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The Death of Hamnet and the Making of Hamlet
Shakespeare was in the business, all of his life, of probing the passions of his characters and arousing the passions of his audiences. His skill in doing so is almost universally acknowledged to have been unrivaled, but the inner sources of this skill remain largely unknown. Scholarship has tirelessly reconstructed at least something of his wide-ranging, eclectic reading, but his own passionate life—his access through personal experience and observation to the intense emotions he represents—is almost completely mysterious. None of his letters, working notes, diaries, or manuscripts (with the possible exception of "Hand D" in Sir Thomas More) survives. His sonnets have been ransacked for autobiographical evidence, but, though written in the first person, they are baffling, elusive, and probably deliberately opaque.
Over centuries of feverish speculation, the most compelling reflections on the presence of Shakespeare's emotional life in his plays—preeminently, James Joyce's brilliant pages in Ulysses, but there are many others—have focused on Hamlet. This biographical attention to a work deriving from recycled materials and written for the public stage would seem inherently implausible, were it not for the overwhelming impression on readers and spectators alike that the play must have emerged in an unusually direct way from the playwright's inner life, indeed that at moments the playwright was barely in control of his materials. I will attempt in what follows to trace Hamlet back to a personal experience of grief and to sketch a long-term aesthetic strategy that seems to have emerged from this experience.
Sometime in the spring or summer of 1596 Shakespeare must have received word that his only son Hamnet, eleven years old, was ill. Whether in London or on tour with his company he would at best have only been able to receive news intermittently from his family in Stratford, but at some point in the summer he presumably learned that Hamnet's condition had worsened and that it was necessary to drop everything and hurry home. By the time the father reached Stratford the boy—whom, apart from brief visits, Shakespeare had in effect abandoned in his infancy—may already have died. On August 11, 1596, Hamnet was buried at Holy Trinity Church: the clerk duly noted in the burial register, "Hamnet filius William Shakspere."
Unlike Ben Jonson and others who wrote grief-stricken poems about the loss of beloved children, Shakespeare published no elegies and left no direct record of his paternal feelings. It is sometimes said that parents in Shakespeare's time could not afford to invest too much love and hope in any one child. One out of three children died by the age of ten, and overall mortality rates were by our standards exceedingly high. Death was a familiar spectacle; it took place at home, not out of sight. When Shakespeare was fourteen, his seven-year-old sister Anne died, and there must have been many other occasions for him to witness the death of children.
In the four years following Hamnet's death, the playwright, as many have pointed out, wrote some of his sunniest comedies: The Merry Wives of Windsor, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It. This fact is, for some, decisive evidence that the father's grief must at most have been brief. But the plays of these years were by no means uniformly cheerful, and at moments they seem to reflect an experience of deep personal loss. In King John, probably written in 1596 just after the boy was laid to rest, Shakespeare depicted a mother so frantic at the loss of her son that she is driven to thoughts of suicide. Observing her, a clerical bystander remarks that she is mad, but she insists that she is perfectly sane: "I am not mad; I would to God I were!" Reason, she says, and not madness, has put the thoughts of suicide in her head, for it is her reason that tenaciously keeps hold of the image of her child. When she is accused of perversely insisting on her grief, she replies with an eloquent simplicity that breaks free from the tangled plot:
Grief fills the room up of my absent child,
Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me,
Puts on his pretty looks, repeats his words,
Remembers me of all his gracious parts,
Stuffs out his vacant garments with his form.
If there is no secure link between these lines and the death of Ham-net, there is, at the very least, no reason to think that Shakespeare simply buried his son and moved on unscathed. He might have brooded inwardly and obsessively, even as he was making audiences laugh at Falstaff in love or at the wit contests of Beatrice and Benedick.1 Nor is it implausible that it took years for the trauma of his son's death fully to erupt in Shakespeare's work or that it was triggered by an accidental conjunction of names. For Hamnet and Hamlet are in fact the same name, entirely interchangeable in Stratford records in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Shakespeare evidently named his son after his recusant neighbor and friend Hamnet Sadler, who was still alive in March 1616 when Shakespeare drew up his will and left 26 shillings, 8 pence to "Hamlett Sadler…to buy him a ringe."
Writing a play about Hamlet, in or around 1600, may not have been Shakespeare's own idea. At least one play, now lost, about the Danish prince who avenges his father's murder had already been performed on the English stage, successfully enough to be casually alluded to by contemporary writers, as if everyone had seen it or at least knew about it. Someone in the Lord Chamberlain's Men, with an eye on revenues, may simply have suggested to Shakespeare that the time might be ripe for a new, improved version of the Hamlet story. For that matter, with his high stakes in the company's profits, Shakespeare was sin- gularly alert to whatever attracted London crowds, and he had by now long experience of dusting off old plays and making them startlingly new. The likely author of the early play, Thomas Kyd, was no obstacle: he had died back in 1594, at the age of thirty-six, possibly broken by the torture inflicted upon him when he was interrogated about the charges of blasphemy and atheism brought against his roommate, Christopher Marlowe. In any case, neither Shakespeare nor his contemporaries were squeamish about stealing from each other.
Shakespeare had certainly seen the earlier Hamlet play, probably on multiple occasions. When he set to work on his new tragedy, he likely had it by heart—or as much of it as he chose to remember. It is impossible to determine, in this case, whether he sat down with books open before him—as he clearly did, for example, in writing Antony and Cleopatra—or relied on his memory, but he had also certainly read one and probably more than one version of the old Danish tale of murder and revenge. At the very least, to judge from the play he wrote, he carefully read the story as narrated in French by François de Belleforest, whose collection of tragic tales was a publishing phenomenon in the late sixteenth century. Belleforest had taken the Hamlet story from a chronicle of Denmark compiled in Latin in the late twelfth century by a Dane known as Saxo the Grammarian. And Saxo in turn was recycling written and oral legends that reached back for centuries before him. Here then, as so often throughout his career, Shakespeare was working with known materials—a well-established story, a familiar cast of characters, a set of predictable excitements.
If Shakespeare had died in 1600 it would have been difficult to think that anything was missing from his achievement and still more difficult to think that anything yet unrealized was brewing in his work. But Hamlet makes it clear that Shakespeare had been quietly, steadily developing a special technical skill. This development may have been entirely deliberate, the consequence of a clear, ongoing professional design, or it may have been more haphazard and opportunistic. The achievement was, in any case, gradual: not a sudden, once-and-for-all discovery or a grandiose invention, but the subtle refinement of a particular set of representational techniques. By the turn of the century Shakespeare was poised to make an epochal breakthrough. He had perfected the means to represent inwardness.
The task of conveying an inner life is an immensely challenging one in drama, since what the audience sees and hears is always in some sense or other public utterance—the words that the characters say to one another or, in occasional asides and soliloquies, directly to the onlookers. Playwrights can pretend, of course, that the audience is overhearing a kind of internal monologue, but it is difficult to keep such monologues from sounding "stagey." Richard III, written in 1591 or 1592, is hugely energetic and powerful, with a marvelous, unforgettable main character, but when that character, alone at night, reveals what is going on inside him, he sounds oddly wooden and artificial:
It is now dead midnight.
Cold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh.
What do I fear? Myself? There's none else by.
Richard loves Richard; that is, I am I.
Is there a murderer here? No. Yes. I am.
Then fly! What, from myself? Great reason. Why?
Lest I revenge? Myself upon myself?
Alack, I love myself. Wherefore? For any good
That I myself have done unto myself?
O no, alas, I rather hate myself
For hateful deeds committed by myself.
I am a villain. Yet I lie: I am not.
Shakespeare is dramatizing his chronicle source, which states that Richard could not sleep on the eve of his death, because he felt unwonted pricks of conscience. But though it has a staccato vigor, the soliloquy, as a way of sketching inner conflict, is schematic and mechanical, as if within the character on stage there was simply another tiny stage on which puppets were performing a Punch-and-Judy show.
In Richard II, written some three years later, there is a comparable moment that marks Shakespeare's burgeoning skills. Deposed and imprisoned by his cousin Bolingbroke, the ruined king, shortly before his murder, looks within himself:
I have been studying how I may compare
This prison where I live unto the world;
And for because the world is populous,
And here is not a creature but myself,
I cannot do it. Yet I'll hammer it out.
