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The ABCs of Media and Children: Attention, Behavior, and Comprehension
Ellen A. Wartella, Alexis R. Lauricella, Leanne Beaudoin-Ryan, and Drew P. Cingel
This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication. Please check back later for the full article.
Children are and have been active media users for decades. Historically, the focus on children and media issues have centered on the concerns and consequences of media use, generally around violence. In the last 40 years, we have seen a shift to study children and media from a more holistic approach, to understand both the positive and negative relationships between children and media use. Further, the recognition of the very important developmental differences that exist between children of different ages and the use of grand developmental theories, including those by Piaget and Vygotsky, have supported the field's understanding of the unique ways in which children use media and the effects it has on their lives. Three important constructs related to a more complete understanding of children's media use are the ABCs (attention, behavior, and comprehension). The first construct, attention, focuses on the way in which children's attention to screen media develops, how factors related to parents and children can direct or influence attention to media, and how media may distract attention. The second construct is the behavioral effect of media use, including the relationship between media use and aggressive behavior, but importantly, the positive effect of prosocial media on children's behavior and moral development. Finally, the third construct is the important and dynamic relationship between media and comprehension and learning. Taken together, these constructs describe a wide range of experiences that occur within children's media use.
Active Involvement Interventions in Health and Risk Messaging
Kathryn Greene, Smita C. Banerjee, Anne E. Ray, and Michael L. Hecht
Results of national epidemiologic surveys indicate that substance use rates among adolescents remain relatively steady or even show slight declines; however, some substance use rates, such as electronic cigarettes, are actually rising. Thus, the need for efficacious drug prevention efforts in the United States remains high. Active Involvement (AI) interventions are a promising avenue for preventing and reducing adolescent substance use, and they create opportunities for adolescents to experience a core feature of engagement that is common to these interventions, such as producing videos, posters, or radio ads; or generating themes and images for messages such as posters.
Existing interventions grounded in theories of Active Involvement include programs delivered face-to-face and via e-learning platforms. Narrative Engagement Theory and the Theory of Active Involvement guide the components of change in AI interventions. Youth develop message content during participation in Active Involvement interventions. Advanced analytic models can be applied to address new research questions related to the measure of components of AI interventions.
Advertisers as Agents for Change in Health and Risk Messaging
Michael Mackert and Marie Guadagno
Advertising as a field and industry often has a contentious relationship with both health communication and public health due to legitimate concerns about how advertising for certain products, such as alcohol and tobacco, could contribute to less-healthy decisions and behaviors. While acknowledging such concerns, advertisers and their approach to solving communication problems could also provide valuable lessons to those working in health communication. Indeed, advertising agencies are designed to develop creative and effective messages that change consumer behavior—and health communication practitioners and scholars aim to change population-level behavior as well. The perspective and approach of the account planner in the advertising agency—a role whose chief responsibility is to bring the consumer perspective into every step of the advertising development process and inspire effective and creative campaigns—would be particularly valuable to those working in health communication. It was account planning work that shifted traditional milk advertising from promoting it as a healthy drink to the iconic "got milk?" campaign, which positioned milk as a complement that makes other food better—an approach that drove positive sales after years of declining milk consumption. Yet many who work in health communication and public health often know little of how advertising agencies work or their internal processes that might be productively adopted. This lack of understanding can also lead to misperceptions of advertisers' work and intentions. As an example, one might assume dense medical language in prescription drug advertising is intended to add unnecessary complexity to the advertisements and obscure side effects; instead, advertising professionals who work on prescription drug advertising have often been trained on clear communication—but cannot fully utilize that training because of regulations that require medically accurate terminology that might not be comprehensible to most viewers. Improved understanding of how advertisers can act as agents of change, and increased dialogue between the fields of advertising and health communication, could contribute to improved health communication research, practice, and policy.
Big Data and Communication Research
Ralph Schroeder
Communication research has recently had an influx of groundbreaking findings based on big data. Examples include not only analyses of Twitter, Wikipedia, and Facebook, but also of search engine and smartphone uses. These can be put together under the label "digital media." This article reviews some of the main findings of this research, emphasizing how big data findings contribute to existing theories and findings in communication research, which have so far been lacking. To do this, an analytical framework will be developed concerning the sources of digital data and how they relate to the pertinent media. This framework shows how data sources support making statements about the relation between digital media and social change. It is also possible to distinguish between a number of subfields that big data studies contribute to, including political communication, social network analysis, and mobile communication.
One of the major challenges is that most of this research does not fall into the two main traditions in the study of communication, mass and interpersonal communication. This is readily apparent for media like Twitter and Facebook, where messages are often distributed in groups rather than broadcast or shared between only two people. This challenge also applies, for example, to the use of search engines, where the technology can tailor results to particular users or groups (this has been labeled the "filter bubble" effect). The framework is used to locate and integrate big data findings in the landscape of communication research, and thus to provide a guide to this emerging area.
Big Data's Role in Health and Risk Messaging
Bradford William Hesse
The presence of large-scale data systems can be felt, consciously or not, in almost every facet of modern life, whether through the simple act of selecting travel options online, purchasing products from online retailers, or navigating through the streets of an unfamiliar neighborhood using global positioning system (GPS) mapping. These systems operate through the momentum of big data, a term introduced by data scientists to describe a data-rich environment enabled by a superconvergence of advanced computer-processing speeds and storage capacities; advanced connectivity between people and devices through the Internet; the ubiquity of smart, mobile devices and wireless sensors; and the creation of accelerated data flows among systems in the global economy. Some researchers have suggested that big data represents the so-called fourth paradigm in science, wherein the first paradigm was marked by the evolution of the experimental method, the second was brought about by the maturation of theory, the third was marked by an evolution of statistical methodology as enabled by computational technology, while the fourth extended the benefits of the first three, but also enabled the application of novel machine-learning approaches to an evidence stream that exists in high volume, high velocity, high variety, and differing levels of veracity.
In public health and medicine, the emergence of big data capabilities has followed naturally from the expansion of data streams from genome sequencing, protein identification, environmental surveillance, and passive patient sensing. In 2001, the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics published a road map for connecting these evidence streams to each other through a national health information infrastructure. Since then, the road map has spurred national investments in electronic health records (EHRs) and motivated the integration of public surveillance data into analytic platforms for health situational awareness. More recently, the boom in consumer-oriented mobile applications and wireless medical sensing devices has opened up the possibility for mining new data flows directly from altruistic patients. In the broader public communication sphere, the ability to mine the digital traces of conversation on social media presents an opportunity to apply advanced machine learning algorithms as a way of tracking the diffusion of risk communication messages. In addition to utilizing big data for improving the scientific knowledge base in risk communication, there will be a need for health communication scientists and practitioners to work as part of interdisciplinary teams to improve the interfaces to these data for professionals and the public. Too much data, presented in disorganized ways, can lead to what some have referred to as "data smog." Much work will be needed for understanding how to turn big data into knowledge, and just as important, how to turn data-informed knowledge into action.
Communication Technology and Interpersonal Relationships
Andrew M. Ledbetter
This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication. Please check back later for the full article.
Owing to advances in communication technology, the human race now possesses more opportunities to interact with interpersonal partners than ever before. Particularly in recent decades, such technology has become increasingly faster, mobile, and powerful. Although tablets, smartphones, and social media are relatively new, the impetus behind their development is old, as throughout history humans have developed mechanisms for communicating ideas that transcend inherent temporal and spatial limitations of face-to-face communication. In the ancient past, humans developed writing and the alphabet to preserve knowledge across time, with the later development of the printing press further facilitating the mass distribution of written ideas. Later, the telegraph was arguably the first technology to separate communication from transportation, and the telephone enabled people at a distance to hear the warmth and intimacy of the human voice. The development of the Internet consolidates and advances these technologies by facilitating pictorial and video interactions, and the mobility provided by cell phones and other technologies makes the potential for communication with interpersonal partners nearly ubiquitous. As such, these technologies reconfigure perception of time and space, creating the sense of a smaller world where people can begin and manage interpersonal relationships across geographic distance.
