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Milwaukee Brewers Photos
MLB Rumors
Smith: Angels' Heaney opens his heart to kids in Honduras
Notes: Astros lose Jed Lowrie's bat and backgammon set; sign a Colombian shortstop
The Increasingly Exciting Franklin Barreto
Simmons Says: Blue Jays going the garage-sale route for pitching
Left Behind: The Guys Who Didn't Make It (by Bledsoe)
Ryan Braun progressing well after back surgery
TCN's 2016 Cardinals Top 40 Prospect Countdown Begins Monday, 11/30
Angels sign catcher Geovany Soto to a one-year deal
Diamondbacks name Dave Magadan hitting coach
MLB hot stove: Los Angeles Dodgers star Yasiel Puig reportedly involved in fight
No latest news.
Cleveland Indians shopping in Shane Victorino's aisle for free-agent outfielders
Former Seattle Mariners pitcher J.A. Happ agrees to return to Toronto Blue Jays
Similar names too. Easy to confuse if you don't read carefully. https://t.co/AUVUWbsCDd
MLB hot stove: Los Angeles Dodgers star Yasiel Puig reportedly involved in fight
Rays release 2016 spring training schedule
Is Denard Span a fit in right field? - School of Roch
Chris Davis and the Padres Update
Ex-Met, Phillie Lenny Dkystra claims brain damage in $15M lawsuit
J.A. Happ to Toronto
Mets sign right-handed pitcher Stolmy Pimentel
Rays bullpen in annual rebuilding process
Manuel Margot Has Hit Three Homers in Winter League
2015 In Review: Anthony DeSclafani
Rockies' Reyes pleads not guilty to abusing wife in Hawaii
A reason for fans of each MLB team to be thankful
Detroit Tigers, Jordan Zimmermann discussions 'serious,' per Fox Sports
Twins expect to complete deal with Korean slugger Park when he arrives in US
South Side Sox' SB Nation MLB Awards voting results
MLB hot stove: Los Angeles Dodgers star Yasiel Puig reportedly involved in fight
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WIP - TMP Enterprise, deck by deck
View Single Post
July 7 2009, 07:39 PM
Re: WIP - TMP Enterprise, deck by deck
The Enterprise D cutaway could be seen in main engineering (during 'Generations' for example, when the Duras sisters view it via Geordi's visor). I think (although I could be wrong) that the E cutaway was displayed at the rear of the bridge.
That corridor is not only featured in TMP. During Khan's first phaser strike we see the cadets fleeing engineering and some of them exit through that door and out through the corridor. And I don't think there's even ten feet to spare there. And even if it is only seen twice - well, its still there, isn't it, no matter how many times you see it? And my argument isn't really about storytelling - its about the reconciliation with what is seen on-screen (ie, canonical Trek) with the technical realisation and design of the ship from a practical standpoint. I have seen Mr Probert's drawing and I appreciate that was the design intent. My point is that the intent doesn't mesh with canon, and concepts are simply that - concepts. Not final realisations.
I hadn't considered that drop-down door in engineering, and yes I think you're right - engineering must be lower down. And I'm sure I can't be the first to mention this, but how does that door manage to slice straight though the horizontal intermix chamber?
I wish I had the ability to do my own version! Unfortunately I do not possess the skills that CTM does or the necessary hardware. I think his version is terrific, but I just find that to shrink the torp bay by that much and to ignore an on-screen feature such as that corridor deviates a bit much from canon. Can't wait to see the finished ship though.
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Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
I'll try to keep this short and get to the point. UC3 continues the tradition of being an outstanding cinematic experience, has a lot of exciting moments and creates wonderful characterizations. In these respects, I can't say I've played another game that offered better. It is visually stunning, in particular because there is so much attention to little details in the environments, I love th...
Read review | Comments(16) | 1476d ago
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Uncharted 3 looks amazing. The sheer level of detail is immense. I don't pretend to know the technical details behind game lighting, but even a layman such as myself can see that the lighting in Uncharted 3 is stunning. It looks real, imitating the effect of having to expose a camera for indoors when the sunlight outside is really bright and the slight adjustment when going from one light to an...
Read review | Comments(12) | 1474d ago
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Naughty Dog has done it again. When Uncharted 2: Among Thieves came out it was met with huge amounts of critical acclaim to a point where no one believed Naughty Dog could out do themselves. But I'm more than happy to say that Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception is a better game than Among Thieves and is a strong contender for game of the year. If you are familiar with the Uncharted franchis...
Read review | Comments(3) | 1473d ago
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Uncharted 2 is easily my favorite and best rated game this generation with MGS4 right behind it. I thoroughly enjoyed the first fame, and loved everything about Uncharted 2, and so I was ecstatic when the third title in the franchise was announced. The anticipation is finally over, and I've completed the game. Unfortunately I was not as thrilled as I was after playing Uncharted 2 due to some qu...
Read review | Comments(12) | 1471d ago
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Naughty Dog, famous for the Crash Bandicoot series, have put themselves on the map in 2007 with their début of the Uncharted franchise with Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. In the beginning, cynics were confident this was just Tomb Raider with a male lead character, but Naughty Dog had proved them wrong. Two years later, they released the sequel, Among Thieves, breaking the mold of what we know as a...
Read review | Comments(2) | 1427d ago
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Nathan Drake is no ordinary man. At least, by the end of Uncharted 3, the amount of thrills experienced in this "game", which is more like a cinematic experience, is nothing short of inhuman. The characters, most notably Nate's mentor Sully, are believable and add to the atmosphere. As part of the minority who thought that Uncharted 2 was a tad overrated, Uncharted 3 improves on its predecessor...
Read review | Comments(10) | 1425d ago
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
I remember beating Uncharted 2 like it was yesterday. Never in my life had I played a game with so much quality. The characters the locales, the visuals, the gameplay... it was all incredible. So isn't it natural that one would stop and say... "Man how can they top this?" Without warning, Naughty Dog announced Uncharted 3 Drake's Deception and I was just so excited. It had become my most...
Read review | Comments(15) | 1412d ago
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
After the launch of 'Uncharted 2: Among Thieves', Naughty Dog started noticing they had more people in the company's employ than ever before, and realized that all could be put to good use, so the decision was made to split the team into two so that each side could work on their own game. One team was working on 'Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception', and it was riding on the hype of 'Uncharted 2'...
Read review | Comments(20) | 839d ago
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
*NOTE #1: While this doesn't affect the overall outcome of any score, I will be cataloguing the GOTY additions in Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception.* *NOTE #2: There are bigger story spoilers present in order to talk about certain qualities of the game I liked and disliked—more a mixture of both this time. Viewer discretion is advised.* Second opinions can be a great or terrible thing. It's...
Read review | Comments(10) | 523d ago


