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I believe in the power of slowing down. I believe in tranquility. I believe in the beauty and intrigue of stillness.
The first time I ever got a glimpse into what it means to truly slow down was the summer after my junior year of high school. That summer, my family (6 of us in all) piled into a pickup truck that barely held us pulling a trailer behind that barely slept us, and took 10 weeks out of our chaotic, busy lives to simply explore the country we live in. We went as far North as Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies to the Southern tip of New Mexico, from Pennsylvania to the coast of Oregon. The only thing we knew for certain when we left was that we had to be home by August 17th. Everything in between was completely up in the air.
That summer we all slowed down. For the first time, life wasn't about hurrying around doing things. We did our fair share of hiking, driving, kayaking, and canoeing. But we also had our fair share of just being. We sat around countless campfires, spent countless hours just talking, getting to know each other better, and took in countless breath-taking scenes. We learned to love and cherish this new found stillness, this lack of pressure that was so foreign to us. Some mornings I would wake up and not remember what state I was in, much less what park I was in or what city I was nearby. I came in contact with the most awe-inspiring, beautiful scenery I believe God has ever created. The beauty of the natural world brings out such stillness, such serenity, that sometimes all I could do was gawk, and leave inspired. It left me with a sense of power, a sense of being something far bigger than myself.
This whole new experience of slowing down and recognizing simply beauty for what it was, was something that intrigued me. It was not something I could just give up once the excitement of the trip was over. I felt so inspired by it, so centered, and so whole.
Health teachers teach us that, to stay healthy we are to exercise at least three times a week. Today, exercise for me is not just exercise. The reason I get up every morning at the crack of dawn to take a run along the Millrace is not just about fitness. It's about taking time out of the craziness of life to breathe. It's about the river, the leaves, and the colors of the sky. It's about slowing down and taking time to feel my own power and realize the beauty of the moment and the potential of that exact time, that exact day. It's a time to think, or sometimes not to think, to pray, to just enjoy the complexity of nature, and to enjoy being with myself. With the stresses and pressures of everyday life, a quiet center is often hard to find. Slowing down is not something our society promotes. Tranquility isn't popular. But, for me, it is something that is essential. Life loses its sacred meaning without it.
If you enjoyed this essay, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to This I Believe, Inc.


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Next Meetup
What we're about
Hello Ladies!
Do you absolutely love going to fabulous events? Do you enjoy meeting new people, and making new friends? Do you love making a difference? If this sounds like you, then you have come to the right place!
This group is for young professional women, in their 20-30's, who are confident, fun, and love being a woman (and all its perks! ;) ). You can be single or coupled, new to NY or born and raised here, but ultimately a chic chick that loves to have a good time!
What I want this group to be about are three things:
1. Going to great events, such as beautiful lounges/clubs, red carpet screenings, launch events, cocktail receptions/opening nights, cultural events, or any other event where we can See or Be Seen, mix, mingle, and network with those in all different industries. Basically, any occasion to get dolled up, and put on a cute outfit!
2. Establishing great friendships. I figure if we are like minded, totally normal females, we shouldn't have any trouble making some great connections. We can do that by doing brunch, happy hours, spa days, and anything else we feel like. This is our group, we can do what we want!
3. Getting involved in making a difference. I have this dying need to get involved in the community, raise money for charities, and just help out those in need. I would love to plan events for a specific cause, or work with other organizations to reach a goal. And ideally, maybe even start a NPO. The possibilities are endless!
If this is what you are looking for, I would absolutely love it if you joined this group. So if you like to See or be Seen, you might as well do so while making a difference!

subset: commoncrawl


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(AP) – Juanes (WAH'-nehs) has more to say than will fit in a hit song.
The Colombian singer announced Thursday that his first memoir will be released April 2 in English and Spanish. Its titles are "Chasing the Sun" and "Persiguiendo el sol," and they'll be released on Celebra, a division of Penguin Group (USA).
A news release said the book will feature photos and "personally penned intimate details about his life." It will also include stories about "the effects of witnessing corruption and violence" in Medellin, Colombia, where Juanes grew up, as well as "the regret and remorse surrounding his father's death."
Juanes is married with three children.
He is a Grammy Award winner and has multiple Latin Grammys, including last year's album of the year for "Juanes: MTV Unplugged."


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Carter backs diplomacy plan to disarm Syria
ATLANTA (AP) — Former President Jimmy Carter says he believes the best path forward in Syria is for the United States to work out a deal with Russia for Syria to give up its chemical weapons.
Carter said Tuesday during an event at The Carter Center that it would not be a catastrophe if Congress votes against President Barack Obama's call for military action against Syria. He noted presidents have often put forward important issues later rejected by Congress.
Carter says he believes placing U.N. officials in Syria to oversee removal of chemical weapons would result in a ceasefire in large parts of the country. Carter also says it's likely the United States will have to back down from requiring military action if Syria does not live up to a weapons disarmament plan.


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(notes edited
by Lisa Lewis
and George Kieffer)
|notes on the text
The story has three main themes. First in literary importance, it contains a deep appreciation of Jane Austen [1775-1817] which is made all the more pointed and piquant by being put into the mouth of a very simple-minded and uneducated man in the ranks who has been induced to study her works under the impression that her admirers form a kind of secret society which it pays to join. Secondly, the story gives a good account of the working of heavy artillery in France in 1918 and pays a great tribute to the men who manned the guns. The '14-'18 war was an artillery war like none before it, nor will any ever be like it again in that respect, for two great armies were pinned to one thin strip of ground in a civilised well mapped country for over three years. In consequence the surveying departments of both sides were able to provide their batteries with accurate maps mounted on boards showing every detail behind their enemy's lines. The meteorological departments could send frequent reports on the weather conditions as they affected the shooting, while main line railways delivered huge quantities of ammunition within a few miles of the battery positions. By 1918 all but the most senior officers were men in civil positions who had joined for the war only. Thirdly, there is the Masonic background against which the story is told.In March 1915, the Kiplings had visited Bath and he re-read the works of Jane Austen there. He wrote to a friend that "the more I read the more I admire and respect and do reverence… When she looks straight at a man or a woman she is greater than those who were alive with her - by a whole head… with a more delicate hand and a keener scalpel." [Pinney (ed.), Letters (vol. 4, 1999) p. 296]. Meanwhile their son John Kipling had begun his military training. Seven months later, John was posted "missing believed killed" and they gradually had to accept that this meant "dead". Mrs Kipling's diary records that in January 1917 Kipling was reading Jane Austen's novels aloud to his wife and daughter "to our great delight" [Carrington's notes from Mrs Kipling's diaries]. There was little delight in their lives just then. They were still mourning John, and it would be another three months before the Americans entered the war, bringing fresh hope of victory. Jane Austen's novels evidently brought a welcome break in the family's gloom. Admiration had become affection.
"was its power to transport the infantryman from a world of "sergeants major and bayonet fighting, and trench digging and lorry cleaning and caterpillar greasing" into the fantasy of the novelist – and none was better at it than Jane Austen.Henderson's character emerges as nothing like the drunken con-man Macklin in Kipling's story. His papers were not an obvious source for The Irish Guards in the Great War. But that research had involved meeting a great many survivors, as well as reading the diaries and letters of soldiers on the western front. Kipling was acquainted with John Buchan and is known to have had at least one conversation with him at the Beefsteak Club. If there was really a tendency among soldiers to read Jane Austen, this could have emerged in such interviews and conversations and have piqued the author's imagination.


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Landmarks Community Capital closed on a $292,000 loan and also provided an $80,000 grant towards the restoration of two significant buildings in Pittsburgh's historic North Side neighborhood of Manchester.Read More
Our loan funds for restoration and new construction in historic districts make a critical difference in a project's success.Read More
Historic preservation is a means to an end. Our purpose is to not only save important buildings, but to improve communities by helping to improve the quality of life.Read More
Since 1985, we have invested over $17 million in high impact historic preservation developments throughout southwestern Pennsylvania.Read More
We provide flexible financing to organizations for preservation-related real estate developments that in turn help revitalize neighborhoods, towns, and urban centers.
Our experience and expertise in historic preservation, financing, and community development, makes us an ideal partner for organizations looking to make an impact.


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Lisbon: Portuguese football legend Luis Figo on Friday called for support for Swiss Gianni Infantino in his FIFA presidential bid for his "experience, competence, hard work and honesty".
Figo announced his support for Infantino, and urged all voters to support him during the upcoming FIFA presidential elections, which will be held on February 26 in Switzerland, reports Efe.
The Real Madrid, Barcelona icon on his official Facebook page wrote: "Gianni Infantino knows football inside out and his experience, competence, hard work and honesty make him the best candidate for the FIFA presidency."
"He brings a new style and approach to a process that needs transparency and debate of ideas instead of mere political moves and personal attacks."
"I know him for some years and we had the opportunity to exchange a lot of thoughts when I was a candidate myself. We share the same vision and have several projects and ideas in common," the former Portugal captain explained.
Infantino will be facing other candidates in the FIFA race, including Jerome Champagne, Ali Bin Al Hussein, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, Tokyo Sexwale and Musa Bility.


