text:
Solomon Jones's minutes before and after would also be germane. As would Watson's.
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Solomon Jones's minutes before and after would also be germane. As would Watson's.
"Look, it's up to me to put a team around ... Lance right now." Kevin Pritchard press conference
BlueNGold hit upon that in his last post herein. Perhaps there is something to that.
"Just look at the flowers ........ BANG"
Look at the box scores?
There's nothing that jumps out about the minutes, as far as I see.
If there's a critical factor here, to me it's starting Danny at the 4, with Roy at 5. No, that didn't produce 5-0. Or at least didn't stop there. It produced 5-3 (which I'd take for the next 8 games.)
[~]) ... Cheers! Go Pacers!
2012 PD ABA Fantasy Keeper League Champion, sports.ws
2011 PD ABA Fantasy Keeper League Champion, sports.ws
2006 PD ABA Fantasy League runner up, sports.ws
"Look, it's up to me to put a team around ... Lance right now." Kevin Pritchard press conference
Pretty simple.
Knicks shot 38.5% and scored 89 points
Wizards shot 39.3% and scored 86
Warriors shot 40.2% and scored 94 points
Nets shot 36% and scored 83 points.
The only exception was the Celtics game. Celtics were able to shoot 47.6% and scored 104 points, but the pacers 9 for 18 from 3 point range made up for that.
Pacers defense was pretty good in that stretch,
Here's a question that perhaps someone can research and answer (or show me where I can find all the box scores and I'll talley it up myself):
How many minutes did the following players average during the five game win streak?
And how many minutes per game did they average for the five games following the win streak?
"Look, it's up to me to put a team around ... Lance right now." Kevin Pritchard press conference
Also...For the season, three of those teams are shooting:
Knicks: 44.9% (21st)
Wizards: 43.8% (25th)
Nets: 41.0% (30th)
So that "pretty good defense" while certainly apparent those night, wasn't exactly shutting down the Showtime Lakers, particularly when you consider how much worse New York and Washington both were three weeks ago, not to mention the Warriors, who had all sorts of issues at the time.
I'm not trying to say that this should influence everyone's starting lineup arguments, but if we're going to "get clear minded about the win streak" it might help to start classifying it as what it really was: Beating two shi**y teams at home, beating the Celtics and winning in New Jersey and New York.
It's a much more fair way to look at things, rather than pretending that those teams are on par with the Cavs Mavs, Jazz or even the Kings and Raptors.
If you remove the Cs from the equation, the teams we beat during that stretch have a combined record of 20-59.
Last edited by JayRedd; 12-07-2009 at 11:44 AM.
At this point, the 20-59 record of the opposition minus the C's that we beat during the streak is not that much worse than we appear to be as a team right now.
"All points bulletin, people. While we did win four games to terrible teams with losing records, we never beat the Celtics. I repeat, WE DID NOT BEAT THE CELTICS."
"Look, it's up to me to put a team around ... Lance right now." Kevin Pritchard press conference
Click the result in the right column...it links to the box scores. Completed games are at the bottom of the schedule.
[~]) ... Cheers! Go Pacers!
Boston is 14-6 for those of you who need the quantitative acknowledgment that the Celtics are, in fact, very, very good.
And, for clarification, the Pacers beat them...by unleashing the Superfriends Lineup of Justice, Peace and Goodwill for Mankind That Cannot Be Beat.
Let's not pretend that the Pacers have since faced powerhouses either though.
They're 1-9 since that streak and have faced 3 teams with winning records. The remaining 7 have a sub .400 winning percentage combined. The Pacers split with one of those teams. 4 of those 9 loses were by more than 15 points and another two were by 10 or more.
6 of the last 9 loses have been by double digits. The majority were on the road though. Still you shouldn't lose by 15 or more.
No one is trying to say that 5-win rotation was some super power. No one is denying that 4 of those teams were bad teams.
What is trying to be pointed out, and it's completely legit and shouldn't be dismissed like it often has been in the rush to make excuses about the win streak, is that the Pacers have since gotten significantly worse.
Poo-poo that winning stretch as a D+ team all you like. It beats the hell out of this F team we have now.
As for the shooting percentages of those bad teams, I don't think it makes a great point unless their crappy FG%s simply held up against us. That's not what happened.
Knicks: 6.4% below average
Wizards: 4.5% below average
Nets: 5.0% below average
That's significant. That matters. It shouldn't be cynically dismissed.
Especially since they've been getting blown out by teams just as crappy since then. On the road or not. If you think you're a middle of the pack team you have to hang with the other middle of the pack teams and beat the Warriors and Knicks.
Following are the numbers. Make of them what you will. The first line under each name is for the five game wins streak. The second line os for only for four straight losses that came after.
32.0 min, 8.6 pts
32.5 min, 10.3 pts
36.8 min, 17.8 pts
34.0 min, 18.3 pts
16.8 min, 4.2 pts
14.0 min, 2.6 pts
28.8 min, 14.6 pts
21.3 min, 8.3 pts
30.4 min, 10.6 pts
23.5 min, 2.8 pts
And I won't be here to see the day
It all dries up and blows away
I'd hang around just to see
But they never had much use for me
In Levelland. (James McMurtry)
With Murphy most likely taking some of Hibbert's minutes, and Ford taking Watsons..
So it doesn't look like people are crazy when they whine about TJ and Troy.
The nine losses in the last ten have come against the: Cavs, Mavs, Jazz, Raptors, Kings, Bobcats, Clippers, Knicks and Warriors.
The Cavs and Mavs can be classified as nothing but powerhouses. The Jazz's personnel, record speaks for itself.
The Raptors are 9-13 (with the 3rd best offense in the league), the Kings are 9-10 (with the 6th best offense in the league), the Bobcats are 8-11 (with the 2nd best defense in the league) and the Clippers are definitively mediocre at 9-11 (but obviously have one of the more decidedly "good personnel/bad team" dynamics in the league).
So while I would not classify any of those four teams as world-beaters, each has something going for them, which makes the fact that they were all, on their own home courts, able to beat a mediocre-at-best team like the Pacers not particularly surprising regardless of match-ups, line-ups and playing time distribution. If two average teams play each other, the one who is at home should win.
But the Knicks and Warriors, as mentioned above, are very bad basketball teams by almost all metrics. The Nets are even worse.
In short, collectively, the quality of teams that the Pacers have played since the five-game winning streak ended are by all measures better than those they beat during the winning streak. You can say that the Celtics are the best team they've played during the last 15 games, certainly, but the Cavs are, recordwise, essentially just as good.
I don't have an argument here as far as who should be playing. I'm just listing facts about the NBA in an attempt to stay in line with the "clear minded" directive of the thread title.
Last edited by JayRedd; 12-07-2009 at 02:19 PM.
During the last two games, my wife and I paid particular attention to five players - Foster, Hibbert, Murphy, Ford and Watson - particularly on their defense. Keep in mind my wife has only recently come to better understand the game of basketball, as well as becoming a Pacers fan. So, you can understand my surprise when she commented on how Foster tends to run out faster to the open man on PnR plays compared to Murphy or Hibbert. She also noticed that Hibbert has begun to read the defense better and reacts to certain situations on the floor. He's still learning, but she did notice how most of Hibbert's fouls were committed providing help defense.
I watched how TJ and Watson defended the ballhandler and noticed that Watson tends to position himself opposite the defense. This forced the ballhander to either take the jump shot or give up the ball, but rarely did the ballhandler attempt to run a PnR play against him, and if he did, players rotated accordingly and got back to their original defensive assignments as soon as the opportunity presented itself. Not so with TJ. Everytime he'd place himself with his back to the defense which allowed the ballhandler to dribble away from him to the weakside. And everytime either Hibbert or Foster had to bring help defense which put them out of position.
But I digress, looking at the decline in minutes played for both Watson and Hibbert, I can only assume that Murphy and TJ's minutes have increased since the winning streak. And based on their reluctance or inability to provide adequate defense I'd say these two would be the first players I'd look to change from starters to reserves or reduce their minutes. Regardless of what JOB decides to do, I don't think he can ignore the numbers for much longer.
Solo contributed well in short spurts. Watson is a better defender and a sturdier hand at PG. And with Granger being injured, JOB can no longer deny that Luther Head has the best +/- statline of anyone on this team (+35)...and I don't put much stock in the +/-.
Man, I hope you're right, but I have a feeling Murphy's getting more minutes, not less, with Danny's injury.
"Look, it's up to me to put a team around ... Lance right now." Kevin Pritchard press conference
Why have we not gone back and tried the same recipe? The Knicks were on a back-to-back after beating them a few days earlier...after the team had 5 wins and were probably not as hungry. You all know the ebb and flow of the NBA. The other loss was to the Cavs. Let's not pretend we are favored to beat them.
The bottom line is, I see no justification for not going back to that group.
The team was playing well when Roy was playing well. Roy was playing well when he played with an athletic lineup. Playing Troy Murphy with Roy Hibbert hurts Roy and it hurts the entire team. The coach puts Hibbert in position to fail by pairing him with Troy, than yanks him in and out of the lineup and destroys his confidence... his production falls off while the pacers lose a ****load of games. Does my logic fail or is it possible there might be something to this?
Its not all about Roy, but it appeared during the streak that the defense could function pretty well when Roy was paired with Granger at the 4, and having a legit post presence was helping us win. With the return of murphy the defense is back to being atrocious and Roy's minutes get cut. Shenanigans.
"As a bearded man, i was very disappointed in Love. I am gathering other bearded men to discuss the status of Kevin Love's beard. I am motioning that it must be shaved."
- ilive4sports