These developments in communication technology influence interpersonal processes in at least four ways. First, they introduce media choice as a salient question in interpersonal relationships. As recently as the late 20th century, people faced relatively few options for communicating with interpersonal partners; by the early years of the 21st century, people possessed a sometimes bewildering array of channel choices. Moreover, these choices matter because of the relational messages they send; for example, choosing to end a romantic relationship over the phone may communicate more sensitivity than choosing to do so via text messaging, or publicly on social media. Second, communication technology affords new opportunities to begin relationships and, through structural features of the media, shape how those meetings occur. The online dating industry generates over $1 billion in profit, with most Americans agreeing it is a good way to meet romantic partners; friendships also form online around shared interests and through connections on social media. Third, communication technology alters the practices people use to maintain interpersonal relationships. In addition to placing traditional forms of relational maintenance in more public spaces, social media facilitates passive browsing as a strategy for keeping up with interpersonal partners. Moreover, mobile technology affords partners increased geographic and temporal flexibility when keeping contact with partners, yet simultaneously, it may produce feelings of over-connectedness that hamper the desire for personal autonomy. Fourth, communication technology makes interpersonal networks more visibly manifest and preserves their continuity over time. This may provide an ongoing convoy of social support and, through increased efficiency, augment the size and diversity of social networks.
Communities of Practice in Health and Risk Messaging
Nicola Andrew
A community of practice (CoP) situated in a health and risk context is an approach to collaboration among members that promotes learning and development. In a CoP, individuals come together virtually or physically and coalesce around a common purpose. CoPs are defined by knowledge, rather than task, and encourage novices and experienced practitioners to work together to co-create and embed sustainable outputs that impact on theory and practice development. As a result, CoPs provide an innovative approach to incorporating evidence-based research associated with health and risk into systems and organizations aligned with public well-being.
CoPs provide a framework for constructing authentic and collaborative learning. Jeanne Lave and Etienne Wenger are credited with the original description of a CoP as an approach to learning that encompasses elements of identity, situation, and active participation. CoPs blend a constructivist view of learning, where meaningful experience is set in the context of "self" and the relationship of "self" with the wider professional community. The result is an integrated approach to learning and development achieved through a combination of social engagement and collaborative working in an authentic practice environment. CoPs therefore provide a strategic approach to acknowledging cultural differences related to translating health and risk theory into practice.
In health and risk settings, CoPs situate and blend theory and practice to create a portal for practitioners to generate, shape, test, and evaluate new ideas and innovations. Membership of a CoP supports the development of professional identity within a wider professional sphere and may support community members to attain long range goals.
Cultivation in Health and Risk Messaging
Mohan Jyoti Dutta, Satveer Kaur-Gill, and Naomi Tan
Cultivation theory examines the effects of the media, mainly television on viewer perception over an extended period of time. Television is seen by people throughout the globe, with many spending considerable amounts of time watching the medium. The act of watching television has been described as the first leisure activity to cut across social and ethnic divisions in society. This made it a unique mass media tool because mass message dissemination to diverse groups in a population was made possible. Cultivation scholars have studied the effects of the medium, trying to understand how television content can alter one's social reality. Heavy viewers are considered to be most susceptible to the effects of cultivation. The reality of these effects poses important questions for health communication scholars considering the role television plays in disseminating health messages. Health communication scholars became interested in studying cultivation to understand the health-related effects the medium could have on viewers. Understanding the health effects of television is pivotal, considering that television and the structures that constitute television content set the agendas for many health topics, often disseminating negative and positive messages that can impact society, especially the young and impressionable. With television content addressing health issues such as nutrition, diet, body image, tobacco, cancer, drugs, obesity, and women's health, cultivation theory can offer health communication scholars a framework to understand how health behaviors are shaped by the mass media and the roles these media play in reinforcing unhealthy behaviors. By establishing a basis for studying how such portrayals have direct health-related effects on viewers, cultivation theory creates openings for questioning the structures of the media that put out unhealthy content and for interrogating the roles and responsibilities of media agenda in inculcating positive health messages. Directions for future research include looking at contextually contrasting populations that share different cultural and community values, and different ways of consuming television. Research questions exploring the roles of community structures with different sets of subjective norms, or with different roles of community norms, in the realm of cultivation effects offer new areas for exploration.
Brenda L. Berkelaar and Millie Harrison
Broadly speaking, cybervetting can be described as the acquisition and use of online information to evaluate the suitability of an individual or organization for a particular role. When cybervetting, an information seeker gathers information about an information target from online sources in order to evaluate past behavior, to predict future behavior, or to address some combination thereof. Information targets may be individuals, groups, or organizations. Although often considered in terms of new hires or personnel selection, cybervetting may also include acquiring and using online information in order to evaluate a prospective or current client, employee, employer, romantic partner, roommate, tenant, client, or other relational partner, as well as criminal, civil, or intelligence suspects. Cybervetting takes advantage of information made increasingly available and easily accessible by regular and popular uses and affordances of Internet technologies, in particular social media. Communication scholars have long been interested in the information seeking, impression management, surveillance, and other processes implicated in cybervetting; however, the uses and affordances of new online information technologies offer new dimensions for theory and research as well as ethical and practical concerns for individuals, groups, organizations, and society.
Deaf or Hard of Hearing Message Recipient Sociodemographic Characteristics
Michael McKee
Hearing loss is common, with approximately 17% of the population reporting some degree of a hearing deficit. Hearing loss has profound impacts on health literacy, health information accessibility, and learning. Much of existing health information is inaccessible. This is largely due to the lack of focus on tailoring the messages to the needs of deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) individuals with hearing loss. DHH individuals struggle with a variety of health knowledge gaps and health disparities. This demonstrates the importance of providing tailored and accessible health information for this population. While hearing loss is heterogeneous, there are still overlapping principles that can benefit everyone. Through adaptation, DHH individuals become visual learners, thus increasing the demand for appropriate visual medical aids. The development of health information and materials suitable for visual learners will likely impact not only DHH individuals, but will also be applicable for the general population. The principles of social justice and universal design behoove health message designers to ensure that their health information is not only accessible, but also equitable. Wise application of technology, health literacy, and information learning principles, along with creative use of social media, peer exchanges, and community health workers, can help mitigate much of the health information gaps that exist among DHH individuals.
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Welcome to Heads-up, our weekly feature which gives you an at-a-glance run-down on the games you'll be able to buy or rent this weekend. Every Monday we'll pick out the best of the bunch, link to our reviews and previews and keep you in the video game loop so you have enough time to pre-order for Friday's post. Time to smash open your piggy bank so you can spend its coin-shaped guts.
Recommended: The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings - Xbox 360, PC
CD Projekt's superb action RPG sequel The Witcher 2 arrives on Xbox 360 (and again on PC) in enhanced form this week, and we very much think it's worth your money. While we weren't sure the game would port brilliantly to the Xbox 360, all our doubts were cast aside when we played the final game. Well worth picking up if you're looking for your next RPG fix. It's worth noting that The Witcher 2 is released on Tuesday, rather than the traditional Friday.
Buy now for £31.99 at Amazon.co.uk.
Worth a look
These two are almost as hardcore as you can get, yet are polar opposites in terms of game style. Digaea 3 arrives on Vita with all the series' inherent high barrier to entry, while the latest Men of War title, Condemned Heroes, is sure to please fans who want more of the tried and tested series gameplay.
- Disgaea 3: Absence Of Detention - PS Vita
- Men Of War: Condemned Heroes - PC
And the rest...
- Battleship - Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS and 3DS
- Pole Position 2012: Management Simulation - PC
- Alvin And The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked - Wii
- Distant Worlds - PC
- Natalie Brooks: Mystery At Hillcrest High - DS
- Depth Hunter - PC

