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0.143013 | <urn:uuid:1d1680ea-4387-4de8-8888-6d1c6d928a3d> | en | 0.99003 | A memory expert's indestructible past.
The future of false memories.
May 25 2010 7:14 AM
Removable Truths
A memory expert's indestructible past.
Loftus as a baby with her mother, who died 14 years later. Click image to expand.
William Saletan William Saletan
In the fall of 1991, Elizabeth Loftus sat in her office at the University of Washington, listening to a tape-recorded story. The storyteller, a 14-year-old boy named Chris Coan, was describing a visit to the University City shopping mall in Spokane, Wash., when he was 5. "I think I went over to look at the toy store, the Kay-Bee toys," he recalled. "We got lost, and I was looking around and I thought, 'Uh-oh. I'm in trouble now.' " He remembered his feelings: "I thought I was never going to see my family again. I was really scared, you know. And then this old man, I think he was wearing a blue flannel, came up to me." The man, old and balding with glasses, helped Chris find his parents.
And this was just the beginning. In the years to come, Loftus and her colleagues would plant false memories of all kinds—chokings, near-drownings, animal attacks, demonic possessions—in thousands of people. Their parade of brainwashing experiments continues to this day.
Forty years ago, when Loftus came out of graduate school, most people thought of memory as a recording device. It stored imprints of what you had experienced, and you could retrieve these imprints when prompted by questions or images. Loftus began to show that this wasn't true. Questions and images didn't just retrieve memories. They altered them. In fact, they could create memories that were completely unreal.
Most of the time, this didn't matter. If Uncle Pete hadn't really caught that 18-inch trout, so what? But in court, it mattered. Men were going to jail based on contaminated eyewitness testimony. Families were being ruined by charges of incestuous abuse drawn from memories concocted in therapy.
But the experiments didn't stop. Loftus and her collaborators had become experts at planting memories. Couldn't they do something good with that power? So they began to practice deception for real. With a simple autobiographical tweak—altering people's recollections of childhood eating experiences—they embarked on a new project: making the world healthier and happier.
It was almost a kind of forgetting. You start doing something to show how dangerous it is. Pretty soon, you're good at it. It becomes your craft, your identity. You begin to invent new applications and justifications for it. In changing others, you change yourself.
To understand Elizabeth Loftus, I spent many hours reading her work and talking with her. I came away impressed by her thoughtfulness and curiosity. I was shaken, as others have been, by her research on memory's fallibility. But I was struck even more by Loftus herself. Something has happened to her. She is grappling with something nobody has fully confronted before: the temptation of memory engineering.
This is the story of a woman who has learned how to alter the past as we know it. It's a fantastic power: exciting to some, frightening to others. What will we do with it? How will it change us? In her story, we can begin to see what awaits us.
Beth Fishman, the girl who would become Elizabeth Loftus, was born in October 1944. She grew up in Bel Air, Calif., the daughter of a Santa Monica doctor. When she was 6, a baby-sitter molested her. He stroked her arms and told her to keep "our secret." Then he led her to her parents' bedroom, took off her clothes, and rubbed his genitals against hers. She never told her parents what had happened. She didn't forget it, but she put it behind her. In her mind, she wrote later, her abuser was "gone, vanished, sucked away. My memory took him and destroyed him."
In her adolescent years, she kept a diary and feared that somebody might read it. In fact, her boyfriend did try to read it. Other girls solved this problem by censoring their diaries. But Beth had a better idea. When she wanted to say something deeply painful or private, she recorded it on a separate piece of paper and clipped it to her diary. That way, if her boyfriend asked to read the diary, she could unclip the attached notes before handing it over. They were, as she described them later, "my removable truths."
Removing truths from a diary was one thing. Removing them from history or memory was another. Once, Beth heard that a boyfriend had broken up with her because she was Jewish. Hoping that he would reconsider, she asked a friend to tell him, falsely, that she was only half-Jewish. The lie proved no more forgettable than the truth. Fifty years later, during a speech in Israel, she would burst into tears as she recalled this fabrication. "Which of my parents did I deny then?" she asked. "Which half of me did I throw away for such a cheap price?" | http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/the_memory_doctor/2010/05/removable_truths.html | dclm-gs1-257490000 |
0.028478 | <urn:uuid:2115fc20-7c55-402e-85ad-c73162e550de> | en | 0.957959 | Fatal crash sparks riots in Singapore
Last updated 09:43 09/12/2013
Video shows the chaos on the streets of Singapore during a riot which saw a police car flipped and a bus vandalised.
Singapore Riots
Reuters Zoom
Riot policemen watch burning vehicles during a riot in Singapore's Little India district.
Singapore Riots
AFTER THE STORM: A policeman patrols the streets following the outbreak of violence.
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A crowd has set fire to vehicles and clashed with police in the Indian district of Singapore in a rare outbreak of rioting in the city state.
The incident on Sunday night reportedly started after a private bus hit and killed a foreign worker in the Little India area. Television footage showed a crowd of people smashing the windscreen of a bus, and at least three police cars being flipped over.
Singapore Police Force said the riot started after a fatal traffic accident. "Shortly after, a riot broke out involving a crowd of about 400 subjects where the subjects damaged five police vehicles and one ambulance," it said in a statement, adding that about 10 police officers were injured.
Little India is usually packed with people on Sundays, with many construction workers from Bangladesh and India gathering there to spend their day off.
Incidents like this are rare in Singapore, which has tough laws on rioting that carry a sentence of up to seven years in prison and possible caning.
"This is a serious incident which has resulted in injuries and damage to public property," said Teo Chee Hean, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs. "Police will spare no efforts to apprehend the subjects involved in the riot."
The breakout is likely to fuel concerns about discontent among low-paid foreign workers. Last year Singapore saw its biggest outbreak of labour unrest in years when around 170 bus drivers from mainland China went on strike illegally.
Footage on Channel NewsAsia showed at least two vehicles on fire and debris strewn across Racecourse Road, one of the main thoroughfares in Little India. Many other private cars were reported to have been damaged as well.
Police reported early this morning that the incident was under control.
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Sponsored Content | http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/9493463/Fatal-crash-sparks-riots-in-Singapore | dclm-gs1-257540000 |
0.103293 | <urn:uuid:08ba73ff-38d6-4af6-86b5-5a6fd4e0fe51> | en | 0.956741 | Other MMO Coverage
Notoriety Combat and You
Updated Thu, Oct 30, 2008 by Martuk
Age of Conan Hyborian Adventures Update 3 is now live on servers. What does this mean for you? For starters the second part of the much anticipated PvP update the Notoriety system is now live and with it several new combat changes and Ten Ton Hammer is here to break it down and explain how this will affect your playing experience.
Outlaw Camps have been established for criminals and murderers.
The Notoriety System
This system will make some big changes to the way PvP combat is carried out across PvP servers. This part of the update won't affect PvE servers so much, but PvP servers need to be aware of these recent changes. Griefers beware, your free ride of slaughtering low levels without consequences is at an end. Now you will have to suffer the consequences of your actions.
With the new Notoriety system now active if you engage an enemy of a level so low that you will not get PvP experience from the kill (we will refer to them Innocents) then you are going to start earning murder points. The first offense will flag you as a criminal. Any offenses carried out during this time will reset your criminal timer and if you persist then you will be flagged as a murderer after you build enough murder points and then your life will become a bit more complicated. Let's take a look at what exactly happens to our innocents and anti-social misfits.
Innocent people are what everyone starts as. These people have not engaged in slaying those of lesser power and thus have no murder points. these guys are pretty much the goody two shoes of the world until they decide to cross over to the dark side. They can be attacked by would be killers, but until these people take up arms against those of lesser power they will remain innocent and can carry out life as usual.
If you engage and kill an innocent you will be flagged temporarily as a criminal. What this does is make you free game for anyone to take out. They can kill you without building up murder points of their own. You are simply free game with a giant bullseye on your chest. If you refrain from killing more innocents you will eventually return to your normal status over time. Criminals can't trade with city traders and any player that trades with a criminal will then be flagged as a criminal themselves, so be cautious if that trade window opens up. If you group with a criminal or murderer, your group will also be flagged as criminals for the duration of the criminal/murderers stay and up to five minutes after their departure. Don't worry, you will get a warning window when a criminal is invited or has invited you to a group.
If you have attacked and killed enough innocents to build yourself a enough murder points your criminal status will be converted to murderer. This carries several consequences. For starters, NPC guards within cities will attack you on sight. You can't trade or use vendors within the city and if you are attacked this section of the Testlive patch notes explains it best.
Dying while flagged as a murderer results in the following: a. 100% increased loss of PvP XP for the murder b. 100% increased gain of PvP XP for the person killing the murderer c. 100% increased chance of dropping an item.
There's little worse than getting spawn camped. Murderer specific spawns should help keep this from happening.
Players also need to be aware that if a member of their group performs a criminal activity, those in the vicinity of the offending player will also be flagged as criminals. Murderers and criminals while outcast from normal society can still gain access to vendors and traders through their guild city vendors and the new Outcast Camps that have been added to several areas. These hubs serve as a gathering spot for our local criminal element and provide them with vendors and a way to begin redemption through quests that can reduce their murder points. Murderers will also have their own respawn spots that can only be seen by other offending players. This should help curve getting ganked on a respawn.
Exploiting a Mechanic
There are some members of the community that have voiced concerns about the new Notoriety system and how it could be exploited by lower level players with the intent of griefing the community by attacking the higher levels first. One such question was asked by Vandalia on the official AoC forums.
You expose a flaw in the system.
Its ok for a lower level or several lower level characters to attack you with no criminal penalties where as you have merely defended yourself.
This leads to a very large opening to be exploited. Unless the higher level has attacked FIRST there should be no crime in defending oneself.
You expose a flaw in the system.
Game Director Craig 'Silirrion' Morrison was quick to put to rest any concerns stemming from this question.
This will be accounted for by the system. We have gone to lengths to ensure that we have closed off as many of the obvious roads for 'griefing' with this system as we can. Lower level players will have to be actively targeted by a higher level target to have them generate murder points. A lower level actively attacking a higher level players first will flag them as 'free prey' for the higher level player and they can kill them at will without fear of gaining any negative impact. The team have done a lot of work to ensure this system is as smooth as we can make it.
As to the original poster, this isn't a system to reward this kind of behavior. It is a system where someone who consciously chooses to be 'that' type of player isn't disallowed from doing so, but has to live with the consequences of doing so without having his normal game-play completely removed. We do not wish to reward that kind of game-play. It's about choices for the player, if they choose to be notorious rather than a good citizen they are allowed to do so (Hyboria is a brutal world after all!), the results are negative though, it's up to each individual whether they can live with that life as an outlaw and murderer. I am sure some will!
With that said, this route to griefing seems to be well in hand by making those that swing first pay the price.
The Notoriety system is not the only major change in this patch. The combat system also got a few alterations. Melee and ranged combo attacks have been shortened by removing some of their steps to make them easier to execute. This will make PvP a bit easier for ranged and melee who often find themselves unable to land a combo against those bunny hopping enemies that bounce from place to place. This change doesn't come without a price though. With the increase in speed given by these new shortened combos comes a decrease in damage. It's sort of a counterbalance. You can land them easier but for less damage. For a further balancing effect the Demonologist, Ranger, and Herald of Xotli have been given a healing debuff.
Crowd Control changes will keep you from having to just stand helplessly by while your opponent beats you like you owe them money.
Crowd control abilities have also gone through some changes. Now if a player is snared, stunned, feared, charmed, or rooted they will break out of it after receiving a certain amount of damage. This will give players a fighting chance to defend themselves and not have to stand there while their opponent beats them into the ground unopposed.
This new update brought a lot of changes to the game and while the Notoriety system won't affect the PvE servers quite as much as the PvP servers it is still a big change to the game. With the combat changes making things a bit faster paced battles will be heating up all over Hyboria and in the Border Kingdoms as Innocents and Murderers collide. Choose your side and try not to be a casualty of this new war.
You can read more from the source patch notes.
• Discuss the latest update on our forums.
Wed, May 14, 2014
News, Official Announcements
Thu, Mar 06, 2014
News, Official Announcements
Mon, Mar 03, 2014
Press Release, News, Official Announcements
Thu, Feb 27, 2014
News from around the 'Net | http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/47574 | dclm-gs1-257570000 |
0.085454 | <urn:uuid:0a675852-d966-4eca-a2cb-a1a0616d0b4e> | en | 0.985635 |
Jihadi veterans of Iraq, Yemen and Afghanistan join callow foreign idealists on frontline of Aleppo
Free Syrian Army rebels shooting at government position and snipers in Aleppo
Rebels shooting at Syrian Army position and snipers in Aleppo. Photograph Ghaith Abdul-Ahad for the Guardian Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/Guardian
Soldiers! Soldiers!" The man hissed his warning as he hurried past, two bullets from a government sniper kicking up dust from the dirt road behind him.
Their Syrian handler stood alone in the street clutching two radios: one blared in Chechen and the other in Arabic. Two men volunteered to stay and try to fetch the young injured man.
The fighters sat outside the house in the shade of the trees, clutching their guns and discussing the war. Among them was a thin Saudi, dressed in a dirty black T-shirt and a prayer cap, who conversed in perfect English with a Turk sitting next to him. He had arrived the week before and was curious about how the jihad was being reported abroad.
"What do the foreign news organisations and the outside world say about us?" he asked. "Do they know about the fighting in Aleppo? Do they know that we are here?"
Hundreds of international fighters have flocked to Syria to join the war against Bashar al-Assad's government. Some are fresh-faced idealists driven by a romantic notion of revolution or a hatred for the Assads. Others are jihadi veterans of Iraq, Yemen and Afghanistan.
To reach the wars in those countries, foreign fighters had to cross borders with forged passports and dodge secret services. The frontline in Syria is easier to reach via a comfortable flight to southern Turkey and a hike across the border.
According to the Saudi, it was an easy walk from Turkey to the small Syrian town of Atmeh. There, in a hilly landscape flecked with olive groves, the recruits were received by a Syrian who runs a jihadi camp and organised into fighting units. Each team was assigned an Arabic speaker and given 10 days' basic training, the point of which was not to learn how to shoot but to learn to communicate and work together.
The fighters were then dispersed among the different jihadi organisations, including Ahrar al-Sham ("the Free Men of Syria") and Jabhat al-Nusra ("the Front for the Aid of the People of the Levant"). Some, like Abu Omar's Chechens, were allowed to form their own units and simply referred to as the muhajiroun, or "immigrants". The Syrians refer to the internationals collectively as the "Turkish brothers".
The men were also secretive, especially when dealing with the Free Syria Army. When the Syrians asked them where they were from, a blond French-speaker said they were Moroccans, the Chechens said they were Turks and the Tajiks said they were Afghans. On the steps of a commandeered school, behind a flimsy barricade of corrugated sheets and a barrel, a group of Libyans sat complaining about the lack of ammunition. They had arrived the previous day and already lost one of their friends to a Syrian army machine gun. "This is a poor revolution, very poor. We are in the second year [of it] and they still don't have enough weapons and ammunition," one of the Libyans complained.
Inside the school was a Jordanian who often roamed the frontline with his Belgian gun, for which he had only 11 bullets. He was a secular and clean-shaven former officer in the Jordanian army who lived in eastern Europe running an import-export business. He had come to Aleppo without telling his wife and children where he was going.
"This is my duty," he said. "Originally I was from Palestine. I know what this [Syrian] regime did to the Palestinians, shelling the camps in Lebanon, assassinating the commanders. Half of the miseries of our nation are because of Israel and the other half are because of the Syrian regime.
"Many Arab men I know want to come and fight. Some lack the means and others the energy, but so many people hate this regime. For 20 years the regime has destroyed the Arab world."
He seemed nonchalant about the prospect of defeat.
Abu Omar, the Chechen commander, issued an order for his men to advance to try to retake their lost positions around the University of Science.
The Syrian soldiers had stopped their advance and withdrawn their tank, leaving only the snipers. A car was riddled with bullets and still on fire, a skeleton of a bus lay few metres away smouldering, and orange flames and black smoke was spewing from a the first floor of a building.
But three of Abu Omar's men were pinned down by snipers, and one had stood up to shoot the tank with an RPG and been riddled with bullets.
Two Chechens were already in the middle of the square. They hid behind a short stone wall while bullets chipped on the wall's edge. Abu Omar conferred with a Syrian officer in heavily accented classical Arabic on how to rescue his men. A column of Syrians climbed over an apartment building and tried to shoot at the sniper.
After an hour, the shooting had eased and the two men ran across the alleyway. They zigzagged and fell on the ground. One of them was thick-set, his grey T-shirt torn and covered by a patch of blood. A small metal piece of shrapnel was lodged in the left side of his chest. He pulled it with his fingers and held it for his friends to inspect. Then he smiled.
In broken Arabic, the Chechen described how it had happened.
"For one or two hours we were there, but the sniper shot at us too much," he said. "We moved to the left and the brother moved to the street. There the sniper shot him. There is no sadness, no fear, the brother is a martyr," he said, and quoted a verse from the Quran.
That night he issued an ultimatum to the Syrian rebel commanders. If they hadn't mustered a large number of men to support their rear the muhajiroun would pack up and leave.
The reinforcements did not materialise, so the Chechens left in the night.
"Let them go," fumed a Syrian commander next day. "I didn't hit them on their hands and tell them to come fight the jihad and take responsibility of this frontline."
Bab al Hawa
"You are in confrontation with two apostate armies," the Egyptian told the men, referring to the Syrian army and Free Syrian Army. "When you have finished with one army you will start with the next."
The Farouq brigade demanded the flag be lowered lest it antagonise the Turks and threaten the rebels' vital supply route. One bearded fighter in the Farouq brigade, a salafi himself, said he had pleaded with jihadis, telling them that their presence would stop Nato from sending supplies. "They told me they were here to stop Nato," he said.
The rebels gave them an ultimatum to evacuate, and the jihadis had taken up attack positions on the stony hills overlooking the post, surrounding the Farouq fighters. who in turn were threatening to use their armoured vehicles.
I spoke to the regional commander of the Farouq brigade, a muscular young lieutenant from the southern province of Dara'a called Abdulah Abu Zaid. "I will not allow the spread of Takfiri [the act of accusing other Muslims of apostasy] ideology," he told me in his military compound a few kilometres from the border post. "Not now, not later. The Islam we had during the regime was disfigured Islam and what they are bringing us is also disfigured. The Islam we need is a civil Islam and not the takfiri Islam."
The jihadis, he said, had looted and stolen from the local people and demanded protection money from local businesses in order not to steal their merchandise. "I managed to stop them," he said, "and I won't let them spread here."
I met Abu Mohamad, a monosyllabic doctor, the next day. He emphasized that he had been struggling against the regime since 1992 while the Free Syria Army were defected officers who until recently served the regime. The Arab spring was, he said, a result of Islamic fervor.
"We will never leave our positions here," he said in a quiet voice. "God-willing we will win."
A few days later, Abu Mohamad's body was found in a ditch. He had been kidnapped and killed. | http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/sep/23/syria-foreign-fighters-joining-war | dclm-gs1-257780000 |
0.024025 | <urn:uuid:03804e79-7275-476f-8bdc-bd1a0b79a1be> | en | 0.955109 | A multi-jurisdictional law enforcement task force flooded the streets of Monroe during a two-week period this summer.
It was a show of force that made an impression on the community, and, we suspect, criminals.
Certainly, the numbers are impressive. Over the course of the two operations, which took place July 21-23 and July 31-Aug. 2, the agencies issued 165 traffic citations and made 244 arrests. Law enforcement seized 17 firearms, three vehicles and $18,335 in cash.
One methamphetamine lab was seized along with more than 120 grams of meth. Of the 244 arrests, 129 were drug-related and 92 were warrant arrests.
Though we know one two-week crackdown won't eliminate crime, we believe the effort did remove many criminals from the streets and let the bad actors know the streets still belong to us.
But even more important, it showed at a time when distrust and unrest in the Monroe Police Department has been front-page news that law enforcement officers still have their eyes on their responsibility, the safety of the community.
The task force focused on Monroe because police officers there say they have had trouble doing routine patrols in between calls. It focused on using tips and intelligence to assist in conducting proactive criminal patrols. The task force reinforced police presence on the streets, assisting local patrol divisions that need time to focus on responding to calls from the public.
"All of us here worked together," Ouachita Parish Sheriff Jay Russell said. "You put aside the badge, and you do what's best for the citizens of Ouachita Parish."
More than 40 Monroe police officers, West Monroe police officers, Sterlington police officers, Ouachita Parish sheriff's deputies, Louisiana state troopers, Metro Narcotics agents, Department of Public Safety officers and officers from the University of Louisiana at Monroe patrolled the streets. Each unit contained officers from different agencies — a sheriff's deputy partnered with a West Monroe officer; a Monroe officer with a state trooper. They worked together in the rain and provided assistance to other units when necessary. Even a state police helicopter was used.
Such efforts can only enhance future cooperation and knock down jurisdictional walls in cases of emergency or short-staffing. It also speaks well of the professionalism and training of the officers on the street.
Russell, whose office supervised the task force, described how the presence of multiple agencies affected suspects.
"You get out (of the patrol unit), and there's a ULM PD uniform, and a West Monroe PD uniform, and Monroe PD uniform, and a sheriff's office or a trooper or a DPS or a Sterlington police, or any of that, and it sort of confused the suspects on the street. They didn't know what to think. And then about that time, you had a helicopter hover about 100 feet off the ground over them. If they thought about running, they changed their mind."
Fourth District Attorney Jerry Jones, who he suggested the idea of the task force to Russell years ago, insists this is not a once-and-done operation.
"We need to continue this. It needs to be done often, on a regular basis. We need these police officers on the street doing what they know how to do, making arrests."
We agree. The task force's success calls for continued efforts. Such a focused show of force on a regular basis will go a long way in making everyone sleep just a little bit better.
The editorials in this column represent the opinions of The News-Star's editorial board, composed of General Manager and Executive Editor Kathy Spurlock, Business and Polititcs Editor Greg Hilburn, Senior Writer Barbara Leader and community representatives Terry Baugh, Al Cherry and Denna, McGrew.
Read or Share this story: http://tnsne.ws/1oPheyN | http://www.thenewsstar.com/story/opinion/editorials/2014/08/19/view-task-force-brings-peace-mind/14300341/?from=global | dclm-gs1-257800000 |
0.019481 | <urn:uuid:93b219b7-144e-4d22-b69c-4e1c0ade37da> | en | 0.936122 | Friday, December 26, 2014
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Published: Thursday, 9/4/2003
Tribute to a bygone era
Prince Phillip awakens Princess Aurora from a long sleep with a kiss in <I>Sleeping Beauty</I>. When it was released, <I>Sleeping Beauty</I> was the most expensive animated film ever made.
What Hollywood did this summer: Hollywood sat on the couch and got fat and flabby while its younger siblings, Digital Animation and Specialty Films, had a summer to remember.
A quick recap goes like this: May went great. X2 and Bruce Almighty and The Matrix Reloaded all found summer love with a wide audience. Then things got shaky. Through June and July, sequels to beloved hits meandered. Harrison Ford found no joy in Hitsville, again. Pirates were hot. The lemonade stand in front of the house of Will Smith did business, but the taste was sour. Seabiscuit hasn't broken stride; and smaller, more thoughtful movies, from Whale Rider to Spellbound, stayed in theaters longer than films with budgets a zillion times larger. All that, and a rumble broke out that barely got started.
Like a lot of fights, the outcome was fast, but the ramifications will linger for years.
Disney and Pixar's Finding Nemo, with its breathtaking computer-generated animation, flattened the traditional 2-D cell animation (spiked with CG) of DreamWorks' Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas. Which, in itself, isn't surprising, or remarkable. What's ironic, though, is Disney's Nemo and its $300-plus-million success has driven maybe the last nail in the grand tradition of Disney cell animation. And that news is especially poignant this week.
Arguably Disney's finest aesthetic hour, Sleeping Beauty (Buena Vista Home Entertainment, $29.99), arrives in another of the Mouse's fine two-disc special editions.
Nicer still, the 1959 classic is finally presented on video in a wide-screen format, showing off sprawling sequences with fairies and dragons - especially the fire-tipped finale with Prince Phillip and Maleficent - so skillfully rendered they have the delicate, back-lit texture of stained glass. At the time of release, it was the most expensive animated film ever made, and often mistakenly considered a poor man's Cinderella - and it's sad to think that this flat art can't coexist with CG. But I suppose that's the drawback to breaking ground.
As for the DVD, extras come by the pound: Don't skip past Grand Canyon, a very '50s triptych that'll have Boomers digging through boxes for their old Viewmaster slide reels; but do skip yet another attempt by Disney to use its special edition DVDs to push its generic bubblegum music acts. The remaining bonus material includes storyboards, story reels (run to give studio execs what the film will play like before it's animated), animator interviews, Disneyland TV series shorts on Tchaikovsky's music and the animator's different styles, and best yet, rare footage of Helene Stanley dancing as the artists sketch her moves.
eSpeaking of two-dimensional Disney characters: If you're the type who finds Kangaroo Jack (not the movie, Kangaroo Jack) an affront to the human race, you definitely do not want to celebrate the release of the DVD special edition of the granddaddy of all modern dopey family comedies, The Apple Dumpling Gang (BVHE, $24.99). But Gen Y, gather 'round: Don Knotts and Tim Conway were the Bad Boys of their day. Tim was the Will and Don was the Martin. They lock horns with orphans who've inherited gold. Bill Bixby plays the straight man. You have no idea how many people tell me this is the first movie they ever saw - indeed, I think, possibly, it's the very first movie I remember seeing in a theater myself.
Disney gives it a loving treatment, too. Extras include the Dumplings reminiscing on the commentary track; and my favorite, a vintage 1975 studio tour of the Walt Disney back lot.
What is it about Disney and orphans? Also from that year is Escape To Witch Mountain (BVHE, $24.99), getting the special edition treatment. Coat racks attack two clairvoyant orphans on the run from a nasty millionaire. All that and Eddie Albert, too. Extras include the Pluto cartoon shown with Witch Mountain during its initial theatrical run.
eWhen studios flood multiplexes with remakes of slight TV shows like S.W.A.T, it's easy to forget there are still great stories out there to tell. One story begging to be retold is the true tale of the Turk, a carved, turbaned mannequin from the 1770s that was filled with machinery, placed atop a cabinet - and taught to play chess. It toured Europe, beat Benjamin Franklin, appeared to think on its own. The Chess Player (Milestone, $29.99), a lost 1927 silent picture restored to surprising crispness by preservationist Kevin Brownlow - and ideal if you flinch at the idea of watching silent film - takes the Turk and gives him an epic fantasy spanning Poland and Russia. My favorite scene: The Turk beats Catherine the Great at chess. She then orders him shot by a firing squad. Extras include an engrossing public radio discussion of the weird myth of the Turk, a fascinating study in mass delusion.
NEW ON VIDEO: A Man Apart (Starring Vin Diesel, whose celebrity is another study in mass delusion; this time he blows stuff up and tries a revenge drama, and the results are generic); Identity (John Cusack, Ray Liotta, and others play Ten Little Indians in this creepy attempt at a highway motel whodunit that ultimately can't get hold of its own reins).
| http://www.toledoblade.com/Movies/2003/09/04/Tribute-to-a-bygone-era.html | dclm-gs1-257840000 |
0.086658 | <urn:uuid:b14fedd8-a7ad-4641-82d5-576d1a800940> | en | 0.94876 | 1 definition by Imbatroll
Trollkang is some sort of troll named Kang who is retarded but yet funny troll.
Trollkang is also a very stupid immature person but also some sort of stupid shit.
Trollkang are people who are these kind of stuff.
Trollkang : O hai der!!!!
person 1: hello
Trollkang : poo is funny!#¤
person 1: okay...
by Imbatroll March 02, 2011
Free Daily Email
| http://www.urbandictionary.com/author.php?author=Imbatroll | dclm-gs1-257890000 |
0.033095 | <urn:uuid:88595120-2826-46a7-8441-d14d2333d063> | en | 0.968042 | Venezuela Has Oil Money, And Chavez Sings His Tune
By Monte Reel
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, July 15, 2005
CARACAS, Venezuela -- Standing before a battery of television cameras, President Hugo Chavez confronted the impulse to break into song and -- as often happens in such moments -- surrendered without a fight.
" Guantanamera ," he sang in confident baritone, swaying slightly to the refrain of Cuba's most celebrated tune. " Guajira Guantanamera . . . ."
Chavez was in the middle of his weekly six-hour television program, "Hello, President," which during 228 episodes has provided exhaustive insight into the man who rivals Fidel Castro as Latin America's most charismatic and controversial leader.
The Cuban love song was a fitting soundtrack for a recent episode, in which Chavez repeatedly thanked Castro for inspiring him to accelerate the redistribution of wealth in a nation where about half the people live in poverty.
Riding on a tide of record prices for Venezuelan oil, Chavez -- who has survived both a brief coup and a recall referendum -- now appears to be consolidating public support, using the economic windfall to expand social programs for the poor and to intensify what he calls a "peaceful revolution" against global capitalism.
Chavez's political relations with the United States remain as rocky as ever, and he has repeatedly asserted that the CIA is plotting to overthrow him. Domestic opponents, meanwhile, charge that his new social largess is accompanied by heavy-handed attempts to take control of the country's institutions and stifle dissent -- all in an effort to hold on to power as tightly as his hero in Havana has done for 46 years.
"He's making all sorts of changes, and he's doing it on the advice of Fidel," said Carlos Eduardo Berrizbeitia, a legislator from a political party opposed to Chavez. "He now has begun tailoring the institutions in this country -- like the Supreme Court -- to create a suit that fits only himself. The suit has the sheen of democracy, but it's not real."
With sales of 1.5 million barrels of oil a day to the United States, worth as much as $2.7 billion a month, Chavez has increased government spending by 36.2 percent this year. He has poured billions into state-subsidized grocery stores, workers' cooperatives, adult education centers and public health clinics staffed by what government officials say are about 16,000 physicians on loan from Cuba.
Meanwhile, the president has persuaded the friendly National Assembly to allow him to replace opponents on the Supreme Court, fill a dozen extra judicial seats with allies, revamp the national penal code and tighten controls on TV and radio broadcasters. In addition, the legislature is poised to give him greater control over Central Bank reserves.
The government declined requests for an interview with the president.
While critics at home and abroad warn of his increasingly dictatorial tendencies, Chavez enjoys broad support among the poor and popularity ratings exceeding 60 percent. When fans watch him on television, they don't see a power-hungry demagogue, but a defiant ally who sings when he feels like it and doesn't care if detractors say they've heard the tune somewhere before.
"They talk about human rights abuses, they say that Chavez is a tyrant and a dictator," Chavez said during his show. "They are lies, all lies."
Persistent Poverty
Thousands of shoppers shouldered their way through the streets of Petare, a gritty neighborhood in eastern Caracas, dodging rain-filled potholes. Vendors under grimy umbrellas hawked virtually everything from diapers to rat traps.
Almost all the buyers and sellers were poor, or close to it. But few of them blamed Chavez for their plight.
"He's done what no other president has done before," said Carlos Romero, 49, a truck driver in a torn T-shirt and jeans. "He helps poor people."
"And he's keeping Venezuela independent," interjected Rafael Villalba, 42, who sells herbs from a street-side table. "Venezuela is the most democratic country in Latin America. You can do whatever you want here. You can say anything you want about anyone."
A crowd gathered, eager to debate. Two men, drinking beer at an open-air stand, complained that Chavez had not done anything to help them find jobs.
"It's not Chavez's fault!" yelled Viviana Caciani, 33, jumping into the fray. "Long live the revolution!"
Politics is never far from the surface in Chavez's Venezuela, even at a weekend market. On a bag of rice, an article of the Venezuelan constitution had been printed to remind buyers that the government was subsidizing such products.
An accompanying illustration showed a cartoon hero kicking a devil in a business suit -- an imperialist villain chased by a government representative who, the caption said, was guaranteeing the public's "nutritional security."
But other forms of security are harder to come by in Caracas. Despite the flowing oil revenue, crime is rampant and destitution is never far off. Some Venezuelans wonder whether Chavez will be able to sustain his current popularity level if the atmosphere doesn't change soon.
"The question everyone asks is, 'If Venezuela is so rich, why am I so poor?' " said Alfredo Keller, a pollster and analyst. "Chavez is trying to introduce profound ideological changes with the inspiration of Castro, and he has begun to advance a debate that says to be rich is bad. But that isn't an opinion many people here share."
Although Chavez rhetorically invokes such communist icons as Karl Marx and Che Guevara, Venezuela is a long way from becoming another Cuba. Billboards for products such as Pepsi and Nescafe help shape the skyline of Caracas, despite Chavez's insistence that Venezuela should free itself from the influence of global capitalism. This month, the government hosted more than 200 U.S. companies at a trade fair intended to expand and diversify bilateral business ties.
So far, the economic trends since Chavez took office in 1998 have been mixed. Unemployment in May was at 12.6 percent, 3 points lower than the same time last year, but 53 percent of households lived in poverty in 2004, compared to 49 percent six years ago, according to government data.
The president's supporters say the figures do not reflect recent increases in public spending, which have given people on limited incomes greater buying power. At one of the state-subsidized markets Chavez has opened nationwide, people lined up on a recent day to buy large bags of pasta for 50 cents and boxes of Kellogg's Corn Flakes for about $1.30.
Sujey Escobar, 29, a maid with two children and an unemployed husband, left the store carrying bags of rice, flour and salami that she estimated would have cost about twice as much at a regular market.
"It's still hard to find work," she said, "but buying groceries is a little bit easier."
Changes for Mass Media
Patricia Poleo slipped off her headphones and stepped out of the booth where she broadcasts the top-rated AM radio program in Venezuela. A veteran newspaper editor and commentator, she is an outspoken critic of Chavez. She is also facing a six-month prison sentence for defaming the interior minister.
"The government is trying to intimidate the media," said Poleo, 39. "And some journalists are following their orders because of the new fines that they could pay."
Poleo was referring to the Law of Social Responsibility in Radio and Television, a revised list of standards for broadcasters that was passed last year and currently is being phased into practice. With that, and stiffened libel and slander laws, Poleo and some other journalists say they believe that Chavez is trying to snuff out criticism before it starts.
The changes are ostensibly designed to protect children from sexual and violent programming and encourage more variety on the airwaves. The standards now require three hours daily of children's programming and seven hours of nationally produced programming.
But some observers fear the law's instructions to ensure national security and promote Venezuelan cultural values could be interpreted broadly by a judicial system increasingly aligned with Chavez. Some critics said they already have noticed self-censorship among government critics and sponsors, who can also be fined.
Poleo said that instead of being able to sign a deal directly with the radio station where she works, she will soon be assigned a station by the government and fears she might end up with a pro-government boss.
"The idea is to force people off the air," she said.
The government insists that changes were necessary after some media outlets openly supported the 2002 coup. Instead of discouraging diversity of opinion, they say, the law explicitly guarantees it.
"All of the criticism of the law is based on supposition," said Desiree Santos Amaral, who heads the legislature's communications committee. "All of the criticism being disseminated about the law is proving that it works."
One outlet assured of getting its message across is state-run television, where Chavez broadcasts his Sunday show. Last week he broadcast from one of the education centers that he said was helping to wipe out illiteracy -- "thanks to Fidel" and the loan of Cuban social workers.
Chavez interrupted his monologue to listen to newly literate audience members read passages from the national constitution, then continued extolling the virtues of his social policies.
"The revolution marches on," he concluded several hours later, signing off with a smile.
© 2005 The Washington Post Company | http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/14/AR2005071402133_pf.html | dclm-gs1-257980000 |
0.018678 | <urn:uuid:4f0d8af9-c760-4daf-ad97-8c90720d8145> | en | 0.947158 | Place:Las Vegas, Clark, Nevada, United States
NameLas Vegas
Los Vegassource: USGS, GNIS Digital Gazetteer (1994) GNIS32006482
McWilliamstownsource: USGS, GNIS Digital Gazetteer (1994) GNIS32006482
Old Townsource: USGS, GNIS Digital Gazetteer (1994) GNIS32006482
Ragtownsource: USGS, GNIS Digital Gazetteer (1994) GNIS32006482
Westsidesource: USGS, GNIS Digital Gazetteer (1994) GNIS32006482
Coordinates36.194°N 115.222°W
Located inClark, Nevada, United States (1855 - )
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog
the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia
Las Vegas also is used to describe the city along with areas beyond the city limits, especially the resort areas on and near the Las Vegas Strip, and the Las Vegas Valley. The stretch of South Las Vegas Boulevard known as the Strip is in the unincorporated communities of Paradise, Winchester, and Enterprise.
the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia
The first reported non-Native American visitor to the Las Vegas Valley was the Mexican scout Rafael Rivera in 1829. Las Vegas was named by Mexicans in the Antonio Armijo party, including Rivera, who used the water in the area while heading north and west along the Old Spanish Trail from Texas. In the 19th century, areas of the valley contained artesian wells that supported extensive green areas, or meadows, hence the name Las Vegas (vegas being Spanish for "meadows").
On May 3, 1844, while it was still part of Mexico, John C. Frémont led a group of scientists, scouts, and observers for the United States Army Corps of Engineers into the Las Vegas Valley. On May 10, 1855, following annexation by the United States, Brigham Young assigned 30 missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints led by William Bringhurst to the area to convert the Paiute Indian population to Mormonism. A fort was built near the current downtown area that served as a stopover for travelers along the "Mormon Corridor" between Salt Lake and the briefly thriving colony of saints at San Bernardino, California. Mormons abandoned Las Vegas in 1857, during the Utah War. Las Vegas was established as a railroad town on May 15, 1905, when owned by the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad in what is now downtown Las Vegas was auctioned off. Among the railroad's most notable owners and directors were Montana Senator William A. Clark, Utah Senator Thomas Kearns, and R.C. Kerens of St. Louis. Las Vegas was part of Lincoln County until 1908, when it became part of the newly established Clark County. The St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church near 4th and Bridger in downtown was founded in 1910. Las Vegas became an incorporated city on March 16, 1911; Peter Buol was the first mayor.
Las Vegas started as a stopover on the pioneer trails to the west, and became a popular railroad town in the early 20th century. It was a staging point for mines in the surrounding area, especially those around the town of Bullfrog, that shipped goods to the rest of the country. With the proliferation of the railroads, Las Vegas became less important, but the completion of the nearby Hoover Dam in 1935 resulted in growth in the number of residents and increased tourism. The dam, located southeast of the city, formed Lake Mead, the largest man-made lake and reservoir in the United States. The legalization of gambling in 1931 led to the advent of the casino hotels for which Las Vegas is famous. Major development occurred in the 1940s, "due almost entirely" to the influx of scientists and staff from the Manhattan Project, an atomic bomb research project of World War II. Atomic test watching parties were sometimes thrown. American organized crime figures such as Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel and Meyer Lansky managed or funded most of the original large casinos. The rapid growth of Las Vegas is credited with dooming the gambling industry development of Galveston, Texas; Hot Springs, Arkansas; and other major gambling centers in the 1950s.
Research Tips
| http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Place:Las_Vegas%2C_Clark%2C_Nevada%2C_United_States | dclm-gs1-258000000 |
0.264012 | <urn:uuid:f7065ae9-632a-437e-8872-052bf390f649> | en | 0.967013 | Get Connected
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Seniors, consider these college factors
When choosing colleges, there are many options to consider. Don't know where to start? Here are some factors to use in your college decision-making process.
1.Academics: One of the most important factors is whether the school offers the program you want to major in. Once you've thought about that and decided what you want to study, look for schools that offer that major.
2. Size: Colleges vary in size. Some colleges are huge and have classes with as many as 100 students. Other colleges are smaller and have classes that might average 20 students.
3. Location: Do you want to go to a college that is close to home or far away? Also, think about whether you want to go to college in an urban area, a suburban area or a rural one.
4. Diversity: Most schools are co-ed, but not all of them. That's something to think about. Also, find out the diversity rate; this means things like the acceptance of minorities, the number of students from other countries and their multicultural offerings.
5. Extracurricular activities: Like high schools, colleges offer plenty of extracurricular activities to participate in, but some colleges may not offer certain ones. If you want to play a certain sport or join a particular group, make sure it's offered. If it is, see if scholarships are available.
6. Facilities: You want your college to be efficient learning centers and have up-to-date technology and great facilities in things like their music, theater and athletic departments.
These may be some of the bigger factors to consider where you go to school, but they're not the only ones. Some other reasons could be that the school is where your parents attended or it's the home of your favorite college sports team.
However you rank these factors is up to you. Picking a college is a personal choice, so only you can decide what's right for you.
If you're still unsure and need help in your college decision-making process, you can find it in College Summit, which is a program that encourages students to go to college. In it, teens get help filling out their applications, learning how to write a personal statement/essay and making right college-going decisions. As part of College Summit, trained teens called peer leaders go into classrooms and assist students at their school who are having difficulty with college selections and applications. They are representatives to encourage a "college-going culture" and can be helpful to talk to if you have questions about going to college.
User Comments | http://www.wvgazette.com/Entertainment/FlipSide/201203050185 | dclm-gs1-258080000 |
0.035516 | <urn:uuid:9bcd0a64-1f8a-4bfc-978e-0c4088d8644a> | en | 0.96619 | • By
• Ashby Jones
asbestosOnce upon a time, asbestos was practically everywhere. Because the material (pictured) causes devastating forms of cancer and lung disease, huge product-liability litigation sprung up. That led to huge settlements, which led to the establishment of huge trusts, created to assure payment to millions of current and future claimants.
Some $20 billion now resides in these 40 or so trusts, set up by Johns Manville Corp., Owens Corning and other former makers and sellers of asbestos. But who’s overseeing the trusts? Is the money getting spent properly? In short, are the trusts working as designed?
The WSJ’s Nathan Koppel takes a look at the topic in Thursday’s Law Journal column.
In recent years, Koppel writes, trusts have come under fire from insurance companies and legal scholars contending that they lack transparency, pay questionable claims and unfairly enrich plaintiffs’ lawyers.
“The real concern,” says Steven Todd Brown, a professor at University at Buffalo Law School, who has studied asbestos trusts, is that people who “get sick in the future may not get paid what they are entitled to, because trusts are expending their assets paying more marginal claims.”
Plaintiffs’ lawyers, on the other hand, say that trusts resolve claims more efficiently than the courts and help companies survive.
But part of the issue, it seems, is that asbestos trusts aren’t required to disclose the names of people who file injury claims or identify those who are awarded payouts for their conditions. Moreover, because asbestos claimants are often the largest class of creditors in asbestos-related bankruptcy proceedings, their lawyers play a major role in deciding who receives payouts from the trusts and how much they get.
Those lawyers typically stand to reap a 25% to 40% share of any awards to their clients. As a result, critics say, plaintiffs’ lawyers have an incentive to be generous, and to approve compensation for claimants who aren’t injured seriously or already might have been fully compensated by courts or other trusts for their illnesses.
Paying people with less serious injuries contrasts sharply with the outcome of court cases over asbestos exposure, in which more than 85% of asbestos damages are paid to those with cancer, according to both plaintiffs’ and defense lawyers.
Others have found what they believe are illegitimate claims. Garlock Sealing Technologies LLC, a New York-based gasket maker, paid almost $10 million in court damages in 2008 to three plaintiffs whose family members died as a result of asbestos injuries. The plaintiffs later tried to recover additional damages from various trusts, according to court filings, which isn’t illegal but which Garlock felt was double-dipping. “We found the plaintiffs were pursuing claims we had already paid,” says Garlock’s attorney Garland Cassada, who alerted the trusts and thus averted any double payments for the same claim. | http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2009/12/03/no-trust-asbestos-payout-system-comes-under-fire/ | dclm-gs1-258310000 |
0.024322 | <urn:uuid:0d658bc0-0226-4a8c-9444-8185083f2ea1> | en | 0.960374 | HOME > Chowhound > Outer Boroughs >
cantonese crispy pigeon?
• 1
Just had this at a swank restaurant in shanghai. Anywhere serve a good rendition? Its a simple dish I imagine its just a matter of sourcing a fat young good bird. This is not something I'd want to order at a cheap joint.
1. Click to Upload a photo (10 MB limit)
1. I've gotten it at Ping's on Qns Blvd in Elmhurst, several times,and was very pleased every time.
83-02 Queens Blvd, Queens, NY 11373
1. The original comment has been removed | http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/801452 | dclm-gs1-258400000 |
0.02949 | <urn:uuid:d3ff7adb-4fe2-4c62-94ec-945667fa4341> | en | 0.929188 | HOME > Chowhound > General Topics >
Guilty Pleasures
I have a fairly sophisticated palate. I know good food and consider myself an accomplished cook. Most of the time I prepare quality meals for myself but occasionally something slips and I crave something . . . different. From time to time that craving is for instant mashed potatoes with corn mixed in. Gobs of butter (okay- Smart Balance). I can't explain it. Do you have a weird guilty pleasure? Tell all!
1. Click to Upload a photo (10 MB limit)
1. I love, love, love instant mashed potatoes with gobs of melted cheese. I also like whipped butter on saltines, toasting marshmallows on the stove top, Magic Shell and those cheap maraschino cherries. Canned whipped cream Fruity Pebbles cereal and, someties, I mix jello powder with hot water and drink it instead of tea. And, oh yeah, sometimes I but the ends off of a Red Vine and use it as a straw.
1 Reply
1. re: Miri1
I'm swooning over your list! Indulged in every single one of them! :)
1. re: janniecooks
These threads are great, although I agree...no guilt to be had!
2. Nacho Doritos. Long list of chemicals, but sometimes I just have to have them.
1. Potato chips with malt vinegar and mayo. Peanut butter mixed with Redi Whip, honey, and a drizzle of chocolate syrup.
I still do feel guilty about these now that I'm not postpartum anymore!!
1. Spam and Vienna sausages. Not at the same meal. | http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/898780 | dclm-gs1-258420000 |
0.029822 | <urn:uuid:95c1b373-b18c-4600-b761-b4531ef3aaa8> | en | 0.923441 |
Big "STAR" - smaller "star" on helmet?
Discussion in 'Fan Zone' started by REDVOLUTION, Feb 13, 2006.
REDVOLUTION Return to Dominance
25,286 Messages
1,242 Likes Received
I noticed on someone's avatar that Roger had a helmet on with a larger STAR on it....
whats the story... did we go smaller as years went on?
2. Qwickdraw
Qwickdraw Benched
5,451 Messages
0 Likes Received
He just had a miniscule melon.:eek:
3. Hostile
Hostile Tacos are a good investment Zone Supporter
119,124 Messages
3,191 Likes Received
Helmets a bit bigger these days due to better padding. I have no idea whether the size of the star has changed or not. I suppose it is not only possible but probable.
Share This Page | http://cowboyszone.com/threads/big-quot-star-quot-smaller-quot-star-quot-on-helmet.48377/ | dclm-gs1-258460000 |
0.031359 | <urn:uuid:6f95ef53-9c25-468a-b564-c85dca49ea36> | en | 0.915259 | Dugi Otok
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Dugi Otok
Isola Lunga.JPG
Western shore of Dugi otok
Croatia - Dugi Otok.PNG
Location Adriatic Sea
Coordinates 44°01′N 15°01′E / 44.017°N 15.017°E / 44.017; 15.017
Area 114.44 km2 (44.19 sq mi)
Highest elevation 300 m (1,000 ft)
County Zadar
Largest city Sali
Population 1,772 (as of 2001[1])
Map. The longest island is Dugi Otok
The island has been inhabited since prehistoric times. The Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII in the 10th century mentioned it under the name of Pizuh, and later it was called Insula Tilagus in documents ("pelagos" in Greek means sea), and its Latin name was Insula maior. In the 15th century it was registered as Veli otok.
The old and main settlement on the island was located in the southern area. It has only been inhabited significantly since the Turkish invasions (15th-16th centuries). Until then the island belonged to Zadar monasteries and citizens.[3] Nowadays there is a total of 10 settlements on the island, and they are all on the north-eastern side of the island concerned primarily with fishing, although salt was once produced here.
The village of Veli Rat is also home to the Veli Rat lighthouse, another spectacular sight. The beautiful island of Dugi Otok, with a Mediterranean climate and ancient Croatian culture, receives very few visitors. Olive oil, figs, cheese and wine accompany the seafood in the natives' diet. A definite step back in time, the island boasts an ancient church and some Roman ruins. It is in close proximity to Kornati.
The salt lake
See also[edit]
1. ^ "Statistical Yearbook" (PDF). Central Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Croatia. 2003. Retrieved 2010-09-18. Inhabited islands of Croatian part of the Adriatic Sea
2. ^ Duplančić Leder, Tea; Ujević, Tin; Čala, Mendi (June 2004). "Coastline lengths and areas of islands in the Croatian part of the Adriatic Sea determined from the topographic maps at the scale of 1 : 25 000" (PDF). Geoadria (Zadar) 9 (1): 5–32. Retrieved 2011-01-21. | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dugi_otok | dclm-gs1-258600000 |
0.071211 | <urn:uuid:4c243211-2bac-4dc7-9b31-15589a5fa1f3> | en | 0.961195 | How I Found Valentino's Balboni In Wyoming
"Hey, there's two Lamborghini's parked outside the lobby," said my dad as he drank his morning coffee, with 20+ years in the car sales business under his belt. You see, his passion for car culture lies within MSRP and resale values rather than horsepower and torque figures, so when he directs my attention to a car on… » 8/08/14 10:43am 8/08/14 10:43am
PCH, Personal Dilemma Edition: 1968 Ford Torino GT
| http://jalopnik.com/tag/wyoming | dclm-gs1-258950000 |
0.023549 | <urn:uuid:be15f0f3-ffba-40e3-b2e4-a61f108167fd> | en | 0.959566 | Save Search
Download Current HansardDownload Current Hansard View Or Save XMLView/Save XML
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Wednesday, 30 August 2000
Page: 16939
Senator COOK (Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) (2:23 PM) —My question is to Senator Hill. Does the minister agree with the member for Wentworth, Mr Andrew Thomson, that the UN is `just a theme park for indulging the fantasies of the global NGO guilt movement' and that what really gets the UN going is `hearing these unrepresentative NGOs heap abuse on gold plated democracies like Australia'. Minister, if you do not agree with those words, will you repudiate those views in order to try to limit the damage they will do to Australia's international reputation?
Honourable senators interjecting
The DEPUTY PRESIDENT —Order! If you want to have a conversation with somebody, please do not do it across the chamber—go outside and have the conversation.
Senator HILL (Minister for the Environment and Heritage) —I thought that Senator Cook was going to ask me about the current account result—a favourable result, Senator Cook would have noticed. I suppose it is not surprising that I did not get the question, but I will take the opportunity anyway just to draw it to Senator Cook's attention, seeing that he is interested in trade matters. On the subject that he did raise, that of the need to reform the United Nation treaties system, I appreciate the opportunity to outline the government's position. The government are not walking away from our international obligations or disengaging from the UN system. Our concern is that the UN human rights treaty committees are not working as well as they should and that the views of democratically elected governments like our own are not given due weight in these processes.
The government have therefore decided on a series of strong measures to improve the effectiveness of the treaty committees with two objectives in mind. The first is to send a strong political signal that the system needs substantial reform. The second is, at the same time, to preserve sufficient leverage to be able to work with like-minded states to bring about this reform. The measures we have taken are not about repudiating the UN human rights system; rather, they are about making the system work more effectively both for democratic countries like Australia and for the United Nations as a whole. Australia's future engagement with the system will be dependent on the degree to which the reform process delivers the sort of overhaul Australia believes is needed.
Senator COOK —Madam Deputy President, I have a supplementary question. Minister, I did not ask you the question that you read an answer for. I asked you a question about what Mr Andrew Thomson has said. Given that the Leader of the Government in the Senate has now not repudiated the views of the member for Wentworth, are we correct in assuming that he supports them? Do you support them, Minister? Are they the prevailing views within the government's ranks? Can the minister inform the Senate which are the NGOs that comprise the `global guilt movement'?
Senator HILL (Minister for the Environment and Heritage) —Senator Cook obviously did not understand what I said, and that is that the government is committed to a process of reform of the UN treaty committee system, because the government does not believe that it is working well enough and the government believes that the views of democratically elected governments are not being sufficiently taken into account. The government wants this system to work well and is committed to reform to enable it to work better. That is the position of the government.
Senator Cook —You are a gutless wimp.
The DEPUTY PRESIDENT —Senator Cook, would you please withdraw that unparliamentary language.
Senator Cook —I withdraw the words `gutless wimp'. | http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;db=CHAMBER;id=chamber%2Fhansards%2F2000-08-30%2F0058;query=Id%3A%22chamber%2Fhansards%2F2000-08-30%2F0000%22 | dclm-gs1-259260000 |
0.43786 | <urn:uuid:43506139-2143-4645-a251-45164753fb76> | en | 0.90733 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
I'm working on Windows 7 and I have installed Strawberry. I would like to run a perl skript (test.pl):
open OUTPUT, ">test.txt";
print OUTPUT "This is a test\n";
by just clicking on the file or redirect with left mouse click to Perl-program (open with/perl.exe). When I do this a console opens for less than a second and disappears but the file test.txt is not created. If I go to the MS command and enter
> C:\myplace>perl test.pl
it works. I never had this experience before (WinXP, other Windows 7 PC with ActivePerl and Windows 8 with strawberry). I would be very happy if somebody could give me a hint how to solve this problem.
share|improve this question
2 Answers 2
up vote 1 down vote accepted
There are two problems here:
1. Creating the file where you want it. When double-clicking a perl script to launch it, it is not executed in the context of the folder you have opened in Explorer. If you want to specify an explicit context, do the following near the top of your script:
use FindBin; # This is a module that finds the location of your script
BEGIN { chdir $FindBin::Bin } # set context to that directory.
When you then create a new file without an aboslute path, the path is considered relative to that directory.
You do not have the problem when running the script from the command line, because you have specified the correct path. But if you run it from C:\ like
C:\> perl myplace/test.pl
then you have created the file in C\test.txt. The FindBin solution fixes this.
2. When running a script by double-clicking it, the command line exits before you can inspect the output. This “problem” is shared by all programming languages on Windows. You can force the window to stay open by waiting for some input. You can either do
system("PAUSE"); # not portable to non-Windows!
warn "Press enter to exit...\n";
<STDIN>; # Read a line from the command line and discard it.
# Feels akward when launching from the command line
to wait until an Enter ⏎ is pressed .
The other solution is to always use the command line for your scripts, which is what I'd actually suggest.
share|improve this answer
Thanks for the answer. I didn't know about FindBin. Very useful. But why this simple test-code above works on all various computers and OS but in one it does not behave in this way? I just wonder ... – giordano Sep 3 '13 at 20:03
Check what is your script executing folder, as it might differ from C:\myplace
use Cwd;
print getcwd();
sleep 7;
share|improve this answer
Thanks for answer. Yes, it differs (C:\strawberry\perl\bin). But is this a problem? The environment variable is included. Usually, I never had such kind of problems. – giordano Sep 2 '13 at 15:13
@giordano to be sure, you can try absolute path when writing, ie. open OUTPUT, ">", 'C:\myplace\test.txt'; – Сухой27 Sep 2 '13 at 15:19
Your Answer
| http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18573385/perl-strawberry-how-to-run-a-perl-script-by-clicking/18573521 | dclm-gs1-259390000 |
0.973559 | <urn:uuid:8b9e9a26-aa75-49ad-859c-4bdf83b34bc4> | en | 0.836423 | 1. Sage Fly Fishing
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Kitchen Sink Studios presents "The Tallest Mural in Arizona," a documentary film on the creation of a new mural in central Phoenix by Berlin-based JBAK.
Love. Art. Family. Rebirth. All of them converge in one place in central Phoenix as James Bullough and Addison Karl, the American-born and Berlin-based graffiti artist duo known as JBAK, create a stunning piece of public art as part of the revitalization of a high-rise office building into a creative hub. Chris Nieto, who commissioned an Addison Karl mural on his downtown Phoenix building a year prior, was enlisted by JBAK to find a building owner willing to commission another work. Nieto connected with building owners and developers Tim O’Neil and Bob Karber, whom recently purchased an office high-rise on a very busy intersection in Downtown Phoenix. O’Neil and Karber saw this as a rare opportunity to commission a very special piece of public art and jumped on the opportunity to commission the artists to paint a mural.
O’Neil and Karber suggested painting local Phoenicians as the subject matter, which excited JBAK. Karl chose his Grandma Maxine as one subject, and O’Neil suggested Nieto as the other. As the project unfolded, it became more than just a piece of public art. It became an expression of love not only for painting, but for family and friends as well.
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0.018552 | <urn:uuid:b6ac4aaa-6780-4e2d-93bd-1e4d0185130f> | en | 0.926199 | Encryption Manager
Encryption Manager
1,000 - 5,000 downloads
Add this app to your lists
Encryption Manager is a file manager, that offers a comfortable and secure way to keep files with confidential data encrypted using AES or Twofish encryption on your storage (internal storage, external SD card, USB storage).
A master password is both used to access the application and to encrypt the encryption keys, that are generated randomly for each file. Confidential files are accessible directly after the login. With one click on the file, the file is decrypted to a user defined location and can be shown by an installed app for this file type. When you are finished working with the decrypted copy, the file is re-encrypted either automatically or with one confirmation click and the decrypted file is wiped from the storage. This wipe process will overwrite the data with random bytes before the file is deleted. So even if the device is lost or stolen, it is not possible to access your confidential data.
Encrypting new files is very simple: they can be chosen either with the built-in file manager or by simply using the Android "send/share" function from another app.
Keywords: file encryption, data encryption, file manager, crypto, SD card, encryption algorithm, AES, Twofish
* Access based on master pin or master text password.
* Encrypts all kind of files or folders.
* Base functionality of a file manager (view on click, send/share menu), but with automatic decryption before the action.
* Offers AES and Twofish encryption with 128 and 256 bit keys.
* Status tracking: Displays icons to indicate whether a file is currently decrypted or was changed.
* User setting for automatic re-encryption on exit.
* Secure overwrite of the orginal file after the encryption.
* Provides a special handling for images or office document to delete e.g. also gallery thumbnail images.
* Additional anti file recovery tool included.
* Two layout modes: flat list view or hierarchical folder view.
* Provides a backup and restore mechanism, e.g. for backup to cloud storage (Dropbox, Google Drive, ...)
* Can be configured to delete all managed files the after 7 unsuccessful attempts.
* Has an "Exit" menu on all screens, that closes the app completely.
* App is locked (master password must be re-entered), when there is no user input for configurable period.
* Includes english help pages.
* English
* German
* French
* Russian
* The "lite" version is limited to 5 encrypted files!
* The full version has no limitations.
Tags: encryption manager, twofish, encryption, how to view files encrypted on droid x sd card, twofish encryption, encryption twofish, crypto, best encryption, encryption manager for anriod, enable twofish crypto algorithm.
Recently changed in this version
Version 4.2
* An additional option was added, to validate the encryption process.
* An additional option was added to show icon files for encrypted images and videos (to use the feature on existing files, you must re-encrypt them).
Comments and ratings for Encryption Manager
• (78 stars)
by nhoj htims on 22/11/2014
If you have a lot (thousands) of files to encyrpt look elsewhere.
• (78 stars)
by Andrew Hodges on 20/09/2014
Does job well.
• (78 stars)
by Kalin Aleksandrov on 16/07/2014
Note3 -encryption manager v.4.1. Encrypted files remains for vewing by everybody.Nobody answers these questions!Why?
• (78 stars)
by Teodor Hadjiev on 02/06/2014
This app is exactly what I was looking for. A manager to almost automatically manage sensitive files on my phone. Also many programs don't sport proper encryption for their databases (K-9 etc.) which is a shame, and this program can be used for this purpose. 5 stars for now.
• (78 stars)
by Ano Theruser on 17/03/2014
UPDATE edit: does not work with FNAD kitkat 4.4.2 sg tw rom.
• (78 stars)
by Oscar Santos on 11/02/2014
I encrypted a large portion of files in my sd card and when trying to open or unencrypt the file there was "error 20" message for some of the files and the file was gone! Could not get the file back and lost my information, Sent a message to the developers of the app and I am still waiting for their response
• (78 stars)
by Hir Oni on 21/12/2013
I encrypted the pictures and video and it is fine, but when un-encrypted the file and see them from Gallery, I could see them. but after encrypted them again, all the files that supposed to delete, it shows in Gallery. I have Samsung 3S. It only hide them once and I have to delete them old one?? | http://www.appszoom.com/android_applications/tools/encryption-manager_xqtg.html?nav=related | dclm-gs1-259650000 |
0.186619 | <urn:uuid:af00cf08-917e-48c8-8986-58e10ab81dd4> | en | 0.967719 |
Tags: family, friends, moral, religion, war
Views: 42
Replies to This Discussion
I let them do their own thing without comment and try to be respectful of their beliefs. Of course, I only talk to my older relatives. The younger ones are mainly in love with money and only being showy about god. They don't really deeply believe. They just are very showy and surfacy about religion. I'd rather hang out with people are deep down true believers, because at least we can agree religion is important and something a person should really think about. It's not just something you do to sell something or make yourself popular. I don't believe in following or not following a religion just to get yourself ahead or to keep up with the Jones.
I feel like needing to put "in god we trust" on all the money and forcing showy religion in public prayers a)doesn't get a person anywhere with god and b) is just a way to force one way down the throats of everyone who doesn't agree. I really think all this public show of religion by putting the Ten commandments on government buildings or making school kids pray is just another way of bullying the disagreeing minorities and has nothing to do with true belief. So while I am against forcing little kids to say under god in the pledge, I am not against a private group doing a Bible study or a prayer meeting public building conference room as long as every other group has equal access to that room. For example, I don't think they should have priority over weight watchers or a bird watching society, but if they sign up and wait their without pushing out the garden club or the ladies sewing circle, then I'm cool with it.
My problem comes in when I can't enjoy a photography club or a hiking club without every meeting being started with a prayer. God doesn't have to be infused into absolutely everything. We can (hopefully) take a cooking class or go to a poetry reading without invoking a higher power.
I've heard that American has a different take on secularism - in that other countries see secularism as keeping religion out of the public space - whereas america more sees it more as freedom of speech in the public space for all religions - correct me if I'm wrong.
I've been pursuing social groups that are non religious by nature - such as the atheist society or humanists or skeptics etc. But even in the other groups I was involved with I've never had a group that started with a prayer - unless I was in a religious group as the main purpose. Or with Christian friends at their home - and they haven't been having prayers around us for a while now - since they found out I wasn't religious perhaps. Or maybe there are just getting slack with their own rituals.
My berst friend is an evangelical christian. It made her sad when she found out that I am an atheist but, since then, we don't talk about it. She accepts gay rights so I don't even harp on the fact that it isn't a "lifestyle".
That Christianity isn't a lifestyle? It does seem that a lot of people do just live and let live with their differing believes and don't feel the need to convert their family and friends to their world view.
That being gay isn't a lifestyle.
Oh OK I get you - LOL - like being gay is just something a person chooses - because they thought they would try it out, or it looked cool! I just don't know how these people get through their day thinking like that -
Since I was about 14, whenever a friend or family member has started religious discussion or preaching, I've snorted derisively. When asked why, my response has been for these 50 odd years, "I don't believe any of that religious shit." This usually causes the conversation to drift to other topics.
at least you are able to be yourself - an still be accepted by the sounds also.... I say that to close family too...
Hey, atheists didn't declare war on religion, fundamentalists declared war on atheists. They lie and slander us all of the time. The reason atheism makes your religious friends and family uncomfortable is what they hear about atheists from other theists.
That being said, I'm all for portraying yourself with what you believe (naturalism, or humanism or whatever) versus just atheist. You'll find that naturalism and humanism have a lot of shared ground with most religious people's views, even if their official dogma doesn't. That's the best way in I've found. Don't challenge, for instance, the official Catholic stance to a Catholic. Find out what they believe, and then ask why they are Catholic.
Use common ground to talk the religious, and you'll find people will either respect your position or move their own beliefs more often than before. At least I have.
That makes sense - thanks for the tips - basically take everyone on their own merit and don't make any presumptions...
The other people who responded earlier have it right, for the most part. As was said, there is no war on religion - - the war is by religion, on all others who don't follow their belief, especially on unbelievers. Believers are told what to "know" about outsiders. One thing is that if someone doesn't worship god, then you must be worshiping the devil. Another is that atheists "hate" god. Stephan is right about explaining the common ground to believers, but I would ask the believer a direct question, "What have you been taught/ told about atheists or other religions?" Then you have something to work with.
I do not interfere with rituals/prayers, but I do not respect their beliefs, just their right to have them.
fair enough
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0.019836 | <urn:uuid:968e1230-1741-46f5-9b29-f5a6662f3932> | en | 0.955727 | Yo Yo Honey Singh
No. of Profile Views 46,405
Honey Singh is like a brother: Mika
Movies come and movies go, but his songs stay on the top of the charts for long. From Tu Mere Agal Bagal (Phaata Poster Nikla Hero) to Gandi Baat (R... Rajkumar) and Tooh (Gori Tere Pyar Mein), the year 2013 saw people gyrating to his songs. The 43-year-old singer claims that he is not get insecure by other young singers like Honey Singh. He has also gifted Honey a luxury bike.
“Honey Singh is like a younger brother. I totally support him. He has talent and he’ll rise,” he says. “You know, its people’s love for me. And, of course, God’s grace. I am blessed that people like my songs. I put in a lot of effort in every song I sing. And the thing is that I can sing all kind of songs. Earlier music directors used to tell me, ‘Yaar thoda aur naughtiness la gaane mei’. But they have also realised that I can sing a variety of emotions. So now I get to sing romantic, naughty, sad songs and dance numbers. I also sing in various languages and accents like Tamil, Telugu and all,” says Mika, adding, “In 2014, I want to sing Sufi songs more.”
He gives a very practical view to the new singers while supporting others on the contracts that deprive singers of royalty.
“What Sonu bhai is doing is great. I support him and other singers should support him too because our community will be successful only if we have unity. However, there are two types of singers – the newcomers and the seasoned ones. The established ones should get the royalty, they deserve it. But the newcomers should sing the song even if it’s for free. Because naye singers ki priority break milna hona chahiye,” says Mika who was in the NCR to perform at the MTV Bollyland.
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0.885255 | <urn:uuid:f5088b5d-be72-4015-b6f4-88c920d7fcd2> | en | 0.828572 | 978-0-393-32695-6 / 9780393326956
Why We Do It: Rethinking Sex and the Selfish Gene
Publisher:W. W. Norton & Company
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A major refutation of the almighty status of genes in evolution and human behavior.
Why do people have sex? Is it solely for the purpose of passing on genetic information, or are there other reasons? "A candid, no-punches-pulled interpreter of the core ideas of evolutionary biology" (Science News), author Niles Eldredge unravels the origins of our coital instincts. Whereas other scientists dismiss human sexuality as a helpless response to the same deep-set biological imperatives that govern the behavior of lesser animals, Eldredge points to various examples of customs, taboos, laws, and other cultural forces that run counter to our most primal desires. Directly assaulting the reductionist "selfish gene" theory, whereby sex is reduced to a purely procreative act, Eldredge draws on Darwin's ideas about evolution as well as modern economic theory to describe the delicate cultural and societal interaction that exists between survival, sex, and procreation in the human species. 6 illustrations
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Animals (tags: obama administration, laws, animal welfare, legalisaiton, animal abuse, punishments )
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Animals are living, breathing, feeling creatures. They can feel pain. New stricter laws must be created and enforced to protect poor innocent animals from so called "humans."
China Punishes 13 Officials Over Fake Tiger Photos
Animals (tags: tigers, fake photos, China, punishments, humans, animals, AnimalWelfare, environment, habitat, protection, wildlife, wildanimals )
- 2369 days ago -
China has sacked or given other punishments to 13 local officials who used crudely faked photographs to claim the rare South China tiger had returned to forests in the northern province of Shaanxi, state media said on Monday.
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0.035421 | <urn:uuid:744e2b6d-0742-4eeb-a6b3-f55c574f6dbd> | en | 0.918852 |
The first non-static "Santa Rosa" platform
ECS gives a glimpse into the future
Comments Threshold
RE: oops
By KaPolski on 6/7/2006 6:32:15 AM , Rating: 2
You are wasting energy, that's why you should shut down. Killing the Earth we all live on :D
RE: oops
By TomZ on 6/7/2006 5:12:13 PM , Rating: 2
It's not wasting energy, any more than any other use of electricity. Standby mode saves me time and adds convenience.
When I use the microwave oven, I do that because it is faster than gathering wood and making a fire to heat my food. Would you also consider using a microwave oven wasting electricity?
I think maybe you've been brainwashed by the environmentalists into feeling guilty for everything you do, every bit of energy you use, if you are concerned about standby mode on a laptop.
| http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=2724&commentid=34426&threshhold=1&red=537 | dclm-gs1-260040000 |
0.417866 | <urn:uuid:8f06079c-99fc-42b7-a274-09bc834f3f30> | en | 0.884681 | Sorted by:
Using Linear Regression to Predict an Outcome
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0.066862 | <urn:uuid:9fa7415d-0eab-4204-86d5-80e8c3b529ed> | en | 0.947751 | Skip to main content
"Just Because Day"
"Yes Man"
"Yes Man"
"Just Because Day" inspirational movie
Everyday it’s the same crap. We do tons of things every day of our lives and sometimes so accustomed to the ritual it holds no momentum other than, “because we have to”. If your one of those people whom needs a swift kick in the butt to do something other than your routine and controlled lifestyle than August 27th might just be an opportunity you’ve been secretly awaiting.
The holiday “Just Because Day” is a great reason to let loose and do something completely out of the ordinary or spontaneous. On August 27th go crazy and buy yourself something you normally wouldn’t splurge for, say hello to someone you’ve never had the nerve to speak to, apologize even though you want to be stubborn or just get away for the day. Things that don’t take much effort but can be just as fun; snort when you laugh, skip rather than walk, give a fake name for your Starbucks, sing with the windows down, wear something obnoxiously ridiculous or randomly shout the first thing that comes to mind. If your friends or family call you out on your odd behavior, remind them that it’s “Just Because Day” and they should stop being so uptight and celebrate with you!
Movie Suggestion: “Yes Man” starring Jim Carrey- After being convinced by a colleague to attend an inspirational “Yes!” seminar, Carl a chronic “No” man is suddenly seizing every opportunity that comes his way. While his inability to say no leads him into positive and negative situations there is undoubtedly a whirlwind of comedic episodes. | http://www.examiner.com/article/just-because-day | dclm-gs1-260250000 |
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Games with the best dismemberment mechanics/visuals?
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How reliable is DS3?
Pages: [ 1, 2, 3 ]
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Should I buy a new laptop now or wait for laptops with windows 10?D33p_Inside312/26 9:33AM
Weird Uplay Problem...Wario_man312/26 9:28AM
Screen tearing keeps coming back and please.Grape_Faygo512/26 9:26AM
XBL and PSN are both downRubMyDucky1012/26 9:18AM
Is it possible to transfer a mobo with the cpu and cooler still attached?MortalDanger812/26 9:15AM
HDMI signal from PC to FHDTV. Loses signal / blinks randomly for 1 secondCosmic_Coyote112/26 9:12AM
I know Mechwarrior 4 has been free for quite a while... (Closed)Graviteer512/26 9:07AM
What kind of budget am I looking at to run Skyrim, Shadow of Mordor, FFXIII etc?
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Shelhamer922712/26 9:04AM
Wifi range extenders? Any particularly good ones?SolidDBZ512/26 8:51AM
Hope i'm on the right board. Looking for info about originAmbies_Boy112/26 8:41AM
Has anyone tried installing Windows 8 using an external hard drive?lujjj512/26 8:39AM
Is there a game on PC that made you stop buying that company's games?
