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Hello CrystalSpace,
Just a quick post this week to introduce the updates below. I have completed my literature review of behaviour trees and designed my proposed implementation. Details of which I have posted below and will shortly begin two mailing group discussions on. Firstly to raise awareness of this development and secondly to raise any questions or queries before I get too deep into development and secondly to discuss the potential of integrating the behaviour tree design with crystal architect as originally suggested by Pablo.
The other update below is to the project schedule and deliverables post, which has been expanded to list the deliverables I intend on implementing in the remaining 2.5 weeks. This weeks update to this post has also very proudly included the completion of the bug fixing of the refactored sequences. The entire refactor of triggers, rewards, sequences and parameters is now in a functioning state and is partially documented. I am happy with the progress here and will continue to press ahead with the behaviour tree implementation over the next week to ensure this deliverable is also met.
Kind Regards, Sam
The core components of a basic behaviour tree implementation are selectors, sequences, conditions and actions. With just these tools it is possible to recreate most finite state machines (FSMs) in a more intuitive manner. By then adding decorators the behaviour tree becomes a more powerful tool whilst maintaining its intuitiveness.
As conditions and actions can be created by making use of the refactored CEL triggers and rewards respectively the implementation of these core behaviour tree components will serve as a proof of concept of the usefulness of the recently completed Quest refactor.
More complex features of behaviour trees include memory management techniques and a scheduler controlled implementation. Both of these techniques could potentially be very useful within CEL but are beyond the scope of the proposed deliverables and would be unachievable in the remaining time frame of GSoC 2009. However, it is my intention to design the interface in a manner that will ease any future work on these features.
The remainder of this document outlines the tools I intend to develop and document in the coming weeks. Whilst I have provided a brief description here of their functionality, anybody interested in this tool is highly recommended to visit AiGameDev, specifically these freely available resources: A Brief Written Overview and A More Detailed Video Series. I was fortunate enough to sign on to the premium membership of this site with the initial payment from the GSoC project and I would have to say it has been crucial in the design of this tool.
Interface (iBTNode)
A behaviour tree is to be executed each time an entity needs to decide upon an action. The tree evaluates from the root evaluating each chosen child node. Each node returns a boolean to indicate the success or failure of that node. Therefore, the interface requires an execute method that returns a boolean. As it is intended that the behaviour tree may make use of the refactored celParameters class, this method must receive an argument of this type.
To connect nodes and leaves of type iBTNode, each node must maintain an array of children and provide methods for adding to this array.
To use a behaviour tree, the user must first create each node/leaf and connect them. Once constructed, an entity needing to choose an action will execute the root node which in turn, upon deciding the correct child, will execute the chosen child node and pass on the parameters. Eventually the root node will receive a boolean value indicating the success or failure of its child and, presuming its own execution is complete, will return its own success or failure to the user. The interpretation of this final return status will be implementation specific in so much that a return of false is not necessarily a negative result dependent on the design of the tree itself.
To summarise, the intended iBTNode interface is:
virtual bool execute (const celParams& params)
virtual bool addChild (iBTNode* child)
Selectors and Sequences (plgSelectors)
Selectors and Sequences, or collectively known as composites, are nodes in a tree with multiple children that control which children to execute. Selectors work through the children nodes until one child returns success, if a child returns success the selector stops executing children and itself returns success. However if no children succeed the selector also fails. They are often referred to as OR nodes, as one child or another is executed.
The logical opposite to selectors is sequences. Sequences execute children in order until one fails. If all children succeed the sequence succeeds but if any child fails the sequence immediately fails and stops to execute any further children. They are often referred to as AND nodes, as the first child and the second child and so on are executed.
Due to the name clash in CEL and CS with both the refactored CelSequences and the existing CSSequences, my current design decision is to instead name the sequences composite a SequentialSelector.
In addition, the selector composite by default selects children from left to right (dictated in code by the order they are added to the node) however this selection of one specific child can be implemented in numerous methods increasing the number of behaviours achievable. To demonstrate this capability I intend to implement both a standard selector and a random selector.
To summarise the following selectors are intended to be implemented during GSoC:
- DefaultSelector
- SequentialSelector
- RandomSelector
Decorators (plgDecorators)
Decorators, like selectors before, are nodes in the behaviour tree with the difference being that decorators tend to have one child. Their purpose is not to select a child to execute but to themselves perform some computation before passing execution to the child.
I intend to implement decorators for loops, limiting the number of times a child can execute, and negating the return value of a child (so that a sequence can continue UNLESS a condition has fired.) For a more complete list of example decorators please see http://aigamedev.com/hierarchical-logic/decorator/. If any are of particular interest to readers please let me know and I will try my best to implement them within the time frame.
To summarise the following decorators are intended to be implemented during GSoC:
- LoopDecorator
- ExecutionLimitDecorator
- NegateReturnDecorator
Conditions and Actions (plgBehaviourTree)
Finally, the leaves of a behaviour tree are made up of conditions and actions. In CEL we already have the concepts of triggers and rewards and as such the implementation of these leaf nodes is partially complete.
In essence actions are essentially rewards except actions must return a success or failure and rewards currently do not. I intend to modify slightly the interface to rewards to return this value and update the refactored rewards to implement this change. This should have no effect upon the quest implementation. All nodes of a behaviour tree will have to implement the interface iBTNode, I do not however intend to add this to the refactored rewards. Instead I will implement a wrapper BTAction the implements the iBTNode interface and executes an action.
Similarly triggers do not directly fit into the behaviour tree paradigm. Instead of waiting for a trigger to fire and choosing an actions based on this, behaviour trees check if a trigger has fired at the time of their evaluation and base their choice on if it has already occurred. Therefore another wrapper class is needed, TriggerFiredCondition. This condition will return false if checked before the trigger has fired and true after.
Conditions are not however limited to triggers firing. Instead conditions may include, for example, checking the health of an entity that the behaviour tree belongs to. A generic condition that can be implemented is checking the value of a parameter. The condition, ParameterCheckCondition, will be set up with the name of the parameter, the value and whether to check for equal to, less than or more than.
Other conditions will be application specific and cannot at this time be implemented. However, users of the behaviour tree can easily create their own conditions by implementing the iBTNode interface within their class and returning a boolean based upon the condition they desire to check.
To summarise the following leaf nodes are intended to be implemented during GSoC:
- BTAction
- TriggerFiredCondition
- ParameterCheckCondition
Please note: This document is a work in progress and will be updated with the projects progress including any updates brought to attention in the mail group discussion.
Hello CrystalSpace,
This weeks work has largely involved testing, cleaning and documenting the code of the refactor. I am glad to say that the vast majority of triggers and rewards are fully factored out and functional within the testing application. My aim is to have the tutorial cover all current triggers and rewards so that there is an exhaustive reference on the purpose and use of each of these tools. Some of you will have noticed my request for examples for a select few of the rewards and triggers I do not currently have covered. I would be very grateful for anyone with experience of these tools to add to the mailing list conversation however they can. For convenience the conversation can be viewed at:
[Cel-main] Example Uses of Specific Rewards/Triggers
Outside of adding these remaining rewards and triggers to the tutorial program, I also need to bug fix the sequence refactor which is currently non-functional and implement cel expressions into triggers and sequences. I remain confident that these goals are all achievable within the time frame of the GSoC project.
