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If you've studied the connections on your computer closely, you may well have found that a number of them are related to audio.
You'll almost inevitably have a minijack stereo output - you'll probably have plugged a pair of headphones or speakers into this already - and there's a very good chance that you'll have an input socket or two as well (possibly labelled 'mic' and/or 'line').
Given all this, we wouldn't blame you for wondering why there's any need to bother with a separate audio interface. However, there are actually several reasons to consider investing in one, and some of them are pretty compelling.
Before we get into the 'why', though, let's take a moment to explain precisely what an audio interface is. To be honest, there isn't really that much to say here: the name gives you a pretty good idea of what you're dealing with.
Put very simply, audio interfaces enable you to get sound in and out of your computer. If you have the right hardware (specifically, a spare PCI slot) you can install one inside your Mac or PC, but most people these days choose to buy an external model.
The majority of these interfaces connect up over USB 2.0 or FireWire, and are extremely easy to install and set up. In many cases, it's just a case of plugging in a cable and you're ready to go.
Reasons to buy
The first area where a dedicated audio interface will trump your computer's built-in sound system is that of quality. Yes, you can record through that little socket on the back of your PC, but the results might not sound as pristine as you want them to.
Most of today's dedicated boxes enable you to record at better-than-CD-quality, though - if you want to get technical, we're talking 24-bit as opposed to 16-bit - and their inputs should be free of any interference or crackle.
If that isn't enough to convince you that you need an audio interface, allow us to draw your attention to their flexibility.
Many interfaces come with dedicated inputs for guitars, mics and other musical gear, enabling you to record a wide variety of instruments. What's more, an audio interface can give you the option of recording multiple tracks simultaneously - an essential feature if you happen to be in a band.
A desire to record 'real' instruments isn't the only reason to buy an audio interface, though. If you plan on using any virtual instruments, you'll find that an interface will make playing them much easier. This is because of latency - the perceptible delay between you pressing a key on your MIDI keyboard and actually hearing the sound.
If you're using your computer's built-in sound system, this delay can be quite long, but because most interfaces have well-programmed drivers - pieces of software that enable them to communicate with the computer - if you use one, virtual instruments can usually be played without any noticeable delay at all.
So, however you plan to make your music, an audio interface can almost be considered an essential purchase. It's just a case of finding a model that suits your needs and budget.
Recommended models
Popular cross-platform USB 2.0 audio interface that will let you record guitars, mics and anything else at high quality.
A flexible and affordable USB interface that offers two inputs and four outputs. It even has a selection of built-in effects.
With a fast USB 2.0 connection and bundles of inputs and outputs, this is a fully-featured interface at a great price.
If you're looking for a sleek, high-quality partner for your Apple laptop (though not the new MacBook), this good-looking FireWire interface fits the bill. Sadly, it doesn't work with the PC though.
For more advice, check out The Computer Music Special Beginner's Guide (volume 32) which is on sale now.


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Chiropractic Treatment: Auto Injury Serving Tampa Fl
Auto Accidents can be frightening, stressful, painful and so much more! When you've been in an auto accident in Tampa the last thing you want to deal with is insurance companies, doctors and lawyers. Fortunately the staff at Dynamic Wellness serves the residents of Tampa, to make your recovery as stress-free as possible.
At Dynamic Wellness, we focus on treatments and rehabilitation that is specific to auto accident victims. Conditions that occur as a result of a motor vehicle accident can affect the soft tissues, discs, joints and nerves. If not cared for immediately, these traumatic injuries can lead to permanent disability. We will strive to give you individual attention and do our best to return you to pre-injury status.
Additionally, if you need further legal advice or medical treatment, we have established relationships with trustworthy legal and medical professionals in the area to help guide you through this traumatic event and assist you on your road to recovery.
Car Accident Pain Relief-Tampa
In Tampa, Florida, you must seek medical attention immediately or lose PIP benefits. Florida law allows insurance coverage of medical expenses if you have been involved in an accident. However, if you don't see a doctor within 14 days of the accident, you will lose your benefits. We will provide you with the expert care and treatments to help you with your injuries.
The team at Dynamic Wellness is experienced and will help you address any questions and concerns related to your accident.
To learn more about how our team can help you with your auto accident injuries, contact us today at 813-551-1313.
Related Pages:
Active Release Technique TampaTampa Auto Injury

subset: commoncrawl


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On a faux-suburban street on the Universal Studios back lot, Michael Bublé was preparing to dodge a series of explosions, part of a recent pyro-heavy video shoot for his single, "It's a Beautiful Day."
So you might've expected the Canadian crooner — known for a string of platinum-selling standards albums including 2011's "Christmas," which was that year's second-biggest commercial hit — to have some fire-related questions for the crew. For instance: Where do I stand to avoid being burned?
Instead, he only wanted to know one thing from the assistant holding his cellphone: "Did my wife call?"
Long the precocious boy wonder of retro-big-band pop, Bublé at 37 appears finally — hold on to your fedora — to have grown up. This week his surprising new album, "To Be Loved," debuted at No. 1. And in August his wife, the Argentine actress and model Luisana Lopilato, is due to give birth to the couple's first child.
"Something like that, it puts everything in perspective," Bublé said of his impending fatherhood. As he waited for a camera to be set, he tapped out a message to Lopilato, who was overseas working on a movie. "It makes you say, 'OK, I can be brave about my music because what's really important now is this other thing.'"
"Brave," as Bublé knows, is not the first word many have used to describe his earlier records, with their lush renditions of classics like "Cry Me a River" and "I've Got the World on a String," along with cheery, soft-focus originals such as "Home" and "Haven't Met You Yet." Though he was young, the music seemed designed to the polite specifications of an older audience, which is precisely what the singer won.
"When his manager called and said, 'Michael Bublé wants to do some recordings with you,' nobody in my band knew who he was," said Gabriel Roth of the Dap-Kings, the hipster-approved Brooklyn soul crew that backs Bublé for several tracks on "To Be Loved." "Then everybody started asking their parents, and they all knew him."
Bublé's trick on "To Be Loved," which he made with the producer Bob Rock, is that the album feels more vibrant at the same time that it feels more mature. He's still doing standards — the record has "Young at Heart" and "Something Stupid," here a duet with Reese Witherspoon — but there are also tart, seemingly heartfelt R&B tunes that dial down the high-concept staginess.
"This record is easier for me to listen to without cringing," Bublé said. "I mean, I don't want to put down my previous stuff. But this feels so much more authentic."
Rock, who's also worked with Metallica and Mötley Crüe, said "To Be Loved" is "a little edgier, a little more rock 'n' roll" and credited Bublé's confidence in his decisions as an artist. "It's kind of the same thing Metallica had on the 'Black Album'" — the metal band's tuneful 1991 smash — "though obviously with a different kind of music," he added with a laugh.
According to Bublé, the disc exercises a creative license paid for by the tens of millions of albums he's sold. "I feel like I've earned the right to make the record I wanted to make," he said. "I came in as a boy, and I'm a man now."
That's a familiar narrative among other singers with the kind of wholesome, parent-friendly appeal Bublé hasn't abandoned quite yet. Think of Josh Groban, whose last two albums —including this year's "All That Echoes," featuring a lead single called "Brave" — have moved away from the glossy pop-classical sound that made him a star.
Both men started out as protégés of the producer David Foster but have left his tutelage in recent years, describing their need to establish their own identities.
"David's a genius, but he likes perfection, and philosophically that's different from what moves me," Bublé said.
What's refreshing about Bublé, scheduled to begin a U.S. arena tour in September, is the sharp self-awareness with which he's executing the transition. Performing Tuesday on "Dancing With the Stars," he seemed almost to be rolling his eyes as he delivered a jumpy rendition of "Come Dance With Me."
And when he called me for a follow-up conversation after his video shoot, the singer literally couldn't wait to puncture the illusion of friendliness so many stars work to cultivate.
"Hello, it's Michael Bublé," he said, "calling to promote my record."
Even "It's a Beautiful Day," the bouncy single with the antidepressant title, ends up being a poison pill, as Bublé glories in how relieved he is that "you're the one who got away."
"I've heard people say my stuff is safe, but this was the opposite of that," he said. "Not that I ever wanted to turn 180 degrees and pull away from the 40 million people who've invested in me. But I had to show some growth for my own sake." Bublé's voice went into let-me-level-with-you mode.
"Trust me, we had the conversations about making a commercial product as opposed to an indulgent art object. And I honestly tried to straddle that line."


