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The Community College of Allegheny County provides a supportive and transformative learning environment that prepares graduates to meet critical needs in the region's workforce.
At CCAC, we believe that life outside the classroom is an important part of your college experience. Each CCAC campus has a variety of activities to enhance your lifestyle – including athletics, cultural events and personal development seminars.
The CCAC Educational
Foundation is the fundraising and benefactor arm of the college. It seeks to
create vital connections between the college and the wider community
to ensure the ongoing viability of the college.
Find credit classes, times, locations, prerequisites
and faculty using CCAC Central. Prospective Students can visit CCAC Central as a "Guest" to apply online and to search for classes. Current students and applicants can log onto CCAC Central to view test scores, access financial aid documents and make payments.
For current students and applicants:


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For Firefly, Dropbox's full-text search engine, speed has always been a priority. (For more background on Firefly, check out our blog post). When our team saw search latency deteriorate from 250 ms to 1000 ms (95th percentile), we knew what to do—we measured, we analyzed, we fixed.
In order to create a good user experience for Firefly, we strive to keep our query latency under 250 ms (at 95th percentile). We noticed that our latency had deteriorated quite a bit since we started adding users to the system.

subset: commoncrawl


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Director Jonathan Lynn followed up the surprise hit Jonathan Lynn with this musical comedy starring Academy Award winner Cuba Gooding Jr. Gooding plays Darrin, a shallow New York advertising executive, who travels to a small town in the deep south...more
53 out of 100 Metascore®
Mixed or average reviews
Read reviews
Iffy for 13+
All The Fighting Temptations photos
All The Fighting Temptations cast + crew photos
Movies.com, the ultimate source for everything movies, is your destination for new movie trailers, reviews, photos, times, tickets + more! Stay in the know with the latest movie news and cast interviews at Movies.com.
Copyright © 2019 FANDANGO MOVIES.


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Every week we ask a North Korean your questions, giving you the chance to learn more about the country we know so little about. This week, Paul B. from Budapest asks:
Why do so many North Korean defectors become Christians when they leave? Isn't this like swapping one god for another?
The biggest shock I encountered on defecting from North Korea was seeing a world which endorses diversity and multiculturalism. I would never have imagined being in a world that allows one to believe or do whatever he or she wants as long it is within the law, as I grew up in a under a state that was suppressive, distorted and fake – religion was no exception.
Indeed, I was born and brought up in the only state in the world which enforces atheism nationwide and prohibits people from being aware of any other religious theory beyond the theory of evolution.
In North Korea, simply knowing or even wanting to know something other than what is taught by the state can be a serious crime. And while we do have religious organizations such as the 'Chosun Christian association' or 'Buddhist association,' these organizations are just a form of propaganda and merely a means of pretending that we do have freedom of religion in North Korea.
Living in Pyongyang I had never even known that there were other theories and studies and had never heard of the Biblical creation. To be frank, I didn't know the meaning of Christianity, or that Buddha is another name for Shakyamuni, and I could not find any religious books other than those which said to worship the North Korean leader.
I lacked any imagination of what God would be like. The concept of 'God' just brought mixed feelings of curiosity and fear of a mysterious and unknown world. I'm sure other North Koreans felt the same.
So how did I become a Christian when I left North Korea?
To be honest, I initially despised Christianity.
To be honest, I initially despised Christianity.
The reason was simple. As I'll explain, Christianity seemed very similar to North Korean propaganda. On top of that, I was more closed towards Christianity because I knew that our founding leader Kim Il Sung and his family had originally been believers.
Next, I just couldn't accept that God was supposed to love and care for everyone equally. My past did not allow me to believe in such a God. How many people have died and are dying in North Korea at this very moment? How on earth could anyone say that a God exists who loves everyone equally when little children cannot even fill their tiny stomachs, are ridden with disease and thrown out in the streets?
For the sole reason that I was born 40 miles North of the border, I had to risk my life. Meanwhile a little puppy that is born 40 miles South of the border has all the advantages and benefits that most of us North Korean kids never had. Where is the evidence of God's justice, when until the very last moment of their lives, North Korean dictators enjoy the power and pleasures of their dictatorship? If he is an almighty God, how can he just ignore the situation in North Korea and reject their people? I threw countless questions at the church and no-one was able to satisfactorily give me the answers I wanted.
Despite all the confusion I became a Christian, even though I still do not have all the answers. It is important to say though that Christianity can only be understood by experience and I am eventually feeling and understanding many things that I could not initially agree with. If the experience I felt through becoming a Christian had not been there, I wouldn't have believed in any god or religion.
In spite of my questions, I am now convinced of a God who existed before the world began – who is far greater than and cannot be fathomed by mere human knowledge or scientific explanation. And I believe that the one who created me and led me here was why I was given this opportunity to engage with all of you in this column.
But enough of my personal story – what about other North Koreans?
Once, Pyongyang used to be a city of rich Christianity often known as the 'Jerusalem of the Orient'. There were hardly any shops open on a Sunday. However since the socialists (under the influence of the Soviet Union) took charge of administration at the start of the Korean War, religion in North Korea was utterly annihilated with extreme measures. Most Christians left for the South to save their religious freedom and those remaining in the north became underground Christians. But decades have since passed and the only religion existing now is Kim Il Sung-ism.
For this reason, although there are many Christian defectors, there are not many Christians in North Korea. In fact, it is impossible to live as a Christian in North Korea and at present almost every North Korean is officially 'athiest'. They cannot utter a word about religion and if they do, the whole family and even friends are under threat of serious punishment.
So how is it then that so many defectors become religious?
Ever since the Christian movement arose, many pastors and missionaries went to China to reach Chinese and North Koreans, some actually helping North Koreans with basic subsistence matters. By sharing Christianity through Biblical teaching, they encouraged North Korean people to return to their country to be missionaries. In this way some North Koreans actually gave up defecting to a third country and returned to North Korea to give out Bibles.
Other Christian defectors who were caught and repatriated to North Korea secretly kept their faith and shared it with their own family there. These people however, are a minority and the government is searching madly to crack down on them. But this doesn't mean there is absolutely no religion at all. Humans are inherently weak beings and life's worries, anxieties and expectations increase when life gets tough.
Despite the fact that North Korea prohibits religion, I remember that many people in Pyongyang relied on horoscopes and fortune-tellers for comfort when the economic situation became dire.
Despite the fact that North Korea prohibits religion, I remember that many people in Pyongyang relied on horoscopes and fortune-tellers for comfort when the economic situation became dire.
They sought answers related to their business, success, children and their marriage matters from a supernatural source. I suppose people have an inner instinct to believe in a supernatural being, despite having known nothing but materialistic atheism for several decades. People started believing these fortune tellers and would even re-schedule their wedding date if the fortune-teller told them to. Shamamism came to the forefront of North Korean religion.
People began to set up secret fortune telling businesses which soon became popular by word of mouth. It was not only ordinary people that went to visit these fortune tellers, but also the rich and powerful who were uncertain about their future. I'm not sure they believed in God though. In a state of economic adversity the government was gradually losing control over its citizens and was forced to accept this reality. However, they remained hostile to Christianity, persistently repressing it.
Those deported back from China can be punished by death if they have been influenced by Christianity in any way. If it is revealed that they are Christians, the whole family is mercilessly killed in inhumane ways [Editors Note: Ji-min left Pyongyang in 2005, but since then penalties for Christians have reduced, especially if those caught have money to pay bribes]. But this is not a country that has had religious conflicts with Christianity for hundreds of years, so why did they allow shamanism to exist (under the carpet) but not Christianity?
The answer is because of the similarities between Christianity and our government:
I guess most of you are unaware, but as I mentioned before, Kim Il Sung was once a Christian. In fact, he was brought up in a very devout Christian family. His father was a graduate from the most renowned Christian school in the peninsula and his mother was deaconess. In addition, his grandfather and brothers were also priests in Pyongyang. It's ironic that a man who came from such a religious family would erase his past once becoming a socialist. But he was no socialist – he was no more than the starter of Kim Il Sung-ism. He formed the 'Ten Principles for the Establishment of the One-Ideology System' which resembled Moses' Ten Commandments – forcefully instilling it into us and compelling us to obey.
Here's an example: 'You shall have no other gods but me' – this is a phrase from the Bible's Ten Commandments. But it's also seen in the Ten Principles – 'You must be firm in your position which states there is not anyone or anything greater than the Great Leader Kim Il Sung.'
Once you look into the Ten Principles, you will notice Kim Il Sung took his political ideas from the Bible. Kim Il Sung also called himself 'the sun' and his son the 'Shining Star of Paekdu Mountain'. They say if you commit your life to serving Kim Il Sung and his son, though your physical body may perish you will gain immortality in the political life. In purporting that he and his son were gods and therefore rightful leaders, Kim started creating a country of false religion that in no way adheres to socialist values. In North Korea, Marx's and Lenin's books are banned. I leave it to your assumptions as to why.
The core of Christianity is based around repentance, being forgiven and saved by God. Repentance is only confessed to God and forgiveness determined by him. And in North Korea? Every Saturday, North Koreans have to confess their wrongdoings and seek for forgiveness of the leader. It is as if North Korean's political system has taken its stance somewhere between absolute monarchy and cultish fanaticism.
This is why Christianity is most oppressed and cannot coexist in harmony with Kim Il Sung's regime, and why shamanism is less of a threat. Christians do not acknowledge any other God but their own – they cannot serve both Kim Il Sung and their God. Thus, Christianity is seen as a considerable threat to their power.
To conclude, I wish for all of you to experience the grace of God as I have and I pray that North Korea will soon become a country where there is true freedom of religion.
Got a question for Ji Min? Email it to firstname.lastname@example.com with your name and city. We'll be publishing the best ones.
Read more from NK News:
Editing and translation by NK News London.
Click here to meet Mina, our other "Ask a North Korean" correspondent


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KU Engineering to Host Computer "Hackathon"
LAWRENCE — College-aged student innovators from around the region are invited to participate in the JayHacks "hackathon" Feb. 17-19 at the University of Kansas School of Engineering.
A hackathon is a sort of "invention marathon" in which computer programmers and others collaborate intensively on a short-term design project. Students majoring in computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering, interdisciplinary computing or related fields are welcome to participate.
"This is a great opportunity for students to network with companies, seek mentorship from engineers, gain experience working in a group, learn outside of the classroom, build something awesome and have a lot of fun," organizers say on the event website.
Events start with a check-in at 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 17, in Eaton Hall. After that, attendees are invited to attend a career fair and an opening ceremony — the actual "hacking" begins at 10 p.m. Students are allowed to compete as individuals or in teams.
"If you wish to join a team but don't have one prior to the event, we will have a special time for fellow hackers to meet you and potentially form a team with you," organizers say.
There's more than just work on the schedule: Breaks on Saturday will include a chance to meet therapy dogs, play basketball and badminton, and participate in a Super Smash Bros. tournament.
The hackathon will conclude at noon Sunday, Feb. 19, with a project expo and closing ceremony.
The event is free, and meals will be provided. Sponsors include the School of Engineering, Cerner, Cisco, Service Management Group and more. Registration and other information are available at the JayHacks website.


