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Junior 2006-07
Named the 2007 Dike Eddleman Athlete of Year ... Finished the season 32-9 in singles and 30-8 in doubles overall ... Tied for first with the most wins on the team with sophomore Marc Spicijaric ... Ranked No. 4 in singles (career-high) and No. 5 in doubles with Ryan Rowe in the final FILA ITA poll ... Advanced to the semifinals in the NCAA singles tournament as the No. 4 seed ... Became the first Illini to do so since Amer Delic did it in 2003 ... In the semis, was eliminated by eventual NCAA champion No. 2 Somdev Devvarman in a thrilling three-setter ... As the No. 8 seed, advanced to his second straight NCAA doubles final with partner Rowe to become the first doubles tandem to make back-to-back appearances in the finals with the same partner ... Claimed Runner-Up accolades after falling in a tight three-setter to the senior duo from Middle Tennessee State ... The duo finished the season 24-7 overall, 9-1 in the Big Ten, 19-5 in the No. 1 doubles slot and in duals ... Illinois' top tandem also went 14-5 against ranked opponents ... Garnered 2007 All-America honors in both singles and doubles to mark the third straight season to receive the accolade ... Played an intricate role in leading the Illini to the program's second ever NCAA team finals appearance where Illinois finished Runner-Up to undefeated No. 1 Georgia ... Voted the 2007 ITA National Player to Watch ... Selected as the Big Ten Player of the Year ... Unanimous All-Big Ten honoree ... Picked as the Big Ten singles and doubles automatic qualifier to the NCAA tournament ... Collected the season's first Big Ten Player of the Week laurel for the week ending Jan. 21 ... Made a quarterfinal appearance at the Polo Ralph-Lauren/ITA All-American Championships, losing his only match of the fall to then-No. 2 John Isner of Georgia in the quarters ... At the Napa Invitational, went 3-0 in singles and 2-0 in doubles en route to claiming Most Valuable Player honors ... Teamed with Rowe to claim the top seed in the doubles draw at the All-American Championships ... Selected as Illinois' Most Valuable Player by his teammates ... Finished the season 18-8 against ranked opponents .. Recorded a longest winning streak of seven, that coming during the Orange and Blue's tremendous finish to the season where the Illini took Runner-Up honors at the Big Ten Tournament and proceeded to win five straight and upset three higher-ranked opponents en route to the NCAA finals ... Went 22-7 at the No. 1 singles position ... Carded a 10-2 record in tournament play ... Spent 15 straight weeks ranked in the top 10 in singles and nine consecutive in doubles with Rowe ... Tallied a 9-1 ledger in conference affairs.
Sophomore 2005-06
Teamed with Ryan Rowe to become the third Illini doubles tandem to win the NCAA doubles title ... Entered the tournament as the No. 4 seed ... The pair finished the season 23-1, with their most notable win coming over then-No. 1 Scott Green and Ross Wilson of Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament final ... Dethroned the 2005 NCAA doubles champion duo of John Isner and Antonio Ruiz of Georgia ... With Rowe, went 12-0 against ranked opponents ... Concluded the season with a 32-2 doubles record overall and 7-1 in Big Ten action ... The team of Anderson/Rowe finished the season ranked No. 1 in the final ITA poll ... Selected a 2006 All-American ... Tabbed Big Ten Player of the Week on April 26 ... Named a Player to Watch by the ITA Regional awards committee ... Chosen as an All-Big Ten selection ... In singles, carded a 26-4 overall record, a 9-0 ledger at the No. 2 position and an 8-1 mark in Big Ten contests ... Went 10-3 against ranked opponents in singles action ... Won 12 straight matches in the opening part of the season ... Made it to the Round of 32 at the NCAA singles championships before falling to the third seed in the draw ... Wrapped up the year ranked No. 25 in singles by the ITA ... Member of the South African Davis Cup Team ... Opened the season ranked No. 18 in the ITA preseason poll ... Ranked No. 54 with Brandon Davis in the ITA preseason doubles poll ... Earned the No. 15 seed and reached the Round of 32 at the ITA All-American Championships ... Teamed with Ryler DeHeart in the doubles main draw of the ITA All-American Championships.
Freshman 2005-06
Big Ten Freshman of the Year ... Unanimous All-Big Ten Selection ... Went 22-5 overall on the season in singles and was 17-7 in doubles play ... Reached as high as No. 15 in the ITA poll ... No other Big Ten or Region IV player was ranked as high as Anderson or teammates Ryler DeHeart and GD Jones all season ... Did not compete in the fall semester ... NCAA singles tournament at-large selection ... Started his career 13-0, defeating six ranked opponents during that stretch.
Juniors/High School
No. 1 player in South Africa in the following divisions: 12-, 14-, 16- and 18-and-unders ... Represented South Africa in the World Cup ... Member of the South African Davis Cup team in 2004 ... Ranked 27th in ITF Juniors poll ... Won a Futures event in November 2004.
Son of Michael and Barbara Anderson ... Has one brother, Greg, who plays college tennis for ... Hobbies include music, computers and reading ... Aspires to be No. 1 in the world in tennis ... Most influential figure in his athletic career is his father, who showed him what it takes to become the best he can be ... Favorite player is Roger Federer.


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1 killed in North Loop crash
By Mike Glenn | March 7, 2013 | Updated: March 7, 2013 9:33pm
Photo By Brett Coomer/Chronicle
A man in his early 20s was taken to the hospital after he rear-ended a semi.
One person was killed Thursday in a crash that shut down eastbound main lanes along the North Loop near Jensen for hours.
The accident involving an 18-wheel truck and a van happened about 3:30 p.m., officials said.
The van collided with the back of the flatbed trailer.
No further information was available.

subset: commoncrawl


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The softcovers of The Happiest Days of Our Lives have just shipped, according to my printer, so I should be able to start taking orders next week. The limited edition hardcovers are taking much longer, and won't be here until the week of October 8, but I think it's close enough that I can start taking pre-orders for both versions next week.
I'm talking with David Lawrence about doing an audio version. We're hoping to record the first week of October, so it's ready to go at the same time as the printed versions.
Since I'm doing this book entirely on my own, I'm going to be drawing heavily on community support to help promote it, starting right now: if you got The Happiest Days of Our Lives this summer from one of my convention appearances, would you let me know what you thought, so I can make sure my marketing efforts reflect what readers are getting from the book?
From the people I've talked to already, I'm starting to get the sense that it inspires nostalgic memories of their own, which leads to discussing a lot of the shared experiences we who grew up in the 70s and came of age in the 80s share: Star Wars figures, video games, RPGS, things like that. I also hear that even if you've read these stories online, it's an entirely different experience to read them in print.
Andrew and I are working on a media kit like the one we did for Dancing Barefoot, and Roughy and I are busy building all the appropriate ordering and product pages at Monolith Press.
Questions? Comments? You know what to do.


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Although developing countries have made significant gains in access to mobile technology and infrastructure for information and communication technology (ICT) in the last few years, they are still struggling to achieve wide access to high speed broadband services. At the same time, price drops for such technology are not benefitting the world's poorest.
These findings, along with a discussion of statistics for ICT access and prices for services in 169 countries, were presented on 23 February at the United Nations. The statistics are found in a new report by the UN-affiliated International Telecommunication Union (ITU), entitled Measuring the Information Society 2010. While the report states that mobile phone technology penetrated 50 percent of the developing world in 2009, a mere 3.5 percent had access to fixed broadband, or high speed internet access.
Gary Fowlie, the head of the ITU Liaison Office to the UN in New York, explained to MediaGlobal, "why broadband is important is that it makes the ability to provide e-health, e-education, those kind of services, more ubiquitous and more available to all."
Statistics indicate that in low-income countries, the price of ICT services is significantly higher than in rich countries. Last year, ICT prices accounted for approximately 17.5 per cent of gross national income (GNI) per capita, making technology access much pricier in countries with a low per capita income than those with a high GNI. Despite the price and development disparities, infrastructure projects led by entities such as the World Bank have begun to boost the prospects for ICT access in the near future.
One of the report's authors, Susan Teltscher, noted that "the growth is strongest in Africa, generally speaking, but of course they are starting from very low levels." Teltscher, the head of the Market Information and Statistics Division at ITU, went on to point out: "There will be a number of changes also because of the undersea cables that are now connected to East Africa, so we are expecting to see some strong growth on some of the fixed infrastructure numbers."
The report claims that growth of ICT in developing countries is also widespread. China, a country with a massive amount of internet users, helped developing countries reach an internet penetration rate of 18 percent (the number falls to 14 per cent without China). Nevertheless, Teltscher pointed out that China's influence is mainly on the figures of overall penetration, and growth still remains strong in the rest of the developing world.
As Fowlie alluded, the benefits of both ICT development and reliable statistics are vast. ITU data is used to inform the decisions of other UN entities such as the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council, and helps industry officials set their social development policies.
"The potential of ICTs as a catalyst for development, whether it's in health or poverty reduction [or] education, is really something we need to continue to analyze and develop good data that will support that in the long term," said Fowlie.
The role of ICT data is also actively being used in the process of trying to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Teltscher said that the ITU data is utilized in the MDG monitoring process, and Fowlie described how the eighth goal calls for the provision of new technologies to poorer countries.
The ITU data does have drawbacks; namely, the information on prices and access are chiefly from 2007 and 2008, with some 2009 figures. Thus, information regarding the impact of the global economic crisis is not fully represented. Nonetheless, the ITU expects strong growth to continue for both rich and poor countries.


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Jody Scheckter Autographed by Jody Scheckter
Artist: Juan Carlos Ferrigno
Dimensions: 24 x 21
A classic vintage Formula One racing print taken from an original painting by Juan Carlos Ferrigno. This striking scene depicts Jody Scheckter driving his Ferrari 312T4 to victory, from pole position to the chequered flag, in the Monaco Grand Prix on May 27th. 1979. Scheckter was the last driver to win a driver's championship for Ferrari until Michael Schumacher did so 21 years later. The edition is limited to 500 artist-signed and numbered prints, personally autographed by Jody Sheckter, the 1979 Formula One World Champion!
Autographed by Jody Scheckter


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2014 Valspar Championship and other golf events
(32 images)
A gallery of images from the Valspar Championship and other golf tournaments being played around the globe this week.
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Valspar Championship - Final Round
PALM HARBOR, FL - MARCH 16: Scott Langley hits a tee shot on the 3rd hole during the final round of the Valspar Championship at Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club on March 16, 2014 in Palm Harbor, Florida.
Credit: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
Date: Mar 16, 2014
©2003-2013 PGA/Turner Sports Interactive. All rights reserved.
PGA.COM is part of Bleacher Report - Turner Sports Network, part of the Turner Sports and Entertainment Network.


