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Kevin Weekes released this article today on NHL.com regarding the release of 6 stamps by Canada Post that will feature six great Canadian NHL goalies of the past. |
We’re going to take a stab at guessing at least four of the six. We’ve been given some hints that should make figuring this out a little easier. Let’s see if we can fill out the entire six slots. |
“Only a few goaltenders can be considered to be among the best of the best.” “Hundreds of goalies have laced up the skates, put on the mask, pads and blocker, and had the courage to get in front of the net with pucks coming right at them, with the shots sometimes topping 100 mph. Equipment or not, that’s no easy feat and isn’t cut out for everyone.” “Not only did each elite goalie make an impression, each left a legacy. Our game is so much better for them having played it. Each has raised the standard and helped change the perception about not only how critical but also how dominant goalies can be in the NHL.” “Each of these goalies left his stamp on the game. Now six Canadian goalies will be honored in a collection of Great Canadian Goalie stamps, which debuts Oct. 1.” “While I can’t tell you who the six will be, I’ll say this: Five of the six are in the Hall of Fame, four have won the Calder Trophy, and each has won the Stanley Cup (a combined 20 times). Not to mention two have won the Conn Smythe Trophy. That’s pretty impressive, so clearly each is deserving of the honor.” “The confidence that each of these men gave their respective teammates, coaches and fans while taking it away from the opposition is immeasurable. They were game-changers. They were Game Savers.” |
Well time for speculation folks as I dig through some old records and awards to see if we can’t identify who the six Canadian legend NHL goalies are. We know 5 of them are hall of famers, with 4 of them being Calder trophy winners. That makes things a little easier. |
Going from most recent to oldest Canadian goalies to win the Calder. 08-09 saw Steve Mason win it. Obviously too young to be considered and things got a little rocky after his rookie season. |
03-04 saw Andrew Raycroft win it, but it’s definitely not going to be that bust of a goalie. |
The first guaranteed is the 93-94 Calder winner Martin Brodeur, future hall of famer and Stanley Cup winner. There’s an easy one. |
Another guy who might be featured is 90-91 Calder Trophy winner Ed Belfour who had a lengthy successful career. |
Here’s another no brainer. The 71-72 Calder Trophy winner Ken Dryden is an absolute legend amongst goaltenders in NHL history. You can probably pencil his name in. |
Another Canadian hall-of-famer who is another NHL goalie legend won his Calder Trophy is 69-70. Tony Esposito had a great NHL career. |
Going back a little further, the 55-56 Calder Trophy winner Glenn Hall went on to win 3 Vezina Trophies during his career with 1 Stanley Cup coming in 1961. |
Delving back even further, how about 52-53 Calder Trophy winner Gump Worsley? He went on to win 4 Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens. |
Lastly in 50-51 legend Terry Sawchuk won the Calder Trophy, and also went on to win 4 Stanley Cups. |
Now we know only four of the six being featured on these stamps were Calder Trophy winners. So which four of the above do you think are going to be featured by Canada Post? |
The funeral of Lian Zaher Nasser was held in the Arab-Israeli town of Tira on Jan. 3. Nasser, 19, was killed in Istanbul’s Reina nightclub when a gunman opened fire on New Year’s Eve revelers, killing 39 and wounding dozens of others. |
Thousands attended the funeral, among them hundreds of young Arab-Israeli women who came to pay their last respects to Nasser but also in defiance of those who cast aspersions on Nasser’s moral character, claiming her death was divine retribution for celebrating a Christian holiday in mixed company with men at an amoral alcohol-soaked affair. Such claims were first expressed in mosques and then erupted onto social media sites, where stormy arguments developed. “Moderate” posters wondered what a group of Muslim girls was doing in an Istanbul nightclub, and some went so far as to compare the club to a brothel. |
Her relatives said Nasser was murdered twice: once by an Islamic State (IS) terrorist and a second time by sympathizers of the movement within the Arab-Israeli community. At the end of the funeral procession, her father, Zaher Nasser, reacted to those seeking to sully his daughter’s name. “My daughter was murdered through no fault of her own. All she wanted was to enjoy herself, and that’s not forbidden. The fact that she’s a Muslim does not prevent her from having a good time, and Islam does not call for murder and such violence,” he said. |
During the funeral procession, Arab Knesset member Ahmad Tibi said angrily, “We are sad and pained but also angered by the crimes. People who cannot find a kind word should just keep silent and be ashamed of themselves.” |
The chairman of the Joint List, Knesset member Ayman Odeh, wrote on Facebook that he was deeply shocked that instead of mourning the murder of a young woman in a terror attack carried out by Muslim fanatics, Arab society was concerning itself with the lifestyle of young women unwilling to accept the religious Muslim way of life preached by IS. “I’m surprised to see reactions that are light years away from the spirit of our people, reactions of primitive derision and hatred fostered by the murderous ideology of the Islamic State,” he wrote. Odeh’s fellow Knesset members called for the eradication of extremist Islamist elements that have infiltrated Arab society. |
