text:
Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova eased into the third round of the Qatar Open on Tuesday, dominating their opponents with straight-set victories.
Williams, who will regain the No. 1 ranking if she reached the semifinals, showed no signs of the back or ankle injuries that troubled her at the Australian Open during her 6-2, 6-1 win over Russian qualifier Daria Gavrilova.
"I have it heavily taped. As long as the tape doesn't get loose, it feels really good," the 15-time Grand Slam winner said. "Physically feeling better is so good, and hopefully I can stay on that level."
The third-ranked Sharapova, who won the tournament in her two previous appearances, downed French qualifier Caroline Garcia 6-3, 6-2.
American Sloane Stephens, who defeated Williams at the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, beat Anna Tatishvili 6-2, 6-2. Stephens pulled out of Fed Cup against Italy last week after aggravating an abdominal muscle injury and suffering from a stomach virus.
"I hadn't really been serving since my ab was a little sore," Stephens said. I didn't serve that great today. "Actually last weekend I got like, I don't know, like a stomach virus or something. ... I'm just happy that I can play now."
Williams broke Gavrilova to go up 4-2 in the first set and took a 5-0 lead in the second. Williams then saved five break points before serving out the match when the 160th-ranked Gavrilova hit a forehand long.
Williams acknowledged she has to do better on her first serve, which is considered among the best in the women's game. She hit the mark just over half the time.
"I wasn't making my first serve today," she said. "It's always something I can work on and try to do better in my next round."
Sharapova broke the 172nd-ranked Garcia twice go up 3-0 in the first set. Garcia won the next two games but Sharapova broke for a third time. The second set went with serve through the first five games until Sharapova broke to go up 4-2, and she clinched the win when the Frenchwoman hit a forehand long.
"I was quite happy with the way I played, because my opponent has already played a few matches here so she's been able to get in that match atmosphere," Sharapova said. "So I wanted to start really strong. I had a tough match against her in my previous encounter where I played three sets. I really wanted to start better this time as opposed to last time."
Sharapova was joined in the third round by 11th-ranked Marion Bartoli, who downed former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone 7-6 (5), 6-3. The loss leaves Schiavone, who has fallen to 54th in the rankings, winless in four matches this year.
Sixth-ranked Angelique Kerber became the first top player to be eliminated from the tournament, routed by fellow German Mona Barthel 6-1, 6-2 in just more than an hour.
Schiavone had the upper hand early, taking a 4-1 lead. But Bartoli turned things around, saving five break points to make it 4-2 breaking back in the next game when Schiavone doubled faulted. She won the tiebreaker with a return winner.
After trading breaks early in the second set, Bartoli took advantage of Schiavone's errors to go up 4-2. She closed out the match when she chased down a volley and fired a backhand winner down the line.
"The first set was extremely tough," Bartoli said. "It was a hard battle. I knew from coming from indoor clay court I wouldn't play my best tennis for the first 30 minutes. ... But I felt I really fought really hard on the court. I didn't show any frustration."
The only other seeded player to lose Tuesday was No. 12 Maria Kirilenko of Russia, who retired with a right shoulder injury against fellow Russian Ekaterina Bychkova after trailing 3-0.
Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium also withdrew from the tournament with a lower back injury, as did Varvara Lepchenko of the United States with an upper respiratory illness.
Lepchenko won two matches for the U.S. team in its 3-2 loss to Italy in the Fed Cup on Sunday.


text:
We've received your request
You will be notified by email when the transcript and captions are available. The process may take up to 5 business days. Please contact firstname.lastname@example.com if you have any questions about this request.
Cornell wrestling coach Rob Koll, now in his 17th season, has led the Big Red program to eight straight Ivy titles and unprecedented heights on the national stage. Koll sat down with Sidelines host Blaine Friedlander on Feb. 23 to discuss the upcoming Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association and NCAA tournaments.
Sidelines is a weekly show featuring interviews with Cornell University coaches and athletes. New episodes premiere on Tuesdays at 7:00 p.m.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Browsing Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy (MPP/LPF) by Author "Carnera, Alexander"
Now showing items 1-3 of 3
Agambens politiske filosofi som anledningCarnera, Alexander (København, 2003)[More information][Less information]
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6304
Files in this item: 1wp5-2003ac.pdf (466.4Kb)
Carnera, Alexander; Janning, Finn (København, 2004)[More information][Less information]
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6329
Files in this item: 1wp7-2004.pdf (230.6Kb)
Studier i den biopolitiske ambivalensCarnera, Alexander (Frederiksberg, 2010)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This rather substantial summary will encapsulate what is the meaning of Performance Society. This work consists of three thesis elements touching on politics, economy and art that confront the question of biopolitics. The work describes a power over life (biopower) and will follow a twofold logic: the first is expressed through state administration and management technologies; the second is expressed as localized in life itself as subject [zoe] in new modes of production of work through the power of imagination, self‐creation, and affectproduction within Art and Culture. The summary is organized around three different themes. Each of these themes constitutes my contribution to the field of biopolitics..... URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8019
Files in this item: 1Alexander_Carnera.pdf (7.796Mb)
Now showing items 1-3 of 3


text:
ATAK necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 135 diseños de 35 diseñadores freelance.
I need a new logo for my company CreativeOfficeSpace.com
Style must be simple but recognizable, as it will be displayed on signboards, internet and print media. It must be simple enough to be recognizable at a distance (ie from the street). No more than three (3) or four (4) color combination are preferred (for example - a combination of white backdrop, different color shades/symbols, and different color text maybe). Your suggestions are sought (especially for color combinations). Please, we want the slogan subtle but also noticeable.
Creative Office Space
My currentweb site is http://www.creativeofficespace.com/main.htm . This website is being junked and is being completelyredesigned. I need a cool logo that willgood on my cool new, trendy, and stylish website. We are styling this websitewith a magazine look and feel. I want it to look cool and modern and just up todate. I want the logo and design to include a little of these 3 components: Creativeoffice space, Style, and technology. I'll leave the creativity up to you as tohow you want to design it. I agree that the font and colors should be in linewith the site.
- customdesign, no clip art unless you plan to totally tweak it to make it awesome
- We'relooking for a stylish, clean web 2.0 logo with a good looking icon/illustrationto go with.
- Example ofthe type of spaces that will be on my site http://www.officesnapshots.com/
- Business related
- Edgy
- coolfonts. I am 28, not 64
- needs toappeal to people who want to work in creative environments and who are trendy.
- needs toappeal to business owners
- clean butwith clever detail...needs to be complete idea
- I want itto appeal to young and old
- I want itto look professional for my clients and corporate material
- Think aboutusing buildings and open spaces- please review the office snapshots link to getan idea of what creative office space is.
- I don't want clip art
- I don't want it to look tacky or cheesy
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


text:
Reviewed By Ed P (Coatesville, PA) Reviewed for a 2002 Dodge Dakota —3/13/2010 8:21 AM
This product is excellent, was easy to install and went together nice. Even in 30 deg weather, it stretced to fit as long as I was in the sun. The only issue at all was that FEDEX delivered to the wrong place, however, after a phone call to the FEDEX folks, they retrieved it the next day and got it to me. I get alot of compliments on the appearance of my 02 Dakota Sport. I'm very pleased.


text:
July 20, 2005. The 5th Annual Wabash/DePauw Alumni Golf Outing, sponsored by the St. Joseph Valley Association of Wabash Men, drew a good crowd again this year. For the first since its inception, the outing changed locations – this time using the Juday Creek Golf course in Granger, Indiana.
As you can see in the accompanying photo album, a huge thunderstorm joined the outing on the back nine. However, the golf resumed after only a short delay.
The team of Fred Haase '71, David Haase, John Reidy '06, and Al Clark won the outing. Other honors were awarded to the team of David Horvath '90, Peter Horvath '92, George Horvath (proud father), and Tim Durham. This team garnered the "most opportunity for improvement" trophy.
Many thanks go to Peter Horvath '92, the St. Joseph Valley Association president, and especially to Roger Senkbeil '68 and his lovely wife Carol for putting the outing together. Finally, thanks as well to Dick Barger '55 who helped with registration.
For the photo album, click here.


text:
Rainout doesn't screw up D-backs' pitching plans
PHOENIX -- The D-backs may have only played 2 2/3 innings on Friday, but the rain didn't alter the plans manager Kirk Gibson has for his pitching staff this spring.
He'll throw ace Ian Kennedy, closer J.J. Putz and knuckleballer Josh Booty in a "B" game Sunday morning against San Francisco, which will essentially give Gibson those extra innings to get his pitchers their appropriate work.
As for Randall Delgado, a candidate for the No. 5 spot in the rotation, Gibson said he was impressed with the 1 2/3 innings the right-hander threw on Friday, but he wished he could have used Delgado a little longer. Gibson is hopeful Delgado can stay on schedule and throw four innings in his next start, though Delgado would likely need to be more efficient in his pitch count to get there.
"We'll try to keep him going," Gibson said. "He's had two in a row where he hasn't been stretched out. We try to keep these guys stretched out. That's where the 'B' games start coming into play."
Delgado didn't seem too concerned with missing out on 1 1/3 innings of work on Friday. He noted that the extended spring due to the World Baseball Classic lessens the setback.
"Even with the weather, I felt good," Delgado said. "It was a little bit wet, but I feel good with my arm and what I got in."


text:
True Religion Legging Jeans
Find similar items here:
For our full range of Outlet visit VanMildert
Product code: 578128
Standard delivery
Find out more
Using the standard service, your order should be with you within 3 - 7 working days (excludes Sundays and public holidays).
Next day delivery
Find out more
Place your order before 6pm (18:00) Monday to Friday and receive your order the very next day (excludes Monday, Sundays and Public holidays).
International delivery
Find out more
International delivery is available for this product. The cost and delivery time depend on the country.


