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ANN ARBOR, Mich., USA and PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (PRWEB) November 25, 2013
NSF International, an independent global public health and safety organization that develops standards, and tests and certifies products for the food, water and pharma biotech industries, has acquired Bioensaios Analysis and Environmental Consulting Laboratory Ltd., based in Porto Alegre, Brazil. It will become known as NSF Bioensaios.
Founded in 1990, Bioensaios is a leading analytical laboratory that provides GLP (Good Laboratory Practices) studies and highly specialized testing services, including ecotoxicity, for a range of domestic and international companies as well as government agencies serving the water, food and agribusiness industries. NSF International clients now have access to NSF Bioensaios' full set of services, including environmental evaluations for freshwater, seawater, effluent, soil and sediment; valuation reports on drinking water, food and feed safety; and OECD-GLP studies for chemical products, drugs, materials and components.
"NSF International's acquisition of Bioensaios significantly enhances both organizations. In addition, it expands NSF's technical leadership in water, food safety, health sciences and sustainability in Latin America's largest market while reinforcing NSF's global commitment to technical excellence," said Kevan P. Lawlor, NSF International President and CEO.
The acquisition complements NSF International's existing operations in Peru, Chile, Brazil, Mexico and Costa Rica, and its recent acquisition of the INASSA Group, a Peruvian leader in testing for the water, seafood, pharmaceutical and mining industries.
"As part of NSF International's global organization, we know Bioensaios found a partner that shares the same commitment to providing the most comprehensive solutions developed from an intimate understanding of standards, quality and conformity to assist our clients' unique needs," said Bioensaios Co-Founder Ellen Martha Pritsch. "We are thrilled to offer our clients the full range of NSF's global services and to bring our market expertise to NSF's roster of customers worldwide."
Drinking Water Expertise. NSF Bioensaios tests both water supply systems and bottled water, and evaluates water treatment chemicals, drinking water system components and nonfood compounds (e.g. lubricants). Its leadership was instrumental in working with the Brazilian government to adopt a water treatment chemical standard that is based on two American National Standards that NSF helped develop, NSF/ANSI Standard 60 for drinking water treatment chemicals and NSF/ANSI Standard 61 for drinking water system components.
Agribusiness/Food Safety. NSF Bioensaios food/feed industry services include testing food and feed products in all sectors of the supply chain for pesticide and veterinary drug residues, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), heavy metals and other contaminants. NSF Bioensaios acts as an official laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture to test Brazilian agricultural production for export. It also provides analytical support to public health surveillance networks and supermarkets in control of chemical contaminants on food.
Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) Studies. NSF Bioensaios provides GLP studies for testing chemicals to obtain data on their properties and/or their safety with respect to human health and the environment, including field studies developed for the purpose of meeting regulatory requirements in Latin America and Asia.
NSF International Center of Excellence for Ecotoxicity Testing. Due to NSF Bioensaios' strength in ecotoxicity testing, it will become part of NSF International's Center of Excellence for Ecotoxicity Testing, combining NSF's broad range of environmental and sustainability services with NSF Bioensaios' expertise in environmental impact studies and toxicity testing. This includes chemical analyses and microbiological and toxicity tests of agrochemicals, drilling fluids, surface water, sea water, wastewater treatment stations, and soils and sediments, as well as environmental monitoring.
NSF Bioensaios staff includes 70 scientific and environmental experts who will remain in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Bioensaios´ founder Ellen Martha Pritsch will continue to lead its growth and development as Director of Business Operations and Alexandre Brandelli, Director of Laboratory Services, will retain his leadership of the laboratory. NSF Bioensaios is recognized as GLP-OECD by INMETRO and accredited in ISO 17025 INMETRO, MAPA and REBLAS/ANVISA.
Sales Contact: Ellen Martha Pritsch, Director of Business Operations, at ellen(at)bioensaios(dot)com(dot)br or (55) 51 3493 6888.
U.S. Media Contact: Greta Houlahan at houlahan(at)nsf(dot)org or +1 734.913.5723.
Brazil Media Contact: Juliana Wruck at juliana(dot)wruck(at)ketchum(dot)com.br or 55 11 5090.8924.
About NSF International: NSF International is an independent global public health and safety organization that develops standards, and tests and certifies products for the food, water, dietary supplement and consumer products industries, and provides testing, training and auditing services for the pharma/biotech and medical device industries (nsf.org). Founded in 1944, NSF is committed to protecting human health and safety worldwide. Operating in more than 150 countries, NSF is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and has been collaborating with the World Health Organization since 1997 in water quality and safety, food safety and indoor environments.
NSF International employs more than 1,700 experienced professionals worldwide including 400+ microbiologists, toxicologists, chemists, engineers, environmental/public health professionals and certification specialists. NSF International operates in 150 countries throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America.
NSF services include food safety and quality programs; testing and certification programs for materials and products that convey or treat drinking water; testing and certification for the bottled water, beverages and consumer product industries; and testing, auditing, certification and consulting for the dietary supplement, pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device industries. Additional NSF services include management systems registration through NSF-ISR and sustainability standards development, claims and product verification through NSF Sustainability.
About NSF Bioensaios Analysis and Environmental Consultancy: The Bioensaios laboratory began its operations in 1990 providing services of chemical and biological analyses for the environmental, chemical and food industries. Currently, the company conducts studies for meeting regulatory requirements and also analysis for quality control. Bioensaios is a pioneer in ecotoxicity testing with diversified laboratories and expertise in contaminants in food, safety assessment, and characterization of chemicals (e.g. pesticides, wood preservatives, oil dispersants, drilling fluids, chemicals for water treatment and drugs). Located in Porto Alegre, Brazil, Bioensaios employs more than 70 scientific and environmental experts.
Additional services include studies for characterizing and assessing the impact of chemicals on humans and the environment, analysis of contaminants in food from vegetable and animal origin to support food security and agribusiness, analysis of environmental samples in accordance with federal, state and municipal ordinances and resolutions, and support for the drug industry through the development and validation of analytical methods.
Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/11/prweb11366790.htm.
|Source: PRWeb
Copyright©2012 Vocus, Inc.
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Posted 8 years ago
(1 item)
Antique Eames style children's swivel chair, blue plastic. I am certain this is a unique, rare item and that mostly all of these have found their way to the garbage dump or are broken. I cannot find anything like this item anywhere. It could very well be one of the last few in existence. Please call or text Lynne at 413-214-3615 if anyone can identify this item & tell me more about it?


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Twice Unwrapped
Maci Dillon
Cover Design: Star Skull Graphics
Jaynie Roberts unexpectedly finds herself facing another Christmas alone, nursing a sensitive heart and shattered ego.
When best friend Elle Prescott sacrifices her family holiday to stay in the city, Jaynie is completely oblivious to the deal Elle has made with her cousins in return.
The Bass twins, Mason and Xander, have marked Jaynie as theirs, long before now. With the brothers confident they are the ones to pull Jaynie from her man-hating funk, they won't stop until they've broken down her barriers, unwrapped her insecurities and rescued the little minx held captive.
Unable to ignore the lust cursing through her veins and unwilling to walk away, Jaynie is powerless to stop Mason's panty wetting seduction. Falling under his spell, Jaynie surrenders herself to a mind blowing night of passion that promises to push her limits further than she ever thought possible.
When Xander walks in, all alpha male, his mere presence demanding her attention, Jaynie is shocked and embarrassed at the way her body immediately responds to him.
At the mercy of two insatiable men, this promises to be a sinfully delicious, erotic encounter that will leave a fire in your panties, and a smile on your face.
99c or FREE on KU
Add to TBR on Goodreads
ExcerptLike she weighed nothing, Mason lifted her onto the kitchen counter. Instinctively her arms wrapped around her tummy, to cradle the extra padding she'd come to hate, but lacked the motivation to fix with exercise and a proper diet. Mason growled at her movement, ripping her arms away and securing them at her sides. "Don't hide from me, Jaynie." He parted her legs until he stood between them, his mouth following the direction of his hands toward her throbbing clit. It took all her willpower to stop from pulling her arms free and pushing him lower, guiding him to the exact spot she needed him. Instead, she tried to relax into the counter, waiting for him to move beyond her chubby tummy. When his fingers finally reached her core, she murmured his name, "Mason. Please." "What do you want, baby? Tell me," he rasped as he rolled the thigh highs down each of her legs, until she was completely naked. Teasing her, Mason kissed the tops of her thighs, his hot breath whispering across her aroused pussy. When her only response was to thrust her hips upward, eager to feel his mouth on her clit, he backed away. "Your turn for a shot, Jaynie." That moment would hopefully mark the only time in her life when she didn't give a fuck about taking another shot. "Seriously?" she asked. Mason laughed, preparing the shot, and handing it to her. "Seriously. Maybe then you'll tell me what you want." She huffed and licked the back of her hand as Mason stood ready with the salt. She could think of better places to be licking the salt from, but Jaynie remained quiet and focused on getting his hands back on her. As she lifted the glass toward her lips, Mason readied her lemon slice in his mouth, and ran his fingers through her wet folds. Her body shuddered at the touch, then nearly choked on the tequila as he pushed his fingers deep inside her. "You're a pro," Mason smiled, "didn't spill a drop." Jaynie clenched her hands at the back of Mason's head pulling him toward her and took his mouth, quenching her thirst, her lust on the lemon waiting there for her. His fingers thrust deep inside her, pushing her to the edge. All inhibitions she once had floated away on a lust induced, tequila cloud. Needing more from him, she met every thrust with one of her own, her hips undulating, her ass almost hanging off the edge of the counter. She was so close, yet so far from where she knew she would be in the minutes to come. Mason answered her silent needs, detouring his mouth from hers, down her body to where his fingers worked her into submission. "Tell me what you want, Jaynie." "You know what I want," she panted in response. "I want to hear the words, Jaynie. Say it." Mason slowed his fingers and pulled them from her heat until they lingered at her entrance. Live or die she thought. Dirty talk wasn't part of her vocabulary. "Fuck me with your mouth, Mason."
