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I'm a big lover of Steam. Whilst it had a rather rocky start, something that was exacerbated by the fact that I was still on dial up, since then the platform has managed to make me part with many of my dollars and I have done so gladly. Sure part of this is due to me moving up in the world, no longer being a poor uni student whose only indulgence was his World of Warcraft subscription, however Steam providing titles at a very reasonable price has also led me to spend more than I would have otherwise. So when rumours start to spread that Steam might be bringing things like music, TV shows and movies to the platform you can imagine the excitement I have at that prospect.
There's been talk of Steam expanding beyond it's current games and software market for some time now, ever since Valve announced the Steam Music overlay at the beginning of this year. There's also already a few movies on the platform, like Free to Play and Indie Game: The Movie, and whilst they're specifically about games it's not much of a stretch to think that they'd extend the platform further. The only precedent not set so far is for TV shows however it's not much of a stretch to see the same system working for that kind of content. There's still a few questions to be answered about the service (When will it debut? How will its costs compare to other services? ) however if Steam can do for what it did for games for movies, TV and music you can bet your bottom dollar that it will be an incredibly positive thing for consumers.
The reason, for me as an Australia at least, is that there's really no other alternative available to us. I was excited when Dendy Direct was announced, mostly because I'm a fan of their cinemas, however their pricing is nothing short of insane with a single season of a show costing anywhere from $20 to $40. Other services available here are either similarly priced or simply don't have the catalogue of shows that many of us want to watch. Even if the services available here do have the shows they're either significantly delayed or released in such a way that's incongruent to the way they were released overseas, like Netflix original series being released weekly instead of all in one hit.
There's always the geo-unblocking tools to get us Netflix of course but that's really only a stopgap to a better solution.
We're getting closer to a proper solution though as there's been at least one notable entrant into this field that's not completely bullshit. AnimeLab, run by Madman (the Australian anime distributor), offers up complete anime series for any and all to watch for free, including ones that are only just being released in Japan. Whilst I'm sure the free ride won't last forever it does show that there's demand for such a service in Australia, even within the niche interest area that is anime. I'm hopeful that this will encourage other services to start considering branching out into Australia sooner rather than later as it honestly can't come fast enough.
I never really had a taste for competitive gaming mostly because my less than stellar Internet connection usually put me at a disadvantage for any game that I played. Even after I remedied that I still found shied away from them, fearing that I'd simply end up losing game after game, never to make any progress. Starcraft II changed that however and I found myself deeply engrossed in ladder play, feverishly battling my way through opponents in the hopes I could make it to the top. That faded over time as my interest turned towards DOTA2 and much to my surprise I'm still horribly addicted to it. This has then evolved into a love for all things about the game including the competitive scene, something which I'd never thought I'd find myself interested in. Of all the tournaments and events that happen over the year none compare to the spectacle that is The International, a DOTA2 tournament hosted by Valve themselves.
I was only tangentially aware of the first 2 Internationals having been a keen DOTA AllStars fan back in the day and one of the many wanting an invite to the beta but was yet to be in possession of one. They made headlines for their gigantic prize pools for a game that was still relatively unknown, a cool $1 million for the first place winner. For pro gamers that's an incredible amount of money, more than many other tournaments in more established eSports scenes, and is enough to sustain an entire team for a long time. On the surface it appeared to be just another marketing tactic by Valve to get people interested in the game but since its introduction 3 years ago The International has taken on a life of its own, becoming the standard for eSports events across the world.
Last year however Valve did something curious, the released a compendium (an in game item) for $10, $2.50 of which would go directly into the prize pool that would be awarded to the players. The result was incredible, players and supporters of teams alike contributed over $1.2 million to the prize pool which saw The International retake its crown as the largest prize pool eSports tournament. Valve, looking to replicate the success of last year's tournament, released another compendium for this year's The International as well with the same price point and contribution levels.
The results speak for themselves: yesterday the prize pool exceeded $6 million and it's not stopping there.
For fans and players a like this is a great thing as it means that teams that even place in 7th or 8th will likely have enough funds behind them to sustain them throughout the year. Being a pro gamer isn't as flashy as it sounds and there are some costs that simply can't be avoided (like flights, not to mention the basics of living). For fans this means a bigger, much more well produced event which judging by last year's standards will make it nothing short of incredible.
I'm incredibly excited as what this year's The International will bring as we get to see the top tier talent of DOTA2 duke it out for the biggest prize pool in eSports history. Every year Valve has stepped up their game and this year looks to be no exception with the live floor moving to a much larger arena and the production crew swelling their ranks considerably. As someone who never really understood sports growing up I now know what it feels like for sports fans when grand finals time approaches and I simply can't wait for it.
My stance on Cloud Gaming is well known and honestly barring some major breakthrough in several technological areas (graphics cards, available bandwidth, etc.) I can't see it changing any time soon. The idea of local streaming however is something I'm on board with as there have already been numerous proven examples where it can work, a couple of which I've actually used myself. So when I heard that Valve was going to enable In Home Streaming as a feature of Steam I was pretty excited as there have been a couple times where I've found myself wanting to use games installed on my main PC on other computers in the house. Valve widen the beta last week to include a lot more people and I was lucky enough to snag an invite so I gave In Home Streaming a look over during the Australia Day long weekend.
The setup couldn't be more simple. At this stage you have to opt into the Steam client beta, requiring you to redownload the client (around 80 MB at the time of writing) and sign into both machines using the same account. Now last time I remember trying to do that I got told I was already logged in somewhere else and thus couldn't log in but it seems this client version has no such limitations. Once you're logged into both machines you should be greeted with a list of games available to play that matches your main machine perfectly and, when you go to play them, you'll have the option to either install it locally or stream it from the other machine.
Clicking on stream will start the game on the other machine its installed on and, should everything go according to plan, it will then appear in another window on the machine you're streaming to. The first thing you'll notice though is that the game fully runs on the other machine, including display the graphics and playing sound. This can be somewhat undesirable and whilst it's easily remedied it shows you what kind of streaming is actually occurring (I.E. DirectX mirroring). Using such technology also places some limitations on what can and cant' be streamed by simply clicking on the stream button but there are ways around it.
I first tried this on my media PC which is a HP MicroServer that has a Radeon HD6450 1GB installed in it. Now this machine can handle pretty much any kind of content you can throw at it although I have had it struggle with some high bitrate 1080p files. This was somewhat improved by using newer drivers and later builds of VLC so I was pretty confident it could handle a similar stream over the network. Whilst it worked the frame rates were pretty dismal, even in games which weren't as graphically intense. Considering the primary use case of this would be for underpowered machines to take advantage of the grunt other PCs in the house can provide this was a little disappointing but I decided I'd give it a go on my Zenbook before I passed judgement.
The much better hardware of the Zenbook improved the experience greatly with all the games I tested on it running nigh on perfectly. There were a couple issues to report, namely when the stream broke there didn't seem to be a way to restart it so I was just left with a black screen and audio playing. The differing resolutions meant that I was playing with a boxed perspective which was a tad annoying and, unfortunately, it appears you're limited to the resolutions of the box you're streaming from (I couldn't run DOTA 2 at 1080p as my monitors are 1680 x 1050). Still the performance was good enough that I could play FPS games on it, although I wasn't game enough to try an online match.
Overall I'm very impressed with what Valve has delivered with In Home Streaming as it's pretty much what I expected, bar it being so damn easy to set up and use. Whilst I'm sure they'll improve the performance over time it does speak volumes to the fact that the end point does matter and that you will have a worse experience on low powered hardware. Still, even then it was usable for my use case (watching in game DOTA 2 replays) and I'm sure that it would be good enough in its current form for a lot of people.
It's no secret that my preferred gaming platform is the PC and the platform I run on top of that is Microsoft Windows. Whilst OSX and Linux might be gaining more momentum as of late they're still quite far behind in terms of support from major titles, with the indie scene being the catalyst that's driving them forward. With the introduction of SteamOS though Valve signalled that they had lost confidence in the Windows platform to deliver the same gaming experience as it had done for decades previously, predominately due to the changes that came in with Windows 8 and the WinRT platform. This is where I and Gabe Newell start to disagree and if the latest numbers are anything to go by so do a good chunk of his customers.
The Steam Hardware Survey is a monthly data collection that Valve does through Steam to give an overview of the current trends in PC gaming. The results are a great insight into what gamers are using to play their games and is a great source of information for developers and pundits alike. The December 2013 results show a trend that even I didn't think would be possible: a staggering 20% of Steam's user base is now on Windows 8 or 8.1 64 bit. Compared to wider PC adoption rates this is even more impressive as it's less than half of that of Steam users. Whilst I wouldn't go as far to say that these figures should change Gabe's mind (and indeed I believe he should stay the course with SteamOS) it does call into question the reasoning behind his recent musings about Windows as a gaming platform.
Another interesting titbit of information buried in the survey is that the fastest growing platform by far is Windows 8.1. Whilst it's arguable that this is likely due to the improvements made in 8.1 (like the return of the start bar and the straight to desktop mode) I think it's far more likely because this is the first Windows update that's been made freely available to end users. Indeed it's kind of hard to avoid upgrading to it as Windows will nag you every so often about it and since the update is completely non-destructive there's really no barrier to getting the upgrade past a few hours. Still a raw increase of 2.5% of market share in a month is quite impressive and shows that Microsoft has done something right with its release.
I think it's clear that Windows is still a very viable platform for gaming, even with Microsoft's big push for things to start going the WinRT way. I've always been of the stance that the traditional desktop isn't going to go anywhere, even in the face of tablets and other touch devices taking a bigger slice of the market that PCs used to occupy, and it seems a good chunk of the gaming community agrees with that idea. I'm sure Microsoft is also keenly aware of how much revenue the gaming community brings to them and how much of that is due to Steam so it'd be very surprising to see them do anything to push them away from the Windows platform.
I've been reviewing games for about 4 years now and since I'm not exactly a top tier reviewer I've had to employ other tactics to get my reviews in front of other people. Primarily this just used to be via my Twitter and Facebook accounts however after I noticed my reviews getting submitted to other sites (by other people, no less!) I decided to start doing that process myself rather than wait for some unknown individual to do it for me. Primarily I used to just post to N4G and Reddit however after the launch of Steam Communities I started posting my reviews on there, figuring that people who were buying the game would likely sift through there before purchasing. Seems I wasn't the only one doing this as Valve has decided to formalize the idea in Steam Reviews.
It's essentially just another part of the Steam Community Hub that every game has (which now includes things like game guides and trading posts) where users can leave and rate reviews for that particular title. If this sounds similar to the recommendations that steam has had for ages you'd be right and this new review system will be replacing it wholesale. All your old recommendations will be upgraded to reviews however which means that it's somewhat useful right off the bat (although unlikely to have anything negative due to the way the old system worked) and none of the work anyone put in gets lost in the transition.
One of the marked improvements that the Steam platform can give to reviews like this is that users will not be able to review a game they haven't played. This doesn't extend to needing to own the game either so if you played a game on a free weekend or got a title shared to you from a friend you'll be eligible to write a review on the Steam page for it. Whilst this won't entirely eliminate the bad review train that tends to happen with certain titles it does limit the scope to people who've actually had a crack at the game rather than anyone who feels like jumping on a bandwagon.
Currently they're just worded reviews with no score indicator on them however that's apparently set to change during the beta. Whilst some will lament their inclusion I still believe that they have some value so long as we, the gaming community, use them appropriately. Since I'll be actively participating in this open beta (I've still got a ton of reviews on my blog that haven't made their way onto Steam in one way or another) I'll be submitting feedback to encourage use along those lines so that games can more easily compared against each other, rather than some subjective view of perfection. How this will come about I can not be entirely sure but if anyone can change the way scores are used in the wider gaming world its Valve and Steam is the platform to do it.
Whether this will translate into more exposure for small time reviewers like myself will be something of interest as whilst I've had a few people come to read my review from Steam it pales in comparison to other platforms. Steam Reviews could change that as they'll be given a prominent location in the Community Hub rather than being lost in the wash of the general discussion forum. That's really a side benefit for people like me however as the real value here will be from getting a much better view of what the gaming community thinks of a title, hopefully free from much of the bandwagoning that's made Metacritic what it is today.
I was never particularly good at RTS games, mostly because I never dug deep into the mechanics or got involved in higher level strategies that would have enabled me to progress my sills. However I found a lot of joy in the custom maps that many RTS games had and this was especially so for WarCraft 3. Inbetween my bouts of Elemental Tower Defense, Footman Frenzy and X Hero Siege I inevitably came across Defense of the Ancients and like many others became hooked on it. Whilst I still favoured the less directly competitive maps, much preferring the spam fest that other customs offered, the original laid the foundation for my current obsession with DOTA2 a game which has claimed almost 1400 hours of my life so far.
However DOTA2 wasn't my first reintroduction into the MOBA scene, that honour goes to Heroes of Newerth which I was somewhat intrigued by whilst it was still in beta. I had a small cadre of friends who liked to play it as well but for some reason it just wasn't enough to keep us interested and eventually fell by the wayside. The same crew and I had tried League of Legends as well but the experience was just too far away from the DOTA we knew and after a couple games our attention was turned elsewhere. If I'm honest though we were mostly excited to hear about Blizzard's own version of the MOBA genre as that was one of the reasons that WarCraft 3 DOTA was so enjoyable: it had many of the characters we knew and loved.
It was looking like Blizzard DOTA and DOTA2 were going to launch around similar times and indeed once Valve officially announced DOTA2, with the original map maker IceFrog at the helm, news of the work on Blizzard DOTA went silent. Whilst this was partially due to the court battle that Blizzard and Valve became embroiled in afterwards there was little doubt among the community that Blizzard's original vision for their MOBA title was going to clash heavily with that of Valve and the work we had seen up until that date was to be scrapped. What was less clear however was what they were working on instead as whilst no one doubts the calibre of Blizzard's work they were going up against 3 already highly polished products, all of which had dedicated communities behind them.
Well it seems that Blizzard has done something completely out of left field, and it looks awesome.
Heroes of the Storm is the final name of Blizzard's entrance into the MOBA genre (although they're hesitating to use that term currently) and whilst it shares some base characteristics with other titles it's really something out of left field. For starters the typical game is slated to last only 20 minutes, something which is a downright rarity in any other MOBA title. Additionally some of the signature mechanics, like individual hero levels and items, don't exist in the Heroes of the Storm world. It also has different maps, various mechanics for helping a team achieve victory and a talent tree system for heroes that's unlike any other MOBA I've played before. The differences are so vast that I'd recommend you take a look at this post on Wowhead as it goes into the real nitty gritty of what makes it so unique.
From what I've seen it looks like Blizzard is aiming Heroes of the Storm primarily at people who aren't currently MOBA players as it seems like the barrier to entry on this is quite low. Traditionally this is what has turned people off playing such titles as the learning curve is quite steep and quite frankly the communities have never been too welcoming to newer players. Heroes of the Storm on the other hand could be played 3 times in the space of an hour allowing new players to get up to speed much more quickly. At the same time though I think it will appeal to current MOBA players seeking a different experience, whether they're feeling burn out on their title of choice or just want something different every once in a while.
I'm quite keen to get my hands on it (I've signed up for the beta, here) as I think it'll be quite a bit of fun, especially with my current group of friends who've all taken to DOTA2 with fervour. It's great to hear that it's going to be a stand alone title rather than a map within StarCraft 2 and I think that will give Blizzard a lot of freedom with developing the idea in the future. Whether or not it can have the same longevity through a competitive scene like all MOBA titles before it thought will remain to be seen but I get the feeling it'll be something of a LAN favourite for a while to come.
Valve spent all last week teasing the greater Internet community about how the Steam Universe was going to be seeing some massive expansion in the coming year. The first announcement, SteamOS, set the tone for the rest that followed them even though many a Valve fanboy hoped that the last announcement would be Half Life 3 (although honestly they do that with any announcement from Valve). Whilst it's been known that Valve wanted to make an attempt on the living room for some time now, as Big Picture mode demonstrated, these last 3 announcements form the basis of their first dedicated attempt to bring PC gaming into the world that consoles have dominated for decades.
And the crazy thing is it might just work.
PCs were the dominant platform for quite a long time, indeed those of us who grew up with games during the 80s and 90s would have had it as their platform of choice. Many of us would have had consoles as well however but the best games that we played would always be found on a PC. Over time the convenience of consoles started to attract more and more people to gaming and this snowballed to the point where the vast majority of gamers now get their experiences through a console of some type. However to many of us there is still nothing better than a PC for gaming and with the time frames between console generations getting longer and longer the PC has seen something of a resurgence of late, especially with distribution platforms like Steam backing it.
However the primary interface for a PC, the mouse and keyboard, isn't exactly conducive to the living room environment. Most of us PC gamers have been at a LAN where we were confined to a couch or attempting to play games on our big TVs just for the fun of it only to find that the experience is sub-par when using traditional PC input methods. However whilst you can get around this with a controller there are genres of games where a mouse and keyboard are required (any RTS and, personally FPS). The Steam Controller seems to be an attempt to bridge these two worlds together and I can see some situations where it would work however there are others where it will still struggle. I'll reserve final judgement until I have one in my hands but suffice to say that I feel that RTS style (like DOTA2) games will struggle with it.
What I'm particularly interested to see is what kind of hardware Valve will make available as part of their Steam Machine platform. Traditionally PCs required fairly regular refreshes in order to play the latest games (I do mine every 3 years at the latest) although that has been stymied somewhat by the consolization of games. The specifications of their hardware will determine where the line is drawn between games that have a great experience and ones that don't as whilst it'd be great to run Crysis 3 at 1080p @ 60fps the hardware required to do so would push the cost of a potential Steam Machine far beyond that of a traditional console. In short if Valve is trying to compete with consoles they're going to have do it in the same price range and that will put an upper limit on its capabilities.
The sum total of all these different parts is a clear strategy from Valve to increase the PC platform's market share and, consequently, grow Steam's potential market. It's a smart move as they've effectively dominated the PC as a platform and the next logical step is to grow it further. This can only be done through cannibalizing gamers from other platforms and the best way to do this is to bring Steam to them rather than try to convince them to switch to PCs. Whether that value proposition works for current console gamers is something I'm not completely sure of however if anyone can convince them to come across it's Valve.
In the digital distribution world there's really only one player: Steam. Sure there are alternatives like GoG or Desura but they're essentially niche branches that cater to a specific audience, ones that favour no DRM and modding respectively. The one notable competitor to Steam is Origin, the platform that was built solely for the purpose of distributing EA's games. Love it or hate it if you want to play one of their games you're going to have to download Origin and, for people like me who like to review games, this means a non-zero portion of my game library is on there. The only reason it exists is so EA can capture that part of the market that it was losing to Steam although if the words of EA's EVP Andrew Wilson are to be believed it's all about creating a better experience for gamers:
"I think your perception is absolutely correct," Wilson agreed. "I think when I look at the journey that service has taken, I think the transaction component of that service has taken a disproportionate amount of the communication and mindshare of what we really try and provide, and the barrier that that puts in between you and the game that you want to play."
"We think of Origin, in this new world, as the gracious host of the party. It's not the center of attention; it's not the DJ, it's not the dance director, it's just a gracious host. It's someone who greets you at the door and ushers you in to where you want to go and points you in the direction of your friends so that you can go and party with them together. That's really how we see it."
Wilson is trying to change the narrative around Origin, pushing it away from the widely held perception that it's just a money grab (which it is, there's no doubt about this) and trying to guide it more towards it being something of a value added service. Indeed this is apparently where the future of Origin lies, in adding more features to it that mimic those that have been a major part of Steam for years. He'd like to think of Origin as the place gamers go to play their games because that's where all their friends are, they're just the facilitator that allows them to join up. The rest of the interview reads like the ramblings of someone trapped in a fever dream as the world that Origin exists in is so vastly different from the one Wilson paints for it.
I'll be frank when I say that any game that's on Origin puts up an instant barrier for me, both as a player and as a reviewer. As a player I know that a game being on Origin means that the vast majority of my friends won't be playing it because they just can't be bothered with Origin as a service. Indeed for many recent games that I played on there like Simcity and Crysis 3 I was either alone or one of 2 people on there at any given time despite the long list of friends I have on there. Worse still trying to simple maintenance tasks on it, like backing up game files so I can move them (and the fact that that link is on the Steam forums should tell you something), is a royal pain in the ass which eats away at the time I could be doing what I wanted to be doing: playing the damn game. This is on top of the lack of screenshot functionality which means I have to run FRAPS in order to get the screenshots for review which doesn't help to endear Origin to me.
It's not just the simple fact that Origin is yet another piece of software we have to install and maintain, that's just the beginning, more it's because Origin is an inferior service, one that we're locked into using should we want to play an EA published game. It may make the experience for EA games better due to the common installation and patching platform but that's all it does and it's not something that couldn't be accomplished through other, more established channels. It's akin to all those social services that every game seems to have these days (and as we've seen are massive security risks) which are required to play the game.
Gamers don't want this; it took us years to warm up to Steam and the idea that we'll somehow cosy up to yet another service that provides next to no benefit for us is a ludicrous proposition. If EA really did understand gamers like they're purporting to they wouldn't have bothered with Origin as a digital distribution service in the first place, they would've just made it a back end platform that all their games can use should they not want to use Steam's. EA might think that it's just a matter of layering on some more services and features but it's going to need so much more than that before gamers will consider it on the same level as Steam. With Origin's primary focus being EA games I don't believe that will ever be achievable, especially when Valve keep going from strength to strength with Steam.
I'm not a big user of the second hand market but there have been times when I've delved into it in order to get what I want. Usually its when I find out about a particular collector's edition too late to buy a retail copy and will just wait it out until someone wants to hock their copy on eBay where I'll snap it up for a song. The last game I did this with was Uncharted 3 (although I failed to mention the saga in the review) and whilst I didn't get all the collector's edition downloadable goodies the seller went out of their way to make sure I got a similar amount of value as they did when they purchased it new. I certainly didn't expect this but it was deeply appreciated all the same.
However his generosity is a symptom of the larger problem at play here. Almost 2 years ago a silent war began between developers (well mostly likely the publishers) and the second hand market where first sale doctrine was being usurped by crippling used games. The first title that I purchased which was affected by this Mass Effect 2 and whilst I have no intention of ever selling that game the fact that it was crippled after initial sale didn't sit particularly well with me. The trend has been on the increase as of late with many games including some form of one time use DLC in order to make second hand titles less attractive.
It gets even worse when rumours start surfacing that the next generation consoles will start supporting features that cripple second hand games natively removing the requirement from game developers to implement their own system. The justification would probably be something along the lines of "this is what we've done for ages on the PC" which is kind of true if you count CD keys but they were usually transferable. There's also the sticky issue of digital downloads which currently have no method on any platform for enabling resale which is why many publishers are beginning to favour those platforms instead of physical retail releases.
The golden days of unsellable digital titles (and by extension crippled second hand titles) may not be long for this world however as the German consumer protection group VZBV has started legal proceedings against Valve in regards to the Steam platform. This isn't the first time they've gone up against them but recent rulings in the EU have set up some precedents which could lead to digital distribution platforms having to implement some kind of second hand market. Considering Steam has been dealing in digital trade for many years now it's not like they're incapable of delivering such functionality, they just simply haven't had the incentive to do so. Heavy fines from the EU could be the push they need in order to get them moving in the right direction but we'll have to wait until the court case resolves before we'll see any real movement on this issue.
I have real trouble seeing how the second hand game market is such a detriment to publishers. Indeed many people use trade-ins in order to fund new game purchases and removing that will put a downward pressure on new sales, to the tune of 10% or so. Now I don't know how much revenue that publishers are making off those second hand uncrippling schemes but I'm sure a 10% increase is above that, especially if you count the amount of good will generated from not being a dick about the used market. Valve would be heralded as the second coming if they enabled used game trading on Steam, even if they charged a nominal fee to facilitate the transaction.
Really I can't see any downsides to supporting the second hard market and actively working against it doesn't do the publishers any favours. I'm not saying they have to go out and actively help facilitate it but they could simply not try to work against it like they're doing right now. Digital distributors do have to pick up their game in this regard however and I hope it doesn't come down to strong arming them with the law. Should the EU ruling hold up however that's could very well be what happens but it would at least be a positive result for us consumers.
The defacto platform of choice for any gamer used to be the Microsoft Windows based PC however the last decade has seen that change to be some form of console. Today, whilst we're seeing something of a resurgence in the PC market thanks in part to some good releases this year and ageing console hardware, PCs are somewhere on the order take about 5% of the video game market. If we then extrapolate from there using the fact that only about 1~2% of the PC market is Linux (although this number could be higher if restricted to gamers) then you can see why many companies have ignored it for so long, it just doesn't make financial sense to get into it. However there's been a few recent announcements that shows there's an increasing amount of attention being paid to this ultra-niche and that makes for some interesting speculation.
Gaming on Linux has always been an exercise in frustration, usually due to the Windows-centric nature of the gaming industry. Back in the day Linux suffered from a lack of good driver support for modern graphics cards and this made it nearly impossible to get games running on there at an acceptable level. Once that was sorted out (whether you count binary blobs as "sorted" is up to you) there was still the issue that most games were simply not coded for Linux leaving their users with very few options. Many chose to run their games through WINE or Cedega which actually works quite well, especially for popular titles, but many where still left wanting for titles that would run natively. The Humble Indie Bundle has gone a long way to getting developers working on Linux but it's still something of a poor cousin to the Windows Platform.
Late last year saw Valve open up beta access to Steam on Linux bringing with it some 50 odd titles to the platform. It came as little surprise that they did this considering that they did the same thing with OSX just over 2 years ago which was undoubtedly a success for them. I haven't really heard much on it since then, mostly because none of my gamer friends run Linux, but there's evidence to suggest that it's going pretty well as Valve is making further bets on Linux. As it turns out their upcoming Steam Box will be running some form of Linux under the hood:
Valve's engineer talked about their labs and that they want to change the "frustrating lack of innovation in the area of computer hardware". He also mentioned a console launch in 2013 and that it will specifically use Linux and not Windows. Furthermore he said that Valve's labs will reveal yet another new hardware in 2013, most likely rumored controllers and VR equipment but we can expect some new exciting stuff.
I'll be honest and say that I really didn't expect this even with all the bellyaching people have been doing about Windows 8. You see whilst being able to brag about 55 titles being on the platform already that's only 2% of their current catalogue. You could argue that emulation is good enough now that all the titles could be made available through the use of WINE which is a possibility but Valve doesn't offer that option with OSX currently so it's unlikely to happen. Realistically unless the current developers have intentions to do a Linux release now the release of the Steam Box/Steam on Linux isn't going to be enough to tempt them to do it, especially if they've already recovered their costs from PC sales.
That being said all it might take is one industry heavyweight to put their weight behind Linux to start a cascade of others doing the same. As it turns out Blizzard is doing just that with one of their titles slated for a Linux release some time this year. Blizzard has a long history with cross platform releases as they were one of the few companies to do releases for Mac OS decades ago and they've stated many times that they have a Linux World of Warcraft client that they've shied away from releasing due to support concerns. Releasing an official client for one of their games on Linux will be their way of verifying whether its worth it for them to continue doing so and should it prove successful it could be the shot in the arm that Linux needs to become a viable platform for games developers to target.
Does this mean that I'll be switching over? Probably not as I'm a Microsoft guy at heart and I know my current platform too well to just drop it for something else (even though I do have a lot of experience with Linux). I'm very interested to see how the Steam Box is going to be positioned as it being Linux changes the idea I had in my head for it and makes Valve's previous comments about them all the more intriguing. Whilst 2013 might not be a blockbuster year for Linux gaming it is shaping up to be the turning point where it starts to become viable.


