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$ 418.6
Memri Lens Detail Blazer
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Memri Lens Detail Blazer
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Política de privacidad
This privacy notice describes which of your personal data are collected by TRISTATE INTERNATIONAL SA and by Zerogrey S.r.l. (referred to in this notice as "we"), for which purposes and how they are processed. Below you will also find the necessary information to enforce your rights provided for by GDPR.
Generally, we collect your personal data when you create an account on our online store https://www.cpcompany.com, (hereinafter "Store"), when you purchase products available for the sale on the Store, when you email or call us for assistance. We hereby inform you that the personal data collected during such procedures will be processed in order to reply to your requests, to allow you to benefit from the services offered on the Store through reserved areas (for instance to process your orders and carry out the related activities, including those required to fulfil tax and administrative obligations, and, whenever requested by you, to send newsletters and information material) as well as to provide better services, marketing and support services for you and for the other customers, as specified below.
1. Who processes your data: Data Controllers
Zerogrey S.r.l. a socio unico Via L. Colli, 15 10128 Torino VAT number 08003340018 (hereinafter "Zerogrey") and Tristate International SA, Riva Albertolli 1, Lugano, CHE 147076577 are joint Data Controllers of the processing of your personal data.
According to art. 26 of GDPR, we inform you that Zerogrey is the Data Controller of your personal data and shall process them for: manage and process your purchase orders, send to you the products you bought, provide you with the necessary post-sales assistance, process all return of products, to fulfill with all obligations arising out from tax law and, upon your consent, for marketing purposes, according to the terms indicated below.
According to art. 26 of GDPR, we inform you that Tristate International SA is the Data Controller of your personal data and shall process them for: managing all Store's accounts in order to consent possible transfer to a new service provider or to internalize all services provided by Zerogrey, to help Zerogrey to manage our position in relation to all warranties provided for by law or by agreement, including return policy, for the Store maintenance and, upon your consent, for marketing purposes.
2. Which data we process - Type of processed data
Your contact and purchase data. We will retain the contact details you provide us (for instance, your first name, surname, address, telephone number, email, country of residence) when you first create an account on our Store, when you purchase a product and/or when you take part in our competitions or promotions.
Your payment and invoicing data. We will retain the payment and invoicing data that you provide to us (for instance, your credit card number, post code and address) when you purchase a product, in order to process your order and ship the products. Upon your request, we can also retain the payment and invoicing details in order to facilitate future purchases.
Information on the use of the website and on your activities on the Store. Your use of our website implies the processing of the browsing data and the device that you are using and your IP address (this is the number that identifies a specific device connected to the internet and is required in order for your device to communicate with the websites). We may analyse the site you came from, what you did and what you did not do on our website. In order to send you commercial information about our products and to submit proposals tailored to your tastes, we may use your email address and your name, as well as browsing data and website behavioural information to better understand which products you prefer, provided you have previously authorized such processing.
3.Where do we get your data - Data collection methods:
Directly from you. For instance, if you register to make a purchase on the Store, if you create an account, if you take part to a competition, if you ask us a question or contact our call centres.
If you do not provide us with your personal data, you will not be able to register with our Store and you will therefore not be able to purchase any of the products up for sale.
Through the use of the Store's functionalities. We use cookies and other technology, such as pixel tags on our websites and emails in order to collect data concerning your behavioural information and to improve promotion targeting. To find out more, please read out our Cookie Policy.
4. Why and for how long we process your data - Purpose and legal basis for data processing; data retention period
To provide you with the products and services you purchased and to give you information about your orders and payments. For instance, we will use your data to process your order, to confirm your purchase and to manage any related services such as the shipping of your purchased products. Without your data, we cannot manage and process your order.
The legal basis of this processing is the performance of the purchase agreement, of which you are a party from the moment you accept the Store's terms and conditions of sale.
The data retention period of your data is equal to the period required to process the order.
Should you have created an account on the Store, the period shall be equal to the period of validity of your account, which shall be in any case deactivated after 24 months from your last access or from last action taken by you in your account.
To provide you with the necessary after-sales assistance in compliance with the applicable legislation relating to the product liability. For instance, we will use your data to provide you with support, to manage the return and/or repair of the products that you purchased from our Store in accordance with applicable law and the Store's terms and conditions of sale.
The legal basis of this processing is the compliance with legal obligations and the data retention period is equal to that required by law (specifically by the Italian Consumer Code).
To correctly manage your administrative status. We process your data for accounting, administrative and tax purposes, directly connected to the Data Controller's business activities as required by the applicable legislation.
The legal basis of this processing is the compliance with the legal obligations and the retention period is equal to that required by law (specifically tax, anti-money laundering, banking and public security law).
To let you to interact with customer care operators. We may use your email and phone number, as well as your name and/or address to assist you in the event you require support using the products purchased from the Store.
The legal basis of this processing is the performance of the sale and purchase agreement that you executed with Tristate when you accepted the Store's terms and conditions of sale and the compliance with the obligations provided for by applicable law in terms of warranties and customer care. The retention period is equal to the time necessary to manage your request (being understood that in case other process activities are applicable retention period shall be equal to one indicated in this notice)
To send you commercial communications and to offer you products aligned with your tastes. With your consent, we analyse your personal data and the data concerning your use, preferences and consumption of our products in order to improve our approach towards you and our customers in general, through automated processing activities, including profiling activities. We do this in order to make better decisions related to services, advertising, products and contents, based on a greater awareness of how our customers use our services and to ensure you a more customized user experience. For such purpose, we may also collect your mobile device's ID for advertising (IDFA - Identifier for Advertising - for iOS devices and AAID - Google Advertising ID - for Android devices) so that we can always provide you with targeted, relevant adverts based on your preferences and interests.
The legal basis of this processing is your explicit consent.
The retention period of your data is 12 months from the collection of your data.
To prevent or assess unlawful conducts, to protect and enforce our rights. For instance, we may use your data to prevent or prosecute the breach of our intellectual property rights (for example, counterfeiting of our brands and/or of our partners' brands) or theft (including credit card cloning and theft that we may believe occurred during a competition, contest or event) or other offences, as allowed by applicable law
The legal basis of this processing is the legitimate interest of the Data Controllers.
The retention period of your data is equal to the time that is reasonably necessary to enforce our rights from the moment we became aware of the offence or of its potential commission.
For marketing purposes. With your prior consent, you may be contacted by email, or by other means of telecommunication with information or offers concerning our products or services.
The legal basis of this processing is your explicit consent.
The retention period of your data is 24 months from the collection of your data.
Other purposes permitted by law. In certain circumstances, we may process your data if Tristate International SA and/or Zerogrey S.r.l. has a legitimate interest, in accordance with Article 6, paragraph 1 (f) of the GDPR, in compliance with your rights and with the restrictions required by law.
For the above-mentioned purposes, personal data are processed using manual, digital and online tools with a software that is closely connected to the said purposes and, in any case, such data are processed so as to ensure the safety and confidentiality of the said data in accordance with the applicable legislation.
5. Cookies and similar technology
What are cookies. Cookies are small text files that from the websites visited by users send to their terminals, where they are stored before being re-transmitted to the same websites during subsequent visits.
Cookies used by the Store and their purpose. The site uses cookies, which have the functionality of enabling the proper functioning of some sections, for example to access to the reserved area of the Store ("technical cookies"), to ensure some customization functionalities ("functional cookies"), to improve the browsing experience ("analytical cookies") and to help us providing you with customised offers of products you might like ("profiling cookies").
The first time that you visit the website, you will be asked to accept (or not accept) the cookies through a banner. You may refuse to accept all or some of the cookies, or you may modify your computer settings, also in the future, in order to know when you receive cookies or to disable the function of automatic acceptance of the cookies.
