text:
Burling Library is dedicated to Lucy B. Burling, a matriarch from Eldora, Iowa, and mother of three Grinnell alumni. She died in 1936. The library is built with $1.2 million in gifts from the entire Grinnell Community. Renovations in the '80s would result in what Rolling Stone called the "comfiest" library in the country.
Our History
Howard Bowen becomes the seventh president of the college. A nationally recognized leader in American higher education, Bowen wrote many books on important aspects of education. When the Hall of Science is named in his honor in 1989, Grinnell President George Drake says: "I can think of few people who have done as much as Howard Bowen to advance...
The college establishes the Program in Practical Political Education, one of Grinnell's largest and most successful extracurricular programs in the 1960s. Visitors under the program include U.S. Sens. Eugene McCarthy, Barry Goldwater, and Hubert Humphrey, and former presidents Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Hilsenrath Analysis: Job Report Alone Unlikely to Alter Fed's Course
Friday's disappointing and slightly perplexing jobs report is likely to curb the Federal Reserve's recent enthusiasm about the U.S. economic recovery, but it seems unlikely to convince officials to alter the course Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke laid out for the central bank in December. That envisioned gradual reductions of its monthly bond-buying program this year.
The Fed's policy committee next meets January 28-29. The decision at hand will be whether to reduce the monthly bond buys from $75 billion in January to $65 billion until officials next meet in March. Mr. Bernanke strongly suggested at his December press conference that the Fed's inclination is to reduce the purchases by $10 billion increments at every meeting. One weak jobs report–possibly reflecting weather effects, after several weeks of stronger-than-expected economic data on trade and consumer spending and in the face of surprising declines in the unemployment rate–probably won't alter that calculation.
These were Mr. Bernanke's words at his December news conference: "If the incoming data broadly support the Committee's outlook for employment and inflation, we will likely reduce the pace of securities purchases in further measured steps at future meetings. Of course, continued progress is by no means certain. Consequently, future adjustments to the pace of asset purchases will be deliberate and dependent on incoming information."
The Fed is an inertial institution. Officials spent months coming to the decision they made in December. They're likely not inclined to change their stance after a report that showed employment growth slowed in December. But as Mr. Bernanke made clear, they could change their stance later if evidence mounts that the economy–once again–isn't measuring up.
That said, Friday's report should put to rest for the time being any notion that the Fed will reduce the bond-buying program more quickly than planned.
Officials have been sounding upbeat on the economy lately.
"I've been pretty struck by the upbeat tone [in economic data] the past two months," San Francisco Fed President John Williams said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal earlier this week. Fed Vice Chairwoman Janet Yellen, who will become Fed chairwoman Feb. 1, told Time Magazine she's expecting around 3% economic growth this year.
The report is a reminder to officials, as if they needed one, not to get ahead of themselves.
"Although consumption grew rapidly at the end of last year, we have seen similar surges since the last recession, only to see spending return to a more moderate trend," Richmond Fed president Jeffrey Lacker said Friday morning.
The report also exacerbates a conundrum for officials.
The jobless rate, at 6.7% at year-end, is falling in large part because people are leaving the labor force. Because it is being driven by unusual labor force flows–aging workers retiring, the lure of government disability payments, discouraged workers and other factors–the jobless rate is a perplexing indicator of job market slack and vigor. Yet Fed officials have tied their fortunes to this mast.
The Fed has said it won't consider raising short-term interest rates from near zero until the jobless rate gets to 6.5%. Most officials didn't expect that threshold to be crossed until the second half of this year. At the current rate, unemployment could be there by February. This creates uncertainty about when Fed rate increases will start. They aren't coming any time soon, but it's getting harder to say when they will happen or what will drive the Fed's decision.
In December, the Fed said it would keep rates near zero "well past" the point when the jobless rate hits 6.5%. Now the public will have these questions to consider in the months ahead: What does the Fed mean by "well past?" Is that a year? A few months? How does it relate to the wind-down of the bond-buying program? What does it depend upon? Why is inflation so low when unemployment is falling so fast?


text: I have finally taken the step and ordered a Kindle. While waiting for it to arrive I thought I would start to build a library for it. I have looked at the SFF sections at Gutenberg.org and Manybooks.net and come to the conclusion that I need some advise from people more well read than I. So, give us your good reads, the must haves and you-can't-call-yourself-fan-of-sff-if-you-haven't-read lists of free SFF books.


text:
|Open Mic Night at Shannon's
Event Type: Adult
Age Group(s): adult
Date: 4/2/2014
Start Time: 6:30 PM
End Time: 8:30 PM
Acoustic musicians, singers and wordsmiths are invited to check out open mic night at Shannon's Irish Pub (428 N. Main Street). Open mic night is a great venue for performers looking to test new material and for art admirers to discover local creative artists. Sign up starts at 6:30pm with the first performance beginning at 7pm.
Contact: Amy Franco


text:
- Today Scattered showers, mainly before 11am. Cloudy, with a high near 57. South wind 7 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
- Tonight A chance of sprinkles before midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 44. South wind around 6 mph becoming west after midnight.
- Tuesday Sunny, with a high near 63. West wind around 7 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon.
- Tuesday Night Clear, with a low around 39. Northwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
- Wednesday Sunny, with a high near 65. Light and variable wind becoming southwest around 6 mph in the morning.
- Wednesday Night Mostly clear, with a low around 45.
- Thanksgiving Day Partly sunny, with a high near 65.
- Thursday Night A 30 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 44.
Location, ST | website.com


text:
JAN 18, 2013 - Business Insider
A Must Read - Share
House Republicans have come out of their annual retreat in Williamsburg, Va., with a new strategy on debt-ceiling negotiations: They will raise the nation's borrowing limit for three months next week to give Senate Democrats the opportunity to pass a budget. A longer-term extension in the debt ceiling would then be contingent on the Senate passing a budget — something it hasn't done in almost four years. Here's Majority Leader Eric Cantor's full statement: "The first step to fixing this problem is to pass a budget that reduces spending. The House has done so, and will again. The
Read More
Editor's Picks
Hey you have no friends!!! Get to work and start inviting friends to help build your Comunitee. Click Here to invite friends.
© 2011 Comunitee, Inc.


text: Who hasn't had the tiniest notion of being the one to discover something new and exciting at some point in one's career or life? Technically, I suppose that can be argued, but for my sake, let's just agree to some extent that everyone wants to be a part of something unique, yes? Finding where one belongs and what one is destined for in their life is the foundation of Sonia Taylor Brock's book one of the Swamp Witch series, The Inheritance of a Swamp Witch.


text: Cocaine Mustache is a hard partying, devil may care, free spirited rock and roll band bordering on metal and high on amps and distortion. The band endeavors to bring the listener a brand of music that is dirty and unrefined; party music for the sake of party music. Despite being a one-speed album, their effort "On the Mirror" is not a flank speed ahead affair. Rather, it is an album designed to plod forward at a sludgy pace, and makes up the difference in speed for size, appearing gigantic and impending over the horizon.


text:
Skip to Content
Search All Programs & Services
Search by Name, Specialty, Program, or Research
Make a Donation
Make an Appointment
Ask a Question
Refer a Patient
Programs & Services > Services Directory
National Jewish Health doctors have evaluated and treated bronchiectasis for decades. Currently, National Jewish Health scientists are investigating new treatments for bronchiectasis. They are also pursuing aggressive treatment programs designed to minimize or prevent the occurrence of bronchiectasis.
Bronchiectasis makes people more susceptible to lung infections. Our professionals in the specialize in the management of patients with bronchiectasis and the infections associated with the condition.
Our physicians are experts in the treatment of respiratory, immune and related diseases.
Find a doctor.
1400 Jackson St Denver, CO 80206 1.877.225.5654 Network of Locations Contact Us
© 2016 National Jewish Health Policies & Guidelines | My National Jewish Health


text:
Editor's Note: Upon publication, this article failed to properly disclose the connection between its author, Bob Zeidman, and Microsoft Corp., a key subject of the story. Mr. Zeidman is currently retained by Microsoft as an expert witness in Motorola Mobility v. Microsoft. IEEE Spectrum regrets the omission.
The history of the computer industry is filled with fascinating tales of riches that appear to practically fall from the sky.
Along with stories of riches won, there are stories of opportunities missed. Take that of Ronald Wayne, who cofounded Apple Computer with Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs but sold his shares for just US $2300. And John Atanasoff, who proudly showed his digital computer design to John Mauchly—who later codesigned the Eniac, often defined as the first electronic computer, without credit to Atanasoff.
But by far the most famous story of missed fame and fortune is that of Gary Kildall. A pioneer in computer operating systems, Kildall wrote Control Program for Microcomputers (CP/M), the operating system used on many of the early hobbyist personal computers, such as the MITS Altair 8800, the IMSAI 8080, and the Osborne 1, before IBM introduced its own machine, the PC. Kildall could have virtually owned the personal computer operating system business, had he sold that system to IBM. He didn't. Why is a matter of speculation, mundane gossip, and urban legend. We'll get to that.
Bill Gates at Microsoft, however, did sell an operating system to IBM—and reaped then-unimaginable rewards. A cloud of speculation has hung over that part of the story as well. The big question: Was the operating system Gates sold to IBM his to sell? Or was a key part of it stolen from Kildall?
Microsoft has stated that its hands were clean. Kildall maintained that QDOS, and subsequently MS-DOS, had been directly copied from CP/M and thus infringed on his copyright. But until now there's been no way to conduct a reliable examination of the software itself, to look inside MS-DOS for the fingerprints of CP/M, and settle the issue once and for all.
My company's CodeSuite forensic software lets us look inside operating systems and other software for fingerprints of other programs. And I applied it to finally answer the question: Did Bill Gates steal the heart of DOS?
But first, here is the sequence of events, part known, part only speculated. IBM in 1980 started a skunkworks project in Boca Raton, Fla., to create the IBM PC. The company decided that rather than developing software in-house, as was typical at IBM, it would instead partner with one of the small companies already producing code for microcomputers. IBM's first stop was then-small Microsoft in Bellevue, Wash., known for its version of the BASIC programming language. There, the young Gates told IBM that Microsoft didn't have an operating system, but that the company should contact Kildall at his company, Digital Research Inc. (DRI) in Pacific Grove, Calif., because Kildall did have an operating system—CP/M.
Here's where the story varies, depending on who's telling it. In one version, the IBM executives flew down to meet Kildall who, as a member of the personal computer counterculture, didn't trust "Big Brother" IBM. Rather than meet with the buttoned-down IBM executives, Kildall took off in his plane for a joyride. When the IBM execs showed up, they were met by Kildall's wife and business partner, Dorothy McEwen, who refused to sign IBM's nondisclosure agreement, or NDA, a standard business document that would have kept the discussion secret and would have not allowed DRI to make use of confidential information presented by IBM. After several hours of haggling over the NDA, the IBM executives got frustrated and left.
In another version of the story, Kildall and DRI employee Tom Rolander went off in the plane to deliver software to a customer and left the license negotiations with McEwen, who normally handled those matters. McEwen felt the NDA was too restrictive and talked to their attorney, Gerry Davis, who advised her to wait for Kildall to return. Kildall returned later that day. Accounts again differ on whether he signed the NDA or even participated in discussions with IBM.
In any case, it's a fact that no deal was signed. Kildall later said that he met IBM negotiator Jack Sams on a flight to Florida that evening, negotiated a deal on the flight, and shook hands on it. Sams denied ever meeting Kildall. In fact, the IBM negotiators, still in need of an operating system, flew to Seattle again that day—not Florida—and met with Bill Gates.