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A tropical storm moving across the Gulf of Mexico may bring much needed rain to drought stricken Texas.
Forecasters say Tropical Storm Don is moving fast and should make landfall on the southeastern Texas coast Friday night.
The storm is about 500 miles southeast of Corpus Christi, Texas, moving northwest with 40 mph winds.
Don, the fourth named storm system of the tropical season, formed Wednesday evening, north of the Yucatan Peninsula.
A tropical storm watch is now in effect from the mouth of the Rio Grande northward to west of San Luis Pass.
On Galveston Island, city and emergency officials are on alert in case Don heads in their direction.
Don is not expected to reach hurricane strength, and forecasters say the storm surge may be smaller in strength as well.
National Weather Service
NWS Storm Track of Don
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Guillaume Côté. Photo by Aleksandar Antonijevic.
Guillaume Côté was born in Lac-Saint-Jean, Québec. He studied at Canada's National Ballet School, joined The National Ballet of Canada in 1999 and became a Principal Dancer in 2004. In 2013, Mr. Côté was appointed Choreographic Associate.
Mr. Côté's repertoire includes the principal roles in Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet, Giselle, Nijinsky, The Nutcracker, Onegin, Hamlet, Carmen, Grand pas Classique, Opus 19/The Dreamer, Apollo, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Diamonds and Rubies from Jewels and Theme and Variations. Mr. Côté has also danced lead roles in ballets by James Kudelka, including Ferdinand in An Italian Straw Hat, Prince Charming in Cinderella and Will in The Contract (The Pied Piper). With English National Ballet, he danced the role of Gene Kelly in Derek Deane's Strictly Gershwin.
As a guest artist, Mr. Côté has danced with Teatro alla Scala, English National Ballet, The Royal Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, The Mikhailovsky Theatre, The Hamburg Ballet and Stuttgart Ballet and performed in Kings of the Dance, Gala des Étoiles, Stars of the 21st Century, The Vision of Manuel Legris and Roberto Bolle and Friends.
Mr. Côté choreographed and starred in the short film Lost in Motion which was presented at TIFF in 2012. His work No. 24 won third prize at Ballet Society Hanover's 25th International Competition in 2011 and is featured this season. Also a musician and composer, Mr. Côté won a Gemini Award and the Galileo 2000 A Life for Music Prize for Moving to His Music: The Two Muses of Guillaume Côté.
Guillaume Côté is sponsored through Dancers First by Emmanuelle Gattuso & Allan Slaight.
Principal Dancer Guillaume Côté answered questions in a live Q&A on Twitter Thursday, October 11:
Q: What is the best part about dancing in the same company as your wife? What is the most difficult part? Guillaume: The best part is to have someone who understands everything you're going through. The hardest part is there is very little separation between work and married life.
Q: Have you ever wanted to quit? Guillaume: Every Monday :). But seriously, sometimes it does get hard because of injury, etc but I know I can't live w/o dance.
Q: What's your favourite movie? Not dance related? Guillaume: There Will Be Blood and anything with Daniel Day-Lewis.
Q: How old were you when you started dancing? Did you only do ballet? Guillaume: I was three years old but many boys start later. And yes, I only did ballet. Good luck Nigel!
Q: What's your favourite workout song? Guillaume: The theme song from Rocky and anything Metallica.
Q: Did you ever think that while you were at NBS you would end up where you are today? Guillaume: I kept my goals short term, focused on training :)
Q: What's a role that you haven't danced that you would love to perform? Guillaume: Crown Prince Rudolf in Mayerling and Des Grieux in Manon.
Q: Do you prefer choreographing to dancing? Guillaume: They are 2 different things - I'm much less experienced in choreography so that's been a fun new thing to discover.
Q: I've always wondered, do you speak French? Guillaume: Oui bien sur, je suis natif du Lac-St-Jean!
Q: What's the most effective workout (that's not ballet class)? Guillaume: gyrotonics, combo of pilates & ballet.
Q: What was your role in your first Nutcracker? Guillaume: A rat in the battle scene.
Q: What city have you performed in that always has an engaged and captivated audience? Guillaume: Of course, Toronto! I was just in Novosibirks, Siberia last year and I have to say the audience was awesome.
Q: If you could have any super power, what would it be? Guillaume: Flying, it would be good for my job... easier on the knees!
Q: What has been the biggest challenge/reward so far in your career? Guillaume: The biggest challenge was overcoming a yearlong injury and the greatest reward is that I get to live my dream.
Q: What's your favourite classical piece of music? Guillaume: It changes daily but right now it's Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 2.
Q: How would you motivate more guys to start dancing? Guillaume: There are many beautiful women, my wife@HeatherOgden being one! And you get to stay in killer shape.
Q: What do you feel when you dance? Guillaume: I feel completely in the zone, detached from the world, and free.
Q: If you could have dinner with any three people, dead or alive, who would they be? Guillaume: Baryshnikov, Prokofiev and Hemmingway.
Q: When will you retire? Guillaume: Not anytime soon, hopefully!
Q: Song of a Wayfarer is such a powerful piece - how did you prepare emotionally for it? Guillaume: I researched great dancers who performed the role, studied the words of the songs, & rehearsed for hrs to find my interpretation.
Q: What was your 1st role with the National Ballet? Guillaume: Beggar Boy in Manon.
Q: What are your top three most crucial nutrition tips? Guillaume: Calcium and magnesium supplements and potassium from bananas. Glutamine is also good for muscle recovery.
Q: What roles have you identified with the most and why? Guillaume: Romeo because I'm a hopeless romantic
Q: What is your #1 piece of advice to aspiring dancers? Guillaume: Training is the most important thing, your body is your instrument and you have to tune it properly!
Follow the National Ballet on Twitter @nationalballet for more live dancer Q&A's. Follow Guillaume at @guillaume__cote.
Romeo and Juliet "Guillaume Côté is a wonderful performer whose dreamy classical proportions serve a strong and sensitive passion in his dancing. He gave us some truly handsome and effusive moments, and he dies spectacularly well." The Times, 2013
Nijinsky "For Principal Dancer Guillaume Côté in the title role, Nijinsky is a triumph of dramatic intensity" The Toronto Star, 2013
The Sleeping Beauty "Guillaume Côté… the company's homegrown male star, is a fabulous dancer… he has that innate musicality that makes for totally thrilling endings... Technically, too, he also has it all sewn up and – and more- and his Act III variation was tremendous for its unreined velocity." Dance Europe, 2010


