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Imagine if Apple unveiled the latest iPhone without a logo or if Lady Gaga had released Born This Way without her name, face, or album title on the cover.
That's what Led Zeppelin did 40 years ago when the band issued its fourth album with a cover consisting solely of a dreary photo: an old man, hunched over with wood sticks stacked on his back — no title, band name, song listing, record label logo, or even a catalog number.
In doing so, Zeppelin committed a masterstroke of marketing brilliance that still resonates today.
The album many of us simply refer to as Led Zeppelin IV (or Zoso) is the subject of an August Classic Rock cover article by Barney Hoskyns, author of Led Zeppelin IV (Rock of the Ages). His article is a worthwhile introduction (although certainly not the only one) to a work that has sold 23 million copies and is ranked among the greatest rock albums of all time by authorities ranging from Rolling Stone to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Hoskyns not only documents the recording of the album and its landmark songs ("Stairway to Heaven" among them); but he and author Dave Lewis (Led Zeppelin historian and editor of Zeppelin magazine Tight but Loose) also discuss perhaps the most famous album packaging in the history of rock music – a combination of runes and puzzling artwork that inspires conversation even in a digital era that treats albums like relics.
In this post, I expand on the significance of the album design: how it complements the music of Led Zeppelin IV and influences the album's timeless, mystical appeal. In my view, the success of Led Zeppelin IV is a lesson in creating brand mystique by not over-explaining and instead revealing a few well-chosen clues that provoke discussion.
No Title? No problem
To appreciate the impact of Led Zeppelin IV, I think it's helpful to understand the album's historical context. As many rock historians have reported, Led Zeppelin was at a crossroads when it released the album that would help make Zeppelin "one of the biggest bands on the planet" in Hoskyns's words.
On the one hand, the band had recently been voted Best Group in the annual Readers Poll of Melody Maker, ending the Beatles's eight-year run at the top of the prestigious poll. And its live shows had gained a massive following.
Led Zeppelin unseat the Beatles: headline news on British TV
But on the other hand, the band's loud, sexually charged music and its brash public image earned plenty of scorn among critics such as Lester Bangs, who characterized its most recent album, Led Zeppelin III, as "uninspiring material" and Robert Plant's vocals as "some cannibal chorus wailing in the infernal light of a savage fertility rite."
Even worse, Led Zeppelin III, although a Number 1 album, had been considered a commercial disappointment compared to the success of Led Zeppelin and Led Zeppelin II — possibly because people did not know how to react to the mellow, folk-rock songs of Led Zeppelin III (e.g., "That's the Way," "Gallow's Pole," and "Tangerine"), in contrast to the hard-rock feel of Zeppelin's first two albums.
Sensing that the band needed to retreat from the rigors of touring and rebound from the disappointment of Led Zeppelin III, band manager Peter Grant urged Zeppelin to focus on creating the best album possible – triggering a period of quiet retreat from the public eye, which sparked rumors that the band was breaking up.
In the words of Mick Wall, author of When Giants Walked the Earth: A Biography of Led Zeppelin, "Their next album, whatever else it turned out to be, would be make or break . . . for Peter Grant and Led Zeppelin, there was much more than a mere million bucks at stake in whatever they did next; there was their entire future."
No one knew what the band's future would look like – possibly a return to the tested-and-true cock-rock sounds of "Whole Lotta Love" from Led Zeppelin II or perhaps more of the Joni-Mitchell inspired folk sensibilities of "That's the Way" that appeared on Led Zeppelin III.
On November 8, 1971, Led Zeppelin responded. Fans began finding in record stores an album with the mysterious cover image of an anonymous old man and his bundle of sticks. The front and back covers together then revealed that the old man was really standing in the frame of a picture affixed to a crumbling wall set against the backdrop of a dowdy modern apartment building – a most interesting return for a band constantly dogged by critics for hyping its name over its music.
The inner packaging raised eyebrows as well. The inside gatefold revealed a pencil drawing of an occult-like hermit standing watch over a rocky incline.
The record sleeve contained some basic information about the song listings, the lyrics of "Stairway to Heaven" written in an ancient script commissioned by Jimmy Page, and a small drawing of a man holding a book containing mystical markings.
As Hoskyns writes, the anonymous packaging enraged executives at Atlantic Records, responsible for distributing the album. An album without a name? "That's crazy," Hosykns quotes one executive. "It'll never sell."
But Led Zeppelin was not trying to commit commercial suicide. Lead guitarist and producer Jimmy Page would later explain to Guitar World the rationale for the design and packaging:
After all we had accomplished, the press was still calling us a hype. So that is why the fourth album was untitled. It was a meaningless protest, really, but we wanted to prove that people were not buying us for the name.
Hoskyns adds, "Releasing an album without 'Led Zeppelin' on the cover (or even on the spine) is a giant 'Fuck You' to anyone who ever accused them of being a 'Superhype' . . . Smarting from the negative press they'd suffered since the band formed in late 1968, Page wants to prove that their music can stand on its own merits."
Jimmy Page and Robert Plant
But the anonymous album cover also made another statement: essentially Jimmy Page was saying that with its fourth album Led Zeppelin had created music so special that conventional labels were inadequate.
And he chose the right album for such a bold statement. For indeed today Led Zeppelin IV feels less like a rock album and more like a timeless, mystical journey into another realm ruled by all things carnal ("Black Dog"), exotic ("Four Sticks"), romantic ("Going to California," "Battle of Evermore," "Stairway to Heaven"), joyous ("Misty Mountain Hop," "Rock and Roll"), and foreboding "(When the Levee Breaks").
In the assessment of AllMusic.com: "Expanding on the breakthroughs of III, Zeppelin fuse their majestic hard rock with a mystical, rural English folk that gives the record epic scope. Even at its most basic — the muscular, traditionalist "Rock and Roll" — the album has a grand sense of drama, which is deepened by Robert Plant's burgeoning obsession with mythology and mysticism."
John Bonham
In 1971, the album design served to draw record buyers into that otherworldly, mystical realm as listeners opened the cover and explored what was inside — and apparently as Jimmy Page intended. As he would explain to The Times in 2010, "The cover was supposed to be something that was for other people to savour rather than for me to actually spell everything out, which would make the whole thing rather disappointing on that level of your own personal adventure into the music."
Four symbols
The most intriguing aspect of the album packaging consists of four runic symbols (or sigils) that appeared on the inner sleeve:
According to Dave Lewis (and many other historians), the four symbols were the brainchild of Jimmy Page, who designed his own (the elaborate set of letters that resembles "Zoso," which has become a synonym for the entire album). Lead singer Robert Plant either designed his (a feather inside a circle) or chose it from The Sacred Symbols of Mu by Colonel James Churchward. Drummer John Bonham and Bassist John Paul Jones chose theirs (three interlocking circles for Bonham and three interlocking ovals overlayed with a circle for Jones) from Rudolf Koch's The Book of Signs.
No explanation was given or association with any band member offered. The symbols simply appeared on the artwork. Years later, Jimmy Page would explain their creation to Trouser Press:
After all this crap that we'd had with the critics, I put it to everybody else that it'd be a good idea to put out something totally anonymous. At first I wanted just one symbol on it, but then it was decided that since it was our fourth album and there were four of us, we could each choose our own symbol. I designed mine and everyone else had their own reasons for using the symbols that they used.
Atlantic Records seized on the design of the symbols to do some marketing of its own. According to Lewis, in the weeks leading up to the release of the album, Atlantic released advertisements that revealed each symbol next to the image of one of Led Zeppelins' previous albums.
But the mere appearance of the symbols – devoid of meaning – did more to market the album than anything Atlantic could have accomplished. By not explaining the symbols, Led Zeppelin empowered fans to speculate about their meaning and interpret as they wished. The act of essentially offering up the sigils for discussion created a viral sensation that continues today.
"The use of four symbols as the title for IV only added to their overall mystique, and the saga of what they represent (if anything) still rages today on Zep internet forums and message boards," writes Lewis, who contributes an analysis, "Four Symbolism," that accompanies Hoskyns's Classic Rock article.
The symbols were a masterstroke in another way: Led Zeppelin created a totem for people to rally around and claim as their own, much like logos of sports teams do for their fans. The four symbols permeate our culture in many ways, including clothing, personal artwork, and body art:
By comparison, in 1971 the Rolling Stones also unveiled its now-famous "tongue-and-lip" logo. Stones fans have claimed the lascivious Stones image with just as much passion:
But the tongue-and-lip image endures today more as a corporate seal. By contrast, Led Zeppelin created something more evocative, as evidenced by our ongoing attempts at interpretation. Perhaps because the symbols are drawn from sources that predate the band, they transcend Led Zeppelin.
A more apt comparison might be the Nike Swoosh logo (also created in 1971). Inspired by the Greek goddess of victory (named Nike), the logo also transcends the Nike brand. It has become a rallying cry for people who live by the ethos of the Nike "just do it" call to action:
We don't know what Led Zeppelin is calling us to do by publishing four cryptic symbols – theories range from the sinister (the symbols invoke the occult) to amusing (Page's symbol is said to symbolize a near-death or Tantric-sex experience). As this August 2011 satirical post from Cracked.com suggests, there might be only two people in the world who understand the true meaning of the four sigils.