The Store uses the following types of cookies:
• Technical (or browsing) cookies, which contribute to the functioning of the Store's site, for instance to enable the browse between pages and access to the reserved area of the site; the legal basis for processing using these cookies is the Data Controllers' legitimate interest in providing efficient and well-functioning services to their customers; the retention period of these cookies starts from the date on which the site was first accessed until they are disabled.
• Functional cookies, which allow to activate certain features of the Store and to store your preferences (such as language) in order to improve your browsing experience; the legal basis of the processing underlying the use of these cookies is the Data Controllers' interest in providing efficient, well-functioning services to their customers; the retention period of these cookies starts from the date on which they are enabled on the site until they are disabled. The user can accept and disable these cookies – at their convenience – using the cookie management tool.
• Analytical cookies, which enable the acquisition of aggregated, anonymous statistical information concerning browsing habits; the legal basis of the processing underlying the use of these cookies is the Data Controllers' interest in providing efficient, well-functioning services to their customers; the retention period of these cookies starts from the date on which they are enabled on the website until they are disabled. The user can accept and disable these cookies – at their convenience – using the cookie management tool.
• Profiling (third-party) cookies, which allow us to customize advertising messages based on your interests and preferences, so that we only send you the adverts that you might find relevant or interesting. These cookies are not managed directly by us, but are installed throughout the Store by third-party companies who handle online profiling. The legal basis of the processing underlying the use of these cookies is the consent of the data subject; the retention period of these cookies starts from the date on which they are enabled on the site until they are disabled and, in any case, for no longer than 12 months. The user can accept and disable these cookies – at their convenience – using the cookie management tool.
The cookies currently used are
|Google Analytics
|Lucky Orange
|Analysis (Tracker)
|Analysis (Tracker)
|Google Tag Manager
|Technical essential
|Google AD Words
|Facebook Custom Audience
|Google Dynamic
|Facebook Connect
|Social Media
In order to analyse how the Store's site is used, we work with Google Analytics, a service of web analysis provided by Google Inc. ("Google"), which uses cookies that are left on your computer so that we can perform statistical analysis. The data collected are aggregated and do not enable you to be identified in any way. To consult the Google's privacy notice related to the Google Analytics service, please visit the website, http://www.google.com/analytics/learn/privacy.html. To read Google's privacy policy, please visit the website http://www.google.com/intl/it/privacy/privacy-policy.html. You can disable Google Analytics cookies according to the procedure indicated by Google (https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=it). As such, if you continue to use the Store without disabling Google Analytics cookies, you consent to your data processing by Google, limited to the procedures and purposes outlined above.
How to disable technical cookies. It is possible to disable cookies through specific settings in your own browser. Some of the site's functionalities may not work correctly is you refuse to use cookies.
Below you will find links explaining how to disable cookies on the most common browsers (for any other browser you may be using, we suggest that you search for this option in the software's help section, which you can normally access by pressing the F1 key):
Internet Explorer: Click on the Settings button, then on Internet Options. Click on the Privacy tab and, in the Settings, move the bar to the very top to block all the cookies.
Google Chrome: Click on the menu on the browser toolbar. Select Settings. Click on "Show advanced settings". In the "Privacy" section, click on the Content Settings button. Select "Prevent sites from saving data".
Mozilla Firefox: Click on the menu button and select Options. Select the Privacy tab. In the History settings: select "use personal settings". To enable cookies, tick Accept cookies from websites, and to disable them remove such mark.
Safari: Click on the menu toolbar on "Safari", then on "Preferences". Next, click on "Privacy", then on "Details" to select the website, and click "Remove".
Alternatively, it is possible to disable only the Google Analytics cookies, by using the opt-out extension provided by Google for the main browsers https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=it
6. Where your data are processed – Transfer of data
The Data are processed and stored at the offices of Tristate International SA and at the offices of Zerogrey S.r.l.
For administrative purposes we can communicate your personal data to Zerogrey's group companies, based in the EU.
Your personal data could be communicated, also to allow you to interact with the customer care service, to third-party service providers - duly appointed as data processors pursuant to art. 28 GDPR. Such providers may have their legal office outside EU (for example in the USA) and, therefore, they may not have the same laws on data protection as the ones implemented in your country, and/or the level of personal data protection arising by such laws may be deemed not adequate, on the basis of your country standards.
Such transfers shall be authorized either upon:
· An adequate decision referred to the Extra-EU country to which personal data are transferred issued by the European Commission according to art. 45 of GDPR (for instance: Privacy Shield); or
· Appropriate guarantees provided for by articles 46, 47 and 49 of GDPR (as the standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission, the binding corporate rules, the contractual guarantees provided for by the involved data controllers, or as the exceptions to the prohibition on the transfer, which are applicable under certain circumstances) and upon the right to ask to the Data Controllers all the contacts of the data subjects to whom personal data are communicated, from whom you can receive information about how to obtain a copy of the processed data or about the place where data are available.
7. With whom we share your data – recipients of personal data
Being understood that, where required by law, we will obtain your prior consent and complete any formalities required by said law, we may share your data with the following third parties (acting as data processors):
Our service providers We may share your data with third parties in order for them to provide us with services (for instance, IT service providers for the management of the Store, companies providing us with profiling services and compliance automation, couriers, and companies managing call centres and warehouses and providing logistics services) but in such cases, we will enter into an agreement with them pursuant to Article 28 of the GDPR in order to protect your data. These parties will only be in possession of the data required to perform their functions and shall only use it for the purpose of providing services on our behalf or complying with the law. You can find out the details of these processors pursuant to Article 28 of the GDPR by sending an email to firstname.lastname@example.com or to firstname.lastname@example.com. In the event any of these providers operates outside the EU, before transferring any data to such providers we will secure compliance with the relevant conditions under art. 45-47 of GDPR.
Where we deem it necessary in order to comply with our legal obligations or to legally protect ourselves or third parties. Where permitted or required by the law, we may also share the data requested by an administrative authority or by another authorised third party or organisation, in order to protect or enforce our rights or those of third parties, or to limit or prevent fraud (including credit card fraud or other fraud, that we believe may have occurred during a raffle, promotion or event) and other offences.
8. Minors
Our Store is not intended for minors under the age of 16, but rather for adults. If you are a parent or guardian and you believe your child may have sent us their personal data, please feel free to contact us.
9. Security Measures
We adopt the security measures required by law.
We adopt security measures to protect your data. The standard security measures we use depend on the type of data that we process, and meet the requirements provided for by law and by the standards of European governmental agencies.
10. Your rights
You can contact Tristate International SA and/or Zerogrey to request the access to, the rectification or erasure of your personal data, or the restriction of the processing, or to object to the processing and to request the portability of your data; you can also withdraw your consent at any time (this shall not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent granted before its withdrawal).
When you exercise your right of access, you have the right to know whether your data is being processed, as well as the purpose of the processing, the categories of data being processed, the recipients or categories of recipients to whom your data have been disclosed (and, if they reside in a third country, the guarantees in place), the retention period for your data (or the criteria for determining the retention period), whether automated processing is being carried out (for instance through profiling), the reason for the processing, and the source of the data (when not initially collected by us).
You have the right to submit a complaint to the Italian Data Protection Authority and to request to the Data Controller, at any time, information about the processors and the parties that are authorised to process your data.
You can exercise your rights by contacting Tristate International SA or Zerogrey S.r.l. (at the address mentioned above or by sending an email to: email@example.com or to email@example.com).
In any case, you can amend or withdraw your consent through the Store's settings.
You can withdraw your consent to receive marketing communications including newsletters. To stop receiving marketing communications, you can access your account and change your settings or follow the instructions in the promotional message that you've received. Alternatively, you can withdraw your consent by emailing one of the addresses mentioned above.
