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UN report shows Tehran is trying to accelerate its uranium enrichment efforts
Iran is trying to accelerate its uranium enrichment programme, a UN nuclear report showed, but experts said it was unclear when Tehran's new machines could start operating and how efficiently they would work.
The Islamic state's progress in introducing next-generation centrifuges is closely watched in the West and Israel as it would enable Tehran to speed up accumulation of material that could be used to build atomic bombs. Iran denies any such aim.
Iran has tried for years to develop centrifuges more advanced than the erratic 1970s-vintage IR-1 machines it now runs, but deploying new models has been dogged by technical hurdles and difficulty in obtaining parts abroad.
It is now pressing ahead with installing a more efficient version known as the IR-2m at its main enrichment plant near the central town of Natanz, according to the report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
It has also put in place another centrifuge type, the IR-5, for the first time at a research and development facility at Natanz, joining five others being tested there, the report issued to member states late on Wednesday said.
The rapid installation of one of them, the IR-2m, at a Natanz production unit since it started earlier this year indicates that Iran can make such equipment, at least to some extent, despite tightening sanctions on the country.
Critics say Iran is trying to achieve the capability to make atomic arms. Iran denies this, saying it needs nuclear power for energy generation and medical purposes and that it is Israel's reputed nuclear arsenal that threatens regional peace.
The IAEA report said 509 IR-2m centrifuges and empty centrifuge casings had been installed since February, bringing the total to nearly 700, none of which were yet operating.
In addition, "preparatory installation work" has been completed for many more, it said. Centrifuges spin at supersonic speed to increase the fissile isotope in uranium.
Iran said in March it was building 3,000 next-generation centrifuges to produce low-enriched uranium to fuel nuclear power plants. But uranium can also provide the fissile core of a nuclear bomb if enriched to a high level.
If Iran can deploy that many, a "dangerous threat would develop" as the time needed for a nuclear bomb breakout bid would drop significantly, said Cliff Kupchan, a director and Middle East analyst at risk consultancy Eurasia Group.
"In addition, mastery of a faster machine would make use of a clandestine facility more attractive, as fewer machines and a smaller facility could be used to make a bomb," he said.
But Kupchan and other experts said it was not yet known whether Iran could obtain component materials for thousands of new centrifuges and how well they would work.
Whether Iran has "the resources or wherewithal" to deploy 3,000 IR-2m machines is unclear, said the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a US think-tank.
A Vienna-based diplomat familiar with Iran's nuclear programme said electrical and other connections were not yet in place, suggesting the launch of the IR-2m was not yet imminent.
The Arms Control Association, a research and advocacy group, said it was unlikely that Iran had been able to produce or procure the highest-grade materials for the new centrifuges.
Still, "experts assess that a tripling or quadrupling in efficiency might be realistic, but that it is difficult to estimate until the machines are operating", it added.
ISIS said the IAEA report did not specify how many of the IR-2m centrifuges contained rotor assemblies, which the think-tank said was the true measure of the numbers deployed.
"Thus, the information about the number of actual installed IR-2m centrifuges is highly incomplete," it said.For all the latest energy and oil news from the UAE and Gulf countries, follow us on Twitter and Linkedin, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube page, which is updated daily.


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One of the most respected recruiting websites, Rivals.com, has just released its rankings of the top senior football players in the state of Colorado.
For last year's recruiting cycle, CU got completely skunked in its effort to land a top-10 player in Colorado. The most highly rated in-state Buffs signing in February was 12th-ranked Kyle Slavin, the former Chatfield tight end.
Whether CU will make a dent into this year's top 10 remains to be seen. Two already are off the board. Top-ranked Brendon Austin, an offensive lineman at Chaparral, has given an oral commitment to Stanford. Arvada West offensive lineman Marc Mustoe, ranked No. 5, orally committed this week to UCLA.
"It's easier to land in-state kids when you win," said Denver-based Rivals.com reporter Adam Munsterteiger, who covers CU. "But it's harder to get in-state kids when you lose, because they hear about that all the time.
"If CU can have a good season, they might do a lot better (in recruiting the state's best) this year."
Here is Rivals.com's top 10 in Colorado for the 2011 recruiting cycle:
1. Brendon Austin, OL, 6-5, 263, Chaparral (committed to Stanford)
2. Leilon Willingham, LB, 6-2, 240, Mullen
3. Brock Berglund, QB, 6-4, 205, Valor Christian
4. Dorian Brown, RB, 6-1, 220, Thompson Valley
5. Marc Mustoe, OL, 6-7, 273, Arvada West (committed to UCLA)
6. Eddie Yarbrough, LB, 6-3, 235, Grandview
7. Ezekiel Bishop, ATH, 5-10, 182, Denver East
8. Adonis Ameen Moore, RB, 5-10, 215, Mullen
9. Rayshon Williams, WR, 6-1, 190, Mullen
10. Brady Daigh, LB, 6-2, 220, Mullen
Among those 10, early indications suggest that, thus far, CU could be most strongly targeting Willingham, Berglund, Brown, Bishop and Daigh.
As for the overall talent level in the state, it might be a good sign that Rivals.com listed 20 players for its 2011 best-of-Colorado rankings. The 2010 Colorado rankings included just 15 players.

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Nearest Town: CareySite Size: 400 acres
Highlights: Raptors, Shorebirds, Songbirds, Upland Birds, Waterbirds, Waterfowl
Access: Year-round. Access free of charge.
Directions: From the junction of US 20/ID 75, E on US 20 for 18.5 mi to Carey; L (N) on US 93/26; go for ~3 mi; look for sign; R at mp 207.3 onto gravel rd that leads to parking lot.
Description: Carey Lake WMA is a shallow 400 acre lake and marsh. It is situated in the northwest corner of the southeastern Idaho lava desert. The WMA provides an important stopover for migrating waterfowl and shorebirds as well as breeding and rearing habitat for resident birds. Primarily waterfowl present, with dense spring populations of Mallard, Northern Pintail, Green-winged and Cinnamon Teal, and nesting Canada Goose. Other waterbirds (Sandhill Crane, American Bittern, Virginia Rail, Sora, Pied-billed Grebe) and shorebirds (American Avocet, Black-necked Stilt, Semipalmated Plover, Long-billed Curlew, Willet, Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs) are observed regularly at this location, while American White Pelican, Hooded Merganser, and American Pipit are seen occasionally. Songbirds are present throughout the spring and early summer; most common are Red-winged and Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Marsh Wren, and Western Meadowlark.
More Information: IDFG (208) 384-4444ellvue Chamber of Commerce (208) 788-7060 fishandgame.idaho.gov/cms/wildlife/wma/carey/
General Services:
Handicapped Services:What do these icons mean?
Select a species from the list to view other sites on the Idaho Birding Trail Sites this species may be observed.


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Latest ReviewI saw Patricia following a lot of complex problems including bereavement, family estrangement and serious illness of a loved one, which had resulted in quite severe depression and anxiety. Patricia was always kind, compassionate, non-judgemental and completely professional. Over a year I was able to work through all these, come to terms with them and take control of some very difficult situations with her help and support. I now feel I have the self awareness and confidence to deal with challenging situations, and it has improved my confidence and quality of life immeasurably. I would thoroughly recommend Patricia to anyone considering counselling and am so glad I found her when I did.
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product a home.
Printal Oy is the only manufacturer of aluminium packages in the Nordic countries that makes both aluminium cans and tubes. The company has almost 60 years' experience in the industry and the skills and expertise that go with that. But it is constantly striving to develop and review its approach to business, allowing it to meet the needs and demands of customers and markets in the current millennium.


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With 90+ degrees, near 100% humidity, track temperatures exceeding 130 degrees, the last thing one would expect to see on Sunday would be a new track record set. That's exactly what happened when Bob Frigon squeezed the trigger in the first round of qualifying for the Seaboard Graphics Quick 8 event on Sunday. Bob's record setting 6.226 at 227.42 mph run broke the 21 year old record set by Bunny Burkett in 1988 with her Top Alcohol Funny Car. Bunny's long-standing record of 6.420 at 217.95 mph was not only surpassed, but shattered by two tenths and 10 mph!
Bob, from nearby Liverpool, NY set the record in his Competition Wedge Racing sponsored, 280", 2000 Spitzer dragster powered by a 451cubic inch Brad Anderson Hemi which he campaigns in the Pro Top Outlaw series. Along with Bob's record-setting pass, race fans witnessed over a dozen 6-second E.T.s and several 200+ mph runs including Freddie Jacobs best ESTA E.T. of 6.77 seconds and event winner Gary Antinora (pictured) laying down 5 "bracket-like" runs between a 6.82 and 6.85! Imagine what this track will produce this Fall when cooler temperatures return!
As mentioned earlier, number 2 qualifier Gary Antinora of Rochester, NY took the win over Freddie Jacobs' Pro Mod LeBaron in the final with a 6.827 at 191.66 mph run. Click here to view event recap, qualifying ladder and event photos of the Seaboard Graphics Quick 8 show.


