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Italian activist injured by IDF fire in West Bank demonstration, Palestinian media says
Liberman proposes using monetary incentives for Israeli Arabs to move to future Palestinian state
Possible stabbing attack thwarted: Palestinian girl with knife arrested in Hebron
IDF's chief rabbi: Temple Mount is of no religious significance to Islam
Israel slams Ankara: This is no way for a NATO state to act
Eizenkot to be named IDF Chief of Staff
Majority expected to support bill dispersing Knesset
A graveside battle over Ben Gurion's legacy
With government's fate uncertain, Netanyahu seeks commitment from haredim for next coalition
Slight reduction in HIV in Israel in 2013
*RX For Readers: Itchy-eyed in autumn*
Infant mortality rates higher in Arab population
Smartphones are keeping your children awake
Tech Talk: The best keyboard apps available for smartphones
Elbit Systems developing bus with supercapacitator fast-charging system
Zion Tech: Israeli start up Dogiz helps dogs and owners socialize
Zion Tech: Our Israeli start-up of the week aims to make air pollution visible
Grapevine: Remembering Rothschild
The Lion's share
Get your gobble on: Thanksgiving in Tel Aviv
5th annual Hullegeb Festival celebrates Ethiopian culture
Pressure building at Mac TA after setback in Kiryat Shmona
CSKA crushes yellow-and-blue in Tel Aviv
Maccabi Tel Aviv on a roll as unbeaten CSKA comes to town
Another back-breaking loss for Jerusalem
Thanksgiving for lone soldiers: Serving to Turkey to those who serve Israel
Soccer bigwig named as suspect who ran over police officer, fled scene nude
South African Jewish leaders fete Abbas in Pretoria
Birthright Israel cuts ties with New Israel Fund
Iranian Jews gather in Yazd for rituals
Orthodox leaders condemn US rabbi for anti-Arab rhetoric
US haredim seek to share kollels' 'burden'
Syria says US-led strikes have not weakened Islamic State
In troubled Mideast where Christian populations are shrinking, Pope calls for interfaith dialogue
Syria denies targeting civilians, tells US better to criticize ISIS
Turkey establishing industrial zone in West Bank
Analysis: Middle Eastern states struggle to maintain current order and control of territory
Three Egyptian security forces killed in Sinai
Into the fray: The Arabs' war against the Jews (cont.): Root causes & red herrings
There's no need for a 'Jewish state' law
Column one: The storm over the teacup
My word: Keep your eyes on the road
Why no deal with Iran is actually a bad deal
Wishful doing
Cinema of reconciliation
On the volcano's edge
Knowledge, power and abuse
Arrivals: With a twinkle in her eye
Book Review: A gladiator in the study hall
Book Review: Disbelieving of his own survival
Hot off the Arab press
Grapevine: The history of Hansen Hospital
Less rioting, but more transportation delays
This week in Jerusalem
Taking Shape
Blogging sensation
Wading Through Widowhood: A museum by moonlight
Grapevine: Tel Aviv baby boom
Obama: Helping terror go nuclear
On incitement, lots of talk but little action
To finally look behind the news
Recognizing Palestine – anomalies and ambiguities
A song for Kislev: 'Sea of Sheaves'
שְתִיקָתוֹ שֶל בָּרוּך
שָרִים מִקוֹל הַלֵב
Speaking up
An expanding city
Queen Esther's 'hijos'
Meet the ambassador: Flying high
YouTube recycling video goes viral in Israel
Tradition Today: The blessing of daughters
Parshat Vayetze: The power and pain of love
Like a breath of fresh air
Pourquoi une loi sur l'Etat-nation?
Pour ou contre des élections anticipées?
Une horreur injustifiable
Une brèche dans la démocratie
Une petite fille juive du nord de Londres
Rétrospective en noir et blanc pour la ville d'Or
L'unité : notre seule planche de salut
Daniel Oren, maestro d'Israël, d'Italie et d'ailleurs !
Arad n'a pas encore jeté l'éponge
Le pot de chocolat liégeois par qui le scandale arrive
Le dernier kibboutz
La course aux étoiles
De Maxime Hauchard à Abou Abdallah Al-Faransi, itinéraire d'un Français parti faire le Djihad
On n'invite pas un pyromane à éteindre un incendie
Tuer l'EI dans l'œuf
Le mont du Temple et la guerre sainte de l'islam
L'Occident et l'Iran jouent les prolongations
La liste des organisations terroristes qui dérange
Les « Israéliens » de Kampala
Les attentats du lundi 10 novembre vus par la presse française
Netanyahou s'adresse à la communauté francophone
Christian priest speaks out strongly in favor of Jewish state law
Hispanic Evangelicals among Israel's greatest supporters
Christians United for Israel Chairman John Hagee says Obama is anti-Semitic
Temple Mount: Common ground between Jews and Christians
Pope Francis condemns Palestinian violence
Exploring Our Heritage
Holocaust Survivors See the Negev with KKL-JNF
KKL Belgium Donates Portable Bomb Shelter to Kiryat Gat
KKL-JNF Awards 2014 Blumberg Prize
Israel and Finland Connect through the Environment
KKL-JNF Experts Visit China for Future Environmental Collaborations
Mexican Politician and Business Leader Miguel Aleman Velasco Visits KKL-JNF in Jerusalem
International Conference in Sde Boker: Combating Desertification Together
In his Footsteps: Heritage Excursions in Memory of Yitzhak Rabin
Cleanup Day Activities in Central Israel
International Cleanup Day: Cleaning Together in Northern Israel
KKL-JNF's Eyes in the Forest - The Horshim Forest Green Patrol
Israel Today and Tomorrow: KKL France Mission Visits Israel
Start-up Israel: KKL Italy November Mission Learns about Israel's Past and Future
KKL-JNF and Desert Agriculture Latin American Diplomats visit the Negev
A Successful Annual Fundraising Event for KKL Milan
Living Green in Israel: the Contest and the Winners
Addressing Climate Change Conference
Nurturing the Foresters of the Future
Saving the Sabras
11.29.2014 | 7 Kislev, 5775
Prime minister to Channel 1: I'll be running again in next election
Not all bleak for Netanyahu
China's moves: US decline, or balance in Asia?
Hanegbi heads to Myanmar for highest-level visit in 35 years
Former ambassador to the US Oren may enter politics on list Kahlon is drafting
MK calls on PM to destroy homes of Jews who murdered Arab teen
Netanyahu: Hamas leaders are legitimate targets, no one is invincible
Kahlon indicates comeback with new 'framework'
'Israel no better than Chelm for providing electricity to Palestinian companies that boycott it'
Manhattan borough president shows solidarity with Israel visit
Ministers and MKs urge Netanyahu to pound Hamas
Right-wing MKs call to investigate Balad party, ban it from Knesset after Qatar trip
Diplomacy & Politics
05/31/2012 03:30
Knesset Channel fashion program_370.
(photo credit:YouTube Screenshot)
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin and MK Marina Solodkin (Kadima) raised questions
about the appropriateness of the Knesset Channel's content, after a ranking of
MKs' fashion sense was aired on television on Tuesday."The Knesset
Channel is not supposed to intervene in matters of MKs' personal style and
taste. It seems to me that the channel deviated from its purpose and mandate,
and should examine its behavior," Rivlin said on Wednesday.The Knesset
speaker explained that the channel is meant to be an additional platform to
publicize parliamentary and political activity, and increases transparency in
legislation."The show is in bad taste," Rivlin said on
Wednesday."The Knesset is not the Knesset Channel's censor and is
careful not to intervene in its content, but there are some topics that are not
the channel's job to cover."Part of the Knesset speaker's
responsibilities is to regulate the Knesset Channel; however, he does not
control its content.Rivlin sent Knesset Channel director-general Uri Paz
a letter by MK Marina Solodkin (Kadima), who was the target of some of the
program's sharpest barbs.The Knesset Channel responded that, in
cooperation with the Fashion Channel, they are giving MKs "advice about their
outer appearance by first-class Israeli fashion experts," adding that Dress Code
is an "original and unique segment."On Tuesday, following an article in
The Jerusalem Post revealing the Knesset Channel- Fashion Channel collaboration
on a weekly segment called Dress Code ranking the best-dressed and most
sartorially challenged parliamentarians, Solodkin wrote to Rivlin that she found
the new program to be inappropriate."There is no accounting for taste,
but even if my taste in clothing does not match that of the show's producers and
participants, they do not have a right to disparage me," she wrote.In
addition, Solodkin criticized the Knesset Channel for "focusing on MKs' style of
dress and not the content of their work."The Kadima MK pointed out that
the segment showed her giving a speech in the plenum about a bill meant to
increase the punishment for those who try to stop population groups – such as
women, Arabs or new immigrants – from voting. The legislation was inspired by a
case in which ultra-Orthodox women in Mea She'arim were stopped from voting in
the same polling place as men."Apparently, to the show's producers and
participants, the jacket I wore was a bigger problem than the one my bill seeks
to solve," she wrote.The first 10-minute episode of Dress Code, which is
hosted by model Moran Gross and features stylist Lilach Cohen and fashion
columnist Chen Avni, aired on Tuesday night.For nearly three of those
minutes, the program mocked Solodkin's clothing and hairstyle.MK Miri
Regev (Likud) was also targeted by Cohen and Avni.
