text:
Congressional Hearings
Feb. 27, 2003
Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space Holds Hearing Aerospace Industry Research and Development
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This hearing is very timely. And it's going to provide all of us, I think, a wonderful opportunity to discuss the current state of the U.S. aeronautics industry, as well as what will be necessary to ensure the U.S. continues to lead the world in all aspects of aeronautics technology.
I very much agree with your bottom line assessment. And I'm glad to see that there are some in the Senate who share the views of Senator Dodd and myself. And I will talk about the measure that Senator Dodd and I introduced last year and have reintroduced again, which we think goes a long way towards addressing our competitiveness, the importance of our military superiority, as well as how important it is for our economy that we make the proper investments in aeronautics research and development.
We have seen in the last five years that NASA's budget for aeronautics research and development have been literally cut in half, from $1 billion to its current level of $500 million. In making these cuts, the United States has been rendered more vulnerable to foreign competition in the field of aeronautics.
There is nothing wrong with competition. I am competitive. But if you're going to compete, you had better be investing right and making the right decisions; otherwise, you're going to get left behind.
The nations of Europe, they have moved in the exact opposite direction, dramatically increasing such funding in an effort to enhance their competitiveness in the world's aviation market. I do commend the Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry for crafting a comprehensive and frank report on the state of the U.S. aerospace industry.
I do find it disturbing that our aerospace industry is still living off research and development initiatives that began during the Cold War. If the United States is going to continue to develop the stealth aircraft of the 21st century, it must make the commitment to research and development.
This country's ability to lead the world in innovation and technological breakthroughs are a direct result of our commitment in the past. And it's obviously essential that there needs to be significant investment in research and development on a sustained and strategic basis.
And to make the research and development initiatives as beneficial as possible, there must be consensus amongst all parties involved on priorities and goals and the best path to achieve those goals. A commitment to an integrated aerospace policy will also be necessary for the United States to remain the global leader in cutting edge aeronautic technology.
Senator Dodd and I have a great concern with the growing atrophy of the federal commitment to funding for aeronautics research. After reviewing the commission's research and discussing the pressing issues with many in the aeronautics community, I've joined with Senator Dodd to introduce this session again the Aeronautics Research and Development Revitalization Act.
This legislation will provide aggressive funding authorizations to provide NASA aeronautics program with the resources it needs to keep the United States on the cutting edge on all aspects of aeronautics and aviation. The United States' complacency must change now to prevent further damage to our competitiveness in aviation.
The bill that Senator Dodd and I have developed is aggressive. And it will require a commitment of significant funding for the next five years.
However, I believe this money will be well spent when considering the positive impact aeronautics research and development has on both the U.S. economy and on our military. We have received strong support for this initiative, Mr. Chairman. And I ask consent that the letters in support of the Allen-Dodd bill from the Aerospace Industries Association, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Boeing Company and Airbus be made part of the record.
Without objection.
Thank you.
I would advise my colleagues that the U.S. aviation industry is the largest contributor to the U.S. balance of trade and directly accounts for $343 billion to the U.S. economy and 4.2 million positions in our job market. These workers earn an average income that is 35 percent higher than the average income in this country. Continued reductions and stagnation in aeronautics funding would lead to a continued loss in highly-trained human resources to countries that are placing a greater emphasis on aeronautics.
We must also consider the impact aeronautics research has on our military. Every military aircraft design the United States military currently flies incorporates advanced technologies that were developed at NASA research centers. Aeronautics research has made the United States the dominant air power in the world, with technologies years in advance of our closest pursuers.
As a result of these advancements, U.S. troops are placed in far less harm and more precise in their strikes against enemy targets. And that's important as well, so that there is not as much collateral damage with less precision in the aeronautics.
Now in the future, our troops need to continue to have the most technologically advanced equipment and armaments for their safety when protecting our freedoms and our interests. Making the United States the clear leader in aeronautics research and development, in my view, is in the best interests of our military.
It's in the best interests of our civilian airline industry. It means a great deal for quality jobs and also, our balance of trade.
The aviation industry affects the lives of almost every American. And I'm hopeful that this hearing will highlight the importanceand I believe it willthe importance of aeronautics research and facilitate positive changes to our aeronautics policies.
So Mr. Chairman, I thank you very much for your leadership and your insight in organizing this important hearing. And I look forward to the testimony of our esteemed witnesses.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Love to follow up on some of these. Thank you both for your testimony.
In the event that the Chinese do get on the moonwhether it's three years or five yearsand want to stay there, what are the implications of that? What are they going to be doing by being on the moon that we cannot presently do? It is generally not considered a habitable planet. They may have a lot of people and do not value human life anywhere as much as we do.
Well, for example, what we're . . .
How would that affect us?
For example, in order to survive on the moon, you basically have to develop close-looped environmental systems.
That could be a technology that would have a great deal of application here on Earth. And you know, the spin-offs of that could be very, very useful in a global marketplace. And so that's one thing I see.
There are apparently vast supplies of H3 on the moon. H3 allows you to have far more efficient fusion reactors. The ability to bring back H3 from the moon and utilize it inside fusion reactors may prove to be a huge benefit to the country that's there doing it.
So I mean, there are some things like that that you can imagine. I also think that there is a psychological impact that comes from it. I think the American people believe that we went to the moon, we planted our flag, it's ours. And nobody else should be able to go there.
And I think once it's realized, that we not only haven't gone back, but now someone else have gone there and our ability to go there in the near term is dramatically limited, that we simply would not be able to stand up a program and get there quickly in competition with that, would have a huge impact in this country. And I believe there are people inside our security programs who believe that a Chinese capability to go to the moon has vast security implications for this country as well.
Okay, let me get a little bit closer to Earth here and the focus of this hearing, which has to do with aeronautics. Let me ask you this: as far as that competition is concernedand this is maybe a more pointed question than the chairman'sis in international competition in aeronautics, is the United States winning? Or are we losing?
My view is, if you look at all the trends, particularly in the commercial aviation marketyou look at the jobs, you look at the investmentyou can put a bright face on it and say it's not the end of the game. That's true. But all the trends are negative. That's the reason for this hearing.
And hopefully, we will be able to work on a bipartisan basis, not just here but also the private sector and the government, to reverse it. You talk about losing manufacturers and suppliers and so forth. It's not as if you can find people just like this to be involved in aeronautics.
We are losingwould you not both agree? -- losing the aeronautics engineers. It's an aging workforce. Because there is less research, less investment in it. There are fewer students coming out of universities in aeronautical engineering because there simply are not the jobs there.
Would you agree with that as well?
Well, we speak to the workforce issues pretty broadly in the commission report.
We felt very strongly that there needs to be an investment in education to produce a more technologically competent society, out of which you can draw then more aerospace engineers. And there is no doubt that we need to do that in the future.
I will say to you honestly that the record is mixed, with regard to whether or not there are enough aerospace engineers available. The fact is, we are still graduating a significant number of aerospace engineers. The problem is, they're not able to find jobs in the industry and they move off into computer industry and other places.
But the fact is, if we made the industry healthy, we do have the ability to bring engineers into it. But they are not going to come for an industry where they think they're going to get laid off within a few months or where seniority rules guarantee that the last hired is the first gone, where the health of the industry is in question.
I mean, those are all things that affect young people's decisions about where they are going to go, both with education and with jobs.
With employment, that's right.
You mentioned, Congressman Walker, the nanotechnology. That's something Senator Wyden, who is also a member of this committee, both of us worked on that, making sureand it's very basic, broad science, everything from health to material sciences in a variety of ways.
So weren't able to get it through the Senate. Now we've got to get it through again this year. So we're working on that as well.
Dr. Creedon, let me ask you specifically, as far as the NASA budgetand I understand your role and your answer to our chairman's question. And you're a good, loyal leader and understand that funds are allocated to NASA. You make those priorities. And I understand that.
I was governor. I wanted all my agency heads to say these are the approaches and also did respect the fact that the legislative branch also could have their own priorities in that area.
The NASA budget, the way I see it, the way it's being presented, that you have changed the way that you address your aeronautics budget. It's not just unique to aeronautics. You have done it across the board.
That makes it harder for some of us to track what's actually going on. So could you tell me whether the research and development programs will receive more funding in the coming years? And can you tell meand tell ushow much of the $559 million contained in the president's budget has been allocated for research specifically?
Okay, there are several questions in there.
Right, understood. And I understand your role and responsibility.
I'm sorry. I've exceeded my time. If I may?
On the SATS program for general aviation, I want to commend you and what you all are doing there, working with the FAA, as far as for small airports, for general aviation. I've seen it.
I was there at the unveiling of it in Danville. And I think that that has a great deal of potential, a great deal of potential for not only general aviation, it's great for those communities to have accessmuch easier access.
I even like the idea because I always like to look at what the price of fuel is. It even gives you information as to what the price of fuel is. And that does change from facility to facility. And it's, I think, an outstanding program that will really be beneficial to many smaller markets and rural areas. So I want to commend you on that.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
All right. And Wichita. But regardless, it's a heck of a good company. I visited when they were in Canada. But glad they're Jayhawks as well as Quebecois.
The question though is it's a sustained effort. And that is absolutely essential. We need to educate the American public on the importance of it.
The one areaand since everything is so positive here, generally speaking, the one thing I was looking at in NASA's budget was in the use of nuclear as an engine. It may make great physics sense for all those reasons.
After the Columbia disaster, people just are going to easily imagine some problem on a takeoff, such as what happened on 0the Challenger or in the event that that was a nuclear-powered plane coming in, that the Columbia was nuclear-powered, what would have been the impact? Would that havethe pattern of debris that we saw, would that be a pattern of radioactive waste?
That's something, in so far as nuclear, is something that people, I think, are going to have some concerns with. If you are able to address it here, you can.
But that's just one that's just a gut reaction that I think would beit's not just viscerally felt by me. But I think that, as that goes forward, I think there will be a lot of people in this country saying, "Well, that was debris coming down. It was tragic. If that were nuclear-powered, what would have been the impact of it?"
And that probablywhether you want to address it right now or in the future?
Well, I'm not a technologist, but I'll simply tell you what we heard in terms of some of those issues. First of all, I mean, you would not have an active nuclear reactor at launch. And what you would have is a reactor that would be activated once you got on orbit.
You would shield it very, very heavily so that any kind of tragedy and so on would not take any of the nuclear materials that were being launched into orbit out of containment.
You'd have it in such a container that it would be safe?
That's exactly right. And those things all seem to be well inside the box of technological feasibility at the present time. I don't think we feel as though we have to do much in the way of breakthrough.
A lot of what we have learned in shielding of nuclear submarines, for example, to give you a pretty good base of experience for doing some of those kinds of missions. So I think that we can address some of those things. Whether there will still be people who will have concerns about it, sure.
Well, it's logical.
Because you see an explosion in the sky.
Exactly. I agree totally with the chairman's answer. People will be concerned. But Project Prometheus is intended to provide nuclear for one point in space to another, not in getting us from Earth to space.
Nevertheless, you are carrying radioactive materials.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, all three gentlemen, for your insightful testimony. It's great to hear the various perspectives.
And Mr. Dietz, thank you for your support of the measure that Senator Dodd and I are introducing. And it is good to hear your views.
There's different aspects of this. It's not just funding, just across the board. There is focus on aircraft noise, fuel efficiency, emissions, research and development for civil supersonic transport, which will necessarily be a function of propulsion. If you're going to get supersonic, sure you can do the aeronautic aspect of it or the avionics and so forth, but you need to have the engine, whatever the propulsion system is.
We do have rudder craft research and development as well, not something brought up here, scholarships for those who are studying at master's degree programs in aeronautical engineering, weather, air traffic management. It's very important.
I've seen at NASA-Langley how some of the ideas on noise and better air traffic management and how they're working. They take O'Hare Airport, it's that theory of how the noise pattern or the amount of noise, areas affected by noise, would be reduced, as well as better air traffic management because it is getting more and more crowded.
It's not just commercial aviation. It is general aviation as well.
And all of these, I think, are very important. We have to increase our funding there, and work in collaboration with the private sector, with colleges and universities as well as a variety of governmental organizations, whether it's NASA, whether it's FAA, whether it's Department of Defense.
Dr. Tomblin, let me ask you this question. You summarized your remarks in your written testimony that I was reading before. And you alluded to it that the aviation industry today competes internationally. We've been talking about that and competition and how that's important and that it's different than it was in the past.
Could you share with us or discuss with us the differences that you see as far as that competition? And also, in doing so, could you share with us any observations you may have where others outside of the United States do a better job, somehow, than we do?
And can we learn from that? Or does it really matter?
Is that a function of corporate strategy? As you see it, you say, well, we look at it for five years. They look at 100 years. Is that governmental? Is that corporate?
Personally, I see it as corporate. I mean, they have the money to throw into the research and development, where our companies do not put that much basic research funding in, not as much as like you see from the automobile industry.
Well, I can't recollect which one of you I was going through their testimony. Maybe it was Mr. Bolen or maybe you, yourself, pointing out where NASA's value is the basic research. And then the private sector comes in and figures out how to adapt that research to some commercial value.
Now it's not as it what NASA's research would not have any application. Much of it will. But sometimes you get adaptations or utilization of that research, basic research, which may be in something that has nothing to do at all with aeronautics.
But nevertheless, if you have that predictability and stability in research and development funding and it's not going to be a year to year fightbusinesses will say, oh gosh, they worry about their quarterly shareholders' report or annual report, let's sayif we have a plan that is clear and here are goalsand the supersonic is going to be not five years, that's 20 years.
But regardless, if we have that credibility and stability of funding, rather than just fussing and fighting every appropriations year, would you all think that could help in the private sector in your long-term vision, as opposed to saying, "Gosh, we've done this.
We've got to turn around and get some bang for this research?"
Well, I think you all have given us the insight we need. What we need to do, Mr. Chairman, is not just listen to a journal report or read it. We need to take action on the variety of comments that have been made here, all very insightful.
And I'm one who is competitive. But this competition is not just business competition. This is important for the jobs of the future, for national security. The same applies to nanotechnology where, if we don't make the proper long-term investments there, the Europeans and the Japanese will be ahead of us. And that's a $1 trillion economic benefit there, which has applications across all sorts of disciplines and fields.
So count me as one of your allies. But mostly, count me as an admirer of each and every one of you all and all our witnesses today. And we're going to work hard together for the future, which is important for our jobs, for our economy and our security.
And Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you. Thank goodness we have your leadership, making sure that this Congress pays attention to this vital issue for our country. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.


