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Back again wrestling fans to finish off how to break into the biz with tapes and tryouts. Both are important, but ultimately useless. It's word of mouth that gets you booked. I will touch on word of mouth later. Don't get me wrong, but it's the truth. As well, we'll talk a little wrestling biz and some thoughts. Onward and upward.
So you've gotten some experience and made some contacts and now you want to send a tape to a larger company. First, make sure that your taped match is of decent viewing quality. I don't mean it has to be a TV-quality match, but nobody wants to watch a blurry, poorly lit anything. So make sure it's well lit and in focus.
Next make sure whoever tapes for you knows what they are doing. By that I mean there's nothing worse than having a great match and the person taping misses all your best work by looking the wrong way or being too tight on a shot. That drove me crazy. Choose a good singles match to send. Preferrably one where you wrestle. Offices don't want to watch you go through tables or take chair shots. And don't send tag matches or multiple wrestler matches unless you are trying to get someone else booked too.
I have a good buddy who gave me a tape to bring to TNA with a four-team, one-hour Iron Team Match. I was told that by the fourth or fifth minute in, they forgot who they were
supposed to be watching work. And make sure you've labeled the tape properly, both with your contact info and real and work names. And for God's sake send a good picture with it so they know who they are looking at.
Tryouts are a different animal all together. For this I will use my own experience to show what I mean. First of all, if you are lucky enough to get a shot to show what you can do, remember a couple things.
First less is more. By that I mean, again, they want to see you wrestle. In my first WWE tryout I wrestled another Alberta guy by the name of Iceman Eric Freeze. We weren't given any direction so when they told us to "go out there and show us what you've got", we went out there and had a five-minute highspot fest. It was terrible. They were not pleased and ribbed us heartily. The next night I wrestled Dungeon grad Highlander Rob Scott and they made sure that we know we were not to leave our feet. So we went out and had a "wrestling" match and it was great. They were much happier the next night. Unfortunatlly they had just bought WCW and ECW had folded, so they weren't hiring. Timing is everything.
Second, if you are working one of the company's guys remember what you are there to do -- make their guy look great. If you do it well, they'll notice. If you don't, "thanks for coming out" will probably be what you hear. If you are good enough, you'll get your chance to show your stuff. Just be thankful you are there. There are a thousand guys who would walk over their mothers for that spot.
As far as word of mouth goes, it's the way most people get their shots. And this goes back to square one. If you get trained right, work hard, gain respect for the biz, then word of mouth will spread and you'll get there. That about covers it kids. Hope these have been helpful and taught you a little something.
Now, let's talk a little wrestling. Against All Odds has passed, and as I predicted, AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels tore the house down. If you didn't see the 30-minute Iron Man Match, I suggest you do, as it was EXCELLENT!
The tag title match between AMW and Kid Kash and Lance Hoyt was also really good. The main event of JJ and Big Kevin Nash really impressed a lot of people, too, although 'Net buzz hated the finish. But you can't please all the people all the time.
Three things have been sticking out to me lately as far as WWE goes.
I am also curious to see how their new developmental territory in Atlanta does. More work is always good for the biz.
On the indy scene, congrats and condolences to Bulldog Harry Smith for a successfull tour with New Japan, even though it got cut short due to injury. I have said it before and I'll say it again: Harry and T.J. Wilson are the two best unsigned workers in the world. Guaranteed money in the bank wherever they go. I'm looking forward to next weeks Albuquerque show. It will be great, and I am excited to meet Nick Bockwinkel!
On a sad note, I want to shout out to Frankie Kazarian, who has moved on from TNA. We all love and will miss him, as he's one of those guys everyone likes and wants to be like. Good Luck Bro'.
Alright, that's it. I'm done. If you are looking to get trained in western Canada, you can go to www.stampedewrestling.com to find out about training there. As well, Bad News Allen has a school and I will get that info up for you next week along with info on the Can Am school in Windsor, Ontario and the ROH training center, Pro Wrestling Iron's dojo and any others I can come up with.
Again responses, criticism, or praise are welcome, and if you are a promoter looking to book myself or any other Team Canada members, all emails to email@example.com will be looked at and an attempt to reply will be made. No promises though. Take it easy cats and kittens. Stay Hot.
EDITOR'S NOTE: "Hotshot" Johnny Devine's column will run on Saturdays on SLAM! Wrestling. Be sure to visit each week! For more on Devine's career, see his biography in our Canadian Hall of Fame.


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New 'Walking Dead' 2014 Return Trailer: The Bad Moon Rising
'The Walking Dead' will be upon us all again in less than a month's time, but what of those already hungry for the second half of season 4? Feast your eyes on the latest trailer for the AMC horror smash's return on February 9, and find out what's on the horizon for Rick, Daryl and all the others scattered to the wind!
AMC's latest 'Walking Dead' season 4 trailer catches us up a bit with the various groups' fates after - SPOILER ALERT - the Governor's final assault destroyed any security to the prison, forcing the different groups to splinter off in the chaos of their escape. Apart from new looks at Rick and Carl's odyssey, the latest footage sees Beth getting weepy with Daryl, while a few brief shots might reveal that some of the Governor's forces could have survived long enough to escape on their own!
It remains to be seen when we'll catch up with the other survivors, though we at least know of a trio of new faces will cross paths with one of the divided groups. The Governor certainly won't be back (or will he?), meaning the survivors will likely encounter some new dangers out on the open road, as well. We also saw the first photo of the latter eight episodes, featuring Carl ignoring the warning of the season 4B poster by looking back instead of at the walkers ahead! Silly Carl.
Well, what do you think? Take a look at the latest 'Walking Dead' season 4 trailer above, and tell us what spoilers you spot before the February 9 premiere!

subset: commoncrawl


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Operation Yellow Ribbon/Disabled American Veterans Chapter 129 Euchre Party Fundraiser
Date: Thursday, February 25, 2016
Time: 7:00pm Play starts (Doors open at 6:30pm)
6:30pm - Food available for purchase
Location: Disabled American Veterans Chapter 129
47326 Dequindre Road, Shelby Township, MI 48317 MAP
Cost: $7 for Euchre
Prizes: 50% of total proceeds used for prizes;
remaining 50% divided between OYR & DAV129
Must RSVP by 2/24/16
RSVP: Peggy 248-425-2722 or Toni 248-953-4901
All proceeds will go towards assisting veterans and their families. Bring your family and friends for a FUN night of Euchre!!
Image from http://www.idahofirearmsclasses.com


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Policies/Uploading and Downloading from Eclipse Software Policy
This policy is concerned with Eclipse Foundation project code uploading, downloading, or otherwise connecting from software distributed by the Eclipse Foundation to remote services.
This policy applies for software that:
- checks for updates;
- pulls information from servers;
- provides a heartbeat;
- gathers usage statistics;
- gathers data from a user's workstation; or
- otherwise collects information from user installations.
Private Information
All uploaded information is subject to the terms of the Eclipse Privacy Policy.
Raw data, which may include non-obvious potentially private information, must be transferred securely.
Raw data must be stored securely and access to the data must be strictly controlled. To access the raw data stored on an Eclipse Foundation Server, an individual must be a committer. An individual must sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with The Eclipse Foundation to get access to raw data that may include personally-identifiable information .
Obvious means of identifying a specific individual or organization (e.g. IP address) must not be persisted. Server logs that are accessible only by Eclipse Foundation Webmasters are exempt.
Reasonable effort must be taken to avoid persisting or disseminating information that can inadvertently be used to identify an individual or organization.
The target for data collected by content distributed from an Eclipse Foundation-managed server must also be an Eclipse Foundation-managed server (e.g. the Eclipse packages must be configured to send data to an eclipse.org server). This can be configurable by adopters to send to an alternate server.
Information that may be used to identify individuals or organizations must not be made publicly available.
The retention policy for publicly accessible data must be documented.
Auditing and Approval
Documentation, including a full description of the nature of all information captured by a call-home service, must be publicly accessible.
When it is clear from context that information will be sent and/or received, user initiated activity--for example, a user-initiated build downloads artifacts from Maven central, or a user-initiated file transfer sends a file to a remote server via SFTP--are acceptable without formal approval.
Processes that fetch data only (i.e. no data is sent from the user's workstation) from Eclipse Foundation servers--for example, pulling items from a news feed--are acceptable without formal approval. PMC approval is required for a project to implement a process that fetches data from a third-party source.
Processes that upload data--for example, a list of all currently installed bundles and/or JVM version, or usage patterns--require PMC and EMO(ED) approval. The default configuration for software produced by a project must target Eclipse Foundation-managed servers only for uploads. Exceptions to this rule can only be granted by the EMO(ED). Projects can (and should) implement extensible frameworks that permit adopters to upload data to different targets.
Any service that uploads data must be "opt-in". That is, a user must agree to participate (agreement may be implicit due to the nature of the service).
If the nature of the data being collected changes, the user must be informed of the changes and be given the opportunity to explicitly agree to continue participation.
The user must be able to review any data before it is uploaded.
Services that get/pull data only do not require "opt-in". The server components for these services must not attempt to persist any information related to a get/pull data service (server logs, with access restricted to administration staff only, are exempted from this requirement).
Common Mechanism
Reasonable effort must be undertaken to leverage existing mechanisms rather than create new ones.