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Inventors of method acting, mime and smoking seductively, the French have a reputation for being pretentious. But if one is to look beyond the colourful art house films and sadistic haute cuisine, one can see that the French are unashamedly base. The French are willing to ply their children with fine wine from a young age, and condense an entire political ideology into a single Gaulish pun. But if one is to dig deeper still, this lack of shame manifests itself not only in la comédie, but in haute drame where puns are no less abundant than exposed nipples.
And so Remember Me is not just riddled with puns, but nipples too; only they are not present to arouse, or even nourish, but to repulse—just as the puns are present not to amuse, but to form a sincere reflection of themes of the past and present mixed with fantasies of the future. But more importantly, the nipples belong to the puny leapers. The leapers are the lepers of the future; stigmatised outcasts with dry nipples, deformed faces and hunched backs. And superpowers.
Some can turn invisible when not exposed to floodlights; some can stick to walls before unleashing a devastating attack; and some are all but invincible when surrounded by their leaper colony comrades; while others still are immune to some of Nilin's more useful focus moves (special attacks and skills). They are worthy adversaries. The invisible leapers, with their flickering digital artifacts and dangerous red exclamation marks (an easy way for the player to perceive an incoming attack) who pop out of nowhere, are especially terrifying as they stalk Nilin imperceptibly across the battlefield.
The red exclamation mark proves its worth during these uncomfortable occasions, but it is just as useful elsewhere as well; helping to turn the combat into an entirely timing based affair. The camera joins in too; awkwardly making the point of focus settle by default just above the heads of the combatants, which is at first a jarring angle that feels counter intuitive and must be fought against. But soon it becomes a boon as the right thumb settles comfortably on the buttons; attuned to the frequency of button presses so that the offence is acted out all but blindly to a tempo—the eyes watching only for the exclamation marks and distinct enemy types while the ears listen for the sound of incoming ranged attacks because the lethargic, short sighted camera cuts them out of view.
The required slowness of the button presses to keep a combo going (press the next attack too early or too late and the combo will be broken) combined with the abstract visual indicator of enemy attacks, and the errant camera that forces you to use sound to survive off-screen ranged attacks, all come together to form an oddly serene battle system that is contemplative and thoughtful.
And one would expect it to be so cerebral: the effects of each combo can be edited to one's own personal preference. Unfortunately this does not mean one can (as I fantasised that it would) alter the order of button presses (which within reason could work; one could easily be prevented from making a combo ten presses of the same button), but that one can alter the effectiveness and focus of each combo by mixing together healing effects, focus move cool downs, multipliers that increase the effectiveness of the next attack, and damage maximisers.
The later on a combo chain that any effect is placed, the more effective it is, so the order of the effects applied to any given combo must be carefully considered; as must where to place the multipliers, and which moves to sacrifice on the simpler combos that you will need to use in the most dire of situations, but will otherwise slow you down. As you play you unlock not only more effects to help you build your combos, but also more combos. Early on you might not have enough moves to fill up a new combo, so another problem must be considered and solved: would it be better to sacrifice your easy, short combo for the sake of a long, more powerful one; or would it be better to have the small combo to fall back on thus leaving the longer combo only a little more powerful due to not having enough effects to fill it in completely?
Unfortunately, even by the end of the game, there are only a few combos. The truth is you only need a few: an emergency healing combo; a powerful combo; and a cool down combo are more than enough for any situation, but it does result in a certain level of staleness setting into the combat due to the fact that you're using the same limited number of combos over and over again.
Although there is reasonable variety in how enemies must be approached, they too are introduced at a leisurely pace, and it's only towards the end when they are mixed together in a variety of ways so as to alter your sortie response strategy. And it is here where the combat system begins to shine, despite the staleness of the limited number of combos that has already begun to fester pungently.
Suddenly focus moves become an absolute must when approaching any given battle; and often the same focus move must be used multiple times which means that you are forced to use all your combos: you must cool down your focus moves so they may be used again; you must devastate your enemies; and you must heal yourself through ultra-violence. And to top it off, you'll also have to whip out your arm cannon to deal with the robots that you couldn't convert to your side due to your power of persuasion not having cooled down yet. Or even worse, due to your focus bars (one focus bar is used by each focus move) having run out. The focus bars can be refilled by inflicting or suffering damage, but that takes time; and in the mean time the robots are probably trying their level best to kill you, whether it be through the binary of combustion or penetration.
It is here where the frailties of the camera system do little to add to the unique feel of the combat. The arm cannon automatically locks on to the nearest enemy as the camera swoops down to a traditional third person shooter perspective. The aiming lock is then movable from enemy to enemy with the right thumb stick. The trouble is that the robots attack with such regularity that by the time you've navigated the lock to them, you'll probably have to dodge their incoming attack before you can return fire. Which means it's time to start again.
The only way to be more sure of getting a lock on the robot you actually want to shoot is to frame them approximately in the centre of the screen before you aim, but this means you must take your thumb from the handy dodge button, and the camera is sluggish and slow. And even if you have taken the time to carefully line up your sights, sometimes the camera will still snap to an enemy on the edge of the screen. By the time you've managed to get the robot in question in your sights again, all your previous painstaking efforts to heal yourself through regenerative combos will probably have gone to waste.
But there's more to Remember Me than violence. Much of the game plays out as a contemporary platformer, with Nilin climbing her way around Neo-Paris. She edges her way across neon light bulbs and shimmies across chemises; her chemise flapping in the wind. She moves smoothly through the environment; though there is a slight weight to her movement which gives the controls an almost sluggish feel. But once one is used to it, this sluggishness gives movement in both combat and exploration flavour and believability. Each time Nilin's thin frame is too much for a sturdy steel pipe to take and she falls, it's all the more convincing; or every time she flips over an armoured policeman, her movement through the air is all the more graceful for the tangible effort that such gymnastics took. Now and then she even has to time her jumps, or consider her way across a crevasse; lest a hop in the wrong direction lead her swiftly to the cobblestones below.
Yes, cobblestones still exist in the year 2084. Neo-Paris is full of reminders of the past, from classical statues to cobblestone pathways and cramped, Parisian cafés. But everything is polished to a Google Glass sheen: digital signs hover in front of old cafés where Parisians smoke, sip café, and nibble on croissants as they always have. At the same time a humanoid robot sweeps up their crumbs or does their shopping in an upmarket boutique. It's a powerful juxtaposition that makes the world believable in the same way that Phillip K. Dick managed to make a world where man and machine were one in the same feel authentic and genuine—by realising that the future will be full of remnants of the past, just as our present is too.
But much of this world is little more than elaborate ruse. As rich as the world seems from behind its emerald veneer, one cannot remove one's Glasses; and so Nilin is forced down tightly orchestrated and focused alleyways that would seem to have been picked straight out of Paris' backstreets if not for the fact that at every corner there is a little obstacle that should be nothing for an athlete as talented as Nilin to traverse yet nevertheless forces her across only one prong of the chocolate éclair-encrusted fork in the road. But there is something authentic about this too: much of this world seems to exist only through the digital gaze; so why should it be tangible? Besides, Nilin has lives to destroy, so there's little time to stop and smell the rouge vin.
The cost of the lives she destroys is something that is flirted with; but the flirtation never progresses to even a kiss. One character who is made an ally through atrocity flies off into the sunset at the end of the game; the horrors that she has endured thanks to Nilin's actions left unresolved; or even remembered.
And what were those actions? Memory remixing. Now and then Nilin must manipulate a character into behaving as she wishes them to, and what better way to do this than to force them to remember a life affirming; a life changing moment incorrectly? You'd think it would be a bit of a crêpeshoot, but within the world of Remember Me it's a piece of cake every time.
And how does it work? First one must sit through a cutscene as one normally would; but at the end of the cutscene, the screen goes white, and one is politely asked to rewind. As you rewind certain props within the scene may be highlighted and manipulated. You must manipulate the correct props (sometimes choosing between two props on the same frame) to correctly alter how the memory plays out so that the post-memory epiphany that the violated character endures will be the correct one to suit Nilin's diabolical needs.
The puzzles are simple but enjoyable. They are logically solved, and although some require a reasonable amount of experimentation; the experimentation is engaging—watching a scene play out to your own direction is satisfying and has a certain voyeuristic excitement to it. But once again awkwardness is reeled back into the gameplay: to move the cutscene forwards or backwards, one most rotate the left thumb stick clockwise or anti as if operating a film projector or editing suite. A lengthy cutscene can take upwards of thirty seconds to rewind from beginning to end, even when sped up. To make matters worse, if you make a mistake early on in the scene but all your other prop-alterations are correct, when you rewind past them, they too will be cancelled so that you must set up the whole scene all over again. Which is made all the more frustrating by the fact that finding the right frame is almost akin to pixel hunting.
These memorial remixes are rare, but their rarity only emphasises their sometimes odd placement. They are mostly used to the same rhythm as the cutscenes; but unlike the cutscenes they do not last only a few minutes—sometimes stretching over half an hour if the solution to the puzzle is hard to come by. Then the game continues on as if there had only been a several minute cutscene. The rest are used in place of boss battles—though elsewhere bosses take their rightful place at the climax; often foreshadowed with cartoonish foreplay illustrated through in-setting advertising or radio chatter, and make good use of crowd control and puzzle solving. Here these scenes work as the gameplay climax of a gameplay passage and are all the more effective for it. But due to their effectiveness, they also help to amplify the discord in the placement of the others.
In these scenes the citizens of Neo-Paris communicate in a mixture of English-speaking accents, ranging from English to American. An all-English Paris is as believable as an all-French world once was, but unlike the care that has been given to the rest of the world of Neo-Paris (to the point where the odd spattering of French can be spotted amongst the near endless English signage and graffiti) there are no remnants of the verbal heritage of Paris beyond a few French words thrown in which are pronounced with the same garishly foreign enunciation.
However, the excellent juxtaposition of new, old and present is not completely absent to one's ears. The music, just as the setting, is predominately composed of synthetics: synthesisers, programmed drum patterns and glitchy effects and filters that seem to infect the music; distorting and breaking it. It's an effective electronic backing that is elevated to greatness by the snippets of genuine orchestration that are melded perfectly to the synthesisers and drum patterns, and vice versa: Now and then a choir will sing only to be polluted by the vulgar, sharp punch of a synthesiser; or a synthesiser medley complete with wet, decaying drums will be punctuated with the tone of a classical violin. The music is beautiful and effective enough that it does not compliment the visual illustration of the setting, but is in fact a vital part of the setting itself and expresses no less than the classical statues and Google Glass signage do.
As benign and redundant (if a robot has an AI capable of working a desk job at a computer, would it not be infinitely more efficient to run that AI on the computer it works on, rather than in a robot manipulating said computer?) as most of the robots of Neo-Paris are when not attempting to kill Nilin in combat, there are some that are not so passive. Now and then Nilin will run into drones that float ominously above; their sometimes invisible line of sight often illustrated visually via Google Glass on the ground so that Nilin may dash easily from crevice to crevice. Beyond two puzzles involving sliding doors, there's little more to the stealth than avoiding these lines of sight. It's as archaic as the linear environments but, just like the linear environments, it is smooth flowing and charming for the very fact that it is archaic.
Perhaps the juxtaposition in the gameplay is just as deliberate as it is in the music and the visual design. It mixes the same things: the present (the combat); the past (the stealth and level design); and the future (the combo system). And that is why it works—becoming more than the sum of its parts, but only because of its parts. It uses the old and the new to create something that is neither old nor new, but different. Imagine how Prism must feel…