text: This CRL Glass Door Panic Handle is designed to allow maximum view and a contemporary look to 1/2 or 3/4 inch (12 or 19 millimeter) tempered glass doors. Installations can be made on single or double doors. For your convenience, we have designed the handles so they are ready to install on 36 to 48 inch (914 to 1219 millimeter) wide doors ranging in height from 90 to 102 inches (2286 to 2591 millimeters) high without modifications. "Dogging", locking the device in the open position, is easy with just a slide of a knob. A Door Stop/Strike must be ordered separately. Threshold Strike Plate available for PA110 Series. Custom Header available with your choice of pre-installed hardware.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
In twenty days it will be Christmas. Eek! If you're still hoping to get holiday cards made and mailed, especially if you are one that sends out an annual letter, then today's sketch is a perfect answer for a simple design which is easy to whip together. The longer format makes it perfect for being able to include a folded letter without being folded so many times it looks like it was done by a Kindergartener. :)
Today's steal, Christmas Home by Teresa Collins made a fun change for creating holiday cards. I love the tone of red and green mixed with the black. Teresa's patterns and embellishments are always rich and definitely satisfy any urge for creating with vintage chic designs.
I was so in love with the black and white snowflake paper that I chose to use that as the base for my first card.
Teresa's patterns can sometimes be a little intimidating to mix (at least for patterned paper mixing phobes like me!), so on the last two cards I made, I used solid cardstock as the base and papers from the 6x6 pad with smaller designs. It all mixed perfectly!
Amazingly another month has passed us by so it is time to announce the random winner of our November Monday Card Madness participants.
Stephanie Umpleby, you are our lucky winner! Fittingly enough it was a Christmas card which was favored by random.org.
Stephanie, if you will please send an email to our service department at email@example.com, we will be happy to send a prize out to you to help keep those amazing cards coming.
If you missed the details about our current card swap here they are.
- This card swap will not have any particular theme.
- The only requirements are that cards with envelopes are received to the ScrapbookSteals warehouse by January 16th.
- Cards can be sent to this address:
ATTN: Card Swap
2181 California Ave., #400
Salt Lake City, UT 84104
- After sending your cards please send me an email to email@example.com, letting me know to be on the lookout for your cards.
If you have any questions please let me know.
If you'd like to be eligible for the December random drawing for Monday Card Madness, all you need to do is complete any (or all) of the Monday Card Madness sketches, post your creation to our fan page or your own personal blog, then leave a link on this blog to that creation no later than 11:59 PM MST on Friday, December 30th, 2011.
I hope you have a great Monday!


text:
New York City -- A Wednesday report by MarketWatch said that a potential strike by nearly 15,000 dock workers at 14 ports from Boston to Houston beginning on Sunday may derail retailers' spring selling as well.
National Retail Federation supply chain and custom policy issues head Jonathan Gold told MarketWatch that, even though a federal mediator has called for a meeting of the International Longshoremen's Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance ahead of the Dec. 29 contract expiration, it's not clear when and where the two parties would do that in the next few days.
According to Gold, the two parties are in disagreement over container royalties, or the supplemental payments made to the workers based on the weight of containers that come through the ports.
The 14 ports along the East Coast and Gulf Coast handle about 6.5 million import containers annually, or 40% of imports to the U.S. The Port of New York and New Jersey is the largest port on the East Coast and the second largest in the country after the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach combined, where an eight-day strike ended earlier this month.
An East Coast strike "would have a significant impact on everybody through the supply chain," Gold said.


text: DSpace Collection: http://dspace.cityu.edu.hk:80/handle/2031/741 2017-09-20T23:14:50Z Algorithms design for IPv6 address lookup and packet classification http://dspace.cityu.edu.hk:80/handle/2031/4762 Title: Algorithms design for IPv6 address lookup and packet classification Authors: Li, Yiu Keung (李耀強) Abstract: In addition to the conventional 1-D address lookup used to determine the next-hop of an incoming packet, an IP router is also required to perform multi-field packet classification in order to support advanced functions, such as network security, quality of service, and virtual private network etc. Many algorithmic and Ternary Content Addressable Memory (TCAM) based approaches have been published for the address lookup and packet classification problems. In general, software implementations are suitable for low-end routers, whereas hardware search engines are employed in high-end routers that demand a very high packet-processing rate. Most of the existing algorithmic methods for address lookup exploit the characteristics of IPv4 routing tables to speed up the processing rate. The adoption of IPv6 with 128-bit addresses poses great challenges to the existing methods. In this research, we investigate the necessary modifications and extensions to several well-known address lookup algorithms for application to IPv6. It is found that a hybrid method that combines level-compressed trie with hashing will give the best performance. Multi-field packet classification is a much harder problem compares to the 1-D address lookup. TCAM-based approach is the dominant solution used in the industry. With the adoption of IPv6, the cost of TCAM-based search engine is jet up while the efficiency is degraded. In this research, we develop a novel encoding scheme, called prefix inclusion coding (PIC), which can compress a 5-tuple 296-bit IPv6 filter to 72 bits (or even 36 bits for classifiers with up to a few thousands filters). Hence, the overall TCAM storage requirement can be reduced by 90%. Notes: vii, 129 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm.; Thesis (M.Phil.)--City University of Hong Kong, 2005; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 123-129); CityU Call Number: TK5105.875.I57 L56 2005 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z Reliable multicast over wireless ad-hoc network http://dspace.cityu.edu.hk:80/handle/2031/4761 Title: Reliable multicast over wireless ad-hoc network Authors: Lau, Kwan Shek (劉鈞碩) Abstract: IEEE 802.11 is the de facto standard for wireless communications. According to the 802.1 1 medium access control protocol, multicast frames are transmitted over ad hoc networks without virtual channel reservation. Hence, multicast communications in ad hoc networks suffer from the hidden terminal problem, and may have low delivery ratio. Feedback implosion is another issue that need to be addressed. If each multicast group member sends feedback messages to the sender directly, the sender will be congested/overloaded. In this research, a tree-based reliable multicast communication protocol is proposed. Firstly, the virtual channel reservation technique for unicast communication is extended to multicast communications such that the packet loss probability can be reduced significantly. Secondly, a tree-based packet recovery protocol is developed. Feedbacks from the multicast group members are consolidated at the branch points of the multicast tree, and the workload of the packet recovery process can be distributed among the multicast group members. The performance of the proposed reliable multicast protocol is studied via simulation. It was found that the tree-based method performs better than gossip-based methods when node mobility is not high. Notes: ii, 56 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm.; Thesis (M.Phil.)--City University of Hong Kong, 2005; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 54-56); CityU Call Number: TK5105.887.L38 2005 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z 3D object model reconstruction from multiple views http://dspace.cityu.edu.hk:80/handle/2031/4760 Title: 3D object model reconstruction from multiple views Authors: Wong, Sze Sze (黃思思) Abstract: This project aims to reconstruct a 3D object model from an image sequence captured by a mobile camera. Our system can be used to generate 3D model of any type of object. We are particularly interested in demonstrating the capability of the system in the reconstruction of 3D head model. An efficient method has been developed that can facilitate the reconstruction of a complex surface model. Conventional 3D reconstruction techniques, with the use of specialized equipment, are inflexible and very expensive. To reduce the cost and increase the flexibility, our system only requires consumer-type digital camera for image sequence acquisition. A new colored calibration pattern is designed to allow the object and the calibration pattern to be captured simultaneously. It can provide a higher convenience but lower cost for the set up of the system. The whole process of 3D object reconstruction consists of four major steps: camera calibration, volumetric model reconstruction, surface model reconstruction and texture mapping. Camera calibration is an important step to determine the relationship between 3D world coordinates and the corresponding 2D image coordinates. The volumetric model is reconstructed from the image sequence (multiple views) of the object by Shape-from-Silhouette/Photo-consistency. The volumetric model in the real world space is converted to surface model. Finally, a single texture map is created from the original multiple camera views of the object. The linear camera calibration method can be done in high speed and with high accuracy. The camera can be calibrated either by using the coplanar calibration pattern or the non-coplanar calibration pattern with on-line lens distortions compensation. Both radial and tangential lens distortion compensation can improve the linear camera calibration. For the 3D model reconstruction, a novel reconstruction algorithm "Shape-from- Silhouette/Photo-consistency" is implemented. This algorithm combines the voting-localizing operations of the Shape-from-Silhouette in a novel space, and the Photo-consistency constraint among neighboring views of the object. It overcomes the shortcomings of each algorithm. A 2D voxel mask in 3D space is proposed that can effectively locate the concavity of the object surface. The volumetric model is then converted to the surface model by the marching cubes algorithm. To give the object model a realistic appearance, two texture mapping methods are developed. One is a view-independent method and the other is a view-dependent method. The view-independent method is to combine the individual photographs together. The view-dependent texture mapping is to combine and blend different input photographs to form a single texture. The results of camera calibration and volumetric modeling are shown. Some reconstructed 3D photorealistic models are presented to demonstrate the performance of the system. Notes: xii, 138 leaves : ill. (some col.) ; 30 cm.; Thesis (M.Phil.)--City University of Hong Kong, 2004; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 129-135); CityU Call Number: TA1637.W664 2004 2004-01-01T00:00:00Z Graph-based stereo correspondence algorithms and occlusion detection http://dspace.cityu.edu.hk:80/handle/2031/4759 Title: Graph-based stereo correspondence algorithms and occlusion detection Authors: Chen, Shifeng (陳世峰) Abstract: Stereo matching, or 3D reconstruction from two or multiple 2D images of a scene, is one of the most active research areas in computer vision. Due to its ill-posed nature, stereo matching problem still remains challenging although many stereo algorithms have been developed. Amongst recent algorithms, graph-based methods are the most popular because of their excellent performance. On the other hand, occlusion detection is an important part in stereo problem. Many heuristics have been presented to handle occlusions. In this dissertation, three stereo algorithms are presented. The first one is a local occlusion detection algorithm, so called the competitive approach. The objective of this algorithm is to label occlusions in the obtained dense disparity map without occlusions after matching. This algorithm has two main steps: first, all matching conflicts are labelled in a dense disparity map after matching without occlusions; second, occlusions are extracted from matching conflicts via a maximum-value rule. In this dissertation, an improved cooperative algorithm is presented to improve the original cooperative algorithm by using the competitive occlusion detection approach. This algorithm is implemented on some standard test image pairs to demonstrate its improvement. The second part of this dissertation proposes two global stereo algorithms, named left-right consistency graph cuts (LRC-GC) algorithms, to solve correspondence problem with occlusions. Our objective of this part is to design good stereo matchers for accurate correspondence computation including occlusion labelling. These two algorithms are based on graph cuts and handle occlusions within the global energy minimization process by enforcing the left-right matching consistency constraint, which states that only the non-occluded pixels have correspondences and each pair of correspondences should have the same disparity value. The two novel algorithms give unique and symmetric results. We compare them with another graph-based stereo algorithm, which handles occlusions by enforcing the uniqueness constraint. Experimental results are reported to demonstrate the excellent performance of the two novel algorithms and to show that they outperform the algorithm based on the uniqueness constraint. In the conclusion part, some limitations of these novel algorithms are discussed and some directions for further research are suggested. Notes: xiii, 108 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm.; Thesis (M.Phil.)--City University of Hong Kong, 2005; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-108); CityU Call Number: TA1634.C445 2005 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z


