text: NAMI and American Indian & Alaska Native Leaders Meet To Build Partnerships and Alliances Symposium Releases New Resource Manual "Our Mental Health Is Assaulted Every Day…Personally, I Would Like To See NAMI Become The Tsunami Of The Navajo People." - Wanda MacDonald, Former First Lady of the Navajo Nation Jun 29 2003 Minneapolis, MN - The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), the nation's largest organization dedicated to improving the lives of individuals and families affected by mental illnesses, convened a symposium on American Indian & Alaska Native Mental Health Care at its annual convention—as part of efforts to build new partnerships and alliances to confront the mental health crisis in communities throughout the United States. Reporting on a visit to the Navajo Nation earlier this year, NAMI National Board President Jim McNulty said: "We are all paying a price for the break-up of American families—and that includes Indian families. If there is any one value we share, it is the importance of families." "I also was impressed by the sense of hope, optimism, courage and mission in Indian country," he said. "That is something we also share." Symposium speakers emphasized the "essential" need to integrate American Indian medical and cultural traditions with that of Western medicine and a mental healthcare system that is woefully underfunded. By treaty the United States is supposed to provide the Navajo people with health care "so long as the rivers should run and the sun shall shine," said Wanda MacDonald, Former First Lady of the Navajo Nation. However, the federal government "attempts to deal with us routinely and at minimal cost"—despite the profound depth of problems relative to other communities. "Our mental health is assaulted every day…NAMI must be a catalyst for change," MacDonald said. "Personally, I would like NAMI to be the tsunami of the Navajo people." The United States has over 560 federally recognized tribes, representing different languages, cultures and lifestyles. Four million American Indians and Native Alaskans represents approximately one percent of the United States population—but no large-scale epidemiological studies of them have yet been published. Use of mental health services is limited by lack of research. The majority of American Indians rely on tribal healing. Just under 50% of American Indians have job-based health insurance, compared to 72% of whites. Over 25% of American Indians live in poverty, compared to eight percent of whites. American Indians have a high prevalence of substance abuse, alcohol dependence and the need for illicit drug abuse treatment. One small study with a 20-year follow-up found the lifetime prevalence of mental disorders to be 70%. The suicide rate for American Indians is 1.5 times the national rate. Males ages 15 to 24 account for two-thirds of all American Indian suicides. Speakers also raised concern over the lack of scholarships available for American Indians hoping to become mental health professionals, as well as the lack of mental training and understanding among judges in the criminal justice system. In conjunction with the symposium, NAMI released an American Indian & Native Alaskan Resource Manual to support allied organizing and advocacy at local, state and national levels. The Manual is available in print or CD ROM form for $22.50 from the NAMI Website store or downloaded for free from the Website's Multicultural & International Outreach (MIO) Center section. See www.nami.org. Cynthia Mala of North Dakota, a specialist in American Indian health studies, noted that Power of the World in Indian culture works in circles—and that everything is connected. "Coming to terms with mental health is a very personal journey," she said, involving individuals, families and communities. "Sometimes a person needs help" in making the journey.


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In comic books, superheroes exist to fight injustices that occur in the world. The Justice League is a collection of DC Comics' greatest heroes who have united to protect the world from all forms of villainy, whether it comes in the form of a vengeful arch-enemy with a death ray or an extraterrestrial menace bent on conquering the Earth. But these are all imaginary threats in an imaginary world. Today, it was announced that the Justice League would be fighting a real-world threat, the threat being hunger in Africa.
During the DC Direct Collectibles Panel at C2E2, Writer Geoff Johns(Justice League, Green Lantern) and DC Direct Creative Services Director Jim Fletcher announced the release of a special set of Justice League action figures, the sale of which would benefit the We Can Be Heroes campaign.
Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg.
DC Collectibles will release the figures individually starting with Batman in May 2012, however as an added bonus for collectors who purchase the set, they will get the Superman figure before its individual release date in 2013. A percentage of proceeds from the action figure set will benefit We Can Be Heroes.
The figures will be sold excusively through DC Collectibles and available to order online or through your local comic shop. The complete set will retail for $100. If bought individually, all 7 figures will cost $140 total. DC Entertainment will donate 10% from the sale of a set to We Can Be Heroes.
Superheroes have always existed to try and inspire us to make the world a better place, so it's nice to see the Justice League fighting hunger, even if they are just action figures!
Learn more about We Can Be Heroes by checking out the website!
See what other cool collectibles are available from DC Direct!
And be sure to follow me on Twitter as I report from C2E2!

subset: commoncrawl


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As mythological monsters, dragons stretch back hundreds of years and stem from both European and Asian culture. The eternal link between dragons and a heroic champion overcoming them was just too obvious to translate into a video game. They've been part of our industry long before gaming was even a conceivable industry to start with.
I liked Dragon God. It was hilarious when I waited for him to traditionally breathe fire only to be punched in the face.


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This maybe just made my life.
Happy Friday!
Last night I got in my 6 miles and it was awesome, hot, sweaty and awesome! Right on track for training week numero uno. Yay! The USA came back. More happy duck dancing from me. :)
Garage sale in the morning! 10 miles tomorrow. Win!


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March 9, 2001
House Passes H.R. 3
The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Act of 2001
On March 8, 2001, the House passed H.R. 3, the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Act of 2001.
Among other things, if enacted the bill would:
- Gradually reduce Federal income tax rates and consolidate rate brackets, over a 6-year period.
- Provide that the long-term financial condition of the OASDI and HI trust funds would not be affected by the tax changes. This provision is intended to avoid loss of income to the trust funds under the taxation of benefits provision. In effect, this provision would require a rebate to the trust funds (to come from general revenues) of amounts lost due to the tax cuts.


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For the third time, the City of Hood River has postponed the first public comment period on a draft plan for mixed-use zoning of the waterfront.
The formal Planning Commission hearing that was set to take place on Sept. 24 has been rescheduled until Oct. 1. City officials decided to postpone the forum — which had already been set back from Sept. 10 — because the third county hearing on Wal-Mart's application for a super center was scheduled to take place that same evening.
The City Planning Commission will now take testimony on the proposed waterfront ordinance at 6 p.m. on Oct. 1 in the third floor courtroom of the county courthouse, 309 State Street. The recommendation of that appointed body will be considered by the City Council on Oct. 27 at 6 p.m. in the same courtroom.
The council will discuss issues related to the draft waterfront plan on Monday. That work session begins at 6 p.m. in the council chambers at the junction of State and Second streets. City Manager Lynn Guenther said no citizen testimony about the subject will be taken that evening.
The Port of Hood River's mixed-use zoning proposal for the waterfront was originally scheduled to be aired at a City Planning Commission hearing in mid-August.
But that assembly was delayed so the city could resolve state concerns over traffic and the industrial land base. Then, the new waterfront hearing date of Sept. 10 was again delayed so that the City Council could peruse the latest revisions before the formal hearings began.
In early June, the port requested that the city adopt a zoning code that would accommodate recreational, commercial and industrial development.
The municipality is charged with setting land-use designations for the properties under consideration between the riverside jetty know as the Hook and the Hood River.
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Edward L. Babcock, 65, of Prattsburgh, NY passed away on Sunday, April 27, 2014 as a result of an automobile accident.
Edward L. Babcock, 65, of Prattsburgh, NY passed away on Sunday, April 27, 2014 as a result of an automobile accident. Family and friends may call at the Prattsburgh United Methodist Church on Monday, May 5 from 11:00am to 1:00pm. Ed's funeral service will be held at 1:00pm. Burial will take place at Rural Cemetery in Prattsburgh with full military honors. Ed was born on March 29, 1949 in Bath, NY to the late Charles & Florence (Ringrose) Babcock. He enjoyed his family, trucks, reading, wildlife and the outdoors. Ed was a Veteran of Vietnam and loved being a heavy equipment operator. He is survived by his wife, Susan; children, Stacey Babcock & Edward Scott Babcock; siblings, Bonnie Dorazio of Charleston, SC, Thomas C. Babcock of Endicott, NY, Charles W. (Kathy) Babcock II of San Francisco, CA, Waldo C. Babcock of Prattsburgh, NY; grandchildren, Joshua & Justin Babcock, Adriana Guzman; nephew & niece, Adam Babcock & Daska Babcock; several cousins, aunts & uncles. Ed was predeceased by his son, Daniel. Family and friends may sign the guestbook at www.bottoni-wood.com


