text:
Index Ventures raises €350 million for new fund
FORTUNE — Index Ventures has raised €350 million for its sixth early-stage venture capital fund. Expect most of the money to be invested into European tech startups, with the remainder targeted at Israel and the United States.
"One surprise on our last fund was that we did a much higher percentage of deals in the U.S. than we had expected," says Mike Volpi, one of Index's San Francisco-based partners. "Our target is one-third U.S., but we were up at around 40%. I think it reflects the richness of companies, particularly tech companies, in the U.S. market over the past few years. There also were a larger number of things in New York than we had expected."
When Index raised its fifth early-stage fund in the summer of 2009, its goal was to invest in tech, life sciences and cleantech companies. The firm soon decided, however, that life sciences and tech investing weren't compatible out of the same fund — leading it to raise a €150 million life sciences-only vehicle earlier this year. This came shortly after Index also raised a dedicated fund for growth-stage investments, whose portfolio already includes such companies as Etsy, Dropbox and Nasty Gal.
As for cleantech,Volpi says that Index didn't take long to sour on the sector. "We looked at a lot of deals but didn't think that many had the same potential as tech deals, because they relied too much on subsidies. We did a couple, including a tire recycling company, but I wouldn't say that it's still a focus."
Volpi adds that Index already has begun investing the new vehicle, and that he hopes many of the companies someday will be able to go public in London. It's a theme first broached in a blog post last month by Index partner Neil Rimer:
What is more alarming than the track record is the defeatist attitude of European companies considering IPOs. The common sentiment in the boardrooms of these companies is that while in the US the IPO window is open, the London market is shut tight like a porthole. Bulge bracket investment bankers file through in perfunctory beauty parades lamenting that European institutional investors are not interested in buying IPOs and doling out the same patently impractical advice; "Wait or consider going public in America." Consequently,
It strikes me that this is like saying that there is a bread shortage because there are no buyers of bread. Bakers might stop producing bread if people completely lost the taste for it, but that certainly doesn't seem to be the case: Shoreditch is as vibrant as ever; there is no shortage of interest in Seedcamp and we have certainly never seen better companies being built in London. So why is it that these companies are not tapping local public markets? Perhaps it is that their management teams and boards are dutifully heeding this advice and perpetuating its circular logic…
In the end, the choice of where to list largely depends on how committed we are to building an integrated ecosystem for entrepreneurship in Europe. If we continue to export our IPOs to the US, we will reinforce the argument that there is no market for IPOs over here and ultimately make it wholly uneconomic for analysts, portfolio managers and investment bankers to devote resources to covering tech stocks traded in London. But if we would like to ensure that European entrepreneurs can build large, sustainable companies that can reliably access the public markets to fund their trajectories, we should think again before accepting the closed IPO window as a fait accompli.
Of course, that blog post came before Facebook's (FB) IPO debacle. Not a single company has gone public in the U.S. or Europe since that time, with Volpi suggesting that the flaccid post-IPO performances of Groupon (GRPN) and Zynga (ZNGA) also may have contributed to the slowdown.
"Facebook may have made people think a bit more before buying into an IPO, but I don't believe the window is closed… For Europe to get to where Neil was writing about, however, we need the U.S. market to be reinvigorated so that Europeans see what they're missing."
Sign up for Dan's daily email newsletter on deals and deal-makers: GetTermSheet.com


text:
Main Content:
Toddler Boys Sweaters
Old Navy Toddler Boys Sweaters
Having a little boy is fun, but we all know it's hard work too. Finding clothes that can withstand his tiny, toddler adventures seemed almost impossible...until now! Old Navy introduces toddler boys sweaters. We have a variety of toddler boys sweaters made specially for your little one. Old Navy's toddler boy sweater collection has an assortment of sweaters including knits, crew necks, pullovers, v-necks, and fleece jackets. It will be easy to find something for him. Find great deals on toddler boys sweaters that you can't find anywhere else. The toddler boy sweater is affordable, adorable, and will hopefully be yours after looking at our Old Navy online store.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
President McDavis visits with Kids on Campus children
Photographer: Ben Siegel
First lady Deborah McDavis visits with a young student during lunch
Photographer: Ben Siegel
President McDavis and Kids on Campus Camp Coordinator Chrystal Smith greet students at Bird Arena
Photographer: Ben Siegel
Jul 19, 2012
By George Mauzy
Ohio University President Roderick J. McDavis and first lady Deborah McDavis greeted more than 100 students participating in the Kids on Campus program on Wednesday.
The couple chatted with the students during their lunch break in Bird Arena. President McDavis said he and his wife wanted to meet the students and let them know they are in an important program.
"Kids on Campus gives the students a good understanding of what a college environment is all about and more importantly it gives them a chance to learn while having a good time," President McDavis said. "It also provides them with an opportunity to make new friends outside their school district."
Timarie Francis, program manager for Ohio University Kids on Campus, said everyone was excited to meet the McDavises.
"We are very happy they are here and everyone is looking forward to meeting them," Francis said. "It is a pleasure that they would spend some time with us despite their busy schedules. It (the visit) brings the whole scariness of the university and all these giant people into a more realistic perspective. When you meet someone one-on-one, it takes the intimidation factor way down."
This year, 180 students entering grades 1 through 11 are participating in the 17th year of Kids on Campus at the Athens campus. The participants are from the Alexander, Athens, Federal Hocking and Trimble Local school districts. Kids on Campus is supported by the Ohio University College of Health Sciences and Professions (CHSP).
Learning tracks include swimming, cyber safety, reading lab, recreation, gardening and cooking, and green time. Each day during the five-week program that ends on Friday, the students are provided with breakfast, lunch and snacks.
"We can't tell you how happy we are that President McDavis stopped by," said Kevin Davis, director of community engagement for CHSP. "This (visit) was something that we had been planning all summer. The support the college and university gives us is amazing and we couldn't have had this program without the support of the president's office."


text:
His excitement for all things recycling and trash are endless.
He tells me during car rides that seeing and counting trash cans and garbage trucks gives him super powers - he is a garbage superhero! I, of course, love this obsession and will continue to encourage it in any way that I can!
That is where this week's t-shirt project comes in ... a painted reverse applique t-shirt. As mentioned yesterday, I am on a mission to make some fun graphic t-shirts for my kids since I did not like the mature content available in the "big boys" section of many of the stores. My son is 5 and I want him to wear age appropriate clothing. Plus, I want his shirts to be fun and reflect who he is and what he loves.
I did a bit of research on Pinterest and came across this great recycle shirt applique at Wardrobe Refashion. She used a couple of techniques including paint and reverse applique to create this fun and dynamic result. Here is my take on her shirt...
This was a fun project for me because I got to try a couple of techniques I have never done before. The first was using Glad Press N Seal as a stencil and the second was reverse applique.
I started this project by finding a recycle clip art graphic and printing it out as large as I could make it on a piece of 8.5x11 paper. I lightened it a bunch before I printed so as to save ink. Since it was so faint, I simply outlined the graphic with a marker. Here were the first four steps:
#1: Fully cover the graphic with Glad Press N Seal. Mine was a summer themed from my amazing Target summer clearance haul from last year. Make sure the Press N Seal is smooth and secure.
#2: Cut out the graphic being sure to create a clean edge on the Press N Seal.
#3: Carefully remove the paper backing and place the Press N Seal design on your t-shirt, making sure to keep the plastic smooth and not stretch the design. Also make sure the graphic is centered. I had to reposition mine and it was difficult to pull the Press N Seal off the fabric without ripping it. Smooth the edges around the design real well to make sure it is prepped for painting.
#4: Paint over the image and remove the Press N Seal. When painting, make sure to place a board or piece of heavy paper inside the shirt so that the paint doesn't seep through. Since I was doing a reverse applique I only needed to do the edges as the center was going to be cut away. Let the paint dry thoroughly before proceeding.
The next step is the reverse applique portion of the shirt. Cut a piece of fabric a bit larger than your design and pin it behind the design on the inside of the shirt.
In the inspiration, she hand stitched around the design but I decided to machine sew mine. After hand sewing the pom-poms t-shirt yesterday, my hand was far to soar. I sewed along the edge of my paint. I then separated the two layers and clipped a small hole in the t-shirt in order to trim the INSIDE of the applique area in order to expose the back fabric.
Additionally, I flipped the shirt inside out and clipped the green fabric around the OUTSIDE of the design. I used t-shirt fabric so the edges will not fray and will be soft to the feel which is important in kids clothing (mine too for that matter).
I love how the paint frames the reverse applique fabric and gives an added dimension to the design! My little man could not wait to wear his new shirt!
Come back tomorrow when I share yet another t-shirt re-fashion project.
Linked up at Blue Cricket Design, Not Just a Housewife, Polly Want a Crafter, House of Hepworths


text:
Robodevelopment 2007 Talk by Matt Trossen, "Creating a Roadmap for the Merging World of Robotics and Computers"
Robotics and computers are merging, there is no doubt about it, but questions remain- Why is it taking so long? Where do the standards belong? What tools are in the marketplace which assist integration? What are the necessary steps to take?
One thing is clear, we need a roadmap to help guide us through this winding road of merging worlds. Join us as we dig deep into this discussion of integrating modern computers into our robotics platforms.
We have uploaded the whole talk to youtube for those that couldn't make it to the event. The talk is broken up into 10 parts so people can jump to the sections they most care about or watch the whole thing. You can find the speech here on the Trossen Robotics System homepage. The TRS is an industry proposal for a standard Robotics Object Model which will solve many of the issues plaguing the industry today.


text:
Listen to the World (exploring music, culture, and language) is the theme for the 2013 Somerset Community College International Festival. The festival, held on the SCC Somerset Campus, located at 808 Monticello Street in Somerset, will be Thursday, October 17 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
The festival, now in its eighth year, will feature over 25 educational presentations and activities. The event is free and open to the public. Acomplete schedule, as well as information on celebrations at the other SCC campuses and centers can be found on the International Festival webpage.
Highlights this year include:
Other topics include:
In addition, there will be presentations on various countries, including Germany, Bangladesh, and Egypt. SCCCosmetology students will also have displays from their international fashion contest. Be sure to vote for your favorite.
Elaine Wilson, director of cultural diversity at Somerset Community College, said the festival has again expanded its offerings in fine and culinary art this year. Music will include the Big Maracas Band, Sogo Drums, and Michael Wells playing the Pipa. Lunch for the event will be coordinated by Chef Michael Wells, director of the SCC Culinary Arts program. Local chef Mete Sergin will present a food demonstration. The Pulaski County Homemakers will provide tea and cookies. And, breads and coffee, donated by Baxters, will be served at 9:00 a.m. in the community room by the Wayne County Homemakers.
The International Festival is supported by: Pulaski County Public Safety Coordinator Tiger Robinson, Director of the Somerset-Pulaski Convention and Visitors Bureau Carolyn Mounce, Pulaski County Homemakers and Wayne County Homemakers.