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Cowboys Photos
He said what? The greatest quotes from Cowboys owner Jerry Jones
Photo: Michael Mulvey/The Dallas Morning News/Special
"Romo was a miracle. ... He almost never got in, and he almost was gone." -- Jones in 2010.
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- Filed Under
The Coshocton Visitors Bureau received five MIDDY Awards recently at the Ohio Association of Convention and Visitors Bureau's annual education conference.
The awards represent excellence in destination marketing and tourism among member bureaus for marketing and public relations efforts.
The CVB received second place awards for the Coshocton Visitors Guide, the new Coshocton Visitors Bureau logo and the Visit Coshocton Facebook page. It received first place for the Visit Coshocton Flickr page and the 2013 Coshocton County Events Brochure.


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Everett Ruess: His Short Life, Mysterious Death, and Astonishing Afterlife
McPherson, Robert S., California History
EVERETT RUESS: HIS SHORT LIFE, MYSTERIOUS DEATH, AND ASTONISHING AFTERLIFE By Philip L. Fradkin (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011, 296 pages, $24.95)
AMERICANS LOVE TO CONTEMPLATE lost things--gold mines, airplanes, ships, and people--then go looking for them. In the case of Everett Ruess, this young man became a symbol of the starry-eyed wanderer and poster child for wilderness advocates, receiving a good share of his notoriety due to two things--poignant letters that chronicle inner turmoil mixed with spirited elation and his disappearance in southeastern Utah, never to been found. Roughly a third of this book dwells on Ruess's "astonishing afterlife" and the people who unsuccessfully pursued the mystery of his demise.
Fradkin has created a work that surpasses all others written about Ruess. Heavily documented, it provides a rich context in historical fact and social analysis, daring to go where others have not trod. Controversial topics such as the possibility of Ruess having a manic-depressive disorder, questions of sexual preference, his inability to maintain normal relationships, and academia's debacle in the DNA testing of skeletal remains give the writing an "edgy" quality. The author, backed by expert opinion, argues a point of view that removes any halo and grounds his subject in reality. Weaving Ruess's words throughout the text blends the familiar (with those who have read his writings) with a new awareness of his complexity. Fradkin achieves balance in portraying an unbalanced soul.
For the reader of California history, particularly pertinent are the chapters about Ruess's early years in this, his birth state, which he later explored at age nineteen (1933). …


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Flags At Half-Staff In Honor Of Fallen Colo. National Guardsman
Updated: 10/02/2013 - Flags are at half-staff Wednesday for a National Guard soldier from Colorado that was killed Afghanistan.
Updated: 10/02/2013 - Flags are at half-staff Wednesday for a National Guard soldier from Colorado that was killed Afghanistan.
Updated: 10/02/2013 - Everyone is wondering, but there's no end in sight for the federal government shutdown. Leaders from both parties can't say when it will end.
Updated: 10/02/2013 - More than 1,000 civilian employees have been sent home at Fort Carson because of the government shutdown.
Posted: 10/02/2013 - The government shutdown will impact several things at the US Air Force Academy.
Updated: 10/02/2013 - Travel for all intercollegiate athletics is cancelled during the government shut down.
Posted: 10/01/2013 - There is concern the government shutdown could damage U.S. credibility among its international allies. That's why the Defense Department wants to expand the number of workers who will be exempt from the furloughs.
Updated: 10/01/2013 - Members of the military will still get paid during the government shutdown.
Updated: 09/30/2013 - The Senate has adopted a bill to pay members of the military in case the government shuts down.
Updated: 09/26/2013 - An Air Force Academy says an airman will be in court Thursday, facing charges of sexual misconduct.
Updated: 09/26/2013 - A Fort Carson soldier has been sentenced to 10 years of confinement and a dishonorable discharge after pleading guilty to engaging in sexual acts with a 13-year-old girl.
Updated: 09/25/2013 - The Department of Defense says that nearly 2,000 soldiers from Fort Carson are deploying to Afghanistan this winter.
Updated: 09/23/2013 - The Air Force Academy celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Cadet Chapel's dedication.
Updated: 09/28/2013 - Volunteers from the Air Force Academy were at Rampart Reservoir Sunday to help with fire and flood mitigation on the Waldo Canyon burn scar.
Updated: 09/19/2013 - It was an emotional reunion Wednesday afternoon at Peterson Air Force Base for airmen and their friends and families.
Updated: 09/10/2013 - Syria says it has accepted Russia's proposal to place its chemical weapons under international control for subsequent dismantling.
Posted: 09/09/2013 - Syrian President Bashar Assad is warning there will be retaliation against the U. S. for any military strike launched in response to a chemical weapons attack.
Updated: 09/06/2013 - The State Department is ordering nonessential U.S. diplomats to leave Lebanon due to security concerns as the Obama administration and Congress debate military strikes on neighboring Syria.
Posted: 09/05/2013 - A former U.S. Army soldier from Colorado has pleaded guilty for her role in stealing fuel from a military base in Afghanistan that cost the federal government more than $1.5 million.
Posted: 09/04/2013 - A Senate panel has voted to give President Barack Obama the authority to use military force against Syria in response to a deadly chemical weapons attack.
Posted: 09/04/2013 - No ground troops and deadline set for any action in Syria.
Posted: 09/03/2013 - President Barack Obama says he's confident he'll be able to work with Congress to pass a resolution authorizing military intervention in Syria.
Posted: 09/02/2013 - No American casualties have been reported so far after a violent attack on a U.S. base in Afghanistan early Monday morning.
Updated: 09/02/2013 - A Fort Carson soldier died Saturday in Afghanistan while supporting Operation Enduring Freedom
Updated: 09/02/2013 - Colorado Springs police say they have arrested a man accused of shooting and killing a Fort Carson soldier outside a Colorado Springs bar.
Posted: 09/02/2013 - Two men who left Syria and now live in Colorado are talking about what it's like back in their home country.