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Using nature as prime inspiration, Israeli artist Anat Basanta organically incorporates Jewish cultural references into her lovingly shaped wares. This handcrafted Good Luck Garlic is a traditional charm for promoting superior health and fortune. Keep it supplied with a single clove for optimum effect.
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INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed his first piece of legislation since taking office.
The bill prevents an estimated $57 million property tax increase on Hoosier farmers by delaying the use of new soil productivity factors in farmland assessment.
Legislators want the Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) and the Purdue University College of Agriculture to complete a study on the process.
Indiana Representative Kathy Heuer was in Columbia City Saturday to convey the importance of this bill to local farmers.
To read the rest of this story, see the Feb. 28 issue of The Post and Mail. Don't have a subscription? Call (260) 244-5153 or subscribe to our e-edition [3]. For breaking news, sports updates and additional coverage, bookmark the homepage [3] and find us on facebook [3].
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That f4, 3~spear during vortex is pretty but it's so easy to drop (slips drops it often) that I dont think it's worth doing. 1, dash, 33~spear looks just as nice and it's a little easier to pull off imo.
Slips' d1, d4~spear during cross up - I must have it. Really hard to do though, especially online.
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10 PL Kung Lao vs Slips Scorpion
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Gnarly Adventurer
Joined: Dec 2004
Location: Arlington, Tx.
Oddometer: 268
Wow! This thread has sort of slowed down a bit since I last posted. I took my two dogs to the groomer this week. When I picked them up at Petco, I took them on the leashes to the car and had my wife pay for the grooming. We waited quite a while for her, but she took a really long time to come out to the car. When she came outside, she had a couple with a mini schnauzer trailing behind her. Yup, we inherited another riding partner, as my wife could not turn the dog down. The couple was giving it away and could not care for it. My wife is a softie and I guess I am too, but we really didn't need a third dog and if our landlord finds out, he may just have us in the doghouse for sure. My rig is apart at present, as I just had it powder coated and I am only mocking fenders and all into place at the moment. I can't really train this new dog (Hope) just yet, as the bike is not roadworthy just yet. I named her Hope, as my wife hopes we can keep her and I hope that we don't get into trouble by doing so. I know now that I can never take my wife with me to the groomer's again. :-)
Any rate, my rig is being done up into a Dog Taxi theme. It will have checkerboards on the fenders, tank and hack. The taxi sign will likely be placed onto the trunk decklid, as I seldom ride with a spare tire these days. Lots of ideas to ponder in what all I want on the bike to contrast with the orange color. The dogs are ticked that they have to wait for me to put it all back together before they can ride. Not in a hurry to get it done, as I want it done up right. Any rate, here are just a few random flickr pics to share with you. No pics of Hope just yet. She is a silver back gray color and a small dog, for sure. I have ridden with three dogs in the past, but I have no idea as to how easy she will be to train as a new hack partner. Hope to have some hack buddy photos of her in the Dog Taxi before long, but this may take a bit before getting it all back together.
A sidecar without a dog is just another sidecar.
There is a reason Dogs do not live as long as we do. They are your Resume' in Heaven...
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Stephen Colbert Calls Out Charles Dickens Over The Second City's A CHRISTMAS CAROL: TWIST YOUR DICKENS! in LA
Noted television personality, author and political gadfly Stephen Colbert has an issue with Charles Dickens over The Second City's "A Christmas Carol: Twist Your Dickens!" The two writers of the new holiday classic, Peter Gwinn and Bobby Mort, are former and current writers, respectively, of "The Colbert Report."
In a statement received by The Second City, Colbert states:
"The Second City's 'A Christmas Carol' was created by two of my writers! This Dickens jerk better have a good lawyer." - Stephen Colbert, Host of The Colbert Report, Second City Class of '94
Reached for comment at an undisclosed location, CTG Artistic Director Michael Ritchie said "This is between Stephen and Charlie. We don't want to take sides."
The Second City's "A Christmas Carol: Twist Your Dickens!" opens November 29, 2012, at Center Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre. Previews begin November 24 and performances will run through December 30.
Directed by yet another Second City alum, Marc Warzecha (Resident Director, The Second City) the cast features Frank Caeti ("MADtv"), Larry Joe Campbell ("According to Jim"), Dan Castellaneta ("The Simpsons"), Amanda Blake Davis ("Second City Does Dallas" at the Dallas Theatre Center), Brian Stepanek ("The Suite Life of Zack and Cody"), Jean Villepique ("Up All Night") and Ron West ("3rd Rock from the Sun").
The scenic design is by Tom Buderwitz, costume design by Leah Piehl, lighting design by Brandon Baruch and sound design by Cricket S. Myers. The production stage manager is Kirsten Parker.
With its trademark humor, irreverence and originality, The Second City, in a creative collaboration with CTG, is taking the classic Charles Dickens' Christmas tale and giving it a hearty twist. In addition to Scrooge (played by Ron West), the ever-morphing ensemble will bring the famous Victorian streets to frenzied life with Tiny Tim, that fat, plucked goose, all those know-it-all ghosts, a host of anachronistic characters and hilarious improvs which will have Dickens guffawing in his grave. The cast will be joined by an ever-changing stable of starry, drop-in special guests.
The Second City specializes in sketch comedy and improvisation and has delighted audiences for over 50 years. With resident stages in Chicago and Toronto and touring ensembles, The Second City entertains over a million guests each year. It is also the largest training center in the world for improvisation, sketch and acting, with schools in Los Angeles, Chicago and Toronto, and 20,000 registrations per year. The Second City served as a training ground for a host of famous alumni, including Mike Myers, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, John Candy, John Belushi, Catherine O'Hara, Tina Fey, Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert and more. Colbert said, "The Second City was everything to me," and Murray said, "Second City is the best job anybody in the American theatre can get. It's incomparable."
Tickets for "A Christmas Carol: Twist Your Dickens!" are available by calling (213) 628-2772, online at www.CenterTheatreGroup.org, in person at the Center Theatre Group box office at the Ahmanson Theatre or two hours prior to performances at the Kirk Douglas Theatre box office. The Kirk Douglas Theatre is located at 9820 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232.
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The Piaggio Story
Click on each titles to read the complete text.
1884 - 1903Piaggio came into existence in Sestri Ponente in the industrial periphery of Genoa in 1884. Situated beside the Odero shipyard, it soon became the most sought-after ship-fitting company in the area.▲
Rinaldo Piaggio (1864-1938) was just 20 years old when, on 10 October 1884, he signed the deed that set up Piaggio & C., a company formed together with a sculptor (Pietro Costa), an arms manufacturer (Giuseppe Piaggio) and a fourth partner who was simply defined "a property owner" (Giacomo Pastorino). Rinaldo was the son of Enrico, a local merchant who owned a timber sawmill, classified "by steam operation" in 1882 and, as such, among Genoa's most modern mechanised installations.
A mere three years later, in 1887, the production area would no longer do. The factory expanded, while the company's cabinet-makers were producing fittings for some of the finest Italian and foreign ships of the late 19th century. It was a very significant period in Italian history. The country was just taking off industrially, its start having come later than that of the major European nations. In this phase, there was plenty of room for people with ability and a spirit of enterprise, qualities in which Rinaldo Piaggio certainly wasn't lacking. Having divested himself of his business partners, he went ahead on his own, branching out into the railways, the most innovative sector of the time with excellent growth prospects. Here, too, significant new barriers were quickly crossed and major contracts were signed at home as well as abroad, including the royal train built in the early 1920s and the production of electric trains for which Piaggio took out a welding patent in Italy.
The MC2 at the entrance to the museum, unearthed at the Calabro-lucane railway, is an extraordinary sample of this period. Once again Rinaldo Piaggio found that the Sestri plant could not contain his dynamism. In 1901 the first steps towards the acquisition of a factory in Finale Ligure were taken and in 1903 it was finally purchased.
1903 - 1924The Great War caused a rise in demand for traditional transport such as ships and trains. At the same time, it opened a revolutionary frontier - aeronautics. Rinaldo wasn't about to be left behind. In 1915 the expert Sestri and Finale Ligure cabinet-makers got busy building wings and fuselage for new aircrafts.▲
1917 marked Piaggio's definitive entry into aeronautics. Rinaldo was on the lookout for new manufacturing space and, having come to know of the difficulties a Pisa aeronautics company was facing following the death of its proprietor Francesco Oneto, he did not hesitate to purchase the factory with all its equipment and running orders. It was a historical date: Piaggio was establishing itself in Tuscany, which meant that a new page was being written in the story of the company as well as that of a region that has been particularly important for Italian and world civilisation, culture and economic society. In those years Pisa was home to one of Italy's first airports ("Arturo dell'Oro"). The navigation company Società di navigazione Antoni (from the name of the aeronautical manufacturers F.lli Antoni) was created here, as was the private company Società anonima Costruzioni Aeronautiche, later known as CMASA, set up by a group of industrialists from Piedmont (among them Giovanni Agnelli), Liguria and Tuscany, of which Rinaldo Piaggio was vice president for many years.
Piaggio now had three factories and was considered one of the major Italian companies in terms of size, employee strength, production volumes and turnover. The end of World War I had a marked effect on economic development and the years of conversion from a war-driven to a peacetime economy were extraordinarily difficult. Piaggio, however, did not seem to be especially affected - at any rate not as much as other companies in the mechanical sector. The diversification of its production into various types of transport helped shield Piaggio from the worst of the post-war crisis, but the uncertainty of the time persuaded Rinaldo to look for a financially solid partner with strong finance and management skills. In 1920 the company reincarnated as Piaggio & Compagno. The new partner was Attilio Odero, a star in Italy's industrial and financial firmament. From 1872 to 1896 Attilio Odero (1.1.1854 - 23.7.1943) had managed the Odero factory in Sestri Ponente. In 1896 he expanded his business to the Foce shipyard and founded the N. Odero e C. company. He was chairman of the Terni steelworks in 1927, when the managing director was Vincent Ardissone, another close associate of Rinaldo's. Odero was also chairman of O.T.O. (Odero - Terni - Orlando) and founder and financier of the San Giorgio (1905), and was appointed senator of the kingdom on 2 March 1929. Attilio Odero became chairman of Piaggio & C. and would remain until 1943.
These were tumultuous years in a country wounded by the war and existing in an extremely complex political, social and economic scenario. Rinaldo and Attilio Odero witnessed a new phase of expansion as a result of having the best technicians of the time and modernised plants in Liguria and Tuscany for aeronautical, rail and ship fitting construction. In 1923 they employed new aeronautics technicians, among them Giovanni Pegna, an excellent aeronautical engineer and a partner in the Pegna-Bonmartini company. Negotiations with Pegna were long-drawn-out, with Bonmartini determined not to give up his top aeronautics man. Realising the negotiations would never end, Rinaldo broke off talks and bought the Bonmartini factory lock, stock and barrel, including technicians, experts and orders, for the considerable sum, for the time, of one million seven hundred thousand liras. The goal of acquiring Pegna's skills had been achieved and the first tangible result was the production of the P2 (Piaggio 2) fighter monoplane, the first of a long series that would include highlights such as the P7 - Piaggio corsa - and the four-engined P 108.
1924 - 1934Successful production and the expectations of post-war society led Rinaldo to look for yet another factory. Having identified a new business opportunity in the production of aircraft engines, in 1924 he bought the Pontedera-based Costruzione meccaniche nazionali, a small workshop that had emerged before the war from the engine section of the local agricultural consortium.▲
In a context that was still heavily dependent on the area's primary activity, agriculture, the Ligurian entrepreneur sparked transformation for the first time, immediately launching production of Jupiter engines under licence from Gnòme et Ròne - a licence acquired for one million liras. By this time Rinaldo was one of the rare Italians in the aeronautics sector - he was certainly its leading figure. In 1926, together with the few Italian pioneers of air transport, he founded the privately-held air transport company SANA, Società Anonima di Navigazione Aerea, to promote the first Italian airline for passenger transport. The purchase of the Pontedera factory was an extremely significant step in Piaggio history and demonstrated the consolidation of the company.
On the 9th March 1925, Rinaldo - intending to optimise the investments he had just made and expand his business to automobile construction - worked with Mario Tolomei of Florence towards setting up a new company, the Costruzione Automobili De Dion Bouton e Motori Jupiter. His share comprised the value of the Pontedera factory, registered in the books at three million liras. It was an ambitious project, but in the end the accord with Tolomei did not go ahead and Pontedera remained a centre for aeronautical engine production that major new engineers, among them Corradino D'Ascanio, would join in a few years' time. In 1924 Piaggio had factories of its own in Sestri Ponente, Finalmarina, Pisa and Pontedera. It also owned and administered forest areas in the Maremma (Montalto di Castro, Santa Barbara, Sant'Agostino) and Rome (Sezze Romano) provinces. These were functional production units for carbon supply and the production of timber needed for railway construction.
The new expansionist phase of the early 1920s led the partners to augment their share capital, which went from 15 to 30 million liras in 1930 to finance increased production. But new, disturbing clouds were gathering on the Italian and world horizons - the Depression was beginning. It was one of the most critical phases the company had faced so far and years of reduced orders and production would follow. Rinaldo's response to the crisis was to strengthen research and innovation. Alongside Giovanni Pegna, the company purchased the skills of other aeronautical engineering geniuses such as Giovanni Gabrielli (who built one of Italy's first modern wind tunnels at Finale Ligure during his stint with Piaggio) and Corradino D'Ascanio (1891-1981) the genius and inventor from Popoli, Abruzzo whom Rinaldo Piaggio stole from under the nose of Giovanni Agnelli and who designed the variable-speed propeller as soon as he joined Piaggio in 1934.
These details reveal how typical it was of Rinaldo and the company to constantly look for skills and technicians capable of rapidly coming up with innovative projects. Rinaldo surrounded himself with the best engineers and technicians, such as Pegna, Gabrielli, Giovanni Casiraghi and Corradino D'Ascanio. Each of them had a fascinating story and made a remarkable contribution to the development of Italian aeronautics. Corradino D'Ascanio is remembered as the inventor of the helicopter. He held the record for flight length and altitude for years at a time when the helicopter was totally unknown. Hence, in the decades preceding the birth of the Vespa, the history of Piaggio that the museum tells was a story of creativity and technical objects that came from innovative genius and helped the company survive the Depression years, during which the share capital dropped from 30 to 10 million liras (16th December 1932). The recovery was shaped around the ingenuity of these innovators, just as it is shaped today around personnel capable of enduring and growing in a difficult global market.
1934 - 1945History sped ahead to World War II. Several important things happened at Piaggio.▲
In 1934, for the first time, Elena Odera, Rinaldo's wife, appeared in a board meeting with her 300 shares. Two years later the shareholders would no longer only be Rinaldo and Elena Piaggio and Attilio Odero; the 1936 board meeting was attended by Rinaldo's children and children-in-law, namely: Hilda Piaggio Schiaffino, Giorgina Piaggio Marsano, Carmen Piaggio Vianson, Rinalda Piaggio (Roasenda) and Rinaldo's two sons Enrico and Armando. The depression was over and when Senator Rinaldo Piaggio died on the 15th January 1938 production in the four extremely modern factories in Liguria and Tuscany had crossed the 160 million liras mark.
Share capital went from 22.5 million in March 1938 to 52.5 in November the same year. Rinaldo's sons spontaneously decided to split the lines of business: Enrico took charge of Pisa and Pontedera while Armando handled Sestri and Finale Ligure. The company continued to grow and the policy of using advanced technology in both engine and aeronautical production began to reap benefits. Between 1937 and 1939 Piaggio radial engines won 39 firsts including altitude (17,083 metres), won by the PXI engine on the Caproni 161 aircraft piloted by Colonel Mario Pezzi. A sample of this engine can be seen at our museum along with the PVII. In these years Piaggio was building not only trains, ship fittings, aircraft engines and aircraft but also trucks, trams, buses, funicular railways and aluminium locking systems, often reaching high points of excellence as with the 21 firsts won during this period or the manufacture of the famous P108 aircraft.
Mussolini's Italy had expanded its frontiers in those years to the African colonies and some of the bigger companies set up operations abroad. Piaggio participated in the success of Italy and added new factories in Addis Ababa and Gura for aeronautical repairs and manufacturing; these were the East African workshops, the Officine Meccaniche Africa Orientale (OMAO). It was a page of history linked to the time, with its problems and their economic and social effects, a page written by Enrico Piaggio and his engineers, reported and now preserved in the Antonella Bechi Piaggio historical archive.
1945 - 1946World War II was the major new caesura in 20th century history, causing enormous damage and directly involving Piaggio - its strategic war production entailed the total destruction of most of its factories.▲
Italy too was destroyed after World War II, subjected as it was to near-famine, unemployment, and inflation. The country hastened towards reconstruction with the help of international aid as well as the willingness of men and women, workers and employers, to rebuild. In 1945 the scenario was completely new as compared to 1938. Not only had Attilio Odero died, but the conversion from wartime to peacetime production had a profound effect on the production of metal-machinery companies. Piaggio had of course lost its African factories. In Italy, Armando Piaggio slowly began the job of rebuilding necessary to restart aeronautical production and rail and ship fitting in the Ligurian plants. Aircraft designed by Casiraghi and D'Ascanio were developed, such as the small flight school P148 in the courtyard of the museum or the P149.
These were a far cry from the great four-engine P108, but were nevertheless extremely successful and permitted a partial recovery to take place. In Tuscany, Enrico, unlike his brother, was looking for an all-new business idea, and dreamed of helping Italy solve its post-war transport problems. Enrico Piaggio entered the complex business of restructuring Italy with a precise idea - he wanted to build a simple means of transport that would be cheap, consume very little petrol and could be ridden by everyone, women included. In Biella, where Pontedera's manufacturing paraphernalia had been transferred, technicians and engineers (among them Vittorio Corsini, Renzo Spolti and Carbonero) had been experimenting during the long months of inactivity in the warehouses of Count Trossi, their host, with a small scooter based on a sample they had seen. The result of their experimentation was the MP5, which the workers themselves christened Paperino, or Donald Duck, for its strange shape. On a visit to Biella with Corradino D'Ascanio, Enrico Piaggio saw the Paperino and liked the idea of a small vehicle, but wasn't convinced by its design. So he gave D'Ascanio a few weeks in which to re-do the scooter idea or think of an alternative, the brief being to create a nimble, multi-use vehicle. D'Ascanio was an aeronautical engineer - while still at school he had tried an Icarus-type flight using a hang-glider made of bed sheets and had managed to lift himself 15 metres off the ground; as a youngster he had tried the clinometer.
His genius knew no bounds and he experimented with complex, before-their-time machines and instruments. In 1930 he had won a world record for the longest flight in a helicopter, the "rotating propeller". The helicopter was D'Ascanio's dream and he continued to produce prototypes, first with his partner the Baron Troiani and then at Enrico Piaggio's, until the PD4, his last try in 1954. D'Ascanio could invent anything, from the first, rudimentary punch-card computer at a time when no-one imagined that an electronic computer might be possible, to a blender for the oven at Popoli; from timed cigarette holders to limit his own smoking to complicated games. With his extremely varied intellect (he later became a professor at Pisa University's engineering faculty, together with another major Piaggio personality, Francesco Lanzara), Corradino D'Ascanio took up the scooter challenge with alacrity. He did not like motorcycles. He thought they were uncomfortable and limited in use, since tyre changing was difficult. Besides, the chain transmission risked getting the rider dirty. He decided to create something completely different from a motorcycle. In a few weeks time he had come up with a design for a vehicle with a load-bearing body, a 98cc direct drive engine with gear change located on the handlebar to facilitate riding, without a fork but using a lateral support arm to make tyre changing easy.
The frame was meant to protect the rider, who would be seated on the scooter as on a chair - so much so that the engineer first sketched a person sitting comfortably upright and then drew the vehicle under him. The final key element in the design philosophy of this new vehicle was that it should use light materials - a feature that came from aeronautics, which had to use light but strong materials. Having included all this and stayed faithful to Enrico's brief, Corradino presented his scooter prototype early in April 1943. From the account of the presentation in our archive, Enrico appears to have taken an instant liking to the vehicle. Noting the buzz of the engine and the ample seat contrasting with the slender centre and rear, he exclaimed: "It looks like a wasp!" And wasp - Vespa - it remained. At midday on the 24th April a patent (faithfully reproduced in our museum) for a "motorcycle composed of a rational group of parts and elements with a frame combined with mudguards and a casing covering the entire mechanical part" was taken out at the central patents office in Florence. The creation of the Vespa marked the start of a new page in the history of Piaggio, a page that would be totally different from the preceding 60 years of the company's existence because, starting from the Vespa, the Pontedera factory would abandon aeronautical projects and production to courageously ride ahead on the scooter.
1946 - 1948The Vespa's history is fascinating from many points of view - technical, social, innovation and so on, not to mention the communication aspect, which had women transfer the message in the very first advertising campaigns.▲
General Stone, head of the Allied forces in Italy, presented the Vespa at the Golf Club in Rome in the presence of journalists and members of the public, who reacted to the new vehicle in sharply different ways. There were those who called it an old banger, doubted its power output and reliability and were sure it would be a flop, and others who acclaimed it as a miracle of originality and engineering genius. The first 50 Vespas to be manufactured did not prove easy to sell. Nevertheless, with his father's audacity, Enrico Piaggio had another 2,500 placed on the assembly line. A perusal of the internal memos of the period in our archive show that the Vespa had a rocky start, despite the company's use of innovative marketing schemes such as positioning Vespas in Lancia dealerships or offering the possibility of paying in instalments - an idea that was extremely unusual in Italy at the time. It was only towards the end of 1947, and above all in 1948, with the arrival of the Vespa 125, that the Vespa "miracle" began, with a lengthy stream of production successes that has never really stopped, although it has occasionally experienced a temporary slowdown. In 1947, 10,535 Vespas were produced; in 1953 production went to 171,200 units and, seven years later, Pontedera rolled out its two millionth Vespa, a figure that became four million in 1970 with the 10 million mark being reached in 1988. Today the total number of Vespas produced since 1946 is over 16 million, with about 130 different Vespa models so far.
1948 - 1956The Vespa phenomenon rapidly became a social phenomenon - sold from the start in Italy, it already had its first licensees in 1948, in Great Britain, Germany, Spain and France. The Vespa became synonymous with freedom, easy to use for work as well as leisure.▲
The Vespa inspired races, competitions and rallies of fans in a series of gatherings that have marked the very special history of this scooter. The "silver swarm" formed by thousands of Vespa riders assembling in large cities began in 1949 and myriad Vespa Clubs flourished in the following decades. The famous film classic "Roman Holiday" started a tradition that would see the Pontedera scooter feature in innumerable productions.
The halls of the museum display several Vespa models, some of which, like the "Vespa Alpha" or Vespa Bazooka", were made famous by the Vespa's adventurous feats. As for the link between the Vespa and cinema, it is only too easy to establish looking at images of Julie Andrews, Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg, Vittorio Gassmann, Alberto Sordi, Federico Fellini or Nanni Moretti, to cite a few names. The cinema was, however, only one of the many ways in which the Vespa lent itself to uses that had little to do with its peaceful everyday role of personal transport. In 1951 the Vespa 125 won the world speed record (171 km/h) in the flying kilometre with the "Vespa Siluro" on display in our museum alongside the faired Vespa Montlhéry that raced on the circuit.
In 1952 Georges Monneret built an "amphibian" Vespa on which to cross the English Channel during a Paris-London rally. University student Giancarlo Tironi went to the Arctic Circle on a Vespa. The Argentinean Carlos Velez crossed the Cordigliera of the Andes on a trip from Buenos Aires to Santiago, Chile. Today, Giorgio Bettinelli continues to travel around the world on a Vespa. In 1948 came the Ape, a three-wheel van built with the same logic and the same philosophy that Enrico Piaggio had conceived for the Vespa, extended this time to goods transport in post-war Italy. Like the Vespa, the Ape immediately became a part of the Italian everyday and was employed for the most varied uses - goods transport, taxi or carriage (all models that are on display at the museum).
By 1953 the overwhelming success of the Vespa and the Ape had taken Piaggio to representation in 114 countries through over 10,000 retail outlets. Enrico Piaggio's gamble had paid off. In all probability it wasn't enough for Enrico Piaggio to produce only "earth-bound" transport, for he soon designed and produced the "moscone" or "big fly" outboard engine that the company viewed as a seagoing Vespa which inherited the legacy of the pre-war radial and engines and which became the forerunner of marine engines such as the KS 150 and KS 200.
1956 - 19691956 marked the launch of the Vespa 400, a small car with a 400cc engine designed by Corradino D'Ascanio, manufactured in France and shown for the first time at Monte Carlo in September 1957.▲
In all, 30,000 units (one of which is on display at the museum) were produced, but the Vespa 400 was not a success and the four-wheel project that, like the Vespa, was one of Enrico Piaggio's pet projects was abandoned. From the arrival of the Vespa onwards, the most important production stages were the GS, the first 150cc, in 1955, the launch of the extraordinarily successful Vespa 50cc, which would put generations of youngsters on wheels, in 1963 and the manufacture of the Ciao moped in 1966 - symbol of the company's comeback after the terrible flood in November that year. Another significant date was 1964, year in which the company split into Piaggio & C. (Pisa and Pontedera) and I.A.M. Rinaldo Piaggio.
This was the final step in a lengthy process of product differentiation that had seen Enrico Piaggio produce two and three wheelers on the one hand and his brother Armando in the aeronautical sector on the other. The following year saw the death of Enrico Piaggio, the innovative and daring entrepreneur who had wished the Vespa into existence and brought a company on the brink of extinction following World War II back to flourishing health. At the time of his death Piaggio had over 10,000 employees and the company was the industrial heart of both the Valdera region in which it was situated and Tuscany in general. The history of industrial relations in the Pisa and Pontedera factories is one marked by moments of strong conflict and tensions, but Piaggio's relationship with Pontedera is intense and their histories intertwine; their development is parallel. Enrico died at a time in which there was a great deal of tension between the company and its workforce.
The ambulance bearing the dying Enrico to the Pisa hospital went past hordes of demonstrating workers in front of the factory gates. The next day, when they were informed that Enrico Piaggio was dead, all noise abruptly ceased and the workers held hands in silence, paying homage to the memory of the brave, inventive entrepreneur who had enriched the entire territory and contributed to the success of Italian production.
1969 - 1992The company continued to grow. In 1969 it acquired the famous Arcore motorcycle manufacturer Gilera, a leader in Italian motorcycling technology.▲
From its first model, the VT 317 in 1909, Gilera's had been a success story all the way to the 1960s, when the company began to face difficult times. It was Piaggio, then headed by Umberto Agnelli, which bought the brand and relaunched it. Gilera became a success once more with new production models, and took part in all the major national and international races. The museum's collection includes a wide selection of classic as well as recent Gilera models - they are our homage to a brand that forms an integral part of Italian and world motorcycling history. We are aware that Arcore is Gilera's natural base and that Gilera is as much a part of Arcore's legacy as the Vespa is for Pontedera. The acquisition of the brand, however, and our desire not to deprive motorcycling fans of the opportunity to see some of the most beautiful Gilera models, convinced us that it was possible and necessary to link two different histories that are now part of the same company.
In 1972 the Piaggio-Gilera combination led to the growth of Gilera in the 50cc sector as well, when the production of two stroke motorcycles with traditional distribution began, starting a new success story that would continue into the 21st century with the DNA and the Nexus that, displayed here at the museum, represent a link between past and present and between the present and the future. Piaggio's expansion survived the difficult 1970s. As a mono-sector company it went through the normal ups and downs but, in times of real crisis, it always managed to react quickly with openness to innovation and excellent technical capability.
Everyone, from worker to owner, did his bit and even in the darkest times the ability to react was constant, as in 1973 with the mini-tractor "trattorino" or through new product launches such as the successful Vespa PX. Presented in 1978 and with over six million units sold to date, the PX remains one of the top-selling scooters in the range. 1980 saw the acquisition of the Bianchi brand, which would be part of the Piaggio group for many years.
1992 - 2007Over the last two decades there have been several new products but production has, most importantly, been able to maintain a strong link between continuity and innovation.▲
The Hexagon, X8, X9, the Nexus, and the Beverly are all new models in the grand Piaggio tradition while the Vespa Granturismo, an innovative model created in 2003 just a few years after the all-new ET4 was launched on the Vespa's 50th anniversary, is a concrete and symbolic representation of the chain that leads from history to the present and thereby into the future. The Vespa Granturismo is a vehicle with technical and innovative features that address the most evolved needs of the scooter public and at the same time satisfy the everyday transport requirement of people across borders of age and nationality; it simplifies the problematic meeting of motorised transport and environment. The commitment to vehicles with low environmental impact is an important recent - and current - chapter in Piaggio history.
Giovanni Alberto Agnelli, who was at the origin of the Piaggio Museum and the Piaggio cultural project, inculcated in the company the need to inter-connect concepts such as Nature, the environment, resources and security. In the space of a few years new values related to production and life in the factory were established, as well as a renewed idea of the relationship of territory to enterprise and enterprise to culture. Giovanni Alberto Agnelli's successors in the company and its cultural project have inherited his legacy and shared this project, dedicating resources and time to ensure its completion and continuity. Today, a new entrepreneur, Roberto Colaninno, has taken over the management of the Company, committing himself to developing its immaterial values as well as its social function. Our museum tells each moment of this history by constructing a visual pathway made of tangible examples. These form the tip of an iceberg of historical vechicles (Piaggio, Vespa and Gilera) that little by little will be brought, through a process of rotation, to the attention of the general public.
They represent the faithful source of creativity, innovation and industriousness of the big universe made by the "Piaggio people". The Museum was opened with full ceremony on 29 March of the year 2000. Since then, the number of visitors has constantly increased, both to admire the vehicles exhibited (thus "travelling" with them through an important page of our history) and to take part in the numerous cultural celebrations organized by the Piaggio Foundation. In the year 2003 it has been acknowledged as best Enterprise Museum and Archives of Italy by the prestigious Enterprise and Culture Award, representing a significant moment of an extraordinary path that goes from the witnesses of the past to new horizons of creativity, innovation, work, fantasy and knowledge.