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Design Gallery
"Our experience in working with Foxbright to create the new website for Wayland Union Schools was wonderful from start to finish. The CMS is so easy to work with and if I had questions, all I had to do was call Foxbright and they would help me. We finished the project under schedule and our parents, staff and community are happy with the new site." - Wayland Union Schools
Foxbright Website Design
Foxbright offers 3 levels of website design to meet your timeframe and budget.
- Essential Design - Select from a variety of flexible templates and Foxbright will update your template selection with your school logo and color scheme.
- Custom Design - Our most popular option, Foxbright will create a new design customized to your specific school branding and communication needs.
- Custom Design Plus - Looking for a unique website experience for your users? Foxbright will work with you to create a custom website design and custom tools based upon your specific communication and navigational requirements.
All design options provide:
- A dynamic and engaging home page design and building pages with the ability to support rotating images, featured news, upcoming events or other dynamic information.
- Intuitive navigation under your control to allow parents and students easy access to all pages.


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posted by: Site Admin | Injuries | 0 comments
According to ESPN, an MRI exam this morning revealed that CB Darrelle Revis has a strained left hamstring. He wouldn't rule himself out of Sunday's game in Miami but also said it's likely he'll miss one to two weeks. Revis also added that he won't return until he feels he's 100% ready.
Revis had been limited in practice last week and then reinjured his hamstring in the Jets' 28-14 win over the Patriots on Sunday. He felt his hamstring tighten as he was chasing after Randy Moss, whom he had kept in check all game. But with 53 seconds left in the second quarter, Revis felt his leg rebel as he tried to shift gear in pursuit of Moss, who made a one-handed catch in the end zone.
If Revis doesn't play on Monday, CB Antonio Cromartie will have to cover WR Brandon Marshall. Cromartie did an excellent job in the second half against the Patriots where he completely shut down Moss.


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DE Tony Pierce Jr (Lake Alfred, FL) 2018 VERBAL
BisoNation is your leader in NDSU Bison Football news.
We have the latest NDSU Bison Football news from the discussion board Bisonville.
Offers: FBS: UTSA FCS: Jacksonville St, Montana St, SIU
High School: Auburndale
Height: 6'2
Weight: 220
Prim. Position: DE
Sec. Position: LB
40 Yard Dash: 4.87
Bench Press: 305
Squat: 500
Recruiter: Austin
Official Visit:
Links: hudl


text: I told The Captain I wanted to get back in shape three days ago, and today, three packages from Amazon showed up with a new fancy scale, a Cuisinart blender for smoothies, and a mandoline for slicing veggies. On top of that, I get to go on a major grocery trip ALONE tomorrow morning. I can't believe how excited I am about going to the grocery.


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I was browsing a bit back on some blogs and I found these super cute headbands. They are made our of T-Shirts= AMAZING & CHEAP.
I knew I had to try it. So that day when I came home from work I grabbed my old t-shirt box, pulled one out and started slicing.
I went from this:
To this in about 15 minutes! YAY!
I think I am going to start making some more. Once the braiding technique is down, its a breeze to do. Head on over to make it and love it to see how to get these headbands for yourself!


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With previous releases, such as an AK-47 under it's belt, Hello Kitty looks poised to roll out a full army. This time around, some gun-loving nut put together a Hello Kitty-themed AR-15 assault rifle for his wife (how romantic) and posted the finished result on the interwebs for the world to see. It's so cute, it makes me want to shoot something. [Rifle Gear via Mobilewhack]
Hello Kitty Expands Upon Arsenal With AR-15 Rifle


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Weekend of a Champion (1972)
- Studio: Universal Pictures
- Release: October 6, 1972
- Director: Frank Simon
- Writer: Frank Simon
- Cast: Roman Polanski, Helen Stewart, Jackie Stewart
Video archive for the film Weekend of a Champion, which has a domestic theatrical release in the year of 1972. There are currently two videos available for the film, of which one and only one is a trailer, as listed below. Happy viewing!
Featured Movie Terminator: Dark Fate


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Yellow peterpan collar coat £65, Miss Selfridge; brown abaya £26.99, Islam Orient; chocolate shoulder bag £22, Debenhams; brown hijab £5.95, Hijab Store Online; cream opaque facet flower ring £12, Miss Selfridge; Johnie shoe £34.98, Aldo.
Saturday, 31 January 2009
Yellow and Brown
Yellow peterpan collar coat £65, Miss Selfridge; brown abaya £26.99, Islam Orient; chocolate shoulder bag £22, Debenhams; brown hijab £5.95, Hijab Store Online; cream opaque facet flower ring £12, Miss Selfridge; Johnie shoe £34.98, Aldo.
12 comments:
- Stardoll Sisters said...
I've always thought that brown & yellow are good colour coordinations! Nice choice! :D
P.S. Usually how long does it take for you to choose & match clothings from different shops and put it up on your blog?
- Fia
- 31/1/09 11:21
- Carib Muslimah said...
OMG, I have a yellow and brown outfit I'm coordinating as we speak. (I'm actually heading out to the mall today, insha'allah, to look for a yellow and brown hijab.) Sometimes we are SO on the same page Jana.
- 31/1/09 16:06
- x l said...
Salaams. That's cute! I love the yellow and brown combo, but I haven't worn it in a while! Thanks for the reminder. :) And coincidentally, I just bought a yellow scarf to go with a scrub shirt that I have.
- 31/1/09 16:17
- Ranita said...
Yes i'd like to try it of course! because i like brown and yello ! i had never try to wear a abaya with a coat, but i think i will try it soon inchaAllah !
- 31/1/09 18:18
- Francesca Najea Lujan said...
As-Salamu-Alaikum Jana,
They are just gorgeous outfits! I'm a big fan of brown with almost everything.
I gave you an award. Please read my blog and find out all about it.
Fi Iman Ilah,
- 31/1/09 18:35
- NiDa said...
i love your set! I love musterd yellow though never dared to wear it :( because I have such a light skin complexion... but that abaya is gorges too
- 1/2/09 00:48
- Sonia said...
I am not a big fan of yellow or brown. But your post made me take a second look at this color combo. No bad. I usually like cream and brown, or yellow and black. But this is an interesting combination. I will definitely try it.
- 1/2/09 03:56
- Anonymous said...
How do they tie these scarves? I am Turkish and I could never figure out how these scarves are tied so neatly. Do you happen to know any tutorials on this? I saw one youtube video but still my scarves dont end up like this. Unfortunately I am the only one in my family who wear scarves and I do not live in Turkiye. Next time I am there, I will definitely learn how to tie it and prepare a tutorial! Am I frustrated!
- 1/2/09 05:25
- Jana said...
Glad everyone likes it! Maybe I'll give it a go soon :D
Fia, it depends, sometimes I find the thigns I need within half an hour, sometimes I have to search for things for days. It takes long because I only post current, affordable items from UK stores.
Anon, I posted a tutorial video here:
There are several more if you follow the link. Hope that helps!
- 1/2/09 09:45
- Maryam-Hajar said...
Salaams Sisters,
I love this look..especially the scarf/hijab. As a new Muslimah, w/ gray hair...i'm finding that i don't have to worry about what colors 'go with' my hair color--since i wear hijab..now i can wear brown or any color i want, and w/ the right accessories, it looks fine. So, i havent' worn brown i a long time...now i will!
thanks, and Salaams
- 1/2/09 12:43
- samira said...
I am found of the way turkish hijabi put their hijab. Does any one knows how to put it on this way?
- 2/2/09 08:46
- bint alshamsa said...
I don't post here a lot but I do visit. I just wanted to chime in and say that I am a big fan of yellow and brown together.
- 3/2/09 05:13


