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Imagine a wrestling federation with only Crusierweights! How exciting would that be! Well, imagine on Saturday afternoons at 1:00 till 3:00 the CWF would be airing.
Now the Chairman would be someone with alot of experience in cruiserweight wrestling. It would be Dean Malenko! He seems like a business person and would be a great heel Chairman.
The Referees would be all the regular WWE referees. The commentators would be Josh Mathews and Ernest "The Cat" Miller. Ring Announcer would be Sunny. Interviewers would be Jeremy Borash, Scott Hudson, and Mark Loyd.
On to the wrestling, the titles would be X Division World, Tag Team, and International Championships. The X Division World Champion would be the best cruiserweight wrestler. This person would put his heart and soul on the line in every match. Someone who makes fans excited about the main event of the shows. The X Division World Champion would be Jerry Lynn! He would be a superface, acting as the "New F'N Show!" The next cruiserweight wrestler Dean would hire would be A.J. Styles. Styles would be a young, cocky heel who can back it up. Jerry Lynn and A. J. Styles would have a feud going on for about a year. It may be long, but it would have every possible twist, turn, and match to make it the best rivalry ever. Lynn and Styles would have excellent one on one matches, a great Cage match, an amazing Ladder match, and their rivalry would end in a 60 minute Ironman match for the X Division World Championship! Syxx-Pac would be a rebel heel always kicking ass and taking shots at the X Division World Title. Billy Kidman would be a great high flying wrestler. He would always be battling all the heels. Especially, with his manager Bill Alfonso at ringside. A major heel heat superstar would be Chavo Guererro JR. He would have his dad ref all his matches, so that his matches are "fair." As a mysterious threat to the X Division World Championship, the "Fallen Angel" Chris Dainels would always be gunning for the title. He would have great matches with the ever exciting superface Chris Jericho! Jericho would host his Highlight Reel with the most controversial wrestlers as his guests.
Onto the tag team division. The 1st ever CWF Tag Team Champions will be "Too Cool," Grand Master Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty. They would be a fun loving, fan cheering tag team. They would still dance after all their matches. They would have a tag team finisher called the "BreakDance," which would be a double top turnbuckle leg drop. The top heel team would be David Flair and Crowbar with their manager of Daffney. They would be crazy and act sadistic. Daffney would always back up her men. Another heel tag team would be a technical team consisting of Christian and "Prime-time" Elix Skipper. Skipper and Christian would always be on the mic teasing and challenging opponents. Rey Mysterio and Red would form a team called the "High Flyin Animals!" The tag team division would have great matches all the time. There would be a heel faction called the "Asian Invasion" composed of Tajiri, Ultimo Dragon, Taka Michinoku, Akio, Sakoda, and Funaki. They would interfere in the matches of the face faction called the "Mexican Men." They would consist of Vampiro, Juventud Guerrera, Psicosis, La Parka, and Eddie Guerrero and Super Crazy with a manager being Jose Lothario. They would continue many feuds without the year. There would be Tag Team Titles switching back and forth.
The International Champion would be Chris Sabin. He would be a great face always getting the last laugh in every match. He would win all the impossible matches like Battle Royals, TLC's, and Elimination matches. His rivalries would vary between Frankie Kazarian, Michael Shane, Low Ki, Spike Dudley, Hurricane, Paul London, Nunzio, and Shannon Moore. Frankie and Sabin would have battles to earn the right to be named the "Future" of wrestling. They would have 25 minute matches leading into high impact maneuvers for the finishes. Michael Shane would take the International Championship from him for 3 months, only to lose it back to Sabin. Shane would bloody Sabin as the Champion, but the night of Sabin's regain, he brutalized Shane. Low Ki and Chris Sabin would prove to be the best submission matches in the whole wrestling federation. All different submissions from all different countries would be used. In the most exciting display between the two, Sabin would use a Sleeper Hold into a Crossface! Spike Dudley would bring the extreme to Sabin as Spike would use tables just to punish Sabin. But, Sabin would get a little "hardcore" by jumping off a ladder and landing a Swanton Bomb on the hard concrete floor to pin Dudley. Hurricane and Sabin would be a comedic feud as when they brawled it was entertaining, but whenever the other was in trouble, the other would make the save. As they would team for a brief time, their segments and matches would score the highest ratings.
Paul London would get his first Championship win over Sabin, but it wouldn't be long before the "Future" would take back his rightful spot as International Champion. Nunzio would cheat more than Bill Clinton to get non title victories over Sabin. The tights would be pulled, eyes would be poked, low blows often, and many feet on the ropes would be used in this feud. Shannon Moore would prove he could go over the edge as he would use many inventive moves to score victories, however, he would usually lose due to him having the biggest feud in the whole CWF with............... SPANKY!
Spanky and Shannon Moore would have a huge bitter feud with it starting as Spanky proclaiming not to be a joke, and taking it out on Shannon. They would have plenty of matches with both men gaining numerous victories. Then, Spanky would challenge Moore to the biggest match of both of their careers, a "Ten Table" match! One wrestler must go through ten tables no matter what. The winner, surprisingly to many, would be Spanky who would go on to win the International Championship for 2 months. This inside of Moore would tear him apart, so he challenged Spanky, but Chairman Malenko would make it a Triple Threat adding Hurricane, who shockingly, would get the win. Now, with the roles reversed, Shannon Moore being the aggressive heel facing the fan loving Spanky in more heated battles. This would earn 2nd place in PWI Feud of the Year.
Now, with wrestling these days, matches aren't enough, we need interesting storylines. The most popular storyline would be when Billy Kidman would gain a losing streak and get pissed at his manager Bill Alfonso. He would get a chair, fold it out, and tell Alfonso to sit in the back and not even show his face while Kidman wrestled. Alfonso had enough and ran out during Kidman's match against Jerry Lynn for the X Division World Championship. Kidman spotted Alfonso while going for the Shooting Star Press, so Lynn capitalized and hit a Cradle Piledriver off the top turnbuckle on Kidman to win the match. Kidman got up and offered a hand shake to Alfonso, but kicked him in the balls, and hit the BK Bomb! The fans were furious at Kidman and wanted Alfonso to get help. After one full month of teasing and preparation, the "Manager of Champions" Bill Alfonso returned with revenge on his mind. As he called out Kidman, the arena erupted as the comeback of the "Suicidal, Homicidal, Genocidal" Sabu ran into the ring, brawled with Kidman, Alfonso set up a table, and Sabu hit a moonsault onto Kidman through the table! CWF's Sabu earned Comeback of the Year.
Earlier I mentioned Hurricane as comedic and winning the International Championship. Well, believe it or not, his hardest times were as the Champ. He would be defending his title a lot, due to unfair match making from Dean Malenko. Hurricane pulled a prank on Malenko, who got outraged, and started using his power to make life as International Champion miserable for Hurricane. He would send him on international tours for weeks, then come back to America for a Championship match, which if he succeeded would have to fight in a Battle Royal. But, no matter how hard Dean tried, a Hurricane went through all his sadistic plans and was always victorious. This led Hurricane to become the Most Inspirational Wrestler in CWF of the year. Dean even once said, "Wassssupwitdat!"
Well, I hope you enjoyed my idea for the Cruiserweight Wrestling Federation. Since the columns are for ever 2-3 weeks, my next column will be in 3 weeks where we have the inaugural show. Thanks and enjoy!
by John Corrigan ..


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Review: Texas Chainsaw 3D
4:15pm Friday 11th January 2013
4:15pm Friday 11th January 2013
Sheriff Hooper (Thom Barry) races to the Sawyer farmhouse, where hulking Jed Sawyer has run amok with his beloved chainsaw.
A tense stand-off spirals out of control when Burt Hartman (Paul Rae) and his gun-toting posse arrive at the scene and torch the house with the family still inside.
Gavin Miller (David Born) and his wife Arlene (Sue Rock) steal the last surviving Sawyer baby from the farm and claim the child as their own. Two decades later, Heather (Alexandra Daddario) discovers the truth about her adoption.
She heads to her hometown with her boyfriend and friends. En route, they pick up a hunky hitchhiker.
Alas, the out-of-towners unwittingly stumble into a bloody battle for survival against Leatherface (Dan Yeager).
© Copyright 2001-2017 Newsquest Media Group

subset: commoncrawl


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Young Achiever: Stanley Marciniak
Age: 17
Grade: Senior
Residence: Ross
Family: Parents Colleen and Stanley II, sister Molly
School: North Hills High School
Hobbies/Activities: Stanley serves as National Honor Society president and senior class president and is a member of SADD, Hands for Service Club and Spanish Club. He has been elected as class president all four years of high school and recognized with the Trib Total Media Outstanding Young Citizen Award for the past three years. He has volunteered with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, assisted athletes at Special Olympics events and participated with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Light the Night Walk throughout high school. He also organized and co-hosted the It's a Hockey Night in North Hills fundraiser to aid the homeless in Pittsburgh through clothes donations, assisted the Mario Lemieux Foundation through financial gifts and initiated a Pennies for Malaria change collection to purchase mosquito nets for people in danger of contracting malaria in Africa.
Noteworthy: Stanley recently was one of two students named North Hills High School Volunteers of the Year as part of the 2014 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program, which recognizes outstanding community service. They will now go on to be considered for the program's state and national level honors.
Quote: "The greatest amount of success arises from total commitment and devotion to one's cause."