My brain I'll prove the female to my soul,
My soul the father, and these two beget
A generation of still-breeding thoughts.
Much of the difference between the two passages has to do with the very different characters: the one a murderous tyrant full of manic energy, the other a spoiled, narcissistic, self-destructive poet. But the turn from one character to the other is itself significant: it signals Shakespeare's growing interest in the hidden processes of interiority. Locked in a windowless room, Richard II watches himself think, struggling to forge a metaphoric link between his prison and the world, reaching a dead end, and then forcing his imagination to renew the effort: "Yet I'll hammer it out." The world, crowded with people, is not, as he himself recognizes, remotely comparable to the solitude of his prison cell, but Richard wills himself to generate—out of what he pictures as the intercourse of his brain and soul—an imaginary populace. What he hammers out is a kind of inner theater, akin to that already found in Richard III's soliloquy, but with a vastly increased complexity, subtlety, and above all self-consciousness. Now the character himself is fully aware that he has constructed such a theater, and he teases out the bleak implications of the imaginary world he has struggled to create:
In "Death in the Family: The Loss of a Son and the Rise of Shakespearean Comedy," Shakespeare Quarterly, Vol. 51 (2000), pp. 127–153, Richard P. Wheeler argues that the death of Hamnet left significant traces in the great comedies, particularly in Twelfth Night. ↩
In "Death in the Family: The Loss of a Son and the Rise of Shakespearean Comedy," Shakespeare Quarterly, Vol. 51 (2000), pp. 127–153, Richard P. Wheeler argues that the death of Hamnet left significant traces in the great comedies, particularly in Twelfth Night. ↩


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Have you ever wished you had the power to design anything your heart desired and have it magically created out of thin air? Now you can.
Learn how to design and 3D-print your own ring (or any kind of jewelry) using a software of your choice: Tinkercad, SketchUp, Sculptris, or Rhino and Grasshopper. I will introduce the basics and work with you side by side to design your own jewelry.
All software will be introduced, with a focus on whatever software suits you best. Beginners welcome.
Mac and Windows users welcome.
We'll make our 3D-printed jewelry using a material of your choice: stainless steel, sterling silver, glazed ceramic or a strong and flexible plastic available in four awesome colors.
Explore how digital design can reveal new ideas and provide fresh inspiration for all your future projects. You'll play with computers, learn pro skills, and—best of all—you'll walk away with the knowledge to design your own jewelry.
*Want to design rings AND earrings? Simply enroll in my two(2) day Ring and Earring combo course - you'll save 10%!
Supply List:
Pre-Workshop Instructions:
Software Download & Links:
Grind (grindspaces.com)
419 Park Avenue South, 2nd Floor
New York, NY
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm EDTAdd to Cal
School of Shapeways

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Top 4 Beautiful Walks Around Cefalu
If you'll soon be jetting off to one of our Italian country cottages in ...
At Oliver's Travels we've been totally in love with France from the very beginning – in fact, it's the reason we're here at all. If you're as mad about food and wine as we are, you'll agree there are few destinations that bring out such joie de vivre. And that's before you've even clapped eyes on the landscape! The Alps, the Med... France has got it all.
Better still, France has some magnificent luxury villas to rent. From a lavish Louis 14th chateau in the heart of the Dordogne to immaculate cliff-top villas in the Riviera, you really can be Lord and Lady of the Manor for a week here and still have enough change in your pocket to bring home a few bottles of red.
Every property on our website has been hand-picked for its individuality. We don't do ordinary – we excel at the exceptional. Our goal is to help you plan the sort of holiday that stays etched on your mind for years to come – and that starts by finding you the perfect property.
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23 Dec (TUE) Zentral Soft Opening Ceremony
Saturday, 20 December 2014 13:53
Event Details
Date: Tuesday, 23 Dec 2014
Time: 9:00 pm till late
Venue: Zentral, 4-5/F, California Tower, 32 D'Aguilar Street, Central, H.K.
Christmas at Bungalow
Tuesday, 16 December 2014 14:49
What a bright time, it's the right time...
CHRISTMAS at Bungalow!
We will be open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so come spend the holidays with us!
Wednesday, December 24th & Thursday, December 25th
Future Music Festival 2015 - A Festival You Can't Miss!
Monday, 15 December 2014 16:13
Whether you're an avid festival-goer or just love having a good time, you should be no stranger to Future Music Festival happening every year in Australia. For 2015, they are making a splash with the biggest line-up yet, including Avicii, Drake, The Prodigy, Afrojack, NERO and many more. Interested? Here are all the details you need to know.
D-Wayne Interview
Monday, 15 December 2014 11:54
Tell us a little bit about how you got started DJing. Who was your biggest inspiration?
When I was in primary school I was already always really interested in all sorts of music, and back in secondary school I threw a party for my classmates and I booked a local drive-in DJ - that was the moment I decided to become a DJ myself. Besides, my parents always played a lot of electronic (dance) music at home so that really influenced my choice of music too.
Monday, 15 December 2014 11:09
Fun has always been an important part in W Hong Kong. And this design-oriented hotel brings fun to a whole new level this New Year's Eve. Lovers of music and fashion can now countdown to 2015 in celebrity fashion at WOOBAR's SHINE ON Count-down party or privatize their own party moments at its Extreme WOW Suite with SHINE ON party package.
Unplug 2014 and welcome the new year with bigger and LOUDER beats from the best of W Hong Kong's DJ team - DJ Ros, Anthony2, DJ Tsoi and W Music Curator Flora YTW.
Zuma Presents Hed Kandi Winter Ball with DJ Eibhlin Flynn and Hed Kandi Saxophonist Matt Hines
Tuesday, 09 December 2014 20:18
This Christmas, zuma is bringing high-quality house music to Hong Kong with international mega brand Hed Kandi's DJ Eibhlín Flynn and saxophonist Matt Hines on Saturday 20th December 2014.
DJ Eibhlín Flynn's alluring beats combined with Matt Hines's jazzy tunes on the saxophone are something you won't want to miss, so suit up and put on your most glamorous white dress or smart tuxedo for an unforgettable and extraordinary Winter Ball at zuma.
Releasing compilations and singles ever since 1999; Hed Kandi has not only earned its name in being a respected music brand, but more so a globally recognized versatile name for glamorous international sound and broad appeals.
What's a winter ball without masquerade masks? Put your mask on and step inside the extravagant festive ball where you can immerse yourself into the celebratory music and let the glitters lead your way. We may not be dreaming of a white Christmas here in Hong Kong, but a magical night of great music and great fun will certainly make it the most festive event of the year.
Desperados Warehouse Launch Party at Osage Gallery
Thursday, 04 December 2014 12:20
Desperados, a new Tequila flavoured beer has officially made its landing in Hong Kong! And to celebrate, there was a huge warehouse party last week at Osage Gallery, with a lot of neon paint, containers, broken cages, oil drums and DJ Lucas Luraka setting the dance floor on fire. Crowds were going crazy over the dancers who put up quite a performance, and there were plenty of Desperados going around in buckets of flashing bottles. In fact, we've never seen a party quite like this! If you missed it, check out some awesome photos from that night to get a taste of what this party beer can bring.
Register now for a free H30 trial class!
Articles - Lifestyle and Culture
Monday, 01 December 2014 15:15
California Fitness has launched an ultimate program that burns fat faster, and keeps it burning longer, with its new H30 Series. 30 minutes of High Intense Interval Training (HIIT) that works you out and keeps you coming back for more, with different fitness elements in each of the three programs. Spend less time and get more results with the new H30 Series!
H30 Series has 3 programs of: PH30 Purmotion™, featuring Purmotion™ that combines weight-lifting and Eastern martial arts; BH30 Kickboxing, featuring Kickboxing, a classic intense cardio that fits perfectly with HIIT; and DH30 Dynamax Ball, featuring Dynamax medicine ball, which effectively improves coordination of motion and of the mind.
CLICK HERE to Register now for a free H30 trial class!
New World Sound Interview
Monday, 24 November 2014 15:52
Tell us a little bit about how you got started DJing.
Who was your biggest inspiration? We started DJing about 6 years ago, just playing friends house parties and got into the early progressive sound with Woz not Woz and early Axwell. Inspiration wise we'd say Hardwell, the Swedes and also producers from other genres like Dr. Dre and Timbaland. We try not to get pigeon holed. We start fresh with each track and make sure we do something unique..0
Will this be your first time in Macao?
