text:
The Urgent Need to Teach the Constitution to the Rising Generation
Dear Friends,
The other day I was speaking to a young friend of mine who attends one of the local high schools. He was reviewing with me the classes in which he was currently enrolled. One of them was Advanced Placement American Government. I asked him to tell me about what the class was learning and the methods employed by the teacher. He said the main assignment was that each student had to bring a current issue to class. Three or four issues would then be chosen which would be the basis of the discussion that day in class. He said there quickly develops several different opinions strongly expressed by members of the class as they try to convince others of their point of view. I asked him if the teacher gives any input. To which he replied: "Oh no, the teacher says he doesn't want to influence our minds with his opinions. He merely wants us to be able to convince others of our position. But we have some pretty good discussions."
I asked him if the teachers taught any underlying principles of good government to the class. He said no. I asked him if the teacher expected you to read and study the writings of the founders and to learn their reasoning on important issues. He said no. I asked him if he felt there was a serious study of the Constitution itself. Again, he said no.
As our conversation ended I thought to myself how sad it is to have the opportunity to do some valuable teaching and have such great influence over young inquiring minds-only to see it squandered in opinions and rhetoric. And somehow this passes the requirement for studying the Constitution in high school.
Studying the Constitution becomes a Requirement in 43 States
In 1926, Samuel P. Weaver, a member of the Spokane, Washington Bar Association, outlined the growing concern for stronger teaching of the Constitution after World War I:
"The gospel of the Constitution began to be proclaimed during the period immediately following the World War. Prior to that time the schools taught American History and civics, and in connection with those courses sought to train the students in the mechanics of government. After the war, however, when our national safety was threatened by the rapidly spreading danger of Communism, by the questioned loyalty of groups of foreign-born citizens and the ignorance and indifference of many others, leaders of political thought fostered a movement for a more general, uniform and effective teaching of the Constitution. Under the leadership of the American Bar Association and other patriotic organizations, forty-one states [by 1926] have enacted statutes requiring the Constitution to be taught in the schools."
My own state of Arizona was one of the 43 states which eventually adopted legislation requiring the teaching of the Constitution. The Arizona Revised Statute 15-710 mandates: "all public schools in the State which are sustained or in any manner supported by public funds shall give instruction in the essentials, sources and history of the United States Constitution,. and instruction in American institutions and ideals.." And if that isn't enough, our state law further declares to public school teachers that "Willful neglect or failure ... to observe and carry out the requirements of ARS 15?710 is sufficient cause for dismissal..." (ARS 15-508)
By the end of the decade of the 1920's, 43 states had been persuaded to pass new laws, or emphasize old ones, requiring instruction about the Constitution in the schools. Even Congress became involved; in 1925 the U. S. House of Representatives, by a vote of 162 to 29, passed this resolution:
Whereas it is essential to an intelligent and loyal discharge of the duties of citizenship that the citizens of this country have an appreciation of, reverence for, and devotion to the ideals and principles underlying the Constitution of the Unites states, together with the realization that to it we are indebted for the blessings of political, religious, and personal liberty and freedom of action which we enjoy, and the responsibility for its maintenance and preservation rests upon us, and
Whereas a thorough and complete knowledge and understanding of the history and meaning of the Constitution is necessary to a proper appreciation of, reverence for, and devotion to it: Therefore be it
Resolved, That the House expresses its earnest hope and desire that every educational institution, whether public or private, will provide and maintain, as a part of its regular curriculum, a course for the study of the Constitution of the United states, provide necessary facilities for this purpose, and place the same under capable and proper instructors; such course to begin at the earliest age at which children are capable of receiving such instruction and to continue during each scholastic year. To this end the cooperation of all commissioners, secretaries, and boards of education, whether Federal or State, of all patriotic or educational societies and associations, as well as the governors and legislatures of the several States, is earnestly invited and solicited.
It is interesting to note that national emergencies, concerns about foreign presence in our country, and warlike threats to our nation always bring us to reexamine our teaching of the Constitution. It is as though Americans innately know that answers to our problems lie in that document. With the events of September 11, 2001 emblazoned on our minds, we are once again asking ourselves how well we are really teaching the rising generation the correct "essentials, sources and history of the United States Constitution."
A National Report Card on Teaching the Constitution
Mr. Weaver later gave an assessment as to the teaching of the Constitution in the schools. While his remarks are many years old, his description accurately describes our situation today:
"The Constitution should be taught as a separate course of study.. This recommendation has met with the approval of the teaching profession. Many teachers and educators say there is no time in the present organization of the school system to allot for a separate course in the Constitution of the United States, and that the only way they can teach it is incidentally in connection with courses in history and civics. For example, in South Carolina it is a part of the history course; in California it is a part of the course in civics. In many states it is reported as a part of both of these courses. In Missouri it is taught only incidentally. In almost all of the states it is taught by reference only. While no one will deny that the teaching of history and general civics offers many opportunities to impress the lessons of patriotism and good citizenship, yet all of us should readily understand that the fundamental principles of our constitutional government cannot be taught in this manner. The Constitution, being the source of all powers of our national government, should be emblazoned on the minds of every citizen with a distinctness that time cannot obliterate, and this can only be done when it is presented clearly and unobscured in its original setting and outlines.
"As a general rule there is little effort to teach the development of the Constitution, or to uncover the foundation upon which our constitutional structure rests. For example, there is no clear or adequate explanation of its development through colonial charters, state constitutions, the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, Ordinance of 1787, and other important instruments of government. Its kinship to the common law is not referred to in any text. Its relation to the customs and the commercial and social conditions existing at the time of its adoption are not adequately discussed. Its application and growth to meet critical conditions at the different periods of our history and at the present time have not been illustrated or explained.
"Some of the texts have abandoned the method of discussion used by Justice Story, Judge Cooley, and other eminent authors, and have adopted a method of their own, For example, two texts do not contain the Constitution except in the appendix. One author has reclassified the clauses of the Constitution and grouped them under divisions selected by him, under the theory that the high school student must be content chiefly with the study of selected topics. Some of the texts contain references and questions that are frivolous:
- what is meant by gerrymander;
- what is a filibuster;
- what is a lame duck;
- can a lame duck be appointed to office;
- why did Mr. Bryan resign from Mr.; Wilson's cabinet?
While these questions relate in a general way to the administration of our government, can they be said to inspire in the student an unfaltering devotion to the Constitution? Do they impress upon his mind and heart the great truth uttered by the immortal Gladstone: 'The American Constitution is the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man.'?
Mr. Weaver discusses the fact that most high school textbooks are poorly written and factually incorrect. He then raises the question as to who should prepare the texts for this purpose. He continues:
"It is not necessary that the authors be lawyers, but they must understand the law and its many distinctions. The Constitution is a legal document, and no person can explain it intelligently unless he has a clear conception of the history, meaning, growth, and application of the principles upon which it rests. Almost all of the present texts reveal a lack of legal appreciation on the part of the authors which makes them fail to accomplish the purpose desired.. The author to be successful must have the following qualifications:
- he must be thoroughly trained in the law;
- he must understand methods of teaching;
- he must understand the methods used in writing textbooks;
- he must be able to analyze the Constitution, its background, its meaning, and its application to conditions arising since its adoption;
- he must have the time, industry, and ability to devote to the work.
Mr. Weaver gave suggestions as to what a great textbook on the Constitution would contain. Among other things he included:
- It should orient our Constitution among other constitutions in the world.
- It should trace the development of the great principles of the Constitution from their English and American origins.
- it should explain how these principles were built into our present constitutional structure by the Constitutional Convention and the conventions of the original thirteen states.
- It should analyze the Constitution section by section and paragraph by paragraph. It is difficult to improve upon the clear, logical arrangement of the scholars of the Constitutional Convention.
- It should explain the meaning of all the provisions of the Constitution and all legal and unfamiliar terms and phrases so that students become familiar with the framework and the powers of our national government from the great instrument which is their fountain source.
- It should illustrate how the Constitution, through the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, has been interpreted and applied to meet new conditions as they have arisen during all periods of our history so that students can understand the timeless nature of this marvelous document.
The Instructional Materials of NCCS Meets all of these Requirements
How grateful we are to the talented and gifted founder of the NCCS, W. Cleon Skousen, who meets and exceeds all of Mr. Weaver's requirements to author Constitutional textbooks and whose published works meet the requirements to be called great textbooks on the Constitution.
In our present national crisis, as in the 1920's, there in an increase of interest in good, constitutional government. Hopefully, the serious of these resources will prove to be a turning point back to America's sure foundation.
Constitutional Study Courses Available from NCCS
The Five Thousand Year Leap A discussion of the 28 great principles upon which all free governments must be based. A first primer on constitutional government. 355 pages
The Making of America A discussion on how America's Constitution came to be. All 286 provisions are outlined and explained, mostly in the Founders' own words. 920 pages. 33% off. (This month only.)
The Miracle of America The most popular course for personal and family study. Either in audio or video by Dr. Skousen himself. 135 page study guide included. 13 hours
American Government and U. S. Constitution Curriculum using The FiveThousand Year Leap and The Making of America as texts here is a complete year-long course curriculum for schools. Includes quizzes, tests, etc. Part I-9 video tapes, Part II-16 video tapes.
A More Perfect Union The most ambitious film ever made covering the happenings at the Constitutional Convention. Available in straight movie format (2 hours) or divided into five segments for classroom instruction with teacher's guide and lessons.
A Guide for Learning and Teaching the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution: Learning From the original Texts Using Classical Learning Methods of the Founders Written by NCCS supporter Joseph Andrews to assist school teachers as a guide for compliance with the California Education Code. 379 pages
Other than learning to serve the God of this land, is there any greater service we can do for the rising generation than to see they are taught about the marvelous and miraculous document called the Constitution of the United States?
Earl Taylor, Jr.