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Burton 'High Fives' Day Three – Slopestyle Finals
WANAKA, New Zealand (August 17, 2012) The first annual Burton 'High Fives' snowboarding competition, presented by MINI, continued today at Snow Park NZ in Wanaka with the exciting Slopestyle Finals. Taking first place and walking away $USD $10,000 richer each, were Burton riders Mikkel Bang (NOR) and Enni Rukajarvi (FIN).
60 of the top snowboarders in the world have experienced a snowboarding event like no other in New Zealand this week as the Burton High Fives combined traditional snowboarding eventswith unique off-snow team challenges. The first two days of the event saw the riders taking part in a variety of Kiwi-influenced challenges including skeet shooting, knife throwing and jet boat racing, just to name a few. The athletes also took to the driving track for the MINI Countryman Winter Driving Challenge where the fastest teams got the advantage of selecting the order for halfpipe and slopestyle. With the first two days of off-snow team challenges now completed, the action today shifted back toSnow Park NZ and the world-class slopestyle course.
Under sunny skies, the women were first up in the slopestyle finals. The Burton High Fives' jam format allowed each rider to get four runs, which lead to an exciting competition for the women. Burton's Enni Rukajarvi's (FIN) impressive third run scored her an 83.80 with an indy air, boardslide, frontside 3 indy, back 5, cab 5, and stale. Local New Zealand rider Christy Prior felt right at home nailing second place in her final run with 78.20. Her solid run consisted of an ollie, backside lipslide, front 3 tailtap, front rodeo 7, back 3, and backside air. Ty Walker (USA) came in third in her final run with 77.00. She locked in the final podium spot with a run that included a 50/50, lipslide, front 3 tailtap, frontside 3, back 7, and a method.
Burton rider Mikkel Bang (NOR) was the clear standout throughout the men's competition as he took the lead right off the bat with his first run score of 91.00 – only to top it on his second run with 95.40 points. Mikkel's winning run started out with a switch backside 1, front 270, back 5, switch back 12, front 10 double, and a backside rodeo 5 stale over the final hip jump. Head Judge, Mel Simmons, commented, "Mikkel's run had everything, it was tech, it had the spins, and it was totally stomped. It was the complete package".
For the rest of the men's field it was a matter of catch up, and it all came down to their final runs as top riders leap-frogged each other for the remaining podium spots. Sebastien Toutant (CAN) busted into second place with 94.00 points, courtesy of a back 3, frontblunt sameways 270, front 3 tail, back 10 double, front 10 double, and double back rodeo to finish. Taking third place with 92.00 points was Stale Sandbech (NOR), his run started with a 50/50 front 1 close out, hardways 270, cab 5,front 10, back 14, and alley oop.
Prize money today totalled US $35,000, with the same amount on the table again for tomorrow's halfpipe finals. While competing for individual results in slopestyle, riders were also representing 12 teams selected earlier in the week for the off-snow challenges. Points from those challenges will be combined with points from today's slopestyle and tomorrow's halfpipe rankings, and the top team will walk away with an additional US $10,000 to split between them. The total prize purse of US $80,000 is the largest to date in New Zealand snow sports history.
The Burton High Fives will wrap up tomorrow with the halfpipe finals so be sure to check the live webcast onwww.opensnowboarding.com starting at 10:15am New Zealand standard time. At the conclusion of the Halfpipe prize giving, the High Fives Sunset Sessions will take place at the Woolshed at Snow Park NZ from 3-6pm, featuring Dudstown Soundsystem. The entertainment continues with the High Fives Closing Party later in the evening at Opium Bar in Wanaka, also featuring Dudstown Soundsystem.
The 2012 Burton High Fives is the first event in the Burton Global Event Series and is a 5star event on the TTR World Tour. A special thanks to High Five partners MINI, Nokia, Red Bull, Snow Park NZ, Jagermeister, Juice TV, Skinny Mobile, The Edge, Stoke Lager, and Mighty Campervans.


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Men's lambskin leather driving gloves
Scuderia Ferrari Store Exclusive
The soft lambskin Scuderia Ferrari driving gloves have classic openings on the wrist and on the knuckles and stand out for their impeccable style.
Boasting the quintessential Scuderia Ferrari style, the men's driving gloves, made entirely in Italy, stand out for a minute attention to detail: the two sides in contrasting colours, the visible stitched seams on the front and in contrasting colours on the side, and the button closure. Elegant and bold like a single-seater on the track, they are completed by the printed Scuderia Ferrari logo and come with an exclusive gift box in the iconic Scuderia Ferrari red with a Shield.
- Snap button fastening
- Composition: 100% Lambskin
We offer both Standard and Express shipping: choose the service that best meets your needs at checkout.
We provide free pick up for your returns: you have 15 days from delivery to follow our quick and easy return procedure.


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We would like to thank all the coffee lovers who came out to the Seattle Design Center for Northwest Coffee Festival this past weekend.
It was the first time the Home Products Division participated in this festival, and we had a fabulous time chatting with the locals and sharing great coffee. We hope you a memorable brew from our trifecta!
It was also the first time our new team member, Nathan, attended and worked a consumer event.
See what newbie Nathan said about the 2012 Northwest Coffee Festival:
"I loved meeting all the vendors, roasters, and especially the locals who were so supportive and welcomed us into their city. Everyone's passion for coffee shines through those cloudy Seattle days."
This may cause the BUNN website to function incorrectly.
In order to have the best experience with our website, we recommend that you update your browser to the most current version.
Continue to website
(This may result in a poor experience on the site)


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Oasis Dental Care has a fantastic opportunity for a Specialist Restorative Dentist to join our well established Parade Private Specialist Dental Centre in Cardiff.
This rare opportunity is to take over from a longstanding retiring Restorative Specialist. Position offers 1 day per week increasing to 3 days from November. Candidates must be experienced in Restorative dentistry and ideally on the GDC Specialist register
Oasis Dental Care is the current market leader in private dentistry and as we continue to grow we would like to welcome you to join in our success. Our primary focus is on patient care and quality dentistry and as such we are recruiting dentists that share our values. Our mission is to make people smile!
If you are asking yourself 'why join Oasis' then please allow me to highlight just some of the fantastic incentives that we think you'll like
- Excellent Working facilities and the latest equipment
- Highest standards of clinical governance
- On-boarding and Induction process
- Excellent Clinical Structure and Support
- Oasis Indemnity that offers you full cover, bespoke to Oasis
- Continuous Professional Development
- Sponsored Education
- Career Mobility
So what's not to love... Is your heart in the right place? If you or someone you know would be interested in working with a dynamic and expanding healthcare business we would love to hear from you!


