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Video: How Do Commodity Suppliers Go Sustainable?
Connie Kwan
Merino brings traceable, sustainably-produced wool to market by working directly with farmers and the value chain.
Helping Bottom of Pyramid Workers Find Jobs in Africa
Connie Kwan
Did you know that the unemployment rate is 12% in Ghana and 40% in Kenya? At DEMO 2013 last week, I caught up…
Giving X-ray Vision to Everyday Heroes
Connie Kwan
Bounce Imaging sells a throw-able, 360 degree imaging and sensor ball for first responders. Now police officers, fire responders and industrial operators can…
Book Review: The New Sustainability Advantage, by Bob Willard
Connie Kwan
Bob Willard's 10th Anniversary book, The New Sustainability Advantage, is an update of the old with new and relevant examples. For sustainability non-believers,…
Video Interview: Where Does My Stuff Come From?
Connie Kwan
In this interview, Sourcemap founder Leonardo Bonanni shares his quest to shed light on supply chains and to make them more sustainable.
Video Interview: America's CTO Catalyzes Health Entrepreneurship Through Open Data
Connie Kwan
Health data liberation is catalyzing entrepreneurs to create products and services to help consumers, patients, doctors, nurses, and other health professionals both seek…
Video Interview: Why Are Kids Allergic To So Many Things These Days?
Connie Kwan
In this video interview, author of The Unhealthy Truth, Robyn O'Brien, chronicles her journey behind the American food system, which started when her…
Does Food + Technology = Sustainable Food?
Connie Kwan
Technology is the glue that binds the pieces of the sustainable food puzzle.
Four Rules for Navigating the First 90 Days of a Software Startup
Connie Kwan
Four rules in the first 90 days of a software business: Over invest in user research up front. Size the market. Put just-enough…
3 Valentine Tips for Winning Investor Love
Connie Kwan
The top 9 startups were chosen from a pool of over 200 applications to publicly pitch at the Valentine's Day Pitch Conference. Startup…
Video Interview: How Can We Sequester Carbon while Growing More Food?
Connie Kwan
there is a way to both sequester carbon and grow more food in one fell swoop: composting. Soil is one of the biggest…
Video Interview: Who Grows Your Food?
Connie Kwan
One of the fundamental failures of market economies is their wrongful assumption that all members enjoy equal access to information. Suppose we can…
Video Interview: Connecting Food with Health
Connie Kwan
Among the greatest challenges of our generation are water, food, and energy. Food is almost an offshoot of the other two because so…
Eleven Social Games to Promote Wellness
Connie Kwan
"One ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." But prevention is difficult, because it requires behavior changes, which is difficult. That's…
Video Interview: Teaching your Tongue to Love Healthy Food
Connie Kwan
Sustainability starts with personal health, and the love of healthy food can be learned. That is good news for a nation trending towards…
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This page will direct you to news & sites about CBS Network's Survivor: One World contestant Matt Quinlan
About Matt Quinlan
Matt Quinlan
is from San Francisco, California. He is 33 and is an Attorney. He wanted to be
on Survivor because 'who wouldn't want to be on Survivor?' He thinks he can be
the sole Survivor because he has a lot of attributes that will help him succeed
in the game: athleticism, smarts, etc.
News Articles about Survivor: One World contestant Matt Quinlan
New Zealand Herald 3/8/12 'We're playing for $1m': Why Survivor's men won't help the women (+video)
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HitFix 3/3/12 HitFix Interview: Matt Quinlan talks 'Survivor: One World'
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Survivor Fans Podcast 3/1/12 Audio Interview with Matt Quinlan
Reality News Online 3/1/12 "It's Impossible to Have Control" – RNO's Exclusive Interview with Survivor: One World's Matt
Zap2It 3/1/12 'Survivor: One World's' Matt Quinlan: Colton 'wanted someone to woo him and that started to change things'
MTV 3/1/12 'Survivor: One World' Kills The Rooster
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Reality TV Calendar 2/10/12 Matt Quinlan - Stimpy's Take, Interview, Bio And More
Reality TV Fans 1/19/12 CBS Announces the 18 Castaways for "Survivor: One World"
BuddyTV 1/18/12 Meet the Castaways of 'Survivor: One World'
Zap2It 1/18/12 'Survivor: One World' cast revealed: Ex-NFL player's wife, swimsuit photographer and more
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Things to see and do - Hanalei
Leaving for USA
Hanalei :
Unmissable tourist sites
Where to sleep?
Hanalei Hotel tips
St. Regis Princeville from530 $Book
Hanalei Travel guide
Hanalei : Michelin's recommendations
The road to the north shore passes the expansive Princeville Resort Kauai. Large trucks and tour buses can't get much farther than this, restricted y the load limit on a narrow, rickety old bridge. That suits the residents of sleep Hanalei just fine.
Tourist attractions Hanalei : Things to see and do
Hanalei Bay Beach
USA - Hanalei, HI 96714
Large, classically beautiful half-moon-shape beach. The curving crescent of white sand sits at the base of picturesque mountains-some call it the most scenic beach in Hawaii. It's tough to argue the point. Hanalei, featuring a series of three beaches..
Limahuli Garden
58-291 Kuhio Highway USA - Hanalei, HI 96714
A short loop takes you along ancient taro terraces and aside pretty Limahuli Stream, to a stunning overlook of rugged cliffs and open ocean views. The garden specializes in native Hawaiian culture and plants, encompassing more than 1,000 acres. The p..
Kee Beach
USA - Hanalei, HI 96714
Nestled at the end of the road on Kauai's picturesque north shore, Kee sits near the start of the famed Kalalau Trail (see Musts for Outdoor Fun) along the Na Pali Coast (opposite). Looming to your left, as you approach the shoreline, is the impressi..
Hotels Hanalei
St. Regis Princeville
5520 Ka Hakku Road USA - Princeville HI 96722
Along Kauai's stunning Napali Coast and offering direct beach access, this luxury 5-star hotel offers top-rated golf courses, a full-service spa, gourmet dining and easy access to attractions and activities. The St. Regis Princeville provides everyt..


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The Lips of Faith series from New Belgium is an exploring line of beers with eclectic display of styles and ideas. Many of these beers are collaborations. The line blends various, unexpected ingredients to produce beers like no other. The Cincinnati Craft Beer Examiner's first stop into this line is Paardebloem, a collaboration with Red Rock Brewery. This beer combines such ingredients as grains of paradise and dandelion greens with Belgian yeasts.
Seems interesting, let's get to the review.
Paardebloem pours golden with a tall white head, just as one would expect from Belgian yeast. On the nose, the pungent aspects of the grains of paradise are noticeable. Hints of pepper and peach dance about.
The mouth feel is full, with slight bitterness from the dandelion greens. Like most Belgian beers, this is one to let warm up a bit as cold it isn't well balanced. The 9% ABV is hardly noticeable, though this is a beer to sip and enjoy, not drink straight down. The peach juice provides more flavor as the beer reaches its optimum temperature.
It finishes somewhat dry from the wood aging. The sourness is slight and does not linger.
Paardebloem would go well with some strong food flavors such as a arugula salad with an oil based dressing and pine nuts and tangerines, broiled tuna steak seasoned with crack pepper.


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Review of "Tuesdays with Morrie"
By 157438 on Apr 25, 2007
I got this book as a bday gift. I was quite skeptical about this one. But I started reading it anyway. The book suprised me. It was such a refreshing read.
It is the true story of a Sesame Street graduate and Brandeis University sociology professor, Morrie Schwartz and his relationship with student Mitch Albom(the author). The book talks about a few important life lessons that Mitch learns from his professor, who is dying from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
Mitch, though successful, has his priorites all mixed up. The book is about how Morrie(his professor) sets them straight. They talk about love, family, work and so many more important things. It gives us a special insight about how Morrie feels when death stares right in his face.
But the best part lies in the fact that such complex things have been described in such a simple, down-to-earth manner. The beauty lies in its simplicity.
It brings back memories of my college days. I had a prof., Mrs. Angelina Geetha, who guided me not just during my college days, but also after. She has seen me though a lot of my problems with her abundant common sense and her helping tendency. I still remember the lessons she imparted me. (Nope! Not the classroom ones!)
The book as been on the New York Times bestseller list for four years now. If you still have not read the book, you should...