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Fondue is a ubiquitous staple of Swiss culture, matched only by neutrality, multiuse pocketknives, and the world's most easy-to-draw cheese. Go for a dip with this Groupon.
Choose Between Two Options
- $55 for a fondue dinner for two, valid Monday–Thursday (up to a $109.60 value)
- $60 for a fondue dinner for two, valid any day of the week (up to a $109.60 value)
Dinner includes the following:
- Two salads (up to a $5.95 value each)
- Two glasses of wine (up to a $10 value each)
- One shared cheese fondue (up to a $17.90 value)
- Two individual entrees (up to a $23.95 value each)
- Two choices of cooking styles (a $5.95 value each)
See the restaurant's new menu, which offers an expanded list of course selections.
The Melting Pot
When The Melting Pot originally opened in 1975 just outside Orlando, diners had just three options: swiss-cheese fondue, beef fondue, or chocolate fondue. The restaurant first expanded four years later, when an enterprising waiter at the initial location opened up a new outpost in Tallahassee. Today, the company—now owned by that original waiter, Mark Johnston, and his brothers Mike and Bob—stretches across North America with more than 140 restaurants linked by underground tunnels. The restaurant's menu has also expanded, and patrons can now enjoy an interactive dining experience with entrees cooked right at their table using six varieties of hot dipping cheese, which can be paired with salads, meats, and molten chocolate.
94% of 622 customers recommend
"Excellent service, great team work, all employees were friendly and helpful. Everyone went out of their way to make sure you had a great dining experience :)"
"Great service and great food, met the owner and he was awesome and really good to us during our visit, thanks again!"
"Waiter was amazing, patient with our impatient children, and completely non-judgement about us having a great Groupon:) My other comment would be- although fun for..."
"Waiter was amazing, patient with our impatient children, and completely non-judgement about us having a great Groupon:) My other comment would be- although fun for kids, they get bored when "everything takes so long!". Would have been preferable to sit at a table with 2 fondue pots instead of just one, when there are four people or any kids. :)"
2230 Town Center Ave, Ste 101
Melbourne, FL 32940
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If you use the Internet to sell goods or products to customers in Connecticut, you should learn about Connecticut's Internet sales tax rules. Those rules have been a subject of debate in Connecticut, as in many other states and at the federal level. More particularly, in April 2011, Connecticut enacted a new law that applies to large out-of-state Internet retailers.
The federal government is currently considering legislation that would affect large Internet retailers and how online sales taxes are collected in all states. The proposed federal law, called the Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013, would allow states to require sellers not physically located in their state to collect taxes on online and catalog sales made to people in their state. Sellers that make $1 million or less in annual sales and have no physical presence in the state would be exempt from this requirement. States would have to meet certain criteria to simplify their sales tax laws and make sales tax collection easier before they could require sellers to collect the tax.
Below is an article on the current rules on Internet sales tax in Connecticut. A new federal law would affect all state Internet sales tax laws so be sure to check for updates in this area.
The General Rule: Physical Presence in the State
The current default rule throughout the United States is that you must collect sales tax on Internet sales to customers in those states where your business has a "physical presence." The physical-presence rule is based on a 1992 United States Supreme Court decision, Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, that addressed the obligations of mail-order businesses to collect sales tax on out-of-state sales. The decision has been extended to include online retailers. Generally speaking, a physical presence means such things as:
- having a warehouse in the state
- having a store in the state
- having an office in the state, or
- having a sales representative in the state.
For more specific guidance on how physical presence is defined specifically under Connecticut's law, refer to the definition of "engaged in business in the state" in Section 12-407(15)(A) of Connecticut's sales and use tax law. (Note: some of the latest amendments to Connecticut's sales tax law are not incorporated in the preceding linked document, which is from 2011. For the latest updates, you will need to run a search using the state's statutes database.)
As you might expect, the corollary to the physical-presence rule is that if you do not have a physical presence in the state, you generally are not required to collect sales tax for an Internet-based sale to someone in that state. This is implied in guidance published by Connecticut Department of Revenue Services (DRS), which indicates that if a "business does not have any physical presence in Connecticut," registering to collect tax is voluntary.
Be aware that Connecticut has a relatively new state law applicable to out-of-state Internet retailers that presents an exception to these general rules.
The following examples generally would be valid in situations where special rules, such as those enacted in Connecticut in 2011, do not apply.
Example 1: You are operating solely out of a store in Jonesboro, Arkansas and make a sale to a customer in Stamford, Connecticut—a state where your business has no physical presence: You are not required to collect sales tax from the Stamford customer.
Example 2: You are operating solely out of an office in Bridgeport, Connecticut and make a sale to a customer in Hartford, Connecticut: You are required to collect sales tax from the Springdale customer.
Example 3: After several years of operating solely out of a store in Jonesboro, Arkansas, you open a one-room satellite office just outside of New Haven, Connecticut—a state where previously you had no physical presence. A day later, you make a sale to a customer in Hartford, Connecticut: You are required to collect sales tax from the Hartford customer.
Non-Taxable Items
Some items sold via the Internet to Connecticut customers may be exempt from sales tax under Connecticut law. For example, under Section 12-412(102) of the sales tax law, bicycle helmets are exempt from sales tax. The DRS has a helpful, readable webpage listing many of the most important items exempt from state sales tax.
The Customer's Responsibility
In cases where the online retailer does not have to collect sales tax, it is the customer's responsibility to pay the tax—in which case it is known not as a sales tax but, rather, a "use tax." According to guidance from the DRS, "Common purchases that are subject to use tax would be supplies or equipment purchased by Internet or mail order sales since the vendor is rarely required to collect sales tax."
Connecticut's "Amazon Law"
In the Spring of 2011, the Connecticut legislature amended the definition of "retailer" in Section 12-407(12) of the state's sales tax statute, adding language to require larger Internet retailers with no physical presence in Connecticut, but meeting certain other conditions, to collect and pay Connecticut's sales tax. Similar laws have been at least considered, and sometimes enacted, in various states around the country. These laws are commonly known as "Amazon laws." (As you might guess, the name refers to Amazon.com, which is a large, Internet-based retailer that does not have a physical presence in many states, and therefore, under the default sales tax rule, need not collect sales tax from customers in those states. As customers in those states often do not pay the corresponding use tax, Amazon's sales, and those of other large online retailers, such as Overstock.com, are frequently understood to constitute significant lost tax revenue for those states.)
Under the new law, if an out-of-state Internet retailer has what is commonly known as a "click-through" arrangement with one or more persons located in Connecticut, and meets a few other conditions, the retailer must collect sales tax. More specifically, an out-of-state retailer needs to collect sales tax from Connecticut customers if that retailer:
- has an agreement with one or more persons in Connecticut to refer potential customers to the retailer via a website link or otherwise
- compensates the person or persons in Connecticut for directing potential buyers to the online dealer, and
- the seller's "cumulative gross receipts" from such directed sales to Connecticut customers exceeds $2,000 during the preceding 12 months.
As a result of Connecticut passing this law, Amazon.com shut down all click-through arrangements with people located in Connecticut.
Final Words
For most small online businesses, it is the long-established "physical presence" rule that provides primary guidance on collecting tax on sales to customers in Connecticut. However, the issue is contentious, as demonstrated by the Amazon law enacted in Connecticut last year.
A good place to turn for additional information about a Connecticut's Internet sales tax laws is the Department of Revenue Services. For more general information on taxes on Internet sales, see Nolo's article Sales Tax on the Internet. And, for information on the rules about collecting sales tax for Internet sales in any other state, see Nolo's article, 50-State Guide to Internet Sales Tax Laws.
September 2012


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for more log onto www.fighthubtv.com
Our fight hub tv fight correspondent michael mardones was on hand at the Mayweather Boxing Club as Floyd Mayweather Jr. worked out for invited media in prepara watch video >>
Fight Nerd correspondent Michael Stets caught up with UFC Hall of famer & multiple-time champion, Randy "The Natural" Couture, at the opening of his new Xtreme Couture gym in Astoria, Queens, NY. In watch video >>
UFC.com correspondent Megan Olivi talks to light heavyweight headliners Ryan Bader and Glover Teixeira plus former light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida at UFC Fight Night open workouts in Belo Ho watch video >>
UFC.com correspondent Megan Olivi joins lightweight Diego Sanchez for a memorable open workout at the House of Blues in Houston. watch video >>
UFC correspondent Megan Olivi joins Team Alpha Male for an open workout featuring UFC on FOX headliner Joseph Benavidez, plus FOX fighters Urijah Faber, Chad Mendes and Danny Castillo. Hear what it's watch video >>
Alexander "The Mauler" Gustafsson sits down with special UFC London correspondent Gareth Davies to discuss his fight camp, what he thinks of Jimi Manuwa, and whether or not he plans on unleashing his watch video >>
Heavy-handed light heavyweight Jimi Manuwa chats with special UFC correspondent Gareth A. Davies about his upcoming bout with Alexander Gustafsson. watch video >>
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Join UFC correspondent Megan Olivi backstage at the UFC 171 open workouts in Dallas, TX. Diego Sanchez and Myles Jury weigh in on their bout while veteran Jake Shields discusses how he prepared for H watch video >>
UFC correspondent Caroline Pearce interviews the fighters of UFC Fight Night Berlin at the Media Day Open Workouts about the opponent they will battle in the Octagon on May 31st. watch video >>


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- SCU Home Page
- About SCU
- Admission
- Academics
- On Campus
- News & Info
- Alumni
Adventure Trips
Adventure Trips are opportunities for first year students to explore the great outdoors with the guidance of experienced students and faculty. By participating in Adventure Trips, first year students will have the opportunity to:
2015 Adventure Trips
Point Reyes National Seashore
Big Sur - Terrace Creek
Big Sur - Andrew Molera State Park
Sign Up for Trips
Sign-ups for Adventure Trips will be available on July 30 after Sessions 1-6 of Orientation are over. Unfortunately, students registered for Session 7 Orientation are not able to participate in Adventure Trips.
Click here to sign up for a trip!
Early Move-In
Students who participate in Adventure Trips will be able to move in early into the residence halls. More information about early move-in will be shared with those students who sign up for the trips.
Adventure Trips are sponsored by the Center for Student Leadership (CSL) and Into the Wild. CSL is the department that organizes and hosts Orientation for all first year students. Into the Wild is one of our nine chartered student organizations (CSOs).