text:
Give Now
WFIU Public Radio
WTIU Public Television
Choose which station to support!
Do you love or hate garlic?
If you're a garlic lover (or hater) --these two basic guidelines might help: chopping garlic heightens the flavor and smell, while cooking mellows it.
What is RSS? RSS makes it possible to subscribe to a website's updates instead of visiting it by delivering new posts to your RSS reader automatically. Choose to receive some or all of the updates from A Moment of Science:
A Moment of Science is a daily audio podcast, public radio program and video series providing the scientific story behind some of life's most perplexing mysteries. Learn More »
Indiana Public Media is the home of WFIU Public Radio & WTIU Public Television, including your favorite programming from NPR and PBS. Learn More »
© 2019, The Trustees of Indiana University • Copyright Complaints
1229 East Seventh Street, Bloomington, Indiana 47405


text:
Isaac Delvalle paces in the desolate atrium outside the poker room of Magic City Casino. The tan 49-year-old takes a few steps, checks his watch, and sneaks a drag from his bummed cigarette. He's practically twitching. It's midnight, an hour till close, and the air reeks of smoke, bad cologne, and desperation.
Delvalle is a Cuban Fredo Corleone, a deadbeat optimist who's been chasing luck ever since he hopped on one of the last Freedom Flights from Havana in 1971. Sometimes he gets a break — last year, he won a freak $30,000 bad-beat jackpot at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino — but he's a professional squanderer. He's blown triple that prize since then, he says. All of it was spent on his two vices: cards and girls.
Earlier tonight, he came to the old dog track on Douglas Road at Seventh Street to collect a marker from a pal, but the guy didn't show. Delvalle hadn't intended to play. He's been trying to avoid card rooms since losing his job as an electrician, but he has the backbone of a dishrag. So he sat down at a $2/$4 Texas hold 'em table in the heart of the casino's poker room, the kind preferred by serious regulars because the blinds keep out both cheap riffraff and nutty high-stakes gamblers.
Magic City Casino
"I'm unemployed — what else am I going to do?" he asks.
The poker room beats to a steady bass line of shuffling plastic chips, bad cable television, and loudmouths. Lately, the 18-table hangar has been filling up early with players in search of the $175,000 Royal Flush jackpot. In April, a man won a Florida record $195,423 at one of these tables.
Things started off well after he cashed in his last $20 around 8 p.m., Delvalle recalls. He got an ace and a queen on his opening hand. He casually bet two white chips and sipped from his free mini-bottle of water. "First rule of poker: Don't drink when you play," Delvalle says, smirking.
All but two players folded, leaving about $16 in plastic gold on the black felt tabletop. An intimidating buddha bet $4, and Delvalle called. The dealer copped a glance at both players, waited a beat, and unholstered an ace of clubs on the river. And just like that, with his queen kicker, Delvalle won a tidy $24. "That asshole tried to raise me with a pair of nines," he hisses.
But at these midstakes tables, money can disappear faster than a shot of cafecito. "Hold 'em is cards, cards, cards, just throw away cards again and again," he says. "The money is gone faster here because when you start winning, you get cockier and you bet on more hands." Slowly, the neat pile of white chips before him, stacked high like a Jenga tower, had vanished.
Four hours after the game began, outside the poker room, beneath the klieg lights that illuminate the nearby empty dog track, he's restless. He asks everyone on a smoke break for change. He has lost all of his money. Well, not all. In his hands he holds four quarters, which he shuffles like chips. "I just need gas money to get home to Miccosukee, where I live."
Delvalle is in some ways the ideal casino customer. He's single, excitable, and willing to spend money even when he's dirt broke. He stalks poker rooms as furiously as a junkie trawls for his next fix. Lancey Howard from The Cincinnati Kid would describe Delvalle as "loose money." The chieftains of Florida's pari-mutuel industry view him that way too. To them, he's the future. For many decades, gambling in the Sunshine State meant old-timey pastimes such as dog races and jai alai. But the past decade has seen a break-neck race toward Las Vegas-style gambling, with all the major players donating escalating millions to politicians and lobbyists to see who can penetrate one of the nation's largest untapped gambling markets.
Last month, those campaign contributions resulted in a $1.5 billion compact with the Seminole tribe that opens the door to expanded gambling for the first time since 1978. The tribe gets a five-year monopoly on blackjack, baccarat, and chemin de fer, while pari-mutuels in South Florida, among the biggest campaign donors to state legislators, get expanded operating hours, no-limit poker, and a 30 percent tax cut on their slots revenue that will likely generate $140 million.
Legislators defend the pact — and the casino tax cut — as a way to plug the state's billion-dollar budget hole and help the struggling pari-mutuel industry. But multibillion-dollar corporations own most of these pari-mutuels, and some people see the agreement as the result of an industry with too much influence. Nathan Dunn, a lobbyist for the conservative group Florida Family Action, says the industry preys on the poorest Floridians. "This amounts to a bailout for gambling executives," he says. "The suggestion that we're going to give tax breaks to certain industries in this toughest of economic times while families are struggling is highly irresponsible."
These days, South Florida pari-mutuels — including several in Broward — are staking it out for the long term through lobbying, union-busting, and shady political alliances. No pari-mutuel tells the story of gambling in Florida quite like Magic City Casino, a glitzy parenthesis in the heart of working-class Miami. Despite irate governors, corporate takeovers, and cultural relevance, one family has run the casino since the 1950s. They've accumulated a multimillion-dollar fortune and stand to earn much, much more.
Says Steve Wolf, a former racing director at Pompano Park: "This is what they know. They haven't done anything else for 60 years. They're going to fight tooth and nail and down to the last dime to keep this business going."
Noelia Rodriguez comes to the dog track now just out of habit. She's been betting on the greyhounds here nearly as long as she's been married to Armando, her husband of 55 years. The stooped Cuban couple sits in the air-conditioned clubhouse tracking dozens of races simulcast from places they've never been: Birmingham, Phoenix, Corpus Christi, and, even at midnight, Australia.
These days, they can't muster up much excitement. "It's something to do during the day," Noelia says. Despite the elegant paint job and manicured buffet, the joint has lost its luster. It's now just a half-empty amphitheater of hundreds of doll-size TV monitors and dozens of weathered faces and guayaberas.
"I remember the first time I came: September 1966. I remember it because it was the month we came from Cuba, and it was my birthday," Armando says. "Three floors, all for dog betting. Races every day, into the night. You couldn't find a parking space. They had car giveaways. They did something called a supermarathon sometimes, where the dogs went around for two laps."
"Those were some dogs," Noelia recalls.
Magic City has been around in one form or another since 1931, when Jacob Sher, a thoroughbred breeder, opened it as the second dog track in the county, after Miami Beach's. Sher's place was called the West Flagler Kennel Club and drew a less well-heeled crowd than its peer to the east.
Back then, the city was a cesspool of unregulated gambling. Aside from the greyhounds, there were cockfights in Hialeah and roulette wheels in beach clubs. Between 1935 and 1937, slots were legalized and appeared everywhere, from hotel lobbies to barbershops. Gangsters such as Meyer Lansky pocketed the profits; they also operated casinos in the free-for-all that was Fulgencio Batista's Cuba. "Gambling was totally wide open," historian Paul George says. "In the words of a sheriff back then: 'Give the tourists what they want.'"
Isadore Hecht moved to Miami Beach in 1929 and saw the racket's financial potential. The 25-year-old Jewish tomato and banana importer was friendly with Lansky. When Congress clamped down on illegal gambling in 1953, Sher decided to sell, and Hecht bought the track for $2 million. At the time, a day at the kennel club cost a quarter. But the place was so popular the annual handle hovered at $14 million.
The gamble paid off. In the next few years, Miami solidified its place as a destination spot with the construction of a Hydra of hotel beauties: the Fontainebleau, the Eden Roc, the Carillon, the Deauville, and the Doral Beach. By 1960, Hecht transformed the faded track into an art deco jewel box of a dog track with a 5,000-seat auditorium, steam-heated grandstand, and refurbished clubhouse. Time magazine called it the "White House of dog racing."
Flagler soon outdrew the famed Hialeah Racetrack. Frank Capra's A Hole in the Head, a movie about a down-on-his-luck gambler and his big-shot brother, was filmed here. The gambler: Frank Sinatra. Edward G. Robinson played his brother.
By the 1970s, Miami began to lose its destination status. Walt Disney World opened in 1971, and cheap airfare to the Caribbean cut into South Florida's tourist dollars. The state asked voters to allow gambling in 1978 as a way to shore up dwindling coffers. South Florida developers spent $2 million, pointing to the success of Atlantic City, but popular Gov. Reubin Askew took issue, claiming the mob would return. Dog and horse track owners — including the Hechts — campaigned against the casinos, believing they would eat into their core audience. Armed with just $1 million, gambling opponents won by a whopping 70 percent to 30.
But the Seminole Hard Rock opened the nation's first high-stakes bingo hall in Hollywood the next year, and nontaxable cruises-to-nowhere appeared around the same time. Tropical Park Race Track was closed in 1972, the Miami Beach Kennel Club was demolished in 1980, and the Biscayne Dog Track was shuttered in 1996.
As for Flagler: Isadore Hecht died in 1977. Nightly handles declined to $450,000, and the place fell into grimy disrepair. But then Hecht's son-in-law, Fred Havenick, took over. The imposing New York lawyer quickly noticed casino gaming and Cuban émigrés were the future. In the mid-1980s, he allowed a flea market, casually referred to as el pulguero de los perros (the dogs' flea market), to set up shop on the weekends in the parking lot.
"I started in Los Perros when it was really something," says Orlando Gay, who opened his seafood stand-cum-restaurant at the track in 1985. "You couldn't find parking in those days. Business was so good a bum could make $100 just asking for change at the entrance."
In 1994, Havenick teamed with big corporations such as Bally's and Harrah's to bring limited gambling to the ballot. They raised $10 million, but the measure failed. Nevertheless, the big companies swooped in to buy out the mostly family-owned pari-mutuels. Isle of Capri bought Pompano Park, Churchill Downs purchased Calder, and Magna acquired Gulfstream. In 2000, the three and Mardi Gras — then the Hollywood Greyhound Track — created a political action committee.
The PAC, Floridians for a Level Playing Field, has spent $14 million on pari-mutuel-friendly ballot initiatives since 2000. In 2004, they pushed state voters to approve a complicated ballot initiative that would allow Miami-Dade and Broward to cast ballots. If local voters agreed, pari-mutuels, including horse and dog tracks and jai alai frontons, would be allowed to install lucrative slot machines.
That vote was extraordinarily contentious. Religious groups, Bush, Disney, and the Indian tribes spent $6 million to campaign against the measure. The pari-mutuels countered with a $16 million advertising campaign. In the end, a slim majority, 50.8 percent, approved it.
But later, 53 percent of Miami-Dade voters rejected the idea, while Broward, where the corporations spent more on advertising, embraced it.
Izzy Havenick says the vote was devastating to Fred, who was then already battling emphysema: "My father was a boisterous man, and it crushed him to lose something he'd worked so hard for 25 years to get." A year later, Fred died. He remains such a popular figure around the track that his 2006 obituary still hangs in a clubhouse betting window.
For the next election, Izzy says, they were determined to hold nothing back.
At Century Marketplace's outdoor flea market on Le Jeune Road, Orlando Gay stabs his gutting knife into a fresh Ecuadorian blue marlin. He fillets the bloody block of fish as one would swipe a credit card.
Gay, a stout Cuban with a Charles Bronson mustache and booming voice, has been a fishmonger since 1985, five years after he arrived during Mariel. For most of the past quarter-century, he worked at the Flagler flea market. He was one of the original pulgueros.
The flea market was his only job, and it was lucrative enough that he was able to buy several storefronts and a seafood restaurant in nearby Flagami. "My daughter grew up there," he says, referring to the dog-track flea market. "Fish paid for her college education."
But last June, the Havenicks evicted the market. Though Gay and the 400 pulgueros had supported with sweat and blood the referendum to allow slots in Dade, the flea market no longer fit the family's vision for the place.
Gay says he "lost a chunk" of his life: "I had a cow that gave four buckets of milk a day, and now I got a goat with a couple of broken legs."
After the 2004 vote, the Broward casinos didn't immediately turn a profit. The jai alai fronton, dog track, and horse tracks invested hundreds of millions in the slots and improving their facilities. Pompano Park dropped a sick $230 million to turn itself into a Valhalla of gambling, and Calder rushed through an $85 million renovation to be ready for this year's Super Bowl. A conservative legislature set taxes on the new slots at 50 percent, which was high but not unprecedented. Pennsylvania's casinos pay 55 percent on slots, and New York's fork out 78 percent.