subset: commoncrawl


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Carl Edwards isn't known for causing controversy, but weekend rumours about his contract status and his outspoken comments about the next-gen NASCAR racecar had people talking.
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Considering how successful Carl Edwards has been so far in 2011 - he's 20pts ahead in the Cup championship after 15 races - you'd think that a contract renewal with Roush Fenway Racing would be a done deal.
But instead, there's still no word about whether Edwards is going to re-sign with Jack Roush after all, long after his team mate Greg Biffle sorted out a three-year extension back in April. And the longer the uncertainty goes on, the more gossip goes around the NASCAR paddock about the possibility of Edwards' and Roush's negotiations having stalled and deadlocked.
Last weekend's "no smoke without fire" story was that Edwards had been in discussions with Joe Gibbs about a move there in 2012.
It would prove to be a logical development: if talks with Roush really have hit a roadblock, then Edwards would need to start talking to other teams simply as a contingency, and in today's NASCAR field there are few teams comparable with Roush Fenway. Indeed, Joe Gibbs Racing may be pretty much the only game in town as far as a championship-winning partnership prospect goes for Edwards.
But just as stories about Lewis Hamilton having a talk with Christian Horner in Montreal does not mean a deal for him to switch to Red Bull F1 is about to happen anytime soon, neither does any talk about meetings between Edwards and Gibbs - even if true - mean that anything substantive is in the works.
Gibbs would clearly be interested in having the 2011 champion-presumptive on the books for next season, and the rumours go that he's less than happy about Joey Logano's development in the #20. Logano was signed as the "next big thing" but has had a less than scintillating couple of years with the team, this weekend finishing in 18th place while his team mates Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch finished first and third respectively.
Unsurprisingly, the problem with Edwards' Roush Fenway contract talks seems to be over money: Edwards was an expensive signing for the team when he moved there, and after the success he's given the team in the last two years he understandably thinks that he should get his due reward - whereas Roush has publicly said that he has no intention of breaking the bank again like that anytime soon, for anyone.
When it comes to funding any deal, Roush Fenway has had a battle to retain consistent sponsorship with the #99 while the JGR #20 comes complete with one of the most secure and enduring sponsor deals in NASCAR courtesy of Home Depot - who are desperate to topple business arch rivals Lowes from the top of the Cup championship after five straight years of victory with Jimmie Johnson.
The #20 also comes with one of the top crew chiefs in the business, two-time championship winning Greg Zipadelli. This may be both a plus- and a minus-point: Zipadelli has traditionally been seen as an inseparable package with the #20, but Edwards has always been very loyal and committed to his current crew chief Bob Osborne - although a couple of early season calls about whether to pit or stay out (the eternal fresh rubber versus track position debate) seemed to cause a little friction between them when Osborne's calls proved the wrong way to go. However, current paddock gossip suggests that Zipadelli may be contemplating a move to Tony Stewart's team after friction in recent months with Logano. Zipadelli won the Cup championship with Stewart in 2002 and 2005.
Despite all the paddock chatter about how Edwards has never entirely fitted in at Roush Fenway in the same way that firm friends Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth have, and that he considers himself something of the outsider with the team, it still seems more likely than not that when it comes down to it Carl will be staying put in the #99 next year rather than jumping in at JGR. Then again, everyone thought it was inconceivable that Dale Earnhardt Jr. could ever leave the team that bore his (and his father's) name - but he did when he moved to Hendrick Motorsport in 2008. (Dale Earnhardt, Inc. subsequently merged with Chip Ganassi's NASCAR operation in 2009 to form Earnhardt Ganassi Racing.)
But the current contract uncertainty has meant that other teams are also taking notice - in particular Red Bull, who had rumoured to be looking at a replacement for Brian Vickers who has not been at his best since his return to the team after medical leave in 2011 for a blood clotting and heart condition that sidelined him last season.
Prior to the rumours that they may be about to quit NASCAR altogether, Red Bull were said to be strongly wooing another driver who will be a free agent at the end of 2011, Juan Montoya - although it would have been a seismic shock to see Montoya leave the Ganassi fold, a relationship that goes back to the Colombian's Champ Car days in the 90s. Once the news about Red Bull broke, Montoya was said to be rushing to re-sign with Ganassi as soon as possible.
Red Bull's withdrawal is likely to have an impact on any decision that Kimi Raikkonen has on any future forays into NASCAR. The possibility of him taking a seat in the Cup team - or else a driver such as Mattias Ekstrom, a long-time Red Bull driver in DTM where he is a two-time champion as well as a three-time winner of the Race of Champions - had recently been discussed as a possibility.
But Edwards himself - usually the perfect Mr Corporate and the only driver who can get away with diving into a crowd of fans to celebrate a race victory without any concern that he might not be universally popularly welcomed - also raised eyebrows with his post-Michigan comments concerning NASCAR's plans for the next generation of racecar due in 2013.
"Downforce is such a big factor in these cars, and I am really hoping NASCAR will take the opportunity in 2013 to take downforce away so the fans can see the guys race race cars and not race downforce," Edwards said. "Let's say all of the cars are a tenth apart and you are behind two or three cars, your car is two-tenths of a second slower. You can't make [that sort of margin] up."
NASCAR has strongly directed drivers not to criticise the sport, the races or the organisation in public after evidence showed that fan views about the sport strongly aligned with comments made by their favourite drivers. Denny Hamlin recently revealed that he had been secretly fined $50,000 for criticising NASCAR on Twitter, while Ryan Newman revealed that he had also been secretly fined in April 2010 for critical comments he made about the style of racing at Talladega.
Instead, drivers are expected to 'codify' their criticism. Instead of saying anything negative about the car's need for clean air, most drivers will simply say "track position is so important" and how it is difficult to pass with the current NASCAR aero package because the cars are so similar.
"I'm not whining; Denny earned this win and those are the rules we are under," Edwards quickly added, praising Denny Hamlin's race-winning performance at Michigan. "Track position was huge, and I just wish it wasn't like that."
His Roush Fenway teammate Matt Kenseth was more on the "official" line and said that Sunday's difficulties had been more to do with the tyres than the car specification. "It has been more difficult to pass lately [but] I honestly think that is the tyre more than anything else. It seems like the tyres we have been running this year lay down a lot of rubber, which is nice, but on that restart it was slime from bottom to top and you are up there sliding. That is how it feels to me."
Given the earlier smoke about contract negotiations, it's no wonder that some are looking at this post-race exchange as signs of proof of open flames at Roush Fenway, and that the cracks between driver and team are starting to show.


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Artist description:
Italy and Germany from Axis Powers: Hetalia. Just a 45 minute stress reliever from exams doodle. Uhh... so yeah, enjoy. Ref only for character colours, hairstyles, clothes. Also posted on my dA account.
Java Draw Created Jun 22, 2011 470 x 338px Unless noted Copyright 2011 furubaluver101.
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i don't know why but this looks a little bit shonen ai xD and i love it 8D 5/5
I''m in the mood for some pasta right now....
(=Д=)೨ pastaaaaaa~~ doitsu doitsuuuu~~~ pastaaaa!!!!!! germany:(╬≖ิ__≖)
Haha! Very nice drawing! :)
Hetalia will take over RMD...one drawing at a time! this is so cute! haha 5/5
lol italy rules! xDD
they look cute 5/5 :)
Mmmm ... pasta. This drawing is making me hungry. :) Great doodle! 5 ♥s
Very COOL, nicely done - 5H


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Volunteers providing support in disaster-hit Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures are shifting from manual labor, such as removing debris, to providing mental and other kinds of care to survivors, especially the elderly and children.
Organizers continue to call on people nationwide to participate in volunteer work to meet their diversifying needs.
"Let's become No. 1 in contemporary Japanese," said Naoto Yamazaki, a University of Tokyo student, as he tutored 12-year-old Hiroki Suto, who is in his first year of junior high school, at an evacuation shelter in Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture.
Volunteers from the university have been helping out since May by cooking meals at the shelter.
Starting in August, they also began tutoring.
"I'm happy because it's easy to understand," Suto said.
"When I heard that children were behind with their studies, we thought we needed to offer support to children as well from this point forward," said Shotaro Tsuya, 23, a graduate student at Todai.
According to a poll conducted in June by the Sendai Council of Social Welfare, which operates the city's volunteer center, only about 100 out of 1,851 households said they needed help in manual labor, including removing debris and moving into temporary housing.
So the organization decided to shift its focus to checking on the elderly to prevent them from becoming isolated, doing their shopping for daily needs and organizing events.
The group also stopped accepting "walk-in" volunteers and switched to a registration-based system so it could match the changing needs of the victims with volunteers' abilities.
The city of Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, has also placed more weight on providing care to the elderly by visiting temporary housing and listening to the inhabitants' troubles and concerns.
"Our task is to prevent elderly people from dying alone and preventing suicides," a city official said.
Volunteers, meanwhile, may need to upgrade their skills to meet emerging needs.
"Someone with expertise needs to provide mental care on a long-term basis," said a 64-year-old volunteer from Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture.
Fukushima Prefecture's volunteer center also said it plans to shift to providing care for the people in temporary housing.
The need for grunt labor, however, hasn't entirely disappeared.
Volunteers to remove debris are still needed in the city of Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, which suffered huge damage from the earthquake and tsunami.
As of Aug. 8, an estimated 660,000 volunteers had offered help in the three prefectures.
Still, all three prefectures are having trouble ensuring a stable supply of participants and are making efforts to improve the environment for volunteers.
For example, Minamisanriku is reinforcing efforts to accept the "volunteer buses" that shuttle volunteers into and out of the disaster-hit areas.
The city of Rikuzentakata in Iwate Prefecture meanwhile has hired a nurse to care for volunteers.


