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It's well-known that the way that people choose to appear online is distinct from physical appearance, and this is often perceived as some kind of falsehood. But honestly, for someone you've never met, which is their "real" face? And do you learn more from a photograph or an avatar? This is my first departure from "pragmatic" ideas into somewhat more "spiritual" territory, which I plan to follow up for a few weeks. I hope to explore some of the human side of online interaction, since that's how most free software gets made.
The cyborg
Meet Major Motoko Kusanagi, the ultimate handicapped heroine, eponymous protagonist of Masmune Shirow's Ghost in the Shell (GitS). She is in biological terms only a "brain in a box", being what in the manga is called a "full prosthetic cyborg". Receiving near-terminal injuries in a plane crash as a young girl, essentially her entire body was replaced by a factory-made android body, a procedure, which in the story's universe is extreme, but not unheard of. Virtually everyone in Shirow's 2030s Japan has been "cyberized", however, meaning that they have an interface embedded in their brain stem allowing their brains to be attached directly into virtual reality interfaces and in most cases, allowing the brain (containing the person's "ghost" to use the GitS terminology) to be safely removed and placed into another body (called a "shell" in GitS terminology).
Like all great works of science fiction, GitS doesn't merely use metaphors, it creates them, and in the cyberpunk genre, it has become a key source for defining metaphors of the future of computer technology and the place of humans relative to it. There are, of course, dozens of points one could make about the world of GitS—certainly enough for two movies Ghost in the Shell and Innocence and the series Stand Alone Complex and S.A.C. 2nd Gig—but this isn't a review, so I'm going to move onto a particular point that the series raises about avatars.
"Avatar" has a special meaning in computer culture. In the most basic sense, it is simply the thing which is used to represent you when you interact online in a virtual reality or an online forum. Ideally, it would be a fully animated 3D model, representing your virtual body when you are in the virtual world, and also ideally, it would reflect your reactions and personality as faithfully as your body does in real life. It is a kind of answer for the distance and lack of clear emotion that is often complained about in the plain text conversations of email or usenet.
In the GitS world, this is exactly what an avatar is, and the high level of control involved is resolved through the "cyberbrain" mechanism—all nerve control is directed to the avatar, so it moves as naturally as would your body, maybe even more so. For Kusanagi, this raises an interesting question: "Which of her bodies is the 'real' one? The plastic and metal factory-manufactured robot that carries her brain around in the physical world, or her personally-coded computer simulated one that carries her about in cyberspace?"
No doubt, in her case, lacking physical constraints, the avatar body is more responsive. It is almost certainly more unique than the factory model android she drives in the physical world, and it clearly reflects more of her personal choice and identity. In fact, her physical body, despite its much more aesthetically appealling styling, is in principle the same as a "Dalek" from Doctor Who, isn't it?
To such a being, "real" and "virtual" may not mean the same thing, and they are certainly not so clear cut as they are for us. In fact, to make matters worse, Kusanagi is actually obliged to replace her physical body on a number of occasions with an identical unit simply because of damage acquired in her (very dangerous) job as an anti-terrorist operative in "Section 9" (a secret para-military organization in the 2030s Japanese government). A minor theme of the S.A.C. series, in fact, are the "external memories" and personal effects that she uses to provide continuity through these changes—the watch which she always wears, for example, and to which she is clearly sentimentally attached (the significance being that the watch is actually the same watch, even though the wrist within it is a replacement).
The extension effect
As a science fiction fan, I'm comfortable with the significance of such "unreal worlds", but maybe the real world implications of the above are less clear to others. The point, however, is this: we are already experiencing some of the identity crisis of GitS. Even though we are not explicitly violating the brain-body connection, it is clear that we often extend ourselves beyond our physical bodies.
As I write this, I am not conscious of the keyboard and monitor. In fact, thinking about them makes it more difficult to type. In the most natural mode of composition, they simply disappear, becoming extensions of my body. Communicating by text in the virtual world is in that sense, very like talking.
Many activities are like this. Driving a car down the road, the control interfaces of the car (the steering wheel and pedals) become invisible and the car is merely an extension. You have a sense, after driving a vehicle for awhile, of exactly where its limits are in space, and you lose consciousness of the fact there is anything in between your brain and the wheels. For some people, the car even becomes an important part of their identity. Driving a high quality "sexy" car becomes an expression of the person's body consciousness and self esteem.
Something similar happens with video games—at least if the interface is any good. For centuries we have relied on books and other external memories, but the Internet, through the ease of searching, has invaded our actual thought processes. There are things I think I know, but I don't. What I know is how to instantly retrieve them when my global external memory is attached. As I become reliant on this kind of extended identity, losing my Internet connection is like a lobotomy—I feel an almost physical sense of loss as a portion of my intelligence is removed. I've become dependent on a new brain center that isn't located inside of my body.
Virtual identity
Meanwhile, the reverse is happening as well. Even if there are biological nerves, arms, and fingers involved in the interface, we are still connecting our brains to our digital presences on the Net, and we use avatars of various kinds when we do that.
Back in the days when usenet and email were the state of the art, we identified via ASCII signatures—some containing elaborate ASCII art depictions, others merely carrying pithy quotes, like personalized license-plates on the Net, just as emotions came to be conveyed by textual emoticons like this:
Today, there actually are virtual reality forums, like the MMORPG-based Second Life, which has become increasingly popular as a gathering place, particularly for Creative Commons fans (but they are by no means the only inhabitants of "Linden", the "in world" city of Second Life). Now, Second Life involves a fairly high standard for client platform, and not everyone can use it yet, which is why all my information about it is second-hand (mostly for hardware and connectivity reasons, as there is a Linux client for Second Life, since early this year).
Even though Second Lifers (presumeably) have real and original human bodies to go home to, they might nevertheless find certain things more attractive about their virtual ones, since they are under their own control. Some users—like Mia Garlick, a prominent legal counsel for Creative Commons—have opted to create avatars remarkably similar to their real appearance (see figure), while others have opted to be dragons, fish, lizards, or bizarre undefineable things in their virtual existence.
For those of us whose computers are still a few years behind the state of the art, there are a plethora of more conventional web fora based on such packages as PHP BB, which provide various kinds of threaded conversation interfaces. Many of these allow "avatars" to be used which are simply small static pictures —usually of faces or face-like pictures. In these fora, emotional content is still transmitted by emoticons, although they frequently take the form of graphical smilies, rather than the ASCII art ones we are used to from usenet.
Yet, even here, the power of the avatar as an identity is stronger than you might think. After all it's just a little 100×100 picture, why should I even care about it? Yet, an avatar is far more personal and expressive than a username. It's also instantly recognizable, like a face. You learn to recognize your friends, so that you immediately know who's speaking and you subconsciously provide context to what they say.
On one particularly successful PHP BB forum (which has been running for at least six years), avatars are used as "seniority badges" for new users: there are a series of classes between 1 and 1000 posts. There are of course, abuses of this system ("forum spamming"), but active moderation keeps these under control, so there is a fair correlation between "post count" and "real experience". I was brand new at web forums (though I'd been using mailing lists and usenet for many years) when I first joined, and I was really surprised at the degree of motivation that those silly little pictures provided. Even I felt it.
Once you get experience on the forum, you then get to choose an avatar, which becomes your identity on the system. You become much more of an individual person when you reach that point, because people know your online "face", and respond to it. They associate it with the kinds of posts that you make, and they learn to consider what you say much more in a total context of who they think you are. People feel like they "know" you. It wasn't long before I became a moderator on this forum, and so my personal identity is much more important to users who want to know what I'm up to, how I'm likely to react, and who "don't want me sneaking up on them", as one poster put it. Recently I considered replacing my avatar with a new one, simply because my old one is fan art based on a licensed anime series, and therefore of somewhat questionable licensing (or at least originality). My newer avatar, which I use on other forums I've joined since then is original.
However, I got feedback asking me not to change. Not that anyone suggests I shouldn't have the right to, but people get comfortable with familiar avatars, just as they do with familiar faces, and conservativism tends to be preferred.
On another forum (where I use the newer avatar, by the way), the atmosphere is a bit different. Individuals choose their own avatars as soon as they join (your post count affects a "rank" tag that appears over the avatar, but is much less prominent and is plain text). Changes in avatar are more common on this forum, which is much more specific in topic, as it is a fan forum for a web comic. People tend to retain the same theme and design for their avatars, but often make alterations based on events in the story. For example, for awhile, everybody put virtual blue "Smurf" caps on their avatars, and when the plotline went into an alternate universe storyline, posters created photo-negative or mirror-image versions of their avatars to follow along with the plotline. So there is much more avatar play on this forum, but the same pattern of conservative identity prevails—Limax with a Smurf cap is still recognizeably Limax.
I'm rather shy of posting real pictures of myself—or indeed any deeply personal information, but I'm not very careful about it, and I feel a bit ambivalent. I'm not bothered at all if people I already know make the connection, though I am a little concerned about spambots being able to collect enough information to make detecting them difficult, I also have the feeling that sooner or later I'm going to be recognized if I'm going to be at all successful in communicating. Still, I'm not always sure if I'd rather be known by my physical face or my avatar.
Someone who certainly is very careful is Pamela Jones, famous as the creator of Groklaw. She also has a print magazine column, and I find it interesting that she uses an avatar in place of the usual author photo even in the magazine. I've never seen her real face, and I'm not sure if it can be found anywhere on the web or not. I know she's taken other steps to remain anonymous and frankly, she's a bit paranoid about it (her life, her prerogative).
Not long ago a reporter with a pro-SCO agenda (that would be a euphemism for "anti-Groklaw"), wrote a rather disturbing piece about trying to track Pamela Jones down. I say disturbing, because what she was doing was undeniably "stalking", and that's a threatening behavior, even if you intend no violence. But what I couldn't get over was the idea that O'Gara apparently thought that any of what she was writing was relevant, because I already know who Pamela Jones is: she's the person who runs Groklaw. I've sparred with her in words online, and found her site an invaluable resource of information. I already feel a connection as personal there as I need to get (not that that's a lot). To me, Pamela Jones looks like a "big-eyed, red-haired woman wearing a red dress while SCO sinks behind her". Maybe when the whole SCO case is over she'll delete the SCO "Titanic" part of that drawing, but I hope she keeps the face.
If in the physical world, Ms. Jones is physically a "91 year old woman in New York" or a "40 year old guy in Maine" or a "25 year old woman in California" just doesn't matter to me. Why should I regard that as any more real than the person I know online? I've met a few people offline who I first knew online, and in general, it's been a non-plussing experience. I'd just as soon go back to chatting with them electronically and forget the "real" person. There's very few exceptions.
Not that I feel it's good to misrepresent reality—I'm always quick to remind posters that, "I am not in fact a girl with purple hair". But isn't it really the "ghost" we care about, not the "shell", be it virtual or physical?
Additional notice: the images in this article are believed by me to be used in accordance with the terms of "fair use", however that may or may not apply to any other use of the images.
Pamela Jones
I sort of thought PJ was a 62-63 year old woman in New York. But it may just be yet another person with the same name living in the same general location.
Who knows?
Maybe. None of my examples necessarily indicate real claims. The emphasis here is on the not caring. ;-)
Avatars vs Real People
It may be that you can read something into the avatars, but just what does vary from person to person. For example, I use exclusively female characters in any game. This has one very simple reason, and it's not the one that people think of immediately. "This guy wants to be a chick," is the gut reaction. Quite the opposite is true: I simply prefer to look at an attractively-rendered female for hours and hours over looking at a guy.
But that's just me.
Science Fiction and Reality
Ah, nice to see somebody finally picking up on the depth of Gits.
Gits SAC literally plays with varitions of the identity change technology brings about. Not only is the main heroine a brain with a artificial body.
- The first Gits movie is about an elite hacker (a programm really) that ghost hacks people (hacking their cyberbrains) and constructs a new identiy in them to furthen their goals. The poor sods believe they *are* the puppet-master, while they're just a puppet.
- Practically the complete first season (SAC 1) is about a phenomenon called "Laughing man", where various people adopt that "identiy" to implement their agendas.
- The complete second series (SAC 2) is about a phenomenon like the laughing man, (emerging) "The particularist Eleven". It triggers subversive plotting behavior in individuals. However, it's not that they've been plainly ghost hacked, but that the combination of a common virus and having read a particular text changes their personality.
- One episode of the first season is about a robotic engineer who dies of a terminal illness. A colleque puts his brain into one of the battle bots he so loved to create, and he then goes on a rampage which almost concludes in him killing his parents. Altough his actions are violent, it's theorized by the Major (who burns out his brain) that they're motivated by pride and love.
For below quote I'd have included a reference to accelerando by Charles Stross.
As I become reliant on this kind of extended identity, losing my Internet connection is like a lobotomy—I feel
an almost physical sense of loss as a portion of my intelligence is removed. I've become dependent on a new
brain center that isn't located inside of my body.
Accelerando is a lot about virtual identiy, among other things completely including the virtual lobotomy you mention. But also about distributed identiy, bodyless existence as a virtual entity and the singularity (as in the Kurzweil sense). Particularly interesting also the prespective of decaying super-intelligence cought in it's high-bandwith well of a solar system.
The assumed correlation
The assumed correlation between post count and experience on many phpBB forums does annoy me. But then a lot of things about the way most phpBB-style forums are set up is annoying, such as the need to register just to post one comment, or the over-abundance of smileys.
Give me a 2ch/futaba style message board any day over phpBB!
I love GitS for what you just said
That is a great story I must say.
I'm a long fan of GitS. With that being said, I've never identified what I was really liking in it. Now I think it is everything you said here.
The Internet extension of the memory made me laugh, because I really feel like I've been lobotomized when I've got no connection at all. Thus remind me that I've never been disconnected for quite some years now.
I got my first internet connection at 16. I have 23 now, and I never ever been without internet since then. Which make me feel like a ghost in the net without a real identity. In fact I would love to be in the internet just like the Major in the GitS Innocence.
Anyway in the 2004-2005 school year, I've been studying far away from home and I was quite forced to quit my internet identity. So I just became a "real" person. I didn't know this so well before, so I just "created" a new personnal identity, as you do when you are creating your avatar, or thinking about your "pseudonyme" on the internet. And I was quite confortable with this, I was enjoying it.
Just like being yourself. It was an huge thing, just like feeling the real life. It's not like the virtual world you know.
Now I quit the "far away" school for one next to my home. And I feel like I lost my real identity again.
So this brings a question that you might answer: what is the best to have. An identity that may be you dislike in the real world, but that is real for sure. Or have an ideal identity, personnalised, that you created, but that is not so real.
I think it could be dangerous for people like me if they fail to love the real world. In fact I do so much love everything in the world that I could not quit the real life, but not everyone feel the same.
True Names
You should read True Names by Vernor Vinge, really hit this issue deeply, almost two decades before GiTS.