However, as stated last week, I intend to start the Behaviour Tree implementation tomorrow. More specifically, I have shortlisted a number of papers and tutorials that I wish to review before proceeding. Over the next couple of days I will split my days between closing the final remaining quest refactor tasks and reading around the topic of behaviour trees. I will then move on to thoroughly designing the behaviour tree implementation and intend to have a first draft interface committed to svn by the time of my post next week. Again I will split my workload throughout this remainder of the next week between the behaviour tree and quest refactor projects. My priority at this time is the behaviour tree implementation as I am determined to reach this significant deliverable before the final google deadline, but I will remain vigilant of my progress on the quest refactor to ensure the remaining refactor tasks are also complete before the final deadline. If need be I will return full time to the quest refactor later into the summer.
As always questions, queries and comments by IRC, email or this blog are greatly appreciated.
Kind Regards, Sam
Hello CrystalSpace,
As some of you will know this past week has seen the completion of the mid-term reviews. I am very proud to have passed this milestone and look forward to completing the project in similar success. Thank you to Guillaume for all his continued support and to the community as a whole for all your help.
Given this mid-point in the programme it seems a sensible time to review the schedule and update it in relation to the progress made. I will shortly after making this post bump the schedule to the top of blog for clarity's sake.
This weeks progress was initially focussed on the factor out of sequences, and secondly on the testing of the refactor as a whole. The testing has highlighted that the sequences are currently non-functional and will require some further work. As previously stated the testing application (appquesttest) is intended to be the basis of the refactored-quest tutorial, and so this time spent testing has also seen further development of the tutorial program.
My intention is to continue working on the refactor up to a strict deadline of next Wednesday's post (22nd July). My reasoning for this is that if work does not begin promptly upon the behaviour tree implementation, I may get stuck throughout the program in developing features for the quest system and fail to produce one of my key deliverables; the BT.
Given this deadline, I am afraid the previous intended delivery of nesting FSM's is unlikely to be accomplished at this stage. However, I have as suggested by google left the majority of the final week for finalising the project. Provided I meet the set deadline of August 12th for the BT work, I will still have a solid working week to work on additional features for the refactored quest.
Therefore, the new schedule splits the refactored quest schedule into achievements in the section "Progress", goals intended for completion before 22nd July in the section "To Do" and tasks to attempt once the BT is completed in the section "Time Permitting." The tasks that will be attempted time permitting, are ordered in the intended series of attempting them. Given it was an originally proposed deliverable I have put the allowance for nesting quests at the top of this list. However, if higher priority in any of these additional tasks is desired please feel free to contact me.
Some may notice that I have removed the suggested potential to factor out sequences entirely, given the amount of work I have put in to factoring them out of quests I believe this would be detrimental to the amount achieved by this project. Therefore, whilst I am not disagreeing with this as a potential development decision I do not intend to complete this during the summer of code program.
I have also moved the additional suggestion to implement cel expressions in sequences up from an additional request into an intended deliverable. From my early look into how to add this feature to triggers, I believe that it should be achievable to add expressions to both triggers and sequences within the new quest refactor deadline. I hope that this can at least partly make up for the delay and possible lack of implementation of the nesting deliverable.
Finally, reader's may have noticed this blog was published a day early this week. My graduation is occurring this Thursday and given the long journey and early start we are travelling up tomorrow. This will limit my productivity for the next couple of days, but I will do my best to stay in contact via email if anyone has any queries or suggestions with regard to this new schedule.
Thank you all again for your support, Sam
Hello CrystalSpace,
With the deadline for the Quest refactor looming I am happy to announce that I am about to commit the final 8 refactored triggers. This will complete the refactor of all rewards and triggers. Leaving just the sequences to be worked on in the remaining days. My intention now is to spend tomorrow working on sequences, Friday on testing the refactor and Saturday cleaning up the code.
Therefore, a working refactor should be commited on Friday. However, this will also still consist of all code for the previous implementation as currently the refactored rewards are running alongside the old rewards to allow for their behaviour to be tested against the original behaviour. Once those tests are completed, I will clean the code by removing all of the previous implementation. My plan is to have this done on Saturday.
This week I have also fixed the parameter based bug that was agitating me during last weeks post. Thank you to Res for his continued efforts to support me on this problem. Finally, this morning I merged again with trunk, as recommended by Guillaume, I intend to do this weekly alongside these posts in the hope of easing the integration of my work with the project at the end of the summer.
As always any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Kind Regards, Sam
Hello CrystalSpace,
Progress this week has been relatively slow. Whilst factoring out the change property reward, I discovered a dependency on Quests that I did not fully understand. I must highlight my thanks here to Jorrit for taking the time last Friday to talk me through parameters and helping me to appreciate their use. This has caused a slight rewrite of some of the existing code that has raised a new bug, that I have been cursing for the past few hours. My patience has worn thin, I will reapproach the problem fresh tomorrow and contact the list if or when the problem continues.
The result of this work has added another plugin to the Quest refactor, implementing parameters outside of quests so that they can be used in rewards, triggers and sequences without any dependency on Quests. The results so far will be committed to svn shortly. Under vknecht's advice I will begin to commit to svn more regularly now.
Finally, as mentioned in opening this has been a relatively slow week. I moved out of my old uni house this weekend and back home for the summer. I fully intend, however, to now make up for this light week by putting in a big effort this week to push to meet the Quest refactor deadlines.
Kind Regards, Sam
This bug is no longer troubling me.
Relieved, Sam :)
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Chinese Man Rides Cow While Singing Justin Bieber
You can't help but to belt out some Justin Bieber tunes every once in a while. This guy, apparently, has taken is fandom one step further by simultaneously riding a cow while playing the guitar.
So, maybe he's not the greatest singing in the world, but he certainly looks like he's having fun and all that's important.

subset: commoncrawl


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Manufacture of spa chairs with massaging apparatus in pillow form as a component part to order and/or specification of others
Business in Los Angeles, CA


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Leading financial expert predicts fall in spending
A leading financial expert has told Soccernet that he predicts zero net spending in the Premier League, Championship, and League One combined.
Predicting a sharp fall in spending and a less than active transfer deadline day, Geoff Mesher said: ''Clubs are tightening their belts and for that reason I can see that spending will level out. There is not the level of money knocking around for clubs to be splashing out large amounts on transfers.
"The wage bills are the biggest drain on club resources, and clubs are looking to get players out before they bring them in."
Producing a report entitled Football Transfer Tracker, the partner at Grant Thornton observed that there are more loan deals with the case of Craig Bellamy and Manchester City highlighted and free transfers.
He said: "Manchester City have a surplus of very good players and Cardiff are the beneficiaries of that [signing Bellamy on loan]. But there have been a number of high profile signings on free transfers already: Joe Cole and William Gallas for example, and there will be more."
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Locu, a San Francisco-based startup that gathers restaurant menu data and is backed by Chicago-based venture capital firm Lightbank, launched on Monday a partnership with Time Out Chicago to integrate menu listings with the magazine's website content.
