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Prologue: Edhellond ~ III 1437
How was this possible, Amarwen wondered. She stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her hair had been brushed until its ebony lengths glowed and set into a high braid that fell over one shoulder to her waist. She had donned Edhellond's colours too in a dress of rich gold velvet but Amarwen did not see any of this.
Osgiliath had burned. The Dome of Stars cracked and charred. The Master Stone lost in the Anduin. The city itself sacked, its people fleeing for their lives. And all of this by their own people.
And where was father? Alive? Dead? Prisoner and if so for how long? A chill ran through her blood and she shivered as a tap sounded at her door. In the mirror, Amarwen saw her mother slip through and she took her fears and her sorrow into a firm grip. For her mother's sake. Since the tidings had reached them in Edhellond, her mother had not slept nor ate. She was pale as a ghost and dreadfully afraid. Amarwen rose to her feet and crossed her bedroom to take her mother into her arms. This woman had always been Amarwen's haven in a storm. Now, it fell to her to be the same.
Her mother leaned into her daughter's embrace for a long moment and then collected herself up. She was quivering like a leaf but her jaw was clenched. She, too, had dressed formally to receive the men below. She had added her circlet, a clear symbol that she too was descended from a line of kings. Perhaps it would be enough to give those waiting below pause for thought. Perhaps.
"They are waiting," she said through it, voice strained.
Amarwen's first response was to let them wait longer still but that would not serve them well. They needed to secure her father's release.
She gathered her mother's hands in her own, "Then let us greet our guests."
Down to the great hall they went, arm in arm. The household staff were silent, fearful. For the men waiting within were hardly guests. Guests did not arrive swathed in armour and gripping their weapons, the stink of a sacked city still thick in their charred cloaks. Guests did not pound on the doors and demand entry.
Their chamberlain met them at the doors to the great hall with pleading eyes, almost as if he was begging them to run. Amarwen would have, all the way to Osgiliath to demand justice and the return of her father.
"These...these men, they are-"
"I know who they are," her mother answered the Chamberlain, somehow finding a store of steely resolve within even now.
The chamberlain nodded and, with a sigh, pushed open the doors to admit them into their hall.
The first thing Amarwen noticed was their number. There had to be at least ten of them all gathered. All wore mail, some plate and no few weapons. Hard travel stained their gear, and that was not all. She did indeed see smoke and blood and a fresh wave of anger began to bubble.
Osgiliath sacked by their own people.
At their arrival, the men swung about and aside from two, Amarwen did not recognise them. The Master of the Mariner's Guild spread his stance as they approached and had the decency to incline his head, barely. As well he might, given the many times he had been greeted in this hall as a guest and indeed a friend by her father. At his shoulder stood his son, Halvarin. His expression was taut, carefully held blank, and she could not tell what he was thinking as his eyes flickered over her and her mother.
"My Lady," his father intoned as they closed.
Amarwen's mother did not say a word. Instead, she stared at the Guild Master as if she somehow already sensed his tidings. The tension mounted rapidly until Amarwen broke the silence.
"The Lord of Edhellond, what is his fate?"
A blunt question to be sure, but Amarwen saw little to be gained with diplomacy now. These men had come from war, for war. Of that she was all but certain.
"Alive," Halvarin answered and at that her mother sagged on her arm.
Halvarin's father stepped in to support her and Amarwen had no choice but to surrender her mother so that she could be assisted to a chair. The others followed to gather around her even as Halvarin drew her back and away.
"Why did he ride out for Eldacar?" Halvarin hissed in her ear.
Amarwen's gaze did not shift from the knot of men crowding her mother but her tone was ice, "Because the alternative was treason."
"I am not a traitor!"
"Tell me Halvarin, were the women and children of Osgiliath traitors?"
"Osgiliath chose to fight, even though they had no hope of prevailing. It was foolish. Reckless. Unnecessary"
"And so you burned it. Yes, it all makes sense now."
"Edhellond will be next. Open the harbour for pity's sake. It need not come to this. Not here."
"You want that harbour open, return my father to Edhellond. It is as simple as that."
Beside her, Halvarin pushed out a sorrowful sigh, "Nothing is simple any more, Amarwen."
The plaintive note in his voice pulled her eyes to his and she was struck, as she had been in the past, by their colour. Like the storm tossed sea, they were, blue and grey both depending on how the light hit them. There had been a night not so long ago that she had gazed into them and they had been laughing. Filled with joy and no small degree of mischief as they danced in this very hall. She still remembered the feel of his hand around hers, sure and steady.
"Perhaps you are right," she sighed, for that merriment was gone now and she wondered if ever it would return.
In a way, this was no more Halvarin's fault than it was hers. Their fathers had declared for different kings and one had prevailed over the other. Amarwen washed a hand over her face but before anything more could be said, her mother rose to her feet.
Amarwen's eyes widened at the terrible wrath upon her mother's face. She made to step forward but Halvarin caught her elbow as the men around her mother closed.
"Never. This house, nor Edhellond, will never support the Usurper of Pelargir!"
Her statement rang through the hall.
"A terrible mistake, Lady," Halvarin's father declared ominously, "Edhellond is even more vulnerable than Osgiliath. It is indefensible."
"And you, sir, are unforgivable."
"You fail to comprehend, though I do not know how, that you are alone in your opposition to the King. All the others are dead, or have fled into north."
"Castamir is no more King than I."
"And that is why your husband will rot and your people will starve."
Again Amarwen tried to go to her mother but Halvarin held her fast.
"Do not," he warned and at that the doors opened, pushed in by the men of the household.
From the chamberlain to those that tended the kitchen and stables, some of them armed with no more than their fists, all with a frenzied, desperate light in their eyes.
"Unhand the Lady of Edhellond and leave this place," the chamberlain said, lifting his silvered chin.
Amarwen had never seen him so wroth before. This was a man that had tossed her on his knee.
"Have them stand down," Halvarin pleaded in a low voice, "It need not end like this."
But already it was too late for one of the men by Amarwen's mother seized her roughly and threw her to his fellows as he cleared his sword. The great hall filled with the terrible scrape of steel clearing scabbards and this sent those in the doorway flying forwards, intent on casting these men out. But, valiant as they were, they were no match for the men they sought to drive out. Horrified, Amarwen was momentarily transfixed until Halvarin pulled her away.
"Hide," he hissed at her, urgent, even as he drew his weapon.
She heard her mother cry out, "RUN AMARWEN! RU-"
A strangled sound and then nothing as Halvarin's father turned to where she stood on the other side of his son. Through his legs she could see her mother's form, prone on the flagstone floor. An outstretched hand, limp, and blood. Blood pooling.
"Bring the lass here, lad," his father bade him and at that Amarwen ran.
Running was something she had always been good at, skirts or not. She had won every footrace she had been in as a child, fleet as fox she was and so she was out of the great hall ahead of those now pounding after her. Weighed down by their weapons and armour, she had no small advantage in that. Also, unlike them, she could get to the harbour and get a ship onto the water. No matter how fast their horses were, if the wind was with her she leave them in her wake like dust.
Whilst she slipped through the halls and streets of her childhood home like the wind, those pursuing her were not so fortunate. The fate of her mother uncertain now, indeed all of Edhellond, Amarwen knew she had to do one thing and one thing alone: unseat the Usurper as quickly as she could. As fortune would have it, she was on the water with the tide before Castamir's men gained the docks. Unlike her, they had been stalled and waylaid at every pass. And if they thought they'd appropriate a ship to pursue her, the actions of the harbour master at Edhellond had put paid to that.
Amarwen whipped through the headlands and towards the sea with the ships of Edhellond all aflame. Back on the docks, Halvarin pressed his arm to his mouth and nose to keep the smoke at bay.
"Every last bloody ship, boat and dinghy," his father raged, appalled as any mariner would be, "These people are mad!"
Halvarin said nothing, his eyes tracking the small sail of the one ship that had slipped away. Doomed, she was. He knew it. She'd be a fugitive now, a traitor to be hunted down. Castamir would show no mercy. Assuming she somehow managed to land the tiny boat safely. It was not made to withstand the sea and she could not risk hugging the coast.
He pushed out a sigh and then returned his attention to their immediate surrounds. The smoke was thickening and the people of Edhellond were not their supporters. No telling how emboldened they would be once the smoke gave them cover. Word would reach them soon of what had unfolded at the hall.
"We should be away, father," he said, "Nothing to be gained here now."
"Aye," his father growled as he turned on his heels.
As they strode back to where they had left their horses, Halvarin asked what was probably an unwise question, "Was it necessary to kill the Lady of Edhellond?"
His father rolled his shoulders, "I did not come here seeking it. I had hoped that she might see reason in her. For Edhellond, for their daughter.
"And what fate the Lord of Edhellond now?" he asked as his father grimaced.
"For the King to decide," his father answered, "But I doubt it will be a merciful one."
"And Amarwen?" he pressed, at which his father turned about to study him.
He lifted a hand to set upon Halvarin's shoulder, "The kindest thing, lad, is to hope the sea claims the lass before Castamir does."
By the time they had ridden back to Minas Anor, his father's words proved true. The new King had swept through the court of Gondor like a bloody scythe. The dead included the Lord of Edhellond and Eldacar's eldest son. Their deaths had not been easy and an uneasy pall hung over the city that Halvarin rode through.