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Simpson Bay Villa Rental Photos and Description
Villa, 2 Bedrooms, 2.5 Baths, (Sleeps 2-4)
Coco Beachside Duplex is a hard one to match. This large newly constructed with designer décor, 2 bedroom suite home with several beachside terraces permits you rest with open doors, enjoying the everlasting trade wind and sound of the Caribbean Sea. This 3 mile beach truly deserves what people call "the best kept secret on the island." Simply a spot that's hard to beat.
Dear Guests, we will pick you up at the airport, make car rental arrangements if you like, and drive you to your vacation home where a welcome refreshment bar and Frigidaire awaits you. If you are not familiar with St. Maarten, we will give you hints and directions to best beaches, restaurant, shopping, etc. Anything to make your stay more pleasant, you need only to ask.
- Suitability:
- children welcome
- non smoking only
- pets not allowed
- suitable for elderly or infirm
Guestbook comments from the manager
Right on the beach with its own private deck. Very spacious, very well equipped and very comfortable.
Fantastic customer service., super organized and an excellent
communicator. Very prompt responses to my emails.
Great selection of restaurants within ten minutes walk of the condo. Some fancy some not so much. We particularly liked Little Jerusalem great food not fancy. The French side is also nice but Simpson Bay is wonderful.
We can't wait to return and stay at this condo

subset: commoncrawl


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Author Archives: deenaremiel
Remembering My Father
Here I sit, now 10 years passed, reading words I'd written years before. They still ring true, are still just as poignant, and serve to comfort me as I swim in melancholy.
Originally posted on Deena Remiel's Place:
Today marks nine years that my father has been gone. I shall admit it is a bit easier to deal with that knowledge, but not a whole lot. His absence in this physical world has left a void which no other can fill. And so, today I honor him with past posts: some thoughts about his passing and a poem.
Dad, I celebrate you, I honor you, I remember you…
They Know in the End…
There is an afterlife. I know this to be true. How? My father as much as told me so before he passed on. I'd made my regular phone call to him at the nursing home in Florida on Friday, November 12, at ten in the morning. My students were at their special class, so it was my prep time and my principal had been so gracious as to let me use the school phone…
View original 354 more words
Gone, but not Forgotten
Today marks 10 years since my father passed. Some of you will read that first sentence and take a pass on this post. Some of you will linger. Either response is okay. I do this post for me. If it touches your soul and helps in some small way to ease the ache in your heart, I am glad.
My father wasn't a perfect person. Hell, who is? But as a father, to me, he was a great man. I learned a lot from him: compassion, humor, generosity, faith. Those tenets have stayed with me all my life, and I hope I've taught them well enough to my children.
Over the years, I've written poems about him, posted pictures of him, and I even dedicated RELIC to him while fashioning Serena's father a bit after him. I will continue to keep his spirit alive through my writing and every day that my thoughts wander to thoughts of him.
He always loved listening to Cantorial music. He actually had records…
He loved Mel Brooks. Blazing Saddles was a favorite movie of his…
He loved Big Band music and dancing…
He loved watching all kinds of sports…
He loved his family…
Time to let the demons in…
For the better part of a month, I've been dealing with something more dreadful, more sinister, and more frightening than writer's block. I've been dealing with characters and a story that won't let me go and work on anything else. Please, don't find this cute or funny. It's actually quite horrifying.
I currently write two novel-length series and one short story series. Everyone is supposed to have their turn at bat. When one story is done in one series, I turn to the other. Everything had been going just fine- until ANGEL RISING came into my life. I'd always known it was going to be huge. I planned to write it in two parts. Two parts became two books. I thought I could do as I always had done- write part one, then switch to the Book Waitress Series which has two books that need writing and publishing by May. Back and forth, back and forth, jockeying between the two was the order of the day.
When part one of Angel Rising, for The Brethren Series, was put to bed and published, I naturally sat down at the computer to start Rock-A-Bye Demon for The Book Waitress. That's when terror struck. My mind didn't WANT to. IT wanted to daydream and muse and write more stories with Hannah and Gabriel. IT wanted to start the spin-off series with them in it. IT wanted to write Asher and Blessing's stories. BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT I HAD PLANNED.
Now, if I were in a perfect world, I'd figure myself lucky for having many stories to tell in my Brethren world. In a perfect world, I'd take that road and travel it. But it's not a perfect world. I have readers that have been so patient with me as I flit back and forth between series. THEY DESERVE THE NEXT BOOK WAITRESS BOOK. So, I have a huge problem on my hands. I've taken action, though.
I've taken time away from fiction writing altogether. I've watched dozens and dozens of movies- some good and most bad. I've taken to writing on my blog more often. But the fact remains, I must write two stories. I want these stories to be told. They deserve to be told. I love the Book Waitress series as much as the Brethren. I've taken drastic measures. I'm watching horror movies and the new TV show, Constantine. Anything to get away from the angels and to the dark place I need to be to write this series. IT'S TIME TO LET THE DEMONS IN.
I wrote three sentences last night. They're damn good sentences, too. It's a start.
COVER REVEAL: SAY SOMETHING, anthology
Have you ever been moved by the lyrics of a song? In this anthology, seven authors of various genres listened to Big New World's evocative hit song, "Say Something" – and used their interpretation of the words as inspiration for a short story. Contemporary to paranormal to historical, enjoy a wide variety of characters and settings, all with the same basic theme: say something.
Jennifer's Secret by V.S. Nelson
Behind the Scenes by Morgan Kearns
A Nordic Knight in Henry's Court
~ Part One by Kris Tualla
Angel Rising by Deena Remiel
Meant to Be by Camelia Skiba
Moving On by April London
Why Not Ask? by Angelica French
What the Heart Desires (Soulmate Series, Book 4)
by Kelli McCracken
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1sdO2DI
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1sdOj9Q
Torn by desire, will loving her mean the death of him?
Dylan McBride's Seeker abilities have always kept him a step ahead of his father. But one step isn't enough when it comes to his wife and child. His confrontation with his father leaves him questioning everything he knows, from his life with Heaven, to his part in the Supreme Trinity.
Layne is growing stronger, as is his Seeker. The more time he and Heaven share, the more he's able to control his Keeper abilities. But when new secrets emerge, he's forced to face the truth, as well as the emotions he keeps buried.
Among the death threats, constant hiding, and birth of her child, Heaven struggles to keep the peace between her soulmate and Keeper. More lies are exposed, threatening to destroy all that she loves. Will she be able to deny the truth once it's discovered, or will she give in to What the Heart Desires?
What the Heart Wants (Soulmate Series Book 1)
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1wv2rwp
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1m7x7A9
What the Heart Needs (Soulmate Series Book 2)
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1qPYUFw
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1tUER7z
What the Heart Takes (Soulmate Series Book 3)
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1qVZO1X
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1q6jOLs
Kelli McCracken's love affair with books began long before she could read. She didn't let anything stop her from creating stories, even as a child.
That same passion still exists within her today. She is an artist by nature, a curator of characters. Kelli McCracken does her best to give each story and character great depth.
"It seems like all I do is write…and listen to Layne. He's constantly whispering something naughty in my ear, like being dipped in chocolate. Now I want a Kit-Kat. Welcome to my zany life, where #SanityIsOptional, romance is required, and liquor is most definitely quicker. I love talking about my characters. Hope you like hearing about them."
When she isn't chasing kids, working on crafts, or sneaking off with a bottle of wine, Kelli spends her time writing. Of course, it can't be all work and no play. Once procrastination strikes, you can usually find her hanging out on Facebook, Pinterest, or Spotify. Be sure to stop by and say hi. She loves chatting with readers.