text:
Site News
12/10/2015 All magazines are re-uploaded to FileJoker, free for download, except JAPAN Mags, they are only for premium members of FileJoker, if you like to support our work please buy premium account of FileJoker from links of our website.
Clips are uploaded on DataFile and Keep2share and they are free for download.
If you are looking for Vintage Movies you can check here :
***vintagescene.org – all movies are uploaded on few file hosts: FileJoker, Keep2share, DataFile .
***vintagearchive.org – all movies are uploaded on FilesMonster
***Vintage Novels -> vintagenovels.org
All models are of legal age.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Download the Game Design and Indie Game Marketing Freebook 07/19/17GameDev.net and CRC Press have teamed up to bring a free ebook of content curated from top titles published by CRC Press. The freebook, Practices of Game Design & Indie Game Marketing, includes chapters from The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses, A Practical Guide to Indie Game Marketing, and An Architectural Approach to Level Design. The GameDev.net FreeBook is relevant to game designers, developers, and those interested in learning more about the challenges in game development. We know game development can be a tough discipline and business, so we picked several chapters from CRC Press titles that we thought would be of interest to you, the GameDev.net audience, in your journey to design, develop, and market your next game. The free ebook is available through CRC Press by clicking here. The Curated Books The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses, Second Edition, by Jesse Schell Presents 100+ sets of questions, or different lenses, for viewing a game's design, encompassing diverse fields such as psychology, architecture, music, film, software engineering, theme park design, mathematics, anthropology, and more. Written by one of the world's top game designers, this book describes the deepest and most fundamental principles of game design, demonstrating how tactics used in board, card, and athletic games also work in video games. It provides practical instruction on creating world-class games that will be played again and again. View it here. A Practical Guide to Indie Game Marketing, by Joel Dreskin Marketing is an essential but too frequently overlooked or minimized component of the release plan for indie games. A Practical Guide to Indie Game Marketing provides you with the tools needed to build visibility and sell your indie games. With special focus on those developers with small budgets and limited staff and resources, this book is packed with tangible recommendations and techniques that you can put to use immediately. As a seasoned professional of the indie game arena, author Joel Dreskin gives you insight into practical, real-world experiences of marketing numerous successful games and also provides stories of the failures. View it here. An Architectural Approach to Level Design This is one of the first books to integrate architectural and spatial design theory with the field of level design. The book presents architectural techniques and theories for level designers to use in their own work. It connects architecture and level design in different ways that address the practical elements of how designers construct space and the experiential elements of how and why humans interact with this space. Throughout the text, readers learn skills for spatial layout, evoking emotion through gamespaces, and creating better levels through architectural theory. View it here. Learn more and download the ebook by clicking here. Did you know? GameDev.net and CRC Press also recently teamed up to bring GDNet+ Members up to a 20% discount on all CRC Press books. Learn more about this and other benefits here.
Content count153
Last visited
Community Reputation1554 Excellent
About Telcontar
Telcontar replied to Wavinator's topic in Game Design and TheoryI don't believe anybody has approached this from the development side: the added complexity of putting in what is essentially an entirely different game. That's a lot of extra development time and hassle to do it well, and if you DON'T do it well the "less limited" form of the game will be a hindrance and not a benefit. Players will look at your RTS sections as half-assed and unfun, thus pulling down the entire game if you don't pull them off. Many games do attempt to play with genre within their particular rules. For instance, Starcraft has levels without basebuilding and with very limited resources, making them akin to some sort of dungeon crawl/adventure game. These are built to vary the games experiences without actually requiring the player to learn new skills.
Telcontar replied to suliman's topic in Game Design and TheoryI feel like "Power" might be a poor choice in this case. Strategic resources in a game are usually things we understand to be easily transportable and stored, so you can stockpile when able. Unless you're making a more futuristic (which it doesn't seem like, though I could be wrong) power doesn't fit that frame. Electricity generation is highly local - power plants need to be fairly close to the areas they serve because power is lost when transmitting it a long distance. Even if you remove power, you can still have bonuses to production or other game areas that are understood to come from good power generation (like near a hyrdoplant-capable river/dam). Assuming this game is set in or near the modern day, I might go with mines/metals as a resource. Not necessarily for the common metals like copper and iron, but rarer metals used in more specialized and high tech weapons like titanium and rare earth metals. They could be a high-tech gateway. Timber doesn't seem like a good choice. Agriculture maybe, especially if it fits the game (maybe there's a world-wide food shortage and fighting over arable land is a big part of the conflict? Could make for a good game element). Now, on to your main issue of funds. Representing funds income as taxation makes sense - most players will understand it. Does that mean that conquering cities/populous regions immediately increases your funds income? Cities would probably also need to be peaceful and safe to allow for actual taxation, offering incentives to not just conquer areas but to secure them. As far as how it works with totalitarian governments, you might look to Hearts of Iron for an example. There is no real concept of fungible wealth in that - you control resource sources and usage directly. The State has taken complete control of any production necessary for wartime, so they don't worry about paying for it - they just worry about getting and using it. If you were to abandon the funds concept altogether I think that could work just fine. Really depends on what other uses you have for it.
Seems like you're trying to write some manner of marketing copy: a short, efficient introduction to the idea of your game's world, characters, and mechanics. As with all writing there is a great deal of subjectivity here, but your intro will largely depend on what exactly you think is most important about your game. If you had to pick exactly three things about your game to tell somebody in order to maximize the chance that they'd be interested in learning more, what would those things be? You need to distill the central hook of your game to as few elements as possible, then describe them evocatively. Obviously it might not always be 3 things, it may be more or less - but the fewer the better. Introductions of any sort usually benefit from focus; getting across the most essential information as quickly and memorably as possible. Ex: "Meet SKULL BABY: the most dangerous two-year-old the galaxy's ever seen. SKULL BABY is ready to take down the disgusting hordes of the Slug Boogers with an enormous arsenal of booger-busting weaponry, all while LEAPING jumping occasionally hopping a short distance up or down." Having worked from your example and tweaked a bit, this sounds to me like a side-scrolling platformer shoot-'em-up, with emphasis on everything but 'platformer'. It wouldn't hurt to make the genre explicit, ending with "... in this action-packed side-scrolling shooter from <COMPANY NAME>".
How exactly do you mean introduction? Are we talking an intro to the game that the player sees when they start the game? Marketing materials? A pitch to a production company?
Telcontar replied to Aerdna's topic in Game Design and TheoryI enjoy the initial concept, and definitely find it interesting. Giving up control of certain functions in order to make them more powerful, but having to do deal with the consequences of an AI's actions rather than my own? Neat. I think there are a lot of great possibilities there. My main concern with that gameplay is how you make the AI of your various upgrades actually feel like AI and not like more basic programming. For instance the combat powerup that assumes control of your shooting: we usually expect "AI" to do things better than human beings, that being why the AI is used. So if this AI can make "mistakes" or take actions you wouldn't want it to take, there must be a reason. Maybe the AIs are being controlled/influenced by other things? Maybe they have ulterior motives? Maybe some AI have weird quirks you have to deal with? Like one Shooter AI has the quirk that it absolutely hates blonde people, and will attempt to shoot at blonde people wherever you encounter them (an extreme example just to demonstrate a point). Thus the player would need to try and avoid blonde people unless he doesn't mind killing them. As I said, I do like the concept - but removing agency from the player is something that must be done extremely carefully, and whenever you do it you should hand back ways that the player can take it back (work around the problem). That being said, I would certainly take a second look at a game like this. Oh, and one note about the story: if this is post-apocalyptic that usually means people die all the time. Even if we get to know this boy from the memory chip, what would make the player character try so hard to bring him back? Is it a family member? Otherwise important?
Telcontar replied to EricV's topic in Game Design and TheoryDepending on the game mechanics, perhaps customization options or a sandbox mode could be fun. If your game involves limited uses of any kind of ability/mechanic, unlocking unlimited uses can be really rewarding for players who loved that particular part of your game.
