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Vessels For His Glory
Article by: Do Not Grow Weary
Status: Finished
Genre: Religion and Spirituality
Acts 16:31 (NIV)
31They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved —you and your household."
God is our Potter and we area clay in His hands. All the promises He lists in the Bible is to show an example of a potential Masterpiece for His glory. In this scripture, God promised us one of the most powerful assurances that if someone in the household gets saved, the entire household would get saved, and I think as believers, we don`t always remember this promise and use it in our lives. This promise alone produces masterpieces of changed lives for God`s glory.
The reason why this particular scripture is so crucial for me is because my marriage (my household) cracked in half because one decided to be saved and another one decided to live for desires of its flesh. If every married couple memorized this scripture and stood on this promise, than God would have been faithful to complete what He started. It is much easier to find justifications as to why divorce is appropriate and why relationships didn`t work, rather than trust the Lord to be faithful to fulfill this scripture. This particular excuse for being unsaved could not be used in marriage when looking into the issue of marrying an unbeliever or getting saved after being married because it`s clear that God has promised to save entire household.
One of the pastors and some of my friends told me I was completely justified to get a divorce because my husband left me, and because he acts like an unbeliever (although claiming to be saved), according to 1 Corinthians 7:10-11, I could keep up with my life if only stayed unmarried. Year ago this lie would have been very appealing to me, but today I choose to believe that God is faithful to finish what he started; and according to His word, He promised that if one person gets saved, the entire household would get saved. Being saved means a complete change of behavior because salvation produces fruit of repentance just like walking in Spirit produces fruits of the Holy Spirit that are mentioned in Galatians 5.
I could use excuses for my husband being unfaithful, and doing plenty of other things to ruin my life, but I choose to look at my circumstances through a different lenses. I choose to look at my afflictions and trials as a way for God to raise my faith to the next level in order to use me in His ministry that I`ve been praying for so many years. We tend to rush into concluding that all the problems and sufferings that we get are from Satan, and some of them do come in as an attempt to destroy us as 1 Peter 5:8 says that Satan seeks whom to devour as he roams around like a lion. However, in majority of the other circumstances, it is God who puts us through the refining furnace of afflictions to save us, to build us up, and to purify our faith.
One of the scriptures through the sermon that I listened to last week just brought me even lower to my knees. The scripture was from Lamentations 3 where Jeremiah laments about what happened to him and what became of him.
1[a]I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of the Lord's wrath. 2He has driven me away and made me walkin darkness rather than light; 3 indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long. 4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones. 5He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.6He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead. 7He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains. 8Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer. 9He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked. 10Like a bear lying in wait,like a lion in hiding, 11he dragged me from the path and mangled meand left me without help.12 He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows. 13He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver. 14I became the laughingstock of all my people; they mock me in song all day long. 15 He has filled me with bitter herbs and given me gall to drink. 16He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust. 17I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. 18 So I say, "My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord." (Lamentations 3:1-18 NIV)
For some of us it does require to have God "break our bones", or to "dwell in darkness" (have silence from God and not have any guidance from Him what to do), or to have "Him drive you away into the darkness rather than light", or to have His hand "turn against" you again and again, or to have "bitterness and hardships", or to be "walled in", so there is no escape.
Look at all these things that Jeremiah names for what God did to him in order to gain his full attention. It wasn`t Satan who burdened Jeremiah with all those afflictions, it was God Himself who did that. I was blown away when I re-read that whole third chapter because it answered to one of my main questions as to when would my trials stop? It would not stop until I completely surrender to God and scrub all my pride out because God would not be able to use me in my current capacity. My faith although gotten stronger, but I am not at the place of complete surrender yet, and now I know it because time to time I test it through different scriptures or sermons. I complain and complain, and complain, instead of laying all my burdens down at the cross. God is a Potter, and He will not give up on any of His masterpieces until each of His art projects is finished.
To me it was a revelation to hear that the reason why it took 25 years for Abraham to have Isaac, since the day God promised him a son, was because it took 25 years for God to make Abraham into Abraham (Father of faith) instead of him staying as Abram (Genesis 17:1-5). God wasn`t interested in just producing an offspring by using Abraham`s lineage, He was interested in producing a Father of Faith who could be used as an example for the next thousands of generations.
It takes time to get me to the place of complete surrender, but it`s really up to me as to how long it would take. As soon as I`m ready to do what it takes, God would move the mountains if necessary to accomplish His promise to save my household and to bring my marriage back together. It`s up to me how much I would prolong my afflictions to get to the place of surrender.
If you have trials and you feel hopeless, it`s up to you as to how much longer you would resist God`s hand. Surrender it all- meaning you die to yourself (the lust of the flesh, the pride, the selfishness; they have to go), and as soon that happens, God would be more than willing to take you by the hand and bless you.
This was a great revelation to me to be reminded that not only did God promised to save my whole family, but He also promised to bless me in plenty of other ways: to deliver me, to save me, to love me, to guard me, to protect me, to provide for me, and the list goes on and on. I don`t want to spend 25 years like Abraham did to allow God to accomplish what He started only because I chose to live with pride, or not to look foolish in the eyes of the world, or to look too meek and lowly. This is exactly what Jesus was: lowly, meek, and humble, and He urged us to learn of Him to become the same way (Matthew 11:29)
Year ago, I was thinking about all the justified things I could name in order to divorce my husband, but year later, I`m naming all the promises of God that I have in order to save my family. It takes all this time for God to mold me to become His masterpiece because there are some areas in my life that I still hold on to and refuse to let go. God is faithful to finish what He started, but it`s really up to us as how long it would take to allow God to finish each one of His art projects. Jeremiah had his teeth broken with gravel, and he went through endless amount of imprisonments in order to say later on:
19I remember my affliction and my wandering,the bitterness and the gall. 20I well remember them,and my soul is downcast within me. 21Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:22 Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23They are new every morning;great is your faithfulness. 24I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." 25 The Lordis good to those whose hope is in him,to the one who seeks him; 26it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.27It is good for a man to bear the yokewhile he is young. 28 Let him sit alone in silence, for the Lordhas laid it on him. 29 Let him bury his face in the dust — there may yet be hope. 30Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace. 31For no one is cast off by the Lord forever. 32Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. 33For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone. (Lamentations 3:19-33 NIV)
"It is good for a man to bear yoke", and so many months later, I can testify to that and agree with Jeremiah. Through my hardships and agonies I learn to trust the Lord completely. Only on Saturday I was choking by all the impossibilities of my circumstances and helplessness, but I bring them to the Lord now, so many months later, and I say that "Lord Is my portion", and I will wait for Him. God is faithful and just although He had to hide from me again and again at some point in order to crack me and to refine me; I am grateful to Him so many months later that He continues to guide me and to sustain me.
What`s amazing in this whole situation is that God does provide me with the special anointing to make it through these valleys of death just like He promised in Psalm 84:6-8 (NIV):
5Blessed are those whose strength is in You, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. 6As they pass through the Valley of Baka,they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools.[d] 7 They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.
In my Bible it literally means as I walk through the Valley of Weeping, I open up the springs. God brings me from strength to strength and showers me with these "springs" of His revelations. I read His word and I find endless amount of promises and discover His word under new lenses that I`ve never noticed before. How else could I ever get to this place if I wasn`t going through this valley of weeping.
I have learnt a very valuable lesson that God is faithful to fulfill His promises, but He doesn`t bend His conditions. There are conditions apply to His promise every single time. He will spend as much time as needed to refine me in order to bring me to the same place as Jeremiah got to say that God is the One who brings over all these afflictions for my own benefit. It is because He made me with purpose to serve Him, and until He refines me into the person that He could use, He is not going to stop "breaking my teeth" or putting me through the "darkness" when I can`t hear His voice. God is a Sovereign God and because He doesn`t compromise His standards, He takes all the necessary time show us how His promises work; how His conditions apply in each promise.
If you are in a similar situation, I encourage you to look at your circumstances from the different angle and seek the Lord to show you the purpose of them. He will guide you if only you would seek Him. He doesn`t want any life to be wasted, and chances are, if you do go through some horrible afflictions like I am, it is because it`s either you with whom He is doing some major "Art Project" or with the opposing party who needs time in order to surrender to God. Remember, that it wasn`t only Joseph who needed 13 years in jail, but it was also his brothers who needed certain amount of time to realize what they did to Joseph was unacceptable and barbarian in order to repent. There are always two sides to the medal.
Remember, also that if you face family issues, don`t through the flag down and give up, but trust the Lord is capable to do the major "Art Project" to mold you into the one whom He plans you to be. More than ones God likens us to the clay in His hands, and Him being a Potter (Romans 9:20-21); He can produce some major art masterpiece with your life if you would allow Him to use your life as a vessel for His glory.
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The following post was written with the support of Feeding America staff. Feeding America is one of the nation's leading domestic hunger-relief charities. Their mission is to feed America's hungry through a nationwide network of member food banks and engage the country in the fight to end hunger.
Across America, communities continue to experience the impact of high unemployment, underemployment, reduced wages, and high poverty rates, but some communities and populations are disproportionately affected. Map the Meal Gap 2014, an annual report from Feeding America released this week reveals that no community is free of hunger, and that children living in rural communities are disproportionately impacted. Fifty-nine percent of communities that face high rates of child food insecurity are rural. In these highly food insecure counties, more than 1 in 3 children qualify as food insecure.
Residents of rural communities often face multiple challenges to gaining an adequate, nutritious diet; including high food costs, transportation hurdles, and high rates of poverty and unemployment. Food insecure children are less likely to have access to afterschool and summer feeding sites that protect them from hunger when school is out. Their parents may have to travel great distances to get to a SNAP office.
In addition to providing local-level food insecurity estimates, Map the Meal Gap 2014 estimates the share of food insecure individuals who are likely income-eligible for federal anti-hunger programs like SNAP, WIC, and school meal programs. In 94 percent of counties, the majority of food insecure households with children are income-eligible for federal nutrition programs. This finding underscores the importance of programs such as free and reduced-price lunch and WIC that are targeted at households with children. It also emphasizes the importance of increasing access to federal nutrition programs, especially when we know children experience nutritional gaps over the weekends, holidays, or summer. For example, USDA data show that far fewer children participate in breakfast (11.2 million) and summer food assistance programs (2.4 million) than those who receive free or reduced-price lunch (21 million). We can also take steps to support charitable feeding programs that help fill in the gaps for children who lack access to federal nutrition programs; or for children whose families struggle to put food on the table but make slightly too much income to qualify for federal assistance.
Particularly within rural communities, improved program access and innovative delivery models can help to improve participation rates. For example, there are only about 42 summer food sites for every 100 lunch programs nationwide. In addition to increasing the number of summer feeding sites, policy makers should support alternative summer delivery models, such as delivering meals to low-income neighborhoods rather than requiring families to find transportation to a summer site; or allowing families to pick up a week's worth of meals to eat at home rather than requiring children to travel to the site each day.
Other findings on child hunger from Map the Meal Gap 2014 include:
We are pleased to announce that registration for the 2014 Neighborhood Revitalization Conference is officially open online. The Conference, co-sponsored this year by the Center for Engagement and Neighborhood Building at the Alliance for Children and Families and the Center for the Study of Social Policy, will be held July 24-25 in Washington, DC.
This year's conference promises to share the latest developments in policy, research, program design, and innovation in the fields of neighborhood building and community development. We are excited to welcome an array of practitioners, thought leaders, policymakers, philanthropists, academics, and more to the 2014 Neighborhood Revitalization Conference.
Please visit the conference webpage for more information on the conference and to register. Early bird rates are available, so register soon! The webpage will be updated frequently as we plan the details of the conference. You can also follow news and updates on the conference on Twitter using #NRC14. We hope to see you there!
A recent article from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development's Policy Development and Research division focused on the importance of ensuring equity in communities' smart growth plans. HUD's definition of "smart growth," in this case, included intentional thinking and planning to support "safe, healthy, equitable, and prosperous communities." Regional collaboration in the Chicago area was specifically cited as a model of intentionally supporting equity in housing development.
The Chicago Regional Housing Choice Initiative (CRHCI) officially launched with the help of HUD in 2011, but has been working as a multi-sector collaborative effort to address affordable housing concerns since 1999. HUD supports the CRCHI pilot in part to demonstrate "if mobility counseling and the regional administration of local PHA resources can give families desirable location outcomes while reducing government costs and administrative burdens." The Initiative consists of eight area PHAs, the Metropolitan Planning Council, HUD, and a non-profit partner.
These Chicago-area partners were motivated to address affordable housing and equity issues because of the region's growing imbalance between jobs and affordable housing, and fears that these developments threatened the region's economic competitiveness. Simply put: people could not find affordable housing on the incomes provided by the area's fastest growing labor markets. The mismatch of jobs, labor needs, housing, and affordability meant that residents could often not afford to live near their jobs and neighborhoods became increasingly segregated by income.
To begin to address these issues, CRHCI encourages families to use Housing Choice Vouchers to facilitate access to different neighborhoods, spurs the construction of mixed-income housing, and provides mobility counseling to families seeking affordable housing. The pilot project has had successes—345 vouchers provide subsidies in 28 communities, with more than 1,700 apartments either in use or in development. CRCHI also uses data from HUD to map the region using an "opportunity index" which assesses neighborhood quality based on housing stability, job access, and transit access. The information helps CRHCI identify "high-opportunity areas" that may be suitable sites for ongoing affordable housing development.
CRCHI's success demonstrates that with intentionality and planning, affordable housing development can be equitable and financially shrewd. Ultimately, creating a regional collaborative of partners helped keep housing affordable and convenient for many. Rather than isolating lower-income families, CRCHI's efforts help to integrate all income levels into smart growth neighborhoods that are beneficial for both community building and regional economic competitiveness.
The Alliance for Children and Families is accepting workshop proposals for its upcoming 46th annual Senior Leadership Conference, to be held February 21-24, 2015, in Clearwater Beach, Florida. With a leadership development focus, the Senior Leadership Conference is committed to providing exceptional learning, networking, and mentoring experiences that not only strengthen leadership skills, but also promote enduring professional relationships. The Alliance seeks workshop proposals that address current nonprofit issues relating to the Alliance's Commitments of high-impact nonprofits:
The strength of a community depends on the health and wellbeing of its residents. New scientific research also suggests that the wellbeing of an individual may have a lot to do with his or her community. The latest developments in understanding brain science suggest that 90% of brain growth occurs in the first five years of life, so growing up in a stimulating, supportive, and healthy environment is integral to a child's success.
A recent op-ed from Susan Dreyfus, President and CEO of the Alliance for Children and Families, cites the latest brain science as further evidence of the need for comprehensive early childhood education, such as the universal pre-K proposed by the President. Truly high-quality early education would reach outside of the classroom, to include family-engagement and home visiting. Ms. Dreyfus says, "Without the support of quality early childhood development programs, these children face lifetime deficits in skills and abilities that can have a long-term impact on our communities and our nation's productivity."
Policies that help children today will help build the neighborhoods of tomorrow. Myriad research suggest the positive impacts that quality early care has on an individual's educational attainment, lifetime earnings, overall health, involvement with crime, and general livelihood and stability. The data are there that an investment in children now is an investment in our communities for the future.
Just as a child grows up to impact his or her community, fostering a supportive and stable neighborhood environment has a huge impact on a developing child. To further explore the latest science on the interplay of individual development and community development, we are pleased to announce that Dr. Jack Shonkoff will be one of our featured plenary speakers at the upcoming Neighborhood Revitalization Conference. Dr. Shonkoff is a professor, a pediatrician, and the Director of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. His work examines the role of environment and early child care on brain development, and what it means for future wellbeing.
We look forward to welcoming Dr. Shonkoff, as well as numerous other researchers, academics, practitioners, policymakers, thought leaders, and more at the 2014 Neighborhood Revitalization Conference. The Conference will take place July 24-25 in Washington, DC. There's still time to submit workshop proposals! Keep watching the main Conference website for up-to-date information on registration, speakers, and more.