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November 25, 2015
Stay Connected Anywhere
If you like to celebrate hoildays, our Wednesday's Child would like your family!
This week's child is 10-year Matt. He's a quiet, polite young man who says he'd like to have a family who enjoys carving pumpkins, celebrating Christmas, and in general, marks the special days of the year.
Matt says he'd like to have a mom and a dad. Plus, he'd like to have some other kids in the family including two older siblings and maybe a sibling his own age. He says he'd like to have other kids to play with.
Matt is also hoping his new home has something to ride. He says he likes to ride horses and he enjoys riding his bike. Matt also likes school. He says science is his favorite subject. Plus, he looks forward to the Friday activity and doing work "sometimes."
For more information about Matt, or any of the other children in need of adoption, call Kansas Children's Service League at 877-530-5275. You can also log onto their website at www.cominghomekansas.org.
Click Here to access the online Public Inspection File
Viewers with disabilities can get assistance accessing this station's FCC Public Inspection File by contacting the station with the information listed below. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, 888-835-5322 (TTY), or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Cast Stone Wall Coping from stock or bespoke design
Curved Coping Stone CP216
Pond Coping CP215
Coping Stone CP219
Coping Stone CP217
Coping Stone CP212
Coping Bay Surround CP218
Textured Coping Stone CP213
Chamfered Coping Stone CP214
Coping Stone CP504
Where an old wall is being restored, replacing natural stone wall copings with cast stone wall coping, or precast concrete coping as they're sometimes called, is typically a much more cost-effective option. We can colour match so accurately and because the texture and finish of cast stone is so authentic, the end result will look almost indistinguishable from natural stone.
Cast stone Copings for New Walls
For new walls, cast stone copings, or precast concrete wall copings as they can be called, are ideal and far more cost-effective than natural stone wall copings.
Procter Cast Stone designs, manufactures and supplies high quality concrete coping stones for walls in both traditional and contemporary designs.At Procter Cast Stone we hold stocks of standard cast stone wall copings ready for quick delivery in a range of colours, plus can easily produce bespoke designs as required.
Request a FREE quote for your cast stone wall coping. Download the walling coping specification drawing and the colour range manual at the bottom of this page. For detailed CAD drawings, click on the FASTRACK CAD link at the top. For general advice or to discuss your requirements for cast stone wall copings, please fill out this request form.
A separate division of Procter manufactures steel railings in a very wide range of styles and we can also install these. More information on wall mounted steel railings. We maintain regular stock, please check for standard sizes you require.
|Prefer to use our expert installation service? Our installers have the experience and knowledge to ensure a perfect job, it is cost-effective and reassurance added.
|Also see railings from Procter Fencing Systems with different designs to go with your wall coping stone.


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December 15, 2010
Humane Discourse: Why it Matters
A discussion about the Humane Discourse and Conduct within Animal Welfare Pledge, a statement rejecting and condemn verbal abuse, threats, and acts of violence directed against animal welfare personnel.
November 1, 2010
Behavior Department: Turning Fearful Cats Friendly
Learn about a behavior training method that recognizes fearful cats not as a lost cause in the shelter environment, but as a puzzle to be solved.
November 1, 2010
Field Trip: Homeless in Paradise: Helping Mexico's Strays
Mexico may not be a tropical paradise for the country's homeless animals, but local groups are lending a hand and making a difference.
May 1, 2010
To the Rescue: Next Time, Use the Door
Sometimes raptors make house calls. Luckily, so does wildlife rehabilitator Victor Collazo.
March 1, 2010
Coffee Break: Staying Calm When You're About to Lose Your Cool
In your space, you told us about the times you've come close to losing your cool with a frustrating member of the public, but managed to save a difficult situation by staying calm and polite.
March 1, 2010
It's a Cat-Help-Cat World
When the lions and tigers at In-Sync Exotics sanctuary lent a paw by hosting an event to help their lap cat counterparts at a neighboring cat rescue, both groups benefited.
January 1, 2010
Family Values for a Different Kind of Family
The Wildlife Aid Brigade helps animal shelters and other agencies deal with wildlife-related calls by teaching their staff and volunteers how to handle the conflicts that arise when humans come face to face with the wild in their own yards and attics.
January 1, 2010
To the Rescue: Caws for Alarm
A humane officer in California branches out to attempt a daring, aerial rescue to free a trapped bird.
November 1, 2009
Wild Things: Black Bears
If your shelter ever receives calls from folks who are panicked at the prospect of seeing a black bear in their backyard, check out these tips for talking them through simple ways to discourage bears from entering their property.
November 1, 2009
Hounding Shelters
The tradition of hound hunting poses major problems for shelters in Virginia. Every year during'and especially after'hunting season, they are flooded with hounds who are either stray, abandoned, or relinquished by hunters who no longer want to take care of them.


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3 to 6 days
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Trainers & Casual - Black/White
You must select a size
Trainers in textiles from NLY SHOES. Detailing around the shoe in faux suede, mesh on the toe and patterns on the sides. Lace up front and padded edge around the foot opening. Slightly higher sole in the back than the front.
Made of textiles. Inside of textiles. Outer sole of rubber.
NLY Shoes have everything you need for an ultra-trendy shoe rack. Shoes are the foundation of a really good outfit and NLY Shoes always offer the season's must-haves - order everything from sparkling heels and stylish sandals to peppy party boots.
Free delivery when you spend over £75. Standard shipping £3.95. Delivery time: 3-6 days. We deliver with UPS.
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Shedding for the Wedding Premiers Tonight
The newest reality show on The CW combines two popular themes: weight-loss and wedding planning. From the creators of The Biggest Loser, the first episode of Shedding for the Wedding airs tonight.
Hosted by Sara Rue, nine couples will compete to lose weight and win the wedding of their dreams. Over the course of three months, the competitors have the chance to win smaller components of their big day, from rings to wedding cake. They will be aided by expert trainers Nicky Holender (who trains Kendra Wilkinson) and Jennifer Cohen, and celebrity nutritionist Ashley Koff. The couples will also get help from wedding planner Brian Worley.


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Iowa ranked No. 1 to lead nine Big Ten teams in first NWCA wrestling poll
Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports
The first USA Today/NWCA Division I Coaches Poll was released Saturday, and No. 1 Iowa paces a whopping nine ranked Big Ten teams.
Six Big Ten football teams are ranked in the latest AP & Coaches polls. Click here to see both polls.
Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports
The first USA Today/NWCA Division I Coaches Poll was released Saturday, and No. 1 Iowa paces a whopping nine ranked Big Ten teams.
The Big Ten had a successful run at the NCAA Championships as Penn State won its fourth consecutive title and Big Ten athletes took home six of the 10 individual titles. Kara Lentz wraps up the wrestling season and talks to Logan Stieber, Ohio State's three-time wrestling champion.
The 2014 NCAA Wrestling Championships has reached Saturday night's finals, and Minnesota sits atop the team standings. The Gophers, with 104 points, lead three-time reigning champ and Big Ten rival Penn State (101.5), which is in second place. Iowa (74.5) is fourth, Ohio State (52) seventh and Nebraska (43.5) 10th. See the full standings in this post.
Three-time reigning NCAA champ Penn State enters the final day of the NCAA Wrestling Championships in first place. The Nittany Lions have amassed 91 points after the first two days, just ahead of second-place Minnesota (90.5) and third-place Oklahoma State (87.5).
Penn State Athletics
The first day of the 2014 NCAA Wrestling Championships is complete, and Penn State sits in first place. The Nittany Lions are one of two teams with 10 wrestlers still alive as they seek their fourth straight NCAA title. Penn State leads the team race with 26.5 points, just ahead of Oklahoma State and Minnesota, who are tied for second with 21.5 each.
Penn State won its fourth straight Big Ten Wrestling Championships title on Sunday. The Nittany Lions (140.5) become just the fifth school to win four consecutive conference titles and the first since Iowa won 25 in a row from 1974-1998. Penn State took home two individual titles, as Ed Ruth and David Taylor closed their careers as just the 12th and 13th wrestlers to be four-time champs.


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Bill Text — Sep 16, 2012
S. 1009 (111th): Medicare Care Transitions Program Act of 2009
This bill's text is now available.
May 7, 2009
111th Congress, 2009–2010
This bill was introduced on May 7, 2009, in a previous session of Congress, but was not enacted.
Senator from Colorado
Read Text »
Last Updated: May 7, 2009
Length: 8 pages
A bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish a Care Transitions Program in order to improve quality and cost-effectiveness of care for Medicare beneficiaries.
5/7/2009--Introduced.Medicare Care Transitions Program Act of 2009 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a Care ... Read more >
The bill's title was written by its sponsor.
This is the first step in the legislative process.
This is a Senate bill in the United States Congress (indicated by the "S." in "S. 1009"). A bill must be passed by both the House and Senate in identical form and then be signed by the President to become law.
The committee chair determines whether a bill will move past the committee stage.
There have been no roll call votes related to this bill.
Search for similar bills.
THOMAS.gov (The Library of Congress)
GovTrack gets most information from THOMAS, which is updated generally one day after events occur. Activity since the last update may not be reflected here. Data comes via the congress project.
Click a format for a citation suggestion:
Civic Impulse. (2015). S. 1009 — 111th Congress: Medicare Care Transitions Program Act of 2009. Retrieved from https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/111/s1009
"S. 1009 — 111th Congress: Medicare Care Transitions Program Act of 2009." www.GovTrack.us. 2009. December 1, 2015 <https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/111/s1009>
{{cite web
|title=S. 1009 (111th)
|accessdate=December 1, 2015
|author=111th Congress (2009)
|date=May 7, 2009
|quote=Medicare Care Transitions Program Act of 2009


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Candidates forum >> The KRWG is going to run a candidates forum and it will be aired on Sunday morning at 11:00. It is about two hours long but I urge every citizens to watch it because we need to not only vote but we need to know who we are voting for.
City election >> I have never seen a more misleading political ad than for Council candidate Ceil Levatino. Her ad makes her look like a Democrat but she never mentions that she had close ties with Steve Pearce and is active in the Republican Party.
City election >> Since Judge Locatelli had to leave Municipal Court, Judge Ryan has restored the integrity of that court. He deserves my vote.
City election >> The realtors who are running for City Council, Cecile Levatino and Dave Roewe, say it is time for a change. Their so called change means a return to the old days with the City Council in cahoots with the building industry. Their change will bring back more sprawl, more dust and more empty homes and offices.City election >> I just listened in astonishment to City Council candidate David Roewe scoff at water problems in Las Cruces and the Southwest in general. I turned off my radio after he made a related nonsensical statement.City election >> I'm a proud Tea Party member. I know Cecile Levatino always implied she was one of us until she became a candidate.
be heard >> Call 575-541-5466 or email email@example.com to submit a Sound Off! item.


