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Etrom - The Astral Essence
A Very Basic Guide to Etrom - The Astral Essence
I picked up this great game for $5 at a game store. I judged this game by its
cover and it turned out to be a great game, despite all the negative reviews
and stuff I read online (*after* buying it). After noticing that GameFAQs has
almost NO info on it I decided to write this guide. It's a very rough guide, as
you'll see, but it will help with some tricky parts and there is a lot of stuff
you have to do in the game with little or no clues or direction as to how to do
it, mainly finding the 7 keys (which makes up like the whole first half of the
I'm not going to go vastly overboard like most of the guides I see here, with
the silly graphics made out of text characters, letters of thanks,
introductions, preludes, "legal" crap, ridiculously detailed tables of
contents, etc. I'll label sections but I'm not going to go crazy like "section
1.1.2x III a" and stuff like that.
The game packaging proclaims that your mouse is your main form of input and you
can play without a keyboard, implying that this is a favorable trait. Well,
playing without a keyboard would be difficult at best, so keep the insert card
handy to refer to key commands.
Starting out
You start the game in your apartment. There is a file on the floor right in
front of you. Grab it, open your inventory and you'll see it in the area with
the little squares. Right click it and it will open to show you the world map.
I haven't found much use for the world map yet, maybe it will come into play
later in the game. Exit out of that and go back into your inventory. You start
with your axe (which is permanently equipped), a basic armor, a handgun, and
some ammo. You have to manually equip the armor, gun, and ammo when you first
start and if (when) you die before you complete the first mission.
There's nothing else in the apartment, so explore if you want, get used to the
controls, whatever. It takes a little practice to get used to turning the
camera with the mouse but I think it's a neat feature. You can also use the
arrow keys on your keyboard, but I prefer the mouse. Whenever you're ready,
head to the door to GW7 and click it to leave your apartment.
Streets of Sighundia
IMPORTANT!! Your character states that he is not very well equipped to fight
and should just avoid fighting until he is better equipped. That is mostly
untrue, the gun you start with is actually pretty good, it can kill the enemies
in the beginning in 1-3 shots. Another note, there are 2 types of enemies -
some with guns and some with swords. Use the same weapon type to kill them,
guns for guns, axe for sword. If you try to shoot a guy with a sword, his armor
will block most of the shots and you will just waste ammo. If you try to hack a
gun guy with your axe, he might run away, and if you chase him you will
probably attract more enemies.
Now look at your map. You will see four gates on the very outer walls of the
city, east, west, north, south. These are pretty much the only places you will
want to avoid right now, they are guarded by 5 or 6 more powerful and
better-equipped enemies. Other than that, most enemies either wander or are
standing in groups of 2-5.
You'll probably be better off just forgetting about sneaking. It's painfully
slow and it doesn't even work very well unless you are exactly 180 degrees
behind an enemy. The enemies are mostly out in the open, they're not hiding and
they don't pop out of nowhere, just remember if you are running, they will
automatically attack you when you get within about 30 feet, no matter which
direction they are facing.
It's probably best to run around with your gun equipped, and if you attract a
couple enemies at once, shoot the ones with guns first, you can kill them and
switch to your axe (W button) before the sword guys get to you. It's pretty
easy to see the difference in the enemies, the swords stick straight up, the
guys with guns hold them with two hands like storm troopers. Just take small
steps, don't click way off in the distance, and REMEMBER if you are running and
you need to stop, for example if you get attacked from the side, switch weapons
and you will stop immediately.
When you kill enemies, sometimes a swirling blue ball will appear floating
above their corpse. When you walk near it, your body will suck it in and it
will restore some health. It gives you a percentage of your maximum health, at
lower levels it will give you like 8 to 10 points and it will increase as your
level rises. In the early 20s it gives around 100 points, it's pretty nice then
cuz enemies tend to come in groups and can do a fair amount of damage. When
starting out, one handy strategy is to avoid them when your health is full then
come back for them when you need it. This eliminates time-consuming trips back
to the shop to buy more drugs.
Now you have two choices: either carefully explore the city and kill enemies
for experience and loot, or just head straight for the sewers to complete the
first mission.
Exploring the city for experience is good because the enemies are really easy
when you first start out. There is a catch though, if you gain a level THEN go
into the shop, when you come out every single enemy will be back AND THEY WILL
BE HIGHER LEVEL AND HAVE BETTER GUNS! So you should stay out of the shop until
you your inventory is full, and/or you are ready to move on to the first
mission. Also remember you can't save your game until you complete the 1st
mission so if you die, you go back to the main menu and have to start over! So
it might be better to just fight your way to the shop, stop in and sell
anything you might have picked up, check out the equipment, etc, then head to
the sewer.
The sewer enemies are pretty easy, about the same as the ones above. It's a
pretty short little run, there's no boss or anything. The temple is pretty cool
but it has catches also. Talk to Johan, he goes through quite a spiel about the
keys and stuff. There are two portals: one goes to Hagnan's Shop and the other
goes back to GW7, it puts you right at the sewer entrance. There's the
dimensional portal, the circle between Johan and Hagnan's portal. This is where
you put the Aurun Keys when you find them. Then there's the Circle of
Experience, where you go when you gain a level, and the Circle of time,
basically a save point. I should say THE save point. You can save at any time
by pressing F5 but if you leave the game, next time you start you will start in
the temple, you will just have all the experience and items you gained up until
you pressed F5 and saved.
In the back room is a storage chest, just like in Diablo 2, it only has 24
small slots and 4 large. Once you start doing real missions, it's a good idea
to stock it with ammo & supplies. The reason is this: once you discover the
temple, you can warp back from almost anywhere (excluding arenas, boss rooms,
etc) just by pressing T. When you warp back, you will appear in the middle of
the circle room and there will be a blue shimmering portal. You can go about
your business inside the temple, but IF YOU LEAVE THE TEMPLE BY ONE OF THE
OTHER PORTALS, YOUR PERSONAL PORTAL VANISHES! This is an interesting twist, the
game would be too easy otherwise, you could just port back from anywhere and
hit the shop, sell a ton of stuff and buy whatever you need, then just jump
back to where you were. That would be too easy, so I like the idea.
Remember the catch about warping back with the T button, I learned that little
tidbit when I ported back from the first BIG boss, went to the shop, ported
back to the temple, clicked to portal again and it brought me back to the shop!
I muttered obscenities the whole 45 minutes I spent hoofing it back to the boss
So anyways, save it in the temple then click on either of the portals, if you
have loot from the sewers or whatever you can go straight to the shop to sell
and buy and check out the goods.
Now you can explore the city without worrying about death. It's pretty easy to
get up to level 4, you only need 30,000 XPs if I remember correctly. It would
be extremely difficult to tackle the first real mission at lower levels, it
would be really good to be level 8 so you can use hyper rifles. Hyper rifles
and disruptors are the only guns that use heavy ammo. Any gun that uses light
ammo pretty much doesn't work against zombies, and that's all that is in the
labrynth under Disabel's hideout.
You can try the Outlaw Arena, the unlimited time events aren't too bad, but the
third event contains enemies with disruptors, so you might want to save that
one. The first arena event gives you 30,000 money, the 2nd event gives 50,000,
not too bad. You can also do the first mission for your buddy at the illegal
gambling place. Forget about the G.A.S place, the 1st mission leads you to an
apt where you step into a special portal, it drops you into a small and
cluttered room with a large zombie and a big lizard guy that absolutely
destroyed me at level 9.
One thing you can do at this point is work on upgrading your stuff. Remember
the city gates I talked about? The one on the WEST border doesn't have a
disruptor enemy. If you upgrade your beginner gun to one that does more damage,
you should be able to take out that little group pretty easy, that will net you
a heavy machine gun at least. Remember that when using a gun you can RIGHT
click on an enemy and your gun will do a double fire, using twice as much ammo
but hitting twice as many times. Once you get a heavy machine gun, then you can
take out the other gate groups, just kill the disruptor first. They are pretty
easy to spot, it looks like a HUGE rectangle, almost the size of smaller
There are also 2 secret levels to explore and plunder. The only problem is one
is right next to the East city gate, so not only does it have a large group
very near, there is also a disruptor and a heavy machine gun enemy guarding it.
The other one has the same disruptor and heavy machine gun and also several
normal enemies, the ones with assault rifles and swords around. The 2nd secret
level has two entrances: one in a corner on the east wall and one in a corner
that's hard to describe. If you look at the map as a backwards capital L, it
would be in the corner.
The one with two entrances is pretty small, just a quick run through. The
enemies are about the same as the soldiers, some just attack with punches, some
have handguns, and some have rifles. There are some safes containing valuables,
weapon chests, and some other little things, you can make some good money.
The one near the city gate is quite large. I haven't noticed if this game makes
random dungeon maps, I don't think it does, so the second one basically forms a
big square, with a couple small branches. The funny thing is, the first time I
played through the game, I found a really sweet handgun in this dungeon, it had
excellent damage and +10 accuracy AND it had double shot, so each shot was two
bullets! The damage and accuracy was so good, the next best gun that the shop
had was level 19! However, I started a new game just to mess around, and I
scoured this dungeon and didn't find it. I was kinda hurrying, and I was
picking up the handguns that the enemies dropped, just to sell for money, so
maybe I did pick it up then accidentally dropped it thinking it was a crappy
one, or maybe I was just lucky the first time. I don't know if every item box
contains the exact same items every time. They also don't refill by the way....
So, if you get tired of levelling and hauling stuff to the shop to build your
fortune, you can head to the first real mission. Like I said, the higher level
you are, the better. The hyper rifles (and the disruptor if you want to get to
that level) are life savers down in the labrynth, because for some reason light
ammo weapons barely do anything to the zombie-like enemies, about 8 out of 10
shots just say "Armor Protection" which means zero damage, and when they do hit
they do like 2 to 8 damage. I guess it's logical though, bullets would just go
right through rotting zombie flesh. The hyper rifles are kinda like a shotgun,
they just shoot one round with a big thumpy bang and do good damage to the
zombies. The disruptor rocks, it's just a rocket launcher, so it does area
damage, but NOT TO YOURSELF! YAY! So in the cramped confines of the labrynth,
you can blast away all you want and not worry about killing yourself! The
disruptor has a nice secondary fire too, you just aim at the floor anywhere and
right click and it fires, so you can hit enemies if you see like their hand
sticking out around a corner.
I found one way to kill the disruptor guards early in the game. First you have
to clear out all the enemies around one of the city gates so they don't
interfere. Then get close enough to see the group of guards around the gate. If
you can see which one has the disruptor, aim at him and shoot as fast as
possible. You might be able to kill him before he gets close enough to shoot at
you. If you don't kill him, just run away. The guys with disruptors and heavy
machine guns run slower than you and the enemies with smaller guns, so you can
run for a while then turn around and shoot some more. It's not too difficult to
In GW7 you can see the Secret Gambling Den marked on your map, near the center.
Inside, Jimmy Guisto will give you side quests. The first one is really short
and simple, you have to deliver a package to Sharp Joy (cool name eh?) who runs
another secret gambling place which is only like 3 blocks north. Whatever you
do, DO NOT RIGHT CLICK ON THE PACKAGE, YOU WILL DIE! Apparently the package is
a bomb! Just go to Sharp Joy's place, which is now marked on your map, and all
you have to do is talk to him. Then return to Jimmy for your reward. This is a
great quest for a lower level cuz you get a good bit of money and i think some
XP also. Jimmy has another mission for you but you can't do until after the
first main mission. You can however talk to him to get the mission, that way
when you get to GW8 you can just go do it to save time.
Disabel, The First REAL Mission
Remember what I said earlier, about stocking your storage chest in the astral
temple? It's a very good strategy because if you scrimp on ammo up to the boss,
you're going to be hurting, unless you have your entire inventory full of
regens. You'll need more regen drugs than ammo, so I would recommend having 5
clips in your storage and the rest of the spaces full of regen drugs. Again,
it's unbelievably helpful to be level 8 so you can use the disruptor.
Well first of all you have to fight your way up to the very northeast corner of
the city, including taking out a city gate guard group, which includes a
disruptor-weilding guard. Then you go up the little ramp to the platform with
the tanks, around the back of that there are 3 rifle guards, which you can
actually shoot from the flat ground on the side of the platform where they
can't get you. Also, the very first time you go into the corner there are more
guards by the trapdoor, they never respawn though.
When you click the trapdoor you enter a large level that's just like the secret
levels and the original sewer, same enemies, same map style. When you get there
you talk to Disabel and read the weird story if you want. You agree to help her
kill the monsters or whatever so she directs you to the trapdoor to her right.
That's the entrance to the labrynth.
The labrynth is pretty darn big, and the enemies are zombies. There are 2
types, the skinny ones and big burly ones. The skinny ones move SO slow you'll
laugh, but they can attack pretty hard. No problem for level 7-8. The bigger
ones run fast and carry either swords or assault rifles. Again, they're not
terribly difficult, however sometimes when you get to a 4-way intersection,
they big ones will pop out of thin air in a cloud of smoke, not only surprising
you but making it hard to see what the heck is going on for a few seconds.
The labrynth is pretty big, but it's just a plain grid shaped map. You can't
get lost unless you refuse to use your map or something. When looking at the
map, you start at the top right, and the exit is closer to the bottom left.
Along the bottom of the map are rooms containing a couple rings and an amulet
or two. Most of the rooms contain the instantly appearing sword and gun
zombies, so it's better to stand out in the hallway a bit and shoot anything
you can see before going in. This is where the disruptor comes in handy, if
you're able to use it.
Also of very important note are the portals in the rooms with the rings and
amulet(s). They transport you to seperate little mini-levels where you can gain
astral powers. For those who normally just skip everything and run through
dungeons as fast as possible, well you can't beat the first boss without the
powers. When you see a big glowing circle on the floor, like a portal without
the overhead arches, just step in and it gives you the power.
One good way to explore this labrynth is to go across from the start, down one
row, across the other way, down, across, etc. That's if you want to gain all
the xp and loot. I guess if you are one of the straight through types, you
could just head straight south and clear out the whole south end, that's where
the goody rooms are.
Eventually you'll find the portal to the boss, when you mouse over it it says
"astral portal" or something. It's kinda tricky cuz once you step through it,
you can't use the T button to warp back to the temple, but if you warp back in
the room that contains the portal, when you return the enemies will be
respawned. It's not that big of a deal though, just be ready with your axe or
disruptor. So on to the boss...
First you appear in an empty room with a glowing door behind you, but you can't
go back in. There's a door on the other end of the small room that leads to the
boss. You can see a table or altar or whatever in the middle of the room, but
there's nothing else there. The boss spawns when you walk into the room. I'm
not sure if you can go back into the empty room or not, I was too busy running
madly around trying to stay alive....
First of all, ENERGY WEAPONS DO NOT TOUCH HIM, NO DAMAGE PERIOD!! So don't go
in and waste a bunch of disruptor ammo (if you have it). Like I said, the boss
spawns when you enter the room, also two glowing lightning balls appear behind
the altar, smaller enemies pour out of these. There are the two normal types of
zombies (the skinny slow ones and the burly fast ones) and there are also mega
zombies, they are exactly like the skinny ones but twice the size. They move at
the same speed but do way more damage and are extremely hard to kill even with
a disruptor. The axe can take care of them but it's still pretty tough.
This is also where a disruptor is a lifesaver. Like I said the smaller zombies
literally pour out of those portal things, and the disruptor shoots as fast as