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Many people walk with pain because they are not aware of the new surgical procedures that will help them. The truth is that many people who suffer from painful ingrown toenails, bunions, and hammertoes are unnecessarily forced to curtail their activities. Sadly, they forego exercise, social plans with their family members and friends, and sometimes give up stimulating jobs in favor of desk work.
Now, with the ease of today's procedures, patients no longer have be afraid that a surgical foot procedure will put them out of commission, make them bedridden, or chew up sick leave.
Your Aunt Didn't Tell You the Truth About Foot Surgery
If you're like most people, your fears about foot surgery probably came from your aunt or your mother. Then, it was true that she experienced pain and needed weeks of bed rest after surgery. The picture is very different today.
Although podiatric medical schools were established around the turn of the century, podiatrists have been caring for people's feet for over two hundred years. Now, podiatric training requirements are similar to those for medical school. Dr. Tepper has received a four-year podiatric medical degree. He is Board Certified by the American Board of Podiatric Orthopedics.
Just like other surgeons, podiatrists use the latest techniques and surgical procedures. In fact, modern technology has revolutionized the field of surgery and has given pioneering foot surgeons an opportunity to develop procedures that have made surgery significantly easier for patients.
New In-Office Surgery For Ingrown Toenails, Bunions and Hammertoes
- Minimal Incision Surgery (MIS): With the use of specially-designed instruments, Dr. Tepper can now perform an entire surgical procedure on your foot through a very small opening. MIS is just one example of the convenient and comfortable in-office procedures used to surgically treat painful hammertoes, bunions, heel spurs, and corns. Although not every foot condition can be corrected with MIS, patients who are candidates can expect:
- To be able to walk right after surgery
- Few or no stitches
- No casts or crutches
- Less pain
- Less cost
- Laser Surgery: A laser is a device that generates a concentrated beam of light. Because nothing travels faster than light in empty space, the laser is best known for its precision. For over a decade, laser surgery has been reducing the pain, risk, and recovery time of many surgical procedures in a wide range of medical specialties: ophthalmology, gynecology, cardiology, dermatology, plastic surgery, and podiatry. Warts, ingrown toenails, some skin lesions, scars, and fungus nails are some of the conditions which are ideal for in-office laser surgery.
When to Consider Surgery
In the past, podiatrist recommended surgery only when all other options failed. Now, because of the ease of new procedures, expert surgeons like Dr. Tepper know that early surgical intervention often reduces the need for more comprehensive surgery later on. You will want to consider surgery if you encounter any of the following:
- Your physician has recommended foot surgery
- You have a family history of bunions, hammertoes, or ingrown toenails
- Conventional methods of treatment have failed
- You have lost time from work because of foot pain
- You have ankle, leg, or back pain caused by foot deformities
- You no longer want to walk with pain
You'll Walk Right After Surgery
Most people recover from bunion and hammertoe surgery quickly, returning to limited activity within days. Patients frequently remark that the procedure and recovery were much more comfortable than they imagined.
You will be able to walk immediately after surgery, wearing a surgical shoe. If you have had
When You Need Dr. Tepper's Help
Dr. Jan D. Tepper is an expert podiatric physician and surgeon specializing in modern surgical techniques for the correction of bunions, hammertoes, ingrown toenails and other foot problems. His office contains the modern equipment necessary to perform the latest in-office procedures, including laser surgery.
984 W. Foothill Blvd, Suite B
Upland, California 91786
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Here are a number of frequently-asked questions:
How much personal time will it take?
In addition to weekly rehearsals throughout the year, we perform and receive education throughout the year.
Performances: In addition to an annual show and a Christmas show, we perform in the greater Chattanooga area about 6-8 times per year. Some are full chorus performances, but many only require a small ensemble. When you become a member and learn some repertoire, you will be asked what your general availablity is and the director will use it to contact you periodically as a possible participant.
Education: We participate in Sweet Adelines International's yearly regional competition in the spring. In February, we have an annual coached weekend retreat to focus on preparing for it and two or three Saturday coaching sessions each year.
What is the cost?
When you join Scenic City Chorus, you'll also become a member of Sweet Adelines International and Region 4. There is an initial start-up cost to cover your International membership. After that, we have monthly dues that will cover most expenses.
What is the audition procedure?
On your second visit, you will be given the sheet music and a CD of our audition song. When you are ready, the director will schedule a time for your audition. You will be asked to sing in a quartet (you and the three other parts) in front of the director and your part section leader.
Do I have to be a great singer?
No, you do not have to be a great singer—nor do you have to be a trained singer. We are looking for women who can carry a tune and show some ability to hold a harmony part against the song melody.
How do I learn the songs?
Sheet music and learning tracks for our songs are uploaded to the Members Only area on our website. Learning tracks offer each song in three modes: your individual part line, all four parts with your part dominant, and three parts with your part missing. After becoming a member, you are given access to the learning tracks and sheet music on-line.


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Terry D. Etherton
The latest American Farm Bureau Federation Marketbasket Survey of retail food prices was just released. In this informal survey, for the third quarter of 2010, shoppers reported the average price for a half-gallon of regular whole milk was $2.04, down 2 cents from the prior quarter. The average price for one gallon of regular whole milk was $3.16, up 10 cents. Comparing per-quart prices, the retail price for whole milk sold in gallon containers was about 25 percent lower compared to half-gallon containers, a typical volume discount long employed by retailers. Continue reading The "Smoke and Mirrors" of rbST-Free Milk Pricing Keeps Rolling On…and On


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Enter your email address to be sent a joining pack.
Well done to Matty, Pip & Jack on their excellent performances last Saturday.
Matthew Individual Percussion (Snare) 4th/5 66 points
Pip Individual Colourguard 3rd/3 73 points
Jack Open Class (electric guitar) 2nd/3 70.3 points.
It takes a lot of courage to perform in front of a audience, well done, you were brilliant !
By Oliver


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H. W. McKenney
J. A. MacDougall
James Walker
Charles A. Magrath
W. McKay
Colonel Fred White
John Lister Kaye
John T. Moore
A. S. Rosenroll
W. H. Cushing
W. R. Griffith
G. Stanton
Edward R. Michener
Home >>
Telephone Era in Alberta >> The People
>> Bios >> W. H. Cushing
Born in Kenilworth, Wellington County, Ontario, this business and
political leader, philanthropist and telephone pioneer came west in
1883 and would become one of the West's prime lumber merchants. He
entered civic politics in 1890 and served as a Calgary alderman for
six terms. In 1899, he was elected the 13th mayor of Calgary, and
served from 1900-01. When Alberta became a province September 1905,
Cushing was appointed as the Minister of Public Works in Alberta's
first Provincial Cabinet. In 1910, he resigned from Premier
Alexander Rutherford's government following the premier's
involvement in the Alberta & Great Waterways Railway
conflict-of-interest scandal.
In a letter to Rutherford dated 14 February 1910, he stated:
"There are several matters in which I am not in accord with you, the
most prominent of these being the manner in which you have handled
the railway policy of the Province, especially that part pertaining
to the guaranteeing of the bonds of the Alberta & Great Waterways
Railway. This transaction, put through without my knowledge or
consent, is, in my judgment, such that I cannot with sincerity of
heart and honesty of purpose defend before the electorate of this
province, because in the agreement and specification signed by
yourself you have utterly failed to protect the interests of the
Premier Rutherford would resign in May 1910.
An early proponent of the telephone as a communications device,
Cushing played a key role in building Calgary's and Alberta's first
telephone system, and in 1909 would be responsible for the
installation of the first automatic telephone system in Alberta.
Cushing played a key role in the purchase of the Alberta operations
of the Bell Telephone Company, which would lead to the creation in
1908 of Alberta Government Telephones.
He also served eight years as a trustee for the Calgary Board of
Education, and in 1996, the W.H. Cushing Workplace School in Calgary
was named after him.
Cushing died of a heart attack at the age of 81.
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Heritage Community Foundation and
Telephone Historical Centre All Rights Reserved


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On 5/20/07, Michael Phipps <mphipps1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> The above example is not a clean build from the repo, nor is it > official, but it's not meant to be anything beyond a CD for demo or > promotional purposes. As a matter of fact, it may most likely be a > one-time thing created for a specific event. > > Would this still be considered a third party distro? I think that it is. Otherwise, what is, for Haiku, a distro? If you can add apps and fonts and documents and still be the official build, where do you draw the line?
Agreed. The only exception *ATM* is that we don't yet have a base distro. You wouldn't even be allowed to call something "Haiku Compatible". Jorge, I think that as long as we don't have an official distro it's best to just ask if it's OK to add <apps,etc.> and still call your particular CD a "Haiku pre-alpha promo CD". Later, it will be very clear what the official distro is and any modifications will lead to a 3rd-party distro, but our official distro should at that point be good enough for promo CDs. Bye, Waldemar Kornewald


