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Platforms: PlayStation 3//Xbox 360//PC
Publisher: Capcom Developer: Dontnod Entertainment
Genre: Beat 'em Up//Action Platformer Platform Played: PlayStation 3
Dystopian futures have always found a way to intrigue me, so when I heard Remember Me would be delving into such an interesting subject manner – I took notice. The 2084 world of Neo-Paris has allowed a new major corporation to rise immense popularity, the company in question is Memorize. Dealing in people memories the company is able to upload important, remove tragic and share wonderful memories through their Sensational Engine (Sensen). The ability has allowed Memorize to gain great power over the world, they are able to manipulate the population as they see fit and even completely wipe the memory of an individual.
Our hero Nilin is a Memory Hunter and vigilante, who is opposed to the 1984 world Memorize has created. We join Nilin directly after suffering from one of these memory wipes, she is left with no clue about her past or who she was. Seems like a mechanic that has been used countless times before, right? However in the context of the world, it makes perfect sense and works wonders. We experience the gorgeous world Dontnod Entertainment has created, alongside Nilin.
The attention to detail in this world is astounding, as I constantly found myself distracted by the minor details etched around my surroundings. Pieces of information from our environment appear in the world, for instance if I am near fire the temperate of said fire will be displayed in front of my very eyes. The unique art style is a beauty to behold, seeing the newly developed architecture and great use of a simple colour palette, continuously reminded me of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Players looking for more information on this dystopian future are welcome to search for collectibles, that offer an abundance of information that explain characters, landmarks and major events that have occurred in the universe of Remember Me.
We follow Nilin's story as she is determined to regain her stolen memories, while taking down the Memorize corporation. Known as an Errorist, Nilin is hunted from the very beginning as she escapes from the high security prison known as La Bastille. It is an intriguing plot, albeit predicable at times and suffering from some cheesy dialog, it doesn't hurt the enjoyable experience presented. Nilin is a likeable, kind-hearted hero who wants to do what's right. Yet her situation puts her in positions where we must really question our own moral ambiguity, alongside her. She wants to help people rise up against Memorize, but she doesn't want to sink lower than the company she despises to do so. This is where some deep underlining thoughts are woven nicely. Are our actions for the greater good? Is it fair to sacrifice the few for the many? And most prominent question, is altering the memory of others justified?
These moments are presented during one of the games most unique mechanics, called Memory Remixes. During these interactive puzzle scenes, Nilin enters the mind of another character, where she is now able to change events to suit her means. These become a process of trial and error as you interact with certain glitches within the memory, to provide the outcome you desire. These provided something I had never seen before, instead of a simple "choose A or B" sequence, these Remixes allowed me to feel like I was truly playing with someone's mind. The interactive element made these sequences my favourite feature of Remember Me.
Nilin also uses her Memory Hunter abilities to traverse the world, where certain sections will require stealing memory's that provide information to open doors, traversing dangers and so forth. Remember Me's traversal elements are very standard, your Sensen will always tell you the next ledge to climb too and this guided tour takes away the freedom of finding your own path. Other games like the Uncharted series have been able to mask the guided tour it presents to players, in the world itself. Yet Remember Me's traversal ends up feeling completely generic and linear, rather than provide anything unique to the experience. These guided tours are also extremely noticeable due to the worlds claustrophobic feel. Ledges that look climbable will somehow kill you, arrays of shops are all closed and many places are off limits. This linearity hurts the experience. I am the best Memory Hunter in the land, yet I cannot drop down 1 metre because the game dictates that I am not allowed to do so. The lush world of Neo-Paris looks amazing and I wanted to explore what has been expertly crafted, but they never let you the player off the leash.
Remember Me's main gameplay mechanics revolves around the games combat, which requires you to fight a lot of enemies throughout this experience – I mean a lot. Nilin's combat style is similar to the Arkham series, with the ability to evade attacks and jump between enemies with ease. Nilin also has special abilities which she can use during combat, such as becoming invisible, becoming super strong, setting off memory bombs and taking over robotic enemies to attack your foes. The problem is, even when Nilin is super powered, she feels super weak. I understand the character is meant to rely on her athleticism, but her weaknesses stands out like a sore thumb. When you are fighting one enemy and constantly laying combos for a good 30 seconds and the enemy is not going down, it becomes a monotonous chore when you just want to proceed to the next room.
On the other hand I really enjoyed combat for the most part, in a weird sense Remember Me's battles become very much like a musical rhythm game. This is because of the games Combo Lab, which is where players can use items called Pressen's to create combos that add extra buffers to your attacks. For example, I can designate a 4 strike combo where 3 of those button presses could regenerate my health, while the other decreases the amount of time I have to wait between using my special abilities. This provides a strong tactical mindset to combat, especially when Remember Me is constantly throwing new enemy verities that require juggling certain Pressen's to survive.
Many times I found myself trying to his these combo's with Guitar Hero-esque accuracy. One enemy type will decrease your health with every strike you land, which means you should focus on a health based combo so your health is constantly being replenished while you take the enemy down. It becomes quite satisfying to pull off certain combos, at certain times and see your plan of attack absolutely dominate your enemies. These battles were kept fresh because of these new enemy types, and although Nilin's combat still felt concerningly weak, the strategic elements of combat made battles more enjoyable.
Combat is made difficult at times due to the poor camera. Since the camera focuses on creating a cinematic, sweeping imagery during fight scenes and traversal, we are given a camera that decides to go in the most awkward positions. Losing track of enemies is a constant battle, being able to barely see Nilin as she traverses the world, even boss fights become more of a challenge due to some poor work on the cameras end. We are given some great cinematic footage during our traversal at times, really setting a great scope of the world Dontnod has created. Yet this emphasis on cinematics seems to have come at the sacrifice of a camera that truly works.
Remember Me offers many boss fights that challenge the most skilled players, forcing them to juggle their combo Pressen's while using your special abilities against the boss. These fights became an absolute joy, since they truly rely on thinking before you act, instead of running in with fists of fury. There is a real strong system on offer here because of the Combo Lab. This in total leaves quite a mixed bag. In some ways I completely loved the strategic combat, but then there are some aspects where they completely missed the mark. Overall I feel this is an innovative system that kept combat fresh, but definitely has some kinks that could be ironed out in any future titles.
Remember Me's world is greatly emphasised due to its incredible cinematic soundtrack, which once again was very reminiscent of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. The soundtrack takes orchestral sounds which have become common place in video games, but adds electronic elements to create a futuristic-cinematic blend – and it works. It feels right at home alongside the games art style, which does an impressive job at making the universe feel like one cohesive package.
The main issues in the sound department come from the many times the games audio bugged out. I had multiple sections where the games audio would replay in the background while it was still running, causing this echo effect that was completely incoherent. This wasn't a onetime thing either, this happened a handful of times and the audio itself would stutter, choke and basically break down during cut scenes and gameplay. I loved the games soundtrack and the voice acting was serviceable, but these constant audio issues took me out of the experience far too many times.
Remember Me has some issues, but even though these are clearly apparent it provided an experience I thoroughly enjoyed. Nilin's story was able to captivate from the very beginning and you feel a real sense of connection with the character, which is made stronger due to the fact you can relate to what is happening around her. You are finding out about the world alongside her and dealing with the same moral questions.
This is one of those games that won't resonate with every player, but it has enough enjoyment here to garner a great cult following. Remember Me aimed for some lofty expectations and in many ways did an exceptional job, one that makes me want to experience the world Dontnod has created even further. Remember Me offers a great deal of potential and it would be an absolute shame if we didn't get to explore more of what this franchise has to offer.
+ Unique soundtrack that provides a cinematic feel
+ Enjoyable strategy elements to combat
+ Memory Remixes
+ Gorgeous art style, in a fleshed out world
– Major audio issues throughout
– Claustrophobic environment
– Poor camera becomes an issue during combat
Score: 7.9
Jamie Briggs manages Analog Addiction and you can like them on Facebook, follow his daily life on Twitter @JamieAA and his videos on YouTube.