you can click, so you can clear those suckers out real quick. You'll need to
keep moving to avoid the priest, his magic attacks can do upwards of 240
damage! Which reminds me, WATCH YOUR HEALTH! You should definitely have the
highest regen drugs available to you at the time.
Anyways after dying quite fast the first time (which was after spending another
45 minutes running back thru the sewer, Disabel's hideout, and the labrynth due
to my lack of understanding of the portals), I figured out a strategy that
seemed to work, well that is IF you are high enough to use the disruptor! Keep
blasting the small enemies that pour out of the portals and eventually they
will stop, however I think the mega-zombies keep coming, I was running out of
regens so I didn't have time to keep trying to kill them. The priest doesn't
move around much though so I was unfortunate enough to have a mega-zombie
waling on me while trying to fight him...
Which brings me to my next point, actually fighting the priest. Remember, guns
don't touch him, and guess what, even your normal axe doesn't do anything to
him! That's why you need the astral powers. There are 3 of them, trust me I
explored every inch of the labrynth so I better not have missed any! You need
to switch your axe to ice power, lightning doesn't do anything either. It's
probably easier to open your inventory and click the icons on the star,
although you can use the S and D keys to cycle forward and backward. The icon
in the center of your star shows the axe MODE, when it's on the axe icon that's
attack mode, the red star is spell mode. I didn't try the ice SPELL on the
priest so I don't know how well that works. I just used ice attack and whacked
away, using right click power attacks as much as possible, that would do
sometimes over 600 damage.
So just clear the small zombies, attack the giant ones if you want, then use
ice power to attack the priest. He has over 4000 health so it might take a
while. Just watch your health and magic power, and REMEMBER you can use drugs
while you are in your inventory, just put them in your belt slots and right
click them, your health/magic will be instantly higher when you exit the
inventory, no waiting at all. It would also be nice to bring fury potions, they
increase your axe damage. Actually I think I was using one when I saw a couple
648 point hits on the priest.
Also, according to the manual (the PDF manual on the game disc), when you use
your personal warp to the astral temple (T button), the return portal will stay
there if you save and exit the game. I haven't tested it yet myself, but if
it's in the manual you'd think it would be correct. So that would be another
good reason to port back to the temple before stepping into the portal that
leads to the boss, otherwise if you die, you're f*cked and have to all the way
thru the labrynth and everything....
Sector GW8, After the Priest
You get your first Aurum key or whatever they're called. In the Astral Temple,
you can go to the Planar Portal (the circle to the left of Johan) and click on
it, the key will go into one of the little circle things and it will glow.
Strangely, Johan continues his "guru meditation!", so I had to figure out the
next part myself!
You need to get the key for sector GW8. You get it from the guy in the Outlaw
Arena. You don't have to do any of the arena missions, but you do have to buy
the key from him. It costs either $200,000 or $250,000 I can't remember which.
Remember that in this game, any time you get a key for a locked door or
trapdoor or whatever, it does NOT appear in your inventory or anything, you
just go to the door and click on it and it will open.
If you've been hoarding stuff from the dungeons and selling it at the shop, you
should have a good bit of money. It doesn't take much to save up that amount
anyways. Just always look VERY closely at dead enemies for credit cards. Also,
if you haven't done either or both of the secret levels in GW7, you can make
some good money from them, they have safes full of goodies that are worth big $.
After you buy the key, the trapdoor that leads to GW8 is in the lower left
corner of the map. If you haven't cleared the enemies from around that area
yet, you will need to fight them now. There are some of the tougher soldiers,
the ones with hyper rifles, heavy machine guns, and disruptors. These are the
one-time enemies, after you kill them they won't respawn. Just be careful cuz
the southern city gate is nearby, but I don't think it's close enough to
attract the group of gate guards unless you run in their direction.
Once you clear the enemies from around the GW8 trapdoor, click on it and you
will be in a very small sewer level. It's shaped like a sideways T, you can run
straight from the entrance and just go out to GW8 without facing a single
enemy, or you can go down the one branch to the right. Down the branch there
are some enemies and some goodies. First you will come to an area with some
normal enemies, the guys in robes, some with swords & shields and some with
guns. There are actually quite a few of them, maybe 10-12. No sweat, a couple
disruptor shots clears them. Then there's one of the dead-end type sections,
with walls on 3 sides and a group of enemies, including a mini-boss! They're
all pretty easy, the mini-boss just has a handgun and you get 850 XP from him,
then there are some safes and supply/weapon/drug chests for you to plunder!
Wether you clear out the enemies or just run through, you pop up in sector GW8
after clicking on the other door...
The first time you go into GW8, you automatically go into a conversation with
Gheena, an old friend of yours. She explains how she can smuggle you into
Ursiton where you can meet up with a secret rebel mole/spy whatever. You have
to pay her $9,000 to travel to Ursiton, she says it's very risky and dangerous
for her to do it for you and her rebels need guns and blah blah. You can go
straight to Ursiton if you want or choose "Maybe later" or whatever the option
is and explore GW8. There are 3 points of interest in this sector, the main one
being the Secret Service hideout. The guy in there gives you two quests:
Kriek's hideout has a rather large sewer-type level that you can explore, with
lots of enemies and goodies. Like the first big mission, you might want to
stock your storage chest with health and ammo, and you will probably get so
much loot that you will need to store some in your chest to make room for more.
After the sewer level you will find another door to Kriek's actual hideout. It
is a much smaller level, just like Disabel's actual hideout. There are normal
enemies standing around all over, then in a seperate branch you will se a
rather large group of enemies, Kriek is somewhere in that gang. I just unloaded
my disruptor, I shot until it clicked out of ammo and when the smoke cleared,
Kriek was standing there plinking at me with a silly little handgun. I made
short work of him with my axe and got some good XP and loot. It was pretty easy
at level 10. Then I just warped back to the temple and made a couple trips to
the shop to sell my loot, upgrade my equipment, restock my supplies, etc...
If you're a thorough explorer you might notice a trapdoor in the floor in one
of the little side rooms around kriek's hideout. It leads to a rather large
labrynth which contains a portal to a boss who holds one of the aurum keys.
Sorry i don't have much more info but you should be pretty familiar with the
labrynth levels by now, you run around, explore, get loot and XP, etc. The
portal leads you to a standard boss room, the boss isn't very hard for level 12
to 14, kill him and get the key, then go thru the other door and i think it
ports you back to GW8 so you can go back to the Secret Service place to talk to
the guy and finish the mission and get a bunch of money and XP.
Remeber Jimmy in the Secret Gambling Den? This is the 2nd mission. He tells you
that his former accomplice and friend has actually betrayed him! He doesn't
give too much detail but he wants you to kill him. He is in a secret hideout in
sector GW8. This one is pretty short but much more difficult than just
delivering a package.
The entrance to Sharp Joy's hideout is very close to Kriek's hideout. Just go
straight south from Krieks until you hit the wall, then go a little bit EAST.
BE PREPARED! When you enter this hideout you appear with FOUR tough enemies
blasting at you with guns. Every enemy in this hideout has a name and is
therefore tougher than standard enemies. They only carry handguns and assault
rifles but they do quite a bit of damage! I wasn't watching my health and I was
down to less than 100 when I finally noticed, it was a miracle that I was able
to jam the number keys fast enough to get some health back and not die. Well
the real problem was that I had my handgun equipped instead of my disruptor
which would have made short work of them.
So if you survive that little group, you go on to a square section with walls,
like you see in every sewer type level. It has a bunch more named enemies.
Clear them out however you want and are able to. Then you come to one of the
dead-end type sections, with walls on 3 sides and a gaggle of enemies in the
middle. What's strange is that the boss (marked with a large permanent red
circle on the ground around him) is actually named "Criminal Leader" instead of
Sharp Joy. The enemies surrounding him all have unique names but are pretty
easy to take out with a disruptor. Sharp is a standard mini boss, and a pretty
easy one, especially if you use the disruptor to take out the other enemies cuz
he will take plenty of damage so you can finish him off pretty easy. There are
several safes and crates for you to loot.
Then all you have to do is return to Jimmy in the secret gambling den in GW7 to
collect your reward. You can do that any time, you don't have to immediately
run back. You get a buch of XP (10,000 or 12,000) and a ton of money, like
$200,000 or something. I couldn't see the exact amount cuz the numbers pop up
on the screen in yellow type and the background is bright white, plus they are
only on the screen for about 1 second, so it's very hard to see the actual
amounts. After that I tried talking to Jimmy again but he didn't give me
another mission, he just asked if I was there to gamble or something...
Ok now back to the main stuff. You pay Gheena $9,000 to travel to Ursiton. You
appear in the very southern area of the map. The enemies here are stronger and
have better guns, most of them have either assault rifles or heavy machine
guns, and there a lot with disruptors. By this point, you should definitely be
high enough level to take them out. Hopefully you understand the armor system
by now, you really don't have to worry too much about anything but NORMAL
protection, the other stuff is for when you get to the Void Lands and stuff. In
my adventures I was lucky enough to come across Aurum Soldier V armor, which
isn't sold in the shop and has very good stats.
Your main goal is the far north area. You'll see the map is pretty simple,
there's 5 sections arranged in a cross shape. There are random
weapon/supply/drug chests in Ursiton, a lot more than there were in GW7, so if
you see one it might be worth checking out. Fight your way up to the north
section, you will see it has 3 small fenced-in areas. You need the one on the
left if I remember correctly. There is a door on the WEST side of one of the
buildings inside that fenced area, that's where the spy is that you have to
contact. He gives you a key to the "Mother Factory".
Once you get the key, it might be a good idea to just warp back to the temple
and prepare for a major mission. You know the drill, clean your inventory and
fill your storage chest with health and ammo, this time you'll probably want
more health drugs because of the enemies in the factory. I went in with more
ammo than health my first time and it made things a little difficult. The
enemies are very similar to the ones in the first mission labrynth, zombie
types and soldier types.
The zombies are very different here. They almost look like robots, they have
bright glowing eyes and when they walk, their footsteps are very loud. They're
called Abominyums, minors (smaller ones) and majors (larger). They move very
slow, just like the other zombies. They hit very hard though, hence the reason
for taking more health. Although when they drop the glowing blue power orbs you
get a lot of health back, like 50-70. The soldiers don't do a whole ton of
damage, but they can gang up on you and appear out of nowhere just like the
Here you must use your weapons wisely. I found that light ammo weapons are
almost useless here, and even heavy ammo weapons don't do a whole ton of
damage. Hyper rifles and disruptors work pretty well, but it's your axe that
really shines here. However, you need to use LIGHTNING power, your normal axe
doesn't do any damage, you will get the message that says "weapon ineffective"
or whatever.
As with the other levels that are similar to this one, it is easy to miss a
corridor at an intersection. You have to look around to see the different
branches and stuff. Your main goal is to reach the southernmost point on the
map, but of course it's benficial to explore the whole thing. In the furthest
south room is the portal to the boss....
This is an interesting boss. I had less trouble with this one than I did with
the preist. The room setup is exactly the same (and it will be for a lot of
bosses in the rest of the game): you start in a short hallway with a magic door
(that you cannot go back thru) behind you and you are facing a doorway into
another room. Thru the door you can see an altar but this time you can also see
some enemies. They look like huge zombies. If you shoot at them, it starts the
whole battle. It might actually be better to do it that way, cuz then 3 smaller
enemies that look identical to the preist appear and block the doorway so the
huge zombie things can't get thru and you can fight the boss one on one...
The boss, Xamr, is just like a huge possessed soldier with a hammer, just like
the normal ones in Ursaton and the dungeon you just went thru. YOU MUST USE
BLOOD AXE POWER ON HIM, NOTHING ELSE WILL HARM HIM! The 3 mini-priest enemies
will stand in the doorway and blast you with magic, and Xamr will wail on you
with his hammer. He has over 4000 health, so it takes a good while to beat him.
Fortunately he doesn't do nearly as much damage as the priest, so it's not
quite as difficult. You could try shooting the mini-priests with a disruptor,
just to reduce the damage you take while fighting Xamr. I didn't try it so it
might not even damage them, I don't know.
Again, Xamr was easier than the priest, so just wail on him, then take out
whatever is left after he's dead. You get tons of XP, and a nice ring and of
course, another Aurum Key. After cleaning up, you might as well just hit T to
warp back to the Astral Temple, cuz the magic doors just bring you back to the
labrynth level that led you to the boss. Back at the temple you can put the key
in the Dimensional Portal or whatever it is, but Johan STILL won't talk to you!
You might have noticed the dot on the map in Sector GW8, when you mouse over
it, it shows "Secret Service Headquarters" or something like that. You can go
in there at any time you have access to GW8. I actually waited to do them until
after all 3 of the cities you can travel to thru Gheena. You would probably be
safe doing this at level 8 or 9, I dunno. Anyways you go in the building and
talk to the guy. There are only 2 missions from him.
The first mission is pretty easy. You have to kill the head of police or
something in Sighundia. After talking to the Secret Service guy (he gives you
some important details) and accepting the mission, you are automatically warped
back to Sighundia. You appear right outside of Hangan's Shop. You need to go
just north of the shop, to the dead-end type street. There you will find a
special Disruptor and some heavy ammo. The disruptor is totally sick, it does
like 150-350 damage and I think it adds accuracy, and the required level is
only 1! Of course it's too good to be true, cuz it disappears when you're done
with the mission!
The guy you need to kill is in the far north part of the city, near the gate
thing. While you're in this mission, the city is now stocked with different
enemies, there are lots of disruptor enemies and other tougher ones. They're no
match for your super disruptor though. Even the main guy that you have to kill
for the mission is a piece of cake, just unload on him. On second thought, you
might want to try just taking out the normal enemies around him before killing
him, then kill him with your axe to see if he drops any good loot. I just
destroyed his whole group with the disruptor and then I got the mission
accomplished message and was immediately warped back to the Astral Temple, so I
didn't get to see if he dropped anything...
The second mission is a little more complicated, but just as easy, or maybe
easier. You get an Aurum Key in the 2nd one. The Secret Service guy tells you a
story about some scientist that rebelled against the Secret Service and now you
must kill him, and he's hiding in the abandoned railway system under Sighundia.
He gives you an invisible key, so head over to the abandoned metro station...
Once you get down there, drop onto the tracks and head left. The grate on the
left wall is now a door. It leads to a big deserted underground labratory type
place. The enemies in here are easy, they are called necrounborns, they look
like zombie biker dudes, they have ponytails and sleeveless shirts. They are
really easy at level 14, you could probably do this at 10 or 11. If you want to
skip thru, just run straight thru from the entrance and you will reach the next
door. If you want lots of SUPER drugs and some sweet EXPERIMENTAL drugs,
explore the simple branches that go off to the sides. The drugs will come in
very handy on bosses later on, if you feel like hanging on to them...
When you reach the door at the end, it brings you to the control room. Inside
is the mad scientist and you can see the Aurum Key right next to him. Either
grab the key or talk to the guy, it doesn't matter. He rambles on and offers
you treasure and/or power if you let him live and join him, you refuse and then
he turns into the exact same enemy that was in the hall before, same health and
everything except he has the red boss ring on him. Kill him very easily, then
get ready for the pain in the neck part!
READ THIS PART ALL THE WAY THRU BEFORE CONTINUING!! This part took me MANY
tries, mostly just because I completely forgot about your demon power! When you
click on the control panel to destroy the system or whatever, you automatically
zone back into the hallway you fought thru and the 3 minute timer starts. You
have to get back to the door you came in from, and there are more of the same
enemies all over the hallway. I found that it's pretty easy and much faster to