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More reviews by MammothNoisesSilence
Great moisturizer, I have dry skin and it makes it look glowy and feel soft. One of the few inexpensive moisturizers I have used that actually makes skin feel soft all day, not just after applying. Will definitely rebuy
I love this stuff! I use it every night as my night mouisturizer (i have combination skin) and it is just the right amount for me! I apply it all over face, eyes, neck, and my skin instanty feels amazing!! I've been using it for about two months and my skin looks very good. I did a whole new routine and it could be all the combinations of products but I do feel that my skin has benefited from this moisturizer
This is a nice moisturizer, lightweight, glides on smoothly and feels soft and confortable on and not greasy, it has very fine shimmers (very very fine hardly noticeable if not close up) to give a pretty glow. I noticed a subtle brightening on my skin too. I like the very nice pump jar packaging that way fingers doesn't touch the product.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No
I am currently using Matte Chance, but I tried a few samples of See Things Clearly and I love it too! It made my face smooth, glowy and actually felt like I had a primer on. I highly recommend and can't wait to use once the weather cools down. Great scent, great dispenser, cute container, good price!
This is a great nightime moisturizer for me. It has a bit of shimmer to it, so I don't use it for daytime. I use Mark's Matte Chance Moisturizer for day. I find this stuff really improved the clarity of my skin and seemed to fade the few red spots leftover from popping pimples ( I know this is bad, but sometimes I can't help myself!). I love that it's oil-free and it doesn't cause breakouts for me. The packaging is super cool and the lid dispenses the perfect amount. The pump literally uses every drop of the moisturizer too. When I finish a jar and open it up, there is literally no trace of the product left inside. It is a bit pricey, but they often have the Mark skincare line in the demo books for half off. It's worth the price!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No
I got this thru a swap since I wanted to try it before buying it...well I must say that I will be buying it...it's a great great moisturizer! I love how my skin feels so soft and NON greasy nor dry...even after I put my makeup on it feels hydrated..usually I get greasy throughout the day right on the T-zone NOT with this moisturizer..yay! LOVE LOVE LOVE...I can careless about the smell that's not very appealing but that's OK love this stuff!
This is a gel-like pearly lotion that smoooths on like a dream and acts as a moisturizing primer in my experience of using it.
I have dry skin with oily nose and this takes away the oilies on my nose, moisturizes without being greasy and gives my skin a beautiful poreless, luminous look that lasts until I take it off. Make up goes on over this beautifully as it would if I were using a good primer but most days I don't bother or need much - a bit of concealer around nostrils, blush.
I would not classify this as cheap, cheap, cheap considering the relatively small amount you get in the jar but it's a good price for the quality. The jar is squat, round with a top you easily remove to reveal another top with a small hole in it. The top is actually a pump and you tip the jar upside down and press the pump and one pump of product will do your whole face. I have never got a bum pump and after a few hits to the bottom of the jar when I first get it, the product comes out easily - towards the end I store the jar upside down so all the product falls towards the top of the jar and then finally I unscrew the pump off easily to use the product to the very last drop.
I really love this stuff BUT it has no SPF in it which may or may not be bad news to some of you. Not to me. Perfect base for non-shiny photos and otherwise I use it with a sunscreen moisturizer by putting a pump full in with it - still gives me a nice finish.
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No
I love this product!
I've used many different kinds of moisturizers.
High end to inexpensive.
I think it cost $15.
I'm not going to say I have a certain kind of skin. Because it depends on the weather.
But it even's out my skin tone, keeps blemishes away, and keeps my face moist without looking oily.
The packaging is really cool also. And the pump that is used it really neat.
If your looking for a moisturizer, you should at least try it and see how you like it.
I'd say the price tag was a bit high for the amount of product you get, but since you only have to use a little each day, it's bearable. Everyone talks about how the dispenser is frustrating but I just thud it before I press down or turn it upside down and press it into your hand. I think it's fine.
Well, the product itself has tiny tiny sparkles that make your skin seem "brighter" & I actually like it. I originally didn't know it had that but when I used it, the sparkles aren't noticeable at all, they give a very subtle effect. Unlike other people that use this at night because it doesn't have SPF, I use this in the morning on days that I don't want to put on foundation and other makeup proucts because I feel like it just gives me a natural glow. Plus I feel like if you use it under foundation or other products or if you use it at night, you're kinda wasting the sparkles & whatnot, cause then you might as well have used matte chance.
All in all, I like it. :)
I don't use this anymore.. but I don't not like it.. I guess I just needed a more matte moisturizer (Clean & Clear soft day moisturizer). This is alright. If I ever want to use it, I can because it's not a horrible product at all - i just have no use for it anymore.
Pump bottle is still cute.