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Ladies of the Cloth
- By Alejandro Benes
- | From Jimmy Smits, May/June 2005
Helena "The Sledgehammer" Thornfeldt isn't satisfied with the rack. Jennifer Barretta, her opponent in a fourth-round pool match at the Cuetec Cues Florida Classic, a nine-ball tournament at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, is trying to get each of the nine object balls to be in contact with the adjacent balls. Tight racks are important, but the Iwan Simonis cloth on the Brunswick Gold Crown table isn't cooperating.
"Helena is sharking Jennifer," says a player who is watching the match. "Sharking" means that Thornfeldt, known for her powerful break, is trying to shake Barretta's focus. Ranked sixth in the world, Thornfeldt is losing to Barretta, a relative newcomer to the game and the tour, who was ranked 18th coming into the tournamnet, the final event of the 2004 Women's Professional Billiards Association season. Barretta is only slightly distracted by Thornfeldt's gamesmanship. She calls out, "Steve!" for the tournament director to come to table number five and take over racking the balls, something he routinely does beginning in the semifinal round. Thornfeldt is silenced and ultimately vanquished nine games to four. Barretta is in the quarterfinals. That means ESPN. That means exposure. That means playing Karen Corr, the "Irish Invader," at that moment, the world's number one.
Nearly 150 hours of women's pool is on ESPN and ESPN2 annually, including re-runs. The Women's Professional Billiards Association's (WPBA) budget has doubled, to more than $1 million dollars a year over the past six years. The nonprofit association uses the money to promote the women's game and stage tournaments like the one in Florida. Barretta, Corr and Thornfeldt are three in the field of 64 players that compete in most events put on by the WPBA each year. They are representative of the draw pool has on women around the world. Corr is Irish, but resides near Philadelphia. Thornfeldt is from Sweden, but lives in Georgia. Barretta lives and trains in New York City, but grew up in Pennsylvania, where she was a competitive tennis player. When she moved to New York, she found court time to be too expensive and looked for something more affordable.
"I started searching for some competitive outlet," Barretta says. "And I tried ballroom dancing, I tried to get back into tennis and I tried a few other things. Professional snowboarding was my other aspiration. I was, like, obsessively snowboarding for a while there until I realized you have to break things and get hurt to go pro with that, so I was, like, 'No, I don't wanna do that.' Then I started playing pool just casually and I got sucked into a league and next thing you know that's all I wanted to do, play pool. And then when I turned pro I quit my job and now this is all I do."
The blonde and buff 36-year-old Barretta (she has posed wearing a bikini for a magazine) started playing pool in 1997 at the relatively advanced age of 29. For eight hours every day, Barretta practices at Amsterdam Billiards, a pool hall on Manhattan's Upper West Side, which is one of her sponsors. It's paid off.
"I turned pro October 2003," Barretta explains. She entered 2004 ranked 29 on the tour. "And right now I'm in a virtual tie for 17th. My goal is to get into the top 10 and see what happens from that."
Barretta comes into 2005 ranked 12. Being in the top 16 has competitive advantages. "It means that you don't draw another top 16 [player] for two rounds instead of one" she says. "So, it's easier to have a better tournament."
And maybe make more money. Barretta left a successful career as a fashion designer to make $19,150 in 2004's tournaments. Being married to a successful personal trainer—her husband works with a lot of celebrities—makes it possible for her to pursue pool as a career.
"It's very difficult getting sponsors and the prize money isn't enough," Barretta says. "It may cover your expenses, but it doesn't give you much to live on. To cover your expenses you have to make about $1,500 every tournament. If you have a bad tournament, that can put you in some financial trouble. But anyone who ever gets into pool knows that you don't do it for money. You do it because you love it."
Loving pool is a common reason given by the women for turning pro, but more is needed to make the pro game flourish. Women's pool, the ethos of which is nothing like what you've seen in The Hustler or The Color of Money, exists in an American sports world that, outside of football, basketball and baseball, is looking for something that can described using the word "extreme." Many of the players themselves will tell you quietly that two main things need to happen to meet the marketing challenge. First, snowboarding aside, the game needs to become more outwardly exciting. Second, to have even a chance of accomplishing the first thing, stronger personalities need to emerge among the women, most of whom are more comfortable focusing intently—and silently—on pocketing the next ball.
"Pool's not X Games," says the glamorous Ewa Mataya Laurance (nicknamed "The Striking Viking"), the current president of the WPBA and 1994 World Champion, in discussing the battle the group faces. After merging efforts, then divorcing from the men players in the early 1990s because the men wanted a bigger say in how things were run, the WPBA formed a league of its own.
"Until we go to extreme pool, pure pool is not that exciting," says the 41-year-old Billiard Congress of America Hall of Famer. Laurance graced the cover of The New York Times Magazine in 1992, giving the women's game, and pool in general, a huge boost. "Pool is beautiful, it is elegant, it's sexy, it's passionate, it's a lot of things, but it is not X Games exciting. I don't think there's anything wrong with an intelligent game, you've just got to promote it a little differently than you do X Games."
The WPBA hasn't yet found a way different enough to satisfy the players. Total prize money remains small compared with, say, women's golf or tennis. The seven WPBA Classic events offered a total of $610,000 in 2004. (More than $200,000-plus is offered in other events during the year.) The WPBA still distributes prize money deep into the draw.
"When the WPBA first started the classic tour [in 1993], every place, last place was paid," says Laurance, who recently has had "too little time to practice" and was bounced quickly in Florida. "A big part of why we did that is we needed players. We had 15 tournaments at the time, less prize money than we do now, no television and we needed players to support it, to kick-start it. The entry fee was $500. You got $250 back if you came in last, or something like that. So, it was just enough to keep everybody coming back. Had we not done that, we could have burned ourselves out very easily and ended up with six players only. When there's corporate sponsorship, are we going to change it?" she asks. "Possibly. It's different in a sport like golf, where if you finish in the top ten, you've paid the bills for the rest of the year."
Since it was founded, the WPBA has made numerous efforts at breakthrough marketing that would presumably increase the prize money. The association even hired experts who were ultimately "overwhelmed" by the assignment, according to the official history. In part, what Laurance cites as pool's strengths—beauty, elegance, sex appeal, passion—are what attract the players who believe they can be successful, players who generally have been playing a long time and who see patterns and have the discipline to pocket a ball and gain position on the next. Or, less "exciting" still, players must often play defensively—play a safety, unable to sink a ball—and leave the cue ball in a position from which their opponent will have difficulty making the next shot. Maybe for the average American sports fan, pool has too little action and too much geometry.
"Every table is like a puzzle that needs to be solved," Barretta says. "I've always been great at math and I've always loved solving problems. It was the ultimate game of problem-solving. If you combine the mathematical thing with the creativity, it's like the best of both worlds."
In her quarterfinal match at the Cuetec Cues Florida Classic against Karen Corr, Barretta improbably takes a 6-2 lead in a "race to seven." Corr comes back to tie at 6-all. In rack 13, Corr makes a highly unusual mistake, scratching by grazing the 3-ball with the cue ball in an attempt to play safe on the 2-ball. In 9-ball, the lowest-number ball on the table must be hit first by the cue ball. Any ball can go in, including the 9, as long as that happens. If the 9 goes in, the player wins. No need to "call a pocket,"or announce into which pocket the ball will go. Corr's foul gives Barretta "ball in hand," meaning she can place the cue ball anywhere on the table for her next shot. Barretta runs the rest of the table, beating the world's number one. If math and creativity worked for Barretta against Corr, she was about to experience chaos.
Barretta's semifinal match is against Julie Kelly, an Irishwoman tagged "Motor Molly." Kelly, away from the table, is engaging and talkative. At the table, she concentrates intensely, quietly. Because of TV, the semis are a race-to-seven wins instead of the nine needed in the earlier rounds. Kelly is ahead of Barretta, 6-5. Kelly is, in the parlance of competitive pool, "on the hill"—meaning that she needs one more game to win. Barretta breaks in game 12—the break alternates game to game—and miscues. She has lifted her body before making full contact with the cue ball. The ball travels a foot and hits nothing. Barretta has fouled. Kelly now has "ball in hand.
In the previous game, Kelly banked the 2-ball into the 9 and won the game. It was a shot few would have seen, and maybe Kelly didn't either because after making it she stuck out her tongue with her mouth open as if to say, "Wow!" In game 12, Kelly, ball in hand, cracks the rack and drops a ball. The 1-ball remains on the table and is lined up to go into a corner pocket. A lot of green—a long distance—stands between the 1 and the cue ball. Kelly, whose stroke is a little bit of a jabbing motion, strikes the cue ball—sometimes called "whitey" or "the rock." Whitey hits the solid yellow 1-ball. Hard. It's often surprising to those watching professional players for the first time to see how delicately they usually strike the cue ball.
The 1-ball misses badly and bounces off two rails. Unintentionally, chaotically, the 1-ball runs into the yellow-striped 9-ball and sends it into the corner pocket directly opposite from the one at which Kelly was aiming to sink the 1-ball. Kelly has won, gaining her second-ever final on the WPBA tour. She puts her hand over her mouth and looks truly shocked. She apologizes to Barretta, who is initially stunned but then rises from her chair and proceedes mockingly, to strangle Kelly. After they hug, of course.
Ewa Laurance began playing pool at the age of 14 after following her brother into a pool room in her native Sweden. She eventually started winning tournaments all over Europe. First prize in many of them was a toaster.
"I think it's somewhere between three and six toasters that I won, that my mother had at home," Laurance remembers, laughing. "There was no money whatsoever in pool in Sweden at that time, nowhere in Europe."
Laurance, then Ewa Svensson, came to the United States when she was 17. She married 31-year old Jimmy "Pretty Boy Floyd" Mataya, a poster-boy for the old stereotype of the male professional pool player. (Laurance is now married to actor and ESPN pool commentator Mitchell Laurance.) At 18, Laurance was invited to New York to be a model, but didn't like the lifestyle.
"I hated it," Laurance says. "There was a lot of pressure, a lot of drugs. This was '82, '83. Somebody would tell you, 'Come by my office, I think you're perfect for this or that show,' and you get up there and there's coke on a tray. So, it was really uncomfortable and a very judgmental business. I just wanted to play pool."
In1988, Laurance was approached by Brunswick Billiards and signed to a sponsorhip agreement. They are still together.
"My whole life changed right there," Laurance remembers. "That changed things because now I could actually look at this as a business."