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ASU gymnastics optimistic after third-place finish against OSU, Nebraska
In collegiate gymnastics, there's a short list of elite programs, followed by a long list of good programs. ASU has long been one of the latter, with various gymnasts throughout the year climbing to that elite level.
Saturday, the Sun Devils visited Corvallis, Ore., to take on No. 14 Oregon State and No. 7 Nebraska. When push came to shove Saturday evening, the Cornhuskers showed why they're considered one of those few elite programs, scoring a 196.650 to just squeak by Oregon State and take first place on the Beavers' Senior Night.
Oregon State came in second with a 196.625 and ASU finished in third with a 195.575. The Sun Devils were without freshman Gilly Hogue, who hurt her Achilles tendon in warmups and will miss at least the next meet versus Oklahoma. ASU was also missing vault specialist Erin Hamister, who missed her second straight meet.
"We performed very well. Unfortunately we had an injury tonight to Gilly Hogue, but the team rallied and had a great meet," assistant coach Tom Ward said.
ASU started out on uneven bars. Sophomore Risa Perez opened up with a 9.750, followed by a 9.775 from sophomore Kristine Levin and a 9.750 from freshman Beka Conrad. ASU got strong routines from junior Brianna Gades and sophomore Carissa Kraus, as Gades scored a 9.800 and Kraus a 9.875. ASU ended the first rotation with a 48.950. Four gymnasts, three from Oregon State and one from Nebraska, scored 9.900's on uneven bars.
The second event of the night had ASU tackling the balance beam. After a 9.725 from Conrad, a fall from junior Morgan Steigerwalt cast an early shadow over ASU, but her teammates stepped up. Perez tied her career-high with a 9.875, and after Gades scored a 9.850, sophomore Stephanie Miceli also tied her career-high with a 9.875. The last gymnast to compete on beam for ASU was freshman Savannah Borman, who made her collegiate debut in place of Hogue. With the pressure of erasing an earlier fall, Borman came through for ASU and scored a 9.775. ASU's total on balance beam was a 49.100, a season-high. Nebraska senior Emily Wong won the balance beam with a 9.925, followed by Nebraska junior Jessie DeZiel with a 9.900 and Oregon State senior Cerise Witherby with a 9.875.
"(Borman) competed with steel blood," coach Ward said. "It was amazing. She looked very confident up there and there was a lot of pressure on her in that anchor position, especially with that fall."
Next on the night for ASU was floor exercise. A slip on her second pass hurt the opening routine from sophomore Allie Salas. Both Conrad and Seaman scored 9.675's on their floor routines, and after a 9.750 from Steigerwalt and 9.725 for Perez, junior Natasha Sundby rounded out the event with a 9.850. ASU's total on floor was 48.725. Wong won floor exercise with a 9.900, followed by four 9.850's including Sundby.
The last rotation of the meet had the Sun Devils on vault, the event they start out on at home meets. Missing Hamister, ASU only vaulted five athletes. Conrad rounded out her all-around night with a 9.675 vault, followed by a strong 9.825 from Kraus. Salas scored a 9.675, and after a 9.825 from Seaman, Sundby ended the meet with a 9.800. ASU's total on vault was a 48.800. Wong won her third event with a 9.925 on vault, followed by Oregon State junior Taylor Keeker and Nebraska sophomore Hollie Blanske with 9.900.
Having just completed their third road meet of the season, ASU is eligible again to be ranked, and will likely return to the top 25. Things don't get easier next week though, as the Sun Devils will travel to Norman, Okla., to take on No. 2 Oklahoma.
"We had very strong landings," Ward said. We've got to get a little more on floor, and keep working on our fine tuning, but our bars was excellent this weekend, and our landings showed it. So we're hoping we can do it (in Norman)."
Reach the reporter firstname.lastname@example.com or follow him on Twitter @shane_writes


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Art Gallery Pages:
Melbourne is the home of a flourishing arts scene and showcases in excess of 100 art galleries starting from huge community establishments to slightly smaller mainstream art galleries and artist cooperatives.
Pay a visit to Federation Square, place featuring the Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia – the planet's first foremost community gallery focused on Australian art. For innovative video art and original media observe altering exhibits at ACMI, or go down St Kilda Road and take pleasure in the National Gallery of Victoria's worldwide collected works.
Find out revolutionary works by hometown and international designers in art galleries and cooperatives in all areas of the metropolitan area, that houses perhaps one of the planet's uppermost densities of corporate art galleries. For individuals with a enthusiastic fascination with native art make the trip to art galleries in Flinders Lane.
For individuals on the lookout for out-of-doors viewpoints and sculpture gardens visit the Linden Arts Centre, Heide Museum of Modern Art or Herring Island.


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Nov. 12, 2010
Provost Recognizes Professors with Top Teaching Awards
|From left, President John Garvey, Rev. Frank Matera, Claudia Bornholdt, Scott Mathews and Provost James Brennan
Three Catholic University professors have been named 2010 Faculty Award winners in honor of their creativity, innovation and teaching effectiveness.
During a Nov. 10 ceremony before dozens of faculty and staff members at the Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center, Provost James Brennan recognized the following professors, who were chosen by a committee of faculty from among 17 professors nominated by their schools:
· Rev. Frank Matera, professor of New Testament and the Andrews-Kelly-Ryan Professor of Biblical Studies
· Claudia Bornholdt, associate professor of German
· Scott Mathews, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science
In his introduction, Brennan noted that the three professors are among the best at Catholic University. "It has been said that 'When one teaches, two learn.' We are fortunate indeed to be allowed to witness the excitement of those moments of insight," he said.
After the professors received their awards, President John Garvey reminded the audience that their excellence transcended the classroom. "There is a canard in the university system that some people are teachers and others are scholars. In fact, there is a correlation between being a great teacher and a great scholar," he said. "This is something that today's winners have shown in greater measure than others."
Father Matera was honored with the Overall Teaching Excellence Award, which is given to a faculty member who has excelled in teaching for at least 10 years. In the words of Brennan, Father Matera is "a model of the teacher-scholar providing consistent instruction informed by the highest standards of scholarship."
In addition to directing more dissertations in the area of biblical studies than any other faculty member, he is the author, among other works, of New Testament Christology (1999) and New Testament Theology: Exploring Diversity and Unity (2007). Father Matera is also a leading authority on St. Paul, having delivered as many as 25 lectures on the seminal Christian figure to various universities and dioceses. His role in the development of curriculum in the School of Theology and Religious Studies was also cited by Brennan.
Speaking after the ceremony, Father Matera credited Jean Giblet, a French theology teacher of his at The Catholic University of Leuven, for his success as a teacher and scholar of biblical studies. "It really started for me at Leuven from 1964 to 1968," he said. "Jean Giblet was a great, great teacher, the person who taught me biblical studies."
Bornholdt received the Teaching Excellence in Early Career Faculty Award, which is bestowed on a professor who has excelled in teaching for less than 10 years. According to Brennan, Bornholdt is "a prolific scholar who brings the excitement of her research to her teaching."
Her skills as a teacher have prompted an increasing number of students to continue studying German after they complete their language requirement, Brennan said. She has inspired them outside the classroom as well. As the adviser to the campus-wide German club, she organizes and participates in a weekly social gathering in which students practice their German. She also accompanies her students to watch German films at the Goethe-Institut, the German cultural center in Washington, D.C. And she takes them to the German and Austrian embassies to attend cultural events.
Reflecting on her award, Bornholdt said that having moved to the United States from Germany as a graduate student, she understands the importance of immersing oneself in a new culture. "This experience is invaluable in order to understand not only the new culture, but also to look with fresh eyes at one's own culture," she said. For this reason, Bornholdt has welcomed the opportunity to take her students to Germany and Austria, as she began doing as a doctoral candidate at Indiana University.
Mathews was honored with the Advancement of Teaching Award, which recognizes creative and innovative contributions in teaching effectiveness. In the words of Brennan, Mathews has not only "been engaged in a productive research program, but he also has a passion for education innovation."
Mathews has developed an alternative energy curriculum of courses that are offered by the departments of electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and chemistry, the provost noted. Mathews also has recorded podcasts of all his lectures and posted these videos on the Internet. As a result, Mathews' students have access to his materials at all times. That access came in handy during the three blizzards of last winter, noted the provost.
In addition, Mathews has been consistently involved in the senior design capstone project, not only with electrical engineering and computer science majors but also with mechanical and biomedical engineering majors.


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Did you know? The first supply chain program in the United States opened nearly a century ago! Check out the supply chain timeline below for other logistics highlights from the past century.
Source: SCM-Operations.com
Tags: Supply Chain Scholars, education, history, timeline
History | Supply Chain Scholars
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The Link is an open forum for supply chain professionals to discuss industry news, analyze logistics trends and delve into related topics such as sustainability, TMS, technology and infrastructure. The Link multimedia blog is an online community with original infographics, videos, editorials and more. Our audience reaches thousands of shippers, 3PLs, carriers and advisers around the world.
The transportation world is constantly on the move. Join The Link to stay on the right track.
The Link welcomes commentary from guest writers. We invite you to share your stories, opinions, advice and anything else you would like to share.
We will include a bio, and our blog is optimized so people can easily find your articles online by simply searching your name. Be the supply chain expert: Voice your opinion, tell your story, be the writer, and start the conversation with an article of your own.
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Request an Invitation
The agenda for the 2018 Customer Insight & Analytics Exchange is currently under construction. If you would like to be involved in speaking at the 2018 event, please contact us at email@example.com - we'd love to hear from you!
Please note: That all fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required.


