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This is a fairly extensive guide on PvPing as a Shadow Priest. Hopefully, people who are new to PvPing with a shadow priest will learn a thing or two. This guide is for priests with at least 31 points talent in the shadow tree for Shadowform (requires level 40+).
First of all, is PvP the thing for you? PvP can be a huge adrenaline rush, but the learning curve (lots of dying) can be off-putting. In battlegrounds, arena, and other PvP, it is a great test of skill and often a challenge. However, it requires a different mindset than PvE.
Why Shadow Priest?
Shadow priests, arguably, had been one of the most powerful PvP characters overall, although less so as of present. Priest specced shadow (most talents assigned in the Shadow tree) can do impressive amounts of damage in a short period of time, but have some survivability problems. They have two or more powerful DoT spells (up to 3), some limited healing/mitigation through Vampiric Embrace and Power Word: Shield, some 2-3 different CC techniques, such as an AoE Fear and Silence, great buffs, two or more powerful blasts, and optionally the most mana-efficient-per-damage channeling spell in the game. A Priest becomes a Shadow priest at level 40, when Shadowform becomes available, which increases damage output by 15%, decreases all damage taken by 15%, and grants your Dots the ability to crit; later talents improve shadowform even more. At the moment, Shadow is less suited to the majority of arena lineups than disc/holy.
Pros and Cons of being a shadow priest:
- High damage, which is sustainable over moderately long periods of time
- No lengthy cooldowns, highest being Silence which is 45 seconds (excluding racial/talented abilities)
- Decent passive healing thanks to Vampiric Embrace, available through talents.
- Can Silence opponents
- High melee reduction, around 35%, which is almost as good as mail armor (using Shadowform and Inner Fire)
- Possible to dispel many beneficial spells from enemies and harmful spells from yourself and team members
- AoE fear on a relatively short cooldown (26 secs with talents)
- Very difficult to snare a fully talented Shadow priest, with a 15 second cooldown on Fade (glyphed and talented)
- While in Shadowform (vast majority of the time), it is not possible to cast any holy spells, such as heals
- Somewhat susceptible to pushback/interrupt, with some important spells having a cast time.
- Priests are often targeted early in PvP situations, due to limited escape mechanisms
- Shadow Priests, and priests in general, are very buff dependent, leaving a purged shadow priest vulnerable (and rebuffing costs are...costly)
- If silenced (counterspelled) in Shadowform, Shadow priests have very few useful spells
Some terms you may hear as a priest/Shadow priest.
|Fort, PW:F, PWF, Stam, or even just "Buff"
|Power Word: Fortitude
|Fearbomb, Fear, PS
|Psychic Scream
|Rez, Res
|SWP, SW:P, Pain,
|Shadow Word: Pain
|Face Melting, Flay
|Mind Flay (shadow talent)
|Shadow Prot
|Shadow Protection
|Vampiric Embrace
|Healing over Time, mostly Renew (Lightwell is only situationally useful)
|Vampiric Touch
|Devouring Plague]
|Inner Fire (important armor buff)
Get to Shadowform ASAP. Refer to the pages on priest talent builds for more detailed information.
The following figures for damage are at level 80, unbuffed, untalented, and undressed. Only spells specifically mentioned have cast times.
Devouring Plague: 25% base mana - 30 yards - "Afflicts the target with a disease that causes 1376 Shadow damage over 24 sec. 15% of damage caused by the Devouring Plague heals the caster." Toned down from the once overpowered Forsaken racial, but a vital part of a PvP shadow priest's arsenal of spells. Use whenever possible.
Dispersion: 2 min cd. "You disperse into pure Shadow energy, reducing all damage taken by 90%. You are unable to attack or cast spells, but you regenerate 6% mana every 1 sec for 6 sec. Dispersion can be cast while stunned, feared or silenced and clears all snare and movement impairing effects when cast, and makes you immune to them while dispersed." This ability can be used to avoid being focused on, to remove all snares, or to regen 30% of your mana. This is the pinnacle of the Shadow tree.
Fade: 15% base mana - 30 sec cd. The tooltip has no application for PvP, but when properly talented + glyphed, Fade is on a 15 sec cd, and immediately clears all movement impairing effects from the priest. This is like Escape Artist on crack.
Fear Ward: 3% base mana - 30 yards - 3 min - 3 min cd. "Wards the friendly target against Fear. The next Fear effect used against the target will fail, using up the ward. Lasts 3 min." Absorbs one Fear effect on the caster. Difficult to use properly. Ideally it should be cast just before the Fear effect is used, to reduce the risk that it will simply be dispelled or devoured, but this isn't always easy to predict.
Inner Fire: 14% base mana. "A burst of Holy energy fills the caster, increasing armor by 1800 and spell power by 95. Each melee or ranged damage hit against the priest will remove one charge. Lasts 30 min or until 20 charges are used." Only the later ranks provide the additional spellpower bonus. Changed in 3.0.9 to be undispellable. Very important buff to keep up, especially for the extra armor.
Mind Blast: 17% base mana - 30 yards - 1.5 sec cast - 8 sec cd. "Blasts the target for 992 to 1048 Shadow damage." This will be one of your most frequently used spells, has a cast time of 1.5 secs (quite fast), and high damage. Cooldown can be reduced to 5.5 sec with talents.
Mind Control: 12% base mana - 20 yards - 3 sec cast. "Controls a humanoid mind up to level X, but slows its attack speed by 25%. Lasts up to 1 min." Note that "X" is usually 'your own level + 2'. -I.e.- a lvl 40 should be able to control a level 42. Very situational in PvP, but can be useful and fun. For example throwing people into the lava at BRM or off the cliff in AB, or Mind Control one mob to fight with another, control a mob to get his buff, etc. Patch 2.2 has reduced the control time to 10 seconds in PvP situations.
Mind Flay: 9% base mana - 20 yards - channeled. "Assault the target's mind with Shadow energy, causing 588 Shadow damage over 3 sec and slowing their movement speed by 50%." Your bread and butter attack, a highly mana-efficient channeled spell that does a moderate amount of damage over 3 seconds. Has NO cooldown, so it can be chain-cast indefinitely.
Mind Sear: 28% base mana - 30 yards - channeled. "Causes an explosion of shadow magic around the enemy target, causing 212 to 228 Shadow damage every 1 sec for 5 sec to all enemies within 10 yards around the target." This is a Shadow priest's AoE. Not really applicable to PvP, except for maybe keeping a flag from being capped. Does not do any damage to the target, only those around him.
Power Word: Fortitude: 27% base mana - 30 yards. "Power infuses the target, increasing their Stamina by 165 for 30 min." Needless to say, keep this on at all times.
Power Word: Shield: 26% base mana - 40 yards - 4 sec cd. "Draws on the soul of the party member to shield them, absorbing 763 damage. Lasts 30 sec. While the shield holds, spellcasting will not be interrupted by damage. Once shielded, the target cannot be shielded again for 15 sec." Good idea to always throw this up if you have mana and expect to take damage.
Psychic Scream: 15% base mana - 30 sec cd. "The caster lets out a psychic scream, causing 5 enemies within 8 yards to flee for 8 sec. Damage caused may interrupt the effect." This can be reduced to a 26 second cd with the Improved Psychic Scream talent. Casting this at the right time, especially in an arena match, is the most important thing a shadowpriest can do.
Shadow Protection: 31% base mana - 30 yards. "Increases the target's resistance to Shadow spells by 130 for 10 min." Useful when fighting Warlocks and other shadow priests.
Shadow Word: Death: 12% base mana - 30 yards - 12 sec cd. "A word of dark binding that inflicts 750 to 870 Shadow damage to the target. If the target is not killed by Shadow Word: Death, the caster takes damage equal to the damage inflicted upon the target." Available to all priests at Level 62, Shadow Word: Death does less damage than MB, for less mana. The major downside to this spell, other than the 12-second cd, is that if the spell does not kill the target, it does the same damage to the priest; Power Word: Shield does absorb the damage. This spell can also crit, so a Shadow priest must watch his own health bar as well, and does increased crit damage through talents. You will also want to use this as a polymorph removing spell if polymorph is casted on yourselve, instead of wasting your silence on it (or even worse trinket).
Shadow Word: Pain: 25% base mana - 30 yards. "A word of darkness that causes 768 Shadow damage over 18 sec." A very mana-efficient spell that does high amounts of damage over 18 secs. No cd, instant cast. Considered the second best instant DoT in the game,perhaps after Unstable Affliction. When talented, this spell is refreshed by casting Mind Flay on the afflicted target.
Shadowfiend: 6% base mana - 30 yards - 5 min cd. "Creates a shadowy fiend to attack the target. Caster receives mana when the Shadowfiend deals damage. Lasts 15 sec." This nifty little spell summons a Shadowfiend minion. Not very long, but it does give a hunter's pet or a warlock's minion something else to swing at while you lay the smack down on their owner, and will regenerate your mana every time it hits something. This is available at level 66.
Shadowform: 32% base mana - 1.5 sec cd. "Assume a Shadowform, increasing your Shadow damage by 15%, reducing all damage done to you by 15% and threat generated by 30%. However, you may not cast Holy spells while in this form except Cure Disease and Abolish Disease. Grants the periodic damage from your Shadow Word: Pain, Devouring Plague, and Vampiric Touch spells the ability to critically hit." This is the definitive spell in the whole tree, probably one of the best individual talents in the game. You should never leave this form, unless by yourself to heal up (unless you're talented quite far into discipline).
Silence 30 yards - 45 sec cd. "Silences the target, preventing them from casting spells for 5 sec." Another 21-point Shadow Talent, which requires two points in Improved Psychic Scream. A must in PvP, to interrupt healers and to stop Mages from sheeping, Warlocks from fearing, etc. Just dont use this on Mages polymorph if its casted on yourselve, use SW:D instead.
Vampiric Embrace: 30 yards. "Afflicts your target with Shadow energy that causes you to be healed for 15% and other party members to be healed for 3% of any Shadow spell damage you deal for 5 min." A 21-point Shadow Talent, also a prerequisite of Shadowform. This heals you for 15% (25% when talented) and others for 3% (5% when talented) of all Shadow damage you cause. Absolutely great in both PvP and PvE as you can't cast other healing spells in Shadowform.
Must Haves
- /showtooltip
- /cast spit
- /cast train
- PvP trinket (Insignia/Medallion of the Horde/Alliance). Use: Dispels all movement impairing effects and all effects that cause loss of control of your character. The more expensive version also gives some bonus resilience. This can be purchased from the quartermasters in Stormwind/Orgrimmar.