Kelli McCracken's Website: http://www.kellimccracken.com/
Kelli McCracken's Facebook Page:https://www.facebook.com/AuthorKelliMcCracken
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kelli_McCracken
Carrie Ann Ryan Blog Tour For:
Delicate Ink
A Montgomery Ink Novel, Book 1
Release Date: October 14, 2014
Release Day Blitz: October 14th – Spotlights Only
Blog Tour: Select reserved dates
Tour-wide Giveway: Carrie Ann Ryan signed paperback and a $15 Amazon gift card
a Rafflecopter giveaway
On the wrong side of thirty, Austin Montgomery is ready to settle down. Unfortunately, his inked sleeves and scruffy beard isn't the suave business appearance some women crave. Only finding a woman who can deal with his job, as a tattoo artist and owner of Montgomery Ink, his seven meddling siblings, and his own gruff attitude won't be easy.
Finding a man is the last thing on Sierra Elder's mind. A recent transplant to Denver, her focus is on opening her own boutique. Wanting to cover up scars that run deeper than her flesh, she finds in Austin a man that truly gets to her—in more ways than one.
Although wary, they embark on a slow, tempestuous burn of a relationship. When blasts from both their pasts intrude on their present, however, it will take more than a promise of what could be to keep them together.
Damn Austin Montgomery.
Austin frowned, moving toward her. She forced herself not to take a step back. She wouldn't run. Not anymore. But she didn't know if she could keep up the denial if he got any closer.
He ended up standing right in front of her, so close she could feel the heat of his body. The act reminded her of her dream of Jason, and she held back a shudder. It wouldn't do her any good to compare the two men. Her past and her…whatever this would end up being.
His hand came up so he gripped her chin. He searched her face, and she just stared up at him, unsure of what to do or say next. He hadn't spoken, and it threw her for a loop.
"Okay, Sierra," he said finally, his voice low, deep. So deep it went straight to her core, and she had to keep from sighing. Again. "If you don't feel like you're ready to ride yet, then we won't."
She let out the breath she wasn't aware she'd been holding. "Thanks, Austin. I'm sure we'll see each other around then." What was she doing? That hadn't been the plan. Or had it? Honestly, she didn't even know what her plan was anymore. She wanted him, she was clear on that much, but she wasn't sure she could handle more. This wishy-washy thought process wasn't doing her any favors. She needed to buck up and either give in fully or step back.
Taking half steps would only hurt her in the end. Didn't she know that? Hadn't she lived that?
"Oh really? I don't think so. That's not how this is going to play, Legs."
"Excuse me?" The ice was back in her voice, but she didn't know how to control it, not when he was so large and…Austin around her.
Tourwide Giveaway:
This giveaway will be a Carrie Ann Ryan signed paperback and a $15 Amazon gift card!
Buy Links:
Amazon http://amzn.to/1AEhALt
Kobo http://bit.ly/VxOcGK
iBooks http://bit.ly/1oV8NMl
New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan never thought she'd be a writer. Not really. No, she loved math and science and even went on to graduate school in chemistry. Yes, she read as a kid and devoured teen fiction and Harry Potter, but it wasn't until someone handed her a romance book in her late teens that she realized that there was something out there just for her. When another author suggested she use the voices in her head for good and not evil, The Redwood Pack and all her other stories were born.
Carrie Ann is a bestselling author of over twenty novels and novellas and has so much more on her mind (and on her spreadsheets *grins*) that she isn't planning on giving up her dream anytime soon.
Get in touch with Carrie Ann Ryan!
Website: http://carrieannryan.com/
Blog: http://carrieannryan.com/blog/
Facebook, Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/CarrieAnnRyanAuthor
Facebook, Friend: https://www.facebook.com/carrieannryanwrites
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CarrieAnnRyan
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5360266.Carrie_Ann_Ryan
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/carrieannryan/
Newsletter: http://carrieannryan.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=4fd27cc0d4abd9691ecaa236e&id=de39f7f897


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Home » News
It was 'Whoa, Christmas Tree' at Londonderry burn
Now in its 19th year, the annual Tree Burn was hosted by Londonderry Boy Scout Troop #521 and remains one of the troop's largest fundraisers.
"There were years when we'd easily get 1,500 or more trees added onto the pile," said Ted Combes, who earned his Eagle Scout badge in 2004 and now serves on the Londonderry Budget Committee. He added: "I think more people tend to have the artificial trees these days."
"We use it to send our scouts to camp, to purchase new gear," Perry said. "It really helps out a lot when we go on our trips."
Perry said plans are already in the works for next year's Tree Burn.
"We're definitely in for a big celebration," he said.
- Celtics Insider: Celtics rule Smart out of tomorrow's game against Chicago - 0
- Berube the backbone of Monarchs' team 'D' - 0
- Packers QB Revis will pose a challenge for Patriots - 0
- Hudson may start charging for non-transport ambulance calls - 0
- NH suffers 4th worst outage on record - 0
- Camping out didn't pay for shoppers - 0
- Newsreel: Concord economic forecast; Tech Council hosts forum; UNH Fairchild Dairy honored - 0
- Londonderry-based MegaFood launches transparency project in vitamin industry - 0
- Grant program to help Granite State students with loans - 0
Bruins pleased with start in spite of injuriesREADER COMMENTS: 0
NH suffers 4th worst outage on record
Camping out didn't pay for shoppers
After the election is over, the signs remain
NH suffers 4th worst outage on record
Pat Buchanan: What to make of Ferguson?


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Wally Left - World Series
Artist: Wally Left
Producer: Chuck Inglish
Album: World Series EP
Avg Rating: 4.8 ( 29 votes )
I have a mental checklist I run through when listening to a new artist to see if their sound and image will appeal to me. It all starts with the cover art, which can immediately intrigue me or start off on the wrong foot. Upon seeing North Carolina spitter Wally Left's artwork for standout single World Series, I was glad to take a listen, and even happier to report the audio matches the visuals. With an instrumental taken from a Chuck Inglish (of The Cool Kids) beat tape, World Series is a mellow track with dulcet piano riffs that allow the NC emcee to take flight and lyrically hover over the track. With intricate rhymes and heavy usage of alliteration throughout, Wally keeps you hanging on to each word as you catch the contrasts and constant consonants that come out his vocal cords. Wally Left's 8-track project, LCGT$, featuring production entirely by Chuck Inglish, is available for free stream and download now, so make sure to take a listen and see if Wally makes it through your new artist checklist.
Update: We have added the Acid Proof-directed visuals for Wally Left's World Series single, originally released in August of 2012.
Wally Left Music VideosDownloadsIndie
Written by Ivan Ibarra on 01/30/14
Submit your Rating
First DJ Booth Appearance:
"Riki-Oh" (2012)
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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is looking into drafting "robust national documentation standards" for debt collectors, Assistant Director Corey Stone testified Wednesday before a Senate committee. He said that while debt collection is necessary to ensure credit is accessible and affordable, the CFPB wants to ensure that collectors do not harass consumers about debts they do not owe.
View Full Article in:Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.), The
Published in Brief:


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New Behind the Lines Episode: Effective Team Communication
Wednesday, November 19 at 8:00 PM (ET)
Featured experts for this episode are Andy Baker (FRC Team 3940) and Mike Corsetto (FRC Team 1678). They will be discussing the principles of effective team communication - including team building, communication expectations, conflict management, and Drive Coach communication. As always, the audience will have an opportunity to ask questions. See you there!
As I said a few weeks ago, we have launched an exciting new fundraising opportunity for teams. Teams can arrange to show the documentary SlingShot, about Dean Kamen and his work, for a reasonable screening fee while selling tickets to raise the money they need for the season. Please see all the details in the previous blog. Already 56 FIRST teams – including FRC, FTC, and even an FLL team - from 22 states in the US have signed up!
Today's Mentor Monday blog post comes to us from Allison Phelps, an alumnus of FRC Team 1024, a former mentor of FRC Team 1747, and current mentor of FRC Team 1024.
We'd like you to write a blog post about your journey to the current point in your career. What were the most important steps that you took? Were there influential people or events along the way?
Last year, we asked you for team t-shirts for FRC Staff members to wear during the Kickoff and Field Tour Videos. We received shirts from more than 120 teams and were able to wear all of them received in the videos.
Safety, Safety, Safety
Today's guest blog post comes from the Kit of Parts Team:
Some pieces of the Kit of Parts are kept under lock-and-key until Kickoff (that's why we call it the Kickoff Kit). FIRST Choice opens on November 25.
Today's Mentor Monday blog post comes to us from Lisa Perez Savage, an alumnus of FRC Teams 573 and 1, a former mentor of FRC Teams 830 and 3182, and current mentor of FRC Team 573.
FIRST Championship Eligibility Beyond 2015
In this blog I said I would be finalizing longer-term changes to FIRST Championship eligibility by the end of October this year. I've missed that deadline.