just use invisibility and run past all of them, cuz any way you use to kill
them just takes precious time...
HERE'S THE TWIST: When you get to a certain point in the hallway, the timer
instantly goes to 30 SECONDS, no matter how much time you had left! I'm quite
certain that it is physically impossible to run to the door in time, no matter
how you do it, UNLESS YOU USE DEMON POWER! You run MUCH faster in demon form.
So after many tries, including a few failed attempts while using demon power, I
honed it down to this method: BEFORE clicking on the control panel, set your
axe power to invisibility and spell mode and have 3 or 4 AP drugs in your belt.
Click on the panel, and as soon as you zone back into the hallway cast invis
and start running. BE READY TO CAST INVIS AGAIN AS SOON AS IT WEARS OFF!
Now if i remember correctly (sorry i can't recall exactly since i was pretty
much in a blind panic when i finally succeeded in reaching the door), you
should run for about 20 more seconds after casting invis the 2nd time THEN JUST
CAST IT AGAIN, THEN HIT "A" TO SWITCH FROM SPELL MODE TO AXE MODE! This is
important cuz you need to use the right mouse button. A short time later you
will reach the point where the timer jumps to 30 seconds. THE NEXT FEW SECONDS
DETERMINES WETHER YOU PASS OR FAIL! You will see the gray text bar appear on
the bottom of the screen and a message appears, something like "WARNING 30
SECONDS TO DETONATION". HIT THE RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON then your character says
"Hell!" or something, HIT THE RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON AGAIN AND IMMEDIATELY HIT THE
Now is the hard part! Don't TRY to kill the enemies, TRY to run around them.
Due to the way the camera and mouse controls work, sometimes when you run past
an enemy and try to click further down the path to keep running, the mouse will
instead try to attack an enemy behind you! This unforunate bug caused me a lot
of grief in this mission. You might get lucky and just be able to run all the
way to the door, but if you suddenly turn around you might as well try to kill
the enemy(ies) behind you. I think I killed 2 or 3 and still made it to the
door. You should be able to run around most of them, if not all of them.
Anyways good luck and just keep trying, you need the Aurum keys so obviously
you can't skip this one. You get a nice chunk of change for completing it, not
to mention 12,000 XP for getting the key....
Well since Johan is no help, I guess it's up to you to figure out what to do
next. It's pretty simple really, remember talking to Gheena and seeing 3
choices of places to go? Well you just gotta go to each one, probably in order.
From the Astral Temple, just go back thru the tunnel to GW8 (killing the easy
boss for a quick 850 XP if you want), talk to Gheena and choose the 2nd choice
on the list of places to go. She'll tell you about your contact agent and a
little about the place you're going to.
It's a pretty simple place really. It's pretty big too, so you can explore the
whole place if you want. There are plenty of weapon/drug/supply crates all
over, it's very beneficial to explore. The enemies are pretty easy, there are
NO disruptors, only heavy machine guns, hyper rifles, and guys with swords and
When you're done exploring, or if you just want to run straight thru, your
target destination is in a little area in the furthest south point on the map.
There's a secret doorway on the north side of the building in that little area,
it's just one of the arched doorways that are on all the buildings, you just
have to mouse over it and it will say "Secret Doorway" or something.
Clicking on it leads you to another sector, CFM2 or something. On the map it is
shaped like a big cross, with a smaller cross in the middle. The smaller cross
is St. John's Cathedral. There are normal enemies all over the level, but on
the southern side of the cathedral, there is a mini-boss with a group of 6 or 8
normal enemies. You can totally avoid him if you want, but he's pretty easy at
level 12. Just shoot the gun guys, then take out the normal enemies with your
axe, use right click power attacks to kill several at once, then focus on the
boss. Using a Fury drug helps a ton. Oh by the way, USE LIGHTNING POWER for
your axe!
Anyways, you start in the right/east branch of the cross shape on the map, and
you have to get to the opposite side (west). You'll see there are 3 or 4
structures in that area, the furthest south one has a door on the south side,
it leads to a tiny hideout where you'll find your contact agent. He gives you
an invisible key that will open a secret passage to the cathedral. He also
rambles on about some parchments that will help bring down the theocracy or
whatever. I think that part might be optional, but the parchment is just
sitting on the altar thing in the boss room so I wouldn't take the risk of NOT
picking it up, it would really suck to have to run all the way back thru 2
huge levels to get it!
So after you talk to him you have to get back to CFM1, the sector you started
in. Once there, you need to find your way to the furthest EAST cemetary. This
sector is a little more maze-like than previous ones. You probably saw the
cemetary areas on your way thru the first time. It's not too tough to find the
furthest east one. The secret passage is just a grave on the ground, actually
it looks just like a big slab of cement, and it will show you the name of it
when you mouse over it. Clicking on it leads you to a standard labrynth-type
level. It's a fairly simple one, and very similar to the one under the Mother
factory. Same enemies, except here almost all the big zombie/robot guys are of
the "Major" variety, they are much bigger and hit harder. Use Lightning power
axe to take them out quickly. There are also the possessed soldiers, most have
swords and some have guns. Nothing to worry about, just keep an eye on your
health and use right click power attacks when they are grouped together.
The layout is actually symmetrical on this one. The portal to the boss is in
the very top right corner, so if you want to head straight there, go for it,
but there are a lot of valuable goodies in the other rooms and plenty of XP to
be gained. Not too much else. There is a new Astral Power in the room with the
boss portal, so grab that before jumping into the boss battle...
This boss was a joke, or maybe I just got really lucky, cuz I didn't use a
single health potion! The layout is the same as the previous main bosses, you
appear in a hallway looking into a room with an altar thing in the middle, and
again you can see one of the bosses. This time there is a total of 2 enemies,
one is like a freakishly huge robot/zombie guy (identical to the abominyums or
whatever) and the other is like a smaller version of the priest boss. I think
the big zombie guy is the main boss and the priest is a mini helper. The big
guy just attacks with melee while the priest casts spells. Again, I started the
fight with all 2400 health full, and ended with like 1400, it was just too
easy. I used a Fury 4 power drug, that helped a lot, and I think I used Blood
Axe power again. I destroyed the big guy first, then spanked the little priest.
They each drop a ring and the big guy dropped the Aurum key.
REMEMBER TO GRAB THE PARCHMENT OFF THE ALTAR/TABLE!! When I exited, I took the
OTHER door, NOT the one that I came in thru. I don't know if they both bring
you to the same place, but the one I went thru took me directly to the secret
hideout with the contact agent in CFM2, where you talk to him and give him the
parchment and he gives you a ton of XP and thanks you. From there, you might as
well head back to the good ole Astral Temple....
At level 13 I decided to take another crack at the outlaw arena. The unlimited
time is easy, since you can take your time, but you get less money. I'll focus
on the limited time missions. They're pretty tough, considering you don't get
any map at all and I think the levels are randomly generated. They all contain
the same enemies though, including disruptor enemies. It's impossible to
explore the entire level in the time they give you, so luck plays a huge role
in these missions. So it makes sense to save first. You can always go into the
building then warp back to the temple and save, that way when you die you can
just jump back into the return portal and try again, saves a ton of time.
One important note about the limited time missions: the first mission just says
"defeat gladiator whatever" and the second one says "defeat gladiator whatever
AND escape before time runs out". The problem was when I killed the gladiator
in the first mission, I still had to escape! I lucked out and found it in time
though. A minor mistake by the developers or whatever.
You get lots of money from the limited time missions. I certainly didn't need
it, I was up to like 5 million by that point, I just wanted to do them for the
sake of completing the game 100%.
This city is a slight step up from the last one, the enemies once again have
heavy machine guns and disruptors. There are lots of little groups of shacks,
be careful running into these if you're lower level (10, 11) cuz sometimes
there are well-equipped enemies hiding between the buildings and it very hard
to see them cuz the camera is hard to rotate in small spaces. You need to find
your contact, he's in a well in one of the groups of shacks, basically dead
south of the fortress in the center of the map. He will tell you how to get
into the fortress and i think he gives you a key....
Oce you do that, the fortress is pretty easy. Just a standard labrynth-type
level with the same enemies, the big robot-zombie types and the possessed
soldiers. It's no problem if you're level 13 or 14. Sorry I can't remember much
about it, but it's really no problem. It would be pretty hard to get to this
point in the game at a lower level so you shouldn't need too much help, there
aren't any puzzles or anything. Even the boss is pretty simple, if I remember
correctly. I remember one thing, the boss room is identical to ALL the others
so far, and in this one there are two portal things that spew out BIG zombie
guys, Abominyum Supremus or something. One pops out every time you kill one, so
just ignore them and kill the bosses. After the bosses are dead, you can run
around and kill those guys for fast and easy XP. I hung around and killed lots
of them and they never stopped, i eventually got tired and left....
The Global Action Service building is marked on your map early on, but when I
tried the first quest I got utterly destroyed. That was only because once again
I completely forgot about the demon transformation power! I don't know what
level you should be to try this, I would imagine at least 9 or 10. Anyways you
go in the GAS building and talk to the guy, he tells you to check out the
apartment which then appears on your map. It's over on the west side of the
city, near the big city gate. The only thing in the apartment is the portal to
the Ngawerk Guardian lair. It's a small and cluttered room, kinda like a rock
cave. It's hard to run around cuz there's crap all over, like sticks and plants
or something, just part of the environment. There is one of the huge
slow-moving zombie type enemies, he's a lot weaker than the guardian so you
should take him out first just to reduce the damage you'll be taking. Well I
guess it doesn't matter if you're gonna be in demon form anyways. The Ngawerk
Guarian is almost impossible to beat without demon form. I actually don't know
how much easier he is in demon form, I just read on the etrom.net forums that
that's how you're supposed to kill him. I actually used power of destruction
spell mode, it took like 15 minutes of constantly casting cuz it would only do
a tiny bit of damage each time lol So anyways sorry i don't know what level to
try this at, you'll have to experiment yourself. He gives a ton of XP and the
key, then when you go back to GAS the guy gives you a bunch more XP and money,
and another mission, but I can't remember what it is, obviously it's not
required cuz I just covered all 7 aurum keys....
Remember, when you get each key you can click on the dimensional travels cirlce
in the Astral Temple and one of the little circles will light up. Or you can
save all 7 keys and do it all at once. Either way once you activate all the
little circles, you can click on the main circle and it will give you 8
choices. The middle one is just the Astral Temple, it only shows cuz when
you're in one of the other "dimensions" or whatever they are, you can go back
to the temple with the center one (even though you can still use the T button
to warp back immediately).
Here's a funny story: I have such bad luck that I went to the ONE required area
LAST! I didn't just visit each area, oh no, I explored each one ONE HUNDRED
PERCENT! I spent god only knows how many hours uncovering the entire map in
each one! Cuz of course that Johan guy in the Astral Temple is no help, and I
didn't feel like scouring the forums on the official Etrom website (especially
considering a lot of posts are in italian lol). On the plus side I got some
REALLY sweet equipment and weapons from all my travels!
Anyways I'll help you out and we'll just skip to the main stuff since you
probably want to progress with the main story first. If that's the case, then
your first destination will be the Swamp of Fate. When you click on the
dimensional travel circle, it is to the left of the 12 o'clock position. In the
swamp, you need to find the Temple of Fate. It's pretty easy, from the circle
where you start, just go straight north until you hit the wall, then you can
follow the wall to the east for a little ways but then it turns north, but you
need to keep going EAST. If you can keep your path pretty straight it will
bring you almost right to the temple. I don't remember exactly so if that's not
accurate don't panic, it's a huge round building. You need to find the entrance
on the WEST side, and you will see a spirit near the door. You can't go in, you
have to talk to the spirit to get a mission. The spirit tells you that you need
to have the 4 souls of the power demons or something. He doesn't tell you much
else, like where to even begin looking for them....
This time I decided to search the forums on etrom.net and i actually found what
I was looking for. Just go back to the Astral temple and click on the
dimensional travels circle and go to the Lands of Kaos, it's to the right of
the 12 o'clock position. It's a HUGE desert area. The map fills almost the
entire screen! There are enemies and loot all over. If you see a group of dark
green tents, look around for safes and the various types of crates containing
There's a totally sick weapon you should look for here in the lands of kaos. Go
to etrom.net and go to the TOP SECRET AREA, there's a map of the lands of kaos
with points of interest marked. There are two unique weapons here, but I don't
remember which one is the really good one. It won't take long to hit both
locations tho. You'll find it just sitting on the ground if i recall correctly,
or it might be in a weapons crate. It's a really nice hyper rifle, it has
really good damage, a huge accuracy bonus, and best of all the rate of fire is
2! Oh maybe the best part is that the required level is only 12! If you had
this weapon at level 12 you could walk thru pretty much any enemy. Of course
with a rate of fire of 2, you'll burn ammo pretty fast, especially considering
it's heavy ammo which has less shots per clip. No problem if you're using the
cheat tho...
So I highly recommend looking for that weapon as soon as possible. Either way,
you need to head west. Funny thing is, on the west wall of this zone is an area
infested with huge mechs (big 2-legged robots with gigantic guns for hands).
They can cut your health down REALLY fast, i think each time they shoot it hits
8 times. There's a couple ways to do this part tho. You could just use
invisibility and run past them, but they give you 1500 XP each! That's a good
bit. If you find that special hyper rifle and you use the cheat, you can take
them out easy, usually it takes 2 double shots and one single shot. It's a
little more difficult with a disruptor, it probably takes 5 or 6 shots. Or you
can use your own mech! You might have read on the back of the game case and i
think there's a screenshot in the card that comes in the case of the mechs.
It's near the west wall, it's marked on the map at etrom.net. It shoots the
same guns as the enemy mechs do, i think it hits 8 times and you can right
click to fire a missile, but you have a limited supply of them, 32 i think. The
missile will kill an enemy mech with one shot and it will damage any enemies
that are close to it. It can take a lot of damage too. I never had one get
destroyed, but if you see it getting close you might want to jump out cuz i
read somewhere that you die if you're in it when it blows up.
You need to find the portal, which again is marked on the map at etrom.net.
However I think that location might be a little off, i'm pretty sure the portal
is much closer to the west wall. When you find it and click on it, you appear
in the standard boss room, the round room with a table or altar or whatever in
the middle and the two small hallways that lead out of it. However in this one
there are 4 portals. THEY ARE BASICALLY THE SAME! They lead to a simple
labrynth type level, it's basically a big square with a small branch leading
off of each side, each branch leads to a room that contains a mini-boss who has
one of the 4 souls you have to get. The only difference between each of the 4
portals is that each one puts you right in front of one of the 4 rooms. In the
middle of the labrynth is a room with another portal that brings you back to
the room with the 4 portals. It's probably faster and easier to just pick one
of the 4 portals, kill that boss and get the soul, then stay in the labrynth
and run to the next boss.
One interesting thing is the bosses spawn normal enemies and they spit them out
very fast. I mean, they will spit out 2 enemies, and each time you kill one
another one instantly pops out. If you use the cheat you can get lots of XP
really fast here, just use a hyper rifle (preferably the double shot unique
one), you can stand back and just shoot almost as fast as you can click, if you
aim just right you never even have to move the mouse! Most of the enemies die
from just one shot, so that means each click of the mouse gets you at least 300
XP, some give 500. I had just gained level 20, which took forever to get, then
levels 21 thru 24 are nothing, like 200,000 each, so I used this method to get
up to 24 in like 15 minutes, maybe less! Not to mention after doing that there
was like a glowing yellow cloud on the floor from all the rings and gems they
dropped lol IMPORTANT NOTE: you need to use demon power to kill the mini-bosses.