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Resort in Tuscany: Two-Room Apartments
Words & Numbers
Every apartment at Resort Alleluja is customised differently and has a large private garden or terrace: the perfect balance between elegance and functionality.
Dimensions: 55 to 60 sqm
Layout: one bedroom, living room and fully-equipped kitchen.
Distance from the sea: 100 metres
Earn 10 points for every euro spent by purchasing a stay in this room.Subscribe now


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Lightning Returns, and Now She Knows About Timed Hits
Final Fantasy continues its design evolution in this final chapter of the Final Fantasy XIII saga.
For more on Lightning Returns, check out IGN's in-depth news story, straight from Penny Arcade Expo!
Square Enix has promised Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII will bring a definitive conclusion to the saga of its titular protagonist, Claire "Lightning" Farron. But the story the FFXIII trilogy tells about Lightning may end up being much less interesting than the one it tells about Square itself.
That Square has a third FFXIII title in the works should come as no surprise to anyone who's been paying any attention at all lately. The company's management has been hinting at it since FFXIII-2 launched at the beginning of the year. What may be surprising is the fact that the upcoming sequel's title isn't "Final Fantasy XIII-3", despite serving as a direct sequel to XIII-2 and (we're told) bringing the Etro-vs.-Chaos storyline of the XIII titles to a definitive close. This may not make much sense to you, the gamer who wants to have a consistent little row of game names all lined up neatly on your game collection shelf. On the other hand, it makes perfect sense from a marketing perspective: Lightning seems to command higher regard among many fans than the game she starred in. Why not give her top billing? Square's simply borrowed a page from its subsidiary Eidos' book, back when Lara Croft's name took top billing over the "Tomb Raider" title.
More to the point, though, the title "Lightning Returns" speaks to broader changes to the series. While it looks to be running on a modified Final Fantasy XIII-2 engine, its play mechanics hint at fairly radical changes to the entire concept of Final Fantasy. For starters, Lightning Returns really is Lightning's game. She's not simply the main character, she's the sole playable character. Not unlike Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and its hero Zack Fair, the entire game revolves around her; she explores on her own, fights combat solo, and singlehandedly bears the burden of saving the world from a looming apocalypse. Surprisingly, the combat system takes an even more action-oriented style than Crisis Core. Square has completely swept away the menu-driven, hands-off system that served so effectively in the first two chapters of FFXIII, pouring its resources instead into a system that allows players to control Lightning directly in single combat against foes.
Menus are out. Instead, players instead can assign four skills or commands to the controller's face buttons and execute them instantly. If this sounds suspiciously similar to Kingdom Hearts, realize the overlap only goes so far. Lightning fights in a far less button-mashy style than Sora and friends, with considerably less air-combo time, and she's not limited to a single use of each power followed by a cooldown period. Instead, her commands run on a Active-Time Battle gauge in the classic Final Fantasy style, and each ability comes with a corresponding ATB cost. This system doesn't employ the same fixed costs as in FFXIII and XIII-2, though, and the meter isn't segmented as it was in those games. The result is a faster-paced battle system than in any previous Final Fantasy, but a far less manic one than in the earlier FFXIII titles. There's far less screen clutter and extraneous information flying about, and the battle camera stays fairly fixed on Lightning rather than cutting to dramatic angles in the heat of combat.
That's an essential design choice, because Lightning Returns drops the classic hands-off style of Final Fantasy combat for something much more focused on timing and reflexes. This is certainly no God of War, but nevertheless the game requires a nimble touch. Players can move Lightning freely about the field during combat, managing relative distance from opponents and dodging or parrying enemy attacks. Previous Final Fantasy games have flirted with the idea of allowing player control in combat, but even in Final Fantasy XI and XII it ultimately amounted to window dressing that had little impact on the action. By dropping the concept of a party and allowing the heroine to fly solo, Lightning Returns brings a genuine real-time mechanic to the series while integrating a touch of Super Mario RPG-style "timed hits."
This seems to sum up the essence of Lightning Returns as a whole: An attempt by Square Enix to properly realize all the different play concepts Final Fantasy has flirted with in recent years but failed to commit to. Real-time combat? It's there. An open world with a quest-based, non-linear structure? Supposedly that's in, too, and better realized than FFXIII-2's. Full character customization in which tweaks to her skills corresponds to visual changes? Lightning can go full-in as a physical bruiser, a spell-slinging mage, or even as a more nuanced combatant. From what we understand these abilities are largely gear-based, potentially offering her the same flexibility as characters enjoyed with the Materia system of FFVII and Crisis Core.
Square claims the world of LR:FFXIII will be open for players to tackle according to their choice. Set hundreds of years after the events of FFXIII-2, the game transpires across four islands linked by a monorail and surrounded by a "sea of chaos" (or possibly a "sea of Chaos"). Of course, Square designed FFXIII-2 to be open-ended as well, but its implementation fell short in a lot of ways; we're very interested to see if LR:FFXIII tackles this concept more effectively.
The fact that the game cuts loose so many elements of its predecessors gives us reason to be optimistic. The FFXIII combat system was interesting, but for most modern audiences, a menu-driven combat system is a tough sell for a fairly realistic-looking high-definition RPG. As a game's visuals become more detailed and elaborate, the abstraction of a menu-based interface feels increasingly out of place (and I'm saying this as someone who's most recently been immersed in Etrian Odyssey II and Pokémon Black & White, menu-driven experiences in the most classic sense imaginable). LR:FFXIII trades the strategic, somewhat hands-off approach of its immediate predecessors in favor of a combat style that emphasizes skill and timing. Again, in the fine tradition of the Mario RPGs, a well-timed parry can leave even the most powerful foe open to a counter-attack.
Perhaps the most interesting feature of LR:FFXIII's battle system, however, is the new "Overclock" ability. Overclock allows Lightning to slow the flow of combat for everyone but herself, gaining the upper hand against difficult foes. The tradeoff, however, is that using Overclock costs time.
And time is of the essence in this game. Just as FFXIII spanned 13 days (revealed through flashbacks sprinkled throughout the story), LR:FFXIII also takes place across 13 days. In this case, however, that period of time serves as a countdown to an apocalypse. In just shy of two weeks, the world will end, and Lightning's goal is to prevent it.
This may sound awfully reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, but I think a better comparison might be to Valkyrie Profile or Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter. As in Valkyrie Profile -- a game created by tri-Ace, who incidentally co-developed FFXIII-2 -- Square tells us that if you reach the end of the 13-day countdown without having beaten the game, you may be thrust into the final battle regardless. On the other hand, you may also be able to start over, potentially carrying across skills and materials (the developers have yet to determine the specifics). In that sense, LR:FFXIII reminds us more of Dragon Quarter, a game designed around the assumption that you'd screw things up and need to restart, replaying the quest with enhanced strength and abilities that built with every new attempt.
What makes LR:FFXIII particularly Dragon Quarter-like is the way it treats time as a sort currency. Treasures cost time to access (the more powerful the item within, the more time required). Overclocking apparently burns several minutes per use, much like abusing the ability to transform into a dragon in Dragon Quarter added to the constant advance of Ryu's deadly D-meter, marking your progression to the inevitable end of your quest. And should Lightning fall in combat, it's not necessarily game over; rather, a menu appears that allows players to choose to quit or cast a healing spell. The rub? Casting a spell like Arise costs 100 minutes, a not-insignificant investment when you're on a 13-day deadline. Is it worthwhile to burn time and continue or simply accept failure gracefully? Trade-offs like these give Lightning Returns the potential to force interesting decisions on players, requiring consideration and long-term strategic thinking.
If LR:FFXIII lives up to its potential, it will mark a much-needed update for the Final Fantasy series (and possibly for Square's internal development approach in general). I can understand why many people will greet the game's announcement with skepticism; FFXIII turned off a lot of fans, and FFXIII-2 didn't quite make good on its bold intentions. Still, what we've seen of Lightning Returns suggests a ground-up rethinking of what "Final Fantasy" means, from mechanics to story progression; for a series that's always thrived on reinventing itself, a successful total overhaul would make for a welcome return to form. If nothing else, Square actually seems to continue taking criticism to heart and adjusting its strategy accordingly, a refreshing change from the more popular modern publisher tactic of haughtily defending its work and subtly belittling customers in the process.
And so again, the most interesting story in the FFXIII saga may not be Lightning's, but rather Square Enix's. If FFXIII was a desperate Hail Mary by a company mired in its old ways, and FFXIII-2 was a determined effort to appease fans by giving them what they want without really grasping why they wanted it, Lightning Returns has the potential to bring this tale to a happy end with far more sweeping and -- hopefully -- well-considered revisions.
See all Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Previews >
Comments (37)
InsightfulPosted: Jan 05, 2013 12:00AM PST by Graciaman
I was directed here by the Grind's recent blog post about LR:FFXII. I'd somehow missed this read earlier in the year when it was published. I do enjoy traditional turn-based rpgs so part of me is sad if this is the direction Square is taking the Final Fantasy series, games which once were the gold standard of turn-based innovation and digital storytelling.
I do agree completely that the most interesting part of the entire situation might be where Square is going as a company, rather than any specific part of the XIII saga. And I'll add that, especially because the Final Fantasy name has fallen from its regular association with the top-tier of RPGs, perhaps breathing new life into the series with a more action-focused agenda is just what it needs.
here's to hoping.
Don't like this proposed concept of time matteringPosted: Sep 30, 2012 12:00AM PST by SoulBlazerEX
It'll be...interesting to see how this time limit thing works out. As far as I'm concerned though, it sounds like something that'll just be an annoyance. I like to take it easy and explore, hanging a time restriction over my head the entire game will just lead me to constantly be feeling rushed.
Another classic series fighting a slow deathPosted: Sep 04, 2012 12:00AM PST by evildog13
Like several other folks who have commented on this story, I feel like FF completely lost its way after FF 9. FF 10 was terrible. FF12 had some redeming qualities but it just didn't feel like a Final fantasy game. By the time FF 13 came out I had no interest in it. But years later I picked up a used copy for cheap, and I was supprised to find that I really liked it. The thing is it is a good game but I think it is misleading for it to be titled Final Fantasy. In comparison it is like Castlevania; Lord of Shadows. A good game for sure, but feels nothing like Castlevania. They need to let Final Fantasy just die and save face. This is actually hard for me to say cause I have seen a lot of the classic series that I grew up with disappear (Contra, Megaman, Castlevania, Metroid, ect.). But I would rather see it end then see its legacy corrupted from shamelss milking of its name and reputation.
I used to Love FF...Posted: Sep 03, 2012 12:00AM PST by Hunterman328
...but I couldn't even finish 13 and had no desire to revisit characters I didn't like continuing a story that when it made sense at all I found to be pretty terrible. Now that they're doing it again I've tuned out. FF used to be one of those series where I was excited for each upcoming release. Oh well, they're still plenty of good RPG's out there. (I just finished Dragon's Dogma and loved it.)
As a Fan of the series...Posted: Sep 03, 2012 12:00AM PST by jeffokiecorry
I just hope it ties up all the plot holes opened up by XIII-2. Really. I need some closure. I am looking forward to this. I'll enjoy it. But, I'm pretty easy to please.
This Is What Happened to Versus XIIIPosted: Sep 03, 2012 12:00AM PST by Ichi-nii
Hey guys,
We heard you Love Lightning so much that your not even thinking of Versus XIII.
The alternative to FFXIII that we announced way back when lol.
So we did you solid and took everything about Versus XIII and turned it into this Game.
No need to thank us.
Hugz and kisses. Your pal
Who's Lying to SE?Posted: Sep 04, 2012 12:00AM PST by KazeFoxx
I really dislike Lightning. I thought she was a real bitch. Luckily she wields a gunblade like my favorite FF character, which got her back some points. So she just avoided becoming my least favorite FF character.
That being said, I am still holding on to hope for Versus. Though the word on the street seems to be that its cancellation is in the form of never being mentioned officially again.
alienaterPosted: Sep 03, 2012 12:00AM PST by deafwing
i wonder if this crazy finale will work or just alienate more fans (or at least what's left)?
i am the only one left ,(Posted: Sep 03, 2012 12:00AM PST by michelle128
it wil work!!!!!!!!!!
what about....Posted: Sep 03, 2012 12:00AM PST by supermetroidFTW
please like and subscribe, tell friends! Let's show our appreciation to Anet and NCsoft
i love final fantasy!!!!!Posted: Sep 03, 2012 12:00AM PST by michelle128
i do not care what anybody thinks of ff13, i jus love it! ever sinz ffX" wen tidus kissed yuna n wen yuna hugd tidus at the end of the game" i jus love how ff makes me feel! i have never felt tht much love with any other game! thats what final fantasy r good at! n i feel tht way with ff13 and ff13-2, and all the ffs! i like mass effect 123,uncharted and halo bt i love ff for its romatic bits! it may not have the best gameplay bt it has the most loveable characters. it makes me feel like ive known them all my life. i love the idea of fighting for the ones u love! i mean mass effect, halo and uncharted does that too bt ff feels nostalgic! i fell tht bittersweet longing, like the feeling of being homesick.. very few games do tht. wen i finishd ffx wen i realizd tidus was jus a dream(kinda) n he jus floats away leavin eveyone behind.. i couldnt stop thinking abt tht game till ff10-2 came out. i actuly missd tidus n felt so bad for yuna.. n i do feel tht with ff13. may b bec m a girls n ff has strong girl protaganists.. or mayb bec i like lovey dovy stuff.. bt i love ff.. its makes me feel good. makes me want to do good things in life! ff u rock!! keep it up!!
Very ExcitedPosted: Sep 02, 2012 12:00AM PST by Glassjaw_Matt