99c or FREE on KU
Maci Dillon is a self-confessed lover of chocolate, wine and mummy porn. A mother of three sporty children, Maci fits in writing between her family and full-time Marketing & PA business. Maci is a daydreamer who loves writing short, erotic scenes and loves reading M/M, ménage and sports romance. A true minx at heart, in her spare time you'll often find her by the beach with a cocktail in hand.


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A Male on Females on Female Characters
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I guess he's offended because the boobs are targeted at guys, not at girls. It implies that all guys want in a female character is sex appeal. Of course, if Shamus does not find that to be true for him, then all he has to do is not buy a game that sells itself that way. Then, abrakadabra, he is no longer the target market and thus is not being insulted by the advertising. So yeah, basically what I'm saying here is that complaining about sexualized marketing is silly if you're gonna buy the game anyway.
If you think you can do better Mr. Young, step up to the plate and make a video game.
Well, I've learned something today.
Well they have to put something on the box art. And in the gameplay trailers. And in the cinematic trailers.
Mass Effect's box art is meant to tell you about the game inside. Look at the box for the first game. You can see just from looking at it that mass effect is a grand sweeping space drama, that the main character is military, that the dude with the glowing blue eyes is evil, and that other aliens and a lady in a tight space jumpsuit will be involved. Granted, they could have had female Shepard on the cover, or black Shepard, or black female Shepard, but they had to pick something.
Same thing goes for DA2. DA1 abstracted the cover, giving you a big red dragon with no people. DA1 also had many more racial options than DA2, which forces you to play a human. But in both games' advertising, they had to pick one character for all of the trailers, just to give them some consistent link. I don't know that they could have done better than they did.
What do you think would have been better, from both a diversity and a marketing standpoint?
60:40 ain't generous, it is the actual numbers (if this wikipedia page is reliable at least)
I'm not sure if aiming at the majority is always optimal. If there is a large audience that craves female protagonist, being considered "the shooter with a good female protagonist" might be more profitable than say "just another shooter".
I'm not sure if it was one of those "lame reasons," but female avatars can't be in Brink because of the way body-types correlate to gameplay. Light characters have low health, can only wield submachine guns, and can free-run. Medium characters have more health, can wield all weapons, and can do limited free-running. Heavy characters have the most health, can wield all weapons, and can't free-run If you've seen the three body types, then you know that they're exaggerated, and that it would visually make no sense for a female to be either medium or large. So, to include female characters would result in one of two things: 1) Anyone who wanted to play as a female would be relegated to the Light body-type and have their gameplay options reduced by 66%(which is a bad thing), or 2) The game is filled with hideous, Soviet-experiment-gone-wrong women.
Its really a shame. I'm a big proponent of personalization in games, but sometimes it just doesn't work out like that.
What they should have done was make the orange light behind Shepherd's head obscure his face.
OT: When developers first start designing a game they have to make a choice. Will immersion come first, or will storytelling? If they answer immersion, then they should allow the player to choose gender, race, etc. If I were to pick on a company for not doing this, It would be Valve. In Half-life, Freeman is only ever acknowledged as a man a few, unimportant times. It would hardly effect the game if Freeman was a woman, but since there is a rather strong stor to Half-life, it can slide. The real failure was in Portal. The female protagonist, Chell, was absolutely nobody. Gender did not once factor into the game. The only reason she was ever given a gender was because players needed an avatar to see when they looked into portals. Of course, unless you're a white woman, every time you look into a portal and see yourself, you'll remember that you're not in Aperture labs, but that you're playing a video game and the protagonist is in Aperture labs.
If storytelling comes first, then they are going to have to create a character for the player to control. This means that the character will have to have a gender and race, which means that some demographic is going to be left out. Personnally, I place more importance on immersion, but whatever.
Now the problem I have with these protests against the lack of diversity in games is that they seem to assume that enjoyment of a game is hampered if the main character is not exactly like the player. They seem to assume that a woman can't enjoy playing as a man, and that I can't enjoy playing as a woman. They're wrong, because I sure as hell liked Metroid. The thing is, if people want a protagonist that is also a character (I don't, but once again, whatever), they're going to have to make concessions.
Uh, no. You're just taking the piss. Language is fluid, especially english. If you want to try and say that what you just said would logically follow what I said, I'd have to ask if english was your first language.
Honestly, if you're not just being pedantic for the sake of trolling me this doesn't even deserve an answer. But just for the sake of it...
Maybe a party of "player characters" would be referred to as "your party"? I mean really, if you were the GM (that's Game Master, or DM if you're the Dungeon Master) would you really even say "A group of Smurfs ambushes your party of Player Characters! What do your Player Characters do?" Doubtful.
You would most likely say something along the lines of "A group of Care Bears ambushes your Party/Group/Posse (or even in a pinch Characters)! What do you do? Roll for initiative!"
Are you picking up what I'm putting down here?
ps- it's "...doesn't roll of the tongue too well.", not "to".
So I'm reading the article and I get to the second page. Oh, a scene from Mass Effect. If there's text somewhere that might mean something, I try to read it. So I'm squinting and trying to read what Shepard is saying. Slowly I'm moving my face closer and closer to the screen, but I still can't make it all out. Then I see that the point of the picture is actually that it a shot of someone's butt, and my face is inches from it. To any outside observers, I am now some kind of pervert...well played, Shamus, well played.
Also, I always make a female character when the options are open. I am so sick of guys being the lead that I have taken it into my own hands to create awesome female main characters.
Did you ever wonder why? And if your answer is "the patriarchy" then you've missed the mark.
Basically? Look to Portal.
This was the standout example of how to do marketing without a centralised figure. (Oddly enough, it's also cause for some despair, but for different reasons; namely, that in such a profoundly female game with an easily depicted central character, they decided to keep her hidden.) Abstract it. Dragon Age 1 used the blood dragon as its symbol. For Dragon Age 2, I'd have gone with that weird symbol thing of Kirkwall's. Or maybe the silhouette of the Kirkwall skyline? After all, Kirkwall is, in many ways, the star of DA2. Moreso than Hawke.
Trailers are, I grant, a little trickier. But again, look at Portal. There they used a clever device to convey the humour and nature of the gameplay without really using much gameplay footage. I don't believe for a second they couldn't have done something similar with Dragon Age 2. Use Varric, talking. (Hell, it's what he does.) Perhaps something about the mystery of 'The Champion of Kirkwall':
"Who is the champion? Heh. Nobody can agree. I've heard stories about how he's eight feet tall and wields a sword as long as himself; I've heard she's beautiful as a flame and wields magic just as deadly. The champion is the rebel lord of the resistance; or the tyrant's right hand. Born into power and destiny; or a Fereldan refugee caught up in the winds of chance. And y'know, the champion is all of these things, and none of them. But that's not the point. The point is, the champion changed the world. And I know the Champion's story..."
Use the images of the game. Show the setting, show the gameplay. Build intrigue and mystery.
Would that be better from a diversity standpoint? Absolutely. Anything to dilute the endless range of gruff men in the marketing. From a marketing/sales perspective in the short term? Probably not. The fact is, it's a way of signalling to the male fanbase, "Hey, this is for you. You wanna be this guy, right?"
But it's being done at the expense of the mid-to-long term. We can only grow this industry so much without getting women involved. They're half the population, and we're doing a crappy job of growing the market to them. In the end, gaming is caught in a Prisoner's Dilemma. Everyone's defecting ("just keep on using gruff men, it sells") because in the short-term it's always a better strategy than co-operating ("let's try and expand the market") even though it's limiting future growth.
I would categorize that as a lame excuse personally, as just giving two seconds thought to the issue I came up with the notion of giving heavy type female characters big blocky armour that's, hypothetically, supposed to enhance their strength while making them similar in make to the male models.
I would think a professional team of game designers being paid for their work could come up with even better ideas. If they cared to. Which I dare say they don't.
There was also another study, but I can't seem to find it... This is pretty comprehensive though.
I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the double standard in targeted audience of entertainment products getting an appealing character to look at.
The double standard is in the fact that us dudes whine about twilight whilst lapping up any hot chick gaming serves to us. (and don't say you don't. Alyx Vance runs off ahead for a reason you know...)
(though this doesn't only apply to men, Sephiroth didn't wear a shirt for reasons not dissimilar to those cited on behalf of Peter Petrelli. Women like fanservice too, deal with it.