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Quineville, France
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Chateau de Quineville
18 rue de l Eglise, Quineville, France
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The Normandy Beaches
We are here on the Normandy beaches just about a month after the 70 year anniversary of the D Day landings. There are flags flying in the villages but I'm not sure whether they are a permanent fixture, or left over from the celebrations. We begin our ...


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Sep 25, 2013
Packers Fan Stewart Mills' First Big Endorsement: From New Hampshire?
Dedicated Green Bay Packers Fan Stewart Mills (pictured below) launched his first major endorsement of his campaign this week, with the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reporting that New Hampshire resident and failed, one-term Congressman Chip Cravaack "is back."
"If Stewart Mills is taking endorsements from out-of-staters like Chip Craavack, will he also take marching orders from the Tea Party to force a government shutdown?" said Brandon Lorenz of the DCCC. "Stewart Mills' willingness to take his endorsement from Chip Craavack is a troubling sign that rather than stand up for Minnesota values, Mills would also follow the lead of Ted Cruz and march toward a government shutdown, all to win a partisan fight."
Extreme House Republican Plan Would "Likely Result" In a Government Shutdown. In 2013, House Republicans voted for the extreme House Republican Continuing Resolution that the Associated Press reported would "likely result" in the shutdown of the federal government. According to the New York Times: "After three years of cajoling, finessing and occasionally strong-arming his fitful conservative majority, Speaker John A. Boehner waved the white flag on Wednesday, surrendering to demands from his right flank that he tie money to keep the government open after Sept. 30 to stripping President Obama's health care law of any financing. […] The House's stopgap spending measure would finance the government through Dec. 15 at the current spending levels, which reflect the automatic spending cuts that took effect in March, known as sequestration, while blocking the health care law, under which the uninsured will be enrolled beginning on Oct. 1." [HJ RES. 59, Vote #478, 9/20/13; Associated Press, 8/23/13; New York Times, 9/18/13]
Karl Rove: The House Republican "Approach [to the Continuing Resolution] Means We'll Get [A Government Shutdown]." Former Bush Advisor Karl Rove wrote in the Wall Street Journal: "There is, however, one issue on which independents disagree with Republicans: using the threat of a government shutdown to defund ObamaCare. […] Even the defund strategy's authors say they don't want a government shutdown. But their approach means we'll get one. […] It is an ill-conceived tactic, and Republicans should reject it." [Wall Street Journal, 9/19/13]
U.S. Chamber of Commerce: House Republicans are "Creating a Crisis" That's "Counterproductive." "The powerful U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday urged Congress not to play with fire by risking a government shutdown or debt ceiling-caused default. In a letter to members, the big business organization took direct aim at House Republican plans announced earlier Wednesday to use an Oct. 1 shutdown deadline and mid-October default deadline to try to stop the implementation of ObamaCare. […] While the Chamber said it agrees that the Affordable Care Act has problems and that entitlement spending needs to be addressed, the group said creating a crisis to force action on those issues is counterproductive." [The Hill, 9/18/13]
Wall Street Journal Editorial Board Likened House Republicans' Crusade to Defund Obamacare a "Kamikaze Mission" That "Rarely Turns out Well for the Pilots." The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board compared this kind of plan to "threaten(ing) to crash their Zeros into the aircraft carrier of ObamaCare" and a "Kamikaze mission" that "rarely turns out well, least of all for the pilots." Beyond the politics, the Journal wrote, "[t]his all-or-nothing posture also usually results in worse policy." [Wall Street Journal, 9/16/13]


