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Can anyone give a true definition of a computer enthusiast? Ask 10 people and you might just get 10 different answers. Some might say it is anyone that has the knowledge of a computers most inner workings. Others might say it is anyone that owns the best stuff out there, or holds the highest benchmark numbers. Any way you look at it, it is all up to interpretation. Tons of marketing dollars are spent trying to cater to the "enthusiast" crowd. Ultimately, it's just another label they use to sell their best, quality products. So, what is the definition? Who knows....
I have an old school view of a computer enthusiast. It has nothing to do with buying the most expensive or latest model components available as sites of today would have you believe. Rather, doing a ton of research and getting the best possible performance per dollar spent. Many companies make hidden gems of products that can be pushed and match their top of the line products. Heck, most companies product lines contain the exact same technology they just turn off a couple of features in order to lower the price tag. There have been many proven CPUs and GPUs that can be overclocked or unlocked with a little tweaking and match, or come close to their higher counterparts, ultimately saving the user a boatload of cash.
The AMD Phenom II X6 1055T is one of those little gems. The Phenom II X6 1055T has all of the exact same specifications of the 1090T, only they lowered the clock speed from 3.2GHz to 2.8GHz. The Turbo CORE tops out at 3.3GHz rather then 3.6GHz also. The 1055T has 6 cores, 3MB L2 cache, 6MB L3 cache, and has a max TDP of 125W. The 1055T has all the heart and soul you would expect from a Phenom processor.
<hrdata-mce-alt="Technologies(AMD Phenom II X6 1055T)" class="system-pagebreak" title="Technologies(AMD Phenom II X6 1055T)" />
Technologies(AMD Phenom II X6 1055T)
AMD Phenom™ II X6 Six-Core Processors
The backbone of the VISION Black technology platform, the new AMD Phenom™ II X6 six-core processors are the fastest CPUs AMD has ever created. The AMD Phenom™ II X6 six-core processors are also the world's only six-core processors for under $200*. At the heart of a VISION Black Technology platform, the AMD Phenom II X6 processor is the most advanced AMD desktop processor and features innovative AMD Turbo CORE technology to adjust to the dynamic needs of performance users.
New AMD Turbo CORE Technology
Both the AMD Phenom™ II X6 1055T and 1090T come equipped with AMD's new Turbo CORE technology. AMD Turbo CORE technology is a performance boosting technology that automatically switches from six cores to three turbocharged core for applications that just need raw speed over multiple cores. While in Turbo CORE mode, the AMD Phenom™ II X6 1090T shifts frequency speed from 3.2GHz on six cores, to 3.6GHz on three cores, making it the fastest processor AMD has ever created.
AMD64 with Direct Connect Architecture
- Helps improve system performance and efficiency by directly connecting the processors, the memory controller, and the I/O to the CPU.
- Designed to enable simultaneous 32- and 64-bit computing
- Integrated Memory Controller
- Benefits: Increases application performance by dramatically reducing memory latency
- Scales memory bandwidth and performance to match compute needs
- HyperTransport™ Technology provides up to 16.0GB/s peak bandwidth per processor—reducing I/O bottlenecks
- Up to 37GB/s total delivered processor-to-system bandwidth (HyperTransport bus + memory bus)
AMD Balanced Smart Cache
- Shared L3 cache (either 6MB or 4MB)
- 512K L2 cache per core
- Benefit: Shortened access times to the highly accessed data for better performance.
AMD Wide Floating Point Accelerator
- 128-bit floating point unit (FPU)
- High performance (128bit internal data path) floating point unit per core.
- Benefit: Larger data paths and quicker floating point calculations for better performance.
HyperTransport™ Technology
- One 16-bit link at up to 4000MT/s
- Up to 8.0GB/s HyperTransport™ I/O bandwidth; Up to 16GB/s in HyperTransport Generation 3.0 mode
- Up to 37GB/s total delivered processor-to-system bandwidth (HyperTransport bus + memory bus)
- Benefit: Quick access times to system I/O for better performance.
Integrated DRAM Controller with AMD Memory Optimizer Technology
- A high-bandwidth, low-latency integrated memory controller
- Supports PC2-8500 (DDR2-1066); PC2-6400 (DDR2-800), PC2-5300 (DDR2-667), PC2-4200 (DDR2-533) or PC2-3200 (DDR2-400) SDRAM unbuffered DIMMs – AM2+
- Support for unregistered DIMMs up to PC2 8500(DDR2-1066MHz) and PC3 10600 (DDR3-1333MHz) – AM3
- Up to 17.1GB/s memory bandwidth for DDR2 and up to 21GB/s memory bandwidth for DDR3
- Benefit: Quick access to system memory for better performance.
AMD Virtualization™ (AMD-V™) Technology With Rapid Virtualization Indexing
- Silicon feature-set enhancements designed to improve the performance, reliability, and security of existing and future virtualization environments by allowing virtualized applications with direct and rapid access to their allocated memory.
- Benefit: Helps virtualization software to run more securely and efficiently enabling a better experience when dealing with virtual systems
AMD PowerNow!™ Technology (Cool'n'Quiet™ Technology)
- Enhanced power management features which automatically and instantaneously adjusts performance states and features based on processor performance requirements
- For quieter operation and reduced power requirements
- Benefit: Enables cooler and quieter platform designs by providing extremely efficient performance and energy usage.
AMD CoolCore™ Technology
- Reduces processor energy consumption by turning off unused parts of the processor. For example, the memory controller can turn off the write logic when reading from memory, helping reduce system power.
- Works automatically without the need for drivers or BIOS enablement.
- Power can be switched on or off within a single clock cycle, saving energy with no impact to performance.
- Benefit: Helps users get more efficient performance by dynamically activating or turning off parts of the processor.
Dual Dynamic Power Management™
- Enables more granular power management capabilities to reduce processor energy consumption.
- Separate power planes for cores and memory controller, for optimum power consumption and performance, creating more opportunities for power savings within the cores and memory controller.
- Benefit: Helps improve platform efficiency by providing on demand memory performance while still allowing for decreased system power consumption
<hrdata-mce-alt="Technologies (890FX Chipset)" class="system-pagebreak" title="Technologies (890FX Chipset)" />
Technologies (890FX/890GX Chipset)
What's New?
The new 8- Series of AMD Motherboard chipsets introduce both USB and SATA 3.0. USB 3.0 draws its power from the NEC host controller; this is a Dual Simplex link that is bi-directional and, unlike USB 2.0 which is Half Duplex (one –way), it transfers data more efficiently.
Unlike SATA 3 which was first seen on Intel motherboards (Marvell chipset/3rd party) the AMD 8- Series motherboards run native SATA 3 via the 850 Southbridge chipset which is a direct link to 6 SATA ports alleviating the middle man. (Marvell)
The 890GX chipset contains an ATI HD 4290 integrated, which is DirectX 10.1, which has a 700MHz core, 40 unified shaders and, with added SidePort memory, is the most powerful integrated video card produced by AMD to date. The HD 4290 is also capable of Picture in Picture Blu-Ray Playback and upscaling to 720p.
Other features include Hyper-Transport 3.0 (5.2 GT/s), HDMI, VGA and DVI video outputs, two PCI-e 2.0 (1 x 16/1x8) for discrete video, support for DDR3 1333 MHz memory and onboard HD audio.
<hrdata-mce-alt="Review Philosophy" class="system-pagebreak" title="Review Philosophy" />
Review Philosophy
This review is first and foremost a test of the AMD Phenom II X6 1055T processor. All of the regular benchmarks and tests are going to be performed in order to showcase it's stock capabilities. However, this is also going to be a special enthusiast review where I will overclock the entire system and showcase it's new capabilities against a higher priced, high end system. I will also explain how I arrived at the overclocked numbers. We are going to get back to the original roots of an enthusiast overclocker; buying moderately priced computer components and pushing them to get as much as possible and compete with higher end equipment.
First let's take a look at pricing:
Mainstream System
|CPU - AMD Phenom II X6 1055T
|Motherboard - Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H
|RAM - 4GB Patriot "Sector 5" PC3-12800
|GPU - Sapphire Radeon HD 5770
|HDD - WD Caviar Blue 640GB
High End System
|CPU - AMD Phenom II X6 1090T
|Motherboard - ASUS Crosshair IV Formula
|RAM - 4GB Patriot Viper II "Sector 5" PC3-16000
|GPU - Sapphire Radeon HD 5870
|HDD - Segate 2TB Sata II
As you can see, there is over a $650 difference between the heart and soul of the two systems.
While reading this always keep in mind that overclocking will void your warranty. Even though AMD does manufacture "Black Edition" processors that are unlocked and allow easier overclocking, it is only made available for people that want to take advantage of that capability. They do not warranty overclocking in any way.