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In the quest to learn OpenGL and attempt to break into games programming, I decided to attempt something I've wanted to do for years: a reinterpretation of the 16-bit classic Carrier Command.
Imaginatively titled 'Carrier 2', here's the biz so far:
Dev blog now lives in my GameDev journal
June 2007
Quickie while I'm here....
Been integrating loading of Collada models to support the new model data required for physics etc, and to allow user data.
Piccy is of a new manta design I've been playing with in Blender, which I've become accustomed to really quickly and now like much more than the restrictive 3d studio, not to mention Maya :P
Made a start on adding a scripting language which should speed up the remaining work no end. Choosing between lua and squirrel, though leaning towards lua as I'm familiar with it already.
May 2007
Another quick announcement: there's a movie available showing the latest build in action.
It was created by Dante from another indie production that's really looking rather tasty indeed: Jet Thunder. Get the movie here (15MB).
Meanwhile work continues on new Blender models, getting the game part balanced and playable, tweaking the damage systems and further shader work.
March 2007
Quick update to show the preliminary progress on the shader work... the picture says a thousand words.
...and a nice beach scene... looks nicer with the water animating :)
Now I've finally made the jump to shader speed, the fixed pipeline seems horribly stifling in comparison - no looking back for this games programmer! :P I thoroughly recommend anyone starting out to jump straight to shaders if possible.
Jan 2007
4 years. 4 whole years. Don't know whether to be amazed or depressed. Best not to think about it probably ;) Anyway, despite what amounts to a month off over Christmas, I've got an amazing amount done on C2 - It's actually starting to look like a game rather than a 'tech demo'. Here's the beef...
The scout drone lives... again. Yes - my first model has had the cobwebs blown off and been reinstated! I've got island defense drones in and working very nicely indeed, and until I have something better, I've used the old scout drone model.
Been searching for a new model format that caters for my new enhanced needs and helps speed up the work of getting the new data into the game. So took a look at Blender, which hereby wins my coveted award for easiest way of losing hours of work at the drop of a hat. Leading to major keyboard headbutt wounds. What a bitch of a program it is to use. Erm, but it's free.
Having made the ray-cast functionality, I now had the task of trying not to call it too often a frame. Much fun is being had trying to find a good scheduling and/or caching system for this so things don't grind to a halt but the AI can react in a reasonable timeframe.
Quite a lot more work has gone into the heuristics of target detection too. It's been surprisingly hard to get intelligent target selection working. It's boiled down to the individual offensive structures calculating 'local target fitness' which is then combined with an island-evaluated threat level in various ways. Throw into the mix distance, visibility, weightings and weapon suitability and we have quite a complex recipe.
Added *loads* more debug visualisation data. This stuff is invaluable when it comes to writing AI stuff, especially when using rays.
Dusted off the old OpenGL shader book and started looking more closely at that stuff again... it may finally be approaching time for the 'fun graphics bit' at last, having left it more towards the latter part of development, hard though that has been. :)
Last but not least, I've had fun making some nice explosions from the various particle types, and added splash damage calculations to round em off. Shooting down those annoying attack drones with missiles is a satisfying experience.
Aug-Oct 2006
I'm finally beginning to concentrate on some more interesting stuff in detail - mainly the Island defense 'A.I.' I started looking at earlier. This has prompted a whole raft of new geometry intersections/test code I never knew I needed, and thanks to the excellent book 'Realtime Collision Detection', has been a lot less work than it looked like!
Anyway, the contents of my Subversion changelist this period, in now familiar bullet-pointy style:
Well that's most of the interesting stuff anyway... hopefully more soon :D
Hmm this page is getting rather large and unwieldy... maybe time for splittage.
May-Jul 2006
Doesn't time fly...
Not really had time for an update recently - too busy with the evil RL again. That and going on holiday a few times :D
So... what C2 hackage have I been up to? Well rather a lot actually - it's just hard to summarise when it comes to timesheet day.
Also I finally decided to ditch the buoyancy functionality that comes with Newton physics. Despite looking promising to start with, the system requires various 'hacks' involving fudge factors and additional physics geometry. It works ok for floating cube physics demos, but seemingly not for more complex applications.
Anyway, a bit of tinkering with the fluid sample system used for the Manta flight model has given me what I've been looking for all along, except without the numerous hacks :) See the pic for juicy buoyancy forces in action! It's a testament to the fluid sample flexibility that adding the buoyancy effects only took a few hours hackage, and now universally handles flow forces and buoyancy together.
Mar/Apr 2006
Update time this way comes...
Managed to sneak in some C2 hackage despite having a very full timetable :-/
Anyway, I'm just overcoming a bad case of analysis paralysis (aka 'programmers block') The end result of which is a totally revamped subsystem err system. I had the child object hierarchy and the subsystems muddled up totally. Seems I just had to step back and re-examine the design in a few places to see the light. Halleluja! Much happier now - better than soldiering on with a crap design.
Also moved over to using Subversion for source control - a good move and long overdue. It seems to be the best SCC system I've used so far, and I've used quite a few (SourceSafe, Perforce, ClearCase, Continuus.) Also helps me see what I've actually accomplished over the last few months...
More work on the Manta flight model (fluid samples) finally (almost) flyable and acting properly in VToL and normal flight. See the piccy for an example.
Added more debug rendering facilities so I can see stuff like physics forces being applied - essential when messing with matrices and world/local transforms/cross products yadder yadder. See the pic again. Short description:
Jan/Feb 2006
Thought I better update me olde blogge thingy once in a while! Quick pointy list:
Designed the threat prioritizer to be a centralised threat evaluation system so that hopefully it will act in a more intelligent way than just simply attacking the closest enemy.
Yes... work has begun on the AI at last!! Started looking at island defences, so hopefully there will be something playable soon, rather than just a carrier command world to be moved around by the player. I'm hoping to make sure recon, stealth and terrain all affect your approach and success to taking over islands, as the detector structures will work 'properly' as you'd expect them to.
October/November 2005
Fleeting update time yet again...
Had a few problems with the physics integration. I actually thought it'd be quite easy to do, but as usual it's harder than expected. You actually need to know quite a bit about physics yourself (which my research into RBD has equipped me with thankfully.) Problems have been encountered in various places:
As a result of physics incorporation I also had to move the engine over to using orientation matrices instead of hdg/pitch/roll. Seems like a better solution anyway. Especially for avoiding gimbal lock.
Physics integration is definitely a good move though, despite the problems being encountered. Seeing a Walrus navigate a steep beach landing, or rock from the recoil of its heavy cannon is definitely worth seeing :D
August/September 2005
OK, by request... a new update!
Rigid Body Dynamics. The (semi)final(ish) frontier. Carrier2 being a learning exercise for me, I think I know *what* & *how* to implement it (hope to summarise this in another webpage, as others may benefit), so I will now code one up. Erm, except to code/test/tweak one of these beasts will require a rather long time to put it mildly.
So in the continuing spirit of learning things, I learned to salve my conscience in this manner, and integrate 3rd party again. I'm currently evaluating Newton, having rejected certain others for various reasons.
Adding RBD is one of the two remaining 'BIG ONES' - obstacles standing in the way of Carrier2 completeness (A.I. being the other big 'un) So with RBD in and working, we can maybe expect a 'playable' game (discounting any opposition;)
Screenie shown is the Walrus physics geometry navigating an uneven hill.
June 2005
Quick update before I go on hols (yes, still going, just about ;) Things covered in May/June:
Finally sorting out the vehicle subsystems issues has been a rather tough programming challenge. Had to handle requirements I never designed for, and had to refactor a lot of things to splice it in. Finally in there though, and just as I wanted: vehicle subsystems can be physically hit, damaged and repaired.
Upgrading the physics models for the vehicles allowed me to add basic collision response. This is the meat of the rigid body simulation, and it's going to be hard to get it right. Thought about adding ODE or similar 3rd party dynamics engine, but there are some issues with my large world size.
And testing the Manta's hover mode is slowing down progress as it's so much fun ;)
April/May 2005
Might as well task-dump at this point; been adding various things despite some real-life stuff getting in the way.
Island placement. At first I thought this would be nice and easy. Then I realised perhaps not. Constraining the placement so that the game is actually playable is a somewhat harder task than it first seems. Then I discovered Diffusion-Limited Aggregation, and there was much rejoicing. For this nice fractal process lends itself almost perfectly to island placement, so in the end it's been quite an easy task after all (see piccy for a nice 128-island mother-of-a-map). Just had to tweak the diffusion steps so they tended towards the origin, guaranteeing a more timely aggregation, and steer the release perimeter a bit... It's also quite easy to allow the user some control over the formation.
Now I can state that carrier2 is using state-of-the-art fractal technology in the feature list ;)
Now, making the resource network links appear natural is something completely different...
March 2005
Onwards and errr upwards? Monthly update this way comes...