text:
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
wow, that was good. i just watched Sweet Smell of Success and it was really good. these two characters were so despicable it was hard to watch. and yet, felt totally realistic. some of the subject matter, i'm shocked that they even got away with in the 50's. it seemed way ahead of its time, very dark and cynical. has anyone else seen this?
Since you liked Sweet Smell of Success try out All About Eve...and if you've seen it already, what did you think?
i got mine. except i'm on the 5 out at a time.
i need somebody to answer within the next 10 minutes or i have to choose myself.do i watch the virgin suicides, blue, the sweet hereafter, or it's all about love?
thanks. good choice neon. i can't believe i didn't like this movie the first time i saw it. it was rill good! dunst i always like, i'm a bit partial. it didn't really seem like anybody had a part in this movie. it just seemed to go. so dunst was in it for very little, even thought she was in it a lot. i don't know, i guess sophia successfully captured that feeling of remembering an old memory (which she also did in lost in translation. which i think i liked better).
Quote from: themodernage02'from the producer of...' makes me want to PUKE my guts out. who fucking cares about a producer? a producer means shit.your stock price just went way down. i HAD some respect for you, and now, well, you're just a FUCKING IDIOT. you have much to learn bucko. learn what a producer does before you open your mouth -- next time chap,next time.
'from the producer of...' makes me want to PUKE my guts out. who fucking cares about a producer? a producer means shit.
very ironically i just finished [Bad And The Beautiful] and learned a lot more about what a producer actually does. (so on a personal level i have more respect for what they do, but that would NEVER EVER change my mind about whether or not i would go see a movie.) this film was pretty good. reminded me of Citizen Kane but about Hollywood instead. kirk douglas was good and gave a few whacked out speeches. the main reason i was interested in this is that i had seen a few clips on the Martin Scorsese Journy Through American Movies and it looked really interesting. a little melodramatic, but interesting story of a producer and his attempts at putting a film together with the people he's screwed over. i imagine the Cat Men thing, was directly inspired from the film Cat People which was a big hit for how suspenseful it was while creatively finding ways around ever showing you anything. i havent seen that yet, but will in the next few months.
[Last Tango in Paris]this was my first Bertolucci film and it was pretty terrible. just.....awful.


text:
People around the region are trying to sort out what caused a man to kill a Franklin teacher Tuesday and then drive to a Royal Oak neighborhood where he eventually killed himself.
Harry Berkowitz, 72, died of multiple gunshot wounds and the man accused of killing Berkowitz -- Thomas Ian Matthews, 33 -- died of a single gunshot wound to the head, according to the Oakland County Medical Examiner's Office. Berkowitz' death was ruled a homicide and Matthews' was ruled a suicide.
Friend of suspect speaks out
"I've just killed Harry. ... I'm on my way to Danielle's to kill myself."
A series of three text messages sent Tuesday started the day for a White Lake Township native who said he's known Matthews for more than 10 years.
The last text: "You're a great guy, I'll miss you."
The 36-year-old -- who wishes to remain anonymous -- said he called Franklin police shortly after, which is most-likely what started the investigation that culminated that afternoon with Matthews' apparent suicide in a Royal Oak home.
While community members try to figure out why Matthews fired the fatal shots Tuesday, the White Lake man who called in the death said he's got some ideas of his own.
Schizophrenia ran in Matthews' family, said his friend. He had also told his friend that he took several medications, including Adderall and Risperdal -- an anti-psychotic that is used to treat schizophrenia.
Both Matthews and Berkowitz lived in the home on Charles Lane where Berkowitz was found, said the source Wednesday. Matthews -- who would go by the name Ian to his friends -- moved in nearly seven years ago.
It was a symbiotic relationship, said the source, not a romantic one.
However, according to the White Lake man, there was an undertone of animosity between the two.
"He and Harry were always bickering," said the 36-year-old. "Harry had his own psychological issues, and Ian was on several medications. ... It seemed appropriate to me that they would live together. They seemed to need each other."
Danielle Veggian is listed as the homeowner of 2207 Sprague Ave. -- the home that multiple Royal Oak, Franklin and Oakland County Sheriff's Office officials surrounded Tuesday before Matthews fatally shot himself in the head.
She's his ex-girlfriend, said the source. They were together for a few years before separating this past fall, he added.
"It was because of my call that police started heading towards Royal Oak," said the friend. "They assumed that Ian was going to his mother's house first."
The White Lake native said Berkowitz was a friend of the Matthews family.
Both Matthews and his friend have ties to the Information Technology industry.
The two met at the friend's parents' home in 1998, when the then-White Lake resident was still attending Oakland University as an undergraduate. He had started an IT business and set up a meeting with potential business partners to buy computer equipment. Ian was there.
The two became friends and had kept in touch -- albeit sporadically, said the source -- until Tuesday.
Before that, the last time Matthews had contacted the friend was in early April, when he was doing contract work for a United Parcel Service location on 15 Mile and Telegraph roads.
"He had some questions because I had a print shop for a few years," said the 36-year-old. "We met, then kept in touch through texts. ... Before that, though, the last time I heard from him was last September."
Matthews was one of those "peripheral" friends, said the man.
And he did and said things that the source questioned highly. Ten years ago -- after the two had become closer -- Matthews brought up the issue of psychotic breaks in a conversation with the White Lake native.
"He said 'Do you ever get the feeling, let's say at 3 p.m., you feel the compulsion to touch 12 doorknobs ... and if you don't, the floors will open up and swallow you whole? .... You know it's not real, but you feel compelled to do it anyway,'" the source remembered Matthews saying.
But the 36-year-old said he could not emphasize enough how intelligent Matthews was.
"He would become fixated on one topic, and would research it for a week to become an expert," said the source.
For example, he said, Matthews turned Berkowitz's garage into a high-tech facility -- complete with hydraulic lifters, built-in air tools, vacuum systems and intricate shelving -- to be able to work on high-end cars three years ago.
"He told me he put $50,000 into it," said the friend.
Berkowitz was discovered at his home by a contractor who had access inside, according to Franklin Police Chief Daniel Roberts.
Roberts said the initial call they received regarding Berkowitz was for the police department to assist the fire department on a medical emergency with "someone who had fallen and was bleeding badly and having trouble breathing."
"However when the first arriving police officer and the fire department and the EMS personnel got there it was clear that it was more than that; that it was a crime scene" he said.
Berkowitz was pronounced dead at the scene.
Roberts said the contractors had been doing a variety of things to the home including electrical work and minor remodeling.
Franklin coping with crime
Michael Seltzer's children, now in their 20s, were taught by Berkowitz at Meadow Lake Elementary School.
Seltzer, a Franklin village council member, has lived in the village since 1995 and said this is the first murder he recalled in his time there.
"I'm saddened by (Berkowitz's) tragic passing," said Seltzer, who notified his children of the crime Tuesday.
"We never have that kind of crime in Franklin," Seltzer said.
Police Chief Roberts said an armored car guard was killed in the 1990s during a robbery at 13 Mile and Telegraph Road.
Seltzer stressed that Franklin is known for its low crime rate.
"We have a great police department," he said, adding that what shows up mainly on police reports are breaking and entering cases.
The Berkowitz murder was a "domestic issue," he said.
"That can happen anywhere."
Carl Hakim, owner of the Franklin-based grocer Market Basket, said Tuesday that Berkowitz frequently shopped at the store.
He dangled a keychain attached to a pocket-sized container of hand lotion Tuesday afternoon inside the store which he said Matthews had given to him a few years ago.
Matthews was a germaphobe, Hakim said, adding that he typically wore leather gloves into the store while shopping.
Hakim said it appeared as if Matthews, whom he hadn't seen in the store for over two years, had a hold on Berkowitz and that "(Berkowitz) had an obligation to take care of him."
Berkowitz told Hakim previously that Matthews never paid rent while living at his home in the 26000 block of Charles Lane.
"You could tell (Berkowitz) was bothered," Hakim said, referring to the relationship with Matthews. "But, he'd never talk badly about him."
Police Chief Roberts confirmed that Matthews lived with Berkowitz for at least the last five years.
A light blue Audi with the license plate MASTR was parked Tuesday morning in the home's driveway and is registered to Berkowitz, according to the Michigan Secretary of State.
Another vehicle, a black Audi with the license plate 2WYCKD, was parked in the driveway as well and is registered to Michael Scott Miller at 3181 Roselawn St. in Commerce Township where no phone number was listed. Miller could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Roberts said the vehicle found parked in the driveway at a home in Royal Oak Tuesday morning where Matthews was later found was registered in Berkowitz' name with the license plate TYUDOWN and was impounded Tuesday night.
Matthews worked in the computer technology field, Roberts said, but was unemployed at the time of his death.
A company called Datadyne was listed at the Berkowitz home but only had a Facebook page listing.
At the West Maple Elementary School in Bloomfield Hills where Berkowitz had worked as a reading instructor for years, counselors were available to assist people grieving his passing, said Marcia Wilkinson, Birmingham Public Schools spokeswoman.
"It's a difficult day," she said Wednesday, "but the building has strong leadership." She said Berkowitz was a "strong effective teacher" who had worked full-time at the school. He worked for the district since 1966 teaching various grades at several schools.
Elizabeth Matthews, a former attorney at Farmington Hills-based Robert Gittleman Law Firm PLC is Matthews' mom, according to Robert Gittleman.
Multiple messages at phone number listed in Bloomfield for Elizabeth Matthews were left unreturned Tuesday.
Gittleman, who represented Berkowitz in a 2010 dental malpractice lawsuit, said Berkowitz was not married and had no children.
No phone is listed for the Royal Oak home where Matthews shot himself Tuesday on Sprague Avenue.
Long-time neighbors watched as officers walked down the sidewalk with guns drawn.
"I couldn't believe it," said Ann Gonscak, 84, a resident on the street for 63 years.
Further obsessions
Another obsession Matthews' longtime friend remembers Matthews talking about was becoming a federally licensed firearms dealer, or an FFL.
"He said he wanted to be a gun dealer ... mentioned to me that he was getting his 'class three federal something' license," said the man. "For him it was always just a matter of pretty much jumping through the hoops and then onto the next challenge."
Detroit division Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives spokesman Donald Dawkins confirmed that Matthews was a licensed dealer for three years. He obtained his license in 2009.
"An inspection (of Matthews) was scheduled for August 2012," said Dawkins Wednesday. "His FFL license expired in July, before we were able to conduct the inspection. He did not turn his records in, so we were unable to track the volume, if any, of business that he may have done during that time."