text:
Washington's source for compelling television and inspiring classical music. Donate Online
WETA UK brings television viewers in the Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia metropolitan
area the very best in British programming 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Since our launch in June 2012, we have introduced a wide variety of British shows to PBS audiences around the local area and we continue to do so in this coming month. Here's a look at the new shows coming to WETA UK February 2013.
Click here to watch video previews of these shows!
3939 Campbell Avenue, Arlington, VA 22206
Phone: 703-998-2600 | Map & Directions
Public Broadcasting for Greater Washington Copyright © WETA.
All Rights Reserved. Terms | Privacy | Guidelines
Support WETA | About WETA | Press RoomNewsletter | Shop WETA | Contact Us
weta.org | Telly Visions | TV ScheduleWatch Online | Subscribe | Donate


text:
Competition time - design a Sci-Fi T-Shirt
Category: Competitions,
Posted by: Maz
Posted: Apr 27th 2011
No. of comments: 0
Posted: Apr 27th 2011
No. of comments: 0
This T-Shirt design competition might be worth a look. There's a $500 cash prize available. Perfect for those of you who did the BFI Film Festival Science Fiction brief. Click here for more info. Live long and prosper!


text:
There is currently no text in this page. You can search for this page title in other pages, or search the related logs.
Category:For zither, violin
Free public domain sheet music from IMSLP / Petrucci Music Library
Pages in category "For zither, violin"
This category contains only the following page.


text:
Mount Rushmore National Memorial
The Mount Rushmore National Memorial is the fifth of 2013 and the 20th overall in the America the Beautiful Quarters® Program. Over the decades, Mount Rushmore has grown in fame as a symbol of America - a symbol of freedom and hope for people from all cultures and backgrounds. The sculpture, located in the scenic Black Hills of South Dakota, features the heads of former Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. It was first established as a national site March 3, 1925 (43 Stat. 1214).
The reverse design was inspired by photos of men who are adding the final details to Thomas Jefferson's face. Mount Rushmore was featured on three 1991 Mount Rushmore Golden Anniversary Commemorative Coins and on the 2006 South Dakota quarter issued under the 50 State Quarters® Program. This new design is distinctly different and offers a unique and educational perspective on how Mount Rushmore was created and sculpted. Inscriptions are MOUNT RUSHMORE, SOUTH DAKOTA, 2013 and E PLURIBUS UNUM. Design candidates were developed in consultation with representatives of Mount Rushmore National Memorial.
Additional Links
America the Beautiful Quarters® Program products
Browse our Online Store for all the latest America the Beautiful Quarters Program products. From annual sets to bags and rolls to our America the Beautiful subscription program, we have everything you need.


text:
See who's on Silver Singles:
I'm just a home-grown, 'tater eatin' country boywith a big heart and a great sense of humor. I'm easy going, loyal and honest I was a c...
ronley is a 74yr-old single man in Lincoln, Nebraska
Been there, done that. Now it's time to stop and smell the roses. I'm honest, loyal, monogamous, laid back, spontaneous, humorous and I...
phycierman is a 74yr-old single man in Lincoln, Nebraska