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Student Groups
- Mandel Council for Student Community Leadership The Mandel Council is comprised of elected officers and leaders from Mandel School student groups. It provides recognition and funding for groups, coordinates student activities, and ensures student representation on the faculty and other Mandel School committees. The Mandel Council also strives to enhance social welfare and alleviate social problems through leadership in social policy advocacy, scientific inquiry, and excellence in social work practice.
- Mandel Allies Mandel Allies endeavor to create an environment where Mandel School students can develop an understanding of LGBTQ issues and provide opportunities to become advocates for change.
- Black Student Association (BSA) The Black Student Association is committed to the enhancement of the student of color's experience while pursuing a graduate degree by promoting cultural diversity for the entire Mandel School community through educational seminars and workshops. BSA also acts as a liaison to appropriate community resources and highlights relevant and pertinent issues in the black community. All students are welcome and encouraged to join and participate in BSA events. For more information, contact Dr. Mark Joseph, Faculty Advisor.
- Student Run Free Clinic Social work students join their counterparts at CWRU's medical and nursing schools to volunteer two Saturdays a month providing free acute medical care to underserved Clevelanders at the Free Medical Clinic of Greater Cleveland. This is a unique interprofessional experience that fosters collaboration with future medical professionals. Visit srfc.case.edu to learn more.
- Local International Konnections (LINK) LINK facilitates a mutual understanding and sharing of information on cultural practices, philosophies, and ideologies among those throughout the world who enact the values and practices of the social work profession. It also provides:
- Acculturation, support, mentoring and positive experiences for international students at the Mandel School, in Cleveland and the U.S.;
- Opportunities for sharing and learning about diverse experiences and serve as personal and professional development; and
- Events that bring students and community members together.
Membership is open to anyone interested in active participation. Contact Kimberly McFarlin, LINK Faculty Advisor, for more information.
- Student Leaders Advocating for Mental Health (SLAM) SLAM gives students with interests in mental health practice the opportunity to enhance their knowledge, as well as that of the Mandel School and greater community, as it relates to the policies and practices that impact individuals and families living with mental illness. We are currently seeking student leadership and always welcoming new members. Contact Assistant Dean Andrea Porter, Faculty Advisor, for more information.
- And more!


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ConsumerLab.com reported today that among twelve magnesium supplements selected for testing, nine met quality standards. One supplement contained only 45.4% of its labeled amount of magnesium, despite boasting a "GMP" (Good Manufacturing Practices) seal on its label. The same problem was found when ConsumerLab.com tested the product in 2007. Another supplement provided only 28.8% of its promised magnesium. Lead contamination was discovered in a third product.
According to Nutrition Business Journal, U.S. sales of magnesium supplements reached $271 million in 2007, up 13% from the year before. Magnesium supplements can help prevent migraine headaches, menstrual pain, and magnesium deficiency. Certain forms of magnesium are key ingredients in popular laxatives.
ConsumerLab.com's review of magnesium supplements is available at www.consumerlab.com/results/magnesium_supplements_review/magnesium/. It includes findings for the twelve products selected by ConsumerLab.com as well as for seven that passed ConsumerLab.com's Voluntary Certification Program. Also listed are two products similar to ones that passed but sold under different brand names. Included are products from Blaine, Doctor's Best, Equaline, Floradix, GNLD Nutritionals, Life Extension, Nature Made, Nature's Bounty, New Chapter, Nutricology, Peter Gillham's Natural Vitality, Pioneer, Puritan's Pride, Slow-Mag, Solgar, Thorne Research, Total Nutrition, Tropical Oasis, Twinlab, and Vitamin World.
The report also provides magnesium supplement comparisons, magnesium supplement ratings on quality, and information regarding the proper selection and use of magnesium supplements, including differences among the chemical forms such as magnesium citrate, magnesium gluconate, magnesium hydroxide, magnesium oxide, and amino acid chelates.
ConsumerLab.com is a leading provider of consumer information and independent evaluations of products that affect health and nutrition. Reviews of popular types of vitamins, supplements, and generic drugs are available at www.consumerlab.com. Soon to be released are new Product Reviews of Joint Supplements for humans and animals (Glucosamine, Chondroitin and MSM) as well as those of Weight Loss and Slimming Supplements (including Chromium, CLA, 7-Keto DHEA). Subscription to ConsumerLab.com is available online. The company is privately held and based in Westchester, New York. It has no ownership from, or interest in, companies that manufacture, distribute, or sell consumer products.


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(PRWEB) May 31, 2014
Autography LLC announced today it has entered into an exclusive partnership with Zola Books of New York City (http://www.zolabooks.com). Under the terms of the agreement, Zola will be the exclusive licensee of Autography's digital autographing services for English language eBooks for a period of four years. Zola will provide their readers the opportunity to order and receive signed eBooks into their bookshelf.
"We've been working with Joe Regal and his team for the last six months," said Garry Martin, Chief Marketing Officer, Autography LLC. "We very much like Zola and their refreshing approach to create the ultimate reading experience. Our platform creates a personal connection between authors and their readers. When we combine Zola's social interaction we have a platform where readers can truly connect with the authors."
Autography found numerous parallels between the two firms including a focus on social media interaction with readers, author-based marketing tools, and a desire to bring eBook signing events to independent bookstores nationwide.
Zola Books CEO Joe Regal said "We are excited to offer our customers signed books through Autography, because it's truly personal – not just a stamp of a signature, but a real inscription – and truly global: Any author can sign their books for any reader anywhere, whether on tour in an independent bookstore, or from the comfort of their own home over their morning coffee."
Autography will also continue to support Publishers and major literary events such as the RT Convention earlier this month in New Orleans. At Book Expo America this Saturday Zola and Autography will formally launch their partnership by co-hosting an ebook signing at this year's inaugural BookCon, an event for readers during BookExpo America, the publisher's annual trade show. The free ebook signing will take place on May 31 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in booth number 2763 on the BookCon show floor at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. Participating authors include Barbara Taylor Bradford, M.J. Rose, Heather Graham, Julie Kagawa, R.L. Stine, Jonathan Maberry, Morgan Matson, Jodie Ellen Malpas, and Emmi Itaranta.
About Autography
Autography LLC is a media technology company headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida. The firm features a patent-pending method for personalizing digital media that can be enjoyed on a wide-variety of consumer devices. The technology works across all major eReader platforms and smartphones, inserting a personalized autograph page into the eBook. The signature page can be customized with specific background graphics to help brand the author, series, or event. For in-person book signings, the signature page can feature a picture of the fan with the author, creating a truly personal keepsake. Fans can share their autographed pages on across their social networks with a single click making Autography a powerful marketing tool for authors. (http://www.autography.com, 727-388-1605)
About Zola Books
Zola Books' mission is to enable the ultimate reading experience through innovative technology. Zola's state-of-the-art book recommendation engine, Bookish Recommends, is a new way to find great reads you might otherwise miss on Bookish.com and partner sites, such as The New York Public Library's nypl.org. Zola's social reading app is a unique way to read with friends. Zola also shares profits with booksellers who recommend books online and off. In January 2014, Zola Books acquired Bookish, a book recommendation platform founded by Hachette Book Group, Penguin Group (USA) and Simon & Schuster. For more information, please visit http://www.zolabooks.com.