text:
I have been knitting, but I won't be showing pictures just yet. I'm participating in a virtual baby shower for Kristi and I don't want to post the items I'm knitting for her until she receives them. I'm sure the triplets (yes, triplets!) were enough of a surprise for Kristi and her hubby, but I'm funny like that. I like people to be surprised by gifts. That's what makes it so fun to give them.
As always, it's time for Friday's Feast:
What is your favorite herb or spice?
Well, this question assumes I know what I'm doing when I use herbs/spices. I don't. I just kind of wing it when I cook and I most often use the all purpose italian seasoning.
Name a song you like but haven't heard in a long time.
Melt With You by Modern English. It's one of my favorite songs in the world and I haven't heard it in months.
If you were to take just one minute to write down as many things as you can think of that you need (not want) to do, approximately how many things would there be?
I'm not sure I understand this question. Does it mean things I need to do every day (go to work, feed the dogs, etc.) or does it mean in the grand scope of life? Regardless, silly question. Next!
Main Course
Tell something interesting about one of your family members (nothing scandalous, please, just something unique).
When my grandmother got married (in the 1930's), she didn't tell anyone. She was a nurse and would have gotten fired.
What's the latest you've ever stayed awake?
I'm a night owl, so staying up until dawn is not a big deal. I try not to do it very often because it throws off my sleep schedule, but on the weekends I'm usually up until 2 or 3am. The longest amount of time I've been awake without sleep is 36 hours.


text:
View Photo Gallery
Remove ads with our VIP Service
Ratings / Reviews
strong bloody violence, some graphic sexual content, language and drug material
Reader ReviewsQuick Summary
View movie reviews
Friday the 13th
In this re-imagining of the classic horror film, Clay searches for his missing sister in the eerie woods of legendary Crystal Lake, where he stumbles on the creaky remains of rotting old cabins behind moss-covered trees. And that's not the only thing lying in wait under the brush.
Against the advice of police and cautions from the locals, Clay pursues what few leads he has, with the help of a young woman he meets among a group of college kids up for an all-thrills weekend. But they are about to find much more than they bargained for.
Little do they know, they've entered the domain of one of the most terrifying specters in American film history--the infamous killer who haunts Crystal Lake, armed with a razor-sharp machete...Jason Voorhees.
Starring Jared Padalecki, Danielle Panabaker, Aaron Yoo, Amanda Righetti, Travis Van Winkle, Derek Mears
Directed by Marcus Nispel
Running Time - 1:35
Genre - Horror
Opened in Theaters - Friday, February 13th, 2009 (11 years ago)
This movie is not currently playing in theaters.
Home VideoThis movie may be available now on home video.
Related News Articles and Web Sites
Looking for More Information?
Search Google for more information about this movie:
New Movies - Box Office - Favorite Movies - All Movies
Coming Soon - Search
Home - About Us - Ad Info - Feedback
Journal/Blog - The Marquee - Movie Links - News and Events - Now Showing - Reader Reviews
Customize - VIP Service
Journal/Blog - The Marquee - Movie Links - News and Events - Now Showing - Reader Reviews
Customize - VIP Service
|The BigScreen Cinema Guide is a service of SVJ Designs LLC. All graphics, layout, and structure of this service (unless otherwise specified) are Copyright © 1995-2020, SVJ Designs. The BigScreen Cinema Guide is a trademark of SVJ Designs. All rights reserved.
'ACADEMY AWARDS®' and 'OSCAR®' are the registered trademarks and service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.