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The Dallas Stars have acquired Tim Thomas from the Florida Panthers in exchange for Dan Ellis.
Tim Thomas heads to Texas. The #stars send Dan Ellis to #FlaPanthers to complete the deal.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) March 5, 2014
With Roberto Luongo being traded to Florida yesterday, this opened up a possibility for the Dallas Stars to reach out for a trade. Fortunately the Stars were able to exchange backup goaltenders with the Panthers after clearing up cap space from the Stephane Robidas trade yesterday.
This is a crucial deal for the Dallas Stars in their push for the playoffs. It has been difficult for the Dallas Stars to give Kari Lehtonen nights off due to not having a solid backup goaltender. Lehtonen has played 51 games this season, second behind Mike Smith of the Coyotes. Among those games he hoists a 2.48 goals against average and a 0.916 save percentage.
Thomas vs. Ellis
Dan Ellis has played 14 games this season, starting 11 of them. Ellis has a 3.04 goals against average and a 0.900 save percentage. The Stars are 5-6-1 while Ellis is behind the pipes.
Tim Thomas has played 40 games so far, while only having a record of 16-20-3. However, Thomas' goals against average is 2.87 and his save percentage is 0.909. His former team, Florida Panthers, are also one of the worst teams in the NHL this year, and are very close to the bottom in nearly every statistic; this includes having no players in the top 150 point scorers in the NHL. In that aspect, Thomas' stats may not actually be so bad. Most importantly, Thomas has experience in clutch games (50 postseason games) and having 7 seasons with 40+ games.
I don't expect Thomas to start, but he will be able to allow the coaching staff to feel comfortable with giving Lehtonen a day off during the next 20 regular season games (and hopefully several more postseason games this season).
Why this trade makes sense
The Dallas Stars will get Tim Thomas for the remainder of the season, and possibly consider offering an extension for another year depending on how he performs, and how his 39 year old body holds up. After the departure of Thomas, the Dallas Stars have built their organization to allow a younger goaltender to step up. These young goaltenders consist of Christopher Nilstorp (Texas Stars), Jack Campbell (Texas Stars), Philippe Desrosiers (Rimouski Oceanic – QMJHL), and company.
Tim Thomas joins former teammates, Tyler Seguin and Rich Peverley, of the 2010-11 Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins.
The Dallas Stars take on the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday at 6:30PM MT.


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Cute Overload: Aleph Millipied Heads To The Gym With Mommy Natalie Portman [PHOTOS]
Today we got a fabulous look at the cutie that is Aleph Millipied, son of Natalie Portman and uber hottie Benjamin Millipied. Sure we've seen Aleph before, but it's so fun to see how he's looking as he grows up. His hair is becoming a little less red. I'm still confused why it was red to begin with.
Aleph and Natalie were spotted in Los Feliz heading to their community center gym. Mommy and me classes perhaps? How cute would that be? Well, it would be cuter if it was mommy and daddy and me classes. I really like seeing this whole family together, don't you?
Natalie recently open up about wanting to spend more time with Aleph. Let me rephrase, a source for Natalie said she wants to spend more time with Aleph. Hence her lack of movies since the cutie was born.
I guess we can swing with that for a little while. But Natalie, come back to us soon! We need more actresses who look sweet but can bust out a mean rap!
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Australia international Mark Bresciano has been cleared to play for the Socceroos at this year's World Cup in Brazil despite his ongoing appeal against a four-month Fifa ban.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected Bresciano's application for a stay of proceedings but took into account his aspirations of playing at the World Cup which kicks off in June. The former Serie A player Bresciano was banned over an illegal transfer between clubs in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
Brendan Schwab, vice-president of the worldwide players union FIFPro, confirmed via Twitter that Bresciano had been cleared to line up for the Socceroos.
"Mark is free to play for Australia at the World Cup if selected," Schwab said.
Bresciano will serve his ban until 13 March but is available to play friendlies for the Socceroos as he did in Australia's 1-0 victory over Costa Rica last November.


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Good value. All we wanted was clean room and hot shower and that's what we got. If you want bells and whistles don't go here. It was easy to find and handy to the sites to be seen at Williamsburg . Another good point is out front of your room parking which is free.
- Official Description (provided by the hotel):
- Bassett motel is currently located among Virginia's most desirable attractions. History, theme parks (Busch gardens & Water country USA), College of William and Mary, Prime outlet mall and golf course are all only minute away from your first choice of motels. This motel is ideally located just one block (walking distance) from historical colonial Williamsburg and 1.5 miles from Busch gardens & Water country USA. ... more less
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Blog Post: The Tragedy of Gaza
By Leonard Fein
Americans for Peace Now, May 2007
Topic: Political Behavior, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Narrative, Violence, Israeli-Palestinian Relations, Israeli Settlements, Politics, Terrorism
Name of Publication: APN Blog
Genre: Blog Post
Coverage: Israel , Palestinian Territories
Language: English
Copyright Holder: Publisher
Copyright Information: Download for personal use, freely distribute link
Bibliographic Information:
Fein, Leonard. Blog Post: The Tragedy of Gaza. APN Blog. Americans for Peace Now. May 2007: http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=14572
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Davy Rothbart
Rines Auditorium, Portland, ME (view map)
HE'S GOT A FEW | The writer, media personality, and creator of Found Magazine DAVY ROTHBART is in town to talk about My Heart is an Idiot, his collection of essays, anecdotes, and short stories. Rothbart is adventurous and fairly shameless, traits which make his tales, here generally about unflagging pursuits of love, lust, and affection, pretty engaging. He appears at the Portland Public Library's Rines Auditorium at 6:30 pm. Free. 207.772.4045.
reads & discusses My Heart is an Idiot


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Real Madrid legend Davor Suker is eager to see a deal done for Tottenham midfielder Luka Modric.
The Croatia international could complete his move today.
"It would be amazing [if Modric joined Madrid]. As the president of the Croatian football federation it is my wish and I hope that he ends up playing for Real Madrid," Suker told Marca.
"Having Luka at Real Madrid makes Croatian football more important and has a greater impact on everything.
"We will have to wait. This is football. Things are happening and it is normal for lots to be said, but I cannot say anything definite. His time will come. Luka is an amazing player."
For all the latest football news go to tribalfootball.com.


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|Home > Your Say
|Friday June 20, 2003
This topic is now closed - this is what you said.
The arrogance in you pro-lifers! Get a grip! You do your bit adopting all the unwanted kids in the world and distribute free contraception while you are at it, and I promise to keep my pants on. Otherwise, SHUT THE HELL UP!
Cave Woman
Many of the "pro-choice" arguments here seem to revolve around the assumption that the child will grow up in poverty, will therefore endure a life of misery, and that it would be better if the child never lives, as its education, living standards, etc., are not up to what we consider acceptable, first-world middle-class standards.
There is a positive side to having all those anti-abortionists hanging around outside the clinics - when you've had your unwanted baby and are looking for somewhere to drop it off, you'll know where to find them! :-)
Pro choice has a few problems.
Michael Casanova
15 or 16, haven't finished high school, didn't think you would get pregnant, or were silly enough to listen to what some bloke said about "being careful".
Young once
Did you know that in Russia for every 100 births there are 137 abortions. That is because abortions are free whilst contraceptives cost a fortune. Therefore, whilst abortions are a womans right, there should be renewed focus on contraception. For example, the pill should be sold over the counter without prescription and condoms shouldn't cost so much. For someone like me who enjoys it so much I'm going broke.
Jack Jackson
My wife and I have just learnt that we are pregnant. It's about 25 days since conception, and that means that my baby has a beating heart already.
Wow! New dad already!
Maybe with the money they can pay for some counselling to recover from the effects of meddling pro-lifers and re-schedule the abortion.
I'm confused at the continual attack along the lines of "no one should force their morality on someone else!". This is exactly what society is all about. Educators, legislators, parents, even friends CONTINUALLY impose their own views and beliefs on others. Some of them are what some would call "religious" in nature, others are not. This moral imposition is the lifeblood of social upheaval and any government besides anarchy.
Nathan A
To the writer known as Intelligent debate - very well said.
Pro Life = Pro Biblical Society standards
To all you pro-lifers out there, you can take the high moral ground when you have all taken in children from every orphanage and there is not a single child, no matter the age of the child, left who does not have a happy home... Until that time, by forcing women to have their babies and give them up for adoption you are creating misery. You have a right to your opinion?? not to harass others.
not casting the first stone
It's a sick sad world when people waste money like this. If the anti abortion crowd were genuine about life - then they would help those people already born who need food/medicine's etc.
I'd like very much for those Pro-Lifers to adopt all the unwanted babies in the world.
Yeah, that would save the world's problems.
Look, let's keep religion out of the realms of the law.
Sick of religious fanatics trying to affect the way I live MY life. BUTT OUT!
We are all seeking happiness. You want to choose, so do others. Respect other people's right to choose, even if you don't respect the actual choices they make.
Mad Scientist
Here's where the concept of karma works best. If a woman aborts, it is the unborn child's karma that it is not destined to be born. This child will find another easily another body to be born into, what the hell are you people so worried about?
Buddhism makes sense
Sexism in the city?
Sexiest politicians
Sex worker zones
Govt schools' failure
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eSalarySurvey is a specialist salary comparison site run by leading Marketing, Creative and Digital recruitment specialists - Firebrand Talent Search.
The site was launched in October 2011, and the salary database grows each week in size and richness due to contributions from people just like you!
The salary survey covers all cities within Australia.
The site's aim is to give Marketing, Creative and Digital professionals a mechanism to openly contribute, share and exchange salary data about their industry. Think of it as crowdsourcing meets salary data ... we collate salary information gathered from Marketing, Creative and Digital professionals like you so that the combined salary database delivers something of real value to the entire industry.
Finally, you'll have accurate insight into what people in the Marketing, Creative and Digital sector are really earning.
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"Just what you would expect from a utility."
- Work/Life Balance
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
Helpful (2)
You won't be working long into the night as the company definitely has a "nine to five" culture. Most work weeks will be 40 hours (nominal) and less than that after you net out your long lunches and ample morning and afternoon breaks. The quality cafeteria is an indication of, and inducement to, the social culture prevalent here.
Additionally, you'll enjoy relative job security so long as you keep yourself positioned in a core business function and ensure good relations with your immediate supervisor.
Despite a "flattening" of the "spans and layers" several years ago, there continues to be an excessive middle management cadre with little to do. As a result you'll find yourself in meetings with no clear purpose and too many attendees, and probably be subjected to weekly status meetings and/or written status reports. Salary administration is driven by a cumbersome and unhelpful annual performance review process, and the annual raise percentage spread between outstanding, average, and below average performers is such that it will take many years for a meaningful pay delta to emerge. Top performers could earn far more, and be given greater responsibility, elsewhere. Many will nevertheless stay at SRP for the job security and great benefits.
Advice to Management
Trim the fat out of the middle management ranks. Too many managers with little to do but take long lunches with each other on the company expense account. Push responsibility down to the "worker" level and eliminate the time wasted in meetings and reporting to your boss so he can report to his boss, etc.
Helpful (1)
Alternate work week schedule
Incentive pay plan
Flexible work hours
Good communication
Interesting changes in industry involving regulation
Good Benefits 401k, health, dental, vision, pension plan, life insurance
Excellent office locations
Work life balance
Slow promotion schedule
Large bureaucracy
Compensation growth limited
Regulations inhibit innovation
Municipal status limits growth opportunities and profit opportunities resulting in limited upside to compensation particularly in energy trading areas
Poor office quality e.g. furniture, cubicles, lighting, etc.
Managers have a tendency to micromanage because finance, technology, and accounting positions tend to be greatly overstaffed resulting in a light workload
Limited opportunities for advancement beyond senior engineer/analyst level
Advice to Management
Management should attempt to streamline the bureaucracy, while maintaining customer service quality.
Great Benefits, stable company, good bonuses. Municipality, so technically not a "for Profit company" so they are pretty generous with the funds to their employees.
Militaristic regime, engineering heavy, which can be a burden. Engineers run most of the company, and many are in management positions, which makes things difficult sometimes, especially if you are not an engineer.
Advice to Management
Listen to your people when they talk to you, don't write everyone who comes to you off as a squeaking wheel.