text:
Log in
View previous topic
View next topic
Strange Famous Forum
Hall of Fame
Marcus Forealius
Joined: 31 Jan 2005
Posts: 556
Good god damn that was solid. The free download is making me believe in Santa again.
Wed Dec 14, 2011 12:52 pm
Joined: 12 Mar 2003
Posts: 1595
Location: SFV
Hell yea, this is so dope. Great work on this one, guys! I'm really enjoying all aspects of this tracks.
Wed Dec 14, 2011 12:56 pm
b. dolan
FBI agent
Joined: 17 Nov 2004
Posts: 5726
just rewatched the RK footage. weird how my brain misremembered that entirely. it was definitely citizen footage. i don't know why i confused it or what footage i'm confusing it with... anyhow.
what sage said is probably the reason. RK seems the obvious historic incident, but Oscar Grant was at the forefront of my mind, and then in the process of recording the song the Aiyana Jones murder happened in Detroit... followed by all the Occupy stuff jumping off. It was mostly a matter of using what was most recent and raw.
Wed Dec 14, 2011 3:30 pm
b. dolan
FBI agent
Joined: 17 Nov 2004
Posts: 5726
This tickles me as much as the Michael Moore thing, somehow. Picture someone sent me of a wall in Brooklyn.
Wed Dec 14, 2011 3:39 pm
Mark in Minnesota
Joined: 02 Jan 2004
Posts: 2112
Location: Saint Louis Park, MN
And here I hoped the answer was that the Rodney King footage is still under copyright and couldn't be incorporated into a music video like this one without paying an over-the-top license fee.
I'm sure all the footage included in the video was used with permission. Right? Right. It must have been.
Wed Dec 14, 2011 3:59 pm
b. dolan
FBI agent
Joined: 17 Nov 2004
Posts: 5726
i'll let you know when we get our first complaint, so you can do a victory dance.
Wed Dec 14, 2011 4:04 pm
Mark in Minnesota
Joined: 02 Jan 2004
Posts: 2112
Location: Saint Louis Park, MN
If this thing gets big enough for people to see any value in complaining, I suspect you'll be doing a victory dance of your own.
I was mostly just saying that things like the video of the King beating become almost impossible to incorporate into subsequent work because just administering the rights to the video becomes a business in and of itself.
Keeping it out of a work like this one is a smart move.
Wed Dec 14, 2011 4:12 pm
Jared Paul
Joined: 15 Jul 2002
Posts: 3719
Location: www.PrayersForAtheists.org
Almost 50k views in 5 days! HULK SMAASSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH
Wed Dec 14, 2011 9:54 pm
Sage Francis
Self Fighteous
Joined: 30 Jun 2002
Posts: 21790
Less than three days since it went live to the public. Shit is popping off. Thanks for posting it, mang.
Wed Dec 14, 2011 11:40 pm
Joined: 01 Jul 2002
Posts: 4669
Location: jerk city
Definitely capturing the zeitgeist. Great song, great video.
Thu Dec 15, 2011 12:30 am
Joined: 01 Jul 2002
Posts: 4669
Location: jerk city
Thu Dec 15, 2011 12:30 am
Joined: 17 Nov 2008
Posts: 413
This is really good
I really like the idea of revisiting and revising old classics and i can agree with the message. Nice work everyone
Thu Dec 15, 2011 2:06 pm
is vintge vince? vince vintge vincge?
Joined: 17 Jul 2002
Posts: 4338
Location: LA
weird how my forum history just came full circle after finding this on reedit.
awesome video and awesome message.
Thu Dec 15, 2011 7:19 pm
A champion of Kurtis SP
Joined: 19 Jul 2002
Posts: 7949
Fri Dec 16, 2011 9:20 pm
b. dolan
FBI agent
Joined: 17 Nov 2004
Posts: 5726
Who Got the Camera?: Hip-Hops Quest for Social Justice
by Mark Anthony Neal | NewBlackMan
In his book Lets Get Free: A Hip-Hop Theory of Justice, former United States prosecutor and George Washington University Law Professor Paul Butler suggest that Hip-Hop has the potential to transform justice in the United States. (123) Butlers simple assertion is that Hip-Hop exposes the American justice system as profoundly unfair. (124) The annals of Hip-Hop are filled with examples of artists scrutinizing law enforcement and the criminal justice system, the most famous example being, N.W.A.s Fuck the Police, which begins with the explicit claim, that the group was putting the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) on trial for abuse and misconducttwo years before the Rodney King beating. Too often such moments are reduced to a nostalgia for a so-called more conscious era of rap music, yet recent film shorts by B. Dolan and Pharoahe Monch, suggest that Hip-Hops critical eye for social justice is as keen as ever.
More than twenty years ago, on the evening of March 2, 1991, motorist Rodney King was stopped by LAPD officers for speeding. Kings subsequent beating was videotaped by passerby George Holiday and quickly became the most famous evidence of police brutality, though the four officers who were charged with brutality were later acquitted of charges. The Rodney King beating was digital confirmation of what many Blacks experienced in relationship to law enforcement in the 1980s and early 1990s, whether exemplified by the choking death of graffiti artist Michael Stewart, the shooting of the elderly Eleanor Bumpurs and of course the beating of King.
In an era marked by the increased presence of law enforcement in Black communitiesa by-product of buy and bust forms of policing, that fed the expansion of the prison industrial complexyoung Black men were particularly susceptible to blatant forms of police brutality. As such, so called gangsta rapin spite of its problematic narratives with regards to gender, sexuality, and violencewas likely the most organic documentation of police brutality in Black communities. As political scientist Lester Spence notes in his book Stare in the Darkness: The Limits of Hip-Hop and Black Politics, he was hard pressed to find a single song that was uncritical of the police. The Rodney King beating highlighted, the power and importance of counter-surveillance of law enforcement in this countrya value that was instilled within the Black body politic twenty-five years before the Rodney King beating, by the Black Panther Party.
To be sure The Black Panther Party (for Self-Defense), with founders the late Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, were not the first individuals within Black communities to attempt to hold law enforcement accountable, but at the height of the Civil Rights/Black Power Movement the Black Panther Party became the most visible proponents of the power of policing the police. As Alondra Nelson notes in her new book Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight Against Medical Discrimination, the Black Panther Party was founded on the premise of afford[ing] protection for poor blacks from police brutality. In its earliest incarnation in late 1966, armed Black Panther Party members oversaw police activities in Black communities from a distance allowable by law. The Mulford Act, which outlawed loaded guns in public, was passed by the California State legislature a year later, in direct response to the activism of the Black Panther Party.
Twenty years later, Hip-Hop culture reanimated this particular activist thread, lyrically reporting on the nature of unfairness of the judicial system and the abuse of power by law enforcement. Yet even in that mode, Hip-Hop narratives seemed to lend itself to visual sensibilities and the coming digital revolution. In his book In Search of The Black Fantastic: Politics & Popular Culture in the Post-Civil Rights Era, political scientist Richard Iton observes that Black Popular Culture became suddenly, particularly, and violently public a development that led to a range of gatekeeping responses from those committed to restricting the circulation of certain kinds of information within black communities and maintaining order. (104) According to Iton, this heightened visibility and policing was coupled with the proliferation of hand-held and surveillance video cameras, camera phones, and the awareness of these new technologies, creating the internalization of the expectation that one is always potentially being watched. (105)
That sense of being watched was manifested in the popularity of a series like Cops which premiered in 1989, and offered a pro-Law Enforcement view of criminal justice, and represented one of the most sustained representations of so-called Black criminality; Cops was one of the longest running series in television history. Hip-Hop became a natural counter-balance to this dynamic, particularly as the Hip-Hop generation embraced cutting edge technologies from, beepers to hand-held cameras. When Ice Cube recorded Who Got the Camera, months after the officers in the King beating were acquitted, he spoke to a generational ethos that reanimated the spirit of the Black Panther Party, armed with cameras and microphones, instead of assault weapons.
Arguably, the hyper-visibility of Hip-Hop and Black Popular Culture since the mid-1990sin the context of celebrity culturehas functioned as a form of surveillance, which has diverted attention away from the ways that power and finance has been consolidated in the past generation. The amount of scrutiny that Kanye West and Russell Simmons generated in response to their appearance at #Occupy protests is evidence of how effective this surveillance has been; there are a generation of Americans more knowledgeable of the net-worth of Lebron James, Shawn Carter, Tyra Banks and the Real Housewives of Atlanta than they are of the Board members of the most powerful financial institutions in this country, many of whom were complicit, if not direct agents, in the financial collapse that instigated the #Occupy Movement.
The brilliance of recent projects by B. Dolan and Pharoahe Monch is that they re-purpose the very technological platforms that have increased the surveillance of American citizens and literally adjusted the frame to offer counter-surveillance and critique of American institutions like law enforcement. The presence of social media and accessible technology has allowed such projects to circulate in ways that were unimaginable even a decade ago. Neither project needed, for example, 106th and Park or Hot 97, for example, to find their audience.
B. Dolans song and video for Film The Police featuring Toki Wright, Jasiri X, Buddy Peace, and Sage Francis is an update of N.W.A.s classic Fuck the Police, which in light of the visible abuses of law enforcement in the past few yearsSean Bell and Oscar Grant immediately come to mindis more than timely. Yet there is a more specific context for Film the Police, as law enforcement organizations have sought to criminalize the filming of police officers.
Such efforts came to the forefront a few years ago when a Simon Glik, videotaped with cell phone, Boston police offers beating a man. Police officers arrested Glik, an immigration attorney, and charged him with an obscure wiretapping statute, which was quickly thrown out of court. Glik and the ACLU filed a countersuit against the police department and in August of 2011, the First Circuit Court of Appeals concluded, that Glik was exercising clearly established First Amendment rights in filming the officers in a public space, and that his clearly-established Fourth Amendment rights were violated by his arrest without probable cause. Propelled with a documentarian sensibility, Film the Police is as much offering evidence of police brutality and misconduct, as it is a call to point and shootan open declaration of the right of American citizens, in the midst of militarized crackdowns on public dissent, to hold their institutions accountable.
Concerns about police misconduct also inform the short film for Pharaohe Monchs Clap (One Day), which was the featured single from Monchs stellar 2011 release W.A.R. (We Are Renegades). Directed by Terence Nance, who also shot the short film Native Son for Blitz the Ambassador, and starring Gbenga Akinnagbe (The Wires Chris Partlow), Clap (One Day) is set on a Brooklyn morning in the aftermath of a cop shooting. An informant provides a detective with informationin a cash and carry exchange--about where the shooters family resides, cautioning, that the shooter is rarely present thereand presumably wouldnt be so, if he is suspected of the shooting. A SWAT squad is dispatched to the apartment complex, and though the officers rush into the wrong apartment1B instead of 1Dand accidentally kill a black child who was using the bathroom, there is every indication that such a fate would have been met by the family of the cop shooter. In either instance, the confrontation draws attention to the general lack of regard for life by law enforcement officers charged with policingor occupyingBlack neighborhoods; the death of the young boy would be viewed by some within law enforcement as simply collateral damage.
Clap (One Day) resonates in the aftermath of the accidental shooting death of seven-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones, who was sitting of the couch with family member, when members of a Detroit SWAT team bumrushed their apartmentwith reality TV cameras in towand officer Joseph Weekley fired a single shot to Stanley-Jones head. Weekley was recently indicted on charges of involuntary manslaughter.
The family and neighbors in Clap (One Day) would not have such recourse, as they take retribution into their own hand. Whereas a term like Clap invokes gunfire in many urban communities, Monch uses the term as a metaphor for the deep knowledge that many possess in Black communities regarding the misconduct and abuse of law enforcement officers; community members literally break out into rhythmic clapping whenever they confront the offending officer, who not so surprisingly, lives in the very neighborhood where the killing occurs. That the officer (portrayed by Akinnagbe) lives in a working class community is a subtle reminder of the economic status of many officers as municipal employees; an irony that has not been lost on many who have witnessed officers on the frontline of abuse of #Occupy protesters.
Whether employing a documentary style or the conceptual art, Film the Police and Clap (One Day) offers further evidence of the critical role that Hip-Hop culture continues to play in the pursuit of social justice; a reminder of the power and responsibility that individual Americans also have in that pursuit.
Mark Anthony Neal is the author of five books, including the forthcoming Looking for Leroy: (Il)Legible Black Masculinities (New York University Press) and host of the weekly webcast Left of Black. Neal is Professor of Black Popular Culture in the Department of African & African American Studies at Duke University.
Sun Dec 18, 2011 7:22 am
Jump to:
Select a forum
Strange Famous BBS
The General Forum
SFR Artists, Albums & Merch!
Hall of Fame
Social stuff. Political stuff. KNOWMORE
IF YOU WANT TO JOIN THE FORUM, READ THIS 1st
Old Shows. Come meet the ghost of performance past.
Goto page
All times are GMT - 6 Hours.
The time now is Wed Aug 31, 2016 12:09 am
Display posts from previous:
All Posts
1 Day
7 Days
2 Weeks
1 Month
3 Months
6 Months
1 Year
Oldest First
Newest First
Powered by phpBB: © 2001
phpBB Group
Template created by
The Fathom
Based on template of
Nick Mahon


text:
Twice now when my roommate is home, I get the result "No renderers were found." Whenever he is not home, PS3 Media Server works absolutely flawlessly both wired and wirelessly. In Traces, I see "The server should now appear on your renderer."
The Playstation has a dedicated IP address, and of course all the permissions have been given through the firewall and antivirus. Like I said, it never fails to find the PS3 unless my roommate is home, so I'm assuming one of his devices is causing a conflict? But my networking knowledge is paltry at best.


text:
You have no items in your shopping cart.
DVDs / Videos
|3 Item(s)
|Show per page
|View as: Grid List
|Sort by
Eating, 3rd Edition
It's the biggest cause of disease, disabilities & death today in the U.S. Learn how to unplug your eating habits & reverse the damage that's been done to your health. Narrated by Michael Anderson with Dr. Ruth Heidrich. Available on video & DVD, 88 minutes. Learn More
Meet Your Meat
PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), narrated by Alec Baldwin. Powerful advocacy tool shows footage (much of it undercover) of abusive, standard practices within animal agribusiness. Documentary systematically chronicles what happens to each of the most exploited species within animal industries. Available on video & DVD, 13 min. Learn More
Tofu 1-2-3
by Delicious Adventures featuring Maribeth Abrams with special guest Carl Lewis. Introduction to tofu use, including mouth-watering recipes ranging from tofu ricotta to creamy salad dressing to chocolate pudding. Recipe booklet included. Available on video & DVD, 48 minutes. Learn More
|3 Item(s)
|Show per page
|View as: Grid List
|Sort by


text:
Candace Miller in her Studio ~ 2012
Dunsmuir native Candace Miller is one of three artists, including Lauri Sturidivant and Brenda Woods participating in TriMorphic: Three Distinctive Perspectives on the Human Condition at Liberty Arts January 18, 2013. Candace is a ceramic artist she's calling the work she has created exclusively for this show "primate funk sculpture."
When Miller references Funk Sculpture she is referencing the California Funk Arts Ceramic Movement. One of the first ceramics movements to be impacted by the counterculture influences of the beat movement and psychedelia using ceramics to challenge conventional thinking. The sixties spawned more than anti-war protests, long hair and flower power. It also impacted all art forms, where rebellion against the status quo manifested new art forms and modes of expression. This movement defined a dynamic period in social, political and artistic upheaval that was influential in the development of contemporary American ceramics.
Ceramist Robert Arneson led the charge of the Funk Art movement at UC Davis, where he taught ceramics. Arneson is best known for his work in self-portraiture, taught his students to use humor and non-traditional approaches to the clay. He came to be know as the Father of Ceramic Funk Art. Come see Candace Miller's artwork at Liberty Arts.~
Trimorphic: Three Distinctive Perspectives on the Human Condition
Artists Reception Friday January 18, 5-7pm
Artists Exposition at 6pm.
Liberty Arts, 108 W Miner St, Yreka 842-0222