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|2013-03-01, 13:12
|Link #21
Lolli for loli :D
I have the same problem. It's not anywhere near 100 shows...it's probably more like 20 or 30 though. What helps is watching them with friends because this way you can put series "on hold" until your friend is available and just watch other anime on your own accord. Like ones you're sure your friends are not interested in.
For example, I have a friend I can watch ecchi comedy anime with, a picky friend I watch high-quality anime with, and a friend who's more open to anime than the first two but doesn't like certain tropes so I know what shows to avoid with her as well.
This is going to sound extremely "geeky" but I can decide what shows to watch on my own by using the elimination process.
Friend A: Likes ecchi but hates horror/creepy anime. Likes romance but not love-hate romance.
Friend B: Likes horror but not vampires, likes cute stuff but not fan service, likes shoujo, but not stereotypes
Friend C: Likes romance but not violent tsundere. Loves dark drama and horror anime.
So I can deduce from all this that I will be watching Zero No Tsukaima on my own.
I also make sure to set aside a slot of time just for watching anime. Normally I do it before bed but this isn't the BEST idea in the world for marathoning anime. It's too easy to pull an all-nighter.
It's difficult to choose the next anime to marathon...but I'll normally pick the one that weighs on my mind the most at the time and make that my priority.
Last edited by Chiibi; 2013-03-01 at 13:26.
|2013-03-01, 13:28
|Link #22
Love Yourself
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Northeast USA
Age: 33
Regarding backlogs, yup. I didn't used to have them until I got out of anime for 2-3 years. I've pretty much been three steps behind everyone else since then, and it's made worse by my limited time to "catch up." The downside is that I don't experience the joys of anticipating a new episode each week, nor watching it alongside the community. The upside is that I'm fully on my own schedule, I download series that pique my interest, and I choose what to watch based on my interests at the moment.
At this rate I'll never get caught up, but that's OK. Anime viewing has always been about the experience; it's not a race to see who can watch the most. The experience is made better by watching a series over a long period of time, and marathoning a series dampens some of its impact, in my opinion. Watching a series on your own time can require some self-discipline in that regard, but I'm lucky if I have the time to watch one episode per day, so that's a non-issue for me at the moment.
|2013-03-01, 20:19
|Link #24
Join Date: Oct 2007
|2013-03-01, 22:41
|Link #25
Nekokota Festival
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Lost in the Fairy Forest
Backlog of anime I have know idea why any one would have more then a few of them to plan to watch but having more of 10 of them you mite as well just forget about watch them. But I do have a backlog of buying anime just so many to get and so little of them are found in stores any more
|2013-03-02, 00:01
|Link #26
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Idaho
Age: 27
I hate to say it, but at this point the only anime I've really been able to bring myself to watch through have been those that friends recommend to me.Even Psycho Pass I only started on a recommendation! Right now I'm two episodes into Full Moon wo Sagashite, and I started the series on Tuesday. So I've been a bit bad...
My backlog is rather strange. It includes winter 2011 (yes, that number is correct) final episodes (again, four or fewer episodes from finished), a couple shows that I really like (but yet have not finished or caught up on) and right now I have a growing list of "plan to watch" which I suspect will become, for the first time, a lot of "dropped."
I need someone to move up to my area and make me watch stuff.
Edit: Spurred on by a funny video, I started watching Nichijou. I can't stop... Help!
Last edited by Traece; 2013-03-02 at 04:15.
|2013-03-02, 00:11
|Link #27
Graphic Designer
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia
Age: 27
I need to find days where I'm off work, school AND feeling in the right moods to watch the myriad of series and the series they preoccupy, so I often find myself swimming in a backlog of sorts. However, when the stars align here and there, I really get into it and get caught right up in a day or two.
Right now, I have to get a little caught up on Shin Sekai Yori as well as marathon through Kimi ni Todoke, but a mere few days ago I was behind on Kotoura-san, Sasami-san@Ganbaranai, Chihayafuru S2, Little Busters, Sakurasou, Robotics;Notes, Psycho-Pass, Ore no Kanojo, and even Minami-ke Tadaima.
|2013-03-02, 09:31
|Link #28
Sisterhood of the Desu
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: in a van by the river
I dropped a few shows when I realized that I had too much of a backlog. It's kinda hard to keep track of what day something is on.
And don't get me started on the dvds I have that keep piling up, along with digital downloads I have from itunes...
|2013-03-02, 16:40
|Link #29
Butchered Taste
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: North Carolina
Well I had a action phase when I first started anime years ago. I would only watch action anime, but in 2011 I extended my borders. Then I learned that I don't really enjoy action stuff unless it at least has a decent plot and some other things.
So from late 2011 to Fall 2012 I was watching mainstream titles of Clannad, Haruhi, TTGL, Toaru Majutsu no Index, DRRR!!, Bakemonogatari, and many others(I liked most of the stuff I thought would be crap btw).
I'd watch 3 completed anime along with all of my currently airing stuff. Some unknown stuff here and there also. One episode a day from these three completed series. Of course....this was when I was still in high school.
Now...I only have time for one completed series at a time. Though I made an exception for SAC and Uchuu Kyoudai.
Yeah....I just say pick the ones that are highly recommended by the majority.
|2013-03-02, 19:40
|Link #30
reading #hikaributts
Join Date: Feb 2009
I never made any anime backlogs before, because i know will be procrastinating. Just like my VN backlog that i have, still has some VN's from 2005 that i still don't have the time to read. Because after every period (for VN's every month but for animes every 3 months) the amount of things that you want to see/read will increase further.
|2013-03-03, 21:49
|Link #31
Obey the Darkly Cute ...
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ...
Age: 61
Massive backlog here also, I finally went through and simply zapped all the 'started but never got very far' and the never-started but only partial downloaded list. It still leaves me with nearly 20 series that are done and I still haven't queued up. Blerch. Hobby time is in serious collision mode.
|2013-03-03, 23:11
|Link #32
Feeling comfy
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Singapore
Age: 44
I'll keep it brief. I no longer have the time to follow up on all the shows I want to watch, and even less time to mull over the ones I do. Those shows that end up in my "backlog" eventually end up collecting dust — I almost never go back to them. The original impetus to watch them had faded away.
Part of the fun of watching anime, I find, comes from being able to discuss them with others while they are "current". The inability to do that as often as I would like to hampers my enjoyment of anime to a certain extent.
To be sure, though, the other part of the problem stems from an awareness that there are fewer series today that I'm interested in following. I'm not as emotionally invested in anime as I was, say, five years ago. It's a function of my relative lack of time, and also a function of not being able to find as many stories as I used to that deal with subjects that I am curious about.
|2013-03-04, 02:39
|Link #33
Part-time misanthrope
Join Date: Mar 2007
134 shows on my to watch list To be honest only 78 of them are actually series while 56 are OVAs, movies, specials, etc. Aside from some obscure shows I'm not exactly worried about losing interest in them any time soon but my motivation keeps having low and high phases. While I can go for weeks without not watching anything besides a few shows suddenly the urge to marathon a show comes up.
Unfortunately there are more shows that I'm interested in every season than I do marathons ;_;
|2013-03-04, 08:45
|Link #34
The iDOL(ove Live!)M@STER
My PTW list has never exceeded 30. I love my tiem management skillz.
Back when my PTW was close to 30 it was just the stuff I've heard about most. Now it's one or two random shows a season and whatever else I randomly come across. Being in the right mood helps also...
|Thread Tools


text: Passion of Lavender- Our passion and what we have learned. The interactive seminar will discuss the many varieties of lavender their similarities and differences. All aspects of growing, maintaining, harvesting, processing and using your lavender plants. Helpful tips and things we have learned over the years, and finally how to use lavender in your landscaping. The seminar is about 45min. long with 15min. for questions and refreshments. An edible lavender treat and a lavender product sample will be given as a takeaway. Seminars take place in a covered outdoor location.


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The origin of the word cryptology lies in ancient Greek. The word cryptology is made up of two components: kryptos, which means hidden and logos which means word. Cryptology is as old as writing itself, and has been used for thousands of years to safeguard military and diplomatic communications. For example, the famous Roman emperor Julius Caesar used a cipher to protect the messages to his troops. Within the field of cryptology one can see two separate divisions: cryptography and cryptanalysis. The cryptographer seeks methods to ensure the safety and security of conversations while the cryptanalyst tries to undo the former's work by breaking his systems.
The main goals of modern cryptography can be seen as: user authentication, data authentication, non-repudiation of origin, and data confidentiality.
In today's society, cryptography is one of tools for privacy & trust. It is used extensively for access control, electronic payments, enterprise security besides other areas.
Aim of this Website
This website aims at developing a free encyclopedia on cryptography and information security. This initiative requires all your support to ensure that it becomes a success. Contribute non-copyrighted material to this website. All you need to do is to create an account for yourself and start adding appropriate material under the right sections. To know more about this project click here.
Featured Article
Hash Functions are functions for summarizing or probabilistically identifying data. Such a summary is known as a hash value or simply a hash, and the process of computing such a value is known as hashing. This page covers hash functions in great detail with a good coverage of various algorithms.
Given below are some of the high-level categories we have on this website right now. While browsing, you will find lots more! Use the search facility of this website to directly locate for information.
Random Image
A random image from the CryptoDox database is shown below.
Help us out!
CryptoDox is a community driven project. We need your help in enhancing the encyclopedia by contributing content. Refer Wanted Pages for a list of pages that needs to be created. Also:


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It looks like you're in United States. Please go to Slice United States.Slice United States.
Utility knives are hand tools that cut corrugated packaging, plastic, and other materials. Commonly used for both household and industrial applications, the best utility knives feature safety measures to prevent lacerations, a major cause of workplace injuries. Some allow you to choose different fixed-position blade lengths to match the depth of the material you're cutting, while others have retracting blades, which prevent accidents when the tool is not in use.
The Slice Manual Utility Knife features multiple blade position settings, while other options include standard blade-retraction technology or innovative smart-retract blades that retract as soon as the blade loses contact with your cutting material.
Industrial utility knife uses include removing packaging, trimming flash from plastic components and cutting raw materials to shape on the factory floor. Slice utility knife blades are made of zirconium oxide, which is chemically inert and safe for use at temperatures of up to 1600 degrees Celsius, making them an excellent option for labs or extreme environments.
All Slice knives use our patented ceramic safety blades and include many of the same features, but they offer a variety of handle designs and blade lengths. The shorter blade of a box cutter knife, like the Slice Auto-Retractable Box Cutter or Mini Cutter, easily opens packing materials while minimizing blade exposure, thereby reducing the risk of an accident or damage to the box's contents. A Slice utility knife has a longer blade and can cut a broader range of materials. The best utility knife or box cutter for any job is the one that makes a clean cut in one pass with the smallest amount of blade exposure.
All Slice tools feature zirconium oxide ceramic blades. The advanced ceramic material used in Slice utility knife blades is rustproof, non-conductive, anti-magnetic, and won't spark. The hardness of this material means it dulls very slowly compared to steel. While steel blades are dangerously sharp at the start of their service life and quickly wear to a dull edge, Slice's slow-to-dull blades start at an effective sharpness and retain their proprietary safe cutting edge for up to 10 times longer than steel.
This means that tools like the Slice Auto-Retractable Utility Knife provide a consistent edge that is finger friendly and outlasts comparable steel-bladed knives. Fewer blade replacements, as well as a reversible (double edge) blade design, significantly reduce maintenance costs. The Slice tools featured on this page ship with double-edged, rounded-tip utility knife blades. Replacement blades offer both rounded and pointed tip options.
Slice utility knives and box cutters have handles with sturdy glass-filled nylon suited to heavy use. Most, like the Slice Smart-Retracting Utility Knife and Slice Manual Box Cutter also have ambidextrous handles and controls. While Slice box cutters have a J-hook handle that hooks on pockets, keeping the blade away from the body, other Slice products feature a lanyard hole so you can secure your safety utility knife when it's not in use. In addition to a lanyard hole, the Slice Mini Cutter's handle is magnetized to keep the tool within easy reach.
All utility tools from Slice feature tool-free blade replacement. Slice pen cutters, Mini Cutter, and box cutters all use the same model of replacement blades.
These tools feature one of three types of blade controls. Products like the Slice Manual Pen Cutter have a simple slider that adjusts the blade position, while the Auto-Retractable Pen Cutter is a retractable utility knife; the blade retracts when the user releases the slide button. The Slice Smart-Retracting Utility Knife has an ergo-pull™ blade control. Using a pull motion to extend the blade requires less effort than a push, and the utility knife blade automatically retracts when it loses contact with the cutting surface. This innovative safety feature retracts the blade even when the user's hand is still on the slider, preventing injuries from slips.
Slice's Ergo-Pull technology was introduced with the 10558 Utility Knife. While reevaluating every aspect of design, we looked at the ergonomic impact of the slider used to unsheath the blade in typical blade retraction mechanisms. What we discovered is that, while most sliders require a push action to activate the blade, a pull action is in fact more ergonomic. Think of it this way: you're already pulling the tool towards you during the cut, so pushing the slider down at the same time creates tension in your hand. Pulling the slider instead is a more natural action.
To test the effectiveness of our new idea, Slice hired US Ergonomics in September 2016 to run comparisons between the 10558 tool and a typical (non-Slice) push-slider knife.
Their conclusion? "The Slice [Ergo Pull] resulted in lower forearm and hand muscle effort than the standard push blade lever utility knife."
For more details on our ergonomic testing, check out the FAQ: How Do I Know Slice Tools Are More Ergonomic?
Slice makes a variety of handles because we know there are a variety of applications and personal preferences out there. We encourage customers to find the best Slice tool for the job. Some specialty applications require the strength of a utility knife, but take place in a very narrow space, or need more control than a typical everyday knife can offer.
If none of the tools in this category are slim enough for your needs, head over to the Precision Knives category. These tools offer a higher degree of control and a smaller handle profile. Their compatible blades are smaller and thinner than those used in this category, but they are still made of extremely hard advanced ceramics and have all the same benefits. This means they have a finger-friendly edge, are non-sparking, non-conductive, and safe up to 1600 degrees Celsius. If you need a handle that's thinner still, consider our Ceramic Scalpels. These use the same blades as our precision knives.


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As I write this, we've just been through a week of lousy, rainy weather, the kind that makes me want to snuggle in the corner of my couch with a cup of tea at my side and a book in my hands. With the right book, I could be instantly transported from the chilled, gray dreariness of mid-January Virginia to the turquoise waters and pretty pastels of Bermuda, or to the raw and wild beauty of the Australian Outback.
Or I could be clubbing at a glittery Paris hot spot, backpacking across the Swiss Alps or maybe sampling the wines in a Tuscan vineyard. I could even be rocketing to another planet. With the right book in my hands, I could, for a few short hours, be a detective, a general in the armed forces, a princess, or a shape-shifter.
For me, the only problem with reading a book is that sooner or later I finish it, and then I have to hunt for another story to take me on my next journey. That can pose a challenge for a voracious reader who might go through several books in a month — or a week — especially one who doesn't have the bank account, and unlimited purchasing power, of a princess. That's where our local libraries come to our rescue with aisles and stacks of volumes, from beloved classics to the latest hot releases. Libraries can satisfy the needs of any book addict.
Even then, there are those readers who will quickly go through the available supply of stories by their favorite writers and will stand in the aisles, staring blankly at the alphabetical rows of authors they've never read, wondering which books might suit their fancy.
What a perfect opportunity to try a new author, maybe even one who might be your neighbor.
Here's a suggestion: The next time you find yourself looking for a new book, consider checking out those written by our local authors. Libraries often have lists available for patrons and the library staff might even be able to make recommendations based on your preferences.
What's available?
At the Hampton Public Library, for example, conducting a "Quick Search" of its catalog using the phrase "Authors American Virginia Peninsula" will pull up a listing of works by local authors, currently more than 300 in all genres and age ranges.
Similarly, the Williamsburg Regional Library identifies local authors in its catalog under the series title "Local Authors Program." As of Friday, there were 380 titles listed.
If you're searching the catalog of the Blackwater Regional Library, which serves the city of Franklin and Isle of Wight, Southampton, Surry and Sussex counties, type "Virginia authors" in the catalog's subject field for a list of locals.
At the Gloucester County Library, Newport News Public Library and York County Library branches, be sure to ask a librarian for recommendations.
I, too, have been keeping a list of local authors, and although it's far from exhaustive, I've been amazed by the number and breadth of offerings. I've written about some of them in the past (in the Writers' Block blog and in this column), and I'll continue to write about them. My list is growing, in fact, and I'm excited every time I can share with you a new name.
Conspiracy tale thrills
York County resident David Perry is the author of thriller "The Cyclops Conspiracy" which is about a pharmacist who uncovers an international conspiracy. Perry is the pharmacy manager at the Harris Teeter on Warwick Boulevard in Newport News, and the story takes place in parts of Newport News, Williamsburg and York County. Perry's customers and neighbors might want to take a look at what he has created.
I haven't finished read the book (yet), but a reading of the first line intrigued me. "Jason waited for the door to his tortured past to swing open," the story begins, making me wonder just what surprises Perry has in store for his readers. About halfway through the 500-page book, I found this: "Having spent the last hour hunkered down in the front seat of Waterhouse's Blazer, nervously watching the greasy spoon on the southern stretch of Warwick Boulevard for signs of the fraudster Winstead, Jason spied the scruffy-looking man as he exited the eatery and climbed into his black Ram 1500." Are you wondering exactly which stretch of Warwick Boulevard Perry is referring to there? I am.
I won't divulge any more, but if you'd like to learn more about "The Cyclops Conspiracy," an Amazon bestseller this past March, and to hear an audio excerpt, go to Perry's website.


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This is a user's guide that contains background science and technology information for the Geomagnetic Event Observatory Network by Students program, or GEONS. Learners can review the role that terrestrial magnetism plays in shaping a number of... (View More) important Earth systems. The guide also explains the basic operating principles behind magnetometers, particularly the magnetometer system used in the GEONS program. (View Less)
Audience: High school, Higher education


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Mercedes Benz Unveils Car Of The Future!
Mercedes-Benz reveals a new four-door concept car with green drivetrain technology ahead of the 2010
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MANSFIELD, Conn. - Senior All-American Hayley Feindel fired a two-hit shutout and sophomore Devin Fellman's three-run homer highlighted a five-run fourth inning as fifth-seeded Coast Guard knocked off Eastern Connecticut 5-0, in game seven at the Mansfield Regional of the 2012 NCAA Division III Softball Championship at Eastern Connecticut State University. The Warriors, who are the top-seeded team in the region and ranked second nationally, had their 40-game winning streak snapped.
The Bears, the New England Women's and Men's
Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) tournament champions improve to 28-17
and advance to the winner's bracket final on Saturday at 4
p.m. vs. Tufts, ranked eighth nationally and the second-seed in the
regional, in a winners bracket game. Eastern Connecticut (41-2)
will play third-seeded Rochester in an elimination game on Saturday
at 11 a.m.
The Warriors were trying to tie the national record for consecutive wins in a season falling one shy of the mark set by the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) in 2004 on the way to the first of two straight national titles.
Feindel was dominant as she allowed just one runner past first base, in the first inning, allowing just a pair of singles while walking a batter and striking out 10 to run the Bears win streak to seven straight as she improved to 21-8 on the season an registered her 62nd career shutout while becoming the first pitcher to shut out Eastern in more than four years.
The Warriors had runners on first and second in the first as leadoff batter Arielle Cooper reached on an error and senior Molly Rathbun delivered a one-out single, but Feindel struck on the next two batters looking to end the inning.
Coast Guard scored all five of its runs in the fourth with two outs off senior Molly Rathbun (30-2), who leads the nation with 30 wins, but had her 29-game win streak snapped with the loss.
In the fourth, sophomore Kaitlin Ward started the big inning with a one-out single and following a ground out, moving Ward to second. Senior Jamie Kim, the Bears eight hitter, had an RBI single to give the Bears a 1-0 lead. Freshman Erin Lisko the hero of the win on Thursday followed with an RBI single as the Bears pushed the lead to 2-0 as the bottom of the lineup once again came up big for the Bears. Fellman followed the three-run homer, her seventh of the season, to center, giving Coast Guard a 5-0 lead.
The Bears knocked Rathbun out of the game with back-to-back singles by freshman Jesse Richardson and junior Holli Bastinck to lead off the fifth. Rathbun went four innings and allowed eight hits and five earned runs while walking two and striking out six. Christine Akcer worked the final two innings and allowed just one hit and struck out two.
Feindel allowed just her second hit of the game a single to Kassondra Silva in the top of the fifth, the final hit she would allow. Feindel got Cooper to fly out leading off the sixth to snap her New England record hitting streak at 33 games.
Richardson and Lisko each had two hits to lead Coast Guard. Lisko had a double the only other extra base hit in the game besides Fellman's homer.
Release courtesy of Coast Guard Academy Sports Information


text: Hello, I have a 3D Fuzion geforce 6200 PCI 128mb. For whatever reason, it stalls up before it plays video for several minutes. Now, previous to this card, I had a Radeon 9100 PCI 128mb.. no issues at all with video playback. Any thoughts on what the problem might be?