text:
mikenz66 wrote:If you want to pursue a Samatha approach then I think that Ajahn Brahm's book, Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond is useful.
The Great Vipassanā versus Samatha Debate
Some traditions speak of two types of meditation, insight meditation (vipassanā) and calm meditation (samatha). In fact the two are indivisible facets of the same process. Calm is the peaceful happiness born of meditation; insight is the clear understanding born of the same meditation.Calm leads to insight and insight leads to calm
For those who are misled to concieve of all the instructions offered here as "just samatha practice" (calming) without regard to vipassanā (insight), please know that this is neither vipassanā nor samatha. It is called bhāvanā (mental development). This method was taught by the Buddha (AN IV, 125 - 27; MN 151, 13 - 19) and repeated in the forest tradition of Northeast Thailand, with which my teacher, Ven.Ajahn Chah, was associated. Ajahn Chah often said that samatha and vipassanā cannot be seperated, nor can the pair be developed apart from right view, right thought, right moral conduct, and so forth. Samatha and vipassanā, Ajahn Chah said, are like two sides of one hand...
mikenz66 wrote:Hi Laurens,
Of course, its all a matter of stress. Perhaps I should say that Ajahn Brahm teaches an approach that puts a lot of stress on the samatha aspect in the initial stages than many other teachers. Other Ajahn Chah students, such as Ajahn Tiradhammo, put a lot less stress on attaining deep levels of concentration.
Different approaches are useful to different people at different times... In most cases apparent disagreements between teachers are just a matter of what they put stress on.
Kenshou wrote:-seanpdx
Well, the meditations are named after what results they are aiming for, no?
Manapa wrote:do you care to explain?
Kenshou wrote:Well, the meditations are named after what results they are aiming for, no?
Kenshou wrote:I'm not in disagreement with you. There is meditation, there is the practice. Release from suffering is the goal of course, not "vipassana" or "samatha" themselves. I did not intend to imply that there are two distinct methods of meditation. I was under an impression like that before this thread was posted, but I do not see things in that particular way at this point, thanks to the clarifications of people on this forum and the materials they've given. And those names applied to different aspects of meditation are not the final goal and if I implied that it was due to a fault in my own phrasing/ a brain-fart moment.
But I understand that from your side what I said could appear to have certain connotations that would imply misunderstanding on my part, and you pointing those out is understandable and obviously comes from a place of good intention. So yeah,
seanpdx wrote:Folks like Ajahn Chah and Ajahn Brahm, quoted previously, do an excellent job of explaining things. =D
seanpdx wrote:First, I take issue with the word "meditations" (plural). This implies that there are two (or more) types of meditation that the Buddha taught. I am, of course, working from the assumption that we're speaking of buddhist meditation specifically, and not including non-buddhist meditation. I don't believe he taught more than one type of meditation. And I certainly don't think they could be called "vipassana" or "samatha" if he ever did such a thing.
seanpdx wrote:Secondly, and just as importantly, neither vipassana nor samatha, as qualities, are the results for which buddhist meditation aims. The result for which buddhist meditation aims is nibbana (or whichever synonym or metaphor you prefer). Vipassana and samatha are qualities (and indispensable qualities at that) which arise from buddhist meditation (singular), but they are not the goal.
seanpdx wrote:It may seem like nit-picking, but you _did_ ask me to explain my answer. =) In the end, I think that many people either intentionally or unintentionally find a good blend of sati and samadhi, resulting in the sort of meditation the Buddha was probably trying to teach. More or less. I think the biggest problem with the artificial separation of buddhist meditation into two branches is that it ends up confusing people. Heck, just look at how often the topic comes up on buddhist forums. And using pali words that most people don't even understand just seems to exacerbate the problem.
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Police: Man Shot After Refusing To Give Robbers Money
A 26-year-old man told police he was shot Monday after two men came up to the car he was in and demanded money.Full story
A 26-year-old man told police he was shot Monday after two men came up to the car he was in and demanded money.Full story
An Omaha businesswoman is reliving the haunting images and haunting memories of New York City on 9/11. Full story
There are plans on the table to make the morning commute for Omaha drivers easier. Full story
A 16-year-old boy in Omaha, Nebraska, was taken into custody allegedly passing a counterfeit $50 bill at a high school basketball game. Authorities reportedly found more fake money in the suspect's pocket after searching him. WOWT's Jeff Sabin reports.
Omaha resident Lindsey Carothers, left, hugs a friend Sunday, April 10, 2011, in front of her childhood home, in Mapleton, Iowa, which suffered heavy damage in a large tornado that flattened a grain elevator and destroyed homes and buildings on its weekend rampage through this small western Iowa tow
A Werner Enterprises truck travels on Interstate 680 west of Omaha, Neb., Wednesday, May 13, 2009. Werner Enterprises Inc., said it trimmed an additional 4 percent of its Omaha, Neb.-based fleet of over 8,000 trucks in the first quarter, as slow consumer spending and stalled manufacturing activity t
In this March 21, 2011 photo, job seekers fill out job applications at a teen job fair held at the Swanson Public Library in Omaha, Neb. Fewer people applied for unemployment benefits last week, a sign that layoffs are dropping and companies may be stepping up hiring.
Billionaire financier and Berkshire Hathaway Chief Executive Warren Buffett eats ice cream during the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska in this May 2, 2009 file photo. Warren Buffett is looking for acquisitions as an outlet to deploy his $38 billion cash pile, the leg


text:
Topic: December ct scan
Hi all.
I get to post the word STABLE again! Yay! The scan showed no new growth.
But it did mention fibroid uterus and thymic tissue for the first time. Not sure if I should be worried. According to what I read, fibroid uterus is fairly normal in 50+ year old women, and thymic tissue seems to not be worrisome?
"Don't just have minutes in the day; have moments in time."
Any opinions I give are based on personal experiences, and are not based on medical knowledge. I strongly suggest receiving medical care and opinions.