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About EOS
The Office of Equal Opportunity Services
The University of Houston is committed to the principles of equal opportunity and affirmative action.
The Office of Equal Opportunity Services acts on behalf of the University as a neutral fact finder that enforces the University's Equal Opportunity Policies. Equal Opportunity Services provides the University system with multiple services including the development and monitoring of faculty and staff recruiting, the presentation of awareness and prevention trainings, and the implementation of the universities discriminatory complaints policies.
The Office of Equal Opportunity Services is additionally charged with the processing of all inquiries and complaints concerning discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, disability, genetic information, and/or veteran status.
Equal Opportunity Services works in conjunction with other members of the university community to seek a fair and effective resolution with regards to confidentiality of those concerned.
No person shall be subject to retaliation for filing a complaint or assisting in an investigation conducted by the Office of Equal Opportunity Services.


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Victoria Jaffe, Director
(949) 214-3042
The Office of Career Development Services is located on campus in the Student Success Center, across from the gym.
Monday - Friday: 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Career Services supports the mission of Concordia University Irvine by helping undergraduate students determine and fulfill their career goals through programs and services that foster, in each student, career management confidence via self-assessment, research, skill development, and exposure to opportunity.
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Jeremiah 29:11
"Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in everyone."
1 Corinthians 12:4-6


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I have a confession to make: I am, or was until a couple of weeks ago, a salad dodger. I've always hated salad and refused to eat it, although I love raw veggies and will happily eat many of a salad's component elements. First I thought it had to do with my general desire not to have my foods mixed together — I have very simple (some would say simplistic) tastes, though I branched out a bit after discovering Indian and Thai. Salads have lots of elements plus dressing, when I'd rather just eat one or two kinds of naked vegetables, so it would make sense that salads were too complex for me. But there was always a nagging voice wondering whether my dislike of salad — and the fact that I always asked for my sandwiches sans lettuce/tomato/mayo — was less about simplicity and more about… well, being a salad dodger.
Turns out I just really hate lettuce. Oh.
It still took me a while to try a non-lettuce salad, because of the voice in my head going "salads are diet food and will make you hate them and yourself." But I finally got around to eating spinach salad a couple weeks ago, and it was a fucking revelation. I was so excited about how great it was that I texted Sweet Machine saying "my god, you were right all along!" I'd been worried that it wouldn't be satisfying because of the diet-food aspect, but that's BULL — as Kate's mentioned before, it's astonishing what just the right amount of fat can do to vegetables. I'm really thrilled, because a lot of foods don't agree with me, like meat, and cheesy things, and fried things, and creamy things — meaning that there are whole restaurants in which salad is my only good option. Not having to be the wet blanket when people want to go to a brewery or burger place is a big deal. Plus there's a place across the street from my office that does custom salads, and I've eaten one for lunch nearly every day for the last few weeks. And I'm so astonished by what a FOOL I was for SO MANY YEARS that I keep telling people about how salad is awesome, which I'm sure makes them think I'm some kind of diet proponent, but I can't help it!
So, Shapelings: tell us about a time when you turned out to be wrong about a strongly-held opinion (not necessarily food!) in a way that totally altered your habits or beliefs, or even just your lunch order. How did you react to discovering your error? How did your life change?


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NL DIVISION SERIES: BRAVES v GIANTS
October 10, 2010
Aubrey Huff
Jonathan Sanchez
ATLANTA, GEORGIA: Game Three
San Francisco – 3
Atlanta - 2
THE MODERATOR: Questions for Aubrey and Jonathan.
Q. Jonathan, you've been in big games before. This has to be the biggest. Did you know that you had the stuff early on, that you had the stuff to do what you did tonight?
JONATHAN SANCHEZ: I was just being aggressive. I just prefer pitch first try and made them to swing the ball.
Q. You've hit lefties and righties basically equally well this year. What are you thinking there as they bring in the lefty to face you?
AUBREY HUFF: Well, those guys, Venters and Dunner are tough. One of the toughest lefties in the league, if you ask me, out of the pen. I faced Dunn at our place, and he threw me five straight sliders. First pitch I was looking slider, put it right down the middle at 95. Kind of kicking myself a little bit.
But stayed with it. Saw it, and was able to reach out there and get it. It was a pretty good pitch. Just kind of hit it off the end a tad enough to where it could get down. When I hit it, it was the longest fly ball, medium fly ball I've ever hit. I didn't think it was ever going to get down. But they were probably playing no doubles, or they might catch it.
Q. Aubrey, you waited a long time to get into the postseason, and just your emotions getting that kind of hit in that kind of situation?
AUBREY HUFF: Well, it was pretty strange. You know, when you set, a little nervous, little nervous for me especially on deck when they're making the switch. But once I stepped in the box, it was actually pretty calm. You have to be. I find if you stress out too much you get a little jumpy. All year long. Everything's a roll over.
So try to breathe, and take my best that I've taken all year. That's what people told me the whole time starting the playoffs, don't change your routine, don't change your approach. Just do the same thing you've done all year, and that's what I tried to do.
Q. Bochy just talked about Giants baseball and how it's called torture. You guys have a lot of close games, tonight was no different. He said you guys don't seem to mind it. You grind it out, you're used to it. I don't know if you like it. Why is it the case that you guys have all of these very close games?
AUBREY HUFF: I speak better English, so I'll go ahead and answer. Is that okay?
JONATHAN SANCHEZ: Yeah, that's better.
AUBREY HUFF: Okay. It's a slogan that our radio guys came up with. And certainly by no means do we ever want to be tortured out there. It just seems like every game, even all the way through San Diego to get in, everything's so stressful. You know what I mean? Eric Hinske, I'm thinking there's no way this guy's going to homer here. He hit it's, and I'm instant head down. He seems like this four times that I played against him, he's hit a homer late. Just can't make it happen.
When we got in the dugout, it wasn't down. Everybody was up and confident. Ishikawa did what he's done all year. Professional at-bat to get us going. Sanchez stayed through a really tough pitcher. And to be honest, I got lucky to get a hit out there off that tough lefty.
You know, sitting at home for nine years watching these playoffs and stuff happen, it's never over until it's over. And we battled. And that's exactly what the torture comes from. It's never easy.
Q. Bruce basically said that it looked like you were at about that point. Did you feel like you were losing anything at all? Did you feel like you were still going strong at that point?
JONATHAN SANCHEZ: When he took me out I felt pretty good. I was feeling good. I wasn't tired at all. But he made the decision to go with the bullpen, and we've been doing the job all year. We're playing pretty good. I mean, Romo laid one pitch out of the play and hit the homer.
But we've got a tough bullpen, so I thought we were going to get it done.
Q. Bochy said Madison's going to be the starter for tomorrow. That's a big stage for a rookie for a young kid. How do you think he'll do, and will you say anything to him?
JONATHAN SANCHEZ: I mean, as long as he throws strikes, he's going to be okay.
AUBREY HUFF: Catcher boy English, and this guy, I don't think it's going to be a very good conversation.
Q. What was really working the best? What was clicking, what did you feel most comfortable with? What was getting them out?
JONATHAN SANCHEZ: Getting ahead and then using my breaking balls.
Q. Is that kind of what you were talking about yesterday? You mentioned about getting outs with less than three pitches, is that what you mean by being aggressive and throwing strikes?
JONATHAN SANCHEZ: Yeah, that's what I did today. Just get aggressive, throw first pitch for a strike and use my breaking balls. They were swinging.
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Kountze superintendent resigns
The board of trustees for the Kountze Independent School District is expected to accept the resignation of KISD superintendent Kevin Weldon on Friday, Dec. 21. According to information from the district, Weldon is leaving to accept a position at another school district.
KISD's board of trustees also expected to name an interim superintendent at the Dec. 21 meeting of the group, but has not specified who will fill the position.
Weldon had been at KISD for a little more than a year, as a year-to-year contract employee. He re-signed his contract with the school district in November of this year.
— By Jennifer Johnson