Yeah this is our first time in Macao, we've got a bit of spare time there for a change as well, so we're keen to have a look around. We're always up for anything so we'll see!
6th Annual Chocolate Party
Wednesday, 19 November 2014 15:47
Chocolate Party is Hong Kong based annual party concept that started 6 years ago. It combines two of the strongest and pleasant feelings known to us – the feeling of delicious chocolates and action packed parties. The event made headline right from the start with all 5 previous episodes recording over 1500 attendees.
The event will features Chocolate Fountain, Chocolate Popcorn, Cotton Candy, Chocolate Hot-Pot and characters from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory alongside various other chocolate goodies. The energy will be electric with grand productions and finest local talents. Mark your calendar for this extraordinary day at W Hotel Great Room.
AIDS Concern World AIDS Day 2014 Campaign "Be Care Full, Fight Stigma"
Articles - Lifestyle and Culture
Thursday, 13 November 2014 14:57
For this year's World AIDS Day (1 Dec), AIDS Concern will run a "Be Care Full, Fight Stigma" Campaign, sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank. 'People are aware that HIV will not be transmitted by daily contact, but they tend to keep a distance from people living with HIV. That is why AIDS Concern wants to run the "Be Care Full, Fight Stigma" Campaign to provide a platform for people to connect with people living with HIV by enjoying a cup of coffee brewed by them. We want to show people that all it takes is a small gesture to show concern and care to people affected by HIV and AIDS,' says Andrew Chidgey, the Chief Executive of AIDS Concern.
AIDS Concern Coffee Truck (29 Nov – 1 Dec)
This Saturday (29 Nov), AIDS Concern will have a specially designed coffee truck touring around Hong Kong to distribute FREE coffee brewed by people living with HIV and promote anti-stigma messages to the mass public. Identifying with the good cause, Holly Brown Coffee will be the coffee sponsor for this three-day event. You are encouraged to support this meaningful event by taking photos with the"Be Care Full, Fight Stigma" coffee cup and upload to Facebook or Instagram #aidsconcern. For every photo posted, Suzuran Bed (HK) Ltd. will donate HKD1 to AIDS Concern for promoting HIV/AIDS prevention and education in Hong Kong.
All You Can Eat Fries and Salad at Blue Butcher's New Lunch Menu
Tuesday, 04 November 2014 17:55
Lunch for the busy 'Kongers probably involves the usual cha chan tengs or neighborhood cafes, but Blue Butcher has stepped up their lunch game with a brand new menu - namely Butcher & Fries. True to the name, it's all about meat and deep-fried potato goodness plus a healthy side. Best part? It's all-you-can-eat fries! Check out the full deal below the cut.
Drop is quite simply, an institution!
Saturday, 21 June 2014 16:12
The brainchild of actress/producer Colette Koo and internationally renowned DJ Joel Lai, drop has been at the forefront of the Hong Kong club scene since it opened its doors in the year 2000. It has remained a permanent fixture on the top spots of both local and international 'best clubs' lists, including 'worldsbestbars.com'.
Joel Lai is widely regarded as Hong Kong's premier house music pioneer, and his collaboration with Colette Koo, succeeded in providing a first class venue, the ultimate party with the very best of the best.
Drops reputation for quality music, inventive cocktails and outstanding customer service, has guaranteed music lovers and clubbers the best night out that Hong Kong has to offer! Drop is recognized as having an eclectic, fun loving crowd, a warm atmosphere, and people who truly know how to party!
Upcoming Events
- 22.12.2014 | 22.30 Joint U Love Matching Game volume II 2014 Christmas
- 23.12.2014 | 22.00 THE CREW presents *JOINT U CHRISTMAS LASER PARTY*23 DEC♞♞ Feat. ERIC KWOK
- 23.12.2014 | 22.30 ✦ Gozzip ✧ 2 Year Anniversary ✦
- 24.12.2014 Xmas Eve Party at Geronimo Shot Bar
- 24.12.2014 - 25.12.2014 Christmas at Bungalow
- 24.12.2014 | 21.00 Celebrate Christmas Eve at the Whisky Bar
- 24.12.2014 | 22.00 Ozone Black light White Christmas party
- 24.12.2014 | 22.00 Joint University Christmas Party 2014
- 24.12.2014 - 26.12.2014 | 22.00 Magnum Club presents GLISTEN VILLAGE
- 24.12.2014 - 26.12.2014 | 22.00 Beijing Club presents FROZEN UNIQUE
- 24.12.2014 - 26.12.2014 | 23.00 DIZZI presents XMAS MYTH
- 24.12.2014 | 23.30 Club CUBIC presents Christmas Eve with DJ Hello Kitty
- 26.12.2014 | 19.00 Soho Friday
- 26.12.2014 | 20.00 15/16 HIPHOP X BAND Christmas Agenda
- 27.12.2014 | 20.00 Panai Live in Hong Kong "Perhaps Someday"
- 27.12.2014 | 23.30 Club CUBIC presents DJ Cookie
- 28.12.2014 | 20.00 CHUIBALLTONG Live In Hong Kong 2014
- 31.12.2014 Under the Stars NYE countdown party at THE MIRA
- 31.12.2014 RED Bar + Restaurant's New Years' Eve Countdown
- 31.12.2014 NYE at Geronimo Shot Bar
Latest Articles
- 23 Dec (TUE) Zentral Soft Opening Ceremony
- The Magician - Magic Tape 48
- Christmas at Bungalow
- Future Music Festival 2015 - A Festival You Can't Miss!
- D-Wayne Interview
- 17 Dec (WED) Magnum Wednesday is back!
- Asia Adult Expo Macao Official After Party
- Zuma Presents Hed Kandi Winter Ball with DJ Eibhlin Flynn and Hed Kandi Saxophonist Matt Hines
- Club CUBIC presents Kryder
- Desperados Warehouse Launch Party at Osage Gallery
- Marco V - Nashoba
- 11 Dec (THU) Magnum presents Jetfire
- Register now for a free H30 trial class!
- Our Top 10 Tips for Clockenflap - Hong Kong's Music & Arts Festival
- New World Sound Interview
- 28 Nov (FRI) Solo at DIZZI
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Doing English
Taylor & Francis, Jun 23, 2009 - Literary Criticism - 178 pages
'Exactly what students need.'Ā¢ Times Education Supplement
æExcellent [...] Thought-provoking and accessible.'Ā¢ The English and Media Magazine
'Doing English does English proud ... This is essential reading for students intending to study English to degree level ¢ and for all those preparing for the challenges of new AS/A2.ÆĀ¢ Adrian Beard, Gosforth High School, UK
æA valuable, original book. I know of no other that prepares students for higher education in this way.ÆĀ¢ Peter Childs, University of Gloucestershire, UK
Aimed at students of English Literature in their final year of secondary education or beginning degrees, this immensely readable book is the ideal introduction to studying English Literature.
Doing English presents the ideas and debates that shape how we ædoÆ English today, covering arguments about the value of literature, the canon, Shakespeare, theory, politics and the future of the subject.
In his lucid and engaging style, Robert Eaglestone:
Practical and provocative, the third edition of this classic guide is fully updated, including new material on English assessment objectives and a new chapter on creative writing.
What people are saying - Write a review
Review: Doing EnglishUser Review - Daniel Apatiga - Goodreads
Gets you in the spirit of being an English major. It helped me with understanding how English as a major came about. Read full review
Review: Doing EnglishUser Review - Jake - Goodreads
Doing English, although very introductory, does a fantastic job of addressing some of the more fundamental questions that are unique to the peculiar subject of English: Why do we read so much ... Read full review


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This is the professional-grade cordless system that cleans and polishes teeth to achieve that fresh-from-the-dentist feeling at home. The handheld polisher has a gently rotating replaceable tip that buffs away plaque and stains, polishing teeth more thoroughly than a standard toothbrush and creating a smooth, polished surface that resists bacteria. Two removable "prophy" cups hold the same fine-grit mint paste used by dentists and hygienists to abrade any residue, and the polisher's replaceable neck adjusts to four different directions to easily reach all surfaces from the incisors to the molars. An interdental head ensures the space between teeth is not overlooked, and the system has two speed settings to provide a thorough scrubbing without damaging enamel. Ideal for use twice a month between dental appointments. Includes three containers of mint paste, two washable polishing cups, and interdental attachment. Requires two AAA batteries. White. 7" L x 1" W x 3/4" D. (10 oz.)