text: Show Hide image Culture 1 November 2012 A much-hyped movie will only deliver over time Ryan Gilbey on "The Master" and "The Shining". Sign up for our weekly email * The Master (15); The Shining (15)dirs: Paul Thomas Anderson; Stanley Kubrick Among the emerging American film-makers greeted in the mid-1990s with the cineaste equivalent of teenybopper adoration, Paul Thomas Anderson is the first to have been anointed a heavyweight. Even as a relative beginner he behaved as though he merited that status, mounting dynamic, multi-narrative tapestries, Boogie Nights and Magnolia, on vast canvases. One over-excitable nincompoop even insisted that his last picture, There Will Be Blood, was the greatest Kubrick film that Kubrick never made. (Reader, that nincompoop was me. And I stand by my claim.) While Anderson's compadres – including non-relation Wes Anderson (Moonrise Kingdom), David O Russell (The Fighter) and Alexander Payne (Sideways) – are widely admired, they tend to be consigned to the undercard. PTA, as he is known, is the main event. This explains the hyperbole for his sixth film, The Master. Extraordinary claims were being made for the movie before anyone had seen a frame. It would win the Best Picture Oscar for the next five years running! Pauline Kael would rise from her grave to review it in the New Yorker! No one would ever need to watch another film again! The irony, now that The Master is upon us, is that all this expectation has been heaped on to a slow-burning, forensic work with none of the giddy visual flash typical of its director. As a character study in which no one evolves or becomes any the wiser, the picture seems engineered to confuse and frustrate, which can only be good for its longevity. Strangely for a director who has cribbed openly from his heroes (Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese, Jonathan Demme), The Master is actively concerned with the perils of influence. It begins in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, as Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) leaves the Navy and staggers into an uncertain life where his rage and his alcoholism become mutually inflammatory. With a failed job and a possible manslaughter behind him, he leaps on to a moored boat for some sleep and sanctuary. He is confronted there by Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a pink and pompous fellow who adopts a beneficent attitude towards his stowaway. Freddie is accepted almost immediately into his inner circle. "You inspire something in him," observes Lancaster's wife, Peggy (Amy Adams). He attends their daughter's wedding and finds his new friends an agreeable bunch, even if their idea of small talk is to ask him: "Would you care for some informal processing?" or "Have you done any time-hole work?" Lancaster has founded a religion, The Cause, which promises to purge its adherents of negative energy during intensive questioning sessions. Come to think of it, Lancaster bears a passing resemblance to L Ron Hubbard, who launched Scientology during the same era. Any similarities to persons or religions current or past are, I'm sure, entirely scurrilous. It appears initially that there is a straightforward father/son dynamic between Lancaster and Freddie, although Lancaster already has an heir, who is secretly sceptical of The Cause ("He's making it up as he goes along," the lad notes). But Lancaster also sees in his new protégé a specimen for demonstrating the reach of his ideas. He refers to Freddie as an animal and you can see why. The magnificent Phoenix plays this lost lamb as a rude, raucous ape. His shoulders are bent so far forward that they almost clink together under his chin; blasts of corrosive laughter explode from one side of his mouth. (The other side is clamped shut, rendering his speech garbled: "I don't understand" becomes "dunnshann.") If Lancaster can take this "silly animal" and turn him into an articulate exponent of The Cause, wouldn't that be all the proof of its worth that anyone needed? The mangled comedy in The Master arises from the disparity between what Freddie thinks he is doing to honour the religion and how his behaviour exposes the flaws in the whole rinky-dink operation. He becomes a willing attack dog, physically savaging anyone who contradicts or criticises his "Master". Instructed by Lancaster to visualise a point on the horizon and then to ride a motorcycle at high speed towards it, Freddie does exactly that. It is some time before Lancaster, squinting into the distance, realises that his disciple has vanished from sight and won't be back for dinner. In the less showy of the two lead roles, Hoffman is compellingly coiled; he shows Lancaster bubbling and boiling inside, lacking Freddie's capacity for bestial fury. It's a shame that Anderson couldn't find any greater function for Amy Adams than to play Peggy as a bargain-basement Lady Macbeth. The ambiguity over whether she is the true creator of The Cause would be more provocative had the film not insisted on the cult's fraudulence from the off, long before the clarinet in Jonny Greenwood's layered score had begun imitating a pungi, the instrument prized by snake-charmers. But The Master remains a captivating and admirably patient film that gives no suggestion of having exhausted its mysteries in one viewing. It will do well to endure as long as Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, a ghost story all the more effective for being counter-intuitive. (What nerve it took to shoot a brightly lit horror movie.) The US cut, featuring 24 minutes trimmed from the European edit, makes its cinema debut in the UK this week. A quick recap for the uninitiated: frustrated writer Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) takes a job as winter caretaker at Colorado's secluded, snowbound Overlook Hotel. Despite the establishment's grisly past as the site of several murders, Jack brings with him his ragdoll wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and their eerily alert son, Danny (Danny Lloyd). It's giving nothing away to say that the Overlook, with its jazz-age ghosts and its lobby awash with waves of blood, would receive only a middling score on Tripadvisor. To be fully appreciated, The Shining must be seen in the cinema for its spatial power and the sedated sweep of its Steadicam photography. But it's a must-hear as well as a must-see: the screeching electronic score and intricate sound design forms a sonic labyrinth every bit as terrifying as the physical one into which Danny is pursued by his axe-wielding father. Additional material extends mostly to occasional extra shots, with one exception: Wendy's long conversation with a female doctor who examines Danny after a fall. The revelation that Jack had once injured his son while drunk was handled in the shorter cut by him alone – the abuser always got to tell his side of the story. Now we also have Wendy recounting the incident, combined with the doctor's disapproving silence, the emphasis shifts significantly and renders the film frightening in entirely new ways. Like all great movies, and movie monsters, it's alive! Ryan Gilbey is the New Statesman's film critic. He is also the author of It Don't Worry Me (Faber), about 1970s US cinema, and a study of Groundhog Day in the "Modern Classics" series (BFI Publishing). He was named reviewer of the year in the 2007 Press Gazette awards. Subscribe from just £1 per issue This article first appeared in the 05 November 2012 issue of the New Statesman, What if Romney wins? More


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SesuberLanguage brain teasers are those that involve the English language. You need to think about and manipulate words and letters.
We've all seen a rebus like "midstuckdle" (stuck in the middle). The following clues are "revrebuseserse" (rebuses in reverse). That is, the clues below are answers to rebuses which all use the "in" construction.
However, the original rebus from the clues below will actually form a word. For example, "Not old in actually existing" would be "renewal" (new in real). Can you solve the rest?
1. A short poem in scarlet
2. A room-dividing structure in a female pig.
3. A joining word in a close friend
4. A head of corn in grasping tightly
5. Nothing in what your eyes do
6. A wild beast's shelter in stinking decay
Answer1. Reversed (verse in red)
2. Swallow (wall in sow)
3. Mandate (and in mate)
4. Clearing (ear in cling)
5. Senile (nil in see)
6. Rodent (den in rot)
What Next?
See another brain teaser just like this one...
Or, just get a random brain teaser
If you become a registered user you can vote on this brain teaser, keep track of
which ones you have seen, and even make your own.
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Saving Money at the Grocery Store
Watch the cheese! Cheese with a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) stamp or label costs 20 to 50 percent more than similar cheeses without it. These cheeses are required by the European Union and specify where and how an item is made. For example, a 6-ounce wedge of PDO-stamped Parmigiano-Reggiano might cost $16.99 but similar cheeses produced outside this region of Italy may be sold under the generic name Parmesan - for a much lower price.
Invest in a water filter pitcher (about $30) instead of buying bottled water and pocket the savings.
How much are you paying for coffee? If your daily commute includes a $2 coffee, your habit is costing you $500 a year. Buying a pound of coffee every two weeks and brewing it at home could save you about $300 annually.
The bulk section is handy for buying small amounts of key items. Think candy for cake decorating, specialty flours and dried fruits.
Always do the math. Look for the unit cost of an item, typically found on the price tag attached to the shelf.
If you regularly shop at a certain grocery store, sign up for its discount card. It will allow you to take advantage of specific deals when using the card.
Do the math. Generic brands are not always cheaper than brand name items. Always check unit price.
You might assume that buying food from the salad bar is tossing your money away, but that's not always true. At a $5.99 per pound bar, you may find that chicken strips, feta cheese, nuts and fresh spinach are cheaper per pound than they are on store shelves. The salad bar is also helpful for when you need to pick up veggies in small amounts.
Grocery stores are designed to get you to buy more. A savvy shopper understands the concept of sensory overload. Sugar-laden cereals and snacks that appeal to small children are typically placed on lower shelves - to appeal to the children with whom you are shopping. And some companies pay a premium price to get their products displayed at your eye level, too.
End caps are the shelves at the end of aisles used to display popular sale items. The prices on end cap products, however, are not always be the best. It's often worth a trip down the aisle to scout for cheaper selections.


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Philadelphia Zoo nets $6M grant from William Penn Foundation
There's a bunch of other stuff, too, but a $6 million grant will partially fund "an overhead passageway allowing the Zoo's big cats to travel and explore far from their usual habitats."
Big Cat Crossing is expected to open in the spring of 2014.
"This new trail system and other improvements will redefine what it means to be a 'world-class' zoo," Mayor Michael Nutter said in a statement. "As the Philadelphia Zoo's national reputation rises, it continues to anchor the historic West Fairmount Park neighborhood and serve the citizens of our city by providing a unique learning experience for youth and adults."
New initiatives at the zoo were profiled in the New York Times in June.
Zoo president Vikram Dewan is calling the William Penn Foundation grant, announced Monday, "transformative." Foundation officials say the grant to the zoo fits into a broader investment strategy for West Fairmount Park.
Disclosure: The William Penn Foundation supports WHYY/NewsWorks.
Support provided by


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With all of 2013 before them, local leaders expect a diverse array of issues to come their way in the coming year. But a couple in particular seem to be heavy on the minds of Yolo County officials.
"I think right now, the two we're really dealing with in the county are Obamacare - the Affordable Care Act - and AB 109," said Supervisor Matt Rexroad.
Rexroad and other officials agree that President Barack Obama's federal health care overhaul will have major implications for how counties deliver health services. Exactly what those implications are, however, remain to be seen.
And AB 109 - California's "realignment" measure shifting felons from state prisons to county jails - continues to have a huge impact on how Yolo County operates.
The Legislature passed AB 109 in 2011 in answer to severe overcrowding in the state prison system. The result has been "the transfer of responsibility of a host of criminals from the state to the county," explained Supervisor Mike McGowan.
Since then, Yolo County officials including Sheriff Ed Prieto say the measure has resulted in felons being set free who might otherwise have remained locked up.
"Some of those people may be treated very differently under AB 109 than they would have been a couple years ago," Rexroad said. "It is clearly impacting the number of people on the street."
"It's playing itself out," McGowan said. "That is a big one. We're not given enough money to do everything we want to do in the law enforcement and health services area for (the prison) population."
Of course, counties have more than just prisoners' health services to think about. As McGowan put it, Yolo County has "cradle to grave" responsibilities for the health of many of its residents, particularly the less fortunate.
"Right now all counties in California are the safety net for health care," he said.
So how will Obamacare change that?
"That remains to be seen," McGowan said.
While there may be "savings that will be realized by the state" under Obamacare, he said, it is unclear how much of it might be passed along to California's counties.
Rexroad agreed, saying the county is "trying to figure out exactly how that's set up," with various lawsuits still in play and officials still puzzling out the details.
Ultimately, he said, Obamacare could force Yolo County to ask: "Are we going to be direct providers of (health) services?" And much of that questioning is sure to come in 2013.
If there is a third issue of particular concern to Yolo County's leaders, it may have to do with water. Rexroad brought up the Woodland-Davis Clean Water Agency's project to improve local drinking water by building a surface water pump on the Sacramento River. "The way that flushes out will be a big deal for Woodland," he said.
And McGowan said the county will have to address the ongoing fight over the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, which he called "mind-boggling."
"It's a horrifically large project. And the pump stations themselves ... would have a direct and serious and probably a very negative impact on the area around there."
As always, McGowan said, budgeting is the "overarching challenge we have every year" at the county level. And in 2013, the issues of Obamacare and AB 109, among others, promise to compound that challenge.
Follow Don Frances at twitter.com/donjfran


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This guy looks lost out there. His shots are flat. I'm not even sure he's shooting above 30%fg. He gets the ball and literally dribbles in circles. When he passes to outside shooters, they are bad passes that take the shooter out of rhythm. He's a turnover machine and way to inconsistent on defense.
I've never seen a guys game fall off the map like this.