text:
AKA "Sign #814 that God Hates Cleveland"
I didn't sleep well last night. On any normal night, I would have attributed it to the relentless itching of the dozens of mosquito bites that I suffered over the 4th of July weekend. But this was different…last night's restlessness was due to my reaction to "The Decision[1]."
"The Decision," of course, was LeBron James' self-promotional and contrived hour-long special on ESPN[2] in which he announced that he was leaving Cleveland to play for the Miami Heat. Being a fan of all Cleveland teams, this obviously was devastating news to me, but not really a surprise. The writing was on the wall when the Cavs fell to the Celtics in the second round of the playoffs, failing to bring Cleveland its first professional sports title in 46 years. The writing was on the wall when LeBron basically quit in game 6 (and stretches of other games) of that series. The writing was on the wall when Chris Bosh declined LeBron's plea to come to Cleveland and joined the Heat instead (I am convinced that this was part of their master plan…LeBron didn't try to get Bosh to become a Cavalier because he knew that they would be teaming up with Dwyane Wade in Miami).
So when reports surfaced on Thursday that the trio would be forming a mini "Dream Team," it all made sense, even before LeBron callously confirmed the reports later that night. And to be honest, I don't blame him for leaving Cleveland for Miami. I'm not mad at him for wanting to win multiple titles and hitching his wagon to two other superstars to do so (even though his idol, Michael Jordan, would NEVER have done that…he would have taken on that team himself). What I am mad about is the way he announced his decision.
James threw the Cavaliers franchise, its fans and the city of Cleveland under the bus and slowly ran over them in sixty minutes of self-serving, ego-stroking media hype. Sure, he mentioned how he "never wanted to leave Cleveland" and that "his heart would always be in that area," but how are we to believe that when he strung everyone along for months, anxiously waiting on "The Decision?" How are we to believe that when he publicly embarrassed his hometown organization and its entire fan base on national TV? Give me a break! That's like a husband confessing to his wife on Maury that he fathered a child out of wedlock with a waitress in South Beach, but he still loves his wife[3].
The truth is that LeBron didn't care about anyone but himself. He didn't care about the fans. He didn't care that he had basically promised a championship to a fan base starving for one. He didn't care about the total desperation that all Cleveland fans share and he didn't care that he was "The Chosen One" that was supposed to end it.[4] He didn't care about how his decision would affect the city of Cleveland. He didn't care that downtown bars, restaurants and hotels would lose millions of dollars if he left. With the manufacturing sector already gone, the tourism industry was the main thing keeping Cleveland afloat. And he didn't care.[5] I am seriously scared for that city.
What's worse is that he didn't even notify the Cavs front office of his decision prior to announcing it on air. Dan Gilbert and Company found out with the rest of the world! This is the same guy that drafted James first overall as an 18-year-old kid, paid him tens of millions of dollars (and gave him the opportunity to make much, much more) and did everything in his power to surround him with a solid supporting cast to get LeBron a ring. But he didn't have enough decency to give Gilbert and the Cavs a head's up before "The Decision." That is just plain classless.
But LeBron isn't the only party to blame for this debacle. Plenty can be said about the presentation from ESPN[6], who had already been leading with this story on every SportsCenter for the last two months. With all of their talking heads throwing true journalism out the window and purely speculating on LeBron's future non-stop, ESPN must have had a wet dream when he approached them with his suggestion for this special. "The Decision" would be their M*A*S*H series finale[7]…just replace Hawkeye with LeBron and Hunnicutt with Jim Gray (Stuart Scott is Spearchucker Jones). What ESPN (and James) failed to realize is what a train-wreck this would become. You had "analysts" in Bristol saying the same things that they had been saying for months and a setting in the Boys and Girls Club of Greenwich[8] that just made for a very odd environment (the children in the background got a front-row seat to the execution of an already-dying city)[9]. No one outside of ESPN and Team James could have thought this came across well. "The Decision" turned "The King" into the most despised athlete in Cleveland[10], New York and Chicago. I hope you like hate letters in your mailbox and dried egg yolk on your siding[11], LeBron. You only have yourself to blame.
I know that this rant has been overwhelmingly anti-LeBron, but I understand that this is a business and he did the best he could in Cleveland[12]. I do wish him the best of luck[13] and I definitely hope he doesn't get eaten by a shark[14]. He is "The King"[15] and I know he'll do well in Miami, in front of all their loyal[16] fans[17]. I don't think that "The Decision" will tarnish his brand at all[18] and I honestly believe that he, Wade and Bosh[19] will lead the Heat to multiple NBA titles. I just hope that he doesn't expect a warm reception at his next high school reunion.[20]
[1] Believe it or not, "The Decision" is not the title of a John Grisham book.
[2] ESPN: Serving narcissistic athletes' egos since 1979
[3] Of course, this would be after the obligatory DNA test (a Maury staple)
[4] For me, this is the hardest pill to swallow. I love the Browns, but I know they will NEVER be good. And the Indians show glimpses every couple years, but I'm not holding out hope for them. The real reason to be a Cleveland fan was LeBron. With him quitting on the Cavs, there is nothing to cheer for. As a new father, I am worried about this for my son. That's right…I worry about the sports teams my son will follow (I am shallow like that).
[5] Normally I'd argue that it's not an athlete's responsibility to worry about a city's economic stability. But for a local product who claims to love Cleveland? I just thought this might be on his mind…apparently not.
[6] ESPN: Inserting itself into sports stories since 1979
[7] I never watched M*A*S*H (before my time), but I'm still making this reference.
[8] I didn't realize that there were neglected, sibling-less kids in Greenwich. Besides, I thought that's what the nanny is for.
[9] Really a wonderful idea on LeBron's part. "Not only am I going to crush your hopes and dreams on live TV, I'm going to do it in front of impressionable kids." Nice touch, King!
[10] Though it's still fresh, I think the hatred for LeBron in Cleveland will ultimately rank just below that of Art Modell, but above John Elway.
[11] Actually, he probably has brick walls.
[12] False…ultimately, he never finished what he started.
[13] No I don't! I hope he fails miserably
[14] Really…I don't. But can you imagine if he did? Karma's a bitch.
[15] Of cocksuckers…that's right, I said it. Get used to it because there's more cursing ahead.
[16] By "loyal" I mean fickle. This is the same city that averaged 16,290 attendance (38% of capacity) for the Marlins the year they won the World Series.
[17] And by "fans" I mean juiced-up douchebags.
[18] Sarcasm
[19] And the other cast-aways they get to fill out the team
[20] FUCK YOU, LEBRON…YOU'RE A PIECE OF SHIT!! I know it doesn't really apply to that line, but I just really needed to get that out.


text:
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- A's manager Bob Melvin has seen young right-hander Sonny Gray pitch in 14 major league games, but the manager is treating Gray as if he were a player with five or six years of experience behind him.
On Thursday, however, some of the inexperience showed. Gray, whose big-league resume consists of 12 starts and 77 innings counting last year's postseason, looked a little shellshocked. The first four batters up for the Arizona Diamondbacks hit him hard, including a two-run double by Martin Prado, and it was all Gray could do to finish the first inning.
He was charged with four runs, let a three-run lead slip away and never looked quite himself.
"The next time out next week, I'm going to approach hitters differently," Gray said. "I want to go out there trying to make it (feel like) more of a regular-season game."
Gray, a second-year pitcher who is locked into one of the five spots in the A's rotation, threw mostly fastballs and changeups and did not have command of the strike zone with either.
As a result, the Diamondbacks were able to tee off. He gave up five hits and four runs in a game that wound up tied 8-8 when it was called after the 10th inning.
It was a feeling Gray hasn't experienced much on the fast track from Vanderbilt to Oakland.
"I felt good, but it doesn't matter how good your stuff is," he said. "When you are 2-0 to every batter, you'll get hit."
Said Melvin, "They hit some fastballs up (in the strike zone). You'll have some outings like that. He just needs to get his work in."
Much of Gray's trouble was with the changeup, and he threw only "one or two curves," a pitch that was big for him last year
"I threw some good (changeups), but there were definitely some that got hit," he said. "It's definitely something I'm still working on."
The A's see the fastball and curve as Gray's two major weapons, but they would like to see the changeup come along as a third pitch, particularly if he could throw it to left-handed hitters in big situations.
"He'll need a third pitch," Melvin said, "especially to left-handers."
The original plan Thursday was to have Gray throw two, or even three, innings and get to about 45 pitches.
The length of the first inning forced the A's to scrap that plan, although Melvin said it was a minor matter.
"I wasn't going to send him out there again after such a long first inning," he said. "It's too early in the season. We've got a lot of time to build up his pitch count."
For more on the A's, see John Hickey's Inside the A's blog at ibabuzz.com/athletics. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/JHickey3.
Join beat writer John Hickey for a live A's chat on Friday at 11:30 a.m. at www.mercurynews.com/athletics.


text:
Legal information
Bigpoint, Inc.
580 California Street 12th Floor
San Francisco CA 94104 / USA
Our business portal
Corporate information
CEO: Khaled Helioui
Notice of incorporation
Bigpoint Inc. is a corporation founded according to the bylaws of the state of Delaware. Filing number: 4412637, Secretary of State for the state of Delaware.
Although every effort is made to present current and accurate information, we cannot assume responsibility for information from external links. The author of each web page is solely responsible for the content of that page.
Questions or problems? Contact Support
Telephone (no Support): +1 (415) 821-8100
Fax: +1 (415) 821-8199
E-mail: Support form
Internet: http://www.bigpoint.com
Commissioner for Youth Protection
Lawyer Dr. Andreas Lober
BEITEN BURKHARDT Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH
Data protection officer
Data Privacy Policy


text:
Share files easily and quickly.
Want to share files with friends, colleagues, relatives, then you've come to the right place. We not only allow you to quickly share files and earn well on this, interested? See below how to make money with us.
Hello, as you know there's not a lot of money ever, if there is a possibility of easy money, you need to earn it.
Many people receive extra income through the Internet, and there is a person who's on an ongoing basis earning is trough Internet, so earn you too! Don't know how to do it? Now I will explain, find the Internet files, upload them to filenuke.com, and we start to pay you for downloading, for the sale of premium accounts, and of course the referral. But you must understand that not all the files are interested to other users try to upload only new and actual.
As they say, the correct file in the right place can make you one hundred dollars, and then a thousand. Smart people are with as for a long time and been earning with us, What are you worse??


text: Philadelphia contractors will need to take some extra steps on their projects starting 1 January, thanks to a new rule taking effect from the Department of Licenses and Inspections. Before receiving permits for construction and demolition work, contractors will need to provide proof of insurance and a tax clearance form. See full article.