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Craniopharyngioma is a type of central nervous system (CNS) tumor. A tumor can be cancerous or benign. A cancerous tumor is malignant, meaning it is usually fast-growing and can spread to other parts of the body. A benign tumor means the tumor is usually slower-growing but will not spread. Craniopharyngioma is a benign tumor that is usually slow-growing and very unlikely to spread.
About the central nervous system
The brain and spinal cord make up the CNS, where all vital functions of the body are controlled. The brain is the center of thought, memory, and emotion. It controls the five senses, which include smell, touch, taste, hearing, and sight. It also controls movement and other basic body functions, including consciousness, heartbeat, circulation, and breathing. The spinal cord is made up of nerves that carry information from the body to the brain and from the brain to the body. When a tumor grows in the CNS, it can affect a person's thought processes and/or movements. A tumor in the CNS can sometimes be difficult to treat because the tissue around the tumor may be vital to the body's functioning. However, treatment for craniopharyngioma has a high rate of success.
Craniopharyngioma starts near the pituitary gland in a part of the brain called the suprasellar region. This region is the area of the brain just above the sella. The sella is the part of the skull where the pituitary gland is located. The pituitary gland is an important gland in the brain and is often called the "master endocrine gland" because it produces several different hormones that affect how the body functions.
About craniopharyngioma
Craniopharyngioma is a slow-growing tumor that can grow for many years before it is found. It can be solid and/or cystic, which means the tumor has a closed pouch or sac that contains fluid made by the tumor. The solid part often contains areas of calcium that can easily be seen on a CT scan. The cystic part of the tumor often contains very high amounts of protein.
This section covers craniopharyngioma that occurs in children. For information about craniopharyngioma in adults, read the guide to brain tumors.
Looking for More of an Overview?
If you would like additional introductory information, explore these related items. Please note these links will take you to other sections on Cancer.Net:
ASCO Answers Fact Sheet: Read a one-page fact sheet (available as a PDF) that offers an easy-to-print introduction to CNS tumors in children.
Cancer.Net Patient Education Videos: View short videos led by ASCO experts in childhood tumors and cancers and brain tumors that provide basic information and areas of research.

subset: commoncrawl


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Finding unclaimed money in New York is fun!
Conduct your New York Unclaimed Money Search
Sometimes we get so busy in our lives looking for that 'something' that will make it all worthwhile. We get so engrossed in our day-to-day tasks that most of us don't notice that what we're looking for is right there under our noses. No, I'm not trying to be the Dalai Lama or Dr. Phil talking about divine peace or everlasting love. What I'm talking about, though less spiritual, is nevertheless significant in our life and will most probably catch your attention as much as anything a religious leader or a cultural icon will say.
I'm talking about money. $11 billion in New York unclaimed money and property, to be precise, just waiting to be reunited with thousands of their owners who are most likely busy trying to make money, ironically. According to State Comptroller for New York, Thomas P. DiNapoli, "We want to return unclaimed funds to their rightful owners. The money belongs to New Yorkers. We want to give it back."
There is are statutes across the country called Unclaimed Property Laws or escheat laws that require businesses and financial entities to hand-over lost and abandoned financial assets like uncashed checks, forgotten bank accounts, unused gift certificates or cards, uncollected salaries, unredeemed insurance policies, stock dividends, safe-deposit bank contents and other funds to each individual State Treasury Departments after a specific 'idle' time called the 'dormancy period'. This period varies depending on the state. In New York though, it's either 2 or 5 years depending on the type of asset. The size of the New York unclaimed money pile is one of the biggest in the country. The money goes into the state's Unclaimed Property Fund where it stays until the rightful owner comes to claim it.
When people change their address, get new jobs, or marry and change their last names, they sometimes forget to leave a notice for the financial institutions like the IRS or their banks. Undelivered mail results and the tax refund checks or finance notices then don't reach their intended recipient and are sent back to sender. The more hectic a person's career is therefore, the more likely it is that he'll lose track of his financial assets. With the notorious hustle and bustle of New York, it's not surprising it is home to so much unclaimed money and property.
"More people have unclaimed funds than they think," says the senior manager for financial consulting juggernaut KPMG's Allison Iavarone in a recent report on missing money by New York's The Daily News. Surprisingly, Madonna, the Yankees, the Mets, Justin Timberlake, P. Diddy, Michael Bloomberg, Billy Joel, and Bob Dylan have all turned-up on a list of New York State unclaimed property owners.
Everyone should search for lost assets especially if they have a lot of relatives or if they've had a busy professional life. Valerie Jundt, a senior manager at tax consulting firm Deloitte & Touche advised, "You should check the state where you've lived and last resided."
Russ Johnson has released a title on Amazon.com for finding unclaimed money and property in the state of New York
Buy Now on Amazon.com and received 5 years unlimited and complimentary access to search for unclaimed money in New York State
Related sites:
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I'm looking for a reusable 3d animated dice component I can reuse in my XNA board game.
I know it might be wishful thinking in hoping such a component exists, but at the same time worthwhile checking.
I'm looking for something that can give a realistic dice animation and return the dice result that matches the animation.
Does such a thing exist?


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Personalised Waterproof Dog Coats | Pink Camouflage£16.78 - £36.50
Christmas Orders
Last Order Date : 10th December
With dog theft on the rise, we try do everything as responsible owners to try to cut the risk to our best friends.
Our dogs are micro chipped by law in the UK which is fantastic.
We have dog tags, which are brilliant until they fall off.
Why not have your details embroidered on one of our dog collars. No more lost dog tags !
Home > Embroidered Dog Collars > Embroidered Dog Collars Padded Range Small Dogs
(Details shown apply to the default selection)
Feedback is important to us and our customers, not only on our products but on our service.
We would very much appreciate if you would take the time to leave us a review.
I have used this website numerous times and have never been disappointed. Quality, well made collars for all dogs with the added bonus of having details embroidered on the collars. This website is my first choice for dog collars. Always recommend to friends.
Was this helpful to you? Yes / No
This review has not been appraised.
Very good collar, well made and strong and reasonably priced. Fast service. Highly recommend
Royal Mail Post - Please take into consideration at the present time that due to coronavirus and lockdown.
Royal mail services are not running at normal times and there is delayings in post being delivered.
We work hard to produce and to dispatch your order within the timescales below but please be patient with royal mail and the staff as to delivery times.
Your order is important to us, we aim to your dispatch your order as quickly as possible.
To give you some idea of current dispatch times we have a rough guide below, but often we are quicker.
(Dog Coats) Current dispatch time is approx 2days.
(Embroidered Dog Collars & Dog leads) Current dispatch time is approx 2 days.
Bunting) Current dispatch time is approx 5 days
(Bags and Bumbags) Current dispatch times are within 5 days.
(Dog Towels Blankets) Current dispatch times are within 5 days.
(Scarfs) Current dispatch time are within 5 days.
(Woolly hats & Beanie hats) Current dispatch times are within 10 days.
We offer two types of postage dependant on the value of your order.
Royal mail 2nd class : The slowest service. (currently un-available)
Royal mail 1st class signed for : The fastest service with tracking. (Please be aware Royal Mail are experiencing delays)
Please do not ask for deliveries to be left in out houses porches etc etc as this will not be applied to.
Dog Coat Sizing
It is important that you measure your dogs length in inches.
To determine if this is the correct size for your dog, as all dogs vary.
For dogs that wear a harness they would need to be worn over the coat.
Waist Tummy Band Belt Length For Each Size Dog Coat
Adjustable Dog Collars
Measurements are in inches and adjustable within the sizes available.
Sizings should be taken as per our image below to determine the best sizing.
Our adjustable dog collars use a side release buckle, one end fits into the other end so therefore the second clip is not included within the measurement.
Please remember to use a contrasting colour for the personalisation on your collar, to enable the text to be clearly read.
Christmas cut off date for orders is currently : 10th December 2020
This may change dependant on our workload at short notice.
We will then suspend our shopping cart in order to finish any outstanding orders.
We will re-open in the New Year.
We would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all our customers for your loyalty and support of our business.
Please stay safe and enjoy your Christmas from all of us @ Waggitt.
Personalised Waterproof Dog Coats - ( Sale) Limited Stock£12.00 - £29.99
Treat Bag Perfect For Dog Training - Funny Dog Quotes£6.95
Dog Towels Personalised With Dogs Name£4.95 - £18.50
Personalised Luxury Fleece Dog Blankets With Dogs Name£16.25 - £28.99
Embroidered Dog Collars Lightweight Range | All Colours£9.65
Personalised Waterproof Dog Coats | Grey Camouflage£16.78 - £36.50
Treat Bag Perfect For Dog Training - Crazy Dog Quotes£6.95
Personalised Fleece Dog Blankets With Dogs Name£9.99 - £18.99


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No, they got it right. Biofuel production is an extremely wasteful use of valuable land. Here is a comparison of projected algae-based biofuel production with CURRENT PV+BEV technology and current corn-based ethanol biofuels:GRA wrote:Considering we're less than 1/5th of the way through the 21st Century, I'd say their conclusion is far more decisive than is justified. It could well be true, or it could well not be. The next 10 or maybe 20 years, sure, if there are no major breakthroughs.
Current PV+BEV technology: 1,000,000 miles per acre per year
Projected future algae-based biofuel: 500,000 miles per acre per year
Current Ethanol+ICEV technology: 10,000 miles per acre per year
In addition, the PV is lightweight and can (and is) installed on top of buildings, so it does not use valuable farmland which could be used to grow food for growing fuel.


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She's back. Voice actress Yu Kobayashi has returned — if anything, just to scare the crap outta us.
Last time we saw Yu, she tried her hand at doodling Polla, the character she voiced in Arc Rise Fantasia. Horrors ensued.
Now, she's drawing character Beatrice, the golden witch in doujin psychological thriller visual novel Umineko no Naku Koro ni. Kobayashi voices Kanon in the anime version.
Above is what Beatrice looks like — this is not the Yu Kobayashi drawing. Oh no.
That would be this. Here is Yu Kobayashi's take on Beatrice, complete with two demon breasts from the deepest depths of Hell.
【声優】小林ゆうさんが描いた「うみねこのなく頃に」 [オレ的ゲーム速報@刃] [Pic]


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"I was very pleased dealing with you guys. Best regrads."
Joyce C.United States
Information and prices are subject to change without notice.Copyright © 2006-2020 Allium Blue Co. All Rights Reserved.Miyuki is the registered trademark of MIYUKI Co.,Ltd. Preciosa is the registered trademark of PRECIOSA, a.s.. Swarovski, Swarovski Gems, STELLUX, Oktant, and STRASS are the registered trademark of Swarovski AG. Trademarks are only used on this site to identify the products made by their respective manufacturers. We are not affiliated with any company of the products sold on our website.