Album's legacy
Led Zeppelin's fourth album was an immediate best seller, Number 1 on the charts in the United Kingdom for 62 weeks. In the United States, the album's ranking peaked at Number 2 (denied a Number 1 ranking by Carole King's Tapestry). Unlike Led Zeppelin III, which had dropped off the charts sooner than the band would have liked, Led Zeppelin IV remained in the U.S. Top 40 for three years, aided by heavy radio play.
("Stairway to Heaven" is said to be the most requested radio song of all time. In another stroke of marketing genius, the band refused to release the song as a single, instead insisting that people buy the album to own it.)
The album also gained the band critical acceptance in many quarters, which this largely positive review from Rolling Stone shows (by contrast, Rolling Stone had skewered the band's first album, characterizing Jimmy Page as a "limited producer and writer of weak, unimaginative songs").
Eventually the album would earn its place as a musical landmark. It ranks Number 66 on the Rolling Stone list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Classic Rock ranks it as the greatest British rock album ever. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ranks it the fourth best album ever.
But the album cover design – intended to draw attention to the music – has a life of its own, too. As Wall writes, "Ironically, given their determination to escape easy pigeonholing by making an album as seemingly anonymous as possible, a great part of the Zeppelin myth is now rooted in public and private perception of [the cover's] true 'meaning.'"
I think Erik Davis best summarizes why the packaging matters. In his book Led Zeppelin's Led Zeppelin IV, he writes:
Stripping their famous name off their fourth record was an almost petulant attempt to let their Great Work symbolically stand on its own two feet. But the wordless jacket also lent the fourth record charisma. Fans hunted for hidden meanings, or, failing to find them, sensed a strange reflection of their own mute refusal to communicate with the outside world. From the lemons critics hurled their way, Zeppelin had squeezed lemonade: mystique. This conscious communication breakdown helped create one of the supreme paradoxes of rock history: an esoteric megahit, a blockbuster arcanum. Stripped of words and numbers, the album no longer referred to anything but itself; a concrete talisman that drew you into its world, into a frame. All the stopgap titles we throw at the thing are lame: Led Zeppelin IV, [Untitled], Runes, Zoso, Four Symbols. In an almost Lovecraftian sense, the album was nameless, a thing from beyond, charged with manna.
No wonder John Paul Jones later said people stopped comparing Led Zeppelin to Black Sabbath after the release of Led Zeppelin's fourth album: Led Zeppelin had created a work whose music, coupled with its artwork, was, and is, beyond proper comparison and description.


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250 ml stout
250 g butter
75 g cocoa powder
400 g sugar
100 g heavy cream
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
300 g flour
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Warm beer in a heavy bottom saucepan and add diced butter. As soon as the butter has molten whisk in sugar and cocoa powder. Whisk together heavy cream with the eggs and stir it to the beer mixture. Finally fold in the sifted flour and baking soda. Pour batter into a buttered cake for (20-22 cm) and bake for 50-60 minutes, then let it cool in the form.

subset: commoncrawl


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Welcome to another Sentimental Sunday!
What an awesome turnout last week with a whopping 144 entries! Thanks so much to everyone who played along in last week's "More than Three Layers" challenge.
Be sure to stop back on Wednesday and see who our random winner is and who has been chosen to be in our Top 3!
Be sure to stop back on Wednesday and see who our random winner is and who has been chosen to be in our Top 3!
This week's challenge hostess is Erum.
Her selected theme for this weeks challenge is:
Her selected theme for this weeks challenge is:
Lovey Dovey
(plus a sentiment)
Donating: $12 gift voucher to the store
As usual, our crackerjack design team has been busily creating some projects that we hope will inspire you to join in our challenge this week:This is also Valou's last week with us too!! We have enjoyed showcasing you and your beautiful creations this month. Thank you for being our very first guest in 2014 and we look forward to a continual friendship.
Using Sunshine Love
Using Love Bug 2
Using Winter Romance
Using Winter Romance
using Bundle of Dreams
Using Winter Romance
using Bird on my Fairy Toes
Using Love Bug 1
Using Love Bug 1
Using Umbrella Love
Using Umbrella Love
When uploading to SCS, PCP, SNR, or other galleries, please use the keyword "sentimentalsundays" Thank you!


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Brent Musburger, the play-by-play man for some of college football's biggest games, told a group of college journalism students that professional athletes under a doctor's supervision could potentially use steroids to improve performance.
Musburger, on the lead announcing team for ABC and ESPN, told students at the University of Montana that steroids have no place in high school athletics, but they could be used in the pros under the proper care and doctor's advice.
"Here's the truth about steroids: They work," he said in a story reported by The Missoulian.
"I've had somebody say that, you know, steroids should be banned because they're not healthy for you," he told the students Tuesday. "Let's go find out. What do the doctors actually think about anabolic steroids and the use by athletes? Don't have a preconceived notion that this is right or this is wrong."
Musburger said negative stories about steroids are mainly the fault of "journalism youngsters out there covering sports [who] got too deeply involved in something they didn't know too much about."
Asked by The Associated Press to expand on his comments Wednesday, Musburger said through a publicist at ESPN that he stood by the comments he made to the students and that his main point was that "the issue of steroids belongs in the hands of doctors and not in the hands of a journalist."
Dr. Gary Wadler, who leads the committee that determines the banned-substances list for the World Anti-Doping Agency, said he was "kind of surprised Brent would make that statement."
"He's categorically wrong, and if he'd like to spend a day in my office, I can show him voluminous literature going back decades about the adverse effects of steroids," he said. "They have a legitimate role in medicine that's clearly defined. But if it's abused, it can have serious consequences."
The most common health consequences from steroids include liver cancer, heart attacks and elevated cholesterol levels, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Steroids have also been shown to cause increased irritability and aggression.
Among the many examples of the negative effects of steroids are the cases of dozens of East German women Olympians who took the drugs in the 1960s and '70s and wound up with a variety of medical issues after their careers were over. Former NFL lineman Lyle Alzado, who died in 1992 at 43, blamed his fatal brain tumor on his persistent use of steroids. Taylor Hooton was a 17-year-old baseball player who committed suicide in 2003; doctors believe Hooton became depressed after he stopped using steroids.
Almost all the major pro sports have rules forbidding steroid use, though the effectiveness and enforcement of those rules are widely debated.
"No athlete should ever be made to feel compelled to use drugs, nor should such behavior become normalized, particularly when our youth are so influenced by the example set by their sports heroes," said Erin Hannan, spokesperson for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.
Musburger, 71, was the top sports anchor on CBS through much of the 1980s but was fired in 1990. He made a comeback on ABC and ESPN and is the play-by-play man for the network's lead announcing team on college football. He has worked the last three BCS title games.
He said he doesn't trust journalists when they report about steroids.
"They come in with a negative view and they take it from there," he told the students.


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Optimize extra heavy/ heavy crude separation
Get better process control
In extra heavy and heavy crude oil separation (< API 15 Density >960 kg/m3 (8 lb/gal) and oil sands, the cleaning process is done in separators, FWKO, BOTs and Desalters. It is important to know the density over the entire level to ensure the most time and cost-effective operation. Traditional measurement technologies are limited in the information they can provide about the process. Profile Vision gives a clear view to the process.
Benefits at a glance
Precise 3-dimensional density profile of the entire separator - from inlet to outlet
Installation is completely outside of the vessel
Separation is not interrupted for density related issues
No more under/overdosing of expensive chemicals to the process
Challenge: getting a complete view to your process
Traditional technologies are not able to give clear view of the overall level and the emulsion layer. The position and thickness of the emulsion layer is important information to have, as it determines the amount of chemical emulsion breakers that must be added. Traditional measurement technologies must be installed inside the separator and are often susceptible to contamination. So the measurement device must be removed for cleaning on a regular basis - which is valuable time wasted.
Our solution: density profiling system
Separator is divided into 3 density detection areas:
Measure presence of sand at the bottom to ensure that entire volume of separator is available
Measure emulsion layer and thickness to optimize your separation process and save costs related to under/over dosing of chemicals
Clean crude at the top is monitored. Integrated PLC collects and scales all measurement data. Visualization of up to 5 different interface levels is possible (sand, water, emulsion, oil, and foam).