— Adam Brandolph


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The fight between Floyd Mayweather and Victor Ortizwas nothing short of controversial. One could say that what Mayweather did to knock out Ortiz was a cheap shot, and another could argue that Ortiz should have been ready at all times. You decide. One thing is clear, the fight only got people clamoring for the long overdue Pacquiao-Mayweather match. Below is a post from Los Angeles Times recapping the fight. For the article, please visit: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2011/09/floyd-mayweather-victor-ortiz-live-updates.html
Round 4
Mayweather lands big combo with Ortiz huddled downward. Ortiz gets his feet, pounds Mayweather against ropes with his own hard barrage. Mayweather nods it doesn't hurt. Ortiz hurts Mayweather, but loses a point on head butt. Mayweather knocks down Ortiz with right and left. Ortiz is counted out. Fight over. Controversial finish. Referee Joe Cortez had separated the fighters after the point deduction. Cortez gave a weak signal to resume, and Mayweather unleashed blows to Ortiz, who was seemingly trying to apologize to Mayweather and didn't know the fight had resumed. He tried to get up at 7 and couldn't.
Post-fight update here.
Round 3
Mayweather slaps Ortiz with lefts. Ortiz looking for opening to no avail. Mayweather gets in jab. Nice firm right to face by Mayweather. Nice right to jaw by Mayweather. Ortiz too slow, walking into punches. Mayweather lands right, quickly backs away. Mayweather hides behind left shoulder and lands rights. All Mayweather now. Mayweather 10-9
Round 2
Ortiz lands a shot. Mayweather lands big counter right. Ortiz charges in. Mayweather again. Ortiz right to body. Mayweather holds in corner. Ortiz flails. Mayweather lands. Mayweather 10-9
Round 1
Mayweather throws two rights and ducks after each. Both guys feeling jab. Mayweather lands jab and right. Ortiz swings a glancing left. Mayweather gets in a right. Ortiz charges with a left. Mayweather to body before hold. Mayweather 10-9.


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text:
Whatever industry your business is in, you can find a rail expert at KCS to help with your shipping needs. Our teams are led by the following resident experts:
Kelley Anderson joined KCS in 2011 and is vice president sales & marketing of the automotive business unit.
In this role, he is responsible for the automotive business unit in the U.S. and coordinates closely with the sales and marketing team at KCS' Mexican subsidiary.
Kelley has 30 years of transportation experience, having held operations and marketing and sales positions with Burlington Northern Railroad, Southern Pacific and BNSF Railway. He moved to the automotive sector in 2000 with United Parcel Service, later managing their Refrigerated TOFC Division and all rail movements.
Kelley holds a bachelor of science in business administration from the University of North Dakota and studied post graduate at the Northwestern University, Kellogg Business School.
Mike is responsible for the agriculture and minerals business unit in the U.S. and coordinates closely with the sales and marketing team at KCS' Mexican subsidiary. He joined KCS in 1992 and was promoted to Vice President in 2004.
Mike serves as vice chairman of the Surface Transportation Board's National Grain Car Council and President of the National Grain and Feed Association's Arbitration Appeals Committee.
He holds a bachelor's degree in management from Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
David joined KCSM in 2005 as vice president corporate affairs and moved to his current position in 2009. In this role, he is responsible for the sales and marketing of the carload business in Mexico and the U.S.
Preceding joining KCSM, David was a professor of international business and law at ITESM and managing partner of the firm Monterrey Business Consultants.
He holds dual citizenship in Mexico and the U.S. and is fluent in both English and Spanish.
David holds a masters' degree in commercial law from the technological Institute of Monterrey (ITESM) and a juris doctorate from the University of Arizona.
Erik Hansen joined Kansas City Southern in 2014 as vice president of sales & marketing intermodal where he oversees the Intermodal Business Unit including the Operations at the Intermodal and Automotive terminals in both the U.S. and Mexico.
Erik's background is in international shipping and transportation management having spent almost 25 years with the Danish company, Maersk, including roles as CFO for subsidiaries in Asia and Latin America and lastly as the CEO for Maersk Line's subsidiaries in Mexico and Central America.
Erik is multilingual and is fluent in Danish, English, and Spanish.
As the vice president of energy markets & short line partner relations, Darin is responsible for the coal business unit, short line partner relations and developing business in the emerging energy markets, such as crude oil, frac sand and wind.
Darin has 20 years of transportation experience joining KCS in 2001 as assistant trainmaster in Wylie, Texas. He served as assistant director of the Customer Service Center in Shreveport, La. and director of the Account Management Center in Kansas City, Mo. before moving to the coal business unit as general director and then vice president.
Darin is a member of the Rail Energy Transportation Advisory Committee for the U.S. Surface Transportation Board and the Rail Industry Working Group for the Association of American Railroads.
He holds a master of business administration and a bachelor of science in business management.
Carlos joined KCS in 2012 as vice president sales & marketing Business Solutions and is responsible for customer solutions, sales operations, market research, revenue management, business development and marketing in Mexico and coordinates closely with the team at KCS' U.S. subsidiary.
He has over 34 years of transportation industry experience, joining KCS from APL Ltd and APL Logistics, where he spent 25 years. He began his career with American Terminal Corporation. His experience ranges from terminal operations, intermodal rail operations, sales and marketing and general management in the U.S. and 15 Latin American countries.
Carlos founded the Mexico Intermodal Transportation Association and was its first president from 1999 to 2002.
He is fluent in both English and Spanish.


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Supermicro's Twin: Two nodes and 16 cores in 1Uby Johan De Gelas on 5/28/2007 12:01 AM EST
- Posted in
- IT Computing
28 Comments
Back to Article
SurJector - Tuesday, June 05, 2007 - linkI've just reread your article. I'm a little bit surprised by the power:
idle load
1 node : 160 213
2 nodes: 271 330
increase: 111 117
There is something wrong: the second node adds only 6W (5.5W counting efficiency) of power consumption ?
Could it be that some power-saving options are not set on the second node (speedstep, or similar) ?
Nice article though, I bet I'd love to have a rack of them for my computing farm. Either that or wait (forever ?) for the Barcelona equivalents (they should have better memory throughput). Reply
Super Nade - Saturday, June 02, 2007 - linkHi,
The PSU is built by Lite-On. I owned the PWS-0056 and it was built like a tank. Truely server grade build quality.
Super Nade, OCForums. Reply
VooDooAddict - Tuesday, May 29, 2007 - linkHere are the VMWare ESX issues I see. ... They basically compound the problem.
- No Local SAS controller. (Already mentioned)
- No Local SAS requires booting from a SAN. This means you will use your only PCIe slot for a SAN Hardware HBA as ESX can't boot with a software iSCSI.
- Only Dual NICs on board and with the only expansion slot taken up by the SAN HBA (Fiber Channel or iSCSI) you already have a less then ideal ESX solution. --- ESX works best with a dedicated VMotion port, Dedicated Console Port, and at least one dedicated VM port. Using this setup you'll be limited to a dedicated VMotion and a Shared Console and VM Port.
The other issue is of coarse the non redundant power supply. While yes ESX has a High Availability mode where it restarts VMs from downed hardware. It restarts VMs on other hardware, doesn't preserve them. You could very easily loose data.
Then probably the biggest issue ... support. Most companies dropping the coin on ESX server are only going to run it on a supported platform. With supported platforms from the Dell, HP and IBM being comparatively priced and the above issues, I don't see them winning ANY of the ESX server crowd with this unit.
I could however see this as a nice setup for the VMWare (free) Virtual Server crowd using it for virtualized Dev and/or QA environments where low cost is a larger factor then production level uptime. Reply
JohanAnandtech - Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - linkSuperb feedback. I feel however that you are a bit too strict on the dedicated ports. A dedicated console port seems a bit exagerated, and as you indicate a shared Console/vmotion seems acceptable to me. Reply
DeepThought86 - Monday, May 28, 2007 - linkI thought it interesting to note how poor the scaling was on the web server benchmark when going from 1S to 2S 5345 (107 URL's/s to 164). However the response times scaled quite well.
Going from 307 ms to 815 ms (2.65) with only a clockspeed difference of 2.33 cs 1.86 (1.25) is completely unexpected. Since the architecture is the same, how can a 1.25 factor in clock lead to a 2.65 factor in performance? Then I remembered you're varying TWO factors at once making it impossible to compare the numbers.... how dumb is that in benchmark testing??
Honestly, it seems you guys know how to hook up boxes but lack the intelligence to actually select test cases that make sense, not to mention analyse your results in a meaningful way
It's also a pity you guys didn't test with the AMD servers to see how they scaled. But I guess the article is meant to pimp Supermicro and not point out how deficient the Intel system design is when going from 4-cores to 8 Reply
JohanAnandtech - Tuesday, May 29, 2007 - link
Since the architecture is the same, how can a 1.25 factor in clock lead to a 2.65 factor in performance? Then I remembered you're varying TWO factors at once making it impossible to compare the numbers.... how dumb is that in benchmark testing??
I would ask you to read my comments again. Webserver performance can not be measured by one single metric unless you can keep response time exactly the same. In that case you could measure throughput. However in the realworld, response time is never the same, and our test simulates real users. The reason for this "superscaling" of responstimes is that the slower configurations have to work with a backlog. Like it or not, but that is what you see on a webserver.
It's also a pity you guys didn't test with the AMD servers to see how they scaled
We have done that already here for a number of workloads:
This article was about introducing our new benches, and investigating the possibilities of this new supermicro server. Not every article can be an AMD vs Intel article.