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The Hope College Symphonette, under the direction of Dr. Richard Piippo, has announced its annual Spring tour beginning with a farewell on-campus concert in Holland on Thursday, March 14, followed by concerts in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 7:30 p.m.
Dimnent Memorial Chapel
Hope College campus
FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 7 p.m.
St. James Episcopal Church
155 North 6th St.
Zainesville, Ohio 43701
SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 7 p.m.
Plains Mennonite Church
50 W. Orvilla Road
Hatfield, Pa. 19440
SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 7 p.m.
Colts Neck Reformed Church
72 County Rd. 537 W.
Colts Neck, N.J. 07722
MONDAY, MARCH 18, 7:30 p.m.
Montvale Evangelical Free Church
141 W. Grand Ave.
Montvale N.J. 07645
The Symphonette is selected each year from the larger Hope College symphony orchestra. Through the Symphonette, the music department is able to offer concerts to church and school communities some distance from its campus and, at the same time, afford its more proficient players an unusual opportunity for group participation and concentrated study of musical styles.
T he Symphonette has made numerous radio and television appearances and has presented children's and youth concerts in addition to its series of formal concerts. The Symphonette has performed for the biennial meetings of the Music Educators' National Conference (MENC) and appears regularly in cities in Western Michigan. The Symphonette has appeared on the nationally televised Hour of Power from Garden Grove Church in California. The annual tour has taken the Symphonette from coast to coast in the U.S. as well as two Provinces in Canada, the British Isles, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
An avid performer and promoter of chamber music, Richard Piippo also brings a wealth
of solo, orchestral, and conducting experiences to audiences. Born in Wisconsin, he has Baccalaureate and Master's degrees from the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee. His studies at the university were with George Sopkin of the Fine Arts Quartet. Further studies were enhanced by work with Pierre Fournier in Switzerland and Lazio
Varga and Margaret Rowell at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. His conducting studies have been with George Cleve, Donald Craig, and Marvin Rabin.
Since 1996, Piippo has spent his summers on the faculty of Seminar at Western Michigan University, as conductor, solo performer, teacher and coach. His work with the Detroit Symphony has included tours of Europe, Japan, Carnegie Hall and numerous recordings. In the fall of 1999, Piippo joined the faculty of Hope College as professor of cello/chamber music and conductor of orchestras. The summer of 2000, Piippo performed as soloist and chamber player on the Fontana Chamber Music Festival, the Chamber Music Festival of Saugatuck, and the Dearborn Summer Music Festival. This is Piippo's eleventh season as Artistic Director/Conductor of the Dearborn Summer Music Festival. In the summer of 2005, Piippo toured China for three weeks performing as a soloist and giving masterclasses.
Piippo's performing career began as cellist with the Milwaukee Symphony. His reputation grew when he captured first place in two national cello competitions. He appears as soloist and chamber player throughout the United States and Canada, performs as adjunct cellist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and is the cellist with the Anchor Piano Trio. Critics have commented on his sure technique and lyrical style, which bring audiences and extraordinary musical experience.
Ranya Betts, Ypsilanti, Mich.
Katie Callam, Holland, Mich.
Larissa Fall, Grand Rapids, Mich.
Katherine Genzink, Holland, Mich.
Kristi Hansen, Ada, Mich.
Cameron Holder, Naples, Fla.
Nicholas Hubley, Fox River Grove, Ill.
Sara Mammen, Stillwater, Minn.
Alec Norkey, Jackson, Mich.
Luke Panning, Holland, Mich.
Eve Panning, Holland, Mich.
Meghanne Tighe, Leonard, MicH.
Anna DeGroot, Grand Rapids, Mich.
Margie Lund, Lexington, S.C.
Kelsey Otter, Grandvile, Mich.
Nicholas Vanderlaan, Greenville, Mich.
Christopher Waechter, Ventura, Calif.
Anna Lim, Vernon Hills, Ill.
Adam McVey, Geneva, Ill.
Alex Stradal, Muskegon, Mich.
Laura Vanderveld, Villa Park, Ill.
McLane Watson, Louisville, Colo.
Jacquie Woudenberg, Holland, Mich.
Eric Greve, Park Ridge, Ill.
Kelli VanDyke, Holland, Mich.
In Hyuk Hwang, Seoul, South Korea
Faith DeVries, Stillman Valley, Ill.
Ivy Keen, Bellaire, Tex.
Marie Schrampfer, Appleton, Wisc.
Erik Larson, Centerville, Ohio
Kelsey O ' Brien, Glen Ellyn, Ill.
Thomas Flath, Oconomowoc, Wisc.
Nicole Whitmore, Clarkston, Mich.
Jennifer Hielkema, Columbus, Ohio
Christopher Miller, Grand Ledge, Mich.
Matt Brown, Flint, Mich.
Melanie Lloyd, Oswego, Ill.
Gary Cooper, Okemos, Mich.
Alexandria Kessell, Custer, Mich.
James Schippers, Grand Haven, Mich.


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Where can I find MyPlate educational and promotional materials?
Q: How do I get some of the MYPLATEs?? Also would like some of the MYPLATE magnets?For my TOPs group!!Thanks
A: You can find MyPlate products as well as other fun and educational materials on fruits and vegetables in our online store.


text:
Search results for: Thirisa Bath
Thirisa Bath
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Visit Outlets at Vicksburg where you can shop over 20 name brand stores that offer up to 70% off retail prices everyday!
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Stanford researchers say they've designed the fastest, most accurate algorithm yet for brain-implantable prosthetic systems that let disabled people maneuver computer cursors with their thoughts.
They say the ReFIT algorithm's speed, accuracy and natural movement aren't far off those of a real arm, doubling the performance of existing algorithms. And, more than four years after implantation and unlike pther systems, ReFIT is still going strong.
"These findings could lead to greatly improved prosthetic system performance and robustness in paralyzed people, which we are actively pursuing as part of the FDA Phase-I BrainGate2 clinical trial here at Stanford," says professor Krishna Shenoy.
The system relies on a silicon chip implanted into the brain, which records 'action potentials' in neural activity from an array of electrode sensors, and then sends the data to a computer.
The frequency with which action potentials are generated gives the computer key information about the direction and speed of the user's intended movement.
The ReFIT algorithm that decodes these signals are rather differentfrom earlier models. Usually, brain activity is recorded while the subject moves or imagines moving an arm, and the data is analyzed after the fact.
"Quite a bit of the work in neural prosthetics has focused on this sort of offline reconstruction," says research associate Dr Vikash Gilja.
The ReFIT system is able to make adjustments on the fly when while guiding the cursor to a target. It can learn from the user's corrective movements, allowing the cursor to move more precisely than was the case with earlier prosthetics.
To test the new system, the team gave monkeys the task of mentally directing a cursor to a target - an onscreen dot - and holding the cursor there for half a second. ReFIT performed vastly better than previous technology in terms of both speed and accuracy, they say.
The path of the cursor from the starting point to the target was straighter, and it reached the target twice as quickly as earlier systems, achieving 75 to 85 percent of the speed of real arms.
"This paper reports very exciting innovations in closed-loop decoding for brain-machine interfaces," says Jose Carmena, associate professor of electrical engineering and neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley.
"These innovations should lead to a significant boost in the control of neuroprosthetic devices and increase the clinical viability of this technology."


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Senior guard James Montgomery has spent two years walking on for Northwestern, getting a grand total of 124 minutes. But new head coach Chris Collins has apparently been so taken with Montgomery's effort in practices, he called a team meeting to announce that Montgomery will be receiving a full scholarship this season.
The video also shows Montgomery calling his family to tell them the news, and it's an exciting moment. Though the scholarship is maybe more telling of the fact that the Wildcats have a scholarship to give, look at that Northwestern tuition—this is no token gesture.


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It's been a few long days on Mt. Bachelor, OR here at Superpark 16 Presented by Gatorade, but extended sessions are a staple of this event. Extended sessions also make it exponentially harder to wake up at four o'clock in the morning for a sunrise shoot (that's right, sunrise) on Loon Mountain, NH's premier feature, and seeing how well it went has us all at SNOWBOARDER considering making these early morning sessions a Superpark staple.
The Loon crew had their feature pristine and salted bright and early as Sam Taxwood, Hans and Nils Mindnich, Scotty Vine, Seth Hill, Nils Arvidsson, and Sebastién Toutant waited for the sun to poke through the trees and rise above the valley. Once it did, it was officially on, as the best session at Superpark 16 kicked off. Seth Hill killed it with every variation of five, seven, and nine known to man, while the brothers Mindnich applied their unique tweaks and impeccable style to the monster. Nils Arvidsson was arguab;y going the biggest, popping off his toes while spinning frontside and backside respectively. Sam Taxwood's back fives were incredible, and the same can be said for Sebastién's gigantic Cab double cork tens. However, it was Scotty Vine who unstrapped one foot to get the shot of the morning with a ridiculous one-foot frontside three. All of the riders got shots, and they're some of the best we've gotten since we arrived at Bachelor.
After lunch, about thirty riders made their way to the Loon Mountain hip for an afternoon slush session. Zac Marben started off the session with twenty-plus foot methods, and if you've never seen Marben's method, click through the gallery in this post and see exactly how a method is supposed to be done. After seeing how big he went, the other participants upped their amplitude, but Garrett Warnick went berserk. Worm sent it over the entire hip with a few massive straight airs, and then immediately after Worm went huge, Ben Bogart tried his hand at shooting the hip but he came up a few feet short and to the right, catching the last bit of tranny and walking away unscathed. Other standouts included Matts Kulisek, Sam Taxwood, Nils Mindnich, Jess Kimura, Seth Hill, and an assortment of other takers. Plainly put, the Loon hip went off, but it was the Boreal sunset session that would cap off one of the most productive Superparks to date: from sunup to sundown…literally.
Be sure to check back to snowboardermag.com for all the updates on Superpark 16 here at Mt. Bachelor, OR. There's still one day left and a few edits to drop, and the on-hill action is absolutely insane.