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Marinepits wrote:LaylaWoobie wrote:Did I care about my dog when she was fed kibble? Of course I did. Do I care about her more now just because she's not raw? No, not necessarily, but I certainly do feel that I care more about her nutritional and dietary needs. That's not saying that I loved her less as a dog, but I will admit that I wasn't doing all I could when she was on kibble. I just didn't know better. Now I do. I do feel that I'm taking better care of her now and feel as though she's getting better care and proper nutrition. You can tell JUST BY LOOKING AT HER. That's not even going into how she acts, how she performs at training and her general well being. That's simply by looking at her build, her coat and eyes/mouth.
And the bolded part above is the problem I have with the whole raw vs kibble debate. You may be talking about yourself in that statement, Kendell, but it does seem to be the general prevailing attitude from some of the raw feeders directed towards kibble feeders.
Anyone can tell by looking at my dogs that they are in fantastic shape, even with their various medical issues -- energy is through the roof, their coats are beautiful (even Mac's with all his allergies), and they aren't overweight no matter what Michelle says ( ). AND THEY ARE FED KIBBLE.
Don't try and tell me that "I'm not doing all I can for [them]" because if I was then I'd be feeding raw. Don't try and tell me that "I just don't know better" because if I did then I'd be feeding raw. I am a highly educated person and have done my research on all types of canine diets. There are MANY reasons I choose not to feed raw and among them are:
1. It's extremely cost prohibitive for FIVE dogs (and the occasional foster) in the area where I live -- Fairfield County, CT. Yes, I have looked in to local small groceries and it's still cost prohibitive.
2. Mac has EXTREME resource guarding issues and he's good while on kibble. He's not good when getting other types of food.
3. Everyone's health and allergies are stable on the high-quality kibble I feed and there's no reason to mess with that.
I could go on, but I won't. Kibble works fine for us in this house and I've yet to see definitive proof that raw would work any better for them.
And yes, I do know that I sound defensive and it's for good reason -- I'm tired of hearing some of the raw feeders on this board bashing on kibble, and it's not only in this thread. It's in any thread that this debate comes up. It's also the reason that I generally stay out of these debates.
Ditto for me, this is almost exactly how I feel.
I work extremely hard to keep my dog's quality of life in all aspects(mentally, medically, and even entertainment-wise) up, and find the "thats because s/he's eating kibble" or "its that crappy kibble" posts and comments quite offensive.


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Watching Victor Wanyama completely out-think, out-wrestle and out-power Marouane Fellaini in the clash at Old Trafford against Southampton on Saturday brought a couple of questions to the mind.
Is Fellaini overawed by the pressure of playing for Manchester United? And, did United miss a trick in not going for Victor Wanyama?
Fellaini was dismal on Saturday against the Saints. His performance was rife with too many side-passes, a lack of positivity, failure to break-up play and lack of positional sense. Not to mention, he looked totally off in terms of energy.
He seemed encumbered by the pressure of playing for a club of the stature and size of Manchester United. It is too early to say that its gone totally pear-shaped for the midfielder but the warning signs are there. United have been there before with Ben Foster, a talented individual failing to handle the immense pressure of being successful at the Theatre of Dreams.
Victor Wanyama, on the other hand, went about his job with the minimum of fuss. Immaculate positional sense, hard but fair tackling, superb use of the ball alongside Morgan Schneiderlin were part of an outstanding display from the Kenyan.
Manchester United had chances but the Saints looked in control and Wanyama had a huge role to play in that. He has already forged a great reputation on the back of a couple of outstanding displays against Barcelona in the Champions League. He proved himself adept at handling the 'passing carousel' of the Catalans, as Sir Alex likes to call it.
If you couple Victor Wanyama's outstanding performances and Champions League experience with Maraone Fellaini's troubles at the Old Trafford outfit and lack of Europe know-how, you have got to question the logic of signing Fellaini and allowing Southampton to sign Wanyama for less than half of what the Belgian cost.
It is a long season and Fellaini might well turn out to be a great signing, but the early signs don't look very good.
Write for GiveMeSport! Sign-up to the GMS Writing Academy here: https://gms.to/130seMaDISCLAIMER: This article has been written by a member of the GiveMeSport Writing Academy and does not represent the views of GiveMeSport.com or SportsNewMedia. The views and opinions expressed are solely that of the author credited at the top of this article. GiveMeSport.com and SportsNewMedia do not take any responsibility for the content of its contributors.


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i have a gud idea!!!!
Posts: 30
Joined: 2009.04
Joined: 2009.04
hahaha that was a pretty good one... *thinks*i hope i can use it in april fools*
Posts: 749
Joined: 2003.01
Joined: 2003.01
diordna Wrote:Thank you sir! I knew you'd find out it was me eventually!
That's right, I'm no fool! I immediately sensed that you and FreakSoftware were actually the same person.
©h€ck øut µy stuƒƒ åt ragdollsoft.com
New game in development Rubber Ninjas - Mac Games Downloads
Posts: 281
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Joined: 2009.04
So freaksoftware and diordna are the same person? hmm...
~ Bring a Pen ~


text:
This luxury lifestyle house design is available for sale. Contemporary house with very comfortable interior design was built to capitalize on the Queensland al fresco lifestyle. Personally, I love the simple and functional of this house architecture. With every luxury catered for, this house presents a modern and safe environment for exceptional executive living space. Positioned less than three kilometers from the CBD, with restaurants, major hospitals and public transport right on your doorstep.
This luxury dream house impresses from top to toe with four levels of luxury living, linked together by a stunning Tasmanian oak and glass staircase. Extensive use of natural timbers and glass throughout create a perfect blend of light and space.
If you are look at the pictures gallery (shown below), there is some level of this home. The first level features a family room, unsuited king-size bedroom and double garage with dual entry access, making it an ideal design for a home business or teenagers retreat. The second level has high gloss porcelain tiled floors which lead from the formal entryway through to the expansive open-plan living and dining areas. Glass sliding doors open out to welcome a private lagoon style pool, ideal for outdoor entertaining. The third level plays host to 4 bedrooms including a massive master which enjoys views of the sparkling urban landscape from a private balcony. The top level features a rooftop viewing deck with 360 degree views of the city, suburb and mountains.


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Korean Music Industry Embraces The Future While US Counterparts Fight It
from the getting-beat-at-their-own-game dept
They focus on "industrializing" the production of music, with hit factories and star making academies. They focus on a multimedia experience. Korean pop music is released on TV. New debuts are released on TV with a video... and, of course, via YouTube. And that's the third point: Korea is incredibly wired. It was the first country with 3G networks in place and one of the first to have super high bandwidth broadband widely available. The end result? The industry, mostly built up in the past two decades, is built for the modern digital world, while the US industry still pines for the way things used to be. And that has some people worrying that, like many other products that the US used to lead in only to see foreign countries take them over, Korea might supplant the US in cultural exports over time. I still think there's a long, long way to go before that happens, but it is a scenario worth considering. It is still held back somewhat by the language barriers, but that's hardly a complete game stopper.
Of course, we've written about this before. Nearly four years ago, I wrote about seeing Korean music mogul JY Park speak about the K-Pop industry, of which he's a leading player. The points he made back then fit nicely with what Planet Money's report noted, but take it even further. One point he made was that the K-Pop world really took off as an industry once broadband became common. I'm reaching back 4 years into my memory banks, but I'm pretty sure he said the tipping point was when 70% of the country had high speed broadband connections. At that point, the business of just selling music was no longer the real business he was in. Instead, it was all about building up multimedia stars for the global stage, with a diverse set of revenue streams that rely little on using copyright to get royalties. He talked about the academies where they train artists -- picking those who are bilingual and who can act as well as sing. Basically, the K-Pop world expanded what it meant to be in the music business, changing the definition to suit the times... and it's working.
There is no reason to think that the South Korean music business is about to surpass the US's any day now, but there's no set rule that the most popular music has to come from the US forever. And those countries who encourage efforts that embrace the future and what the technology allows would seem to be in a much better position to go after the big opportunities.


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Animal analogies come to mind when somebody asks, "What is going on in Sacramento with the budget deficit?"
In one sense, the scene's like a horse race with some of the beasts balking at the starting gate. They'll get there eventually, but it'll take prodding and pushing.
In another sense, some Democrats -- mainly newer legislators in the Assembly -- are scrambling around like chickens with their heads chopped off.
And it's understandable. The electorate last month chopped off nearly $6 billion in anticipated state revenue, plus $16 billion in future tax hikes.
That raised the projected budget deficit for the fiscal year starting July 1 to roughly $21 billion, up from $15 billion. Since then, it has jumped another $3 billion to $24 billion.
And last week, practically unnoticed, the red ink grew by almost an additional billion when state Controller John Chiang routinely released his wonky cash balance report for May. During that month, revenue dropped $827 million below projections.
"Without immediate solutions from the governor and Legislature," Chiang warned, "we are less than 50 days from a meltdown of state government."
Just to be sure, I asked the soft-spoken controller whether his reported revenue decline meant that the deficit hole had gotten that much deeper. "It does," he replied.
But it won't become official until decreed by either Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Finance Department or the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office.
It's almost immaterial, anyway, to the current jockeying in the Legislature. Democrats haven't been able to find even $13 billion in spending cuts, their apparent target.
Schwarzenegger has proposed $16 billion in slashings, but they include eliminating the state's main welfare program, terminating medical health insurance for children of low-income families and ending financial aid for needy college students.
One thing all Democrats agree on: They're not going to allow the governor to completely wipe out those three programs, although there'll be some butchering.
Democrats, along with Republicans, also want to avoid borrowing -- grabbing -- $2 billion from local governments, as Schwarzenegger has proposed. That kind of borrowing is bad, lawmakers finally have concluded. And in this case, it would clobber local governments that likewise have been crippled by the recession.
But another type of borrowing -- short-term bridge loans to even out cash flows -- is routine and good. Problem is, Treasurer Bill Lockyer needs to show bond-buyers an honestly balanced budget before he can peddle the paper. The state expects to borrow up to $10 billion, all of it to be repaid during the fiscal year. It needs much of the borrowed money next month, however, because Chiang projects "meltdown" day as July 28.
And to prepare for the bond sale, Lockyer insists that the Legislature deliver a budget no later than June 30.
One big dispute between Democrats has been over how big a cash reserve to provide. Schwarzenegger penciled-in $4.5 billion. But Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) declared last week that $1 billion should be tops, thereby reducing the deficit hole to roughly $21 billion.
Steinberg is pretty much alone with his view.
Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) apparently wants a larger reserve but isn't publicly saying so in deference to Steinberg.
Democrats Chiang and Lockyer, however, are loudly arguing for a hefty reserve to satisfy bond buyers.
"If you don't have a reserve in your budget, it raises some anxieties by investors about whether you can pay them back," Lockyer says. "We've already seen a $827-million revenue decline" in May.
That $4.5 billion isn't really a reserve anyway. Most of it already has been swallowed up by the growing deficit. In truth, the reserve adds up to about $1.5 billion, if that.
The bigger the money cushion, however, the deeper the spending cuts: The larger the class sizes, the more state parks that are closed, the less healthcare for children and the fewer life-sustaining services for the frail.
That's what has Democrats murmuring to themselves in Capitol hallways and lecturing each other in hours-long party caucuses.
They're digging for more revenue, even if a tax has to be called a "fee" to be hiked on a majority vote. Republicans have sworn not to provide the necessary two-thirds vote for another tax increase. And Schwarzenegger has vowed to veto any bill raising taxes.
But this is a matter of semantics. Schwarzenegger has proposed accelerating income tax withholding and estimated payments to generate a one-time revenue windfall of $2.3 billion in fiscal year 2009-10. The windfall would never be returned. There would be the usual rebates for tax overpayments, but the state would always be ahead that bonus $2.3 billion.
The governor's office says it wouldn't be a real tax increase because rates would remain the same. But that doesn't calculate. If the government takes extra money from taxpayers and keeps it, that's a one-time tax hike.
Schwarzenegger also last December proposed an oil severance tax to raise $836 million. But Republicans objected and the governor dropped the idea. Look for Democrats to pick it up.
They're backed into a tight corner, but the donkeys are still kicking.