And I am sure that 99.9% of the people who will actually buy a supermicro Twin after reading this review, will be very pleased with it as it is an excellent server for it's INTENDED market. So there is nothing wrong with giving it positive comments as long as I show the limitations.
TA152H - Tuesday, May 29, 2007 - linkJohan,
I think it's even better than you didn't bring into the AMD/Intel nonsense, because it tends to take focus away from important companies like Supermicro. A lot of people aren't even aware of this company, and it's an extremely important company that makes extraordinary products. Their quality is unmatched, and although they are more expensive, it is excellent to have the option of buying a top quality piece. It's almost laughable, and a bit sad, when people call Asus top quality, or a premium brand. So, if nothing else, you brought an often ignore company into people's minds. Sadly, on a site like this where performance is what is generally measured, if you guys reviewed the motherboards, it would appear to be a mediocre, at best product. So, your type of review helps put things in their proper perspective; they are a very high quality, reliable, innovative company that is often overlooked, but has a very important role in the industry.
Now, having said that (you didn't think I could be exclusively complimentary, did you?), when are you guys going to evaluate Eizo monitors??? I mean, how often can we read articles on junk from Dell and Samsung, et al, wondering what the truly best monitors are like? Most people will buy mid-range to low-end (heck, I still buy Samsung monitors and Epox motherboards sometimes because of price), but I also think most people are curious about how the best is performing anyway. But, let's give you credit where it's due, it was nice seeing Supermicro finally get some attention. Reply
DeepThought86 - Monday, May 28, 2007 - linkAlso, looking at your second benchmark I'm baffled how you didn't include a comparison of 1xE5340 vs 2x5340 or 1x5320 vs 2x5320 so we could see scaling. You just have a comparison of Dual vs 2N, where (duh!) the results are similar.
Sure, there's 1x5160 vs 2x5160 but since the number of cores is half we can't see if memory performance is a bottleneck. Frankly, if Intel had given you instruction on how to explicitly avoid showing FSB limitations in server application they couldn't have done a better job.
Oh wait, looks like 2 Intel staffers helped on the project! BIG SURPRISE! Reply
yacoub - Monday, May 28, 2007 - linkhttp://images.anandtech.com/reviews/it/2007/superm...">http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/it/2007/superm...
Looks like the top DIMM is not fully seated? :D Reply
MrSpadge - Monday, May 28, 2007 - linkNice one.. not everyone would catch such a fault :)
MrS Reply
JohanAnandtech - Monday, May 28, 2007 - linkThose DIMM slots are empty :-) Reply
yacoub - Monday, May 28, 2007 - linkohhh hahah thought they were filled with black DIMMs :D Reply
yacoub - Monday, May 28, 2007 - linkAlso on page 8:
In comparison, with 2U servers, we save about 130W or about 30% thanks to Twin 1U system
You should remove that first comma. It was throwing me off because the way it reads it sounds like the 2U servers save about 130W but then you get to the end of the sentence and realize you mean "in comparison with 2U servers, we save about 130W or about 30% thanks to Twin 1U". You could also say "Compared with 2U servers, we save..." to make the sentence even more clear.
Thanks for an awesome article, btw. It's nice to see these server articles from time to time, especially when they cover a product that appears to offer a solid TCO and strong comparative with the competition from big names like Dell. Reply
JohanAnandtech - Monday, May 28, 2007 - linkFixed! Good point Reply
gouyou - Monday, May 28, 2007 - linkThe part about infiniband's performance much better as you increase the number of core is really misleading.
The graph is mixing core and nodes, so you cannot tell anything. We are in an era where a server has 8 cores: the scaling is completely different as it will depend less on the network. BTW, is the graph made for single core servers ? dual cores ? Reply
MrSpadge - Monday, May 28, 2007 - linkGouyou, there's a link called "this article" in the part on InfiniBand which answers your question. In the original article you can read that they used dual 3 GHz Woodcrests.
What's interesting is that the difference between InfiniBand and GigE is actually more pronounced for the dual core Woodcrests compared with single core 3.4 GHz P4s (at 16 nodes). The explanation given is that the faster dual core CPUs need more communication to sustain performance. So it seems like their algorithm uses no locality optimizations to exploit the much faster communication within a node.
@BitJunkie: I second your comment, very nice article!
MrS Reply
BitJunkie - Monday, May 28, 2007 - linkNice article, I'm most impressed by the breadth and the detail you drilled in to - also the clarity with which you presented your thinking / results. It's always good to be stretched and great example of how to approach things in structured logical way.
Don't mind the "it's an enthusiast site" comments. Some people will be stepping outside their comfort zone with this and won't thank you for it ;) Reply
JohanAnandtech - Monday, May 28, 2007 - linkThanks, very encouraging comment.
And I guess it doesn't hurt the "enthusiast" is reminded that "pcs" can also be fascinating in another role than "Hardcore gaming machine" :-). Many of my students need the same reminder: being an ITer is more than booting Windows and your favorite game. My 2-year old daughter can do that ;-) Reply
yyrkoon - Monday, May 28, 2007 - linkIt is however nice to learn about InfiniBand. This is a technology I have been interrested in for a while now, and was under the impression was not going to be implemented until PCIe v2.0 (maybe I missed something here).
I would still rather see this technology in the desktop class PC, and if this is yet another enterprise driven technology, then people such as myself, who were hoping to use it for decent home networking(remote storage) are once again, left out in the cold. Reply
yyrkoon - Monday, May 28, 2007 - link
And I guess it doesn't hurt the "enthusiast" is reminded that "pcs" can also be fascinating in another role than "Hardcore gaming machine" :-). Many of my students need the same reminder: being an ITer is more than booting Windows and your favorite game. My 2-year old daughter can do that ;-)
And I am sure every gamer out there knows what iSCSI *is* . . .
Even in 'IT' a 16 core 1U rack is a specialty system, and while they may be semi common in the load balancing/failover scenario(or maybe even used extensively in paralell processing, yes, and even more possible uses . . .), they are still not all that common comparred to the 'standard' server. Recently, a person that I know deployed 40k desktops/ 30k servers for a large company, and would'nt you know it, not one had more than 4 cores . . . and I have personally contracted work from TV/Radio stations(and even the odd small ISP), and outside of the odd 'Toaster', most machines in these places barely use 1 core.
I too also find technologies such as 802.3 ad link aggregation, iSCSI, AoE, etc interresting, and sometimes like playing around with things like openMosix, the latest /hottest Linux Distro, but at the end of the day, other than experimentation, these things typically do not entertain me. Most of the above, and many other technologies for me, are just a means to an end, not entertainment.
Maybe it is enjoyable staring at a machine of this type, not being able to use it to its full potential outside of the work place ? Personally I would not know, and honestly I really do not care, but if this is the case, perhaps you need to take notice of your 2 year old daughter, and relax once in a while.
The point here ? The point being: pehaps *this* 'gamer' you speak of knows a good bit more about 'IT' than you give him credit for, and maybe even makes a fair amount of cash at the end of the day while doing so. Or maybe I am a *real* hardware enthusiast, who would rather be reading about technology, instead of reading yet another 'product review'. Especially since any person worth their paygrade in IT should already know how this system (or anything like) is going to perform beforehand. Reply
JohanAnandtech - Monday, May 28, 2007 - linkHey, you certainly gave the wrong impression of yourself with that first post, not our fault.
Anyway NLB, infiniband and rendering farms are not anymore exotic than 802.3 ad link aggregation. So I am definitely glad that you and a lot of people want to look beyond the typical gaming technology.
Most of the above, and many other technologies for me, are just a means to an end, not entertainment.
That is somewhat in contradiction with being an "enthousiast" as "enthousiast" means that technology is a little more than just a tool.
*this* 'gamer' you speak of knows a good bit more about 'IT' than you give him credit for,
Yep, but why hide it ?
am a *real* hardware enthusiast, who would rather be reading about technology, instead of reading yet another 'product review'.
Well it is hardly about the product alone, as we look into NLB and network rendering, which is exactly using the technology for a mean.
While do get the point of your second post, your first post doesn't make any sense: 1) this kind of server should never be turned into a iSCSI device: there are servers that can have more memory and have - more importantly - a much better storage subsystem. 2) you give the impression that an enthousiast site should not talk about datacenter related stuff.
Hey man, my purpose here is certainly not making fun of you. You seem like a person that can give a lot better feedback than you did in your first post. By all means do that :-)
Especially since any person worth their paygrade in IT should already know how this system (or anything like) is going to perform beforehand.
A lot of data administrators are very capable certified people in the world of networking and Server OS. But very few know their hardware or can decently size it. I read a book from O'reilly about datacenters a while ago. The stuff about the electrical and networking part of datacenters was top notch. The part about storage, load balancing and sizing were very average. And I believe a lot of people are in that case.
yyrkoon - Monday, May 28, 2007 - link
A lot of data administrators are very capable certified people in the world of networking and Server OS. But very few know their hardware or can decently size it. I read a book from O'reilly about datacenters a while ago. The stuff about the electrical and networking part of datacenters was top notch. The part about storage, load balancing and sizing were very average. And I believe a lot of people are in that case.
Well I suppose you are right to an extent here, maybe I like hardware so much that I tend to spend more time 'researching' different hardware?
The last thing I really want to convey is that I know EVERYTHING, which if I actually thought this, I would most likely be dillusional(this goes for everyone, not just myself, and no, I am not pointing any fingers, I am just saying that perhaps I come off as a know-it-all, but I really dont know it all).