Solution details: Profile Vision
Overview of individual tanks with profiles or bar graphs, alarming, history and event log
Collection and scaling of measurement data
Calculation and visualization of up to five different interface levels
Visualization of density profile graphically (density indicated by colors) and chart (bar graph or line graph)
Limit value and status monitoring
Alarming and trending
Gammapilot M FMG60
Compact transmitter: one instrument for all measuring tasks
Highest availability, reliability and safety, even for extreme process and ambient conditions
Highest sensitivity and accuracy at lowest dose rates
Optimum adjustment to the respective application via a variety of detectors
SIL2/3 approval in accordance with IEC 61508 for max. point level detection
Temperature compensation for density measurements
Source container FQG63
Source containers with flexible extension element. Your benefits:
Lightweight device provides best possible screening
Highest safety classification
Flexible installation length up to 30 m (98 ft)
Manually operated
Padlock or locking bolt for fixing the switching position
Switch status easily identified
Compact device that is easy to mount


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- Common Name:
- Prairie Dogs
- Scientific Name:
- Cynomys
- Type:
- Mammals
- Diet:
- Herbivore
- Group Name:
- Town
- Average Life Span In The Wild:
- 3 to 4 years
- Size:
- Head and body: 12 to 15 inches; tail: 3 to 4 inches
- Weight:
- 2 to 4 pounds
These charismatic, rabbit-size rodents live on North America's prairies and open grasslands in only a fraction of their former numbers.
Underground Burrows
Prairie dogs live in underground burrows, extensive warrens of tunnels and chambers marked by many mounds of packed earth at their surface entrances. Burrows have defined nurseries, sleeping quarters, and even toilets. They also feature listening posts near exits, so animals can safely keep tabs on the movements of predators outside. Prairie dogs spend a lot of time building and rebuilding these dwellings. Other animals benefit from their labors. Burrows may be shared by snakes, burrowing owls, and even rare black-footed ferrets, which hunt prairie dogs in their own dwellings.
Family groups (a male, a few females, and their young) inhabit burrows and cooperate to share food, chase off other prairie dogs, and groom one another. These group members even greet one another with a prairie dog kiss or nuzzle. Young pups are very playful and can often been seen romping near their burrows.
Prairie Dog Species
Black-tailed prairie dogs, the best known of the five prairie dog species, live in larger communities called towns, which may contain many hundreds of animals. Typically they cover less than half a square mile, but some have been enormous. The largest recorded prairie dog town covered some 25,000 square miles. That Texas town was home to perhaps four hundred million prairie dogs.
Another prairie dog species, the white-tailed prairie dog, lives in the western mountains. These rodents do not gather in large towns but maintain more scattered burrows. All species hunker down in winter and burn the reserves of fat they have stored during more plentiful seasons. White-tails may hibernate for up to six months on their mountain plains, while their black-tailed cousins sometimes emerge to feed on especially warm days.
These large squirrels emerge from their burrows in daylight to forage and feed on grasses, roots, and seeds. They communicate with loud cries. A warning cry, for example, will send a town's denizens hustling to their holes at the approach of a badger, coyote, or other predator. A second, "all-clear" call alerts the community when the danger has passed.
Threats to Survival
Much of the Great Plains has been converted to farming or pastureland, and prairie dogs are not often welcome in such places. Because of their destructive landscaping, they are often killed as pests. During the 20th century, about 98 percent of all prairie dogs were exterminated, and their range subsequently shrunk to perhaps five percent of its historic spread.


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Second Place: Belle Isle and James River
Third Place: Hollywood Cemetery
Oh, the outrage that greeted this question! Yes, we know pot is illegal. Look, Richmond, we aren't advocating that you get high. We feel bound to point out that as of May 9, 481 Richmonders have been arrested for pot in 2012. Obviously, you need a less conspicuous place to smoke. Even better than the outrage on our reader survey was the paranoia. We enjoyed that. One voter wasn't about to give up the best spot: "Really? So the cops can go there?" they chided. "Dude. Not cool to say," another admonished. All of which explains why the overwhelming winner was "at home." Better yet, as one reader suggested, in "someone else's living room with all the blinds closed ... we're in Virginia you know." If you feel brave enough to crack the blinds, maybe you're also adventurous enough to take your one-hitter to Belle Isle or Hollywood Cemetery. Creepy, dude.


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I'm in Washington, DC now. I'm in town for the AAAS (Science Magazine) conference. I love science conferences and I love this gathering in particular. It's the world's largest science conference and an inter-disciplinary mix of scientists, social scientists, engineers, educators and science-tech policy makers . The energy is amazing. Nerd heaven, I say. Nerd heaven, indeed.
And on February 16 and 17, 2011, I attended the first ever International Public Science Events Conference, a pre-conference gathering of outreach scientists, science educators (formal & informal) and related institutions. We shared ideas, successes, and challenges to promoting science and engineering to the general public - you - via small and large events and celebrations. I co-moderated a workshop on Broadening Participation with the incomparable and kindred Madhu Katti of Reconciliation Ecology.
|Me with Madhu Katti
All the conference participants shared ways to make our science meet-ups,science cafes, science cabarets, and science events more accessible and engaging. That was the objective of the entire pre-conference. Then as I listening to Dr. Dennis Wint, President and CEO of The Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, PA, discuss how and why science centers/museums matter in public engagement, I began to wonder...How important is science and math education to people who aren't in the business of science or math education. I mean, yeah, I know you think it's important, but how would you articulate that to another parent or community member?
|Me with Dr. Wint of the Franklin Institute
Then Dr. Wint touched on how science centers/museums are a great science educational resource, sometimes the best thing going if your school system is slashing and burning education in science, math, and arts - like many are. I agree, and I wondered how many people are taking advantage of these continuing education centers?
So I did my own social media poll. When's the last time you, your friends/family visited a science center or museum? Which one? What city? Folk responded on twitter using the hashtag #scicenter.
I got about 20 responses. Most people attended fairly recently (within the last few months, I assume spending family time over the holiday). Here's a summary of responses.
- MIT Museum for opening of MIT150 exhibit
- Ontario Science Center in Toronto
- Franklin Institute in Philadelphia!
- American Museum of Natural History in NYC x2
- Science Centers of San Jose, Philadelphia and Cleveland
- Science Museum & Childrens Museum of Atlanta
- Hong Kong Science Museum for the exhibition "Marvelous Inventions of Leonardo da Vinci"
- Liberty Science Center Jersey City, NJ
- Discovery Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia
- National Space Center Leics, UK.
- Science Museum, London x2
- Natural History Museum, London x2
- North Carolin Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh-Durham
- Museum of Life + Science in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina
- Fels Planetarium (Part of the Franklin Institute, so it gets another tally)
- St. Louis Science Center x4 (my backyard)
- McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center Concord NH
- Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in DC
- The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago
- Cape Fear Museum in Wilmington, NC (they have a giant ground sloth skeleton)
- Taupo Vocano Centre in New Zealand
- Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago
also got some Zoo/Aquarium/Botanical Garden responses, too
- North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores
- St. Louis Zoo
- Missouri Botanical Garden


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by David Crane
[email protected]
The hypertext link supplied for downloading and viewing the Ultimax 100 LMG/SAW video clip is located towards the bottom of this article, so you will need to scroll down to find it. However, we recommend that you read the following article first, so you can better appreciate what you're watching (when you watch the video).
The 5.56x45mm Ultimax 100 LMG/SAW (Light Machine Gun/Squad Automatic Weapon) was originally designed and developed (along with its 100-shot drum magazine) from scratch in the late 1970's/early 1980's by Jim Sullivan (L. James Sullivan) and his design/development partner Bob Waterfield for then Chartered Industries of Singapore, a.k.a. CIS (now Singapore Technologies Kinetics Land Systems, a.k.a. ST Kinetics Land Systems). It is considered by many small arms experts to be the best 5.56mm light machine gun/squad automatic weapon (LMG/SAW) in the history of the world. DefenseReview has been writing about the Ultimax 100 LMG/SAW virtually since our inception. And, in the last year or so, we've discussed the Ultimax quite a bit. In our article on Noveske Rifleworks Weapons packages, we discussed not only what's important about he Ultimax, but also how and why it's superior to the U.S. Army's current light machine gun/squad automatic weapon (LMG/SAW), the problematic/subpar FN M249 SAW. We also mentoned the Ultimax 100 SAW in two of our articles on the Auto-Assault-12 Shotgun (AA-12 Shotgun): our first-ever blurb on the AA-12, and our more extensive article on the AA-12 and FRAG-12 12-gauge armor-piercing grenade family, published subsequently.
Ultimax 100 MK4 LMG/SAW (5.56mm). One of these modifications is a 4179 STANAG AR-15/M16 magazine adapter that allows the Ultimax MK4 to accept both 30-round AR-15/M16 mags and 100-shot Beta C-MAGs.