Locu was founded last year by graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and raised money from Lightbank and other investors in April before launching in October. The company provides online templates for restaurants to manage their menus and keep them updated across platforms such as their website and Facebook pages. Locu's technology also scrapes publicly available menu data to build its database, which it then offers to publishing partners and other developers that might want to build products around the information. Time Out Chicago is the startup's first publishing partner and will incorporate Locu menu listings into the "Restaurants + Bars" section of its website. Locu has gathered more than 5,000 menus for local restaurants.


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If we are suppose to think what we are becoming marketed, presbyopia cure costly corrective lenses have to be our only choice appropriate? Improper.
Imagine it or not, with billions of pounds on the line there is no doubt that enhancing your vision naturally is one thing that is swiftly scoffed at and rarely talked about. This exercising will help your eyes relax and give them much needed relaxation, specially soon after prolonged durations in entrance of the computer or television.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).thrust({})
Eyeglasses provide a beneficial function. They assist tens of millions of individuals to see evidently, instantly. Nevertheless, they do not address the root causes of our vision issues. From individual knowledge, when I wore them, as a lot as I appreciated the reward of looking at plainly with no hard work in any way, the issue was that my eyes nevertheless felt strained. They did not handle that critical element of eye care connected to relieving pressure and pressure in the visible system.Nor did they improve my normal vision unaided with out glasses.For instance, when I taken out my glasses, my vision was nonetheless blurry. If you are commencing a all-natural vision enhancement plan, a single of the primary tactics that help you in generating far better development in enhancing your vision by natural means is studying how to minimize your reliance on your eyeglasses. In the method of understanding how to see with out glassesyou'll be able to bolster your eyes normal ability to operate more effectively. Here are a couple of guidelines to aid you attain that objective:
It is crucial to ensure that the eyes are in condition of relaxation on a regular basis. Put on glasses only in scenarios where they are absolutely required. For instance, they can be worn whilst driving and for operate purposes. For occasion, in the circumstance of nearsightedness when it comes to activities such as reading through, producing and conversing you can just take them off. On the other hand, farsighted men and women only demand glasses for near up work but they can eliminate their glasses when executing pursuits relevant to distant viewing this sort of as watching television or going to the movies.
Go for walks in the park and on the seashore and get into the routine of scheduling times for routines without having your eyeglasses.I understand how you truly feel. The prospect of scheduling pursuits without having your glasses signifies dealing with imperfect eyesight. Even so, if there is any supply of consolation, your normal vision will alter to these new changes when you include the adhering to helpful vision enhancement tactics: Use your peripheral vision by becoming aware of your surroundings. This can be completed by observing your visible area to the left and to the correct of you. When the eyes are uncovered to routines that involve viewing in a natural way frequently, unaided with out eyeglasses, ultimately the mind re-adapts by learning to re-interpret blurred images correctly. Schedule time for walks and try to hold your eyes in consistent motion as you are observing your environment.This sort of techniques once practiced regularly support you to enhance eyesight without having glasses.
Diet for Weak or Poor Eyesight - Foods That Improve Vision


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Aida at the Arena di Verona
The magic of sharing the experience of grand opera under the stars of Veneto in a 2000 year old Roman Arena in Verona with 14,000 people in the audience is unique in the world. The moment when everyone lights their little candles at dusk as the orchestra tunes is one that still leaves me in awe..... Ever since I heard in one of my family sagas how my great aunt remembers going as a little girl with her mother to the first Aida there in 1913!
So when I heard that this year's Aida was actually the attempt to stage as close to the original 1913 Aida, I had to go and experience this grand spectacle myself. And grand it certainly was in every possible way - a huge spectacle that got everyone in the audience cheering. Vocally - I did wish that some of the lead singers were chosen differently, but then again - you can't have it all! I thought as I drove all day today back to Rome. I believe that everyone needs to experience Aida in the two settings here in Italy at least once in their lives... Arena di Verona is one and the other is the restored Terme di Caracalla in Rome.
The highlight for me this year was seeing two productions designed and directed by the Argentinean super star Hugo de Ana. I love the way he deals with the challenge of staging operas created for small, closed spaces in a gigantic space like the Arena where it is not easy to conduct intimate affairs. His first production for the Arena di Verona was Nabucco in 2000 which was amazingly like the spaceship from "Star Wars". Then came Tosca in 2006 - where in spite of the concept of abstract and focusing the opera on the symbolic, on the atmosphere and the characters' intentions, the run was sold out and in huge demand even by the patrons so used to the traditional way of presenting opera at the Festival in Verona. This year his 2008 Il Barbiere di Siviglia was remounted and it was such a huge treat to see this grand scenic game within a complex miming and choreographic movement. The Greek baritone Aris Argiris was wonderful and stole the "show" as great Figaro!
I had a chance to see the new La Traviata also designed and directed by Hugo de Ana. He used for this opera the concept of huge frames, empty of their mirrors - they help do both - fill the large spaces, reflect luxury but also help us experience the world of degenerating emotions. I saw the Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho who had to use the sheer force of her voice to play her role. I wish I was there when her co-patriot Inva Mula did the role. I have seen Inva do the role of Violetta when she both sang and acted it beautifully. The strongest cast member here was Geroge Gagnidze as Georgio Germont.
La Boheme....the concept of this production.... very stark, white, almost empty stage with Nicola Benois wanting us to share in the feeling of profound emotions and not be burdened by the often bothersome and heavy scenery that take away the reason why we are so moved by what we hear. Marcelo Alvarez was the soul of the opera as Fiorenza Cedolina pushed herself out of her comfort zone... she is a wonderful dramatic soprano (I have seen her as an amazing Tosca) and one wonders why she was cast in the role where we wanted to hear a lyric soprano match Marcelo Alvarez's voice and timbre. All I could think about was how I wanted to hear her in Un Ballo in Maschera!
Nabucco - the grand, opulent sets where the Verona Opera's chorus was the biggest star.... Although some of the lead singers were fabulous - Marco Vratogna as Nabucco and Vitalij Kowaljow as Zaccaria deserve a special mention. But the chorus was certainly something else...... they "reinforced" the usual 162 members of the chorus with the additional 60! After they sang "Va Pensiero", the audience lost it... so - what happens next? The conductor rewinds that film.... and they do the whole scene again! The custom of the place allows the audience to sing along when it's an encore! Tears and all!
The power of opera at its best!


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Grim Dawn - Greetings from Westfaliah
My name is Brian Stephens (Westfaliah) and I've just joined the ranks of the development team here at Crate. Though I'm new to the Crate team, I've worked on this tech before, now several years ago at Iron Lore on Titan Quest. I'll be working on multiplayer and gameplay features, and I suppose anything else needed to get this game done and into your hands.
Most recently I worked at Harmonix helping fill living rooms everywhere with plastic guitars and drums and worked on most of the multiplayer and network features (leaderboards, battle of the bands, challenges, etc.), of the Rock Band and Dance Central franchises.
