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Friday, October 28, 2011
Open Friday: What Does It Mean?
Of those who bothered to take the poll -- nearly 1800 people as of this moment -- 62% of them entered the hobby by 1984, with a huge contingent (42%) of them entering between 1980 and 1984. Those who entered between 1985 and 1989 and between 1990 and 1994 are neck and neck, with 13% each, which is healthier than I anticipated but still a significant drop-off from the all-time high of the early '80s and below even the 1974-1979 period. The Post-1995 periods are both small but that's exactly as I expected it would be.
But what does it all mean? The poll certainly isn't scientific and it's undoubtedly skewed because of where it appeared, but, even so, I continue to feel that it pretty accurately represents the history of the hobby: rapid growth during the late '70s, a high peak in the early '80s, and a gradual decline till the present day. I'm open to alternate interpretations, so, if you've got them, let me have them. Bonus points if you can present them in a polite and non-dismissive tone.
54 comments:
It is heavily skewed towards your demographic, but I think you have a decent enough thumbnail here all the same. It is supported by common wisdom, but not market research per se.
We do know there was a rise in 2000 with the introduction of D&D3 and the OGL. But that was not a recapture of the growth 20 years prior, but rather something different.
Today I think it is the same population that is keeping the hobby alive, we just keep buying more games. Though there are still those that are entering the hobby, even the old-school side of it, that were not part of that 1980-84 boom (or even alive then).
AND this largely D&D-centric. I think if this were Vampire: The Masquerade blog we would see this shifted to the 90s more.- AnonymousOctober 28, 2011 at 9:00 AM
I would guess that your readers are likely to be similar to you in terms of age and interests, so that could account for *some* of the skew, but I think you are correct that it also reflects the overall arc of popularity for the hobby.
In the 1980s you have popular culture depicting D&D as a fad. Now it is depeicted as nerdy basement-dweller's obsession.
Probably a large number of the people who "would have" taken up D&D in the 90s onward took up video and computer games instead.
I'd love to see a similar poll at WotC, and also one at a more system-neutral site like Gnome Stew. I'm intrigued by the similarity in the paired periods '85-9 and '90-4, and '95-9 and '2000+. Those are oddly close totals, although the last pair does differ from the first in being much longer in terms of years.
Maybe it would be worthwhile running a poll for those entered in the period 2000+, to see whether it's level over those years, an ongoing if fluctuating decline, or a rise towards the present.Only speaking from personal experience, the majority of RPG players that I have met entered the hobby in either the 90's or the 00's. Of course, the primary visitors of this site would be people who entered during that time, with the secondary visitors being those who came in later but have an interest in the old-school (like me). But I agree that the faddishness for roleplaying really occurred during the early 80's, since after all it was new and exciting. Now it is relegated more to a status similar to adult board games.
ReplyDeleteObviously, this blog being what it is, it's going to attract more older players. That will skew the poll some. (Again, obviously.)
That aside, however, I suspect a lot of younger players don't go beyond simply playing, and so they wouldn't show up in any poll on any blog. That is to say, my kids and their friends who play D&D just play when there's a game available, but they don't put much thought into it beyond game day. They don't go online looking for RP gaming resources and they don't read about RP gaming on blogs.
Some of them DO, however, spend a lot of time on sites concerning computer "RPGs" (e.g., World of Warcraft, Rift, etc.). I think the ease of playing similar games online has really pulled a large audience away from PnP gaming. Unfortunately, most of that audience doesn't know what it's missing.
It's a shame that WotC's reaction is to "gamify" D&D that much more. They'll never compete with the ease of CRPGs. What they need to do is play up the depth of tabletop play and the human element. Instead, it seems (to me, at least) they're doing their level best to remove human agency — especially in the DM's chair. But that's a whole other rant, so I'll just shut up now.If the 80's /d7d thang was a fad...why are the bulk of the respondents people who joined the game in the 80's?
Fads don't often last for decades. It's a hobby, older folks tend to settle into or recognize their hobby for what it is when they get older.
I played the heck out of D&D as a youngster but I didn't contribute to any APA, write articles for game magazines or even have a gaming newsletter.
I still contend the youngsters just aren't looking online as most of the people that play rpgs aren't looking online for RPG stuff.Because it's not scientific all it means is that of people who come to your blog regularly the majority started role-playing prior to 1984. Which makes sense all things considered. Here's my example, in the entire history of people I've gamed with on a regular basis (about 25 people 4 groups at different points in my life) only 3 are even old enough to have started gaming in the pre-1984 days. I have no reason to believe any of them frequent this site. Which explains why I can't find a group who wants to play the old games.
ReplyDeleteWe do know there was a rise in 2000 with the introduction of D&D3 and the OGL. But that was not a recapture of the growth 20 years prior, but rather something different.
Until I see evidence to the contrary, I will continue to maintain that the 3e bubble was fueled primarily by returnees to D&D rather than a huge number of newbies. It's still an impressive achievement, but it didn't expand the hobby, just shored it up a bit.
Today I think it is the same population that is keeping the hobby alive, we just keep buying more games.
This I wholly agree with.I still contend the youngsters just aren't looking online as most of the people that play rpgs aren't looking online for RPG stuff.
My limited exposure to under-20 gamers suggests that you're likely on to something, though the raises the further question as to why. Back in the '80s, if I'd had access to the Net and all the RPG-related stuff that's on it today, I know I'd have blown a lot of time there.But also the "JM factor." Like in politics, your core is bound to be people who see similarities between themselves and you.
There's truth to that. I get lots of emails from people telling me how similar my early experiences in the hobby were to theirs. Of course, I get a similar number of people telling me the exact opposite, too, so I'm not sure what to make of it all. Still, you're probably right in broad terms.One more comment the EnWorld poll you refer to in the previous post to support your guess about the state of the hobby as a whole only had about 700 or so respondents at the height of 3.x D&D. I don't think it can be used to support any general claims about the hobby as a whole. You've had almost 3 times the respondents in a relatively narrowly focused blog (although a very popular blog). Repeat the poll at GenCon (though even there you have problems with population selection) you may see a different result.
ReplyDeletedon't understand the 'skew' comments. James' poll did not attempt to be market research, or a reflection of the entirety of D&D gamers. It was, simply, a poll of those who read his blog. The evidence as presented thus gives a pretty accurate (if unscientific) picture of the readership of James' blog, and confirms that many of the are similar to James (joining in the 70s or 80s). In this (limited) sense the poll seems unobjectionable (and very interesting)
Rick (Geleg)I don't really know any middle school, high school or college kids so I can't speak about them. I do have contact with a number of recent college grads through work. What I have observed is that the ones who play RPGs are not "lifestyle" gamers. They don't seem to do much related to the hobby outside of actually playing. They don't seem to read blogs or follow message boards or anything like that. Even their games seem to happen on a sort of ad-hoc basis rather than having a regular "game night". It's just one more activity they do on an occasional basis between dating, clubbing, outdoor activities, grad school night classes and so on.
4e seems to be aimed at this crowd and is about all I hear them talk about. It seems to suit their gaming pattern well.I think age of the respondents has a big impact on the results as well. Generally you "enter" this hobby somewhere in the 10-15 year old range. If you haven't played D&D by the time you are 15 chances probably drop dramatically that you will EVER play it. So the poll is mirroring when the respondents were in the prime "D&D starting age group" which is going to be between 1980 and 1984 if most of the respondents are in their late 30s or 40s, as I believe we are.
It would be interesting to see a poll of respondents that still actually play D&D today on a regular basis (at least once a month) and when they entered the hobby. I think that poll would have a lot less respondents and I think those respondents would have entered the hobby a lot later, thus removing the "nostalgia of days past" demographic that I'm sure visit this site in large numbers.- AnonymousOctober 28, 2011 at 11:01 AM
Actually I had a hard time deciding whether to mark '74-'79 or '80-'84. I *encountered* the hobby in grade school circa 1978, but I only got to play in high school circa 1980. But yeah, I can see how a majority of current players came in when the game became popular, and why there's so much nostalgia about those early editions (not that the OSR is solely about that), or why our brains are more tolerant of intricate or confusing rules than most kids on my lawn nowadays. As somebody-or-other once said, the "Golden Age" of anything is 14.
ReplyDelete "In the 1980s you have popular culture depicting D&D as a fad. Now it is depeicted as nerdy basement-dweller's obsession."
I believe exactly the opposite. Before World of Warcraft RPGs (D&D specifically) were depicted as a weird games for weird people, agreed. Today, because of WoW, RPGs are universally accepted. I can speak to almost any 15-30 year old today and use terms like "gaining a level" or "experience points" or even "killing orcs" and they will not only know what I am talking about but not even bat an eye at the reference due to the pervasive presence of WoW and other CRPGs. I was never able to do that at any other time period I can think of, even the '80s.don't understand the 'skew' comments. James' poll did not attempt to be market research, or a reflection of the entirety of D&D gamers. It was, simply, a poll of those who read his blog. The evidence as presented thus gives a pretty accurate (if unscientific) picture of the readership of James' blog, and confirms that many of the are similar to James (joining in the 70s or 80s). In this (limited) sense the poll seems unobjectionable (and very interesting)
Took the words out of my mouth; I agree completely.
This is the only RPG blog I read, incidentally, because I'm unaware of any others which are heavily geared to the Golden Age of D&D. If Grognardia ever shuts down, I don't know what I'll do."As somebody-or-other once said, the "Golden Age" of anything is 14."
Very wise but I do believe that a second golden age (platinum age?) is happening right now.
- GenCon just had it's largest attendance ever.
- The current edition of D&D is widely popular and supported.
- The previous edition of D&D is even more popular and better supported than the current thanks to Paizo and Pathfinder.
- The older editions are essentially "in support" again thanks to the OSR and third party games.
- The internet is keeping players connected across the world.
- New RPGs and RPG material is easier to publish, distribute, and purchase thanks to electronic publishing and the web.
I know from my personal experience my D&D group plays more regular, more focused, and more enjoyable games then we ever have in our almost 30 year history together because of all of the above.
I can, right now, find new, high quality material, for ANY version of D&D that has ever been created and buy it with a few clicks of a mouse and have it in my hands instantly or within 1 day at the longest. Unprecedented.The hobby in it's entirety? I think your poll is undoubtedly missing a few bumps, as is the ENWORLD one. Given the large influx of a certain type with White Wolf's games in the late 90's and early 2000's, as well as Open, it seems likely a few elements are missing that people wouldn't bother to go here for. But then it'd be hard to get a proper scientific poll.
ReplyDelete- AnonymousOctober 28, 2011 at 1:07 PM
"But then it'd be hard to get a proper scientific poll."
Short of calling a sufficient number random members of the US (or world) population and asking them about their D&D exposure, you can't get a scientific poll. Internet polls are for entertainment purposes only, just like Tarot cards and telephone psychics. Just some random notes:
* There was no birth spike involved in the grognard generation, at least not that I could see in census records.
* Examine growth of mass market paperback books at that time, along with comic book distribution.
* Examine the presence of 'gifted' programs or other supplemental literacy activies in different school districts.
* Trace 'Art Goes To School' or other art oriented public school programs that affected grognards. There's a really huge amount of 'visual' people among gamers.
* Grognards exist before the 'math and science' tyranny took over public education. Can this be factored in?
* Examine the growth of toy stores and, more importantly, toy 'sections' in major department stores.
* Examine disposable income of families in the seventies and note the shift from single to dual income vs. number of children.
* Alliance Game Distributors... owned by Diamond, a comics retailer so large it was investigated for anti-trust violations (not an attack, just a statement of size and scale). A centralized distribution giant emerged in 1982 for comics/games right when the 'big toy store' chains possibly were in an upswing. Perfect storm?