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NetWellness is a global, community service providing quality, unbiased health information from our partner university faculty. NetWellness is commercial-free and does not accept advertising.
Saturday, September 23, 2017
I am 34 y/o male that was diagnosed 3-4 years ago. found it with a pet scan by accident. biopsy of lymph nodes confirmed sarc. my issue is that my doctor now wants to treat with prednisone. i am not symptomatic and have no breathing trouble. i run a mile to a mile and a half everyday. i am concerned because my last ct showed that there are a couple more spots and he thinks it is getting worse. I get a scan every 6 months. aug 0f 2010 to this april, radiologist noted increased granulomas. should i let the doctor do his thing or give it another 6 months. i am a firefighter and going on my 11th year. i am scared ----less with all the war stories i have heard about prednisone. if i decide to do the treatment - will this effect my career?
Dear Sir - Many cases of sarcoidosis tend to "fade out" without any treatment and do not cause any symptoms. These patients can be monitored off treatment and often have no further complications. Others, like yourself, have no symptoms but do have signs of disease progression in the lungs, including more radiographic changes ("spots" or nodules) and changes in objective measures of lung function on standard pulmonary function tests (PFTs).
Unfortunately, there is not a tremendous amount of research data to inform the decision to treat this type of presentation. Most lung specialists would recommend treatment if the lung capacity drops significantly on serial PFTs or if symptoms (cough, chest pain, shortness of breath) develop. However, it would be reasonable to continue monitoring your condition off treatment providing you do not meet any of these criteria. It is worth noting that early treatment (before it becomes more active) usually requires lower doses of medicine to control. I try to avoid the long term complications of prednisone by keeping the dose as low as possible and using "steroid-sparing" agents (like methotrexate) when necessary to avoid higher steroid doses. You are advised to discuss these options with your doctor.
Elliott D Crouser, MD
Associate Professor of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine
College of Medicine
The Ohio State University


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Namco Bandai's Tokitowa looks mighty gorgeous
The last time we talked about Namco Bandai's Tokitowa here on GameZone was back in January when the game had just been announced. The PlayStation 3 JRPG, which translates to Time and Eternity, is being developed by Imagepooch, with animation studio Satelight doing the art. Simply put, the game looks gorgeous, and its hand-drawn animated visuals are a joy to behold.
A new Tokitowa trailer has popped up on YouTube, and it showcases a lot of that visual splendor that Satelight brings to the project. The whole thing looks absolutely dazzling, and I'm certain there are countless JRPG enthusiasts out there who want to take the game for a spin.
It's hard to find a game that gives Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch a run for it's money, but it's safe to say that Tokitowa certainly does exactly that. Battle sequences and cutscenes all look very impressive, with fluid anime-like style. And since the title is rumored to be set for launch in North America, PlayStation 3 owners on this side of the globe have something really cool to look forward to.
I can't wait.
For a bunch of indie game and burrito talk, follow @thesanchezdavid on Twitter.


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American Civil War Lesson Plans
Civil War lesson plans can get students thinking about, and discussing issues related to history, politics, and even photography.
By Marie Carney Hossfeld
The Civil War was the result of philosophical, political, and economic differences that could not be resolved by the Constitution, nor by any actions taken to resolve the strain caused by the disparate values of the north and south. It was a pivotal point in American history. It led to a redefinition of our nation, a reduction of sectionalism, the end of slavery and the institution of a strong national identity.
There are many ways you can embark on a exploration of the Civil War period. For example, you could have students study the history of this period from different perspectives. You could have students do research on the lives of the slaves, industrial workers, factory owners, northern and southern politicians, Native Americans, or Europeans. They can debate the issues of the era, with each participant arguing from the point of view which he or she researched. You could encourage students to grapple with the gravity of the issues, and how people can look at the same facts, and come to different conclusions.
Photography came of age during this era. You could have students examine pictures of the people and events of this period and ask how it affects their understanding of this period. Do they think their opinion of the Civil War era would be different if we didn't have access to these images? What types of pictures weren't taken that would have been helpful in understanding this period? How might the images have the power to influence history as we know it?
What follows are lesson plans that could be used to cover the Civil War era.
Civil War Lesson Plans:
Life in the North and South 1847-1861: before Brother Fought Brother
This lesson defines the underlying issues between the north and south prior to the war. Using U.S. Census data, students examine notable differences between northern and southern communities. Not only do students learn about the issues of the times, they also learn about how necessary and useful U.S. Census data can be. You could extend the learning by doing research about other communities.
Isn't it Exciting-The American Industrial Revolution and Urbanization
This lesson offers extensive background information discussing the inventions of the time. It has students not only learn about the actual inventions, but also to the evolution of urbanization and industrialization, which without these inventions, wouldn't have been possible.
In this lesson students pick Civil War related topics to study, such as Reconstruction, Civil War Inventions, Civil War Battles, causes of the Civil War, etc… and write children's books on their topic. The lesson was developed so that students can work in small groups and utilize computer technology. The lesson is designed to last one day, but I think students would need additional time for research. You could extend the activity by having your students read their books to elementary classes. They could donate a copy of their work to an elementary school class or library.


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On Mon, Feb 21, 2011 at 10:46 PM, Daniel Farina <daniel(at)heroku(dot)com> wrote: > It may also be useful information to know that no recent shenanigans > have happened on this server: it's been up continuously for about 500 > days. That doesn't mean something interesting did not occur a very > long time ago, and I'm currently asking around for any notes about > interesting things that have occurred on this machine. From what I can tell, people only see this problem with pg_dump, which is interesting. This symptom has a very long history: http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2004-02/msg00970.php http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-admin/2006-10/msg00192.php http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2005-11/msg00305.php http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2010-01/msg00087.php http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2011-02/msg00334.php Something I'm not sure any of these mention that's very interesting in my case that may be crucial information: In my case, there are two "missing" pg_namespace entries, and both have the same missing relations. Both of them have "credible" looking OIDs (in the hundreds of thousands, and one after the other) as well as "credible" looking ancillary information: * all owners are correct * there are exactly four relfrozenxid values. They look like this: SELECT distinct c.relnamespace, relfrozenxid::text FROM pg_class c LEFT JOIN pg_namespace n ON n.oid = c.relnamespace LEFT JOIN pg_tablespace t ON t.oid = c.reltablespace WHERE nspname IS NULL; relnamespace | relfrozenxid --------------+-------------- 320204 | 0 320204 | 6573962 320527 | 0 320527 | 6574527 Note that relfrozenxic increases along with the oid, which is generally what you'd expect. Some relations have no frozen xid. * This is affecting the following features the user has used: sequences, relations, indexes (in this case, they are all _pkey indexes) * There's also a valid version of all these relations/objects that *are* connected to the schema that's alive and expected. As such, \dt, \dn seem to work as one would expect. The modern namespace OID is 378382, which is in line with a smooth monotonic increase over time. * Each relkind has its own relfilenode, and they all do appear to exist in the cluster directory. I didn't spot any big ones from a random sampling (I can write a comprehensive one on request), but some were 8KB and some were 16KB, which might suggest that some data is in some of them. More forensics tomorrow. Sadly, for whatever reason, pg_dump --schema=public didn't seem to help me out. We do need a workaround if we wish to keep doing forensics. -- fdr
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Asked at Stanford University. Question and interviews by Melissa Landeros.
Camille Whitney
Glenwood Avenue, Menlo Park
"I like going to La Bodeguita del Medio on California Avenue, because they have good mojitos."
Chelsea Shannon
Sand Hill Road, Palo Alto
"For night life I enjoy going to Nola, a bar and restaurant."
Zavie Brown
Bowdoin Street, Palo Alto
"For entertainment I like going to the movies in Redwood City. It's a fun area with lots of people."
Thine Che
Santa Teresa Street, Palo Alto
"I go to Sushi 85, because it's all-you-can-eat sushi, and it's good quality."
Teresa Nguyen
Santa Teresa Street, Palo Alto
"I really like Cafe Venetia. It's a cute place with good hot chocolate."


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Hi SS Folks!
Forgive me if this is not really SS related but I figured someone here would know and I am at a loss. I have built a site with SS and on it I have a page:
What I would like to do is have a sub-domain (or is it virtual domain?) "about-me.mysite.com" serve the www.mysite.com/about-me page. Ideally without rewriting the URL but keeping it as about-me.mysite.com
I don't know if this is a virtual host thing, htaccess, or what. Is it possible? Any pointers would be great thanks.


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Mann broke through in 2010 with the song "Buzzin," a J.R. Rotem-produced track whose remix featured 50 Cent. The Los Angeles-based rapper features a new sound on his recently released The L.i.s.a. EP. L.i.s.a. is short for Love Inspired Stoner Anthems. The seven-cut collection features Ty$, Clyde Carson, Buddy and Cassie.
Now independent after having a major deal with Mercury Records, Mann has developed a new sonic direction, in part due to his new focus on spirituality. As he works on reestablishing himself, completing his forthcoming free LP The Grey Area and exploring his emerging sound, the 22-year-old discusses some of his favorite albums in an exclusive interview with HipHopDX.
Mann says that Mase's debut album, 1997's Harlem World, is his favorite album of all time. Mann, though, was only about five years old when Harlem World was released. He knew the Bad Boy project from one of his older cousins, who would play the album in the car when they were together.
Mann became infatuated with the Harlem World throughout the years and bought the album when he was old enough to purchase music on his own. "I really did my research on Mase after that," Mann says. "Like just the way he put Harlem out there, and the way he kinda was like the flagship [artist for Harlem] and put his city on. He was like the main fly rapper from the city. It was like, 'That's who I wanted to be.' That was the first real artist I really liked."
As for the first album he bought, Mann says Lil Wayne's debut set, 1999's Tha Block Is Hot, holds that distinction. Mann says he bought the album because of the New Orleans rapper's age. "I just felt like he was like the closest rapper to my age at that time," Mann says. "Bow Wow was a rapper, but it was like [Wayne] was a real rapper and something that was real and he was young, so I wanted to check out his project."
Mann says he was surprised about Wayne's content on Tha Block Is Hot. "It's funny, on that album he couldn't really cuss, cause you know he told his mom he wouldn't cuss," Mann says. "So, when they was playing it, he was just keeping it real without cussing. It was just like, it was possible and it showed me it was possible to be like a young rapper talking about real shit. Before I felt like they always tried to keep young rappers talking about young stuff, but he was like a young man living an adult life, but he did it without cussing, so it showed how young he was at the same time. I felt like I could relate in that way."
Now that Mann is working on a new style of music, he cites one album in particular as the reason for his change: The Love Below, Andre 3000's half of OutKast's double disc 2003 album, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.
"That's what sparked me to be creative, instead of just rapping about typical rap stuff," Mann says. "Like the amount of creativity he had in that album just like…was just next level to me. I didn't know a rapper, an artist that I considered a rapper that everyone respected as a rapper could like do something that transcends rap. That album, I feel like transcends all genres."