avatars in general
I've been doing online comics for a long time. In my comics I've had an "avatar" to represent myself in the work and have used the same cute drawing as a representative of myself for many years online. When it comes to thoughts, opinions, and positions there I aim to be as real to the "real" me as if you met me in person. I've changed the "look" of my avatar based on how I'm wearing my hair or if I've gained weight or not so perhaps mine is a tad bit more realistic than a lot of what you suggest here for most people. A lot of my readership knows me "only" as that online version. I've met many of them in person at comic book conventions and the like and most of them say that "I'm very much like how I present myself online" which I guess is becoming rarer and rarer these days. It's an interesting commentary and I look forward to your further examinations.
Once when I was playing
Once when I was playing Everquest the phone rang (in real life) and I typed into the chat box, "Hello". The phone kept ringing, I paused for a second and then realized what I had just done. Oops! Dam neural connectors!
Watching some anime doesn't
Watching some anime doesn't make you an expert in science fiction.
Your point being...?
Sure. But then "watching some anime" isn't my only credential, and being an "expert in science fiction" isn't my claim. I read and watch SF for pleasure, and it forms many of the metaphors that make up my literary/mythical framework for relating to the world. Any work being the "original source" of any idea is always a deeply contentious point, because ideas are evolutionary. The important point here isn't that GiTS invented all of these ideas, but that watching it inspired this train of thought.
Maj. Kusanagi is a great SF example of both the "cyborg" and the "avatar", and raises some nice questions I particularly wanted to talk about here. Plus, there's a picture! ;-)
No Snow Crash reference?
While reading your entry, I must say that I was certainly expecting to see you mention Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash, as it is widely known to be one of the key works of fiction that popularized the term 'avatar' as we know it today.
Granted, as seen from the entry title, your focus was on GitS. It was an intriguing article nonetheless. ;)
man machine interface :)
"Alrighty then, picture this if you will:"
You are perceiving the avatar from a human standpoint. An avatar is ideally a lot more than you yourself can be as a human. It is an enhancement of yourself, an avatar ideally gives you a lot more freedom and a lot more shortcuts of expression.
Ideally an avatar would replace you as a human.
But yeah, the birthplace of the avatar would be our human communication needs. So as of now it is limited.
Ah I see, that's kind of the point you're trying to make isn't it?
Ok so let me add some fact to fiction:
* We have implanted chips in human brains that can process signals and control a computer. Mind driven machinery already exists.
* The other way around also exists. We have implanted chips in rat brains that send signals to make the rat do things. Machine driven minds already exist. (I haven't seen any human tests though)
Basically, a virtual reality like the matrix would likely be possible.
However, as you said, the other way around is important. Consider spending hours upon hours trying to gain experience for your avatar (take a videogame character from world of warcraft). You could in fact use those hours to gain non virtual experience for your non virtual self... ermm..
the point I'm trying to make is this:
There might be a day when we exist as virtual beings. As of now we are human and as our world prospers the pressure to survive decreases. In short we no longer know what to do with our lives and start doing all kinds of weird things. That's not going to go away. But it'll be interesting and a big diversion.
Oh hey mr anonymous coward person sir:
I hope True Names is any good and does indeed go further than gits. Do you know enough of gits to make that statement? Well, in any case, I'm going to find out. Thanks for the tip.
Yet another anonymous coward I guess...
zjorz at hotpop dot com
funky male 26 netherlands
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-computer_interface just in case
Our real selves
This really struck a chord with me, because I have been on a freeform, text-based roleplaying site for almost nine years. It is known to its users as The Keep.
It has long occurred to me that being able to express hidden, or unused facets of my personality there have been vital in my personal growth. It is so easy to let how people perceive our shells dictate what we can, or will, do irl.
For instance, on the Keep, I've played dragons, wereleopards, elves and other creatures. I have also explored playing as different genders. *THAT* was an eyeopener.
The stories I've created and the people I have met (some in real life as an extention of this particular chatroom) have enriched my experience, and I seriously doubt I would have had any of it if all anyone ever saw of me was my 'real' body, which truthfully has nothing to do with the parts of me that are most essential.
You can have both: photorealistic avatars
For completeness, you can also lip sync your photo to someone else's voice. Image-me customises avatars to the extreme: they are your virtual 3D projection of real faces.
If you are too shy to posting real pictures of myself, you can have them animated for you in three dimensions. The resulting avatar is visually you, it just doesn't behave like you. It might as well scream James Brown's 'I feel good!' or any other soundbite for that sake. Posting photorealistic animated avatars is becoming increasingly popular in sites where the profile of users is both public and visually rich like Myspace.
I believe that is is only a matter of time before the indidivuals start to use advanced avatars with their true image but with voices and behaviours imported from other real-life individuals.
Rose Gener
Assuming you want to be you
Sounds like pretty cool technology, but of course, many people may not want to be "themselves" in their virtual communities.
Of course, you might be able to borrow a face, but there's something a little creepy if it's actually a photograph of an actor or model -- since it's not just "not your face" it's also "somebody else's face". Also in principle, you don't want to use a face that anyone else might be using.
Seems like some kind of constructed face is going to be more desireable.
something to think about
Here is something to think about in regards to Kusanagi. The only difference between her body and the ones we use is that hers is manufactured. In the end we are still brains in boxes with ghosts. The only difference is the materials being used and the source of their make. Batou as you may have seen watching the series doesn't see that in her. He only can see the human within(Anyone who has watched the show knows that he has a big crush on her)lol Also I would like to point out that her body is more than an android body. It's designed to replicate every aspect of her originial one so the brain is fooled into thinking it's in her original body. She eat's she sleeps, and does all the things that make a human...well human. Her body also has no plastic or silicon. If it where real I'd say it would be a miricle of nanobiotechnology because her skin, eyes, tounge and muscle are engineered organic tissue encorperated into a titanium skeletal structure. She operates the body no differently than anyone else uses their natural ones. It works from direct neural control interfaced at the base of her protective braincase. So in regards to the difference between which is her. I think they both are. Each one representing a different part of her personality. If you look hard I'm sure you'll notice that the eye and hair color on her Avatar body "Chroma" are reversed from her physical one. Just some info to think on a bit. Oh, would I swap into a cyborg body? In nanosecond. lol
I've joined Second Life a week ago.
Without wasting so much as a single brainwave on it I entered the virtual world as myself - a 1:1 avatar version of how I exist in real life - with the only difference being my first and last name (first for privacy and last for lack of choice for last names) and my virtual digital appearance being half human half animal.
It's true avatars often reflect their user's most desired wishes; For me it was the appearance of my totem animal, with which I am just as comfortable as I am with my own human body, and comes from certain spiritual beliefs I carry with me in my real life.
Avatars also allow you to experience things such as emotions differently; being human in the real world is something we don't often think of, it's a way of life and we don't know any better until we stop to think and look at ourselves.
Driving an avatar whose appearance is physically different from your real body inherently changes (at least) some small parts of your social behaviour and the ways you think. In a way, it makes you more conscious about many things.
For me, i've found my Second Life avatar is regarded as attractive and often find myself at the receiving end of friendly affection such as hugs, something that is somehow harder to accomplish in the real world; but realising that I am a working man whom doesn't have a lot of spare time to spend outdoors enjoying life with it's many opportunities, I myself am the architect of my own lack of the things I experience when driving an avatar.
You could say that living an online life erodes your offline life. This is true to an extent, if you lack moderation and can't pry your fingers off that mouse and keyboard for more than half a day at a time you are indeed the architect of your own demise.
Which in turn is part of becoming more conscious: You (should) learn that there is more to life and that you'll have to reach for the high fruits yourself, they won't come down to you by themselves.
For me the virtual reality of Second Life and the many other tools The Internet offer me is an extension of myself and my means of communicating with a part of my group of friends, but it is by no means a replacement of my life in the real world where I live and breathe, and work on my future.
As such, i'm currently unable to fully imagine how it would be to have my mind reside permanently in an artificial body such as Kusanagi's own cyborg body and live with things such as the regular maintenance required to it's mechanical components and the unavoidable risks of unpredictable faillure.
Could you live with the knowledge your original physical body has died of disease, accident or old age, even see it lying lifeless in a coffin while your mind as your very essence remains 'alive' in another body?
Could you separate yourself from that which you regarded as being 'you'?
But who knows how this world of ours will change and how much? it will be interesting to say the least to see further developments on technology such as brain interfaces.
As a last side note, through online social gatherings and gaming activities I have made many friends I hope I may enjoy the presence of for the rest of my life, which apart from the massive available knowledge online feels very enriching and humbling at the same time.
Thank you for this article.
what would it be like
Imagine being in an artificial body that duplicates the functions of the originial except better. Kusanagi has enhanced senses including all five senses. As well as being able to communicate with others via internal cellular cybercom. From first person point of view it wouldn't "feel" any different. The body is designed to fool the person's brain into thinking it is still in it's own body. In order to do that it has to replicate the natural bodies'functions. I think people are too attached to their bodies. The body is not who the person is. The body itself is basically an interface so you can experience the physical world around you. It's a naturally made "Shell". Her body by comparison is better. It doesn't age or get sick and it's more durable. The regular maintanence that she has to go through really is comparable with visiting the Doctor for a checkup. So that isn't really a big deal. Although if anyone is familiar with the show's second season one of the characters uses a "maintanence free body". It's actually able to regenerate damaged tissue. All in all like the world of Ghost in the Shell you will have some people for enhancement and some that are against it. In the end people usually lean toward technology as they learn that it's not going to hurt them or change them or who they are. If a person uses a prosthetic heart does that make them a different person? I think we know the answer to that.
i have loved every secong of gits, but on the concept of ghosts i think people are reading far too much into what is realistically possible. basically going by the laws of physics as we know them and on which computers work it is only possible for physical things to exist and interact together and all of this is done by causality. basically the notion of a mind/ghost seperate to the body is a fabrication of the past millenia of religious intuition, there can be no ghost as all that we have are our physical selves so all of what we are,desire,feel is contained in our brains so the possibility of transferring our selves into a cyber brain is impossible as it would have none of our abilities to feel as with a human body. it would merely be a collection of previous experience i.e. a memory bank, still would be cool.
Interesting, but you're not going deep enough
Intriguingly, most people who make this monist argument conclude the opposite (i.e. that it is possible to transfer consciousness, which they then imagine to be a mechanistic process into a cybernetic body).
You might be intrigued to consider that your body does not currently consist of the same atoms (and to a large degree the same cells) as it did when you were born. Your concept of "self" is associated with what might best be thought of as a kind of wave of organization that passes through the material world, not a single piece of matter at all.
In GITS, this issue is left fairly mystical and unexplained. There is a general idea that there is some as-yet-undiscovered (or perhaps fundamentally ineffable) quality that resists copying. "Copying a ghostline" results in deterioration (in the GITS universe, I mean).
In reality, the question is clearly more complex. I wrote another blog that goes into this whole issue more explicitly.
The Laws of Physics as We Know Them
Physics and philosophy were once the same discipline. Both attempt to explain the way the world works. Quantum physics tells us that something can exist as both a particle and a wave. We can now carry cell phones with more computing power than the PCs of ten years ago. Seems a bit early to be deciding what's "realistically possible," no?
If your avatar falls do you feel it?
If your avatar falls do you feel it?
No, really. Think about it. Focusing on what your ( or someone else's ) avatar IS to you ( or them ) isn't really the point. Mr. Hancock mentions driving a car as an example of a form of 'virtual reality' & likens it to the experience he's had w/ his ( & other's ) avatars. While that's fine in the context of his article, I think its important to remember a few facts. The 'driving a car' thing has an understandable application NOW, while we can ( & still do ) drive cars. But if the price of fuel keeps rising, at some point the 'average' person will lose the economic ability to drive. Shortly afterward, his use of that analogy will also lose its 'power,' its ability to connect the reader w/ the experience he's describing thru his analogy. In other words, he's using a relative 'known' factor to describe something that he KNOWS many people haven't thought of that way.
( Actually, not a bad choice, considering his apparent goal. ) The problem is this; all too often we humans think that because some of us THINK of a certain thing, that its possible, or acceptable, or even 'good,' from someone's ( limited ) point of view. Reality is often different. An example is the current debate regarding violence in entertainment. Many feel that because its 'fiction,' that makes it all right, nothing to worry about, just ignore it; bla, bla bla,. But too many medical studies are showing that it has REAL EFFECTS on REAL PEOPLE. Avatars are similar, as Mr Hancock pointed out. People begin to relate to them AS IF THEY ARE THE REAL PERSON! Now, I don't know about you, but I've made a conscious effort to first, ignore other people's avatars, & second, to avoid using one myself. Don't get the wrong idea, I HAVE tried out one or two, just to be sure that I've got a clear understanding of what avatars do, or can do, in some circumstances. Some free online email suppliers provide some limited abilities to customize a personal avatar for their clients. One of my first ones turned out pretty good I thought. I even had my wife review it, because Hey!, who knows me better, right? So she looks at it & says Hey! It looks like you! ( In a cartoony way, of course.) I thought about it for awhile & I came to this conclusion. While many people use fantasy/fantastical or mythological or even 'iconic' types of avatars, they are doing so in a deliberate attempt to 'project' an image that is NOT 'realistic.' If you are using an avatar(s), do you do so as actual extension of who/what you REALLY are? ( Like some illustrated in the article. ) Or is this another one of those immature, irrational, or even narcissistic attempts to try convey an imaginary or 'wishful' image to people who, due to factual circumstances, don't have the ability to 'discern' what you're really like?
In other words, are avatars being used to project a realistic image of the kind of person that they are representing, or is their use more as a mask? Don't think that this is not a serious subject, or a serious question. It doesn't take much research to find out that there are serious issues involved whenever humans start to put on masks. Even the 'cartoon superheros' who wear masks ( disguises ) to 'protect' their 'secret identities' have come under some very serious discussion by the psychological research community. There are very real problems w/ masks, disguises, 'secret identities,' and yes, even avatars. People have been known to 'become' someone else while wearing/hiding behind an image that they know misrepresents who or what they really are. Mr Hancock touched the edges of the debate when he mentioned "some kind of falsehood." Its not about you using an avatar that deliberately misrepresents who you are. Its about the ( psychological ) problems that we humans begin to experience whenever we lose touch with the reality of a situation.
And that's the connection to open-source as opposed to closed-source software. In EVERY instance, closed-source is about those ones who have lost touch w/ the reality of the situation. ONLY open-source can provide the REAL, CLEAR, and necessary connection between the software provider and the one(s) that the software was actually written FOR! Anything else is just more farce.
You Guys really know your
You Guys really know your stuff i have been a good fan og GITS for a long time great work