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Ratchet and Clank (series)
[edit] General Series Information
Ratchet and Clank is a series of weapons-based action adventure platformer video games, created by Insomniac Games, that began on the PS2 in 2002 with the release of Ratchet and Clank. It has expanded to include Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando in 2003, Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal in 2004, Ratchet: Deadlocked in 2005, Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters in 2007 for the PSP, Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction in 2007 for the PS3, Secret Agent Clank for the PSP in 2008, and Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest For Booty on the PSN in Fall 2008, and the third main Ratchet and Clank Future game for the PS3 (released on October 27, 2009 in North America), called Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time. Each of the games have become a great success, specifically the PS2 games which have all become PS2 Greatest Hits games (an acheivement based on game sales/popularity). Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction became the fastest selling game of the series quickly after its release in 2007, selling almost as many copies as the other games in the series (in a few months, compared to the few years of the other games).
[edit] Games in the Series
- Ratchet and Clank [PS2] 2002
- Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando [PS2] 2003
- Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal [PS2] 2004
- Ratchet: Deadlocked [PS2] 2005
- Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters [PSP] 2007; [PS2] version in 2008
- Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction [PS3] 2007
- Secret Agent Clank [PSP] 2008
- Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest For Booty [PSN/PS3] 2008
- Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time [PS3] 2009
- There were also two cell phone games created based on the series, one in 2005 and one in 2006.
[edit] Genre/Styles of Games
The series is mainly of an action/adventure root, secondarily being known as a weapons-based platformer with small puzzle and strategy elements.
[edit] Graphics
Right from the beginning of the series in 2002, the graphics have always been amazing (excluding the unsuccessful SM porting to the PS2, which was not created by Insomniac Games). They were also surprisingly good for the time period when the series first was unleashed on the world. Very clear and detailed, and so colorful and varying in scenery. The stunning graphics were always a huge selling point to each game, and they made each level feel so real and cool. At various times, you might find yourself just looking around a level to see how detailed and great it looks. Size Matters also had very good graphics, in spite of being on the PSP system. When R&CF came out in late 2007, the amazing graphics took a major overhaul, becoming even more stunning than the PS2 games of the series. The power of the PS3, as well as the HD graphics, helped greatly to create the freakishly good visuals of R&CF.
[edit] Gameplay
The basic elements are the same gameplay-wise for each game (excluding Secret Agent Clank). You play as Ratchet (with Clank on your back). Your character walks/runs around various planets, carrying his trusty wrench or any other gun-weapon you may be holding. Ratchet can also swim around in certain bodies of water within levels. Your goal is to get to the end of each planet/level alive. There will be plenty of obstacles in your way, including various enemies that will attack you, as well as obstacles in relation to the planet itself. As your progress through a level, you will unlock more of the level and do more things, be able to save your game, and unlock more of the storyline (as well as meet new characters in the game, before you make your way to the next planet by using your spaceship(where this main format is continued). In some levels, you might find yourself swinging around with the use of a gadget, grinding on a rail with a pair of special boots, or even walking up metal walls/roads with a pair of special boots. The platforming style of the series revolves around the gadget use, jumping from area to area in levels, as well as the various collection systems in each game. You collect 'bolts' in each level, which is the series currency. They help you purchase weapons, gadgets, armors, Infobots, and much more. You also collect hidden bolts (Gold Bolts/Titanium Bolts/Platinum Bolts/etc.) in almost every level, 'Skill Points' (special tasks spread out in most levels; small tasks with eventual rewards), 'Raretarium' in some of the games (special space rocks), 'Character Trophies' (in UYA), and special items in each game since GC (Moonstones, Crystals, Sewer Crystals, Leviathan Souls, etc; collected and sold for bolts and in some cases, level progression).
Clank helps you out by becoming various "packs" on your back that help you fly/glide, jump high, or spring forward. At various times in each game (excluding Deadlocked), Clank will separate from Ratchet and play as himself. The gameplay for Clank is quite different compared to Ratchet (not as destructive)- instead of holding guns, Clank controls little robots (generally known as Gadgebots) and takes part in gameplay that is more puzzle-like. The Gadgebots themselves can perform a bunch of different actions (controlled by Clank), such as: attacking an enemy, waiting where they are standing, following you as you walk, and entering special doors that unlock the next part of a level. Depending on the game in the series, the Gadgetbots (also known as Microbots in a certain game) can perform other tasks, depending on what type of bot he is. In GC, for example, you can control a BridgeBot, a HammerBot, and a LifterBot. Some Gadgetbots can also salute/wave. Clank can also transform into Giant Clank in a few games in the series (a giant version of himself with special missile and energy blast attacks).
One interesting aspect in relation to the gameplay is that most of every level is destructible (excluding buildings and most plants). You can pretty much destroy anything within a level, using your wrench or a gun-weapon.
Hover Races were included in the first game (Hoverboard Racing), as well as in GC (Hoverbike Racing). UYA and RD each contained drivable vehicles (not including your spaceship for planetary travel). Upgradable weapons and armor, as well as Arena Battles, began in GC and have appeared in each game in the series since (excluding SM). Space Battles were featured in R&C and GC. SM features a space battle system where you control Giant Clank (instead of a ship). A new version (more cinimatic, rather than free-roam battle) was in R&CF, where you control a ship again.
Online play was added in UYA and RD.
In the first game, there was no real character or weapon locking systems (they were added in GC). Your character just ran around, not able to really control his walking easily. You were also not able to lock your weapons onto enemies, so you were forced to run at an enemy and fire your weapon, hoping that you are centered enough to hit the enemy. Since GC, we have been able to use a lock-strafe system to run around, which can also target enemies with your weapons. By holding one of the L buttons while you ran around, you were able to run left-right-forward-back, and your character would remain facing forward. Using one of the R buttons, you were able to target and enemy with your weapon and blast him with precision. This system became very useful right away, and the game play has been much different since.
[edit] Weapons
Weapons of the Series: 'http://ratchetclank.neoseeker.com/wiki/Series_Weapons'
The first weapon you will get in each game is your Wrench. You can use it to smack enemies around, you can throw it at enemies, and you can crank bolts in levels. By jumping before you attack an enemy, you can strengthen your attack. If you jump twice and attack, your attack will be even more powerful.
As each game progresses, you will be able to find any buy new gun-based weapons with the use of your collected bolts. Each weapon works very differently, in strength and style, and some are quite powerful and destructive. There are many different weapon types, such as: quick-fire rifle, shotgun-type, sniper-type, rocket-type, shielding-type, whip-type, element-type, and much more.
In each game, you are able to upgrade your weapons at various times, by experience/weapon use or special bolt purchases. The first game in the series features the most basic upgrading system, where you use Gold Bolts to purchase gold versions of your weapons. These new versions may have more ammo, more power, or other aspects that they did not before. With the release of each new game in the series, the upgrading system gets much more complex. Starting with GC, weapons upgrade based on how much you use them. The more you use them, the faster they upgrade and get stronger and take on new special stats/abilities. Some of the games allow you to add special 'mod upgrades' to your weapon, such as more ammo or more range of blast.
The amount of weapons changes with every game. The first game featured a small list of weapons (around 15), which was more than doubled for GC (30+). UYA featured a smaller list (15-20), and RD had only 10 main weapons. FTOD featured between 10-15, featuring the most useful weapons in the series (new and old weapons). Each game, excluding the first game, contained mostly new weapons, and the return of a few old weapons.
Each game features one super-powerful weapon, known as the RYNO (Rip Ya' a New One). It's power and appearance changes in every game, but it forever remained the most powerful weapon in each game (by far). It is also ridiculously expensive in each game, quite more expensive than every other weapon.
[edit] Gadgets
Gagdets of the Series: http://ratchetclank.neoseeker.com/wiki/Series_Gadgets
In each game, you can use various gadgets that will help you do many different things. For the most part, each game features a new list of helpful gadgets (excluding the Swingshot and special boots, which are in each game). With the use of certain gadgets, you might find yourself: swinging around (as if using a jungle vine), reaching new platforms, moving platforms, making hidden platforms appear or grow, grinding on a rail, walking up a wall, sucking up water/getting rid of sucked up water, and so much more (depending on the game). RD was the only game to basically remove gadgets from gameplay, other than the use of the Swingshot and Grind Boots. The Gadgets are found in the storyline at some point, either given to you by someone for free, found somewhere in certain levels, or purchased from someone for a certain amount of bolts.
[edit] Armor
Since GC, there have been purchasable armors that increase your defense in battle. Each game (excluding SM) contains a few different armors that you buy from vendors for bolts at various times in the game. With each new suit comes a different appearance, more defence, and an increased cost to purchase. SM featured different armor parts that you could find and buy, such as: main body armor, helmet, gloves, boots, etc (not one whole suit as in other games). The armors in each game play a great role in keeping you alive, since as each game progresses, the enemies become much harder and more frequent.
[edit] Health/HP
The health/HP of your character changes in each game. The most drastic change taking place when UYA was released, and has since remained basically the same in each new game. The first game featured little HP, which came in the form of little health spheres. You start with 4 (4 HP), and can get 4 more as you progress in the game and buy a health upgrade (8 HP total). GC had a similar health system, but it looked a little different and you had MUCH more HP (20 HP total). Since UYA, a new health system was adopted: actual HP numbers. Your HP soon grew to the hundreds in each game, starting low. As you kill more enemies, your health would gradually grow higher. Since your HP grew so much, enemy attacks do much more damage to you (depending on your armor and how strong the enemy is).
[edit] Planets/Levels
The planets of each game have always been very well done. Each show how great the games graphics are in a very beautiful and detailed way. The levels at the beginning of each game are generally very small, but as each game progresses, the levels become quite large and difficult to navigate. Each level contains a series of missions, which you will need to complete to move to the next planet.
Most planets in the series have a set path which you will need to go along until the end. There are a few planets that are known as 'free-roaming' planets, generally large in size and quite detailed, and you are able to explore the entire planet extensively. Each planet contains a detailed map, accessed by pressing L3. There are even special planets known as 'sphere worlds', which are large sphere planets. They are heavily detailed and large, and feature a movable 3D map, also accessed by L3.
Each planet greatly adds to the storyline and feel of the game, and each are very different. There are various different types of levels, including: dark/dreary and bright/colorful levels, space station levels, forest levels, rainy and snowy levels, city/industrial levels, and many other types. There is always a lot to do and see on every planet.
[edit] Television Commercials/Advertising
R&C games have always had very good television commercials - each being quite hilarious. They always featured real people, playing with a contraption that ended up being a weapon in the game, which would soon blow something or someone up (or turn someone into a chicken). Then the scene would turn to various examples of the games game play and how things blew up a lot in the game, and then end with the games logo and name. The commercials were played on various channels in many countries.
[edit] Series Reception/Ratings
Each main game in the series has received very high ratings and very positive professional reviews from gaming companies, websites, etc. As an example, IGN.com reviewed each of the games in the series, with the following ratings below:
- Ratchet and Clank 9.2/10 (92%)
- Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando 9.4/10 (94%)
- Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal 9.6/10 (96%)
- Ratchet: Deadlocked 8.8/10 (88%)
- Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters [PSP] 9.0/10 (90%)
- Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction 9.4/10 (94%)
- Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest For Booty [PSN/PS3] 7.4/10 (74%)
- Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time [PS3] 9.0/10 (90%)
Content created by: dragonclawz; Renaming of Page: Kjgmusic
Related ThreadsACIT vs. R&C Series - last post by @ Oct 11, 2009
Your top five weapons from the entire series? - last post by @ May 15, 2010
What do you want to add to this game from jak&dax series - last post @ Nov 25, 2007
The last game in the series? What kind of games next? - last post by @ Oct 27, 2005
what is the best ratchet and clank in the series? - last post @ May 13, 2013
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text:
I have no use for nouveau either. It's why I buy nvidia, to have a driver that works. But you don't see me thrash talking nouveau because of that. Nor do I look funny at people who actually use it.
No announcement yet.
Testing NVIDIA's Linux Threaded OpenGL Optimizations
new posts
I don't like the new shampoo that just came in store... so I dont use it. Does that mean it was a waste of time making it? No, probably somebody out there liked it.
If you dont like something, dont use it. Case closed.
Now, PLEASE, back on topic:
Originally posted by Del_ View Postbut with nvidias threading provides vastly better performance than without threading optimization. The effect is supposedly twice what you get for ae's patch, but the big bone is that it actually works for everybody and it is stable. You definitely do not want to use ae's patch together with nivida's optimization, they both try to achieve the same.
... I must say.. THAT is interesting. Maybe it will work for GW2 too then. I mean, not the patch, but the new Nvidia drivers (after turning on the threading optimization)
Although, I didn't quite understand how to actually turn it on. It said:
Setting the __GL_THREADED_OPTIMIZATIONS environment variable to "1" before loading the NVIDIA OpenGL driver library will enable these optimizations for the lifetime of the application.
Please note that these optimizations can currently only be enabled if the target application dynamically links against pthreads. If this isn't the case, the dynamic loader can be instructed to do so at runtime by setting the LD_PRELOAD environment variable to include the pthreads library.
Taking advantage of this experimental OpenGL support can be easily exposed in this case by setting LD_PRELOAD="libpthread.so.0 libGL.so.1" __GL_THREADED_OPTIMIZATIONS=1.
So, let me get this straight: You -activated- the threading optimization that cut performance in half on the majority of the tests here on Phoronix, but YOU actually got an increase in fps through Wine in WoW?
... I must say.. THAT is interesting. Maybe it will work for GW2 too then. I mean, not the patch, but the new Nvidia drivers (after turning on the threading optimization)
Although, I didn't quite understand how to actually turn it on.
you will find reference to beta and old drivers down to the left of the page, choose that and download your driver.
2. Make sure you have kernel headers for your kernel installed, stop the xserver (otherwise nvidia refuses to install, a nice user-unfriendly feature). On Ubntu variants this is now done with the service command, while previously it was the /etc/init.d/ used. For me using kubuntu with the kdm log-in mamanger, it goes like this: Press Ctrl+Alt+F1 to get a terminal, run sudo service kdm stop, to stop the xserver, and then install the driver with sudo sh NVIDIA-blob-name.
3. Reboot, and start your application with the said environment variable like this:
LD_PRELOAD="libpthread.so.0 libGL.so.1" __GL_THREADED_OPTIMIZATIONS=1 wine /path/to/wow.exe
ref. the README (towards the bottom of the page) http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree8...variables.html
Originally posted by jmcharron View PostWhat version of the game are you running? Are you running current or 2.4.3/3.3.5a/4.0.6a
Originally posted by GT220 View PostSpeak for yourself. The nouveau garbage is bad for everything else, not just games.
"This eight-year-old graphics card is still failing badly with Nouveau."
Like I said, you open source driver retards want horrible, subpar experience, thats your choice. Don't try and troll in the Nvidia drivers threads.
-said gaming rig used by my son refuses to boot normally with nvidia card (had to resort to text based install, and use failsafe to get it to boot), only and issue with nvidia, ait card no problem. Not to mention twinview being fucked up so bad that it takes us a whole evening of tinkering to get his television screen operational together with his monitor.
-I have a top of the line Red Hat workstation beside me, specially ordered to run a visualization server. The server needs newer opengl drivers, so I got a top-of-the-line nvidia quadro card on it. Guess what, I have spent months testing through all the latest nvidia drivers, none being close to stable on this thing. Actually, it is *always* the nvidia blob whenever I experience non-hardware related instablitites on the Red Hat workstations. The only piece of closed software on the machines are always the sinner.
So I happen to agree with Linus.
Ok, I've been googling all day trying to get things installed. I finally have things up and running with 310.14.
Creating a launcher for the game was not an easy task either.
So, I have this command now:
LD_PRELOAD="libpthread.so.0 libGL.so.1" __GL_THREADED_OPTIMIZATIONS=1 wine /home/shahrizai/GuildWars2/gw2.exe
There was an error launching the application.
Details: Failed to execute child process "LD_PRELOAD=libpthread.so.0 libGL.so.1" (No such file or directory)Last edited by Shahrizai; 10-19-2012, 02:22 PM.
Hmm, interesting, now nothing happens. No error message, but the program doesnt start either.
Thank you for your answer btw
Edit: Oh btw, I tried to add "etracer" to the string (it was added in the readme), but that didnt make any difference.Last edited by Shahrizai; 10-19-2012, 02:33 PM.
asdx: Since you look like a helpful man who likes to fix things, do you know what is wrong with my OpenGL? Perhaps you can help me fix this
I ran it in the terminal, just to check... got this:
[email protected]:~$ LD_PRELOAD="libpthread.so.0 libGL.so.1" __GL_THREADED_OPTIMIZATIONS=1 wine /home/shahrizai/GuildWars2/gw2.exe
ERROR: ld.so: object 'libGL.so.1' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded: ignored.
ERROR: ld.so: object 'libGL.so.1' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded: ignored.
p11-kit: couldn't load module: /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/pkcs11/gnome-keyring-pkcs11.so: /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/pkcs11/gnome-keyring-pkcs11.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
fixme:heap:HeapSetInformation 0x1ccb000 0 0x32fd98 4
fixmerocess:SetProcessDEPPolicy (1): stub
fixme:thread:SetThreadStackGuarantee (0x348de9d0): stub
fixme:wincodecs:PngDecoder_Block_GetCount 0x196588,0x350de500: stub
fixme:winsock:WS_getsockopt WS_SO_CONNECT_TIME - faking results
fixme:wincodecs:PngDecoder_Block_GetCount 0x192d88,0x350dde54: stub
fixme:wincodecs:PngDecoder_Block_GetCount 0x195c38,0x350dde54: stub
fixme:wincodecs:PngDecoder_Block_GetCount 0x195c38,0x350dde54: stub
err:wgl:has_opengl Failed to load libGL: libGL.so.1: wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS64
err:wgl:has_opengl OpenGL support is disabled.
Direct3D9 is not available without OpenGL.
Direct3D9 is not available without OpenGL.
Using the "/bin/sh ..." only said "/bin/sh: 0: Can't open LD_PRELOAD=libpthread.so.0 libGL.so.1"
Could it have anything to do with Xlib? Anything I need to do on that part?
asdx: Since you look like a helpful man who likes to fix things, do you know what is wrong with my OpenGL? Perhaps you can help me fix this
I ran it in the terminal, just to check... got this:
Using the "/bin/sh ..." only said "/bin/sh: 0: Can't open LD_PRELOAD=libpthread.so.0 libGL.so.1"
Could it have anything to do with Xlib? Anything I need to do on that part?
glxinfo|grep NVIDIA