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Cousins hopes to stick after wild offseason
TEMPE, Ariz. -- In a six-week stretch from Oct. 17 to Nov. 30, outfielder Scott Cousins went from the Marlins to Blue Jays to Mariners to Angels, navigating through the waiver wire like few ever do and putting his shoe company -- "3N2" -- in a mad scramble.
"Every time I got claimed, it was exciting because it meant people out there liked me," Cousins said with a wry smile. "I was too busy getting married and on my honeymoon to concern myself with it. I knew I was going to play baseball this year, and that's all I cared about."
On Nov. 17, Cousins married his girlfriend of seven years. And two weeks later, when the Angels claimed him from the Mariners, who designated Cousins alongside former Angels leadoff hitter Chone Figgins, the 28-year-old was in the middle of a three-week getaway in Thailand.
It was 2 a.m. in Bankok when he got the call from his agent.
"So I just happened to be in the city of angels when it happened," Cousins said. "That's pretty cool."
Cousins is known primarily for putting Giants catcher Buster Posey out for the season in an ugly home-plate collision in 2011, but he could be valuable off the bench for the Angels this year. Cousins bats left-handed, plays good defense at all three outfield spots, runs well, has 128 games of Major League experience and posted a .279/.341/.451 career slash line in the Minors.
This spring, he's competing for one of the final bench spots, with a handful of guys of similar ilk -- Kole Calhoun, Trent Oeltjen, J.B. Shuck and Matt Young -- also in the mix.
"Yeah, that's what I was told," said Cousins, who has gone 32-for-175 (.183) in his brief Major League career. "Everybody was very forthright and upfront with their expectations of me and what I should expect from them. That's more than I can ask for. I'm excited to be on this club; I think it's incredible. So, any way I can help out, I'm for that, absolutely. I just like associating myself with these guys."


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A bird in the hand is worth two games and a week of practice.
That's what Saint Joseph's coach Phil Martelli decided Wednesday evening, suspending forward Halil Kanacevic for the Hawks' next two games and withholding him from a week of work with the team as punishment for the obscene gesture he flashed toward the crowd during Tuesday's loss to Villanova in the rivalry known as the "Holy War."
Kanacevic will be permitted to join the team for its annual Christmas charity event, but no other team activities for seven days. He'll miss a Dec. 22 game against Fairfield and a Dec. 28 game against Iona.
"There is no place for obscene gestures or personal outbursts directed at anyone," Martelli said in a statement. "We have always sought to conduct ourselves in a respectful manner to our university and to our opponents, and this behavior was unacceptable and inexcusable, even in the heat of the moment."
Kanacevic gestured to the crowd at Villanova's Pavilion following a 3-point basket he made to give St. Joe's a 50-47 lead in the second half.
"My actions were wrong and embarrassing, and I strongly regret them," Kanacevic said. "I made a mistake, and I accept total responsibility for my behavior. I am sorry for the harm caused to my teammates and coaches and my actions were unbecoming of a member of our community. I sincerely apologize to both universities and to everyone who saw the game."
The high-profile nature of the game did not help Kanacevic. The game was national televised on ESPNU, and Villanova is the team's fiercest rival.
"The tradition of the Philadelphia Big 5 and the reputation of Saint Joseph's University are greater than any one game or any one player," athletics director Don DiJulia said. "In a meeting earlier today with myself and coach Martelli, Halil was appropriately remorseful and accepting of this sanction. We have reinforced the expectations of our student-athletes, on and off the court."


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Starting in St-Malo on the coast of Brittany the route winds its way through quiet lanes on the banks of rivers, through dramatic gorges and quintessentially French villages before reaching the dazzling glamour of Nice on the French Riviera. Beautifully illustrated maps and detailed directions guide you along the routes providing essential
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Cat Guardians does not employ euthanasia, except in extreme circumstances in which medical conditions are such that prolonging a cat's life would no longer be humane. Due to its no-kill policy, Cat Guardians is usually filled to its legal capacity of feline residents. Today, some 50 cats and a rotating population of kittens reside at Cat Guardians shelter.
Some of the cats who have not been adopted due to their advanced age or chronic medical problems are assured of a loving, permanent home at Cat Guardians.
The daily activities of the shelter are feeding the cats, administering medication, cleaning the litter boxes and the shelter, are performed with the help of volunteers and funded through supporters like you.
Phone: (630) 543-3395
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
Business Hours:
Our business hours are Saturdays and Sundays from 11am to 3pm, and Tuesdays from 4pm to 8pm.
The shelter is located on St. Charles Road, just west of Westmore Ave. in Lombard, Illinois.
We also show at Petco in Elmhurst (Rte. 83 & St. Charles Road) - check the Calendar on our website to see when we will be at Petco.
Cat Guardians rescues stray and abandoned cats who might otherwise not have a chance at adoption. We seek permanent, loving homes for our cat and kittens where they can live a long, happy and healthy life. For this reason we must ask you to read, understand and follow the following policies and then answer the following questions on the adoption application.
When You Have Decided to Adopt
After you have made the decision to add a new pet to your household, there are a few more steps to complete the process.
Important: All members of the household must come in prior to adoption.
Important: We do not usually do same-day adoptions. so you and your family can discuss the adoption and make sure that it is right for you, and also allow us time to complete all necessary paperwork.
You must fill out an adoption application form. This form is reviewed by an adoption counselor who will contact you in response to your application.
The shelter requires proof that you are able to have a pet in your home. If you are a renter, we must see a copy of your lease stating that you are allowed to have pets. If you are a homeowner, we need proof that you are currently making mortgage payments.
Adoption fees help to cover the cost of first vaccinations, spaying/neutering, feline leukemia-AIDS tests, and worming (which may cost up to $400 per cat!). Adoption fees are $120 for cats and kittens.
When you come to take your new friend home, you must bring a sturdy carrier. We cannot let any cat or kitten leave the shelter unless it is safely secured. The cat carrier can serve several different purposes for your new friend. It can be its personal bed, and it can be used when taking the cat to the vet or other trips outside the house. Your cat will be much safer and happier in a carrier.
Once approved as an adoptive parent/family, you will be given an appointment to pick up your new feline friend on a day we are not open to the public. Please allow 45 minutes for the adoption process.
Adoption requirements
* You must be at least 21 years old with proper proof of age
* Current identification must show your correct address and telephone number
* If you are living with your parents, one of them must sign the Adoption Contract
* You must be able and willing to spend the time and money needed to feed, house, train and provide medical care for your cat
* You must be willing to allow an authorized representative of Cat Guardians to make an adoption follow-up either in person or by telephone.
* You must read carefully the terms of our Adoption Contract and be willing to agree to the terms.
Thank You!
Your message has been sent to Cat Guardians, Inc.
You'll receive a copy, too, at to help you keep track of which pets you've inquired about, and which shelters and rescues you've emailed.
NOTE: Some shelters have physical locations you can visit; some of these shelters may only have pets for a limited time, so please do not wait for a reply—just go visit the shelter! Other organizations are rescue groups run by busy volunteers who may take a while to reply. You can find information about the shelter or rescue group caring for this pet, and their adoption procedures, on the pet's details page on Adopt-a-Pet.com.


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Denny Hamlin proved to be a man of his word Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
After finishing 16th in the first Chase for the Sprint Cup race last week at Chicagoland Speedway, Hamlin predicted he would win this week's race at Loudon.
He not only backed up his bold prediction, he did it in dominating fashion.
Hamlin charged from the 32nd starting spot to the lead in less than 100 laps and then turned the rest of the Sylvania 300 into a rout, leading 193 of 300 laps.
— How they finished: Results from New Hampshire race
The win in the second of 10 Chase races was Hamlin's fifth victory of the season and third in the past five races. It also was Joe Gibbs Racing's 100th Sprint Cup victory.
Jimmie Johnson finished second followed by Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, Brad Keselowski and Tony Stewart. The top seven finishers are all in the playoff Chase.
Johnson took the points lead over Keselowski, who won the first Chase race, while Hamlin moved to third in the Chase standings.
After two Chase races, Johnson leads Keselowski by one point while Hamlin is seven behind and Stewart 10 back. Kahne and Bowyer are tied for fifth, both 15 points behind, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. is seventh, followed by Kevin Harvick, Greg Biffle, Martin Truex Jr., Matt Kenseth and Gordon.
Gordon bounced back from a 35th-place finish last week at Chicago, but still trails the leader by 45 points. Kenseth is 35 points back in 11th.
Hamlin led 122 of the first 225 laps and held a lead of more than six seconds on Johnson when the fourth caution flag flew for debris with 28 laps remaining.
Hamlin and the rest of the leaders stayed out during the caution period. Then Hamlin sped away from Johnson on the restart with 23 laps to go, putting the finishing touches on an outcome that seemed certain over the final 200 laps. He beat Johnson by 2.5 seconds.
"The 11 car (Hamlin) was just phenomenal today," Keselowski said.
Hamlin predicted he would win Sunday's race last week, tweeting after the Chicago race: "This is week 1 of 10. We will win next week."
While he backed off that prediction a bit over the weekend, he said he knew he would have the car to beat. He even mimicked Babe Ruth's famous called shot after climbing from his car after the race.
"It don't hurt to have a little confidence in your team," Hamlin told ESPN in victory lane. "I know we made a couple of big mistakes over the last two weeks, but I said we were fast enough to make it up, and we were. I am going to have these guys' backs until they die on me. This is my team."
Hamlin said he had no regrets about his bold prediction, which made headlines this week and put pressure on Hamlin and his team.
"You don't want to sound too cocky, but I knew what we were capable of," Hamlin said. "Our car was extremely strong and I have a really good knack for this racetrack and those two together with a crew chief like Darian (Grubb) is a good combination."
Though Hamlin and Keselowski have won the first two Chase races, Johnson has finished second in both events to take the points lead. He was smiling after the race, knowing he should be the favorite in next week's race at Dover International Speedway, where he has won six times.
"We've got some real good ones coming up starting next week," the five-time champion said. "I'm really excited about things. ... I'm really happy."
Starting 32nd after a mistake in qualifying, Hamlin immediately began charging through the field. He cracked the top 20 on Lap 13 and was in the top 15 by Lap 30.
Hamlin and his crew said before the race they wanted to be in the top 10 by Lap 100. They were — and then some.
Hamlin cracked the top 10 shortly after a restart on Lap 46 and zoomed into fifth on Lap 57. He passed teammate Kyle Busch for the lead on Lap 94.
Among non-Chase drivers, Busch's up-and-down season continued. After finishing fourth last week at Chicago, Busch led early in the race and was running second to Hamlin when he dropped a cylinder and faded through the field. He finished 28th.
There were no crashes in the race and just four caution flags, one a competition caution and three for debris on the track.
Learn more