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This delightful tour winds its way through the heart of the Cape Winelands, where Cape Dutch architecture, rolling vineyards, fine wines and beautiful mountain ranges are the order of the day. You're taken through the history of the Winelands, visit several wine farms and of cours get to eat at some of the Cape's most fantastic restaurants.
(Hover over the BLACK DOTS on our interactive map below & view stunning snapshots of each location ! )
Our suggestions...
09h00 Leave Parker Cottage after a fantastic breakfast
10h00 Rust en Vrede – An historic wine estate whose restaurant is housed in a National Monument !
11h00 Stellenbosch – historic university town and centre of the wine industry
12h00 The Helshoogte Pass – scenic mountain pass: cycle it if you dare.
12h30 Rainbow's End – family run estate with laid back vibe.
13h20 Solms Delta – historic wine estate with great social responsibility and museum
14h20 Franschoek – world famous small wine town, snobby but pretty.
16h00 Paul Cluver – exclusive family run estate
16h00 Babylonstoren – One of the oldest farmsteads in the winelands
Follow this Itinerary with
Google Maps
Click on the icon above !
Make it easy ! Our driver, Chris Hannival, can take you on this trip in his nice shiny BMW for the whole day for R1 800 for up to 2 guests sharing. He can of course take more but needs to quote separately. Drop us an email to find out more.
In our downloadable PDF you'll find a map (for the whole route) on the last page, as well as detailed maps as you need them for the tricky bits!