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Medal of Honor
Review by hiero00x
"Good game in a sloppy package"
"Medal of Honor (2010 / PC) Review"
Medal of Honor is long waited reboot of Medal of Honor series. It departs from its World War II roots and attempts to modernize its place at First person shooter market. Developed by Danger Close and Dice, Medal of Honor takes more realistic approaches to its game design.
Single player campaign tells story of Afghanistan War. It's told through multiple US Tier 1 units. Tier 1 units are Special Forces like Rangers, Delta and Navy Seals. Each unit's story combines to make overall story of the war, but the plot or lack thereof has no definite start or end. The story is collection of events that transpires in the war. The campaign could have started or ended anywhere and wouldn't have made much difference.
Overall story is hard to follow since there isn't a clear goal the story is trying to achieve. The story in battlefield, however, is much more interesting. Each mission has a clear goal. It moves in a fast pace and left me engaged to the mission.
Despite having short campaign and multiple characters, characters in mission are memorable. They have distinct personality which mostly comes though their voice acting.
Good voice acting and lip syncing throughout the game and cg cut scenes. There's extra touch like when one of AI team talk next to you, you'll hear two sound feedbacks from their mouth and from radio in your ear.
Dialogue between the colonel and the general is bland. Dialogue between teams on the field has much richer personalities. In the helicopter mission, pilots in the helicopters were entertaining to listen even though I couldn't see their faces.
The game has great sound design like Battlefield Bad Company 2. Sound effects like gun fire feel authentic. Bullets flying by, explosion and vehicle sounds are all well done.
Soundtrack very is not memorable. There aren't too many to start with due to the game's short campaign. It does serve its purpose to invoke emotions like urgency and tensions in the battlefield. Soundtrack is under played by the voice acting which does more to set the mood of the battlefield.
This is where Medal of Honor shines. Medal of Honor is one of the best looking games on the market. It has tons of jaw dropping scripted events like assisting AC130, flying Apache helicopter or fighting off many dozens of Taliban.
Textures on characters and guns look amazing. There are lot details on characters. Guns look authentic and animate realistic.
Scale of each level is massive. Especially in vehicle missions like driving ATV through massive canyons and hills or flying though mountains in Apache helicopter. Smooth frame rate though out the game even in these fast vehicle sequences. I never had a frame drop.
There are few texture pop-in in extremely large map or in vehicles sequences, but they are not very noticeable or get in a way of enjoying the game.
Effects like explosion, smoke and lighting are top notch. Lighting and shadows in general look realistic, but lighting looks great in darker levels. There is good contrast between light and dark. Flare blinds you in night vision. Gun flashes in night fire fight are realistic. It's very satisfying to drive an ATV with its headlights on over the hills in the moonlight.
There are few hiccups in Medal of Honor's presentation. In general, characters animate believable, but there is more work to be done to link these animations more naturally. Sometimes when enemies try to get into a cover, they skip sliding animation.
They will crouch then stick to cover without any animation. Many times, I saw dead bodies of enemies fold as if they were made out of rubber, and shake their limbs like a balloon.
There are tons of clipping issues. Player character and AI teammates will consistently run though each other and other objects like metal sheet cover. The game's collision detection is prioritized to scripted events. Anything getting into the scripted events is ignored.
There are clipping issues even in these scripted events. I saw one AI character watching a room with its head blocking the door way. Other AI character will run through the head to get into the room. This is not dynamic event. Developers knew that one character was in the way of another character. They did not bother to animate the character to move out of the way.
Clipping does not break the game, but this could have been fixed easily. And it does break realistic mood the game is trying to deliver.
Medal of Honor is first person shooter. It is very linear. Player's objective is to move from point A to point B though various scripted events. The player is always accompanied by at least one AI character. The player must use cover. Some covers are destructive forcing the player or enemies to find new cover. The Player or the enemies can shoot though some boxes and walls. Controls are identical to Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 2.
Guns have little to no recoil. On PC, I shot enemies in far distance with a hand gun. Guns feel authentic but players should not expect realistic ballistics.
Medal of Honor controls fine. Shooting and getting into a cover feel natural. However, the lay out of the control feels bit odd. The player has to press left on keyboard to ready grenade launcher. It makes sense on Xbox360 and PS3 controller, but on keyboard, the player must take one of either hand off from the control just to operate grenade launcher making transition awkward in the heat of the battle.
Other oddities are grenade and HUD. G is for grenade. H is for HUD. I often threw grenade when I just wanted to check my next objective. It wasn't a big deal once I got used to it, but the developer obviously made control console first and pc second.
AI teammates are always with the player. They are invincible, but not overwhelmingly powerful. They can take care of most enemies themselves, but there are still enough left to give the player fair challenge. Enemies are smart enough to find a cover and find new one if that cover is compromised.
Medal of Honor is very linear in terms if objectives, but it has few open spaces which let players to choose how they approach a battle. Players can go up to gain higher ground or around a building to flank. Also, there is a stealth mission later in the campaign where players are given freedom to choose to remain stealthy or to go gun out blazing.
Vehicles and bombing sequences are nice change of pace. Medal of Honor mixes them up nicely so players won't do one thing too long. These sequences bring variety to the campaign and give sense of scale of the war.
Medal of Honor feels realistic in many ways, but some design choices take away some of immersive experience Medal of Honor tries to portray.
In the single player campaign, there is almost no HUD unless the player presses H to display HUD momentary. There is a headshot indicator whenever the player lands a headshot. It wasn't necessary to include a headshot indicator. I think it defeats purpose of having no HUD.
The player can get infinite ammo from your teammate as long as you have military issued weapons. This was a design choice by developers. It is use in later part of the campaign where the player and AI teammates face tens of enemies and slowly run out ammo. This part is done well, but though out rest of the campaign; the player has no reason to aim carefully. It gives the game arcade feel.
There are tons of jaws dropping scripted events, but Medal of Honor fails to hide the junction of each scripted events. There are many points where I could not across in the level until AI teammates or enemies finished their scripted routines. It creates many invisible wall where you should be allow to go but can't until the game lets you.
As previously mentioned, normally Medal of Honor does not have a HUD. There are lots of context sensitive actions as an objective, but there is no indication when a new objective pops up. So often, I stood around waiting something to happen when I was suppose to kick open a door or climb a ledge. I got in habit of consistently pressing H to check next objective even when I didn't have to.
Medal of Honor gives you illusion of freedom, but in most cases, my action didn't matter. In early stealth mission, stealth cover is blown no matter what I did. In other missions, the game remains in stealth mode.
One example is in a sneaking mission riding an ATV. The game gives you freedom to operate headlight on or off, but when it's necessary to turn on or off, the game takes over and turn on or off for you. But then why give ability to do so in the first place?
Other example is in a sniping segment in night. I was told shoot the guards in tower so AI teammate can sneak past. I purposely missed ten times, shooting near enemies. Enemies did not react to any shots. They just walk about their scripted routines as if nothing happened.
Single player lasts about 4 hours. The game is relatively short, but the game moves in very face pace and full of content. As far as the gameplay experience goes, Medal of Honor does hit all marks what first person shooter experience should be but only just.
There are 3 difficulties easy, medium and hard. Not much replay values there. On medium and hard difficulties, cover is essential other than that there is no real change in gameplay tactics.
Medal of Honor has Tier 1 mode as its multiplayer. It's developed by DICE using Frostbite engine.
Frostbite engine is well known for its destructibility of building and other environment. There is no destructibility in Medal of Honor. It is difficult to address campers because there is no destructibility and guns have no recoil.
The multiplayer does not look as good as the single player. Textures are fine, but map looks generic and colors look washed out. Effects like lighting, smoke and explosion still looks great. Guns and characters have good details too.
Sound is still intact like the single player. Gunfire sounds authentic and echoing sound from gunfire and explosion is exceptionally well done.
Multiplayer has a class system. These classes are rifleman, special ops and snipers. Rifleman uses rifles. Special Ops uses heavy weapons light rocket launcher. Sniper uses sniper rifles. Each class can unlock weapons and customize load outs.
Medal of Honor uses point system kill streaks. Kills, kill assist, headshot and objective completion give points. 40 point can call mortar strike or surveillance of the map. 100 points can call rocket strike or match ammunition. 160 points give missile strike or body armor. Despite lacking variation, these kill streaks are fun to use and well balanced.
Medal of Honor's multiplayer is fun while it last, but it feels lacking in content. There are new modes coming soon, but so far there isn't much to attract players from its competitors.
Medal of Honor has lot of good to deliver but in sloppy package. It fails to hide that Medal of Honor is just a huge check list of what first person should be, but it does hit all the marks and does it well.
Reviewer's Rating: 3.5 - Good
Originally Posted: 11/12/10
Game Release: Medal of Honor (Limited Edition) (US, 10/12/10)
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Public urged to report illegal dumping
A Burdekin Shire councillor is calling on locals to report any residents illegally dumping waste.
Cr Uli Leissmann says the number of people dumping rubbish and household goods illegally is on the rise.
He says residents need to think about the impact on the region.
"You're affecting yourself, you're affecting your kids and your grandkids, so where do we end up?" he said.
"We're going to stuff the environment up for three generations plus because someone's too tired to go down to the transfer station."
Topics: recycling-and-waste-management, activism-and-lobbying, local-government, crime, ayr-4807, townsville-4810