Moved over from Visual C++ 6 to .NET. Mixed bag really - compiler seems better, and it found a horrible stack corruption problem straight away, but the improved so-called 'intellisense' is somewhat less intelligent than it purports; my ASSERT macro rendering it unusable in following code (which was unfortunate really, as probably half of my functions start with asserts)
Also been reading up on the OpenGL Shading Language. Very nice indeed - I can see why shaders are taking over. Now, if you'd all be kind enough to upgrade your graphics cards to full shader support... ;)
And yes, I do keep going like the duracell bunny (nice forum post ;) No I don't know when a beta will be out either :P
On a side note, rather than bore you with the inanities of my latest bug fixing session, I'm only going to update this page when there's something worth writing from now on...
February 2005
Feels like I've taken a step sideways this month. Lots of work again but not much to show. LOTS of bugs fixed and tweaks made. Have to be careful I don't get stuck in a tweak cycle though. I've realised I need to keep a 'don't look too far ahead' mentality with this project, otherwise I'd run away screaming with the sheer amount of stuff still left to do!
Test test test. Deary me, you think I'd have learned by now eh? Seems there's been a bug in a piece of well-used code since the 'early days' and I've only just found it. Uncovered a few other corkers in there too :o
The upshot of which is that I wrote up a 32-page test doc this month (about 500 tests to date) and will add to it as I code stuff up. I'll have to run through it every now and again to check I haven't broke anything, and also before any beta releases ;) Some basic tests are run automatically every time the game is run, but I must find a way to automate more of them, or go mad... Anyone still volunteering for beta testing? ;)
Messed about with different integrators in the Walrus physics code - Euler, midpoint, Runge-Kutta, Verlet. Still messing.
Robustified the resource network code, and had to rewrite some of it as I'd assumed that a base island and a stockpile would always exist. How myopic. Also some *very* sneaky bugs were present whereby objects were silently changing ownership; bummer to find that one!
Looked at another method of island creation (well it *is* one of my pet areas of interest.) Tried out the rather nice LibNoise - basically a programatical version of WorldMachine if anyone's familiar with it. Gives quite a bit more flexibility than my previous methods. Lack of screenies due to islands currently being a mess :P
Finally got round to implementing a non-floating point world position class, so now we can have worlds up to 5.9x10^13 km in size. Certainly beats the ~200km we had before! Should really have done this before worldPosition was used all over the place, but ah well.
Collision detection came in for another bashing as well - due to the WorldPosition changes I needed to rewrite the coldet stuff using only 'well-conditioned' (i.e. near to the origin) floats from relative object positions. Also, having sub-objects (e.g. turrets) adds an order of complexity to the proceedings. But I wants meh turrets, so we is gonna have 'em. And it's so much fun taking out aircraft with the carrier's AA turret :)
January 2005
Well, it's the bi-anniversary already - two years of hackage and nothing released yet! Tell the truth, if I'd known how much work was involved in Carrier Command I probably would have chosen to write a nice easy FPS or something...
This month's selected highlights:
Rewrote particle memory allocation stuff & made particles more flexible (yet again).
Implemented more detailed damage modelling, using a system of:
Looks like it'll take quite some testing to balance out.
Managed many small bug fixes & tweaks.
OK, so I rewrote the sub-system/sub-object/collision/damage thingy I was moaning about last month. I wasn't happy with the code. I was shoehorning a recursive object hierarchy into a place where it didn't fit (and wasn't really appropriate either), resulting in something too complex, with redundancy, special cases for the carrier, and other bad smells. And it was giving me nightmares (and I mean literally, such is my mindset). It's amazing how complex these things can get -- Sometimes I just needed to take a step back from it all and apply some common sense ;)
I know I've been advocating getting in the base cc1 gameplay in there first, but the subsystem and damage modelling are integral parts of my vision for CC2, so, errr... :P As an 'indie' programmer I can spend time on these interesting areas I feel make a game more complete. I think it's details like this that make games like the rather amazing IL-Sturmovik an order of magnitude better than most. Whatever 'better' means.
Certain areas of the game-programming web have been alight recently with comments on the working conditions at a certain well-known software house that should know better...
Perhaps a little caution is required when aiming on entering the gaming industry? I certainly wouldn't want to be going for interviews at the once-great EA ;) Unfortunately, I bought an EA game quite recently...
December 2004
Late update, but then I've only just sobered up after Christmas...
Quite a lot of work has been accomplished over Christmas, but I couldn't really name any major changes -- tweaked the projectiles and particles, more carrier subsystems work -- the overall code is better and there are less bugs.
I've been wrestling with a few design decisions I made some time ago wrt my game objects and their subsystems. I now have to take what I've got and try to get by, or rewrite certain parts to handle what I now need. Not very pretty, but 'refactoring means never having to say you're sorry' ;) As you may expect though, it's a lot harder to make large changes at this stage in the game - a test of how well my interfaces are separated. Or not. As usual, I can see better ways of writing the code in hindsight, and the main problem is deciding when to leave something alone, and when I need to forge ahead and rewrite it. I do actually want to finish this thing at some point.
Status: about 5 major things on the 'Game Mechanics' todo list (and a lot of minor ones)
Now (in the spirit of Umbrarg) to take care of that leftover Christmas beer... :)
November 2004
Straight into the breach:
Island name generation. After the banality of the save game stint I had to tease my brain back into action somehow. Experimented using simple Markov chain analysis to create some random names from a file containing example words. It actually gives out some quite authentic *sounding* names, and when given an ancient greek example file came up with these gems: Halmeliophili, Crete(!), Pharassaea, Moria & Didysseus.
Been trying to find a good implementation of a Delaunay Triangulation algorithm too - all the ones I could find were either written in horrible machine-dependent ways or just plain didn't work. Anyone know of one I could use? :)
'Investigating' Half-life 2 has taken some time up this month too. It's a good game, with some great set pieces, but didn't really grab me as much as the original did all those years ago. The gravity gun spices things up quite a bit, though the setting has changed a lot and it doesn't really feel like the half life we grew up with any more. The rather lengthy periods of 'zoom around in an vehicle between enemy outposts' comes off worse when compared to the excellent story of the first game. Don't get me started on how poorly the Steam thing was executed... quite ironic how the game depicts a totalitarian state :(
Did anyone ever tell you that game development is hard? ;)
Another lesson I've had to swallow recently: Don't just throw in a feature quickly - do a proper job from the start. You may start to 'bake in' use of the hack in later code and then when you realise you need to properly implement the feature, your work is now multiplied handling the propagating changes. Kind of backs up the OO idea - keep your implementations behind a complete yet minimal interface. That's the difference between demo writers and game creators - we have to tie up the loose ends afterwards :P
On a more positive note, I only have about 7 items on my 'Game Mechanics Complete' todo list now, so fear not - I am progressing! Sort of.
October 2004
Seems like I was overdue another important lesson in game programming, and it is this: include save/load game code RIGHT FROM THE START!!!!
Yes, this month has been an extended bout of just getting my head down and slogging it out - a horribly 'character building' exercise. Two weeks and around 4000 lines of code later, it's only just nearing completion.
I based the code on a hybrid memento design pattern and a virtual interface approach. Each non-trivial object is asked to save its internal state to a memento which acts as an intermediary between the object and an archive; the object knows how to save & retrieve its state and the memento knows how to read & write archives. Two passes are required for loading: one to re-create the game objects and another to reinstate pointers, observers etc. This approach also adds a clean way to initialise game state, for example setting up scenario's etc.
I did find that in general the pieces of data that were hard to externalise (e.g. cached pointers) were hiding opportunities for nasty bugs to occur or at least a hard test case, forcing me to rethink and change that code for the better.
Apart from that major chore, I added a game front-end menu/gui of sorts, complete with spinny carrier model, restructured the game settings system, and put world initialisation in a separate thread (random island creation can take a while and I hate unresponsive apps!!).
Nothing new to capture any screenshots for this month really...
[edit] Added some gratuitous screenies for deanfrz ;)
September 2004
More work towards the base game mechanics this month, plus a little bit of not so focused work.
I decided to add random island generation, and the RobotFrog terrain process seemed like a good idea so I incorporated the code to see how it looked -- pretty good in a volcanic kind of way I think... seemed to give better results than perlin or midpoint methods.
August 2004
Managed to sneak in another quick holiday in Wales this month, and pay-the-bills work has ramped up a bit too :-/.
Enough snivelling excuses though...
I'm now focusing on getting all the base gameplay mechanics in there such that an actual game be played (albeit minus any A.I. or competition!). This will be my first proper milestone achievement at last :D
Also been reading through the 2nd edition of 'Code Complete' this month. A lot of things in there make sense and apply to my little project - a very good read if you're into programming for a living/obsession.
Got a Radeon 9800 Pro for, errr... development/testing purposes as well. Shame that it's a bit of a mess to develop for (annoying bugs with drivers I think), so put Mr. GeForce back in pronto :-/
July 2004