text:
Medical splints are used to protect an injured body part from further injury or keep an injured body part from moving, explains Healthline. They are mostly used to stabilize broken bones as the injured person is taken the health care facility for further treatment. When properly placed, splints help ease the pain of an injured area.
To apply a splint, a patient is advised to first stop the bleeding of the injured area by applying pressure directly on the wound, explains Healthline. After the bleeding stops, the patient should apply a bandage and then place the splint, making it rest on the joint just above the injury and the joint below it. If splinting the forearm, for instance, the patient should place a rigid support under the forearm and then tape or tie it to arm above the elbow and below the wrist.
A patient is advised to avoid placing a tie directly over the injured area and should fasten the splint so that the body part is immobile, but the splint should not be so tight that it interferes with circulation, explains Healthline. If the extremity begins to turn pale or blue or becomes swollen, the ties that hold the splint should be loosened.


text:
This Celiad Kaftan Dress is sheer elegance - made in cotton and perfect for summer days and evenings, worn formally or casually. It's the perfect addition to a summer wardrobe in Greece or for those looking to bring Greek island flavor with them wherever they donn this beauty.
Color: White
Size: Onesize


text:
Louis Vuitton Alize Poches Travel Authentic Pre Owned
This item is no longer available
Authenticity code: Louis Vuitton VI0967This Authentic Louis Vuitton Monogram Alize Poches Travel Bag features signature Louis Vuitton monogram canvas, Vachetta leather trim, Gold tone hardware and two rolled leather handles. It is a beautiful luggage tag with one large compartment. Enjoy your next trip!
Authentic: Preowned
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Interior: Gently used
Measurements: 22"L x 18"H x 6"W with 5" drop (approx.)
Product Code: 146616
Read more about Louis Vuitton Date Code here.
All photos are of actual item being sold. © 2007-2018 LuxeDH.
This Louis Vuitton® item is guaranteed to be authentic. Louis Vuitton is a registered trademark of Louis Vuitton. LuxeDH is not affiliated with or represents Louis Vuitton in any way or form.
New Arrivals


text:
When the jet aircraft arrived at Honolulu from Chicago recently, it did not take long to unload. For this particular flight, at the start of Hawaii's normally robust summer tourist season, was more than one-third empty.
The empty seats bespeak the impact the national recession is having on Hawaii's mainstay, its tourist industry, which last year pumped more than $2.6 billion into the local economy. After decades of rampant expansion, the industry is in the midst of its first decline in 31 years -- a situation with ripples affecting a broad slice of the state's economy.
Between January and May the visitor count dropped 1.4 percent below last year , paring hotel occupancy rates 6 percent. Resort shop owners complain that their business is hurting; at least three major tour operators have been involved in distress sales; and there is speculation over how long some hotels can stay afloat.
"There's no question that we are looking at a relatively gloomy year," asserts Myrtle Lee, president of the state's second-largest hotel chain, Island Holidays Resorts, a subsidiary of Amfac Inc. "I venture to say the situation may not turn around until next year and that you won't see a fast return for another year and a half or so."
In 1979, just under 4 million tourists visited Hawaii, a gain of nearly 8 percent over 1978. The gain came despite a strike by United Airlines and the temporary grounding of the DC- 10 for safety reasons, both of which seriously cut into the travel business in the spring and early summer.
Predictions for 1980 vary. Ernest Donehower, deputy director of research for the Hawaii Visitors Bureau, the industry's marketing arm, sees the visitor count "down a bit from 1979." Clement M. Judd Jr., executive vice-president of the Hawaii Hotel Association, expects a "slight drop" of up to 5 percent. And others say the count might not go much higher than 3.5 million, the lowest in three years.
The biggest decline so far is among tour groups, whose numbers have plummeted as much as 40 percent. These groups originate mainly from the Midwest, the biggest casualty of the national recession, and the East Coast, the region most sensitive to recently increasing air fares.
Travel by independent tourists -- primarily from the West Coast -- is up slightly, to cushion the blow somewhat, and the number of foreigners -- chiefly Japanese, Australians, and New Zealanders -- is up substantially.
Exacerbating the decline, nearly 5,000 new hotel rooms were completed last year, on the eve of the recession, boosting the hotel inventory more than 10 percent. Occupancy rates, consequently, have dropped considerably. Last year the average declined to about 74 percent. This year, Mr. Judd says, it is expected to plunge again, perhaps as much as 8 to 10 percent. And that is in an industry accustomed to occupancies in the 80s and 90s.
"When you look at June and see [occupancy rates at] large hotel properties running in the 40s and 50s," observes Mrs. Lee, "that's not too keen. For the smaller hotels, you better believe they're running in the 20s and 30s." As a rule, resort hotels must fill between half and three-quarters of their rooms, depending on their cost and financing methods, before they start making money. "There may be a few fire sales by the end of the year," Mrs. Lee suspects.
Three of the state's leading tourist middlemen have already gone out of business as a result of the downturn, unable to raise nearly $5 million in debts owed to hotels and other creditors. The three, Hawaiian Holidays Tours, MacKenzie Tours Hawaii, and Aloha Hawaii Travel, were among the top half- dozen tour operators serving the islands, billing nearly $70 million in business last year.
They were sold early this year to David Elmore, a Chicago businessman who owns an eight-member tour wholesale group, First Family of Travel, and who acquired the three distressed firms for "a nominal consideration," on the condition he keep them in business and fulfill their obligations. While Mr. Elmore says no other deals are in the works, observers feel a number of other local tour operators are in trouble and may not last out the year.
More important, the current decline underscores growing apprehension over the important role tourism plays in the local economy. The industry is by far the largest employer in the islands, contributing more than a quarter of the $10 billion gross state product. The tourist influx, which has quadrupled since 1967, has brought severe social and economic strains and is partly blamed for a sharp rise in crime, especially by local youths against whites and tourists.
The state government's economic policy sees tourism as Hawaii's chief growth industry. In a long-range tourism plan awaiting the Legislature's approval, the government billed tourism as the only industry able to satisfy the expanded job needs of the future.
The current downturn, pinpointing as it does the industry's fragility and vulnerability to outside forces, is prompting many to question that view.