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wikiHow to Download Files on Box
Once you've uploaded files to the cloud hosting service "Box," you can download them again at any time. You can do this from any device or browser that you want.
1Log in to your Box account and click on the file that you want under where it says "Files and Folders."
2Wait for the file to load, and then click the "Download" button with the blue down arrow icon in the top right corner of the browser window.
3Give the file you want to download a name when the browsing window appears, and then click "Save" to save the file to your computer.
4Click on the file in the bottom left corner of the browser to open it if you want to use it right away after it finishes downloading.
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A.C.E.: Another Century's Episode 2
Review by BiohazardX3
"If you like Real Robots at all... Play this."
I'm sure all of you here like mecha anime, at least a little... I can also be pretty sure that you've come in contact with more Real Robot type anime (I.E. Gundam, Full Metal Panic, Patlabor, Macross, etc.) than super robots (Mazinger, G Gundam, Getter Robo, Gaogaigar, etc.). Another Century's Episode 2 can be compared to Zone of the Enders, just with a multitude of Real Robot serieses involved (Gundam 0083, Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz, Martian Succesor Nadesico, Char's Counterattack, Super Dimensional Fortress: Macross, Brain Powerd, SPT Blue Comet Layzner, Aura Battler Dunbine, Wings of Rean, Heavy Metal L-Gaim and Metal Armor Dragonar.) With a ridiculous attention to detail, few robots play similarly and have essentially everything their anime, movie, or OVA versions have; this includes some weapons that may have been used only once in the series. Onto the main review...
Graphics: 8
The backgrounds leave a whole lot to be desired, however every single mecha is beautifully recreated, animated smoothly, and go down to the smallest little detail, like shoulder vulcans opening or a Valkyrie's head guns turning to fire. Size differences remain intact, often putting an interesting spin on things... The titular Layzner mecha looks like a bug when compared to the Heavy Metals from L-Gaim while the Dragonars stand face-to-face with the various Mobile Suits. Pilot cut-ins are cel-shaded and look great for some, but slightly strange for some others; during combination attacks, the pilots are shown in their original art form briefly before unleashing hell on whatever hapless grunt you pressed L2 while targeting. The lasers, bullets, and various explosions all look nice, and every weapon is shown working just as it's seen in the anime...
Sounds: 10
The sounds are just like they're heard in their respective anime, some music had to be remixed or have the quality increased, since we just so happen to live 20 to 30 years in the future... Every single character featured has their respective voice actor returning for their role, though some voices have changed over a span of 10 to 20 years they're still very easy to recognize.
Story: N/A
Bryston Well, the Devil Gundam, GP-02, Orphan, and the Zentraedi. Most the originality here comes from mish-mashing this all together, however it seems to work pretty well, I wouldn't know since I don't understand Japanese... I wish I would know the story of the two original robots, they're kinda ugly but fun to use.
Gameplay: Why the hell not 11?
Very fast-paced, balanced, and definitely not lacking in choices... 105 total mecha to play as, 70 of which are available during the original story mode (5 Aestivalises, 3 Aestivalis Customs and 4 Valkyries are basically the same mecha with different pilots and coloring, however this is how it's supposed to be so...) Nearly each and every mecha is a different experience to use, Yuu Brain and Hime Brain from Brain Powerd may be very similar robots, but play very differently, Nelly Brain, Yuu Brain's upgrade, feels like it's in a completely different league. The Nu Gundam, Wing Zero, Gai's Aestivalis and the Aura Battler Bilbine feel completely different, the only real similarities in controls. It controls easily enough for a foreigner to grasp without understanding the tutorial stage, so that should say enough about it; various transformations (Macross's Skull Squadron, specifically) work smoothly into the game and take only a moment to get used to.
Over all, this is one kickass game... Plowing through countless grunts in a simple action game with more choices than virtually any game out today has to be one of the greatest gaming experiences I've ever had... If you can play this.. Do it.
Reviewer's Rating: 4.5 - Outstanding
Originally Posted: 01/18/07
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The team gears up for its sixth MLS contest today in a city that has not been very friendly in recent years. United has not defeated the Rapids in Denver since 2000 - a 5-2 win on May 6 highlighted by a Jaime Moreno hat trick - going 0-6-2 since. The team will play its second-ever game at Dick's Sporting Goods Park, after opening the park last year with a 2-1 loss.
Today's match will also be the first meeting between the two teams since Colorado acquired Christian Gomez from United earlier this year. Gomez spent three-plus seasons as a member of the Black-and-Red, helping the team to its most recent MLS Cup (2004), earning League MVP honors (2006) and being named to the MLS All-Star team and MLS Best XI three times each, respectively (2005-2007). Gomez has one goal (a penalty) and one assist so far this season. Two other former United players also play for the Rapids - Facundo Erpen and Mike Petke.
Here's the rundown to get you ready for today's game:
- Steve Goff writes about the team's road struggles in his article for the Washington Post.
- John Haydon looks at the first meeting with Gomez in his piece over at the Washington Times.
- Charlie Boehm writes about the team's depth in his article at dcunited.com.
- The mlsnet.com staff also provides a bunch of notes and stats right here.
- Brian Forbes of the Denver Post says Gomez hasn't made the contribution expected thus far.
Back with more from the park later today.
UPDATE: By the way, the game can be seen live nationally on Telefutura and regionally on Comcast SportsNet. If you're not near a TV, you can listen on WFED (1050 AM) or on the Spanish Radio Network (1540 AM, 1390 AM, 1600 AM and 1350 AM). Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. ET.


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Small Jefferson County Indiana Cemeteries
The following cemeteries are smaller cemeteries found within Jefferson County Indiana and transcribed in 1941 as part of the DAR cemetery transcription project. The value of these transcriptions is that in many cases they transcribed lesser known cemeteries which may today no longer exist. Had it not been for this project these records would likely have been lost due to the natural regression of cemeteries. Many of the cemeteries may be known by a different name today, we use the name they were identified as in 1941. Discover your family's story. Enter a grandparent's name to get started. choose...Read More


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Lee White
Lee White, age 81, passed away in Ennis on December 4, 2012. He was born in Bonham, Texas on April 25, 1931 to John Herbert and Clemmie Leona (Coursey) White; married Annabell Garza on November 29, 1974 in Kaufman, Texas. Lee was a member of American Legion Post 361, member of Calvary Baptist Church in Ennis, plant manager for Eubank Ready mix for 17 years. He was a beloved husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, and will be dearly missed. He is survived by his loving wife, Annabell; 4 daughters, Esther Estrada and her husband Manuel Canizales, Amanda Thornton and her husband Mark, Mary Morales, and Irma Pacheco and her husband Jaime all of Ennis; 8 sons, Norman Lee White, Jr. and his wife Cathy, David Bernal and his wife Marina, Leon Bernal and his wife Martha, Frank Bernal and his wife Ruth, Elias Bernal and his wife Ronna, Manuel Bernal, all of Ennis, Alfredo Bernal and his wife Deena of Rice, and Joey White of Milford; 42 grandchildren and 23 great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, a brother and 4 great grandchildren. The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 P.M. Friday, December 7, 2012 at Boze-Mitchell-McKibbin Funeral Home in Ennis. Funeral Services are scheduled for 11 A.M., Saturday, December 8, 2012 at Boze-Mitchell-McKibbin Funeral Chapel in Ennis, with Pastor Kenny Cashion officiating. Interment will follow at Myrtle Cemetery. To view an obituary or sign the guest book, please visit www.bozemitchellmckibbin.com. Arrangements are under the direction of the Boze-Mitchell-McKibbin Funeral Home, 800 S. Kaufman, Ennis, Texas. 972-878-2211