Whoops didn't update me webby for a bit :P Just took some time out in a secluded spot in the middle of France drinking mucho nice wine and (not) relaxing with the wife & kid :)
Back in the real world though, some progress has actually been made over the last few months...
My input processing is now a bit of a mess due to the game loop changes, but if I've learnt one thing it's to sort out the code before moving on to the next bit, or else face an insurmountable pile of spaghetti bugginess.
June 2004
Look! Over there! /me runs
May 2004
Well it's been a back to basics month mostly...
I've completely redesigned the projectile management and behaviour; now I'm using proper physics in their motion, along with thrust, drag, gravity, mass etc. The original mickey mouse system was just not going to hold up in the realism stakes and with what I've got planned for projectiles.
Once it's all in there and working, I'll improve the vehicle behaviour (the poll on the site showed a quite even divide between a simple & bit more complex manta flight model). Still got my nose in the physics, mechanics and calculus books at the moment - jeez it's amazing how completely I've forgotten all that stuff :(.
Also got some turrets on the carrier in there, in another step closer to the model and sub-object implementation.
April 2004
OK that's it, I give up! With my todo list that is. Every time I complete one item off it I add at least one in its place. Bah.
This month has been a bit scrappy doing lots of little things all over the place...
Also began adding sound. Boy did I underestimate this little peach of a job!!?
Wrote a wrapper for the OpenAL API, plus a sound system layer on top of that. The hard bit is still to be completed though; the allocation of sounds to the limited sources (sound channels) is one hell of a non-trivial task, especially when sound looping comes into play! I've actually had to forego hacking for a while to sit down and design this thing properly!
March 2004
What's this? An early update?! Yes. Thought I was at a good point, so...
I've been concentrating hard on getting the base CC gameplay in there. I've narrowed it down to an 18 point bare-essentials-with-no-twiddly-bits 'must get done' todo list. And then hopefully I can release something for alpha test and feedback.
This month has seen me rewrite a few key parts of the code to make it all easier in the long run. It's amazing how much difference a few months makes - I can see ways I *should* have written things ;)
Finally fixed the rendering problems with floating point accuracy. Each Island is now used as a relative rendering 'locality' origin. The game world is partitioned with a Delaunay triangulation (faked for now, until I find/write a nice implementation). This should also make sound fx integration easier too, when I get round to it :)
February 2004
This month I have mainly been niceifying the code. Bit of a cop-out, but it's true.
Apart from answering many posts on the forum, I've finally realised this job is too big for the one of me, and 'recruited' a rather good modeller. Yes, there are now two of us! So bob on over to the forums and take a look at the new models. Rather nice I think you'll agree :)
January 2004
OK; quite a lot of people have mailed and asked for more details on what I'm doing, so as a bit of an anniversary celebration there's a bit more waffle than normal (Yes, it's been a year already!!)
This month has seen a few mad coding sessions resulting in:
- Changes & improvements to the class heirarchy and run-time robustness.
- Vehicle and structure location damage; if you damage something enough, smoke will pour from where the damage was inflicted :E
- Supply drone equipping and carrier docking.
- All important constants and strings now loaded from file - makes gameplay tweakage much easier, and enables language localisation.
- My world 'scene graph' is included in my design implicitly without actually having defined a scene graph as such. Related stuff I'm having to consider now is:
Todo list is still hovering about the 20 items point :-/
Now for something completely different: Along with the hefty quota of viágrá spam I receive, I get quite a few mails from people interested in Carrier2, so here's a little bit of 'audience participation' as it were:
I often have to ask myself questions about the original CC design, and wonder what other CC1 players views are on the matter. So if you want to help me out and be part of Carrier2, check out the *exclusive* 'Carrier2 question of the month' and send me any (reasoned!) views you have on the subject please!
Note: QotM has been transferred to polls on the forum page.
December 2003
Hmm; slight Carrier2 drought this month -- my holidays are now filled with looking after my 1 year old son -- and not so much hacking.
Still, I got some non-coding stuff done, like sketching design ideas for the island structures and vehicles, creating new islands, creating new models, experimenting with textures/skins etc.
Having to think of new and cleaner ways to implement certain stuff like vehicle turrets, how the models are stored, and how this all ties in with collision detection and location-specific damage. All good stuff I'd not even considered before :o Cuh!
Meanwhile, completion of items on my todo list spawn 2 new ones in their place :-/ Must...concentrate...avoid...feature creep... ;)
November 2003
Short and sweet this month I think :P
Work progressed mainly on the model and texture front this month. Got base meshes for the Walrus and several structures. In the quest for some nice textures I visited a few industrial/retail estates with my digital camera, taking pictures and generally looking dodgy. My Unreal mapping experience is proving useful in this area :)
As the pics show, the carrier is looking slightly more carrier like now :)
Also chipping away at a (currently) 40 point ToDo list of ...errr... little things to do.
Oh, and did I mention I'd added polygon-accurate collision detection? Oh yes :)) Took a few hours work to write a quick sphere-sphere first-pass test to get collision candidates, then another few hours to chicken out and integrate the rather nice 3rd party Coldet package.
October 2003
'Early optimisation is the root of all evil', wrote a certain Mr Knuth.
I've been investigating a nasty crash that only happens on my faithful tester's machine, though unfortunately never on my development PC :( Have a feeling its related to my specialised particle memory management system designed to prevent memory fragmentation. Reviewing your own code really grates :-/
Ah well, this month I have mostly:
Rewritten part of the GUI so it acts in the correct manner with regards to mouse events and focus (so I could add scrollbars, basically!).
Finished off the resource network; mainly the allocation and shipping of manufactured objects.
Vehicle equipping dialog (piccy).
Skinning of vehicle models - defined the skinning process and made my first ever model skin, for the scout drone :E (see piccy).
Also done quite a bit of code 'refactoring'; the source code is getting rather large now, so I need it to be as nice as possible if I'm going to live with it.
September 2003
This month it was the turn of the resource network for some attention. Hmm was I in for a surprise and a bit more work than I realised. Still, most of it is in place now, but using only the players manual for a specification document has required a bit of uneducated guesswork along the way :)
The resources are physically transported between islands by drones (the orange dots in the pic). I don't know if the original CC did this, but I want tangible feedback that player actions have an impact on the resource network when links are severed or structures damaged - something I felt the original lacked somewhat. This requires exposing some of the mysterious internals to the player, e.g. island stores details, production information, drone positions. I hate games that seem to cheat, so now's my chance to _ahem_ put my code where my mouth is ;)
And now for some bad news. Ever wondered why the original Carrier command seemed to pause when travelling between islands? I now know the reason, and it's probably going to cause a lot of rework due to floating point inaccuracies and the large world coordinate system I'm using :( Ah well, I wanted a learning experience, and that is exactly what I've got.
Anyone heard of the phrase "It'll be ready when it's ready"? :o
August 2003
That nasty thing we know as 'Real Life' has encroached quite badly on the Carrier 2 hacking time this month. DIY and a lot of that nasty 'pay the bills' work, to name but some. Nevertheless, I've still managed to return to my unhealthy obsession now and again ;)
Totally rewrote the map and interface - a lot nicer to use than the original one if I say so meself.
Integrated vehicle orders/goto into the map.
Tinkered with the models, and started a new Scout Drone model (see pic).
Implemented control views for vehicle launch/docking.
Totally put off the collision detection once more :/
July 2003
A lot of 'behind the scenes' work this month - integrated a modified version of S. Rabin's state machine language (from the book AI Game Programming Wisdom) for coordinating various game sequences i.e. landing a Manta on the carrier.
Had to re-work some of the vehicle class inheritance tree and vehicle storage data structure.
Now for the part I've been putting off and putting off... the collision detection :-o Currently investigating the best solution for my needs - looks like its time to dig out that maths book again %)
June 2003
ASE Model loading added. OK they'll do for now! :p Need to brush up on my modelling skills ;)
Movable turrets for Walrus and Carrier.
Multiple weapon mounts for all vehicles.
Basic island chain in place.
Considering different approaches to AI :-o
May 2003
Added ACCB deployment and deployment state machine framework.
Positioning of the structures is a rather 'different' problem to solve from the square flat islands of the original. Cuh!
Added a set of GUI dialogs and controls for changing game settings etc.
More vehicle HUD components added.
Projectiles more thoroughly implemented, including glow effects and exhaust flares.
Simple vehicle HUD's.
ARB Multi-texturing on the islands.
April 2003
Added basic weapons (missiles).
March 2003
Flexible particle 'engine' and basic structure integration.
Transparent sea, basic order system, text drawing and game event queue.
February 2003
Whole texture-mapped islands.
Basic Walrus integration.
Just the basics: Carrier, Manta and some random landmass.
January 2003
General game framework and class hierarchy design. Get this bit right and the rest will just fall into place ;).
January 2003
Decide to finally get arse in gear and learn 3D graphics that I 'always wanted to learn'. Find that DirectX LPHURTSMYHEAD with SILLYUPPERCASEHORRIBLENESS, and decide to take the 'true and righteous' OpenGL path ;) Oh, and also decide on rather ambitious first project.