<hrdata-mce-alt="Specifications" class="system-pagebreak" title="Specifications" />
Specifications and Features
|Phenom II X6
|CPU Socket Type
|Phenom II X6 1055T
|Operating Frequency
|Hyper Transports
|L2 Cache
|6 x 512KB
|L3 Cache
|Manufacturing Tech
|45 nm
|64 bit Support
|Hyper-Transport Support
|Integrated Memory Controller Speed
|Dual Channel PC3-10667U (DDR3-1333) for 2 modules, Dual Channel PC3-8500U (DDR3-1066), Dual Channel PC2-8500U (DDR2-1066)
|Virtualization Technology Support
|Multimedia Instruction
|MMX, 3DNow!, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4a, Advanced Bit Manipulation, AMD64 technology, AMD-V (virtualization) technology, Enhanced Virus Protection, Dynamic Acceleration technology
|Thermal Design Power
|Cooling Device
|Heatsink and Fan included
- AMD Turbo CORE Technology
- AMD64 with Direct Connect Architecture
- Integrated Memory Controller
- HyperTransport 3.0 Technology
- PowerNow! 3.0 Technology
- AMD Virtualization
<hrdata-mce-alt="Testing Methods" class="system-pagebreak" title="Testing Methods" />
Testing Methods
To test all systems, processors, and motherboards, Hi Tech Legion has compiled a list of popular programs to test performance; these benchmarks are taken from programs that are available to the public. We have compiled these to create the Hi Tech Legion Benchmark Suite, which includes system, graphics, processor, rendering, compression, and word processing. All scores will be graphed for each specific test under its category: video benchmarks (gaming will be rated in FPS: Frames per second), system scores will be graded by numbers which are given as results by their respective programs, higher will be better unless otherwise specified. If file compression is chosen, then all times will be in seconds. All temperatures will be measured in Celsius.
Test System (Mainstream)
Test System (High End)
System Benchmarks
Gaming Benchmarks
<hrdata-mce-alt="Benchmarks (World Bench)" class="system-pagebreak" title="Benchmarks (World Bench)" />
Benchmarks (World Bench)
World Bench is a system benchmark that tests the rendering, DirectX, video encoding, file compression, data entry, and overall performance of your system. World Bench 6 Beta (stable) gives a base score of 100 for a baseline comparison when different systems are chosen. For our tests, these scores will not be valid; all benchmarks are run individually and will reflect times in seconds as given by the program. If you would like more information here is a link. World Bench 6
<hrdata-mce-alt="Benchmarks (PC Mark Vantage)" class="system-pagebreak" title="Benchmarks (PC Mark Vantage)" />
Benchmarks (PC Mark Vantage)
Designed for Windows Vista, PCMark Vantage benchmarks your system with a variety of tests including video, photo editing, gaming, and communications. For results, a total PCMark score will be given (default setting) and individual scores for the tasks that are tested. To learn more about PCMark Vantage visit Futuremarks website.
<hrdata-mce-alt="Benchmarks (SiSandra)" class="system-pagebreak" title="Benchmarks (SiSandra)" />
Benchmarks (SiSandra)
One of our favorites, Sandra from SiSoftware is a system benchmark that individually tests all components of your system. For our benchmarking purpose, we will use the processor section, which includes Processor Arithmetic, Multicore Efficiency, and Multimedia. All scores will be listed as given by benchmark, higher will be better unless otherwise stated. SiSandra
<hrdata-mce-alt="Benchmarks (Everest)" class="system-pagebreak" title="Benchmarks (Everest)" />
Benchmarks (Everest)
Everest is a diagnostic and benchmarking tool. Everest will be used for its Cache and Memory benchmark. System memory, L1 cache, and L2 cache will be benchmarked for latency, read, write, and copy. Lavalys is the producer of this software.
<hrdata-mce-alt="Benchmarks (Cinebench R10 and R11)" class="system-pagebreak" title="Benchmarks (Cinebench R10 and R11)" />
Benchmarks (Cinebench R10 and R11)
Created by Maxon, Cinebench R10 and R11 tests rendering of your CPU and GPU and scores their performance individually. We will be using the CPU rendering portion of the program and benchmark single CPU and multiple CPU performance.
<hrdata-mce-alt="Benchmarks (3D Mark)" class="system-pagebreak" title="Benchmarks (3D Mark)" />
Benchmarks (3D Mark)
3DMark Vantage is a gaming benchmark used to test the DirectX performance of your graphics card. There are four tests plus a custom setting that can be run: Entry (1024x768), Performance (1280x1024), which is the default setting, High (1680x1050), and Extreme (1920x1200). In each resolution, a total score, a CPU, and GPU are generated. Futuremark
The settings that we will be using are Entry, Performance, and High.
<hrdata-mce-alt="Gaming Benchmark (Battle Forge)" class="system-pagebreak" title="Gaming Benchmark (Battle Forge)" />
Gaming Benchmark (Battle Forge)
Battle Forge is an MMORPG that is free to play with its download. You choose from mythical characters and battle until your opponents are conquered. Battle Forge is the first game to support Direct X 11.
- AA: x8
- Default High
<hrdata-mce-alt="Gaming Benchmark (Resident Evil 5)" class="system-pagebreak" title="Gaming Benchmark (Resident Evil 5)" />
Gaming Benchmark (Resident Evil 5)
The fifth installation of the Resident Evil Series, which is a first person shooter. You are a member of the World Bioterrorism Team and are sent out to stop a new infestation of the virus created by the Umbrella Corporation.
- AA: x8
- Levels: High
<hrdata-mce-alt="Overclocking" class="system-pagebreak" title="Overclocking" />
As stated in the Review Philosophy, I am going to be explaining the steps I took in order to tune this system in order to get the best possible performance. Overclocking is a tricky task and I used a combination of both the BIOS as well as AMD Overdrive in order to reach the best numbers that I could. If you notice I did both an overclock with the Turbo CORE enabled and then another overclock getting the most possible out of the CPU without the use of Turbo CORE. Much trial and error happened to arrive at the numbers that I did but overall overclocking everything was a relatively simple process.
Warning: Overclocking will void your warranties.
MAX System Overclock - 1055T with Turbo CORE
The 1055T isn't a "Black Edition" Phenom processor. The CPU Multiplier is locked except for the Turbo CORE. Therefore in order to overclock this processor, the HT reference frequency is the only thing that can be adjusted for the baseline CPU speeds. When moving the HT Frequency the memory clock speeds are also moved in tandem so the first thing that I did was lower the memory multiplier from x8.00 down to x6.66 under the BIOS. The move dropped the original DDR3 1600MHz speed down to 1333MHz as the base HT reference frequency is 200. This leaves me headroom with the DDR memory as not to push it too far and cause a system crash. I had reached a wall with a previous overclock so I know that this RAM cannot be pushed pass a certain point without crashing.
My next step was to load up Windows 7 and AMD Overdrive in order to test my overclocks as the system was running for stability. This is an awesome feature with the Phenom processors. Under the performance tuning tab I am able to control nearly every aspect as if I was in the BIOS itself. There are only a handful of options not able to be changed as the system is running which is why I adjusted the memory multiplier in the BIOS.
Slowly, I adjusted the HT reference frequency in small increments, testing with AMD Overdrive's quick benchmark utility after each step. I had reached 242 on the HT frequency before the Turbo CORE hit 4GHz. 4GHz seems to be a danger zone and going over caused stability troubles, so I used that speed as my top end wall. The Turbo CORE multiplier is set to x16.5 but can be adjusted. The core CPU multiplier is only 14x so the base frequency for each core only reached 3.38GHz. There was still plenty of headroom left on my RAM as it was only at 1611MHz .
I lowered the Turbo CORE Multiplier from x16.5 to x15.5 which dropped the Turbo CORE CPU frequency to 3.75GHz. The system still remained stable. I continued up on the on the HT frequency until I reached 260. At this setting I once again reached 4GHz on the Turbo CORE. However, the base frequency on the CPU was 3.6GHz. My RAM had reached 1730MHz and near its maximum limit also. The system did crash at this setting, however an increase on the CPU voltage to 1.35v corrected it. I decided that this would be a prime speed to keep this CPU at for the first round of testing as it's base speeds are well over the 1090T and the Turbo CORE speed hit the 4GHz speed. My RAM is also just about at it's limit as well. I attempted to lower my RAM timings but the system refused to boot properly.
Under these settings I reached these speeds:
- CPU - 3.6GHz base @ 1.35v / 4GHz Turbo CORE
- RAM - 9/9/9/24 @ 1730MHz
Max System Overclock - 1055T Without Turbo CORE
I decided that there also needed to be an overclock where the CPU would run at the MAX speed at all times. This would be an overclock with the Turbo CORE disabled. Naturally, I kept the original settings that I had with the previous overclock and just tried to push it further. I rebooted the computer and disabled Turbo CORE in the BIOS. Next, I reloaded AMD Overdrive and continued overclocking as I had done previously, but from the 260MHz HT frequency speed. I was only able to achieve 265MHz on the HT frequency before the system was completely unstable. Upon further inspection I saw that my RAM had reached its 1770MHz wall. Not only that, the Northbridge and HT Link Frequency had pushed to 2650MHz as well.
