text:
Is EVERY Market Rigged?
CNN reports:
The European Commission raided the offices of Shell, BP and Norway's Statoil this week as part of an investigation into suspected attempts to manipulate global oil prices spanning more than a decade.
None of the companies have been accused of wrongdoing, but the controversy has brought back memories of the Libor rate-rigging scandal that rocked the financial world last year.
A review ordered by the British government last year in the wake of the Libor revelations cited "clear" parallels between the work of the oil-price-reporting agencies and Libor.
"[T]hey are both widely used benchmarks that are compiled by private organizations and that are subject to minimal regulation and oversight by regulatory authorities," the review, led by former financial regulator Martin Wheatley, said in August . "To that extent they are also likely to be vulnerable to similar issues with regards to the motivation and opportunity for manipulation and distortion."
In a report issued in October, the International Organization of Securities Commissions — an association of regulators — said the ability "to selectively report data on a voluntary basis creates an opportunity for manipulating the commodity market data" submitted to Platts and its competitors.
Responding to questions from IOSCO last year, French oil giant Total said the price-reporting agencies, or PRAs, sometimes "do not assure an accurate representation of the market and consequently deform the real price levels paid at every level of the price chain, including by the consumer." But Total called Platts and its competitors "generally… conscientious and professional."
"Even small distortions of assessed prices may have a huge impact on the prices of crude oil, refined oil products and biofuels purchases and sales, potentially harming final consumers," the European Commission said this week.
USA Today notes:
The Commission … said, however, that its probe covers a wide range of oil products — crude oil, biofuels, and refined oil products, which include gasoline, heating oil, petrochemicals and others.
The EU said it has concerns that some companies may have tried to manipulate the pricing process by colluding to report distorted prices and by preventing other companies from submitting their own prices.
Unlike oil futures, which set prices for contracts, the data used in the MOC process is based on the physical sale and purchase of actual shipments of oil and oil products.
According to Statoil, the EU investigation stretches back to 2002, which is when Platts launched its MOC price system in Europe. The suspicion is that some companies may have provided inaccurate information to Platts to affect the oil products' pricing, presumably for financial gain.
Fox points out:
At issue is whether there was collusion to distort prices of crude, refined oil products and ethanol traded during Platts' market-on-close (MOC) system – a daily half-hour "window" in which it sets prices.
But the European Commission also is examining whether companies were prevented from taking part in the price assessment process.
The Guardian writes:
The commission said the alleged price collusion, which may have been going on since 2002, could have had a "huge impact" on the price of petrol at the pumps "potentially harming final consumers".
Lord Oakeshott, former Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, said the alleged rigging of oil prices was "as serious as rigging Libor" – which led to banks being fined hundreds of millions of pounds.
He demanded to know why the UK authorities had not taken action earlier and said he would ask questions of the British regulator in Parliament. "Why have we had to wait for Brussels to find out if British oil giants are ripping off British consumers?" he said. "The price of energy ripples right through our economy and really matters to every business and families."
Shadow energy and climate change secretary Caroline Flint said: "These are very concerning reports, which if true, suggest shocking behaviour in the oil market that should be dealt with strongly.
"When the allegations of price fixing in the gas market were made, Labour warned that opaque over-the-counter deals and relying on price reporting agencies left the market vulnerable to abuse.
"These latest allegations of price fixing in the oil market raise very similar questions. Consumers need to know that the prices they pay for their energy or petrol are fair, transparent and not being manipulated by traders."
Shadow financial secretary to the Treasury Chris Leslie said: "If oil price fixing has taken place it would be a shocking scandal for our financial markets.
The Telegraph reports:
"97 per cent of all we eat, drink, wear or build has spent some time in a diesel lorry," said a spokesman for FairFuel UK, the lobbyists. "If it is proved, they have been gambling with the very oxygen of our economy."
Platts – to determine the benchmark price – examines just trades in the final 30 minutes of the trading day. A group of half a dozen analysts gather round a trading screen and decide on the final price. As with much that goes on in the City, it is a surprisingly old-fashioned method, reliant on gentlemanly conduct. Critics say it leaves the market open to abuse, and the price can suddenly spike or fall in the final minutes of the day.
The New York Times notes of agencies like Platt and Argus Media:
Their influence is extensive. Total, the French oil giant, estimated last year that 75 to 80 percent of crude oil and refined product transactions were linked to the prices published by such agencies.
The Observer points out that manipulation of the oil markets has long been an open secret:
Robert Campbell, a former price reporter at another PRA, Argus – he is now a staffer at Thomson Reuters, which also competes with Platts and others on providing energy news and data – said this a few days ago in a little-noticed commentary: "The vulnerability of physical crude price assessments to manipulation is an open secret within the oil industry. The surprise is that it took regulators so long to open a formal probe."
Reuters reports that the probe may be expanding to the U.S.:
In Washington, the chairman of the Senate energy committee asked the Justice Department to investigate whether alleged price manipulation has boosted fuel prices for U.S. consumers.
"Efforts to manipulate the European oil indices, if proven, may have already impacted U.S. consumers and businesses, because of the interrelationships among world oil markets and hedging practices," Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, wrote in a letter to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.
Wyden also asked Justice to investigate whether oil market manipulation was taking place in the United States.
Not only are petroleum products a multi-trillion dollar market on their own, but manipulation of petroleum prices would effect virtually every market in the world.
For example, the Cato Institute notes how many industries use oil:
U.S. industries use petroleum to produce the synthetic fiber used in textile mills making carpeting and fabric from polyester and nylon. U.S. tire plants use petroleum to make synthetic rubber. Other U.S. industries use petroleum to produce plastic, drugs, detergent, deodorant, fertilizer, pesticides, paint, eyeglasses, heart valves, crayons, bubble gum and Vaseline.
The India Times reports that:
The price variation in crude oil impacts the sentiments and hence the volatility in stock markets all over the world. The rise in crude oil prices is not good for the global economy. Price rise in crude oil virtually impacts industries and businesses across the board. Higher crude oil prices mean higher energy prices, which can cause a ripple effect on virtually all business aspects that are dependent on energy (directly or indirectly).
The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco notes:
When gasoline prices increase, a larger share of households' budgets is likely to be spent on it, which leaves less to spend on other goods and services. The same goes for businesses whose goods must be shipped from place to place or that use fuel as a major input (such as the airline industry). Higher oil prices tend to make production more expensive for businesses, just as they make it more expensive for households to do the things they normally do.
Oil price increases are generally thought to increase inflation and reduce economic growth.
Oil prices indirectly affect costs such as transportation, manufacturing, and heating. The increase in these costs can in turn affect the prices of a variety of goods and services, as producers may pass production costs on to consumers.
Oil price increases can also stifle the growth of the economy through their effect on the supply and demand for goods other than oil. Increases in oil prices can depress the supply of other goods because they increase the costs of producing them. In economics terminology, high oil prices can shift up the supply curve for the goods and services for which oil is an input.
High oil prices also can reduce demand for other goods because they reduce wealth, as well as induce uncertainty about the future (Sill 2007). One way to analyze the effects of higher oil prices is to think about the higher prices as a tax on consumers (Fernald and Trehan 2005).
The Post Carbon Institute notes (via OilPrice.com) that high oil prices raise food prices as well:
The connection between food and oil is systemic, and the prices of both food and fuel have risen and fallen more or less in tandem in recent years (figure 1). Modern agriculture uses oil products to fuel farm machinery, to transport other inputs to the farm, and to transport farm output to the ultimate consumer. Oil is often also used as input in agricultural chemicals. Oil price increases therefore put pressure on all these aspects of commercial food systems.
Figure 1: Evolution of food and fuel prices, 2000 to 2009
Sources: US Energy Information Administration and FAO.
Economists Nouriel Roubini and Setser note that all recessions after 1973 were associated with oil shocks.
Interest Rates Are Manipulated
Unless you live under a rock, you know about the Libor scandal.
For those just now emerging from a coma, here's a recap:
- The big banks have conspired for years to rig interest rates … upon which $800 trillion in assets are pegged
- This was the largest insider trading scandal ever … and the largest financial scam in world history
- Local governments got ripped off bigtime by the Libor manipulation
- Libor is still being manipulated
Derivatives Are Manipulated
The big banks have long manipulated derivatives … a $1,200 Trillion Dollar market.
Indeed, many trillions of dollars of derivatives are being manipulated in the exact same same way that interest rates are fixed: through gamed self-reporting.
Gold and Silver Are Manipulated
The Guardian and Telegraph report that gold and silver prices are "fixed" in the same way as interest rates and derivatives – in daily conference calls by the powers-that-be.
Everything Can Be Manipulated through High-Frequency Trading
Traders with high-tech computers can manipulate stocks, bonds, options, currency and commodities. And see this.
Manipulating Numerous Markets In Myriad Ways
The big banks and other giants manipulate numerous markets in myriad ways, for example:
- Shaving money off of virtually every pension transaction they handled over the course of decades, stealing collectively billions of dollars from pensions worldwide. Details here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here
- Charging "storage fees" to store gold bullion … without even buying or storing any gold . And raiding allocated gold accounts
- Committing massive and pervasive fraud both when they initiated mortgage loans and when they foreclosed on them (and see this)
- Pledging the same mortgage multiple times to different buyers. See this, this, this, this and this. This would be like selling your car, and collecting money from 10 different buyers for the same car
- Cheating homeowners by gaming laws meant to protect people from unfair foreclosure
- Pushing investments which they knew were terrible, and then betting against the same investments to make money for themselves. See this, this, this, this and this
- Engaging in unlawful "frontrunning" to manipulate markets. See this, this, this, this, this and this
- Charging veterans unlawful mortgage fees
- Cooking their books (and see this)
- advertisements -
"..at sea one day you'll smell land where there be no land
and on that day Ahab will go to his grave, but he will rise
again within the hour, he will rise and beckon, that all,
all save one shall follow." .... elija (moby dick)
ZH is being targeted by FedGov spambots & human operatives saturating the comment sections with garbage and disinformation in addition to down voting certain posters.
They are not harmless trolls, they are professional operatives attempting to undermine and discredit ZH via multi nic sock puppets. ('heart' would never do that)
Attacking this post by constant down voting speaks for itself.
Case closed.
3 shill down votes already.
Nice one
ZH is being targeted by FedGov spambots & human operatives saturating the comment sections with garbage and disinformation in addition to down voting certain posters.
They are not harmless trolls, they are professional operatives attempting to undermine and discredit ZH via multi nic sock puppets. ('heart' would never do that)
Attacking this post by constant down voting speaks for itself.
Case closed.
Manipulation in this market is remarkably easy to demonstrate by simply comparing the price of MWI crude to the cost of a gallon of gasoliine. At one point, around 2000, oil was approximately $8.00 per barrel and the average national price of gasoline was approximately $2.00. When MWI has hovered around $100 the national average price of a gallon of gasoline has hovered around $4.00.
Every single market, every one, is manipulated to a greater or lesser extent (mostly greater), by the largest participants.......and once the ability to manipulate the markets gains any traction it creates a trend line toward ever greater manipulation.
There is very little that i could concede to George killer Bush but between him, Bill killer Clinton & Tony killer Blair he is the only one who could fuck his wife with the lights on.
Fuck fuck me do
you know i'll fuck you
and i'll always be true
fuck me do
19 May 2013
Silver Market Sunday Evening Follies
" A large number of silver contracts were dumped on the Comex open on Sunday evening, a very quiet market period.
This ran the 'stops' and the price.
A similar number of contracts were then bought back at a lower price. And then the market was roiled, but started to recover from a very obvious price smackdown.
It is a little hard to see it on the 15 minute chart which just looks like a lot of selling. I hear that 2500 contracts traded in 15 minutes is a near record for an off hours session.
The action is much easier to see on the 5 minute chart below that.
This looks very much like the Dr. Evil strategy which the banks and funds like to use when the regulators are turning a blind eye.
I have included a 15 minute gold chart just for comparison sake.
If this was selling by a trader with an eye to raising cash, that trader should be fired. If it was done by a trader seeking to manipulate the price of the market, the CFTC should be able to find out fairly easily and publicly fine them. But don't hold your breath for that to happen in the US.
The price of key commodities are being set by what is little more than a bucket shop.
The world sees this, and is appalled." jca
UPRICK Rupert Murdoch's Defence of Jamie Dimon on his two tier racket @ JPM was rather touching i thought (call me sentimental).
Can Anyone tell me if Rebecca Brooks (ex Hooker @SunScum News International & wife of Charlie Brooks preferred riding partner of David dimwit Cameron PM) is in Jail YET for Tapping dead kiddies Phones?
OR Has Uprick Murdoch managed to PAY OFF " the not so serious Crime Sqaud" boys in blue& Injustice uk department?
Only then will i hazzard a guess as to your? 'is every market rigged"
Excellent GW
"is every market rigged?"
"Is Every COP out there Protecting Joe Public from EVIL?"
Manipulation is against the law and will be severely chastised...
unless it is policy - then move along.
The basic mechanism of price discovery (based on demand and supply for actual use) of anything traded on an exchange has been terminally infected by speculators having access to unlimited funds and super fast computers for trading leading to volatile price swings. This has been made worse by the launch of ETFs for anything and everything under the sun by the financial community.
In a casino, the house always wins and in all the electronic exchanges, the too big to fail banksters are the operators. Armed with funds from the FED and using High Frequency Trading softwares and Derivatives, they move the markets exactly where they want it to cause maximum losses to the traders and the hedge funds.
Even if they do make a loss, their budies, the central bankers and politicians are there to transfer their losses to the taxpayers so that they have a 100% success record in transfering wealth to their coffers from rest of the world.
'Americans' run a business of extorting the weak, farming the poor.
They picture it as being mutually benefitial, consented, or anything like that.
Any 'american' market is rigged.
Problem is to know in favour of whom the market is rigged.
The oil market is rigged just like any other 'american' market as it is a coercive market with arabs in fear of being bombed if they do not sell and accept massive loads of USDs in exchange of their physical oil.