Allison Fisher's story mirrors Laurance's. Fisher is one of the few women players who can make something of a living just from playing tournaments. A native of Peacehaven, England, the 37-year-old Fisher has been playing on green tables since she was seven years old. Her first game was snooker.
"My father was watching it on television and I liked the look of it and asked for a small table," Fisher explains on the way to a radio interview. "Then when I was 12, I was in bed in tears and my mum asked, 'What's wrong?' and I said, 'I wanna go on that full-size table' at the local pub we used to go to." The owner of the pub gave the OK. Fisher played so well that that the better male players at the pub would teach her the finer points of the game.
"When I was at school," Fisher recalled, "I wanted to be a physical education teacher, but at 14 my [guidance counselor] asked, 'What do you want to be when you leave school?' And I said, 'I want to be a professional snooker player.' And he asked, 'No, what do you really want to be?' And I said, 'That's what I really want to be.'"
Fisher's tale evokes the line from Rod Stewart's "Maggie May:" "I suppose I could collect my books and get on back to school. Or steal my daddy's cue and make a living out of playing pool." Fisher had won "well over a hundred snooker tournaments," including 11 world titles. But back then, she couldn't scratch out a living.
"I'd heard about the American pool scene and I didn't see snooker for women going anywhere," Fisher says. "I mean, I would win a national event and get like $700 or something ridiculous." So, she flew to America. "It's paid off coming over here. I got a one-way ticket over. Played my first tournament, fell in love with it and stayed."
That was in 1995. She placed ninth at that first American event in Charlotte, North Carolina, near where she now lives. Fisher won two of the next three tourneys. Some American players jokingly complain about international competitors like Fisher, Corr, Kelly, Taiwan's Ga Young Kim (the 2004 World Champion) and others. Fisher began and ended 2004 ranked number one. From 2001 through 2003, either Fisher or Corr won every WPBA tournament but one. Fisher has won at least 47 WPBA classic tour events (as well as three consecutive 9-ball World Championships, 1996-1998), but 2004 was more challenging. Fisher won three of the seven tour tournaments and $74,500 in prize money.
She is, to her chagrin, nicknamed The Duchess of Doom.
"The queen and princess were taken, unfortunately, so I got demoted to duchess," Fisher says, jokingly. "I'd rather be known as Allison Fisher than the 'Duchess of Doom.'" Fisher supplements her tournament loot by running weekend instructional clinics in Charlotte with her friend and fellow pro Gerda "G-Force" Hofstatter of Austria, the 1995 world champion. Fisher is also sponsored by the American Poolplayers Association and by Cuetec Cues. When she's at home, Fisher likes to garden. (Duchess of Bloom?)
But her dominance on the tour isn't always a laughing matter to her competitors. "I've already told the people from Europe, 'We're gonna send ya'll back home. You need to go back home,'" says San Antonio's Vivian Villarreal, a legendary, hall-of-famer known as the "Texas Tornado" who was ranked ninth at the beginning of 2005. Villarreal takes the blame for Fisher's transfer to the United States.
"We had a Mosconi Cup [a competition between teams from the US and Europe] in [England] and Allison showed up and we were playing against her and she was complaining there was no money out there anymore for the women, just for the men," Villarreal says, with a slight Texan drawl. "I was the one who invited her to come over here and she hasn't gone back. So, I told her I would give her a one-way ticket back home. She laughs about it. She said, 'No, I'm doing just fine.' I said, 'I know you are.'"
Fisher always seems to be on TV. In Florida, Fisher runs into Jeanette Lee, who has got serious game. Both Fisher and Lee, ranked third, have been playing well in Florida. Theirs becomes the premier match of the tournament now that Karen Corr has been eliminated. Fisher, no matter the outcome, will end the year ranked number one. Lee has not yet won a tour 9-ball event in 2004, though she did defeat Laurance at the 2004 Women's Trick Shot Challenge. Lee is hungry.
Lee enters the arena smiling, looking at her husband and their six-month old baby girl, Cheyenne. Lee is married to George "The Flame Thrower" Breedlove, formerly ranked number six among professional male players. Lee looks over at Fisher, who enters with much less fanfare. Prodded by the tournament director to spice things up, Lee says playfully, "She's going down!" Fisher smiles.
The crowd is pumped up and pulling for Lee. Quickly, Lee goes up 5-0. Fisher has "gotten out of line"—played bad position—on some key shots, missed a couple with ball in hand and left Lee easy tables. In rack six, Lee breaks and is cruising until she gets to the 4-ball. It's sitting next to the 9-ball, but a shade farther down the table. The cue ball is up-table and slightly to the right of the 4. Everyone senses what Lee is about to try. Fisher seems resigned to it. The tournament director moves closer to the table to make sure that the cue ball hits the 4-ball first. Lee plays a "billiard," meaning, that she hits the 4-ball with the cue ball, which then caroms into the 9-ball and sends it into the corner pocket. Lee takes a 6-0 lead. A big roar goes up as Lee pumps her fist.
In rack seven, Fisher breaks and sinks nothing. Lee promptly shoots the 1-ball and as the cue ball bounces she yells, "Don't do it!" But it does. The cue ball drops into the pocket and Lee scratches. The crowd moans in sympathy. Fisher, out of her chair, jokes, "What a shame." The crowd laughs. Lee lifts her cue and pretends to bash Fisher over the head. Not exactly trash-talking, but the fans get into it.
Fisher misses a relatively easy 7-ball, all but surrendering. Lee stands and says, "I won't say it," but she does: "What a shame." Fisher gives a dour smile. Lee ultimately wins 7-0. It's a resounding victory over Fisher, arguably the world's best player. Lee celebrates by kissing her husband and daughter in front of the ESPN camera, then waves baby Cheyenne's arm to the viewers at home. Jeanette Lee, nicknamed and marketed as The Black Widow, has beaten the Duchess of Doom. She goes on to defeat Julie Kelly, gaining her first 9-ball victory of the year and elevating her to number three entering 2005.
Early on, Jeanette Lee, like Fisher, did not fancy her nickname. Lee got it before she turned pro, even before she became known for her all-black wardrobe.
"Well, it started as a joke," Lee, who is Korean-American, remembers. "I was playing pool at the then Howard Beach Billiard Club [in Queens, New York] and we were reminiscing around 3 a.m., closing time. And Gabe [Vigorito, the owner] said he remembered when I first used to walk into the room. 'You know, this little Asian girl walking in all cute.' And I just walked over and looked at the tables and I seemed just kind of sweet. But then I got a rack of balls and my eyes changed and my demeanor changed and I started whacking all the balls in and the first thing he thought of was that I reminded him of the black widow [spider]. And from that day forward, everyone would be, like, 'Hey, Black Widow.' And I'd say, 'Shut up!' It didn't bother me until it started getting known because I was getting good very quickly."
Lee turned pro in 1993 and became No. 1 a year and a-half later. Fans and the media started to use the nickname. The family wasn't crazy about it.
"I'll tell you the truth, my mom was never really interested in coming to the tournaments and when she finally came, she came with one thing in mind: She was going to change my nickname," Lee recalled. "So she would go sidle up to people in the crowd and say, 'You know, that's my daughter.' And they'd go, 'Yeah, the Black Widow.' And she'd go, 'Oh no. She changed her nickname. That's not her nickname anymore.' They'd go, 'Really? What's her nickname?' 'Oh, it's Lily of the Valley.'" Lee then adds sarcastically. "And, amazingly, it didn't stick. I just can't figure out why.
"I wear long, black hair because I have a scar down my back. [Lee has scoliosis and has had five surgeries]. I wear a glove because I didn't want chalk all over my black clothes. I wear black because I'm from New York, and that's what people do in New York."
When she shoots, Lee furrows her eyebrows. No opponent interprets the look as friendly. Finally, Lee accepted the nickname and turned it to her advantage.
Every year, in Las Vegas, Lee uses the nickname to lure 40 people to the "Black Widow Experience," a weekend that promises you'll "Enter a billiards player, leave a friend (and a much better billiards player!)." Lee's agent will tell you that she is the only player who transcends the game of pool. It's hard to argue. Lee is undoubtedly the best-known female player—maybe the best-known pool player, period—outside of the immediate pool world. Still, that has hardly translated into runaway marketing success.
"It's amazing," Lee says. "I don't have a clothing sponsor. No one seems to be interested. It just boggles my mind. They say the ESPN viewer is not their market."
Lee is a commentator on the pilot of a new Bravo channel cable TV show, "Celebrity Pool." Think "Celebrity Poker" with sticks. Expected in mid-June is the Game Show Network's "No Limit 9-Ball," reportedly to be renamed "Ball Breakers." Ewa Laurance will appear with a host from ESPN's "X Games." The show will emphasize wagering. The question is whether all this will help promote the "pure" game.
About 40 million people in the U.S. play pool, but only slightly more than nine million "played at least twenty-five days per year," according to a 2004 report from SGMA International. The report, "Sports Participation in America," also indicates "billiards/pool players are more likely than the general population to also engage in activities such as table tennis, darts, paintball, and roller hockey." There's an eclectic demographic for you. Advertisers and marketing experts explain that to reach the mostly male audience interested in women's pool, there's no need to go after them through women's pool. Those fans come from all walks of life and the ones who are more into pool are likely to be coveted by the pool industry, which already advertises on the WPBA TV matches. These realities ache the leading players.
"I think the sport can have more exposure. I think it warrants bigger prize funds and some kind of corporate sponsorship," says Lee, who says she is dedicated to being a great mom, wife and ambassador of the game, and becoming number one in the world again. She wants to give something back to a game she loves and gave her new life.
"When I was discovered with scoliosis and they put rods in my spine, it was really life-altering in a lot of ways. Number one, I couldn't be as active. I was always in pain. I was always very protective of people touching me. I feel like I was beaten down when I was 17, 18," she says. "Emotionally, I was very alone. I'm talking about in my heart, in my mind. It had nothing to do with what was really happening. I think I was depressed. Then I found pool."
When Lee was mastering the game, she would practice her stroke while riding the New York City subway. Before going to sleep, she would tape the fingers of her left hand together so she wouldn't forget her bridge. She used a Coke bottle to make sure that her eye-hand skills stayed sharp, moving the cue through the mouth of the bottle without touching the rim.
"It was a level of dedication and obsession and psychoticness that really brought all this about," Lee says.
Maybe the marketing should follow the same course. The irony in the challenge confronting the WPBA is that to make "pure" pool successful, the game itself cannot be the product the organization promotes. The generally sedate players need to market themselves. The difficulty is that to make pool a success, the players must simultaneously be rock stars and win. The Anna Kournikova blueprint won't work here. If history is any guide, Lee, Fisher, Laurance and the other women of the WPBA will pursue the battle for recognition and reward with dedication, obsession and maybe a little "psychoticness," in much the same way they became champions. Why not? They've already got all the toasters they'll ever need.
Alejandro Benes shoots pool at home. It's not a pretty sight and shouldn't be seen in public.