Therefore I had to reboot into the BIOS and drop my memory multiplier down to x5.33. My RAM was now at 1412MHz and had more headroom for increases. However, the system was still unstable. I decreased both the Northbridge and HT Link multiplier from x10 to x9 in the BIOS, and the system was stable once again. This lead me to believe that there was also a wall on those settings.
Windows booted up again and stability tests ran fine. I pressed on with the overclock under AMD Overdrive. Eventually I reached a HT reference frequency of 286MHz. This put the CPU at a base clock speed of 4GHz. Stability tests did cause a crash, but a final increase on the CPU voltage to 1.4v corrected the crashes. I decided that this would be the stopping point for the CPU overclock. However, it left my memory speeds short. I had only reached 1524MHz, well under the stock 1600MHz speed. I booted into the BIOS and attempted to lower my memory timings. I was able to drop the RAM timings to 7/7/7/20 and remain stable.
Under these settings I reached these speeds:
- CPU - 4GHz base @ 1.4v
- RAM - 7/7/7/20 @ 1524MHz
Max GPU Overclock - Sapphire Radeon HD 5770
After my first CPU/RAM overclock I wanted to get a maximum overclock on the video card also. This was much easier to do as GPU overclocking is rather simple. I downloaded and launched MSI Afterburner to do the overclocking and ran FurMark at 640x480 in the background to test stability. Speeds were raised in 10-15MHz increments and then applied for a few seconds to verify artifacting and stability.
I was able to get the GPU Core clock to 950MHz before I started seeing artifacts and problems on FurMark. I proceeded to increase the voltage to 1.225 which kept everything stable and I was then able to get the Core up to 1GHz. Anything after that remained unstable. Next was the memory clock. I was able to get that past 1410MHz, however when I passed that point I started losing FPS and had artifacting.
This was the end of my GPU overclock. Very simple with MSI Afterburner. There are alternate ways to overclock that keep things more permanent, such as flashing the GPU's firmware with edited specifications. Messing up with those types of overclocks can permanently damage or "brick" your hardware. I find the low level overclocking to work the best as if there are any complications, a simple reboot brings you back to the original settings.
In the end I was able to reach these speeds:
- GPU Core - 1000MHz
- GPU Memory - 1410MHz
- GPU Voltage - 1.225v
Max CPU Overclock - 1090T With Turbo CORE
This processor was benchmarked and overclocked by another reviewer so I don't have the priveledge of writing the step by step instructions that were taken to max it out. However, I will list the end results for reference.
- CPU - 4.0GHz Base / 4.2GHz Turbo CORE @ 1.5v
- RAM - 8/8/8/24 @ 1594MHz
<hrdata-mce-alt="Putting It All Together" class="system-pagebreak" title="Putting It All Together" />
Putting It All Together
The AMD Phenom II X6 1055T is an awesome CPU. The mainstream system's baseline speeds were well under the higher end counterpart. That was expected. However, once pushed I was able to bring the system to life and match or beat the higher end system in some situations.
In the end the best speeds that I was able to achieve on the 1055T was the 3.6GHz/4GHz Turbo CORE settings. These settings both pushed the CPU past the 1090T, and also pushed my RAM to get maximum performance also. If you take a look at the synthetic benchmarks like Sandra and Everest, you can clearly see that the memory performance does take a hit because of the slower speeds overall, even when overclocked. However, if you take a look at benchmarks like Worldbench and PC Mark Vantage, it doesn't make a gigantic difference in real world performance. In some cases, the higher CPU clock speeds made the mainstream system faster.
The only area of the overclocked mainstream system that was beaten the worst was in the gaming performance. This is due to the limitations of the 5770 video card. It is a highly overclockable video card, however it has pitfalls with a 128-bit memory interface, 800 shader units, 40 texture units, and 16 ROPs. Even overclocked, it doesn't keep up with the 5870 in most of the benchmarks that are GPU intensive. The 5870 has the same base clock speeds, but the luxury of 256-bit memory, 1600 shader units, 80 texture units, and 32 ROPs. There is also the core difference where the 5770 has 1.04B transistors and the 5870 has 2.15B. In the end the 5870 has double the power. The 5770, in the system as a whole, still does give everything a run for its money and prove to be an excellent video card. I had every setting maxed out and peaked my tests at 1680x1050, the maximum resolution for my monitor.
Looking at the 1055T specifically, the technology is no different from the 1090T. As I stated in the introduction, companies tend to do this and it is something that can be taken advantage of by the enthusiast. The primary thing that AMD did was rate the base and turbo CORE operating frequency for each of the processors at differently. The 1090T also is a "Black" edition which has an unlocked CPU multiplier, whereas the 1055T is locked down at 14x. Other then those things, they are virtually the same processor, so it's no surprise that I was able to achieve nearly the same results when I overclocked the 1055T.
The upside of it all is that I maxed out all of the settings for each benchmark and the mainstream system still performed them at phenomenal levels. This is my definition of a true enthusiast. I was able to find excellent quality, moderately priced equipment, and push it to perform just as well,or better, as an expensive system in most cases. Now you can be the judge of paying the extra $650+ is it really worth it.
<hrdata-mce-alt="Conclusion" class="system-pagebreak" title="Conclusion" />
Provided By: AMD
No compensation was received for review of this product.
Price Point
Price:$199 USD
Class: Mainstream
At a price of $199 the AMD Phenom II X6 1055T is in the mainstream category of processors.
The AMD Phenom II X6 1055T performed spectacular. Base speeds were great and it's overclocking performance was incredible.
Reviewer's Opinion
Now you can see what my definition of a true enthusiast. It's not someone that can buy the best, or flex the biggest e-peen. It's not someone that knows everything about everything and can flame anyone that disagrees with them. It's someone that has the means and knowledge to get the most out of their system without wasting money. It's the person that waits for those special components that can deliver all of the performance and joy without having to spend their entire paycheck for a single component.
I took a mainstream system and pushed its parts to give high end performance. I documented my steps also, so if you have any questions on how to overclock a system, this can almost be used as a guide for the locked AMD CPUs. I don't make a habit of overclocking my systems unless I feel it is warranted. With the recent "enthusiast" talk that has risen in our forums, I felt this was a necessary review to complete to voice my opinion on the matter. When it comes to being an enthusiast, overclocking is a high priority. Research and careful product selection is also another important aspect. I fear with the advent of new self overclocking CPUs, and GPUs, manufactures releasing "factory overclocked" versions of their cards, as well as the bending and twisting of the computer enthusiast term around the web, my vision of true enthusiasm is getting lost.
Another little gem has reared it's head for the old school enthusiast. It comes in the form of the AMD Phenom II X6 1055T. At around $100 less you can overclock and get the same or better performance then the 1090T. AMD gave you all the same technology at a slower clock speed and slashed price.