Before that, I came to Iron Lore near the end of the development of Titan Quest where I added low-level network optimizations and worked on UI elements including loading screens, HUD systems, skill trees, PvP scoreboards, achievement systems, and enhancements to the multiplayer lobby including a 3D character inspector for examining players in a multiplayer game, their equipment, and their weapons. And let's not forget the time spent working on "Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Soulstorm" - a game title with a big number, a comma, a colon, *and* a dash.
Previous to Iron Lore, I worked on Empire Earth (also with Arthur Bruno), working on the multiplayer engine used in all Stainless Steel Studios titles, the sound engine, scripted physics, and numerous gameplay elements.
I've always loved aRPGs and that was a big part of what attracted to me first to Iron Lore and now to Crate. Both had great teams full of awesome and talented folks and I'm psyched to get started.
Also, I'd like to thank all of you for your support of Grim Dawn. When it's said that this game couldn't be made without you, it's really the truth.
Information aboutGrim Dawn
SP/MP: Single + MP
Setting: Fantasy
Genre: Hack & Slash
Platform: PC
Release: Released


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The Philippines capital turns roads into temporary highways to ease shopping-related congestion
Just like in the U.S., the holidays are high season for shopping in the Philippines. The streets of Manila jam up with consumers crawling their way to malls and shopping centers. Traffic has become such a problem that officials have created a citywide solution: temporarily removing street parking, stop signs and traffic signals on roads leading to major shopping destinations.
Known as "Christmas Lanes," this network of roads-turned-highways launched last December on 12 streets, covering 157 kilometers. The streamlined sections of roads create one-way feeder routes that are intended to ease traffic congestion as shoppers flood into the city toward shopping centers. This holiday season, the city has expanded its Christmas Lanes to cover 45 streets and more than 200 kilometers.
These temporary highways are intended to serve as alternate routes, diverting traffic away from the city's main thoroughfares. And the scheme seems to be working, the Manila Sun Star reports. A December 2010 study of traffic on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, one of the city's main arteries, showed that average traffic speeds increased by about 14 percent – from 27.98 km/h to 32.07 km/h – after the implementation of alternate routes.
Devised by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, the traffic management scheme creates a temporary network of inner-city highways leading directly to shopping destinations. This set of detailed maps shows which roads have been converted and, in the spirit of the season, even offers directions to the city's most popular shopping malls.
Top image: A traffic controller wearing a Santa Claus costume dances as he directs motorists along an intersection in Pasay City in Metro Manila. Reuters/Cheryl Ravelo


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Texas House Member Bryan Hughes to Speak at Baylor Law School's Commencement Feb. 6Feb. 5, 2010
Follow Us on Twitter: @BaylorUMediaCom
Bryan Hughes, a member of the Texas House of Representatives, will deliver the keynote address at Baylor Law School's commencement exercises at 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 6, at Waco Hall. Additionally, Amy Renee Bolline, the highest ranking student in the commencement class, will deliver remarks. Baylor Law Dean Brad Toben also will participate in the program and will award juris doctor degrees to the graduates.
Hughes, a Baylor Law alumnus, practices civil trial law in state and federal courts in the Eastern District of Texas. Primarily a plaintiffs' lawyer, he has practiced with some of the best trial lawyers anywhere, including three years with legendary Baylor lawyer Rex Houston, after whom the Practice Court classroom is named. His professional associations include the Texas Trial Lawyers Association and the Bar Association of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
Born and raised in a blue collar family in East Texas, he worked his way through Tyler Junior College and the University of Texas at Tyler, receiving his BBA in Economics in 1992. Baptist roots and strong recommendations from Baylor lawyers in the community led him to Baylor Law School, a decision which he says he appreciates more and more as he advances in his career.
After graduating from law school in 1995, Hughes clerked for United States District Judge William Steger of Tyler from 1995-97. Serving as Representative for the Fifth District of Texas, Hughes is Vice Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and serves on the Human Services Committee. He is Vice Chair of the Rural Caucus and Joint Presiding Officer of the Health & Human Services Eligibility System Legislative Oversight Committee, which supervises Texas's efforts to modernize and reform the welfare system. Hughes also is a member of the Board of Directors of the Texas Conservative Coalition.
In 2002 in his first run for office, Hughes was elected with 52 percent of the vote. In 2004 he was reelected with 62 percent of the vote and in 2006 with 82 percent. He received 100 percent of the vote in 2008, and is unopposed for reelection in 2010.
In 2007, Tyler Junior College honored Bryan with its Valuable Young Alumnus award. And in 2008 he was chosen by Baylor Law School as the Baylor Young Lawyer of the Year.
He has received numerous awards for his work in the Legislature, including the Taxpayer Hero Award from Texans for Fiscal Responsibility and the Horizon Award from Texas Right to Life, and has been recognized as a "Defender of the American Dream" from Americans for Prosperity. In 2008 and 2009 he received the Champion of Texas Children award from the National Child Care Coalition.
Hughes is a fifth generation Texan and the first member of his family to receive a bachelor's degree. He is a leader in his church, a Red Cross disaster relief volunteer, and active in civic and community organizations.
Assisting Toben with awarding degrees will be Leah W. Jackson, associate dean and professor of law. Hooding the graduates will be David M. Guinn, who serves as the Lyndon L. Olson and William A. Olson Professor of Local Government and Constitutional Law and Master Teacher, and James Wren, associate professor of law. The invocation will be given by Dillon Richard Meek, one of the members of the commencement class.
After the ceremony, a reception for the graduates and their guests will be hosted by the Baylor Law Alumni Association at the Sheila and Walter Umphrey Law Center.
Contact: Jill Scoggins, 254-710-1964
More News ...


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CO-OP Adds Outbound Calling
CO-OP Member Center is now providing automated and live-person outbound calling to support marketing and member service for client credit unions, according to the subsidiary of CO-OP Financial Services.
One of the first users, the $540 million Amplify FCU in Austin,
Texas, said it generated nearly $1 million in loan originations using the service in two two-week campaigns.
"CO-OP Member Center is an economic staffing solution that lets us maximize our member outreach, and the outbound calling agents are a wonderful extension of the Amplify family," said Cindy Twilla, relationship development specialist at the 43,000-member Texas credit union.
The service includes outbound interactive voice response for sales, new member orientation, payment reminders and phone surveys, and live-agent calling for sales, auto loan recapture, pre-screened lending and Reg E opt-in overdraft protection, the CUSO said.
Mark Chatfield, chief operating officer for CO-OP Member Center in Fort Worth, Texas, said key benefits of the center's service include cost effectiveness and speed.
"To do outbound calling internally requires a large, fixed capital outlay, and it also often requires diverting key resources from other important operations," Chatfield said. "By outsourcing this task to CO-OP Member Center, credit unions have a dedicated, variable-cost solution in which you are only paying for what you need when you need it.


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Here's a map of what amounts to the road ahead for American marriage-equality activists.
[h/t AMERICAblog Gay]
Here's a map of what amounts to the road ahead for American marriage-equality activists.
[h/t AMERICAblog Gay]
Here's a sign that we will win.
DC has legalized marriage equality.