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Complete Story
Cable Show 2009: 'Broadband Nation' Touts Cable Tech
By: Todd Spangler, Multichannel News
Complete coverage of Cable Show 2009 from Multichannel News
Cable is everywhere.
That's the message the National Cable & Telecommunications Association wants to impart with Broadband Nation, a 22,000-square-foot exhibit that will be the centerpiece showcase at the Cable Show 2009 in Washington, D.C., next week.
The exhibit, featuring demos from more than 35 companies, is supposed to demonstrate how consumers in urban, suburban and rural areas are using cable's high-speed Internet services today -- and into the future.
"So much of what our member companies do goes beyond the home, so we thought we'd build a whole city," said Mark Bell, NCTA's vice president of industry affairs.
The goal with Broadband Nation, he said, is to "take a big technology story and boil it down to an exhibit."
With the Cable Show taking place in the nation's capital this year, the industry has the opportunity to get in front of policy makers and demonstrate the breadth of technology cable brings to consumers and businesses, NCTA vice president of communications Brian Dietz said.
One policy issue that's front and center this year: Congress has approved $7 billion for broadband-network buildouts as part of the larger economic-stimulus package.
"The messages are that broadband plays an important role in Americans' lives already," Dietz said. According to NCTA, more than 38 million consumers subscribe to broadband cable service.
Broadband Nation's eight different areas will be connected by a road running through the exhibit: a visitors' center, a cable network operations center, a coffee shop, an urban loft, a suburban home, a rural school, a rural clinic and an entertainment complex.
Comcast, the incumbent cable operator in the D.C. area, will provide a total of 100 Megabits per second of bandwidth dedicated to Broadband Nation, Bell said, via two 100-Mbps enterprise data circuits. In addition, Comcast will provide DOCSIS 3.0 50-Mbps downstream/10-Mbps upstream service to support the exhibit's videoconferencing demo.
Scripps Networks and HGTV will decorate and furnish the homes in the exhibit, which carries the theme "Main Street America." LG Electronics will provide more than 40 high-definition flat-screen TV and computer displays throughout it.
In the suburban home, Motorola is going to show multiroom DVR and media mobility. Cisco Systems, meanwhile, will outfit the urban loft with interactive TV and portable-media demos.
Other companies participating in the exhibit include Comcast Media Center, which will be showing a live demo of its hosted interactive TV applications service, HITS AxIS; Samsung Electronics and Advanced Digital Broadcast, with demos of tru2way-based set-tops; and Intel, which will show the Widget Channel's Internet-delivered on-screen information services like news and weather developed with Yahoo.
In addition, Broadband Nation will include a car outfitted with WiMax broadband wireless service, provided through Clearwire, which has been funded by Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, Sprint Nextel, Intel and Google. (A WiMax-connected laptop also will be featured in the coffee shop.)
A full list of partner demonstrations is available on the Cable Show site at www.thecableshow.com/broadbandnation.
Broadband Nation is being produced with Williams/Gerard Productions, which has produced the NCTA show's general session for the last several years.
Source: http://www.multichannel.com/article/190728-Cable_Show_2009_Broadband_Nation_Touts_Cable_Tech.php?rssid=20059


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case study
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Inside the Haugen Academy Courses
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Overview:On January 1, 2021 CPT will add, revise, and delete many CPT codes. Keeping up to date with code changes is critical for correct reporting of procedures. This webinar will provide a better understanding of[...]
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The county encourages prospective buyers to visit and inspect properties before bidding. Properties are sold as-is.
For property lists, bidding forms and more instructions, visit www.hamiltontn.gov/realproperty or call 423-209-6444.
There are two phases of the county's annual property sale.
1. A round of sealed bids is due to the Real Property Office by Feb. 18. The bids will be opened publicly in the County Commission chamber Feb. 19. Bidders or their representatives must be at the opening, and must pay a 10 percent deposit on any property bid that day.
2. A 10-day waiting period follows, during which the high bids are advertised and others can send letters of intent to raise those bids by 10 percent. Properties with challenged bids will go to a "bid-off," or a public auction, which will be held in the commission chamber March 15. The highest bidder gets the property.
As Hamilton County officials tallied up the number of properties on its annual property sale this year, it was like watching the recession play out on a four-year delay.
It takes about four years of unpaid back taxes before Hamilton County seizes and sells properties. So most properties in this year's sale first went into delinquency in 2008 -- right as the economy began its nosedive.
The number of properties on the auction block this year is more than twice what it has been in recent years.
"It's definitely showing what started happening to the economy that year," said Dan Thornton, Chattanooga's director of general services. "I think over the next three years we will see a large number of parcels as that plays out."
The 191 properties in this year's sale -- vacant lots, old houses and industrial sites -- are available for enticingly low minimum bid requirements. They range from a vacant lot in East Lake for $75 to a spot on Main Street starting at $7,500.
There are properties across Chattanooga and reaching into Hixson, Soddy-Daisy, Signal Mountain and Highway 58. All are leftovers from the county trustee's annual tax sale last summer.
"This is the last stop for us as we try to get these properties back on the tax rolls," said Hamilton County Real Property Manager Paul Parker, who has been to 28 property sales.
Most are vacant lots, although about 40 include structures, records show. The city and county must perform basic upkeep on back-tax properties, but the budget to manage the lots is tight, Thornton acknowledged.
"A lot of them have dumping and debris," he said, "Many of the houses are falling in."
The sealed, mail-in bidding takes place this month, and the final bid-off is March 15. The redemption period has expired, so no taxes are owed and the properties are ready to change hands after the Hamilton County Commission approves the high bids following the sale.
"We try to help prospective purchasers by creating a customer-friendly environment," explained Parker. "We try to make it from being bureaucratic."
A few properties have already cycled through the sale and landed back on the list, said Thornton. Sometimes buyers think they are getting a great deal, but fail to do anything to the property and neglect the taxes on it.
Thornton and Parker said the ideal bidder is someone who has a plan to expand a pre-existing residential or business lot, or to build a new structure.
"It is very interesting to see all the motives people have when they go in there," said Parker. "A lot of people are looking for deals, but some people are dead set on getting one particular lot."
Chattanooga gang task force ready to put plan in motion
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Scoops Westside is in Business (Congrats!)
Fellow blogger Mattatouille's project, Scoops Westside, is finally in business! The second extension of the famed Scoops ice cream opened its doors on December 1st in a little strip mall in Palms, just down the street from Chego!, serving Tai's beloved ice cream along with Intelligentsia coffee and tea.


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Hyundai Santa Fe Sport Expert Review
- Updated 2.4-liter engine
- Long list of available features
- Two or three rows of seating with Santa Fe Sport and larger Santa Fe
- Turbo-four powertrain needs refinement
- Santa Fe Sport suspension can be rough at times
- Variable steering can feel artificial
The all-new 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe is a third-generation model with significant differences compared to its predecessors. Hyundai is offering the Santa Fe with two wheelbases. The 2013 Santa Fe Sport essentially replaces the second-generation model, sharing similar dimensions including wheelbase and overall width. Next, the 2013 Santa Fe (without the "Sport" in the name) is a long-wheelbase, three-row model, which serves as the replacement for the now defunct Veracruz.
The five-passenger Santa Fe Sport comes with two powertrain choices (both with a six-speed automatic) in front- and all-wheel-drive configurations. A naturally aspirated, direct-injection 2.4-liter (190 hp and 181 lb-ft of torque) serves as the base engine and a 2.0-liter turbo-four rated at 264-hp and 269 lb-ft is available as an option. During a recent test of both engines, we found that the 2.4-liter mill was relatively strong, but produced a "somewhat coarse" engine note during hard acceleration. The turbocharged engine felt strong coming off the line, but we noted "flat spots in the acceleration curve that made power feel decidedly uneven." In all, we feel that the 2.4-liter engine is the better choice thanks to its linear power delivery, better fuel economy, and lower price of entry.
The larger Santa Fe, which is available in six or seven-passenger configurations, is sold with just one engine choice, a 3.3-liter V-6 rated at 290-hp and 252 lb-ft. The Santa Fe GLS is the base model and comes standard with power windows and steering wheel-mounted audio controls. The top-of-the line Limited model adds leather, heated seats, and second-row captain's chairs. Navigation is optional on both trim levels. Hyundai offers the Santa Fe Sport with three packages: Popular Equipment Package (for base engine only); Leather and Premium Equipment Package; and Technology Package. In a recent drive of the Santa Fe we found that it is "ready for prime time. Its configurability and capabilities give the vehicle a sense of purpose, and the number of high-end features at a reasonable price makes the Santa Fe a value."
Hyundai's midsize crossover is available in two wheelbases and two or three-row configurations (non-Sport Santa Fe for three rows and a V-6). All-new sheetmetal and a long list of standard and available features make the Santa Fe and Santa Fe Sport standouts in its segment.
- Toyota Highlander
- Ford Explorer
- Dodge Journey
Minor tweaks to Hyunda's midsize SUV