Guest blogging this week is Carla Proulx from FIRST Marketing. Many of you may remember Carla from her FRC days but she is now the FIRST Alliance Manager, cultivating national Strategic Alliance relationships that play a key role in our success by creating teams, engaging mentors and most importantly, helping FIRST reach more students than ever before.
HOLA Teams and thank you Frank for the opportunity to share some exciting news with the FRC community.


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All Schools
(22) All Schools
(22) High Schools
(7) High Schools
(7) Elementary Schools
(21) Elementary Schools
(21) Preschools
(16) Preschools
(16) Public Schools
(98) Public Schools
(22) All Schools
(22) High Schools
(7) High Schools
(7) Elementary Schools
(21) Elementary Schools
(21) Preschools
(16) Preschools
(16) Public Schools
(98) Public Schools
There are 22 private schools in Brazoria County, TX, serving 2,927 students.
Minority enrollment is 36% of the student body, which is more than the TX state average of 34%.
64% of Brazoria County, TX private schools are religiously affiliated (most commonly Christian and Roman Catholic).
The student:teacher ratio of 13:1 is higher than the state private school average of 10:1.
Brazoria County Private Schools
- School Location Students Grades
AngletonAngleton Christian School
3133 N Valderas St
Angleton, TX, 77515
(979)864-3842(Christian)75 students | Gr. PK-10
Lake JacksonBrazosport Christian School
200b Willow Dr
Lake Jackson, TX, 77566
(979)297-0563(Christian)176 students | Gr. PK-12
PearlandCarden-jackson School
3801 Liberty Drive
Pearland, TX, 77581
(281)485-4677(Christian)99 students | Gr. PK-8
West ColumbiaColumbia Christian School
725 West Brazos Ave
West Columbia, TX, 77486
(979)345-2434(Assembly of God)106 students | Gr. PK-12
PearlandEagle Heights Christian Academy
3005 Pearland Parkway
Pearland, TX, 77581
(281)485-6330(Baptist)354 students | Gr. PK-12
PearlandFirst Christian Academy
4205 W. Broadway
Pearland, TX, 77581
(281)412-5182(Christian)160 students | Gr. PK-12
PearlandHeritage Christian Academy
12006 Shadow Creek Pkwy
Pearland, TX, 77584
(713)436-8422(Christian)260 students | Gr. NS-4
AngletonHoly Comforter Episcopal School
P.o. Box 786
Angleton, TX, 77515
(979)849-4602Daycare / Preschool (Episcopal)102 students | Gr. PK-K
AlvinLiving Stones Christian School
1407 Victory Lane
Alvin, TX, 77511
(281)331-0086(Christian)212 students | Gr. PK-12
PearlandMontessori School Of Downtown
2121 N Grand Blvd
Pearland, TX, 77581
(281)485-7532Montessori School (Christian)45 students | Gr. PK-3
PearlandMontessori School Of Downtown Silverlake
2525 County Road 90
Pearland, TX, 77584
(281)412-5763Montessori School293 students | Gr. K-5
AlvinNext Generation Learning Center
1516 Rosharon Rd
Alvin, TX, 77511
(281)824-4293Daycare / Preschool (Christian)5 students | Gr. K
RichwoodOur Lady Queen Of Peace Catholic School
1600 Highway 2004
Richwood, TX, 77531
(979)265-3909(Roman Catholic)189 students | Gr. PK-8
PearlandPrimrose School Of Pearland
2350 County Road 94
Pearland, TX, 77584
(713)436-4120Daycare / Preschool188 students | Gr. K
PearlandPrimrose School Of Pearland Parkway
2240 Pearland Pkwy
Pearland, TX, 77581
(281)997-8855Daycare / Preschool10 students | Gr. PK-KG
PearlandSilverlake KinderCare
2325 County Road 90
Pearland, TX, 77584
(281)485-8667Daycare / Preschooln/a students | Gr. NS-PK
PearlandSilverline Montessori
2505 County Road 89
Pearland, TX, 77584
(281)997-3700Montessori School170 students | Gr. K-6
PearlandSilverline Montessori School - Shadow Creek
2080 Reflection Bay Dr
Pearland, TX, 77584
(713)436-5070Montessori School135 students | Gr. PK-1
PearlandSt Helen Catholic School
2213 Old Alvin Rd
Pearland, TX, 77581
(281)485-2845(Roman Catholic)238 students | Gr. KG-8
SweenySweeny Christian School
904 Texas Ave
Sweeny, TX, 77480
(979)548-6001(Church of Christ)25 students | Gr. PK-7
AlvinTexas Preparatory Academy
715 W Adoue St
Alvin, TX, 77511
(281)756-923168 students | Gr. 8-12
PearlandTottenberry''s Private School
7302 Broadway St
Pearland, TX, 77581
(281)997-833317 students | Gr. PK-3
County Statistics
|About This County (Brazoria)
|County Statistics
|(TX) State Statistics
|Population (Approximate)
|248,873 people
|24,296,891 people
|Age 25+ w/College Degree
|Median Household Income
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Eastern Michigan product spent last seven seasons in Houston. Joe Fortenbaugh
After a seven-year stint in Houston that saw his production decrease dramatically over the last two seasons, wide receiver Kevin Walter is now a free agent.
Per Adam Schefter of ESPN, the Texans have released the ten-year veteran, meaning Walter is immediately free to sign with another organization.
ICONKevin Walter's seven-year run in Houston has come to an end.
At one time considered to be the future No. 2 wideout to Pro Bowler Andre Johnson's No. 1, Walter was never able to demonstrate the consistency the Texans were hoping to get out of the position. The 31-year-old caught a career-high 65 passes in 2007 before watching his receiving totals dip in each of the following four years.
Walter and the Texans reached an agreement on a five-year, $21.5 million deal (with $8 million in guaranteed money) back in 2010. Following his signature on the dotted line, Walter caught just 80 passes for 992 yards and five touchdowns over his next 31 games.
Houston will move forward with Johnson, as well as young pass-catchers Lestar Jean, Keshawn Martin and DeVier Posey.
Don't be stunned if the organization looks to bring in another veteran during free agency.
Hit me up on Twitter: @JoeFortenbaugh
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Chaz and Alli have been beavering away hard on our new "roguelike survival horror" game, Basingstoke, and now's the time to show you an official teeny sneak peak of the game so far. Feast your eyes upon the video, and then read on, with the caveat that everything is in developmental flux and subject to changing beyond recognition at any moment…
Category Archives: Diary
Well, it's time for one of our lamentably infrequent blog entries. So much has happened since the last one I can't even think where to begin.
Whither Battledroid?
Alas, woe unto Puppygames, for we are broke. Due to several decisions of dubious merit last year we've ended up wasting most of our cash on things that never flew. We tried for several solid months to rescue our direct sales but it seems nothing but nothing that we can do will change the fact that at any given moment, Steam comprises 97% of our income. And that's just when there isn't a crazy Steam sale on. So we wasted months on that and achieved precisely nothing.
Battledroid Alpha Sprint #4
Otherwise known as, "How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Deadlines and Fail Gracefully".
Ok, that's a little melodramatic.
We were doing quite well on the sprints but then Real Life decided to place a series of embuggerances in our way. I notice that the spelling checker in WordPress doesn't understand "embuggerance" but I assure you, it is a word.
The plan for this sprint was:
- Fix all the bugs we know of (there were plenty of issues with focus and tabbing and mouseovers, and one or two other little minor glitches)
- Steam Integration – a full Steam version of all functionality. Steam is actually not so hard to integrate as it sounds as we have an awesome Steam integration library ready-made from our previous games, and mostly it involves removing functionality that we've implemented already in the game for Puppygames customers.
- Serverside housekeeping batch jobs – make accounts dormant if they're unused for a month, etc. That sort of thing. In addition the subscribers actually needed to be charged on a regular basis (not that we'd actually enable it at this point – it just needs to be there)
- The last messages widget on title screen needed wiring up, with the associated event polling stuff all working between clients and server
- And the last actually exciting feature, the Commander Screen, in which you can adjust your display name, personal avatar, army colours, change manufacturer allegiance, and request to join a faction. As well as placeholders for stats and medals.
Well, in the end, all we've kinda managed to do is:
- Fix the tabbing/focus/mouseover bugs. Except, infuriatingly, checkboxes
- We can log in using Steam and get our avatar displayed but sadly that's as far as we've got
- The Commander Screen is visually coming on very nicely but none of the functions are wired up to the server yet and it's not fully integrated properly yet at all, more like Chaz just trying it out first than actually functional.
What's Our Excuse This Time?