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The Exalted developers Q&A has now left the original Q&A thread and moved on to a new thread. Here's a compilation of dev answers to player questions from the first few weeks of the new thread!
Links to previous threads:
Q&A Summary #1
Q&A Summary #2
Q&A Summary #3
Q&A Summary #4
Q&A Summary #5
Simon Mcglynn:
Do you necessarily need to be holding a weapon to activate Evocations? Can you perhaps embed a number of Daiklaves in an enemy then activate them all on the final strike?
It really depends on the Evocation. Volcano Cutter has a few neat tricks that key off Call the Blade; obviously you can't use those if Volcano Cutter is already in your hand.
Simon Mcglynn:
On a largely unrelated note, and one that's likely been answered (sorry if it was), are there any plans for something like Shards of the Exalted Dream for 3e? I really like the idea of Exalted in our world.
This comes up a lot!
A Shards book would be really fun, but we have at least five years' worth of other books that need priority, so.
Poop Deck:
In 2E, Solar Charms were written in a way such that the first part gave a narrative description that could be interpretted in either a positive or negative way. They would start with statements such as "It is hard for mortals to resist the shining glory of the Solar Exalted."
Are Charms in 3E also written in such a way that they can be interpretted both rightous or sinister?
Mostly, they just describe what legendary skill or supernal might is depicted by the Charm. It's morally neutral, so I guess you can read righteousness or wickedness or whatever you want into it, but it really comes down to how your character uses the prowess that Charm represents.
Lontra Felina:
Would a Medicine charm (or non Ability-based equivalent) that lets you rip organs out of your body and shove them into the patient be appropriate for a Liminal?
Not at all.
Are Alchemicals still going to be a thing in 3e?
Yes, eventually.
Is there any possibility of canon links between Creation and Autochthonia? Something small, perhaps requiring a degree of happenstance but nonetheless a way for Alchemicals to end up in Creation and other exalts to end up in Autochthonia? I've long felt that Alchemicals are kind of sabotaged in the narrative by essentially requiring that the group set out to run an Autochthonian campaign. Otherwise, asking to play an Alchemical in Creation essentially means asking the GM to allow for what is seen as an excessive fluke (which is odd, given that any given player character in Exalted is already a bit of a fluke, but whatever) OR a massive, setting-altering event like an Autochthonian invasion of Creation. It would be nice to have a small, little bit of a link where some cosmic quirk of the setting might allow for a small amount of cross-over (enough to justify a player character), perhaps with a single canon example of something like it happening so that Alchemicals aren't so completely pigeon-holed.
It will be a completely optional setting this time.
Isator Levie:
I wonder if "completely optional" might extend to the idea that the setting doesn't implicitly assume that Autochthon actually absconded Elsewhere with several thousand mortals at all. I don't know if that would mean never actually putting a word in about what became of Autochthon or just saying he disappeared a few decades into the First Age with no details widely known whatsoever.
I mean, even as other books went, there was the idea that Autochthon abducted a few thousand people and disappeared behind the Seal of Eight Divinities was a known quantity. Making it more optional might mean not making references to ancient Solars who tried to break him out of his shell.
Well, we're certainly going to spend a lot less time talking about how Autochthon did this, that, and the other thing this edition.
I dunno if the plans is to specifically leave him out of everything except Alchemical products or not, though.
Can we get star maps of Creation's sky as an add-on for the Sidereals hardback Kickstarter?
Creation's sky is not very static; it'd be difficult to map.
I know Fair Folk is really, really far away, but are you guys intending to stick to the whole 4-maws/graces idea or will we see a fresh revitalization of Fair Folk?
Man I don't know if we've even decided yet.
Virtues are out as a system concept, which probably weighs against at least the concept of graces as feeding maws. On the other hand, graces—the physical things, the staff upon which raksha-Odin's oaths are written or whatever—are pretty cool. I expect their precise role and function would get some adjustment, but I'd be both surprised and sad if they got cut entirely.
In scroll of heros there was a thing about only granting godhood as a reward for heroic mortals because for an exalted (or was it a solar) it was a downgrade since being an exalted was a state of being.
Is this still true?
"[X] can't Exalt as a Solar, and therefore hella sucks" is a line of reasoning that has never led to good things—it's the same thought behind the idea that the gods of Yu-Shan would consider Dragon-Bloods beneath ordinary humans because they can't Exalt as Celestials.
Mortals being uplifted to divine status via divine blessing will probably still be a thing; we don't really want to obviate god-bloods and such via Exigents. The Exalted being uplifted to divine status will probably not become a thing.
The Exalted are already uplifted to divine status.
Isator Levie:
Can gods inherit authority over an Exigent, or is it a thing considered attached to the person rather than the office?
What gave you the idea anyone had authority over Exigents?
I don't actually care about whether gods are worthy of worship; not nearly as much as I care about whether that worship is devoted sincerely and what it means to the worshipper. The actual object of worship can sort of go hang; I'm just tired of the idea that we should look at it in terms of rational economic exchange rather than cultural values and heritage.
Constantly reassuring the audience that people in the setting are either justified in their actions or ripe for being convinced to change them is not what I'm here for.
Arian Dynas:
So… there's no more of this feeling that Exalts are charlatans and liars for demanding worship, or indeed being worshipped, and that having the Cult Background is inherently a cruel and manipulative thing that 2nd Ed kinda gave the implication of being?
Again, I'm generally more interested in exploring the motives and goals of the various actors in the setting than passing judgment on them. That's best left as an exercise for the players.
Raziere brings up a valid point; it's not just Exalts that seemed unworthy of worship in the setting until now, it's everyone.
Hopefully we'll get more characters like the field god Ten Sheaves from the Strawmaiden Janest fiction; someone who actually cares about his followers and comes across as genuinely worthy of devotion and respect.
Obviously we should still have plenty of corrupt pray-extortioners to punch, but a few honest deities will help bring some nuance to reinforce the game's thesis of "it's not what you are, but who you are and what you do with power that makes you good or bad."
Not disagreeing with your assessment of Ten Sheaves or Janest, but it's worth remembering that the god was almost certainly going to get his fields destroyed and his Essence devoured by the Fair Folk. And Janest herself is an orphan seized in a raid on some neighboring village and raised as part of a dedicated security force to protect her (forcibly) adopted new community. Does that make them corrupt? Heroic? Dupes? Pawns of circumstance? To me, it just makes them characters in the setting with their own motives, being acted on by various forces and reacting as they think best.
You do have the slight awkwardness in Exalted (and a lot of other fantasy settings) that religion can be a transaction though – when a preacher comes to town preaching about some new god, then that new god may be able to offer actual concrete benefits to converts, which is not really a factor in the real world. A god that's buggered off to Yu-Shan to live the good life could find himself 'undercut' by a god that actively works his worshippers – if people have the choice of worshipping the 'god of their people' who hasn't been seen in living memory or a new god who has just shown up but is actively helping, than tradition can go hang, people may well go for the new hot god that's actually there.
A lot of people will have various cultural beliefs (like Ahlat has enough followers that most will quite happily go their entire life without seeing him, or expecting any intervention) but there should be some two-way communication – in my game I had a town that used to be famed for warriors until the Usurpation when most of the population died, and afterwards it became renowned for artwork. The old town god was basically replaced by a new, more arty one, because the town wasn't interested in his creed anymore, and he lacked the personal power to compel worship. Gods still seem to be potentially pretty locally-focused, so a town can have a falling-out with their god, or reasonably explicit arrangements ('we give you two festivals a year, you bless 5 acres of ground for us') without breaking the setting or feeling out of place.
Even that isn't enormously different from, say, a new dynasty solidifying its authority by aggressively pushing a new god or gods into prominence, citing their favor as the reason for upturns in economic prosperity, health, good harvests, etc. "Well, we were getting our asses kicked by famine, badly-run wars, and poverty when we were worshiping Amen-Whatsit, but ever since the new king had us switch to Rama-Whosit we've been trouncing our enemies and the cities are full of food and money's coming in again. MAKES SENSE TO ME."
Heavy Arms:
The fact that you, personally, don't like what religions offer people doesn't change their significance on a cultural level. Which is the point here. Religion is not participated in by most religious people simply as a rational exchange, so making religion in Exalted feel authentic and organic requires it to exist beyond "prayer = god-food, apply economics."
Religion in Exalted should be there to make Creation feel more "real" as a setting. Any impact is has on the mechanics of Exalts and gods is secondary to that. Being someone that doesn't see value in religion in their personal life doesn't really enter the equation into how Ex3 should treat religion.
Something that vanished from 2e was a sense that Creation had its own myths. Every bit of apocrypha in 1e got confirmed as "really real" canon in 2e. This is something else we're doing away with. Just because someone in Creation holds a certain belief, doesn't mean that belief is backed up somewhere by a god, spirit, mystical force, etc.
Turning back to Invocations, I'm seeing them as generally a way for Combat-Ability focused characters (Solar and Dragonblooded especially) to express powers and abilities typically barred behind sorcery and high essence Martial Arts charms, is that the general idea?
I'm in the midst of running a Solar game using a kludged together version of Fate, and one of my Solar players took a White Jade daiklave and Invocations that allows him to instantly raise up barriers of earth, to parry blows meant for others from far away, and to rocket the Dawn Caste toward his target on a piece of land cut from the earth through the magic of his blade. Is this the sort of thing that Invocations can do, or am I way off base here?
That sounds about right for a fairly powerful white jade daiklave.
Hey. So what's the status of Anathema? I remember the team was going to be working on it for release, but I wasn't sure if that's still a goal.
We're not directly involved in making the Anathema tool. You need to get in touch with Sean or Urs to find out how it's going.
The Immaculate Order is a tool of social conditioning. It exists to condition mortals to obey the Dragon-Blooded, and to condition the Dragon-Blooded not to wreck the world with stupid excesses. So yes: It specifically does not convey moral infallibility on the Dragon-Blooded, while at the same time immunizing mortals from karmic punishment if they obey a Dragon-Blood who has his head up his ass.
Will the Core book go into what technology is appropriate for Creation?
Only by example woven into setting description to the usual degree. It's a big, big book even without that.
What is the pinnacle of terrestial sorcery? what is the most big and impressive thing that it can do?
What would be the job of a sorcerer assistant?
Do they have some magic that is not a Spell or a Working? something that they can use in the moment
Do we have some example of mind control in the core? because i may want to have a character doing a Sorcerous Working to give his eyes an hypnotic gaze
What make a great sorcerer different than a "normal" sorcerer? is it something different than the number of spells they know?
1) They're all fairly well balanced against each other. How good a spell is depends on how cleverly they are used.
2) My assistant does beer runs.
3) Some sorcerers have Charms.
4) Perhaps!
5) Roleplaying.
In your opinion, what is the strangest thing a sorcerer can do in order to gather motes for a spell?
Nothing is really all that strange, because there needs to be a kind of sense to one's actions.
Will the species/cultures that made up the Niobraran League resemble plesiosaurs, mosasaurs or giant turtles at all?
We don't plan to draw on the prehistoric fauna of the region for our races, though there certainly could be all manner of things lurking in the depths.
1. Are there any other larger (region spanning) religions that have a more complex organization than individual god cults? The nation of Harbor Head worshiping the war god I'd consider close, but you'd think they would have more organized religions. Like the Storm Mothers in the West, does their worship have an organized name? Something akin to a formal structure and tiers of priest hood? This always bothered me about the setting. That the only major factions were listed as the Immaculates, The Cult of the Illumiated, and the Hundred God Heresy (honestly who would call themselves that?).
2. This is a "Lunar did nothing 1E/2E issue." In all that time that the Lunars and Sidereals were at odds, there were a tin handful of Solar Exaltations constantly being reborn (not captured), right? So why didn't a handful of Lunars save a Solar Exalt and pull them into a territory they Sidereals can't get at them? Like say taking them into the heart of the Caul and letting them learn and practice their powers? Why did the setting not have a few 100+ year old rogue Solars that the Lunars were hanging onto as say their 'nuclear option' when they were ready to use them? 1E had a 100+ year old Solar NPC in one of the adventures, 2E ignored this possibility.