The Havenicks and other Miami-Dade pari-mutuels such as Calder Race Course and Miami Jai-Alai didn't give up. They continued to invest heavily in lobbying county officials for a new vote and came up with a canny strategy. In July, Izzy approached Miami-Dade commissioners about setting a new vote on the casinos the day of the upcoming presidential primary. When the first ballot was rejected in Dade, turnout was a measly 14 percent, mostly die-hards who were elderly and conservative. With the primary, there would be more voter participation. Commissioners approved that date by nine to one, with Katy Sorenson as the sole dissenter.
Then the slots backers mobilized forces. A few months before the 2008 vote, hundreds of the pulgueros powwowed with Izzy Havenick at a rare meeting below the grandstand. The 32-year-old Flagler vice president talked about the future.
Most old hands had seen Izzy grow up. He was the chubby kid who mulched the track when he was grounded. To the pulgueros, he was a cipher. Izzy had spent the track's boom years studying photography at the University of Miami, living in one of the residence halls that bore his grandmother's name.
The flea marketers had heard rumors the family was preparing to sell the ten-acre property to a condo developer. "Most people didn't have part-times — this was it," says Jorge Garcia, a stringy Cuban with lank hair, who had been at the flea market since 1985. "You spent all week gathering merchandise, and you worked on the weekends." On any given weekend, he says, he made $5,000.
At the meeting, Izzy delivered a grim prognosis. "We were honest with them," the track owner says now. "I said, 'Unless you help us, come next year, you may not be here anymore.'" He told them the vote was a make-or-break deal. "If we lost, we'd sell the land," he says.
Flagler was losing nearly $8 million a year, he told the group. The family just couldn't keep the crown jewel of its business (the Havenicks also owned tracks in Fort Myers and Wisconsin) afloat without help. They needed casino-style gaming.
The meeting was calm. "They asked us to campaign for them," Garcia says. "They bought us T-shirts. They asked us to tell our clients to vote yes on slots."
Someone shouted, "Contract!" but Izzy politely rejected the suggestion. After several meetings, they agreed. "It was like seducing a woman," Gay explains. "First you promise her the world, and then you ravage her."
The Havenicks didn't stop with the pulgueros. The 2004 loss taught the family to take nothing for granted. They joined Calder and Miami Jai-Alai on a $6 million advertising campaign and enlisted the help of state Rep. David Rivera, then a top lieutenant for anti-gambling Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio.
They also enlisted track employees. In 2004, Unite Here, the largest gaming employees union, offered to help. The Havenicks and other track owners accepted, but there was a catch: The tracks would have to allow Unite to speak with employees about unionizing if slots were approved.
Employees had long wanted a union, says Jay Mehta, a Unite Here spokesman. And the pari-mutuels saw it as an opportunity to telegraph to voters that slots would be good for workers. "They thought by signing this agreement, they could persuade voters and politicians this had the potential to secure good jobs," Mehta says. "Many companies use that as a tactic when they're negotiating with voters."
Bernie, a track cashier at Flagler since 1995 who asked New Times not to use his last name, saw the election in personal terms. The gray-haired 61-year-old, a regular Willy Loman, has medical problems, so he took the job for health insurance. He and his wife campaigned for the slots and took voters to the polls. "I thought, This will help them make money so they can start offering insurance again," he says.
Last-minute opponents materialized: Animal rights activists juxtaposed the hot Michael Vick scandal with racing greyhounds, and Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina, upset that his city's horse track wasn't part of the slots deal, campaigned against it.
But on January 20, the day of the presidential primary — Hillary Clinton and John McCain swept — Miami-Dade voters also approved slots 63 to 37 percent.
Two months later, the pulgueros got a jolt: They had a week to vacate the premises. "It was really disgusting what they did to us," Gay says. "They even called the cops."
Izzy Havenick says his family owes the flea marketers nothing. "They've been here for 20 years? Well, we've been here for 58," he says.
But Julio Robaina (no relation to the Hialeah mayor), a Republican state representative from the track's district, says Havenick betrayed their trust. "Every local elected official got assurances about not displacing those people," Robaina says. "They didn't keep their promise."
The unionizers also feel deceived. The group sued the Havenicks this past January for failing to honor the 2004 agreement to allow talks with employees.
Izzy wouldn't discuss that lawsuit, but in court records, the family argues the agreement is invalid for various technical reasons. "Our employees have always supported everything we've done here," Izzy says. "They've volunteered; they've worked poll stations. They wanted to protect their jobs." So far, there's been no decision on the suit.
At the track, most employees know nothing about the union. Orquidea Herrera, age 50, has been working as a cashier and waitress at the track since 1995 and earns $8 an hour at the clubhouse's buffet. She can't afford health insurance. "I'm too old to be fishing around for anything else," she says.
Bernie is also disappointed. "It's a real sore point for me," he says.
Marlen Cabrera zigzags through the slot machines at Magic City Casino like a guided missile. She's a dark-skinned, heavyset woman in her mid-40s who plays machine after machine while her husband competes downstairs at the $5/$10 poker tables. Around her, the joint swings like a kaleidoscopic arcade. Bedazzled slots flash neon lights and trill like overzealous Ataris. Little old ladies excitedly pull on levers as if they were playing Dance Dance Revolution.
Cabrera arrived at 6 p.m. with $100. She dropped 30 cents on the Treasures of Machu Picchu and then more on Triple Lucky 7s. "There's a jump at the beginning, and I make a few coins, but it's all downhill from there, and it leaves me pelada [wiped out]" she says. "These machines are thieves. You keep putting money in — out of avarice really — but all you do is lose more."
In two hours, all she had left in her purse were cigarettes and cosmetics. She's not alone. Slots are the most popular attraction at Florida's racinos (a portmanteau of racetrack and casino). In the 2008-09 fiscal year, visitors spent $2.7 billion playing slots, according to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Cabrera and her husband come to Magic City three or four days a week. "When the money's good, we stay until dawn," she says. "And when the money's bad, we stay anyway."
After prevailing in the 2008 vote, the Havenicks began looking for capital. Their goal was to raise $160 million for slot machines, a dog track upgrade, and a casino build-out. As the recession took hold and banks began tightening up, the Havenicks had to settle for a $54 million loan from two local banks, which the family declines to name.
"We had to sell a dream to a bank in the worst economy since the Depression," Izzy says. "We gambled everything on the 2008 election." The loan enabled them to repaint the clubhouse and refurbish the grandstand, which had been closed for a decade. It also allowed for a new 2,000-seat amphitheater, smack in the middle of the track, which has hosted José Feliciano and the Guess Who.
The renovated Magic City Casino opened this past November. The slots wing is by far the most expensive part of the renovation, Izzy says. At an approximate cost of $10,000 to $15,000 per machine, the games totalled $18 million.
There's a stark contrast here. The old clubhouse is a sterile, Muzak-friendly incubator for old-timers, while the casino is like a jukebox that syncopates to shrill computerized noise and a blitzkrieg of lights. This past March, a new wing of electronic blackjack machines opened at a cost of $3.5 million. New ads have appeared all over town: "Blackjack + Miami = Magic City."
All of that work didn't immediately translate to profit. Izzy Havenick claims the track has been barely breaking even. A ray of hope arose, though, when the state reached agreement on a pact with the Seminole tribe to gain money that would pay for deficits accrued because of the real estate meltdown.
Years in the making, the pact allows the tribe to run more card games, such as baccarat and Vegas-style slots. In return, the Seminole guarantee the state at least $1.5 billion over the next five years.
A less noticed part of the pact will mean millions of dollars for the Havenicks and other pari-mutuels. It reduces the tax on slot revenue from 50 percent to 35 percent, rolls back the annual slots license to $2 million, and allows no-limit poker. It also extends card rooms' operating hours to 18 on weekdays and 24 on weekends. Just the tax break on the slots will generate at least $138 million, a whopping $32 million more than last year.
How did the deal get done? Lobbying helped. The Havenicks employ three lobbyists — Quinton Greene, Manny Prieguez, and Ron Book, or Ronnie, as Izzy calls him, who has been with the family since Izzy was 10 — for about $200,000 a year. In addition, pari-mutuels gave $1.6 million to political campaigns in 2008, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics. Magic City donated the most of the Dade tracks: $96,500.
Legislators such as state Sen. Dennis Jones and House majority whip from Miami, Carlos Lopez-Cantera, were some of the main proponents of the tax break. Unsurprisingly, they were among the top ten recipients of political industry contributions in 2008, receiving nearly $100,000. "It's not a bone we're throwing them," says Lopez-Cantera, who received $15,500. "If they make money, we make money. It may not be the windfall they're expecting, but if the state doesn't suffer, I don't see the harm in it. If the state makes money and they make money, that's great. That's capitalism."
Because of the money guaranteed for schools, the measure was backed by the United Teachers of Dade and the Florida School Boards Association. In fact, the state legislature's office of economic research forecasts that more people will play slots — so the total amount received by the state will grow back to its current level of about $113 million annually by 2013.
Gov. Charlie Crist signed the measure into law last week — the day before he announced he would run as an independent for U.S. Senate. It takes effect in July. He called it "an example of elevating problem-solving over ideology."
But it's not that simple. Nathan Dunn, the lobbyist for the conservative group Florida Family Action, doesn't see it that way. "This is the largest expansion of gambling in Florida without the vote of the people," he says. "It's unfortunate the state didn't take further efforts to resolve their financial problems."
Miami-Dade Commissioner Katy Sorenson cast the sole vote against the slots referendum in 2007. "Casinos target the poor," she says. "They prey on people's problems rather than solving them, and I don't think they create great jobs." She adds the compact is one more "desperate" Band-Aid to remedy the state's flat-lining finances. "We're going to continue to cobble these solutions together that really aren't solutions."
The management office at Magic City Casino is a shabbier home away from home for Izzy Havenick. The 32-year-old leaves his $1.5 million home in Miami Beach every morning with his bullmastiff, Kitty, and drives to an office that overlooks the now-impressive dog track. Havenick is the opposite of the slender greyhounds that run here weekdays — a chubby poodle of a man with pudding cheeks and a golfer's tan. He walks around in khakis and a Magic City guayabera. Only his hair, which is sooted with gray specks, suggests he's the guy in charge.
On his desk sit blueprints to develop the track's old racing theater, a soundstage-like facility that's been empty since Hurricane Andrew tore off the roof.
He'd like to bring back the flea market and then build stores and cafés around the building in much the same way Gulfstream recently opened the Village at Gulfstream Park. "Our family is invested in this project," he says. "We definitely see a future of retail, restaurants, and bars, not just the casino and the dogs."
Those plans will likely work out. Combined with earnings from slots, jai alai, dog tracks, and racetracks, the Florida gambling industry earned a total of $1.1 billion in 2009, according to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
If you like this story, consider signing up for our email newsletters.
You have successfully signed up for your selected newsletter(s) - please keep an eye on your mailbox, we're movin' in!
That will go higher, says Bob Jarvis, a gambling-law professor at Nova Southeastern University in Davie. The Seminole compact opens the door to hotels and amusements that have made gaming a $4.3 trillion industry in Nevada. "Eventually, the legislature will decide the horse is so out of the barn we might as well have full-scale gambling in Florida," he says. "And if you have that, prepare to see the Steve Wynns, the Donald Trumps developing all along the beaches."
And eventually, the racing and jai-alai will disappear. "Even the owners don't want dogs," Jarvis says. "Horses you gotta feed, and jai alai players can go on strike. If [owners] could just have 24/7 gambling and get rid of horses and dogs, they'd do it in a heartbeat."
A few hours with Isaac Delvalle will convince you Jarvis might just be right. Two days after his first beating, Delvalle is back at Magic City after leaving the Miccosukee casino at dawn. He didn't do well; in fact, he was thrown out when he called a dealer an hija de puta. He'd borrowed $60 to play there, and he's at Magic City to recoup the loss.
He spends the next several hours getting gob-smacked and winning small pots. A 29-year-old, curly-haired, pregnant beauty with a nose ring takes him for a $32 pot, but at the end of the night, he leaves with $40 on a $20 investment. "What do you think I'm going to do next? Of course I'm going to Miccosukee. They have high hands all night long."


