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Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Period of Repeating Content
For example, WoW has quests which you can do once per day. Raid dungeons, on the other hand, can be done once per week. Is one time interval better than the other?
Part of the issue is that rewards tend to map towards how often the content can be repeated. The shorter the period, the smaller the reward is. Dailies in WoW tend to reward about 10 gold. Rewards are balanced assuming that people will do the content as often as possible. This is because there are people who will do the content as much as humanly possible.
Instead of having a daily quest which rewards 10g, would it be better to have a weekly quest that rewarded 70g?
I think it comes back to how people play. Are people (who are working on repeatable content) more likely to log in every day for small amounts of time, or do they log in less often but for longer play sessions? My personal thought is that the second alternative is a better fit for most lifestyles. Balancing around a period of a week might be better than balancing around a day. You could even make the quests a bit more involved.
However, there are two repeatable quests which I think are good as dailies: The daily Heroic Dungeon and the daily Battleground. These quests work best when there is a large pool of potential players, and having a fresh quest each day means that it will be easier to find a group.
To sum up, repeatable solo content and fixed group content are better off on a weekly basis, as this allows players to better make use of the time they have available, without being pushed to play every day. However, repeatable ad hoc group content is best on a daily basis, to make forming groups as easy as possible.
9 comments:
- Anonymous11:18 PM, July 29, 2009
I suspect it makes the game more sociable if you encourage people to check in every day (although I think the dailies could be less time consuming).ReplyDelete
Imagine if you're in a casual guild. If people tend to log in to do dailies, chances are you'll see at least some of them more often than if they tend to just log in weekly.
It may be that giving people the choice would work better. But if you did that, would it be better to try to balance time needed in game (like, if you can do your repeated quests once a week, should they take 7 times as long?)
I don't think that they need to take seven times as long. The real cap on how rewarding a daily can be is not it's difficulty, but more how much gold (or more importantly, Champion's Seals) could be gained by someone doing every daily every day.ReplyDelete
However, I suspect that with a weekly quest, making it a little more involved might be more interesting. Dailies have to be very simple and quick. But a quest you only do once a week can be longer and more interesting.
The analogy is to raid instances. If you look at raiding, the *amount* of loot is determined by raid lockout and size of raid, not difficulty.ReplyDelete
Basically, Blizzard wants the rate of epics or gold flowing into the game to be X per week, and balances around that. If that's the case, is doling out 1/7 * X each day better or worse than simply giving X once per week.
- Anonymous5:45 AM, July 30, 2009
I'd trade 7 days of dailies for 1 weekly, equaly rewards, any day.ReplyDelete
It can't take seven times as long, of course, but it would certainly provide more interesting play for me and the wife. That would free us up to try and do some more quests, other dailies, play other characters, craft, farm mats, etc.
And this weekly quest has the chance to be more involved, and interesting, as well.
As it is now I feel guilty (guilt at leaving money on the table) if I don't run a full gamut of the dailies. And once that's done, out of the way, I feel I've put enough "work" in, limiting my "play" time.
Honestly, a very interesting topic. They kind of did that with Wintergrasp, but that was more due to performance issues they were having.ReplyDelete
There's a huge balancing act that Blizzard has to do. Some people will do 25 dailies every day, and others that won't. (I think I've done that once in my life.)
Spinksville probably have a point with it being social, but they also don't want all the quests being done just on a certain day. Imagine if we had these weeklies... all the people that are too busy during the week would try to get them done on Saturday. Ugh... that might be ugly. I'm talking Hellfire Peninsula on launch week ugly.
When setting an interval, you also have to consider the reward, which ideally should reflect the effort required to undertake the task. Current dailies are far too easy to translate to weeklies. But if you increase the amount of effort required to justify 70g, you are probably defeating the purpose. I'd argue that daily quests are pitched just right as they are now, allowing a very small amount of effort on an occasional basis to keep you ticking over, but supporting more focused daily efforts for those who want to grind rep, gold or whatever. If the rewards were greater, wouldn't you feel compelled to do them, and wouldn't they then feel more like a grind, not less?ReplyDelete
Well I have an infant so I'm not able to play untill she's down for the night (around 9pm) I also have work early in the monring so I'm normally on for between 1-2 hours per night.... I need to fit my wow time into that.ReplyDelete
From this perspective I was happy to see Wintergrasp quests go from daily to weekly, letting me spend less time "repeating" the same quest in my limited time frame... I think I'd support the swtich to some quests being weekly even if there was less then 7x the reward
So your typical daily quest gives 40g instead of 10.. .Sure it's not 70 but you're not doing it 7 times either.
I agree, that weekly quests would be a better fit for a lot of players.ReplyDelete
The main thing for me is that lots of people can not, will not, or don't want to play WoW every day. Or if they do, perhaps they have better things to do than the mindless daily (quest) grind.
For me, I play 5 or 6 times a week, 3 - 5 of those sessions are raiding, with little time for anything else.
It's a bloody pain having to try to do dailys as well, thankfully the JC daily, which is the only one I can be bothered with, doesn't take long.
I would much prefer to spend 7 times as long once a week for the same reward and 7 small quests!


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There is a mystery team in on Cliff Lee.
I don't know this for sure, but I'm guessing there is one team — maybe even more than one — making a stealth run at the free-agent left-hander, refusing to accept the conventional wisdom that he will sign with the Yankees or Rangers. …
WHITE SOX: You put anything past GM Ken Williams? Or, for that matter, owner Jerry Reinsdorf?
Williams, after signing Adam Dunn, acknowledged that the White Sox are operating with an "all-in" budget, whatever that might be.
KW is always looking for pitching, always looking to make a splash. Sox left-hander Mark Buehrle and righty Edwin Jackson are free agents after next season, so the need is just short of pressing.
If the Sox, as expected, re-sign free-agent first baseman Paul Konerko, forget Lee. If not, Williams will at least start tapping his calculator, examining the numbers.
If he hasn't already.
December 5, 2010
Is Kenny Williams going after Cliff Lee?
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subset: commoncrawl


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Heavy Metal Jukebox
I can't believe it, but Judas Priest's Screaming for vengeance is twenty-five years old this year.
You have heard "You got another thing comin" over and over and you have probably heard "Electric Eye" many times so let's give some of the others a chance.
So your choices are:
-Pain and pleasure
-Devil's Child
***Which one do you choose?


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HUD's Neighborhood Stabilization Program (www.hud.gov/nsp) provides emergency assistance to state and local governments to acquire and redevelop foreclosed properties that might otherwise become sources of abandonment and blight within their communities. The Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) provides grants to every state, certain local communities, and other organizations to purchase foreclosed or abandoned homes and to rehabilitate, resell, or redevelop these homes in order to stabilize neighborhoods and stem the decline of house values of neighboring homes. The program is authorized under Title III of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008.
There have been three rounds of funding for NSP. The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 provided a first round of formula funding to States and units of general local government, and is referred to herein as NSP1. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provided a second round of funds in 2009 awarded by competition, and is referred to herein as NSP2. The third round of funding, NSP3, was provided in 2010 as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act and was allocated by formula.
The NSP1 allocation was done via a two-step formula that first made statewide allocations and then local allocations. The raw data and step-by-step information on how each allocation was calculated are available for both the statewide allocation and the local allocations.
Formula Methodology (please read first)
Neighborhood Level Foreclosure Data
Neighborhood Level Foreclosure Data Dictionary
Powerpoint presentation describing formula and targeting data at Los Angeles training.
NSP2 was a competitive grant, and applicants were encouraged to used funds for concentrated investment in carefully chosen target areas. To facilitate the identification of target areas, HUD developed an online mapping application.
This mapping tool provides foreclosure and abandonment risk scores for all census tracts, which were updated from the NSP1 risk scores. The methodology used to calculate scores for the NSP2 grants can be found at: https://www.huduser.gov/portal/NSP2datadesc.html
These links provide data and tools that may be useful for NSP3 grantees implementing their program. This site is updated as of October 15, 2010 to support implementation of NSP3. It includes information on foreclosure problems through June 2010.
NSP 3 Formula Methodology. This document describes the methodology used to allocate funds under the NSP 3 program.
NSP 3 Formula Allocations with Supporting Data. This document shows the grant amounts for each grantee and some supporting data.
NSP 3 Mapping Tool for Preparing Action Plan.To receive NSP3 funding, each grantee must submit an action plan substantial amendment or abbreviated plan to HUD in accordance with the notice posted at www.hud.gov/nsp. As part of preparing that substantial amendment, each grantee must use this HUD Foreclosure Need website to show its NSP3 areas of greatest need and submit the resulting output to HUD as part of its substantial amendment. If a grantee has more than one identified target area, it will need to provide separate documents for each area. Unlike NSP2, grantees are not constrained to Census Tract boundaries and can define their target areas more precisely to their intended target area.
Data downloadable by state showing the foreclosure risk score, LMMI area benefit, address vacancy, and other information for each block group: A data dictionary for these files is here
NSP Income Limits
- Data on the FY 2019 income limits applicable for NSP (Effective April 24, 2019)
- Data on the FY 2018 income limits applicable for NSP (Effective April 1, 2018)
- Data on the FY 2017 income limits applicable for NSP (Effective April 14, 2017)
- Data on the FY 2016 income limits applicable for NSP (Effective March, 2016)
- Data on the FY 2015 income limits applicable for NSP (Effective March, 2015)
- Data on the FY 2014 income limits applicable for NSP (Effective December, 2013)
- Data on the FY 2013 income limits applicable for NSP (Effective December, 2012)
- Data on the FY 2012 income limits applicable for NSP (Effective December, 2011)
- Data on the FY 2011 income limits applicable for NSP (Effective June, 2011)
- Data on the FY 2010 income limits applicable for NSP (Effective May, 2010)
- Data on the FY 2009 income limits applicable for NSP (Effective March, 2009)
- Data on the FY 2008 income limits applicable for NSP
Other Mapping Tools
As an organization either applying to HUD for NSP grant dollars or interested in the program, you know that HUD expects grantees to consider several specific pieces of data in preparing plans and strategies for targeting funds.Click here to view the mapped data on PolicyMap.
LMMI Block Groups
See the data download feature under NSP3 to obtain the low-, moderate-, and middle-income (less than 120% of area median family income). Grantees using an older version of the LMMI calculation (https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/nsp_target.html) may still use that calculation for determining area eligibility.