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With its second round having just started on A&E Network, the initial episodes of the mystery series introduce Matt Passmore as a police detective banished from Chicago after a personal indiscretion that impacts his professional standing.
He ends up in a Florida town where the sunny, supposedly relaxed veneer can't totally cloak an alarming homicide rate ... keeping the sleuth a lot busier than he'd like to be. Kiele Sanchez, Carlos Gomez and Michelle Hurd also are in the regular cast. DVD extras: "making-of" documentaries; audio commentary by cast and crew; deleted scenes; outtakes; behind-the-scenes footage. *** (Not rated: AS, P, V)


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I always thought Shawn Andrews was a welcome change of the usual football pace. A lot of people didn't agree. It doesn't really matter now, though -- now that the Eagles have released their former Pro Bowl right guard.
He was such a good player when his back was right, and his head was right. He was as good an athlete as they've ever had play the guard position. Andrews could have been a cornerstone for this team for a decade -- quirky, yes, but a cornerstone. But now he's gone.
Eagles coach Andy Reid said, "We appreciate the efforts and contributions of Shawn while he was here. We have, however, decided to move in another direction." The rough translation is that Reid didn't feel as if he could take another chance. There is no word on where Andrews is on his back rehabilation following surgery, no word on where his head is at. There is no word on why Reid would not have at least waited to see what Andrews looked like in minicamps in late April. Maybe he had it in his mind that if Andrews was not ready to participate in the off-season workouts that just commenced, that would be that. The short statement from the coach, as usual, leaves a lot unanswered.
As for Andrews, we are left with his musings on Twitter. He is all high road here at the end.
First tweet: "Bye, Bye Birds........"
Second tweet: "ANDY REID!!! Respekt!!!!!!!"
Third tweet: "Todays theme song: "Take These Broken Wings" Learn to Fly again learn to just soar free....... #ImGood"
Fourth tweet: "It doesn't hurt as bad when u expekt the un expekted! GOD knows what he's doing... Chuuuuch"
So he seems to have seen it coming. Deep down, we all probably saw it coming. That doesn't change the odd feeling. In the end, the whole thing just seems like such a waste.


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The average price for a gallon of regular gas in Ohio was about $3.57 in today's survey from auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. That's a nickel higher than a week ago. Prices have gone up 18 cents in the past two weeks in the Buckeye State.
The state average is slightly under the national average of about $3.59, which is 7 cents higher than a week ago. The price in Ohio is about 29 cents higher than the same time last month.
Experts say prices are continuing to rise because of solid economic recovery in China and the U.S. and other factors.
The lowest average price in Ohio Monday was about $3.52 in the Dayton area.


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No. 6 California 78, Washington 50
Lindsay Gottlieb opened the door to the California locker room
and was greeted with a stream of water bottles drenching the Golden
Bears young coach.
Getting soaked was a minor sacrifice in celebrating California's
first Pac-12 regular season title in school history.
"This is better than anything I could have imagined because
this entire team has worked for every ounce of this," Gottlieb
Talia Caldwell made 10 of 11 shots and finished with 22 points,
and No. 6 California claimed a share of the Pac-12 Conference
regular season title for the first time with a 78-50 win over
Washington on Saturday afternoon.
The Golden Bears won their 15th straight and got a piece of
their first conference crown along with Bay Area rival Stanford.
The Cardinal defeated Washington State earlier Saturday to ensure
they would at worst share the title with California.
Even though California will share the title, it's still a
benchmark moment for the program and Gottlieb, in just her
second-year. She became just the fifth coach in conference history
to win a league title in her first two years as a head coach.
"I'm just so happy for this team and this program and the Cal
administration who backed this sport when Cal was last years ago
and said we're going to make it a priority," Gottlieb said, while
her cellphone continually dinged with congratulatory messages,
including one from Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer. "You don't ever
expect a moment like this but it was everything you would expect it
to be."
Gennifer Brandon scored 12 points and grabbed 15 rebounds while
Reshanda Gray had 13 off the bench and Layshia Clarendon added 10
points for the Bears. Caldwell and Brandon were part of
California's dominant interior advantage against the undersized
Huskies. The Bears held a 54-18 advantage on points in the paint,
had 17 second-chance points and grabbed 23 offensive rebounds.
Caldwell made her first 10 shots before missing a driving
right-hander with 8 minutes left.
"I didn't think about the celebration. I only thought about
winning it. I forgot about this part," Caldwell said. "It's so
California was able to claim part of the conference title by
splitting with Stanford earlier in the season and by dominating the
rest of the conference. They finished 9-0 on the road in conference
play and the 27 victories already matches the most in school
history with the Pac-12 and NCAA tournaments still to come.
It's the first time since the 2003-04 season that Stanford has
not won the regular season conference title outright. The Cardinal
shared the title with Arizona in 2004. Stanford will still be the
No. 1 seed in the Pac-12 tournament with California the No. 2
"We're going to be able to breathe a little bit after this.
They may not have acted like it but I have felt some pressure the
last couple of weeks to finish this," Gottlieb said.
Jazmine Davis returned from a one-game suspension to lead
Washington (19-10, 11-7) with 19 points. But the Huskies were
outrebounded 56-22 and shot just 33 percent.
California threatened on numerous occasions to run away in the
first half thanks to a dominant 24-12 advantage on points in the
paint and 13 offensive rebounds. Washington tried to collapse its
defense around Brandon and Caldwell, but that left Clarendon open
on the perimeter. She knocked down a pair of 3-pointers as part of
a personal seven-point spurt midway through the half as the Bears
led by as many as 19.
Washington closed within 41-34 after Kristi Kingma's 3 and a
free throw from Davis early in the second half, the closest the
Huskies had been since California led 15-9. Washington then went
scoreless on its next four possessions, while Caldwell and Brandon
combined for eight straight points to push the Bears lead back to
15 with 14 minutes left.
Davis and freshman Talia Walton were both suspended for
Thursday's loss to No. 4 Stanford, and the Huskies will enter the
conference tournament looking to save their NCAA tournament hopes.
Kingma added 10 for Washington, but Walton was just 1 of 12
shooting and finished with three points.
"It's really tough to watch a team celebrate on your home
court," Kingma said. "It just reminds you that you're not doing


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Corsair Vengeance 1500 Dolby 7.1 USB Headset Review
In just under a decade, gaming headsets have gone from repurposed general-use headsets to being a market of their own. Other than the obvious, ever-growing online gaming community there are several other reasons for having a headset purpose built for gaming. A couple of important features in a gaming headset would be comfort for long periods of use, clear positional audio, retractable microphone, and inline controls. Manufacturers often make specially add features, such as a built-in sound card, surround sound or cross platform compatibility to make the headset stand out as being made for gaming. However, these features are less common because they are harder to execute well. Often times these features are not well implemented, resulting in an overall mediocre headset.
Corsair, a company known for its memory products and now computer cases, has begun its own line of gaming products. Based on its offerings so far it's obvious that they are aiming for the premium peripherals market; no sacrifices here. Today we are taking a look at the high-end digital gaming headset, the Corsair Vengeance 1500. This headset touts superior comfort, a built in USB sound card and amplifier, 7.1 audio processing, and a sleek appearance. The Vengeance 1500 is essentially the bigger brother to the Vengeance 1300, which is a more basic analog headset. All these special features make this is a pretty attractive sounding package, especially for its sticker price of around $100. Let's see if the Vengeance 1500 delivers on all fronts, making it a true enthusiast gaming headset.
Closer Look:
The Corsair Vengeance 1500 comes in a relatively flashy box. The front is dominated by a detailed picture of the headset itself with a quick description of the most important features. Around the back you get a slightly more detailed description of the headset's features in 6 languages. On the right side you have a plastic window that allows you to take a look at the headset inside. The left side offers the detailed specifications of the headset's hardware.
Theres not much to look at inside the box; you literally get the headset and nothing else; no driver disks, no extra cables.
Now let's take a closer look at the headset.