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Yet another neither one thing nor the other 80% review.
We all live in a 80% world it seems.
The Bravia KDL-40CX523 is the little net-connected TV that could. Consigned to somewhere near the bottom of Sony's 2011 line-up, and cursed with a CCFL backlight instead of trendy LED bulbs, it's clearly not one of the brand's hero products. Yet this transpires to be a quite a desirable gogglebox. Sony Bravia KDL-40CX523 Fat …
>You'll be able to play AVIs and MP4s, but nothing in an MKV wrapper.
Some AVIs, not all. Some MP4s. Not all.
Sony TVs seem inordinately picky - haven't been able to work out the specific settings required to guarantee a play when I experimented re-encoding existing files. One thing's for sure - that, ahem, movie trailer you downloaded from the internet is as likely to not work as work.
It's probably by design that Sony didn't really want to make the feature work, what with their movie business. You're better off looking at another TV or an additional device to view AVI or MP4 files.
In addtion, forget about the dongle - reports are that the signal strength is rubbish requiring same-room streaming (defeats the point really) - get a Netgear Ethernet to Wireless Adapter to turn the LAN port into a wireless one. Works a treat and is cheaper and you can use it with any device with a LAN port - and with a switch for multiple devices.
Sony kit is fully DLNA compliant and here is a good reference of what nightmare it is:
It also uses the same software to read media so rather unsurprisingly it recognises only a handful of "approved encodings".
There is a workaround for that - stream in a format which uses its own packetisation and own profile definitions. So the question here is: "Does the TV support let's say mmsh (microsoft media player streaming), generic streaming over http, etc? "
If it does and if it can navigate to these via the browser as a UI it can be made into a very nifty frontend to any media service (and collection of media). In btw - that will be the "right" way of doing that in the first place.
I used to work in the domestic TV industry and unfortunately, the issues with DLNA are all too typical of what comes out of it. The rules tend to be along the lines of :-
- If the idea/design/whatever is useful and easy to use then NO, you can't have it.
- If it's a really awkward and useless idea then YES, we absolutely must have it.
- If it actually takes more effort and engineering to make it awkward and useless rather than useful and easy then DOUBLE YES - get it into the product NOW! Extra points if the idea makes the product unstable. Even more points if adding this new useless feature gives us an excuse to remove a useful feature.
- If the feature is SO useless that 99% of people won't even realise it's built-in to the product then make MORE of it in the next version! (example - how many people even know about the apps built into their new Sony TVs? Don't feel stupid if you don't - they aren't even mentioned in the manual)
- If it was thought the feature was useless, but it turns out the end-users actually found a way of making it useful then (yep - you guessed it!), remove the feature from the next version
I wish this was all a joke, but it's not - I have seen it all too often first-hand.


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People who cut down on added sugars in their diets lost an average of about 1.7 pounds – a result researchers called small but significant.
The result was in a paper published online Tuesday in the British Medical Journal that analyzed 71 studies of sugar intake and weight. The World Health Organization recommended in 2003 that sugar intake be limited to 10% of calories; the agency commissioned this study as part of its intention to update its recommendation.
The studies also showed that increasing consumption of added sugars led to gaining about 1 1/2 pounds, the researchers from the University of Otago and Riddet Institute in New Zealand wrote.
Weight gain is just one of the health effects that some have attributed to sugar, but the researchers said it was the only one for which "definitive conclusions" could be reached. They used the term "free" sugars, which they defined as those added to foods by the manufacturer, cook or consumer – as well as those in honey, syrups and fruit juices.


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It was not a huge surprise that Cajon defeated Etiwanda on Friday in the championship game of the Ayala Best of the West Tournament.
After all, Cajon (16-0) is undefeated for a reason. How they did it was another matter.
Trailing 18-4 in the first quarter and 34-17 in the second, the Cowgirls figured out Etiwanda's press and rallied, eventually taking a 63-60 victory at Ayala High School.
"We wanted to finish this year undefeated," Cajon coach Mark Lehman said on New Year's Eve. "Now we want to go undefeated next year."
After Etiwanda (11-2) closed to within 63-60 on a Jada Blackwell (15 points) 3-pointer with about 20 seconds to play, Etiwanda had two more possessions. One resulted in a turnover, the other in a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer that missed everything.
Shannon Moore was impressive in the rally for Cajon, scoring 10 of her team-high 14 points in the second half. Kori Walker had 10 of her 12 in the second half, Angelica Guardado scored 12 and Sophia Bhasin scored all 10 of her points in the second half.
Etiwanda led 52-49 on a basket by Met Onogomuho (game-high 16 points) with 4:54 to play, but a 14-5 run by the Cowgirls gave them the upper hand.
Etiwanda's efforts were hurt at the point guard position. Rachel Williams got in early foul trouble and was not as effective as usual. The other point guard, senior Angelique Bailey, suffered a partially torn meniscus in the first game of the tournament and is expected to miss another week.
Cajon stuns Etiwanda in girls basketball
It was not a huge surprise that Cajon defeated Etiwanda on Friday in the championship game of the Ayala Best of the West Tournament.


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Who said logo design had to be all serious? Have fun with these logo games, parodies and more.
Which is the real logo?
Guess what is the correct logo in this fun game. Comes with a timer and all.
Logo Parodies
A few logo parodies.
Brand Alphabet
Do you know your brand alphabet? Match each letter to the right brand identity… remember that some of the letters are from the middle of a logo.
Below is another version of spot the logo. Answers here.
Your Favourite Logos Go Web 2.0
Your favourite logos now with gloss, reflections and more!
Phallic Logo Designs
Some rather unfortunate logo designs that have come / gone a bit too far.
Bad Logo Designs
On the topic of bad logo design, check out these rather unsightly logos.
Speech Bubble Logos
Have you ever noticed how overdone speech bubble logos are? Here are just a few.
Guess The Logo
Similar to brand alphabet, this is a game that features only part of a logo. Can you guess the logo by only seeing part of it?
Logo Designs After The Recession
As previously posted here on Logo Designer Blog, here are some logo designs after going through the recession.
Hope this post has lightened up your day… have you got any more logo design fun to share?


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corona wrote:I'm posting mainly to bump this up for the active topics. I'll post more in-depth later.
Jazz Girl, I'm going to pay you what I hope you consider to be a compliment. Your outlook sometimes is very Edwardian.
Oh, believe me, Corona, I consider that the highest of compliments.
December mentioned that this is a close parallel to the Explorations thread. And this is an issue I raised there as well. And, I may be the only person who has this hang up, but it goes along with what I mentioned before about the main conflict of the love story. Yes, I recognize that I may be dealing with semantics here. But, to my mind, Bella does not actually get to make that choice. Yes, she makes a choice that she knows will lead to her transformation. She knows Edward, and she knows that when it comes down to watching her die or changing her, he will choose to change her and give her the life he has. But, it's not the same as Bella and Edward freely choosing together to move forward with her change. No other pressures. No outside dynamics playing a part. No threat hanging over their head that amounts to, "let her die or change her." They are never allowed to say, "I love you and us more than I fear anything else."Tornado wrote:The choice of accepting Edward, with all the stuff that goes with being a vampire, would be an extraordinarily difficult decision to make. I wouldn't think less of SM, or of her feelings for Edward, if she honestly said she wasn't brave enough to do it, especially since that makes it an issue of the difficulty involved in that choice (in giving up family, etc), rather than that Jacob is preferable as a person. I don't think it devalues Edward or gives Jake a superior position. In fact, I think it's telling that she let Bella make the opposite decision. She's honest in saying she wouldn't be brave enough for that, if this was a real situation, but she makes Bella brave enough for it, because she believes Edward deserves her. She is his reward. She makes Bella do what she probably wishes she was brave enough to do.
As I said, I think that this is the one central issue that Stephenie could not reconcile to her personal beliefs. I am by no means a religious scholar. But, I don't think you have to be to understand that protecting one's immortal soul is done by living a moral life. Most moral codes are dictated by what most believers see as living by God's commandments. Given all the questions Edward raised about the loss of his soul and taking Bella's soul if he transformed her, for him to then change his belief 180 degrees would essentially be saying that he loved his wife more than he loved God and valued their love more than he valued their souls. To most believers, that is an unacceptable decision.
However, even though so many have a severe moral disagreement with the idea of killing as an act of mercy, if Edward was forced to take her life as a way to save her, and if Bella gave her life in order to bring a life into the world, then the issue becomes much less black and white, doesn't it? How does Bella choose to die and leave her child motherless? Easy, she accepts that her transformation at least protects her child and gives her the opportunity to redeem her soul through further goodness. How does Edward stand by and refuse to prevent the death of his wife and daughter (who is at this point free from any sin)? In my mind, the dilemma of protecting Ness muddies the waters just enough to at least make the choice an acceptable one.
Is this a conscious consideration in SM's writing process? That I don't know. While I don't know Stephenie's writing process, I rather doubt it. But the reality of the writing process in general is that we write what we feel and our spiritual beliefs certainly play into what we feel. I'm not maintaining at all that Stephenie said to herself, "I can't just let them choose X. That would be morally wrong." What I'm saying is that, in her story development process, she might have seen having a mitigating factor to necessitate the final choice as just what had to happen.