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FEWS NET El Niño and La Niña Monitoring Resources
2015/16 El Niño
The strong El Niño of 2015/16 is forecast to continue three to six months into 2016. An El Niño is a set of anomalous oceanic and atmospheric conditions in the equatorial Pacific that influences weather patterns around the world. So far, this El Niño has led to drier than average conditions in Central America and the Caribbean, Sudan, and Ethiopia. It has resulted in more rainfall than usual during the October to December season in the Horn of Africa. It has also disrupted the Indian monsoon and led to drier than usual conditions in Southeast Asia and Indonesia. During late 2015 and early 2016 it is likely to contribute to drought in Southern Africa. In the last El Niño of comparable magnitude – 1997-1998 – a rapid transition to La Niña conditions occurred. Some observers speculate that this may happen again. This would be unfavorable for the Horn of Africa because La Niña is quite consistently associated with drought in the eastern Horn.
From October 2015 to September 2016, FEWS NET projects that emergency food assistance in the countries FEWS NET covers will be roughly 30 percent higher than our estimate for last year. In about half of the countries we cover, El Niño's impacts on climates are a primary driver of acute food insecurity. This El Niño and the needs it is creating are above and beyond a variety of other serious food security emergencies that were already occurring – including Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen.
Food Security Impacts from the 2015/16 El Niño
A strong El Niño is ongoing and is forecast to continue three to six months into 2016. This El Niño has resulted in severe drought in Central America, the Caribbean, and Ethiopia, and between the last quarter of 2015 and the first quarter of 2016, it will be the primary cause of flooding in the Horn of Africa and drought in Southern Africa.
Click here to watch the video...
You can also watch this video in the following languages:
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Prediction Center El Niño Monitoring
El Niño Impacts To-Date in FEWS monitored countries
Click on a region to view updates
El Niño Reporting
Global | July 8, 2016
Slight relief to dryness possible over some parts of Guatemala and Honduras
Global | July, 2015
Southern Africa | March 18, 2016
Illustrating the extent and severity of the 2015-16 drought
East Africa | February 29, 2016
Heavy rains continue in Tanzania; rainfall deficits strengthen in western areas
Southern Africa | February 12, 2016
Joint EC, FAO, FEWS NET and WFP Statement on El Niño Impact in Southern Africa
Global | February 8, 2016
El Niño Powerpoint Presentation
Southern Africa | January 22, 2016
Severe drought in Southern Africa expected to drive large food assistance needs in 2016/17
Ethiopia | December 17, 2015
Illustrating the extent and severity of the 2015 drought
Southern Africa | December, 2015
Southern Africa Regional Supply and Market Outlook Update
Ethiopia | December 4, 2015
Food security emergency in central/eastern Ethiopia follows worst drought in more than 50 years
Southern Africa | November, 2015
Regional needs expected to increase with 2015/16 El Niño
Global | March, 2015
About FEWS NET
The Famine Early Warning Systems Network is a leading provider of early warning and analysis on food insecurity. Created by USAID in 1985 to help decision-makers plan for humanitarian crises, FEWS NET provides evidence-based analysis on some 28 countries. Implementing team members include NASA, NOAA, USDA, and USGS, along with Chemonics International Inc. and Kimetrica. Read more about our work.


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raduk needed a new other design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 30 designs submitted by 14 freelance designers.
We need a design for a mug coaster that conveys a good marketing message for our product.
See contest spec
Desired Color Scheme:
See contest spec
Desired Style:
See contest spec
Accepted File Formats:
Vector Formats (.eps, .pdf or .ai); Layered Formats (.psd or .tiff)
We need a design for a mug coaster that conveys a good marketing message for our product.
What we do can be seen here:
which can also can be used as a source of information for the design.Â
We would like the design to tie into our corporate image and include a good tag line.
One of our unique benefits is that we tailor make tools to our customers exact specification rather than insist they have a standard range of tooling.
The coaster measures 3.7cm by 4.7cm
Payment by paypal


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Potential Employers Are Checking Your Credit
Jonnelle Marte discusses how to handle a bad credit history during a job search. Photo: Getty Images.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... I ... Chelsea plan on repeating rejection of finding the trail leads to long unlikely to tax bank fraud and upholds ... him with a look at what applicants with great resume lousy credit should do to improve on says MarketWatch's chamomile time ... thank you for being ... I was present ... Quentin resume lousy credit ... how travel and use it for companies to use the service of why some people but it's illegal for companies to check for Friday and it's pretty it's pretty common some forty seven percent ... of employees and local the credits has this part of the top twenty ten at the zoo he wanted to try to look at that time and if you if you can do that all ... we used to route that Senate damages money whatever it is only add to that of the one of the most back when but what's a pro ... sure so it's really more common for ... dogs wary simply say that he be answering very sensitive information sensitive financial information ... if they're going to have a lot of financial responsibilities is part of the top ... or some kind of a company has been brands and be used only in their freedom factor embezzlement ... they will attack for credit nontrustee like this before but what's in a business for us I have to give it a credible level some people say look ... you know that people are gonna be on its own almost doesn't matter whether and that's what you thought you know it to believe but backed down ... POPEYES an aside I'm if you have bad credit ... the fifth ... the city I mean you have to keep in mind if they did it you are being asked or credit check and it's because the interest in a new brand so you've done something right to this point ... and any ... if you put in a few nasty prices and you and I were behind the consulting right ... on the hand ... is the home comes ... with that with with a decal milk lacks ... nothing in it can be upsetting but you know I thought at the Neverland NPC decision-making process so when even the guy that if you knew how to look beyond wonderful you can do that for eighty of the different BTG that the different agencies ... IDC some stuff up it's us hey you know ... anyone of a bill for a while what you Tod's que fess up ... yes so at the bonus payments may not come to the topic if you have the means are testament to if you're going to propose a ... new set of knives out of practice this means that they need to get permission from you say you know when to do this ... you use to be upfront about it and you should be on ... it without giving too much information with not being emotional acknowledge say you meet the thought behind it but they are working on its ... highs in ... ten days should not hold you back from this disaster ... Pamela lot people been through Apple closes slightly so aam it is some ... his warmth and was in effect looking to thank you very much gentlemen say all ... MarketWatch The fumble on on MarketWatch talk calm


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AKRON, Ohio (Reuters) - A self-described anarchist who acted as his own lawyer was convicted on Thursday of attempting to blow up a four-lane highway bridge near Cleveland in April 2012.
A jury in Akron federal court convicted Joshua Stafford, 24, of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and other charges and he now faces up to life in prison.
Four other defendants pleaded guilty last year and have received prison sentences of six years to more than 10 years each and lifetime probation for their plot to destroy a bridge that runs through Cuyahoga Valley National Park, 30 miles south of Cleveland.
All five men were arrested after they left at the base of the bridge two tool boxes containing inert explosives they had bought from an undercover federal agent. They then drove to a restaurant and tried to use a cellphone to set off the fake bomb.
The investigation into the group began in October 2011 when an informant met the men at an anti-Wall Street Occupy Cleveland rally. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has said the public was never in danger and the men had no ties to foreign militant groups.
Stafford took the stand on Thursday as the only witness for his defense. He admitted being at the bridge that day, but said he thought they were going to "tag" the bridge with paint and he knew nothing about any explosives.
He testified that he thought one of the other defendants was being sarcastic when he said the group planned to "bring down the bridge". Stafford said he had met with the men to help move some boxes and thought the tool boxes contained cans of paint.
"All I really wanted to do was help my friends," Stafford said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Duncan Brown questioned Stafford's assertion that he did not know about the plan, arguing, "He was not an unknowing, unwitting dupe."
Stafford is due to be sentenced on September 11 before U.S. District Court Judge David D. Dowd Jr.
Editing by David Bailey, Toni Reinhold


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Dr. Tracy Reynolds, Vice President of Student Development, holds a Doctorate degree in Strategic Leadership from Regent University as well as a B.M.Ed. and M.M.Ed. from the University of Georgia. He has taught the gamut of practical Christian ministries courses since coming to EC in 1998.
Dr. Reynolds began a career in music as a performer, songwriter, arranger and instructor. He has served as a pastor in local churches for nearly 35 years. Pastor Tracy says, "My passion to train youth workers led me [from being a youth pastor and music teacher] to Emmanuel College…. For the past several years, I have served as dean of the School of Christian Ministries and continue to serve at Grace Fellowship in Athens, Ga. Training next Generational leaders is my life mission. I am more passionate than ever about reaching, teaching, training and unleashing the millennial generation. It is my joy and honor to serve as we grow together to raise up the next generation of leaders for the Kingdom of God."


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bonou2 needed a new other design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 11 designs submitted by 5 freelance designers.
Req an A4 size template with 1 Large (feature Image) and 3-4 smaller images (just use any images for the template)and enoungh room for brief copy about the project/building and company logo and web address etc.
Can be landscape or portrait style.
Very sleek and MUST be CLEAN and Contemporary
Desired Color Scheme:
Greys/Blues?Blacks/Whites - Clean Modern Colours
Desired Style:
Very sleek and MUST be CLEAN and Contemporary
Accepted File Formats:
Layered Photoshop -Layered Illustrator - etc
Here is an example of what i would be looking for.
This is the Company http://www.aimpartnership.com.au/profile.htm
This is an example (very basic one)
In short, imagine that you are looking to showcase properties that your company has built and these A4 sized prints are to be placed in a Company Portfolio Album and or be mass printed as flyers.