text:
"We know we have to get off the field. We enjoy third down. Third down is a fun down to play. Usually you're looking for pass, except for this week I think, but usually you're looking for pass and everyone is excited."
"When you're having fun you're winning."
"Everyone has been doing their assignments and we've cut down a lot of mistakes."
"J.R. and I were talking the other day about how if you're having fun playing football it's hard to lose."
"It seems like there's a good atmosphere around campus."
"I think we were 3-1 last year so... we didn't end up too well so we've got a long ways to go."
"Last year at some point, maybe middle of the season, things became a lot easier."
"I think they have a good offense. It's tough to stop. You have to be very disciplined on defense to stop them."
"That's what we're trying to stop this week."
"My boxing coaches always thought I could pursue it if I wanted to."
"No. I don't think so. I think a few schools recruited me as an athlete, not sure what to do, but I don't think anyone [else] said that's what they wanted me to do, play linebacker."
"He always said I played quarterback like I played defense."
"I received several walk-on offers from ECU, UNC, and NC State."
"I felt like this was the best fit for me."
"Both of my parents attended NC State, and I had been attending games since I was about seven years old."
"I went out there trying to get the coaches to notice me by tackling people."
"You need to make the coaches remember you. That's how you get a spot."
"It was a big transition. I was 195 pounds coming out of high school playing wideout."
"It's just cool seeing my little brother make a tackle out there."
"The only place I think it really affects me is in the passing game, blitz pickup."
"It kind of changes the person we have to pick up."


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CHESTER -- The Union front office is attempting to coordinate some housekeeping in PPL Park's River End section.
Team president Tom Veit met Tuesday with members of the Sons of Ben, the popular fan group of the expansion Major League Soccer franchise. One topic brought to the table: removing expletives from a few of the group's chants.
Veit said Saturday, prior to the Union's match with Colorado, that doing so is a fine line to walk -- considering the team's effort to remain "family friendly without stifling any excitement or energy."
"We're not adversarial with them at all -- that's the important thing to remember," Veit said. "This is a family picnic and we have to talk to Uncle Bob about getting himself under control. It's like, 'Hey Uncle Bob, go grab the potato salad.'
"After people talk about the building, they talk about the energy here as the best asset. And that energy is right there," Veit said, gesturing toward the River End seats.
Sons of Ben president Bryan James acknowledged this week in a telephone interview that there are a few bad apples in his group "who feel it's their birthright" to swear, but that a majority of the post-game e-mails he receives express appreciation for the Sons' support.
The Sons reduced their derogatory chants Saturday following opposing teams' goalkicks and were more tame than they've been in recent matches.
"I'm pretty confident that the problems will be taken care of because ... we get the message," James said. "We're trying to create an atmosphere that's uncomfortable for the opposition and not for the home fans."
The Sons of Ben did this to perfection July 31 against New England, by inserting the first name of Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis' wife into their chants. The Union played to a 1-1 draw that day.
"(Reis) turned around afterward and clapped at us," James said. "If I heard my wife's name being chanted by 2,000 people, I'd be more distracted than hearing (swears). That's why we're moving in the direction of incorporating more creativity instead of the other stuff (profanity)."


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The upcoming meet of Confederation of Indian Industries to discuss ways of expanding and 'deepening' the Indian capital markets has no place for the retail investor. Has corporate India written off retail investors? Or do they continue to think that retail investors have nothing to contribute to policy making?
On 12 December, the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) will hold its 4th Capital Market Summit in Mumbai. A quick look at the agenda and the speakers shows that almost every capital market segment has a role and a space at the summit except the biggest stakeholder of all—the 10 million retail investors.
The theme of the summit is "Deepening of Capital Markets: Faster Growth of the Economy" and the objective is: Facilitating raising of capital from domestic resources; restore capital markets as the centre for capital formation; and, building stable and mature capital markets. To our mind, all three objectives need to take into account the retail investor. More specifically, it should address why 20 years of economic liberalization and so-called capital market growth has halved the number of retail investor. The most recent survey commissioned by SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) puts the retail investor population at 10 million, which is two million more than that reported by the D Swarup Committee report.
Without the presence of retail investors, markets lack depth and companies find it hard to make successful IPOs.
However, CII is apparently unconcerned. It has put together industry representatives of every kind -- investment bankers, private equity investors, mutual funds, at least four stock market chiefs, regulators, law firms and banks (which hard-sell products to investors) – to deliberate on how to grow the size of the capital market. It is satisfied that if they interact with lawyers, policy makers, investment bankers, advisors and other corporate stakeholders who are helpfully listed under "who should attend", the summit should be successful.
Is it any surprise then that investors' fury at repetitive, cumbersome Know Your Customer (KYC) processes are never addressed. It is any surprise that transmission of shares remains a slow, expensive and endless process? And is it any wonder that investors have voted with their feet and switched to bank fixed deposits, gold or real estate or tax-free bonds?
Retail mutual fund investors have also been pulling out of SIPs (systematic investment plans) in large droves. As many as 5.10 lakh SIPs were ceased before the completion of the stipulated tenure (http://www.moneylife.in/article/mutual-fund-sips-decline-further-who-is-to-blame/29873.html).
Here's the irony—excluding trustee members, there is no direct representative from the mutual fund industry to speak either in the CII summit. In the past, summits of this sort at least had a token representation from investors, investor groups or at least analysts who were seen as the voice of the ordinary investor. But industry has now chosen to dispense even with this pretense.
Keeping retail investors out of capital market summits would have made sense if there were other forums for the regulators to address their concerns or interact with them. But this does not happen either.
The chief guest at CII's summit is UK Sinha, the chairman of SEBI. In over two years at SEBI, Mr Sinha has diligently addressed a plethora of corporate summits or events organized by industry associations and chambers of commerce, but there is no record of his having addressed any genuine investor meets or directly engaging with investors.
In fact, under his tenure, SEBI does not even respond to investors' email suggestions; worse even letters from retired secretaries of the government of India are mechanically transferred to the outsourced grievance redressal mechanism which sends out absurd replies like "the issue is not under SEBI's jurisdiction". This happened specifically in the case of former expenditure secretary EAS Sarma and has been published by Moneylife.
The bigger irony is that the finance ministry, the ministry of corporate affairs is forever exhorting market intermediaries and stock exchanges to conduct "financial literacy" seminars, as though lack of financial literacy and not bad policy making or mis-selling or regulatory apathy have driven away investors.
The President elect of the Archery Association of India, Vijay Kumar Malhotra has served for more than three consecutive terms in the past and is also above the age of 70 years
The defeat of the motion in the Rajya Sabha came two days after the Lok Sabha voted out a similar motion, paving the way for entry of global supermarkets like Walmart into the country