You can control and disable cookies and other profiling tools. To find out how we use cookies and other profiling tools, click here[R&P1] .
You can amend your preferences regarding marketing emails and data processing through profiling in the privacy settings of your account or by writing to one of the email addresses mentioned above.
11.What happens if we amend this Policy
We may amend our privacy policy. We will notify you in relation to any such changes, in accordance with the law. We will also publish an updated version on our website. It will have a different date and version number from the ones shown below. Please visit the site periodically to check for updates.
Esta página web utiliza cookies
Utilizamos cookies, es decir, pequeños archivos de texto que tu ordenador descarga durante la navegación en un sitio web para gestionar y mejorar algunas funciones de navegación y autenticación, así como para enviarte información comercial en línea con tus preferencias. Si quieres conocer más detalles o rechazar el consentimiento a algunas cookies o a todas ellas, haz clic aquí . Cerrando este banner, desplazándote por esta página o haciendo clic en cualquier elemento aceptas el uso de las cookies.
Política de Cookies
Las cookies son pequeños archivos informáticos que contienen información sobre tu visita al sitio web y que pueden guardarse en tu ordenador o en otros dispositivos habilitados para la navegación por Internet, como smartphones o tabletas. Utilizamos cookies para que el uso del sitio sea más sencillo, para adaptar mejor su contenido a tus intereses o necesidades y para ayudarnos a que tu experiencia y actividad en nuestro sitio sean más rápidas en el futuro. Las cookies agilizan y simplifican la interacción entre el usuario y el sitio, y permiten al sitio recordar las preferencias y las actividades individuales, por lo que permiten ahorrar tiempo y contribuyen a una navegación más sencilla y eficaz. De hecho, las cookies son capaces de memorizar información sobre el sitio (idioma, número de visitas, dimensión de los caracteres, por ejemplo), así como de facilitar la actuación de distintos servicios (registro del usuario, contenido del carro de la compra, suscripción al boletín informativo o a noticias sobre productos, etc.) Asimismo, utilizamos las cookies para realizar estadísticas anónimas globales que nos permiten comprender cómo utilizan nuestro sitio los usuarios, lo que a su vez nos permite optimizar la estructura, el contenido y los servicios del sitio. En el caso en que haya presentes servicios que no sean completamente anónimos, estos aparecerán enumerados entre las cookies de terceras partes para las cuales puedes negarte a dar tu consentimiento para garantizar tu privacidad. Este sitio utiliza tres tipos distintos de cookies:1. Cookies técnicas esenciales
Se trata de cookies necesarias para garantizar un funcionamiento correcto y fluido del sitio: permiten navegar por las páginas, compartir contenido, memorizar credenciales de acceso para que la entrada al sitio sea más rápida y para mantener activas tus preferencias y credenciales durante la navegación y la experiencia de compra. Sin estas cookies no podríamos proporcionar los servicios para los cuales los usuarios acceden al sitio.2. Cookies estadísticas
Estas cookies nos permiten comprender de qué forma utilizan el sitio los usuarios y cómo se mueven por la tienda para, a continuación, poder valorar y mejorar el funcionamiento y realizar contenidos que sean más apropiados para las preferencias de nuestros usuarios. Por ejemplo, estas cookies permiten saber cuáles son las páginas más o menos visitadas, cuántos son los visitantes del sitio, cuánto tiempo han transcurrido de media en el sitio los usuarios y de qué forma llegan al sitio los visitantes. De este modo, podemos saber cuáles son nuestros puntos fuertes y en qué podemos mejorar, y conseguir que los contenidos se carguen con mayor rapidez y se visualicen de forma apropiada. Toda la información recopilada por estas cookies es anónima y no está conectada a los datos personales del usuario. Para llevar a cabo estas funciones en nuestros sitios, utilizamos servicios de terceros que hacen que los datos sean anónimos, de tal modo que no sea posible relacionarlos con usuarios individuales.3. Cookies de perfilación de terceros
Se trata de cookies suministrados por terceros no directamente controlados ni controlables por parte de Zerogrey. Por lo tanto, esta última no puede ofrecer garantías en lo relativo al uso que los terceros titulares hagan de la información recopilada. Las cookies procedentes de dichos operadores permiten ofrecer funciones avanzadas, así como mayores detalles y funciones personales. Esto incluye la posibilidad de compartir contenidos a través de redes sociales y disfrutar de una experiencia del sitio personalizada de acuerdo con las preferencias expresadas a través de las páginas visitadas en el pasado. Dichos servicios son proporcionados principalmente por operadores externos. Si se dispone de una cuenta o si se utilizan servicios de dichos individuos en otros sitios web, estos podrían llegar a saber que el usuario ha visitado nuestros sitios. El uso de los datos recopilados por dichos operadores externos a través de cookies está sujeto a las correspondientes políticas de privacidad que encontrarás en los enlaces indicados más abajo. Las cookies de perfilación de terceras partes se identifican con los nombres de los operadores en cuestión en la lista indicada más abajo, en la que también encontrarás las herramientas de gestión pertinentes para desactivarlas.Gestión de las cookies
Se puede modificar la configuración de las cookies que se descargan en tu ordenador o dispositivo móvil a través de las funciones del navegador web que utilices. De este modo, es posible impedir la instalación de cookies de terceros y eliminar las cookies instaladas anteriormente, incluidas aquellas que contienen tus preferencias sobre cookies expresadas en el sitio. Para ajustar o modificar la configuración de tu navegador web, tienes que consultar el manual de instrucciones o la página de ayuda de tu navegador web.
Aquí tienes las instrucciones en materia de cookies de los navegadores web más utilizados:
Chrome : https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647?hl=en&p=cpn_cookies
Firefox: https://support.mozilla.org/es/kb/habilitar-y-deshabilitar-cookies-sitios-web-rastrear-preferencias
Safari: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH19214?viewlocale=it_IT&locale=en_US
Internet Explorer: http://windows.microsoft.com/it-it/windows-vista/block-or-allow-cookies
Como alternativa, para desactivar todas las cookies o algunas de ellas, puedes utilizar las herramientas indicadas a continuación. Desactivar las cookies que utilizamos podría empeorar tu experiencia de navegación, lo que podría impedirte acceder de forma eficaz a determinadas partes del sitio o a información personalizada cuando lo vuelvas a visitar. Recuerda que debes configurar los navegadores web de tus dispositivos de forma coherente para que no influyan en tus preferencias relativas a las cookies. Podrás obtener información detallada sobre las funciones de las cookies y sobre las modalidades de activación y desactivación de los principales navegadores web en www.aboutcookies.org o http://www.allaboutcookies.org/privacy-policy.htm . Para obtener más información y asistencia sobre las cookies en el ámbito publicitario, puedes visitar http://www.youronlinechoices.com/it/
|Google Analytics
Si continúas navegando por el sitio después de haber visualizado el mensaje informativo, cerrándolo, haciendo clic en cualquier parte de la página de inicio o desplazándote por ella para mostrar más contenido, aceptas la presente Política sobre cookies de Zerogrey y la consiguiente configuración de recopilación y uso de las cookies. Si abandonas la navegación y, por tanto, no aceptas las cookies, las posibles cookies que ya se hayan registrado localmente en tu navegador web permanecerán registradas, pero no se volverán a leer ni se utilizarán hasta que aceptes la presente política. Tendrás en todo momento la posibilidad de eliminar dichas cookies a través de las modalidades citadas en el sitio en la sección "Gestión de las cookies" o a través de las herramientas de desactivación puestas a disposición más arriba.Tratamiento de los datos
La titularidad del tratamiento de los datos, las modalidades de ejercicio de los derechos previstos por el decreto ley de la República Italiana 196/2013 y la información de contacto para el ejercicio de dichos derechos se indican en la declaración de privacidad.