Telcontar replied to suliman's topic in Game Design and TheoryI've played Darkest Dungeon quite a bit (somewhere around 40 hours currently and intend to go back for more eventually). I do agree that the grind gets boring - but here's the thing. Not all grind is boring. Just the right amount of grind makes you feel like you had to work hard to achieve something, which increases the emotional payoff. It would be repetitive and boring if I always did exactly one or two non-boss dungeons and then another boss dungeon. Too predictable. One way I feel Darkest Dungeon could have been made to feel less grindy without even changing much is to allow for "partial" victories over the various bosses. Currently, the grind is made all the worse because you know if you go after a boss with an insufficiently leveled group and don't win, you have to do the whole thing over again. Not just the boss battle but the grind, because you probably lost at least a couple of your highest level characters in the fight. THAT is when the grind actually starts feeling grindy. Consider the change if, when fighting a boss, you could partially kill it or give it some kind of injury that makes it easier to defeat the next time - or makes the battle more predictable, gives you a known advantage you can exploit. Should this be the case, you might feel comfortable immediately dispatching your runner-up team to take it on without necessarily needing to send them through three or four dungeons just to level up. Game designers need to be careful with player setbacks. Setbacks which force the player to change their tactics and continue are okay. Setbacks which require the player the do the same stuff again, but better/longer are rarely a good idea (except in certain kinds of games where they are kind of the point).
Yeah, probably mostly a UX challenge. The best way I've run into is just to make lots of tooltips for in-game text. And by swing cases I mean ways for a player who is behind to catch up rapidly. Think powerful board clears or legendaries in Hearthstone or area-of-effect damage in strategy games. Often, they are designed to take advantage of the exact behaviors the leading player will most often use to capitalize on their lead.
Telcontar replied to suliman's topic in Game Design and TheoryDisregarding the anachronism of some of your game elements, you seem to be looking for a "currency" resource that feels more archaic than gold. You could look to actual history for such things (beads/wampum, clay tablets, etc) or make up your own. Honestly, I think "flint" works just fine. Players generally understand the idea behind tech resources even if it doesn't make much sense for "flint" to be used in construction. Edit: On another thought, maybe just "clay" could work for you as well.
Skill as the determining factor is usually always going to be the case unless you have large, dominant random elements. The question (as Ryan_001 gets at in his answer) is what KIND(s) of skill you want to be important. Do you want high strategic skill to be paramount? Then you are going to have to design for longer games, larger numbers of options/possibility spaces, and a heavy emphasis on balancing to do away with dominant strategies. Do you prefer tactical skill? Engagement outcome high dependent on terrain, positioning/movement/flanking, troop composition, and ability usage. Something else? Determine what elements reward that kind of skill and design to bring them up in importance. Learning curve is a trickier one. For one thing, many games are easy to pick up in their basics, but I would argue that this does not necessarily make an easy learning curve. Sure, I may be able to beat simple AI's in starcraft using only marines and siege tanks, but I haven't learned the game by only using those two units. Learning difficulty is usually inverse to game complexity because it entails how much time I need to spend to understand any given game state at a glance. Learning curve is reduced when all necessary information is included inside the game, which is relative rarity in the age of wikis. I remember that the original Starcraft had a miss change for ranged units attacking other units on high ground - but I don't think this was every explained in the manual or tutorials. This significantly raises the learning curve for players who do not know it, but who instead might notice a discrepancy between how they understand a situation (attacking an enemy on higher ground, but full vision and with a superior force, thinking they will win) and what happens (somehow they lose! Why weren't they doing any damage?). Your final case is highly dependent on that opponent. When i play game I absolutely do want to punish every enemy mistake. Most games have important swing cases that allow for reversals of small (or even large) leads under the right conditions to try and make up for this.
Telcontar replied to Plunjukl's topic in Game Design and TheoryFor surveying: Depending on the tech level you're dealing with (or if you have ascending tech throughout the game) you could start with them having to do manual "mark one eyeball" surveys, actually assigning a survey task to the characters who must walk around. This could inform a 'mining area' overlay which shows regions of suspected resources (and perhaps a level of certainty on them). As the player techs up new survey options could become available, from soil analysis to ground penetrating radar. As for actually exploiting the resources, one of my ideas for a roughly similar game (that admittedly focused on the mining part) awhile back was to have the player essentially need to build a small mining complex to do things properly. As in, once the resources are found they have to build a mineshaft opening. But that mineshaft opening, when worked, produces all sorts of stuff. Rock, dirt, and other tailings as well as ore. The tailings need to be hauled elsewhere (and any toxic parts of them disposed or they'll poison the area later, which may or may not affect the player). Ore needs to be processed, washed, and finally smelted. All of these require auxiliary buildings and transport infrastructure to do efficiently. The idea was to allow the player to decide where such activity would go on. Would they build an entire mining complex right over the resource? Would they have the processing stuff back at the main base and use high-volume transport to move materials back? Would they try and locate a mining center equidistant from several mines? Do they process the toxins for safe disposal or just dump them somewhere remote? Etc etc.
Telcontar replied to Orymus3's topic in Game Design and TheoryI have only limited experience with gratuitous Space Battles (didn't find it particularly to my liking) but have been playing the Dominions games for ages (and there is another, similar game from the same people called Conquest of Elysium which is along the same lines combat-wise). Could you be more specific about how there is "a lot of input besides the customization"? Do you mean there are too many options for the army? There are some tangential examples I can think of where the player has only limited control over fighting. The Majesty series (of which the first was superior in my opinion) puts you in charge of a kingdom where all you can do is bribe heroes to do this or that, but you have no direct control over their decision making in or out of combat. In the Paradox grand Strategy games like Crusader Kings, Europa Universalis, and Hearts of Iron the player assembles armies and throw them at other armies, but has no directly control over tactics or whatnot.
Telcontar replied to Acharis's topic in Game Design and TheoryWould depend on the structure of the rest of the game. If it is primarily about project or systems management, then the individual 'employees' are little more than cogs to be replaced when they quit/break whatever. While a perfectly reasonable stance for a game to take, if that's going to be the case why even bother having the player manage employees at all? Immersion and mood are well and good, but if a feature does not serve the game's purpose in an entertaining way it should be abandoned or changed. If the game is trying to be about people management, than having a worker leave suddenly and unexpectedly is one of those problems the game should be focused on. Making up for the lost work, covering caps in schedule/capability on a team, that sort of thing. If I have a team of Workers Abe, Betty, and Carl, and Carl up and quits on me, how do I keep the project or store or whatever from suffering too much until I can hire a suitable replacement - and of course, how does the game make it fun for me to solve this problem? I could bring in a rapidly-hired, lower-wage, but lesser-skilled temp worker to make up some of the shortfall, while also asking Abe and Betty to work extra hours. Asking this of them will probably require something more, overtime pay or the expectation of a bonus at project's end. I as the manager may be a character in my own right and could step in to join the team in Carl's place - but if Carl wasn't the manager, then having me do work "under" one of my own employees could cause friction depending on my skill and personality. And furthermore, while I am busy doing Carl's job my own managerial work isn't getting done. Etc, etc, etc. I've been thinking about this topic a lot as well, having a management prototype in the design phase. My idea is definitely a "character focused" game, where each employee is a fairly well-fleshed out individual and the player is rewarded for getting to know their team's foibles.
Telcontar replied to suliman's topic in Game Design and TheoryWhat is the average length of a combat engagement, in your vision? To-Hit chance works better when there are longer combat encounters, because it gives time for the average damage of each weapon to stabilize between hits and misses. However, in short combat encounters, characters who wield high-damage/low to-hit weapons get shafted on a miss. They don't have the time for those big hits to start coming through every third or fourth attack or so, wheareas the characters who reliably hit for smaller damage still get their licks in. If you're looking at it numbers-wise (and lots of people will), all that matters is average damage. And average damage will matter most when you can trust that average to actually appear.
Telcontar replied to suliman's topic in Game Design and TheoryA possible alternative to the supply resource could be organization - the concept of having enough staff and command coordination to handle increasing numbers of units. Same idea, really, but might help spur some differences from other games. Oil/fuel is probably a must-have, given it's importance in WW2. Iron/Steel/Metal is a good catch-all term for a structural resource. You could also try having something like manpower. Producing by various 'training' facilities and used in varying amounts to build any unit. Destroyed vehicles might leave injured drivers/crew that you could recover. Likewise, infantry might occasionally leave wounded instead of just dying. Sending in medic teams and recovery teams can help you conserve manpower.