Anyhow, my original post ws more of a joke, with the serious part, being if somehow this equipment landed its self in my home, I would actually do with it as I said. I do not work in a data center, but I do contract work for small business a lot, mostly for media broadcasters, and the occational home PC when business as such presents its self, so obviously there are things the datacenter monkies know that I do not.
All that being said, I can not hide the fact that home PC hardware is where my enthusiasm stems from, concerning technology. I see great things for technology like Infiniband, SAS, but these technologies are all but useless in the home because it is being driven by enterprise consumers, that usually dont care about 'reasonably' priced hardware, that performs well in the home envoirnment.
As I stated before, I have been following the PCIe v2.0 technology for a bit now, and I was under the impression that PCIe-PCIe direct communications were not going to be implemented outside of PCIe v2.0, and would have a good chance of being reasonably priced enough, to be used in the home (on a smaller scale, say 4x channels, instead of the potential of 32x channels). Now, I am dissapointed in seeing that while it may improve server performance, this is going to be used as an excuse to bleed home users dry of cash. Just like SAS, hardware wise, it is comparable in price to say firewire once you pass a certain HDD count threshhold, but finding standalone expanders (without a 2.5" formfactor removable drive bay, or LSI built 1U or greater rack), are non existant(or at least, I personally have not been able to find any). This means people like me, who are wanting to build SoHo like storage for personal, or small business get left out in the cold, AGAIN. Would'nt you like to have a small server at home capable of delivering decent disk throuput/access speeds(ie external to your desktop PC) for a reasonable price ? I know I would.
All in all, I find the hardware interresting, yet find myself dissapointed from the home use aspect. SO this is why I can hardly be excited by such news. Reply
TA152H - Monday, May 28, 2007 - linkJohan,
I think labels are bad in general, and the enthusiast site is more often an excuse than a valid explanation for some of the choices. It gets annoying, because there is no reason why you can't do both. If someone doesn't want to read your articles on a topic, they can skip it, right?
However, I have a few issues, naturally :P. Not that you weren't complimentary towards Supermicro, but I'm not sure you carried it quite far enough. Comparing Supermicro to Dell is kind of insulting to Supermicro. Also, you seemed to leave out that Supermicro sells motherboards, cases, power supplies, etc... as standalone pieces, and they are considered by most professionals to be the best motherboards made, as well as being supported extremely well. You can't kill these motherboards, I still run a P6DLE (440LX!) that I want to upgrade but it just won't die. They never do, and the components and fit and finish are absolutely top notch. Now before someone who likes Intel screams at me, they make excellent motherboards too and are extremely high quality as well. But, Intel doesn't make motherboards for AMD, Supermicro does. And if you're building a server, and want AMD, do you really want some junk from Taiwan? Sure, they're cheap, but you buy Asus or Tyan and you're whistling past the graveyard with that rubbish. On top of this, you can even buy Supermicro motherboards that are not server motherboards (my first was a desktop one, P5MMA, and it still works as a print server). There are plenty of white boxes sporting Supermicro motherboards, and some companies build their own in house with Supermicro components. So, their market share is considerable higher than just those sold as complete servers.
Also, you're insistence on a redundant power supply, I think, misses the point completely. You can buy Supermicros with redundant power supplies, and if that's what you wanted, review one of them. This was made for a different purpose, and you absolutely do NOT want it. That would defeat the purpose, so saying how they should get it is kind of silly. Saving 100 watts is absolutely enormous, especially when getting something inexpensive, and from the most reputable company in server motherboards. By the way, have you ever killed a Supermicro power supply? I haven't, and I do try. So, yes, maybe power supplies fail more often for the cheap companies, but I think the failure rate for Supermicro is very low. But realistically, you have to consider if you can tolerate it at all. If you can't, get one of their other products. If you can, then the power savings are incredible. It's nice to have both choices, isn't it?
If you want the best and can pay, Supermicro is the way to go. When they are inexpensive and have excellent power use characteristics, it's almost irresistable if it is the type of product you want. Dell??? Oh my. You'd have to be crazy. Reply
JohanAnandtech - Monday, May 28, 2007 - linkSo much feedback, thanks! Makes these horrible long undertakings called "server articles" much more rewarding even if you don't agree.
Just leave your first name next time, I like to address you in a proper way.
Anyway, your feedback
Also, you're insistence on a redundant power supply, I think, misses the point completely. You can buy Supermicros with redundant power supplies, and if that's what you wanted, review one of them.
Read my article again, and you'll understand my POV better. I work with a lot of SMBs, like MCS, and they like to run their webserver in NLB for fail over reasons. For that, the supermicro twin could be wonderful: pay half as much colocation costs than normal. And notice that I did remark that the percentage of downtime due to a PSU failure is relatively small and it is probably an acceptable risk for many SMBs.
I just hope I can challenge Supermicro enough to get two PSUs in there. The Twin is an excellent idea, and it would be nice to have it as high availability solution too. So no, just reviewing another supermicro server won't cut it: you double the rackspace needed.
TA152H - Monday, May 28, 2007 - linkJohan,
I just thought of a few things after writing that, and have moved closer to your point of view. Oh, my name is Rich, sorry, I forgot to mention that in the first one.
Maybe it isn't possible to create a server with the same feature set as this one, in 1U with a redundant power supply. My first reaction was when you are asking for this, you were willing to put up with something bigger, which is an option. Another option is to impose limitations on the server, and still fit it in 1U. By removing some features, and imposing limitations, for example what processors can be used, you might be able to do it. Not only could you reduce the motherboard size, but you could also reduce the power supply if you can safely say that fewer watts can be used. And it's significant, because you multiply it by two, or four in the case of processors. If you lower the acceptable power use for the processor by say 30 watts, you reduce the power supply by 120 watts, so it's significant. If you make it ULV, you could realize some very serious savings, as well as reduce cooling issues. Between this and removing some features, they might be able to significantly reduce power use, and at the same time make the motherboard a little smaller.
On the other hand, I think SAS would complicate things, and might be why they left it out. I don't think you can get everything in this type of box right now, but maybe another choice would be to create more choices by leaving certain things out, and allowing other things (redundant power supply) to be put in. Of course, I don't know for sure if it's possible, but it might be. Reply
MrSpadge - Monday, May 28, 2007 - linkRich,
that's roughly what I thought as well when I read your first post. "It's too cramped, they can't get 2 x 900 W with high quality in there" Then I was about to post that it may be possible to get away with a two smaller PSUs and started to name the power consuming devices: 4 x 120 W CPUs, 32 x 5-7 W FB-DIMMs, 4 x 10 W HDD plus something for the chipsets and some loss in the CPU core voltage converters. And I realized that even 700W is probably not enough for this hardware, so I scrapped my post.
To reduce power consumption they'd really have to constrain the use of CPUs and maybe limit the machines to 8 FB-DIMMs per machine, which is still a lot of memory. The 80W 2.33 GHz quad Xeon may be the best candidate for this. One could also think about using either 2.5" 7200 rpm notebook drives (uhh..) or Seagate Savvios. Less cost effective than 3.5" SATA but you save some more space and power.
MrS Reply
TA152H - Monday, May 28, 2007 - linkJohan,
I think I know where we disagree. I do understand your point, but I don't think what you're asking for is possible. The problem is, how do you get two power supplies of that rating into that size case? Consider, if you will, you still need a massive power supply to be able to handle both, the case is already crammed pretty well. To get two dual motherboards in there in the first place is and to create such an attractive product is already a great accomplishment. I just don't think you can stuff two 900 watt power supplies in there. Addressing a challenge and beating the laws physics are two different things, I think, right now, it is a bridge too far (a reference to a historic battle in your country, I hope you appreciate it :P). Even if they do get a twin in there, which again, I think is nearly impossible, you'd lose some power efficiency, and add some cost. So, it wouldn't be painless. But, you know, it would make for a good choice to have, so I'm not against it. Both would be attractive. But, I just don't see how they could do it. I don't even know any company has a 2 x Dual available in 1U yet, so it's not trivial. Of course, I can't say for sure it's impossible, it's not like I really know enough to. Reply
yyrkoon - Monday, May 28, 2007 - linkTake out all but 2-4 cores, slap in another 16 GB ram for a total of 32GB, use Windows2003 iSCSI/export 31GB of ram disk, and you have a decently fast, very low latency 'disk'. All for 2000x the cost of a similar sized HDD ;) Weeeeeeeeee!
Sorry guys, I thought this was an 'enthusiast' site, and was briefly confused :P If I had one of the mentioned systems, this is prpobably fairly accurate as to how I would use it . . . Reply


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A PERTH veterinarian who convinced a teenager to lie to police about stolen equestrian equipment to protect her sister has been jailed for three years.
Anita Tasovac, 39, was convicted by a jury of attempting to pervert the course of justice over two years by having a 14-year-old girl claim she had stolen equestrian equipment from the Harmony Park Horse Show in 2008 to cover up for her sister, Nikole Tasovac.
The Perth District Court heard on Thursday that Nikole had been convicted of stealing the equipment and received a spent conviction, but was appealing.
In 2010, Tasovac spoke with a colleague, who she had previously helped financially, and asked whether her daughter would tell police she had stolen equipment.
The girl was given some items and was told to say she had found the equipment in the car park and hid them under her bed.
Tasovac then lied to her lawyer and police by saying she did not know the mother and daughter.
It was not until 2012 that the mother and daughter admitted to lying and Tasovac's plan unravelled.