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locky7233612/26 8:39AM
How does Ground Zeros
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Fazeo132412/26 8:19AM
Budget Build Parts HelpFate8312/26 7:45AM
Whelp I made my first impulse steam buy.sesshomaru_55412/26 6:55AM
Trying to use microSD card for games, unable to formatDeathSnipe777112/26 6:46AM | http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/916373-pc/66127027?page=3 | dclm-gs1-260380000 |
0.081701 | <urn:uuid:19925fa8-b124-4712-9063-335c416b854c> | en | 0.968185 | CUPERTINO -- Apple (AAPL) has joined Facebook and other leading Internet companies in reporting how many requests for customer information it receives from police and intelligence agencies, but critics complained Monday that the reports still don't give a clear picture of the government's data-gathering.
Silicon Valley's biggest Internet firms have all said they want to provide more information about government data requests, in part to counter recent news reports that suggested U.S. intelligence agencies have broad access to Internet users' information. But faced with restrictions from the government on what can be released, each company has taken a somewhat different tack.
Apple, for example, went beyond other companies in specifying that it doesn't give the government information relating to some specific products -- such as Apple's iMessage and FaceTime chat services, because they are encrypted, or Apple Maps searches and Siri requests, because the company doesn't keep the data in a way that's linked to individual users.
Google (GOOG), which previously has been a leader in disclosing certain kinds of data requests, declined to issue a new report in recent days because it said the government's latest restrictions "would be a step back" from transparency.
As a result, while the disclosures from Apple, Facebook and Microsoft appear to indicate that government requests involve only a small number of the hundreds of millions of people who use each company's services, the reports leave many questions unanswered.
Apple, for example, posted a statement on its website Sunday night that said it received between 4,000 and 5,000 requests for customer data, involving between 9,000 and 10,000 accounts or devices, from all government agencies during the six months that ended in May. The company did not distinguish between requests from national security agencies and those it received from local police who sought help with things like investigating a robbery or finding a missing child -- although Apple said the more mundane police inquiries were "the most common form of request."
Since the reports don't break out the number of requests by category, they're only somewhat helpful, said privacy advocates. "To lump all the requests together tells us something about government access, but to separate them would tell us something more worthwhile," said Jennifer Stisa Granick at the Stanford law school's Center for Internet and Society.
Following those news reports, Facebook, Microsoft and Apple negotiated permission to include FISA requests in their totals. Google, however, said it's still pushing for approval to report national security requests separately from more routine law enforcement matters.
Internet companies have strong motive to show consumers they are pushing back against the government's requests, since news reports about government surveillance threaten to undercut consumer trust that the companies depend on, said Christopher Soghoian at the American Civil Liberties Union.
Critics contend the companies' recent statements have been carefully worded to reassure consumers while leaving some details unsaid.
"Their denials went through several revisions as it become (sic) more and more clear they were misleading and included identical, specific language across companies," Edward Snowden, the former spy agency contractor whose disclosures sparked the controversy, said during a public Internet chat Monday.
Still, he added, "as a result of these disclosures and the clout of these companies, we're finally beginning to see more transparency and better details about these programs for the first time since their inception."
| http://www.insidebayarea.com/breaking-news/ci_23477458/apple-joins-other-tech-companies-detailing-government-requests | dclm-gs1-260450000 |
0.030846 | <urn:uuid:9f57a22b-ea32-4e1a-8a63-511a58d61d5f> | en | 0.961753 | eduardo moises penalver | viewpoint American Pioneers – or ‘Illegals'?
A number of the politicians calling for the criminalization of illegal immigrants might not be aware that they and a good many of their constituents could themselves be direct descendants of people who did some illegal migrating of their own many years ago. Much of the territory of the United States was settled by people — hundreds of thousands of them — who disregarded the law by squatting on public lands.</p> <p>Of course, they had a ready reason for doing so: Like today's immigrants, they were seeking a better life for themselves and their families. Indeed, many of the current residents of the states between the Appalachian and Rocky mountains can trace their roots directly to these onetime criminals — whom we now call "pioneers."</p> <p>In the early decades of the 19th century, the federal government hoped to dispose of public land in its western territories by auctioning it to the highest bidder — typically a northeastern land speculator. But this policy posed a serious obstacle to settlers streaming west in hopes of acquiring cheap land to start a new life. Speculators often held land off the market for years, waiting for prices to increase so they could sell for a hefty profit.</p> <p>Although federal law made it a crime to enter publicly owned land slated for auction, hundreds of thousands of squatters trespassed on this land, as well as on absentee-owned private holdings, and began to farm it illegally. The federal government tried at times to protect the land by sending the Army to clear squatters out, but the settlers would simply return once the soldiers had moved on.</p> <p>Eastern politicians, many of whom dabbled in land speculation, condemned the squatters' defiance of federal law. They accused squatters of being "greedy, lawless land grabbers" who had no respect for law and order. In 1815, President James Madison issued a proclamation warning "uninformed or evil disposed persons ... who have unlawfully taken possession of or made any settlement on the public lands ... to remove therefrom" or face ejection by the Army and criminal prosecution. Henry Clay expressed a widely shared sentiment in 1838 when he dismissed the squatters as a "lawless rabble."</p> <p>But once the squatters managed to put down roots, the federal government found it difficult, both politically and practically, to remove them. Accordingly, on 39 occasions before 1837, Congress enacted retroactive amnesties for squatters illegally occupying federal lands, despite the objection that these amounted to a reward for lawlessness. Ultimately the process of moving from occupation to ownership was fully legalized in the 1862 Homestead Act, which granted free title to settlers who met the statute's residency and improvement requirements. In one of the great ironies of American history, the lawless squatters underwent a dramatic image makeover in our collective memory to become noble pioneers.</p> <p>The lesson for then — and now? When the needs that drive large numbers of people to break the law are strong enough, it's unlikely that official repression will stop them. </p> <p>Who knows? Perhaps in a hundred years, when the heated debate over illegal immigration has long since made way for some other controversy, our grandchildren will watch movies or television shows celebrating the heroism of today's illegal immigrants — or "pioneers."</p> <p>Eduardo Moises Penalver is an associate professor at Fordham Law School, where he teaches courses on property and land use. | http://www.kitsapsun.com/opinion/eduardo-moises-penalver-viewpoint-american-150 | dclm-gs1-260490000 |
0.018649 | <urn:uuid:9304ffa7-3dd4-4c43-af57-c445b5b98c67> | en | 0.970597 | 1. Sawtooth Building
The Sawtooth Building, so named for the 1,500 skylights that jut out from its roof like the serrated edge of a saw, originally housed firearms production, particularly during the Vietnam War, as well as offices. It was redeveloped in 2004, and two-thirds is now leased by data management company... Kenneth R. Gosselin | Hartford Courant | http://www.latimes.com/hc-pictures-the-building-of-colt-armory-comple-001-photo.html | dclm-gs1-260520000 |
0.449193 | <urn:uuid:3c108ff4-df75-4e6e-a96f-5b477cfdd9f5> | en | 0.875649 | 1. Make sure that you have date+time set correctly in your phone settings. Also, you may need to charge your phone to complete next steps.
2. Select Settings > keyboard and tap add keyboards to display the list of keyboard input languages that can be installed.
3. Select your preferred keyboard input language you want to install, to do that tap the checkbox near the language name. Tap done to start downloading.
4. Wait for your phone to finish downloading, then you are notified that An update is ready to install.
5. Tap install and your phone will automatically restart.
6. Wait for your phone to install the update, a new screen stating that the update is ALMOST DONE. Once ready, tap done.
7. The next time you use your keyboard, you will see a button on the bottom row of keys that indicates which language you are currently using on your keyboard. Tap the button to switch between all the languages you have selected. For example, if you usually use a US English keyboard, tap the ENG button, and the keyboard switches to the next language. You can also tap and hold the button to reveal all the languages you have added and then switch to the one you want.
To remove keyboard:
Select Settings > keyboard. Press and hold the input language you no longer need and select remove. | http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/mobile/support/product/lumia925/faq/?action=singleTopic&topic=FA141507 | dclm-gs1-260620000 |
0.042015 | <urn:uuid:ae767aab-2618-48ff-b2d0-5f08b587aa90> | en | 0.962584 | 2008 - %3, September
Acid Oceans Also Noisier
| Tue Sep. 30, 2008 11:25 PM EDT
Increasing atmospheric CO2 increases the acidity of seawater, which allows sounds, like whale calls, to travel farther. Image: (c) 2008 MBARI (Base image courtesy of David Fierstein)
The acidification of seawater due to absorption of atmospheric CO2 is also enabling sound waves to travel farther. That's bad news for marine life, including whales and dolphins, who rely on sound for hunting and communication and who are already stressed by noisy ship traffic and military sonar.
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Election Day Is Deadly
| Tue Sep. 30, 2008 10:27 PM EDT
441px-Accident_Nehoda_Uhersk%FD_Brod_2.jpg American presidential elections change the world. They also have a direct effect on public health. Fifty-five percent of the American population is mobilized to vote. Most rely on motor vehicles to get to a polling place. The result: an 18 percent increase in fatal motor vehicle crashes on presidential election day.
According to new research forthcoming in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the increased risk also extends to pedestrians. It persists across ages, sexes, regions, polling hours, and whether a Democrat or Republican is elected. Believe it or not, election day risks exceed those of Super Bowl Sunday and New Years Eve. Explanations: speed, distance, distraction, emotions, unfamiliar pathways to polls, and the potential mobilization of unfit drivers. (What about unfit candidates? Fear of them drives me faster to the polls.)
The investigators looked at all US presidential election days in the past 32 years, starting with Jimmy Carter. They also examined the Tuesday immediately before and immediately after election days as controls. The average presidential election leads to ~24 deaths from motor vehicle crashes. . . Talk about the ultimate sacrifice. All the more reason to make sure your candidate is really worth it.
Cleaning Up the Rot
| Tue Sep. 30, 2008 7:03 PM EDT
CLEANING UP THE ROT....Atrios on the credit crisis:
CNBC just said what most aren't: the reason why interbank lending rates are so high is because banks don't trust each other. The reason they don't trust each other is they don't know how much and which pieces of big shitpile they own.
Yep. That's why having the Treasury Department buy up all those toxic assets is probably a good idea. Recapitalization isn't enough if it leaves banks still owning securities with values so variable that it's too risky to lend to them anyway. We need to get that stuff off their balance sheets in order to make their financial position more transparent and we need to increase their capital base (which the Paulson plan accomplishes by paying above-market prices for the toxic sludge in return for a guarantee of equity down the road if the sludge eventually has to be sold at a loss). That combination has a better chance of working than either one alone.
And why is the toxic sludge so hard to value? Can't we just make banks open their books and provide detailed information on all this stuff? Sure. But you've still got two problems. First, in the later days of the mortgage free-for-all, mortgages were packaged up with no documentation at all. So no one, not even the banks, knows for sure just how good or bad their mortgage portfolios are. Second, even if we knew that, their value would still depend on how much farther down home prices have to go. And that's anyone's guess.
So: get this crap out of the banking system, where it's causing systemic rot. Recapitalize the financial industry. Get equity guarantees in return to protect against future losses. And then hold your breath and hope it's enough.
House to Voters: Please Stop Emailing Us
| Tue Sep. 30, 2008 5:45 PM EDT
So much for taxpayer feedback on the House's failure to pass the $700 billion bailout plan. If you email your Rep. right now, here's the automated raspberry you'll likely get in return:
Subject: House of Representatives is limiting constituent email due to volume
Please be advised that the House of Representatives is currently imposing limits on inbound communications from constituents because volumes are so high that Congressional websites and web forms are becoming non-responsive. A limit on the number of emails that can be sent via the "Write Your Rep" web form system (the software that a majority of Representatives use to power their web forms) is being imposed during peak email traffic hours. Clients may want to adapt their campaign timing or switch contact methods (to phone) to avoid delivery disruptions due to these limits. The throttling is dynamic, so unfortunately there is no simple guidance we can offer that will ensure delivery. The throttling is likely to remain in place until the end of the current legislative session.
More Notes on the Bailout
| Tue Sep. 30, 2008 5:39 PM EDT
MORE NOTES ON THE BAILOUT....Nathan Newman has a pretty good post over at TPMCafe defending the bailout legislation. Take a look. Among other things, he notes that we're bailing out Wall Street on an ad hoc basis already and creating an exclusive troika of megabanks in the process. Whatever its weaknesses, the bailout legislation is probably a better deal than allowing this to continue.
And while we're on the subject, here's a question: assuming the bailout eventually passes, how good a deal are taxpayers likely to get when Henry Paulson starts doling out his $700 billion? The conventional wisdom across a remarkably wide ideological spectrum is that Paulson is a creature of Wall Street and will end up offering sweetheart deals to all his old pals when he begins buying up their troubled assets. But this deserves a closer look.
See, Paulson is a creature of Wall Street. And the way you become successful on the Street is not just by being the smartest guy in the room, but by being the toughest guy in the room; the guy who drives harder bargains than anyone else and always comes out on top. The top execs on Wall Street might be arrogant, they might be crazy, and they might be greedy, but they play a testosterone-fueled game to win. This is practically their religion.
Paulson now works for the United States Treasury, but his instincts are the same as always: even if for no other reason than to boost his own ego, he's going to want to drive the hardest bargains possible — and the weaker the opponent, the harder he'll push.
Don't believe it? Take a look at the Fed/Treasury actions so far. Was the Bear Stearns rescue a sweetheart deal? No. In fact, the original $2 per share terms were so onerous that JP Morgan, which bought Bear, eventually raised the offer voluntarily. And what about Lehman Brothers? Would a Wall Street crony have let Lehman fail? Nope. The next day AIG was rescued, but read this and tell me if you think AIG got any kind of break in return for its $85 billion loan. They didn't. AIG got hammered.
Now, these have been a combination of Fed and Treasury actions, and their track record on other bailouts has been mixed. And I'd be happier if the bailout bill had even more oversight and tighter restrictions on equity sharing than it does. But that aside, the evidence suggests that the Treasury and the Fed are hardly a bunch of pushovers. They deserve to be watched like hawks, but when everything is said and done, I wouldn't be surprised to see them demanding some pretty harsh terms.
"The Rulers of the Exchange of Mankind's Goods Have Failed..."
| Tue Sep. 30, 2008 4:56 PM EDT
Early 1933, when Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave his first inaugural address, was one of the most terrifying times in United States history. More than 10,000 banks had failed, credit had dried up, businesses had gone bankrupt, and the jobless rate was 25 percent, with another 25 percent underemployed and underpaid.
After telling Americans that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself," FDR went on to describe the causes of the devastating financial crisis, in terms that sound all too familiar today:
"Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.
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Quote of the Day - 9.30.08
| Tue Sep. 30, 2008 4:06 PM EDT
QUOTE OF THE DAY....From Barack Obama, speaking in Nevada today about the financial crisis:
For the rest of today and as long as it takes, I will continue to reach out to leaders in both parties and do whatever I can to help pass a rescue plan. To the Democrats and Republicans who opposed this plan yesterday, I say — step up to the plate and do what's right for this country. And to all Americans, I say this — if I am President of the United States, this rescue plan will not be the end of what we do to strengthen this economy — it will only be the beginning.
Good. That's what he should be saying. Is it politically risky to take a more active role in congressional negotiations — and with it, possibly more responsibility for an unpopular bailout? Maybe slightly. But if you want to be president of the United States, that's what you need to do. And you need to do it for real, not just for the cameras.
The rest of the speech isn't bad either. It could stand to have a little bit punchier explanation of what's going on, but overall, not bad at all.
The Importance of Being Boring
| Tue Sep. 30, 2008 2:47 PM EDT
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING BORING....Barack Obama has another 2-minute ad running. Jonathan Stein says it's pretty dull ("I tuned out at 0:42"), but that being dull is the whole point:
Obama is presenting himself as the boring choice in this financial crisis. To the extent that boring correlates with responsible, adult, and steady, Obama wins. And with Obama's poll numbers looking the way they are, that appears to be a correlation worth betting on.
I think I'd take this even further, addressing Ross Douthat's surprise that Obama won last week's debate at the same time. The key insight is this: lots of ordinary viewers enjoy a bit of policy wonkishness. We political junkies, even those of us who enjoy policy discussions, don't. We've heard it a million times before.
But most viewers haven't, and they find it kind of interesting, the same way they mostly liked Bill Clinton's endless laundry list State of the Union addresses. They don't hear this kind of thing very often, and when they do it's a nice change of pace from the daily soundbites on the evening news, which are hard to put together into a coherent understanding of what each candidate stands for. Hearing it all in one piece is a bit of a revelation.
Needless to say, this can be overdone. And a financial crisis is an unusually good time for a sober, wonky address to the voters. But we shouldn't be too surprised that it works well both in ads and in debates. Voters like being treated like adults more than most of us give them credit for.
Where's Main Street?
| Tue Sep. 30, 2008 1:21 PM EDT
WHERE'S MAIN STREET?....Matt asks a question:
Here's what I don't understand about either the politics or the policy of the bailout failure. If the situation is as dire as Kevin Drum says then where's corporate America? That swathe of American business that isn't in the finance and housing sectors. ExxonMobil, Wal-Mart, Proctor & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, Google, Chevron, etc.
Actually, I've been wondering the same thing. Here are two guesses.
First, these guys all thought the bill was going to pass. Sure, there'd be lots of grandstanding and high drama, but in the end they figured everyone would act like adults and understand that allocating money to buy a fire hose is a good idea when the economy is on fire. So there wasn't a big sense of urgency.
Second, they might have been sensitive to the possibility that their support would just make things worse. Saving "Main Street," to most Americans, means the dry cleaners down the street, not ExxonMobil. They're mad enough already about bailing out Wall Street, and if they thought they were bailing out ExxonMobil too — well, that might just be the last straw.
Anyway, those are just guesses. But I'll bet there's way more business lobbying going on behind the scenes today than there was last week. That might make the difference if the House takes up the bill again on Wednesday.
McCain and bin Laden
| Tue Sep. 30, 2008 12:59 PM EDT
McCAIN AND BIN LADEN....Our story so far: Barack Obama says that if he had actionable intelligence about Osama bin Laden's whereabouts in Pakistan, he'd take him out. John McCain says that's naive and reckless. Then, a couple of days ago while ordering a cheesesteak, Sarah Palin jumped in and said she'd take him out too. Huh? So on Monday Katie Couric asked the two of them whether Palin had gone off the reservation. Answer: that's a silly gotcha question. The issue isn't whether McCain/Palin take out bin Laden, it's whether they'd say that they're willing to take out bin Laden. "Never would our administration get out there and show our cards to terrorists," Palin said, "in this case to enemy, and let them know what the game plan is."
Got that? They'd do it, but they'd never publicly say they were going to do it. But Judah Grunstein points us to this interview with McCain from a year ago:
Q: So if you were president and you knew that bin Laden were over there, you had a target spotting, you could nail him, you'd go get him?
So long ago, before all of this nonsense hit the campaign trail, McCain himself was saying the exact same thing as Obama: if we knew where bin Laden was, of course we'd take him out — and then pick up the pieces afterward. Needless to say, this will come as no surprise to the government of Pakistan, which has never been under any illusions about this. (And neither have the terrorists, regardless of what Palin burbles about it.) But it's a useful attack line for McCain, so I guess we'll keep hearing it. | http://www.motherjones.com/Blogs/2008/09 | dclm-gs1-260630000 |
0.026502 | <urn:uuid:2d284299-6d85-4e89-a0f9-cbb1d82fce7b> | en | 0.950018 | The Corner
The one and only.
The Pontiff and The Eurobabblers
Impossible though it may be to quote a papal condemnation of the war in Iraq, lots of emails quoted statements against the war by Vatican officials other than the Pontiff, notably by Cardinal Soldano, the secretary of state, Cardinal Martino, the Vatican’s permanent observer at the United Nations, and the former nuncio to the United States, Cardinal Laghi. “What does it matter,” one correspondent asked, “that the Pope himself didn’t condemn the war if his agents did?”
It matters a lot.
No one in the Church has any standing or authority that even approaches that of the Pope, as Soldano, Martino, and Laghi themselves understand. Read their anti-war statements carefully and you’ll find them making it clear that they’re speaking for themselves or for “the Vatican,” by which they mean the secretariat of state—that is, the Vatican diplomatic corps—but never directly on behalf of John Paul II.
When Church officials speak as diplomats, moreover, the faithful owe them no more allegiance than they would to any other diplomats. In perfectly good conscience, in other words, a Catholic may conclude just what I have concluded, namely that Soldano, Martino, and Laghi have spent the last couple of years talking nonsense, all three suggesting that a war can prove just only if condoned by the United Nations, without, however, helping the faithful to grasp, a) how the question of justice is affected by having an action ratified by a body, two-thirds of whose membership is made up of dictators, oligarchs, and nickel-and-dime tyrants, or, b) why the same Vatican diplomats opposed the first Gulf War, even though that action was indeed condoned by the United Nations.
With a clear conscience and in perfect justice, it is possible to say of Soldano, Martino, and Laghi what would be quite wrong to say of the Pope: That they deserve no more respect or consideration than Dominique de Villepain or any other practitioner of mere Eurobabble. | http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/91558/pontiff-and-eurobabblers/peter-robinson | dclm-gs1-260680000 |
0.068946 | <urn:uuid:6743860a-2054-4e29-a61c-6e64cc7daae9> | en | 0.934774 | Find better matches with our advanced
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27 Uncasville, CT Man
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Other, and laughing about it
Leo, and it’s fun to think about
Graduated from masters program
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Doesn’t have kids, but might want them
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My self-summary
Write a little about yourself. Just a paragraph will do.
I am nonchalant and silly most of the time. I identify with Taoism, and subsequently Buddhism, because it allows me to overcome the pressures I feel in life, and I try to stay centered, aware, and present here and now.
"The universe isn't unhappy, it's simply in a state that is subject to constant change. Our suffering is only in that we try and create permanence in an ever-changing reality that has none."
However, you're here to figure some things out about me!
Life's too short to hide yourself from being known. Our flaws define us as much as our strengths don't.
Keith's Flaws:
-I am a human being - Just like everyone else
-I'm an INTJ - works at work, not so much outside of work. Rationality doesn't give too many warm fuzzies.
-I am ridiculously warm. You would not snuggle me in summertime.
-If you get irrationally upset about some things on a fairly regular basis we will not work.
-I need to help. I show love through service and if it's not appreciated or valued I will feel unsafe with further emotional investment.
-I do not enjoy arguing about senselessly about things. I understand there is a 'conflict mountain' for some subjects, but if the points are made and the arguments have merit, and the conversation is going nowhere, I will make this fact prevalent and then resign.
-I do not like getting crafty with things. This goes back to the INTJ bit... I'm a pretty functional person. I do appreciate visual beauty/quality though, I just do not appropriate time to develop the skill sets if I'm not doing them with someone else. If I don't like it, I want a buddy system. That makes it good.
-I am very uncomfortable with uncertainty until I have an appropriate sample size (re:probability of outcome)
-If something stresses me out I need to resolve it ASAP.
-I have high expectations of myself which cause me to push myself to do things I don't want to do, mainly because the reasons why I shouldn't aren't substantial enough. RE: higher education, picking up slack at work for others and covering up for them.
-I don't like collecting stuff. Most material things don't really hold much meaning or importance to me if they don't offer up some functionality or make my life easier in a way.
-I suck at decorating
-Logical and reasonable...
-Honest to a fault
-Exceptionally appreciative of anything that supplements or makes up for the flaws above. I love artsy types and a woman who can make a house into a home
-Adaptive and inventive
-Can write you a love song and play/sing it for you
-Recognizes patterns and can correct or pull them out and make them obvious so we can laugh at them.
-Has a cuddle quota that must be met.
-More than capable of being a dummy about something really simple just because it's funny.
-Really, really ridiculously silly. This might be a flaw.
-Will not end up an overweight 40 year old because I refuse to let it happen. I want arms like the guy from Thor, working on it...
-Has all the gear and the enthusiasm for extended hikes/camping trips/wilderness survival
-Will never be financially irresponsible
-Will cook, serve, and clean the dishes if he has someone to talk with.
-Can learn how to do most things
-Will remember all the dumb things you like (toothpaste brands, favorite cereals, preferences for detergents etc etc) because it's important.
-Can fix your computer
-Won't ever be your deadbeat ex boyfriend.
What I'm looking for: Someone who craves knowledge and understanding, takes good care of their self, has their life together or at least pointed towards a goal/dream, and is able to bust my chops on the regular with a smile on their face.
What I’m doing with my life
-Working doing business analysis, systems design and developement, and writing code 50+ hours a week (if I can).
-Working out 3 days a week, bro-split push/pull/legs.
-Consuming way too much caffeine.
-Buying a house, I close in January.
-Waking up at 4:30am and typically getting tired by 9:30pm.
Mentally, on a day to day, I'm just being and working towards contentedness. When you love what you're doing while you do it, the end product just makes itself. This goes for work, life, and relationships.
I’m really good at
Writing poetry, cooking, appreciating people, remembering dumb facts from the internet, repeating said dumb facts from the internet, process improvement, being a smart-ass in order to remind people that anything we have to do can be fun.
The first things people usually notice about me
I’m an empty essay… fill me out!
Either my vocabulary and choice of words, or that I look like Finch from American Pie. Or that I have no filter... well, almost no filter.
Favorite books, movies, shows, music, and food
Help your potential matches find common interests.
Books - Tao Te Ching, East of Eden, Predictably Irrational, Blink, Lieh-Tzu, Atlas Shrugged, Tao of Pooh, Lord of the Rings, I Robot/Foundation Series, Sword of Truth Series.
Movies - Any decent action/comedy/thinking movies
Shows - 30 Rock/Workaholics/Archer/Family Guy
Music - A great big pile of leaves/audiobooks (see what I did there?)/Iron and Wine/Owen/American Football/Kings of Convenience/Taking Back Sunday/Matt Pond PA/The Slip/Koufax/This Town Needs Guns/Toe/Modest Mouse/Brand New/Hum
Food - I love almost everything. Especially anything eastern or spicy. I love food that makes me sweat, Thai spice green beef curry? Yes. Probable death level heat? Awww yiss.
I won't eat anything that is gross if I know about it beforehand. Except haggis, cause for some reason it's delicious. But tripe? Nope. Tendons? So much nope. Rocky Mountain Oysters? Only if you eat one first. And then I'll just laugh at your misfortune/wonder how you didn't know what they were.
The six things I could never do without
Maslow's hierarchy of needs says I need only 5 things.
I spend a lot of time thinking about
Poems from the Tao Te Ching.
How I managed to get locked into a super quiet part of the state because I love the people I work with/for and they love me back.
How to disconnect the physiological meaning of life from the psychological meaning of life.
On a typical Friday night I am
Sometimes in bed and sleeping by 9pm.
Sometimes drinking with buddies.
Sometimes hiding out in a bedroom singing over a guitar.
Looking at the moon and smiling.
The most private thing I’m willing to admit
I’m an empty essay… fill me out!
Oh boy I've lived a few lives already. We'll leave this up for storytime later.
You should message me if
Offer a few tips to help matches win you over.
You've made it this far and you want to collect your prize.
Or you want to give me a prize. I like prizes. | http://www.okcupid.com/profile/kdwct?cf=profile_similar | dclm-gs1-260760000 |
0.045108 | <urn:uuid:0d997109-f91f-48e7-9683-5f921db8eec0> | en | 0.886639 |
Michelle Mckinney - 3 Records Found in Biloxi, MS
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Mitchell L Mckiney
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Ruther Glen, VA
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0.105791 | <urn:uuid:32ef0e97-8ab5-419d-bf28-893c959820ee> | en | 0.963148 | Don't get giddy with Obama scandal fever
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Which scandal to focus on? And how far to press each investigation?
Those are the urgent questions Republican leaders face. Their answers depend on a third question: What do they hope to accomplish?
It would be so easy to succumb to glee. After all, conservatives have tried for years to hinder a president who they believe was always intent on, and has largely succeeded in, significantly expanding the reach of government and therefore changing the very nature of American life.
And they've hardly laid a glove on him. Now they think they finally have Barack Obama and his administration positioned for a little rope-a-dope, and the excitement is palpable.
But Republicans run the same risk they did during the Clinton years, when they threw everything they could at the proverbial wall, waiting for something to stick. And when it finally did, in the form of a soiled blue dress, the public was still more disgusted with the Republican Congress than they were with Bill Clinton.
The voters knew he was a rogue when they elected him. L'affaire Lewinsky was just tawdry confirmation. Plenty of people liked him afterward, too. Whether they identified with his weaknesses or his sad escapades made them feel better about themselves, or the economy was still roaring -- it hardly matters why.
What Republicans have never fully accepted -- despite 2012's outcome -- is that voters know who Barack Obama is, too. If they didn't in 2008, thanks to the mainstream media's complete lack of interest in the candidate's hard-left ideology, the voters knew by 2012, because they'd seen it in action. And a slim majority still didn't care.
Now though, our de facto acceptance of European-style socialism could change. That's because in this new crop of scandals, the voters can see the consequences of leftist thought.
While they can see it in the Justice Department's secret seizure of Associated Press phone records, it's even clearer in the behavior of the nameless, faceless ideologues of our most powerful and frightening bureaucracy, the Internal Revenue Service.
The IRS touches every American's life. That touch will grow heavier with the advent of Obamacare. All voters -- those who pay federal income taxes and those who don't but don't want to see their tax credits disappear with Obamacare's insurance mandate -- may finally question the wisdom of vesting so much power in the IRS.
So now that the public may be paying close attention, what results would Republicans like to see from these disparate scandals?
Holding the House and taking the Senate in 2014? Reversing Obamacare? Gaining the White House in 2016? Overhauling the tax code?
The winning approach to all these goals is to judiciously pursue hearings on the IRS and Justice Department scandals to keep this very real and sobering corruption regularly in the news -- but save Benghazi for 2016.
Benghazi can't hurt the president. If any single person must shoulder blame for those needless American deaths, it is Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose State Department refused Ambassador Chris Stevens' requests for additional security.
Yes, the president went missing during the assault, when lives could probably still have been saved. And at the United Nations, he obliquely blamed an American's anti-Islamic video for inciting the Benghazi violence, knowing full well that this was false.
But Americans know who he is and like him, despite the blame-Americans-first-and-oh-their-misuse-of-free-speech-too philosophy. He's already won a second term, and if the deplorable economy didn't sway voters' minds, this won't.
But former Secretary of State Clinton's indignant cry to an investigative congressional committee, "What difference does it make?" is a cruel question still begging to be answered.
If Ms. Clinton were as savvy as Barack Obama, she would have professed her deep concern about Benghazi, vowed to get to the bottom of it -- and then steered the blame away from herself. That's adept political cynicism.
Instead, Ms. Clinton was inept. It makes her more vulnerable -- and more valuable to Republicans. They need her to survive as the Democratic frontrunner for 2016, when a well-timed Benghazi ad will wreak maximum havoc.
Benghazi is about covering up a bad and deadly decision; the other two scandals are about the abuse of power. The IRS targeting of Tea Party groups and others interested in educating citizens on the Constitution (God forbid!) is very clearly an ideological assault from the left. And DOJ's targeting of the AP roils an important ally, the mighty media, without whose collusion the current Democratic president might never have won office.
This season of political scandal is like winning the lottery, but most lottery winners can tell you it ruined their lives. The Republicans could overplay their hand. If they ever needed party discipline, it is now.
Ruth Ann Dailey:
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0.055392 | <urn:uuid:c3470927-327f-4f20-a0d8-825003e59334> | en | 0.922653 | Effective + Cellulite Treatment
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No matching results | http://www.realself.com/cellulite-treatment/answers/effective | dclm-gs1-261010000 |
0.023203 | <urn:uuid:ca25439d-0e25-4b80-8e9e-69ba81aafa09> | en | 0.976314 | If the far-sighted plan of the Kapur clan had been approved in the 1990s, Rex would have been not just Bangalore’s but India’s first multiplex
You’ve heard the phrase ‘the magic of the movies’, it’s nothing new. But a movie theatre, too, can bring you a magical experience. I had one last week. Turned me into a regular Alice falling down the rabbit-hole, it did. You’ll never guess what happened, so I might as well tell you.
I was invited to a seminar at Rex Cinema, the last surviving single-screen hall in the Hollywood archipelago around M.G. Road. (Newcomers to our city may not know that Blu Moon, Blu Diamond, Galaxy and Plaza bit the dust; Lido and Symphony morphed into multiplexes; BRV’s lease ran out; Liberty, Opera and Imperial were early casualties; and they all used to specialise in English films.) Down Brigade Road I hurried, turning sharply into the gate (I was late), racing through the parking lot, up two steps to the doorway where a grey-haired face from the past recognised me. “You know where it is?” he asked, with not the slightest doubt why I was there. When I hesitated he continued, “I’ll take you.”
We walked in the darkness past the closed doors of the auditorium from where a faint, muffled soundtrack issued forth. Turn right, down the long corridor leading to the toilets — familiar ground, for I had been to virtually a million screenings here, and I believed I knew every inch of the building. Then we stopped at a large blue door on the left wall at the far end of the corridor. It had always remained locked. “Go in,” he gestured.
I pushed apart the panels of the heavy blue door, expecting to find a room with people in it, but stepped out into empty space instead. A few feet ahead of me was another door in a distempered wall, which I opened. Here it is at last, I thought, the seminar room. And what do I find? Myself in the compound of an ancient bungalow on Rest House Crescent Road! If I’d stumbled upon a pair of Bart Simpson’s shorts that said “Eat me” I couldn’t have been more thunderstruck. Not in all my 35 years in Bangalore had I known that the theatre had a secret passage.
I later learnt that the theatre manager lived in this bungalow once upon a time. Right now, I could see a computer printout with the word ‘Now Showing’ in block letters, taped onto the facade. ‘Seminar’ was too formal a word for what was in progress in the living room — a combination of academic discussion and reminiscence. The exercise was organised by teenaged students doing an oral history project. Academicians spoke of how old cinemas were democratic urban spaces whereas multiplexes shut out the lower classes. Old-timers remembered the films they’d seen at Rex (and others in the archipelago), and Premchand’s encyclopaedic memory knocked the socks off everyone. He had also brought film strips with him — to show the youngsters, in particular: a 70 mm strip (of frames of Sigourney Weaver in Alien) and a 35 mm strip with black lines indicating the soundtrack. A wide-eyed student, who had evidently grown up in the digital era and had never seen a projector, could not visualise the strip rolling, and asked where the soundtrack was “encoded”!
Lapping it all up was owner Anil Kapur who shared his own memories. He said casually, of the bungalow, “My parents were married here.” As for the theatre, he used to bunk classes and sneak in there until his uncle caught him at it one day. The truant grew up to join his uncle Kamal Kapur in the business, and today he is one of the directors of the company. I felt the evening would not be complete until I had embarrassed AK by announcing to the gathering that, in the 1990s, he had dressed up in a Batman outfit as publicity for the movie. Many in the audience had fallen for the act, believing this was Michael Keaton in the flesh despite the rather shaky American accent that AK had endowed the superhero with.
Mamaji was recalled by many — that polite, frail man who looked as if a sudden gust of air would tip him over, but who ruled the place with an iron fist. He would open the counter only when a long queue had formed, so that it would tempt passersby to buy tickets for what appeared to be a highly popular movie. He identified touts and kept them at bay. Once, a tout managed to get in and occupy a seat. Mamaji walked up to him and slapped him hard. He left quietly, without a squeak.
The inevitable question at the end of the evening was, “Multiplex or not?” If the far-sighted plan of the Kapur clan had been approved in the 1990s, Rex would have been not just Bangalore’s but India’s first multiplex. Now that the mall-multiplex formula was all-pervasive, AK wanted to be unique. His personal vision for the property that stretched from 12 Brigade Road to 169 Rest House Crescent: a cinema built in the colonial style with a few rows of cheaper seats for the common man, a rooftop garden, a meeting place, walkways, trees aplenty... Sounded like a pipedream.
As I listened to him I hoped it would turn out to be more than a fairytale set in Wonderland.
(Send your feedback to [email protected]) | http://www.thehindu.com/features/cinema/movieing-with-the-times/article5019103.ece | dclm-gs1-261280000 |
0.199399 | <urn:uuid:bf36bade-850e-4607-a6ea-8055de9b3f43> | en | 0.976554 | View Single Post
Old November 29 2009, 09:08 PM #46
Rear Admiral
Re: Is Fringe any good?
TheMasterOfOrion wrote: View Post
No, IMO the show is too long.
It has been on the air less than two seasons. How is that too long? We aren't talking a show that has run itself into the ground and has tapped into all it potential and is just grasping like TXF. Quite the opposite--I'd argue that its greatest failing is the fact that it hasn't tapped into its full potential yet choosing instead to rely on well worn formulaic drivel.
I got through a season of a half of Lost and then cursed the show, his Alias was even worse.
LOST does take some adjusting to. You really have to be dedicated and patient. So for the most part I don't mind having to wait years for a storyline to be resolved--it allows for much more depth, some interesting twists and turns and the exhilaration when the payoff finally occurs. As a big LOST fan I'll freely admit it there were periods that just dragged on with no answers, however, sticking with the show and enduring the prolonged wait for the payoffs so far has been well worth it. And in hindsight you can understand now why certain threads required to be pushed to the side and seemingly forgotten so the writers could introduce other threads that beautifully dovetail into one another and make so much sense in retrospect with everything else. Had they given us the answers too soon it would have spoiled the payoffs and answers that were to come.
Unlike TXF and other shows like The Dead Zone that really have no idea of where everything is ultimately going so they continuously add new freshly conceived elements leading to a messy drawn out unsatisfying arc LOST actually appears to have a vision guiding it.
startrekwatcher is offline Reply With Quote | http://www.trekbbs.com/showpost.php?p=3626856&postcount=46 | dclm-gs1-261340000 |
0.102658 | <urn:uuid:b39fddc4-b0f3-4280-9322-bede30e1c44f> | en | 0.983212 | Spartak Moscow's Torbinsky tells Celtic: You're not very good
Spartak Moscow midfielder Dmitry Torbinsky says they should've hammered five past Celtic in last week's Champions League qualifier first-leg.
"Based on the game in Moscow, I wouldn't say that Celtic are a team of a very high level," said the midfielder. "Basically, they didn't show anything; they spent most of the game defending and only managed two attacks.
"To their credit they made the most of their chance. In terms of initiative, the momentum, the quality of play, there's no question who was number one. It's just annoying that we didn't score another three or four goals."
Meanwhile, Spartak's goalscorer Roman Pavlyuchenko believes Celtic were spared defeat thanks to some poor decision-making from German referee Herbert Fandel.
"I'm devastated about the goal being disallowed. It was a good strike. There was no offside," he said.
Pavlyuchenko, who scored a hat-trick as Spartak thrashed Krasnodar Kuban 4-0 to stay top of the Russian Premier League yesterday, added: "God took away our victory in Moscow. He will give it back next time."
Have your say | http://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/spartak-moscows-torbinsky-tells-celtic-youre-not-very-good-143703 | dclm-gs1-261350000 |
0.295758 | <urn:uuid:050ebec2-7e82-413b-9f7d-bbdb25417064> | en | 0.953112 | A skin color - the majority in the United States - which is apparently considered a negative quality by many, including those who are white themselves but consider themselves to be "not that white". Associated with poor dancing skills and general nerdiness. For a black person to be called white is considered highly insulting.
Essentially, if "black" were used the way "white" was, we would still be living in the 50s.
Example 1:
Tom (white guy): (dances poorly)
Jerry (also white): Tom, you're so white.
Example 2:
Doug (white guy): what are you doing on your computer?
Jeffrey (black guy): reading manga and listening to metal.
Doug: you're so white, Jeffrey.
by LesbianSeagull22(left wing) March 11, 2011
People with lighter skin than black and orange people. We're not worse than any other race, we're just as bad. It's 2004 and we still categorize by skin colour. Sad
"if I sit in the sun I might change colour"
by foyf February 24, 2004
an adjective,
to foresee and act in advance of
to be ahead of in doing or accomplishing
characteristic of or benefiting a friend
That's white of you.
Well, hey that's pretty white of ya!
by Vicky Bryson October 04, 2006
"White" as referring to the stereotypical characteristics of individuals belonging to the Caucasian ethnic group or white race.
The term "White" is predominately used by ethnic minority groups to negatively describe others who are perceived to have characteristics of the White dominate group.
"White" can be used as a synonym for uncool.
If a person can not dance, sing, is uncoordinated, overly concerned with academics etc.
You are so white.
by snakeeyes2007 April 11, 2009
the descriptions of styles regarding: clothing, music, activities, language and other things that had origins in the caucasian community.
Alternative music is such a White thing.
by dizz13r November 04, 2011
1. The color
2. Slang for what race one is
3. A slang for cocaine
antonym of black
I'll have 'White' and weed.
by bobaby August 12, 2010
Females with extreme levels of annoying, quirky, and attention-desiring behavior. Generally, people who are considered white are not actually caucasian. They can be recognized by mood swings, high starbucks consumption, and very low ass ratings.
These people generally have names such as Lyndsey, Katy, and Michelle.
"Dude that girl Michelle is so white,"
"Yeah, her ass is like a 3 out of 10 too."
by VaginaBob June 17, 2014
Free Daily Email
| http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=White&page=2 | dclm-gs1-261390000 |
0.151507 | <urn:uuid:d0e99c26-b0a6-467f-b38e-50e764d77e28> | en | 0.972702 | Think you know everything you need to know about your man? The experts say a great relationship requires really knowing what makes their partner tick. Whether your romance is new or decades long, there are still ways to strengthen your love. All it takes is being aware of crucial bits of information guaranteed to take your connection to another level. Check out the 10 things every woman should know about her man:
1. What makes him feel needed. Some guys love to fix things while others don't even own a hammer. Take time to figure out what makes him feel helpful and like his presence makes a positive impact in your life.
2. What really helps him relax. Watching those Law & Order reruns may be your favorite thing to do after work, but don't drag him into it. He needs to unwind too. Encourage him to do what he enjoys during the little downtime he has.
For the 8 other things every woman should know about her man, head over to The Stir. | http://www.wetpaint.com/moms/articles/10-things-every-woman-should-know-about-her-man | dclm-gs1-261410000 |
0.028377 | <urn:uuid:97be962f-d314-41b3-a828-c47199ba2f9c> | en | 0.966309 | The Snoring Issue
by Amy Brightfield | Comments
In our April 1st issue we wrote about how to help your husband
or partner stop snoring. This came from a personal place since every night I
feel like I'm trying to sleep in the middle of a train station! I start
worrying about how loud the snorts will be the minute my head hits the pillow.
It's gotten so bad that my husband has spent many nights sleeping on a mattress
next to my three-year-old!
Experts usually recommend Breathe Right strips (which did
nada for my husband). He has mentioned the snoring to his doctor, who doesn't
think he has sleep apnea since he's not fatigued during the day.
I've researched other options and even bought them, including
a nasal saline spray. (He's got bad allergies so I'm thinking a post-nasal drip
is causing the log-jamming.) And he's not overweight, so that's not a factor. Thing
is, he's pretty resistant to trying anything besides the strips.
Got any ideas? Any of you dealing with snoring husbands?
-Amy Brightfield, Health Director | http://www.womansday.com/health-fitness/daily-dose/the-snoring-issue-3292 | dclm-gs1-261420000 |
0.075884 | <urn:uuid:ecd42b0f-0312-4939-bfd7-39d29fb53ade> | en | 0.948323 | This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
PFG's Chairman Was Forging Bank Documents For Years Even As The CFTC Gave An "All Clear"
Tyler Durden's picture
If there is an event that should cost Gary Gensler his job as head regulator at the CFTC, it is this. According to a just released Reuters report, the head of MFG(lobal) part 2, PFG, whose story we broke yesterday, Russell Wasendorf Sr. "intercepted and forged bank documents for more than two years to cover up hundreds of millions of dollars in missing money, a person close to the situation." Once Wasendorf realized he was caught, and knew the implications of his actions would be exposed for the whole world to see, he tried to commit suicide, and failed. "Wasendorf, 64, is reported to be in a coma after a suicide attempt Monday morning, according to a complaint filed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Tuesday that accuses Wasendorf and Peregrine of fraud." And while crime happens all the time, what is truly stunning is that as we reported previously, the CFTC gave the firm a clean bill of health in its January inspection of Peregrine Financial Group. That's 6 months ago. The CFTC, as a reminder, was it regulator. The entity whose sole charge is to make sure that firms at least have real, not rehypothecated, cash in their segregated client bank accounts. PFG never did for the past two years. And somehow the CFTC missed this. MF Global was a warning shot, and the CFTC missed it entirely. And not only that but 2 months later ir pronounced PFG clean. For this Gensler has to be fired immediately, and with prejudice.
More from Reuters:
The source offered new details on how Wasendorf allegedly carried out the deceit, which involved the forging of confidential documents that the NFA uses to verify a broker's cash balance with its depository institution.
Wasendorf intercepted these documents after they were mailed by the NFA, the broker's first-line regulator, to U.S. Bank, where PFGBest had said it had well over $200 million on deposit, the person said. The NFA has said the account actually held just $5 million this week.
Wasendorf had set up a post office box in Cedar Falls, Iowa, according to a second person involved in the matter. It was to that post office box that NFA sent the documents, which were addressed to the bank.
The post office box was neither in Wasendorf's name nor registered to the bank, the second person said.
Wasendorf then forged signatures and fabricated bank balances on the documents and simply mailed them back to the Chicago-based NFA, the person said.
Calls to spokespeople for PFGBest and NFA were not returned. A woman who answered the phone at the home of Wasendorf declined to comment.
If anyone deserves some credit here, it is the NFA:
The scheme apparently began to unravel after the NFA began to press Wasendorf, who was an early advocate of electronic trading, to allow the regulator to confirm balances electronically and directly with the bank, rather than in a hard copy via mail, the person said.
NFA "started getting suspicious. He was resisting this new way of confirming the balance," the source said.
Wasendorf only recently signed the authorization, a decision that would quickly have led regulators to uncover the discrepancy, the person said. PFGBest's total segregated funds requirement was around $400 million, meaning more than half is missing.
Finally the spin: PFG is not MFG, it is Madoff.
While news that a second broker in less than a year appears to have misappropriated customer funds drew immediate comparisons to the MF Global failure in October, the source said the prolonged nature of the apparent deceit drew a more fitting parallel to the Ponzi scheme run by Bernard Madoff, though the size of the funds missing from PFGBest is tiny by comparison.
Well thank god for that: the farmers whose money is now forever gone can sleep much better knowing their cash was not Corzined, it was merely Made-off.
Of course, the real problem is that since there was only $5 million in the "client fund", there never likely was more than $5 million in real cash terms to begin with.
And this is what the CFTC signed off on.
Cur Congressional banana hearings, witch trials, and more fingerpointing which will result in more of the same: a former Goldmanite in charge of the CFTC, and virtually no hope that anything in these broken capital markets will ever be fixed until the big reset finally sweeps all this toxic garbage away.
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Comment viewing options
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 21:26 | 2604339 Blankenstein
Blankenstein's picture
These narcissists/psychopaths know what they are doing is wrong, they just don't care.
Wed, 07/11/2012 - 00:01 | 2604824 TerraHertz
TerraHertz's picture
Rich sociopath or rich spoilt... does this terminology quibble matter in any practical way? I don't think so.
If it does, maybe we could allocate them to different colored lamposts, when that time arrives.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:35 | 2603829 mobtown
mobtown's picture
The CFTC website lists all of their phone numbers, let's ask them wha hapon?
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 19:07 | 2603917 cougar_w
cougar_w's picture
Yeah and you'll end up on a no-fly list with Osama BinLaden. Or worse, the TSA will catch you in a crosswalk some day and make you submit to a cavity search.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 19:17 | 2603987 Angus McHugepenis
Angus McHugepenis's picture
Obama (sorry... OSAMA) was on the no fly list? That worked out well. Probably why he never flew commercial after that. Can you imagine his embarassment trying to go through customs?
Can the TSA set up check points on the Afghan border? I'd love to see their faces as they get an elderly Afghany to dismount his mule and drop his pants and he's packing a Stinger in his shorts!
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:36 | 2603832 bdc63
bdc63's picture
In a comma my ass ... I'm sure he is just vacationing in the Hamptons with Corzine and da boyz ...
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:57 | 2603921 Angus McHugepenis
Angus McHugepenis's picture
He tried to commit suicide by standing under a falling $400 million but realized his error when only $5 million bounced off his head. However, it was enough to cause a coma as he passed out, and delay any future testimony before fellow thieves.
According to his math he is now one of the 98%.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 19:05 | 2603954 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture
Typo of the Day!
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 20:43 | 2604202 Yes_Questions
Yes_Questions's picture
In A comma da vida
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:37 | 2603846 LostAtSea
LostAtSea's picture
"When a society establishes criminals-by-right and looters-by-law, men who use force to seize the wealth of disarmed victims, then money becomes its creators' avenger. Such looters believe it safe to rob defenseless men, once they've passed a law to disarm them. But their loot becomes the magnet for other looters, who get it from them as they got it. Then the race goes, not to the ablest at production, but to those most ruthless at brutality. When force is the standard, the murderer wins over the pickpocket. And then that society vanishes, in a spread of ruins and slaughter."
No one holding your money is to be trusted. My friend just lost his business because his trading capital was held at PFGBest.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:45 | 2603887 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture
Hold on to your rage. Give it space. Let it grow.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 20:50 | 2604217 redguard
redguard's picture
Whos' quote? Thank you.
Wed, 07/11/2012 - 00:08 | 2604844 TerraHertz
TerraHertz's picture
Francisco's Money Speech, Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand.
A little google told me so.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:38 | 2603850 LeBalance
LeBalance's picture
Once again the "source" paints the intrepid story of the lone gunman perched atop his or her lone lockout in complete isolation. Act alone he did. No one else knew of his forgery. Wasn't part of a collective effort. Those types of Theories are all wet.
I will put on my "I fucking believe this drivel scenario" smile and like it.
yes yes I will.
like fucking hell i will.
cockroaches DO NOT act in isolation.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:40 | 2603857 Benjamin Glutton
Benjamin Glutton's picture
While I appreciate the sentiment I fail to see how firing Gensler will alter standard operating procedure for the club.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 19:53 | 2604097 cougar_w
cougar_w's picture
Ah. Someone who actually gets it.
Tell us, what do you think the club makes of the death of money? Surely that has some of them backed up a bit, eh wot? They can print all the fiat paper they want but there is only so much asset to go around in a finite world. All that excess money not tied to assets is about to fall from the host and die, perhaps the club is a tad nervous there.
Or not. As a group they are not strictly speaking the sharpest tools in the shed, seems to me. Favored and influential certainly. But lacking a certain -- well swiftness I think is the term I'm looking for here.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:42 | 2603866 Blagio
Blagio's picture
Perhaps Mr. Gensler was having a seizure and unaware of what was happening when the CFTC signed off.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:44 | 2603869 Whiner
Whiner's picture
Writers, please have some respect for this tortured man's family. Think of them before you judge so harshly. Wife will have to settle with bankruptcy trustee retaining only 28M$ mansion and $100M in liquid investments. His son may commit Madoff like suicide. Others may withdraw from Chote or Exeter. What of them? The shame, the shame! Is it not enough to bear? Whazzat? Hang them too? Oh my. Where is ZH civility. Tyler! Help!
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:43 | 2603870 sitenine
sitenine's picture
Fraud is not rampant in the system. The system IS fraud. Why do people continue to participate? I don't understand why anyone still expects that what is 'owed' them will ever be paid back. Even if it was paid back, why do people still assume they will be better off in real terms? We have seen again and again that the 'money' just isn't there or that currency destruction is greater than any possible return anyway. What is it about human psychology that prevents us from understanding that we are all being lied to? Why are promises still believed? Promises will not, and can not, feed our families. Why then have we left our financial security in the hands of opaque and corrupt institutions? Why have we not put an end to this? Simple: Unfortunately, there is still a very large portion of the population 'invested' in pensions, social security payments, et al. There will be no change until these individuals stop receiving payments. As long as they are 'getting paid', they don't care one bit to change anything. Yeah, it sucks for us all, but greed is greater than the greater good. I only mention this because the blame is not just for the bankers. Lack of education, blind faith, and missing personal responsibility are just as copable.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:45 | 2603885 Whiner
Whiner's picture
Normalcy bias=4M dead Jews
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 20:50 | 2604214 Omen IV
Omen IV's picture
at this late date - with every line of business and type of transaction subject to Fraud at every stage with a government sanction - if you "participate" you deserve what you get!
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 21:08 | 2604266 Its_the_economy...
Its_the_economy_stupid's picture
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:44 | 2603877 ableman28
ableman28's picture
I have substantial investment portfolios at several large banks and have pretty thorough understanding of how brokerage units in banks handle financial instruments in client portfolios. If you think what is happening to brokerage houses that trade commodities and futures via the Chicago bourse is unique and you have an investment portfolio at a large bank then you should read this and consider wisely how safe you are.
Ask your investment advisor exactly how the various instruments in your portfolio are titled. You will probably get some misdirecting answer that says they are held in beneficial trust by the bank and administered in your interest. They may even give you a copy of the brokerage agreement you signed when you opened your account.
BUT THAT IS ENTIRELY BESIDE THE POINT. The point is in whose name are these instruments titled and what authority does that give the bank that administers them for you. In nearly all cases the reality is they are titled in the bank/brokerage name. And, the simple answer is that it gives the bank, should they feel they are in a position to have to do it, the ability to "borrow" and "hypothecate" your assets for their own purposes.
Now if you directly challenge your bank with this concern they are likely to give your another misdirecting answer along the lines that the bank does not trade in assets distributed through client portfolio's for its own purposes. Well this describes the bank's past behavior and is no guarantee of future behavior. Certainly the bank hopes that it is never in a position that it has to use client assets to keep the bank going. But the reality is that in any brokerage account the manager has more rights to make use of your assets than you probably realize.
Further, lets say that some day your bank has a problem and goes on holiday for awhile. You can't get access to your brokerage account and you can't get access to you checking account. But you have a copy of your brokerage statement. Your convinced that with your statement you can go directly to the issuer of the varous instruments in your portfolio and demonstrate your ownership of the referenced investment they issues. Well, good luck with that. There is about zero chance that your ownership of the any piece in your portfolio, eg. municipals, has been registered with the issuer. The owner will be the bank or brokerage unit that "sold" you this investment.
Now, the really great irony in all of this is that if the issuer of say a nice municipal bond has a problem and goes bust guess who loses money? Not the bank that actually holds title to the bond and administers it on your behalf. You do, even though you don't have title and would have a hell of a time in moving the municipal out of your portfolio to a private pay account.
Anyone who has read this far would be well advised to consider the folllowing. If you have some large treasuries in your portfolio consider asking for them to be pushed out directly to you. In other words you want the US Treasury to stop paying the monies you earn to the bank for redistribution to you. Instead you want the treasury to be recorded as owned directly by you as if you'd bought it directly from the treasury in the first place and you want the interest payments to go into an account of your choosing (not the banks).
Reccomend this information to anyone with a brokerage account of any kind particularly those at brokerage units of large banks. Taking more control of your portfolio could save you and thema lot of money one day.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:52 | 2603901 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture
Maybe. But the bank you have them pay the interest to can do the same thing. I really don't think our money is safe in banks. I know how outrageous that sounds with FDIC and all that, but I don't think so. The underlying assets are not really there to be sold in a crisis any way, never mind theft like this.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 19:10 | 2603936 Paul Atreides
Paul Atreides's picture
This information is useless, it's like walking up to the scene of a serious car accident and reminding the victims to buckle up.
Pull your wealth out of the banks and keep stacking physical bichez!
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 21:41 | 2604374 smiler03
smiler03's picture
I stopped reading at this point.... "Ask your investment advisor"
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:45 | 2603881 Blagio
Blagio's picture
I'm not sure what I enjoy more... getting it in the front end from the banksters or getting it in the back end by the politicians.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:45 | 2603884 Darkside
Darkside's picture
They protected him for years the only reason he got caught was an uncoverable margin call.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:54 | 2603908 kjlowther
kjlowther's picture
This is as much a SOX issue as a CFTC/NFA issue. If this has been going on for two years WTF were the auditors doing? The solutions are fairly simply - regular independent audit and verification of customer funds by authorized accounting firms (not your mom & pop corner office ones).
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:55 | 2603912 kjlowther
kjlowther's picture
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:57 | 2603923 anolmec
anolmec's picture
So Whatadork tried to commit suicide and now he is in a coma. ??? Really??? Now thats RICH.
My bet is he is being attended by his private physician, dr. vinny boombatz , has a personal nurse with DDD's whose name is slipperystuff, and is onboard a 195 million dollar yatch out in international waters.
not to sound like a skeptic but .......just sayin
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 19:02 | 2603944 dwdollar
dwdollar's picture
Yeah, sounds like this guy is going to do a Mubarak (i.e. suffer every medical disease known to man).
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:58 | 2603927 JenkinsLane
JenkinsLane's picture
The CFTC is itself a fraud. It's that simple. By extension, those running the CFTC are fraudsters. The organisation pretends it is there to safeguard investors but does not do THE MOST BASIC DUE DILIGENCE such as checking with the FCM's banks that customers funds are actually in existence. It should be disbanded entirely as it is thoroughly discredited and is it clearly not fit for purpose.
What's more worrying though is why it was never granted this obvious power, the ability to confirm with banks directly that customers' funds are where they should be. It is becoming more probable that the real agenda is simply to allow the TBTF entities to gain monopoly control over the commodities markets.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 19:05 | 2603953 JohnKing
JohnKing's picture
Yeah, Gensler will probably get a raise. This whole notion that someone can be held responsible for enterprise fraud is laughable.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 21:44 | 2604390 smiler03
smiler03's picture
My guess is that the CFTC was unable to get direct confirmation of funds from banks because the IRS/NSA has and wants to keep that power to themselves.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 19:05 | 2603929 ATG
ATG's picture
Nor did CFTC or SEC stop Madeoff or Snodfart.
Not one Big Wall Street Banker or Broker CEO went to jail:
JC or JD still wandering around looking at non-extraditable French Chateaux.
Are regulators waiting for the $648 T derivatives crash before they do their job and stop watching porn?
Just today they were grandstanding on CNBC again re making five doctors cough up $1.9 M for insider trading that netted $623,000, a pittance compared to the tens and 100s of billions HiFreq Algobots and prop houses routinely rake off orphans, pensions, public and widows:
And in related news, the CFTC took yet one more tiny step toward defining derivatives to exclude their banks and insurance masters by the end of the year when it was due under G&D this month:
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 19:05 | 2603952 Big Ben
Big Ben's picture
What a fiendishly clever plan! He opened a PO box, told the regulators that it was the PO box of US Bank, and filled out all the documentation that the regulators sent to the PO box himself and returned. And the regulators never checked to be sure that the PO box really belonged to US Bank.
No wonder the regulators were fooled. They were obviously dealing with a diabolical criminal mastermind!
Thank heavens that in this country we have such a sharp bunch of regulators to watch porn safeguard our money for us.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 19:19 | 2603998 FubarNation
FubarNation's picture
Didn't someone mention Wankers hanging in the streets lately?
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 19:27 | 2604021 mdn
mdn's picture
MF Global was indeed a warning.
It's hard to have any sympathy for anyone, farmers included, who didn't heed that warning.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 19:42 | 2604069 Never One Roach
Never One Roach's picture
Nest of Roaches is what my neighbor calls them. There must be dozens if not hundreds up to the same fraud since the only consequnce is a few minutes before the Senate Circus Maximus and then you catch the evening flight to your Bermuda mansion next to Corzine and Mozillo.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 19:47 | 2604082 israhole
israhole's picture
It's the Jew World Order.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 19:50 | 2604092 billwilson
billwilson's picture
NFA mailed the confirmations to a PO BOX that they did not verify as accurate .... Holy Sh#t Batman. That is Auditing 101!!! Unreal in this day and age.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 20:11 | 2604129 Joebloinvestor
Joebloinvestor's picture
A phone call and a fax of the bottom line is all anyone had to do to verify what was claimed over $250 million dollars.
At what price point does an auditor take his job seriously?
"Trust but verify"
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 20:13 | 2604134 DarthVaderMentor
DarthVaderMentor's picture
Just Fired with Predjudice?
He needs to be arrested and held over for indictment with a huge bail amount because he is an imminent flight risk!
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 20:30 | 2604175 cougar_w
cougar_w's picture
I have this recurring thought that we'll all go out into the world one morning, headed to work or wherever, while during the night the entire financial and ruling classes will have vanished.
Just vanished, as into a fog. Leaving no trace at all except some empty offices, phones that nobody answers, elevators opening onto vacant lobbies littered with unused cardboard shipping boxes, nobody home.
Papers blowing around in the street. Huge mounds of shreaded evidence dumped into alleys. Desk drawers left open and empty. Awards taken from their hooks on the wall leaving clean white squares on the paint, trophies gone, ash trays emptied into the potted plants.
No sign they ever existed. No bank accounts. No forwarding addresses. No good-bye notes. Not even a fuck-you note.
Damn. I should write that up as a short story.
"The Last Transaction"
But ... where did they go? And how?
Wed, 07/11/2012 - 00:30 | 2604906 Cathartes Aura
Cathartes Aura's picture
funnily enough, they have the same fantasy about "us" - difference being, I guess, that they're actively working on achieving that fantasy. . .
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 20:16 | 2604139 loveyajimbo
loveyajimbo's picture
Gensler has been a flagrant crook for years... just look at the silver manipulation that a 4 year old could have spotted... he needs to be investigated and put in prison, right after being beaten to a pathetic broken sobbing husk with lead pipes and ball bats. Shapiro and Holder... on deck.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 21:45 | 2604391 SaveTheBales
SaveTheBales's picture
Whether Mr. Gensler is a crook or not, well, I watch what happens. I try to avoid listening to what they say because it only muddies the water. But I'm reasonably sure that he will part with nearly his entire considerable fortune to avoid becoming the wife of a bodybuilder in the Styx Unit.
This man will have better hair than Don King before he gets so much as a parking ticket, if past is prologue.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 20:21 | 2604154 tony bonn
tony bonn's picture
wall street is a den of thieves, the home of mammon - money is indeed the root of all evil.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 20:29 | 2604171 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture
I think it is the love of money tony bonn...
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 20:52 | 2604223 cougar_w
cougar_w's picture
Or perhaps evil is the root of all money.
No. That cannot be right either.
I think evil is the root of itself. Like all other troublesome abstraction it arises from a fever and is an affliction of the mind.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 20:36 | 2604190 RationalPrepper
RationalPrepper's picture
Ignorant question from a guy with relatively little trading experience in a humble TD Ameritrade account: Are brokerages like TD Amer at risk from this type of thing as well?
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 20:55 | 2604221 Paul Atreides
Paul Atreides's picture
If you can't touch it, it isn't yours.
1. Sell off your positions today.
2. Withdraw the cash tomorrow.
3. Close the account by Friday.
4. Buy physical silver and gold on the dips.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 21:19 | 2604313 HungrySeagull
HungrySeagull's picture
I don't even want to consider what the "Market" can do to the money I have in it should it go belly up in water that turned to blood. While I am out shopping and away from the computer.
I sleep well at night knowing the coins that matter are secured and the School of 12 gauge is the way.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 20:52 | 2604225 Yes_Questions
Yes_Questions's picture
Think of it this way.
Its not "your money" once its in some account. FDIC insured or otherwise.
Its a debt owed to you...
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 22:10 | 2604474 HungrySeagull
HungrySeagull's picture
Here is another ignorant question from me...
If the Market fell and the sold shares to be redeemed worth more than the entire collective street....
Who then gets to pay?
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 20:50 | 2604216 Joe Ploppy
Joe Ploppy's picture
I had a large sum of money with PFG last year. Thankfully, I moved it to another broker except for about $900 so that I could have access to quotes and some of their specialized SPAN calculators, and thus saving me having to pay montly fees for quotes and the price of the SPAN calculator. So I've just been screwed $900....
Barney Frank is a douchebag. So much for his advocacy of more regulation to be entrusted to the do-nothing CTFC. What a bunch of useless creeps.
I worked as a co-op student for the IRS. The IRS can push a button and list all your bank accounts and if they wanted, they could collect from those accounts! I was there at the service center's collection centers and was horrified to watch big brother in action. And yet the incompetent rubes at the CTFC can't even cross check the bank accounts of PFG? It wouldn't have taken them but a couple of hours to check PFG, and it won't take them but 3 full-time staff worker to do the same for every broker in the USA. What a bunch of do-nothing rubes.
And Barney Frank can lick some Tea Bags. He's better at that than trying to regulate finance...
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 21:04 | 2604248 Yes_Questions
Yes_Questions's picture
PFG's Chariman Was Forging Bank Documents For Years.
CFTC Was Not Foraging For Verification of Deposit For Years.
Shipping powders back and forth
Singing black goes south while white comes north
And the whole world full of petty wars
Singing I got mine and you got yours.
And the current fashions set the pace.
Lose your step, fall out of grace.
And the radical he rant and rage, singing someone got to turn the page
And the rich man in his summer home,
Singing just leave well enough alone
But his pants are down, his covers blown
And the politicians are throwing stones
So the kids they dance they shake their bones
Cause its all too clear were on our own
Singing ashes, ashes all fall down.
Picture a bright blue ball just spinning, spinning free
Its dizzying, the possibilities. ashes, ashes all fall down.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 21:06 | 2604254 Dubious Maximus
Dubious Maximus's picture
They found Wassendorf in his car, a Chevrolet Cavalier....a friggin' Cavalier!!?!?!?!?! I mean, at least die in an Audi, a Benz, a Bimmer.
Maybe he didn't want to soil the leather in one of those.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 21:17 | 2604302 HungrySeagull
HungrySeagull's picture
I took drivers Ed in a goddamn Cavalier.
At least it had just enough horse to go and not do anything outrageous.
My second drivers ed was much more fun. In a 53 White no less.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 21:12 | 2604286 Casual_Observer
Casual_Observer's picture
The oversight on the part of the so called oversight authorities involved is not surprising to anyone who has ever worked closley with fantastically wealthy people.
For the most part, save inheritance or creating great wealth by creating a better mouse trap or writing a wildly popular tune (and not having the fruits of their labor ripped-off by someone else), the very wealthy got wealthy by cutting corners, paying-off those at the highest levels of oversight and those at the rank-and-file levels of oversight ( so they can rip-0ff those at the top of the regulatory rung) or blatant, outright lies and theft for which they are never caught.
If the thievery is so wildly successful that they amass Scientology or Corzine type money, they are un-punishable. The "investigations" become part of the cover-up: MFGlobal Trustee, no Receiver & Madoff pleading guilty so there is no trial. The survivors of such a systemic fraud go right back to what they were doing. That's the M.O. & hubris of those that don't or even do get caught. The very next day, they're at it again.
Even when "economic sociopaths" or "economic terrorists" are identified red-handed where by some freak of nature or public outrage, they are found guilty, some pittance is paid: Countrywide/Mazullo & Google. Then they go on there merry way still holding heavy with a bevy of illgotten gain.
There have been people in society wired like this for all time. Now there are just a lot more of them with more efficient tools.
What society needs to do to combat them today is to get midevil on them.
It's beyond addressing in a regulatory sphere. There are to many corrupt regulators and investigators.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 22:41 | 2604573 Bansters-in-my-...
Bansters-in-my- feces's picture
This CFTC you speak of,they are part of the criminal cartel. Gary should be getting the soap on a rope treatment by a guy named Tiny.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 23:32 | 2604739 world_debt_slave
world_debt_slave's picture
Genslar, former Goldman Sachs, should give one a clue.
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 23:14 | 2604682 gina distrusts gov
gina distrusts gov's picture
The best punishment for the creeps would be to confiscate every last penny they own, all material possessions leave them in utter poverty. leave nothing for their family or offspring to profit from
and do the same to any regulator that fails to do the job they were hired for.
Judges that show even a bit of improper actions should be hung immediately
same with politicans
Tue, 07/10/2012 - 23:31 | 2604734 world_debt_slave
world_debt_slave's picture
And he made sure to get home on time to have dinner with the wife and kids with a clear conscience.
Wed, 07/11/2012 - 00:39 | 2604928 TerraHertz
TerraHertz's picture
It's... it's BEAUTIFUL!
Just now on
Posted by Ann Barnhardt - July 10, AD 2012 4:59 PM MST
I Have Info For Anyone Who Wants to Sue the NFA
The same "Senior Compliance Manager" who signed off on the PFGBest affadavit and who is listed on the NFA website as both the "Director of Audits/Investigations" and the "Director of FOREX Compliance", Lauren Brinati, is the same woman whom I and my attorneys dealt with two years ago.
Now, hold on to your pantyhose.
One of my attorneys in the Schuyler Roche Crisham firm in Chicago, as livid as I was by the NFA's galactically stupid contention about hedgers being limited to one round-turn per cash inventory cycle, called Lauren Brinati to discuss the NFA's position. Lauren Brinati said that she couldn't discuss the matter with my attorney directly because:
"I don't actually understand any of this stuff. I just sign whatever comes across my desk."
Lauren Brinati, June 2010
Lauren Brinati said that to my attorney in June of 2010.
This woman is DIRECTOR OF AUDITS AND INVESTIGATIONS, and openly stated that not only did she have no understanding of the futures and options industry, but also admitted freely that she was a de facto robosigner who signed off on ANYTHING that came down from above.
The NFA had full, direct auditing oversight of PFGBest because PFGBest was a non-clearing FCM. The Director of NFA Audits and Investigations, Lauren Brinati, admitted freely to my attorney that she lacked even rudimentary understanding of the industry, could not discuss even the simplest concepts, and signed whatever came across her desk from on high without understanding it.
Anyone who is interested in pursuing this as evidence of gross negligence and breach of fiduciary duty by the NFA, and Lauren Brinati personally, should have their attorney contact me.
-----end extract-----
Go Ann!
Wed, 07/11/2012 - 05:36 | 2605180 onebir
onebir's picture
It is NOT POSSIBLE to get away with this if there are competent audits. High quality printing is cheap and available: I can't believe direct confirmation of bank balances with counterparty banks isn't a standard audit procedure. WTF are all those trainees for if not stuff like this!
Wed, 07/11/2012 - 08:28 | 2605403 Widowmaker
Widowmaker's picture
Self-regulation is 100% for show -- a fool's distraction. It's the masterbation of fraud.
Confidence and trust come from clients, not from getting yourselves off.
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I am making wine jelly and have run out of lemons. I have some citric acid in the pantry. Can I use the citric acid instead? The jelly calls for half a cup of lemon juice. If I can use it, how much citric acid would I use?
share|improve this question
Yes you can. Don't know about the quantity though. I'd just add it in small quantities until it tastes right. – Chris Cudmore May 7 '12 at 23:54
@ChrisCudmore, the lemon juice is used mostly to bring up the acidity, not for taste. So adding the citric acid based on taste sounds like a bad idea. – Jay May 8 '12 at 0:59
Yep, unless you trust your tongue as much as a pH meter, you're going to want to be sure about quantities. – Jefromi May 8 '12 at 5:27
Though actually... I don't know your recipe, but I think wine typically has a pH (3ish) well below the cutoff I've seen for boiling water canning (4.6)? – Jefromi May 8 '12 at 5:35
3 Answers 3
Yes, you can. In fact, many canning and jarring recipes specifically call for citric acid.
Presumably you are using citric acid in its dried, crystalline form. In that case, a solution of around 4% citric acid (e.g. 4gm in 100ml of water) should be around the same strength as lemon juice.
share|improve this answer
Compared to the lemon juice, citric acid solution won't be as flavorful. I imagine you could dissolve the citric acid in something else to keep from diluting the jelly, though then you might want to know about the pH of that something else. – Jefromi May 8 '12 at 5:34
No doubt. Although most of the flavor from lemon juice is the citric acid (and ascorbic acid) in it, so I doubt it would mar the flavor that much. – FuzzyChef May 8 '12 at 6:10
In 7 cups of jelly, I couldn't taste half a cup of lemon juice, but I think I'll add a bit more than the suggestion just to be safe with my pH levels (even though, as mentioned above, the pH levels are probably already OK). – Chandra May 9 '12 at 1:28
This link http://www.livestrong.com/article/520416-how-to-substitute-lemon-juice-for-citric-acid/ says 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid substitutes 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.