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Library hosts local photography exhibition as part of festival. Watch this slideshow by Maria Loupa and Nelly Stavropoulou
Jesmond Methodist Church's photography exhibition, titled "Photos of Jesmond", demonstrated local artistic creativity as residents submitted photographs that illustrated Jesmond's identity.
The entries ranged from snapshots of Jesmond Dene's serene landscapes, to festival-inspired moments and shots of some of Jesmond's most iconic buildings.
Chris Coleman of Jesmond Methodist Church, one of the key organisers of the event, commented on the quality and diversity of the exhibition, saying that the entries demonstrated the community's high engagement. He told JesmondLocal: "The conception behind the exhibition was simply to try and capture a sense of the community of Jesmond in photographs and celebrate it."
Coleman expressed his satisfaction and appreciation to all participants. Watch our audio-slideshow to get a taste of the exhibition's photos, accompanied by visitors' comments.
*As published in http://jesmondlocal.com/2012/05/creativity-captured-jesmonds-snapshots/


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Everlasting Cocksucker (Remix)
Marilyn Manson
Songtext:I am the god of fuck,
I am the god of fuck
Virgins sold in quantity,
Herded by heredity
Red neck burn out mid west mind,
Who said date rape isn't kind?
Porno nation, evaluation
What's this time for segregation
Libido, libido fascination,
Too much oral defecation
White trash get down on your knees,
Time for cake and sodomy
Time for cake and sodomy
I am the god of fuck
I am the god of fuck
VCR's and Vaseline, TV-fucked by plastic queens
Cash in hand and dick on screen, who said god was ever clean?
Bible-belt round Anglo-waste,
Putting sinners in their place
Yeah, right, great if you're so good
Explain the shit stains on your face
White trash get down on your knees,


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Students Involved
Student Bands
Live Performances
Intonation kids explore their limitless potential by learning to play instruments and form their own rock bands. Offered in partnership with schools, park districts, and community organizations, our year-round classes make music accessible to children by providing them with instruments, instruction, mentorship, and the chance to perform on stages across the city. Each Intonation student takes part in a personal and team approach to practice, setting goals, and problem solving; and over time they gain the confidence to take charge of their direction and seek out new experiences.
of students assessed gained basic proficiency on not just 1 but ALL of the rock band instruments


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Want to watch Netflix, Hulu and many more restricted TV channels outside US? UnoDNS is all you need to unblock the whole entertainment world anywhere. There are no bandwidth or speed limits. Unotelly is an intelligent DNS service that changes your current IP address and lets you stream Online TV to your home, on any device and with high streaming speed, bypassing the geo-restrictions. It's an online TV service that bypass geographic limitation.
Supported devices are PC, Mac, linux, PS3, XBOX 360, Wii, iPhone, iPad, iPod, androids, playbook, WD TV Live, Roku, Boxee box, OpenElec, XBMC, Apple TV, Google TV, LG smart TV, Sony TV and players, Panasonic VIERA, Samsung TV, players, all rooters including DD-WRT and many more.
We have 5 free 3 months Gold subscriptions of UnoTelly to giveaway. Comment this post below to get this offer. 5 lucky winners will be announced at 20, September 2012.


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1 person injured in 5th Spanish bull run
One person has been hospitalized after several thousand people tested their speed and bravery by dashing with six fighting bulls through the streets of the northern Spanish city of Pamplona.
Navarra Hospital chief Javier Sesma said the person sustained neck injuries in a fall in the fifth run of the famed San Fermin festival. However, he said no one was gored along the 930-yard (850-meter) route to Pamplona's bull ring Thursday.
There were moments of tension when a bull became separated from the pack and looked as if he would charge some of the runners. He was eventually guided into the ring without incident.
The nationally televised morning runs are the highlight of the 9-day street festival that became world famous after Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel "The Sun Also Rises."


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This A++ list rapper and celebrity did not seem too worried about his marriage last week when he had the two bottle blondes brought to his suite and who stayed the night after a show. They left with $25K each for the night so they must have been doing something right and our celebrity was feeling very generous. Usually he is more of a brunette guy, so this is different.
Source: http://www.crazydaysandnights.net


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Someone Using A US Senate IP Address Edits Wiki Entry To Change Ed Snowden From 'Dissident' To 'Traitor'
from the it's-Wikipedia,-not-an-opinion-page dept
Last Friday, the Wikipedia entry for Ed Snowden received a small, but charged, edit.
[Click through to embiggen.]
The anonymous editor changed the word "dissident" to "traitor." The edit appeared shortly after Russia announced it would grant Snowden asylum. This would be run-of-the-mill vandalism except for one fact: the IP address linked to the edit traced back to the U.S. Senate.
NetRange: 184.108.40.206 - 188.8.131.52Government employees editorializing entries isn't uncommon. In fact, there's an entire Wikipedia entry devoted to the subject. But editorializing by editors using government IP addresses rarely goes unnoticed. Now, whoever did this may feel Snowden is a traitor but the verdict is still out (quite literally) on that. He's been charged with espionage but until there's actual court proceedings, he's nothing more than a "dissident" (although that term has its problems as well), albeit one the government would like to have back in the US as soon as possible.
OriginAS: AS3495
NetName: USSAA
NetHandle: NET-156-33-0-0-1
Parent: NET-156-0-0-0-0
NetType: Direct Assignment
RegDate: 1991-12-03
Updated: 2007-04-05
Ref: http://whois.arin.net/rest/net/NET-156-33-0-0-1
OrgName: United States Senate
OrgId: USSAA
Address: 2 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE, N.E. 6TH FLOOR
City: WASHINGTON DC
StateProv: DC
PostalCode: 20510
Country: US
RegDate: 1991-12-03
Updated: 2011-09-24
Ref: http://whois.arin.net/rest/org/USSAA
Why bother pointing out such a petty edit? Well, if it wasn't for the IP address, no one would care. But it's a bit obnoxious when someone in the Senate offices somehow feels the government doesn't have enough power and takes it upon themselves to "set the record straight" by taking a swing at Snowden via Wikipedia.
(H/T to a handful of unnamed readers who sent this in.)
Filed Under: dissident, ed snowden, senate, traitor, wikipedia edits


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Providing Sound Advice on Government and Community Affairs
Our mission
is to help our clients access and influence government policymaking, and make informed decisions for their business or organization. Aroner, Jewel & Ellis Partners was formed in January, 2003, after Assemblywoman Dion Aroner left public office due to term limits. The firm provides consultation on government and community affairs for public and non-profit agencies, associations and private sector clients. The partners specialize in issues concerning the state budget, local and state policy-making, coalition building, advocacy training, media outreach and community relations.
Clients range from Fortune 500 corporations to labor unions, non-profit service providers and local governments. The firm helps its clients take proactive approaches to opportunities or avoid potential problems. AJE Partners works with clients to build winning strategies.


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In light of recent events, many employers are developing or re-evaluating emergency procedures to ensure the safe evacuation of all employees. A comprehensive emergency evacuation plan should provide for prompt and effective assistance to individuals whose medical conditions may necessitate it. Many employers have asked how the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act affect their ability to achieve this goal.(1) Specifically, employers have asked whether they may request information to help identify individuals who might need assistance because of a medical condition and whether they can share this information with others in the workplace. As the following questions and answers demonstrate, federal disability discrimination laws do not prevent employers from obtaining and appropriately using information necessary for a comprehensive emergency evacuation plan.(2)
Yes. Some employees may need assistance because of medical conditions that are not visually apparent. Others may have obvious disabilities or medical conditions but may not need assistance. Employers, therefore, are allowed to ask employees to self-identify if they will require assistance because of a disability or medical condition.
There are three ways that an employer may obtain information:
An employer should inform all individuals who are asked about their need for emergency assistance that the information they provide will be kept confidential and shared only with those who have responsibilities under the emergency evacuation plan. (See Question 4 below.)
Yes. An employer may ask individuals who indicate a need for assistance because of a medical condition to describe the type of assistance they think will be needed. One way that this can be done is by giving all employees a memo with an attached form requesting information. The employer also may have a follow-up conversation with an individual when necessary to obtain more detailed information. For example, it would be important for an employer to know whether someone who uses a wheelchair because of mobility limitations is able to walk independently, with or without the use of crutches or a cane, in an emergency situation. It also would be important for an employer to know if an individual will need any special medication, equipment, or device (e.g., an assisted wheelchair carrier strap or a mask because of a respiratory condition) in the event of an emergency. Of course, an employer is entitled only to the information necessary for it to be prepared to provide assistance. This means that, in most instances, it will be unnecessary for an employer to know the details of an individual's medical condition.
The ADA has provisions that require employers to keep medical information about applicants and employees confidential. These provisions, however, include an exception that allows an employer to share medical information with first aid and safety personnel. This exception would allow an employer to share information about the type of assistance an individual needs in the event of an evacuation with medical professionals, emergency coordinators, floor captains, colleagues who have volunteered to act as "buddies," building security officers who need to confirm that everyone has been evacuated, and other non-medical personnel who are responsible for ensuring safe evacuation. These individuals are entitled to the information necessary to fulfill their responsibilities under the employer's emergency evacuation plan.
1.The ADA applies to private employers with fifteen or more employees and to state and local government employers. The Rehabilitation Act applies to most federal employers, and its substantive requirements are the same as those that apply to employers covered by the ADA.
2.The Commission previously has issued more detailed guidance on related issues concerning disability-related inquiries and medical examinations of applicants and employees. See Enforcement Guidance: Preemployment Disability-Related Questions and Medical Examinations Under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (October 10, 1995) and Enforcement Guidance: Disability-Related Inquiries and Medical Examinations of Employees Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (July 27, 2000). These and other guidances are available on this web site.
More information on emergency preparedness for employees with disabilities can be found on the President's New Freedom Initiative Disability Direct web site http://www.disabilities.gov/ and on the Job Accommodation Network's web site at http://www.jan.wvu.edu/.
This page was last modified on October 27, 2005.
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Facebook Pages Done For You Marketing Templates
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Facebook Pages Done For You Marketing Templates
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PLR Products You Should Know About The web is all about content. While the majority of the Internet is full of text-based content, there are also video and audio files which are viewed and listen to every day. This means the different types of PLR products are not just text-based. On the other hand, mostRead full article
Why PLR Content? 1 – You Save A Lot Of Time It might take you a total of 5 to 10 hours to create a 5,000 word e-book or report. That's if everything goes smoothly. There's research, the actual writing, proofreading and editing, spellchecking and formatting. You have to find graphics and possibly video toRead full article
How to Sell PLR eBooks – Discover 5 steps to successfully selling PLR ebooks, including where to sell them and where to find quaity PLR ebooks.Read full article