3. There may or may not be 2-3 more unknown Exalt types. Cool. But what about other avenues of power for Mortals? What would happen if a powerful Fey or Unshaped forced open the Graces of a mortal? Would that being be close to Exalt/Godblooded power? Or perhaps a mortal entered into a pact with a powerful ghost who boned with them much like how the Dragon Kings "exalted", granting them power from a bond. (Yes, basically Exalted Sin Eater). Or maybe a mortal through sorcery or infernal aid stealing the power of a god or spirit as their own? I know there are Infernals, but what if there was a 'pact' Exalt who gains powers by dire acts? Just a desire to have an Exalt type who gains power by taking it from others. Are these potential future possibilites if not for Exalted, but empowered beings?
1. Yes, all kinds of religions, but word count hasn't been dedicated to any because it isn't important that the Storyteller know how X worships Y, the Storyteller can make up those details on their own.
2. Maybe the Lunars don't see that as a viable option. It also paints a different picture of Creation if a Solar has been idle chilling for a century or two. Filial Wisdom works because he is a soul-ridden monster.
3. Sure, why not?
Is there going to be any support to bring new players into Ex3? By this I mean that 99% of the folks posting on rpg.net have some history with Ex3 and know its not your average D&d/Fate/Champions kinda game.
Will there be any adventures to show new players the ropes?
Basic adventures to show a potential new GM the ropes?
Following that, if I have a noobie player who has a idea for a game he just MUST run, how hard will it be for him to go from player to gm?
How long to turn his idea into a adventure? New player reads the book and says Lunars are their dream character, will that be doable with just Ex3 core?
New player wants to make up his own style of kung-fu, doable?
This thread has me highly jazzed for the world of Ex3 for those of us who have history with the world/game, I am just curious how friendly the book will be to introduce new players to.
EX3 has been designed primarily with new players in mind.
You worry about [Anathema], but there are various reasons you don't go full-tactical-strike when they turn up. Mostly the fallout from your actions, and it taking resources away from other things that are needed. Even if what they're doing is somewhat problematic for you, if it's not critical you might care but not take action.
Plus it can be advantageous at times. If an Anathema sets up shop near a kingdom that decided to break free from your guiding hand of rule a few years ago, they might well decide that things were not so bad when they had you for protection.
…no, you pretty much do come down on them like a ton of bricks. For seven-ish centuries, the Realm had a policy of "Solars: Not Even One," up to and including sending Wyld Hunts deep into areas like the Scavenger Lands where they had no recognized political authority in order to hunt new Solars down and kill them, because if you let one develop a power base, Jesus Christ you are so fucked fifty years from now.
Lookshy helped. They were never Solar Friendly. Had I an absurd amount of time, I would now pen a short fiction piece set during one of the Realm invasions of the Scavenger Lands where two two opposing forces of Dragon-Blooded temporarily set aside hostilities to kill an Anathema who's using the chaos to raise a peasant army and found his own state. Alas, I don't, so you'll have to imagine it. (It wouldn't be very heartwarming; I think it'd end with the Realm DBs successfully positioning things such that killing the Solar necessarily put the Lookshy squad in a position of vulnerability, and the Realm then mopped them up. There would follow an historical footnote about how this minor victory did not ultimately gain the Realm anything strategically, in the manner of Consider Phlebas.)
All the current stuff about "Well, they can let you alone if you let them alone" is really recent, largely because at the height of its power, the Realm really did have the military resources to go to absurd lengths to hunt down the dozen or so Solars who kept reincarnating, but the Realm is now at the nadir of its power and there aren't a dozen-ish Solars anymore, there's over a hundred. Not devoting absolutely as many resources as are needed to find every Solar you can and kill every Solar you find goes against the doctrines of every major power player in the setting; fortunately for the Solars, those doctrines are now absolutely, completely unworkable — nobody has enough resources to consistently chase down half of the Solars, let alone all of them, never mind all of them plus having capital left over to accomplish any damn other thing.
Yes, I was addressing what *is* rather than what was, or rather the pragmatic result of what I'd think would be.
I find the idea that there isn't an adjustment of tactics rather… well, insulting to human nature. And not really good for the idea of the Realm as a credible threat. If they are completely utterly incapable of using the threat that Anathema represent to their own advantage but instead are dead set on "hear of an anametha, mount up and go kill it!" they're doomed in short order. Apart from wasted effort on false reports which will be non trivial, it's putting you in the position of steadily losing people you can not afford to lose to the anathema victories. You can pull that off if you have vast reserves of people to throw, but the Realm doesn't as far as I understand it.
Well, yes.
But also keep in mind that the people who are now in the position of having to leave Solars alone because there's no resources to deal with them, or even deliberately leaving Solars alone on the grounds that they'll cause problems for another enemy, are the same people who have, up until now, lived their whole lives (over a century, for some of them!) under a strict doctrine of "No. No. Don't do that. Don't try to be clever. Don't try to play him off your other enemies. Don't let him alone because you want to spend the effort it'd take to hunt him down on something else that was bigger on your radar before he showed up. Do not do those things. The part of you that wants to do those things is a lazy, impious, irresponsible bastard who will get us all killed. Do not listen to that part of yourself. Woman up and launch a fucking Wyld Hunt."
It does seem like the cost of this policy could be staggering, given how much bigger the world is now, and how much of it is unfriendly territory for the Realm. If you don't assume that every Solar who shows up is immediately flagged and located by Bronze Faction Sidereals then it seems like this approach would often involve mounting operations comparable to the Crusades in size and scope, since the whack-a-mole tends to push shards into the places where they're hardest to find and destroy.
Sidereal astrology helps with locating them. Or did, back when the numbers were manageable. Once you nail down the area, you can start asking "Hey, have you seen any glowing golden anathemic demon-gods around here lately?"
Hmm. Did they have a different method for cases where the Anathema were way outside of Realm territory, or were they stuck having to try to march an army all the way from the nearest garrison to some god-awful place on the edge of Creation? I imagine the whole "let us through your territory and we promise to just kill the Anathema and leave" thing must be kind of a hard sell.
I guess there was always the Sword of Creation.
Sometimes you have to break out the Dragon Armor, bind some agata, and do an aerial insertion with a dozen highly-trained guys, several of whom are sorcerers trained in Infallible Messenger so you can make regular check-ins and progress reports from half a world away. If all else fails, Sidereals can route backup through Heaven, though they are loathe to do so.
(That's the nice thing about being based on the Blessed Isle — nowhere in Creation is ever more than half a world away.)
Alright, so. I believe this is the gist of the Realm's current status in 3E, based on Dev comments:
1. The Realm as a singular entity, as much as it ever was a singular entity, is crumbling due to the colossal power vacuum left by the Scarlet Empress.
2. However, the individual Houses, who were suppressed and set against one another by the Empress for the sake of maintaining her control, are now free to expand, accrue resources, and generally do as they see fit, making the Houses more dangerous then they were before, despite their lack of unity.
3. The Realm-wide institutions, such as the Thousand Scales and the Imperial Legions are being plundered by the Houses in preparation for civil war, either to reunite the empire, or to establish their own hegemony.
Does all this mean the Wyld Hunt will lose its power, being one of the aforementioned Realm-wide institutions? … I don't think so.
They might not be able to pull as much manpower and resources as they did before, but I sincerely doubt the House lords will be so foolish as to abandon one of the core tenets of their follower's faith. They'll definitely want to keep the morale up and secure the loyalty of the religiously inclined by hunting down Anathema within their sphere of capability; not to mention that after centuries of fighting Lunar dominions, they'll see Anathema as a major threat to their dominion, regardless of who's problem they are right now.
Therefore, my interpretation of the assertion that the Wyld Hunt is not as powerful as it was is that it's the difference between "Holy *&$% you are so dead" and "You might survive this, if you run now. If you can actually beat them, you're a certified kung-fu hero (and the fight will be fantastic)."
Please tell me if I'm wrong here.
That's about right.
Never tell an expensive truth when a cheap lie will do the job.
To secure the people you don't need to run out and kill Anathema, you just need to spread rumours to run along side all the rumours of new Anathema about your brave forces taking them down. And you have exalted that are very good at spreading just such rumors.
As for dealing with threats, I generally expect that the most wise and enlightened military commander politicians can judge the numbers. I can take what I have and throw it at this Anathema now… because it will someday threaten my interests after I rule the world… that is right now not in any way threatening me, but IS threatening my enemies… OR… I can send my forces after this minor rumor in the hinterlands of the blessed isle on the basis that we need to "protect the homefront" and then make a lot of political noise about this other threat and demand that my competitor deal with it since MY forces are already committed to anathema hunting and it's in the territory THEY rule. Only makes sense. Their mess, they should clean it up. And the fact that they'll be defenseless when my strongest forces return to report that it was naught but a rumor, is just icing.
Right now, yes.
I just think it produces neat results to remember that the people making the decisions feel deeply uncomfortable about it, because it's against everything they were raised to do.
now that thaumaturgy is rare and enlightened essense is gone, what happens with Lookshy and Paragon supersoldiers and mortal Inmaculate exorsist???
are they gone, replaced…
Thaumaturgy is rare, but thaumaturgist-exorcists are still a thing, especially in the context of e.g. Sijan and the Immaculate Order, because both are recognized, large-scale, heavily-bureaucratized organizations with the sort of reach that allows them to actively recruit the talented. Among areas where the Immaculate Order has a strong cultural cachet, the understanding is that if you have a talent for thaumaturgy, your duty is to go become a monk — that is, in fact, the universe's way of telling you that priesthood is your calling.
Lookshyan supersoldiers are fast-aging guys in relic super-suits, of which Lookshy does not have enough to reliably field whole squads, but does still have.
so now is if yo are a thaumaturgist go become a monk instead of you are a monk learn to be an exorcist
People feel called to the priesthood for many reasons, and the Immaculate Order is quite good at distributing human resources effectively.
there is something else for mortal monks beside assisting the exalted monks then
There is a shit-ton for mortal monks to do beside assisting the Exalted monks. The Immaculate Order's bureaucracy is gigantic.
This is probably a silly question, but I don't recall it ever being explicitly stated if Immaculate monks, or at least Dragon-Blooded ones, are required to be celibate. If so, how does that square with the Dynastic imperative to breed?
I thought it was stated out right that Immaculate Monks were celibate (but IIRC, "taking matters in hand wasn't prohibited).
Edit: and I don't think virginity was required. Terrestrials can enter the order late in life after bearing or siring children, for instance.
They're supposed to be celibate, yeah. Ritual celibacy is one of the ascetic behaviors Dragon-Blooded practice during the run-up to qualifying for full-power Immaculate MA, along with sticking to mild foods, regular meditation, avoiding decadent material comforts, etc.. The do seem to genuinely have to adhere to some sort of disciplined regime to unlock that potential; it's not just some bullshit.
Whether they have to adhere to celibate practices after unlocking the ability to learn Immaculate MA… well, hmm. Here's a concept: "Below the resolution of the mechanics." Like, we recognize that two horses might be of unequal quality as mounts, while both are represented by the same stats, because the stats don't represent a fine-enough resolution picture of the setting to set them apart. Likewise, two guys of Strength 4 and Athletics 3 are probably not exactly equally strong. In-setting, there'd be a measurable difference in terms of strength, however minor, but since we're only dealing with ten steps, that gets abstracted out.
Immaculates benefit spiritually from practicing celibacy, but at a level below the resolution of the mechanics. It's not just some bullshit! In setting, there's an effect! Just, I don't know what it is, and whatever it is, it's minor enough we don't represent it with game rules.
Celibacy is part of the Immaculate vows, although monks are explicitly permitted masturbation in order to maintain a balanced mind.