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More pain: Economy shrinks
Latest GDP report shows that economic activity fell in the third quarter - another warning sign of a recession.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The nation's economy slammed into reverse in the third quarter and suffered its biggest decline in seven years, according to a government report Thursday.
The gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic activity, fell at an annual rate of 0.3%. That compared with a 2.8% growth rate in the second quarter, when growth was boosted by economic stimulus checks and strong exports.
The third quarter decline wasn't quite as bad as experts had forecast. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had estimated GDP would fall 0.5%.
Still, the latest report is yet another warning sign of recession and marked only the fifth quarter in more than 17 years in which GDP did not increase. The report, which covers the three months that ended Sept. 30, did not reflect the full impact of the recent crisis in financial and credit markets.
Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez told CNNMoney.com Thursday that the nation is likely looking at a couple of difficult quarters ahead, although he wouldn't comment on whether the economy has already fallen into a recession.
"I won't get into the labeling debate," he said, while conceding that a negative GDP reading is a worry.
"It is what it is," he said. "It's not what we like to see."
The White House issued a statement pointing to numerous factors that contributed to the weakness, including record high energy prices, housing and credit concerns, two major hurricanes, and a prolonged Boeing strike.
"While we continue to face serious challenges, the United States remains the best place to do business, and we're positioned to bounce back," said White House Press Secretary Dana Perino.
There was a hearing on Capitol Hill Thursday after the report on whether there should be a second economic stimulus package. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., spoke in favor of new help to consumers, the unemployed and local governments, while Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, criticized the idea, saying the economic stimulus package passed earlier this year had not done the job.
Gutierrez said the administration stands ready to discuss a possible stimulus plan with Congressional leaders but it wants to make sure that any help be short-term in nature. He said the administration would like to give the $700 billion Wall Street bailout passed earlier this month a chance to work.
"That is the single biggest stimulus we can do for the economy," he said. "We are already beginning to see indicators that the credit market is beginning to thaw a bit."
As bad as the GDP number was, deeper economic problems loom. Strong exports, spurred by a weak dollar, helped to mitigate the third-quarter downturn. Even Gutierrez conceded the recent rise in the dollar's value and the slowdown of foreign economies will likely dampen gains from exports going forward, although he said he's hopeful that exports can continue to stay strong.
"I would expect that looking down the road, that trade will be a significant part of our future unless we put in place policies that restrict trade," he said.
The report also showed that gross domestic purchases fell 1.3% - the worst reading in 17 years and the third quarter in the last four that has been negative. Spending on durable goods, such as automobiles, showed the biggest decline in 24 years. Meanwhile, spending on nondurables, such as gasoline and food, fell by the most in 58 years when adjusted for inflation as consumers, businesses and governments cut back in the face of higher prices.
Spending by consumers dropped by the largest amount since early 1980. The decline dragged the overall GDP down by 2.25 percentage points - worse than what occurred in the last three recessions in 1982, 1991 and 2001.
"We look at consumers being at 70% of growth and now they're the engine of decline," said Jeoff Hall, chief U.S. economist for Thomson Reuters-IFR Markets.
At Thursday's hearing, New York University economics professor Nouriel Roubini said the GDP report is the clearest sign yet that the country is in a recession and that there needs to be quick congressional action on a new stimulus plan.
"If it walks and quacks like a recession duck, it is a recession duck," he said. He added that the sharp fall in consumer spending is of particular concern.
"Everybody out there feels it," he said. "It's obviously a recession. The only debate at this point is how severe, how protracted."
Roubini called for a stimulus plan that would increase government spending rather than give a new round of tax rebates and business tax incentives like the previous stimulus passed earlier this year.
"If the private sector does not want to spend, the government can spend. If we don't do anything we'll have most severe recession we've had in decades," he said.
But several Republican members of the committee, as well as Ohio University economics professor Richard Vedder, argued that government spending plans have a poor record at spurring the economy and that it's more important to keep deficits under control.
Vedder said that spending as much as $400 billion on a second stimulus package on top of the more than $1 trillion already committed by the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department to address the credit crunch would not be a good idea.
"I think it's a dangerous and somewhat fiscally irresponsible thing to do. In the long run it will inspire a decline in confidence," Vedder said.
Both presidential candidates said the report's weakness was a further argument for their economic proposals and against those of their opponent.
"The decline in our GDP didn't happen by accident - it is a direct result of the Bush administration's trickle-down, Wall Street-first, Main Street-last policies that John McCain has embraced," said a statement from Democratic candidate Barack Obama.
The McCain campaign said Obama's proposals represented change the economy could not afford.
"Obama's ideologically-driven plans to redistribute income will impose higher taxes on families, small businesses, and investors; expensive, rigid, job-killing health mandates on employers," said the statement from McCain economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin.

subset: commoncrawl


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By: Associated Press//February 29, 2012//
By MICHAEL FELBERBAUM
AP Tobacco Writer
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – A judge on Wednesday blocked a federal requirement that would have begun forcing U.S. tobacco companies to put large graphic images on their cigarette packages later this year to show the dangers of smoking and encouraging smokers to quit lighting up.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington ruled that the federal mandate to put the images, which include a sewn-up corpse of a smoker and a picture of diseased lungs, on cigarette packs violates the free speech amendment to the Constitution.
He had temporarily blocked the requirement in November, saying it was likely cigarette makers will succeed in a lawsuit, which could take years to resolve. That decision already is being appealed by the government.
Some of the largest U.S. tobacco companies, including R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and Lorillard Tobacco Co., had questioned the constitutionality of the labels, saying the warnings don't simply convey facts to inform people's decision whether to smoke but instead force the cigarette makers to display government anti-smoking advocacy more prominently than their own branding. They also say that changing cigarette packaging will cost millions of dollars.
Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration has said that the public interest in conveying the dangers of smoking outweighs the companies' free speech rights.
In his ruling Wednesday, Leon wrote that the graphic images "were neither designed to protect the consumer from confusion or deception, nor to increase consumer awareness of smoking risks; rather, they were crafted to evoke a strong emotional response calculated to provoke the viewer to quit or never start smoking."
Leon also pointed out alternatives for the federal government to curb tobacco use, such as increasing anti-smoking advertisements, raising tobacco taxes, reducing the size and changing content of the labels, and improving efforts to reduce youth access to tobacco products.
The FDA did not immediately provide a comment on Wednesday's ruling.
Floyd Abrams, a lawyer representing Lorillard in the case, said he was pleased with Wednesday's ruling.
"The government, as the court said, is free to speak for itself, but it may not, except in the rarest circumstance, require others to mouth its position," Abrams said.
The nine graphic images approved by the FDA in June include color images of a man exhaling cigarette smoke through a tracheotomy hole in his throat; a plume of cigarette smoke enveloping an infant receiving a mother's kiss; a pair of diseased lungs next to a pair of healthy lungs; a diseased mouth afflicted with what appears to be cancerous lesions; a man breathing into an oxygen mask; a cadaver on a table with post-autopsy chest staples; a woman weeping; a premature baby in an incubator; and a man wearing a T-shirt that features a "No Smoking" symbol and the words "I Quit."
The FDA requirement said the labels were to cover the entire top half of cigarette packs, front and back and include a number for a stop-smoking hotline. The labels were to constitute 20 percent of cigarette advertising, and marketers were to rotate use of the images.
Joining North Carolina-based R.J. Reynolds, owned by Reynolds American Inc., and Lorillard Tobacco, owned by Lorillard Inc., in the lawsuit are Commonwealth Brands Inc., Liggett Group LLC and Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company Inc.
Richmond, Va.-based Altria Group Inc., parent company of the nation's largest cigarette maker, Philip Morris USA, which makes the top-selling Marlboro brand, is not a part of the lawsuit.
The free speech lawsuit is separate from a lawsuit by several of the same companies over the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. That law, which took effect in 2009, cleared the way for the more graphic warning labels and other marketing restrictions. But it also allowed the FDA to limit nicotine and banned tobacco companies from sponsoring athletic or social events or giving away free samples or branded merchandise.
A federal judge upheld many parts of the law, but the case is now pending before the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.
While the tobacco industry's latest legal challenge may not hold up, it could delay the new warning labels for years. And that is likely to save cigarette makers millions of dollars in lost sales and increased packaging costs.
Tobacco companies are increasingly relying on their packaging to build brand loyalty and grab consumers. It's one of few advertising levers left to them after the government curbed their presence in magazines, billboards and TV.


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Changes in tree-ring density in the Arctic may be evidence of changes in light intensity during the trees' growth, according to a new study by San Francisco State University researcher Alexander Stine.
The finding has direct implications for the tree-ring "divergence problem," a phenomenon that has received considerable media attention but has been widely misinterpreted, said Stine, an assistant professor of Earth & climate sciences.
Tree rings consist of a low density ring, which forms early in the growing season, and a high density ring that forms late in the growing season. In colder parts of the world, the dense latewood rings tend to be denser during warm years. Temperature records inferred from Arctic tree rings do a good job of tracking temperature up until the 1960s, but subsequent Arctic tree-ring densities did not keep pace with increases in temperature, a discrepancy that is called the divergence problem.
Climate scientists have been aware of the divergence problem for some time, and it was mentioned in the emails from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, where it became the focus of attention during the 2009 "Climategate" controversy.
The divergence is not a problem for understanding modern climate change in the Arctic, Stine explained, "because we have thermometers and those thermometers tell us it's warming. But it's a problem because if we want to use these tree rings as a proxy for temperatures of the past, we need to make sure that we understand what's happening now."
Stine sees the new findings as the "bright side" of the divergence problem, one which he hopes will lead to a more informed discussion about climate change. "We could learn more about past variations in light intensity at the Earth's surface, and we may be able to deepen our understanding of both trees and climate."
With his colleague Peter Huybers at Harvard University, Stine set out to understand why tree-ring density was declining in the Arctic. One possible explanation, the two thought, might be changes in light intensity that affected the trees' ability to grow. Starting in the 1960s, the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth's surface has declined. Scientists debate the cause of this "global dimming," with many scientists attributing it to pollution particles injected into the atmosphere by human activity that deflect incoming sunlight.
The researchers tested whether global dimming might be responsible for the decline in tree-ring density in the Arctic. This idea had been proposed in the past, but scientists had not been able to test the hypothesis. "It's very hard to distinguish a record that's controlled by temperature from one that's controlled by light, because light and temperature tend to vary together. Sunnier days are usually warmer," Stine added.
To get around this challenge, the researchers took advantage of the fact that there are regional variations in cloud cover and light availability throughout the Arctic, allowing them to compare trees that grew in the brightest and darkest areas but in comparable temperature ranges. They found that divergence was largest in the darkest parts of the Arctic, where changes in light should have the largest effect.
The researchers used changes in tree-ring density following volcanic eruptions to confirm the findings. Major volcanic events such as the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines also have spewed tons of light-scattering sulfur dioxide particles into the atmosphere, decreasing the amount of sunlight reaching the surface.
Their analysis for seven different tree species suggests variations in light intensity caused by volcanic eruptions and global dimming both affect tree-ring density, and this impact is greatest in the darkest Arctic regions. In the brightest areas, the divergence problem essentially disappears, and tree-ring density is most closely linked to temperature instead.
Stine said the findings could have implications for geoengineering proposals that would pump more aerosol particles into the atmosphere as a way to block sunlight and potentially cool a warming planet. The tree-ring study suggests that Arctic trees might not grow as much -- and thus not soak up as much atmosphere-polluting carbon -- under such a plan.
Story Source:
Materials provided by San Francisco State University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
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Published on Circulatory system.
This is a dilation of the artery wall. It develops where there is a weakness in the wall due to a lesion, a trauma, or a deformity. Sometimes it becomes dilated enough to cause the artery to come in contact with the vein.
Arteries are the yang part of the Circulatory system. They transport oxygen and nutrients to the cells. Artery problems are characteristic of male behaviour, very yang, very warlike, dominated by Cartesian thought and very radical. Artery problems are more common in the upper part of the body, which is more masculine, primarily in the head and thorax.
Artery related problems reflect incapacity to deal with emotions. They reflect an inability to let go and be happy, joyful.
The person who suffers from aneurisms is a very intellectual person who wants to control everything and who does not allow life to flow naturally, a person who wants to show that he is a know-it-all. It is a very yang person, with a very masculine way of being, very warlike.
People with artery problems are people who do not listen to emotions and are driven by rational thought, Cartesian thought.
Vascular accidents that occur in the upper part of the body (head, arms and torso) are more associated with masculine behaviour, very macho, very yang; problems that occur in the lower part of the body (hips and legs) are associated with problems of self-denial, more passive, more feminine, more yin.