So for half a cup of lemon juice, use two teaspoons of citric acid, and compensate for the missing liquid.
share|improve this answer
Hmmm. So they claim lemon juice is equal to a 6% solution of citric acid, instead of 4%. I wonder which is correct? – FuzzyChef May 9 '12 at 6:18
They could both be correct depending on the variety of lemon used. – Chris Cudmore May 9 '12 at 12:28
I just read you can add 3g citric acid/l or kg to make jam or marmalade.
share|improve this answer
It would help to know where you read this - we have no way to verify the accuracy of this ratio. – Aaronut Feb 10 '13 at 21:53
Your Answer
| http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/23631/can-i-use-citric-acid-instead-of-lemon-juice-when-canning?answertab=votes | dclm-gs1-261770000 |
0.057998 | <urn:uuid:e02a723d-6777-441a-9fbe-48d2ffae143b> | en | 0.96506 |
Archer: Insiders not high on Cowboys' work so far
1. Redball Express
Redball Express All Aboard!!!
3,181 Messages
353 Likes Received
You know..
as far as our DBs not having positive impacts on the defense..
..this has been going on for some time..
all the way back to Terrance Newman and Roy Williams and others..
They come here..
initially play well then decline quickly.
So I don't know why but..
this has been an ongoing quest involving high draft pics and failed results
2. Mansta54
Mansta54 Well-Known Member
9,704 Messages
218 Likes Received
You're referrencing a brain? Really! Wow!!
casmith07 likes this.
3. stasheroo
stasheroo Well-Known Member
18,147 Messages
1,857 Likes Received
I don't think it's old fashioned, just a matter of opinion.
Some fans see it as a responsibility to always see the positive, while other fans don't.
No right or wrong way to do it.
daveferr33, cml750 and jnday like this.
4. casmith07
casmith07 I'm the best poster in the game!
27,581 Messages
2,963 Likes Received
He doesn't have one, and he doesn't know diddly squat about football.
Fletch and Mansta54 like this.
5. peplaw06
peplaw06 That Guy
13,686 Messages
410 Likes Received
Not when you make up facts to cherry pick. Last 4 seasons we went 6-10, 8-8, 8-8, 8-8. No playoff appearances, no playoff victories.
100% untrue.
Me: "Hey guys, I think Jadeveon Clowney is going to be the first overall pick."
You: "The sky is blue."
So you see... this is true, but not relevant.
Risen Star and visionary like this.
6. Ntegrase96
Ntegrase96 Well-Known Member
2,911 Messages
1,413 Likes Received
I wonder how high insiders are on Philly's off-season now.
7. MichaelWinicki
MichaelWinicki "You want some?" Staff Member
32,689 Messages
3,193 Likes Received
Probably will up their grade by another letter.
8. Ntegrase96
Ntegrase96 Well-Known Member
2,911 Messages
1,413 Likes Received
Eagles are the sexy pick (15 years running)
pancakeman and MichaelWinicki like this.
9. Fletch
Fletch To The Moon
9,995 Messages
1,130 Likes Received
No more educated than I am. Or are you more because of your particular stance?
Mansta54 likes this.
10. MikeT22
MikeT22 Active Member
425 Messages
232 Likes Received
And then zero playoff wins in the previous 13 years. Jerry as GM and replacing Jimmy with his puppet HC's really paid off.
11. ccb04
ccb04 Active Member
258 Messages
51 Likes Received
The vast majority of mediots didn't like the Frederick pick following the trade down that ultimately netted Williams either.
The Cowboys had the worst defense in franchise history with Hatcher & Ware on the team...and Hatcher having a career year. I was hoping Ware would take a pay cut & stay, but the Broncos ponied up $20 million in guaranteed money...something the Cowboys simply couldn't -- and shouldn't -- have done. Melton replaced Hatcher. A healthy Ware's production isn't easily replaced. But will the aging vet finally stay healthy after 2 injury plagued seasons? Even John Fox acknowledged it's a risk. But I do wish him the best.
Austin simply couldn't stay healthy & was making a bunch of money. One could argue quality depth is a bit more of an issue with his release...but he can't help much if not consistently on the field.
pancakeman likes this.
12. bkight13
bkight13 Well-Known Member Zone Supporter
2,419 Messages
713 Likes Received
I think Campo was the biggest problem. He wanted our guys off the man and then react to the WR instead of the ball. It wasn't until Jenkins went against Campo that he started playing well.
I think Kiffin wanted to run a more aggressive SEA type defense, but injuries throttled the whole D. With no pressure they were forced to play more zone and an inexperienced and over-matched Wilcox and Heath were abused. Carr and Claiborne can cover, but only for so long.
I do look forward to seeing Carr and Claiborne playing more press or man coverage and I think Wlicox can make a big improvement with another year's camp. People say cover corners are a waste in the Tampa 2, but I don't expect them to run that with Marinelli taking over.
13. RonSpringsdaman20
RonSpringsdaman20 alpha seeing omega Zone Supporter
3,559 Messages
1,417 Likes Received
I expected the draft to be where the cowboys re-tooled at. Did not expect much out of free-agencey, unless the deal was team friendly... like Melton's.
Most free agents you have to over-pay, and the cowboys financially are not in that position.
The Draft will be where I judge our offseason success.
pancakeman likes this.
14. Risen Star
Risen Star Likes Collector Zone Supporter
22,751 Messages
10,046 Likes Received
The draft will not be enough to compete next year. Nor should you enter the draft with the mindset that you need to fill holes and get instant impact.
15. skinsscalper
skinsscalper Well-Known Member
5,607 Messages
571 Likes Received
I'm not sure that I agree that the draft won't be enough to compete next year. I don't think we'll compete for a Super Bowl (if that's what you mean. At that point I would agree) but I think with help from the draft and (hopefully) more luck in the injury department that we can compete for the division.
This "rebuild" of the defense is going to take more than one draft and one off-season. We don't have the cap flexibility to do it any other way than through the draft and frugal FA moves. I applaud the approach whether it's intentional or through mitigating circumstances. I can't count how many times I've seen posts on here from people just wanting to "blow the whole thing up" and rebuild. Well, to blow the WHOLE thing up just isn't realistic but it looks like they have "blown up" the defensive side of the ball. Rightfully so. They've been the oldest, least productive group on the team. I don't think a lot of the posters (not you) have the patience for an actual blow up and rebuild. A lot of the same guys that were advocating a blow up are now in freak out mode because we, somehow, didn't manage to land Allen or bring in a guy like Ayers.
RonSpringsdaman20 likes this.
16. big dog cowboy
big dog cowboy THE BIG DOG Staff Member
51,649 Messages
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Considering the offseason isn't over for almost 4 months AFTER the draft I'm not sure that is the best guage to use.
17. Risen Star
Risen Star Likes Collector Zone Supporter
22,751 Messages
10,046 Likes Received
I don't see why not. The offseason acquisition process will be over except for June 1st which never amounts to anything and signing players who weren't good enough to make other rosters in the preseason.
18. RonSpringsdaman20
RonSpringsdaman20 alpha seeing omega Zone Supporter
3,559 Messages
1,417 Likes Received
I agree. I don't see this as a one year project... but sometimes things click faster than they are supposed.
19. RonSpringsdaman20
RonSpringsdaman20 alpha seeing omega Zone Supporter
3,559 Messages
1,417 Likes Received
maybe you're right. but I hope they get the skill and athleticism needed to continue to build in the draft.
20. SilverStarCowboy
SilverStarCowboy The Actualist
7,505 Messages
409 Likes Received
Dallas could be 2 good DLs, 2 capable LBs and a starting Safety away from being a contender.
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0.046364 | <urn:uuid:3076eefa-b75b-4522-aad3-0dbec669508f> | en | 0.962674 | Baazi (1951 film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Directed by Guru Dutt
Produced by Dev Anand (Navketan Films)
Written by Balraj Sahni (screenplay, story, dialogue)
Sahir Ludhianvi (lyrics)
Starring Dev Anand
Geeta Bali
Kalpana Kartik
Music by S. D. Burman
Cinematography V. Ratra
Edited by Y.G. Chawhan
Release dates
• 1951 (1951)
Country India
Language Hindi, Urdu
The movie stars Dev Anand with Geeta Bali and Kalpana Kartik. It is a crime thriller and had very popular music composed by S.D. Burman.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
The film is a tribute to the Forties' Film Noir Hollywood with the morally ambiguous hero, the transgressing siren, and shadow lighting. It was very successful at the box-office.
Madan (Dev Anand) comes from a once well-to-do family background who is now out of work and lives in a shanty with a sick younger sister Manju (Roopa Verman). Unable to find employment, he takes to gambling in a big way. He develops a reputation for being a lucky gambler and is one day found and escorted by a stranger named Pedro to the Star Hotel where he meets the seductive dancer Leena(Geeta Bali) and is offered a job by the mysterious 'Maalik' (Boss)of tempting rich gentlemen to come and gamble at the club. Initially reluctant to take up this offer due to moral pangs, he refuses and leaves. He meets with sophisticated and cultured Dr. Rajani (Kalpana Kartik), who has opened a free clinic in his locality to treat the poor and needy and helps him out in the treatment of his sister, who is suffering from tuberculosis. Both are attracted to each other and soon fall in love. Rajani's rich lawyer dad (K.N. Singh) does not approve of Madan, nor of his background, and prefers that Rajani marry her childhood friend Inspector Ramesh (Krishan Dhawan), who is in love with her. Dejected and in dire need of money for his sister's treatment who has been packed off to a sanatorium somewhere in a hill station, Madan accepts the job at star club and meets more frequently with the sexy club dancer Leena. He becomes friends with her and is seen discussing his troubles and thoughts with her. In turn, she is obviously charmed by him and evidently has a soft spot for him. Then Inspector Ramesh arrests Madan and imprisons him for the murder of Leena, who was killed with a revolver with Madan's fingerprints on it. The shooter intended to kill Madan, but Leena protected him and was killed instead. Rajani's father (who also turns out to be Maalik, the mysterious Boss of Star Club) had ordered the killing because he didn't consider Madan suitable for his daughter. Rajani's father threatens Madan that he will kill his sister if he says anything. Madan keeps quiet and is sentenced to be hanged at 6 am. Inspector Ramesh finds some evidence that it wasn't Madan who killed Leena. He sets a trap for Rajani's father and leads him to believe that Madan has been hanged, and in his joy, makes him confess to his plan to frame Madan. Then, Rajani's father is arrested and imprisoned and Madan is sent to three months' worth probation for indulging in gambling activities. He is freed after serving his small sentence and is united with Rajani.
Studio album by Sachin Dev Burman
Released 1951
Recorded 1951
Genre Feature film soundtrack
Label EMI Records
Producer Sachin Dev Burman
Track # Song Singer(s)
1 Suno Gajar Kya Gaaye Geeta Dutt
2 Dekh Ke Akeli Mohe Barkha Sataaye Geeta Dutt
3 Yeh Kaun Aaya Ki Meri Dil Ki Duniya Mein Geeta Dutt
4 Tadbeer Se Bigdi Hui Taqdeer Bana Le Geeta Dutt
5 Aaj Ki Raat Piya Geeta Dutt
6 Tum Bhi Na Bhoolo Balam Geeta Dutt
7 Sharmaaye Kaahe Ghabraaye Kaahe Shamshad Begum
8 Mere Labon Pe Chhipe Kishore Kumar
1. ^ "Baazi (1951)". Retrieved 4 November 2013.
2. ^ "Baazi(1951)". Retrieved 4 November 2013.
3. ^ "Baazi". Retrieved 4 November 2013.
4. ^ "Baazi". Retrieved 4 November 2013.
5. ^ "Baazi (1951)". Retrieved 4 November 2013.
External links[edit] | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baazi_(1951_film) | dclm-gs1-261900000 |
0.039551 | <urn:uuid:f9982d54-ac53-4566-bac0-b9beda004b55> | en | 0.921851 | Esmarch bandage
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Original Esmarch bandage
Vernaid bandage
Another First-Aid bandage
Esmarch bandage (also known as Esmarch's bandage for surgical haemostasis or Esmarch's tourniquet) in its modern form is a narrow hard rubber tourniquet with a chain fastener that is used to control bleeding by applying it around a limb in such a way that blood is expelled from it.[1] This prevents the flow of blood to or from the distal area, making it easier to operate. The limb is often elevated as the elastic pressure is applied.
See also[edit]
1. ^ [1] "Esmarch bandage" entry in Dorlands Medical Dictionary
| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esmarch_bandage | dclm-gs1-261910000 |
0.070889 | <urn:uuid:16981017-c20b-415e-8b4e-685a02717071> | en | 0.929115 | Incredible Hulk (cocktail)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Incredible Hulk (drink))
Jump to: navigation, search
Incredible Hulk
A quick stir brings out the extraordinary green color
Type Cocktail
Primary alcohol by volume
Served On the rocks; poured over ice
Standard drinkware
Cocktail Glass (Martini).svg
Cocktail glass
Commonly used ingredients
Preparation Stir together and serve over ice.
An Incredible Hulk, Green Eyed Monster, Shrock, or Hip and Hen is a green-colored cocktail made by equal parts (2 fl oz each)[1][2][3] of the fruit liqueur Hpnotiq and Hennessy brand cognac poured over ice. It is named for the famously green comic book superhero, the Hulk.
The drink was created at a Hpnotiq launch event by a restaurant bartender Kenneth Surita at Sean Combs' New York City restaurant, Justin's. A Hpnotiq employee (Hpnotiq spokesperson Antonio Harer) noticed many women but few men drinking his company's liquor, because the men considered the blue, fruity drink to be too effeminate. Victor Alvarez, a bartender at the restaurant, mixed Hennessy with Hpnotiq to dilute the fruity flavor, resulting in a green beverage that quickly became a hit.[4]
The name 'Incredible Hulk' is also widely used amongst students in the North of England to describe a cocktail consisting of equal parts of WKD Blue and lager. It is commonly asserted that it is impossible to drink a British pint of this cocktail without vomiting before the drink has fully passed through one's system, although it is likely that this is based more on hearsay than on evidence.
One version of the cocktail gained notoriety in Manchester, UK after being used in what was described as an alcoholic death race, where the aim was to drink so much medical attention was required. This version of the cocktail known simply as Hulk is made of a bottle of WKD Blue, Red Bull and 2 Vodka shots and is served in a pint glass.[5]
The Incredible Hulk cocktail has been referenced in song and has appeared in music videos. It was also mentioned in The Boondocks episode "The Story of Thugnificent".[2] Epic Meal Time, a YouTube cooking show, featured cocktail at the start of the show with Muscles Glasses being punched repeatedly in the chest. As the man punching stops to complain that his hand hurts someone off-camera says, "That's what Incredible Hulk does to you."[6] It was also drunk in the after credits scene of The Incredible Hulk movie by General Ross.
1. ^ official recipe → Drink Recipes → Exotiq Cocktails → Incredible Hulk (No direct link is available due to the Adobe Flash interface.) Retrieved 2007-01-15.
2. ^ a b McCoy, Tabari (2004-04-15). "Drink Like a Rapper". Intake Weekly. Retrieved 2006-12-20.
3. ^ Gibson, Ashley M. (2004-05-07). "Table Talk". Charlotte Business Journal. Retrieved 2006-12-20.
4. ^ Govinda, Pamela (2002). "The Millennials At the Bar". Adams Beverage Group. Retrieved 2006-12-20.
5. ^
6. ^ "Epic Meal Time - Masta Pasta" | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incredible_Hulk_(drink) | dclm-gs1-261920000 |
0.051992 | <urn:uuid:6733bd9a-b861-4705-b87d-4d1cb70a2dd2> | en | 0.92191 | The Ugly Swans (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
The Ugly Swans
Ugly swans poster.jpg
Directed by Konstantin Lopushansky
Produced by Catherine Dussart
Dmitry Gerbachevsky
Andrey Sigle
Written by Konstantin Lopushansky
Vyacheslav Rybakov
Arkady and Boris Strugatsky (novel)
Starring Catherine Dussart
Gregory Hlady
Music by Andrey Sigle
Cinematography Vladislav Gurtchin
Edited by Maxim Holodiuk
Sergei Obukhov
Aleksandr Zaretzky
Distributed by Proline Film
Release dates
• October 19, 2006 (2006-10-19)
Running time 105 minutes
Country Russia
Language Russian
The Ugly Swans (Russian: Гадкие лебеди) is a 2006 Russian science fiction film directed by Konstantin Lopushansky, based on the novel of the same name by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. The film is often compared to Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker, also adapted from a Strugatsky book.[1][2]
The film's plot is loosely based on the novel, with some superficial differences. The story has been adjusted slightly to contextualize it in the "near future," with the main character Victor Banev recast as a UN envoy to the town of Tashlinsk, where a mysterious group has taken the town's children to an isolated boarding school. The major departure from the novel's plot is in the ending, in which the "Aquatters" ("Slimeys" from the novel) are all killed by the humans. The children are heroically rescued by Banev, but they are unable to reassimilate into society and are institutionalized.
A small role created for the film was a UN negotiator named Gennady Komov, a reference to a popular character from the Strugatskys' other books.
1. ^ Film description at the London Film Festival
2. ^ Article at
External links[edit] | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ugly_Swans_(film) | dclm-gs1-261940000 |
0.023551 | <urn:uuid:e7b94ab4-c718-456b-9d18-46ade4340a46> | en | 0.860594 | You are here
Herbed Veal Piccata
admin's picture
Veal cutlets 1 1⁄2 Pound
Salt 1 Teaspoon
Pepper 1⁄4 Teaspoon
Flour 1⁄4 Cup (4 tbs)
Butter 2 Tablespoon
Olive oil 2 Tablespoon
Dry white wine 1⁄2 Cup (8 tbs)
Chicken stock/Reduced-sodium canned broth 1 Cup (16 tbs)
Fresh lemon juice 3 Tablespoon
Capers 2 Tablespoon, drained, rinsed
Finely chopped fresh parsley 1 Tablespoon
1. Pound veal cutlets between two sheets of wax paper or plastic wrap to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut each cutlet in half. Season veal pieces with 3/4 teaspoon salt and lA teaspoon pepper. Dust lightly with flour; shake off excess.
2. In a nonreactive large frying pan, melt 1 tablespoon butter with 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add as many veal pieces as will fit in pan without crowding and cook 2 minutes on each side, or until lightly browned. Remove veal to a warmed platter; cover with foil to keep warm. Repeat with remaining veal, adding remaining butter and oil as needed.
3. Add wine to pan and bring to a boil, scraping up browned bits from bottom of pan. Add stock and boil to reduce liquid to 3/4cup, 4 to 5 minutes.
4. Add lemon juice and capers to pan and cook 1 minute. Return veal to pan and heat through, about 1 minute. Season with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and garnish with parsley. Serve immediately.
Recipe Summary
Difficulty Level:
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Your rating: None
Average: 4.1 (15 votes) | http://ifood.tv/italian/168037-herbed-veal-piccata | dclm-gs1-262080000 |
0.065243 | <urn:uuid:c5fdba5c-9353-435a-aa1e-0f7284515657> | en | 0.879 |
Re: Are Small Text buttons level 2 compliant
From: Leonard R. Kasday <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2000 13:59:42 -0400
Message-Id: <>
To: Kynn Bartlett <[email protected]>, Charles McCathieNevile <[email protected]>
Glad you raised that points (really) because I'm sure other people, people
perhaps more shy than yourself, are thinking the same thing.
First of all, the lawyerly position: Doesn't matter what technologies are
available: the guidelines say what they say, so the statement that
something violates a checkpoint is true regardless.
But we can do better than that.
I don't think using a screen magnifier is as good as enlarging fonts.
1. When you enlarge fonts, text wraps at the margins, instead of expanding
into a virtual space wider than the screen (assuming the page was well
designed). When the virtual page is wider than the screen, you have to
scroll left and right as well as up and down, which makes it harder to stay
oriented. So enlarging fonts is better.
2. With magnification, user is no longer able to control the font. Some
fonts are better than others.
flipping the contrast depending on where they are.
In short, direct control of font, size, and color of all text is better
than a magnifier.
As for turning off images to see the alt text versions of the buttons:
well, then the person with low vision is missing other images on the
screen, images which may be used appropriately.
Also, do browsers allow full CSS control of font, color, size of ALT
text? (I don't know the answer to that one).
At 09:25 AM 9/26/00 -0700, Kynn Bartlett wrote:
>>I don't think it satisfies the user requirements for people with some
>>degree of low vision, especially if the font size is relatively small.
>Devil's advocate position here:
>Doesn't the widespread availability of screen magnifiers (such as the
>one built into Windows 2000), plus the availability of screenreaders to
>read out the textual content, plus the ability to turn off images and
>view the text directly (thus scaling with user font changes), reduce
>the need for avoiding textual images?
>If we don't have to worry about providing audio streams -- because
>screenreaders exist -- then shouldn't the existence of the various
>technologies listed above likewise ease our fears regarding text
>We are willing to say "oh, there's technology to deal with -that-"
>for a number of items, so where is the line drawn? (If screenreaders
>did not exist, the obligation would be on the web designer to
>provide an aural output stream for everything, no?)
>Kynn Bartlett <[email protected]>
Leonard R. Kasday, Ph.D.
http://astro.temple.edu/~kasday mailto:[email protected]
Chair, W3C Web Accessibility Initiative Evaluation and Repair Tools Group
The WAVE web page accessibility evaluation assistant:
Received on Tuesday, 26 September 2000 13:57:47 GMT
| http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-gl/2000JulSep/0500.html | dclm-gs1-262230000 |
0.412023 | <urn:uuid:c63f4adc-1e23-44f1-b1d0-b3ac082af099> | en | 0.986453 | What is meta? ×
I hope this is the right place for this. I think I know why my question was closed, but I just want someone to explain why, specific to my question, not just the automated reason.
My question was closed because it was not a real question, and I think that's because I phrased it ambiguously at the start, and kind of asked several questions without restating the thing I really wanted answered. All I really want is for one of the people who voted to close the question to agree with me on this part but I can't PM and I would comment on the question, but it has already been answered in the comments, and it seems wrong to keep commenting on a question when a problem is solved.
My question is here and I have edited it since the original: "Black Hole Exploit".
You can see the original in the edits, one thing that might have gotten it closed is this:
Also if anyone has any experience with something like this then please share. Though I know I should probably keep the question related to the code.
And also perhaps the edit about paypal, since that was making the question more unclear. And also I didn't ask the question in the title, could that be why?
Why was my previous question closed?
share|improve this question
1 Answer 1
up vote 7 down vote accepted
The question was closed because it doesn't contain a question: It simply states some facts, but it doesn't explicitly ask anything. You could be asking how to avoid the site gets exploited, how to verify the site has been really exploited, but you are not explicitly asking that.
The question is also too generic; it doesn't give any detail to answer an eventual question because it doesn't report (through the tags, or in the body of the question) which programming language, framework, or server you are using for the web site.
If you just want to know what the JavaScript code does, then you just need to run it. Nobody is able to know what that code is doing reading it, because the code is not readable.
Keep in mind that questions that sound like "do my work for me" are probably down-voted, in the same way the "please give me the code" questions are.
The part I edited out, after the question was already closed, is the following one:
EDIT: People seem to dislike this question but I'm not sure why, could someone tell me? I would just like to know what the code does and I don't understand why people dislike that, there are similar questions on here. Thanks to the person that linked to zscaler research.
That part just contains a question about why the question was down-voted; it essentially is a question about the question, which is metadata. What I reported in this answer is still valid.
share|improve this answer
Thanks for the help. Also, as my question was one edit ago was that better? I notice you changed it so now it doesn't have an explicit question, why is that better? – Paul Oct 1 '11 at 14:32
But I say "I would just like to know what the code does" and I don't explicitly state that anywhere else, but since that's what I wanted to know I thought it was necessary to be there. I understand why the rest was removed. – Paul Oct 1 '11 at 14:46
You say nobody can know what the code does, but somebody (Fabio) deobfuscated it to show exactly what it does. I'm not too familiar with javascript so I asked someone to help and I think that was a valid request. – Paul Oct 1 '11 at 15:37
@Paul Your whole question is "I have a website I run for a relation and their AVG came up saying "EXPLOIT BLACK HOLE EXPLOIT" or something like that. This seems to happen when the website is infected, and I think it is infected. I found this line of code on all the pages, and I didn't put it there: pastebin.com/sJXgw8LX (yes that is all one line)." That would have been sort of OK if you'd added a blank line then "What does that code do?", but better if you'd added the exploit code right into the post properly formatted using Ctrl+K or the code button {}. – agf Oct 1 '11 at 16:57
Thanks for the advice agf. – Paul Oct 1 '11 at 17:00
@kiamlaluno, I didn't mean my question to come out as a "do my work for me" question. If I had posted a standard piece of JS and asked someone to tell me what it did, I would agree it wasn't a good question. I think, however, that because the code was so obfuscated it isn't simply a "do my work for me" question and I'd hope people would realise that. – Paul Oct 1 '11 at 17:09
@Paul I am sure you didn't mean the question to come out as "do my work for me," but it's probably how other users have read the question, as there isn't anybody who is able to read that code without to de-obfuscate it with an utility. The "do my work for me" part becomes then "find a way to de-obfuscate the code for me, and explain the code to me" (where the last part was not made explicit in the first revision of the question). – kiamlaluno Oct 1 '11 at 17:22
I suppose that is true. I thought perhaps someone had seen something similar and might be able to at least give a good estimate, if not the exact code. I also find that questions like this: stackoverflow.com/questions/1414861/… aren't closed or down-voted, even though it seems the author has put in less effort than me. Is there a reason that question is better than mine? (I didn't go looking for a specifically bad one either, this was just on the side bar when I was viewing my question). Thanks for still responding to me. – Paul Oct 1 '11 at 17:32
@Paul The difference with that question is that it was clear since the first revision what the OP was asking for: "I want a bash script to read all files recursively in a directory and remove some code (i.e a iframe virus) from it and save back the orignal file." Consider that the question was asked on 2009, and at that time users were less "aggressive" about voting to close. I am sure that bad quality questions were not a problem then as they are now, considering that only recently the down-votes on questions have no effect on who down-votes. – kiamlaluno Oct 1 '11 at 17:38
I didn't know things had changed since then. I'll try be more direct next with my questions next time. Thanks for taking the time to respond to me. – Paul Oct 1 '11 at 17:42
You must log in to answer this question.
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged . | http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/108064/what-is-the-reason-for-closing-my-question | dclm-gs1-262300000 |
0.33185 | <urn:uuid:f1631917-c649-4e53-aff8-6aca4c273015> | en | 0.857314 | Jay Aguiniga
Rookie - 63 Points (Scottsbluff Nebraska)
Asking the stars why
Looking back....
On how far I have came
I see the faded highway
Flashing back
Flying amongst the stars
But feeling
The feeling of falling
Looking back....
Wishin I could turn back time
If I could change one thing,
One more second to react
I could have missed...
Erase that fatal memory.
He never knew...
This would be his last ride.
The car out of control
Feelin' haunted, twisted metal
His world changed,
I try to rewind,
asking God why
Even though I know the answer
I'm asking God to try
Looking back..
in my rearview mirror.
I see the faded highway.
I never knew that boy,
But there isn't a day
I don't think of that boy.
Wishin it Hadn' ended that way,
But some things are meant
It's the way
it's supposed to be..
No one knows why
No answers even though we try.
My soul scarred
My tears falling, searching
For answers in the stars.
Submitted: Saturday, January 29, 2011
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[Hata Bildir] | http://poemhunter.com/poem/asking-the-stars-why/ | dclm-gs1-262370000 |
0.624605 | <urn:uuid:a21bfb7e-36e4-4629-a984-5570a712b6c6> | en | 0.905029 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
I'm trying to implmenet a scenerio where my website's images are stored in an Amazon S3 bucket. So far, i've setup the bucket and the CNAME record so that images are correctly served from S3 via the URI pattern: 'http://images/myDomain.com/[image files]'
Now I want to convince IIS to rewrite incoming requests to point to S3. The site's images are currently stored as:
Working off several samples for IIS's URL Rewrite module, this is the rule that I'm thinking should work but obviously isn't. Since I'm testing this, I literally am working in the subdomain named testing. The above URL really _does resolve to my logo.jpg.
<rule name="Redirect Images" stopProcessing="true">
<match url="http://testing.myDomain.com/content/images/(.*)" />
<action type="Redirect" url="http://images.myDomain.com/{R:0}" />
mny thx
share|improve this question
1 Answer 1
up vote 2 down vote accepted
The match url field is just the url part, so it needs to be "content/images/(.*)". That should cause your rule to work.
Make sure to update your HTML source whenever possible to use the images.mydomain.com path. Then the client-side redirect doesn't need to be performed and the URL Rewrite rule is just a backup for old leftover links.
You can also consider ARR as a reverse proxy so that there isn't a client-side redirect when an image is called.
share|improve this answer
Thankx! Following up on the HTML source angle... in the case of images that construct the site's layout - it's templates (as opposed to images of products, or content oriented), I've always used the 'site relative' method but that's what's made this process harder than it should. Perhaps I should just bite the bullet, re-code the links using a app property setting to spell out the URI. thouhts? and thanks! – justSteve Jun 13 '11 at 18:07
Re-coding the links is usually the best long term bet. Using an app property would be great, then you can easily switch it in the future. URL Rewrite outbound rules is another option (although the app property is probably better long term). The outbound rules can parse the page on the way out and update the path for you. The inbound rule that you started with would catch any left-over links that still made it through the other changes. – Scott Forsyth - MVP Jun 13 '11 at 20:50
Your Answer
| http://serverfault.com/questions/279893/using-url-rewrite-to-remap-local-image-folder-to-an-s3-bucket | dclm-gs1-262460000 |
0.024335 | <urn:uuid:726e95e7-e4d2-4ce8-80bf-cd24e9444741> | en | 0.942129 |
Turn Scripts into Storyboards with Amazon Storyteller
Here is more about how it works from the press release:
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“We’ve found that many writers want to see their story up on its feet in visual form but find it harder than it should be to create a storyboard,” explained Roy Price, director of Amazon Studios in a statement. “Storyteller provides a digital backlot, acting troupe, prop department and assistant editor—everything you need to bring your story to life. We want to see great stories turned into movies and television shows and we’ll continue to develop new features and tools that help people develop great stories.”
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| http://socialtimes.com/turn-scripts-into-storyboards-with-amazon-storyteller-a-new-tool-for-writers-filmmakers_b187478?red=an | dclm-gs1-262590000 |
0.031245 | <urn:uuid:e46c9127-92ec-434c-9807-603bddf95a0b> | en | 0.772317 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
How to create Tomcat keystore file using JAVA
I am creating a http connection to SSL enabled tomcat server but it generates error SSL Handshake failed
So I want to create a keystore at runtime as i will be contacting multiple SSL enabled servers (Don't know this approach will be successfull or not)
Please suggest a way to how to create a tomcat keystore file using java program or any other way to bypass SSL handshake
share|improve this question
2 Answers 2
Where are you getting sslhandshake error exactly? While client wants to connect to tomcat server or while tomcat server is trying to connect to other servers for some purpose? And can you paste the exception trace?
In either case, it does not make any sense to create keystore programatically in a server but one can inspect java's keytool source code to play on keystores.
share|improve this answer
Look at the How-To guide SSL configuration on Tomcat's official site
share|improve this answer
this link does not contain any information regarding creating keystore dynamically/using java programatically – Abhinav Garg Aug 24 '12 at 16:44
Your Answer
| http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11840605/how-to-create-tomcat-keystore-file-using-java | dclm-gs1-262650000 |
0.355796 | <urn:uuid:88b40ddb-f2dc-402e-9a29-054d7db0c682> | en | 0.884437 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
Should a method that implements an interface method be annotated with @Override?
The javadoc of the Override annotation says:
I don't think that an interface is technically a superclass. Or is it?
Question Elaboration
share|improve this question
wow this question could be shorter, but it's the question I needed. Thanks – Yar Feb 25 '10 at 2:39
I can't find the replacement for the @Override article (Oracle moved the old Sun blogs recently). Do you know how to find it? – Bill the Lizard Jul 26 '12 at 15:24
10 Answers 10
up vote 136 down vote accepted
You should use @Override whenever possible. It prevents simple mistakes from being made. Example:
class C {
public boolean equals(SomeClass obj){
// code ...
This doesn't compile because it doesn't properly override public boolean equals(Object obj).
The same will go for methods that implement an interface (1.6 and above only) or override a Super class's method.
share|improve this answer
Note that you cannot add the @Override annotation to a method implementing an interface in Java 5 - it generates an error. It is allowed in Java 6. – Bill Michell Oct 22 '08 at 9:39
Um, no, it doesn't. In fact, Eclipse auto-inserts @Override when filling in methods that implement an interface. – jjnguy Jan 15 '10 at 17:26
-1 until the answer includes a mention about the different behaviour from Java 1.5 to 1.6 with regards to implementing an interface method. Just because I've seen it be a confusing aspect for people and it really merits a mention. – Grundlefleck Jan 15 '10 at 17:32
If eclipse is complaining then upgrade ur jdk to > 1.5 and change the compiler compliance level to 1.6 or 1.7. To do that right click on ur project-> properties-> Java compiler and select one that is higher than 1.5. – Rose Nov 14 '12 at 19:18
Can anyone think of an example that actually justifies the answer (implementing interfaces rather than overriding base methods)? A big plus for me is that it aids sets a readers expectations of how and by what a particular method might be used. – yjo May 27 at 17:13
I believe that javac behaviour has changed - with 1.5 it prohibited the annotation, with 1.6 it doesn't. The annotation provides an extra compile-time check, so if you're using 1.6 I'd go for it.
share|improve this answer
What is the extra check? – Michael Carman Feb 16 '12 at 16:38
@Michael You can notice if any interface has deleted. – Sangdol Feb 27 '12 at 0:26
@Sangdol +1 It is the only concrete and valid answer to the original question. – Fernando Pelliccioni Oct 21 at 18:27
I would use it at every opportunity. See When do you use Java's @Override annotation and why?
share|improve this answer
You should always annotate methods with @Override if it's available.
In JDK 5 this means overriding methods of superclasses, in JDK 6, and 7 it means overriding methods of superclasses, and implementing methods of interfaces. The reason, as mentioned previously, is it allows the compilor to catch errors where you think you are overriding (or implementing) a method, but are actually defining a new method (different signature).
The equals(Object) vs. equals(YourObject) example is a standard case in point, but the same argument can be made for interface implementations.
I'd imagine the reason it's not mandatory to annotate implementing methods of interfaces is that JDK 5 flagged this as a compile error. If JDK 6 made this annotation mandatory, it would break backwards compatibility.
I am not an Eclipse user, but in other IDEs (IntelliJ), the @Override annotation is only added when implementing interface methods if the project is set as a JDK 6+ project. I would imagine that Eclipse is similar.
However, I would have prefer to see a different annotation for this usage, maybe an @Implements annotation.
share|improve this answer
+1, this answer is the only one that explains the situation. – Pacerier Nov 5 at 23:59
JDK 5.0 not allows you to use @Override annotation if you are implementing method declared in interface (its compilation error), but JDK 6.0 allows same. So may be you can configure your project preference according to your requirement.
share|improve this answer
For me, often times this is the only reason some code requires Java 6 to compile. Not sure if it's worth it.
share|improve this answer
It's worth it... – Thilo Dec 18 '09 at 11:04
Overriding your own methods inherited from your own classes will typically not break on refactorings using an ide. But if you override a method inherited from a library it is recommended to use it. If you dont, you will often get no error on a later library change, but a well hidden bug.
share|improve this answer
It's not a problem with JDK. In Eclipse Helios, it allows the @Override annotation for implemented interface methods, whichever JDK 5 or 6. As for Eclipse Galileo, the @Override annotation is not allowed, whichever JDK 5 or 6.
share|improve this answer
Eclipse itself will add the @Override annotation when you tell it to "generate unimplemented methods" during creation of a class that implements an interface.
share|improve this answer
The problem with including the @Override is that it makes you think that you forgot to call the "super.theOverridenMethod()" method, which is VERY CONFUSING. This should be crystal-clear. Perhaps Java should offer an "@Interface" to be used here. Oh well, yet another half-assed Java peculiarity...
share|improve this answer
Calling a super, when not implementing an interface, is not something you always need to or want to do. Sometimes, you're adding functionality -- so you call it. Other times, you're replacing functionality, so you don't call it. An API author should document whether it relies on internal functionality or not and create a documented contract on how the class can be properly extended. – lilbyrdie Jun 3 at 15:19
Your Answer
| http://stackoverflow.com/questions/212614/should-we-override-an-interfaces-method-implementation | dclm-gs1-262680000 |
0.056628 | <urn:uuid:5082e535-0579-4cb7-a90b-504e4a81ed4e> | en | 0.781717 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
I have a UITableView in a UIViewController on ipad (ios 4.3.3)
I want the table cell to remain selected when i touch on it, and show the detail view controller for that cell on the other side of the UISplitViewController.
how can i achieve that? I did not call tableview:deselectRowAtIndexPath: anywhere, but the cell automatically gets deselected when I touch on it (with a flash of the blue color).
share|improve this question
2 Answers 2
up vote 1 down vote accepted
You can achieve it in below way.
I think you are reloading table.
So, when you press particular row, then store it's indexPath.row in local variable. like currIndexPathRow = indexPath.row And reload table.
Then check inside "CellForRowAtIndexPath". that if(indexPath.row == currIndexPathRow) then you can set some background image to that particular row.
Hope you have got the point.
Let me know in case of any difficulty.
share|improve this answer
You are right. Thanks very much! :) – Chi Zhang Jun 15 '11 at 10:47
Are you using your own custom cells, or the default ones?
If you are using the default cells, in the nib, select the tableview, and in the attributes inspector, under the tableview section, check the box beside the "Show Selection on Touch" option. This will automatically put a Blue highlight over the cell.
You can customize this too if you make custom cells. For a custom cell, in the nib, select the tableviewcell, and in the attributes inspector, in the "Selection" option, you can select "Blue, Grey, or None".
If you select None, no selection will be displayed, even if the tableview has a check on the box beside the "Show Selection on Touch" option.
share|improve this answer
Your Answer
| http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6354495/how-not-to-deselect-a-row-in-uitableview | dclm-gs1-262710000 |
0.03106 | <urn:uuid:eb58038a-f5a3-4b9b-9691-9edeff31eee3> | en | 0.933954 | The Intelligence Agency has commissioned you, Francis Rixon, to find out what is happening inside the Corporation's confines and to retrieve information about a secret mineral upon which the very existence of the human race may depend.
使用者評論： 褒貶不一 (33 篇評論)
發售日: 2008 年 10 月 24 日
購買 Exodus from the Earth
• Explore and battle through various locations on two planets, each with multiple objectives
• Epic environments with cinematic special effects
• Innovative physics engine that reflects the real world
• Variety of interactive and destructible objects
• Supernatural storyline and unpredictable gun-toting gameplay
• Diverse selection of weaponry, each with its own unique features and melee attack options
• Smart and challenging AI which reflect real life behaviors
• Multiple modes of transportation at the player's and enemy's disposal
• Internet and LAN multiplayer with up to 10 players
• OS: Windows® XP or Windows® Vista
• Processor: Intel® Pentium™ 1,8 GHz or AMD Athlon™ XP 1.8
• Memory: 512 Mb RAM
• Graphics: 3D Video card with 128 Mb memory supporting DirectX® 9.0c, PS 2.0 (starting from NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 or ATI RADEON 9600) with the latest driver installed
• DirectX Version: DirectX® 9.0 (included)
• Hard Drive: 7 GB free space for the game + additionally for saved games
• Sound Card: 16-bit sound card, fully compatible with DirectX® 9.0c
• Input: Mouse, Keyboard, Controller Pad, Xbox 360 Controller
• OS: Windows® XP or Windows® Vista
• Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6600 or AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 4200+ (or other dual core processor of at least such performance level)
• Memory: 2048 Mb RAM
• Graphics: 256 Mb video card ATI Radeon X1950Pro, GeForce 7950GT or analogue supporting pixel shaders 2.0 and DirectX® 9.0c compatible with the latest driver installed
• DirectX Version: DirectX® 9.0 (included)
• Sound Card: Creative sound card of X-Fi series
23.2 記錄時數
張貼於：08 月 27 日
This game has a good old-time feel to it, however it is so unforgiving that it's more of a chore to play than it is fun. You will find yourself reloading over and over and over just to get through every battle. The enemy keeps popping up from all around you, and only a shot or two is enough to kill you (and they hardly ever miss - even when shooting from places where you can hardly see them because they are so far away).
I like the atmosphere of this game, and I really want to enjoy myself, but it is very frustrating. If you don't mind constant reloading, and you like the old-time FPS games like Chaser and Alpha Prime, then you might want to pick this game up when it's on sale. But, if you don't like to get really frustrated when playing, then you should probably avoid this one, and go with one of the other games in this genre.
0.5 記錄時數
張貼於：08 月 30 日
Imagine if you took Half Life 2 (A game released 4 years BEFORE this one) and stripped out the interesting story, the neat premise, the great voice acting, the flowing and sprawling levels, the vehicles, and frankly any good AI. You'd get a game about twice as good as Exodus from the Earth. Seriously folks, if you're hungering for an FPS, pick something else. Even on sale.
5.9 記錄時數
張貼於：10 月 19 日
Extremely dated 'stealth' game.
I use the term lightly as you're not really rewarded for stealth, you fight the same amount of enemies regardless.
The stealthy way is definitely the way forward, as you simply take less damage.
Hit detection may be way off when standing, running or burst firing a weapon, but trigger control and crouching seem to eliminate most of these issues.
If anything, the game isn't challenging, it's more of a 'react quickly enough to enemies spawning' than planning assaults.
If you wish to buy the game, be aware the storyline is lacking. It's there...sort of.
Overall rating: 3/10 (Playable, just boring)
1.0 記錄時數
張貼於：10 月 21 日
Got bored of it in ten minutes.
7 人之中有 4 人（57%）認為這篇評論有參考價值
7.7 記錄時數
張貼於：10 月 13 日
This game has it all, hilarious cutscenes and voiceacting, great weapons, challenging combat, and it even looks halfway decent. If you need to wash the aftertaste of dull AAA FPS out of your mouth then think of Exodus as the sequel to CHASER. There's a shotgun that fires three shells at once and ejects them all in different directions as the enemy's corpse slides across the floor frictionlessly.
101 人之中有 90 人（89%）認為這篇評論有參考價值
16.5 記錄時數
張貼於：03 月 3 日
Since Exodus From the Earth is on sale once again, I guess it would only help people's decision out if I posted this. The moment that you start playing, the first thing you'll notice is how bland the graphics are and how bad the voice acting is. To it's credit, however, it came out almost six years ago, but the voice acting goes unexcused. So it's only right to give it the benefit of the doubt and ignore first impressions. Unfortunately, that's the least of the game's problems.
What I noticed throughout is how odd the audio is. For some reason, there's this small static that occurs and it's more noticeable when you're wearing headsets. After a while, I got over it, but then comes another problem. Pressing the "Esc" key to go to the menu will play another song. Unfortunately, this song will interrupt the game's current music and continue to play after exiting back. Which is a shame, cause it can ruin the environment of your current mission when you want a break. Not to mention it can get tiring to listen to a bland voice making a "dramatic" speech. As well as having that speech play over soldiers shooting at you.
The gameplay is generic. It's the typical First-Person Shooter genre you would expect, but I have some issues. In many instances, the enemies have abnormally accurate weapons. I understand that this story takes place in the future, but even on easy mode, I still have to be careful, or I lose a chunk of my health quickly. Exodus also enjoys recycling levels. You'll eventually ask yourself "Wasn't I here before?" And even realize that they recycled a crate depot three times (And you will notice it, as it is just a complex maze.) To add on to that, the four last levels on the preview screenshots do not exist in this game so there goes the defense of variety. At least there's vehicle driving, but poor controls somewhat cripple it and only two locations of the game have this. Be warned that you can stuck in several areas, as well. That includes the vehicles and the straight-forward shooting.
The game also has stealth sections. I wouldn't mind and probably have enjoyed it, but because of how poorly programmed it is, scientists will spot you, even when they're a floor above you. You can't stop them, either. Once they try to sound the alarm, killing that man would only grab the guards' attention, anyway. You can always restart through save files to see if you can get through a level without getting caught, but I've tried so many times, that I stopped caring and progressed through brute force. Alerting the guards will welcome you with poor A.I. that won't go through doors to attack you and will even refuse to move at all, so you at least have that advantage.
The story is difficult to follow. And I say this, because the voice acting is so bad and the game is written like a poorly translated script. From what I understand, that is the case as it was made in Russia, but that's still no excuse. Of course, there are even PDAs found throughout the game. Some are translated fine, some have awful typos, and then there are ones that appear to be typed as a joke. Almost like "0mg u guiz g2g 2 dis party in teh office!11!" Very amusing, but the script is still a damn mess. And what do you come to realize the story was all about, once you understand it? A generic plot, really.
To Exodus from the Earth's credit, there's some unique puzzles and challenges that aren't too punishing, such as the last level, that can be fun, but they're not too frequent, either. If you want to try it out of curiosity of a obscure game, go right ahead. But overall, this game had way too many poor design choices and terrible programming mistakes. It's lengthy and difficult, I'll give it that. But it will only make you wish you were playing a better First-Person Shooter.
23 人之中有 20 人（87%）認為這篇評論有參考價值
12.1 記錄時數
張貼於：06 月 21 日
I enjoy old school FPS, but this game was very frustrating. The recoil is ridiculous, enemies spawn out of nowhere and shoot you from across the map, and it's often confusing as to where to go or what to do. Getting through the game requires constant use of quick-save/quick-load, because you'll constantly die. The only things it has going for it are decent graphics, level design, and game length, but they don't compensate for the awful gameplay. Alpha Prime, Chaser, and Red Faction are better old school FPS.
29 人之中有 20 人（69%）認為這篇評論有參考價值
12.1 記錄時數
張貼於：01 月 14 日
Why is there no option to rate the game as "just about average" instead of just "Recommended" and "Not recommended" ? because this game is just that. I can't say it's horribly bad, but i also can't say it's great either.
First i had to combat errors even before i actually started shooting things:
...because the game refused to run. After i fixed it, i had to manually assign the UAC to the game EXE so i could even use settings. And then i could actually play the game.
Graphics are decent, sound is ok, gameplay is decently long, a lot of levels are quite nice actually (especially the first part of the AX planet). Weapons, while there is sort of a selection of them, some are mostly useless. Basically you just rely on a rifle with basic zoom and you aim for the head. All other weapons are either too clumsy or infective to even bother with them. Enemies are not the brightest out there, but sometimes they make surprising moves and they are often crazy accurate across wast distances.
The main problem with the game is that you're basically fighting like 5 enemy types through the entire game. And most of those are just generic humans. Next problem is the way game feeds the story to you. It tries to do the conspiracy and evil corporations thing, but just doesn't manage to give you the right feel of it. You know, the Deus Ex sort of feel for the story, conspiracy, twists and stuff. Here, you sort of just tag along the story, because you just have to progress further and that's it.
Anyway, the game is ok, if you like old school shooter where you have to tackle basic problems like flipping switches and stuff, look for access cards and shoot bad guys. It's not excellent, but it's ok enough if you don't have anything else to play.
Btw, the last 4 screenshots in the store page don't exist in-game. I've just finished the game and i've never seen those maps/buildings.
11.1 記錄時數
張貼於：2012 年 12 月 29 日
Half Life, if it had the worst voice work ever seen upon this earth. An incredible experience.
9.8 記錄時數
張貼於：2013 年 08 月 16 日
Not bad. Entertaining shooter with a semi-decent storyline. Though the game starts pretty slow and average, it develops into something quite unique. Putting something as visually appealing as 'Bioshock Infinite' to the side, this game had some of the best 3D renderings I've ever seen with remarkable attention to detail. The voice acting was shotty at best, but it was definately worth a playthrough if you're wanting something that feels old school, but enough going for it to keep you playing til the end. B+
9.8 記錄時數
張貼於：05 月 25 日
Terrible game. I got about 3/5 the way through and a bug has stopped me going any further. A gate won't open. I googled, and the only single walkthrough online says I should be able to pass. Youtube doesn't have one user who has made vidoes of all the levels. The Steam forums are almost empty.
There really is not player enthusiasm for this game. I bought it for £1.60 and would not have payed anymore. I think every level I played so far had at least one bad point. A place where you have to hit F9-quick-load, over and over again. If not just one place many places where you had to use it lots. Using F9 maybe a hundred times to get through a level is not right.
The graphics are old and no better than Half-Life 2. The AI can see through walls and so can attack the moment you poke you head out.
2.4 記錄時數
張貼於：05 月 20 日
Above average, honestly. The story is really generic, the player weapons are insanely inaccurate, some of the levels are fairly confusing (and look very similar), and the multiplayer is completely dead (but I guess that's to be expected for an obscure FPS). I can't really recommend this, unless you have a thing for really obscure games and you want to finish it.
11.4 記錄時數
張貼於：2011 年 01 月 9 日
Brings nothing new to the genre, has horribly translated dialogues, voice overs, and texts on PDAs. However, the old-school shooting mechanics and the gameplay were enough (coupled with extreme boredom) to allow me to at least finish playing it through to the end.
The multiplayer would have been a blast provided people actually played, as the engine has a very fast and natural feel similar to Quake 3.
18 人之中有 10 人（56%）認為這篇評論有參考價值
8.1 記錄時數
張貼於：05 月 8 日
Its and older game, its buggy, may not run well in newer systems- but underneath all of that is a pretty interesting story. If you can run the game long enough to get into it. 5/10
13.0 記錄時數
張貼於：2010 年 11 月 28 日
Released 2008, with tech from 2003. this is in the caliber of Chrome, and Chaser, Except the FPS industry has Expanded tenfold since 2003. The VO is pretty bad for 2008, and the stroy is flakey.The Difficulty levels are either Easy(easy), Normal(hard), or hard(Insane 1/2 sec till death super bot difficulty). The Driving is solid, as in its like driving a brick. I havent finished it, its that bad.
28.4 記錄時數
張貼於：2010 年 12 月 30 日
This game is about as generic as they come. Boring, and annoyingly glitchy. I beat it, only because I started it. I wouldn't suggest buying this game, unless you can get it on sale. If you need to shoot stuff, there are plenty of better games on Steam.
23 人之中有 12 人（52%）認為這篇評論有參考價值
3.6 記錄時數
張貼於：03 月 7 日
This review is based on at least 10 minutes of gameplay, most of which was the intro part twice asI had to restart due to a buggy game.
Sound: Had to mute it due to the constant static.
Graphics: It looks like an early Source engine game with the contrast & HDR set to over 9000.
Cut-Scenes: Half Life style slow entrance to the facility that cant be skipped.. ever.
Gameplay: Half Life but clumsy. Everything has invisible barriers around it, sometimes 10ft around things.
Summary: Its Half Life but with a dull lead character (Yes Gordon the mute has more charisma), garish & shiny graphics, awful voice acting, glichy sound, messy controls, a dreary mundane sounding story and a ton of other bad stuff. Play Half Life instead. 3 out of 10.
1 人之中有 0 人（0%）認為這篇評論有參考價值
13.8 記錄時數
張貼於：10 月 10 日
Even on easy the game became frustratingly hard, very early on. I had to play this game in god mode from almost the beginning. The English voice acting was cheesy at best and the story line (although it had promise) became predictable and very generic. The level layout and designs had very few real issues, but were bland for the most part. The game for me has no redeeming qualities, I’m only glad that I bought it when it was on sale.
13 人之中有 5 人（38%）認為這篇評論有參考價值
11.0 記錄時數
張貼於：03 月 15 日
game is pretty liner and has some fun gun fights, few cool weapons and over all a fun game. But the ending sucked!!
story line was acually ok but the ending just plain sucked. did i mention the ending sucked?
5 人之中有 1 人（20%）認為這篇評論有參考價值
0.6 記錄時數
張貼於：2011 年 07 月 5 日
i haven't played much of this game but the son is exploding and you shoot people | http://store.steampowered.com/app/12390/?l=tchinese | dclm-gs1-262770000 |
0.041585 | <urn:uuid:16781ce7-581e-4616-bda6-07250675b7a1> | en | 0.940042 | You are here:News» Topics» Shraddha Arya
Pakistan's short, sweet stories dominated TV TOI
Typical saas-bahu sagas and run-of-the-mill concepts outlived their popularity on the small screen. This was evident from the success of finite series like "Zindagi Gulzar Hai" and "Humsafar" from Pakistan, which not only captivated audiences but also topped the charts.
Tumhari Paakhi: Shashi Sumeet Productions bids adieu to the show TOI
Curtains draw on Shashi Sumeet Productions's super hit show Tumhari Paakhi. Shashi & Sumeet H Mittal, the producer of the show, are known for going out of the way for the artists they work with.
Now, Main Lakshmi... to return with a second season after two years TOI
TV show, Main Lakshmi Tere Aangan Ki, which featured Shraddha Arya and Sudeep Sahir, is all set to return with another season after a gap of almost two years. The first season had enjoyed a 10-month long run from December 2011 to October 2012. | http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Shraddha-Arya | dclm-gs1-262890000 |
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[OS] IRAQ/US/MIL - Plan Would Keep Small Force in Iraq Past Deadline
Released on 2012-10-16 17:00 GMT
Email-ID 3654908
Date 2011-09-07 04:47:00
Plan Would Keep Small Force in Iraq Past Deadline
Published: September 6, 2011
WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta is supporting a plan that
their withdrawal at year's end, but only to continue training security
forces there, a senior military official said on Tuesday.
The recommendation would break a longstanding pledge by President Obama to
withdraw all American forces from Iraq by the deadline. But it would still
involve significantly fewer forces than proposals presented at the
Pentagon in recent weeks by the senior American commander in Iraq, Gen.
Lloyd J. Austin III, to keep as many as 14,000 to 18,000 troops there.
The proposal for a smaller force - if approved by the White House and the
Iraqi government, which is not yet certain - reflected the shifting
political realities in both countries.
American forces home and the widely held view among commanders that Iraq
mounting pressures to reduce the costs of fighting in Iraq and
Afghanistan, both wars that have become increasingly unpopular as the 10th
Even as the United States military reduces its troop strength in Iraq, the
private security contractors working for the State Department.
In Iraq, a lingering American military presence is hugely contentious,
even though some political leaders, especially among the Kurds and Sunnis,
will be Shiite political dominance, coupled in turn with the rising
influence of neighboring Iran.
Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, a Shiite, has also indicated he would
consider allowing American trainers to stay beyond the deadline,
negotiated by President George W. Bush. At the same time, he owes his
position as prime minister to the political followers of the Shiite cleric
Moktada al-Sadr, who vehemently opposes any Americans remaining.
The Iraqi cabinet authorized the beginning of talks over an American
military presence, but insisted that they be limited to a training
mission, a senior administration official said. Mr. Panetta's
recommendation fell "within the confines of what the Iraqis said they
need," the official said.
Mr. Panetta himself, in comments to reporters as he traveled to New York
for a Sept. 11 commemoration on Tuesday, said that no decisions had been
made about how many American troops would remain in Iraq after the end of
this year.
But despite the reluctance of several administration officials to publicly
get out ahead of a formal recommendation and a presidential decision on
such a delicate issue, as a practical matter Mr. Panetta has almost run
out of time for the military to plan the logistics of a withdrawal by
year's end.
A recommendation to keep 3,000 American troops, first reported on Tuesday
by Fox News, would leave in place a token force where many commanders had
hoped to see a robust presence continue in a region that is viewed as
strategic to American interests.
News of the plan was met with dismay by three senators who visited Iraq
many times during the war: Joseph I. Lieberman, the Connecticut
independent, and his Republican colleagues John McCain of Arizona and
Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. The three released a statement calling
the 3,000 troops "dramatically lower than what our military leaders" have
said "is needed to support Iraq in safeguarding the hard-won gains that
our two nations have achieved at such great cost."
Mr. Obama has steadily withdrawn troops from Iraq since taking office - to
fewer than 50,000 now from more than 140,000 in January 2009 - without the
drastic deterioration of security that many predicted along the way.
With the deadline for a final withdrawal now less than four months away,
the debate over what if any to leave has intensified. Iraq remains deeply
unsettled, if less violent than the worst years of the war in 2006 and
2007. In the last several weeks, a string of bombings and attacks have
intensified the violence, renewing fears about Iraq's ability to main
security without American backup. Its political system, though democratic,
remains riven by sectarian conflicts and crippled by corruption.
Underscoring the delicacy of the question at home and in Iraq, the senior
administration official referred to any potential post-2011 force as "a
small, temporary military presence." Even that might be difficult for Mr.
Maliki to sell. The security agreement Mr. Maliki's government negotiated
with the Bush administration outlined, among other things, the legal
protections for American forces in the country.
Those protections expire with the agreement on Dec. 31, and American
officials have long said they will have to negotiate new ones to cover any
soldiers that remain.
In some ways, the debate over an American military presence is a
rhetorical one. The administration has already drawn up plans for an
extensive expansion of the American Embassy and its operations, bolstered
by thousands of paramilitary security contractors. It has also created an
Office of Security Cooperation that, like similar ones in countries like
Egypt, would be staffed by civilians and military personnel overseeing the
training and equipping of Iraq's security forces.
Even without an extension of the deadline after 2011, that office is
expected to be one of the largest in the world, with hundreds if not
thousands of employees. Officials have previously suggested that keeping
American soldiers in this office might not require a new security
agreement to replace the expiring one since they would be cover by the
same protection offered to diplomats.
All year administration officials have repeated the vow to withdraw all
American troops but left open the possibility of an extended mission - if
the Iraqi government requested one.
The State Department's spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, reiterated the
administration's pledge to go to zero by the end of the year.
our plan is to withdraw by the end of the year," she said on Tuesday when
asked about reported comments by the Kurdish regional leader, Massoud
Barzani, that he favored an American presence beyond 2011. "Were the Iraqi
government to come forward and make a request for some continued security
assistance, we would be prepared to look at it."
Military and administration officials emphasized again on Tuesday that the
Iraqis had not yet made any request and still might not. Nor has the
administration made its final decision, though the planning for various
contingencies has been under way for months. "Absent a request from the
Iraqis, it's difficult to settle on any one thing," one of the military
officials said.
With the year-end deadline looming large because of the lead time the
Pentagon needs to withdraw forces from Iraq, the combination of these
pressures has been forcing military commanders in Iraq to come up with
options that call for fewer and fewer American troops.
American military analysts and planners say that 3,000 American troops
would represent a bare-bones approach, with those forces likely to be
assigned a training mission "with a limited capability at that," said one
military official, who like others interviewed for this article agreed to
speak on condition of anonymity because of the delicate nature of the
talks with the Iraqis.
A senior American military officer said the planning at this point seemed
to be driven more by the troop numbers than the missions they could
accomplish, exactly the opposite of how military planners ideally like to
operate. "I think we're doing this backwards," the officer said. "We
should be talking about what missions we want to do, and then decide how
many troops we'll need."
Clint Richards
Global Monitor
cell: 81 080 4477 5316
office: 512 744 4300 ex:40841 | http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/36/3654908_-os-iraq-us-mil-plan-would-keep-small-force-in-iraq-past.html | dclm-gs1-262960000 |
0.078283 | <urn:uuid:9417777b-1b70-4078-b175-d85ca7ec344a> | en | 0.958804 | What are the charges of 1st degree theft on a minor?
Asked about 5 years ago - Bremerton, WA
My parents are pressing charges against me for stealing money from them.
Attorney answers (1)
1. Liza E. Burke
Contributor Level 8
Answered . Most of us know that theft means stealing. What makes it first degree is the amount stolen. If it is alleged that over $1,500 was stolen, then the theft becomes first degree. First degree theft is a felony. If you are under the age of 18, then the prosecutor could file charges against you in juvenile court. There is not specific class of theft for minors. The significance of a minor committing a crime of theft is that it is handled in juvenile court.
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0.019535 | <urn:uuid:27b61513-b96f-4e6c-b313-49844e2ee80f> | en | 0.768953 | Email updates
Open Access Highly Accessed Research article
Genome mining reveals the genus Xanthomonas to be a promising reservoir for new bioactive non-ribosomally synthesized peptides
Monique Royer1, Ralf Koebnik2, Mélanie Marguerettaz1, Valérie Barbe3, Guillaume P Robin2, Chrystelle Brin4, Sébastien Carrere5, Camila Gomez1, Manuela Hügelland6, Ginka H Völler6, Julie Noëll1, Isabelle Pieretti1, Saskia Rausch6, Valérie Verdier2, Stéphane Poussier7, Philippe Rott1, Roderich D Süssmuth6 and Stéphane Cociancich1*
Author Affiliations
1 CIRAD, UMR BGPI, Montpellier Cedex 5, F-34398, France
2 IRD, UMR RPB, Montpellier Cedex F-34394, France
3 CEA/DSV/IG/Genoscope, Centre National de Séquençage, Evry Cedex F-91057, France
4 INRA, UMR IRHS, Beaucouzé F-49071, France
5 INRA, UMR LIPM, Castanet-Tolosan Cedex F-31326, France
6 Institut für Chemie, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin D-10623, Germany
7 UMR PVBMT, Université de la Réunion, Saint-Denis, La Réunion F-97715, France
For all author emails, please log on.
BMC Genomics 2013, 14:658 doi:10.1186/1471-2164-14-658
Published: 27 September 2013
Various bacteria can use non-ribosomal peptide synthesis (NRPS) to produce peptides or other small molecules. Conserved features within the NRPS machinery allow the type, and sometimes even the structure, of the synthesized polypeptide to be predicted. Thus, bacterial genome mining via in silico analyses of NRPS genes offers an attractive opportunity to uncover new bioactive non-ribosomally synthesized peptides. Xanthomonas is a large genus of Gram-negative bacteria that cause disease in hundreds of plant species. To date, the only known small molecule synthesized by NRPS in this genus is albicidin produced by Xanthomonas albilineans. This study aims to estimate the biosynthetic potential of Xanthomonas spp. by in silico analyses of NRPS genes with unknown function recently identified in the sequenced genomes of X. albilineans and related species of Xanthomonas.
We performed in silico analyses of NRPS genes present in all published genome sequences of Xanthomonas spp., as well as in unpublished draft genome sequences of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae strain BAI3 and Xanthomonas spp. strain XaS3. These two latter strains, together with X. albilineans strain GPE PC73 and X. oryzae pv. oryzae strains X8-1A and X11-5A, possess novel NRPS gene clusters and share related NRPS-associated genes such as those required for the biosynthesis of non-proteinogenic amino acids or the secretion of peptides. In silico prediction of peptide structures according to NRPS architecture suggests eight different peptides, each specific to its producing strain. Interestingly, these eight peptides cannot be assigned to any known gene cluster or related to known compounds from natural product databases. PCR screening of a collection of 94 plant pathogenic bacteria indicates that these novel NRPS gene clusters are specific to the genus Xanthomonas and are also present in Xanthomonas translucens and X. oryzae pv. oryzicola. Further genome mining revealed other novel NRPS genes specific to X. oryzae pv. oryzicola or Xanthomonas sacchari.
This study revealed the significant potential of the genus Xanthomonas to produce new non-ribosomally synthesized peptides. Interestingly, this biosynthetic potential seems to be specific to strains of Xanthomonas associated with monocotyledonous plants, suggesting a putative involvement of non-ribosomally synthesized peptides in plant-bacteria interactions. | http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/14/658/abstract | dclm-gs1-263110000 |
0.265749 | <urn:uuid:0fa903b3-d937-4311-97f0-e178ecf6cee7> | en | 0.959862 | The buck stops here. Photographer: Matthew Staver/Bloomberg
The buck stops here. Photographer: Matthew Staver/Bloomberg
One of Andrew Sullivan’s readers has an interesting theory about why marijuana might be a gateway drug:
Since we’re on to the topic of “marijuana as a gateway drug”, I’d like to bring up an argument I almost never hear, and have no idea why: Isn’t it possible that marijuana acts as a gateway drug for some people because they buy those other drugs from the same guy? I’m sure a lot of people have gotten the Amazon-sales pitch from their pot dealer (“If you like marijuana, you might also enjoy … ”). I have never been tempted, but if I wanted to try cocaine or mushrooms, etc., I would probably just ask the guy I buy pot from. My guess is that legalizing marijuana and putting it in pharmacies would limit people’s access to harder drugs for this very reason.
I’m not sure how true this is -- most people I know who tried harder drugs got them from the friends they smoked pot with, not the guy who sold it to them. On the other hand, it’s at least plausible ... which would mean that although legalization would probably cause marijuana use (and abuse) to rise, the paradoxical result might be a decline in the use of harder drugs.
The only way to find out is to legalize and see what happens. Fortunately for the curious, two states are experimenting right now. We should have our answer in a few years.
To contact the writer of this article:
Megan McArdle at
To contact the editor responsible for this article:
James Gibney at | http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-01-27/will-legal-pot-mean-fewer-drug-addicts- | dclm-gs1-263140000 |
0.110413 | <urn:uuid:5f2a7d04-f418-4b66-a0b7-53c878f39dc9> | en | 0.956366 | Harman Baweja
No. of Profile Views 6,774
Harman does his own stunts!
New Delhi, Feb. 3 -- Looks like, Bollywood actor Harman Baweja, who was last seen in the romantic comedy, What's Your Raashee (2009), has really been working hard on his physique.
So much so, that a much-fitter Baweja will be seen doing all the stunts in his forthcoming movie all by himself, without any body double.
Talking about the same, Harman says that he has always loved doing his own stunts. "It gives me an adrenaline rush," says the 33-year-old actor, adding, "Barring obviously jumping from a five-story building, I did everything myself. So yeah, when it's like a jump over a moving car, or like scaling a 12-feet wall, I give it my best shot. I fall, I injure, I put some ice and then I go for it again."
Box Office Results
1. P.K. INR 183 cr.
2. Action Jackson INR 53 cr.
3. Ungli INR 19 cr.
4. Happy Ending INR 20 cr.
5. Kill Dil INR 30 cr.
Movie Reviews | http://www.bollywood.com/celebrities/harman-baweja/news/harman-does-his-own-stunts | dclm-gs1-263150000 |
0.441566 | <urn:uuid:c25d909a-edf7-4d10-ae36-77a9dff80534> | en | 0.936355 | University of Würzburg
University of Würzburg, German in full Bayerische Julius-maximilians-universität Würzburg, autonomous, state-supported university in Würzburg, Ger., founded in 1582. Early a famous centre for the study of Roman Catholic theology, it was secularized in 1814 and became best known for its medical school. Among its teachers were the philosopher F.W. Schelling, the pathologist Rudolf Virchow, and the physicist Wilhelm Röntgen, who discovered X rays there in 1895. | http://www.britannica.com/print/topic/650090 | dclm-gs1-263200000 |
0.018587 | <urn:uuid:e8303c47-54d2-458c-bc26-eefe22a83353> | en | 0.979463 | • My Scores
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CBSSports.com Senior Writer
Ohio State mess latest example of college athletics gone wild
Bet Mark Emmert didn't sign up for this. The NCAA's still-new president couldn't have expected a spit storm, this steaming cup of latte dumped in his lap.
Emmert took the job for the odd bully pulpit appearance, to be the kindly, authoritative lightning rod on the issues of the day, to spin every story by using the term "student-athletes" at every possible turn. My, how his world has turned. All you have to know is that yesterday Emmert would gladly have sat next to Jim Tressel at some random state-of-the-NCAA forum/town hall meeting. Today, Emmert probably wouldn't take his call.
More on Tressel suspension
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What's the old saying? You're innocent until you're proven Bruce Pearl. That's where we are five months into Emmert's time on the NCAA throne. That train wreck of a news conference Tuesday at Ohio Stateconfirmed it. To argue that college athletics has never been at a lower point would be an insult to voles everywhere. There are now two sitting coaches accused of an NCAA mortal sin -- unethical conduct. Pearl lied. Jim Tressel knowingly withheld information after an attorney tipped him off that the names of two of his players had come up in a federal investigation.
That's where the wrongdoing started. Tressel kept quiet, allowing the athletes to play on without question or scrutiny. His explanation? He didn't know who to tell back in April. "I definitely didn't move forward ... I couldn't think as to who that would be." Well, he might try his boss, AD Gene Smith. Or he might try his own school's website that allows whistle blowers to report NCAA violations anonymously. But by the end of Tuesday those were only small points.
Tressel lost two games (suspended) and is out $250,000. Ohio State, though, lost a little bit of its soul. The Ohio State is now the latest example for players, coaches and administrators gone wild. At least you knew where you stood with Woody Hayes. Tressel could surpass even the old man's antics if he becomes the first Division I-A coach to be suspended for a season for unethical conduct. Think that's pessimistic? By now, Emmert and the NCAA enforcement division have to be in no mood for small talk on the issue.
They also have to know that both Tressel and Pearl still having jobs is laughable to some. Among the more painful ironies: The coaches will get their day in court from a system that doesn't provide that innocent-until-proven-guilty true due process. Emmert now sits at the head of an organization mired in its own contradictory filth. Since he took office in October, there has been an agent scandal, Camgate, the "Buckeye Five", Tennessee facing major sanctions in football and basketball and possible recruiting improprieties at Oregon.
Oh, and did we mention that Southern California is an appeals' denial away from those noble folks at the BCS ripping the school's 2004 national championship?
None of this is Emmert's fault. He inherited a few of these cases. He hasn't been in office long enough to affect the others. But he did ride into office on a get-tough platform. From here on, it's his ship to steer away from icebergs. There's no time to warm up. This cheating tsunami is defining college athletics today. They called a news conference at Ohio State on Tuesday night that could have been renamed, "College Athletics Out Of Control." Most of us already knew that, it's just the methods that make our skin crawl.
Tressel wasn't found to have withheld information until the school's office of legal affairs "discovered" -- the school's word -- one of his e-mails on Jan. 13. One thing led to another and soon, The Senator was up there Tuesday saying he didn't know who to tell. When asked if dismissal of Tressel ever crossed his mind, Ohio State president Gordon Gee was incredulous.
"No, are you kidding? I was hoping the coach doesn't dismiss me," Gee said.
That's the kind of blind loyalty that an .828 winning percentage will get for you. As is the case with Pearl, such talk might be a moot point. The NCAA has yet to weigh in on both men. For now, Ohio State should feel more than fortunate. The association has bent over backward up until now. It found some obscure, aged language that allowed those five players to participate in the Sugar Bowl.
In a dichotomy of shame and pride, Smith is -- at the same time -- overseeing this investigation while chairing the powerful NCAA men's basketball selection committee. One is embarrassing. The other signifies the pinnacle of a lot of AD's careers. Smith had to fly back from New York from an NCAA tournament publicity soiree to explain what the hell has happened to his football program. When the news conference opened with Smith having to say, "Wherever we end up, Jim Tressel is our football coach," you knew it was a bad, bad day.
If Emmert doesn't know by now, the overriding perception around the country is that the big guys get a free ride. Pearl lied and it took the SEC to finally sit him out eight games. Even if he is suspended next season, there is every reason to assume Pearl could be back at Tennessee in 2012-13. Tressel is missing two games you or I could coach. Ask yourself if it had been five Northern Illinois players selling their gear to a tattoo shop owner: Would they be allowed to play in the bowl game? I think we all know the answer.
This episode proves that if you're trying to tip someone off about wrongdoing in a major college football program, the coach is probably one of the last people to call. Urban Meyer has sounded absolutely prescient in his recent call for reform in the coaching profession.