text:
Read the full story here Web Link posted Saturday, May 26, 2012, 9:17 AM
Town Square
Video: Romero claims degrees he doesn't have
Original post made on May 26, 2012
Read the full story here Web Link posted Saturday, May 26, 2012, 9:17 AM
Comments (35)
a resident of another community
on May 26, 2012 at 11:03 am
Carlos Romero in 2012 at PenTV
"It is true, I'm an economic developer, affordable housing development specialist, who has both the academic credentials from both Stanford and Harvard as well as the legislative experience being the former Mayor, last year, of East Palo Alto"
Seek to exactly 5 minutes into this video: Web Link
a resident of another community
on May 26, 2012 at 11:25 am
San Mateo County has a history of allowing our elected officials say a lot of untrue statements.
2007 Supervisor Jerry Hill to CBS 5 reporter Robert Lyles of San Francisco for example.
These trips happened under the radar nobody knew.......He knew he was there.
a resident of another community
on May 26, 2012 at 12:31 pm
This was not a single slip up, or an accidental response. Carlos is the only candidate that is constantly bragging about his academic credentials.
a resident of another community
on May 26, 2012 at 2:48 pm
Much ado about nothing. Mr. Romero - please keep on keeping on. The county needs your experience, expertise, vitality, smarts and tenacity, whether you went to Golden Gate University, Stanford or Menlo College. What counts is how you've used your education and other skills to improve life in your area. That you've done and can do in this county.
a resident of Menlo Park: The Willows
on May 26, 2012 at 2:52 pm
I don't know anyone who brags about having a degree from Golden Gate University.
a resident of another community
on May 26, 2012 at 3:10 pm
That was my point, Staford Grad - I was pointing to what I, as a voter, look for more with candidates - not necessarily where they went to school, but what they've done with their education, experience and other skills in serving their communities. I'm not saying education doesn't matter, either - it depends on the candidate and the office. I suspect that this kerfuffle hasn't risen organically, but has been done on purpose.
a resident of Menlo Park: other
on May 26, 2012 at 3:19 pm
Everyone knows when somone is a Stanford grad. They'll tell you in the first two minutes of conversation. The Stanford grads I know tell me that it's hard to get in, but easy to get out with a degree. Doesn't mean you know diddly or can do diddly. It just means you know a lot of other Stanford grads that can help pave your way in life. Those of us that went to lesser Universities generally had to actually work our way through life. Like county voter, I'm more interested in what Mr. Romero has actually learned and what he has actually done with that education as opposed to where it came from.
a resident of another community
on May 26, 2012 at 3:57 pm
A lot of voters have already voted i did last week.
a resident of Menlo Park: other
on May 26, 2012 at 6:39 pm
Romero better win this Supervisor race, because he won his Council seat by only a small margin in 2008, while lying to the voters. People trying to divert attention to Keith graduating from Golden Gate look foolish. She also graduated from UCSB and passed the California Bar. Roomer mislead and lied to the public. His supporters need to embrace the reality of the situation. But they probably won't because their pride won't let them.
a resident of another community
on May 26, 2012 at 6:44 pm
I don't think Romero or Keith will be in the top 2 of this election.
Shelly and Bill have to much influence in our at-large elections for that to happen.
a resident of another community
on May 26, 2012 at 7:20 pm
Clearly, someone in the camp of another candidate is stirring the pot and THEY look ridiculous - no matter where they went to school. Hey, I know some smart people who went to GGU! And hey, I'm just sayin' - again - that to me, it doesn't matter where the candidates received their educations, it's how they use their education when serving the public. Apparently, that matters to at least one other commenter here. However, whoever is behind this kerfuffle can't let it go and that is suspicious.
So many voters in East Palo Alto are very familiar with Mr. Romero and that he left Stanford to work on the city's incorporation. It's not a big city and when people do community work for years, they meet thousands of people and word gets out about them. He didn't rush into local politics at the city level nor does he play dirty pool. He's done a good job taking care of city and county business and is a viable, thoughtful and dynamic candidate. I respect Stogner's prediction but that doesn't take away from the viability of any of the candidates - if they're viable, although Stogner's realistic about their electability.
I hope that whoever wins takes care of county business as it best serves the residents, not merely forwards the new Supervisor's personal ambitions.
a resident of Menlo Park: other
on May 26, 2012 at 8:20 pm
If so many people in East Palo Alto knew that Romero didn't have a degree, when he was lying to the voters in 2008, why did Romero feel the need to lie in the East Palo Alto election at all? How is it stirring the pot or suspicious to hold a politician accountable for their lies to the public? Why would Romero need to leave school to work on East Palo Alto's incorporation? How do we know what Romero really accomplished or what he is simply taking credit for in this election? Are we supposed to take him at his word now that he is running for office again?
a resident of another community
on May 26, 2012 at 8:33 pm
Grow up, 2008. You clearly know that you're raising a kerfuffle. You should take some of your excess energy and seek out the answers to your questions if you truly believe they're crucial questions. Call up the candidate and ask, or send him an email.
Your questions show disingenuousness as well as ignorance about East Palo Alto's history and incorporation process. I know what Romero has accomplished because I pay attention. Who is your favorite candidate and what have they accomplished? Let us know so that we can review our decision on who we're voting for instead of becoming bored with your tempest in a teapot.
Yes, it's suspicious to be reiterating as you are. Sure, hold him accountable - whatever you mean by that. He has already addressed the issue but you are pressing for something that remains unarticulated. Come on, spill it - what do you want that candidate to do?
a resident of another community
on May 26, 2012 at 8:38 pm
2008, What do you care, you are not voting for him anyway. I did I just don't think he'll be in the top 2, I hope I'm wrong. You still have 3 other candidates that just took an oath to fulfill a 4 year obligation I don't see you complaining about that.
a resident of another community
on May 26, 2012 at 8:42 pm
Michael, if only people with great influence can be elected, why have you yourself run in so many supervisor races? When you were a candidate, you talked about how you were viable.
In the last supervisor race, we thought Gina Papan was the one to beat. She had name recognition, and the endorsements of Leland Yee and Fiona Ma. She even had David Burruto, the Chair of the Democratic Central Committee, working on her campaign. You may recall that Gina came in 3rd. You may also recall that Shelly Masur came in 3rd when she ran for school board a few months ago. Dave Pine won that last race with cash, not influence. Right now, Slocum and Keith are sitting on the most cash.
a resident of Menlo Park: other
on May 26, 2012 at 8:56 pm
Have you really just resorted to calling names now? In the current election Romero has cited attending Stanford and Harvard numerous times. Everytime I saw anything about him, he referenced it. So often even this publication believed he had obtained degrees. As did I. Point me once to where he said publicly he didn't obtain a degree from either institution during this election. Even if people in EPA knew as you assert, the rest of the County did not. At best he has conducted himself in a misleading fashion. I was one of the voters who was mislead, and I am angry, and I don't appreciate being called names and being disparaged by his supporters. People in this election have already voted before the truth came out and he was forced to confront the truth. Only then did he apologize. He should withdraw from the race.
a resident of another community
on May 26, 2012 at 9:10 pm
in the end, this is all about having or buying name recognition. If the name "Slocum" is so strong, you would expect Warren's wife to do better at the polls. In her last election, Keith pulled more votes from a smaller district that Masur and Slocum.
Kirsten Keith, 2010 - 5,594 votes Web Link
Shelly Masur, 2011 - 5,495 votes Web Link
Maria Diaz-Slocum, 2009 - 4661 votes Web Link
Other than campaign mailers, Slocum and Masur have had no exposure. With the recent Facebook move and IPO, Keith has had her face and name on the front page of the Wall Street Journal and several local and national TV news outlets. You may have also noticed that Keith has a 48 foot wide billboard on 101. I'm not counting her out of this race.
a resident of another community
on May 26, 2012 at 9:11 pm
2008, I didn't call you any name.....check my post, now you bring up an entirely different idea that you want this candidate to withdraw his name. I respect that idea....I also voted without this information, I don't think it would have changed my vote because he still was the only candidate who is opposed to the new JAIL we can't afford. Lets be clear here I voted for him but I'm not a supporter of him and I never told anyone about my vote until tonight.
a resident of Menlo Park: other
on May 26, 2012 at 9:23 pm
I appreciate your thoughtfulness Mr. Stogner. All County voters were entitled to know the truth before casting their ballots. We shouldn't have to play, I wonder if I had known. Romero's misleading conduct in this election occurred after outright lies in Romero's last election. I don't care if he is a Saint or the Dalai Lama, the electoral process requires his respect and truthful conduct towards the voters. It's too late now for many who have cast ballots, and that is just wrong.
a resident of another community
on May 26, 2012 at 9:24 pm
academic credentials said,
"Michael, if only people with great influence can be elected, why have you yourself run in so many supervisor races? When you were a candidate, you talked about how you were viable."
Thank you for that question, I offered the voters a different option, I refused to accept any endorsements from unions or organizations and as the voters started to learn about me and how I would vote on issues my vote count grew each time. Somehow Shelly and Bill determined that I was the enemy and told their 70,000 members and spouses that I was a Union Buster and Community Wrecker they went one step further and said vote No on Michael Stogner the COPE that paid for that mailer received approx. $23,000 from DMB of Arizona. As long as we have at-large elections and only about 110,000 people vote, those 2 will impact the results....Just my opinion
a resident of another community
on May 26, 2012 at 9:53 pm
He didn't claim, in this video, to have degrees from either institution: Web Link. Again, it's your kefuffle.
His website, smartvoter.org, the articles cited on his website - none of them state that he has degrees from either university. Again, it's your tempest in a teapot and I shouldn't have to - and won't - do your research for you.
You are responsible for your interpretation of the meaning of "credentials".
From Meriam-Webster, for credentials:
- A qualification, achievement, personal quality, etc., used to indicate suitability for something: "academic credentials".
- A document or certificate proving a person's identity or qualifications.
As for name calling, I haven't done that. I'm truly baffled by your obsession with making a mountain out of a molehill. It sounds to me like you're taking this candidate's mistake from four years ago personally. I encourage you, in all seriousness, to call or email him and discuss your concerns. If you voted for him and are this upset, he should know about it.
You're being "disparaged" because your dog doesn't hunt, as they say. I've called you on your obsession with this and now your strategy is to play victim. If you didn't vote for him/aren't going to vote for him, then who gets your vote? See, I'm not convinced that this isn't a last minute strategy coming from one of the other camps. If it's not coming form one of the other camps, then be a responsible citizen and go to the candidate with your questions and concerns.
a resident of Menlo Park: other
on May 26, 2012 at 10:25 pm
Sounds like you were part of crafting this misleading campaign strategy that duped so many of us. You should truly be ashamed. Words like kerfufle and tempest in a teapot doesn't make it cute.
a resident of another community
on May 26, 2012 at 10:35 pm
I wasn't part of anything misleading, and you know it. There is no strategy on my part, nor am I part of his campaign. I am an East Palo Alto resident and have spent the majority of my life in this county.
You reached your conclusions and I reached mine. But I've outed you and now you've changed your strategy from crying victim to attacking me. Ah, yes, the best defense is a good offense. You need to stop.
Other than that, if you're not really behind this tempest in a teapot/kerfuffle/mountain out of a molehill on behalf of another candidate, then you need to contact Romero about your concerns because you consider this to be of tantamount importance. I don't, so it's on you to handle your upset. I wish you the best of luck.
a resident of another community
on May 26, 2012 at 10:42 pm
If Carlos had achieved Dean's List or Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society while at Stanford, we would have video of him ranting about it, but these are honors, not credentials.
Carlos should bring his academic credentials from Stanford to his next event. It is not surprising that his only public event to date was on April Fools Day. Web Link
a resident of Menlo Park: other
on May 26, 2012 at 11:00 pm
County Voter, before you run away after claiming to not to be affiliated with the Romero campaign, can you look up the words "misleading" and "omission" in your dictionary for me?
a resident of another community
on May 26, 2012 at 11:21 pm
2008, I'm sure you can wield an online dictionary as well as anyone. Before you run away to hide behind whichever candidate you're working for, note that you started this. Perhaps this molehill is your mountain, I can't really say - but that's my best guess since you obviously play so small. But as I said before, the best of luck to you in wrangling with your upset.
a resident of Menlo Park: other
on May 27, 2012 at 4:11 am
Once again, I am an angry voter who got duped and who can't stand it when politicians and the people they work with for play games with the truth. You say I am playing victim for me and voters, but it's you is trying to make Romero out to be the victim of other candidate camps. Like somehow they made him lie and mislead. That's pathetic.
a resident of another community
on May 27, 2012 at 8:02 am
2008 you might want to view The Game 184 by PenTV just aired yesterday.Carlos Romero does mention the subject you are interested in. Its at the very end.
Web Link
There are three Supervisor seats on this election, only one is contested,why?
a resident of Menlo Park: other
on May 27, 2012 at 8:35 am
If you were actually "duped" as you say then you weren't paying attention and clearly ahve issues with reading comprehension. You need to stop blaming others for your short comings.
a resident of Menlo Park: other
on May 27, 2012 at 9:48 am
Yeah cause as a voter I should have to look for the fine print and the asterisks. But there were none. But it's my fault for believing in the system I guess. I guess the Almanac has the same reading and comprehension problems I do. They were similarly tricked. Do East Palo Alto voters have hearing problems as well? Just keep attacking me you Romero supporters.
a resident of another community
on May 27, 2012 at 11:39 am
This is what I read that didn't mislead me:
From Smartvoter.org
Carlos Romero
Occupation: Councilmember/ Economic Development and Land Use Consultant
2011 Mayor, City of East Palo Alto
Executive Director, Mission Housing Development Corporation (housing and economic development)
Housing Developer, Mercy Housing
Loeb Fellow, Harvard Graduate School of Design
Fannie Mae Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Stanford University, Undergraduate studies in Economics and Int'l Relations
a resident of another community
on May 27, 2012 at 1:09 pm
Until this story broke, Carlos' website stated, "completed his undergraduate studies in international relations and economics at Stanford"
To most people, the word "completed" implies that he completed his undergraduate studies, which we now know he did not.
a resident of Menlo Park: other
on May 27, 2012 at 2:42 pm
"Yeah cause as a voter I should have to look for the fine print and the asterisks."
Yes 2008 you should. Unless you're 18 and this is your first election you should know to look for the fine print and the astrisks. You also need to read between the lines and be very careful about what politicians say and what they do and have done.
a resident of Menlo Park: other
on May 27, 2012 at 9:14 pm
[Portions removed. Avoid general personal attacks.]
Kirsten Keith ... [portion removed.] For her to claim "credit" for bringing FB to Manlo Park is misleading! The process to work with FB started LONG before Keith was on the MPCC! She's just lucky that she's mayor now, and even that is questionable, given the brouhaha surrounding her becoming vice mayor. Maybe, someone should look into that situation a little more to see if she violated the Brown Act or not. [Portion removed.]
As for cash on hand, I doubt she and Slocum have the most cash. I hear that much of her campaign is self-financed because she hasn't been able to raise money. [Portions removed.]
a resident of another community
on May 27, 2012 at 11:55 pm
Regarding all the venom toward Keith. We can't figure our what Really??? is ranting about. We do recall that there was a comment in an in post by Hank Lawrence, that ended with some reference to a vandalized campaign sign (Web Link), then Keith's campaign sign was vandalized (Web Link).
Regardling Kiraly, she has endorsed Masur (Web Link) and Romero (Web Link). Both Masur and Romero can be seen attacking Keith for her support of Measure L, in a PenTV segment (Web Link) she posted. Apparently, Romero and Masur don't trust the voters, they only want the elected officials involved in negotiating employee benefits.
Don't miss out
on the discussion!
Sign up to be notified of new comments on this topic.
Get fact-based reporting on the COVID-19 crisis sent to your inbox daily.
'All of us can do something.' Local black restaurant owners react to George Floyd protests
By Elena Kadvany | 13 comments | 6,140 views
Power Lines, Pipelines, and the Limits of Eminent Domain
By Sherry Listgarten | 23 comments | 4,609 views
Such delightful city employee perks
By Diana Diamond | 40 comments | 3,631 views
Premarital and Couples: Are you Kinder to Strangers than to Your Partner?
By Chandrama Anderson | 0 comments | 2,614 views
Ready for Nothing
By Cheryl Bac | 0 comments | 940 views
Class of 2020!
We are proud to share in the excitement of your graduation.