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Artist description:
i took a picture of my mom's tulips and i thought they were pretty so i drew them ^^ this is my first try at a realistic drawing on the computer
Flash Draw Created Sep 01, 2008 470 x 338px Unless noted Copyright 2008 StarSeekerSara.
We encourage you to submit a comment and let the artist know what you think of this drawing. Please log in or join to post a comment.
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Simply gorgeous! :) 5/5 and added to my collection
beautiful :)
Amazing! ~'o'~
This drawing is perfect in every way. The colors, details and texture are amazing. FANTASTIC draw! 5/5
absolutely amazing and beautiful. :) 5/5
it turned out an excellent first try, 5 hearts :D
omgXD!!!how nice..XDi lov this
waw, very realistic 5/5!!
Woah this is amazing! 5 hearts!
wow!!! this is soo beautiful!!! I luv the texture and the shading and all the beautiful colors!!! :O IT JUST SOO BEAUTIFULL!!! I REALLU LUVV ET!!! ITS SO MAGIACAL TOOO!!! ! +fav!


text: As soon as I've worn the tyres out I'll be switching them to 235 40 18, my audi's a sport model but if I decide to take it down a further notch or 2 I'm wondering just how far to lower it. I dont want to feel like I'm driving a plank of wood that bounces out of every pothole in the road, I want the car to look at a nice low height without spoiling the ride. You suggestions please


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Lambert To Judge "Idol"?
E! Online reports that Adam Lambert is being eyed for a judging spot on "American Idol".
A source told E!, "They have been talking about Adam for over a month," and added that his previous "Idol" experience would "bring a unique perspective to the show."
Lambert downplayed the gossip during an interview with U.K. radio station Capital FM on Monday, telling the station, "I'm just hearing about this today as well, and so, what a beautiful rumor. Listen, if '– and I say 'if' with a capital I-F — if they were to approach me and if they were to say, 'We want you to be a judge on the show,' I would love that. I would jump at the chance." He added, "I owe my career to 'American Idol.' I mean, if it weren't for 'American Idol,' I doubt that … I would be sitting here with you … I think it would be really exciting to be sitting at a judging panel and trying to help people reach their dreams."


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Soccer News of Friday, 23 May 2014
Source: GHANAsoccernet.com
Inter Allies coach Herbert Addo feels honoured to be the man in charge of the 'Dream Team' in today's farewell match against the Black Stars.
The veteran Ghanaian trainer was picked ahead of Kotoko's Didi Dramani after transforming the Tema-based side since he took charge of the club.
The former Aduana Stars coach has been rewarded for turning the Tema-based side from relegation strugglers to serious top four contenders.
"I feel fortunate, proud and honored to be selected. We have a lot of good coaches in the country who could have made had it," he told GHANAsoccernet.com "We will try so much to give a good account of ourselves on Friday," he said.
The friendly exercise is expected to attract huge numbers to the Accra Sports Stadium.


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(MORELAND) – A class of history students at Snake River High School had the chance to tour National Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. yesterday, all from their own library. The class participated in a video conference with Holocaust survivor Gloria Glantz, through a program sponsored by the Idaho Education Network. Library director Sherrilynn Bair told Local News 8 that the discussion gave students a chance to experience something they'll never forget. The school continues to implement other online field trips to enhance education and innovation.
Mike Price, EastIdahoNews.com


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I didn't think this would happen, and I was in denial about it for a while. I'm back and with two rebranding-complete overhaul-blogger-to-wordpress-transfer-subscription-revamps, and a couple of social media strategy clients under my belt .
I decided to shut down my blogging and social media site, delete my email list (such a no no) and work on my crafting instead. My love of hand embroidery and weaving knows no bounds and I am still actively pursing it and blogging about the journey. During that time, people sought me out to help with their blogging and social media strategy.
Those clients referred me to others and I didn't have a "home" to send them to. So, here we are. I have to work on my own social media presence. I got rid of all the @faithfullysocial handles (again another no no) and have to research whether I can get them back, or have to start fresh, or heck, just combine my @cristinamakes handles. I moved from Squarespace back to WordPress (not fun) and have to clean up my site as I juggle client work, my Etsy shop, school, kids, marriage and a pup!
Just know, that I'm back and will be blogging as much as I can about the reintroduction process. As in, when you've pulled the plug, how do you plug back in? Because that's what I'm going through right now and you know how much I love to share. In the meantime, check out these two launches I am SO very proud of (that are still a work in progress, but sometimes, you gotta hit publish!).
Mary Lenaburg
So glad to be back, and thank you for bearing with me (and thanks to Katie, Mary and Colleen for having so much faith in me). Sometimes we close the door on something that we should really leave a crack open, because you never know.
Lesson learned.


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Issue No. 06 - November/December (2003 vol. 20)
pp: 84-89
Mike Andrews , Florida Institute of Technology

Modern computer programs are often composite systems, relying on numerous commercial component libraries. When a program fails, the causes of that failure will often be a complex mix of interactions between developer-written code and library code. Debugging programs of this type can be difficult as the programmer is forced to try and isolate the source of faulty behavior in multiple components from multiple sources?some of which they know well and others in which they may have no experience. Often there are large areas of code to examine and it is not always clear if the problem is due to a bug in the programmer?s code or in a dependant library.

Mike Andrews, "Signpost: Matching Program Behavior against Known Faults", IEEE Software, vol. 20, no. , pp. 84-89, November/December 2003, doi:10.1109/MS.2003.1241371


text: On Friday 03 March 2006 23:10, Richard Dobson wrote: > > Funnily enough, if we'd had naming in TLS from the start, there probably > > wouldn't even *be* STARTTLS since everyone would be using the better > > method. :-) > > I doubt that since the main reason STARTTLS is there is so that you can > reuse the same port for both encrypted and unencrypted versions of a > protocol not really so you can pass the desired hostname, thats just a > side benefit of being able to start out unencrypted. But wouldn't it then be easier to endorse using _only_ the encrypted version? TX -- Email: trejkaz at trypticon.org Jabber ID: trejkaz at trypticon.org Web site: http://trypticon.org/ GPG Fingerprint: 9EEB 97D7 8F7B 7977 F39F A62C B8C7 BC8B 037E EA73 -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 189 bytes Desc: not available URL: <http://mail.jabber.org/pipermail/jdev/attachments/20060304/23fdc7c6/attachment-0002.pgp>


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Question about General Questions Placed Cards - How often can I make use of an expansion during one and the same turn?
During your turn, you can use most of the expansions as often as it seems reasonable to you and as long as you can pay for it if necessary. Some expansions of the theme sets can only be used once per turn, which is expressly stated on the respective cards.


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YOUNG, would-be motorists who go through a driving tuition project supported by Gloucestershire's Police and Crime Commissioner appear to be more than four times safer than those who do not.
They also appear to be less likely to be convicted of a traffic offence.
The latest figures supplied by Pathfinder, the charity which runs courses funded by the county's PCC Martin Surl, suggest its graduates have an accident rate of 1 in 17 - six per cent - compared with1 in 4 nationally.
"Although the sample is relatively small, these are very encouraging figures and suggest The Pathfinder Project delivers substantial benefits to its students", said Mr. Surl.
"The danger with an issue like this is to get carried away with statistics and overlook the scale of the misery and suffering behind them.
"However, when you consider that nearly one in three killed or seriously injured on our roads is under the age of 25 and that more than a quarter of 17 to 19-year-olds, most of them young men, crash within a year of passing their driving test, anything that reverses that trend is to be welcomed.
"We have experienced a spate of serious crashes in recent months resulting in an unnecessary loss of life.
"I would like our young people to be better prepared as road users and believe Pathfinder can play an important part in this".
Pathfinder courses are generally held twice a year in Gloucestershire and are funded through the commissioner's Police and Crime Plan which has safe and social driving as one of its six priorities.
Pathfinder Director John Beckford said: "Whilst it's true that we have only started working with the commissioner recently, these findings are consistent with our previous surveys and support our view that appropriately structured and delivered pre-licence driver development, delivers significant safety benefits to this vulnerable group.
"We believe that the consistency in findings is rooted in the consistency of our methods, which focus on developing appropriate attitudes as well as technical skill and are subject to rigorous scrutiny.
"The number of students who have so far participated in the programme in Gloucestershire is small but it's hoped these early results will encourage more to take part".
Gloucestershire's Chief Constable Suzette Davenport, who is the national lead for roads policing, said: "We know that young driver deaths can be prevented by reforming how they learn and establish themselves as safe drivers.
"International evidence demonstrates that pre and post-test restrictions along with a minimum learning period dramatically reduce road death and injury.
"We welcome this local Pathfinder initiative which seeks to promote and enhance safe driving thereby reducing the risks associated with young and novice drivers"
Gloucestershire's chief fire officer Stewart Edgar, safe and social driving lead for Gloucestershire's Road Safety Partnership, said: "The Road Safety Partnership welcomes any project that aims to reduce harm to young drivers.
"I hope that in the future even more of our young drivers take part in road safety projects where there is evidence they make a real difference."