* Look for distribution changes that could have been influenced by the Copyright Act of '76 which took effect in '78. The copyright info for many TSR works lists 'work for hire' in the documentation. In light of the C.A.'76, did any laws change that handled printed publications and 'work for hire' scenarios? (This isn't really an I.P. or licensing point - the thought is that changes in legal recognition of written works could affect retail distribution).
* Hypothesize that TSR didn't exist. What other parties would've brought RPGs to market and where were they located? Look for state laws affecting distribution of game/written products (i.e. taxes, etc.) Even the abundance of trees (and, thus, paper) in a given state could have an impact on costs of hobby publishing at that time...
* Look for pre-grognard generation nostalgia. I didn't buy a copy of The Hobbit, the one I read as a kid was my father's. Hypothesis: D&D wasn't a 'fad' of its own - it was the response to several other overlapping fads of the previous generation (Tolkien, Mythology, Pulp, Radio dramas, etc.) D&D, Boot Hill, Gamma World... all TSR needed was a real 'monster movie' RPG and they would have had the Baby Boomers completely covered!
* Take a second, very careful, look at some of TSR's microgames and non-D&D products. Many seem to be paper and dice versions of Atari-style games. I believe the 'computer game' era actually began on the tabletop, and I know there were game designers who worked in tabletop and early video game work. Points of correlation between the two types of games could yield a clue to the grognards who played both.
* Look for real panics/worries in parents of that time. I remember the PSA's about kids getting killed in the woods, and don't underestimate the seventies fear of cults. These change the parental perspective on a bunch of young boys sitting around a table for fun. The 'old world' approach of 'boys should play outside' was interrupted by a more anxious parental climate. After all, miniatures in America were dominated by the dollhouse hobby.
If, by some magical means, we could have comprehensive spreadsheets of real data for the above points, I feel that we would see the explanations - or at very least a path of inquiry to them.
If we had enough data everything would fit and present answers.
Sorry for the long comment.wow! Turkish Proverb proves another sort of proverb about selective (mis)quotation. My comment, which he/she seems to be quoting, is that James' poll is *NOT* designed to poll the entirety of the hobby. It is merely a poll of those who read his blog. to maintain otherwise is a bit disingenuous
ReplyDeleteThis is the only RPG blog I read, incidentally, because I'm unaware of any others which are heavily geared to the Golden Age of D&D. If Grognardia ever shuts down, I don't know what I'll do.
These lists may be of interest:
Ye Olde School Blogs
RPG Blog List (Old School)Scottsz's comments are definitely in the right ballpark.
It would be possible to do survey work to explore this further. You could survey current GenCon attendees, with the caveat that congoers are not necessarily representative of the entire hobby (probably a little better off, a little more inclined to spend money on the hobby, etc.). Or pick a set of FLGSs, and survey their customers via either a mail-in or electronic survey (or both); caveats there, as well. In short, all surveys would have their limitations and potential biases. Control for those as much as is reasonable, and you *might* find something out. Social science research, gotta love it. :)The poll represents this niche pretty well I think.
There are however new players coming into the hobby not as many as when D&D was a fad or back in 1981 when console games and the Internet were not competing for our time but enough.
My current group for example has 6 regular players and 1 extra (he left but does play, dude makes mail armor for fun and is a hardcore geek) all adults (I think one is a teen but same-o) all of whom started no more than a few years ago with GURPS.
Since we play in a pretty old school style, well, its an old school game with new school rules.
I'll add, they've brought a lot of newness into the game too. The puzzle solving skills they've cultivated (in their words they play a lot of Silent Hill) , excellent roleplaying and solid creativity. For such new gamers, their skills are very high.
My other gaming friends have seen the same thing and even recruited a few new gamers via Warhammer 40K and L5R Crads.
The pathway is different and the types of games are different but they sit at a table, roll dice, and tell bad jokes. Good enough for me.Before World of Warcraft RPGs (D&D specifically) were depicted as a weird games for weird people, agreed. Today, because of WoW, RPGs are universally accepted. I can speak to almost any 15-30 year old today and use terms like "gaining a level" or "experience points" or even "killing orcs" and they will not only know what I am talking about but not even bat an eye at the reference due to the pervasive presence of WoW and other CRPGs. I was never able to do that at any other time period I can think of, even the '80s.
While I think other video games helped to popularize RPG-derived terms in popular usage, there's no doubt that WoW has contributed in a HUGE way to the popularization of a lot of D&D-style fantasy tropes.The twice a month Meet-up gaming group I attend has about 20 regulars. 5 or so are 20 and younger. Another 8 or so are in their 20's. About 7 are in the 30 + age group.
There are younger people still entering the hobby. Not as much as there once was, but they're there. They don't participate in the online RPG scene, are out of the loop on a lot of recent goings on, etc., being informed by word of mouth and their FLGS.
All is not lost. :)There are younger people still entering the hobby. Not as much as there once was, but they're there.
Of that I have no doubt! But there are also still younger people learning to play bridge, too, but I don't think that means there's going to be a resurgence of that once faddishly popular card game. If we're lucky, tabletop gaming is bringing in enough new blood to keep it going after we all shuffle off this mortal coil. I'm not convinced it is, though.I still contend the youngsters just aren't looking online as most of the people that play rpgs aren't looking online for RPG stuff.
Most likely they're just doing what would be called 'lurking' in James' day: not posting anything, not calling attention to themselves, not talking to anyone not in their fbook.If you haven't done it by 15, you're probably not going to.
Hrm. I take some issue with this. I have had four things in my recent life (say last 5 to 10 years) that have been more than a non-casual hobby: basketball, aikido, boardgames, and rolegames. While it's certainly true that I did some of those things before the age of 15 (OK, not aikido, but judo), it's also pretty safe to say that I did none of them to the level of a serious hobby. The only hobby activities I did as a child and/or young teen that I still engage in are reading and card-playing.
I picked up serious roleplaying at the age of 19 when I got included in the gaming group of a bunch of several older, and regular gamers: until very recently, I regularly played with this same group of games (i.e a stretch of about 25 years), and my current absence is really a temporary hiatus and not a permanent separation.
I picked up serious boardgaming coincident with the North American Mayfair publication of Settlers of Catan (some time in my 20s I think).
I picked up serious basketball in my mid- to late-thirties. Before that, I'd had an on-again off-again exposure to some serious volleyball as a hobby, but that was not as deeply involved as the basketball. For a stretch of almost ten years, I played about four to six hours of basketball a week, which I think is pretty serious commitment.
My current devotion to aikido has lasted almost four years, and is (replacing the basketball) in about the four to six hours a week commitment level.
My pre-15 activities might have introduced me to all these hobbies enough to let me know they could be fun, but I didn't do any of them with anything like the devotion I did during my University and later days.As somebody-or-other once said, the "Golden Age" of anything is 14.
Asimov said such in his introduction to Before the Golden Age.
"To anyone who has lived a life hat has not been utterly disastrous, there is an iridescent quality permeating its second decade. Memories of the firest decade, extending back to before the age of ten, are dim, uncertain, and incomplete. Beginning with the third decade, after twenty, life becomes filled with adult responsibility and turen to lead. But that second decade, from ten to twenty, is gold; it is in those years that we remember bliss."There was a series of posts on boing boing about a dad running a 4e game with his kids and their friends, most the players were about 6 years old... and now to digress.
I think D&D attracts a certain type of thinker, and those who stick with all share that specific I-don't-know-what. Like any niche hobby, alot of noodles will get thrown against the wall, not all will stick.
Just polling some of the older dudes at work, many profess to playing D&D back in the eighties, but didn't stick with it. These days, we are faced with a glut of other time-sinks that require much less work on the part of the individual which equals less noodles even hitting the wall and much less noodles sticking to it.
Still there are players out there. I ferret them out by sporting my Bag of Holding and flashing my d20 tattoo.To add some context, one can look at the demographics of this site, according to Qunatcast:
10% Under 18
24% 18-34
50% 35-49
17% 50+
A huge number of 35-49 year old compared to the general population.
By way of contrast, the DnD site:
27% Under 18
38% 18-34
25% 35-49
9% 50+
And US World of Warcraft:
27% Under 18
50% 18-34
17% 35-49
5% 50+
If I'm reading this right, according to Quantcast's data, the DnD site is the 5855th most popular in the US, slightly outranking TouchAracade--a well regarded source of reviews of iPhone games. Dungeons and Dragons seems to have quite a bit of life in it.- AnonymousOctober 28, 2011 at 8:16 PM
My limited exposure to under-20 gamers suggests that you're likely on to something, though the raises the further question as to why. Back in the '80s, if I'd had access to the Net and all the RPG-related stuff that's on it today, I know I'd have blown a lot of time there.
I'd like to propose the thought that it's much harder to fall off the beaten path online these days, so people don't find the net as useful of a resource for RPG things. Between search engines that are really good at returning the main stream results (look at the first few pages of results for a Google search of D&D, all pretty much main stream, no hint of the OSR or even the general independent RPG community short of a link to enworld) and the circular nature of Facebook / Blogs as the primary communications and people either never find the deep resources off the beaten path, or they find their one niche and never find any of the branches out. It's real easy to find yourself a blog or two that you like, and follow their links and within one or two clicks be back to where you started.
It's probably also worth considering that the younger players don't "need" the online community as much. To them the game is still young and fresh, the monster manuals and basic adventures will provide plenty of material. "Look for real panics/worries in parents of that time. I remember the PSA's about kids getting killed in the woods, and don't underestimate the seventies fear of cults."
What a great point. That's probably worth a post itself - the culture in which D&D was born. Some wonderful questions in that list. Some worth unpacking. For instance, folks seem to forget the obsession with cults that was society-wide in the 70s and early 80s. It wasn't just church groups. In fact, it's been argued that the religious 'witch hunts' were actually in response to the cultural obsession with cults, not the cause. Which is why it wasn't just church groups that jumped all over this new fad called D&D. So a lot there worth unpacking and looking at in those questions.
As for the results, I can't really speak to it, since I don't know enough of the whole history of the game (one of the reasons I enjoy this blog - learning).A professional market researcher's viewpoint: You have simply profiled the more committed members of your readership. People like me who started playing OD&D in the 1980s like this blog partially because of the nostalgia it brings. It would be poor science to extrapolate your findings to roleplayers in general. Having said that, your blog is excellent and I look forward to reading it every day.
ReplyDelete- AnonymousOctober 31, 2011 at 12:05 AM
As far as I know OSR wasn't "meant" to recruit new players. Rather, the OSR exists to recapture experiences lost in newer rule sets.
ReplyDelete Has anyone mentioned that this poll is bad news for the OSR, as opposed to the hobby in general?
If you assume that the OSR is 'meant' to get people into old-school games that weren't into them at the time.
I'm not sure the OSR is meant to do anything, since there's no single direction the movement has taken. Some of its participants and well-wishers undoubtedly hope that it'll get new people into the old school scene, but others don't, and others still simply don't care. I'm more of the "don't care" variety myself. I do this stuff because I like it. That others do, including some others who never experienced old school gaming the first time around, is just a bonus.Rather, the OSR exists to recapture experiences lost in newer rule sets.
The OSR grew out of efforts to provide the means to legally produce adventures and other support materials for out of out-of-print versions of D&D. Once that happened, it went off in a lot of different directions, some of which are complementary and some of which aren't. That's why I always find it funny when people talk about "the OSR" as if it had one mind on almost any topic, even if there is a shared love by all its participants in the games of the past.Total anecdote but I know that out of the gamers in my B/X (now Labyrinth Lord) group.
I started playing 2nd ed when I was 12 or 13 years old in 92.
Our DM started with the Red Box when he was around 12ish back in the early 80s.
One of us started with 3rd ed when he was around 19. Probably around 2007ish.
I got my sister playing when she was 19 or so around the beginning of 3rd ed in 2000 I think.
My wife, her co-worker and her co-workers brother all started with B/X two years ago.
At least in my little neck of the woods we're still drawing in new players.