Not a big Final Fantasy fan at all, actually. Just finished Final Fantasy XIII-2 and thought it was a great game. I had some issues with it, but I spent over 50 hours in it and it was time well spent. This one sounds like it is trying to add more interesting elements like XIII-2 with its time mechanics. I like this idea of deeper combat, a more customizable character, and a full open world to explore.
Bring it on!
GarbagePosted: Sep 02, 2012 12:00AM PST by BetardxFoosier
Instead of having three separate games with the same awful characters and boring storyline, why don't they actually make something worthwhile and DIFFERENT.
Ever since FFX, the games have been entirely similar: the characters, the storylines, the artwork, the battles, etc. It's like playing the same fucking game over and over again. Sure, idiots will buy this crap (which is the end goal for them).
But when will they try and become leaders in the game industry like they were in the SNES days? My guess is never again. Not with the crap they're releasing.
Not sure if trollPosted: Sep 02, 2012 12:00AM PST by Captain_Sandwich
God help me.
Nomura took over character design with 7 and homogenized his style with 10. He used it for 10-2, 11 was an MMORPG having fuck all to do with him, 12 used paintings for character portraits, Dirge of Cerberus doesn't count at all, and 13 (series) was Nomura again.
Are you sure what art direction is? 10-2 was the series' first direct sequel, so yes, they reused many assets from 10. 12 was by Ivalice Alliance and functioned like an MMO, but with far more landscape variance than 11 (the actual MMO), and set to a world that seemed more alive than Square's real MMO.
13 was actually reminiscent of 10 to me....the odd tech was everywhere, to be sure, but once you put that in contrast with pulse, not to mention the way the cutscenes were directed, (10 had Tidus and crew surfing ropes, like everyone fucking knows how to do that, while 13 had everyone diving off of shit and fighting on highways) 13 was the first FF after 10 that went BACK a step, back to the ridiculous spectacle FF was known for; it just seems SE's consciously kept their finger OFF the pulse of the fanbase when it comes to anything of substance, rather than style.
Major console releases since 10:
Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, Front Mission 4, Final Fantasy X-2. Final Fantasy XI, Final Fantasy XII, Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy 7, The Last Remnant, Infinite Undiscovery, Star Ocean: The Last Hope, Final Fantasy XIII, XIII-2, Lightning Returns
They've developed and released (& re-released) a bunch of stuff for all platforms, but when We look at the FFs, there had only been 3 new IPs for consoles, but there are a total of 3 sequels. In a way, you ARE playing the same game over and over, but don't think they don't wanna make something different...Square just screwed itself by not doing its homework on HD costs, and unfortunately, it's rare for a japanese company to NOT try saving face.
Slightly Off TopicPosted: Sep 04, 2012 12:00AM PST by KazeFoxx
I tried rope surfiing a few times in my life post- completion of FFX, and let me tell you... You are absolutely right, in assuming that everyone knowing how to do that is wrong. I did it over water once and had a hell of a time getting back on the pier. The other times just made me sorry to be a guy-- if you get my drift.
Post ffxiii I tried diving off shit-- again over water-- from a dilapidated pier in the carribean. I almost died. And probably drank more seawater than I'd otherwise have cared to in my life.
This must be why the games are called Final Fantasy. Try any of this shit in real life and it might be the last thing you ever do.
Lightning never strikes three times in the same place..Posted: Sep 02, 2012 12:00AM PST by ButterPeanut
I was deeply skeptical of yet another FFXIII game. I couldn't make myself get through FFXIII's beautiful vistas and suck-ass story, and I stayed way the hell away from FFXIII-2's story (I went ahead and spoiled it for myself through visiting Wikia.com subsites & I don't regret my decision). For some people I guess FFXIII's flaws could be gotten over with through the combat system, though I personally didn't like that system. But, the systems this article's talking about with FFXIII-3 could make me get invested in the game in the same way. It sounds like a genuine shake-up, going all the way as to prefacing the game's title with what SE thinks will draw folks in. I'm willing to at least give it a rental. I'm not thinking it's going to have any tremendous kind of story (Actually I probably can't help going in expecting it to make me grimace with poorly-written dialogue and skin-deep plot), but if it's a fun video game then I'll be OK with all that.
Sorry. I have no interest in picking this up.Posted: Sep 01, 2012 12:00AM PST by Revenant_Ghost
I haven't even bothered playing FF XIII-2. The lack of a good story and bad character design killed it for me in the first game. The only redeeming quality it had to me was the gameplay.
Will there ever be a proper Final Fantasy again? I guess time will tell. And Sazh, get a haircut.
get the old guards out (Or bring them back in??)Posted: Sep 01, 2012 12:00AM PST by hancookx
Hmm, hmm.
From what I've seen, as a dedicated Final Fantasy fan of the Playstation era, I could only shed tears everytime I hear the news of what this series is becoming.
Many people point this out in whatever FF related yotube comments, but Squaresoft used to make good, quality games. I don't know what the mentality of the people making games these days at Squareenix is, but I feel that they're only trying to superficially accomodate the series based on shitty polls and shallow opinions of what this "current-gen" of people "might" be into. In the process, the series seems to have forego the care and polish the previous FF's possessed. In other words, I just don't feel the love anymore, whether it be to the games that they're making nor to the players. It's like they're saying, "Here, here's another shitty game based on these recent polls," in some fluorescent-lighted science test lab, then furiously scribbling the results just to filter them in through another series of corporate think workshops and sales team meetings.
Look, I understand that Squareenix is a giant entertainment corporation, and that the bigger you grow it's easier to become stagnant, unable to evolve through creativity and passion.(like what the Megaman creator was saying about Capcom after he left.) It's just frustrating to see that the franchises we've invested in with so much time, energy, and emotions into devolve into just another shallow, corporate product. As if we're buying big macs and fries from McDonalds.
@stealth20kPosted: Sep 02, 2012 12:00AM PST by BetardxFoosier
Not harsh enough, if you ask me. The company has been continuously releasing derivatives of awful games. The downfall of the company started with FFX and has been digging holes for their grave ever since.
Secret of Mana?Posted: Sep 01, 2012 12:00AM PST by Scoob79
That is what this game sounds like. I'm on the fence with this though. When I get a Final Fantasy game, I want a Final Fantasy game. I loved being able to control a few characters at once, and I loved the many characters you could switch in and out of your party. I guess after ~25 years, the market changes enough to warrant abandoning the older fans.
Even though it does sound intriguing, I dont' think I'm going to bother with this. I couldn't get past the 6 or 7 hour mark in XIII. Even though I'm not much of a stickler for story or anything, it just feels too odd to jump in on the 3rd part of a trilogy. But the gameplay description sounds like a half assed version of DMC and it's ilk. I guess it depends on how it's handled. Mass Effect was awesome, and it was pretty much an FPS-lite with RPG, but Bioware fused it quite well with being able to intuitively issue commands and actions to your mates and feel like you got total control while not crippling your ability to control Shepard.
If Square is reworking their style this much, I'm interested in their future products. This has been quite a rough generation for them.
Memories of good times gone by.Posted: Sep 01, 2012 12:00AM PST by CrazyCelt
Sadly, based on your preview, it looks like my decades long association with FF is finally coming to an end. If I wanted to play a twitch game, I'd play Street Fighter or its infinite clones. There is still time and much may change before launch but if it stands...
AwesomePosted: Sep 01, 2012 12:00AM PST by vinci
Another FF that no one will play.
People will always play FFPosted: Sep 01, 2012 12:00AM PST by Captain_Sandwich
It just appeals to a very specific age range and scene now. As we get older, many leave both in favor of less angsty waters, though some of the subjects in question are just manchildren.
XII sold over 5 million copies, and I'm replaying that one, despite a very vocal hatred for that title. I still love it.
Except that...Posted: Sep 04, 2012 12:00AM PST by Eldritch_Eric
Except that 15 million people did play it. Whoops.
Also, XII was not widely adored, lost appeal over time, and was as far detached from FF as the series had ever been to that point. XII was unrelated in any way to any previous game; it used none of the same mechanics, had a completely different (and aggravating) battle system, and the story was complete crap.
Will never understandPosted: Sep 05, 2012 12:00AM PST by Captain_Sandwich
People like to say XII's story was crap, but I got tired of saving the world so damn much.
I was perfectly ok with trying to stop an extra shitty war, political manuevering, royal assassination (even by family), a weird foreigner with shades, sexy bunny-girls, a huge, somewhat open world, a metric fuckton of quests, appropriate challenges to the powerful gambit system, awesome tactics-style music, and generally over 150 hours of stuff to do, all crammed onto one disc.
I also laugh at people who say the game sucks because of the combat system, when it's just as easy to fall asleep playing an old FF; menus are boring. People need to get over it. I totally love games with menu-based systems, but it's the truth.
Like...Posted: Sep 01, 2012 12:00AM PST by Arekusandora
...the art direction so far.
I didn't like FF13 and 13-2 but this one intrigues me.
At last!!!Posted: Aug 31, 2012 12:00AM PST by D'ark Ouer
What really turned me off to FFXIII was its horrendous battle system (and the ost to a lesser extent), and I was apalled to know that FFXIII-2 would keep the same battle system with a few "improvements".
I loved Crisis Core's combat... That being said, if this is similar or even more dynamic I´ll buy on day one.
Well saidPosted: Aug 31, 2012 12:00AM PST by thetruth101
"And so again, the most interesting story in the FFXIII saga may not be Lightning's, but rather Square Enix's."
I really couldn't agree with you more. I still have yet to finish XIII-2 mainly becuase of it feeling a bit stale. Square Enix used to release actual sequels to Final Fantasy for each generation of consoles, but I think it is wrong to knock them for their approach during this generation. I for one am excited to see how Lightning's return is going to shake out.
The ticking clock concept is similar to something like Majora's mask or Dragon Quarter, but for those gamers that have rode the ebb and flow of the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy thus far, it can also be seen as the final period at the end of a book that you both loved and hated at the same time. Nothing will change your mind about your own personal thoughts of what could have been, but the truly great moments that I have encountered in the XIII trilogy are also coming to a steady end.
I should pick up this sticks over this long holiday and ensure I finish XIII-2. This may be out of sheer interest in what this scandaleous cliffhanger is that everyone buzzes about around the internet, or it could be, just maybe, so I can understand what happens before the end of an era.
Final Fantasy XIII: The series that gets better as it goes? Maybe?Posted: Aug 31, 2012 12:00AM PST by SacrificAbominat
While I thought XIII was sub par, and XIII-2 was a great improvement, with a very convoluted and nonsensical story. Now XIII-3... I mean Lightning Returns Final Fantasy XIII is starting to sound a lot better than the previous two titles, well it might be? Now I'm concerned that this will eventually lead to a convoluted connection to Versus XIII since this game is starting to sound a lot like Versus XIII. Then again it shouldn't be that complicated. This will be an interesting pick up when it comes out, but I will still be waiting for Versus XIII.
Hope it works but I'm a tad skeptical.Posted: Aug 31, 2012 12:00AM PST by BrokenH
Probably good news for those who enjoyed the previous 2 games in this series. Maybe I'll bite in the future when the whole trilogy is offered at a reasonable price.
I don't know if S/E's attempt to appeal more to the W-rpg crowd is a good thing or bad thing. Just having an "open world", action combat, and visual changes dependent on class & armor doesn't equal "win" in all cases. Rather it's how those ideas are implemented that makes all the difference in the world.
For example, Amalur tried to throw in the best aspects of every rpg and while it was "decent" I wouldn't say it surpassed its' contemporaries.
You can't just "copy paste" from best selling rpgs and expect the money to roll in. If anything that often shows a lack of passion and creativity. Marketing reps aren't always infallible oracles. Companies need to learn that.
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Forecast discussion: Heavy rain was around northern Rhode Island earlier Wednesday morning, before we saw spot showers for the rest of the morning. As we move into this evening, a cold front will be passing through the region. By early Thursday morning, a low pressure center following along the boundary will pass into the Mid-Atlantic. This system will bring periods of heavy rain and isolated thunderstorms through the morning commute and early afternoon. We will see precipitation taper to showers by the late afternoon, as the low moves offshore.
According to the latest computer models, a high pressure system over the northern Great Lakes will slowly bring drier air into the region for the weekend. There is still the chance for a spot shower on Friday, but overall we will see more clouds than sun. Temperatures will slowly rise into the middle 70's on Friday, with warmer air arriving on Saturday. There is a very slight chance for an afternoon thunderstorm on Saturday, but the odds are slim to none. Temperatures will reach 80 degrees on Saturday.
The weekend will continue to be fantastic, as we will keep mostly sunny skies and temperatures reaching the lower 80's on Sunday. As we head into early next week, a cold front will slowly work its way towards Southern New England. At this time, it appears the high will keep the system away from us until the end of Monday night. We will see a few showers ahead of the system, with heavier precipitation early Tuesday morning. The precipitation will linger into Tuesday night, before the front moves offshore. Temperatures will cool off slightly, with daytime highs reaching the lower 70's.
72 hour forecast:
Tonight: Cloudy with heavier rainfall and isolated thunderstorms after midnight. Some heavier rainfall may create isolated street flooding. We will see a low of 59.
Thursday: Periods of rain and isolated thunderstorms until the early afternoon. We will see precipitation taper off to isolated showers. We will see a high of 69 with east-northeast winds at 4-7 mph.
Thursday night: Showers end by 10 p.m. and a low of 56. Winds will shift to the northwest at 5-8 mph.
Friday: Partly sunny with a high of 75.
Friday night: Partly cloudy with a low of 57.
Saturday: Mostly sunny with a possible thunderstorm in the afternoon. We will see a high of 80.
Saturday night: Partly cloudy with a low of 59.
Extended Forecast:
Sunday: Mostly sunny. Highs 80-83, lows 59-62.
Monday: Partly sunny with possible showers before midnight. Highs 77-80, lows 58-61.
Tuesday: Rain/isolated thunderstorms by 1 a.m. but ending by 7 p.m. Highs 74-77, lows 56-59.
Wednesday: Partly sunny. Highs 72-75, lows 55-58.