In 1850 Congress legally abolished the slave trade in DC. In 1862, Lincolin legally freed all slaves in DC three years before the end of the civil war.
Now I know that slavery and gay marriage, while both civil rights issues, are not the same. However, the logic in the 19th century was that slavery is a disguisting behavior that we'll tolerate in the backwater parts of the country to avoid a war, but we will not let it permeate the capitol.
The message in DC is the same: bigotry against gays may work elsewhere, but in the capitol we have a HIGHER standard. If the bigots studied history (they don't) they'd be shaking in their boots.
LGBT – Includes bisexuals. So then equality in marriage has recently been expanded to homosexuals and then next will be expanded for bisexuals to marry a man and woman.
I think you mean for bisexuals to be able to marry either a man or a woman. Bisexuals aren't some strange kind of polygamous creature, you know.


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" Address: Tortworth / Wotton-under-Edge / South Gloucestershire / England / Telephone: +44 (0) 1454 263 000 / Fax: +44 (0) 1454 263 001 "
My other half suprised me Christmas 2008 with a weekend away for two. He told me to take my mum after the tough year we had. He spent £191 for a double (he mention that he was in the army so got a massive discount), he had booked it for February all we had to do was to book our spa treatments (up to £100). We both looked it up and were really excited as we looked at all of the pictures. February came round and the day of our departure to Tortworth Court, on went the SatNav and off we drove, no hitch or glitches.
As we drove up the drive way towards the enterance, the drive way and surrounding parks gave off the most beautiful scenery. It looked like something out of a film or a fairytale. We were served by a helpful young lady who ensured that they had all of the information that we required, offering the option of complimentary newspaper and an early morning wake-up call. We were then provided with our room number and advised how to access the room from reception along with a map of the hotel grounds and the nearest car park to our room. Our room was on the ground floor, it was quite a nice room, very simple and plain. All the rooms are accessed using a key card (you can chose to have one or two of these), unfortunately these can be tempermental. The room was very quiet you can't hear the exact location of the people above you or beside you and you don't get the usual noises in regular hotels. As we went out to explore we found that the layout reminded us of rabbit warrens there were corridors everywhere, it felt like a labrynth.
After wandering around and taking in the scenery outside the long sash type windows we found The Lantry (the formal name for the Spa Retreat) located in the hotel, just a few metres away from reception adjacent to Peels Leisure Club. Appointments are essential and can be made directly at the Lantry or at the Leisure Club during opening hours. You can also phone and book prior to your stay at the hotel. The Lantry has many spa treatments such as reflexology, a variety of facials and massages, waxing etc. The prices are very reasonable. If you visit in 'Off Peak' season (Monday-Thurday), there is a discount on each of the treatments you have compared to 'Peak' season (Friday- Sunday).
Peel's Leisure Club, adjacent to the Lantry, opens most days at 6.30am and closes at 10pm. Children under 16 years of age must be accompanied by an adult. The changing rooms did not differ dramatically from any other although they are a lot cleaner and better looking than most. Next to the ladies changing rooms are the sauna and steam room, they were both very small and personally unbearable for me. The swimming pool was slightly heated, although could have easily gone up a few notches on the temperature gauge. The jacuzzi was much warmer, although on the small side. Everything was so clean and the staff were kind and easy to talk to.
There are a number of resturants on site and all look very nice and upper class, although we did not eat in any of the resturant so i am unable to comment on them.
My overall rating would be 4/5 everything i experienced was perfect, although there is room for improvement with the decor in the rooms and seeing as i did not eat in ay of the resturants I can not include ethese in my ratings.
As my partner reguarly works away mid-week, this week I had the chance to travel with him as it was my Birthday and had a few days off work.
The hotel that his company usually book him into was full for the date that we required so we found this one for the bargain price of £70.00 on late rooms.
Tortworth Court is located on Tortworth Road in Wooton under Edge and is just off the M5 Junction 14.
The hotel is clearly signposted and is tucked away down a country road.
The hotel has a long drive leading to the hotel with speedbumps and narrow roads it is a challenge to actually get there.
The magnificent Grade II Victorian Manor is so grand you feel as if you are visiting the gardens and simply parking outside, it definately differs to the hotels I have previously stayed at.
As you arrive at the hotel entrance there is a sign advising you to use the drop off bay when checking in to allow you to check-in and be advised of the best parking space to your room.
There are a minimum of 2 staff members at reception and is open 24 hours.
There are 189 ensuite rooms within the property offering an affordable option to every guest.
Rating 3/5*
Just 25 minutes away from Cribbs Causeway Shopping Centre and 15 minutes from the office.
As you arrive at receptio there is a member of staff ready to assist you further.
We were checking in later at 6pm, check-in is from 2pm at the hotel so we found we were not queing when we arrived.
We were served by a helpful young lady who ensured that we had all of the information that we required, offering complimentary newspaper and an early morning wake-up call which we declined.
We were advised that breakfast was to be served in Moreton's the restaurant opposite reception between 06.30am and 10am.
Check-in is a similar to all other hotels I have stayed at usual completion of your home address, car registration, pre-approved card for charges and authorisation if you wish to use the Express Check-out service.
Express Check-out is a free service to all guests which involves your bill being posted to your door early in the morning with the list of charges, provided that you are happy with the charges then the card that has been provided at the time of check-in will be debited after 9.30am allowing you to leave the room without having to visit reception.
We were then provided with our room number and advised how to access the room from reception along with a map of the hotel grounds and the nearest car park to our room.
Service 4/5*
*~*The Bedroom*~*
We had managed to book an executive room at the hotel which was located on the first floor, whilst finding our way to the room I was starting to have my doubts as it smelt like a community hopsital obviously an overdose of Zoflora, which I have to admit is not the best aroma!
Our room was located at the end of the corridor 239 right next to the fire escape.
All of the rooms are key card entry and you can opt to have one or two keycards during your stay.
We entered the room and were greeted with plain magnolia walls and a deep red carpet traditional of Victorian Buildings and various historical pictures decorated the bland walls.
Immediately as we entered the room on our left was the tea and coffee making facilities for two.
Directly next to that was the double wardrobe that contained an ironing board and iron, trouser press, luggage rack, combination deposit safe and spare blanket and there was plenty of storage space left.
To the immediate right as you enter the room is the ensuite bathroom which is decorated in a pale green and white colour. Traditional bathroom suites fill the room with a full size bath and overhead shower, toilet and vanity area with complimentary toiletries, an adjustable towel rail heats the towels to follow a long soak in the bath.
The main bedroom area contains a huge bed which was my only disappointment in the room when I discovered that it was in actual fact two queen sized beds joined together I felt like I WAS all alone in bed it was huge!! This had two single quilts so I was disappointed that we had been misled to believe this to have been a double bed.
All of the furniture within the room is co-ordinating mahogoney furniture which enhanced the traditional feel of the room, along with the many lamps that were featured in the room to offer ambient lighting.
A work area complete with internet access is located at the foot of the bed with complimentary stationary.
A colour television is also in every room completed with all terrestial channels and some satellite channels.
The room was very quiet compared to other hotels I have stayed at where the banging of doors can be heard all the way down the corridor but the only noise that could be heard from our room was that of the gravel when a car used the car park outside the window.