Lifetime Guarantee
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btw, you won't be able to trade any of those guys (if you just acquired them) until after 60 days.
I am looking for a very good C or PF. I can offer Joel Pryzbilla, Derek Anderson, Desmond Mason, Primoz Brezec, or Jerome Moizo. I can offer two of these players together along with any combination of the 10 picks I have over the next 3 years. I would prefer a scoring, rebounding C or PF. Doesn't have to be a great defender.
Last edited by coltsguy510; 07-16-2012 at 10:29 PM.
btw, you won't be able to trade any of those guys (if you just acquired them) until after 60 days.
People's Basketball Sim League presents...
1995-96 Season
C Kevin Willis | PF Brian Grant | SF Jalen Rose | SG Michael Finley | PG Terrell Brandon
Key Reserves: Dikembe Mutombo | Todd Day
Just reminding, don't want you to go through all that trade negotiations to not be able to go through with it! I've been there before! haha
Prime example why we should get this 60 day stuff done!
2013-1014 is the season the Pelicans fanbase grows!!!!
Gauging interest for a package involving:
Antawn Jamison
Marc Jackson (Double C),16th Pick, or 2002 First rounder
Looking for young, talented PGs, Cs and Picks. Either let me know your interested via PM or send me a trade idea via PM, Already been turned down by one GM, so looking to see who's interested before I just randomly pick my next victim...err business partner lol
Mod over at reddit.com/r/NOLAPelicans
Does it count for trades from before the draft and after the draft deadline?
I'm holding out for another 30-45 min... waiting to hear back from bustahyndes... Want to see if he'll trade Dalembert before I make my selection. Sorry for holding up everything!!
It's all good.
PelicansReport.com Sim League
New Orleans Hornets General Manager
So how bout them summer league hornets... lol
Looking for a Power Forward, Snow, Amaechi, Patterson, and Pollard all open to trades.
my team is all-set, cant wait for training camp
HR Sim League - Washington Wizards
Really looking for a young, very good Center and I'm looking to trade into the teens.
Last edited by coltsguy510; 07-17-2012 at 12:34 AM.
Glenn Robinson anyone?
Avg: 25.7 PPG and 7.9 RPG
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The Most Fashionable Rooms of the Week
Our roundup of the web's most fashionable interiors. This week: Aya Kanai, Erin Fetherston, and more
By Amy Preiser
Erin Fetherston's TriBeCa Home
"I gravitate toward pieces that are unique and feminine," says fashion designer Erin Fetherston in Matchbook Magazine. Fetherston also names her all-time favorite decorating find: Her life-sized wool-covered wool sheep.
Tour the entire home in Matchbook Magazine


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3d Realms • Page 2
Duke Nukem Forever was "75-80% complete" when 3D Realms closed in 2009
Triptych Games' president David Riegel has revealed in a podcast over on the official Duke Nukem Forever site, that the game was 75-80 percent complete when 3D Realms shut its doors back in 2009.10
Duke Nukem Forever subject of new history trailer
A new trailer that serves as the first part of a history for Duke Nukem Forever has been released.3
Prey 2 slated to grace cover of next Joystick magazine
French gaming magazine Joystick has the sequel to Prey on its next cover. Yes, that would be Prey 2.7
Gearbox seeks to credit Duke Nukem Forever staffers, Pitchford dismisses reviews
Gearbox's Randy Pitchford has said Duke Nukem Forever will review well, but in the end, numbers are irrelevant to the Duke. Meanwhile, the developer is seeking to credit past contributors to the long-awaited title.5
Duke Nukem Forever hits Australia unedited
2K Australia has confirmed that the Australian release of Duke Nukem Forever, recently awarded an MA 15+ rating by the Classifications Board, has not been edited in any way.3
Duke Nukem Forever's delay had nothing to do with "a quest for perfection", says Broussard
Original Duke Nukem designer George Broussard has said there really isn't a "dramatic" reason it took so long to get Duke Nukem Forever released.5
Gearbox estimates original Duke Nukem Forever developer lost $20-$30 million on the title
Gearbox has estimated the original developer of Duke Nukem Forever, 3D Realms, may have lost around $20-$30 million on the title.13
Gearbox's Pitchford: DNF demo "an important thing to do"
Gearbox Software head Randy Pitchford has told VG247′s Stephany Nunneley a Duke Nukem Forever demo in an "important" part of marketing the game, and the developer can now start working on a demo release date following DNF's unveiling in Seattle last Friday.5
Megaton rumor: Duke Nukem Forever resuming development at Gearbox?
Duke came here to finish development and chew gum. And he's finally all out of gum.31
Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project to grace XBLA
Microsoft has announced that Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project will be hitting XBLA.4
Duke Nukem: Forever gets leaked footage, screens
Imagine, you could have been playing this by late spring/early summer at the latest if it had gone Gold on Thursday. But you aren't, so watch some new DNF footage instead.20
3D Realms: Duke Nukem Forever could have gone gold yesterday
Just imagine: Halo Bollywood, Halo chess and more could have been completely nuked by Duke Nukem Forever yesterday. If only.13
Leaked Duke Nukem: Forever footage shows wild west
Some leaked gameplay footage of Duke Nukem: Forever's got out.11
3D Realms' Scott Miller: EA should try to buy Take-Two again
After failing to win over Take-Two back in 2008, EA CEO John Ricitiello called the whole courtship a "waste of ink." 3D Realms' Scott Miller, however, thinks he should give it another shot.6
Broussard: Uncharted series "on par" with Half-Life
3D Realms' George Broussard has pinned Naughty Dog's Uncharted series up with the very best after playing the heavily-hyped second game. "Amazing single player experiences," he said, writing on the Shack forums. "Nearly, if not, on par with Half-Life 1/2. I haven't felt this giddy over a game series since Half-Life. "This is epic badassery […]24
Bethesda no-comments Prey acquisition
Bethesda's issued a fat "no comment" on news this morning that its grabbed the Prey IP from Apogee. The 3D Realms shooter now appears to be in the publisher's hands, as you can see from this USPTO filing. Zenimax has also filed a new trademark on the property. New game? By id? Yes please, great […]0
Prey rights shift to Zenimax, new trademark filed
Apogee's Prey now appears to be in the trusty hands of Zenimax, as you can see from this USPTO filing. Native American FPS still has a home, clearly. Zenimax has also filed a new trademark on the property. We'll check now. Thanks, superannuation.5
Duke Begins was being developed by Gearbox
Take-Two Interactive has revealed via new court records that Gearbox Software was the developer for Duke Begins. The game was originally revealed via a court filing by 3D Realms. Duke Begins was apparently part of an agreement between Take-Two and 3D Realms in 2007 with Gearbox handling development. Since all the court hoopla, the title […]1
Duke Nukem Forever screens just keep on coming
3D Realms has released more Duke Nukem Forever screens, this time over in its Facebook page. According to CVG, Take-Two has been trying to get the Xbox 360 version released through another publisher, and rumors going 'round say there's another "non-DNF in the works". Point is, do you even really care anymore? Hit the links […]8
Take-Two Duke Nukem Forever lawsuit includes Xbox 360 ports and off-shore bank accounts
Gather 'round, kids. It's story time. Shacknews recently couldn't avoid stumbling over new documents pertaining to the Take-Two and 3D Realms' Duke Nukem Forever feud because — hoo boy — within those documents lies one tall tale. In essence, Take-Two claims that 3D Realms/Apogee wouldn't agree to develop an Xbox 360 version of the now […]3
3d Realms Latest
Duke Nukem: Forever gets leaked footage, screens
3D Realms: Duke Nukem Forever could have gone gold yesterday
Leaked Duke Nukem: Forever footage shows wild west
3D Realms' Scott Miller: EA should try to buy Take-Two again
Broussard: Uncharted series "on par" with Half-Life
Bethesda no-comments Prey acquisition
Prey rights shift to Zenimax, new trademark filed
Duke Begins was being developed by Gearbox
Duke Nukem Forever screens just keep on coming
Take-Two Duke Nukem Forever lawsuit includes Xbox 360 ports and off-shore bank accounts
id thought Nukem canning was a "joke"
Watch some never-before-seen Duke Nukem Forever footage
3D Realms "has not closed and is not closing"
Miller: We never saw T2′s $12 million
Take-Two sues Apogee over Nukem delays
Rumour: DNF footage leaked
Duke Nukem Forever artist releases never-before-seen shots of game
Duke Nukem Forever hits development milestone
3D Realms makes DNF Christmas art, doesn't release game
New Duke Nukem Forever shots posted in hi-res
New DNF shots spotted in Duke Nukem 3D XBLA
New Duke Nukem video looking pretty darn good
First hands-on with Duke Nukem 3D XBLA
Duke Nukem 3D to have saved films, rewind feature
Duke Nukem XBLA finished, released "soon"
3D Realms: E3 "Irrelevant," tiny screenshots are only way to go
Duke Nukem Forever not going to E3
In-game footage of Duke Nukem Forever, here, now
Shacknews shown Duke Nukem Forever
3D Realms: Prey 2 will "leapfrog" Portal


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Friday, July 31, 2009
Friday Discussion: The Best RPG Of The Past 5 Years
Well, here at RPG Blog 2, we aren't quite ready to call it a week. Fridays are Discussion Days. Nothing too serious, nothing too heavy, just some gamers talking about a single RPG topic.