The debate generated by Nasser’s choice to spend New Year’s Eve partying at an Istanbul club falls on a fault line within Arab society in Israel — a struggle between religious Muslims and Muslims who do not adhere to a religious way of life. (They tend not to use the term “secular.”) This is largely an intergenerational clash between parents and grandparents and young Arabs born into a traditional, religious and conservative society but heavily influenced by secular Israeli environment. |
And so, these tensions and confrontations do not just pit religious and nonreligious Muslims against each other, but also the older generation against the younger. These young people are defining a new, unique identity: a minority group intent on throwing off the shackles and isolationism of their society and leading an independent lifestyle. The strict Muslim rules of conduct and morality contrast starkly with those of the pluralistic and individualistic Israeli society in which they live, leading them to see their extended families, the atmosphere in their village or neighborhood and Arab society in general as oppressive. |
One of the manifestations of this mindset is a strong desire to attend university, which they view as the door to their integration into Israeli society and out of the so-called Arab ghettos. For most, getting a higher education and acquiring a profession is an opportunity to extricate themselves from the stifling embrace of their traditional society and to achieve a modern, independent way of life. |
Anan Mansour, a 23-year-old from the Arab village of Taibe, told Al-Monitor that he and his friends were not surprised by the disturbing and outrageous comments after Nasser’s murder. They are used to criticism over their lifestyle, which is different from that of other Arab-Israelis, he said. “I know this from home already, and I’m a man. I’m not a woman whose parents guard her and seek a match for her wedding. Lian was a dental assistant who went out to party with her friends, one of them a dentist herself. All of them are young, educated Arab women who have been exposed to Israeli society. We live in an open society with aspirations and desires that are very different from the desires and dreams of our fathers and grandfathers. This manifests itself in a contemporary worldview but mainly in concern over the shape of our future. Should we, too, sit home and cry over our fate?” |
Mansour added that he has seen and heard the incitement against Nasser, not just from older people but also from young Arab-Israelis who do not lead a religious or conservative way of life and yet cannot accept young Arab women who refuse to behave according to the moral code instilled in them at home. |
The new film by Arab director Maysaloun Hamoud, a resident of the mixed Jewish-Arab city of Tel Aviv-Jaffa, offers a fascinating glimpse of the currents shaking up Arab society. “Not Here, Not There,” which hit Israeli movie screens Dec. 30, revolves around three young Arab women who rent an apartment in the center of Tel Aviv, but are forced to conceal their liberal lifestyle from their families. This feature film's characters are fictional, but the plot is based on the real lives of Arab-Israelis. For most Israeli viewers, it will be their first glimpse of the lives led by young Muslim men and women seeking a free, independent way of life, one in which the Israeli-Palestinian conflict does not take center stage. |
Pilot: Drone operator has no 'skin' in the collision avoidance game |
To the Editor: |
The Post-Standard editorial for May 11 cheerleading the rapid phase-in of commercial drones was myopic. The editors focused exclusively on positive aspects that would benefit news coverage. |
In the mid-80s I accumulated about 900 hours as a single engine flight instructor and about 500 hours flying twin turbine commuter aircraft. With manned aircraft, the rule is "see and be seen." |
Most drones would be hard for a pilot to see. The drone operator would likely not be constantly sweeping the sky from left to right as pilots are trained to do. An operator safely on the ground would have no skin in the collision avoidance game. |
What about loss of propeller power or total loss of control of a drone? What might it hit or where may it fall? Should there be weight, speed and altitude limits? I watched a BBC news clip where a reporter tried to fly a small drone. He lost control and crashed it. |
Many drones have unguarded propellors which could cut up a person. Should they be flown over crowds, school yards or residential neighborhoods? |
What kind of training might be required for drone operators? Who will conduct it? Who will certify that operators are competent, as pilots are certified? It is no stretch to see that there will be some who fly drones without training or certification. Who will police the use of drones and what might be the penalties? |
Since they are controlled by digital radio signal, there will be folks who for fun or profit will hack into drone control systems to try to take them over. What kinds of weapons might be delivered by a non-military drone? Toxins or a bomb? |
What operating range will drones have? What will they do if they fly out of operator control range? Autonomous drones would not have the sensibility of a pilot for constantly varying flight situations. Captain Sullenberger quickly decided the best option was to ditch his powerless jetliner in the Hudson River. |
And, what about noise and privacy issues? |
There should be no rush to get commercial and privately owned drones into the air. |
Garry Nichols |
Manlius |
Editorial failed to address privacy and civil liberties issues |
To the Editor: |
It is readily understandable that news corporations would want to use drones to record and report news. The imaging capabilities of drones are mighty impressive. |
Yes, drones might "enhance the public's understanding of events." And, true, drones may well have been "used to capture footage of massive demonstrations in Ukraine." (Indeed, drones are ideal for identifying and monitoring demonstrators.) |