Rating 4/5*
*~*The Lantry*~*
As this was somewhat of a birthday treat I decided to get pampered and Mark treated me to a Swedish Full body massge lasting an hour, ideal! He would be in work and I would be a lady of leisure.
The Lantry is the formal name for the Spa Retreat located at the hotel and is located just a few metres away from reception adjacent to Peels Leisure Club.
Appointments are essential and can be made directly at the Lantry or at the Leisure Club during opening hours.
The massage lasted for an hour and was at a cost of £35 which is pretty good value as it was one of the best massages that I experienced to date.
There are two treatment rooms within the Lantry and they use Elemis and Jessica products only.
They offer a full range of treatments and there are also special pamper breaks advertised on the website at great prices.
Rating 5/5*
*~*Peels Leisure Club*~*
Located on the ground floor adjacent to the Lantry the leisure club opens most days at 6.30am and closes at 10pm.
Children under the age of 16 years are not permitted unless supervised by an adult.
Lockers are located in each changing room and require a £1 deposit and towels can be collected from reception once you have provided your name and room number.
The ladies changing rooms are located on the first floor and considering this is a 4* property I felt as if I had stepped into a basic Leisure Centre with poor changing facilities.
The changing rooms are small and pretty basic offering 3 hairdriers for users and a small vanity area.
The actual changing area consists of 3 cubicles and a small communal changing area opposite the lockers, the showers are basic and communal with one shower screen in the area for someone wanting some privacy.
Compared to other properties I was very disappointed with the changing facilites, however I do have to comment on how clean they were kept.
Directly next to the ladies changing rooms was a sauna and a steam room which was mixed but a little on the small side, the sauna was empty when I used it and I was able to lie down fully whilst relaxing, but the noise of the women's changing rooms spoilt the relaxation as you could hear every word of the conversation.
The steam room was a little on the tacky side with cheap plastic seats lining the room it was not at all comfortable and relaxing.
To access the swimming pool you had to walk outside down the stairs and into the pool area which was pretty chilly this time of the year, the pool was heated although not very generously but again it was really clean, spotlessly clean in fact and I got to swimming a good few lengths. The maximum depth of the pool was 1.2 metres so was ideal for a shorty like myself!!
Rating 3/5*
Overall Opinion 4/5*
This hotel is immaculate and the staff and friendly and efficient offering you the best service possible.
Breakfast was complimentary in the price however we did not experience breakfast as neither of us were hungry so are therefore unable to comment on the dining services at the hotel as the evening before we ate out.
The hotel is in a great location for many of the sites in Bristol and ideal for the short commute to the office for my partner.
If you need to stay in Bristol check this place out it is superb!!
However this is more a couples hotel, there are no child friendly facilities and I would expect them to bore very easily.
Ten years ago on a cold but thankfully dry Saturday in March I got married - much to the surprise of many of my friends and family who'd not even met my fiance. For the first few years we tended to go away for our anniversary - we did Paris, Venice, Bilbao and other assorted places - hubby generally not actually realising there was a pattern to his annual trips. He did actually say one year 'I'm having a really nice time but is there a particular reason why we've gone away this weekend?' and then proceeded to swear blind that our anniversary wasn't until April. Ladies, don't assume that getting your anniversary engraved in his wedding ring will make any difference at all. However the good thing about marrying at an unfashionable time of year is you can get some really good deals when you want to go away for your anniversary.
To be fair we have a lot of anniversaries and birthdays in the first few months of the year so he had a sort of excuse. But this year he knew he wasn't going to get away with it. We'd both booked a week off work with the intention of doing 'something special' and then I went and blew it all by handing in my notice at work and it just not being the right time to take a week away. So instead it turned into a weekend break. I didn't want to fly because that's too much like a busman's holiday for me so we settled down with a few of the hotel websites to see what we could find. We live in Northants and wanted something no more than 2-3 hours away and hubby fancied going to Bath. Various searches and we found Tortworth Court in Wotton-under-Edge - or more precisely, a few miles outside Wotton.
Why Tortworth?
What appealed about the hotel was the building - a massive grey stately home-style place - the location, just off the M5 Junction 14 - and finally, the price. Lastminute.com were offering B&B for £85 per night but further investigation with the hotel's own website and we found a DB&B offer for £99 per night. I gave them a call, told them it was our anniversary and they suggested an upgrade deal for an additional £20 per night which would mean we'd be guaranteed a nicer, larger room in the main house rather than one of the rooms in the newer annexe. The booking lady promised me she'd make sure she 'picked us a good one'. She then took credit card details to guarantee the booking and asked if we'd like to have our confirmation by mail or email. And that was it - £238 total for 2 nights dinner, bed and breakfast which seemed like a bit of a bargain.
Our friends Linda and Graham who live in Wales were also looking for a venue for a weekend away for Graham's 'special' birthday. They wanted slightly different dates from us (we were booked for Friday and Saturday nights, they wanted Saturday and Sunday of the same weekend) but also liked the look of Tortworth and so they booked a slightly different DB&B deal which cost them an additional £20. I was surprised it was more as normally hotels seem to struggle to get anyone in on a Sunday night so I'd have thought Sat/Sun would be cheaper than a Fri/Sat deal.
Finding the Hotel
We left the M5 at J14 and headed in the direction of Wotton. After a mile or so the turn off to Tortworth was clearly marked. There's not much else in the area - just the hotel and Leyhill Prison. There's a long driveway up to the house which actually passes part of the prison. There are multiple car parks but the hotel advise visitors to park up directly next to the main entrance until they know where their rooms will be. Then they advise on which of the many car parks to use. As we were in the main house, this wasn't a problem. We just emptied the car of our bags and then parked up next to the Orangerie restaurant.
First Impressions
As we drove up the driveway the house stood like some gothic pile from an early horror story - but in a positive way if you can imagine what I mean. It's actually a Victorian mansion that's Grade 2* listed and it must have been amazing when it was just a family home. There's a stone archway to drive through and then a turning area where I suppose visitors' carriages would have deposited them at the entrance hall. High glass doors opened onto a high ceilinged entrance hall with a beautiful mosaic flooring and then we passed through another set of high doors into the reception. It's hard not to gasp when you step into the reception area which reaches up three high storeys with a fabulous grand staircase winding up three floors around the room. The reception desk is a large L-shape with lots of space behind and there were comfy chairs and a large table with flowers scattered around to make the room look a bit less intimidating. There's a doorway (a very high wooden door that makes you feel a bit like Alice in Wonderland after she shrunk) which opens onto one of the two restaurants called Moretons - more of that later.
Checking In
We spotted a large number of guests arriving for a wedding the following day so we put a spurt on to get ourselves checked in before they made it to reception. Everything was very straightforward. It took just a couple of minutes to be asked if we wanted a wake up call (no), newspapers (yes) and to confirm what time we'd like to have dinner. If you are on a DB&B tariff they ask you to call ahead before you arrive to choose your dinner time on both days which seemed a bit odd before we arrived. However, in retrospect, we realised the logistics of trying to get quite so many guests fed in a timely manner meant they really did need to have a rough idea of when people would be using the restaurant. There's not a lot else in the area so my guess would be that a lot of people eat in.