But it is no longer prosperous enough to provide for the 'american' middle class that starts thinking that some of their servants (big oil, the oil corporations) are taking too much for themselves.
The way 'americans' feel it.
fuck off hoser
This is the American way (one of the volunteers mentioned was my father).
13 Jan 1965
Submitted by Lynne Canterbury
Working In Airshaft At Mine
Two men were killed Tuesday afternoon when a bucket from a crane fell on them in a deep airshaft being opened for Fird Coal Co.'s Mine 3 at Tire Hill.
The dead were identified as:
FRANCIS H. MAY, 49, Johnstown R.D.4, near Tire Hill.
RENO VIOLA, 34, Morgantown, W. Va.
The accident happened about 3 o'clock in the Moonshine Hollow section of Tire Hill, south of Johnstown in Conemaugh Township, Somerset County.
The 2 victims were in the bottom of the airshaft -- about 550 feet down. The shaft is 6 feet in diameter.
They had filled the bucket with mud and dirt, and it was being hauled to the surface.
Cable Snaps
The three-quarter-inch thick steel cable on the bucket snapped as the bucket was on or near the surface, sending the bucket plummeting down the shaft on top of the men below. The bucket weighed approximately 1 1/2 tons.
Somerset County Coroner Robert H. Halverson said the men were killed instantly.
The men were working for Zeni, McKinney & Williamson, a subsidiary of Dravo Corp. of Pittsburgh. They were not employed by Bird Coal and, Coroner Halverson pointed out, the fatalities are listed as industrial accidental deaths, not mine fatalities.
Father of 11
Viola, father of 11 children, was the superintendent on the project. James Holbert, about 50. of Morgantown, W. Va., was operating the crane.
Observers said there was no way for the men to avoid being struck when the cable snapped. It was learned that the cable was installed Dec. 5.
After the accident, Holbert went to the Bird Coal Co. mine for help. Volunteers performed heroic deeds in recovering the bodies from the deep pit.
One man -- Edward Barr of Windber -- made 5 trips into the shaft.
Operates Crane Through Ordeal
Holbert, after getting assistance, returned to operate the crane throughout the 6-hour ordeal of recovering the bodies.
Viola's body was brought up at 5 o'clock. He was taken to Memorial Hospital after being pronounced dead at the scene by Dr. Reginald Davis, Bird Coal Co. physician.
Frank Hillman, chief deputy coroner of Cambria County, said Viola died of extreme multiple crush injuries of the head and body.
May's body was brought to the surface at 9:09 o'clock.
Coroner Halverson said May died of multiple fractures and extreme crush injuries of the head and body.
Mine Inspectors at Scene
Efforts to recover the bodies began right after the accident. State and federal mine inspectors joined Coroner Halverson and Somerset County Sheriff Norman Walker at the scene.
With Holbert on the crane, Barr -- chief electrician of Bird Coal's Mine 3 -- and another volunteer whose identify was not learned, were lowered into the shaft on a second bucket which was attached to the crane.
Barr and his buddy put Viola's body in the bucket and returned to the surface. Krings Volunteer Fire Company's ambulance took the body to Memorial Hospital.
A second trip into the shaft was made at 5:18 o'clock. Jack Barber of Davidsville was identified as one of the 2 men making that trip. They were unable to remove the body, however, and returned to the surface.
Barr and George Steele, identified as a mine foreman for Bird Coal's Mine 3, went down and attached a chain to the bucket in the bottom of the shaft.
Chain Breaks
They were on their way up -- at approximately the 300-foot level -- when the chain snapped and the bucket dropped into the hole again. Barr and Steele were thrown against the sides of the airshaft, but were not injured.
In subsequent efforts, the bucket was brought to the surface and May's body was recovered. The Salvation Army's mobile canteen from Johnstown was there to provide food and hot coffee for the volunteers.
The men going down in the shaft had 2-way radio equipment with them to send instructions to Holbert on the crane.
Construction on the airshaft was started Aug. 14. The job was to be completed in another week.
At 555-Foot Level
Viola and May were at the 548-foot level Monday. It was estimated that they had reached the 555-foot mark Tuesday before they were killed. The airshaft would have been finished in another 35 or 40 feet.
May, a bachelor, lived along Moonshine Road, across from the field where the airshaft was being bored.
Halverson was told that Viola considered May an outstanding worker, and was trying to convince him to continue on the job at the site in Kentucky when the Tire Hill project was done.
An investigation into the fatalities has been scheduled thentatively for 9:30 a.m. today. Mine inspectors noted that the investigation will fall under the supervision of the State Department of Labor and Industry.
Aids in Recovery Work
Among the volunteers joining in the recovery work was William Davis of the Pittsburgh area, who had just finished work on an airshaft for the Zeni, McKinney & Williamson firm in Bobtown, Greene County. Davis made at least one trip into the shaft during the recovery operation.
Mine inspectors at the scene included Stephen A. Andrejko, Jr., William Demkowicz, Samuel Slatcoff, E. H. Pauley, Lawrence Jones and J. B. McCarty.
Glenn Hoffman of Benscreek, a crane operator, was called to the scene to give Holbert a rest, but Holbert stayed at the controls until the end.
May and Viola were sending up their last load for the day when the cable snapped and the bucket fell on them.
* * * * * * * * * *
By Dennis M. Casey
A small group was gathered around the entrance to an air shaft in the Moonshine Hollow section, near Tire Hill.
Most of the men were miners, but some obviously were white-collar workers whose jobs had sent them to the spot where a loaded 1 1/2-ton bucket has crashed down the shaft and pinned 2 men beneath it, killing both.
The mangled body of Reno Viola had just been brought from the bottom of the shaft by 2 miners, serving as rescue workers. But they knew there was no one to rescue.
Curses were spoken in a reverent tone as the body was placed on a wodden stretcher and was carried through the muck and placed inside the waiting Krings Volunteer Fire Company ambulance.
2 Go Down Again
When the ambulance left, the men stood around talking softly. Then, 2 volunteers went down into the shaft again by means of a bucket suspended by cable from a crane -- the same crane whose cable had snapped and sent a bucket plummeting toward the 2 victims.
As the bucket went into the opening, the man pressed toward the hole, looking at the volunteers. The bucket quickly disappeared into the earth.
In the work shack, blackened miners stood, their eyes seeming to glare through the dirt on their faces. Some were smoking and talking, others just looking through a small window toward the shaft opening.
"This is the third accident I've seen since I've been working in Pennsylvania," a miner with a definite Southern drawl said. "I feel like going back to West Virginia!" Some of the men smiled, a smaile that told of their fatigue.
In Radio Contact
In the work shack was a small radio receiver, from which came the voices of the men who were in the rescue bucket. One of the rescuers below the ground had a walkie-talkie, and he conversed with a coordinator for the crane above.
"Can't get him out. Bring us up." The voice came from the receiver.
Some hurried outside, but it was a while before the bucket reached the surface.
The rescuers reported that the other man was trapped beneath the first bucket and it would have to have holes burned in it so that a chain could be fastened and it could be lifted.
A mine inspector balked. "What about gas?"
"We'll run a test," a miner replied.
George Steele and Edward Barr volunteered to go down in the shaft to test, and, if possible, burn the hole. Steele is mine foreman of Bird Coal Co.'s Mine 3 and Barr is the mine's chief electrician.
The men entered the hole for the test and subsequent burning at 6:14 p.m. The rugged smileof Ed Barr glistened in the light from the crane that was lowering them. Then, the men were out of sight. And the crowd again was talking softly.
"I wouldn't go down in there for anything," a miner said.
Another nodded. "Be different if he was alive."
Back in the shack, the miners were talking softly so they wouldn't drown out the voice coming through the radio receiver.
Suddenly, the receiver crackled. "Going to cut."
A few moments later, the set crackled again. "Hooked (the chain had been fastened). Bring up up slow."
The men walked from the work shack back to the opeing. The only sound was that of an air compressor and the deep roar of the crane.
Then, there was a dull, deep, boom, and the ground shook. Everyone ran from the opening. "Explosion!" one yelled.
There had been no explosion; the bucket that had been attached to the rescue bucket had snapped the chair and fell back down the shaft from the 300-foot level.
The crane brought Barr and Steele up quickly. Steele reported that the chain had snapped. "Have to get a heavier one. That place has about 3 feet of water in it now."
Body Recovered
They got a heavier one, and Francis May's body was brought up later that evening.
One of the miners who had been standing at the site remarked: "Ya know, he (one of the dead miners" was down at the bowling alley last night. He was always laughing and joking around."
And some of the other smiled as they remembered. but some didn't. They would have to go to work in the mines the next day.
Great report GW. Thank you.
Question: How do they rig a metals shortage world-wide?
It's not a country.
It's a business.
Now give me my fucking money!
--Brad Pitt
(in "Killing Them Softly)
I wonder if they would ever launch an investigation into the manipulation of gold and silver prices...... :P
short answer wolf....no
Algos have spotted crawling along the ocean floor from NYC towards Mt. Gox.
Markets were created to redistribute wealth from everywhere into a few private hands. The rule of thumb is: If you are "allowed" to participate in the game without an equal vote on the rules of trade, you are the sucker.
There will always be those who insist that at some point in the past the game was not as rigged as it is now, that the average participant once had a fair or fairer chance, and that once upon a time the intention was not predicated on thievery and evil. To them I say, bs, the house always wins because the house makes the rules.
If you ever felt as if you were doing well with your investments it is only because it served the interests of the few private hands that you felt that way. To believe otherwise is the folly of the gambling addict.
Yep, the world is one big maffia. And TPTB keep the world's population in check with religions, nationalism, TV, sports, etc.
Way of the world, always been like that.
"Whether it is God or the bomb, it's just the same and it's only fear under another name".
Commodities Futures Modernization Act
Make illegal market tactics legal, allow the criminals to test the water, they see no blowback from the feds, look at each other and smile, and we get $147 per barrel oil.
The crooks laugh all the way to the bank and make sure to make some nice campaign contributions.
Mr. Middle class says, "Now what? Oh great the king dong dildo. Let me get some more lube."
Buy today to not miss the train
so states bernanke the brain
but the Fed will pump
when you buy they will dump
and your money will go down their drain
Of course every market is rigged. Modern algos monitor all markets abd when they see opportunity they attack on multiple fronts. Need to drop gold? Go after silver too, pump the dollar, pump US stocks, suppress oil, and collect your profits...
1966 Mustang Exhaust Note
This beast sat in the garage for 9 years, a fine aging process.
I needed to make it run to ship it, and instead of just making it run, did a restoration on it. It really don't get any better than this.
With separate dual exhausts, header, and Super Turbo mufflers, she really sounds good. This little video from a small camera does not do any justice to the exhaust note, but you get the idea. At two points you can just quickly hear the secondaries kicking in.
I used to drag race this car late in the last millennium.
Also got a new post on Gold, ES, Corn
GFY, douchebag.
So, here we are and there are they, pretending that there's democracy, pretending that they're fighting against terrorism, pretending we've a free press, pretending we live in a World of free market, pretending 9/11 was a Al Qaida terrorist attack, pretending we have the UN who stand for us all, pretending Europe is United, pretending the US dollar is a strong currency, pretending there's no inflation, pretending the Euro isn't going to fall, pretending there isn't enough food for all human beings on this Earth, pretending there's not enough clean energy, pretending the oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico has been contained, pretending nothing is happening in Fukushima/Japan/the Pacific Ocean with radioactivity, avoiding facing reality.
So much for the dominant specie on the Planet. The unique suicidal one.
> So, here we are and there are they, pretending ... avoiding facing reality.
In short: we live in a cartoon.
Welcome to the Planet of the Subhumans.
you have to draw a line after 2008. before 2008 government wanted lower oil prices, and in the post katrina market they sent oil to enterprise in order to boost inventories and give enterprise some leverage against imported oil. there was a lot of phony accounting, borrowed oil counted against enterprise reserve. but no one cared, because only arabs were getting screwed. post 2008 the government wants to keep a bid under all assets including oil [and mortgages] gasoline prices did not take the typical election year dip. obama sold out to wall street; chevron exxon and fuck main street - that much is obvious. this is why obama is against natgas which has twice the btu per dollar value right now.obama is a corrupt sob, just like bush, but the game has changed, and deflation is a real threat to the friends of obama and their phony capital. real price of oil is $50bbl but they won't let you have it.
They are just walking around with their cocks hanging out, saying "What are you gonna do about it?". We can bitch all we want, it isn't going to do anything. The best thing we can do is to be aware of their games and try to use that information to look after ourselves.
Must be very frustrating for you GW! That Jonny Mathias Song ' it's all a dream and illusion now, must come true sometime soon, somehow, all across the land. .. .
So we all know we are being Gamed and yet Tony Blair the Socialist ( cunt of cunts) is being paid by the Bankstas for after dinner speeches in the USSA while UK/EU/World Rots . . ..
When he and friend George Bush are tried for War Crimes we are getting somewhere.
Am tired of this BS. Let's talk SOLUTIONS because We NEED a LEADER NOW and You Da MAN.
George- Why only from 2002?
Why not from 1971 when the US Govt started manipulating the price of oil by insisting on the use of US $ ?
It's because all such investigations done by governments is a cover up.
After the attempt is made people tend to forget. Memory is short. The media has nonsense to divert your attention.
What happened to the position limits to have been put into place by the CFTC?
All crooks, goons and criminals in charge.
"The Commission … said, however, that its probe covers a wide range of oil products...(EDIT) biofuels...
The EU said it has concerns that some companies (EDIT and governments) may have tried to manipulate the pricing process by colluding to report distorted prices and by preventing other companies from submitting their own prices."
Hilarity ensues...this is the level we've devolved to.
A "government"...based on a currency, as its only premise for being, has concerns about something, it subsidizes & promotes.
Its not even possible to counter with a rational thought.
The casino operator complains that one of it's customers manipulated the outcome of one of the games that only they were allowed to play thus leaving less winnings to go around.
Obviously there was one too many layers of robbery going on...
Its like living in a parallel universe sometimes, where wrong is right and right is wrong and they'll decide if you even get a set of dice.
It's like living in imagination land: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxN2L99eddk
Global net exports are decreasing.
I would bet the investigation shows downward price manipulation
Next stop $200.00/brl
Have to free oil from the commodities manipulation cuz we need more oil exploration russia break even is around $120/brl dont hold me but i think thats the ball park
NWO HFT Algobot Derivatives Holographic EconomicDeathstar Created the Global Economic Crisis by design - its waterloo 3.0
they have decoupled the global fundamentals onto a simulation
in fact this has been going on since before we were all born and has merely Crystallized to this state, so long that people can barely differentiate any longer between reality and simulation (one of the key targets and desired effects)
you fucking rock the mic gdubs @WashingtonsBlog
yes, everything is rigged and connected and then
rigged again.
and also this
rigged six ways from sunday
Talking Heads - "Once In A Lifetime"
"same as it ever was" ..d.b.
think the pequod, rigged.
Chapter 128: The Pequod Meets The Rachel
Moby Dick; Ishmael & Queequeg; Elijah prophecy
this is worth the 6:08.
The only existing unrigged market.