text:
For the last two days I made several attempts to upload this cover on new website "Soundew", but could not upload it, I really got frustrated and came back here for this upload.
I love this philosophical song from the film Teesri Kasam (1966). Not only was this film produced by Shailendra but also these lyrics were written by him. All the songs of this movie were super hit. The sad memory is: Shailendra invested heavily in the production of the movie Teesri Kasam (1966), starring Raj Kapoor and Waheeda Rehman. The film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film. However, the film was a commercial failure. The falling health resulting from tensions associated with film production and anxiety due to financial loss, coupled with alcohol abuse, ultimately led to his death.
I hope you will enjoy this cover in my voice.
Movie : Teesri Kasam (1966)
Singer : Mukesh
Music : Shankar Jaikishan
Lyricist : Shailendra
Licence : All Rights Reserved


text:
By Sharon Jayson, USA TODAY
There's a backlash brewing among the Other Mothers. They, too, love their kids and want to raise them right.
But unlike the much-hyped Alpha Moms, whose desire to be The Perfect Mom sometimes leads them to excess in the name of excellence, the laid-back mothers are gaining ground.
"It's a different version of the Mommy Wars," says Sharon Hays, a sociology professor at the University of Southern California-Los Angeles.
The original Mommy Wars focused on the ideological battle between stay-at-home mothers and mothers in the workforce. This newest skirmish is more about personal parenting styles.
The so-called Alpha Mom is a marketing creation, the Super Mom of yesteryear with a few new twists. Alphas are educated, can-do types whose organizational skills bring a corporate mentality to their parenting and a technological agility to their problem-solving. These high achievers will often surf the Web and blogs for advice. They've also gotten plenty of media attention.
But sociologists, including Melinda Forthofer of the Institute for Families in Society at the University of South Carolina-Columbia, say there's no evidence Alphas are actually better mothers.
And now an anti-Alpha movement is taking hold. Those moms have it together sometimes. They may forget to send back permission slips or lose track of their turn for team snacks. They don't necessarily have the catchy name, though some call themselves Beta Moms or even Slacker Moms as they urge their peers to chill.
Some, including former CBS TV news anchor René Syler, have written books advising the Alphas to lighten up.
"Our children are people — not projects," says Syler, 44, of Westchester County, N.Y. "Motherhood is not a contest."
"We get to the finish line. It's OK to chill out a little bit and let your kids be independent, and individuals, and revel in who they are," says Syler, author of Good-Enough Mother: The Perfectly Imperfect Book of Parenting.
Lee LeLeux, 46, a former nurse in medical sales in Baton Rouge and a mother of three, says she can multitask with the best of them, but her mothering style is definitely relaxed.
"I'm more laid-back than many other mothers I see," she says. "I see it as so controlling, and I see it in their anxiety. I guess they're trying to protect their children from everything that's out there. They won't let their child go next door or down the street."
LeLeux says she lets her 10-year-old son, Zach, and 7-year-old twin daughters, Hallye and Greer, ride their bicycles in their neighborhood to give them a sense of independence.
"While I may be looking at my watch, I'm not going to restrict them from taking that bike ride around the block."
Expectations 'through the roof'
Amy Nobile, 38, of Kentfield, Calif., co-author of I Was a Really Good Mom Before I Had Kids, says interviews with more than 100 mothers nationwide for the book found women are "really judging themselves very harshly."
"We heard this over and over again. It didn't matter what state, whether they were a stay-home or working mom and had one child or five," says Nobile, the mother of two preschoolers.
"We grew up in a time that said: 'You can do it all. The choices are great.' What it did was put an incredible amount of pressure on us. Our expectations for ourselves are just through the roof."
Psychologists say mothering styles are a product of social pressures interacting with a woman's own personality, so that some can resist these cultural prescriptions while others accede to them.
"A woman's personality doesn't change when she becomes a mother. It just takes another form," says Molly Walsh Donovan, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University Medical School and an assistant professor of psychology at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
"Women who are very high-achieving want to be high-achieving mothers. It can be a very good thing — and it can also put pressure on them."
Daphne de Marneffe, a clinical psychologist from Corte Madera, Calif., says some people handle parental anxiety by becoming task-oriented.
"It's hard to turn off that switch if you have been extremely competent at being super-successful," she says. "Here you are confronted with this baby, and the road map is less clear.
"There's an illusion that you can control who your child will become if you do all the right things, but that's a problematic illusion because parenting is about discovering who your child is and fostering their growth and development as an individual."
Confidence grows with family
Ann Dunnewold, a counseling psychologist in Dallas, says she has heard all kinds of stories about how extreme parenting makes mothers feel as if they just don't measure up. She tries to calm their fears in her book Even June Cleaver Would Forget the Juice Box.
But some mothers grow more confident, especially after that first child.
"With my first one, I was very critical of myself and feeling like I needed to do everything right," says Kathleen Falk, 35, a mother of two and a freelance graphic designer from St. Louis. "With my second, I'm much more laid-back.
"It's hard because if I'm around other Alpha Mothers I feel like I should be doing more to make things perfect. But sometimes I'm glad I'm not worried about some of the things they're worried about."
There's no consensus on whether being an Alpha Mom is a goal or a curse, sociologist Forthofer says.
"Some feel it's a label they would wear proudly, and others cringe at the idea of it," she says.
Over the top?
Betsy Christian, 39, has a 6-year-old daughter, 4-year-old son and two stepdaughters, ages 18 and 20. A legislative public relations consultant from Austin, Christian counts herself as an Alpha Mom on the road to recovery.
"The first time I realized it was just way too out of control was when Kathryn, 6, was a year old and went to Mother's Day Out for an hour once a week," she says. "The kids were supposed to exchange valentines. I had some handmade paper, and I stayed up late at night making these valentines. I realized I was making handmade valentines for babies."
Christian has been so annoyed at finding herself trying too hard ("I'm a good worker," she says) that she started a parenting blog at www.valuewit.com to vent about her Alpha-leanings.
"I don't set out to do it," she says. "I find myself in the middle of it all the time. It's wanting to do a good job. It's about some type of performance review. I just need to throttle back a little from time to time."
Katie Allison Granju, 39, an online producer for a television station in Knoxville, Tenn., is pregnant with her fourth child.
She says it's easy for women to get caught up in wanting feedback on their parenting.
"We're a very high-achieving generation of women, and we're used to being able to do things in a quantifiable way on the job," says Granju, author of Let Them Run With Scissors: How Over-Parenting Hurts Children, Parents and Society, to be published by Soft Skull Press later this year.
"Every year, we get a performance review and see how other people think we're doing. When you try to translate that to raising little human beings, it can be very frustrating."
Although dads today are often full participants in parenting, Hays says ultimately, society tends to blame mothers for failed children.
And that, she says, raises the stakes even more.
"Mothers recognize this in the back of their minds. 'What if I raise another Jeffrey Dahmer?' " she says.
READERS: Are you an Alpha Mom and proud of it? Or do you identify more with the anti-Alpha camp? How much parenting is too much? Share your comments below.
Conversation guidelines: USA TODAY welcomes your thoughts, stories and information related to this article. Please stay on topic and be respectful of others. Keep the conversation appropriate for interested readers across the map.