text:
Shailen Bhatt, secretary at the Delaware Department of Transportation, has named Hugh E. Curran as its new director of finance.
Shailen Bhatt, secretary at the Delaware Department of Transportation, has named Hugh E. Curran as its new director of finance.
Curran began his career at Maryland Bank, National Association in 1984. He served in collections, credit, accounting, and treasury. Curran relocated to Chester, England, in 1993, as part of the team launching MBNA Europe where he was responsible building the finance function. Upon return to the United States, Hugh held finance leadership roles in U.S. Credit Card, corporate and strategic planning, and as business finance officer over all corporate business support functions and the bank's deposit business.
He became finance director for Barclays Bank Delaware, where he was responsible for building the bank's finance infrastructure. Curran left Barclay's in 2010 and has spent the past three years building wealth management practices at both Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch.
Curran states, "I am honored to have the opportunity to work with secretary Bhatt and the Department of Transportation team. I look forward to helping Delaware leverage its transportation infrastructure to attract and grow businesses and commerce, while providing a high quality of life to our citizens."


text:
SAN JOSE — Long after her tenure as a Santa Clara City Councilwoman ended, Aldyth Parle remained a fixture in the South Bay political scene. At 89, she continued to serve as an elected member of the Santa Clara County Democratic Party, as well as a board member for the Mission City Community Fund.
Parle, who served on the council from 1996-2004, was killed Thursday night in a car accident as she was driving home from a monthly Democratic Party meeting, according to her friends and city officials.
"Aldyth epitomized what public service should be: a deep love for community, a passion for making it better and setting a high ethical standard," Santa Clara Mayor Jamie Matthews said. "And as a result, no one was more effective or beloved than Aldyth.
"It's a tragic loss for Santa Clara."
John McLemore, a close friend of Parle's who served with her on the City Council, said Parle was driving home from a monthly meeting of the Santa Clara County Democratic Party when the accident happened on Coleman Avenue, near Aviation Avenue.
San Jose police said Parle was driving a Buick at 8:39 p.m. Thursday when she rear-ended a Toyota Camry, veered off the road and crashed into a pole. They are exploring the cause of death, including whether a medical emergency preceded the crash.
Following the accident, Parle was rushed to Valley Medical Center, where she died at 9:26 p.m.
"She was an ardent Democrat who loved Democrats, Republicans and Independents equally because of how positive she was and open to everyone's ideas and trying to get things done for everyone," said McLemore, who was at the hospital when Parle died.
In tweets Friday morning, San Jose Councilman Ash Kalra said Parle "will be sorely missed" and state Sen. Jim Beall said her "passing is a blow to our community."
Parle was 71 when she was first elected to the Santa Clara City Council, having lost in four previous attempts to get voted in, McLemore said. Before her time on the council, Parle worked for more than 40 years as a registered nurse, public health nurse and public health manager for Santa Clara County.
Parle was well-known in the South Bay political scene. She was an active supporter of the Bill Wilson Center in San Jose and was a board member of the Mission City Community Fund, McLemore said. Parle was also an active member of the Calvary United Methodist Church in San Jose.
"Aldyth was such an energetic and positive person," McLemore said. "Everyone remembers her as being such a positive person despite so many negative social ills and political conditions in the community that she served."
"She knew everybody because of her energy levels and involvement in so many things," McLemore said.
Parle never married and did not have children, McLemore said. She had a brother who was missing-in-action in the Korean War and she was an "ardent supporter of veterans affairs."
The city is flying its flags at half-staff for the next 10 days to mourn her passing, Santa Clara Mayor Jamie Matthews said.
Contact Mark Gomez at 408-920-5869. Follow him on Twitter @MarkMgomez.


text:
Click this link to complete the Parent Engagement Survey!
AVAST! for Students
Mission Statement
Chireno ISD will provide a safe learning environment where
students will recognize the value of life-long education and
will become leaders with an intense drive for excellence.
Vision Statement
Chireno ISD is a composite of many people--its students and their families, its employees, and its community--who recognize that excellence is the standard by which all teaching and learning must be measured.While each student in Chireno ISD is valued as an individual, excellent educational opportunities for all students must be ensured. Chireno ISD will provide a pleasant, safe environment where each student will develop the skills necessary to be a productive citizen of the Twenty-first Century. Teachers will serve as facilitators who enable students to think critically, and to synthesize and evaluate information. Teachers will promote respect and self-esteem for everyone. Chireno ISD will provide a core curriculum which includes the most current technology as an integral component. The goal of all school activities will be high student achievement. To this end, teachers will build collegial and collaborative relationships with fellow professionals and other adults of the District.Parents and community members will know their knowledge, experiences, and opinions are respected. They will support the District and its students through active involvement in classrooms, programs, and organizations. Chireno ISD students will recognize the value of life-long education and will become leaders with an intense drive for excellence.
Chireno HS
Phone: 936-362-2132 ext. 101
Fax: 936-362-9331
Chireno Elementary
Phone: 936-362-2132 ext. 102
Fax: 936-362-2490


text:
Creating Agile Business Processes
Our research in ethnography, computer vision, natural language, and machine learning aims to automate business processes via flexible platforms that run on robust and scalable infrastructures. By implementing our solutions on state-of-the-art, cloud-based frameworks, we enable scalability and availability, while ensuring security and integrity of vital corporate assets.
Latest Innovations
We created a digital dashboard, for doctors or nurses, which runs on tablets or PCs on rolling carts. Compiling patient data automatically and in real time, medical staff can get the absolute latest info and make better-informed decisions.
Related Stories
Xerox research makes healthcare less of a pain ›
Innovation in Action
Xerox Tackles Big Data Challenge: Social Media Analytics is Great, But What Should I Do with the Info?
Xerox researchers are working on an automated data analytics platform that teaches computers to more accurately determine the sentiment of comments (pleased, angry, confused), and quickly route that information to the right person or team. The automation helps organizations respond faster to customer data, and in a much more relevant way.
Read more ›
Advanced Document Processing Workflows (ConnectKey)
Xerox ConnectKey multifunction printer software enables advanced security, scanning, mobile printing and cloud services across networked devices.
Read more ›
Information On The Go?
A major fast food company came to Xerox looking for a way to process fast food orders more quickly and accurately. Xerox designed software to match vehicles to the orders—driving revenue up and costs down.