text: High-protein, healthy nuts and seeds are valued by carb-cutting diners for a healthy energy boost. A fall 2013 NPD Group survey on snacking found 77 percent of Americans have nuts on hand at home, and incorporate them into all three meals. Watch for restaurants to do the same in 2014.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Golf: Linsly 163, Magnolia 190, Tyler Consolidated 205, John Marshall 210, Paden City 213
September 19, 2013 SISTERSVILLE — David Coram and Ed McDonald shared medalist honors and the Cadets rolled to victory in a five-team tournament at Sistersville Country Club. Teammate Gordon Patrick fired a 41. more »»
Golf: Linlsy 156, Brooke 175, John Marshall 212
September 18, 2013 WHEELING — Led by medalist Jordan Patrick's 37, Linsly won a tri-match at Oglebay's Crispin Course. Logan Lojszczyk paced Brooke with a 39 and Collin Griffith's 50 was tops for the Monarchs. more »»
OVAC Golf: South Unseats WP for 5A Title
September 13, 2013 WHEELING — Parkersburg South's Adeena Shears took a laid-back approach as she approached her one-hole playoff with University's Eric Wirth on Thursday for Ohio Valley Athletic Conference 5A medalis... more »»
Golf: OVAC Tournaments Set to Begin
September 10, 2013 WHEELING —Like most of his golfers, Don Headley has been pretty consistent in his time at Wheeling Park. more »»
Golf: University 172, Brooke 181, John Marshall 235
September 6, 2013 MORGANTOWN — University's Eric Wirth shot a 2-over-par 38 to take medalist honors at a tri-match at Mountainview Golf Course. Logan Lojszcyzk had a 41 to lead Brooke to a second-place finish. more »»
Golf: University 166, Brooke 183, Trinity 201 John Marshall 223
August 30, 2013 WHEELING — University's Eric Wirth shot a 1-under-par 35 and emerged as match medalists as University took down Brooke, Trinity, and John Marshall at Oglebay's Jones Course. more »»