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Joining Elder B.J. Larson is Elder Kolton Brown and Sisters Lynsie Clark and Madison Whitehead.
Larson has been in the community for approximately five months. While noting he has enjoyed working with the people in Cleveland, he said he has also grown as a Christian.
"The experience has humbled me a lot," he said "I can see other perspectives."
A Pleasant Grove, Utah, resident, Brown plans to study medicine after completing his missionary work.
Brown has been in Cleveland about two months. He noted the "people are amazing — so nice and easy to talk to."
He noted the missionary experience has helped him see how "important the Gospel is in my life."
He has also learned how to be more independent and how to work with companions.
Clark, from Spring City, Utah, has been in the community about three weeks.
She said she has found it is possible to love people you don't really know.
She said her training in preparation for the mission has helped her learn more about the Bible. "It has been a blessing," Clark said.
Whitehead is nearing the end of her mission journey. She has been a missionary for 15 months. She started in Rogersville, then Knoxville and is now in Cleveland.
She had completed one semester of a general college major before starting her mission.
Whitehead noted the mission training helped her adjust to the adoption of a "lifestyle. It is one totally focused on sharing the Gospel and thinking outside yourself."
The experience has left her "much more committed to Christ. ... I have learned to really care about people.
"Serving the Lord full time will bring you closer to Christ than anything else you can do," she said.
The missionaries are available to talk with anyone wanting to know more about their message. The elders can be reached at 423-994-1734 and the sisters at 423-503-6394.
The Mormon church meets at 9 a.m. with Sunday school to follow at 10 a.m.
The Cleveland LDS church is located at 4200 Pryor Road.