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Page 1
Statistics column
Plot your data
Seth Roberts, Ph.D.*
Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA; and Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Lesson 3: Plot your data
Writers of statistics textbooks tend to copy other text-
books rather than draw on experience. This leaves a serious
gap: Techniques that are highly useful in practice are not
taught. With this series of columns I am trying to fill that
gap. The first column [1] pointed out that doing something
(imperfect) is better than doing nothing. The second [2] was
about the value of transforming your data.
A third neglected lesson about data analysis is plot your
data. More precisely, make all reasonable graphs of your
data. Make a histogram of every measurement (to see its
distribution), plot every measurement against its date, and
plot every measurement against every other measurement.
This is a good way to generate ideas.
To read almost any statistics textbook, even the best
(e.g., Box et al. [3]), you'd think science was all about
testing ideas. It isn't. Where do the tested ideas come from?
Idea generation, which these books ignore, is just as im-
portant as idea testing. One of the best ways to generate new
ideas worth testing, I have found, is to make many graphs of
my data.
It is like searching for buried treasure. New ideas worth
testing are very valuable but hard to find. Only a tiny
fraction (1%?) of the graphs I've made led to new ideas but
some of those ideas had a big effect.
My graphs generated new ideas in two ways. 1) Causal-
ity. The graph suggested a cause–effect relation I hadn't
thought of. 2) Simplicity. Something turned out to be sim-
pler than expected. Here are examples.
Weight and sleep duration
Hoping to sleep better, I measured my sleep duration [4].
During a routine analysis of the data, I plotted sleep duration
versus date. The graph showed that my sleep duration had
sharply decreased several months earlier, which I hadn't
noticed. The sleep change occurred at exactly at the same
time I'd lost weight by changing my diet. The dietary
change was to eat less-processed food, food closer to its
natural state—to eat oranges instead of orange juice, for
example. The upper panel of Figure 1 shows the decrease in
sleep duration; the lower panel of Figure 1 shows the weight
loss. Before seeing these data, I'd never suspected that
weight controls sleep duration, nor had anyone else, as far
as I know. I later found other evidence for this [4]. In a
circuitous way, the graph of sleep duration led to several
more new ideas; the first was that breakfast caused early
awakening [4].
Reward expectancy and bar-press duration
Learning research is often done with rats in Skinner boxes,
experimental chambers with a bar that a rat can press and a
pellet dispenser. The rats press the bar to get food pellets.
Figure 2 shows Skinner-box results from rats trained with a
the box was dark and quiet. Now and then a light or white
noise went on. This marked the start of a trial. On most trials,
the rat's first bar press more than 40 s later was rewarded, and
the signal went off. Earlier bar presses had no effect. For
example, suppose a rat presses the bar 5, 22, 28, 36, and 37 s
after the start of the trial. Nothing happens. Then it presses the
bar 42 s after the start of trial. This bar press causes the pellet
dispenser to dispense a food pellet and turns off the light,
ending the trial. On other trials, however, the signal lasted
much longer than 40 s and no food was given. The upper panel
of Figure 2 shows bar-pressing rate as a function of time since
the start of the signal. Bar-pressing rate varied with time; it
reached a maximum around the time that reward was most
likely. These results were what I expected. In contrast, I was
shocked by a parallel graph that showed bar-press duration
(how long the rats held the bar down) as a function of time
since the start of the signal (lower panel of Fig. 2). The first
time I saw it I thought I'd made a mistake because it looked so
different from the rate function. Eventually its shape made
* Corresponding author. Tel.: ?510-418-7753; fax: ?267-222-4105.
E-mail address: email@example.com (S. Roberts).
Nutrition xx (2009) xxx
0899-9007/09/$ – see front matter © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Page 2
sense. The changes in mean bar-press duration reflected
changes in the variability of the form of bar presses. The
distribution of bar-press duration was very skew (asymmetri-
cal); as the distribution became wider (i.e., more variable), its
mean increased. When rats expected food less, the manner in
which they pressed the bar became more variable. Eventually
this graph (lower panel of Fig. 2) led to a new idea about what
controls the variability of behavior and a new way to study it
[5]. My colleagues and I have so far published two studies
based on this idea [5,6].
Multiplicative relation
Another time-discrimination experiment of mine used
the same equipment as the experiment shown in Figure 2. It
rewarded rats for pressing a bar during one signal (light or
sound) and pulling a chain during another signal (sound or
light). During both signals, only the first response (bar press
or chain pull) more than 60 seconds after the start of the
signal was rewarded. At that point, when the reward (a food
pellet) was given, the signal (light or sound) went off and
there was a period of darkness and silence before the next
trial. Figure 3 shows half of the results—the bar-pressing
data. The upper panel shows the time and signal discrimi-
nations that this procedure produced. The rats pressed the
bar more often as the time of reward approached; and they
pressed the bar more often during the bar-press signal than
during the chain-pull signal. One day, just to see what
would happen, I plotted bar-press rates during the bar-press
signal against bar-press rates during the chain-pull signal.
The lower panel of Figure 3 shows the graph I made. Each
point is a different time during the trial. To my surprise,
most of the points fell on a straight line. This indicated that
effects of time and signal combined in a proportional way;
in technical terms, the two factors, time and signal, had
multiplicative effects. Saul Sternberg [7] had pointed out
that additive factors with reaction time could be explained
Fig. 1. Sleep duration over 5 y (upper panel) and weight loss over 4 mo
(lower panel). Each point in the upper panel is a 10% trimmed mean over
84 d. The error bars are jackknife-derived SEs.
Fig. 2. Bar-press rate (upper panel) and duration (lower panel) as a function
of time since the start of the signal. Points in the duration function are
unequally spaced along the time axis so that each point will represent
roughly the same number of bar presses.
Fig. 3. (Upper panel) Bar-press rate as a function of time during two
signals. During the bar-press signal, bar presses were rewarded. During the
chain-pull signal, bar presses were not rewarded. (Lower panel) Bar-press
rate during signal as a function of bar-press rate during the other signal.
Each point is a mean over six rats.
S. Roberts / Nutrition xx (2009) xxx
Page 3
by assuming that the underlying mechanism could be di-
vided into serially arranged parts. I realized that multipli-
cative factors with rate could be explained the same way. I
started to look for them and found several other examples
[8]. The theoretical conclusions that these examples sug-
gested are supported by other lines of evidence [9].
Power-law distribution (or close to one)
I made a histogram of the bar-press durations from the
experiment of Figure 2. I was surprised to see that with a
log-transformation of both axes (x, value; y, relative fre-
quency) most of the distribution was linear (Fig. 4). The two
lines in Figure 4 come from different parts of the trial
(before and after the first response after 40 s). The remark-
able feature of the data is the near linearity. Distributions
linear on a log-log scale are often called power-law distri-
butions; the technical name is Pareto distribution. They
occur in a wide range of situations [10]; what those situa-
tions have in common suggests why the rat's brain gener-
ates a near power-law distribution in this case [6].
These examples reflect my research. Graphs can generate
ideas in other ways. A project to ensure the quality of the
joints of a high-speed train track measured the current at the
time they were welded together. A graph of current versus
time of day showed that the current was higher at night. This
surprised the welders, who had assumed that the source of
current (the power grid) was constant [11]. A medical re-
searcher might make a histogram showing that a measure-
ment of disease has a bimodal distribution. This might
suggest that the disease has two different causes.
I have chosen extreme examples, cases where graphs led
to new theories and new research. Those are cases of ideas
with a big impact. But, as Saul Sternberg commented on a
draft of this column, plotting any data is likely to give you
a better mental picture of it. It will show unusual points,
linearity, or bimodality. This could affect how you analyze
your data (what tests you do, what data you include in those
tests). I suspect a power-law distribution: a small fraction of
graphs have a big effect and a large fraction have a small but
non-zero effect.
I learned to plot my data from John Tukey's Exploratory
Data Analysis [12]. Under its influence, I started plotting
my data a lot. Then something surprising happened: A few
of my graphs suggested new ideas—not just new ideas
about my data, new ideas about how the world worked.
Tukey's book had said nothing about this. I eventually
grasped a larger point:
You should analyze your data two ways:
1. To test ideas you already have (mostly by doing
statistical tests).
2. To generate new ideas (mostly by making graphs).
Statistics texts, with a few exceptions (e.g., De Veaux
and Velleman [13]), teach only the first way.
It wasn't always like this. R. A. Fisher's Statistical Meth-
ods for Research Workers [14], published in 1925, had a
chapter about graphs. Graphs are "no substitute for such
critical tests as may be applied to the data," wrote Fisher,
"but are valuable in suggesting such tests" (p. 27). After
Fisher, interest in graphs disappeared from mainstream sta-
tistics research until Exploratory Data Analysis (1977).
More recently, William Cleveland of Bell Laboratories has
done much to promote and improve exploratory graphics
[15,16], especially by inventing loess, a way to draw a line
through a scatterplot [17]. I use loess often (e.g., lower
panel of Fig. 1).
To almost all statisticians, however, the use of data to
generate ideas is unfamiliar. They don't talk or write about
it, and statistics texts don't include it. The result is that
scientists are poorly taught, they analyze their data poorly,
and a lot of buried treasure remains buried. I can think of
three possible reasons for this unfortunate state of affairs. 1)
Separation of statistics professors from the practice of sci-
ence. Maybe they fail to understand the importance of idea
generation. Most scientists realize you can't test the ideas
you already have forever. Eventually you need new ones.
But I doubt they say this to statistics professors. 2) Difficulty
of finding examples. In my experience, examples of graphs
suggesting ideas with big consequences are rare. And they
often require subject-matter knowledge to understand.
Fisher didn't give any examples of graphs "suggesting such
tests." 3) Lack of interest in idea generation among statis-
tics professors. Statistics professors may understand per-
fectly well the importance of idea generation but ignore it
because it doesn't fit their research needs. Idea generation is
hard to study. It is unpredictable and episodic, with a long
time between episodes (my examples span 25 y). However,
as Nassim Taleb has argued [18], to equate rare with un-
important is a huge mistake.
I thank Saul Sternberg and Andrew Gelman for helpful
Fig. 4. Distribution of bar-press distributions. Each point is a median over
36 rats. The two functions are before (early in trial) and after (late in trial)
the first bar-press more than 40 s after the start of the trial.
S. Roberts / Nutrition xx (2009) xxx
Page 4
[1] Roberts S. Something is better than nothing. Nutrition 2007;23:
[2] Roberts S. Transform your data. Nutrition 2008;24:492–4.
[3] Box GEP, Hunter WG, Hunter JS. Statistics for experimenters: an
introduction to design, data analysis, and model building. New York:
Wiley; 1978.
[4] Roberts S. Self-experimentation as a source of new ideas: Ten ex-
amples about sleep, mood, health, and weight. Behav Brain Sci
[5] Gharib A, Derby S, Roberts S. Timing and the control of variation. J
Exp Psychol Anim Behav Proc 2001;27:165–78.
[6] Gharib A, Gade C, Roberts S. Control of variation by reward prob-
ability. J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Proc 2004;30:271–82.
[7] Sternberg S. The discovery of processing stages: extensions of
Donders' method. Acta Psychol 1969;30:276–315.
[8] Roberts S. Evidence for distinct serial processes in animals: the
multiplicative-factors method. Anim Learn Behav 1987;15:135–73.
[9] Sternberg S. Separate modifiability, mental modules, and the use of
pure and composite measures to reveal them. Acta Psychol 2001;106:
[10] Buchanan M. Ubiquity. New York: Three Rivers Press; 2001.
[11] Lu A. Unpublished work of Professor Anli Lu. Beijing: Department
of Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua University, 2008.
[12] Tukey JW. Exploratory data analysis. Reading, MA: Addison-
Wesley; 1977.
[13] De Veaux RD, Velleman PF. Intro stats. Boston: Addison-Wesley;
[14] Fisher RA. Statistical methods for research workers. London: Oliver
& Boyd; 1925.
[15] Cleveland WS. The elements of graphing data. New York: Chapman
and Hall; 1985.
[16] Cleveland WS. Visualizing data. Summit, NJ: Hobart Press; 1993.
[17] Cleveland WS. Robust locally weighted regression and smoothing
scatterplots. J Am Stat Assoc 1979;74:829–36.
[18] Taleb NN. The black swan: the impact of the highly improbable. New
York: Random House; 2007.