In sentencing, Judge Mark Herron said the deception lasted two years and diverted police resources.
"The offence was premeditated, and not a spur-of-the-moment response, requiring some degree of planning," he said.
The judge noted Tasovac, who specialises in treating horses and has no criminal record, had a lifelong interest in horses.
Judge Herron said Tasovac's actions were designed to deliberately mislead and interfere with the administration of justice.
"Your actions are in the upper range of offending by an attempt to pervert the course of justice," he said.
"I'm satisfied you pursued the course you did fully aware of the seriousness of your offending."
Tasovac will be eligible for parole.
The mother of the teen previously pleaded guilty of conspiracy to defeat the course of justice and received an 18-month prison term, suspended for 18 months.
Originally published as Perth vet jailed for lying about theft


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Home > World News > Article
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has stepped into the country's deepening political crisis, calling for a review of the ban on reformist candidates standing in elections.
In a meeting with the Guardian Council, the hardline constitutional body that has disqualified 3000 mostly moderate candidates from the ballot, Ayatollah Khamenei said on Wednesday he expected the decision to be re-examined.
"There are legal methods and the Guardian Council has enough time to review the cases carefully . . . to prevent the violation of anyone's rights," state television quoted him as saying during the meeting. "The basis of decision should be that candidates are authorised to run unless it's proved otherwise."
No further details of the meeting were available, but the tone of Ayatollah Khamenei's s remarks seemed designed to reduce the rising tension over who would be allowed to run in the parliamentary elections on February 20.
Ayatollah Khamenei, who holds ultimate authority in Iran's theocracy, tends to intervene on the side of the conservatives in their power struggle with reformists allied with President Mohammad Khatami. But he has also stepped in to retract draconian measures that threatened to trigger popular unrest.
Reformist Iranian MPs on Wednesday unanimously rejected a plea by President Khatami to call off a four-day-old sit-in at the parliament building in protest at the ban.
At a meeting with the MPs, Mr Khatami appealed to them to suspend the sit-in for a week to give him time to clinch a compromise deal with conservative clerical leaders.
Although the President is the de facto leader of the reformist coalition in Parliament, the MPs spurned the plea.
It was a humiliating rebuff for the President, who has faced mounting criticism that his conciliatory approach has only emboldened conservative clerics opposed to democratic and social reform.
About 80 MPs began the sit-in on Sunday after the Guardian Council ruled that more than 3000 candidates would not be allowed to stand in the elections. Most of the disqualified candidates are reformists, including dozens of sitting MPs.
- Guardian
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Pearl Jam announces fall U.S. tour
Listen to Pearl Jam on iHeartRadio
Pearl Jam will be returning to the road here in the States this fall. The rockers have announced another U.S. leg on their "Lightning Bolt" world tour.
After a summer trek through Europe, the new portion starts October 1st in Cincinnati, Ohio. The ten-date outing sticks to the middle portion of the country since the band already toured both the east and west coasts after "Lightning Bolt" came out last October.
The new shows are also centered around Pearl Jam's previously announced headlining gigs at both weekends of this year's Austin City Limits Festival in Texas. ACL tickets are on sale now at ACLFestival.com, while details about tickets to the new Pearl Jam concerts can be found at PearlJam.com.
Pearl Jam's U.S. tour dates:
Oct. 1: Cincinnati, Ohio (US Bank Arena)
Oct. 3: St. Louis (Scottrade Center)
Oct. 3-5: Austin, Tex. (Austin City Limits Music Festival)
Oct. 8: Tulsa, Okla. (BOK Center)
Oct. 9: Lincoln, Neb. (Pinnacle Bank Arena)
Oct. 10-12: Austin, Tex. (Austin City Limits Music Festival)
Oct. 14: Memphis, Tenn (FedEx Forum)
Oct. 16: Detroit (Joe Louis Arena)
Oct. 17: Moline, Ill. (iWireless Center)
Oct. 19: St. Paul, Minn (Xcel Energy Center)
Oct. 20: Milwaukee, Wis. (BMO Harris Bradley Center)
Oct. 22: Denver, Colo. (Pepsi Arena)
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|Home > Opinion > Article
All this may sound remote from Australian Labor's fixation with numbers. In October, when the ALP convenes its special conference on reform of the party's structures, it will debate, among other things, whether the proportion of union to branch delegates at party conferences should remain at 60:40 or be reduced to 50:50, 25:75 or some other ratio. There will probably be no significant support in the conference itself for Button's proposal for a formal separation from the union movement, but the proposal is likely to be recycled in media commentary on the conference.
In his Quarterly Essay contribution Beyond Belief: What Future for Labor? Button argues, rightly, that the chief problem caused by union affiliation to the ALP is not the bogey usually raised by conservative politicians: the alleged union dominance of policy-making. Union delegates do not typically vote as a bloc at party conferences; they vote on factional lines, and the real effect of the 60:40 rule has been to consolidate the power of factional chiefs. A consequence of that power has been the rise of those that Button calls "Labor movement professionals": factional loyalists who carve out a career path for themselves in union offices and on MPs' staffs.
The divorce between the unions and the party that Button proposes is not the only way of ending the reign of the factions, which now has little to do with genuine ideological differences. Election of the party's office bearers by branch members and the adoption of US-style primary elections for parliamentary preselections would also undermine factional patronage and deal-making. Unlike the severing of union ties, however, they would not amount to a repudiation of Labor's roots. But the introduction of participatory democracy to the party's internal processes would be too threatening to too many people to have any chance of getting up in October, either.
What will probably happen is that Simon Crean will get his way. The 60:40 rule will become a 50:50 rule, and the trade-off for the unions will be the revival of formal consultations between the unions and Labor's front bench, through the Australian Labor Advisory Council or some similar body. The former change will be hailed by Labor's modernisers as a great achievement for Crean, and the latter will be attacked by the Coalition as an indication of the unions' continuing insidious influence over the ALP. Neither claim will be true, because both "reforms" will be largely cosmetic.
The real truth is to be found in an observation by Dean Mighell, the Victorian secretary of the Electrical Trades Union, who earlier this year quit the ALP to join the Greens. It is an unpalatable truth for both Labor modernisers and Coalition politicians, and Button quotes it disapprovingly in his essay. It is this: if the unions really controlled the ALP, it would be a very different party. And so it would. A party primarily concerned to protect workers' rights would not have upheld free trade and repudiated the union-led push for fair trade, as Labor did at its last federal conference.
In Australia, as in Britain, the project of "modernising" Labor has involved acceptance of a market-oriented ideology that effectively undermines the party's reason for existence, and the adoption of reforms to party structures that are more notional than real. In Britain, that project is now collapsing under the weight of its own contradictions. It will happen here, too.
Ray Cassin is a staff writer.
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Rape: the debate we have to have
The economic dog has bitten its tail - and we are all hurting
How business stumbled into a moral dark age
The sins of our feminist mothers
Why Wayne Swan will not realise the ALP leadership
Someone should explain why good people are jobless
Car industry's Lazarus act converts the commissars
Rising Jew-hatred casts a new pall
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Latest question:
How do you think the new GigE standards will influence the machine vision industry?
Respond or ask your question now!
PALO ALTO, Calif., March 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Considering the growing importance of energy savings and environmental friendliness, solid-state lighting is emerging as a highly competent and viable alternative to existing lighting technologies. While light emitting diodes (LEDs) promise numerous advantages such as higher energy efficiency, longer life and reliability, as well as low temperature performance, customer requirements for innovative solutions that provide better control over the color, shape and intensity of light is driving the demand for organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) as light sources.
If you are interested in an analysis, which provides manufacturers, end users, and other industry participants with an overview, summary, challenges, and latest coverage of Emerging Lighting Systems - A Technology Analysis send an e-mail to Trisha Bradley, Corporate Communications, at email@example.com , with your full name, company name, title, telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address. Upon receipt of the above information, an overview will be sent to you by e-mail.
The energy savings provided by the use of LEDs has attracted a lot of government-aided funding and has initiated a race between countries to establish solid-state lighting. Europe, America, Japan, China and South Korea have government initiatives such as the Next-generation Lighting Initiative (NGLI) and 'Light for the 21st Century,' sparking innovations and speeding up R&D in the field of solid-state lighting.
"However, despite LEDs having surpassed the efficiency of incandescent lamps, their biggest challenge lies in outperforming the efficiency of fluorescent lamps, which at present is greater than ninety lumens per watt," notes Technical Insights (http://www.technicalinsights.frost.com ) Research Analyst Ashwini Meena. "Further, White LEDs have to improve their color uniformity and surface brightness as well as increasing their efficiency while maintaining the quality of the white light produced."
With respect to OLEDs, industry participants need to overcome key challenges such as outcoupling and sensitivity issues in order to increase the light output. Since increasing light output is dependent on the device technology and the chemistry of materials involved, the challenge lies in making the lifetime of the generated photon's last nano or microseconds resulting in optimal device output.


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Since 2002 Perimeter Institute has been recording seminars, conference talks, and public outreach events using video cameras installed in our lecture theatres. Perimeter now has 7 formal presentation spaces for its many scientific conferences, seminars, workshops and educational outreach activities, all with advanced audio-visual technical capabilities. Recordings of events in these areas are all available On-Demand from this Video Library and on Perimeter Institute Recorded Seminar Archive (PIRSA). PIRSA is a permanent, free, searchable, and citable archive of recorded seminars from relevant bodies in physics. This resource has been partially modelled after Cornell University's arXiv.org.