text:
MNF Club is a massively multiplayer social game designed solely for adults. Meet, chat and have fun with numbers of people from all around the globe.
MNF Club is EASY! SEXY! SOCIAL!
Check out our other sites:
Games of Desire
- Sex Games & Cartoon Porn
Meet and Fuck Games
- Premium Sex Games for adults
Social media:
MNF Club Twitter
account - follow us, share with friends
2257 Exempt
Terms of Service
Privacy Policy
$$ Webmasters $$
How to Cancel Subscription
MNF Club @ 2020
Windows 10/8/7
Windows Vista/XP
Mac OS
Update History
How to play on iPhone/iPad/Android
1 319 040 registered MNFers!
Get Premium Account
Get Certificate
This website contains age-restricted materials.
If you are under the age of 18 years, or under the age of majority in the location from where you are accessing this website you do not have authorization or permission to enter this website or access any of its materials.
You also acknowledge and agree that you are not offended by nudity and explicit depictions of sexual activity.
Game Paused
Tap to Continue


text:
Well, it never fails folks! I attempt to take 48 hours away from the wired world and all heck breaks loose. Okay, okay, not that much but enough starting with the answer to the question about Carrick Felix. Yes, it is true in that he will not enroll at Duke. The word is admissions were the hold up but the fact is nothing official is out there yet and he has opened up his recruitment. The BDN wishes Felix the best in all of his future endeavors but fortunately Duke is really deep this coming season. Felix was viewed as an athletic wing with good defensive capabilities to go with his explosiveness. The Duke staff was looking forward to working with him before the latest happenings.
The Duke Football staff has been on the recruiting trail and they are working it hard. Duke offered Colorado quarterback Brock Berglund which you can read about in our football section. We'll have more on this and another offer coming shortly.
More props to Doug Collins who will be officially named the coach of the Philadelphia Sixers today. Doug of course is the father of Duke Assistant Coach Chris Collins and played his most memorable moments in Philly as a player. While Chris will be returning to Duke this season one has to wonder if this will open some doors down the road. Collins [Chris] is a basketball fanatic who misses only the occasional bounce of the ball if a game is on television. BDN wishes Doug the very best in his new job.
You may have seen a few folks saying Jon Scheyer could play basketball in Israel. It's not far fetched. BDN will follow the situation.
This weekend will likely be an end to one of the AAU's best tournaments, the Tournament of Champions where the games are played on the campuses of Duke, North Carolina and North Carolina State. BDN Premium members will get all the skinny and this may be your last chance to catch this tournament in that the NCAA will soon not allow these events to be played on major college campuses. A lot of other changes are in the works and as summer rolls in we'll discuss the future of off season hoops.


text:
The last update to the Kiva website is what we call an Innovation Iteration -- the engineers got to vote on the projects they wanted to work on. The results include some fun and interesting improvements to the site.
Social Share Buttons
We've made sharing great loans with your networks even easier by adding social share buttons to loan profile pages. Now you can share borrower stories easily on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.
Loan Wish List
Have you seen a great loan you want to remember? You can now "star" a loan and add it to your wish list by clicking on the star icon next to the borrower's name on a loan profile page. You can find your wish list by logging in, going to www.kiva.org/lend, and clicking on "My List" in the sidebar to the left.
Fundraising Loans on Lender Maps
In addition to loans you've already made, it's now possible to see fundraising loans on the maps that appear on your Lender page. Just choose 'Map View' of your loans on the My Portfolio page.
Saved Searches
Being able to save a search has been a long sought-after feature. So we've built a version with a few limitations. This was a first try and we'd love to hear your feedback. If you do a text search for a loan and get 0 results, you will now see a button to "Get Alerts" when more loans become available.
Once you sign up, whenever new loans matching your search are posted, you'll get an email alert.
Kiva Zip lona on Kiva.org
Our latest Kiva City, Kiva City Little Rock, has an interesting new feature. We're showing both traditional loans and Kiva Zip loans! Now we can show Zip loans anywhere easily on the main Kiva site.
Open-Source Projects
Here at Kiva, we rely heavily on open-source software to build our infrastructure. Open-source software is freely distributed and allows Kiva to keep its costs down. We've been exploring different ways we can give back to this great community -- and now we can! There's now a list of our open source projects on our developer site. If you are a software developer, why not download them, take a look and even send a pull-request?
Have questions about changes to Kiva's website? Send them our way at firstname.lastname@example.com!
The last update to the Kiva website is what we call an Innovation Iteration -- the engineers got to vote on the projects they wanted to work on. The results include some fun and interesting improvements to the site.


text:
One of my favorite things to do is run. Not only does running help me stay in shape, but I also do some of my best thinking while I am outside being active. Up until the beginning of August, I was pretty good at running, too — that is, until I injured my left hip. Overnight I went from running six-minute miles to struggling to swing my leg out of bed in the morning.
As I started the healing Process, I had to figure out other ways to stay active until I got back to 100 percent, so I decided to take up cycling. Not only is cycling a great way to stay fit, but there is almost no impact on your joints. That was exactly what I needed.
Over the course of the next month, I started to feel like I was getting pretty good, too. I was going out for 30-mile rides and feeling unstoppable. Earlier this fall, I decided to ride up to Horsetooth Reservoir. As I started in to the biggest climb of the ride I was cruising, and then out of nowhere a guy most likely 15 years my senior went flying past me. As my brain began to process what just happened, the first thought that fired through my mind was, "He must have a nicer bike than me."
Rather than realizing that he might be in better shape than me, or thinking about how to improve my technique, or even admitting that maybe I wasn't working hard enough, I instead was content (if only for a moment) to believe that the difference was the other guy's bike.
As I have immersed myself in the issues facing Thompson School District, too often I have witnessed the "He Must Have a Nicer Bike" syndrome. Why aren't our students achieving like some of the students in our neighboring communities? They must be getting more funding per student. Their facilities are clearly superior to ours. We're just not getting students in the system early enough. We have too many schools in the district. The list of reasons goes on, and all of them may be valid ones just like the guy who blew past me more than likely did have superior equipment. But we can do better that.
If I am elected to the school board, I will work hard to develop a culture where we look at the issues we face in light of our current reality and then think outside of the box to develop innovative ways to get to where we need to be.
It is so easy, not just in our schools but in every area of our lives, to find legitimate reasons for why we are not achieving. But let's face it, every school district, organization or individual has challenges that they must rise above if they are going to be successful. There will always be someone else who has better equipment, more money and all sorts of other advantages, but we must not allow that reality to make us comfortable settling for less than our very best.
As my own two kids approach the age of entering the public school system, I am more motivated than ever to make this district the absolute best that it can be.
I am excited for what we could achieve in the Thompson School District if we dropped the "He Must Have a Nicer Bike" attitude and developed a culture that says, "Let's go get it done!"
For more information about my campaign, visit carlsonforschoolboard.com or http://facebook.com/carlsonforschoolboard.
Bryce Carlson is a candidate for Thompson School District Board of Education in District B.


text:
Singer Celine Dion, who is pregnant with twins, has been admitted to St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Florida for observation, the hospital announced Monday.
"She has been admitted to prevent the early delivery of her babies, which is a fairly common clinical practice for mothers of twins," the hospital said in a statement to news outlets. "This is done to ensure the patient can be in close contact with their doctors and clinical resources, leading up to their birth."
Dion has a nine-year-old son, Rene-Charles, with husband and manager Rene Angelil.
The hospital also denied rumors the Canadian pop star had made special demands, such as particular staff or accommodations "not available to other patients," but confirmed the hospital, without the request of Dion, had increased security.
Dion revealed on her website over the summer that she was expecting twin boys, following the couple's sixth attempt at in-vitro fertilization.
"We're ecstatic," Angelil told People in May. "Celine is just hoping for a healthy pregnancy. She was hoping for one baby and the news that we are having two is a double blessing."


text:
How far have these students walked by the time the teacher's car
reaches them after their bus broke down?
Can you create a story that would describe the movement of the man
shown on these graphs? Use the interactivity to try out our ideas.
You can see him on the interactivity below.
Full Screen Version
Try moving Mr Pearson and his dog using your computer mouse. The graph shows how far Mr Pearson is walking from his house after a certain amount of time.
What happens to the graph once Mr Pearson gets back to his house after his walk?
Can you make a curved line on the graph?
Describe how Mr Pearson must walk to create this curve.
How must Mr Pearson walk to make the curve steeper?
And can you make the curve shallower? How does Mr Pearson walk this time?
Some graphs for you to try to reproduce can be found in the notes .


text: The MEI website has been redesigned and unfortunately the page you are looking for has either been moved or is not available on the new site. We are in the process of updating all our old pages with redirects. In the meantime you might be able to find what you are looking for through the homepage.