- Decursive is useful in PvP, as it provides micro-unit frames (MUFs), or little translucent squares, for your group/raid members that show color-coded status ailments. For example, a sheeped or charmed unit has a red square which, when clicked, casts Dispel Magic on the unit to clear the ailment. Also works with Abolish Disease, which show up as blue squares.
- AutoShoutOut provides chat and voice emotes at specified low mana/health levels, soulstone fades, etc. Saves having to manually type "oom", and lets your teammates know that you're just about baked.
- First Aid: Saves you having to shift in and out of shadowform to heal, which saves quite a bit of mana (gheal + shadowform = 64% base mana). Any damage taken cancels the effect.
- Mining, Skinning, and Herbalism also grant bonuses based on skill level(extra health/extra crit/instant HoT, respectively). Most crafting professions also have one or more unique bonuses that may/may not be applicable to PvPing.
- Look at +Stamina/+resilience, +X to spellpower, with intellect as a distant third. For arena/BG PvP, stamina and resilience are a must. Drop all other stats (including +spellpower) for these 2 as they are key to survival. In short, just buy the available PvP gear aimed at Shadow priests. You will want to get pvp hit and spell penetration capped also. Missing fear will make you lose arenas.
PvP Tactics
- Disclaimer: This strategy is largely for 1 vs. 1, to familiarize a Shadow priest with another class' abilities. This is not arena/BG strategy!
As a Priest (as well as any class), to be a good player in PvP, you must be able to change your strategy depending on what your enemy is doing, as well as a whole bunch of other variables, such as terrain (you can't run up a cliff), mobs around where you're fighting, and their build/gear. So it is impossible to write a guide which encompasses all the variables. However, below is a list of possible strategies you can use against different classes:
Note that against some classes (like other casters/their teammates) it is often advisable during the start of a fight to cast dispel once or twice on an opponent (more in an arena setting, less in BGs), you can easily wipe off a lot of buffs/health with a minimum of mana. Such spells include Arcane Intellect, Power Word: Fortitude, Mark of the Wild, potion effects, Blessings, Shadow Protection and many more. It is also important to have a macro keybound for dispel that also works on yourself, to avoid having to switch targets, or to make a mouse-over macro.
Melee classes may cause a problem by running around/through you, thus making it hard to hit them with Mind Blast. In that case, Mind Flay checks its LoS when first casting the spell, and will track the target wherever they go, resulting in constant damage. If you manage to fear them or they are otherwise CCed, keep them from you as long as possible using Mind Flay/running away casting instants. This may be worth a lot more than getting some extra damage with Mind Blast/VT at the cost of damage received.
The key with priests (and all classes in pvp) is key bindings! If you have to look at your button bars to see where your Fear is, or use the mouse to click Shadow Word: Death, you're not going to be as effective. Ensure all keys are bound (including trinkets, pots, etc), and don't forget to use shift/alt/ctrl to consolidate your bindings close to your left hand (i,e, you can have "1" bound to Shadow Word: Pain and "Shift + 1" bound to Devouring Plague). Other useful tips are using shift space for Fear/PvP trinket. Quick reaction time for most spells, especially CC and shields are key to countering opponents. See also: Priest PvP guide
Death Knights
Against a DK (and a warlock) don't forget to use the mostly ignored spell Shackle Undead on minions/pets. This can even be used on the 51-point Unholy DK's Gargoyle.
Always begin with Power Word: Shield, and have your finger on Abolish Disease/Stoneform. They'll likely just run up to you first, saving Death Grip (25/35 sec cd) for after fear. Dot them up, but beware of casting Vampiric Touch in melee range due to Mind Freeze (interrupt and lockout for 4 secs, similar to a warrior's pummel) being on a 10 sec cd. DKs also have Strangulate, which is on a 2-min cd, and works similar to your own Silence. Fear, and dps/shield for 8 secs or less. Dispelling a death knights diseases is a major reduction in his dps; if you find yourself doing this often, you may want to spec into the fourth tier of discipline for the mana reduction talents. You'll be death gripped back into melee range when the fear ends, and probably Chains of Iceed. This can be dispelled (Glyph of Dispel Magic ftw), or faded. You should also be aware of Anti-Magic Shell, which reduces magic damage by 75%, and prevents you from applying magic effects, i.e. dots. This, or when Summon Gargoyle (unholy), or Dancing Rune Weapon (blood) are active would be a good time to use Dispersion. Also keep in mind that DKs specced frost are capable of extreme burst at full runic power.
Death knights also have quite a few defensive cooldowns, between Icebound Fortitude, Lichborne (early frost), Unbreakable Armor (deep frost), and Bone Shield (unholy). Try to time your burst accordingly. One thing to note is that DKs are immune to fear while lichborne is active, but since they're classified as undead, they can be Shackled. Finally, as with all melee classes, Psychic Horror is quite powerful, especially to counter burst.
The Druid probably is the most versatile and complex class. There are so many different specs, that it's hard to give a basic guide on how to fight them. Balance druids will be a mix of dps and healing, while resto druids won't likely cause you much defensive worry except for CC and maybe Insect Swarm, but they usually need to be CCed themselves. Feral druids should be treated much like a rogue, only with perhaps a little less CC. The Shadow priest's lack of potent burst damage gives druids an advantage. Try to dispel them whenever possible (within reason, constantly dispelling Lifebloom works in their favor, unless you're not completely clearing the stack, which causes it to "bloom"). They have very potent HoTs and Innervate. Preventing those strongly limits their survivability.
Druids in cat form are similar to rogues, and therefore dangerous. If they stealth, shield immediately. You will no doubt eat a Pounce + Maim initially. Then fear (check for Berserk buff, which clears fear and makes them immune to it), and apply DoTs while running away. They'll likely Feral Charge behind you, which dazes you. You should have shielded again while they were feared. At this point, life sucks until you can fear again. You can use Dispersion to reduce damage, and make sure Inner Fire stays active. Use Fade if you see an opportunity for escaping melee range (which you should be trying to do). Keep away from using spells with a cast time, as ferals also have Bash, which interrupts spell casting and stuns the caster. Dwarfs have a real advantage against feral druids, since they can Stoneform out of a druid's bleeds. At some point, if you manage to do enough damage, the druid might shift out and heal. If at all possible, a trinket + silence/dispel would turn the tables. Use PS as soon as possible again, and use this time to deal as much damage as possible.
Druids in caster or moonkin form are a little easier. Just use Silence judiciously (for example, STOP THEM FROM HEALING), and mana-burn/dps normally. This fight will involve some dispelling (make sure when you're dispelling that you won't run out of mana first; this will take some experimenting). Always dispel Innervate and Nature's Swiftness (Nature's Swiftness is usually macroed, so you probably won't catch this) whenever you see them. Stay out of melee range, except perhaps when fearing, to avoid getting Typhooned. This is usually your fight to win, if you play it right.
Well-played restoration druids are very hard for a shadowpriest to kill. Their mana pool is larger than yours, and they will have higher regen and very efficient heals. You will have to apply a large amount of pressure (lots of CC, which you don't really have, and avoiding being CCed yourself) and a high amount of dps to win. Again, dispel Innervate. Remember, druids can't dispel magic effects, so keep your DoTs up constantly. Another alternative is to mana burn the druid down before dpsing (make sure you have the talented Mana Burn before attempting). Although it might be difficult to take them down, they won't likely have the firepower to burn you down very quickly either.
Hunters can be quite difficult, due to Viper Sting, which is a poison effect that drains your mana. Dwarfs should burn their Stoneform here. Try to avoid Hunter's traps by learning what the animation looks like when they set them, and avoid running straight towards them if you think they've set one, as this is where it will be 90% of the time. Basically, the key to victory is a dps race, as their Viper Sting will drain 2% of your maximum mana per second. This race is not in your favor (Ghostcrawler). When fighting a hunter, keep in mind that they can use their ranged weapons on anyone 5+ yards from them, which eliminates the once famous "dead zone." You must be 5 yards or closer to get in melee range, where they will do less damage. Don't bother attacking the pet, as it has too much health to defeat quickly (the hunter will tear you up meanwhile anyway); try to CC it.
Load up the hunter with VE, instant DoTs, shield yourself, etc. Do not stop to cast spells with casting times yet, as the combined interrupt of the pet's melee and the hunter's attacks make this difficult. Instead, as you cast the above spells (instant cast), make your way towards the Hunter. When you are within fearing range, fear both the Hunter and his pet. Beware of Scatter Shot (early Survival), which lots of PvP hunters will have, and Silencing Shot (deep marksmanship), as well as Intimidation (early beast mastery; pet stun) as far as active CC is concerned. Don't forget your trinket, and Fade to remove snares/daze.
Beast Mastery hunters are very difficult to beat 1 vs 1. This is because they have Bestial Wrath and The Beast Within, which makes them and their pet immune to CC for 18 sec every 2 mins. While you should still fear them before if possible, you'll have to ride out the storm using Dispersion, keeping Inner Fire and Power Word: Shield up, and use mostly instants. If you can stay alive, the second fear will at least send the pet running for a while, giving you an advantage over the hunter (who will trinket the fear). If the hunter runs low on mana, throw a talented Mana Burn his way (ONLY if talented). Survival hunters will also have the talent Lock and Load, which will cause them to have significant burst after one of their Frost traps are sprung.
In general, this fight can only be won by out dpsing the hunter, which can only happen if he is more CCed than you are, since his dps is higher.
Mages are one class that possesses the necessary amount of burst to simply blow up a Shadow priest. This is countered by keeping them CCed at all times. Once you start that up, simply dps as you would any other class with an interrupt. Use your shield as often as possible (every 15 secs), and possibly cast Mana Burn if the mage isn't focusing you.
The most dangerous thing is to let them Polymorph or Counterspell. Polymorph will give them the first shot, making it pretty difficult to survive (unless you have your PvP trinket). Take care if trinketing a polymorph, as it is spammable; you might want to Silence after trinketing. Note that polymorph can be countered using SW: Death if used a split second before polymorph is finished casting. Counterspell can completely lock out a spell school for 10 seconds if they cast it while you're casting, which would be absolutely devastating. For this reason, unless the mage has already counterspelled, try to cast instant, or near-instant spells, to reduce the likelihood of being locked out. One option is to cast Mana Burn, which a mage might counterspell, allowing you to cast freely in the Shadow school. If you are counterspelled while using a shadow spell, you still have the option of using Mana Burn, Power Word: Shield, or Dispelling buffs/debuffs.