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This week, Google announced the release of 27 designer mobile templates to Blogger users, which had previously only been available in draft. The new templates will be completely supported by Blogger. The designer templates are mobile-optimized, which means if you enable the mobile option for your blog using one of these templates, it will be rendered on mobile devices with a mobile version of the same template. Google also notes that even if you aren't using one of the 27 …
Google's Blogger Goes Mobile
Celebrating IPv6 Day!
Today's biggest SEO news is that numerically, the Internet has run out of IP addresses. The very last addresses were sold in February. And no, Al Gore had nothing to do with it this time either.
Webmaster Tools Data Now Available in Google Analytics Pilot
Google announced today that after an outpouring of requests, Webmaster Tools data will finally be reachable through Google Analytics. Read more about this addition in today's news update!
Spring Into Summer Scavenger Hunt: List 1
All of the items can be found in blog posts from this Spring, March 21st and on. Once you've completed the list, email your answers to firstname.lastname@example.com for a chance to win a Foodzie tasting box!
Keep an eye out for list 2 which will be posted June 13th.
SEO Spring Into Summer Scavenger Hunt!
School's out for summer! Time to grab your friends, pack a cooler, and head down to the beach… wait, what's that? You no longer have a summer break and you're spending your time working on SEO?! Well, just because you are sitting at a desk all day doesn't mean you can't have some summer fun. That's why SEO Boy is having a Spring into Summer scavenger hunt.
Letter from the CEO – "Talent wins games, but team work and intelligence wins championships."
That's a quotation from Michael Jordan. Each month, I've titled my 'Letter from the CEO' post with a movie quotation, but this month I thought one about teamwork was most appropriate. The main reason is because I'm so proud of the Hanapin team.
Since March, when we started the reinvestment in our blogs, the team has really focused their efforts, and it's paying off in spades. We're engaging our readers more by getting topic suggestions from them and holding …
Schema.org Brings Google, Bing and Yahoo Together
Google, Bing and Yahoo announced this week that they are partnering in an initiative to establish a set of universal data schemas that will create a common markup language across all search engines. You can read the announcement from Bing on their blog: Introducing Schama.org: Bing, Google and Yahoo Unite to Build the Web of Objects. This new project, schema.org, will provide developers with the data necessary to tag site elements appropriately to improve their organic listings in …
Leave Work Early Day!
SEO Boy is calling it a day! He's abandoning his hero responsibilities a little early, but luckily PPC Hero is still on duty!