text:
Lakewood Roofing Companies Talk About Solar Panels
- By Tim Berry
- May 29, 2016
- Comments Off
In an effort to help everybody understand how solar panels work, we have asked Lakewood roofing companies to explain them to us.
The major benefit about them is that you will no longer have to worry about the power bill. You need to take in consideration that while you are eliminating the power company, you are also investing in this project.
You will find them installed in big parks on ground level in a great number. Those are meant to power up a small village. You will also see them installed on roofs. Those are meant to power up an entire house.
There is also the solar panel roof, for which normal roofing materials like shingles, tiles and boards are replaced by solar panels entirely. This is what most people are looking for. They are a bit pricey, but in just a couple of years you will notice an immediate change. If you are also thinking of installing such a roof, you should also know that they are easy to manage and the wiring is done by the contractor. That way, you avoid having to hire an electrician. Lakewood roofing companies support this project and encourage homeowners to embrace it.


text:
With First Tutors: Music you can search for a Shawbost recorder teacher. Recorder lessons are the perfect method to start a fun new hobby, pick up a new talent and gain confidence in recorder. Please use our service to search for Shawbost recorder tutors and determine which best suits your requirements so you can start your recorder tuition in Shawbost immediately!
First Tutors: Music is the only place to find Shawbost recorder tutors in the UK, helping you find Shawbost recorder lessons close to home and Shawbost teachers to assist with any instrument, for example, piano, violin or guitar. We can help you find Shawbost recorder lessons or a one-to-one Shawbost recorder teacher to prepare for recorder exams and improve your recorder skills! Our search will order Shawbost recorder teachers local to you according to their hourly charges and proximity to you.
If you are a recorder tutor wishing to offer your recorder lessons in Shawbost or anywhere else across the UK, please register with First Tutors: Music or find out more about us here. Becoming a Shawbost recorder teacher is a fantastic way to improve your own skills by providing recorder tuition while helping someone else, all in your local Shawbost area!


text:
Directions & Opening Times
House & Gardens Opening Times
The House and Gardens of Surprise
open 18th March 2017 to 29th October 2017
11am until 5pm
(last admission to either at 4.30pm)
Open daily
(House closed on Fridays. Open on Good Friday)
The House is shown by freeflow self guided tour, with an optional daily guided tour at 3pm, subject to availability.
House and Gardens will be closed Thursday, 31st August until Sunday, 3rd September 2017 for the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials.
The Parkland remains open daily from 8am to 6pm or dusk if earlier.
Parking and admission to the Parkland is free of charge, and dogs are allowed when kept on a lead.
The Orangery Restaurant , Garden Cafe/Garden Shop & Courtyard Shop
The Orangery Restaurant
Open daily 10am to 5pm during House Opening season from 18th March – 29th October 2017
The Orangery will be closed on the following Fridays for private functions, we apologise for any inconvenience caused; Friday 30th June, 7th July, 21st July, 4th August, 18th August, 25th August.
The Courtyard Shop
Open daily 11am to 5pm during House Opening season from 18th March – 29th October 2017
The Garden Cafe and Garden Shop
Open daily from 11am to 5pm from Saturday 18th March 2017 – 29th October 2017
Burghley is 1 mile from Stamford and 20 minutes north of Peterborough on the A1.
Please note that from Monday 24th October the Barnack Road at the junction of High Street St Martins will be closed for 4 days. During this period access to the House will be via Water Street. Please follow the diversion signs. The diversion is very short and should not make more than a few minutes difference to your journey time.
From the South:
Take the Carpenters Lodge exit on the A1 signposted to Burghley House, turn left on to the B1081 towards Stamford.
Follow the road alongside the park wall and the impressive Bottle Lodges entrance gates down towards Stamford.
Turn right just past the Bull & Swan Pub and continue for 1 mile along the Barnack Road (B1443). You will see the Visitors Entrance on the right.
From the North:
Follow the A1 south past Doncaster and Grantham.
Approximately 30 minutes south of Grantham you will reach the Stamford junction labelled Carpenters Lodge and signposted to Burghley House.
Turn left towards Stamford.
Follow the road past the estate wall and the impressive Bottle Lodges entrance gates.
Just past the A43 on the left, turn right past the Bull & Swan Pub and continue for 1 mile along the Barnack Road (B1443). You will see the Visitors Entrance on the right.
Public Transport
Burghley's nearest station is Stamford, approximately 1 mile from the entrance. This is either a pleasant 30 minute walk taking you through the park or a short taxi ride. Stamford is a cross country link from the mainline from London to Edinburgh via Peterborough. For more information please visit www.nationalrail.co.uk. There is also an hourly bus service run by Delaine which serves the outlying villages and links Peterborough to Stamford, for more information please visit www.delainebuses.com.
There are many different taxi companies available in Stamford, we suggest booking taxis in advance for journeys especially for collection from Burghley in the evening. A few of the companies contact details are listed below, but no company is associated or recommended by Burghley House.
Premier Cabs of Stamford 01780 757575
1st Choice Taxis 01780 752748
Silver Cabs of Stamford 01780 482800
Carlton Cabs 01780 755755