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The Ferrari cittadella has been completely redesigned and renovated as part of a project begun in the 1990s with the aim of creating a dynamic complex developed in harmony with the needs of the company workforce. This is an ongoing project and encompasses everything from the layout of the buildings to the pathways for both people and components alike, the functionality of the various activities carried out, and, most importantly of all, the well-being of the people that do the actual work.
Some of the world's finest architects have been involved in the various stages of the campus's development which began with the Renzo Piano-designed Wind Tunnel where actual road and track conditions are simulated to hone our road and track cars. The Luigi Sturchio-designed New Logistics building is the nerve centre of all transportation and delivery operations relating directly to the Scuderia Ferrari's activities. while Marco Visconti is responsible for the gleaming New Mechanical Machining Area (New Engine Machining Area) where our 8 and 12-cylinder engine components are made in surroundings in which cutting-edge machine tools are interspersed with green areas not only to create a more attractive workplace but to regulate its microclimate.Read more
Visconti also designed the New Paint Technologies area which marries superb standards of quality with equally high working and environmental protection conditions, and the Company Restaurant, a very bright, welcoming, relaxing space designed to promote interaction between employees during downtime. The work of Massimiliano Fuksas, the Product Development Centre is where our engineers and technicians research and develop every component used in our cars. Spread over four levels interlinked by an attractive network of transparent walkways and stairs, this bright, airy building is a fine example of bioclimatic architecture in action. Last but not least, the New Assembly Line area from the pen of Jean Nouvel, where technological excellence and meticulous craftsmanship combine as our 8 and 12-cylinder cars are assembled in a light-filled, transparent space also enriched by green areas. Over 150 bicycles have been made available to employees to make moving around the cittadella easier too.
Viale Enzo Ferrari is a large boulevard that winds its way through the campus with other smaller "streets", named in honour of the great Ferrari drivers who won a World Championship, opening off it. It is lined by low environmental impact buildings with plenty of green and relaxation areas and in which noise, light and temperature levels are all optimized. Working in these clean, functional surroundings not only improves our employees' quality of life and output but also contributes to the creativity and overall excellence of our product. In the course of 2008, Ferrari launched its in-house power generation programme. Now, thanks to its new photovoltaic and trigeneration systems (the latter producing combined heat, power and cooling), Ferrari is fully self-sufficient in terms of energy production and has reduced its overall CO2 emissions by around 40%.
After the Wind Tunnel, the Machining Department, the New Logistics, the Product Development Centre, the New Paint Shop and the Company Restaurant, as well as the new Car and Engine Assembly buildings, the next building that must respond to the criteria of Formula Uomo is the new home to Scuderia Ferrari.
For this project, the work of French architect Jean-Michel Willmotte, Ferrari wanted to raise the bar even higher.Read more
This is to meet the new European standard which will not be the norm until 2021, when all newly built private buildings will have to be nZEB (net Zero Emission Building,) which means that, over the course of a calendar year, they will have to present an algebraic figure relating to energy flow both on entry and exit of zero.
In planning the new home for the Scuderia, Ferrari was strongly inspired by wanting to adopt the nZEB philosophy ahead of time, with an operation which, partly because of its size, is a particularly challenging task today.
Achieving such a high energy target involves firstly going through a carefully planned mix of technological strategies aimed at reducing and optimising the energy requirements by making the maximum use of natural light, improving thermal isolation of all the walls, high efficiency air conditioning, combining sophisticated control systems for ventilation and temperature in every environment, so as to achieve the highest levels of quality and comfort in the internal areas.
The second characteristic which goes to qualify the construction as nZEB is the major use of renewable energy production technologies, such as photovoltaic and solar power.
With its new headquarters for the Scuderia, Ferrari thus enters the field of energy experimentation at the highest level, which today sees the involvement of excellent research and development facilities from around the world, such as NASA with its Facility Building at Cape Canaveral, the DOE (Department of Energy of the United States) and the German EnOB (Forschung fur Energieoptimiertes Bauen.)
It's a field in which Ferrari wishes to get involved, creating a building that is not restricted simply to an exercise in pure energy engineering, even if it is applied to such a large building, but which at the same time is architecturally harmonious and functional, perfectly in line with the principles that govern the continuous development of Campus Ferrari, respecting the local area and the people who, every day, contribute to renewing the legend of the Prancing Horse.
The Fiorano track was built next to the factory in 1972. The original track, which can still be used, was 2,948.5 metres long. In 1996, a new bend was added to make it faster and more suitable for modern single-seaters. This new bend lengthened the track by a further 27.91 metres to 2,976.41 metres. Already equipped with closed-circuit TV, timekeeping and telemetry facilities, the circuit was also given a new irrigation system in 2001-2002. The system is unique in the world and can wet the entire track in just a few minutes as well as retrieve most of the water used on the asphalt too.
The asphalt itself was replaced recently with Shell's Cariphalite Grand Prix Bitumen, which guarantees maximum grip and excellent drainage. New facilities include a sustainable gym that is also Ferrari's first zero emissions building and is used by the F1 team, an 80-seat stand and an all-weather pit garage that guarantees optimal working conditions throughout the year. The track is also used for developing and testing Ferrari's GT cars. In 2002, a further futuristic-looking building housing the Logistics offices and warehouses was added. It is from here that the Formula 1 cars, spares and trucks specially kitted out for this purpose are sent out around the world and managed. There is also a special convention room for meetings and other such events.
In 1988, Ferrari acquired the International Mugello circuit, near Florence, and renovated its buildings, track and other testing and racing facilities. The result is that Mugello is now one of the world's finest circuits, which regularly hosts leading car and motorbike races. In addition to this, it is a favourite with many constructors for their development tests. The circuit is 5,245 metres long. In 2011, the Circuit won the 'Best Grand Prix' award, the highest honour given by the motor sport world for Moto GP organisers.
Major upgrading work was carried out in 2011: a new asphalt surface was laid along the entire length of the track using innovative techniques, and a new covered central grandstand topped by more than 3,000 photovoltaic panels was built. As a result of this investment, the Circuit was judged to be the best of all of the tracks hosting World Championship grands prix worldwide.


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Does Africa need an Arab Spring?
As the people of Egypt and Tunisia mark the first anniversary of the revolutions which toppled their long-time leaders, leading to popular uprisings elsewhere in the Arab world, Malawian academic Jimmy Kainja asks: Is it time for an African Spring?
Regimes have been shaken, dictators toppled and revolutions televised in ways most people thought was not possible a mere 12 months ago in North Africa and the Middle East. Sub-Saharan Africa is home to some of the world's longest-serving and most autocratic leaders - and that is exactly what residents of some Arab countries have been fighting against.
Yet an African Spring in the exact fashion of the Arab Spring would signify a step backwards - not a step forward.
In fact, it would make a mockery of all that the majority of African countries achieved in the late 1980s and the early 1990s - when they did away with dictators and presidents-for-life in favour of multiparty democracies.
I previously argued that "the protagonists of the Arab Spring have more to learn from their sub-Saharan Africa counterparts than the other way round. The majority of sub-Saharan African countries peacefully did away with one-party-rule in the 1990s."
And now there is no region in the world that holds more elections than sub-Saharan Africa.
'Selfish, greedy leaders'
However, the vote alone is not enough - and democracy does not begin and end with the ballot box, as recently "liberated" Egypt and Tunisia are starting to find out and countries south of the Sahara have known for a long time now.
These countries continue to struggle to solidify their democracies - because of the enduring lack of necessary democratic institutions and structures of governance.
And, of course, because of the prevalence of selfish, greedy and opportunistic leaders: Eduardo dos Santos of Angola, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Paul Biya in Cameroon, to name but a few.
Indeed, some of these leaders got extremely nervous in the wake of the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions last year.
A political science lecturer at the University of Malawi was summoned for "questioning" after he allegedly compared the social and political situation in Malawi to that of Egypt.
And in Zimbabwe a group of activists are still on charges that originally carried the death sentence but have now been reduced - for allegedly plotting an Egyptian-style revolution in that country.
So, the struggle for democracy in sub-Saharan Africa is certainly not lacking.
But these struggles are very different to what we have seen in parts of the Arab world.
Freedom to protest
These ones are mainly focused on forcing governments to become more accountable and to provide populations with the basics that they need to survive.
The July 2011 demonstrations in Malawi, for instance, was not organised to overthrow the government or to demand that President Bingu wa Mutharika step down.
The protests were about the lack of democratic institutions that have allowed the current administration to rule with total impunity.
In Uganda the "Walk to Work" protests were about exorbitant fuel prices - it was not about overthrowing the government or forcing the president to go.
Nigeria is the same - aside from the separate issue of the recent Boko Haram bombing campaign.
Nigerians have been protesting about the withdrawal of fuel subsidies - they are asking their government to be more considerate but they are not calling for a revolution.
Not one of the Arab countries had such freedoms to protest or even question their government prior to the Tunisian revolution on 14th January 2011.
So why then the calls for an African Spring?
This failure to acknowledge the difference between what is happening south and north of the Sahara may well be a matter of distorted historical perspectives - mainly by Western commentators who were caught off-guard by the Arab Spring and are now eager to spot the next possible spark.
And there is an unfortunate perception that people from sub-Saharan Africa cannot stage any revolt of their own. They have to copy it from elsewhere - in this case, the Arab Spring.
Rather, the growing number of protests and increasing political dissent in sub-Saharan Africa - whether tolerated by respective governments or not - could yet be an indication of a mature democracy. And a sign that the region does not need such a "spring".
It is worth remembering that most of these countries attained democracy only 20 or 30 years ago.
All these protests were unheard of before the dawn of democracy.
Today, ordinary citizens are demanding more of their governments than they have ever done before - and they are refusing to accept any form of mediocrity.
US political scientist Francis Fukuyama argues in The End of History and the Last Man that the striving by citizens for liberal democracy arises as a part of the soul that demands recognition.
"As standards of living increase, as populations become more cosmopolitan and better educated," he says "and as society as a whole achieves a greater equality of condition, people begin to demand not simply more wealth but recognition of their status."
These are exactly the social changes happening in Africa today. Progress has been made - and it can only get better.
These demands and the eagerness by the people to be heard - to hold their governments to account - can only be addressed by developing strong democratic institutions - and not simply by getting rid of presidents and their governments.
This is what is necessary in the next stage of Africa's democracy - not an African Spring in the mould of the Arab Spring.