I think you're misread what little I wrote. I agree that both genders enjoy getting pandered too with pleasing looking characters, but I don't agree with guys catching shit over Miranda in ME2, while 40 year old women drool over an under age guys shirtless bod without hearing a word of disapproval.
Yeah, I'm right there with Shamus on this one.
I want more female characters!
Also, I agree with the thing about not minding female sexualization. I like being sexy in real life, so why wouldn't I like playing a sexy female character?
I actually didn't originally watch the show cause I thought it would be retarded pandering and frankly there is plenty of porn in the sea.
Then I finally watched it and was pleasantly surprised at how funny I found her and how much I enjoyed the series. It's a great show, and thankfully she tells you just who the hell she is (which made it even MORE enjoyable because I realized they didn't just hire her because she's attractive).
As for the Original Post.
Make every character from now till infinity a woman and make them any race you can possibly imagine. I care so little for what my main character actually is that it's just gravy to me.
If at the same time it'll enrich the gaming world by making it "diverse" that's cool too.
Seriously had cloud been a woman I would have not experienced the game any differently. Well...considering my age at the time I might have had unclean thoughts about the protagonist, but otherwise I would have enjoyed it no more or less.
Maybe the fact that male characters have very little personality is why game developers like them? They all feel like very empty canvases that could have two X chromosomes if they wanted and not really effect their little necessity.
So yeah, no rage from my game library. I've never seen the importance of race or gender (seeing as you don't influence those traits in yourself), so it's not on my list of important things for a character.
I'm all a flutter about WHO someone is instead of WHAT someone is.
Please, fill us in as to why then. I'm honestly curious, because my votes going towards institutional sexism.
Did anyone else facepalm when they notice that Batman: Arkham Asylum made the lists of games where the character is male?
"Oh why can't i play a pretty princess in Batman: Arkham Asylum? What ever do you mean Batman isn't a pretty princess? He's make believe, so he could be a pretty princess if you wanted to make him one. Oh she could wear a pretty pink dress and sparkle... Oh no, we don't want him to fight, everyone would love sparkly princess batman." [/sarcasm]
This is why i laugh at stupid people making hasty generalizations about gender equality. Because any man who wasn't retarded by feminism would look at that list provide & start knocking off any game where the main character had to be male for whatever reason, just to see how few games you had left.
But seriously, the reason there are so few female characters is totally to do with sexism... Feminist Sexism. Because if anything bad happened to the female character, feminists are going to compain.
You know what i would like to see... Straight up less cliched characters/games to start with. I'd also like to see less muscule bound neanderthals, space marines with guns as male characters. You know that diversity thing. Unfortunately the gaming industry is much like the movie industry at the moment: "Lets not make something new & earth shattering that will make a whole heap of money, lets play it safe & make another fable game, or maybe sims, or maybe just a new FPS based on that one engine everyone keeps on using... We'd hate to put in any effort, we might fail & then we'd have to pretend we failed ironically: Its hard being a hipster computer game developer." [/sarcasm]
Once again, the problem lies in apathy of the fans. It's easy to go to PAX and read these forums and article and think, "Wow, so many people think this, why don't we see it reflected by people who make these games?" These venues, you must remember, are filled almost entirely with people who really care about video games. Pick a random IRL friend who plays video games and ask them what they think of the state of protagonist variety in the AAA game industry and tell me if you get anything more than a blank stare. Like most other annoying things game designers are prone to do, we'll just have to wait for the image of the gamer to mature, which will happen as more and more of the kids who play video games grow up and become adults.
I wonder what the panel would think about a female character being the main antagonist. I've been working on a game/story centered around the protagonist trying to get revenge on his (female) mentor, who betrayed him.
I don't mind more female leads, or at the very least more female characters worth a damn. Gimme some more girls like Chun-Li, or, uh... hell, Rochelle (sorry, mind went at a complete blank just then). You know, they kick ass and can be dainty too if they ever felt like it. :D
That's one of a few reasons why, if the game allows it, I prefer to play a female character. I have the option, might as well use it (extra points since I want to use it). I like a woman who, well, can stomp you into the ground. :P
Oh, seriously? You're going to pull out that hackneyed old canard?
Should every movie critic make a film before they're allowed to say if they feel a film is good or not? And how specific do we go? Should Roger Ebert be allowed to criticise a film's writing (since he's written films) but not the direction, since he's never directed one?
Am I allowed to criticise a novel? I've written professionally, but never had a novel published.
Criticism is its own field. That Shamus Young has not written a game himself (that I'm aware of) does not disqualify him from making intelligent criticism of the gaming industry.
And if you don't think the above comments are intelligent? Then refute them. Don't just handwave the author.
Because men are far more believable characters than women by and large. Making a believable female character that is useful as a video game character in normal video game settings (mostly military or violent) is pretty difficult. It's also something that's not good business sense for the target audience of mostly male gamers.
The only thing that I really missed was the discussion of my two favourite strong and vulnerable female characters:
The message I get from the advertiser isn't, "Buy a tube of our tooth-cleansing goop," but, "We think you're stupid enough to believe that strange women will be dry-humping you on the subway if you buy this product." It's hard to enjoy something if you're left with the impression that the creator thinks you're a knuckle-dragging simpleton.
THANK YOU. This is the reason why I barely watch anime anymore. I'm tired of shows pandering to the sex depraved "nice guys" who are wimpy, misunderstood, and who women would love if they "just got to know him". They pander to this audience with 2 dimensional harem women flashing panty and boob cleavage to the point it's in almost every anime. I have assume that they think if you're watching anime at all, you MUST want to see this stuff because only this type of person watches anime.
I'm a sarcastic bitter ass hole who has had sex with more than his fair share of women. Where's the anime that panders to me? There is none. They so focus on whom they think their target audience is that they insult and alienate everyone else.
Gaming is very much guilty of this as well.
I thought the very same thing. I figure "She's gonna bounce and jut like Tifa from FF7 in tight t shirts pretending to be a gamer while reciting whatever gamer she has doing her writing tells her to say." I was right about the Tifa and tight t-shirt thing. But I was pleasantly surprised that she actually plays video games and knows what she's talking about. While her show is more about T and A and less about substance, it's not quite bad enough that I feel it's insulting me either.
For all intents and purposes, all historical Heroes are men; so what exactly is the basis for all this gender equality bitching besides furthering a political agenda.
Let's agree that it's not widely used within your experience of the PnP RP community, and a commonly accepted term in mine.
Indeed I would like to play a character from a completely different social or ethnic background as long as this is treated as neither non-existent nor the character's defining characteristic (i.e. stereotyping).
Apparently you just watch the different kind of anime. If you hear of a show and quickly skim over the plot and see what it's about isn't your thing then don't watch it. Anime can also be like Ghost in the Shell you know. Of course if I decided to watch every episode of the Gundam series I could also declare I don't watch anime anymore because it's just about giant robots.
I think one of the main reasons we see so many generic brown-haired youngish white guys as protagonists is because most AAA titles don't actually have lead lead characters. They have neutral icons onto which the players can project themselves. The lead character becomes the player's appendage into the game, the means by which he or she manipulates the world. Do you care about the individual personality of your hand? In many games, the player character has no purpose other than to let the player enter the world. Master Chief is a perfect example of this--I would say that he is not actually a character, since he doesn't really change over the course of the games and his personality traits have pretty much nothing to do with the story whatsoever. He's just there to give the player access to the action, like the spaceship in Asteroids, the tank in Space Invaders, or the cursor in Missile Command.
In most of these games it would probably be incredibly simple to just include a female option--the player character sprite and dialog would be female instead of male. Would the Halo games be any different if Master Chief were female instead of male? I'm actually kind of confused as to why game companies don't do this. There would of course be a slightly increased cost (you'd need two voice actors instead of one, and you'd have to use up memory on another set of audio files and animations), but I would think the increased revenue would make up for it. But game companies have probably already experimented with this and run the numbers, and probably the reason they don't do this is because it's not worth it. If a lead character is nothing more than an avatar of the player, it really doesn't matter enough to bother.
Until the protagonists of more games are actually characters (in the sense that they are a dramatic participant in the story), I think the only differences between male "characters" and female "characters" will be superficial (boobs, booty, and legs as opposed to massive pecs and ripped arms). And until audiences are interested in stories beyond "kill everything that gets in your way," there is no reason to have actual characters. It's a waste of time. After all, do you really care when your in-game persona gets all angsty about the heaps of people he has killed? You yourself certainly don't feel bad, and you probably won't question or rethink the way you're playing the game because of it. And you know damn well that the only way to continue in the game is keep right on killing people! That angst is completely inconsequential, and the game would probably be better if it were removed entirely! Completely inconsequential "character traits" are not actually character traits. They are depth decoys for simpletons.
Is it just me or have you basically played nothing but FPS games and ultra violent games over the last few years? I know there a couple of examples of other games but the majority are FPS games.
OT: I personally think the problem is not the lack of good female characters in games overall. Basically every female FF character although I can't comment on XIII as I have yet to play it eg Celes, Beatrix, Jessie, Freya, Terra, Yuna Well FFX Yuna, even one from FFXII like Ashe along iwth a multitude of characters in the Fighting/Beat 'Em Up Genre whatever you consider Tekken and Soul series I have heard some call them Beat 'Em ups. The problem is the lack of strong female protagonists and characters in games like Mad World, DMC and Shooters. Very few shooters actually have female characters that fight.