Today's topic is a simple one:
What do you think is the best RPG of the past 5 years? If you're trying to define best, here it means "the one you and your group had the most fun with, or that has inspired you the most". But like pretty much everything else here, you can make up your own definition, too.
I look forward to the responses below. Have a tremendous weekend!
26 comments:
- Bartoneus said...
Actually we're going to have 3-4 posts in the last two days, though I will admit this being the last day for ENnies voting does have something to do with our compressed schedule. :)
I have to say over the last five years my gaming groups have mostly been influenced by (not suprisingly) D&D, both 3.5 and 4E. For me as a DM/GM, I actually think my short-lived Mage: The Ascension game has been one of the more enjoyable games to create a world in and plan for.
- July 31, 2009 at 8:05 AM
- Bonemaster said...
I have to say this is hard one to answer. In the last five years, I've mostly been playing DnD (3.5 to be exact) and a bunch of older systems. Still, I would call any of them the Best RPG in the past 5 years. I could say Savage Worlds, but that is simply the current system that we are using and having fun with.
I guess at the end of the day, I really can't call it.
- July 31, 2009 at 8:34 AM
- Ryan said...
Geez. Just one? I'm going to name 3.
1. Duty and Honour (and the forthcoming Beat to Quarters) by Neil Gow is a Napoleonic War RPG. The mechanics of D&H amaze me anew every time I crack the book. I provides some great play in a "story-games' kind of mode. I'm a fan of historical games in general and this period specifically, so it hits me in a very sweet spot, but even the guys at my table who are not Napoleonic War buffs really enjoyed the kinds of stories we created. It's the "best game you've not read."
2. Lacuna: The Creation of the Mystery and the Girl from Blue City (second attempt). Is hands down the best integration of rules, setting, and book design that I've seen. It is a very layered game that provides a skeleton of a setting rife with mysteries and leaves the rest up to the players to flesh out.
3. Savage Worlds. SW hits the John McClane setting on the action/realism dial and that's exactly where I want to spend most of my RPG time. The rules are complete and flexible and, so long as you want that cinematic but not over-the-top level of realism, it can run damn near anything. The SW Community is the best around. Our group has played Deadlands, Savage Goonies, Modern Horror, Star Trek, Necropolis, and fantsy and had a great time with all of them.
- July 31, 2009 at 8:35 AM
- John said...
Promethean: The Created is my vote for the best RPG of the last five years: the premise and setting are thematically very coherent, but nevertheless manage to integrate some wonderfully weird and disparate elements: Paracelsan alchemy, hobo signs, and nuclear horror. And the goal-oriented play style, structured as it is around both the milestones of a personal (and collective) quest for humanity and the inevitable rejection and alienation characters will face on their pilgrimages, is as clever as anything the storygames crowd has come up with (and more variably playable, in my eyes). Plus the art and the writing are tremendously atmospheric: creepy and mournful all at once. State-of-the-art horror gaming, and no, I'm not forgetting Call of Cthulhu.
- July 31, 2009 at 8:47 AM
- Chgowiz said...
Hm. I would have to say, for me, the microlite20 and microlite74 games come in first.
Why them over Swords & Wizardry, which is my 2nd favorite? Simply because they reopened my eyes to original edition style of gaming - m20 for it's brevity and ability to houserule and m74 for showing me the path back to the style of gaming I loved.
Swords & Wizardry is my 2nd place choice. It completed the journey back to the original edition gaming for me and brought a modern look and telling to a simple and fun style of D&D play. It's also served as the basis for all the solo gaming that my wife and I do now.
Shortly after S&W is OSRIC - I pick that one because it completed my journey and served as the basis for getting over 15 people to play in my sandbox. That, to me, is fantastic!
- July 31, 2009 at 9:23 AM
- Olman Feelyus said...
Phew! This is not an easy one to answer. I will qualify my choices by saying ultimately, my relationship with games is so dynamic, that I can't truly say any one (from the many that I like) is the best, because it really depends on the situation. That waffling disclaimer aside, here are some of my favorites:
Savage Worlds - What Ryan said. My go-to action game.
Spirit of the Century - While I'm no longer totally enamoured with it (it's not so great for long-term play for my playstyle), I still owe SotC for opening my brain to empowering players to take some control of what was traditionally the GM's domain in a game. Plus, chargen is an absolute blast. Let's just say that I have made a lot of SotC characters!
Cartoon Action Hour: Season 2 - I still haven't had a chance to play this and I'm not even a huge fan of the saturday morning cartoon, but this game is so fun to read, so well laid out and so elegantly designed that it lept to the top of my list of appreciated games. It was made to be played.
Barbarians of Lemuria - A victory of light, focused, elegant design. A tiny minority (which I ignored, at my peril) have been screaming about the free 1st edition of this game for years. It wasn't until the Revised Edition came out, in a pay format that it finally hit my radar and wow am I glad it did. It's extremely light, but somehow doesn't sacrifice the sword and sorcery flavour.
Gaming has been good these last 5 years I realize. Great idea, Zach.
- July 31, 2009 at 9:23 AM
- Tim Shorts said...
I would have to go with GURPS 4th edition just because its what we play and I find the system suits the style I like and has the versitility become any genre.
- July 31, 2009 at 9:38 AM
- Badelaire said...
I'd lean towards Castles & Crusades, because it was the first "Pro Old School" game, and to me, is what D&D 3rd Edition really should have been.
I'd also give a nod to Savage Worlds, because it seems to really be pushing the vibe (and winning) at being "the game for people who don't have a lot of time on their hands".
I NEED to find this "Duty and Honor" game. Napoleonic gaming is one of the first Campaign Starters I want to develop for the Tankards & Broadswords RPG, and it's such fertile, but unused, ground I really want to see what someone other than the GURPS folks have done with it.
- July 31, 2009 at 10:20 AM
- Mountzionryan said...
Duty and Honour can be found here:
- July 31, 2009 at 10:26 AM
- Badelaire said...
On the website right now, actually...
- July 31, 2009 at 10:27 AM
- Matt said...
I have to go with Castles & Crusades. We've been playing it since it came out and everybody at the table is satisfied.
- July 31, 2009 at 10:39 AM
- Alex Schroeder said...
- This comment has been removed by the author.
- July 31, 2009 at 11:39 AM
- Alex Schroeder said...
I got back into roleplaying via Greywulf's Microlite20 (m20) in 2006 and even though we ended up playing D&D 3.5 for most of the time, I kept looking back, trying to get back to the simplicity in terms of tactics and chargen of m20. I think this also motivated my interest in old school games like Labyrinth Lord and B/X D&D. It all started with m20 in 2006. Thanks, Robin.
- July 31, 2009 at 11:43 AM
- Frost said...
My vote is for Castles & Crusades. I love D&D 3.X (and still play it), but if C&C had come out first, I doubt I would have moved on to D&D 3e.
C&C has all of what is great about D&D 3e, but drops the clutter.