The Immaculate Order is, in part, a way to handle those Dragon-Blooded who are unmanageable breeding problems, and to help keep things manageable for the Empress. If she were stressing pure numbers, the Realm could easily have quadruple its current Terrestrial population, which is un-manageable even for the Empress's impressive statesmanship skills. It would have fractured long ago. And so the Immaculate Order acts as a good repository for unruly sons and daughters, for those too morally strict to do well in the cutthroat world of Dynastic politics, and– very important!– as a place to shuffle the multitudes of lost eggs the Realm sweeps up every year. Weak-blooded mongrels from the peasant villages and the Threshold are a wild card nobody particularly wants in their House bloodlines, and so these diluted far-flung bloodlines are allowed to peter out in service to the Immaculate Order.
The Realm is set up to demand children, but then to put roadblocks in the way of having just shitloads of kids, the most obvious probably being the utterly ruinous cost of educating a Dynastic child.
IIrc, as regards the Celebacy and the Immaculate Order discussion, I want to make sure I'm remembering a few things correctly.
1) Not everyone who goes to the Cloister as their Secondary School eventually becomes a Monk, right? It's like going to Catholic School on Earth, many of those kids aren't going to join the church, they just went to religious school, right?
2) Similarly, one can take the vows without necessarily having gone to the Cloister, right? Like, if you're, say, a tired old Air Aspect who just wants to get away from the fighting, you could join the Order, yes?
In the second case, you could easily have had a bunch of kids first, since you could be, like 200 years old or something, before you took your vow of celibacy, right?
Poop Deck:
How are mutations going to be different in 3E compared to 2E (assuming there will be a difference)?
They're just merits. Ex1 and Ex2 had this whole system where the mutations were originally assigned point values according to "How far does this pull you from the human average" with the intent of measuring how easy or hard it was to acquire it in the Wyld and how difficult it was to survive outside the Wyld with them, and then those also got turned into purchase value when bought as powers, but that never lined up, because something like having a ring of octopus tentacles instead of a pair of legs is clearly an abomination if wings are, but is not worth as many chargen points as self-powered flight.
a question from my future Solar animal handler
Can we bond with only 1 familiar or (Essence) familiars?
If is the latter do we buy the charms for each or can we share between them?
Depends on the Charm.
A familiar enhanced with the new survival charms can have solar level figthing power?
No, that would be pretty crazy. They're quite tough, though.
Do we have the stats for Warhawks in the core?
What's that?
they are the gigant birds that the Haltan people ride
You can hack them really fast—eagle stats, then add in some of the size-related merits of other animals. Maybe a dash of strix to taste.
How screw up are my enemies if i tame a tyrant-lizard?
They're pretty screwed.
I know that we can bond whith god-blooded animals but what is the line between familiars and allies?
"Do I have a soul-deep bond with this creature and also is it an animal"
Heavy Arms:
I know a lot of people that lost their virginity in that age group. Including a few that ended up with pregnancies.
I don't recall anything in Exalted that implies that Creation has a more modern stigma against teenage pregnancies, or against being sexually active after puberty at ages we consider today to be too young for such things; it always seemed to me that the bigger stress was being careful about not causing scandals. While I understand most people wouldn't want to play a fresh academy age dynast's liaisons (and I'm in that category), as far as backstory/character hooks I can see someone playing an IO Monk with high Breeding (or however that's handled in Ex3) who made a deal with their family to sire a few children for the sake of the bloodline before taking their vows.
Is there anything that would actually stop this in the setting?
Most of Creation has no issues with 16-year-olds getting married and assuming adult responsibilities. This is hugely stigmatized in Dynastic society, not least because it gets in the way of the kid's education and ties them down with responsibilities they are totally unprepared to uphold both socially and financially.
I'm not sure whether maiden tea would be "made freely available to students," because that seems like an aspect of modern culture that places like expensive boarding schools in a Realm-like competitive nobility would not share. I am reasonably certain that rich parents could pay the faculty a bit more to make maiden tea available to their children, even if on an unofficial basis (and if you think this is the only bribery going on between rich parents and faculty, I've got a bridge to sell you), just as I am sure that rich parents would also pay to have inconvenient youth pregnancies swept under the rug, whether by chemical abortifacents for their own kids or… other methods… for other kids who their kids have become involved with.
Children of patrician families who can barely afford tuition as it is may be shit out of luck. Should have been more appreciative of the opportunity your family worked so hard to give you, kids!
The big restriction on handing out maiden tea at school is that the really effective varieties are expensive. Also worth remembering: Getting caught helping induce abortion in a Dynast's kid is hugely illegal. Like, for a patrician instructor, "I am taking my life into my hands here" illegal.
That never stopped nobody.
In an atmosphere where the parents are positively salivating to expose scandals involving the rivals of their children, and shortening an instructor by one neck doesn't even give them moral pangs?
In an atmosphere where the parents are also positively salivating to prevent scandals involving their own children, and have ridiculous amounts of money to throw around?
If something's against the law, people are doing it. Nobody outlaws shit nobody does, and outlawing a thing never totally stops it.
The situation with maiden tea varies across the Realm, as political / social attitudes vary across the Realm. The Dynasty is not a monoculture. The Blessed Isle is the size of the United States. No two primary schools will react the same way to teenage pregnancy, and the reaction depends on the opinions of the Great Houses sponsoring the schools. A primary school where Mnemon parents are providing extravagant financial support will adopt Mnemon views; a school where a Tepet family provides most of the funds will follow the Tepet school of thought. Social censure remains the main pressure against teenage Dynasts flying fast and loose, but there can be layered consequences for parties involved depending on what House they belong to and especially what gender they are. The ax tends to fall much heavier on boys than girls in this sort of situation. No young Dynast in his right mind wants to get a child on a Dynastic peer, as it creates grounds for her House to lay all kinds of charges against his. No House wants to go through all the expense of raising their son and sending him to a primary school all for him to earn them a blood feud with another House.
"Congrats, Mom and Dad, I got you some very powerful mortal enemies for the holidays because I'm too stupid to practice any form of safe sex!" never goes over well.
The main thing to take away from this conversation is that the primary schools are dependent on House patrons. The Houses are the backbone of society. They "create" the right response.
Is this also layered on top of regional traditions/norms as well or are the houses strong enough culturally that when they dominate an area they pretty much take over and assimilate it?
Is there any chance in an examination of how towns/schools/etc. run by the various houses would get a rundown in a book?
"How the Houses influence politics" will be the spine of the Realm book.
Wait, is maiden tea an abortifacient? I'd always been under the impression it was a contraceptive – it'd keep you from getting pregnant, but wouldn't be effective once you were.
It's a contraceptive if taken in small regular doses monthly, an abortifacent if taken in a moderate-to-large dose during pregnancy, a sterilizing agent if taken in even larger doses at any time, and potentially a fatal poison if taken in doses even larger than that. The specific doses required for each function and the reliability of its performance as a contraceptive depends on what variety you're using; the universally 100% reliable variety requires an extract of those venomous clams the Tya use to sterilize themselves, is available only by import from the far West, and is expensive as fuck.
In EX3, "maiden tea" is a category-name for a variety of chemical contraceptives, which vary widely in effectiveness. The 100% reliable stuff from prior editions is still around, but as Lea noted, requires some pretty far-flung ingredients and is thus dreadfully expensive. Which is to say, any maiden tea found in a primary school's apothecary is not going to be sufficiently foolproof that you can just hand it out and let the students fuck like rabbits without any further worries.
I should note here that even the less expensive varieties are reliable enough that they're not useless; we don't want to produce a situation where unless you're very rich or playing in the West, female characters do not have meaningful bodily autonomy with regards to sexual license and the consequences thereof. Unreliable maiden tea is unreliable on the order of "Sometimes condoms break."
The concern being expressed here is that certain elements of human biology lead to semi-inevitable oppression of women on both a micro- and macro-scale unless glossed over or otherwise dealt with — witness how, in my example above, the solution for getting out of the consequences of an unwanted school pregnancy without chemical abortifacents for a female student is "Induce abortion some other way," which is unpleasant but at least a choice the student makes for herself, while the solution for getting out of the consequences of an unwanted school pregnancy for a male student is… "Induce abortion some other way," still, possibly without the mother's consent. That is some casual violence against women right there. This extends to every other element of the setting, from the practicality of women serving in armies to the practicality of women having full autonomy w/regards to how sexually active they want to be.
Other games handwave it, which is fine, but Exalted can't get away with handwaving that because Exalted doesn't handwave economics or logistics. Instead, Ex1 introduce cheap, reliable, universally available herbal birth control, inspired by the actual silphium, which was (allegedly, depending on who you ask) a reliable herbal abortifacent available to the Romans which they made extinct through overuse.
What I see here is the beginning of the expression of fear that by removing maiden tea as a silphium-equivalent without considering the repercussions, we are adjusting the setting to be much less female-PC-friendly and otherwise much more inevitably filled with sexual violence against women, once you get into the logistics of how pregnancy works. That is, it introduces more conflict into the setting, but the conflict it introduces is not fun to engage with.
However, as I said above, "unreliable" maiden tea is unreliable on the level of conventional birth control, not on the level of a toss-up. The game mechanics for maiden tea, regardless of what variety you buy, are "One dose monthly for contraception, two doses at once during a pregnancy as an abortifacent, three doses at once at any time for sterility, four doses are fatal." The unreliability of the cheaper versions exists on a larger context of statistical measurements and economic supply and demand.
Isator Levie:
The apparent desire to make the West more of an economic choke point (if I'm using the term correctly) would also seem to play its part, and the toxins used by the Tya were already there.
Yes, that too.
OK, so the intent is "the west is where we get our contraceptives, and thus important" rather than "the west is where we get the best contraceptives, but even dynasts can't afford to use them readily so they're basically irrelevant," which is what I got from crossing your stuff with Holden's. That makes a lot more sense now, thanks!
No, it is "The West is where we get the best contraceptives," but that doesn't mean anything short of the best contraceptives are useless, or that Dynasts can't afford even those. The availability of contraceptives in Dynastic primary and secondary school is a separate issue that got conflated with this.
Dynasts are basically hoarding the best stuff for themselves, as they're the wealthiest people in the setting on average.
Which is to say, you're going to find the best stuff in a Dynast's manse, not at a primary school being passed out on-request to patrician children.
It was also significantly more available ten years ago, before the impending civil war started making standard economic intercourse with the West dicey.
Isator Levie:
Some earlier points about the Wyld Hunt have me wondering… does the Realm engage in expeditionary warfare? That is, warfare not for the sake of conquest, or even local political advantages, but for the sake of breaking down forces operating outside of their organised spheres of influence so that they can't grow into potential rivals?
Like, if a travelling Dynast returns from an extended trip to the Dreaming Sea with tales of an increasingly powerful kingdom, and those stories are corroborated, will the Empress order a self-sustaining, mobile legion to head over there, wreak general destructive havoc, and then come home with whatever plunder they can carry?
The Empress did her best to suppress any kind of upwelling of power that occurred within her reach. The Dreaming Sea is a bit beyond the direct stroke of the Realm, though. That said, Dynasts regular engage in war tourism and there are many incentives for them doing so.
So… I have this concept of a twilight caste blacksmith/armorer. He'd be physical primary and mental secondary with a focus in craft, melee, athletics, and resistance, but what I'd really like to know about it is how much support there'd be for an artifact hammer.