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Solid economic growth will help the federal budget deficit shrink this year to its lowest level since President Barack Obama took office, according to congressional estimates released Monday.
Blind harbor seal learns basic skills at Alaska aquarium
The Associated Press |
posted Jan 26th - 5:51pm
A blind harbor seal is learning basic behaviors such as being fed by hand at an Alaska aquarium.
GOP donors appear in no hurry to commit to 2016 candidate
Jill Colvin and Philip Elliott, Associated Press |
posted Jan 26th - 4:40pm
Add Chris Christie to the list of prospective candidates for president now taking donations, a group of Republicans that might ultimately top two dozen.
Law enforcement wants popular police-tracking app disabled
Eileen Sullivan, Associated Press |
posted Jan 26th - 4:12pm
Law enforcement is concerned that the popular Waze mobile traffic app by Google Inc., which provides real-time road conditions, can also be used to hunt and harm police.
EPA: Over 4M gallons pumped from site of ND saltwater spill
The Associated Press |
posted Jan 26th - 4:01pm
The Environmental Protection Agency says more than 4 million gallons of a mixture of freshwater, brine and oil have been pumped from the area affected by the largest saltwater spill of North Dakota's current energy boom.
Democrat assails GOP leader of House Benghazi committee
Matthew Daly, Associated Press |
posted 25 minutes ago
Democrats on a special House committee investigating the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, have complained that the panel's Republican chairman has excluded them from crucial steps in the investigation while Republicans meet with witnesses.
Employers: Agreement made on key issue in port labor dispute
Justin Pritchard, Associated Press |
posted 45 minutes ago
Negotiators working on a new contract for dockworkers at West Coast seaports, which handle about $1 trillion worth of cargo annually, have resolved a key dispute in their difficult talks, an association representing employers said Monday.
Drilling plan may restrict sensitive Arctic Ocean areas
Dan Joling, Associated Press |
posted 45 minutes ago
The federal Department of the Interior will make additional areas of Arctic Ocean waters off-limits to drilling when it announces a new five-year offshore drilling plan, a member of the Alaska congressional delegation said Monday.
Lyft cars doing away with pink furry mustache
The Associated Press |
posted 55 minutes ago
The pink mustache is out.
Budget for Koch-backed network: almost $1 billion for 2016
Philip Elliott and Steve Peoples, Associated Press |
posted Jan 26th - 5:40pm
Flexing its financial might, the political machine backed by billionaires Charles and David Koch on Monday told its allies that spending across its conservative network would approach $1 billion ahead of 2016's elections.
Senate Dems block GOP effort to wind down pipeline debate
Dina Cappiello, Associated Press |
posted Jan 26th - 5:01pm
Senate Democrats temporarily stalled progress Monday on a bill to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline, the top priority of the Republican-controlled Congress.
BP calls witnesses as it fights for lesser spill penalty
Cain Burdeau, Associated Press |
posted Jan 26th - 4:51pm
BP struggled for 87 days to contain the millions of gallons of crude that spilled into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, but an expert witness on Monday called its cleanup response exemplary.
Here is the latest Utah news from The Associated Press
The Associated Press |
posted Jan 26th - 4:11pm
Defense lawyers say they're negotiating with prosecutors for a plea deal in the case of a Utah woman accused of killing six of her newborn babies and storing their bodies in her garage. A hearing in the case of 39-year-old Megan Huntsman was delayed for two weeks today. She faces six counts of murder in the deaths discovered as her estranged husband cleaned the garage in April.
Credit card interest reduction fails in Colorado
Kristen Wyatt, Associated Press |
posted Jan 26th - 4:11pm
A failed proposal to reduce finance charges on some credit cards became the latest casualty Monday for Colorado Democrats trying to find a new focus in the minority.
New $103M midyear deficit because of oil price plummet
Melinda Deslatte, Associated Press |
posted Jan 26th - 4:01pm
Louisiana will have to close a more than $103 million deficit in the remaining five months of the budget year, as the steep drop in oil prices worsens the state's ongoing financial problems.
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About Us
Consolidated Transport and Rigging was established in 1994 to capture the niche-market in South Africa and it's neighboring states by providing tailor made heavy lifting, transport and rigging solutions. Our ongoing success is based on our proven ability to provide customer-driven solutions, setting new standards in our evolving market.We are among the best in the industry and our specialized high-tech equipment is unsurpassed. Add to this, around 40 experienced employees and you have a team both determined and designed to carry out even the toughest task. We have the right equipment, the right talent and the right attitude to do the job. During 1995, we successfully delivered and rigged rectifier equipment and batteries to most of Escom Power-stations, sub-station and high sites in South Africa. Completing this national Escom, Siemens and First National Battery projects, established
Consolidated Transport and Rigging as a prominent and competent supplier to the electrical industry, both on and off the beaten track.
Technical ability
The technical ability of our drivers, crane operators and riggers are renowned and trusted by South Africa's largest construction, manufacturing and industrial clients. At Consolidated Transport and Rigging, complying with Occupational Health & Safety Act, statutes and regulations is much more than an obligation to the bureaucrats. It is key contributor to the success of our enterprise. After all, we're engaged on major projects because of our reputation for exercising due diligence in absolutely everything we do.So, when you do business with us, you can be safe in the knowledge that we leave no stone unturned in regards to health and safety requirements.