However, your May 11 editorial, "Journalists have right to use drones, too," under analyzed the issue. Sure, news corporations may seek to automate where they can. But working journalists and photographers probably value the right to be gainfully employed and not be replaced by those robots. |
Your editorial criticized the FAA for not licensing news corporations to use drones. But it failed to cite the safety concerns around drones that, given the current regulatory vacuum, the FAA must wrestle with. Or, to enhance the public's understanding, your editorial might have addressed drone-related privacy and civil liberties issues. These are local, national and international. |
Several months ago our own Common Council wisely and unanimously passed a resolution banning drones over Syracuse absent adequate regulation. Six states even restrict drone use by law enforcement. |
On May 9 the Wall Street Journal reported that this past March a U.S. passenger jet nearly collided with a drone over Florida - a disturbing news item, which as far as I know, the Post-Standard didn't publish. |
My hope is that your parent company's eagerness to embrace the drone won't lead you to sidestep covering drone problems. Or to downplay anti-drone agitation - for the past four years focused on the drone war crimes emanating from Hancock's 174th Attack Wing. |
Ed Kinane |
Member, Upstate Drone Action |
Syracuse |
The New York Times is reporting the arrest of three RC hobbyists that were flying an RC aircraft at a lake nearby a nuclear power plant. Authorities in France have been searching for suspects in what they call illegal flyovers of their nuclear power plants by drones over the past several months, however they doubt the people that they have arrested are the same people they are searching for. (Original source of story is here in French) |
Law enforcement officials told Agence France-Presse that the three did not have criminal records; they were suspected of having illegally flown two drones near the plant. Vincent Bonnefoy, a prosecutor from the area in central France, told reporters that the three were hobbyists who had been trying to film a remote-control boat in a lake near the plant. He said that one of the three flew a drone in the same area in October and made a film of the flight. |
According to the story, it would seem that part of the reason for the arrest is the fact that hearing the RC aircraft caused the security team to go into full panic mode by causing “organized provocation” and, “disrupting the surveillance chain and protection of these sites”. The hobbyists were apparently using their small multirotor to capture video of their RC boat. They had also done this a month before without incident. |
In this author’s opinion incidents like this highlight the tension between hobbyists and those responsible for security, and also their lack of knowledge of RC aircraft and the technology in general. The key here is there is no behavior analysis to the perceived threat, just over-zealous reaction. Organized provocation can not be blamed on people doing innocent things, even by accident in a restricted area. In reality, an organized threat that wished to use a drone of some sort would not be able to be effectively stopped. But more to the point, a drone or RC aircraft would make a poor choice of weapon for terrorists, so the risk is minimized. |
Dr Samuel Brisbane becomes first doctor in west African nation to die, as second US healthcare worker is infected |
One of Liberia's most high-profile doctors has died of Ebola, a government official said on Sunday, and a second US healthcare worker has been infected in what the World Health Organisation (WHO) is calling the largest outbreak ever recorded of the disease. |
Dr Samuel Brisbane is the first Liberian doctor to die in an outbreak, which the WHO says has killed 129 people in the west African nation. A Ugandan doctor working in the country died this month. |
Brisbane, who once served as a medical adviser to the former Liberian president, Charles Taylor, was working as a consultant with the internal medicine unit at the country's largest hospital, the John F Kennedy Memorial Medical Center in Monrovia. |
After falling ill, he was taken to a treatment centre on the outskirts of the capital, where he died, said Tolbert Nyenswah, an assistant health minister.Under the supervision of health workers, family members escorted the doctor's body to a burial location west of the city, Nyenswah said. |
He said another doctor who had been working in Liberia's central Bong County was being treated for Ebola at the centre where Brisbane died. |
The situation "is getting more and more scary," Nyenswah said. |
Last week Sierra Leone's top Ebola doctor fell ill with the disease and in Liberia, Samaritan's Purse, a Christian charity, announced at the weekend that an American doctor was infected. Dr Kent Brantly had been isolated at the group's Ebola treatment centre at the ELWA hospital in the Liberian capital, Monrovia. |
A second American, Nancy Writebol, later tested positive for the virus at the same medical compound, said Ken Isaacs, of Samaritan's Purse. Isaacs said Writebol, who works with the allied aid group SIM, was in a stable but serious condition at a hospital near Monrovia. |
Brantly received intensive treatment on Sunday and was talking to his medical team and working on his computer, said Melissa Strickland, a spokeswoman for Samaritan's Purse. |
"We are hopeful, but he is certainly not out of the woods yet," Strickland said. |
In Nigeria, officials announced on Friday that a Liberian official had died of Ebola after flying from Monrovia to Lagos raising fears that other passengers could take the disease beyond Africa. The WHO says the outbreak has also killed 319 people in Guinea and 224 in Sierra Leone. |
Liberia's president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, used her Independence Day address to discuss a new taskforce to combat Ebola. Information minister, Lewis Brown, said: "It will go from community to community, from village to village, from town to town in order to increase awareness." |