text:
Nerd Dice Archives
Rokugan Campagin
- Game Background
0 Comments
- Character Background: Hoju
- Background details and description of Hoju, a monk who has befriended Toshiro
and Sadako.
3 Comments
- Character Background: Natsume Sadako (and Lolindir Minyatur)
- Background information and description for Sadako, a half-elven noble from the
Natsume family, who is being fostered by the Miyagishima household. Also a
brief background on Sadako's father, Lolindir.
0 Comments
- Character Background: Miyagishima Toshiro
- Description and background for Toshiro, the young heir of the Miyagishima
family, who has just completed his schooling and his gempukku.
0 Comments
- Character Background: Ichiro Washi
- Description and background information for Washi, the mischeivous servant of
the Miyagishima family.
0 Comments
- Character Background: Hiruma Hirotsuju
- Background information and description for Hiruma Hirotsuju, the ranger who is
escorting Natsume Sadako and Miyagishima Toshiro home.
0 Comments
Changeling: Bellingham Chronicle
- Chapter 3: Rot, Bones and Dust
- Further investigation on Orcas Island leads to an encounter with a giant zombie spider. Part three of the Bellingham Changeling game.
0 Comments
- Chapter 2: By the Silver Sea
- Chapter two's summary of the Changeling game leads the Motley to Orcas Island, where they investigate the Trod abandoned by the Merrows.
0 Comments
- Chapter 1: Rhapsody in Blue
- Summary of the first game session for C:tD in Bellingham
0 Comments
- Shadow Court Background
- Details on the local Shadow Court for Changeling. Keep in mind that some details should be considered out-of-character only. The Shadow Court is highly secretive.
0 Comments
- Character Background: Timor the Troll
- Adam's childling troll character's background and stats.
0 Comments
- Character Background: Abdul the Eshu
- Simon's character background and statistics for his Eshu.
0 Comments
- Character Background: Glorin the Nocker
- Ihor's anti-social unseelie Nocker who makes demented little chimera.
0 Comments
- Character Background: Baron Vortex, the Sluagh
- Matt's character background. They don't call him BIG Daddy for nothin'. Because it's a big long character background. Never mind.
0 Comments
- Character Background: Glayven the Satyr
- Eugene's character background and stats. The first one to send his in! Cookie
for Eugene!
2 Comments
- Chapter 1 Background
- Background info for the first Changeling gaming session. For player reference.
1 Comments
- Kingdom Pacifica Introduction
- Background info for the Bellingham Changeling chronicle. Includes setting and plot hooks.
0 Comments
Forgotten Realms - Western Heartlands
- Chapter 5: Demon in the Dark
- The stunning conclusion to our Forgotten Realms game, wherein the party investigates the mysterious demon hidden in the Forest of Wyrms.
0 Comments
- Chapter 4: Greenfields and Greenlocks
- The party travels into the Greenfields to find out what Darkblade has been up to. His contact Duncan Longfoot directs them back north to Scornubel and an alchemist named Greenlocks.
0 Comments
- Background: Leythan Arlis
- Personal history and description of the human paladin Leythan.
0 Comments
- Background: Milos of Jalanthar
- Personal history and description of the half orcish cleric of Tyr Milos (played by Eugene).
0 Comments
- Chapter 3: The Wood of Sharp Teeth
- The party find a temple of Bane in the ground under the Wood of Sharp Teeth, and it's full of undead.
1 Comments
- Chapter 2: Encounter with the Harpers
- After hightailing it away from Hill's Edge, the party find themselves searching for a lost flaming battle axe for the Harpers Guild.
0 Comments
- Side Story: Thicker than Water
- Separated from the party and reflecting on his past, Leythan sends a letter to the family he left behind.
0 Comments
- Side Story: Birds of Prey
- Laucian learns how to tame and befriend birds of prey, and stops a plot to steal young Great Owls for evil purposes.
0 Comments
- Chapter 1: Hill's Edge
- Thorne, Milos, Mirabelle and Sergor go to Hill's Edge and make "friends" with Thayans and Zhents.
1 Comments
- Background: Sergor the Monk
- Personal history and description of the half elven monk of Ilmater Sergor (played by Andrea).
2 Comments
- Background: Laucian Galanodel
- Personal history and description of the elven ranger Laucian (played by Adam).
0 Comments
- Prologue
- Summary of the action in the first three gaming sessions.
0 Comments
Mini Forgotten Realms Game
- Part II: Spooky Halloween Special
- Niddock Houk Linnpert Farkaddo Slummputtle disappears, and the rest of the gang follow his trail to Hill's Edge, but have to stop at a spooky house in the middle of nowhere during a sudden storm.
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- Background Story
- I took some liberties with this one. Just a bit of fun to explain the background.
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- Part I: Snake Eyes
- The wacky foursome set off to retrieve some mystical dice for a gambling town that worships Tymora.
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The review included an undisclosed number of agencies. The automaker began talking to agencies in November.
Brian Bolain, national manager overseeing marketing for Scion, is in Japan and unavailable for comment.
Nontraditional media
Annual media spending is
Toyota will start selling two Scion models in June in California and expects to be national in June 2004. Scion's first two models will be priced under $16,000.
Zenith already handles Toyota and its sibling Lexus brands. Independent Attik, San Francisco, has Scion's creative account, and Dentsu's Oasis, New York, handles the online account.


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The event featuring seven of the original 10 commissioners marked the release of a new report card on "The Status of the 9/11 Commission Recommendations," published by the Bipartisan Policy Center, which consulted with outside specialists and Obama administration officials during its review.
The report identifies nine "major unfinished" recommendations, gives their status and identifies the player chiefly responsible (the Homeland Security Department, state and local governments, the Executive Office of the President, or Congress).
The past 10 years have made America safer and brought "progress in breaking down barriers to information sharing," said commission Chairman Thomas Kean, former Republican governor of New Jersey. He cited a doubling of the intelligence community budget and the killing of Osama bin Laden as examples. "It's not perfect, but it's a lot better than before 9/11," he said.
The report highlights the government's post-9/11 successes on a single page, calling progress in the transformation of the intelligence community "striking" and characterizing the Transportation Security Administration's airline passenger screening as "greatly enhanced."
But longer analysis is devoted to the unmet goals, which deal with unity of command and effort, radio spectrum and interoperability, civil liberties and executive power, congressional reform, the director of national intelligence, transportation security, biometric entry-exit screening systems, standardized personal identification cards, and coalition standards for detention of terrorists.
Given the current budget crisis, the panelists agreed, prospects for implementing many of the changes are in doubt. Hamilton said that Congress' so-called "super committee will knock everything else off the calendar, and everything here in this report will be subordinated to that." He noted that after a boom in spending on intelligence, defense and security in the years immediately following the attacks, Washington for the first time is now "on the cusp of a debate" on the cost-effectiveness of such spending.
In a round-robin moderated by ABC News correspondent Ann Compton, the panelists addressed the unmet goals one-by-one.
The problem of achieving unity of command has been solved only in New York City, Kean said, where the police are clearly in charge. Former Navy Secretary John Lehman noted that the 9/11 commission's book "educated state and local officials in how to implement reforms in a decentralized way so that New York is not waiting for the federal government to act." He called New York the most secure city in the world, though, as former Illinois Gov. Jim Thompson pointed out, it has resources other localities lack.
The solution to the problem of first-responder radio incompatibility, the panelists said, is stalled by a political fight in Congress over whether to allocate the D Block on the radio spectrum to the government, which could cost $50 billion, or to auction it to the private sector. Former Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., came down firmly for auctioning, noting that Congress lacks the funds to reserve the D Block, and the federal government could still commandeer it during an emergency.
All expressed frustration with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which has had four directors in six years. "The agency doesn't control the purse, and it needs its own subcommittee" for appropriations, Kean said. It also should have authority over personnel so that the intelligence agencies "are all singing from the same hymn book," Gorton added. The commission originally envisioned an ODNI staff of about 300, Lehman said, noting that it's now at some 2,000. If the DNI had the proper authority, said former Indiana Democratic congressman and Ambassador Timothy Roemer, it would drive many of the solutions to problems such as radio interoperability.
The failure of the Obama administration to set up a civil liberties board is especially troublesome to Hamilton. In light of all the new "intrusive" surveillance powers Congress gave the executive branch after 9/11, the country needs a "robust and visible board" to push back, he said. Though legislation was enacted three years ago, Obama has nominated only two of five members, and none has been confirmed, he reported.
Hamilton expressed similar impatience with the Homeland Security Department's delays in exploiting biometrics technology to track suspected terrorists after they've entered the country, noting that two of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers moved around the United States undetected with expired visas and 18 had false identification documents. DHS has postponed until 2013 the final deadline for state compliance on standardized state driver's licenses, a step that should be accelerated, Hamilton said.
Airline passenger screening by TSA, despite the "major success" of its no-fly and automatic selectee lists, could be improved through greater focus at checkpoints on explosives on passengers and by expediting advanced baggage screening equipment. The failure of Congress to reduce the number of committees and subcommittees overseeing Homeland Security drew much criticism. "The agency spends too much time testifying and not protecting Americans," Kean said. "Officials come up on the Hill for a photo op with little follow-up," Roemer said. Veteran White House counsel Fred Fielding said Congress maintained the status quo and followed its budget process, which "keeps all the old habits." The campaign finance laws, Lehman added, encourage Congress to maintain many subcommittees so that younger members rise to become chairmen and raise money from lobbyists. Thompson said a key obstacle is that "we've lost powerful leaders in Congress who could make reform happen."
The question of how to detain suspected terrorists is a "dilly of a problem," Hamilton said. Despite Obama's executive orders early in his presidency, "we still haven't resolved the problem of reconciling the rule of law with detention of terrorists. We need a solution founded in fairness and due process to protect American people," he said. "The president and Congress are derelict in not pursuing a statute."
The panelists took note of the apparently modest progress made in the increasingly dangerous area of threats to cybersecurity. The government has been aware of the problem for a long time, Hamilton said, and the solution requires someone in in charge with access to the president, perhaps from the National Security Agency, and it will require interaction with the private sector.
In criticizing Washington's inertia, Kean blasted the tendency toward "governing by crisis," as in this year's threatened government shutdown and the debt ceiling drama. "Congress must focus on more than one problem at a time or it's not tackling the problems facing the country," he said.
Roemer emphasized a need for congressional leadership and pressure from the American people. "The unity of purpose we had is gone today," he said. "We need to get it back."