Alongside the effort underway to build quantum computers, it is important to better understand which classes of problems they will find easy and which others even they will find intractable. Inspired by the success of the statistical study of classical constraint optimization problems, we study random ensembles of the QMA$_1$-complete quantum satisfiability (QSAT) problem introduced by Bravyi. QSAT appropriately generalizes the NP-complete classical satisfiability (SAT) problem.
In quantum field theory it is possible to create negative local energy densities. This would violate the Generalized Second Law (GSL) unless there is some sort of energy condition requiring the negative energy to be counterbalanced by positive energy. TO explore what this energy condition is, I will assume that the GSL holds in semiclassical gravity for all future causal horizons. From CPT symmetry it follows that the time-reverse of the GSL, properly understood, holds for all past causal horizons.
Check back for details on the next lecture in Perimeter's Public Lectures Series


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|You are in: Entertainment
Friday, 11 October, 2002, 14:53 GMT 15:53 UK
Tipping the Velvet: Your views
BBC Two's costume drama Tipping the Velvet is based on the novel by Booker-nominated author Sarah Waters, and adapted by renowned television writer Andrew Davies.
It examines the awakening of a young girl's sexuality as she embarks on a lesbian relationship with Kitty, a music hall impersonator.
"Despite the fine tale and good intentions of Tipping The Velvet's makers, it seems a sad inevitability that people around the land will be picking apart the steamy sex scenes rather than the finer points of this drama," said BBC News Online's Michael Osborn.
But what do you think?
This debate is now closed. Please see below for a selection of your comments.
Oh, who cares about the blasted sex scenes! Big deal. What I found disappointing was the simplicity of it all - visual symbolism laid on with a trowel. Seems to me that, after the feelgood fairytale romance of the first episode, this is going to turn into another angst story.
Were it not for the lesbian relationship involved, surely this story - girl goes to big city from small community and discovers the duplicity beneath the sophistication - would never have been made. It's a slightly sad reflection, both on TV and the audience, that what is (currently) a very basic and frequently-told story gets a great deal of excited attention simply because it contains two attractive actresses in bed together, and the promise of more nudity to come.
Lame, tame & poorly acted. A great disappointment.
Tremendous! Brilliant acting and a fast pace.
The flashback scenes to the rehearsal during the double act were a wonderful touch. The love scenes were tender and well shot (my mind kept thinking of how ITV would have handled this?) My only criticism would be that at an hour it was too short.
Lesley, UK
I thoroughly enjoyed this drama last night and think that the sex scenes were beautifully done. Congrats to the Beeb for having the courage to show this and to Keeley Hawes and Rachael Stirling for excellent performances.
I was really disappointed last night after the episode. It was not as I expected, the way the BBC advertised it as a highly erotic lesbian sex drama. It is so hard to believe that the BBC can go to this length to disappoint its viewers who pay TV Tax every month but get something so boring and pathetic. Just to win the TV ratings race, the BBC give the wrong impression.
Not impressed at all like so many of my friends. I haven't heard anybody saying that it was sexy enough.
There was nothing gratuitous about it, but it was an appallingly acted and scripted piece of drama. If I were the makers, I'd be relying on the sex to get it any viewers at all. With one of the most predictable cliff-hangers imaginable, it was also totally let down by the worst performance from a leading actress I have ever seen.
It was a really interesting drama, well acted, but it wasn't really gratuitous and to be honest it didn't live up to the hype. I will watch the second part because it had a strong storyline.
Matt, UK
Rachael Stirling does an excellent impression of Kathy Burke when she plays Perry on the Harry Enfield show.
I was watching it with my wife and expected it to be terrible... I only came in because I was tired and wanted a lie down on the sofa. I was surprised by how well made it was. Gratuitous is the last thing it was, the sex scenes were utterly tame. I think it was excellent - intriguingly shot and cut together and not full of clichés like I expected it would be.
Well, I'm sure there will be complaints. I actually said to the rest of my family that I couldn't wait to see the reaction on this site! However, as the song says... "it's only human nature after all". Anyone with any complaints about the sexual content in this programme can only be concerned about the amount of it and the time it was shown, not the fact that it was lesbian sex.
Personally I had no problem with this programme as they were two consenting adults who were in love... indeed Nan had even "waited" until the right person came along. Surely this is a very positive message to promote to youngsters?
I found it very refreshing, it was very tastefully done. I think for a change it showed lesbians in a different light to how they are usually protrayed, it gives the viewer someone to relate to as they appear not that different, well done to the director. It might have been slightly shocking at first but such an eye opener!!
Absolutely wonderful, with so much passion and beauty attached to the love scenes, I was captivated. I think it is a beautiful thing to see the love between two women and the beautiful glow of the intimate scenes mixed with the reality of the attitudes of that era came across as an unspoken love. I can't wait until the second part.
Lee, UK
On last night's showing it was poor. It failed to capture any of the magic I imagine you're supposed to feel about Nan's developing love for Kitty. Neither did you really have any sympathy for her when she discovers Kitty with Walter. It was boring really. And to top it all off, very poor sex scenes, unconvincing and not enough flesh!!
Firstly it's really about a voyage of discovery for a young woman in Victorian times trying to understand what life is about and where she fits in. Something that each and every one of us go through. As for the sex scenes, they were quite tame by today's standards. It certainly wasn't overtly glorified or dwelled upon and was really a part of Nan's self-discovery. Overall though I was left with a sort of empty feeling about the characters, I never felt I warmed to either of them. Kitty came across as obfuscating and Nan a little too naive and esoteric and you were just left with a feeling of ambivalence towards both of them.
I felt that the portrayal of lesbian sex in last night's episode was entirely justified and, indeed, integral to the plot. More of the same please BBC!
Hardly gratuitous - as my wife said, "That was about as rude as an advert for perfume". I thought it suffered from over-the-top, arty direction, for which I blame Moulin Rouge.
I enjoyed Tipping the Velvet a great deal. It portrayed the uncertainty and strength of emotion well, and it was refreshing to see something such as this on BBC Two rather that Channel 4. I'm really looking forward to the next episode: a BBC triumph!
James, UK
I read the book over the summer and thought it was fantastic and thus have been eagerly awaiting the drama ever since. And last night I was not disappointed. Keeley Hawes is perfect as the enthralling yet closeted Kitty and Rachael Stirling gives the impression that she is going to portray Nan's journeys very convincingly. There are a few discrepancies with the novel, mainly detail that's been left out and I don't think it stressed Kitty's fear of being outed enough. However, it looks great and I can't wait for the next episode - well done girls. P.S. It would be interesting to know who the audience consisted of.
I thought it was very enjoyable. The two lead actors were brilliant.
Very well acted and tastefully done.
A very interesting tale, but there was no need to show the sex or even nudity. It attracts people to watch for the wrong reasons, thereby mitigating one of the thrusts of the story.
We liked it, done with taste the acting was good and the costumes etc. excellent.
I perferred Pride and Pejudice but then it has got Colin Firth in it hasn't it?
I watched this show last night and thought it a good period drama. The sex scenes were very limited and extremely tasteful. I'm sure the tabloid fuss was probably just a publicity ruse.
Richard, Germany
Although set in the Victorian era, it is a tale I am sure many girls and women can relate to even in the 21st century. And despite what the reviewers wrote, the sex scenes were not that steamy nor were they gratituous. At the very least, it is about the experience of falling in love.
This to me signified a shift in the BBC's output policy. It seems more and more intrinsic to the BBC that it has to resort to titilation, voyeurism et al previously the realm of the sub channels i.e. ITV and Five.
The way this programme has been marketed says it all really - two young fanciable lesbians each tasting forbidden fruit for the first time!
I loved it! I have a very loving and devoted boyfriend, but oh, I wish he'd sometimes say the nice things Kitty said to Nan yesterday. Men: listen and learn. I've got gay friends of both sexes, and to me that story was a beautiful love story spiced up with humour and warmth. And human nature. The story itself is a rather classical one, though; naive country girl meets more experienced city lover - the difference is that the lover is a girl. But love is love, and who cares what sex the object of love is?
Matt, UK
I think the media should put their sensible heads on for once and stop trying to make something out of nothing. Their fascination with a bit of flesh was exemplified by Richard and Judy's inept interview of Rachael Stirling yesterday.
I thought the first episode was a very enjoyable hour's entertainment, well directed, a nice story and a welcome change from the normal stuffy period dramas such as Pride and Prejudice. It is, however, neither gratuitous nor an intriguing tale.
I watched Tipping the Velvet with no preconceptions and found it an engaging love story. Nan's emotional and sexual awakening were sensitively handled - and you can see more graphic sex scenes in pre-watershed soaps!
I don't know if it is gratuitous or intriguing, as I got bored after five minutes and turned over. Certainly the most over hyped TV drama in a long time.
Karen Hall, England
Excellent drama, funny, well acted, very watchable. The sex scenes were probably necessary but if anything detracted from the drama as a whole.
Don't know what all the fuss was about, have seen far raunchier and explicit scenes on Channel 4's Sex & the City.
It does not matter if Tipping the Velvet is gratuitous or intriguing because that is someone's subjective view. If you like it - great. If not, turn it off. I think a wide range of programmes on the BBC is essential and let people make up their own mind about what they watch. I personally believe that the BBC should make programmes to appeal to a wide audience and not accept moral shackles that appeal just a majority
Good drama, nice accents, only a bit of sex, it is the 21st century, so no big deal.