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subset: commoncrawl


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My inner six-year-old is unable to look at that picture without feeling compelled to share some of my very favorite elephant jokes. (Please set aside your juice boxes before proceeding.)
How do you stop an elephant from charging?
Take away his credit card before he goes into the yarn shop.
Why did the elephant cross the road?
To get to the yarn shop on the other side.
Why do elephants paint their toenails red?
Because they need something to do while they wait for the yarn shop to open.
What did the grape say to the elephant?
Nothing–grapes can't talk! But if grapes could talk, the grape would have asked for directions to the yarn shop.
If you see an elephant in your car, what time is it?
Time to drive the elephant to the yarn shop.
Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Fair
My inner six-year-old is also busting with anticipation because next week (July 16-18) is the annual Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Fair in Grayslake, Illinois. Have you been? This year I get to not only go and wander around the market, the art show, and the exhibits, but I'm also teaching.
The problem with teaching, of course, is that I can't also take classes, and my friends Edie Eckman (the knitting and crochet sorceress who taught me intarsia without killing me) and Carol Rhoades (of Spin Off and PieceWork magazines, et al., and on whom I have the most uncontrollable schoolboy crush) are also in the line-up.


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I tend to do my grocery shopping on Saturdays so Friday nights dinner very often turns into a clean out the fridge meal. This week I was enjoying the flavour combos of mushrooms and gorgonzola in the burgers smothered in a caramelized onion, mushroom and blue cheese sauce and asparagus and gorgonzola in the asparagus in gorgonzola sauce and I had some of each of the ingredients left over. Pastas are great for clean out the fridge meals and I immediately decided to make a pasta with asparagus and sauteed mushrooms in a gorgonzola sauce. My choice of pasta when using asparagus is penne for its similar shape and I had some whole wheat penne in my pantry that sounded perfect. Pastas like this are a breeze to make and this one turned out great! The gorgonzola sauce was so tasty and it went really well together with the asparagus and sauteed mushrooms. The juicy asparagus seemed to just burst in your mouth and cut through the creaminess of the sauce providing a nice contrast and cleansing your pallet for the next bite. I really like how these throw together, clean out the fridge, type of meals can turn out to be some of the best.
Penne with Asparagus and Mushrooms in a Gorgonzola Sauce
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 4 ounces mushrooms (sliced)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 pound penne (gluten free for gluten free)
- 1 clove garlic (chopped)
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme (chopped)
- 1 splash dry white wine
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 ounce gorgonzola (crumbled)
- 1/2 pound asparagus (cleaned, trimmed and cut into 1 inch slices shaped like penne)
- Melt the butter in a pan.
- Add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and saute until tender, about 10 minutes.
- Add the pasta to boiling water and cook until al dente, abut 7-10 minutes.
- Add the garlic and thyme to the pan and saute until fragrant, about a minute.
- Add the white wine and deglaze the pan.
- Add the milk, heavy cream and gorgonzola.
- Place the asparagus into a primed steamer until tender, about 3-4 minutes.
- Simmer the sauce until it thickens, several minutes.
- Drain the pasta and toss in the gorgonzola sauce along with the asparagus and mushrooms.