text:
More Information
New moms learn at baby shower
Published: Wednesday, May 15, 2013 at 10:11 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, May 15, 2013 at 10:11 a.m.
By LESLEY DWYER
The Sarasota Kiwanis Club partnered with the Healthy Start Coalition to host the largest and longest-running baby shower in Sarasota County.
Hundreds of new and soon-to-be mothers crowded into the Lee Wetherington Boys & Girls Club over Mother's Day weekend for the 19th annual Community Baby Shower.
"We want all the mothers in our community to feel supported and to know about all the great resources available," Ciera Coleman, marketing and grants coordinator for Health Start, said.
Former Sarasota Mayor Kelly Kirschner emceed the event, which featured prize drawings, a diaper derby, 24 exhibitors and a buffet provided by Whole Foods.
Trebor the Clown and Kiwanis Key Club members entertained the children as their mothers made their way through exhibits that included information about nutrition, health care, breast-feeding and inoculations.
Sarasota County Library representatives registered children for the early literacy program.
At the MCNA Dental booth, visitors received toothbrushes and learned about dental hygiene. First Step spread awareness about the mothers and infants program for drug and alcohol abusers.
"Sometimes people are afraid to say they have a problem, but they can get information discreetly here," Rita Benn, women's intervention specialist, said.
After visiting all 24 booths, mothers were entered into a drawing for a variety of baby gifts donated by exhibitors and the Kiwanis Club. Prizes included diapers, toys, strollers, booster seats, swings and other items every new parent needs.
"This was really helpful," new mother Andrea Mills said. "I won some blankets and shoes."
The diaper derby, however, was the clear highlight of the day.
A dozen babies lined up to out-crawl their competitors.
Parents stationed at the finish line yelled to their babies, holding out toys and lollypops trying to coax them toward the end.
A few babies took off crawling straight away, a few sat still and a few cried, but all were adorable. Eight-month-old Cierra Goodman took home the first place prize of $500 worth of diapers.
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.


text:
I've been fortunate to have visited Spain many times due to the blessing that my wife's sister lives in Madrid. Spain is wonderful, and there is so much more to do and see than the Costa del Sol and Marbella.
As with any trip worth taking, some prior reading and DVD viewing of materials from the library will make a visit to Spain much more rewarding. Books and movies of travel advice, factual histories and fiction (particularly Hemingway's) will allow you to make your trip twice: once at home and again on the turf.
Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls" is a great novel, one of the 20th century's best. It doesn't have his finest prose, but the plot and his balanced account of the Spanish Civil War make it superb reading and a good preparation for your travels.
If you want to know more about the Spanish Civil War (and you should; that conflict is far from over in the hearts of Spaniards), take a look at "Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through Spain and Its Silent Past." In that factual account, Giles Tremlett details the still-bitter controversy over the years of Franco's rule and the ways in which, to this day, Fascists' murders, secret burials and a lingering hatred between the Left and the Right poisons community.
An aside: For several years, El Valle de los Caidos - The Valley of the Fallen - was a popular tourist site. Franco built a huge basilica, using prisoners of war, in honor of the Fascists killed in the civil war and, ultimately, as a monument to himself. The building is larger than St. Peter's in Rome and at one time had a funicular that carried the faithful up to a gigantic concrete cross atop a high peak. All has changed in recent years. The funicular doesn't work. There have been large boulders tumbling from the cross' mount. The bookstore is closed. And the staff has been greatly reduced. Only two buses a day take the curious few from the incredible monastery and palace, El Escorial, up the hilly way to Franco's deteriorating pile.
Other suggestions for those interested in the period's history and in Spain's broader history include the movies "Pan's Labyrinth" and Bradley Smith's "Spain: A History in Art."
Plan to see more of Spain than just Barcelona or Madrid, essential as they are for any extended visit. Recently we took a week's trip through Northern Spain's Cantabrian coastal region. The Picos de Europa (high mountains that come close to rivaling Summit County's peaks), the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, the lovely beaches in Ribadesilla and San Sebastian, the seafood, the Basque language and the cooler weather in summer all make the trip a pleasure.
Particularly good guides are Dana Facaros' "Northern Spain," "Back Roads of Spain," and "Hiking in Spain." Yes, by all means take some good walking shoes. Who knows, perhaps you'll join the pilgrims and say, "Yo soy pelegrino, a Santiago me voy!"


text:
- Williams-Sonoma Prep Tools Fine Grater $19.95
- Williams-Sonoma Prep Tools Coarse Grater $19.95
- 6-Sided Grater $24.95
- Microplane® Rasp Grater $14.95
- Microplane® Elite Paddle Graters $16.95
- OXO Grate & Slice Set $29.95
- Microplane® Box Grater $39.95
- Williams-Sonoma Open Kitchen Stainless-Steel 6-Sided Grater $20
- Microplane Elite Rasp Grater $15.95
- Tools to the Table, Cheese Grater Sugg. Price $29.95 Sale $19.99
- Microplane® Ultimate Citrus Tool $12.95
- Rösle Graters $39
- Zyliss Restaurant Style Cheese Grater $16.95
- Microplane® Cheese Mill $19.95
- Michel Bras Grater Set Sugg. Price $151 Our Price $120
- Moulinex Rotary Grater $19.95
- Williams-Sonoma Conical Grater $24.95
- Williams-Sonoma Open Kitchen Grater Sugg. Price $20 Sale $11.99
- Chef'n Kale & Greens Stripper $7.95
- OXO Peelers, Set of 3 $14.95
- Swissmar Peelers, Set of 3 $17.95
- Williams-Sonoma Open Kitchen Sharpened Julienne Peeler Sugg. Price $10 Sale $7.99
- Williams-Sonoma Open Kitchen Single Peeler $10
- Garlic Peeler $9
- Citrus Stripper $14.95
- Rösle Serrated Peeler $27
- Copper Y Vegetable Peeler $19.95
- Williams-Sonoma Prep Tools Serrated Peeler $16.95
- Kuhn Rikon Straight Peeler $4
- OXO Swivel Peeler $12.95
- Williams-Sonoma Prep Tools Straight Peeler $16.95
- Williams-Sonoma Prep Tools Straight Swivel Peeler $16.95
- Williams-Sonoma Serrated Swivel Peeler $16.95
- Williams-Sonoma Prep Tools Julienne Peeler $16.95
- Kuhn-Rikon Corn Zipper $12.95
- Rösle Julienne Peeler Sugg. Price $30 Sale $24.99
- Squash Peeler $14.95
- Williams-Sonoma Open Kitchen Vegetable Peeler $8
Graters: Cheese Graters, Vegetable Graters, Vegetable Peelers
It's time to declare victory over the drudgery of prep time with our exciting citrus peelers, cheese graters, greens strippers and corn zippers designed to make your life easier. There's not a veggie or a hunk of ginger our kitchen essentials can't tackle so make our time- and labor-saving tools work for you. If you've got a complex recipe going and you want to measure small amounts of herbs, zests or seasonings ahead of time to stay organized, use a small set of covered ingredient bowls to hold the pre-measured recipe components until you need them. This keeps ingredients from drying out or browning, too.
If you need more specialized tools for omelets or poached eggs, you'll find a host of new egg tools at Williams-Sonoma as well as fun, quality silicone spatulas in seasonal designs. Order a new set of attractive olive wood spoons for candy making, soup stirring and stock tasting. Note that making creamy-smooth soups, fruit reductions and sauces often requires thorough stirring and straining to remove lumps from cooked foods. Remember to have plenty of colanders and strainers on hand in the right meshes or hole sizes to properly filter out the unwanted bits and seeds in puddings, jellies and syrups.


text:
A Story About Central Banks, Currency Wars, and Politicians
What has been a building theme for some time, central bank intervention in the markets, is going to go into overdrive in 2013, with the brewing currency war among the major central banks as each tries to devalue its way to prosperity. But don't blame central bankers (at least not completely). Political leaders deserve a big dollop of the blame as well.
The unappreciated spark to this currency-war trend is something noted today by Opinion page columnist Dan Henniger: "A reality has become too obvious for the world's dazed inhabitants not to notice: The greatest threat to the upward arc of human progress is the collapse of public policy making. That is the biggest cliff of all."
In Japan, they've elected the seventh prime minister in six years. In Europe, they've raised kicking the can to an art form. In the U.S., the fiscal cliff debate shows how deadlocked, and ineffective, the government has become. In the wake of this, central bankers are stepping into the breach.
Now, this isn't necessarily a bad thing — for equities. Indeed, stocks have had quite a nice run since Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke launched his big quantitative easing program in March 2009. So long as the whole intricate Rube Goldberg machine doesn't collapse, all this central bank pumping should be good for stocks. Indeed Wells Capital's Jim Paulsen, one of the biggest bulls out there, sees the S&P 500 hitting a lofty, and record, 1700 in 2013.
In Japan, the new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, was put into office on a platform that was primarily based upon forcing the Bank of Japan to ramp up its stimulus efforts, indeed to run what amounts to unlimited easing until inflation hits a certain point (2%, in this case).
Not only is Abe pressing his thumb down on the BofJ, he's also appointed a finance minister, former prime minister Taro Aso, who will be ready to spend all those freshly printed yen, as Dennis Gartman noted this morning:
With Mr. Abe pushing for aggressive fiscal spending and an aggressive Bank of Japan and with Mr. Aso at the helm of the Ministry of Finance…to which the Bank of Japan must report…it is certain the the bank will be forced to create yen that shall be spent aggressively and perhaps even shockingly over the course of the next several months.
It isn't very different in Europe, where the Byzantine eurocrats seem able only to keep the euro crisis from spiraling out of control. In a long newspaper interview, Germany's Jens Weidmann, president of the Deutsche Bundesbank, said "I find it strange that politicians, who should be leading the way and making the decisions, wish to file in behind us and be guided by us."
Henninger gave a quick "no comment" to the fiscal cliff drama, but that is the best illustration of the failure of public policy: the United States, the world's largest economy, is being brought to the brink because its political class can't do two basic things: pass a budget and set tax tables. In the wake of that, the central bank is acting despite the misgivings of its leadership.
Bernanke has been cajoling, imploring, and warning D.C. about the dangers of inaction all year. He has been adamant about the fact that Fed policy can't make up for political failures. But with D.C. unable to get past itself, the Fed is filling the vacuum as best it can.
As the world's most important central bank, the Fed is leading the way on this one, and with Bernanke adopting an essentially unlimited stimulus program, other banks are following. Until the political class, however, gets its act together, it's hard to see how or why the emphasis on monetary policy will wane.
Writing "come together" on the side of coffee cups is a nice gesture, but it's going to take a lot more from voters to prod the squabbling politicians across the continents, and until then, central banks are going to be very active.
For more MarketBeat and other streaming markets coverage from The Wall Street Journal, point your mobile browser to wsj.com/marketspulse.