- July 31, 2009 at 11:50 AM
- JB said...
Wow, there have been several good ones in the last 5 years. Slickest looking and coolest intention would have to go to Hollow Earth Expedition. Most inspirational goes to Labyrinth Lord for pointing me back to pre-BECMI B/X D&D (which I've been playing exclusively the last month or more). Does anyone know which year Godlike came out...?
- July 31, 2009 at 1:01 PM
- Bartoneus said...
JB: Godlike first came out in 2002, it's always been one of the RPGs that sits at the top of my "really want to play it but haven't yet" list!
- July 31, 2009 at 1:04 PM
- rainswept said...
- This comment has been removed by the author.
- July 31, 2009 at 1:24 PM
- Olman Feelyus said...
Oh crap, I forgot to mention Mutant Future!
- July 31, 2009 at 3:09 PM
- DNAphil said...
In the last five years, I would say Iron Heroes, by Mike Mearls. It was a great expansion of the martial rules to the 3.x ruleset.
It was one of the most successful campaigns I ran during those 5 years, and made for some very memorable moments.
- July 31, 2009 at 4:44 PM
- fewilcox said...
GURPS 4e. Partly because GURPS 3e Basic Set is the very first RPG book we purchased and partly because anytime I'm thinking about starting a new campaign I always look to GURPS first.
And I like only needing to learn one fairly simple ruleset to play any game I can imagine.
- July 31, 2009 at 10:18 PM
- Joseph said...
Let us hope that Barbarians of Lemuria gets a real website soon. Geocities is going bye-bye.
And the "terrain" of "nonsenseword" thing is sigh-inducing on the map. How's the actual system?
- July 31, 2009 at 10:38 PM
- d7 said...
From way in left field I'm going to pull The Window into the spotlight. I know it was published ages ago. I discovered it half an age ago too, but I only finally got to run it properly a few years ago. The first session was dynamite none of us (me as GM, or the players who grew up on 3.x) could believe.
It also taught me the most about scene framing and pacing of any game I've played. I can also credit it as my "gateway" game into storygaming, then gaming theory, then eventually becoming a blogger.
So yes, it's had a pretty big impact on my last five years of gaming. I think that qualifies it.
- August 1, 2009 at 1:15 AM
- Fiona Fairhame said...
GURPS 4th edition. It's my favorite system to play, and to run. ^_^
I like that it can be simple, cinematic, or completely realistic depending on how many of the rules you use (or ignore ^_-).
- August 1, 2009 at 2:47 AM
- Rogerdeen said...
Gurps 4.0 fantasy. I like playing a game where it is extremely possible for something catastrophic to happen to my character. This ruleset definitely gets my heart thumping when I am gaming.
- August 1, 2009 at 11:11 PM
Thousand Suns.
While not perfect, (in terms of presentation), it has done more to make me want to get out and play than aything else in a long time. I love its unabashed toolbox nature.
- August 3, 2009 at 11:51 AM
Most fun game I've ever played: http://cubgerzz.mybrute.com
- September 24, 2009 at 7:47 PM


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In our guide to organic beauty product labelling, we explain what's what on the label. Our health and beauty team in Soil Association Certification check all product ingredients and labels prior to launch. Hover over the examples below and find out what's behind the label...
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People jump into icy Muskegon Lake to benefit Special Olympics during Muskegon Polar Plunge 2013
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My suggestion would be to give a boost per dropless run. RNG that drops the wrong loot, oh whell that is life. If you do not get a drop, then a bonus of 2-5% would at least make sure SOMETHING drops every 5 runs, definately after 10....... I would also say that loot could be swapped to alts on the account with in a 24 hour period........
RNG is cruel and fickle bitch.
Perhaps a stacking buff somewhat similar to Nephalim Valor (sp) in Diablo 3. Make it so that you get 1% extra chance for loot for each boss kill, and the buff does not expire until you get loot, then it would reset. Just throwing out silly ideas, not anything ready for implementation at least.
I would love to see the majority of loot have a progressive odds system, rather than a flat drop rate. It make sense that the more one is willing to try for something, the more likely it should be to drop. If it were feasible for Blizzard to code such a system, what a much better route than raw rng would that make?!
Of course there could still be some vanity items and mounts like the Ashes of Alar that have a fixed extremly low drop rate, to maintain their rarety, but the majority of other items and gear are meant to be obtained by many players, so why not reward players for their diligence and perseverence?
The only thing I could think of is that it would be a nightmare of coding and a huge influx of variables for programmers to keep track of in some sort of database. The info could not be kept in the WTF folder or anything like that, or someone would find a way to edit their odds. It would have to be kept secure. Oh well
I like how you do statistics with 2 samples Lore almost as good as your math
LFR feels more like a lottery atm where you need to get real lucky to get something useful. While I appreciate that they removed any loot drama it just doesn't feel worthwhile to do. It's mostly a feeling and not fact (did get 1 useful item) but I welcome any improvements to the system
There are assumptions and then are assumptions. There is the assumption that the sun will rise tomorrow morning and then there is the assumption that the world is flat. Unfortunately you are humiliating yourself in public by opting for the latter in the face of all common sense.
The myth you are attempting to perpetuate requires that all the random members of the group do not have a single item from RF or VP already! Come on, seriously? Maybe in week one but from that point on the odds diminish dramatically.
We all know that it is "theoretically" possible for a group to be formed where no one has a single RF item but statistically speaking that would be at incredibly long odds. A bit like the odds of an RF boss giving all 25 players loot - it can happen but it is highly unlikely. The probability is that you will almost certainly receive random players with a number of RF items or superior VP items already equipped. If you don't believe me join RF now and start inspecting everyone. Get your friends and guildies to join different groups. Do it every week. Tell us how many groups you find where no one has a single RF item or superior VP item already.
I do wonder why you insist on flying in the face of such long odds and flogging a dead horse.
Your post history reveals an idealogical dislike of the RF mode and access to raid content being granted to the majority.
I suspect that your denial of the statical probabilities might have something to do with that. So the question is, what is your motivation?
Are you someone that dislikes being "forced" into RF and wishes to perpetuate "the loot collusion isn't bad for you" myth in the hope that gullible players will believe it and request its return? Presumably that would allow you to gather your items and remove the need to do it far sooner?
Or do you simply wish to make RF as unpleasant, unattractive and unrewarding option as possible in the hope that it will fail? No chance of that happening now I am afraid. You might as well join your like minded buddies on the official forums and start trolling with the old "RF shouldn't drop loot as it is only about seeing the content" comments.
I suggest your best bet would be to learn about the difference between an opinion, an assumption and statistical probabilities/odds. They are similar but with subtle differences.
So you've gone from unsupported argments (you know hundreds of thousands of players) to the death throws argument of ad hominem attacks. Bravo.
You have demonstrated nothing, you're using opinion and assumption and think you're presenting actual probablilties. Assumptions aren't assumptions if you use them, then their facts; okay. Your arguments are based on your personal observations, just as are mine.
I believe that loot collusion as you call it is not a bad thing and I have no issues with it because it had 0 effect on my winning or losing a dice roll. I roll against 5 people I have a 20% chance of winning whether or not those 4 others know each other or not. That's pure fact no more no less. And I do not believe that the 4 friends would have been replaced by 0 other people rolling there by giving me free loot. It's more likely than not that those 4 would have been replaced by 4 others rolling against me, the game population is too big for that not be the probablilty. But I think you see the game world as containing the far few players than it really does.
You make all these assumptions, wrong headed I might add, about my being "forced into lfr", I'm not forced to do anything and have argued in the past that raiders are not forced to do anything, if you don't like doing it don't play. However, your arguments have a tendency to paint people as you wish them to be in order to support your unsupportable conculusions.
In any event, I liked the old loot system, I found nothing unfair about it whatsoever, people used it within the rules of the game and the rules trump some amorphus and self-serving idea of what's socially acceptable. Blizzard decided to change the rules for loot in the new lfr becuase gearing was to fast when people helped each other and that's the system we play within. So be it.
The guy that uses stamina to keep repeating a falsehood again and again until other posters give up, leaving the point uncontested.
I can't be bothered wasting my time repeatedly correcting these errors as in my experience it has always been in vain and those perpetuating the myths have more staying power than me.