As I already said: if females want more female characters in games, they should start their own studios.
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This article explains why people believe politicians - regardless of the evidence otherwise. See the article below
People are determined to stick to their own beliefs -- no matter what fact-checkers say.
By Sheila Eldred
The day before the vice-presidential debate, the candidates are already prepping the public for the lies the other guy is planning to tell.
"The vice president has been studying up on (Ryan's) real positions and is prepared to call him out on his actual positions," an adviser to Joe Biden told Reuters, for example, who warned that "maybe there will be some dishonesty."
And while many resources have exposed the exaggerations and falsehoods of the first presidential debate, when we tune into Paul Ryan and Joe Biden on Thursday, most of us will still believe the rhetoric of our preferred candidate.
Why? It's human nature to seek out information that supports our own beliefs and values, said Trevor Parry-Giles, University of Maryland professor of political communications.
"It explains why people who fall on the conservative end of the political spectrum link to Fox News, whereas those on the liberal end are more likely to tune into National Public Radio or MSNBC," he said.
He's even noticed himself doing it.
"When I was listening to the debate, I was not preoccupied with fact checking the president," Parry-Giles said. "I assume the President is telling the truth, because of my politics. But to Romney, I was screaming at the screen 'That's a lie!' And on the other side, others have the same reaction to President Obama."
Our inclination to affirm our beliefs and preferences might also help explain the results of a poll by the Pew Research Center in July that showed that 30 percent of Republicans say that President Obama -- a Christian -- is a Muslim.
Not everything is as easily fact checkable as the religion of the President, Parry-Giles pointed out.
"When Paul Ryan said he ran a sub 3-hour marathon, you can empirically disprove that," he said. "But when Romney says my tax cut is not really $5 trillion -- that's fudgable. Is that over a decade? What does that really mean? When you get into the realm of fact-checking, you're assuming everything is fact checkable, and some political truths are not empirical."
Consider a candidate talking about future job projections, for example, and the truth becomes murky.
"Truth is a tough thing," said Brendan Nyhan, an assistant professor of government at Dartmouth. "We can disagree about what the right policy should be, but I'd like to hope we could agree on which facts are consistent with the best available evidence -- and keep claims that are unsupported or false out of the national debate. I hope ... or wish ... we could achieve more of a consensus on what is false."
But even that is not easy.
Corrections in the media can often backfire, Nyhan said. For one, they can perpetuate myths simply by repeating the information -- even when the negative in the statement is added, people often don't remember it. Second, consider an experiment Nyhan and a colleague conducted an experiment in 2010: Participants read a fake news story in which President Bush claimed that his tax cuts "helped increase revenues to the Treasury."
Some of the fake stories included a correction: the tax cuts "were followed by an unprecedented three-year decline in nominal tax revenues, from $2 trillion in 2000 to $1.8 trillion in 2003." All the participants were asked whether "Bush's tax cuts have increased government revenue."
Among liberals who read the corrected version, fewer respondents said the cuts increased revenue. But among conservatives who read the corrected version, over 60 percent said the cuts increased revenue -- as opposed to just over 30 percent of the conservatives who read the version without the correction.
"Once these things are out there, it's very hard to roll them back," Nyhan said. "Some people are quite determined to stick to their beliefs no matter what you tell them."
Throw in one more statistic -- that Americans who have a great deal of trust in the media is down to 40 percent, according to a Gallup poll -- and the magnitude of agreeing on a single truth becomes clear.
That's not stopping some from trying, however. Before he settles in to watch Thursday's debate, Nyhan will unplug from social media -- yes, even Twitter.
"My wife couldn't believe it, but I think there's some value in it," he said. "There's some clarity in having our own opinions and not accruing predigested opinions."
Views: 415
But I don't believe them; I know that most politicians will say whatever they think will get the most votes. I usually find myself voting for what I consider to be the lesser of two evils. (I don't bother with the small parties, like the Greens, because I know they don't have a snowball's chance in a furnace.)
In the 2008 primaries, I did vote for Mike Gravel, even though 1) our California primaries arent until June, and have NO influence at all, and 2) I knew he was the least popular because he's a Unitarian. BUT I refused to vote for Mrs. Clinton because of her 2002 speech in the Senate that was passionately in favor of the Iraq war. Was she THAT stupid? Or was she pandering for conservative hawkish votes? She also has had close connections to The Family Fellowship...buncha subversive, male chauvinist, fundamentalist, very scary power brokers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fellowship_(Christian_organization)
And I was wary of Obama's religious connections. Didn't know if that was real or feigned...I still don't know. He was raised by two Freethinkers, his mother and his grandmother, but he was, and still is, god-blessing everything in sight. Makes me cringe every time he does it.
BUT in the Nov. 2008 general election, I sure as *bleep!* didn't want McCain and Bimbo. At one time (2000 - 2007) I believed McCain was an honorable man; he sponsored a bill that would have cleaned up the financial mess of political contributions, and just possibly have made Citizens United impossible, but it failed to pass Bush's Senate. But when he allowed himself to be talked into accepting The Bimbo as his running mate ...without vetting her...he lost me forever.
So, no, I don't believe what politicians say; I watch what they do. Same as priests, evangelists, used-car salesmen.
And I will never, ever vote for The Moron Mormon Robot no matter what he says. If he sincerely believes that ridiculous book, he belongs in a padded cell. I'd rather see Obama get a majority in the House and Senate, and try to get something done instead of running into Tea Party brick walls all the time.
And I'd like to see Karl Rove defeated so badly that he is forced to find some other line of work. Or retires to the Cayman Islands with all the money the Koch brothers have already paid him.
well, like the article said a lot of what they say isn't really a lie since they're talking about hypothetical scenarios ie "If I were elected/ in my second term etc." I think they're obviously trying to pander to certain people and obviously we're all biased and are going to think one guy is lying more than the other but often times I find it's not that they're lying it's just they don't know what they're talking about. Those are two different things.
"To paraphrase Homer, people are filled with joy to hear a politician
And what is this rhetorical art? Churchill described it.
"The direct, though not the admitted, object which the orator has in view is to
allay the commonplace influences and critical faculties of his audience,
by presenting to their imaginations a series of vivid impressions
which are to be replaced before they can be too closely examined and
vanish before they can be assailed." (page 4) [emphasis mine]
In short, such is the structure of the human mind that audiences are filled with joy
to hear politicians skilled
at lulling their critical faculties
by dazzling them with persuasive stories
full of vivid impressions that
replace one another
too fast to be examined
or questioned.
Joe the Plumber, therefore your policy analysis and facts are invalid.
Are those blobs fulla hot air?
What I find to be quite surprising in this article is that "Americans who have a great deal of trust in the media is down to 40 percent, according to a Gallup poll." I'm really surprised that so many people (40 percent) still have a relatively high opinion of the media. The credibility of the media has been in constant decline for years. News reporting has changed from relating facts to expressing opinion. In this age of instant information sharing and abundant news sources, it's such a travesty and a disservice to the general public that the truth is being overshadowed and buried by mounds of unchecked inaccuracies and garbage chatter. Just look at how television, radio and print media have slashed the number of personnel in their news departments. As a result, we are all left to swim in a sea of ignorance.
Yes, Flying Atheist I would expect less confidence in the media than 40% - but many people are duped into believing whatever they are told and do not question.
Thanks for your input Jonathan. Appreciate it.
Great discussion, Steph, and I wholeheartedly agree with all that has been said. My contribution will not be liked by those who wave flags, or who tear up when the national anthem rings out, or when calling out to god to bless america. Although our foundational documents spell out a noble ideal, never has it been in effect; many of the Founding Fathers owned and supported slaves labor, many, if not all, were relatively wealthy and educated. Stated desires to have an educated voting block fell far short with unequal access to education of quality. Founded by men who did not want kings and popes and religions to have power, many believed the only criteria for citizenship with a right to vote was ownership of property.
The ideal of USA does make me stand tall and sing with vigor; underlying that is the realization that USA does not provide a perfect government for all our people. Many are left out, and some deliberately so. Why?
As usual, Ruth provides ample and valid explanations and bears repeating:
In short, such is the structure of the human mind that audiences are filled with joy
to hear politicians skilled
at lulling their critical faculties
by dazzling them with persuasive stories
full of vivid impressions that
replace one another
too fast to be examined
or questioned.
By Ruth Anthony-Gardner
Thanks, Joan.