"What I've seen the last five years is a complete turn in the integrity of the college coaching profession," he said. "It's completely turned the other way."
And then there is history, which is easy to bring up in this case. Two years ago the Columbus Dispatch reported that Ohio State had reported 375 NCAA violations from 2000-09, the most of 69 schools surveyed by the newspaper. Tressel was hired in 2001 at Ohio State shortly after the Youngstown State program he oversaw was penalized. The NCAA said his quarterback Ray Isaac was paid in excess of $10,000 by a member of the school's board of trustees. Don't forget the Maurice Clarett fiasco or Troy Smith having to sit out two games after taking $500 from a booster.
Either a lot of bad stuff follows Tressel around or there is definitely a pattern here. A final piece of irony: At the same time Tressel was admitting guilt on Tuesday, his school is vigorously pursuing that Buckeye Five appeal. The school contends those five-game suspensions are too harsh. Note to all Buckeyes: If Emmert truly is going to crack down on the evil doers, by the time the NCAA gets done; harsh may not begin to describe the football landscape in Columbus.
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0.667885 | <urn:uuid:0ade53bc-2bb3-4121-a4cb-bdf0d97d4d2a> | en | 0.944305 | Tarzan plans to cross a gorge by swinging inan arc from a hanging vine. If his arms are capable of exerting aforce of 14000 N on the vine, what is the maximum speed he cantolerate at the lowest point of his swing? His mass is 80 kg, andthe vine is 5.5 m long. | http://www.chegg.com/homework-help/questions-and-answers/tarzan-plans-cross-gorge-swinging-inan-arc-hanging-vine-arms-capable-exerting-aforce-14000-q50989 | dclm-gs1-263300000 |
0.024593 | <urn:uuid:a0999a5a-db8a-4c0e-900b-27428d674bc0> | en | 0.938971 | Why should I break my Google habit?
Microsoft is taking another run at Google but excuse me if I don't swoon over the company's latest search brainstorm.
Michael Arrington has an interesting post today on TechCrunch in which he predicts that Microsoft Live Search Cashback will have a material impact on Microsoft's share of the search market. It's worth a read but Microsoft will still have to scale a few mountains before this becomes a smash success.
I suppose Microsoft will get some initial lift from the news, but the PR glow will ebb. Seriously, how many of you really plan to use Microsoft search in hopes of making a buck? At some point, the offering will be judged on its comprehensiveness and that's a comparison Google welcomes. I experienced much the same sense of frustration using the service as did SearchEngineLand's Danny Sullivan. His conclusion: "this is far from ready as the big game changer that Microsoft is hoping it will be."
Some people surely will accept a more limited selection in return for a few dollars in their pockets. Still, you don't find many examples where companies made out by paying customers to use their products. It's been tried. For example, Buy.com once purposely lost money on what it sold through what the company termed a "zero product margin" strategy. The idea was to sell advertising to compensate for any lost revenue. Needless to say, that's not how the company operates any longer--and for good reason. (By the way, Henry Blodget did a back-of-the-envelope analysis and concluded that Microsoft "generates no revenue from cashback." I know Bill Gates is big on philanthropy, but Microsoft shareholders are pursuing a decidedly different agenda.)
If any of this created a tidal wave of interest, Microsoft obviously would try to devise ways to monetize the offer. But first users are going to need to master the unnaturally geeky approach Microsoft adopted in building the "Live" franchise. I'm not bashing the products. Truth be told, I think Microsoft's done a good job with the individual properties. I'm just puzzled by the pastiche of forgettable and confusing URLs it's collected around the Live brand.
Last month, Microsoft tweaked things slightly--again--so that users can now access their Live.com personalized page by signing in with a Windows Live ID. Fine, but it's still a marketing nightmare. When I'm in a hurry, it's just a lot easier remembering Google.com.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did the study. The research was posted online Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. | http://www.columbian.com/news/2012/feb/27/bird-flu-pig-flu-now-bat-flu-human-risk-unclear/ | dclm-gs1-263370000 |
0.03667 | <urn:uuid:1bba5e16-6d2d-4f0f-8846-6ee0f7b8b658> | en | 0.930997 | 18 votes
Border Meltdown: Obama Delivering 290,000 Illegals To U.S. Homes
Border Meltdown: Obama Delivering 290,000 Illegals To U.S. Homes
Neil Munro
White House Correspondent
10:02 AM 07/05/2014
A second New York Times article reports revealed that officials have caught an additional 240,000 Central American migrants since April, and are transporting many of them to their destinations throughout the United States.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2014/07/05/border-meltdown-obama-deli...
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Debbie's picture
Excellent article.
Thank you.
Bring 'em on...
Let(make) 'em work and pay income tax for the rest of us U.S. Citizens. That's our reward and their fee for being here anyway. Otherwise no-go. Pick up every last one, sit their asses down on the other side of the border and threaten Mexico with economic sanctions if they don't help.
Population replacement is a tried and true method
for tyrants. Regular Americans are too uppity for our ruling class in poth parties.
The administration is recruiting future Democratic voters... simple. Gathering wards of the state that must vote liberal or be deported have their chickens taken out of the pots, so on and so forth. Couldn't be easier than Obama's campaign of giving away cell phones... except for the part that the Dems do not even have to pay for this. YOU ARE.
Why aren't we deporting Obama to live in Kenya?
Just need to round up that 1 illegal and send him home.
Kings and Pawns.
You want to create chaos and confusion? You want to create an epidemic or a loyal army of dependency? The chess board is being set.
Human smuggling, the usual for Obama.
When they say "Relatives", are we really supposed to believe that it is not the Smugglers ready to collect the second half of the payment?
In most of these cases, it is one mother with 5 or 6 "children", they all have their script of what to say. This is all planned.
Anyone who questions any of this is an automatic Racist.
Successfully delivered
Can anyone describe to me successfully delivered? By what mechanism were 50,000 undocumented trespassers delivered?
Were they picked up by relatives?
Were they transported via bus?
Were they flown on commercial flights?
Did they walk?
What does this mean?
If you have no documents at all and you are a minor, who can legally take you across any state line in America? Kidnapping is usually a twenty year sentence.
I know I am assuming that anyone in this government would actually enforce the law on these people after all they should have been immediately deported not transported!
undocumented "families"
Without documents, how does anyone know who the relatives are?
Cyril's picture
Nevermind. Man, you're so old fashioned!
Nevermind. Man, you're so old fashioned! (Much like me, I admit!)
They didn't tell you?
Who cares about language or logic these days?!
IW just uploaded a nice wrap up of their weeks long coverage
on the issue:
July 4th Summary of Weeks-long InfoWars News Team's live coverage of Obama dumping 1000's of Illegals at Border States & Beyond!
Declaration Against The Illegal Invasion Of America: July 4th Special Report
Published on Jul 4, 2014
:Social Media:
** Good to see that the late Michael Hastings' close friend SSgt. Joe Biggs is adjusting to his new life and work at InfoWars, nicely.
Predictions in due Time...
The White House, State Department
and Federal Reserve Buildings are just the right size to house the influx of children and teens. They could have lots of fun running up and down the halls of congress.
Why aren't they dropped off in Washington DC?
Oh No, Obama Is Going To Place Them Where We Live
The idea is for the communist and chief to get us to get so mad we will lose it and revolt, forcing Marshall law upon all Americans...
You see, its all hypnotic...Getting us to react improperly..
What we should have done is to act lawfully along time ago.
Now our borders are wide open and no one does much of anything but talk, talk and talk...
"America is gone" ~ Ron Paul
There's nothing wrong
with delivering illegal "children" to the homes of Washington elites and have them share their homes and places of play with the "children." They are the racists. You don't hear of any family in Washington DC taking in the "children." | http://www.dailypaul.com/321922/border-meltdown-obama-delivering-290000-illegals-to-us-homes | dclm-gs1-263450000 |
0.058792 | <urn:uuid:a51d2d97-0762-4e8a-969a-99d6bb1f8642> | en | 0.972677 | Android deals just got weird: free phones for pants, free flights for phones
Next time you're trying on a pair of (non musical) jeans, why not snag a free Android phone to help fill their roomy pockets? And while you're shopping for that big trip you've got planned, you can let "HTC Airlines" book that flight for you. Honest, it's no trouble at all. Well, it's a little trouble. Wet Seal's "try on some pants and get a free phone" deal comes attached to a two-year contract, and those flights? Still free, but only if you happen to be picking up your HTC Status or Salsa in Germany. You didn't expect them to offer a free ride to just anybody, anywhere, did you? | http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/22/android-deals-just-got-weird-free-phones-for-pants-free-flight/ | dclm-gs1-263550000 |
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3.71 of 5 stars 3.71 · rating details · 11,335 ratings · 469 reviews
Com a quadra festiva a aproximar-se, o sargento detective Bruce Robertson - que está em queda no trabalho mas vive a sonhar com a promoção - decide esquecer o Natal e passar uma semana de sexo e drogas em Amesterdão. No entanto, nem tudo corre pelo melhor: cenas domésticas, uma importuna dependência de cocaína, uma crescente deterioração das partes mais íntimas do seu corp ...more
Paperback, 506 pages
Published May 2003 by Quetzal (first published 1998)
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Carlos Lavín
The ending, the damn ending to the book.
The book is disgusting in every imaginable way, but it somehow keeps you going. Even though the situations he pu
Shamus McCarty
Use quotation marks you limey bastard!
I'm so glad I listen to my friend's book recommendations sometimes...
'FILTH' is the story of Detective Sergeant Bruce Robertson, and the first thing you should know about him is that he's a complete and utter Bastard.
During the build up to Christmas the race is on for the much desired Detective Inspector position and Bruce is adamant that he is going to be the one. Now if that means he's got to: lie, cheat, steal, manipulate and back-stab his way there, then you can safely bet that he will. The
Oct 28, 2008 Jackie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition
Recommends it for: Cynical,dry, filthy humored readers like myself.
Absolutely my favorite Welsh read.I loved the humor and Bruce was so relateable(to me and my type of humor) but sort of over-the-top in his slurs towards many controvercial subjects which only made me giggle,tsk and shake my head.He thought many of the things people would never admit to thinking in their own heads so they just right off the book as its namesake and dont read any further. But I loved the shocking twist and its completely original narrative style. And how Bruce and the tapeworm sl ...more
A few years back I was watching some pissed off religious zealot going all loony on TV because gays were having their little pride parade (Oh, the horror!) and proposing they should all be sent to the desert or be given a country - Australia, he suggested (!!) - to inhabit. Maybe I should have been outraged, but I couldn't stop laughing to tears at the poor illiterate wacko and his unbelievable stupidity. Some people are so deranged, you just can't take them seriously.
My reaction to Bruce Robert
A good book, following the exploits of the world's second worst police officer through the things he does.
Unfortunately the main character is so difficult to relate to (he does the most awful things for no reason other than he can/wants to, and I can't understand that) that by the time of his trip to Amsterdam you're left numb. The constant series of horrors (which are entertaining and shocking to begin with) become something that you are accustomed to, the horror you were feeling at his physica
So delicously revolting. Welsh is at his best, here. The metaphor is spot on. The dynamic narrative device is shocking and perfect. Bruce Robertson is a nasty, nasty piece of work, making Francis Begbie look positively choirboy-like in comparison. The twist, when it comes (and that's not a spoiler--it's Welsh, so you knew there would be one) is shocking and yet fits so perfectly all at the same time that it seems to have been crystal clear from the beginning. Not for the faint of heart, but if y ...more
Brett Starr
Wow, the book definitely lives up to it's title "Filth"!
Detective Sgt. Bruce Robertson is one despicable bastard!
He takes drugs, abuses his police power, is addicted to pornography, takes bribes, masterbates compulsively, is a sex fiend, has a nasty bit of eczema below the belt & has a tapeworm in his gut!
D.S. Robertson is a filthy human being, he back stabs his friends & co-workers, tells extremely harmful and deceitful lies to women to sleep with them and he stinks "literally"!
This has echoes of Martin Amis's "Money" in it's presentation of a truly vile lead character: Bruce Robertson, is a scheming,racist, sexist and bigoted Detective Sergeant, investigating the murder of a black man outside a nightclub. Not that he has much time for solving crime; the constant bouts of: heavy drinking, porn, cocaine abuse, skiving work and his serial philandering occupy most of this. But, this is Welsh and you wouldn't expect deities and social heirs and graces.
There's plenty of twi
There are several reasons why I will never forget this book. The main reason is Bruce Robertson, the main character of "Filth".
Bruce Robertson is a Police Investigator in Edinburgh. He's also, in every sense of the word, the WORST human being you can imagine. He's depraved, completely void of morality, racist, and worst of all, believes in what he does. Reading this book actually makes you fearful that there are people out there like this in positions of power. His actions are awe-inducing in th
I have given this book 4 stars but I am still at loss as to what to say. As the front pages 15 years on from when it was written still have stories of UKIP members making racist comments and FA reps sending sexist comments in e mails I realised that perhaps this string of mysogony and vitriol coming out of the character Bruce Robertson's mouth is a damning indictment of the extremes of modern man, rather than just the rantings of the vilest character I have ever read in a book. The story is abou ...more
This is certainly not the solid, socially acceptable and morally improving type of story. The main character is filth and makes no attempt to hide it from us. Just as i was disgusted with his behaviour I was intrigued by him and really admired his honesty.
Steven Stennett
I have never been so glad to finish a book.
Great writer, and I found bits of it funny, but my overriding impression of the whole experience of reading it, was one of deep depression!
I am glad to say that I will never have to do that again!!!
Colin N.
"Filth" comes close to living up to its name. Welsh's central character, Bruce Robertson, is a detective placed in charge of the investigation of a murdered young black man. Robertson, however, has other things on his mind. First there is his planned vacation to Amsterdam where he goes every year for drugs and debauchery. Then there is his desire for a promotion and the various "games" he plays with his fellow officers, attempting to pit them against one another and knock out his competition. On ...more
Jayne Charles
Any book written in the first person has to deal with the problem of getting across to the reader all those things the narrator doesn’t know or isn’t prepared to acknowledge. It takes a special sort of author to think: “I know, let’s use a talking tapeworm”.
And so here is a novel about a bent policeman, a man with so many prejudices they are impossible to count, who treats both his enemies and his friends with breathtaking contempt, who drinks, takes drugs, and refers to all women as “hoors”. Th
Irvine Welsh is a freak.
If I have to sum up the experience of reading this book in a word, it would be ‘Whirlpool’. Like an object swirling into its abyss, the characters in this novel are sucked into a whirlpool named “Bruce Robertson” and delve deeper into its grip with each page turn. If you are indifferent about this book, you might find a lot of its content repetitive but Irvine Welsh cuts right through a lot of pages with the ferociousness of Edgar Wright montages while unwrapping a new la
Andrew Robins
DS Bruce Robertson is without a doubt the most repulsive character you'll come across. A truly vile, lying, scheming, racist, homophobic, misogynistic, violent, diseased, sociopathic, filthy animal for whom you will have absolutely no sympathy. He's also host to a tapeworm, which contributes to the story at various points, and, towards the end, tells us Robertson's 'back story'.
Halfway through this book, I was absolutely convinced there was no way on earth Welsh could possibly make you feel anyt
Kevin Rubin
"Filth," by Irivine Welsh certainly lived up to its name. Pretty filthy, in several ways the word can be used, from beginning to end.
It's told in first person by the main character, Detective Sergeant Bruce Robertson of the Leith Police, who's approaching middle age and is one of the detectives competing for the single available promotion to Detective Inspector. He feels he's entitled to it because he gave up a few years of rank by working in Australia when his wife Carole wanted to live near he
Об отзыве я начал думать еще за три дня до прочтения, в голове все время крутилось слово "сумбур", но концовка заставила изменить мнение, это очень структурирование произведение, есть начало и конец, довольно жесткий, но наверно автор решил что герою так будет легче, чтобы все пришло к логическому заключению. Книга не сказать что потрясающая, но очень сильная, героя преследуют проблемы его детства, и условия взросления, совсем от него не зависящие, залаживают сценарий его жизни. Печально, ведь б ...more
Thomas Potts
'Filth' sucks you deep into the disturbed, poetic, perverted, brilliant and fevered brain of Detective Sargent Bruce 'Robbo' Robertson. Bruce is in line for a big promotion to DI, and will stop at nothing to get it. Eliminating the competition with psychopathic precision, whilst indulging in his own sordid urges (booze, sex, cocaine and a bit of the old ultraviolence), it seems hard to make this character relatable or even that likeable. However, through Welsh's horrific but poignant stream-of-c ...more
Can you say "Gimmick"? This book was all about gimmicks, and shock-value for shock-value's sake. Which frankly isn't all that interesting to me, especially for three-hundred-odd pages. The main character that Welsh creates is, as the title suggests, utter filth. Racist, sexist, coke-addled, perverted, etc etc etc. The etc's just keep going. Alright already, you don't have to beat us over the head with it. Oh, I guess you do. The gimmick of having part of the story narrated by Main Character's ta ...more
Derek Bridge
Racist. Sexist. Homophobic. Misanthropic. And a policeman. This is Detective Sergeant Bruce Robertson. Ugly and stinking, inside and out. He is filth.
Ostensibly investigating a murder (about which he knows more than he is letting on), he spends most of his time undermining colleagues and friends.
In this novel, Irvine Welsh, author of Trainspotting, invites us into Robertson's head and into his gut. In his gut, there lives a tapeworm, whose burgeoning self-consciousness gives voice to some explan
Irvine Welsh books make me so uncomfortable. Yet I am compelled by some sick desire to continue to follow some person's descent because Mr Welsh writes so well. I am fascinated by his ability. If anyone else tried to write about a detective with a rash on his nether regions that he claws at regularly without washing, a talking tapeworm, a serious sex and drug addiction while trying to solve a crime. All this after his wife and daughter have left him, I tell you, I would have thrown the book as f ...more
David Matthews
One of my favourite reads of all time! This book is brilliant! Bruce Robertson is one sick bastard but i couldnt help but love him. Throughout, i was laughing out load at his snide comments and games.
Robertson is constantly trying to put one over his collegues and friends. He is sexist, rasist and anything else that ends in ist! He has terrible hygene problems, which makes your stomach wretch while reading about his sexual exploits. Dark humour indeed. If you have never read this book then you
The protagonist, Detective Bruce Robertson, is pure filth in every way. He suffers from every 'ism' in the book. A truly disgusting human being. You are desperately wanting to know if there is a reason (not an excuse) for his despicable treatment of everything and everyone. There is a reason but you still despise him. I felt a ticker of pity at the end. Maybe. Don't let this put you off. It is a witty and humorous novel, written in Welsh's unique style. I thoroughly enjoyed it but it is definite ...more
That’s the beauty aboot being polis: it doesnae really matter whether or not everybody hates you, as long as they’re civil tae your face and can put up a good front. You can only live in the world you ken. The rest is just wishful thinking or paranoia.
That's about the longest "clean" quote you can pull from Detective Sergeant Bruce "Robbo" Robertson's filthy ramblings: he's a sexist, racist, womanizing alcoholic who only finds pleasure in "the games" (messing with people's heads) and "the craft
An absolutely vile story about the most repellent police office - Bruce "Robbo" Robertson - whom you shall eventually (and you'll have to suspend your disbelief here) find a sliver of sympathy for by the end of the this woefully perverse story.
Intelligent, repugnant, hilarious and shockingly queasy; one of my most favourite books. You'll have to read 'Filth' yourself to find out why Welsh is just so damn clever.
DS Bruce "Robbo" Robertson is the worst sort of man. Sexist, racist, homophobic, drug-addled, alcohol-fuelled, two-faced, cheating, back-stabbing, aggressive, manipulative, hypocritical... the list of unflattering adjectives could easily take up the rest of this review's word count. In fact, the more I ruminate on Robertson's character, the more surprised I am with myself for sticking with it to the end. I'm glad I did though; despite the novel's thoroughly unpleasant protagonist, it might just ...more
First things first, if you like the narrative in Trainspotting, you’ll love the narrative here. The book follows policeman Bruce Robertson in a series of mysogonstic, homophonic, racist, manipulative and debauched antics that almost make me wish I was back home.
Indeed, my hometown of Edinburgh is brilliantly described here, richly detailed settings as well as fully developed characters, my favourite of which being the narrative from the tapeworms point of view.
When reading (and watching the fil
• Clown Girl
• Dead Babies
• The Fuck Up
• The Room
• The Coma
• The Informers
• Now and on Earth
• Leaving Las Vegas
• Be My Enemy, Or, Fuck This for a Game of Soldiers
• Hey Nostradamus!
• Guts
• Kingdom Come
• Nineteen Seventy Seven (Red Riding, #2)
• The Insult
• Stonemouth
• Stanley Kubrick's Clockwork Orange
• Slaves of New York
• The Contortionist's Handbook
Probably most famous for his gritty depiction of a gang of Scottish Heroin addicts, Trainspotting, Welsh focuses on the darker side of human nature and drug use. All of his novels are set in his native Scotland and filled with anti-heroes, small time crooks and hooligans. Welsh manages, however to imbue these characters with a sad humanity that makes them likable despite their obvious scumbaggerry ...more
More about Irvine Welsh...
Trainspotting Porno The Acid House Glue Marabou Stork Nightmares
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“We wait and think and doubt and hate. How does it make you feel? The overwhelming feeling is rage. We hate ourself for being unable to be other than what we are. Unable to be better. We feel rage. The feelings must be followed. It doesn't matter whether you're an ideologue or a sensualist, you follow the stimuli thinking that they're your signposts to the promised land. But they are nothing of the kind. What they are is rocks to navigate the past, each on your brush against, ripping you a little more open and they are always more on the horizon. But you can't face up to the that, so you force yourself to believe the bullshit of those you instinctively know are liars and you repeat those lies to yourself and to others, hoping that by repeating them often and fervently enough you'll attain the godlike status we accord those who tell the lies most frequently and most passionately. But you never do, and even if you could, you wouldn't value it, you'd realise that nobody believes in heroes any more. We know that they only want to sell us something we don't really want and keep from us what we really do need. Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe we're getting in touch with our condition at last. It's horrible how we always die alone, but no worse than living alone.” 65 likes
“You can only live in the world you ken. The rest is just wishful thinking or paranoia.” 28 likes
More quotes… | http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9734126-lixo | dclm-gs1-263710000 |
0.054089 | <urn:uuid:1f92f408-e032-4727-ab19-1c361befa69b> | en | 0.987083 | Granny caught speeding, writes thank you note to ISP trooper
Granny caught speeding, writes thank you note to ISP trooper »Play Video
Courtesy Idaho State Police
BOISE, Idaho (KBOI) -- Not too many people can say they're happy about being pulled over by police.
"(I) usually just talk to the kids," Nielson said. "Kids are always really inquisitive when the guy with the big hat walks up to their car on the side of the highway so sometimes they are a little nervous."
The trooper gave Baumler her "own" sticker as well -- a $150 ticket. Tana said she was speeding and deserved the citation.
As a restaurant owner herself she notes that her servers don't always get the recognition they deserve. She appreciates when people go out of their way to do so.
Here is what she said in the letter:
| http://www.kboi2.com/news/local/ISP-Thank-You-Note-269220601.html | dclm-gs1-263870000 |
0.477296 | <urn:uuid:479538c9-55a7-4486-8441-8083002b52c2> | en | 0.833314 | lakers unofficial
1230.0 #112 (DL Qual #65
Nov 7, 2012 8:36 PM Disneyland Talk Land
A little early for a throwback but I was inspired today by the vintage Mickey pics. Me holding up my cousin in front of Magic Journeys...don't remember this attraction?! Must've been about '89
Here is also a bit of Disneyland history you don't get to see very often at all and it might be hard to tell but if you look at this picture and see above to the left where the space mountain line starts today, you can see the last 4 letters as LACE, this was because that was the entrance to the quick serve burger joint called Space closed in the late 90s and you can still see the original seats that are where the overflow seating is outside for Pizza Port near the entrance to space....they also had seating upstairs which is why they have the ramp and you could sit in that middle area of the outside space queue on the second floor...when the magic eye theater was originally there it was the Tomorroland theater and was outdoor and the movie for magic journeys was outside at first before moving indoors....some of you might remember that the space mountain entrance was an escolater in front of theater that has been defunct since the late 90s early 200s - Dave 11842.8 #2 11:28PM
I miss the escalator. It was more like a angled moving sidewalk though - cesium55 531.6 #338 11:35PM
Boy, that sure brought back memories! - Sandy 245.8 #1286 12:44AM
dave i hope you pull all of your pics and write this stuff down, then and now kind of thing. - toph 2416.6 #46 1:04AM
I should do that Toph - Dave 11842.8 #2 9:50AM
Thanks for the memory trip! 😊 - jjdq 338.0 #632 10:42AM
yea more like a moving sidewalk/convert belt...I use to love an run and jump on the exit one, you bounced... - Dave 11842.8 #2 10:51AM
Like the moving walkways on haunted...I remember that you knew the line was long when they stopped the walkway because the line went all the way down it. - bluefairy 643.3 #261 4:52PM
Very cool! Thanks for sharing :) - misseeyore 538.0 #331 8:40PM
Nice! Magic journeys played prior to Captain Eo, mid 1984 through early 1986. - Drrmddl 174.5 #2197 8:41PM
I was just talking about this attraction at WDW how it was before Captain Eo and was also in the Imagination Pavilion at Epcot Was a creepy 3D film and the main song was done by the Sherman Bros - Dave 11842.8 #2 8:52PM
Here is the best full length video I have ever seen of Magic Journeys...its the same movie that played at Epcot as well - Dave 11842.8 #2 9:22PM
Thanks, Dave! You guys really do know everything - MissMolly 1230.0 #112 9:38PM
True Cali....and I dont have to google anything, thats the scary part - Dave 11842.8 #2 9:59PM
WHOA!! What the HECK!? That seemed so 1974, trippy/ creepy (especially the clowns)and who green lighted that? - HandMeAChurroImmaFaint 4468.6 #20 10:02PM
1984-1986 at opened at Epcot first when the park opened in 1982 - Dave 11842.8 #2 10:42PM
now I have the song stuck in my head - BaseballMickey_CM 6350.4 #12 10:03PM
kinda odd but its Marty Skylars fav song...pretty sure its because of his involvement with the opening of Epcot and this movie being in the Imagination pavilion - Dave 11842.8 #2 10:41PM
That's exactly what he told us when explaining his favorite part of Epcot - BaseballMickey_CM 6350.4 #12 10:45PM
love it! thanks for sharing! - OhanaPhoto 3277.5 #30 10:40AM
Here are the Top 10 MouseWaiters of All-Time:
1. Coaster
2. Dave
3. Plumiegirl
4. apesandmonkeys
5. jacdanfan
6. Tom
7. goofygal
8. uscdisneyteacher
9. CobbPR
10. Bullseye
Haha - SnoopMousyMouse 41.4 #0 12:33PM
Number 6 now - philliprocks 905.3 #172 2:09PM
5* - AshleyRae- 121.1 #3047 3:25PM
Can't wait! - sawman911 665.2 #251 6:30PM
Sounds fun!! - HappyPrincess 25.0 #5800 10:48AM
- jacdanfan 7496.6 #5 7:44PM
- MadameLeota 1839.4 #72 1:06PM
- FanOfJack 135.1 #2822 12:25PM
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0.041938 | <urn:uuid:d7fe3407-82c4-481b-a5d3-696c6de65e5d> | en | 0.973149 | The Corner
The one and only.
Our Incompetent Refs
In 2004, a lot of political journalists took the view that the Republican presidential candidate was taking many more liberties with the truth than the Democrat. I wrote an article about it for NR at the time, weighing the claims one by one and reaching the conclusion that Bush and Kerry were roughly equal in their truthfulness.
Eight years later, the journalistic conventional wisdom is the same, so I’ve performed the same basic task. Results on the home page. An excerpt:
The Romney statements that have attracted the most scrutiny recently . . . are true. Paul Krugman was among many liberals who accused Romney of lying when he said, during the debate, that people who have difficulty getting insurance because of preexisting conditions would be “covered under my plan.” Romney’s plan is to make insurance more affordable and portable so that fewer people find themselves sick and needing to get insurance. He would strengthen regulations that predate Obamacare, so that people with preexisting conditions can move from employer coverage to individually owned insurance policies. The small number of people who would still lack affordable insurance once these policies are in place would receive special subsidies to get coverage.
Some of Romney’s critics seem not to understand Romney’s plan in full. Others do not think it would work well, or as well as Obamacare. They ought to be willing to argue the point without accusing Romney of lying or being misleading. Romney would deal with the problem, just not in the way liberals prefer. | http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/330018/our-incompetent-refs-ramesh-ponnuru | dclm-gs1-264080000 |
0.989809 | <urn:uuid:f99a66b5-e52c-46d3-a7ed-649c46729527> | en | 0.921175 | Three Of A Kind
On-Air Challenge
Each clue is a list of three things. The answer is what they all have in common. For example, if the clues are: "a college graduate, a thermometer and longitude," the answer would be "degrees." Hint: Every answer, like "degrees," is a seven-letter plural.
Challenge From Last Week
From listener Matt Jones of Portland, Ore., who produces the Jonesin' Crossword that appears in more than 50 alternative weekly newspapers across the country: Take the word "Indian wrestle." Rearrange the 13 letters to get three shorter words that are all related. What are they? Hint: The word lengths are five, four and four letters, respectively.
Answer: Sleet, wind and rain
Winner: Katherine Schneider of Eau Claire, Wis.
Next Week's Challenge
Submit Your Answer
| http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105071342 | dclm-gs1-264100000 |
0.023104 | <urn:uuid:8f762e7b-c1d3-4d00-979d-facfc25d70c8> | en | 0.957331 | Friday, December 26, 2014
Movie Review
Dirty Harry (1971)
December 23, 1971
Published: December 23, 1971
The honorable and slightly anachronistic enterprise of the Don Siegel cops-and-crooks action movies over the last few years (Madigan, Coogan's Bluff) takes a sad and perhaps inevitable step downward in Dirty Harry, which opened yesterday at the Loew's State 2 and Loew's Orpheum theaters. There are moments in Dirty Harry that I would place above anything in the earlier films, but as a whole it makes less sense—or less interesting sense—than they do. And the grim devotion to duty that has always been the badge of Siegel's constabulary is here in Clint Eastwood's tough San Francisco plainclothesman, pushed beyond professionalism into a kind of iron-jawed self-parody.
"Dirty" is Harry's given epithet, and he carries it proudly enough. But he is really a knight in shining armor whose dirtiness is mostly rubbed on from the scummy world he keeps trying to wipe clean. From beginning to end he has an antagonist (Andy Robinson), a skillful sniper and a maniacal murderer of innocent young girls, cops, kids, and Negroes, who means to hold the city to ransom for the lives of its inhabitants. However, he faces other problems. A full-scale bank robbery (lovely sequence) and high-jumping suicide attempt he foils, as it were, during coffee breaks. But against civil rights and civic administration he has few resources. In the long run it is the Mayor's office, Miranda and Escobedo, and the first ten amendments to the Constitution that deal him out and—professionally—do him in.
Of course he gets his man—more than once. But despite four known murders the man keeps walking away (limping a bit from Harry's strong right arm and rough right foot) because he has been searched without a warrant and apprehended with a little too much zeal. It is not the hard-hat sentiment that I find disturbing in all this so much as the dull-eyed insensitivity.
What does succeed, and what makes Dirty Harry worth watching no matter how dumb the story, is Siegel's superb sense of the city, not as a place of moods but as a theater for action. There is a certain difficult integrity to his San Francisco, which is not so beautiful to look at, but is fantastically intricate and intriguing—a challenging menace of towers and battlements and improbable walls.
It is from the properties of such a theater that Dirty Harry creates its own feelings and makes its only real meaning, and occasionally even generates a curious misty atmosphere that owes nothing to vague imaginings and everything to a desperate awareness that for this world the only end of movement is in pain.
Produced and directed by Don Siegel; written by Harry Julian Fink, Rita M. Fink, and Dean Riesner, based on a story by Ms. Fink and Mr. Fink; director of photography, Bruce Surtees; edited by Carl Pingitore; music by Lalo Schifrin; art designer, Dale Hennesy; released by Warner Brothers. Running time: 102 minutes.
With: Clint Eastwood (Harry), Harry Guardino (Bressler), Reni Santoni (Chico), Andy Robinson (Killer), John Larch (Chief), John Mitchum (DeGeorgio), and John Vernon (The Mayor).
Loading Reader Ratings | http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=EE05E7DF173CE267BC4B51DFB467838A669EDE&partner=Rotten%2520Tomatoes | dclm-gs1-264130000 |
0.035735 | <urn:uuid:fac3a798-5f8d-4fb1-a082-bc08c6a55962> | en | 0.960758 | Archive for the 'General Motors' Tag Under 'Letters To The Editor' Category
California, U.S. enslaved by corruption
February 20th, 2012, 2:40 pm by Betty Talbert, letters editor
LAGUNA BEACH, Dave Connell: Steve Greenhut's article, “Harris' Injustice Department” on pension reform discloses that California's Attorney General, Kamala Harris, is apparently almost as corrupt as President Barack Obama's U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder. Actually, we should not be surprised since it appears that wherever the Democrats/unions are in power, corruption runs rampant.
From a president who ignores our Constitution, to a Congress enacting ever more laws restricting freedom, to unions controlling too many politicians and judges, to Legislatures not requiring identification of voters; we are letting our country slide into the deep do-do of socialism.
For example: Whether it's Greenhut's exposure of California's AG changing the wording on the people's Initiatives to suit her union masters, or Obama's voter fraud organizations like ACORN, or the union-controlled judge in Wisconsin allowing obviously fake ballots signed by names like Mickey Mouse to be counted so the unions can get more votes to recall Wisconsin's brave Gov. Walker who dared to oppose union control of that state; we the people are being engulfed and enslaved by corruption. Regular patriotic freedom loving citizens must awake and start fighting back at the ballot box and with support of the people's Initiatives. [See more letters on Justice]
Illegal immigration still illegal
Read the rest of this entry »
Shooting of Sgt. Loggins: allow the deputy his privacy
February 17th, 2012, 12:45 pm by Kyle Infante
YORBA LINDA, Michael Granek: I disagree with Tony Saavedra's reasoning for releasing the deputy's name in the shooting of Manuel Loggins [“Name of deputy who shot Marine not released,” Local, Feb. 16].
You don't know what you are talking about. You are a journalist, not a police officer. You have the luxury of doing your job, while sitting at your computer, drinking your coffee and leisurely doing your work. You will never know what it is like to make a split-second decision that might mean life or death for you or someone else.
The deputy involved was dealing with someone who wasn't in a normal state of mind. He heard children in the car screaming. Loggins failed to comply with any of the deputy's commands. Neither of us knows the fine details, but for some reason, the deputy felt he had to stop Loggins, possibly from harming the children.
How do you know that the deputy involved isn't wracked with guilt over this whole incident? Perhaps he did what he felt was best at the moment, but feels remorse for having to take the life of another human being. Yes, officers are trained for this, and they have the authority to do this, but it doesn't mean they take joy in taking someone's life.
Read the rest of this entry » | http://www.ocregister.com/tag/letters/general-motors | dclm-gs1-264170000 |
0.018296 | <urn:uuid:f61a9854-c61d-43ea-af86-f305d3861854> | en | 0.81623 |
Articles tagged the new york times crosswords
Tuesday, May 6 2008
Do You Miss the Pencil and Paper?
The dependence of the Nintendo DS on stylus-based games has inspired an influx of pen-and-paper game translations. How do they hold up to the real thing?
Now on PopMatters
PM Picks
of PopMatters Media, Inc.
PopMatters is wholly independently owned and operated. | http://www.popmatters.com/archive/tag/the+new+york+times+crosswords/ | dclm-gs1-264240000 |
0.081416 | <urn:uuid:2c0c8944-f76e-4a14-af5f-2e6fb29d1b5d> | en | 0.698788 | Last updated on 12/25/14 08:10:43
Is this product current?
Good Value?
No Longer Selling
Is there a deal today?
Summary rating?
3.0 out of 5 based on 1 Retrevo review
Based on the facts above, Retrevo's recommendation is:
Average Buy for Everyone | http://www.retrevo.com/s/JVC-GR-FXM555A-Camcorders-review-manual/id/210dj198/t/1-2/ | dclm-gs1-264330000 |
0.040458 | <urn:uuid:69f1c313-4327-465d-ab9d-1a5e37c1ccbc> | en | 0.975188 | SailNet Community
SailNet Community (
- Sailboat Design and Construction (
- - Can a keel stub and stringers be repaired (hypothetical) (
deniseO30 07-18-2013 10:36 AM
Can a keel stub and stringers be repaired (hypothetical)
Say you had a boat you loved or found a new love. This new love was damaged and "totaled" (hypothetical) I'd never consider such a task; yet I read about boats on the wooden boat forum where they do restore boats doing the same things.
There she is.. on her side.. keel ripped from her bottom. the stub all torn out and the stringers flexed and damaged. :(
You look, and you think.. and think... You want to save her! You have a brain storm and develop a plan and confidently announce "I CAN DO THIS!" :D:rolleyes:
As your friends, family, yard owner.. slowly back away from you.. the creative wheels start spinning in that marvelous mushroom between your ears..... :confused::rolleyes:
Getting things under way;
The yard lifted the boat without keel but you had to build the support system. The keel is set up on a trailer/dolly to roll back under when your ready. But the bolts are gone, twisted, etc.
"They" come by occasionally. Each time you explain your progress and how and why your doing certain things. :cool: They kindly listen and nod and look.. don't say much as you explain you plan to make the old girl seaworthy again......
Sawzall in hand.. you start cutting....
Jeff_H 07-18-2013 11:40 AM
Re: Can a keel stub and stringers be repaired (hypothetical)
Repairing a boat that has had that kind of damage is a big job, but it is very much a doable one. If done properly, you may even end up with a better boat at the end of the day. A good friend of mine ended up on the beach at St. Augustine with his keel torn away and rudder damaged. He took the opportunity to modernize his keel, beef up the connections and design a more efficient rudder.
In my case, under a prior owner, the tip of my boat's keel hit a rock ledge, which according to the surveyor who handled this for the insurance company, the collision occurred going well over 8 knots and the boat was stopped dead. The impact crushed a badly constructed portion of the aft end of the keel stub. (According to legend, my boat came to the US smuggling diamonds from South Africa in a hollow in the trailing edge of her keel stub and the trailing edge portion of the keel that was damaged was this hollow.)
According to the surveyor who oversaw the repairs, and the photos from the yard who made the repairs, the repairs were very extensive. In Synergy's case, the ballast keel was unbolted and removed, some transverse frames and longitudinal stringers were cut out. The entire bilge was sounded for hollows and or delamination. None was found. The crushed hollow at the trailing edge of the keel stub was cut away and built back as solid glass. The entire bilge received an additional layer of glass, and then new, beefed up, solid sections of the transverse and longitudinal framing were constructed lapping onto the remaining frames. Additional tabbing was added to bulkheads near the damage. Bigger, thicker backing plates added to the keel bolts. It was a big job.
Now then, the good news was that Synergy did not take on any water and so nothing else was damaged. There were no liners to cut away in this portion of the boat, and the boat is designed so that much of interior can be taken apart with screws making this area of the boat more readily accessible. The keel root is comparatively short which helped limit the suspect area perhaps to 6-8 feet. This work was done at a yard with a very strong reputation and located in Maine, and so this kind of high quality repair was probably comparatively affordable and more easily accomplished compared to some other areas of the world. It was done in consulation with the original design office who designed the boat. In other words, I would think this was a pretty ideal case as these things go.
I would think that the worst case would be a boat that has a low market value even in perfect shape, and which has more extensive damage than Synergy, and which took on water or sank and so needs other items like upholstery, electronics, or an engine, located in an expensive labor and hauling fees area of the world. Even worse would be a boat with an encapsulated keel since there would be no good way to make that kind of repair. Such would be the case with many of the Hurricane Sandy boats.
deniseO30 07-18-2013 11:58 AM
thanks Jeff.. almost a romantic story of your boat there. :) There may still be some diamonds in there!
Oh, I know to save a glass boat is not like saving history. Why I'm making a hypothetical discussion. One never knows the ideas and creative solutions could someday help someone that had a problem like a grounding.
Did you see Hemingway's Boat on the cover of Wooden Boat Mag?
Jeff_H 07-18-2013 12:37 PM
Everyone says that about diamonds perhaps still being there. The yard was explicit that they cut away this 'half-arse built hollow spot and built it back solid'. There is no there there anymore.
Yes, I did see the article about 'Pilar'. That was an interesting article in a lot of ways. I thought the most interesting part was the discussion of the curatorial thought process, and careful stewardship practices on the original Pilar that was paid for by the Cuban government.
I thought that the Hollywood stage set version was far less convincing than would be suggested by the way that the article author seemed to gush on about.
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0.578021 | <urn:uuid:d5e59bd0-d246-4199-bd11-eb87ca4e8b8e> | en | 0.969172 | Max Payne 3 adds cheater pool
Are you a dirty, stinking cheater? Prepare to be matched up exclusively with others of your kind in Max Payne 3. Rockstar has initiated its cheater pool, because apparently sticking all the ne'er-do-wells together and making them deal with each other is a lot funnier than issuing bans.
A FAQ addresses some common concerns. Concerns like, "I didn't do anything wrong," to which the answer is pretty much "yes you did, you liar." Rockstar says cheating reports are screened and they only put users in the cheater pool if they have "clear evidence and documentation." Regardless, it does invite users to contact the banhammer if they feel they've been put in unfairly.
The company assures users they won't be banned for camping, and that it can't monitor for verbal abuse so that doesn't seem to be a punishable offense either. You also won't be able to play with your non-cheater friends until your time in the cheater pool is lifted. Rockstar will share more details on how long the pool will last at a later date, but warns players that going back to cheating after the first offense will result in a permanent ban. | http://www.shacknews.com/article/74747/max-payne-3-adds-cheater-pool/?id=28521747 | dclm-gs1-264460000 |
0.348853 | <urn:uuid:9432b08e-af11-4d7b-aafb-ec483df10f7d> | en | 0.945587 | Ice cream
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• 3. Ice cream is a frozen dessert made from dairy products, s u c h a s milk a n d cream, combined with flavorings a n d sweeteners, such as sugar. This mixture is stirred slowly while cooling to prevent large ice crystals from forming, which results in a smoothly textured ice cream. These ingredients, along with air incorporated during the stirring process (technically called overrun), make up ice cream. Although the term "ice cream" is sometimes used to mean frozen desserts and snacks in general, frozen custard, frozen yogurt, sorbet, gelato, and other similar products are sometimes informally called ice cream.
• 4. Ice cream comes in a wide variety of flavors, often with additives such as chocolate flakes or chips, ribbons of sauce such as caramel or chocolate, nuts, fruit, and small candies / sweets. Some of the most popular ice cream flavors are vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and Neapolitan (a combination of the three). Many people also enjoy ice cream sundaes, which often have ice cream, hot fudge, nuts, whipped cream, maraschino cherries or a variety of other toppings. Other toppings include cookie crumbs, butterscotch, sprinkles, banana sauce, marshmallows or different varieties of candy. Ice cream is generally served as a chilled product. It may also be found in dishes where the coldness of the ice cream is used as a temperature contrast, for example, as a topping on warm desserts, or even in fried ice cream. Some commercial institutions such as creameries specialize in serving ice cream and products that are related.
• 5. ICE CREAM PRODUCTION Today’s ice creams are made by slowly churning a mixture of milk or cream, eggs, sugar, and flavorings (such as fruit, chocolate, or nuts) at freezing temperatures until the mixture transforms into a smoothly textured mass of tiny ice crystals. There are two basic varieties of ice cream: i) French-style or custard-based : These types of ice cream are very rich and smooth. They are made by incorporating egg yolks and sugar into cream and/or milk before churning. ii) Philadelphia-style : This ice cream contains no eggs and is made simply by mixing together milk or cream with sugar. This process yields a less rich ice cream that is firmer and chewier than French-style ice cream.
• 6. TYPES OF ICE CREAMS Premium Ice cream generally has between 11% and 15% butterfat and 60% to 90% overrun , which is the air that is pumped into the ice cream. This creates a denser, heavier, creamier, richer and more caloric product than regular ice cream, and is reflected in the price. Super premium ice cream has even more butterfat— greater than 14%, with some having up to 18% and more—and less overrun, from as low as 20% up to 80%. Premium and super premium ice creams come in more complex flavors in addition to the basic ones. The super premium ice cream producers category includes smaller companies that make interesting gourmet” flavors. In addition to lower overrun and greater butterfat, the third way in which a super premium ice cream can be made richer is by using an egg custard base, which is known as French or French-style ice cream .
• 7. Regular Ice cream is less dense: it contains 10% to 11% butterfat and more air, 90% to 100% overrun. It is usually sold in the more standard flavors, since the addition of ingredients of fancy flavors add to the cost escalation. Some people prefer the texture and lesser degree of richness, and prefer it in milkshakes where the subtlety of the richer ice cream can be lost (or is overkill). Economy Ice cream contains exactly 10% butterfat - the minimum USDA standard, and 95% to 100% overrun. It is made in basic flavors. Light Ice cream means that there is either 50% less fat or 33% fewer calories than the company’s standard ice cream. Read the labels carefully: the “light” ice creams of a superpremium brand often have more calories than the “regular” ice cream of other brands. Low fat Ice cream has 25% less fat than the company’s regular ice cream. Similar to the light ice cream analogy above, it can contain more calories than a regular ice cream of another brand.
• 8. ASSORTMENT OF ICE CREAMS 1. Ice Cream Cake can take two forms. It is a three layer ice cream in the shape of a cake, often with cookie crumbs or other small representation of “cake”; or layers of ice cream and cake. In the latter, it is up to the cake maker to decide as to whether the middle layer is the ice cream or the cake.
• 9. 2. Ice Milk is a low butterfat variation of ice cream, which due to advances in food technology over the last 20 years, has all but disappeared as a term, replaced by reduced fat ice cream. 3. Italian Ice is a smooth water ice, similar to a sorbet but generally a sweeter, snack product rather than a more refined dessert product. It is so-called because it is served in pizzerias and Italian ice shops, as well as by street vendors. Popular flavors include cherry, coconut, lemon and “rainbow ice.”
• 10. 4. Kulfi is a dense Indian ice cream made with water buffalo’s milk and flavorings like cardamom, chikoo, coconut, malai (milk cream), almond, mango, pistachio and saffron. Kulfi is also never made with eggs, like French ice cream. It is prepared by simply boiling milk until it is reduced to half the original volume; then sugar and a teaspoon of corn syrup are added and the mixture is boiled for 10 more minutes. Water is mixed in until it thickens into a paste and is boiled a while longer. Finally, flavorings, dried fruits or cardamom are added. The mixture is cooled, put into molds and frozen.
• 11. 5. Parfait , the French word for “perfect,” is originally the French sundae, generally served with fruit purée. In America, it became a particular type of sundae, with syrup and ice cream layered in a tall glass, topped with whipped cream. 6. Novelties are single-serving frozen treats such as ice cream bars, popsicles and sandwiches. 7. Semifreddo , means “half cold” in Italian, which refers to a class of semi-frozen desserts - semi-frozen custards, ice cream cakes and tarts. 8. Sherbet is a fruit-based product like sorbet, with milk added to provide creaminess. By law, sherbet can contain no more than 2% milkfat, and ranges from 1% to 2%. The milk makes it a slightly heavier product than sorbet.
• 12. 9. Sorbet (the French word—in Italian, it’s sorbetto ) is a frozen dessert generally made from fruit purée or fruit juice; it can incorporate other flavorings including herbs and liqueurs. Unlike sherbet, sorbet contains no milk; some sorbet recipes also use egg whites.
• 13. 10. Snow Cone , generally served in a paper cone or cup and is made of compacted shaved ice flavored with a choice of bright-colored sugary syrups, usually fruit-flavored (apple, banana, cantaloupe, cherry, colada, grape, kiwi, lemon, lime, mango, orange, peach, pineapple, raspberry, strawberry) but also spice (cinnamon) and pop flavors like bubblegum and cola. Snow cones served in a cup are eaten with a spoon; those in a paper cone are eaten like an ice cream cone. Interestingly, snow cones are the descendents of the original “ice cream,” which was snow flavored with fruit juice, created 4,000 years ago by the Chinese and learned through trade routes by the Persians 2,500 years ago.
• 14. 11. Spumoni is a Neapolitan specialty where layers of three different colored and flavored ice creams: chocolate, pistachio and cherry are a popular combination. Or, more basic flavors can be used, with nuts and candied fruit added to the layers. 12. Sundae , a name invented in America consists of one or more scoops of ice cream topped with sauce or syrup (generally butterscotch, caramel, chocolate or strawberry). Chopped nuts and whipped cream is generally added, and a maraschino cherry is placed on top. There are endless creative riffs on the sundae, incorporating fruit, cookies, candy, cake, marshmallow creme, peanut butter sauce, sprinkles / jimmies, and ingredients too numerous to list.
• 15. 13. Tartufo , the Italian word for truffle, is a ball of vanilla ice cream, often with a cherry and nuts in the center, enrobed in chocolate. The ice cream version appeared around the Victorian era, when the molding of ice cream into flowers, fruits, and other shapes became popular.
• 16. 14. Gelato is Italian ice cream made from milk and sugar, combined with other flavorings. The gelato ingredients (after an optional pasteurization) are frozen while stirring to break up ice crystals as they form. Like high-end ice cream, gelato generally has less than 35% air, resulting in a dense and extremely flavourful product. Gelato is typically made with fresh fruit or other ingredients such as chocolate (pure chocolate, flakes, chips, etc.), nuts, small confections or cookies, or biscuits.
• 17. 15. Ais kacang or ice kacang is a dessert served in Malaysia and Singapore. It is also popularly known as air batu campur in Malay or ABC for short. It is sweet-tasting and is primarily crushed or shaved ice served with sweet flavoured syrup and jelly. The word Kacang is a Malay word for bean, and the word "ais" is a transliteration of the English term "ice". Formerly, it was made of only shaved ice and cooked red beans. Several varieties have also been introduced which contain aloe vera in some form or another, such as in jelly form. Evaporated (condenced) milk is drizzled over the mountain of ice.
• 18. 16. Ice pop is a frozen water dessert on a stick that is colored and flavored. It is made by freezing colored, flavored liquid (such as fruit juice) around a stick. Once solid, the stick is then used as a handle to hold the ice pop. 17. Frozen Custard or Soft-Serve Ice Cream is ice cream served at a warmer temperature from a machine that extrudes the ice cream into soft, swirled peaks. Frozen yogurt is also available in soft-serve form. With both ice cream and frozen custard, the ingredients are mixed at 21°F; then the ice cream goes into a hardening room where it becomes rock-solid at -40°F. Soft ice cream leaves off this last step. Frozen custard is perceived as tastier because it is warmer and doesn’t numb the taste buds. What we know today as “soft serve” or “frozen custard” was originally regular “French” ice cream or “ glace.” Over time, the hard ice cream became known as “ French” ice cream, and “frozen custard” became the term used for the soft-serve ice creams, which once did use a custard ice cream base.
• 19. 18. Frozen Yogurt is made of low-fat or no-fat yogurt, sweetener, gelatin, corn syrup, coloring, and flavoring, churned in an ice cream machine. It can be found softserve or hard-packed. It both freezes and melts much more slowly than ice cream, since yogurt has a much higher freezing and melting point than milk. 19. Glace (pronounced GLAHS) is French-style ice cream, also called frozen custard, made from rich milk-andcream- based custard that includes eggs. Not to be confused with soft-serve ice cream called frozen custard, which may or may not have an egg-custard base.
• 20. 20. Granita (pronounced grah-nee-TAH, or granité, grahnee- TAY, in French) is a semi-frozen dessert that is made with the same ingredients as sorbet—sugar, water and a flavoring, in this case a liquid such as fruit juice, coffee or wine. Unlike sorbet, granita is not churned in a freezing machine, but is poured into a large pan, placed in the freezer, and the frozen crystals are scraped from the top of the pan every 30 minutes or so. It thus yields large, frozen flakes, a crystalline appearance and a crunchy texture. Granita also has less sugar than sorbet or sherbet
• 21. SERVING ICE CREAM 1. The ideal serving temperature for ice cream and other frozen desserts is 6–10°F, yet most home freezers are set to 0°F. When you serve frozen desserts straight from the freezer, they’re too cold to allow your taste buds to experience their full spectrum of flavors. 2. "Temper" ice cream before you scoop - leave it at room temperature for 8-10 minutes before serving. Return ice cream to the freezer immediately after it has been served to minimize the formation of ice crystals.
• 22. 3. Serve ice cream in chilled bowls, preferably glass. Not only is the frosted bowl refreshing to look at, but the ice cream will retain its shape longer. 4. Scooping ice cream: Have a large Pyrex measuring cup or other heat proof container filled with just boiling water standing by. Dip the metal scoop into the hot water, let it heat up for a moment, and then DRY the scoop on a towel. Quickly drag the hot scoop across the ice cream creating tight rolls of the divine stuff. Do not smash the ice cream with the scoop. Repeat the process for each serving. 5. To store opened ice cream, first place a piece of plastic wrap on the surface and smooth it down lightly with your fingers. Then close the lid securely and return to the depths of your freezer.
• 23. ICE CREAM SCOOPS · Solid scoops: These use a thin leading edge to help you push through firm ice cream. Many have handles filled with an anti-freezing fluid that keeps the scoop warmer than the ice cream. · Spring-loaded scoops: These have a strip of metal or plastic that sweeps across the inner surface of the scoop, helping to ease the ice cream out of the scoop. Some models have a button on the back that pushes the ice cream straight out of the scoop. · Spades: These are ideal if worked with ice cream on a flat surface and folding ingredients into it. A spade is useless if one needs to scoop ice cream out of small containers.
• 24. STORING ICE CREAMS 1. Every time you remove ice cream from the freezer, some of its small ice crystals melt. When you return the container to the freezer, that melted liquid refreezes and clings to existing crystals, making the ice cream grainier and grainier each time you remove it. Though this problem is unavoidable, you can minimize it by dividing your freshly churned ice cream into a number of small containers so that each container spends as little time outside the freezer as possible. 2. Foods that contain fat—including ice cream, gelato, sherbet, and frozen yogurt—are prone to picking up odors from nearby foods in the freezer if they’re not sealed and stored properly. Protect your ice cream from unwanted odors by draping a layer of plastic wrap or wax paper over the top of your storage container before covering it with the lid. | http://www.slideshare.net/hemant23081977/ice-cream-6706334 | dclm-gs1-264510000 |
0.347774 | <urn:uuid:94ffb18c-b709-4f06-9e59-71e582bb6c47> | en | 0.929572 | Related topics
Apple bests Dell for first time as preferred US consumer PC choice
"Apple topped the list of intended brands for desktop purchases for the first time this year," said Parks Associates' director of consumer analytics John Barrett in a statement. "In 2011 and 2012, Dell was the top desktop brand, but Apple has displaced it, making Apple now the most popular brand across even more key [consumer electronics] categories."
Apple is now the top brand in the preferred-brand survey across three categories, as cited in Parks Associates' "2013 Holiday CE Purchase Intentions" research report:
1. Apple
2. Dell
3. HP
4. Acer
5. Asus
1. Apple
2. Amazon (Kindle)
3. Samsung
4. Microsoft (Surface)
5. Acer
Streaming media devices:
1. Apple TV
2. Roku
3. Buffalo
4. D-Link (Boxee Box)
Barrett cautions that these rankings are neither sales figures nor firm plan-to-buy numbers, but rather a gauge of which brands customers preferred before they went on their holiday shopping binges.
"Being the 'preferred' brand is certainly an advantage," he said, "but consumers can still change their minds." A similar survey last year, for example, found that among US consumers between ages 18 and 34 who were shopping for a streaming media player, 34 per cent planned to buy an Apple TV, and 15 per cent planned to buy a Roku box.
"In a later survey of actual purchases," he said, "we found 24 per cent bought an Apple TV and 29 per cent bought a Roku player."
A lot goes on between a consumer's early preferences and the moment when they actually hand over their credit card, it seems. Apple may have the advantage now, but we suggest bookmarking this article and comparing it to actual sales figures when they appear sometime after we all recover from our New Year's Eve hangovers. ®
Sponsored: Designing and building an open ITOA architecture | http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/12/05/apple_bests_dell_for_first_time_as_preferred_us_consumer_pc_choice/ | dclm-gs1-264830000 |
0.06648 | <urn:uuid:125727bb-3ff9-4a7f-9fe3-8672a68d017c> | en | 0.928745 | Jack Dorsey Jack Dorsey Keynotes
The Jack Dorsey keynotes provide valuable information on how to successfully launch a business....
Keynotes.org Need Inspiration?
Jack Dorsey Delivers a Twitter Technology Keynote
By: Jessica Marren - Published: • References: youtube
During this Twitter technology keynote, Jack Dorsey talks about how he came up with the ideas that eventually sparked this hugely successful social media platform. Dorsey also offers advice to entrepreneurs and business professionals.
Twitter all started because Jack had a fascination with what was happening around the world in different cities and he wanted to figure out a way to know more. His parents had a police scanner and a Macintosh, and he had an insatiably curious mind.
Ultimately, Twitter was developed in two weeks. Before those two weeks, Jacks life was devoted to writing simple programs using technology the rest of the world wasn't quite ready for. A lot of what you see on Twitter today is the same as it was in the beginning stages. This Twitter technology keynote asks the same question Jack Dorsey asked years ago, "where are the people in the city and what are they thinking about?" Stats for Taking Significant Risks Trending: Older & Average
Traction: 567 clicks in 81 w
Interest: > 3 minutes
Concept: Twitter Technology Keynote
Related: 13 examples / 10 photos
Segment: Neutral, 12-55+
Comparison Set: 5 similar articles, including: interacting with google glass, the evolution of google maps, and simple science . | http://www.trendhunter.com/keynote/twitter-technology-keynote | dclm-gs1-264840000 |
0.018662 | <urn:uuid:791b0cee-12c5-400f-8931-c1634328dd5f> | en | 0.976606 | BANGUI, Central African Republic -- Heavily armed peacekeepers escorted some of the last remaining Muslims out of Central African Republic's volatile capital on Sunday, trucking out more than 1,300 people who for months had been trapped by violent Christian militants.
Within minutes of the convoy's departure, an angry swarm of neighbors descended upon the mosque in a scene of total anarchy. Tools in hand, they swiftly dismantled and stole the loudspeaker once used for the call to prayer and soon stripped the house of worship.
One man quickly scrawled "Youth Center" in black marker across the front of the mosque. Others mockingly swept the dirt from the ground in front of the building with brooms and shouted "We have cleaned Central African Republic of the Muslims!"
"We didn't want the Muslims here, and we don't want their mosque here anymore either," said Guy Richard, 36, who loads baggage onto trucks for a living, as he and his friends made off with pieces of the mosque.
Armed Congolese peacekeepers stood watch but did not fire into the air or attempt to stop the looting. Soon teams of thieves were stripping the metal roofs of nearby abandoned Muslim businesses in the PK12 neighborhood of Bangui. "Pillage! Pillage!" children cried as they helped cart away wood and metal.
Pety-Pety, who refused to give his first name, as the mosque came under attack from militants. The anti-Balaka fighters showed up in their trademark wigs and hats with animal horns, wearing the amulets they believe protect them from the enemy's bullets.
Sunday's exodus further partitions the country, a process that has been underway since January when a Muslim rebel government gave up power nearly a year after overthrowing the president of a decade.
The United Nations has described the forced displacement of tens of thousands of Muslims as "ethnic cleansing." While previous groups have been taken to neighboring Chad, Sunday's convoys were headed to two towns in the north on the Central African Republic side of the border.
Joanne Mariner, a senior crisis adviser for Amnesty International, said the people evacuated Sunday had lived in fear for months.
"It's tragic and inexcusable that the situation was allowed to fall apart so that in the end evacuation was the only way to save people's lives," she said. "Much more should have been done to prevent ethnic cleansing in December and January, before tens of thousands of Muslims had fled."
The rebel leader-turned-president ultimately resigned, and mob killings of Muslims and mutilation of their bodies took place on a near-daily basis in Bangui earlier this year. Tens of thousands of Muslims were escorted to safety in neighboring Chad, though earlier convoys were fraught with violence.
The violence against Muslims has drawn international concern, prompting the world's largest bloc of Islamic countries to send a 14-delegate fact-finding mission to Central African Republic. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation says delegates will be in the capital for three days starting Tuesday.
But it took hours for families to load their belongings, from plastic jugs for water to bicycles.
Tonga Djobo, 75, in a long gown, prayer cap and orthopedic shoes, steadied himself with a stick he used to prod cattle. He said he first came to Central African Republic 47 years ago from neighboring Chad.
One by one, the families climbed up wooden ladders into the open air transports where they sat on their belongings. Some of the men sat closest to the edge and sported bows and arrows for self-defense, while others wore machete sheaths slung across their backs.
African peacekeepers from the mission, known as MISCA, along with French forces stood watch along the route out of Bangui.
Adama Djilda, 45, said her 7-month-old son Zakariah had now spent more than half his life trapped inside the PK12 neighborhood. As she breastfed him early Sunday while awaiting a truck to board, she said she didn't care which town the peacekeepers took her as long as she got out of Bangui.
Awaiting her departure, she said: "Only God knows how much we have suffered here." | http://www.twincities.com/nation/ci_25649935/more-muslims-flee-central-african-republic-capital?source=rss | dclm-gs1-264860000 |
0.018535 | <urn:uuid:d333b373-3215-4cac-9b45-543cbfe8e8af> | en | 0.983479 | Picking a fireman caps strange day
Posted: April 29, 2011
The lights were on all through the NovaCare Complex early Thursday night. They were on in the war room where the Eagles' player-personnel brain trust readied another deep-thinking assault on the college draft, and, for a change, the lights were turned on in the locker room, too, as Andy Reid fluffed the towels and made sure everything looked nice for the players who might wander in soon.
One of the guys who will be stopping by very soon is Danny Watkins, a 26-year-old with more experience at fire protection than pass protection. A native of British Columbia, Watkins played hockey and rugby growing up and worked five years as a fireman before heading to a California junior college to study fire science.
There's no record on how he did with the classes, but the football coach liked the looks of him just fine, and two years later he found himself playing offensive tackle at Baylor. The end of that improbable story, and the start of a new one, culminated in the first round of the NFL draft when the Eagles took him with the 23d pick.
"We hoped he would be there," Reid said. "He's got a toughness and a blue-collar attitude. Being a fireman delayed his football career. His body hasn't gone through the beating-up process."
Obviously, Reid isn't familiar with the sports of hockey and rugby. But, anyway, it was such an exciting day for Watkins, no one had the heart to tell him the Eagles get rid of players when they turn 30. That gives him at least three good years with the team, though, and maybe he can be the guy who breaks the pattern.
"Play time is over when the game starts," Watkins said. "I like playing tough and physical. It's how I grew up playing sports. In hockey, you're looking to hit someone. In football, the guy is six inches from your face. So, someone's got to win that battle, and I like winning."
Reid said the 6-foot-3, 310-pound Watkins probably will be a guard for the Eagles and is capable of winning a starting position right away, assuming there is an NFL season. That's good news for Watkins. If he had to wait four years to get a shot at starting, he'd either be a very late bloomer or Kevin Kolb.
As for Kolb, who should have been the bait for a long night of fishing in the first round, the Eagles, like all the other teams, could trade only picks, not players, because of the ongoing labor nonsense.
So they went with the old motto of keeping their pick and simply taking the best guy on the board. In this case, it was an older motto than most. That's all right. Watkins may prove all the doubters wrong, and it was a kind of strange day overall for the NFL, even by the league's recent standards.
The first round of the draft coincided with the league's decision to comply with a court order and at least temporarily lift the lockout. The players under contract can return to their place of employment Friday, although it is unlikely that many will. They won't start getting paid for their workouts at the complex until Monday and, well, principles are one thing, but that $130 is another.
The players who return Friday might not be back for long. The legal fights have many rounds to go, and the NFL has to win one eventually. Maybe it will come from the National Labor Relations Board, which still has to determine whether the Players Association was only pretending when it said it wasn't a union anymore. Maybe it will come from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in St. Louis, a three-person panel that could trump Judge Susan Richard Nelson's ruling that the league's argument for the lockout had more holes than the Eagles' run defense.
The players are banking their biggest hopes on winning the antitrust suit filed with Tom Brady and Drew Brees as the figurehead complainants, but that's a tough fish to land, and the timetable for that one - also to be heard by the Eighth Circuit - could reach July.
Everything before that is just rubbernecking at the wreck by the side of the road, even if the players will be getting paid to lift weights and watch film in the interim. It doesn't get a new contract, and without a new contract, there isn't going to be a new season.
The league will announce guidelines Friday on the rules for player movement - free-agent signings, trades, tryouts - but the draft won't be affected. The Eagles go back at it starting at 6 p.m. with the second round. They already have a new player who knows what to do when the action heats up, and they are one-quarter of the way to collecting the entire Village People.
"When we had a couple of high-pressure games and the boys were getting all worked up, I say [to them]: 'Trust me, boys. It could be worse,' " Watkins said.
That's the voice of experience - and is it ever.
comments powered by Disqus | http://articles.philly.com/2011-04-29/sports/29487554_1_novacare-complex-nfl-draft-eagles | dclm-gs1-265040000 |
0.161571 | <urn:uuid:904a44b3-4f8c-46ef-b44f-5269d83c161b> | en | 0.883166 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
i want some example for the best application/client for manage and edit and control your Google calendar and daily mission or event.
and it provide alert -alert with sound or notification- to give you more attention for your important work ?
share|improve this question
Just use the defualt google calendar browser-based offline app and extend it with a sound plugin an that's it... and btw if there's no app does that mean that the OS has restrictions or does that mean that people where too lazy to program one. Just program one by yourself and share it with people like you. – mash Nov 3 '12 at 5:04
Try syncevolution. – Khurshid Alam Nov 11 '13 at 13:39
3 Answers 3
up vote 3 down vote accepted
According to this thread. Mozilla Sunbird with the GCALDaemon is what you're looking for. But I believe development is going to be stopped on sunbird, so maybe Thunderbird with the Lightning calendar addon might be best.
share|improve this answer
Here i suggest Sunbird is your the best application/client for manage and edit and control Google calendar and daily mission or event.
share|improve this answer
you can use evolution calendar. You can directly see the events in the date and time applet of unity panel from evolution calendar. You can synchronize the calendar with any online calender like Google calender or Facebook event.
I think evolution is not by default installed in Ubuntu now but you can install it from synaptic package manager or from Ubuntu software centre. When configuring you can skip the email configuration part and directly go to calender.
All the best
share|improve this answer
Your Answer
| http://askubuntu.com/questions/207196/what-is-the-best-google-calender-application-for-unity-to-alert-and-notify-you-w | dclm-gs1-265050000 |
0.248278 | <urn:uuid:744cc800-5f4e-4a5a-bfbf-912731933c0d> | en | 0.936357 | The Motley Fool Discussion Boards
Previous Page
Politics & Current Events / Political Asylum
Author: JDCRex Number: 1859080 of 1977257
22000 years ago the earth was blanketed with glaciers .... it has been getting warmer ever since
NO ONE ON THE BLOODY PLANET is arguing that there aren't natural cycles. This hasn't eluded people who have devoted their lives to studying climate. The important point is that humankind is having a forcing effect on natural cycles. Are you so frickin' obtuse that that unbelievably simple point can't penetrate your skull? Do I need an elephant gun to do that?
Yeah - I'll listen to some random wingnut reactionary whose ideology and political self-image is more important to him than fact - rather than the masses of credentialed, respected scientists and bodies who make sense on this. Fruitcakes and zealots are MUCH more credible than, say, the Royal Society.
Yes, yes - all of you are the equivalent of Galileo - cries of verity in the wilderness of a dogmatic orthodoxy. Honestly, it's hilarious watching you delusionals kid yourselves. Some of your moronic, mouthbreathing brethren actually think the world is a few thousand years old. What the hell does that tell you?
And I fully acknowledge that we don't know fully the precise extent or the effect. So you can shove a cork in your blowhole before you start to lecture me on that.
End of my contribution. You can now go on with all your ceaseless blather and prove my point of your addiction to fantasy. | http://boards.fool.com/MessagePrint.aspx?mid=30536896 | dclm-gs1-265180000 |
0.028307 | <urn:uuid:01cb8eef-d3b7-4d36-b460-8f38c65e3a15> | en | 0.968353 | HOME > Chowhound > Los Angeles Area >
K & L Wines coming to L.A.
FYI- Just drove up Vine Street south of Sunset and saw that the old AAA Signs and Banners store will soon be opening up as K & L Wine store! They are a small No. Calif chain but I haven't actually been in one. However, my internet searches (usually for German Wine) often turn up K & L. Great site with good prices and descriptions. Can't say for other types of wines. Maybe others can.
Big shortage of stores carrying German Wine on the westside so I am ready for an alternative. I emailed them and they said that they should be opening up next month though the website does not mention it at all. www.klwines.com
1. Click to Upload a photo (10 MB limit)
1. I personally can't wait. I've been trekking all the way over to Woodland Hills for most of my viticultural needs.
1. I love love love K&L. Fantastic selection and prices on California wines. Their selection is too enormous for me to know very much about everything they carry, but there are always fantastic deals.
1. Here is another post on the subject from just a few days ago.
1. People at the SF store said that K&L Hollywood will open end of February. Register at
www.klwines.com for updates on the opening.
1. I am curious, what does KL have that a place like 20/20 doesn't already have?
2 Replies
1. re: Jeet Yet
K&L will have a larger inventory and their prices are much more reasonable. 20/20's margins are absurd and they cater to a very affluent and celebrity driven clientele.
1. re: vinosnob
What do you mean be affluent? I usually buy wine in the $30 to $80 range. I think that is a reasonable range for decent wine. I love bargins as much as anyone and the staff at 20/20 has led me to them.
I am not sure 20/20's margins are all that different. I buy wine directly from DuMol and what I have paid at 20/20 for the same wine was not different (if it is in stock).
How are they going to staff K&L? The one thing I like about 20/20 is their extensive knowledge base. A good wine store is nothing without good, knowledgable staff.
I do look forward to K&L coming to LA. I just don't know if I would be willing to go all the way to Hollywood. | http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/363471 | dclm-gs1-265200000 |
0.056607 | <urn:uuid:383362e3-77f3-47f3-b683-13c056cda611> | en | 0.937048 | Walk With Me in Hell: The Warlock's Guide
842 posts / 0 new
Last post
Walk With Me in Hell: The Warlock's Guide
Since Malkonnen's guide has not been updated in a while, missing material from several Dragon magazines and, most importantly, the Essentials books, this guide is meant as a spiritual successor to The Power of the Dark Side: The Warlock's Handbook, and much credit will be given to him for its role in this guide's creation.
Credit will also be given to several others:
LordDuskblade for the handbook format that's now taken for granted here;
Zelink551 for the encouragement;
Malkonnen as mentioned above for the (excellent) original guide and the inspiration for this guide;
anyone here who posts with honest opinions. I need 'em. :p
Part One: What Are You?
As a Warlock, you belong in the realm of the Arcane Striker, a designation you share with your AOE-centric cousin, the Sorcerer. However, the two classes are monumentally different. You fit more along the lines of the Ranger, of which you share the same Player's Handbook: instead of focusing on AOE DPR, you go instead for single-target heavy damage, with a huge bent on Controller abilities. Indeed, you are second-to-none in this regard, acting as an excellent single-target Controller while putting down solid damage to honor your original intent.