I switched on half way through and was rivited as much by the dark-haired girl's yokel accent as anything else. I thought it was excellent and the sex under the silk sheets was appropriate to demonstrate their discovery. I definitely plan to watch the next episode.
H Smith, UK
I thought it was very tame and a bit dull; nothing to get excited about in any way.
For too long now we have had gay men protrayed on the television, it's about time we saw the other side. This drama was excellent, an eye opener
A big let down, where was all the sex promised? It seemed to comprise of a few scenes showing ladies bare backs! Not exactly ground breaking.Will continue reading my Mills and Boon for a bit of excitement.
I must admit the thought of the steamy sex will be the reason why a lot of people will switch on, however I'm hoping the content and quality of the production and acting will keep them watching regardless of the subject it covers.
Jenny-Anne Dexter, UK
I think so far it's a story well told. There is an obvious theatrical flair to the editing and the set pieces are executed brilliantly. Not to mention the acting is spot on. The twist at the end of the programme last night was something you expected, but from the vantage point of Nan you did feel your heart sink. I'll be watching the next hour with relish.
What a great drama. Can't wait to see the next showing.
Keep up the great work.
Great feeling of the times gone by.
I enjoyed this drama which seemed to capture the spirit of the time and milieu very well indeed. The sex scenes weren't any more graphic than many similar productions where a heterosexual relationship is the central theme (possibly less so) and were so joyous in their depiction that only the most prudish (who should have switched off at the pre-broadcast warning) could take offence.
I believe the programme was superb and sensitively portrayed. The performances by both actresses were brilliant.
Another excellent period drama from the Beeb. The exploration of the developing relationship was well done and, in my opinion, not in the least gratuitous. Looking forward to the next episode. I intend to watch out for the book too.
Tim Metcalfe, UK
I thought the drama was enthralling. As an "out and proud" lesbian, I was pleased to see the subject tackled honestly and candidly. Obviously, there are those members of the public which will watch for cheap thrills but then they are the ones that quite often victimise lesbians. It is sad to see that double standards are still alive and well, a legacy from Victorian times which would have been better left there. My only critiscism is Nan's accent, she obviously went to the Dick Van Dyke school of Cockney and had Mo Slater (EastEnders) as a teacher. Carry on the good work BBC, this one will be a classic.
To be honest, I think the story line is pretty weak, so far, even though the concept is interesting.
What was gratuitous was the fast-cut, sudden slo-mo direction that masked the slenderness of the story. Andrew Davies, so excellent at bringing to life the subtleties of the classics, has here struggled to find any depth in an over-hyped book. The girls look pretty, though.
Complete and utter dross. Terribly acted...especially the accents. If anybody has seen Legz Akimbo's acting prowess from the League of Gentlemen, you'll understand this¿
It's a story about love and sex, so the sex scenes cannot be gratuitous, can they? They are inevitably a neccesary part of the story. If anyone is upset by a series about sex they ought to go and have some themselves and stop being so uptight. Generally I thought it was a good story well handled: my only objection was the "fast-forward" through towards the end gave the treatment of the sex scenes a "Carry On" feel.
Dave, England
I thought Tipping the Velvet was wonderful! It was funny, moving and beautifully acted and its basic subject matter is love and its passions and confusions - something we can all identify with. Congratulations on making such an excellent drama!
It was well acted, had a good pace and was generally very watchable. The plot struck me as somewhat implausible though. But I'll be watching next week (just for the acting quality of course - nothing to do with Keeley Hawes naked or anything, oh no.)
"The drama deals with the underbelly of Victorian society." Clearly someone has written that with tongue in cheek. The sex scenes are very valuable to a minority, and entertainment to the majority. Very well done!
For once I totally agree with the BBC's spending of my licence fee.
Rachael Stirling's voice is one of the most irritating ever heard on television. Her accent and delivery are so obviously artificial, disbelief cannot be suspended.
Michael, UK
Delightful, intriguing, love story, which was not gratuitous. On the contrary, the sex scenes were presented delicately and are absolutely essential to the tale in creating atmosphere and developing the viewers' understanding of the women's relationship.
I was relaxed about my 14-year-old son watching with me and we discussed how, although society was so intolerant (and ignorant) of alternative lifestyles at that period in history, that so much intolerance, prejudice and ignorance still exists. We shall certainly be watching the rest of the series.
I had been looking forward to this programme, but the moving hand-held camera images made me feel uncomfortable, and I turned off after only three minutes.
It was a really good show, tastefully done and edited. Well done to all concerned on such a good performance. I look forward to the second and third parts.
A nice show but raunchy? I don't think so...
Tripe and nonsense, not unlike the vast majority of BBC's dumbed down output these days. Yawn.
Sam, UK
It seemed initially sympathetic towards lesbian women, but the storyline eventually gave way to gratuitous drama - much the same as an every day soap opera.
I thought it was brilliantly acted and very gripping. I am looking forward to next week, and think if people don't like the lesbian scenes - they shouldn't be watching it in the first place. It's not like they haven't been warned!!!!! Also thought Nan was the image of Martin McCutcheon.
If people were expecting a lesbian porn fest, they would have been disappointed by the first episode. Personally, I thought it was the most thoughtful and innocent love story told with the BBC's usual flair for a great yarn. I loved it, and cannot wait for part 2!
Like a slow burning wick to a powder keg; sparks and fizzles that lead inevitably to a possibly predictable end - but where next? I want to know and will be watching.
Sara Sabir, UK
I thought it was very good, very well directed and shot. I admit that l started initially watching it because l thought it would be erotic, but l was surprised that it was more of a sensitive period story.
Good drama, interesting story, good camerawork and direction. Enjoyable to watch. Nice to see people shown "making love" rather than just the usual aggressive bonking sessions where love does not enter into it.
Apart from Nan's slightly annoying, deep voice, Tipping the Velvet was the most fantastic period drama I have ever watched. The scenes of intimacy were extremely artistic and beautiful. I can't wait for the next two episodes.
I enjoyed the drama and am looking forward to the next two parts - I didn't think it was steamy at all - just a frankly told story.
A well acted excellent drama. Of course it was going to be seen as gratuitous. It was clear before it was shown what it contained and was marketed as such. To then argue its artistic merits is a case of trying to have your cake and eat it.
Revd Tisdale, North Herts
The young girl "awakening her sexuality" sounded like she was doing a poor Frank Spencer imitation with that appalling accent. The story lacked depth & did not draw you in, relying on the sex scenes to try & generate any drama. This seemed like lightweight Music Hall entertainment itself, not the usual high standard costume drama that the BBC can produce.
I don't know what the intentions of the makers were, but I thought this first part of the drama was very fine. The photography was beautiful; the portrayal of Victorian life was refreshingly unfussy; the evocation of sexual and romantic awakening was electric. Yes, the sex scenes were also excellent, but also dignified and restrained given the potential scope for straightforward titillation. An excellent and unusual drama, for which many thanks.
I spent several years studying costume drama as part of my studies and I do not think this is a particularly good or well written story. The notoriety that this drama has gained through the sex scenes will assure good ratings, as is normally the case. No one would be in the least bit surprised if this was being shown on Channel 5.
Matt, UK
I was actually more impressed by Tipping the Velvet than I'd expected; the sex scenes were tasteful and central to the story, and the acting was first-rate.
The only thing I disliked was the pointless, obtrusive voice-over. The subtlety of the acting in some scenes was obscured by the narrator's statements of the obvious. Perhaps the audience should occasionally be trusted to do some of the work?
In typical British fashion, commentators are picking apart the steamy sex scenes while at the same time criticising the drama for being too raunchy. What a bunch of hypocritical old men. You can bet they're all secretly salivating at the mouth over the thought of two women together, while outwardly complaining about the lack of family values on TV today. If anyone's perverted, it is these old farts.
Why do you have to put "raunchy drama" as the strapline for a TV drama that includes lesbian content? It reduces lesbians solely to the sex they have, and connotes depravity. This is unfair, sensationalist, and I would expect better of the BBC....
Tipping the Velvet is a very finely crafted drama. What else is there to say?
The worst thing about it was probably the music - it was dire! Didn't fit the period at all, and the Moulin Rouge style bits were very pointless and irritating.
Even so, I think there should definitely be more of this sort of thing on the BBC!
I think this has to be one of the best programmes ever broadcast on the BBC as it was an "in yer face" drama about life back in the day. I am male and did not "get off" on the lesbians but it did go to show that women are good lovers.The direction was spot on as I could easily tell this was not filmed pornographically. I'm not too sure about other males who watched it. Good on you BBC for showing this, and don't spend stupid money on Harry Potter and the like. We need to know our TV licence money is going into good British programming such as period dramas and comedy such as The Kumars, My Family, My Hero, etc.
I don't think it was gratuitous at all. It just seemed to convey what its about - love. Irrespective of what sexes the two people involved are.
Sure the sex scenes were good considering the time they were broadcast and the channel it was shown on, but I've seen more passion on seedy cable channels at 10pm. The writers should have at least extended those scenes a bit.
The acting was very good, though set over a century ago, its ideals haven't lost their meaning today. And it was a surprise to see Johnny Vegas on the programme, he's one of my favourite comics and I didn't know he did drama, so that made it all the better.
Overall, a great programme, but it'd be even better if the lesbian sex scenes were extended a bit and had more definition.
Laura K, UK
The acting was dreadful. Absolutely appalling. Every time Nan opened her mouth I couldn't stop wincing at the "accent" and her look seemed startingly reminiscent of Aunt Sally in Worzel Gummage.