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Ford Fiesta eWheelDrive Uses Sub-Compact Space Better
Ford and German automotive component company, Schaeffler, demonstrated a concept today in Belgium that could allow for unprecedented practicality in sub-compact cars.
"Looking forward, we have the opportunity to scope out the vehicle's capabilities and how we might overcome some of the challenges presented by implementing the technology," Pim van der Jagt, Ford's director of research and advanced engineering in Europe said.
The system, housed in a Fiesta hatchback, uses two electric motors — one to power each of the rear wheels — without using space under the hood. By relocating the car's propulsion system with in-wheel motors, Ford says it can use the space a two-person car would currently use to transport four. Space efficient vehicles like this will become increasingly important as city populations grow more dense. By 2050, the number of people living in cities globally is expected to increase from 3.4 to 6.4 billion.
"This highly integrated wheel-hub drive makes it possible to rethink the city car without restrictions, and could be a key factor in new vehicle concepts and automobile platforms in the future," said Peter Gutzmer, chief technical officer, Schaeffler.
But this concept uses a Fiesta rather than a vehicle designed around the technology. While it can demonstrate the propulsion system's capability, it can't fully realize the space savings Ford describes.
That's why the next step is to develop two drivable vehicles by 2015 that would better use the technology — something Ford will carry out in partnership with Continental, Schaeffler and two German universities: RWTH Aachen and the University of Applied Sciences, Regensburg.


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Now that the "Refresh Your Space" #HomeChat is over, be sure to mark your calendars for next month's Twitter Chat on April 17th at 8 PM/EST!
The best things in life are (nearly) free. Take advantage of the décor pieces you already have in your space and upcycle them! Upcycling is the process of converting old or discarded materials into something useful, and often, beautiful. There's no need to buy new items for your apartment when you already have amazing décor pieces at your fingertips.
Please join @AptsForRent and @HomesDotCom for the March 'Refresh Your Space' Twitter Chat for inspiration and tips on how to upcycle, repurpose, and reuse in your home. The Twitter Chat will take place on Thursday, March 20th at 8 pm EDT. Follow the hashtag #HomeChat to attend!
ForRent.com and Homes.com are distributing five $50 gift cards during the Twitter Chat for those who RSVP ahead of time and participate. You can RSVP at the bottom of this post for the chance to win!
In addition, don't forget to submit your 'before and after' projects in the 'Style Your Space' Facebook Contest for the chance to win $2,500. Learn more about the contest.
For more apartment décor tips, visit the ForRent.com Apartment Living blog today!


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In his Twitter essay this week, Dan Baum called the New Yorker office atmosphere "vastly strained," and Susan Orlean objected. As a real life counterpoint, one New Yorker editor's book party wasn't a bit strained earlier this week.
GalleyCat Secret Agent Rachel Sklar prowled Ben Greenman's book party at Galapagos Art Space. The editor was celebrating the release of "Please Step Back," and the two-level party was packed with literary types. Greenman even unveiled his theme song, "Please Step Back" by Swamp Dogg.
Here's more from Rachel Sklar: "Who else was there–Sasha Frere-Jones (on stage w/ him); Jody Rosen (Slate); David Sax (Save The Deli), Alana Newhouse (Nextbook Editor in Chief), Dan Rollman (URDB); Lauren Mechling ("Dream Girl" ); Larry Smith (Six Word Memoirs). Greenman commented: 'Brooklyn humiliates other cities in terms of how many people are doing good work.'"


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Radiant against a bright blue background, uber-talented mama Gwen Stefani looks simply beautiful on the cover of the April issue of Elle UK. In an interview conducted by her pal Shirley Manson, the No Doubt rocker opens up about life, love and the "surreal" experience of performing in front of her sons Kingston, 4, and Zuma, 2.
On her marriage to Gavin Rossdale: "I've been with Gavin for 14 years, and, let's face it, that is a huge accomplishment. I feel so proud of that — it hasn't been the easiest journey."
On feeling "not cool:" "(The last) tour with No Doubt was the best one I'd ever done. I hadn't planned on doing a tour; I'd had Zuma, I felt so gross – I got so big and felt so out of touch and not cool. I was trying to write this cool record and nothing came out. I felt so bad because you've got this whole band waiting, but I couldn't write. So we said, 'Let's just go on tour'."
On having her sons in the audience: "We had no new single, we hadn't been on stage together for, like, five years and every night I'd get teary-eyed because of those old songs. I'm up on stage and singing songs about relationships I've had and I'm looking over and my kids are watching me. It's very surreal."
On her fitness regime: "I work out five days a week, I can't imagine not doing it. I'd like to have no rules and eat what I want, but I've learned over the years that I'm so disappointed when I can't wear the clothes I want to wear. And if I let myself down, appear on stage when I'm not looking my best, it's not fun for me. I just beat myself up about it."


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That's the plan anyway. This is my first year of serious food plotting in the spring and summer months. I planted a couple of plots last fall and saw just how effective they can be. Now I am trying to model my plots after what Mark and Terry Drury do, trying to position the deer where I want them in hunting circumstances.
The theory is that you can make the deer use your plots in a manner than allows you to position stands in areas where the deer will funnel thru and give you close range shots. This can be achieved by planting taller crops in the middle of the plot and shorter crops around the outside. The deer will like to move along the outside edge of the taller crop closer to the edge of the field and your stand.
Positioning of stands is critical when hunting around food plots. There will likely be many deer in the field at one time in different locations. What I like to do is pick a spot where I don't think deer will enter the field and hang a stand there with food out in front of me. Then I hunt that stand with the wind blowing from the field into the woods behind me. Hopefully the deer will enter the field from another location and feed my direction and end up in front of me never having gotten downwind of my stand. By setting up opposite of where the deer enter the field, you can let the does walk by and wait for the buck to enter. If he is watching from back in the woods a ways and sees the does feeding unalarmed he just might come out a little earlier.
I feel by having year round food plots planted the deer will be used to feeding on my property and I won't have to try and draw them away from farm fields once the season starts. If I can keep the bedded and feeding on my property during daylight hours there is a good chance that I will see them during hunting hours and the neighbors will be headed home by the time the deer make it to their property.
Right now I have a mixture of crops planted to give them a real variety that way there will always be something growing that the deer will be looking for. I have clover and a clover chickory mix planted in one section of my field.
Clover looking good.
Clover chickory mix getting tall.
In the middle of the clover I planted some corn, using the taller and shorter plan to push the deer to the outside edge of the field.
Some of the corn.
I also have a few seed mixes planted, Biologic Hot Spot is a mix of Wheat, Peas, and Buckwheat. If you haven't planted Buckwheat before, you need to give it a try. My deer love it and it grows very fast and it grows very well in just about any soil.
Biologic: Hot Spot mostly Buckwheat.
Antler King: Red Zone is a mix of Peas, Soybeans, Buckwheat and sunflowers.
Antler King: Red Zone has been nipped.
Evolved Harvest: Maximize is a mix of Soybeans, Sorgum, Peas and Sunflowers. This stuff is all growing well in my plots and the deer have certainly found it.
Evolved Harvest: Mazimize, lots of Sunflowers.
Fresh shoots are nipped off everywhere in the field. So if all goes as planned I will be harvesting a few deer from the seeds I planted this spring.


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Sugarland Radio Is on the Air
Sugarland fans have a sweet deal now that Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush have their own radio station.
The new Sugarland Radio Station, launched by A.P.E. Radio, will not only feature Sugarland music but Jennifer and Kristian — who will program the station — will also play their favorite tracks from artists including Arcade Fire, Coldplay, Band of Horses, the Cure, R.E.M., Al Green, Emmylou Harris and Steve Earle, among an eclectic list of others.
Best of all, the duo will share stories about their songwriting, tours, various countries they've visited, their current interest in "nostalgic" items from their youth such as record players and rotary telephones, charitable causes close to their hearts and even the first time Kristian's old band got to open for INXS.
"I'm so excited to give fans this look behind the curtain at Sugarland and show what makes Kristian and me tick," says Jennifer. "People may be surprised about some of our musical influences, and we've got some great stories to share."
Kristian tells The Boot that he and Jennifer offer a special creative combination that many other duos and bands don't have. That is one reason that the duo's insights and observations promise to be rich.
"We are really lucky," says Kristian. "Country music is often built in such a way that separates singers from the song. We don't do that. We write all our own songs and we write about thing we know. In that way, we find a connection with the people around us."
Tune in to Sugarland Radio here.