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Our committed financial professionals know the path to fulfillment begins with getting to know who you are, what matters to you and how you've made decisions so far. From there, we guide you toward a personalized strategy designed to help you make smart choices and a financial portfolio that can help you live your life with confidence. Only then do we offer advice on the specific products that are the best fit for your plan - and your life.
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There are reasons for the decisions you've made so far. We listen, learn and build on your existing assets — respecting, not replacing, choices you've made.
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As your goals change over time, your financial strategy may have to as well. With guidance designed for you and products built to meet your needs at every stage of life, we help you secure your well-being, so you can live the life that's most meaningful to you.


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Despite a vote in the House of Commons which rejected leaving without a deal, it remains a possibility right up until a deal is struck. Here are some ways businesses can deal with the transition.
As the clock ticks down to the 29 March 2019, when the UK is scheduled to officially leave the EU at 11pm, there is still much uncertainty around what Brexit will mean for UK business.
Planning for it has been difficult for businesses of every size and sector, but for firms that buy and sell to the EU it's important to have contingency plans.
Almost half (43%) of the UK's exports are to the EU and generate £235 billion in export revenue, so the EU will remain an important trade partner.
Changing trade rules
If the UK should leave the EU without a deal, the expectation is that trade will immediately revert to World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.
For another two weeks, goods moving between the EU and UK do not need to be checked at borders and have no tariffs imposed.
Under WTO rules goods would be subject to customs checks and tariffs, which could increase processing times at borders.
Relaxed rules for importers
The Government has said customs checks would be relaxed for businesses importing goods to the UK in the event of no-deal, but this does not guarantee the same for those exporting to the EU.
Importers will file a simplified online form up to two hours before a lorry is due to cross the English Channel by ferry, or one hour if arriving by Eurostar.
Importers will have to update the online entry within 24 hours to notify HMRC of the goods' arrival, with the duty payable up to a month later.
Manage your supply chain
Businesses that rely on EU imports – particularly those that operate on a just-in-time stock system
– will need to plan ahead.
Sourcing an alternative supplier within the UK, or from outside the EU, could help eliminate this issue, or you could look at alternative planning arrangements which might include building up stock lines that you know will be in demand and are imported from the EU.
Currency fluctuations
Three in five UK businesses with suppliers in the EU are already reporting that currency fluctuations have increased their costs.
Sourcing within the UK could help protect your profitability as payments and invoices would be paid in one currency, reducing the risk of uncertainty.
If sourcing within the UK is not an option, paying your suppliers in their local currency can reduce currency volatility, while forward exchange contracts might allow you to lock in favourable exchange rates.
Know your target market
The UK is home to the third largest e-commerce market in the world and online giants, such as Amazon and Alibaba, are an easy way to reach new international customers.
Research from the Office for National Statistics in 2017 showed 54% of UK businesses had no website, and getting online is something any business should immediately take advantage of.


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Artists First: College Art Faculty of the Quad Cities
Artists First: College Art Faculty of the Quad Cities
The Figge works with all the colleges and universities in the region to engage students with projects, such as the College Invitational exhibition, College Night, brown bag lunches with visiting artists, classes in our studios and intern and volunteer opportunities. College art professors are our unsung partners in these projects. But beginning September 13, the exhibition Artists First will focus on their talents and achievements as working artists.
The exhibition will feature works by art professors from Ashford University, Augustana College, Black Hawk College, Eastern Iowa Community College, Knox College, Monmouth College, St. Ambrose University and Western Illinois University. (Works by the art faculty of the University of Iowa will be featured in their biennial exhibition at the Figge in March 2015.) The works will be selected by guest curators Pamela White, professor of Museum Studies at Western Illinois University and former director of the University of Iowa Museum of Art, and Leslie Bell, artist and retired art professor at St. Ambrose.
This exhibition will be on view September 13, 2014 through January 11, 2015.
Artists First is presented through a generous ArtsDollars grant from Quad City Arts
Images (clockwise from upper left): Kristin Quinn, St. Ambrose University, Whistle Down the Wind, 2008-2009, oil on canvas; Mark Holmes, Knox College, Crosswise, 2013, acrylic and pencil on wood construction; Joseph Lappie, St. Ambrose University, How It Feels To Lose, 2102, carved birch plywood, ink, gouache; Natalie Shelly, Monmouth College, Correspondence II, 2012, oxidation fired porcelain, slip, glaze, metallic oxide stain, IFB, glaze, steel, thread
Companion Events
Opening Reception - September 18
Artists First PechaKucha Night - October 9
Art Talks - October 12, 26
Panel Discussion - October 18


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Weekly Jobless Claims Drop; Mortgage Rates Edge Up
New claims for unemployment benefits fell to 326,000 in the week that ended July 27 — the lowest level for initial jobless claims in more than five years, according to the Labor Department.
Employment data for the month of July is due to be released Friday. But for now, the weekly jobless claims numbers are being hailed as another sign that the U.S. economy is gaining strength.
"This is good," Moody's Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi tells NPR's Newscast unit. "It's consistent with solid job growth — 200,000 jobs per month. You know, we need more because we have such a high rate of unemployment. But it's not too bad."
As we reported earlier, the employment data sent the S&P 500 index to a new height in early trading Thursday.
Separately, a new report finds average mortgage rates for 30-year fixed loans increased slightly to 4.39 percent. The latest data from mortgage buyer Freddie Mac shows rates rose 0.7 percent for the week ending August 1. Last year at this time, rates for the same loans averaged 3.55 percent.
Fifteen-year rates also increased 0.7 percent, to an average of 3.43 percent. They, too, were lower a year ago: averaging 2.83 percent.


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Forumwarz is the first "Massively Single-Player" online RPG completely built around Internet culture.
You are currently looking at Flamebate, our community forums. Players can discuss the game here, strategize, and role play as their characters.
You need to be logged in to post and to see the uncensored versions of these forums.
Aldo_Anything, Catt although, Evil Trout, Jalapeno Bootyhole, Nicco, Ricket, Sergeant Cid, and spacekadt
Wondering who's been pranked lately? Then our
Pranks List
is just what you need!
Klan Talk
Create recruitment threads here, or discuss your latest Forumwarz Domination excesses.


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The hacker-activist group Anonymous is claiming responsibility for taking down a government website Saturday. NPR's Giles Snyder reports for our Newscast unit:
"The group says it hijacked the website of the U.S. Sentencing Commission to avenge the death of Aaron Swartz, the Internet activist who committed suicide earlier this month. The hackers also claim to have infiltrated several government computers and are threatening to make secret information public."
Family and friends blamed federal prosecutors for aggressively pursuing Swartz for allegedly downloading millions of academic articles with the intention of distributing them for free, Snyder says. Just 26 at the time of his death, Swartz was a co-founder of the social media website Reddit.
Visitors to the government agency's home page saw a message saying a line had been crossed. Anonymous claims to have "infiltrated several government computer systems and is threatening to make public secret information," Snyder says.
As of this writing, pages at http://www.ussc.gov/ were still not available.
Update Sunday, 1:13 a.m. ET. Up And Running:
The site now seems to be working again. ZDNet reported it had been restored at 11 p.m. ET. Saturday.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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Shop here for hiking, camping, climbing, cycling, paddling, fly-fishing, snow skiing, and running gear. Whichever outdoor activity interests you, you can find all the gear you need at this site. Attractive and well-organized site makes it easy to find equipment and supplies.
Benz Campground Directory
An extensive campgrounds and camping directory for the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Links to other pertinent sites.
Camp Channel
Looking for a summer camp for your child? Then tune in to the Camp Channel. Here, you can search through a huge database of summer camps by theme and geographical location. Covers camps in the United States and all over the world. Visit the Camp Store for links to other sites that sell camping gear. Very attractive site, easy to navigate.
Campground Directory
Find a campground or RV park quickly and easily using the searchable directory or pull-down menus. Special kids area is full of activities to keep kids busy on long trips, and includes safety tips and campfire recipes.
The Camping Source
The place on the Internet to find anything that has to do with camping: clothes, recipes, tents, backpacks, equipment for sale, trailers, RV shows, RV dealers, RV classifieds, weather, links, and more!
Besides descriptions of Coleman products you can buy online, you'll find advice on how to prepare for a camping trip, how to set up camp, where to go, how to cook meals in the great outdoors, and more.
America's Roof
View a map of the United States or the world to identify the highest points in the world that you might want to hike. In addition to helping you find places to hike, this site helps you catch up on hiking news and register online for upcoming events.
GORPGreat Outdoor Recreation Page
Find trails, vacations, books, and more at this comprehensive site. Online discussions about hiking-related topics, news, and equipment-selection tips help to keep you informed about hiking and the great outdoors. Links to retail merchants where you can buy equipment, books, and maps. Pop-up ads can become a little annoying, but except for that slight drawback, this is an excellent site. On your first visit to this site, you'll quickly realize why it's the best of the best.