subset: commoncrawl


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Plantable Inspirational Greeting Card Set
Presenting a more motivational set of seed cards from Botanical PaperWorks - six plantable seed cards, as seen in Better Homes and Garden magazine. These uplifting plantable cards are printed on post-consumer waste and seed-embedded paper. When the lucky recipient plants the seed card, wildflowers will grow. What a beautiful and eco-friendly way to share and create beauty but leave no waste. Read about how plantable paper works.
The package contains six cards: Spread Joy, Breathe, Seek Peace, Live Passionately, Refresh Within and Become Happiness.
Card size: 4 1/2 x 6 1/4 inches
Six gorgeous envelopes in cocoa brown, blue and green are included.
Planting Instructions
Plant seed paper under 1/8" of soil. Water thoroughly. Place in a sunny corner and keep moist during germination.
There are no reviews for this product.


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Sexual (Sex) Problems in Men Center - Grand Island, NE
- WebMD Physician Directory of Grand Island Urologist Doctors
- Grand Island Emergency Contacts
- Nearby Grand Island Hospitals
- Find a Local Pharmacy on RxList - Grand Island
Grand Island Urologist Doctors for Sexual (Sex) Problems in Men
Type of Physician: Urologist
What is a Urologist? A certification by the Board of Urology; practitioners are competent to manage medical and surgical disorders of the adrenal gland and of the genitourinary system. Urologists have comprehensive knowledge of, and skills in, various surgical techniques for innate and acquired conditions of the reproductive and urinary systems and their related structures.
Specialty: Urology
Common Name:
Urologist Doctors in Grand Island * results
- 2
Richard B. Koefoot
Avera St Anthonys Outpatient Clinic
300 N 2nd St
O'Neill, NE 68763
(402) 336-5122
- 3 office location(s)
- 3
Gregory L. Alberts
Avera St Anthonys Outpatient Clinic
300 N 2nd St
O'Neill, NE 68763
(402) 336-5122
- 2 office location(s)
- 4
Scott F. Howe
Cozad Community Hospital Outpatient Clinic
300 E 12th St
Cozad, NE 69130
(308) 784-2261
- 2 office location(s)
- 5
Lester D. Hake
VA Nebraska Western Health Care
2201 N Broadwell Ave
Grand Island, NE 68803
(308) 382-3660
- 1 office location(s)
- 6
Raymond W. Conant
Harlan County Health System
717 Brown St
Alma, NE 68920
(308) 928-2151
- 4 office location(s)
- 7
David S. Halsted
Nebraska Urology PC
1401 E H St
McCook, NE 69001
(308) 345-3074
- 2 office location(s)
Don't see your city? Use the WebMD Physician Directory to expand your search.
Sexual Problems in Men
What are sexual problems in men?
Sexual health is an important part of a man's life, no matter his age, civil status, or sexual orientation. It is also an important part of a couple's foundation and contributes to the quality of ...
Other Related Sexual (Sex) Problems in Men Articles
Emergency Contact for Grand Island
- In case of Emergency, call 911
Nearby Grand Island Hospitals results
- 1Saint Francis Medical Center
2620 W Faidley Ave
Grand Island, Nebraska 68803
(308) 384-460
- 2VA Medical Center
2201 N Broadwell Ave
Grand Island, Nebraska 68803
(308) 382-366
- 3Memorial Hospital
1423 7th St
Grand Island, Nebraska 68818
(402) 694-317
- 4Howard County Medical Center
1113 Sherman St
Grand Island, Nebraska 68873
(308) 754-442
- 5Litzenberg Memorial County Hosp
1715 26th St
Grand Island, Nebraska 68826
(308) 946-301
- 6Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital
715 N Saint Joseph Ave
Grand Island, Nebraska 68901
(402) 463-452
- 7Hasting Regional Center
4200 W 2nd St
Grand Island, Nebraska 68901
(402) 462-197
- 8Henderson Healthcare Services
1621 Front St
Grand Island, Nebraska 68371
(402) 723-451
* Provider Directory Terms of Use:
The WebMD 'Provider Directory' is provided by WebMD for use by the general public as a quick reference of information about Providers. The Provider Directory is not intended as a tool for verifying the credentials, qualifications, or abilities of any Provider contained therein. Inclusion in the Provider Directory does not imply recommendation or endorsement nor does omission in the Provider Directory imply WebMD disapproval.
You are prohibited from using, downloading, republishing, selling, duplicating, or "scraping" for commercial or any other purpose whatsoever, the Provider Directory or any of the data listings or other information contained therein, in whole or in part, in any medium whatsoever.
The Provider Directory is provided on an "AS-IS" basis. WebMD disclaims all warranties, either express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for particular purpose. Without limiting the foregoing, WebMD does not warrant or represent that the Provider Directory or any part thereof is accurate or complete. You assume full responsibility for the communications with any Provider you contact through the Provider Directory. WebMD shall in no event be liable to you or to anyone for any decision made or action taken by you in the reliance on information provided in the Provider Directory.
The use of WebMD Provider Directory by any entity or individual to verify the credentials of Providers is prohibited. The database of Provider information which drives WebMD Provider Directory does not contain sufficient information with which to verify Provider credentials under the standards of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) of the Utilization Review Accreditation Committee (URAC).
By using the WebMD Provider Directory, you agree to these Terms and Conditions.


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Android devices support almost all formats available. It depends on Media Player, like MX Player, because internal player has poor format support.
So the easiest way is to use copy of Android conf file (and change UserAgentSearch string if needed)
Mandatory are two things:
- First one is "StreamExtensions=" part
- Second one is missing "ChunkedTransfer=true" : viewtopic.php?f=15&t=14877&p=75663&hilit=android+mx#p75663
2. When transcoding is needed, without "ChunkedTransfer=true" many external players (like MX Player) is unable to play transcoded videos
Example of new renderer.conf file: https://github.com/ps3mediaserver/ps3me ... droid.conf
In one post I saw someone used AVISYNTH/MEncoder engine. Avoid using AVISYNTH when possible (direct streaming doesn't use any transcoding engine)


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The Quinlins' home at 8 Homestead has a special decoration. It is a memory cross honoring all the victims of the Dec. 14 school shooting in Newtown, Conn.
Cindy and David Quinlin and their adult children, Andy and Audrey (and husband Aron) Lee all helped create this cross and the angels for each of the victims.
Each angel has the first name and date of birth of one of the victims of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, along with the mother of the shooter, who also was killed, Cindy explained.
"It was a family project," Cindy said. The Quinlins attend Holy Family Church, where on the Sunday after the massacre "Father Mike's message was about that.
"Father Mike (Quinn) said the children at Holy Family School - 'I feel like they are my kids.'
"All I could think about was all their families, all over the country," Cindy said.
"I wanted to do something, and my husband made the cross," Cindy continued. Audrey is a graphic artist and helped design the 27 angels.
"We worked on it together, and everybody had input," she said.
Location, ST | website.com


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Good morning and welcome to Summit Up, the world's only daily column that is just raring to find someone to be our Valentine.
We consider ourselves a rather comely bunch. If you're into peeps who have a constant squint (we spend hours upon hours staring at computer screens), humped backs that reminiscent of that ol' fellow in Victor Hugo's classic novel (we're chained to our desks like calves being prepped as veal) and wit that rivals the great literary minds of the 20th century, we're the group for you.
MILLIONS OF SUMMIT UP READERS: Really, 'wit that rivals the greatest literary minds of the 20th century?' Don't you think that you're getting a little ahead of yourselves?
SUMMIT UP: Ahead of ourselves? You, our loyal readers, have witnessed firsthand our daily outpouring of near genius that is this column.
MSUR: Alright, we'll give you that occasionally you come up with something decent, but then again, even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.
SU: Wow, tough room today. It appears that we're looking for love in all the wrong places as Johnny Lee used to sing. With that, we're out. Have a good Valentine's Day.