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Diana Post, M.D., is an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a member of the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
Is there any evidence that acupuncture can help patients with epilepsy?
It is sometimes difficult to treat epilepsy, or seizures, using medications. The drugs often have many unpleasant or dangerous side effects. This has led to the interest in alternative ways to treat epilepsy. Some people have tried acupuncture treatments to control seizures.
Acupuncture is part of the traditional health practice of China. It is based on the general theory that there are patterns of energy flow (Qi) through the body. Disruptions in the flow are believed to cause disease. Acupuncture is felt to correct imbalances of flow by stimulating certain anatomical points on the body. Practitioners use very thin solid needles inserted into these specific points to correct the imbalance of Qi.
Acupuncture is quite safe. In this country, sterile single-use disposable needles must be used to prevent infection. The treatment site should be swabbed with alcohol or another disinfectant before needles are inserted. Very, very rarely are serious side effects seen, including infections and punctured organs.
There have been promising results from studies looking at acupuncture for treating certain conditions, including chronic pain, nausea and vomiting, fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, and headaches. Unfortunately, despite many studies that looked at acupuncture's use for epilepsy, it has never been proven to be effective. The quality of most of these studies has not been good. The few well-done studies found that acupuncture did not reduce the number of seizures people had.
I do not believe that current evidence can support the use of acupuncture as a treatment for epilepsy (seizures). More good research is definitely needed.