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26 February 2011 18:30 | to | 27 February 2011 02:30 |
SATURDAY 26th FEBRUARY 2011
Don't miss this special evening at the Luna Hotel Baglioni to celebrate together the traditional Venice Carnival !
The evening will start at 6.30 pm in the warm atmosphere of the Fireplace Room with our Welcome Cocktail: just in front of the warmlighted-on fireplace you will savour the typical Venetian Canapés while sipping exquisite Cocktails, created for you by our Chef Cosimo. During the cocktail you will be part of one of the most renowned Italian Operas, "La Boheme" by G. Puccini revisited in a funny way by top-level artists, prouded boast the stage of the most famous Italian and International Theatres as well as La Fenice Opera Theatre.
Starting from 8.00 pm we will escort you to the elegant ambience of the Marco Polo Ballroom, with original frescoes by the Pupils of the Tiepolo School, where our Chef Cosimo will amaze you with a refined Carnival Gala Dinner. The Marco Polo Ballroom is the perfect setting to experience the real Carnival of Venice and you will have the chance to parade your Venetian Carnival costumes and traditional Masks !
We will entertain you with special Artists and make you dance till late with Dance Music of our Disk-Jockey: international covers, rock, group dances, music by '70s and '80s… At the end don't miss the exquisite typical Venetian desserts: frittelle and galani, prepared by our Chef.
A sparkling and exciting evening is waiting for you in the elegant ambience of our Luna Hotel Baglioni to celebrate in the most unforgettable way the Carnival of Venice!
Dress Code: Carnival Costume (Costume d'Epoque or Cloak with Mask)
Rate: 290,00 Euro per person (VAT and Wine from Canova Selection included)
Cancellation Policy: by 12.00 p.m. of 18th February 2011, with the whole rate as penalty.
For more information and reservations please contact:
Luna Hotel Baglioni – San Marco 1243 – 30124 Venice Italy
Ph. +39 041 5289840 – Fax +39 041 5287160
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


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Conservative scholar, talk radio host, and former Reagan administration official Mark Levin said conservatives need to first overthrow the Republican establishment to more successfully take on President Barack Obama and the institutional left.
"We cannot get through Obama and the left until we get through the Republican Establishment," Levin said, railing against establishment consultants who attack the base and politicians who know nothing of "Burkean reform" because they have spent their whole careers "clawing their way to the top."
In a talk at the Heritage Foundation on Wednesday with his mentor, former Reagan Attorney General Ed Meese, for whom Levin served as Chief of Staff, Levin said the Republican Party is, "devouring the conservative movement," and the old bulls need to step aside in favor of a new generation of conservatives who are fluent in conservatism.
"It's time for the old bulls to get out of the way and for the fresh faces who believe in conservatism and liberty and originalist principles to step up," Levin said, criticizing those like House Speaker John Boehner for "yielding territory" to the left in negotiations.
Levin said the Tea Party consists of constitutionalists, libertarians, Evangelicals, and those who are against the rigged establishment, beltway culture that for too long has not embraced conservatism and, as a consequence, lost national elections (George H.W. Bush, Bob Dole, John McCain, Mitt Romney).
Levin also named the establishment media organizations and institutions on the right that he said were not helping advance the conservative cause.
He said, "in a lot of our media outlets," there are "a lot of old, dreary people who are just around all the time" who "reject" Reaganism.
Levin named Bill Kristol at the Weekly Standard, who recently called for more tax increases; and the National Review, the Washington establishment publication that vigorously supported Mitt Romney in the primaries, Levin said, in many ways, has "become a mouthpiece for the Republican party."
Levin said the Republican Party will go the way of the Whig Party if they do not put out more "cutting-edge intellectuals and artistic" spokespeople for the conservative cause that transcends race or class.
Shortly after President Barack Obama was elected in 2008, Levin wrote Liberty and Tyranny, which sold over a million copies despite not being reviewed and being completely ignored by mainstream media outlets and programs.
The prescient book not only clearly articulated what would eventually turn out to be the Tea Party's opposition to Obama's statism (Levin knew what Obama was going to do before even Obama) but was also symbolic of how, in the new media age, books and ideas could commercially succeed without the legacy media institutions of yesterday that no longer act as gatekeepers.
To appeal to young people and minorities with conservatism, Levin said Republicans needed to call on parents and grandparents to have an impact on young people and appeal to their sense of liberty and anti-authoritarianism.
He said this "bottom up federalism" can appeal not only to young people but to minorities.
Levin noted that capitalism is the plan and the strategy is the constitution, and that was the foundation of Reaganism.
He said after Reagan, George H.W. Bush lurched to the left rather than "build up Reaganism" and the party and the conservative movement has not been the same since.
Levin also said ethnic front groups who want more balkanization instead of assimilation are also threats and need to be called out.
In talking about Republican institutions, Levin said the Republican National Committee needs to be managed better because, simply put, "when you lose, you gotta bring some other people here."
Levin said Obama would inevitably overreach on many fronts during his second term. For instance, Levin predicted Obama would try to break down America's sovereignty by working with the United Nations on a global tax and committing America to more international military arrangements.
When discussing the future of conservatism, Levin highlighted in particular Texas Senator-elect Ted Cruz and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, among others.
Levin said Palin should be given credit for effectively and enthusiastically articulating the conservative cause, even though she has been attacked by the mainstream media and the Republican establishment.


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Casey Viator's Training
by Achilles Kallos (1971)
Nineteen year old Casey Viator from
Casey has been fortunate in many ways, having a good physical background, sound training advice and a superb genetic potential. At the same time, however, he is an exceptionally hard trainer, in spite of the fact that he works long hours at his job as a welder.
Two former Mr. Americas have guided him: Boyer Coe and Red Lerille. For the past year Casey has been training under the watchful eye of Art Jones of
According to Jones, Casey is one of the strongest men he has ever trained and no one yet has been able to exceed the poundages he uses on the Nautilus machine. Although Casey has not really bothered to exert himself with maximum poundages as he prefers to train for bodybuilding, he has done the following: Bench Press 460 lbs.; Full Squat 505 x 14 reps; Press Behind Neck 280 lbs; and Barbell Curl 225 x 4 reps.
Casey trains three times a week, working the whole body in one workout lasting about 2 to 2½ hours. He employs the Nautilus machine mainly for the arms and lats and conventional barbell and dumbell movements for the rest of the body. When he trains on the conventional exercises he does some of them one after the other without much rest. That is why he is able to train his whole body thoroughly and in such a short time.
Here is Casey's three day a week routine:
Legs (conventional method)
1.) Leg Press 750 lbs. x 20 reps.
2.) Leg Extension – 250 lbs. x 14 to 20 reps.
3.) Full Squat – 505 x 14-20.
4.) Leg Curl – 150 x 14-20.
These exercises are done one after the other without the usual rest associated with such large poundages. I would like to see anyone else duplicate this.
Lats (Nautilus machine)
1.) Pullover – 3 sets of 20 reps.
2.) Circular Pulldown – 3 sets of 20.
3.) Chins – 3 x 20.
Each exercise is done in the normal set fashion.
Deltoids (conventional and Nautilus)
1.) Standing Laterals – 60 lbs. x 3 sets of 20 reps.
2.) Barbell Press Behind Neck – 215 lbs. x 3 sets of 20 reps.
3.) Nautilus Lateral Raise – 3 x 20.
You will note that two movements are done with barbell and dumbells and one on the Nautilus.
4.) Barbell Shrug – 280 lbs. 3 x 20.
Chest (conventional)
1.) Barbell Bench Press – 350 lbs. 2 x 20.
2.) Incline Barbell Press – 225 lbs. 3 x 20.
3.) Dips – 100 lbs. 3 x 20.
4.) Cable Crossover – 40 lbs. 3 x 20.
Arms (Nautilus)
1.) Conventional Barbell Curl – 200 lbs. 1 x 20.
2.) Combination Triceps and Biceps exercise – 120 lbs. 1 x 20.
3.) Triceps Extension (similar to pulley pushdown) – 110 lbs. 1 x 20.
4.) Compound Triceps movement – 1 x 20.
Calves (conventional)
1.) One Legged Calf Raise – 85 lb. dumbell 4 x 50.
Forearms (conventional)
1.) Barbell Wrist Curl – 145 lbs. 2 x 20.
400 lbs. 1 set of 30 reps.
Many of us think we are training hard, but after looking at Casey's routine we might have to review our definition of hard work! You will note he employs high reps. Obviously this involves a lot of concentration as well.