text:
Mark your calendars! Kazunori Yamauchi has just announced via Twitter the next update will be made available for Gran Turismo 5 this coming Friday, February 18th. Via Google Translator:
In the next update. What day 18 February. RT @ driftlover35r: @ Kaz_Yamauchi PP scheme is implemented or when? Have the sameadvantage in torque power difference, I get the penalty.
As you can see, Kazunori also appears to confirm the return of the "Performance Points" system used to benchmark cars in GT5 Prologue may be returning to GT5.
In addition to new features and bug fixes, this will have an effect on the start of the third round of GT Academy USA, originally slated to begin February 14th but postponed until after this update has been issued. Thanks to everyone who sent this in so quickly – stay tuned for more!
GT5 Photomode image by s12ken.
Comments are now closed. Visit our forums for more discussion.
http://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=182051 if you need to know now :)
Few changes. Nothing that impressive. In my opinion!
Updates out no news on whats exactly in it yet but i can see PP and gran-turismo.com is down for maintanance so maybe gt anywhere :)
Custom tranny works, dealerships now have checkmarks for cars you already own. Don't know what else yet though. Connection error requiring a reboot…..
Update is installing now…1.06 301mb
i like the PP system "idea" id didnt penilize enuf for low weight in gt5P. it would also be nice if the system gave a carp what track youre on, and what drive train you have. like 4wd at dayton should probably drop a few pp but 4wd at autim ring mini should add a few pp (for exsample) as it is right now you can limit hp and weight that dosnt make it even, the lightest car that can hit the max hp limit will be the best. and what if you want to try a not so good handeling car but that has a lot of powr and see if you can win? cant do that now every one has the same hp. restricting car type would be nice to, like street car, race mod, pure race car, f1, prototype.
Sooooo… there's a save game bug that affects everybody eventually, and we can fix it using the update.
Awesome. My PS3 doesn't connect to the internet because of my stupid mobile broadband. Are you telling me I have to now pay for a new internet connection JUST to keep playing GT5?
This game sucks. Hard.
Wow, I hadn't even thought of that. Since you are not getting museum cards you should have quite a bit of time, but i'd be looking for a friend with a connection I could borrow for the update.
I wonder though, given the situation, if a downloadable fix might become available through a PC. The backlash potential to PD's sales and reputation could be pretty high otherwise I would think.
Wasn't the bug introduced in a previous update? So if you've never downloaded any patches for GT5, you should be ok. If you can, it'd be worth updating though.
I realy dont like the PP idea. It realy sucks. But if they do use it in next update, i hope they will take alot more in account than the power ratio. Cause that just sucks and the prologue version realy sucked. The game isnt realy hard, but it takes way too long to level up on it. Thus the PP thingy wouldnt help. Otherwise I realy like the game:)
Does anyone know what this update will contain besides Performance Point and the GT5 game save file size fix?Don't get me wrong i am glad both of these things are in but i was wondering if that is all that is going to be in there.
Can we still dupe cars this friday? I have a lot of trades to do on the weekend still.
Are they going to update all the flaws with the game? Are all standard cars going to be Premium cars?
No (well mabey, but that's subjective) and no (some cars yes, all cars no).
I hope they fix the mclaren tach, improve craptastic shadows, allow for individual gear change and fix everything thing else in between. :)
Oh yeah THAT's why I stopped reading comments on the new entries.
I'm happy they are implementing performance points. I like to know I'm on a relatively level playing field with the AI. As it is now, it's difficult for me to know if I'm driving well or just overpowering the competition, ruining my sense of accomplishment. I've been playing less and less recently because of this….it doesn't help that I won a ton of money in the seasonal events and my drive to play more to buy my dream cars has diminished.
I've gotten bored with the game as it is, any new features will definitely get me back into the game. I have a Level 40 B-Spec driver and TONS of cars (over 400) and about 18M in credits, all the licenses and all the Gold in B-Spec. Only thing left is Gold in the Endurance races on the A-Spec and I do NOT look forward to the 24 hour races..got bored during the Daytona 500 race even..
I hope there's much more in this update besides the PP system. What about customizable gear ratios. That's a very important one, and I really hope they add more support and tweaking for the Logitech G27, especially being able to map those buttons on my steering wheel.
I might be OK with the PP system if they leave out the penalty system from GT5P. That is one reason I quit playing, I would get a time penalty when someone hit me and they would just sail right on past. If I did the same, I get the penalty and they still cruise on past. Maybe I should give it another try.
I think PP is a great idea. I am not a very fast driver and the only races that are challenging are the FGT and Vettel. When I say I am not very fast, I usually rank in between 2000-5000th place in the seasonal time trials and the racing is still way too easy in A-spec.
Why is everyone assuming from those few poorly translated words mean performance points?
When I read the tweet, I took PP as meaning 'P1$$ Poor' as in we implementing a p1$$ poor update. A lot seem to be read into non official news and over the week they become the expectation
You're not funny.
Wasn't meant to be. But back on topic, It seems to be gospel that we are getting performance points, they're fixing the savegame and were getting b-spec anywhere. I'm just not sure how these rumours become so trusted.
Yep, you made alot more sense when it looked like you where trolling.
Apparently he isn't aware all of these "rumors" came from Kaz himself, (who hase also refered to performance points has "pp" before so that it would fit in a tweet). Not exactly third party unreliable sources.
Why don't they push out an official post about the updates? Now we've got a short Twitter message, and noone knows nothing about that update.
Congrat PD, SONY and Kaz. Something will never change.. :(
What they should put in but is unlikely is a proper trading system. And more xp per races because I'm half way through 29 and will take me grinding to the 20th just to unlock vettels challenge. Bullcrap
You know, I was just being pessimistic a few moments ago and thought "what if PD completely replaces the existing system in favor of PPs?" I like the idea of Performance Points very much, but I sure hope they leave the existing structure in place and supplement it with PPs. It would be really annoying to find out they had removed (as an example) the tire restrictions. So I hope we can regulate things such that (for example) anyone can run a car of 600pp or less, but so that it must also fall within a specific power, weight, or tire-compound range. (Personally, it would also be great to have a limitation as to year. Sometimes I would love to run an all-classics race without having to micro-manage everyone's entry. But I realize that's a minor point.) And I also agree it would be great to see PPs used in at least some A-Spec (and B-Spec) events and/or practice and arcade modes. Keeping my fingers crossed. I'm really hoping this update re-awakens my faith in PD.
Looking forward to this update. The only thing that concerns me is there seems to be no updates on rims, gt2 has better rim selection than gt5.
I am also glad to see the PP system returning. I hope it is an option to enable for online races. At present it is very hard to allow an open garage and have a close race. Limiting weight, tyres and power separately is clunky and still doesn't balance the field very well. I was amazed (and disappointed) to see that PPs weren't in from day 1.
It would also make for better arcade races aswell :)
Yeah I actually likes performance points, hope it's for arcade not just online
PP's you say? Because I need a better variety of cars to match the one I'm using…
I mean, what's the use of having the same set of AI cars all over again? With PP, variety is possible… Which reminds me of Forza.
And with a single comment a half million fanboys simultaneously droped dead from acute brain Aneurysms………….
Fanboys of what? I mean, GT5 has 1, 030+ cars. But having the same set of 15 AI cars when using the same car is just unbelievable. Hopefully, PP's can solve this issue.
I was referring to this: "Which reminds me of Forza."
If that didn't send GT fanboys into fits, nothing will. lol.
Okay, let me rephrase. I just noticed that Forza has better AI selection than GT5. But when PP's come out, GT5 will have more interesting AI cars than Forza.
That's possible, but doubtfull. I think it likely won't have any effect on AI selection beyond any line-up changes initially made to keep AI compliant with PP (if it changes line-up at all), and it'll still be roughly the same cars over and over and over and over……….lol
It's great news that they are bringing Performance Points back. That should make it so much easier to manage online racing. Currently the hosts have to "micro-manage" the cars people are allowed to run because certain ones (Elise RM, anyone?) are so overpowering at their HP rating. I sure hope they do a good job of it!
Are performance points just online or are they on like every race. I guess i cant race X2010 for every race soon
Implementing a Performance Point system is by far the the best way to restrict tuning, and it will make the game more challenging and fun to play. I look forward to it.
I'm glad performance points are coming back from prologue. Hopefully it will mean racing/rm cars are restricted in low hp races. Everyone knows the wedsport and elise rm cars can beat anything under 400 hp.
Another problem i hope they fixed regards Shuffle races online. Whenever someone attempts to spectate on an ongoing race, the game freezes. Its a little fault but frustrating when you've spent 30mins looking for a decent room.
Performance points are excellent for a close even online race, at the moment there is no good way to restrict people thats very even. people love to whinge lol I and many others are happy with GT5 and PD are under no obligation to give us any updates whatsoever so think yourself lucky if you bought GT5 and enjoy it, if you don't enjoy it the good news is that second hand prices are still high so sell it and stfu.
My first reaction to this was excitement…
…then I went to the comment section.
You guys are such Debbie Downers.
Lol, that'll teach you…….J/K
Well, in trying to think positive and make the best out of things I guess one of the biggest drawbacks is in shifting. From what I gather if you want to race in auto you'll be fine. Not how I would want it but I guess that might be the best way to play with the G27 for now.
I think one of the most frustrating things is possibly not even the fact that Logitech or PD won't officially comment on all this but the fact that if you read forums here and on Logitech your getting varying opinions! Some say it's fine while others say it's not? It's very confusing ESP when your going to drop $300.
I like your positive thinking though "a non e-mouse" and you might be right, the wheel is popular and hopefully if we project good thoughts we'll get good results!
If no class action possible boycott?
Sony products?
Logitech products?
Future GT releases?
It just seems unfair. Sorry to complain.
Doubt a boycott would even get off the ground since most G27 wheels, and playstations were bought before, or at the time GT5 released. But the good news is that it's a popular enough wheel that the fixes will likely happen eventually anyway.
And no need to appologize. It's a legitimate complaint I think.
Logitech's site says "gran turismo 5".
They better update that if it's not true?
It's on their site right now.
My wheel is on back order but I'm thinking of canceling it?
I guess I'm supposed to buy a $500 wheel not $300!
Logitech just says you can use it with gt5, which you can. It makes no promise of how well it will function with GT5 however, so no, they don't need to take it down.
I hope they fix any and all logitech g27 issues!
I smell class action on pd, Sony or logitech? Maybe all the above?
Class action suit? Yah, that's not going to happen……
Lol, yep, not going to happen. No grounds for such a thing. Nothing on the box, manual, or game says anything about garranted 100% support for the g27.
As usual up to date and useful GT news. But "effect" not "affect" in this context.
There is nothing wrong with complaining about this… obviously there are bigger fish to fry than MORE restrictions that do nothing for the game, at all.
Lets fix shadows/graphical errors, unlocking gear customization, adding more tracks, how about some of those premium/standard converts? More events and content? Why not tidy up the Standard Cars or at least fix all the damn bugs?
What do they decide to do? Add something to the game that it DOESN'T NEED.
PP doesn't have a place in the game… there are already so many damn restrictions that it's just pointless. Might as well just cut through the BS and race stock cars in 1 make events for now on cuzz thats challenging brah…
Yep. Your deffinitely playing the wrong game. Too many restrictions my arse. Try Mario Cart if GT is too much for you.
Everybody hear that? Deathsarthe finds the game too restrictive, so since only his wants and needs matter, we don't need PP. More restrictions is only ranked 11th on the feedback forum, nobody could possibly want them. Instead PD should focus entirely onDeathsarthe's vision for the game. The rest of us should let Deathsarthe do our thinking for us as well.
On second thought, naaaaah.
Yes, sounds like your only going to be dissapointed with the updates if you keep playing GT. Time for a new game for sure.
Did you buy this game to race or to collect levels? If it is the former, you do understand that all real racing series have regulations and restrictions right? It is what makes racing, racing.
I find it ridiculous that GT5 is so forgiving, the AI competitors are supposed to be there to 'compete' with. Hopefully now they will try to get as close to the top end of restrictions as possible as would happen in real life.
Can you imagine entering a race in real life whose regulations stated there are no tuning restrictions and no tyre restrictions and you think – ooh I know I'll enter with a set of hard road tyres and a stock car? Because that is what the AI currently do in GT5 and it is so unbelievably unrealistic that it makes a mockery of PD's stated dedication to realism.
@QUIZMO Its more than Deathsarthes opinion that PP shouldnt be added. Im sure if there was an ability to disagree with the PP system in the feedback area it wouldnt be 11th
Wow, Justcause just completely missed the point. Why am I not surprised?
I cant remember replying to you Dan.
And still doesn't have a clue……..XD
Justcause: "I cant remember replying to you Dan."
Funny, i don't see quizmo replying to you either.
I Get my taxes back that day.. i am most deff getting a wheel
Fix the elephant in the room, I mean the shadows. Graphically it is the only thing holding back the game from being 100% visually perfect for me. I cannot fathom how this hasn't even been addressed yet or hinted at being fixed. If GT5 Prologue doesn't suffer with these issues it can't take them a whole heck of a lot to figure out why GT5 full version does and to fix it. I can't even watch replays unless its a bright sunny day track so theres little issues with shadowing compared to the cluster screwup of pixels that appear on rain or even a nighttime rain track.
PD fix it.
90% of what I consider to be enjoyable game time is spent looking forward while moving in such a way that minor graphical inconsistencies are not noticable. If they bother you that much you are either, not paying attention to the road, not driving fast enough, or simply not driving.
Do you really want to fix an admittedly annyoing and amateurish graphical problem when so much else could be added instead to improve the – you know – actual DRIVING part of the game?
Yes. I agree that it's not the most imoportant thing to fix. But this game is supposed to be the best in the business when it comes to graphics. I enjoy watching replays, not just to watch how I drive but also because the cars and grapics are beautiful. But those blocky shadows ruin much of that experience.
All I want for Christmas is smoke in the rear view mirror
Agree, that suck too much. u have to look back to see the smoke. u cant in the mirrors.
I hope they will fix the shadows and the smoke bug ( the car become pixelized when it goes throught smoke), add more premium, new tracks, more RM, rims change for every car, and why not adding some events.
I hope I won't be disapointed.
Plus, forwarding B-Spec possibily.
As much as my love of and enthusiasm for GT5 has waned somewhat in the last few weeks as I approach 90% completion I still have faith that this coming update will improve the game to some degree even after the disappointing 7th set of Seasonals.
PP should be optional ie.online races.PP will be useful in the seasonal racing,as of now there to easy.
Haha, always the complaints….
I love GT5 and i look forward to this update a lot!
Are you ever happy with anything?
I'm with you.
And no, they're not.
Wow, R1600Turbo found a way to be even more annoying than the complainers. Just blitz down the comments section making pointless sarcastic posts about it, even though it won't change things one bit. Good job.
Its my birthday today!
congratulations :)
Glad PP is returning. I hope it is used in Seasonal challenges- I bet it will be, to make them a "challenge", not just a few laps with Ai for obstacles. I hope to god they expand a-spec.. and use PP for restrictions in the new a-spec series of races. Ai improvements and tweaks would be cool.. General game fixes- plenty of those needed, blocky shadows and smoke, no shadows on curbs, gearbox full adjustment, G25/27 clutch 2nd gear bug… lots of things to hope for, if not in this update, hopefully improvements will be coming soon.