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Mr. B VLOG: "Be a good fan"
Chris Williams
Don't worry. Be happy.
That's the message that Tim Sitzmann from Mr. B Clothing in Clive has for Iowa State fans heading into Saturday's 11 a.m. kick with TCU.
For details on this and also some hoops chatter, enjoy this VLOG courtesy of Mr. B Clothing located at 1995 NW 86th St. in Clive.


text:
Ulterior Motives
And Bush's
Faith-Based Initiative
Phillip Duggan
From: "Phillip Duggan"
To: "Positive Atheism" <firstname.lastname@example.com>
Sent: October 28, 2001 4:22 PM
Subject: Positive Atheism Questions
There are several questions I wish to ask.
When is Bush going to try to start up that Faith-Based Bill again? I know he has been silent about it for a few months now but I'm sure Ashcroft has been doing some things secretly.
Are there any Atheist organizations that you support?
What current Amendment or laws are people trying to make laws that are unconstitutional?
From: "Positive Atheism" <email@example.com>
To: "Phillip Duggan"
Subject: Re: Positive Atheism Questions
Date: October 29, 2001 7:14 AM Ringold Ringgold
When is Bush going to try to start up that Faith-Based Bill again? I know he has been silent about it for a few months now but I'm sure Ashcroft has been doing some things secretly.
They need not be secret about anything. In case you haven't noticed, the hysteria that they've generated for their "war" has made it open season on the Constitutional protections of our Religious Liberties (as well as the Right to Privacy and our protections against excessive police force). If you remember, Income Tax was originally a war effort, to be abolished once the emergency was over. Right! The only good thing to come of all this is that the draconian War On Some Drugs has finally been put into perspective.
Bush, believe it or not, has been busier implementing his faith-based scheme since the Day of Atrocity than ever before. Crucial to his success are two things: precedent and public opinion. He has been setting unprecedented precedents in the form of his calls to prayer and in the form of Congress okaying the song "God Bless America," now the anthem of the movement, to unravel our Constitutional protections against religious intrusions at the hands of the government.
In doing this, Bush and his supporters will have a much easier time after the "emergency" subsides. What he's doing now is an "investment," so to speak, for when he can get back to the business of overturning the United States Constitution and implementing some variant of the Christian religion in its place.
Bush's call to war against (whoever -- he calls it "the evil one") is guaranteed to whip the public into a frenzy, and Bush knows this. He also knows that he doesn't need to do this in order to gain support for retaliatory moves against the groups responsible for the terrorist attacks: we're behind him one hundred percent on that and he knows it.
What he's doing is sure to bring false loyalty to the United States, as represented by his specific picture of what America is all about. This loyalty would not exist apart from this "state of emergency" that we're currently in. Since he does not need to motivate the American public to support his retaliatory effort, he must have something else in mind, something that has little if anything to do with terrorism. By examining his record as a Governor, his campaign, and his first eight months in office, it is easy to see what this "something else" might be: the unraveling of the Constitutional protections against government-sponsored religion!
The McCarthy Era: Similarities and Differences
Senator Joseph McCarthy did the same thing during the 1950s.
By fuelling the people's fear of nuclear attack and generating a vicious "us-versus-them" polarity against the Soviet Union, McCarthy diverted attention from the day-to-day running of America -- including the defense of her Constitutional principles. The Christians moved in and we now have many new laws making life much easier for organized religion than it is for the rest of us.
One key difference between Bush and McCarthy that I must point out: While McCarthy openly admitted that he sought to polarize Christian against Atheist, Bush denies having this as his motive. In 1950, McCarthy said, "Today we are engaged in a final, all-out battle between communistic atheism and Christianity." Bush repeatedly denies that we're fighting any religion in this "war." Although he once described the "tyrants and dictators" of pre-World War II as godless (such people "will accept no other gods before them"), he falls short of waging any moves against Secularist forces. Rather, Bush leaves this rhetoric for his key supporters, and no shortage of anti-Secularist rhetoric is found in their propaganda.
Falling short of going up against "Secularist forces," Bush instead portrays organized religion as the victim of some sort of discrimination plot in the fierce competition for lucrative charity funding contracts: "The days of discriminating against religious institutions simply because they are religious must come to an end."
No, it's not like that, George! We must prevent our government from endorsing religion because that's the one way that we know of that guarantees Religious Liberty for all! Meanwhile, time has shown that the people will support private charitable efforts be they religious or not; even atheists are well known to have contributed generously to religious charities -- even if they make no bones about the fact that they're doing this primarily to propagate religious faith! They'd probably do even better if they stuck to the business of charity, but this is not what is happening. Therefore, if you can assure us, George, that your plan will not dismantle the principles protecting our Religious Liberties -- that is, if you can convince us that we will retain the right not to have to financially back the presentation of a religious message with which we disagree -- then we'd probably go along with your plan. Thus far, though, you fall far short of this; as a result, you've had to use various forms of trickery in order to push your proposals past the watchful eye of the public. That your opponent, Al Gore, expressed a similar contempt for the United States Constitution's protections of our Religious Liberties probably explains the record levels of voter apathy during Election Year 2000.
What Hath McCarthy Wrought?
Two famous changes came out of the hysteria of the McCarthy Era: "In God We Trust" and "under God." Slipped into place while the entire nation was buzzing around frantically like a hornet's nest that just fell out of a tree, we have never been able to put these two things back the way they were originally intended. The "Christian Nation" revisionists give much lip service to the notion of the original intent of the Founders, but this is only true when the Founders appear to have agreed with the changes that the "Christian Nation" revisionists seek to implement. Had these powerful forces of organized religion really cared about the original intent of the Founding Fathers, we would have the original Motto and the original Pledge of Allegiance: nobody would be marking our bills, blotting out "In God We Trust," and only the Jehovah's Witnesses would be objecting to the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in the public schools.
The first change was that of our National Motto from "E Pluribus Unum" ("Out of Many, Unity") to the patently divisive "In God We Trust." The Motto "E Pluribus Unum" was devised by a subcommittee consisting of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin, and epitomizes what America used to be all about -- the Great Melting Pot, if you will. In fact, it's not even a melting pot, but rather a place where we should be able to live in peace and equality and still be ourselves, not having to conform to any conventions except to abide by the laws protecting person and property.
Thus, in 1964, our mints were tooled up to print money that said "In God We Trust" on it. Before that you saw "In God We Trust" here and there, mostly on insignificant coins and never on bills, rotated with other innocuous and inane slogans such as "Mind Your Business." Some "Christian Nation" revisionists will point out that the new motto was published on the money in 1957, and this is true, but this only happened on a few presses at a few mints, and only to the $1 bill. 1964 was when the big change occurred, when the Federal Reserve system replaced the Silver-backed Certificates. The joke was that without a storehouse of silver to back our notes, we'd better invoke the protection of God!
The second most famous change to come during the distraction of the McCarthy Era was to insert the words "under God" into our Pledge of Allegiance. By about 1960, this law finally trickled down into reality and began to be practiced in the schools (once we'd realized that they'd actually done this -- that this was not a dream -- that there was no turning back). Before then, before about 1960, the kids had chanted,
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all."
Had I been born a year earlier, I would have been old enough to have chanted the original Pledge in a classroom setting.
Having been made aware of my atheism at an early age (by the second-grade kids who pounced on me for being neither Catholic nor Protestant), I stopped saying the Pledge in about the fourth grade. Even at that young age, I had a sense that the authorities could be wrong, and I had a sense of being willing to accept punishment in the course of standing up for what's right. Interestingly, I never was disciplined for not saying the Pledge, but was for not saying the fourth grade prayer! Go figure! By the seventh grade, I knew very few kids who did recite the Pledge, and by the eighth grade, the schools had stopped making us say it.
For the reader's perspective, I graduated from high school in 1974 and spent all of my school years in San Diego, California.
Are there any Atheist organizations that you support?
When addressed to me, this is more a question of why I would support such groups at all, plus which criteria I would use in deciding to support one over another.
As you may have read in the letter, "Why Advocate For Individual Activists?" with Argentinean Skeptic Juan De Gennaro (who helped me formulate the response, by the way), I have never been much of a fan of atheist organizations. That is, I don't see any reason for forming an atheists-only alliance. Instead, I see several things that need to be done, and think that none of these needs are exclusive to atheists.
For example, of those Americans who support groups which advocate for the separation of religion from government, I would wager that more of those supporters are theists than are atheists. Even after you compensate for the fact that there are more theists than atheists, I would venture to guess that more theists (per capita of theists) support Separationist organizations than atheists (per capita of the total number of atheists). This is a simple matter of the fact that theists have much more to lose by government intrusion into religion and government support not only of competing religious groups but of their own groups as well. Most atheists realize that the invocation "In God We Trust" has no power beyond the message it sends to the young and the immature among us, pretending that the United States is something that she is not: a government which endorses religion over irreligion.
For this reason, I think that atheists who wish to struggle for the separation of religion from government do well to join the established organizations that have been erected to do this work. My personal taste would be that if all other things were equal, I would choose a group which allows theists over an atheists-only group. This is not always possible: sometimes the atheists-only group is clearly the best choice (for whatever reason: it could be as simple as the atheists-only group meeting across the street versus the other group meeting in the next county, but you don't drive a car). However, all things being even remotely equal, I would choose the open group over the exclusive group.
However, I do recognize that some atheists do feel they benefit from affiliation with atheist groups, so I do not oppose the notion of atheist groups, per se, I simply fail to see a reason for being involved in one myself.
The two atheist-only groups that I consider close allies in my work are American Atheists and the Freedom From Religion Foundation. There are others, but I have worked with these two groups for almost a decade. Although I like the current style of AA better than I do the current style of FFRF, this difference is quite negligible when it comes to how I interact with the two groups.
Long before they found her remains, it had become clear that Madalyn Murray O'Hair was not coming back. At that time, shortly before they moved AA headquarters to New Jersey, some leaders at American Atheists contacted me and asked my opinion on the practice of denouncing religion. This style of atheistic activism had been popularized most recently by O'Hair, but dates back to Robert Green Ingersoll, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Mark Twain, Thomas Paine, Voltaire, Anne Newport Royall, Baron d'Holbach, and even Epicurus, Diogenes and a few other ancient Greeks.
My position has always been pretty clear: I have never been one to openly bellyache about religion. I have always needed a reason to complain, and usually limited myself to commenting on specific acts done by religionists in the name of religion. I said that AA would have to work hard to overcome the reputation for the spiteful, vindictive approach to theism for which O'Hair is most known. In one of my first editorial columns, I said that O'Hair "may have taken the public's image of Atheism back to the stone age with her attitude" ("Can Atheism Be Positive?").