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Note that Stimpy is out of sync as he says 'hoedown'. For some reason there were 2 versions of the song - using the broadcast version threw Stimpy's animation way out of sync. I've included a piece of the pencil test that has the track we used for animation. (it's slightly out of sync too but closer than the broadcast version) Why it was changed I don't know. Hey Bob Camp - if you're reading this, can you shed some insight on why that happened.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
O.T. - Interlude of Shameless Self-promotion
Note that Stimpy is out of sync as he says 'hoedown'. For some reason there were 2 versions of the song - using the broadcast version threw Stimpy's animation way out of sync. I've included a piece of the pencil test that has the track we used for animation. (it's slightly out of sync too but closer than the broadcast version) Why it was changed I don't know. Hey Bob Camp - if you're reading this, can you shed some insight on why that happened.
37 comments:
- Austin Papageorge said...
Hi, Bob Jacques.
I love every Ren and Stimpy episode done by your studio. It's honestly amazing where some of the stars at Carbunkle have gone on to do.
Maybe you could tell us what's in store Carbunkle's future? - March 15, 2009 at 1:27 PM
- Thad said...
You lie so much. All of the soul is in the layouts by Kricfalusi. Anyone could have done what you did. Just like Chuck Jones' 'animators'.
- March 15, 2009 at 4:32 PM
- J.V. (AKA "White Pongo") said...
I heard that computers do all the animation these days so I have left a pencil next to my hard drive along with some milk and cookies in case my computer gets hungry while it is animating a scene.
- March 15, 2009 at 7:20 PM
- Thad said...
BTW, those are completely different takes of Stimpy saying "Come on everybody, let's have a hoedown!" Billy held the 'own' a little longer in the track you animated to it seems.
- March 16, 2009 at 4:20 PM
- Kevin Langley said...
Cool, one of my favorite R&S cartoons. Thanks for sharing that pencil test.
- March 16, 2009 at 7:15 PM
- p spector said...
You're so beautiful when you're angry -- you know that?
- March 17, 2009 at 5:56 AM
- Zach Cole said...
I always noticed that! I thought to myself, "why did his mouth keep moving?" Now I know I'm not crazy.
- March 18, 2009 at 12:59 AM
- Ricardo Cantoral said...
I loved this episode so much just because of the work you did Bob. That Abner and Ewalt stuff kills me everytime. That part were they both threw the nooses around their necks was cut from the DVD collection.
"Contrary to some opinions circulating the internet, animating Ren and Stimpy was not just the act of doing inbetweens."
Who would say something that stupid ? >:( Please tell me so that I may eat their parents. - March 18, 2009 at 11:28 AM
- Ted said...
I think I have insufficient context to determine if Thad's first comment is sarcastic or not...
- March 18, 2009 at 11:59 AM
- Bob Jaques said...
Hey Ted,
'Just like Chuck Jones' 'animators'' sums up the tone of Thad's comment. - March 18, 2009 at 2:29 PM
- Ted said...
I'm still lost. Who knows what lurks in the mind of Thad? (Note: I am not played by Orson Welles, so I don't know)
- March 18, 2009 at 3:27 PM
- Bob Jaques said...
It was Thad's bit of sarcasm.It's ludicrous to assume that all Chuck Jones' animators did was IB his layout poses. If you search on the internet you can find out who made that claim.
- March 18, 2009 at 3:33 PM
- Ricardo Cantoral said...
I belive that Chuck did want his animators to copy his drawings but they were first and foremost animators, it's insane to think ALL they did was copy though. Oh I know who said it alright but he thinks that Bob Clampett created Bugs ! Oops ! I may have given a hint. :P
- March 18, 2009 at 3:43 PM
- Thad said...
- This comment has been removed by the author.
- March 18, 2009 at 6:45 PM
- Ricardo Cantoral said...
Oh well, I might as well just say I hope John is still paying all the money he owes you Bob. I heard he blew the budget of APC in like two episodes.
- March 18, 2009 at 7:16 PM
- Ryan Khatam said...
Hi Bob! You are awesome. I still have the Baby Huey tape you so graciously emailed me for free.
I'm guessing John was the one who said carbunkle merely inbetweened R&S layout poses..? How fucking unappreciative can you get. But I'm also not surprised, assuming it was him who said it. - March 19, 2009 at 12:53 AM
- Bob Jaques said...
Hey Rick,
To John's credit, we finally got some money from him last summer. It wasn't the full amount but something is better than nothing. - March 19, 2009 at 6:37 AM
- Ted said...
Just checking, Thad. It's sometimes hard to keep track of exactly who hates who on the internet at any given time.
- March 19, 2009 at 8:24 AM
- Ricardo Cantoral said...
Good. I hope he pays you back every penny. - March 19, 2009 at 10:18 AM
- Craig D said...
I like cartoons.
- March 19, 2009 at 10:49 AM
- p spector said...
I like cartoons too! Many that I enjoy would probably not be worth my while to watch were it not for some of the varied yet particularly extraordinary talent that go into making them.
- March 19, 2009 at 11:08 AM
- Bob Camp said...
Hey Bob,
Honestly I don't remember. That cartoon was one of the first digitally inked and painted. The studio that did it had lots of under paid kids working around the clock and it was kind of a mess. I believe that all of the animation drawings got stolen by somebody that worked there.
If I had to remember every little detail about each of those cartoons I'd have to shoot myself. - March 19, 2009 at 12:33 PM
- Thad said...
I like cartoons too. So, do you think Wimpy's hamburger tab is $100,000 by now?
- March 19, 2009 at 12:35 PM
- Thad said...
- This comment has been removed by the author.
- March 19, 2009 at 12:45 PM
- Ricardo Cantoral said...
Bob C.:
That's terrible ! :( You get way too much shit about Ren and Stimpy. The Spumco/Wild Cartoon Kingdom propaganda made you like a traitor. - March 19, 2009 at 2:18 PM
- chrisallison said...
Bob, your animation skills are really tops! I wish you were out in LA so I could soak up some of your talent.
- March 19, 2009 at 2:34 PM
- Hobo Divine said...
Oh my God!
Blast from the past.
Correct me if I'm wrong Bob (Jaques) but that crazy line 23 R7 9 11 wasn't that the show Code for Out West.
I'm not sure now it was so long ago.
It stood out because in my head because I remember we had to rubber stamp our scenes with the Show's Code.
(EVERY DRAWING) but now thinking about it, I guess it sure beats writing it out in pencil.
!!! - March 19, 2009 at 2:59 PM
- Craig D said...
Quote: "I like cartoons too. So, do you think Wimpy's hamburger tab is $100,000 by now?"
Excellent forum topic, Thad! I am so stealing that one! - March 23, 2009 at 10:48 AM
- Thad said...
Bob, apparently I copy all of my opinions from you and others! Fancy that!
- April 3, 2009 at 5:05 PM
- Bob Jaques said...
"Thad said...
Bob, apparently I copy all of my opinions from you and others! Fancy that!"
Really - that's interesting. I didn't think I had that power of persuasion over others. Another false statement committed to the internet. Sorry to hear it Thad. - April 3, 2009 at 5:14 PM
- Ricardo Cantoral said...
I am sorry to inform you Bob but doing all the timing and direction for Ren and Stimpy only adds up to 10% of the work overall. This is according to John's math, which is of course, infallible.
- April 3, 2009 at 5:30 PM
- Bob Jaques said...
"I am sorry to inform you Bob but doing all the timing and direction for Ren and Stimpy only adds up to 10% of the work overall. This is according to John's math, which is of course, infallible."
I'm sorry to hear that too. I'm also sorry to hear that John has diminished my and Carbunkle's contribution to the show. - April 3, 2009 at 8:59 PM
- Thad said...
you can get sued for lies like that.
- April 4, 2009 at 7:43 AM
- Brubaker said...
I don't think I've ever seen this episode before. That was a hoot!
I like the comments here, if only because I like to read about the "drama" in animation (I'm serious)
What's Carbunkle doing lately, BTW? I noticed that the studio recieved credit in "Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack" (for sheet timing), but that was for only one episode. - April 4, 2009 at 9:22 AM
- david said...
Hey Bob, You're an animation master no doubt. John likes to take credit for a lot of things without acknowledging others. He even admitted to not liking to do "inbetweens" because they were "boring" as if it was something BENEATH him. But we all know that every single drawing counts in animation and if it's off it turns a solid scene into a wonky one (check out the bjork one john animated "straight ahead" ) I just don't think he's an animator and shouldn't try doing it unless he wants to sit down to take the time to figure things out the right way instead of passing it off as some self righteous "straight ahead-make-every-drawing-funny -scene"
I for one appreciate the massive amounts of skill and control it takes to do very tight drawings and subtle inbetweens...and all the hard work you and your crew at Carbunkle did to make the animation smooth, on point and just a sheer pleasure to watch.. It turned what could have been another pose to pose/pop to pose limited cartoon into a show with awesome, stellar animation.
Also, after re-watching a couple of the classics i realized how congested some of the layouts were (probably to exaggerate an awkward moment) but from an animation standpoint it must have been a complete pain in the ass to make things work around layouts like those. Again. I appreciate the funny drawings done by the spumco crew, but the cartoons would have been very bland and lifeless if you guys were not involved.
Hopefully people will come to ignore comments that undermine animators. Maybe once they realize that it's a dying artform, especially in this continent anyway, they might learn to appreciate more instead of being so consumed with preproduction or static funny drawings. - May 4, 2009 at 7:08 PM
- Bob Jaques said...
Hey David,
Thanks for the compliments and comments. Your observations are right on the money.
As I have said in the past - animating for R&S was a problem solving process - trying to get all the layouts to work together to look seamless and make the animation 'sing' was a challenge. It took extra work to mask all the volume changes that were often between layouts - and that meant making key drawings to hide those volume changes. To say that it's just inbetweening and that inbetweens are unimportant is ludicrous. I'm glad that you and others have the eye to appreciate the work we put into the series.
If you watch Eddie Fitzgerald's 'Tales of Worm Paranoia' you can see the effect of not masking the volume changes. In some of the scenes that were animated overseas the characters melt from pose to pose and the volume changes are noticeable. IMO it made that animation look cheap by drawing attention to those changes. Had we taken the easy way out and 'just inbetweened' the layouts our animation for R&S would have been a bunch of shapes melting from one pose to another. - May 5, 2009 at 8:18 AM
- Eric Noble said...
I don't know exacty how you guys made this, but it is beautiful to watch. For TV animation, it's stellar and the song is absolutely hilarious. I'm probably going to be singing that song for the rest of the day.
- June 6, 2009 at 11:00 AM