"remote races coming early febuary" Hopefully that coming the 18th. better late than never i guess.
Why you don't want PP system, if you don't want this do not use it
Oh god… performance points?? This is what they've been working on for the last month?? Performance points…
First of all, Performance Points was a stupid idea in GT5:P, it absolutely ruined the game for me. This is yet another bullsh** elitist feature that will just kill the fun factor. Many of my cars are going to be benched and grinding for credits will take so much longer, and then you can forget me racing in any endurance races which means it'll be pretty much impossible for me to reach 40. I never liked B-Spec and with PP system incoming, I don't think I'll ever touch it now.
If PD really implements performance points in GT5.. I will throw away my Collectors Edition, sell off my PS3. So many bad design choices and this one will be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
No other GT title had the
PP system aside from Prologue (which only had it because I'm assuming it didn't have real tuning in it). It shouldn't expand on having more limitations, but instead more freedom. This is what made GT titles from the past so addicting and great.
Welcome to the future of the series.
If you are not satisfied with the Performance Points patching, simply disconnect your PS3 from the network (before the release date!) and do not reconnect until you are ready to take on the update. I still want to try to get both my A and B spec levels to at least 30 before I download this patch.
Trust me on this, you can play this game offline even after this patch is released – because when I first bought the game, it was a stock version. I chose to be disconnected from the Network until I got my A-spec level above 15.
There's only one thing to say to you in this situation.
You mad bro?
They've used a very similar system in Forza 3 and NOBODY chucked a hissy fit as bad as that over it. If they implement it into A-Spec at least then some of the races will be an actual challenge.
"You mad bro" What is this?? World of Warcraft forums?
I'm not disrespecting anyone's opinions with this useless internet idiotism, and really that's something I'd expect from a lesser community.
Years ago this kind of trolling behavior wouldn't have existed because GT was perfect. Now it isn't perfect, and they're rapidly changing it… of course it isn't going to be ideal for every person on the face of the earth, but at least those who don't agree with something so useless as PP shouldn't be supressed in at least expressing their distaste.
If there is any kind of rough estimate as to how I believe GT5 will perform over the next few months, I'd probably point out GT5:P's progression over its two years on the market… it isn't looking so good, especially when you consider how good it should've been given it's the "complete" version of GT5 – not the $40 demo.
So you found previous versions, that were way more restrictive, were "perfect", but the least restrictive version yet, you find to be too restrictive?
Sure, that makes sense. Errrr, no it doesn't.
@Desmond. The previous versions of GT were a lot less restrictive with more tuning parts and more tuning options than GT5. Now they are making GT5 even more restrictive than it needs to be with the PP system. I hope to god the PP system is for online only.
You both have short memories. The previous versions were full of race restrictions. Much more than GT5. GT2 being the most restrictive. You guys are just upset you won't be able to use high level tunes to make up for low level skill.
@Greg: Its amazing how you think you know how bad or good my skills are even though you dont know me or never raced against me. I have no problem winning races with a car thats even to the opponents but any B_Spec driver Ive had needs a better car because B-Spec drivers suck at racing.
People probably think you have no skill because all you do on this page is whine that the game is to hard. Heck, I have never even controlled my B-spec drivers, and i'm at B-spec level 40 with all races gold. I f b-spec is giving you that much trouble, your doing something wrong. If B-spec was any easier they'd have to take it out of the game out of shear embarrassment. Face it, your getting PP, like it or not anyway.
@Deriuqer Eman : Good for you for being at level 40 B-Spec. I have been grinding B-Spec with almost a week nowand I am only at level 22. I had to repeat one championship continually all day yesterday just to get to level 22. I dont want to be doing the same championship over and over again for 10 hours just to get to the next level. Its taken me that long to get to level 21 because my B-Spec driver was losing 50% of the races he entered up to level 15.
Also I cant recall complaining the game was too hard. I know I have been complaining that the game is too restrictive though. I dont mind the restrictions in the GT races , Rally races and any other proper race series races , but the road car races shouldnt be so restricted because those races are more like race what you bring track day races.
"If b-spec is giving you that much trouble, your doing something wrong."
"Face it, your getting PP, like it or not anyway."
CDtually I dont have to face it that I am getting PP because I am not being forced to download the update. I can chose wether I want the update or not.
lol, and his game won't get the savegame fix because he doesn't want to spend 10 minutes researching how to make a good driver and match it to a good car. I guess he showed you Deriuqer Eman/Gulio. Sheesh. Too funny.
@O_o: You dont have to worry about his save game not being fixed because his PS3 died a half hour ith the flashing light of death.
Ehhhh, JustCause, you do realize O_o was talking about YOU not getting the update, right….?
@Gram: ehhhh I know that and I was telling O_o that he doesnt have to worry about my save game not being fixed because my PS3 died and it will be a few months before I can aford a new PS3. Also my GT5 disk is stuck in my PS3 and my PS3 is outside its guarantee with 3 and a half years.
Performance Points?
isn't it enough that we already have HP/Weight/Tire restriction?
i mean honestly… in Prologue, the PP system consisted of sliding power up or down and sliding weight up or down. we can already limit that stuff. why do we need Performance Points?
I agree 100%. The Performance Points system in prologue sucked big time.
I actually would like to see performance points return, but ONLY if they give us the ballast option back from GT4. It would also be brilliant to see performance points instigated online, rather than power…
Just a wee side note, but im loving the sites enbracement of the android browser. Very nice touch. :-P
I hope Performance Points and the Penalty system is for online races only.
Looks like everybody forgot about this, has anyone considered this update may bring that "Remote B-Spec" feature? PD said it would come "early February" and we're almost in the middle of the month.
Performance points? Oh no…instead of moving forward they take a giant leap backwards..if i wanted to use Performance points i'd play prologue….lame…what merits the change?
What are performance points?
If there is no leaderboards in this update I will be pissed. Hopefully they have tweeked the AI to go a bit fast aswell as every race is a easy win even in a under powered car.
Yes please!!
Having at least 3 different save'able setups for each car!
Turning the customizable gearbox into a real customizable gearbox.
Crap patch … it's sad
Doesn't even know what's in it, and already declaring it crap. Amazing.
He thinks, the performance point system is the only content :D Poor little guy.
Little poor old guy ( 46 ) :)
Theres only three things I would like in the next update
1) The ability to save in endurance races
2) In the car dealership to add standard cars instead of standards being in the used car dealership
3) A better B spec driver that doesnt brake on the sniff of a high speed corner and a B-Spec driver that knows how to overtake properly.
The rest of the stuff being added I have no interest in and I dont want to upgrade if the penalty system is harsh in single player mode.
Oh and why on gods earth did they make the cars in the licence tests handle so much worse than they do when racing. Most of the licence tests are stupid and we never actualy race in such conditions.
why are they implementing PP again?
Performance Points SUCK. Now we have HP which is the perfect way to limit races…
Performance Points are dumb, its like downscaling.
Its probably to restrict what cars we can bring into what races etc. As if B-Spec races arent already restricted enough. I dont understand why the Tyre restrictions are so harsh in so many races.
Don't like it? Unhook your internet connection and never download the update.
Oh wow thank you for the tip. I would have never known that. (Just in case you didnt catch it that was sarcasim)
Well, since you've repeatedly posted how hard the game is all over this page, mabey he made the understandable mistake of thinking you needed help with that as well……….
By HP you mean horse power?
If so, that's a terrible way to compare performance. A Ford Lightning has high horse power but it corners like ass and weighs a lot.
You can get an Elise, drop all weight and get the best tires and run circles around it.
You're taking into account one factor. And it's the worst.
@ Alex
You just need a good tune on that Lightning…and a good driver. That truck is good for sub 6:30 times around the Ring. Certainly no slouch.
@R1600turbo – Sub 6:30? Didn't expect that. I should give it a try :D
@OBKB Adding Performance Points and an over baring penalty system to GT5 is'nt helping to make the game any easier. Its actually making the game harder.
@justcause- it's not making the game harder, it's making it more even, especially in online races. And R1600 Turbo, Alex is right about the hp thing. You say tune the lightning? That will add performance points. And, by the way way, if you tune that ugly Ford and the Lotus, the lotus will still destroy it. Performance points just make the races more fair, period.
It might be making online racing easier but it is making the game even harder. Theres already too many restrictions on the offline game without adding more restrictions and an overbearing penalty system.
Wow, it just flew right over your head and you probably didn't even notice the shadow…….
this could lead to classes for leaderboards?
Could someone succinctly summarize Performance Points for me, please? Google is not helping.
Simular to Forza's point system. Races have point limits, and modifications to cars add or subtract points assigned to a given car, limiting what you can do to a car and still enter it in a given race.
yes, it really takes into consideration power to weight ratio, not just hp limits. Adding things like tires, suspension, transmission will add performance points to your car. This, in turn, may put you over the pp limit for a given race.
Hope in this update will be some new premium model cars, at least one new track, some new online and offline features.. then next weekend will be the best :)
Prepare to be disappointed.
I'll still stay optimistic :)
Call me when we get new content.
As far as I'm concerned this game shipped with around 200 cars. Some of which are hybrid cars that have no business being Premium.
Who would take a Prius over any other Toyota car? Trueno, Celica, Supra? The list can go on.
I'm a bitter man, Kaz! Appease me!
In your opinion those cars have no business being premiums. I do use those cars you think have no business being premiums for fun every once in a while.
The CR-Z certainly deserves to be premium. Fun little car. I for one am not concerned about "new contest" updates. I'd rather them spend time adding that new stuff to GT6 and getting it released the the next couple years.
And if you refuse to drive the standard cars. Well, you're missing out.
…new content*
Am I the only one that finds it shocking that we have no info about what's in the update (except for pp)?
I mean, usually, devs give the details of every correction and/or adjustment they make. Why not PD?
Not the least bit shocked. That's PD, only tell the publice what they want us to know. Lucky we even got this tweet.
That's a real photo…. right? :P
Nope, your imagining it……;p
this – better than reality :))
Sounds good to me! Hopefully more content but everyone has their preferences.
PS: "this will have an affect", it's an effect. sorry for being such a grammar nazi
Please tell me they are fixing the clutch in this update. Easily the worst clutch support of any sim game.
Agreed, the clutch on the g27 and g25 with this game is far too glitchy. You only have to use about 1″ of pedal travel to drive the car! It also feels as if your clutch disk is coated in glue. All g27 and g25 players know what im saying.
I have no problem with my G25 in GT5. It uses 100% of my accelerator. Its only when I touch the clutch that the clutch stays engaged until I change gear and that can be annoying.
I'll be honest, I really didn't like the performance points… Drove me mad having a car 1 or so points over the requirements…
Yup. It would be better if there were more parts/tuning options for the engine, suspension, and such, allowing for fine tuning to shave that last point. Being able to mix and match parts also makes a car "yours". I understand not everyone is some kind of gearhead, and PD simplifies for the "just wanna drive crowd", but after nearly 15 years of GT, i'm tired of PD holding my hand.
Doesn't even know what's in it, and already declaring it crap. Amazing.
Ignore that. ment to post it elsewhere. Srry
Adding modifications such as restrictors and ballasts would be a simple fix, but I doubt we'll get this.
Woohoo! Everyday in my life I always visit GTPlanet since for the last 3 years
Is it power points or performance points?
Performance points. It's not all to do with power.
Thought so, sneaky edit on the article now ;)
No its restriction points to make the game even more restricting than it is.
In related news, the next round of dissapointed outrage is set to begin soon after, has people discover that the new update does not contain 800 upgraded cars, free roam cities, Pikes Peak, or any of the 100 other things that many seem to think are coming in the v.1.06 update for some reason……
Yeah… I imagine the forum plenty of threads titled "So long for this?
i think a lot of people are waiting on this next update to see if they keep going with GT or give up on it. i know i am; itching to get back to GTR-EVO/Race-07.
most people are expecting everything that has even been slightly remotely rumored for GT5 to be included in this next update. and they will be greatly dissapointed.
In other related news, premptive attacks in hopes of queiting legitimate concerns resort to hyperoble.
Who said anything about legitimate concerns? The only things I read here are wish list items that are certain not to be there, but people think will, because they read a rumor from a third party. Obviously you missed the point.
Guess who thinks 800 upgraded cars, free roam cities, Pikes Peak, or any of the 100 other things are going to be in the patch……
@ Madman: If you're "itching" to go back to those games, what's stopping you? No reason to stay around here and complain.
hahahahaha :))… true…:)
Great news about PP system. Hopefully it will carry into muliplayer.
I hope they don't get rid of the current system & replace it with PP, they need to have both with the option of selecting what one you wanna use. They do tend to get rid of features between games in the series, I so hope they don't start doing this via updates, that's just gonna hack a lot of people off who've come to rely on certain options. #waits for the other shoe to drop# :(
CRAZY Update
Mmm release date for an update… that sounds a posible delay ha ha.Joking apart, great news!
Hope we get a big big and good update list because we have waited so long for this update.
Finally they stop being lazy.
Lazy? They've probably been working their a**es of just to give you that update.
Atleast be happy that they're finishing the features which should have been in the game earlier.
@Deezz Nutzz:
Yes, be happy that they're finishing a game that's been in development for 5 years and that I paid full price for.
zed that line is getting old
Buyer beware. Not PD's fault you bought the hype, then ran out and bought the game.
@Don Cheese:
No, it's not their fault the game isn't finished.
He never said it was. What was said was it's the buyer's responsibility to research before buying. Trust the seller, you get burned.
That's been true since cavemen invented money, but it's much easier to blame the seller than ourselves. lol.
@Karl K.: I did. There are so many reviews you can read and none of them prepared me.
Fair enough. Next time though, forget review sites, just check this one's forum/news pages. You'll know within hours of the release what's up with GT6 because everyone will be fighting over it. Probably less reading involved as well…….;)
Would people stop with the damn "It's not finished" remarks? You can certainly go to your local game store and purchase the freakin thing, so obviously it's finished. You don't like it, you're not being forced to play it. Go sell off your playstation and buy a 360 and Forza and kiss turn 10's feet. Sheesh.
Stop complaining about GT5, if you're not a fan in the first place you wouldn't be here on this website! Stop whining like little children! It's not the seller's or you fault you bought this game. It's just that we're are racing fans in general, or car fans in general or just plain Gran Turismo fans! We should just be happy that this game is out and they are making this game grow maturely…
@Markus Vhane
Ehhhh, no.
Hopefully they addressed the "save file size" bug with this update. Nothing else matters in this game, until that one is fixed.
its not that serious, just dont visit Museum 15 times in a row… but agree, this have to be fixed.
@Tvensky, I frankly don't understand the point of the museum feature. I mean i get the appeal but i never use it. When i get home from a tiring day of school i want to throw my F40 around the Ring, not wait for the online feature to load or grind away at Indy, or run an endurance….. thats what the weekend is for.
@Tvensky It's quite a bit more serious than you think. Re-check the news page, and you'll see. Museum or not, EVERY save game will die eventually, unless this is fixed.
Great news! Looking forward to next weekend :)