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In my book, I argue that the concept of human speech is a vitally important–though very frequently neglected–component of Paul's argument in Romans chapter 10.
Recent blog posts
- Built together (Ephesians 2:20–22)April 19, 2019Is every church on its own? How are Christian believers connected with other believers with whom we don't meet regularly: in our region, nation, and world?
- "Do not weep for me, weep for yourselves…" (Luke 23:28)April 17, 2019Why do Christians lament? Sometimes we lament out of sympathy, but sometimes we weep for ourselves. This is the kind of lament that Jesus calls for here.
- No second-class Christians (Ephesians 2:19)April 16, 2019Even if we don't say it out loud, we can often act as if there are different classes of Christians. But the gospel teaches us there are no second-class Christians.
- Christ the missionary (Ephesians 2:17–18)April 12, 2019Christ is a missionary. Christ does stranger evangelism. Christ preaches to the choir. Christ crosses cultures. Christ brings peace. So says the Apostle Paul. What does he mean?
- Christ the wall breaker (Ephesians 2:14–16)April 9, 2019In this broken and rebellious world, our healthy boundaries often become hostile walls. But the cross of Christ breaks down walls and brings reconciliation.
- The blood that brings us close (Ephesians 2:11–13)April 5, 2019Despite our best desires and efforts, we humans are not very good at living up close with others. This has become devastatingly obvious in the recent Christchurch shootings. Yet in his letter to the Ephesians, Paul talks about a conflict that really was healed. This passage is about a real closeness that all believers in Christ must remember: a closeness that is fundamental to our identity.
- Good works and salvation: What's the connection? (Ephesians 2:8–10)April 2, 2019A joke letter from an Australian church offering its financial donors priority access to heaven raises questions for all of us. Do our good deeds give us access to heaven? Or are our good deeds irrelevant? Where do our good deeds fit when it comes to salvation?
- A question of security (Ephesians 2:6–7)March 29, 2019As I write this, New Zealand is shocked and grieving. My own nation Australia is shocked and grieving too, along with them. But news stories about terror attacks and shootings in our world are far too common, aren't they? And whenever we hear of them, they bring to mind all sorts of questions. One of them is the question of security. As we grieve for the victims, we also think a little about ourselves. We wonder whether some day we too might be in the wrong place at the wrong time when a seemingly random attack happens. It's unsettling. It's not just a matter of national security; it's also a matter of our own personal security. Paul is talking in Ephesians 2:6–7 about a security that belongs to everyone who believes in Jesus Christ. It's not a guarantee of perfect national security or job security or financial security or security in relationships and health. Nor is it a guarantee that we will always feel perfectly secure. But it is still a real security, more unshakeable and deep-rooted than any other kind of security could be. So what is this security, and where does it come from?
- This love (Ephesians 2:4–5)March 26, 2019"God loves you": if I say just those three words, you may not hear what I want you to hear. This is because of a communication problem that arises whenever Christians try to talk about biblical concept of God's "love". When we say "love" we mean one thing—something wonderful and life-changing. But the word means quite different things to many English speakers. For example, the word "love" often means "strong desire". So if I say "God loves you" then it might sound like I'm saying "God has strong feelings for you". Another, increasingly common, understanding of "love" is the idea of "unconditional approval". In this view, the way to "love" somebody is to affirm and approve of everything they do. So if I don't approve of your actions and actively affirm everything you do, then by definition I'm not "loving" you (in fact, by definition I'm "hating" you). On this common definition of "love", if I say "God loves you" then it might sound like I'm saying "God affirms everything about you and your actions". But that's not what the Bible means by God's "love" either. Given this communication problem, how can I best explain the idea of God's "love"? Well, it's not actually that hard. The best way is to see how the word works when the Bible uses it. In Ephesians 2:4–5, Paul uses the word "love". But he doesn't just say "God loves you". He explains and spells out what that love means. And he helps us to see what God's love really means, and how amazing it is.
- We too: the offenders (Ephesians 2:3)March 22, 2019Judgmentalism. It's a bigger problem than we think. Judgmentalism is certainly a danger for God's people. That's because God's people have God's word. God's word helps God's people to see how wonderful God is, and how terrible humanity is in comparison. But Ephesians 2:3 contains two highly significant, emphatic words: "we too". We too, says Paul, were the offenders. We, too, were the disobedient. These words aren't talking about all those horrible people "out there". They're talking about God's people. And it's something we, too, need to hear. These words tell us something incredibly important—something that we ignore at our peril.
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Zero Punctuation: BioShock: Infinite
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Ok, i was exaggerating, i didn't actually meassure the time when i was going through it, but then again, considering it is "interactive", you could easily prolonge the time neaded to 20 minutes. But obviously that's not the point, that's never the point of exaggeration, point is, it is pretty long, but then again, compared to other story based-games, this appears to be in the current trend. I think, they could have just made it something like a cut-scene, similar to the conclusion from the former Shock titles, because honestly, at that point in the game i would've had nothing against it to just lay back, relax and see what was coming to me, because the "identification", or immersion or whatever, was pretty much gone for me, considering i noticed throughout the game that what i was doing would have had no real effect on the outcome and that all the points you were presented with a "choice", were just creating the illusion of choice in the first place.
but then again, every form of immersion is subjective, that's what it is all about, the question is how the player character is designed to deliver this immersion, if you are just "watching over the shoulder", as you guide the character through the game, but know it is an independet character, or if you are able to make every/most meaningfull decisions and thereby influence the character and the game itself (and some other possible forms to create a character). BioShock (and BS2) had a "nameless, faceless" protagonist, of whom you could still get to know some interesting background story, but which were basically "blank slates" to be filled by the player, down to several game influencing situations and "individual" endings derived from them. This makes for very good immersion, close to no matter who is playing. For DeWitt, he has a face and a name and a story being a crucial part of the main story itself, which is determined to break the immersion with some players going through the game. Now, i don't even see this as one of the major problems of the game, but it conflicts with the point of possible identification throughout the game and also with, as already mentioned, some of the "illusive choices", which then have no real impact throughout the game
and honestly, how interactive was the ending realy? You can just take a rest and do nothing, or jump into her face and Elizabeth wouldn't mind, because it was all scripted and didn't care for how you "interacted" with the game anymore, it's just the question of "when to move on", as you trigger the script along the way. I tried to interact with the ending
but it simply doesn't matter! While i also think this is kinda nice looking at the conclusion itself, it could have also had no matter while showing a cut-scene.
Ehm, yeah, OBJECTION or something ^^
For some examples:
for one presented throughoutthe middle of development
...and looking through the interweb these were actually the only two "major" trailers, later ones get shorter and shorter and show/tell less and less about the game. However, they never "corrected" the announcements they made or showed us throughougt development, on the contrary, in many interviews and announcements, i'm now to lazy to look up, they stated more enthusiasticly, how awesome the pieces they showed us would come together and form a complex world of choices on how to navigate through Columbia and how to resolve the problems at hand. Sure, they are allowed to change things, i can even imagine how sometimes developers have to be dissapointed, if some feature they wanted to implement then gets scratched in the process, because of various different reasons, but when it changes the majority of the gameplay you already showed to players, wouldn't it be good to say so? In a way, these trailers work like those/ the one for "Aliens: Colonial Marines" and i don't think i have to tell anyone how that played out? So please, don't try to tell me i would be factually false on this one, or show me how exactly i am.
Now we could find out what is subjective and what is of measurable quality in a narrative, but i don't really feel like it right now :).
Oh hell i can find lots of points to complain about the combat! The fact, that they did barely improve the points already criticized in BioShock, while they had said recources, knew about the problems, they could have changed them, but they didn't, is nothing but lazy design. Yes, as already said, the sky-devices are awesome and often make for exciting combat but then again aren't always present (sure if they would, they would become boring again fast), but in a way is even "counter" by so many other points which got even worse:
Well, i didn't expect Infinite to be more like SystemShock, i didn't even expect it to be "more like" BioShock. As from what i had seen and heard and read throughout the whole process of development i expected it to stand for it's own, but at least be as good as BioShock gameplay-wise. Though, i wasn't even as "hyped" as some others, i confess i was more hyped about Infinite than on any other game so far, but then i never was really hyped about any other game to begin with and i was still skeptical, which "promises" they made through trailers/ interviews and whatnot they would keep in the end.
Sounds like the Game of The Year has already been decided =D
Yahtzee reviewed the game the way I thought he would: Pointing out how pretentious the game is, but still really enjoying it nonetheless because of its ambition, attention to detail, and how fun the combat is. It is not a perfect game, no game is, but it is still amazing. Even with my negatives (the Siren battles, or how could vigors not be seen as witchcraft in a religious zealot's society) and problems with the story (specifically the motivation of Comstock and why did he need Elizabeth to turn into a monster, and the ending in general) isn't enough to completely throw me off calling this a great game that's worth all the hype and love it's gotten. Still 8 months left in the year, however, so it isn't GOTY just yet, just a candidate.
I would have hated a cutscene, and I think the ending was splendid, but hey, to each his own.
This isn't even a question of immersion being subjective, it's an issue of conflating immersion and identification. In Bioshock 1, you were meant to project your character onto the protagonist and identify. In Infinite, the character has it's own personality and will act accordingly. You can be immersed in someone esle's life without agreeing with all their actions.
I also get the feeling you missed a crucial part of the plot: Constants and variables - has killed, kill, will kill. You coudln't influence these decisions because they are constants. What you could influence were the variables. And these were certainly not illusory, as I will explain below:
By what standard do you call these choices illusory? Because they didn't result in a different ending cutscene?
I've never played any ME title, so I wouldn't know about that (though I did notice people hated the ending). Anyways, my point was that sure, you can use false advertising to spur a hype, but that doesn't mean that a hype cannot form without it.
Considering the first trailer, I can somewhat agree. I honestly didn't even know that trailer, and apprently that was for the best. It is clear that the trailer features preciously little actual gameplay and is mostly scripted. Many of the concepts somewhat made it into the game (huge guns are certainly there, as are water puddles to amplify shock, though that is arguably much less awesome-looking). The biggest Problem is that the trailer heavily emphasizes the telekinesis aspect, which apparently was completely scrapped.
That said, this is a three year old trailer, so I really don't think it would be fair to claim that this is the thing everyone based their decision to buy the game on.
The second trailer you mentioned is obviously quite a different beast, because it was pretty much the main promotion for the game during development. And it is very faithfull to the actual game.
1:00 Comstock as a politician, so what? The Trailer did say nothing about the storyline, so that is just a random detail.
So we are sitting at one thing in the trailer that is missing. Two things if you are generous: Moving tears in general and moving skyline cars. I am not surprised these things are missing, but if you want you can call that false advertising. But you are certainly not claiming that exact feature was what made you buy the game.
That is probably wise, yes.
The "half the voxphones" criticism ignores that you actually get to meet quite a few columbia inhabitants in person, whereas in Bioshock, your only interaction with the inhabitants was through Voxphones. I feel that this sort of comparison isn't quite honest. And of course just saying they are "less interesting" comes down to personal taste. I guess they did not feel the need to display everyday Columbia life via Voxphone the way they displayed everyday Rapture life because, you know, you actually see the everyday Columbia life.
Yes, you can mention it, but if you seriously argue that the Bioshock 1 ending is not utter Bullshit compared to the Infinite ending, I think you have a bad taste in storytelling, no offense. The morality System in Bioshock 1 completely undermined the entire first three Acts of the game, but I think the criticism of that ending is well documented so there is no need going over it here again.
Actually, I encourage you to play one of the more recent shooters that is known for good gunplay, say Max Payne 3. Once I did that, I realized just how well implemented Bioshock combat was. Shooting from cover without pressing extra buttons, getting around the map quickly, actualy tactical choices. But yeah, the bullet-spongy enemies are a big issue, especially in the last third of the game.
I haven't played Bioshock 2, but hacking in Bioshock one lost it's novelty factor really quickly. It was terribly easy and boring. But thats subjective too, I guess.
With that I can probably agree, though in terms of gameplay effect, once you had a few pieces of gear, the difference to the tonics is neglibible at best.
I don't get what makes the "choose the start of the fight" bit so important. It basically gave you a tactical advantage over the big daddies.
So the only things actually missing are scout and telekinesis, and what was added is a trap function for every vigor, plus vigor combos. Totally cut down the complexity! And it should be noted that you do not have unlimited money, so weapon and vigor upgrades are still limited (though arguably a little less so). I only had 3 weapons and 4 vigors really upgraded.
Sure you are entitled to your opinion, but whether you can convince other people to share it is quite a different matter. I think whether or not this game is better than the first Bioshock is a question of taste. I guess if you liked the older "shock" titles, Bioshock 1 would appeal more to you, but Infinite is definetly in the same Ballpark as far as quality goes.
Sorry, this is the only part I have input for. By the end of the game on normal I had every single vigor and vigor upgrade, and 5 weapons completely maxed, and while they added some functionality for the vigors they killed them at the same time by not having environmental applications anywhere but a few (and I mean really few) points in the game. Even when their is an environmental hazard, they are so small and in inconvenient places that there isn't really a reason to use them.
I told you before I do not know what cause the problem. I do know however that our connections are problematic thus most lightly. If you wish to continue with this level of enquiry I recommend you send me a personal message via the facilities provided.
The connection topic has no relevancy towards the topic at hand. Thus I urge to please respect both the topic and other posters/readers. As for your question; I do not know why you pursue this line of enquiry so relentlessly. Your insinuation however points that I am lying thus your intention is clear hence my reply.
As everyone has stated, the Get Out bit was brilliant. Also, "A Fellow of 'Infinite Jest?'" I see what you did there.
I see everything you do, Benjamin.
I liked bioshock 2 :'(
So glad Bioshock 2 got the slap it deserved. I personally also think the 1st Bioshock is a bit overrated too - a 7/10 game for me, simply because of all the chore like running around looking for ammo you have to do if you let loose blasting, but it was still a good game and seems like the REAL sequel is worth a look.
Do you respawn like in Bioshock 1, or have they changed that now? It totally killed the game's challenge for me.
So is it worth splurging my valuable moneys on this game?
Yeah, Ryan wasn't the villain of Bioshock, Fountain was. The subversive fucker that subverts Randism, remember?
Wew, this is getting more time-consuming than i thought it could.
Yeah, nothing to add to that i think.
Ey, you cut half of my well placed spoiler tags! XD But then i think it won't matter very much in this thread anymore...
Yes, you are right on that one and in hindsight i see i should have been more specific about it and the "other possible forms to create a character" - i didn't want to conflate the two things, but usually they are connected within games with a heavy focus on the characters...
Hm, no, i would say i did get it. But as you brought it up yourself, we can now both smartass a bit about it :)
First thing i can think of: Why would a man drowning an alternate version of himself by any means be a constant, as it is in the game? If anything, i would think about it as a paradox. But then again, the game appears to be full of paradoxes.
No, but it influenced me, as it did a rather big poirtion of those who followed the announcments. And i would have simply appreciated it, if they ever made a clear statement like "well, you know the trailer we showed you first, barely anything of gameplay in the actual game is based on this, so, better forget it..."
1:00 so... i was expecting an antagonist who is cunning, probably pulls the strings from behind the curtain and would've overall been more interesting. This is further extended later in the trailer, when DeWitt and Elizabeth state they would look for him to ask for help and through interviews about the trailer/ characters. Now, as i think about it, even if they originally had presented him as a religious figure, i would have still expected more of them, considering they already did a rather well "religious" antagonist in Sophia Lamb (again, BS2, maybe you wanna play that one despite the "hate" it seems to have earned :), instead of this bland, boring "i'm gonna go zealot all over the place" villian. Even actual religious institutions can do better than this XD.
so, when i look at it "generous", there are still 9 things in this trailer which are misleading, not considering the first and all the other interviews. Yes, i do call that false advertisement and many of these things were what got me excited about the game in the first place. If i would have ever known what i would really get, i... probably would have bought it anyways, because the steam pre-purchase was an awesome deal, but to me, it still is disappointing.
Hm, as i see it, the comparison is very honest and quite fitting. In Rapture, you could still observe the "inhabitants" and when i did for the first time, i was so impressed with it (about 10 minutes of possible "dialog" for every enemy-class in BioShock, plus roughly 10 minutes for every unique enemy, of which big portions you could only hear by listening to them when they wouldn't have spotted you is an afford never made before), while about 95% of the inhabitants in Columbia are just "there", whithout doing anything, as already described in many discussions about it, it is similar to Disneyland (i actually wasn't in any Disneyland yet, but i guess it is similar to most theme-parks for that), where you go through it, everything looks wonderfull, but you know it's just staged.
...and that is exactly why i said the BioShock's ending is not designed in the best way, but "original" at the time it came out, why i can also state i think BioShock 2 already did better and Infinite could have done even better... and while that is wish talk, that was my point in the first place.
Well, in a way you have axcess to unlimited amounts of money: If you would sit in a part of a game, where you let your enemies constantly respawn, kill them and by that farm their money... but that would be utterly boring and totaly destroy the flow of the game, but nevertheless, while the development of your character in BioShock was "structured", though the exact monitoring of your resources, which would apply to what and where you could spend it, Infinite just throws everything randomly at you, which may or may not do for good character development... which i think is a bad design. And, while i don't know every Gear present in Infinite, in my experience the Tonics, Plasmids and weapons would make for a much better overall compatibility than they do in Infinite, some of them were able to be comboed as well and by that kind of "trump" the gameplay of Infinite, which (as said as well) in many ways stayed uneccessarily bad in gameplay/ combat, as BioShock already was.
Sure, for us it comes down to taste, subjectivity and opinions.
No question DFW gets a bit too "Look at all the interesting ways I can manipulate plot, structure etc. etc."
It was unquestionably pretentious but that always seemed to me as something done on multiple levels for multiple types of readers. And I thought, or at least I want to believe, that was what Yahtzee was doing too.
Yes, but in a non-extremist objectivist society where people are in general just as short sighted as in Rapture, you would see the exact same result.
If the populace in general is too [insert negative quality here] to do [insert something intelligent or pragmatic here] why should a democratically elected leader or government bureaucracy composed of said people be any different?
Sorry for the late reply.
To be honest, if I review it I give it a 8/10
I do have the Bioshock infinite and I indeed enjoy the look and sound, however I really didn't enjoy the story and characters so much. Now I'm not saying it's a bad game, far from it. The visuals is beautiful, sound are immersive and the characters are well rounded in a way, but the motive and story for me is a little off. I don't know what it is that bug me but I find the story not that joyful or interesting. I find the plan for the main villain bit senseless or building up to him from the world and voxaphones being little disappointing. I can't really say about it, maybe I'm not making things any better( as the world gets worse and worse) or I find the ending profound but kinder confusing and maybe be better before the 3rd act. I'm not sure what to say but it is a good game but I find the story and characters be too simple for the world or too complex to go anywhere.
I would also like if you have choses in the game like bioshock. Not where you pick good or evil choses but where you could help people or not in whatever style you pick, as your actions tell you how the ending can be. You can even not make the morals forceful like bioshock, however there are sense in this game that you want to help people or do differently but couldn't, as you are giving to a very linier experience. You could of have a situation where you sneck thro groups of people but see a man being bated and sent to death harshly unless you stop it by your chose, making the path harder but gaining the better reward and feeling your interact the world with effect. But basically I felt that your just in a theme park or art gallery and being tolled to be quite and enjoy our work whenever you like it or not. I recently herd that the game was to give you more ways to play the game, however it didn't come to be on the final product. Even thou bioshock infinite would not work with choses for its narrative, however it would give you the sense your making a different and see things in a better light (maybe multi endings) then just play it and see the city to a dystopia like rapture.
Finally, I can't say much about the story; however it does feel like the new doctor who series, when adding plot clues, time dimensions and character connections, would just hurts your mind if you think about them hard enough.
Well review Yahtzee
(Also sorry for the late comment, this game taken me really long time for me to think about it, until I seen VideoGamerTV on youtube and gave me a better picture just before I wrote this)
Sums up a lot of what was going through my mind as I played it. The whole time, I kept thinking "This is awfully linear. Too linear. I'm just following an arrow through roadways and corridors and set pieces and cut scenes, with the occasional small building holding stuff on the side." I greatly preferred the map from the original Bioshock, which allowed you to reach your destination in a way that didn't insult your intelligence as much.
I'm glad he mentioned the removal of multiple ammo types (regular, hallow point, armor piercing etc.) because that's also one of the things that really bugged me about the game, having played Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas in sequence beforehand. They took out a vital element of depth and strategy that set the series apart and went for a more mainstream "DARR U PICK UP DA GUNN N DEN POINT IT AT DA GUIZE N SHUTE UM" approach. Speaking of which, the enemies in the game were a real let down: a bunch of generic, armored up military grunts. Whoop-de-god-damned-do. Remember the splicers from the original Bioshock? Talk about enemies with actual personality, who were actually entertaining-as well as frightening in a survival horror sort of way-to fight, instead of making you feel like you were playing Call of Duty. And that plus the cinematic railroading style mentioned in the first paragraph kept reminding me of; and I've never even played a Call of Duty game! In fact, I've even considered the nickname "Shock of Duty" to refer to Bioshock Infinite. Elizabeth's presence doesn't help, functioning like an immortal squad mate who makes shit appear instead of blowing it up.
As for the characters, I can't say I like them that much, either. Comstock is a generic "I am a narcissistic religious messiah wannabe white supremacist domestic abuser so you know I am evil" villain with none of the personality or motivational depth of Andrew Ryan or Sophia Lamb. Elizabeth herself is nothing special, the kind of "broken bird" character we've seen a thousand times before. Booker I absolutely detested. That generic, overly macho early-mid 20th century detective-cum-soldier stereotype made me enjoy controlling his character a lot less. And the interaction between the two didn't inspire much in me besides groaning Like an earlier poster said, I was much more touched by the relationship between Delta and Elanor Lamb in Bioshock 2, perhaps because Elanor was a less grating and more likeable character and Delta made the wise decision not to open his mouth. Booker and Elizabeth's interactions just smacked of typical Hollywood schmaltz.
At least now I understand what some of the die hard System Shock fans felt about Bioshock. I can't really compare the two that much since it's been over a since I played the former, but Bioshock always struck me as a more streamlined way of going about the System Shock style, with more than enough complexities that it still stands out amongst others in its genre rather than just being a "watered down" System Shock. Bioshock Infinite, however, is a "watered down" version of Bioshock, a pastiche of modern-day fairweather AAA shooters with just enough coats of paint over it to call itself Bioshock, or even have Shock at the end of the title. What I find interesting is how Yathzee made this very complaint in his Bioshock review way back in 2007, summing it up as "dumbed down for consoles", yet here he is singing praises of a game that, in my opinion, sums up aforementioned fault much more (though he did seem to retcon his original opinion and imply that Bioshock's gameplay improved on System Shock 2's, rather than regard it as a step down as he had once stated).
I still liked the game overall, though. I'm just disappointed that it wasn't the game it ought to have been, due to all the sacrifices and/or oversights that ended up in the game's design and gameplay. Something tells me once the ooh's and ahh's over the game's style finally start to die down, we're going to ourselves less than ecstatically enamored with its overall substance.
I myself would have gone with Call of Columbia: Multiverse At War.
For the rest I agree with you, though I did like the character interactions and overall set up from time to time. It's just that the characters were never explored in depth. They were there to fill a slot especially with how the multiverse works I mean we don't even know which Comstock we killed or even which Booker we eventually ended up with considering how the respawn system works! Last time I counted we had skipped 5 universes before we did the Comstock skull cracking so characterization was practically impossible from the very start.
It is certainly not a horrible game, it's middle of the road for me, but I just can't stand 90% of the internet telling me the story should have made me cream my pants because it was so good and that it is a GOTY.
I'd say they were all wearing Nostalgia goggles if it wasn't released last month. Maybe something like Shayamalan Beer Goggles where the twists surprised enough people to make them forget about anything else? Now we just need Ken Levine to make the Bioshock equivalent of the Happening to wake people out of the "What a twist!" stupor they are all in.
I think my big issue with the character interactions (and overall characterization) is that their attempts to pair an overly stoic, "noir macho" male character with a hyper-feminine "Hollywood female" is supposed to produce tension and drama, but it just ends up trite and forced. Anyone worth their salt (heh) will tell you that using polarizing gender and personality archetypes to provoke chemistry is just lazy, lazy writing, and a sign of poorly applied characterization.
EDIT: Comstock also reminded me of one of my biggest pet peeves about the game, something which is also one of Yathzee's biggest pet peeves which he, for some astronomically indecipherable reason, never brought up: quicktime events. "Press X to have Booker do this action in a cutscene" was a really lame attempt at immersion, especially since you almost never had any choice in the matter. Half-Life did a much better job of this, having things happen to your character passively rather than ruin your suspension of disbelief by forcing actions upon him based on a wholly unlikable personality. What if I don't want to "comfort Elizabeth"? What if I would prefer to just have her drop the letter on the floor and pick it up myself? What if, on the rare occasion I have a choice, I want it to make a significant effect on what happens later? The original Bioshock did a similar thing, but it actually made sense and was actually clever when you took into account the game's overall narrative. Compare that to Comstock.
And there's no clever justification for this lack of control like in Bioshock. In Bioshock Infinite you're just getting an asshole from place to place so you can watch him act like an asshole, just like in every other fucking game on the planet where you control an asshole character. I don't doubt there's some justification contained within all the convoluted quantum sci-fi-o-babble, but I sure as hell can't make it out.
Bioshock Infinite: Would you kindly press X to shut Elizabeth the hell up? But only when we tell you, of course!
I don't know why people keep bemoaning the unexplained presence of Vigors. After the original BioShock it's clear that any sort of crazy shtuff can exist in the BioShock universe, and if they explained away every single mystery then not only would the game cease to be as interesting, but we'd have a jumbled mess of a narrative that tries to retread old ground in addition to forging a new path.
Oh, and for those thinking that BioShock Infinite's narrative already is a jumbled mess, you really need to read some of the more extensive break-downs of it (the first link is my personal favourite). Some incredible stuff is pulled out that you just go "wow" at, such as the significance of the lighthouse combo lock (122) and the tally of heads on the blackboard (also 122).
"You see, sometimes it's kind of nice to be up somebody's butt."
... ... ... ...
Incidentally, Yahtzee still isn't gay.
People don't bemoan the existence of vigors just because they're vigors. The problem is that they aren't explained or justified within the context of the game. By the way, Columbia and Rapture don't exist in the same "BioShock universe". They are both two possibilities. It's pretty basic multiverse theory. But anyway. In the original Bioshock the plasmids, ADAM and gene tonics were explained within the context of the game world. Someone discovered the slugs and then they realized they could extract ADAM and refine it and whatnot, thus giving superhuman abilities and properties to ordinary people. Then people did that too much and became splicers and thus, Rapture fell.
Vigors and salts are never explained within the context of Bioshock Infinite. Don't even get me started on "gear" which is completely ridiculous and random. If vigors and salt are so ubiquitous in Columbia, and they are, why aren't more people using them? That doesn't make any sense. Bad writing and bad game design.
THAT'S the big problem with vigors. Not that they exist at all, but rather the justification and explanation for why they exist in the game world.
Look, it's obvious that Levine and the other people at Irrational thought "hey, plasmids was a huge success in Bioshock, we need to get that into the next one too, especially since we've slapped the Bioshock name on it!" and then they just shoehorned it in there. Basically, this game would have been better off not using the Bioshock name at all. It only suffered from the references. I almost cringed my face off at the end whenBullshit, that's just bad writing.
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I get reasonably good spam filtering results with Pocomail (85% accuracy), but am puzzled. When I look at how Pocomail scores emails, I can see score components based on headers (all of which are driven by standard non-Bayesian filters, I think), but no score components for Bayesian filters, which are also turned on (at default settings, except that I have set sensitivity level to high; and Pocomail has learned about 10,000 good words and 10,000 bad words). Further, when I unselect standard non-Bayesian filters, then I don't see any eveidence of any filtering. So, based on the results I see, I cannot tell that Bayesian filters are operating.
Can someone guide me to whatever I might be doing wrong? I apologize if the answer is already in the forum somewhere. After reading 50-60 posts and learning a lot but not finding the answer, I figured I had better just ask.