So, how does Constant-Recoil actually work? In a sentence, it spreads the weapon's recoil impulse out over time. So, instead of the shooter receiving a sudden jolt to his shoulder, he receives a slow, constant push. The Ultimax utilizes a relatively long receiver length to accomplish this. The long receiver combined with recoil spring weight keeps the bolt carrier group from impacting the rear of the receiver when the weapon is fired. It's this impact that normally transfers most of the recoil impulse to the shooter, especially since it happens so quickly (over a very short period of time). In contrast, when the Ultimax is fired, the bolt carrier group runs out on the recoil spring, never making contact with the rear of the receiver. Then, as the bolt carrier group runs back forward, it impacts the barrel extension, knocking the weapon forward and causing the muzzle to dip, whereupon the next round is fired (We're firing on full-auto, remember?). So, as the weapon goes into recoil again, it has to overcome the weapon's forward momentum, as well as the barrel's downward movement, so half of the weapon's recoil forces are spent fighting against this forward movement, and then the bolt carrier group has to make the long trek towards the rear of the receiver, again. This whole process spreads the recoil force on the operator out over a greater period of time, making the weapon feel like its steadily pushing on the operator, instead of pounding against him. So, the weapon just sits there, staying on target during full-auto fire, even though it weighs so little.
The box-magazine/drum-magazine/double-drum magazine-fed Ultimax 100 MK4 is also much faster and easier to reload in a fight than the M249 SAW, especially in a dynamic, fluid situation like a running gun battle/firefight while the infantryman is firing on-the-move. In this situation, it's nice to be able to reload quickly and relatively easily on the move as well, which the Ultimax allows an operator to do. You can reload the Ultimax on the move in a few seconds. Try that with an M249. Good luck to you.
The Ultimax can be reloaded as quickly and easily as an assault rifle, since it's magazine-fed, rather than belt-fed. As it happens, the Ultimax 100 series is also significantly more reliable under adverse/combat conditions and high-round-count than the FN M249.


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Dr. Jim Garrow Obama Hoax Debunk'd
by Gordon Duff, Senior Editor
Timed by Israel to undermine Defense Secretary nominee, Chuck Hagel, a Vietnam War combat vet and first "tough on Israel" American to survive the smears (so far), a shocking and utterly groundless fairytale has been spread, traced down to WorldNetDaily, and a bizarre coalition of neocons, white supremacists, "neo-Nazis" and Zionist extremists.
This is more than a story, it is an investigative project. This is a rare opportunity to scour the internet, make notes, see the bloated underbelly of "the enemy' exposed. The sites carrying this vicious hoax will begin running for cover. You may have to move quickly.
[youtube nuweKntLV-8]
"You just can't make stuff like this up", as Jim Dean so often says. (Who I nominated for a Nobel Prize the last four years…)
Below is a review of Jim Garrow's "famous book." The review is totally damning:
"The overall issue with Jim's book is that he provides no specific names, places, or events with which to confirm his story…"
The internet is filled with it, mystery man "Dr. Jim Garrow," said to be a nominee for a Nobel Prize, said to be a "renowned author," spreads a bizarre slander about President Obama. However, when we try to find "Dr. Garrow," we are led to ultra-right wing "WorldNetDaily," a fanatic site run by the Israel lobby and the article below, the only real investigation into Garrow and who and what he really is.
The filth, and I can't call it anything else, spewed in millions of emails and across hundreds of phony news websites is a gift from heaven. As the net fills with fingerpointing about "disinfo" types, we finally have a complete list.
Any site that carries the carefully crafted hoax can only be one of two things, totally controlled or, well, you figure it out.
The reading is extremely unpleasant.
What have we learned? Garrow's claim, that Obama has set a "litmus test," forcing all military officers, in order to retain their commissions, to swear to kill Americans if ordered is totally unsupported.
Moreover, if you want to know what websites are carrying this, a thinly veiled AIPAC attack on Obama, Hagel and Dempsey, the only independent American voices for decades, simply go to www.google.com and enter "jim garrow Obama."
What you will find is every "owned" AIPAC/ADL/SPLC/Likudist website, blogger, "shock jock" and blowhard on the web. The google count was 90 thousand references. Here are a few "at the top."
Enjoy the read about Garrow.
Then enjoy the research that is absolutely necessary and, if you were duped by the phony story, make sure you keep a record of everyone who let this on their website or sent it out in emails.
The list will be huge, "the enemy" is and has been among us for some time.
Thank "Garrow" for helping expose the Israel lobby that made the Hagel confirmation hearings one of America's most shameful moments.
Having now punched a rather large hole in this "row boat from hell," I expect another round of attacks and smears from the ADL and lunatic fringe "internet people." Being put into the company of Chuck Hagel, a fellow Vietnam combat veteran, makes me proud.
My only request to Abe Foxman is that he send out higher quality morons next time.
Review of Jim Garrow's "The Pink Pagoda"
My intent was to publish the interviews in June 2008, but I was asked to hold off, because there was a Canadian investigation into Garrow's claims of infant smuggling, and did not wish him to become cautious.
I finally decided to post the interviews to my blog after the GuelphMercury article was published in August 2010 confirming the investigation. One can listen to our Garrow interviews here.
One is struck upon opening Jim Garrow's new book, "The Pink Pagoda", by the statements of support found in the first section of the book, entitled "Endorsements". These written statements of support for Jim and his work come from such people as "Dr. Parry, Assistant to the CEO for the International Internet Alliance", a person and organization on whom I could find no information; Ross McKitrick, an outspoken critic of Global Warming; Robin W. Pifer, a Pastor of the Cedar Alliance Church; Walter Baker, executive director of the Fairhaven Bible Conference; William D. Gairdner, a former Olympic athlete and author of such books as "The Trouble with Canada," and "The War Against the Family"; a mysterious and unidentifiable "Dr. A.B.", allegedly of the Unesco-World Health Organization; Dr. Jim Garlow, a pastor and adoptive parent; and Jerome Corsi, author of "Where's the Birth Certificate?", about . . . well you know what that is about.
All of Garrow's "Endorsement" authors are qualified by Garrow as "best-selling", "world-renowned", etc. I will let the reader use Google to determine the accuracy of Garrow's claims about these individuals. Garrow's book is published by WND Books, described by an editorial in the UK's Guardian as ""a niche producer of rightwing conspiracy theories, religious books and 'family values' tracts." WND Books describes itself as "'fiercely independent', telling the stories that other publishers won't." The point is that the reader should get an idea of the religious and political circles Jim Garrow associates with — the birds of a feather thing — which may prove useful as one begins reading his book.
Jim introduces us to his story by describing his great success in all things financial, and how this success brought him to China. The book, he writes, is the story of how he came to save over 40,000 babies between 2000 and 2012. When I interviewed him in 2008, Garrow claimed to have saved 24,000. By 2009 it had apparently risen to 31,000 (p. 149), 2010 the number had climbed to 34,000 and now, in 2012, it stands at 40,000 (Pink Pagoda "Introduction"). In his introduction he also admits that many might call him a "human trafficker", an accusation he freely and enthusiastically embraces.
Thus begins the exciting story of Jim Garrow's start and work in baby trafficking inside China. In the first chapter, he describes saving the baby niece of his Chinese employee, "Xinyi", whose husband wanted to "put aside" the child because she was a girl. Jim sets the stage for the conflict that will run through the entire book — the family was forced to take these actions because of Chinese laws — evil laws — which practically forced a family to have a boy.
"As Chinese law dictates, only a male heir can inherit family property and also provide for the parents' elder years." One is left to question why the upper-middle class birth family of this child would worry about these issues, given their employment at a large U.S. firm and their patently upscale urban lifestyle.
It would also belabor the point to discuss whether this assessment of Chinese law is even accurate, but Jim uses this statement to set the stage for why China had "become a nation awash in grief over having to make such unthinkable choices." Jim contrasts this evil with the work that he feels called to do, which he explains using Bible scripture uttered by Jesus himself.
Jim goes on to recount how he met with the father of the unwanted baby, who had a plan to bring the baby to the area Buddhist monks who were willing to dispatch the child for him. They were willing to do this, it was explained to the incredulous Garrow, because the monks believed in reincarnation and thus believed the child would have a better life in the next cycle.
The only solution the father would accept was for the child to find a new home outside China, a promise Jim made without knowing how he would fulfill it. As I read this event that set Garrow on his mission, I found myself wondering if any stereotype of Chinese society had not been employed: the powerful husband and the submissive wife; the low societal and religious value placed on a girl's life; the smells and noises in the couple's apartment, the endless fear that neighbors would hear the conversation and report them to the authorities.
I of course can't say that what Jim describes is impossible, but I can just say that my experience in observing my wife's urban family and thousands of couples through my own travels in China gives me the feeling that I am watching a "predictable" movie. Having located and interviewed many birth families of unregistered children, I have found the neighbors aware and accepting of the situation, even protective.
I have found wives of urban couples to be assertive and active participants in matters of family business. I read Jim's account, and while possibly true, I find the lens through which he sees the event as Western, simplified, and largely unfamiliar.
I got the same feeling while reading Jim's account of how he found a home for the unwanted baby. He met an American expat living in China whose wife lived in the United States. The man explained that they wanted to adopt, but that it seemed to take a long time to do the paperwork, etc. Jim told him he could adopt right away. Now, I'm sure that most readers familiar with the adoption might at this point be wondering how in the world this adoption could be completed. I will let Jim describe the process:
At this point, there were no documents to accompany the baby and her new parents back to the United States. Those I would discover in one of the best libraries in the world for doing such research—the local beer house, where expats hang out.