text:
Combine yeast, oil and water in a measuring cup. Stir and let sit for 5 minutes. Place the flour and sea salt in a mixing bowl and mix thoroughly. Pour the yeast mixture over the flour and form into a ball of dough. Knead by hand for 10 minutes or place the dough in a food processor and pulse for 4 to 5 minutes to knead. Lightly oil a large mixing bowl with olive oil and place the dough in it. Cover with a damp towel and place in a warm area. Let sit for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until double in size. It is now ready to punch down and divide into two balls of dough. Roll out the dough, roll out and place in pizza pans or on large cookie sheets. Top with your favorite toppings. Let sit 5 minutes before baking.
Yields: 2 pizza crusts - 16 pieces
Yields: 2 crust or 16 pieces
Per serving - 128 calories, 2 g fat (15% calories from fat), 4 g protein, 25 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 0 mg cholesterol, 60 mg sodium

subset: commoncrawl


text:
About Us
Urban Trial Freestyle
Written by
Russell Archey
on 9/4/2013 for 3DS
More On:
Urban Trial Freestyle
If you're into motocross games, then I'm sure you've at least tried one of the games in the Trials series. If you don't know what I'm talking about, it's basically motocross racing on a physics-based motorcycle. Not only can you control the speed of the bike, but you can also control the pitch by leaning forwards and backwards whether on the ground or in the air. Trials Evolution was released for the Xbox 360 last April, and for Windows PCs this past March, with a demo popping up on Steam a couple months later. Keep this in mind, as I'll be coming back to it in a bit. Urban Trial Freestyle is a game that looks to cash in on the success of the Trials series.
Much like in the Trials series, Urban Trial Freestyle has you controlling a physics-based motorbike as you race through multiple tracks, but it's a tad different here. You can try to get a fast time to earn more stars which allows you to unlock more tracks and bikes, but there's also a stunt mode. Now when you hear stunt mode, what's the first thing that comes to mind? For me, it was trying to pull off the kinds of stunts you see in the X-Games. Here, not quite. Your death-defying stunts in this game are how high you can jump, how long you can jump, and how accurately you can land a jump. You have this physics-based bike that you can easily do 360s in, and you don't get a chance to do any tricks with it. What's worse is something I'll get into next: the tracks themselves.
This is where talking about Trials Evolution comes into play. Since the two games are very similar I decided to download the Trials Evolution demo off of Steam to compare the two. Now to get back on track (pun only slightly intended): the tracks themselves. I played several tracks in Trials Evolution's demo and they all seemed straightforward. You try to get to the end as fast as you can while navigating any ramps, bumps, and so on. While there is a bit of a learning curve with bike controls and learning the tracks, it's not too hard to get the hang of. With Urban Trial Freestyle, there were several moments where something just came out of nowhere and wrecked my run that made me think of--and I can't believe I'm even comparing a motocross game to this--I Wanna Be the Guy. No, seriously. In one of the early tracks, just after a checkpoint, there's a small ramp just before a big hill. No big deal. However, a little ways after that small ramp, a car will roll down the hill towards you, and you can't go backwards past the ramp. You have to restart at the checkpoint, and if you can't hit the X button fast enough, it'll count as a fault and dock you points. There's even a track that, just after the checkpoint, drops a crate from the sky that's supposed to hit the back end of a board that will launch you into the air. But if you don't know that and don't go fast enough, the crate will crush you, sending you back to the checkpoint.
The way you earn stars in Urban Trial Freestyle is based on your score after completing a track. The score is based off of either your time or how you did on the "stunts" (depending on which mode you're in) minus 100 points for each fault. Every 2,000 points nets you a star, so you have to get at least 10,000 points to get five stars, and for time trials that means hardly crashing at all. If you crash even once, you better go full speed to the end to even have a chance at getting all five stars. Just what do the stars do though? A three-star average on any sector (each sector has four tracks), in either Time Trials or Stunt Mode, unlocks the next area; a four-star average unlocks a new bike; and a full five stars unlocks a challenges option. Needless to say I have no idea what the Challenge Mode is as I'm nowhere near getting five stars on any sector except the first. To unlock everything else, like attire for your biker or parts for your default bike, you collect money found in each stage. Sometimes the money is right out in the open, other times you have to search for it. However, I've found that the parts you unlock for your default bike are not as good as the bikes you unlock by getting four-star rankings anyway, so it's not really worth it.
Finally, there's the track editor. The track editor isn't actually that bad, as you have a wide range of options to choose from in what to place and where. I do have a couple major complaints though. First off, you have to choose from one of eight scenarios. These scenarios are basically eight of the game's pre-made tracks that you'll go through in the main game, but they don't have any obstacles to start out with. All of the flat terrain and drops are there, you just have to create ways to get from start to finish. The build options are nice, but it would be great if you had more of a choice of terrain. Comparing to Trials Evolution again, you have a nice robust editor and a massive area in which to build a track. You can set your own start and end points, make the track as long or short as you wish, and any bumps, hills, and drops are part of the terrain, not just there because the designers decided to put a random hole somewhere. However, for a portable game, the track editor for Urban Trial Freestyle isn't all that bad.
However, there is one other thing that bugs me. Outside of the leaderboards, this game has absolutely no online functionality, and that's a major letdown. I like how the leaderboards are done, so to speak. For each track, you have two timers counting down: your best time and the "world record". As you improve your scores, the leaderboard will update, and you might just find yourself racing against your own world record score. However, there is no multiplayer, and, what really gets me, there's no way to upload or download new tracks. So, you have a track editor that can save up to 30 custom tracks, but no one else can play them. I'm sorry, but even though some people might criticize me for comparing a full-fledged Xbox 360 game to a 3DS downloadable title, there is no reason not to be able to at least share tracks online. If there's a way to do it, I'm not seeing it.
That's really all there is to say about Urban Trial Freestyle. As stated, some people might criticize my review a bit because I'm comparing a seven-dollar 3DS downloadable title to a 20-dollar Xbox 360 and PC game, but when you're making a game that's basically just like another game, you have a lot to live up to. Urban Trial Freestyle is basically a portable Trials game done by a different developer, though not quite as fun. Don't get me wrong, UTF isn't a bad game by any means, but if you had to make a choice between UTF and Trials Evolution, I'd say spend the extra 13 dollars. However, if you're just looking for a similar game to play on the go, Urban Trial Freestyle is still a decent game. As much as the tracks can frustrate me with its "hey, let's add a random pit here that the player won't see on his first time through" style of track design, and the lack of multiplayer is kind of inexcusable to me, I still find myself coming back to improve my rankings to see if I can unlock the challenge mode. I will say that, for what we got, seven dollars might be a bit of a stretch on cost, but it could have been worse.
If you're looking for a portable Trials game, Urban Trial Freestyle isn't a bad alternative. However, the track designs could have been a little better, and I'm appalled at the lack of multiplayer. A motocross game is a perfect example of a game to play with friends, but apparently the developers didn't think so.
Rating: 6.5 Below Average
* The product in this article was sent to us by the developer/company.
About Author
I began my lifelong love of gaming at an early age with my parent's Atari 2600. Living in the small town that I did arcades were pretty much non-existent so I had to settle for the less than stellar ports on the Atari 2600, but for a young kid my age it was the perfect past time, giving me something to do before Boy Scout meetings, after school, whenever I had the time and my parents weren't watching anything on TV. I recall seeing Super Mario Bros. played on the NES at that young age and it was something I really wanted. Come Christmas of 1988 (if I recall) Santa brought the family an NES with Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt and I've been hooked ever since.