text:
So you've named your cat "Q". The bumper sticker on your car reads "My other car is the Millenium Falcon". You start affecting a British accent after watching Doctor Who. You own dice that have more than six sides. You sometimes mutter spells under your breath and marvel that they don't work (if they do work... I wanna meet you). You secretly hope to be bitten by a radioactive spider or wish you could go on a quest for Shikon Jewel shards. And you might even have more toys now than you ever had as a child...
This group is designed to bring together "nerds" and "geeks"... those enthusiastic fans of science fiction, fantasy, anime, and comic books.
We'll get together a couple times a month, sometimes doing something related to our passions (a sci-fi movie, convention, show) or just get together to hang out and socialize (mini-golf, comedy show, dinner). Hopefully we'll make friends, have good times, discover the secrets of the universe (42) and take over the galaxy (well, only if it's for the greater good). Our meetup locations will vary... some will be in King of Prussis, others might be in various surrounding towns or even downtown Philly. At this time there are no plans to hold any meetups on any other planets or in any other dimensions... but that can change and we are open to suggestions.
Live Long and Prosper!
1,983 Meeples
18,829 awesome people
11,821 Technologists
2,304 Sci-Fi Fans
5,151 Members
1,096 Gamers
Or sign up with email
Already a member? Log in.
Meetup members, Log in
By clicking "Sign up" or "Sign up using Facebook", you confirm that you accept our Terms of Service & Privacy Policy


text:
Renting your house out can be fun and profitable venture, but like any other business endeavor becoming a landlord can give you frequent nightmares, if you have troublesome, irresponsible tenants. You are entrusting a major asset to people whom you don't know very well and who are not very well invested in its maintenance as you are. If you are the proud owner of 1 BHK Flats in Mumbai, you might as well become a landlord too.Some reasons why the renter suffers and spend sleepless nights could be summed up as below.
Disruptive and Destructive Tenants- Everything is hunky-dory in the beginning, but a couple of months later problems start. Tenants can cause difficulties by paying late, refusing to pay or violating the terms of the lease agreement. They could damage the property accidently or do it on purpose. They may not maintain the property and leave it in shambles. [Read more…]


text:
PSA Level for Radiation Therapy after Surgery
Dear OncoLink "Ask The Experts,"
I had a prostatectomy in December 2005 for prostate cancer. In August 2007, my PSA rose to .051 ng/mL, following a continuing increase from .01 ng/mL following surgery. I am seeking radiation therapy at a local hospital, where they offer 3DCRT for post-prostatectomy patients. Is this therapy necessary?
Richard Whittington, MD, Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, responds:
A PSA of 0.05 ng/mL may occur after prostatectomy and not necessarily mean that there is disease recurrence. Our group looked at the University of Pennsylvania series of about 210 prostate cancer patients status post prostatectomy. We found that 10% of the patients who had PSA levels of 0.20 ng/mL had spontaneous resolution of the PSA without any therapy. One patient hit 0.30 ng/mL and had resolution after passing a kidney stone. Our threshold is generally 0.40 ng/mL, which still appears to be a "safe" level to wait until, based on data from Dr. Erick Kline at the Cleveland Clinic. His work has demonstrated that the results with post-operative radiation that is initiated when the PSA level is <1.5 ng/mL appear to be just as favorable and successful as when it is started at a PSA level of <0.5 ng/mL.


text:
Latest media releases
UBS announces successful completion of public tender offer
UBS has repurchased certain outstanding tier 2 and senior bonds for approximately CHF 1.9 billion.
Zurich/Basel, 18 December 2013 – UBS announces the successful completion of the cash tender offer, announced on 2 December 2013, to repurchase certain Swiss franc, euro, pound sterling or Italian lira securities. The aggregate principal amount of repurchased securities is EUR 1.6 billion, equivalent to CHF 1.9 billion. This is in line with the announced maximum offer amount of up to EUR 1.75 billion, equivalent to approximately CHF 2.15 billion. Securities with an aggregate principal amount equivalent to approximately CHF 2.2 billion were tendered.
This transaction is consistent with our proactive approach to reducing our balance sheet and future interest expense while maintaining our strong liquidity, funding and capital position.
As per our 2 December 2013 announcement, the transaction will reduce our BIS Basel III phase-in total capital ratio by approximately 0.4%. UBS incurred a small loss of around CHF 75 million on this transaction, which we expect to recover within approximately one year through the reduction in future interest expense. The repurchase of the tier 2 bonds does not affect our industry-leading Common Equity Tier 1 ratio, and the small loss from the transaction has an insignificant effect on it.
UBS Investment Bank acted as Lead Dealer Manager.
Investor contact
Switzerland: +41-44-234 41 00
Media contact
Switzerland: +41-44-234 85 00
Americas: +1-212-882 58 57


text:
The Forge Forums Read-only Archives
The live Forge Forums
. Please
August 18, 2019, 10:23:16 PM
1 Hour
1 Day
1 Week
1 Month
Login with username, password and session length
Forum changes:
Editing of posts has been turned off until further notice.
Advanced search
Posts in
Topics by
Members Latest Member:
Jason DAngelo
Most online today:
- most online ever:
(November 03, 2007, 04:35:43 AM)
The Forge Archives
Independent Game Forums
one.seven design
John Harper
Weapons for Cyberpunk / Shadowrun / Modern AGON
Pages: [
« previous
next »
Topic: Weapons for Cyberpunk / Shadowrun / Modern AGON (Read 7810 times)
Dyson Logos
Posts: 2
Weapons for Cyberpunk / Shadowrun / Modern AGON
October 01, 2009, 10:05:49 AM »
I'm happily tooling away at a CyberPunk AGON conversion when I got to weapons. I'm planning on doing like the DAGON conversion and making cards for the weapons (but doing the illustrations with Pimp My Gun).
But I realized I am not sure what to do about defensive dice. Shields don't suit the genre at all, so I'm trying to figure out what to do instead. I'm thinking that perhaps automatic weapons will provide two dice that can be shunted around (like the sword) on the basis that you can either send out a hail of gunfire (2 attack dice) or try to suppress your opponent (1 attack, 1 defend).
This is the only part of the conversion I'm having issues with so far. I've even figured out how to stay true to the CyberPunk 2020 "flaw" of "the shopping game" where you constantly find the characters shopping for cool hardware mid-game by using "Toys" instead of "Divine Favor" and "Shopping" instead of "Sacrifice".
Paolo D.
Posts: 14
Re: Weapons for Cyberpunk / Shadowrun / Modern AGON
Reply #1 on:
November 24, 2009, 06:27:51 AM »
happily, I'm working on a "modern" Agon hack too, based on the world of the videogame Unreal Tournament. About the shield, I'm using "dodge" instead. Dodge is the ability, like the DAGON hack, and the "weapon" too: you can choose to.. Let's say... "fight defensively", using Dodge like a weapon in one of your hands (as a shield in the original game), that is good enough for the science fiction/cyberpunk/gladiator genre.
Re: Weapons for Cyberpunk / Shadowrun / Modern AGON
Reply #2 on:
February 20, 2010, 11:40:31 PM »
To simulate modern combat I use the fallowing rules changes. First I have a change to positioning rolls. You may position your token, another token that has already went before you, take cover, or remove cover from a token that went before you. Instead of shield you have a defense skill. Cover starts as a d4 the first time you take it and move up or down die codes to a maximum of d8 depending on whither you take or remove it during the positioning step. Fate is relabeled Edge so when a character loses all of his edge he retires. Oaths are renamed favors.
For example.
John has a street Sam and Jenny has a detective, they are working a case against a lone Yakuza hitman that has been causing troubles in the city. When they catch up to him a gunfight happens. The GM determines the range band and they start in is 4. The players and the GM place there tokens on the board. The players and the gm then take there weapon dice and place them in the appropriate hands. The three characters all have guns. Sam and the hitman have a heavy pistol(damage 2d8, range 2-6, Shots 7, AP2) and Jenny has a light one(Damage 2d6, range 2-6, Shots 6, AP1). So Sam, jenny, and the hitman place their dice in there attack hand. For the position test the characters roll athletics Jenny is first up and decides that she would like to not get shot so she choses to take cover giving her a d4 cover die which she places it in her defensive cover hand. The second person up is the hitman and he decides to remove Jennies cover, so she removes the d4 cover she had. Last is Sam who asks Jenny if she would be willing to owe him a favor in exchange for Sam giving her cover. She agrees, and gains a d4 cover again. After the position test player's divide there dice. Jenny decides she wishes to be defensive so she rolls her name, cover and defense ability when being shot at or attacked.
what do you all think?
Pages: [
« previous
next »
Jump to:
Please select a destination:
Welcome to the Archives
=> Welcome to the Archives
General Forge Forums
=> First Thoughts
=> Playtesting
=> Endeavor
=> Actual Play
=> Publishing
=> Connections
=> Conventions
=> Site Discussion
=> RPG Theory
=> GNS Model Discussion
=> Indie Game Design
Independent Game Forums
=> Adept Press
=> Arkenstone Publishing
=> Beyond the Wire Productions
=> Black and Green Games
=> Bully Pulpit Games
=> Dark Omen Games
=> Dog Eared Designs
=> Eric J. Boyd Designs
=> Errant Knight Games
=> Galileo Games
=> glyphpress
=> Green Fairy Games
=> Half Meme Press
=> Incarnadine Press
=> lumpley games
=> Muse of Fire Games
=> ndp design
=> Night Sky Games
=> one.seven design
=> Robert Bohl Games
=> Stone Baby Games
=> These Are Our Games
=> Twisted Confessions
=> Universalis
=> Wild Hunt Studios
Inactive Forums
=> My Life With Master Playtest
=> Adamant Entertainment
=> Bob Goat Press
=> Burning Wheel
=> Cartoon Action Hour
=> Chimera Creative
=> CRN Games
=> Destroy All Games
=> Evilhat Productions
=> HeroQuest
=> Key 20 Publishing
=> Memento-Mori Theatricks
=> Mystic Ages Online
=> Orbit
=> Scattershot
=> Seraphim Guard
=> Wicked Press
=> Review Discussion
=> XIG Games
=> SimplePhrase Press
=> The Riddle of Steel
=> Random Order Creations
=> Forge Birthday Forum
Powered by SMF 1.1.11
SMF © 2006-2009, Simple Machines LLC
design by