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Despite sagging record sales and box office flops, Jennifer Lopez is still a huge star!
The 38-year-old mamacita-to-be, with mousy hubby Marc Anthony at her side, showed off her beautiful, bulging belly at the Movie Rocks concert in L.A. on Sunday. Doing it well!
After months of silence, Jennifer finally admitted she was expecting -- during a Miami concert last month.
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Hot Video


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It's taken about three years of wrangling, but Baltimore's Department of Recreation and Parks has finally turned over a year of its financial books to city auditors.
"I'm not jumping up and down yet," Councilman Carl Stokes, who chairs the council's finance committee, said Wednesday. "We don't know what shape the records are in. But we're pleased that after three years we do have a turnover of books."
Comptroller Joan M. Pratt said auditors are going through the department's financial records to determine whether they are detailed enough to be audited. She said City Auditor Robert L. McCarty would make a determination by week's end.
Stokes has been calling for a financial audit of the department, saying it is one of several city agencies that haven't had a complete audit in decades. In November, voters approved a charter amendment that requires the city to audit 13 key agencies every four years.
Meanwhile, at a committee work session Wednesday, new allegations emerged about erroneous city water bills — including overcharging of the Department of Recreation and Parks.
Activist Linda Stewart, known by her online moniker "Water Bill Woman," presented two bills she said were wildly erroneous, costing city agencies about $1 million in overcharges. Stewart presented documents that she said showed the water department overbilled Recreation and Parks by $560,000 in Druid Hill Park and overcharged the housing authority's McCulloh Homes by $400,000.
When Deputy Finance Director Henry J. Raymond promised to look into the matter, Stewart wanted to know why the city wasn't catching such errors. "Am I the only one looking for this?" she asked.
"She's been tracking this, and she's been very accurate," Stokes said.
The issue of erroneous water bills drew attention last year when the auditor found that the Department of Public Works had overcharged thousands of customers by at least $9 million. The administration pledged a series of reforms, including increasing the number of meter readers, inspectors and customer service representatives. Last month, city officials said meter readers now estimate about 225 readings per day, down from 1,100 two years ago, a move aimed at cutting errors.
During the meeting, Pratt reiterated that the administration needs to increase funding for auditors. She said last year that she needs about $2.2 million in new funding to perform the audits required by the charter amendment. She said she would need to hire 28 more workers, including a manager, three supervisors and 21 auditors, among others. Her staff typically performs 10 to 20 audits a year.
"We need the money to hire the staff. Otherwise, it's going to be impossible," Pratt said, adding that she has about 100 applicants vying for positions. "You cannot hire an auditor on July 1 and expect them to understand the city's systems," she said.
Pratt objected to a proposal by City Councilman Nick Mosby that would create an audit commission — which would advise city auditors — with members appointed by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.
"An audit commissioner appointed by the mayor would jeopardize our independence," Pratt said.


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text:
He sure is float-ogenic!
Laguna Beach might be in Lauren Conrad's past, but life's still a beach, er, pool, for her darling dog, Fitz.
The rescue pup was likely a bit jealous that his designer mom got to hit the beach on July 4th, so he made some (tiny) waves of his own on Instagram over the weekend, starring in a video that had Conrad fans commenting, "So cute!" Judge for yourself in the cool clip above.


text:
1. Backwards Compatabiity
You've heard time and time again, backwards compatibility is a essential key to the success of the new playstation. What if developers like Konami remade MGS4 for the playstation 4? With upscaled graphics! And what if ubisoft remade the Assassin's creed series and the far cry series for the playstation 4 with upscaled and amazing graphics. This technology isn't something that is unheard of, we have the technology! If Sony did not include backwards compatibility with the playstation 4, companies like GameStop will go the way of BlockBuster, with Gaikai, even Netflix maybe in danger.
2. No In Game Advertising
Sony recently filed a patent that allows them to do in game advertisements, but if they decide to act on the patent is their own decision. I can reassure you, gamers will leave by the boat load. Imagine playing a new instalment of God of War for the playstation 4 and you are beating a boss, then suddenly with out warning it cuts to a 30 second commercial about febreeze or laundry detergent. Such mediocrity you see on Youtube and if it made its way toward the playstation 4 like it did in the playstation 3 (Midnight Club: Los Angeles features in game adversities of companies like Pizza Hut and 7-eleven.) then the playstation 4 will not succeeded next gen, loyal playstation fans might migrate to the new Xbox, Wii U, or just PC gaming.
3. Amazing Launch Titles
When the playstation 3 launched, it's launch titles weren't as well as appreciated by the gaming community, games like motor storm and ridge racer. But as time dwindled, games like kill zone 2 started to emerge and Assassins Creed, Littlebigplanet, God of War 3 started to emerge. Mgs4 astonished crowds, but it didn't actually release til 2 years after it was showed on E3 2006. Sony needs launch titles such as Killzone 4, Uncharted 4, Mirrors Edge 2, Resistance 4, MGS5, Littlebigplanet 3 to come out with the playstation 4. Of course not all on the same day, but the following year would be great. That would surely cripple the new Xbox.
4. Games from Indie Developers
If Sony could allow indie developers to make fames for the playstation 4 would be great, the more developers the better. Have a variety of games on the market created by fresh young minds Thayer can utilize the power of the playstation 4. If Sony could hold contests on the playstation blog that would allow a user to build a game out of scratch and if they win, that game would be released on the PSN would be great, not only will it be great, but it would also allow young gamers to be inspired and dwell into the field of gaming.


text:
- Inside Athletics
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Children 12 and under receive free admission for Bucky's Birthday bash
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Jan. 7, 2011) - Fresh off their Georgia sweep, the Lady Buccaneer basketball team looks to knock league-leading Florida Gulf Coast off its pedestal when ETSU hosts the Eagles Saturday afternoon. Tip is set for 1:30 p.m. inside the ETSU/MSHA Athletic Center.
The Lady Bucs, who played 10 of their first 13 games away from Johnson City to start the season, will now play seven of the next nine contests inside the friendly confines of the Dome. ETSU (6-7, 3-1 in A-Sun play) is coming off a pair of conference road wins at Mercer and Kennesaw State. The Blue and Gold began the week with an 83-68 victory over the Bears, while four Lady Bucs scored in double figures as ETSU knocked off a stingy Kennesaw State club on Wednesday evening, 73-61.
Junior local product Natalie Pickwell (Kingsport, Tenn.) has been red-hot lately as she has scored at least 18 points in five of her last seven games - including a pair of career-high 21-point efforts at North Carolina and Kennesaw. Pickwell, who entered the season averaging only 3.3 points per game in two seasons with the Lady Bucs, is currently the third leading scorer on the team at 12.2 points per contest.
ETSU will be looking to accomplish something that no other team has been able to do versus Florida Gulf Coast this season - beat the Eagles. FGCU enters Saturday's contest with a perfect 11-0 record and 4-0 in conference play; while also being ranked third in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 Poll. The Eagles are only one of four undefeated teams in Division I and lead the country with 11.5 three-pointers made per game.
Florida Gulf Coast is led by red-shirt freshman guard Sarah Hansen's 13.4 points per game, while junior guard Kelsey Jacobson is posting 3.2 treys a game.
This marks the sixth meeting between the two clubs as the Eagles hold a slight 3-2 series advantage. Both teams defended their home floors a year ago, while the Lady Bucs put their 11-game home conference winning streak on the line Saturday. ETSU's last conference home loss occurred on Feb. 28, 2009 when Mercer handed the Lady Bucs a 90-79 defeat inside the ETSU/MSHA Athletic Center.
Saturday is also Bucky's Birthday, so children 12 and under (who are accompanied by an adult) receive free admission. Also, children who bring a birthday card for Bucky will be entered to win special ETSU prizes. A pregame tailgate will be open for the first 200 fans, while inflatables will be on hand for the children.
Fans unable to make the trip to the ETSU/MSHA Athletic Center can listen to the action on WXSM-AM 640 The Sports Monster as Voice of the Lady Bucs John Stevens will be courtside calling the play-by-play. In addition, the game will be broadcast live on ASun.TV, while live stats will be available through Gametracker.
For more information on Lady Buccaneer hoops, visit www.ETSUBucs.com.