text:
North Carolina's top environmental officer said Monday he's glad the Yadkin Riverkeeper has agreed not to file a lawsuit targeting the City of Thomasville's recurring wastewater overflows.
North Carolina's top environmental officer said Monday he's glad the Yadkin Riverkeeper has agreed not to file a lawsuit targeting the City of Thomasville's recurring wastewater overflows.
N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary John Skvarla released a statement thanking the Riverkeeper for agreeing not to sue. His comments come four days after he sent a letter to the Riverkeeper's attorneys that called the impending litigation "inappropriate and ill timed" in light of Thomasville's planned improvements to its wastewater system.
"I think it is most prudent that the SELC is backing down on its threat to sue the City of Thomasville," Skvarla said. "I am glad that the letter we sent last week helped clear up some inaccuracies in the SELC's version of events. Thomasville and state environmental officials have been working on this problem for many years; all a lawsuit would do is waste time, human resources and economic resources that can better be spent fixing the problem."
Last week, Yadkin Riverkeeper Dean Naujoks confirmed that he will hold off on filing suit, so long as the city, environmental agencies and state justice officials continue to finalize a legally binding agreement spelling out remedial and inspection requirements Thomasville will have to meet in the future.
Naujoks, through the Southern Environmental Law Center, originally sent a 60-day intent to file notice to Thomasville officials in July. The notice, which expired last week, claimed the city's spills were consistent violations of the Clean Water Act.
From August 2008 to May 2013, Thomasville reported 123 spills that released a total volume of about 19 million gallons of untreated wastewater. That total includes the nearly 15.9 million gallons that spilled from a connector line near Baptist Children's Home in 2009, according to DENR records.
During the same five-year time period, DENR has also fined the city a total of $53,772.59 for the spills, Skvarla said in his letter to the SELC.
In the past year, Thomasville has obtained about $5.3 million in loan and grant funding to repair pump stations and sewer lines at the center of most of the spills. Rehabilitation projects for the Northside and East Davidson pump stations are set to begin this fall, as is a North Hamby Creek Outfall replacement project, said Thomasville City Manager Kelly Craver.
The city, Riverkeeper, DENR and state attorney general's office met recently to iron out specifics of an agreement that would bypass the pending lawsuit. That will most likely come in the form of a consent judgment, a legally binding agreement that may include overflow reduction goals and other requirements the city would have to meet, said City of Thomasville Attorney Paul Mitchell last week.
Nash Dunn can be reached at 249-3981, ext. 227, or at firstname.lastname@example.com. Follow Nash on Twitter: @LexDispatchNash