Mages also have Invisibility, which is a 3 second cast (instant when talented) which makes them disappear until they take damage/20 seconds pass. Keep your DoTs on them, and they'll pop back into view or not use it at all. Mirror Image is a 30 seconds spell where the mage switches place with 3 low-dps copies of themselves. Don't try to Tab-target here, you'll waste time. Just stay on task/run away/use Dispersion. If possible, also dispel Presence of Mind and Arcane Power as soon as the mage uses them.
Also consider that a common PvP spec for mages is frost, and that they can activate Iceblock, making them immune to your spells, and removing any current debuffs. In addition they can spec into a talent called Cold Snap, which will reset their cooldowns on all frost spells e.g Frost Nova, Ice Block, Cone of Cold,Summon Water Elemental. Use your fear to keep the pet controlled, and if you need to remove the iceblock you can use Mass Dispel. Dispel Ice Barrier right away, as it will hinder your damage significantly. In addition, do not waste mana on self-dispelling winter chill stacks as they are replaced too quickly.
In general, there are two different types of Paladin fights: those with Ret pallys, and those with Holy pallys. Since WotLK, Paladin's endurance mana-wise has increased, and Mana Burn has become a % burn, which makes it very effective on holy specs, and much less effective on ret specs. However, as with all mana dependent classes, if their mana is low, Mana Burn becomes more useful. Keep in mind the paladin can refill all their health with Lay on Hands on a 20 minutes cd, which also restores some mana. This is not usable in arenas. While DoTs are an integral part of Shadow priest dps, all paladins can remove one magic effect at a time with Cleanse. Finally, if a paladin uses Hand of Protection, indicated by giant golden wings, they are immune to physical damage, but NOT spell damage. This only needs to be dispelled if there are physical classes attacking with you (or if you're Shadowfiend is out).
Retribution pallys are mostly an auto-attack class, with lots of survivability and a surprising amount of burst, mostly through talents rather than abilities. The key is to survive the ret pally's burst, as it's better than a Shadow priest's. They have two methods of CC, Hammer of Justice, and Repentance. The former last 6 seconds, and will likely be on a 40 seconds cd. This would be a good time to use your trinket. Repentence is about the same as a rogue's Sap, only it can be used at any time. Since they can't touch you during its duration, trinketing depends on what's going on around you. Divine Shield is the other signature paladin ability, which clears all debuffs, and makes them immune to damage for 12 secs. During this time, they only deal 50% damage. If you feel the need, Mass Dispel will clear this, allowing you to Silence attempted heals/attack bandaging/get back to dpsing. Note that Silence will also stop Paladins from using Judgements, Exorcism or Flash Heal, but not their melee attacks. To survive, use PW:S as often as possible, dispel Judgements from yourself if you can spare the GCD, use your CC as often as possible, and get out of melee range.
Holy paladins, like holy priests, heal. They are also capable of some good burst, when specced as a Shockadin. One method of fighting a holy pally is with Mana Burn. Use this often, and try to keep the Paladin at almost zero mana (very difficult). Don't forget to dispel Divine Plea WHENEVER it appears, to negate a holy paladin's longevity. If you can put enough pressure on a holy pally so that they have to spend their time healing, by all means DoT them up and burn them down, throwing in the odd mana burn for good measure. However, Cleanse is a cheap spell (only 6% base mana) and the pally will outlast you if you can't keep enough pressure. Don't forget that you have Silence, which is deadly against any healer. Also, a holy paladin's only CC will be a 1 minute cd HoJ, since they likely won't have it talented, which means you should try to stay close to them for fearing purposes. As with most healer fights, you won't be taking a lot of damage, but you'll need to avoid being CCed and cause an inordinate amout of pressure in order to bring them down.
Shadow priests have an advantage over Holy/Discipline priests with Silence and more dps. Mana Burn will be used on you, and you should do likewise. If you expect a lot of priest vs priest fights, Improved Mana Burn (talent) will be useful. The main advantage other than damage capability or mana burning goes to the priest who can best counter fear effects, with WotF, trinkets, Unbreakable Will, and Fear Ward. Even Shadow Protection helps against fear, as well as mana burn, and any other Shadow effects. When fighting against another priest, getting the first long duration fear off essentially wins the fight.
As a guide for Shadow priests, this section is pretty short. You know what CC capabilities your class has. Trinket fear, apply pressure, stay calm. Don't try to dispel Pain Suppression.
From the Rogue: Priest PvP guide page:
If you catch a priest without his shields up, the fight is already yours. Stunlock him and kill him.
For most Rogue fights, just try to stay alive at the beginning by using your shield. This will not always be possible with the amount of cooldowns rogues currently have to work with. Always have Inner Fire on, as well as Fortitude (this is true all the time, not just against rogues). Use Psychic Scream as soon as possible.
Rogues will likely open with Cheap Shot (4 sec stun), and possibly Garrote (3 sec silence + bleed). Stoneform out of garrote as a dwarf. After this, you'll likely see a Kidney Shot. If you're going to use your trinket, do it here, rather than after cheap shot, since you'll have to eat the kidney shot anyway. Check for pre-emptive WotF, then fear. This will give you a couple of seconds to do some damage and shield up again. Chances are, once you apply your dots/fear, the rogue will break the fear (trinket or WotF), Cloak of Shadows (removes all debuffs, i.e. DoTs) and Vanish/Blind. Do NOT bother attacking the rogue while cloak of shadows is active (looks kind of like shadowform) as it reduces spell hit chance by 90%. Once the rogue vanishes, bandage + shield up, because the fight starts all over again. If you break a stunlock, use Fade clear poisons and run away casting instants.
It's important you shield up whenever possible, to avoid huge Ambushes or Mutilate sequences while you're stunned. Keep your DoTs up if you get a chance, and use Dispersion to avoid some of the damage while stunned. Hopefully by this time your fear is off cd again. This time, if the rogue isn't undead, they'll have to eat a full duration fear, having used the trinket the first time. Keep all DoTs on the Rogue, along with VE, and they will be unable to Vanish until the 1 min timer is up for CloS.
Other abilities to note are Kick (interrupts spellcasting, and locks the school you were casting for 5 sec, very deadly), Gouge (instant incapacitate, can only be used if you're facing the rogue), and Sap, which can only be used OOC. DO NOT trinket sap, gouge, or blind (maybe blind, but only if it's going to give you a huge 1-up), since the rogue has other, more potent, CC waiting for you, like kidney shot.
Shaman come in three flavors: Elemental (caster), Enhancement (melee), and Resto (healer). Each shaman has access to a number of totems, with which you should be somewhat familiar (list of totems). The most important three for a PvP Shadow priest are the Grounding, Tremor, and Earthbind totems. Grounding totem redirects the next harmful spell to itself, so it can absorb your silence or fear or mind blast, even a shadowfiend attack (hint, hint). This is the most important totem to watch for, and is on a 15 sec cd. Tremor totem pulses every 3 seconds and removes any charm/fear/sleep effects on the shaman's party within 30 yards. You must destroy it before fearing, if you want it to last more than a couple of seconds. Since most totems only have 5 health, a wand/staff hit/SWD, or any damaging spell is enough to destroy it. Earthbind isn't really dangerous, but can hinder you when approaching for a fear. Also, shamans have Purge, and offensive dispel which is quite cheap, and Cure Toxins, which will remove your devouring plague. The key is to keep up enough pressure to distract the shaman from using these spells. Shaman have a form of CC called Hex, which has a 1.5 sec cast on a 45 second cd. This should be interrupted with silence (unless you're saving it for a heal) or trinketed. It doesn't break immediately on damage. Also, when a shaman shifts to Ghost Wolf form, you can dispel it.
Elemental shaman will mostly be casting Lightning or Chain Lightning, Lava Burst, and various Shocks, with a little healing and totem damage thrown in. The first three spells have long cast times, so you can silence easily. Shaman shocks include Earth Shock (damage and INTERRUPT), Frost Shock (damages and slows movement by 50%), and Flame Shock (damage and DoT; amplifies lava burst). Each of these are on a 5-6 second cd depending on talents. If you get earth shocked while casting, it locks out the school you were using for 2 secs, or about 1.5 GCDs. Use this time to cast mana burn/shield/dispel, then use the remaining 2-3 seconds to cast a shadow spell with a cast time. When trying to fear an elemental, remember that Thunderstorm has a slightly larger range than psychic scream, so use caution.
Enhancement shaman are trouble for a Shadow priest. They have a large burst potential, with Flurry, Windfury, and a high critical chance. They will purge and earth shock liberally, so instants are better, unless you can put some distance between you and them (use fade to escape frost shock; dispersion to temper Flurry, which looks like a little tornado). They also have the ability to summon to summon to Spirit Wolves for 45 sec every 3 min, which can increase their movement speed, and heal based on the wolves' attacks. This is a good time to fear, hopefully, both the shaman and his pets. Although shaman have an offensive purge, they cannot dispel themselves, so DoT them up as much as possible. Keeping shields and VE up is extremely important against enhancement, as is a well timed mana burn.
Restoration shaman have 4 spells you need to worry about besides totems: Chain Heal, Earth Shield, Lesser Healing Wave and Riptide. They also have Healing Wave, but it's a long cast, so they won't likely use it very much in PvP. For chain heal and less healing wave, you should use silence as CC as often as advantageous. Earth shield can be dispelled for about the same amount of mana as it costs, which is probably less than advantageous for your smaller mana pool. Instead, wait for when the shaman applies riptide, then dispel them both at the same time.
It is near impossible to beat a warlock who has a Felhunter out (interrupts spells and devours magic effects). Just be thankful that you're Shadow, not Holy. Warlocks come in three flavors as well: Affliction (DoTs and drains), Demonology (mixed bag, strong pet), and Destruction (like a fire mage). Warlocks have several different types of CC themselves, plus whatever their minion can do (see below). First, Fear; this is a spammable 1.5 second cast spell that lasts 10 seconds max, the effect of which is similar to psychic scream. This spell calls for a silence/breaking LoS/running through the warlock. They also have Howl of Terror on a 40 second cd. Affliction will likely have this instant cast, but otherwise it's a 1.5 second cast. Note that the effect isn't fear, but horror, but is still on diminishing returns with fear. Third, they have Death Coil, which is on a separate DR. Fortunately, this is on a 2 minute cooldown. Destruction warlocks will also have Shadowfury, which is like an expensive War Stomp on a 20 sec cd that does some damage. When you add a warlock's natural magic resistance, and extra shadow resistance, this is a very difficult fight for a priest.