text:
Monday, February 9, 2009
The Bushfire Quilt Project
Tia (aka CampFollowerBagLady) set up a new group on Flickr today called the Bushfire Quilt Project. The idea is to do our little part to help the people that are suffering from the devastation caused by bushfires in Victoria, Australia.
Tia's request is simple: donated quilt blocks (stars are preferred) that she will, in turn, make into quilts for those suffering "so they can wrap themselves in our love and prayers as they return to rebuild."
Sounds easy enough to me. If you'd like to help out, please visit the Flickr group to learn more.
5 comments:
i signed up to help out.ReplyDelete
thanks to your post.
so thanks.
I signed up too. Thanks for giving us the heads up!ReplyDelete
Thankyou John. I'm (luckily) a long way from the fires, but the stories that we have been hearing on the news for the past few days have been beyond tragic.ReplyDelete
This site has ideas for helping out too -http://handmadehelpsout.blogspot.com/
Georgia (NSW, Australia)
It's wonderful to see such support coming from afar. I am also a long way from the fires (Adelaide), but it has shocked the nation. I was involved in the Quilts for Comfort project after the Canberra firestorms 7 years ago and we managed to make at least one quilt for each of the 530 families who lost their homes. Thanks!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousFebruary 10, 2009 at 12:26 PM
Great idea, I'll check it out!ReplyDelete
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
Danbury, Connecticut: Stanziato's Wood-Fired Pizza Stands Firm
Stanziato's Wood-fired Pizza
35 Lake Avenue Ext., Danbury CT (map); 203-885-1057; stanziatos.com
Pizza style: Neapolitan-style The Skinny: Danbury's finest wood-fired red and white pizzas
Price: 12-inch pizzas, $9.95 to $15.95
Notes: Closed Sundays
Matt Stanczak presides over the year-old Stanziato's Wood-Fired Pizza in Danbury, Connecticut, an oasis of serious pizza tucked away in strip mall near-obscurity. At first glance, Stanziato's may look like a relaxed slice joint, but once you look closer, you'll notice that it's a place that takes its pies and ingredients very seriously.
Exhibit A: The black-tiled wood-burning oven, looming and authoritative, greets you as you enter. Chalkboards hang above to share the seasonally shifting menu. Exhibit B: Stanczak regularly shops the local farms (including Holbrook Farm around the corner in Bethel) for ingredients to adorn his 12-inch pies. The menu, which also boasts salads, soups, and wood-fired chicken wings, is otherwise divided equally into red and white pies. And finally, Exhibit C: A custom-made wood bin to house an ample supply of New England hardwood.
But the real proof is in the pizza. The telltale signs of wood fire are prominent on a Stanziato's pie, and the result is a delightfully chewy crust. A light, crackly char on the crust exterior belies a soft, pillowy interior. It's light yet sturdy, standing firm to most toppings you can throw at it. Stanczak has a local wood contact who relishes supplying Stanziato's with a variety of hardwood, (maple, hickory, ash and so on) which I have to believe contributes to the unique character of a Stanziato pie.
I've dined on both take-out and dine-in pizzas, and although the latter is always preferable, the take-home pies are carefully orchestrated. Stanczak is quick to share his disapproval of the grab-and-go but happily doles out specific reheating instructions involving a pre-heated pizza stone. Take-home pies are uncut to avoid sogginess.
The Margherita features discs of fresh mozzarella placed evenly across healthy smears of slightly herby tomato sauce and a smattering of basil leaves. This is the place to start at Stanziato's. The crust is a delicately charred affair with tiny bubbles marking the outer edges, possibly indicating a quick finish near the intense heat of the top of the domed wood-fired oven.
Things get even better from there, especially when pork is added to the mix. A white pie with prosciutto starts with a simple base of fresh mozzarella studded with fresh cherry tomatoes. The prosciutto is sliced paper-thin, and a drizzle of balsamic and some scattered fresh basil completes the composition.
A white pie called the Heavenly Bacon (pictured at top) is covered generously with mozzarella, bacon, cherry tomatoes and just a hint of garlic. The white pies have the advantage of allowing you to taste the flavor of the yeasty, smoky crust without the sauce's mask.
Stanczak is a man who knows his New York-Neapolitan pizzerias. He's quick to say he's inspired by spots like Motorino and Lucali. His reverence for these New York institutions combined with his tenure at the CIA is reflected in the consistently chewy, evenly charred and vibrantly flavored pies Stanziato's cranks out.
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


text:
(visited by d p)
18-Jun-2006 -- A ride through the 'Quiet Corner' of northeast Connecticut led to the discovery that a new house is going up about ten yards north of the confluence, which was previously a wooded lot. Since I can't get a suitable picture of my GPS with my camera, I took a picture of the 'zeros' in my car, then walked up the new driveway to the house.
The point is less than two miles from the MA/CT state line, and only a few miles north of the beautiful village of Woodstock, CT.


text:
CampusExchange brauchte ein neues Logo Design und hat einen Wettbewerb auf 99designs gestartet.
Aus 154 Designs von 47 Designern wurde eine Gewinner gewählt.
We need a fun and creative design for our website, CampusExchange.com. Campus exchange is a marketplace for college students to buy/sell/trade goods to one another. $100 Bonus for exceptional work!
Desired Color Scheme:
Any Color scheme
Desired Style:
creative, artistic, collegiate inspired, web 2.0 (but not too corporate)
Accepted File Formats:
Standard Web Formats (.jpg, .gif or .png); Layered Formats (.psd or .tiff)
Website Summary: CampusExchange is a virtual marketplace for student to student transactions. The website offers users a variety of ways to buy/sell/trade goods with other students at their campus. CampusExchange.com is similar to http://www.USwap.com. However, in addition to student to student direct sales- we offer: auctions, trades, a classified section, a campus calendar, and a discussion board. Design Summary: The website and logo for CampusExchange.com should follow a collegiate theme, but still needs to maintain the clean look and feel of modern web 2.0 design. The design should be well organized like other e-commerce websites, but the color-scheme and style should be fun, playful, and include school-influenced graphics (examples: bulletin board and pins, marker/highlighter, books, backpack, post-it notes, etc.)
 Logo Design Specifics: Must include "CampusExchange†in the logo. You can add a tagline if you want, but it is not required. Graphic icons are welcome, but not required. Make the logo look professional, but not too corporate. If you can adopt some sort of collegiate or scholastic
theme, that would be great. Color scheme is up to the designer.
Website Design Specifics: We would like you to come up with the basic design for our website and if selected, we will fill you in with details so that it may be completely customized. The following is recommended for the homepage:
 - Custom header with logo, navigation menu, and log-in section
 - Include "for the University of Arizona†and/or the U of A's logo somewhere in the header but not as the focus- maybe in the right-hand corner. Reason: We will be customizing these for each university.
- Somehow incorporate each of the main features of the website (auctions, classifieds, etc, as small sections on the homepage that link to the full section when selected.
- Calendar at the bottom of the page with the header "Campus Calendarâ€
 - "Marketplace†navigation menu on the left of the screen (sample categories below)
 Books (128)
Electronics (27)
 Furniture (8)
 Services (32)
 Tickets (4)
 Everything Else (55)I like the design and theme of USwap.com, but I think the design is too basic. Design styles and formats that I like include:
-Â I like how modern and organized this site is, especially the navigation and products pages:
- I like the creativity of this design:
We will provide a bonus of $100 for exceptional work. (Only applies to web design). Good luck, ask questions if you have them and we will answer them ASAP.
We promise to provide you all with a lot of feedback and we will be checking the project often. We encourage you to be creative.
We will accept ALL forms of payment- including western union, paypal, credit card, check, mo, etc. Whatever works best for the designer.
This contest was originally listed in multiple categories:
- Logo Design
- Web Page Design
Finden Sie heraus, wie ein Designwettbewerb funktioniert, oder lernen Sie mehr über unsere Logo-Design-Angebote.


text:
NEW YORK — Oscar-winning screenplay writer William Goldman has died. He was 87.
Goldman won Academy Awards for the comic Western "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and the political thriller "All the President's Men."
He converted his novels "Marathon Man" and "The Princess Bride" into hit movies and coined a favorite Hollywood catchphrase, "Nobody knows anything," that summed up the mystery of what makes a movie work. In his time, he was among the highest paid writers in the business.
Goldman's daughter Jenny says her father died early Friday in New York due to complications from colon cancer and pneumonia.
His other screen credits included "The Stepford Wives," ''Misery" and "A Bridge Too Far."