subset: commoncrawl


text:
2011 M&A Roundup
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MACON, Ga. (Feb. 27, 2012) – Following a regular season that saw him lead the ETSU men's basketball team in scoring and assists, while also eclipsing 1,000 points for his career, senior guard Adam Sollazzo (Tampa, Fla.) was named to the Atlantic Sun All-Conference First Team, the league office announced Monday.
Picked in voting by the league's coaches, Sollazzo joined other top performers such as USC Upstate's Torrey Craig, Mercer's Langston Hall, as well as Belmont's trio of Ian Clark, Drew Hanlen, and Kerron Johnson on the A-Sun first team.
Sollazzo, who scored in double figures 22 times and eclipsed 20 points on five different occasions, finished the season averaging 15.5 points, 4.4 assists and 5.6 rebounds a game. While he led the team in scoring and assists, he ranked third in rebounding and third in steals (1.7 spg).
He flirted with a triple-double in multiple games this season, including an impressive individual 19-point, seven-assist, seven-rebound effort against Tennessee back on Dec. 23, as well as another 19-point, eight-assist, and eight-rebound outing against Florida Gulf Coast in the Bucs' last regular season game on Feb. 25.
He finished the year ranked in the A-Sun Top 5 for points (3rd), assists (3rd), steals (4th) and minutes played (4th).
For the complete all-conference list, see the attached pdf, or visit AtlanticSun.org and watch the full All A-Sun team video.