text:
NEH Chairman Jim Leach and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Sign "Declaration of Learning"
Chairman Jim Leach of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has joined Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and leaders of twelve government agencies and NGOs in signing a "Declaration of Learning," a formal announcement of partnership as members of the Inter-Agency Collaboration on Learning.
Signed January 30th on the historic Treaty of Paris desk at the Department of State Headquarters, the declaration recognizes participating institutions for their commitment to work together to digitize historic artifacts in the collection of the State Department's Diplomatic Reception Rooms and to develop classroom learning tools and digital learning tools that can be accessed from computers, tablets, and cell-phones.
"The Declaration of Learning I am about to sign will help transport the story and significance of this desk along with the many other pieces of our history to anyone with an internet connection," said Secretary Clinton at the signing ceremony. "For educators, this partnership will offer valuable resources for students and all the lifelong learners out there. It will help bring history to life and, we hope, inspire them to learn and achieve even more."
Other institutions participating in the Inter-Agency Collaboration on Education include: National Archives, Library of Congress, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institutions, National Endowment for the Arts, Newseum, American Library Association, National Center for Literacy Education, National Council of Teachers of English, National Council for the Social Studies, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the Diplomatic Reception Rooms at the U.S. Department of State.
The signing ceremony also honored Secretary Clinton for her role in establishing the first permanent endowment for the Diplomatic Reception Rooms. The "Patrons of Diplomacy" initiative raised $20 million to support conservation and educational activities relating to the Diplomatic Rooms and their historic objects.


text:
GENEVA (AP) Switzerland's Davis Cup captain says Roger Federer might play in the competition again, although the 17-time Grand Slam champion won't represent his country before the U.S. Open in September.
Captain Severin Luethi tells The Associated Press that Federer is ``for sure not finished with Davis Cup.''
Switzerland has never won the team event. Federer is skipping a first-round series at home against defending champion Czech Republic this week.
By not making his Davis Cup plans clear in recent months, Federer has been criticized at home. Luethi says Federer decided last October to set his schedule this season with more rest and time with his family.
The Swiss captain says Federer ``didn't take a final decision to say, `I'm not ever playing Davis Cup again.'''


text:
Working w/ Danica Patrick and The New Pussycat Dolls – GoDaddy Superbowl commercial
Now thats what I call a commercial! I was so excited when I got called to do the makeup for Go Daddy.com's new Superbowl commercial featuring Danica Patrick and The NEW Pussycat Dolls. It was a two day shoot directed by Steve Antin (director of "Burlesque" w/ Cher and Christina Aguilera) and we had the best time ever. Danica and The Dolls were awesome and such a pleasure to work with! What do you think of GoDaddy's new Superbowl commercial? Xo Mario


text:
Turkey Trips
Every year, the Atlantic Institute organizes multiple trips to Turkey to facilitate intercultural understanding and to build bridges between the US and Turkey. Turkey is a land immersed in history and culture. Since the days of the Ottoman Empire, Istanbul has been a perfect example of how Muslims, Christians, and Jews could live in peace and harmony. The trip aims to show community and church leaders, academics and businesspeople from different backgrounds the beauty of Turkey, to expose them to the Turkish culture and history, and to give them the opportunity to have firsthand analysis of the unique relationship between religion and politics in Turkey as well as the educational and academic exchange opportunities between the two countries.
The Atlantic Institute aims to provide an effective overview of the culture, educational system and civil society through these excursions. With such a broad array of visits, every participant gains an understanding of government affairs, economic development, the media, religious and cultural diversity, and daily life of Turkey.
Question: What is the make-up of each group trips and how are they formed?
Generally, these trips last ten days each and consist of groups of six to twelve participants. Participants are nominated by previous years' participants and are selected and invited by the Atlantic Institute and its sister organizations like Istanbul Center and the Turkish American Chamber of Commerce of the Southeast. Invitees are figureheads from universities, law enforcement agencies, and faith based community leaders in the Southeastern US. The Atlantic Institute staff and volunteers serve as group leaders on each trip.
Question: Where do we visit in Turkey?
Participants of the past trips visited the cities of Istanbul, Konya, Izmir, Kayseri, and the capital city of Ankara in addition to the regions of Cappadocia (Kapadokya) and Ephesus (Efes). Cultural sites visited this year and in past years' excursions include the Hagia Sophia Church, the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, The Quincentenial Foundation Museum of Turkish Jews (Jewish Museum of Turkey), The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Basilica Cistern, Ataturk's Mausoleum, the House of the Virgin Mary, the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar.
Question: Is it only the touristic destinations that the groups visit?
The trips are not your average touristic experience, although participants do visit important cultural and historical sites during their stay, as their itineraries also include dinners with local families and meetings with official dignitaries from educational, economic, social and governmental institutions in Turkey. Participants generally highlight their favorite aspect of each trip as the dinners hosted for the groups by local Turkish families.
Question: Any opportunity for professional networking?
Our groups also visit the private and public universities, superintendents of school districts, media and broadcasting companies and government officials from the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Culture, Turkish Grand National Assembly (the Parliament), Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other governmental agencies such as the Investment Support and Promotion Agency as well as the US Consulate in Istanbul and the US Embassy in Ankara.
Recent Events
Trip to Turkey Reunion 2015
2015 Atlantic Faculty Development And Curriculum Enhancement Program
Discover Turkey: Academic Travel Supplement Grants
Intercultural Trips to Turkey - 2014
Excursions to Turkey


text:
In 2013 the LEGO Group will introduce a new series of environmentally friendly, smaller LEGO boxes containing the same number of LEGO bricks. The change will reduce the LEGO Group's annual consumption of cardboard for boxes by about 4,000 tons depending on the number of sets sold.
At the same time the cardboard used in the new boxes will carry FSC certification. FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) is an international certificate guaranteeing that paper, cardboard, etc., comes from sustainable forests.
"We are introducing the new boxes as an environmental measure, and hope at the same time that consumers will welcome the visible change. We're reducing the size of our boxes because we think it makes sense for shoppers, customers and for our business – and because we harbour an ambition to exert a positive effect on our surroundings. We believe we share responsibility for our planet, the wider community, and the generations who will follow us," says Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, CEO of the LEGO Group.
In 2013 all new products launched will be packed in smaller boxes, and by 2015 all LEGO products on the market will be packed in the smaller boxes. The change will reduce the CO2 impact from packaging by about 10%, and the smaller boxes will make it possible to save approx. 18% of the cardboard used for LEGO boxes.
New boxes a benefit everyone
The reason for the LEGO Group's focus on reducing packaging is that approx. 15% of the Group's total CO2 impact is associated with its packaging. But the new boxes are good news not only for the environment.
"Consumers will find it easier to handle the packaging, retailers will have space for more boxes on their shelves, and we'll use less energy in transporting the goods to the shops. So it's a win‑win situation for everybody," says John Goodwin, CFO of the LEGO Group.
Benefits from invisible improvements
The LEGO Group is currently engaged in a number of other initiatives which may not be as visible to the consumer but nevertheless have a major effect on the environmental impact.
Roughly a quarter of the LEGO Group's total carbon emissions stem from the manufacturing of LEGO bricks. Efforts are therefore being made to mould LEGO elements more efficiently.
John Goodwin: "In 2012 we improved the energy efficiency of our production by 4.1%. Reducing energy consumption by that much really does make a difference to the environment – even though it may not be visible to shoppers."
Investment in wind energy
Over the past five years the LEGO Group has increased its sales by more than 15% a year – and this rate of growth has brought the Group's environmental impact into stronger focus. In 2012 the LEGO Group – via its parent company – invested in an offshore wind park off northern Germany.
"It's an investment I'm proud of because it means that by 2015 we will be generating renewable energy corresponding to our own energy consumption for many years ahead," says Jørgen Vig Knudstorp.
The amount of sustainable energy from the off-shore wind farm will correspond to the annual power consumption of about 100,000 households.
You can read more about LEGO Group activities and results in sustainability and other fields in the company's Progress Report.
References in the text to "the LEGO Group's total CO2 impact" relate to carbon emissions from areas such as:
· Transport
· Production
· Packaging
· Sales
· Recycling
Roar Rude Trangbæk, Press Officer
Tel.: +45 7950 4348
Mob.: +45 3065 3164
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Home >> Course Descriptions >> College of Arts and Sciences
Survey of Chemistry Laboratory
One semester hour.
Laboratory to accompany Survey of Chemistry, CHEM 1370. Not for students majoring or minoring in chemistry or biology. Fulfills the laboratory science core curriculum requirement. Must be taken concurrently with CHEM 1370. Lab fee: $30.
Home - General Information - Student Services -
Academic Undergraduate Regulations -
Undergraduate Degrees - Academic Graduate Regulations -
Graduate Degrees - Course Descriptions - Faculty -
Appendix A - Appendix B - Appendix C - Appendix D


text:
June 2010 Update
June 2010 Update
Welcome to our June 2010 Artist News Update!
US Artist David Piribauer just announced that the band Revis is back together. Check out their myspace profile www.myspace.com/revisreunion with a bunch of video blogs!
Ed Udhus and his pals from Zebrahead posted a mind breaking video showing footage of their world tour "Snapping Necks and Cashing Checks".
SONOR UK welcomes Dane Campbell from "Straight Lines"! Dane is using a Force 3007 Maple Kit for all upcoming tour dates, including a stop at the famous Download Festival! www.myspace.com/straightlines
On Tour with SONOR:
Zebrahead – Ed Udhus www.myspace.com/zebrahead
Tool – Danny Carey www.toolband.com/tour/index.html
30Seconds To Mars – Shannon Leto www.thirtysecondstomars.thisisthehive.net
Danko Jones – Dan Cornelius www.dankojones.com/tour
Porcupine Tree - Gavin Harrison www.porcupinetree.com/tour.cfm
If you're into Benny Greb's "Language of Drumming" DVD, which has been the best selling and most-anticipated DVD during the last year, you might be interested in the newest iPhone / iPod Touch app coming soon from "Drumtrainer".
In other exciting news, a sneak preview of Benny's recent Modern Drummer performance is to be found right here.
Canadian Rock phenomenon Danko Jones with SONOR artist Dan Cornelius has a new video out.
Cynic with Sean Reinert are scheduled to play a bunch of festivals this summer. Check out their MySpace profile: www.myspace.com/cyniconline. Also if you attend the Novarock Festival Saturday June 12, there will be a signing session with the guys from 2am / 14.00 to 2.30am / 14.30. Enjoy!
Gavin Harrison, recently voted #1 Prog Drummer by Modern Drummer Magazine readers, is featured on Porcupine Tree's newest live DVD "Anesthetize" – in Stores now!!!
In the print media news, Steve Smith is featured in an interview in US Drum! Magazine – issue 169, UK Artist Stu Roberts in UK Rhythm magazine: www.musicradar.com/rhythm