- Six Core
- Turbo CORE Ability
- High Overclockability
- Phenom Quality
- 9MB Total Cache
- AM2+/3 Compatability
- None


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One or two decades ago, Colombia's seeming endless narco-driven violence topped headlines around the world. But in recent years the country has been receiving much deserved accolades for its economic dynamism and, remarkably, for its sharp turn toward normalcy, measured in part through drastically diminished murder and kidnapping rates. This seemingly transformed country, however, is also attempting to end an increasingly anachronistic guerrilla conflict that has inflicted untold human and economic tolls over the past half-century.Colombia's oldest and largest insurgency group, the FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia), is now playing a familiar game: sitting down at the negotiating table with the government while continuing its guerrilla warfare out in the country's vast jungle regions. It's a bitter reminder that talking peace and making peace are two separate acts. Yet there are deeper and perhaps simpler things at stake—namely the vision of Colombia's post conflict society—that will determine the outcome of the ongoing peace talks in Havana, Cuba. In the most recent and most controversial attack carried out by the FARC since it formally ended its 60-day unilateral ceasefire in January, the group kidnapped two police officers, who are still awaiting release as of this writing. Chief FARC negotiator Iván Márquez (his real name is Luciano Marín Arango) had expressed "pain" in his heart at the thought of renewed fighting. Now he defends the guerrilla group's actions despite its pledge to cease taking hostages for ransom in March 2012. Márquez posits a distinction between economically motivated kidnappings and the capture of "security forces": Just as in any other conflict, taking "prisoners of war" is fair play. The Colombian military responded aggressively by killing the commander of FARC's 5th Front, Jacobo Arango, who was apparently close to Márquez. After the dust settled, the widely read Colombian daily El Tiempo described that time as a "hurricane" for the talks. The abductions have sparked fury among Colombian government officials and distracted all parties from the issues on the multiple-point agenda, which include land reform, political participation, disarmament, reparations for victims and, amazingly, counternarcotics. Firefights and kidnappings aside, the peace talks are not on the verge of collapse, despite aggressively negative rhetoric from both sides about leaving the table and the need to "save" the talks. The chances for a successful outcome did look bleak indeed, until a breakthrough on Sunday, March 3. Discussions surrounding the issue of agrarian reform alone had bogged negotiators down, but finally a concrete agreement emerged that includes a large-scale seizure of land from drug traffickers; a much needed update of the records (called a "cadastre") of lands in the country; and a limit on agricultural development. FARC and the government have now been at this complicated and delicate dance for five months, and until the recent accord it had been proceeding at a pace comparable to the rhythm of the mambo, according to FARC spokesman Jesus Santrich. Perhaps this description is fitting not only because the mambo is originally a Cuban baile, but also because its tempo is known to be "subdued but accelerated." Call it confusing or even oxymoronic, but given that each side is keen on preserving a dignified public image, such veiled language can enable real diplomatic solutions. Neither side wants to appear to be sacrificing too much, too soon. A crucial part of this dance, like any other, is timing, and each side has its own vision of how the process should unfold. All of the frustrating rhetorical give-and-take has led a seasoned U.S. diplomat at the embassy in Bogotá to accuse the FARC of "living in a time-capsule", talking as though they are still in the heady ideological days of 1960s and 70s. However, this attitude—along with the casual dress code that accompanies it—has worked to the FARC's advantage in the public relations battle, attracting the attention of the international media and contrasting sharply with the starched, bureaucratic look of the government negotiators. Another U.S. official noted that to make any real progress toward peace, the FARC needs to stop throwing insults and begin talking about concrete next steps regarding disarmament or demobilization, and solid agreements need to come out of each negotiation block. The recent accord on agrarian reform was the certainly the most positive development to date. El Tiempo had called that issue the "Gordian knot" of the peace talks. However, it is only the first of the five items on the official agenda of the dialogue. According to the deadline set by President Juan Manuel Santos, all are to be resolved by November of this year. This is certainly not the first time that a Colombian government has tried to bring an end to the conflict with the FARC, a Marxist insurgency that has been causing trouble since 1964. Its bloody struggle with paramilitary enemies for decades killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands of Colombians. It also echoed the even older, seemingly endless rivalry between the two traditional political factions, the liberals and conservatives. With this historical context of violent conflict perhaps ingrained into Colombian identity, perhaps it is no surprise that the three previous attempts at peace have utterly failed. There was some apparent success in talks during the administration of President Belisario Betancur (1982–86), in which the FARC formed a legitimate political party called the Unión Patriótica under the terms of the Uribe Accords. But the subsequent years saw over 1,000 of its followers massacred, mostly by narco-financed paramilitary squads. In the most recent set of talks (1998–2002), the FARC was granted a Maryland-sized territory known as the despeje, but only used it to train members and amass weaponry; the result was a nation torn apart by war and increasingly sick of the FARC's brutality and deception. Despite the sort of lofty rhetoric that could have been cropped from the publications of human rights groups like Amnesty International, the FARC currently enjoy infinitesimal public support. That is, in this conflict they have unequivocally lost the hearts and minds of Colombians. However, the administration of the past decade under hard-line conservative Álvaro Uribe did a controversial but ultimately successful job of regaining control of the country, undeniably with the help of immense sums of money. In 2002 he levied a "war tax" on the Colombian elites that raised almost $4 billion over four years, and received close to $8 billion in U.S. aid as part of a joint U.S.-Colombian strategy called Plan Colombia. That's a substantial amount of money, but it pales in comparison to the $800 billion that the U.S. spent in Iraq since the invasion in 2003. And if Washington didn't have a willing and capable local counterpart in the Colombian government, even $800 billion wouldn't have made the dent in violence that $8 billion did. Even at its peak, though, U.S. aid never provided more than 6 percent of the Colombian government's "hard" (military) budget, and now that number has dropped to less than 2 percent. As counterintuitive as it may seem, it is in the interest of U.S. policy for Colombians to receive the bulk of the credit, which, remarkably, they in fact deserve. The source of the funding notwithstanding, it is clear that the Colombian military swelled in both size and lethality during Uribe's time as president. Under his watch, mission after mission deployed precision-guided missiles and commando raids to decimate the FARC's leadership ranks, once believed to be impregnable. Uribe's decidedly hawkish Minister of Defense, Juan Manuel Santos, succeeded him in 2010 and officially announced two years later that the time was right yet again to try to make peace with the FARC. One could interpret this as an indirect vindication of the initially maligned Plan Colombia approach. The plan's detractors perhaps failed to understand that Colombia desperately needed to swallow the bitter pill of militarization to truly set the FARC on its heels before peace could be so close at hand. However, the two sides have taken conflicting lessons from previous attempts at making amends. The Colombian government has vowed not repeat the naive mistake of the despeje debacle from a decade ago that allowed the guerrillas to run wild with no reciprocal concessions on their part. The FARC is fearful of post-peace reprisals that they believe lead to the deaths of so many of their comrades in the 1980s. The two sides may yet come to a peace accord, and precedents such as the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland or the ETA disarmament in Spain give a sense of what it might look like. But no one should harbor illusions that this would mean lasting peace in Colombia. Following their official demobilization in 2003, legions of the country's reprehensible paramilitary forces simply regrouped as far less political but highly criminal bandas criminales (called "bacrim"). Even if the FARC signs a formal agreement and many of its legions lay down their weapons, analysts estimate that upwards of a third of the "former" guerrilla ranks will continue their illicit ways in narcotics trafficking, illegal mining and the like. The FARC representatives who would enter politics and contest for office are unlikely to win much popular support given their already low esteem in the public eye, but the activities of the legions of unofficial FARC rank-and-file are more worrisome and more lethal. An astute observer might ask why Bogotá is even sitting down to talks when the FARC has been so severely set back on the battlefield. Indeed, the military power of the FARC has been more than halved since its apogee in 2001 (from about 16,000 fighters to fewer than 8,000 now, according to Colombia's Defense Ministry), and natural causes and targeted Colombian military strikes have taken out four members of the seven-man Secretariat. However, the FARC has shown that it can still be a spoiler for the government, especially with regard to the Santos administration's herculean task of expanding what it calls "consolidation", bringing the rule-of-law to previously ungoverned territory (what the U.S government refers to in Afghanistan as "clear, hold and build"). The nature of the guerrilla threat has changed, as evidenced by the FARC's newfound habit of attacking infrastructure such as oil and gas pipelines and electricity towers, which are critical drivers of the country's tenuous economic upswing. In that respect, the Colombia of the future ought to downsize its military and upgrade its police capacity in order to properly confront the shifting menace. Wary of a bad outcome amid so many mixed signals, most commentators speak of the peace talks with sober optimism rather than mild pessimism. The deeper, age-old tension, however, is between peace and justice. How much justice or truth is Colombia willing to forgo for the sake of an expedient end to the violence? Where must the government draw the line between punishing guerrillas for their crimes and giving them a chance to demobilize and re-enter society? It is in balancing justice and peace, retribution and amnesty, that we will necessarily find the convergence of the goals of both sides of the table. What the FARC says it wants, primarily, is the assurance of both safety for its members (to avoid the catastrophe of the 1980s) and of a place in the political game (at least the veneer of power and relevance). A deep-seated fear lies beneath all of their posturing. FARC leaders certainly sense that the threat of prison for life is real, perhaps even as likely as the possibility of civilian life and political participation. The Colombian government stands to earn a place in the history books—and a Nobel Prize for Santos—despite the somber reality that a formal peace ensures neither social stability nor less criminality. Colombia has come a long way in the past decade, but it is still Colombia, not Copenhagen or even Costa Rica. In truth, the Santos government, with one eye ever watchful of a May 2014 presidential election date, cannot lose here. If these peace talks founder, Santos will have a mandate to heavily scale up military operations and destroy the FARC. But peace would undoubtedly be preferable. After all, among the agenda items the critical issues are disarmament and political participation; the drug trade simply isn't going away, and last year Santos shrewdly took the political high ground with laws pertaining to land reform and victims reparation. As the FARC and the Colombian government attempt to solve those two, they will inevitably be wrestling with the tension between justice and peace. And although there are sure to be more moments of pain ahead for the government and guerrilla negotiators, let us hope that none of them ends in heartbreak.
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Published on: March 26, 2013Dancing With the Devil

subset: commoncrawl


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VideoStudio 10 Plus' simplicity is its strongest point, but this doesn't mean that it's not a match for any other consumer editor currently on the market. If you're new to video and haven't got an editor, this is one of the best available.