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How To Access For Every Fashion Style
Strapless, one-shoulder, A-line – You have every style of clothing to fit various opportunities on your social calendar.
Jewelry and the same accessories will not suit each other's style. This post will show you how to access every fashion style in your wardrobe.
From the description of fine earring necklaces, each part has a place and a shirt. Accessories can make all the difference in your total view. Keep reading to learn the important things to choose accessories.
3 Things to Consider when Choosing Accessories
The three most important factors to consider when choosing jewelry, haircuts or scarves are:
Here's how to use these three factors to best compliment your dress style.
Color choices include the most important in your overall outfit. Choosing a conflicting color brings only negative attention to you. Accessory colors should complement the style of dress you wear and the color of your skin.
Accessories with bright colors, great working colors with black, white or neutral colored dresses. Simple dress colors make your diapers bright.
If you wear a colorful dress, the accessories should be a simple color that fits with it.
For a simple and effective style, choose a primary and secondary color adjacent to the base color wheel. The primary colors are the basic colors of red, blue and yellow, and the secondary is the result of two primary colors mixed together, like red and yellow makes orange.
When the primary and secondary colors are the same level of light or darkness, they create stunning and stylish outfits.
Have fun trying different colors of dresses and accessories to see the best appearance with your skin features and color. Avoid wearing more than three colors throughout your outfit.
How simple or dramatic your dress will also determine how simple or dramatic it is to go with the accessories. If your dress has animal print, outline or pattern, simple accessories are the way to go. Dress with ruffles or sequins best suited to earthy jewelery as well.
The scale is very important in terms of wallets and handbags. Your body type is the deciding factor when deciding on a right handbag to praise your dress style.
For example, if you are tall and thin, a shorter wallet such as a clutch will look better. The short woman must move away from the wallet with a long strap. Medium-sized bag fits well for curved women, whereas a petite woman wants to avoid a large bag that looks too big with a small frame.
The accessories you choose talk a lot about your fashion style. You can dress a plain dress with glamor, earrings earrings or still look plain with pearls. Shoes, belts, scarves – all play a role in telling your fashion story.
With a light sundress, you might like funny accessories like thick jewelry, thin handbags, and colorful flats.
If you wear a small black dress for a girl's night, you might like edgy accessories like a handbag or a thick cuff bracelet.
And with an elegant evening gown, glamor accessories such as large cocktail rings and clutches that adorn will look good.
Tips for Accessing Fashion Styles
Finding the right jewelry, shoes, and accessories is just as important as choosing the right dress for your occasion. Accessories can make or break the look you're looking for.
By paying attention to color, scale, and style, here are some tips to keep in mind while choosing the right accessories for dress style.
1. Every Accessory Must Add Something to Look
Over-accessorizing and under-accessorizing is too common in women. Before leaving the house, take a mirror once more to see if there are pieces of jewelry that do not fit your appearance. On the other hand, do you need to add a piece of jewelry?
Sentimental pieces should not be worn with any clothes. Every accessory should praise you and her dress. If not, save for other clothes.
2. Buy Multipurpose Accessories
The same necklace may not work with any type of clothing, but a headband or handbag can be worn with a variety of dress styles. An accessory is much more valuable when you can get a lot of use from it.
Some sentimental accessories can even be versatile. For example, a great grandmother's cocktail ring looks great with a homecoming dress on his grandson's arm. Accessories add interest and emotion to the dress.
3. Accessories Must Be Suitable for Events
While the style has become softer in today's society, it remains pent


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Are you looking for a rest after a long flight or planning a return trip?
Browse hotels nearby.
When you get there save your time and money and choose: Aswan Intl airport transfers in Aswan. Travel by shuttle bus service, taxi, private minibus or limousine in all the nearby destinations.
Flights to Aswan Intl (Aswan, Egypt) from airports possibly near your current location:
Other international airports near Aswan are:


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Eclipse Web Tools Platform
This extension point entry allows an extender to plug in a new factory for creating org.eclipse.wst.ws.internal.explorer.transport.ISOAPTransport instances. The ISOAPTranport is used by the Web Services Explorer for invoking Web services operations that uses the SOAP message protocol. The factory must implement the org.eclipse.wst.ws.internal.explorer.transport.ISOAPTransportProvider interface.
Other classes/interfaces which are part of this API are as follows:
These classes/interfaces are found in the org.eclipse.wst.ws.internal.explorer.transport package.
Back to the top


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Bathrooms Rotherham
We are a proud Yorkshire based bathroom installation company and we are only 35 minutes away from Rotherham . And have installed bathrooms, wet rooms, shower rooms in the Rotherham area with very happy customers. If you would like a free estimate, please fill in the form here or call us on 01302 231102 .
Our speciality is installing bathrooms, shower rooms, wet rooms and toilets. We use the best quality fittings and parts as the plumbing is so important. So whatever parts are needed, in whatever area (invisible or not), you can be reassured, we would have been professional and installed your new bathroom to the best of our professional abilities.
The way we build our reputation and therefore customer base is on recommendation, so it is very important to us, you love the job we do and pride ourselves on that fact.
We are very flexible and can install any bathroom suite or tiles or radiators or anything you want in your bathroom that you have found yourselves.
You newly finished bathroom in lovely Rotherham , will look amazing and we promise will stay that way for many years to come. We ensure all our plumbing fittings are of a high quality and we know that by using them ourselves for many other customers. And actually all our products we use on tiles, plumbing, electrics are of an excellent quality as a bathroom is used every day and has to stand up to a lot of wear and tear.
We Renovate Bathrooms In Rotherham
Bathroom Renovation Rotherham
Is your bathroom feeling a little worn, if so , no problem we can freshen it up with paint and tiles and new sealant. This is a great way to keep the cost down and freshen up what you have, which might be great underneath it all. :-)
Or you may want to change the tiles, as they do go out of date in time and keep the bath, sink & toilet, we are great at taking the tiles out carefully and re-tiling.
Take a look at our super testimonials, we will make you proud of your new bathroom in Rotherham .
So, if you need your bathroom, shower room or any bathroom related room refitted, give us a call on 01302 231102 and we can make your bathroom dreams come true.
We are based in Doncaster which is also beautiful, we love it. It is where we have our base for our bathroom fitters and installers, which means we can get to you wherever you are in Yorkshire.
Especially Rotherham .
We are very good at what we do and are local to you, not a big national company, but born in Yorkshire. We deliver the best bathrooms Rotherham has to offer.
So, if you need your bathroom refitted, give us a call on
01302 231102 and we can make your bathroom dreams come true.
Rotherham is a great city and we do enjoy installing bathrooms in Rotherham , we offer a complete bathroom, shower room, toilet, wet room refit. We cover all the work, so just come to us and we would love to help you.
We are on Yelp too
Link back to the home page
Pictures of lovely Rotherham bathrooms
"Call Now Or Fill In The Form For Our Special 10% Discount - Will End Soon..."
Rotherham Bathrooms Testimonials
Great bathroom fitters, we used them for our new wet room in our new house in Rotherham . Very good work, very professional, best bathrooms Rotherham has.


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Option A: No more internet
You permanently lose all internet access. For networking, all you get is a cell-phone that can text and make calls. You are allowed to use all electronics and computers but programs that depend on the internet will not work and display "Cannot connect to network" regardless of how you're using it.
Option B: No more travel
You will pick one city you wish to live in (any city in the world) and that is where you will stay for the remainder of your life. You can get any job that primarily works in the city but any time you have to do a business trip out of the city, someone will do it in your place. You're not allowed to take a job posted outside your city (Exception: Jobs where you can work with remote desktop through a computer). You have 24 hours to pick what city you wish to live in.
I was going to go with option A,because i could really go without Internet.But,with my current schooling (game design/animation.)I HAVE to be able to access programs on the internet.
So,Unfortunatley,i will have to go with no travel.
The city i would pick to spend the rest of my life in would have to be hollywood,because that's where the LA film school i will be attending is,and,that's where most of the jobs i more than likely will have will be.
(Plus the fact that i use trainers/cheats On ALL my pc games)
That was a hard choice...Glad it was only metaphorical.
[Edited by infinite_gamer, 11/3/2011 12:41:35 PM]
[Edited by infinite_gamer, 11/3/2011 12:42:06 PM]
As fun as the internet is, I think I'd get cabin fever if I was cooped up in one city for my whole life.
My Past has determined your future
My torrential pain will be your unspeakable suffering
Your days are numbered
Don't fear the end
Pray for it
and unlike your own mortality
My thirst for vengeance
[Married to Raha <3]
and the city i would choose would be Honolulu more specifically waipahu
I wouldn't need to go out and see the world cuz all the world i really need to is right here with CheatHappens LOVE YOU GUYS.. you keep me entertained
[Edited by idblackdragoon, 11/3/2011 8:49:09 PM]
No travel for me Internet FtW
( ya no life i know
If the poll was
1 no internet
2 no computer
i would be kinda like this
* Updated game trainers and cheats daily
* Get notified when new cheats are added
* Request which games get new trainers
* Priority support with any problem