There is no known cure for Ebola, which begins with symptoms including fever and sore throat but then escalates to vomiting, diarrhoea and internal and external bleeding. |
Experts believe the west African outbreak could have begun in January in south-east Guinea, though the first cases were not confirmed until March. |
Since then, officials have tried to contain the disease by isolating victims and educating populations on how to avoid transmission, though porous borders, satellite outbreaks and widespread distrust of health workers have made the outbreak difficult to bring under control. |
Greetings fellow Agonians! |
Today we wanted to present a development update on the progress of our Early Access Road Map, discuss the contents of our upcoming patch, and give some marketing updates as we prepare ourselves for launch. We will be releasing our next community competition tomorrow where you will be able to submit unique mob names and lore backstories that we will tie into our new unique rare mob spawn mechanics described below. We are at a very exciting time in the development of Darkfall: Rise of Agon as we get closer to our official launch, and all of us at Big Picture Games look forward to the coming months. |
Without further ado, let's get into it! |
Marketing Update: |
Playthrough Convention |
The marketing team has been gearing up for the upcoming Playthrough gaming convention that Brad and Michael will be attending this weekend in Raleigh, North Carolina. There have been many things we have been working on from banners and fliers to even some giveaways for those who stop by and say hello. This will be the first time that we publicly show off Darkfall: Rise of Agon and we cannot wait to talk about the project and what we have in store for the upcoming launch. Speaking of launch, our official launch date will be announced at the convention on Saturday. We hope to get to meet some of you in our community and invite everyone on Saturday to join us at the Crank Arm Brewing Company at 10:00 P.M. EST only a block away! |
Lighting the Fuse |
We want to ensure that when the game launches we can provide our players with as many friends and enemies to fight alongside with as possible. In the coming weeks we will be starting our external marketing campaigns that we have been planning internally and will not be letting up until we officially launch. We also have some things planned where you in our community can lend a helping hand to us in this endeavor. Stay tuned for more information as this train is about to leave the station. |
Next Patch Update |
The development team is currently working on our next Early Access patch which is currently scheduled to land at the end of February or beginning of March. This next patch will focus primarily on our new PvE spawn mechanics and the other changes listed below. |
Champion Spawn PvE Mechanics |
In the next patch we will be implementing our Champion Spawn PvE mechanics. This is a new system that changes the way certain mob spawns will function and provides a way for players to test their mettle against waves of enemies. This is the way that the system will work: |
Upon entering a Champion Spawn the player will notice a new UI at the top of their screen where they can choose to begin the spawn mechanics |
Players must kill a certain number of mobs within the allotted time to clear that wave of monsters and move onto the next stage |
Players that fail to complete the wave in time will have the spawn reset to the beginning of the challenge |
The first wave will consist of numerous monsters of lower difficult, and each wave afterwards will add in new threats and challenges |
The final stage will consist of a named Champion Spawn with stronger attributes and a better reward, although they will be guarded by a set number of minions as well |
For the initial iteration we will have these mechanics on a few mob spawns, but plan to add more throughout Early Access and after launch. The loot tables will be getting an overhaul as well once we begin to implement our unique recipes and rare items to the game. |
Named Unique Rare Mobs |
We also will be implementing the mechanics for our new Named Unique Rare Mobs. Although we may only get a few in with the next patch, our upcoming community competition will provide you with the opportunity to create some of the additions we will add throughout Early Access. Once the mechanics go into the game, it becomes much easier for us to add to this system and continuously implement new unique mobs. |
These mobs will be named, have stronger attributes as well as better loot tables, and will have a rare chance to spawn at certain mob locations. Eventually we plan to implement backstories to these new monsters where players can unlock the lore of each one in the game. As with champion spawns, we plan to add new unique items to these mob's loot tables at a later date. |
Respawn Scaling |
Another mechanic coming with this patch is our first iteration of respawn scaling. This will eventually be applied to all new player spawns to help with spawn rates for players who can clear spawns quickly. The faster that you kill mobs, the faster that they will spawn, as well as potentially increase the amount of spawns that occur. This is not dependent on how many people are present at the spawn, rather how efficient you are at clearing the spawn itself. |
Decreasing Tedium in Gearing |
There are multiple changes coming with this patch to how you can gear and de-gear in the game. The following is a list of what to expect: |
One button on the paperdoll to completely degear yourself |
Faster equipping of armor |
Ability to queue up armor pieces to equip by double clicking on multiple pieces |
Cooking Update |
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