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Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2012
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- South Carolina unemployment has dropped by half a percentage point for the second month in a row.
The state Department of Employment and Workforce said Tuesday that the October jobless rate fell to 8.6 percent. That's 1.5 percentage points lower than a year ago. It's the lowest rate in nearly four years.
In September, South Carolina's unemployment had fallen to 9.1 percent, mirroring a nationwide trend of falling jobless numbers.
In October, national unemployment moved up slightly to 7.9 percent as more people looked for work.
Government jobs in South Carolina increased by about 5,000 in October. There were other gains in trade, financial services and education.
But the hospitality industry posted 400 jobs lost because of seasonal drops.
(Copyright 2012, The Associated Press)


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Investigators said they believe the meth lab busted Wednesday was one of the largest methamphetamine producers they've encountered.
Within two hours of receiving a Crimestoppers tip, the East Mississippi Drug Task Force busted three different meth labs and arrested four people. John Steed, Lisa Fox, Shannon Moore, and Renee Quinn were taken in on a variety of drug related charges, including possession of precursors with intent to distribute, and conspiracy to manufacture methamphetimines. A fifth suspect is being sought.
"The great part about (this) effort from the Crimestoppers tip, the information that we received, was the fact that we got the product and we got the process before any of the end product hit the streets," said task force agent, Warren Cox.
Cox said the arrests are part of a two and a half month investigation by the drug task force. Authorities called it a major bust, but added, it would not have happened so quickly, without the help of the community.
Cox said a meth lab gives off the smell of ammonia or ether, or any kind of strong sweet smell.
wtok.com: Extended Web Coverage
Fast Facts About Meth
Many people may be unaware that they're living near a meth lab. Here are some things to look for:
Source: www.kci.org [Koch Crime Institute]


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Fantastic news! I finally have a title for my YA Gothic! Tor/MacMillan will publish Dark Companion in June 2012. This is my homage to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, which I first "discovered" in the library when I was 13, and have read several times since. I was also influenced by Muriel Sparks' The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and my own experiences at an all-girls high school.
When foster teen Jane Williams is invited to attend elite Birch Grove Academy for Girls and escape her violent urban neighborhood, she thinks the offer is too good to be true. She's even offered her own living quarters, the groundskeeper's cottage in the center of the birch grove.
Something's not quite right about the school -- or is it Jane? She thinks she sees things in the birch grove at night. She's also beginning to suspect that the elegant headmistress and her sons are hiding secrets. Lucky is the gorgeous, golden son who is especially attentive to Jane, and Jack is the sardonic puzzling brother.
The school with its talented teachers and bright students is a dream for a science and math geek like Jane. She also loves her new friends, including hilarious poetry-spouting rich girl, Mary Violet. But the longer Jane stays at Birch Grove, the more questions she has about the disappearance of another scholarship girl and a missing faculty member.
Jane discovers one secret about Birch Grove, which only leads to more mysteries. What is she willing to sacrifice in order to stay at this school...and be bound to Birch Grove forever?
But girls are more than just a market niche. I knew girls who were brilliant, inquisitive, talented, kind, funny, brave, affectionate, generous... I wanted to write a book about those girls and for those girls.
I'll be telling you more about the road to publication for Dark Companion, including all the help from readers and bloggers.
These are for the girls!


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Although I was not at this show or on this tour, I know the sound at this venue is amazing and its evident they took full advantage of it. Just look the 1st set list. Everyone one of these tunes is played pretty much flawlessly. Mike kills it on Mike>Hydrogen> and esp Weekapaug. Foam grinds and bounces mechanically. Uncle Pen is just plain fun and perfect for Colorado. Classic Santana-ish Stash jamming. Fluffhead does not disappoint. Lizards is nice and relaxing and David Bowie just get weird in all time 90's Phish weirdness.
These are the Phish shows I miss dearly!


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Chart of the Day: Millennials Are Really Risk Averse
More than half of people between the age of 21 and 36 have their savings parked in cash, according to a new study by the Brookings Institution, reflecting extreme risk-aversion by the so-called millennial generation.
The high cash allocations to accounts like bank CDs and money-market funds, which pay little-to-no interest, suggest young adults are reluctant to put money to work in the U.S. stock market, which has bounced back from the financial crisis and recorded numerous record highs over the past year.
Citing data from UBS, the Brookings study found that 52% of millennials have their savings in cash. By comparison, all other age groups have 23% of their savings in cash. Millennials also say they only have 28% of their assets in stocks, which UBS says is "directly counter to traditional long-term investment allocation advice."
Young adults have historically been encouraged to put money into riskier investments early in their careers in order to reap the benefits of compounding and then transition to safer investments as they get closer to retirement.
But millennials remain conservative for a number of reasons. They've watched their parents struggle with not one, but two severe economic recessions over the past 14 years. The stock market dropped sharply after the bursting of the tech bubble in 2000 and the housing bubble in 2008. More than five years after U.S. stocks bottomed following the financial crisis, retail investors have been slow to embrace stocks again.
Then there is the student debt issue. Young people are saddled with record levels of student debt, which makes them more conservative with whatever money they have available to save.
"One reason for this avoidance of the stock market stems from the same experience of extreme volatility and risk that the Millennials' great grandparents experienced when they were coming of age during the Great Depression," Brookings said in its report.


text: Yesterday was Groundhog Day and that little guy saw his shadow, so that means six more weeks of winter. It's been nice here in Nashville with the highs in the 60s. . .I can handle six more weeks of this! :D Today is Friday, it's supposed to be sunny and in the 60s, so that can mean only one thing. . .Foto Friday! ! ! ... Continue Reading


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UPDATE: "The Flash" Hasn't Cast Savitar, Says Berlanti
TV, Comic Books
Showing results 144-165 of 165
Courtesy of Image, CBR brings you advance looks at new comics on sale this week including "Invincible" #55, "Firebreather" #3, "Dynamo 5" #18, "Dead Space HC" and an exclusive preview of "Pax Romana" #4.
Cult occult hero Hector Plasm celebrates the creepier side of All Hallow's Eve with a compilation of stories celebrating the dead. Writer Benito Cereno talks to CBR about what makes for a true scary story.
Image Comics has provided CBR with advance looks at new books on sale Wednesday October 1st, including Robert Kirkman's "Invincible" #53 and Jonathan Hickman's "A Red Mass for Mars" #2.
Augie has a sneak peak review of the new Stephen King-inspired mini-series, 'The Stand: Captain Trips' #1. Plus, what happens when tech podcasters blow off comics? And what's so different about 'Invincible''s coloring?
Image has provided CBR with advance looks at new comics on sale September 10th including "Amory Wars II" #4, "Dynamo 5" #16, "I Kill Giants" #2, "Pax Romana" #3 and an exclusive preview of "Invincible" #52.
It's the first CBR Boat Show interview from Comic-Con! Robert Kirkman stopped by and in this first of a two-part interview, Kirkman spoke about handing over Invincible for motion comics adaptation.
The newly announced partner at Image Comics and the company's publisher open up to CBR about what Kirkman's new status means and what directions they'll be taking the big "I" into in 2009 and beyond
The co-creator of Image's runaway teen superhero sensation discusses the various aspects of his MTV video deal, how much influence he had over the series' production and more.
You've seen the trailer, now Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley take you behind the scenes with a look at how the animated "Invincible The Series" gets made in a video interview with the creators and crew.
Courtesy of MTV New Media, CBR brings you the official trailer for "Invincible: The Series," the new animated adaptation of Robert Kirkman & Cory Walker's Image superhero epic, available on mobile devices and on MTV2.
Robert Kirkman hosted a rousing Q&A session, talking about "Invincible," "Walking Dead," "Astonishing Ant-Man," "Marvel Zombies" and "Science Dog" during the prolific creator's WizardWorld panel.
CBR's weeklong celebration of Image Comics' landmark "Invincible" #50 concludes with this exclusive preview of issue #51 by writer Robert Kirkman and artist Ryan Ottley, with a cover by Jim Lee.
After 50 issues non-stop, series colorist Bill Crabtree says goodbye to"Invincible" and tells CBR News how the ride has been, why he's moving on and what exactly it's like to color all that blood.
"Invincible's" long-standing artist Ryan Ottley takes a timeout from the drawing board to recall his earliest days on the Image Comics series, explain why he didn't think he'd make it this far, and reveal what makes #50 his best issue yet.
CBR News' lengthy chat with "Invincible" co-creator Robert Kirkman continues as the writer looks towards the future of the Invincible Universe, including spin offs, future plotlines and the rumored feature film!
In this first part of an extensive interview, Robert Kirkman, the writer and co- creator of Image Comics' superhero hit, reflects on 50 issues of stories, dives into his love of subplots (including one he forgot) and much, much more!
Courtesy of Image, CBR brings you advance looks at new comics on sale this week including "Invincible" #50, "Charlatan's Ball" #1, "Madman Atomic Comics" #9," "Jack Staff" #17 and much more.
Courtesy of Image, CBR brings you advance looks at new comics on sale next week including exclusive looks at "Firebreather" #1 by Hester & Kuhn, "Studio Space" featuring Frank Miller & Mike Mignola and more.
Erik Larsen and Jim Valentino headlined the Image Comics panel at this year's New York Comic-Con, teasing, among other things, "Spawn's" new creative team. CBR has all the details, plus a massive gallery of artwork.
Archives: All | Comic Books | TV/Film | Video Games | Web Comics


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SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas A&M – Corpus Christi Baseball team was unable to get the big hit on Saturday afternoon, falling 5-3 against Texas State in the middle game of the weekend series. The rubber match of the series is set for a 12 p.m. first pitch on Sunday at Bobcat Ballpark.
The Islanders (10-8) were able to get runners on, tallying 10 hits for the second straight game, but they were unable to bring them home, leaving nine runners on base in the 5-3 loss. Trevor Belicek (2-1) was tagged with the loss, pitching 4.0 innings and giving up five runs, four of them earned, while walking two and striking out one Texas State (6-13) batter.
After a scoreless first inning, the Islanders strung together three hits in the top of the second, but they could only plate one run as Texas State worked out of the jam. Eric Weiss started it off with a single through the right side, and was brought home on an RBI double to right center by Dominic Lopez for a 1-0 Islanders lead.
The Bobcats came back with three hits of their own in the bottom half of the inning, with Austin O'Neal providing the runs on a two-RBI double to take a 2-1 lead.
Texas State added one run in the bottom of the third and two in the bottom of the fifth to make it a 5-1 advantage over the Islanders.
Texas A&M – Corpus Christi cut into the lead in the top of the 7th, scoring one run on three hits to make it 5-2. Cody Stephens singled to right field, moved to second on a groundout by Russell Vaughan and came around to score on an RBI single from Jordan Lee, his first hit of the game.
The Islanders got another run in the top of the eighth inning with the help of two Bobcat errors. Weiss started it off with a single up the middle and moved to second while pinch hitter Kyle Danford reached on a fielding error by the shortstop. Brandon Tierney followed with another pinch-hit opportunity, also reaching on a misplay by the shortstop. Stephens came up with a big RBI single just over the glove of the second baseman to score one run and make it 5-3. The team would not get anymore in the inning however, as an inning-ending double play sent it to the bottom of the eighth at a two-run deficit.
The team could not muster another rally in the ninth, going down in order as the Bobcats evened the weekend series against the Islanders.
Stephens and Weiss picked up two hits apiece, while Lee, Zach Taylor, Brad Porras, Jonathan Gonzales, Lopez and Vaughan had one each. Lopez, Lee and Stephens each had one RBI in the game.
In the Sunday finale, Adam Hoelscher will get the call on the mound for the Islanders, with Kyle Finnegan starting for Texas State.
Live stats for the Sunday finale will be available through www.GoIslanders.com, while audio and video streaming can be found by visiting www.TXStateBobcats.com.
For all the latest on Islanders Baseball, like the team on Facebook (Islanders Baseball) and follow them on Twitter (@CorpusBaseball).