text:
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Author: critmo
Story: Cracking the Shell
Part: Cracking the Shell
Rating: Young Teens
Setting: Pre-HBP
Status: Completed
Reviews: 27
Words: 3,953
Updated: February 15, 2005, 4:34am
Cracking the Shell
Cracking the Shell
Summer at the Burrow after the battle of the Ministry was a rather dismal affair. Hermione had gone to her parents' home, but had decided after less than just a week that she needed the company of her friends to get over the last events. The next day she had arrived at the Burrow. They all had injuries to nurse, outside and inside, but the worst thing was that they had been separated from Harry. They knew he must be suffering terribly due to the loss of Sirius, and his letters did nothing to relieve their fears. They all wrote to him, giving good advice, well-meant support or just gossip to distract him, but all they had in return was a dutiful answer:
Don't worry about me, I'm fine. Enjoy your summer.
Harry's unrelenting silence was a cause of alarm to everybody, including Albus Dumbledore, who came to discuss what to do about it with the Weasleys and Remus Lupin - the closest to family Harry still had. As soon as Ron, Hermione and Ginny had found out what was going on they insisted on taking part in the discussion, but if it had not been for Ginny's perseverance they would not have succeeded. As when going to the Ministry, she had simply and flatly refused to be left out, and even her mother's most sincere effort to exert her parental authority had shown no effect other than to harden the determined expression on her daughter's face. In the end, Ron thought, Ginny's lips had been as thin as Professor McGonagall's.
Mr and Mrs Weasley wanted to get Harry to the Burrow, while Dumbledore remained adamant that he was much safer at Privet Drive. Remus tried to negotiate between them, being torn between anxiety for Harry's well-being and his safety. Finally, it had been Ginny again whose intervention led to a decision.
"Professor," she said at a moment when both parties seemed lost for more arguments, "aren't we forgetting about something?"
Dumbledore looked at her with his usual mild interest. "Which would be what, Miss Weasley?"
"The fact that we're talking about a real person here. Harry has been deeply hurt - time and again. Not just by Sirius' death, but in many ways we hardly know about. He has been very ... difficult during the last year, more critical even than any product of Filibuster's or Weasley's Wheezes'. Your suggestion may insure Harry's survival, Headmaster, but you're cutting him off from what he needs most: friends. Chances are, he will come back in a worse state than even last summer."
Dumbledore looked at her thoughtfully, she had reminded him of his own mistakes without knowing it, and it took a moment before his usual twinkle returned.
"Very well, Miss Weasley. You go get him."
Ginny's eyes widened. "Me?"
"Certainly." He seemed to enjoy his reprisal wholeheartedly.
Dumbledore looked at all the others. "Maybe, we could speak to each other alone for a moment?"
Even Molly Weasley did not debate this. After a few moments Ginny had been left in the kitchen alone with Dumbledore and was asking herself what she had got into. Dumbledore looked at her piercingly.
"You were perfectly right, Miss Weasley, in pointing out, how much Harry has been hurt. You probably don't know - or you were just to polite to mention it," there was a short twinkle in his eyes, "that much of this is my fault."
Without really knowing it, Ginny shook her head.
"I'm afraid it is," Dumbledore insisted. "I'll not embarrass Harry by informing you about the course of our last interview, suffice it to say that our relation is a little strained on his part - and I don't blame him for it."
"Ok, I can see why you can't go there, but why me? Why not somebody from the order? Professor Lupin Remus for example."
"My fear, Miss Weasley, is that Harry would not come."
This possibility had crossed Ginny's mind at some point, but she had not given much thought to it. Now that Dumbledore had openly mentioned it, she somehow felt deeply hurt.
"You see, I can only guess what Harry is thinking right now. He might feel betrayed, he might blame all the world for his misery or he might consider himself a danger for all those he cares for. Either way, he will want to be alone - to brood, to be heroic or to both . It will be hard to convince him that he is not doing himself - or anybody else for that matter - a favour."
"And why do you think I could do it?"
Dumbledore looked at her with appreciation. "Why did you insist on joining this discussion against the explicit wish of your mother?" he asked her in his typical, indirect way.
"I don't really know. It did seem necessary."
"Do you care for Harry?"
Ginny seemed a little uncomfortable, but said, "Of course I do. He's a friend. Mum and Dad have always considered him another son." She secretly winced at the notion of Harry Potter being her brother.
"I see. It might be necessary to convince him of that. You should be prepared to reveal some of your feelings for him. You see, Harry might take it for granted that your brother and Miss Granger care for his well-being, but the fact that you care as well could be just the surprise that we need to crack his shell. The notion to help somebody else is quite likely to be more appealing to him than the idea to help himself."
Ginny nodded.
"Very well. You take on quite a responsibility, Miss Weasley. But." He smiled at her. "I'm very confident, indeed, that you can do it. Be ready tomorrow at twelve. Tonks will act as your escort."
* * * *
Before Dumbledore left for Hogwarts he had a short interview with Mr and Mrs Weasley.
"Your daughter has really surprised me tonight."
"Me too," grumbled Mrs Weasley.
"Molly, she has shown great compassion and sense of responsibility. I admire her for it and I think you have every reason to be proud of her."
"But what will come of this, Albus?"
Dumbledore looked at the anxious faces of Ginny's parents, and when he answered there was a stern note in his voice. "The future is not easy to see. I think, at this point Miss Weasley does not want to think of Harry other than as a friend, and that he will be quite surprised to discover just how deep this friendship goes. I suspect, however, that at some point the two of them may feel that friendship alone ... is just not enough. - If they agree on this, you will face a very determined couple." He smiled at them. "But do not be afraid. Your daughter is in this war as much as we all are, she does not run into additional risks. On the contrary, I have great faith in Harry's abilities as a wizard and Miss Weasley might just be what he needs to go on."
* * * *
At noon of the following day, Tonks arrived at the Burrow to find a nervous Ginny waiting for her.
"Don't worry," she said brightly. "Harry will be thrilled to see you. How long did it take to do your make-up this morning?"
Ginny scowled at her, but Tonks only laughed. Ron and Hermione were there to see them off. Ron gave Ginny a brotherly pat on the shoulder, and Hermione hugged her hard.
"Do bring him with you, please."
"We're going to Mrs Figg's house," Tonks explained and handed Ginny floo powder.
A minute later they stepped out into a street in Little Whinging. Ginny took in every tiny detail of the place. The many houses looking so much alike, the meticulously mowed lawns, the careful arrangement of typical flowers, the shiny cars. This is where Harry had grown up - a sterile suburban idyll. A few minutes' walk took them to Privet Drive; Number four seemed just the same as all the other houses. If there was a difference, it was just a nuance more antiseptic.
Tonks walked up to the door, but ushered Ginny in front of her. "Now, there are guards everywhere, up and down the street, so don't worry."
Ginny took a deep breath and rang the door bell. A man answered it, he was not really huge, not compared to Hagrid, but he was extremely fat. Little, pig-like eyes assessed her.
Ginny had decided to try the polite approach first. "Hello, I'm Ginny Weasley. I'd like to see Harry."
"There's no Harry in this house."
She looked at the man, whom she rightly supposed to be Harry's infamous uncle, and decided that politeness would get her nowhere.
"Oh," she said, "has he gone to his golf club?" She was immensely proud to have remembered this detail from Muggle Studies in the hour of need.
Uncle Vernon looked at her as if she was growing antlers. "Golf club, what ...?" Then he remembered that there was supposed to be no Harry and his eyes grew even smaller. "I don't know any Harry."
"Oh!" Ginny's voice grew unnecessarily loud. "You don't? I'm sorry to hear that, because I thought you were Vernon Dursley, the uncle of Harry Potter, you know? Young guy, a little scrawny, but not altogether unpromising from a girl's point of view, black, messy hair, beautiful green eyes and ... oh, yes, a scar on his forehead. Shape of a lightning bolt, got it when a powerful curse from an evil wizard hit him." She paused to relish in the sharp intake of breath from Uncle Vernon. "Oh," she said again, "haven't I mentioned that? Harry's a wizard, his parents were wizards, and I." She cheerfully ignored Uncle Vernon's wild gestures that were meant to shut her up. "I am a witch!"
"Come in!" he hissed.
"Are you certain?" she inquired politely. "You said you didn't know any wizards, didn't you?"
"Yes." Uncle Vernon seemed near to pulling the little hair out he still had, so Ginny decided not to point out to him that 'yes' could take on different meanings under the circumstances. He had just closed the door behind her, when heavy footfall was heard on the stairs. Ginny looked up at Dudley in amazement. She had not believed that there could have been a human being that would outstrip Uncle Vernon's massiveness - but Dudley did. Ginny had never been tall, but she was not really petite either - she was a comparatively small person, however, and Dudley was just ... enormous.
"Who's that, Dad?" he asked, ogling Ginny.
"That," Ginny retorted acidly, "is standing right here."
Dudley looked at her in total consternation. Nobody had ever spoken to him like that - let alone in his own home, where he was used to supreme rule.
"She wants to see ... the boy."
Ginny's colour began to rise. "The ... boy?" She cocked her head dangerously.
Uncle Vernon only let out a low grunt, and Dudley asked incredulously, "What, the freak?"
Ginny's face was deep red now.
Dudley looked at his father in deep disbelief. "Why would she want to see that useless jerk?"
"You may find that hard to believe," Ginny pressed out, "but we care for Harry."
Dudley sniggered, and for a fleeting moment Ginny felt reminded of Draco Malfoy. "What? That whimpering coward who cries for his mummy at night?"
Ginny winced at the idea how much Harry had to be suffering. "I don't think you have the faintest idea what you're talking about. Your greatest fear seems to be missing your next meal. Harry's fears are of a kind you don't even want to know about."
"That's correct," Uncle Vernon threw in. "Because we don't care for your abnormality. You're leaving."
"I certainly won't."
"Awww," Dudley mocked, "and what you're going to do? Tell your big brother?"
An idea flashed across Ginny's mind and she smiled her sweetest smile at them. "There's only one problem ... I have six big brothers. Which one should I tell?"
Her smile was more unsettling to the Dursleys than any threat could have been. "Ron's Harry's best mate. He tends to be slightly overprotective, but he's not allowed to use magic outside school, so he might not be the best choice. My brother Percy on the other hand, could use magic, but he works for the Ministry of Magic, he's a terrible git and more likely to bore you to death that to hex you properly."
Both Dursleys stared at Ginny bewildered.
"I think you've met my twin brothers as well. They liked you. They've turned practical joking into a profitable profession. Remember their tongue ton toffee? They've come up with quite a few inventions since then. Would you like to grow elephant ears or sprout pink hair?"
Uncle Vernon felt for his thin hair as if to make sure it had not changed colour already.
"My brother Charlie works with dragons, you know? Do you think your neighbours would mind a 50 feet dragon landing in your driveway? Dragons are a bit nasty, though, you never know what they're up to. He might burn down your house before Charlie could stop him. Or." she turned her eyes on Dudley as if seizing him up. "He might go for the biggest bite around."
Dudley paled.
"Not very appetising, is it? And then there's Bill, my eldest brother, and I think he's just the perfect choice. He's an expert on charms, having worked in Egypt for quite a while. Those Egyptians knew how to protect their tombs, I can tell you." Ginny really began to enjoy herself. "Now, here's an idea. He could charm your letterbox to bite the postman. Or he could turn one of the stones in your garden path into a trick step that vanishes when you step on it, or he could make the street lamps bow down and look people who pass by into the face and wish them a 'nice evening'. He could hex the door bell so it makes a sound like a toilette or like an oncoming train or a ship's siren or it could turn anybody who rings it into a blast-ended Skrewt." Her eyes fell on the door of a small cupboard under the stairs, and anger lighted up her beautiful features. "Or he could see to it that ringing the bell will send you right into that cupboard you had the nerve to hold Harry in."
Father and son stared at her, agitation stamping their features into monstrous likeness.
"You ... are ... insane," Uncle Vernon stammered.
"Mad," his son assisted.
Given the state of Ginny's temper at that moment, it took very little to let it flare. "You're probably right. I'm here to help Harry and instead I'm bandying words with two flubbery fat worms."
Dudley growled something with "freak" in it, but Ginny turned towards him, making a sweeping gesture with her arm and pushed him to the wall, without ever touching him. Her sudden display of powers that were not visible made the scene erupt into chaos. Dudley wailed in a high-pitched Banshee-like voice, and Uncle Vernon howled with fury, lounging himself at the tiny girl, but when she held up her hand against him he felt like slamming into a solid wall.
At that moment Petunia Dursley stormed into the hall, only to see a red-haired witch torturing her husband and her beloved sun of a son at the same time. Her eyes widened so much that Ginny feared she was having a heart attack. After seconds of total silence, Petunia shrieked, "You're dead!" and fled back into the kitchen where she collapsed onto the table with Dudley's breakfast.
Ginny did not really understand, but she did not care either. She managed to press by Dudley whose knees gave way the moment she regained control of her powers and tumbled down the last steps where he crushed his father to the floor.
It would not have been difficult to find Harry's room even if Tonks had not told her where it was; it was the only one with a bolt on the outside and a cat flap. She knocked, but there was no answer, so she went in. Harry was looking out of the window and had his arms wrapped around himself. The room was small with little furniture, and its occupant had obviously not cared to keep it tidy.
"What's all the ruckus down there?" he asked without looking at her.
"Oh," she said with as much cheerfulness as she could manage, "must've been me."
He turned round and stared. "Ginny?"
She stared back. Black rings rimmed Harry's eyes and made the green stand out even more than usual and gave them an unhealthy gleam. He had lowered his arms, and in spite of his far too large T-shirt, Ginny could see that he had lost a considerable amount of weight and that his ribs were caging out. Without thinking, she crossed the distance and laid her hand on his forearm.
"Harry, what have you done to yourself?"
He gazed at her, as if he did not understand.
"Have you looked at yourself in a mirror lately?"
He shook his head.
"You look as if you had neither slept nor eaten in weeks."
He seemed to consider that. "I ..." His voice croaked and he had to clear his throat. "I don't think I have really."
"For cryin' out loud!" Ginny's temper returned. "Is that what you meant with being 'fine' in your letters?"
"Ginny, why are you here?" he asked in an obvious attempt to avoid her anger.
"That's exactly, why I'm here. We're not buying what you're writing. Not that you're writing much, anyway."
"Who's we?"
"Mum, Dad, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, Lupin, Tonks ..." she gushed, and he raised his hand in a defensive gesture.
After a moment's silence she continued with quiet determination, "It may come as a surprise to you, but we care for you."
She could see it in his eyes that this was, indeed, a surprise to him.
"I'm not ..." he started angrily.
"You are our friend, Harry," she interrupted him. "You're Remus' last connection to your parents and Sirius, you are Dumbledore's best student and all of his hope." She paused, not sure how to go on, but avoided her own feelings once more. "You're my parents' seventh son."
There was something stirring behind his eyes. "Why?"
"Well, it's not for your charming company or your refined manners, I can tell you."
A fleeting smile pulled on the corners of his mouth. "Why are you here, Ginny?"
"As I said ..."
"No, why are you here, Ginny? Anybody could have checked on me. I'm sure Order members watch the house."
"I'm not checking on you, I'm getting you out of here. You're coming to the Burrow."
His eyes widened, and his face showed a series of feelings: hope, joy, fear, depression and then - resignation.
"I can't come."
There it was again. Dumbledore had warned her that Harry might refuse to go, and she experienced a pang of disappointment because of it. She knew or supposed she knew, but she had to ask anyway, "Why not?"
"It's safe here, that's why I have to go here at least once a year." He let his head hang.
"And you think you're putting everybody in danger when you're with us instead," she stated.
His head snapped up and then dropped again. "Yes."
"You're wrong."
This made him look at her. "What?"
"You need us. It may be safe here, if you want to survive - and survive only. But not all of us have given up the hope that life may have more for us in store than misery. We want more than just survival. And if you want to heal and to be whole again, you need your friends. It took Hermione less than a week to find out about that, and she arrived at the Burrow just a few days later."
He had to smile in spite of his confusion. "Well, she is the smartest witch in Hogwarts."
"Well, you rarely showed a tendency towards that area of expertise."
He almost smiled again, and Ginny felt she would make him laugh sooner or later.
"There's not much hope for me, Ginny."
"Because," he burst, "the damned prophecy says that Voldemort will kill me if I don't kill him first. 'Neither can live while the other survives'."
Very carefully, Ginny stepped closer, as if trying to touch a wounded animal, and put her arms around Harry. He was watching her in disbelief, but when she encircled his body and leaned her head against him, he felt life pulse through him for the first time in what seemed ages. She was warm, gentle, but teeming with a vitality that he had lacked for far too long. He had no idea how his arms found their way around her, and he could have basked in the feeling of having her near him for much longer, but she stepped back all too soon.
"That's not nice. But it's hardly surprising, and you know as well as I do." Her eyes hardened. "he deserves it ... Would you please pack now?"
"I shouldn't."
"Yes, you should." Her eyes locked with his. He had known that they were brown, but he had never recognised that it was a light brown, like amber, dotted with specks of golden sunlight. She knew that this was the point where her feelings had to come into it.
"You need your friends, Harry, you know that. And we need you. We need to know you're ok. We can't go on worrying about you. We want to help and we need your help in return." He wanted to say something, but she held up her hand and continued with a slightly unsteady voice. "That's why I'm here. When I wake up after my own nightmares every morning, I don't want to ask myself if you're still alive or wonder if you've had a rough night, too. And if you did, I don't want to worry, because I know you don't have anybody to talk about it and it'll eat you up, but I want to be there with you and comfort you. And I need your comfort, when I'm dreaming that Tom's coming back for me. I feel safer with you than without you."
Harry had never looked away from her eyes, nor blinked. He was very quiet for a very long moment, then he drew a deep breath, and she thought, she could see some colour return to his face.
"Can you give me a hand with my stuff?"
* * * *
Half an hour later, Harry and Ginny sat in the back of a car the Order had provided. Tonks was in the front seat, an Auror was driving. Harry's leave of his family had been unceremoniously short - none of them had bothered or dared to show up. When the car turned from Privet Drive into the main street, Harry was already fast asleep, and his head rested against Ginny's shoulder. Ginny shuddered inwardly, she had taken many risks today, but it had been worthwhile. She was fiercely determined to make this summer end much better than it had started - for all of them.
(A/N: Look at my profile for a disclaimer. Thanks a lot to my beta, Jenadamson. I really thought I had the punctuation right this time – and I'm truly sorry!)
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As a vibrant, modern holiday destination, Vilamoura is sure to hold something to appeal to all tastes and age groups. Designed and constructed specifically to appeal to the present day holidaymaker's requirements, Vilamoura is a resort where every moment of your holiday is likely to be precious. In order to maximise your overall experience, privately renting a holiday apartment or villa is certain to prove an excellent idea, with the consequent cost savings equally likely to prove more than appealing.
Vilamoura Marina
The marina is the epicentre of Vilamoura and the ideal place to start your exploration of the area. Traditional water based activities such as cruises, jet skiing and big game fishing can be arranged at the marina but the area is also home to a great many trendy bars and shopping facilities. Clean, sandy beaches can be found on either side of the marina to cater to all sorts of traditional, family beach activities. During the day, the marina at Vilamoura can be fairly sedate and it is in the evening that it truly comes alive, as people converge on the bars, the nearby casino and the popular restaurants.
The golf courses in the Vilamoura area have been created to a very high standard and were designed to attract golfers of the highest calibre. Courses in the area include the Oceanico Laguna, Millennium and the Old Course, offering challenges of varying degrees. It should be noted, however, that most of the courses will require handicap certificates to be presented.
Sporting fun in Vilamoura is not limited to golf. There is also a riding school, a tennis centre and facilities for lawn bowling. The Roman site within the area has well preserved ruins, including the former bathing area and a museum affords an interesting insight in to life in the far distant past.
Although Vilamoura has plenty to keep its visitors entertained, there are equally sights worth seeing in the surrounding areas. A further benefit of renting your holiday accommodation means that you can take full advantage of day excursions and those activities that little bit further afield. A boat trip to explore the local sea caves is one such interesting activity, while the nearby historical town of Loule has a fourteenth century castle to explore and an open air markets to shop for souvenirs of your holiday in the area.