text:
On CR vote, freshmen give in
The House freshmen are growing up.
The days of battling with leadership over spending levels and controversial riders, and threatening a government shutdown seem to be relics of the past as Congress prepares to once again pass a temporary resolution that punts everything into next year.
Story Continued Below
This isn't exactly what the rebellious rookies signed up for.
These conservatives, who had pledged to stand firm and change the way Washington does business, seem resigned, if not accepting, of the fact they'll probably vote "yes" on a spending deal that actually increases spending by $8 billion. It may be the last meaningful vote before they face voters for reelection.
"A lot of this fight was fought last summer," said Rep. James Lankford (R-Okla.). "I'm still a strong believer there's a lot more that can be cut and should be cut. But is this as much blood as we can get out of this turnip? Probably."
Lankford said he is "leaning yes" on the continuing resolution, and insists conservatives in the House did the best job they could in dealing with a Democratic Senate and president.
The "blame the Senate" message was echoed by a number of freshmen. Despite all their pledges to fight against Washington, they've come around to at least one Capitol Hill truism: We'll do it after the election.
"I'm a little more patient, but that doesn't mean I'm not hardheaded," said Rep. Jeff Landry (R-La.), who said he'll decide Thursday on which way he'll vote. "I just think a lot of people have recognized that until we change the leadership in the Senate or get a different mind-set over there, we can't move the country forward. So all of us are going home to say our novenas."
The goal of the CR, which has a slightly higher $1 trillion spending level for the new fiscal year, is to avoid a government shutdown and push bigger budgeting decisions into the next Congress. House conservatives pushed for the six-month deal, and with their fingers crossed, hope Republicans will win the Senate and the White House in November when they would then be able to move their agenda through.
"We don't like dealing with CRs either, but when you can't get a budget done in the Senate and you can't get appropriations bills in the Senate, this is what you're left with," said Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio). "It's the only option to keep the government from shutting down, and we aren't going to let the government shut down. The House has done its job, it's the Senate we can't get cooperation from and it's unfortunate that we're in this situation."