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Providence, R.I. – Providence College has been named a "Best Buy" in the 2012 Fiske Guide to Colleges for the first time in the College's history. The Fiske Guide to Colleges has designated 49 such institutions nationally -- 24 public and 25 private -- as "Best Buys." Providence College is the only Rhode Island institution to receive the designation and one of only two in New England.
To be selected as a "Best Buy institution," the Fiske Guide to Colleges takes into account qualities such as academic ratings, cost, and quality of student life on campus.
"We are very pleased to receive the 'Best Buy' designation from the Fiske Guide, said Rev. Brian J. Shanley, '80, O.P., president of Providence College. "The College prides itself on the overall quality as well as the price/value of PC's total educational experience. We know how important it is in this day and age for students and families to spend their educational dollars wisely. This recognition underscores the fact that an investment in a Providence College education is money well spent."
Some highlights from the Fiske Guide to Colleges about PC:
• Its strong Roman Catholic heritage compares favorably with similar cohorts nationally.
• All students must complete the Core Curriculum, including the signature Development of Western Civilization sequence that covers history, philosophy, literature, theology, and the fine arts over a two-year period.
• Ninety-seven percent of all classes have 49 or fewer students.
• Owing to the College's strong Catholic identity, community service and volunteer work are popular activities.
About Providence College
PC is the only college or university in the United States administered by the Dominican Friars. The Catholic, liberal arts college has an undergraduate enrollment of approximately 3,900 students and offers degrees in 49 academic majors. (www.providence.edu)
About The Fiske Guide to Colleges
For more than 25 years, this leading guide to more than 310 colleges and universities --fully updated and expanded every year -- has been a source of information for college-bound students and their parents. The Fiske Guide to Colleges delivers an insider's look at the academic climate as well as the social and extracurricular scenes at the "best and most interesting" schools in the United States, plus Canada and Great Britain. (www.sourcebooks.com/store/fiske-guide-to-colleges-2012.html)
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What does it mean to be a Catholic and Dominican college? We invite you to explore this question and the distinctive mission of Providence College.
About Providence College's Catholic and Dominican Identity


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"On December 24 every year, my mother, sister, her daughter, and I spend the day making cinnamon rolls, a tradition begun by my grandmother. Then, on Christmas morning, each family enjoys homemade cinnamon rolls while the presents are opened."
— CarolAnn Thompson, Painesville, Ohio
Prep time: 1 hour, 50 minutes
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes
You Will Need
1 loaf frozen bread dough (thawed)
1/2 stick butter or margarine
1/2 cup white sugar, plus 1/4 cup for later
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
What to Do
1. Take dough out of freezer the night before to thaw in refrigerator. Remove 1 hour before use. Place dough on clean surface and press and/or roll until it is the size of a large dinner plate. The dough is very elastic — just keep rolling.
2. When the dough is the right size, spread with butter, 1/2 cup sugar, and cinnamon. Roll it up like a jelly roll and pinch the edges so the cinnamon and sugar stay put.
3. Cut into 12 rolls, using sharp, not serrated, knife. Place rolls into a buttered jelly roll pan. Brush sugar and cinnamon mixture, left over from cutting, on top. Add 1/4 cup sugar (makes caramel in the bottom of pan).
4. Cover rolls with a fresh dishtowel and put them in a warm place (e.g., top of oven) until they rise (their sides will touch), about 1 hour.
5. Bake in 350°F oven until caramel is golden, 15-20 minutes. Dump rolls out of the pan immediately and leave them to cool. Top with butter and serve.
Serves: 12.


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key x_item DA4919
Lit by Dan White and Dan Hauss
Item Number: DA4919
Lit (With Cards and DVD)
by Dan White and Dan Hauss
From the mind of Dan White and Dan Hauss comes an effect featured on the September 24th international David Blaine television special. The reactions with Lit are explosive.
A spectator is asked to take a match out of a matchbook, and ignite a match to verify its validity. The matchbook is then held tightly in their closed fist.
A card is selected in the deck - then visually vanished under impossible conditions. The spectator slowly opens their hand to find the matchbook has visually transformed into a twisted hybrid of playing card and match pack.
Customer Reviews Write a review.
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This course, a Thomson Reuters Cortellis Regulatory Online Learning module, covers meeting opportunities with regulatory agencies. At specific times during the pharmaceutical development process, meetings between regulatory authorities and a sponsor can help to:
This course examines in detail the types of meetings offered by the major regulatory agencies—the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA)—and explores the benefits of parallel EMA/FDA scientific advice.
Participants who complete this course should be able to:
The course takes an average of 1.5 hours to complete.
Linda Belmont, DIAPhone +firstname.lastname@example.com
Click here for minimum system requirements.
Unless otherwise disclosed, the statements made by speakers represent their own opinions and not necessarily those of the organization they represent, or that of the Drug Information Association. Speakers, agenda and CE information are subject to change without notice. Recording of any DIA educational material in any type of media is prohibited without prior written consent from DIA.


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From Macworld we learned some more about FloTV for the iPhone. We were able to see a live demo version of the service, and it's made possible by a connection with Mophie. Using Mophie's juice pack, and embedding a broadcast chip within it, provides live TV for iPhone users. The Qualcomm device connects to the iPhone via wifi, and allows up to five devices, though not at the same time.
The FloTV plus Mophie juice pack is planned to have a sticker price of $99.99 for the unit, and $149.99 for the unit with six months of service. The service will costs $9.99/month. To put it in perspective the main stand alone unit costs $199, and the subscription service is $14.95. The Mophie juice pack retails for $80.
The FloTV service currently has 18 channels, and it has a max bandwith for 20. The current offering though leaves a little to be desired with some stations not really counting. For example there is Adultswim which only airs certain hours of the day, and it's not Cartoon Network the rest of the hours.
Using FloTV leaves your device completely drained in 3.5 hours. That means it runs through the entire iPhone charge plus the juice pack in just 3.5 hours. Also we see that without the Mophie juicepack, the service seems extremely impractical draining the battery quickly.
In terms of coverage, the service piggybacks the CDMA network, so it has the same scope as Verizon's network. You can check their coverage map to find out if you're covered. It is excepted to be released in Spring, but that is just an approximation. An iPad version will definitely be considered, but a larger screen would require a higher monthly fee.
So what do you think? Is FloTV on the iPhone something you would be willing to buy for $99.99 and have another monthly fee? Or is sling player the way to go? Or are you holding out for Hulu? Let us know.