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In the frigid waters of the Kara Sea, north of Russia, far away from the glare of public scrutiny, oil giants Rosneft and ExxonMobil are exploring the offshore Arctic and the Russian Coast Guard threatened to fire on a Greenpeace ship today trying to expose them.
Rosneft and ExxonMobil are operating in a remote region where the weather conditions are hostile and unpredictable and where it is pitch black half of the year. Winter ice moves through the Arctic with relentless, almost geological force.
An oil spill here is practically inevitable – and a clean up virtually impossible. At risk is the fragile Arctic nature, the narwhals, polar bears, bowhead whales, walruses, seals, and dozens of bird species. At risk is also the planet – more oil, more carbon in the atmosphere, accelerated climate change.
Our future is at stake. This is why the Arctic Sunrise has sailed here, stopping first in Kirkenes, a remote Norwegian town near the northern-most tip of the European continent.
Once a sleepy fishing town, Kirkenes is becoming one of the centers of the mad rush for Arctic oil as climate change and sea ice loss makes it possible to drill in the seas that were once off limits to the oil industry.
From here the Arctic Sunrise sailed into the Barents Sea to bear witness to and protest against the oil industry's feverish activity in the Arctic. The Russian government is enticing Exxon, Shell, Statoil, Eni and BP to join forces with state-owned companies Rosneft and Gazprom to enter the Arctic.
And shortly after the Arctic Sunrise left Kirkenes the activists on board the ship saw the Akademik Lazarev, a seismic vessel hired by Rosneft to map out oil reservoirs under the seabed by firing acoustic cannons.
The sound that is created is devastatingly high – over 250 decibels which can severely damage the hearing of whales and dolphins. The activists protested against the Lazarev for three days, before the vessel eventually returned to shore.
We then set course for the Kara Sea, which forms a part of the Northern Sea Route, a new sea highway from Europe to Asia that has now become navigable because of the retreating Arctic ice.
But Russian authorities denied our ship the right to enter the Kara Sea on three occasions. This is despite the fact the ship is a high class icebreaker and of significant higher class than every ship the oil industry is using to prepare for offshore Arctic oil drilling in this area.
Clearly, it was not the construction of the Arctic Sunrise that was in question. The denial of entry was a clear attempt by Russian authorities to stop us from exposing the truth of what the oil industry is doing in the Kara Sea.
Rosneft, in a joint operation with ExxonMobil, is preparing to drill in an illegal concession that extends into a wild life reserve, home to polar bears and a variety of marine mammals and Arctic birds.
Defying the Russian refusal to grant the ship entry, the Sunrise entered the Kara Sea on Saturday, soon to encounter another seismic ship, the Geolog Dmitri Nalivkin. This Exxon/Rosneft hired ship was plowing the seas close to the island of Novaya Zemlya, one its last passes before oil drilling starts.
But as the Arctic Sunrise approached, it was intercepted by a Russian Coast Guard ship. The crew assured the Russians that we planned a peaceful and legal protest – and that we were outside of their legal jurisdiction – but the coast guard sent a boarding party to the Sunrise anyway.
Under threat that the coast guard could use force against the ship, including opening fire on the vessel, a decision was taken for the Arctic Sunrise to leave the Kara Sea. But news of our protest had already flown across the world, with stories appearing in Hungary through to Japan, to New Zealand, to South America and all the countries around the Arctic.
We will not be silenced. The public has the right to know about the threat that looms over the Arctic horizon and the names and faces of the companies that are taking that risk.
The culprits need to hear the voice of the world's people, demanding as one voice that the Arctic must be left intact and that the world's governments need to act. Instead of stopping protests, governments must finally act to Save The Arctic.
(Unregistered) Michael
Thank you, members of Greenpeace!
August 27, 2013 at 14:45
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(Unregistered) claudia
May God bless you and protect you!, Sometimes I feel it is a lost cause because people dont care about the planet and do nothing so my heart re...
May God bless you and protect you!, Sometimes I feel it is a lost cause because people dont care about the planet and do nothing so my heart really goes for you and your hopes and efforts.
August 27, 2013 at 14:46
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(Unregistered) Mary-D.
Peacefully telling you that they will shoot...
Requesting permission to open fire...
Centuries or war and destruction hasn't taught u...
Peacefully telling you that they will shoot...
Requesting permission to open fire...
Centuries or war and destruction hasn't taught us much. Still the same behaviour as in the Middle Ages. This is very sad and doesn't hold much hope for the human race.
Thank you so much for your courage and your efforts, and lets hope that one day (preferably very soon, before the extinction of all life on earth), humans will gain enough awareness to stop their frenetic cycle of destruction.
August 27, 2013 at 14:58
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(Unregistered) faer_bear13
Never give up!!! Thank you!
August 27, 2013 at 15:09
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(Unregistered) Karin Nelson
Thank you for what you are doing. Keep up the great work to expose what Big Oil is doing and know that many, many people support you. Stay safe!!
August 27, 2013 at 19:51
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Yes! Brings back memories of my youth, in England, in the Sixties.
August 27, 2013 at 20:46
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(Unregistered) Christine Heidt
Thank you what you are doing. You are our last hope that people will come to their senses.
Keep up the good work!
(Unregistered) Oh Canada
You guys are brave - thanks for doing all you do for all of us!!
August 27, 2013 at 22:26
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(Unregistered) Beautiful Planet
Go, go Greenpeace!
August 28, 2013 at 8:44
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(Unregistered) Live
You are beautiful people! Thank you so much for defending the artic, the planet, the water.
Thank you for doing what you do at the high risk ...
You are beautiful people! Thank you so much for defending the artic, the planet, the water.
Thank you for doing what you do at the high risk you must sometimes face.
With deepest gratitude and love,
Deborah from Canada
August 28, 2013 at 13:21
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I wish Mises would allow comments to be added under the Daily Articles.
"The best way to bail out the economy is with liberty, not with federal reserve notes." - pairunoyd
"The vision of the Austrian must be greater than the blindness of the sheeple." - pairunoyd
Ugh, no, please no. They're already allowed on the Mises blog, which links to the articles...
Freedom of markets is positively correlated with the degree of evolution in any society...
Jon Irenicus:Ugh, no, please no. They're already allowed on the Mises blog, which links to the articles...
Ugh? Ugh??? lol Why "ugh"?
After I read an article I would REALLY like to have the opportunity to discuss it or read discussions on it. I absolutely ADORE that option at other sites. Are you "ugh-ing" it because of moderator duties?
I can't see how options to communicate can be bad. At the end of the article you could even ask, Read Comments? instead of automatically showing them.
Heck, I'd like to see commentary within books, via margins, for example.
"We" must innovate and be on the cutting-edge. Cultivate anarchy.
Yes, "ugh". I'd like to read the article and then go on to the comments, which is how it currently works. It's not as if comments on the articles are disabled. I see no problem with it. All comments on the article do is make the page much longer. I don't moderate the blog, so I'm not sure what that'd have to do with anything.
I never noticed the "Comment on blog" option before you mentioned it. Thanks.
Bizarre. Perhaps Jeff should post a link in the article to the comments on the blog? A lot of people seem unaware that you can comment on the blog.
The blog commenting is very unfriendly. You can't reply to specific posts. You have to do it all by hand. Also, you can't reply to particular parts of the Daily Article. You have to open 2 windows and go back and forth and find bits and pieces of the article you wish to reply to. You then have to type out stuff like, Jeff Tucker said, ".
It's a real pain!
I do appreciate being able to reply to the articles though.
If people do notice the "Comment on blog," they may think you simply go to a blog (the author's?) and leave comments, comments that may or may not be in the context of the current article.
And in addition, the "comment on the blog" font is miniscule.
Irish Liberty Forum
try holding Ctrl++ to make it larger and Ctrl+- to make it smaller.
That's, Hold the Control button plus the + sign button. You can tap the + or - sign a few times to keep increasing or decreasing font size on just about any page on the web.
we could open up a forum, {like there is for newbies, and history, etc}, but for blogs. so each time a blog gets posted a forum thread gets opened with a link to the article as a first post?
probably not my best idea.
Where there is no property there is no justice; a proposition as certain as any demonstration in Euclid
Fools! not to see that what they madly desire would be a calamity to them as no hands but their own could bring
pairunoyd:I wish Mises would allow comments to be added under the Daily Articles.
I think it would be cool if there was a large link at the bottom of the article and the number of comments on it.
I like it the way it is now...