Over 25 years from the first time I picked up an Atari joystick and I'm more hooked on gaming than I ever have been. If you name a system, classics to moderns, there's a good chance I've not only played it, but own it. My collection of systems spans multiple decades, from the Odyssey 2, Atari 2600, and Colecovision, to the NES, Sega Genesis, and Panasonic 3DO, to more modern systems such as the Xbox and Wii, and multiple systems in between as well as multiple handhelds. As much as I consider myself a gamer I'm also a game collector. I love collecting the older systems not only to collect but to play (I even own and still play a Virtual Boy from time to time). I hope to bring those multiple decades of gaming experience to my time here at Gaming Nexus in some fashion.
In my spare time I like to write computer programs using VB.NET (currently learning C# as well) as well as create review videos and other gaming projects over on YouTube. I know it does seem like I have a lot on my plate now with the addition of Gaming Nexus to my gaming portfolio, but that's one more challenge I'm willing to overcome.
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Just when you thought all the Black Friday/Thanksgiving Sales are over, Cyber Monday has arrived for more holiday specials. Many e-tailers are hoping to keep the momentum going for at least one more day, like ZAGG's Site-wide 50% off sale on essentially all their products (except the ZAGG Spark 2.0, which is 40% off and ZAGG gift cards). That's right, you can now get your favorite ZAGG cases and invisibleShields, as well as the popular ZAGGsmartbud earphones for half price. And if you purchase over $30 worth of goods and live in one of the 48 lower US states, shipping is on the house.
Discount prices aren't applied until you add the item into your shopping cart, so not to worry if you don't see the 50% right away. This is a 24 hour offer, which ends tonight at 11:59 PM MST, so do hurry. Just be patient though when you're browsing the ZAGG site; it's slower than usual at the moment, likely due to a large number of shoppers snapping up all the goodies.
Update: Good news for those who missed out on ZAGG's site wide 50% off sale yesterday. Due to popular demand, ZAGG has announced that it will extend the offer for another 24 hours, with the event ending tonight at 11:59 MST.


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Now you gotta buy 5 different figures, pull each tab off, gather all your receipts, write a $5 dollar check, mail it
And what about the UPC POPs?
Quote from: Dressel Rebel on May 2, 2006, 10:58 PMAnd what about the UPC POPs?No. Stickers, order form and payment.
Looks like he's got a white mailer box for shipping. I sure hope that Mailer Box is strong enough to keep my figure MOMC as I'll be more than displeased if it shows up all crushed.
I was chatting with a guy who was bragging that he mailed away for 10 of these. Why?
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DescriptionThis is a Collection of 10 High Quality Wood Doors. Each panel comes with its own Bump & Specular map, each texture is 3800×1350px.
These are real doors images but they can be used as simple wood panels as well, most of the are orizontally tileable.
- 10 Doors texture
- 10 Bump Maps
- 10 Specular Maps
- PDF Quick Reference Card


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Just a year after an impressive redo of the full-size Chrysler 300 sedan, the car is back with even more upgrades for 2012, including an 8-speed automatic transmission available with the standard V-6 engine.
This is a first for this vehicle segment. The new transmission gives the 300 best-in-class highway fuel economy — EPA ratings are 19 mpg city/31 highway/23 combined. An all-wheel-drive version is rated at 18 city/27 highway with the V-6, which in all configurations has 292 horsepower and 260 foot-pounds of torque.
Chrysler is the first domestic automaker to bring an 8-speed automatic transmission to its cars. It's a $1,000 option on the base 300 model, and standard on higher-priced V-6 models.
The base model comes with a 5-speed automatic, the V-6 engine and rear-wheel drive. Its EPA ratings are 18 mpg city/27 highway.
Also in the lineup for 2012 are all-new 300 Limited and 300S all-wheel-drive models, as well as a new top-end SRT8 version. That one has a 6.4-liter Hemi V-8 with 470 horsepower and comes with a 5-speed automatic gearbox.
Prices for the 2012 models range from $27,170-$35,320 (plus $825 freight) for the five V-6 versions and $38,170-$41,320 for the four that come with Chrysler's 5.7-liter, 363-horsepower Hemi V-8. The SRT8 is $47,170.
Among new technology is a sport-shift mode that allows for a sportier driving experience with the 8-speed automatic transmission, hands-free texting capability, Sirius satellite traffic reports and a vehicle information center, which includes a color screen.
Did I mention yet just how nice this car is? Even the base model with the $27,130 starting price seems to be as well-equipped and well-crafted as some much more expensive European luxury sedans.
This is yet another example of why Chrysler is well on the road to recovery. A company that can make a car this nice, for this price, is going to find success in today's market, where people are looking for value and quality. The Chrysler 300 already has been named a Consumers Digest 2012 "Best Buy."
Count me among the believers in the revived Chrysler, based on some of my recent experiences with several of the company's newest models, beginning with the redesigned Jeep Grand Cherokee.
The Chrysler 300 is one of the most refined cars I've ever tested, especially among those under $50,000. The total sticker price for my test vehicle was $29,290, which included the extra $1,000 for the 8-speed transmission.
The cabin is just about the most quiet I've ever experienced in any vehicle, even at highway speeds.
This car also is very quick, even with the base V-6 engine that is standard — even in the entry-level model. Acceleration is more like that of a V-8 powered car.
Although there are two Hemi V-8 engines available, the best choice is the new Pentastar V-6, which was added last year. It replaced both of the smaller V-6s that were available in the 2010 models.
In this engine, horsepower is up 63 percent from the previous base 2.7-liter V-6, which had just 178 horsepower. And it's 42 horsepower ahead of the 2010 model's 3.5-liter V-6.
The fuel savings are real. During my week in the 300 sedan, I averaged nearly 27 mpg, which is great for a car this large and roomy.
The 5.7-liter models for 2012 continue to feature the five-speed automatic transmission and Hemi V-8 from the previous generation. This engine has fuel-saver technology that cuts out four of the cylinders during highway cruising, and EPA ratings are 16/25.
All-wheel drive is also available with the 5.7-liter engine. It's a system that acts as a rear-drive-only setup until the extra traction is needed. Otherwise, the front axle remains disconnected to help with the fuel economy. EPA ratings are 15/23 with the V-8 and all-wheel drive.
Inside, the base 300 is elegant as well as functional, with premium cloth bucket seats up front and a roomy and comfortable three-person bench in the rear, with lots of leg and knee room. The previous model's hard-plastic interior has been replaced by premium materials and has soft-touch surfaces. There is even faux wood trim.
The steering wheel and shifter are leather-wrapped. The center console has two usable, lighted cup holders, along with two handy places to stow mobile electronic devices such as phones and iPods, and there are convenient power and USB outlets. It's nice to have these cubbies for the devices, as too many of the newer cars have no places for phones, so they end up in the cup holders.
Standard safety and convenience features include keyless entry with pushbutton start, electronic stability control with Chrysler's exclusive Ready Alert Braking and Rain Brake Support, antilock disc brakes, side-curtain air bags for both rows of seats, a driver's knee air bag, and front seat-mounted side air bags.
The driver's seat is eight-way power-adjustable, and the front passenger seat is four-way power. Manual tilt-and-telescopic steering wheel is standard, along with power windows/mirrors/door locks, auto-dimming inside mirror, dual-zone automatic climate control and very cool light-blue lighting around the outer edges of the large analog gauges.
Even the trunk is quite roomy, with more than 16 cubic feet of space and a lid that lifts high and out of the way with a double push of the button on the remote key fob.
Our tester, the base model with no options, was so well-equipped that the only things I missed were a navigation system and backup camera, which seems like it should have been included because the 8.4-inch color touch screen was already installed in the dash for use with the audio and climate-control systems.