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Warren Avenue Baptist Church - Boston
On December 5, 1873, Bridget Landregan is found beaten and strangled to death in the Boston suburb of Dorchester. According to witnesses, a man in black clothes and a flowing cape attempted to sexually assault the dead girl before running away.
In 1874, a man fitting the same description clubbed another young girl, Mary Sullivan, to death. His third victim, Mary Tynan, was bludgeoned in her bed in 1875. Although she survived for a year after the attack, she was never able to identify her attacker. Residents of Boston were shocked to learn that the killer had been among them all along. Thomas Piper, the sexton at the Warren Avenue Baptist Church, was known for his flowing black cape, but because he was friendly with the parishioners, nobody suspected his involvement. When five-year-old Mabel Young was found dead in the church's belfry in the summer of 1876, and witnesses stated they saw Piper with the young girl the day of her murder, he then became the prime suspect. Piper, who was dubbed "The Boston Belfry Murderer," confessed to the four killings after his arrest. He was convicted and sentenced to death, and was hanged in 1876.
Visit Michael Thomas Barry's official author website – www.michaelthomasbarry.com & order his true crime book, Murder & Mayhem 52 Crimes that Shocked Early California 1849-1949, from Amazon or Barnes & Noble through the following links –
Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Murder-Mayhem-Shocked-California-1849- 1949/dp/0764339680/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352214939&sr=8-1&keywords=michael+thomas+bar
Barnes & Noble - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/murder-and-mayhem-michael-thomas-barry/1110912205?ean=9780764339684