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Moving can be quite stressful and tiring, but also good for finding things we don't remember we own anymore.
After unpacking my cookbooks and magazines, I found a folder filled with very old print outs from other blogs and websites. There were some great recipes there and I did not recall them at all; The one I post today was among them – I printed it almost two years ago!
My dear coworker Gisele brought me some delicious tapioca pancakes last week, filled with flaked coconut and sweetened condensed milk – quite a decadent breakfast treat.
I'm not going to be the only one whose jeans no longer fit, so my revenge was to bring some of this cake to Gi. :)
Cinnamon apple cake
slightly adapted from here
185g unsalted butter, room temperature
1 ¼ cups (250g) sugar
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
3 eggs
2 cups (280g) all purpose flour
2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ cup (60ml) milk
1 ½ Gala apples, cored, in thin slices - don't peel them
1/3 cup jam of your liking, slightly melted if necessary - you may want to use one that matches the fruit color*
Preheat the oven to 200ºC/392ºF; grease and line a 20x30cm rectangular cake pan.
In a medium bowl, sieve together flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Set aside.
Cream together butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, fold in the flour mixture and the milk.
Transfer the batter to prepared pan and level the top. Arrange the apple slices on top of the batter. Brush the apples with jam and bake for 30-35 minutes, checking after 25.
Remove from the oven, brush the top of the cake again with jam and let cool in the pan.
* I used Dr. Oetker's clear glaze, but the apples weren't so shiny – I should have used apricot jam


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Fairly or not, African-Americans have become the public face of resistance to same-sex marriage, owing to their religious beliefs and the outspoken opposition of many black pastors.
Yet the presence of gays and lesbians in black churches is common. And the fact that they often hold leadership positions in their congregations is the worst kept secret in black America.
While many black pastors condemn gays and lesbians from the pulpit, the choir lofts behind them often are filled with gay singers and musicians. Some male pastors themselves have been entangled in scandals involving alleged affairs with men.
"Persons who are in the closet serve on the deacon boards, serve in the ministry, serve in every capacity in the church," the Rev. Dennis W. Wiley, pastor of Covenant Baptist United Church of Christ in Maryland, says of black churches. Wiley is a prominent advocate of gay marriage. "I do believe a certain hypocrisy is there."
Persons who are in the closet serve on the deacon boards, serve in the ministry, serve in every capacity in the church. ... I do believe a certain hypocrisy is there.
President Obama's recent announcement that he supports same-sex marriage turned the spotlight on reservations many blacks harbor about gay rights. Most polls show African-Americans evenly divided about gay marriage, but the vocal opposition, led by preachers, has gained more attention.
"This particular decision I find appalling, and I could not disagree with the president more on it," the Rev. Patrick Wooden, senior pastor of the Upper Room Church of God in Christ in North Carolina, said on NPR's All Things Considered. Wooden helped lead the recent campaign that outlawed gay marriage in his state.
Last week, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People passed a resolution endorsing same-sex marriage as a civil right to be protected by the U.S. Constitution.
Churches Reap Benefits
Some say pastors' hostility cuts hard against the history of how countless black churches have flourished. The virtuosity of gay singers, musicians and composers has been the driving force in developing popular gospel choirs — even chart-topping, Grammy-winning acts — that make money for a church, help expand congregations and raise the profiles of pastors.
It all happens under an unspoken "don't ask, don't tell" custom that allows gay people to be active in the church, though closeted, and churches to reap the benefits of their membership.
Some say the arrangement is not only hypocritical, but exploitative.
"On the one hand, you're nurtured in the choir but you also have to sit through some of those fire and brimstone sermons about homosexuality being an abomination," says E. Patrick Johnson, an openly gay gospel singer and author of Sweet Tea: An Oral History of Black Gay Men of the South.
"But a lot of these choirs or choir directors, or ministers of music, will not be open about their sexuality for fear of repercussion from their pastors and church members, but they allow the church to exploit their talent," says Johnson, also a Northwestern University professor whose expertise includes black studies and sexuality.
Johnson and others believe that modern gospel music itself is largely defined by the artistry of black gay men.
Bishop Yvette Flunder of Oakland, Calif., is openly gay and the founder of The Fellowship, an organization of black pastors and churches openly welcoming of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members. Flunder once said during a 2010 interview that gospel choirs "always" have been havens for LGBT people: "In our indigenous expression, that wasn't a problem. It was Christianity that demonized gay people."
As Johnson puts it, "You can't throw a shoe back through history without hitting gay and lesbian women and even transgender singers."
Johnson describes church choirs as a welcoming community within a community "where you meet other gay people, so it becomes a form of socializing."
Commentator Keith Boykin, who is African-American and gay, calls it a paradox: "The church might be the most homophobic and most homotolerant of any institution in the black community."
Wooden, the pastor in North Carolina, agrees that the presence of gays and lesbians in choirs or other church ministries reveals the "duplicity and, frankly, the hypocrisy of the black church. ... The thing that troubles me is these people are almost taken advantage of. As long as they can sing, people look the other way."
However, Wooden insists "we are not all homophobic." He says he welcomes members of the LGBT community to worship at his church. He says his church also has continued to support gay members who have contracted HIV/AIDS, unlike some other churches that ostracize them — a practice many people on both sides of the issue say has been common.
But that's where Wooden's self-described sense of fairness ends. He forbids LGBT people from participating in the choir or any other church ministries.
"If you love them — truly love them — you will tell them the truth on the front side," Wooden says. "We believe homosexuality is a sin. Those who serve, you want their lifestyles to uphold the standards of the church. This is not limited to homosexuals or lesbians. If I know an individual is committing adultery or living with a member of the opposite sex who they're not married to, they can't serve either."
Consequences, Whether Closeted Or Out
A small but growing number of churches, such as the Rev. Wiley's and Flunder's City of Refuge United Church of Christ, publicly welcome LGBT members, and their ranks are swelling with people leaving intolerant churches.
But many others say they are torn between their allegiance to their churches, which form the cultural and institutional backbone of black communities, and their desire to live free of homophobia. They often chose the former, convinced that their sexuality is a sin.
"They would rather suppress their identity than denounce their church," says Sharon J. Lettman-Hicks, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, an LGBT advocacy group. "I've seen people refuse to divorce themselves from their church in spite of the ignorance that spews from the pulpit. ... It's their way of repenting. They victimize themselves through self-oppression."
Gospel music superstar and megachurch pastor Donnie McClurkin shocked the non-gospel world years ago by revealing in a 2001 book that God "delivered" him from a gay "lifestyle" that he said was a result of being sexually abused as a boy.
McClurkin, who has said being gay is a choice, was criticized by the gay community for setting back the LGBT goal of gaining acceptance.
When gospel music star Tonex (Anthony Charles Williams II) came out in 2009, the gospel music world turned on him, and his record sales plummeted. He left his family church, where he'd been a pastor, and reinvented himself as B. Slade, now a favorite in the LGBT music scene.
Rise Of Black Homophobia: Morality Turns Political
For decades, black ministers addressed LGBT people in their sermons only occasionally. This was true even as HIV/AIDS began claiming the lives of numerous African-American men in black churches, especially gospel singers in the early 1990s.
By 2004, a number of high-profile black ministers emerged as outspoken opponents of same-sex marriage as part of their alignment with the conservative Christian movement, which helped re-elect President George W. Bush that year. Black ministers and black lawmakers helped pass gay marriage bans in several states. In exchange, ministers received federal funds for their community programs through Bush's faith-based initiative.
In 2006, the National Black Justice Coalition held its first Black Church Summit in Atlanta, at which the Rev. Al Sharpton became the highest-profile pastor to denounced homophobia and call for greater inclusion of LGBT people.
Pastors No Strangers To Gay Sex Scandals
The sexual behavior of some male pastors, many of them also gospel singers, also has stoked rumors or led to scandal.
Bishop Eddie Long, the leader of one of the nation's largest black churches, in suburban Atlanta, was sued in 2010 by three young men who claimed Long coerced them into sexual relationships. Long denied the accusations and the cases were settled out of court.
The controversy was all the more notable because Long was a prominent supporter of Georgia's gay marriage ban, passed in 2004, and a proposed U.S. constitutional ban. He rankled many civil rights veterans when he and the Rev. Bernice King, a daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King (who supported gay marriage), led a march to protest same-sex marriage that started at the King family crypt.
"Some of my colleagues protest too greatly," Wiley says.
Prior to the accusations against Long, most controversies rarely escaped mention inside black communities and gospel music circles.
The Bay Area in the 1970s had arguably the most visible presence of LGBT members in black churches, just as the broader gay rights movement had gained momentum in the region. The Love Center Church in Oakland, Calif., founded by the late Bishop Walter Hawkins, one of gospel music's biggest stars in the 1970s and 1980s, made waves for welcoming black gays and lesbians.
Following the 1991 death of the Rev. James Cleveland, the gospel music legend still regarded as the "king" of the genre, a male member of Cleveland's choir sued his estate claiming that he contracted HIV due to his five-year sexual relationship with the singing icon. The lawsuit was settled out of court.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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Jacksonville Garage Door And Opener - Garage Door Services 32205 - 904-464-1521
Jacksonville Garage Door And Opener is a premier garage door service company that has been operating out of Jacksonville, FL 32205 for decades. Being a locally owned and operated firm, we've forged deep connections with the community and have managed to win over a large base of customers in a very short span. Today, a large number of residences and commercial properties call on us for their garage door service needs and trust us to provide reliable, on time, qualitative and affordable service.
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text: What are Aquatic Invasive Species? We've all experienced the impacts from aquatic invasive species in our trout waters all across the country. Some of us have slipped on rocks covered in Didymo (rock snot), or crunched over a host of invasive New Zealand mud snails as we waded through cold water in search of trout. In some cases, the impacts on the fish and our fishing are minimal, but in others, they can be devastating. The Issue From whirling disease to exotic fish invasions, there is scientific data that backs up the assertion that aquatic invasive species are among the top threats to America's trout and salmon. And the problem isn't just in your local river—invasive species have invaded waters all over America. Yellowstone Lake is infested with lake trout from Lake Michigan; whirling disease has infected some of America's greatest rivers, like the Madison and the Arkansas; rock snot is prevalent in the Delaware River, and New Zealand mud snails are showing up in waters nationwide. These infestations not only impact our prized trout populations, but they take a bite out of angling opportunity. TU's Approach The good news is that, through science and education, TU understands the challenges that accompany aquatic invasive species in our rivers and lakes. We have a vast network of volunteer anglers who are already mobilizing in places like Yellowstone and the Delaware River, and we're teaching and training our volunteers how to identify invasive species and how to prevent their spread. Educating anglers of the threats to our fish—and our fishing—is the best approach to stemming the tide and perhaps, one day, reclaiming our rivers and lakes from these noxious invaders. Get Involved Chances are, there's a local TU Chapter nearby with resources to help you get involved in this important effort to educate and mobilize anglers against the spread of aquatic invasive species. Additionally, you can contact Dave Kumlien for more information on TU's efforts to raise awareness—and funding—to address this very real problem on trout streams all across America.