Shortly after these discussions, American Atheists came out with a two-point Mission Statement. The purpose of AA is to struggle for the separation of religion from government and to address issues of atheist dignity. No more would American Atheists criticize religion just for being religious. This began a very fruitful alliance between that organization and myself which includes them giving me an honorary membership in AA and me giving their library a lifetime subscription to PAM with back-issues (which I still have yet to print up and send to them, I'm embarrassed to say).
While the Freedom From Religion Foundation has made some wonderful advances toward both the dignity of atheism and the separation of religion from government, they have not taken a stand regarding the gratuitous and indiscriminate castigation of religion. Now, I would say that between the three of us, no one entity does this more or less than any of the others; in fact, I think I've indiscriminately denounced religion at least as much as FFRF has (since I took a stand, anyway). However, I think it is important to recognize this problem and to take a stand even though we may not fulfill our commitment one hundred percent. Perhaps FFRF has made this commitment and I've missed it. I do know that PAM and AA have both made this commitment and I believe we have both done a pretty good job at keeping our word. AA even goes further than I do in that they will not argue with theists who make claims whereas that is one of the more popular features of our Forum. However, with the Forum in place, PAM really has no need to comment on religion beyond our own reaction, in the Forum, to those specific claims which come our way. Occasionally they will trickle over into the monthly column, but these always start out as a real response to a real challenge that had been sent to our Inbox.
I have had unpleasant relationships with a few atheist groups, and I do find the approach of more than a few atheist groups detrimental to our stated goals (and quite disgusting, to say the least). However, this write-up will not become an opportunity to comment any further than to mention that this problem exists.
What current Amendment or laws are people trying to make laws that are unconstitutional?
I don't quite understand this question.
I know that the Flag Desecration Amendment is most unpatriotic. If you want to bust people for burning flags, bust them for burning flags that don't belong to them. Most in America who would burn a flag probably stole the flag. If you own a flag, sew an identifying something-or-other into one of the seams near the ring. Then, if somebody steals it and burns it, you'll be first in line for a piece of their sorry little hide.
But don't make the act of burning a flag itself a violation of the law. The American flag symbolizes the very right to burn the American flag, it symbolizes Liberty of Speech, freedom of expression. When the Enlightenment Era philosophers conceptualized Liberty of Speech, what they had in mind, specifically, was the right to criticize one's government without fear of retaliation from that government.
These are the same greedy bastards who have installed all this religious mumbo-jumbo into our public (government) life. We gave them "In God We Trust" and that not only wasn't enough for them, they took our very act of giving them "In God We Trust" and used it as a weapon to get more! They did this by pointing to the fact that we gave them "In God We Trust" and arguing that they therefore had the right to any number of other things that are as sternly forbidden by the Constitution as "In God We Trust" is. If we give these greedy SOBs the flag burning amendment, what's next? My George W. Bush page? Then what? England wants to make it the crime of "hate speech" to criticize religion! What!? You mean to say that "The Life of Brian" might go the way of child porn and snuff films? What have we come to?
But I'm not sure I understand your question, so I'll ramble a bit because I don't feel like going to bed just yet and because somebody's supposed to stop by and I think it might be Daylight Savings Time but I'm not sure and I forgot which way I was supposed to turn the clock even if it is.
I do know that a few extremely vocal Evangelical Christian groups (who are also greedy and patently dishonest) think that everybody ought to endorse and support their very narrow and somewhat immoral expression of religious morality. Thus they continually try to post an abridged rendition of the Protestant listing of the first tables of stone edition of the Hebrew Ten Commandments anywhere they can -- as long as it's posted on public property.
Note that the Three major religions that use the Ten Commandments each have different listings: the Protestants use Exodus 20: 3-17; the Hebrews use verses 2-17, counting verse 2 as a single Commandment; the Roman Catholics and Lutherans use verses 2-3 and 5-17, omitting verse 4 which prohibits carving and adoring images. The Bible, on the other hand, describes only one list as the "ten commandments," and that list is the second set of stone tablets, allegedly replaced after Moses destroyed the first set in a fit of anger. This second list can be found in Exodus 34:10-26. This list is entirely different from the others, and includes such prohibitions as "Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk." Very few people know about this list, for obvious reasons: it essentially destroys the integrity of the Ten Commandments story on the spot! But the main point of bringing this up is that it's almost always the Evangelical wing of the Protestants who wish to inflict their narrow religion upon the rest of us by posting an abridged version of their listing of the Ten Commandments. As a result, kids from the two other sects will see the "wrong" Ten Commandments posted in their classroom and on the lawn of their City Hall. Also, the people from those two other sects will be forced to sponsor and endorse a listing and version that they do not honor as correct.
The current compromise is that as long as it's mixed in with representations of other viewpoints, they can be posted. Other examples include the city of in Somerset, Massachusetts, which supported a rendition of the baby Jesus crèche. Offended atheists and others moved in, and the city included giant candy canes. This wasn't enough so they found one of those old 30-foot-tall statues of Paul Bunyan and decorated it to look like Santa Claus. This was dubbed "Santazilla," and the display was then secularized enough to pass muster with the Constitution. Christian purists, though were outraged. It wasn't enough for them to even be able to put the religious message in at all, they had to have it all: they couldn't even be happy with center stage, but had to be the entire show.
The most recent example of this was in Ringold, Georgia, where, along with two stone monuments, one inscribed with the Protestant rendition of the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) and the other inscribed with some rendition of the Protestant listing of the first tables of stone of the Hebrew Ten Commandments, these Christians erected a stone monument in honor of atheists.
Yes, you read me right: the Christians erected a stone plaque in honor of atheists! They did this to be fair, of course! (Of course!) The also did this mainly because without such diversity in their display, they stood no chance of convincing the government to endorse their narrow religious views by allowing them to erect the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments.
So, now, you're probably asking just what could possibly be an arrogant, exclusiveistic Christian group's idea of dignifying atheists? What could they place on a monument would get their pointed, condescending message across but is something that would probably make the atheists look like complete toads for opposing? Here's what they did: they erected a plaque with nothing inscribed on it!
Why? Because, they insist, the atheist "believe in nothing." These Christians had the audacity to post a blank monument honoring atheists! And they did this on public property, meaning that atheists who live in Ringold have endorsed this offensive message by virtue of their citizenship, this having been done in the citizens' name on public property.
The list goes on almost forever. Some Christians want the kids to be allowed to pray in school. First, the kids may already pray in school! In fact, Muslim kids who want a private place to pray during the specific times that Muslims set aside for prayer usually can obtain use of a private, unused room in the school for that purpose. If I were on the faculty of such a school and the kids couldn't find a room, I'd vacate my office for a few minutes and let them use it! and I'm not even religious, but I believe that firmly in Religious Liberty that I would go to that extreme to make sure all students had what they needed.
This is not what these Christians want, though. They don't want the kids to be allowed to pray in school, as is currently the case, otherwise, they wouldn't be trying to change the laws! What these Christians want is to make it so that all students are required to recite a prayer every morning.
This ritual would be a prayer, a rite highly regarded in the Christian religion but not in many others -- and certainly the height of foolishness and hypocrisy in atheism.
Such a prayer would be rote, done mechanically because the kids are required to do it, not because the kids feel an urge to pray. It would matter not whether some Christians believe that Jesus prohibited public prayer (Matthew 6:5-6) or that many atheists abhor hypocrisy or that many religions do not utilize prayer at all.
Such a prayer would be repetitious, being the same prayer each day, and not a prayer from the heart. It would matter not whether some Christians believe that Jesus prohibited repetitious prayer (Matthew 6:7) or that most atheists consider prayer to be pure foolishness or that many religions do not utilize prayer at all.
Such a prayer would be nonspecific, having been edited down so that it is not addressed to any deity in particular. It would matter not that most Christians believe that all prayer must be recited in Jesus's name or that practically all Jews and Muslims require prayer to directed to G-d and Allah respectively, or that the atheists' question of "To which deity have we been commanded to pray?" is only aggravated by the nonspecificity of the edited-down, politically correct prayer, or that many religions do not utilize prayer at all.
Such a prayer would be recited in "mixed company," so to speak, rather than in the company of one's fellow sect members. A strong case can be made that Jesus only ever prayed in private and that any time he brought up the topic, he always indicated that prayer is a private matter. Christians are also not to break bread (a ritual) with unbelievers or reprobates and are not to be yoked together with unbelievers. I would hope this applies to the most intimate of Christian ritual, the prayer. Other religions (such as Islam) do not consider the ritualistic prayer to be a private, per say, but don't they always pray only with fellow Muslims. Very few (extremely openminded) Muslims would pray, for example, with a Christian or a Jew.
The compromises for the atheist would be tremendous: if she or he is caught not praying, what will be the consequences, either from the authorities or from the other kids? But then, if she or he is seen praying, what will others think? "Ahh! You prayed! See? You really do believe, deep down inside!" We've had several Christians write to us who, if they did this to an atheist, I would not be in the least bit surprised. These are the same Christians who, as "proof" that America has always been a "Christian nation," have pointed to the words "In God We Trust" on our money and the words "under God" in our pledge!
Besides all that, one concept of prayer is shared between Christian and Muslim alike: both sects teach that all of one's thoughts must be focused upon God, directed toward God, and in praise of God. If this is the case, then why would they even need to set aside a special time to pray at the beginning of the class?
But the most important thing about this all is that it violates the Religious Liberties of all involved. The only ones who escape are those who believe that it is good for people to engage in rote, repetitious, heartless, and directionless prayer; those who believe it is good for such prayer to be recited in the mixed company of unwilling participants including members of other religions, people with no religion, and people who disdain anything religious; those who believe it is good for people to be coerced, under threat of law, into participating in such prayer.
Do you know anybody who would consider such prayer, practiced under those conditions, to be moral or good? I have met only a mere handful of humans who are that greedy and that conscienceless that they would even go along with such a scheme, much less endorse it.
And I cannot even fathom a human who is so utterly shark-like that they'd work to implement a program of coerced school prayer in any district or jurisdiction, somebody who would want to even expose a child -- any child -- to such brazen injustice.
Cliff Walker
Positive Atheism Magazine
Six years of service to
people with no reason to believe
Material by Cliff Walker (including unsigned editorial commentary) is copyright ©1995-2006 by Cliff Walker. Each submission is copyrighted by its writer, who retains control of the work except that by submitting it to Positive Atheism, permission has been granted to use the material or an edited version: (1) on the Positive Atheism web site; (2) in Positive Atheism Magazine; (3) in subsequent works controlled by Cliff Walker or Positive Atheism Magazine (including published or posted compilations). Excerpts not exceeding 500 words are allowed provided the proper copyright notice is affixed. Other use requires permission; Positive Atheism will work to protect the rights of all who submit their writings to us.