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The SEO Blame Game: Who's Really to Blame?
At one time or another, every SEO and SEM has been here. Maybe, you're even here right now. Wondering aloud, "WTH? They ignored our advice completely and blame us for the bad results!" Trust me, you're not alone. As I've said before, some people just have to fail miserably before they figure it out.
This doesn't happen very often, but on the off-chance you find yourself here, in this place, I'm hoping that this will help mollify the situation.
And, if you have no idea what I'm talking about, I'll provide you with an example.
Who's Really at Fault?
The situation: your client is going through a site redesign working exclusively with you. The site, based on your recommendations, should have a new site architecture. You construct a new site architecture with a new taxonomy based on the new focus of the site. After several lengthy, time-consuming conversations with your client, explaining your decisions and getting verbal buy-in, then it comes time to sign off and move forward with the project.
The Problem: the sitemap and taxonomy the client sends back to you, don't contain a single thing you've advised them on. In fact, it's looking a lot like the old site that had problems getting SERP position to begin with (mainly because of the poor structure and lack of focus). You spend one more meeting explaining, nicely, just why you believe what they've sent you is a bad idea. They don't budge. They like what they have and think it's great.
The Resolution: normally it goes only one way; you do whatever it is they want you to do. (I know that seems silly, but a paying client is a paying client, and they have a voice too). That, or you fire them or they fire you (and nobody wants that, really).
An Alternate Solution
It's simple. The "Not Accountable" clause. You (the client) ignored sound consult and advice from a professional, and I (the professional) can no longer be held accountable for the results of the website. In any other profession, this standard is good as gold (i.e. doctors, lawyers, government, etc) so why should it not be good enough for our profession of SEM/SEO?
It doesn't have to be a micro-font clause interlaced between NDA (non-disclosure-agreement) and privacy language. Not at all. It could simply be the above statement:
Sample "Not Accountable Statement"
You (_client company_) ignored sound consult and advice from a professional, and I (_your company_) can no longer be held accountable for the results of the website.
You have willfully chosen to ignore the following pieces of consult provided by (_your company_):
As such, we feel this would be detrimental to the progress that can be achieved to your website (_client URL_), and hereby cannot be held accountable for the results and/or ROI (return on investment) for the client.
We (_your company_) will optimize (_client URL_) to the best of our ability using all best practices to achieve the most optimal result.
You slide this across the table BEFORE you begin work on the project (don't get caught in that trap) and waa-laah, everyone is happy again. They get their site, you optimize and get paid. Done and done.
In The Best of All Possible Worlds
As Dr. Pangloss said in Candide, it was just meant to happen that way. Fate will have its way. That's true here too. Do I necessarily think that Not Accountable clause would actually work? Not really. It could lend itself to the client seeing that they should be heeding your advice and renewing the trust. But, I think it's more likely to offend and skewer the relationship to a place that it can't be recovered.
To be honest, I'm not sure how to correct a situation like this. I'd love to tell you that the clause will fix it, but it won't. Perhaps, in the best of all possible worlds, we'd have connected and understood the delicate line between BRAND and KEYWORD PHRASES. So the real solution is to communication. And if that fails, then walk away from the table, because no conversation or clause will rectify that disconnect.
Mar 5 2010
Well, you're not wrong. I have had numerous run-ins with clients who simply think they know the industry better than the people they're hiring to promote their website.
You know that old saying if you give them an inch, they'll take a mile? I think it applies pretty well to this. For example, if my client thinks I am using the wrong keywords via PPC to drive relevant traffic, I usually negotiate with them to at least run a small test. I let that test run for a while and after the client see's the results, they most always give me the ball and let me run with it.
If you can open their eyes to one thing, it's a lot easier to get them to be open for other issues.
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D-backs catchers changing up signs in Milwaukee
MILWAUKEE -- The D-backs don't want to come right out and say the Brewers are stealing signs at Miller Park, but they are taking some extra precautions just in case.
Typically a catcher will flash only one set of signs for his pitcher until there is a runner on second, who is able to look in and see them. To combat that, catchers will flash multiple sets of signs.
Here at Miller Park, though, the D-backs on Friday were using multiple sets even with no one on base. Turns out they've been doing that here since the 2011 National League Division Series.
"It was just a bad experience in the playoffs two years ago," Arizona catcher Miguel Montero said. "Ian [Kennedy] and [Daniel Hudson] made such great pitches and they just laid off them like they knew it was coming. So it was just like, huh, it made you think about it. If I'm hitting and I see that pitch and I don't know it was coming, there's 95 percent chance I'm swinging because it's too close to take and it's such a great pitcher's pitch."
When closer J.J. Putz came into the game in the ninth inning Friday, Montero was using only one sign, but that quickly changed during Jonathan Lucroy's at-bat.
"Last night when J.J. [in a] 1-2 count, he threw a splitter and we were using just one sign and Lucroy, it was a nasty split and he just spit on it like he knew it was coming," Montero said. "I was like, hmmm, so I went out there and we changed the sign and the next pitch, it was worse, and he swung at it. It's a little shady. I don't think we're the only team that does that here."
Montero, though, reiterated that he did not know for sure that the Brewers were somehow stealing signs, but that he was taking no chances.
"Just a precaution," Montero said. "Even if they don't do it, and I'm not saying that they do it."


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The wave of sexual assaults and harassment that the high command has described as a "crisis" for the military has now reached into the Chaplains Corps.
At Fort Bliss, Tex., last week, Maj. Geoffrey Alleyne, a chaplain and 24-year Army veteran, was sentenced by a court-martial jury to six months in jail for repeatedly groping a civilian employee at the West Texas base.
Following the conviction and sentencing the victim in the case went public to charge that her long-standing complaints about Alleyne's attempts to fondle and kiss her were initially ignored by base officials and other chaplains. "He might have been sentenced and going to jail but I lost," Michelle Ten Eyck told KFOX 14 news in El Paso, Texas.
Ten Eyck said her experience led her to believe that the military justice system is incapable of dealing with the wave of sexual assaults, harassment and unwanted sexual contacts. She said that legal authority in sex abuse cases should be taken out of the chain of command.
Earlier this month lawmakers from both parties in both houses of Congress offered bills that would have transferred a commander's authority to convene courts martial and refer charges in sexual assault cases to military prosecutors in the Judge Advocate Generals corps. The Senate Armed Services Committee voted against the bill filed by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., while the House version, proposed by Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, was killed when the Rules Committee kept it from going to the House floor.
Ten Eyck told the El Paso television station that military education programs are not enough.
"In Washington, they think that … just retraining people is gonna' make it better. They need to take all of this out of the military hands," she said.
Alleyne initially was charged with sexual assault, which could have led to a jail term of more than 20 years. His six-month sentence followed on his guilty plea to charges of assault and battery, making a false official statement and conduct unbecoming an officer.
Ten Eyck charged that Alleyne repeatedly found excuses to show up at her office and make advances, even though his office was on the other side of the sprawling base at Fort Bliss, home of the 1st Armored Division.
Ten Eyck said her complaints were taken seriously only after investigators agreed to set up a hidden video camera in her office.
"It showed, the video showed him touching me, touching my breasts, licking my face," Ten Eyck said on KFOX. And he blocked me in my office, I had nowhere to go," Ten Eyck said.
Military officials in Washington and at Fort Bliss said they could not immediately recall a previous case in which a chaplain was charged with sex abuse.
"It's extremely rare that a chaplain is court-martialed. We went back through all of our legal records and can find no instance since Fort Bliss became a force command installation that a chaplain was court-martialed," Fort Bliss spokesman Maj. Joe Buccino told KFOX.
The conviction is devastating for the Chaplains Corps, often seen by the troops as first responders to their needs for counsel and advice on a range of matters, including sexual assault.
"So much of what we do is based on a sacred trust. It's a sad day for the Chaplain Corps when that sacred trust is broken," Lt. Col. Karen Meeker, the head chaplain at Fort Bliss, said in a statement.
Alleyne's June 19 sentencing came two days before Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno arrived at the post to speak at a graduation ceremony at the Sergeant Majors Academy, and also to spread his message of zero tolerance for sexual assault.
At a news conference, Odierno said of the Alleyne sentencing that "It's important to understand that a problem was identified and action was taken. It doesn't matter what rank they are or what specialty they are in. We are going to take action."
Despite Alleyne's actions, chaplains can train to assist in cases of sexual assault and can be trusted, Odierno said.
"Is there one bad apple [in the Chaplains Corps]? Apparently, yes," Odierno said."It's like everything in society. It's not 100 percent. We are human beings, but 99.9 percent of our chaplains do the right thing."