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This post was written for the 63rd Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy hosted by Jasia at Creative Gene.
So, here we go again - doesn't it seem like we just did this 364 days ago? Here is what I hope to accomplish with my genealogy and family history research as well as my outreach efforts to new and old genea-bloggers:
Publish Books
Photo: Happy New Year 2009 from Liron. Digital photograph taken December 31, 2008. Used through Creative Commons licensing via Flickr


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okay I'm about 4 chapters away from finishing Athenaze I, (now someone go make me a sammich!).
I like the Athenaze format and would like to continue with Athenaze II, but I have heard some less
than favorable comments about it. So for those of you who've been through Athenaze II, what do you think?


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MILWAUKEE (AP) Milwaukee tweaked its top of the batting order recently and it has been paying off. On Friday night, the rest of the Brewers' lineup joined in on the fun.
Ryan Braun homered to highlight a five-run first inning and the Brewers beat the Chicago Cubs 11-5 on Friday night.
''Everybody's swinging the bat well,'' Milwaukee manager Ron Roenicke said, ''and there's no doubt when everybody is hitting like this and there are mistakes made, we're not missing them like we were earlier.''
Braun had three hits and three RBIs for Milwaukee, which has won 25 of its last 31 games against Chicago. Rickie Weeks and Martin Maldonado had three hits and two RBIs each as the Brewers scored a season-high runs in its most lopsided victory of the year.
''You've got to cherish moments like this when you come out swinging and it lasts the whole game,'' Weeks said. ''It's always a good thing.''
Marco Estrada (5-2) allowed three earned runs and six hits in six innings.
Travis Wood (5-5) turned in his shortest outing of the season when he lasted only 2 2-3 innings. He gave up 10 hits and seven earned runs for the Cubs (19-33), who have the worst record in the majors.
''They hit everything I threw up there,'' said Wood, who allowed two hits and struck out seven in seven innings of a 4-2 victory over Milwaukee on May 18. ''It didn't matter what I threw. They were hacking early and they got to me. ... Three pitches into it, I was two runs downs. It's tough to get into a rhythm there.''
Chicago, shut out in its last two games at San Francisco, ended its scoreless streak at 22 innings.
''We scored a couple of runs but we fell behind the 8 ball early, and it was just kind of tough to recover,'' Chicago manager Rick Renteria said.
The change to the top of Milwaukee's lineup has paid dividends.
Jean Segura has batted leadoff the last eight games and is 14 for 38 (.368) with seven runs scored during that time.
Braun has hit second in each of the last six games and is 13 for 27 (.481) with seven RBIs. Before this season he had not batted anywhere in the starting lineup but third since Sept. 30, 2010.
And Carlos Gomez batted cleanup for his seventh straight game - Aramis Ramirez is on the disabled list - and is 13 for 27 with one homer and eight RBIs. He led off his first 42 games this season.
Against Chicago, they were a combined 4 for 5 with a walk in the first two innings to help Milwaukee take a 6-0 lead.
''We just need to do what works for us,'' Segura said. ''This is good for us.''
All three reached base in the first, as Chicago allowed five runs in an inning for the first time since April 12, against St. Louis.
''When you come out in the first inning like we did, that's outstanding,'' Roenicke said. ''It allows your pitcher to do some different things, and then we added to it, which a lot of times we've been scoring in the first inning or second inning and then we don't do much the rest of the game.''
On the first pitch of the game, Segura reached on an infield single. Two pitches later, Braun's blast sailed over the wall in right-center field for his eighth homer - and first at Miller Park.
''When you get guys on base early, things usually escalate pretty well after that,'' Weeks said.
Gomez walked and scored on a double by Khris Davis for a 3-0 lead. Weeks followed with a run-scoring single before Maldonado gave Milwaukee a 5-0 lead with a two-out double.
In the second, Gomez extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a single that drove in Braun for the six-run lead.
A four-run fifth padded Milwaukee's lead to 11-2.
''It makes things a little easier, especially when I'm kind of scuffling,'' Estrada said. ''My last two outings before this I've kind of been all over the place. Tonight I just felt much better. I located better, but still walked four guys and can't keep doing stuff like that.''
NOTES: Ramirez will begin a rehab assignment Sunday with the Class-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. ... Chicago's 20 road losses are the most in the NL. ... Braun moved into sole possession of fourth place on the franchise's all-time RBI list with 707. ... Wood was trying to become the fourth Cubs' pitcher in the last 20 years with five victories in May. ... Milwaukee tied a team record by collecting at least 10 hits in its ninth straight game. ... Starlin Castro has reached safely in his last 14 games at Miller Park dating to Aug. 22, 2012. ... Chicago is 7-25 at Miller Park since the start of the 2011 season.


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NetWellness is a global, community service providing quality, unbiased health information from our partners. NetWellness is commercial-free and does not accept advertising.
Sunday, September 6, 2015
Rossi, MD
Clinical Instructor of Reproductive Biology
Department of Reproductive Biology
School of Medicine
Case Western Reserve University
Dr. Brooke Rossi is a reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist and University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve School of Medicine. After attending medical school a the University of Pittsburgh, she completed a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Rochester-Strong Memorial Hospital, and a Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility fellowship at Brigham and Women's Hospital-Harvard Medical School. She enjoys working with patients with infertility, PCOS, and reproductive surgical issues.


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- Inside Athletics
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JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Feb. 16, 2008) - Sophomore post Latisha Belcher (Martinsville, Va.) scored a game high 19 points and three other ETSU women's basketball players notched 14 apiece as the Lady Bucs dropped Lipscomb 89-65 on Senior Day Saturday afternoon inside Memorial Center.
ETSU bounced back in a big way after having its eight-game conference win streak snapped last Monday at
The three Lady Buccaneer players who pitched in with 14 included senior's Michele DeVault (Columbus, Ohio) and Jenny Norman (Peachtree City, Ga.) as well as sophomore Siarre Evans (
"I think we played a lot better in the second half as we were able to control the tempo," commented head coach Karen Kemp whose club is eyeing its first A-Sun crown. "I keep stressing to my team that from here on out each game is important, because every time we step on the floor we are playing for a conference championship."
The Lady Bucs jumped out to a quick 9-4 start heading into the first media timeout. Then, ETSU used a 16-5 run to extend its lead to 16, 25-9, when sophomore Devin Thompson (
In the first half, ETSU shot 37.8 percent (14-37) from the field, compared to Lipscomb's 30.8 clip (8-26). Free throws kept the Lady Bisons intact as they hit 10-of-14, while the Lady Bucs were 9-of-11. ETSU dominated in the paint, doubling up Lipscomb, 20-10, and out-rebounded the visitors from
Lipscomb carried its momentum over into the second half by cutting the deficit to eight, 41-33, with 18:39 remaining, but ETSU's 19-9 run over the next five-plus ended any chance of a Lady Bison upset. Evans and Belcher took over in the spurt as they combined for 16 of those points and moved the Lady Buccaneer lead to 18, 60-42. From there, the ETSU advantage would hover around the 20-point mark, but Belcher's lay-in with 3:03 left in the contest gave the Lady Bucs their largest lead of the night, 85-57.
Once again ETSU did an outstanding job distributing the basketball as they tied a season high with its 23 assists on 32 made field goals. Freshman point guard Kami Phillips (
The Lady Bucs shot 44.4 percent from the floor (32-72) and held Lipscomb to only 33.9 percent (21-62). After having its streak of 101 games with a three-pointer come to an end at
This week marks the WBCA's "Think Pink" marketing campaign. The initiative of this plan is a global, unified effort for the WBCA's nation of coaches to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond. The Lady Bucs were supporting pink shoelaces, socks, and headbands to help support the cause, while fans were also able to make donations and bid on autographed items from the women's and men's basketball teams. All the proceeds will be used to help fight the deadly disease.
ETSU will now close out its home portion of the schedule Monday night when they host
For more information on Lady Buccaneer basketball, visit www.ETSUBucs.com.