The receptionist gave us a map to show us where our room was which seemed a bit extreme until we realised that with 190 or so rooms, they must have guests that head off down a corridor and are never seen again. We also asked to know which room our friends would be in the next day and were shown where that was as well.
Finding the Room
We turned right off the lobby and found the lift tucked in a corner. This was the smallest, slowest and oddest lift I've used in a long time and other than taking our bags up when we arrived, we resolutely took the stairs from then on. Taking the stairs to the second floor shouldn't be much of a trek but it's worth remembering that the ceilings throughout the ground floor are more than twice as high as you'd normally find so the walk to the second floor feels like it's a lot further.
Stepping out of the lift we passed through a couple of fire doors and along a corridor that smelled a tad institutional - a bit like my college room when I was a student. We opened our room with our key card and once again gasped in a decidedly un-cool way; the room was absolutely enormous. I wondered if we'd need to leave a trail of white pebbles to find our way from one side to the other. The first part of the room was an area with a desk and a dressing table, a tea and coffee tray and a tray of wine and soft drinks. This then opened up into the main part of the room which had a high gabled ceiling, a sofa, two arm chairs, a table, a chaise, a TV cabinet and finally, a double bed. I thought we had a big room at home but ours would have fitted in twice over. The bathroom was large but quite basic - a white bath with a shower over (plenty of power), a loo and a sink unit. The toiletries were fairly swanky but there wasn't anything very memorable about the bathroom.
Whilst enormous, the room wasn't perfect. We'd brought a bottle of champagne with us but the room had no fridge (don't know why - our friends had a mini bar in theirs) so I suggested trying the windowsill. However the window had no outside sill and we had to open the window and balance the bottle inside in the hope that it would stay fairly cool in what was a remarkably warm room. I only spotted one radiator and by all rights a room that big should have been really cold, but it wasn't. My other bug-bear with the room was the lighting. Other than in the desk area the lighting at night was so poor that we discussed whether we should have brought head torches with us. There was just one standing lamp and two bedside lamps and even during the day time, you had to pick the armchair nearest the window in order to read a newspaper. And finally the bed - what a nightmare; it was so soft that if one person moved, the other was rolled towards them. I like a hard bed and I slept really badly on this one. I can't complain too much - we spent half our honeymoon in bunk beds!
Dinner Time
After unpacking we headed down for dinner in Moretons. It's a fantastic room that leaves you wondering if someone left a nought off the prices because it's just so grand. For both dinners and breakfasts we got excellent tables so I don't know whether our upgrade had ensured that or if we were just lucky. On the first evening we were in the main room of the restaurant at a table next to the window. The ceiling is so far away I had to put my glasses on to appreciate the painted decoration. The walls are lined with library shelving and there's a high stone archway between the two main sections of the restaurant.
The menu isn't stunning or very long and this seems to have been designed to maximise the efficiency of serving a large number of people. We were given menus, asked if we wanted drinks (yes please, 2 diet cokes) and just moments later, bread was brought to the table. The menu had half a dozen starters and a similar number of main courses. The prices were £18.95 for two courses or £24.95 for three with an explanation that anyone on DB&B was entitled to three courses. Considering that we'd paid only £14 per night extra for dinner for the two of us, the DB&B deal definitely offered excellent value.
We both ordered a duo of smoked fish as starters and for main courses I ordered a vegetarian pasta dish and hubby had sea-bass. The starters arrived really fast - certainly no more than a couple of minutes after we ordered and we were still waiting for our drinks when we'd finished the starters. By the second night we'd realised that all of the starters were cold dishes that could be laid out in advance or soup that could be dished up as needed. Undoubtedly this was part of a plan to ensure they could process diners quickly and efficiently but to be honest, I don't want to be processed - I want to be served.
Main courses arrived perhaps ten minutes or less after the starters had been cleared and we'd only just received our cokes by that point and I was gasping with thirst this time instead of with surprise. My pasta was good and there was plenty of it and the tomato and basil sauce didn't taste like it had come out of a jar - definitely a good thing. Hubby's sea-bass was served sitting atop a pile of mashed potatoes and with a sauce which seemed to be the standard way of doing fish as my salmon on the second night was served in the same way. A bowl of vegetables came with the main courses. The dessert menu - as we'd come to expect - appeared almost instantly after the main courses had been cleared. We ordered apple flan and Baileys cheesecake. I was surprised to see that coffee and mints would have cost just an extra £1.25 which seemed very cheap.
From start to finish our three course meal had taken about 50 minutes which we both felt was much too quick. Consequently on our second evening we worked flat out to slow the service down, even going so far as to ask the restaurant manager to get the waiters to take their time. And I can't fault them - once we'd asked, they really did take care not to rush us and we were in for a couple of hours. On the second evening I had a prawn cocktail (yep, a bit of retro-ironic 1980s Berni Inn inspiration) which was lovely and a salmon steak so large I thought it might have been a whale. Wine in the restaurant was very reasonable - particularly considering it was a 4 star hotel. The bottle of white which we ordered was one our friends buy from the supermarket for around £7 a bottle and this was marked up to £16.95 - not an unreasonable mark up.
Breakfast at Tortworth is stunning - you could stay all day and not run out of things to choose from. There's a table full of cereals and yoghurts, another of juices, one more with fruit salads and other fresh fruit and an enormous hot buffet table with plenty to choose from. In addition to all of this, there's a good choice of 'cooked to order' dishes. On our first morning I ordered the smoked haddock with a poached egg and on the second morning I ordered vegetarian sausages. They weren't quick but that's fine - at least I knew they really were cooked to order. With up to 400 guests to serve (if all the rooms had two people in them) the capacity to cope with breakfast was impressive - lots of staff bustling around, plenty of busy people clearing, serving and generally running around. We did wonder where all the staff came from because Tortworth really is in the middle of nowhere and we also commented that it was remarkable that so many of the staff were British when so many hotels these days seem to survive only by exploiting Eastern European students.
Hotel Facilities
In addition to Moreton's restaurant, there's another restaurant just outside the main building in the Orangerie. This is like a mini-Crystal Palace - very pretty at night when it's all lit up. On the Saturday the Orangerie was tied up with a wedding party so we weren't able to go in, but it looked lovely. There are also a couple of bars - one just off the reception that serves morning coffee and afternoon tea as well as alcoholic drinks, and a second small bar with a snooker table. There's also the Atrium, an outside courtyard that's been converted into an indoor room by the addition of a glass roof. This isn't open all the time but the wedding party used it for part of the afternoon and evening and according to the hotel's website, you can eat light meals in there as well. There seemed to be a function suite that was also tied up for the wedding where the end of the evening disco was taking part.