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Important Notice: Non-U.S. citizens must complete an additional Brookhaven Lab Guest Information System (GIS) form by March 1, 2013 and be approved before they can participate in this event. Participation includes accessing the Laboratory to attend in-person or viewing the event remotely (virtual attendance) or using BNL's onsite accommodations.
Registering in GIS does not automatically register you for this event.
Please use the information below to assist you in completing some of the required fields in the Brookhaven Lab (BNL) Guest Form. If you have a current BNL Appointment and a valid BNL Guest Number or you have a pending BNL Guest (GR) Number, it is not necessary to register in GIS again.
|Form Questions
|Insert the Following
|Purpose of Visit:
|Conference Attendance
|Subject Code:
|Nuclear Physics
|Access Requested:
|Physical on-site Access to BNL
|Estimate Days: Number of days you estimate to be onsite over a two-year:
|Intermittently < 30
|BNL Department:
|Physics Department (PO)
|Research Facility: Facility being requested to Conduct Research:
|Beamline: Beamline/experiment being requested:
|Research Type: What type of Research or Work will the visitor/assignee be working on?
|Open research
|Anticipated Start: Start date of Your Visit to BNL:
|Use Workshop Start Date or Other (if staying on-site the night before, you MUST use that date)
|Anticipated End: End date of your Visit to BNL:
|Use Workshop End Date or Other
|Visit Justification:
|Attend Jet Quenching 2013
|Host First Name:
|Host Last Name:
Continue to Brookhaven Lab Guest Form
Go to Brookhaven Lab Guest Form:
Attendees will not be allowed on-site if their Brookhaven Lab (BNL) appointment is expired!
Non-U.S. Citizens who have an active (up to date) BNL appointment, but whose Passport, Visa, or USCIS documentation have expired must bring their updated paperwork with them and check-in at the Guest, User, Visitor (GUV) Center between the hours of 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday to update their USCIS documentation.
Upon arrival at BNL, please go to the GUV Center (www.bnl.gov/guv/) located in the Research Support Building (Bldg. 400) to check-in. Please make sure to bring proper identification (www.bnl.gov/guv/ID.asp).
Guest, User, Visitor (GUV) Center
Phone: 1-631-344-3333
E-mail: email@example.com
Directions: View Map (www.bnl.gov/maps/400map.php)