Well, mostly, this is all my fault, because Mrs. Prince is terribly ill and I've basically had to take almost the entire sprint off work to look after her and the kids, whom I can assure you are a pair of devils sent to torture my mortal soul. Right now she is in hospital and everyone is very upset though the prognosis is good. I don't know particularly how any sprint survives contact with a quarter of the team suddenly stopping working in a completely random manner, but there we go.
The next thing is that Chaz's Windows installation has somehow managed to blow up this morning and he's going to have to reinstall his OS, which means at least two days down the drain for him too.
Finally Riven's mouse has died. Not his squeaky one, but his old faithful electronic one, the one he uses to point at things on screens with. This makes Windows extremely difficult to operate, it would transpire.
Whither Now?
Well, I don't think it's really worth releasing Battledroid this sprint because we've barely got anything done on it – I think it really needs another week of work on it when we're all firing on all cylinders so to speak – so we'll leave it. Which brings me to the exciting news of what's happening next week, which is that we will all be exhibiting at EuroGamer Expo 2013 in Earl's Court, London, between September 26-29! Once again we'll be giving away two brand new Nexus 7 (2013 models) as prizes for the best hiscore we have recorded in Ultratron and Droid Assault come Sunday evening. I've got a new Nexus 7. It is awesome. You need to come and play.
As we're basically all away all next week and then a couple of days to recover, I wouldn't expect much visible progress till Friday 4th October.
Battledroid Alpha Sprint 3, thoughts on F2P
So, we actually got this one out bang on time. So on time there wasn't quite enough time to actually write a blog post to coincide with it before we went on our summer hols
- There is nothing to play yet – we're concentrating on the user-interface and back-end stuff
- Previous bugs are not fixed – such as tabbing not working – we're working on fixing those now
What's New?
This sprint was all about getting registered players to become premium subscribers, and finishing off the account maintenance functionality. So now you can subscribe or unsubscribe at will, and you can delete your account. Additionally the options panel, which wasn't meant to be released until today but got released last week instead, was supposed to be in the sprint. So here it is Have a play with the GUI scale function and marvel at how awesomely clever our UI layout is. But first let's explore the new functions and talk about them…
Battledroid Alpha Sprint 2
So, here we have the latest Battledroid alpha release, the second so-called "sprint". You will notice it is lamentably already 4 days late – way to go guys! We've clearly not quite got the hang of this agile development malarkey.
Firstly, anyone who does not yet have the client already can get it here:
Battledroid for Windows
Battledroid for Mac
Battledroid for Linux
If you've already got the Battledroid client, you don't have to redownload it – it should update automatically with the latest release like the rest of our games.
Known Issues
Expect to encounter…
- tabbing doesn't work in forms
- scary security certificate warnings from emails
What's New
In this sprint we wanted people to be able to register a guest account, change their email address, change their passwords, reset password if they forgot it, and log out again. We wanted the titlescreen UI to behave fully correctly, (less library bugs that is) and its design to be more or less finalised.
Well, we did all that, but we've also implemented the Options panel as well, which wasn't supposed to be in till next Friday. Graphics options are a little more expanded upon from previous games, and check out the cunning GUI scale feature. The GUI will also automatically scale if you go below 4:3, meaning the game is perfectly playable on a monitor set up in portrait mode.
Anyway – if you could, we'd like you to test out the registration and login processes, and the account management functions. You will notice a scary security certificate warning if you click on any links we send you from the Battledroid mailer, but that's because we've not got proper SSL certificates in place yet.
Also, if you would care to click on the second tab icon at the top – world map – you'll get an early test of our new sprite engine. Though not completely optimized yet, we're currently testing with 60,000 dynamic sprites on a background of 1 million static sprites. Middle mouse wheel will zoom, hold RMB to scroll, LMB to paint more sprites!
And… first cut of a theme tune – work in progess – open options and slide music volume to 11
Battledroid Alpha and Development Diary
Ladies and gentlemen, may I proudly present to you… the Battledroid Alpha! Available for all OSes (not currently on Steam but we'll see about that).
- Download Battledroid for Windows (installer)
- Download Battledroid for MacOSX (zip)
- Download Battledroid for Linux (tar.gz)
Don't get all excited now! What you see before you once it's installed and run is just the title screen. We've got a seriously hectic schedule coming over the next 4 months, during which time we will release a new build every other Friday, and the development diary. Our ultimate goal is to get into beta with a minimum viable product by 22nd November 2013, at which point we will be seriously running out of money and unleash our Kickstarter project upon you all, to get the game finished and full of content.
The title screen may not look that exciting to start with but this is how we make our games: we get all the really boring stuff done first, because it has to be done, and once it's all out of the way while we're all fresh and full of energy, the only stuff left to do is the fun stuff, with lasers, robots, explosions, and stuff getting blown to bits! (Years ago I realised that leaving titles and menus and options till last is a recipe for misery, demotivation, and failure to complete a game).
As it currently stands, the title screen automatically creates a guest account to play Battledroid on our server, and that's pretty much all it does right now. Most importantly however is whether you are experiencing anything out of the ordinary, like rendering glitches or connectivity issues. We'd like to hear your feedback, even as this early stage, allowing us to take it into account as we're working on the next alpha.
In two weeks' time, at the end of Sprint 2, expect to see the next round of functionality being added to Battledroid, which is account registration and management functions like the ability to change your email address, set a name for yourself, reset your password, etc. – more dull stuff. But important dull stuff.
Codename Battledroid
So… work is underway on our new game. I've called it "Battledroid" for now (ahem), a name which may or may not stay. I quite like it. So by way of warning, there now follows a wall of text explaining everything.
What is Battledroid?
Battledroid is a massively multiplayer asynchronous online war fought over the blasted and war-torn landscapes of Earth in the not entirely distant future a few centuries from now. At war are various ultracorporations (whom we shall call "factions"), who vie for control of territory in order to boost their own manufacturing capabilities. Everybody who is sensible has left for more peaceful pastures in the rest of the Solar System, leaving the wars to be fought by giant armies of autonomous battledroids.
So I went to Rezzed with @Cliffski (and Mrs. Cliffski), ferried there in a state of mild car-phobia induced air conditioned comfort in his spaceship-like Lexus. I couldn't tell you what Lexus it is, just that it is black, and has batteries in it to make it go, and a charming electronic assistant lady called Lizzy who tells Cliff where to drive. I also managed to figure out how to transmit music from my phone to the car, and forced Mr. and Mrs. Cliffski to endure my "eclectic" musical tastes. I notice that most of the music I listen to has what graphics people might describe as a "high dynamic range" – that is, it has quiet bits, loud bits, bits with low frequencies, bits with high frequencies, and mostly every combination in between. It turns out that this is crap for cars, as you can't really hear anything, and this probably explains why nearly all modern music is just a massive irritating wall of sound – because the only place most of it gets listened to is on car radios. Anyway, I digress. This is what we did when we got there:
Indie Stone
We went to see a talk by the Indie Stone of Project Zomboid fame (I've been doing some things for them). We were nearly as surprised as they were as the room was packed out with hundreds of people (a show of hands in response to a question from one of the, er, Stoners, showed that maybe 90% of them were fans of Project Zomboid). Anyway – the presentation was of course quite funny, detailing as it did how not to set up a studio and have several disasters. We make our own luck, as the saying goes
I was going to throw tomatoes at Lemmy for forgetting to mention me but as he was visibly shaking like a leaf with nerves decided that would be a bit mean. My time will come! I think it's time I did a talk at one of these talk things, having amassed all sorts of interesting bits of know-how and wisdom about the industry, games, and coding in general.
Borderlands 2
We wandered around and looked at all the man-shooters on display – still strangely the most prevalent sort of game at computer game shows. There were also a rather large bunch of indie games there but unfortunately my largest and most vociferous organ was telling me that I had to go and eat, so we didn't hang around and play any of them for any significant length of time. Can't even remember the titles.
We wandered into a section labelled "18 Only", hoping for scantily clad pole dancing ladies and these naked booth babes I hear everyone decrying, but annoyingly there was just some guy in a rubber Alien suit, and Borderlands 2. The Borderlands 2 demos were wired up to XBox360 controllers. WTF? I wrestled with the controller for a minute, looking probably like one of those long lost tribespeople that some missionary westerner has just given a knife and fork to, and eventually gave up in disgust. So in short: it looks like Borderlands 1, but prettier and the interface is a smidgen slicker. I'll be buying it and playing it with a keyboard and mouse as God intended.
Fish And Chips
Eventually my stomach won the argument and we went in search of fish and chips. This you must know if you visit Brighton: the Regency Restaurant, on the sea front opposite the old burnt-out pier, makes the best fish and chips I've ever had. The Indie Stoners arrived along with torrential rain, and we decided to go to the pub.