How you work as a Striker is also rather unique. Your power grows as enemies fall to their deaths, giving you special abilities and boosts depending on the Pact you sign with. You also share the "Quarry" feature of the Ranger in the Warlock's Curse; however, the Curse is arguably much more powerful than Hunter's Quarry, as the damage bonus component can be boosted to absurd numbers, on top of several feats and items that can give you incredibly nice boosts, such as automatic combat advantage, defensive boosts in convenient equipment slots, and accuracy boosts.
Before I get into the Striker Traits, you may be seeing a lot of colors in this guide. On features, powers, feats and the like, you'll be seeing these colors, adopted and borrowed from LordDuskblade's handbooks:
Gold (near mandatory or jaw-droppingly good)
Light Blue (very good, or at least worth serious consideration)
Blue (good, though probably not excellent)
Black (middle-of-the-road, but not bad)
Purple (mediocre, or build specific)
Red (terrible or otherwise not recommended)
Green (no rating, shows emphasis)
So, to clarify how you compare with other Strikers:
Striker Traits
• Alpha Striking: Unfortunately, this kinda isn't your best suit. A common characteristic of 4e Strikers is multiple attacks in one round, out-of-turn attacks, or "zone abuse". While you're decent at the second and OK in the third, the first of this list is not something you really do. On top of which, your Curse only works once per turn, and your Encounters and Dailies do not do significant damage over your At-Wills, so that's regretable.
• Damage/Round (DPR): This is an area you're quite a bit better at, especially since Arcane Power and several trains of Dragon Magazines have come out. Prime Shot really helps here, since you ride more on accuracy than straight damage rolls, and starting at level 9 or thereabouts, whenever Shadow Warlock Armor comes into play, automatic combat advantage nearly every round is quite awesome.
• Debilitating Effects: Aw yea, now we're talking. Though again, you work more in the single-target range, what you can sling around in regards to Controller abilities is phenomenal. You run the gamut from teleportation, to daze, stun, immobilize, dominate, and even attack dissuasion - eliminating yourself from the board as a legitimate option to attack does help in several ways. Charisma-based Warlocks come close to gold in this field.
• Survivability: As the first of only two Constitution-primary (if you so choose) classes in the game, you can choose to be one of the healthiest Strikers in the business, with a solid stockade of hitpoints and healing surges. On-demand Concealment also tends to help you a lot, on top of the propensity to stay five to ten squares away from everything you want to hit (having a Defender blocking the enemy's path to your face tends to work quite well for you). Charisma'locks are a little worse, but can still pull some strings to keep themselves out of danger. Being stuck in Leather armor could be a little bit of an issue, especially if your race doesn't get a bonus to Intelligence, but you can manage, especially as a lot of neat enchantments are contained in Leather.
• Targeting Capacity: Another advantage of being a ranged combatant is the freedom of choice as to what you want to hit. And especially as you gain a bonus to defenses just for shimmying along in the battlefield, you can stray inwards a little bit to gain your Prime Shot bonus and ruin a monster's day. Several facets of the Warlock also rely on teleportation, which also helps a lot with mobility, but some Warlocks may not want to get too much in danger to force their Prime Shot to activate, especially with melee-focused allies.
The Hexblade and Binder - I'll Cast a Shadow
Luckily, handbooks already exist for the two Essentials daughter classes. They may be slightly outdated, but barring suggestion for an updated version of either, I will present these guides, written by LordVentnor and Malisteen, respectively.
Part Two: The Devil's Reasons To Bring You In
So, what exactly makes a Warlock tick? What makes them different from the Ranger, the Rogue, the Sorcerer, the Blackguard, the... everything else?
Several little things. But first, a bit of a look at the basics.
Stats and Proficiencies: The Bare-Bones Bargaining Chip
Hit-Points: 12 + Constitution score.
At the standard for your role. Better than the Assassin here (then again, so is every other Striker), but worse than the Avenger and Barbarian.
Healing Surges: 6 + Constitution modifier.
A little problematic for Charisma'locks, but Constitution'locks will jump for joy at just how much in both this field and the field above they have in terms of elbow-room. Enjoy your Defender-level hitpoints, gents... at least for awhile.
Proficiencies: Cloth, Leather. Simple Weapons. Rod, Wand implements.
The armor is less of a deal than you'd think, but it's actually a bit iffy in terms of implements. The two implements they would most want - the Staff for damage and the Orb for debuff potential - are lost here. Don't get me wrong, there are a ton of Rods built for Warlocks to swing with ease and efficiency, and you will actually want one at least in the off-hand for property's sake... but the fact of the matter is that Wands are not very impressive in the hands of a Warlock, and nothing will compare to the Staff of Ruin when it comes to damage-buffing. This problem is very easy to fix, however - one feat, and you're good to go.
Defensive Bonuses: +1 Reflex, +1 Will.
Charisma'locks will enjoy a strong Will score, but Constitution'locks that aren't devoting themselves to Charisma as an off-score will probably not care as much. Still, two buffed defenses is nothing to sneeze at.
Class Features: Leafing the Pages of the Necronomicon
Eldritch Blast: Wizards of the Coast decided that Warlock at-wills must be chosen for them, one of them based on their pact... and this one. You'll certainly get chummy with your local Warlord, as this is a legitimate Ranged Basic Attack, but otherwise you're slinging around a Longbow. Happy joy.
Since PH Heroes: Series 1 however, you are allowed to take a melee version of this: Eldritch Strike, which is a Constitution- or Charisma-based melee basic attack which slides the target 1 square as a hit. It's one of the most poached at-wills in the game, especially with the slide portion of the power opening itself up to so many tricks, and is a great alternative for Warlocks who either want to stay in the front lines (usually as a Con'lock), provide an escape option (Cha'lock), or go into the massive amount of charge support in the game.
Pact Boons: Every Warlock starts his or her career by choosing to sign with one of six different Pacts: Infernal (PHB1), Star (PHB1), Fey (PHB1), Dark (FRPG), Vestige (AP), Sorcerer-King (Dark Sun), or Elemental (HoEC). From each pact, you get your second at-will power and a special effect that happens when an enemy subject to your Warlock's Curse falls to zero hitpoints by any happenstance. In fights where enemies come in the dozens and your mobility is at its peak, this is a tremendously powerful addition to your repetroire, but in solo fights will be largely forgotten and abandoned.
Prime Shot: Oh, hey Ranger class feature, what're you doing here? Making accuracy awesome, that's what. You can make it work much more easily for you compared to our lovely Martial brethren, since you're less timid in ranged combat. The feat support for this feature is massive, and worth comin' in close for. Just be careful...
Shadow Walk: On-demand Concealment is amazing, and quite a fantastic way to patch up your otherwise mediocre defenses. It's easy to trigger, too: just move 3 squares from your starting position! You gain a +2 bonus to defenses in partial concealment, which is what this feature grants; but that's not the only thing you get out of this. The aforementioned Shadow Warlock Armor gives you Combat Advantage against every Cursed enemy in sight. You also have a much easier time using your Stealth skill, as you require cover or concealment to keep any Hidden status you might obtain.
Warlock's Curse: And this, my friends, is our Striker-feature right here. Once per round as a minor action, you can subject the closest enemy to you that you can see to your Warlock's Curse, which lasts all encounter, and does not vanish on application on other enemies. What does this do? It allows you to deal extra dice of damage once per turn with any attack you inflict on them. This is so exploitable it's not even funny: there's a myriad of ways, both control-based and damage-based, to utilize this feature, the biggest of which revolves around the fact that it was recently changed to once per turn (those Immediate Action attacks and attacks granted to you by enabling Leaders are lookin' mighty pretty).
Part Three: Warlock Pacts - The Paths To Hell
Speaking of getting chummy with people: as explained in the Pact Boon section, each Warlock must pick a Pact that best follows how they want to play their character and what powers they'd like to favor. Each of the seven, along with its designated at-will power, will be described below, both in regards to its At-Will power that it selects for you, as well as how well they represent the Warlock class in these specific categories:
• CONTROL: Propensity for debilitating effects, forced movement
• DAMAGE: DPR potential, whether ongoing or straight hits
• DEFENSE: Tenacity to remain standing in combat, ability to act as a quasi-Defender
• LEADERSHIP: Debuffs, buffs, heals
• SUPPORT: Availability of support for the pact, through feats/items/Paragon Paths
INFERNAL PACT (Player's Handbook 1) /
Control Damage Defense Leadership Support
Constitution-based, with a smattering of (good) Charisma-based powers. Contains one of the most abused at-wills in all of 4e D&D.
The Infernal Pact
Pact Boon: Dark One's Blessing.
When an enemy cursed by you falls to zero hitpoints, you gain temporary hitpoints equal to your level. Now that's kinda spiffy: several of your powers, especially outside of PHB1, love to drain you of your hitpoints in exchange for a reroll, and this will help you with that sting. Defensive-based Warlocks will love this Boon, but keep in mind temporary hitpoints do not stack, so killing multiple enemies in one fell swoop, or killing enemies when your stock of temp hitpoints hasn't vanished yet, can make this boon wasteful. Ah well.
At-Will Powers: Hellish Rebuke, Gift to Avernus.
Hellish Rebuke (Constitution) is incredibly cool. Target takes some blasé fire damage, and if you're damaged by anything, they take even more damage! And that trigger point can be from anything - that enemy's attack, another enemy's attack, ongoing damage, a stray arrow, your own abilities, anything. There are a ton of builds centered around the abuse of this very power alone... though the rating drops if you don't really bother to get in the thick of things.
On the other hand, you're allowed to pick Gift to Avernus (Charisma). It's Eldritch Blast without the RBA addition or the Constitution-based option... meh. Oh, but wait! If you miss with it, you can reroll it, with a very, very convenient cost: a dent to your hitpoints equal to your level. Doesn't that sound kinda familiar? It should, as it perfectly overlaps with your pact boon. Unpenalized(ish) rerolls are incredibly nice for your DPR, and if you want to go down this path and favor Charisma, take this - you won't regret it.
STAR PACT (Player's Handbook 1) / Control Damage Defense Leadership Support
Can be effective as either a Con'lock or Cha'lock, and the riders on these powers are quite nice. You also gain access to a marvelous little Paragon Path, of which will be described later on.
The Star Pact
Pact Boon: Fate of the Void.
When an enemy cursed by you falls to zero hitpoints, you gain a cumulative +1 bonus to one attack roll, saving throw, skill check, or ability check you make - your choice to apply whenever any of these come up - until the end of your turn. Afterwards, the bonus is lost. Great on its own, but just one feat makes this fantastic. This is one Pact that encourages Cursing enemies as fast as possible and nuking them to gain a giant bonus to an attack roll you make with, say, a Daily...
At-Will Powers: Dire Radiance.
Can be used as either a Charisma-based or Constitution-based power. The rating isn't such that the effect is weak - it's not exactly a hard trigger point - it's just that the effect is hard to trigger in the context of battle. Melee enemies will probably not move after it's locked onto your allies, and ranged enemies will probably not bother to move. The secondary damage triggers when they move closer to you, which is soft control (giving enemies a bad option and a good option); not a very positive slant. It is radiant damage, and that's open to a lot of tricks, but as it is it really needs a clever mind and a well-aligned battlefield to function.
FEY PACT (Player's Handbook 1) /
Control Damage Defense Leadership Support
Fully Charisma-based. The powers are very Control-heavy, sacrificing damage for stellar effects, but you can still be a good Striker without heightened numbers of dice to roll.
The Fey Pact
Pact Boon: Misty Step.
When an enemy cursed by you falls to zero hitpoints, you teleport 3 squares as a free action. Done and done. Multiple enemies falling at once can give you a bonkers amount of mobility, but it's unexpected free movement, and can be incredibly tricky to take advantage of - though don't forget that this boon will refresh the duration of Shadow Walk, so that's something.
At-Will Powers: Eyebite.
The damage is stark, and the benefit is a bit limited - you'll have fantastic defenses against the enemy if you hit, decent defenses against everyone else, and... that's about it. Certainly handy, but boring.
DARK PACT (Forgotten Realms) /
Control Damage Defense Leadership Support
Entirely Charisma-based. Heavy on the DPR; falls into the problem of emphasizing necrotic and poison damage, which is strange considering the anti-undead bent of this Pact. Still, though, a very cool Pact to follow.
The Dark Pact
Pact Boon: Darkspiral Aura.
Mmm-mmm, Catch-22s. When an enemy cursed by you falls to zero hitpoints, you add one point to a special little bank called your Darkspiral Aura. Whenever an enemy targets you with a melee or ranged attack, you can drop your Aura as an immediate interrupt to deal xd6/xd8/xd10 damage to the target, X being the amount of points in your Aura. Like the Star and Fey Pacts, this encourages Cursing as fast as possible, and very large encounters to give yourself a humongously strong punishment for enemies attacking you. Recognize, however, that the scaling of this is suspect (never growing above 1d12 per point at 21st level with a feat) and in fights against solo creatures with a Defender doing his job, you might as well forget this exists, even if that solo has lackeys.
At-Will Powers: Spiteful Glamor.
d12 damage if the target is at full hitpoints, and d8 otherwise. No other effects. Yawn. At least it attacks Will...
VESTIGE PACT (Arcane Power) /
Control Damage Defense Leadership Support
Constitution-based. Still very Strikery, but actually trades in a bit of Control for being a quasi-Leader. And to be honest, the Vestige Pact does that very well; it's honestly my favorite pact out of all of them.
(NOTE: The ratings fluctuate depending on the Vestige Pact chosen.)
The Vestige Pact
Pact Boon: Vestige of King Elidyr; Vestige of Zutwa; various.
This is much trickier: when an enemy cursed by you falls to zero hitpoints, you follow the Pact Boon of a specific ancient Vestige that you've signed your pact to. At the end of any rest, you select either of the two primary Vestiges to follow, King Elidyr or Zutwa. This determines not only your Pact Boon, but your special At-Will power's secondary effect. Whenever you use a Daily Warlock power that has Vestige in the name, you can choose to sign into that pact instead of your original one - at that point, your Boon and At-Will's secondary effect changes to incorporate the effects listed. It's book-keeping to the max, and unfortunately only the Vestige of Zutwa pact boon is of any worth by default, as on-demand Prime Shot (and the spike to the bonus as the pact boon) is going to be much more handy than the weak Leader-like abilities that King Elidyr contains.
At-Will Powers: Eyes of the Vestige.
Human Constitution'locks? This is your At-Will, period. This power is incredible; the ability to spread damage and Curses around to more important targets is fantastic, and the power would be just fine by itself, without the special Augments you get from your current Vestige. The damage you inflict is a tad low, but it's against Will, and can carry some monstrously good effects if you ally yourself with the right Vestiges.
Control Damage Defense Leadership Support
Every power for you guys is Constitution- or Charisma-based, with an attack range of Melee touch or Ranged 5. This is also very Leadery, and is incredibly versatile on every front, able to be slotted in to any build. A very popular candidate for Twofold Pact due to how wonderful its feats are.
The Sorcerer-King Pact
Pact Boon: Fell Scorn.
Very simple: you start your encounters with a Fell Might as a King'lock, and whenever you use a Warlock power tied to the Sorcerer-King pact, you can spend it before rolling the attack roll to get a special rider on a hit. The Pact Boon simply refreshes the use of the Fell Might. You cannot get multiple uses of the Fell Might, which is kinda disappointing.
At-Will Powers: Hand of Blight.
Huh. Melee touch or Ranged 5, Constitution or Charisma; wicked. The at-will also services to introduce you to the Fell Might feature: if you spend it on this power and hit, you deal 1d8 extra damage, which is actually an excellent bonus, and one of the best ways to spend your Fell Might. Heck, it even allows the target to grant combat advantage to everyone, which is neat. The range is rather short, but hey, it works - and there are some strategies you can exploit from having this be a Melee range option.
ELEMENTAL PACT (Essentials: HOEC) / Control Damage Defense Leadership Support
Charisma-based, but since none of your new powers have Elemental Pact riders and your At-Will is awful, you could conceivably go with Constitution as your attack score. A striking similarity to the Sorcerer with this pact, and contains some extremely unique features and bonuses. It also helps with one of the worst parts about, oddly enough, the Dark'lock powers in being able to switch around damage types. Awesome pact... except there's a little bit of a problem.
Elemental Pact
Elemental Affinity
As the only Pact with a fully-fledged feature, this does a rather neat little thing: it gives you a fragment of the Wild Sorcerer feature, in which you roll a d10 each time you rest to determine a damage type. The result you get (which can be either acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder) replaces all instances of the psychic, necrotic, poison, or force damage type on your Warlock powers (this includes ongoing damage, Dark'locks) with your new Affinity's type. This Affinity can change to one of your choice when you spend your Second Wind. This meshes wonderfully with the Pact Boon...
Pact Boon: Accursed Affinity.
Whenever an enemy cursed by you drops to zero hitpoints... nothing happens. At least not yet. Whenever you next Curse an enemy, that enemy gains Vulnerable 5/10/15 (by tier) to your Affinity's damage type for the rest of the encounter. Simply glorious DPR potential here, not just for you, and sickening with Bloodied Boon. Keep in mind the current error on the Compendium, as it notes the Boon as an Immediate Reaction - this is wrong.
At-Will Powers: Chromatic Bolt.
Another aspect of the Sorcerer comes into play, this time reflecting the Storm Sorcerer's favorite at-will choice: you deal a decent amount of psychic damage (which can be changed with your Elemental Affinity feature), and you deal some extra minion-poppin' psychic damage on another target within 5 squares equal to your... Constitution modifier.
Oh dear. Enter the return of the Split'lock, and now you have a rare power that relies on both your Charisma and Constitution scores to be good for this to be worthwhile, which means you must sacrifice your Intelligence score (you know, the score that determines your AC, your riders, your Arcana score, extra Curse damage at Epic... small things). This is bad. This is very bad. Now, at 21st level, it becomes 3+CON, which can bump it up a notch, but this power is, from the start, equivalent to the worst side of Spiteful Glamor, a purple-rated hex, and this carries no advantage over the other due to both being changeable by the Affinity feature. Upgrade the color if you can get good AC and Reflex while also being able to do meaningful side damage, but otherwise, you are not here for the At-Will.
Part Four: Fleshing Out the Hellbound Soul
So, you got your Pact signed with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, but... who exactly are you? Are you speedy or smart? Strong or charming? Draconic or... um... not?
Ability Scores: How Well Can You Swim the River Styx?
The scores presented do not count in racial bonuses.
(8-13) Um... not really. This is not a stat you want to bother yourself with. Melee-focused Warlocks and Warlocks hybridizing with a Strength-primary class, however, might want to pay a bit of attention here. 13 Strength is also the threshold to cross to gain Hide Proficiency, which is of serious consideration for some of you if you're entertaining the thought of starting with a 14 or 16 INT post-racial.
CONSTITUTION: (13-18) You pick either this or Charisma for your primary ability score, and pick the other for a tertiary to shore up either Will or Fortitude. The old strategy of going "Split'lock" (Constitution and Charisma even, Intelligence a distant second) is nowadays too risky to go for, as it forces you to wear Chainmail, and in any case, both ability scores are represented very heavily considering the wide breadth of powers available. Anyway, for Constitution'locks, this is the stat you stick a 16 or 18 in, no questions asked. It determines your Fortitude, your HP, your surges, and most importantly for half of you, your attack and damage rolls.
DEXTERITY: (10-13) One reason and one reason only to put points here: Dual Implement Spellcaster. OK, two reasons: initiative. But Dexterity isn't used for much else; and, with notable exceptions, your initiative bonus isn't going to be fantastic otherwise. Worth noting is that there are a huge library of powers available to the Warlock, some of which contain no INT riders, and in that case Dexterity is a fine alternative stat, as it'll pad your AC, Acrobatics, initiative(!) and Stealth(!!), and in fact will make certain races (Half-Orc and Drow, especially) much better. This guide assumes you walk the smart path, however, even if a bit clumsily.
INTELLIGENCE: (14-16) Almost all of your power's riders, and your AC, relies on this very stat. This stat is incredibly important, and one you want to raise alongside your primary.
WISDOM: (8-10) Barring specific builds... no. Dump stat extraordinare; you kind of have a much more awesome stat in Charisma for your Will. And I hope to Mephistopheles someone in your party's more Perceptive than a doorknob, or you've got problems.
CHARISMA: (13-18) Your alternative primary score. The entry for Constitution applies in kind here.
Race Options: Hell, an Equal Opportunity Employer
I'm actually going to be following Dedekine's format here: instead of sorting races by book, I'll be sorting races by ability score loadouts, in Primary/Secondary (CON/INT or CHA/INT), Primary only (CON or CHA), and Secondary only (INT). If a race isn't mentioned (Shifter lolol), don't even bother.
Primary and Secondary
Eladrin (INT + CHA or DEX): Yea, ignore the whole Dexterity thing. However, don't ignore the Eladrin: they're fantastic Fey'locks, with a racial option to ferret themselves out of trouble, on top of great feat support that helps to focus on their teleportation bent. They do great as any Charisma'lock, not just Fey'locks, but flavorwise, the Fey is where they belong. And as if the Eladrin wasn't good enough, the Sun Elf option presented in Neverwinter gives them automatic proficiency with Staffs and Orbs. The implement problem solved without even spending a feat to do so puts them at the top pedestal of Cha'lock races.
Genasi (INT + STR or CON): Automatic sky-blue just for being a CON/INT race, of whom you will find its unexpected twin down the line. It's assumed by going Genasi that you're either playing an Arcane class or a Warlord, and in that regard the spectacular racial choices and features will make you a fantastic Con'lock. Shame the feats want you to be a Wizard...
Gnome (INT + DEX or CHA): You don't care about being small, you get the exact support you'd want from going with either the Star or Fey pacts, you have a racial encounter get-out-of-jail-free card... you're the Eladrin in miniature, and that's something to brag about.
Shardmind (INT + CHA or WIS): Sweet Jiminy Cricket, there's a lot of CHA/INT races. This one's no different: a propensity for skills akin to the Eladrin, automatic resistance to a decent damage type (Psychic, instead of the Tiefling's Fire), an offensive-based "Run away!" power, and good feat support. The flavor, however, might turn some people off; I myself don't really like the "weird" races such as PHB3 likes to favor, but to each his own.
Tiefling (CHA + INT or CON): Wait, so you mean the race that was born from signing a deal with archdevils and carries bonuses to the very ability scores Warlocks love... is a good race? No way! It's quite obvious that you're a natural Charisma'lock and a great Constitution'lock: your feat support is marvelous, your racial abilities are splendid (resists and accuracy!), and you can even focus on a fire theme and not come out ravaged. Man, this race is awesome.
Hobgoblin (CON + INT or CHA): Well, look at that. We were finally graced with another CON/INT race recently, and thankfully, it's a great pick: it comes packed with an initiative bonus right off the bat, a great racial to stave off Save Ends effects, and a special little feat just for you Arcane types that, for your unfriendly Close area hexes, can allow you to eliminate a square adjacent to you as a target.
Warforged (CON + STR or INT): Chicks dig giant Warlocks. A bonus to Will, even as someone primed for the Constitution pacts, is very welcome, as well as another source of temporary hitpoints for you Infernal machines in the audience. The feat support is woesome for Warlocks, and unfortunately, now that we have a new CON/INT race in the house, the attraction just isn't as strong as it used to be. But by no means is it a bad choice; the flavor is certainly awesome.
Changeling (CHA + DEX or INT): Unfortunately, while this race is chock-full of flavor and carries a nice bonus to Will to shore up your already awesome Will score, the feat support... kinda doesn't exist. Well, it does, but it's really nothing spectacular, and doesn't boost your Warlock features or powers.
Kalashtar (CHA + INT or WIS): So... yea, another CHA/INT race. Fortunately, you are a bit different: your ability to shrug off certain secondary effects is second-to-none, and you possess a racial power that'll allow you to just blow off almost any Will-based attack once per encounter.
Pixie (CHA + DEX or INT): Even though it's yet another CHA/INT race, and there's absolutely no argument against them being a Fey'lock, especially considering where they come from, their racial features and powers mean little to you, and their feat options aren't spectacular either.
Kenku (CHA + DEX or INT): The Kenku rides the exact same boat as the Pixie does; it's a serviceable Cha'lock race with nothing going for it in terms of support.
Shade (CHA + DEX or INT): A CHA/INT race, a bonus to Arcana and automatic Darkvision? Neat! Horrible feat support, a loss of a healing surge, and a mediocre Standard-action racial? Nah. They technically are a decent CHA/INT race; the purple rating reflects the fact that all of the others are so much superior, however.
Primary Score Only
Dragonborn (CHA + STR, CON, or DEX): Pick your poison, you scaly fiends - you'll do great as either a CON or CHA based Warlock, even without your precious 18 in INT. Your racial power is heavily supported by feats, and you gain access to a very neat Rod in the Rod of the Dragonborn. And now as a Kapak Draconian, one of the new subracial options for Dragonborn, you can even justify boosting Dexterity instead of Intelligence - amongst a bunch of other insanely cool racial options for both of the Draconian subraces! Just keeps comin' up Milhouse for you folks.
Half-Elf (CON + WIS or CHA): Oh, Dilettante. How we love you so. Should you come into the problem of grabbing a power that isn't CON or CHA based, you have ways to repair that. Even disregarding this, the fact that you can take both Human and Elf feats could be a consideration all on its own, especially for the former's list.
Mul (CON + STR or WIS): So you wanted a Dwarf that can qualify for Human feats instead, with speed 6 and able to show debilitating effects the back of your hand instead of accelerated durability? Forget the fact that this race carries no INT bonus - this is a fantastic option for Con'locks just on its features alone.
Revenant (DEX + CON or CHA): You can be a Con'lock or Cha'lock, can qualify for any one race's racial feats and encounter racial powers, and your own feats are brilliant in terms of keeping you afloat. We're done here.
Deva (WIS + INT or CHA): While the flavor is a tad suspect (except for Vestige Pact Warlocks, who pretty much thrive on the idea of past lives fueling their powers) your innate resistances are excellent, and your Memory of a Thousand Lifetimes will help that critical daily land. Where this race really shines is in Epic with the Soul of the World ED, which is just sick and wrong in terms of its potential.
Drow (DEX + CHA or WIS): Flavorful Dark'locks to the end, and solid Cha'locks of any sort. Their racial power choices are awesome, though Darkfire a bit moreso than Cloud of Darkness.
Dwarf (CON + STR or WIS): The secondary stats don't quite line up with what you want, but you will appreciate the bonus to Constitution and some very interesting abilities to keep you on your feet. A proclivity for hammers could also come into use if you go down that path of optimization. Curiously enough they, along with "dead" (Revenant) Dwarves, make the best Elemental Pact Warlocks: there is no reason you can't go Constitution-based as an Ele'lock (since your At-Will kinda blows), and a Minor Action Second Wind will tame your Affinity feature much more easily than it would otherwise.
Goblin (DEX + WIS or CHA): +2 to Bluff. +2 to Stealth. +1 to Reflex. An IR shift on a missed melee attack. Feats aren't the greatest, but damn, you're given a lot at the outset anyway.
Halfling (DEX + CON or CHA): The DEX will help with qualifying for Dual Implement Spellcaster, and you will be evasive as hell, not only with your racial power but with your feat options. On top of which, you can be a Con'lock or a Cha'lock with no problems whatsoever. Neato.
Human (Any ability score): Great for pretty much every class, though slightly worse as Warlocks since you depend a lot on your secondary. Having access to great feat support, a bonus skill, and a bonus feat on a class that's very feat-starved is something to die for. In regards to the bonus At-Will: you gained two unique options in the Binder list for Cha'locks, but Con'locks are pretty much stuck deciding between Hellish Rebuke and Eyes of the Vestige (the latter admittedly being a power house).
Kobold (CON + DEX or CHA): An iconic race finally gets a proper write-up... and amazingly enough, some feat support as well. With their "introduction" in the Dungeon Survival Guide, these small critters lost Shifty but instead gained a rather interesting little feat in Eldritch Momentum that almost directly copies the Shadow Warlock Armor property. The loss of Shifty is a little disappointing, but enough was given to them to make them a sweet new choice for the class.
Satyr (CHA + DEX or CON): Like the Pixie, they make extremely flavorful (and competent) Fey'locks, but they make quite decent Con'locks as well. They have a bit of a mix of durability and mind clearance, on top of a rather interesting racial power. Shame about the feats and the uselessness of Bluff being an automatic skill for you...
Wilden (WIS + CON or DEX): A fey origin, but no Charisma or Intelligence boost? What a shame. What's not a shame is how flexible you can boost their NADs and the shenanigans you can pull with their racial powers.
Half-Orc (DEX + STR or CON): Very close to being blue, but the racial feats kinda want you to be in melee. Still, quite a unique race to be as an Arcane character, and will work just fine.
Hamadryad (WIS + INT or CHA): You are the Wilden, except not. Just like your Satyr and Pixie cousins, you will make a flavorful Fey'lock (y'all did come from the same Feywild book), but unlike the Satyr, there just isn't enough support to differentiate themselves from the pack.
Vryloka (CHA + DEX or STR): The frailty inflicted on you is much less terrifying than the Shade's, but is no less disturbing, considering your bent at being Charisma-based. Still, you have a useful encounter power and innate necrotic resistance, which puts you above that threshold by a mile.
Goliath (STR + CON or WIS): All of your feats want you to be a Warden so badly. Automatic proficiency with all two-handed weapons (except Superior weapons) with just one feat may be attractive, however.
Hengeyokai (DEX + WIS or CHA): You're a Cha'lock!... congratulations? You have no feats at all, and while the +1 Reflex can be quite handy, there's nothing here that other races can't deliver - Charisma is too common a stat boost amongst the crowd. To be fair though, if you want an animalistic Warlock, this is kind of your best option.
Minotaur (STR + CON or WIS): The heart says yes, but the brain says no. It can work, I suppose, but be careful what you're getting into. The support for this race in regards to being Arcane is nonexistant.
Secondary Score Only
Elf (DEX + INT or WIS): What sells them the most is Elven Accuracy, which actually contains some great support for Arcane classes, multi-attacker or otherwise. Other than that, they make decent Fey'locks, but their High Elf cousins just soar right past them.
Githzerai (WIS + DEX or INT): That Wisdom score is just not going to do anything for you, and the racial power plus many of your features and feats want you to be an evasive character or a Defender. You can actually delve into the former with surprising confidence, and even feign the latter, but it'll take a dedicated build to do so. They do come packaged with an initiative booster right from the start, which does say a lot about a class normally low in that score.
Shadar-Kai (DEX + INT or WIS): I'm actually tempted to rate these guys as Blue, due to how a lot of their racial abilities fit the missing parts of some Warlocks. You get a bonus to death saving throws, a very handy bonus to Fortitude, and your feats focus on resists, insubstantiality, and Controller-esque abilities. Give these guys a second look - you might be surprised.
Skills: Play and Work... Enjoy Your Time on Earth
The Warlock class gets four skills, the baseline for a class. Surprisingly enough, you don't get Arcana automatically - and depending on your class loadout, you may have to force yourself into that skill.
Here's what you can get:
Class Skills
Arcana (INT): A knowledge skill, and one you'll be quite good at. Take it if you can, but if you have a Wizard in the party, you can look elsewhere: he'll be better at it than you. Important for those that become a Sage of Ages.
Bluff (CHA): Social skills are very handy, especially as a Cha-primary. If you're Constitution-based, this is still not a bad option.
History (INT): Another knowledge skill, but a bit more in the realm of DM context than anything. Still, you'll be great at this.
Insight (WIS): Have other people in your party else take this and Perception. If you absolutely must, and you're attracted to the (admittedly good) skill powers, then by all means take it, but...
Intimidate (CHA): One of the most broken skills in the game; if your DM allows it, you can force bloodied opponents to surrender with a successful Intimidate vs. Will check. Another social skill, and one that's both highly flavorful and very handy. Constitution'locks won't prize it as much.
Religion (INT): Either this or Arcana is required to start slinging around Rituals. I'd rather you go for Arcana than this, but a little prayer never went amiss - and Religion skill powers tend to be very nice.
Streetwise (CHA): Eeeeh... this is way too situational to ever really recommend. Ask your DM.
Thievery (DEX): Everyone needs a trap-maestro. And if it must fall on you, your modicum of DEX (be it 11 or 13) will make it work. Jumps to Sky Blue if you use Dexterity as a secondary score instead of tertiary or quaternary.
Here's what you can't get:
Other Skills
Acrobatics (DEX): Maybe...? You'll be wearing armor that doesn't deduct from your Acrobatics score, and Dexterity is a quaternary (and a rare secondary), so you won't suck at this. But still... it's Acrobatics. Search the room for a ladder and cheat the system, or just fly.
Athletics (STR): Hahahahaha... no.
Diplomacy (CHA): Bluff and Intimidate will normally get you far in the world (though perhaps not in everyone's good graces). If you're the face of the party, though, consider buying this via a feat. Prime Eladrin racial option here, by the way.
Dungeoneering (WIS): Two problems compound this skill - every DM has a different idea of just what Dungeoneering is and what it applies to (basically, determining cardinal directions, noticing clues and hazards in an underground environment, or recognizing how deep in a structure you are). The second is on top of the first: it's Wisdom based. There's not too much to gain if you invest in this skill, so don't worry about it.
Endurance (CON): The only Constitution-based skill in the game, and if your DM likes to pit you against rats and mummies, this will be very important to make sure your awesome adventure doesn't get sidelined by random rat #10155. Plus the skill powers are fantastic. Cha'locks need not apply, unless they absolutely must henpick the skill powers.
Heal (WIS): Nah.
Nature (WIS): Strongly advised if you want to go into the madness that is Rituals. Otherwise, bleh.
Perception (WIS): Again, let the Druid do it. However, if no one else can be bothered to pretend to care about their surroundings, then it'll have to fall on you, because the skill is used so much in 4e. Your trash Wisdom score won't like it, though.
Stealth (DEX): Eladrins land here. Everyone else, seriously consider buying this up: any investment in Dexterity and common Stealth-boosting armors will make you quite masterful at this, as you have the easiest job in the world gaining concealment. Sky Blue if your race either bumps your Stealth score or gives this skill to you for free.
Part Five: Heroic Tier Spells - Destination Hades
The Warlock is a "V-class": that is, they work under two possible primaries and a single secondary score. With that in mind, and because some powers either do not care about your CON or CHA, or they allow you to choose either, the powers will be split into three sections (and for one instance, four): Charisma-based hexes; Constitution-based hexes; and both (Con / Cha).
I'll also be putting the Vestige Pact rider dailies into their own sections, as they should be the first thing that Vestige'locks look at before considering any other Con'lock powers. All Con'locks are, of course, allowed to take those powers, and the initial rating of the power is as such.
Level 1 At-Wills (Human Options)
Humans have the option of taking an extra Level 1 class At-Will for one of their racial features. Turns out that most At-Will powers Binders automatically pick as part of their Pact now contain a level, and are thus obtainable by Humans (and enterprising Half-Elves of other classes) as well as the selection of Warlock powers in the Pact section of this guide. These are both Charisma-based, and will not require seperation.
Echoing Dirge (Essentials: HOS)
This is very significant: Warlocks do not have any other AOE at-will. That fact alone gives it substantial advantages: you do not provoke opportunity attacks when using it, since it's a Close Blast 5; swarms will take full damage, even though you only target two enemies with it; and the control itself is quite solid, allowing you to push whichever enemies you hit. And if you have them both Cursed, you have a much better chance of applying your Curse dice this turn. A missing tool for an Arcane Striker finally put into play, and it's actually very nice.
Shadow Claws (Essentials: HOS)
Soft control it may be, it is in the Effect line, not the Hit line, which makes it also worth consideration. Otherwise, though, it's a cold Eldritch Blast, and probably not worth wasting your extra At-Will slot on.
Level 1 Encounter Powers
Cursebite (FRPG)
Brilliant range, but the damage is mediocre, and the power will feel wasteful in small encounters.
Dark Pact: On the other hand, gaining your Intelligence modifier to damage will bump up the effectiveness quite a lot, and Dark'locks tend to exist in campaigns where enemies come en masse.
Darkworm Feast (AP)
Solid damage and accurate, but it is necrotic, so that could present some problems. Slowed is still pretty nice to inflict on some enemies, however.
Dark Pact: The extra damage is still necrotic, and happens outside the original damage roll, so if the enemy is resistant to Necrotic, forget about it.
Dreadful Word (PHB1)
Great damage. The Fear and Psychic keywords will raise the eyebrows of several, and for them it's certainly worthwhile. However, the penalty to Will is a bit small, especially since Will tends to be the lowest stat for many monsters anyway.
Star Pact: ... won't care, because that Will score is going to drop hard.
Flickering Venom (FRPG)
Damage, damage, damage, damage. Great force damage, and extra damage if you have CA is very nice. No Control, though. Did I mention damage?
Dark Pact: Everyone loves a range improvement, but it isn't enough of a change to really scale the rating higher.
Glow of Ulban (D366)
You hit the target and deal Radiant damage. Are you not entertained?
Star Pact: Very cool effect, but also rather situational. Still, something worth taking advantage of, especially against Standard monsters.
Grasp of the Iron Tower (D386)
Fantastic damage, great control (it's NOT going to move closer to you, no ifs, ands, or buts), and even contains a Miss option that drains your HP equal to your level to replicate the attack against someone else, halving the damage on a hit.
Infernal Pact: Still great, but actually kinda against the intended effect of the power. A target that cannot move closer to you will probably not be able to hit you anyway, so the Resist All might go to waste. Against everyone else, though, it's more padding on top of your Boon's padding, which you can't really say no to.
Hound of Dark Omen (Essentials: HOS)
A Warlock power with a level, so regular Warlocks are allowed to take this (and other Binder powers). Unfortunately for you, the push, while solid, is limited in its usefulness, though the roll against Will and the psychic damage opens itself up to neat strategies. The pact rider never applies to you.
Shadow Tentacles (Essentials: HOS)
The zone keyword does not apply to you, as it's contained in the specific Star Pact that Binders belong to. Otherwise, it's a pretty nice AOE cold that slows.
Sprite War Call (AP)
More slowing, and more Combat Advantage, but only applies to you.
Fey Pact: Ranged 10 instead of Ranged 5. Meh.
Unseelie Sprites (D406)
Close burst 2 and friendly, but wow, that damage is unapologetically low. This and the other D406 powers are meant to support the Fey Pact Binder released in the same article, and as a result, most of them are going to be laughable for you.
Witchfire (PHB1)
Decent damage and a decent effect make this... a decently good power.
Fey Pact: This is going to hurt so much it's not even funny. 2+INT penalty to attack rolls is amazingly good, and Fey'locks should not take any other option.
Arms of Hadar (AP)
The fact that it's against Reflex really does help a lot, but it's quite unfriendly, and one would hope you don't get surrounded by so many mobs that a close burst 2 is necessary. Still, it's a solid AOE power, something Warlocks rarely get, and pushes.
Star Pact: The push improves dramatically.
Chains of Levistus (AP)
I'm quite the fan of this power. Smack the target with a solid 2d6 hit, and that target isn't going anywhere. Well, he can... but he'll take another dose of damage. Mirrors Dire Radiance, but the trigger can be of any direction, and at any point in time before the end of your next turn. (Forced movement counts!)
Infernal Pact: Beautiful boost to attack rolls, especially if you can force the punishment.
Clarion Call (AP)
Thunder'locks will like this power, as it's a thunder AOE and thus gets helped somewhat by Resounding Thunder. Everyone else look elsewhere - deafened isn't a great effect.
Vestige Pact: Potentially massive amount of THP generation here.
Diabolic Grasp (PHB1)
The size limitation will not be a factor this early in your career, and the slide is excellent as a Controller side-effect.
Infernal Pact: The range of the slide jumps considerably, and comes so close to Gold at Paragon and Epic with how incredibly far you can toss an enemy.
Life Bind (AP)
Oooh, that's nasty. Regenerating monsters will hate you, Warforged will hate you if you bloody them with this attack, and even has a saving throw penalty thrown in. Rather situational, but it's great to have in your toolbox.
Vestige Pact: Extra damage equal to your Intelligence modifier.
Pandorym's Cry (D403)
It's like Glow of Ulban. Except it's Constitution. Yeah, that's about it.
Star Pact: Do not despair, however, as throwing on Combat Advantage and slowing fixes up the power proper.
Vampiric Embrace (PHB1)
Nice little Necrotic punch, and some temporary hitpoints to bolster your defenses, something Constitution'locks will like. Zero control, though.
Infernal Pact: Definitely will like the huge boost, but it doesn't scale too well, especially as it overlaps with your Boon.
Con / Cha
Cruel Bounty (DSCS)
Solid radiant damage, and you become a competent Leader, giving a pretty decent bonus to all of your allies against the target.
Sorcerer-King Pact: Provided the Fell Might is spent and falls through successfully, your multi-attacking allies and Leaders will adore you. (Please be accurate.)
Level 1 Daily Powers
Armor of Winter's Grasp (Essentials: HOFK)
Panic button! And a pretty decent one as well, though considering it's against Fortitude, the limitation of the range, and will probably not hit Brutes and other high-Fortitude baddies, this won't deal a lot of damage. Ah well.
Contagion (FRPG)
Undead will not care about this power at all, as the damage is static (ongoing 10, save ends) and the effect will be lost on them. Otherwise, this has the potential to spread damage like crazy, but I'm not really a fan of how low the damage will tend to be when all is said and done.
Dark Pact: Bit of a bump to the distance the plague can travel is useful, and actually scales quite nicely. Still, though, there's the problem of the initial hit.
Crown of Stars (D366)
The initial hit and effect is already quite spectacular, but it's the Sustain Minor that marks it as truly excellent. Once per round as a minor action, you can subject any enemy 10 squares away from you to a Charisma vs. Will attack that, on a hit, deals Radiant damage equal to your Charisma modifier. Non-standard-action attacks are what Strikers love, and even if it might not really allow you to add Curse dice to it (depending on how you and your DM interpret the wording in the PHB1 entry for Warlock's Curse in regards to how it interacts with damage that isn't a damage roll), it doesn't matter. Enjoy your deathlaser!
Curse of the Dark Dream (PHB1)
A tremendous smack of a hit, and the Control element is actually quite nice as an effect. The Charm keyword is important here for some of you. Very solid.
Decree of Khirad (AP)
An enemies-only AOE that quasi-Dominates on a hit (after sliding them, hit or miss), and will do guaranteed damage in the battlefield, depending on what happens. Beautiful; absolutely beautiful. If you're set up to take advantage of the Charm keyword,
why look elsewhere?
Dread Star (PHB1)
Hit or miss, your favorite spells (Star Pacters love their Will-attacking hexes) are going to hit against the target for a little while. Even comes packed with immobilization on a hit, which is always handy.
Fortune's Reversal (AP)
Immediate Reaction. Automatic blue. The trigger point will come up at least once in the battle, I guarantee you; and they WILL eat at least a tick of this damage. Very cool.
Dark Pact: Slight bump to the saving throw penalty. Alrightythen.
Fey Pact: More debuffing! And as the target will take a guaranteed hit of the psychic damage at least once, this will last awhile.
Hateful Shade (Essentials: HOS)
Pretty nice hit, especially with how uncommon Force resistance is. But wow, what a lame effect. Just ongoing damage to supplement the damage, and the target can just say "lawl nope" to it if it's any skilled at two common enemy skills.
Hellfire Blast (Essentials: HOTFK)
Take Flames of Phlegethos, switch the ability score, and spill it all over the battlefield. Incredibly good damage, hit or miss, for those that care more about damage than control, and is a great blaster option for Cha'locks.
Malicious Shadow (Essentials: HOS)
Solid damage on a hit, and the shadow you conjure will do horribly mean things to Artillery enemies that're stuck between it and your Defender buddy. The only problem is the short range on the power: if it ever ends up outside the power's range from you, it vanishes, due to it being a Conjuration.
Mists of Madness (Essentials: HOTFK)
Horrible damage, but that's not the point. You also get to add on the enemy's own attacks, should they hit each other. Won't help you get mobs off your back, and some enemies possess very weak melee basic attacks, but you take what you get.
Prophecy of
Zhudun (D366)
Dragon Magazine 366 loves Cha'locks so much. This is no different: pound them on the head with a save-ends daze, and give a huge defensive boost to all of your allies until it saves.
Star Shackles (D374)
Don't even pretend you're going to have a Fortitude worth any great shakes as a Cha'lock. Your Reflex won't be spectacular, but it'll be a decent enough defense against any enemy that tries to save from the grab. The initial hit is lackluster, but on-demand AOE damage (with full modifiers) each round without requiring an attack roll and that can reach out and grab other creatures is certainly handy. Unfortunately, you cannot roll Curse dice with autohits - a power definitely meant more for the Hexblade that would come later (and for them? Holy wow). Still, there's some great Controlling potential here.
Web of Shadows (Essentials: HOS)
A friendly attack that drops an unfriendly zone is kind of awkward, but the zone only injures others if they enter it, not if they end their turn there. It's still a great immobilizing/slowing AOE, which ironically works much better for you than the Binder it was built for, since you can augment the damage somewhat with your Curse.
Yan-C-Bin's Breath (Essentials: HoEC)
After dealing some respectable AOE Acid damage, you then create a zone of difficult terrain in the blast that you ignore, plus some autodamage for anyone that ends their turn in the zone. Respectable, I suppose, but the Sustain is very weird: you roll a d6 each time you do so, and on an even result, you increase the size by 1 (of which I assume can be any direction from the point of view of the original origin square of the blast). On an odd result, you reduce it by 1, and if its size is zero, the zone ends. I'd rate it higher if it was clearer what increasing the size of blast zones was limited to.
Your Glorious Sacrifice (FRPG)
Not a Dark'lock? Don't even bother. You're injuring your ally for a benefit that can be ignored or shrugged off. Least the damage isn't bad...
Dark Pact: Now how about making that ongoing damage actually matter, by allowing you to contribute two ability modifiers to it? There's still the problem of a miss doing jack-all but straight damage, though.
Flames of Phlegethos (PHB1)
All it does is damage. But boy does it do it well. Guaranteed ongoing damage and a crusher of an initial hit is great for Fire'locks.
The Lash's Bite (D382)
Great damage, but the effect is horribly situational, and the reroll isn't a proper reroll, but just an attack boost with this particular power to try again next time if you failed.
Infernal Pact: Considering the weakness of the effect, the rider means little.
Tyranny of Flame (AP)
Autoprone can be quite hilarious in the right circumstances, and the damage itself is pretty good. Given enough luck...
Infernal Pact: ... and this rider, it ain't standin' up anytime soon.
Vile Brand (D382)
Basically The Lash's Bite up above, but carrying a much better effect. A mass attack debuff is quite awesome, even if it only lasts one turn.
Infernal Pact: It's a bit odd, honestly, to see the debuff also spread to those around you when the range of the power is 20 squares - it's an Artillery power, so why do you really care about potential targets up close? But hey, if that's a problem, then enjoy this as a solution.
Con / Cha
Armor of Agathys (PHB1)
Seems to be meant for Infernal'locks than other Pacts, but really isn't spectacular in any case. Both features rely on your Intelligence modifier to function, which tends to not scale well. The aura damage isn't affected by most damage roll boosters, so that'll quickly become obsolete. Take early on if you desire, then abandon.
Ashen Scourge (DSCS)
The effect line... is kind of dumb. A two-square pull doesn't matter at all in melee range, and is awkward to take advantage of otherwise if you don't concentrate on Sorcerer-King powers. At least it grants save-ends Combat Advantage to everyone and ongoing Necrotic damage, which is quite a nice consolation prize in any case.
Level 1 Vestige Dailies
Vestige of Khaeleth (AP)
Wow, that's amazingly low damage. If no one's surrounding you, it's not gonna be much more than a slap in the face. Otherwise, it could actually pack a whallop, but enjoy trying to get that to work your way.
Pact Boon: An ally within 5 squares of you gains your INT mod in temp hitpoints. Huh. Your Defender will appreciate the extra help.
Augment: Eyes of the Vestige will allow you to soak up damage for any ally you want, however much you want. More defender lovings, and much more solid a Leader Vestige than King Elidyr.
Vestige of Mount Vaelis (AP)
Nice little punch, and an effect that limits the target to teleportation or flying, a very uncommon trait at level 1.
Pact Boon: One cursed enemy within 5 squares of you gains Vulnerable 5 Thunder. This would normally not mean much to you, except...
Augment: ...your Eyes of the Vestige now inflicts 1d6 extra Thunder damage. The synergy with your Boon is amazing, and now you have a hard-hitting at-will that deals Psychic and Thunder damage and has great utility. You couldn't ask for better.
Vestige of Thaxter (D383)
A shift before the attack can help apply your Shadow Walk when you would normally not be able to if you're caught in melee, but before you can take full advantage of it, if you're not a Vestige'lock it ain't gonna be worth much. The damage is too bland otherwise.
Pact Boon: A bit hard to plan who should get the boost to attack rolls, especially when it's this random, but it's a nice effect anyways.
Augment: Ally repositioning!... is something you don't care about.
Level 3 Encounter Powers
Delban's Deadly Attention (AP)
Immediate Interrupt, automatic blue. Fantastic trigger point and a catch-22? Yea, sure, why not: Sky Blue.
Star Pact: And should they disagree with your suggestion, poke them with more damage equal to your Intelligence modifier. Not quite to a gold standard, and it took me a bit to realize how badly they worded the Star Pact rider, but it's still pretty darn nice.
Ebon Claws (Essentials: HOS)
Um... why? I guess the damage is OK, but there's enough slowing in the Level 1s to placate you; why do you need one with a rider that doesn't apply to you?
Eldritch Rain (PHB1)
Two-target attacks are always lovely, but the Range itself is really limited, and the damage isn't spectacular.
Fey Pact: The bonus to damage fixes that up just fine, though. Still no control.
Hands of Ihbar (D366)
More slowing! The dice incorporated in this power is actually quite solid, equating to 2[W] powers on your other Striker cousins, but the effect is still kind of redundant.
Star Pact: Horribly situational, but pretty useful, and save-ends powers on an Encounter power is something rare indeed.
Lure of Loyalty (D406)
Huh. Hit or miss, the target is not allowed to attack you until the end of your next turn. The attack itself does absolutely no damage (sigh), but you drag an enemy four squares next to you, and anyone that attacks you is charged or otherwise attacked by your new pet. It's definitely interesting, and it's not Domination, so it can't be shrugged off by enemies that resist that effect, but the fact that it does no damage and has a rider that helps this power immensely but doesn't apply to you is rather lame.
Lure of Minauros (D386)
Just like the other D386 powers, this is a Charisma-based power with an Infernal Pact rider, with a recast contained within. Oftentimes, though, the enemy will be resistant to its own attacks, and RAW, it can decide whether to attack itself or an adjacent creature... which can include your own allies. Whoops. Weirdly enough, the recast is actually much better, since you choose the target of the attack if it doesn't want to attack itself.
Infernal Pact: Neat, but not really enough of a deterrent, nor will it come up commonly.
Otherwind Stride (PHB1)
Shameful damage, but immobilization plus an "I'm not here anymore" button can be useful to pull out of the hat every so often. ... but that's not what this power does. You effectively become a walking immobilization bomb, and after telling a group of enemies to stay down, you can just walk right back to where you started, with some prime targets to shoot at next turn. Sweet.
Fey Pact: Or you can jettison yourself miles away (figuratively) and feel even safer.
Pipes of Winter (AP)
Decent damage, and single-target immobilized. It is Ranged 5 instead of close burst 1, so it has that over Otherwind Stride. Certainly will be much easier to find a target for.
Fey Pact: Plus, there's some additional control here in a friendly AOE auto-slow. Provided the power did hit, there's a hilarious combo you can pull if you have World Serpent's Grasp and drop a proper AOE on an Action Point.
Shared Agony (AP)
The cost to reroll will be too injurous for non-Dark'locks, though it may actaully be somewhat useful for Charisma-based Infernal'locks. Still a blasé psychic hit.
Dark Pact: You can shave off some of that damage by an amount equal to your Intelligence modifier. Low cost rerolls? Now that's how you DPR, folks.
Upsetting Onslaught (FRPG)
Horrible onset damage, but to give the enemy a choice between being dazed and dealing another 2d8 damage to himself either makes it a decent damaging power or a solid control power.
Dark Pact: You can target Fortitude instead of Will. Yay?
Void Blast (Essentials: HOS)
Hooray for powers that deal a modicum of unfriendly AOE damage and creates a zone that hinders everyone on the board! Enemies in the zone gain total concealment, which is the last thing you want to do: remove legitimate targets from the board without them actually being removed. The Pact rider also does not apply to you, and otherwise creates no punishment for enemies to just simply leave and operate as normal.
Your Delicious Weakness (FRPG)
Slightly situational, but if the situation comes up, this is going to sting badly. It does psychic damage by default, but if the target is vulnerable to something, it will find that vulnerability and inflict that instead.
Dark Pact: More damage, but won't always come up.
Cloud of Flies (AP)
Decent damage, and the target grants combat advantage to EVERYONE. Now that's awesome.
Infernal Pact & Vestige Pact: And if you miss, you still get CA!
Fiery Bolt (PHB1)
Another fire blaster power. Both instances of damage incorporate static modifiers, so it's a great little quasi-AOE, but the splash damage isn't friendly, so it'll be tricky to target.
Infernal Pact: More damage... but only on the splash. Huh.
Fortune Binding (AP)
Sullied with an effect you don't want, but you'd love to see on your enemy? No problem! Just one cast of this power, and your wish is granted. Just a little situational, but not that much. Fantastic little toolbox power.
Vestige Pact: Even better, you can send some extra damage their way!
Frigid Darkness (PHB1)
Inferior to Cloud of Flies above. The damage is higher, but no CA on a miss.
Star Pact: Unless, of course, you've consigned yourself to the cosmos, in which case your AC-attacking allies will pretty much auto-hit against the target. This is exactly how you Lead as a Striker.
Vestige's Calamity (AP)
Taste the rainbow. A decent punch, and then if the target is cursed, it takes your Intelligence modifier in four different damage types, all of which are represented in keywords here. Nothing's resisting that.
Vestige Pact: Spreads out the rainbow effect. The splash damage is still dangerous, but much less so to your ally, and will still deal the damage to the targets that actually need it.
Worms (D403)
Simple name, simple damage, nonexistant effect.
Star Pact: ... or you could belong here and actually regain hitpoints by an amount that matters.
Con / Cha
Sinister Extraction (DSCS)
Boring damage, and the Leader-type effect just isn't that great. You cannot reliably control who gains the temporary hitpoints, and so it falters greatly.
Sorcerer-King Pact: Spending your Fell Might on this power (provided it hits afterwards) both helps and hinders this power. Any one person can benefit now... including your Ranged allies, who won't care about temporary hitpoints normally.
Level 5 Daily Powers
Crackling Fire (AP)
A very unique dual-damage type (fire, lightning), and if you have any at-wills that deal Lightning or Fire damage (HELLISH REBUKE), or you're otherwise a Fire blaster, you'll enjoy the mass Vulnerability you can inflict with this attack.
Crown of Madness (PHB1)
Lure of Minauros done correctly, and splendidly. This time, you choose everything that the target attacks until it saves, instead of it choosing for you. Tieflings that take a certain little Paragon feat will find this daily incredibly amusing.
Curse of the Bloody Fangs (PHB1)
Friendly AOE damage? Perish the thought! You start off by hitting the enemy for pretty nice damage, and then until it saves, enemies around the target will be cut to ribbons by a damage roll that incorporates all of your modifiers (sans Charisma and Curse dice, of course). Level 5 Fey'locks are well-off here...
Deathly Conduit (Essentials: HOS)
Well, this is interesting. An AOE (necrotic) save-ends blind, autodamage all around you, and a free teleport! And best of all, you'll be teleporting next to enemies that will be granting combat advantage to you, cannot take opportunity actions, and take a -5 to hit you. A surprisingly good pick from the Heroes of Shadow book. Just make sure you do hit, or you might have an unwelcome surprise should you decide to teleport (it is optional, to be concise)...
Emerald Shield (Essentials: HOTFK)
An immediate shield-typed boost to defenses (that is not a Stance), radiant auto-damage punishment 1/round, and only needs a Minor Action to activate? Con'locks won't care too much about the shield itself (though they'll definitely appreciate extra defenses in melee), but the more fragile Cha'locks can use this to tremendous effect.
Fury of Gibbeth (D366)
This is not a mistake: it is indeed an Intelligence+2 attack versus Reflex; however, the effect relies on a good Charisma modifier. In any case, the effect is actually quite strong: if your target has terrible Acrobatics, it's going to stay down for at least one or two rounds, allowing your allies to swarm in and beat it up. Highly accurate, great damage, and decent control make this a good power.
Forceful Assault (FRPG)
Save-ends daze, and force damage. Simple and clean, but that's the way it should be.
Dark Pact: The times an extra 5 squares will come to play on a power that already has a range of 10 will probably not be numerous.
Lure of Gibbeth (AP)
I would be telling you a grievous lie if I told you that an at-will pulling option wasn't useful. Well, it is. It exhausts your Minor Action to do, though, which is quite a detriment, but the effect will be there forever, so once everyone's cursed, start reeling in the fishing line.
Nightshade Dreams (Essentials: HOTFK)
This would be pretty damn spiffy... if it didn't contain the Poison keyword. And considering how laughable the damage is, undead will completely ignore this power anyway. At least you get guaranteed save-ends CA against it (dazed on a hit) and solid ongoing damage, so that's something.
Roaring Storm of Cania (Essentials: HOTFK)
Yes, Hi, I would like to order a blast 5 guaranteed mass slide please? And could I get some extra Cold damage and perhaps some proning on top of that? That'd be lovely, thanks.
Shard of Darkness (Essentials: HOS)
Slowed, save ends, decent damage, quasi-Reliable. Average.
Tentacles of Cryonax (Essentials: HOEC)
A badass name (certainly much better than its Level 1 cousin) accompanies a Standard Action set-up power: you conjure two tentacles in Close burst 10 that last on a Sustain Minor. On that sustain, you roll a d6, and on a 1, you remove one tentacle, and on a 6, you add one within 10 squares of you. As long as you have one tentacle remaining on your turn, you can spend a Standard Action to make a rather high-damage Melee 2 attack from a tentacle that pulls and grabs (save ends), with autodamage should they fail. Incredibly cool, but slightly wonky to get started and relies on successive sixes to become brutal.
Twilight of the Soul (FRPG)
Has the Reliable keyword, which is undeniably handy. However, I can't in good faith recommend this Hex. 1[W]-equivalent damage, plus ongoing Necrotic, minus any control, really isn't going to work well.
Dark Pact: Alright, cool, you made a mediocre power 10% less mediocre. Here's a cookie.
Venomous Webs (AP)
Medium acid damage, and save-ends CA. We haven't seen that before... oh, but wait, there's a DOT attached!... if the target moves. Awww.
Well of Death (D372)
So instead of dealing derpy necrotic damage as a Daily, you can siphon a healing surge from one of your allies to deal an average of 9 extra damage? Sure, it's the ally's choice whether he or she wants to give up the healing surge, so technically it's a cost they control and not you, but still...
Well of Shadows (Essentials: HOS)
AOE necrotic damage, with more slowing attached. However, this one is different: it creates a friendly zone that, if you hit with a Charisma vs. Reflex attack, an enemy takes some necrotic damage (no Curse) and slows or immobilizes himself. A zone that helps with damage outside of sustains and never hurts your allies is always worthwhile, especially for a Striker.
Avernian Eruption (PHB1)
Flames of Phlegethos, the ranged AOE. That's it.
Blistering Torment (PHB1)
Honestly, you might as well take Avernian Eruption. The damage type here is worse, and deafened doesn't matter at all.
Infernal Pact: That is, unless you belong here, in which you also get a save-ends AOE slow. Much better control than AOE deafen, though slows in blasts are a bit weird: you're still within their reach if you don't skedaddle out of there.
Hunger of Hadar (PHB1)
Fancy that, a zone that does damage! It blocks line of sight (eehhmm...), deals 2d10 damage to anyone that starts their turn there, or enters there (nice!), and once per round as a minor action - let me repeat that, minor action - you can sustain the zone and nuke everyone within. Sweet! Be careful how and where you use it, though, because it can't be moved.
Tyrannical Threat (AP)
Lovely. Just lovely. Curse everything you hit, and you raise up a shield that punishes any Cursed enemy that attacks you. Doesn't do much else, but it'll help with the Cursing in a pinch.
Infernal Pact: Close burst 3 auto-Curse. Wait until Paragon for this to be most effective, but when you do, have fun!
Con / Cha
Flames of the Smoking Crown (DSCS)
No Curse damage applied anywhere here, sadly. However, the effect is grand control: you inflict ongoing damage on them, and on the start of their turns, until they save, you turn them into a ragdoll, tossing them anywhere you want, limited only by your Intelligence modifier. Even better, wherever they land, that fire damage spreads to every enemy adjacent to them! The damage cannot incorporate Curse dice, but happens regardless of whether you hit or miss. Very cool, very powerful, and well deserving of the rating.
Hellsworn Blessing (D382)
A standard action ally-buffing power? The hell? To be fair, the flavor is insanely cool, and for Rangers, Barbarians, and other multi-attacking folk, it's glorious. Otherwise, it's a turn skipped for you, and that can sometimes be a big deal.
Infernal Pact: They also become a Tiefling. That's useful. Sometimes.
Level 5 Vestige Dailies
Vestige of Baatar (D383)
Damage? What damage? Yea, that's not what you're here for. Try ongoing 5 damage that upgrades all the way to falling unconscious, save ends. If you can trip a failed save, this is an incredible level to start knocking enemies unconscious. Just don't miss.
Pact Boon: Oh, your enemies are going to hate you... and your Defender. Artillery sequestered next to melee allies will have their options reduced to merely their MBA. Splendid.
Augment: I actually feel this is rather underrated. Until your next turn rolls around, any hits your allies inflict also gain a Slide 1 attached. We really do love Slides here in the 4e CharOp forums, and this is where you'll find it easiest... as an at-will.
Vestige of Ugar (AP)
A humongous Constitution-based zone that deals excellent Fire damage (in the context of zone powers) and cancels concealment? Awesome! Shame you can't move it around...
Pact Boon: ... never mind!
Augment: Turns Eyes of the Vestige into a Fire damage power. What was wrong with dealing Psychic damage, guys? If you can still deal Psychic damage with your Curse, it won't matter too much, but the benefit is too situational. Let the zone do your revealing for you.
Vestige of Xandor (AP)
So, either you hit and give them a decently brutal catch-22 (though they'll most likely prefer just to be dazed), or you miss... and they're dazed anyways. The miss effect could actually be just a tad better than the Hit, since if they're resistant to Psychic damage, it ratchets itself down to soft control. Either way, solid effect.
Pact Boon: Now that's a cool Pact Boon: free saving throws. That, or you get a little bit of temporary hitpoints. Sure, why not.
Augment: Any extra dice of damage (1d8 psychic) on at-wills is worth a buck fifty.
Level 7 Encounter Powers
All the Sand, All the Stars (AP)
A close blast daze, and has the Charm keyword? Well, now.
Star Pact: Why not throw on extra damage and be part of a Pact that loves Charm effects almost as much as their Fey brethren do?
Confounding Laughter (D390)
Mediocre damage and a free MBA wouldn't be all that great... without that slide attached. You can operate in a much better environment when more of the battlefield opens up for you to drop your quasi-Dominates, which is what this power does.
Cyst of Darkness (Essentials: HOS)
Deathboon (FRPG)
A rather bad effect. The extra damage is worthwhile, but unless your DM is horrendously forgiving and reveals to you the stats of every monster in play while the fight proceeds, then I wouldn't even bother. Least it's accurate.
Dark Pact: And now you can apply the damage if the target is bloodied by this attack. Be still my beating heart.
Death's Commands (FRPG)
Provided you have a way of saying "No" to necrotic resistance, this is actually halfway decent: daze+complete stoppage of movement akin to Grasp of the Iron Tower is always handy. Otherwise...
Dark Pact: Um... alright. Go ahead and have a moderate boost against a specific type of enemy, especially one that has innate necrotic resistance already.
Far Realm Phantasm (D366)
Very, very interesting effect on this power. Forget the damage entirely; this power forces an enemy to "make an attack against the empty air", which Fighters and Wardens will perk their ears up at, and will, either way, waste the enemy's turn.
Star Pact: Pretty darn awesome, but once more, not what you're here for.
Influence of Acamar (D366)
Decent damage, and the effect would be absolutely awesome... without the range limitation. There are still some great applications, especially if you're 5-10 squares away from everything, but otherwise, the kind of people who'd want to use this are Constitution-based Eldritch Strikers, not Star Pact Cha'locks.
Star Pact: The extension of the range possibility would matter if you were still allowed to pick any target in range you wanted.
Lash of the Long Night (D374)
Hey, slowed (save ends) on a 1[W] equivalent encounter power! How... bland. Still, save ends. *shrug*
Fey Pact: And leave it to the Fey'locks to show how it's really done. Combining a huge push with slowed (save ends) turns a mediocre effect into a fantastic one. Love it.
Mire the Mind (PHB1)
Holy crap, that's an amazing effect. You and every single ally in Close burst 10 gains a +5 bonus to defenses against the Big Bad Evil Dude. As an encounter power. Goodness...
Fey Pact: And just to make it even more ridiculous, give yourself a huge Stealth boost. Got a decent Stealth-score already? Want to be hidden? Sign yourself up.
Nypacian Serpents (AP)
Basically an obtuse buff to someone else's damage equal to your Intelligence modifier...
Fey Pact: ... or twice that. One tiny problem in either regard: Poison keyword.
Pain to Pleasure (D386)
What a mess. The entire power basically services to rewind whatever damage you might have inflicted upon yourself with your Cha'lock Infernal Pact hexes. The reroll actually heals you instead of hurts you, so it's guaranteed hitpoints replenished. A bit of a different story than other similar hexes, and one worth looking at if you trend that path.
Pall of Darkness (Essentials: HOS)
Charisma'locks, here's Mordant Rains of Dis. Enjoy.
Shadow Strangler (AP)
Meh damage, but a decent effect. Really not much else to say...
Dark Pact: And finally, we get a Dark Pact rider we can feel good about. Every time the target even attempts to make an attack roll until the end of your next turn, he eats untyped damage equal to your Intelligence modifier. Abuse away, fellas.
Sign of Ill Omen (PHB1)
The very Hex quoted in the Warlock introduction in PHB1. Luckily, it's fantastic: it grants the enemy an anti-Oath of Enmity, where it must roll twice on its attack rolls and use its lowest result. That enemy is not critting next turn, nor is it hitting very accurately.
Star Pact: HOLY CRAP. Now it's not going to hit at all. And there's nothing the enemy can do against it: this isn't a save ends effect, or a daze or stun or whatever. Woooooow.
Touch of Command (D406)
In response to an enemy attacking you, you can dominate it on a successful Charisma vs. Will attack until the end of your next turn. While it deals no damage, this is domination done outside of your own turn, so it won't really crimp your Standard Actions, and you gain it as a pet on its next turn. The space between the IR being triggered and the target taking its next turn can be used to set up the board somewhat to allow your new pet to blow the field apart (shunt him next to an ally and have the target make RBAs?). Unexpectedly good, considering the magazine this came in.
Acrid Decay (AP)
Literally the only thing going for it is that it's a double-target attack. 1d12 is a woefully bad damage die for a Level 7 Encounter power.
Vestige Pact: Throwing around attack penalties is a better use of your Standard Action. Don't bother otherwise.
Elder Constellation (D403)
This really requires accuracy to fully function, otherwise this drops to near-Red. If you do hit both targets, however, enjoy a hilariously awesome teleportation power that can swap any two targets on the board you wish, and they can be up to 21 squares away from each other.
Star Pact: Auto-CA, but that's not what you're here for.
Hero's Arrow (AP)
An amount of damage that by now is growing old for an encounter power (2d8), but the healing attached is surprisingly handy, and quite unique here.
Vestige Pact: The Healing becomes a splash effect, which is honestly extremely nice. It's not much, but in a pinch, and as it contains the Healing keyword? Sure!
Howl of Doom (PHB1)
Ebon Claws, except in a Thunder-damage close blast. Not complaining here.
Infernal Pact: And unlike Ebon Claws, the rider will actually work for you. And by "work" I mean "wreak havoc." A massive close blast push equal to 1+INT modifier is absolutely brutal. Don't feel bad about hitting up Resounding Thunder at Paragon: this power will love you for it.
Infernal Moon Curse (PHB1)
Unless I am quite mistaken, Medium-sized allies can move under enemies suspended five feet in the air. If that's the case, improve this power to Blue. Drop it to Purple otherwise.
Infernal Pact: More damage. OK.
Maggot Conduit (D403)
A rather bland AOE that inflicts a decent damage type, but doesn't do much more than that.
Star Pact: Or you can also lay down a one-turn zone that punishes anyone that enters the zone or ends its turn there. Sounds good to me, especially as an Encounter power.
Mordant Rains of Dis (AP)
The damage is wretched as all get-out, but an Encounter blind certainly isn't. Nice to have in your back pocket in case something goes awry.
Infernal Pact: Splash acid damage. It's friendly at least.
Con / Cha
Sorcerer-King's Decree (DSCS)
A lightning-damage hex (very uncommon) that drops a really nice push against both the enemy and every single enemy adjacent. Fling them to your heart's desire. Shame it couldn't be Ranged 10...
Sorcerer-King Pact: If you spend your Fell Might, you win... splash Psychic damage. I'm actually rating this lower than the base power, since there are better places to spend your Fell Might.
Level 9 Daily Powers
Consuming Ray (D372)
Bland necrotic damage, and you can sacrifice a healing surge (as a Cha'lock?!) to add low ongoing necrotic. No.
Curse of the Black Frost (PHB1)
A decent little Cold-damage poke, but the effect is quite awesome. The save-ends effect is soft control, but the secondary effect is basically ongoing 10 cold damage that isn't ongoing damage. Lovely little workaround, and just barely edges it to Blue.
Death's Fond Caress (FRPG)
Have some Necrotic damage!...
Dark Pact: ...and have them not be able to do jack about it! Yea, if you're not a Dark'lock, don't even bother. 3d10 is great for a Cha'lock to swing around, but your Con'lock cousins were doing this eight levels ago, and they were using a damage type that wasn't resisted by some of the most commonly used monsters in all of D&D.
Horrifying Hatchling (AP)
Poison keyword. Hit them for terrible damage, and then no matter what, sully them with a poison DOT that forces them to slide every time they take said damage. That's pretty nice, but you can do a couple other neat things with this ongoing damage:
Dark Pact: 1) End the DOT to inflict 2d10+INT modifier poison damage. And sacrifice sliding around to do that?
Fey Pact: 2) End the DOT to provide an immediate 3-square slide. Now that's a little better.
Ring of Pain (FRPG)
It's Contagion, except you actually have a Hit line that deals damage instead of ongoing damage, so that's a vast improvement. The spreading DOT portion is also quite neat, but will only spread to one creature should the original roll fail.
Dark Pact: It's not clear exactly which DOTs the Intelligence modifier gets added to, as it only says "the ongoing damage" and never specifies which one. In any case, heightened ongoing damage is excellent for a little damage dealin'.
Storm Countess's Kiss (AP)
Just like back at Crown of Stars, it's up to you and your DM how you interpret static damage and Warlock's Curse. The amount of feet the target is sent up isn't negligable, and restrained is a great effect to inflict, but if the target has reach or is Ranged, they'll actually appreciate the fact that your melee allies can't reach them. The damage and effects that will result afterwards aren't anything to write home about...
Fey Pact: Then again, you can just catapult them about 40-50 feet in the air, let them drop whenever they save, take massive amounts of damage, have them fall prone, and kick them two squares. That works, too.
Thief of Five Fates (PHB1)
Splendid effect, but will go away extremely quickly, and the start-up damage is terrible.
Feast of Souls (AP)
A damaging, dazing, difficult terrain zone that finally moves! It's only two squares, but I'll take it. Just by having this be mobile, it diminishes the danger against your allies substantially, and can really sully the right enemies if you're good at positioning. It costs your Minor Action to sustain it, but it's around the time you got enough enemies cursed where you'll be dropping your dailies anyway.
