lectures in England, Scotland, Ireland and the Middle East.
Email Kim
Kim's Tunein.com Audio Interview


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Atonement. I love these muted florals. I love the fabrics. I love the feeling of these rooms. Is that a needlepoint Aubusson rug? And why can't I find any of these vintage, fringed lampshades in the States (ebay)? Is that an English thing? And look! There is a sweet beveled/etched mirror (my new obsession) on the vanity table. Have you ever seen anything like this fireplace surround? It's the epitome of fancy/cozy.
Testament of Youth. I can't find any other pictures of her bedroom. It was so lovely. It had the same feeling as Keira Knightly's bedroom in Atonement to me. Muted florals, velvets, the caned bench. LOVE.
And this sweater! I have to make one! I just want to buy one a similar color and embroider it with yarn myself. That sounds doable, right?
Atonement takes place during WW2 and Testament of Youth during WW1. Isn't it funny that the decor feels so similar? I think it is all about the vintage wallpaper. I think I need it in my half bath. This past summer we had a leak and had to replace flooring in the powder room so we also put up a half wall of white bead board and a vintage light fixture at the same time. I love it. I painted the upper wall white…but I'm not loving it. It is such a small space, I think vintage wallpaper would be just the thing.
Look at this wallpaper Rachel Ashwell used. Look at this wallpaper from Lily Ashwell's house. Are they not so inspiring??? They all have the same feel that I am after.
Look at this vintage wallpaper from ebay. It feels just about right I think. But it is hard to say since I am looking at the colors on a computer screen. There are 8 yards total. I have no idea if that is enough or not. I will need to measure. I've never hung wallpaper, let alone vintage wallpaper! What do you think???


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Club-Mate Winter Edition (12 pack)
Club-Mate Winter Edition is only made once a year and we now have our very limited supply. This is an alternate blend that is flavored with cinnamon, star anise, and cardamom. The official Club-Mate brewery describes it this way: "It tastes like warming up your hands in front of a fireplace after a merry snowball fight. Its unique ingredients create a taste that smoothly combines with the mate. Thus new sensory interpretations become possible."
Our supply grows less by the day and we won't have more until next winter!
Shipping is via UPS. That means we can't ship to post office boxes. We also have to limit this to the continental United States, at least for the moment. Please don't try and order this if you're in Hawaii, Alaska, or another country.


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Ken Druse has been called a "gardening superstar." With sixteen books to his credit, frequent television appearances, regular articles for leading national newspapers and magazines, and now with his Podcast, he is one of the nation's leading voices of natural gardening. His groundbreaking book, "The Natural Garden," initiated a design movement that continues to grow in popularity today.
An organic gardener, writer, photographer, designer, and naturalist, Ken's passion is to inspire and empower others to make gardening part of a balanced life, and to enhance their community through taking care of their piece of the earth.
In April, 2004, Ken received the Sarah Chapman Francis Medal for "Literary Achievement" from the Garden Club of America. This lifetime award was presented for Ken's entire body of work communicating about gardening and the environment.


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SOURCE: Vemma Nutrition Company
August 27, 2012 16:51 ET
TV Celebrity Transformation Specialist Creates the Perfect Meal!
TV Celebrity Transformation Specialist Creates the Perfect Meal!
SCOTTSDALE, AZ--(Marketwire - Aug 27, 2012) - On Saturday, TV Celebrity Transformation Specialist Chris Powell announced for the very first time the perfect meal replacement shake: the Chris Powell Bod-ē Shake. The new product will launch in November and is made by Vemma Nutrition Company, a leader in liquid wellness supplementation. The Chris Powell Bod-ē Shake was developed to meet nutrition specifications determined by Chris Powell through his years of research, along with Vemma's Chief Scientific Officer, Yibing Wang, MD, PhD.
A major believer in quality nutrition and natural (non-surgical) weight loss, Powell encourages people to eat a healthy, balanced diet, which can include meal replacement shakes. "I've been working with individuals who struggle with weight issues for over 10 years, and shakes really have a place in an active, busy lifestyle. They're convenient, but I was never impressed with what was offered in the market. So my wife Heidi and I would make our own. We drink them every day," says Chris Powell.
The new product was announced Saturday, August 25, at a training event in North Carolina, where free samples of the Chris Powell Bod-ē Shake were given to approximately 900 Brand Partners. The event was streamed live on vemma.com, and Chris and Heidi Powell joined in via Skype to talk about the new product. "I can't wait for this meal replacement shake this fall! It's perfectly built with the proper protein, carb and healthy fat ratios that all my clients follow. This is yet another major milestone in the Bod-ē line of weight management products," says Powell.
"This product came about because we're listening to the experts in weight loss," says Vemma Founder and CEO BK Boreyko. "Chris Powell convinced me that meal replacement shakes work, and that a healthier, more balanced shake is definitely needed. Our R&D team collaborated with Chris and Heidi to create a product that's superior to anything else."
The Chris Powell Bod-ē Shake complements other products in the line, which includes Bod-ē Burn, Bod-ē Rest, Bod-ē Cleanse, and Bod-ē Thirst. The Chris Powell Bod-ē Shake will be available in two exciting flavors. Each shake will include the original Vemma formula, a physician-formulated blend of premium antioxidants, mangosteen, vitamins and minerals, along with the perfect blend of protein, carbohydrates, Omega-3 fatty acids and fiber, for optimal results.*
The original Bod-ē product line was launched in the U.S. in January 2012, sparking the company's first $1 million sales day. After steadily climbing sales in the U.S., the Bod-ē line launched in Europe this summer.
About Vemma
Founded in 2004 by BK Boreyko, Vemma Nutrition Company is rapidly growing as one of the premier industry leaders specializing in premium liquid nutrition. Every day, thousands of people join the company's mission to make a positive difference in the lives of others through sharing the clinically studied Vemma formula. Vemma wellness brands -- including Verve, a healthy energy drink -- coupled with the company's rewarding business opportunity; help people live a better quality of life, physically and financially. Vemma is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, and distributes its products through a global network of independent Brand Partners operating in approximately 50 countries. For more information, please visit vemma.com.
*This statement has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Media Contact: Lynn email@example.com
Media Contact: Lynn email@example.com
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