Also standard on my car was the Uconnect Touch six-speaker audio system with AM/FM/CD/Sirius and MP3 and DVD playback. For an additional $295, the tester came with Uconnect Voice Command and Bluetooth audio streaming.
Available is a mobile "hot spot" feature that provides instant access to websites, email, personalized music, online gaming, photo albums and more.
Optional high-tech safety features include adaptive-cruise control with forward collision warning, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-path detection, and the backup camera. These extras are offered even with the V-6.
Besides the base model, the V-6 engine also comes in the 300 Limited, which starts at $32,170 with rear drive, and $34,320 with all-wheel drive. The 300S V-6 models are $33,170 with rear drive, and $35,320 with all-wheel drive.
Limited models include Nappa leather seats with perforated inserts (heated/ventilated in front), black or dark olive burl ash interior trim, heated leather-wrapped steering wheel, a 180-amp alternator, driver's side auto-dimming mirrors with memory and auto-tilt-in, satin chrome lower door sills with the Chrysler logo, LED illuminated front foot wells/interior door handles/front and rear map pockets, heated/cooled cup holders, 12–way power driver and front-passenger seats with lumbar support, heated rear seats, power-adjustable pedals with memory; power backlight sunshade, trunk mat and a power tilt/telescopic steering column.
Contact automotive columnist G. Chambers Williams III at 210-250-3236; firstname.lastname@example.com.


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My Father's Heart
True to form, my father maintained control even when his heart seized up like a jammed cogworks. He raised his hand and shook his head, refusing help from concerned friends slicing balls on the golf course near him. "It's just a little indigestion," he said. "I can handle it." Only when he started gulping air and the band of pain threatened to snap his ribs, only then did my father stow his golf clubs and allow himself to be driven to the emergency room. After so carefully building an ironclad reputation (Baptist pastor, newspaper columnist, Rotarian, all-around nice guy) in his small Wyoming town, my father felt he had a lot to lose from something like a heart attack. It is, he would say, evidence of weakness.
The first thing I notice when I walk in the intensive care unit is the plastic tube disappearing down his throat like he's trying to swallow a corrugated snake. The second thing is how his body had gone gray and collapsed against the hospital sheets.
Even so true to form my father has triumphed over the heart attack and, according to his doctors, will emerge from the double-bypass with a textbook rebound. The Rev. Donald Dodge has many more sermons to preach from his pulpit at the First Baptist Church in Flint, Wyoming throat-snake or no throat-snake.
That is months down the road, however. All I care about is the here and now.
When I walk into that hospital room, I'm entering a sliver of time when (at last) my father is as weak and powerless as he was 56 years earlier cradled in his own father's arms. I take pleasure in the fact that my father's heart has knocked him flat on his ass like a newborn. I'm also delighted to see he's been rendered speechless.
This, after all, is why I responded so quickly to my mother's phone call. By that point, he'd already been airlifted from Flint to Salt Lake City, had his heart rerouted by the surgeons and started his recovery in a private room. My mother sounded serene, at peace with the whole situation. I knew it was only her dutiful, "it's-in-God's-hands" facade. Inside, she prayed God would give one hard squeeze with His hands and finish everything.
Before she got off the phone, my mother gave me a set of instructions all ICU visitors must follow: visiting hours, authorized gifts, and cleansing procedures. "They don't want anything infectious coming in from the outside," she said.
So... here I stand at the sink with foot pedals for taps, my sleeves rolled to the elbows, water dripping from my raised wrists. The paper towel dispenser is empty. I wipe my hands on my pants, recycling my germs. The pneumatic doors part like a curtain, and I enter the sterilized sanctuary of the ICU. Through half-open doors, I see other critically ill patients. The ones with their eyes open stare blankly at the ceiling. At the nurse's station, I ask for my father's room and am pointed down the corridor. All around me, the rooms hiss and beep, sustaining even those who don't deserve to live.
It's been 18 months since I last saw my father. Three days after my high school graduation, I'd gone away to the university in Laramie and stayed there, unwilling to come home on even the longest holidays. Eventually, the phone calls and letters from my parents dropped off to once a month. I told myself I could endure a monthly 15 minutes.
I pierced my nose and wore a diamond stud; I changed my wardrobe, buying the blackest T-shirts and jeans Kmart had to offer. I did this in defiance of what my father would call "good and proper behavior befitting a child of the Church." I also smoked marijuana and slept with a variety of girls. Maybe I went too far, a little too deep into this rebellion thing, but I couldn't help myself. I was addicted to hating my father.
That's why I strut into the ICU grinning, practically humming. I'm way beyond the Prodigal Son at this point.
Despite the collapsed gray, my father looks relatively the same the receding crown of hair, the hooked nose, the original chin blanketed in the folds of the extra ones piled on by age and cholesterol. His mouth forms a tight "O" around the respirator tube; two thin wires one red, one blue, like those on a detonation device disappear into his chest. He has one leg outside of the bedsheet, no doubt trying to cool that half of his body. The sheet has fallen away a little, and I see his nakedness. His pubic hair has flecks of gray; his penis is swollen and bloody from the catheter sunk down its center.
The room is crowded with machinery, tubes, and the smell of a bedpan. A heart monitor hovers above the bed. On its tiny green screen, a line zigzags like a horizontal lightning bolt.
My mother stands next to my father, her fingertips on his shoulder. She looks like she stumbled through a plate-glass door and kept right on walking. Two doctors bend their heads in her direction, murmuring long strings of words. It's hard to distinguish their voices from the machinery.
In the doorway, I shuffle my feet. My mother looks up. "Jonah," she says. "You made it."
The doctors stop talking, nod their hellos.
My mother can't even leave my father's side that's how much control he has over her, even while lying semi-conscious and sedated. She touches his wrist just above the iodine stains and IV needles, but it's no different than if he were the one gripping her wrist. She looks down and says, "Jonah's here. Isn't that good news?" There is exhaustion and relief in her voice.
Because of the tube in his throat, my father can only communicate with his eyes. They roll in the sockets, bumping his shaggy eyebrows.
(Down the road, he'll regain his voice, his strength, his character. He'll insist the nurses fold the blanket at the foot of his bed and that he be covered with only the sheet. The back of his hospital gown must be untied when he's lying down, re-tied the instant he sits up. My mother will have to wipe off her glossy lipstick before she kisses him. "It gives me a sore throat," he'll tell her; adding a footnote: "You know that.")
I approach the bed. He smells like surgery hot and medicinal and temporarily sterilized. Without touching him, I say, "Hello." This is not what I want to say. I want to greet him with, "Hello, Dimmesdale" (I'm in the third week of my Am Lit course at Laramie, and this has been on my mind), but because my mother and the doctors are still in the room, I don't call him Dimmesdale. Still, it's enough to know I can.
My father takes one look at my diamond, gets one whiff of my stale cannabis breath, and rolls his eyes in wild circles. I know what he's saying; I've heard it all before.
I look over my mother's shoulder at the room's only window. I can see a fraction of the world outside. There are a few leaf-stripped trees trying to reach their branches as high as my father's window. Three people cross on the light at a street corner, two walking briskly toward the other who has his head down against the wind. In the distance, clouds lower across the Wasatch Mountains. The sky is dark gray, like the mood in my father's room.
When he does have full control of his body, my father uses his voice like a symphony, each word a perfect note. Much as I hate to admit it, there's poetry in my father's voice. When I was younger, it was the sound of his words, not the words themselves, that got me through each Sunday service. I'd look around at all the other people of Flint the ranchers, the taxidermists, the Forest Service officials and I saw they were just as spellbound.
After church, he'd be in his bedroom singing the hymns of the day as he changed his clothes. Thinking he was alone, he strained for the high notes on "How Great Thou Art," warbling like a songbird as he pulled up his socks. But when he emerged and caught me listening in the hallway, he blushed, cleared his throat, and dropped to a low, restrained whistle.