text:
When well told, a fish story is a love sonnet that begins with "There we were" in place of "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" and ends when a beautiful creature is brought up from the deep to babbling praise along the lines of "So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see / So long lives this, and this gives life to thee."
If the crew aboard the Viking Star on Tuesday has anything to say about it — and you can bet they will — the day they were attacked by an army of black sea bass will not be forgotten.
The Viking Star was a floating book of sonnets as it left its dock in the dark two days after Christmas with a crew of Montauk locals, longtime friends, fishermen to a man — except for Joe Bloecker's daughter, Fallon.
The fishermen sat around the table across from the small coffee-and-egg-sandwich factory that is Kobi's galley, and, as waves slapped the Starship's steel hull en route to Coxes Ledge they spun yarns enough for a heavy sweater.
Jack Curtin, who drives a tugboat in New York Harbor these days, brought them back to the day he was a hundred miles at sea in February. He had fallen from a longliner while going after a big tilefish that slipped from his hands as he unhooked it. The fish was floating on the surface.
"I didn't feel the cold at first. I swam after it, away from the boat. He made me fall and I wanted to get him."
"I yelled, 'What the hell are you doing?' " Eddie Eurell recalled.
"He pulled me out," Curtin said of Eurell, his former crewmate nodding. Both laughed at the scary memory.
And, there was the time it took several men to haul Big Paul out of the harbor when he fell from a plank between dock and boat. He weighed 450 pounds. Then there was the time a bayman who was expert at such things skinned a big green eel by making a few cuts at the head and peeling it off the body like a stocking, then giving it to another bayman (they all knew him and smiled), who wore it as a headband while playing the slots at the Foxwoods casino. The band stayed fresh — for a while.
And there was the big striped bass caught on six-pound test in the freshwater of Hook Pond, where the striper should not have been. Was there a way into the pond from the ocean? There used to be, years ago. Scallops were discussed, and how fishing regulations were turning good men into criminals. And, the one about the fisherman who stayed at sea because the I.R.S., a motorcycle gang, an ex-wife, and the police were all looking for him. Where else could he go? Nowhere, they all agreed.
On and on they flowed, fish stories powering this particular trip as much as the Starship's growling diesel.
Capt. Steven Forsberg actually did compare Tuesday's trip to a summer's day in that the grounds east and southeast in 90 feet of unseasonable, 51-degree water were carpeted with dinner plate-size porgies and sea bass and had been since September.
Captain Forsberg settled on a favorite bottom structure at Coxes Ledge just as the sun drew a thin red line to mark the horizon. A heaping pile of skimmer clam baits awaited the hooks of Jack Curtain, Eddie Eurell, Joe Bloecker, Ritchie Weiss, Charlie Etzel, Stuart Heath, Sean Kinney, Bill Modica, Gil Parker, and Ray Hackebill, a young local on his first offshore trip.
The first drop yielded a scary number of dogfish, the bane of many a fishing trip, but then several nice cod appeared, then sea bass, bergall, and porgies. When the Star moved to a second spot, a pollock was caught, and later in the day, a Spanish mackerel, a few bluefish, and a monkfish. Thirteen species in all, a bountiful mix that included many fish that should have been long gone. A pod of dolphins approached in arcing strides at one point. Shearwaters banked off wave-face updrafts. Mother Carey's chickens, petrels, skittered along the surface.
The weather forecasted for the following day appeared ahead of schedule. The breeze stiffened, the sky blackened, and a white-capped ocean swell grew out of the southwest, as did the fish story in the making.
Between drops the fishermen repaired to Kobi's galley or caught some shut-eye. When clam-baited fishing lines were sent below once again, their trepidations were read by knowing hands. Joe Bloecker told Ray Hackebill how the line's vibration would telegraph the difference between a nibble and a bite. "Don't swing at the small ones," Bloecker told him. "Save it for the big ones."
The sun couldn't tell you, but it was noon when Captain Forsberg turned the Star west toward a spot south of Block Island. After an hour's steam, the island was just visible to the north, and it was getting late. The Star settled on some numbers the captain knew well. The screen of his electronic fish finder showed a stretch of fish — years of experience told him they were sea bass — in vivid, living color.
Stuart Heath and Gil Parker took up position toward the bow on the starboard side with most of the other locals forming a phalanx along the rail. The boat was anchored and Captain Forsberg gave the signal. Baits descended to the bottom but the fish did not allow them to linger. Rods bent immediately and stayed bent for nearly an hour. Sea bass were coming over the rail in waves, their fins and spines erect, gills flared, electric turquoise stripes ablaze.
At first, one fish at a time was brought up on the two-hook terminal gear. Then the anglers learned to wait a beat to feel the second hook taken. Arm-weary anglers began reeling up "doubleheaders." Coolers bulged. Captain Forsberg grabbed his rod and joined the action.
A story was being written in the grins, the hoots and hollers of friends who shared a strong bond with their hometown's ocean surroundings. Stuart Heath summed up the day, so long as men can breathe, or eyes can see: "Black gold!" he shouted, lifting a doubleheader over the rail. "Black gold!"


text:
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Each lesson or activity in this toolkit is related to NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). The toolkit is designed so that each lesson can be done independently, or combined and taught in a sequence. The Teacher Implementation Guide provides... (View More) recommendations for combining the lessons into three main strands: 1) Lunar Exploration - These lessons provide a basic introduction to Moon exploration. Note that this strand is also appropriate for use in social studies classes. 2) Mapping the Moon - These lessons provide a more in-depth understanding of Moon exploration through the use of scientific data and student inquiry. The lessons also include many connections to Earth science and geology. 3) Tools of Investigation - These higher-level lessons examine the role of technology, engineering and physics in collecting and analyzing data. (View Less)
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The 9-session NASA Family Science Night program emables middle school children and their families to discover the wide variety of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics being performed at NASA and in everyday life. Family Science Night... (View More) programs explore various themes on the Sun, the Moon, the Stars, and the Universe through fun, hands-on activities, including at-home experiments. Instructions for obtaining the facilitator's guide are available on the Family Science Night site. (View Less)
Students confront the challenge of improving global agricultural production in order to feed increasingly larger populations. Students evaluate tables, maps, graphs, photos and satellite images detailing global population growth patterns and... (View More) agricultural production levels in order to formulate recommendations. The role of technology is examined throughout. This investigation includes two activities: 1. Students form six teams representing major world regions to consider the need for increasing agricultural production; 2. Students conduct a case study of Mozambique and conclude by distributing and defending monetary investments for possible agricultural production increases. The URL opens to the investigation directory, with links to teacher and student materials, lesson extensions, resources, teaching tips, and assessment strategies. This is Investigation 3 of three found in the Grades 9-12 Module 2 of Mission Geography. The Mission Geography curriculum integrates data and images from NASA missions with the National Geography Standards. Each of the three investigations in Module 2, while related, can be done independently. (View Less)
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Amalie Petranker
Born: October 21, 1922
Munich, Germany
Amalie was one of three daughters born to Jewish parents. The family lived in Stanislav [Stanislawow], Poland. Her father was an ardent supporter of resettlement in Palestine, and dreamed of moving his family there to help build the Jewish homeland. Amalie and her sisters attended private Hebrew primary and secondary schools to help prepare them for their eventual immigration to Palestine.
1933-39: In September 1939 Stanislav [Stanislawow] was occupied by the Soviet army. My father lost his job in the forestry department, and was made a laborer. I applied to medical school but instead I was admitted to an institute to become a math and science teacher. Later my stipend was rescinded because I was from a "bourgeois" family. The 600 rubles per month tuition was three times my father's monthly salary. I was forced to stop my education.
1940-45: I escaped to Cracow [Krakow] in 1942 as Felicia Milaszewska, a Catholic Pole. In October 1944, I got a job in an Austrian firm hired by the German army to wire Cracow with explosives. The Germans planned to destroy Cracow after retreating. As the Soviets advanced in December, the firm evacuated to Austria. I was left to "manage" the company. When the order came by phone to detonate the explosives, I acknowledged the command, but disobeyed. When the Soviets arrived, I supplied plans showing the location of the explosives.
Cracow was liberated by the Soviet army on January 19, 1945. Amalie stayed in Cracow for seven months to help returning Jewish survivors. She immigrated to the United States in 1947.