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Kelly Clarkson had the best acceptance speech of the night, at least according to Pink.
"Congrats to Kelly Clarkson for the award and that loveable speech," tweeted Pink. "You made me laugh. Can't wait to hear that song with Miguel."
After winning the trophy for pop vocal album, a nervous Clarkson rambled during her acceptance speech, apologizing for taking so long to come on stage and appealing to R&B singer Miguel to collaborate.
"Miguel, I don't know who the hell you are, but we need to sing together," she said.
Clarkson later posted a photo of herself and Miguel backstage on Instagram.
The original "American Idol" champion returned to the stage to perform and present the best country album.
After she flubbed winner Zac Brown's name and instead said Zach Braff, the "Scrubs" star tweeted Clarkson: "THANK YOU! My second GRAMMY!!!!"
Braff won the compilation soundtrack Grammy in 2005 for his film "Garden State."
— Derrik J. Lang — Twitter: http://twitter.com/derrikjlang
EDITOR'S NOTE — Show Bits brings you the 55th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles through the eyes of Associated Press journalists. Follow them on Twitter where available with the handles listed after each item.


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Get the Galleon Trailer off worthplaying (25mb)
Step into the shoes of the swashbuckling CAPTAIN RHAMA SABRIER, and journey on an epic quest through the islands of Akbah to unlock the mystery of an enchanted ship, which could hold the key to the most powerful weapon in the universe.
As GALLEON's incredible story unfolds, Rhama must rely on more than his wits to survive, fending off fiendish adversaries with swords, pistols and Qing-Gong, an ancient martial art which allows Rhama to scale seemingly impenetrable walls, jump enormous caverns and swim to incredible depths. The fighting in Galleon is fast, furious and full of hidden depth. Rhama can draw on a wide repertoire of stylish martial arts moves to dispatch enemies with.
Inspired by a mix of Sinbad, Errol Flynn, Kung Fu films and Disney, GALLEON creator Toby Gard said: "After creating Lara Croft and having been the lead designer of the original Tomb Raider, I wanted to give birth to a completely new type of hero and I came up with Captain Rhama. I am delighted that gamers will soon be able to savour GALLEON."
Dave Clark, Marketing Director of SCi Games commented: "It is tremendous to add GALLEON to our stable of titles, Toby has had a very specific vision for this game and finally gamers will be able to experience this."
More articles about Galleon


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Heirloom, The (US - DVD R1)
Gabe Powers shouts, "Don't move into the haunted house, you morons!"...
A family commits a mass suicide, seemingly with no explanation. Twenty years later, the sole heir and his fiancé move into the menacing manor where the suicide was committed. Obviously they don't think it's all that creepy to live in the house where your relatives hung themselves. Soon after the couple enters the damned domicile mysterious and deadly events begin to occur, and the family secret comes to surface.
If you're interested in a ghost story with an air of mystery behind the events, you might want to stay away from The Heirloom, because the opening title cards pretty much give away the reasons for the film's supernatural occurrences. On the other hand, if you're interested in a ghost story that crawls under your skin and disturbs you to your very sole...you also might want to look elsewhere. The Heirloom isn't that film either. However, if you're looking for an average ghost story that you won't find the fortitude to hate, and just might cure your insomnia, The Heirloom should be next on your Netflix rental queue.
The scariest thing about the film is the box art, which I admit is pretty cool, and probably will sell a couple of copies. I'll also admit that director of photography, one Kwan Pun-Leung, has done an amazing job here, specifically because of the amazing dark and light play. I'll even admit that the design of the haunted habitat is effective, as is the rest of the production. Somehow, among all this artistic integrity, here is a total lack of scariness.
Perhaps this lapse in shivers is due to the fact that there is little or nothing in the film's script that makes it special or even kind of innovative. If you've seen three better Asian ghost stories, you've seen this film. Perhaps the missing chills can be blamed on the fact that if it were not for flashbacks and slow motion, The Heirloom would only be about thirty minutes long. Seriously, how many times do we need to flash back to the same images? I've seen episodes of Dragonball Z with less constant reciprocation.
My guess as to the reason behind the absence of horror is that no one here was particularly interested in the project, least of all the scriptwriter. Do not misunderstand me, this is not a 'bad' movie, it's just a painfully mediocre one. There is little here to make anyone beyond the most avid fan of the Asian horror genre excited. This might make a decent thirty minute episode of some modern horror-based TV series, but there isn't nearly enough here to justify a feature length running time or asking price.
In a case like this, where a film's worth is about 90% in its cinematography, it's important that the DVD looks good. This Tartan release is more or less a success. There are some fabulous blacks; deep and rich, as they should be. Darkness is very important to the look of the film. On the other hand, there's a lot of digital damage here, especially in lighter colours. Edge enhancement is prevalent, as is some pretty ugly blocking. The blocking and pixilation (which can be seen most clearly on my final screen cap) come and go, occasionally during more stylized sections, like the (never-ending) flashbacks. For the most part this is a more than decent transfer though, especially considering the nature of the film.
The duelling DTS and Dolby Digital tracks are very similar, though the DTS tracks has a little more spatial differentiation, and is a bit louder. Both tracks are solid, but the music often sounds detached from the rest of the soundtrack. It's likely that it was mastered separately. This creates an unfortunate artificiality to the sometimes abrasively over-the-top, but generally effective score. The rest of the noise is the usual dark and spooky house type stuff, and for its part, it works pretty well. The DTS did have one rather loud 'pop' towards the end of the film that I triple checked to make sure it wasn't a connection problem. Before and after the pop, there is a slight problem with lip-sync.
The special features are kicked off with a decent, but noticeably promotionally based making of featurette. It runs about twenty-five minutes, and may have been more entertaining to me had I enjoyed the film more than I did. Nice inclusion, but not very informative.
Next up are a few deleted scenes, presented in their raw, unmasked state. These are so raw that some are really more like out-takes or flubs, than the usual deleted scenes. The best is a series of about thirty or forty failed attempts to capture a 'psychic' bird doing his thing on camera. The bird simply has to pull a card from a deck, any card, and it gets food. Better said than done. The bird refuses to cooperate, and in some takes flies away. Sadly, this is more entertaining than the film.
There is a group effort commentary track in Chinese with English subtitles. The director is strictly technical and very dry. He's very good at telling us what he did to achieve a shot. Thankfully the actors are a little more animated. I skipped around a few times out of intolerance of silence, but for the most part the track was continuous.
Features are brought to a close with the usual trailer, and addition trailers for other Tartan Asia Extreme releases.
I leave this one up to the reader. Do you really, really like Asian ghost stories? If you do I suppose that one more won't hurt. But if you're like me, you've become jaded to the whole scene, and The Heirloom simply doesn't do enough to separate itself from the pack, the giant, giant pack. This is another good presentation from Tartan though, and I hope they get their hands on more intriguing movies in the future.
Review by Gabriel Powers
Sulaco426 Member Join Date: November 2005 Location: United States Posts: 205
Great review Gabe. I'll have to rent this myself. Tartan is definitely bringing over some of the most interesting asian cinema.
YlowBstard Member Join Date: February 2006 Location: Canada Posts: 854
I`ll see this. I`m a sucker for Japanese horror I guess.
Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian
Disc Details
Release Date: 25th April 2006
Discs: 1
Disc Type: Single side, dual layer
RCE: No
Video: NTSC
Aspect: 1.85:1
Anamorphic: Yes
Colour: Yes
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 Mandarin, DTS 5.1 Mandarin
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Extras: Making of Featurette, Commentary with Crew, Deleted Scenes, Trailer, Tartan Trailer Reel
Easter Egg: No
Feature Details
Director: Leste Chen
Cast: Terri Kwan Jason Chang Chang Yu-chen Tender Huang
Genre: Horror
Length: 96 minutes
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GENEVA – While most people flock to Swedish Days for food, outdoor shopping and enjoying the weather, others converge on the outdoor basketball courts to participate in the 3-on-3 basketball tournaments for kids and adults.
Some do it for the fun and competition, while others use it to keep in shape and start preparing for the basketball season. Others like Geneva resident K.J. Santos.
Santos, a 6-foot-7 combo guard, is preparing to begin his junior season at South Kent School in Connecticut after he has reclassified his graduation year to 2016. Santos spent last season at Vermont Academy after spending his first two years at Geneva, where older sisters Ashley and Sidney starred before heading to college careers at Marquette and Oakland (Michigan), respectively.
Santos cited getting his body ready for his own eventual college basketball career and improving his grades as the reasoning behind his transfer.
"The [New England Preparatory School Athletic Council] is the best prep basketball league in the country," Santos said. "I thought it would be good for me to play the best competition."
Santos spent the afternoon dazzling the crowd with his perimeter shooting, and smooth ballhandling skills, demonstrating why colleges such as Florida and Miami (Florida), among others, are showing interest in him.
Santos has offers from Iowa, Xavier, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Penn State, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest. According to his Yahoo! Sports recruiting page, Santos also has received offers from DePaul, Rhode Island, Tulsa and VCU, as well.
"It makes me feel good all my hard work is paying off," he said.
Earlier in the afternoon, in the 13-to-15 year-old bracket, four incoming Batavia freshman – Quinlan Hagen, Will Freiburger, Riley Cooper and Andrew Heinz – took home first place honors. The team has played in the tournament together the last couple years, and is preparing for eventual freshman team tryouts.
"It was fun…. there was no pressure and it was easy," the foursome all agreed.
Participation in the summer tournament had increased this year after a down year in 2013, as it gives former teammates the opportunity to play with one another again. Recent Geneva graduate Jason D'Amico, a thrower for the track team, fits the bill.
D'Amico has competed in the tournament for the past few years and is set to throw at Wisconsin-Whitewater. He uses the tournament to keep in shape and have fun with his friends, while competing against foes with a "wide range of people and [abilities]."
The tournament is a great way "to bring the community together, and promote basketball in the area," tournament director Keith Schmerer said.
Santos hoops it up at Swedish Days 3-on-3 before heading east
Annual tournament provides camaraderie, tune-up
GENEVA – While most people flock to Swedish Days for food, outdoor shopping and enjoying the weather, others converge on the outdoor basketball courts to participate in the 3-on-3 basketball tournaments for kids and adults.