text:
|View Poll Results: Ore no Imouto - Episode 11 Rating
|Perfect 10
|9 out of 10 : Excellent
|8 out of 10 : Very Good
|7 out of 10 : Good
|6 out of 10 : Average
|5 out of 10 : Below Average
|4 out of 10 : Poor
|3 out of 10 : Bad
|2 out of 10 : Very Bad
|1 out of 10 : Painful
|Voters: 131. You may not vote on this poll
|Thread Tools
|2010-12-13, 03:01
|Link #61
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: 国立音ノ木坂学院
In another word, they can always pull a synchronized ending like Toradora!
EDIT: Side note...gotta love those 19 10/10 just b/c Kirino finally goes deredere...
|2010-12-13, 03:22
|Link #62
Alto x Ranka :)
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: New York City
I was afraid that this show was going to end without Kirino properly solving this issue but I'm glad it was resolved.
This is actually pretty funny because all the complaints we've been hearing about Kirino have almost entirely been responded to.
Last edited by DeX-kun; 2010-12-13 at 03:36.
|2010-12-13, 03:22
|Link #63
Komrades of Kitamura Kou
Join Date: Jul 2004
Age: 34
Somewhere in the middle of the episode, right around when Kyousuke entered the party I was wondering if the director kicked the writer in the ballsack and ordered him to redo the final half of the episode altogether.
Personally I think that somewhere along the line after treating Manami like crap in their house, Kirino realized how much of a jealous bitch she was, and after that also began to realize that all along the while Kyousuke's been taking bullets for her and tempting karma along the way yet she was mostly ungrateful. As I said before, she may be emotionally blunted, by she still possesses some degrees of human contrition, thankfulness and empathy. The fact that she managed to remember how good Saori and Kuroneko were to here at least shows she is able to think of others besides herself.
I actually think that the eroge as a gift for him fits perfectly with her character and her approach towards her brother. In the end she's still the anime/eroge fangasmic fangirl she has always been and Kyousuke has grown to accept and love (as a sister, get your mind out of the gutter ), and this is still one of the things that connects them. Heck if Kyousuke's been playing eroge now and not simply because she told him too, it would be sort of a perfect gift in that regard. Of course she did say to him that "take care of them as you would me" so... uh... yeah interpret that as you will.
The episode managed to give us the Dere that has been lacking (for the most part) in her Tsun, so as Triple R said her character has rounded out towards forming the full circle that would make her worthy of the Tsundere label. Manami really is a bro, and she reminds me of an old friend of mine, minus onii-chan anyway. We never really got together but we stayed very close friends. Manami would make a fine wife for Kyousuke IMHO.
And like Klash my only real complaint is the lack of a connection between Kirino in the first half and Kirino in the second, which makes it feel a bit like a 180 if she wasn't still being true to her usual self. On the other hand it manages to show that Kirino HAS changed a lot over the weeks he's been helping him and has fully acknowledged it, so while I think this may have been good as the series finale, it still sets up for a very good finish even if the middle of the series was so-so.
|2010-12-13, 03:23
|Link #64
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: CO, USA
Man, I Kuroneko was great this episode
I really wish she was able to show more of her manga. "Kunnnka kunnnka" xDD
Her nekomeido was very cute too, and the Nii-san...
Gawd, for a second I thought I somehow boarded the Kuroneko ship.
Kirino's honest side (read dere) was nice and good, but that was all and I didnt think much about it. Though the closure was nice, it wasn't enough to cover for her attitude toward Manami and the prank during the first half. Kyousuke crying was a bit of a surprise though. And raise your hand if you knew the present was an eroge. I mean, whatelseright?
|2010-12-13, 03:34
|Link #65
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2006
Saori's presence made this episode really enjoyable. She does look rather sexy in that maid outfit and glasses...
From Ion's little snippet of the connection between part 1 and 2, it shows another reason why I really like Saori's character. She provides a good role model and guardian for the two girls on the female side along with Kyosuke.
Kyosuke and Saori as Dad and Mom, and Kuroneko and Kirino as the kids would make a nice spinoff series...
Funny that Kyosuke has a glasses fetish. and Manami scenes are always welcomed. I was really annoyed at how mean Kirino was being to her.
I liked Kuroneko's Ni-san lines.
Also the receptionist left an impression on him how she kept peeking her head to look at Kyosuke, then suddenly hide away behind the corner.
|2010-12-13, 03:36
|Link #66
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2008
for a second there I thought Kyousuke was gonna die from embarrassment. I mean, the poor guy was already in tears
Perfect episode. Kyousuke finally getting his long overdue gratitude after all the shit and abuse he has been through. I totally feel for him
|2010-12-13, 03:39
|Link #67
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Spoiler for reply and novel compare:
Last edited by larethian; 2010-12-13 at 03:50.
|2010-12-13, 03:42
|Link #68
Join Date: Feb 2010
|2010-12-13, 03:59
|Link #69
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
|2010-12-13, 04:56
|Link #71
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Singapore
|2010-12-13, 05:09
|Link #72
Bittersweet Distractor
Join Date: Nov 2007
Age: 27
OK. Fair warning. If you can't stomach a negative opinion on this episode, I suggest just skipping over my post, for all I feel right now is the molten lava of an erupting volcano spewing all over me.
So it seems I was wrong about Kirino... I thought I hated her, despised her beyond all reason up till now. I was very wrong. I was simply annoyed before, but this episode she broke into a whole new level of hatred. I didn't even know I was capable of hating a 2D character so much. Thanks AIC, thank you very much....
Her behavior was so disgusting this episode for most of it that I was left gritting my teeth through the whole way. I don't think I've ever watched an anime character as insufferable as her. The way she treated the sweet Manami this episode, was simply ridiculous. There is no reason to meet the childish whims of such an ungrateful person.
OK, now I know what people are going to say. The last half the episode we were shown here supposed "dere" side, and we got to see her apologize. Sorry, her actions were inexcusable. At this point, a simple apology is not enough to reconcile these sour feelings. Not only that, but this development came completely out of left field. Like I said in the previous episodes, for these sorts of developments, you need to build it up over TIME (Which they spent doing side stories instead!).
There was no build up to the apology, and we definitely did not get build up over Kyousuke's depression. Since when did Kirino feel bad for what she did to him? I thought it was pretty clear in the first half of the episode that her malice was in fact increasing towards Kyousuke for reasons unknown. Do they honestly expect me to believe that because Kirino starts blushing a little bit and gives half a bow, that I can take this seriously? Sincere apologies are the ones that you see people brood over, and really go out of the way to reconcile feelings. All I saw this episode was Kirino bash on Kyousuke all episode, more violently than ever, until she suddenly flipped a switch that made her seem calm and apologetic. Even for tsundere's the transition is done horribly.
As for Kyousuke? You sir are almost like the foolish traveler (Fruit's Basket reference!! rawr). Admirable, but sad in the end. I cannot accept that his only reason for doing all this, the entire time, was that he was simply her brother. I couldn't help but laugh manically when he gave that excuse.
The previous episodes I was half jokingly rating them 1/10's, but this episode actually deserves this rating for the rushed plot, terrible character transitioning, overall foul mood it put me into with Kirino's behavior, and general irrational characterization.
I think at this point I might actually rate this series better if they have Ayase nice boat the ending.
|2010-12-13, 05:23
|Link #73
Chicken or Beef?
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Seattle
Age: 37
Kuroneko is fully aware of Kirino's feelings for Kyousuke, it's why she does these things to agitate the situation. She gets off of annoying Kirino and vice versa.
|2010-12-13, 05:37
|Link #75
Bittersweet Distractor
Join Date: Nov 2007
Age: 27
feeling a need to see others suffer
Which isn't necessarily related to hatred. It could be something as simple as jealously.
Difference of interpretation.
|2010-12-13, 05:37
|Link #76
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2007
Meh. Having anticipated this episode for so long being my fav LN chapters...somewhat disappointed.
Didn't quite handle Kirino's final compliment on Manami's cooking well (it should be grudgingly, like how Kirino compliemented on Kuroneko's cos), and her attitude shift towards the end after the phone call was a bit of a mystery (phone call about the thank you party?)
As for the show itself, there were many opportunities to further develop the character and their relationships but were skipped. For some reason my mental image of Kuroneko's comic is of chibi type chara satire the situation of Kirino/Kyousuke/Manami. Not only did they gloss over Belgephor (with just one picture at the start, some kind of 'service' for LN readers?) part, the overall art style doesn't convey the humorous nature at all. In hindsight, the art style fits Kuroneko's taste but is not very effective in what it's supposed to achieve. Rushed episode.
Finally as for the ending, interestingly Kirino said "watashi da to omotte". LN readers need no more hints as to what next episode's ending will be.
As to the above posts...I've long resigned to the obvious denial that seeps through and now expect them with gleeful anticipation. More fuel for amusement browsing the forums.
|2010-12-13, 05:41
|Link #78
Junior Member
Join Date: Jun 2009
i'm defending her harsh actions as a result of panic. suddenly after so many years of having everything under control she is in the situation where she might loose the thing she loves the most - her brother and she doesn't know how to react to this so she does what she does best - being a tsun. so i guess the amount of her being a b*tch is reflecting how afraid she is imho.
|2010-12-13, 05:42
|Link #79
Professional Hikkikomori
Join Date: Feb 2009
|2010-12-13, 07:00
|Link #80
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: in the land down under...
I've been skimming this part of the novels, and frankly, the anime has rushed a few too many things in this ep. Well, not that I mind that much - I'm looking forward to watching them all again with the character commentary ^^
|Thread Tools


text: We met some of you at the Clarksville Event and the Burns Park Event earlier this year. Since then we have traveled to Alberta, Canada, to the Calgary Stampede. (If you remember, we travel by motorhome...actually live in it fulltime.) Anyway, just wanted to let you know that we did some caching there, but had a pretty bad mishap. Alice Faye (The AF of DAFT) fell while looking for a cache and broke her upper left arm. So, we are now headed back to Little Rock to see her orthopedic doctor. Maybe we will do some caching around central Arkansas while she recovers. You all be careful out there!