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The Accounting Historians Journal Vol. 13, No. 1 Spring 1986 BOOK REVIEWS Barbara Merino, Editor NORTH TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY REVIEW ESSAY: Robert R. Locke, The End of the Practical Man: Entrepreneurship and Higher Education in Germany, France and Great Britain, 1880-1940. (Greenwich, Conn.: JAI Press, 363 pp., $22.50, individuals, $45.00, institutions). Review by O. Finley Graves The University of Mississippi Locke's investigation into the relationship of higher education and entrepreneurial performance in Germany, France, and Great Britain during the second industrial revolution (1880-1940) chron-icles the accomplishments of German academicians in the area of business economics in the early decades of this century, accomp-lishments that not only resulted in a new business science but had a decided impact on German industry. Locke demonstrates that as early as the 1910s academic training and research met with a receptiveness among German entrepreneurs that remained un-characteristic of their British and French counterparts until as late as the 1950s. In Britain and France, rather, the entrepreneur con-tinued to esteem the practical man, the man who had received his training on the job or who had pioneered the first industrial revolu-tion, and to view with contempt the idea of any academic orientation in business. As a result, Locke argues, Germany enjoyed a con-siderable degree of growth in the new high technology industries before and after the First World War that Great Britain and France did not. It was the legacy of the business economics movement in German higher education, moreover, Locke suggests, that enabled Germany to bridge the economic chasm of the post-World War II years and reclaim its leadership position in industry as readily as it did. Accounting historians will find Locke's account of the evolution