Ulead's VideoStudio has always been a good choice for the novice video editor, and the latest version is no exception. As well as new features that bring it in line with its competitors, version 10 adds tools that will be well-received by the home video enthusiast.
Playing the same game as Pinnacle/Avid, Ulead (now merged with Intervideo) is releasing two versions: VideoStudio 10, and the Plus version reviewed here. Both look the same, but the latter now supports up to seven video tracks and HD video formats. This gives you greater creative scope in your projects and closes the performance gap between VideoStudio and editors like Adobe Premiere Elements and Vegas MovieStudio.
Other new tools include a reasonably effective stabilisation filter for shaky footage and a waveform view for tweaking your audio. More useful, perhaps, is the same smart proxy mode found in MediaStudio Pro, which lets you edit footage from HDV camcorders on a less-capable system. Unlike the surround sound in most consumer editors, VideoStudio 10 Plus also includes fully-fledged 5.1 Dolby Digital encoding, with a simple front end allowing you to set audio locations and balance for separate audio tracks.
One of Ulead's strengths has always been format support, and VideoStudio 10 Plus is no exception. As well as adding h.264 support for PSP and iPod video export formats, this editor now lets you import digital TV (DVB-t) recordings from your tuner card or Windows MCE. This enables another new feature, which is the ability to automatically detect and remove advert breaks from these recordings. However, we only found this feature to be hit and miss, requiring manual intervention to get them all.
There are a couple of new effects to play with, plus some new DVD templates, but the most eye-catching addition is the DVD transition, which creates motion segues between menus and content on your DVDs. Early adopters should also note that high-definition DVD burning (MPEG-2 HD/WMV-HD) is supported out of the box - the first editor we've seen that does this.
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First impression on unpacking the Q702 test unit was the solid feel and clean, minimalist styling.
For work use, Microsoft Word and Excel programs pre-installed on the device are adequate for preparing short documents.
The Fujitsu LifeBook UH574 allowed for great mobility without being obnoxiously heavy or clunky. Its twelve hours of battery life did not disappoint.
The screen was particularly good. It is bright and visible from most angles, however heat is an issue, particularly around the Windows button on the front, and on the back where the battery housing is located.
My first impression after unboxing the Q702 is that it is a nice looking unit. Styling is somewhat minimalist but very effective. The tablet part, once detached, has a nice weight, and no buttons or switches are located in awkward or intrusive positions.


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David Lee has 804 career wins.
Ask him which of those was most memorable, and he responds rapidly.
"I got most memorable losses," he says wryly.
Article Photos
BCLUW head softball coach David Lee exchanges lineup cards at the start of the Comets' Class 2A regional final game against Turkey Valley July 10 in Waterloo. Lee was named the T-R's All-Area Coach of the Year for the third straight summer after his team's 39-2 season.
Then the 32nd-year BCLUW head softball coach thinks of one in particular. A victory, not a loss. He hesitates, then offers, "Beating Dubuque Senior. That's one of the most memorable ones."
And he's off.
He remembers vivid details: It was 1982, in the ninth-place game of the one-class state tournament. It was hot. "It was about 101 degrees," Lee recalled. "That's back before we had sleeveless (shirts) and I wouldn't let the kids go without long sleeves."
Correction. It was scorching.
The Comets had worked their way to the consolation clash with the Class 4A state-ranked Rams after losing to No. 1 Winfield-Mount Union in the first round. "Linda (Fisher) threw a no-hitter (against North Polk) to get us to state that year," Lee said. "That was a big one too."
A lot has changed since Lee took over the Comet program in 1977, but BCLUW softball is still BCLUW softball. The program continues to pump out wins - it set the school mark with 33 of them last year and shattered that with 39 this year.
Which is why Lee (804-485) is the Times-Republican Coach of the Year for the third straight season - a season that saw him reach win No. 800 with a 3-0 victory over Colo-NESCO June 28.
He nudged skippers such as Mike Vint and Jary Hoskey for the award in a season filled with stellar coaching performances. Vint completed year one of Operation: Program Turnaround by leading Marshalltown to a 23-19 record and third place in the conference, and Hoskey guided East Marshall to a 20-6 finish in his first year at the helm.
"It's all the extra work he puts into it everyday," catcher Nicole Fisher said when asked what made Lee stand out. "He drives us to make us want to win. He's really experienced, and he always helps us and believes in us."
This year's club bench-pressed its opponents by a combined score of 283-30, or slightly better than a 7-1 per-game drubbing. In an 11-game span from June 13-23, they served up 12 straight shutouts.
To Lee, this season goes down as one of his favorites. It stacks up with rivalries against East Marshall and AGWSR over the years, and the North Scott of Eldridge tournaments where the Comets would travel to command the respect of larger schools.
It's the kids that drive him to keep going, he says. That, and the community support.
"Someone asked me uptown the other day, 'Do you have the positions filled for next year?' Shoot, no, I don't," Lee said. "But it's the interest in the program, and the kids that love it and work hard - as long as that happens, it will be hard to quit probably."
Lee said he's always looking for something to make him better as a coach.
"I'm not afraid to steal from anybody as far as what to do," he said. "Over the years, I've worked a lot harder at the relationship aspect between the kids and me than just demanding that we get fundamental things done."
No longer able to exclusively throw live batting practice, Lee has adapted.
"As you get older, you sometimes find even better ways of doing things," he said. "We have the kids do things that I used to do, and I think we get more out of it. As they teach each other, it makes them a better player."
Everything in sports has to do with life, says Lee. Losses are harder to swallow but provide greater lessons than wins.
"We've been through this cancer thing with (former assistant coach) Lynn (Zern). Here's somebody who gave up their life and did everything right as far as health and still died of an awful disease, and here we worry about a ballgame," said Lee. "I think ballgames help prepare you for being able to take that.
"I think the way we play the game, kids learn to trust each other and those around them and understand they can't do it all themselves."
Which brings Lee back to the family aspect of softball that he preaches.
"When it's all done," he says, "win or lose, we did this together. You draw from that for what happens next, and I think it gives people a way to reach forward for things they maybe thought they couldn't do.
"What do I enjoy the most? Seeing the kids improve and have success and seeing how they deal with failure when it comes. I think we really make an effort of trying to draw on something that's beyond the human side, where the kids learn to reach inside spiritually and get a greater strength than what is just physically here."


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By MATT MURPHY
BOSTON — Nearly three months into the legislative session, House Speaker Robert DeLeo has planned an overnight get-a-way for his Democratic leadership team next week at UMass Amherst where they will discuss strategy and procedure for the policy debates looming in the months ahead.
Though not unprecedented, the leadership retreat will mark the first time DeLeo has held such a gathering for his top advisors and committee chairmen since taking over the top spot in the House in early 2009.
The trip is analogous, in many ways, to the biannual freshman retreat to UMass Amherst when veteran lawmakers and policy experts give new lawmakers a primer on how things work on Beacon Hill.
After a slow start in both branches this year, the session is expected to pick up in months ahead with weighty policy issues waiting to be addressed, including the fiscal 2012 budget, municipal health care reform, pension system changes, criminal sentencing and proposals to address the operations of the state's parole and probation offices.
House budget debate is expected to begin in mid-to-late April, though DeLeo and House Ways and Means Chairman Brian Dempsey have given few clues as to what the budget might include and where the spending cuts will occur to address an estimated $1.5 billion to $2 billion gap between spending and revenue and within their pledge not to raise taxes in the upcoming budget cycle.
"The upcoming event will give legislative leaders in the House the opportunity to focus on the unprecedented policy challenges that will be confronted in months ahead. Sessions will include presentations by UMass Amherst faculty on Massachusetts' economic outlook and changing demographics; training seminars on committee work management and process; and small group issue-oriented discussions," said Seth Gitell, a spokesman for DeLeo.
The retreat will kick off Thursday afternoon at UMass Amherst and run through Friday before lawmakers return home. DeLeo's senior leadership team and all committee chairmen and vice-chairmen are expected to attend.
Gitell said the cost of the retreat will not be paid by taxpayers through the House or UMass budgets, but could not elaborate on how costs for food and accommodations would be paid. He explained that the Speaker had been eyeing a retreat such as this for some time.
"I would be a lot more concerned if taxpayer resources were being utilized," said House Minority Leader Brad Jones.
Jones said he understood the impulse to gather leadership to discuss priorities and expectations, but questioned why if nearly half of the Democratic caucus was being invited for briefings on the economy that information wasn't being made available to all House members.
An agenda for the retreat, including a roster of guest speakers, was not immediately available.
"We're ending the first quarter on the eve of the release of the state budget. You would think maybe some of this would be done earlier," Jones said. "If the idea is to give people some information or data on the economic outlook and perspective maybe that would be better done for the entire institution."
Jones speculated that DeLeo was preparing to brief members on the work that has been done behind closed doors over the past several months, signaling the start of more rapid activity on legislation after weeks of dormancy.