In this bit we discuss things that we are not allowed to repeat in front of anyone, let alone broadcast all over the internet A couple of things became apparent though. Firstly, the Stoners absolutely hate the AAA games industry with a passion, and after they told us their life stories, I can see why. Secondly, we had a good laugh at the Zomboid team's expense concerning what disasters might have befallen them on the way down from tha Toon to Brighton including hilarious anecdotes such as strapping all the laptops with the source code on to the front of the van ("for safekeeping").
Peter Molyneux
The next talk we went to was to see what batshit silliness Peter Molyneux is up to with his new "independent" studio 22 Cans. It turns out that he's hiring lots of people to make little games for iPhones, and to be fair he did have quite an interesting "game" concept he talked about which he claimed was about curiosity – "what's in the box?". I thought that really it asked the question, "Just how much money can you fleece people out of via iTunes?" Molyneux actually seemed to concur on that point. Nothing wrong with parting people from their money, I always say. Anyone daft enough to spend it in such a manner clearly needs to be parted from it as soon as possible before they actually go and do something stupid with it.
Cliff and I stood at the back and sniggered like naughty schoolboys. During the Q&A session I was just almost but not quite drunk enough to want to ask Molyneux whether Cliff was fired or whether he quit Lionhead in a huff. But again my pleasant nature somehow smothered my desires to make mischief and the session ended without incident.
Mitu and Redshirts
After the session we bumped into Cliffski's minion, Mitu Khandaker, who is simultaneously developing Redshirts for Positech Games (ie. Cliffski) and also strenuously denying being a minion. Just as I was getting into my stride mocking one or the other of them the Mode 7 team happened by broadcasting their intentions to obtain food from Italian restaurants, and my favourite organ once again declared its interest in food. Exeunt Indies. Past Molyneux near the front entrance; I tried to get Cliff to rant at him ("Remember me? Huh? Remember?") but he wouldn't do it, which is a shame as it would have been entertaining.
Pizza, Beer, etc.
Went and had a pizza. Waitress threw a plate on floor behind me. Sometimes I feel like I'm living in Final Destination. Anyway, having dodged certain death from flying crockery, we went out to go and find the RockPaperShotgun drinkiepoos at some fancypants club called Audio. Talked to a bunch of people there including me old mucker Adam Martin, whom I conclude needs to port Titan Attacks to iOS for me, though he doesn't know it yet. But we were so knackered we only managed a couple of drinks and had to retire back to the hotel. Out like a light. An interesting day.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
Having spent the last few days dealing with the aftermath of turning 39, I've finally gotten the database rinsed and cleaned and full of genuine registrations again from the Great Birthday Giveaway… and with some cunning databasery I've managed to reinstate some previously disabled games. What does this mean for you?
In short: if you ordered more than one game, I have reactivated the first one you ordered.
So if you were one of the people that fired up Steam the other day and discovered your game(s) have vanished, or if you tried to obtain a Steam key and were told that your email has been disabled, or if you tried to register your Puppygames registration but were told the same, you may now again register your game – just the first one you ordered – and get a Steam key for it (if it was Revenge of the Titans or Titan Attacks – Droid Assault and Ultratron don't have Steam keys yet, but they will have, and you will be able to get them in the same way).
All in all I've managed to give away a further 2,353 free games to people who either didn't read the small print quite right or for whatever reason were unaware of the one game limit. This makes me feel all magnanimous and warm inside, and is back in the spirit of things, bringing the total grand giveaway to 13,701 games.
Just to allay a few untrue rumours circulating – no-one is going to be banned by Valve for blagging an extra key. There are a few script hackers who might be in trouble though, and it was these guys filling up the registrations database with shite that have caused everyone all the grief, you included.
So in short: run your game, pop your email address in and wait for it to register, then go to http://www.puppygames.net/steam to get a Steam key if it's Revenge of the Titans or Titan Attacks.
So, What Happened On My Birthday?
As a little treat for the internets, on my birthday the other day I decided that we would give away our games for free, and see what the power of a single tweet could accomplish.
Well, of course, our server was flattened within the hour, as it turns out our keygen can only generate about 15 keys a minute, and we went on to give away 22,500 keys. The only reason we only gave away 22,500 keys was because BMTMicro, our payment provider, closed our shop page after 12 hours because we couldn't cope with the huge backlog coming in.
To make matters more amusing, we only had about 6,000 Steam keys to hand, and these ran out sharpish as well. It also turns out the Steam key retriever contained a schoolboy thread race error in it causing a couple of hundred people to receive duplicate Steam keys. And the cherry on the cake was that unbeknownst to us, a few days before the promotion, our server silently stopped sending email to customers after it was "migrated" by Rackspace. I've no idea how its configuration could have changed in that time, but it did. So we had this perfect storm going on:
- Site flattened
- Shop page shut down
- Ran out of Steam keys
- Email sender kaput
The end result is that my single tweet generated 3,000 support emails, none of which we will be answering No, instead, we are going to send an email to each and every one pointing to a FAQ page which explains what went wrong and what you can do about it, and if you've got some problem that's not answered in the FAQ, we advise emailing us again.
It didn't take long for some people, in Eastern Europe and Australia, to latch on to our generosity, and quickly create scripts to generate hundreds of Steam keys for themselves, which presumably they have been trading. Unfortunately I know about this. Unfortunate for them, that is, as every single one of these keys will shortly be invalidated by Valve, who will also at their discretion be completely banning accounts who took advantage of the abuse. This is called "karma".
Slightly Less Abuse!
I'm not sure just how clear that tweet was about the offer but to me it looks very much like "1 item max" means that I only wanted to give away one game each on my birthday. I'm terribly sorry to all 3,137 people who decided to take all of our games during the offer, because I've had to disable them all, and again, Valve will be taking your keys off of you, and no, I'm not giving them back because there are thousands of you and you had your chance and blew it.
What We Are Left With
So out of that 22,500 "sales", we've actually ended up with just 11,200 legitimate people who took us up on the offer – happy birthday me! And a thousand thank yous to all those who took the offer in the spirit in which it was intended – you really are our fans and you make it all worthwhile for us. Keep an eye out for the completely updated, revamped and changed Ultratron 3.0 coming in the next couple of months, and of course, Droid Assault will be making an appearance on Steam as well soon.
Some Of Your Problems Answered
Where do I get the Steam key from for my game?
I got a duplicate key! Can you fix this?
Just try again, it's fixed now.
I never received the email you said you sent me!
Try again, it's fixed now. And check your SPAM folder!
It says you've run out of Steam keys!
We've got some more now, just try again.
My game has reverted back to a demo version!
That's too bad – I did only want to give one game away each and I haven't time to deal with everyone who somehow "misunderstood"
Sprog Number 2
So, my big news is the birth of daughter number 2, Saffron Natalie Asia Prince (continuing the tradition of strange and unusual names in our family). Born at 815am on Saturday morning and weighing a colossal 10lbs 4oz after an extremely gruelling 26 hours of what looked like a pretty nasty labour! But all's well that ends well and baby and mum are hale, hearty and healthy, and we were all home in time for mid-afternoon tea.
Another mouth to feed! Bugger. As I have alluded to my geeky friends though, I shall know my life's work is done when my daughters one day ask me, "Daddy, how come the Dude is also in Tron?"
This is all, of course, not spectacularly interesting to Puppygames blog readers
What might be more interesting are the following items on the agenda:
Revenge of the Titans 1.80.7
I've uploaded another patch, early. We need to get it as trouble-free as possible for our release on Steam next week, so I've just stuck to trying to fix the last few important niggles. To this end it's there right now to download, so you can test out the couple of fixes I've done. Here's the changelog:
Bugs Fixed
- Fixed: super slow gidrahs
- Reduced Saturn boss armour to 4, so now damageable by more weapons; increased hitpoints by 40%
- Added a Thread.yield() in the tick() loop to see if we can reduce sound stuttering
- Added a commandline switch sleep=true to force sleeping instead of yielding for machines with persistent sound stuttering troubles
- Game now recovers gracefully from a failed Restore, no more ghostly sprites left on the game screen!
Musings on Pricing
You might have noticed that the price of Revenge of the Titans has shot up to an apparently ball-bustingly massive $27.72 – egads! That's like, nearly as much as a takeaway curry, which will give you, like, days and days of enjoyment! (If you leave it out all night and reheat it and eat it, anyway).