It was in one of those pubs that I met my "librarians," who even went so far as to share copies of the documents from their own Chinese adoption process. Paperwork aside, I also learned valuable information about the entire process and what pitfalls to hopefully avoid.
I had moved at God's bidding into the adoption business, and I planned to run that business as efficiently as I did my schools. God bless the fool with a big heart. (pp. 11-12)
No mention of the need for an I-600 (Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative); no consulate interview; it seems that all Jim had to do was produce some forged adoption documents and the U.S. government would issue the infant a visa. The reader can decide how authentic Jim's account feels.
Jim also spends a lot of time reminding his readers of his stature, both financial and otherwise, in China. He writes about his fancy car, his lush apartment, his ability to lavish financial gifts on those around him. Two examples will serve to illustrate, but such examples could be multiplied many, many times. In chapter 5 ("Walkabout") Jim recounts how he left his protective hotel to take a walk in the "other China". He abandoned his "car and driver" to walk around Chongqing's poorer neighborhoods. He gets lost, asks some kids where the nearest McDonalds was, and was escorted by fifteen street children there. Jim then describes his arrival at the eatery:
The white-gloved gatekeeper greeted us at the door, and as she stared suspiciously at the boisterous group of children surrounding me, she asked in perfect English, "How can I help you?" I responded with the universal language: money. In China the currency is called renminbi. The slang expression is kwai. Think dollars and bucks.
I handed her the equivalent of $140.00 to cover the cost of whatever the children wanted to eat. That $140.00 was equivalent to one month's salary for the manager, and she knew that she could expect a very large tip for putting up with this ragtag group.
Another example of Jim's larges is recounted in chapter 7 ("The Pink Pagoda is Born"), where Jim describes what allowed him to be successful (and protected) inside China:
Back in China, I cut a major figure with my posh penthouse, Mercedes sedan, chauffeur, and money that I could spend as I chose. That ability to spend and transfer money was tied to my special red-and-gold foreign experts license, a document rarely accorded someone who wasn't Chinese. Not only does that gold-embossed "passport" allow one to move money about without restrictions; it also protects the bearer from any kind of harassment at airports and the like.
That document was always tucked into one of the pockets in my signature Tilley vest; that is still true here in Canada. I never leave home without it. One might be curious how I managed to get such a document. Think back to 2000, and that special student in my class at Shaw College in Canada. That special student is the one who invited me to come to China the first time, and who introduced me to the inner circles of connected, powerful people, including her uncle, Hu Jintao. No more needs to be said. (p.37)
Jim also recounts in nearly every chapter how much respect and reverence he experienced from the Chinese people themselves. When a stranger mysteriously shows up in a Chongqing coffee house, he inexplicably says that Jim would make Dr. Bethune proud. Jim continues:
Yoda's reference to Dr. Bethune was not the first time I had heard that comparison. Since my first trip to China, people had told me outright that they believed I was the reincarnation of the revered doctor who revolutionized medical procedures during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
For Americans who might not recognize his name, the term MASH is certainly a famous acronym, and it was Dr. Bethune, a Canadian by birth, who developed the mobile medical units that were precursors of the MASH (mobile army surgical hospital) units instituted in 1945, after his death. Bethune's mobile units, along with the MASH units that followed, were responsible for saving so many lives during the wars of his century, worldwide.
The Bethune Institute was and is a paean to his legacy, which in some nearly inexplicable way, I have inherited. Using his name wasn't so much a strategic move on my part as it was a dynamic, spiritual one. (p.53)
Earlier, Jim recounts this statement by one of his employees:
"I personally believe that Dr. Jim is the reincarnation of a saint, maybe Dr. Bethune, and I'm not alone in that belief. The Chinese people who come in contact with him believe that too. Even people who haven't met him but who have heard about him speak his name with genuine reverence." (p. 29)
It should be noted that Jim Garrow is not a "Dr." in any real sense, but the recipient of an honorary degree from a religious college. He received that degree in 2008, long after the events recounted here, so this statement by his employee contains an anachronistic problem.
This idea constitutes the second over-arching motif one sees in the the book: First, that Jim makes, and always has made, large amounts of money, and dispenses it like water. Second, that he is comparable to the spiritual giants — New Testament passages can be applied to him, others recognize his spiritual greatness as he walks down the street. The couple that adopted Jim's first rescue, for example, observed:
"But clearly, and I saw that for myself in China, everybody seemed to know who you were. Even walking down the street, Chinese people, even monks, just looked at you, and tried not to crowd you. I don't know exactly what that was all about, but you definitely had presence and respect."
By chapter 13 ("The Great Wailing Wall") the feeling that I was reading a work of fiction became overpowering. The accumulation of the bravado, the implausible episodes of meeting "Yoda", who would literally appear and disappear at will, and who was supposed to be a member of China's "KGB", left me believing that Jim was weaving a fantasy tale that incorporated every Western impression of China and her people. Too much of what I read contradicted what I had myself experienced on my trips to China. But, I kept thinking, "Perhaps I don't walk in the same circles as Jim. Perhaps what he describes could have happened." That possibility was shattered in chapter 13 of Jim's book, "The Great Wailing Wall".
Jim starts this chapter with "Yoda", his secret Chinese army intelligence benefactor, telling Jim he had arranged a trip for him to learn an important lesson. "Dr. Garrow," explained Yoda's two associates, "we are going to show you something which may shock you, but it will give you an understanding of what we Chinese think and where we come from." Jim goes on to matter-of-factually state that "We headed for Yunnan province, about two hours from the city of Kunming."
Jim presents this as a "day trip", which struck me as odd given that Kunming is over a thousand kilometers from Chongqing. Distance aside, Jim recounts how he was brought to a Buddhist temple outside Kunming, and given over to two monks who escorted Jim on a walk.
More stairs, but this time leading down toward a small valley. These stairs were made of wood, and not nearly so wide as their marble counterparts. More stairs to the right, then to the left; then we reached a steep, rough terrain, which we proceeded to climb. At the top, I was looking across a valley about five hundred yards wide. It wasn't a deep valley, and I could see across to a meandering wall that looked something like a miniature version of the Great Wall. I felt sure that this part of the temple grounds was not part of the usual tour, and I could not imagine why I was being brought here.
At this point, the monks motioned me to move ahead on my own, so I walked toward the wall. From a distance, I thought I was looking at bundles of wood stacked neatly up to the point of a narrow pagoda-style roof, presumably to keep the wood safe from rain. Overall, I took the wall to be about one hundred feet long and about five feet high. As I got closer still, it looked as though the bundles had been wrapped in very elaborately embroidered brocade, mostly red backgrounds with brightly colored embellishments. The bundles at the top were still vividly colored, but as my eyes moved toward the bottom of the wall, the bundles were more faded and tattered.
I was now directly in front of the wall, and close enough to touch the packages if I wanted to. I didn't; I couldn't. My arms hung limply at my sides, and it felt as if all the air in my lungs had been sucked out of me. I don't remember for certain if I said anything. If I did, it would have been, "Oh, my God."
Jim discloses that he was looking at a wall comprised of hundreds upon hundreds of infant bodies, all wrapped in Buddhist ceremonial fabrics, stacked one upon another. Again, Garrow provides no clues with which to test the veracity of this statement, and its purpose seems designed to re-enforce the Western view that the Chinese kill their unwanted daughter's wholesale, against all verifiable evidence to the contrary. (For a short overview of different "Blood Libel" accusations in history, read "Fetus Food: Another Urban Legend Busted", eSkeptic, March 21, 2012).
Adoptive families from China will no doubt be interested in knowing what his book says about his work to bring unwanted babies into China's orphanages in order for them to be adopted internationally. While he is quite outspoken in private conversations and correspondence about the destination of most of the children he has supposedly rescued, the book is almost completely silent about his interactions with China's orphanages.
He does recount one story involving Yoda, his protective intelligence officer, and an orphanage in Chongqing Municipality. Yoda learned that this unnamed orphanage had been accepting infant girls, only to turn around and sell them to sex traders, who would apparently raise the children for 15 years before using them in the sex trade. One can of course question the financial and logistical logic behind such scheme, but what is interesting to read in Jim's book is how Yoda handled it (remembering that Yoda is all powerful):
"Of course, I heard about it later; and once again, I did not ask for particulars. In one day, the entire orphanage was closed, and all of its people gone. When I say gone, I mean they permanently disappeared. An angry Yoda was like the sword of the Lord, smiting all who were sinners. These people were the worst of sinners, and no one, including me, ever asked what happened to them. The babies and children were saved. That was the only justice to focus on." (p. 82)
Another episode ends similarly, when one of Garrow's infants is kidnapped (I am not making this up) by Chinese gangs. Three days later, Yoda, using his extensive network of the Chinese underworld, retrieves the child.