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A blood test and then a rubbish report.... told me I was mildly allergic to nuts depite the fact I've been hospitalised in the past over it! So not the greatest and no value for money really. Nurse was nice but when I said I was scared of needles she didn't put me at ease really so was unimpressed.................................................
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CLARKSVILLE, KENTUCKY -- I have been a USAA member since 2001. My wife recently had a vehicle collision with a deer while on her way to my SLC graduation. Our 2013 Honda Pilot had some damage and required for the truck to be repaired out of state due to the trip. We got a rental vehicle for the 6 weeks that took to repair our vehicle. After our vehicle was repaired we come to find out that USAA only paid $900.00 out of $1,400.00 of the car rental bill. I call them a number of times to see if they would cover the remaining portion given the fact that for the past 13 years I had been accident-free, well I guess that was too much to ask. They denied the request.
Well I went shopping around for a new car insurance in which Geico surprised me with their military rates, way better than USAA, so I canceled my policy and went with Geico. My whole point is that USAA would rather see me go than to help their long time customers over $400.00. Well I come from a family with several military members that have USAA, that's going to change soon. I will never go back to USAA, not until they realize they are not about military families anymore but to getting our pockets and see dollar signs in our foreheads.
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS -- USAA has been amazing in all other areas with the exception of the mortgage area. I purchased a home in 2008 with USAA and the process was smooth with no issues so I thought I would have the same experience when I looked to buy another home. I was very VERY wrong.
It all started with my mortgage processor "misplacing" my sales contract and delaying an appraisal for a month since they never called me to say they needed another copy. That was just the tip of the iceberg sadly. Every call to my processor was met with the same line "I haven't looked at your file yet since it has been so incredibly busy" and she would say everything is fine and they don't need any more files from me.
Fast forward to a week before closing and the title work is still not done (because it was ordered late), the appraisal from VA was ordered late and still hadn't come back, and they keep telling me I have credit issues surrounding an AMEX card that never had a late payment and with my overall credit score above 790.
Closing day came and went, and now USAA has an issue reading the VA appraisal stating that the crawl space needs to be deeper to allow for termite inspections (a project costing in excess of $10,000 and a termite inspection was already completed) and that some damaged tiles in a bathroom need to be fixed (even though I am gutting the bathroom immediately upon closing). I am still waiting on a manager from the Mortgage processing area to help but they are insisting I call the VA for clarification even after explaining to them that the VA will not speak to anyone but the lender.
I have been a member of USAA for 6 years and have purchased almost every single product they offer. Sadly, when I call to try to get assistance from higher, I get sent into a never ending automated phone system or get sent to an operator that can't help me because the rules don't allow them to.
If you are thinking of financing a home through USAA, save yourself the hassle and go with another lender. The exceptional customer service that USAA is known for has been going downhill for years and now they are no different than any other bank but seem to have more incompetent people than normal. I am closing my accounts with USAA and moving to Navy Federal.
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS -- My husband and I have used USAA credit card services in the past. They have been remarkably wonderful to deal with. However, we, like others, because we had such a great experience with USAA prior, tried to finance a home via a VA loan.
This has been a nightmare for us. We realized in advance, the process would require a lot of documentation. We jumped through hoops to get our mortgage processor everything she required. But the data requested came in Bits and Pieces. Every day she was requesting something new, never just one whole list of things to fax or mail.
We spent well over $100 faxing and re-faxing information (because things were lost). I finally had had enough and let her know about my frustration. She admitted to my husband and myself via email that she was only in this position for 4 months and is trying to learn as she goes along. OK, we understood that and I did feel some empathy for someone learning the ropes. I've been there myself.
Here is one example of something ridiculous that not only the mtg processor is questioning but the underwriter as well: We had to have a termite inspection. Termites were found. The company we hired who was wonderful (BIOTECH) came out and treated the small area affected. The technician gave us all the data we needed to provide to USAA. The documentation from BIOTECH was page numbered 'page 1 of 5'. We had pages '2 of 5' '3 of 5' and '4 of 5'. Page 5 is just a warranty should the homeowner choose to pay extra for the warranty. There is NO NUMBER on that page!
We have been questioned over and over. I even called BIOTECH and they faxed USAA every piece of documentation regarding our home. They even said they would have the owner of the company hand write a letter to USAA for us stating that all documentation was provided for them. BIOTECH asked what mtg company we were going through because they have NEVER EVER had this much of a problem before and BIOTECH has been in business for many, many years. So the mtg processor finally sent our file to the underwriters. Now as of yesterday, we hear that the underwriter is questioning the BIOTECH termite inspection and the lack of 'page 5'.
To say we are pissed off is an understatement. The above incident is just one of many incidents that we have patiently dealt with regarding the USAA mtg loan. In closing, we still don't know if we are going to be approved for our loan but are seriously thinking about telling them to stick it where the sun doesn't shine.
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS -- It has been eye-opening seeing the negative comments about USAA on a number of financial services fora. I've been with USAA for 33 years, never a late or missed payment, never an overdraft, and I think my last and only automobile claim was for a couple hundred back in 1982. When you look up "low risk" in the encyclopedia, it has my picture.
Anyway, I am one of those who was always singing the praises of USAA over the years and I, too, ignored the warning signs of a formerly excellent organization that got too big and started chasing too many higher risk customers to the detriment of the former core customers.
I've had two extremely negative experiences this year, one with Mortgages as I started construction of a new home, and later with Property Insurance as I tried to insure it. In both cases, it appeared that the decision makers have been moved behind a wall, well insulated from the annoying customers, protected by 17 layers of middle management, not one of who is empowered to actually make a decision.
Essentially, USAA left me standing at the altar twice in a row on this real estate deal, and that's something I can't forgive. I have begun the process of moving all my USAA business - banking, credit cards, auto/property/life insurance, investments, you name it - to other firms. After 33 years. I thought it was just me. But I see I am not alone when I look at all the reviews around the Internet instead of just those cherry-picked by USAA on their site...
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA -- When my car was declared a total loss, the total loss department offered me about $3000 below its estimated value by using CCC One (CCC Valuescope previously). Their long report made it seem like they had really calculated the value of my car, but most of the info in the report was not specific to my car. And they use the wholesale value dealers can buy the car for as your value of the car.