text:
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For shoppers, cash is back in vogue
Americans are shying away from incurring more credit card debt, but that may be a problem for retailers.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The latest fall style for credit-addicted Americans: paying with cash.
But that's not necessarily a good thing for retailers who are struggling to lift sagging sales.
What's more, industry watchers point out that a growing preference for cash poses a more direct challenge to online retailers - since computers don't accept cash just yet.
Credit expert Howard Dvorkin said Americans tend to resort to cash in troubling times.
"There was a retreat to cash after 9/11 (the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks) and the recent market collapse is having a similar effect," said Dvorkin, who is also the founder of Consolidated Credit Counseling Services.
To his point, a survey conducted last month by Javelin Strategy & Research showed 39% of consumers decreased their credit card usage, up from 37% in April.
The survey polled 2,339 consumers nationwide.
Still, since Americans are hard-wired to use credit, Dvorkin thinks this shift to cash will be temporary.
"It's hard to to teach an old dog new tricks," Dvorkin said. "Consumers have short memories. When the economy turns around, they'll return to the same old ways."
Don't tell that to Deanne Durkee. The 44-year-old computer programmer who lives in Dudley, Mass., still has her credit cards but hasn't used them in more than two years.
And she's sticking to cash to make all of her Christmas gift purchases.
"I had $35,000 in credit card debt. I consolidated my debt and I've almost paid off all of it," she said. She intends to hold on to her credit cards for "emergencies only."
"Using cash has been a great lesson for my kids. It's taught them to budget and it's taught them about delayed gratification," Durkee said. "If you wait to buy something, sometimes you realize you don't need or want it anymore."
Christopher Bukowski, 29, a video producer from Florida, uses cash every time he shops. "It keeps me honest and within my means," he said.
That wasn't always the case.
Like Durkee, he also had thousands of dollars in credit card debt. "I was living in a false reality," he said. "I was so used to reaching for the credit card. It was easy to buy the big flatscreen TV even when it wasn't necessary."
Bukowski has eliminated his debt and he's making only cash purchases. "I might get a credit card again in the future," he said.
The shift away from credit cards - even if it's short-lived - could be another blow for retailers who are already facing a very difficult sales year.
"With credit cards, consumers spend 30% more (on purchases) than with cash," Dvorkin said.
So if retailers see cash being used more in coming weeks, it could potentially hurt sales over the critical holiday shopping period of November through December.
That two-month period typically accounts for half or more of merchants' annual profits and sales.
"Obviously there is much more disappointment coming [for retailers]," said Stevan Buxbaum, retail analyst with consulting firm Buxbaum Group.
"If consumers are paying with cash, they will be more selective in what they're buying and they'll probably buy fewer items," Buxbaum said.
Online merchants are feeling especially anxious.
"I am very worried about consumers using cash," said Neel Grover, CEO of Buy.com. The e-tailer sells a variety of products, including clothes, computers, books and luggage.
So Grover said he's partnering with vendors who provide alternative payment options in a bid to hold on to crucial sales in the days ahead.
Grover said Ebillme is one such partner.
Ebillme is a cash-based payment system through which consumers don't have to provide the e-tailer or ebillme with their credit or debit card number, or any other financial information.
Ebillme CEO Marwan Forzley said his company has received a lot of interest lately from top e-tailers. "We are in active discussions with many of the leading pure-play online merchants and traditional retailers with Web sites," he said.
Gilbert Fiorentino, CEO of Tigerdirect.com, an online electronics seller, offers its customers the ebillme payment in addition to credit card payment options.
"We've definitely seen some of our customers migrating to ebillme over the last few weeks," Fiorentino said.
"The way I see it is that life has changed for Americans," Forzley said. "It's no longer a buy now, pay later mentality out there.
"People want to buy now and pay now, and sleep better at night," he said.
To that end, Consolidated Credit Counseling Services' Dvorkin offered a win-win proposition for both consumers and retailers.
"In general, using credit cards isn't a bad thing in itself." he said. "Just make sure you don't carry over any balance when you do."


text:
Amazon.com has announced a new promotion tool this past week called the Kindle Countdown Deals.
It gives the authors the opportunity to promote their books but also a big bargain for people to buy books at very low prices.
I have enrolled in this program which starts as from today in the United States and tomorrow in the U.K. and ends in one week.
Amazon launched a dedicated website at www.amazon.com/kindlecountdowndeals and http://www.amazon.co.uk/b?ie=UTF8&node=3415852031 for readers to browse deals.
Here are the links for my e-books.
At Amazon.com: Volume 1 $0.99
At Amazon.com: Volume 2 $0.99
At Amazon.U.K.: Volume 1 £0.99
At Amazon U.K.: Volume 2 £0.99
The first 53 hours my books will be discounted at 91% so each volume will be sold at $0.99 at Amazon.Com or £0.99 at Amazon.Uk. After the 53 hours it will be sold at 61% discount and the next 53 hours at 31%. At the end of the week the price will be back to normal again.
Here are a few facts about the e-books:
Cypriot cuisine is shaped by the island's Mediterranean climate, geography, and history. The majority of its recipes are based on Greek cuisine and the Mediterranean Diet, which is one of the healthiest in the world, using fresh, wholesome ingredients. Cyprus's strategic location in the Eastern Mediterranean, situated between the crossroads of three continents, had brought to the island many conquerors and thus its cuisine has evolved into an amalgamation of diverse tastes and textures, with an unmistakable mark that makes it undeniably Cypriot.
These e-cookbooks are based on the cookbook in print under the same tile but expanded with a collection of over 260 of the best traditional Greek-Cypriot recipes and is divided in two Volumes.
In Volume 1 you will find all the savory Main Dishes, Side Dishes, Mezedes & Salads, Dips, etc.
Some popular Cypriot main dishes are Sheftalia, Kolokassi, Koupepia, Ravioles, Savoro, Souvla, Afelia, Ttavas, Atthoi, Kouneli Stifado, Keftedes, Souvlakia etc.
Here are a few sides dishes and salads: Pilafi Pourgouri, Pilafi me Fide, Kroketes, Salata Horiatiki, Salads with Halloumi, etc.
In Volume 2 you will find Breads, Pites (pies), snacks, almyra (savoury pastries), traditional and modern Desserts, etc.
Koupes, Eliotes, Flaounes, Kifylla, Pittes (flatbread), Glistarkes, Tahinopites, Tyropita/Halloumopita, Pites (Savory Pies, such as Spanakopita, Tyropita, etc.), Kolokotes, Lahmacun, Mini Phyllo Tyropita Muffins, etc.
Traditional desserts such as Shiamishi, Pastitsia (almond cookies), Daktyla, Palouzes, Karaoloi, Kourabiedes, Loukoumia tou Gamou (Wedding cakes), Melomakarona, Baklavas, Cakes / Vassilopita, Kalon Prama, etc.
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Here are a few of the most common names celebrating thoughout this period:
21st November: Despoina, Maria, Marika, Maro, Marios.
25th November: Katerina, Catherine, Katy, Korina.
26th November: Stelios, Stella.
30th November: Andrew, Andreas, Andriana, Androulla, Andri.
04th Dececember: Varvara, Barbara, Vana.
05th December: Savvas, Savvina.
06th December: Nicos, Nick, Nikki, Nikoleta.
09th December: Anne, Anna, Annita.
12th December: Spyros, Spiridoula.
15th December: Lefkios, Leftki, Danae, Anthea, Anthoula, Anthi, Adam, Eleftheria, Lefteris, Rebecca.
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25th December: Christos, Christia, Christina, Bethlehem.
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Kopiaste and Kali Orexi,


text:
Gurudev becomes the 1st humanitarian to unite 23 African countries in a peace initiative
Bangalore, May 25, 2013: Africa celebrated its 50th anniversary of political unity with a spiritual unification as 23 countries came together to be a part of 'I Meditate Africa', the first-of-its-kind online meditation in Africa conducted by The Art of Living Founder, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
Greeting the people who had come together from the four corners of the African continent, Gurudev said, "Meditation creates positive vibrations. Today it is much needed in Africa". Urging the people to come together and pray for conflict-ridden Central and North Africa, Gurudev continued, "Prosperity is not possible without peace and peace is a far-fetched reality without prosperity; peace comes from within. Lets resolve to create a violence-free stress-free Africa."
The event witnessed participation of 10,000 people people from all races and religious groups across the continent. In addition, 71 countries across the world also participated in this online meditation for peace. Many dignitaries including Ravi Pillay, Member Executive Committee & MPL Human Settlements and Public Works, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa and Dr. Ela Gandhi, grand daughter of Mahatma Gandhi (at Durban) promoted Peace, Truth and Ahimsa.
'I Meditate Africa' is an Africa-wide campaign promoting meditation as a practical tool to achieve individual peace, improved health, increased productivity and clarity of mind. This Art of Living initiative aims to bring people together to create a positive wave of social transformation.
"The 'I Meditate Africa' campaign kicked off with a ground breaking 2800 students meditating for peace in the city of Soweto Johannesburg, the home of Nelson Mandela. People from diverse backgrounds including township communities, colleges, children homes, church groups, NGOs were a part of this meditation for peace," shared campaign coordinator Vanishree Pavadai.
The participating countries were:
- Ghana
- Kenya
- Mozambique
- Cameroon
- Senegal
- Ivory Coast
- Malawi
- Uganda
- Tanzania
- Tunisia
- Nigeria
- Botswana
- Zimbabwe
- Rwanda
- Namibia
- Mauritius
- Morocco
- Zambia
- Ethiopia
- Togo
- Sudan
- South Africa
The Art of Living has played the role of a peace-keeper between warring tribes in Ivory Coast and Cameroon. The programs conducted have been critical to trauma relief, health and hygiene efforts in North Africa. The prison rehabilitation program has reached out to over 7000 inmates across Africa. The youth programs and breath-water-sound workshops have empowered communities. The organization also runs 'Hands Up 4 Kids' in Kenya, aimed at alleviating poverty and building a healthy, sustainable environment for children who are abused, exploited and exposed to child labor.


text:
Mail::Message::TransferEnc::SevenBit is a Mail::Message::TransferEnc is a Mail::Reporter
my Mail::Message $msg = ...;
my $decoded = $msg->decoded;
my $encoded = $msg->encode(transfer => '7bit');
Encode or decode message bodies for 7bit transfer encoding. This is only very little encoding. According to the specs:RFC-2045 Section 2.7 defines legal `7bit' data:
"7bit data" refers to data that is all represented as relatively short lines with 998 octets or less between CRLF line separation sequences [RFC-821]. No octets with decimal values greater than 127 are allowed and neither are NULs (octets with decimal value 0). CR (decimal value 13) and LF (decimal value 10) octets only occur as part of CRLF line separation sequences.
As you can safely conclude: decoding of these bodies is no work at all.
Extends ``DESCRIPTION'' in Mail::Message::TransferEnc.
Extends ``METHODS'' in Mail::Message::TransferEnc.DIAGNOSTICS
- Error: Decoder for transfer encoding $type does not work: $@
- Compiling the required transfer encoding resulted in errors, which means that the decoder can not be used.
- Warning: No decoder for transfer encoding $type.
- A decoder for the specified type of transfer encoding is not implemented.
- Error: Package $package does not implement $method.
- Fatal error: the specific package (or one of its superclasses) does not implement this method where it should. This message means that some other related classes do implement this method however the class at hand does not. Probably you should investigate this and probably inform the author of the package.
Copyrights 2001-2015 by [Mark Overmeer]. For other contributors see ChangeLog.This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. See http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html


text:
Contact Us
The Prince Albert (PA) is the most common male genital piercing. The name comes from the legend that, like his contemporaries, Queen Victoria's husband wore a "dressing ring" in the tip of his penis, so it could be strapped to his leg, thus eliminating that unsightly bulge in his fashionably tight trousers. Whether this is true is the subject of much debate.
The piercing consists of a ring or circular barbell which goes in the end of the urethra and exits through a hole on the underside of the penis where the glans meets the shaft. Although it may look scary initially, this piercing is actually easy to sit through, and even easier to heal since the tissue being pierced is very thin (but very strong).