For affliction warlocks, you have the choice of dispelling boatloads of debuffs/dots off yourself and minimizing damage, or being extremely offensive and going all out. Both tactics work about the same. They will probably dot you up with Corruption, Unstable Affliction, Haunt, Curse of Agony, and maybe even Seed of Corruption, although this is very rare as it locks out Corruption, which is both a major damage dealer and a self heal mechanism due to Siphon Life. Be aware of Unstable Affliction when using Dispel on yourself or others. The damage you take after dispelling scales with the Warlock's spellpower and it's base damage is twice the DoT's base damage. It is also capable of a critical strike and it silences you for 5 seconds. Even with all other DoTs on you as well, it is still often not worth the risk of accidentally dispelling Unstable Affliction. However, you probably should dispel Seed of Corruption if you're playing on a team. They'll likely also Drain Life, and fear in the meantime. Just use your trinket to get out of the most dangerous CC, shield up, fear whenever possible, and try to maximize your damage/minimize theirs. Use the break you get from silencing them wisely.
Destruction is a lot more DD type spells. They'll still use the same CC, but you'll see spells like Immolate, Chaos Bolt, Incinerate, Searing Pain, Shadowflame and Shadowbolt. Destruction has a talent called Nether Protection, which occasionally (3/10 spells) reduces damage by 30% from that spell school. This is a good time to shield/mana burn (mana burn quite effective against warlocks if you can cast it safely). Fortunately, most destruction spells have cast times, so use silence to negate a dangerous cast and give yourself some breathing room. In this fight, go all out dps, without bothering to self-dispel. If you are fast though, dispelling the Immolate/Shadowflame effect is quite valuable as it makes the warlock incapable of casting Conflagrate, an instant DD with high crit chance due to Fire and Brimstone when the Immolate has 5 or less seconds remaining, the haste effect of Backdraft for his next 3 spells, and also wastes time for a lock who tries to Conflagrate an enemy who is not Immolated, and having to use another 1.5 sec cast to put another Immolate up, it being a relatively weak DD, and yet another chance for the priest to dispel it in a timely fashion.
Warlocks deep in demonology
have access to Metamorphosis, which just means you should stay right on them or 25+ yards from them, as they gain Demon Charge, a 3 second stun. Dispersion serves well during metamorphosis.
- Felhunter: It is near impossible to beat a warlock who has a Felhunter out (interrupts spells and devours magic effects). Try to use Psychic Scream on them both early and have your Insignia of the Alliance/Horde ready, along with WotF for Undead. 5 points in Unbreakable Will will help you through the Fear and Spell Lock. Make sure you Power Word: Shield AFTER the felhunter devours your buffs so it will last long enough for you to absorb some damage. It's often a good idea to give yourself all possible buffs before combat (except if you want to time a fear ward to avoid Fear) so that the Felhunter Devours some of the more useless ones (if you're lucky). It is likely useless to try and kill an enemy felhunter by yourself, since they have huge innate magic resistance, as well as inheriting some of their master's resistance. If you have a melee friend, let them go to town. Also, devouring plague is a disease and can't be devoured off the warlock by the felhunter.
- Felguard: The Felguard will do extremely heavy damage if ignored so try to fear it asap. Having shield and Inner Fire up is essential. Treat him like an oversized hunter's pet.
- Succubus: The common succubus spell is Seduce, which is a charm-type spell. If you don't break it, you'll probably eat a Soul Fire, but you'll need your trinket a lot here. Always check if you accidentally have a DoT on you when you are being seduced, as it might be a waste of trinket. Also, charm and fear are on the same diminsh return counter, so it is probably used as an opener, or to interrupt a spell when the warlock is unable to do it himself.
- Imp: Not usually out, but the best choice is usually to kill the imp immediately, since it has very low health, and can do significant damage/interruption, not to mention giving the warlock a stamina buff, improvable by talents, as well as extra crit chance when the imp crits with the Empowered Imp talent, and with the Tier 3 Demonology talent Demonic Power this just turns an imp into a minigun. An Imp is almost useless once its mana is used up, but the tier 6 Demonology talent Mana Feed makes it recover mana when the warlock does through Life Tap or Drain Mana. You still won't see it much in arena due to his small mana pool, but expect to see some in battlegrounds.
Warriors are one of the classes that Shadow priests can consistently do decently against. The number one thing to remember against a warrior is to keep your PW:S up as much as possible. Its effect is not reduced by Mortal Strike,
and it starves a warrior of rage (not anymore). As with all melee types, Psychic Horror is your best friend.
Beware trying to cast spells with cast times, as a warrior has access to Pummel (4 sec interrupt on a 10 sec cd), and especially if the warrior has a shield equipped (Shield Bash; 6 sec interrupt on a 10 sec cd, and Spell Reflection; reflects the next spell within 5 sec). Warriors with shields should generally be avoided, since they are usually specced protection, making them deadly for you (see Concussion Blow, Devastate, Shield Slam, Shockwave, and Gag Order). They can essentially keep you stunned and silenced around 50% of the time. As well, be aware of Intercept, which can only be used in berserker stance. This works like Shadowstep, except that it stuns for 3 sec. Finally, Intimidating Shout is the warrior equivalent of Fear. Trinketing here is a good option.
You'll likely get pulled into combat with a warrior by Charge, which can now normally be used in combat (talents in Arms/Protection). If they don't have the talents, try to throw up an instant (VE, SW:P) to put them in combat first. It's best to use your fear as soon as possible, to get the cd running. Don't forget that warriors now have Berserker Rage available to them in all stances, which makes them immune to/breaks fear for 10 sec on a 30 sec cd. You should check for this ability, which looks like this [1] or [2]. You will be Hamstrung, which can be removed with Fade, and Rend can be removed with Stoneform. Mortal Strike doesn't affect you too much, except for reduce the amount of VE healing by 50%. Last, warriors have Shield Wall on a 5 min cd, which reduces the amount of damage taken by 60% for 12 seconds.\
Get out of Bladestorm.
The key stats in order are:
- Stamina (can never have enough)
- Resilience (goal in season 5: about 900 resilience rating)
- Intellect. Forget spirit or regen for pvp.
In organized PvP, priests are often the first target, and we need the stats to survive the initial burst. Especially in arena, it is important to time CC well for a Shadow priest to survive.
As a finishing note, I strongly advise all shadow priests to watch a few rank 13/14 shadow priests (or post 2.0.1 equivalents) in action to see how they adapt to different situations and the tactics they use. A lot can be learned from watching people more skilled than yourself.
- Shadowpriest.com: A forum dedicated to Shadowpriests
- Noxxic Level 90 Shadow Priest PvP guide with stat priorities, builds, glyphs, DPS rankings, and more (Mists of Pandaria).


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Max Scherzer and Felix Hernandez are both fine pitchers who strike hitters out in gobs. But they had never before been part of something like last night's Tigers-Mariners game. Nor had any other Tiger or Mariner.
Detroit and Seattle played a four-hour, 27-minute, 14-inning affair—depending on one's disposition, it was a "pitchers' duel," or an "awe-inspiring display of offensive futility"—that featured 40 total strikeouts. Yes, really. Detroit's pitchers struck out 19 Mariners; Seattle struck out 21 Tigers. Each starter pitched eight innings and struck out 12. Prince Fielder (seen above after one strikeout) went 0 for six with five strikeouts; Franklin Gutierrez went two for six with four strikeouts. Every Mariners hitter—save Robert Andino, who had but two plate appearances—struck out at least once.
(The game, for the record, could have gone longer, if not for the zeal of Mariners third-base coach Jeff Datz, who—judging from this highlight—endeavored to kill a. Brayan Pena, b. Justin Smoak, and c. this 14-inning baseball game.)
This was only the third game in major league history with at least 40 total strikeouts, but it was shorter than either of the two that preceded it. The Giants and Padres played a game in 2001—Russ Ortiz vs. Adam Eaton—in which each team struck out 20, but that one lasted into the 15th. (And that was key, because four of the 40 strikeouts came in the 15th inning.) Funny thing about that game? Barry Bonds came to the plate seven times and didn't strike out once. Hell, he had only two two-strike counts.
The other 40-strikeout game had 43 of 'em. The Angels and A's played for 20 innings in 1971, and Oakland's pitchers struck out 26 Angels. Vida Blue, who started, struck out 17 in 11 innings; Rollie Fingers, who relieved Blue, struck out seven in seven. The Angels' No. 3 and No. 4 hitters, Tony Conigliaro and Billy Cowan, combined to go zero for 16 with 11 strikeouts. Conigliaro, who was thrown out for arguing a strikeout in the 19th inning, retired the next day.
The Angels-A's box score, though, makes the baseball fan long for simpler times. The 20-inning game took only 38 minutes more than last night's 14-inning showdown. Best of all, the teams used just seven pitchers combined. Three Angels pitched, and four A's did. The Tigers alone used eight pitchers Wednesday night, while the Mariners used six. The teams play again in just over four hours, with Justin Verlander facing Hisashi Iwakuma. We would expect strikeouts.

subset: commoncrawl


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There is a new interesting Web Comic coming out about alien invasion. I work for the marketing company that picked up the campaign for webcomic done by Dark Horse in conjunction with TNT and so far I like what I'm reading.
Written by longtime Dark Horse cohort, Mark Verheiden (Aliens Vs. Predator, the awesome Bruce Campbell film My Name Is Bruce), the series will storyboard the harrowing events of the alien invasion, which places Tom Mason, and his three sons, Hal, Ben and Matt in a struggle to survive as they fight back against the aliens. After the attack, the aliens kidnap Ben. Determined to find his missing son, Tom joins 2nd Mass, a group of soldiers and civilians struggling against an occupying alien force. However, supplies are running low, and Tom must locate an old friend to equip his team, and ensure the human race will survive!
To check the comic for yourself go to:
Falling Skies
and for more info on the background of the story go to:
2nd Mass
Only 4 pages on the site, come back when there's the required 20.


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Illinois Budget 7.27.09
Here are the top Illinois stories coming today from GateHouse News Service. Stories are available at www.gatehousenewsservice.com. Please check www.gatehousenewsservice.com/regional_news/midwest/illinois/news in the evening for changes to story lineup, including breaking news.
If your paper has a story, digest item, opinion piece or standalone photo to share, please e-mail it to firstname.lastname@example.com.
Casey Laughman: (217) 816-3343, email@example.com
Video: What's happening this week with the News & Interactive Division.
David Arkin: Readers like sharing their nature photographs.