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Marketing Information
What is Adobe Premiere Pro?
Adobe® Premiere® Pro CS5.5 software lets you edit faster with true native format support. Get breakthrough performance on workstations and laptops; streamline collaboration; and boost productivity with an efficient, robust, cross-platform editing workflow.
General Information
|Product Type
|Distribution Media/Method
|Manufacturer Part Number
|Manufacturer Website Address
|Adobe Systems, Inc
|Product Name
|Premiere Pro CS5.5 v.5.5 64-bit
|Brand Name
Product Information
|Platform Supported
|Language Supported
|Worldwide English
|Software Name
|Premiere Pro CS5.5 v.5.5 64-bit
|Software Sub Type
|Video Editing
|Software Main Type
|Operating System Supported
License Information
|License Pricing
|License Type
|Media Only
Supported NVIDIA graphics cards for GPU acceleration:
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3-Tier Strawberry Bed
Item# 39-410
This item is currently not available.
Additional Information
3-Tier Strawberry Bed Produces a Big Yield in a Small Space
- Attractive raised bed is made from naturally rot-resistant cedar and sturdy aluminum corners
- Space-saving bed produces a big yield in a compact area
- A popular way to grow strawberries; may also be planted with herbs or flowers
This terraced planter is sized to fit 25 strawberry plants for a big yield in a small space. We've combined our own industrial-strength aluminum corners with rot-resistant cedar to give you a sturdy, easy-to-assemble raised bed at a great price. This attractive bed is also suitable for growing flowers, herbs and salad greens.
Product Details
- Rustproof aluminum corners, rot-resistant cedar sides
- Tiers are 1', 3' and 5' square; each tier is 7-1/4" deep
- Holds 526 quarts of soil
- Gardener's Supply Exclusive
Product InstructionsDownload instructions for 3-Tier Strawberry Bed as a PDF
- Sorry, no shipments to AA,AE,AF,AK,AP,GU,HI,PR,VI


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What is "out of sync" for many is that he is a black man, an in your face example of how the United States is changing, and this scares the bejesus out of a lot of people. His politics are centrist and at times a bit to the right. He has been quite willing to negotiate and to compromise, but the opposing party has not. When he has proposed or gotten behind what had been Republican policies and laws the Republican party, in turn, has shifted position and opposed what was being backed by Obama, and at times to the detriment of this country. There is a very core criticism that Obama has gotten, and continues to get, that is not justified nor essential, but grounded in fear and hatred.Mr Man wrote:
Obama is the figure head for US policy and promoting US interests and values, which are out of sync with many. Criticism is justified and essential.


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the run to the rockies
On Monday morning after the L.A. Roadsters' Father's Day Show, 35 registered vehicles and over 50 participants gathered at the headquarters of SO-CAL Speed Shops in Pomona. The third leg of the PPG / STREET RODDER Road Tour was about to begin, and with our sights set on the NSRA Rocky Mountain Nationals in Pueblo, Colorado, everyone was excited to experience some of the most beautiful scenery in the U.S. from Los Angeles to Pueblo.
With our bellies full of coffee and donuts provided by SO-CAL Speed Shop, we headed out on I-10 East to I-15 for the four-hour trip to Las Vegas. SO-CAL was the official sponsor of Tour #3 and we were celebrating their 60th anniversary, so that meant traveling with some of the great SO-CAL gang. Hot rod legend and SO-CAL founder Alex Xydias traveled to Las Vegas with us, riding along with Frank Streff of SO-CAL of Phoenix in Frank's F-100. We gassed up in Barstow and stopped for lunch in Baker, California, with the temperature at 106 degrees.
The trip across the desert in that heat put all of the cars to the test, but everyone managed to survive. While the heat did not create any problems, we did have one participant suffer a flat tire. Another one had some wiring problems, but with a little help, everyone made it into Las Vegas. Lenny Ribaudo, his sons Michael and Lenny Jr., and his partner Angelo Falzone, owners of SO-CAL Las Vegas, were our hosts for Monday afternoon in Vegas. After dinner at SO-CAL, everyone spent the evening enjoying all the sights and sounds that Las Vegas has to offer.
Tuesday morning, all of the participants gathered in front of our headquarters, the Gold Coast Casino. It was quite a sight with over 30 street rods lined up in the valet parking area. At 7:30 a.m., we started north on I-15 to our destination for the day, Page, Arizona, at Lake Powell. We then kept going north on I-15 to St. George, just across the state line into Utah. After lunch in Hurricane, Utah, some of the group took the direct route toward the North Rim of the canyon while others took a route traveling through Zion National Park.
On all of our tours this season, we have tried to stay somewhat flexible in our travels. Everyone knows where we are headed for the evening, so if anyone wants to take a side trip or alternate route, they are welcome to do so. Since I had never been to Zion, I took that route, and it was a beautiful drive and the coupe performed flawlessly.
There is only one road into the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and we made sure we topped off our tanks since it is a 40-mile drive to the rim. Forest fires were raging in areas near the North Rim, so while we were able to get through, we could actually see timbers burning along the road. One week later, fires shut down this same road and around 1,000 tourists were temporarily trapped at the canyon. We made it in and out without incident but got a look at the Grand Canyon that most folks do not see, since it's the South Rim that draws in most tourists. We rolled into Page by 6 p.m. with lots of stories to tell.
On Wednesday morning, the Road Tourians were up at dawn. We wanted to take full advantage of the longest day of the year and some of the most beautiful scenery the tour will pass through all summer. We headed east from Page and drove through Monument Valley on the Navajo Indian reservation. If you do not know the name, I can guarantee you would recognize the images. Towering pillars of stone created by millions of years of erosion standing guard over the entire area created an incredible sight as we rolled through in our street rods. The unbelievable views continued as we headed north through Utah and then on to Moab. From Moab we traveled on Route 128 along the Colorado River-yet another postcard stretch of highway.
We rolled into Zipper Motors in Grand Junction, Colorado, around 4 p.m. and were greeted by Rosalie and Darrell Zip. They provided us with great food and a bluegrass band for entertainment. Lots of local folks turned out, including two TV stations and the local newspaper. Our incredible day was capped by a 28-mile drive through an area called the Colorado Monument. This highway travels through the mesas and cliffs surrounding Grand Junction, and the landscape was a perfect wrap-up to our amazing day.
We set our sights on Pueblo on Thursday, and while it's just five hours from Grand Junction, the peaks of the Rocky Mountains are between the two cities. We traveled on Route 50 and made the ascent up Monarch Pass, and it is quite a view at 11,000 ft. All the cars were up to the task, and after the long downhill route, we had lunch in Salido. With Pueblo only two hours away, some of the group made a stop at Canon City and the Royal Gorge.
We spent the weekend at the NSRA Rocky Mountain Nationals recounting our weeklong travels. We were able to park our cars around the STREET RODDER tent and we cooked hamburgers every day. Traveling together in street rods is a real bonding experience; friendships were made during the week and sights were seen that will stay with us forever. What made this tour fantastic was traveling with great people who all have a common bond: street rods.