"First, [Yoda] brought in the proverbial big guns to squelch any grumblings in the town. Along with the big guns came lots of cash to everyone who might pose a problem, including the parents, both adoptive and birth. Then Yoda put out the word through everyone who at any level had any dealings with our operation. "If you ever do such a thing again, if you steal one of our children or cause the death of anyone in our organization, you will be dead. Not just you, but everyone in your family and everyone you know."
Those were not idle words. And to our staff: "If they use a knife on you, use a gun on them. If they use a gun . . ." And the escalation would have no limits. Nor did Yoda's controlled and focused rage have any limits. Various newspapers picked up the story, and certainly helped to spread Yoda's "good word." (p. 110-111)
As I stated, Garrow mentions no particulars about this orphanage, or any of his other stories. But being familiar with all of the orphanages in Chongqing, I can attest that none of them have "disappeared". Orphanages have closed, but we are still in contact with the directors and other employees.
Garrow does recount a few adoptions into the U.S. (but not Canada), but even these experiences lack the "ring of truth" for those who have personally walked through the paperwork and logistical maze of U.S. Immigration procedures. As I pointed out above, Garrow seems to maintain that all one needs to do to obtain a Chinese infant is to procure some forged adoption documents and show up at the U.S. border with child in hand. He seems ignorant of, or completely ignores, the pre-adoption approvals required (I-600, CCAA approvals, etc.) to obtain an entry visa for the child to enter the U.S.
What struck me as odd, however, was the nearly complete absence of any mention of Jim working with any of China's orphanages. In fact, a reader of "The Pink Pagoda" would finish with the impression that nearly all of the unwanted children had been adopted inside China. This impression runs completely contrary to what Jim told me and others in his interviews, in which he proudly boasted of working with four internationally adopting orphanages in Chongqing, from which he claimed that 80% of the children adopted came as a result of his work, and with hundreds of other such orphanages across China.
His website continues to encourage U.S. adoptive families to "ascertain if we have been part of the process of saving your babies in China." Although in his book he claims that his first "save" was in 2000 (which he also confirmed in other interviews, including mine), he recently responded to a family with children adopted in the late 1990s from Anhui and Jiangxi Provinces thusly: "To be quite frank our work encompassed so many of the children rescued in the late 90's and up until recent days that there is a real possibility that your daughters were handled by our folks." He continued to contradict previous interviews and his own book by stating: "We never placed any children in orphanages after 2000. All the babies from then on with only a few exceptions were adopted internally by barren Chinese couples." It seems that Jim's story constantly changes depending on whom he is addressing.
The overall issue with Jim's book is that he provides no specific names, places, or events with which to confirm his story, from the "Xinyi" episode at the start, to his nomination for a Noble Peace Prize in 2009 at the end. In that episode an anonymous Chinese official asks Jim for permission to nominate him for the Peace Prize. There is no name of this official to research. Garrow goes on to say he was beaten for the Prize by President Obama, a man Garrow openly despises, and goes so far as to publish his letter of congratulations to the President. Readers familiar with the nomination process will realize that thousands of members are on the nomination committee, and the winner is nominated by literally thousands of those members.
Nominees are not made known for 50 years, so we can't even determine if his nomination occurred. However, one can see that even if Garrow's nomination by the nameless Chinese official were actual, Garrow would not have received anywhere near the votes to present any competition for President Obama or the other top contenders. Thus, chapter 30 of his book, "The Nobel Peace Prize Scandal", in which he writes President Obama and states "We may have lost the Nobel Peace Prize to you, President Obama, but I believe that there is a higher purpose to every event in our lives" (p.149) is without doubt one of the most brazen and unprovable assertions in the book. And that is saying a lot.
In the end Garrow's story will be like those of other religious "prophets" to whom God has supposedly spoken: Outsiders will be able to point out inconsistencies, attack the veracity of the details, and question the validity of the events recounted. But believers in Jim's story will discount such problems, and insist that since such issues can't be totally disproved, they could be true. Thus, Garrow's story will be viewed as "a story told from a dream" by those who see it skeptically, but as the work of God by those who share Garrow's faith in "saving" children from China.
Gordon Duff posted articles on VT from 2008 to 2022. He is a Marine combat veteran of the Vietnam War. A disabled veteran, he worked on veterans and POW issues for decades.
Gordon is an accredited diplomat and is generally accepted as one of the top global intelligence specialists. He manages the world's largest private intelligence organization and regularly consults with governments challenged by security issues.
Duff has traveled extensively, is published around the world, and is a regular guest on TV and radio in more than "several" countries. He is also a trained chef, wine enthusiast, avid motorcyclist, and gunsmith specializing in historical weapons and restoration. Business experience and interests are in energy and defense technology.
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MLB 12 The Show Review
|Image courtesy of GameRant.com
Next to the Home Opener, the release of MLB 12 The Show is probably the second most anticipated day on the 2012 calendar for Blue Jays fans such as myself.
Truth be told that I played a lot of MLB 11 The Show last year. So much so that I wore out the right analog stick on my PS3 controller. That's how many virtual at bats I took last year, so having this year's edition of the game is just feeding my addiction for baseball even further.
Now that I've had a little time to play the game and comb through most of the new features, I've compiled all my thoughts into one cohesive review of the game. I haven't had a chance to explore all parts of the game quite yet, but here's my take on what I have played.
The operative word when it comes to hitting in MLB 12 The Show is "control". There is a multitude of options when you step into the box; you can have complete control with the new zone analog batting, or you can just stick with the traditional one-button batting mode.
I actually really enjoy the new zone analog batting feature because it forces your eyes to follow the path of the baseball as it travels from the mound to the plate. If you've ever played any of the Ken Griffey Jr. baseball games for N64, you'll be very familiar with this style.
I kept switching back and forth between pure analog batting and the zone analog batting simply because I was so used to pure analog from last year, but I really enjoyed the new style for MLB 12 The Show.
With so many options (zone, zone plus analog, timing, or pure analog), the control is completely in our hands when it comes to hitting. I think even the biggest baseball enthusiasts and casual gamers alike will enjoy the selection.
Another new thing you'll notice about the hitting is there is real-time feedback after every swing. So you no longer have to tap the L3 button to see if you were early or late on your swing, and how far off your swing was.
All that information is all displayed automatically for you in a on-screen hud either to the left or the right of the batter after every single pitch. It's a very useful feature that is a welcome addition to MLB 12 The Show.
Much like the hitting side of the game, pitching in MLB 12 The Show received a little bit of tweaking as well. Pulse pitching is the brand new feature this time around, and I have to admit that I'm not the biggest fan of it.
Maybe it's because I couldn't quite master the timing of it, but it just seemed to have a mind of its own. You need to be extremely precise with pulse pitching, as I found myself missing my spots by huge margins.
I personally much prefer the meter pitching or pure analog method of pitching simply because it feels like you have a lot more control of your pitcher as opposed to using pulse pitching.
A few little things I noticed is that you can actually have your starting pitcher take warm-up tosses before the game. This is a good way to get a quick feel for your pitcher's repertoire before the game actually starts.
You can also have your relievers take long toss rather than warm up in the bullpen. Since you can only warm up two pitchers at a time, this allows you to get some of your other pitchers warmed up as the game progresses into the later innings.
Road to the Show
This is where I spend the bulk of my time with this game, and Road to the Show is just as great if not a little better than last year's version.
This time though, you start off as a starter in your organization's AA team. I think this gives you a much better semblance of where you need to go and how you need to progress to make it to The Show.
I only have about 4 series under my belt in my player's journey in Road to the Show, so it's hard to fully evaluate this aspect of the game at this point. So far I don't have any qualms and my coach hasn't asked me to put on a hit-and-run yet … one thing that really bugged me in MLB 11 the Show.
It also seems like stealing bases in Road to the Show (and in general) is much easier this year. In previous versions, I struggled greatly with swiping bags in training sessions. Now it seems like a much more fair fight against opposing backstops.
Jose Bautista's Beard
Now that Jose Bautista is the cover athlete of MLB 12 The Show, it's nice to see the programmers paid extra special attention to one very important aspect of his character … his beard.
No longer does Jose look like he's sporting a five o'clock shadow, he now has a full-on beard … which is undoubtedly the source of all his home run-hitting power.
I've had a few people ask me if the upgrades to this year's edition of the game warrants a purchase of MLB 12 The Show. As silly as it sounds, I would've bought the game just for the new Blue Jays uniforms and Jose Bautista on the cover alone.
If you're a Blue Jays fan, then this one is a no-brainer; go out and buy this game and play it to death until Opening Day, and then maybe play it a tiny bit less as the Blue Jays season gets into full swing.
However, if you already own a copy of MLB 11 The Show and aren't concerned about Jose Bautista or the new Blue Jays uniforms, then you might be less inclined to purchase MLB 12. I'm not sure if the new features this time around warrant a purchase if MLB 11 is in your PS3 library already.
Last year's version definitely did because of the introduction of the pure analog control scheme. This time, it was more of just a tweaking of the controls rather than an a complete overhaul.