Top Democrats defended the value of the retreat.
"I think the Speaker's doing the right thing by saying it's something we want to do as an educational forum for members of the House who are now chairs and vice chairs. We want educate them so they have an opportunity to understand this is what we expect," said Rep. Paul Donato, a member of DeLeo's senior leadership team.
The overnight trip comes amidst some rumblings of frustration from members of both the House and Senate about the pace of business on Beacon Hill so far this year. Committees only recently started to hold hearings on proposed legislation, and just a handful of formal sessions have been held with few votes on actual legislation.
"I think it's a good idea. I'm not sure what the focus will be but it's a good thing to get members together and talk about what our priorities will be and how to achieve those goals," said Rep. James Murphy, a Weymouth Democrat and co-vice chairman of the Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight. "I think it's something we should do every year. There's a lot on the agenda this year. We may be a little slow getting to it, but I know we can make up ground once we get rolling. I know members are anxious to get going and I think we can accomplish a lot."
Part of the purpose of convening the House's top Democrats will be to give many representatives appointed to committee chairmanships for the first time a chance to hear from veterans about ins-and-outs of running a committee, according to House leaders.
"This gives the vice chairs an opportunity to listen to what some of the seasoned members of the House have to say and the members of the leadership have to say about how to run a meeting, what to do when you're first a chair," Donato said.
Rep. Thomas Sannicandro, a fourth-term Ashland Democrat named earlier this year as co-chairman of the Committee on Higher Education, acknowledged the learning curve of running a committee. He said he was not sure what to expect from the retreat, but felt some guidance on House procedure could be valuable to new chairmen.
"It could be helpful. I've never done this. I just got permission to hire some staff," Sannicandro said. "As for the substantive things, I can do that myself. I haven't been around that long, but I know the drill."


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HOLLYWOOD -- Hugh Laurie, Fox's "House, M.D." came to New Orleans music through Willie Dixon, a circuitous route that will deliver the English-born actor to PBS screens in September for a French Quarter-shot music special featuring Allen Toussaint and Irma Thomas.
"As soon as I heard my first Willie Dixon, I was on the hunt," said Laurie on Saturday (July 30) during a Summer TV Tour interview session promoting"Great Performances: Hugh Laurie: Let Them Talk -- A Celebration of New Orleans Blues." "Muddy Waters was where I spent my teenage years, just listening to him over and over again. I started to hear the piano playing of Otis Spann. His piano playing was something I became absolutely entranced by. I knew I wanted to at least hear it forever, if not play it."
Laurie's journey from there to Professor Longhair and James Booker is documented in the TV special, which has live performance footage shot at Latrobe's on Royal and wrap-around segments
of Laurie talking about his
lifelong appreciation of New Orleans and its music.
"It has always, to me, exuded a spirit of just sheer love and life and happiness and joy," he said. "But at the same time it has a sort of mournful side to it. It is a city that has confronted death in many ways, in its recent past very notably.
"It just has sort of a fragrance and spirit for me, even as young English boy thousands of miles away across the ocean. It seemed to reach that far, that's how powerful the spirit seemed to be. It was like a fragrance."
Before the TV special came an album -- produced by Joe Henry, "Let Them Talk," is already available in England and due for U.S. release shortly -- to which Toussaint, Thomas, Dr. John and Tom Jones contributed.
The project came at the suggestion of an executive of the British arm of Warner Bros. Records.
"He said, 'Do you want to make a record?'" Laurie said. "I could feel the word 'No' rising up in me. I was about to say, 'Are you out of your mind? I would be killed to try that. That way madness lies.' When the word got to about here (he pointed to his chest), I put the brakes on and thought, 'This is not going to come my way again, certainly not in this form.'
"This was a diem I had to carpe."
Other accounts of Laurie's TV Tour session:
Michael Ausiello @ TVLine.com:
The PBS special, which finds Laurie performing alongside such blues greats as Irma Thomas and Sir Tom Jones, was a dream come true for part-time musician. "This whole experience [was] closer to who I am than many things I have done," he said. "I suppose because the subject was so dear to my heart. It was very unplanned. It was a genuine journey of discovery."
Marissa Gurthrie @ HollywoodReporter.com:
"There I was sharing a room with my heroes. Tom Jones for half a century has been one of the most famous singers in the world," said Laurie. "And who the hell do I think I am sharing a room with him, sharing a studio with him? But they were... incredibly generous. I'm sure there were times where they were behind my back rolling their eyes. But if they did, they did not show it. They could not have been more generous."
Robert Bianco @ USAToday.com:
And what did the city think of him? "Jury's still out. I have no idea how the (companion) record will be received, and I have no idea how this film will be received. But one never does."
Dave Walker can be reached at email@example.com or 504.826.3429. Read more TV coverage at NOLA.com/tv. Follow him at twitter.com/davewalkertp.


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Former Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino returns to a Power 5 conference this year, as he takes over a Louisville program that will play its first season in the ACC this fall.
And at his first ACC Media Days, Petrino welcomed himself to his new conference by comparing it to his old conference.
"The division that we're in reminds me a lot of the SEC West when we had defending national champions and every team in it is capable of beating every team in it," Petrino said, according to USA Today.
Louisville is in the ACC's Atlantic Division, which also includes defending national champ Florida State, Clemson, Boston College, North Carolina State, Syracuse and Wake Forest.
In addition to the Seminoles, who beat Auburn for the national title last season, Clemson and Louisville finished with double-digit wins, while Boston College and Syracuse also made bowl games, each finishing 7-6.
Teams from the SEC West, meanwhile -- specifically, Alabama, Auburn and LSU -- have won five of the last seven BCS national championships.
"The fact that the defending national champion is in it, and Clemson has had a tremendous amount of success, we're coming in with a program that's had a lot of success, and week in and week out it's gonna be so competitive, I see it as being very similar," Petrino said of the ACC Atlantic.
Petrino was 8-4 last year in his only season as head coach at Western Kentucky. He'd gone 34-17 in four years at Arkansas from 2008-11, before being fired after it was revealed he was having an affair with a former Arkansas volleyball player that he'd hired in the football office.
He takes over a Louisville program that went 37-15 in the last four years -- 23-3 in the last two -- in the Big East and American Athletic Conference under Charlie Strong, who left to become the head coach at Texas.


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Fort Dodge boys head coach Tom Daniel was proud of his team's valiant comeback effort here Friday against Des Moines Roosevelt.
The fact that the Dodgers nearly erased a 13-point fourth quarter deficit offered some solace in what was otherwise another frustrating night of basketball for Daniel's squad, which ultimately became the Roughriders' seventh straight victim yesterday evening, 56-51.
''We rallied and showed some fight, which was encouraging and something we can take away from this loss,'' Daniel said. ''At the same time, though, we have to look at the mistakes and the breakdowns that dug us that hole in the first place.
Article Photos
''We again showed in stretches that we can compete with one of the better teams the CIML has to offer. But what are we going to do to get over that hump and find the level of consistency and effort it takes to beat an opponent of this caliber? That's the question right now - does this bother us enough that we're going to do something about it, or are we content with being close enough?''
Fort Dodge (2-6 overall) resurrected its chances with a 9-0 run to make it 51-48 with 3:19 left in regulation. Senior Tyler Vaughn actually had a chance to tie the contest with a three-point attempt from the left corner, but the shot went wide and the Dodgers' bubble seemed to slowly deflate from there.
Roosevelt (7-1), which shot 59 percent from the floor through three quarters and then had only one field goal in the entire fourth period, held FDSH scoreless over the next three minutes of action and made just enough free throws to keep the Dodgers at bay.
Fact Box
Des Moines Roosevelt - Chirs Bennett 4-9 6-7 15, Mario Manuel 4-7 1-4 9, Jordan Johnson 2-5 3-4 9, Tate Larsen 2-4 1-3 7, Brawntae Wells 3-3 0-0 6, Trey Burkhall 3-8 2-2 10, Jalan Jones 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 18-36 13-19 56.
Fort Dodge - Zach Martinson 6-13 0-0 14, Blake Wilder 5-8 1-2 12, JC Hatcher 4-10 0-0 9, Andrew Stover 4-6 0-0 9, Tyler Vaughn 3-12 0-0 7, Marquan Clayton 0-0 0-0 0, Jake Porter 0-0 0-0 0, Krunal Thakor 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 22-49 1-2 51.
Quarter scores: Roosevelt led 21-12, 32-21, 49-36. Three-point goals: Roosevelt 7-15 (Johnson 2-3, Larsen 2-3, Burkhall 2-6, Bennett 1-3); Fort Dodge 6-20 (Martinson 2-5, Stover 1-1, Wilder 1-2, Hatcher 1-4, Vaughn 1-8). Turnovers: Roosevelt 9, Fort Dodge 14. Total fouls: Roosevelt 9, Fort Dodge 19.