text:
This topic is archived and can not be replied to any more.
|AA 225 BOS-SAN 2/1/06 posted Thu Feb 2 2006 05:57:27 by Capt.Fantastic
|New Livery For AA On The Way? posted Mon May 14 2012 10:52:41 by bueb0g
|China: What New Trans-pacific Routes For AA? posted Sun Apr 29 2012 02:33:39 by Byrdluvs747
|Shocked By AA Union Support For AA/US Merger posted Sat Apr 21 2012 18:15:43 by kakk80
|Which Routes Now For AA's MD 80's posted Sun Apr 8 2012 21:37:49 by CoachClass
|IAG Eyes Rescue Deal For AA posted Sun Mar 25 2012 02:17:06 by readytotaxi
|Where Is More Profitable For AA? GRU Or LHR? posted Fri Mar 2 2012 20:08:48 by tonytifao
|What Is JAL's 'Plan B' For NRT-BOS? posted Tue Feb 7 2012 18:44:44 by chrisnh
|New Or Additional Routes For AA 772's posted Tue Jan 10 2012 06:14:02 by GEN2STEW
|What's Next For AA's Arpey (a New Job) posted Tue Nov 29 2011 13:43:14 by BC77008


text:
Text Size
New Americans
Annual Flu Vaccinations
Financial Empowerment Center
eBid Nashville
Development Services Center
The Parthenon
Ford Ice Center
Nashville B-cycle
Streaming on Metro Nashville Network
Video Gallery Archive
Broadcast Schedule
Citizens' Guide to the Metro Budget
Look up your Trash, Recycling, & Brush Collection Info
Receive & Pay Your Water Bill
Review & Pay Your Electric Bill
Renew Your Vehicle Registration
Take a hike! Miles of hiking trails are available in Metro Parks so grab your boots and hit the trail. For more information about trails, maps, or guided hikes contact or visit one of the nature centers.
Warner Park offers 9 hiking trails including 12 miles of trail and 4 trailheads. Percy Warner Park Trail Maps and Edwin Warner Park Trail Maps are available at the nature center trailhead. Contact the Warner Park Nature Center at 615-352-6299 for more information.
Beaman Park offers 3 hiking trails including over 5 miles of trail and 3 trailheads. Beaman Park Trail Maps are available at the nature center trailhead. Contact the Beaman Park Nature Center at 615-862-8580 for more information.
Bells Bend Park offers a 2.3 mile loop trail, several old farm road trails and two trailheads. Bells Bend Trail Maps are available at the nature center trailhead. Contact the Bells Bend Outdoor Center at 615-862-4187 for more information.
Shelby Bottoms offers a variety of trails including approximately 5 hiking trails, approximately 5 miles of multiuse, accessible paved trails and 3 trailheads. Shelby Bottoms Trail Maps are available at the nature center trailhead. Contact the Shelby Bottoms Nature Center at 615-862-8539 for more information.
Help protect the Parks. Follow the rules!
You are entering a sensitive natural area
Safety is our highest priority
Parks and Trails are open daily from dawn to dusk
The NashVitality app is a mobile guide to a healthy, active, and green lifestyle in Nashville. Inside this app there are interactive maps for all types of activities including walking, hiking, biking, water access, and much more. Plus, learn about how to be greener with tools such as where to recycle or what incentives are available to be more energy efficient. Every section of the app has the "Explore Near Me" option which when clicked will display all category results in your immediate vicinity.
© 2016 Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee


text:
Good morning, family. I am honored to stand before you all: Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee Chair Kim Patton and the committee; most distinguished fellow honorees; and all of us joined through our love of books, tolerance, and peace. A certain type of ignorance is truly bliss. I'd been writing for young people over […]
About Rita Williams-Garcia
Rita Williams-Garcia is the winner of the 2014 Coretta Scott King Author Award for P.S. Be Eleven, published by Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Children's Books.
Rita Williams-Garcia's 2014 CSK Author Award Acceptance
July 2, 2014 by Rita Williams-Garcia Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Authors & Illustrators, Awards, Featured, Horn Book Magazine Tagged With: ala 2014, CSK Award, HBBlackHistoryMonth16, hbmjul14 Discussion: Leave a Comment
One Crazy Road to Here: CSK Author Award Acceptance
August 7, 2012 by Rita Williams-Garcia 1 Comment
My mother, Miss Essie, used to tell my sister, my brother, and me, "Eat every bit of food on your plate today, because you don't know what tomorrow will bring." Like many Americans, my siblings and I have an eye on the future, and we keep pushing although we'reuncertain about tomorrow. We might not know […]
Filed Under: Authors & Illustrators, Creating Books Discussion: View 1 Comment


text:
This topic is archived and can not be replied to any more.
|Best Time To Book Cheap Flights On BA posted Sun Jul 11 2010 06:32:16 by bochora
|Cheapest Fare From NYC To London? posted Sat Jul 10 2010 16:30:03 by SQ_EK_freak
|Cheap Places To Stay In Maui? posted Sat Jul 10 2010 11:31:34 by flyboy80
|Going From AS To DL At PDX Vs. SEA posted Thu Jul 8 2010 07:03:20 by SiouxATC
|Top 10 Shortest Scheduled Commercial Flights posted Thu Jul 8 2010 00:45:09 by spiplane
|Joyride Down To KUL (LCCT) - What To Do? posted Thu Jul 8 2010 00:26:13 by initious
|Oneworld From Maine To Hong Kong? posted Wed Jul 7 2010 08:55:06 by Elite
|Checking Bags Thru To A Final Destination. posted Wed Jul 7 2010 04:30:24 by magpie75
|Upgrading To First On DL (how To Do It?) posted Tue Jul 6 2010 22:05:01 by rj777
|Shortest Delta Flight With A Free Y Class Meal posted Mon Jul 5 2010 07:02:49 by HOONS90


text:
Selbyville man dies after Frankford crash
A 70-year-old Selbyville man died Aug. 20 and a 6-year-old boy was seriously injured after a car crash in Frankford.
Preston A. Hudson was driving a 2002 Dodge Ram van at 11:42 a.m. westbound on Zion Church Road approaching Deer Run Road when he ran off the roadway while negotiating a curve, said Sgt. Paul Shavack of the Delaware State Police.
The van left the south side of the roadway and crashed into a tree, he said.
Hudson was not properly restrained; he suffered multiple traumatic injuries and was flown by helicopter to Peninsula Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at 3:32 p.m., Shavack said.
The 6-year-old boy was Hudson's grandson; he was secured in a child seat and taken to Peninsula Regional Medical Center where he was admitted with serious but nonlife-threatening injuries, Shavack said.
Two dogs traveling in the van also died at the scene of the crash, and they were turned over to the SPCA, Shavack said.
Shavack said police are determining whether an acute medical condition experienced by Hudson may have contributed to the crash.


text:
August 24, 2010
The Blessings of God's Broken Promises
Parashat Ki Tavo (Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8)
All too often, we are confronted with life's unfairness. How could someone so kind suffer so terribly? How could someone so ruthless enjoy wealth earned at the expense of the vulnerable and powerless? How is it that with greater or lesser frequency — and for better or worse — our own fate does not align with our virtue? Our despair or relief at such moral inequities reflects our intuitive expectation of just consequences for our choices and behavior. Given the Torah's repeated assurances that adherence to God's mandates begets material reward — and acting otherwise begets punishment — such inequities often give rise to personal crises of faith.
The latter half of this week's Torah portion, Ki Tavo, appears to present one of the Torah's clearest and most confounding recountings of God's promise of just consequences for our actions: "All these blessings shall come upon you and take effect, if you obey the Lord your God" (Deuteronomy 28:2). What follows thereafter is a list of concrete and material blessings, guaranteed as consequences of our adherence to God's commandments. Several paragraphs later, a lengthy list of gruesome punishments follows a promise of severe consequences should we fail to live our lives in accord with God's commandments.
Our personal experience and our observations of others might appear to suggest that God's promise of an equitable world, as the Torah presents it, is a broken promise. However, a midrashic interpretation of one of the material rewards guaranteed in this week's Torah portion for good behavior might hold an important key to uncovering the blessings of what we might mistakenly construe as God's broken promises.
Among the blessings guaranteed in the Torah portion is the following: "You will be blessed in your comings and in your goings" (Deuteronomy 28:6). The plain meaning of this verse seems obvious; our daily interactions and transactions will be blessed with peace and success, if we are to observe God's commandments.
A fascinating midrashic alternative offers a different interpretation: If we live our lives in accord with the Torah's precepts, then just as we are welcomed into this world with joy and celebration (our "coming"), recognized for the hope and miraculous wonder that each new life represents, we will be similarly celebrated upon our departure from this earth for the good that we will have done along the way (our "going").
At first glance, it might appear that the author of this commentary was troubled, as we often are, by the discrepancy between the plain and obvious meaning of God's promise on the one hand (that we would benefit materially and in this lifetime for the good we do) and the reality we live and observe on the other hand (that actions and consequences do not align fairly anywhere near as often as we would like). The central purpose of this midrashic commentary, perhaps, was to avoid a theological dilemma by avoiding one of God's most obvious and problematic broken promises.
It seems unlikely, however, that so obvious an attempt to avoid theological complication could have sufficed for our ancestors any more so than it might satisfy us today. There might, however, be several deeper messages in this midrashic commentary, as relevant to us today as they were to Jews 1,500 years ago or longer.
First, and more generally, God's greatest blessings may be obscured by a more literal reading of the Torah and its promises. These assurances might never have been intended to offer guarantees of God's equitable control of the outcomes of human choices, but rather to share with us wisdom and guidance so that we might both seek and seize opportunities to achieve ethical heights and spiritual depth, and inspire others to do so.
Second, and more specifically, the more likely consequences — not promises — of a life lived as much as reasonably possible in accord with God's teachings of Torah are far greater and more important than any literal interpretation can grasp. Not only might we earn the respect and appreciation of our peers for our attempt to live in such accord — so much so that we might be celebrated upon our departure from this world, as we were welcomed so joyously upon our arrival — but we are more likely to inspire our children to live in such accord, as well. For this reason more than any other, I believe, the midrash teaches that we will be celebrated upon our passing as upon our arrival; the single most important consequence of a life lived in accord with the Torah's precepts is that our children will know what about our lives is most worthy of celebration, and they are then more likely to merit a celebration of their own Jewishly inspired and connected achievements among those who will one day remember them.
May we all be so blessed by God's broken promises.
Rabbi Isaac Jeret is the spiritual leader of Congregation Ner Tamid (nertamid.com), an inclusive Conservative synagogue on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.
JewishJournal.com is produced by TRIBE Media Corp., a non-profit media company whose mission is to inform, connect and enlighten community © Copyright 2016 Tribe Media Corp.
JewishJournal.com is produced by TRIBE Media Corp., a non-profit media company whose mission is to inform, connect and enlighten community
© Copyright 2016 Tribe Media Corp.


text:
Baker Names Team On Eve Of Holiday Cup
Coach Guy Baker officially named the 2000 Women's Water Polo Olympic Team at a press conference in Los Alamitos on Monday. Named to the Team were:
Bernie Orwig, Nicole Payne, Robin Beaureguard, Ellen Estes, Courtney Johnson, Ericka Lorenz, Heather Moody, Maureen O'Toole, Heather Petri, Gubba Sheehy,
Coralie Simmons, Julie Swail and Brenda Villa. Rachael Scott was named as an alternate.