text:
|Quilliard (talk)
|Date Created:
|July 15 2010
|Please feel free to edit constructively!
Among humankind, there are those which delight in a bawdy joke, and those which prefer a joke exhibiting more wit. People laugh at irony, at others' misfortunes, and at complete nonsense. Only by getting to know a human will one learn which sorts that of humor that individual appreciates more. Among the common other humanoid races, though, as with all aspects of culture, there's a little less variation. This isn't to say all elves share one agreed-upon sense of humor, but there are safe generalizations to assume. Below are this author's takes on the subject.
The ordered societies of the dwarven people operate on assumed standards. People live up to these expectations in order to better serve their clan and state. The status quo is what makes the world go round. So what would be more laughable, to a dwarf, than to see the status quo turned on its head? Cowardly or incompetent soldiers, inexperienced or foolish adults on the receiving end of a child's wise-cracking, and cross-dressers and other gender-inappropriate behavior, are all likely to be the butt-ends of jokes made over tankard of dwarven ale. Dwarves enjoy being able to mock in a safe environment what would radically upset their way of life if it turned up in reality, including men doing traditionally-considered "women's work" and vice-versa (though this concept is different among dwarves than among humans), as well as soldiers running from a single goblin or not knowing which end to grip their weapons by. Such world-flipping icons also consist of polite orcs, honorable goblins, generous giants, and timid trolls. Their standards of formal marriages also provide joke-fodder; portrayals of salacious characters as well as drastic class differences in a partnership are comical, as are notions of interracial relationships. The stereotypical promiscuous gnome is akin to a cultural icon (see Entertainment- Dwarves and Romance/Sexuality- Gnomes), much like the fool in Shakespeare's day or "Sambo" in the 19th-century U.S..
However, dwarves aren't the most jocular people. And while some might crack a joke or five with a colleague or comrade on occasion, they're rarely receptive to others trying to play upon their sense of humor-- coming from someone foreign to their culture, how can they be sure that such an idea is meant in jest, and not a threat to their stable society? Another humanoid attempting to get a dwarf to crack a smile (and good luck) would be better served trying a different sense of humor. Only the most blithe (and rather tipsy) dwarves will invite you to sit with them and enjoy a drink if you walk up to them with a remark about a fictional gnome hitting on the king's daughter.
Elves' longevity gives them a very broad view of things, and they tend to focus on more simple aspects of life. Because of this, it tickles the typical elven funny bone to see things blown out of proportion. Hyperbole is a humor that most elves will appreciate. Think the Family Guy fight between Peter and the Giant Chicken-- after one gives the other an expired coupon, they engage in a five-minute long battle to the death. That's the sort of humor which falls under hyperbole. In a similar vein, it's common among elves to poke fun at a seemingly bad situation by sarcastically grossly exaggerating the consequences, such as by using the 'slippery slope' fallacy. Elves sometimes find laughable literary characters with one-track minds, even if the obsession is with something noble. Ultimately, the average elf will find funny anything which involves dramatic hyperbole. Many elves are also fond of satire, but satire tends to make them think more than it makes them smile.
Elves don't laugh loudly, smiling more often than chuckling, and chuckling much more often than letting out a full-bellied yuck. (In fact, laughing too much at a small joke is another exaggeration the usual elf would find humorous.) They also don't place great cultural value in jokes, seeing them as rather small in scope compared to a great work of literature or a moving piece of music. If you joke around with an elf, they'll probably appreciate the gesture of goodwill, but not nearly so much the humor. (With humor, as with other facets of life, elves are "generally pleasant and gracious" even to those who don't quite understand how to handle the matter "properly.")
Gnomes are the one race in the Player's Handbook whose entry mentions their love of humor. As such, it's hardly necessary to expand on their love of puns and practical jokes. It is good to keep in mind, though, that practical jokes are, to gnomes, a way of keeping eachother humble and a chance to demonstrate cleverness, not a means of triumphing over others. As puns go, whether or not a gnome prefers a witty pun requiring clever exploitation of a language, or thinks a bawdy joke is just as good despite the many euphemisms which make such puns easy, is simply dependent on the individual gnome. Satire is also delightful to gnomes, who are appreciative of it in almost the opposite ways most elves are; it's a kind of humor, not a rhetorical device. As one might infer from their fondness of nicknames, gnomes also enjoy nonsense-humor. Stringing together words in ways that don't make sense is a good way to try to make a gnome smile. Other bizarre notions (such as Lewis Carroll's description the Wonderland game of croquet, in which one's ball is a hedgehog and one's mallet a flamingo,) also fall under this category of humor.
The importance of wit in gnomish culture makes humor of central importance. Gnomes love to laugh, and are more likely to appreciate a joke, even from a member outside of their race, than any other common race (except for some humans). If you really want to endear yourself to a gnome though, try introducing yourself with a clever pun demonstrating knowledge of both Gnome and another common language, plus a healthy dislike of kobolds.
Half-elves are just as varied as humans in their particular senses of humor, though some may possess the tendencies of elves, especially if raised among them. What makes them bear mentioning though is their appreciation of dramatic irony and situations of misunderstandings (such as in Merchant of Venice or Angel Densetsu). Many half-elves enjoy seeing someone else experience the befuddlement of different people seeing the same thing different ways. A few individuals, particularly the more cynical or dour ones, instead grow bitter when exposed to such humor, feeling like the matter is personal mockery.
Individual halflings exhibit different senses of humor; they are, for the most part, about as varied as humans in their tastes. Common favorites include various forms of irony (e.g., almost any scene in a Wile E. Coyote/Roadrunner cartoon) and any jokes involving a clever mastery of language. Dirty jokes are often found distasteful, but this can vary from halfling to halfling and from time to time. One noted preference which seems common to most halflings, though, are inappropriately egocentric behaviors. Lecherous characters are rarely well-received, but other ridiculously self-interested characters are staples of halfling humor. This includes gluttons (such as Garfield the Cat, Homer Simpson, or Monkey D. Luffy), sloths (also Homer Simpson, and Garfield, or the comic Dilbert's Wally), and the pretentious (Hercule from DragonBall Z, or Linebeck from The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass). Assuming the behaviors don't end up hurting someone, the community-oriented halflings frequently see such characters' self-centeredness as really too ridiculous, and extremely comical.
In a group, halflings usually don't need jokes to appreciate one another. At mirthful times they laugh easily and readily with eachother, with jokes being but one medium through which they can enjoy eachother's company. Halflings are a bit too formal to begin joking around among other races, but as good as they are at fitting in, they can usually adapt when in a jocose setting in which humor is expected. Many halflings are rather protean in their senses of humor, enabling them to quickly establish themselves as "one of the folks" in a new situation.
The Savage HumanoidsEdit
As one would expect, goblinoids, orcs, kobolds, and drow are all pretty fond of schadenfreude. Most jokes involve someone else experiencing misfortune. Drow delight in stories of misfortune simply befalling others (often divinely), while orcs and hobgoblins tend to focus more on the dishing-out of said misfortunes. Goblins and kobolds enjoy both, with goblins loving tales of hapless people getting ambushed and kobolds enjoying stories of hapless people falling into traps. Lecherous jokes are also very common among some of these races: among goblins these jokes tend toward hyperbole, while to orcs this line of humor is notably misogynistic. Drow enjoy ridiculing the male body, and jokes about impotent males are as delightful to them as jokes about women's rights are to certain real-life men. (Drow, however, can rarely be said to laugh, and humor to them means something much different than to the common races.) Among all of these races, humor is often a kind of social competition, used not only in earning appreciation but in belittling others as well. A person can win over a group of some of the less-intelligent savage humanoids using humor-- assuming they get past the race's initial hostile outlook to begin with (if targets are Indifferent one can use Perfom (comedy) in place of Diplomacy or Intimidate, at the DM's discretion).
Back to Main Page → 3.5e Homebrew → Other


text:
Awesome job! I'll keep an eye out for your name on their website.
Turning back the clock one mile at a time
I just noticed that everyone in this thread from way back in May still has their streak going!
You guys impress me. Presently I'm cruising into my third season and aiming at the one year mark next March. I had a streak of 115 days or so going last year, but it fell to injury. This time I've been able to run through some aches and pains by slowing way down and accepting shorter runs.
I like that it's no longer a decision whether or not to run each day, just when and how far. When I ran a mile one night at 11:50pm in my jeans, I realized that this thing meant something to me. I try to keep those very late and one-mile days to a minimum!
Thanks for the motivation.
Options,Account, Forums
... When I ran a mile one night at 11:50pm in my jeans, ..
... When I ran a mile one night at 11:50pm in my jeans, ..
Great job
I've not run in jeans. But once when I'd figured I'd miss my run for the day, on the way home I thought of somewhere to run, and I pulled into a mall area, changed in my car, and ran around the parking lots to get a couple miles in before midnight. Heh.
It's a 5k. It hurt like hell...then I tried to pick it up. The end.
I wonder who is more likely to have the police called on them, me running through my neighborhood in jeans like a prowler, or you circling the mall parking lot after hours like you're casing the joint? Both might require some explaining.
prowler - there's a funny word.


text:
UCM Educator, Actor, Director Richard "Buzz" Herman Recognized With Byler Faculty Award
Richard "Buzz" Herman, an award-winning University of Central Missouri professor whom colleagues praise for helping students and faculty members to grow as artists and scholars, will receive the 2013 Byler Distinguished Faculty Award.
Having taught at UCM since 1987, the longtime chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance will be honored during an award reception set for 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Thursday, April 25, in the Art Center Gallery. He also will be recognized during morning and afternoon Spring Commencement exercises Saturday, May 11 in the Multipurpose Building. All of these events are open to the public.
The Byler Award is considered the most prestigious recognition for UCM faculty members. It is named for William H. Byler, an inventor, author and teacher who graduated from UCM in 1927 with a major in chemistry and physics. He established an endowment fund to provide annual recognition for distinguished faculty performance, evidenced by teaching, scholarly or creative activity and professional- related service.
Individuals who work with Herman describe him as a resourceful and creative teacher, an outstanding scholar/artist and critic, and an accomplished actor and director who has garnered many professional accolades. Such honors include more than 20 Meritorious Achievement awards from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, the Missouri Governor's Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the Wayne Brown Award for Outstanding Teaching from the Speech and Theatre Association of Missouri.
In a letter of support for Herman, 12 of his colleagues lauded him as a superlative role model and "one of our greatest teachers" at UCM. They noted, "He works to inspire the imagination, encourage inquiry and critical thought, and help students realize their own creative vision."
Herman joined UCM in 1987 as an assistant professor, and climbed the faculty ranks over the next 14 years to become a full professor and department chair. In 2010, he became the first person to be awarded the title of Meridith Harmon Sauer Endowed Professor of Theatre and Dance, a distinguished professorship that honors significant teaching, scholarly and or creative achievement and academic/professional excellence. The gift to establish this honor was given by donors, in part, for accomplishments that have been made in the department, many of them under Herman's leadership, a quality prized by his colleagues.
"Since acquiring the helm in 2001, Buzz has, with managerial excellence and proficiency, coalesced every gift and talent of his faculty to forge together a Department of Theatre and Dance that is the best undergraduate theatre program in Missouri and very highly competitive and respected throughout the region," wrote John Wilson, professor of theatre, in support of his colleague.
In addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate theatre students for 26 years at UCM, Herman has served as producer and advisor for the BlackBox Experimental Theatre program and company manager on several occasions for the summer Central Missouri Repertory theatre company. His professional career includes directing more than 100 plays, in addition to writing plays and sharing his acting skills with live audiences at UCM and elsewhere. Among recent efforts, he performed in the role of Prospero in William Shakespeare's "The Tempest," which was a 2012 mainstage production at UCM. He also directed a production of "Blue Window," which was one of a small number of plays invited for presentation in January 2013 at a seven-state regional festival in Lincoln, Neb. Not afraid to tackle challenging or unusual themes, Herman's own original work includes writing and directing a musical based on the story of Dracula.
To advance the education of UCM students in recent years, Herman led his department in creating new faculty positions, developing a dance program, adding a new Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in musical theatre, and re-vamping the Bachelor of Science in Education in Speech Communication and Theatre. Most recently, he helped university to obtain full institutional accreditation from the National Association of Schools of Theatre.
In commenting on the Byler Award, Herman said it is a humbling experience to be named among those he has worked with and who have helped him grow professionally.
"To be nominated by the theatre and dance faculty and staff is a tremendous compliment and I am proud to work with such a wonderful group of talented teachers, artists and dedicated professionals," he said. "This award is also special because my former theatre faculty mentors Dr. Ed See and David Peerbolte are also recipients of the Byler Award. It is a privilege to share this honor with them."
Press Release Courtesy of UCM Public Relations


text:
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the team behind the original �Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,� dwell in a world somewhere between childlike fantasy and corporate glory in �The Lego Movie.� And the result is pretty awesome. The 100-minute animated adventure, based on the wildly popular Danish building bricks, turns out to be one big, multi-colored block party that is equally entertaining for children and AFOL (Adult Fans of Lego).
At the center of the story is Emmet, an average, rule-following construction worker who roots for the home team, returns compliments, loves Taco Tuesday, and digs the catchy song �Everything is Awesome,� which is everybody�s �jam.�
Soon, an unsuspecting Emmett (voiced by Chris Pratt) stumbles upon something called the �the piece of resistance.� And because of this discovery, he�s believed to be the chosen one (think Neo from �The Matrix�) to save Bricksburg from the malevolent President Business (Will Ferrell) is plotting. It�s up to Emmet to stop him. He�s aided in his quest by a team of �master builders� that includes the streetwise steampunk-esque WyldStyle (Elizabeth Banks), a darker-than-usual Batman (Will Arnett), a demented unicorn-cat mix called Unikitty (Alison Brie) and the heroic wizard Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman having fun poking holes in his God-like persona). Cartoonish peril develops as Emmet and his pals set out to thwart Business while outrunning a duplicitous good cop/bad cop, grumbly voiced by Liam Neeson.
A brick-by-brick, click-by-click trippy cruise through the Lego universe ensues, stopping in Bricksville, the Old West and Middle Zealand. It�s as if a child�s playroom has come to life. The action is fast, colorful and messy. There are also numerous Minifigure cameos from Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, C-3PO, Gandalf, Abraham Lincoln, Shaquille O�Neal and nods to Lego�s more in-demand playsets such as Star Wars and Ninjago. My 7-year-old son was thrilled to see all his favorite Lego characters share the screen.
The save-the-world plot setup is flimsy at best, but it�s bolstered by clever commentary on conformity and creativity. Color outside the lines and eschew instruction books is the message Lord and Miller proffer and they aim it squarely at the moms and dads in the theater. If you�ve ever spent half-a-day building the 1,174-piece Lego Ninjago Fire Temple only to have it broken apart, blended with pirate or castle pieces and reassembled into something else, you�ll pick right up on what the filmmakers are laying down. The pontificating on living in compliance sails right over the heads of the film�s target audience, but for adults, the preaching grows tedious. That�s just a minor quibble, however, in a film that�s an irreverent ride for Legomaniacs of all ages.
Dana Barbuto may be reached at email@example.com, or follow her on Twitter at @danabarbuto.