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Zupponn wrote:I was captured by aliens in the Mothership Zeta expansion and was supposed to start fighting the other human in my cell to cause a ruckus and stuff. I lock on to her with VATS and punch her. Then the Mysterious Stranger comes out of nowhere and blows her head off! Needless to say, I had to restart from the previous save as that character was necessary in order to escape the ship.
I don't think the player has too much health. Think about how quickly you would die in ANY situation. Some there's just no way around. I'm specifically thinking about the time when you're just walking around some town houses and you're bum-rushed by 4 supermutant brutes with miniguns. Then you realize that there's a rocket comping towards you from right above. If you didn't have as much health, there would be no way to survive that encounter. The encounter would be boring if it were any other way though. I'd rather have awesomeness > realisticness.
And I think the rest of the characters just have more health to balance out gameplay. I think they juggled having an overpowered, superhero like character very well through the other creatures.


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September 15, 2005
For a lot of evacuees, it's hard trying to start over when you're being moved from one shelter to another. But a church in Aiken sent a van to Atlanta and brought back 18 people. News 12 is on your side to show you what they thought would be a pit stop on their road to recovery and turned out to be their new home.
"I like the town, it's very nice, the people are very nice, it's a wonderful place. I think I'm making a move," said Ronald Lawson.
Up until a few days ago, Ronald Lawson had never even heard of Aiken, South Carolina. But now it's a place he'll have plenty of time to become acquainted with.
"I'm from New Orleans, but I've made up my mind. I'm gonna relocate here," Lawson said.
He's one of what he calls the lucky 18, 18 folks who hopped on a church van after being moved around from shelter to shelter now finding a place in Aiken they can finally call home.
"The congregation jumped in and said this is something that we feel led to do and resources began to just pour in, bedding, clothing, food, cash. It was just amazing," said Terry Fleming, St. James United Methodist.
And it really is amazing. They've turned a gymnasium into a not so typical hurricane shelter offering food and books. But what most people say they appreciate most is peace and quiet.
"You can't beat this, you can sleep and you don't have all these people running around. It's quiet, it's nice, it's comfortable," Lawson said.
And that's enough to keep Lynn Johnson smiling. She and her husband have been here for four days and besides this little guy and the one on the way, they have something else to be smiling about.
"I've got a job since I've been here and a job with the school board and a house," said Melvin Johnson.
And it's those smiles that make the folks at St. James United Methodist even happier to help. They're now getting ready to set up most of these evacuees with furnished apartments and the church says even though this shelter is temporary, what they are giving these folks is anything but that.
"We are with them and beside them for the long haul," Fleming said. "If they want to stay in Aiken and start their lives over, we want to be with them."
Members of the church also say they are planning on providing transportation for the evacuees to and from work until they get back on their feet. And some of the evacuees say they are even planning on becoming members of the church.


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The Washington County Sheriff's Office was investigating a shooting death of a Dunham Township man late Friday night.
Washington County Sheriff Larry Mincks said 61-year-old Marvin B. Lanham, of 1148 Barnett Ridge Road, died of a gunshot wound to the head. Police received the call to that residence about 10:40 p.m.
"Right now it's a death investigation because we're not sure if it was self-inflicted or not," Mincks said shortly before midnight.
Before Lanham's death there was a party going on at the home, Mincks said.
"It was some kind of card party and there was a lot of drinking and there was some kind of argument involving this man," he said. "He went outside, then the other guy went outside and everyone heard a gunshot."
The gun was "laying nearby" when the partygoers came outside, Mincks said.
Article Map
Officers were conducting gunshot residue tests on those in attendance at the party and taking witness statements Friday night, said the sheriff.
No other information was available at press time.


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PLEASANTON -- After the proposed sale of Safeway cleared a key hurdle this week, Bay Area shoppers and Safeway employees are one step closer to knowing what's in store for them.
The landmark $9.4 billion deal orchestrated by New York private equity firm Cerberus will merge Safeway, the nation's second-largest supermarket chain, with Albertsons, the country's fifth-largest, and most likely will result in closing stores, changing or tossing familiar products and laying off employees, industry experts say.
"It is going to get worse before it gets better," said Mitchell Marks, a business consultant and professor in the College of Business at San Francisco State University.
Even if a neighborhood store stays open, shoppers may find it no longer carries some of their favorite foods, and the Safeway loyalty card program could be in question. Meanwhile, employees of Pleasanton-based Safeway are caught in the middle of a complicated business deal, and that may hurt their productivity as they are left to wonder whether they'll still have jobs after the merger is completed at the end of the year.
Safeway and Albertsons executives have said they have no immediate plans for store closures and the companies will continue to operate independently until the end of the year.
Thursday night, the window during which Safeway could solicit a better offer, closed and Safeway said Friday morning that no one else was interested in buying the grocery chain. With that deadline behind them, the companies can now put into motion the buyout plans they first announced March 6, combining the century-old Safeway chain with Cerberus-owned Albertsons stores.
The deal first awaits approval from shareholders, and, more critically, from the Federal Trade Commission, which will, in as little as a month, determine whether Cerberus can merge the two chains and how many stores it needs to shed to meet federal antitrust rules. In neighborhoods where an Albertsons is down the street from a Safeway, for instance, one of those stores could close -- which could drive customers to take their shopping bags elsewhere.
"If their favorite store is Albertsons, and the FTC's decision is to close their local Albertsons store, consumers are going to look around," said Dale Achabal, executive director of the Retail Management Institute at Santa Clara University.
Industry experts say store closings are almost certain in California, where Safeway and Albertsons have a combined 678 stores, about three times the number in its second-largest market.
"California is a place where they have a lot of market power," said Samina Karim, professor in the School of Management at Boston University.
The two chains overlap in Southern California, and while Northern California does not have any Albertsons stores, Safeway stores here could still be sold or closed as Cerberus works to weed out the less profitable ones. Other areas where Cerberus may be closing stores: Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Arizona and Texas, where each chain has a large footprint, and where each has considered the other a top competitor.
Cerberus will make changes in products and programs to cut costs, which could help lower prices in stores but also create confusion for shoppers, analysts said.
Safeway and other conventional grocers have at times struggled to keep stores profitable because they carry dozens of brands of everything from baked beans to hummus and toilet paper. But that variety is why shoppers such as Steve Wiseman of Lafayette prefer Safeway over the niche grocers
"I shop at Trader Joe's, but their inventory is limited," he said. "Safeway was getting the rest of my business because generally I can find most things there."
But Wiseman may not find everything he needs there after the merger. Most likely, some private-label products will be eliminated to avoid duplication -- no need for both a Safeway- and Albertsons-brand olive oil or peanut butter.
Consumers also may see changes to Safeway's loyalty card program -- Albertsons canceled its loyalty program after it was bought by Cerberus in 2006. Safeway's Just for U program, with about 6 million members, is considered one of the best in the industry.
When asked by investors on a call this month whether Cerberus would change the loyalty program, Safeway CEO Robert Edwards said there were "no decisions yet on how the combined company might operate going forward."
The merged company will have about 2,400 stores, almost double the size of Safeway today, and just slightly fewer than rival Kroger's roughly 2,600 stores. The operation will have about a quarter-million employees. It will be so large, experts say, that Cerberus simply can't keep all those workers.
"You certainly don't need two corporate headquarters, so there are going to be a whole bunch of people gone in human resources, in marketing and in IT systems," Achabal said.
Until employees get word of just how this deal is going to shake out, their performance may suffer, said Marks, an expert in the psychology of business acquisitions. Worried about their livelihood, some employees may take a longer breaks, take more sick days or be distracted at work, he said.
"Cerberus does not have a full understanding what they're going to do, so people fill in the blanks with rumors," he said. "These people have every right to be worried."
Grocery executives have said the Safeway headquarters in Pleasanton will remain intact for the time being. Albertsons' headquarters is in Idaho.
Even without government intervention, Cerberus will have strong motivation to close stores that aren't as profitable, and sell stores that have high real estate value to make back some of the cash it spent on the acquisition.
"They just spent $9 billion," Marks said. "They have to reduce that dent."
Contact Heather Somerville at 510-208-6413. Follow her at Twitter.com/heathersomervil.