Operator of tollway oases faces foreclosure
BELVIDERE – The company that manages the Illinois Tollway oases is being foreclosed upon, but that won't affect operations. In fact, the foreclosure proceedings will help the tollway recoup $1.3 million in back rent. By Thomas V. Bone of the Rockford Register Star.
State Briefs. News from around the state.
Peoria Police Department's Armadillo gets rave reviews
PEORIA – Whether it's in his role as a landlord, as a property manager or as a West Bluff resident, Dale Hanssen's feelings about the Peoria Police Department's Armadillo vehicle are the same: amused and grateful. The department's nuisance property surveillance vehicle, known as the Armadillo because of its hardened, reinforced exterior, has been deployed to trouble residences since July 2008. Hanssen has watched the Armadillo calm down a hot spot at one of his rental properties and also at an Orchard District property near his home. By Ryan Ori of the Peoria Journal Star.
Creve Coeur Village Board member gives up pay to help fund new flags
CREVE COEUR – When Jerry Daughters looks at the flags flying over the veterans memorial at the top of Creve Coeur hill, he sees more red than any other color. That's because the three flags at the memorial - where Illinois Route 29 winds into the north side of this Tazewell County town - aren't adequately sized or properly built to withstand the elements, in his opinion. Daughters, who was elected to the Village Board in April but has previously served on that body, has pledged to not take any more of his monthly stipend from the village and instead redirect that money into a village flag fund. By Matt Buedel of the Peoria Journal Star.
New DNR assistant director mending fences
SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Natural Resources has been working to rebuild its relationships with its constituents since director Marc Miller took over late last winter. Now the agency is rebuilding its connections with the federal government by hiring John Rogner, an employee of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to be its new assistant director. By Chris Young of the State Journal-Register.
Mobile-home park residents at mercy of bank
ROCKFORD – Bob Crosty has spent nearly two decades living at Gem Suburban Home Park, long enough to raise children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. But the future of his neighborhood is suddenly in doubt with the foreclosure proceedings filed against Gem's owners, Capital First Realty of Chicago. For the time being, not much has changed at Gem Suburban: Crosty and his neighbors still have their homes and pay their rent. But the law doesn't give them much of a leg to stand on if new owners decide to end the community's 45-year run. By Sean F. Driscoll of the Rockford Register Star. To localize: Are local mobile home parks facing similar situations?
'Cash for clunkers' has shaky start
SPRINGFIELD – It might seem appropriate that a federal "cash for clunkers" program started with a crash. A dealer-registration Web site shut down just minutes after the launch Friday because of overwhelming demand from across the country in anticipation of a program that offers consumers up to a $4,500 credit to trade-in gas-guzzling vehicles. By Tim Landis of the State Journal-Register.
Gas guzzlers getting owners thousands in trade
PEORIA – This 1991 Pontiac Trans Sport had seen better days. It had a cracked windshield, not all of the doors could be opened and an orange rope was holding down the hood. "It has recently been in a wreck," said Korin Petersen, 20, of Canton. "Clearly, it's not road worthy." But Petersen cashed in Friday at Mike Miller's Auto Park and received a $3,500 rebate for the gas guzzler thanks to the government's "cash for clunkers" program. By Stephanie Gomes of the Peoria Journal Star.
Water choices are not so clear
SPRINGFIELD – Water was once so simple. You opened the tap at your sink, filled your cup and your thirst was quenched. If you worried about the quality of your tap water, perhaps you invested in a filter. Visit any grocery store today and you'll likely be overwhelmed by water options. Bottled water companies are promoting vitamin-enhanced water - but is it really better for you than what you can get from your faucet? By Shannon O'Brien of the State Journal-Register.
A different way to do health
ROCKFORD – One Sunday a month, a line leads into a partitioned basement area of Liberty Baptist Church where congregation members can focus on their physical health as much as their spiritual health. Men and women roll up their sleeves to have their blood pressure measured by church and medical volunteers. The activities are part of the Changing Hearts initiative of the Rockford Health Council, which celebrated its one-year anniversary this summer. Changing Hearts targets two issues: cardiovascular health and health disparities among minorities. By Melissa Westphal of the Rockford Register Star.
Teenagers learn new skills in art mentor apprenticeship
PEORIA – When you walk into the darkroom, it takes awhile for your eyes to adjust before you make out several shadowy figures bending over four different basins, scrutinizing the papers floating in them. Then, using tongs, they move the papers from one basin of chemical solution to another, finally washing them in clear water before taking them to show their mentor, Ann Conver. Conver discusses various points of the pictures that have emerged and questions their methods, and then the students dash off to make the adjustments she has suggested. These teenagers, who have grown up with color film and color splashed all over onetime black-and-white newspapers, recently learned a new philosophy from their mentor that may remain with them for life. By Catharine Schaidle of the Peoria Journal Star.
How to form a Bible study group
SPRINGFIELD – While the purpose of Bible study groups appears obvious — to encourage participation in a moderated study of God's Word — local study groups demonstrate that collective study also involves fellowship and loving care. A combination of patience, time for socializing, and a shared interest in spiritual texts can go a long way toward making a group work. By Tamara Browning of the State Journal-Register.
BRITT: Topic TBD.
Jeff Vrabel: Entranced by incredible dogs
I am currently planted on the couch in a state of pretty impressive dehydration slurping down Gatorade like a crazy person and not moving, so it goes without saying that I'm watching dogs on ESPN. But I am not watching just any dogs. I am watching magic dogs from space doing tricks.
Michelle Teheux: The way babies are meant to be born
I last gave birth 17 years ago this month and am not planning to repeat the experience in this lifetime. But after reading a recent news story about the trend of some mothers scheduling cesareans the same way they might make dinner reservations, I can only shake my head and think back to my own two births.
Terry Bibo: Medicare adds a twist in health care debate
If ever an issue could employ the reporter's full who-what-when-where-why toolkit, health care reform is it. There are a million questions. First among them: What really needs to be changed?
Chuck Sweeny: Dillard touts his work for Edgar in governor bid
The most admired governor in recent Illinois history surely is Jim Edgar. The moderate Republican held office from 1991 through 1998. We then had two horrible governors; no need to go into that again. Now we have Gov. Pat Quinn, a Democrat who spent 30 years as a political activist tilting at windmills. Quinn's honest and a decent fellow, but he's now in charge of the windmill factory and hasn't quite figured out how to operate it. So, the candidate in 2010 who can convince people he knows how to run the governor's office should have a decent shot at winning, right?
Editorial: Waiting for the day when it's not all about race
A president of the United States need not weigh in on every issue nor respond to every question. Yet there was Barack Obama last week, being questioned during a news conference about the July 16 arrest in Cambridge, Mass., of Harvard professor and friend Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and responding that the police had "acted stupidly," then following up with this: "What I think we know separate and apart from this incident is there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by police disproportionately. That's just a fact." An editorial from the Peoria Journal Star.
Editorial: Time to eliminate lieutenant gov, merge financial offices
Illinois has been without a lieutenant governor for six months. Who noticed? Who cared? Not us. With all due respect to state Rep. Dave Winters, R-Shirland, who wants the job, we don't think it should exist. An editorial from the Rockford Register Star.
WITH THE ILLINI: In an attempt to build discipline within the roster, Illinois coach Ron Zook cut the team into units known as character teams. Zook wants character instead of characters. By John Supinie.
BIG TEN MEDIA DAY: Ohio State was named as the favorite by the league poll conducted by the Big Ten at media day. Yet the league continues to fight a crumbling reputation. By John Supinie.


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Delivering Scalable & Highly Available Authentication & Accounting Services
This whitepaper discusses the concepts of current data storage solutions for Authentication, Authorization and Accounting (AAA) environments and their potential limitations as network use grows and services become more dynamic.
The paper then presents an alternative deployment scenario based on the FreeRADIUS Server and MySQL Cluster serving as the back-end AAA database, providing an infrastructure for high growth and availability, with low complexity. A sizing study and user case study are presented to demonstrate how the solution performs in real-world AAA environments
Check out the second whitepaper in this series entitled "Deploying FreeRADIUS with the MySQL Cluster Database" to learn how to implement this solution in your own environment


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This analysis of 21 studies from 14 countries found that a common blood test to estimate kidney function and a urine test measuring protein (albumin) to estimate kidney damage were strongly related to mortality risk. The results are published in the May 17, 2010 issue of The Lancet.
"People with high levels of albumin in their urine were at markedly higher risk of mortality than people with low levels of albumin in the urine," said Kunihiro Matsushita, MD, PhD, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral fellow with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Department of Epidemiology. "The risk of mortality was elevated by nearly 50 percent at 30 mg/g albumin to creatinine ratio, which is the threshold for defining chronic kidney disease. In addition, mortality risk increased more than four-fold at high levels of albuminuria compared to an optimal level of 5 mg/g. The data presented in this analysis confirm that the current thresholds are indicative of increased all-cause and cardiovascular mortality risk with both kidney filtration function and urine protein contributing to risk."
The new findings are part of a comprehensive effort by the Chronic Kidney Disease Prognosis Consortium to use data to refine the definition and staging of chronic kidney disease. Staging is a method used to categorize the severity of an illness to help establish the best course of treatment. Current guidelines from the National Kidney Foundation's Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (KDOQI) define chronic kidney disease based on the presence for greater than three months of either: estimated kidney filtration function below 60 ml or kidney damage most commonly detected by protein in the urine.
"This study conclusively confirms earlier suggestions for including both of these kidney measures in risk evaluation and provides a quantitative basis for chronic kidney disease definition and staging," said co-author, Josef Coresh, MD, PhD, MHS, professor with the Bloomberg School's Department of Epidemiology and director of the George W. Comstock Center for Public Health Research and Prevention. "With more than 1.2 million study participants from 14 countries, the paper has significant implications globally. The overwhelmingly positive response by the community of researchers studying kidney disease for the call to assemble the best possible data to define kidney disease prognosis and improve its definition and staging was impressive."
Chronic kidney disease is increasingly recognized as a major global public health problem. The disease affects 10–16% of the adult population in Asia, Australia, Europe, and the US, and it increases the risk of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease, and progression to kidney failure, even after accounting for traditional risk factors such as hypertension and diabetes. There are more than 500,000 patients with kidney failure in the United States.