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Talk:Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America
I agree that it is notable that bishops from all jurisdictions, including ROCOR, are participants in the GA. However, I question the validity of pointing out that this is a difference from SCOBA. If I understood my local clergy correctly, ROCOR was part of SCOBA at the beginning, and it was only recently that their participation was blocked (and OCA, which had previously been excluded was now included).
My suggestion is to drop the sentence noting ROCOR's inclusion as a difference from SCOBA.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Jkotinek (talk • contribs) .
- The ROCOR was never a part of SCOBA. Indeed, when it was founded in 1960, there was no way you'd be able to get both the Metropolia (who were founding members) and the ROCOR in the same room. In fact, it was only just a couple of years ago that the MP bishop became a part of SCOBA. —Fr. Andrew talk contribs (THINK!) 15:10, June 15, 2010 (UTC)
List of 55 Hierarchs
I propose we include the full list of the 55 hierarchs that were present, in the article. I have produced the list below, preserving the order of bishops' names from the official release.
I have provided OrthodoxWiki links to all the Bishops that I was able to identify (since only their first names were provided in the official release); if someone could kindly double check the links below for accuracy against the official list (again, the order is the same), I would appreciate it. I have bolded those names I was not able to identify, or whose full title I could not determine.
Would be nice to have an article on all 55 hierarchs in OW. Thx. Angellight 888 05:17, June 15, 2010 (UTC)
"Of the sixty-six Hierarchs in the region, the following 55 were present at this Assembly:"
- Archbishop Demetrios (Trakatellis) of America, Chairman
- Metropolitan Philip (Saliba) of New York, Vice Chairman
- Archbishop Justinian (Ovchinnikov) of Naro-Fominsk, Vice Chairman
- Bishop Basil (Essey) of Wichita, Secretary
- Archbishop Antony (Scherba) of Hierapolis, Treasurer
- Metropolitan Iakovos (Garmatis) of Chicago
- Metropolitan Constantine (Bahan) of Irinoupolis
- Metropolitan Athenagoras (Aneste) of Mexico
- Metropolitan Methodios (Tournas) of Boston
- Metropolitan Isaiah (Chronopoulos) of Denver
- Metropolitan Nicholas (Smisko) of Amissos
- Metropolitan Alexios (Panagiotopoulos) of Atlanta
- Metropolitan Nikitas (Lulias) of Dardanellia
- Metropolitan Nicholas (Pissare) of Detroit
- Metropolitan Gerasimos (Michaleas) of San Francisco
- Metropolitan Evangelos (Kourounis) of New Jersey
- Metropolitan Paisios (Loulourgas) of Tyana
- Archbishop Yurij (Kalistchuk) of Toronto
- Bishop Christophoros (Rakintzakis) of Andida
- Bishop Vikentios (Malamatenios) of Apameia
- Bishop Savas (Zembillas) of Troas
- Bishop Andonios (Paropoulos) of Phasiane
- Bishop Ilia (Katre) of Philomelion
- Bishop Hilarion (Rudnyk) of Edmonton
- Bishop Andriy (Peshko) of Krateia
- Bishop Demetrios (Kantzavelos) of Mokissos
- Bishop Daniel (Zelinskyy) of Pamphilon (UOC-USA)
- Bishop Antoun (Khouri) of Miami
- Bishop Joseph (Al-Zehlaoui) of Los Angeles
- Bishop Thomas (Joseph) of Charleston and Oakland
- Bishop Mark (Maymon) of Toledo
- Bishop Alexander (Mufarrij) of Ottawa
- Metropolitan Hilarion (Kapral) of New York
- Bishop Job (Smakouz) of Kashira (Patriarchal Parishes in Canada)
- Bishop Gabriel (Chemodakov) of Montreal
- Bishop Peter (Loukianoff) of Cleveland
- Bishop Theodosius (Ivashchenko) of Seattle
- Bishop George (Schaefer) of Mayfield
- Bishop Jerome (Shaw) of Manhattan
- Metropolitan Christopher (Kovacevich) of Midwestern America
- Bishop Maxim (Vasilijevic) of Western America
- Archbishop Nicolae (Condrea) of Chicago
- Bishop Ioan Casian (Tunaru) of Vicina
- Metropolitan Joseph (Bosakov) of America and Australia
- Metropolitan Jonah (Paffhausen) of Washington
- Archbishop Nathaniel (Popp) of Detroit
- Archbishop Seraphim (Storheim) of Ottawa
- Bishop Nikon (Liolin) of Boston
- Bishop Tikhon (Mollard) of Philadelphia
- Bishop Benjamin (Peterson) of San Francisco
- Bishop Melchisedek (Pleska) of Pittsburgh
- Bishop Alejo (Pacheco y Vera) of Mexico City
- Bishop Irineu (Duvlea) of Dearborn Heights
- Bishop Irénée (Rochon) of Quebec City
- Bishop Michael (Dahulich) of New York
- The article is about the body, not solely about the first meeting of that body. If we put this list in now, then we'd have to include another next year, etc. I say we leave it out and just link to the officially published documents. —Fr. Andrew talk contribs (THINK!) 15:10, June 15, 2010 (UTC)
- Good point, sounds good. Thanks father. :) Angellight 888 21:26, June 15, 2010 (UTC)