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Judge, Subcircuit 4 — Cook County Circuit Court
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173: Aggro Management
Pages 1 2 NEXT
When does World of Warcraft stop being "just a game"?
I've seen this a lot. People won't associate with someone from the opposing faction, even in real life. I think it's stupid. Some of my best friends are Alliance. I'm Horde. Its not that I don't like Alliance, I just prefer the Horde races and quests.
Besides, on my old realm, the Allies were the ones ganking low level Hordes and camping their bodies. It goes both ways. It just depends on who runs the server.
See I don't get this hostility thing.
I play World of Warcraft, i have nine lvl70 chars... one of each class. (I was unemployed and needed something fairly cheap to spend a lot of time on). All of them are on Horde, same guild, same server.
Now, certainly, I will endeavour to murderize the Alliance at every opportunity I get, yet one of my best friends plays on Alliance on another server. I don't hate him for it, or even despise him for having gotten further in the game pre the big nerf patch.
It may be that I'm just a mellow kind of guy. Or it may be that as the proud inhabitant of a PvE server, I didn't get ganked, much. I certainly got griefed by a lot of alliance, and ganked when they could, but... meh. I don't care. It's a game. In the end, what I want from it is shiny objects with which to cave mob heads in. I never gank lowbies; I want them to enjoy the game and have rose-coloured specs on so they can get to 70; only THEN will I endeavour to make them bleed from all bodily orifices... of which there will be forty six by the time I am through with them.
Hmm, wait a second. Gnomes. Them I really hate with a vengeance. The player may be Gandhi and be running around giving away flowers, gold and cake; gnomes must all die, regardless. DIIIIIIE gnome, DIIIIIIIE! Go back to Gnomeregan, contract leprosy and ROT IN DIGITAL HELL!
You have to be a certain level of asshole in real-life to treat someone different based on their faction choice for a video game. As much as I despise the opposing faction (I've changed sides a few times) while I'm playing, and occasionally have gotten riled up at someone on message boards, I can't recall a single time when I actually brought that kind of attitude to bear on a person in a face-to-face encounter. There is just no excuse to be a jerk to someone just because of a video game.
"But when he introduced her to some of his Horde friends that gathered each day between classes, they gave her a frosty reception. She tried to stay positive and asked for advice, but only got insults in return."
Then those guys are just douchebags and I'm glad I don't associate with anyone like that. If they are willing to ostracize someone for a faction choice, what other ridiculous criteria are they going to come up with to exclude people from their circle?
Hey, when people get into shouting matches and fistfights over which sports team they support, it's hardly surprising that people with some actual time and effort invested into a game faction might feel that way, or worse.
However, hating someone for being a different game faction is as ridiculous as hating someone for liking your favorite team's rival, and it belies some pretty serious insecurity. I have to wonder what sort of fragile ego a married professional has to have for him to throw his job and spouse around to make him feel better over a 20 year old college dropout that insults his game guild. That's not 'ganking someone in real life', that's being a defensive, insecure jerk.
That pretty much goes for most of your examples. To dismiss someone out of hand because of what amounts to a recreational preference is rude and bizarre.
It's always a shame for the people who lost their MMO virginity to World of Warcraft. I went into World of Warcraft without the same mind frame as you as "Realm Pride" is little to none in WoW. In fact, I would bet most players hate more people on there own faction then on the opposing one. Honestly, people who judge you in real life by what faction you play are tools. It's not like sports team where you root for the home team and hate people who diss your team as in World of Warcraft there are MANY different worlds, hundreds of servers and very few people play strictly a single side for there entire career on the game.
I can't imagine favoring one faction over the other anyway. I have over a dozen characters, of all races and classes. It lets me explore and experience everything the game has to offer. Why get caught up in silly sports-team style cheerleading and bashing?
And a side note: The article says "I'd played online RPGs before, but never an MMO." What does that mean? Often on WOW forums I've seen comments like "Go try a single-player RPG if you don't like WOW," but they never manage to give an example of one.
Not a solo-shooter, but a single-player RPG: ROLE-PLAYING game. Do such things even exist?
Stuff like this makes me more jittery than ever to invest so much into a fantasy world. The Myst games called this years ago: the behavior in virtual worlds will eventually spill over into the real one. Not literally (though part 3 was about that), and not figuratively. But when you have two places where you think and act differently depending on the place, then eventually those forms of behavior are going to overlap.
I see this as being quite similar to two boys playing war or wrestling. At first you're just playing, but as soon as the first punch is thrown, it becomes entirely real. It's difficult to separate pretend from real life. On the one hand, you can't always tell the difference between a pretend insult and a sincere one. At the same time, even a "virtual" insult stings in a very real way.
The parallel drawn earlier between sports teams and gaming is an apt one that can be taken even further. In sports, such as hockey, violence is often a strategic way of breaking your opponents concentration. However, it's hard to see it as just that, and it often results in an all-out fist fight. Even if it's just a part of the game, it still becomes personal.
I would say it's not difficult, but it does take a personal effort to not act the same way in real life that you might in a game. I mean, you wouldn't say that it's difficult not to attack someone with a sword after playing your warrior, would you?
What...... I'm sorry but these people really need assisted suicide to wipe thier stupidity from our gene pool. It's a freakin game.
I dunno, it sounds like some folks over in China would beg to differ. I don't think some grand plague is sweeping the land or anything, but the essay just made think. If personal prejudices induced in an fake world can spill into this one, what else can?
Nice take on the whole faction differences. Not being able to speak to each other is such an awesome thing. Can't wait to read more of your articles.
I've played WoW since day one (and EQ and DAOC before that) and have many friends and family members ranging in age from 14 to 55 who play. No one I know would behave like the people in that article. It's ridiculous that people would snub someone in real life because they play the other faction. In my experience, people are pleased to meet another WoW player because it's fun to share experiences. Maybe some people have trouble separating cartoonish, completely fantastic games from real life, but no one I know does! It's a game with orcs and gnomes and magic spells: if you can't separate that from real life, you're kind of delusional. I think the article gave a very biased and unrealistic view of most MMORPG players.
I played WoW off and on for two months, getting to a "high level" as determined by the system. I decided to play Alliance on one server with most of my friends, and played Horde on a seperate server with fewer of my friends. I can't say that both sides were completely hostile towards one another, or that they were all "lets be friends" either. There are extremists for both factions.
Alliance...Horde...You're still playing some sissy MMORPG. Pick a real facti*I mean* genre like a FPS. :P
One of the many reasons I quit the game.
On the point of conversing with the "enemy", I have had some intelligent conversations with other students who were of the opposing faction. That didn't stop me from feeling slightly pushed aside sometimes though... It's kinda rough when you've made a reputation on a server and everyone else is playing the opposite faction on that same server. Can never settle for any compromise whatsoever...
Thank Tzeentch for WAR... I still have issues with opponents, but ganking is much less frequent as the game is designed around PvP (RvR). So overall, it's much more relaxed.
Yeah Ive played the Trial version of WoW for 2 weeks free(lucky me), once i got my LvL up i went questing with a new friend and we were both Allience.
Both of us were LvL up in the snowy pecks when a LvL 70 Horder came riding over swinging a Big Axe over his head.
I had characters on both sides as well and i followed one rule : Dont attack me, I dont attack u
This reminds me of when my ex-guildies told me about their encounter with hordies while picking up their TBC at the launch in NZ.
They were queuing up and were waiting for quite some time and these bunch of friends in front of then said hi. They continued talking and pretty quickly discovered they were from opposing factions but it didnt bother them. It bothered their guild leader though. From these bunch of hordies their guild leader actually forbids them from making alliance characters. On any server period. These guys had alliance characters and told my guildies not to tell anyone that they did or they'll get gkicked.
Incredible and simply fantastic hostility no?
I play Horde on a PVP server, and developed a healthy hatred of Alliance due to repeated gankings of my low level characters by far more powerful ones. I always left people alone, /waved to allies, and yet, I was ganked. What did I do to deserve this? So unfair! Every ganking would outrage me.
After trying many approaches to deal with it, the one I settled on was just to gank Allies when I had the opportunities to. We are at war, after all. So now, when someone sneaks up on me and kills me while I'm questing, I just figure I had it coming :)
Sounds like your typical Alliance toon to me. Notice I say "toon" and not "person" because many of the people who act like arseholes in-game are actually rather nice in RL. I know a lot of people (many of my RL friends) who play Alliance, and I respect their choice (I may be disappointed with it, but I respect it). It doesn't affect the way I socialise with them outside the game, nor should it you. If it does, you have deeper psychological problems that need addressing.
Actually, to be honest, most of these friends have since rerolled Horde due to the average Alliance player age (maturity-wise) being under 12 (usually excluding long-time raiding guilds). I can't generalise too much, because I have come across really nice Alliance players before, they just seem rather rare (on Proudmoore at least). By the way, PvP zealots, PvE is not "care-bear", it's about not being an arsehole to other players just because they clicked the other column when choosing a race. Remember, they're still a person, and the golden rule still applies. Have some honour and common decency when you come across the opposing faction. That goes for both Horde and Alliance, as I know some rather disrespectful Horde players on my realm too (no names mentioned).
...and this is exactly what I'm talking about. Killing nice people just because they're an easy target makes you a sadist.
My raiding guild is ridiculously friendly. There is absolutely zero yelling or nastiness in any raid, and as soon as someone starts getting a bit narky, the raid leader whispers them and tells them to play nice. If someone makes an honest mistake, or is having problems doing their job, there is no public ridicule like in some raids I've been in. The raid leader will generally whisper them and ask them what the problem is and/or if they need help. There needs to be more guilds like that.
Blast to read
My theory for the a-hole phenomenon is lack of maturity, lack of self-control/self-discipline, and lack of home-training(as we old-schoolers used to call it). Also possibly a lack of ability to separate fantasy from reality and taking a game way too seriously, but maybe I'm being too harsh in my criticism.
** Puts on asbestos suit cause he hear a few flamethrowers getting heated up **
I don't think you are being to harsh in your criticisms. I think it's 100% correct.
It basically comes down to this:
I don't know, I've never really had this problem. Back when I played, I leveled two characters to 70, had another 55, and two 48s. Alliance was my first home, then I alternated between the two. It was fun. I enjoyed it.
I never got the ganking mentality. When I hit 60...I was the 60 warlock that would see enemy lowbies about to die and go help them. I wouldn't mess with anyone unless they messed with me first. Up until I hit 70, I had MAYBE five kills on innocents of the opposite faction. If they were my level, they had to show hostile intent towards me. If they were lower than me, as long as they didn't crowd control me, we were cool.
The only night I killed people without having a reason to was during halloween...when I went to zangamarsh with a pumpkin head on my felsteed. I bought black cloth armor, and became the headless horseman. Even then, I killed maybe like 9 level 62s. I just don't have that mean streak, I guess.
To sum up, pumpkin heads make even the nicest guys turn to jackasses.
Or maybe this:
Actually I think the author may be on to something when he noted the combination of close proximity, inability to communicate and most importantly: the sharing of rare resources. It's actually a quite common phenomenon in psychology. I am referring to the prisoners' dilemma.
I think the author has something here. I have seen this gotta kill 'em mentality in other gaming situations. I believe it is a compulsion of sorts and gaming really does get our juices going. We mostly don't go out and slay the dragon and save the princess in our everyday lives. We work in small cubicles that force us to stuff our emotions so that we can get along with the jerks in the small work spaces we are all required to be in for 40+ hours a week. So ganking the Horde or Alliance player is a way to get rid of some of the extra bile. You have to admit it is a lot safer for everyone than road rage...
I have played many MMO's from EQ to now WarHammer online, and no MMO have I seen people act like complete idiots more than WOW. Even WOW players moving over from WAR that join our guild only 1/2 of them just don't fit in. The other half seem to be immature twats. There seems to be something about that game the draws the worse of the game players out there, which was usually reserved for FPS games online.
Personally I could start a convo with anyone who plays WarHammer regardless of which side they play on, but then maybe I can work our real life and games better than I thought? What is it about that game?
I have played WOW from the second week it went live to present, the game its self is awesome but the dark side of it can be the real hurdle. My wife and I play together, we started with Alliance and then went Horde when our friends joined and life is great. We have played on both sides and we have friends on both sides and even went to a group event held by our Horde guild to meet in real life the people who we talked with over chat for months. Meeting that level 60 troll priest who you looked up to and see him in real life and realizing that he really is just another guy is a sobering feeling.
Hostility between the two factions in WoW is at least partly due to the somewhat broken PVP system. In WoW, there is no penalty for killing a low level or defenseless player, nothing to discourage it. Let's start small: there's a debuff on players who have recently landed from a flight path; this debuff makes you worth no honor, so there's no reward. There's also no penalty, and this is the crux of the problem. You will find corpses near many landing points.
On to the wider world, there is no penalty for a level 70 running around Southshore killing lowbies. I did not play the game until about six months ago, but it is my understanding from guild members that at one point (possibly in the beta) there was a concept of "dishonor," which would cause your own towns to be come hostile to you if you went about killing low level players or unarmed NPCs. It was apparently scrapped.
I can understand being vengeful towards the opposite faction: I started playing late (just this year) and made the unfortunate choice of playing on a PVP server. The raids on some low level areas like Southshore by level capped players made it nearly impossible to level up there anytime except the middle of the night. I did eventually make it to 70, but it was such a crappy experience that I won't be leveling any alts for this game. Carrying in-game hostility back into the real world seems a bit excessive to me, though.
I believe people from both factions are defending honor in some way or another. If you were "ganked" while trying to level a character, or if you're just defending a friend who was in need of help because the other faction kept killing and camping them, in your mind there's still a good reason for killing. If people have an issue with the immaturity side of it, they should play on a PVE server. That is, after all, why the PVE server's were created. Everyone has differences of opinion, weather its politics or which faction to play. There's always going to be a competition and the slight urge to want to prove "I'm better than you," even if it's in a small way. Hence the reason the player Livret took to heart that even though the horde's guild was better than his, he was still better than the 20 yr old in SOME way or another. It's life, there will always be agreements and disagreements, it just depends on how seriously you take them.
I'm excited to read more of your articles! I love the sense of humor in it... Have to keep things light, especially after I've read some of the comments on here.
I've befriended Horde and Alliance in my WoW career, and while I prefer the ways of the Horde, I've never had anything against my friend, who happens to play an Alliance rogue on my server. But I have seen folks getting angry over something like that... it's rather pitiful.
Indeed, if you know where to look. Your in luck though. One known as Fable 2 came out recently. And if you miss the MMO too much you can hook that one up co-op style. For sheer single-ness i suggest something like Elder Scrolls by Bethesda, or perhaps the new Fallout game they are releasing.
Hmm...well...back when i played WoW this was a problem. Heck, look at a WoW video on youtube. Half the comments are about the rivalry between Horde and Alliance.
And perhaps my views are lopsided but most of the time its a harde player instigating, as in the above example.
Now, the example below this, while also claiming that the griefers and gankers tend to be alliance mentions it almost as an afterhtought.
And before you all flame me i should mention that my very first few characters were Horde. One of my best friends is horde (undead even). Its just that when it comes to complaining and shouting out FOR THE ____, its usualy the Horde starting something, as in this thread.
Although in game, afte rplaying on both sides on all types of servers, the problem doesnt favor one race or faction over another, although lvl 19 Undead Rogues with 1000 gold worth of equipment in the battlegrounds is still annoying to a Warlock.
I myself spent a few years in WoW, taking characters to level 15-20 and then deleting them because i got bored and trying a new class/race. I enjoyed the exploration but leveling up so i could do it safely tended to suck, and i was always poor. I never did break level 40 with my favorite character (Human Warlock, RP server due to lower asshole %) but i had the joy of watching a dozen friends join after me and make it to max level. I quite this year, perhaps being tired of being mistaken for a newbie because i almost never have characters over level 25.
That was a lot more talking than i planned on doing.
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Cowboys' linebacker Bradie James and rapper Ludacris have joined forces to encourage people to fill out their census forms. Yes, it's true. The video was presented to us via the Dallas Observer.
Luda--who, we're told, fills cups like double D's--is seen in the clip expressing how important the census is to him; he then rides around Dallas expressing this sentiment and, eventually, lands at the home of James, who, we're told, has definitely filled out his census form.
"I came to raid your refrigerator, bro," Ludacris jokes.
But the order of the day is the census: "Yeah, I got mine already, sent it back, 2010 census--it's big, man, for emergency services, education, all kind of stuff," says James. "People said it takes ten minutes for ten questions, but it took me three."