I remember another time when one of my father's favorite songs on the radio was something called "My Name's Not Lisa." I thought it was the stupidest song, probably because I never understood what the words meant. Now, I know it was about infidelity, this woman telling her philandering husband to quit calling her by his mistress' name. My father went around humming that song for nearly a year. It was his hymn to adultery.
We all knew about his woman. When I say "we," I mean me, my mother, and my father. And when I say "woman," I mean it in the most generic sense of the word. My mother and I never learned her name, never knew what she looked like, never caught her scent or saw a loose strand of hair. Still, to us she was as real as the dining room furniture. And in my father's voice, under the whirling current of day-to-day chatter, something swam against the flow; something that was, when we later stopped to think about it, unmistakable passion; something like a prize trout that had eluded him for years and, by God, it was about time for him to hook it, bring it to the riverbank.
We discovered the woman the winter of my senior year in high school. When I say "we," I mean my mother and I reached the conclusion separately, never speaking about it, never admitting we each held something that could kill my father's reputation in the town. But I knew she knew it was in her eyes, her posture, the new tremble on the edge of her smile. I'll probably never know how my mother learned of the adultery maybe it was like a freeway collision, a long chain of clues piling into each other, the endless crashing finally ground to a halt. Maybe that's how it was for her. Maybe she saw the trout flipping on the shore, plain as day. Maybe, but I doubt it my father is much too careful.
For me, it was a scrap of paper. I snuck into his church study one afternoon when he was at the county hospital praying for Chance Gooding's wife, who was on her last leg of cancer. It was December. In fact it was the shortest day of the year, and the sun was dying over the rim of Arrow Mountain. There was just enough light in the study for me to see what I was doing. I was playing a prank on my father, taking all the Bible commentaries off the bookshelf behind his desk, turning them upside down and then putting them back on the shelf in haphazard order. My father has this thing about alphabetizing. It was just a prank. It wasn't like I was on a quest or anything.
The scrap of white paper, bright as neon in the dim, solstice room, fluttered to the floor out of the pages of the Genesis commentary. I watched the note spiral down, then bent to pick it up. There were only three words on the paper, written not in my father's hand, not in my mother's hand, but in another woman's hand. How could I be sure of its femininity? The blue ink was curved and flowery, softening the hard letters and, in some places, looked rather like women's breasts. I knew even the most sensitive rancher in Flint couldn't form letters like those. I closed my eyes, imagining the hand: the fingers long, slender, tipped with red nails.
I didn't know who they belonged to. For weeks, I tried to guess her identity, choosing and rejecting dozens of names: Grace Black, the owner of Lilies of the Field Flower Shoppe and who handled all of the church's wedding, funeral, and holiday arrangements; Shellie Monkle at the Wrangler Family Restaurant; Oona Packerby, lead alto in the church choir; Marilyn Withers, Edith Pond, Dot Bickley, Marion Ash, Wanda Holt, Desiree Fernandez all lined up in my mind like beauty pageant contestants. But if it was any of them or one of the other 1,400 women walking the snow-packed streets of Flint that winter I'll never know.
I'll also never know what the rest of the note said, for the three words in my hand were part of a longer epistle (my father's word, "epistle"; he loves using it instead of "letter"). The scrap was bordered with descenders and ascenders: the hook of a "j," the mast of a "t." The trio of words were torn from a page of flowered stationery. I had no doubt it was my father's own fingers which had done the tearing and tucked the slip inside a commentary he could pull off the shelf at his convenience. I had no doubt he often stared at the blue ink, maybe even panting and throbbing in the hush of his study.
Before I left the room that solstice day, I rearranged the books on the shelves, putting them in proper order. Later, I burned the note it went quickly under the match but I've kept the words ever since, waiting to use them.
Now my father lies in front of me helpless, colorless, voiceless.
The doctors leave after once more consulting the charts. It is only two days since my father collapsed on the golf course and, though things are shaping up for a textbook recovery, they're still concerned. Before they go, they pull us aside and say, "His heart is not out of the woods yet. But that doesn't mean we're not hopeful."
My mother meets my eyes. We speak without speaking. We're both thinking of that purple-gray organ wandering lost in the woods among the tangle of underbrush and the tall, inward-pressing trees. At this point, I'll bet his heart would be happy for even the smallest patch of sunlight on the forest floor.
Neither of us are willing to provide that sunshine. All warmth has been pinched off my mother's face. She shows every one of her 48 years in her eyes and at the corners of her mouth. This is so unlike her usually bright, pastor's-wife cheer, I almost don't recognize her as my mother. Still, under the circumstances I think she's held up remarkably well.
We look down at my father. His eyes bounce between us.
My mother finally pulls her fingers from his wrist. She looks at me, then back down to my father. "Now that Jonah's here, I think I'll go grab something at the snack bar. I won't be long." She bends down, gives him a light kiss with her glossed lips then leaves the room. I watch her go. She only falters once when she passes the nurses' station but she has completely regained herself by the time she reaches the pneumatic doors.
Later that night, at the end of the hospital's visiting hours, she will drop her defenses again while waiting for the elevator. I'll come up beside her, hold her small shoulders under my arm and pull her against me. She'll say, "He drains me," and I'll see the hollows beneath her eyes moisten like groundwater seeping into a freshly plowed field.
I won't know how to say what I feel, so she'll say it for me in a whisper: "Sometimes I hate him so much." Her whisper will be like the first trickles of water hissing through the cracks of a dam.
I'll tighten my arm around her shoulders, and for that moment we'll be something more than mother and son, something less than lovers. I'll feel a rush of passion for this woman beneath my arm. I won't think of all the girls back in Laramie, I won't think of mothers and sons on TV, I won't even think of Oedipus groping around his palace with the blood streaming from his empty sockets. No, by the time the elevator bongs and the doors open for us, I'll be thinking we're like two strangers who befriend each other in a jail cell.
But all that comes later. For now, my father and I are alone, and I'm the only one who can speak. I have dreamed of this opportunity since childhood. I choose my words carefully, already knowing which three will pass from my lips. Since my mother's phone call, I've been standing in front of a mirror, practicing my delivery. In the History of Man, this moment is as important as when Jacob entered his father's tent to swindle the birthright.
I lean close, so close I can see the sweaty pores of his scalp. "I know some things," I say.
His eyes narrow. Then widen.
I brush my mouth against his ear and whisper the paper-scrap words: "I'm your Bathsheba."
Then, like an arson who has dropped the match, I turn to flee, only pausing once to look over my shoulder at the spreading damage. My father's eyes thrash in their sockets. His throat pushes against the tube. Above him, the heart monitors beep like smoke alarms. No matter what happens next, I have done the right thing.


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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Industrial output unexpectedly fell in October as superstorm Sandy disrupted production, but the underlying tone remained consistent with slowing manufacturing activity.
Industrial production contracted 0.4 percent last month after a 0.2 percent increase in September, the Federal Reserve said on Friday.
The Fed said the storm, which tore through the East Coast at the end of October, is estimated to have reduced the rate of change in output by nearly 1 percentage point. It cut the output of utilities, chemicals, food, transportation equipment, and computers and electronic products, the Fed said.
Economists had expected a 0.2 percent gain in industrial output last month. The storm is estimated have caused $50 billion in damage.
Aside from the storm's impact, the trend in industrial production is biased towards weakness as fears over higher taxes and sharp cuts in government spending deter businesses from ramping up production and capital investment.
Cooling global demand is also crimping output.
The so-called fiscal cliff could drain about $600 billion from the economy early next year unless Congress agrees on an orderly plan to cut rising budget deficits.