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Davis & Elkins College will host its annual Alumni Homecoming Celebration this weekend, beginning today with the dedication of the Myles Center for the Arts at 1 p.m. and ending Sunday following a memorial chapel service and brunch. More than 40 events are scheduled, including many for the general public.
Alumni can register for the weekend by going to the registration center in Halliehurst beginning at 11 a.m. today. Registration ensures alumni have a reservation for every event during the weekend and provides accurate attendance numbers for planning and preparation.
Four dedications are scheduled for the weekend to recognize those who have made possible new and improved spaces at the college: the Myles Center for the Arts, the Seybolt Indoor Golf Academy, the Joni Smith Softball Field and the Allen Athletic Fields. In addition, the college will honor three alumni during Saturday's banquet: Elizabeth Guye Kittle, Class of 1947, will be recognized with the Lifetime Achievement Award; Fred Fincken, '62, will receive the Tower Award; and Wes Withrow, '02, will be given the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award.
The schedule of events on campus includes:
11 a.m. to 7 p.m. - Registration and Welcome Desk Open, Halliehurst
1 p.m. - Dedication of the Myles Center for the Arts, inside Hermanson Center
1 to 3 p.m. - Mini-Wellness Fair, Robbins-Madden Fitness Center.
2 p.m. - Dedication of Seybolt Golf Academy, Martin Field House.
3:30 p.m. - "From Soot to Souffle: A History of Eating on the Train" with Director of D&E's Railway Tourism Center Jim Porterfield, Robert C. Byrd Center
4:30 p.m. - Career Management Center Reception, Graceland
6 to 7:30 p.m. - Class of 1962 Dinner, Hearthstone
6 to 8 p.m. - All Greek Reunion, The Icehouse
7 to 8 p.m. - Sigma Phi Epsilon Reception and Awards Presentation, Halliehurst
7:30 to 9 p.m. - Alpha Sigma Phi Reception, Graceland
7:30 to 11 p.m. - Pig at the Pavilion, with barbecue and music with the Davisson Brothers Band. Tickets are required.
8 to 10 p.m. - President's Welcome Reception, Halliehurst.
9 p.m. - Class of 1967 Reception, Graceland
8 to 11 a.m. - Registration and Welcome Desk Open, Halliehurst
8:30 to 9:30 a.m. - Ross Society Breakfast with Dr. David Turner presenting "Thomas R. Ross: An Interpretation," Myles Center for the Arts Lobby
9 a.m. - Class of 1967 Breakfast, Beverly
9 a.m. - Alumni vs. Senators Baseball Game, Allen Athletic Fields
9 to 10 a.m. - Sigma Phi Epsilon Annual Meeting, Sig Ep Lodge
9:30 to 10:30 a.m. - D&E Alumni Association Meeting, Halliehurst
9:45 a.m. - Dedication of Joni Smith Softball Field
10 a.m. - Alumni vs. Senators Softball Game, Joni Smith Softball Field
10:30 to 11:30 a.m. - Talbot Chair Lecture with Dr. Carol Cochran, Professor of Nursing, Eshleman Science Center Room 400
11 a.m. to 1 p.m. - All Campus Picnic. Tent at Gates Tower. Ticket required.
11:45 a.m. - Dedication of Allen Athletic Fields
Noon - Women's Soccer vs. West Liberty University
12:30 to 2 p.m. - Half Century Club Luncheon, Madden Student Center Timms Lounge
1 to 4 p.m. - Senator Booster Club Tailgate
2 to 3:30 - An Afternoon with Dr. Gloria M. Payne, Madden Student Center Timms Lounge
2:30 p.m. - Men's Soccer vs. Ohio Valley
3 p.m. - Alumni Poetry Reading Adum and Aurora Reunion, Graceland
4 p.m. - Sigma Phi Epsilon Pre-Dinner Gathering, Sig Ep Lodge
4:30 to 5:30 p.m. - Jack Gibbons concert, Halliehurst
5 to 6:30 p.m. - Young Alumni Happy Hour with Chris Gilligan
5:30 to 7 p.m. - Baseball and Softball Social
6:30 p.m. - Homecoming Banquet & Alumni Awards Ceremony
9 p.m. - Alumni Party with DJ, Icehouse
10 p.m. 12:30 a.m. - Student Homecoming Dance, Halliehurst
9 a.m. - 1904 Society and Heritage Society Breakfast, Madden Student Center Timms Lounge
10:30 a.m. - Chapel and Memorial Service
11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. - Alumni Farewell Brunch, Myles Center for the Arts Lobby
11 a.m. to 1 p.m. - Alpha Sigma Phi Reunion BBQ.
1 p.m. - Homecoming Tennis Tournament. Free to D&E Alumni. $10 entry fee for non-alumni, Katherine S. Thomas Tennis Courts
Additional information is available by contacting Wendy Morgan at email@example.com or 304-637-1341.


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I'm wondering if those new mplayer files are working 100%. I found a number of avi files that play fine on the pc, but will not play streaming now. I converted one to a mkv as a test, and that mkv works fine both locally and streaming.
Not a great tradeoff playing mkv files if it breaks avi playback.


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I wanted so badly to be annoyed by Paper Heart (2009) and, in particular, Charlyne Yi. But instead, I found myself smiling throughout pretty much the whole damn thing. Though Yi is definitely an acquired taste, an odd bird, etc., etc., her charm and cuteness feels universal here. And unlike the rest of the population, yes, I enjoy Michael Cera. Dammit. It's a clever documentary-style movie that explores love in a genuine, no-frills kind of way. Ultimately, it doesn't just explore love and finding love, but also the issue of respecting one's privacy – best shown through the metafilm elements. Yi and Cera play fictionalized versions of themselves, and real-life director Nicholas Jasenovec is portrayed onscreen by Jake Johnson. (I especially loved how, at one point, the film pokes fun at itself for being one of those "quirky comedies." As Cera says sarcastically, "Yeah, we need more of those.")
All of the dynamics between the characters ring true – the complicated friendship-turned-collaboration between Jasenovec and Yi, the romance developed between Yi and Cera, and all of Yi's heartfelt interviews about love with people across the nation. By the end, it all just feels so satisfyingly honest.


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Autism Connects
Autism Speaks' Innovative Technology for Autism Initiative (ITA) has teamed up with design network Core77 to produce "Autism Connects," Core77 to produce "Autism Connects," a student technology and design competition around the themes of autism and communication. The purpose of our competition is to encourage design students to develop technology solutions that can help individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to better connect with the world around them, and to allow individuals who do not have ASD to better understand and connect with those who do.
Running from January 2 through March 31, the competition is hosted on Core77's recently-launched Design Arena open innovation platform, powered by Core77's technology partner Jovoto. It is an international design competition that is open to all students (college, post-grad, and high school).
To participate in this contest, please click here.
We've got an incredible jury of world-renowned designers and experts, including Yves Behar, principal of Fuse Project; Lisa Strausfeld, partner of Pentagram; Temple Grandin, well-known autism author and researcher; Portia Iversen, autism advocate and author of "A Strange Son;" Dan Feshbach, co-founder of TeachTown, as well as several others. Dozens of autism liaisons from the community will provide participants with expert feedback and advice throughout the duration of the competition in order to make this as educational and interactive as possible.
The first prize is $5000, with the top three entries receiving a travel stipend to present their ideas at next May's IMFAR Conference (International Meeting for Autism Research) in San Diego.
There has already been enormous interest around the Autism Connects Technology & Design Competition. Recently, Core77's Allan Chochinov sat down with ITA members Sophia Colamarino, Katharina Boser and Matthew Goodwin to talk about the motivations behind opening up to the greater design community, about their hopes and dreams for the competition outcomes, and to get some advice for designers who want to contribute to this growing, exciting field.
Allan Chochnikov: What were some of the motivations of ITA in engaging the greater design community?
Katharina Boser: We are very excited to be considering the design community's input in technology applications for people with autism. Our Innovative Technology for Autism initiative has been around for at least 10 years. Most of our ITA steering committee members and network consist of either psychologists and clinicians with an expertise in autism (its therapy and diagnosis) or computer scientists and human computer interaction (HCI) experts. We have never had input from designers regarding how therapies can strive for better 'design' whether high or low technology is engaged. Great designs paired with innovative technologies have the potential to open powerful new doors to a more connected world for a person with autism.
Autism has two specific underlying impairments that designers are particularly good at thinking about. One is that people with ASD are not motivated by the same things that motivate the rest of us (social factors), and the second is that people with ASD have incredible sensory sensitivities (e.g., to touch, taste, smell, audition and vision) that can be so extreme as to severely impair daily life and experience. Design involves primarily being good at engaging others by means of a variety of their senses and also understanding people's underlying motivation for engagement. Both of these factors influence the ability to engage and connect or communicate with others. I see the design world contributing something very crucial to the issue of finding new ways to motivate communication and addressing a range of different sensory sensitivities through the totality of consideration of the physical experience, a practice which designers undertake regularly in the practice of their profession.
Matthew Goodwin: I wanted to add that we're seeking to encourage out of the box thinking by inviting fresh perspectives from a community with different backgrounds, methods, and styles of solving a problem. The complexity of autism is overwhelming scientifically. Designers are comfortable with complexity, and often produce elegantly simple solutions to hard problems. ITA is obviously also interested in capitalizing on technology as a way to better study, understand and support those affected by autism. A design competition that takes place over the internet is exactly the kind of technology usage we applaud. The "openness" of the competition is also appealing as it invites transparency, collaborative thinking, and opportunities for flexibility and enhancement of an idea. Many of us working in the field are also entrenched in our own paradigms; what we think is impossible may in fact be attainable through a fresh and different perspective.
Sophia Colamarino: The goal of the ITA is to encourage effective and inspired technology that enhances the pace of autism research and treatment. We've always promoted collaboration among technologists, designers, engineers, and various stakeholders in the autism community, but we realized we've primarily gone about this by working through the academic community. For instance, we've funded some great ITA classes at several universities around the country as well as many academic research grants. This time we wanted to do something different, so we specifically chose to run this competition through a design community site to engage an entirely new community of talent that has not previously been working on autism.
AC: Talk to us about the level of "completeness" of the entries. I mean, a lot of the videos we link to in the brief are finished working products or prototypes, but this competition also invites design "concepts." How would you characterize what that means in terms of design deliverables?
MG: Every product begins with an idea and undergoes many changes. Nearly all the technology examples we've provided started with a sketch on a napkin, underwent numerous revisions after talking with others, and were built in a variety of ways before settling on a finished product. We invite entries at all levels of the design process. Concepts are especially welcome, and designers should not feel confined to actually producing a prototype or tangible product. We can't build what we can't imagine.
KB: We also hope to foster collaboration on design projects by getting different experts to contribute their knowledge to the entrants' concepts through the platform of the open design competition. We certainly welcome ideas that come in at all levels.
AC: So you don't need to be on a team of grad students working on a project that is already funded to enter a design!?
KB: Absolutely not. We want the fresh ideas, not necessarily the ones that have all the background knowledge in this area. A 'blank slate' or 'tabula rasa' with respect to background of autism technology is not a bad thing to bring to the table here; we believe a new perspective is what's needed to drive the field forward in terms of what is missing with current products. We would love for our student designers to be thinking not only of the cost and feasibility of their design but also of ease of usability for both the parent/therapist as well as the child.
MG: We anticipate that some of the best ideas will be low-tech and come from non-academics. However, as per the competition rules, it is important that you be a registered student (have a .edu email address).
AC: What are some of the iconic examples you've seen over the years having to do with technology and autism, both and low- and high-tech?
MG: Some of the high-tech examples include virtual reality, social robots, automated facial recognition detection and wearable sensors that record physiological functioning. Low-tech examples include picture-exchange systems, social stories and sequencing of events on a calendar.
KB: Actually, a wonderful low-tech design idea was submitted to me by a parent of a child with autism. Since it's a device designed to aide language communication 'on the go,' she purposefully made it a device that would not require batteries or electricity because she worried about this device losing charge. Her name is Amy Miller, and she is still looking for a 'partner' to take this idea further, so I can't divulge details here but perhaps a student participant who reads this interview might want to look her up on the competition site, which I've invited her to join as an 'expert-liaison'. Some of the best high-tech ideas involve mobile devices of course. One design developed by Gillian Hayes at UCSD and Luanne Hunt was shown at this year's IMFAR conference and involved a social compass for kids with ASD. This mobile application would use GPS to recognize social 'partners' and then cue the user regarding potential conversation topics, closeness of stance, as well as the necessity to 'close' the conversation appropriately. We hope that student designers will take advantage of their ability to engage with Dr. Hayes as well as the many other liaisons on the site to get feedback on their ideas.
January 12, 2011 at 12:25 pm
I am very excited about this development. Wonderful work
May 5, 2011 at 7:45 pm