text: Science, Religion, and Culture (SRC) at Harvard Divinity School conducts interdisciplinary research and convenes forums to inform public and scholarly conversations on the interaction of scientific, religious, and cultural constructs around the world. Focusing on the anthropological, historical, philosophical, and theological dimensions, SRC investigates science and religion beyond given categories, carefully unpacking the production and consumption of these discourses and their interactions in many different socio-historical contexts. The program invites students, scholars, faculty, and members of the public to participate in our mission through various fellowship programs, public events, digital publication, and scholarly conferences.


text:
- This event has passed.
Trivia Mafia
March 2, 2019 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
An event every week that begins at 7:00 pm on Saturday, repeating until December 31, 2019
Free to play! Prizes to be won!
Trivia Mafia is old-school, team-based, pen-and-paper trivia. (None of this touchscreen nonsense.) We ask questions about everything under the sun (and, in certain astronomy-themed rounds, stuff beyond that). Pop culture, history, geography, science, even wordplay and puzzles. There are no rules. Well, actually, there is one rule. As we like to say: "Use your noodle. Not your Google."
Trivia Mafia players know that a fun night out at the bar means putting the screens away and arguing with your friends about which Tex-Mex food's name means "thingamajig" in English (chimichanga) or which MTV show is called "Macaroni Rascals" in Japan (Jersey Shore). All while competing with other knowitalls for trivia glory.
Thousands of people have made a Trivia Mafia night their weekly trivia fix.


text:
Audi Leasing and Contract Hire Offers
A great selection of Audi Leasing Offers. All brand new. Business and personal contracts. Choose from all models in the Audi range, from the small A1 Hatchback to the Q7 SUV. Many models include the fabulous Quattro four wheel drive system, made famous by the incredible Audi Quattro and be found in the range topping Audi R8.
Can't find an offer that ticks your boxes? Call us or submit an enquiry- our friendly team will be happy to find you a new Audi lease.
Please select a model of Audi
Audi A3 DIESEL SPORTBACKPrices shown are for Business Contract Hire and exclude VAT, click Get A Quote to see Personal Contract Hire prices.
Non special offer prices shown in blue are business contract hire rates based on a 48 month contract, with an initial rental equivalent to 9 rentals, annual mileage of 8000 miles, and exclude VAT. Special offer prices may be subject to differing terms, click Get a Quote for details.


text:
Boy, do people love Final Fantasy Tactics. They love it so much they'd marry it, if human-video-game marriage were legal. It's a desert-island game for approximately 70 per cent of the video gaming population; it's been replayed more often than The White Album.
Over the past couple of weeks, I've begun playing the 1998 strategy role-playing game for the first time. With tips from our resident FFT expert Jason Schreier, I finally (finally!) managed to survive the Dorter Slums. I'm already liking the game, but the near-universal adoration it enjoys is so intense and dogmatic that I wanted to explore it further before I played too much more myself. So, I asked a few people who make games why they love Final Fantasy Tactics.
"Saying Final Fantasy Tactics is your favourite Final Fantasy game is like saying Jed Bartlet is your favourite US president," said Darius Kazemi, game designer at Bocoup, in an email. "It is at once obviously correct, and obviously cheating."
In particular, Kazemi loves how Tactics is so unbalanced. "The thing I like best about FFT is how it's not afraid to let the player power up and essentially break everything," he said. "While it's important to have a balanced combat system in a multiplayer game, it's not nearly as important in a singleplayer game. FFT says "to hell with balance!" and gives you a set of fascinating systems that you can bend to your will.
He continued by detailing an exploit likely well-known to most hardcore Tactics players: "My fondest memory was building the ultimate Calculator (the coolest mage class ever), who would cast Holy on every character standing at an elevation that is also a prime number. This would often one-hit kill every single enemy and ally on the map, including the Calculator himself, the only survivor being the one party equipped with an item that absorbed Holy damage."
Trent Polack, senior game designer at LightBox Interactive, is also a fan of the Calculator, also known as the Arithmetician: "Final Fantasy Tactics is the greatest SRPG that will ever exist for one reason: The arithmetician.
"Look at this shit." Polack said. "'These calculating strategists employ the principles of arithmetic law to pinpoint targets for their attacks'. That is the actual description of a class in a video game. You choose an attribute and a numerical base and everyone on the board (friend or foe) is affected by whatever spell you use in conjunction."
Polack said that about sums it up for him. "I don't really have a better reason than that; I feel like that class just encompasses everything that is amazing about Final Fantasy Tactics."
Supergiant Games creative director Greg Kasavin agrees, telling me in an email, "It's a game whose flaws I think contribute to its unique personality. Vital aspects of the experience, charming, idiosyncratic quirks give the game a distinct personal feel." Like Kazemi, Kasavin has a favourite anecdote: "There's one particularly notorious battle about two-thirds of the way through the game where you can become impossibly stuck if you've been using the same save slot the entire time and saving when the game suggests you should. In principle, that's not good design. The first time I played the game, I had to start over after 20 hours or more. But in the end, I really love that battle — it's an outstanding moment in the story, and suitably challenging given who you're up against."
Polack elaborated on the game's strange imbalances: "There are horrible strategies that make the game very difficult. There are degenerate strategies that make the game incredibly easy. And then there's the game that most people play: a strategy game that provides an obscene amount of meaningful character customisation and a mix of determinism/randomness to make it deep enough for people (like myself) to play the game from start to finish upwards of 10 times over the course of fourteen-fifteen years."
That deep level of customisation seems like a key part of why people still play Tactics fifteen years after it came out. Kasavin says he recently replayed the game over the holidays, using his Vita to emulate the PlayStation version. (For my part, I'm playing the PSP port, which I gather has some slowdown issues but is also a superior translation. We'll see.) "The job system is so open-ended that each time I play through, my path is different," Kasavin said. "I discover some other cool and effective combination of abilities for my team of characters. It's one of those games where your long-term planning can really pay off, and each battle pushes you a little closer to some exciting late-game outcome."
Everyone I talked to agreed that the story is another high point. I have to say, six hours in, I already see what they're talking about. It's a remarkably grounded, nuanced tale. "The best part is that the game has aged well," Polack said, "and the story — while very male-oriented — is actually about politics and war and country and treason and not how stupidly big someone's chainsaw is."
"The story has all the weight and intrigue of a Shakespearean tragedy," Kasavin said, "and I love that such an ambitious and genuinely epic story is delivered using these doll-like characters that look like they could have come from a children's game."
Matthew Burns, founder of Shadegrown Games, went into greater detail. "It strikes a perfect balance between the traditional whimsy of the Final Fantasy series with a more serious, and ultimately rather dark, story. Framed from the perspective of a historian look back on events in the murky past, the game's presentation of its world is relatively reserved: it presents the player with a sweeping look at people, politics, and events without itself getting too caught up in any of its own characters' emotions and causes."
Burns sent me a lengthy email in which he went into detail about his love of Hitoshi Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata's soundtrack, which he says is arguably the best Final Fantasy soundtrack of all time. "[The score] captures the ornate, fantasy-baroque visual style of the game's setting, Ivalice," he wrote, "but it doesn't lose itself in the details as so many orchestral soundtracks tend to do. It's exciting without being bombastic, melodic without the overuse of leitmotifs, memorable without being catchy."
Burns pointed out three tracks in particular: The familiar-sounding "P.R. Movie", which plays around with Uematsu's famous Final Fantasy harp arpeggios to hint that this game will be darker and more complicated than past games, as well as "Tutorial," which to his ear is peppy and exciting, but "without being a goofy, too-perky anime song that a more typical JRPG might've had in its place."
I'll copy in his entire analysis of his third pick, because it's good stuff:
The first main battle theme from the game, "Trisection," exhibits all of the balance I mentioned earlier. It's serious but not self-regardingly so. It's big and orchestral but not shrill and over-dramatic. It doesn't rely on a theme that might as well be in a pop song, but it's still very driven by melody and harmony.
The way the theme from the first few bars repeats four times over - first singular, then harmonized, then repeated again in the background, fugue-style, then harmonized again with the horn - suggests the bourgeoning conflict that's soon to envelop the continent, without being overly portentous or mock-sad. You can tell shit's getting started, but it's not telling you *how* you're supposed to feel about that - not just yet.
People love Final Fantasy Tactics for all sorts of reasons, from the story, to the music, to the wonderfully weird way it's designed. They love what it does right, and they love what it gets wrong. I'm looking forward to digging in deeper; you'll be hearing about the game more this month at Kotaku. I'll hopefully come back to these folks and a few more to talk about the game once I've played more.
For now, I'm curious to hear from you. With no big story spoilers, if you can help it: Why do you love (or hate) Final Fantasy Tactics?