text:
Epozine-O2 NT Product Highlights:
Epozine-O2 NT is designed to support:
Designed For: Healthy adults 18-50 years of age seeking to support or enhance lean muscle, physical performance and recovery.*
|Amount Per Serving
|% Daily Value
|Niacin (Vitamin B3)
|12 mg
|Folate (Folic Acid)
|30 mcg
|NITROS (Nitric Oxide Matrix)*
|2.4 g
|L-Arginine Alpha-Ketoglutarate
|Gamma-Butyrobetaine Ethyl Ester
|L-Arginine Aspartate
|L-Citrulline-Malic Acid Matrix
|L-Arginine Pyroglutamate
|Magnesium Tanshinoate B (MTB)
|L-Arginine Ethyl Ester DiHCl
|CRTS2 (Controlled Release Technology & Support System)*
|2.2 g
|Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose
(A Micro-Polymer Hydrophilic Matrix)
|Myogenic Endura Shot*
|Beta-Alanine (CarnoSyn)
|Creatine-Sodium Phosphate Matrix
|Creatine Magnesium Chelate (Magna Power)
|Adenosine 5'Triphosphate Disodium (Peak ATP)
|NAD (Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide)
|Oxygen Capacity Composite*
|DiCalcium Phosphate
|Di-Potassium Phosphate
|Di-Sodium Phosphate
|Cytidine 5'Monophosphate
|Uridine 5'Monohosphate
|Guanosine 5'Monophosphate
|Adenosine 5'Monophosphate
|Inosine 5'Monophosphate'
|Inositol Hexaphosphate
|Anabolic Red Mass Interfusion*
|Purple Coneflower (leaf)
(2% Polyphenols)
|Barbary Wolfberry (fruit & leaf)
|Membranous Milk Vetch (root)
(0.3% Astragalosides)
|Chinese Angelica (root)
(0.1% Ligustilide)
|White Peony Root Extract
|Purslane (aboveground parts)
(5% Flavones)
|Insulino-Memetic Matrix*
|Cinnulin PF (Cinnamon Extract) (bark)
|Banaba (leaf) (18% Colosolic Acid)
|Bis-Glycinato-Oxovanadium (BGOV)
|Bis-Picolinate-Oxovanadium (BPOV)
Always take Epozine-O2 NT on an empty stomach (i.e. approximately 30-45 minutes before meals or 2 hours after a meal). Taking Epozine-O2 NT with food or on a full stomach may diminish its effects.
Take the first 3 tablets in the morning upon rising, the second 3 tablets before lunch, and the third 3 tablets before dinner.
Recommended use for persons over 200 lbs: Follow the same guidelines as above, but take 4 tablets 3 times per day, every day, on an empty stomach.
|3 Tablets Contains:
|and more
Servings: 60
Serving Price: $0.72
Price Per Tablet: $0.24
We do not rent or sell your email address to third parties. See our Privacy Policy for details. You can unsubscribe at any time.
You'll receive email newsletters at the following address:
Order by Phone 800-338-7979 24 hours | Customer Service 800-754-8000
Information provided on this site is solely for informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Do not use this information for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing of any medications or supplements. Only your healthcare provider should diagnose your healthcare problems and prescribe treatment. None of our statements or information, including health claims, articles, advertising or product information have been evaluated or approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The products or ingredients referred to on this site are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Please consult your healthcare provider before starting any supplement, diet or exercise program, before taking any medications or receiving treatment, particularly if you are currently under medical care. Make sure you carefully read all product labeling and packaging prior to use. If you have or suspect you may have a health problem, do not take any supplements without first consulting and obtaining the approval of your healthcare provider. California Consumers – Proposition 65 requires sellers to notify California consumers of substances that are in many foods, plants, herbs and supplements with the following warning. WARNING: These products contain chemicals known to the State of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm.©2000-2016 Nutrition Express Corporation. All rights reserved.


text:
If you are tied to certain dates, such as school holidays or certain periods of time off from work, below you can see a list of short breaks in travel date order for the month of April 2013.
Browse the list of short breaks by coach below and click the holiday link for more information. You can of course book your last minute coach holiday online or by phone on 01943 433457.
If you often like to book at the last minute, why not bookmark this page? We recommend you check it out regularly as sometimes we add extra capacity right at the last minute and apart from the usual fantastic low prices we always offer, occasionally we might add an extra little discount too! Gold Crest Holidays are always crunching prices - we were doing it long before the credit crunch was named - but you are always assured of a good quality, no compromise short break by coach. If you have never booked a short break at the last minute, go on, what are you waiting for!
|April 2013 Departures


text:
View East Oakland shootings in a larger map
Staff writers
OAKLAND -- Seven men were shot in a hail of gunfire that extended across three blocks of East Oakland on Monday night, police said.
Officers responded to reports of a shooting between 96th Avenue and Olive Street about 6:10 p.m. and cordoned off a second scene shortly after at 94th Avenue and Sunnyside Street, authorities said.
Seven men -- all between the ages of 23 and 31 -- were shot between the two crime scenes, officials said. Two of the men were in critical condition Monday night; five others were expected to survive.
It was unknown if any of the men were related or what motivated the shooting.
Some of the victims were taken to Highland Hospital while others were transported to Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, officials said.
"This is really kind of outrageous," Oakland police Chief Sean Whent said after arriving at the scene. "Six o'clock at night isn't that late at night. (There were) a fair number of rounds fired out here, so (this is) really pretty brazen stuff on the street corner at that time of day."
Whent said it was possible that several people who were hit by the gunfire were not targeted in the shooting, and police were unclear Monday evening whether the shooter or shooters were on foot or in a vehicle.
He added, "We are obviously hoping somebody will come forward and provide some information about anything that would help us solve this."
A large group of people was outside at the time of the shooting, as residents reported a barbecue was being held on the street.
A 56-year-old neighborhood resident named Isabel, who declined to give her last name, said she was walking toward two friends outside a corner store on the northeast corner of 96th Avenue and Olive Street when she heard 10 to 15 shots ring out across the neighborhood. As her friends ran back inside the store, Isabel hit the ground as quickly as she heard the first shot.
"A bullet went straight through my ponytail, cut right through my hair," she said. "I hit the floor. Anytime you hear bullets, you drop. If I stood up, I might be dead."
An unidentified witness who watched the shooting unfold described a chaotic scene in which one man was shot in the neck while walking down the street with children. The children looked on as blood began shooting from the man's neck while other victims fell to the ground between parked cars.
The witness expressed outrage that such a violent display could happen in the neighborhood three days before Thanksgiving, as well as disdain over what she deemed to be police's inability to make a dent in street violence.
"Reducing violent crime is the number one priority of the police department, so we have assigned five of our six crime response teams to this end of town because we know that 60 percent of the violent crime happens on this side of High Street," Whent said Monday evening. "Basically we're putting the cops where we know most violent crime is occurring, and absent this obviously highly tragic incident, shootings are significantly down this year, murders are significantly down this year. So there are signs of progress, but obviously stuff like this shows we still have work to do."
However, Councilman Larry Reid, who represents East Oakland, said shootings were up during the past six months in the vicinity of Monday's gunbattle.
"OPD has shifted additional resources into my district, and it seems like violent crime continues to happen," he said. "That shows you the mentality these young people have. They have no value for life."
Staff writers Harry Harris, David DeBolt and Matthew Artz contributed to this report. Contact Erin Ivie at email@example.com. Contact Robert Salonga at email@example.com.


text:
SAN JOSE -- A company that specializes in selling bodybuilding nutritional supplements admitted in federal court Thursday that it knowingly misrepresented and sold a product that contained an unapproved synthetic steroid, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Santa Maria-based Myogenix, which boasts the slogans "Technology of Muscle" and "Total Body Transformation" on its website, sold a product called "Spawn" between 2007 and 2009 that contained a main active ingredient that was never approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
According to a DOJ release, "Myogenix knowingly labeled Spawn in a manner that was intended to deceive consumers and the FDA, in that it was labeled as a dietary supplement when in fact Spawn was a synthetic steroid."
Myogenix director of operations Mark Newman entered a guilty plea on behalf of the company to charges related to "introducing unapproved drugs into interstate commerce with the intent to defraud and mislead," according to the DOJ.
Myogenix was fined $50,000 and had to forfeit $100,000 that was deemed to have been gained illegally.
As part of plea agreements, for the next five years the company must submit all products to an independent testing organization, the results of which must be reviewed by the FDA before the product can be sold.
Contact Eric Kurhi at 408-920-5852. Follow him at Twitter.com/erickurhi.


text:
EL CERRITO -- A proposal for competitive equity adjustments in North Coast Section boys and girls basketball playoffs starting next year was met with resistance at the section's Board of Managers meeting Friday.
By a 26-20 vote, the item was tabled. It will be sent back to the NCS Sports Advisory Committee, section commissioner Gil Lemmon said. Now, Lemmon said, even if it is eventually approved, "I don't see how it will be implemented by next year."
The proposed competitive equity adjustments were based on a five-year period of competition in the NCS basketball championships. Any team required to move up to the next highest division could be moved back to the next lower division if it did not proceed to the championship round for three consecutive years.
Among the boys teams that were slated to move were Newark Memorial to Division I, Bishop O'Dowd to Division II and Salesian to Division III. Girls teams proposed to move included Carondelet to Division I, Bishop O'Dowd to Division II and St. Mary's to Division III.
"It turns Division I into an open division," West Alameda County Conference commissioner Dave Kiesel said. "If we are going to have an open division, let's have a real open division."
Kiesel said that the 12 principals in the WACC unanimously opposed the proposal.
Tri-County Athletic League co-commissioner Phil Tomasini liked the idea.
"It makes sense that if a school is consistently good, to move them up," he said.
Surprisingly, there was little discussion regarding a proposed revision to California Interscholastic Federation Bylaw 600. The revision would remove the restriction on participating on non-high school teams during the high school season of the same sport.
Amy McNamara, an NCS delegate to the CIF Executive Committee, said the proposal, "did not go over so well," at the CIF Federated Council meeting in October.
"The Southern Section was not in support of it. It is close to dead," she said. "At this point, it would take a considerable amount of effort to change anything to Bylaw 600."
The CIF Federated Council is expected to vote on the proposed revision May 2.
Follow Phil Jensen on Twitter at twitter.com/JensenPhil.