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MONMOUTH JUNCTION, N.J., Dec. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Insmed Incorporated (Nasdaq CM: INSM), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing novel, targeted inhaled therapies for patients with high unmet need who are battling serious orphan lung diseases, today announced that the Company will be participating in the 31st Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference from January 7-10, 2013 at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. Will Lewis, Insmed's President and CEO, will present a corporate overview on Thursday, January 10th at 1:30 p.m. Pacific time (4:30 p.m. Eastern time).
A live audio webcast of Mr. Lewis' presentation will be made available in the Investor section of Insmed's website, http://www.insmed.com where it will be archived for 90 days.
Insmed management will be available for one-on-one meetings with investors and analysts throughout the conference from January 7-10, 2013. To schedule an appointment, contact Anne Marie Fields of LHA at 212-838-3777 or [email protected] or contact your J.P. Morgan representative.
About Insmed
Insmed Incorporated is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to improving the lives of patients battling serious orphan lung diseases through the development and commercialization of novel, targeted inhalation therapies in orphan patient populations with critical unmet needs. Insmed's lead candidate, ARIKACE®, is engineered to deliver a proven and potent anti-infective directly to the site of serious lung infections to improve the efficacy, safety and convenience of treatment for at least two identified patient populations: cystic fibrosis (CF) patients with Pseudomonas aeuruginosa lung infections and patients with nontuberculous mycobacteria lung infections (NTM). Following positive phase 2 results in CF patients, Insmed's phase 3 registrational study of ARIKACE (CLEAR-108) in Europe and Canada has completed enrollment, and the Company expects top-line clinical results in mid-2013. Insmed's U.S. phase 2 clinical trial in NTM (TARGET-NTM) is well under way with clinical results expected in late 2013. The Company is currently preparing for regulatory filings and for commercialization, if and when regulatory approvals are obtained. For more information, please visit http://www.insmed.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements which are made pursuant to provisions of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Words, and variations of words, such as "intend", "expect", "will", "anticipate", "believe", "continue", "propose" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that such statements in this release, including statements relating to the status, results and timing of results of pre-clinical studies and clinical trials and pre-clinical and clinical data and the anticipated benefits of Insmed's products, constitute forward-looking statements which involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, failure or delay of U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory reviews and approvals, competitive developments affecting our product development, delays in product development or clinical trials, patent disputes involving currently developing products, unexpected regulatory actions, delays or requests, the failure of future clinical trials, inability to successfully develop our product candidates or receive necessary regulatory approvals, inability to make product candidates commercially successful, changes in anticipated expenses, and other risks and challenges detailed in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011 and our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2012. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements which speak only as of the date of this release. We undertake no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances or changes in our expectations.
Investor Relations Contact:
Anne Marie Fields
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Bruce Voss
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SOURCE Insmed Incorporated


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More opposition lawmakers yesterday joined several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers in criticizing the question proposed by the KMT for a referendum to determine the fate of the controversial Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City's (新北市) Gongliao District (貢寮).
However, Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said the wording of the question in the proposal was "excellent" and in accordance with the Referendum Act (公民投票法).
If the KMT proposal is approved by the legislature, the public will be asked in a referendum: "Do you agree that the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant should be halted and that it not become operational?" (你是否同意核四廠停止興建不得運轉)
Since the government proposed holding a referendum to ask the public if they support halting the construction of the power plant, the idea has been blasted as a "trick" to thwart a growing anti-nuclear power sentiment, because the government would otherwise have asked the public if they support building the facility because it is the government's policy.
After the KMT proposal was unveiled on Thursday, more doubts over the legitimacy of the referendum initiative emerged, mainly over two issues allegedly being addressed in the same referendum question.
During a question-and-answer session at the legislature yesterday, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said the way the question was phrased was in violation of Article 9 of the Referendum Act, because it asked people to decide on two issues.
The article states that a proposal for a referendum must be raised about one issue only.
"Whether to halt the construction is one issue, and whether the power plant can become operational is another. You can't mix the two matters together in one question," Kuan said.
Disagreeing with Kuan, Jiang said: "I do not think they are two different things."
Kuan said that Atomic Energy Council (AEC) Minister Tsai Chuen-horng (蔡春鴻) has attested to her critique of the KMT proposal in his earlier reply to Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Huang Wen-ling (黃文玲), when he was asked by Huang how he would vote in the plebiscite.
In answering Huang's question, Tsai said that "there were two issues in the question: Whether I support that the plant's construction be halted and whether I support that the plant not be operated."
In his defense, Tsai yesterday said the referendum proposal appeared to him like a question containing two issues because he, as head of the AEC, is responsible for a decision to allow the power plant to become operational or not.
When asked by Huang, Jiang said that the KMT's referendum proposal was "excellent" and that the referendum question was "in plain language."
Jiang dismissed criticism that the referendum proposal was a "trick" to complete construction of the power plant and for it to become operational.
"The Fourth Nuclear Power Plant is a facility under construction. If a referendum is to be held to decide whether an ongoing policy should be overridden, people are therefore asked a negative question. This is the practice used by most countries when a referendum is initiated on an existing law or a policy which is being implemented," Jiang said.
People First Party legislative caucus whip Thomas Lee (李桐豪) called on the KMT to give up the proposal "if the KMT is really sincere in resolving the issues regarding the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant through a referendum."