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D,C, Weather Forecast: Weekend Still Looks Great
Some clouds, but no storms.
Overnight: Becoming Partly Cloudy, Pleasant
Lows: 57-64 | Wind: SE-S 5 mph
Friday: Partly Cloudy, Warmer, A Touch of Humidity
Highs: 80-85 | Wind: SE 5-10
This Weekend: Sunny and Pleasant both Saturday and Sunday - Enjoy
Highs: Near 80 | UV Index: 75-80 low humidity
When was the last time we've had 3 cloud free, low humidity days in Washington? Long time for sure. Friday, in advance of a weak weather front, winds turn out of the south so a touch of humidity but nothing too humid. The front comes through while most of us sleep Friday night and then back to some delightful sunny weather for both Saturday and Sunday. Next chance for rain not until late Monday and Tuesday. Have a great Friday. I bet not many of us miss the high 90s and dew points in the 70s.


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Career Workshops
You are here
Workshops are available throughout the year on career-related topics, such as dining etiquette, interviewing, networking, and resume and cover letter writing. Individual appointments can also be scheduled to review any of the workshop topics if the schedule of events does not meet your individual timeline. Career Development Workshops will include:
Fashion Show, Life After Sweatpants, February 24
In coordination with area businesses and student models, the KWU Career Center is hosting a fashion show, to help transition students to the workplace. On Monday, February 24th at 7:00pm in the Fitzpatrick Auditorium in Sam's Hall of Fine Arts, students will see professional outfits for day-to-day wear in a professional office setting, as well as current trends for business wear for job interviews.
2014 Etiquette Dinners, February 26
The KWU Career Center will coordinate dinners, in partnership with employers, to provide social development skills for students. The Etiquette Dinner will be on Wednesday, February 26th, 2014 at 7:00pm. Students will learn how to network and conduct themselves professionally and participating employers will have a chance to network and meeting future candidates. For information to participate in the Etiquette Dinner, please contact Dane Baxa at email@example.com or 785-827-5541 ext. 1162
Teacher Interview Day, March 6
KWU students seeking to become certified elementary and secondary school teachers will have access to scheduled Teacher Interview Days. On Thursday, March 6, 2014 from 8:00am to 5:00pm, in the Mabee Arena and Hauptli Student Activity Center, the Career Center will coordinate with principals and human resource directors from Kansas school districts to interview potential candidates for open teaching positions. Teacher Interview Days will be in the Spring semester with education students receiving specifc information as the event draws nearer.
KWU Career Expo, April 8
The 2014 Kansas Wesleyan University Career Expo wil be on Tuesday, April 8, 2014 in the Kansas Wesleyan University Hauptli Student Activities Center from 10:00am to 3:00pm. Employers may reserve an 8 foot table and space by emailing Dane Baxa at firstname.lastname@example.com or 785-827-5541 ext. 1162.
Mock Interviews
Kansas Wesleyan University provides mock interviews and professional critiques to help you become more comfortable in interview situations. Mock interviews are available by appointment to guide you through the interview process and help you sharpen your skills for a professional interview.


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by MelissaAq September 25, 2009
Ask MelissaAq to share more
"Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!", also known as "Let It Snow", is a song written by lyricist Sammy Cahn and composer Jule Styne in 1945. First recorded by Vaughn Monroe, it became a popular hit, reaching number one on the … see full wiki
#1 (4 weeks) hit single by The Chipmunks in 1958
song by Josh Groban
A 2010 album by Susan Boyle.


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For the past decade nuclear energy has been increasingly promoted as a carbon neutral source of energy. By 2010 governments around the globe were seriously considering the construction of new power plants. The Japanese Tsunami of March 2011 threw a spanner in the works when the Fukushima One nuclear power plant was flooded destroying its cooling system. This resulted in a partial core meltdown, hydrogen explosions and venting of nuclear contaminated steam. The accident highlighted the potential hidden risks of nuclear technologies and fuelled fear of radiation and contamination of the environment with nuclear materials among the general public. It is also likely to stall the enthusiasm of a nuclear revival for the foreseeable future.
Considering past nuclear incidents it is doubtful if the Fukushima emergency will prevent the construction nuclear plants in the long run. On this episode of the podcast Horace Herring of the Open University in Britain will explore the utopian origins of nuclear energy and how it became a dystopian illusion. He argues that economics and distrust in science and big government undermined nuclear energy more than environmental or health concerns.
Literature cited
Horace Herring, From Energy Dreams to Nuclear Nightmares: Lessons for the 21st century from a previous nuclear era (Charlbury, Oxon: Jon Carpenter, 2005).
"Lessons from the past", Nature, 471 (2011), p. 547.
Mark Peplow, "Chernobyl's legacy", Nature 471 (2011), pp. 562-565.
Music credit
"LOVELESS" by Caster Seven
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From 27 June to 2 July 2011 the sixth conference of the European Society took place in the city of Turku in Finland. The meeting consisted of many parallel sessions on a wide range of topics exploring the interactions between human societies and nature in the past. This podcast will report on a paper discussing the results of a novel experiment in environmental didactics involving the web and e-learning technologies carried out by Martin Schmid of the Institute of Social Ecology, Alpen-Adria University Vienna and Rogerio Ribeiro de Oliveira of Pontifícia Universidade Católica, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They used web technologies to teach an intercontinental course in urban environmental history involving classes in Rio de Janeiro and Vienna.
The second part of the podcast reports on a roundtable entitled "Towards an online environmental history of Europe". This panel discussed the technical, structural and thematic issues of an online environmental history of Europe which is under development by the Rachel Carson Centre for Environment and Society in Munich. The project, dubbed "Arcadia", will be an encyclopedia-like resource with articles in the form of localized histories and each entry will include time, theme and location metadata as well as information about relevant organizations, people and species in order to visualize it on a map and make the material searchable. The site will provide visitors with exploratory tools to aid the discovery of material. The Arcadia online environmental history will be launched in early 2012 as part of the umbrella Environment and Society Portal.
Websites mentioned
Environment and Society (Arcadia): www.environmentandsociety.org/arcadia.html
ESEH 2011 conference website: eseh2011.utu.fi
The steppes of Ukraine and Russia were once a sea of grass on rolling plains on which pastoral nomadic peoples grazed their herds of livestock. From the eighteenth century, the steppes have been transformed into a major agricultural region. This process started after the region was annexed to the Russian Empire and settled by migrants from forested landscapes in central and northern Russia and Ukraine and also from central Europe. By the twentieth century, the former steppe landscape had almost disappeared, save a few remnants protected in nature reserves (zapovedniki).
In this podcast episode, David Moon, professor of Russian history at Durham University, UK, talks about his recent visit to the Ukrainian steppes. In addition to conventional historical research in archives and libraries in Odessa, he travelled through the steppes, visited nature reserves, and met scientists to help him understand how the landscape had been transformed over time. This episode provides fascinating insights into the environmental history of the steppes and the way that environmental historians go about studying the history of landscapes and environments.
Relevant Websites
An Environmental History of the Russian Steppes, c.1700-1914, Project page David Moon
Wikipedia page Askania Nova.
Music credits
"Echo of the Steppe" by Julian Kytasty on the Bandura, Link Media, Inc. From: Internet Archive, http://www.archive.org/details/linktv_world-music-blog-videos20090504.
"Where You Are Now" by Zapac
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"Sooner or Later" by Geert Veneklaas
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The production of this episode was supported by the
2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Rachel Carson's book "Silent Spring". This publication is often regarded as the beginning of the modern environmental movement, in particular in the US. Silent Spring documents the effects of pesticides on the environment, and in particularly on birds. In addition, Carson accused the chemical industry of spreading disinformation, and government officials of accepting industry claims uncritically. Silent Spring had a profound impact on the development of environmental consciousness and led to the regulation of the use of pesticide in North America and Europe.
In order to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Silent Spring this episode of the podcast explores the significance of this book with Mark Wilson, a PhD candidate at the University of Northumbria in Newcastle, England. Mark has written a study which compares the response to Silent Spring in the US and Britain. He also agues that Silent Spring is a typical product of its time that was closely connected with the Cold War and the rise of the counter culture at both sides of the Atlantic.
Relevant Websites
The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson, http://www.rachelcarson.org/
Wikipedia page Rachel Carson
Further reading
Graham Jr., Frank, Since Silent Spring (London, 1970)
Hamilton Lytle, Mark, The Gentle Subversive: Rachel Carson, Silent Spring & the Rise of the Environmental Movement (New York, 2007)
Mellanby, Kenneth, Pesticides & Pollution in Britain (London, 1967)
Rome, Adam, '"Give Earth a Chance": The Environmental Movement & the Sixties', Journal of American History, 90 (2003), pp. 525-554
Sheail, John, Pesticides & Nature Conservation: The British Experience, 1950-1970 (Oxford, 1985)
Smith, Michael B., '"Silent, Miss Carson!": Science, Gender & the Reception of Silent Spring', Feminist Studies, 27 (Autumn 2001), pp. 745-746.
Walker, Martin J., 'The Unquiet Voice of Silent Spring: The Legacy of Rachel Carson', The Ecologist, 29 (1999)
Music credits
"Where You Are Now" by Zapac
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"2012Piano" by snowflake
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For more on college athletics, follow Pete DiPrimio via Twitter at pdiprimio.
Indiana will get a second chance at Syracuse and its 2-3 zone.
Will the Hoosiers get it right this time?
Thanks to the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, we'll find out.
It won't come at a neutral site, as it did in March for the Sweet 16 in Washington, D.C., when Syracuse won 61-50. IU must face the Orange at the Carrier Dome on Dec. 3.
ESPN.com's early preseason poll has IU rated No.20. Syracuse is No. 8.
The Orange will be making the Challenge debut as they switch from the Big East to the ACC.
IU has a 1-4 record against Syracuse with four straight losses since its 1987 NCAA title game win over the Orange. It has a 5-7 Challenge record.
The Hoosiers' top returners from the Sweet 16 loss are point guard Yogi Ferrell and sixth man Will Sheehey. They will bring in the nation's No.6 recruiting class led by forward Noah Vonleh.
Syracuse returns forward C.J. Fair. Its No. 11 recruiting class is led by point guard Tyler Ennis and Ron Patterson, the former Indiana-signed player who spent last season at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire.
The event will feature eight ranked teams with No. 9 Michigan at No. 5 Duke, No. 11 North Carolina at No. 3 Michigan State, Maryland at No. 6 Ohio State and Notre Dame at No. 25 Iowa.
The other games will feature Florida State at Minnesota, Penn State at Pittsburgh, Illinois at Georgia Tech, Miami at Nebraska, Wisconsin at Virginia, Boston College at Purdue and Northwestern at North Carolina State.
All 12 Big Ten teams will participate. Twelve of the 15 ACC teams will participate. Clemson, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest won't play in this event.
The Big Ten and ACC went 6-6 last season. The ACC has a 10-3-1 Challenge record.
Former IU guard Remy Abell is looking to join a NCAA tourney team in the aftermath of his decision to transfer. St. Louis, Xavier and St. Mary's of California are his final three choices. He also was contacted by Butler, Boise State, Georgia Tech, IUPUI, Texas El-Paso, Western Kentucky, Providence, Murray State and LaSalle.
Abell was a Hoosier reserve last season and averaged 12.5 minutes a game. He has two years of eligibility remaining. Because of NCAA rules, he will have to redshirt next season.
Another transfer, senior guard Maurice Creek, is still looking for a school. He has one season of eligibility remaining and he will be able to play right away because he graduated from IU this past weekend.
Indiana's No. 16 baseball team lost at No. 10 Louisville 4-3 Wednesday night. The Hoosiers (36-10) had a 3-1 lead before two seventh-inning errors led to two unearned runs for the Cardinals (32-5).
IU had beaten Louisville earlier in the season.
Top Indiana targets Jalen Coleman and Hyron Edwards, plus highly regarded guard Chandler White of Carroll, are set to participate in this weekend's adidas May Classic in Bloomington. The three-day event, which will be held at numerous sites in and around Bloomington, begins Friday.
Could transferring guard Evan Gordon, the younger brother of former IU All-America Eric Gordon, end up a Hoosier?
According to Jeff Rabjohns of Peegs.com, Gordon, a graduated senior with one year of eligibility remaining, is a strong possibility to leave Arizona State for IU, which has one available scholarship.
Gordon started 25 of 35 games for Arizona State last season. He was the team's third-leading scorer at 10.1 points. He also averaged 2.9 rebounds and had 76 assists against 45 turnovers. He shot 39.1 percent from the field, 34.7 percent from three-point range.
Gordon also played two years at Liberty University, averaging 12.0 points and 14.4 points before transferring to Arizona State.
IU has not made any official announcement.