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Linux Mint has never been my favourite. Except, maybe, for the short-term flirt with Mint Xfce, which I ran on my laptop for several weeks. The end of that story was not as happy as the beginning. Mint Xfce was based on the testing branch of Debian, so another update of the codebase broke the system to an unrecognisable state. Finally, I got rid of Mint Xfce. It is no longer part of my laptop's landscape.
Nevertheless, it is impossible to avoid news about this operating system, because it is widely discussed. There are several reasons for this. They are somehow interlinked, but let me list them separately.
Linux Mint is currently #1 in the Distrowatch's popularity rating.Linux Mint's team decided to avoid the way of their major codebase owner, Ubuntu, and forked 2 (two!) desktop environments for use with their distribution, on top of standard KDE and Xfce. These desktop environments are Cinnamon and MATE.
This is the second reason I have an impulse to look at Linux Mint today. I downloaded both Linux Mint 13 Maya Cinnamon and Linux Mint 13 Maya MATE. It was a dilemma for me which one to start from. The draw favoured Cinnamon.
If you are unaware, Cinnamon is the Mint team's rework of the GNOME3 interface. It is built on GNOME3, but the user interface is different from the default GNOME Shell. This may sound familiar to some readers of my blog, because I've written some articles about distros that take the same approach: for example, Zorin OS. However, Zorin and Mint are different. Where Zorin aims to be as close as possible to the Windows interface, Linux Mint does not have this goal.
Linux Mint 13 Maya in general is based on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS.
I used Unetbootin to "burn" the ISO image to the USB stick. The size of this distribution, Linux Mint 13 Maya Cinnamon, is 817 Mb. When the USB stick was ready, I plugged it into the USB port of my Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Pi 1505 laptop. Reboot. Choose to boot from USB. Let's go!
Booting up
Unetbootin presented its usual boot menu. It included the usual items, like Boot Linux Mint and Boot Linux Mint in Compatibility Mode. The latter, I believe, means that all the fancy drivers are replaced with the more basic ones, for the systems with not-so-well supported hardware. Apart from these items, the Unetbootin menu listed elements, which allow checking the boot media, doing a memory check or booting from the HDD.
I chose the normal boot option for my Live USB run of Linux Mint 13 Maya Cinnamon.
Once the boot process started, the screen became empty and black. There was no fancy splash screen. It stayed like this until the very end, when the ready-to-use system was presented with the working Desktop. The only exception was the mouse cursor which appeared a little bit earlier.
Should I say that the boot process was quick? Probably not. Because it was very quick! Just a few seconds passed from the selection of boot menu item to the fully working desktop.
Linux Mint 13 Maya Cinnamon uses about 188 Mb to bootThe freshly booted |
Technically speaking, Linux Mint 13 Maya Cinnamon runs on Linux kernel 3.2.0-23.
The default desktop in Linux Mint 13 Maya Cinnamon has the classical layout. That was the purpose of Cinnamon: to get rid of the controversial GNOME Shell interface and revert it back to a more "classical" one.
There are some icons on the desktop: Home folder, Computer and Install.
The default wallpaper in Linux Mint has not changed for the last few releases. It is the name of the distribution, LinuxMint, written in a specific font and colours on a grey background. The only difference now is that instead of a version number in the circle at the bottom of the LinuxMint word, the word Maya is in the same circle.
There is a choice of about 20 alternative wallpapers in the default distribution, if you don't like the Linux Mint standard one. Most of the alternatives are landscapes, predominantly seaside or mountains.
There is a panel at the bottom of the screen. It is black, and there is no way to change the color, as far as I know. That's a generic GNOME3 issue.
The bottom-left corner is taken by the Menu button with a cogwheel icon. Next to it, you can find the Show Desktop button and quick launch panel with shortcuts for Firefox browser, Terminal and Nautilus file manager.
Here you may start struggling with icons, because Linux Mint has a long-term tendency to use non-standard icons for the applications. In particular, I've never seen these Firefox and Nautilus icons in any other distribution. You can find more cases as you dig into the menu.
The right part of the panel has the usual set of elements in the notification area: clocks, power meter, network manager, volume control, USB device manager.
Couple of observations here.
First of all, all the elements are in white on a black background. The only exception is the battery status icon, which is green. Why? From my point of view, there is no particular reason for it to be green.
Second, the Removable Devices icon has the image of... desktop computer. I don't understand the logical sequence how a removable device has become the computer itself.
The central part of the panel, as you would expect, is the taskbar, where all the current applications have their own buttons with icons and names.
You may have noticed that there is no switcher between the virtual desktops in the default Linux Mint 13 Maya Cinnamon operating system. Of course, this functionality is still available. If you need the switcher, then you can add this applet to the panel, using the menu from the little triangle in the notification area.
There are some desktop effects available out of the box. They are not annoying like exploding menus or wobbly windows, but rather mild ones: windows minimize, appear and close with scaling animation. Strangely enough, the Cinnamon configuration window had the checkbox for desktop effects unticked. I ticked it for an experiment, but nothing changed.
Linux Mint 13 Maya automatically recognised and configured the wireless network card of my laptop Intel 3945 ABG. My home wireless network was in the list of networks shown by the manager applet. It took me a few seconds to type in the security key and to connect.
Keyboard Layout
The default keyboard layout in Linux Mint 13 Cinnamon is English US. There is a Keyboard Layout element in the Preferences part of the menu. It calls up the standard Ubuntu/GNOME configuration window. I was able to configure it to my taste, replacing the English US with English UK + Russian and activating the Ctrl-Shift switch hotkey.
The touchpad was also automatically configured to my own taste, with edge scrolling and tapping working as I like them.
The major reason why I did not like Linux Mint in its previous GNOME-based versions was the menu.
Many people fancy the Mint menu. I hate it. It is far too complicated for me: several columns of shortcuts, working almost independently from each other. And when it takes almost the whole screen, it drives me crazy. Menu is not an application to me, it's a tool to start an application. It should be simple and small.
Did Cinnamon bring anything new here? Thank God, yes! Linux Mint 13 Cinnamon features a less complicated menu. It still has several sections. But it became smaller, from my point of view. Also, I start to get the logic in its organisation. To be honest, the logic is very similar to the one of GNOME Shell itself.
The menu can be called either by clicking on the panel button, or by pressing the Super (Windows) key on the keyboard.
To start with, the left column has some shortcuts which you can configure. By default, there are shortcuts to Firefox browser, Nautilus file manager, Terminal, Cinnamon Settings, XChatIRC and session management (shutdown, logout, lock). You can add more shortcuts by dragging-and-dropping them onto the menu section. I noticed a bug there. When you move a new icon towards the menu area, it adds a space for the future element. But if you change your mind, and do not drop new item to the shortcuts section, it still leaves an empty space.
The rest of the panel is the menu itself. The middle section shows menu groups, like All Applications, Office, Internet, Graphics and so on. The right part shows elements in that group. As I have said, this is similar to the principles of the GNOME Shell menu.
What is in the menu? The list if rather big, so you won't be left barebones.
Firefox 12.0 is the default and the only browser in Mint 13 Cinnamon. Other than Firefox, the Internet section includes Pidgin instant messenger client, Transmission torrent client, Desktop Sharing, XChatIRC and Thunderbird e-mail client. You may have noticed that Mint 13 does not a include remote desktop viewer application by default, so you would need to install it from the repositories.
LibreOffice 22.214.171.124 is the main element of the Office part of the Mint menu. There are applications like Writer, Calc, Impress and Base. There is no LibreOffice Math. Other than LibreOffice, there is also a Document Viewer. Something is wrong with LibreOffice in Mint 13. Apart from the extremely long initial startup time for this application, it used so many resources that fans of the laptop went bananas during the LibreOffice Calc startup.
LibreOffice Draw is a part of the Graphics section of the menu in Mint 13 Cinnamon. This section also includes GIMP, gThumb, SimpleScan, Document Viewer and Image Viewer. The collection here is quite powerful and logical, apart from the duplication created by the presence of both gThumb and Image Viewer.
The Sound & Video section of the Mint 13 menu has even more duplications: VLC, Banshee, GNOME MPlayer and Movie Player are all the same in their purpose: multimedia players. Why would you need all of them together? This collection of players is complemented by the Brasero disk burner and Sound Recorder.
The Accessories section includes a more or less standard set of applications: Tomboy notes, Calculator, Disk Utility, gEdit, Nautilus File Manager, Screenshot utility, Terminal. There is some controversy, I must say. I can understand why the Screenshot utility was moved from Graphics to Accessories: this is a small and light tool for everyday use. But I cannot understand who in his right mind could place Disk Utility in the Accessories section? This is an administrative application, not an accessory!
Nautilus File Manager in Mint 13 has the same issue with file sizes, as I saw in Fedora 17 GNOME: the actual file size of Mint 13 Cinnamon distribution 817 Mb was shown as 856 Mb, because it is actually 856,686,592 bytes. My dear GNOME3 / Nautilus developers, there is a difference between Megabyte (Mb) and Million of bytes!
The System Tools in Linux Mint 13 Maya are also standard ones: Disk Usage Analyzer, System Monitor, System Settings, Power Statistics. GDebi intstaller, Log file viewer.
There are many more interesting tools in the Administration section of the menu. There is GParted (in addition to Disk Utility from Accessories), Backup tool, Firewall configuration, Network tool, Synaptic, Update Manager, Software Manager (Mint's package manager), Ndiswraper tool and some others.
As you can see, there are applications in Linux Mint 13 Maya Cinnamon for almost all possible tasks. To be honest, there are many applications that duplicate each other, and some of them are misplaced in the menu. But generally, the selection is not that bad.
If you need more applications, then Software Manager is your likely place to search for them. Of course, if you don't want to use Synaptic for whatever reason, this Software Manager is a package manager developed by Mint's team as an alternative to Ubuntu Software Centre.
The sources of Linux Mint 13 include Mint's own repositories plus Ubuntu 12.04 standard ones. There are no PPAs in the default Mint distribution, apart from medibuntu repository.
To try the Software Manager in Linux Mint 13 Live USB run, I tried to install the remote desktop viewer Remmina. When I clicked the "Install" button in the Software Manager, the button disappeared, but there were no indications of the progress, no additional questions, no messages, no feedback at all. The end result was that I found no changes in the system.
My second attempt to install Remmina was with Synaptic. This time round, I was given the list of dependencies and the size of downloaded and installed files. But, unfortunately, I was not able to install Remmina packages: they were not found on the server, for whatever reason. I don't know whom to blame here, either Linux Mint or Ubuntu repository.
At the same time, I was able to install Gigolo network partition manager from the same repository using Synaptic. Honestly, I have not tried Software Manager for this. But not everything was shiny and polished here… Even though the installation went smoothly in Synaptic, I could not find Gigolo in the Mint menu. I could only start it from the Terminal.
Network partition
Nautilus file manager includes a function to browse the network. Unfortunately, this function was useless for me: it could not see the fileserver in my home network.
It was the time for Gigolo to come into play. This application very often helps me to map remote partitions in different Linux distributions. But, unfortunately, it did not work for me in Linux Mint. Gigolo could not retrieve the list of shares from the server.
My first guess was that Linux Mint 13 does not include the Samba client (smbfs) package, which is required for mounting of remote Samba partitions. I installed it from the Software Manager itself, and this time I was pleasantly surprised: I saw the "ongoing action" in the SM's status bar, and then the package's status changed to "Installed".
Unfortunately, even this installation did not help Gigolo to mount the external partition. As the last resort, I went for the manual mounting in the Terminal. And even this operation failed!
I was in despair! I tried to ping my local addresses for the server or router, and none of them was reachable! In contrast, the external Internet addresses were accessible. Unfortunately, Linux Mint 13 did not see any devices in my home network! That was not an issue of Gigolo or Samba client, then.
mint@mint ~ $ sudo mount -t cifs //remoteserver/folder /localfolder -o guest,nolinux
mount error: could not resolve address for remoteserver: Unknown error
I saw a very similar issue in Zorin OS 6 Core: it could not resolve IP addresses of my local devices. Zorin OS 6 and Mint 13 share the same root: both use Ubuntu 12.04 + GNOME3. This is not an issue of Ubuntu 12.04 itself, because I do not have this issue in my Xubuntu 12.04 installation, so I can only blame GNOME 3 here. However, I did have positive results with connecting from Fedora 17 GNOME. To be honest, I am lost in my guesses.
Even though I could not connect to my external network drive, I could still test the playback of multimedia files: I keep some MP3 files on the laptop's own hard drive.
From all the available applications, the less expected Movie Player is the default player for MP3 files. It started the playback straight away.
As you may know, Mint 13 comes with all the necessary codecs included, unless you specifically downloaded the version with trimmed codecs.
Linux Mint 13 includes necessary multimedia codecs and Flash player |
Linux Mint 13 Maya Cinnamon Live USB run left quite a strange impression on me.
From the positive side, this operating system exceeded my expectations in terms of speed. It both boots and works quickly. I saw no significant delays, except for extremely long startup time of LibreOffice Calc, but this is a generic issue of LibreOffice. Also, Mint 13 Cinnamon includes a nice set of applications, codecs and Flash player, which give you a workable operating system right out of the box.
On the negative side, there are still issues to work on.
The menu has too many applications for the same task. Some applications are definitely misplaced in the wrong menu sections.The issue with file sizes in Nautilus is very disorienting.And, of course, the bug with local network devices is definitely a major one.
Weighing all these pros and cons, I would say that Linux Mint Cinnamon team has lots of tasks to work on.
Would I recommend someone to install it for the production use? Only if you fancy to be a guinea pig or a beta-tester of the operating system. That's not my cup of tea, you know.
Apart from Cinnamon, Linux Mint team released a MATE variant of Linux Mint 13 Maya. Is it any better? Follow the link to check it out!
Do you want to try the latest version of Linux Mint yourself? To help you, here is a Buy Linux CDs site.
Video used in the screenshot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkmET8y-RiM#!