Even USAA's used car purchasing program had used vehicles similar to mine for sale for $6000 more than my offer (less offset of $2000 for mileage on my car which would make mine worth $4000 more than offered). When I asked for supervisors name, their answer was "what for?" I did get the supervisors name and called him and left a voice mail. The original adjuster called me back and asked if I was ready to settle. This department steals from customers/ they like to call them members by trying to force a settlement.
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS -- I was 400 miles from home, when an inattentive drive slammed into the rear of my vehicle. This occurred about 4 pm on a Friday. Why waiting for police to arrive, we exchanged insurance information. I took photographs of the vehicles before being moved and afterward, photographs of damaged. The other driver was insured with USAA. I called USAA to verify the coverage was in effect. USAA refused to verify, but took my information. The following Monday, I called USAA to verify and again was refused. USAA asked me to take my vehicle to their service center (vehicle was drivable but heavily damaged) They told me I could take it to their service center I week from Thursday. I explained that I was 400 miles from home and was going back home on Wednesday and asked if there was a service center in my home town. No there was not. I was then told that if I wanted my vehicle repair, I would find a way to get it to their service center. I told them that was not feasible, and the reply was "That's your problem."
I arrive back home and took my vehicle to my body shop. I called USAA (and recorded our conversation) and advised them where the vehicle was, they said they would send someone out, but never did. Three weeks later my vehicle was repaired and I picked it up. USAA, denied the claim, because I did not take it to the center they wanted me to and did not take it to the body shop they use and did not get approval for the repairs. I paid for the repairs $5500 and the rental car ($1000) I then, had my attorney sue both the driver and USAA. The driver was upset at being sued and even more upset and USAA for not protecting him. The driver then contacted his attorney, who sued USAA.
The depositions were fun. USAA hired local counsel, who showed up for depositions. What USAA told him and what my documentation, unanswered letters and recorded phone calls reflected were two different stories. USAA's attorney was pissed that USAA withheld evidence from him. The final result, USAA was assessed by the court and amount equal to my repairs and rental, plus interest (took almost two years to get to court) all my legal fees, and was assessed an additional $20000 in punitive damages, which under the deceptive trade practice law was automatically trebled. Result $6500 in actual losses, $60,000 to me and $26000 to my attorney.
The other driver won his suit against USAA for failing to defend him and breach of contract. I sure that was settled quite handsomely as well, for both the driver and his attorney.
I fail to see the reasoning why USAA preferred to put out in the neighborhood of $100,000 just to deny responsibility for a $6500 claim.
SAN ANGONIO, TEXAS -- We have had two experiences with USAA Mortgage and it is the most recent that is prompting this review.
Despite fulfilling every request USAA made of us in a timely fashion AND modifying our contract with our seller several times to conform to their requests (needless and redundant requests, accordingly to our real estate attorney), USAA caused us to miss two closing dates and we no longer have a contract. At one point they asked us why certain monies had not transferred--monies that only transfer at closing-a closing they caused us to miss! It is clear that they do not know what happens at closing.
They do not know what they are doing, take days to answer phone calls, and at least in the mortgage services branch of the bank, DO NOT value customer service.
Several years ago I financed a condo through them and was told by my real estate agent that the title agent found them hard to work with. I blew this observation off, because I was so impressed by the customer service in other areas of the company.
However, the nightmare experience we had the last month confirms to me that the phrase"time is of the essence" has no meaning to them and that they could benefit from a trained person to explain their documents to them.
I cannot comment on what percentage of loans they complete without difficulty and what percentage they do a few stupid things with and what percentage they totally flub. However, the fact that they seemed to view their errors as standard operating procedure did not inspire confidence in their quality control.
I suppose whether one chooses them as a mortgage company depends upon how much of a risk-taker one is. As for us, next time we will be a choosing a company where we have a higher certainty of closing on time after weeks of straightforward (as opposed to inexplicable) business dealings.
Worst...mortgage lender...EVER!!! My wife and I have been USAA insurance customers for almost 20 years without a single complaint...their customer service has always been excellent. When we decided a couple months ago to refinance our original VA loan, we looked no further than USAA because of our many years of past experience with them. 45 days into the loan process, we only now realize how big of a mistake we made by selecting them for our mortgage business. There is a HUGE disparity in the quality of their insurance services and that of their mortgage services!!! The loan processor assigned to us was the most incompetent, lazy, and least- knowledgeable financial services professional with whom I have ever dealt. He never answers his phone, never returns messages left in his voicemail, doesn't respond to repeated E-Mail inquiries regarding the status of our loan...and when we finally contacted a "supervisor", she was quick to promise prompt action but dragged her feet for days. Consequently, we've completely missed the closing date that was originally scheduled, and USAA is now requiring documents from us that have never before been needed when we've applied for home loans and are asking the exact same questions of us that we answered more than 30 days ago soon after we first applied to refinance. USAA mortgage services are a scam...they are not at all interested in providing loans at today's low market rates. Don't walk...RUN...away from USAA financial services.
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS -- USAA makes a great talk but sometimes fails to make the walk.
I will not be renewed on my USAA Home/Fire Insurance.
I will not be renewed on my USAA Renters Insurance.
I will not be renewed on my USAA Auto Insurance.
I never filed a claim on my renters insurance.
I never filed an accident claim on my auto insurance.
I pay my credit cards.
What is the issue?
A criminal conviction for a family member from 7 years ago. USAA "claims" it has a policy to "weed out undesirables" when it "comes to their attention". Funny how that didn't seem to make a difference way back when they "discovered it" but only after they got my home insurance claims.
How much were all my claims? About $35,000 combined.
I filed a claim on my home for a broken window.
I also had my home broken into and a fire resulted from the break in.
I begged USAA to do something before the Alaskan winter set in. Nope. The fire happened in July 2008. Winter set in in Alaska and outside repairs were delayed so my home freezes up.
How did they run the above claims?
As FOUR(4) SEPARATE claims. I suspected they were stacking the deck by running these separately but I trusted them to take care of me.
Boy, did they take care of me!
My house was vacant from July last year until July this year. Just rented it out this month. (PCS'd to my current location July 2007).
USAA is paying for the damages slowly, but I have already paid most of the costs myself. I do not like owing people who work for me.
USAA obviously resents having to pay for ANY damages.
Granted, it is the USAA underwriting department making the call. Basically they told me to go pound sand.
I admit to looking at this from my point of view only. I am shocked at this happening after all the years I spent with USAA and all the good things I passed on to other service members about the how they were inexpensive and a fair company. Many of their employees are.
Top reasons why I will never switch from USAA to Progressive:
In a word USAA understands service.


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