Infectious Curse (D382)
Turning the target into a Cursing beacon for the entire rest of the encounter, AND you get a recast on the next attempt should it fail? Awesome effect, but just as it is, it'll lose effectiveness fast, and you need to wait for a perfect battlefield orientation. So how do you make it better?
Infernal Pact: By letting them be careened into a group of enemies to get the engine going, of course. Again, better if you Twofolded from or into Infernal, but this is just insane.
Iron Spike of Dis (PHB1)
Effective, but boring. Immobilization (save ends) will wreck some people's days.
Ooze Incarnate (D375)
Hello, automatic Shadow Walk. And hello, controlled multi-target damage that also grants you unparalleled mobility on the battlefield, and even has a little bit of control attached. I'm impressed.
Summons of Khirad (PHB1)
Hey, Melee'locks? You want an enemy near you all day, every day, even if you can't see him through that pesky wall in your way? Is he 10 squares away, but you want him right here, right now? Bring him over... and cook yourself a barbeque for the guy, because he's not getting away from you.
Con / Cha
Brood of Hadar (D366)
Would be unremarkable, if it weren't incredibly accurate. But again, it falls under the same duress as Deathboon: there just isn't that reliable a way to determine exactly how much HP the opponent has, and what you're gonna roll on 3d10+1d8+CON. Also, the secondary attack (assuming you do knock an opponent down) is based, for some stupid reason, on Charisma. Bordering red.
Command Insanity (DSG)
A Dominate (save ends) this early in your career is undeniably strong, and for the more Controllerish of you that don't necessarily care about damage can happily pick this up, especially with a Miss/Aftereffect as strong as this. However... it does no damage. None at all. Remember the role you signed up for, and select accordingly.
Kalak's Burning Sands (DSCS)
The initial effect is actually sort of stupid - it drops prone, but grants itself cover to your allies, neutralizing most of the prone benefit for your melee buddies? This power is worth little without a way to force a failed save. And if it does fail a save... how do you like "removed from play" at the same level Rogues get unconscious?
[sblock=Level 9 Vestige Dailies]
Vestige of Ilmeth (AP)
A permanent punishment effect against any attacks that might come against you from the target is worthwhile enough even for non-Vestige'locks... though it doesn't do anything on a miss.
Pact Boon: Requires planning (and ally close by), but is very workable.
Augment: Vicious Mockery!
Vestige of Shax (AP)
Howl of Doom's Daily brother, with all the benefits of being a guaranteed Intelligence-square push and the detriments of it being a daily.
Pact Boon: Timed right, this is incredibly handy; it's a wide array of effects you can just wave away whenever an enemy cursed by you falls.
Augment: Turn Eyes of the Vestige into a ranged pneumatic jackhammer. You incorporate the great effect of the original power, and pack it into one at-will. Single-target it might be, but wow, that's awesome.
Vestige of the Onyx Queen (D383)
While the damage of this power isn't all that hot, it's a close blast 3 petrify (save ends), which is astounding. Remember that you're getting this at the same level where Rogues are knocking single targets unconscious, and while that's arguably a better effect due to the coup de grace action, mass petrification is a heightened stun in some people's eyes. You even get an aftereffect of immobilized (save ends), which is still great (although the miss effect is a bit regretable). Whether you're a Vestige'lock or not, give this power serious consideration.
Part Six: Paragon Tier Spells - The Rising Sign
Level 13 Encounter Powers
All Must Sacrifice (FRPG)
If you possess a couple of allies on hand that doesn't mind taking a hit to their health (the 1d8 does incorporate your modifiers, as it's not extra damage and is part of the power card), the resulting hit on the opponent can be quite staggering.
Dark Pact: A little bit more oomph on the extra damage is worthwhile, and makes having lots of allies in a Close burst 3 around you actually rather dangerous. However, the dice could still come up short... or sparse.
Bewitching Whispers (PHB1)
At first glance, it looks absolutely glorious: the enemy must attack every one of its allies that moves near it or makes ranged attacks next to it? That's almost too mean an effect to inflict. However, those two situations don't happen enough - enemies don't tend to just coast across the battlefield in other enemies' adjacencies, and ranged enemies tend to stand way behind the Brutes you'd be targeting with this. Still, if the board is set up right, this will annihilate Team Monster.
Fey Pact: And while I would normally bump up the rating, considering how amazingly huge a buff to accuracy on those OAs are, I actually will keep it even. This power does not force the enemy to discriminate between its new enemies and its old enemies, and your allies will lose mobility options the same way as your enemies will.
Blaze of Ulban (D366)
By this point, 2d8 damage is abominable for an encounter power; however, it's saved a little bit by the fact that it's Radiant damage, and you slide an enemy a short distance independant of who you hit. Could work, especially if you incorporate your own forced movement shenanigans into this power somehow.
Star Pact: A penalty to the next saving throw. Well, that's random.
Cursegrind (FRPG)
Cursebite, the level 13 power. However, two new factors have come into play: extra damage equal to your Charisma modifier, an expansion of the amount of freedom you have in Curse distribution, and a bump in damage dice. If you liked Cursebite, replace it with this immediately - this is actually quite solid.
Dark Pact: As before, add your Intelligence modifier to the damage, which by now will allow it to clobber everyone you can see. Brilliant for AOE damage.
Dark Reach of Xevut (AP)
Immediate Reaction, automatic blue. The damage isn't so hot, but it's still damage that comes on outside of your normal turn; plus, it can give another enemy a debilitating effect that your target is already suffering from (remember that it doesn't transfer the effect, but copies it). Awesome toolbox option.
Star Pact: Huge bonus to saving throws, but it's not particularly related to the trigger point of this power, so it comes off as very situational.
Devouring Dark (Essentials: HOS)
AOE cold and necrotic damage that's actually not half bad. Having a zoneful of creatures grant combat advantage is spiffy, too, though it hurts the placement of the power. And again, the rider will not apply to you.
Fleeting Call (D406)
Well that's dumb. It's a close burst 3, but you only target one or two creatures in the burst, and on a hit they're pulled? For the Binder it's built for, it makes some sort of sense, since it also applies invisibility, phasing, and the ability to occupy enemy spaces for the Binder Fey Pact rider, but for you, you're pulling enemies towards you and then just standing there like a schmuck. The damage is... OK, but really, this was not made with you in mind.
Haunting Shadow (Essentials: HOS)
Hey, guess what, Charisma'locks? Now you can have your Harrowstorm and eat it too!... except the slide is neutered and the effect line is negligable and slightly dangerous.
Ice Blades of Levistus (D386)
Oh, now this is just bully tactics. Not only do you immobilize, but you mark the target as well (or mark + slow if you hit with the secondary attack but miss with the primary). Utterly painful... and fun.
Infernal Pact: Of course, the main problem with marks is that you can't punish disobedience. You sure can now. And rest assured that it will disobey if it wants to attack, as it's immobilized and cannot get to you.
Korred's Tune (AP)
Soft control on a lower order than most equivalent 2[W] powers? Really not a fan, even if the psychic damage is a proper damage roll.
Fey Pact: Raising the requirement from 3 squares to 6 squares actually improves it a lot.
Wraith's Shadow (AP)
Charisma'Flaying. To, the, T.
Dark Pact: Why in the nine hells below would you bother to pick this if you would rather immobilize than deal damage? Why not just, you know, take another power that immoblizes, and actually deals damage on top?
Coldfire Vortex (PHB1)
The damage is alright, and it's definitely cool that you can deal Radiant damage. But the splash damage is now a series of extra unfriendly attack rolls against each adjacent creature, which is too risky for you, and has the potential of dealing limited AOE damage.
Star Pact: If you do decide to splash away, your Intelligence modifier will be excellent, so it'll be a perfectly fine option.
Harrowstorm (PHB1)
Mediocre damage, but no matter what pact you follow, this is a generous slide to inflict - and since you're now at Paragon, adding Flitting Shadows to the equation can allow you to send enemies 8-14 squares away once per encounter. Gotta love it.
Infernal Pact: Or maybe 14-20 squares. In any direction. The board is completely yours with this power, even if you have to sacrifice damage to do so.
Killing Flames (AP)
A trigger point that will happen in every battle, a solid smack of damage that happens outside of your turn...
Infernal Pact: ... and you in particular can ignore Fire resistance? Sold.
Maw of Atropus (D403)
Awesome hit... and that's it.
Star Pact: Now that'll ruin any monster's day. Shame you really don't like to target Fortitude all that much...
Skirmisher's Volley (AP)
Hey, I like triple attacks, too. But good lord, is the damage deplorable. Might as well be zero.
Vestige Pact: So you can go from a shift 1... to a shift 4? And 4 isn't a guaranteed distance? Why am I here? Why do you not have Shadow Walk already?
Soul Flaying (PHB1)
Weakened at early Paragon is marvelous. 2d8+CON isn't.
Infernal Pact: Though this will fix it up just a little bit.
Con / Cha
Break the Will (DSCS)
Awful, awful damage. Single-target daze is great, but not as prized anymore.
Sorcerer-King Pact: If you spend your Fell Might here and it hits, however, laugh yourself silly; for now you have an AOE auto-Curse with splash damage attached. The Sorcerer-King Pact, as mentioned before, is a common candidate for Twofold Pact, and this is a prime power to take advantage of it for a lot of other Pacts.
Level 15 Daily Powers
Armor of Summer's Glory (Essentials: HOTFK)
Hey, now this is nice. Becoming a nightlight has a skewed series of uses, but a legitimate Close burst 1 attack is something worth spending a daily on, even if it's just 10 radiant damage, and the defensive boosts are excellent (and you need not spend your Standard Action to activate both this and the Shield).
Curse of the Golden Mist (PHB1)
Fey spells tend to inflict unique static effects that just aren't replicated elsewhere. This is no exception: the target loses the ability to spend its normal standard action until it saves, which is an effect that no enemy can remove innately. All Charisma'locks can use it to its furthest benefit, but Charm optimizers may actually want to steer clear, especially Tieflings - most of what they want to do really would rather their charges have a proper set of actions.
Dark Lady's Gift (FRPG)
Ring of Pain, but improved. The damage is psychic instead of Contagion's poison, as before, and the AOE punishment for failing a save happens on every failed save, not just the first. It's a very low amount of damage (just 5 psychic damage), but the sphere of influence is something to remark.
Dark Pact: That's a lot of damage being spread across a wide swath of the board.
Dark Rain of Mutuz-Vot (AP)
A huge zone that inflicts blindness to everyone that sticks around is nothing short of amazing, but its immobile, contains no autodamage, everyone in the zone gains partial concealment, and it costs your Minor Action to sustain. Maddeningly situational, but you'll know when to drop it... and it will do the job for you splendidly.
Dark Pact: Wow, you can exist in the zone! That's totally not a waste of a rider!
Darkening Fetch (Essentials: HOS)
This power desires that you be something that doesn't quite mesh (a melee or blaster Cha'lock), as it'll lock an enemy adjacent to you and immobilize it. In fact, you may be more attracted by the miss effect, which is a limited pull and a slow (save ends). All told, the effects are solid, and will break enemy ranks like mad, but it's rather hacknayed in its application.
Dream of Mual-Tar (Essentials: HOEC)
Anyone else feel kinda awesome about being able to create a Blast 5, potentially Blast 6, zone of Vulnerability to Lightning and Thunder damage? I know I do, and to see more Lightning hexes for one of my favorite little Paragon Paths is so worthwhile. You now have a feasible set of Dailies for that Path, with Crackling Fire also being quite a standout. But to the nitty-gritty: the zone also has a Sustain Minor, like its other HOEC cousins, in which on a d6, rolling a 6 slows every creature within. Awesome, but... rolling a 1 allows a mass shift. Now, if there are marked enemies next to your Fighter inside that zone and they take that shift, happy things will happen, but otherwise you have a 1-in-6 chance of giving a rather good mobility benefit to your enemies, dropping this power down from colors that it should have been.
Far Realm Glimpse (D366)
This is indeed soft control (it must move to avoid the mean guy's effect), but there's something special about it: the power contributes a further prod into submission with dazed (save ends). The one action the target must take on its next turn has to be a full-speed jaunt, or else it'll eat another dose of damage and the dazed duration refreshes. The original dazed effect does not have to be in play for the soft control to apply, so that's great insurance. It's also very accurate, though does little more than throw confetti and sprinkles on a miss.
Hellfire Soul (D372)
This rating assumes that you know that the target will die next turn. If you do, and you slay the target, you will gain an awesome pet that, provided you can shimmy him out of trouble when necessary, will help add a source of out-of-turn damage for you (better yet, kill an Artillery and gain a turret!). Otherwise, you can basically forget this exists.
Kimmeriel's Smile (FRPG)
Hit with this attack, please. Otherwise the damage will be stupid; and honestly, the effect isn't so hot - permanent dazing that ends as soon as one of their attacks land is pretty good for Brutes, but wretchedly terrible for anything that can use AOE attacks.
Menacing Shadow (Essentials: HOS)
Keep this little guy within your range, and congratulations: you now have a mobile slaughterhouse you command with minor actions. He's a conjuration, so he lacks hitpoints, defenses, or even the ability to be targeted, so he won't randomly disappear. Just be careful: requiring move actions to move him (instead of you), minor actions to allow him to attack, and your Standard Action to use your own attacks mean you won't be able to use Shadow Walk or Warlock's Curse without spending action points to shuffle around your actions. Thank goodness he requires no action to sustain. Regardless, this is exactly what Cha'locks want to ramp up their DPR.
Oubliette of the Void (Essentials: HOS)
A gigantic Charisma-based zone that you can move, and actually provides a solid catch-22 to enemies that exist in the zone (if you're inside, -2 to attacks; if you run away, eat damage) and neither the attack nor the zone can ever harm your allies? And it deals Psychic damage instead of Necrotic damage like so many other HOS powers? Other than losing your precious Minor Action so that you can keep this in check, this is brilliant.
Plague of Frogs (AP)
Speaking of amazing Charisma-based movable zones, here's the original. The damage is low, but the autodamage is a carbon copy of the hit line, which will contribute over time if enemies decide they want to stay put (or, if you desire with your other powers, have to stay put). Shame it harms allies, or otherwise it'd be much more highly rated.
Visage of Zhudun (D366)
A zone that does not require an attack roll to start doing damage is marvelous, and a Sustain Minor that adds more damage and a slow is fantastic. But like so many other Warlock zones, you can't move it, which I suppose would have made this power super-broken otherwise...
Vortex of Fire (Essentials: HOTFK)
And to assauge my wishes, here's a movable zone that slows and deals auto damage. However, the autodamage only applies if they end their turn in the zone, and it's a static 10 fire damage, not a damage roll. I'll take what I can get, though.
Whispers of the Void (Essentials: HOTFK)
Ouch. Not only do you subject it to a save-ends daze, the one action they get is determined by the roll of a d6. Either they do nothing (stunned!), or they either charge the nearest creature, or they attack it with either an MBA or RBA. This can seriously screw up an enemy badly: RBAs will provoke opportunity attacks, and all of those attacks can be against your enemies. Just don't miss. Please?
Blasphemous Utterance (D382)
A far-reaching field of debuffing and a moderately good amount of damage considering the range of the Close burst, but it's not friendly, and none of the effects discriminate. Don't go throwing this Daily around haphazardly...
Infernal Pact: Psychic vulnerability for the Infernal Pact? Did someone screw up here? Ah well, you won't complain too much... if you belong to the Sorcerer-King or Vestige Pacts.
Caution of Dispater (AP)
The damage is... well... anyway, what sells this power so well is the effect. If you're in an enclosed battlefield, with few blocking fields of terrain, the target is going to take a horrifying amount of damage until the allies finish mopping up the other NPCs and declare your target as theirs.
Infernal Pact: And now it won't end even if you throw your hexes at it!
Evil Expulsion (D382)
Now that's more like it in terms of damage. 4d10 damage is very cool (compared to Warlock dailies, anyway), and it's AOE auto-Cursing with a potential recast if needed, which everyone loves.
Infernal Pact: Or you can curse everybody in a 49-square area of the board. Fantastic.
Fireswarm (PHB1)
First Fire+Lightning, now Fire+Poison? How do you justify that in the slightest? Mechanics aside, assuming you have competent accuracy, you basically equip yourself with a rocket launcher that doles out rather decent AOE damage (unfriendly, though) on a set of damage types that I don't think anyone can resist completely. Soon as you miss, though, your rocket launcher (yeah, I know it's a swarm of fiery scorpions, but screw it; flavor is mutable and I say rocket launcher, baby) will fizzle, so be forewarned.
Tendrils of Thuban (PHB1)
AOE immobilization as a daily is quite nice, but isn't notable beyond that fact. However, what it also does is drop a Constitution-based zone that initially does nothing, but then allows you to spend minor actions to sustain the zone and punish creatures inside the zone with CON vs. FORT cold attacks. If ever you feel like your allies are in danger of being subjected to too many attacks, you can just let it run out and instead spend your actions to Curse and blast your foes like normal.
Thirsting Maw (PHB1)
Sweet, sweet, health regeneration. As long as the target is affected by this, any injury that gets inflicted on you will be healed quite nicely by the initial hit, and will be topped out not long afterwards. There's no Control in this power, but it's still very valuable.
Con / Cha
Touch of the Two Moons (DSCS)
Weirdly enough, the ranges of the power are seperated: the initial hit is Melee touch, and the secondary attack contains the Ranged 5 portion... sort of. The attack itself is incredibly cool to imagine, and while the initial dose of damage is quite high, the secondary attack is supreme, allowing every enemy within 5 squares of you to be shoved away equal to their speed and grant Combat Advantage, save-ends. Hard to really know when to apply it, but it's a handy effect no matter the situation.
Level 15 Vestige Dailies
Vestige of Leraje (AP)
Um... no.
Pact Boon: However, automatic cover against everyone that's not right next to you is divine, and will provide a great bolstering to your defenses that stacks with all concealment you'd ever gain.
Augment: Suffice to say this power is fantastic if you're a Vestige'lock and cringe-worthy otherwise. At-will immobilization is very nice, especially when packed into a vs.Will At-Will hex.
Vestige of Solis (AP)
A backhand of a Fire hit with ongoing Thunder damage attached, and then a series of attacks all around that enemy that dazes and deafens (save ends) should the splash hit. Serviceable.
Pact Boon: Mass AOE CA to enemies close by will make several classes go into a wild frenzy, but as I've said several times previous: deafening is not a solid effect.
Augment: An alright punishment that won't really stop the enemy from making attack rolls, though having this be at-will is potent enough.
Vestige of the Unknown Arcanist (D383)
Immediate removal from play (save ends) on a hit makes this a solid power for all Con'locks, just not Vestige'locks. Still, though, the miss effect is worrisome, and the damage is forgettable in either case.
Pact Boon: Unlike most of these Pact Boons, you are not limited to creatures 3 or 5 squares away from you. Being able to pick up any enemy you've Cursed and drop him three squares away (or even more, if you have the right items) is pretty darn awesome.
Augment: Not nearly as cool as Vestige of Leraje, but it'll still waste some enemy's turns if they're stuck farther away than they want to be.
Level 17 Encounter Powers
Claws of the Magpie (AP)
Boring damage, and the effect really needs to be timed perfectly and used against specific monsters. For them, it'll put them down marvelously, but others will be mildly inconvenienced.
Fey Pact: While it definitely fits the flavor text, what use is temp hitpoints to the type of Warlock who wants to stray as far from the action as possible?
Delban's Eye (D366)
Looks suspiciously like Ice Shards of Levistus, except the mark carries no punishment, the target isn't immobilized, and the side benefit is situational at best. It's very strange control that can't always be perfectly applied.
Star Pact: As long as your Defender teammates doesn't mind that your target is marked for the full round (or if he's immediately behind you in the initiative order), if your teammates decide to focus-fire on the target after you apply this, prepare to see damage the likes of which you will never see with any other power you have in your repetroire. That 1d6+CHA does incorporate your modifiers akin to Hellish Rebuke, and instead of relying on you to trigger it and fizzling away after one application, it triggers upon each hit by your allies.
Devouring Death (AP)
Guess what pact loves to deal Necrotic damage? And guess which pact this supports most? Well, it helps the Sorcerer-King pact a bit, I suppose, but...
Dark Pact: It helps this Pact immensely, as Necrotic resistance is completely cancelled on the target, to be exchanged for a hefty Necrotic vulnerability, allowing you to take otherwise mediocre Encounters and Dailies and make them a force to be reckoned with. There are other (and arguably better) ways to mitigate Necrotic resistance, but this isn't exactly a bad option whenever the need arises.
Devouring Tide (Essentials: HOS)
Let's do what the Druid can do... 16 levels later, and as an Encounter power. And also not be able to get the mass-slide that Gloom-Pact Binders can have.
Dire Portents of Malbolge (D386)
Welcome back, Cha'lock Infernal Pact rerolling powers! The damage and effect have both started to lose their luster, unfortunately, so ... whoa, wait a minute. Dazed until the start of its next turn? Seriously? If it goes after you in the initiative order, it literally does not care about this effect. Wow...
Infernal Pact: And of course, only the Infernals are going to care, because the secondary effect it comes with inflicts a mass slide (more like a push) to enemies close by the target.
Greater Void Burst (Essentials: HOS)
Because we needed more bland zones that granted everyone inside total concealment and only meekly encourages enemies to run away. Am I the only person that just doesn't go wild at the thought of heavily obscuring zones?
Song of the Siren (D406)
Just like several of the other D406 powers, absolutely no damage attached. Instead, it subjects the target to a very strange version of Lure of Loyalty: whenever an enemy ends its turn adjacent to you (which is a stupid idea to try to coerce enemies into doing), the target must shift up to its speed and make a melee basic attack against the target as an opportunity action. However, there's a problem: if there is anything that prevents the enemy from wandering to your side and attacking enemies that trigger the condition, this power literally does nothing, and that's not a power that a Striker should be slinging around. The Miss, by the way, is a simple daze until the end of its next turn, which may actually be a much more solid effect than the Hit line. Horribly designed power.
Strand of Fate (PHB1)
Oh yea, look at that sexy damage. Look how it's... overtaken by your At-Wills in four levels. But you don't care about that... no. Hammering a "EVERY ATTACK LANDS HERE" sign on one target can, with the right party, inflict silly amounts of hurt in no time.
Star Pact: And then the Vulnerablity spikes to 17, and the one unlucky sod on Team Monster just melts. Ah, the glory of slaughter.
Thirsting Tendrils (PHB1)
So I heard you like HP. But your Constitution score is still stuck at 14, and you really want some hitpoints! No matter, my friend. You can have some healing in a flavor that you find much more palatable to your more personal side of your soul (both Charisma and spending a healing surge for true hitpoints instead of temps).
Fey Pact: And exactly like Life Force Reclaimed, the rider gives a bit more HP as icing - the same amount as well (double your INT modifier).
Unholy Glee (FRPG)
That secondary hit is a monster, but many enemies will gladly take the ongoing 10 poison - especially as the original hit is absolutely nothing to shout about and a lot of monsters have ways to deal with Poison damage and Poison-keyword powers.
Dark Pact: The rider means nothing.
Your Delectable Pain (FRPG)
This sounds mighty familiar: 4d8+CHA+vulnerabilities. However, vulnerabilities is something that actually tends to "scale" well as monsters level up, so hitting the right monster will service you beautifully. Plus, as before and here, some monsters have problems keeping their features going if you hit their vulnerabilities directly, so it's a very odd form of Control that sometimes works marvelously.
Dark Pact: Same dealio as before.
Despair of Zhudun (AP)
A bit tricky to tell whether 2d8 damage (with full modifiers sans Curse and Constitution modifier) and granting Combat Advantage is enough of a deterrent to standing up, in the face of At-Will level damage.
Star Pact: And this juuuuust pushes it over the edge into becoming a legitimate price to pay. Stacking an attack penalty on top of CA and extra damage will keep your enemy on the floor for one more round.
Life Force Reclaimed (AP)
One little bolt, and bam, you gain a substantial bank of temporary hitpoints equal to your healing surge value, once every encounter should you hit. Every Constitution'lock will find uses for your newfound "armor", so go ahead and enjoy it.
Vestige Pact: And if you belong to this pact, throw MORE temporary hitpoints on top of THAT, this time equal to your healing surge plus twice INT. Hug it tightly, Vestige'locks: you'll want it in 12 levels.
Llymic's Frigid Prison (D403)
This isn't red because of the effect: the effect is pretty good, but is starting to lose its luster in the face of so many enemies that can now teleport. But take a nice, good look at Life Force Reclaimed, and recognize that it's better in every way possible. Single-target Encounter immobilization just isn't good enough to slingshot it over any of the other powers here anymore.
Sea Tyrant's Fury (AP)
Run the battlefield awash with a massive blast that prones and pushes a considerable distance. 2d8 might sound terrible, but for a blast 5, that's actually not all that bad.
Vestige Pact: This rider is kind of misplaced, but can be extremely helpful should you need the quick boost.
Warlock's Bargain (PHB1)
You should not be damaging yourself to deal damage equal to a level 1 daily.
Infernal Pact: Except if you belong here, in which you'll both have the temp hitpoints to afford the hit, and not take much of a dent in them at all. Now that's a bit more like it. Still... it's just short-range damage.
Con / Cha
Obedience's Reward (DSCS)
Lazylock, activate! No, but seriously: you command an ally to tromp over to any enemy he wants to hit with a charge or a melee basic attack, with a huge bonus to his attack rolls (your INT modifier). Should he hit, he deals an extra 2d8 damage (basically an unadjusted Curse). However, if he misses, he takes the highest of your CON or CHA modifiers, and the power comes back, good as new. The Leader/Striker has its moments of glory, and this is one of them.
Sorcerer-King Pact: Now revel in the catastrophe that will result should your Fell Might succeed (which it has a good chance of doing, as it relies on a very accurate attack roll, especially now that MBAs have taken a massive spike in optimizing possibility in 4e). An MBA + 2d8 + Curse, potentially on a Slayer that will have silly amounts of static modifiers, or a Thief that can then add Sneak Attack? There's no Control here... except for sweet, sweet death.
Level 19 Daily Powers
Baleful Eye of Imix (Essentials: HOEC)
A conjuration power with a brutal secondary attack: a Close burst 3 centered on the eye that does great damage and pulls towards itself, helping to apply the primary effect of dealing ongoing 10 Fire damage to creatures that start its turn adjacent to it. The eye also gives a weird little transit benefit of creatures being able to enter its space, take 10 fire damage, then teleport 5 squares. As the other HOEC powers, it has a d6 effect: roll a 1, and you can't use the secondary power. Roll a 6, however, and you deal some decent autodamage to everything within 3 squares of the eye. Park the eye in the back row, stay close by, and watch it annihilate everything. Jumps up considerably in rating if you can apply penalties to hit against your allies and expand the zone (War Wizardry, War Wizard's Expertise, Master of Flame PP).
Dark Side of the Moon (D366)
That's how you name a Warlock power. A shame that, while accurate and hard-hitting, the effect won't be negative enough for many enemies to be bothered with. Don't get me wrong, though: it's got its uses.
Darklands Eclipse (Essentials: HOS)
Does bupkiss on a miss, so don't miss too many enemies. So, what can this do, you ask? How about laying down a 25-square area of carpet for enemies to be carted off to whenever they get damage by an attack? This actually gains effectiveness from having its zone be heavily obscured: it's built to split the battlefield into "haves" and "have-nots", allowing you (and your allies) to jail enemies that you dont' want on the board until they save from the cold and necrotic damage. Tricky to really get the hang of, and requires a Minor Action to sustain the zone (which, after everyone's saved, no one is going to care about anymore, unless you decide to banish them there by other means), but can be exploited well.
Delusions of Loyalty (PHB1)
A Reliable quasi-Dominate that will fully and completely annihilate the target's Standard actions, possibly provoke opportunity attacks when it charges (or makes Ranged attacks - it can make any basic attack, not just MBAs), and is against Will. This is way too fun to even consider rating it any other color. Debuff its saving throws for added hilarity.
Dread Briars (D375)
Single-target immobilization (save ends) as a daily, and all damage is Necrotic. I say nay.
Fey Pact: What are you doing picking this power? Look at the pretty little gold one above this entry.
Explosive Contagion (FRPG)
Every orifice, huh? Not my words. Anyway, the start-up damage is a bit muted (and the entire power contains the Poison keyword), but it's a power that can have Curse dice applied to it, with a DOT that properly spreads as well. Still, though, I'm not going to yell down the street about this power.
Force of Nature (AP)
I'm not even winded!
An absolute pounding (*bonk*), compounded with a prone and huge push (Scattergun knockback?) make for one heck of a daily to pull out of your back pocket. Also, this is way too open to TF2 references, so the flavor is off the charts. Should probably be Black, but seriously, the fun factor is too huge to ignore.
Maelstrom of Despair (AP)
A... weird effect. If your party doesn't tend to inflict a lot of save-ends effects, see how incredibly high I rated Hellfire Eruption. If they do...
Dark Pact: ... first of all, you can punish them severely for every single one they roll, equal to about 12 or 14 psychic damage by this point.
Fey Pact: Alternatively, you can... gain a small bonus to saving throws when you sustain the effect as a minor action. What a letdown.
Memory of Blades (Essentials: HOTFK)
More shield-typed defensive boosts, this time to AC and Reflex. You also gain an at-will IR that pushes everyone in a blast 3 two squares should someone within three squares of you hit you. Can work to a degree of competency, though you may want to honestly grab the other Charisma'lock powers here that have better effects attached.
Nightshade Cloud (Essentials: HOTFK)
Fear and Poison keywords on one card is not a good sign from the start. However, completely nullifying shifts right from the get-go and the possiblity of applying dazes and slides is worth considering. The one thing that sets this power back is that it's a Close blast instead of a Burst, of which would make a lot more sense.
Passionate Betrayal (FRPG)
Dominated (save ends). And if there are at least five of his allies that're unbloodied in the encounter and he has no bonus to saving throws, he's a pet for you to keep for a good long while. Don't miss, whatever you do.
Dark Pact: Because your pet certainly won't. Goodness...
Rain of Lead (Essentials: HOTFK)
Close blast Restrained is marvelous (as it carries substantial advantages over straight Immobilization), but with many character's abilities to not suck at damage at nineteenth level, that's gonna go away soon. I just hope you aim in such a fashion that a 25-square field of difficult terrain doesn't mess y'all up too much...
Shadow Mire (Essentials: HOS)
Guaranteed slowed (save ends) would normally be hilariously stupid, but here it's actually fantastic, as the burst size is roomy enough for two-square movement to work marvelously. The burst basically creates a prison in which monsters must roll a 10 on a d20 to escape. Unfortunately, this would be the perfect time and place to put a cloud of obfuscation down... but it doesn't exist here, and the punishment for staying inside (10 necrotic damage) is woebegone.
Star of Death's Omen (Essentials: HOS)
Decent hit, long range, and dazed (save ends), plus Reliability (with a bonus). Boring, but it works.
Wrath of Acamar (PHB1)
As glorious as removed from play is... just look at what your alternatives are.
Hellfire Eruption (D382)
Ongoing damage is not control. --WEContact
Infernal Pact: Penalties to attack rolls sort of are. Kinda. --DDS
Malicious Guide Star (D403)
The D403 powers have been, thus far, either mediocre or pretty good. This one is just sick: you implant a guaranteed, sustainable Aura 1 that allows the target and every enemy inside it to grant Combat Advantage. Even better, anyone in that same aura is subject to a 5-square teleport whenever you feel you don't want to spend your Move Action on refreshing Shadow Walk. If you teleport the target, remember that the Aura does move, so keep that in mind. Oh, and it's Radiant damage. You're welcome.
Void Star (AP)
On the wrong enemies, or on a miss... probably not, no. But on enemies that regenerate or have other methods of gaining hitpionts? Especially if it's outside their control, this rocks the caspah.
Con / Cha
Minions of Malbolge (PHB1)
After an initial injection of temp hitpoints, you can basically shove everyone with incredibly good autodamage who even dares to step in your personal bubble once per round. The effect ends when you have no temp hitpoints remaining - this does mean that your amount of temp hitpoints has to hit zero before this effect can end. The 25 starter temps can run out, and the effect will still be in play if you still have temps left over. This costs your Standard Action to get going, and none of the damage you inflict here will carry Curses, but that's fine - if you need this power, you need it.
Voice of the Dictator (DSCS)
Dominated (save ends), plus a siphoning effect on each failed saving throw. Incredibly cool. Constitution'locks gravitate here for their prized daily, as it is here where they gain their Domination.
Level 19 Vestige Dailies
Vestige of Amaan (AP)
You want Vulnerability, you got it: save-ends Vulnerable 10 all. Well, provided you hit, anyway. Otherwise you get Cracker Jacks. And immobilization (save ends) in either case.
Pact Boon: Someone died? Great! *yoink*
Augment: Literally everything on the board is a plaything to you. You have utter control of the field now, and by golly will you love it.
Vestige of Kronata (D383)
2d10+CON and ongoing 10 fire damage. On a level 19 daily. Ahahaha.
Pact Boon: Much better. Now we add a decent Boon to a lullaby of an effect. Autodamage to any two Cursed enemies of your choice, of which you can then push away a short distance.
Augment: It's diced damage, but situational. Yea, I get that. Here's the thing - that "moves closer to you" does not have to be by his own volition. Just think about that for a little bit. Especially those of you that took the Hexer Paragon Path.
Vestige of the Burned Emperors (AP)
Didn't we go through this at level 1 with Khaeleth? At least the enemy has to be surrounded this time instead of you...
Pact Boon: While I did mention back in Level 1 that ally repositioning isn't something you're remotely interested in, having this much freedom to relocate an ally is worth something.
Augment: ... unlike this weaksauce augment.
Part Seven: Epic Tier Spells - How the Story Ends
Level 23 Encounter Powers
Blades of Vanquished Armies (FRPG)
Despicable damage, but mass Weakened and a necrotic shield does have its high points. Unlike Otherwind Stride, however, there is no teleport associated with this power, so it boils down to a true panic button, unlike the former.
Dark Pact: This is kind of weird. You gain a bonus to damage on ranged attacks, but the associated power is a close burst 1 that doesn't move you to a safer point on the board. Weakened they may be, to use your newfound boost effectively you may not want to be in Close burst 1 range of anything.
Dark Transport (PHB1)
Simple attack that cranks them over the head for decent damage, and then allows you to swap places with the target. There are several little tricks you can pull with this hex, especially against Artillery - move in to a place where you're surrounded by your own allies, hit him, and drag him over.
Star Pact: And if the original location wasn't a prime spot for you, now you have a huge radius of options as to where to go. Very neat.
Dreadtheft (FRPG)
There is one major thing that rates this above Deathboon: double targets. If you recognize that there's a minion on the board, and you want a heightened semi-At Will power while knocking minions to the floor, use this power: it will count minion deaths as dropping a target to 0 hitpoints or fewer, refreshing the use - and meanwhile you can roll Curse dice against the guy you actually wanted to damage. Unexpectedly good.
Dark Pact: Enemies do tend to resist the types of damage they dole out, so this has its uses.
Inner Void (Essentials: HOS)
Single-target prone with a rider that doesn't exist. And it's necrotic. Mediocre for Binders, garbage for you.
Maddening Whispers (AP)
An average hit that immobilizes and grants CA. While this would be a meek effect, what gives it a bit of life is the delayed slide. You have potentially several turns to wait for the battlefield to rearrange itself, and precisely on the target's turn is when you want to control where he begins. A pity it's only 2 squares.
Star Pact: Or you could, you know, extend that by about 6-8 squares and completely ruin their day by flinging them wherever you goddamn please.
Swarm of Fangs (AP)
Single target prone with a rider that does exist. Whatever.
Fey Pact: And now we have an actual effect... on the completely wrong pact. It's very flavorful, I'll agree, but Fey Pacters tend to not want to deal AOE damage when they sling their hexes - they'd rather screw up the enemy's attention spans. Still, it's a big friendly AOE that only requires one attack roll.
Thorns of Venom (PHB1)
Poison keyword. Immobilization and a minor penalty to AC and Reflex will probably help your melee allies, and you... sort of.
Fey Pact: Once more, taking a mediocre effect and turning it into sweet, nectary goodness in what's basically stripping away every bit of armor from the target. By the way... now that you have him debuffed so massively, come 27th level, take a little peek at the Sorcerer-King hex for this level and see what you can make of it, 'ey?
Umbral Radiance (Essentials: HOS)
The difference between the Warlock version of this and the Binder version of this is mind-numbing. Single-target blind is definitely pretty darn nice, but look at what the Binders get out of it.
Unwilling Betrayal (D406)
Once more for D406, no damage. When an enemy next to you attacks you, you dominate it until the end of its next turn, and if an enemy was adjacent to you, the triggering attack hits him instead. It's undoubtedly an improvement over its little brother Touch of Command, but this is the time where you weigh the decision of whether to keep the former power, whether to take this in its place, or disregard both and take another power from a list of rather strong Encounter powers. The two powers are very, very similar in strength, with only the situational secondary effect as the difference between this and a power 16 levels its junior.
Web of Lies (D386)
The target is now in jail. Literally. For one turn, you can completely trap an enemy in his little 3x3 cage, and the poor guy has no method of travel elsewhere, as he cannot leave the zone at all. Being able to recast with this power is just sickening.
Infernal Pact: The punishment for him not attacking his roommates is admittedly slight (not to mention the fact that other enemies disregard the zone entirely), and you don't get this demand should you use the Miss recast and hit with that, but it could potentially prod an enemy who's Vulnerable to psychic to start raking other enemies.
Arrow of Arcane Light (AP)
While the attack roll portion of the power looks quite nice, by this point you'll either be wielding an implement that grants you an unnatural crit range (Jagged Dagger or Melegaunt's Darkblade Dagger via a feat, or Rod of the Star Spawn otherwise) or a feat that does the same thing. In that case, all the power has going for it is a moderate-damage Radiant hit, and that's not all that fascinating.
Vestige Pact: Adding an actual effect does help it a lot, but unfortunately one of your best Vestiges already does this, and by now you should have taken Vestige Mastery and claimed Vestige of Amaan as one of your primary Vestiges. This entire power unfortunately fails due to it being obsolete.
Awaken the Dragon (AP)
Oh hell yea, this is much better. Mass Vulnerability is something several of your party members (Wizards and Sorcerers mostly, whom by now have some monstrously big spells to cast) will adore.
Vestige Pact: A little padding never hurt anyone.
Pandorym's Prism (D403)
NPC basic attacks never go out of style, but that's pretty much all it does. It does do Radiant damage, though, and that's somewhat notable.
Star Pact: Will? What Will score? What kind of a Will score will he have once you collapse it by such a degree? You Intimi'locks out there should be licking your lips at this...
Spiteful Darts (PHB1)
A close blast 5 pusher power is almost a bit too wild, since you need to orient the square in such a way where you get a nice big crowd of enemies to push along. Three squares is nice, but not spectacular.
Infernal Pact: How about ten squares?
Starless Void (D366)
Wouldn't a void already be starless?
Anyway: grants CA to all your allies. Hooray. Not like a commonly poached at-will did this or anything (Hand of Blight...)
Star Pact: And once again, the Star Pact comes marching down to turn a lame effect into a potential for a chaotic frenzy. Choose your weapon of choice, you cosmic mages: you want to debuff Will by a huge margin to browbeat someone into surrendering (or just make you stupidly accurate)? Or do you want to debuff AC... and then potentially look in the CON/CHA box below and find a horrendously broken combo to spend an action point on?
Con / Cha
Command of Execution (DSCS)
By now you should be well aware just how utterly broken charges and melee basic attacks have become in light of Essentials, and to grant two charges on a whim to anyone in Close burst 5 of the poor guy is quite spectacular.
Sorcerer-King Pact: Hope you have your dice bag ready, because if you spend your Fell Might and you hit, those charges are going to become murderous. The fact that you can double your Curse damage on top of charge attacks is reason enough to put this at a high echelon. This is how you Lead'strike, gents. Downgrade it as needed depending on your party's assortment of MBAs.
Level 25 Daily Powers
Curse of the Twin Princes (PHB1)
This is a beautiful effect that, as long as you hit, will add a completely new source of damage to the target in the form of funneling damage you take on successful Charisma vs. Will attacks. Charisma-based Infernal'locks should pay close attention to this, because this is either going to punish the target severely while barely doing anything to you, or it'll completely shun enemy attacks for the rest of the encounter. However: DO NOT STAND ADJACENT TO THE TARGET. The effect in play whenever you are adjacent to the target of this attack will dissuade all attacks, not just your enemies', and PC attacks tend to butcher whatever they hit.
Instruction in Darkness (AP)
Last I checked, removing a creature completely from the board and a future mass friendly blind (save ends) tended to be nice. This is no exception.
Invisible Death (FRPG)
This could potentially be the most boring hex in the Warlock's repertoire. The flavor text is horribly bland, the name is generic, the effect is also a bit muted (if it was granting CA, it takes a moderate amount of ongoing Force damage)... considering how utterly amazing the other Cha'lock spells are at this level, this is a huge letdown.
Dark Pact: A little bit more bite on the ongoing, but really, why are you picking this power?
Ring of Torment (FRPG)
Sharing is caring; it can be fun. Especially when you share ongoing Psychic damage with all of your friends. And what's best about it is that the amount of targets you can spread the ongoing damage to widens tremendously, going from a Close burst 5 around the original victim to a Close burst 20 around you. I'm still not sold on this as a DPR power, but this is the best of the bunch when it comes to the Contagion line of hexes.
Dark Pact: By now, you are at MENSA-level Intelligence, which will put muscle into those ongoing damages. For the original power and the Pact rider, upgrade by a color grade if you use the Rod of Ulban.
The Prince's Horde (AP)
Hit or miss, the target gains a sphere of autodamage, and all of your allies gain a great little boost to defenses. However, keep in mind that the autodamage incorporates all of your modifiers, and by this point, if the monster is aware of how the autodamage functions, he will wade into melee range and start slicing up your own allies. Be extremely careful how you apply this power, because as good as it is in its first rounds, it can quickly turn into a nightmare.
Infernal Chains (AP)
The miss effect is unapologetically lame, but on a Hit, you've got a soccer ball you can kick around at-will until he escapes. Unlike Star Shackles all the way back at level 1, it has the freedom of using either of its checks to target your Fortitude or Reflex. However, both stats as a CON/INT character will not be weak, especially now that you have access to untyped bonuses from Epic Tier feats. Give this a look.
Tartarean Tomb (PHB1)
Your Charisma-based cousins have a much superior version of this power in Instruction in Darkness, but removal from play is still a strong effect. However, the monster token specifically still exists on the board, which can be a major hindrance. It's a great punch in the gut for a damage roll, though.
Thirteen Baleful Stars (PHB1)
Fire and psychic damage (another weird Fire double-type?), and stunned on a hit, dazed on a miss. Stunned that can't be saved against (except by rare innate abilities) is just strong enough for an Encounter power, and the 5d10 damage dice encapsulate it perfectly and make it a great daily power. Unfortunately, every Warlock (Con' or Cha'lock) has a brilliant alternative in Word of the Sorcerer-King at this level, and thus if you don't mind working slightly in the front lines, this power becomes redundant.
Gibbeth's Embrace (D366)
Take Force of Nature.
Con / Cha
Word of the Sorcerer-King (DSCS)
Must be one hell of a word. Close blast 5 stunned (save ends), with dazed on a miss, coupled with rather spiffy damage on a friendly power. Positioning is no problem, damage is just fine, and the status effects you inflict on everyone is a sight to behold. Tieflings with Royal Command of Asmodeus can transform this into a close blast Dominate, an effect your Invoker cousins get 4 levels later.
Level 25 Vestige Dailies
Vestige of Land's Soul (AP)
Slowed (save ends) on a daily halfway through Epic Tier? Wow, that's stupid. But Regeneration 10 while the target is slowed is a fine consolation prize. Still, as a non-Vestige'lock, this isn't worth the daily slot.
Pact Boon: Massive health drain in a large radius. If you plant yourself correctly and knock someone down with minions everywhere around you, they're gone. Plus, you'll love the health you get. I guarantee it.
Augment: There's a special little item you can obtain called the Gloves of Eldritch Admixture that can allow your Curse to deal fire, cold, or acid damage. This Augment basically adds 5+INT modifier to Eyes of the Vestige when you chain it on each of your turns... and adding massive amounts of damage to any power your allies do that aligns with the Vulnerability you inflict. At-Will Vulnerability infliction opens itself up to a maelstrom of wrongness, and for that reason, this is a major candidate for Vestige Mastery.
Vestige of the Queen of Namhar (AP)
Delayed weakening (save ends) is kind of a weird effect, and the rest of the power is lame otherwise. It is psychic damage, however, and it's at Epic Tier where Psychic damage completely changes into a dominating damage type for Warlocks (Rod of Ulban, anyone?)
Pact Boon: Ouch. Just ouch. Dazed (save ends) as a boon!? That's going to frustrate your DM something fierce.
Augment: At-will weakening. There is no more that needs to be said.
Vestige of Vykolad (D383)
The damage is horrible and untyped, but immediate weakened (save ends) and the ability to spend a healing surge is credible.
Pact Boon: OK, at this point you should be well aware just how solid an option these three dailies are. Vestige'locks are very well off here, no matter which of these three they take, and they should seriously consider taking a second one from this list at 29th level. As for this power, insubstantiality as a Pact Boon is a defensive boost you will love.
Augment: A crushing downgrade that'll approach a -20 penalty to damage rolls. AT WILL. This will neuter solos like mad, and is worth the price of a daily slot.
Level 27 Encounter Powers
Curse of the Fey King (PHB1)
This has the potential to be incredibly amazing (steal a natural 20 from the Big Bad Evil Mofo, and not only do you prevent a huge amount of damage, but you get an auto-crit on your next turn), or incredibly lame (they roll low, they miss anyway; and your new, useless d20 fizzles into nothing). You can't really plan for this, since it's the first d20 they roll, not any d20 they roll on that next turn. Ah well.
Fey Pact: Now you have much more freedom as to what your d20 will become, since you gain a bonus to attack rolls (or saving throws, or a skill check, etc.) equal to your Intelligence modifier.
Envoy of Nihal (D366)
If the target takes damage from an attack that deals damage(?), you can spend a healing surge. Charisma-based Infernal'locks will love it, especially if they can fix Constitution being tied to healing surges. Otherwise, not so much.
Star Pact: Fantastic padding on top of the healing will allow your Leader to catch a breather.
Hellfire Fury (D386)
A solid hit (for an Encounter power), which if you miss will turn you into an uncontrollable laser gun until you hit with it - and if you miss enough creatures, you will love the insipidly high number on your bonus to damage rolls. Just do me one favor, alright? Don't use this against a solo.
Infernal Pact: Whoever you finally hit with the power will be reeling from the pain... and won't be able to prepare for whatever you crack over his head next turn. Awesome.
Hungry Void (Essentials: HOS)
It's a giant field of proning that... oh wait, Star Pact (Binder). It's decent damage for an encounter Burst 2, but prone and nothing else will still allow options for melee NPCs (if they're within charge range) and ranged characters (who'll just stand up and launch attacks like normal). Still, worthwhile for a giant Encounter AOE... though the Sorcerer and Wizard in your party are silently laughing behind your back.
Inevitable Undercut (FRPG)
Oh, just don't, please? This is two casts of your at-will power with one instance of your Curse. Accurate or not, Psychic or not, just don't even bother. The damage is stupid.
Dark Pact: Alright, fine, super-duper-accurate.
Soul of the Treant (AP)
About equal to 2[W] damage at this point, but it's a friendly AOE that only requires one attack roll, works immediately, and knocks everyone around the target flying. This will take an enemy formation and ruin it instantly.
Fey Pact: Knocking the original target prone is a decent side benefit, but not particularly amazing.
Supplication of the Worms (D406)
Friendly close burst 3 that pulls everything that you hit 2 squares and knocks them prone. Are you insane? This is anti-EVERYTHING you want to do - if a set of enemies surround you and they're pulled by this power, it creates blocking terrain for you if you can't fly... and then next turn, they stand up and whallop you into their own version of diplomacy. This, like pretty much all of the other D406 powers, were not made for you.
Umbral Swap (Essentials: HOS)
At-Will height of cold and necrotic damage, and removal from play. Charisma'locks get to play with the sloppy seconds that Con'locks get, and while it's still great Control, it basically amounts to a Charisma version of Shattering of the Sword without the option to butcher the crap out of your enemy before your turn rolls around again.
Banish to the Void (PHB1)
And in a weird little exchange of roles, we give the best Removed From Play encounter powers... to Con'locks. In this case, the target is removed from play, throws out an automatic MBA against the nearest creature when it comes back next turn, and everyone is an enemy in terms of OA triggering. Literally the only thing that sucks about this power is the low damage, but this is a power that Cha'locks would die to have - and it's all yours, Con'locks. Enjoy. (Though Star Pactees may want to look below this very hex...)
Grasp of Ragnorra (D403)
If you're not a Star Pact, look up there. Yea, right there. That's your hex, son. Don't even bother with this hex. It's a fantastic effect, but completely unnecessary on the list.
Star Pact: On the other hand, you have an 8000-square field of influence as to where the enemy ends up (it can roll a saving throw to avoid this, but you can send him 20 squares up and add about 10d10 damage to this power, which combined is the highest amount of damage on one power in the game), and that's something that Banish to the Void just cannot do.
Hellfire Curse (PHB1)
A harrowing shredder of a power, but that is it.
Infernal Pact: And your smarts will add enough of a punch to make it truly terrifying, even without any Control whatsoever.
Manipulating Thunderbolt (AP)
The one-square slide is not enough at high Epic Tier, as everyone and their grandma has Reach now.
Infernal Pact: Shunting them 7-8 squares away, however, is competent Control.
Shattering of the Sword (AP)
At-Will level damage, which is kind of lame, but stunned with no questions asked is always solid. Be careful though that your current Vestige wouldn't provide you with a better benefit than stunned...
Vestige Pact: ... since this is the Pact that the rider belongs to. Extra damage on a 2d10 power you can use once per encounter is negligable.
Zutwa's Incandescence (AP)
Even for an AOE, the damage is a bucket of fail, but really, how can you say no to an Encounter friendly AOE blind? How can you even dare?
Vestige Pact: Also a minor debuff to saving throws, which needs a bit of preparation to get the full advantage of.
Con / Cha
Price of Defiance (DSCS)
The effect is really nice, but honestly, it's an effect better replicated by Command of Execution. The bonus is in the wrong place (damage roll instead of attack roll), quite frankly.
Sorcerer-King Pact: That is, unless you spend your Fell Might and hit; pinballing enemies off your allies can be incredibly fun, and adding allies to the damage is something you want to do as a Lead'striker such as yourself.
Level 29 Daily Powers
Armor of the Void (Essentials: HOTFK)
You gain a fantastic bonus to one defense, and you grow a shield against a specific type of attack which does negligable Cold damage but lets you teleport them as a free action. Having it be a free action and not having it take up your Immediate Action to do so is incredibly cool. You'll basically be able to wade much closer without too much of a threat of being bum-rushed, and if you want to end the effect, there's a very handy friendly AOE teleport power you can drop. Not splendid, but incredibly solid. And just like all the other Hexblade shield powers, it activates on a minor action, which is quite good.
Arrangement of Disorder (AP)
As soon as you declare the use of this attack, you gain the use of an 11x11 chessboard, of which you have complete freedom to move all your allies and all enemies you hit with this daily. The damage is meh, but the utility of this power is brilliant.
Caiphon's Abominable Melody (D366)
Accurate is one point on this power, decent damage is another point, but then you have this: deafened (save ends), blinded (save ends), and slowed (save ends), all requiring seperate saves, and incorporating a slide every time the target starts his turn until he's completely cured is brutality personified. This is a hex that was written to sunder one target and surrender him to the laughing sounds of clinking d20s. And speaking of d20s: you make saving throws (sort of) against damage, and on a success, damage is completely nullified against you. My God.
Two problems, however: If you miss, you get nothing at all. Secondly, your allies will start feeling the effects of this hex, dealing to them 1d10 psychic damage that incorporates all your modifiers. Be utterly careful when and how you use this, because while the tune is beautiful, the chords are disparaging.
One more note: deafened + blinded means rolling Stealth checks to hide pretty much is an auto-success, so have fun.
Curse of the Dark Delirium (PHB1)
Sustainable quasi-Domination that isn't a Dominate and that grants a full set of actions. Let me repeat that: sustainable Domination in totality. As long as you can chain this power, enjoy your new puppy. Shame missing drops down the use about tenfold.
Draining Void (Essentials: HOS)
Even the Binder has something to contribute to the already fantastic list of Cha'lock level 29 Hexes. An apocalyptic amount of AOE cold and necrotic damage (8d6 Burst 2 is tremendous, even if dice doesn't seem to matter at Epic) that then does the very thing that these Shadow zones should have done in the first place: creatures inside the zone cannot attack any creature outside of the zone. Cannot. Movable and sustainable is incredible as well: drop this when everyone is cursed and move your Cardboard Box of Doom(R) around. Shame leaving the zone carries no punishment at all, but it does give a 5x5 area of the board where you can basically say "no creatures allowed", which is great for certain strategies.
Drawn to Darkness (Essentials: HOS)
Mass friendly removed from play (save ends), aftereffect dazed until SONT. The miss will do nothing worthwhile, but to be able to wade into a formation, raise your Rod, and make everyone around you just vanish for at least one round is something that cannot be rated low by any stretch of the imagination.
Eyes of the Victim (AP)
Bland necrotic damage, but a contagion that blinds (save ends) and spreads the contagion itself to all adjacent enemies is an utterly fantastic capstone to the Contagion line of powers. Worth serious consideration.
Fury of Ogrémoch (Essentials: HOEC)
First things first: no-hit-required friendly mass immobilization. So let's get that awesomeness out of the way first. Then, a pair of circumstances: either the targets fail their saves and escalate from immobilize to restrained to petrified, or they (eventually) save, in which they EXPLODE off-turn and allows an AOE attack that does respectable damage. Best to set this up with multiple enemies in the back row (perhaps in a field of minions?) so that your allies are spared the explosion, but this has some incredible potential.
One Final Sacrifice (FRPG)
Unrateable, as it's impossible to determine whether the bonus damage you get incorporates your modifiers, and how much of it (not at all, once, or multiplied). Ask your DM.
Soul Cutter (Essentials: HOTFK)
The Pact Blade is not a Pact Weapon, and you do not possess Pact Weapons - your Hexblade sister class does, and only them. It's brilliant for them, though.
Spread the Corrosion (FRPG)
Shifting 5 squares is not "darting around the battlefield", and while that's a nice amount of damage you do to up to three creatures, that's still all it does. There are very specific boosts you can apply to this power, since it possesses a range you only share with Eldritch Strike and Sorcerer-King Pact powers - if you're interested in optimizing that, take a look.
Dark Pact: Pray tell me how you're going to find eight enemies linked up getting all buddy-buddy with each other in such an enclosed space?
Doom of Delban (PHB1)
If you miss... sorry. If you don't, at the price of 2d10+modifiers, you can continuously subject the board to an ever growing onslaught of cold damage. And as an Infernal'lock (the pact this power is built for) you will hopefully have reserves of temp hitpoints to drain to keep this power running. This could amount to silly amounts of damage over time, but don't get too greedy... or miss.
Forbiddance of the Ninth (AP)
A very unique power for the Warlock: you command a continuing, movable stream of fire that incinerates anyone that even dares to approach you. Everything you do with this power incorporates your modifiers, and as long as you stay away from your allies and set yourself up next to a crowd of enemies, everything around you will burn to ashes. Pick up that flamethrower and hold on tight.
Hurl Through Hell (PHB1)
A very proper upgrade to all the sequestering Encounter powers you got at level 27: for four turns, he's gone. Just gone. And when he finally comes back, he's knocked to the floor and stunned (save ends). Missing with this power will have you deal pitiful damage, however, so wait for the right moment before firing this sucker.
Con / Cha
Dregoth's Ashen Curse (DSCS)
I could sit here and repeat how ongoing damage is not control. I could also be wasting my time typing out why slowed no longer matters anymore. I could also be describing why weakening as an aftereffect with no obvious punishment otherwise is not worth it, and a Miss effect that's just insulting, all compounds into a hex that's not worth the paper its written on.
But I won't. Even though I did. Do not take this power. This is a wretched lump of fail, with the only thing that could possibly ever make this any more than nonexistant being delayed weakening.
Shadow Legion (Essentials: HOS)
Put here because there is absolutely no ability score dependancy. Every single enemy in a 7x7 zone is subject to a buffed version of its own melee basic attack. It's very easy to place, as your allies will be completely fine with having this placed above them; but unfortunately, it doesn't count the enemies as attacking themselves, so Defender punishment will not trigger. It's an obtuse way to drop a (very accurate) AOE, but the damage types inflicted may be a damage type that the enemy resists. Still, the radius of the AOE alone makes it great.
Level 29 Vestige Dailies
Vestige of the Earthen Maker (D383)
Pact Boon: Let's turn a daily that does slightly more damage than powers you took twenty-eight levels ago into a daily that's worth taking, with a very cool Pact Boon that actually really wants you to trigger this more than once in a turn.
Augment: Pushed, knocked prone, and most importantly, can't fly. Remember what level you're at.
Vestige of the Master of the Hidden Flame (AP)
Are you kidding?!
Pact Boon: EVERYTHING ...
Augment: ... BURNS!!! (Much more valuable if you multiclass into Wizard, or are a Tiefling.)
Vestige of Zuriel (AP)
It's no secret to the fact that these powers are not meant to be taken by non-Vestige'locks.
Pact Boon: And apparently, neither are you. This benefit is horribly lame.
Augment: Completely redundant in the face of Vestige of the Earthen Maker, and results in the worst Vestige Daily in the entire game... and could possibly be the worst Warlock power ever described here.
Part Eight: Utility Powers - Soul Kitchen
I won't be going into Skill Powers here - I'll keep mainly to the class powers. There are some that're amazing (Deliverance of Faith, level 6 Encounter from the Religion skill, is extremely good), but otherwise there are way too many to list and sort through.
Level 2 Utilities
Shadow Blend (Essentials: HOS)
This is surprisingly much more useful than you'd imagine: if ever there's a square of dim light or darkness nearby, produced by any means, you can stand perfectly still and gain an at-will bonus to defenses that you would normally have to get by keeping mobile. This does not count as getting your Shadow Walk effect, which does matter for some feats and powers, but at level 2 it's something to keep a close eye on.
Beguiling Tongue (PHB1)
Social utility. But goodness gracious is it marvelous: you basically gain the Shaman's Speak with Spirits class feature on three skills that Cha'locks will adore. However, Con'locks will be looking elsewhere - there are better alternatives to band-aiding your skill checks.
Caiphon's Leap (AP) Charisma
The damage reduction scales rather meekly, but the teleport is enough at its base and incredibly buffable. These kinds of utilities are very valuable to Cha'locks - worth consideration.
Devil's Trade (AP)
This really does depend on how prone you are to getting smacked with (save ends) effects. There are some better routes to follow to give you better results on your saving throws, but an auto-success with a meaningless punishment is excellent.
Ethereal Stride (PHB1)
Basically an "I NEED SHADOW WALK NOW" power, with a further boosting to your defenses. Not bad.
Fey Bargain (AP)
Not entirely sure what they thought when they designed the trade-offs for these powers. It's a bonus and a penalty that you control the timing of, and if you're not going to tank or get inflicted with debilitating effects anytime soon, enjoy the awesomeness of improved accuracy once per encounter.
Ruinous Phrase (D382)
How much HP does a one-square wooden door have?
Infernal Pact: And do you really, honestly need a 5-point boost in the threshold of destruction?
Shadow Veil (PHB1)
Hey, Rogue, mind doing this instead of having the guy with deplorable Dexterity and no ability to train in Stealth outright do it? So much better if you're actually going to bother having a Stealth score that's not zero.
Spectral Fade (Essentials: HOS)
Very important note: invisible does not make you hidden. If you move and do not make Stealth checks, enemies still know your exact location. However, you still gain a monumental bonus to defenses against OAs and future attacks, and that's at least worth an Encounter slot.
Spider Scuttle (Essentials: HOS)
Climb speed comes up very rarely in 4e, honestly, and just for one turn is not worth it. Also: crawling? Just stand up and move, lazy bones.
Wrathful Aspect (Essentials: HOTFK)
A third of Beguiling Tongue with a minor shield. Unexceptional.
Assassin's Bane (DSCS)
A giant zone of mobility and defensive denial, preventing enemies that're within 3 squares of you from shifting, teleporting, or gaining any of the benefits of invisibility or concealment. Incredibly annoying for certain enemies, and a fantastic candidate for your level 2 utility. Yes, it's a Daily, but once per day, you will rule the ground you stand on.
Charm of Hearts (D382)
If you're not being overly daredevilish, the first benefit will matter little, but +2 power bonus to all defenses that isn't a Stance is great. However, it requires your Minor Action to sustain, and Warlocks tend to hold on to all of their actions tightly (Minor: Curse; Move: Shadow Walk; Standard: blast away).
Eyes of the Spider Queen (AP)
Buy some sunrods - they're pocket change to purchase. The side benefit is too rare to plan for.
Fevered Certainty of Caiphon (D366)
I want to see the skill check that would make a reduced Will more dangerous. If you need a humongous boost to your non-CHA skills, add this to your toolbox, but if you only think you'll need it for Bluff/Intimidate/Diplomacy, Beguiling Tongue's right up there. And that's an Encounter power.
Fiendish Resilience (PHB1)
There are some strategies that want you to start stockpiling temp hitpoints, and this is a decent start to prepare for powers like Doom of Delban and the like. If you anticipate siphoning your own hitpoints for personal gain, here's a place to turn.
Shade Twin (Essentials: HOS)
If it wasn't a Sustain Minor, this would be broken as all get-out. As long as you keep rolling poorly on your d20s, you can mimic the target, go up and hug him, and either enemies will consider you as not existing, or they'll inadvertedly pummel the other target - and a key difference from Curse of the Twin Princes is that the effect is not mirrored if your own twin is attacked. The Bluff bonus is meaningless here, and not what this power is for.
Stony Roots (Essentials: HOEC)
You ignore forced movement and can make saving throws against being knocked prone. Situationally useful.
Level 6 Utilities
Astral Eyes (Essentials: HOTFK)
Six-second darkvision is rather pointless, and a minor bonus to two skills you'll be lame at is not worth shoving a utility like this in such a valuable slot.
Fate's Frayed Thread (D382)
Being able to apply a Curse to anyone that attacks you once per encounter is the kind of benefit you see from Paragon Paths, and the side benefit is excellent for punishing them for daring to strike you down. Great!
Fey Switch (Essentials: HOTFK)
Extremely simple, and Leader-like abilities are the kinds of abilities Warlocks can minor in very well. This is perfect for those types of players.
Iron Aspect of Dispater (Essentials: HOTFK)
Both effects are quite situational, especially the latter (you almost want to be pushed or slid away as a Ranged caster), but you won't regret having this in your back pocket as an Encounter power.
Life Siphon (AP)
I find it hard to call it "unkind" when there's no negative effect placed on the ally. The benefit is excellent, and it contains the Healing keyword, which could open itself up to major shenanigans.
Dark Pact: Regain hitpoints equal to 2+CHA modifier. That'll work.
Infernal Pact: Awesome as well, but look down at the Skill Powers to see what you're missing by taking this. Still, this is a THP utility, so it's worth a look.
Mirror Darkly (Essentials: HOS)
For one turn every encounter, you can gain the Psion's Intellect Prism, but also allowing yourself a great boost to defenses and the ability to launch blasts with alarming freedom. The aftereffect is completely optional, so keep that in mind.
Racing Fire of Ulban (AP)
Move 10-14 squares. You don't shift, you don't teleport, you move. Boring and obsolete.
Shadow Ride (Essentials: HOS)
Once an encounter, you turn any enemy on the board you can approach into a taxi. Here's my question: what's the point? You only shift 2 squares, so you don't trigger Shadow Walk; you're still a legal target, as you still exist in a square (and creatures that exist in the same space are considered adjacent to each other); and at the start of your next turn, you pop out right next to the enemy, exactly where a Ranged Striker does not want to be. Use your move action to gain defensive bonuses, not to make a taxi out of enemies that tend to not want to move when they're locked into attack mode anyway. Shifting 2 is cool, but there's a Teleport 3 back at 2nd level. There are super specific uses for a power like this, and if you can find it, great, but otherwise...
Shadowslip (FRPG)
Distances based on ability modifers tend to scale incredibly well, and while this power will start out pretty good, it'll turn marvelous as the tiers fall away.
Spider Climb (PHB1)
Is this a joke?
Unspeakable Bond (D382)
Well, this sure isn't. Delegate a slightly less fragile ally as the target of damage you take, but you still adopt any effects that would have been laid upon you. What a shame... except you have a brilliant solution to this problem, from a very unexpected source: Fortune Binding, a level 3 Con'lock encounter power. Ignoring all that, giving your ally a great boost to attack rolls is always worth a little poke in the side.
Infernal Pact: And then he gains a bonus to defenses and everyone on Team Monster is sadface.
Chaos Armor (Essentials: HOEC)
Resist 10 to a damage type of your choice chosen amongst the Affinity options, and whenever an enemy hits you, smack another enemy close by dependant on your Constitution modifier. If your CON modifier is any great shakes, this is extremely worthwhile. This is also great for all Element'locks come Epic tier when their Pact Boon grows ever higher in power and the autodamage becomes merciless, but I'd actually wait until then to pick this up for them.
Dark One's Own Luck (PHB1)
Criticalities tend to happen once a day, so having this be a daily is perfectly fine. Being able to reroll four different kinds of rolls is gravy.
Mercurial Form (AP)
For the entire encounter, you cannot be marked, escaping grabs becomes elementary (and takes a free action instead of a move action), and you can fit into Tiny spaces and become a rather good scout. Fantastic.
Red Leeches of Nihal (D366)
More temp hitpoints, on a trigger that will come up every day (unless your day is excruciatingly boring). Excellent, but there is a Religion-based Encounter power that does this without the requirement of a trigger.
Rending Fear of Khirad (D366)
Completely and utterly social, and thus unable to be rated. Campaigns can vary incredibly wildly from a political conquest to dungeon-crawlers, so it really depends on what your DM's going to run with, and how often you'll take enemies prisoner.
Sand Shape (DSCS)
A Sustain Minor that you'll laugh at (as you probably will not use this to just blank out on attacks while Cursing everyone... though you could technically do that. Your defenses are patched up) for a great scouting daily. Situational, but as I like to say: if you need it, you need it.
Shroud of Black Steel (PHB1)
Bonuses to two specific defenses is not worth the huge penalty to speed. If you're slowed while you're in this quasi-Stance, you're immobilized. Yaaaaay.
Spider Queen's Caress (AP)
A decent bonus to saving throws and a decent bonus to a skill you may not be proficient in could be worth it sometimes.
Dark Pact: This benefit, however, aligns perfectly with the secondary effect of this power. You carry no penalty to Stealth checks for only moving 2 squares, and maintaining concealment after only two squares while Hidden combos so swell. Bump up to Sky Blue if you have a Stealth score worth yelling about.
Walk Through Darkness (Essentials: HOS)
Now that's more like it! Shifting 10 squares, plus phasing and insubstantiality. This is what a Move Action utility should look like, folks.
Level 10 Utilities
Ethereal Sidestep (PH Heroes: Series 1)
Ah, such a meager little At-Will. However, many of you don't realize just how incredibly freaking important at-will teleportation is. Grabbed will almost disappear from your list of worries, the distance travelled can be buffed to monumental heights, and certain feats and Paragon Paths (Evermeet Warlock, anyone?) can turn a simple little utility like this into a monster. Take it, and you will never be disappointed.
Bridge of Shades (Essentials: HOS)
You gain a Portal Gun that works in a limited distance. However, as long as your allies are attentive and close by, you can cross any 4-square-wide area of treacherous terrain with absolutely no problem. A side benefit of being able to make melee attacks from five squares away won't go amiss for some of your allies, either.
Brimstone Caress (D382)
Now this is a little awkward: you can only target one ally with this power, and it takes damage in order to teleport. If you want to shimmy someone across a field of death, why not grab Bridge of Shades? Repositioning to this degree can be useful, but it's that punch of fire damage that isn't.
Infernal Pact: However, this is an excellent side effect: now you won't feel guilty about shunting Defenders over yonder with improved defenses to start blocking forward monster progress.
Curse of Nessus (AP)
An enemy you miss (and you will miss sometimes. It'll happen.) suddenly takes a huge dip in the ability to shake off effects. This is hilarious if your Miss effects on a daily inflict a save-ends effect, because it'll make them so much better.
Darkest Mirror (FRPG)
Allies turning invisible means you can't target them with any friendly effects, as you can no longer see them. It's useful in some situations, but invisibility isn't usefully an encounter-wide trait.
Destiny Inversion (AP)
Normally turning damage into ongoing halved damage is either pretty decent (one tick), useless (two ticks), or extremely dangerous (three or more ticks). But once again, you have a power that loves it when you have ongoing effects inflicted upon yourself: Fortune Binding. You completely absorb someone's attack, take one tick of the damage, and then on a Hit, pass it along to someone else. This is too open to abuse.
King's Step (DSCS)
Please don't be dumb and use this in response to a melee attack, because 1) you should already have him Cursed if you're getting that close, and 2) you either won't move an inch or you'll provoke an opportunity attack from trying to go on the other side of him. Out-of-turn Cursing against Artillery and Controller types, however, is phenomenal.
Troublesome Aid of Caiphon (D366)
Wear a Cloak of the Walking Wounded or Amulet of Life please. And don't think of overhealing yourself: if you fall to the ground, you will die. Reducing the number of DTS you can survive from three to two is abominable, especially if you feel that the ability to gain the equivalent of two or three surges in HP is necessary.
Accursed Souls (D372)
A little more oomph to your Pact Boons, whereby them dying inflicts a bit of splash Necrotic damage. If you have a bunch of Cursed minions grouped together, you'll amass a terrifying combo where enemies will just knock themselves over like dominoes from the autodamage that you chain. Incredibly fun if you can fenagle it right.
Ambassador Imp (PHB1)
Social power, campaign-specific, and horribly situational. Unrateable.
Bond of Brotherhood (AP)
If you're jealous that your Cleric buddy tends to favor someone else as the target of your heals, go ahead and grab a little bit of that healing for yourself.
Duelist's Dance (Essentials: HOTFK)
Until the end of the encounter once per day, you can teleport two more squares than whatever distance you have Ethereal Sidestep set at outside of your turn once per round. And this is an Immediate Reaction to an attack, not to an attack that hits.
Murky Deep (Essentials: HOEC)
So you walk up to the back line, create a giant zone of slowing and light obscurity, then also gain a boost to your shift while in that zone. This could be great to create a roped-off point in the battlefield (since they'll be slowed immediately when they enter the zone or start their turn there), and since you'll be able to run out of the zone rather quickly, you can reposition yourself in time for you to take advantage of it without being in too much danger. Worth considering.
Shade Dance (Essentials: HOS)
Add insubstantiality to Shadow Walk. This is a good thing. This is a very good thing.
Shadow Armor (Essentials: HOS)
Bland bonus to a skill you're not good at, but a great power bonus to defenses (again, not a stance), which you can end when you get bored to teleport and become invisible until the end of your next turn or until the DM says if you hit with an attack roll you make that turn that will incorporate Combat Advantage. Awesome.
Shadow Form (PHB1)
You can fly (but can't hover)! You're insubstantial (but can't take standard actions)! This is... kinda lame.
Shielding Shades (PHB1)
You plant a giant, red X on a damage roll that you cannot foresee (as the trigger point is when you're hit, not when damage is rolled), and all effects you're inflicted with still apply. This is both stupidly lame, and (with Fortune Binding) incredibly cool. So we'll compromise and rate it Black.