text:
Hi guys!
Question. Downloaded a blu-ray movie, came down as an .iso file (41gb). When I select it via PS3 it shows the folder but says that there isn't anything inside...
What seems to be the problem?
[edit] it is not at the PS3 folder dept. Tried also adding the folder it is in. Other .iso files (normal dvd's) are showing and playing just fine!


text:
3.7-9 Statutory Negligence - Unsafe
Revised to January 1, 2008
The plaintiff
alleges that the defendant operated (his/her) vehicle with
unsafe tires in violation of General Statutes § 14-98a.
This statute provides that "[n]o person shall operate a
motor vehicle or trailer upon the public highways unless
such motor vehicle or trailer is equipped with tires in safe
operating condition in accordance with requirements approved
by the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles." In this case the
plaintiff alleges that the defendant violated the standards
established by the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles with
respect to tire wear or tire tread. Specifically, the
plaintiff alleges that the defendant violated <specify
the Motor Vehicle Department standard(s) the defendant is
alleged to have violated and the factual basis for the
Statutes § 14-98a requires the Commissioner of Motor
Vehicles to establish standards of safe operating conditions
for tires including specifications governing tread wear and
tread depth. Reference should be made to the applicable
standards in accordance with the particular facts of the
Jury Instructions |
Criminal Jury
| Case Look-up | Courts |
Directories |
Educational Resources | E-Services |
Español | FAQs |
Information | Media |
Opinions | Opportunities |
Self-Help |
Common Legal Words | Contact Us |
Site Map | Website Policies and
Copyright © 2016,
State of Connecticut Judicial Branch


text:
Just Show Me Pet Friendly Cottages
Are you looking for pet friendly cottages that welcome your cuddly companions with open arms? Then look no further, for the search is over. Here at Sykes Cottages we provide pet friendly cottages that leave both owner and companion in complete bliss. Rather than leaving your pets behind or at the kennels, why not take them with you to one of our dog friendly holiday cottages? For the canine lover, we provide stunning dog friendly cottages that are surrounded by breath-taking scenery thus making dog walking an absolute joy.
Need pet friendly accommodation that allows more than one pet?
We have an extensive selection of popular pet friendly cottages
which accommodate multiple pets. Whether you are looking for
cottages which allow two dogs,
three dogs or more, the
'cottage features' option of our search facility allows you
to specify how many pets you would like to bring - simply select 1
to 6 in the 'number of pets' drop down menu. Indeed, dog
friendly cottages are our specialty and with gorgeous gardens,
winding walkways and pet friendly pubs, our pet friendly
accommodation provides the ultimate haven for both owner
and pet.
We know how special your furry friend is to you and so with this
in mind, we have provided you with thousands of pet friendly
cottages to choose from throughout the UK and Ireland. You see,
travelling with your pets doesn't have to be difficult and
thanks to Sykes Cottages we make sure all of our cottages provide
you and your pet with comfort and luxury during your stay.