This has caused much nerdrage amongst the Glorious Entitled Of The Internet, who believe that everything should be free or nearly free (and if not free, then DRM free and available from the Pirate Bay). How dare Puppygames suddenly charge full price for their shitty 8-bit retro Flash same-as-all-the-others Tower Defense game? Why would I, Angry Righteous Gamer, pay my week's pocket money out for this piece of utter shit?
Of course, gamers know everything there is to know about economics and pricing models, because they all make and sell games for a living, and do so more successfully than Puppygames do. We are of course famously broke and never made much of a bean with our games, but it was never anything to do with the price of them. We've sold games from everything between $4 and $28, and if you want to know the actual truth of it, it makes no difference to our bottom line whatever price we charge. My esteemed peer Cliff Harris aka Cliffski has rather a lot of knowledge of economics and has a few things to say on the subject which you might find interesting, and which I won't bother repeating here (hurrah for hyperlinks!).
So I'm going to let you in on a few secrets and explanations as to the method behind my madness, mostly because if you're reading this you're a) very likely to already be a fan of our games and supporting us already and b) it really won't make any difference if world+dog knows our secret world dominiation plans.
Firstly: we have always said the game would be $27.72 when it was finished, and we lured your wallets open with a 50% off pre-order beta offer which we rounded down to the considerably more l33t number $13.37. Obviously our UK and European customers got some crazy price in our funny national / continental currency that was around halfish too, except we all have to pay VAT. Bah.
Secondly: if we failed to officially increase the price of the game, that would have made us bullshitters about our pre-order offer. Technically.
Thirdly, there's a 50% off coupon in the game, which is the first thing you see (if you don't know yet it's ROTTROCKS – put this in the BMT order form). So in reality it's still 50% off, just like it always was, give or take a few cents. This is a special offer; we can change that whenever we want. We can offer 25% off, or 75% off, or 90% off. What this does is firstly make the game as cheap as it always was, and secondly make it look like a right bargain compared to its RRP of $27. It also means we can do legitimate sales with apparently astounding savings one day in the future but still make enough money to make it worth doing. At 90% off we still make a profit of about $1 on a registration of the game and 90% off sounds bloody appealing.
Fourthly, we needed to ensure there was pricing parity with the Steam version, which will be released next week at $14.95. The special offer 50% coupon means we're effectively charging the same price as Steam is for the game. Well, a little bit less, but then Steam comes with the real advantages which you'll all know if you love Steam. I love Steam. Don't be ashamed.
So you see, having a high RRP on our site might be newsworthy fail for a few angry Reddit nerds, but the reality is, the game is still obtainable for the same price everywhere, and we can tweak the offer on a whimsy and make it newsworthy when we do so at the same time as making it look like a bargain.
And that's the method to our madness. We have no idea if we're right, but you're sure as shit not going to tell us we're wrong. We've got the numbers to do that for us.
Show! Contractions! Hospital!
…1.80.6 will be slightly delayed
Crash fixed!
Just a quick update to say I've patched Revenge of the Titans to v1.80.4, mainly to fix that crash bug you all noticed – I will get around to the huge pile of email the last couple of releases are generated tomorrow, honest – and tweak the balance slightly. This week I'm mostly going to be working on recording all your lovely Survival mode hiscores, Steam achievement integration, and possibly putting Sandbox mode in if there's time.
Someone clever has noticed that it's a total waste of time actually planting more than a single refinery before level 5 (just to actually start the aliens coming). In fact it's probably not even worth bothering to research them until level 5 though the game does sort of hint at it being important. Hm. But then you can get a bit of a headstart with the efficiency research. Decisions, decisions! You know, I have no idea myself what the best path through this game actually is. Survival mode hiscores will reveal all.
Bugs Fixed
- Fixed: crash researching lasers and disruptors
- Fixed: powerup counters appearing when collecting a powerup when the HUD is flipped down
- Collectors now $500
- Cooling towers now $500
- Difficulty now slighty biased in favour of cash in the bank (ie. the more you hoard instead of use, the harder it gets)
- Halved streaming audio buffer size as it doesn't seem to have had any effect
A Patch Draws Near
Yes, hot on the heels of v1.80.1 we already have Revenge of the Titans v1.80.2, which is really just a little bit of a tweak to address a couple of really annoying things that slipped past my bleary code-worn eyes. Well worth the download. Not least because if you don't it'll nag you to download forever.
Bugs Fixed
- Fixed: shipped 32bit MSVCR90.dll this time – whoops
- Fixed: powerups counters would show zeros when HUD hidden and shown
- Fixed: mines / barricades counters would shown 10 when should have shown 0 when HUD hidden and shown
- Made game easier overall – too many people getting stuck!
- Survival a little bit harder
New Features and Enhancements
- Batteries no longer slow down reloading rate
- Gidrahs recalculate their paths a little less enthusiastically
- Slight adjustment to spawn delays in Survival
With any luck, I've finally got to the bottom of the sound not working on a few of those Windows machines out there. Turns out I accidentally shipped a 64-bit dll in the last patch instead of the magic 32-bit one that would have fixed everything. Hm. I could in fact make a completely separate 64-bit version for Windows I suppose. Maybe that'll confuse the great unwashed.
I Can Haz Done A Playthrough
Behold, a playthrough of levels 1-10 (15 minutes long). As you can see, I got my arse handed back to me on a plate, and not very gently either, on level 10, because I got a bit too cocky. But at least it shows the fighting spirit so lacking in today's impetuous and lazy youth with their short attention spans and lack of investment in their own entertainment eh? Get off my lawn, Earth Boss!
I shall be uploading my Moon playthrough in a bit, which took me a fair amount longer to do, though I managed it all in one go without getting kicked in by the Titans
Full Steam Ahead!
I've only got a few things on my to-do list now for Revenge of the Titans, like a little graphical glitch when barricades get attacked and online hiscores integration… which is good, because it means I'm now working on the Steam client integration, which will see the unique medals in the game used as Steam achievements, and I'll be storing the hiscores in Survival mode hopefully on Steam too. Not sure yet if the Steam cloud integration is going to work out properly for us or not yet – possibly in a patch.
Slight delay!
It turns out that we're not quite ready to release the next installment of Revenge of the Titans today! As this is quite an important release we're making sure it's properly sorted, so it's staying in the oven to cook for a little longer. Maybe Sunday, maybe Monday…
Also, I've figured out how to make Debian Linux packages (both 32 and 64 bit)! They install with a simple double-click. I'll test it out with RotT first and if it seems to work OK then I'll release all the other games that way as well. RPM format is next on my to-do list. And if I'm feeling particularly nifty I might be able to do separate 64-bit Windows installers too. The Webstart option will remain (and work for everyone, everywhere – something Java got almost right!)
Stay tuned…
Survival Mode!
At last, after a couple of delays involving house moves, panicking TV stations, and the unexpectedly early completion of a new game mode, we are proud to announce Revenge of the Titans v1.61! Without further ado, here are direct download links for our blog followers (the proles get the simplecdn cached stuff with varying degrees of success).
Here's what's in the latest version:
Bugs Fixed
- Fixed: Garbage collector crash – don't use G1 on Java 6!
- Fixed: selling buildings just before level end to get double money!
- Fixed: shield generators keep getting more expensive every level
- Fixed: Missing research link in tree: heavy blaster -> blast cannon
- Fixed: Superfluous link between heavy blaster -> assault cannon
- Fixed: Slot selection screen only showed Basingstoke – Earth – $0
- Fixed: when a building is shielded, after the Invuln powerup finishes the shield sprites are gone
- Fixed: removing droid factories, shield generators and silos didn't reset their price
New Features and Enhancements
- Survival mode!
- New map generator code: better wiggly tunnels from spawnpoints to map
- Stop gids from spawning when freeze mode on
- New hint: don't overspend on research
- New hint: boss level -> save your cash!
- Removed the turret aiming lag – didn't like it
- Increase initial gidrah delay based on level size
- Increase range of disruptor slightly to 110px from 96px
- Decreased damage of disruptor from 25 to 16
- Nerfed multiblaster from 4 to 3 points damage
- Nerfed spreader cannon from 4 to 3 points damage
- Nerfed assault cannon from 8 to 7 points damage
- Powerup drops last a bit longer before vanishing
- Even more crystals
- Mars gidrahs nerfed somewhat
- Droid factory: now each droid factory can produce at most 8 droids
- Droid factory: production rate slowed down by 50%
- Droid factory: …but factories now only cost $1000+$1000 per factory
- Queue gidrah route recalculations on building so they don't all happen at once
- Increased memory allocation for the VM to 256mb
- Reduced max GC pause to 3ms (Windows only)
Survival Mode
Lucky registered users have a new mode to play. It is unlocked after completing the Earth missions. When you select a survival mode game, you get to choose the world (from the set of worlds you've seen so far with that profile), and just for fun, you can choose the rockiness of the terrain. The buildings you have available to you are the buildings you have researched so far in campaign mode.