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A bomb threat call received at the police control room at Sabarimala paniced the police.
The police cyber cell found that the call was made from Hosur in Karnataka. The phone number given by the caller was traced near a transmission station in Sabarimala.
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Just spent a wonderful week in Widenham near Umkomaas and Clansthal. Weather was sublime and the sea was a bright blue. Saw many whales and dolfins from our cottage, sometimes remarkably close to shore. Widenham has a nice quiet little beach for the kids who can't wait to go back!
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If only common sense was as common as the name suggests !
Funny thing is, I've found such "rules for freeform games" to be often virtually indistinguishable from some systems I know, often of the "narrativist" or "old school" kinds. It's actually only logical. After all, they have to deal with either all conflicts or just fights, and set a pacing mechanism and a means to determine who gets the upper hand, with what consequences and who can narrate what parts of it.But yeah, you should adapt them to the specific concept, and the specific people in the group, no matter whether it's nominally freeform or system !
*nods* I just made basic rules and will be adding more within the next 24 hours, I can even think of them.
Another example, perhaps, would be my insistence in sci-fi games that lasers are not viable hand weapons!
Rule #11: Don't forget your towel. If you do not have a towel then please ask the GM for one and for goodness sake, Don't lose it!Damn, I just went and messed up your rule set. LOL Sorry, I couldn't help myself, I was just being goofy and wanted to add:"Hi, Chrys!" I say as I wave emphatically like some deranged lunatic.
Even less so, if you've attended the Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy
I do believe in your standard SF setting what you generally want is plasma weapons, since superheated ionized gas can't just be reflected back at you.
Oh, I'm not anti-bullet by any means. In fact bullets may well evolve to have other advantages over the directed-energy-weapon, like self-guiding and self-propelled rounds (essentially mini-missiles) and other such fun things. I don't actually think it's super-likely that pew-pew-zap-zap weapons will replace the gun in some linear fashion; they'll probably be niche weapons used for specific purposes. (We see the beginnings of this in current directed energy weapons, which are used for things like frying an enemy's electronics.)In SF film and television, energy weapons are really more a dramatic signal than anything else, to let you know you're In The Future.
The capital ship is the carrier. The principal weapon system on board it is the manned fighter ship. Fighters are not FTL capable, (unlike the carrier), but are one heck of a lot faster in normal space and a lot more manoeuvrable. The pilots would normally be genetically engineered to have faster reflexes and be able to withstand the increased G-forces. Plus they would be curled up into a ball, surrounded by a gelatinous gloop, and plugged directly into the fighter's control system. (The gloop is unfortunately necessary to cushion them from the G-forces, as it really makes a mess of their fur).The fighters would be armed with guided missiles, energy weapons and fire-and-forget kinetic weapons. Basically they would be a small life-support pod surrounded by weapons and strapped to an engine...
You must be a Star Wars fan. Those are also 4-letter words. And you're the one who said spaceships would move a lot faster than light in combat situations - Trek is the only prominent franchise where this is true, barring extreme niche cases like the Culture, so it's your own fault.
If you're using carrier-ships, you're getting something into a hybrid of previous issues. Your fighters will be better off as entirely unmanned drones than manned ships, controlled via remote telemetry from the carrier. Every pound of mass you don't have to allocate to life support is another pound of engines/fuel/armor/weapons, and the only advantage a living pilot has over a computer is the ability to disobey orders/improvise - great for a story/RP, of limited use in actual combat. Granted, we don't have sophisticated AI programs yet, but we also don't have interstellar spacecraft or laser cannons, and the ultimate limiter in either case is....range, yet again, because unless you have FTL communication, your fighters are limited to lightspeed in receiving instructions.
Guided missiles are a good middle-ground option, but they're another variation on the 'volume of space' issue the shotgun pellets had. To make them maneuverable, they need fuel, which consumes mass, which means less payload, and once they've expended their fuel, they become dumb-fire projectiles again. A missile carrying enough fuel to travel to a long-range target under power the whole way will either be so big it's not a missile so much as a disposable spacecraft in its own right, or have basically no payload beyond kinetic impact (which will drop as it expends fuel and thus mass, so range again is a factor). You'll probably, in the end, get something similar to how missile duels are conducted in David Weber's books, where the missiles launch under power, go ballistic for most of their trip, then activate another engine for terminal maneuvers against the target.
Au contraire. I did not say that ships move faster than light in combat situations, I merely said that interstellar ships are capable of moving a lot faster than light. There is a technique called "microjumping" which some sci-fi authors like Elizabeth Moon allow and others like C.J. Cherryh prefer not to. If your ships are allowed to microjump, they can easily skip out of the path of a laser.
Of course the issue with this is that ithe only way to detect a laser has been fired at you is to be hit by it!
Limited to lightspeed in receiving communications. Precicely why the manned fighter ship will always beet the remotely controlled drone. As for an AI, it is only as good as the guy who programmed it. The AI cannot improvise, and in a situation it has not been programmed to deal with, it will reset and revert to some base-line default.This is why I will always go with a combination of AI and pilot, connected by a neural implant chip in the pilot's brain, working together as one entity.
Not necessarily about the autohit. Some weapons have a charge up time, and if you see the weapon powering up, you can quickly start getting ready to dodge.
See, Glyph, in your scenario, we don't need a human crew at all.But an AI will always aim at where the ship will be given it's current velocity and acceleration, the formulae for calculating these being known and easy to program.What an AI cannot do is anticipate that the targit might not speed up. See, in order to miss that laser, you don't have to accelerate. You can decelerate too! You can slow down and have it pass harmlessly in front of you. You can move laterally Zenith or Nadir and have it pass "above" or "below" you.
Most fights will take place within star systems.Orbital mechanics thus apply. Orbital Mechanics are fucking complicated. To slow down, you increase your orbital radius, and to do that you accelerate. To speed up, you decrease your orbital radius, which means breaking! (Please note, this is why I dislike both Star Trek AND Star Wars). Now, an AI will be able to deal with the maths far better than a pilot. However a pilot will be better able to make the decision as to where to go...
Getting back to the remote drones vs AIs vs Pilots argument:Remote drones become less and less effective the further they are from their mother ship. They therefore are useless as an offensive weapon and can function in a defensive capacity only, as the closer the attackers get, the more effective they become. In this role they are ideal.
Autonomous artificial intelligences with shit-loads of weapons? Seriously?You really want to give the guns to computers?
I have visions of RoboCop here. The robot follows it's programming to the letter, and as Nonniemouse points out, does not assess the situation to see if it's actions are a good thing. A robot cannot tell the difference between good and bad! That is a human function, and human instintcs also come into play. I think it was Star Wars IV (or the first one as those of us in our 40s like to call it) where someone utters the immortal line, "Remember they can jam every instrument except your eyes".
That is another problem with remote drones. There are a limited number of radio frequencies available. All of which can be jammed by a constant white-noise broadcast!So your drones fly off, and just keep flying because your control signals aren't getting through...
Androids.... Now, if we send out a strong enough EMP, it is going to fry every circuit in their brains. Something humans are not vulnerable to. Of course the AI in the human piloted ship is also vulnerable to EMP but not if it is shut down. So, Glyph, honey, your robot/drone fighter fleet is dead in space, and my pilot/AI combination fighter fleet has just powered back up and breezes past yours, not even bothering to waste ammo on them, and is now in a position to attack your carrier!
Can you shield your robots against the EMP? Probably, but all that shielding is going to dispose of your weight and volume advantage. My ships have manual controls that don't rely on the AI, so can still be flown, although not as well. And rebooting the AI if it does get EMPed might bring it back on-line. I say might because I don't know but it would be nice if it did.I'm rather annoyed I didn't think of the EMP earlier in this discussion. The one weapon that electronics are vulnerable to that biologicals are not.
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text: SUDDENLY, the breakup of the Soviet Union has handed the Bush administration a real chance to get serious about preventing the spread of nuclear weapons.The USSR's collapse could lead to the birth of new nuclear-armed states, most likely the Ukraine and Kazakhstan. If these nations go nuclear, ethnic tensions and political instability will be dangerously exacerbated. More broadly, global efforts to halt nuclear proliferation would be undercut. This alarming prospect need not come to pass. A concerted Western effort to stop this potential proliferation could ease the gravest international issue arising from Soviet disintegration. At the same time, a tough Western stand would deter would-be proliferators elsewhere. Regrettably, George Bush's recent speech on nuclear arms missed an opportunity to warn the republics directly on nuclear weapons. Moreover, it is no longer clear that Mikhail Gorbachev will have the authority to make good on his pledge to scrap or withdraw the tactical nuclear weapons in the republics. At the moment, it is unclear whether the Ukraine and Kazakhstan ultimately will claim the sizable portions of the USSR's atomic arsenal stationed on their territories. For now, the 27,000-warhead Soviet stockpile remains under central control, where it is subject to elaborate safeguards against unauthorized launch, theft, or misuse. Yet politicians in both the Ukraine and Kazakhstan are sending mixed signals about their nuclear intentions. Even if such proliferation seems unlikely, the mere possibility calls for the West to establish firm opposition now. Ukrainian leader Leonid Kravchuk has reportedly assured President Bush that he wants a Ukraine free of nuclear weapons once it has gained full independence. But that hopeful statement cannot be accepted at face value. Mr. Kravchuk himself, an opportunistic ex-communist who made a late conversion to the nationalist cause, has given vague and somewhat contradictory responses when quizzed about the Ukraine's nuclear intentions. Last year the Ukrainian parliament passed a nuclear-free declaration, and initially after the coup Kiev indicated that the weapons should be removed, presumably to Russia. However, Rukh, the Ukrainian nationalist movement that may dominate politics after coming elections, has objected. Some Rukh officials feel that the Ukraine would be comparatively weakened if the weapons are moved to Russia, a historical rival. Ukrainians were understandably worried by a warning from Boris Yeltsin's Russian government that breakaway republics could not assume that current borders with Russia would remain unchanged. The Ukrainians now believe that nuclear weapons on their soil will be useful bargaining chips in independence talks with Russia and the central government. More ominously, some Ukrainian political figures suggest that nuclear forces will afford their country instant great-power status. IN the Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan, meanwhile, the government also reiterated its antinuclear position after the coup in Moscow failed. But lately, Kazakh leaders are backtracking. They have rejected proposals to move nuclear weapons to Russia and want joint Kazakh control over the weapons. Certainly, neither the Ukraine nor Kazakhstan has the command and control structure, the technical expertise, or the political maturity to handle nuclear weapons safely. With its vast land area, population of 52 million, and proven industrial capacity for building atomic warheads and missiles, a nuclear Ukraine passing through a period of economic depression and political instability would cast a long shadow over the newly democratizing states of Eastern Europe, and pose genuine security concerns for Western Europe and NATO. It is also not difficult to imagine an authoritarian Kazakh regime of the future becoming a regional strongman, throwing its nuclear weight, for instance, behind fellow Turkic-speaking Muslims in Azerbaijan at war with Christian Armenia. In a region where Islamic fundamentalism is growing and prospects for democracy seem poor, this largely undeveloped nation could prove to be an unstable home for atomic weaponry. The Bush administration can do much to forestall this potential danger. First, it can move s wiftly to unify the Western industrialized countries against suggestions that republics might gain the bomb. A common stand could break any republican temptation to keep the weapons. The West now enjoys both considerable moral authority and leverage with the Ukraine and Kazakhstan. They are entering a painful transition to mixed economies, and they badly need Western financial and technical help. The West should deliver a blunt message: Keep your nukes and lose our aid. Second, if these nations become fully independent, the West must encourage and, if necessary, pressure them to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and other arms-control accords previously signed by the USSR. Finally, the Bush administration should broaden the unilateral arms cuts it proposed, enabling the Soviets to match US moves. The elimination of all tactical nuclear weapons should be the immediate goal. These weapons are deployed widely in the USSR and are subject to fewer safeguards; they are thus the most vulnerable to expropriation by breakaway republics. Parallel negotiations on slashing strategic intercontinental ballistic missiles should also begin anew. In a dissolving Soviet Union, destroying missiles and warheads will ease the greatest risk now confronting the West: their use by the republics or others.