About the Chronic Kidney Disease Prognosis Consortium
The Consortium is led by Josef Coresh at Johns Hopkins University in the US, Paul de Jong and Ron Gansevoort at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands, and Andrew Levey at Tufts University in the US. It was initiated for a KDIGO's October 2009 Controversies Conference where leading investigators from 45 studies contributed data to examine kidney disease outcomes across the globe. This report focuses on mortality outcomes from 14 countries including 21 leading population based studies. Other meta-analyses will focus on high risk and kidney disease cohort and end-points beyond mortality. The lead author was Kunihiro Matsushita from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Chronic Kidney Disease Prognosis Consortium Participating Investigators/Collaborators:
AKDN Marcello Tonelli, Brenda Hemmelgarn; ARIC Josef Coresh, Brad C Astor, Kunihiro Matsushita, Yaping Wang; AusDiab Robert C Atkins, Kevan R Polkinghorne, Steven J Chadban; Beaver Dam Anoop Shankar, Ronald Klein, Barbara E K Klein; Beijing HaiYan Wang, Fang Wang, Luxia Zhang, Lisheng Liu; CHS Michael Shlipak, Mark J Sarnak, Ronit Katz, Linda P Fried; COBRA Tazeen Jafar, Muhammad Islam, Juanita Hatcher, Neil Poulter, Nish Chaturvedi; ESTHER Dietrich Rothenbacher, Hermann Brenner, Elke Raum, Wolfgang Koenig; Framingham Caroline S Fox, Shih-Jen Hwang, James B Meigs; Gubbio Massimo Cirillo; HUNT Stein Hallan, Stian Lydersen, Jostein Holmen; MESA Michael Shlipak, Mark J Sarnak, Ronit Katz, Linda P Fried; MRC Older People Paul Roderick, Dorothea Nitsch, Astrid Fletcher, Christopher Bulpitt; NHANES III Brad Astor, Josef Coresh; Ohasama Takayoshi Ohkubo, Hirohito Metoki, Masaaki Nakayama, Masahiro Kikuya, Yutaka Imai; PREVEND Ron T Gansevoort, Paul E de Jong, Marije van der Velde; Rancho Bernardo Simerjot Kaur Jassal, Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, Jaclyn Bergstrom; REGARDS David G Warnock, Paul Muntner, Suzanne Judd, William M McClellan, Mary Cushman, George Howard, Leslie A McClure; Severance Sun Ha Jee, Heejin Kimm, Ji Eun Yun; Taiwan Chi-Pang Wen, Sung-Feng Wen, Chwen-Keng Tsao, Min-Kuang Tsai; ULSAM Johan Ärnlöv.
The study was funded by KDIGO and the US National Kidney Foundation.
Public Affairs media contact for JHSPH: Natalie Wood-Wright at 410-614-6029 or [email protected].


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Feeling used by the merchandising nightmare that is Valentine's Day? Fight back by surprising anyone and everyone in your circle of friends with some custom font love and a little valentine savvy. With PCWorld's free font downloads, a little novelty sourcing, and a few nights of affectionate attention before the big day, you can set the table for a love banquet.
Don't forget the sweethearts at home, but do print out some love for the folks who stand by you in the daily churn of work and play. Here are twelve tips and twelve fonts to point the way.
To simplify your access to this batch of fonts, we've created a downloads collection that contains links to all 12 of them.
Tip 1: A valentine does not have to be a card.
My editor has access to a great copy desk at work, but I keep Mr. Brian, ace trivia buff, on speed dial for moments when my font reviews need solid attributions. The man has a massive library and he always comes through, especially with important facts about starlets of the '50s--that illustrious lineage from Debra Paget to Sandra Dee. To capture the spirit of the age, I'll be using Doris Day, Mario Arturo's demure brush script, to make a valentine that my friend is sure to file under fun. Miss Day's best lines from her starring role in The Pajama Game, tastefully printed on pastel bookmarks, are bound to make his day extra-perky.
Tip 2: A valentine can open doors.
It's not the velvet rope I fear, it's the young woman clutching menus to her chest and pursing her lips as she mans the podium of my favorite restaurant. Yes, my maître d' is a maître diva--but not for long, because I'm handing her a valentine seating chart made using Champignon, a classic script font by by Claude Pelletier. Voilà! Pelletier's digital update of Spencerian script dips and swirls with fanciful abandon, and the designer has thoughtfully provided a set of swashes, the better to embellish my date's desire to be escorted to the coveted corner booth. Then again, twenty bucks folded into the shape of a swan isn't a bad idea either.
Tip 3: A totally unexpected valentine is not out of the question.
Another year and my 2002 Mazda is still running smooth, thanks to the crew at Don's Auto Service. To this talented troop of grease monkeys goes a six-pack of frozen banana pops and a little bundle of valentines emblazoned with IronManic, a homage font to Marvel's master tinkerer, created by Gene Buban. For once I'm happy that a font is in all caps, because shouting is the preferred form of communication over the din of repair work. To wit, I'll adjust the point size to massive when I heat-transfer DON'S LOVE GARAGE on a half-dozen red cotton wipe rags. Hey, that should get those engines started!
Tip 4: A valentine can practice tough love.
Let's imagine that a roof repair was scheduled to be complete last November. At least that's what the contract promised--the contract you had such faith in. But here it is February, and you're still gazing at the stars as you pile on the blankets. To make a tardy vendor's heart beat a little faster, print up a valentine calendar using Ariapenciroman, Christoph Windmueller's sketchy mashup of Arial and Times New Roman. The penciled-in quality of Windmueller's characters makes it a good match for a work-in-progress; and since this font doesn't have numerals, you can spell everything out--starting with the day the repair was due and spreading the love all the way to now. Carpe diem, people, by penciling in a contract review date with your lawyer present on February Fourteen.
Tip 5: A valentine can provide a gentle push.
To the aspiring musicians on our block goes a valentine dialed all the way to 11 with Bandung Hardcore, the traditional slab serif font by Indonesian designer Gilang Purnama. I'll point out the font's roots in West Java's underground music scene as the neighbors and I present the band with a stylin' stack of branded bumper stickers to hand out at their Valentine's Day gig. The dudes will be mega-impressed. I wish they'd go by my nickname for them--"The Bryant Street Death Rays"--because the words look especially awesome set in Bandung at its most hardcore. Hey, maybe bumper stickers will encourage the lads to tour. Listen for our neighbors yelling "Bon voyage!" as the boys in the van roll away.
Tip 6: A valentine can wear its heart on a sleeve.
Mrs. Nina hasn't met my partner, but she knows his tie collection. She has exorcised gum crud from Egyptian cotton and ketchup splats from Irish linen. The pristine condition of the rehabbed haberdashery owes more to her than our Visa card allows, but a timely verse shows our appreciation. Such a valentine is a job for Sorts Mill Goudy, Barry Schwartz's revival of the classic American text font Goudy Old Style. Hence my gift: a lab coat with a heat-transferred haiku dedicated to the queen of stain removal:
Gone like morning dew
at noon: egg yolk from my tie.
Mrs. Nina cleans!


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It's not the most rugged, waterproof, or compact of its kind. And its photos aren't the best. But for some reason I really like this camera. Maybe I'm wrong.
The Price:
The Toughness:
It's rated to about 10 feet and for drops of 5 feet, which places it at the lower end of the spectrum of waterproofing. Well, it's not the lower end, but given the shock and dust proofing and the lens reinforcement system, I'd expect the makers of the Toughbook to best cameras like the fluffy Fuji z33 and the slimmer Pentax w80 waterproofs for depth. Again, I wouldn't call this a weakness, but if the DMC-TS1 had one, this would be it. Update: Wow, there's an external dive case for this camera which extends the depth rating to 130 feet. It's rated down to 32 degrees, which isn't quite as low as the Pentax W80, Canon Powershot D10 and Olympus Tough 8000's 14 degrees F op temps.
The Visuals:
The photos were among the best in low light, high ISO and daylight. There was a simple beach/surf macro mode which worked well enough. Colors were accurate, and I only noticed a slight distortion around the edges while zoomed out. (Many periscoping internal zoom cameras have this issue.) The lens went pretty wide at a 28mm equivalent and the zoom was almost top of the class at 128mm (only the Pentax did better). Images, overall, were second best to the Canon with its traditional lens system, but this camera doesn't have that problem of a protruding snout which makes it a lot more pocketable. The camera has optical stabilization, which is pretty kick ass. The uncovered lens caused some photos to look smudged, which is perhaps the rule, not the exception in these cameras. Shots are at 12.1MP, but you can get variations of that in 16:9 mode. (My favorite!) As usual, waterphotos are generally limited in quality by water clarity and color, so, well, above the sea shots work fine.
The TS1's video recording happens at a high res of 720p, stabilized and recordable in motion jpg or AVCHD lite, giving you more recording time and quality. It looks better than good.
The Design:
I'm into the spartan, square design. And the camera's responsive shooting, burst modes, and menus made it the easiest to use without being overly simple like the Canon D10.
Yeah, I don't know yet:
The Lumix is a fantastic all-around camera that is somewhat tough and waterproof. I'd originally gone into this review thinking it would be king, but given the shallow depth rating, I may have to wait 'til I see the new Olympus in action before I give a stronger rating. Especially at $400. At that price, the smaller, Pentax w80, rated to 16 feet with decent shots and shitty video looks like a lot better of a deal. And the super cheap and small Fuji z33 does, too. I don't know. I'm not giving up on this camera yet. Strong video playback is an important thing these days. I guess its my camera of choice and should be yours too (for now) if you don't go beyond 10 feet down and image quality and relative pocketability is a priority. Until I check out that Olympus Stylus Tough-8000 which has some really solid stats all-around and cost a bit less.
Great images
Great case design and menus
Great video at 720p
Despite the all-around toughness of the device, only waterproof to a middling (not poor) 10 feet
Summermodo is a chance for Giz to get outside and test our gear where it belongs.


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Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877
Harper & Row, 1988 - 690 páginas
This "masterful treatment of one of the most complex periods of American history" (New Republic) made history when it was originally published in 1988. It redefined how Reconstruction was viewed by historians and people everywhere in its chronicling of how Americans -- black and white -- responded to the unprecedented changes unleashed by the war and the end of slavery. This "smart book of enormous strengths" (Boston Globe) has since gone on to become the classic work on the wrenching post-Civil War period -- an era whose legacy reverberates still today in the United States.
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Home Page Chess Life Online 2010 June The June Check is in the Mail
|The June Check is in the Mail
|By Alex Dunne
|June 2, 2010
Tansel Turgut
About 240 years ago an automated wonder created by Wolfgang von Kempelen toured Europe defeating all challengers at chess. This automaton, known as "the Turk" was a fake, but Turgut Tansel is the real thing.