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Samsung NX1000 hands on – build
At 359g (including the lens and battery), the Samsung NX1000 is lighter than any of its rivals. Though it hasn't been treated to the same metal finish as its big brother the NX210, the grip plus thumb-pad on the rear make the NX1000 easy to hold plus the plastic body still looks pretty sexy, especially in white.
So Sammy's 'budget' compact system camera offering more than looks the part – it easily competes with our favourite skinny DSLR competitors and you can feel immediately how light it really is.
Samsung NX1000 hands on – smart camera
This time round, Samsung has kitted the entire NX range out with serious Wi-Fi skills – like the ones on the smartie compact WB150F – so that you never lose a photo again. Accessing your sharing options – including direct uploads to Microsoft SkyDrive and Facebook – straight from the Wi-Fi option on the mode dial is idiot-proof. You can also use the Smart Link hot key on top of the camera to back up your snaps straight to your smartphone.
Samsung NX1000 hands on – controls
The NX1000 shares a lot of impressive specs with the top-end NX20 including that all-important 20.3MP APS-C sensor. AF was speedy and it boasts an 8fps continuous mode – so we can't wait to take it out for a spin to test out the image quality and performance in a full review.
There are no surprises when it comes to the NX1000's manual controls – and they include a dedicated button for shooting 1080p video. If you're stepping up from a compact for the first time, the iFunction button on the 20-55mm lens (also featured on the Samsung NX200) is a nice touch. Adding filters and adjusting ISO, shutter speed and exposure via iScene is done by twisting the lens – so you can see the changes on the display as you tweak your settings.
Samsung NX1000 hands on – display
Sammy has made a few compromises to bring the price of the NX1000 down to £600 though – there's no built-in flash, but there is a hotshoe for adding the external flash that will come bundled with the camera.
And that's a 3in TFT LCD display round the back – no AMOLED here. We can't see this causing many problems in terms of viewing and framing your snaps – and if you'd prefer an Electronic Viewfinder and Clear AMOLED display you can always splash out the extra £300 for the NX20.
Samsung NX1000 hands on – price and release date
The Samsung NX1000 is out in June for £600 with the 20-55mm iFunction 2.0 lens. Look out for a full Stuff.tv review as soon as we get our hands on a review model and let's see if Samsung can get Panasonic's Lumix GX1 and Sony's NEX-5N quaking in their swappable lens-clad boots.
Samsung unveils new NX camera range
Alienware new laptop range announced
Xbox Live entertainment apps will be free this weekend


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A member of my local site has just alerted me that a UK based company is selling t-shirts with my photo on it...
Do you think it's the same photo? It's obviously altered...
Slick Activewear t-shirt
My photo:
Compared side by side:
And if it is - is it a violation of my rights as author?
Edited by Wishbone, 01 February 2009 - 09:23 AM.


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Zlatan Ibrahimovic has admitted that Lionel Messi is the best player in world football as he prepares to face his former Barcelona team-mate when Sweden take on Argentina on Wednesday.
The Paris Saint-Germain forward spent two seasons at Camp Nou playing alongside the Argentina captain, and he pointed out that the playmaker wins so many award because he is the finest player currently on show.
"Leo is a fantastic player. At an individual level he is probably the best player in the world, so he wins all the awards," he told reporters at a press conference.
And the 31-year-old, who will only play 45 minutes in the match in Solna, believes the friendly international is more important for the visitors as they look to find their best 11 ahead of the remainder of their World Cup qualifiers.
"Clearly it is more important for them than for us," he said.
"They have so many quality players fighting for a spot on the team."