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Cyclocross Frames
Cross-Check is a tough-as-nails, super-versatile road bike that performs astonishingly well on any surface. There is no such thing as one bike that can do it all, but Cross-Check comes pretty damn close. It's a dyed-in-the-wool commuter and utility rig. It was a gravel crusher long before "gravel bikes" existed. Some people have even raced cyclocross on it. Though, we don't necessarily condone that behavior. Cross-Check was the first complete bike we ever offered. Since then, people have modified them hundreds of different ways to suit their riding styles and preferences. There's a reason that nearly every person who has ever worked for Surly has owned one. - Semi-horizontal dropouts for singlespeed compatibility and wheelbase adjustability - Gnot-Rite dropout spacing allows installation of 130 or 135mm hubs - Accommodations for front and rear racks and fenders - Clearance for 700 x 42mm tires with or without fenders
There is no such thing as one bike that can do it all, but the Cross-Check comes mighty close. It's a cyclocross bike by design, but don't be fooled into thinking that it has only one purpose. This jack-of-all-trades will do just as well getting you across the country as it does getting you across town. At home on the road, on trails, and on gravel, the Cross-Check'll fit pretty big tires, or smaller ones if you like. It can be built as a geared bike, a singlespeed, or a fixed-gear. The Cross-Check's frame is engineered to supply a comfortable but lively ride. The tubing is CroMoly steel, high quality, custom-drawn, and built to our specifications. It's designed to work with components of popular sizes, meaning you can find both new and old parts to hang on this frame. It will accommodate a wide range of crank types and chainring sizes. It's got accommodations for racks and fenders (front and rear) and, because of its ample tire clearance, you can outfit it to suit where and how you will use it. There's a reason the Cross-Check has remained popular after all these years. The frame is comfy, tough as nails, and super versatile. Surly continues to hear from people for whom the Cross-Check has long been their go-to bike simply because it performs so astonishingly well on any surface.
We think by now, most of you get what Straggler is. It's a madly versatile bike that can be used for most types of riding and riding surfaces. Better still is that you now have the option of 650b wheel size. 650b wheels were popular for a long time many years ago on 'Constructeur' style bicycles and we all know how real stuff was back in the day…650b wheels strike a nice balance between the benefits of both 26" and 700c sizes. The smaller wheel allows smaller riders to fit well on smaller frames, produces a stronger wheel, makes fitting big-ass tires easier and are more agile than their larger counterparts. Straggler has disc caliper mounts instead of rim brake studs. It'll accept rotors up to 160mm. The rear dropouts are unique, too. They're a partially closed horizontal design that accommodates singlespeed or geared drivetrains. They feature stop screws that thread in from the rear to further secure the wheel and to position the rear wheel for optimal shifting, plus a forward-mounted stop screw on the drive side to keep the wheel from slipping forward under the force of your gargantuan legs. The rear dropouts are spaced 135mm instead of 132.5mm like the Cross-Check simply because there are far more options for disc hubs in this spacing. Straggler 650b has braze-ons for fenders, racks and bottle cages. The geometry is slightly different, with angles and tube lengths very close but not identical to the Cross-Check, but like the Cross-Check it's ready to take you just about anywhere. It's a day tripper and a weekender. It's a 'rough road' road bike. It's a cyclocross bike with no pretense about racing. It's a utilitarian townie. It's a light-duty touring bike. It's an all-weather commuter. And when you get tired of one set up, you can swap parts around and turn it into something else. We think that's pretty neat.
So what is this Straggler anyway? The easy answer is to say that we added disc brakes to a Cross-Check and this is close to accurate. People have asked us to make a disc version of our highly versatile Cross-Check for a long time now and almost everything about the two are very similar. Straggler is slightly different, though. The most obvious difference of course is that the Straggler has disc caliper mounts instead of rim brake studs. It'll accept rotors up to 160mm. The rear dropouts are unique, too. They're a partially closed horizontal design that accommodates singlespeed or geared drivetrains. They feature stop screws that thread in from the rear to further secure the wheel and to position the rear wheel for optimal shifting, plus a forward-mounted stop screw on the drive side to keep the wheel from slipping forward under the force of your gargantuan legs. The rear dropouts are spaced 135mm instead of 132.5mm like the Cross-Check simply because there are far more options for disc hubs in this spacing. Straggler shares all of the Cross-Check's braze-ons for fenders, racks and bottle cages. The Straggler's geometry is slightly different, with angles and tube lengths very close but not identical to the Cross-Check, but like the Cross-Check it's ready to take you just about anywhere. It's a day tripper and a weekender. It's a 'rough road' road bike. It's a cyclocross bike with no pretense about racing. It's a utilitarian townie. It's a light-duty touring bike. It's an all-weather commuter. And when you get tired of one set up, you can swap parts around and turn it into something else. We think that's pretty neat.
Surly's Travelers Check is all about versatility. It can be built up as a singlespeed or a geared bike on 700c wheels, has room for fenders and fat tires and has bosses for racks. And that's not even the best part! The entire bike breaks down to fit in a standard, airline-approved suitcase thanks to the S&S couplers! The 4130 chromoly tubing provides a smooth and stable ride and the comfy, stable geometry takes everything you can give it on the road or off the beaten path.
The S-Works CruX frameset is a 'cross-optimized warrior. With its S-Works FACT 11r carbon frame, flat-mount disc brakes, and S-Works FACT carbon seatpost, it's ready to be built up exactly how you want it. With the S-Works CruX frameset, you have the foundation for a real course crusher. Beginning with the frame, we implemented our Rider-First Engineered technology that was first introduced on our Tarmacs. Using size-specific tubes and layups, this technology allows the CruX to feature the same ride characteristics across every size in the range. Not only this, but it also allowed us to significantly drop the frame weight, so the CruX now comes in around a scant 900 grams for a 56cm (dependent on frame size and color)—over 400 grams lighter than the previous frameset. A light and stiff frame, alone, isn't useful in a 'cross race if it isn't compliant, however, which is why the new CruX also combines stiffness and compliance in all the right places. And to assist with the latter, we lowered the seat collar by two centimeters for more exposed seatpost and cushion for big hits. We also know that cyclocross races are often won in the corners and over the barriers, which is why the CruX geometry takes this into account. The top tube has been designed for easy shouldering when you're hopping off to clear barriers, as it features a large opening to the front triangle and a flat bottom. For stability in the corners and on off-camber sections, the geometry has a low bottom bracket and a sharp front-end. This combination also helps to initiate corners, regardless of the terrain. With maximum mud-shedding ability in mind, we included eight millimeters of clearance on all sides of a 33mm tire, providing plenty of clearance for muddy conditions. And along with clearance, select S-Works models feature hydrophobic, mud-shedding paint that reduces the ability for mud to cling to the frame. It's awesome to have a light bike, after all, but frame weight becomes irrelevant when it's covered in 10 pounds of mud. - Our top-of-the-line S-Works FACT 11r carbon frame features a race-ready 'cross geometry, and comes equipped with thru-axles, 142mm rear spacing, and takes advantage of our highest quality carbon production methods in order to create a bike that's as responsive as it is lightweight. - The internally routed S-Works FACT carbon disc fork features a thru-axle design that increases steering response and rider input for the tight turns and the all-out efforts that 'cross demands. - CeramicSpeed's legendary bearings are found in the bottom bracket of the S-Works CruX, ensuring that all of your power is going to forward motion.
Flying across the country to races some 'cross in the Pacific Northwest? Or are you headed to New England for some East Coast racing? Perhaps you want to give the legendary Belgian mud a try. Now you can travel without the hassle of punishing baggage fees for bikes. The Ritchey Break-Away® Pro Cross is a full size 'cross rig that can be split apart and fit into its own included travel case. Redesigned for 2017 with revised geometry, an integrated head tube and WCS carbon fork, this versatile machine now ships in a classic British racing green and yellow finish. The Break-Away Pro Cross frame is made from Ritchey heat treated, CrMo butted steel tubing, and includes a WCS Carbon Fork and headset. Aside from it's fantastic ride performance, the magic of this bike is in its patented locking compression system, which adds only 100 grams to the weight of the frame. The frame also features bridgeless chainstays for increased tire clearance and rack eyelets. The downtube is split near the bottom bracket and is fastened together with a simple locking ring. A double seatpost clamp up top secures the frame there. This system is strong and completely reliable - you'll never know you're riding a bike that you can split in half and pack in its own bag in less than twenty minutes. Case, padding, cable disconnects, and couplers also included in Frame Kit. - Bottom Bracket: 68mm English threaded - 28.6 front derailleur clamp (Caution: Front derailleur clamp MAX torque of 2.5Nm) - 5.9lbs frame/fork (M) - Case size: 8.5" W x 26.5"H x 31"L w/ wheels - Break-Away travel case and padding included - Ritchey does not guarantee Airlines will not charge - DO NOT grease the downtube coupler on installation - Protected by US Patent No. 6,886,844, EPO Patent 1298046 (validated in various EPO countries), Chinese Patent No. ZL200520113128.5 and Taiwanese Patent No. 192792 & 217716
Take on the cyclocross scene and so much more with Ritchey's venerable Swiss Cross Disc. With the same details that dominated the 'cross circuit and spurred envious glances at every start line, this timeless frameset is sure to supplant its progenitor in the annals of history. The classic details so coveted by pros and amateurs alike are all present: custom triple-butted steel, Ritchey dropouts, and the spot-on geometry that dials the ride to the perfect shade of refined stability and speed. To maximize those fine details, a lightweight head tube features Ritchey's integrated headset to shave weight and improve the steering response of the matching WCS carbon fork. With lots of room for shouldering and huge tire clearance, it's ready for the sloppiest race or ride. Yet it also has two bottle cage mounts in case you want to ride this piece of history every day. And, all-weather capable disc brakes provide sure-fire control and stopping power no matter what the conditions.