If I wanted to make an artifact hammer which would be something like forge hammer sized outside of combat, but would be goremaul sized in combat and could interact in interesting ways with crafted items (say causing mortal forged items to break up into their constituent parts and perhaps with enough momentum (or whatever is appropriate) built up doing similar to artifacts)) and maybe kitbashing items out of those constituent parts which would have a limited shelf-life (if they were more durable, I'd have to use the appropriate crafting subsystem), how easily could I build that artifact hammer with the core rules? How about with Arms of the Chosen? Or would it be largely a matter of homebrew?
Solar Craft Charms already do most of these things. What you'd really have is an artifact craftsman's hammer that enhances your Solar Charms in various ways through various Evocations of hax and awe.
Does the Realm have myths analogous to the Kingdom of Prester John? The idea that there is some small kingdom off in the middle of nowhere far beyond their cultural reach which is nonetheless composed of devoted followers of the Immaculate Faith?
I have this thought of playing a descendent of a lost egg who would be taking advantage of such a belief to justify her rule (the lost egg, not the character). My character would be sent on a mission to help generate something resembling an alliance (the expected outcome would be me bringing a couple patrician adventurers back with me).
Along the way my character exalts as an Eclipse and hilarity ensues.
Sounds fun! Also, plausible, considering that the Immaculate Philosophy pre-dates the Order (and the modern Realm), and how many missionaries have walked off over yon farthest hill and vanished over the years. The Cinder Coast would be a particularly fertile region for such legends (and holy shit would the reality be disappointing), as would the West.
That said if Dragon Blooded are as potent as they were in 2e then there is nothing stopping say a brotherhood of 150 year old exalts who have finished their century plus in the Legions hiring a few hundred mercenaries, then knocking over a couple of fair sized kingdoms over a long afternoon after zipping between them using sorcery.
I know that in the prior edition at least there is simply nothing that a mortal kingdom no matter how larger can actually to do stop this, it really did not matter how many well trained and disciplined soldiers you put into the field if you were faced with experienced dragon blooded using some random guys and War charms.
3e's setting has more room for variance in field threads. Exigents help, as do Lunar dominions as potential bases of operation for forces who'd oppose that sort of poorly-supported imperialism, more obviously physically present elementals, and stranger things.
Speaking of cultural diversity, will the West benefit from that, as well? With all those isolated islands, and just the sheers stretch of them from North to South, I always found it strange how boring the West's cultures were, and how little variation that wasn't Deathlord-driven.
Also, will mutations still come in "pox," "affliction," and "abomination"? I always found those words really inapplicable as general terms, because beneficial or neutral mutations don't really fit.
Nope, mutations are just merits now.
I've actually heard they're rewiring akuma altogether; they're more like demonic pacting in the cWoD now, where you sell your soul in percentages. 5% here nets you wealth, 10% gets you a new Charm tree access, 15% your own demonic manservant and 3% off your next purchase.
This can only be a good thing; it isn't a complete sucker's bet now.
Akuma aren't making it to 3e as a thing.
Isator Levie:
I would say that when you make questionable deals with demons for power, they tend to want something a bit more substantial than your soul in exchange for it.
Exalted's demons don't really have a use for souls (unless, like Alveua, they do). I expect most people who offer that up would be met with the equivalent of a bemused stare.
So, back to the usual thread. We were told what a Essence 5 Solar can do but what can they do at Essence 1?
They can at least survive a figth agains Leiger if they but their A game.
Can they sneak on Mask Of Winter and steal the keys to the Juggernaut from his neck or maybe seduce the Lover… and then take her on a joy ride on the Juggernaut??
I wouldn't really want to throw down with Ligier with an Essence 1 Circle, if I had a choice…
This is an edition where a Survival Solar's tiger familiar can get powerful enough to rip the throat out of a Second Circle demon. Keep in mind that Solars are the most powerful kind of Exalted, and that they project themselves over standard RPG threats much more quickly than your typical protagonist.
Skeptic Tank:
I think the trick is not to conflate "my tiger can rip the throat out of a second circle demon" with "my familiar can trivially dispatch Octavian".
I think it will be closer to "my solar-boosted hypertiger can legitimately participate in a fight with a second circle demon, and even perhaps land the killing blow", whereas such a thing would have been implausible in second edition.
The tendency of posters to immediately make the jump from the statement "X can challenge Y" to "Y is always completely helpless in the face of X, and should not even get out of bed and put pants on that day" baffles me. And I see it almost daily. I know combat in 2e was super-deterministic but…
To some extent that argument about the starting Twilight vs starting Dawn so First Circle Demons have to have a certain level of power seems like it could be weird, as you could make the same argument for Dragonblooded – that if a Dragonblooded sorcerer can use DotFC to summon up a Blood Ape, then a Dragonblooded warrior of the same degree of experience should be able to best it as easily.
Still, hopefully if a pack of Blood Apes is to be a foe to a Solar they can have some battle tactics or variety in their style and approach that makes it more interesting and cinematic than just "I kill one, then I kill another one".
Re: tactical considerations, yeah. I think one of the points about Exalted 3e is that it is very specifically being built to allow a lot of possibilities for character powers and builds, without any real intent of building in any "challenge level" or "power level" progression very much to make it open plan where players can build whatever character you want.
And that means that if GMs aren't oriented to specifically think about building foes specifically to counter and balance players capabilities, and players aren't thinking about using their characters capabilities to counter foes, rather than thinking in terms of levels of power, they will both end up having bad fights and bad challenges, because the game has no in built mechanism to ensure fights are tactically balanced and the outcome uncertain, which is usually what makes fights fun. So specifically thinking about who tactically balances who is important.
(I'm sort of cribbing from comments in the http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?…-Up-On-Exalted here).
Re: Solars being able to leap past certain classes of RPG foes, OK. On the flip side, in Exalted 2e at least, I remember there being lots of memes about "Exalted isn't the game of whether you can do something; it's the game of whether you should do something". Which, while moral dilemmas are interesting, didn't quite totally square with Exalted being inspired by lots of cool action anime where the question, yes, really was whether the heroes could tactically overcome this particular fearsome foe and how cool they'd look doing it (not just whether they ought to). Kind of implied this game of invincible supermen making weighty moral decisions with success a foregone conclusion rather than a game of tactical cinematic war, combat and intrigue against real tests of skill. I think that meme was just a product of Solar "class" characters being seen as more overpowered than really made sense for them. So just for context.
This is broadly correct. Fighting in EX2 and to a lesser degree in EX1 was largely an exercise in using magic to banish tactical considerations, then using more magic to whomp hard. Then he who had no weaknesses and could whomp hardest won. (In 1e this meant Solars and Sids usually won, since they could most effectively get rid of their weaknesses before measuring whomp-sticks. In 2e Solars were the clear winner, since they could banish all tactical considerations trivially and completely, then whomp way harder than anyone else.)
Fighting in EX3 doesn't work that way. Tactics remain important at all levels, although you can use whomping power to compensate for bad or sloppy tactics when there's a sufficient power gap– i.e. a Solar can afford to sloppily steamroll a mortal if he's willing to burn Essence like a drunken sailor, but only if he's willing to do that– if he tries to conserve his power, he'd better fight smart. If he's fighting something that can hit dangerously hard or marshal big pools, he'd better fight seriously every time, because good tactics can beat sheer power in EX3, especially in group fights.
How is this accomplished? What is the theory underpinning the new combat system that makes this possible?
To some degree, it's just a matter of writing offensive tactical considerations such that you wouldn't need to negate them entirely in order to deal with them, and then not including ways to completely negate them.
Are second circle demons no threat to the solar exalted?
EDIT: Actually, let me rephrase the question in a less confrontational way. I'm not at all sure what you're getting at, regarding respective power levels. My worry is that "Solars are the most powerful kind of Exalted" translates into "Solars are the most powerful kind of anything" and that what we'll see is that solar pcs can "outgrow" entire classes of enemies. Like, there's no point statting a second circle demon as an antagonist, because the Solar's Familiar can dispatch it, and presumably that means the solars themselves, acting as a Circle, have nothing to fear from any demon whatsoever.
Do the different classes of non-exalted potential antagonists have more longevity than in editions past?
There's a world of difference between a Solar with no exp and a Solar with a thousand exp. So when you say "can a Solar do this / that" without qualification it is hard to answer your question. When I talk about a Survival Solar with a tiger familiar, I'm not asking you to imagine a useless animal from a previous edition, buffed up by an Exalt with one Charm that lets it auto-slay demons. I am talking about someone who has plowed a lot of time, training, and meditation into building his Essence into a thing which empowers his tiger as a inexorable stalking beast with devil-rending jaws. There is no standard Solar, so "can Solars do this" as a line of thought, is going to produce inaccurate assumptions about the splat.
If I want a 1st Circle Demon to be a grand antagonist to a group of fresh solars, are there any options available to it that aren't to a mortal?
You could give it stronger Charms and increase its mote pool.
Skeptic Tank:
How much territory does the Bull of the North cover in this edition? I'm assuming that he's still around, considering I haven't heard alot of hate on him from the devs, but I know that the sheer size of his territory seems to have been conceived of under an edition that hadn't figured out his sizes again. Will he still be a military concern for Gethemane and Linowan simultaneously? Or has his territory been scaled down?
I know the Bull gets a lot of hate from some parts of the fanbase. I don't share it, but even I have to admit that having an active and aggressive threat which covers that much territory can get rather unwieldy for many STs. Given the "10-year view" that we've been told the books will be examining, I would imagine the Bull was a topic of much discussion when discussing the new setting.
We haven't really discussed him very much to be honest. But I doubt his domain will cover like, a seventh of Creation, as it has at some points in the past.
So, we know that there are some new exalted types about which you, the Devs, have carefully said nothing. Are there going to be any info about any of those exalted types in the Core? Like at all? Or are we going to need to wait on those for future books?
And I don't mean like "full NPC writeups" or anything. Right now I'd be satisfied with an Exalt type name, possibly a factoid too. Anything really.
A little of both.
– Is the Lunar-Opposite (in the vein of Getimians/Sidereals and Liminals/Abyssals) going to be mentioned in the core? If not, how soon?
Wait and see :O
(Also Liminals really have nothing to do with Abyssals.)
Gaius of Xor:
Indeed. I've mostly settled on calling them "foils" to the classic Exalted. Part of the stated idea behind those new splats is to strengthen and clarify the themes of the classic Exalted,* so "foils" feels like the right word for that angle.
* And to have their own themes strengthened and clarified in turn, of course: the devs have said these new splats should make for solid gameplay experiences on their own merits.
Foil is a much more accurate term. It should be noted that Liminals stand off on their own in this model. They are not linked to any other splat directly.
– Is there a simplified craft system with the properties of the MMs in the Core, or is all that going into Arms of the Chosen?
The full craft system is in the core. We don't currently have any plans to supercede it in a future suppement.
– What sorts of new things will the underworld have?
Black rivers flowing with the nightmares of dead gods. Sunless kingdoms. Ancient heroes, bound up in raiment and arms of their own legend, who have forgotten the living world. A great dark tower lost in an eternal storm.
– You mentioned Truculee will probably remain; will the Silver Chair remain, also?
We don't really have a plan for when and where to talk about either of those things, at the moment. But they're more in-line with EX3 than the Daystar.
The Lunar "opposite" type, I don't want to say yes or no. I'll answer more questions after the core drops. As others have said though, you might be confused if you think of them as opposites. Also, there are two new types of Exalts for the Lunars, not just one.
The Craft system in the core is entirely new and not simplified from another system.
The Underworld's ghosts will be a lot different. So will the map. Think dark reflection in a shattered mirror.
That was years ago. I no longer have any plans for the Truculee. Silver Chair is not returning in EX3.
Is it possible to have sorcery as a starting character? It used to require Essence 3, but you've reworked sorcery pretty heavily, so that's probably no longer the case.
Also, about how large is an "average" class at one of the Realm's secondary schools? (As in "graduating class of RY 752.")
1) Yes.
2) It varies. Not a large number.
You can find the next compilation here:
Q&A Summary #7