subset: commoncrawl


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Gothic cathedrals really are amazing feats of engineering and design that have been created before a time where steel frames and machine tools even existed. They still stand so tall and menacing, even though the time of the religious impulse has slowly faded away. Being the main focus in any city, it is hard not to notice them and How to Build a Cathedral is the perfect book that enhances how these grand buildings were originally designed and produced, and gives an insight into the way that this would have been made possible without the technology that we, in modern times, rely on so much. So do you fancy building one yourself?
Giving a detailed history of cathedrals that have been built all over the world including the mistakes that have been made over the years, How to Build a Cathedral is full of all the information that you would ever need, or want, to know, also accompanied by drawings and plans that could easily be mistaken these days for modern art.
Working from the ground up, starting with the foundations, the cathedral is produced step by step with spectacular artworks, focusing in great detail the stunning floor-plans and architectural blueprints that have been used in some of the most famous cathedrals in the world, such as the Notre-Dame de Paris, and the Palma Cathedral.
So, even if you aren't planning on building a cathedral anytime soon, you may have time to appreciate the hard-work behind those that already exist and come to look at this book, and the beautiful designs that are featured with it, in the same way.


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Spinach Center
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The De-Stress Diet and 5 Foods for a Better Mood
Eat more when you're stressed? You're not alone. In fact, all that stress eating can pack on an additional 11 pounds each year! Most of us are quick to turn to sugar and refined carbs the second tension gets high. When we feel overwhelmed, we seek out comforting food, giving it the ...
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Today, the Helsinki Commission focuses its attention on efforts to curb the spread of deadly weaponry and related, military significant technology and equipment to dangerous regimes around the world. Rather than focus on the efforts by these regimes to acquire the materiel, we want to examine the capacity and willingness of participating States in the OSCE to be their source.
A number of OSCE participating States possess the technology and ability to supply rogue regimes–and even terrorist groups and combatants in regional conflicts–with militarily significant equipment and know-how. The end of the Cold War left some of these States, especially those of the former Warsaw Pact, with huge stockpiles of military hardware, while economic downturns made their military industries and research institutes desperate for funds. The United States has encouraged these countries to maintain tight control over these industries and institutes and has invested in programs to destroy surplus equipment and convert the factories into industrial production. Still, several countries remain vulnerable to the lure of responding to the demand–even from rogue regimes–for weapons of mass destruction, delivery systems, and small arms or light weapons.
Press reports and official investigations have revealed that, to varying degrees, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Bulgaria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Moldova and Serbia-Montenegro have supplied dangerous regimes and combatants with military equipment or militarily significant technology and resources. In some cases, these revelations were followed by government efforts to stop the flow and deal with those responsible. In other cases, government officials have attempted to cover-up and deny involvement in these deals.
We hope our witnesses today will shed some much-needed, additional light on OSCE countries which have been supplying rogue regimes with the means to stir up mischief and, worse, to threaten international peace and U.S. national security.
First, we have John Bolton, the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, who will present the views and concerns of the United States Government. Secretary Bolton has had a long career in public service at the Departments of State and Justice, as well as with the Agency for International Development. I remember well the opportunity to work with Secretary Bolton, when he served as Assistant Secretary for International Organizations back in 1989, and I served as a congressional representative on the U.S. delegation to the United Nations General Assembly during that rather fascinating era in European history.
Following the Secretary, a panel of experts will provide additional detail and analysis concerning arms transfers without responsible restraint. First, we have Roman Kupchinsky, who, as editor of Crime and Corruption Watch for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, has closely monitored reports of illicit deals involving several OSCE States. Finally, Terence Taylor, President and Executive Director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in the United States, is an expert in the analysis of military technologies and developments relating to arms control and non-proliferation.


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- Partnership scope: Global
- Date start: 1 Jun 2005
- Date end: 1 Dec 2007
- More information: http://www.iclei.org/rcc
Partnership implemented in
- Philippines
Additional information
Resilient Communities & Cities Partnership Program
PartnersMajor Groups:
ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability (Canada)
International Centre for Sustainable Cities (Canada)
Huairou Commission (United States of America)
UN System:
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) (France)
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) APELL Programme (France)
UNCHS/Habitat Best Practices & Local Leadership Programme (Kenya)
Other intergovernmental organizations:
International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (Switzerland)
Partnership Overview | ObjectivesThe goal of the Resilient Communities & Cities Partnership Program is to support the development of greater resilience in the institutions, infrastructure, and social and economic life of cities and towns worldwide through urban management and participatory governance. A Resilient Community is a city, town or neighbourhood that reduces its vulnerability to dramatic change or extreme events and responds creatively to economic, social and environmental change in order to increase its long-term sustainability.
Guided by the formula "Sustainability=Resilience/Risk," the program seeks to develop a methodology for local resilience management, which will increase the resilience of a city or community to a range of shocks, crises, and disasters including environmental emergencies, industrial accidents, outbreaks of epidemics, economic shocks, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and social conflict. In the Resilient Communities & Cities Partnership Program, the concept of resilience encompasses both the resilience of cities (the natural and built environment, including infrastructure) as well as the resilience of communities (social and political structures).
The program will focus on introducing policies, tools and methods developed in the disaster management community into the established worldwide movement for sustainable communities, thereby linking preventative disaster management know-how with established local methods for participatory sustainable development planning (also known as Local Agenda 21 planning).
The Partnership Program is composed of eight elements: partnership program management and capacity building; documentation and promotion of good policies and best practices; inventory and review of mechanisms for local resilience management; recruitment of pilot cities; methodology, modeling and system development; pilot projects in six municipalities; project learning and experience; and project documentation and products.


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Flashtraffic: Unexpected Visits
It was Condoleeza Rice, the president's national security adviser, who delivered in the White House press room the news reporters had been expecting
It was Condoleeza Rice, the president's national security adviser, who delivered in the White House press room the news reporters had been expecting about the scheduled presidential mission to the Middle East. What reporters hadn't expected was President Bush's plans first to visit Nazi death camps at Auschwitz and Birkenaw in Poland-"to honor the memory of the innocents lost in the terror of the Third Reich and the Holocaust, and to serve to remind all of us of the dangers of evil unchecked."
The Middle East diplomatic mission included scheduled meetings with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, Bahrain's King Hamad, Moroccan King Mohammed VI, and Jordan's King Abdullah. Also on the agenda: meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen.
Pointedly off the agenda: Yasser Arafat. President Bush has never met with Mr. Arafat and he is very purposefully snubbing Mr. Arafat now. The White House wants to send the message to rank-and-file Palestinians and to the rest of the world community that Mr. Arafat's day of supporting terror and breaking promises is over. President Bush is betting instead that the new Palestinian prime minister is willing and able to crack down on terror, and make peace with Israel.