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Use Urgent Detective to find out the TRUTH about ANYONE! Search through online databases and archives.
Good news is that Urgent Detective investigative help service could save you long hours, days or even weeks of hard searching, possibly in vain. Get helped by the Urgent Detective!
Urgent Detective operates under its own domain name HERE
St. Charles County, Missouri Free Public Records DirectoryLinks to state and local court records, general Missouri court information,. St. Charles County Recorder 201 N. Second, Ste. 338, St. Charles, MO 63301.


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Ever have one of those "ooops….today is Monday" moments?
I had that day today.
So here is the party! Thanks to everyone who linked up last week, awesome as always!!
You know the rules, be nice, no giveaways, etsy shops, or anything inappropriate. Be nice and visit others : ) "
Grab a button if you want me to have an awesome night!
We may be linking up with Jennifer Rizzo, My Repurposed Life, and HERE
We're social! Connect with us here:
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Academic Enrichment
Academic Enrichment Camp
Academic Enrichment Class
Adaptive Services
Advocacy & Social Services
Alternative Medicine
Apple, Berry & Pumpkin Picking
Art Camp
Art Class
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Baby Products
Baseball & Softball
Beauty & Spa
Behavior & Discipline
Behavior Management/Applied Behavioral Analysis
Birthday Parties
Camp Advisors & Consultants
Child Care: Special Needs
Childrens & Kids Museums
Classes, Fun & Socialization: Special Needs
Cooking Camp
Cooking Class
Creative Arts Therapies
Dance Camp
Dance Class
Day Camp/Traditional
Day Care & Child Care
Dentists & Dental Providers
Developmental Disorders: Special Needs
Diet & Weight Loss
Divorce & Custody Rights
Doctors & Medical Providers
Doctors, Medical Providers, & Treatment: Special Needs
Doula & Baby Nurse
Emotional, Behavioral & Socialization Disorders
Entertainment: Birthday
Family Law & Legal Services
Finance & Insurance
Food & Nutrition
Food Services & Catering
Foreign Language Camp
Foreign Language Class
Foreign Language: Education
GENERAL - Table of Contents
Home Services
Horseback Riding
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Kid's Health
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Learning Disabilities & Dyslexia
Legal Resources, Financial Aid, & Future Planning: Special Needs
Locations & Places: Birthday
Marriage & Relationships
Martial Arts, Karate, Judo & Tae Kwon Do
Math & Science Camp
Math & Science Class
Mental Health & Depression
Mental Health: Special Needs
Mommy & Me Class
Music Camp
Music Class
Nanny, Babysitter & Au Pair Services
Nursing & Breast Feeding
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Private School
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Skating & Ice Hockey
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Stores & Resources: Birthday
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Theater, Drama & Acting Class
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Therapy & Counselors: Special Needs
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Inspiring Readers
By Judy Antell
The New York Public Library's 115th Street Library just reopened after a $4 million renovation. The re-do of the1908 McKim, Mead & White building includes both restoration of original architectural details and the latest technology, with new computers for library visitors, new electrical systems and elevator, and new exterior stairs. Original wood shelves and built-in benches have been restored, along with decorative banisters and marble steps. There is a store room and toddler area with bright furniture and carpeting, and an Alvin Ailey Community Room where the library can offer programming. 203 West 115th Street, near Seventh Avenue; (212) 666-9393 or www.nypl.org.
Soft & Sweet You can find the softest stuffed animals and the sweetest dresses at Le Sabon & Baby Too. The boutique, which specializes in handmade soaps and lotions and bath products from the Dead Sea, recently expanded its offerings to include gifts for babies and moms. The store is at 834 Lexington Avenue, between 63rd & 64th Streets. For hours, call (212) 319-4225 or go to www.lesabon.com.
Hey, Presto! Fantasma Toys is a new place to stock up on magic tricks and learn a few new ones as well. The store, one of the only of its kind, offers a mix of its exclusive magic items and magical products from around the world, plus puppets for ventriloquists and stage make up. Fantasma is a visual treat — when you enter, you are immediately drawn to the 3-D optical illusion greeting you; staffers, including founder Roger Dreyer, perform magic tricks, improv-style. There are free half-hour classes for ages 7 and up: magic on Thursdays at 4 and 6pm, and Saturdays at 2 and 5pm; juggling, Wednesdays at 4 and 6pm; and balloon sculpturing, Fridays at 4 and 6pm. A changing display of Houdini props make this a must-see for any budding prestidigitator. There is a room for private parties, and even entering the space is tricky. First, you have to wave your hand a special way, and a door pops open. But there is another door behind it — a safe door. If this is a birthday party, the child's birthday magically becomes the code to the lock. And as part of a party package, the birthday child can be levitated. Fantasma Magic is at 421 Seventh Avenue, entrance on 33rd Street, 2nd Floor. For more information, go to www.fantasmamagic.com. Special! Any child who mentions 'Big Apple Parent' gets a free toy!
Let's Get Messy! There is hands-on bonding at the Parent & Child Clay Connection — a new class for children ages 7-12 with adult at Greenwich House. Projects include whimsical creatures, secret compartment containers, tea party sets, fantasy vehicles and special occasion platters, bowls and vases. On Friday evenings, sculptors are encouraged to come early and share dinner in the studio from 5:30-6pm; class runs 6-7:30pm. There's also a Saturday morning class, from 10-11:30am. Greenwich House is at 16 Jones Street, between West 4th & Bleecker. For more information, call (212) 242-4106 or go to www.greenwichhousepottery.org.
Earthly Messages in a Sci-Fi Film for Kids: 'Battle for Terra' Making Matzah with Your Children for Passover Catching Up With Andrea McArdle - The Original 'Annie' The Charms of Southern Vermont The Science of 'Grossology'...A Book for Kids
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Aquaholic Adventures has two locations!! We are at mile marker 100 at Key Largo Resorts and Marina. We have another location at mile marker 84 on the beach at Holiday Isle/Postcard Inn.
We specialize in paddleboard and kayak rentals, lessons, guided tours, exercise classes, paddleboard yoga classes,kids camps,race training, physical fitness programs and more! Kayak or Paddleboard out to the sandbar for the day!!! We can also come to you! No matter what you are looking for, we can fit all your paddlebaording needs. We are also teaming up with TheNightSUP, to offer night time paddlboarding and kayaking tours with built in lights. We offer several board options and classes to choose from! We honor all competitor rates and offer free instruction, all of our guides are paddle instructor certified!
Follow our blog for tips, techniques and where we will be next! 305 330 -9874


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Take control of your backgrounds with CSS3
CSS3 offers designers more flexibility with background images. Here we take a look at some of the key properties
Take control of your backgrounds with CSS3
CSS3 offers designers more flexibility with background images. Here we take a look at some of the key properties
Background images have played a key role in web design for as long as CSS has been popular, and support has been available. They are the aesthetic that creates the persona of a page. The big issue with background images is their lack of flexibility. They can repeat – perfect for textures, and they can be fixed to stay in place on screen but they cannot be resized. This means that developers who want a beautiful full-screen canvas, or simply more flexibility, have to improvise with absolute positioned tags, image sizes or code.
The background-size property, part of the CSS3 Backgrounds and Borders module, grants designers far more scope to be creative and with cleaner code. And, with support for multiple backgrounds by its side, this tasty duo is set to finally give web designers a chance to make the most of their backdrops.
This article was originally featured in Web Designer issue 190, authored by Steve Jenkins. There are no project files required for this tutorial.
01 Default value
The default value for the background-size property is auto. This displays the background image at its original size, eg 1,000 x 700px. The background-size property works in tandem with the background property so if the image is set to no-repeat only one instance will appear; on the other hand, if set to repeat it will do just that.
02 Specific size
An alternative to the auto option is a specific set of dimensions, eg 500 x 350px. The first value refers to the width of the image while the second refers to the height. Again, the repeat property helps to determine how the background appears.
03 Auto values
Background-size allows for the combination of specific sizes and the auto option. If the first value (width) is set to 500px and the second value to auto, the height will be automatically reduced proportionately to the width. This keeps the image's original aspect ratio. If only the first value is added it is assumed that the second is auto.
001 #topsection{
002 background: url(images/image.jpg) no-repeat
003 background-size: 500px auto;
004 }
04 Auto width
Adding the auto value first changes the perspective of an image. The first value (width) will now be determined by the second value (the height). The height will become the static value and the height will be automatically reduced/increased proportionately to the width, again keeping the aspect ratio.
001 #topsection{
002 background: url(images/image.jpg) no-repeat
003 background-size: auto 500px;
004 }
05 Percentages
To add more flexibility to the size of a background image the values can be added as percentages. Adding a percentage as the first value, eg 50%, determines that the width will be 50% of the screen or 50% of the containing div tag. The second value (height) will be set to auto and its size will be kept in proportion.
001 #topsection{
002 background: url(images/image.jpg) no-repeat
003 background-size: auto 500px;}