Smothering Darkness (Essentials: HOTFK)
If you're confident your allies won't need to heal or buff you for a while, who needs Shadow Walk? Everyone else literally cannot see you, even if they're hovering directly over you (-5 to attack rolls). As a side benefit, you can walk alongside your Drow brethren for an extended duration. Now this is excellent.
Spined Devil's Boon (Essentials: HOTFK)
The shield is kinda meaningless for a power that grants you a fly speed, but it does give you an encounter-long Fly speed, which is quite spiffy. Useless for Pixies, for obvious reasons.
Transcendant Dance (AP)
A bonus to speed and saving throws (two things that scale fantastically with single-digit modifiers) equal to an ability score modifier for the entire encounter? Ridiculous, and actually makes Racing Fire of Ulban fantastic at Epic, as you can blast forward about 26 or so squares in one move action.
Warlock's Leap (PHB1)
Who needs a locksmith? Once per day, just walk in the door.
Level 16 Utilities
Caiphon's Disquieting Liberty (D366)
Five damage that can be reduced or absorbed is a horrendously small price to pay for freedom of movement once per encounter. Take it if you're concerned about immobilization - you'll love it.
Cloak of Shadow (PHB1)
How many more of these "You fly but will fall, are insubstantial but can't do diddly squat" powers do we really need?
Death Shroud Aspect (Essentials: HOS)
Obsolete with Hero's Defense.
Diabolic Escape (Essentials: HOTFK)
Oh yea, being able to walk into a crowd of enemies, hit them with Vulnerability that requires no attack roll, and then being up to run far the hell away to a safe perch is just so lame, isn't it? Oh wait, no, it's not. Load up your best Fire daily and blast those suckers - this is going to hurt.
Guise of the Laughing Fool (Essentials: HOTFK)
For one glorious round after you're done with your turn, you can just walk into a field of swords and arrows and not exist. Oh yea, and you inadvertingly are immune to opportunity attacks if you do use it to start your turn. Lovely.
Heart of the Storm (Essentials: HOEC)
An unfriendly close-range AOE push, and then an eight-square flight. Not nearly as hot on this one as the other HOEC utilities, honestly. It's got its corner cases, sure, but this application isn't very favorable to most strategies.
Hero's Defense (AP)
There are some sickening strategies you can pull with this (buff up one defense incredibly high, then jack it up by four points and tell the monster to hit that instead), and even if it fails... half damage. Fantastic.
Infuriating Elusiveness (PHB1)
Mobility ahoy, plus a way to get automatic combat advantage against everything on the board, plus a great bonus to defenses, for one turn every encounter? Sure!
Offering of Blood (Essentials: HOS)
At the cost of your Infernal Pact Boon (hint hint), reroll. (Again, if applicable.) Simple and sweet.
Painful Transference (AP)
Charisma'locks might not make a lot of friends with this power, but in a major goof, they forgot to add "or your Constitution modifier, whichever is highest" to the power. Have fun with your amazingly stupid "I'm cured!" power, Con'locks!
Reaper's Vengeance (Essentials: HOS)
Fling yourself across the map to a ranged attacker that struck you, and douse him in darkness while then being able to blast him away next turn. Kinda bleh for Binders, but super good for you - though your allies may lament at the fact that your Shadow zones are messing up being able to target them again.
Amaan's Continuance (AP)
Unfortunately, this doesn't remove all the side effects of dying. However, the one major benefit is the ability to spend Standard Actions: not only do you have your Second Wind as a source of HP, but several HP-siphoning powers that allow you to heal up and might get you back on your feet. You're still dying, and if you're at 0 or below, you're still making saving throws (and fainting) after you finish your turn. Also, if you get knocked to zero by ongoing damage, that doesn't count. Fantastic to have for emergencies, but there are contingencies.
Eye of the Warlock (PHB1)
What's utterly baffling is what the point of the (save ends) effect is. It's not tied to your ability to shoot laser beams from your opponent's face, so it's a very cosmetic save-ends effect that just refreshes itself whenever you use this power. Pretty much broken as (terribly) worded, as every blast, close burst, and ranged attack you use no longer require you to even care about positioning for the rest of the encounter/day.
Fail Me Not (DSCS)
An unfortunately limiting zone that subjects allies to an awesome buff to attack and damage rolls, but in case they miss with an attack (against all of their targets), they become vulnerable to damage. It also costs a Minor Action to sustain, and again, you want to hold on to your minor actions tightly. You King'locks that like to use your powers in Melee range might like this alot, but everyone else steer clear.
Ruinous Resistance (FRPG)
If you're absolutely sure you can inflict the Vulnerability on an ally that won't be the target of a lot of attacks, go ahead and go for it. Otherwise, please don't do this to your own allies, especially since they're going to be vulnerable to a damage type that your enemies probably inflict (otherwise, why did you raise a shield in the first place?)
Soul of the Void (Essentials: HOS)
A really cool "get out of purgatory" card, but the benefit otherwise is a bit dank, especially when combined with a penalty that really clashes with a lot of your Paragon- and Epic-tier HP draining powers... and being able to be healed by what would probably have saved you from being knocked to zero hitpoints anyway.
Vile Resonance (D382)
That vulnerability is going to mean nothing in the face of two extra dice of Curse damage every round. And yes, those dice do turn to d8s (or d10s if you're a Paladin|Warlock) if you possess the right items and feats, as they adjust d6s.
Infernal Pact: I'm sure there are absolutely no ways to exploit a buffable slide at-will...
Sorcerer-King Pact: There is no King'lock rider on this power, but I want to mention something very important. At this level, you start getting powers that buff ally damage dice when you command them to attack using certain Encounter powers. That buff is equal to your Warlock's Curse dice. You should immediately know where I'm going with this.
Warp Space (AP)
Battlefield rearrangement on three targets instead of the usual two. Huh.
Level 22 Utilities
Entropic Ward (PHB1)
Sign of Ill Omen on steroids. Plus a fragment of the Star Pact boon power. Yeeouch.
Walk of the Kantakaran (AP)
Here's a thought: Don't do this first thing on your turn. Attack with a power, fling yourself forward into the front lines with Racing Fire of Ulban, then drop this power and become a roadblock. ... but wait, then they'll just walk right past you and attack your allies (not like you could hit people with OAs, even if you wanted to). And you can still be affected by powers and features that do not require that an attack roll be declared against you. Um...
Ascension of the Elder (AP)
Rocket man, burning out his fuse up here alone...
You catapult yourself upwards 20 squares and gain a fly speed of 8 (that you can sustain with a move action!). There are items and Epic Destinites and other hooligan things that can replicate this, but if you don't want to spend the money on Zephyr Boots, this is a great use of your Utility slot.
Cerulean Shield (DSCS)
This is mistakingly good. You gain a humongous shield against a specific damage type that is then reflected back as minor-action sustainable autodamage to enemies around you. There is just one problem: as mentioned before, enemies tend to resist the very damage types they inflict. The shield will rock the encounter silly, but the autodamage may actually be meaningless. Oh well.
Expedient Sacrifice (FRPG)
Wow, this is a moronic benefit. A bonus to speed, but an ally is slowed until the end of the encounter? You're seriously going to drop someone's speed to 2 just so that you can be more mobile than you honestly need to be?
Master of Magic (Essentials: HOS/HOTFK)
So you can either teleport you or an ally close by twenty squares (with the Teleportation keyword, no less), heal yourself or an ally (with the Healing keyword), or grant your Healic a supreme defensive bonus. How about yes?
Raven's Glamor (PHB1)
This is a very long-winded way to say "invisible and can teleport 5 squares as a move action until you declare an attack." Also under the DM's discretion whether monsters care about the image you leave behind. Not impressed.
Ulban's Shining Cloak (D366)
Now here's something you don't see every day: a reflect shield. Should the original attack miss because of the effect (and it will, because a bonus to defenses equal to your Intelligence modifier will put you way past Plate armor) and not because of a roll that would have missed otherwise, it bounces right back to him, with a reroll. Could be an absolute joke, but will prevent damage, and might add a surprising source of your own damage.
Wakeman's Invocation (AP)
Does nothing at all against Bursts and Blasts, doesn't buff your defenses against melee attacks, and does nothing with Ranged attacks should they hit. What.
Wall of Inky Night (AP)
This is sick. An extremely long, movable wall of blindness that you can shape to your whim. Shame it takes a standard action to reposition it (and yet a minor action to apply it), but this has amazing potential.
Wings of the Fiend (PHB1)
Take Ascension of the Elder. Any polymorph attack that hits you will end this effect, plummeting you to an unexpected grave.
Part Nine: Paragon Paths - A Practical Promotion from Paimon
When your character reaches 11th level, he or she can pick a Paragon Path to gain build-defining features and an extra set of powers. However, this is a big opportunity cost, so tread carefully and don't pick lightly.
Pact Specific Paths
Infernal Pact
Hellbringer (AP) - Constitution
Strategy: Fire DPR
Overall Rating: Black. There's a very specific problem it doesn't cover, and it hinders the path greatly due to how pigeonholed the strategy is.
11th Level Feature: Flames of Empowerment
When you spend an action point to make a ranged attack and it hits, deal an extra 2d6 damage to it and all adjacent enemies. Splash damage is always nice around these parts, but it's not exactly a prime reason to spend an AP.
11th Level Feature: No Pity, No Mercy
Whenever you score a critical hit against an enemy, you gain a pair of great benefits: CA and Vulnerable 5 Fire on the target. You don't have the AOE at-wills to really kick this into high gear, but there is never anything wrong with this if you have a stockpile of Fire powers.
16th Level Feature: Prince of Hell
Your arcane powers ignore Fire resistance. Which would be amazing if it wasn't replicated by heroic tier Wizard feats, or if it had a solution to immunity...
11E: Pillar of Power
Incredibly lame. It's a silly amount of damage in a 3x3 square if this is the attack you spend an AP on, but you can do the same thing (and at arguably a better degree) with Fiery Bolt, a level 3 Encounter power.
12DU: Gates of Hell
A neat little passage-of-transit, but the punishment may actually be too low for enemies to not take advantage of the new method of travel. Don't place this behind ally front lines, or enemies (especially ones resistant to Fire) will ambush you.
20D: Unleash the Inferno
A thermonuclear bomb of friendly AOE damage: everyone in a 121-square area is going to get roasted. However, the damage is not stellar, and you only get Curse dice against one target.
Life-Stealer - Constitution
Strategy: Minor DPR, various buffs
Overall Rating: Red. Just why?!
Level 11 Feature: Infernal Action
Much less noteworthy than Hellbringer; ongoing 5 fire (save ends) to targets you hit with one attack isn't the most spectacular thing on the world, especially one you want to spend an action point on. This ramps up considerably if you're a Tiefling with Icy Clutch of Stygia, but you have a Daily that already doles out (guaranteed) ongoing fire damage.
Level 11 Feature: Collect Life Spark
Bet you didn't expect you'd have to do bookkeeping on an Infernal'lock, did you? As an addition to your Pact Boon benefits, you gain what are called Life Sparks, and the effects of which depend on what the origin was of the creature you killed. They all range from mediocre to pretty good, but it runs into the same problem as the Pact Boon itself: in small encounters, this feature is deplorable, even though you can start gaining the benefits right away. Shame they all last one turn...
Level 16 Feature: Sustain Life Spark
What kind of whacko world do you live in where, as a Constitution'lock (so I hope, since otherwise the powers are completely useless), you'll have more Life Sparks than you do healing surges? And what's the point of having a feature that saves you from spending one healing surge after the rest of the encounter is over, when as a Con'lock, you're made of healing surges?!! Wow, is this stupid.
11E: Soul Scorch
A blasé poke of fire and necrotic damage that requires you to have killed someone else this encounter to deal an additional 10 damage. *sigh*
12DU: Life Spark Summons
It's backwards Domination. But it's a daily that gives you one turn of control of a creature that cannot really do much (and might even die before it gets to that point, since it only has 10 hitpoints and acts on your next turn) and can never incorporate your Curse dice. Bleh.
20D: Soultheft
So what happens if you kill a Cursed enemy with this power? Do you get two Sparks or one? What if you instead miss and deal wretchedly stupid damage with a level 20 Daily that has a range of 5?
Star Pact
Doomsayer (PHB1) - Charisma / Constitution
Strategy: Defense, Fear keyword
Overall Rating: Blue. Every one of the features is fantastic, and the powers are decent to great on their own, but it's a huge dichotomy. It's not enough that they're fear powers - they barely spread your Curse and don't inflict save-ends penalties, and requires the Warlock to also rely on his own selection of powers to be Fear-based.
Level 11 Feature: Doomsayer's Action
Oh good gravy, no. Everyone cursed by you automatically takes your Curse dice in damage when you spend an action point? And this doesn't count as a use of Warlock's Curse damage dealing? Jeez!
Level 11 Feature: Doomsayer's Proclamation
Basically a -5 penalty to saving throws against any and all Fear effects that you and your allies dole out (it doesn't say it ignores your allies' own Fear powers). If you concentrate on Fear powers, this is horrifying.
Level 16 Feature: Doomsayer's Oath
A Bruce Banner-type feature seems a bit awkward, but it's extra buffing for all of your favorite powers when you need it most, and that's incredibly cool.
11E: Fates Entwined
Unfortunately, the powers, sans the Utility, don't really mesh with the features all that well. Hit them with pithy psychic damage with a short-range hex, but then raise yourself a shield that funnels half of all damage dealt to you to the target. Incredibly dangerous in the hands of a daredevil.
12DU: Accursed Shroud
You place your Curse on anyone within 5 squares of you, and it has a permanent Sign of Ill Omen placed on it. You'll know who to place this power on, and it'll be amusing when it happens.
20D: Long Fall Into Darkness
Stunned and prone as a level 20 daily is splendid, but this would have been the perfect time to put in (save ends)... and yet that feature's still kinda swinging around in the breeze.
Master of the Starry Night (AP) - Charisma or Constitution
Strategy: Pact Boon exploitation
Overall Rating: Light Blue. Makes a marvelous little utility out of your Pact Boon, and even indirectly helps the other Pacts with its amazing U12. A bit of forethought needs to go into this path before you take it, but the preparation required isn't that major.
Level 11 Feature: Starcrossed Action
Probably the weakest part of this path, and that's saying a lot. By spending an action point, you get an extra action and autodaze an enemy you have Cursed. Selective dazing is quite strong, but still feels a little limited.
Level 11 Feature: Star-Blessed Wanderer
Putting a gigantic bonus to attack rolls and stuffing it in a little lockbox for a full turn in case you botch with it... there are no words.
Level 16 Feature: Fate of the Body
Now that's just not fair. You'll know by the time you start getting Pact Boons what kind of defenses your enemies are targetting, and having an insurance policy in case the Encounter starts getting sour is great. That, or just being able to leap across the battlefield; that's cool too.
11E: Stellar Debris
Since the July 2012 errata, this and Shooting Star use either your Constitution or Charisma for the attack and damage roll. With that in mind, giving anyone the option to grant a blanket +2 bonus to defenses to all of your allies is quite worthwhile, especially on such a large (unfriendly) blast.
12EU: Minor Gift of Foresight
Minor gift!?! Gaining your boon (any boon!) without anyone needing to keel over and die, and gaining every single benefit thereof once per encounter, is minor?!
20D: Shooting Star
You now add a mini-Curse to the target that does 2d6 Radiant damage. You'll do maddening damage against undead, and great damage to anyone else, provided you hit. And even if you miss (and considering the features in this path, you better not), you'll still deal great damage next turn.
Student of Caiphon (DM Annual 2009) - Constitution / Charisma
Strategy: Critical hits, Fear keyword, Radiant DPR
Overall Rating: Light Blue. Amazing set of features and a great D20 for anyone who wants to use fear and radiant attacks. Very close to Gold, and indeed it would have been, had it been what it used to be, where all radiant attacks got the expanded crit range; but hey, you can't have it all.
Level 11 Feature: Caiphon's Guidance
Fear and Radiant powers gain an unnatural crit range better than all implements and feats you'd get at Epic tier. Wooooooooow.
Level 11 Feature: Star Bright
Hellbringer, now a bit more shiny. This time, however, Radiant damage is a lot more valuable than Fire damage, and you Tieflings will love it so much.
Level 16 Feature: Caiphon's Intercession
A sort-of-but-not-really replacement for your Pact Boon: instead of gaining a huge bonus to a d20 roll, you can deal 5 damage to an ally to allow him to make an MBA, with an extra benefit of dealing ongoing Radiant damage. There is no action tied to this power, so if multiple enemies fall at once and the ally feels fit to take multiplied damage, they can become a personified blender. Quite solid.
11E: Trust in the Guide Star
Do I have to? Even disregarding concealment and invisibility is not worth doing murky damage against a target that would have no bonus or penalty to defenses if all this was disregarded. Both Cha'locks and Con'locks can happily trade this power away: the D20 requires no ability score devotion.
Steps on the Purple Stair
Invisibility and a fly speed is OK, but the fly speed ends on the start of your next turn (so you have to land on that turn). And while your attacks on the turn you drop this will have Combat Advantage, if you aren't a Shardmind it'll start raking you with a small dose of (save ends) Psychic damage. The amount of damage you're inflicted with isn't worth slinging Fortune Binding around.
20DU: Caiphon's Hungry Mercy
A massive area of power recovery once per day is grand, especially for that low a cost.
Fey Pact
Feytouched (PHB1) - Charisma
Strategy: Teleportation, quasi-Domination
Overall Rating: Blue. It's not so much what these powers do, but what these powers can do, if that makes any sense, especially when you cooperate with your Defender allies. Very close to Light Blue, honestly... just a shame the 16th level feature and the powers are a bit underwhelming.
11th Level Feature: Feytouched Action
Action Surge, the Paragon feature! Seriously, though, being able to apply this to all targets of any attack you make with this bonus, which makes AOE powers amazingly good.
11th Level Feature: Slashing Wake
Once per round, deal Intelligence-modifier friendly splash damage whenever you teleport. Say, wasn't there an incredibly handy level 10 utility power that let you teleport whenever you wanted?
16th Level Feature: Patron's Favor
The weakest part of the Path by far. The Fey Pact Boon is one of the weakest factors of the Pact, due to its uncontrollable nature, and the benefits you can get from here are no different. Even a 10-square teleport, the best part of this feature, reduces in favor when you realize that if you've buffed Ethereal Sidestep enough to make it about 3-4 squares or so, a humongous teleport such as this might just be too much, and rarely will it do something that a 5-6 square teleport wouldn't.
11E: Will of the Feywild
Deal mediocre damage, but teleport an enemy to a convenient location (next to a Defender that has him marked?) and knock another enemy senseless. Very neat, but unfortunately a shadow of its former splendor (used to provide autodazed as well).
12DU: Twilight Teleport
Situational. If an enemy died in a dangerous zone, this becomes awesome, but otherwise, both benefits are quite muted, since Fey Pact Warlocks tend to stick in the furthest of the back lines anyway, and hell, you already have a teleport as your Pact Boon.
20D: Whispers of the Fey
If you miss, absolutely nothing happens. On a hit, though, you can force Brutes to fall all over themselves with melee basic attacks and then daze themselves. You need to approach enemies to do this, though, and that's not something you always want to do.
Long Night Scion (D374) - Charisma
Strategy: Cold DPR, Power Recovery
Overall Rating: Blue. Everything it does isn't brokenly amazing, but does its job well. It's at 16th level where it suddenly jumps to Light Blue due to the fantastic upgrade the feature is over the second feature of Feytouched.
11th Level Feature: Deeper Chill
The important thing to note here is that the Cold attack you make on an AP is not tied to that extra action. Combined with the next feature below, this has the possibility of doing very good damage. Highly favored.
11th Level Feature: Frost's Favor
Arcane Admixture (Cold), the feature. But you can put it on any power you like each day, and as a side effect, gain a nice little buffer against Cold damage. Ties so well with the other 11th level feature. Neat.
16th Level Feature: Winter Winds
Interpret this as "you gain an at-will friendly splash slow". Ignore the damage. Don't ignore the possibilities (World Serpent's Grasp, Vicious Advantage).
11E: Wrath of the Pale Prince
This is the kind of hex that just wants so badly to be an AOE spell, and it would have been perfect for this strategy. Unfortunately, you can replicate this effect already with Lasting Frost, so it's kind of obsolete.
12DU: Winter's Blood
Again, combined with your level 11 features, this is way too awesome. Once per day, you now have a 2/enc power that has the cold keyword, and what that encounter power is is your choice each day.
20D: Frozen Heart
Dazed and slowed (save ends both) with a fantastic aftereffect should they fail the save. Even the miss, which I would normally cast away as meaningless (slowed save ends), is great here, because most people who'll be taking this path are going to take advantage of the Slowed condition. Love it, even if it's against Fortitude, which is kind of weird for Fey'hexes.
Storm Scourge (AP) - Charisma
Strategy: Lightning DPR
Overall Rating: Bordering on Light Blue... if you prepare for it. The features are great and the encounter power can be waved goodbye, but you do really need to make sure you can gather yourself a bevy of Lightning powers. With Heroes of Elemental Chaos on board, however, this is much easier to accomplish.
11th Level Feature: Lightning Quick
How this feature is worded is incredibly important. When you "hit or miss" with an attack after spending an Action Point, you shift 1 square. If the composition of the battlefield is right and you grab AOEs and multi-attacking powers, you can actually make quite a long shift out of this power, getting you possibly out of harm's way. Otherwise, you just kinda derp around, shuffling yourself a couple of squares meekly. This, however, creates a very odd combo in Epic Tier with Long Step, as these are stepped Shifts; they don't happen all at once.
11th Level Feature: Zebechial's Blessing
You gain Resist Lightning equal to the innate resistances of several races, and if you are a member of said races, none of them are resistant to Lightning, so it's excellent.
11th Level Feature: Eldritch Storm
Let's be frank here: this path would be horrible without this very feature. It's the sole reason this Path isn't an automatic Red: because you gain an At-Will Lightning power without the need to spend a feat to do so.
16th Level Feature: Servant of the Lord of Lightning
Pretty awesome for base Fey'locks, but with the arrival of a fantastic power in Dream of Mual-Tar just one level prior, on top of a miraculous set of features from the Elemental Pact, this feature - and thus this entire path - has earned itself full legitimacy for Elemental'locks Twofolding into the Fey Pact at 11th level. You deal AOE splash damage with all of your Lightning hexes equal to your Intelligence modifier, and this applies to every target you hit with them; having two enemies next to each other will double up the splash if you hit both with your now quite solid 11e. Brilliant!
11E: Judgment of the Storm
Awful damage... for a while. Recognize the fact that this power is tied to two ability modifiers for the damage roll: Intelligence and Charisma. This actually makes the power scale better than usual, and once you get into 16th level it becomes unexpectedly good, especially against targets adjacent to each other.
12DU: Lightning Dance
You gain a damage shield against melee attacks, but you can only teleport to a square adjacent to that enemy... which is exactly where you don't want to be. Also, the action used for the teleport is an immediate reaction, which means it A) doesn't prevent the attack, and B) can only be used once per round. Shame.
20D: Wrath of the Clouds
Even more terrible damage, and this time the CHA+INT thing just will not allow the daily to catch up, considering how next level it'll be outclassed by Eldritch Blast due to the Intelligence modifier on that power spreading itself out. The Effect is at least something to work with, as it's almost like a Vulnerability Intelligence-modifier All with a damage type, and the target must take damage from this at least once before starting to make saving throws.
Dark Pact
Dark Reckoner (AP) - Charisma
Strategy: Concealment, Necrotic DPR
Overall Rating: Purple. Really the only thing that makes this Path recognizable is the bump to Curse damage at 16th level, but the invisibility and concealment options presented in the other features really don't get into their swerve in the powers, of which are bland.
11th Level Feature: Shadow Action
This will spare you your move action to force Shadow Walk at the turn you want to spend your Action Point, while giving your allies a nice boost to defenses. It's not anything to yell about, though. At least you'll be gaining the benefit when you most want it: when the going gets tough and people are spending their Action Points to throw desperate strategies at the wall.
11th Level Feature: Shadow and Threat
Neat little defensive boost on a critical hit, but I think the timing is off for gaining Combat Advantage, since you reveal yourself when you declare a target.
16th Level Feature: Death Curse
1d6 extra Necrotic damage with your Curses, which does allow itself to be scaled up to d8/d10. The best part of this path by far.
11E: Deadly Judgment
Large-radius friendly Necrotic splash, but the original hit is minor and there isn't any semblance of control.
12EU: Shadow Slip
A huge bonus to defenses against Cursed enemies, and this time you're able to gain Combat Advantage against everyone on the turn you use it. Not too bad.
20D: Cursing Vengeance
Mediocre damage for a level 20 daily, and delayed ongoing damage. Incredibly lame.
Darkwalker (FRPG) - Charisma
Strategy: Insubstantiality, general DPR
Overall Rating: Purple. You gained a few new options in the Essentials books for getting insubstantiality to run your first feature, but it's still rare, and only the D20 gives it to you permanently. Jumps to Black at 20th level, and Blue if you add other ways to gain the property (Shade Dance in particular, a level 10 Daily Utility from Heroes of Shadow, gives you insubstantiality every time you would also trigger your Shadow Walk, and it's practically mandatory for this path).
11th Level Feature: Deadly Absence
While insubstantial, gain your INT modifier to damage rolls. The engine this entire path runs on, and can be exploited quite readily. Jumps to Light Blue at 20th level.
11th Level Feature: Darkwalker Action
This is not the way to spend your AP: by wasting it to gain insubstantiality. You will always deal more damage by hitting with any power you use on that Standard Action.
16th Level Feature: Ghostken
Hey, now this is neat: insubstantial creatures mean nothing to you, now. The occurance won't be often, but when it does, your DPR will literally double.
11E: Ghostly Bane
Boring. A shred of damage, and insubstantial, which will help your next turn's DPR... but so would a lot of Cha'lock powers.
12EU: Fading Spiral
If you deal more than 12 damage on your Darkspiral Aura, you take a quarter of the damage instead of half (the Aura runs on an Immediate Interrupt), and you gain your INT bonus to damage rolls on your next turn. Pretty decent.
20D: Wraithform Blast
Damage is OK, the ongoing damage is at least double-typed, but the Effect line is excellent, and will ramp up your DPR tremendously for the encounter, as long as you stay out of trouble... and it'll take you a while to get knocked to bloodied, since you're taking half damage. Also, you gain phasing, which is incredibly cool as an encounter-long effect.
Vestige Pact
Astral Ascendant (D383) - Constitution
Strategy: Radiant DPR, Leader tendencies
Overall Rating: Light Blue. This Path's features are glorious, and this really serves to amplify the Leader aspect of your Pact, almost making you into a quasi-Cleric with how the features help out your allies.
11th Level Feature: Preparing Action
When you spend an AP, everyone close by gains a small amount of THP and can reposition themselves a bit. Not too bad.
11th Level Feature: Radiant Curse
Radiant damage on your Curse. You could stop there and this path would be worth it, because now all of your powers deal Radiant damage. This literally solves all of your problems with Necrotic and Fire powers, since they're commonly resisted, and while perhaps the original hit won't deal much damage, now that you have two seperate types to deal damage with (one of which is the bane of Undead), you'll almost always deal excellent damage. Wonderful. Oh, but wait: once per round (not turn), if you didn't deal Curse damage that round and an ally hits an enemy Cursed by you, you can deal your Curse damage to that enemy. Be very cautious: this PP did not get errata with the change to Warlock's Curse being 1/turn, so this path still limits you to 1/round if you allow this to apply. Still, that's a non-issue: this feature is perfect.
16th Level Feature: Celestial Resistance
You, and everyone nearby, gain Resist Necrotic - them by a decent amount, you by a lot. You can basically just forget about Undead now, because they will no longer present a challenge to you... or your allies.
11E: Overwhelming Radiance
Not too bad. The power dealing Radiant damage doesn't mean that much (you already deal Radiant damage with your Curse), and the target granting CA is already done on lots of powers, but 3d10 on an Encounter power at 11th level is not unremarkable.
12DU: Angelic Aura
You. Can. Hover. Oh yea, and you have a great healing aura. But forget all that. At 12th level, you can finally hover with a flying power that isn't named "Ascension of the Elder". That's awesome in a can.
20D: Vestige of the Ascendant Commander
I gotta say, I'm a big fan of the power's name: to underline the Leader bent of this power, some sort of commander or other sovereign should have been the Vestige you swear your allegiance to. The base effect, like Sea Tyrant Oracle's Vestige below, is solid: a friendly AOE radiant that dazes (save ends) and grants healing surges to allies, even if you miss, is cool.
The pact boon, however... is a bit weird. It suddenly makes you an off-Defender, a very breakneck role-switch for you. It's not a bad bonus, no, but... +2 to AC (+4 if bloodied)? Hrrrm. However, it's the At-Will Augment that sells it: you get to inflict Vulnerability 5 All, that 5 damage being Radiant-based. Your DM might just stop sending you Undead after you crack this daily open the first time.
God Fragment (AP) - Constitution
Strategy: General DPR, vitality
Overall Rating: Blue. The features are solid, and the Encounter power can be thrown away in place of something else. This is also where the cover art for the Guide comes from, and is one of my favorite 4e Warlock depictions.
11th Level Feature: Lifegiving Action
Spend an action point, gain a bit of revitalization, in the form of hitpoints equal to your level. Scales alright, and you'll be spending Action Points during the latter half of fights anyway, so it's not terribly situational.
11th Level Feature: Road to Reawakening
A +3 bonus to death saving throws is great as a permanent boost, and remember that you gain the ability to spend a healing surge on a 20 or higher, not just a natural 20. You will get back on your feet, no doubt about it.
16th Level Feature: Dormant Power
When you crit with a Warlock power (... wait, does this not include God Fragment powers? Woops. Oh well, no loss there), deal 2d10 extra damage. Basically adds the Empowered Crit property to all of your implements, and if you use one that has that property already, your critical hits are going to rock the world.
11E: Deific Decay
Single bad hit, no control, not even a hint of an effect - and RAW, you don't even get the critical hit benefit of Dormant Power come 16th level should you crit. This entire path is nearly ruined by an incredibly stupid 11E, and absolutely requires you use Reserve Maneuver to put life back into it.
12DU: Deific Doom
The radius of the Close burst is way too short, but it'll ensure that as a Con'lock that prefers to work in the back, whatever close-combat enemies do to you won't sting nearly as badly.
20D: Vestige of Karmath
No curse damage at all, as the damage happens as an aftereffect of the domination. Oh yea, that's right... the target is dominated (save ends), a wonderful start to your day as a Vestige'lock.
As for the pact boon and at-will augment: the Pact Boon is pretty decent, with a -2 to defenses (save ends) applied to one creature Cursed by you within sight range. But in a weird twist, it's the At-Will Augment of this power that makes it remarkable, unlike with Vestige of Kulnoghrim. You gain something that Warlocks just do not have at their disposal: an AOE at-will, in the form of splash diced Necrotic damage to each enemy within 2 squares of the target of Eyes of the Vestige at the start of their turns. Remember that this incorporates all your modifiers.
Sea Tyrant Oracle (AP) - Constitution
Strategy: Turn Efficiency, Control
Overall Rating: Black. It's a decent path - doesn't exactly disgust or offend, but the features and powers only tenuously relate to each other, and it just feels disjointed. The good news is that the trend of awesome Paragon Path vestiges continues with a Vestige Power that transcends Vestige of Amaan. However, if you're trained in Bluff and have a Multiclass feat, you don't really lose anything by going with Traveler's Harlequin, which will allow you to pick that power up as part of its 20th Level Feature - or hell, any of the other three Vestiges you have access to.
11th Level Feature: Visionary Action
If you spend an action point to make an attack, you gain a stored-up Standard Action that you can use once in the Encounter, which is incredibly powerful, especially if the triggering attack is one with a great Miss effect. However, if even one attack roll connects, this feature is useless.
11th Level Feature: Future Foreseen
A bit of an insurance policy against the first failed saving throw you make in an encounter. You have to use the second result, though, which is a bit saddening.
16th Level Feature: Future Evaded
A small shift that happens only once during an encounter (and at a specific time), takes your Immediate Action, and doesn't even refresh Shadow Walk is incredibly weak. As a Con'lock, you won't fear being approached.
11E: Doomsday Portent
No damage. Zero. Nada. Dazed and weakened without damage is not a Striker power, and Vestige'locks are Control'Strikers with a hint of Leader, not Control'Leaders.
12DU: Prepared by Fate
Whoa. +20 on a crucial initiative roll could actually really help get your first 11th level feature going, and allow you to apply your favored Vestige before the fight gets underway at all. A simple benefit given legs by how you operate.
20D: Vestige of the Sea Tyrant
Unlike the other two Vestige PPs we've discussed, its attached Vestige has a very good effect it possesses even before the Pact Boon or At-Will is discussed. A blast 5 push-prone emulates and heightens the power of a couple of really nice Infernal'lock powers. The damage is regretably low, but look at what you get:
Both the Pact Boon and the At-Will Augment grant slides. It takes what was awesome about Vestige of Amaan, and makes it complete by eliminating the directional limits (you can fling enemies around corners and obstacles, can make them zig-zag, go in circles, etc.) For that very reason, this power is the rating that it is: it gives you an unparalleled level of Control on your prized At-Will, and really delivers you the power to dominate the battlefield. It's debatable whether it's actually worth taking an otherwise unappealing path, especially since you can grab it with the Traveler's Harlequin PP as well. Up to you.
Umbral Cabalist (D383) - Constitution
Strategy: Defense, Control
Overall Rating: Light Blue. There is only one bad thing about this path, and it's tucked way down in the Daily. Even the Encounter Power is salvaged just by being a 1/enc stun. The Vestige Pact option is also brilliant.
11th Level Feature: Restricting Action
On an AP, you restrain one enemy on the board. Restrained, not immobilized. So everyone also gains Combat Advantage against it, and it takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls. Fantastic.
11th Level Feature: Cabalist's Warding
Well, this has the potential to be incredibly broken: when you become bloodied, until you're healed above bloodied value, you pick an NAD and gain a bonus to it equal to your Constitution modifier. This could make you outright immune to some of the worst effects on the board, and is incredibly nice to have in your back pocket whenever enemies start getting the upper hand.
16th Level Feature: Demonic Resilience
And the defense just keeps on coming. The first time you take typed damage in an encounter, you gain a permanent buffer against that type of damage (until the end of the encounter, anyway). Wow.
11E: Command of the Abyss
Damage at the level of your At-Will... but you stun the target, no questions asked. Now that's nice.
12EU: Clarifying Rebuke
Outright deny Domination, or a fear or charm effect. Plus, you add another target to Curse. Man, I love this path...
20D: Vestige of Kulnoghrim
Guaranteed ongoing damage is pretty nice, but the damage leaves something to be desired.
The pact boon, however, is broken (and quite possibly misworded): You allow, by its wording, "One creature within 5 squares or affected by your Warlock's Curse [to make] a basic attack against a target of your choice as a free action." The italics are my doing, but I'm of the opinion that they made a huge mistake there, and meant to say "of you and" instead of "or", due to how wonky the wording is. You can command your allies to make MBAs for this reason, since they're considered creatures. This power would be Gold, if the at-will augment wasn't lame soft control...
Sorcerer-King Pact
Praetor Legate (DSCS) - No Ability Score Devotion
(Please note that you do not actually have to be a Sorcerer-King Pactee to take this - the alternate requirement is to take the Templar theme, but belonging to the Sorcerer-King Pact waves the theme prerequisite away, which is why it goes here.)
Strategy: Heavy emphasis on off-Leadership, minor Control
Overall Rating: Blue. This gives you a very strange role in the team as an off-Leader, even more so than what your normal SK powers would give you. Don't immediately discount this as "bad" or "decent" even though it's not Light Blue - this really is a unique path, and one you will not regret taking, even if better alternatives might exist.
11th Level Feature: Praetor's Censure
You now extend your Hand of Blight power to any power you use that bloodies an enemy. The timing is a bit wonky, but your allies will take that opportunity to focus-fire on a now vulnerable enemy and work him down to zero in record time. Of course, if the power that triggered this already grants your allies combat advantage... hmm.
11th Level Feature: Praetor's Action
If the encounter you spend your AP on isn't the final encounter of the day, this could be very awesome for a lucky ally, as it gives him his milestone benefit of another AP one encounter early. A niche benefit, but potentially very powerful.
16th Level Feature: Chosen of Andropinis
Bit unfortunate on the naming choice, but what can you do. Whenever an enemy starts its turn adjacent to you, you can slide him 1 square. This is kind of a strange feature (as they can just walk up and whack you again), but if the target is melee and immobilized without reach, they can't attack you - and if they're prone, they're not going to be able to charge you, which against some enemies is a huge benefit. Be smart about how you use this feature.
(Note: If you have any way of triggering any sort of punishment when you force movement - the Swordmage at-will Booming Blade comes to mind - this ramps up considerably.)
11E: Obsidian Javelin
The focus-firing power. You deal decent damage against the target, push him a bit, and then every ally that hits it gains Resist 10 All until their turn ends. A great benefit if your allies are concentrating on one target.
12EU: Dustwalk
The secondary benefit's only useful if you need to stand still for whatever reason, but the primary benefit's pretty nice, as even though it gives you an altitude limit of 1, you can still reject difficult and dangerous terrains.
There's a slight RAW argument on this power, however: the third sentence ("You have concealment while flying or hovering.") contains no duration. One race in the game has permanent flight as part of their racial features: the Pixie. This power might (keyword might) give them permanent concealment for the encounter, every encounter. I'm probably finding clues and hints where there are none, but it's worth some contention.
20D: Dictator's Judgment
A long range immobilization save-ends power that contains the Healing keyword, and a humongous healing benefit to whichever ally smacks it next is awesome. This power needs impeccable timing to wring the most use out of it, but still... three surges for the cost of zero. Wowzers.
Elemental Pact
Herald of Vezzuvu (Essentials: HOEC) - No Ability Score Devotion
(Note that you do not need to be an Elemental Pact Warlock to take this Paragon Path. You can also take the Earthforger, Firecrafter, or Primordial adept theme; being an Element'lock waives this requirement away, however.)
Defense, terrain advantage
Overall Rating: Red. The situationalness of this path reaches the stratosphere if you're not dancing around calderas and volcanos, and the powers are some of the worst I've ever seen.
11th Level Feature: Volcanic Action
On an action point, add half your level in fire or thunder damage to the next attack you dole out. I believe this helps qualify for Resounding Thunder on your AOEs, though I may be wrong. Still, it's extra damage, and you can't exactly say no to that.
11th Level Feature: Volcanic Resistance
You either gain Resist 10 Fire, or Resist 5 against all Fire attacks (so dual-typed attacks still get reduced a bit), whichever allows you to take less damage. Not too bad, but occurances of you taking fire damage are going to be too few and far between. Hope you're not a Tiefling, by the way, or this feature is nearly useless to you.
16th Level Feature: Volcanic Walk
The F16 is usually when the path comes together into one glorious little pocket of awesome. Your grand prize for this path? You get to walk on lava. Oh, and you get to ignore difficult terrain related to volcanoes. Are you kidding me, here? This is all we get? And don't think the powers will salvage this path. Oh no...
11E: Lava Bomb
It's 2012. The designers should have been well aware just how inaccurate +2/+4/+6 powers were in the face of system math. Of course, because of how this power is designed, there is no implement keyword, cutting you off from some huge support. Couple that with mediocre damage and an autodamage effect that only serves to reduce the amount of favorable targets on the board for this power... this is disastrously bad.
12DU: Vezzuvu's Balm
Alright, I can work with this. On taking fire damage (outside of your turn, so don't get any funny ideas), you don't take it. Instead, you regain hitpoints equal to the amount of damage you would have taken, bypassing resistances, and gain a neat little bonus to attack rolls. A bit iffy, since it's a Daily and a one-turn benefit, on top of the fact that you still need to take a substantial amount of a specific type of damage while injured to pull this off properly, but it's not that big a waste.
20D: Volcanic Wrath
Strange little case: the daily is actually excellent for Tieflings, as it's guaranteed ongoing damage in a wide swath. However, for those of you who don't care about that, this is a Level 20 Daily with an attack roll of the following:
"Highest ability modifier + 5 vs. Reflex"
You read that right. It's +5. This may be the most inaccurate power in the entire game, all things considered, as proper dailies at this level are AbilityMod+9, not 5. So, with that said, when you DO hit, you deal decent AOE damage and a slight push, and then no matter what happened, you create a giant zone of difficult terrain, obscurity, and autodamage, none of which is friendly. Don't even bother with this path.
(Oh yea, and sidenote: most of the monsters you'd be fighting to validate the features and utility will be resistant or immune to your powers. Woops.)
Arcane and Other Warlock Paths
Academy Master (D374) - No Ability Score Devotion
Strategy: At-Will DPR, Power Efficiency
Overall Rating: Light Blue, as it is for all Arcane classes. Everything just clicks for you, and all the features and powers make you a better Striker.
11th Level Feature: Educated Action
When you spend an Action Point, the first attack roll you make that fails gains a reroll. Everyone loves an insurance policy, and this time it's not done at a point of danger, unlike Future Foreseen. Nice.
11th Level Feature: Arcane Underpinning
+2 to Arcana (Hi, Sage of Ages-bound). You also gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls against targets you hit with at-will powers (Hi, Echoing Dirge Human'locks) until the end of your next turn.
16th Level Feature: Fundamental Mastery
And here's where the fun begins. Your At-Wills start dealing more damage than they did before: 3 now, and 5 later at 25th level. Not quite as awesome for you as it is for your Wizard and Sorcerer cousins, but you mainly rely on At-Wills to deal your DPR anyway, and really: how can you say no to more damage? Half-Elf Warlocks that poached a Wizard or Sorcerer power, however, will fall over their feet for this, as by this point they should have taken Versatile Master and gotten an AOE Arcane At-Will to crank people over the head with..
11E: Learned Boost
1/enc, you attack with an arcane at-will of your choice, and it deals two extra dice of damage. The Reliable keyword means this doesn't go away until you connect with a power that uses this boost, so it'll never be useless.
12EU: Refined Recall
Another insurance policy: this time, if you miss every target with an Arcane Encounter power, you don't waste it. Awesome!
20D: Master's Surge
This... wow. Just... wow. Remember this important thing: you are a Striker first, but a Controller very closely second. While this really helps with the damage (especially when you don't actually expend the power you use with this daily), there are some horribly broken applications you can apply to transform turn-ending effects into (save ends) effects. An incredibly strong daily, and just to cap it off, it has the Reliable keyword like its younger brother. A beautiful capstone to a simple, yet wonderful, Path.
Entrancing Mystic (AP) - Charisma
Strategy: Charm keyword, saving throw debuffs
Overall Rating: Black. It makes Charm powers great and worth focusing on, but the powers are a bit lackluster. That is, until 16th and 20th levels roll around, and suddenly this power jumps to Light Blue due to the shockingly good 16th level feature and great 20th level daily.
11th Level Feature: Maddening Action
Well that's... lame. Ongoing 5 psychic (save ends) to one creature within a rather short range is a weird reward for spending an action point. Why couldn't have this been added to the power you'd use on the AP? That would have meshed well with this next feature...
11th Level Feature: Mystic Rapture
Enemies take a huge penalty to saving throws if they approach you while they have (save ends) Charm effects on them, and even if they don't, they still take a moderate penalty to saving throws. Sweet, but again, why wasn't the primary penalty tied somehow to the first feature of this Path?
16th Level Feature: Mystery Given Form
Gain a +1 bonus to the very powers you love (and to each power in this PP). Also, all of your Encounter Charm powers gain the Reliable keyword. Weeeeeeeee!
11E: Hekiah's Trance
The damage doesn't exist (and it usually doesn't with Fey'locks, the Pact that would normally want these powers), but a slide + slow is incredible Control, as sending melee enemies a distance equal to your primary ability modifier (not your Intelligence score) and forcing them to only be able to move 2 squares is pretty much equal to a Stun. Of course, Ranged enemies won't care, but I hope to God you didn't think to use this on an Artillery that's sharing your turf.
12DU: Shroud of Adeptus
Wait, huh? An IR daze once per day against an enemy that misses you that doesn't work if they're far away? For a Daily utility, way too situational and anticlimatic.
20D: Ultimatum of the Third Order
A gigantic area of (uncursable) ongoing Psychic damage. And if they don't want to take it on their turn, they're stunned. It's hard to guess the behavior of monsters in reaction to this Daily: you present to them an aura of reduced saving throws. So if they want to get the hell out of there, they're going to be taking damage. However, if they can't move easily out of your range (Defender is hassling them, or they're immobilized in some fashion, etc), they'll start taking massive amounts of damage should the d20 not fall in their favor. So they'll want to stay and stave off the damage... which then means they're stunned. And the Catch-22 manifests itself. You need the exact correct set of circumstances to make this work, because I guarantee the DM is going to want to have them take the damage, and then cart themselves out of there first chance they get. They'll want to do this even more if you miss, because the miss effect is pitiful (dazed or 10 damage). So it's great Control for a reason you don't really think of at first.
Evermeet Warlock (FRPG) - Charisma
Strategy: Mobility denial and enabling, off-Leader
Overall Rating: Light Blue. That level 11 feature needs a rewrite so badly, because it's been exploited by everyone six ways from Sunday. The other features are pretty darn cool, though it has a very confused Utility power.
11th Level Feature: Feywild Wake
So yea, there's this pretty good Utility power called Ethereal Sidestep. It lets you teleport 1 square at-will. This feature gives you invisibility for an entire round against everyone originally adjacent to you when you leave a square by teleporting. Put 2 and 2 together, Cha'locks.
11th Level Feature: Mercurial Action
And you can do it TWICE when you spend an Action Point! You can basically gain a monstrously stupid bonus to defenses and Combat Advantage against everybody if your teleport distance is buffed up enough and you use your new Move Action for another use of Ethereal Sidestep. Or you could just walk, I suppose...
16th Level Feature: Mastery of Passage
OK, who thought of these features? Seriously... this entire path is exploitable by one At-Will Utility power. In this case, you can bring someone else along for the ride, granting unsurpassed friendly mobility.
11E: Blinding Beacon
Bad damage, but a blind is never worthless. The fact that it's Ranged 20 actually puts it above a lot of your other hexes.
12DU: Feylights
Someone goofed. None of the penalties here - concealment, invisibility, and insubstantiality denial - discriminate against your enemies or allies. And you kind of have a Class Feature that works off of concealment. And it even denies you your very own 11th level feature benefit. Decent against enemies that this applies to, but you basically just created a 7x7 square where you aren't allowed to go. Oopsie. With that in mind, why would you even dare waste Standard actions to expand it?!
20D: Moonflower Inspiration
No damage. Instead, you get a friendly 5x5 square of various effects, all chosen by you, as long as you know what kind of defenses your opponents have (or you can just make lucky guesses). You also gain an off-kilter benefit of granting allies healing equal to your Intelligence modifier, both at the outset of the attack if they're in the radius, and then on subsequent rounds if they're standing next to enemies that haven't saved from these effects.
Hexer (AP) - Constitution / Charisma
Strategy: Curse expansion, minor Control
Overall Rating: varied. You need to belong to a Pact that cares about having a ton of enemies Cursed at once, because that's pretty much all this Paragon Path does, and you can still only apply Curse damage once per turn.
Strong for some pacts (Dark, Star, Vestige)
Pretty good for others (Fey and Infernal with Shared Boon)
Hard to judge for Sorcerer-King Pactees. Having everyone on the board cursed right away means they'll have a reliable rate of refreshing on their Fell Mights, but there's also the problem of the Path doing nothing to curb the uselessness of having multiple enemies fall in one turn.
It's also quite good for Element'locks, but you must have Bloodied Boon for this path to work and must stick close to everyone - otherwise it'll work too fast for you.
Weigh your options and pick this accordingly.
11th Level Feature: Damning Curse
A mass penalty to attack rolls just for spending an Action Point? Now that's a pretty darn nice prize, especially with your Path's modus operandi.
11th Level Feature: Greater Hex
Everyone within 5 squares counts as closest to you for the purpose of placing Curses. Considering what your 11E is with this feature, this may be only moderately useful, but losing any restrictions on placement is worthwhile enough. The mileage explodes for Element'locks.
16th Level Feature: Walking Curse
Any damage you deal with your Curse to a creature also slides it 1 square. That's pretty decent Control, and makes proning hexes much more valuable.
11E: Hexblast
So yea. You gain a blast 5 auto-Curse as an Encounter power. The damage is meaningless here: what this power does for you, especially if you belong to the three "awesome" Pacts mentioned above, is too important for you to ignore. Also, by my interpretation (since the Effect line is above the Hit line) minions are Cursed before they take damage. I see your smile, there.
12EU: Vengeful Hex
One person that misses you with a ranged or AOE attack (so they can be in pretty close if they prefer using blasts) can get Cursed. Your job is to mass Curse, so that only furthers the engine, but how useful this will be is up to you, since with how much freedom you now have, everyone on the board could be cursed by the time this comes into play.
20D: Hex of Abandonment
This has to be the first attack you use in a given encounter if you want to use it, because your Cursing engine is too fast even without this daily. What this will do for you is consolidate your minor actions while you have the Big Bad Evil Head Honcho wander around the board Cursing everyone of his allies that stand next to him. You're probably going to have to prod him along, but it'll do its job if the orientation is right; and be sure to remember that the Curse happens before the damage, so minions will grant you your Pact Boon if they die by this effect.
Nightmare Weaver (D373) - Charisma
(You also need Intimidate to take this path.)
Strategy: Attack roll penalties
Overall Rating: Light Blue. Doesn't really come onto its own until 16th level, at which point the strategy's circle comes complete. This Path is almost begging you to take Psychic Lock... so please take it. You won't be sorry you did.
11th Level Feature: Nightmarish Action
This'll make the Hexer PP jealous: introduce a slide to all the debuffing you're doing when you drop an Action Point. Excellent control and debuffing, and all for free(ish).
11th Level Feature: Insidious Curse
As an addition to your Pact Boon, you can immediately Curse the nearest target as an IR. He's already cursed? No problem! Slide him for a decent distance and debuff him instead!
16th Level Feature: Shaking Displays
The keyword you're granted here is something you only see on Rogue and Fighter powers, and some of you may not be aware of what "Rattling" does. It's quite easy: as long as you're trained in Intimidate (and you can't take this Path otherwise), enemies you hit with a power that contains the Rattling keyword - in other words, Painful Delusion and all of your Warlock encounter powers - take a -2 penalty to attack rolls until the end of your next turn. Remember when I said it doesn't really come onto its own until 16th level? This is what I meant - with this feature, you now possess a reliable, multi-instance method of working your debuffs, which is something this path desperately needed.
11E: Painful Delusion
Psychic keyword. Dazed (so automatic combat advantage) and Vulnerable 5 All is amazingly cool. By the way, this has an overlooked side effect: if your allies possess Psychic Lock, the extra damage they inflict using this power's benefit allows them to debuff the target as well, even if they wouldn't originally deal psychic damage with their attack, since the bonus damage is psychic and counted as extra damage.
12EU: Dread Disappearance
Whenever the timing feels right, be considered as invisible instead of concealed to enemies Cursed by you. Dropping their attack rolls even further is something you want happening, and even if it's just towards you, once an encounter is a great usage for this little gem.
20D: Nightmare Stalker
A little complex at first glance, but it's not hard to explain: you conjure a creature next to a target's space, and that creature lasts until you fail to Sustain the power, or the target is slain. If the target (and only the target gets this penalty) stands next to the creature, he takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls. Also, when the little guy is conjured, and on subsequent rounds when the target misses with an attack (which he will, thanks to everything here), you subject him to a Charisma vs. Will attack with the Psychic word that does a polite amount of damage and dazes him. You can also give the guy Minor Actions to sustain, at which point he can move 7 squares to dog the target's footsteps. Just make sure you know the thing only works against the target and no one else, and go to town.
Shadowthief (Essentials: HOS) - Charisma
Strategy: Bookkeeping, quasi-Star Pact benefits
Overall Rating: Red... until 16th level, when everything suddenly starts coming together beautifully and it jumps to Blue. It pretty much meshes with everything you do, and it's actually quite a unique, overlooked path I feel could use some attention.
11th Level Feature: Shadowcursed
You gain a nice little bonus to your defenses against Shadow attack powers(?) and against the attacks of Shadow creatures and Undead(!). The first benefit is very strange, but the latter two are incredibly good in the right campaign (and lots of campaigns feature the Undead as an enemy at some point along the story).
11th Level Feature: Shadow Feast
And now we get into the meat n' potatoes of this path: Shadows. So, what are they? Simple: when you drop an enemy to zero hitpoints, you put a Shadow in a little bank of yours. There is no maximum limit, and they last all encounter. As a free action (basically at any time), you can spend up to four of these Shadows to gain an equivalent bonus to your next attack roll, damage roll, or saving throw. Right now, at 11th level, this is garbage: while you are a Striker and your job is to kill things with extreme prejudice, the actual act of killing enemies is the only thing that gets you Shadows right at the outset, sans your 11E. It'll get better, though...
11th Level Feature: Harvest of Shadows
When you drop an AP to use an attack, enemies that're slain by you contribute two Shadows instead of one. While this could be incredibly terrifying, provided you drop a zone or a large AOE on a group of minions, this again falls into the problem of the huge restriction on actually gaining a Shadow in the first place.
16th Level Feature: Decisive Darkness
You add two more triggers to gaining Shadows: blooding an enemy, or scoring a critical hit against them. This makes the engine of this Path run much more efficiently, and while Harvest of Shadows doesn't care at all about this feature, since it needs you to gain your now-duplicated Shadows from Shadow Feast and not this feature, this is incredibly nice for you.
11E: Shadow Lance
The damage isn't half-bad, but hit or miss, you gain a Shadow. However, if you manage to slay an enemy with this power, you gain three Shadows, and then gain another one from Shadow Feast. Very cool to get a nice jolt to your bank of Shadows, and killing a minion with this power will give you a full set of four to spend at your leisure.
12EU: Shadow Walk
Oh, very funny, WOTC.
Anyway, what this little utility does allows you to spend a Shadow to teleport 5 squares, and then add an additional 2 squares for every Shadow spent after the first. You're already quite mobile, but if you really need to skedaddle out of there and you seem to be alright on your attack rolls and saving throws, toss this out there - three Shadows will give you a Teleport 11, which is quite a long distance for a low expenditure.
20D: Shadowcurse Cataclysm
At this point, they're not even hiding the fact that this is a Path modeled after Warlock abilities. In any case... this is actually quite a solid capstone. It's a friendly Close burst 10 attack that only targets one enemy, but at the cost of two Shadows each, you can add more targets. On a hit, it actually does pretty good damage for a D20, and immobilizes (save ends) no matter if you hit or miss. Honestly quite respectable, and not a bad way to spend any Shadows you might have left over.
Speaker of Xaos (Essentials: HOEC) - No Ability Score Devotion
(You must be trained in Arcana to take this path. This is not a class specific path.)
Strategy: Mix of control and DPR
Overall Rating: Black. Usable by anyone, and decent for "normal" Warlocks, but for Element'locks, this is a blend of excellent features and powers that work exactly in your realm of abilities, even if two of them depend on very specific types of enemies. If your campaign even pretends to care about Elementals, if you're an Element'lock, or you have an easy way to make everything the element of your choice within this field, give this a chance: it's that good.
11th Level Feature: Xaos Action
When you spend an action point to make a cold, fire, lightning, or thunder attack, you can add another target within its range if it's a Melee or Ranged power. Some of your most dangerous hexes, oftentimes containing dominates or other sort of nasty effects, attack only one creature, and being able to attack two creatures at once with it opens up hilarious possibilities - especially as your necrotic/psychic/force/poison powers qualify for this with Elemental Affinity. Oh, and you can expand bursts and blasts instead if that's the attack you use. Sweet. Not the coolest thing about this feature, however.
11th Level Feature: Xaos Lore
This is one of those features I was talking about in the summary blurb - the bonus and penalty only ever apply to Elemental creatures, so this may never come up. Still, it's there.
16th Level Feature: Power of Xaos
Welcome to the Evocation School benefit done perfectly: all of your cold, fire, thunder, lightning, and elemental-keyword powers gain the true equivalent of Brutal 1. I believe this also applies to Warlock's Curse dice rolled as a product of those types of powers, so that's another feat saved. Love it.
11E: Elemental Durance
This and the Daily relies on you hitting an enemy with cold/fire/lightning/thunder powers, so these will never go to waste. On this one, you push an enemy one square, and you inflict some pretty good soft control, punishing it for moving on its next turn.
12EU: Repel Elements
Oh, don't get me wrong, this is a great little utility to crack open if you're surrounded by angry Genasi, but otherwise, this is almost completely useless, save for the close-range defense bonus against four types of damage. Shame you can't trade it away...
20D: Elemental Chains
So, if the effect of your original cold/fire/lightning/thunder attack wasn't nervewracking enough... why not add restrained and ongoing 15 damage to every target hit by the attack? And heck, you even get an immobilization effect to targets you missed! It's excellent control - just add water - and wicked awesome for Elemental'locks.
Racial Paragon Paths
After a nice little jolt of surprise while editing this guide, I've decided to consolidate this portion of the guide. There are a couple of Racial Paragon Paths I'd like to draw attention to:
1) Dragonborn: Ninefold Master. Gives your Breath weapon a very important property (the ability to designate it an Arcane Power that's also considered a Warlock power), and the benefits are defensive in nature. Great for Cha'locks or high INT Con'locks.
2) Shardmind: Gatekeeper. The powers are phenomenal, even if the 11th level features aren't. The level 12 utility is probably one of the best 12Us I've ever seen, and the two attack powers run off of Immediate Reactions and provide both great control and another chance to spice up your dmage.
3) Half-Elf: Half-Elf Polymath. An enhancement to your ability to steal At-Wills from other classes is great, but what really sells this path for me is the free, no-questions-asked, training in two skills of your choice. The Warlock is famous for having skills they should have had training in not being available to them (Diplomacy, Endurance, Stealth), and this is a prime way to get them while also gaining great combat ability.
4) Tiefling: Seer of Endings. Makes an alright Utility power you gain from the Gaze of Ruin feat something to fear, and you become maniacally accurate and able to toss out Vulnerability like no tomorrow.
5) Human: Adroit Explorer. Helps with your defenses, encounter powers, action points, and basically everything anyone loves about Strikers and would like to improve. The path requires no ability score devotion, so go wild. The Dragonborn path Mithral Arm carries similar properties and is just as good for them (especially with having one of the earliest replacements for Ethereal Sidestep with its 16th level feature).
Part Ten: Epic Destinies - God of the Mind
(Due to, ahm, slightly unfortunate circumstances, I will not be able to go over all aspects of the Warlock. This will be the part of the guide that takes the hit, as I am not good at judging EDs, considering how many of them have come out. However, I will point you again to Malkonnen's handbook, which has updated up to the two Demigod-esque Epic Destinies introduced in HOTFK/HOTFL. Here they are, explained better than I ever could.)
Part Eleven: Items and Equipment - Armed and Dangerous
Implements and Superior Implements - The Hands of the Wicked
Before we get too much into popular items themselves, I wanted to take a little bit of space to go over Superior Implements. You gain access to these via the Superior Implement Training feat, and they give you extra properties on your favorite implements akin to weapon properties (like High Crit, Versatile, etc.)
For both the Superior Implement section and the popular options section, I'll be going over the options for six implements Warlocks may be interested in:
• Rods and Wands
• Staffs and Orbs
• Daggers
• Ki Focuses
• ACCURATE: Gain a +1 bonus to implement keyword attack rolls while using this implement.
• DEADLY: Gain a +1/+2/+3 bonus to the damage rolls of implement keyword attack powers using this implement.
• DISTANT: Increase the range of implement powers by 2. This does not affect the radii of Bursts and Blasts (but does affect the distance of where you can place the origin square of a ranged Burst).
• EMPOWERED CRIT: Deal an extra 1d10/2d10/3d10 damage when you score a critical hit with an implement keyword attack.
• ENERGIZED (damage): Gain a +2/+3/+4 bonus to implement keyword damage rolls that have the (damage) keyword.
• FORCEFUL: Gain a +1 bonus to the distance you push, pull, or slide with an implement keyword attack you use with this implement.
• SHIELDING: Gain a +1 shield bonus to AC and Reflex for the round if you hit with an implement keyword attack using this implement.
• UNDENIABLE: Gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls against Will with implement attacks.
• UNERRING: Like Undeniable, but against Reflex.
• UNSTOPPABLE: Like Undeniable, but against Fortitude.
Superior Implements
(A quick note: Superior Implement properties never, ever apply to attacks that do not contain the Implement keyword. Keep that in mind as you select your Superior Implement and your powers.)
Accurate Rod (Accurate): The prime choice as it usually is for most implements. Attack bonuses are always fantastic, especially for Strikers.
Ashen Rod (Energized Fire, Unerring): A bonus to Reflex is one of the better choices, as it buffs your RBA, plus some solid support for Fire powers, some of which do also tend to hit Reflex.
Deathbone Rod (Energized Necrotic, Undeniable): Another good match-up. Though the Necrotic powers oftentimes do attack Fortitude, Will is another common one, and especially with Heroes of Shadow, you did gain a lot of Necrotic power options, so this has definitely been strengthened.
Defiant Rod (Energized Radiant, Shielding): Rod Expertise already gives you a shield bonus to AC and Reflex, and Energized Radiant just isn't enough of a benefit to put it over any of the others.
Cinder Wand (Empowered Crit, Energized Fire): Perhaps slightly better than the Ashen Rod, though it's moreso if you tend more towards AOE powers than single-target ones, as otherwise you won't crit often enough for the damage to rise over Accurate. Still, a popular damage type plus crits that sting is excellent.
Dragontooth Wand (Deadly, Unerring): This combination buffs Eldritch Blast in both categories (attack and damage rolls), something very unique for a Superior Implement, and doesn't prejudice in buffing your other powers' damage rolls. Worth a second look.
Rowan Wand (Distant, Energized Lightning): You have very few Lightning hexes, and your best one is a Blast, making Distant meaningless. Distant's still not bad, especially for King'locks (and it's the only way a non-Eladrin can get the Distant property without pulling other shenanigans), but they have zero lightning hexes.
Guardian Staff (Energized Force, Shielding): A bit wonky. Force isn't a very popular damage type, but it shows up now and again. Shielding will patch up your defenses somewhat, but it's still not one of your better options.
Mindwarp Staff (Distant, Energized Psychic): Oooh, now here's something. Psychic damage is extremely common amongst your powers, and Distant is splendid, especially for King'locks, whom also love Psychic damage.
Quickbeam Staff (Energized Thunder, Forceful): Mark of Storm + this staff = hilarity. You still have a lot of forced-movement powers, though, so don't worry if you don't use Thunder damage all that much.
Crystal Orb (Energized Psychic, Undeniable): Pretty much the perfect combination for the more Controllerish of Warlocks, whom tend to use powers that fit this bill.
Greenstone Orb (Energized Acid, Unstoppable): An oddly decent choice for Dark'locks, since they have a couple of Acid powers, and a fair few of their powers target Fortitude. Everyone else can steer clear.
Petrified Orb (Energized Force, Forceful): Again, Force damage is not very common, but Forceful combines so beautifully with the Orb Expertise side benefit.
Incendiary Dagger (Energized Fire, Unerring): The carbon copy of the Ashen Rod.
Lancing Dagger (Empowered Crit, Energized Lightning): This is much more awesome than you'd think at first glance. Lightning is an extremely rare damage type, but you can force it otherwise, using a Lightning Weapon Dagger. On top of which, your critical hits hit hard, and this time you have implements available at Paragon Tier that will give you an unnatural crit range (Jagged Weapon, Melegaunt's Darkblade), making that property much more powerful.
Resonating Dagger (Energized Thunder, Forceful): The carbon copy of Quickbeam Staff.
Ki Focus
Inexorable Ki Focus (Energized Force, Unstoppable): Two of the rarest conditions manifested in one implement. Much better for the Psionic class this was built for.
Iron Ki Focus (Deadly, Forceful): A bit of bite on all of your powers, and your forced movement also grows in power. Not bad at all.
Mighty Ki Focus (Empowered Crit, Unerring): Makes your Eldritch Blast accurate and sting, and passes along that benefit to the right powers. Awesome.
Mountain Ki Focus (Forceful, Shielding): Even though Shielding is here, take Iron Ki Focus. The amount of times a not-always-on extra point in AC and Reflex will matter is few. To be quite honest, though, the reason you're using a Ki Focus in the first place is probably because you're wielding a weapon that takes up both hands, so maybe consider this?
Serene Ki Focus (Energized Psychic, Undeniable): Carbon copy of Crystal Orb, though downgraded as Ki Focuses are not typically Controller implements. Still a fantastic choice.
From here on out, I'll be listing items that're at least Black in rating (and of those, ones that deserve mention), to minimize the size of this post.
Rod of Deadly Casting (2+): Cool little quasi-Brutal 1 property on a heavy crit die (d10). Could sometimes eclipse the d12 crit die that's so common at this level of enchantment.
Rod of Office (2+): Offhand. In a pinch, excellent for King'locks to get an important rider off (especially at high levels).
Rod of Smiting (2+), Ironscar Rod (3+): Works as a mace, which is a nice option for Eldritch Strikers who still want a Shield bonus from Rod Expertise without using another implement.
Rod of the Fickle Servant (2+): Much better at Epic tier with Vestige Mastery.
Rod of Avernus (3+): Offhand. Gives you one of the better benefits of the Hexer Paragon Path, approximately 13 levels earlier.
Rod of Corruption (3+): Offhand. In case your Pact Boon is useless to you when you trigger it, you can instead turn the enemy who just died into a source of a Close burst 5 autocurse. Amazing at the beginning of the encounter, but it'll quickly become unnecessary as the encounter winds down.
Rod of Malign Conveyance (3+): Offhand, requires maintenance. Much better at Epic, and with distance improvements. You attach great control to your critical hits.
Vicious Rod (3+): Offhand. Great crit die, and saves you a feat in increasing your Curse dice.
Bloodcurse Rod (4+): Offhand. Saves a feat, and does not remove your Curse, unlike Bloodied Boon.
Darkspiral Rod (4+): A very neat little boost to damage if you're in crowded encounters, and might entice you to keep your shield up for a long time.
Rod of the Dragonborn (4+): Your Dragonbreath forces all of your powers to copy its damage type(s). With how well you can control and add damage types to Dragonbreath, especially at Paragon, this is almost mandatory for Dragon'locks.
Rod of the Pactbinder (4+): Offhand. Should still work even if you later retrain the power away. Excellent if that's the case.
Rod of Reaving (5+): Nowhere near as good as it used to be, but still pretty solid, especially after Paragon gets underway.
Rod of Brutality (9+): Offhand, requires maintenance. One of the best offhand options available: gives the Brutal 1/2/3 property to your Curse dice.
Rod of Beguiling (10+): Fantastic for skill fiends (especially for Cha'locks), and the Daily power is suprisingly good.
Rod of Devilry (10+): Interesting option for Tieflings, giving them a nice source of accuracy and damage.
Torch of Misery (10+): Fire and Radiant (moreso the former) are common damage types for Warlocks, so this benefit will come up quite often. Plus, it's an Everburning Torch!
Arkhosian Scepter (12+): Offhand, Silver Dragon Regalia set. The set benefit is something Cha'locks will love, and as mentioned, it saves you a feat in its Daily power if you don't plan on using Dragonbreath terribly often.
Rod of Baleful Geas (12+): Offhand. A tad bit of control and extra damage 1/day as a free action.
Rod of the Hidden Star (13+): Offhand. The second daily on this power is sick, and at Epic it becomes ridiculous. Even more ridiculous if you took the Master of the Starry Path Paragon Path.
Spider Rod (13+): Dark'locks will flock to this Rod, but others will probably not even bother.
Rod of Stolen Starlight (17+): As long as you're willing to spend a minor action each turn to do so, you can deal Radiant damage instead of Poison or Necrotic damage with an attack. You also gain a 1 die boost to Curse damage against Undead. Dependant on your campaign, but very strong in an an undead-heavy setting.
Rod of the Bloodthorn (22+): Overkill for Tieflings, perhaps, but still a great benefit for all.
Rod of the Star Spawn (22+): Unnatural crit range, decent crit dice, and the ability to spend a healing surge when you score a critical hit. One of the best mainhand Rods in the game.
Rod of Ulban (25+): Offhand. All enemies under your Curse gain Vulnerable 10 Psychic. If you took the Mindbite Scorn feat, prepare for the slaughter.
Lightning Wand (3+): Those hankering for Lightning spells will find this to their liking.
Master's Wand of Eldritch Blast (3+): Make this a Dragontooth Wand, and you'll do some heavy damage with your Ranged Basic Attack.
Master's Wand of Eyebite (3+): A huge improvement to Eyebite, giving it a bonus that will always apply.
Master's Wand of Hellish Rebuke (3+): Adds some solid splash damage on the Rebuke punishment. However, the trigger for this wand must be from Rebuke punishing the enemy for damaging you, and for no other reason.
Master's Wand of Scorching Burst (3+): Warlocks with decent INT will love an Encounter AOE option that singes the poor, unlucky soul at the center of the burst.
Master's Wand of Eyes of the Vestige (4+): A bit more freedom in where you can place your extra Curse, and a small bump to Curse dice damage with EOTV.
Master's Wand of Spiteful Glamor (4+): Makes this power much better as a primer, allowing you to deal an extra die of Curse damage against a target at maximum hitpoints with Spiteful Glamor.
Master's Wand of Vicious Mockery (4+): Cha'locks might actually be interested in a 1/enc double-debuff.
Precise Wand of Shock Sphere (10+): Storm Scourge PPers will love having any extra Lightning options, even as a daily, especially one with two huge benefits on top of the power.
Wand of Thunderous Anguish (24+): Warlocks who even dare to concentrate on Thunder powers will be adding a great Leader-like benefit to their ally's attacks.
Wand of Allure (29): Conduct your orchestra from twice the distance away.
(Gain proficiency in the Staff by either taking the Arcane Implement Proficiency or White Lotus Dueling Expertise feats, or by multiclassing into Invoker, Psion, Wizard, Sorcerer, or Druid.)
Aversion Staff (2+): Offhand. Insanely cheap, and yet provides such a wonderous benefit.
Defensive Staff (2+): Offhand. Another cheap item that gives a great defensive boost, this time a permanent +1 to your NADs.
Staff of Resilience (3+): Offhand. Another source of temp hitpoints for you Infernal'locks that like to go emo with your favorite powers.
Staff of Ruin (3+): One of the most popular staffs in the game. Just attacking with it helps you deal very solid damage. The crit die is also quite remarkable.
Staff of Sleep and Charm (3+): Great now, but at Paragon and Epic, you make some of your best powers ridiculously, stupidly accurate. The fact that this hasn't been errata'd scares me.
Staff of the War Mage (3+): For those that like to concentrate a bit on AOEs, this is splendid. Works incredibly well for all Dragonborn, whether or not their Dragonbreath is Arcane.
Battle Staff (4+): For Eldritch Strikers. This needs a little bit of preparation before it can get going, and requires you have no offhand implement, but unnatural crit range this early with one of your best At-Wills is worth something special.
Hellfire Staff (4+): The option to make all of your Close burst, Close blast, and melee attacks (here's looking at you, King'locks) deal Fire damage is pretty nice, and the critical hit effect, while containing no bonus dice, is fantastic for power recovery, especially if you concentrate on either of those two powers.
Staff of Forceful Rebuking (4+): Make it a Quickbeam Staff and go to town.
Staff of the Traveler (5+): Offhand. If you don't feel you need an offhand implement otherwise, this is a wonderful replacement for Ethereal Sidestep, though it won't get you out of grabs.