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Sen. Feinstein Says Congress 'Ready To Take Action' To Rein In Violent Video Games
from the maybe-just-punish-the-guy-who-did-the-actual-shooting? dept
Dianne Feinstein, whose post-Newtown assault weapons ban was defanged by Sen. Harry Reid before its inclusion in the Democrats' gun control bill, has decided to switch scapegoats. Now, she's determined to do something about violent video games, apparently unaware that the Supreme Court has already declared such regulatory "somethings" as unconstitutional.
Speaking to an audience of around 500 in San Francisco, Feinstein, who led the charge in the Senate on an assault weapons ban, said the video game industry should take voluntary steps to make sure it does not glorify guns in the wake of the December mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.That's an interesting choice of words. "Glorify guns." Sure, many games glorify guns (although I believe fetishize would be a more accurate word), as do many movies and an awful lot of rap music. There are also many, many websites (and magazines) that glorify guns. Here's a great site where pop culture intersects with gun "glorification," resulting in some very entertaining reading.
Then there's this part: "take voluntary steps." The video game industry has been voluntarily policing itself for the better part of two decades without incident. It's great (and rare) to see a legislator actually encourage or endorse voluntary behavior. But, this isn't one of those rarities.
She added that if the industry does not, Congress is prepared to take action, according to the Associated Press.In other words, do it or we'll do it for you.
But do what, exactly? How does Congress keep the video game industry from "glorifying" guns without wading into territory expressly forbidden by the Constitution? Will the government set up its own ratings board and decide which games make it to retailers? Will Congress actually attempt to control content creation by exhuming the Hays Code? The Supreme Court has already declared that the government isn't allowed to regulate protected speech and yet Feinstein seems to be claiming not only that it can, but that it's being forced to by the industry itself.
Maybe that's the key. Skirt the First Amendment by setting up an "independent" review board and stocking it with like-minded former senators and representatives. Washington loves control and loves revolving doors and this would be both. The Hays Code would live again, cutting content, sending suggestions to developers and requiring every game to carry an official stamp of approval from the board.
According to Feinstein, there's no upside to video games, so why not use the cause du jour to craft a few laws and claw back the video game ratings system from the industry.
Feinstein said that video games play, "a very negative role for young people, and the industry ought to take note of that."Feinstein seems determined to get some sort of Newtown-related law on the books, preferably with her name attached. She's already worked her way through the Second Amendment and now is sighting the First. Once this legislation fails to coalesce, she'll be all out of amendments in that direction to use as doormats and will be running low on socially acceptable scapegoats. After that, there's nowhere to go but down. (Perhaps registration and a two-week waiting period for M-rated game purchasers?)
"If Sandy Hook doesn't do it, if the knowledge of the video games this young man played doesn't do it, then maybe we have to proceed, but that is in the future," she added.
Filed Under: dianne feinstein, first amendment, free speech, video games