text: At December 31, 2010 there were 54,491,449 common shares in issue, 50,921,018 common shares outstanding and 3,570,431 common shares held in treasury.The Company reported a funded backlog of $108.5 million at March 31, 2011. Backlog reflects new additions, less revenue earned and any adjustments for contract cancellations. Our funded backlog decreased approximately $8 million in the quarter. C. Thomas McMillen, HOMS Chairman and CEO, stated, "The quarter results were softer than we anticipated with some projects slow to start and others affected by bad weather." McMillen continued, "We continue to focus our efforts on positive cash flow and cost containment. Our goal for the fourth quarter is to keep our margins at 20% and avoid cost additions, which affected our expenses this quarter." The Company consolidates the results of subsidiaries Safety & Ecology Holdings Corporation, Nexus Technologies Group, Inc., Polimatrix, Inc. and Homeland Security Capital Corporation, the holding company. The Company measures its operating performance against plan taking into consideration EBITDAS adjustments and one time charges. Conference Call and Webcast The Company will host an earnings conference call at 9:00 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, May 17th, 2011. During the call, C. Thomas McMillen, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Chris P. Leichtweis, President and Michael T. Brigante, Chief Financial Officer, will discuss the Company's performance and financial results. The telephone number for the conference call is 877-407-0778 (Toll Free US); and 201-689-8565 (International). A live webcast of the call will also be available on the Company's website, www.hscapcorp.com. Investors can also access the webcast at www.InvestorCalendar.com. The webcast will be archived on the site, and investors will be able to access an encore recording of the conference call for one week by calling 1-877-660-6853 (Replay Toll Free US) 1-201-612-7415 (Replay International), conference ID # 357465. The encore recording will be available after the conference call has concluded.


text:
We gave it a B-
8-9 PM · The CW · Returns Sept. 18
Season 7's cliff-hanger — Clark (Tom Welling) and Lex (Michael Rosenbaum) tangled at the Fortress of Solitude, which imploded — is resolved partly by real-life changes: Rosenbaum won't be returning, so goodbye, Lex Luthor. Ditto Kristin Kreuk's Lana Lang, after five episodes starting during sweeps. Fan fave Oliver Queen/Green Arrow (Justin Hartley) is back as a series regular. Plus, there'll be less Smallville and more Metropolis, where we'll see Clark "becoming a reporter at The Daily Planet," according to exec producer Darren Swimmer. Battlestar Galactica's Sam Witwer "plays a guy named Davis Bloome," says Swimmer, "who is our take on the comic-book villain Doomsday." And — ta-da! — look for an appearance by the Legion of Super-Heroes. Trust us: Comics geeks just started drooling.


text:
COMPETITION CLOSED: Win a family pass to Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom
Your super Sunday World has five family passes up for grabs to see Bafta award winning television animation Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom, which is brought to you by the creators of Peppa Pig will make its live Irish stage debut at The Olympia Theatre May 9th & 10th 2015, for four shows.
Holly is a young Fairy Princess, who is still learning how to fly and her magic doesn't always go quite according to plan. Her best friend, Ben the Elf, doesn't have wings and he doesn't do magic, but he runs very fast and flies on the back of Gaston the Ladybird. They live in the Little Kingdom, a tiny land where flowers and grass rise high above them and every day is an adventure.
Ben and Holly have fun and games helping Gaston the Ladybird clean up his messy cave, they go on a trip into The Big World with tooth-fairy Nanny Plum, even plan a surprise birthday party for King Thistle, and oops, let's hope there's not another jelly flood!
Join Ben and Holly, and their friends on this exciting, enchanting and magical musical adventure packed full of games, songs and laughter. This beautiful story of elves, princesses and childhood innocence will delight all the family!
To be in with a chance of winning a family pass simply answer the following question.
Who is Holly's best friend?
a) Ben or b) Barry
Email your answer along with name, address and phone to [email protected] and put 'Ben and Holly' in the subject bar.
Tickets from €22.65 including booking fee, are on sale now available to purchase from Ticketmaster and usual outlets nationwide.


text: Abraxas Petroleum Corporation (NASDAQ:AXAS) is pleased to provide the following divestiture and financial update. Nordheim Definitive Agreement Abraxas today signed an agreement to sell the Company's 25% working interest at the Nordheim Project in the Eagle Ford shale to a large institutional buyer for proceeds of $19.1mm. The sale is subject to customary closing conditions and purchase price adjustments and reflects an effective date of September 1, 2012. The asset consists of 544 net acres in DeWitt County, Texas and approximately 64 boepd (56% gas; 26% NGLs; 26% oil) of net production. Abraxas will retain the rights to its Edwards production, reserves and upside across both its Nordheim and Wagner lease blocks. Closing is scheduled for December 17, 2012. Petrie Partners acted as financial advisor for Abraxas on the sale. Financial Update Per the Abraxas' November 12, 2012 release, the Company's borrowing base was recently raised to $150mm from its previous level of $140mm. As of quarter end September 30, 2012, the Company had $134mm drawn on the facility and $2.6mm in cash. The $150mm borrowing base already reflects the removal of reserves and production associated with the Nordheim sale. In addition to the $19.1mm Nordheim sale, the company recently announced the sale of its Alberta Basin properties in Montana for $2.85mm. The approximately $22mm of combined proceeds from these sales will immediately go to reducing borrowings on the revolver, which stood at $134mm at quarter end. Thus, pro forma liquidity post the sales will reflect current borrowings, less net proceeds from the sales, compared to a $150mm borrowing base. Bob Watson, President and CEO of Abraxas, commented, "We remain committed to delivering shareholder value by executing on our well articulated plan of growing production and reserves, delevering the balance sheet via this production growth and noncore asset sales and refocusing the portfolio. The asset sales will consist of positions in which we have low working interests and/or assets with little associated reserves, production or cash flow. The Nordheim and Alberta Basin Bakken sales with combined proceeds of approximately $22mm is evidence this transformation is underway."


text:
Chocolate Fondant
Decorating By Beth02 Updated 26 Feb 2009 , 9:18pm by Sugarflowers
Can anyone give me advice on buying a chocolate fondant? I'm doing a baby shower cake in blue and brown and need a good chocolate fondant. I saw the satin ice dark chocolate but am not sure if that is going to be too dark.
What do you ladies use for a nice brown color (not too dark)?
If you mix the dark chocolate with vanilla fondant, then you will have a much lighter chocolate. The ratios you use can make for a variety of chocolate intensity.
This is just an idea. Hope it helps.
Quote by @%username% on %date%


text:
Youth Programs >> COC Summer Institute
« back to courses page
A career exploration program desgined for middle school students
- Please click on the course title to see the full course description.
- To register for a classes please select "Add To Cart" next to the class information
- Class titltes with a logo are offered 100% online and have no scheduled class meetings.
Featured Classes
- No classes found.


text:
Jack Colback has been praising the Newcastle fans for supporting the team through last season, one of the worst seasons Newcastle have had for a very long time – and which led to relegation for the second time in a too short seven years.
So now we have to fight our way back to the Premier League next May, but our big advantage of course is now we have Rafa Benitez – and if anybody can do it then it's Rafa Benitez.
Jack Colback and Rafa Benitez
This is what Jack has said on the Newcastle web-site today:.
"The fans were unbelievable." "Fans like this don't deserve to be in the Championship and the way they supported us throughout the season was phenomenal."
"Too many times we let the fans down and didn't give performances on a regular basis but credit to them – they were probably the most consistent part of our season."
"To turn out like that on the final day against Tottenham and support a team that were already down the way they did is amazing."
"The way the season went, you wouldn't have blamed the fans for not showing up or if there was a negative atmosphere, but they were singing from the start."
"The atmosphere was very positive which was amazing, and the way they got behind the team and the manager in particular was fantastic. I'm sure it will continue into next season."
Newcastle have always had the best fans in the land and now we have a chance to have a team as good as the fans as the manager starts to build a Newcastle that can be successful.
Rafa has been given free rein at the club and successful now means we can actually win something – win a trophy.
Definition of trophy:
"A cup or other decorative object awarded as a prize for a victory or success."
That's just in case trophy had forgotten what one of those is.
It will be the first time since back in 1969 if we can win something – and again if anybody can do it then it's Rafa Benitez.
And with the fans backing Rafa and the team 100% – then what can stop us?
Hopefully nothing.
Comments welcome.