Taking their love of riding drop bar bikes off-road to its logical conclusion, All-City presents you with the Gorilla Monsoon. A sweet beast whose only limits are your imagination and will power. They've taken the capabilities of their famed cross bikes and built a Monster. All-City's most densely featured bike ever, fully hitting everything on their checklist for a steed that can take you far into the unknown in comfort, style, and elegance. Want to do mixed pavement and single track rides? Put in long days off-road? Do some fire road touring? Camping? Ride across the continent? No problem. Peep the features: Front and rear thru-axles, front and rear rack and fender mounts, compatibility with Surly-8 and 24-Pack racks, stealth dropper post routing, 27.5 x 2.4" tire clearance (650b x 48 with fenders), signature All-City dropouts, E.D. coating for rust prevention, and three water bottle mounts. The Gorilla is made from All-City's 612 Select tubing and features a lovely bi-plane crown steel fork. They believe that nothing soaks up bumps or is as durable as a high quality steel fork. For on and off-road touring duties, it is the jam. Some of you will want to throw 650b x 47c's in it and that's cool. The resulting slightly lower BB gives the bike excellent manners when riding with a load and is fully endorsed by us. If you want to run a 700c tire the max is a 42mm tire which will raise your BB by 8mm. 700c x 38 keeps the BB about the same. As for building it up, there are three cable mounts on the downtube, giving you the option of adding a front derailleur or a dropper post. Here's the max ring sizes for each setup: 1X = 38T, 2X = 28/42, 3X = 26/36/48.
Every champ has got to face a challenger at some point, and with that in mind, we're not about to just let someone steal the cyclocross throne from the Macho King. Back for a title match wrapped in a new yellow and black splatter colorway, the Macho King is flush with special touches destined to shine both on the course and atop the podium. Designed to provide speed and agility between the tape, it's built from A.C.E tubing, All-City's proprietary air-hardened, custom-designed, extruded steel tubing. While excellent off-the-shelf tube offerings have their time and place, using A.C.E. here allows our engineers to go completely custom with the butting profiles and wall diameters—helping them produce a lighter, stronger, stiffer, and faster course crusher, unlike anything else out there. Boasting contemporary race geometry, English-threaded bottom bracket shell, shortened chainstay, replaceable derailleur hanger, and substantial mud clearance, the Macho King now features a Columbus Futura carbon fork with adjustable rake, tapered head and steerer tubes, and clearance for 700c x 42mm tires. It retains all the All-City custom touches you've come to expect, such as custom seat collar and dropouts, flat-mount brakes, and star reinforcements on the bottle bosses and fender mounts. This generation of the Macho King is the choice for steel lovers with a thirst for competition, so get out there, break some hearts, and separate the contenders from the pretenders. - A.C.E steel tubing: All-City's proprietary air-hardened, extruded steel tubing, custom designed to be lighter and stronger for riding and racing - Contemporary race geometry, raised bottom bracket, shortened chainstay, and increased mud clearance - Columbus Futura carbon fork with adjustable rake - Fits 700c x 42mm tires
All-City's Macho Man has been many things to many people — back alley bandit, CX shredder, all-round road runner — and now it's back for more fun, more comfort, more style, and in more sizes than ever. You get all the features that made Macho Man great in the first place, like a 612 Select chromoly frame and fork, disc brakes, double bottle cage mounts, plus hidden fender and rear rack mounts, but with size-specific wheel sizing to accommodate smaller frame geo's and flat-bar, laid-back comfort for cruising all day. Take it across town for happy hour, make it your full-time commuter, or prove your mettle in the next Bandit Cross event. This Macho Man's built for you.
A singlespeed cyclocross sibling to the Macho King A.C.E., the Nature Boy A.C.E. comes primed for racing, covering quick up-and-downs, and cutting through the gnarliest of courses. Now crafted from A.C.E tubing — All-City's proprietary air-hardened, custom-designed, extruded steel tubing — the Nature Boy's expertly engineered butting profiles and wall diameters provide advantages that even the most excellent off-the-shelf tubing just can't match. Stronger, lighter, quicker, and stiffer than ever, it's simply unlike any other singlespeed in the world. Featuring modern race geometry and an ovalized top tube for easy shouldering over obstacles, we've increased the Nature Boy's mud clearance to eliminate unnecessary pit stops on the course. Built with an Eccentric Bottom Bracket to manage the chain tensioning, a shortened chainstay, and replaceable derailleur hanger, we've also outfitted the Nature Boy with a Columbus Futura carbon fork with adjustable rake, tapered head and steerer tubes, and clearance for 700c x 42mm tires. With a fresh Fulton green and black splatter paint job, all the All-City custom touches you've come to expect star here too, including custom seat collar and dropouts, flat-mount brakes, and star reinforcements on the bottle bosses and fender mounts. For steel lovers starving for competition, these updates to the Nature Boy are destined to get you across the finish line faster than ever before. - A.C.E steel tubing: All-City's proprietary air-hardened, extruded steel tubing, custom designed to be lighter and stronger for riding and racing - Contemporary race geometry, raised bottom bracket, shortened chainstay, and increased mud clearance - Ovalized top tube for easy shouldering over barriers - E.D. coated for durability and rust prevention - Built-in seat clamp and internal rear brake cable routing - Columbus Futura carbon fork with adjustable rake - Fits 700c x 42mm tires
The disc brake version of All-City's iconic Nature Boy singlespeed cross frameset. Like its cantilever brethren, the Nature Boy Disc carries all of the AC hallmarks that you've come to expect: beautiful lugged fork crown, custom dropouts, custom BB shell, signature head badge, and an E.D. coating for rust protection. It has proven race-inspired geometry in a durable 612 chromoly steel frame with chromoly tapered fork, and since you'll want to ride this cross bike every day, it's got plenty of room to fit large tires and even fenders. For racing, cruising trails, gravel, or daily commuting, disc brakes and a single-speed setup provide unmatched control and reliability.
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Edit an Educational Video with iMovie iPad App
If you want to do more with your iPad education videos than just trim them, you'll need the video editing capabilities of iMovie iPad app. iMovie for the iPad isn't intended for heavy movie editing
iMovie for iPad is an excellent video editor, so many teachers use it in their classrooms to edit educational videos. Students can edit iMovies on the iPad easily, to create educational videos for classroom projects.
After creating an iMovie, you can edit it to add transitions and titles. Each frame of the iMovie appears in the Timeline at the bottom of the screen.
Here's just a short selection of some simple but powerful options you can use to edit your movie project:
Zoom in and out. Unpinch your fingers in the Timeline to zoom in and see a more detailed frame view of your movie. That will be helpful if you need to be more precise when splitting clips, adjusting background music, and more.
Split a video clip. Scroll the Timeline so that the red Playhead is positioned where you want to split the video clip. Select the clip in the Timeline by tapping it. You'll see it highlighted with an outline. Without lifting your finger off the screen, swipe down to split it at the Playhead. Splitting a clip is useful for trimming parts, and adding transitions, titles, and more.
Delete a clip or photo. Double-tap the element in the Timeline; a Settings dialog pops up. Tap the Delete button. You can also tap and drag an element out of the Timeline to delete it.
Add titles. You can add a title to any clip or image in the Timeline. Double-tap any element in the Timeline, and a small Settings dialog pops up. Tap Title Style and select a style option; iMovie adds a text box to that clip or image. Tap the text box in the Preview window and add your own custom title text.
Edit transitions. Every time you add an element in your project Timeline, iMovie adds a default transition into it. The transitions are based upon the project theme that you selected, but you can change them easily.
To change a transition, double-tap the icon for the transition you'd like to edit. You can select Cross-Dissolve, Theme, or None to remove it altogether. You can also slide the duration of the transition to the desired time in the list of options.
Add a fade-in and fade-out to the project. Tap the Project Settings icon in the top right of the editor screen. Turn the options on for Fade in from Black and Fade out to Black.
Change the volume in a clip. Double-tap the clip in the Timeline and slide the volume control to the desired volume in the Clip Settings dialog. Turn it on or off altogether by tapping the On/Off button.


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phillamb168 necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 206 diseños de 59 diseñadores freelance.
Barnraiser Communications, Inc.
I've recently started my own business! I'm a full-time expert Drupal developer, 25 years old (no college degree! Take that, institution!). I pride myself on being able to connect with my clients at a very personal level, hence my company name. Barn raising was a very intimate, community-oriented event - when someone needed more room to help their farm grow, they relied on the expertise of those they trusted, and the entire village would turn out to help. I'd like to think that my clients turn to me to build the plans for their barn, so that their constituents have a deep desire to come out and help them achieve their goals.
Any companies interested in expanding their market reach by utilizing the Drupal open-source content management system to better serve and inform their target audience.
Go nuts - artistic license for the win! I'd like something that expresses the open nature of working with the Drupal CMS, as well as a good sense of community. I'm not trying to be my clients' best friend, but I want to get close, and make them feel supported.
No ripping off other logos, please - this includes the Drupal logo.
Primary colors are great, as is black and white, but if it's single tone it REALLY needs to stand out. Abstract is fine as well. I need something that I can put on letterheads, business cards, etc etc.
PLEASE SEE THE COMMENTS on the entry page, as this is giving sort of a running commentary on what I'm liking and what I'd like to see.