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Growing up in small town Southern Illinois, Nicole spent her days in the woods following along side her dad Jim and two older brothers Zach and Jared. She started going with her dad when she was old enough to walk, and then harvesting her first deer at the young age of six years old. There was never a time she can remember that her dad left me her at home. It didn't matter what Nicole was doing, whether she was out hunting for that monster whitetail, fishing, mushroom hunting or creeping through the woods looking for squirrels.
As a little girl, her dad showed her the ups and downs of hunting and most importantly the relationships that are made by the experiences in the outdoors. She gives all credit for her love of the outdoors to her dad. Thanks to him for passing down the passion, she is now following a second dream of getting the opportunity to spend time in the outdoors everyday and passing on her enthusiasm to younger generations.
Now even though Nicole loved the outdoors, her first dream was to become an elementary school teacher. She began her path in the outdoor industry five years ago when she was going to college to become an elementary education teacher. She went to the Archery Trade Show in 2005 where she met Stan Potts, Greg Miller and Pat Reeves. She was then given the opportunity to appear on North American Whitetail television show that same year. Growing up reading her dad's issues of North American Whitetail Magazine, she was excited to get the opportunity to work with outdoor professionals. After appearing as the "flag girl" in 2005, Nicole was asked to come back in 2006 and appear on the opening montage again except this time in her actual hunting garb. These opportunties only fueled Nicole's passion even further to pursue an occupation in the outdoor industry.
Nicole joined forces with Pat Reeve's Production "Driven TV" in 2007. The two of them make a great team. They do many promotions and Deer Classics so if they are ever in your area stop by and see them! Nicole's favorite part of doing these shows is getting to meet all kinds of new people but the most special are the little ones who love the outdoors. She states, "I love seeing kids faces light up when they come up to the booth for photos and autographs because I can see their passion coming out and that's why I do what I do!" The show is going into the 4th year of production this year and Nicole is excited for the move to the Outdoor Channel. Although Nicole is no longer teaching, she feels that someday she will return to the classroom with all of her experiences to share with her students.
Over the last 19 years of hunting she has harvested many beautiful animals including countless Pope and Youngs, one Boone & Crockett, a 12-foot alligator, antelope, and many African Species. When she's not out hunting, hanging stands or planting food plots she enjoys spending time with friends and family! She wants to thank her dad, mom and 2 brothers for all of their support throughout the past 27 years. Nicole would like to give a very special thank you to her mom Susan. Although she doesn't hunt, she always made sure Nicole was bundled up for the hunt and had a yummy meal on the table when they got home! Without her Nicole wouldn't be near the person she is today! Happy Hunting!


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Apartment for 3 persons of 74 sq.mt. ( 797 sq. ft.) with a garden-terrace of 70 sq.mt. (754 sq. ft.). It consists of: 1 double and 1 single bedrooms, 1 bathroom with bath tub, living room, kitchen and a terrace with garden over viewing the sea and Mt. Etna. It is provided with washing machine, satellite TV, safe, telephone, wi-fi, air conditioning, heating, ironing equipment, hairdryer, coffee maker and toaster. In the living room is possible to add one extra bed.
|Rates per day 2014
|Low Season
|Mid Season
|High Season
|€ 95,00
|€ 138,00
|€ 150,00
|Rates per day 2015
|Low Season
|Mid Season
|High Season
|€ 100,00
|€ 140,00
|€ 155,00
Rates quoted includes local taxes, all expenses of water, electricity, and the final cleaning. Linen and towels are provided and changed once a week.
Additional cost per day:


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Avril Ashton Features Xavier Axelson
Book JunkieWhipped Cream Guests
Dawn's Reading Nook
Silver Publishing Xavier Axelson All Day Event
Why Writing May Kill You
An Unusual Fetish
Beets and Burden
Big Bad Blurbs
What Are You Trying To Say?
The Incident and the Echo
Prepare to be Shocked
Innocence is in the Eye of the Brownie
Dinner with a Hero
Xavier Axelson is Obscene!
Writing and Splicing
Phoning it In
Mind It
Mr. Manners
The Forbidden Bookshelf
The Story Behind The Birches
Fantasy or Reality?
A Holiday Rememberance
The Writers Way
The Writers Garden
Freedom and the Theme
Holiday Recipe
The Horrific and the Erotic
Love is a Many Flavored Thing
Wolves and Lily
The Woods
Cup O Porn Blog
TGLong Blog
Guys Like Romance
Reflections of the Year
Close Encounters with the Night Kind
Wickedly Sexy Writers
Close Encounters with the Night Kind/Menage
Melissa's Imaginarium
Lisa Fox
Day 2 @ Manic
Sensuality Overload
Ghosts and The 6th Sense
Birthday Guest Post


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Plan a day or just a few hours on the water, catch some sun, put some sand between your toes.
Custom trips to explore and enjoy the natural wonders of the bays and bayous.
View dolphins and other marine wildlife, take in a sunset or visit your favorite waterfront restaurant.


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Drowned in Sound have been invited to be a part of the following debate, arranged by Careless Talk Costs Lives. Here's the blurb from Mr.True and co...
On: February 8th 2003.
@: The ICA, London. ica.org.uk
Careless Talk Costs Lives magazine has been hailed as the saviour of the music press, taking a pride in what it does - both in words and photography.
With the traditional music press dying over the past few years, a new music journalism has grown up - raw, reflexive, unafraid.
Today's debate will ask whether the way forward for the music press is to be found in what used to be termed "fanzine culture" that is, enthusiasts and mavericks creating new outlets for new writing because they have no choice?
Panel will consist of Careless Talk editorial staff:
Everett True: ex-Assistant Editor of Melody Maker, ex-Editor of VOX (also reknown for being the guy who introduced England to Nirvana)
Stevie Chick: Evening Standard, Times, Kerrang writer .
Steve Gullick: Photographer. Books include Pop Book Number 1, Showtime and Nirvana.
Playing Live after the talk: Chikinki, Mooz, The Playwrights and Gravehurst from Sink and Stove Records, Bristol.
Price: £4, £3 CONCS, £2 MEMS. Entry to both the talk and tonight's Sink and Stove Records night £7, £6 concs, £5 mems.