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500 battered and abused brown leghorn hens now have something to crow about after rescued from a Central Valley, CA egg farm where they were slated to be gassed to death for not producing enough eggs. The chickens, estimated to be between 1-1/2 to 2 years old were reportedly bred to produce 300 eggs a year, as opposed to the 40 or so a regular hen would lay. Once they begin to lay less, they are generally disposed of by farmers. However, these lucky ladies will now have a chance to live out their lives at a 60-acre farm in Vacaville, where many of the birds have experienced being in sunlight for the first time.
"They're a little loopy when they first get here," said Kim Sturla, director of Animal Place,which has rescued more than 14,000 hens from California egg farms during the past 25 years. "It's almost impossible to adequately describe what they've suffered. Many of the rescued hens come to us with a load of medical ills, including parasites, atrophied muscles, nails that have grown more than an inch long and, in some cases, cancer of their reproductive organs from spending their lives in cramped wire cages where they are unable to flap their wings or even turn around. In fact, many are so weak that they can't walk and are afraid to move away from each other. In addition, their beaks are clipped so they can't peck at each other. But after they've been here a few weeks, they usually look pretty good. They start to enjoy themselves and act like normal chickens," Sturla continued.
Despite the abuse reported by Animal Place, the United Egg Producers trade group maintains that while most of California's 18.3 million egg-laying hens (which are raised on traditional egg farms, as opposed cage-less or range free farms, they "live safe, healthy lives. They may be crowded, but they're protected from predators and avian diseases like bird flu, and receive regular medical care."
Note: California Proposition 2, passed in 2008, mandates that that hens and other farm animals " be housed with enough room to lie down, stand up, fully extend their limbs and turn around freely."