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This all colour book features 100 pages of British warbirds photographed by Dave Lawrence with captions explaining the airfield and date, making this book an interesting snap shot of the classic warbird scene in Britain during the 1960s.
The 1960s was an interesting period for British warbirds. World War II was only 20 years in the past, and iconic British combat aircraft from the conflict were in greater abundance than today.
Fabulous marques like the Supermarine Spitfire, Hawker Hurricane and Sea Fury, Avro Lancaster, De Havilland Mosquito and many others were somewhat common at British airfields during the 1960s, and a young RAF pilot named Dave Lawrence was fortunate enough to photograph many of these aircraft throughout the decade.
The photos in this book were taken at British air fields including Cranfield, Staverton, Finningly, Abingdon, Little Rissington, Church Fenton, Chivenor, Binbrook and many others.
We produce books and DVDs catering to the needs of hard-core aviation fans. So far we've produced over 40 DVDs and we're always expanding our colour aviation book offerings.
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Classic Jets of the 1960s Published May 03, 2013
Classic Propliners of the Golden Age Published October 17, 2012
VARIG Lockheed Electra Operations Published May 29, 2012


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Leonard's indifferent to lockout, continues to work out
Measured vertically, Kawhi Leonard can jump 25 ½ inches off the floor from a flat-footed start, and as high as 32 inches with a head start.
Have a question for Tim?Tim Sullivan Mailbag
His leap of faith, however, may be much longer.
San Diego State's splendid forward has traded certain collegiate stardom to venture into the unknown, forsaking two years of Aztecs eligibility for the deepening doubt that is the National Basketball Association.
He is a first-round draft choice with no contract who, as of 12:01 a.m. Friday, is prohibited from contact with his prospective employer, the San Antonio Spurs. Sixteen hours into the NBA's lockout Friday afternoon, Leonard appeared at Viejas Arena wearing a Spurs T-shirt and an expression of utter insouciance.
Leonard is not one to waste energy on worry, to demonstrate doubt or to voluntarily retreat from an established position. If he has picked a poor time to be turning pro, that decision appears to weigh on him like lint on a lion.
"I'm just going to be working out till it's over," Leonard said of the lockout. "Hopefully, that's going to be resolved soon."
Perhaps in his innermost soul, Kawhi Leonard is anxious about his future and second-guessing his decision to leave SDSU. But if so, that's a Kawhi Leonard we have yet to encounter. Despite Leonard's two spotlight-caliber seasons on Montezuma Mesa, we know more about the size of his hands than the contents of his head. He is a man of few words and fewer confidants.
"He doesn't have voice mail," SDSU coach Steve Fisher said Friday. "He has no entourage, no posse. You see some of those guys and they have 10 people surrounding them. Kawhi has (SDSU walk-on) Jeremy Castleberry."
If Kawhi Leonard keeps you at arm's length, you might as well try communicating with him with a set of signal flags. His wingspan was measured at 7 feet 3 during the NBA's predraft combine; his reach spanned 8 feet 10, and his demeanor is sometimes so distant that it could be confused for a planet beyond Pluto.
"He was better than most in terms of listening," Fisher said. "Most of the time, they come in and say, 'Coach, I've already hired an agent and I'm going to go. When do you want to have an announcement?' Then we craft (a statement) like there was a lot of dialogue. But in this one, it truly was that."
Before Leonard declared for the draft, he broached the idea of submitting his name to the NBA without hiring an agent. That way, he would have retained the right to change his mind and return to SDSU for his junior year. Fisher told him there was no need "to tease people," if he was determined to go.
If Kawhi Leonard has miscalculated — as Marcus Slaughter surely did when he left SDSU and went undrafted in 2006 — it was not because he was being rash. His problem is timing rather than aptitude; a confluence of forces beyond his control.
Even so, when the lockout ends, Leonard figures to command at least a pro-rated portion of the $1.488 million salary assigned to the 15th overall draft choice by the NBA's rookie wage scale. He figures to be a good fit for a high-mileage Spurs team that compiled the best record in the NBA's Western Conference last season. As a rebounding and defensive demon and a skilled passer, Leonard figures, in time, to flourish.
"He's going to be a regular in the NBA; how soon I don't know," Fisher said. "Most of the guys I've talked with, the scouts that came in, they said, 'We're not as worried about his shot as you might think. If he's a professional — if he's as committed as you say he is — the shot will get better; that he will cultivate his shot.'


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November 2, 2000
Carbondale, Ill. -
The dream and goal of a Missouri Valley Conference tournament bid is gone for the Southern Illinois University Carbondale (8-17, 1-12 in MVC) volleyball team after losses to Wichita State and SW Missouri State last weekend.
Despite the disappointment, the Salukis have set new goals for the remaining five matches of the season, including two at home this weekend against Creighton on Friday, November 3, and Saturday, November 4, against Drake.
"It's sad that our hopes are out the door, but not everyone accomplishes all their goals and we're not going to roll over and die. It's not a trait of mine and it's not going to be a trait of this team" said Sonya Locke, Saluki head coach.
"I asked the team what they want to accomplish and they want to go for double digit wins, something that we didn't have last year (5-21) and we're only two away so it's totally reachable. They also want to treat the last five matches as another season and end this season enjoying what's going on, working real hard and improving. They want to get better at some of the things they wanted to accomplish this year."
Coach Locke wasn't shocked that the team set some new goals to accomplish in the remaining five matches.
"That's what I expected of them, to be real honest. I know these kids well enough. They're all competitors, even if it's at different levels. I needed for them to say what they wanted to accomplish, not have the coaches say this is what we should accomplish with the last five matches. It's more important when it comes from them," added Locke.
"Fortunately we do have some matches in front of us where we can still accomplish some things, so we're practicing as hard as we would if we had qualified for the tournament. Nobody wants to go out losing. If you're going to go down, you should go down swinging and we will. There's no doubt in my mind about that. They don't like where they are and I don't want them to like where they are. That means that they1re going to keep working."
Just because the team will not play in the tournament doesn't mean they can't learn some life lessons and improve as a group in preparation for life after volleyball.
"It's still all about the kids, how they get through things, and how we teach them to deal with adversity. If I was sitting around pouting and giving up, what would I be teaching our players. If we really are hear to prepare them for the biggest part of their lives, we need to teach them how to deal with this because there are going to be some not so good things that will happen to all of them. That1s just life and if we teach them how to keep fighting no matter what, then they're going to be successful people and I really believe that," stated Locke.
"That's what we're banking on. I'm confident that they're going to continue to work hard. I think that for our seniors Jen, Molly, and Zazza, who will be finishing their eligibility, I think they need to leave with a good feeling in their hearts because then they'll always think fondly of SIU. For the younger kids, returning for them just isn't going to be good enough, I think they want to feel better about themselves and they can help each other do that by finishing strong, so we all feel good about what we're doing."
Despite being eliminated Coach locke doesn't expect anyone to come into Davies Gym expecting a win. If so the Salukis plan to play a role in the tournament race.
"Drake is a bubble team and they have to get wins. I don't think anyone will come in here and underestimate us. Drake won't because we upset them late last year and prevented them from getting into the tournament so that's what we're looking to do again. We're looking to be the spoiler. Knocking teams out of the tournament isn't the goal, but I think we want to go out with something positive happening and it doesn't matter who we beat, just that we put out that kind of effort," said Locke.
The Salukis will host Creighton on Friday, November 3, at 7 p.m., and Drake on Saturday, November 4, at 7:30 p.m. expecting the fans to come out and support them.
"I just hope that people will continue to support us because that's just as important as the attitude of our team," Coach Locke said.


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"This lamp has my childhood in it," declares Redditor justgrant2009, in one of the more wonderful stories to be on the internet in recent days. Apparently he just received the lamp as a wedding gift from his mother who, it turns out, diligently collected all the marbles, quarters, rubber balls, rocks, Highlighters and toy cars that he left in his pockets as a boy. Instead of tossing them out and proceeding to do his laundry, she set them aside and eventually made this awesome memory lamp.
See many more views of the lamp here.


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First outing/job with 5dmk3
Started Dec 4, 2012 | Discussions thread
Shop cameras & lenses ▾
Uncle Paul • Regular Member • Posts: 271
Re: First outing/job with 5dmk3
Very nice image! You shot this at iso 6400? Did you use any bounced flash or just existing room light?
Uncle Paul
theguyny wrote:
Recently bought the 5dmk3 to go along side my 5dmk2 and have to say I love the pair. I had my first opportunity to try out the 5dmk3 this past weekend and have to say I was very pleased. I had the 70-200 on the mark 3 and the 35L on the mark 2 for wide shots, perfect combo. I used iso 6400 and had no problems. Any way I still have a lot to learn with my new camera, here's a pic from the ring ceremony.
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Mayor David Bowers closes chapter that started as high school dream
Saturday, May 28, 2016
Leaving the "Catbird Seat" (see photo slideshow bottom)
Mayor David Bowers has practiced law for 38 years, has been on city council for 24 years with 16 of those years serving as mayor. As a youngster he was inspired to become mayor when he met Mayor Benton Dillard at the Civic Center groundbreaking. Bowers was nostalgic Friday saying his dream did come true in 1992 pointing to the framed front page of the May 6, 1992 Roanoke Times & World News that touted his victory.
To many admiration of the soon to be ex-mayor of Roanoke is unshakeable while others admonish Bowers for his missteps during his reign. The last brouhaha brought national attention with his "memo"