text:
Nov 16, 2011 Comments Off on Donations
We are happy to accept donations from our patrons, however, due to space and staff constraints we cannot accept everything you might like to give us. Our guidelines for donations are that we accept new or gently used items. If we are unable to use your donation it will be used to stock our ongoing book sale. We are happy to accept your donations with the following exceptions:
- Textbooks or computer books older than 2 years
- Magazines
- Encyclopedias
- VHS tapes
- Any materials that are dirty, mildewed, damaged or have been stored in a basement
Donations can be left with the Circulation staff during regular library hours. If you have any questions, you can call 353-5600 ext. 116 and ask for Gina. Please do not leave donations outside the building or in our book depository slot. Due to storage considerations we ask that you limit your donation to one bag or small box per week.


text:
Bankruptcy Law
Bankruptcy Law Questions? Ask a Bankruptcy Lawyer Now.
We are current on our first, so it seems if the second forecloses they will take a huge loss. Here are the numbers, we owe $311,000. on the first. Our home is valued at appproximately $240,000. We owe $98,000. on the second. If they foreclosed, wouldn't it be disadvantageous to them?
DISCLAIMER: Answers from Experts on JustAnswer are not substitutes for the advice of an attorney. JustAnswer is a public forum and questions and responses are not private or confidential or protected by the attorney-client privilege. The Expert above is not your attorney, and the response above is not legal advice. You should not read this response to propose specific action or address specific circumstances, but only to give you a sense of general principles of law that might affect the situation you describe. Application of these general principles to particular circumstances must be done by a lawyer who has spoken with you in confidence, learned all relevant information, and explored various options. Before acting on these general principles, you should hire a lawyer licensed to practice law in the jurisdiction to which your question pertains.
The responses above are from individual Experts, not JustAnswer. The site and services are provided "as is". To view the verified credential of an Expert, click on the "Verified" symbol in the Expert's profile. This site is not for emergency questions which should be directed immediately by telephone or in-person to qualified professionals. Please carefully read the Terms of Service (last updated February 8, 2012).