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He Looked Hate in the Eye
A gay father, a dead son—and the bigoted church that judged them both wrong.
Walt Fisher's obituary, after he lost his battle with lung cancer, was notable for what it didn't reveal. When the 57-year-old from York, Pa., died in the spring of 2011, the local Daily Record reported his place of birth (Hershey); the names of his parents (Harold and Mary, née Spangler); his employer (JoS. A. Bank Clothiers); and even his hobbies (music, reading and spending time at the beach). Reference was also made to those who survived him: "a brother, Patrick E. Kling, and his wife, Wendy of Hummelstown; a step-brother, David Kling, and his wife, Susan of Harrisburg; a nephew, Noah Kling; and an aunt, Doris Eby of Hershey."
Despite listing some of those Fisher held dear, the obituary was silent about the most important person in his life for his final 14 years: Nothing was said of Albert Snyder.
Story Continued Below
Of course, mention of Al would have raised some eyebrows. He had been in the newspapers plenty in recent months, on account of the landmark free speech case he had lost at the Supreme Court, just 10 weeks before Walt's death. Al's court fight had grown out of the battle he had been waging for years against a homophobic church that disrupted his son's military funeral in 2006—a case that raised monumental questions about the limits of free speech, to say nothing of the bounds of human decency. Desperate to advance a convoluted belief that soldiers' deaths demonstrated God's disdain for America's homosexuals, the Topeka, Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church had, in the years since the American invasion of Iraq, staged headline-grabbing protests at the funerals of military personnel. The subsequent court battle Al waged over his son's funeral brought him a measure of grim notoriety, but never publicly revealed—until now—was Al's added motivation for fighting the cult that wrongly, viciously implied that his son was gay—namely that Al, who was Walt's partner, is himself gay.
News of a loved one's passing tends to ripple through family and friends. When Al lost Walt, that's how things felt. But four years earlier, word of his son's death had spread more like a tornado—a storm that started in March 2006 with the chime of a doorbell. Matt Snyder, a Marine barely out of his teens, had been deployed to Iraq for only a few weeks when Al was summoned to the door. He had been getting out of the shower on a Friday night. It was dinnertime, and his first thought was that his youngest daughter, Tracie, had once again forgotten her keys. She had been living with Al and Walt for three years.
Al hurriedly put on clothes, walked toward the door and turned on the porch light. Where he expected to see 17-year-old Tracie stood two U.S. Marines in full dress uniforms. Al immediately recognized the meaning of their presence.
"Please tell me no. Please tell me no. Please tell me he's OK."
Al crumbled into the arms of one of the Marines, who whispered to him, "Let's go inside." There, in the living room, he was formally told the news he had dreaded. "Mr. Snyder, your son died this morning."
Al's response was extemporaneous. "Fuck you, George Bush and Dick Cheney," he shouted. His body shook, and tears ran down his face. His next impulse was to call Walt, who was working nearby at a men's clothier. "Matt was killed. Come home."
"Oh my God, I'll be right there," Walt replied.
The Marines stayed with Al until Walt was at his side, and they were satisfied he was safe. Al's next concern was for his ex-wife and the Marines who would soon visit her. He called his oldest daughter, Sarah, and asked her to get to her mother's house right away.
"Why, Dad?"
"Sarah," Al told his daughter, "you've got to go to your mother's house now. They're getting ready to give her some information, and she can't be alone when she gets this."
After a moment, Sarah seemed to comprehend the message.
"Oh my God, is Matt OK?"
"Sarah, please, just go over to the house to be with your mother."
Then Al called his sister, Bonnie, and asked that she get in touch with the rest of the family. Meanwhile, Tracie was still at her waitressing job nearby. Al called the manager and said he was coming to get her.
"When I got there, she was bussing tables, and she waved and smiled," Al remembers. "She said, 'Are you coming to eat?'"
"No," Al said. "Tracie, you have to come home."
She said she wouldn't leave until her father told her what he was doing there, what was going on. "I had no choice. In the middle of the restaurant I had to tell her that her brother Matt had been killed, and I can remember her just screaming until her boss brought over her coat and I took her out."
For Al, that was the hardest—telling Matt's sisters that they had lost their brother. "I don't know why, or if it works like that in every family, but after my wife and I separated my kids clung to one another," Al now explains. "They were not only siblings, but best friends."
Marine Lance Corporal Matthew A. Snyder, age 20, died on March 3, 2006, in Al Qaim, in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, while sitting in the gunner position of a Humvee. The casualty report states that: "The convoy was returning from Camp Al Qaim en route to Camp Al Asad when it was involved in a single vehicle rollover in the vicinity of Al Qaim. LCPL Snyder was medevaced [sic] to the Al Qaim surgical shock trauma platoon where he was pronounced dead."
Matt's deployment had begun on Feb. 12; his death came just five weeks later. His obituary noted that he was the "beloved son of Julia A. Snyder (nee Francis) and Albert L. Snyder, as well as the beloved brother of Sarah Anne and Tracie Lynne." His grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins were also mentioned.
There was no mention of Walt, his father's longtime partner.
If Matt could have read his obituary, he probably would not have liked the omission of Walt's name. When corresponding with his father during his military training and brief career in the Marines, he was quick to ask about "Mr. Walt."
Al and Matt were constantly writing to one another, starting when Matt began basic training at Parris Island, S.C. Al was always touched by the simple, personal way Matt would address his envelopes: "Dad," at 760 Spring Ln., York, PA 17403.
Mail was initially Matt's only way to communicate with his family; call privileges didn't come until basic training was over. His early notes, on letterhead from Parris Island, were handwritten, usually just a page long and mostly offering tidbits about the rigors of his new military life and his yearning for sports news from the outside world:
"I found out the Marlins won the World Series in game 6 when I was at church. We fought with Pugil sticks the other day. I won the first round and the last two rounds were no decisions. The time is going quick. You should see how good my platoon looks when we march."
Although he often described the demands of his basic training, Matt never complained. His only need seemed to be postage, so that he could tell his family more. And usually he would ask Al to send his regards to Walt.
"I'm getting used to the yelling already. I'm looking forward to being a Marine. … I love you. Tell Mr. Walt I said hi."
On another occasion, Matt wrote:
"I'm loving the martial arts we learn, we do that every other day. The fleas are horrible, they bite and feel like mosquitos and you can't smack them off or you'll be doing a lot of pushups. … Tell Mr. Walt hi and to read this if he wants. I love you."
Al's replies were a father's combination of family updates and sports reports. A typical greeting card is one Al sent to Parris Island depicting two people on opposite sides of the world. Inside, the message reads: "No Fair. Thinking of You." In neat penmanship, the product of his strict Catholic education, Al told his son:
"Sorry to hear you've been pushed around a little. It's all part of the plan, to make you a good Marine. By the way, did you hear the Ravens lost their quarterback Kyle Bowler for 6-8 weeks due to leg injuries, Uncle Mark is devastated."
"Sleep well and know how much you are loved and missed here. With much heart, Dad."


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For the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), Denham, UK, wellness amenities are not just part of its offerings. Instead, wellness will soon be a whole new hotel brand for the company.
By early 2014, IHG will open its first EVEN Hotel, which will focus on offering healthy food options, a pleasant and efficient working environment, relaxing and healthy rest options, and quality workout facilities.
"We've done industry firsts before and have the expertise to launch a new brand, which is why we are confident in the EVEN brand," says Adam Glickman, director of EVEN hotels and guest well-being programs. As an example, he points to IHG's Hotel Indigo as the industry's first branded boutique hotel experience.
The first EVEN Hotel property location to open has not been announced yet, but a location in the heart of midtown Manhattan in New York City will open in 2015. The IHG-managed hotel, with ownership group CWC Inc., is a new build that will feature 23 guest room floors and 230 guest rooms, dedicated meeting areas, and indoor and outdoor exercise and eating spaces, all in 87,000 square feet.
The decision to launch the EVEN brand came after IHG spent 18 months analyzing emerging trends, conducting quantitative and qualitative studies, and talking to more than 4,000 customers, Glickman says. Based on this research, IHG found that more than 80 percent of the target guests for the EVEN Hotels brand indicated it was extremely or very important to lead a healthy, balanced lifestyle.
"Guests—both leisure and business travelers—are frustrated from staying in hotels that do not meet their entire lifestyle and wellness needs," Glickman says.
Seventeen million wellness-minded travelers have said they find it hard to stay active and eat right, and that they "fall off the wagon" when traveling, Glickman says. They want healthier and balanced options around four priority areas: eating, working, resting and exercising.
The hotel's menus will focus on natural, fresh and energizing meals. Guest rooms will include high-speed Wi-Fi and multimedia ports. Guest rooms also will offer hypoallergenic linens, powerful showerheads, natural lighting, LED dimmers and antibacterial wipes. Guests will be able to use in-room workout options or get fitness advice or instruction, but the hotel also will have a gym with group exercise activities in addition to equipment.
"The gym is front and center in the hotel so guests feel comfortable and connected but still offers privacy from others in the lobby that guests expect," Glickman says.
Other wellness offerings will include a quick and easy service to wash their gym clothes each night and a wellness wall for team member-driven fitness recommendations and tips and personalized guest service to offer advice on fitness options.
IHG will own or manage the first several EVEN Hotels but will eventually look to relationships with existing owners to accelerate growth through a franchise model after a Franchise Disclosure Document is completed. The company says that the fitness centers are a key component of its brand and will be fully part of the entire property and brand experience.
"We are so confident in the EVEN brand that we are committing a capital investment of up to $150 million over the next three years in order to deliver growth and profitability for EVEN Hotels," Richard Solomons, chief executive officer of IHG, said in a press release upon announcement of the new brand.
The company says it expects to sign contracts for 100 EVEN Hotels within the next five years and will focus on locations in New York, Washington, DC, and San Francisco.
"With EVEN Hotels, we're not creating a new hotel segment but rather staking our claim on the wellness space within the mainstream lifestyle category and enabling wellness in travel," Glickman says.


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The original Killzone is coming to the PlayStation 3. The Entertainment Software Rating Board website now includes Sony's current generation console as a platform for the 2004 PlayStation 2 title from Guerrilla Games, and Sony has confirmed it is coming.
Unlike recently released HD updates to Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, the Killzone release will be digital version of the PS2 game. It is set to arrive on the PSN on January 24 for $9.99.
As titles are re-released across multiple platforms both digitally and at retail, the ESRB requires a new rating be established for all games. GameInformer confirmed the release earlier today.
According to Metacritic review averages, the original Killzone is the lowest rated game in the series. The game did include an entertaining multiplayer mode, though it doesn't look like this version will sport those features. Shacknews has contacted Sony to clarity.
ESRB rating cards for the Killzone series on console
The ESRB rating change was discovered by Gamepur earlier today [via Sixth Axis].


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