text:
South Routt Right now, Barry, Jerry and Moose, all baby raccoons who were recently orphaned, are playing without worry. Winnie the Crow, who's 2 weeks old, is feisty and ready for flight. Spring, an elk calf, is healthy and will lick your hand if you come in her pen. And Pine, a fawn only a few weeks old and as big as a small dog, has a bump and cut on her head. She and her mother were hit by a car this week. The adult doe died, leaving Pine alone but doing well.
It's all part of a day's work at Tracy Bye's Born Free Wild Life Rehab south of Steamboat Springs.
Bye has spent the past seven years nursing orphaned and injured animals from field mice to elk, and magpies to eagles back into the wild.
"I've seen some hideous injuries," she said.
Many times, the animal's injuries are too severe and Bye has to let them pass away, or even euthanize them.
Though sad, it's the animal's spirit that impresses Bye and keeps her doing the work.
"They teach you so much about how you should be as a person enduring pain with a spirit to survive," Bye said.
She recalled the story of Caw Caw, an adult crow that was hit by a car and had almost all of his bones broken.
"He was just so banged up," she said.
Though Caw Caw's injuries couldn't be treated and he had to be put down, the bird's yearning to live was amazing, Bye said.
She feels a certain bonding is created with injured animals, she said.
"Once they know you're trying to help them, you see that they're so wise," Bye said.
Once an injured animal is healthy, or an orphaned animal is old enough, Bye releases it back into the wild.
"Anytime I release any of them, no matter how much they have healed, I feel so good about it," she said.
Some of the time, the animals return to say "hi," she said.
Flag, an orphaned buck deer released near Meeker four years ago, made a visit to Bye's house last fall.
That was a special time.
"You get very close to them when you feed them for a long time," Bye said.
Flag was rehabilitated for two years. When released, Bye remembered the deer running after the car when she drove away.
"My heart hurt so bad," she said. "When Flag showed up again, I was just so happy."
Flag spent the hunting season near Bye's house with four other deer.
"They're wild, but they knew this was a safe place," she said.
Bye has a picture of Flag in a photo album, along with pictures of every animal that's been to Born Free.
Last year, she accepted 85 animals.
"It's been real important to us," Division of Wildlife area manager Jim Hicks said. "We really don't have a facility to take care of the animals."
Born Free takes animals from Moffat, Grand and Routt counties.
"Yes, we love Tracy," said Stacy Hayes, city animal control officer. "Without her, a lot of these animals wouldn't be able to be rehabilitated and wouldn't have made it."
Bye is a first-grade teacher at Soda Creek Elementary School. She first became interested in animal rehabilitation when Hicks was talking to one of her classes. Bye asked Hicks how she could get licensed. Before she knew it, she was taking in an injured hawk.
But Bye has always been interested in helping animals. When she was a child, she ran butterfly hospitals with a friend and always had pets around her.
Now, she goes to classes each year to maintain a federal license to care for the animals.
Her husband, Michael, and their two small children help with Born Free. Bye also receives assistance from local veterinarians who volunteer their services.
Born Free is non-profit and depends on donations.
"We have some really good support by people I've never even met," Bye said.
Though several people donate to Born Free, feeding and caring for the animal is expensive, and part of the family's budget goes to paying for the service.
"We always put in money out of pocket," she said.
But that's OK, Bye said. It's one of her passions in life.
"I tend to have a better time relating with animals than I do with people," she said.
To reach Doug Crowl call 871-4206 or e-mail firstname.lastname@example.com