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I've been watching a lot of Christmas specials and Christmas episodes lately, in part because I've been required to for my work here at The A.V. Club—I have kind of a weird job, I admit—and in part because that's what I'd be doing at this time of year anyway. I won't allow even the hint of a carol or a thread of tinsel in our household before Thanksgiving, but from Black Friday to Christmas Eve, I slather on the yuletide cheer. Christmas music in the car, Christmas cartoons during dinner, special trips to visit spectacular neighborhood lights displays… the works. (Then, after the presents are unwrapped, I take a long nap and start thinking about football.)
I bring this up because I have to give tonight's Modern Family credit for one thing: It has a premise I don't think I've seen before, on any sitcom, special, or ABC Family Original. And I've seen a sackload of those things.
The episode begins with the Pritchetts and Dunphys and Delgados and Tuckers all gathered around the pool on the morning of December 16th, when they suddenly realize that they've all miscommunicated their respective plans, and that they're not going to be able to have any kind of traditional family Christmas together. So Phil comes up with an idea: "Express Christmas." They'll buy a tree, finish the present-shopping, and cook a dinner all in an afternoon, and then go their separate ways, content that at least they got in some holiday family time.
I haven't had a chance to write about Modern Family in a while—not since the first season, if I recall correctly—and I have to be honest, I haven't been enjoying the show lately as much as I used to. The situations seem increasingly contrived, the characters have gotten broader and thus more distant from each other, and the bicker-level has gotten so high that most weeks I don't really want to spend time with any of these folks, outside of Phil. (God bless Phil.) But "Express Christmas" held a lot of promise, at least at the start. The plot's not too crazy, plus it allows the family to divide up in unexpected ways before coming back together, which often leads to Modern Family comedy gold. Phil and Manny go buy food; Jay and Cam utilize the latter's mobile wrapping station; Gloria and Luke retrieve the ornaments from the attic; Mitchell and Alex and Lily go tree-shopping; and Claire and Haley head to Target. Good pairings, all.
And there's some funny business early on in "Express Christmas." It's fun to see how much Mitchell and Alex have in common as they go looking for a tree with perfect symmetry. And although the "emotionally remote Jay" shtick has been done to death, it was somewhat refreshing to have Cam instead of Phil be the one trying to rip through the layers of metaphorical "tape" that Jay puts over the present that is his heart. (Plus there's a terrific sight-gag in the Jay/Cam storyline when Cam lifts up his arms in his Christmas sweater and we see the huge sweat-stains in the pits of his dress shirt.) I also enjoyed the fine bit of farce when Phil meets a Craigslist baseball-card-dealer in an alley with Manny. Already anxious because Luke had teased him that he might be kidnapped during his upcoming trip to Mexico—and not made any less anxious by his mother saying, "Kids get snatched here, too. All the time."—Manny misinterprets the dealer's insistence that he's "takin' the Butterball" as a direct threat, and he pulls out a stun-gun, which accidentally zaps Phil. A spasming Phil then takes his Joe DiMaggio card from the dealer, but his uncontrollable hand crumples it repeatedly while he keeps downgrading its condition from mint to near-mint to fair to garbage.
But the Phil/Manny storyline also serves as a reminder of the ways that Modern Family has gotten lazy lately. Manny's fear of kidnapping is yet another in a string of rote digs at the dangers of Latin America—a cultural slam not made any less dicey by the way that Gloria's storyline in this episode largely relies on the joke that she sounds the same when she says "Luke" and "look." And Phil destroying the expensive gift he bought for Jay would've been funnier if two of the other storylines didn't also end in disaster. Mitchell and Alex's tree goes flying off their car and gets destroyed in traffic, as does the tree-topping angel that Gloria and Luke retrieved. It's become a default mode for this show to have things not just go wrong, but to go wrong with a goodly amount of attendant property damage. I guess since the characters all seem to have plenty of money, we're not supposed to dwell on the waste they leave in their wake. But if memory serves, Modern Family used to at least pretend that it mattered to these people if they lost or broke something.
The one storyline where everything's rosy is—naturally—the extended Target commercial, where the only real problem is that Claire's too old and tired and to take full advantage of all the wonderful bargains and tremendous selection that the clean, spacious Target store has to offer. So she sends Haley out to get the last item—a ladybug nightlight for Lily—while she tries to delay the checkout line by slowly buying pack after pack of gum. Claire wasn't as shrill as usual in this episode, but her being a nuisance to other shoppers for no good reason—why not just pay for the stuff she already has and then let Haley get in line whenever she can?—is about par for the course for Claire's character this season. She's become increasingly, irrationally inconsiderate, and nearly always with no real consequences. I didn't much care for Haley's scheme to get the last nightlight either, by dressing up as an employee and swiping the item from another customer in the guise of helping him with his packages. It struck me as both preposterous and mean.
Look, perhaps I'm being too harsh here. This is a sitcom, not real life. I can't judge the quality of the show based on how appallingly the characters behave. (If I did that, I'd never enjoy It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia or Archer as much as I do.) But one of the reasons I used to defend Modern Family was that it seemed to aim for a certain amount of realism mixed with the conventional sitcom silliness. There are moments in "Express Christmas" that have that old feel, like when an indignant Alex snaps at a tree-vendor for what she thinks is his presumption about her uncle's sexuality, chastising him for such insensitivity on "today of all days… December 16th." Or like when Lily mutters "I have two daddies" at that same vendor, after Alex and Mitchell realize that they've misjudged him. Or like when Haley starts a new tradition by setting out a platter of "Christmas gum." Those moments are funny and well-observed, and the gum in particular would've made a nice, natural segue into the inevitable heartwarming holiday ending.
Instead, we get the broken tree and the broken angel, and Claire yelling at Phil because he failed to bring home a cooked turkey. I was driven to distraction by this, because I kept thinking about the Butterball that Phil gave away, which was frozen. That's the kind of minor detail that—like Haley's unpunished Target deception—is the sign of writers not fully thinking through a situation. They're just rushing through to their real heartwarming holiday ending, in which Jay saves the day by revealing that he hired a guy to blow snow all over the Dunphys' yard. And maybe I'm just being a Grinch, but I feel like Modern Family has been blowing too much snow this season.
Stray observations:
- More wanton destruction: Did it bother anyone else that in the cold open, Phil walks into the pool while carrying his iPad? (Oh well, that's what Target's for, right?)
- Cam raises a good point when he notes that if he and Mitchell go to Missouri for Christmas, it'll still be a family Christmas. That's actually a trip I'd like to see.
- Phil just texted, and he's on his wax.
- Prancer and Vixen… that kinda worked out.
- Are the women on this show having a cleavage competition? So many low-cut tops; so much leaning over. Ladies, you're not going to beat Sofia Vergara. Button up.
- Donna is off doing her professoring thing tonight. I would thank her here for allowing me to step in, but I'll just tell her later in the kitchen while she's making our kids' lunches.


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RIP, ex-Texas QB James Street, original Wishbone Wizard and Huston's father
Horrible news this morning: Former Texas quarterback James Street, the original Wishbone Wizard, died early Monday at age 65. UPDATED: Here's James' obituary/tribute and funeral service information.
He was a terrific man, a great quarterback who was involved in one of the most famous college games ever, and instrumental in a single play — "the Peschel pass" — that still lives in Texas and national football lore. He was a wonderful father, including to former Colorado Rockies pitcher Huston Street, now with San Diego. My sympathy to James' wife, Janie, and his five sons. Here's my 2011 Post Father's Day story on Huston and James.
I was fortunate enough to get to know James when writing about the 1969 Texas-Arkansas football game, initially for a Sporting News story at the 25th anniversary of the landmark contest attended by President Nixon and Texas Congressman George Bush, and then for Horns, Hogs and Nixon Coming (2002).
As a tribute, I'll append my introductory chapter on James.


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Possible Duplicates:
Closing as impossible
Is "Don't do it" a valid answer?
Is it considered ok to reply to someone asking "How do I do this" with "Don't do it"? Or for example replying to someone asking "Using X I have this problem, what can I do?" with something like "You should not use X at all"?
In other words should I just keep silent if I see someone using a bad tool that is asking directions about how to get the most out of it?