text: Live Life Fully: Committing 'purgery' is an effective organizational tool By Linda Arnold May 18, 2013 Story Share CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- You know when you're in the zone. And I was definitely there this past weekend. I'm still basking in the glory.Things have been so busy on the career front I've neglected longstanding projects on the home front. OK, I've procrastinated. Busted!While I do pretty well keeping things in basic order, I've had this one room -- a spare bedroom -- that has been haunting me for quite awhile. And the more I focus on it, the more resistance I seem to face.So, this past weekend I set out to purge those demons, and the accumulated clutter, from my life (or, at least, from that room). Then I coined the term "committing purgery."Somehow the assignment catapulted onto a higher plane. Maybe it garnered more urgency because of its resemblance to the legal term "perjury" and the dire consequences that can follow. Only, in this context, everything is aboveboard, and the results are not only legal but welcome!Armed with this new consciousness, I headed into battle. First up was the file box of warranties and manuals for all those household items. (Why do they put all that stuff in individual plastic bags? They can take up so much space in a file folder! But I digress.)I set a timer and enlisted my husband, John, to help frame the categories. After all, there's a fine line between electronics and small appliances, right? And what's up with all those remotes and battery chargers?Having separated everything into multiple piles and purged out-of-date items, it was time to assign individual file folders and labels. That's my favorite part -- I've never outgrown the excitement of new school supplies, so it's no surprise I had a stash of hanging file folders in multiple colors on hand. And it was fun to match the colors with the topics. "Aquarium" definitely had to go into a blue folder, while "heating and cooling" went into yellow (for sunshine, of course!).I was beaming with pride as I transported the former contents of the overflowing box into a neatly organized file drawer. Truth be told, it was so inviting I found myself making several trips to the file cabinet over the weekend just to open and close the drawer. Buoyed by the success and feeling of accomplishment on this front, I set about tackling the next assignment. This is a giant category John calls "pile creep." You know the feeling. You set aside an article to read, and then there's some correspondence that needs tending to -- not now, but later.Handy tips to file away and more reading material get added to the pile. After all, you never know what might spur a future column idea. At least that's a noble excuse. As the pile takes on a life of its own, emergency purgery is required!And then the verdict is in -- clean counter surfaces and shelves with additional space! You're probably aware there's a direct correlation between our environments and our sense of peace and wellbeing. And, while this differs for each of us, it's worth noting. Sometimes it's a subtle thing. The longer an item that needs repair goes unattended, the more of a toll it can take on us, particularly if it's out in the open, reminding us it needs attention. Over time, these things can contribute to an energy drain -- or a downright personal energy crisis.By the time I finished addressing pile creep, I was into full-blown whirling dervish mode. Closets and dresser drawers didn't stand a chance. Sorting clothes and accessories was a snap, inspiring me to move on to the more challenging items of photos and CDs. I have to admit I've relegated photos to a micro project to be tackled later. That's OK, though, because this was Macro Day!You may have gathered I extended my sphere from that spare bedroom to multiple areas of the house. Still, I was able to keep myself from getting too diverted. I set up more systems than I have in ages, and gathered quite a few bags for donation drop-offs as well as our Wednesday-morning friends, the city garbage crew.Now the challenge of maintaining these systems is on the horizon. And I'm realistic enough to know it's a fluid thing. I'm armed with former victories, though, like the upstairs storage closet John and I tackled a couple of months ago. Simplicity is a wonderful thing. And I know I'm not alone in this quest. Our society has not quite been permeated with a "Walden Pond" consciousness. However, my informal research of magazine covers on newsstands shows that "de-cluttering" and "organizing" have now overtaken the perennial topics of "Get Flat Abs" and "Lose Ten Pounds."So, feel free to live on the edge. I officially deputize you to go commit some purgery of your own.Linda Arnold, M.A., MBA, is a certified wellness instructor, counselor and chairwoman/CEO of The Arnold Agency, a marketing communications firm with offices in West Virginia, Montana and Washington, D.C. Reader comments are welcome and may be directed to Linda Arnold, The Arnold Agency, 117 Summers St., Charleston, WV 25301 or emailed to email@example.com. Story Share Story Share Trending Now 1 Congressional opioid investigation targets drug wholesaler Miami-Luken 2 Facebook founder visits Cabin Creek Health Systems 3 WVU hopes to get injured defenders back for TCU 4 Rhode Island bank claims Justice companies owe $4.2M on helicopter loan 5 Safety shutoff disabled prior to June coal-mining death, report says Being Young and Finding Fun in Charleston: Apartment life means indoor planting Previous Story Culinary SOS: Bakery makes delicious quinoa salad Next Story


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Jordana Divon did not know Charles Lewis, but a feature on her Facebook account kept suggesting that she might.
"We had a bunch of friends in common so he kept popping up," she says.
When Divon recognized his face while covering an event for the Toronto International Film Festival in 2010, she approached him.
Lewis is the director of communications for the hockey lifestyle magazine The Fourth Period. The magazine happened to be looking for a new editor, and Divon fit the criteria.
"The guys running the magazine really knew hockey," Divon says, "but they didn't know publishing."
Although she knew very little about hockey, she took the job. She describes it as somewhat beneficial that she isn't as big of a fan, since it allows her to read the articles from the eyes of a more passive fan.
"When I look at an article, I'm not clouded by my knowledge of the player," she says.
The magazine's title comes from the idea that the fourth period of hockey is what happens after the game is done. It's the period off the ice, Divon explains, when the players go out into the world and live their lives.
After just two years in production, the magazine has a circulation of around 30,000 throughout Canada and the United States. The magazine is involved with the National Hockey League, most notably the NHL Awards, and it co-hosted the after-party for the NHL awards in Las Vegas in June.
"I was so the last person who deserved to be there because there were so many NHL players walking around and I couldn't pick out any of them," she says, adding that she thinks a diehard fan would have appreciated her spot at the party – and she would like to make this happen if they get to host again.
Although she doesn't call herself a diehard fan, the Toronto native did watch hockey when she was a child, and she enjoyed attending games with her father. Her interests began to change when she was a teenager and noticed how violent the game is.
However, she has since recognized that fighting is part of the game, and that the players tend to be interesting, educated people.
"What we're trying to do is, you have this culture of celebrity, particularly in the States, regarding football players and basketball players," she says, "but you don't really see the same with hockey."
The magazine aims to bring people into the players' lives outside of the game, and immerse people in the hockey culture, she says.
But The Fourth Period doesn't exclusively feature interviews with hockey players. For example, earlier this year, Divon interviewed Canadian rock band Sum 41, as well as Napanee-born punk-princess Avril Lavigne.
The nature of the magazine fits perfectly with Divon's outlook on journalism.
"I think everyone has fascinating stories to tell about themselves, and about their lives," she says. "My dream job would be to write about those stories and bring them to fresh eyes."
In an era when freelancers are going extinct, Divon has also been able to carve herself a career in the field. Her positive attitude and perseverance come through when she discusses her career.
"The beauty about [freelancing] is you really are privileged to meet and talk to some incredible people," she says. "That's why I love this and that's what keeps me going when things get difficult."
Among these difficulties is not knowing when the next job is coming, or conversely, working every single day of the week. She describes the past year as a series of seven-day work weeks.
"Anything worth doing is going to be challenging," she says. "It's going to be difficult, but you can't let that get in the way of your dreams."
The field of freelance journalism really belongs to those journalists who stick with it, she says. "It's nothing more than being a struggling freelancer and trying to take every opportunity."
It's this open mind that allowed her to succeed in print journalism, though she primarily trained in broadcasting, earning her master's degree in broadcast journalism at Boston University.
She got her first professional writing assignment from The CJN, and she later spent a year working for Metro Toronto, where she produced the "Metro Minute" and "5 Minutes With" columns, as well as freelancing for many other Toronto newspapers.
Although she has interviewed numerous well-known figures, including comedian Russell Peters and legendary Fashion Television host Jeanne Beker, she describes the most moving stories as the unexpected ones.
They're the ones you might be interviewing for a quote for one story, she says, but you wish you were interviewing them for a profile.
She describes her experiences as very rewarding, getting to know a wide variety of people and watching her overcome every challenge in her path.
"You keep your nose down to the grindstone, close your eyes, grate your teeth and keep going," she says. "It's all you can do, and it's all you have, because there's nothing worse than giving up your dreams."


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Weaverham's own Disney princess
1:50pm Thursday 1st May 2014
By Josh Pennington
1:50pm Thursday 1st May 2014
By Josh Pennington
A WEAVERHAM mum is bringing a unique surprise to children's birthday parties to spread her and her daughter's love of all things Disney.
Abigail Lapworth, 25, from Owly Wood, Weaverham, has decided to launch a new career as a Disney princess after seeing how much fun her five-year-old daughter Georgia has when she dresses up as the characters.
Abigail can be booked to go to children's birthday parties dressed as one of many famous characters to surprise the birthday girl and dress them up as their own favourite princess.
Abigail said: "My daughter and I both love all things Disney and she loves it when we dress up together so I thought it would be a great idea to start this up.
"It's a great way to help to create magical experiences for little girls who may not be able to afford to go all the way to Disneyland itself."
The variety of Disney princesses includes Belle, Snow White, Rapunzel, Cinderella and Arial with more popular requests soon to be added to the list.
Abigail also pampers the birthday princess with face paints, party nails, hair curling and age appropriate make-up.
The new business has only been running for less than two months but it has been extremely popular around Weaverham so far.
Abigail said: "I've done quite a lot of parties already and the kids really love it, especially the younger ones because they think I'm the real Disney princess."
For more information visit the Facebook page www.facebook.com/princesspamperpartiescheshire or call Abigail on 07950921248.
© Copyright 2001-2017 Newsquest Media Group