By no means is that a knock on MLB 12 The Show. It's just that it's
tough to improve upon a model in MLB 11 The Show which was very good in
the first place. Why reinvent the wheel when you don't have to, right?
Overall though, MLB 12 The Show is a much more polished version of its predecessor and The Show remains the preeminent baseball
game out there. I've played the MLB 2K12 demo and I don't think
it comes anywhere close to The Show.
MLB 12 The Show is simulation baseball at its finest. As you can tell by the screenshots, the graphics are ultra-realistic and the brand new ball physics add an entirely new level of realism to the game.
That being said, The Show is not one of those games you can just pick up and start mashing home runs from the get-go. There is a bit of a learning curve especially when it comes to hitting, but once you've gotten the hang of it, that just makes hitting those home runs all that more rewarding.
The presentation of MLB 12 The Show is solid, the controls are great, and Blue Jays fans are going to love seeing the new uniforms and finally having one of their own on the cover of the game. Happy gaming, everyone!
Overall rating from MLB 12 The Show: 9 out of 10


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Freedom Reigns celebrates the summer Olympics this season with its all new World Champion Collection. Inspired by the flags of leading nations, the World Champion Collection features an assortment of briefs, tanks, tees, jackets and shorts, all coordinating with uniquely bold color combinations set against its patented multi-stripe red, white and blue elastic waist band.
Freedom Reigns
Presents World Champion Collection Celebrates Summer Games
Freedom Reigns celebrates the summer Olympics this season with its all new World Champion Collection. Inspired by the flags of leading nations, the World Champion Collection features an assortment of briefs, tanks, tees, jackets and shorts, all coordinating with uniquely bold color combinations set against its patented multi-stripe red, white and blue elastic waist band.
"Like the athletes we design for, Freedom Reigns is a leader in its playing field", says Curtis Stallard, who runs the label with head designer Sael Castro. "Our use of asymmetrical color combinations, unique construction and trim is what sets us apart from our competitors. It has become something of an identifying brand in itself, as evidenced by the tremendous success of our top-selling Hero brief."
Sael Castro and Curtis Stallard launched Freedom Reigns in 2010 as a tee-shirt shop on California's Melrose Avenue. On a whim, they tested a playful graphic brief on the sales floor. It was a hit with customers and within a few months, Freedom Reigns began unveiling several styles of briefs, trunks, and jockstraps.
Seeing potential to expand their briefs internationally – and with the guidance of Nir Zilberman of the Man Trends Agency – the pair closed their Melrose shop and began distributing their collections (which now included an entire sports range) through boutiques around the world. Zilberman encouraged the pair to emphasize their being American made by adding more red, white and blue to their design palette.
In addition to affording their gear with quality comfort and a sexy athletic style all its own, being American Made holds unique significance to both Castro and Stallard. Sael Castro grew up in Mexico where citizens are not free to live or love freely. He became a legal resident of the United States in 2006. During the short period when gay marriage was legal in California, he married his business and life partner, Curtis Stallard. In July, they will celebrate their fourth year anniversary.
Both men believe that in order to regain its strength; the USA must rebuild its manufacturing infrastructure. Through Freedom Reigns, they hope to do their small part in restoring the nation's economy by bringing quality manufacturing back to the states.
According to Stallard, "Most large brands today are manufactured off-shore in foreign countries. Consequentially, their quality is inferior. It's most noticed in the puckering at the waistband where the cotton is sewn to the elastic. It takes time and talent for a seamstress to be able to sew the cotton flat to the elastic. Time and talent are not an off-shore quality."
Freedom Reigns believes its customers appreciate quality of fabrics and construction. "They are active, self-assured and free-spirited leaders," says Stallard.
Freedom Reigns' summer collection reflects its customer: the gear is playful and sports minded with a variety of sport stripes, woven stripes and intricate insets on underwear, tee's, tanks, shorts, long johns and jackets. In addition to the World Champion Collection, the company is unveiling their All American Jockstrap (with an innovative red, white and blue strap), the Silver Racer Brief (with its metallic Indy 500 inset panel) and the Academy Brief and Tee.
They have also updated some of their popular styles from past seasons. The Fusion Brief now sports colorful stripes and trim. The Body Pump (consisting of color blocks hand sewn together), The G-Force (with inset panels individually sewn to one another, emphasizing the pouch) and the Hybrid Jock a Freedom Reigns creation (which is a combination of sexy underwear and a jockstrap in one) have all been improved upon for 2012.
America's red, white and blue were a main theme for this Olympic season but the designers also incorporated many of the colors seen on the summer fashion runways including bright canary yellow, fuchsia pink, Ferrari red and charcoal grey.
"When designing our summer collections, we felt it was important to remember the spirit of the games," concludes Stallard. "It's a spirit that aligns perfectly with our own brand ideology. Freedom Reigns represents freedom in every aspect of life. We encourage men to live, love and play freely and let freedom reign wherever they are."
Freedom Reigns' World Champion Collection and the entire Summer 2012 line are available now at select retail stores and online at LAJock.com.


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History of Riley County
Founding of Riley County
Riley County's founding occurred during the exciting, volatile years shortly before the Civil War. The Indian lands of Kansas Territory were opened to legal settlement after 1854. Land hungry immigrants poured into the Territory, most motivated by a combination of reasons, ideological with the fight to make Kansas a free state, and financial with the prospect of fortune making in the new territory. The area now comprising Riley County was part of the Kansa Indian reservation, though by 1854 the Kansa Indians no longer lived in the Riley County area. Increased settlement and travel disrupted the lives of Indians living in today's Kansas and conflicts developed. The Federal Government decided a military fort was needed further west than Leavenworth to maintain order and guard the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails. Thus Fort Riley was located at the junction of the Smoky Hill and Republican Rivers in 1853. Originally named Camp Center, the fort was renamed in June 1853 in honor of the recently deceased Major General Bennet C. Riley, former Commander of Ft. Leavenworth, Mexican War Veteran, and last territorial Governor of California.
Fort Riley Spawns Growth
Establishment of the fort encouraged settlement in the near vicinity. The town of Pawnee, intended to be the Kansas Territorial capital, sprang up in the fall of 1854 beside the new fort only to be declared illegally placed on reservation land and closed down in August 1855. The Kansas Territorial Legislature organized Riley County as one of the first thirty-six counties in the state March 8, 1855. Original boundaries were the Marshall county line to the north (thirty miles south of the Kansas/Nebraska border) and the Smoky Hill and Kansas Rivers to the south. The eastern boundary included what is today the western half of Pottawatomie county and the western boundary was eight miles short of today's western boundary line. However, the adjacent territory was attached for administrative purposes to Riley County. Thus the western boundary actually was to the crest of the Rocky Mountains until Davis (Geary) county was formed in 1857 and Clay county was formed in 1860. Riley County's boundaries have changed through the years. The eastern edge was moved to the Big Blue river in 1857 and when the government survey was complete the western edge moved to its present location eight miles west. In 1860 land between the Republican and Smoky Hill River was added to Davis (Geary) county and in 1861 a strip of land along the south side of the Kansas River was added to Riley County from Davis. In 1871 Zeandale Township was attached to Riley County from Wabaunsee county, but in 1873 the south six square miles were returned. In the last land swap, Davis county took Milford Township in exchange for Ashland Township in 1873. Fort Riley has also had two major enlargements of the 1854 reservation, which took Riley County land in 1942 and in 1965. The Tuttle Creek reservoir project (dedicated 1963) also reduced the size of the original county.
During the first few years of Riley County's existence, a number of towns developed. Juniata, or Dyer's Crossing, on the east side of the Blue River, north of present Manhattan, was the first. This settlement was at the crossing of the Fort Leavenworth to Fort Riley road. A number of other towns also quickly developed. Ogden received settlers from the defunct Pawnee and the first Riley County Commission moved from Pawnee to Ogden. In 1858, after a vote and a dispute, the county seat moved From Ogden to Manhattan. Ogden held the Federal land office 1857 - 1859, when it moved to Junction city. In 1870 Ogden became a second-class city.
The Ogden settlement contained pro-slavery sentiment, as did the original town of Randolph. Gardner Randolph came to Kansas from Tennessee to build a plantation home near the mouth of Fancy Creek. He organized a town company to help hold his property and founded Randolph in 1857. The town's name was changed to Waterville in 1859, but was renamed Randolph in 1876. Swedish settlement in northern Riley County helped establish business. The town thrived when the Manhattan and Blue Valley Railroad extended through the valley in 1886. An area called East Randolph sprang up around the new depot.
Ogden and Randolph excepted, all the other towns settled in Riley County during the territorial years had decided free state leanings, if they were not outright free state advocates. Ashland, originally in Davis (Geary) county was settled by the Cincinnati and Kansas Land Company in 1855. Ashland was the Davis county seat 1857 - 1860 and hoped to attract a railroad connection. Failing to do so, the town declined and was vacated in 1873, the year it became part of Riley County.