''We had a nice (15-4 spurt) where we showed energy and enthusiasm, but in the last two minutes, (the Roughriders) earned that win. They out-played us and were tougher than us at crunch time,'' Daniel said. ''That's the problem with falling behind by that much - you have to be pretty much flawless to overcome such a big deficit late against a 7-1 ballclub.
''There are plays here and plays there - a lot of little things - that add up over the course of a loss. You have to look back and each one of our guys has to ask himself, 'what could I have done differently that makes it a more competitive game and gives us a more realistic shot at the very end?' That's all part of the learning process.''
.Junior Zach Martinson (14 points) and junior Blake Wilder (12) reached double figures for the Dodgers, who made only 6 of 20 three-point attempts and just 1 of 2 foul shots. Fort Dodge had four more baskets than Roosevelt, but were out-scored 13-1 at the charity stripe.
The Roughriders tallied the final nine points of both the first and second quarters. The Dodgers went scoreless for the last 5:03 of the first half.
''That's really inexcusable,'' Daniel said of the long drought. ''It's a matter of getting five guys on the same page both execution-wise and effort-wise at this point. I was pleased with the minutes Andrew Stover (nine points and five rebounds) gave us and Marquan Clayton gave us, and Tyler (Vaughn) found other ways to contribute (six rebounds, five assists) despite struggling with his shot.
''Blake did well despite being in early foul trouble and Zach hit some big shots during our run. Look, it's not all doom and gloom. If these kids decide they're ready to take that next step both physically and mentally, the wins will start to come. But they have to want it - you can't fake desire in the CIML.''
Fort Dodge, which has six setbacks to opponents with a combined record of 29-18 so far, faces another difficult challenge Tuesday at seventh-ranked Urbandale (8-1).


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September 15, 2012
Comments: 0
Brian Lilley explains to last remaining idiots that strawmen are flammable (video)
The video CNN no longer wants you to see? He has it.
The US government and the MSM are lying to you — and throwing free speech under the bus in the process:


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The presidents of four state universities located in Central New York say cuts by state government to their budgets will force them to cut staff and slash course offerings.
The presidents, whose campuses employee nearly 10,000 people locally, say they understand the economic slowdown is forcing the state to tighten its belt.
But they said cuts to the SUNY system are too deep, are being handled inequitably and make no sense if the state wants to turn around its ailing economy.
"The excitement and passion of the young people on our campuses is the beginning of this state's next economic boom," said Cornelius B. Murphy, State University College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
Murphy met Monday with The Post-Standard's editorial board, along with SUNY Oswego President Deborah Stanley, SUNY Morrisville President Raymond Cross and Upstate Medical University President David Smith.
Stanley estimated that SUNY Oswego alone pumps $326 million a year into the Central New York economy.
Smith said the cuts already have undermined his ability to recruit talented physicians and teachers to Upstate, which includes University Hospital, as top potential recruits don't want to go to an institution with such an uncertain financial future. He said the cuts could mean an inability to staff the Children's Hospital once it is complete.
Cross said Morrisville, which has a large agricultural component, most likely will have to sell some of its animals to close its budget gap. All four university presidents worried that they will have to cancel classes, which might make it impossible for students to graduate in four years.
The presidents were particularly unhappy with how the cuts have been enacted. The state budget called for a 2.9 percent cut to their budgets, which they said they could live with, although it is far from the spending boost that had originally been proposed by then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer.
Shortly after the budget passed, the SUNY campuses got word that they also would have the amount they can spend in non-state revenues capped. So the money the campuses bring in from tuition and dormitory fees, for instance, can't be fully spent next year.
"We are being barred, essentially, from providing our students with the full-value education that they have paid for," Stanley said.
"By capping how we can spend our non-state revenues, it discourages us from being entrepreneurial, from bringing in outside money, and it really ties our hands in terms of coming up with creative ways to overcome the other budget cuts," Smith said.
All four presidents suspect that the state intends to eventually "sweep" the money that's left in their revenue accounts into the state's general fund.
If that happens, Smith said, SUNY students will be subsidizing the state, instead of the other way around.
Jeffrey Gordon, speaking for the state Division of Budget, said the SUNY presidents are overstating the cuts, and misstating how they were rolled out.
Gordon said all the spending reductions were spelled out in the budget as passed by the Legislature. He said the total cuts to SUNY are actually less than most state agencies have to endure, and that SUNY still has the resources to maintain its programs. He said the cuts total about $148 million out of a $4.5 billion budget. He also said that the state wasn't capping the amount SUNY can spend out of its revenue accounts.
Rather, Gordon said, it is giving SUNY that option to give it the "maximum flexibility" in meeting the state's cost-reduction goals. SUNY has until May 16 to present its plan for making the cuts.
But representatives from the United University Professions union, who also visited The Post-Standard on Monday, and Assemblyman Bill Magnarelli, are under the same assumption as the SUNY presidents.
"If they have until May 16 to come up with their plan, then it doesn't make sense that it was in the budget," Magnarelli said. "If it was in the budget, it's a done deal. But my assumption is that it is not a done deal. We can and will work on this."
John View, director of financial aid at ESF and the local chapter president for United University Professions, said he hopes the cuts don't lead to fewer students being able to attend SUNY schools, either because financial aid awards will be cut or the number of students schools can accept gets reduced.
"All this, and fewer private lenders are making loans," View said. "It is going to be just that much harder for people to afford higher education."


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- Details
The Spa and Kiddie Pool Vacuum Cleaner is great for above ground pools, wading pools, spas, ponds and waterfalls. No filter system required. Includes handle, however can be attached to a larger telescopic pole for large pool leaf clean up. Simply attach included bag by securing the draw string, attach a garden hose and slowly ease the vacuum back and forth over the area requiring cleaning. The force of the water from the hose creates a venturi action under the vacuum, drawing the dirty water into the filter bag, which will retain the dirt particles. Adjust water pressure to create proper venturi.
- Uses Venturi suction to vacuum your pool with or without connecting to your pool's filter
- Fits any standard telescopic pole
- Includes reusable vacuum bag
- Specs
SKU 52060098 Model 28008 Weight 3.5000 Color No size No Width No In Store Only No Price $21.99
- Warranty
Rural King provides a defect or damage warranty within 30 days of receipt. All Manufacturing Return Policies Supersede Rural King's Return Policy.
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15 Frugal Billionaires Who Live Like Regular People
Have you ever wondered what you would do with a billion dollars?
These 15 frugal billionaires have answered that question for real, and their response is "not much."
Instead of dropping dough on jets, yachts, and mansions, they have saved up, lived modestly, and given away huge amounts of money to charity.
Click here to meet the frugal billionaires > »
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E3: First glimpse at Ubisoft's 'Avatar' opens door to James Cameron's Pandora
It was right around the time I took flight on the back of a giant bird-lizard thing, a proud Na'vi warrior at one with my environment, the lush 3D world completely immersing me in this crazy ecosystem that James Cameron and company have spent the last few years creating, that I decided that I will officially tolerate no more naysaying on "Avatar."
You. Are. Not. Ready.
And here's why. In simple language. Because James Cameron is trying harder. Harder than he's ever tried before. Harder than anyone else is trying now. He's just reaching further, and I'm wired to applaud that, and to root for him to do what he's trying to do... expand the language of film itself, to add new tools to the toolbox as we're making these tpes of movies in the future. The ambition of what he's building, the full-world realization of this longtime dream of his... it's sort of overwhelming when you first take it in. I understand why it took him a long time to get his head around how to make it real. You can write that a film takes place on a planet where there are floating mountains going by. But to convincingly create a planet where there are floating mountains, where you make that idea seem a natural part of the natural order... that's huge.
[more after the jump]
I've already heard a few people describe "Avatar" using "Dances With Wolves" as a comparison, and I think that's very true of the movie if you listen to the plot that James Cameron described (in fairly complete detail) at the Ubisoft presentation the other day. But the difference is that "Dances" was a recreation of an actual historic period. Sure, Costner romanticized it all with Dean Semler, those big outdoor spaces, the Indian culture, but still... he was working with something that Americans have some idea of already, With "Avatar," Cameron's trying to build something larger than what people typically build. Really, the scale we're talking about, there's the "Star Wars" films and the "Lord Of The Rings" films, and that's it. Nothing else approaches that level of ambition and accomplishment.
So here's how this afternoon went down. I got a moderately late start out of the house. Turns out, I missed a screening that I forgot was scheduled for yesterday, and I didn't find out until I was already downtown and inside the convention center. I went booth to booth yesterday, hoping to introduce myself to different game company PR people. I found that the best way was by actually trying out the various games that were on display. I thought "Arkham Asylum" was very creepy and very cool. I cannot wait to own "Brutal Legend," which was ridiculous fun. "Bayonetta" looks like it would be hypnotic and addictive. But from the moment I arrived, I started circling that Ubisoft booth. I could smell the "Avatar" display. I immediately saw the giant power suit standing outside the booth. It's "real-size," and it's much more of a military tool than an industrial tool like the one in "Aliens."