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UNF Scholarships
The University of North Florida is committed to helping students finance their college education. The following sites contain valuable information about scholarships available to UNF students.
** Please note that most UNF institutional grants and Enrollment Services scholarships require enrollment in a minimum of 15 credit hours for disbursement.
Please click this link: Upload Scholarship Documents to learn more about how to upload scholarship documents via myWings.
Visit One-Stop Student Services to get your admissions, records, or financial aid questions answered. One-Stop can assist with questions about grants, loans, and work study as well as the status of any scholarships you may be receiving. The One-Stop web page is also a great source of information. There, you will be able to find a comprehensive listing of scholarships available at UNF using the financial aid drop-down menu.
Admissions Scholarships: Admissions scholarships are typically merit-based and offered only to students entering UNF for the first time. They include awards such as the prestigious Presidential Scholarship, transfer scholarships and more. The Presidential Scholarship is awarded on a funds-available basis. For further information, please contact firstname.lastname@example.com.
Pathways to Success Scholarships: The Pathways to Success Scholarship Program provides need-based scholarship opportunities to incoming freshmen who demonstrate financial need. The program currently offers a variety of scholarships designed to make education more accessible for students. For more information, contact Pathways to Success at (904) 620-2104 or email@example.com.
Before your junior year at UNF, you may want to find out if there are any departmental scholarships, waivers or fellowships offered by each of UNF's 5 colleges.
FSAIC can help answer your questions about need-based federal student aid and the application process for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Their hotline is 1-800-4-FED-AID (1-800-433-3243 or TTY 1-800-730-8913). You may also apply online at no cost by filing a FAFSA or by visiting the US Department of Education's website. Having the FAFSA on file with UNF is vital to our ability to offer student aid and/or scholarships. Most federal student aid is awarded based on financial need rather than scholastic achievement. Most grants, for instance, are geared toward low-income students. You do not need to show financial need to receive certain federal loans, however.