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Travel Keepsake Map- USA
1 Question | 1 Answer
Read All Q&A | Ask a Question | Answer a Question
The size permits it to hang on a window, cabinet or other location and does not restrict movement about the RV. The banner is easily transported from RV into home. It allows you to maintain a personal memory of all the places you've have visited and is not permanently attached to the RV.
Technical Specs
Weight: 1.25 lbs.
Manufacturer: Travel Keepsake
Mfg Part #: TK-101-USA
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Travel Keepsake Map- USA: Customer Reviews
Camper's Choice Rating
Reviewed by 1 customers
from Ocean City, MD
Great accessory for all your pins and mementos
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.


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Good stuff
Witness to history
Past Times
Jan. 14, 1959 Top stories of the Pleasanton Times
Headline: "Local Spotter Aids Lost Jet"
A lost jet fighter pilot, flying by radio only, scared the "daylights" out of valley residents, circling the area at 400 feet in an attempt to get a bearing toward his objective: Moffett Field Naval Air Station at Sunnyvale.
Thanks to the efforts of an alert Pleasanton citizen, the FAA and military radar technicians, the pilot was guided home safely to Hamilton Air Force Base at Novato.
Low on gas and lost as he zoomed over the valley, Navy Lt. L.A. Hunsley was returning from Crows Landing Naval Air Station in Stanislaus County, where he was practicing aircraft carrier landings with his F4D Skyraider (Editor's note: it likely was an F4D Skyray or an A1 Skyraider). It brought a host of citizens out into a rainstorm to see what was going on.
Richard Sawyer, of Rose Avenue, sensed that the plane was in trouble and alerted the FAA Traffic Control Center at Oakland Metropolitan Airport, where supervisor Vern G. Bourg was on duty.
Bourg notified "Sliphorn" Air Defense Radar atop Mt. Tamalpais where the installation gave Hunsley a "steer to follow to Hamilton, where he was talked in on emergency radio frequencies."
Since the trip was to be short, there was no refueling at Crows Landing, and Hunsley had about an hour's fuel when he left for the return flight to Moffett.
Headline: "The Women Stir up Big Fuss Over Veteran Building Use for Club, Public Meetings"
The use of county-owned Veterans Memorial buildings for general public activity bounced back into the news this week. And it all came about because the Women's Improvement Club of Livermore has been demanding the city fathers come up with some sort of plan for a permanent club building to serve the community's various nonprofit and civic groups.
Three weeks of persistent effort by "The Women" has brought nothing but ruffled feelings from the petitioners and the city board. Dollie Rothamel, well known as an outspoken Times columnist and an active Improvement Club member, reports the "WIC delegation was ignored, put off and even insulted by the City Council ...
"Only councilmen Patterson and McClaskey showed any interest in the problem at all, and Mayor Nordahl rather rudely reprimanded us for even approaching them with our problem," concluded the irate Dollie.
Real Estate: Armaral Realty, Pleasanton. Two-bedroom home, select district of Pleasanton, new -- landscaped, close to schools/shopping. $17,500.
Used Cars: John Edgren & Sons. 1957 Ford Fairlane 500, 4-door sedan, fully equipped, excellent condition, $1,995.
Howdy Chevrolet-Buick. 1938 Chevrolet coupe, $65; 1951 Packard, $150.
Groceries: Safeway. Leg of lamb, 69 cents/pound; Washington apples, 10 pounds for 99 cents; Zest toilet soap, two for 43 cents.
At the Movies: Vine Theater, Livermore: "Love Slaves of the Amazons" and "The Last Paradise."
Reach Louise Hartman at lhartman@bayarea- newsgroup.com.


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Top Definition
A Northern English way of saying "Chewing Gum"
Oy mate, you got any chuddy?
Grandmaster JFA tərəfindən 22 Avqust 2008
Trending Now
Can you define these popular missing words?
100% male cotton underwear fastened at the waist by a thin belt-like piece of cotton.
Cotton boxers with a belt.
gabber singh tərəfindən 13 Fevral 2003
Effeminate underwear, briefs (usually) with no "Y-fronts", jocks, panties, knickers. Origin of word - Punjabi (India/Pakistan). Popularised in British English by usage in BBC comedy series "Goodness Gracious Me".
The noun "chuddies" is feminine. The masculine of it would be "chuddas".
The noun "chuddies" is feminine. The masculine of it would be "chuddas".
One of those Def Leppard chaps wore Union Jack chuddies.
DopplerDuck tərəfindən 15 Dekabr 2009
chewing gum.
give us some chuddy ya bam
da ging tərəfindən 06 İyun 2003
A chode-like looking person with the posture of a gremlin. Often seen lurking in the streets of K-town. They have fat, stubby chubby arms and legs.
Oliver Gaziano: Oi, come here you dirty little girl!
Every passing girl: Shut up you Chuddy!
Every passing girl: Shut up you Chuddy!
Nick Lander (Original Chuddy) tərəfindən 02 Mart 2014
near perfection, prestige, extravagantly presented, cute, sexy, something often wished for but never possessed
He is so chuddy, wish he'd take notice of me
Chuddy is so hot, god I want him
Chuddy is so hot, god I want him
Sitchit tərəfindən 28 Aprel 2011
Need to get to the station quick? Come on, I'll give you a chuddy.
Jacob and Noam tərəfindən 14 Sentyabr 2006


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Men's Timberland 8 Inch Classic Boots
Buy Online & Pick Up In-Store
Timberland Men's 8-Inch Waterproof, Scuff-Proof Boots are at their best in mud, rain, sleet, sand, snow and other muck, but they also clean up as well as you do.
Made to stand up and serve up comfort during day after day of hard work, they're crafted in premium waterproof nubuck leather with seam-sealed construction to keep you feet dry from the outside elements. What's more, the climate-control lining wicks away sweat, so these boots actually protect your feet from themselves, too. A durable, rubber-lug outsole provides long-wear and great traction. Bonus: breaking them in is quick and painless, too.
These are the original boots that put Timberland on the map nearly 40 years ago with modern improvements that make them remain as dependable as ever.
- UPPER: Premium waterproof nubuck leather
- MIDSOLE: Anti-fatigue midsole
- OUTSOLE: Rubber lug outsole for traction and durability


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White/Volt/Total Crimson
- Pick up the pace!
- Currently Unavailable
Nike's new design inspired by the Vapor IX created for Cristiano Ronaldo. The Nike Mercurial Veloce CR FG captures the bold style of the man himself. Performance cleat designed to perfect our performance by offering control at top speeds.
Nike's Mercurial Veloce FG is a performance cleat designed to perfect performance by offering control at top speeds. Enhances speed whether dribbling or sprinting past the opposition.
UPPER: Lightweight Teijin (synthetic) with speed control technology for control at all speeds.
Contoured speed last for a superior fit with complete foot lock-down for blister-free, slip-free comfort.
MIDSOLE: Perforated (for breathability and reduced weight) with a molded top layer that mirrors foot shape and offers low profile cushioning.
OUTSOLE: Full-length TPU with bladed stud design for explosive acceleration and optimal multi-directional grip.
Direct injected, bladed studs cut quickly in and out of the field for solid acceleration.
Speed stud at midfoot enhances acceleration and support in this high-pressure zone for full-speed sprints.
Two-stud heel design helps prevent grass build-up and provides optimal penetration and stability.
WEIGHT: 6.6 oz.
Estos botines fueron creados por Nike para Cristiano Ronaldo. Su diseño captura el poder y la concentración que caracterizan al portugués. Creados para mejorar nuestro desempeño brindando control a altas velocidades. CORTE: Teijin sintético ligero con tecn


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CORPUS CHRISTI – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball team hosted a faculty/staff appreciation practice on Tuesday, Oct. 8. Members of the team invited their professors and staff to watch them in action and see the hard work they are putting in heading into the 2013-14 season.
"We started doing this last year as a way to reach out to the people who have a big impact on our players away from the basketball court," head coach Willis Wilson said. "The players really enjoy having their professors come out to watch them in practice, and I think the professors enjoy getting to see the players outside of the classroom. It's a really enjoyable event for all involved."
The players took part in a full practice on Tuesday, with about two dozen faculty and staff on hand to watch. After practice, the players and coaches greeted their guests and took part in refreshments to end the day.
The Islanders will tip off the 2013-14 season in less than a month, as Huston-Tillotson comes to the Coastal Bend to take on A&M-Corpus Christi at the Dugan Wellness Center. Season tickets are available by calling 825-BALL (2255) or by visiting GoIslanders.com.
For all the latest on Islanders Men's Basketball, be sure to follow the team on Twitter and Instagram (@IslandersMBB) and like the team's official Facebook page (Islanders Mens Basketball).