text: I will not delve into the politics of the upcoming 2004 election here, but I will say this: We are going to see weblogs and online discussion become a part of the process on a large scale and the candidate who leverages technology most effectively may reap the biggest rewards. Howard Dean has an official weblog that is part of his DeanforAmerica.com website. It's interesting to me to see a politician use a blog a part of his official website, right along with Pressroom, Biography, etc. He... Continue Reading


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- $420.00
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Using only the highest quality goose down in all of our products, The North Face® tests each lot of down at three stages of production for loftiness, moisture resistance and ability to regain loft after compression.
The fill power of goose down is an indicator of two important features: warmth-to-weight ratio and compressibility, both critical to retain warmth and furnish comfort. True fill power is measured by placing one ounce of goose down in a graduated cylinder and measuring the volume the down occupies in cubic inches. The North Face® products are insulated with exclusive, high-fill power goose down ranging from 550 to 900 fill, which represents the highest quality down commercially available.


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Added: 28 June 2016 Added: 26 June 2016 Added: 26 June 2016 Added: 27 June 2016 Added: 25 June 2016 Added: 28 June 2016
Next Day Delivery from £4.99 at Shoe Zone
Nominated Day Delivery from £4.99 at Shoe Zone
Free Click and Collect on Orders at Shoe Zone
Womens Knee High Boots from £10 at Shoe Zone
Mens Trainers from £10 at Shoe Zone
Mens Boots from £12.99 at Shoe Zone
Added: 28 June 2016
Added: 26 June 2016
Added: 26 June 2016
Added: 27 June 2016
Added: 25 June 2016
Added: 28 June 2016
About Shoe Zone
Shoe Zone is a leading UK footwear retailer that sells footwear at affordable prices. And a lot of footwear they sell too. On average about 25 million pairs a year. And with over 500 UK stores your never to far from getting your hands on a pair of quality shoes at great prices from Shoe Zone. They employ over 5000 members of staff to ensure that customer service is a top priority and to make sure that you getting the best shoe fit for you.
Starting out in 1980 as Bensonshoe this company had a very successful 11 years of trading before establishing Shoe Zone in 1991. And from there things have gone from better to even better. There online venture was launched in 2010 and is proving to be a good move to run side by side with it's high street stores. Shoe Zone are able to offer such low prices because they buy there shoes in such huge quantity from there carefully sourced suppliers and avoid paid advertising and extravagant store displays and similar trappings.
Keeping up with the latest Shoe Zone deals
To keep update to date with the latest and greatest Shoe Zone offers and discount codes is easy. There are so many ways to keep up to date with your favourite online retailers these days so you should never miss a deal again. The best way to do this is to just bookmark this website. That way before you go to buy anything from Shoe Zone, just open your bookmark page and check what offers they are running at that time. We always keep our discount codes up to date so you will be sure that your getting a great deal from us.
Signing up to newsletters and email deals is another great way to be kept up to date with what's going on at Shoe Zone. They will send direct to your email address all new sales information and discount codes. You will also be eligible to get special deals that are open only for email subscribers too.
Social media is playing a huge part of spreading the word on top deals and offers too. This is a good way for you and your friends to share the deals and discount codes that you know your friends will like and they in turn will share the ones that they think you would be interested in too. On this site we highly recommending using the social share options that we have on every page. This is a great way to share money saving tips. We have all the latest and most popular sharing media sites from Facebook, Google+, Pinertrest, Youtube and many more. So please make use of this and then by your friends sharing with you this should keep you in the know when a new discount codes comes out.
As well as sharing these codes with your friends you can also follow Shoe Zone on it's many social media platforms. They will send out tweets or facebook post when they are ready to launch a sale or new deal. To do this just click of the social media buttons on there site and you will be following them on whichever one you choose.
So you see there are many other ways to keep up to date with all the latest offer and missing out on a top deal should never happen again.
About Shoe Zone Youtube Video
Shoe Zone have a short 7 minute video on Youtube showing what this company is all about and the ethics it tries to promote. In it they talk about how they source their stock and what there prioritys are when it comes to responsible trading. You can take a look at this video below.
The video below shows the Shoe Zone story.
Shoe Zone Christmas Collection
Shoe Zone are currently promoting a fantastic Christmas collection of footwear with Women's boots avaliable from as low as £9.99. There site is packed full of footwear and gives plenty of choice when it comes to buying a perfect Christmas present for loved ones.
Here are just some of the Christmas designs that are sure to be popular on the high street this Winter. There is even a picture showing their great handbag range that not many people know about. To go to their full site just click on any of the offers in the boxed area above.
The Best and Most Recurring Shoe Zone Deals
Delivery deals are always very popular and this is the kind of deal that Shoe Zone regularly have running. Another great one is money off next orders with sing ups and something they do a lot of a 2 for X amount deals and a certain range of footwear.
Shoe Zone do not do many discount codes so you really need to keep a look out on this site for when one is running. You can be sure it will the top offer on this page. Below is run down of 3 of the best deals which they do regularly and some that are currently in use now.
Free Delivery on all Orders
Free delivery is by far the most popular offer or discount code that we run here at Voucher Share. This is not just with Shoe Zone it applies to all our top retailers. Weather you have a code for it or it is just a site wide deal it always generates traffic from this site. This deal is currently running now so make sure you don't miss out on it.
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Many of the top online and store retailers around are offering this deal and it is very useful when considering we all live bust lives and cannot wait around for parcels to be delivered. If you not far from a Shoe Zone store, of which there are many, then this is a offer that is usually long term and should be used when it is continent for you to do so.
Multibuy Deals
Shoe Zone do some of the best multibuy deals we've seen at Voucher Share. Right now you can get 2 pairs of Men's boots for £25. Shoe Zone change these deals often so make sure that you catch them when there out and don't miss out on multiybuy deals.
About Us
This site is all about getting the webs best deals and making them easy to share so everyone can enjoy the savings that we find. We have a small and highly dedicated team, whose sole job it is is to get the webs best deals and discounts and put them all here and get the sharing word spread. If you managed to get yourself a top saving from us, from any of our top retailers then tell everyone you know and don't keep these deals to yourself.
Don't forget to keep checking as these offers are always changing. Cheers for looking at Voucher Share.


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Skydiving.com now has a network skydiving location serving White Rock and Richland County in South Carolina. Call Skydiving.com at 1-800-617-7948 for details, free information and specials on skydiving in White Rock, SC today!
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Ride 'em slowly, cowboy
The iJoy Ride™ is a "unique and exciting way to work out." It is not to be confused with the Sybian sex toy. (Please press "Play" for the embedded video and enjoy the smiles.)
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Rihanna and Chris Brown's are back at it again and guess what it's apparently "Nobody's Business." Child please, their rocky relationship have spawned a hot new single which will appear on Rihanna's soon-to-be-unveiled seventh studio album Unapologetic, the song's throwback pop chords are subtle, yet the vocals of the two singers lead into several climaxes that take direct lineage from the greats of the '80s. Some Rih Rih fans might cringe, but it's a great song.
And now that we've gotten your attention make sure to check out two more tracks from RiRi…
Rihanna – Fresh Out The Runway (FULL)
Rihanna Ft. Eminem – Numb (FULL)


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GE: How Clean (and Not-So-Clean) Tech Drives Ecomagination
While the rest of the economy seems to be tanking, General Electric is still touting the potential for "green" products to save the day.
GE said the 80 product lines in its "ecomagination" line tallied $17 billion in sales last year, a 21% jump over 2007 even as most of the conglomerate's other divisions treaded water or went backwards. GE is aiming for $25 billion in sales in the unit this year, "despite the tough economic environment," chief executive Jeff Immelt said.
How to explain the success of "ecomagination"? Aside from the growing appeal for everything from wind turbines to efficient locomotives, there are two other reasons. The products GE has certified as part of the "ecomagination" group include plenty of things that at first blush don't sound very green, and the definition gets broader every year.
Here is GE's definition of what it takes to make the cut: "Ecomagination offerings are:
Products that significantly and measurably improve customers' operating performance or value proposition and environmental performance or services that substantially enable such improvements."
Take the Jenbacher coal mine gas engine, part of "ecomagination" since the division's launch in 2005. The engines turn a potential liability—gas inside coal mines—and turn it into heat and power, in addition to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. There are clear "green" benefits—but all in the name, as GE says, of "making coal mining cleaner."
Or take nuclear power. Three years ago, none of GE's reactors were part of the "ecomagination" energy lineup; today both "Advanced Boiling Water Reactors" and "Economic Simplified Boiler Water Reactors" are part of the mix.
Or take oil and gas. Three years ago, GE had just two oil-industry products in "ecomagination"; today there are six, including devices that help oil refineries deal with heavier grades of crude oil with fewer environmental side-effects.
Outside of energy, GE is bringing other star divisions into "ecomagination" too—such as healthcare. In 2008, for the first time, GE added four healthcare devices, from X-rays to ultrasounds, to its "ecomagination" lineup.
GE has made no bones about its hopes that the world's appetite for clean stuff will help drive sales and profits at the struggling conglomerate. It's good to remember that "green" is as expansive a term as the government policies underwriting much of that growth.