Turgut Tansel, originally from Turkey, specializes in Interventional Cardiology and practices in Decatur, Illinois. Turgut is an ICCF Grandmaster and is currently Turkey's only CC GM, though he has lived in the United States now for eighteen years.
Tansel's ideas about computer chess in cc play are quite different from most. As in international play computer assistance is legal, running into strong computers is quite common. Tansel's idea of how to play against these computers is that the best way to beat these programs is to make sacrifices. In the current World Championship Final he made exchange sacrifices getting one Pawn or less in return in no less than six games.
Tansel's view of the future of top-level CC play is that in order to win, dynamic double-edged positions with positional sacrifices will be the route to victory. He notes that it is becoming very difficult to win games against strong computers. In order to win such a game, you have to beat the computer plus a strong human who knows when to quit following the computer, which is very difficult.
Tansel sent in a game which he notes is very difficult for computers to understand. White sacrifices an exchange for no Pawns in a symmetrical position and continues as if nothing happens (h3, Kh2, etc. - "little moves"). The computers are not able to understand this game. Even Rybka could not save it, he notes.
White: Tansel Turgut (2610)
Black: Hagen Tiemann (2480)
24th World Championship
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 Be7 7.e3 0-0 8.Bd3 dxc4 9.Bxc4 b5 10.Bd3 Bb7 11.0-0 Nbd7 12.Rc1 Rc8 13.Qe2 b4 14.Na4 Qa5
All this has been seen fairly often. The root game is Moehring-Schindler, Zittau 1955, which continued with the most common reply for White of 15. b3 with Black doing fairly well against it.
This is a new idea. Tiemann gained a draw against the 13th World Champion Mikhail Umansky after 18. Nc5 Bxc5 16. dxc5 Nxc5 17. Bxf6 Nxd3 18. Qxd3 gxf6 19. Qd4 c5 20. Qxf6 Bxf3 21. Qxf3 Qxa2 with rough equality after 22. Qf6
15...Bxf6 16.Nc5 Nxc5
There are even chances after 17. dxc5 Rfd8 18. Rfd1 Qxa2.
17.Rxc5 Qb6
The Queen has problems after 17...Qxb2 18. Bc4 b3 19. Nd2 Qxb2 20. Rb1 Qa3 21. Nxb3
18.Rfc1 Be7
It takes about 2600+ rating points to make a move like this. As Turgut noted, White gets little for the exchange -- but he keeps what he's got, mainly he does not have to retreat with R5c2 or c4. After 19. R5c4 Rfd8, Black stands slightly better.
19...Bxc5 20.Rxc5 Rcd8 21.Bc4
White may be behind in material off the board, but on the board all his pieces are working better than their Black counterparts -- and the Knight on e5 is a match for the Rook on f8.
21...Rd6 22.f4 Qd8 23.Qf2 Qc8 24.Qg3 Qd8 25.h3
One of the "little moves" Turgut refers to, but with the Black Queen wandering aimlessly about the move is not without a sharp edge, preparing the possibility of a kingside Pawn assault and a safe haven for the White King on h2.
Shredder 10 evaluates this as slightly better for Black, but recommends 25...a5. As that happens next, it apparently makes little difference.
26.b3 a5 27.Kh2 Ba8
Shredder now finds the position equal, even playing the recommended 27...Ba8.
28.Ng4 Kh7
And now Shredder likes 29. f5!? exf5 30. Rxf5 which it evaluates as equal, but Tansel has his own idea.
29.Bd3+ f5 30.Ne5 Rf6 31.Bc4 Bb7 32.Qh4
And finally Shredder begins to change its evaluation of the position to favor White. What is Black to do ? After 32...Kg8 33. Qh5 Kf8 34. g4! Black will be squeezed to death on the kingside.
32...Rf8 33.Qxd8 Rdxd8 34.Bxe6 Rd6 35.Bc4 Ra8 36.g4 1-0
The ending is lost as the White Pawn mass from d4 to g4 will soon overwhelm Black's passive pieces. A mysterious game ? a new anti-computer strategy? a positional masterpiece ? The reader will have to decide.
Walter Muir
Anthony Moosey 09W33 6-0
Richard Melnick 09W26 5-1
David Burns 09W26 5-1
John Ballow 09W03 5-1
Wilbur Tseng 09W03 5-1
Foster Tobin 09W34 5-1
John Ragone 09W34 5-1
S. Chattopadhyay 10W03 3½-½
Dennis Kohler 10W04 4 ½-1½
Brandon Rowland 10W04 4 ½-1½
Christopher Lethgo 09W10 5 ½-½
Inoel Cardenas 10W08 4-2
David Burns 10W08 4-2
Swift Quad
Wilbur Tseng 08SQ06 5-1
Jeffrey Jones 09SQ10 4-2
John Terrall 09SQ10 4-2
Trophy Quad
David Stockman 08Q17 5 ½-½
Since the post office may halt Saturday deliveries, it may be necessary to change the time rules for postal chess. I would like to hear from postal players (email is obviously not affected) as to what changes if any should be made if the post office no longer delivers mail on Saturdays. Let me know !
A) Change the reflection time from 10 moves in 30 days to 8 moves in 30 days.
B) Change the reflection time to 10 moves in 40 days
C) Do not count Saturdays, Sundays, and federal holidays as reflection times.
D) No change needed
LEARN CHESS BY MAIL ! Lessons given by mail, telephone, ICC - many different ways. I specialize in players rated 800-2100 who would like to improve their game. Contact me for information. Alex Dunne, 324 West Lockhart St., Sayre, PA 18840 or [email protected]
John Ballow and Wilbur Tseng turned in undefeated performances in 09W03.
The following game is a sharp struggle - the draw at the end happens after 37. Qb8+ Kh7 38. Nxd5 Ng4+ 39. Kh1 Qe1+ 40. Bg1 Nf2+ 41. Kh2 Ng4+ 42. Kh1 =
Charles G. Hall, Jr. of South Yarmouth, MA died at age 58. Charles was tormented by severe depression for years causing him to forfeit many games. He kept fighting. Chess gave him an escape, but ultimately the gloom was too deep.
Quote: My advice, which has always worked for me, is: never get involved in unfriendly or even rude arguments with your opponents! If any discussion is getting unpleasant, then cut back the discussion, or drop it completely. Usually it does not even get that far, as one can tell early on which way the wind is blowing. == Kon Grivainis
19th U.S. CORRESPONDENCE CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP
Entries due by July 1, 2010
Eligibility: ICCF Fixed or Provisional rating over 2000, and all CCLA and USCF members with correspondence ratings over 2000 or OTB over 2100.
Preliminary round sections: 7 players, balanced by rating, played by server, 40 days/10 moves, winners advance. Final round includes designated champions from USCF and CCLA and former USCCC Champions.
More information at www.iccfus.com
An order form is available at that website or:
[email protected], or:
16052 Quality Ct. S.
Lakeland MN 55043
Entry fee is $25. August 1, 2010 is the projected start date.
08P03 Palciauskas Tournament
Jeffrey Baffo won this critical game with the chance for a remarkable mate at the end - look at 37...b3 38. Qa6+ Kc5 39. Ra5+ Kb4 40. Rb5+ Rxb5 41. Qa3 mate
Our two warriors are doing well and in contention for the title but there are many more moves to be made. Bokar and Turgut had this thriller between them in the tournament.
If this isn't book, it should be.
See a pdf index of Alex Dunne's columns on the Correspondence Chess section of the website. Also log in as a member to read Alex Dunne's article in the May issue of Chess Life Magazine, Duliba Dubbed CCGM.


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Goodwill Outlet Store in Indianapolis
Keely and I made a fast trip to Indianapolis last week to pick up a car we bought for Isaac on eBay. (If you keep up with the ongoing drama here, you know that our son Isaac wrecked his car in June.) The "new" vehicle is a 2001 Toyota Corolla. It seems to be a pretty good little car, and we hope it will serve him well.
We drove up after work and spent the night in Indianapolis. The next morning, we had a few hours to kill before we could pick up the car, so we decided to visit a Goodwill Outlet Store that we had spotted in the area.
The outlet store occupies one end of a huge warehouse. Goodwill trailers were parked in a line along the wall. When we got out of the car, we saw a sign that made our bargain-loving hearts go thumpity-thump: "Deals by the Pound!"
Inside, we learned the prices:
$.69/lb. for clothing, housewares, books, toys, DVDs, and CDs
$.49/lb. for glass
$.99/lb. for paired shoes
(I suppose if you wanted unpaired shoes, they would be $.69/lb!)
The store was a very large room with a very high ceiling. Several dozen shoppers were digging through a jumble of merchandise that was piled in long rows of bins. The bins -- or maybe they should be called tables -- were made of blue plastic, and they were about 4 feet wide, 8 feet long, and 18 inches deep.
Several rows of tables contained heaps of housewares and toys. Tables in another area had piles of mostly clothing. Against the back wall, I found several tables of books and magazines. Furniture was arranged in long rows in one corner of the room. I don't think I saw any piece of furniture that was priced over $25, and many items were $10 or less.
As we shopped, Goodwill employees were bringing out new furniture, rolling out new bins, and removing old bins to the back to be refilled. When I saw the process, I understood another sign on the wall: "Please do not shop from rolling bins!" A fellow shopper told us that they change the bins every 2 hours, and for best pickings, you need to be there at changing time.
I didn't have enough patience to dig through the clothing, but Keely found several pairs of work pants for Taurus and some cute toddler outfits for her friend's little girl. I investigated the book bins and was horrified at the way they were tossed in and scrambled around. I rescued a couple of old geography books, a cookbook, a Richard Scarry book of nursery rhymes, a biography of Will Rogers for Dennis, and several others.
We chatted with the lady behind us as we waited to weigh our merchandise at the cash register. She was about 40 years old, and she had a stack of neatly folded clothing in her cart. She said that she lives an hour away, but she likes to come to the outlet every week on her day off. She looks for clothing for her entire family, and she always checks them carefully for stains and other damage before she buys them. She described herself as "addicted."
At the checkout, we pushed our cart onto the scales. We didn't have to sort out any glass or shoes to be weighted separately. Our pile of $.69/lb merchandise, plus the tax, came to about $30. Our heaviest items were the books and a little wooden stepladder. We also had a couple of big wicker baskets, a metal tray, the cloth items that Keely found, some video games -- and more.