text:
- Some people say it has to be a 2-D environment; some even go as far as saying it has to be platforming.
- Non-linearity of (official) game sequence, often resulting in backtracking, especially for new players.
- Sequence Breaking capabilities, even if not official. (Some players go so far as to insist it must be unintentional to count as true sequence breaking.)
- Highly interconnected areas.
- Powerups used to get around obstacles.
- A focus on exploring one's environment.
- Becoming more powerful through better equipment which also aids in overcoming obstacles.
open/close all folders
Trope Namers
- All of the Metroid games and most of the 2D Castlevania games from 1997 onwards, of course. Some people don't consider the 3D titles (the Metroid Prime Trilogy sub-series and Metroid: Other M) to count, but even those games play out the same, with the main difference being that the environments are arranged in 3 dimensions rather than 2. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night isn't the first time that the Castlevania series experimented with the genre, either; Vampire Killer and Castlevania II: Simon's Quest shared many of the same gameplay elements, though the latter didn't have the closed complex setting typical of the genre, and the former had no RPG Elements. The series has seemingly moved away from the 2D Metroidvania style for 3D Action Adventure. An interesting note is that the man behind most of the Metroidvania titles had actually never heard of the term until around 2012 (though he quite liked it). He said his inspiration in creating Symphony of the Night actually came from Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (which in turn borrowed elements from Dragon Slayer II: Xanadu and the original Metroid).
- The SNES game of The Addams Family is this, as well as having a quasi-Hub Level in the form of the entrance hall.
- Ainevoltas 1 and 2, freeware games. Ainevoltas 2 is the remake of the first one.
- Albero and the Great Blue Emblem
- Aliens: Infestation. Quite fitting, considering the influence Alien had on the original Metroid.
- Amea is an online Metroidvania by Godlimations.
- Antichamber is non-linear, allows sequence breaking, features interconnected areas, requires upgrades to advance, and focuses on exploration.
- The indie game Aquaria embraces this trope fully, although there is much less of a platform element since it takes place almost entirely underwater.
- ASCIIvania—as the title suggests, it's a Metroidvania-style game with ASCII graphics. The Ability Required to Proceed element is mainly provided by finding different letters, which you use to complete words that are blocking your way. There are also the abilities to jump, double jump, and reverse gravity, all of which you will need to find all of the letters of the alphabet and complete the game.
- Axiom Verge, as mentioned in the page quote, is a love letter to the genre, Video Game//Metroid and other classics of the 8-bit era, allowing players to utilize and create glitches to access new areas, bypass obstacles and change enemy behavior.
- Banjo-Tooie borders closely on this, and can be used to illustrate the genre differences between this and a straight Platform Game. The levels, as in the previous game, are non-linear, large and focus on exploration and item collection, have a lot of puzzles and pathways between each other, and there are a lot of unlockable moves and attacks required to progress through the Hub Level and to complete everything. On the other hand, progress in the game is limited by having later levels mostly inaccessible until opened one at a time by turning in Plot Coupons at a central location (unless using a certain in-game cheat), so Sequence Breaking is fairly limited.
- Batman: Arkham Asylum is not a pure example, sort of fitting somewhere between Metroid and Zelda.
- Battle Kid combines this with a less unfair version of I Wanna Be the Guy.
- The obscure The Battle of Olympus for the NES.
- Bionic Commando(NES) and its remake.
- Blaster Master
- Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, a Kickstarter Spiritual Successor of the Castlevania series by its creator, Koji Igarashi.
- Brain Breaker, released for the Sharp X1 computer in 1985, is one of the first true Metroidvania-style games, along with Dragon Slayer II: Xanadu, released the same year.
- The Breach is more or less what you'd get if you bred Metroid: Fusion with Event Horizon.
- Bunny Must Die! Chelsea and the 7 Devils, which even includes shout outs to both Metroid and Castlevania.
- Captain Comic
- Cave Story borders on this. It hits most of the requirements of the game type except for two: it's fairly linear barring sidequests, and areas aren't as interconnected as they could be due to just using the Hub Level. It does show influence from both Castlevania and Metroid.
- Clash At Demonhead was widely considered an early example of the genre.
- BBC Micro game Codename: Droid is another early example.
- Craz'd!
- Darksiders is a 3D, third-person game with the Metroidvania elements of using new equipment/abilities to unlock different areas, and freely backtracking to previous areas to collect previously unreachable items or treasure. Darksiders II is much the same with the addition of more RPG Elements via a variety of weapons and armor with various stats and a skill progression tree. Both games also takes inspiration from The Legend of Zelda with distinct dungeons that have puzzles to be solved and doors to be unlocked using the items and keys found inside.
- Dark Souls I shares a lot of similarities with the Metroidvania genre, particularly with its world design. It is also a rare 3D, third-person example.
- Dex has plenty of bonus areas that can only be accessed with jumping upgrades, having poison/electrical resistance or hacking/lockpicking your way past a high-level gate.
- The Divide: Enemies Within for the PSX and PC is a rather excellent 3-D example of this.
- DNA is a short example of the genre made in 48 hours for a game making competition with the theme of evolution.
- Dragon Slayer II: Xanadu, released in 1985, was the Ur-Example of Metroidvania gameplay, along with Brain Breaker. The later Dragon Slayer games Faxanadu, Legacy of the Wizard and Sorcerian continued the Metroidvania format established by Xanadu.
- Dust: An Elysian Tail fits most of the subgenre traits, being a 2-D Action RPG with a simple levelling system and a heavy focus on platforming. Area maps consisting of multiple interconnected parts? Check. Some of those map parts requiring certain skills or items to reach, forcing you to backtrack there later? Check. Vast amount of exploration required to find all of that stuff, not to mention all of the hidden treasure chests? Check. Equipment that gives stat bonuses and gets more powerful as you reach new areas? Check. Sequence Breaking through creative use of early abilities? Check. Considering that the Point of No Return occurs right before the final boss, by the end of the game you have every location available to revisit and clear if you want to get 117% completion on your save file.
- Elephant Quest is a free flash game in which a cute elephant sets out on a quest to reclaim his Cool Hat made in this format. With lasers.
- The final levels of the two main games in the Emogame series (especially the second one) play out like this, though it's doubtful that any of the Castlevania or Metroid games ended with Belmont or Samus beating Dracula or Ridley. The third game would've been done entirely in this style, had it ever been finished.
- Endeavor requires players to find different items/collect special upgrading fruit to be able to reach new areas.
- Escape From Puppy Death Factory is also an online Metroidvania by Adult Swim Games.
- Eternal Daughter starts with the protagonist able to do the typical platforming routine, but certain areas in each level can only be reached once she gets the ability to jump higher, slide off walls, etc.
- Exhumed, also known as Power Slave, is possibly one of the earliest examples of a Metroidvania FPS, predating Metroid Prime by almost a decade.
- The ROM hack Extra Mario Bros. is a Metroidvania game built on Super Mario Bros., and is probably the only example of the genre with one-way scrolling.
- Faxanadu. Some of the other Dragon Slayer games also have Metroidvania style gameplay, particularly its predecessor Dragon Slayer II: Xanadu, one of the Ur Examples of the genre (along with Brain Breaker). Legacy of the Wizard in particular is a much more Metroidvania-like entry in the series, like Xanadu and Sorcerian.
- The Floor is Jelly has some elements of this. Each of the game's levels are interconnected to a single hub, and you can freely revisit and backtrack through each level as well. The night level, the second swamp level and the Disc One Final Dungeon plays this more straight in which these levels are more non-linear and has you searching these levels to find several keys that will open a portal leading to the level's exit.
- The Gargoyle's Quest trilogy.
- Ghost Song: A Journey Of Hope, another game from Kickstarter, is most influenced by Metroid: Fusion, with a recurring NPC which pursues the player through the open world.
- Ghoul School
- The Goonies II.
- Guacamelee!: A Metroidvania where you learn wrestling moves (from goatmen or fighting chickens) to access more areas.
- Gun Girl 2 has a linear main plot but a Metroidvania-type world with plenty of hidden upgrades.
- Hasslevania: The Quest For Shuteye, a parody of the Castlevania series.
- Hebereke for the Famicom (and the Euro Release Ufouria). Something about a drunk duck (hebereke translates into stumbling drunk) falling into an alternate dimension with his animal-ish friends who have to find a way back home (or so it appears). Plays like Metroid meets Mario. All the sequels (on the SNES) completely abandoned this genre and are party games.
- Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit is essentially Sega's take on this genre.
- Hero Core, by the creator of Iji, can basically be described as the combination of a Metroidvania and a Shoot 'em Up.
- The Adventure Time video game adaptation Hey Ice King! Why'd You Steal Our Garbage?! has elements of this. Finn and Jake run around the Land of Ooo, fighting monsters and learning new powers in order to progress at certain points.
- The free and moderately NSFW Holdover, which forgoes combat entirely to focus on some fairly tricky platforming in an old, flooded laboratory filled with spikes and other nasty obstacles. It's made trickier by the fact that your character's only protection is a one-piece swimsuit that loses its top or bottom half in a single hit, potentially leaving her naked and completely vulnerable until she can restore it. On top of that, metal braces on her feet make it impossible to swim and half the platforming is done underwater, requiring you to manage your air throughout. Luckily, the game has a quick-save feature that it outright encourages you to abuse, which brings the difficulty back down to manageable levels.
- Houchou Shoujo Gensoukyoku is Yume Nikki reimagined as an action metroidvania.
- The Iconoclasts by Joachim "konjak" Sandberg
- Indie freeware game Iji borders on this—once you clear a level, you can't backtrack, but each level is huge and there are several secret areas that require Metroidvania logic to reach—to get one Supercharge requires getting a jump upgrade, using an enemy's rocket attack to reach an elevator back to a now accessible ledge that leads to a weapon necessary to destroy a wall blocking off the powerup.
- In 60 Seconds is a freeware mini-Metroidvania. As the title suggests, you get just one minute to gather all the abilities required to reach the boss and defeat it.
- Indivisible, an upcoming game by Lab Zero that mixes the genre with a combat system inspired by Valkyrie Profile.
- Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, albeit lacking the platformer elements typical for the genre
- I Wanna Be the Guy is sometimes described as one of these, despite the fact that it doesn't have any powerups or heart containers.
- Jables's Adventure
- Kirby & the Amazing Mirror is unique in that unlike other Metroidvanias, instead of finding abilities to progress to other abilities, you have to eat enemies for their abilities which are near the parts you have to use those abilities in, and you can discard the abilities soon after. You could also get help from the 3 other Kirbies, and do things in any order, even reverse. The Great Cave Offensive in Kirby Super Star had similar gameplay, but was more linear. (Note that other games in the series, including the other components of Super Star, are Platform Games).
- Knightmare II: The Maze of Galious, the game that inspired La-Mulana.
- The free flash game K.O.L.M. from Armor Games, in which the main character is a robot that needs to rebuild itself (thereby gaining the required powerups). If you collect all the letter panels, the final scene reveals that the acronym stands for Kind Of Like Metroid.
- La-Mulana:
- The first game, in two levels of quality, MSX original and SNES remake. The game follows Lemeza, a Japanese-American Adventure Archaeologist who explores an ancient, trap filled ruin.
- La-Mulana 2, a kickstarted sequel to the first game, stars Lemeza's daughter Lumisa.
- Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, although its sequels were much more linear in nature.
- Legend Of Kalevala is an online Flash Metroidvania by Dit Dah Games.
- The Legend of Zelda:
- The series is a parallel or even sub-genre, as the games also focus on collecting Video Game Tools to bypass obstacles in the wide-open Overworld (often to the point of allowing sequence breaking). While the early games mainly feature a top-down perspective, some contain side-scrolling sections, and the transition to 3D saw the series leaning more towards the platformer genre. However, one major difference remains: the dungeons, fully self-contained areas separate from the Overworld that require only a single trip to complete. Zelda dungeons mainly require completing puzzles/tasks and collecting keys to progress, with the exception of one important item to be found and utilized to reach (or even to fight) the dungeon boss. After completing the dungeon, the item discovered there can be used in the Overworld to progress toward the next dungeon.
- Zelda II: The Adventure of Link has all the action take place in 2D side-scrolling sections, including towns and dungeons, although these are all still contained within a top-down overworld. Some of the handheld titles in the series, starting with The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, also have a small amount of 2D side-scrolling sections, and even add a jump button to the top-down controls, making the entire game a platformer.
- The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass has the best bridge between the two with the Temple of the Ocean King, a huge dungeon which contains maps and keys to access the other smaller and self-contained dungeons, which in turn hold the items and keys needed to progress further into the temple (and make previous sections simpler and quicker to pass through), while the overworld holds sands for the hourglass which allow you to explore for longer periods of time before having to turn back. Both the sands and the items from each smaller dungeon are needed to safely and successfully navigate the massive dungeon.
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword narrows the gap between Zelda and most Metroidvanias by adding hallmarks of the latter that had been largely absent in the former, with some of the main additions being less distinction between the overworld and dungeons, as well as Save Points.
- Lord of the Sword for the Sega Master System.
- Mega Man:
- The first Mega Man Zero game.
- The first Mega Man ZX game features waypoints that allow you to teleport to any waypoint already visited, but all waypoints must be found by exploration first (except for the isolated area that becomes the Hub Level, which gets added to the teleport list once you complete a certain early mission), and very few areas have their entrance right next to a waypoint. The first Mega Man Zero game features the same, but has a habit of automatically placing you at the beginning of the relevant area at the start of each mission you accept; which, combined with the fact that many areas host two missions, means that if you never wandered outside the Hub Level in between missions, you would never notice that most of the areas are physically connected to each other (specifically, you would only notice that one pair of areas, plus the linearly-connected areas of the final three missions, are connected).
- Mega Man ZX Advent, on the other hand, is a step back from ZX, with at least as many missions taking place in self-contained areas as otherwise. It wins back points by being more reliant on Ability Required to Proceed than its predecessors (and offering shapes to morph into with overlapping functions, thus offering multiple solutions to certain mazes and traps), introducing a Metroid-inspired minimap and encouraging re-exploration of completed areas to apply your new abilities to find hidden stuff just as much as ZX did before it.
- In addition, Zero lacks the ability-gaining that is central to the genre (some Cyber-Elves can give you permanent upgrades, but they're never needed to access areas you couldn't reach before).
- Mega Man Battle Network has a Gaiden Game for the Nintendo GameCube called Network Transmission (largely an homage to the classic verse, with platforming gameplay in classic 'verse level designs), whose main internet area qualifies for this. The main Internet alone branches to Lan's, Mayl's, and Dex's homepage, an outpost of Higsby's chip shop, the Zero Area and its guardian areas, the legendary WWW area, and the Undernet. There are alternate, disconnected areas, but most of the game occurs in the main Internet.
- The ROM Hack Rockman 4 Minus Infinity uses this for Wily Stage 3. The previous stage's boss, Snatchman, is an Evil Knockoff of Mega Man that steals the first four weapons he uses. In Wily Stage 3, you must defeat the eight robot masters again, but for half of them you get their weapon back, and the other half doesn't give you anything. The maze-like structure of the level, which uses the tiles and enemies of every previous stage, also fits this trope well.
- Mega Man Legends is a partial case, in that it's a third-personal shooter but has a very similar nonlinear explorative feel to it. With the proper special items, nearly all the underground areas can be made to interconnect too.
- Meikyuujou Hydra has no RPG elements, but you can collect things to extend your ability to travel around and stay alive.
- Metal Walker, while an Action RPG, has elements of this. Returning to previous areas with more Core Units can get you items, gold, and in some cases, new Recipes and special Cores.
- Nicklas "Nifflas" Nygren's games Within A Deep Forest, Knytt, Knytt Stories and Knytt Underground. His games are unique in that they have minimal power-ups and focus on exploration.
- The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King for Game Boy Advance was a transparent wholesale ripoff of the GBA Castlevania games. It was considerably better than Samurai Jack.
- Odallus: The Dark Call has stages with multiple paths that lead into further areas or dead ends with boss fights. Any discovered stages can be accessed from the World Map.
- Ōkami, being strongly inspired by Zelda per Word of God, mostly fits this genre with an long, intense and elaborate plot, power-ups and Plot Coupons that allow you to unlock the (very) wide map, a barely restricted freedom of exploration and a huge number of sidequests, optional power-ups and Heart Containers. There are a few areas where you cannot return afterwards but these only contain items necessary to the plot or Vendor Trash.
- Operation Smash: A heavily Super Metroidinspired indie game involving time travel and hammers. Currently available from Desura, and also up for voting on Steam Greenlight.
- Ori And The Blind Forest, focusing much more on platforming and exploration rather than combat.
- Outland is what would happen if Metroid and Ikaruga made sweet love while Castlevania watched.
- Paper Mario: Sticker Star has heavy elements of this, but with Adventure Game puzzles and RPG battles littering the levels.
- The Phantom 2040 videogame for the SNES and Genesis. (Different areas are connected through a world map rather than being continuous, but it's still a good, classic example of this genre.)
- Pharaoh Rebirth is another example of game with self-contained stages, but otherwise fits the definition. It's also the sequel of the freeware title Return of Egypt mentioned below.
- Pitfall II: Lost Caverns was a precursor to the genre. Super Pitfall as well, of course, and Pitfall: The Lost Expedition/The Big Adventure as well. There's also Montezuma's Revenge, released in 1984 on the Atari 2600; though the game world is a bit small, the gameplay is familiar.
- Poacher, a freeware release made in Game Maker by Yahtzee Croshaw of Zero Punctuation fame. A bit unusual in that most of the overworld opens up after a certain point early in the story and you're free to tackle the different areas in any order. Each major area uses the basic jump-and-shoot controls for a different gimmick, such as a sneaking around a dark tomb or vertical platforming up through gigantic trees. The big upgrade in each area is also only required to clear that particular area and generally just makes things easier or allows you to access secrets in the others. The progression gets more linear again after clearing all the areas and making it to the last act of the story.
- There are many areas in the Pokémon series that are not inaccesible because of Broken Bridges, but because you need the right HMs, usually Cut, Strength or Rock Smash. An important HM is Surf, which allows you to travel to islands, where some gyms and Legendaries are. Where does the ability to use HMs outside of battle come from? Badges from Gyms.
- Prince of Persia (2008) is an interesting example of the 3D kind. While the abilities the Prince and Elika gain help them explore new areas, they don't find the abilities, they buy them... but they use light seeds to buy the abilities, and the only way to find enough light seeds to buy a new power is to use your latest power to explore a new area.
- Each Unit in Quake II consists of a group of revisitable interconnected areas.
- Rabi-Ribi combines its Metroidvania gameplay with brutal Bullet Hell bosses wrapped in a Cute 'em Up package.
- Surprisingly, the NES videogame of Rambo, which featured one of the most confusing, maze-like game worlds ever.
- The first Red Faction is more linear than most examples, but allows you to backtrack to previous levels, which is sometimes required.
- Freeware title Return of Egypt.
- Re Ve N is heavily influenced by Super Metroid but adds the wrinkle of mining materials to make your upgrades.
- Robot Wants Series.
- Rush'n Attack: Ex-Patriot. Yes, Konami simultaneously revived one of their mustiest IPs and shamelessly ripped off Shadow Complex all in one game.
- Rygar, the NES version, which has a whole series of items to collect in order to improve your climbing skills more and more, and then makes you try to remember which previous stage had that unreachable ledge.
- The ZX Spectrum game The Sacred Armour Of Antiriad is now retroactively considered one of these; it's basically a parallel evolution of Metroid.
- Samurai Jack: The Amulet of Time for Game Boy Advance was a transparent wholesale ripoff of both the GBA Castlevania and GBA Metroid games. Not that it was bad...
- Scurge: Hive is probably the only isometric perspective example.
- Secret Scout in The Temple of Demise is a not-too-good one of these by Color Dreams.
- Seiklus, a highly minimalistic freeware Game Maker game that takes certain quirks even further than the previous two: the whole overworld bar the final area is available to explore immediately in any sequence you want, and there is absolutely no combat or even any way to die whatsoever. There aren't even any upgrades to find in order to progress: your impetus for exploring is finding a bunch of artifacts to unlock the door to the final area and climb back up to the cloud land you fell from. There's also a bunch of colored whisps scattered throughout the game world that you can collect in order to unlock paths to pieces of a moon amulet you can bring back to the cloud land for 100% Completion.
- Shadow Complex on Xbox Live Arcade has been described by pretty much every single reviewer as an (awesome) callback to Metroid and Castlevania. This was intentional: the developers have openly admitted to basing it on said games, and spent the entire first month of development playing them. Even the minimap in the top right corner looks eerily familiar. On top of that, the debut article about the game in Play Magazine mentions Super Metroid 17 times. On the first page.
- Shaman King: Master of Spirits 1 and 2 on the Game Boy Advance.
- Sonic the Hedgehog:
- The Game Gear spin-off Tails Adventure is divided into levels for cartridge space's sake. But everything else plays out like a Metroidvania, and you can revisit levels to look for new stuff.
- Sonic Adventure has shades of this (all the levels are connected through a hubworld, you can backtrack and gain various items). Sonic Adventure 2 drops most of this.
- Sonic Advance 3 seemed to be another stab at this: All worlds are connected through a hub, and different character combinations beyond the initial Tails and Sonic are needed to explore the levels fully and achieve 100% Completion.
- Spyro: Attack of the Rhynocs is isometric but contains all of the other traits.
- Steamworld Dig: As you proceed deeper into the mines, obstacles appear that require a specific upgrade to pass.
- The NES version of Strider often requires returning to levels several times after obtaining keys or ability upgrades. The 2014 reboot continues the tradition.
- The final stage of Super Smash Bros. Brawl's Adventure mode, The Great Maze. The rest of the mode is straight platforming.
- Subbania: A Metroidvania where you pilot a submarine through underwater caves, collect upgrades to explore new areas, and survive against the creatures within. Everything figuratively and literally goes to hell as you go deeper.
- The Swapper has a protagonist, setting, and map layout very similar to Metroid, only that it's a puzzle platformer instead of an action adventure.
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:
- Radical Rescue for the Game Boy. You start off as Michaelangelo and must rescue the rest of the gang, whose abilities open new areas to explore.
- Danger of the Ooze is another Metroidvania-style game, this one based off the third cartoon and for the 3DS, PS3, and Xbox 360. This one sees all four turtles playable from the start and lets them upgrade their abilities as the game goes on.
- Terraria is somewhat of an example, since although the game is based around freely building and mining in a randomly generated map, certain areas are very difficult before finding or crafting the right tools or equipment.
The Story Of Red Cloud, a Dark Soulsbased mod of Terraria, includes a massive pre-built map with strategically placed items and removes the player's ability to freely build or destroy, turning the game into a full-fledged Metroidvania.
- Teslagrad is one. Interestingly, it's very light on combat, making it mostly about exploration and puzzle solving.
- Tomba! and its sequel are all about this. There's all sorts of weapons, clothing, and other items that can be used to find and complete the 100+ quests scattered around the game world.
- Toshi Tenso Keikaku Eternal City for the PC-Engine.
- Treasure Adventure Game, a freeware pirate-themed game based around collecting treasures.
- An Untitled Story
- Valdis Story: Abyssal City is an indie title for PC that adheres to the genre very closely. More in common with Castlevania than Metroid, with a focus on melee combat and magic spells. It has a fairly robust skill tree with your typical Castlevania-style stats and equipment to go along with it that allow the player to create a good number of fairly varied playstyles depending on what they choose. The combat system is more in-depth though with freeform melee chain combos and a skill cancel ability that also functions as a dodge. There ends up being a pretty high skill ceiling as you gain powers and figure out the intricacies of the systems. There are currently two playable characters and the devs have plans to add 2 more in the future.
- A Valley Without Wind has large elements of this, with the added bonus of being procedurally-generated at random.
- VVVVVV is a simpler Pitfall II-style variety of Metroidvania, but is otherwise unlike Pitfall II in gameplay.
- Wario Land 3 is separated by levels rather than being interconnected, but meets all other criteria, as one unlocks new abilities in a non-linear order and frequently has to backtrack. Uniquely among Metroidvanias, it's impossible to actually die with the exception of the final boss.
- Wine & Roses is this in Eastern RPG form. The game is very non-linear, and there is nothing impeding you from exploring the entire game aside from the first tutorial fights. Each battle rewards you with specialized powerups that help you fight stronger enemies.
- Wilt Last Blossom has this; you pick up skills and powerups along the way, granting access to new areas.
- The Witness: A unique example in that you progress though the island not by acquiring upgrades but by acquiring the knowledge in how the puzzle symbols work together.
- Wizards And Warriors III. Not so much the first two.
- Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap, Wonder Boy In Monster World, and Monster World IV (Japan-exclusive until 2012).
- Xeodrifter is a retro-style Metroidvania that clearly draws its thematic inspiration from Metroid also.
- You Have to Win the Game has this with four abilities to aid your exploration.
- Ys III: Wanderers from Ys (not so much in the remake, which was an overhead Action RPG)
- Zeliard, published in 1987.
- Sega Master System game Zillion—based on Red Photon Zillion—in addition to being strongly influenced by Epyx's Impossible Mission, has some Metroidvania elements, leading the gamer to explore an alien base as fighting enemies and finding weapons and power-ups to open up new areas to explore.
- Someone over at Griptonite Games seems to like Metroidvania, as it shows up in several of their games (some of which are better than others):
- The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night (GBA)
- Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (DS)
- Daniel X: The Ultimate Power (DS)
- Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions (DS)
- Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters (DS/3DS/Wii)
- There are even a few Metroidvania iOS Games, most notably Grokion and Phoenix Spirit.