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Steve Rubel is EVP/Global Strategy and Insights for Edelman - the world's largest independent public relations firm. In this role, Rubel studies the future of media and works across the firm's practices and geographies to help clients unify their communications strategies across traditional, emerging, owned and social channels.
In addition, Rubel also acts as a highly visible Edelman thought leader and writer on digital media. He speaks dozens of times each year around the world and appears frequently in the press. In addition he actively shares his observations and insights via Tumblr blog (http://steverubel.me), his monthly Advertising Age column and on Twitter (@steverubel) where he is followed by more than 75,000.
Prior to joining Edelman in 2006, Rubel worked for 15 years in a variety of marketing communications positions in corporate, non-profit and small/mid-sized PR firms.


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To the non-professional, the New Orleans Saints' offensive performance by the starters in their 45-7 thrashing of the Oakland Raiders was just about perfect.
The first-team offense worked with relative ease, scoring touchdowns on each of its three possessions, looking every bit the juggernaut it proved to be last season when it was the NFL's top-ranked offense.
But looks sometimes can be deceiving, at least for perfectionists such as Coach Sean Payton, quarterback Drew Brees and many of his teammates.
After the most lopsided preseason win in franchise history, Payton managed to find lapses in the execution, Brees noticed flaws in a couple of his passes, and left guard Carl Nicks saw missed blocks.
"One thing about the film of games is that it kind of brings you back," Payton said. "Sometimes when you think you played really poorly, you put the film on and you see that you did some things pretty well. And then in a case like yesterday, when you think you played real well, you put the tape on, and there are a number of things that you have to clean up.
"I liked the effort and the energy; I thought we played hard. I thought we handled the warm weather pretty well. But there are a number of things that we're going to have to work on, and fortunately we still have two weeks before we get started. I think we'll be able to point those things out with our players."
It was obvious the Saints did far more good than bad. Looking crisp and efficient, the offense appears to be close to midseason form.
Brees completed 14 of 17 passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns. Tight end Jeremy Shockey worked the seams of the defense, grabbing four passes for 48 yards. Wide receiver Lance Moore, seemingly healthy after recovering from shoulder surgery, worked the underneath routes for four catches for 29 yards, including a 5-yard touchdown.
For the second week in a row, the running backs ran through gaping holes and displayed power and awareness when taking the handoff.
Although Brees was sacked early when the Raiders sent a blitz up the middle, the line performed at a high rate.
"We did a lot of good things, but we did some bad things as well," Nicks said. "When we were out there, it did feel like everything was clicking, everybody was communicating, everybody was working as one. But we have a long ways to go. The score looks like everything was perfect, but Coach told us we left a lot out there."
Brees agreed.
"Every time we touch the ball we expect to get points -- touchdowns, field goals, points," Brees said. "We expect to possess the ball, keep our defense off the field, get first downs. So to get three touchdowns on three series . . . that's doing something. But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. Let's not get overconfident just because we went out there and were as efficient as we could be.
"We scored a lot of points with that first group, three possessions, three touchdowns. But it definitely is going to get tougher, and there are definitely areas we can improve."
The plan was for the starters to play into the second half. But after three touchdowns on three possessions, Payton pulled the offensive starters early in the second quarter.
Payton said he had seen enough from the starting offense, although he did want to see the unit in short-yardage situations and run its two-minute offense.
In just more than a quarter of work, the first-team offense ran 29 plays and gained 225 yards.
"Really the plan was to give them 'X' number of snaps, and what happened was that we got those snaps earlier than expected," Payton said. "Our plan was to go a half, come out in the second half, and we thought we would've been close to 30 snaps there. But we got to that number a little quicker.
"Having said that, I think the feeling offensively at that time was to get to the next group. The things that concern me are that I wanted to see the first group get a two-minute drill -- we're practicing it and we work on it against our defense, and hopefully we can keep emphasizing that and keep working on that -- but we weren't able to get that yesterday. There are a few things by the way the game unfolded that we didn't get to cover. We didn't have a goal-line situation with the first group yesterday. You're not going to get it all, but hopefully in practice we'll make up what we missed in the game."
INJURY UPDATE: Payton said X-rays on the shoulder of safety Usama Young revealed no damage, but he didn't know how much time Young will miss. The injury likely will keep Young out of Thursday night's exhibition finale against the Miami Dolphins in the Superdome.
Payton also said the other two players injured against the Raiders, wide receivers Adrian Arrington (hamstring) and cornerback Greg Fassitt (hamstring), likely would be day to day.
Meanwhile, left tackle Jammal Brown, who missed his second consecutive preseason game after undergoing surgery Aug. 20 to repair a sports hernia, said he is feeling better.
It typically takes three to six weeks to recover from sports hernia surgery, but it doesn't appear he'll be back in time for the Sept. 13 season opener against the Detroit Lions.
"It feels better," Brown said. "I don't really know how much longer it will be. I have to wait to see the doctor and see what he says from there, then we'll know more. I'll go back to see the doctor in the next couple of weeks."


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Skydiving.com now has a network skydiving location serving Morongo Valley and San Bernardino County in California. Call Skydiving.com at 1-800-617-7948 for details, free information and specials on skydiving in Morongo Valley, CA today!
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Dog breeders
Dog breeder's licence
If you breed dogs you may need to obtain a licence. This is to ensure animal welfare standards and the facilities provided are suitable. It applies whether you are selling the dogs for profit, as a hobby or to help fund the showing of your own dogs.
Do I need a licence?
Yes, if you breed five or more litters in 12 months.
Am I eligible to apply?
Any person may make an application for a Dog Breeder's Licence providing they have not been convicted of an offence in terms of the Breeding of Dogs Act 1973, or in terms of any of the following or any other offence involving ill-treatment of animals, at the time of application:
- The Pet Animals Act 1951, from keeping a pet shop;
- The Animal Boarding Establishments Act 1963, from the boarding of animals;
- Protection of Animals (Amendment) Act 1954, from having the custody of animals.
Before application you should also obtain permission to run the business from the Planning and Building Control Departments, and from your landlord or mortgage provider. If you are intending to run the business from your house you should also check your title deeds to ensure that this is allowed.
How do I apply?
Applicants must complete the application form and submit it to the Environmental Health along with the correct fee.
How much does it cost?
The fee for the licence is currently £106.00.
What happens when I apply?
Your premises will be inspected by an Environmental Health Officer and a Veterinary Officer prior to issuing your licence. They will check that the premises and your animal welfare arrangements are suitable.
How long do licences last for?
Dog breeders licences last for 12 months (from the day they are granted) and must be renewed annually.
Related licences:
You will need an Animal Dealers Licence if you sell, or acquire and keep with a view to selling young cats or young dogs.
Further informationIf you would like further information about Dog Breeders Licences, or have any concerns about the condition of a dog you have bought or seen for sale, or think you know of an unlicensed dog breeder please contact Environmental Health.
Environmental Health Team
Environmental Health - advice for food businesses
Fairfield House, 8 Lothian Road, Dalkeith EH22 3ZH
0131 271 3345 (tel)


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Scrabble word: OFFSETS
In which Scrabble dictionary does OFFSETS exist?
Scrabble (US/Canada)
(63 pts)
Scrabble (UK)
(63 pts)
Official Scrabble (OSPD)
(63 pts)
(63 pts)
Words with friends
(48 pts)
Hanging with friends
(48 pts)
(7 pts)
Lexulous (US)
(56 pts)
Definitions of OFFSETS in dictionaries:
- noun - the time at which something is supposed to begin
- noun - a compensating equivalent
- noun - a horizontal branch from the base of plant that produces new plants from buds at its tips
- noun - a natural consequence of development
- noun - a plate makes an inked impression on a rubber-blanketed cylinder, which in turn transfers it to the paper
- noun - structure where a wall or building narrows abruptly
- verb - compensate for or counterbalance
- verb - make up for
- verb - cause (printed matter) to transfer or smear onto another surface
- verb - create an offset in
- verb - produce by offset printing
- verb - to compensate for
There are 7 letters in OFFSETS: E F F O S S T
All anagrams that could be made from letters of word OFFSETS plus a wildcard: OFFSETS?
Scrabble words that can be created with letters from word OFFSETS
Images for OFFSETS
Other Resources
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