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Friday, August 19, 2011
In the Minority
I realized I may be in the minority...I am very excited for school to begin. Don't misunderstand, I will miss my two oldest kids terribly. It's always a little hard to get used to half of the crew being gone most of the day.
I will miss my girls' being able to spend all day together playing...
and I'll miss the long leisurely days outside.
My son is starting 3rd grade and my daughter is starting 1st so I'm an old pro at this. I anxiously check the mail every day to see who their teacher is and I can't wait to hear about all they learned.
In my eager anticipation for the adventures they will surely have I've been getting ready.
I'm practicing my chocolate chip pancakes...
I've started cleaning off their bulletin boards so they can display their new work...
I've cleaned out the closets and their uniforms are hanging and ready to go!
We are blessed to send our kids to a school who's motto is:
"At Trinity we are pressing on to fulfill our mission to produce young scholars who can read well, write well and speak well and who are imbued with virtue, wisdom, purpose, and courage. We care deeply about raising up this current generation to become dynamic, humble, Christian leaders who will help shape the future. "
I can't wait see what God has planned for them this year! My heart is full of excitement!
22 comments:
- Aimee said...
I think every parent looks forward to school starting (: And you are quite the all-star mom practicing chocolate chip pancakes!!!
- August 19, 2011 at 4:04 AM
- Marie said...
fantastic that you have such a great school to trust with your children! when there isn't one, you do what i do...homeschool:)
look at you getting all organized and prepared! extra credit for practicing the pancakes!!
- August 19, 2011 at 4:39 AM
- katie said...
I'd like one of those pancakes right now. Yum!
- August 19, 2011 at 7:33 AM
- theolivetree said...
Those pancakes do look good! My sister cried when she dropped her 2nd grader off to school and then called to say the day was peaceful with out have to break up 8.2 million fighter between her 2 oldest...lol :)
- August 19, 2011 at 7:37 AM
- Ashley said...
i dont even like pancakes and i instantly craved one... those chocolate chips are a weakness to me. *walking to 7-11 next to my job to get some sort of candy now... thanks.* LOL.
- August 19, 2011 at 7:42 AM
oh yes please on the pancakes :). and i love that you put the school's motto on here. what a blessing! your kiddos are precious. xoxo!
- August 19, 2011 at 7:59 AM
What a wonderful blessing to be able to send your kids to that school! We are chocolate chip pancake lovers in this house too!
- August 19, 2011 at 9:35 AM
- Cherish Stockdale said...
i love me some chocolate chip pancakes! you have some lucky kiddos :)
- August 19, 2011 at 9:57 AM
- {cuppakim} said...
i love all of the organizing and fresh starts of the new school year. obviously i dont have any cute kidlets going, and i'm not going myself - but i love the season of fresh starts. ;)
what an AWESOME school motto. what a privilege and joy to send your kids there! :)
- August 19, 2011 at 10:01 AM
- Nessa said...
What a wonderful motto - I bet it makes your heart light knowing they are being so well taken care of each day - mind, body and souls.
Going through clothes is on my agenda too. I mom always did it each year before we started school and I have still do it then too.
- August 19, 2011 at 10:22 AM
- Heather from wearetheholdens.blogspot.com said...
My oldest just asked me for some choco chip pancakes this morning. Probably b/c I made wheat/ berry ones...I need to make them some. Luv'n all of your organization with the boards and such...:)
- August 19, 2011 at 11:43 AM
- Laurie J said...
practicing choc chip pancakes sounds like fun :) can't believe it's that time of year already
- August 19, 2011 at 12:46 PM
- girl willow said...
Thanks for sharing this :) I think that the fact that you're excited for school to start is a good thing.... Our children are influenced so much by our actions and attitudes about life. So if we are positive and excited that flows down to them and I think that's a pretty big deal!! (I hope that makes sense ;)
I love the school's motto! Very encouraging!!
Have a wonderful weekend, friend :)
- August 19, 2011 at 2:54 PM
- taylor elyse said...
i decided to pay your blog a visit after your sweet comment on mine, and i'm so glad i did - it's adorable! i will definitely be following you from now on :)
come back and visit me again soon :)
- August 20, 2011 at 10:41 AM
- kinze said...
aw ... love this and love your outlook!
- August 20, 2011 at 11:16 AM
- heartland farmhouse said...
Those littles all lined up swinging...super cute! And the bulletin boards what a GREAT idea!
- August 20, 2011 at 9:23 PM
- Jessica Johnson said...
100% with you. i love school. summer makes me a crazy, disorganized, mean mom. especially by the end of august. serenity now!! :)
- August 21, 2011 at 8:07 AM
- hannah singer said...
what a blessing to have a great school!!
and i suspect that i may feel as you do, about school. we shall see:)
love you, jami!
- August 21, 2011 at 9:51 AM
- Simple Life Journey said...
I am excited too. Busy getting ready. Can't wait for the trees to turn. Such a special time to build memories.
- August 21, 2011 at 1:57 PM
- Heather said...
It sounds like an amazing school that your kiddos are going to! I have a friend that used to teach at Trinity :) Small world! BTW- those pancakes look amazing!!! xo
- August 21, 2011 at 4:57 PM
- Rachel said...
You are blessed to have such a wonderful school to send your kids. What an amazing gift!
And, I'm just going to have to ditto the love for those choco-chip pancakes. Those would be a fave over here as well.
Have a blessed week. And I'm looking forward to seeing new art work pictures on your bulletin board. :)
- August 22, 2011 at 5:07 AM
- Flor said...
Girl, my kids were so ready to start school {they started last week} and so was I. they were going a little stir crazy there at the end.. and while I miss them horribly while they are at school I am glad to get back into a routine. And my house is finally getting deep cleaned. It's been MONTHS since that's happend :(
Happy new school year to you and your kids! :)
- August 22, 2011 at 10:18 PM