I was told yesterday that the only "Avatar" presentation was behind closed doors, by appointment only, and that's that. But when I walked into a friend who told me he'd just seen a sign go up that promised a public presentation at 4:45, I decided that I was going to make sure I made it into that presentation. No matter what. All those other games I saw, that was just me marking time. In the end, I was content to sit for almost an hour at the Ubisoft booth, waiting to be let in. I had to surrender my phone before ducking through the curtains into a small curved room where production art from "Avatar" lined the walls, giant boards divided up by theme. One for "Weapons." One for "Vehicles." One for "Pandora." One for the "RDA." There were two large glass cases with maquettes of some of the animals we'll see in the film.
And then there was the rig.
103" prototype HD flatscreen 3D television. Prototype BluRay 3D player.
There were about 20 of us in the room. One row in chairs. One row sitting in front of them on the floor. We watched a short introduction by Jon Landau, setting up the premise of the film. It's the future, and the RDA is a military organization from Earth, working with a private mining concern to stripmine Pandora, a bounty of natural resources. It's a moon of a gas giant planet, and it's home to a complex ecosystem as well as one mineral resource that is fantastically expensive. It's also home to ten-foot-tall blue alien warriors called the Na'vi, and when the RDA decides that they're going to take whatever they want, they set off a war for the planet that could end up destroying them all. It's that basic. The fun is all the other stuff Cameron layers in, and in particular the idea of the "avatars." See, humans can't breathe on the surface of the planet Pandora. So they have to wear suits to do the physical mining work, but there's another way they can interact. Their DNA can be spliced with the DNA of an indigenous species, and the creature that's grown as a result can be operated from a distance by the person whose DNA is imprinted in it. So in essence, you can operate a Na'vi from a distance. Which is crazy. And it's the big idea of the movie, above and beyond the world-building.
So what Cameron's got to pull off for the film is making you believe that the Na'vi are real, and that the world they live in is a physical place. No small order, eh?
The first few levels we saw for the game, you're playing a human characters working for the RDA. You're flying a double-rotored little Sampson 'chopper, and you're job is to clear a path for other mining ships to be brought through the thick canopy of roots and plants and vines and whatever else. And you're job is just to blast everything in sight. And then the entire first orientation section of the game appears to be a bloodthirsty engagement with the local life. There are these things called Viperwolves, and there are also these red Viperwolves that are far nastier. And there's a giant rhino-thing called a Hammerhead, as well, and you have to bring it down. All of which sounds pretty standard for an action FPS...
... except it was all in perfect 3D. And that means that when you're dropped onto the surface of Pandora... you're really dropped onto the surface of Pandora. The atmospheric detail even on the game was incredibly well-observed, and the guy giving the demo kept telling us that on Pandora, every single thing in the ecosystem can and probably will kill us, and that sort of appears to be the case. I have a confession, though... watching the wholesale destuction of Pandora's flora and fauna, I wasn't gettng the same sort of wish-fulfillment thrill I do sometimes off of games, because the idea of doing that to Pandora sort of made me sick. The majority of the demo was that first level, in which the player is a human being, fighting and even killing the Na'vi.
But there's a point in the game where you're given a choice... you can keep fighting for the Earth military... or you can join the Na'vi and fight for Pandora, fight to preserve it in balance, as is. And they showed us some of that, where you are the 10-foot Na'vi warrior who summons that giant bird-thing I mentioned earlier so you can ride around Pandora's rain forest for a while. The stuff we saw was only one of 16 full environments we'll get to see on the planet's surface, but it felt like two different planets because of the radical difference between day and night. The jungle stuff you've seen is the daytime version of Pandora. When the sun goes down, the whole world becomes bioluminescent, and it's gorgeous. Even your footsteps glow thanks to the moss and the ground and the water itself.
These are all just first impressions, and we're not talking about the movie yet, just the world that's been reproduced by Ubisoft. But already, I covet that rig I saw the demo played on, and I want to get my hands on the game and venture back into the world of Pandora. If something as impressive as what I saw today is just precursor to the main event, the movie itself in IMAX 3D, then we are in for something amazing in theates at the end of this year, and I am desperate now for a taste of the film itself, and not just the game or the article or the odd mention. Today should have scratched the itch, but instead it made it much, much worse.
So bring it on. Game. Movie. The whole nine yards. After today, I will follow Cameron and this project wherever they want to go.
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TV hosts Beth Ostrosky and Katie Lee Joel are leaving their honeys, Howard Stern and Billy Joel, at home as they team up and take on New York City's Fashion Week.
The first stop was backstage at Betsey Johnson, who's going retro-glam this season with must-have feminine dresses, polka dots and lots and lots of ruffles.
"You know I wear your clothes all the time," Beth told the powerhouse designer herself.
Betsey joked, "And Howard too."
After Betsey's innovative and captivating designs took their turn on the catwalk, the ladies decided this season's Betsey Johnson frocks are a must.
Except for "those little gaucho shorts," Beth said. "Not for me."
While Katie picked out a little black dress, the girls picked up on a hair-raising modeling fact.
"You know one thing I noticed," Katie said. "They all had hairy legs."
"Shave your legs, girls," Beth joked.
The next stop on the fashion trail was the always wild and wacky Heatherette show, featuring Mena Suvari, Kelis, Maya and show-stopping sisters Paris and Nicky Hilton.
"They have the craziest, wildest clothes," Nicky pointed out to us.
Only "Extra" has the craziest and wildest glimpse of Fashion Week.


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Stevens Institute of Technology yesterday showcased renderings of a high tech, hurricane resilient "SURE HOUSE" designed in response to the devastation to homes on the New Jersey and New York shores by Superstorm Sandy.
"I congratulate Stevens and the SURE HOUSE team on their innovative, forward-thinking design," said Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer. "We look forward to learning from the SURE HOUSE and potentially applying some of the concepts to making homes in Hoboken more resilient."
The home, which is being designed and constructed by Stevens Tech students, will be completely solar powered, flood resistant and incorporate "very innovative cooling, heating and ventilation systems" and has been accepted into the 2015 Solar Decathlon international competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy.
But even with all the technology, the Stevens team is "trying to keep the homey feel of the Jersey Shore and the New York shore," said Claire Griffin, a Stevens student of mechanical engineering with a minor in science communication.
As people browsed the renderings of the house and its systems in a building on Sinatra Drive yesterday afternoon, Griffin, who is on the communications and public relations team for the project, said "it is the brainchild of a bunch of engineers and architects and people from all kinds of majors at Stevens Tech.
Design work for SURE HOUSE began in October 2013 and Griffin said about 35 to 50 students have been working on the project on and off and the team is to be expanded.
"We spent the entire summer in a design studio," Griffin said. "It has been a very, very intense summer," Griffin said." All the students have worked really hard and all are super proud."
Over the next year and a half, Stevens students with expertise in engineering, energy efficiency, architecture, business, communications, management, and computer science will create SURE HOUSE in a campus lot on the Hudson River. It is expected to cost $300,000 to $325,000 to build.
SURE HOUSE will then be disassembled, transported to the competition site in Irvine, California, reassembled and exhibited during the Solar Decathlon competition and exhibition in fall 2015. After the competition, it will be moved to a location on the Jersey Shore where it will be inhabited or used for a municipal function, Griffin said.


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Renton hosting open house to discuss next 20 years
The City of Renton's Department of Community and Economic Development is hosting a public open house Feb. 28 at city hall to discuss the city's future.
The purpose of the open house is for the public to give input on what Renton should be like in 20 years. Interested participants can also take a short online survey at rentonwa.gov/PlanUpdate. Information gathered at the open house and through the survey will be used to develop the vision for the Comprehensive Plan.
Comprehensive Plans establish policies for community growth and development and guide city decision making in several areas: land use, economic development, transportation, parks and recreation, utilities, housing and human services, community planning, and capital facilities. Setting a community vision is the first step in Renton's Comprehensive Plan update. Public participation is a key component of this effort.
The City of Renton is updating its Comprehensive Plan in accordance with the Washington State Growth Management Act (GMA) governed by RCW 36.70A. Most jurisdictions in the state are required to adopt a Comprehensive Plan consistent with the GMA and to update their plan every eight years. Renton's update will take about two years to complete and is due to the state in June 2015.
Anyone who wishes to stay informed about the Comprehensive Plan update as it progresses should send their contact information to: email@example.com or call 425-430-6578.
The open house is scheduled for 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers on the 7th floor of Renton City Hall, 1055 S. Grady Way.
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