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I was lucky enough to be able to be contacted to review for EcoStoreUSA.com. They carry products that have *No Nasty Chemicals and are eco friendly.
Going green is a huge thing for many people and I know a lot of moms are very concerned with only having green products or using green products around the home because of the fact that they don't want their children around the harsh chemicals that are in most products and items around the home.
Personally, I think going green in great, so I was pretty excited when I found out I could try out a few of their products for a review. I got to choose 2 items from the EcoStore site. I chose the Eco4Pets dog shampoo and a bottle of hand wash.
First the pet shampoo. I received the shampoo in the scent "Herbal Fresh". It is a 12 fl. oz. bottle made of a sturdy plastic with a nice squirt cap. The Eco site says that the shampoo is mild enough for frequent use and that it is safe for dogs, cats, puppies and kittens over the age of 6 weeks. I have 2 dogs that were nice and dirty and very in need of a bath, so I was more than happy to test out this shampoo. The shampoo smells really good, which I was a bit surprised at because all of the eco friendly products I have tried in the past (NOT from this particular website) have not. The shampoo was a nice consistency as well, not too thick but not running out of the bottle either, and, it created a great lather! My dog's coats were super soft after they had their baths. They still smelled like a wet dog, but that cannot be helped no matter what shampoo you use. But, they were very clean and pretty afterwards. : ) Now, because I have 2 dogs, I used quite a bit of shampoo (and I have a big dog so I need to use a lot to cover her..) However, I would say there is as least 8-10 washes in this bottle (4-5 for me because I have the 2 dogs).
Next, the hand soap. The soap is $5.49 for a 8.5 fl. oz. bottle. The bottle is made of a sturdy plastic with a nice spout top. I received the hand soap in the scent Coconut and Vanilla. These are my two favorite scents so I was very excited to get my soap and smell the two combine. Unfortunately, the soap smells nothing like coconut or vanilla or a mixture of the two. Instead, to me, I think it smells kind of like Elmer's Glue. My friend says it smells like an unscented lotion (the ones that still have a slight smell). Whatever it smells like, we both agreed that it is not the best smelling. Now when you wash your hands, the soap does not suds. At all. I felt like I had just put lotion on my hands then was attempting to rub it off with water only. I mean, my hands looked clean afterwards, but they just felt unclean because of the fact there were no suds and no scent left behind. I did find something I like the soap for however, cleaning my makeup brushes. It is not harsh at all, and it cleans my brushes more thoroughly than the soap I had used previously for my brushes.
EcoStore USA offers a nice variety of products, and their prices are very reasonable. If you are a green person, it might be worth checking out. I really liked the pet shampoo even though I'm a bit iffy whether or not I would personally buy the hand soap. The site is clean and easy to navigate and you might enjoy the products offered.
**I did not get paid for this review. I received the products mentioned free of charge in order to write a real and honest review. All opinions are 100% my own unless otherwise stated.**


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Attack ads from Washington groups pour into 6th Congressional District contest
Political ads. You've seen them, and at this point probably are ignoring them. But some ads might have stopped you in your tracks — perhaps made you say "huh?"
An influx of ads have targeted the 6th Congressional District as millions of dollars in advertising from Washington pour into the race between incumbent Republican Mike Coffman and his Democratic challenger Joe Miklosi.
With ads from the candidates mixed in with those from committees and Super PACs it's sometimes hard to decipher them.
Here's a few of the ads — not from 6th District candidates themselves — to hit TV screens in October.
National Republican Congressional Committee, Oct. 14 "Caught"
House Majority PAC, Oct. 12 "Decides"
NRCC, Oct. 5 "What Would You Think"
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Oct. 17 "Values"
Follow Kurtis on Twitter: @kurtisalee