Founding of Manhattan
The Cincinnati and Kansas Land Company also played a part in the founding of Manhattan. This town developed through the efforts of four separate town-founding groups. In the fall of 1854 George Park founded the town of Poleska along the Kansas River; also in the fall of 1854 Samuel Dexter Houston and four others founded the town of Canton at the foot of Bluemont Hill. These two settlements were in place when Isaac Goodnow and the New England Emigrant Aid Colony settled at the confluence of the Blue and Kansas Rivers in the spring of 1855. By April, these three joined to form the town of Boston. In June 1855 the Cincinnati and Kansas Land Company steamboat Hartford became stuck near Boston. The Boston group asked the Ohio emigrants to join their effort and with certain concessions, including renaming the town Manhattan to please a financier, they stayed. Thus Manhattan was born and grew to become a third-class city in 1870, second-class city in 1880, and a first-class city in 1968.
Shortly after organizing the town, a college was founded and a charter obtained from the Territorial Legislature for the Bluemont Central College Association. This school opened in 1860 under the supervision of the Methodist Church. Efforts were made to have the school declared the State University. Failing that, and with the Morrill Act approved by Congress, the school became one of the first land grant colleges in the United States under the act in 1863 as Kansas State Agricultural College. Today the school is known as Kansas State University.
The development of the Kansas Pacific (Union Pacific) railroad through Manhattan and Ogden in 1866 gave these towns the stimulus for growth. Later, in the 1880's, the county saw rapid railroad development, with most roads radiating from Manhattan. A number of Riley County towns were founded by or radically changed by this railroad development. The Kansas Central Railroad came into being as a narrow gauge in Leavenworth in 1871, reaching Riley County in 1881 at the town of Garrison Crossing. This town was founded as a railroad stop just across the Blue River from Garrison. The line continued west to Alembic, which was laid out in 1881 with hopes of attracting a depot. In order to help lure the railroad the town's name was changed to Leonard, then Leonardville, in honor of Leonard T. Smith, President of the Railroad Company. Leonardville became a town of third class in 1885. As the Kansas Central continued west it stopped at the town of Lasita, founded with railroad hopes and a general store in 1880 by Michael Senn. The Kansas Central became a standard gauge in 1890 and changed its name to the Leavenworth Kansas, and Western in 1897. It became part of the Union Pacific in 1908 and was abandoned in 1934.
Radiating south from Manhattan was the Manhattan, Alma and Burlingame Railroad, built in 1880 through Zeandale to Alma. The railroad abandoned this line in 1898.
The Blue Valley Railroad followed the Blue River north from Manhattan. Built to the Rocky Ford Dam in 1874, Michner Condray laid out the town of Stockdale in 1873 anticipating the trains. The line reached the town by 1881 and continued north to reach Randolph by 1885. Cleburne town builders also anticipated the railroad, founding it in 1886 and naming the town for John C. Cleburne, Superintendent of the line. The railroad continued along the Blue to about Blue Rapids. It was abandoned in 1958 with the Tuttle Creek project.
The last railroad built through Riley County was the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific, built in 1887. Just east of Manhattan, across the Kansas River, Fairmont Addition was located along the line to the west. Keats was founded in 1887, laid out by the railroad, named by a railroad official with whom the poet was a favorite. Keats was founded from the start of a town named Wildcat, begun in 1860. Riley too, was developed by the Rock Island from earlier town starts. The town of Union was established in 1870. Because there was another post office of that name, it was changed to Riley Center. This town prospered until the railroad reached Leonardville, when many Riley Center merchants moved, sometimes even moving their business buildings. When the Rock Island Railroad arrived they placed their depot in a new town of Riley adjacent to Riley Center. In 1895 Union, Riley Center, and Riley registered combined plats as Riley.
Bala city too was a combination of earlier towns. In 1870 a colony of Welsh settlers organized the town of Powys (two miles east of present Bala.) They were unable to locate sufficient water, so relocated two miles west, closer to a spring and laid out the town of Bala in 1871. The town thrived until the railroad through Leonardville caused a business decline, as it had in Riley Center. Another set back occurred in 1882 when a tornado almost destroyed the remaining town. In 1887 the Rock Island railroad laid their track one mile south and west of the village and the station was named Bala city. Most of the town of Bala moved to the new Bala city. The Bala city depot was discontinued during the depression and the hard surface county road by passed both Bala and Bala city. The Bala school closed in 1964 and the post office suspended delivery in 1966.
Other Riley County towns were located on trade routes. Bodaville (c. 1885) and May Day (1871) were communities founded around the establishment of a store. Winkler was established around a mill built in 1857 and later (c. 1871) a store. Schools and Churches also helped establish communities and neighborhoods such as Peach Grove, Swede Creek, Center Hill, Parallel, Tabor Valley, Deep Creek, Rose Hill, Alert, Grandview, and Mariadahl. At peak, around 1900, there were over eighty schools in Riley County.
Two resort communities also developed in the county. Blasing Springs (1882) provided mineral water for medicinal drinking and bathing. In 1887 the Blasing family built a three-story hotel for guests. The hotel was destroyed by a tornado in 1943. The second resort, Manhattan Beach, also called the Eureka Lake Resort, was built by C.P. Dewey in 1899 on an elbow lake of the Kansas River. The resort attracted guests from the east, especially Dewey's home of Chicago. The flood of 1903 destroyed the lake and resort was later sold. An Interurban Railroad connected Eureka Lake to Manhattan after its establishment in 1909 and the line was extended to Junction city in 1913. It was discontinued in the late 1920's.
Flooding in Riley County
The flood that destroyed the Eureka Lake in 1903 was one of many reoccurring floods in Riley County. Flooding was experienced in 1844, 1867, 1903, 1904, 1908, 1915, 1935, 1945, and 1951 among other times. The 1908 flood changed the course of the Blue and Kansas Rivers creating Hunter's Island south of town on the Kansas River and moving the Blue River east away from the edge of Manhattan. The 1951 Kansas River flood was one of the worst floods in United States history, to that time, in terms of property damage. It served as a major catalyst for the establishment of Tuttle Creek Reservoir. The idea of the reservoir was not new. First recommended in the 1930's, the project saw renewed interest after each flood. Originally authorized by Congress in 1938, work began in 1952 with an actual appropriation. Residents of the Blue Valley staged a massive resistance campaign against "Big Dam Foolishness" lasting many years. The major flood of 1951 helped defeat that campaign. Dedication of the dam was held in June 1963. Riley County towns of Stockdale, Cleburne, and Garrison Crossing were removed and Randolph was relocated by the project.


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For several thousands of years, ancient Egypt dominated the Mediterranean world -- and scholars across the globe have spent more than a century trying to document the reigns of the various rulers of Egypt's Old, Middle and New Kingdoms. Now, a detailed radiocarbon analysis of short-lived plant remains from the region is providing scientists with a long and accurate chronology of ancient Egyptian dynasties that agrees with most previous estimates but also imposes some historic revisions.
Although previous chronologies have been precise in relative ways, assigning absolute dates to specific events in ancient Egyptian history has been an extremely contentious undertaking. This new study tightly constrains those previous predictions, especially for the Old Kingdom, which was determined to be slightly older than some scholars had believed. The study will also allow for more accurate historical comparisons to surrounding areas, like Libya and Sudan, which have been subject to many radiocarbon dating techniques in the past.
Christopher Bronk Ramsey and colleagues from the Universities of Oxford and Cranfield in England, along with a team of researchers from France, Austria and Israel, collected radiocarbon measurements from 211 various plants -- obtained from museum collections in the form of seeds, baskets, textiles, plant stems and fruits -- that were directly associated with particular reigns of ancient Egyptian kings. They then combined their radiocarbon data with historical information about the order and length of each king's reign to make a complete chronology of ancient Egyptian dynasties.
Their research is published in the June 18 issue of Science.
"My colleague, Joanne Rowland, went to a lot of museums, explaining what we were doing and asking for their participation," Bronk Ramsey said. "The museums were all very helpful in providing material we were interested in -- especially important since export of samples from Egypt is currently prohibited. Fortunately, we only needed samples that were about the same size as a grain of wheat."
The researchers' new chronology does indicate that a few events occurred earlier than previously predicted. It suggests, for example, that the reign of Djoser in the Old Kingdom actually started between 2691 and 2625 B.C. and that the New Kingdom began between 1570 and 1544 B.C.
Bronk Ramsey and his colleagues also found some discrepancies in the radiocarbon levels of the Nile Valley, but they suggest that these are due to ancient Egypt's unusual growing season, which is concentrated in the winter months.
For the most part, the new chronology simply narrows down the various historical scenarios that researchers have been considering for ancient Egypt.
"For the first time, radiocarbon dating has become precise enough to constrain the history of ancient Egypt to very specific dates," said Bronk Ramsey. "I think scholars and scientists will be glad to hear that our small team of researchers has independently corroborated a century of scholarship in just three years."
This report by Bronk Ramsey et al. was funded by the Leverhulme Trust with additional financial support from the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development, NERC, CNRS, CEA, IRSN, IRD, and Ministère de La Culture.
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