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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After 17 years of fishery talks, including discussion regarding the waters surrounding the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), Taiwan and Japan signed a fisheries agreement on April 10. The general perception is that Japan signed the agreement because it was worried that Taiwan might cooperate with China over the Diaoyutais. However, there are three main reasons why the negotiations were concluded so quickly.
First, the US did not want a Taiwanese-Japanese dispute over the Diaoyutais to affect its "pivot" toward Asia, so it wanted a quick solution.
Second, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's diplomacy clearly focuses on constraining China. In recent years tensions have risen between Japan and Russia over the ownership of four islands north of Japan, and between Japan and South Korea over Dokdo/Takeshima islets after former South Korean president Lee Myung-bak visited Dokdo. Japan's relations with Taiwan and China have also deteriorated as a result of the Diaoyutais issue. Abe was eager to break the deadlock, so he attempted to resolve the dispute with Taiwan as a first.
Third, in September last year, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) visited Pengjia Islet (彭佳嶼) in order to claim sovereignty over the Diaoyutais, but he did not state clearly that Taiwan would not cooperate with China to protect the Diaoyutais until February. This made Japan uneasy as it felt that Taiwan might become a problem if Tokyo did not improve its relations with Taipei.
The agreement does not look like a result of bilateral talks, but rather like a simplified version of the Sino-Japan fisheries agreement that came into effect in 2000. However, several differences can be found.
First, Japan's agreement with China includes detailed rules for its implementation. Such rules are absent from the agreement with Taiwan.
Second, the initial validity of the agreement with China is five years. There is no such initial validity period in the agreement with Taiwan and either side can withdraw after giving six months notice. Since Japan controls the waters around the Diaoyutais, it retains the upper hand.
Third, the area covered by the agreement with China is much larger than the area covered by the agreement with Taiwan.
Fourth, the agreement with China states that the agreement does not affect each side's stance on issues involving the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and this refers to controversy over the demarcation of marine territory claimed by both Beijing and Tokyo. This article appears almost verbatim in the agreement with Taiwan, but it is questionable if it will help Taiwan's sovereignty claim over the Diaoyutais.
Fifth, after the agreement with China was signed in 1997, then-Japanese foreign minister Keizo Obuchi sent a letter to Beijing stating that his country would not apply Japanese law to "Chinese citizens" in the waters surrounding the Diaoyutais. This is evidence that Japan recognizes the sovereignty dispute over the Diaoyutais. However, in Taipei's agreement with Tokyo, Article 2 strictly states that Japan will not apply Japanese law to "Taiwanese fishermen," implying that the agreement tacitly grants Japan sovereignty over the Diaoyutais.
Ma's government claims that the agreement will protect Taiwan's fishing rights, but Japan can withdraw from the agreement in just six months. Unless Japan recognizes the existence of a sovereignty dispute, Taiwan's hopes of using the agreement to shelve the sovereignty dispute is wrongheaded.


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Farmer Joel Salatin: Why Changing the Food System is Up to You
Joel Salatin is no simple farmer. Since Michael Pollan's book The Omnivore's Dilemma and the film Food, Inc. brought him to fame as the man who raises meat the right way, Salatin has become a sought-after speaker. But he still spends most of his time on his rural Virginia farm—with the chickens, baling hay, moving cows from one paddock to another.
It is perhaps Salatin's unwillingness to compartmentalize that has made him such a compelling moral voice for the food movement. For Salatin, farming is inseparable from ethics, politics, faith, or ecology.
Salatin's farm, Polyface or "the farm of many faces," has been in his family for 50 years. At its heart is a practice called "holistic range management," where cattle mimic the grazing patterns of wild herd animals. The strategy cuts feedlots out of the equation altogether and stores carbon deep in the roots and soil of Polyface's lush perennial pasture.
Salatin talked to YES! about how animals can help us restore our land and food if we honor them. Listen to him in his own words here.
- Wild Mustangs, Wild Kids:
How one Baltimore-born Motown veteran is preserving two of the country's most precious resources: wild mustangs and at-risk children.
- Just The Facts: Should We Eat Animals?
We can feed the world and still eat meat—but only a little bit.
- Buy Happy:
Mystified by all the labels? How to buy humane eggs and meat.


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BEIJING — In June 2012, China reveled in a major scientific achievement: The nation's first manned deep-sea submersible, the Jiaolong, had dived more than 4.3 miles into the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. The feat, state-run media said, put China among the elite ranks of such deep-sea-faring countries as the U.S., France and Japan.
Equipped with sonar equipment and two mechanical arms that can lift as much as 220 pounds, the submersible is just the kind of vehicle that might prove useful in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which investigators now believe is resting 2.8 miles beneath the surface of the Indian Ocean. Of the jet's 239 passengers and crew members, 153 were Chinese.
But while China has launched itself into the search effort with gusto — it focused its satellites to search for debris, scrambled ships and dispatched airplanes — the effort has thrown an awkward light on the gap between the country's high-tech aspirations and its limitations.
China hasn't offered the Jiaolong and the Australia-based search team hasn't asked, leaving the lead role to a U.S.-built robot sub, the Bluefin-21.
"We are frustrated that we have this great vehicle and it's not being deployed on this important mission," said Cui Weicheng, who helped design the Jiaolong and was aboard the vessel on several missions.
Then again, Cui acknowledged, Chinese officials might be worried about getting the submersible to the search area. Its mother ship, the Facing the Red Sun No. 9, built in 1978, has had engine problems and is unreliable.
"On its last mission, from June to September 2013, the mother ship broke down many times," Cui said. "It needed many repairs.... I think that's why the Chinese government may be hesitating to send it."
Forty days into the quest to locate the Boeing 777, it's been American, Australian and British equipment and vessels that have turned up what investigators have called the most promising leads. Meanwhile, officials in other countries have chafed about China getting out over its skis, rushing to release technical findings that proved to be false leads.
"We cannot deny that the United States has much more advanced technology in this regard," said Xu Guangyu, a retired military officer who is a consultant with the Beijing-based China Arms Control and Disarmament Assn. "The U.S. satellite system is much better, as is their ability to analyze very complicated data. These are things that we have to learn from the United States."
Last week, the state-run China Daily newspaper ran a rather frank front-page article headlined "Tech Gap Exposed in Search Mission; Experts Say More Development Needed in Nation's Advanced Maritime Equipment."
A few days earlier, China had grabbed headlines — and caught Australian search coordinators off guard — when state-run CCTV announced that China's Haixun 01 search vessel might have picked up acoustic transmissions from the jet's data recorders. It was the first report of any such "pings."
But questions quickly arose when photos showed searchers using a commercially available $16,000 hand-held device, made in the United States, dangled over the side of the boat. An Australian navy ship, meanwhile, towed a deep-water pinger locater lent by the U.S. military.
Little more was said about the purported pings until this week, when Angus Houston, the retired Australian air chief marshal who has been coordinating the search efforts from Perth, said the Chinese data had been "analyzed and discounted as a credible transmission." He said investigators were relying on four other detections made by the American pinger locater.
Though Houston tried to minimize the awkwardness of the Chinese disclosure, other governments have bluntly admonished Beijing.
Malaysia's acting transportation minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, rebuked it for wasting time by posting satellite imagery purporting to show debris over the South China Sea, along the aircraft's intended flight path. The photos, he said, had been released by "mistake."
China ought to be familiar with such "nontraditional security" missions. In the last decade, its military has practiced similar operations during exercises with foreign militaries and governments, said Dennis Blasko, a former U.S. Army attache to China and author of "The Chinese Army Today."
"This gives them a chance to implement that type of training in a real-world situation," Blasko said.
But the search has exposed a lack of trust not only in China's information, but in its intentions.
India, for instance, refused a request last month for China to send four warships to join the search around the Andaman Islands.
"China has been sniffing around Indian waters for a long time. Delhi was naturally suspicious of that request," said C. Raja Mohan, an Indian academic who has written widely about Sino-Indian maritime rivalry.
In China, where the search has received wall-to-wall media attention, the public is eager to see the country make a breakthrough contribution. Asked about it Monday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that China was "going full steam ahead with the search operation."
As speculation ran high last week that China might dispatch the Jiaolong, named for a fabled sea dragon, authorities posted a statement on the submersible's long-dormant Sina Weibo microblog account, apologizing for not keeping the account up to date. It explained that the team lacked the staffing to share fresh information.
Internet users met the message with disappointment and derision.
"To be honest, we don't really care if you actually write posts on Weibo," one commenter said. "We care about whether you can appear in the ocean southwest of Australia."
Said another, "We need a dragon that can dive into the ocean, not a worm that can only bluff."
Tommy Yang of The Times' Beijing bureau contributed to this report.


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This item may be available in multiple fabrics and colors. Prices may vary from price listed online.
This item may not be available in all locations. Contact your local store for availability.
Infinite position, customized motion means that you can find the position that best suits you, whether you need to soothe back pain or relax and watch TV. This gentle motion is suitable for all levels of mobility, and is as easy to use as a single touch. Since you need to plug in your power recliner anyway, it just makes sense that they are now available with built-in USB charging ports for powering up your phones and devices. Additional charge may apply.
The upholstery material on this piece of furniture has been thoroughly tested to stand up to whatever your rowdy family can throw at it. Heavy-duty materials are resistant to pilling and fiber loss letting you get the most use as possible out of your sofa or chair.