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They are a bit labor intensive, but they always go over well and since we haven't made them for his new co-workers before, I followed through on his wishes. I didn't have much luck finding regular red gel coloring this time, so we went with what we found.... sparkle gel! What, don't bloodshot eyeballs deserve a little fancy treatment too? If you still haven't tried them, what are you waiting for? Grab a jar of peanut butter, a bag of confectioners' sugar and start chopping up bars of crunchy Butterfinger bars (saving yourself a couple, of course!) and get these made - you still have plenty of time!
Since there isn't much to talk about, we thought it would be nice to post some past Halloween favorites! Maybe we can inspire you to get yourself in the kitchen and create a new tradition!
Remember this?
Our pumpkin pizza of 2008! Definitely fun for the little ones to not only help assemble, but eat!
A few years ago, we took our favorite outrageous brownie recipe and made with festive by using those orange Oreo's!
It may not scream Halloween, but you could always stamp them out in ghoulish shapes with a cookie cutter!
Last year we brought in those brain cupcakes for treat day.
Who knew brains would could be so tasty?
Don't forget about the other pizza we made!
Candy Corn Pizza! Never fear, there are no sweet candies in this pie - just a mess of cheese and pizza sauce!


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- Referencje
- Telenor Norway
Telenor Norway achieved this using • SAS® Intelligent Decisioning • SAS® Advanced Analytics solutions on SAS® Viya®
Telenor Norway uses SAS Analytics to enhance business decisions and continuously adapt to customers' needs
For Telenor Norway, the customer is at the center of everything it does. Being relevant to clients and being able to adapt products according to customer expectations is more important than ever. Personalization is key. And analytics the natural solution.
"For Telenor, personalization means to be relevant for the customer," says Liv Elise Saue Tøftum, Director of Analytics and Customer Lifecycle Management at Telenor. "It is about meeting the customer with the right message, at the right time, in the preferred channel. To reach this level of personalization, everything we do and don't do needs to be based on insight."
In 2010, Telenor sent its first personalized SMS to customers. And over the last decade, the company has expanded the reach and relevance of its customized messages. Telenor has experienced a 40% to 50% growth of personalized upsales in the last two years. Now 40% of all sales are personalized, and 95% of customer interactions are digitized.
Over the course of one year, Telenor sent 50 million personalized next best offers to its customers. They were generated by Telenor's guidance tool, Automated Sales Tips (AST), which was built with SAS.
The right use of data can lead to new sales
However, as easy it may seem, being relevant for the customer can be difficult. "Personalized actives can trigger sales but also trigger churn," Tøftum says. "An SMS to a customer who does not want to be contacted can, in the worst case, be the trigger for that customer to discontinue his or her subscription."
Tøftum believes there are three key steps organizations need to take to stay relevant:
- Collect and analyze the right data.
- Act on insights from the data.
- Execute, follow up and iterate.
Telenor Yng, Telenor's new subscription for young adults, is a great example of how data has informed a major rebranding in the youth segment. Using internal and external data and advanced analytics from SAS, combined with a process connecting the business and science sides, Telenor Yng achieved impressive results. After four months, Telenor Yng attained 80% customer awareness. In comparison, its former youth subscription, Djuice, had 78% customer awareness after 17 years in the market. Additionally, the churn in the youth segment reduced 8 percentage points.
It is about meeting the customer with the right message, at the right time, in the preferred channel. To reach this level of personalization, everything we do and don't do needs to be based on insight. Liv Elise Saue Tøftum Director of Analytics and Customer Lifecycle Management Telenor Norway
Investing in analytics pays off
Telenor is continuously adapting to customers' needs. To do that, it works systematically to nurture and mine its data while applying the latest advanced analytics.
"We have developed advanced analytics and predicative models and built a solid reporting structure based on self-service with SAS Viya across the organization," Tøftum says. "And we have systemized and automated our activities based on contextual triggers."
Going forward, Telenor will continue to work with an efficient and seamless customer journey across all touch points, with next best offers implemented across the channels.
"Now we are building our big data platform with the newest SAS Viya tools on top, and we have great expectations to what we are going to achieve in business value," Tøftum says.
Integrating business with data science
According to Tøftum, the biggest challenge with new technology is integrating the technology into the organization. But that also leads to the biggest gain.
"It is when you understand how you can interpret the data – and how the business side works with the data science side – that you get real business value," Tøftum says. "And that's why we partnered with SAS."
Telenor Norway – Facts & Figures
No. 1
supplier of tele and data services in Norway
2.89 million
mobile subscriptions


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Mont-Saint-Michel 3rd October 2009 11" x 17", pencil and coloured pencils in Daler Rowney Sketchbook copyright Katherine Tyrrell |
I didn't climb to the top to the Romanesque Abbey (which has wonderful pointy bits), as my right ankle was making loud and painful protests at the time. I ducked into the little church on the way up - which offered a little bit of peace and quiet. Then I went up further but headed for one of the look-out areas. At which point I became completely entranced with the sand and the estuary. You can see photographs taken from the viewpoints on my Flickr site - Mont St. Michel set on Flickr. I watched a group of people who were right out on the sandbanks of the estuary.
The view from the viewing platform at the rear of Mont St Michel |
We visited three times - on Friday afternoon (which was when I stayed longest), Friday evening when we came back to see it lit up - a very spectacular sight from a distance and then again on Saturday morning.
On that occasion I stayed down in the car park, got into the back seat, opened the door and got out my sketchbook to sketch. The result is the sketch at the top.
You can see more of my drawings since I got back on my Making A Mark blog post today - From sketchbook to studio - which comments on the thinking and drawing process when I get back home.
I've yet to produce a more finished drawing that I'm happy with!
About Mont-Saint-Michel
Perched on a rocky islet in the midst of vast sandbanks exposed to powerful tides between Normandy and Brittany stand the 'Wonder of the West', a Gothic-style Benedictine abbey dedicated to the archangel St Michael, and the village that grew up in the shadow of its great walls. Built between the 11th and 16th centuries, the abbey is a technical and artistic tour de force, having had to adapt to the problems posed by this unique natural site.
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Plan Mont Saint Michel
There are also more links below which tell you more about the site below.
- Mont-Saint-Michel - official website
- France - National Monuments - Abbaye du Mont-Saint-Michel
- UNESCO - World Heritage Site - Mont-Saint-Michel and its Bay and its Bay
- Our Place - Mont-Saint-Michel page
- Wikipedia - Mont St Michel
- Wikitravel - Mont St Michel
- Official Mont St Michel website
- Our trip plans: 3rd October: Mont St. Michel


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Laws, Regulations and Annotations
Business Taxes Law Guide – Revision 2024
Sales And Use Tax Law
Revenue and Taxation Code
Division 2. Other Taxes
Part 1. Sales and Use Taxes
Chapter 4. Exemptions
Article 4. Exemption Certificates
Section 6421
6421. Liability of purchaser. (a) If a purchaser certifies in writing to a seller that the property purchased will be used in a manner or for a purpose entitling the seller to regard the gross receipts from the sale as exempted by this chapter from the computation of the amount of the sales tax, and uses the property in some other manner or for some other purpose, the purchaser shall be liable for payment of sales tax as if he were a retailer making a retail sale of the property at the time of such use, and the cost of the property to him shall be deemed the gross receipts from such retail sale. The certificate shall relieve the seller from liability for the sales tax only if it is taken in good faith.
(b) For purposes of this section, "use" is the same as defined in Section 6009 without the exclusion defined in Section 6009.1.
History—Added by Stats. 1953, p. 2722, in effect September 9, 1953. Stats. 1977, Ch. 607, lettered existing first paragraph as (a), added "The certificate shall relieve the seller from liability for the sales tax only if it is taken in good faith." and added new paragraph (b). Stats. 1989, Ch. 654, in effect January 1, 1990, deleted "in the first paragraph of" before "Section 6009.1" in subdivision (b).
Buyers' certificates of out-of-state delivery.—Where buyers certified trucks they purchased were delivered out of state, but trucks were actually delivered in state, sales tax liability was not shifted to the buyers under Section 6421 because the buyers only certified that they took delivery out of state, not that they used the property for an exempt purpose following delivery. Engs Motor Truck Co. v. State Board of Equalization (1987) 189 Cal.App.3d 1458.