text:
I know I am a little early, Afsaneh... but, not sure if I will be on Care2 on your special day - (I am having issues with my computer. Hope to get it fixed next week.) So, stopping by now to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY, my sweet friend!
Have an awesome summer, Afsaneh ~ ENJOY!
May this month be an excellent one for you, Afsaneh (and for all of our ANIMAL WARRIOR friends and advocates out there in the world.) Sending tons of HUGS and SMILES to brighten up your days!


text:
A9 manages product search and advertising technologies that are scalable, highly available, and cross-platform for Amazon and other clients.
Amazon A9 is leading in Top 10K Sites, Top 100K Sites, Top 1M Sites and The Entire Web.
In terms of market share, ReCreativ is clearly lagging behind, losing to Amazon A9 in all segments.
Amazon A9 has better usage coverage in more websites categories. Including People & Society, Arts & Entertainment, News & Media, Food & Drink and 148 other categories.
ReCreativ is leading in Shopping, Business & Industry, Marketing & Advertising, Movies and 39 other categories.
Amazon A9 is leading in most countries, including United States, Japan, France, Spain and 151 other countries.
ReCreativ is leading in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus and 8 other countries.


text:
average rating: -- / 10
Folks use watches of carrying their very own individuality as a way. That is the reason why it is not unimportant to get zegarki seiko that reveals your personality.
Picture gallery ( 0 )
- Sort by
- popularity
- recent
This user doesn't have pictures in his gallery
I wanna cook
Cooking something?
Whatever it is, sell a few portions on Super Marmite! It's a great way to interact with your local community and to get real feedback on your cuisine :)Post a meal


text:
Pay-Per-Minute Viewing
You can now enjoy this movie on your iPhone®, iPad®, or compatible Smart TV & Android devices.
Purchase Options
Pay-Per-MinutePurchase Minutes
Streaming Rentals
Available MP4 sizes:SD 480p (0.43 GB)
DRM-free downloads offer content that is not limited by standard Digital Rights Management (DRM) access technologies. These technologies allow hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals to limit the usage of digital content.
When you purchase DRM-free downloadable content, that content is available for you to download on any computer and save to a disk whenever you like. You can also download to multiple computers. There is no timeframe associated with your purchase and the content will not expire.
Running Time: 27 minutes
Released: 11/2015
Studio Name: Crunchboy.fr
Categories: Shemale Transsexual International Gonzo French Speaking
Description: He can't resist her, the fresh air outdoors, her big ass and big tits and her nice hard cock. These two really get it on. This Latin lover can't wait to suck his nice big cock and he can't wait to penetrate her tight ass. Before he sticks it in he loves to stick his tongue in her ass. She loves riding his hard cock and she explodes all over herself and then he lets his load go all over her stomach.
1 Scenes from Straight Fuck Shemale Outdoor
Straight Fuck Shemale Outdoor: Scene 1 Free Preview
Sex Acts: Oral Sex, Masturbation, Breast Play, Anal Sex, Rim Job
Positions: Standing Doggy Style, Crouching/Squatting, Laying, Missionary, Reverse Cowgirl, Standing
Settings: Outdoors
Studio: Crunchboy.fr
Recommended Movies
AEBN Cams


text:
Free Download MOD APK Android Dungeon Battles | Only best games at Sbenny.com
Game Description:
Command and control powerful heroes and minion armies in Dungeon Battles: Heroes of the Throne. Experience incredible 3D graphics, build a formidable dungeon, fend off invaders, battle other players from around the world and form strategic alliances in the ultimate combat-strategy game. Players command and direct every unit as they deploy their own strategies to prioritize targets and destroy enemy dungeons, adding a whole new level of depth and gameplay strategy.
Features of Dungeon Battles for Android:
- Build the ultimate dungeon and defend your Overlord's honor
- Command and control all of your units during battle; no more watching minions mindlessly attack enemy structures
- Improved 3D Graphics, SFX and Performance taken to the next level with Metal optimization
- Level up 5 powerful Heroes with unique abilities and different styles of play
- Battle against players from around the world and take their Runes
- Join strategic Alliances to rule the Dungeon Leagues
- Fight rival Alliances in Alliance Wars; wager ranks in these intense player events
- Reign supreme in Ruby Overlord events and reap the rewards
- Collect power ups filled with random loot including buffs, resource bonus and reinforcements during battle
Game Requirements and Details:
Android Version Required: 2.3.3 and higher versions of Android Smartphones and Tablets
Required Storage Space: 41 MB or more
Internet connection IS required to play
APK ID: com.oktagongames.dungeonbattles
Last Game Version: 1.5.1
Genre: Strategy
Price: Free with In-App Purchases
Ads? NO
Installation Instructions:
- Download one of the [APK] files below (the MOD version is the HACKED game) OR try the [Google Play] version;
- Move the .apk game file to your Android Smartphone or Tablet and install it (if you are on mobile, just install the apk tapping on it);
- Launch the game and have fun with Dungeon Battles !
Free Download Dungeon Battles APK Android
Broken Link? Outdated Version? Report it! Want us to make a custom MOD for you? Visit our dedicated Forum!
[APK] [31.6 MB] [v1.5.1] [MEGA MOD]
MEGA MOD Features:
- Instant Upgrades
- Unlimited Gold (collect Max Gold from buildings every 30 seconds)
- Unlimited Ether (collect Max Ether from buildings every 30 seconds)
Credits to: Sbenny. More info about this Android release here.
[APK+DATA] [Google Play] [Free Game]
Have troubles installing Dungeon Battles? Please read our Forum guide about HOW TO INSTALL ANDROID GAMES AND APPS.
Link broken? Looking for a newer or MOD (hacked) version of Dungeon Battles? Join our community and we will help you!


text:
The Tube Chalk Bag is a great classic chalk bag with a deep pile lining, toothbrush holder, and a chalk proof closure. Available in 4 cool colours
With Pre-Order, you can purchase the latest items added to our store in advance of them arriving with us.
You Pre-Order is prioritised (at no additional charge); meaning that, as soon as the product arrives with us, we can wrap it straight back up and get it sent out to you - it often never even hits the stock room shelves!
With Pre-Launch, the date when we expect to receive the product ourselves is still a little too hazy to be confident in accepting Pre-Orders.
So, instead, you can submit your email address against the item you are interested in and we will email you as soon as stock arrives on the system.
Estimated Delivery Dates are given on Pre-Order and Pre-Launch products. They are for indication purposes only and can change at any time without notice.
The dates we provide are based on indications given by our suppliers. Whenever we get updated information from our suppliers we will endeavour to update the Estimated Delivery Dates provided on product pages.
The Tube Chalk Bag is a great classic chalk bag with a deep pile lining, toothbrush holder, and a chalk proof closure. Available in 4 cool colours and has a lightweight, ripstop fabric for excellent durability.
The Tube features the time honoured classic chalk bag design, keeping things simple and functional. Ideal for cragging and indoors, the DMM Tube features a luxurious pile lining for effective chalking and a drawcord chalk-proof closure
30 Day Returns
Free UK Delivery when spending £25+
Express Delivery Options Available
The Climbers Shop ©
| Terms and Conditions
| Privacy Policy & Cookies Usage
Site Design & IP © Citrus-Lime Limited
My message Close


text:
1. Charge Processing Fee 2.5% or Rs. 500/- (whichever is higher)
2. A pre-closure penalty of 5% of the outstanding amount or
Rs. 1,000/- (whichever is higher) will be levied in case of
SBS cancelation.
3. Delivery of products would be subject to the availability of stock
4. All SBS promotions should be valid for a limited time
5. Delivery time is 3 to 4 weeks.
6. By submitting the "SBS application form" it is assuming that you
had read, understand and agreed with the "terms & conditions"
mentioned on SBS form and bank Alfalah website www.bankalfalah.com


text:
What is JotForm?
JotForm is a free online form builder which helps you create online forms without writing a single line of code. No sign-up required.
At JotForm, we want to make sure that you're getting the online form builder help that you need. Our friendly customer support team is available 24/7.
We believe that if one user has a question, there could be more users who may have the same question. This is why many of our support forum threads are public and available to be searched and viewed. If you'd like help immediately, feel free to search for a similar question, or submit your question or concern.
Jotform disabedAsked by kindergartenminia on October 20, 2014 at 06:42 AM
I took a look at your account and I see that it got autosuspended by our anti-phishing system. I have activated it now and I do apologize for this. It is still not very good with Arabic languages causing it to block access to some jotforms that are OK.
Do let us know if it happens again and we will be happy to help.
Best Regards,


text:
Receive all Cointelegraph news immediately in Telegram.
The Cointelegraph
There is no doubt that the statement issued by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) of Luxembourg is the first constructive step towards the consensus with the Bitcoin environment and entrepreneurs. Law Library of Congress in cooperation with BitLegal proves this writing to be the first from the country on the corresponding matter
For updates and exclusive offers, enter your e-mail below.
You registration completed successfully.
Confirmation email sent to email address provided.