text:
Get Funagain Points by submitting media! Full details, including content license, are available here.
You must be logged in to your account to submit media. Please click here to log in or create a free account.
Home > Strategy Games > Fantasy >
Lord of the Rings
English language edition
List Price: $49.95
Your Price: $39.99
(20% savings!)
(Worth 3,999 Funagain Points!)
Notify me if/when this item becomes available:
(you will be asked to log in first)
from 62 customer reviews
Please Login to use shopping lists.
Product Description
The game follows the spirit of the book with the players as Hobbits. The fellowship members are working toward a common goal--the destruction of the One Ring before it corrupts them, or they are overcome by Sauron's power. Other members of the Fellowship, along with other characters and items, appear as cards and events. Game comes with Hobbit miniatures and a series of boards depicting different adventure scenarios.
Product Awards
Best Family Strategy Game, 2002
Best Strategy Game Nominee, 2001
Product Information
Reiner Knizia
Asmodee North America, Fantasy Flight Games
John Howe
Year: 2000
Players: 1 - 5
Time: 60 - 90 minutes
Ages: 12 and up
Weight: 1,625 grams
Language Requirements: This is an international edition or domestic edition of an imported item. Game components are printed in English. Manufacturer's rules are printed in English.
- Master gameboard
- 2 double-sided Scenario boards
- 60 Hobbit cards
- 5 Character cards
- 5 Gandalf cards
- 35 Feature cards
- 23 cardboard tiles
- 11 cardboard tokens
- 32 cardboard shields
- 1 special die
- 1 Ring
- 1 Sauron figure
- 5 Hobbit figures
- 6 markers
- Hall of Fame record sheet
- game rules
revised edition
Product Reviews
Average Rating: 3.8 in 62 reviews
I'm not sure what other people don't like about this game, but perhaps they played with the wrong group of people. Or perhaps they have more competitive spirits and don't like cooperation games. This game is so unique I can't help but love it.
Lord of the Rings is a game that I play with the other guys whenever our wives are out together. We sit down and get in the proper Lord of the Rings mood...the game delivers the rest.
This game is exactly like the books. It allows you to work together as a group trying to progress your team to the destruction of the ring. You're almost tempted to stall the team on a scenario board so that you can pick up protection from corruption, but in the back of your mind you know you have to keep moving to avoid the evil minions of Sauron. We literally find ourselves dreading what tile will be turned up next and preparing for the consequences it might bring.
The tension builds throughout the game and keeps us coming back again and again. We have yet to perfect the game with Sauron on the 12 of the corruption line. Some earlier reviews imply they easily mastered this, but the great part is you can always move up to the expert game variant if your that good. Also, it plays differently when you change the number of players.
This is a great game that encourages communication and teamwork. I believe that the Lord of the Rings accomplishes it's goal and really makes you feel like a fellowship.
First off, I have read several of the reviews below before surmising my opinion of the game. My conclusion is that this game is addictive and very tough for a single mind to master.
I have played some 7 games already with my 5 year old (insert solitaire player if you like) and have never thrown the Ring in the Volcano yet. The balance is simple to describe.
Too many cards, too close to Sauron.
Not enough cards, Sauron takes the ring through event tiles.
Every game is like that. I cannot seem to find the balance. However, it has been made clear that players should 'skip' trying to get those life tokens in order to get to the end. I have yet to give that a try. You can waste a lot of cards trying to get life tokens that prevent your Hobbits from moving towards corruption. I never considered this angle and will give it a try.
I think my son has grown disenchanted with the game while his father is completely obsessed. No matter, the two hobbits 'Frodo & Sam' will make it to the cracks of Mount Doom....even if my son rather not be there to see it. I can't even imagine how this game would play with card concealment. It is bad enough with seeing the cards.
By no means am I giving this game a bad review. I am just stating that as a two player game, I am afraid that it has turned out harder then I ever imagined. Getting it right may take more games. I am just too distracted by the activity lines and should be going to the Main Activity line when i play my cards....life tokens or not.
It didn't help that the rulebook failed to highlight the core mechanics repetively. My first 5 games were played wrong in one way or another.
One word of advice, don't show up in Mordor holding no cards....you will never make it.
On close inspection of Lord of the Rings, I sense that Knizia had a fun time designing it. The whole activity lines/event sequence is brilliant. A game built on a story cannot be open-ended like Settlers where anything can happen. It has to follow the book. But Knizia prevented this game from being straight-forward and processional with the use of activity lines. I think he drew upon his former winner, Taj Mahal, when considering certain game mechanics.
Ive read many theories as to why this game works and I dont fully agree with any of them. Yes, the cooperative element makes this game unique. Yes, the theme comes to life. I also agree that Knizia worked hard to find a way to always make the ending close. But I believe this game works for me because of Knizias trademark in all of his games: simple choices. When an event tile with three items appears, how will you decide to deal with it? Cough up the cost to avoid the event? Just let the event happen? Use a feature card to avoid it altogether? And after the activity symbol, should you play cards to grab items? Or should you not play any cards to receive two cards? Or forget cards, maybe you should move your hobbit back one step because hes getting a little too close to Sauron? All these choices make the game for me. I love choice.
As much as the purpose of this game is to destroy the ring, Im not fond of winning consistently. Id like to find a way to make the game a bit more difficult without merely giving Sauron a head start. Im thinking to hand out most of the Galadriel cards or something like that. Maybe the player farthest from Sauron gets one fewer card? Remove a couple of the good activity tiles? There are many possible tweaks Ive only begun to consider.
If I have a serious complaint, though, its that the rulebook is way too disorganized. There has got to be a better way to learn the rules than with this book. If someone had taught it to me, I would have saved myself a lot of time and frustration.
Its Knizia, it works. If you dont know Knizia, LOTR will show you what the man is capable of.
Show all 62 reviews >
In Solitaire, it's a single player against the cards. Why not pit all players against the game? Dr. Knizia proves that cooperation and loyalty can produce adventures as thrilling as the determined struggles for personal victory in his best games. Everyone must cooperate to defeat the Dark Lord. The Hobbits (players) start on the Corruption Line 15 spaces away from the Dark Lord. Mishaps along their long and eventful journey, determined by malevolent Event Tiles, bring him inexorably closer. He eliminates anyone he reaches. Everyone loses if the Ring-Bearer is killed. Be prepared for self-sacrifice! Everyone wins only if the Ring-Bearer reaches Mount Doom and destroys the Ring. Tolkien would have been proud of this uncannily accurate portrayal of the dangers and mounting tensions of his novel.
What do you get when you mix the best book ever written(*) with the most prolific games designer of the last fifteen years? Lord of the Rings by Reiner Knizia. Is this a perfect combination or a flawed marketing mix? I'll let you know at the end of the review.
I first encountered LotR as a test version in December 1999. Dave Farquhar, who prepared a lot of work on the game, introduced it. We were not allowed to mention that we had played it and in fact we did not know that we would play it in advance of the games session. Very few of Reiner's games had failed to meet my expectations, so I was expecting something clever. As the boards (several) were unveiled, the excitement mounted. Lots of cards and several boards each with different tracks on them. This was all pretty enticing but how would the game play? Each player represents one of the hobbits from Lord of the Rings. Together they will form a fellowship and brave out the hazards, resist Sauron--whose evil eye watches over your progress--and destroy the One Ring by dropping it into a volcano. This is an unusual game, as it requires the near complete co-operation of all players to sacrifice resources for the good of the fellowship. It is far different from the semi-cooperative Republic of Rome (from Avalon Hill) in which you cooperate to beat the system, then try and beat each other and it means that there is no individual winner--all players win or all players lose. This concept is difficult to describe other than when you are in the game. But it is enjoyable. Initially for the play test version, we resisted the total co-operation that is required and as a result we did not start off too well. However, we soon realised that unless you help one another and sacrifice your resources for the common good, you all lose.
Each of the five hobbits has a different game bonus and it is important to use these in the right way. Again, you need to recognise each other's strengths and weaknesses and play accordingly.
The first board is the master game board, which shows a summary of the key areas that you will progress through during the game. Four of them Moria, Helm's Deep, Shelob's Lair and Mordor are covered in more detail on some specially designed scenario boards. The rest--Bag End, Rivendell and Lothlrien--are covered by text on the master board and feature brief events or decisions to take. Beneath this summary is a track with 15 spaces on it and which is used to represent the level of corruption for each of the hobbits in the game. The hobbits are placed at one end, with Sauron at the other. The normal starting point for Sauron is on the 12 space, but you can make the game easier by placing him on the 15 space. Veterans may want to risk to 10 space later. As individuals, the hobbits will fail tests and hazards and move down the track nearer to Sauron, who may also move towards them. If a hobbit and Sauron are on the same square, the hobbit has been corrupted by the Dark Side (just like Star Wars) and the player is out of the game. The party may still win, but without any further help from that particular hobbit. If that hobbit is carrying the ring (the Ring Bearer), then everybody loses. Points are scored for how far the party has travelled down the winning path, with 60 points being the maximum for travelling down the paths. Additional points are earned for shields, which are awarded as you move along the paths on the adventure boards.
The game play is spread over several adventure boards, each representing a different section of the book. On each board, the object is to move from left to right across several tracks--a main track, which represents your journey through the area, and subsidiary ones, which enable you to recruit help and to acquire the strengths you will need to resist the powers of darkness. Most boards feature three paths, with progress along each of them being tied to either friendship, travelling, hiding or fighting. To complete a board, the party can either reach the end of the main track or go through a series of six hazards. The former is much the better as each series of hazards gets very nasty towards the end.
Each player's turn consists of drawing an event chip from a stack and carrying out its instructions, which is either movement down one of the tracks or encounter a hazard. The hazards have to be overcome or else the individual, or sometimes even the whole party, is affected. If a hazard is drawn, then the player continues drawing chips and resolving them until a movement chip is drawn. A run of bad luck here can cripple the party, as cards are used up in order to survive and maybe even some of the special cards. Eventually a movement chit will be drawn and the party moves down the appropriate track, with a white marker being used to monitor progress. Each movement will usually earn the player making it some bonus in the form of shields, life tokens or cards.
In order to deal with the hazards they will meet, each player has a hand of hobbit cards. Most of these show one or two symbols that match the tracks (friendship, travelling, hiding or fighting); others are jokers, showing stars, which can be used in place of any of the other symbols). Each hobbit cards is also grey or white and the significance of this comes after you have drawn your movement chip. You may then play one or two hobbit cards in order to move further along the tracks, but the rule is that if you play two, one must be white and one grey. There are also yellow bonus cards that can be earned for successfully passing a hazard, by moving far enough down one of the tracks or by meeting allies in Bag End, Rivendell and Lothlrien. Once used, cards are not replenished automatically. The bonus cards are often double moves, so when they are played they move the party two spaces down the track instead of one. Other yellow cards can be used to avoid a hazard or overcome a problem, but since they are all "one use", it can be difficult deciding just when to play them. If you use them straight away, you may avoid a nasty fate like Sauron moving closer down the track, but there is always the nagging feeling that something even nastier could happen shortly and that the card would be even more useful then. Perhaps even in Mordor.
The co-operative element usually takes place when one of these hazards is faced. Often a hazard requires the party to surrender specific cards. If each player has not got the necessary cards, one player may be called upon to surrender more than their fair share. This moves the party on and in game circles where this works, you can make progress pretty quickly. If your gaming style is more aggressive and individualistic, you may miss out on making all the progress you should. There is an optional rule which can be used by people who like a game to have a single winner, but I don't recommend it. I think that this co-operative style is what the game is all about.
The Ring bearer always starts with Frodo, but unlike the book, the ring moves around the hobbits. When the party markers are moved down the tracks they pick up shields and life tokens. The shields are used in scoring when you are successful and have another use which I'll come to later.
The life tokens represent keeping your spirits high (suns), your body healthy (hearts) and resistance to the ring (rings). If you possess all three of these when an adventure board is concluded, you stay on the same space on the corruption track on the master game board. For each one that is missing, you move one space closer to Sauron--unless you are Merry, who only requires two of these to be safe. (One consequence of this is that he needs to be careful when moving down a track that he doesn't take too many of these and thereby make things harder for the others.) At the end of each board, the ring will generally move to another hobbit. This will be whichever one has picked up the most ring tokens during the adventure and here again the party's chances can be improved if you are careful about who is picking the things up. Players can discuss courses of action quite freely, but may not show what each other what cards they hold in their hands.
The game setting deliberately tries to create the feel of the book, with major characters being met in the right places, and the fact that you have to help each other makes the players feel they are part of a party, rather than a set of individuals. The major characters, such as Aragorn, are often "two move" benefits, so while they are not as interactive or large as they might be in your imagination, they do at least provide a helping hand. The yellow bonus cards are playable instantaneously, which means that a hazard may be just about to get you and then you make a miraculous escape. It isn't as bad as Bobby's dream in Dallas, but if you haven't read the book, it might seem a bit unlikely. However, these escapes are exciting and it is enjoyable to think of ways round problems, be relieved only to face another obstacle.
The obstacles often call for the "dark die" to be rolled. This has one blank side and five bad ones. The blank means no negative effect and if you get enough of these in the game, you will win, so there is no doubt that large slices of luck are a help. Of the bad results, three cause the hobbit to move towards Sauron (1, 2 or 3 spaces), one causes Sauron to move towards the party and one results in the loss of two cards. This seems trivial at some stages in the game because you have loads of cards. But later on a player will have the wrong type of card (friendship, when you need move cards, for example) and this earlier loss of cards can haunt you.
Instead of playing cards to move during a turn, a player can take two hobbit cards or move one one back further away from Sauron. Again, this has game benefits and downsides, as you then do not move down a track and risk more hazard chits being drawn. Generally, it is better to conclude the adventure boards as fast as possible, as you will have used up less cards, and though players may not have enough life tokens to be safe from movement on the corruption track, you will not have faced so many hazards. As each game pans out, these are the decisions that help shape your story and the outcome for your party.
Finally, you reach the edge of the volcano at Mount Doom. The Ring Bearer then gets one chance to cast the ring in to the volcano. To attempt this he rolls the die. If he survives the game is won. If not, the surviving hobbits each get the chance to make themselves into heroes. This can be really exciting, especially if some of the die rolls lead to the loss of the hobbit while others afford success.
The loss of a hobbit before you reach the end is pretty bad. Not only do you lose that character's cards, which may be vital in avoiding a hazard, that hobbit will not be able to help cast the ring into the volcano at the end of the Mordor track.
So how did my play test version go? After a sticky start, my hobbit survived to reach Mount Doom. That was the good news. The bad news was that everyone else had failed to make it, having (nobly) sacrificed themselves for the greater good. The outcome was down to me. I had a 1 in 3 chance of success, blew it and was corrupted on the edge. But though that was the ultimate result, it was incredibly exciting and really felt as if the previous two hours had been worth it. We were spoilt somewhat by Dave helping us realise the options of the game, but it was a terrific gaming experience and the only thing we slightly disappointed in was that Gandalf the wizard had only a passing effect on the game whereas in the book he is a central character.
I'm pleased to say that in the published version, Gandalf has a far greater impact. There now are five Gandalf cards that can be used, each of which can be bought if one player surrenders 5 points of shield cards. This is pretty simple to achieve, but choosing when to use these cards (which are also one-off use cards) can make the difference between succeeding and failing, so they provide another clever game decision tool.
For those people who have not read the 1000+ pages on the book, Dave Farquhar has provided a two-page summary. I think he has done a good job and I hope Tolkien purists do not criticise the style or the scale of the summary. Including it was a good idea. Finally, the price. In Essen, the gaming Mecca, it was 60DM or so. In England it is 30 or 96DM. So the obvious question is whether non-German readers should buy the English version. I would say that it is sensible to do so, as the text of the hazard events needs to be studied by all the players so that they can consider what to do with their cards. The cards themselves have some text on them, but this is not as difficult to deal with. For players in North America, I understand the game will be produced from within the Hasbro empire, but I do not know when. While 30 is higher than the average price for a game, I suspect most people will get many hours of pleasure from this game and so the cost will be well covered by the enjoyment.
The 'Multi-Path Only One Route Out' system for the game is clever, new and re-usable. It could be used for any story, or possibly in war or economic systems and I can see it being used by other games to monitor progress in a game. Whether the system is subject to copyright, will no doubt be tested in actions if it can be seen that is valuable, but I am sure someone somewhere will re-use this system as they have done in the 18XX structured games.
Some people have questioned whether the game can be replayed. The points system allows you to go for your best score, but I can see the game becoming as popular as Settlers of Catan because non-gaming people will be tempted by the title and hopefully enjoy the co-operative system. Starting the Sauron piece at different spaces along the track means you can vary the game difficulty. You could also play with fewer players. I have only played games with 4 or 5 players, but I know that the game is more challenging with fewer players as some of the bonus cards are not a available and therefore the escape routes out of certain situations are more difficult to find. But I suspect the most fun you will have is when you introduce more people to the game. The theming is obviously unusual for a Knizia title, but as with the system, it produces an excellent and enjoyable game, which I hope will open the board gaming boundaries to people who still regard Monopoly as the definitive game. If it does that, then the game will have succeeded by any standard of measurement. My conclusion is that this is a great blend of book and game, which makes it highly recommended, of course.
*The best book ever written was from a poll in a UK retailer held in late 1999.


text:
Wake Up: Intersection Edit
Chris Rasman, David Fortin, Jesmond Dubeau, Wiley Tesseo and the rest of the riders in Capri Studios "Wake Up" punched in for a week up in Whistler with the hope of taking the top prize for the Intersection video contest at the 2012 Telus Festival. Check it out. Some good slams early on leading to a few solid tree plants and a gnarly step up to finish up the edit.Read More