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If you already have a Gamer Launch account connect your Facebook account on your user profile first before using Facebook connect to login. Otherwise you may end up with a new account.
The Unlikely Plan
Official Guild Site
Game : Guild Wars 2
Server : Gandara
We are a friendly, helpful guild full of experienced gamers, most with over 10 years of gaming experience.
We are here to have fun and enjoy the game and everything it offers. If you want to find out a little more background information about us; Please read our guild information by clicking here!
Guild Newcomers Guidelines
In order to become a regular guild member and to get the access to all of our guild features, potential applicants are required to do the following:
1) Create a new guild launch account if you don't already have one.2) Make yourself aware of our terms and conditions. (See below)3) Should you accept those terms and conditions then go ahead and Apply to Guild.
Within a couple of days, you will receive an ingame message from an officer. Should your application be accepted you will be invited to the guild ingame, and then given forum access.
See you on the battlefield.The Unlikely TeamPOTENTIAL APPLICANTS MUST ACKNOWLEDGE THE CODE OF CONDUCT BEFORE APPLYING.Treat your allies appropriately. Personal attacks/Harassment against guildmates or server allies will not be tolerated. Incendiary/Troll posts on public forums are frowned upon. Realise that your posts and attitude reflect on The Unlikely Plan, regardless of your intentions. Cheating/Hacking is strictly prohibited. If online during official WvW nights, you are expected to participate and represent The Unlikely Plan. Do not speak over or interrupt the Raid-Leader when they are speaking. Listen to the Raid-Leader at all times. Disregarding their commands is unacceptable. You are expected to spec appropriately for WvW raids. Guideline builds are available on our forums. Should you wish to run a new build for a raid, please ask the leader of that raid first.Playing low-level alts on WvW nights is unacceptable. Without proper gear and level you become a liability to the warband.
No News Is Currently Available


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"Madam Candelaria" dies at age 113
On this day in 1899, Andrea Castañón Villanueva (Madam Candelaria), who claimed to be a survivor of the battle of the Alamo, died at age 113 in San Antonio. She said she had been born in Laredo in 1785, though other sources say she was born at Presidio del Río Grande. She came to San Antonio when she was about twenty-five and married Candelario Villanueva, who she said was her second husband; thereafter she became known as Madam or Señora Candelaria. She was the mother of four children and raised twenty-two orphans. She nursed the sick and aided the poor. She claimed to have been in the Alamo during the 1836 battle and to have nursed the ailing Jim Bowie. Since evidence of survivors is sparse, her claims may never be confirmed, but in 1891 the Texas legislature granted her a pension of twelve dollars a month for being an Alamo survivor and for her work with smallpox victims in San Antonio. Madam Candelaria is buried in San Fernando Cemetery.


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Vietcong Review
Played on:
It seems all of a sudden that everyone is rushing to make a Vietnam-era first person shooter. Vietcong, which was done by Illusion Softworks and Pterodon, is only one of the titles that has either just come out or has been recently announced. 2015, creators of the Medal of Honor games, is now moving onto Vietnam with the just-announced Men of Valor. On top of that, another FPS was just released, called Line of Sight: Vietnam. That game focuses on sniping your enemies rather than Vietcong's squad-based open combat.
So what's with all the Vietnam games? Well, there have been a couple of attempts over the years (like this one), but war-based FPS games were pretty much all terrible up until a couple of years ago. Computers are now powerful enough to draw a decent-looking jungle environment while juggling a dozen or more AI characters - I'd say that a good Vietnam FPS is long overdue. So is Vietcong actually any good? Well, let's take a look.
Vietcong uses a custom engine written by Pterodon which I don't think I have ever seen before in action. The game doesn't make use of any great whiz-bang features like pixel shaders or DirectX 9 effects, but it does push a lot of polygons and it runs pretty well overall. The lighting in this engine also works pretty nicely, as a few of the night missions in Vietcong will show you.
Generally, this engine almost seems to have been written mainly for this game, as it plays specifically towards what is needed in a Vietnam game - lots of varieties of trees and lots of polygons to support the environment, your enemies, and your own squad.
Vietcong does make use of a pretty large number of keys on your keyboard, but this game does have a lot of items to play around with. Even then, some of the keys can be condensed down into menus - for example, you have access to glow sticks and medkits, but they can be used directly from your mouse-wheel weapon menu. This is a handy addition, and works well when you have long-forgotten the key for some random item you suddenly need.
All of the standard controls and associated options are present, along with a good key setup system. Going prone is here, and it of course helps your accuracy - quite a bit. Any weapon can be aimed with an "aim" key (similar to an alt-fire), which helps some weapons a lot more than others. One minor complaint is that I wish they would put all the multiplayer-only key bindings on their own separate page - I had to look at the description for every key to see if I needed to keep it handy during the single-player game. Still, not a big deal.
Your buddies who accompany you on a majority of missions can take orders as well, all of which are available from a menu. Hotkeys are set up for calling any specific guy to your side immediately, and you will need to interact with your men often to get through some missions.
The game does make a valiant effort to look realistic - and while the gameplay is far from realistic, it does look great. There are a lot of little details to enjoy, like the stuff you build up in your personal bunker after completing missions. It feels like home, sort of.
The environments look great for the most part, and they make up probably the best-looking jungle environment in a game that I've seen yet. Even though you spend a majority of your time out in the jungle, the developers have managed to make each level unique in at least a few ways - and many of these unique landmarks become a focal point of your mission.
The models for your squad aren't too bad, but as is what is becoming a standard nowadays, they look terrible when they talk. Watching mission briefings is rather painful, as your captain and your character, Hawkins, show lots of teeth and just look extremely unnatural while talking. Enemies aren't quite as detailed as the guys on your own squad, but that is done mainly to keep memory usage down as well as keep performance up during firefights. They still are somewhat varied as you go, with different sets of clothing, hats, and quite a few faces. But that's about all the variety there is. In fact, I don't remember ever seeing a woman or child in this game - not once.
There are a ton of weapons to use in Vietcong, most of which look pretty good - simply because they look "used". Many games show off shiny, never-been-used weapons that just look completely out of place in war, but this one doesn't do that.
Most of the animations look pretty good, although the game doesn't really do any of the ragdoll physics effects that is becoming standard fare. Since you will be spending at least a bit of time ransacking enemy bodies for ammo, weapons, and intelligence items, it becomes at least a bit of a sore point.
Vietcong offers up a pretty extensive single player campaign where your character, Hawkins, leads a squad consisting of upto five other guys through a range of missions. These missions are pretty varied, but you can expect that basically every one of them will having you kill lots of Vietcong. The mission goals are fairly forgiving in how you should accomplish them, but every once in a while you will have no clue what to do and checking the goals won't help at all. You do get a map you can look at, but in a couple of missions it is either useless or just downright misleading. A few times I had to run around for a while to figure out what to do.
There are four difficulty settings to play on, and quick saves/loads are all there - even though I found that loading games wasn't all that fast. Vietcong offers a few surprises in the story here and there, but for the most part you will just get your briefing and then go complete your goals. As you can expect, your ragtag bunch of squadmates talk a bit of trash during the briefings, just like any popular war movie has - it's too bad that the trash talk kind of sucks and the game doesn't incite any real attachment to any of the guys on your squad.
After each completed mission, you will find yourself back at your bunker, where you can head out to practice shooting at the range, read up on the intelligence you picked up on the field, or start the next mission. The intel you pick up will go into a few files, and the game even writes a journal for you (although it is always the same, no matter how you complete the missions) as you go - complete with photos and drawings. It adds up to a very complete atmosphere that makes you feel more like you are there than most war-based FPS games.
One thing that has to be stressed here is that sometimes the player will find himself getting shot with no clue where the enemy is. Your instincts will tell you to look for muzzle flashes, but they are relatively small in Vietcong, which can make finding your enemies difficult. Still, if you can keep moving, the enemy will generally wind up missing enough to let you figure out their position. If you dislike a shooter where the enemy is hiding behind a tree with only a small portion of his body visible, then Vietcong is not your kind of game.
The game does supply a few changes to the standard gameplay - one mission has you going solo into a network of VC tunnels, searching for a captured comrade. The problem is that this mission goes on forever, having you run through an endless series of cramped little spaces (punctuated by an occasional room with some enemies inside it) searching for this guy. By the time I was a third of the way through the mission, I was ready to get back out to the jungle. Then when I did, I was outside for another five minutes then back into the tunnels for another long stint of crawling. It became a chore to do this mission, and that's never good.
Another frustrating mission was one in an almost pitch-black swamp, still trying to get that same POW back - this time I had to slog through a quarter-mile of swamp, with enemies hiding and shooting at me, my map leading me to the wrong place, and me cussing at the monitor. The payoff of actually getting into the village, saving the POW, and killing everyone else in the camp was simply not worth the trouble.
Despite a few troubling missions, Vietcong is a fun game to play - the solo campaign is better than your average FPS nowadays, and the squad-based play is pretty good once you learn how to keep your guys with you and have them support you correctly.
The game does supply a full range of single-player action - on top of the campaign, there is the tutorial to get you acquainted, a Quick Fight mode which is somewhat of a multiplayer match but against AI bots, and you can also go back and play any single campaign mission you have already beaten.
Vietcong also sports multiplayer gameplay with some modes similar to those in Medal of Honor or Day of Defeat. There are the usual DM and Team DM modes, as well as Last Man Standing and a round-based teamplay mode. On top of all this, CTF and territory-capturing modes are included, and even a multiplayer co-operative mode on a few maps. Vietcong does not lack in the way of multiplayer features, and when you add this together with the single-player modes, there is a ton of gameplay here.
Lag in the multiplayer mode was generally manageable, and servers are easy to find with the integrated browser (which is licensed from GameSpy). I find the multiplayer gameplay to be pretty good, but it is definitely still a game of hitting people without being seen - those who stay behind cover wind up getting the most kills.
I can't say that I'll be playing Vietcong's multiplayer modes forever, but it does supply enough to keep me going for a couple of weeks past the single player. For any FPS nowadays, I think that is more than enough to warrant a purchase.
Vietcong's sound effects are quite good, with lots of cool ambience and some great weapon effects. Explosions will give a good boom, and will even cause temporary deafness along with the ringing in the ears afterwards (which can be turned off if you don't like it). While the game supplies only a little music, it sounds very genuine for the time - you'll hear it during a few missions while you are hanging out in your bunker.
The voice acting in this game is generally about average with a few problems. First, the main character, who winds up doing the most talking, just sounds way off - the acting isn't bad, but he sounds too much like a generic gung ho action hero. He sounds constantly upbeat and way too innocent to be out there killing hundreds of Vietcong, but there he is, chiming in with his goofy witticisms all the way. The other guys in your squad fare only slightly better, mainly because they stay shut up during most of the missions. During the cutscenes, though, they just seem a bit phony. All in all, the voice acting is plentiful, but mostly forgettable.
Vietcong supplies plenty of gameplay to keep you going, and is generally all-around fun in both the single player campaign and over the internet. Even though there are a few infuriating missions and some out-of-place voice acting, it feels fairly genuine and is a high quality, unique addition to your shooter collection.


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Shirley Cervenka has owned the Shorewood Pub for 40 years. It started out as a pub, grocery store and used car lot. Now the grocery store is a kitchen and the car lot is a campground.
Pippi Mayfield/Tribune
Read the article: 40 years of Shorewood Pub Cervenka has seen changes over the years