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Cyanogen, makers of popular software based on Android that extends the abilities of smartphones, is making a bid for the mainstream. The four-year-old company, which began as a one-person side project, said today that it has raised $7 million from Benchmark Capital and Redpoint Ventures. The goal is to vault past Blackberry and Windows Phone to become the third-most popular mobile operating system, after traditional Android and iOS. And the company is already closer than you might think.
The announcement blog post has more details and background. This is either the best idea they've ever had, or the beginning of the end. I honestly have no idea which of the two it will be. I like the fact that they might be more popular than Windows Phone though – puts everything into perspective, doesn't it?


text:
The Utopia 205 is an exciting sport boat that will keep the family happy with its versatility, and will give you, the performance and speed you're looking for. She's brand new for 2002, and we'd say the designers at Sea-Doo got it right with this thrill-seeking hybrid.
Out on our test run we found the acceleration to be very good, and with only one turn, lock-to-lock of the wheel, steering was quick and precise. Even at a top speed of very close to 50 mph, a full hard over turn was able to twist the boat 360 degrees without any sideslip and without stalling out. Can't do that in a prop boat!
The 240-hp Mercury jet drive package in the test boat performed flawlessly. The jet drive is the safest way to go if you are going to have kids, or adults for that matter, swimming or boarding in the stern. One word of caution; take a few minutes off by yourself in some quiet water to get used to the way the jet drive works at low speeds and backing. It is a little different than a prop boat and you should get used to it, before you get into a docking situation, and embarrass yourself or ding the new boat.
The boat's layout is perfect for small boat family outings. The Utopia 205's walk through windshield was high enough to provide good protection against spray, even in the nasty little chop running on our test day. It gives access to the bow seating area, large enough for two adults to lounge comfortably, and the swivel bench seats (buckets optional) provide comfortable, secure seating when running, and a comfortable conversation or eating area when anchored or beached. With the passenger seat swiveled, the spotter for a water skier can sit safely and comfortably and watch what is happening at the end of the ski rope without getting a crick in the neck from constantly looking back over their shoulder. Swivel both seats and install the table (it comes standard), and the Utopia becomes a perfect picnic boat.
Though not really designed for it, I can imagine many owners will occasionally wet a line from the Utopia, with its shallow draft providing access to back county or inland fishing spots for some casual light tackle enjoyment.
The sun deck over the engine compartment is well padded and comfortable, with a nice rise at the aft end, which eliminates the feeling you are going to roll off the stern into the water when you doze off. It provides easy access to the swim platform with its integral tow eye and hidden telescoping boarding ladder. And speaking of the sun deck, it lifts easily on its hydraulic supports to expose the easily removed engine cover and the storage areas on either side of the engine. The table is stowed along with the bimini top, which also comes standard. There is also a storage area under the rear seat which runs almost the full width of the boat, and is just right for skis and wake boards. The additional storage under the seats in the bow section, and the convenient side storage compartments behind the helm seats, provide plenty of room for all the junk that tends to be brought along on any outing.
Incidentally, the only flaw I found with the Utopia, and it is really minor, was that the hidden slot for the bow seat brackets was not finished, so the gel coat tended to chip where the bracket pulled against it. The fit and finish everywhere else was excellent. All the corners and edges were well rounded. No toe or knee knockers here.
The Utopia 205 is a wonderfully designed runabout, with room, safety, and the type of comfort one does not expect in a boat this size. She's just right for the family that wants performance, but with room for everyone. I can imagine she would also make a great tender for those mega yachts cruising the Caribbean or Mediterranean.
The Sea-Doo Utopia 205 offers the unique blend of a sportboat and a bowrider in one. She has a good turn of speed, great handling, and is sure to get the adrenaline pumping out on the water.
New for 2002. A "stretch" version of Sea-Doo's popular Utopia 185.
Key Features
Based on the 185, the new 205 features more legroom in the cockpit and expanded seating. While the 185 is USCG rated for 7 passengers, the 205 is rated for 8. Key features include dual swiveling bench seats that provide an open seating plan while at anchor, and a powerful, water-hugging 240-hp Mercury waterjet powerplant for safe operation in skinny water.
Get more information
General Information
Test Results
Photo Gallery
Detailed Info
Wath the Video
Source: BoatTest.com
SeaDoo Utopia 205 Review (BoatTest.com)
Started by Kevin Leclair, Aug 05 2004 08:03 AM
No replies to this topic
Posted 05 August 2004 - 08:03 AM
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January 19, 2017 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm
Elementary skating lessons at CanLan Ice Sports
1:30 pm - 2:30 pm
More about Skating at CanLan Ice Sports 1:30-2:30
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"Imitation is the first instinct of the awakening mind."
"Tell me, I forget Show me, I remember Involve me, I understand"
"Never help a child with a task at which they feel they can succeed."
"Experience first, then intellectualize"
"The greatness of the human personality begins at the hour of birth."
"Elemental music is never alone but forms a unity with movement, dance and speech. The growth of music must be re-enacted in the growing human being and the child must be allowed to go through the various stages, starting at the most punitive"
"We cannot make a genius. We can only give a child the chance to fulfill their potential."
"Elemental music gives the child powers that cannot otherwise come to fruition…Elementary music should not be installed as a subsidiary subject, but as something fundamental to other subjects"
"To assist a child we must provide them with an environment which will enable them to develop freely."


text: Choose from the following registration plates. If you want to find your specific registration plate, look down through the list and find yours, or if you are in a bit of a rush, hit Control and the F key on your keyboard (or Cmd and the F key on a Mac) or look in your browser's options menu for a "Search This Page" option. Then type in your car or bike registration number (or at least the first few letters and numbers) and you should find it further down this page.