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Native Instruments today introduced ABBEY ROAD VINTAGE DRUMMER, a new KONTAKT instrument that features the sound of two vintage drum kits from the 1940s. Both kits were recorded with a combination of state-of-the-art equipment and period microphones at Abbey Road Studios in London, providing a natural, open sound suitable for contemporary productions. For the first time in Native Instruments' successful ABBEY ROAD Series, VINTAGE DRUMMER includes brush articulations especially recorded to provide the authentic sound and style of the swing/big band era.
Rare Instruments
ABBEY ROAD VINTAGE DRUMMER features extremely rare instruments from the earliest period of trap kit recording. The first kit consists of a 1940 Leedy 26″ bass drum, and two late-1930s tom toms once owned and used by the legendary percussionist James Blades. This combination delivers an earthy, wide open sound that lends itself to recordings where bigger, but less focused, low end is desired. A classic 1940s Slingerland Radio King was also sampled for this release. The Slingerland's smaller 22″ bass drum and 13″ and 16″ toms provide more focus than the James Blades kit, but still deliver a warm, chunky timbre to any producer seeking a unique, natural drum sound. To add to the authenticity of this KONTAKT instrument, both kits were recorded with original calfskin heads, period snare drums dating back to the 1920s and original Trans Stamp and First Stamp Zildjian cymbals.
VINTAGE DRUMMER was recorded at London's Abbey Road Studios in legendary Studio Two, originally constructed in the 1930s for big band recording. Alongside traditional microphone techniques, two extremely rare vintage microphones manufactured by EMI in the 1930s were used to add unique tonal color to VINTAGE DRUMMER. Users can mix in these 'vintage channels' with the modern state of the art equipment for a wide variety of unique tones not found with modern kits and equipment alone. Any combination of modern and vintage equipment can be dialed in, allowing users to customize the sound in unique and powerful ways.
VINTAGE DRUMMER also features brush articulations – a first for an ABBEY ROAD Series release. Users get inspiring brush techniques, alongside traditional snare sounds played with sticks. All articulations also come as grooves in the included groove library, which contains patterns from ragtime, swing, and jazz as well as a wealth of modern soul, funk, and indie styles. Regardless of genre, producers looking to add original flavor to their productions will find unique textures in ABBEY ROAD VINTAGE DRUMMER.
ABBEY ROAD VINTAGE DRUMMER is available at the NI Online Shop for $119 / 99 EUR.
Additional information on ABBEY ROAD VINTAGE DRUMMER is available at: www.native-instruments.com/abbeyroaddrummerseries


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This article is more than 1 year old
Free software darling SugarCRM blasts OSI
Restrictive hypocrites
LinuxWorld Full of free software pride, SugarCRM CEO John Roberts has revitalized his attack against the Open Source Initiative (OSI) characterizing the organization as weak and confused.
After being the open source community's whipping boy, SugarCRM now enjoys a position of power. Last month, the software maker agreed to place a fresh version of its flagship product under the General Public License v3 (GPLv3) crafted by the Free Software Foundation. This established SugarCRM as the most prominent backer of GPLv3 to date.
The adoption of GPLv3 marked a significant shift in SugarCRM's licensing policy. The company had relied on a modified version of the Mozilla Public License (MPL) that required users of its code to display a SugarCRM logo. Critics - and there are many - of this type of license described SugarCRM as a badgeware vendor. In addition, OSI board members chastised SugarCRM for presenting itself as an open source software maker despite using a license not approved by the OSI – the self-proclaimed defenders of the open source definition.
When SugarCRM moved to GPLv3, quite a few reports emerged pushing the idea that the OSI forced it into the decision through public ridicule. Not so, according to Roberts.
"The OSI had nothing to do with our decision to go with GPLv3," Roberts said, during a panel today here at LinuxWorld.
Just as SugarCRM shifted to GPLv3, the OSI approved a badgerware license from Web 2.0 felch Socialtext.
"The OSI was hammering on us, and they just turned around and approved a more restrictive license," Roberts said. "It is really hypocrisy here."
And, in fact, Socialtext's Common Public Attribution License (CPAL) includes both an attribution clause – the logo bit – and a network use clause that forces software-as-a-service companies and service providers to give credit where credit may be due. That's a step beyond SugarCRM's old attribution license.
Even worse, the OSI has yet to approve GPLv3 as an open source license. In fact, the organization only managed to put GPLv3 up for review this week due to some bungling.
"Chris DiBona [Google's open source guru] submitted GPLv3 and LGPLv3 last month, but his submission was in the wrong format, so it was not captured by the automated tools that are set up to establish and track discussions," OSI President Michael Tiemann told us. "Russ Nelson [OSI's license approval chair] caught the error (manually), and the state as of (Aug. 5) is that we have both the GPLv3 and the LGPLv3 as formally submitted for discussion. When Russ believes the list has reached a consensus, he will report that consensus and we will take it under consideration for a vote."
These awkward machinations seem insane to us when you consider that GPLv2 covers close to 70 per cent of all the projects on SourgeForge and stands as the most prominent open source license. Surely, the OSI would think to slot its successor in for review as soon as it was possible, right?
In fairness, the OSI tends to give the author of a license the first crack at submitting it for approval. The FSF, however, has no intention of seeking the OSI's approval since it couldn't care less whether some organization deems its work worthy of the open source label. Everyone at the OSI knows this, and members of the organization should have taken it upon themselves to make sure such a crucial license was put up for review at the earliest possible moment. Instead, we find excuses about missing e-mails and improper formatting.
Roberts continues to question why the OSI gets to be the arbiter of all things open source – a query made stronger by the chaos often displayed by the organization and the fact that the board members are not elected but rather tapped to lead during a bizarre hazing ritual performed at midnight in the San Diego Zoo's penguin display.
"I really like what OSI represents as an organization," Roberts said. "But no one really asks, 'Who are the approvers. How are they elected – by hundreds of votes or three or four votes? How did you get to become the Supreme Court?'"
The hapless Danese Cooper, an OSI board member and Intel employee, did her best, during the LinuxWorld panel, to avoid adding any substance to the discussion. So desperate for attention that she knits during panels, Cooper shrugged off the OSI criticism, saying that GPLv3 is in fact making its way through OSI's approval process just fine.
The OSI could do itself a favor by making sure that people more willing to confront issues honestly and clearly – like Tiemann – show up at these types of gigs.
Roberts has recommended that the OSI or someone adopt a Digg-style system for sorting through open source licenses where the most popular – and perhaps useful – licenses would rise to the top. That idea feels a bit wisdom of crowds dependent to us, but at least it's a fresh idea.
The OSI's Tiemann remains impressive for his defense of the open source ideology, and it seems that something like the OSI is crucial for such a task. A Digg-style system would seem to place little emphasis on protecting ideals, brands and the like. Ultimately, you do want "open source" to mean something significant, and it takes thoughtful people to protect that.
That said, we find the OSI undermining its influence through the SugarCRM/GPLv3 epsisode.
It's beating up on SugarCRM one day and then championing it the next for a license switch. In actual fact, though, SugarCRM is still not an open source vendor under the OSI's definition because the OSI has failed to push through its approval of GPLv3 at speed. If this isn't ironic, it's at least a little pathetic. ®


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AT$T Wields Enormous Power In Sacramento
As the sun set behind Monterey Bay on a cool night last year, dozens of the state's top lawmakers and lobbyists ambled onto the 17th fairway at Pebble Beach for a round of glow-in-the-dark golf.With luminescent balls soaring into the sky, the annual fundraiser known as the Speaker's Cup was in full swing.
Lawmakers, labor-union champions and lobbyists gather each year at the storied course to schmooze, show their skill on the links and rejuvenate at a 22,000-square-foot spa. The affair, which typically raises more than $1 million for California Democrats, has been sponsored for more than a decade by telecommunications giant AT&T.
At the 2010 event, AT&T's president and the state Assembly speaker toured Pebble Beach together in a golf cart, shaking hands with every lawmaker, lobbyist and other VIP in attendance.
The Speaker's Cup is the centerpiece of a corporate lobbying strategy so comprehensive and successful that it has rewritten the special-interest playbook in Sacramento. When it comes to st