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Free Studio Version 5.0.3 From DVDVideoSoft
Supported OS:
Windows XP/Vista/7
New Free Studio Manager is a completely redesigned all-in-one package for our programs. It contains 8 sections to bundle all free multimedia applications which have been developed by DVDVideoSoft. These sections the following: YouTube, MP3&Audio, CD-DVD-BD, DVD&Video, Photo&Images, Mobiles, Apple Devices, 3D. Thus all the programs are included in the new interface for easy access to any of them.
With this free software you can convert video and audio files between different formats and to iPod, PSP, iPhone, BlackBerry and all popular mobile phones and devices; burn and rip DVDs and audio CDs; upload and download YouTube videos and music to your computer, iPod, PSP, iPhone and BlackBerry; perform basic editing of audio and video files as well as record videos and make snapshots.
[Read more…] about Free Studio Version 5.0.3


text:
Russian FSB has poor record against terrorists
Ahead of Sochi Games, analysts say FSB has been unable to handle small-scale terror cells.
MOSCOW — The Russian agency taking a lead role in security for the upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi has a poor track record in Russia's anti-terrorism efforts, analysts familiar with the organization say.
The Federal Security Service — the successor to the Soviet-era KGB known by its Russian acronym FSB — has been unable to handle numerous small-scale Islamist terror cells that are increasingly common in the vast country, warn experts.
"The last series of reforms of the Russian counterterrorism services took place in 2006 and were aimed at preventing large-scale militant attacks," says Andrei Soldatov, a Russian investigative journalist who specializes in terrorism. "Precisely at the same time, the militants also decided to switch their tactics and begin operating as small groups, using single suicide bombers."
The FSB announced this weekend the creation of a security control center for the Sochi Olympics, which begin Thursday, that will include representatives of various ministries and agencies. But the FSB's track record on security elsewhere in Russia is discouraging at best, experts say.
The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism at the University of Maryland reported this week that attacks have spiked from 50 in 2003 to more than 250 in 2010. Russia experienced 150 attacks in 2012.
"The frequency of terrorist attacks in Russia has been steadily increasing over the past two decades," the report states.
The FSB is effectively a combination of intelligence and crime-fighting, akin to joining the United States' CIA and FBI. Its main area of responsibility is to counter terrorism, conduct surveillance against spies, fight organized crime and investigate serious crimes.
But it has also been accused of being a weapon of the government, employed to strike out at political opponents.
Yet one of the FBS' most challenging assignments has been taking the military lead in the fight against separatists in Chechnya, a largely Muslim republic in the south of Russia that is closer to the Middle East than to Moscow.
"When the Soviet Union collapsed, the different populations living in the Caucasian area wanted to have their own state, like Chechnya," says Ewald Boehlke, an expert on Russia and security policy at the Berthold Beiz Center at the German Council for Foreign Relations in Berlin. "Russia attacked with military force to stop nationalistic sentiments."
Russia's military pounded the republic's capital of Grozny in the late 1990s, prompting the rebels to switch to guerrilla tactics. The FSB took over the fight to neutralize the groups but was unable to prevent massive terror attacks against Russian targets. Among them was the 2002 takeover by dozens of Islamist terrorists of the Dubrovka Theater in Russia.
About 130 theatergoers were killed, as were all of the terrorists in a botched raid by FSB forces, who pumped too much of an undisclosed toxic substance into the ventilation system to make the attackers drowsy.
The FBS was stripped of its counterterrorism duties in the wake of the theater fiasco but they were restored and widened under President Vladimir Putin, himself a product of the KGB. Under Putin, the FSB took control of the Russia border patrol and an agency in charge of government surveillance that is the counterpart to the NSA in the United States.
Unlike the United States, where changes in counterterrorism efforts have helped prevent a major terror attack on its soil since the 9/11 attacks, Russia has suffered numerous such attacks since its reshuffling.
In 2004, Chechen terrorists took 1,100 hostages in a school in Beslan in southern Russia. Elite forces with the FSB helped storm the building, which the terrorists had mined with explosives. More than 500 people — including hundreds of children — died. Hundreds more were injured in the raid.
That incident prompted Putin to launch a brutal crackdown on Chechnya that largely subdued the rebel activity and was a major factor in the International Olympic Committee choosing Sochi for the Games in 2007. Sochi is in the North Caucasus region, where Chechnya is located.
But since then, a new crop of terrorists have sprung up in North Caucusus who are more concerned about religion than independence, say experts.
They're Muslim jihadists taking a page from al-Qaeda, says Andrew Kuchins, director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.
"These guys talking about carrying out these acts aren't about national liberation," Kuchins says. "They're motivated by martyrdom."
The three women identified by Russian authorities as planning attacks during the Games fit the mold of the new Islamist terrorists. Called "black widows" because they were married to Muslim fighters killed in the wars against Russian authority in the region, the women are linked to the Caucasus Emirate, a terrorist group that draws members from throughout the region.
In July, the leader of the Caucasus Emirate, Doku Umarov, equated the Games to "Satanic dances" taking place on the graves of Muslims killed fighting Russia.
"You are dealing with really ruthless people who are willing to go to whatever lengths that are needed to establish what they would call an Islamic caliphate in the Caucuses," says Mark Kramer, a Russia expert at Harvard University.
Russian officials recently confirmed that one of the three women — 22-year-old Ruzanna Ibragimova — was spotted in Sochi's airport earlier this week. Her late husband was reportedly a militant killed by police last year in the Russian Republic of Dagestan in the North Caucasus. Authorities have posted her photo around Sochi and warned hotels and other sites to keep a watch for her.
According to the National Consortium report, terrorists have struck nearly 1,900 times, killing 3,800 people, since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Most of the attacks have happened in Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia, Russia republics that have a major presence of Islamists and are in the region of Sochi.
Twenty of the attacks were carried out by these "black widows." In the vast majority of cases the Russian government has not said it identified the attackers or arrested them, a frustrating show of complacency that leaves many Russians perplexed.
Soldatov says the FSB doesn't have the intelligence-gathering capabilities to identify and track down individuals suspected of terrorism. Kuchins agrees. He says Russian officials have great eavesdropping capacities, but such techniques are useless if the FSB can't identify who they are looking for.
"They can do that with much greater impunity than we can from a legal standpoint," he says. "To what extent they have the technology to back it up is a more problematic question."
Boehlke says the FSB's strategy up to this point has been to work with families within the Caucasus to identify militants to prevent attacks.
"They use the conflict between the families, a fundamental part of the structure of the Caucasian society, to have more influence on the sides in conflict and to understand whether they can be a menace or not," he says. "On this base they decide to intervene, pointing out who to kill or not."
But the terrorists have demonstrated they can evade Russian authorities.
In October, Russian-speaking Islamist terrorists took credit for a bomb in a bus in Russia's southern city of Volgograd, around 600 miles north of Sochi. In December, they staged another attack, setting off bombs in Volgograd's train station and promising a "surprise package" for Putin and others at the Olympic Games.
Putin has rolled out an unprecedented range of anti-terrorism measures in Sochi to quell fears: About 40,000 police officers will be on duty, 30,000 members of the armed forces will be deployed to the area, more than double the number of troops deployed at the 2012 London Olympics. Airborne drones will watch from above.
But some experts say the terrorists don't have to strike Sochi to create chaos there. Alexey Malashenko, co-chair of the Carnegie Moscow Center's Religion, Society and Security Program, says an attack in Moscow or elsewhere could do that and garner tremendous media attention.
Some Russians are worried about just that.
"Unfortunately, the Volgograd bombings show that we haven't been able to use this experience to build a much stronger arsenal of counterterrorism measures to protect our people," says Irina Zharkova, a university professor.
Others were more sympathetic to the FSB and Putin.
"I don't think this necessarily reflects Russia's failure to protect its people," says 22-year old Vikentiy Chevtaev, a film student. "Terror attacks happen everywhere in the world and no government can provide 100% protection against their threat in a modern world."
Contributing: John Dyer and Luigi Serenelli


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Talk:Buzz or not
From Openmoko
|Line 16:
|Line 16:
Revision as of 19:35, 11 December 2008
Who is "WE"? On OM-HW-EE side this poll isn't considered helpful, as it contains no info whatsoever about actual network-situation (which is widely assumed to be the cause of buzz appearing in a particular situation). Please note the original poster seems not affiliated to OM technical staff, and we (OM) might eventually ask our customers to support a different poll. Also note there's a rework paper to fix buzz, a non-verified draft for now [jOERG]
We, I like to think, are the people who are having a problem using the FreeRunner as a phone. If you want to put up an official OpenMoko poll/questionnaire please do so, but can you make it quick? Tel us how people who can't handle a soldering tool in a professional way can fix their phones. [Michel an OpenMoko customer and believer that a phone can be open source]
Finding a way to fix by starting a poll? Hmm, maybe like this:
|ZIP code
|skills and willing to help (Y), need help(N)
|contact (mail, IRC)
|Y max. 10 devices per week. Take beer ;-)
Hi, you said "and we (OM) might eventually ask our customers to support a different poll" if the above is an offical OM poll then there maybe some humor left at openmoko.org :) [Michel]


text:
(brightsolid was a big RootsTech sponsor,
so I'm showing them some love.)
so I'm showing them some love.)
Brewster Kahle of Internet Archive fame, gave a great and informative talk on his site, information access and the size of the Internet. There's no way I could do the measurements justice, so be sure to watch the video when it comes out. Based on the conversation happening on Twitter during the session, it was well-received by those watching at home as well.
Some commented that they thought Internet Archive and the Wayback Machine were neat tools. They've been around a long time. I keep saying that some of the best genealogy tools aren't really part of genealogy. That's how my 52 Weeks to Better Genealogy Series was born. It was part of my evil plan to get people playing in the sandbox. I give high praise to the RootsTech planners for bringing in Kahle as a speaker and showing just how relevant the bigger information landscape is to the smaller genealogy world.
In the late morning, I went to talk to more vendors including RootsMagic. I asked how the crowd of this conference was different from others and was told that the questions they asked were different. They were more technical. I think this conference drew people who weren't afraid of the word "tech" in the name. They may not be tech whizzes, but they wanted to learn.
Then I again had lunch with the ladies, Kerry and Missy. We talked some more about the genealogy field and our place in it. We talked about our respective backgrounds in HR (Kerry) and libraries (Missy and me). Genealogy is going where those fields have been in terms of incorporating technology, so we were joking about being from the future. We really did have a good time at lunch, though my description makes it sound lame. All you have to know is this: Blue Lemon = yum.
After our meal, we went to the virtual presentations panel moderated by Thomas MacEntee. I swear I wasn't stalking the guy. He just happened to present on topics in which I was interested. Plus, I love the panel format. This session had participants in-person and on the phone. Basically, I learned that virtual presentations aren't as difficult to produce as you may think. This session was live broadcast be FamilySearch, so hopefully it will be available on video. I think genealogy society officers should view it and consider virtual presentations for their own groups.
We stayed on for the closing session. This made me sad, though all good things must come to an end. Jay Verkler called all the behind-the-scenes RootsTech planners on stage. The audience gave them a sincere standing ovation, which chocked Verkler up a bit. It was a nice moment.
In the evening, I had the pleasure of attending an informal dinner at the home of A.C. Ivory and his family. I learned that A.C.'s parents call him "Ace" (aww....) and they have a cat that knocks on the door when it wants in. I learned that his parents make an amazing dinner and are wonderful people. I was able to talk with many of my friends that I don't get to see much because they're always so busy during conferences. Mostly on the evening, I learned that I'm really lucky to have such wonderful friends.