You are expected to lose. Probably quite fast. The aliens will rapidly become overwhelmingly deadly. The idea is to get a base together as fast as you can and defend it as long as you can. Notice that you don't earn money for killing gidrahs! The only way to get cash is mining crystals, which spawn every now and again, or pickups.
Your best time for a particular world/terrain combination are also recorded. Let's hear some hiscores!
All Good Things Must Come To An End…
…or become a bit more expensive, anyway! But only as expensive as to be able to afford a helping of mushy peas with one's pie and ale. The Ultrabundle is now just a tiny weeny bit more than it was, assuming you think that $2 is tiny weeny like us. It's still ultracheap if you've not picked it up already, and it will get more expensive again while we experiment with prices in the not very distant future. So don't delay! Hand over your filthy cash today!
Don't forget the bundle lets you install all 3 of our minigames an any combination of operating systems, as often as you need to!
Endless Mode!
I've just uploaded Revenge of the Titans v1.6 here:
The following tweakery has been performed for your delectation and continued amusement:
Bugs Fixed
- Again at certain resolutions the map scrolls past the edges
- Gold medal awarded even though level made easier
- Mysteriously reverting to earlier planet when resuming
- info panel remains open when HUD hidden
- Having your progress reset once you get past Earth
New Features and Enhancements
- Add a "sell stuff" hint or two
- Endless mode!
- Movement animation of stop-start gidrahs looks better
- Stop-start gidrahs move in a slightly different way
- Crystal reduction as player gets richer slightly less severe
- More crystals!
- Blast cannon damage buffed to from 12 to 16
- Much better frame rate limiting code
- New animation commands to avoid XML duplication
As per usual, download and install over the top of your old version. Also as per usual, all your progress and saved games are invalid – bah! – that's the perils of beta software. So I advise you start a new profile from scratch and test Endless Mode for me
Eurogamer Expo 2010
Well, I went to Eurogamer Expo 2010 this year on the Friday, thanks to Dave Hayward at the recently-merged Mudlark. Dave arranged it for us to showcase Revenge of the Titans at the Indiecade booth round the back of the show, along with a few other indies. Extra super thanks to Dave for being brilliant! Unfortunately I didn't take a worthy camera with me so there aren't any exciting pictures of me doing exciting things, which is just as well, as I'm not too photogenic.
Continue reading
Revenge v1.51 released – you asked for it!
We've been listening to your feedback on the Revenge of the Titans beta over the last few months, and with this new update (v1.51) we've attempted to address some of the most requested changes. And of course there's a load of other tweaks, not least finally the ability to sell buildings! Here are the download links…
Don't forget to check the version number to make sure you've really gotten 1.51 installed. Here's what's new, changed, fixed, twiddled, and nerfed:
Bugs Fixed
- Fixed: stuttering sound (hopefully!)
- Fixed: HUD money updates when intermission screen is showing
- Fixed: Reloading a turret in build mode should stop build mode
- Fixed: Can't reload a turret or collect a factory when in Build mode
- Fixed: creating path for gidrahs overwrites odd ruin tiles – needs to either leave them or delete all tiles associated with the ruin
- Fixed: dialog text not centred on game over
- Fixed: Apostrophe key ' now correctly selects autoloader for build
- Fixed: Load/Save. Again. All files now stored in user home directory.
- Fixed: Gidlets now only immune to explosions when spawning
- Fixed: Ruins used to block blaster fire in their bottom left corner: this is now specified per ruin for the whole ruin or in a mapping attribute
New Features and Enhancements
- Medals
- Ranks
- New intermission screen
- New ESC menu
- Wired up ESC button on HUD
- Completely new in-game UI
- New Game Over UI
- Added the in-game menu to the research/story screens so you can quit out at that point.
- Change the way shield generators work
- Wire up new options (to hide various GUI stuff)
- Rockets now explode when they hit the edge of the map
- New research GUI with all the stats and two different views
- Sell mode
- DEL key wired to Sell mode and middle mouse button
- You get 10 seconds to sell a building after construction in which you'll get 100% of the money back (like an undo)
- Laser to be able to fire into mountains (turret needs to be able to see too)
- Appropriate story tweaks when flying gidrahs appear re: lasers
- Removed [X] button from hints panel – click anywhere to close it now
- Hints now remain onscreen for 7 seconds max
- Top HUD fades out as mouse approaches
- Bottom HUD now hideable with toggle button (INS key)
Balance Changes
- Gidrahs now get a little more urgent and fearless when the timer runs out
- Nerfed damage bonus for alien anatomy to just +1
- Increased research cost of a few things
- Nerfed laser/rocket ranges a little
- Saturn gidrahs now a teeny bit harder
- Slightly increased saucer duration on earlier levels, decreased on later levels
- Reduce crystals available slightly now Sell button implemented
- Tweak tuning: game needs to be tiny bit harder tiny bit sooner
Internal Stuff
- Completely change the way game metastate is persisted
- Store exact representation of level instead of relying on dubious random number seed
- Gidrah now uses 1/32th the RAM courtesy of using packed bits in ints in its tiny brain
- Awarded a non-repeatable medal sfx
- Awarded a repeatable medal sfx
- New rank sfx
- Sold sfx
- Can't build sfx
- Insufficient funds sfx
And onto a few pics…
We've had a fair few requests to be able to see the statistics of researched buildings, and to see in some form the research connections between technologies and buildings. Here's the new Research screen showing those stats, and the improved table and the new tree layouts…
(You can read more about the changes in Research GUI for the Tweak)
Adding the requested 'Sell' button required a HUD redesign, so we made some oft suggested alterations as well…
( more info here: Revenge of the HUD Redesign and Revenge of the HUD part 2 )
The old in-game ESC key menu has been given a restyling, and is now accessible from a HUD button. You can access this menu from the various Story and Research screens by pressing ESC too. Options on the Game Over screen have also been updated…
And last but not least, the Achievements dialog showing Rank and Medals…
There's also a new Level Complete dialog – though that looks a bit pants at the mo, so wont bother with a screenshot That'll probably get a bit of a tidy up in the final polish stage of development.
Next up on the todo list – Cas will be adding Endless and Survival game modes, and I'll add badge graphics for ranks before making a start on the Titan levels. The jury's out as to whether to tackle Endless or Survival first, but right now we're hedging our bets with Endless mode, which is like the current campaign mode, but without a story, or… an end. Just level after level of slowly increasing size and difficulty, drawn randomly from the scenery we've done so far, until you are defeated (and there's only one life). We expect Endless games to take hours to play, by which time you will probably be a gibbering nervous wreck.
Research GUI for the Tweak
Next up for GUI tweaking is the research screen, which currently looks like this…
There's 2 major changes to make that people have requested:
- to be able to view more complete info and stats of already researched items
- some way to tell what research item leads to what, rather than effectively having to guess
The following images are first thoughts, and quick mockups – I know they don't make a lot of sense as to what's being hovered on, refineries don't lead on to robotics etc. … Continue reading


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I got this recipe from the betty crocker slow cooker cook book. It's one of those ones you get at the gerocery isle. We eat this wehenever the weather starts to turn. It can't get any eaiser than this.
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tomatoes with garlic
Make this season merry, bright and manageable with our easy ideas.


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Healing Diets Online Course explores nutrition, cleansing and regenerative diets, and food production effects on planetary ecology. Nutrient density food for specific life phases and ailments, practice development and skills, the politics of the food industry, and much more. Read below to understand the multi-dimensional education this Online Course offers. Begin your practice with offering small classes in your circle of friends and community, and watch your practice grow! Graduates work in spas, clinics, schools and create their own businesses. Healing Diets is the path to success in the healing arts!
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- Raw Foods
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trust no one!
Teh Andeh on Sept. 21, 2014
Eva def has an evil streak in her. lol!
So you get a weekend comic enjoy it you internet vagrants<333
ghostrunner at 1:40AM, Sept. 24, 2014
Kou the Mad at 3:40PM, Sept. 23, 2014
i'm reminded of one of the ONLY funny Family Guy Sketches. It Involved 2 Women being Passive Agressive to each other.....then scrolls to 2 guys, one compliments the other and the other thanks him. "Men, We know how to be friends."
man in black at 4:38PM, Sept. 21, 2014
Great page
Teh Andeh at 10:03AM, Sept. 21, 2014
roflmao xD
Spikes at 6:44AM, Sept. 21, 2014
She has a heart. She keeps it in a jar on her nightstand. :D