text:
From staff and wire reports
Actress Natasha Richardson remains in a New York hospital, where she was transferred after a skiing accident at a Quebec resort.
On Wednesday morning, People.com cited a family friend as saying the actress has "a leakage of blood between the brain and skull."
Richardson, 45, fell during a beginner lesson Monday. A statement from the Mont Tremblant ski resort said the Tony-winning actress did not appear injured at first. She was taken to the hospital about an hour later after reporting a headache.
The New York Times quoted Lyne Lortie, a spokeswoman for Mont Tremblant, as saying Richardson wasn't wearing a helmet.
LIFELINE LIVE: Keep track of updates
BETTER LIFE: Head injuries can be deceptive
She was first taken to the Centre Hospitalier Laurentien in Ste-Agathe, then transferred to Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur in Montreal. She was later flown to New York.
Richardson, the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave, is married to actor Liam Neeson, who left the Toronto set of the movie Chloe to be with his wife, reports said. The couple have two sons, Michael, 13, and Daniel, 12.
Later Tuesday evening, a somber looking Redgrave was seen in photographs walking into Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.
Her maternal grandparents were the actors Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson, and her uncle Corin and aunt Lynn Redgrave are both actors. Sister Joely Richardson is also an actress, best known for starring in the TV series Nip/Tuck.
No official updates on her condition were released by Tuesday evening, but experts say serious head injuries can be deceptive. The federal government's Medline Plus website says symptoms can develop immediately or over the course of several days.
Richardson won a Tony in 1998 for Cabaret. Her film credits include Maid in Manhattan, The Parent Trap and Nell.
Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more.


text:
This is a fanfic to hua hua you long about the origins of Lu Cang, as I imagined it. I don't own any of the main characters from the original novel/manhua by Xing Bao Ni and will take the fic down should I commit any copyright violation.
Since it's hhyl, the fanfic might contain reference to dubious or non-consent, violence and it definitely contains some man-on-man action ;-) So if you are not into boy love/yaoi, this one's not for you ;-)
The fanfic starts shortly after book three of the original novel.
For those readers who don't know the original novel, but want to read the fanfic (which is all in all a stand-alone story with some references to the original) - I added a short summit of Hua Hua You Long before the prologue of the fanfic.
YuliaRahayu8 Mar 25, 2016
Aduuh sy kudu bawa bawa kamus eng nih buat bisa baca nih cerita pdhal sy nungguu banget nih cerita thor apa ga bs nih pake bahasa Indonesia aja
Rain9096 Mar 25, 2016
Kyaaa~~ that story is so good, the hardcore one.. jing is so in love with lu cang even that king bandit was so stubborn as rock and had too much pride.. Oh So in love with their story, although the comic wasn't finished like the novel.. (>○<) ugh.. sorry for my blabbering.. :D


text:
Editors' Note: The download button opens the iTunes App Store, where you may continue the download process. You must have iTunes installed with an active iTunes account in order to download and install the software. This download may not be available in some countries.
Sponsored Products
|Other Games
Publisher's Description+
From Matt DeWitt: Looking for a nice, simple, and easy way to kill a few minutes? Fire up this fun, little 5-card draw app that's reminiscent of the old, hand-held electronic (or even manual) poker games of days past and have a blast.Simple touch controls, large numbers and suits, and basic sound effects make this the 5-card draw poker game for anyone who loves poker.Controls - tap "DEAL" to start a new game and deal the cards between hands - tap each card to trigger between held or un-held, indicated by the green triangle in the corner- tap the score to view more detailed game stats; tap any of the stats to return to the game - long-press the score to start a new game- tap the version square (bottom right) for app menu, including a way to remove ads forever! - That's it! Play until you run out of money.Rules- 5-card draw- pair of Jack's or better to winThat's it! Nice and simple. Enjoy!
What's new in this version:
Sound setting now saved between sessionsMore visible change in Deal button between Deal and DrawHelpful tips overlays now show you how to use the app
read more +


text:
If an item you ordered from TextbookRush does not meet your expectations due to an error on our part, simply fill out a return request and then return it by mail within 30 days of ordering it for a full refund of item cost.
Learn more about our returns policy
Description: Life in the jungle has become precarious for predator and prey alike as the gluttonous King Hyena, with his bloodthirsty appetite for every type of meat, reigns over all. The King amasses great stores of meat, more than even he can eat. Some is sold off to men but much of it sits and rots. Meanwhile many animals are forced into slave labor. Only the valiant Lion of the Jungle is brave enough to stand up to this selfish Hyena. The courageous Lion inspires the other animals to rise up and fight the ruthless dictator. The treacherous Chameleon, right hand man to the Hyena, sees an opportunity and temporarily sides with the valiant Lion. Intrigue is layered upon intrigue as the vicious struggle for power in the jungle escalates. Who will triumph in the end? The forces of corruption and greed? Or those of reform and equality? Jungle Games, Book 1 is an imaginative tale of a society of jungle animals. While the book is fiction, it can easily be read as an allegory for the institutional corruption that exists in Africa today, as well as for those brave few with the courage to make a stand for the rights of the people.With no electricity at his workstation and only sporadic access to the internet, writing this book was a great challenge for author Moses Omondi Oinya. A native of Kenya, the author works fulltime as a nurse and midwife. When not working or writing, he enjoys watching videos and playing Scrabble. Jungle Games, Book 1 is the first book in a series of three. Publisher's website: http: //sbpra.com/MosesOmondiOiny
Limited time offer:
Get the first one free! (?)
All the information you need in one place! Each Study Brief is a summary of one specific subject; facts, figures, and explanations to help you learn faster.
List price: $10.95Copyright year: 0Publisher: Strategic Book Publishing & Rights Agency (SBPRA)Binding: PaperbackPages: 90Size: 6.00" wide x 9.00" long x 0.22" tall Weight: 0.330Language: English
*A minimum purchase of $35 is required. Shipping is provided via FedEx SmartPost®
and FedEx Express Saver®. Average delivery time is 1 – 5 business days, but
is not guaranteed in that timeframe. Also allow 1 - 2 days for processing. Free shipping is eligible only in the continental United States and excludes
Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico. FedEx service marks used by permission."Marketplace"
orders are not eligible for free or discounted shipping.
Learn more about the TextbookRush


text: 1. As of noon trading, Halliburton Company ( HAL) is down $0.28 (-0.9%) to $31.76 on average volume Thus far, 5.1 million shares of Halliburton Company exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 13.1 million shares. The stock has ranged in price between $31.41-$31.85 after having opened the day at $31.80 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $32.04. Halliburton Company provides various products and services to the energy industry for exploring, developing, and producing oil and natural gas worldwide. It operates in two segments, Completion and Production, and Drilling and Evaluation. Halliburton Company has a market cap of $29.7 billion and is part of the basic materials sector. The company has a P/E ratio of 10.3, below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Shares are down 7.2% year to date as of the close of trading on Tuesday. Currently there are 19 analysts that rate Halliburton Company a buy, no analysts rate it a sell, and 6 rate it a hold. TheStreet Ratings rates Halliburton Company as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, attractive valuation levels and notable return on equity. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income. Get the full Halliburton Company Ratings Report now. Holiday Special: Subscribe to Action Alerts PLUS to see how Jim Cramer trades his $2.5 Million+ portfolio for 51% off the list price. Your first 14-days are FREE: Sign up today to get e-mail alerts before every trade If you are interested in one of these 5 stocks, ETFs may be of interest. Investors who are bullish on the energy industry could consider Energy Select Sector SPDR ( XLE) while those bearish on the energy industry could consider Proshares Short Oil & Gas ( DDG). A reminder about TheStreet Ratings group: TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.