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"Dead Space 3 producer John Calhoun appears to have only added fuel to the fire of recent controversy by suggesting that the use of micro-transactions is actually part of a strategy to attract the 'smartphone generation' to the game."
Yes. Clearly someone who spends most of their time playing Angry Birds and Jetpack Joyride is interested in a game like Dead Space.
and this is why no one should buy this
If your a super die hard fan at least wait untill it's in the bargain bin
I loved DS but I can not support these guys....I can't support any studio who would ruin a game and screw over their fans to make more money. Not to mention saying silly stuff like this.
Because of us Dead Space fans the game got a sequel and after that it got another one, what we didn't want to see is you guys giving us the middle finger.
Seriously how can people still support them...at this point it's just blind love.
"bu bu but I'm a huge Dead Space fan"
So....grow some balls and stand your ground. Do you want EA doing this to another EA based franchise you'll like in the future.....no you don't
"...Action Fans Who've Only Played Games On Their Phones"
oh, ...the oxymoron.
thx John Calhoun, now because of your, im gonna get your game on piratebay instead of buying it on steam like unlike last two games.
i don't get it
why did they destroy what was good about Dead Space ..."the horror"
EA is run by monkeys
"We Need To Appeal To Action Fans Who've Only Played Games On Their Phones"
Cut it, print it, and tell the fanboys to stop kidding themselves; They HAVE dumbed down DS3 for a "wider appeal"
Im getting tired of seeing your uneducated fanboy rage in every DS3 article. Dont you kids do anything yourselves?
Full video. He explains that there is in game currency that equal to the microtransactions. Microtransactions are for casuals who dont want to grind the game out, and its implented in such a way where someone cant buy a maxed out gun at the start of the game. So, playing with these ppl wouldn't ruin our experience.
Also, coop seems interesting. Carver might hellucinate and see something that the player using Issac wont. Creating dialogue between players seems great if it intensifies the experience. It was confirmed that Issac and Carver in coop have plenty of areas where they split up. Then throw you into the claustraphobic, isolated situations we are familiar with.
Bottomline, quit feeding these misquoting flame articles. Do your own research. He even says the demo was different areas pieced together specifically to show whats new. The monsters in those areas of the demo arent necessarily placed there in the full game.
This should have been a spin off. Jeez, the only game I've played this gen that gave me some scare, the only game with that jump factor...The horror genre is withering away, and they decide to do this? Turn it into a typical action game. -__- hope I'm wrong but if the game is like the demo, then it'll be a disappointment.
Nowhere in your rant of "EA is ruining DS" did you even mention how they are ruining DS. The game isn't out and you haven't played it. Yes they are adding co-op but guess what?? You don't have to play it and it doesn't ruin anything if you don't. They aren't forcing you to play co-op. I'm also sure that the title has taken things out of context because that's what N4G is good for. I played the demo and I enjoyed it. How are they screwing over their fans to make more money? It's not like they are adding real money transactions in the game or anything of that sort. Just curious as to why you're flipping shit over this game.
I've been saying this for months to a plethora of disagrees from idiots, but I'll say it again - EA is, has been, and forever will be a cash whore. They will dilute any franchise and completely alienate the original fanbase in a cheap effort to sell even a little bit more copies than last year. You know, instead of improving on the formula and actually making a better game - instead pander to those fickle phone gamers who aren't used to paying more than 99 cents for a game. EA, you are truly clueless, and your executives deserve to be fired.
What do you know, Root has moved onto another new game to attack. What's next, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance? Dragon Age 3? Bioshock Infinite?
Read this interview before you think you shouldn't buy it.
Then don't read my comments, just because I speak the truth about EA being greedy and ruining DS like how Capcom ruined RE with RE5 and RE6
Me uneducated....lol
Well done for giving EA your money for giving you the middle finger while they ruin another franchise for more money :)
Do I really need to repeat what's been said a 100 times already. If I did that you would STILL have a dig at me so I can't win either way.
Stop...just stop, don't come into articles and start personal attacking people and start trolling. Seriously people like you should be banned. No wonder people don't like to comment on here, you kind of people like to jump on anyone that has a opinion and pick a fight on articles.
What I do love about you three is that despite everyone stating roughly the same you chose me and only me to say this to. How immature
Really.....and your going to believe then just like that.
Well if thats easy to fool you...
You never guess what happened last night, I won the lottery and I bought myself a house that runs on tuna...how do I get myself in this fishy situations I'll never know
"What I do love about you three is that despite everyone stating roughly the same you chose me and only me to say this to. How immature "
Really? So to you it shows maturity to post in every DMC topic thinking there is a conspiracy that it got good reviews, thinking nobody has heard your prior 457 complaints about the game repeated hundreds of times. To you it's very mature to tell everyone to steer clear of that game, this game, Tomb Raider and countless others because only hardcore gamers like yourself are the real mature gamers who can't stand change.
Sure pal.
Couldn't have said it any better! They always gotta change stuff, thinking they're making it better.
I love it when that argument is used. "OH YOU JUST DONT LIKE CHANGE".
No, it's not that people don't like change, people don't like BAD CHANGE. The way in which this game is being handled is horrible. It's amazing how anti-consumer you and many other people are.
Ill get ot from torrents (good PC coming soon) and when it's 20 bucks I'll get it used for torphies :)
I agree EA's doing this just to piss off the people who made them the original Deadspace fans.
EA is losing site of its fanbase.
And it REALLY sucks that I'm not buying that new Insomniac game thanks to EA. Army Of 2 lol nobody asked for and with that dreadful 10 second trailer didn't help.
I never knew the phone gamers or "fanbase" is there one? Would be interested in this. Don't buy into what they're saying folks EA is making crap up to practice their greedy money grabbing tactics.
And yet an honest company like THQ goes under and EA's lying through their teeth to stay relevant, screw you EA seriously SCREW YOU.
Check how blind the people are on their facebook page but then again the same thing happened to DMC.
If you absolutely must own this game, buy it used. Don't reward EA for their franchise-ruining business plan. It's bad for gaming as a whole moving forward to give EA money.
Also, be wary of EA supporters on the internet. It has been proven that EA actively hires people to say positive things about EA titles on various gaming sites.
are they holding a gun to your head, and forcing you into paying for any of the micro-transactions? will it actually affect the experience if you don't pay for the unlocks instead of finding everything on your own in the game? no? then who the **** cares.
i'm tired of seeing whining/crying/*****ing/moanin g about the most insignificant, inane BS, i'm tired of the "they're giving us the middle finger/screwing over their fans" diatribe because *none of that stuff matters*. how is it giving "us" (don't ever use us or we since you don't speak for everyone) the middle finger/screwing the core fans? because now you can go and waste your money acquiring things that you'd already get without paying extra for in game?
if someone wants to be lazy, and pay for stuff that'll do nothing except fast-track them through the weapon/suit/upgrade acquisition, that's their money to waste. if none of what's going to be available is going to prevent you from acquiring everything through natural progression/exploration, then you really shouldn't be giving a damn.
get over yourself, and get off of your damned soap box.
Well, this is a great start to the year huh, first Devil may cry gets butchered and now Dead Space....
Can't devs just leave their damn franchises alone when they are doing just fine? Instead of trying to appeal to a demographic that wasn't even interested to begin with, they just end up ruining it for the core fans and loose those of us that supported their games from the start.
well said mate, i doubt people will, but you can count on me not not buy it, they have ruined this IP with there action bullshit in 2 & 3
ZombieNinjaPanda wrote,
"No, it's not that people don't like change, people don't like BAD CHANGE. The way in which this game is being handled is horrible."
There are certain types of people on forums, and that is those who continually pick on things to complain about. They are also less likely to mention how games change for the better. It's the same thing when playing online, they are more likely to make a negative comment about their experience than a positive one. Does that apply to everyone in this thread who doesn't like what they are seeing or hearing from the producer? Of course not. My earlier comment was directed at one person and after seeing that one person on this forum quite a few times I can attest to you that he is what I am talking about. I wouldn't have an issue with that if it were just random acts but he has and will continue to keep going into every topic about those games just like he did with DMC. There's a difference between and opinion and an agenda and his agenda is to convince others to agree and steer clear of these games he has chosen. If getting people on his side doesn't work he will keep repeating himself in other topics like a virus.
"It's amazing how anti-consumer you and many other people are."
Really? You have no idea what my purchases have been. I am a consumer just like you. I don't rush out and buy the same things everyone else does. I don't own a Kinect so if you think I am all for casual gaming you are wrong. I also don't think games need to degrade themselves just for more sales. However I also not a half empty glass kinda guy who has knee-jerk reactions to everything that is said on the internet. I play games to have fun and don't involve myself with all the politics that go on within them behind the scenes. I also understand how the industry is changing. We have a generation of gamers who have grown up and are clashing with new generation of fans. The industry is also expanding to a wider audience. We also have more choice now more than any other time in history of games to choose from. So they will need to try other tactics to get consumers to stay and online is going to be a key area they focus on. With that the single player experience may erode and I understand this fight to keep that alive. I too love single player experiences.
I was very apprehensive when Uncharted went with an online mode. I thought it was wasted resources but low and behold Uncharted 2 was an awesome game. I dare to say even better than the original. Which is why I will give this game a chance. I understand the isolation Dead Space started out with and how creepy the atmosphere was and adding online and co-op could ruin the original concept. At the same token I am up for new ideas with new channels the game could lean towards.
At the end of the day I am very much a consumer. However my contract of being a consumer is just that, my abilities as a buyer. Other than that it is out of my hands what they do with it and I'm not some entitled brat who thinks I have the power to try and convince them to make games I want by plaguing the forums and rallying troops to go after them for changing my...I mean their game.
"What I do love about you three is that despite everyone stating roughly the same you chose me and only me to say this to. How immature"
Here's the thing. You do nothing but rant, rage or cry. But on the rare occasions that your not your comment still has an aura of negativity around it.
Just be less negative. Comment on good news and not just point out the bad in everything.
Or just Gamefly it, if you're in the US parts.
How the hell is that being negative, it's true, it's not like I'm pulling crap out of thin air. What do you want me to say
"Oh yeah EA are bunch of great people, I'm sure this is a simple mistake, I can't wait for DS3 because it looks like something which has stuck to it's roots" /s
This gen it's been nearly one negative thing after another....how can people be happy these days when we have devs ruining franchises, focusing on casual, becoming greedy, DLC after DLC, milking etc
Please....no more
Your boring us
Lets be honest. What EA franchise hasn't been completely f*cked.
1.Mass Effect 3: A rushed third person shoot
2.Medal Of Honour: Released before finished
3.Command and Conquer: Noobified
4.Need for Speed: Removed any and all customization (What made the game popular)
5. EA Sports game are the same thing every year
I guess the only one i can think of is battlefield and thats no where near as good as it used to be.
Action fans as in casuals? WTF! This is really starting to piss me off. So many great games are being dumb down for the casuals. How is this helping gaming????
Listen if we were EA we would do the same, making money isn't getting any easier. What would you do? Make a game that will likely sell low, satisfy few or the opposite?
I'd make a game that would at least satisfy someone rather than disappoint everyone.
007Bond-personally I have a big chance of opening a restaurant in the near future,I will open a normal restaurant that people eat healthy food,I will not open a fast food(obvously I will have more customers)cause its unhealthy.So,I prefer earnin less money>well In my case I wouldnt pay taxes(dont ask why).Depends how much greedy some1 is.In this case -EA go ..l. U.
Look at Dark Souls, a game designed with the intention of being hardcore and not pandering to the masses. And it's been lauded both critically and commercially in no small part because of that choice.
If all developers/publishers had such integrity in the designing of their games the market would still flourish and gamers would probably have a better skill set instead of just itchy trigger fingers.
Please don't forget that this is a business. They have to make changes in order to appeal to the mass audience to better their pockets.
Some changes that we may not like (Did anyone play the demo by the way?)
It sounds nice for a company to listen to their fans and do what their fans want them to do BUT will that gain profit for them with a game like Dead Space? Look at it from a business mind.
Wait a minute why did they make a second game if they didn't make enough off the first don't defend ea they were first inline with online passes battle field 2 I believe not to mention its only a matter of time till they figure out a way to start charging for roster updates in sports division anyone play tiger recently they removed a lot of courses for dlc purposes to buy coins or buy course pending on year this gen is by far the worst gen on gamers pockets not to mention all the half ass prerelease testing that goes on in games oh well patch it you say but every other gen before this those games would be in discount bin real quick and patches not all them but most is just the publisher cutting costs I have been gaming since 2600 and never has a generation of consoles been so overrun with GREED than this one
Its resident evil all over again!! WTF so there saying screw the hard core survival horror gamer so we can appeal to the action shooter i said it before and ill say it again.. if i want to play a action shooter ill play cod,halo,or battlefield NOT DEAD SPACE!! We have enough run and gun shooters as it is! AHHHHHH
This is the millionth time I say it:
Why the hell do they always want to appeal to a different fanbase on the THIRD (fourth, fitfth, etc) game of a franchise!!! That's what upsets me the most!
Why can't they just create a NEW IP that "appeal to Action fans who've only played games on their phones" instead of ruining a ESTABLISHED franchised with ESTABLISHED FANS!
This is not the first game to do that! Mass Effect 3, Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, etc!
Dead Space guy - "We Need To Appeal To Action Fans Who've Only Played Games On Their Phones"...
I'm playing dead space right now on my xperia phone!
Capcom prob thought the same thing with RE6...o wait
Oh crap resident Evil 6 all over again
First 2 dead space games sold well so why all of the sudden change of heart?
THEY DIDN'T DO CRAP TO GET YOU WHERE YOU ARE NOW. Man it irritates the hell out of me when I see stuff like this. So yes, this is a rant, and it's MY opinion. If you'd relied on those people early on in the industry, we wouldn't even have games today because they're not the ones who got your freaking company where it is now...
Stay true to fans that bought your game early on, don't betray them for new ones. Hideo Baba uttered something similar to this and it's so true in this generation. Final Fantasy has gone astray, Dead Space is going astray, DmC went astray, Resident Evil went astray, etc. Without the people early on that bought your FIRST game in the series, you wouldn't even be where you are now. How about companies actually think about that before saying, "screw them, let's completely change this game's entire essence and make something casuals will enjoy."
Wait, that's right... Most of them don't have any clue about anything other than money. It's about making something you're proud of, not what will earn a quick buck. Very few in the industry still have that mentality.
I'm an old school gamer, guess we're just dying out these days...
I too am an old school gamer and I feel the same way that we are a dying breed but this industry needs a big wake up slap since the core gaming crowd can be both patient or vengeful bunch, we are the foundation of these profits what these companies are doing is destroying and ignoring the foundation while taking a gamble in hopes of attracting the casual or mobile gaming crowd funny thing is that mobile phone gamers are mobile phone gamers because its cheap no way would they think of spending 60 bucks plus micro transactions they are used to paying at the most 5 bucks considering there are no micro tranactions now as for the route dead space is going and their intentions with the franchise does not sit well with me and thats where im gonna stop and not state the obvious *sighs*
Well, it is a business. This means that publishers will continue to pander to whatever base they feel will generate the largest profits, even if it means turning their back on the people that got them to where they are. Meanwhile, the developers need funding, so they are likely to cave in to the publisher's needs rather than pursuing purely creative avenues.
As the industry gets bigger and the stakes become higher, this will increasingly become the case. The main source of hope is that the developers that have already generated their own fan base (KojiPro, Bungie, Naughty Dog, etc) will be allowed much more autonomy. And then there's Valve, who seem set to become completely independent. On top of this, there's an independent market that seems more and more capable of producing some really quality work. These factors represent the entirety of my faith in the future of this industry.
I think that most people realize that game companies need to make money. They have payrolls to meet, overhead costs, etc.
What blows my mind is that these guys have a working, profitable model, yet time after time, companies will dismiss the fans and niche that they've made for themselves by trying to obtain sales from a wider market that is very competitive and full of people that have no interest in their game. It's incredible to me.
"I think that most people realize that game companies need to make money. They have payrolls to meet, overhead costs, etc."
You would hope so. However, the constant arguments about creativity and remaining loyal to the fans shows otherwise. We're talking about publishers here, not developers. I'm sure most devs would love to follow their creative vision without compromise, but the publishers are in control. They are the people that use market research to decide what direction to take and they really only care about remaining profitable. People have to keep their jobs and companies have to stay in business. This is what happens when people who aren't creative have control over artists. I'm not saying I like it, but I'm at least pragmatic about the reality of the situation.
I do share your amazement at some of the decisions that get made, however. Their number one goal is to make money, and yet some of the decisions these publishers make seem like they were made with the opposite goal in mind. My hope is that the fans keep voting with their wallets and that games like RE6 continue to underperform.
I agree!
Plus EA forgot one tiny little thing when they released this game... What makes them think casual gamers are going to pick up this game now??? If they haven't played the previous two, seeing those werent casual games, so how are they going to jump in to a franchise when its more or less at its climax when they never really experienced the 2 other titles first?
Nice one EA *slow clap*
That comment of your can be applied 100% to MS with x360 and their Kinect centered approach ever since 2009. And they succeeded too. I bet DS 3 will sell tonnes of copies and encourage EA to make a second casual friendly DS. Nobody here on this site wins...except DS/MS sales fanboys.
I'll duck and cover for this one.....INCOMING!!!!
It's amazing just how dumb and out of touch high ranking executives can be.
Well that's because all they see is $
And people wonder why Capcom and others get the backlash that they do.
The demo was so bad, well I didn't get a chance to play the SP portion, but the co-op demo wtf. There bugs, my body PS3 frozed during the drill scene, I played with another passed that only to get stuck in the airshaft. Nothing was scary about it either.
Seems that this has gone the way of Resident Evil.
"We Need To Appeal To Action Fans Who've Only Played Games On Their Phones"
I have no words.
that would mean they have to buy a console first and i don't think they'll be doing that they're not even going to know about the game lol
I honestly think that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard coming from a lead developer.
Casuals do not care about games. You can't really on them for sales.
Ah yes, I remember thinking to myself after completing the first Dead Space, "Why the hell can't it be more appealing to action fans who've only played games on their phones?"
its the same problem as with the nintendo wii. people who bought the wii for fitness games, are not the people who will buy hardcore games, so dont make hardcore games for those people. i know so many people who play some phone games, they would never touch a console.
they could have done a spin off/side story for that not a numbered game in the series :(
I just hope they dont turn the storyline into a complete marker diarrhea-demo was ok, everything seem the same but I never cared for multiplayer so I just have to skip coop and mp
Oh and by the way good job doing the collectors edition that I cant afford
"Final Fantasy has gone astray, Dead Space is going astray, DmC went astray, Resident Evil went astray, etc. Without the people early on that bought your FIRST game in the series, you wouldn't even be where you are now."
But at the same time, you need new people to expand the franchise.
When will core gamers learn that video games is not about them anymore?
It is about us...and it is about the bottom dollar. Look at DmC. The game is selling okay...do you think it would be a different story if the game stayed true to it's roots...who's to say? I'm no soothsayer, but what I do know is relevant empirical data from the past regarding the previous entries of Devil May Cry. Even with a smaller market the sales of Devil May Cry alone in it's first week of release are enough to put DmC to shame. Gamers pay attention to this kind of crap. If you piss us off we will let you know with EXTREME prejudice. Case in point, new Cole from Infamous, new Dante from DmC. With increased support from gamers everywhere we were able to convince Nintendo and the studios who developed the games Xenoblade and The Last Story to release their critically acclaimed games here in NA. The sales for them were spectacular despite have a huge lull for a release window. Gaming is all about the gamer. Always has been and always will be. My only desire is for others to realize it so we can make a more powerful statement. Stay true to the game and what got you fans from the beginning and you won't have to worry about unhappy people and fans...that is unless you do it badly. Look at games like GoW, Zelda, CoD, Halo...all of these stay true to the original game formula while innovating and providing something new...some more than others but they are sticking with the ORIGINAL format that made them successful in the beginning. They appease the initial fan base first and move from their. It's not rocket science it's basic Econ 101. Gotta have customers before you have profit.
I just got off dead space 2 and checked n4g, was thinking about getting dead space 3 even after hating the demo but after playing dead space 2 i felt i could suck it up and give it a shot, but after reading this...nope, they wont get my money ill buy it used or extremely cheap EA and this developer dont deserve my money.
DS1 was a gem, DS2 took a step in the wrong direction, and DS3 is pretty much gonna kill the franchise.
Makes me wonder what EA wouldve done to ruin another franchise like Mirror's Edge.
Maybe its good we dont have a sequel to that :/
They might not kill the franchise. Check this interview out. You might like it.
yea I'd rather mirrors edge stay the gem that it is then have let it have sequel after sequel where it loses its soul to "Fans Who've Only Played Games On Their Phones"
These guys are so out of touch with gamers.
I bet they've even forgotten what made Dead Space 1 was special.
So, make Dead Space 3 appeal to people who haven't played the first two major installments within the Dead Space series?