Staff of the Serpent (7+): While it provides a neat benefit to Eldritch Strikers who use a Staff to do their thwacking (as it's not item-typed damage), this also buffs the damage of Sorcerer-King powers used in Melee touch range, making King'locks very happy. However, careful against using this against Undead, as it's +1d6 Poison damage, not "1d6 extra poison damage."
Earthroot Staff (8+): If you prize Control more than damage, this will give you a lethal critical and a nice benefit to all your powers that immobilize, petrify, slow, or restrain.
Staff of Portals (14+): Forced teleportation on a critical (with dice, no less), and the ability to instill a mass friendly teleportation effect 1/day when you use a power with the Teleportation power? Now you're thinking with portals.
Queen's Staff (15+): Gifts for the Queen set. Only good for those who took the Storm Scourge PP, but adding a huge bonus to attack rolls against people that you hit with Eldritch Blast (using the feature on that Path to make it a lightning power), plus a boost to Lightning and Radiant damage should you go further down this set makes it a wonderful option.
Tempest Staff (15+): Armory of the Unvanquished set. A rather weird critical dice effect (you deal damage to everyone around you instead of the target?), but that and the second benefit make you absolutely brutal in close range should you crit.
Staff of Corrosion (18+): Staff of the Serpent, but now with a much improved damage type.
Staff of the Far Wanderer (22+): Offerings of Celestian set. The staff itself is rather lame, but it's the set benefit when you wear all four items that makes it incredible.
Destiny Staff (25+): Decent crit dice, and the ability to spend a healing surge when you slay an enemy can really help you get through a tough encounter.
(Gain proficiency in the Orb by either taking the Arcane Implement Proficiency or White Lotus Dueling Expertise feats, or by multiclassing into Psion or Wizard.)
Orb of Forceful Magic (3+): Don't you love enchantments that perfectly mesh with their host's Expertise feat? And don't you also love it when a Superior Implement version of it also adds more to this? +3 to all forced movements with two feats and an enchantment is off-the-wall crazy, and highly recommended to those who want to concentrate in that field.
Orb of Frustrated Recovery (3+): Offhand. The main purpose of Orbs is to force saving throw failures. Here's one that'll boost the effectiveness of your ongoing damage powers.
Orb of Inevitable Continuance (3+): Offhand. Force an effect you really love to last just one more turn.
Orb of Insurmountable Force (3+): Offhand. A 1/enc Push equal to the enhancement bonus is a neat upgrade to your Controller abilities.
Orb of Mental Constitution (3+): Offhand. A +5 item bonus to Endurance checks at level 3 may even convince some Cha'locks to take a look, and Con'locks, especially those trouncing around Athas, will find this very appealing.
Orb of Nimble Thoughts (3+): Offhand. Worse than it used to be... and that's saying a lot. Now instead of an Intelligence modifier boost to your initiative, instead you gain the enhancement bonus to initiative. Still a great bonus, especially for a class that struggles to have a decent initiative modifier, and the Encounter power isn't bad at all.
Orb of Impenetrable Escape (6+): Offhand. Force a failed save, but now against anything you wish. No critical dice, however, so keep it in your offhand.
Orb of Spacial Contortion (12+): Becomes exponentially more powerful in regards of territory covered as you add squares to the radii of your favorite Blast attacks (a Blast 5 becomes a Close burst 3, a Blast 6 becomes a Close burst 4, etc).
Orb of Sudden Insanity (12+): Once per day, an enemy hit by you with a power that deals Psychic damage whallops a nearby creature that you choose. Interesting.
Orb of Indefatigable Concentration (13+): What a mouthful. With Heroes of Shadow, you've gained a lot more Sustain Minor zones and effects, and 1/day you can turn them into free action sustains for 3-6 turns.
Orb of Fickle Fate (14+): Go all schizophrenic with your Leader and Controller thirds of your personality.
Orb of the Usurper (23+): Great crit dice, but what if you don't want to deal damage? That's fine - once per day, dominate the target instead.
(Gain proficiency in the Dagger by either taking the Arcane Implement Proficiency feat, or by multiclassing into Sorcerer or Swordmage.)
Goblin Totem (2+): Small casters will find this at the level of Staff of Ruin, and Pixies will pretty much never find an enemy against which this won't buff you.
Prime Shot Weapon (2+): A little bit of an extra benefit to a condition you always want to trigger is worthwhile as an enchantment.
Quicksilver Blade (2+): A marvelous bonus to initiative, especially for a class that typically has a terrible initiative bonus, and once per day you can take an extra move action when you score a critical hit.
Vicious Weapon (2+): d12 crit dice on a cheap weapon has got to be worth a penny or two.
Frost Weapon (3+): One of the cheapest elemental weapons around, and this has been given to so many characters due to the insane synergy it has with the Wintertouched and Lasting Frost feats.
Rhythm Blade (3+): Offhand. Even if you can't use Daggers as an implement, you need to seriously consider this: a boost to your shield bonus, even if it was originally zero, is superb, and combos wonderfully with the Rod Expertise benefit to give you the benefit of a heavy shield while never weighing you down.
Vanguard Weapon (3+): Using a Dagger for a weapon is not the worst idea in the world, as it is accurate and most of your dice will come from the Warlock's Curse anyway. Being able to deal +1d8 damage with Eldritch Strike should you use it on a charge is quite nice. Cha'locks will find the daily power to be a massive boon to their entire party.
Warsoul Weapon (3+): Warforged only, but they can use it very nicely, gaining a small boost to initative, and once per day can make Eldritch Strike into an Immediate Interrupt should an adjacent enemy shift.
Intensifying Weapon (4+): The preferred implement of choice for Dark'locks.
Weapon of Defense (4+): Resist 1 All as a property could mean the difference between life and death, even considering how small the amount might seem.
Flaming Weapon (5+): Like the Frost Weapon, except for Fire damage. However, it no longer adjusts powers that deal typed damage already, reducing its strength considerably.
Lightning Weapon (5+), Thunderbolt Weapon (13+): Like the Frost Weapon, except for Lightning damage. This pretty much solves every single problem with the Storm Scourge PP, and on top of that, making this a Lancing Dagger does beautiful things to your DPR.
Weapon of Speed (5+): The benefit of Quickened Spellcasting (though pigeonholed to Eldritch Blast), 16 levels early. That's something I like to call "good".
Cunning Weapon (8+): All attacks that're channeled through this weapon force the enemy to take a -2 penalty to saving throws against those attack's effects. Quite handy for the more Controllerish of you, or if you're more prone to dealing ongoing damage (Dark'locks?)
Force Weapon (8+): Like the Frost Weapon, except for Force damage. Having a problem with insubstantiality in your games? Take this, add the Inescapable Force feat, and no one will ever bother you again.
Incisive Dagger (9+), Mithrendain Steel Weapon (13+), Rubicant Blade (18+): Each boosts your teleport distance by 1 square (or, in the case of the Incisive Dagger, a number of squares equal to its enhancement bonus). That should sound important to you.
Blackshroud Weapon (10+): Notable about this enchantment is its critical dice. It's not damage, but temporary hitpoints that you gain. More fuel for Doom of Delban, perhaps?
Jagged Weapon (12+), Melegaunt's Darkblade (12+): Both items will give you an unnatural crit range. However, their extra critical damage is much different: the Jagged's is ongoing 10 (becomes ongoing 20 at Epic tier), while the Melegaunt's Darkblade deals 1d6 extra cold damage per plus. The Melegaunt's Darkblade is also in a Dungeon magazine, which might tip your DM away from letting you snatch it up, but either way, you'll be good to go.
Thundergod Weapon (13+): 1d6 extra damage on a charge. Worse than the Vanguard Weapon at Paragon, but at Epic, a +5 or higher version will deal 2d6 extra damage, which catapults it over.
Radiant Weapon (15+): Like the Frost Weapon, but with Radiant damage. And with an outstanding side benefit as well. If you take nothing else and you have access to Daggers as an implement, pick this up immediately.
Battlemaster's Weapon (24+): Once per day, regain the use of an encounter power. So simple, but so fun.
Ki Focuses
(Gain proficiency in the Ki Focus by multiclassing into Monk, Assassin, or Vampire.)
Envenomed Ki Focus (2+): Surprisingly, a lot of your powers do deal Poison damage, and this is a pretty nice way to buff their damage. They still won't be all that spectacular, but it's something.
Blazing Arc Ki Focus (3+): Eldritch Strike and all King'lock powers used in Melee touch range are affected by this, so if you're a Tiefling King'lock, this could actually be really cool.
Cascading Strikes Ki Focus (3+): A reroll in your back pocket for both your weapon and implement powers? Sure!
Rain of Hammers Ki Focus (3+): Autodamage is never bad (though you really need to be a Melee'lock to take advantage of this), and a minor-action attack once per day is also something you can look forward to.
Abduction Ki Focus (4+): Yes, this does turn Eldritch Strike into a Slide 2 power! Doesn't do too much else, and you'll be going seventeen different directions making it work with Polearm Momentum, but still, your MBA now carries accelerated Control that works on a charge.
Bloodthirsty Ki Focus (4+): A solid bonus to damage against bloodied enemies with either weapon or implement powers is awesome if you trend down that path.
Thunderfist Ki Focus (4+): Making your Eldritch Strike and King'lock powers used in Melee touch range deal Thunder damage instead of any other type has got to combo with something. Like, oh, I don't know, Mark of Storm?
Devastating Ki Focus (5+): Not-quite-Brutal 2 is kind of a weird benefit, but this makes powers that are d4-based surprisingly good (Falchions suddenly rock as well).
Forked Lightning Ki Focus
(9+): Same as the Thunderfist, but Lightning instead of Thunder. You Storm Scourge King'melee'locks (I suppose they could exist) listening closely?
Embers of Black Flame Ki Focus
(10+): All of your necrotic powers are now dual-typed as fire/necrotic (and the same for Fire powers), which is a great fix to the common problem of Necrotic resistance. It's expensive, and the daily benefit is useless, but the primary benefit is still something your powers desperately need.
Armor and Other Items
The armor section will reflect choices within the Leather armor field; those that must stick in Cloth will be fine with the same armors that Wizards use. WOTC assumes that a Warlock is not going to move out of Leather, so pretty much all of its support is thrown there.
Repulsion Armor (2+): Once per day for an entire encounter, you can completely deny an enemy moving next to you. This is something that a Warlock will absolutely lavish, especially the more fragile ones.
Armor of Sudden Recovery (3+): Turning ongoing damage (of any type) completely on its head and applying it to yourself as Regeneration can completely end encounters.
Runic Armor (3+): A bonus to Arcana and an untyped bonus to damage rolls when you spend your Second Wind (Dwarves land here) is great for a decently cheap enchantment.
Warmage's Uniform (3+): How about a monolith Leader-like benefit to a lucky ally when you hit with an Arcane power once per day?
Armor of Dark Majesty (4+): Pretty much the perfect Heroic Tier armor for you. You gain an item bonus to Bluff and Intimidate checks (kind of your two strongest Charisma-based skills), and an item bonus to defenses against everyone that's under your Curse. Which'll soon be the entire board. And also a daily power to throw a Curse on anyone within sight range. Melee'locks want this armor so badly, because the "best" armor down the line is slightly less useful to them.
Battle Harness (4+): You gain a power bonus(?!) to initiative, which only the Warlord class feature refuses to stack with, but the first property is a little bit less useful, since you have two handsless options for implements (Holy Symbol and Ki Focus) now. Still handy for the wonkier of builds.
Flowform Armor (4+): Immediately being able to make a save against an undesirable effect 1/enc is awesome, even if you can't spend Power Points to gain the buffed effect (and if you can, hoo boy).
Parchment Armor (4+): Turns out paper ain't bad at protecting you. Nor is it bad at buffing your attack bonuses as the armor scales (and the bonus can be applied after the roll is made, not before).
Deathcut Armor (5+): Awesome resistances, and a huge punishment for Cha'locks 1/day against an enemy hitting you with a melee attack.
Gloaming Armor (5+): An item bonus to Stealth, which is fascinating, but the Encounter power is kind of lame, and there are better items, especially in the Neck slot. This is also Rare, so good luck convincing your DM that you deserve this piece.
Shadowdance Armor (5+): If you don't use Staffs, this is a prime option for you, as you'll never provoke opportunity attacks from making Ranged or Area attacks.
Shared Suffering Armor (5+): Could be hilarious if you pawn your damage off to one enemy, then turn around and throw Fortune Binding at another foe to copy the effect over again and cancel yours.
Summoned Armor (6+): Completely social, and carries no mechanical bonus over regular Magic armor, but the RP aspect of this piece is phenomenal.
Irrefutable Armor (7+): I heard a lot of your attacks targeted Will. Want an insurance policy?
Shadow Warlock Armor (10+): Mentioned so often in this guide, but barely described. The effect is simple: when you gain concealment from your Shadow Walk class feature (and from no other effect), you gain Combat Advantage against all of your enemies subject to your Warlock's Curse. It's expensive, but your accuracy just shoots through the roof, and the effect is easy as hell to get.
Shadowflow Armor (13+): One of the best alternatives to Gloaming Armor. It's Uncommon instead of Rare, the Stealth bonus is untyped, and the Power is actually kind of handy in a pinch.
Armor of Night (14+): If you're absolutely stuck somewhere, being able to get out of a large crowd with concealment intact and not having to provoke opportunity attacks is a ticket you don't want to lose.
Armor of Scintillating Colors (14+): A bonus to two Charisma-based skills, and a Daily aura that'll make attacks nearby that target you fizzle and die half of the time. Niiiiiiice.
Neck Items
Amulet of Elegy (2+): Cheap (but has to scale), and especially for Orb users, punishes everyone heavily 1/day when they're inflicted with a save-ends effect.
Sustaining Cloak (2+): The ability to drop any sustaining actions (from Minor all the way up to Standard) to a Free action once per encounter is glorious, depending on your choice of items and powers.
Badge of the Berserker (2+): If you must chargespam... here's your jewel.
Necklace of Keys (3+): If you're delegated as the trap maestro, but your Thievery isn't 100% there, try using this neck item, or at least keep it in your pockets for a night on the town.
Periapt of Health (3+): Campaign dependant, but this gives you a big buffer against diseases.
Cloak of Distortion (4+): The number of erratas this item has survived numbers in the dozens - a permanent bonus that can go all the way up to +6 against attacks that originate more than 5 squares away from you makes Ranged-focused Warlocks drool.
Cloak of the Walking Wounded (4+): Beautiful for Dwarves, excellent for anyone else.
Amulet of Life (5+): As COTWW above, but expanded to all Healing Surges, and 1/enc.
Cape of the Mountebank (5+): Won't avoid the attack, but it'll whisk you out of trouble, refresh your Shadow Walk, and give you a neat accuracy boost to exact revenge next turn.
Deep-Pocket Cloak (7+): Sling a Bag of Holding around your neck, why don't you.
Elven Cloak (7+): This combined with Shadowflow Armor will solidify your Stealth score to a point where it's basically "fixed". Then again, if it was trained and you were DEX based in the first place, do you really need this?
Steadfast Amulet (8+): Protection against some terrible status effects, and should you still fail, you don't waste the power. Fantastic!
Talisman of Terror (12+): You do tend to use a lot of Fear powers, and a debuff to saving throws attached to them is quite nice. Not on the same league as the equivalency with Charm powers, but it's still something to consider.
Fleece of Renewal (13+): Aspect of the Ram set. Just one more piece, and you'll make Eldritch Strike both rather accurate on a charge, and make it a source of temp hitpoints when you do charge with it.
Assassin's Cloak (14+): Basically a +5 bonus to Stealth rolls, plus the Daily power is very defensive and based on Charisma.
Cloak of the Shadowthief (14+): Once per encounter, you can gain the benefit of your Shadow Warlock Armor, except you can use it off of any concealment, or even cover. Magnificent.
Cloak of the Stalking Shadow (14+): The Elven Cloak, but with a Daily power that just cannot compare with many other item dailies.
Cloak of Translocation (14+): Whenever you teleport, you gain a +2 untyped bonus to AC and Reflex. You do remember this is the very class that has an At-Will teleport, right?
Timeless Locket (14+): Once per day, gain a Standard Action instead of a Minor Action. Oh, and patch up your initiative while you're at it. A hundred times yes.
Tattered Cloak (19+): A mass attack denial (save ends) is awesome, but honestly, there are better cloaks out there.
Wyrmtouched Amulet (19+): Dragonborn only. Gives you a great defensive boost (which only grows in power the more damage types you add to it), and casting your Dragonbreath when you become bloodied is a brilliant boost to your damage.
Bralani Cloak (20+): Resist 15 Psychic, and a daily teleportation that juts you a long distance and allows you to fly for a turn? Shame it's so expensive...
Eldritch Medallion (22+): Eldritch Panoply set. The Daily power contained within's pretty good, but the set benefit manifests itself even with just one more item from this set, provided you don't mind spending Minor Actions to bamf again.
Scarab of Invulnerability (30): For one round, you are completely invulnerable to all damage once a day. Perhaps not quite necessary, since you have a lot of other panic buttons, but that's still a great Daily.
Arms Slot Items
Wrist Razors (Mundane): A special case. This item is open to enchantment as a Light Blade in the Arms slot - if you use a two-handed weapon for Eldritch Strike or any other attacks and still need an implement, why not have a Pact Blade enchanted Wrist Razor? An important note: Rhythm Blade Wrist Razors provide no bonus whatsoever, as enchanting it as an Arms slot weapon does not make it an offhand weapon for the purpose of its enchantment.
Bracers of Mighty Striking (2 / 12 / 22): Super cheap upgrade to Eldritch Strike, but does nothing for anything else.
Bracers of the Perfect Shot (3 / 13 / 23): How about a nice bump to Eldritch Blast instead?
Phylactery of Action (3 / 13 / 23): These kinds of benefits just don't manifest themselves a lot on Arms items, and being able to do it up to Stunned even at level 3 makes it a very cheap second-chance item that's worth investigating.
Bracers of Archery (6 / 16 / 26): If ever you're able to use a Bow or Crossbow as an implement (not impossible - Moonbow Dedicate much?), use this item. NOW.
Iron Armbands of Power (6 / 16 / 26): Works perfectly with Eldritch Strike and your King'lock powers when used in Melee touch range.
Warlock's Bracers (11): A much better use of your hard-earned 90 platinum. A +1 bonus to all defenses against enemies affected by your Curse. This is an item bonus (sorry, Armor of Dark Majesty wearers) but the Arms slot is always an iffy spot for a Warlock, and this is probably your best option.
Bracelet of the Radiant Storm (13): Gifts for the Queen set. Decent defenses (though then again, what really attacks with Radiant powers?), and for Lightning and Radiant blasters, the set bonus manifests itself with just one more item (which will probably be the Ring of the Radiant Storm).
Trollhide Bracers (19): In a bit of a tiff? Pop these babies open and enjoy some great healing!
Boots and Feet Items
Acrobat Boots (2): One of the simplest items in the game, and yet one of my all-time favorites. Incredibly cheap, incredibly handy, and just all-around amazing for just about everyone.
Boots of Adept Charging (2): Yea, I hear you, chargelovers. You want superduper Eldritch Strike? Here's another piece of the puzzle.
Boots of Stealth (3 / 13 / 23), Sandals of Precise Stepping (6): If your Armor and Neck item are currently occupied by... well... non-Stealth armors, here's a decent way to patch it all up.
Boots of Elvenkind (7 / 17 / 27): Just like the Boots of Stealth, but contains an autohidden Daily power. Now that's pretty darn nice.
Boots of Eagerness (9): Because there's absolutely nothing stupid or broken about being able to use Ethereal Sidestep twice in one turn, is there?
Boots of Striding (9), Shadowdancer's Boots (12): Something for Dwarves and Gnomes to seriously consider, since they want to be as mobile as possible, and even one square lower than their non-Elf counterparts is something to worry about.
Avalanche Boots (10): Did we seriously have to glue on a push-enhancer to Boots of Adept Charging? Did we really have to?
Spark Slippers (16): If you're concerned about Radiant DPR than you are about Lightning powers (and honestly, who could blame you?) here's a fantastic way for a Cha'lock to get the gravy train going with the Gifts of the Queen set bonuses.
Boots of Caiphon (22): Points of the Constellation set. A +2 bonus to Reflex (to be fair, probably not your dump defense), and an At-Will Minor Action move option that damages you (yes, Hellish Rebuke users, I'm looking right in your direction), and a great set bonus all together make for a wonderful little item.
Zephyr Boots (24): Fly, little Warlock, fly!
Boots of Teleportation (28): Or you could just teleport everywhere. This completely makes Ethereal Sidestep obsolete (finally), and you can grab a new utility for once.
Gloves and Hand Items
Burglar's Gloves (1): Not the worst way to spend 360 GP. You do have the option to train in Thievery, after all.
Gauntlets of Blood (4 / 14 / 24): If you don't mind keeping track of numbers and statistics and revel in static damage modifiers, grab these and don't let go.
Resplendent Gloves
(5 / 15 / 25): Untyped damage added onto any power you use that targets Will? Hard competition with your level 8 item, but man, that's beautiful.
Gloves of Eldritch Admixture
(8 / 18 / 28): This little item gives you three wonderful ways to punch Vulnerabilities. The Encounter power is certainly powerful, but actually scales rather poorly, so just stick to the Level 8 version. You'll be fine.
Antipathy Gloves (10): A sphere of friendly difficult terrain (sort of) around you might just be enough to get enemies off of your back and onto someone else's.
Strikebacks (10): Everyone loves Immediate Reaction attacks. Everyone really loves it when they can do it with Warlock powers. Even more people love doing it with Eldritch Strike. Why not do it every encounter on a rather common trigger?
Hands of Hadar (26): Points of the Constellation set. Two extra dice of Curse damage when an enemy grants combat advantage to you (ahem). And it feeds your set bonus? It used to be kind of mediocre when Curses were limited to 1/round, but now that they're 1/turn, there is no longer any competition.
Head Slot Items
Eagle Eye Goggles (2 / 12 / 22): If you're stuck with Eldritch Blast as your basic attack, you might as well go all out and make it stupidly accurate.
Circlet of Second Chances (3): That's right. This is a level three item. If you didn't have other head items clamoring for your attention, I wouldn't recommend anything else, to be quite honest.
Casque of Tactics (4 / 14 / 24): Gain a really good bonus to initative, and if the check still sucks... borrow someone else's 1/day!
Skull Mask (5 / 15 / 25): Very easy penalty application for your Fear effects, but the scaling of the power only matters if you encounter a lot of undead in your adventures.
Horned Helm (6 / 16 / 26): +1d6/2d6/3d6 to damage on a charge. Are you happy, now?
Headband of Intellect (10 / 20 / 30): Don't bother scaling up this item. Just buy the level 10 version and enjoy complete dominance over your enemies with all of your Psychic powers.
Circlet of Arkhosia (14): Silver Dragon Regalia set. Yet another opportunity to shrug off wretched effects off your person, and this time you get another chance at the end of your turn.
Crown of the Brilliant Sun (14): Utterly, stupidly, horribly broken for your Invoker cousin. Much less useful for you, but it still feeds into Gifts of the Queen, so that's something.
Goggles of Night (14): BAM, darkvision. That simple.
Ioun Stone of Vigor (21), Ioun Stone of Allure (21): Whichever one of these apply to you, take serious consideration into snatching one up. The Charisma one is stupidly broken, but the Constitution one is still great, especially in high-Endurance environments.
Eye of Awareness (23): +5 item bonus to initiative, +2 to Will. You need this item if you have no other way to gain initiative.
Crown of Victory (29): Stockpile those Action Points, gents... because now you can spend two in one encounter.
Eladrin Ring of Passage (14): Eladrins (already a stellar Warlock race) increase the distance of any teleport they use by 2 squares. Everyone else only adds 1 square. Still a solid benefit either way, and the cornerstone of teleportation optimization.
Iron Ring of the Dwarf Lords (14): Con'locks won't care at all, but until Level 21 rolls around, Cha'locks will love any way of gaining a bit of resilience.
Ring of the Dragonborn Emperor (15): Even more items to make Dragonborn awesome. Even though the bonuses to Close attacks are replicated by items you'd use as implements, it frees it up somewhat if you concentrate on Blast attacks, and the Daily power, while it applies best to Dragonborn, gives a benefit to anyone who even dares to stray in close.
War Ring (16): Add a die of damage to critical dice rolls on weapon or implement attacks when you score a critical hit. Better than Ring of Giants due to not being restricted on the type of attack used, and actually gives you a very small boost to damage if your implement normally doesn't add any damage on a crit.
Ring of the Radiant Storm (17): The best item by far out of the entire Gifts for the Queen set: you roll damage rolls for Radiant and Lightning powers twice, using either result. Students of Caiphon are already hopping like mad, but if you ever care about Lightning or Radiant DPR, here's a fantastic option for you.
Ring of Ramming (18): A bit of a buff to pushing, but the daily quickly grows obsolete.
Ring of Sorrows (18): You, and everyone around you, become much more accurate with Fear attacks. Ardents will adore you, that's for sure.
Ring of Action Reversal (20): Another source of an item bonus to initative. The Daily power on this Ring's quite splendid as well.
Ring of Dimensional Escape (20): Add yet another square of distance to any teleportation power.
Ring of Tenacious Will (21): Cha'locks take this ring as soon as they can get their grubby mitts on it, as it makes you just as durable as Con'locks, and Infernal Cha'locks will love the fact that their typical strategies will be patched up much more easily.
Ring of Traded Knowledge (21): Not a human, but want Echoing Dirge really badly? There's a ring for that. And wow, is that Daily Power awesome after a milestone.
Ring of Wizardry (21): A substantial boost to Arcana, and more power recovery for those long, dark days.
Opal Ring of Remembrance (29): If you possess any Intelligence-based At-Will whatsoever, pick up this Ring and do not let go of it. Also, more power recovery, because we needed more of that.
Ring of Free Time (29): Free time is right - after a milestone, you'll have all the freedom you want with your new Minor Action that doesn't have to be spent on Cursing targets! Also, Resist 5 All as a property.
Waist Items
Belt of Sonnlinor Righteousness (6 / 16 / 26): Normally not all that impressive, since enemies don't typically attack downed targets, but this makes Revenants stupidly overpowered.
Cincture of the Githzerai (10): If you're a Cha'lock, your Fortitude is going to be awful - so instead, have them hit your much hardier Will!
Diamond Cincture (10 / 20 / 30): Alternatively, give yourself a great boost to Fortitude while giving you 1, 2, or 3 free healing surge uses a day.
Belt of Raging Endurance (19): Just like the Iron Ring of the Dwarf Lords, this will help Cha'locks be a bit more healthy, though that advantage will go away in two short levels.
Sash of Regeneration (28): Or just give yourself Regeneration 5 permanently, at least while you're bloodied. You don't have a lot of choices as a Warlock for Waist items, so why not?
Part Twelve: Feats - Savor Every Single Taste You Get
Finally, the feats. Again, to consolidate the post (since there's a billion and one feats available) I'll be sorting them into categories, and then only highlighting feats that're Black or higher, and notable.
Class Feats
Heroic Tier
Bloodied Boon: Gain the benefit of your Pact Boon whenever a Cursed enemy falls below bloodied value, but the curse is removed. Honestly, the Curse being removed is not the biggest detriment in the world (and with some Rods and effects, actually makes it better), and being able to basically double the instances of your Curse without needing an item to do so is grand.
Cursed Shot: Ignore adjacent(!), disabled, and incapacitated allies when determining Prime Shot qualification. Excellent.
Killing Curse: Transform your Curse dice from d6s to d8s. Nowadays a bit outdated, since items and other feats can replicate this, and not really worth taking anyways until you start adding more dice to your Curse.
Prolonged Curse: Add the amount of Curse dice you possess to all ongoing damage you inflict with Warlock powers when you roll your Curse dice. Very important for Dark'locks, but others probably won't care.
Sacrifice to Caiphon: Requires 13 Constitution. Being able to recover powers for such a tiny cost, especially at low levels, is fantastic for you.
Starfire Womb: Requires 13 Charisma. If you deal damage with a Radiant or Fear power, immediately roll a saving throw. With the right powers, you can pretty much keep any effect at bay.
Paragon Tier
Beseech Patron: You automatically gain your Pact Boon's benefit when you use an Action Point to use an Arcane Power. Actually quite cool, but the rating weighs on several factors - namely what Pact you follow (Vestige being the strongest with this) and if you can make the feat room for an Action Point benefit that won't always be a game-changer.
Called Shot: A great jolt to your damage if you succeed on gaining Prime Shot. Melee'locks with Prime Punisher will pretty much always get this damage.
Curse of the Blind Stars: Not exclusive to the Star Pact. You can forgo Curse dice to blind the target of an Encounter or Daily Radiant Warlock power. Could be handy if the situation calls for it and DPR is peachy otherwise.
Flitting Shadows: You can forgo Curse dice, one die at a time, to teleport the target of an Encounter or Daily power 3 squares per die sacrificed. Once you start adding dice to your Curse outside of the regular scaling, this can become Control the likes of which no other class can replicate.
Prime Punisher: You now gain your Prime Shot bonus on melee attacks (this includes King'lock powers used in Melee touch range) against an enemy that has no other allies adjacent to it. Take Cunning Stalker before this, but this is still a great fix for Melee'locks.
Protective Hex: Whether or not you want to focus on a Psychic theme and take the debuffing farther with feats like Psychic Lock, this can really screw up an enemy's ability to deal damage on the battlefield. It's noteworthy to mention that you do not have to deal Curse damage on any of your targets for this to work - they just need to be Cursed and hit by your attacks.
Relentless Curse: As soon as a Cursed enemy falls, immediately use your Warlock's Curse as a free action. If your closest enemy isn't Cursed, this'll help spread your Curse.
Shared Pact: A ton of neat tricks you can pull with this. King'locks can't do crap, but Fey'locks can reposition allies; Infernal'locks can add a buffer to their Defender; and Star'locks can pass along a substantial boost to attack rolls. Dark'locks and Element'locks technically can benefit from this, but they can only funnel their Boons to other Warlocks that share their Pact. There's a lot to be said for it being used by Vestige'locks though, as their pact boons are some of the most varied out of all of the pacts, and quite a few would be amazing in the hands of other party members (automatic cover, insubstantiality, etc).
Twofold Curse: Expedite the Cursing process at Paragon by both adding more targets to apply Curses to, and doubling the amount of Curses you apply.
Twofold Pact: Add another Pact to your repertoire. Qualify for the riders of twice as many hexes, and gain a new At-Will, a new Boon option, extra Paragon Path options if you take this right at 11th level, and so, so much more.
NOTE: You gain nothing from Twofolding into the Elemental Pact at the time of this writing, as your Pact Boon relies on you having a feature that you don't gain, the At-Will power is subpar, and you qualify for no extra feats.
Epic Tier
Cursed Spells: Add your Intelligence modifier to Curse dice. Pretty much mandatory for you guys that even bother to go with INT as secondary... which should be 99% of you.
Warding Curse: Your defenses are now incredibly solid, and perhaps at the level of Defenders at this point.
Warlock Implement Expertise: Requires 17 Charisma, 17 Constitution. The requirements are a little bit askew, and rather require that you devote more attention than is necessary to your tertiary, but it's not exactly difficult. You'll gain an unnatural crit range with all Rods and Wands, so if you go more the traditionalist route with your tools of choice (especially if you prefer Wands), you'll want to snatch up this feat as soon as possible.
Dark Pact
Yorgrix's Brutality (Heroic): Now here's a neat little option for Dark'locks: deal extra untyped Poison damage against any target sullied by any ongoing damage. Ongoing damage is one of your prime strategies, and this will make it shine, especially combined with Prolonged Curse.
Demonweb Spiral (Paragon): Add immobilization to your Darkspiral Aura punishment, which will help it stay useful through the later tiers.
Improved Darkspiral Aura (Paragon): While the damage bonus won't be too significant, it's still necessary for you if ever you want to cross the 12 damage threshold more than once a century.
Fey Pact
Eochaid's Lure (Heroic): Add some competent control to one of the least useful Pact Boons around.
Infernal Pact
Hellfire Hex (Paragon): Extra ongoing fire damage to a target you roll Curse dice against with an Encounter or Daily power. Usually not that grand, but Dark'locks may actually be interested in this, since it's a damage type they almost never inflict (and if they do, the amount rises anyway) and ongoing damage is a prime aspect of the Pact.
Sorcerer-King Pact
Mindbite Scorn (Heroic): An extra die of Curse damage, done in Psychic damage, with absolutely no questions asked. Absolutely flawless.
King's Wrath (Paragon): So, instead of regaining your Fell Might, you can instead deal automatic Constitution or Charisma modifier psychic damage? Quite nice, but there are some instances a new Fell Might would be better. Still, it's usable if you never spent your Fell Might, so that's something.
Sorcerer-King Templar Feats: Explained in greater detail below.
Lesser Pact
(Each of these feats give you a +2 feat bonus to a certain skill, and gives you an alternative benefit to dealing extra damage with Hand of Blight when you spend your Fell Might to augment it. You may only have one of these feats.)
Balican Praetor: Being able to instill Vulnerability more than once per encounter at this magnitude works very well for your Leader off-role, even though it gets chipped away on each hit.
Draji Aspirant: A small bonus to Intimidate (!), and an amazing augment that might provoke a myriad of opportunity attacks if your allies are oriented well enough (it does have to take the safest route).
Favored of Raam: Honestly one of the weaker ones - at this point, you're just copying Eyebite and adding a die size to it. Not that thrilled about it.
Nibenese Bride: Hmm... near At-Will weaken. That's certainly not terrible.
Spirit Talker of Lalali-Puy: One of the worst for skill bonuses, but being able to airmail enemies to willing allies as pretty much a Pact Boon is cool.
Tyrian Bureaucrat: An augment that can rub shoulders with the likes of Draji Aspirant. This is excellent, multi-use Control.
Yellow Cloak of Urik: A bit more situational, but it's still immobilization with that ease of application.
Greater Pact
(These feats give you an additional benefit when you trigger your Pact Boon to regain your Fell Might, and gives you additional powers to spend your Fell Might on, giving them an additional benefit should they hit and allowing them to be Charisma-based instead of Constitution-based should it apply; they can still be Constitution-based, of course. Keep in mind: it must be you that triggers your Pact Boon, not anyone else. You may only have one of these feats.)
Champion of Raam: Requires Favored of Raam. The benefit is rather unnecessary (though it will refresh Shadow Walk), but the powers you can spend your Fell Might on mesh quite nicely with the powers associated with it. Requires a bit of a daredevil approach to make it work, but it's not bad.
Balican High Praetor: Requires Balican Praetor. A very strange, but potentially handy benefit if the encounter is still young. This becomes fantastic if the next ally in the initiative order is an AOE specialist, as each target will be subject to your curse (or take an enormous amount of extra damage). The power augmentations, and the powers associated with them, however, just don't catch my eye in terms of how they mesh.
Draji DevoteeRequires Draji Aspirant. The Pact Boon addition is incredibly flat, and may never come up. It's got its fringe benefits, but it's lackluster otherwise. Spending your Fell Might to trigger an AOE penalty to attack rolls and adding the Fear keyword is certainly a much better benefit, and improves the usage of a couple of awful powers that sneaked their way onto the list.
Nibenese Favored Wife: Requires Nibenese Bride. Brutal in Epic if you decide to use a Rod of Ulban. Insubstantiality on some very mediocre powers, however, is not something you'd want to spend your Fell Might on - though it might be worthwhile to trip your new benefit.
Spirit Master of Lalali-Puy: Requires Spirit Talker of Lalali-Puy. Helps this become one of the best combinations of Lesser and Greater Pacts. Not only do you gain a mass slide as part of regaining a Fell Might, you also force melee basic attacks with six of your encounter power options, some of which are quite nice.
Tyrian Ascendant: Requires Tyrian Bureaucrat. A massive swath of attack roll penalties are the saving grace of a rather blasé Fell Might benefit on some rather bad powers.
Golden Lion of Urik: Requires Yellow Cloak of Urik. Shame they can choose between prone and weakened - mass Weakening would have been extraordinary. I do, however, like the Fell Might option with the powers its associated with, since it's potentially multiple instances of being able to grant slightly buffed melee basic attacks to your allies.
Star Pact
Improved Fate of the Void (Heroic): Pretty much required if you belong to this pact, as it literally doubles how well your Boon affects your stats. It also makes one of your Paragon Paths into a thing of beauty.
Ulban's Flare (Heroic): Takes a rather lame at-will and makes it into something to truly fear, slapping extra damage and an attack roll debuff on top of the soft control.
Veil of Waking Dreams (Paragon): Akin to Hellfire Hex, but dazes (save ends) instead of inflicting ongoing fire damage. And should the power used already inflict a save-ends daze, add some ongoing psychic damage on top of that. Pretty nice at Paragon, but jumps up so far in Epic due to Rod of Ulban.
Vestige Pact
Vestige Adept (Heroic): If your days are demanding enough that you're dropping Dailies left and right, this is something to perhaps look up. Otherwise, don't worry about it too much.
Vestige Versatility (Paragon): Rather mediocre in Paragon, since you don't have access to a feat that pretty much changes the entire scope of the pact in Vestige Mastery. Once you do, however, having two Vestiges at once is unquestionable in its power.
Vestige Mastery (Epic): As hinted, this changes everything. You can declare any of your Daily Vestiges to be your primary Vestige - basically, given to you permanently. Vestige of Amaan, Vestige of the Onyx Queen, and more (especially if you took Shared Pact) are worth putting in your primary slot, and you can finally say goodbye to King Elidyr, as he'll never show up again. Combines so beautifully with Vestige Versatility it's not even funny.
Generic Feats
Heroic Tier
Arcane Implement Proficiency: Since D402 was finalized, this is only really useful if you want to gain proficiency in Heavy Blades or Light Blades as an implement, as Staffs and Orbs have now been covered by White Lotus Dueling Expertise.
Bloodthirsty Mien: If you care at all about Intimidate, especially in combat, here's a neat little option for you - a critical hit scored gives you a +5 bonus to Intimidate for the rest of the encounter.
Cunning Stalker: The condition to gain CA with this feat is a lot more common than you'd think, and this works for all of your attacks - melee, ranged, or AOE.
Deadly Draw: If you're in a bit of a sticky situation with accuracy and you've got Eldritch Strike, this is pretty much permanent combat advantage as long as you keep hitting.
Distant Advantage: Alternatively, any enemies flanked by your allies grant combat advantage to you if you use Ranged and AOE attacks against them.
Dual Implement Spellcaster: A huge bonus to damage rolls, especially for a class that likes to use two implements for a property's sake. Don't take it until about 8th or 10th level, however.
Expertise Feats: Required as a system math fix. Since there's a bajillion choices for you here, especially since D402 came out, a quick rundown of your options:
Expertise Feats
Ki Focus Expertise: +1/+2/+3 feat bonus to implement attack rolls and weapon attack rolls that you make with a Ki Focus or a Ki Focused weapon. You also gain a bonus to damage rolls (same tiered amounts) against bloodied foes, which is a prime incentive to think about using such an implement.
Moonbow Dedicate: Requires worshipping Sehanine, Weapon Proficiency (Shortbow). Gives you proficiency in the Shortbow as an Arcane and Divine implement, and to supplement this, gain a +1/+2/+3 feat bonus to the attack and damage rolls of weapon and implement attacks made with a Shortbow.
Orb Expertise: +1/+2/+3 feat bonus to implement attack rolls with an Orb, and a one-square buff to forced movement you inflict with an attack projected through your Orb.
Rod Expertise: +1/+2/+3 feat bonus to implement attack rolls with a Rod, and a +1 shield bonus to AC and Reflex. Great patchup to your defenses, and works well with a Rhythm Blade Dagger in the offhand.
Staff Expertise: +1/+2/+3 feat bonus to implement and weapon attack rolls with a Staff, and your Staff counts as a Reach 2 weapon for melee weapon attacks. It also prevents you from being subjected to opportunity attacks when you cast a Ranged or Area attack.
Versatile Expertise: +1/+2/+3 feat bonus to the attack rolls (not limited to either weapon or implement attack rolls) of two choices amongst the weapon and implement categories. The December 2011 errata changed this to scale properly (1/11/21), which makes this much more appetizing.
Wand Expertise: +1/+2/+3 feat bonus to implement attack rolls with a Wand, and ignores all cover when attacking enemies.
War Wizard's Expertise: +1/+2/+3 feat bonus to all Arcane keyword and basic attack attack rolls made with a Heavy or Light Blade, and combined with War Wizardry in Paragon (yes, the two penalties stack) your attacks against your allies pretty much automiss.
White Lotus Dueling Expertise: +1/+2/+3 feat bonus to all Arcane keyword and basic attack attack rolls - and automatic proficiency in the Staff or Orb. Frees up your MC slot if you favor either implement, which is big for many of you.
Hidden Sniper: If you have any semblance of decent mobility, this may even free up your Armor slot. Automatic CA if you're partially concealed is marvelous for you.
Implement Focus: Pick an implement, any implement... and gain a feat bonus to damage rolls with it. Not rated Gold due to the myriad alternatives available, but otherwise, damage is what you do - so do it better.
Improved Defenses: Yet another math fix. Take it in mid-Paragon at the absolute latest.
Improved Initiative: There's no doubt in my mind you'll want this feat, but retrain it out at Epic for Superior Initiative.
Quick Draw: A bit of action economy if you ever need to switch implements or weapons, and as a side effect, gain a small feat bonus to initiative. You need every point you can get.
Ritual Caster: You can master and perform rituals of your level or lower. Considering your propensity for the Arcana and Religion skills, and the fact you actually have some nice feats to help with your Rituals (Dark Thaumaturgy, Arcane Ritualist), if no one else in your party can use Rituals, give this a shot.
Superior Fortitude: Requires 15 Strength OR 15 Constitution. +2/+3/+4 feat bonus to Fortitude, and a 3/6/9-point Resist All to ongoing damage. May not always come up, but this is one of the best ways to protect yourself against ongoing damage.
Superior Will: Requires 15 Wisdom OR 15 Charisma. +2/+3/+4 feat bonus to Will, and an automatic saving throw against any dazing or stunning effect on you when your turn starts, even if the effect wasn't a save-ends effect. Cha'locks will love this feat, but Con'locks will want to stake out this feat when their Charisma climbs to 15, because they're less likely to concentrate on being able to stave off debilitating effects such as these.
Sword of Hestavar: Requires worshipping Erathis. The deity requirement might throw you off, but if you're a Warlock who likes to partake a little bit in a Leadership role, can reliably gain combat advantage, and wants to wade in the front lines a little bit (or have more than one Ranged ally), this is a cool way to throw in some extra DPR for your friends.
Vicious Advantage, World Serpent's Grasp: You tend to slow or immobilize targets quite often, sometimes a lot at a time. Get rewarded for that.
White Lotus: A large variety of feats here for you that roll off of your at-will Arcane attacks. Especially look at the Riposte and Master Riposte (Paragon) varieties, and see which ones best collaborate with your strategies.
Wintertouched, Lasting Frost (Paragon): The two pieces of the puzzle for cold optimizers, the second being much more valuable than the latter. After Lasting Frost's nerf, the strategy of always-on Combat Advantage using it with Wintertouched is really not necessary anymore, especially due to the fact that Warlocks are pretty much second only to Rogues in terms of gaining Combat Advantage anyway; honestly, you won't be too badly off if you forget Wintertouched and just pick up Lasting Frost.
Paragon Tier
Arcane Admixture: Love your at-will, but wish it did a certain type of damage? You Storm Scourgers need to add Lightning to anything? Now you can slap on any one of five different damage types onto your favorite power!
Danger Sense: Being able to roll twice for initiative is one way to fix your problem, but you'll still need at least a little help with the modifier before then.
Luck of the Gods: If you tend to use AOEs a lot, the number of d20s you'll be rolling in an encounter will pretty much keep you clean and healthy as the day goes on.
Psychic Lock: Every Psychic-keyword power you possess also gains a rider effect of debuffing the next attack roll the target makes on its next turn by 2. Very cool, but exquisite for Nightmare Weavers, whom work with attack roll debuffs and have powers that both deal Psychic damage.
Reserve Maneuver: Absolutely necessary if your PP's 11E blows chunks (and many Warlock paths have dead 11Es).
Resounding Thunder: If you even pretend to care about Thunder damage, this is one of the best ways to support the damage type. Expanding burst and blast radii by 1 is always beautiful.
War Wizardry: The only feat in game that penalizes you and doesn't directly give you a benefit... and yet is one of your best feats. You take a massive penalty to attack rolls and damage against your allies with Arcane powers, and this will allow you much more freedom to place AOEs than before. Just be careful, though... it doesn't do anything about status effects. Combine with War Wizard's Expertise to inflict a -10 penalty on all of your attacks against your allies for even more funsies.
Epic Tier
Bow Mastery: If you have Moonbow Dedicate, here's a way to get an unnatural crit range with all your ranged attacks using your Bow, implement or otherwise, without any prerequisites other than being 21st level. Glorious.
Epic Fortitude / Reflexes / Will: Depending on your NAD status, you may need one of these feats (most likely Fortitude), and the bonus that you gain is untyped.
Explosive Spellcasting: Blow up the world, and on a crit, roll your dice against any target you wish. Really helps if you crit a minion but have other prime targets in your carpet.
Font of Radiance: A very fun rider on your Radiant powers should you crit, giving you a neat source of damage for the target of your crit and any sad sap that wanders too close to him.
Quickened Spellcasting: Considering how small the dice tend to be on your at-wills, and the fact that you can't double up on Curse dice, this isn't quite as amazing as it is for your Wizard and Sorcerer cousins, who can obliterate the scene with a 1/enc minor action AOE. Still, the availability of minor action attacks is what make Strikers tick, and once per encounter, you can channel your inner Ranger.
Rapid Regeneration: For Con'locks, this makes any source of Regeneration you possess horribly wrong, and is another source of fuel for powers like Doom of Delban.
Trusted Spellcasting: A miss option for your favorite encounter power is undeniably cool, especially ones that are large-radius AOEs (Cursegrind in particular).
Racial Feats
Adaptable Breath (Heroic): This should allow you to adjust the damage types of your own powers between your old choice of your breath damage keyword and your new one, should you use a Rod of the Dragonborn; and the feat is rated as such.
Bolstering Breath (Heroic): You're touted as evil, but you can make sure you don't come off that way if your friends keep getting in your grill. Plus, let your breath provide a neat little buff in any case.
Draconic Spellcaster (Heroic): Two feats smushed into one... if you use a Rod of the Dragonborn. It also scales the "old way" (1st/15th/25th levels), so be careful about that. This is required for the Ninefold Master Paragon Path.
Enlarged Dragonbreath (Heroic), Hurl Breath (Heroic): Two neat options for strengthening your field of presence on the battlefield with your Racial power.
Powerful Breath (Heroic): Cha'locks, take this feat. You absolutely need it.
Empowered Dragonbreath (Paragon): You love your Dragonbreath, don't you? Give it the boost it deserves.
Draconic Triumph (Epic): On quite a common trigger for you (killing an enemy), get your Dragonbreath back. A multi-encounter Minor Action is something you kind of like as a Striker, and here's the best way for you to get it.
Fey Step (Heroic): A prime use for your Racial Power, though falls a little out of favor once you get extra teleports.
Gifted Death Dealer (Heroic): Requires Eldritch Blast. Unabashed extra damage with your RBA equal to your Intelligence modifier is fantastic, and makes the power amazing for you. Unfortunately for Eladrin Dark'locks, it'll pretty much wipe away the usefulness of Spiteful Glamor, so...
Twist the Arcane Fabric (Heroic): Gain a bit of insurance with your AOEs. War Wizardry will cover this well enough, though.
Fey Shift (Epic): Requires Fey origin. Teleport 2 as a move action option completely obsoletes Ethereal Sidestep, which is something that's very important to you. Hell, teleporting at will should be important enough.
Defending Dabbler (Heroic): Add a rather backwards source of Control to your Dilettante power.
Valenar Weapon Training (Heroic): While having a Double Scimitar is rather useless, and a Scimitar isn't exactly prime implement material, a Falchion isn't a terrible way to go for a Melee'lock, and the option to give it and all attacks you use through it (whether weapon or implement) a feat bonus to damage rolls is worthwhile.
Versatile Master (Paragon): Absolutely mandatory for you. To make your Dilettante into a true At-Will is something that must be taken into account as you make your character.
Armored Warrenguard (Heroic): If you absolutely must remain in Chain or Scale, or it's available to you somehow via Hybriding or whatnot, this is a fantastic fixer-upper to both remove the speed penalty on yourself (something that a Speed 5 creature does not need) and patch your defenses a little bit.
Magic of the Mists (Heroic): A backwards way to get combat advantage once per encounter, as well as giving you a great boost to defenses for an entire round.
Dual Mind Strength (Heroic): Hey, how about a nice boost to damage rolls on some of your favorite powers to replace the requirement of grabbing Implement Focus?
Distant Swarm (Heroic): Strangely enough, if you don't mind moving next to enemies this carries a much better benefit than even Fey Step - a large-distance teleport followed by mass combat advantage is something to prize.
We Were Once One (Heroic): Whenever you spend a healing surge (which is more common than you'd think, especially with some of your Epic tier powers), everyone in your telepathy range (which can be extended to twenty with a couple neat tricks) can make a saving throw. A marvelous Leader'ish addition to your state of abilities.
Blood Pact of Cania (Heroic): Requires 13 Charisma. An untyped bonus to damage rolls with ALL Con'lock powers, with a requirement that all Con'locks should meet anyway, is outstanding.
Hellish Blast (Heroic): Requires Eldritch Blast. You can force EB to deal fire damage and gain some untyped damage bonuses on top of that. Sweet. For Con'locks, combine with Blood Pact of Cania for some hilarious damage dealing.
Vengeful Curse (Heroic): Especially for daredevils, one of the best methods to be sure that everyone is Cursed as fast as possible.
Warlock's Wrath (Heroic): Punch up your Curse dice, and for Cha'locks, replace a lackluster utility with an amazing one.
Icy Clutch of Stygia (Heroic): Extremely good for Dark'locks, punishing enemies heavily for daring to save against all of your effects; and great for everyone else.
Imperious Majesty (Heroic): The perfect way to fix your initiative woes - Charisma instead of Dexterity is benefit enough. Plus, a heavy debuff to attacks once per encounter is nice to have for the first round in an encounter.
Glasya's Charming Words (Paragon): If at any time you score a critical hit against an enemy while using a Charm power, you dominate him for the round. One of your best Paragon feats if you tread this path.
Hellfire Teleport (Epic): Interpret this as "You gain an at-will autodamage option."
Royal Command of Asmodeus (Epic): "Stunned" becomes "dominated". While "stunned" isn't a popular rider on many of your powers, you do have Encounter stuns, which will turn certain encounters into comedy routines.
Briar Thorns (Paragon): While you will have to fight tooth and nail (figuratively) to get a decent engine of ongoing damage, it's not impossible, and there's a level 29 Vestige that'll give you At-Will ongoing damage. Either way, upgrading ongoing damage to OGD+slow turns pure damage into competent control.
Multiclass Feats
(Mostly taken for the Ki Focus proficiency, and the feat options you gain to deal with Poison resistance and immunity.)
Acolyte of the Veil: Requires 13 Dexterity. Gain training in either Acrobatics (meh) or Stealth (!!) and gain a 1/enc use of Shadow Step.
Practiced Killer
: Actually Multiclass Executioner, but you still count as an Assassin. You gain proficiency with Ki Focuses, but not weapons as implements. Once per encounter, you can add a bit of a punch to Eldritch Strike... if you wield one-handed weapons. Not the best benefit in the world, but it doesn't require any ability scores.
Shadow Initiate
: Requires 13 Dexterity. Gain proficiency in Stealth (!!!), and access to their Shroud options, which is much more valuable for the feat riders that come with having Shrouds on enemies than you do the extra damage (you can only place two shrouds per encounter, anyway, so don't spend them judiciously).
Combo Feats
Cursed Shadow: Gain the Shadow Walk class feature if you're both an Assassin and Warlock. But wait, you say, don't we already have that feature? Not if you're a hybrid!
(Taken to gain Holy Symbols as an implement. The Paladin/Warlock pairing got massive support in D381, and makes putting a 13 into Strength very worthwhile. Regardless of what you do with it, this is probably one of the best ways to be a quasi-Defender.)
Soldier of Faith: Requires 13 Strength, 13 Charisma. Gain a 1/enc instance of the Paladin mark (lasts all encounter!), which itself is open to a ton of fantastic feats, and gobble up D381 support on top of that. A brilliant way to both be a quasi-Defender and bring some unique Control ability forward.
Combo Feats
Crimson Fire: Combining a Challenge and a Curse gives you the biggest Curse damage die possible in the game. Considering how easy it is now to add extra dice to your Curse damage, this is a beautiful feat to pick up if you go this route. Mandatory if you're Hybriding the two classes.
Crimson Legionnaire: Not all that terrific, unless you somehow picked up a Charisma-based Paladin At-Will or are going towards a Paladin Paragon Path that fits your fancy. In that case, this is untyped bonus damage for your Paladin powers, so it's worth considering.
Walker of the Dark Path: Actually Multiclass Blackguard, but you are still considered a Paladin. Some of the support from D381 is still open to you, and you gain a Daily source of free temp hitpoints.
(Taken for access to the two very implements you'd want - the Staff and Orb. There are also some decent tricks you can pull from being considered a Psionic class.)
Disciplined Talent: Requires 13 Intelligence. You gain training in one skill from the Psion list of skills, and gain an at-will from their list to use as an Encounter power. Unfortunately, there's no way to gain Power Points without extra feats, so your chosen At-Will will probably not do too much for you (although the choices you do get are decent).
Awakened Potential: Requires 15 Intelligence, trained in Arcana. This is meant as a supplement to Multiclassing into Psion, and is not a Psion Multiclass feat. It grants you a Power Point to spend on anything that requires them, and at 21st level, you get 2 instead of 1. Now powers like Dishearten become incredibly good debuffing powers, especially for Cha'locks.
(NOTE: If you have access to Dark Sun themes and gain the Noble Adept theme, bump both of these ratings up a color grade.)
(Taken to gain proficiency in the Staff and Dagger as implements, two of your best choices. Unfortunately, the Paragon Path and feat choices for Sorcerers are wretched for Warlocks, and that's a shame.)
Arcane Prodigy: Requires 13 Charisma. Honestly, you should only take this if you can't get 13 Strength - the benefit is way too small otherwise.
Soul of Sorcery: Requires 13 Strength, 13 Charisma. Now this is much better - permanent Resist towards one element of your choice is fantastic in the right setting.
(Taken to gain proficiency in all Light Blades and Heavy Blades as an implement for you, which includes the Dagger. Also gives access to the Malec-Keth Janissary Paragon Path, which is wonderful for elemental blasters, especially Thunder and Fire blasters.)
Blade Initiate: Requires 13 Intelligence. You gain training in Arcana, which can help you with how you prioritize where you place your first four skills. On top of which, if you single-wield a one-handed blade, you can gain a massive boost to AC once per day for the rest of the encounter.
(Taken for the incredible amount of Arcane support, as well as for some interesting Paragon Paths and amazing power swap options... not to mention proficiency in the Staff and Orb.)
Arcane Initiate: Requires 13 Intelligence. Gain training in Arcana, and gain access to one of the largest libraries of At-Wills in the entire game... all of which mesh with what you do.
Eberron Dragonmarks
(These are described in the Eberron handbook, but are available to all, subject to DM discretion. You can only have one at a time, and also give you some rituals you can perform as if you had the Ritual Caster feat... which you may want anyway, so meh. Here're a few that might interest you the most...)
Mark of Healing: I've mentioned a couple times about powers in your library of hexes that have the Healing keyword. The reason I mentioned said keyword is because of this feat: whenever you use a power with the Healing keyword to affect an ally, it can immediately make a saving throw against an effect. Really cool synergy with a couple of your powers, though you don't have a lot of Healing powers.
Mark of Passage: You don't do a lot of shifting, but you do do a lot of teleporting. Add a square to both.
Mark of Storm: Every lightning and thunder power you do incorporates a Slide 1 into the power. Also a bonus to speed while flying. You really have to build around this feat to make it work, but it's incredible control, especially when buffed.
I'm looking forward to this.
Good luck.
A Beginners Primer to CharOp. Archmage's Ascension - The Wizard's Handbook. Let the Hammer Fall: Dwarf Warpriest/Tactical Warpriest/Indomitable Champion, a Defending Leader. Requiem for Dissent: Cleric/Fighter/Paragon of Victory Melee Leader Ko te manu e kai i te miro, nona te ngahere. Ko te manu e kai i te matauranga e, nano te ao katoa. It's the proliferation of people who think the rules are more important than what the rules are meant to accomplish. - Dedekine
Eldritch Strike seems conspicuously absent from the at-wills list as a great MBA for Con'locks, a nice escape tactic for Cha'locks (i.e., hit, slide away, run for the hills), forced movement to potentially trigger auto-damage from some powers, etc.
Yeah. I did just kill your BBEG with a vorpal frisbee. Problem?
I really enjoy the Warlock class and look forward to a new guide. Hexblades may just need their own post but you may want to make some notes for them when it comes to Dailies and the occasional At-Will for Humans. I would consider placing Binders in the guide and be sure to note how bad of an option they are.
A quick note about Primary/Secondary scores:
Infernal Pact: Con Primary, very few Cha Primary, and Int Secondary.
Star Pact: Con/Cha Primary, Int/Cha Secondary
Fey Pact: Cha Primary, Int Secondary
Dark Pact: Cha Primary, Int Secondary
Vestige Pact: Con Primary, Int Secondary
Sorcerer-King Pact: Con/Cha Primary, Int Secondary
Best of luck with the guide.
This guide is already awesome.
First of all, thank you.
Second: I recognize that you have to stick to a clean, consistent organizational system or the entire purpose of a handbook becomes moot. That said, I think it might be worth including in Part Three a list of any Pact-exclusive skyblue+ PPs or feats in the overview of the Pact, as these are often as important to the power of a Pact as the at-will and Boon. Discussion would of course be reserved for the appropriate later section.
Note, for example, that the only skyblue pact specific PPs listed in Power of the Dark Side are Fey, Vestige, and Star. That's good to know in assessing the overall strength of the pact. Likewise, in Epic, Vestige Mastery radically changes the nature of Vestige Pact.
Just a thought to complicate the already herculean task for which you are receiving no compensation.
DDS: Given that you mentioned how much Warlocks like Staves, it's probably worth pointing out in the races section that Eladrin can now get them 100% free by taking a subrace option. (Moon Elf?)
Otherwise, good work so far, and I'm looking forward to the rest.
You should mention dexterity being useful as an alternitive to Int.
Going Con/Dex looses you some riders, but gives you stealth and inititive. Something worth considering, especially if your not taking Int rider powers anyways.
List of no-action attacks.
Dynamic vs Static Bonuses
Phalanx tactics and builds
Crivens! A Pictsies Guide Good
s to intentionally miss with
Mr. Cellophane: How to be unnoticed
Way's to fire around corners
Crits: what their really worth
Retroactive bonus vs Static bonus.
Runepriest handbook & discussion thread
Holy Symbols to hang around your neck
Ways to Gain or Downgrade Actions
List of bonuses to saving throws
The Ghost with the Most (revenant handbook)
my builds
King Fisher Optimized net user. Moderate.
Shadow Step: On-demand Concealment is utterly amazing, and a fantastic way to patch up your otherwise mediocre defenses. It's hilariously easy to trigger, too: just move 3 squares from your starting position! You gain a +2 bonus to defenses in partial concealment, which is what this feature grants; but that's not the only thing you get out of this. The aforementioned Shadow Warlock Armor gives you Combat Advantage against every Cursed enemy in sight. You also have a much easier time using your Stealth skill, as you require cover or concealment to hide.
The feature is actually called Shadow Walk. Shadow Step is the Assassin teleport at-will. Also, "you require cover or concealment to hide" is a bit off I think. IIRC, you require total concealment or superior cover to hide (that is, to become Hidden from one or more opponents), unless you have the Rogue's Cunning Sneak feature. Regular cover or concealment is enough to sustain Hidden, though, which Shadow Walk is great for.
I would probably rate Eldritch Strike dark blue or even sky blue rather than black, because a Warlock that has it is significantly more versatile as a result:
• Having a decent MBA means you can charge and make OAs (which are devastating now that Warlock's Curse is 1/turn), as well as use the many MBA-granting effects out there.
• The slide is fantastic with zone powers like Feast of Souls and Hunger of Hadar (or whatever zones your allies throw).
• It targets AC (with proficiency bonus), unlike all other Warlock powers - being able to target different defenses is nice.
• All the other at-wills already provide a ranged option, so all Eldritch Blast has going for it compared to this is the RBA thing.
Overall I think it's easily the superior option of the two, unless you happen to have a RBA-granting leader.
Thanks a bundle for your effort in creating an up-to-date guide! Good luck fleshing this out
I think the section you're talking about doesn't have any ratings at all; the bolding is being used as emphasis instead of rating. For what it's worth, in my guide I used the brick red used in the header fonts to avoid that confusion.
Not a bad start at all! Anyway, don't worry about Hexblades; I haven't abandoned my guide yet, so you can just focus on the O-Warlock (as for Binders, maybe a note saying "don't play this" would do).
Yea. I'll probably be using Green for emphasis in that regard.
Thanks for the input, everyone (and yea, doesn't help when it's 6 AM and you mistake Shadow Walk for Shadow Step. Gaddangit.). Will incorporate as much as I can into the guide before proceeding onwards with the rest of the sections.
Thanks in advanced for an updated Warlock guide!
My 2 cp: You rate Humans Blue because they don't have an Int bump, and so thier AC/Ref suffers... but they do get +1 to all NADS...
Thanks in advanced for an updated Warlock guide!
The bonus to NADs definitely compensates, but the hit to AC can still be a problem, as Warlock defenses tend to be mired if they don't have Concealment. Items can fix that, but a dual-booster race will have that on lockdown anyway.
+1 AC vs. +1 Fort & Will? I think that comparison (for a warlock, rather than a defender) clearly favors the human. Especially in paragon and epic.
Keith Richmond Living Forgotten Realms Epic Writing Director
Nice work DDS, can't wait to see the final product!
RIP George! 4-21-11 RIP Abie! 1-2-13
Funny Forum Quotes
[quote author=82733368 post=532127449]
58115148 wrote:
"You notice a large piece of mold clinging to your toothbrush. What do you do?" "I cast Fireball." "I run like hell!
63797881 wrote:
The standard d4 is somewhat (SOMEWHAT) rounded on the top, the older models are even flat. The Lego is shaped in such a way that in an emergency, you can use one as a makeshift surgical knife.
147742801 wrote:
57457938 wrote:
My wife asked me if her pants made her look fat. What do you think I said?
Wife: Do these pants make me look fat? RedSiegfried: I just killed a bunch of orc women and children.
63797881 wrote:
82733368 wrote:
28.) Making a "Drunken Master" style character (Monk or otherwise) does not require my character to be completely shitfaced, no matter what the name (and fun interpretation) implies.
29.) Making a "Drunken Master" style character does not require ME to be completely tanked, no matter how "in-character" I want to be..
I have a REALLY important question: If I focus heavily on fire-based Warlock powers, can I run around saying, "Fire walk with me?" (Because if I can, then the name will be Dale Cooper or maybe Bob).
Since the last guide has been updated, there have been a TON of powers i noticed that were not covered. I am assuming they are new.
Are you only going to cover powers that are black-sky blue (i doubt there are any gold) or do you plan to cover purple/red ones too?
Also, i am interested in your hybrid section (if yoh make one) since there have been updates there as well, not to mention essentials classes.
Good luck!
I think thats only really an issue if you decide to be a front liner during low heroic and even then Shadow Walk helps bring you up past par. Since the Warlock is more tradtionally a ranged striker the bonus to the NADs is definitly appreciated more since thats whats usually getting targeted.
One additional idea as well. Common ways for people to improve their curses/at wills should also have a section.
I am trying to "trick out" hellish rebuke, and it has taken a lot more research than merely looking at the handbook.
And curses...wow. Thats a big part of warlock damage, and there are quite a few ways to improve it. The original handbook only mentioned a few ways, and wasnt very concise.
True, but there are also some dual-boost races with a bonus to at least one NAD. Eladrin e.g.. And since +INT is also + 1 Ref, this leaves the human with only +1 to one NAD, but worse AC and worse riders. Also the warlock specific feat support for humans isn't that great, as for some dual-boost races.
Blue is just fine for the human. A strong choice, but compared to what some dual-boost races get for support, I can not really see a good reason why it should be sky blue.
Oh I find blue to be fine as well, but I didn't feel it right to claim that they are so far disadvantaged as compared to the dual stat races. Though it isnt really fair to compare humans with Eladrins either considering the frankly rediculous amount of support that they have.
Flavor is mutable, my good friend. If your Shadow Walk has you envelop flames or whatnot, then that's your call.
As to the "y so blue Human" question: They come very close to Sky Blue. Believe me, they are an excellent race for the Warlock and I would never say "No" or even "Pick Eladrin instead". It's that Intelligence is so important of a stat to a class that uses it for both protection and powers, that even two points lost in it can be a bit detrimental.
Since the last guide has been updated, there have been a TON of powers i noticed that were not covered. I am assuming they are new. Are you only going to cover powers that are black-sky blue (i doubt there are any gold) or do you plan to cover purple/red ones too? Also, i am interested in your hybrid section (if yoh make one) since there have been updates there as well, not to mention essentials classes. Good luck!
For the moment, I'm covering all powers, no matter their rating. However, if it gets to be daunting, I'll limit it to Black+ powers.
Thanks in advanced for an updated Warlock guide!
Just as a note, if you have concealment a human 'lock scales at exactly the same pace as a dex-primary ranger with a 16 in INT. It's really not that bad. There's also the fact that having 'OK' AC is good for you: you want enemies to attack you if you're a Hellish Rebuker. A hit to AC is worth a boost to NADs, because taking damage might sting, but getting dominated can TPK you. The options humanity offers you are absolutely priceless, as they give you a leader buff on demand for when you absolutely, positively have to hit, or the extra flexibility you can't easily get until Paragon for other characters due to the requirement on Twofold Pact.
Heroic Tier Hexes are done! Will move on to Paragon Hexes later on tonight (maybe).
Warforged are among the best races for infernal/vestige locks now with Con/Int and a bonus to will putting them only 1 point behind humans, a encounter heal and the ability to go 18/18 on the Con/Int for AC, riders and killing curse (i think thats the epic one, adds Int mod)
Please consider sorting the powers according to whether they are Con or Cha based. It makes it much easier to evaluate one's options.
Done with Paragon Hexes!
That'll be the last thing I do before I cart myself to bed. :D
(EDIT) Well, I would, if the forum software didn't embed stupid formatting bugs everywhere in my text. That was nice of it. I'll leave it for later on today, or for whenever I finish the Epic Hexes. For now? Sleep must be had.
Cursed Spells is the +Int in Epic. Killing Curse is the curse dice go to d8.
For the specific Twofold Infernal/Vestige Pact combo, tiefling is also pretty solid. If you take Cha/Con as your stat boosts (to sneak Charisma up to 12 postracial) and mainly invest in Con/Int you'll be able to grab Blood Pact of Cania at Paragon, which will work on all your Vestige Powers as well.
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Are The Saints Of 2005 The Pats Of 2001
Discussion in 'Fan Zone' started by dargonking999, Sep 13, 2005.
1. dargonking999
dargonking999 DKRandom
11,807 Messages
172 Likes Received
Could this happen again, where a tragic event happens, and then the team plays inspires football, and refs dont see penilties, dont see fumbles and INT's, so that the saints can win the SB??
2. Sarge
Sarge Happy Holidays Staff Member
21,114 Messages
1,962 Likes Received
I watched the entire Saints game. I have no idea what your talking about when it comes to refs 'not seeing' things to their (Saints) benefit.
They played inspired football. They played hardnosed football.
They deserve credit. The refs called the game like any other IMO.
So, to answer your question..............absolutely not.
3. Tio
Tio Armchair QB
5,121 Messages
10 Likes Received
Well, hopefully we won't have a sham of a sb this year like in 2001.
4. vicjagger
vicjagger Well-Known Member
2,140 Messages
64 Likes Received
So, New England isn't really that good, it's the refs? Riiiggghhhttt.
5. Erik_H
2,453 Messages
81 Likes Received
I don't think so. The ref's will call the games straight. Actually, I can't give credit to the refs for the Pats winning in 01 either.
However, I do agree with one thing the NFL wants the Saints to be good as it will be a big story. The NFL loves big stories.
Personally I think it's kinda low, but then, I'm a bitter, cynical bastich. :D
6. TruBlueCowboy
TruBlueCowboy New Member
7,301 Messages
0 Likes Received
All I know is never again bet against the team that lost its hometown. I picked the Saints in our Zone pick 'em contest thinking all that sentimental hogwash was going to disappear come gameday with Julius Peppers and Kris Jenkins were in Aaron Brooks face, but I guess it counts for something.
7. StevenOtero
StevenOtero Well-Known Member
6,455 Messages
419 Likes Received
Uh oh , here we go. Jump on the bandwagon. (ESPN) makes me sick with all of their SB picks.
8. cobra
cobra Salty Bastard
3,134 Messages
0 Likes Received
Uh. What was the big disaster in for New England in '03?
9. dargonking999
dargonking999 DKRandom
11,807 Messages
172 Likes Received
9/11 i'm sorrry mearnt 01.
10. da_boyz_mk
da_boyz_mk How 'Bout Dem Cowboys
2,125 Messages
0 Likes Received
the saints played with a lot of emotion sunday and deserved to win. i think that all the moving around will catch up to them eventually and they'll be around .500 at the end of the year.
11. cobra
cobra Salty Bastard
3,134 Messages
0 Likes Received
If that disaster rule was accurate, why wouldn't the Giants (or Jets) have won the Super Bowl? Or the Redskins or Baltimore? Or the Eagles?
The WTC were in NYC.
The Pentagon was hit in Baltimore/DC area.
Another plane crashed in the Philadelphia area.
I really don't think New England/Boston had any special claim (other than it was the origin of planes that flew into the WTC).
And, I don't recall anyone suggesting during the '01 run that what New England was doing was in any related to 9/11. Nor do I recall a bias on behalf of them since they didn't suffer anything.
So, in other words, I find this argument ridiculously contrived in the sense that there was no connection of New England to 9/11 in the same vein as NO to Hurricane Katrina. So to the extent a trend could be adduced, there is no evidence of it.
12. Gordon
Gordon New Member
760 Messages
0 Likes Received
The Patriots really had no more to do with the 9/11 attacks than San Francisco, Atlanta, Philadelphia, etc. This comparison would work if the Giants, Jets, or Skins won the SB in '01.
I think the Saints are a good team, I had them as a WC team before the whole hurricane thing, but I think it's gonna be too tough basically having 16 road games.
13. ghst187
ghst187 Well-Known Member
5,596 Messages
150 Likes Received
i don't know about the Ain'ts-Panthers game but if I hear one more person saying that the Ain'ts are "America's Team" I'm going to rip someone's head off.
I already wrote several nastygram emails ripping sports writers for saying it and telling them that they're jumping on the politically-correct, media bandwagon and selling a disaster wrapped in an overdramatic sports package.
I think to qualify for the title, you actually have to win something....am I wrong on this?
14. k19
k19 Active Member
2,958 Messages
3 Likes Received
The Saints have replaced the Cowboys as Americas team yet most people can name their head coach or more then 3 players on their team, probably couldnt name 3 players in the teams history. Yeah ok their Americas Team aight
15. Erik_H
2,453 Messages
81 Likes Received
actually, the tie in was the name of the franchise.
At least that was the packaged story anyway.
16. DallasDomination
DallasDomination Well-Known Member
6,504 Messages
140 Likes Received
I hope the Saints beat the Giants that's all that really matters here.
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