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For executive assistant, Oklahoma Capitol has been second home since 1965
Donna Garlick stands with her hand resting on the marble rail along the rotunda of the state Capitol.
First, Garlick, 73, looks toward murals painted by Charles Banks Wilson.
Then she glances up at the dome.
The Madill native has been at the Capitol longer than either of these features, the murals or the dome.
Today, Garlick is the legislative executive assistant to Senate Minority Leader Sean Burrage, D-Claremore. But through the years, she has worked for six senators, including one who, after leaving the Senate, was elected to the state House.
Her service also includes having worked for four senators who served as president pro tem, or the Senate's leader.
"I really believe, except for sleeping, I've spent more time here than any other place in my life," said Garlick, of Oklahoma City. "I haven't figured it for sure, but I'm convinced of that."
When she started, legislative sessions were not yet held annually. So in the off-time, she worked as a secretary for the Oklahoma Press Association. Garlick's only other significant period of separation from the Capitol came in the early 1980s.
"I actually retired once," she said, smiling. "It was in 1981 when Senator Gene Howard retired. That lasted 21/2 years. Then Jim Hamilton ran for the House of Representatives. I had worked for him when he was the president pro tempore in the Senate. Then he later asked me to come back to work for him when he was elected to the House, which I did."
Although the Capitol may be her second home, Garlick likes to remind Oklahomans to whom it belongs.
"I think the people probably don't realize that the Capitol belongs to them and that we all work for them and are paid with their money," she said. "And I think they keep us probably to a higher standard to earn that money, which I feel like that is certainly what we should do. We should put in our hours, do everything we can to make their lives better if they have a problem, or get information to them if they want information."
In her role
Garlick explained that a senator picks his or her own legislative assistant.
In the case of the president pro tem, there's additional staff, she said. And while serving in the president pro tem's office, Garlick was responsible in part for providing information to the other executive assistants and keeping the senator informed of his schedule.
The president pro tem is a senator chosen by his or her fellow members to be the chief executive officer of the Senate and to preside in the absence of the lieutenant governor, who is the president of the Senate. The president pro tem's powers and duties are prescribed by Senate rules. The president pro tem is an ex officio and voting member of all Senate committees.
In Garlick's current role, "Constituent work is the main thing, but there is also the keeping of Burrage's schedule and answering calls."
She asks callers to explain their problems so she can start working on the issue.
The history
Garlick was around when Charles Banks Wilson painted the murals in the 1970s, even watched his children during the summer in the president pro tem's office.
"Such a delightful man, and the children were so well-behaved," she said.
She was around when teachers came in large numbers to the Capitol for House Bill 1017, the education reform bill which was signed into law by then- Gov. Henry Bellmon in April 1990.
"That was one of the most controversial issues, and the teachers wanted to meet with all the legislators, so you had to keep your office open," Garlick said. "The teachers had a reason to do that, and it was important.
"I'd arrive at 8:30 a.m. and maybe stay until 8 at night."
She was around in 2000 when then-Gov. Frank Keating announced plans to build the Capitol dome and in 2002 when it was dedicated.
She has seen so many historical days.
Recently, she got up from her desk, walked over and picked up a copy of the "Oklahoma Almanac" of 2011-12. Garlick turned to the section featuring governors. She began counting.
When she started in 1965, Bellmon was in his third year of his first term as governor. If you count his two terms separately, the other coming in 1987-91, there have been 10 elected governors in office while she has worked at the Capitol.
If she quits ...
Garlick is Burrage's only staff member. She is one person with many roles, he said.
Burrage said Garlick is the receptionist, gatekeeper and counselor for many of his constituents who call in with problems.
She takes the emails and the phone calls to the senator.
She helps when she can and forwards the others.
Burrage estimates that with her experience, Garlick can handle a majority of the concerns without his assistance.
"She is well-respected throughout state government, knows people in every agency and can pick up the phone and resolve most issues, if they are solvable issues, in a matter of a couple of phone calls," he said. "I tell people when they ask me about what Donna means to me, 'If Donna quits, I quit.'"


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Wong Kar Wai brings costume drama from the screen to the runway to the galleries.Read More »
On January 8, Martin Scorsese sat down with Wong Kar-wai at New York's Lighthouse Theatre to talk the latter's "The Grandmaster," shortlisted for a Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar. Incredibly, Wong has yet to receive a nomination from the Academy. But that could be rectified this coming Thursday, w...Read More »
Hong Kong filmmaker Wong kar-wai ("In the Mood for Love") is an engaging and articulate man. He's happy that after two years of research travel around Asia meeting the grandmasters of martial arts, his film "The Grandmaster" is not only his second to be submitted by Hong Kong for the best foreign Os...Read More »
The TOH! team reviews and ranks the best of Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-wai, whose output is just ten features (along with many shorts) since 1988.Read More »
One of the biggest names in world cinema, Chinese director Wong Kar-wai has largely been MIA since the tepid reaction to his first foray into English-language filmmaking with 2007's Norah Jones starring "My Blueberry Nights." The news that his next project would be the martial arts Ip-man biopic "Th...Read More »
Hot off of opening the Berlin International Film Festival, Wong Kar Wai's martial arts epic "The Grandmaster" has landed a North American home at The Weinstein Company, who acquired U.S. and English speaking Canadian territories rights from Annapurna. The film already opened in China last month wher...Read More »
Close to five years in the making, "The Grandmasters," Wong Kar Wai's action-packed biopic about Ip Man, the legendary martial arts grand master who trained Bruce Lee, finally has a full-length trailer ahead of its December 18 opening in China. Predictably, the promo's a complete s...Read More »


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AMES, Iowa - Redshirt freshman Michael Moreno earned his second dual victory of the season in Iowa State's 20-14 victory over Virginia Tech Friday night in Hilton Coliseum.
Sorenson is the man. Too bad Shafer couldn't hold on. His throw was sweet.
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A service agreement is a legal document that is being signed by the parties who agree to provide and receive services on agreed terms and conditions. For instance if a plumber company makes agreement with ABC company then they will sign service agreement that will state all their rights and duties over each other. Here we present a service agreement template for your kind assistance. This service agreement template has been created in MS Word 2007. All its text is editable. You may select the sample text and replace it by your own text.
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FÁILTE! The County Tipperary Historical Society, founded in 1987, is a Society dedicated to recording and disseminating the history, culture, heritage, folklore and geography of County Tipperary.
The Tipperary Historical Journal 2015 You can renew membership/buy Journals, including the new Journal, here...
At the launch of the Tipperary Historical Journal 2014 in The Source, Thurles, launched by Dr. Vincent Comerford, native of Grangemockler, Professor Emeritus of Modern History, NUI Maynooth (second from left); Fr. Christy O'Dwyer, President; Dan Finnan, Editor; Proinsias Ó Drisceoil; Richard O'Brien, Chairman
At the launch of the Tipperary Historical Journal 2013 in The Source, Thurles, launched by Prof. Liam Kennedy, BSc, MSc (NUI), PhD (York), FRHistS, Professor Emeritus of Economic & Social History, Queen's University (centre); Richard O'Brien, Chairman; Dan Finnan, Editor; Kitty Barry and Fr. Christy O'Dwyer, President.
JANUARY 29, 2013: Tipperary
Historical Journal wins the Tipperariana Book of the Year
Award 2012.
Pictured above: Doirin Saurus presenting the award to Fr. Christy O'Dwyer, President of the County Tipperary Historical Society; Dr. Martin Mansergh officially launched the 2012 Tipperary Historical Journal
You can read articles online from ALL out-of-print Journals: just choose the Journal and the individual article. Over 2,000 pages have been scanned and uploaded, comprising nearly 190 articles and all Book Reviews.
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us contact us
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© Cumann Staire Chontae Thiobriad Árann
Co. Tipperary Historical Society, Castle Avenue, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, Ireland
Last updated December, 2014