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Java Language Integrity & Security: Fine Tuning Bytecodes
This series, The Object-Oriented Thought Process, is intended for someone just learning an object-oriented language and who wants to understand the basic concepts before jumping into the code, or someone who wants to understand the infrastructure behind an object-oriented language he or she is already using. These concepts are part of the foundation that any programmer will need to make the paradigm shift from procedural programming to object-oriented programming.
Click here to start at the beginning of the series.
In keeping with the code examples used in the previous articles, Java will be the language used to implement the concepts in code. One of the reasons that I like to use Java is because you can download the Java compiler for personal use at the Sun Microsystems Web site http://java.sun.com/. You can download the standard edition, J2SE 5.0, at http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/download.jsp to compile and execute these applications. I often reference the Java J2SE 5.0 API documentation and I recommend that you explore the Java API further. Code listings are provided for all examples in this article as well as figures and output (when appropriate). See the first article in this series for detailed descriptions for compiling and running all the code examples.
The code examples in this series are meant to be a hands-on experience. There are many code listings and figures of the output produced from these code examples. Please boot up your computer and run these exercises as you read through the text.
Last month, you began an examination of the structure of bytecodes. You explored how a class file is designed and how you can disassemble it. Although there may be very few instances when you would need to disassemble code, it is often a very good mechanism for instructional purposes. Understanding what goes on under the hood of an application is a beneficial process. In this article, you continue the discussion of the structure of bytecodes by exploring how you can process them to improve performance, security, intellectual property protection, and readability issues.
Inspecting Classes
One topic that is quite interesting to investigate is the relationship between source code and the bytecodes that the compiler produces. In fact, explore this from various perspectives. You can look at performance issues, security issues, intellectual property issues, and even readability issues. In many cases, one or more of these topics intersect. For example, fine tuning bytecodes for increased performance can also lead to more secure code. The same goes for intellectual property concerns, which can go hand-in-hand with dealing with code performance. It is important, and quite interesting, to understand the effect on fine-tuning bytecodes can have.
When you talk about fine-tuning bytecodes, you are actually changing the bytecodes themselves. This can be problematic because it is normally not a good idea to actually change output from the compiler. Figure 1 illustrates the process by which bytecodes are created.
Click here for a larger image.
Figure 1: The Bytecode Update Process (using a bytecode processing tool).
Note that the bytecodes produced by the compiler are fed directly into the virtual machine. This implies that it is possible to alter the bytecode file (the class file) to various ends. In fact, this defines a security threat that the Java virtual machine takes pains to avoid. You certainly do not want any malicious code introduced to your already compiled bytecodes, malicious code that the virtual machine is unaware of. However, this situation allows you to exploit this technique for legitimate and productive purposes.
To understand how you might fine-tune bytecodes, explore how you could do the same thing by hand. This is an interesting approach. The implication is that if you were to fine-tune bytecodes, the same fine-tuning could have (perhaps should have) been done at the source code level.
There is some truth to this; however, not in all cases. There are certainly times when fine-tuning at the bytecode level that is directed at undesirable source code, perhaps you can call it poorly written source code. Yet, as already mentioned, there are many reasons why fine-tuning bytecodes has nothing at all to do with poorly written source code. Rather, the updates to the bytecodes result from a desire to improve performance, security, intellectual property protection and readability issues.
The one thing that must be remembered is that humans look at code totally differently than the computer. This may seem like an obvious statement; however, high-level languages were developed for just this reason. Thus, source code and bytecodes are written for completely different audiences. This means that what might be good for one is not necessarily good for the other.
To illustrate what I mean by this, consider the code formatting styles that have been adopted by the software development industry. These rules are in place to make source code easier to develop, whether it is writing, reading or maintaining code. In short, the rules are in place to help humans make sense of the process. Certain developments in source code creation provide absolutely no specific benefit to the way the machine interprets the source code.
The adoption of coding standards is a perfect point. Take a look at the code in Listing 1. Just by looking at this code can you tell what it is doing? There are some clues, but it is not necessarily obvious.
class Example { public static void main(String args[]) { double x = 0.0; double y = 0.0; x = 22; y = (x * 1.8) +32; System.out.println ("x = " + x); System.out.println ("y = " + y); } }
Listing 1: Code without descriptive names
Now, look at the code in Listing 2. Even though both applications behave the exact same way and produce the exact same output, my bet is that you agree Listing 2 provides better-documented code. The only thing that is different is the naming conventions.
class CelsiustoFarenheit { public static void main(String args[]) { double celsius = 0.0; double farenheit = 0.0; celsius = 22; farenheit = (celsius * 1.8) +32; System.out.println ("celsius = " + celsius); System.out.println ("farenheit = " + farenheit); } }
Listing 2: Code with descriptive names
There are any number of similar examples that can be presented to illustrate this point, including the use of whitespace and comments. While none of this is exactly rocket science, much of the way we write code today deals with readability issues. Often, these issues make no difference to the machine itself. Still, it is interesting to look at things from the perspective of the machine.
Now, pursue the angle of code performance. There are times when code readability and performance issues do not line up. As demonstrated in Listings 1 and 2, making attribute names meaningful is an important way to make your code easier to develop and maintain. However, is this beneficial from a performance perspective?
Under The Hood Once Again
As a baseline, consider the code presented in Listing 3.
public class Performance { public static void main(String args[]) { CompanyApp app = new CompanyApp (); app.Employee(2001); app.Finance(3001.0); System.out.println(); } } class CompanyApp { private int companyID = 1001; public void Employee(int number) { int employeeNumber = number; System.out.println("nInside Employee"); System.out.println("companyID = " + companyID); System.out.println("employeeNumber = " + employeeNumber); } public void Finance(double bal) { double balance = bal; System.out.println("nInside Finance"); System.out.println("companyID = " + companyID); System.out.println("balance = " + balance); } }
Listing 3: The Example Application
When you run this application, you get the results in Figure 2. It is important to note the output for later comparison purposes.
Click here for a larger image.
Figure 2: Example Application Output
The application is named Performance and contains the following constructs.
CompanyApp Class attribute: private int companyID
public void Employee(int number) Method attribute: int employeeNumber public void Finance(double bal) Method attribute: double balance
Note that the names were selected to provide some meaning to the reader of the code. It is obvious what the attributes companyID and balance are meant to be—at least at a high level. In other words, these names are more descriptive that if you had named them x and y. However, might there be a situation when naming the attributes x and y would be preferable? The answer is yes, at least at the bytecode level.
Page 1 of 4
This article was originally published on April 4, 2007