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Saturday, September 12, 2009
Land Girl's Day Off
Dress: 1940s "Birds of America" blue jay dress (Ebay)
Shoes: 1930s-40s Off White Oxfords (Etsy).
Boots: my beloved Hunter wellies
10 comments:
- Lemondrop Marie said...
I want wellies in the worst way! Love that dress print, so sweet!
- September 12, 2009 at 9:42 PM
- Amanda Atkins said...
Ohhh, I do love that bluejay dress!
- September 12, 2009 at 9:44 PM
- Diva said...
You look very sweet and it was nice to see pics of where you live!
- September 13, 2009 at 3:03 AM
- Dustjacket Attic said...
Beautiful shot and dress my dear! Oh didn't forget the cute wellies.
- September 13, 2009 at 4:54 AM
- Jessica Cangiano said...
Love, love, love that incredibly sweet bluejay dress. You find the most darling frocks, honey, thank you for sharing this sweet birdie number with us!
Oodles of hugs & joyful Sunday wishes,
♥ Jessica
- September 13, 2009 at 11:01 AM
What a lovely dress, and great shoes! Have a beautiful week!
- September 13, 2009 at 4:24 PM
- Ms. B said...
Love that dress with those shoes!!!
- September 13, 2009 at 10:23 PM
- lauren said...
cuuuuuuuuute! so cute. my favorite era as far as style goes. i am always amassing more of those shoes...
- September 14, 2009 at 10:36 AM
- LandGirlontheHomeFront said...
thanks so much everyone! I think this outfit combines two of my most cherished pieces, so I was glad to see they seemed to go together well.
- September 14, 2009 at 2:17 PM
- Jitterbugdoll said...
That dress is amazing!
- September 17, 2009 at 11:03 AM


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FOX Business: Capitalism Lives Here
Data pointing to a growing manufacturing rebound in China and a slight easing in the rate of economic decline in the eurozone brightened Wall Street's sentiment on Friday. Nasdaq futures came under pressure from sliding Apple shares.
Continue Reading Below
Today's Markets
As of 8:45 a.m. ET, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures climbed 12 points to 13106, S&P 500 futures were flat at 1412 and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 6.5 points to 2641.
Factory activity in China rose to the highest level in 14 months in December, according to HSBC's Flash Purchasing Manager's Index. The PMI gauge climbed to 50.9 from 50.5 in November -- indicating the sector expanded at a quicker pace. Economists said the data suggest the world's second-biggest economy is probably regaining its footing, helping to alleviate fears it was headed for a so-called hard landing.
"China's ongoing growth recovery is gaining momentum mainly driven by domestic demand conditions," Hongbin Qu, HSBC's chief economist for China, wrote in the report. "However, the drop of new export orders and the downside surprise of November exports growth suggest the persisting external headwinds."
Meanwhile, the private sector in the eurozone continued shrinking, but at a slightly slower pace in December from November. The Markit Flash Composite PMI checked in at 47.3 -- a nine-month high -- from 46.5 in November.
"The eurozone downturn showed further signs of easing in December, adding to hopes that the outlook for next year is brightening," Markit Chief Economist Chris Williamson wrote in the report. He said there is an "increasing possibility" of a return to growth in the 17-member currency bloc in the first half of 2013.
Germany, Europe's biggest economy, saw its private sector expand for the first time in eight months, according to a separate report from Markit. Still, its manufacturing pulled back, highlighting the ongoing struggles there.
On the U.S. front, the Labor Department said inflation at the consumer level fell 0.3% in November from October, a slightly steeper drop than the 0.2% expected and the first decline since May. Excluding the food and energy components, prices were up 0.1%, slightly less than the 0.2% expected. A report was due out later on the factory sector.
Traders were also paying close attention to talks in Washington, D.C aimed at averting the looming fiscal cliff. President Barack Obama and Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner met at the White House late Thursday for a "frank" discussion. It remained unclear how close the two leaders were to striking a deal.
Energy futures posted solid gains. The benchmark crude contract climbed 88 cents, or 1.1%, to $86.81 a barrel. Wholesale New York Harbor gasoline jumped 1.1% to $2.631 a gallon. In metals, gold gained 90 cents, or 0.05%, to $1,689 a troy ounce.
In corporate news, UBS cut its outlook on Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) to $700 a share from $780. The Stock fell close to 2% , weighing on Nasdaq 100 futures.
Foreign Markets
The Euro Stoxx 50 gained 0.03% to 2630, the English FTSE 100 dipped 0.12% to 5923 and the German DAX rose 0.27% to 7602.
In Asia, the Japanese Nikkei 225 slipped 0.05% to 9734 and the Chinese Hang Seng climbed 0.71% to 22606.