text:
- Home
- News
- Sports
- Opinion
- Obituaries
- Features
- Special Sections
- Classifieds
- Public Notices
We, the undersigned, urge Judge Executive Harold "Shorty" Tomlinson and our magistrates to fund the position of a qualified part-time caretaker at the Carroll County Animal Shelter. Furthermore, we ask that funds be provided to run the shelter in a clean, caring manner, keeping dogs and cats healthy while at the shelter promoting adoption.
Jarrett Perry Boyd, Kathy E. Rarey, Betty T. Risk, Jeanne Simpson, Donna Parrish, Carol Shelton, Patricia Perkins, Margaret Walker, Robert Shelton, Bobbie Giles, Sue Scott and Susan McEuen
If you currently subscribe or have subscribed in the past to the The News-Democrat, then simply find your account number on your mailing label and enter it below.
Click the question mark below to see where your account ID appears on your mailing label.
|ZIP Code:


text:
Why not? After all, she's only lost two national elections in a row while leading the House Democratic caucus, which includes the largest loss in a midterm in 72 years, followed by the inability to regain the House while a Democratic President won re-election by a comfortable margin. Why, in another two years, Nancy Pelosi might be able to deliver a veto-proof majority to, er, John Boehner.
The Washington Post thought she might have called the 10 am presser to deliver a valediction, and most assumed before this morning that she would withdraw from her House Minority Leader position:
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), who built and then lost the largest Democratic majority in a generation, is considering ending her historic 10-year reign as Democratic leader after the second disappointing election in a row for her caucus.
Pelosi told reporters Tuesday that she would announce her decision during a Wednesday morning press conference. She has not signaled whether she intends to remain atop a caucus that she has ruled with a near-iron fist, including four years as the first female House speaker and six years in the minority. …
Some House races are not officially decided, but Democrats are expected to gain about seven seats when all the votes are tallied — a disappointment in a year in which Obama and Senate Democrats performed so well.
The Post wasn't entirely sure of Pelosi's intentions, though:
One option for Pelosi, according to some lawmakers, would be for her to announce that she will serve one more term as leader, setting off a two-year succession race within the Democratic caucus.
And in fact, that's what we saw on Twitter this morning:
Per Fox's Chad Pergram, Pelosi says she will stick around & run for Democratic Leader again
— Ed Henry (@edhenryTV) November 14, 2012
Pelosi will remain as Democratic Leader
— Kerry Picket (@KerryPicket) November 14, 2012
That sounds like a pretty bad idea for a couple of reasons. First, the most likely successors to Pelosi will come from current leadership within the caucus, which isn't exactly a youth movement. Steny Hoyer has the inside track for Pelosi's job, and he's 73 years old, one year older than Pelosi herself. Jim Clyburn might make a bid for the leader position and become the first African-American to chair a House party caucus, but he's 72 years old. John Larson, the caucus chairman, is a relative youngster at 64 years old. None of these leaders will gain much more than pension benefits by waiting another two years.
Second, another two years gives Republicans another two years to make Pelosi the face of the party. Every Democrat in a purple-to-red district who votes for another Pelosi term will end up having to defend that vote in the next midterm election. Without Obama at the top of the ticket, the turnout in 2014 is going to look somewhat different than 2012, and some of those new freshmen coming into the House on a platform of change might not be able to explain why their first vote was to support a sclerotic and failed status quo within their own party.
Normally, one would have expected a leader to resign in the wake of the historic 2010 rebuke. After a second disappointment, it's almost mandatory by Washington etiquette. If Pelosi isn't ready to quit, perhaps Democrats should push her out themselves.
Update: According to National Journal, Pelosi won't face any challenge to her leadership position. Again.


text:
VENTURA, Calif. – Cesar Romero scored as Chivas USA advanced to the fourth round of the US Open Cup by defeating PDL side Ventura County Fusion, 1-0 at Ventura College on Tuesday evening.
With the victory, the Rojiblancos will now face the NASL's Carolina RailHawks at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C., on Tuesday, June 5. The win over the Fusion was just the second time Chivas had won their opener in the tournament – the first in 2010 when they advanced to the semifinal round.
Chivas USA head coach Robin Fraser opted for a lineup that included many first-choice players, including forwards Juan Pablo Ángel and Juan Agudelo, who started up top for the Rojiblancos.
This decision to go with a strong lineup paid off in the 13th minute when an Agudelo through-ball found Romero alone on the right side of the field. With plenty of space, Romero then nutmegged Fusion goalkeeper Earl Edwards for the game's first goal. The strike was Romero's first goal for the Goats.
After the goal, the Fusion ramped up the pressure and nearly equalized in 20th minute when John Alexander Valencia slipped allowing Travis Bowen – the older Chivas' Tristan Bowen – to break away on goal forcing a save from Chivas backup goalkeeper Tim Melia. Bowen almost leveled again, when off a corner kick, the forward fired a side volley that sailed just over the Chivas net.
The Fusion continued the pressure in the second half forcing Melia into action several times. The last great chance for the PDL side came in the 71st minute when Francisco Lopez broke through the Rojiblancos back four causing Melia to make a save, which kept Chivas ahead for good.
Scoring Summary:
CHV – Cesar Romero (Juan Agudelo) 13
Misconduct Summary:
CHV – Scott Gordon (caution) 45+
VCF – Michael Daly (caution) 60
VCF – Kennedy Chongo (caution) 64
CHV – Juan Pablo Ángel (caution) 70
VCF – Victor Chavez (caution) 89
Chivas USA – Timothy Melia; Jorge Villafaña, John Valencia (Danny Califf 83), Rauwshan McKenzie, Scott Gordon; Ryan Smith (Laurent Courtois 46), Blair Gavin, Peter Vagenas, Cesar Romero (Moreno 46); Juan Agudelo, Juan Pablo Ángel
Subs not used: James Riley, Casey Townsend, Patrick McLain, Jose Erik Correa
Ventura County Fusion – Earl Edwards; Willie Rupert, Tim Pontius, Michael Daly, Peter McGlynn (Matt Wiet 81), Daniel Steres, Kennedy Chongo, Michael Roman (Gabe Gonzales 65), Rodrigo Lopez, Travis Bowen, Francisco Lopez (Victor Chavez 88)
Subs not used: Armando Guerrero, Kory Kindle, Eric Shannon, Chris Tsonis.
Adam Serrano covers Chivas USA for MLSsoccer.com. He can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.


text: The final project of a team from Cornell University, this electronic hogu, modelled above by a lantern-jawed mannequin called Bob, uses piezoelectric sensors and a microcontroller to measure the kicks and punches between contestants in a Tae Kwan Do bout. Piezoelectric sensors and a microcontroller are implanted in the transmitter side, while the receiver side has wireless receiver circuitry, another microcontroller, and a monitor to display the score. As that great black belt of martial arts would say, "Haiiiii-YAAAAAAA!" Yes, I'm talking Miss Piggy. [Cornell via GEARFUSE and HacknMod]


text:
Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) vs. 3D conformal Radiation for prostate cancer
Dear OncoLink "Ask The Experts,"
I have stage B1 prostate cancer (PSA 7.1, Gleason 6). I am trying to decide whether to undergo IMRT at the considerable inconvenience of traveling to a distant location or to have the standard 3D conformal radiation that is available locally. I would appreciate any information.
Richard Whittington, MD, Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, responds:
The difference is one of philosophy and not science. IMRT involves using many fields (30 to 60) with each treating part of the tumor so that when they are summed, the dose is similar to the usual 4 to 6 fields most centers use. IMRT will treat some of the tumor to a much higher dose than 3D-CRT, although some, perhaps as much as 20% of the gland may receive 10 to 15% less. IMRT also involves giving much more normal tissue some radiation, but gives less to the rectum and bladder. This may result in fewer side effects initially, but there is potential for more side effects long-term because of the increase amount of normal tissue exposed to low doses of radiation. There are no studies comparing the two methods. There is evidence suggesting that a dose greater than 75 Gy (with either technique) is associated with a higher cure rate, so I would recommend basing the decision on total minimum dose to the gland. However, there is no data specifically showing IMRT improves outcome over 3D conformal radiation.


text:
UnNews:Redneck defends Second Amendment, some of Kwanzaa
This article is part of UnNews, your source for up-to-the-microsecond misinformation.
28 December 2012
Karenga County, Alabama -- Local trailer park redneck Billy Todd Joe says that he's up in arms, literally, about the current resurrected debate over gun control. "I don't know much about the Constitution or the Bill a' Rights," said the redneck with a mere 5th grade education, "but I do know it says I got the right to bear arms. It's right there in the Second Amendment. All the other rights I could give a shit about. But if we don't got the right to protect ourselves from a fascist government, the other ones won't matter. If we ain't allowed guns, we ain't a free people. Period."
Billy Todd Joe then took this opportunity to apply this interpretation of the Constitution to Kwanzaa, the week-long African-American holiday currently happening right now. "I'm not comfortable 'round negroes, but I do kinda like Black Christmas. I like them second and seventh principles," he said, referring to the Nguzo Saba. "You got there Koo-jee-cha-goo-lia, which means 'self-determination'. That's a good value there. Rugged individualism; pullin' yourself up by your own bootstraps. Discouragin' welfare. That kinda crap. Then there's Imani, which means faith. Another good'un, 'cause really, if you don't got faith in God, what do you got? Those'er some nice principles. The rest are just socialist bullshit I want no part of."
Billy Todd Joe remarked that he'd be willing to take down his Confederate flag and replace it with the Pan-African flag for one week every year if African-Americans would be willing to drop the socialist principles, emphasize the good ones and make Barack Obama respect his right to collect semi-automatic weapons.
|This article features first-hand journalism by an UnNews correspondent.