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Devils Army Far and Wide: Petter Carnbro from Sweden
Posted by cj225devs
Today we want to introduce you to Petter Carnbro. Petter was born in 1985 and grew up in a small town on the west coast of Sweden. In the early/mid 1990s, hockey cards were all the rage amongst the kids there and of course Petter was one of them. He started collecting and as everyone was choosing a team, he, for reasons unknown, chose the Devils. He believes his reason for choosing the Devils was the logo and the fact that they had some success in the seasons leading up to their first Stanley Cup in 1995.
Back in 1995, watching games was next to impossible in Sweden. His primary ways to follow the Devils was by watching occasional highlights on TV, or catch the results via newspaper or teletext. Nevertheless, he has stuck with the team through the years and when he went to college and got access to high speed internet, his interest really took off.
Petter's current favorite player is Zach Parise. When I asked him why he chose Zach, he said, "He plays the way I want a captain and a franchise player to play. It's the way he battles for pucks, goes into corners and the intensity he brings". He then went on to say, "I'm of course somewhat partial to the Swedish contingent of the roster and I'm hoping that Jacob Josefson develops into the great two-way pivot that we all want him to be. Of course I was also very excited when they drafted Adam Larsson and I'm looking forward to him fulfilling his potential in a Devils jersey".
We all know that there has to be someone in the past that all Devils fans love and Petter didn't have to go far to pick a fan favorite in Scott Stevens, "A truly intimidating player and he was the perfect captain" said Petter.
Petter does not currently own any memorabilia or jerseys (we may have to change that). One of his future purchases for sure will be a T-shirt or a hat or something along those lines. Petter is hoping that Parise will sign a long-term contract (something all Devils fans are hoping for) so that can be his first purchase.
Petter frequents some of the Devils forums and follows along via Twitter like everyone else. He follows the beat writers to get his daily dose of information and says that's just a small part of his NHL-related surfing, admitting that he's a big NHL-junkie.
In order to watch games, Petter ordered Game Center Live and watches as many games as possible, (usually 1 or 2 per week at the least). However, 7PM Eastern Time in the United States is 1 am in Sweden, so sometimes it can prove a bit difficult. "Whenever there's a matinee I circle it on the calendar and cancel everything, I'm not missing those for the world." Petter is truly a dedicated fan!
I asked Petter if he had any intentions of coming to the US to see the team play live and he said, "Making a trip in the future to attend a Devils game or two is in the plans – it just has to become reality. I'm also hoping for the team to be a part of one of those Season Openers over here in Europe, that'd be amazing".
Thank you Petter for allowing us to share your story about not just being a Devils fan, but for your dedication to a team so far away!
Posted on January 20, 2012, in Devils Army, Devils Army Far and Wide, Devils Army Generals, New Jersey Devils, New Jersey Devils Fans, NHL, Social Media and tagged Devils Army, New Jersey Devils, Scott Stevens, Zach Parise. Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment.


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2010 London Design Medal Awarded to Designer of UK Pavilion in Shanghai
A highlight of the annual London Design Festival is the presentation of the London Design Medal; given to a designer who has made a significant contribution to design and London having achieved international acclaim for their work. This year, Thomas Heatherwick has been awarded the Medal in recognition of his outstanding contribution to design. Heatherwick designed the UK Pavilion, shown above, at the 2010 Shanghai Expo, among his many designs.


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I got the SS CLEANCut Paper Towel Dispenser
I had my kitchen guy install it,he did it rather quickly. I loaded Bounty Paper Towel roll and it would not stop dispensing paper.It just kept giving me more and more paper. Read instructions,looked at their official site for trouble shooting tips,googled for solutions. After no remedy I called them. A person who could speak standard American English answered the phone and before I could finish describing the problem the customer service rep said it was a faulty sensor and they would ship me a new one ASAP. He asked me what color I wanted and my shipping info. Four days later I get it USPS. Installed and working like a champ. |
Follow-Up Postings:
- Posted by SparklingWater (My Page) on Thu, Jul 26, 12 at 22:56
Ha ha deeageaux, I love following your posts. You're always on the cutting edge! |
They learn how to save money from certain American auto maker. Let customer do final QA. |
- Posted by housefairy (My Page) on Fri, Jul 27, 12 at 10:59
Deeageaux, can you post a picture of it installed? Do you plug it in or is it battery operated? Would love to have one but am concerned that it would look humongous in the area I am considering. |
I plugged it in behind the unit into the plugmold. Looks like this. IF you don't have plugmold it might look like this This cabinet has no trim mold underneath so the top of unit is exposed Another slick install |
Is it 304 or 430 SS? That's important to know when shopping for an electronic stainless steel touchless auto cutting paper towel dispensing appliance. |
Most of the unit is silver plastic. Only a small amount of thin face trim is actual SS. I put it next to my Independent hood,which I know for a fact is 304 SS, and it looks the same. But it does not specify on the box or booklet inside. |
- Posted by housefairy (My Page) on Sat, Jul 28, 12 at 9:57
deeageaux, thanks for the pics. At least it doesn't hang out past the cabinets. That is also interesting about the mounting plate. |
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Schuyler Erle has been a Free Software developer and evangelist for over fifteen years. He was a co-author of ''Mapping Hacks'' and ''Google Maps Hacks''. Schuyler was also a co-founder of the OpenLayers and TileCache projects, and is a charter member of the OSGeo Foundation. He currently lives in San Francisco.
Jaakko Helleranta is a consultant on geo things and using technology in the field and considers himself a mapping generalist. He is passionate about the possibility of OpenStreetMap, Open Data, Open Source tools and the general Open Paradigm helping level the global playing field. He has worked with international development for over ten years. Jaakko got more involved with OpenStreetMap and HOT in the response to the Haiti earthquake of 2010 and ended up living in Haiti for three years. He is currently based in Nicaragua. He is the vice president of the HOT Board and contributes to OSM under username jaakkoh.
Heather Leson is a community builder, project leader, and idea hacker for global open source projects and communities. Some of the organizations she had lead include the Crisis Mappers Network, Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, Open Knowledge Foundation, Ushahidi, Random Hacks of Kindness, Mozilla and more. Heather has over 15 years of experience in technical incident management, software life-cycle development, customer care, and Internet communications. In her current role as Community Engagement Director at Open Knowledge Foundation, she is programme lead to support the Open Data community specifically focused on the developing world. As a Board member for Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team , Heather is focused on community engagement, organizational development and fundraising. Heather blogs at http://textontechs.com.
Mikel Maron is a programmer and geographer working for impactful community and humanitarian uses of open source and open data. He is co-founder of Ground Truth Initiative, and of the Map Kibera project. He's on the Board of the OpenStreetMap Foundation, and President of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, having helped to facilitate the OSM response to the Haiti earthquake. He's travelled widely, organizing projects in India, Palestine, Egypt, Swaziland, and elsewhere. Previously to this, he co-founded Mapufacture and worked on collaborative platforms, geoweb standards, and various applications, with a wide spectrum of organizations from UN and government agencies to anarchist hacker collectives.
Severin is a native of France qualified in archaeologist, geography and GIS. After various experiences as a GIS Information Manager or GIS consultant in the UN, he joined OSM after the Haiti Earthquake then HOT since 2011. An intense traveler, he has been active in many HOT field projects in Haiti, Mongolia and various countries in Africa for outreach, teaching, data collection, as well as remote Crisis Activations, translation, methodologies, database imports and conferences.
Harry Wood has been heavily involved in OpenStreetMap since the early days, as a mapper, developer, documenter, wiki gardener, and communicator within the community, bringing these skills to humanitarian mapping as a coordinator and motivator of the volunteer mapping community.
Executive Director
Kate Chapman is the Executive Director at the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team. Her most recent work has been in Indonesia working on a program over the three years working with the Australia-Indonesia Facility for Disaster Reduction using OpenStreetMap and InaSAFE to help disaster managers better develop contingency plans. Previous to working at HOT Kate was involved in development of multiple web-GIS applications including GeoCommons and iMapData.