text:
Corporate report
Academies annual report: academic year 2011 to 2012
This publication was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government
This report covers the performance of academies during the 2011 to 2012 academic year and explains the academies programme.
During the passage of the Academies Act 2010, the department made a commitment to Parliament to publish an annual report on the performance of the academies sector. It covers:
- background information on the academies programme
- data showing the number, type and location of academies across the country
- information on how academies use freedom and flexibility to raise standards in their schools
It also provides information on academy sponsors and on how academies work in partnership to promote professional development and improved teaching and learning.


text:
Maple Pralines Recipe
This recipe rekindles memories of my grandfather and his love for making maple syrup. When I was in college, my mother would send me a package of her pralines during sugaring season. They were so popular with my friends, I barely managed to tuck away a few for myself.
- 1 cup sugar
- 2/3 cup milk
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans, toasted
- 1. In a heavy 1-qt. saucepan, combine sugar, milk and syrup. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture boils. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cook, uncovered, until a candy thermometer reads 234° (soft-ball stage), stirring occasionally.
- 2. Remove from the heat. Add butter; do not stir. Cool, without stirring, to 160°. Stir in pecans. Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until mixture just begins to thicken but is still glossy. Quickly drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper. Cool. Store in an airtight container. Yield: about 1 pound.
Nutritional Facts
1 serving (1 ounce) equals 132 calories, 6 g fat (1 g saturated fat), 5 mg cholesterol, 20 mg sodium, 20 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 1 g protein.
Reviews for Maple Pralines
© 2016 RDA Enthusiast Brands, LLC


text:
I got into riding about a month or two ago. I wasn't going too far, probably putting in 2-3 miles a day at first but it was slowly growing. Then last Thursday night my chain broke and bent a few gears. Seeing as the bike was too small for me (gift from a friend about 6 years ago that I never touched until recently) I didn't see it worth investing too much time or money into. (Yes, I know fixing it may be the most efficient option... I'm just trying to explore more options first!)
Anyhow my question is more for opinions than fact. My budget (if I stretched it as far as it could possibly go) is about $300. I'm hoping to find a used bike for a lot less than that. I have a nice deal on craigslist fall through recently which increased my fervor for finding a bike a bit more. Not being able to go riding kind of depresses me! I was previously looking for a hybrid or mountain bike but the only off-roading I do is to get out of the way of a car or bus. I never considered a road bike until I was scanning the stickies in this forum. I see a lot of road bikes on craigslist that seem to be in acceptable shape for a very cheap price. But would a stock road bike be able to get me by for the time being or would the tires buckle under my tremendous girth? (about 330lbs right now) I'm about to be jobless and have nothing lined up immediately so the cheapest I can get myself back on to a bike, the better.


text:
This topic is archived and can not be replied to any more.
|Stuff To Do In London. posted Wed Jul 23 2003 02:08:26 by Avt007
|Aviation Museums And Cool Things To Do In SE USA posted Thu Apr 3 2003 03:52:43 by VonRichtofen
|What To Do In London posted Tue Dec 5 2006 12:01:44 by Flyer732
|Fun Things To Do In Washington DC? posted Fri Nov 17 2006 13:27:35 by QANTASforever
|What To Do In Costa Rica? (help) posted Wed Nov 8 2006 05:50:08 by FlyUSCG
|What To Do In Houston TX posted Tue Nov 7 2006 18:57:23 by LGWspeedbird
|Things To Do In Ghana posted Tue Oct 31 2006 03:50:51 by Csavel
|What To Do In Berlin? posted Thu Oct 12 2006 13:07:57 by BA757
|What To Do In San Francisco? posted Thu Oct 12 2006 10:24:15 by LGWspeedbird
|What To Do In New York? posted Sun Oct 8 2006 20:33:37 by AirPacific747


text:
Eagle Balanced Competition Rotating Assemblies are designed to offer the ultimate strength and reliability at affordable pricing for the most demanding applications. Kits include high quality components including an Eagle Forged 4340 Steel Crankshaft; Eagle H-Beam Rods; SRP or Mahle Premium Forged Pistons; Hastings Rings; and high performance Clevite or King Bearings.
Kits require a harmonic balancer/dampner and Automatic transmission flexplate or Manual transmission flywheel (Sold separately) to match Eagle Specialty Products balancing specifications.
Eagle Specialty Products reserves the right to substitute pistons due to availability.