"The big thing that stands out are the declines in business equipment, machineries and construction supplies. When you see that kind of weakness, you can't really attribute it to the storm," said Christopher Low, chief economist at FTN Financial in New York.
"It's a pattern of weakness that has happened in the past three months. The most likely explanation is the weakness in capital equipment orders, which could be attributed to caution about the fiscal cliff and its possible impact on the economy."
U.S. stocks were lower on Friday as investors remained skeptical a meeting between President Barack Obama and congressional leaders would make progress on dealing with the fiscal cliff. Treasury debt prices were up slightly.
Last month, utilities output fell 0.1 percent after being flat in September. Production at mines increased 1.5 percent after rising 0.9 percent the prior month.
Manufacturing production fell 0.9 percent as motor vehicle output declined for a third straight month. Manufacturing had gained 0.1 percent in September.
Excluding the effects of the storm, manufacturing output was little changed from its September level, the Fed said.
The factory operating rate slipped to 75.9 percent in October, the lowest level since November 2011. Capacity utilization at factories is 2.9 percentage points below its long-run average.
"The problem is that we were already seeing a slowing in the sector and so it is difficult to disentangle what is going on. We are poised for a ratcheting down in economic growth," said Jacob Oubina, senior U.S. economist at RBC Capital Markets in New York.
Capacity utilization, a measure of how fully firms are using their resources, fell to 77.8 percent — the lowest level since November 2011 — from 78.2 percent in September. That was 2.5 percentage points below its long-run average.
Officials at the Fed tend to look at utilization measures as a signal of how much "slack" remains in the economy — how far growth has room to run before it becomes inflationary.
Additional reporting by Richard Leong and Julie Haviv in New York; Editing by Andrea Ricci


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'Futurama' goes on one last Bender
"Futurama's" general lot in life was underappreciation. Matt Groening and David X. Cohen's lovably nerdy cartoon series premiered in 1999 on Fox to mixed reviews and the afterglow of Groening's "Simpsons" success. In what has to be one of the longest drifts into niche oblivion for a TV show, "Futurama" returned from cancellation and found a small but supportive fan base on cable, first on Cartoon Network and then on Comedy Central.
Now, 14 years later (but with only 140 episodes, accounting for long breaks), the show is having its last hurrah, starting with two new episodes Wednesday night and concluding in early September.
It's nice to occasionally stumble upon "Futurama" (rerun or fresh) and marvel once more at its sharp sociological satire, which has been intact ever since its lead character, the Gen X slacker Fry (voiced by Billy West), woke from an accidental 1,000-year nap and discovered a 31st-century America in which all our technological and cultural worries came to pass.
"Futurama" envisions a high-tech, junked-out Tomorrowland rife with inconsistencies: Space travel integrates our world with alien cultures, which only brings trickier dynamics of diversity and species-based racism. Robots are twitchy and unreliably self-interested, and, in the case of Fry's mechanical pal, Bender (John DiMaggio), habitually drunk. "Futurama's" future is by no means dystopian, but it is far from the Gene Roddenberry ideal. (In fact, one episode revealed that "Star Trek" had become a banned religion.)
The show conveniently debuted amid real-life worry that power grids and the Internet would fail on Jan. 1, 2000, because our dumb computers wouldn't recognize the calendar rollover -- a crisis that turned out to be laughably overhyped. "Futurama" was here to tell us that our real problems, human or almost-so, will remain no matter what the calendar says: Governments and alien tyrannies rise and fall; boy bands and LinkedIn are a permanent scourge; science is both a salvation and a curse; and laboratories make an excellent refuge from the alien clamor of political and infotainment culture.
Wednesday's new episodes are no great shakes, but they do find "Futurama" humming along. Professor Farnsworth (also voiced by West) joins a "Fast and Furious"-style rocketship gang, but his intra-dimensional warp drive strands him, Fry and Leela (Katey Sagal) in the second dimension, where they are rendered as flat drawings.
It's a clever little bit, as the characters move awkwardly from left to right against a white background, honoring both Groening's pen-on-paper cartooning heritage and "Futurama's" wonderfully absurd attention to physics and higher math. Wednesday's other episode sends Fry and Leela on a romantic getaway to another of Groening's fixations, the Planet of the Apes.
The laughs are the same, but you can sense the show is running low on fuel; compared with "Archer" and a host of weirder, dirtier cartoons aimed at adult viewers, "Futurama" often feels like an exercise in late-'90s retro. It had a sporadic existence, but a good one -- and I wouldn't be at all surprised, in a future where fans have the power to exhume and reboot any show they like, to see "Futurama" roused once more from its cryogenic sleep.
"Futurama" (one hour; two episodes) returns Wednesday on Comedy Central. Check local listings for specific times.


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Story highlights
- 1200 donated wooden objects have been used to make the yacht
- 'The Boat Project' is a part of the London Cultural Olympiad
- The yacht will go on display at the 2012 Olympic sailing venue
A piece of rock legend Jimi Hendrix's guitar, teak from China, a salad server and a plank of wood from a newly constructed London Olympic venue. Each item of this unusual collection of materials has its own unique history and now they have been put together to create a new sailing boat.
The 30-foot yacht launched Monday in Emsworth, Hampshire on England's southern coast, is made up of hundreds of precious items which have been donated by people across the country's south-east.
'The Boat Project' is a part of the region's contribution to the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, which bills itself as the largest cultural celebration in Olympic history.
"Many people don't get to be exposed to the Games unless they have a ticket to an event," says boat builder Mark Covell. "This gives more people the chance to be a part of the celebrations and the cultural history of the Olympics."
Covell knows firsthand the thrill of being part of the Games -- having won a silver medal in Sydney in 2000. The Olympian has been involved in the project from the beginning. It's been two years in the making and Covell compares the scale of the project with his own Olympic preparations.
"It was an enormous task," explains Covell. "You needed to go above and beyond."
In all 1221 wooden objects were donated, and every single one has gone into the construction of the vessel. They range from treasures people have come across over the years in their travels to family heirlooms.
The result is a yacht that is not only unique in her make up, but also in her sailing capabilities, says Mike Barham, who will captain the yacht. "She's much faster than a normal 30 ft yacht," he explains. "She's a cross between a high performance dingy and a high performance sailing boat."
The donated items were collected over six months by organizers who visited 20 locations across south east England. Once laid out, the goods filled an entire carpark.
"The amount of precious things that were given has been really inspiring," says Covell.
Steve Ashmore is one of the hundreds who donated goods. The graphic designer contributed a piece of wood from a block of wood known as a tro, which was used by fisherman to haul their fish up the beach in Hastings, in south-east England. "I wanted to give something from the place I was from," he explained.
Ashmore is in a unique position, not only has he helped in the physical make up of the boat, but he's also a part of the crew of volunteers for the boat's maiden voyage, all of whom have been nominated by their friends and family. "I want the voyage to do the whole project justice," the novice sailor says. "So many people have put time, creativity and love into it."
The crew have been in training in recent weeks for their maiden voyage which will take them around the south east region. It will finish up at the London 2012 Olympic venue in Weymouth, Dorset in August, where it will remain on display throughout the Games.
Even without taking to the water Covell says 'The Boat Project' has embodied the spirit of the Olympics. "It's been the community who've donated their items and a community of volunteers who've built her and will sail her," Covell says. "And bringing the community together is an Olympic ideal."


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This week on the podcast:
There's one game left on the schedule for the Raiders, this Sunday against the host New York Jets. A loss would give the Raiders the worst record in team history. But it will also leave them with either the first or second pick in the 2007 NFL Draft.
Beat writer David White talks about what the team can do to reverse course and start a return to respectability.
And as for a coaching change, the Chronicle's beat writer expects Art Shell to return next season to fulfill the second year of his contract.