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Data: $M$ is an oriented 3-dim manifold, $E$ is a $G$-bundle over $M$, with $G$ compact simple Lie group.
Question: How does $\pi_3(G)\cong \mathbb{Z}$ imply that there exists non-trivial gauge transformations (i.e., continuous maps $M\rightarrow G$ which are not homotopic to the trivial map)?
If anyone would like to read it from the source, check the paragraph leading up to equation 1.4.


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Connecticut native discusses 'Life of Pi' Oscar win
The biggest winner at the 85th annual Academy Awards was "Life of Pi," which grabbed four honors, and one Oscar went home with Brookfield High School graduate Bill Westenhofer.
"It was pretty incredible," he said in a phone interview Wednesday morning from California, where he lives and works.
How sweet it was when Mr. Westenhofer held aloft the Oscar for Achievement in Visual Effects in pride for his Rhythm & Hues Studios team's stunning computer-generated imagery (CGI) work for the animated film adaptation of Yann Martel's book of the same name. And how bittersweet that his statement of support for the visual effects (VFX) industry, including Rhythm & Hues, which has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, was cut short with swelling notes of music from the film "Jaws."
"We were told we had 45 seconds," he said, "but when other people had 60 or 75 seconds I thought I'd go for it" after expressing professional and personal thanks (his wife and parents, Anneliese and Don Westenhofer were among the gathering at the Dolby Theater).
"VFX people are artists, and they should be recognized for their talent," Mr. Westenhofer said.
This is the second Oscar and third Academy Award nomination for Mr. Westenhofer during his tenure with Marina del Rey-based Rhythm & Hues. His first win, in 2008, was for "The Golden Compass."
"The two of them look pretty good in the living room, and I couldn't resist doing curls with them," he said with a light laugh.
What were the chances of another Oscar for him and his VFX team?
"I was hopeful, of course. The last time I won I was the complete underdog," Mr. Westenhofer said. Other nominees for the award for Achievement in Visual Effects were "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," "Marvel's The Avengers," "Prometheus," and "Snow White and the Huntsman."
According to Mr. Westenhofer, about 1,000 people worked on the visual effects for 'Life of Pi." "We worked with people in 10 companies," he said.
Mr. Westenhofer, as "lead creative" is a visual effects supervisor at Rhythm & Hues and was the overall VFX supervisor for the 'Life of Pi' project.
"I had the world supervision task," he said, adding that his company's teams worked on the project in Vancouver, France and London and there were project teams in India as well.
Visual effects, he explained, is a different category than special effects. "Special effects are done on the set--for example, creating noise like real explosions but you don't do it for real. Visual effects are created through CGI [computer-generated imagery] on a computer."
"It took 10 years to get 'Life of Pi' done," said Mr. Westenhofer, noting that he and his team were involved for about three.
"The first year we did tests for Ang Lee, the director. He asked us what a digital [creation] would look like for a tiger because we had done the lion in 'Narnia,'" Mr. Westenhofer said. "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" had earned him his first Academy Award nomination.
The next two were "intense," he said, adding that seven months were spent in Taiwan and India.
"A lot of time was spent in a wave tank," he said. "We got a theme park company to build it. No one did the open ocean swell before, and that's what Ang wanted."
Mr. Lee received the Oscar for Best Director, a category Steven Spielberg was expected to win for "Lincoln." The other nominees were David O. Russell for "Silver Linings Playbook," Benh Zeitlin for "Beasts of the Southern Wild" and Michael Haneke for "Amour."
"Spielberg was predicted to win, but when I heard murmurs that some people voted for Ang, I thought he might have a chance," Mr. Westenhofer said. "And I think he deserves it."
"Working with Ang was fantastic," he said. "He's fantastic human being. He cares about people and respects artists.
"He knows what he wants and he can communicate well," Mr. Westenhofer continued. "He lets people who work for him bring their creativity to the table." For example, he said, Mr. Lee asked for "an operatic sky" for when the zebra "was suffering," referring to the animation in the main character Pi's story about the sailor and the zebra, "and let us take it from there."
VFX was responsible not only for delivering the tiger and the sky but the ocean, the boat, and the other central elements that drove the story home.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the movie has earned more than any of the others that were nominated for best film, although the top film award went to "Argo."
"I know 'Lincoln' was the front runner for the award, but I think 'Life of Pi' will survive the test of time more than the other nominees," Mr. Westenhofer said.
(Roxbury resident Daniel Day-Lewis won the Best Actor award for his portray of Abraham Lincoln.)
How It All Began
For Mr. Westenhofer, a class of 1986 Brookfield High graduate, his interest in exploring art and technology was piqued by his art teacher, Kristine Tino, but he never thought he'd get into film-making, he said in an interview after his first Oscar win.
"Growing up in New England, it didn't seem possible to me. Living on the East Coast, I wasn't sure how to do it," Mr. Westenhofer recalled.
Even though he had a deep interest in art, he decided to pursue a degree in computer engineering, "to make sure I'd get a job," he said, "but I kept on with my drawing and painting."
Mrs. Tino, who retired in 2003, recounted that there weren't any computers in the Art Department at Brookfield High School when they were both there, so he undertook an independent study program with her. "He had a PC at home and I had a Mac at home, and that's how we worked--then we'd talk about things at school," the Sherman resident said in a previous interview. "Not only did he take off in computer art, but so did graphic design in the years since then."
After Mr. Westenhofer earned his degree at Bucknell University, he worked in software engineering for a while but "kept on taking courses in computer graphics." A trip to Disney World "inspired me to go back to it," he has said, recalling his excitement at seeing "animation being done by people in a 'fish bowl'--they all looked my age!"
Later, when he heard that a major annual graphic design conference was going to be held in Florida, he "went down and posted my work along with everyone else, and I got called," he said. Then "the fun began."
Early in his VFX career in the mid- to late '90s, Mr. Westenhofer worked on the movies "Waterworld" and "Stuart Little," and he has served as visual effects supervisor for "Speed 2," "Babe: Pig in the City," "Frequency," "Along Came a Spider," "Cats & Dogs," "Men in Black II," "Stuart Little 2," "The Rundown," "Elf," "Narnia" and many more films.
The "most fun," he said, was working on the 2009 science fiction comedy "Land of the Lost" with actor Will Ferrell. "He's a blast."
The progression from one project to another was not necessarily more technically challenging, he has said. "They weren't more difficult but different."
His involvement, he explained, is "in the post-production stage." Noting the complexity of the technology, he added, "An alteration in the angle of a single shot can mean up to seven man-weeks of work."
Life After 'Pi'
Not all film projects are such a mammoth undertaking as "Life of Pi," but they continue to be interesting for Mr. Westenhofer.
"We just finished 'R.I.P.D.,' with Kevin Bacon," he said, adding that his team is also involved with "'Percy Jackson (part two),' which is sort of Harry Potter-esque, and 'The Seventh Son.'"
As for the prospects of Rhythm & Hues and, more broadly, the VFX industry, Mr. Westenhofer said "the push in the film industry is to keep budgets low, and of course competition is increasing. The margins are so tight, but we broke even on 'Life of Pi.'"
Rhythm & Hues, according to Mr. Westenhofer, is "among the top five in the industry"--which, he said, includes ILM, George Lucas' company; Weta Workshop of New Zealand; Sony Imageworks; and Moving Picture Company of London--"and the only one solely privately company. That makes it tougher."
He said that Rhythm & Hues now has a workforce of 1,400 people worldwide, having grown from a five-member company in 1986.
"It's an artist-friendly and employee-friendly company," he said. "But they made one mistake, delaying in a business move" in consideration for its employees. "I'm hoping they can find a buyer soon before the talent starts getting picked off by others."
As an example of just how important that talent is, Mr. Westenhofer said, "It's ironic that this is when the top films are visual effects heavy."


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Fizzy Ginger Lemonade Recipe
Fizzy, tart, with just a hint of ginger spice.
Looking for more lemonade variations? Check out these 12 delicious summer sippers.
- Yield:makes 1 quart, serving 4 to 6
- Active time: 15 minutes
- Total time:15 minutes
- 2-inch knob ginger, peeled and cut into small chunks
- 1 cup fresh juice from 10 to 12 lemons
- 1/2 cup sugar
- Pinch salt
- 1 cup cold water
- 2 cups (1 pint) club soda
- 1 quart ice
Combine ginger, lemon juice, sugar, salt, and water in a blender. Blend on high speed for 1 minute. Strain through a fine mesh strainer into a pitcher. Add club soda and ice and stir to combine. Serve immediately in ice-filled glasses.