text:
March 2, 2011
BERKELEY - Cal fans are encouraged to come out and watch the Golden Bears' men's and women's basketball teams at the 2011 Pac-10 Tournament at Staples Center from March 9-12 in Los Angeles.
New to the Pac-10 Tournament this year, the semifinals and the final of the women's tournament will be played at the Staples Center, concurrent with the same rounds of the men's tournament. In addition, all-session packages include both the men's and women's games, and Cal fans can sit in the Cal section by ordering through the Cal Athletic Ticket Office.
The first two rounds of the women's tournament will be played at Galen Center on the USC campus.
There are two all-session packages that include both men's and women's games for fans to consider:
Premium All-Session Tickets ($271) are located in either the 100 or 200 level reserved seats for men's games. All women's games are general admission.
Standard All-Session Tickets ($105) are located in the 300 level reserved seats for all men's games. All women's games are general admission.
Fans ordering through Cal Athletics are guaranteed to sit in the Cal section. To order go to CalBears.com or call (800) GO BEARS.


text:
Worked With:
Brooke D'Orsay
Birth Name: Brooke D'Orsay
Born: 02/07/1982
Birth Place: Brampton, Ontario, CA
Born: 02/07/1982
Birth Place: Brampton, Ontario, CA
A remarkably prolific actress on television series in America and her native Canada, Brooke D'Orsay juggled simultaneous assignments on several popular series, including "Drop Dead Diva" (Lifetime 2009- ), "Royal Pains" (USA Network 2009- ) and "Two and a Half Men" (CBS 2003- ). The Toronto, Ontario native began appearing on Canadian television in the early 2000s, working regularly as a guest performer while also providing a voice for the long-running animated series "6Teen" (Teletoon/Nickelodeon/Cartoon Network/PopGirl/ABC3 2004-2010). D'Orsay soon settled into an exceptionally busy schedule of guest roles on American programming, including "Gary Unmarried" (CBS 2008-2010), and a stint a... Continue Bio >>
Popular Movies and Television:
2005-04-22 King's Ransom
2004-07-30 Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
2013 June in January
2012 Off-Season Greetings
2011 How to Fall in Love
2011 Love's Playing Our Song
2011 My Funny Valentine
2010 Boy Who Cried Werewolf
2009 Royal Pains
More Credits >>


text:
On Sunday morning, about 4 a.m. Los Angeles time, Shia LaBeouf sent me a direct message on Twitter. Three of them, actually: One with a link to Twitter's "Short of the week" feed, the second with a password-protected Vimeo link, and a third reading simply:
The Vimeo link led to a copy of LaBoeuf's short film HowardCantour.com, which turns out to be a portrait of an online film critic, played by comedian Jim Gaffigan.
The premise naturally set off alarm bells. Although most critics don't see their job as an adversarial one, Hollywood actors and directors often do: Think the vicious end M. Night Shyamalan devises for a know-it-all film buff, inexplicably named for critic Manny Farber, in The Lady in the Water, Roland Emmerich's nasty caricature of Roger Ebert in Godzilla, or George Lucas naming Willow's villain after Pauline Kael, who was infamously not a fan of the Star Wars series. While many of my colleagues embraced Ratatouille's scowling food critic Anton Ego (voiced by the late Peter O'Toole), especially the moment where a well-prepared dish sends him zooming back to the pleasures of childhood, the underlying implication was that creators, like The Incredibles' superheroic family, are a breed apart, and that it's the role of critics and other mere humans to praise them when they do well and keep their mouths shut otherwise. (It's not, of course, that all filmmakers feel that way, but the ones who don't never seem moved to portray critics onscreen.)
So when HowardCantour.com opened with Gaffigan, in voiceover, proclaiming "A critic is a warrior," I braced myself for the downhill slide. There he was, cradling movie-theater popcorn between his legs as he sat behind the wheel of a video-game car, fulfilling the stereotype of the gluttonous, immature writer who uses entertainment to escape his humdrum life.
"Most critics," he goes on," will give any movie three and a half stars if it flatters their self-image. I take it much more seriously. Have you ever noticed how most critics usually disagree with the public? That should tell you a lot about critics."
But then, HowardCantour.com -- which, as my colleague Kiva Reardon points out, is an uncredited adaptation of Daniel Clowes' comic "Justin M. Damiano" -- starts to take some surprising turns. For one, it turns out that Howard, contrary to the elitist tone of his earlier voice-over, is something of a populist, despairing of "directors with their never-ending view of sordid humanity" and openly championing escapism. "If I want reality, I'll watch Cheaters With Joey Greco."
Update: BuzzFeed reports that Clowes was unaware of the short until it hit the web today. Given that most of HowardCantour.com's dialogue is taken word-for-word from Clowes' strip, this should be interesting. See Criticwire's story about LaBeouf's admission that he used Clowes' work without permission.
The crux of the short is an unexpected encounter between Howard and director played by Fighting's Dito Montiel. Howard has come to loath his work, with its "Everyone's immoral except for me because I wear a turtleneck" philosophy. But as his web-based rival Thomas Lennon gleefully points out, Howard once wrote an article in a defunct publication called Cactus Culture (nice touch) praising him. But rather than merely reflecting hypocrisy, Howard's apparent about-face turns out to be a function of a former relationship: Basically, he wrote the article to impress a girl. After meeting the director, whom he doesn't seem to speak to, Howard hesitates over posting his negative review, but after musing about "a cinema of collective wish-fulfillment," he does it anyway, giving a kind of ambiguously heroic integrity.
HowardCantour.com hasn't really been reshaped to fit the screen instead of the comic-book page, and its visual style isn't abstract enough to pull off Clowes' trademark brand of existential despair. But it does, for once, treat a movie critic like a human being, albeit one with serious flaws and a fairly incoherent aesthetic philosophy. So Shia, feel free to DM me any time.


text:
- Differential Diagnosis
- Diseases
- Drugs
- More
- Try building your search one term at a time, and be as specific as you can! Search term example: "chronic cough".
- Do not enter multiple findings such as "anemia, chronic cough, weight loss, vomiting" all at the same time.
- After selecting your term from the search results a list of possible diagnoses will be generated. If the list is too long, you will be able to narrow it down by entering additional terms.
- Do not enter values such as "heart rhythm 110" or "sodium 125", instead use "tachycardia" or "hyponatremia".
Sign-in (or register) to check out the new features we've just launched!
Differential Diagnosis For EMG/Botulism pattern
Available only to registered users.
- Suggest
- 3 possible diagnoses found
- Poisoning (Specific Agent)
- Botulinum toxin/deliberate exposure
- Botulism
- Botulism, infant
- Synonyms
- Botulism, Botulism (disorder), BOTULISM TOXICO INFECT, Botulism Toxico Infectious, Botulism Toxico-Infectious, Clostridium botulinum, Clostridium botulinum poisoning, ELECTROMYOGR, Electromyogram, Electromyographies, Electromyography, Electromyography (EMG), Electromyography (procedure), Electromyography (regime/therapy), EM-Electromyography, EMG, EMG (Electrophysiology), EMG Electromyography, Infection due to clostridium botulinum, Infection due to clostridium botulinum (disorder), Intoxication with Clostridium botulinum toxin, Intoxication with Clostridium botulinum toxin (disorder), pattern, poisoning Clostridium botulinum, TOXICO INFECT BOTULISM, Toxico Infectious Botulism, Toxico-Infectious Botulism
- External Links Related to EMG/Botulism pattern
- Wikipedia
- Merck
- Images
- PubMed (National Library of Medicine)
- NGC (National Guideline Clearinghouse)
- Medscape (eMedicine)
- Harrison's Online (accessmedicine)
- NEJM (The New England Journal of Medicine)


text:
shari L.
Forum topics shari L. participated in
No posts.
shari L.'s recipes
No posts.
shari L.'s product ratings
... no product ratings yet ...
shari L.'s recipe ratings
Mapledoodles Rating: 4 Recommend: Y Comments: These cookies are very good, but they had to grow on me. I used half shortening...


text:
- PhilippinesRetailFunding via Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation, Inc. (NWTF)
BarbaraBoliviaTransportationFunding via IMPRO
Edilma De J...ColombiaFoodFunding via Interactuar
Riffat Bibi's Group
Riffat is an uneducated lady. She couldn't study because her parents couldn't send her to school due to financial constraints. But she knows the value of education; that's why she wants to educate her children. For that purpose, she does a livestock business. She buys young animals from the animal market, raises them up and sells to customers who require them to collect money for her children's future.
Her husband is involved in a construction supplies business. Her brother-in-law is also lives with her family and is an electrician by trade. He provides electricity repair services to his customers and earns an income.
Riffat has applied for a loan from Kiva partner Asasah for her livestock business. With the loan, she will buy goats to resell at a profit. She has been operating this business for the past 15 years and is hopeful that the loan investment will bring her business to a more profitable position and allow her to send her children to school.
Additional Information
This is a Group Loan
In a group loan, each member of the group receives an individual loan but is part of a larger group of individuals. The group is there to provide support to the members and to provide a system of peer pressure, but groups may or may not be formally bound by a group guarantee. In cases where there is a group guarantee, members of the group are responsible for paying back the loans of their fellow group members in the case of delinquency or default.
Kiva's Field Partners typically feature one borrower from a group. The loan description, sector, and other attributes for a group loan profile are determined by the featured borrower's loan. The other members of the group are not required to use their loans for the same purpose.
About Pakistan
216View loans »
Success!! The loan was 100% repaid
- Repayment Term
- 13 months (Additional Information)
- Repayment Schedule
- Monthly
- Pre-Disbursed:
- Jun 23, 2011
- Listed
- Jun 27, 2011
- Currency Exchange Loss:
- Possible
- Ended:
- Jun 15, 2012


text:
- 4 years ago by Ashley Cardiff
- 2 Comments »
- Share a Tip
Tom Brady plays football but the fashion industry has decided he's just too beautiful for all that pummeling and grunting, so they've bestowed upon him a nebulous career in being handsome. Thus, here is Tom Brady wearing a Givenchy suit on the cover of V, photographed by Mario Testino, styled by Carine Roitfeld and interviewed by Tom Ford himself (the full-court press). The New England Patriots' quarterback and husband to Gisele Bundchen probably said some pleasant things in that interview, but it's Ford who says all the interesting stuff. More