text:
(written from a Production point of view)
When a group of Ferengi present Captain Picard with the derelict remains of his old starship, he begins to lose himself in the past.
- "Captain's Log, Stardate 41723.9. In response to a Starfleet order we are in the Xendi Sabu star system having rendezvoused with a Ferengi vessel which has requested a meeting. Although we arrived here and made appropriate signals to the Ferengi three days ago they have so far responded only with the message, "Stand by, Enterprise.""
In response to an order from Starfleet, the USS Enterprise-D has been sent to the Xendi Sabu system to rendezvous with a Ferengi Alliance vessel. For three days there has been no message from the Ferengi except "Stand by, Enterprise."
Dr. Crusher comes to see Picard in his quarters, where he complains of feeling fatigued and having a bad headache. She examines him and can find nothing wrong, but tells him to come to sickbay all the same. Just then the Ferengi hail the Enterprise. Picard returns to the bridge and talks with the Ferengi captain, DaiMon Bok over the Enterprise's viewscreen. Bok claims to know Picard, but Picard doesn't recognize Bok at all. He wants to meet Picard in person, so despite being wary of his intentions, Picard agrees to meet him aboard the Enterprise.
Act OneEdit
Picard goes to sickbay where Crusher examines him again, but fails to find any medical reason for his headaches. She gives him a painkiller for the time being. He returns to the bridge, where Wesley Crusher arrives and tells Geordi La Forge that when he was boosting the range of the long-range sensors, he detected a ship approaching. Then La Forge detects it as well. It's an unidentified Constellation-class starship, which is not responding to hails, nor sending out call letters.
The time arrives for the Ferengi to beam over, and three of them materialize on the bridge: Bok and two of his officers, Kazago and Rata. Bok tells Picard that the starship is under their control and is a gift to honor the "hero of Maxia", Captain Picard. Picard realizes they are referring to an incident that took place nine years prior while he commanded the USS Stargazer. Traveling through the Maxia Zeta system, they were attacked by an unknown vessel, which Picard was forced to destroy. It turns out that the vessel was Ferengi. Picard is then hit by another headache, before ordering La Forge to zoom in on the approaching starship. It is the Stargazer, which the Ferengi found adrift, and are now giving to Picard. Bok says it will be a gift, free of charge, which his subordinates don't like.
Act TwoEdit
- "Captain's Log, supplemental. Bok and his officers have returned to their vessel inviting us now to officially take possession of the Stargazer."
Later in the observation lounge, Picard tells the crew about the battle. They had been traveling at warp 2 through the Maxia Zeta system when they were fired upon by an unidentified starship, damaging their shields. In the confusion, the Stargazer was hit again. Suddenly, Picard asks the Stargazer's weapons officer, Vigo, to identify the the attacking ship. This surprises the Enterprise crew, and Picard then realizes what he's said. He continues with the story, saying he ordered a sensor bearing on the enemy vessel and as it came around for another pass. He then performed what is now known as the Picard Maneuver: he ordered a jump to high warp, making it appear to the Ferengi for a second that the Stargazer was in two places at once. The Ferengi vessel fired at the Stargazer's former position while the actual ship pulled out of warp right next to it. He was then able to destroy the Ferengi vessel, but was forced to abandon ship and he and his crew drifted around space in shuttlecrafts for weeks.
Data, Natasha Yar, Worf, and La Forge beam over to inspect the Stargazer. La Forge gets the emergency power going, and as everything looks all right, Picard then beams over. He affectionately acknowledges his old ship ("Hello old friend."), then goes to look at his old cabin, and is going through his things when he suddenly gets another headache. He grabs his head and falls back in agony. Amongst his things in an old chest, a pink sphere glows. Bok is controlling it aboard the Ferengi vessel. Dr. Crusher passes by and sees Picard in pain. She brings him back to the Enterprise, telling him that his belongings will be beamed over later.
The Enterprise tractors the Stargazer. Data tells Picard that Starfleet is sending a tug to bring it to Xendi Starbase 9, before Picard goes to his quarters for a rest. When he starts to dream, he dreams about the battle. Meanwhile in the ready room, Data shows Riker a personal log that Picard supposedly recorded, claiming that he attacked the Ferengi vessel without provocation and that the Ferengi ship was under a flag of truce.
Act ThreeEdit
When Riker shows Picard the log, Picard denies making the entry, but tells him he has to report his findings to Starfleet. Then Picard's headache returns. He goes back to his quarters, before Riker contacts Kazago, Bok's first officer, asking if he finds it odd that Bok is returning the Stargazer to Starfleet.
Picard is in his quarters when Crusher arrives. He tells her the headache is worsening, and he is worrying about the battle and whether he did the right thing. Crusher gives him a sedative and puts him to bed. He starts to dream about the battle again and relives it, seeing the crew and the bridge. Bok laughs aboard his own ship as he manipulates a matching sphere to the one in Picard's chest.
Act FourEdit
In Picard's ready room, Data is informing Riker that the log is a forgery, when Picard enters. Crusher follows soon after and is surprised to see the captain up and about. He dismisses everyone except Riker, whom he tells to disengage the tractor beam. In sickbay, Dr. Crusher is discussing the headaches with Deanna Troi when Wesley enters. He tells her that he noticed the captain's brain patterns were exactly the same as low intensity transmissions detected coming from the Ferengi ship.
They report this to Riker, who checks on Picard's location and finds out he has beamed onto the Stargazer. Aboard the Stargazer, Bok meets Picard and raises the ship's shields. He is carrying his pink sphere, and tells Picard that the ship the Stargazer destroyed was his son's first command as a DaiMon. Bok has spent years devising a suitable revenge, and bought the two spheres with his life savings. He leaves the sphere on the bridge and beams back onto his own vessel, leaving Picard to relive the battle.
Act FiveEdit
Aboard the Enterprise, the sphere in Picard's quarters has been found, and as the Stargazer turns to attack them, Riker realizes that the sphere is being used to influence the captain's thoughts. He hails Kazago, who recognizes the sphere as a "thought maker", a device that is forbidden. Then Captain Picard comes on the viewscreen.
Riker realizes that he is going to use the Picard Maneuver, so he orders Data to come up with a suitable defense. Then Kazago hails, and tells Riker that Bok has been removed from command for his part in this "unprofitable venture". Data comes up with a defense which involves detecting the correct ship by noting the compression of gas in space and then immobilizing the Stargazer with the tractor beam. The defense works, and Riker hails Picard. He manages to convince Picard to destroy the sphere with his phaser, at which point Picard returns to normal. He then beams over to the Enterprise, leaving the dead to rest in peace and letting the past remain the past.
Log entriesEdit
Memorable quotesEdit
"Let the dead rest and the past remain the past."
- - Picard
"I can't believe they're coming here!"
- - Worf, on the Ferengi's upcoming visit to the Enterprise
"As you hew-mons say, 'I'm all ears'."
- - Kazago, conferring with Riker
"Yes! Who the hell is it?!"
- - Picard, hearing the doorbell in his quarters while suffering from a massive headache
"Not now, Kazago!"
- - Riker
"You transferred some of his belongings from the Stargazer?"
"Yes... including a fairly heavy chest!"
- - Tasha Yar and Worf
"Captain, he may refer to an encounter which occurred nine years ago in the Maxia Zeta star system, in which an unidentified starship..."
"UNIDENTIFIED?! That fine vessel was Ferengi!"
"Which... you destroyed, sir."
- - Data and Bok summarize the Battle of Maxia
"The [Stargazer's] logs will be downloaded into the Enterprise's records...
" ...at a pri–..."
"No price?"
- - Bok, Rata, and Kazago
"With the enemy vessel coming in for the kill, I... ordered a sensor bearing, and when it came into the return arc..."
"You performed what Starfleet textbooks now refer to as the 'Picard Maneuver'..."
"Well, I did what any... good helmsman would've done – I dropped into high warp, stopped right off the enemy vessel's bow, and... fired with everything I had."
"And blowing into maximum warp speed, you appeared, for an instant, to be in two places at once!"
"And our attacker fired on the wrong one!"
- - Picard (with help from Data and Riker), explaining the tactical stratagem that bears his name
"Hello, old friend."
- - Picard, after beaming onto the Stargazer's bridge
"You're welcome, ladies. Adults..."
- - Wesley Crusher, after informing his mother and Troi the cause of Picard's frequent headaches
"This is a confession, given by me, Jean-Luc Picard, commanding U.S.S. Stargazer, in the hopes that my... belated honesty will be taken into account by Starfleet when judging my actions during a confrontation with an unidentified vessel. I admit, I must have mistaken their subspace antenna for a weapons cluster – unfortunately, I fired our main phasers, and the... direct hits destroyed the unknown vessel."
- - Picard's final Stargazer log, as faked by Bok
"What is wrong with me?!"
"I wish to Hell I knew, captain, but something unusual has definitely been happening to you!"
"Why do doctors always say the obvious, as though it's a revelation?"
"Why do captains always act like they're immortal?"
- - Picard and Dr. Crusher
"I hope you're right, Mr. Data."
"No question of it, sir."
- - Riker and Data, regarding Data's Picard Maneuver countermeasure
"Where is Bok?!?!"
"Removed from command, sir, and placed under guard for his act of personal vengeance - seems there was no... profit in it."
"In revenge, there never is."
- - Picard, freed from the thought maker, and Riker
Background information Edit
Production history Edit
- Original story outline (titled "Ghost Ship"): 16 April 1987
- First draft script: 1 September 1987
- Preliminary script draft: 9 September 1987
- Final draft script: 14 September 1987
- Filmed: 17 September 1987 – 25 September 1987
- Score recorded at Paramount Stage M: 5 November 1987 (Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Ron Jones Project liner notes [1])
- Premiere airdate: 16 November 1987
- UK premiere airdate (on BBC2): 7 November 1990
Production Edit
- A blooper from this episode exists on a gag reel included with the Blu-Ray season 1 disc set. On it, Brent Spiner, as Data, walks through the Stargazer bridge and upon seeing the dedication plaque, reads it using an imitation of Jimmy Stewart's voice and then saying "For God's sakes Mary, they built this thing in Bedford Falls!" (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion)
- Director Rob Bowman on filming the scenes aboard the Stargazer, "It was just Patrick [Stewart] on stage, and when I shot first unit, I put a little compass, a degree meter, on the camera and got vertical, horizontal and lateral degrees, height of the camera. lens and so on. [Special FX supervisor] Rob Legato then would go back and do matching shots of the people in the chairs, over-expose them, put a number five fog filter on and transparent them about 50% on the screen so that they looked like ghosts. That was all done in post-production. It was kind of hairy, and as far as I know, I was the first person to use Steadicam on the show, which was fun. I try to use the Steadicam when I go on to other spaceships, just to give them a different feel from the Enterprise, that sense of uneasiness. But, working with Patrick was a real thrill." ("Rob Bowman - Director of a Dozen", The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine issue 10, p. 16)
Cast and characters Edit
- Frank Corsentino played a Ferengi for the first time. He would do so again in TNG: "Ménage à Troi" and VOY: "Inside Man".
Sets, props, and costumes Edit
- The bridge of the Stargazer is a redress of the Enterprise-D's battle bridge from "Encounter at Farpoint" (which in turn, was a redress of the movie Enterprise bridge). For this occasion, the TNG-era chairs and conn/ops stations were replaced with Kirk's command chair and the combined navigation/helm station last seen in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. The turbolift interior from the first three Star Trek films also appears, although curiously several crewmembers are seen leaving through the side of the turbolift rather than using the car in its established capacity; within the context of the storyline, it is logical to infer that this is due to battle damage rendering the system inoperable, and the crew having to bypass it to access the turboshaft (as would later be seen in "Disaster"). Or the set directors just used the turbolift design for a small corridor leading to a turbolift off-camera... sort of like on Voyager's bridge by Ensign Kim's console.
- Picard's quarters, with the characteristic starbase painting, bookshelves and the sextant, are first seen in this episode.
- This episode marks the first time Wesley wears his rainbow-striped shirt, a costume he wears in every scene in which he appears for the rest of the season.
Music Edit
- The episode's score, composed and conducted by Ron Jones, was recorded on 5 November 1987 at Paramount Stage M. (Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Ron Jones Project liner notes [2]) The complete episode score, totaling 20 minutes 29 seconds, appears on Disc Two of the Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Ron Jones Project collection.
Continuity Edit
- The USS Stargazer had the warp effect from the TOS-era movies, instead of the warp effect used from TNG onward.
- The feud between Jean-Luc Picard and Bok was revisited and finally resolved in the seventh season episode "Bloodlines".
- The Stargazer was originally a Constitution-class starship and would have reused the refit USS Enterprise model from the first four Star Trek films. However, it was decided after the episode was filmed to change it from a "Constitution-class" starship to the similar sounding "Constellation-class" cruiser. This was so that when LeVar Burton dubbed over the line, the new dialogue would closely match his lip movements on screen. Wesley Crusher says the ship class when making his announcement on the bridge; his lips also appear to say "Constitution". Data also mentions the ship's class by name when reading from the dedication plaque, but his back is turned to the camera; when he says "Constellation" the closed captions say "Constitution." (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion) This can also be confirmed as Picard's Constellation-class starship model in his ready room changes to a silver Constitution-class starship model in this episode and the following episode "Hide and Q".
Reception Edit
- A mission report for this episode by Patrick Daniel O'Neill was published in The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine issue 4, pp. 15-17.
- In his online reviews of the TNG episodes, Wil Wheaton states that this is the episode in which Wesley went from, in Wheaton's own words, "mildly annoying to vehemently-hated character," talking about how having Wesley figure out the problem and the solution before the senior staff could was "perhaps the worst way to help the audience accept that this kid (Wesley) is going to be part of the main crew." Wheaton also remarked that the scene in sickbay where Wesley tells Crusher and Troi that he "glanced" at the scans while Dr. Crusher was researching them and, quote: "...in that brief moment, magically divined exactly what the rest of the professionally-trained crew – including the hypersmart robot – hadn't noticed: the patterns in Picard's scan are identical to the low-intensity transmissions picked up from the Ferengi ship. Wesley cements his relationship with Trekkies by muttering, "You're welcome, ladies... heh. Adults." after they leave the room. Oh, that's pure genius writing there, guys; that's not going to alienate a single fan. Bravo." Aside from that (and feeling the episode was derivative of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) however, Wheaton deemed the episode to be solid overall, in large part due to Rob Bowman's direction, and the performances of Patrick Stewart and Frank Corsentino. [3]
Apocrypha Edit
- The novel The Buried Age establishes that the course Picard set for the Stargazer was to have taken the ship into the atmosphere of a nearby gas giant, thereby destroying the ship. However, after the crew escaped in the ship's shuttlecraft, the Stargazer somehow bounced off the planet's atmosphere and was drifting near the planet when Bok arrived in the area, took possession of the Stargazer, and began plotting his revenge.
Video and DVD releases Edit
- Original UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 5, catalog number VHR 2396, 3 September 1990
- UK re-release (three-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment): Volume 1.3, catalog number VHR 4644, 1 June 1998
- As part of the TNG Season 1 DVD collection
- As part of the TNG Season 1 Blu-ray collection
Links and references Edit
Starring Edit
Also starring Edit
- LeVar Burton as Lt. Geordi La Forge
- Denise Crosby as Lt. Tasha Yar
- Michael Dorn as Lt. Worf
- Gates McFadden as Doctor Beverly Crusher
- Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi
- Brent Spiner as Lt. Commander Data
- Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher
Guest stars Edit
- Frank Corsentino as Bok
- Doug Warhit as Kazago
- Robert Towers as Rata
Uncredited co-stars Edit
- Michael Bailous as operations officer
- James G. Becker as Youngblood
- Dexter Clay as operations division officer
- Jay Crimp as Stargazer officer
- James Davidson as Stargazer officer
- Jeffrey Deacon as command division officer
- Susan Duchow as operations division officer
- Schae Harrison as Stargazer officer
- Tim McCormack as Bennett
- Lorine Mendell as Diana Giddings
- Susan Raborn as operations division officer
- Unknown performers as
Stunt double Edit
Stand-ins Edit
- James G. Becker – stand-in for Jonathan Frakes
- Darrell Burris – stand-in for LeVar Burton
- Dexter Clay – stand-in for Michael Dorn
- Jeffrey Deacon – stand-in for Patrick Stewart
- Susan Duchow – stand-in for Denise Crosby
- Nora Leonhardt – stand-in for Marina Sirtis
- Tim McCormack – stand-in for Brent Spiner
- Lorine Mendell – stand-in for Gates McFadden
- Guy Vardaman – stand-in for Wil Wheaton
References Edit
2355; Annotated Shakespeare, The; Battle of Maxia; bearing; Betazoid; Bok's son; bridge; call letters; captain's log; checksum; chest; chief engineer; common cold; computer science; Constellation-class; DaiMon; dedication plaque; desktop monitor; D'kora-class; duty station; Earth hour; emergency power; Federation tug; Ferengi; fire; fire control party; fish; flashlight; fusion generator; headache; helm; hypospray; impulse reactor; kilometer; Livingston; Maxia Zeta system; medical tricorder; Merchant of Venice, The; model; moon; murder; neural scan; number one; observation lounge; painting; Picard Maneuver; planet; power cell; ready room; Richard III; scan; scanning device; second-in-command; sensor; sextant; sickbay; silver; starbase; stardate; Starfleet Academy; Stargazer captain; Stargazer chief engineer; Stargazer shuttlecraft; Stargazer, USS; statue; tactical station; tattoo; textbook; thought maker; thought process disorder; Transporter Room 3; tricorder; turbolift; type I phaser; unnamed medical tools; unnamed plants; viewscreen; Vigo; VISOR; warp; weapons officer; Xendi Sabu system; Xendi Starbase 9
Other references Edit
- USS Stargazer captain's log entries: Maxia Zeta III; Maxia Zeta IV; terraforming
- USS Stargazer dedication plaque: Constitution-class; Federation Space Systems; San Francisco Fleet Yards
Unreferenced materials Edit
Crusher, Jack; museum; Picard's father
External links Edit
- "The Battle" at StarTrek.com, the official Star Trek website
- "The Battle" at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
- "The Battle" at Wikipedia
- "The Battle" at IMDb
- "The Battle" at MissionLogPodcast.com, a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
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