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By Gina Clayton
Immigration it seems is always in the headlines. While UKIP and others make political waves with their opposition to European free movement, immigration is said to be one of the biggest issues of voter concern. However, the issues that make the headlines are only a tiny part of the picture. Restricting immigration is treated as an uncontroversial objective. Some air time, though less, is given to the damage done to migrants by restrictive laws and policies. Very little attention is given to the damage done to the social fabric by those same laws and policies, and to the reality that measures targeting migrants have an adverse effect on all of us.
In the last months of 2013 and the first of 2014 the Immigration Bill made its way through Parliament. Surprisingly, as immigration was a dominant political theme at that time, its provisions received minimal media attention. Provisions of the Immigration Act 2014 include:
- All rights of appeal against immigration decisions are abolished, except where the decision is to refuse international protection or where removal would breach the Refugee Convention or the appellant's human rights.
- Banks and building societies are prohibited from opening accounts for individuals 'who require leave to enter or remain in the UK but do not have it'.
- Driving licences may not be issued to those who require leave but do not have it.
- Charges for health care are to be levied on all migrants.
- Landlords will be subject to penalties if they let property to individuals who 'require leave to enter or remain in the UK but do not have it'.
The abolition of rights of appeal against immigration decisions comes after years of attrition of immigration appeal rights, and it is only this previous attrition that reduces the impact of these new measures.
Interestingly, an earlier episode of attrition of appeal rights was commented upon by Tony Blair in 1992:
"It is a novel, bizarre and misguided principle of the legal system that if the exercise of legal rights is causing administrative inconvenience, the solution is to remove the right. […] When a right of appeal is removed, what is removed is a valuable and necessary constraint on those who exercise original jurisdiction. That is true not merely of immigration officers but of anybody."
Some effects of s.15 Immigration Act 2014 can be predicted:
- There will be no independent remedy for an individual who has suffered due to a mistake.
- There will be less incentive to improve Home Office decision-making.
- Studies, work, and life plans of migrants and their families will be disrupted.
- Employers and universities may lose employees and students.
- Judicial review will likely proliferate.
When a student's studies are prematurely ended or a specialist worker has to leave the country, not only they but others around them are affected. As well as the employer or university, friendships, treatment plans, agreements with landlords, voluntary work obligations, all are disrupted. Migrants do not live in isolation.
Most of us can accommodate to misfortune, but injustice is harder to live with. If our friend, our student or our colleague has not been able to put their case, what is the effect on our confidence in our own system of government? There is no right to be heard. Does this not have an impact on our belief in what are famously described as 'British values'?
The prohibition on holding a driving licence, opening a bank or building society account not only affects the person who cannot get access to these basic features of ordinary life in the UK, it also affects the person who must decide whether to issue a licence or open an account.
A bank or building society employee must now assess a potential customer's immigration status. Whether they wish to do so or not, the staff member is exercising a form of internal immigration control.
Bank and building society accounts have become essential to live ordinary life in the United Kingdom. People will be denied access to these facilities on faulty grounds. Bank and building society employees will find that their relationship with their customers has changed from service to scrutiny. All of us will be subject to immigration status checks.
The measures restricting access to private tenancies, bank and building society accounts and driving licences are not, as such, immigration control. They are penalties on those already resident. They apply not only to government matters but also to purely commercial and private transactions. They insert mutual surveillance into social relationships.
It was revealed by Sarah Teather MP that the government working group some of whose policies found their way into the Immigration Act was called 'the Hostile Environment Working Group'. In the Immigration Act we are being recruited to the project of the hostile environment. We are required to treat other people as disentitled, not to a government benefit, which in the end we know is determined by government, but to a private facility. This asks us to change our perceptions of each other, and as such is hostile to us all.
Gina Clayton works on European asylum and migration projects, including reports for the Fundamental Rights Agency and the AIDA database, chairs refugee charities in South Yorkshire, and is an OISC adviser on asylum law. She is the author of Textbook on Immigration and Asylum Law.
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Image credit: Gavel. By Kuzma, via iStockphoto.


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From new science standards and deep budget cuts to teacher awards and a new Superintendent, education in Levy County experienced many newsworthy occasions in 2008. The following are highlights from this year's important headlines.
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Do You Wanna Dance?
Ziff and Dale invited me to lunch today. It's Restaurant Week and they are heading off to Austin, for the Texsom conference that they are in charge of. I am staying behind. Like I said, it's Restaurant Week and someone has to answer the dumb questions that the R.W. amateurs ask. Like last night, I heard this one: "Do you have an Italian Pinot Noir?" Yes, and I also can recommend to you a Vermentino from France, but why? Another one I heard this week (these people must have driven in from Tyler or Longview): "What's your best Texas wine?" How about the one that doesn't make me puke (which, by the way, wouldn't be some overpriced Palomino-Chardonnay from a wine-bully.)
As I said, we are at lunch, kinda celebrating. One of the restaurants took pity on some of the locals and opened up for lunch. Peaky toe crab, awe-inspiring okra (you heard me) with fried green tomatoes and a whole, grilled Branzino. Family style. Me, I'm always hungry. Ziff was watching his weight and Dale was loosening his belt. They brought a bottle or two of Burgundies for fun, A Rully and a Santenay. Look guys, anytime you want to raid the cellar, I'm there for you.
At a table nearby, one of IWG's gulag-mates was entertaining a chef. He stopped by on his way in, asking where IWG went this time. I said Fort Worth and acted like I didn't know what he was talking about. They had some cool stuff in their bag, sent over a taste of Camartina. IWG loves Querciabella. The wine was tasty, especially with the lamb.
We finished with incredible slices of Pecos melon (not cantaloupe) and some German shots that were bitter and gave me a headache. But hey, it was a 2 hour business lunch.
Nice Melons
I sent the boys on their way. They had to be in Austin, and tropical storm Erin was racing to meet them.
The gulag-mate called me over to come taste some Priorat. It had been opened about 4 hours earlier, so it tasted almost bearable. After Santenay, Sangiovese and bitters, Garnacha and Carignane were maybe too much in the same day. And it's like 102°F outside.
The chef we sat with had a funny story about Spanish wines. I gathered he ran the wine program and the kitchen at this place where he worked, a gentleman's club. You know, pole dancing, scantily clad girls, and plenty of smoked salmon on the buffet. And bubbly, lots of bubbly, you get the picture?
Last Call
Anyway, chef likes Spanish wine, been to Spain a couple of times lately. Likes it a lot. So he gets real sore when he goes to the tapas restaurants in town and the Spanish wine selection is lame-o, like a liquor store in some river bottom area. His line, "I have a better selection of Spanish wine in a topless bar than a tapas restaurant," really nailed Dallas with another bulls-eye. That ain't the wind, folks, that's the sound of the wine business sucking, this time with Spain. He was right when he said, "Buy good wines and sell them, push your customers, make them drink something besides Silver Oak or Coppola." I know IWG says that and Ziff and Dale too. So, I'm on board, guys, even if you never see me in a gentleman's club. I leave the testosterone and pole-positioning to the other species.
To the Moon, Alice


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Sony PlayStation 4 (PS Vita)
$12.99 Download
ESRB rating: Everyone
Review rating: 4.5 stars
It's not often that a fun video game can teach players a thing or two about physics or philosophy, but that's exactly what "Fez" does. Originally released on the Xbox 360 in 2012, this addictive retro indie game has a huge following. Now it's been reworked with 1080p visuals for the PlayStation 4, and the result is a must-buy!
As the story begins, players see a small pixelated character named Gomez who lives in a two-dimensional world. Gomez then meets a three-dimensional cube that gives him a magical fez, which allows him to interact with the third dimension. This starts a powerful journey that shows Gomez the depths of time and space that exist outside of standard perceptions.
Although the game is played as a 2D side-scroller, players are able to rotate the entire world in increments of 90 degrees. This awesome ability not only shows different perspectives of each level, but also opens up areas and advantages that aren't visible in 2D. For example, a ledge that appears unreachable in one angle is well within reach in another, and a door that isn't visible from three angles becomes visible in the fourth.
Most of the game play ... err ... revolves around collecting small gold cube fragments to create large cubes that are needed to save the universe. This is accomplished through exploration and puzzle solving mixed with minor platforming elements. In addition, many secret rooms and stages can be discovered that reward curious players with gold cubes, keys, etc.
On one hand, this game seems easy because of the unlimited number of lives and instant respawns. However, some of the puzzles can be difficult to solve, and deciphering the unique language isn't easy.
Nevertheless, "Fez" is a wondrous romp through an unusual world where discovery trumps combat.
'Sacred 3'
Keen Games
Microsoft Xbox 360 (PS3, PC)
ESRB rating: Mature
Review rating: 2.0 stars
"Sacred 2: Fallen Angel" was a fun but flawed action RPG that entertained players with a vast open world filled with a plethora of loot to plunder and characters to customize. Sadly, "Sacred 3" has lost most of the depth for which the series is known, and the result is a run-of-the-mill action game.
Who knows why the game underwent such drastic changes, but it's a mistake for the publishers to still call it an action RPG. Most of the RPG elements have been removed, and the open-ended world has been replaced with linear levels where the only "variety" comes from unimaginative side missions.
After choosing one of four classes (lancer, warrior, seraphim, archer), players are thrown into combat and tasked with stopping a dastardly warlord from acquiring the mystical Heart of Ancaria. Unlike previous installments in the series, these classes are not customizable in any way at the beginning, and there are no stats to experiment with. How lame!
With so many limits on game play, one would assume that the combat is epic, but alas, it's bare-bones boring! Players only have a few attacks and one defensive move per class at their disposal. Dodging is useful, as is the shield bash because it breaks shields and interrupts spell casting. However, fighting enemies quickly devolves into button mashing peppered with the occasional defensive move.
I don't think the casualization of the major elements in this game was a good choice. Armor upgrades itself, and new weapons are earned between levels because there are no loot drops. That's right; I said no loot drops at all. Only gold and resource refills. Apparently, this game is designed for gamers with low IQs.
The big dumb action in "Sacred 3" may satisfy fans of the "Transformers" movies, but this gamer prefers much more depth and customization.


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Topic: Lonely and tired
I am so lonely and so tired. I have had a difficult week of pretending I am fine to everyone. I am not even sure why I prentend- I don't know how to stop.
Time for bed here in UK. I hope the holidays are kinder to you all this week.


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Every studio should have at least one Bleeplabs Thingamagoop. They cost a bit more than a lava lamp but the smile factor is way higher on the yay scale. You can customize your Thingamagoop to look like no other. They run off a 9V battery and are kind of like weird cute bleeping Theramins.
"The Thingamagoops are really just simple, analog type synthesizers that you control in a different way." – bleeplabs.com
Thingamagoops are $120. For more info: http://bleeplabs.com/