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Description Facilities Map Important Information Marine Square is ideally located only metres from the Village Square Piazza, excellent restaurants and boutiques, as well as the scenic cliff paths for whale watching in season. This luxury apartment hotel offers the benefits of a hotel, with a reception area and daily servicing, but the privacy and flexibility of a self-catering unit. The apartments are spacious, comfortable, and tastefully furnished. Suites feature master en-suite bedrooms and offer king-size beds with 400 thread count Egyptian cotton bed linen, dressing gowns, and spacious bathrooms. The apartment hotel offers 10 luxury suites - four with three bedrooms, four with two bedrooms, and two with one bedroom. The suites are spacious, comfortable, and stylishly furnished. Type: HotelSleeps: 25 Check-in: 02:00 PM Check-out: 11:00 AM Reviews: 9 Wi-FiLanguages SpokenEnglishAfrikaansGrading5 Stars - Tourism Grading Council of South Africa Toggle Street View * We rely on Google's mapping service, and the location information supplied to us to show street view images. Please use street view as a guide only as we cannot guarantee its accuracy. 50% deposit is required to secure the booking and balance on arrival. Credit card details must be provided on arrival. An imprint of your credit card is made on arrival as a security and breakages deposit. In making a booking, you agree that your credit card may be charged in the event on breakages, damages or missing items, to the maximum of R2000.
Why use SafariNow? Over 140000 establishmentsBest price guarantee No booking fees Over 104000 customer reviews Need to speak to us?(South Africa) 0861 801 802(International) +27 21 710 5800


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Only Max didn't. And now, after five months of operation, Max is doing nothing more noteworthy than any of its less advantaged contemporaries were already doing seven days a week all over the city. It's the restaurant that should have been great, had every reason to be great, but isn't.
And that's a shame, because this kid still has promise. It's got a good home, right at the corner of 15th and Lawrence streets in Writer Square, smack in the middle of everything downtown, with nearby parking and the kind of moneyed, well-heeled foot traffic most owners would kill for. The slightly subterranean location is bright and well-lit, decked out in a palette of those weird colors you only get when you buy the big box of Crayolas -- mustard and lime and cerise -- with large, contrasting polka dots on the walls. At first glance, it looks like a room made up for a never-ending six-year-old's birthday party, all soft shades and rounded corners. But look a bit longer, and it starts seeming too contrived, too designed, to be just plain fun. Plus, there's a full bar hung with art-glass lamps like upside-down wineglasses -- and I don't know about you, but I don't remember any of my birthday parties being held at a place with a liquor license. Had they been, I'm sure the parents would have all been a whole lot happier. But who knows? Maybe the privileged kids have their own special Chuck E. Cheese's with a cigar bar and martini menu for the adults. If they do, I'll bet it looks a lot like Max Burgerworks -- clean and shiny and perfectly new all the time. I'll bet it even has the same smell -- the odor of precisely nothing at all hanging in the air. No meat on the grill. No onions caramelizing. Nada. Just air, no artificial flavors added.
1512 Lawrence St.
Denver, CO 80202
Category: Restaurant > Burgers
Region: Downtown Denver
Hand-cut fries: $3.50
with guacamole and salsa:
Fries with chili:
Chopped salad:
Max Burger:
Salmon burger:
Chicken burger: $11
Max has the benefit of coming from a good family, too, one with a successful and well-respected sibling and parents who know what they're doing. Max is owned and run by Gerard Rudofsky of Zaidy's fame; Gerard's son, Jason; and Greg Waldbaum, an Internet entrepreneur and friend of the Rudofsky clan with roots in the restaurant business: His great-grandmother owned Rosen's Restaurant way back in the day, his aunt was a caterer who happened to do Gerard's bar mitzvah fifty-odd years ago. And it was while cooking at a party for his parents that Waldbaum and the Rudofskys decided the time was right for the gourmet hamburger restaurant Gerard had been dreaming about for thirty years, long before he opened Zaidy's. They found the space (it's the former home of Mel Master's Top Hat, as well as many other eateries), they wrote menus, they picked suppliers. And just like that, Max Burgerworks was born. But it was no accident; it wasn't what you'd call unplanned. The kid burst onto the scene in July with a grand-opening shindig and the potential for a glowing future.
But Max doesn't look too bright right now.
The menu is Max's biggest burden. I like burgers. Everyone likes burgers. (Okay, vegetarians don't like burgers very much, and a simple veggie burger is conspicuously absent, although there is a portobello version.) But the trouble is, by last summer, the upscale-burger thing was already going the way of white rap metal and Madonna's movie career: It was cute at first, and a funny distraction from the norm, but now it's just goddamned annoying. Fifty-dollar truffle-stuffed Kobe (the cow, not the basketball player) burgers in Manhattan. Beef from open-range, organic, pesticide-free cows raised on a strict diet of foie gras and cotton candy, massaged daily by fifteen-year-old Chinese virgins and read poetry every night. Hamburgers served on thirty-grain wheat rolls with artisan mayonnaise and breeds of lettuce heretofore unknown to man. It's way past time for that nonsense to stop. A burger is a burger -- dead cow on bread -- and too much fussiness does nothing but insult the food gods of our grandfathers, for whom a rare patty on a supermarket bun with American cheese and maybe a couple of pickles was just fine. Some innovation is good. But tarting up a hunk of ground beef like you were taking it out for a night on the town is just plain wrong. And a little scary.
But it's not like Max had to become another Mickey D's. Or another New American clone featuring a few special burgers on the board of fare. Since damn near every restaurant in town now has some kind of jumped-up meat patty on its menu, Max had the opportunity to best them by simply doing the burger thing better -- by being innovative without getting excessive, and by keeping the burger in its rightful place as an essential element of cuisine. Rather than doing any of that, though, Max chose to not do much of anything, to take no chances whatsoever and stay right on the yellow line running straight down the middle of the road. Its two big, daring departures from burger-stand staples are a salmon burger with cheddar, smeared with a mystery aioli, and a ground-chicken burger topped by avocado slices, smoked bacon and caramelized onion. That's as exciting as things get.


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Your account | Today's news index | Weather | Traffic | Movies | Restaurants | Today's events | ||||||||
Monday, November 08, 2004 - Page updated at 02:15 P.M. Record number of provisional ballots issued during election By Susan Gilmore
That's almost double the number issued in the 2000 presidential election at 17,000. Of those ballots, 78 percent were counted. That number includes ballots to be mailed to other counties and states, but does not include the number of provisional ballots expected to be received by King County from other counties in the next nine days. Voters could use provisional ballots for several reasons: They didn't receive an absentee ballot; they voted in a precinct other than the one they were registered in. They were travelling and unable to go to their polling place. Elections officials couldn't find their names in the poll books. The voter moved and registration information was not updated. For more than three decades Washington has allowed provisional voting and it's now national law under the Help America Vote Act. In the primary election this year, King County issued 5,700 provisional ballots, and 90 percent were verified and counted, according to King County Elections director Dean Logan.
Provisional ballots will be researched during the 15-day canvassing period leading up to the election certification, scheduled Nov. 17. Once the voters' eligibility is determined the ballot is counted, but only for races they were qualified to vote on.
If a provisional-ballot voter wants to find out whether or not his or her vote was counted, the number on the ballot receipt needs to be matched with ballots that have been counted. The information will be posted on the King County Elections web site, www.metrokc.gov/elections or by phone at 206-296-VOTE. Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or email@example.com Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company
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Welcome to REmida Creative Reuse Centre!
REmida collects industrial discards from shops and factories around Perth, and makes these materials available to schools, childcare centres, artists and families. Come and visit us and see what we have to offer; come have a play or lend a hand, bring your kids!
We also run workshops and activities for schools, Early Years programs and festivals using our materials. We offer professional development workshops for teachers about how to use recycled materials in the classroom and other supportive practices to strengthen your learning environments.
Our aim is to encourage children and adults to think creatively about waste materials, finding new ways of thinking about waste.
What next?
- Where are we?
- Become a member
- Book a workshop or festival
- Become a volunteer
- Check out upcoming events
- Sign up for our mailing list
More information:
REmida Statistics
Collections of Materials
- REmida's collections are 99% clean industry discards from over 50 regular suppliers in 2011.
- In 2011 we diverted approximately 320 cubic metres from landfill.
- In 2011 REmida ran 51 creative reuse workshops reaching 2243 students.
- In the August 2010 to August 2011 period REmida was involved in 11 festivals with an approximately 2200 people participating in the activities.
Professional Development for Teachers and REmida seminars
- During August 2010 to August 2011, there were 17 workshops / seminars with approximately 300 participants.
Membership at REmida
- In 2011 REmida had over 300 members collecting materials with schools making up the highest percentage at 27%.
Volunteering at REmida
- And finally our centre would not exist without the contribution of our volunteers.
- In 2011 volunteers contributed 1,251 hours Thank you to all those that contributed.


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Top News Stories
North State Symphony Receives $1M Bequest
The gift from Redding philanthropists and music lovers Robert and Anne Morgan is the largest in NSS history. Full Story
Students Excel in National Cybersecurity Competition
CSU, Chico teams finished near the top of the National Cyber League's leaderboards. Full Story
Free Tax Preparation Offered on Campus
Accounting students once again partner with the IRS' Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program. Full Story
Exhibit: Attack of the Bloodsuckers
Jan. 31, 12:00 PM
Gateway Science Museum
Basketball vs. Dominguez Hills
Jan. 31, 5:30 PM
Acker Gym
Concert: The Hot Club of San Francisco
Jan. 31, 7:30 PM
Laxson Auditorium


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Summary: Approximation algorithms are currently a central and fast-developing area of research in theoretical computer science. This monograph covers the basic techniques used in the latest research work, techniques that everyone in the field should know, and shows that they form the beginnings of a promising theory. The author consolidates progress made so far, including some very recent results, and makes a strong effort to convey the beauty and excitement of work in the fi ...show moreeld. ...show less
Edition/Copyright: 01Filter by: All (19) | New (12) | Like New (1) | Very Good (2) | Good (3) | Acceptable (1)
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