I have told you what the conditions need to be for your statement to be true - that being all the replacement "random" players not having any RF or VP gear and therefore clicking Need on all the items as the loot collusion team members would.
If those conditions exist then you are 100% correct that your win chance remains the same.
Clearly I am banging my head against a brick wall trying to explain to you the likelihood of the conditions occurring.
So if you feel that your loot chance remains the same then congratulations my friend. If you feel it is fair then good for you. Happy looting and may the gods of RNG smile upon you.
I think the old system was far more open to abuse. If I queued on my arms warrior, and thought the tank was being a dick i could roll against him on a shield and there's nothing to stop me. Hell I could tank on my pally and ninja healing gear if i was so inclined despite being prot/ret. I've never healed, and have no inclination to do so. I think the fact that the new system is spec based is a lot better, if they combined the loot tables to include our current offspecs it would be ideal, people could queue as either their best spec and thus make LFRs easier or as the spec with the faster queue times thus shortening everyone's queue times.
What is the point of LFR? to gear up? if so then you already have the gear needed to get into normal modes. and you can get better gear from valour/crafting for most slots anyway
Harsh Words and Steel: A Protection Warrior Guide
MoP RPS Calculator
Hunters, Just get a Sporebat, most LFRs will be missing that buff.
The old way checked role, you if you went in as plate dps you couldn't roll on plate tank gear. If you were ret you could roll on certain healing gear such as the neck or the shield with spirit because of Ele shammies. What was fun was going in as Boomkin and being able to roll on agility leather or the polearm off DW for the bear set.
At around 1:10 "So if you were to look at the average between the two characters, and say: If one of them is in one end of the spectrum and the other is in the other end of the spectrum, then on average, yeah, probably speaking in statistics, probably I think enough loot is actually dropping"
DUDE!!!! You have 2 (!) datapoints.. Dont talk "statistics" with 2 datapoints please that just makes you look stupid!
The current loot system in LFR is so far and away superior to the Dragon Soul LFR NEED EVERYTHING ALWAYS system that I can't even begin to say. I don't miss for one moment having to count the number of rogues, death knights, mages and druids in the raid before deciding if I was gonna stick with that particular LFR. I can also do without the meager benefits of whatever schadenfreude that came from watching loot drama since it really only served to slow things down. Now I either won my invisible and immediate loot role/s or I didn't; let's move to the next boss.
I think the issues that people are having with it stem from two sources. First, people still need to get used to fact that they aren't rolling against anyone else. The loot and the role are yours and yours alone. Just because I won some bracers I don't need, doesn't mean some else didn't. This is the only circumstance in the game in which this happens, so I understand not everyone groks it
I see complaints about getting duplicate items this way but I chalk that up to RNG. Looking over the tables for my spec, most bosses have only 1 or 2 items I might need, so the odds are good I'll get the one I want. Exactly one boss has 4 items, and a handful have 3. Even so, I'll take those odds.
The other factor comes from the fact that getting over the hump to iLevel 470 takes some luck (or rep items). If all you're doing is Mogu'Shan every week, then it's possible get stuck there until you win an item or two. My alt was in heroics the moment I hit 90, LFR Mogu'Shan a day later, but I was stuck in the 460s for more than two weeks while I took my Golden Lotus medicine.
That said, from what I've observerd, once you are able to do all 5 LFRs, plus the Sha, plus whatever Charms you burn gearing comes pretty fast.
My main is very nearly done with LFR, so I'm just queuing for a couple wings. I feel like there is plenty enough to do without having to keep running MSV LFR. Should they punch up the gold bag? What could they possibly put in the bag that people won't complain about? Charms? Flasks? Ponies? I suppose some extra valor might be nice, since almost no one in my little guild is valor capping. However, I think 90 valor for 3 or 4 bosses is decent enough compared to everything else.
My answer to the question posed in your title: Yes. Yes, it is.
Last edited by ChampStanley; 12-17-2012 at 03:53 AM.
I have to admit, this is one of two episodes where I had to stop after watching 1/3 of it.
You're trying to compare normal / heroic raiding to LFR - Mistake!
You're analogy is that when a person in a guild run wins an item you feel good about it, because you know it benefits the entire team on progression.., essentially you're trying to compare apples and oranges.
1. There's no progression in LFR
2. 50%+ of the players in LFR wouldn't be able to take Stone Guards on normal mode judging by awareness > meters
3. What friends in LFR?- you might be grouped with a few, but see point 1.
(( I could add more points, but you know them already ))
There needs to be some kind of indicator that loot dropped from a boss, really?- given the nature of LFR it'll lead to more mouth breathing, and people will be spamming the public forums even more then they currently do about how shitty the system is, because they don't get exactly what they want every single week.
Let me take myself as an example in Firelands, our guild which was 10m at that time saw the Kitty staff of Domo drop in the first reset there, and it went to our main feral at that point.., it didn't drop again til I had 4p tier from Dragon Soul and the normal staff from Dw.
Did it bother me?- not the slightest, because it wasn't / isn't required to progress in any way, and the same thing applies to LFR (or even normal and heroic modes)
90% of the players in LFR only "need" the items because they stink (There, I called it!), when I say stink it covers a broad spectrum, no bothering to learn their class, not bothering to learn the fights, not bothering to gem or enchant gear, but the absolute worst thing.., you can try and act nice and explain bosses, and the wast majority of them wouldn't be paying attention because it's tuned for a 110% win guarantee provided you can hit your keyboard in any random order.
I am sorry Lore, but you're generally pretty well informed and at times spot on with you're marmots, but this one I feel you've tilted into the lane where blizzard was last expansion.
Advocating features should promote for a worse environment, if anything these players should learn the hard way, that loot tables aren't tailored to provide weekly upgrades, and that if you want something in the game you set goals and work towards them!
Harsh Words and Steel: A Protection Warrior Guide
MoP RPS Calculator
Hunters, Just get a Sporebat, most LFRs will be missing that buff.
That's not to say that everyone should be guaranteed to get everything before the next tier. I do feel that they are defeating the purpose though if there is a possibility that someone completing LFR every week might end the tier and not have at least a minimal amount of gear. Whether that's guaranteeing that you at least complete the tier bonus or whatever standard is "enough" gear, there should be some sort of fall-back to prevent the feature from feeling "worthless" to anyone. I know that I had some toons that couldn't complete a 4 piece bonus in DS LFR despite going every week for months. I eventually quit running those toons because it felt like wasted time. Unless you don't need the gear, LFR should not feel like wasted time.
Personally, I really don't care if it's a stacking drop rate buff or a currency system, but I do feel that there should be some kind of accumulation that you are "working" for. I like the idea that even if RNG hates me, by the end of the tier I can guarantee I have at least this tier's four piece bonus going into next tier. Maybe have just the five LFR tier pieces available for a "ooh poor me" currency that you can just earn enough to buy four/five pieces if you run almost every week of that tier. You'd be better served if you can get them as drops and use them earlier in the tier, but you have a way to KNOW that if you stick with it, you will get at least that minimum amount of gear. Then it shouldn't feel like wasted time to even the unluckiest person.
"he doens't need healing, he doesn't need healing, he doesn't nee-WHAOSHIT!wtf was that man!". Please stop leaning on TDR. -Teng
As for the Zon'ooz tank bracers, I think we're confusing the ability to roll with the ability to get the bonus. The old system bonus was based on the role you chose when you qued. You could roll on those bracers as arms but you would not get the bonus, the tank would. If you had two druid tanks or if the plate tanks didn't roll, then it would have just been a roll among the plate wearers with no bonus.
I did pick up a couple os pieces this way.
The tanks are really the ones who kind of get screwed in the new system. It used to be great tanking on a plate wearer with a druid as the other tank, all tank plate went to the plate tank.
Pray tell us how you work towards the set goals in RF? The encounters are only as difficult or can only be tuned as difficult as your 24 randomly assigned team mates can handle. It is impossible to make people "work" in RF because the grouping system has limitations and cannot guarantee the quality of the players assigned to your group. That leads to the "lowest common denominator" tuning effect. 96% of your groups capability is determined at random. You as an individual are but 4%.
What work exactly do you require of them? Randomly rolling a dice for five months instead of four months doesn't really constitute additional "work"? Or do you want them to die more often purely because RNG assigned them players with poor outputs? Success or failure would simply come down to a dice roll when the group is formed.