text: Elizabeth Baier, who covers Southeast Minnesota for Minnesota Public Radio News, reviews stories on her beat during Morning Edition with Cathy Wurzer. Elizabeth discussed the contest between Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Walz and his Republican challenger Randy Demmer in Minnesota's 1st District. She also talked about the potential loss of Rochester Public Schools Superintendent Romain Read more →


text:
|Patriots Look Poised For Another Super Bowl Run
|Bruins Trade For Drew Stafford
|Black and Gold Bruins Turn Yellow On Parade Day
|Inconsistency Will Continue For Bruins Unless A Change Is Made
A modest Chris Kunitz told reporters after the Penguins beat the Bruins 6-4 Sunday afternoon that he did not deserve the hat trick he was credited with. Upon further review after the game, officials took his third period goal away and handed it to former Bruins defensman Sergei Gonchar.
"I didn't hit the puck, the replay might look like that but I didn't hit the puck," Kunitz said. "I'm not highly skilled with the puck. I just kind of go and get it and give it away, but the puck comes back to you (if a player works hard)."
Kunitz still helped the Penguins with two goals in the win over the Bruins. Boston's loss and current 4-5-1 stretch over the last 10 games cut the Bruins lead over second place New Jersey to six points in the Eastern Conference.
The Penguins rallied from 3-2 and 2-1 deficits to run their loss-less streak to 10 games (8-0-2).
Former Bruin Bill Guerin got the scoring started with his 18th goal just 50 seconds into the game. 16 seconds later, new Bruin Mark Recchi knotted the score at 1-1. Phil Kessel added his 31st goal 10 minutes later, and Kunitz responded six minutes later to tie it 2-2.
The Bruins took a 3-2 lead on Blake Wheeler's second period goal, which they held until Gonchar's goal less than a minute into the third period. The Pens finally took a 4-3 lead on Kunitz's second goal 20 seconds later.
Michael Ryder tied the game less than three minutes later, but the Pens pulled away with Petr Sykora's game-winning goal at 9:29. Jordan Staal added an empty-netter to get the Pens the 6-4 win.
Tim Thomas finished with 28 saves in the loss.
The Bruins next face the Kings on Thursday for the first time this season.
Tags: Bill Guerin, Bruins, Chris Kunitz, Mark Recchi, Phil Kessel, Pittsburgh Penguins, Tim Thomas


text:
Carmel mayor not satisfied with gas leak home explosion report
Third party report on gas leak that caused home to explode released this week
CARMEL, Calif -- - A third-party report from an independent consultant, Exponent, was released this week, offering new information about what caused a Carmel home to explode two months ago.
Mayor Jason Burnett said he's glad some questions are being answered and the investigation is moving forward. But said his concerns on how to keep this kind of explosion from happening again weren't covered in the report.
"Its good to start getting answers, unfortunately, the questions they asked are not the full set of questions," said Burnett.
The independent engineering report said PG&E crews didn't know the metal gas line they were working on had another plastic pipe in it. The report said tapping into the pipe started the gas leak. Gas built up in a home for more than half an hour, then, possibly ignited by the kitchen stove, the house blew up.
Burnett says its clear what went wrong and what happened on the ground but that's not enough.
"Why didn't PG&E have the correct maps? That's the fundamental problem, they didn't have the correct maps to the infrastructure that they own under the ground," said Burnett.
Burnett also questions response times from PG&E crews. The report's timeframe says the potentially dangerous gas leak was reported by crews at 10:38 a.m; the home exploded at 11:15 a.m.
"In 37 minutes, why couldn't gas have been shut off?" said Burnett.
Burnett says the report needs to look at whether PG&E strategies in pipeline projects should be changed,
"I was talking to the head of safety and enforcement with the California Public Utility Commission yesterday, and she is quite concerned because she is starting to see a pattern. PG&E has had several accidents in the last few years," said Burnett.
In a statement that was provided Friday, PG&E said: "Safety is our primary concern. We worked as quickly as possible to make the situation safe following the incident and we fully embrace Exponent's recommendations. The most fundamental learning that came out of the Carmel incident is that our gas workers must always take steps to validate that what's in the ground matches our records. We've also improved emergency response capabilities through more training. These enhancements will help ensure the safety our gas system and the communities we serve."
The mayor plans to hold a special meeting next Tuesday to discuss the report and his concerns, as well as hear from what the community has to say. PG&E representatives are also expected to be there.


text: anyone one else agree with 'SacredStar' and myself? He brought it up in another thread and I agree. Sure we could trade him but there are NO other real contenders that need a qB....Jets do but they're hamstrung by money owed to sanchez. He's stuck in neutral and so are the cowboys. He has PLENTY of money, a new baby a gorgeous wife to make more babies. NOTHING is changing or getting better with team due to JJ and his clown show. HE's not in the player class of barry sanders or jim brown BUT he's just as frustrated I guarantee it: what say you?