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Worked With:
Craig T. Nelson
Birth Name: Craig T. Nelson
Born: 04/04/1944
Birth Place: Spokane, Washington, USA
Born: 04/04/1944
Birth Place: Spokane, Washington, USA
Born Craig Richard Nelson in Spokane, WA on April 4, 1944, he changed his middle name to Theodore after discovering through the Screen Actors Guild that another actor shared his name. The son of a big band drummer who died when Nelson was young, he studied at the University of Arizona and Central Washington University before heading south to Los Angeles. There, he made his name as a stand-up comedian and writer for the popular radio and television duo of Al Lohman and Roger Barkley. Writing gigs for comedy series like "The Tim Conway Show" (CBS, 1970) introduced him to other up-and-coming talent like Barry Levinson. He also dabbled in acting in the early 1970s. Among his credits during this ... Continue Bio >>
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News: Navy Boat Dock team plays integral part in combat training
Story by Lance Cpl. Cory D. Polom
MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, N.C. - Tucked away in the back of Cherry Point is a vital group of sailors with the Naval Boat Docks that few air station residents know.
Despite the anonymity, the sailors serve a critical logistical support role in providing access to local bombing ranges used by Cherry Point pilots.
In 2011, boat dock personnel provided the air station with more than 1,500 trips to Bombing Target 11 carrying more than 6,000 passengers and countless pounds of gear vital to the operations aboard the range.
The transportation these sailors provide on a daily basis is a small demonstration of the partnership the Marine Corps and Navy has around the world. Sailors use their vessels to help Marines get to a destination in a safe and secure manner to complete the war-fighting mission.
"The Marine Corps wouldn't be as diverse if it wasn't for the abilities of the sailors," said Sgt. James W. Gower, a non-commissioned officer in charge with BT-11. "Sailors have the ability to get us closer to shore to allow us to accomplish our amphibious mission."
The Naval Boat Docks team conducts transports of personnel, supplies and materials to the bombing ranges near Cherry Point daily. The sailors make multiple runs to transport range personnel and gear at various times throughout the day.
Anything and everything that needs to get to the ranges has to be taken there by water, and it is the job of these sailors to get it there, said Mike Bosse, range project officer with the Cherry Point Naval Boat Docks.
Connected Media
Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael G. Bowden, a boat...
Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael G. Bowden, a boat...
Petty Officer 2nd Class Albert C. Atkins, a boat...
Petty Officer 1st Class Jason W. Cardwell, a boat...
Petty Officer 1st Class Jason W. Cardwell, a boat...
Petty Officer 2nd Class Albert C. Atkins, a boat...
This work, Navy Boat Dock team plays integral part in combat training, by LCpl Cory D. Polom, identified by DVIDS, is free of known copyright restrictions under U.S. copyright law.
Date Taken:05.16.2012
Date Posted:05.18.2012 13:14
Location:MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, NC, US
Hometown:GRANDVILLE, MI, US
Hometown:GROVETOWN, GA, US
Hometown:LUMBERTON, NC, US
Hometown:NASHVILLE, TN, US


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04 February 2013
Photo: Jeff BoughMilos Raonic and Daniel Nestor (CAN)
VANCOUVER, CANADA: After beating top-seed Spain in the opening round of the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas, Canada is daring to dream about just how far it can go in this competition.
Led by Milos Raonic and with home court advantage once again in the next round against Italy, the Canadians are starting to believe they can be a force on the world stage.
Canada will host the Italians in a quarterfinal on April 5-7 and captain Martin Laurendeau is hoping the relatively quick turnaround will allow his team to keep the momentum it gained by toppling a powerhouse like Spain.
"You have these windows of opportunities that come around not very often and a lot of success in Davis Cup goes with the draw and where you play," Laurendeau said after Canada advanced past the first round of the world group stage for the first time in its history.
"If we had played in Spain the result might have been different, or the score. But we played here in Canada and we're playing the next one in Canada and that's a lot easier than playing on the road. So when that window is open, you have to take that opportunity because it might not come around for a few years after that."
The win over Spain is the latest significant development for Canadian tennis over the past 12 months. Along with Raonic rising into the world Top 20, Filip Peliwo captured the Junior Wimbledon and US Open titles last year, while Eugenie Bouchard won the junior girls crown at Wimbledon. And now as Canada prepares to host Italy in the quarterfinal, its Davis Cup roster could get a boost with the addition of Jesse Levine.
The world No. 88 was born in Canada before moving to the United States, but has recently been granted ITF approval to represent his birth country in Davis Cup play. He's eligible to make his Canadian debut in the next round if selected to the roster.
All these positive strides have Milos Raonic hoping that tennis is capturing the imagination of more and more Canadians – particularly young ones.
"Hopefully some kids that were sitting on the couch watching tennis today will pick up a racquet and ask their parents to take them to play," he says. "If we could get even five or ten kids to do something like that, I think that would be pretty amazing."
And Frank Dancevic, whose straight-sets singles win over Marcel Granollers gave Canada a commanding 2-0 lead over Spain, feels good about the state of the game in this country and thinks the exposure gained from Davis Cup success will only help the sport grow.
"I think Canadian tennis is better than ever," he says. "I think it's great to see the support and funding that so many young players are getting. We're definitely on the right track and we just have to keep going."
The next step will be to find a way to beat Italy in the quarterfinal. The host venue for that tie has not yet been selected, but wherever the matches are held there is no doubt a supportive Canadian crowd will be there to urge on the home team. Canadian tennis is heating up and it seems Canada as a country is coming down with a case of Davis Cup fever.
31 Jan 2013
Milos Raonic will hope to get the hosts off to a winning start on Friday against Albert Ramos as Canada seek their first World Group victory
01 Feb 2013
A shocking upset is brewing in the first round of the 2013 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas, with Canada on the verge of ousting top seed Spain.
02 Feb 2013
Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil came close but after five sets and nearly four hours Spain's Marc Lopez and Marcel Granollers kept Spanish hopes alive.
03 Feb 2013
Milos Raonic sealed a crucial third point for Canada to secure their spot in the World Group quarterfinals for the first time and in doing so he dealt last year's finalists an early exit
1 Feb 2013 - 3 Feb 2013
View details
Milos RAONIC (CAN)
Marcel GRANOLLERS (ESP)
Frank DANCEVIC (CAN)
Albert RAMOS-VINOLAS (ESP)
Vasek POSPISIL (CAN)
Guillermo GARCIA-LOPEZ (ESP)
Daniel NESTOR (CAN)
Marc LOPEZ (ESP)
Thunderbird Sports Centre, Vancouver, Canada
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Florida football countdown
Published: Monday, August 4, 2014 at 11:59 p.m.
Last Modified: Monday, August 4, 2014 at 11:59 p.m.
25 … Number worn by UF's all-time return leader.
The story goes that Greg Mattison, then an assistant at Florida, had to convince Urban Meyer to recruit Brandon James. Meyer finally gave in and the diminutive James made his mark on the Florida record books.
He did play some at the running back position, rushing for 302 career yards and catching passes for another 379.
But it was as a return man that James rewrote the record books.
He is the all-time UF leader in kick and punt returns and his 2,718 career kickoff return yards not only set the Gator record but the SEC record as well. As a punt returner, James set the Florida mark with 1,371. His 510 yards in 2008 is also a UF record.
His combined yardage as a punt and kickoff returner is also an SEC record.
It was as a punt returner that James was both fearless and dangerous. he returned four punts for touchdowns, tying Jacquez Green's record.
James only returned one kickoff for a touchdown and it came in his senior year against Charleston Southern. But he was consistently setting up the Gator offense with good field position.
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.


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On Monday, Dec. 31, the Mo-Kan Square Dancers will have a New Year's Eve Dance with Jay Wright calling. The dance will be held from 9 p.m. to 12:15 a.m. in the Home Ec Building at the Vernon County Fairgrounds, Nevada. Admission is $6 per person.
All area square dancers are invited. For more information, contact the Harolds at 417/465-2241, the Richmonds at 417/667-4507 or the Eberts at 417/667-3069.


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Swim a mile for Mencap
Friday 15 July 2011
Mencap is gearing up for its swimming fundraising event, the Mencap Mile
The Mencap Mile is a mile long open-water swim at the Olympic and Paralympic venue, Dorney Lake, in Windsor. It will take place on 24 July from 3pm.
Swimmers of all abilities are invited to take part, with the aim of completing the mile within one hour. Participants are encouraged to raise a minimum of £50 in sponsorship, but this is not compulsory.
All sponsorship funds raised will go straight to Mencap, so the charity can help more people with a learning disability, their families and carers. It will also support Mencap's campaigns, such as the recent disability hate crime campaign, 'Stand by me'.
DJ and Mencap ambassador Jo Whiley, who was a competitive swimmer in her youth, is supporting the event. "It's great to see people taking to the water to support Mencap," she says "I used to swim competitively when I was younger and still love it. I can think of no better way to raise much-needed funds for Mencap than challenging yourself and signing up for the Mencap Mile."
David Candler, president of the Swimming Teachers Association says: "The Mencap Mile is a fantastic event to encourage more people to get back into swimming, and where better to hold it than the Olympic and Paralympic venue, Dorney Lake. A mile might not seem like a long swim, but when it's in open water it means overcoming challenges, such as swimming in unheated water or battling with a tide – it's a great achievement for all those who complete it."
Everyone who takes part in the event will receive a fundraising pack, training guidelines, a swimming cap, a goodie bag and a medal. Trophies will also be given on the day for the top male swimmer, top female swimmer, top team and top fundraiser.
Find out more or register to take part in the Mencap Mile
Read David Candler's top 10 tips for open water swimming