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Clue: Hendrix of 60's rock
We have 1 answer for the clue Hendrix of 60's rock. See the results below.
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- First name in 60's rock
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If you like Death Note, you should like Hell Girl because it's similar.
Hi! Sorry I missed this message. I'm still learning my way around Animeleague.
To answer your question, it's tough because there are so many. Grimmjow Jaggerjack from Bleach, Naruto's Itachi Uchiha, and Ai Enma from the Hell Girl franchise are only 3 examples. Who are your favorite characters?
Just stopping by to say hi!
EH Head Moderator
Magical Girl


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The Minister designate for Inner Cities and Zongo Development, Alhaji Abubakar Saddique Boniface, has described himself as a ghetto man, saying: "When I go with you to Agbogbloshie and any of the Zongos, you will leave me because you will see all kinds of people there. But these are the people I want to work with."
Justifying his suitability for the position when he appeared before the Appointments Committee of Parliament (ACP) yesterday, he said as the Minister for Inner Cities and Zongo Development, he would tackle the high poverty rate in the Zongos, which currently numbered over 400, and the inner cities dotted all over the country.
Saying that mandate also fell under Goal 11 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), he stated: "I believe we need to fight and take people out of poverty and I want to conceptualise and actualize the vision of the President."
He said one of his initial goals was to set a very sound foundation for the ministry by creating a healthy mindset for all, after which everybody would help with developing the Zongos.
He pledged not to be discriminatory when embarking on economic empowerment to change the economic fortunes of people in the Zongos and inner cities through business development and support.
ACP schooled
It was like a student whose favourite topic had appeared in an examination when Alhaji Boniface was asked to explain what constituted a Zongo.
Answering questions in an atmosphere of goodwill from members of the ACP, who praised him for his humility, and the many Zongo chiefs and elders who were there to lend their support, Alhaji Boniface showed that he was so much at home with the question posed by the MP for Tamale North, Alhaji Alhassan Sayibu Suhuyini.
He proceeded to school the committee on the history of Zongos, which he said was the corrupted word for the original word 'Zongo', which meant a temporary transit for travellers, traders and religious propagators at the outskirts of towns.
Zongo Fund
Speaking to the US$50 million Zongo Development Fund (ZDF) seed money pledged by the President, he said beneficiaries would be made to isolate the benefits from their personal interests and would receive technical support for effective utilisation after Parliament had approved the establishment of such a fund.
Alhaji Boniface said he would consider the transformation of Nima and other prime Zongos with high-rise apartments for the owners of the lands through Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) but he would first have to see that such a plan fell within the plans of the country.
He said he believed that developing the Zongos and the inner cities would reduce the crime rate, saying that it would require inter-sectoral collaboration, visibility of policing and lighting to mitigate the problem.
The nominee stressed that the ZDF would solely be used for projects such as infrastructure development, stocking libraries, paying Arabic instructors, ICT development and other social development, while educating the girl child would prevent child marriages which were prevalent in the Zongos and the inner cities.
Source: Starrfmonline.com


text: Here's a snapshot of the top stories Oakland Local covered during the month of August– New private patrols keep homes safe in Oakmore & Upper Dimond : Oakmore resident organizes private security patrols for local neighborhoods Oakulture: Chuy Gomez' Message to Listeners, Spiritual Vibes at the New Parish, Oakland's Southern Connection, Disco Volante's Last Dance: The scoop on DJ Jesus "Chuy" Gomez' sudden firing from KMEL First Look: Homestead Restaurant in Oakland's Piedmont Neighborhood: Newly-opened Homestead Restaurant is the perfect mix of high-quality, seasonal food with weeknight prices (all entrees are under $25). Made in Oakland: How one city turned into an art and maker mecca : Find out–all about–the maker and art collective scene in Oakland. Latham Square marks Oakland's latest foray into pop-up public space: The Latham Square project, a public-private collaboration between the City of Oakland, the Downtown Oakland Association, and San Francisco-based art and design studio Rebar, draws its momentum from the growing popularity of pop-up urban space and pedestrian plazas in American cities and Uptown's redevelopment City Attorney wins victory against former "prostitution magnet" hotel: National Lodge at 1711 International Boulevard has been sold to a new owner who intends to develop office and retail space on the property. Oakland Schools Teach Trafficking Prevention in Schools: The newest phase of OUSD's outreach includes educating parents about the facts of child trafficking in Oakland and holding assemblies across the district to educate seventh graders about the issue. Oakland Social: Classic Cars West, the beginning of a benevolent empire: Michael Sarcona is the guy behind Classic Cars West, a boutique vintage car dealership and art gallery in Uptown Oakland–this is his story. Amid Cries Of 'Shame,' Oakland Approves Funding Citywide Surveillance Program(Analysis): During a July meeting,the Oakland City Council authorized funding for a large-scale citywide surveillance center backed by federal stimulus dollars. See more top stories here. And if you got this far, we've got a little more for you: Oakland Local needs YOUR SUPPORT TO CONTINUE. Yep, you. If you read us, and you appreciate what we do, please find a way to spend your dollars to help keep up viable. That could mean advertising and social marketing with OL, telling our advertisers you saw them at OL, or making a tax deductible donation–even $5 or 10–to support our coverage of our city. Find out about advertising here. Donate here. And get connected on Facebook right here. Have a great Monday and a good week. Leave a Reply Cancel Reply Your email address will not be published.CommentName* Email* Website