The Goodwill Outlet is not for sissies. It's hard-core junk shopping! It would be a good idea to wear gloves or bring hand sanitizer. But I'm sure amazing treasures are found there every day. As we left, a man saw me fiddling with my camera and said, "You found that in here, didn't you?!" I'm not sure he believed me when I said, "No."
On the web:
Goodwill Outlet Stores in Indianapolis. (We visited the one on Shadeland Ave.)
Goodwill Outlet Store in Nashville (One of these days!)
Ms Cheap Visits the Goodwill Outlet (Visit the Nashville store via You-Tube.)


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Continuing with the subject of the Divine attribute of Al-Razzaq, Hazoor elucidated the theme, as always presenting it in light of the Holy Quran, ahadith and the writings of the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace).
Hazoor explained that the Quran and ahadith state in unison that when a disbeliever does a good deed he/she is rewarded in this world, whereas for a believer, in addition to the reward in this world, all the good deeds are amassed for the Hereafter and that the best provision is that which is dispensed with prudence and one who is compliant in times of hardship finds the ultimate prosperity and that one should not habitually implore others but if something is given to one without having to ask then that is a provision from God and should be accepted. Further expounding the Word of the Quran and the sayings of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings be on him) Hazoor exhorted that if one comes across another who has physical and financial advantage, one should be mindful of those in lesser fortunate situations in order to steer clear of ingratitude, adding Hazoor said late mornings deprive one of provision, he said at the hour when he goes for his early morning walks there are already people out at work, like the refuse collectors, without whose work our surroundings could get appalling. Hazoor said we should reflect on these arrangements that are in place to make our life so easy and comfortable.
Reading from the extracts of the Promised Messiah's (on whom be peace) writings Hazoor said if one puts one's trust in Allah in the manner that is due then Allah will surely provide for one just as He does with the birds, who leave their nests on an empty stomach and return fully satisfied. With reference to the notion that one cannot get by in this world without the practice of usury he said that one who avoids all evil with the fear of Allah and in order to please Allah is the definitive righteous person and Allah the Exalted frees him from everything. Hazoor said people do not draw help from these Divine promises.
Next Hazoor recounted a few incidences from the life of the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) whereby he was provided provision in the most extraordinary of situations, with prior revelations and in stunning accordance of the need.
Hazoor concluded with prayers that may Allah the Exalted provide accordingly for all the Ahmadis beyond their expectations and that may Allah remove the poverty of Ahmadi and non-Ahmadis disadvantaged people and that may the Jama'at implement Jehad against global poverty.
The Jumu'ah (Friday) prayer is one form of congregational worship in Islam. It takes place every Friday. Regular attendance at the Jumu'ah prayer is enjoined on the believer. According to a Saying of Muhammad(sa) this congregational prayer is twenty-five times more blessed than worship performed alone. (Bukhari)
"O ye who believe! When the call is made for Prayer on Friday, hasten to the remembrance of Allah, and leave off all business. That is best for you, if you only knew." more
"… (He who) offers the Prayers and listens quitely when the Imam stands up for sermon, will have his sins forgiven between that Friday and the next" (Bukhari)


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I have a couple questions about going to a home game.
Flying in from NY. I am staying at the Sorrento. ( so I can also get some ghost hunting in!)
Is there a shuttle? safe walk?
Are there any places I need to stay away from?
Also, Game day. What is allowed for cameras? I do not want my stuff taken away.
Is it better to sit lower or a little higher.
I am not rich, But I want the best experience I can get. It probably wont happen again for
a long while.
Thanks. Flying in from Buffalo. Waited a long long time to do this!
Thank you!


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, Jul 14, 2008 / 08:31 pm MT (CNA).-
Salesian Sister MaryAnn Schaefer, admissions director at Mary Help of Christian Academy in North Haledon, NJ, couldn't dream of a better place to celebrate her 25th jubilee as a religious sister than at World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia.
WYD in Sydney will be an especially unique experience for Sister Schaefer. She will be cruising on Sydney Harbor in one of the 13 boats escorting Pope Benedict XVI's "boat-a-cade" during the Pope's arrival July 17. By chance, she was picked for this opportunity as a member of XT3.com, WYD's networking site.
"I received the e-mail on July 1 and I couldn't believe it. I had to have one of the sisters reread it to make sure it was real," said Sister Schaefer.
This will be her seventh WYD experience in which she has led young people - already attending WYD in Denver, Manila, Paris, Rome, Toronto and Cologne. And even though she is a WYD pro, Sister Schaefer still gets excited about these international encounters of seeing the Pope and most especially, bringing the young people closer to Christ.
"The young people just completely change seeing the Holy Father, if you saw the look on their faces," said Sister Schaefer. "They get a sense that the Church they belong to is something more than just their parish and they see the global Salesian community from all over the world and see how many young people are like them and are taught by Salesian religious (through the international Salesian community rally at WYD)."
This time around in Sydney, she will be leading 31 young people - many of them students, alumni and parents of Mary Help of Christians here and friends of the Salesians in Louisiana, Florida and the neighboring Newark Archdiocese and Metuchen Diocese. They will leave tomorrow for Sydney and will meet up with a group led by Salesian Father Steven Ryan, provincial councilor for Youth Ministry / Vocations of the Salesians of Don Bosco, which is based in South Orange.
To prepare for the pilgrimage during the past year, Sister Schaefer and the pilgrims hosted sharing sessions at St. Joseph Chapel on the campus of Mary Help of Christians Academy. At the sessions, the catechetical themes of WYD reflected on the Holy Spirit.
A special WYD cross was made for the Salesian contingent, which has traveled to every single participant's home for a week as a symbol of the journey for the community. According to Sister Schaefer, the cross will be coming with them to Sydney as the make their pilgrimage to the final Mass with Pope Benedict XVI.
In Sydney, the Mary Help contingent will be arriving right before WYD festivities begin which allows them to make a stop in Engadine, a city 45 minutes by train from Sydney, where they will serve in a nursing home run by Salesian Sisters.
Once WYD activities start, the group will evangelize the love of Christ as an "animating team" for catechesis sessions at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Sefton, a suburb right outside of Sydney, in which thousands of English-speaking Catholics worldwide will gather together to share in faith.
"We will be leading a music group for the catechetical sessions and Mass," said Sister Schaefer, who said she is in complete awe of the opportunity.
During the three days of catechetical sessions, they will meet a host of international bishops - Bishop Joseph Aind of the Diocese of Dibrugarh, India; Bishop Denis Browne of the Diocese of Hamilton, New Zealand; and Bishop William Morris of the Diocese of Toowoomba, Australia, who will give a talk each day.
When the pilgrims return home, those who are students at Mary Help will be doing presentations each month on the 10 patron saints of WYD as a way to keep the memory alive and to pass on the WYD message to their peers.
Sister Schaefer said the experience of WYD has been a memorable part of her life as a religious these past 25 years. "Being part of WYD since Denver in 1993 has strengthened my personal relationship with Jesus, as well as my relationships with the young who I have been serving for the last 25 years. It has confirmed my choice of charisms, that of St. John Bosco and St. Mary Mazzarello, as a Salesian Sister."
In three years time for the next WYD, wherever that destination may be, she hopes to once again be leading young people on this journey of a lifetime.
Printed with permission from the Beacon and the Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey.
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Oily treatment? Bring your own towel to Shell
When Susan Steedman pulled into the Preston Avenue Shell on the morning of February 24, she wasn't in a mood to suffer frustration lightly. First, it was freezing cold. Second, she'd taken her son to an early-morning doctor's appointment and needed to get him to school. Third, it was Monday.
Things started to go downhill when, needing to check her oil, she began looking for a towel dispenser that actually had towels in it.
Steedman claims she tried five, and they were all out; finally, she wiped the dipstick with a piece of paper from her glove compartment. When she was done at the tank, she went inside and made a beeline for the hot-chocolate machine– which was empty.
She went to the checkout counter and announced that there was no hot chocolate.
"Yeah," she says the woman answered, "I know. The machine's empty."
"I was a little put out," Steedman told me, "but I don't think I was bitchy."
She gave the clerk her Shell card, which wouldn't scan; apparently, her card does that a lot. The clerk tried wrapping it in a plastic bag, which can sometimes help a malfunctioning card to scan, but this time it didn't. At that point, Steedman says, the woman "rolled her eyes."
That was when things started plunging downward fast. Steedman objected to the clerk's eye-rolling. The clerk, according to Steedman, replied, "I didn't eye-roll at you; I eye-rolled at your card." Allegedly, she went on to accuse Steedman of "marching up here, slamming your stuff on the counter– you had attitude."
Steedman denied having attitude. She then asked the employee for her name and says the woman replied, "Why don't you just take a guess?" ("Believe me," Steedman said, "I can think of plenty.")
In the end, the account numbers were entered manually, and Steedman left– but also left her credit card, which she says the employee forgot to return.
Steedman claims she called the station's owner-operator, who said, "Ma'am, I don't believe that's your credit card," because the card is in her husband's name. She explained that it was simply the second card on the account, which is signified by the final digit's being a two. The owner said she could pick it up, which, in the company of a friend, she did.
"I will never go to the Preston Avenue Shell again," Steedman told me. "I don't think I've had an interaction like that, ever."
I dropped by the station on a recent morning and began by checking out the towel dispensers. All four (not five) were empty.
"We have a problem with towels," said the owner, who refused to give his name. Apparently people routinely took several towels when they only needed one, and soon towels were all over the lot. "I was going over to Bodo's to pick up my towels," he said. Now, "I intentionally don't do it. Most people bring their own."
When I tried to ask about the other aspects of Steedman's story, he cut off the interview and forbade me to print anything he'd said. As for Steedman, "Tell the woman to go elsewhere."
I lingered for a bit, trying to talk to both him and the clerk (the same woman who had dealt with Steedman), but the owner was adamant that they'd done nothing wrong.
I asked about the credit card, and he declared, "It's illegal for her to use that card." The clerk, Asha, claimed that Steedman had behaved obnoxiously– and as for the credit card, "She threw it on the floor and left it there."
I spoke with Kathy in Shell Consumer Relations, who assured me that the authorized cardholder (in this case, Steedman's husband) can order secondary cards for anyone he wants, and added, "Most credit cards do it that way." It strikes me as odd that the owner of a gas station wouldn't know this.
As for the rest of Steedman's story, how each of the principals behaved will have to remain a mystery. So here's my Consumer Tip of the Week: If you're planning to check you oil, BYOR– Bring Your Own Rag.
Do you have a consumer problem or question? Email the Fearless Consumer, write her at 100 Second St. NW, 22902, or call 295-8700 ext. 406.