Without a doubt, the best thing I have EVER seen. A triumph! I can't wait for next Wednesday...
Totally and utterly formulaic. Every plot piece was predicatable, there were no surprises, it insulted the intelligent viewer. Enjoyed every minute.
I thought the love story between the two girls was sensitively handled and brilliantly performed by Keely Hawes and Rachael Stirling. The direction was a bit clunky and self-conscious in places though, but it was a well paced and entertaining first episode. I'll continue to watch, not for the love scenes, as like any love scene between any combination of gender, they can be very boring to watch and only serve to get in the way of the story and plot.
I loved the recreation of the Music Hall, a great period in British theatre and entertainment. I also liked the way the characters were never judged, ie, men bad, women good. They were just human.
Marie Cameron, United Kingdom
Congratulations Beeb on a wonderful drama! We see plenty of sex scenes of this intensity in other dramas all the time - why such as fuss because it is two women? Surely we are not still clinging onto our Victorian values! It is so important for gay people to have intelligent and entertaining representation in the media. Perhaps one day gay actresses themselves will feel no need to hide their sexuality - then we will be making real progress!
Overall, last night's episode was good enough to kill time when there's nothing else on telly. For my liking, not enough time was spent on the development of the characters, e.g. the storyline from the point Nan felt unsure about the relationship to her boyfriend to her decision to move to London just seemed hurried in order to get the love scenes going. The acting was reasonable, no outstanding performances at all. I might watch it again whenever I get bored.
I thoroughy enjoyed it for the period and for the story. The acting especially from Rachael Stirling (Nan Astley) was excellent. It's programmes like this that help to make the TV licence fee value for money so I can't complain. I must say that it is far from gratuitous, in fact I found it a rather beautiful story.
The quality of the programme is superb.The acting is magnificent.The subject is all too human. It's about love between two souls and how society views people who fall in love with the same sex. But also it is about people who worked and lived in Victorian times. And it goes to show that over a hundred years later people still have a problem with this subject. Strange concidering the same people don't mind watching violent war films on TV Keep up the good work and make more of them.
Didn't live up to its billing. I suppose Aunty Beeb might see it as racy.
Clive, UK
It was an engaging enough hour of television, but the pace of the opening was too quick, the direction was hackneyed and what on earth can you say about the terrible over emphasis of the voice-overs? I think the BBC are just going to have to be disappointed that this programme is not going to be as controversial as they hoped.
Within 10 minutes I had switched over to Faking It (which was quite enjoyable) as Tipping the Velvet was just pretty boring images with a dull story. My Japanese wife could hardly follow the words, and we saw nothing in the slightest bit arousing or stimulating in that first 10 mins.
How pleased I am to see men like Raj (above) turning off from Tipping the Velvet. When such a fantastic book was going to be turned into a BBC Drama, I got very excited, but for different reaons to Raj et al. It was really well done, and very true to the book. It's just a shame that the BBC had to lower themselves to marketing it as some sort of substitute for porn. Perhaps now we've got the first episode out of the way, all the tourists can go back to watching ITV, or in some cases their "private" video collections!
It was excellent. A refreshing, simple, feel-good drama. I will certainly be buying the book.
The negative comments above seem to be from people over-analysing it.
Martin, UK
I thought it was superb. Excellent acting, very moving and looking forward to the next installment. The only disappointment was when it ended!
I think that this show is brilliant!
Great sensitive acting and directing. One of the best BBC dramas to date.
Nan's voice is awful. I thought she was putting it on!! She gets increasingly annoying to listen to. Other actors were good - pretty good adaptation so far.
The BBC drama Tipping the Velvet was absolutely brilliant, as a university student it was rare that me and my friends were in to watch it, we are very glad we did, the acting was excellent, the view into the underbelly of victorian life was spot on, and as a History student I was very impressed. Every Wednesday night is our staying in night thanks to this wonderful drama from the BBC! Thanks!
What was that taxi driver thinking? Charing Cross to Brixton (which I do often) via St. Pauls and one of London's parks? They was robbed!
What a fantastic piece of drama. The classic filming style and lighting was brilliant. The acting class A, BBC quality proves itself once again.
Alan, Ireland
Why do TV producers make these sad soft porn dramas? People who object to porn hate them, and people who like porn hate soft porn!
This programme was very disappointing indeed. The story line was linear and predictable. As a love story it was second rate and very Mills & Boon. Clearly the drama was relying on the lesbian angle to carry the audience.
The characters were very flat and were not fleshed out enough. Nancy was supposed to be this woman who discovers her sexuality, but there seemed to be no personal struggle in the character tryng to come to terms with her sexuality. This seems very unlikely considering the social pressures of the period in which the drama was set.
However the camera work was good as was the costume and makeup.
Overall however it was a poor piece of drama, my wife and I will not be watching next week.
Both Rachael and Keeley performed brilliantly. There was a real conveyance of the passion the characters felt. It was also shot well with clever cinematography and taste for what was needed to tell us the audience EXACTLY what was going on. I look forward to next week.
Mark, UK
Frankly I thought the drama was disappointing, especially the poor acting.
Tipping the Velvet, based on seeing just episode one, is superbly faithful to the Sarah Waters novel which I have read several times. The acting by Rachael Stirling and Keeley Hawes is superb; the love-making is beautiful; the period recreation believable is and the overall quality of production as high as the BBC achieves in its finest dramas.
I wanted the drama to go on and on because I cared so much about the characters. Well done to everyone concerned.
How obvious was that storyline? And I'm sorry, but what was with all the "Matrix" style camera shots? The only good thing was that both main characters are acted beautifully. Was that Johnny Vegas I saw on stage?!
Whilst I quite enjoyed it, the accents spoit it, coming from Whitstable, we are not cockneys !
I'm just interested to see the large proportion of men who have commented on this site compared to the relatively few women. Can't help feeling that some men just like the site a bit of female flesh, whatever they might be doing. Personally I chose not to watch the film.
I feel this drama has given me an incredible insight into the culture of the Victorian times that I would never have even known existed. What makes this so compelling to watch is not the cheap thrill of yet another prospect of lesbian sex scenes, but how refreshing it is to see a character that so many people can relate to. The plight of Nan is one we can relate to only too well. Desperation to find our place in the world, desperation to love and to be loved, and desperation to fit in.
It was not the love scenes that I felt made this programme what it was, but the character's inspiring quest to find herself. Rachael Stirling's conveyal of Nan's betrayal by Kitty was heartfelt, and I will definitely be among others in anticipating the dramas return next week. Well done.
Anna, UK
I enjoyed the programme and tuned in only by accident. I thought it was all very tastefully done and enjoyed the story - I thought Rachael Stirling was superb - even if she did remind me of Janine from EastEnders, (whilst Miss Kitty was a dead ringer for Kristen Scott-Thomas!)
More fuss should have been made of the production than the sex scenes which were - let's face it - lame; but then only a part of the piece as a whole. Will try and watch the next episode - although notorioualy bad at missing things I want to watch on TV! My only criticism would be that the style in my mind was that of Moulin Rouge, but without the after effects of digital imagery added in post production to really finish the pictures look and feel. Congrats to all involved - well done!
Competent BBC period drama, yes! Well directed and shot and well acted by all the cast but a rather dull simplistic story that wouldn't make it in to a soap.
Why did the simple oyster girl have such a silly voice?
See also:
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text:
Red Curry Pumpkin Soup
A little curry paste goes a long way in this recipe. You can use reduced-fat coconut milk if you're looking to lighten up this soup even more.
- Active:
- Total Time:
- Servings: 4
- 2 tablespoons coconut or extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 large sweet onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- Two 15-ounce cans pure pumpkin puree (or 4 cups fresh roasted pumpkin)
- 2 cups vegetable or chicken stock
- One 15-ounce can coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 teaspoons red curry paste
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
How to make this recipe
Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven or stockpot. Sauté the onion over medium-high heat until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and continue to cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
Carefully stir in the pumpkin, stock, coconut milk, honey, curry paste and salt. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat to medium and simmer for 20-25 minutes, until the soup has thickened. Stir in the lime juice. Puree using an immersion or stand blender until very smooth.
Serve the soup in bowls and garnish with the cilantro.


text:
If you're a casual PC gamer, you've probably spent more time than is healthy playing one iteration of The Sims or another. Since the original game's debut back in 2000, the franchise has sold over 150 million copies worldwide - and counting.
The latest addition to the series, The Sims Freeplay (you can download it here from the iTunes Store), has just been launched on iPad and iPhone. As its name implies, it can be downloaded and played completely free of charge.
Developed by the same team responsible for The Sims 3, the new game comes with a host of familar features, including extensive Sim customisation, the ability to buy, build, furnish and remodel homes, career/life goal progression and a variety of pets to adopt. This time around, you can also choose to play the game in real-time, instead of having sped-up day-and-night cycles.
We got some hands-on time with the game at today's EA launch event, and we can report that it delivers all the major elements that a Sims fan would expect. Despite the zero dollar asking price, it doesn't feel like a cut-down product (you can control up to 16 Sims at once, for example). Crucially, we didn't notice any intrusive advertising either.
The game does a good job of utilising the iPad 2's touch screen interface too: swivelling your fingers rotates the view and pinching zooms into the action.
See also:
Top 10 computer games of all time
EA start speaking Ye Olde Simlish
Source: Copyright © PC & Tech Authority. All rights reserved.
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