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Chesapeake Rock Lacrosse and MADLAX recently completed a merger that combines both programs. Chesapeake Rock Lacrosse will operate under the MADLAX National program umbrella, with a goal to develop one of the nation's strongest and most productive club lacrosse platforms and brands. Chesapeake Rock Lacrosse will keep the Rock name and colors and operate as Madlax-Rock of Baltimore. Madlax-Rock will offer all-star teams, camps and clinics for boys ages 8-18. The merger integration is underway and will be completed prior to the start of the summer 2013 season. The merger combines two of the nations most recognized ELITE level club brands.
Chesapeake Rock Lacrosse was founded in 2005. The emphasis for Rock's establishment was an interest in establishing a Club lacrosse program in the Baltimore/Washington area that offered a team club platform with an added emphasis on position specific team and player development. Kevin Mayer (current Assistant Coach and Defensive Coordinator at CCBC Catonsville) has been Director of Chesapeake Rock Lacrosse since 2006. Coach Mayer has overseen all aspects of the club operations including the strategic mission and the recruiting platform for the high school players in addition to coaching at the High School ELITE level for Rock Sophomore and Junior teams. Kevin Mayer will remain as Director of Madlax-Rock of Baltimore. The current Rock Coaching Staff(s) and team designations will remain in place.
Madlax was founded in 1996 by current owner Cabell Maddux. Madlax offers all-stars travel teams, camps, clinics, leagues, tournaments and has a retail and online store. Madlax All-Stars teams started competing in 1999 with just one team attending Champ Camp. Today Madlax All-Stars has 14 team within Madlax-Capital, 8 team within Madlax-Florida and 4 teams within Madlax-California that will combine with 10 teams from Madlax-Rock. Madlax-Capital All-Stars have placed over 350 boys into NCAA programs. In 2010 Madlax founded and started the only character development initiative within an elite boys lacrosse club called C.A.S.E (character, attitude, success, effort). In 2009 Madlax started its unique 'Academy' concept which offers teaching and positional practice and speed workouts 11 months of the year for all players involved in the Capital All-Stars program.
The merger allows both programs to combine administrative resources while enhancing the ability to focus on the most important aspects of the club lacrosse experience: (1) Individual position specific skills development (2) team skills development (3) advisement in the recruiting process for high school players (4) encouraging confidence for our participants during the player developmental process (5) teaching and mentoring the GAME of LACROSSE . The merger also allows for the scaling of the MADLAX National Team platform, which combines the organizations top talent from all of the Clubs operating under the MADLAX national umbrella. The current MADLAX National umbrella includes 36 teams from: Madlax-Rock-Baltimore, Madlax-Capital, Madlax-Florida, and Madlax-California All Star Teams.
"The growth of the club lacrosse platform risks moving away from development of the position specific skills required to become impact lacrosse players, says Mayer. Under the current platform offered by many club organizations the overriding focus is on the team aspects of player development. Player's participate with their club teams in the fall, spring (for middle school players), summer and the entire annual platform for development provides an emphasis only on the team components of the game. The risk is young developing players are missing the position specific skills development you have to become an ELITE level lacrosse player. When we were young we went to camps in the summer and learned position specific skills that made us better players. With club becoming a key component for youth and High School lacrosse players many young players are missing out on learning position specific skills. It is not unusual for us to get High School players at our tryouts who do not have basic position specific skills sets they need to succeed at their positions. Rock's mission has always been to focus on both aspects, although as our program grew the administrative load kept us from scaling the teaching component. Madlax's vision and mission mirrors ours and hence combining resources with Madlax was a no brainer and allows us to streamline the administrative component while significantly scaling the most important part of the club experience…TEACHING the GAME of LACROSSE!"
Cabell Maddux, Madlax founder adds, "Kevin Mayer has built a quality and respected program in The Rock and we are excited and honored to combine our resources and knowledge to create an the premier elite travel lacrosse program that will positively impact boys living in the greater Baltimore area. I am most excited about spreading the Academy teaching concept, the CASE initiative and enhancing the quality of lacrosse played on the field by Madlax-Rock teams and especially the Madlax National Teams. Our National Teams will provide a unique opportunity for a boy from San Francisco, CA to play on the same outstanding team with a boy from Naples, Fl, McLean, VA, Bethesda, MD and Baltimore, MD. That will be a fun and memorable experience for our Madlax players from across the country!"
Rock will be integrating the Academy based training platform currently in place with Madlax along with the CASE program immediately. The national team platform will start at u13 and go through rising seniors each summer and fall. It provides an opportunity to streamline the recruiting organization at the High School level, provide Middle School players an opportunity to roll out age based National teams, while incentivizing all Madlax players to work to make these teams while combining TOP players from different regions.
A new robust Madlax website will launch in the next few weeks and all the national programs will be included in the new site. Madlax will be exploring further opportunities to add new travel programs to the national platform.
For more information about details of Madlax and this merger please read; www.madlax.com/allstars, www.madlax.com/baltimore, www.madlax.com/academy, and www.madlax.com/case.
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First Test: 2010 Lincoln MKT EcoBoost
Return of the Hot Rod Lincoln
Lincoln has been many things over the years. In its earliest days (under the supervision of dour old Henry M. Leyland) they built stodgy but extraordinarily-well constructed luxury behemoths -- which, along with the likes of Packard, were sort of America's Rolls-Royces. After Ford acquired the Lincoln, their powerful engines made them the getaway cars of choice in Al Capone's Chicago, and by the beginning of the 1940's Lincoln became one of the epicenters of America's great design, spearheaded by its particularly invested President, Edsel Ford -- Henry's long-suffering son. Edsel (along with Ford designer, Bob Gregorie) created the seminal 1941 Lincoln Continental, a car that remains even today a template for how to meld broad-shouldered American design with restrained European detailing (something sadly lost after Edsel's premature death and the arrival of the chrome-slathered fifties'). A bit of that 'just-right' visual mix returned during the early sixties with the suicide-door Continentals. But after that, Lincoln has been pretty much adrift.
The new MKT, however, is aiming to re-moor Lincoln to its roots while simultaneously fast stepping into the automobile's technological future. Based upon the generally agreeable Flex platform, the MKT's big bargain with the design devil is its compromised 3rd row room, a necessary sacrifice to get that swoopy -- or as some have opined -- hearse-like stern. As a consequence, the third row is rendered almost useless for adults. But in instances where you have six or seven travelers, and at least two are kids, it's a solution of sorts.
Yet, while the last row is a cramped, the first two rows can be a passenger's paradise. With the optional power panoramic vista roof retracted, the optional rear frig stocked with appropriate legal beverage, and the rear foot rest propping up a couple of tired tootsies -- hey, this is the life.
The MKT's exterior design is either a) delightful return to form, b) kinda strange, or c) downright creepy, depending on your perspective. Or perhaps age. Ed Loh (age 33), said of it "Lord Vader, your minivan is here." Carlos Lago (25) offered: "Someone said the nose looks like a baleen whale, and now that's all I see." Personally, I (52) enjoyed the MKT's design from bow to stern -- that 'baleen whale' snout being a welcome reinterpretation of the '41 Continental's grill, while the notched sculpting of its rear flanks evoke those sixties classics. The stern, albeit hearse-like, earned a number of thumbs up from curious passer's by, including one really rough-looking cookie on a motorcycle. And when's the last time a Harley rider gave a Lincoln a thumbs up?
While it may be generous to call the MKT's handling simply 'indifferent', our EcoBoost-equipped version's acceleration and stopping can be described as 'exciting'. Exciting in the good sense when you drop the hammer and the twin turbo, direct injection V6 begins to unreel its 355 horsepower through the standard 6-speed transmission and AWD system. This is a quick car for two and a half tons, zipping to 60 mph in just 6.1 seconds. Ford's rollout of these EcoBoost engines (this being the first example) are all about simultaneously offering superior performance and unexpected economy through advanced technology, and this 3.5-liter flat-out delivers the goods. Realize that the EcoBoost engine offers 85 additional horsepower at a cost of one single mpg. Capone's boys would have loved this thing.
Trouble is, the MKT is exciting to stop too. Although a 130 foot braking distance from 60 mph isn't catastrophic for a 5000 lb automobile, its brake pedal's sponginess causes an unsettling delay. Said Loh, "It goes like freight train -- but stops like one too." Todd Lassa added "With the optional EcoBoost engine, it's everything Lincoln's were in the '60s and '70s -- floaty prairie schooners with big, powerful engines and no brakes." Harsh words, but true.
At a test price approaching $60,000 and a base price of $50,000, the MKT represents serious money, and decent brakes should be there to match the big Lincoln's impressive power. And while its styling is perhaps in the eye of the beholder, there's no question it is one dramatic vehicle. Like those great Lincolns of the forties and sixties, maybe.
2010 Lincoln MKT EcoBoost | |
Base price | $49,995 |
Price as tested | $58,370 |
Vehicle layout | Front-engine, AWD, 6-pass, 4-door SUV |
Engine | 3.5L/355-hp/350-lb-ft DOHC 24-valve twin-turbo V6 |
Transmission | 6-speed automatic |
Curb weight (f/r dist) | 5029 lb (54 / 46%) |
Wheelbase | 117.9 in |
Length x width x height | 207.6 x 76.0 x 67.4 in |
0-60 mph | 6.1 sec |
Quarter mile | 14.6 sec @ 95.3 mph |
Braking, 60-0 mph | 130 ft |
Lateral acceleration | 0.75 g (avg) |
MT Figure Eight | 28.4 sec @ 0.59 g (avg) |
EPA city/hwy fuel econ | 16 / 22 mpg |
CO2 emissions | 1.06 lb/mile |
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MASON, Ohio – Ash Barty bounced back from a disappointing loss at the Tokyo Olympics. Gold medalist Alexander Zverev carried over his momentum from Tokyo.
Both are in fine form heading into the U.S. Open, which begins a week from Monday in New York.
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The top-ranked Barty won her fifth title of the season, taking eight of the last nine games from wild card Jil Teichmann for a 6-3, 6-1 victory in the Western & Southern Open final on Sunday.
Zverev, too, had a relatively easy time in the Cincinnati final, winning the first four games en route to a 6-2, 6-3 victory over seventh-ranked Andrey Rublev.
The match lasted 58 minutes, a welcome result for Zverev after a grueling three-set semifinal win over Stefanos Tsitsipas on Saturday.
"It's been an awesome week," said Zverev, who lost to Dominic Thiem in last year's U.S. Open final. "This is an incredible feeling going into New York.
"The U.S. Open is a week everybody is looking forward to. Novak (Djokovic) will be back, and he'll be the favorite. The other guys are in great shape. I'm looking forward to the week. Let's see how it goes. I've got a lot of work ahead of me. I have to find my rhythm."
Barty, who won her first Wimbledon title in July before getting upset in the first round at the Olympics, didn't drop a set in four Cincinnati matches and played only one tiebreaker.
"It's been an awesome week," Barty said. "I felt like, each match, I got better and better in most parts of my game. I was just excited to get some matches under my belt in some tough conditions, and I think it put us in good stead going to New York."
Last year's Western & Southern Open was moved from Cincinnati to the U.S. Open site at Flushing Meadows because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Teichmann had a surprising run to the final, upsetting second-ranked Naomi Osaka, Olympic gold medalist Belinda Bencic and fourth-ranked Karolina Pliskova.
"This is where you belong," Barty said to Teichmann during the post-match ceremony. "You played exceptional tennis this week."
Barty, of Australia, broke Teichmann's serve to take a 5-3 lead in the first set, then won the next six games.
In the second set, the Swiss player received medical attention during a changeover for blisters on her heavily taped right foot.
"I was very happy with my week," Teichmann said. "Obviously, today, I wanted to win, but Ash was just too good. I felt like I was there in the first set, but then she got a little break and it was gone. She played some good points. Then, in the second set, she stepped up her level."
Zverev committed just five unforced errors while improving to 5-0 in his career against Rublev — all straight-set wins. Rublev admitted having confidence problems when facing his friend, whom he's known since they were 11.
"You need to win at least once to find this key to what you need to do exactly," he said. "When you lose match by match, it's not easy. It's more mental. It's not about game. You need to find the key to how to behave inside of yourself about how to play these matches, because the game is there."
More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports


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James Gleick has a swell piece in the New York Times Magazine on the intangible quality of "historicity" that makes certain artifacts extremely valuable even when their nearly indistinguishable copies are free.
All these artifacts share the quality that Philip K. Dick, in his 1962 novel "The Man in the High Castle," calls historicity, which is "when a thing has history in it." In the book, a dealer in antiquities holds up two identical Zippo lighters, one of which supposedly belonged to Franklin D. Roosevelt, and says: "One has historicity, a hell of a lot of it. As much as any object has ever had. And one has nothing. Can you feel it? … You can't. You can't tell which is which. There's no 'mystical plasmic presence,' no 'aura' around it." Back in the real world, in 1996, Sotheby's sold a humidor that had belonged to John F. Kennedy for $574,500. It had historicity.