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ASUS M5A97, M5A99X, and Crosshair V Motherboard Review Roundup
900 Series: Bulldozer Ready
The rumor on the street is that Asus makes a few motherboards. They may or may not be the world's leading motherboard manufacturer. Asus may also have a pretty good reputation for quality and innovation in their products. It is tongue in cheek hour at PC Perspective. All joking aside, Asus anymore is the gold standard for quality manufacturing and design in motherboards.
Some months ago AMD released their AM3+ capable chipsets, though the release was not nearly as exciting as we had hoped. The AMD 900 series of chipsets are essentially the same silicon as those that power the non-integrated AMD 800 series. There are three SKUs that are currently available for the 900 series that Asus makes motherboards around.
The 990FX is the top product and it features 42 PCI-E 2.0 lanes. This allows it to support 2 x 16X PEG slots, and upwards of 4 x 8X slots (with a few lanes left over for use in connecting to the southbridge component). The big news here is that NVIDIA has finally relented and allowed AMD's motherboard partners to license SLI support using these AMD chipsets. Otherwise, this chip is identical to the 890FX of yesteryear. It again features the IOMMU functionality for VM support.
The 990X is a cut down version of the 990FX in that it only has 22 PCI-E lanes. It does allow the use of a single 16X PEG slot, or can be divided into 2 x 8X PCI-E connections. This then allows the use of 4 x PCI-E lanes to connect to the southbridge. This chip supports Crossfire and SLI, though the stipulation for SLI is that the motherboard manufacturer must have a current SLI license from NVIDIA and has supported that technology in the past (such as the Intel X58 and P67 chipsets). This chip includes the IOMMU functionality as well.
Finally we have the 970, which sits at the low end. This is put forward as the budget member and does not natively support Crossfire and SLI. It has the full 22 PCI-E lanes, but cuts down on the number of concurrent connections. So it supports at max 1 x 16X PEG, with the southbridge handling any other PCI-E connections. This chip also shares the IOMMU functionality, so it could be of interest for those wishing to create an inexpensive VM server with actual hardware support.
All of these chips interface with the SB950 southbridge. This is again the same chip as the previous SB850. It features 14 USB 2.0 ports and a full six SATA 6G ports. It has eight PCI-E 2.0 lanes altogether, though four of which are relegated to the A-Link Express III connection. Even though we do not hear much about it, this chip does in fact feature a built-in 1 Gig-E MAC. Most of the time though we will see a Realtek or Marvell PCI-E 1X based controller on the vast majority of boards.
The primary reason for the number change on these chipsets is that it helps to differentiate boards that are primarily designed for use with Bulldozer CPUs. AMD has changed the power specifications slightly for Bulldozer, and while previous 800 series boards can support these new CPUs, they will not do so as efficiently and effectively as the new boards. The Hypertransport specification has been increased for these boards to 3.1, which allows a maximum speed of 3200 MTPS over the previous max of 2600 MTPS of the HT 3.0 specification.
Asus currently has a handful of motherboards out supporting the 900 series of chipsets. I have previously reviewed the 990FX SABERTOOTH, and that was a simply fantastic product considering the price and featureset. The other three have been making a visit to my test bench over the past few weeks. Ready for a hint? I liked them all.
You may want to check the UEFI photo at the end of the article. It appears to have the wrong manufacturer.
You are absolutely correct. That is the new MSI ClickBIOS II. I'm not sure what I was thinking. I will get that swapped out here shortly.
seems biased to me
the board does not perform much greater then the m5a99x on some or most tests you perfromed it was the same speed
sure you get dual pcie x16 but this is the only benefit i can see
if your not interested in dual x16 then by looking at your benchmarks nobody would buy it
Gold award just because its the so called "top of the line"
did you get paid for this
Nope, not biased. I wasn't paid for it either. Pretty much all AM3+ boards perform the same, as they all are based around the SB850/SB950 southbridge, which controls the majority of all I/O functions. Also, since the memory controller and northbridge is integrated into the CPU, this further lessens the effect of motherboard performance.
What we are essentially looking at in terms of differences in these boards is slightly better overclocking potential on the Crosshair V. With the V you also get the improved sound due to the THX and Supreme FX II implementations, improved networking due to the Intel controller vs. the cheaper Realtek solutions, full 2 x 16X functionality (which does make a difference in multi-GPU solutions with top end cards), the extra SATA 6G controllers that the previous boards do not have, ROG connect, and a more granular control of the board from a voltage standpoint due to all of the other bell's and whistle's that Asus implemented.
There is no denying that the M5A99X is a very solid and well fleshed out board, but the Crosshair V takes that to a whole 'nother level. Better cooling, 6 USBB 3.0 connections, pro-belt for voltage monitoring... I could go on and on. It is a significant upgrade overall from the 990X board. So yes, I do believe that it deserved the Gold award. It has packed all of these features into one board, for a decent price (it is cheaper than the Intel based ROG implementations), and all of it works flawlessly and matches the performance of less featured and more focused motherboards.
I bought this board with the fx 6100 ozc series 3 120gb solid state, 16gb vengeance ram 1tb segate a blueray drive and regular dvd drive with 2 XFX 6950 gpus in crossfire and a h80 water cooler in the Coolermaster scout. I put MSI afterburner on and also use AMD overdrive. I was taught by this com how to overclock the cpu and the gpus in 2 weeks. I have 4.899 for my 6 cores stable and with MSI Kombuster I get 403 fps. I just started learning and I think thats pretty good. I would have to say its the boards ease of use that made that possible. I'm having tons of fun with this. Next is learning to overclock the ram. Please keep up the great work and tell everyone there that frozen Grand Rapids MI listens to your pod casting.
Sounds like a really good overclock! I wonder if you can unlock those other cores though? I haven't heard much about doing that, but it was certainly possible in the older Phenom IIs. Still, 6 cores at 4.9 GHz is gonna give you a pretty good experience.
As for memory overclocking... I would just do the max amount on those particular dimms. If it is 1600 MHz, then just go for that. If you can get to 1866 MHz, which is the top supported speed, then that would work too. Good luck!
Well, you have realy good PC. What was the total cost of the project? Is your power supply 1200 wats? Do you think SDD was smart choise?
I have a cooler master pro gold 80+ 1000 watt. I like the snappiness of the ssd though. I've had no probs with it yet and hope not to. But the computer in a whole has taught me I need to get back into school. Some things are learned better in the environment of others around you knowing and learning about the same things, I don't know anyone I can ask questions so I will probably stop trying to mess around with the clocks before I fry this thing. Some people only get to make their dream machine once. I don't want to kill it to fast. Oh the whole project after rebates costs 1200, but I don't know now with the hard drive prices still going up. I got mine for 54 bucks for the 1tb, now maybe 125-150 for the same drive.
Mr. Josh, I've been tweeking out the com some more. I bought a sound card for it, slid it in between the 2 graphics cards and hooked it up. The sound card runs fine, SoundBlaster X-FI Titanium Fatality Champion Series. But it looks as though having it plugged in is affecting the crossfire setup with the 2 XFX 6970s. I pulled them and reseated them, and reseated the crossfire bridges. I got my crossfire back but the gpu1 still doesn't do what it used too. I have the M5A97 EVO for my board. Should I take out the sound card? It will only fit on the board in between the 2 cards. Will I have to keep one gpu in the desk drawer and pop it in the com when its time to play or lose the sound card? Your thoughts please, this is pissin me off but I am a real newb. Thanks for the time to read this.
hello i just got the asus m5a97 evo and when i reformat my hhd i lost the auto tuning in the bios how can fix it
Ϝirst of all ӏ would like to sɑy fantastic blog! I Һad a quick question ѡhich I'd lіke to ask
if you Ԁо not mind. I was intеrested to knoա ɦow уou center yoursеlf аnd cleaг yοur thougҺts befоrе writing.
I've had trouble clearing mʏ mind in ɡetting my thoughts out.
I do enjoy writing Һowever it jսst seems lіke
tɦе first 10 to 15 minutes aгe usuɑlly wasted јust
trying to figure οut how tߋ begіn. Аny ideas οr hints?
I cannot get this board to accept any of the video cards I have. Any suggestions as to video cards. Thanks
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OVB Outside Vertical Bar
VRCB Volatility Reduced Compression Bar
Brent Crude Oil (August '13):
- Short Term Trend is bullish.
- Confirmation of a bottom with a range violation on 06/13/13 @ 104.19. Confirmation of a bottom with a close violation on 06/06/13 @ 103.33. Upside Targets = 109.11 – 113.72.
- New highs made on the current move Friday @ 106.64.
- July Brent Crude followed through in near perfect unison with last week's report as it fell just $0.50 below the previous week's mid-range where it found solid footing and came back to not only make new two-month highs but also generate an IT TREND REVERSAL back to bullish.
- This past week's price action should lead to an extension of the recent gains back to at least the $109 price area and with an increase in volatility, it could lead even higher back near the MT resistance area just below $115.
- Projected Daily Range: 2.15
- Projected Weekly Range: 4.94
- Projected Monthly Range: 8.97
WTI Crude Oil (August '13):
- Short Term Trend is bullish.
- Confirmation of a bottom with a range violation on 06/05/13 @ 94.42. Confirmation of a bottom with a close violation on 06/06/13 @ 94.76. Upside Targets = 97.55 – 99.12.
- New highs made on the current move Friday @ 98.25.
- August WTI Crude Oil moved to new spot annual highs this past week, although by just a single tick, as it logged its best two-week gain of the year.
- As mentioned in last week's report, WTI is overdue for a large injection of volatility and given the massive amount of support that the $90-$92 range has provided this year, traders should expect the market to continue higher over the coming weeks above $100 on its way to making new 13-month spot highs.
- Projected Daily Range: 1.79
- Projected Weekly Range: 4.57
- Projected Monthly Range: 9.15
Natural Gas (June '13):
- Short Term Trend is bearish.
- Confirmation of a top with a range violation on 05/30/13 @ 4.117. Confirmation of a top with a close violation on 05/30/13 @ 4.023. Downside Targets = 3.957 – 3.879.
- Inside compression day generated on Friday.
- July Natural Gas broke down once again during this past trading week as it was unable to hold the modest two-day rally heading into the weekend as the market closed near the lows of the week.
- Natural gas entered into the old "resistance zone" mentioned in the previous few weeks that should now act as initial support to this market while generating a VRCB trading week, indicating that downward pressure may be subsiding as we near a possible IT pivot point.
- Look for the $3.60 area to likely hold on this current move lower before a retest of the $4 mark.
- Projected Daily Range: .105
- Projected Weekly Range: .250
- Projected Monthly Range: .614


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While I saw Edward Teller at several scientific conferences and heard him lecture, I met him only once. It left an indelible memory. It was at the end of April 1954. By this time I was far enough along on my PhD thesis that it was clear I might actually get my degree. The weapons laboratories were hiring interns, and my name had been given to Teller as someone who might be recruited for Livermore, a laboratory created in 1952 at Teller's instigation as a competitor to Los Alamos in the design of hydrogen bombs. Livermore was located on an old Navy base not far from San Francisco. I'm not sure that its purpose was widely known. I doubt if I knew it, but I thought it might be interesting to meet Teller.
We agreed to meet in the lobby of a Washington hotel where the American Physical Society was having a conference. I had no trouble recognizing him, and he suggested we talk in his suite, where it would be quieter. He explained that he was giving a talk the following day, and to prepare it he would present it to me spontaneously; he asked me to interrupt if I had any questions. When we got to his suite he began pacing around the living room, lecturing. I think "lumbering" would be a better description. In 1928, when he had gone to Munich to study, he lost his right foot in an accident involving a streetcar. In later years Teller became an avid hiker but his prosthesis made his gait somewhat awkward. Suddenly in the middle of this lecture–during which I had remained mute, having no questions and not much understanding–he stopped and said, with no explanation, that he'd much rather be discussing physics than politics.
I had no idea what he was talking about until a couple of months later. On June 15 the Atomic Energy Commission released the full transcripts of a hearing before its Personnel Security Board, which had begun on April 12 and lasted until May 6, the result of which was that Teller's colleague J. Robert Oppenheimer lost his clearance and much of his reputation. Teller and Oppenheimer had had a difficult relationship, dating from the time that they were both at Los Alamos during the war. Even then Teller was fixated on building a hydrogen bomb and would not do the work of the laboratory that Oppenheimer was directing, which was trying to build a fission bomb. Teller was a witness–a hostile witness–and his testimony was devastating. At the end of it he was asked if he was having difficulty recruiting young people to come to Livermore. He replied, "I am going to spend the next three days in the Physical Society in trying to persuade additional young people to join in." I was one of the "additional young people," but I must not have made much of an impression, because I never heard from either Teller or Livermore, for which I am extremely grateful.
While the hearing ended Oppenheimer's work for the government, it also ended Teller's relationship with much of the physics community. To many he became a pariah, and people with whom he had worked at places like Los Alamos would no longer talk to him. It pushed Teller further and further into the right-wing community, which shared his paranoia about what they perceived to be the Soviet menace. It is impossible to be neutral about this. You may think Teller was the savior of Western civilization, or you may think he was an unprincipled fanatic, but you won't be indifferent. That is why it is so difficult to write an objective biography. I think the British television producer Peter Goodchild, also author of a biography of Oppenheimer, makes a decent attempt. But the facts speak for themselves. I was amused by his epilogue, where he tries to give a balanced summary. For example, after pointing out Teller's specious arguments about the "benign" nature of radioactive fallout from nuclear weapons testing, he says, "Teller fought what he saw as the hysterical, ill-educated and irrational fear of nuclear activities with great vigour. He battled against the fears of fallout in the 1950s and his argument–that there was an over-reaction to the dangers of fallout–still has support from researchers to-day." One wonders who these unnamed "researchers" are. It's as if he were summarizing another book. In the body of the book he makes it abundantly clear what he really thinks of Teller. Since I share the view that Teller was often an unprincipled and intellectually dishonest fanatic, I am generally admiring of Goodchild's book. The question is what made Teller this way. In this I think Goodchild misses an important point, because he does not understand the physics. If this were a biography of, say, Einstein, that would be fatal, but since so much of Teller's later life was political, the science is somewhat secondary.