Don't forget that RF players already receive lower ilevel loot than Normal/HC modes. Indeed they are frequently awarded lower quality gear than players can earn from running daily quests - which themselves are hardly "work" (unless you go AFK you can't fail) but rather pure time sink.
You are also playing a strawman more befitting of the official forums - no one in RF specifically demanded weekly rewards although fixed roster groups DO receive weekly rewards for the reasons Lore mentioned.....an upgrade for a team mate is almost as good as an upgrade for you.
If you had watched all of Lores video you would see that the issue is that in fixed roster groups your win chance increases over time where as in the RF system it does not. That is the problem that MIGHT need addressing.
Your kitty staff point was an irrelevance. There will always be bad RNG streaks under either system but the chance of those streaks occurring reduces over time in fixed roster groups but not in RF. I don't think you have fully grasped the issue?
I will say it again - the issue in RF is that it lacks features of fixed roster groups - those being a, improving odds over time and b, adequate consolation prizes to keep players motivated. Of course if players keep turning up each week to run it then I don't see the issue. If we see a decline in numbers then that is the time to start addressing it. Aside from complaints on the forums I am not sure there is any evidence of players becoming demotivated and quitting but who knows what Blizzards internal numbers show.
I am not sure promoting a worse environment for the vast overwhelming majority of the players that use the content is a particularly good idea from the business perspective either. The irony of course is that the personal win chance over time (say over a tier) in RF is already worse than it is in fixed roster groups plus there is no consolation prize of seeing friends gear up.
So it is already worse. Does that make you feel better?
I do agree that an indicator of who won what from a boss is a BAD idea though.
And since the drop chance is constant and statistically independent from previous drops from that boss, it's the gamblers fallacy to believe that if the boss hasn't dropped your item 10 weeks in a row that the chances of it dropping are increased in week 11. If the chance that an item will drop is statistically independent, as WoW RNG is, then a 2% chance in week one, is a 2% again next week and exactly 2% the week after and so on.


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Wow. It's been a very busy year. I can't believe it's been a year since we last blogged. Lots to update you on and we'll get to that later in the week. For now I will answer a question we get asked quite a bit and that is where do we deliver our yummy goodies. Yes we deliver to Highland Park! We also deliver to Eagle Rock, Montecito Heights, Glassell Park, Glendale, Pasadena, USC! We delivery all across LA County and would be happy to deliver something yummy right to your front door! If you want to sample our goodies, then please join us at the Old LA Farmer's Market in Highland Park every Tuesday from 3-8. Happy July.
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Yep. We are putting a new jewel in our crown. Our brownies are delectable, delicious and gone in seconds. You know how some people like cakey brownies and some people like gooey brownies? Well, because Steve is a genius he has somehow managed to walk the line between the two kinds of brownies people like to devour. If a simple brownie isn't enough for you, then Steve can slather them in his delicious frosting. Personally, I like to take small and large platters of just brownies to dinner parties. Yep, we are masters of the 'special request' – just let us know what you want and we'll take care of you. I've never met a person on this earth who doesn't love a good brownie.
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Okay, we said it. And we stand behind it! Steve is repeatedly told he has the best cupcakes by his customers who drive over an hour sometimes to see him at the local farmer's markets. Then he has his fruit tart fans, then he has his brownie fans, then he has his coffee cake fans and cookie fans and banana loaf fans. Everyone swears their 'favorite thing' is the best thing he makes. Which made me start to wonder, if everyone swears by their favorite then simply everything he makes is superior. He had a customer ask him last night – 'Steve – is there anything you make that just sucks?' - The answer dear customer is no. Every single thing that comes out of Steve's kitchen is stellar. Don't believe us? Give us a try.
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It's been a few months since I've blogged and that is a good thing, trust me! Our little bakery that could has been so swamped with orders, we are running night and day. Time and time again we hear that while competition is fierce in Los Angeles, hands down we have the best cupcakes in Los Angeles. Not only that we also have the best cookies, tarts, brownies, breads and cakes! Yes we are tooting our horn a bit, but we don't have a publicist so someone has to do it! Steve regularly gets customers that ask him if there is anything he bakes that just doesn't taste good. The answer is no. Every single thing out of this kitchen is loaded with quality, real ingredients and a plain, simple cup of love.
Pumpkin Pie
Pumpkin Pie is probably the most classic, recognized dessert during the holiday season. Did I mention that we make the absolute best pumpkin pie you will ever eat? Personally, I'm not a fan of Pumpkin Pie. I think it's weird. Or at least I did until Steve got busy in the kitchen last year and made was was probably the best pie I'd ever eaten. If you read this blog regularly or know me at all, you know for me if it's not chocolate then it's not worth eating. But, my honey, Steve did a number on this pie. It's smooth, it's creamy, it's spicy in a perfect kind of way. I was hooked. Our Pumpkin Pie is now available and live on the site and also at our local farmer's markets. If you are a fan of Pumpkin Pie or think you don't like Pumpkin Pie then this is the pie for you! Order one today and let us know what you think.
cupcake delivery l.a. bday cake delivery l.a. and more
Yep we do that! We not only deliver cupcakes throughout Los Angeles and the surrounding area, but we also deliver cookies, brownies, birthday cakes, tarts and so much more! We aim to be a full service All American Bakery with a twist. Life is so hard and busy, we want to make things easy on you. Just find what you are looking for, click, pay and bam – your order goes directly to our email and we bake it all fresh before delivering. Don't you wish everything in life could be that simple?
Pumpkin Love
Well folks we've made it to October. As you may or may not know, this is our favorite time of year. From October all the way until February – the weather is so perfect for baking here in Los Angeles. Just like last year we will be a featured pumpkin vendor at the Calabasas Pumpkin Festival. This event is perfect for all ages, women and men and children. There is so much food, fun, activities and even a beer tent to enjoy yourself in. There will be live music, arts and crafts and you get all of this for the low, low price of $5. What a bargain! Try and come out and see us – Saturday October 15 and Sunday October 16 from 10a-5pm. Have a great weekend folks.
Farmer's Market update
We are in Three Farmer's Markets every week. Every Sunday you can find us at The Los Feliz Village Farmer's Market from 9-2. Every Tuesday you can find us at the Old L.A. Farmer's Market in Highland Park from 3-8. Every Wednesday you can find us at the Silversun Farmer's Market in Eagle Rock from 4-8. If you are curious, bored, hungry or want to pick up an order – these are a great place to do it! We hope to see you at the Markets – we love getting face time with our customers. Have a great week!
Cupcake delivery Eagle Rock, Los Feliz, Highland Park
Another reminder that we are based in Downtown L.A. but are community members here in Highland Park and Montecito Heights. We treasure our Arroyo Secco Area and would love to provide the community with freshly baked items. We do not use any preservatives, additives or yucky stuff in our baked goods. We use real butter, real sugar, real eggs. Think of us when you need something special!
Cake delivery Los Angeles
We've been swamped with cupcake and cookie orders recently, but we wanted to remind you guys that we also make DELICIOUS CAKES! Cakes are great for birthday's or office parties. We deliver our cakes all over Los Angeles. Think of us for your next party, event or weekend gathering.


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Discover the Trees of the Park – Nature Hike
Oct 25, 2014
from 02:30 PM to 03:45 PM
|Cooper Lake State Park/South Sulphur Unit
|Contact Name
|Jim Beach
|Contact Email
|Contact Phone
Join us at Cooper Lake State Park and "Discover the Trees of the Park". Meet with the Park Ranger at the Honey Creek Amphitheater and take a short hike (1/8 of a mile) on the Nature Trail. We will talk about identification and characteristics of trees in the park as well as some trivia about some of them. This program is accessible for the visually and mobility impaired. This program may be cancelled because of weather. Contact the park office for updated information.


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Superman Homepage Ringer T-Shirt
Now you can show the world that you are a fan of the No. 1 Superman site in the world! For only $17.99 you can wear this shirt with pride and help get the word out about our super community here. (More colors and designs available)
DC Collectibles DC Comics Icons: Superman Statue
Sculpted by Gentle Giant Studios! Now the Man of Steel can stand watch in your own home with this stunning statue that perfectly captures his DC Comics -The New 52 look. Limited edition of 5,200. Measures approximately 11" tall.