text:
Cooking Matters for Adults
Date: April 23, 2018 - June 4, 2018
Time: 12 - 2 p.m.
Location: Hope Clinic 518 Harriet St. Ypsilanti, MI 48197
Contact: Janelle Palmer, 734-222-3924, email@example.com
Cooking Matters for Adults is a free nutrition program where participants will learn how to eat healthy, cook and grocery shop on a limited budget. The program consists of six lessons, lasting approximately two hours each. With the help of an experienced chef and nutrition educator, participants will gain the skills and confidence to make healthy, budget friendly meals for their family.
Each week, participants will receive take-home food, which they can use at home to practice a recipe they learned in class. The class series also includes:
- Participatory food preparation that provides cooking and food safety instruction
- Engaging nutrition activities and discussions
- Practice with food budgeting
- Interactive grocery store visit and $10 challenge.
- Recipe book for use at home
- Certificate of completion


text:
Modern wireless high-speed data networks use tightly grouped channels and complex modulation schemes to enable transmitting vast amounts of data. This in association with ultra-sensitive receivers may face unanticipated but serious capacity losses if the network is disturbed by Passive Intermodulation, or PIM for short. Generally, modulating RF signals is necessary to transport information, but arbitrary passive intermodulation is utterly unwanted. Unfortunately, it can happen whenever more than one signal is channeled through one RF path. As a result, we may see unwanted non-linear frequency responses of passive components including connectors and cable feeds. These components start acting like mixers, modulators and frequency multipliers creating unwanted spurious products.
PIM (Passive Intermodulation Distortion)
PIM may become a major problem when Tx and Rx signals share one RF path. Luckily, VSWR measurements are standard procedure after network installation. Such measurements determine how much RF energy the antenna emits, and how much unwanted energy is reflected back into the transmitter. VSWR meters are however not capable to detect non-linearity in system components. Validating PIM network quality requires special PIM test systems. The preferred scenario for best network quality is – preventing PIM in the first place. For achieving this, it is paramount to utilize only high quality, low PIM components, apply proper installation procedures and ensure excellent grounding of the RF system.
Why is it critical to eliminate PIM?
Intermodulation products may be generated whenever base stations transmit RF signals. The resulting intermodulation frequency products are often found within the receiving bands of a network. Since RX signals are by nature very low power, interference with regular voice and data traffic occurs. Unwanted PIM interference may desensitize one or more receiving channels to such degree that not only creates very high BER that reduce network bandwidth, but may even drop calls completely. It the worst case it can even lead to permanently unusable receiver channels. Loss of already sparse network capacity caused by PIM is in no way acceptable for high volume, high speed wireless data networks.
What causes Passive Intermodulation?
- Ferromagnetic metals, like iron, nickel and steel, show hysteresis effects with applied energy. The resulting signal levels are altered and the signal response is no longer linear.
- Dissimilar metal plating on connectors constitutes potential voltaic elements that act like a diode, causing unwanted random modulation effects.
- Corroded surfaces cause PIM. Corrosion may happen on unprotected component surfaces or by human influence (e.g. touching a connector pin with bare fingers).
- Irregular contact surfaces, even on a microscopic scale, can cause an inconsistent flow of charge carriers and generate inhomogeneous electromagnetic fields. Causes can be of mechanical or electrical nature: Low quality components, shearing by forced connections and disconnections of components, spark craters caused when "hot" connections are disconnected.
- Wind load and dissimilar expansion coefficients of tower and feed lines stress both, connectors and cables and will cause deteriorating connection quality.
Minimizing Passive Intermodulation (PIM) is critical for achieving maximal system capacity and efficiency of wireless high-speed networks. PIM awareness is paramount for PIM prevention. Installers need to be trained properly ensuring familiarity about PIM causes and expertise on how to prevent them. Manufacturers have to deliver products that not only come with low PIM characteristics but guarantee sustaining specifications over a long time under environmentally harsh conditions. System designers have to consider appropriate products, and they need to pay special attention to material and plating of mating component surfaces. Finally, wireless operators have to maintain their network ensuring that PIM behavior is not deteriorating during operation of the system.
More Information
LTE forces Network Designers to re-think (WTG Blog)
The Importance of Low PIM components (Recorded Webinar)
- The Importance of Low PIM Components (PowerPoint Presentation)
- Proper Torque prevents PIM (Whitepaper)
- Microlab Products (Catalog)
PIM 21 (2W PIM Test System)
PIM 21 (Datasheet)


text:
Cotton growers who use university official variety trials to review local performance data on new varieties have another source of information. Bayer CropScience allows growers to tap into additional research through cotton agronomic performance (CAP) trials across the Cotton Belt.
"Bayer CropScience has a broad and proven germplasm pool for advancing varieties," said Steve Nichols, Bayer CropScience U.S. agronomic manager.
"The challenge is determining which variety has the best fit on a particular acre. CAP trials provide on-farm experience so growers and consultants can evaluate how our varieties perform across different soil types, geographical regions, farming practices and water-management techniques."
Bayer CropScience agronomists work with growers and consultants to oversee the CAP trials, Nichols said. With this combined effort, everyone works together to determine the best agronomic practices for each variety.
Mississippi consultant Chris Adams assisted with the Lodi, Miss., CAP trial in 2007.
He said the hands-on experience with new varieties was extremely helpful.
"As fast as new varieties are coming on the market, there is no doubt this was a valuable experience," Adams said. "It's helpful to manage varieties in the field before my farmers ask for recommendations. Now I know which varieties will work best in our area."
Adams saw two standouts in his CAP trial: ST 5458B2RF and ST 4498B2RF. Both varieties yielded more than 4 bales per acre — all the more impressive because his grower managed the trial exactly like he manages the rest of his cotton acres.
"It was a real world trial that did not require any special production practices," Adams said.
Nichols said Bayer CropScience will continue to place a high priority on research and development efforts such as the CAP trials.
"As we continue to invest in research, we will continue to set benchmarks on high-quality, high-yielding varieties," he said. "We're expanding the scope of our research. We're effectively doubling the amount of CAP trial data because we now include both Stoneville and FiberMax cotton seed varieties. This year, we'll collect data from more than 100 trial locations."
For more information on the CAP trials or the full lineup of 2008 Stoneville and FiberMax cotton seed varieties, contact your local Bayer CropScience representative or visit www.CottonExperts.com.


text:
'all-purpose monitor'
'uncompromising performance and outstanding value'
'stereo speakers'
'Compared to other flat panel monitors on the market, it is relatively expensive at around $380.'
'the Ferrari F-20 shows a few odd design decisions.'
'For most monitors, a viewing angle of around 45 degrees off-centre is easily achieved, but the F-20 starts to diminish in brightness a little before that point, which will definitely be a problem if several people watch at once.'
'Incorporating the latest LCD technology, the Acer AL2216WBD offers the best visibility, performance and unprecedented value'
'No extras such as speakers or USB ports.'
'This display is great for those who desire good text and graphics viewing.'
ReviewGist helps you find the best products to buy by making sense of online reviews.
We are currently aggregating 376,500 reviews
covering over 29,483 products.
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Pneumonia is a serious lung infection that causes difficulty breathing, fever, cough and fatigue. These quality measures show some of the recommended treatments for pneumonia.
The appropriate care measure (ACM) is a patient-centered composite score that captures whether or not a patient received all of the recommended treatments they were eligible to receive, based on the specific condition.
A quality measure is medical information from patient records converted into a rate or percentage that shows how well hospitals care for their patients. You can use these quality measures to help you compare hospitals:
Your feedback today helps shape tomorrow
Be an active partner in your care


text:
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to human error. Therefore, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.
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The classic video game is now a scratch ticket!Top prize $30,000!2 Ways to Win!
1. Scratch the FROG 1 play spot to reveal an arrow.2. As shown in the LEGEND, continue scratching ONLY in the direction of each revealed arrow, one arrow at a time, to reveal the entire path through the play area.3. If the path reveals a BONUS symbol, continue in the direction of the arrow next to that symbol (shown in that same square).4. If the revealed path runs into a GAME OVER symbol, that path ends and the game is over for that FROG.5. If the revealed path ends in a FINISH play spot, win the prize amount revealed in that same FINISH play spot!6. Repeat steps 1-5 for FROG 2 and FROG 3.7. Count the total number of identical BONUS symbols across ALL three paths (FROGS 1-3), win prize shown in the BONUS BOARD for that same symbol!
$3 1:7$5 1:19$6 1:38$10 1:61$20 1:76$50 1:98$100 1:12,000$500 1:240,000$1,000 1:80,000$30,000 1:480,000


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