Don't be fooled by the technical jargon- Blue Steel and Dualflex springs are the real deal. The manufacturer's innovative, time-tested Blue Steel springs and the updated Dualflex system are made of heavy-duty materials and never need retying or replacing. If you don't believe it, the spring system can be replaced by the manufacturer at any time thanks to a lifetime warranty.
This recliner has a no-gap cushion that extends from the seat to the feet. This style offers fuller comfort and support for your legs, and eliminates the open gap that toddlers can get fingers or toys stuck in.
You know that old sofa that's lost its shape? It's not relaxing anymore, because that essential comfort just isn't there. Upgrade to the future of body-pleasing, personalized comfort with this power reclining, adjustable headrest loveseat. Optimize your relaxing position with customized motion, and optimize your life with built-in USB charging ports for your phone and devices. The reclining loveseat is modestly sized for a perfect fit in any home, condo, or apartment.
The Latitudes-Tomkins Power Reclining Loveseat with USB Port and Power Adjustable Headrest by Flexsteel at Conlin's Furniture in the Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wyoming area. Product availability may vary. Contact us for the most current availability on this product.
Fully outfitted with the features you crave, relaxing is a breeze with the Tomkins group. Kick back and enjoy those evenings off of work with gentle power recline and power adjustable headrests. The multi-position power headrests make it easy to position yourself for reading or watching TV, supporting your neck at an ergonomic angle that's natural to your specific body's posture. And you can count on Tomkin's quality and long-lasting durability with our time-tested Dualflex spring support and tough, Performance Fabric covering.
The Latitudes-Tomkins collection is a great option if you are looking for Casual furniture in the Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wyoming area.
Browse other items in the Latitudes-Tomkins collection from Conlin's Furniture in the Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wyoming area.
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This Hong Kong Agriculture page provides a variety list of latest Hong Kong Agriculture products, manufacturers and suppliers. Here you can browse all manufacturers of Hong Kong Agriculture. Each of the keywords links to a variety list of latest Hong Kong Agriculture products, manufacturers and suppliers. Browse keywords such as newport cigarettes, litchi, palm oil, lychi, cigarette and more in this popular Hong Kong Agriculture category to find the best quality Hong Kong Agriculture products.
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Las Fuentes Inn & Gardens is located in the quiet Araby area of south Palm Springs, just a short, easy drive from the Palm Springs Airport, and a couple of miles from downtown and other desert attractions.
This very private, bright, 800 square foot suite, designed in contemporary style, is accented with Native American decor. It features:
The full bathroom includes:
Our peaceful desert garden is a botanical delight with nearly 300 plants and four unique water fountains. Night lighting is spectacular. A grand patio, with misting system, surrounds a 60 foot saltwater lap and swim pool and includes an outdoor shower. A grassy badminton court, direct access to the county walking/jogging trail along the Palm Canyon Wash and complimentary use of bicycles are available to guests.
A wide range of daily breakfast choices is offered, served in-suite, pool-side on the patio, or in the house dining room.
Robes and pool towels are provided in the suite.
Our location offers convenient, safe cul-de-sac parking.
In the Palm Springs area, you will find unique recreational opportunities: Joshua Tree National Park, the Indian Canyons, Mount San Jacinto via the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, numerous golf courses near-by, and over 100 hiking trails. If art or history fascinates you, five different museums will appeal to a variety of interests. For an unusual entertainment experience, consider the Palm Springs Follies. Click on our Area Attractions tab for more information about these and many other area features.
A 10% discount is available on all services at the new Studio M Salon and Spa, just a few blocks from the Inn.
Vouchers are available from the Innkeeper for the Mesquite Golf and Country Club for a $10 discount ($5 – June, July, August) per person on green fees. This course, one of the most beautiful in Palm Springs, is less than one mile from the Las Fuentes Inn and Gardens.
A complete list of local restaurants is available in the suite.
Las Fuentes Inn and Gardens is a proud member of the California Association of Boutique & Breakfast Inns.


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Wabash outrebounded Kenyon 45-32 --- including a career-high 12 boards from Nick Curosh and a double-double from Wes Smith with 11 boards --- in a 72-61 victory in the first round of the North Coast Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament Tuesday evening. The victory may be the last home game for senior players and the final contest at Chadwick Court in Head Coach Mac Petty's 35-year career.
View photos from the game here.
The Little Giants dominated the glass, producing 18 second chance points. Curosh (left) grabbed seven of his 12 rebounds on the offensive end of the floor, while Smith had four offensive boards. The Little Giants finished with 18 offensive rebounds overall.
"That's my role on the team," Curosh said. "I come out every day to play defense and be ready to rebound."
"We talked a lot about rebounding before the game," Petty said. "There are three things in the game --- ball possession, free throws, and rebounding. The rebounding is the offensive end. You've got to beat them on the offensive boards, get to the line and make free throws, and take care of the basketball. We only had 11 turnovers tonight and that's pretty good."
The Wabash bench chipped in with 22 points, led by sophomore Jordan Surenkamp's 15 points. Smith finished with a team-high 19 points, with most coming from the free throw line. The senior guard his just 3-of-12 shots from the field, but connected on 13-of-17 free throws. Smith went 6-for-6 from the line in the final minute when Kenyon tried to draw even with 3-point shots and quick fouls to stop the clock. His double-double was the 16th of his career.
"Jordan has no fear," Petty said. "He showed that again tonight with 15 points. He adds an element we didn't have earlier which helps us a great deal. He takes pressure off of Wes."
"I just had a bad game," Smith said. "Maybe I came out too excited and tried to do a little too much in the beginning. But I trust my teammates. That's what this part of the season comes down to. We've had games in the past where someone has stepped up. I believe in my teammates that we can get the job done."
Kodey Haddox was a one-man shooting machine for the Lords, hitting 11-of-24 shots and 6-of-11 from beyond the arc to finish with a game-high 32 points. He scored eight points in the final three minutes to cut a 14-point Wabash lead to seven with only 38 seconds left to play. Smith's free throws put the game away for Wabash, giving the Little Giants a 20-win season for the first time since the 1999-2000 team finished 20-7.
Wabash enjoyed as much as an 18-point lead midway through the second half. Surenkamp nailed a trey and was fouled, completing the four-point play to give the Little Giants the 53-35 edge. Smith hit a pair of free throws and Aaron Zinnerman (above left) nailed a trey to keep the lead at 17 before Haddox begin shooting the Lords back into the game.
Zinnerman finished with 10 points, while Brian Shelbourne added 10 points and six assists, giving the Little Giants four double-figure scorers for
John Beaulieu added 11 points for the sixth-seeded Kenyon team, which finished the season with a record of 9-16.
Wabash travels to Wooster, Ohio for the semifinal round of games on Friday evening. The Little Giants will play second-seed Wittenberg, a 77-63 winner over Denison in first round action. Tipoff at Timken Gymnasium is set for 6 p.m.
"We won't change our approach against Wittenberg," Petty said. "It's been less than a week since we played them here. We'll come in Wednesday and review what we did against them the last time in our preparation."


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Spanish museums with a new feel
Guggenheim Museum
Deluxe extensions to show some of the world's finest collections of paintings. Restored historic buildings, now home to contemporary art. Avant-garde centres whose exterior is as attractive as what lies within. Museums in Spain are changing: they are adapting to visitors to offer active participation, and their architecture becomes another work of art to be admired.
The experience of visiting a museum in Spain is changing. Little by little, museums have transformed into places where visitors can enjoy the content and the building itself in many different ways. More and more often, visiting a museum in Spain does not mean just looking at the works on display. It also means discovering amazing architectural designs, dining in top restaurants, watching multimedia shows, or chatting in cosy cafés.
The contemporary art museums that have opened in recent years are especially marked by this trend. Along with the famous Guggenheim Bilbao Museum, other centres have appeared which are also noteworthy for their aesthetics. The MUSAC in León, for example, won the Mies van der Rohe Prize for European Union architecture. Meanwhile, in Vitoria-Gasteiz the Artium complex, right in the centre of the city, has been designed as a major public square, with the exhibition rooms underneath in the form of a cellar.
Meanwhile, in other Spanish cities the avant-garde comes together with tradition in the restoration of historic buildings, now the setting for modern art. This is the case of the Marco Museum in Vigo and the Es Baluard Museum in Palma de Mallorca, set in a Renaissance fortress, noteworthy for the unusual system of ramps, skylights and balconies that links its different floors. These are not the only ones: the 16th-century cloister of San Benito Monastery in Valladolid is home to the Patio Herreriano Museum, and in Seville, La Cartuja Monastery hosts the Andalusia Contemporary Art Centre (CAAC).
Neither should we forget the "classic" museums, which are also being renovated. The three protagonists of the Art Route in Madrid - the Prado Museum, the Thyssen-Bornemisza and the Reina Sofía National Museum- have extended their facilities, modernised their image and now offer visitors more innovative, inviting and attractive exhibition spaces. After the extension of the Reina Sofía, designed by renowned architect Jean Nouvel, the most recent has been the Prado Museum, by Spanish architect Rafael Moneo, whose architectural solutions receive nothing but acclaim. The IVAM in Valencia is another well consolidated museum that is currently deep in expansion plans.
Visit Spain's museums and discover a new way to live art.
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