If the need for a bit of exercise should strike you, there's a small indoor pool and a gym but with 30 or so acres of gardens and woodland - including an arboretum with more than 300 different trees to check out - you also have the option of just wandering around. Despite the lousy weather we had a bit of a wander and found weird things like a small pets graveyard with the house dogs and cats going back to the early 1900s. From the ridge beside the hotel you can actually see the M5 and, whilst the faint background noise would put me off buying a home there, it's not enough to annoy you for a couple of nights in a hotel. Indeed, despite sleeping with the windows open to combat the fearsome heating, we found it very quiet. It probably helped that there was no reason for anyone to be walking around outside our room. We were right above a large marquee which they apparently use a lot in the warmer weather but we quickly checked that it wasn't going to be used whilst we were there.
There's also a spa/beauty centre which we didn't visit but the price list seemed pretty reasonable - not significantly marked up compared to what you might pay at a local beauticians.
There's little info about the old days of Tortworth - I'd have expected lots of stuff about who owned it, what went on there, what it was used for and so on, but strangely they aren't trying to cash in on the history. What the owners are justifiably proud of is that great job they've done to restore the building. What they have done to Tortworth Court is nothing short of miraculous. As recently as 1999 it was the kind of place that would have been at home on the BBC's Restoration programme and if you'd seen the photos you'd probably have not voted because it just looked too far gone to be helped. There are photographs in the corridors on the ground floor that show a building that was not only falling down, but had been used as a dump for rusty old cars and trucks. Many millions were spent on putting this place back together, converting outbuildings and building modern extensions.
The hotel needs to be big to stand a chance of getting back the money that was spent on the renovation and the management seem to be taking a really pragmatic approach to trying to keep the place full. They could so easily take the approach that it's a big grand place that people would pay a lot more to stay at and they could get snooty about who they let in - but they haven't done that. They could charge through the nose for every little extra but they don't. Our deal was great value and even though it was mid-March, the place was buzzing. The principle of the place seems to be one of affordable luxury - live like a prince, pay like a pauper. Well maybe not a pauper - but it's certainly within the affordability of a lot of people.
My friend Linda had a long chat with the mother of the bride who told her that the wedding had been an absolute bargain. When I heard what they'd had included in their package - wedding breakfast for 50 or so, wedding lunch for 350 and an evening event for 500, plus 50 rooms, all the function rooms, the ceremony and so on - I assumed the price would have been £20k or more. In fact they'd been quoted £11.5k and when they went to pay the bill, the hotel had knocked off another £1500 to say thank you to the party for filling up the hotel and for being so much fun. I'm willing to guess you won't get that at a Hilton! She also told her that the staff in the leisure centre had closed off the pool and taken her disabled son in to enjoy the place on his own with two of the staff staying with him throughout. She said it was the first time her son had been so happy since his accident.
This hotel could easily put on airs and graces and spend half the year with 25% occupancy. They aren't like that and I take my hat off to them for making their beautiful hotel accessible for not much more than a B&B.
Four Pillars
Tortworth Court is part of the Four Pillars hotel group, which I'd not previously come across. They have just 6 hotels running in a band from Tortworth across to Oxford. There are two Oxford hotels, one each in Abingdon and Witney, one at the Cotswold Water Park and finally, the jewel in their crown must be Tort worth - the only one that really looks like something special. Having experienced their pleasant and friendly approach to hospitality, I'd be more than happy to try out some of the others in the group.
The Details
Tortworth Court
Wotton Under Edge
01454 263000
Situated not far from the M5, so you can get to Bristol and Bath easily, this hotel has plenty to offer both business people and families. The food's good, and the Orangery restaurant is well worth a try - not cheap but v. v. nice. Rooms are comfortable, and for those who don't want the formality of the Orangery, then Moreton's and the Atrium both serve excellent food. For those who like a full English breakfast, this place takes some beating, and you can walk it off in the grounds so there's no danger of your clothes not fitting. It's good value, and even better when there are 'short-break' promotions; I've stayed there twice and felt sad when it was time to go home.


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How to Keep Your Integrity Up, Your Clothes On & Still Make It in Hollywood (Michael Wiese Productions; $24.95).
But Harris has no doubt what her mother's reaction would be to her successes. "She would so not be surprised," Harris says, laughing. "People say, 'That's amazing that you did that.' My mother would say, 'Of course you did that. That's what you're here to do. That's who you are.'"
Soul Survivor
The third of four children in a rambunctious family, Anthony Pinado had survived more than his share of brushes with catastrophe as a kid. "I can't even count the number of times my parents had to take me to the emergency room," he says.
There was the day he fell off a neighbor's swing, slicing a gash in the back of his head. And the time he was playing superheroes with his brothers and launched himself into the air only to collide with the coffee table face first. He first had his stomach pumped at age 3, after mistaking St. Josephs orange flavored aspirin for candy-and the list goes on. But all of that just made for a "great childhood" in Pinado's view, and he had no reason to believe his future would be any less so.
In May 1991, Pinado's outlook couldn't have been brighter. The Morehouse alumnus had just received his M.B.A. from the University of Michigan. He was engaged to marry his longtime love, Melanie King, and he was planning to relax with her for a while before moving to Dallas to begin working at ARCO Oil & Gas Co. All was right with the world-or so they thought. Little did they know of the terrifying shift that was on the horizon.
Pinado and King were enjoying a month-long vacation in Hilton Head, South Carolina, when a call came in from ARCO's medical department. The results of his routine pre-employment screening were troubling. "They said I needed to have new blood tests immediately, that their tests showed a serious problem, but that I'd seemed so healthy otherwise, their results could just be a mistake," he says.
Unfazed and feeling fine, Pinado was retested in Hilton Head. The results were shocking. "They told me I either had AIDS, sickle cell anemia, or leukemia, and that I needed to get to a large metropolitan hospital right away," he says. "They said the situation was so dire that I should fly, not drive, because in the event of a car accident, even a minor injury would probably cause me to bleed to death."
Against medical advice, Pinado drove the five hours home to Atlanta anyway. "I felt fine," he says, still sounding unable to reconcile how he was feeling with how sick he actually was. "I was kind of mad over the inconvenience of it. I just kept thinking, 'This is a mistake.'"
Back in Atlanta, he endured about nine hours of testing and examinations at Emory University Hospital. This time, the results were undeniable and devastating. Pinado had a rare and acute form of leukemia. It


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Heading down to Melbourne area the 12th thru the 17th to visit my roomies fam....anyone know what its looking like???
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Thread: Indialantic next week..
Mar 6, 2007, 01:10 AM #1
Indialantic next week..
Last edited by Enjoytheslide; Mar 6, 2007 at 01:15 AM.
thats a long ways off - check the indialantic forecast page:


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I read this article and lost my faith in humanity, so I went to read the comments for some reassurance and was horribly dissapointed. I am an advocate to all animals, I won't even drink milk because of the factory farming industry in America, but even I can admit that there's a difference between hunting for sport and torturing an endangered species. Anyone arguing otherwise is naive and missing the point. If this article makes you feel defensive for anyone other than the tiger, I suggest you stop being so incredibly self centered and realize that this article isnt about culture. Its about humans somewhere torturing innocent creatures for entertainment. I don't care who you are or where you're from, eletrocuting a tiger is despicable and shows a deficiency in intelligence, not wealth and power. If that's not what you're taking away from this article, then I have officially lost all hope for humanity.
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