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Dr. Donald Cronkite of the Hope College biology faculty has been awarded the highest honor bestowed by the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT).
Cronkite, a professor of biology and member of the Hope faculty since 1978, is receiving the association's "2008 Honorary Membership Award" for his distinguished teaching and service in the biological sciences. He will receive the award, which includes lifetime membership in the association, during the NABT's National Professional Development Conference, which will be held in Memphis, Tenn., on Wednesday-Saturday, Oct. 15-18.
"Honorary Membership is the highest honor given by NABT and recognizes individuals who have achieved distinction in teaching, research, and service in the biological sciences," said Todd Carter, who is the 2008 NABT president and a member of the biology faculty at Seward County Community College in Liberal, Kan. "Dr. Cronkite's many teaching awards, publications, and presentations for scientists, educators, and the public certainly meet the criteria for this honor. However, perhaps most important to the mission of NABT is his passion for teaching and his success with helping teachers at all levels improve student learning in biology."
It is the third time that the NABT has presented Cronkite a national award. In 2006, he received the association's "Evolution Education Award" in recognition of "innovative classroom teaching and community education efforts to promote the accurate understanding of biological evolution." In 1995, the NABT presented him with its "Four-Year College Biology Teaching Award."
Through the years he has received national recognition from other organizations as well. In March of 2005, he was named the 2005 "College Teacher of the Year" by the Michigan Science Teachers Association. In 1991, he was one of only 700 faculty members recognized nationally with a 1990-91 Sears-Roebuck Foundation Teaching Excellence and Campus Leadership Award.
He has also received recognition from the campus community. In 1988, he was named a co-recipient of the college's Hope Outstanding Professor Educator (H.O.P.E.) Award by the senior class and served as Commencement speaker.
Cronkite is a specialist in genetics. His teaching interests include introductory biology, embryology, cell biology, genetics, the history of biology, evolutionary biology, and science and human values.
He is the author of the books "A Problem-Based Guide to Basic Genetics," currently in its fourth edition and written for college-level courses; "Genetics and Cell Biology," for middle-school students; and "A Guide to 'Asking About Life, 2nd edition' for Teachers and T.A.'s." He has also had several research articles published in scholarly journals and book reviews essays in multiple publications, including several in "The Church Herald," "Perspectives: A Journal of Reformed Thought" and "The Reformed Journal."
Until recently, Cronkite was a member of a multidisciplinary committee formed by the National Council of Churches to lead the U.S. ecumenical community's work on issues of human genetic technology. For several years, he was moderator of the Christian Action Commission of the Reformed Church in America, the college's parent denomination.
Cronkite was academic director for the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation National Leadership Institute for High School Biology Teachers from 1991 to 1997, and is profiled on the foundation's Web site concerning his involvement in the program. He has been a science curriculum consultant to 21 different colleges. With help from the National Science Foundation, he has been involved in forming high school-college partnerships to enhance science education at the secondary level. He has been active on campus in presenting workshops for his colleagues regarding the appropriate use of technology in teaching.
He also directed pre-college outreach programs at Hope which were funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, including a sixth/seventh-grade science recreation program, a seventh/eighth-grade science demonstrators program and a ninth/10th-grade research club.
Cronkite has also held visiting research appointments at the University of California-Santa Barbara, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Maryland, the Marine Biology Laboratory at Woods Hole and Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan. Prior to joining the Hope faculty, he taught at the University of Redlands in California.
He holds his bachelor's degree and his doctorate, both in zoology, from Indiana University at Bloomington.
The NABT, formed in 1938, is comprised of more than 9,000 biology educators and administrators, representing all grade levels, from the United States and abroad. In addition to the national conference, NABT's activities include a variety of publications, multiple seminars and workshops geared toward professional development, and educational projects funded through outside grants.


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For The Love Of Beer: How Empty Cans Made A House A Home
A summertime story now about the intersection of beer drinking, adaptive reuse and folk art. Back in 1968 when aluminum recycling was just getting started, a Houston man took it up on his own in earnest.
He started covering his property and then his whole house with his empty beer cans, some 50,000 of them. Today, that home is preserved by a local arts organization.
And to help us tell the story of the Houston Beer House, we're joined by Ruben Guevara. He's head of restoration and preservation of the Beer Can House. Mr. Guevara, welcome to the program.
RUBEN GUEVARA: Well, thank you so much for having us.
BLOCK: And you are outside the Beer Can House right now. I wonder if you could walk us around and tell us what you see.
GUEVARA: Well, the most striking element of the Beer Can House is actually right there in the front when you walk in - that's what causes all the traffic here sometimes - it's these garlands. These, anywhere from two foot to 10-foot strands of garlands that are beautiful. They're strands - they're like a sea of aluminum that just dances when the wind blows. And it makes a song like the wind chime that never stops.
BLOCK: Beer can wind chimes.
GUEVARA: Yes. Beer can wind chimes. You know, some people have described them like earrings, you know, like these long strands of earrings that are just, you know, strung together.
BLOCK: And then the walls of the house itself.
GUEVARA: The walls, they're clad in the beer cans, you know, just the flattened out beer cans, you know. They're all sorts of, you know, different brands. It's just all aluminum, all the way around from top to bottom.
BLOCK: What brands do you see as you walk around the house?
GUEVARA: I see Fall Staff. I see Texas Pride. There's Budweiser. There's Buckhorn, you know. There's Blue Ribbon, you know, there's all sorts of - Miller High Life, you know, it's just all sorts of beers, you know, that he just - cans that he collected, cans that he drank, you know, him and his wife.
BLOCK: Well, tell us about the man behind the house and how this house came to be.
GUEVARA: You know, John Milkovisch was a pretty simple guy. He was very good with his hands. He bought this house. For about 17 years, he did nothing with it. But something clicked in 1968 when he bought this patio. You know, he decorated the bottom of the patio with these, you know, these marbles and these colorful blocks of cement and it ended up being a beer can house, a folk art site.
BLOCK: But he didn't see it that way, I gather. He just saw it as something fun to do.
GUEVARA: Yes, it was something fun to do, a pastime, you know. John liked two things, working with his hands and drinking beer.
BLOCK: Innovative use of beer cans, clearly, a lot of beer cans that did not end up in a landfill.
GUEVARA: Exactly, you know, he collected beer cans for about 17 years. He stored them in his garage, in his mom's garage. He didn't know why, you know, but he knew he needed to save them because he was going to use them, but he didn't know for what at the time until this came to mind. It just happened, you know, just all of a sudden.
BLOCK: That's a whole lot of beer right there.
GUEVARA: Oh, yeah. You know, it was a six-pack a day, him and his wife, and friends and anybody who was passing by willing to stop by and hang out with him.
BLOCK: And did he have a favorite brand?
GUEVARA: Yes. It was whatever was on sale.
BLOCK: I see. He was a frugal man.
GUEVARA: Yes. Yes, he was. You know, all beer was great. He enjoyed it all.
BLOCK: Mr. Guevara, is this the kind of house where people driving by will just stop and do a double take? If they don't know it's there, they'll just have to stop and try to figure out what's going on.
GUEVARA: They screech to a halt sometimes, you know. And they do a double and triple take and then they come and drive around and go around again and again. This house is in between all these condos, these new condos and all of a sudden there's a break in this line of condos and then, boom, you have a beer can house, you know, a house clad with aluminum everywhere and it draws the eye so quick and people just are amazed by it.
BLOCK: Any complaints from the neighbors about those beer top wind chimes?
GUEVARA: You know, it's funny, you know, people sometimes, you know, when they first come to the neighborhood, they're not - they don't know, you know. Maybe the first time they visited there was no wind and it was quiet, but when the wind goes, this house sings. And, you know, people have sometimes, you know, come up and said how can you lower the volume. I don't know, you know.
Tell me how to control the wind and I'll tell you how to, you know, I can turn down the volume. You know, it's nature taking place here and it's beautiful.
BLOCK: Well, Mr. Guevara, thanks for talking to us about the Houston Beer Can House. We appreciate it.
GUEVARA: Well, you're very welcome.
BLOCK: That's Ruben Guevara, he's head of restoration and preservation of the Houston Beer Can House.
Copyright © 2013 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio record.


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Relatives of five murder victims are joining a rally in Annapolis to repeal Maryland's death penalty.
Speakers at the Monday afternoon event include Hagerstown resident Marty Price. His father was convicted of second-degree murder for fatally shooting Price's stepmother and stepsister in 1988.
His nephew Christopher Nicholson was murdered in 2007 while serving as a Smithsburg police officer.
First Read — DMV
A place for insight, analysis and exclusives on the people who shape politics in the District, Maryland and Virginia.
Other speakers include Erricka Bridgeford of Reisterstown, whose brother was murdered in 2007, and Vicki Schieber of New Market, whose daughter was murdered in 1998.
The event is organized by Maryland Citizens Against State Executions. The group is supporting Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley's push to repeal the state's death penalty.


text: Amish Country Originals outdoor furniture is designed to achieve the perfect blend of aesthetics, comfort and durability. Our products range from traditional Adirondack chairs to modern pieces with clean, refined lines and a minimal amount of visible hardware. We also offer a broad selection of finely engineered "motion furniture" such as gliders and swivel rockers for an amazingly relaxing experience.Read More


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Displaying 1 to 20 of 85Search Help
Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space; New Jersey Invasive Species Strike Team.
If you have a smartphone, the power to protect the natural heritage of New Jersey is at your fingertips! You can use it to help stop the spread of invasive plants, animals and even pathogens that threaten the natural systems and economy of the Garden State.
California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Prevention is the most effective strategy in managing invasive species. However, hundreds of invasive plants and animals have already established in California and are rapidly spreading each year. These invaders are negatively impacting our waters, our native plants and animals (some of them rare, threatened, or endangered), our agriculture, our health, our economy, and our favorite recreational places. Help us celebrate California's Invasive Species Action Week, and more importantly, help stop the spread of invasive species, by volunteering to take action.
California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Landowners, we need your help: CDFW has deployed nutria survey teams from the Delta through the San Joaquin Valley and needs written access permissions to enter or cross private properties for the purposes of conducting nutria surveys and, where detected, implementing trapping efforts. Landowners and tenants, we need your help (PDF | 598 KB); so CDFW can survey for and remove destructive nutria from your properties, complete and submit the Nutria Project Temporary Entry Permit (PDF | 207 KB).


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All, I can say is wow!
First Round Capital, the New York and Philadelphia-based venture capital firm, certainly set the bar high in terms of its holiday greeting this year. In one of the more ambitious displays we've seen, the firm featured members (and in some cases entire teams) of each of its portfolio companies lip-syncing rousing renditions of both Call Me Maybe and Gangnam Style.
The result, a little ditty dubbed: Call Me First Round Style.
After talking about "VC dollars flowing" — with the team from VigLink tossing cash in the air — and term sheets — with the team from Funder's Club tossing papers in the air — they head into the chorus.
"Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy. But I'm from First Round, so call me maybe."
I wonder if we'll ever see a Seattle VC firm will break out of the traditional holiday card mode, and attempt to produce its own viral video.
Here's last year's video from First Round:


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