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By Glenn Mollette
Celebrating family on these summer holidays or any day is always a special day.
However, all holidays are tough days for many. While millions celebrate others wonder about what might have been. Some have lost
a child while others made tragic decisions to end a life.
Abortion is sad and heartbreaking. I oppose abortion. I do not believe many people want to go through with an abortion. Over the years I've known many people who have looked back at an abortion with heartbreak and grief.
My first wife and I had a stillborn baby. He would have been our third son. We named him Jesse Caleb. We were told just hours before the delivery was scheduled that there was no heartbeat. The baby would be delivered but he would be dead. I sat for about three hours in the delivery room and held beautiful Jesse Caleb. He looked perfect. However, the umbilical cord had gotten a kink in it, cutting off the oxygen supply and ending his life. At that time, I had never wept or grieved any harder than I did at the loss of my beautiful child. Losing Jesse made me so very grateful for my two sons Jared and Zachary. Today they are both grown men serving in our military.
As I held my child I could never have dreamed of killing him prior to his birth. I do not believe anyone holding a newborn baby would decide to kill that baby. However, many have made the decision to terminate a pregnancy. Most often they are in need of counseling, emotional support, forgiveness and hope.
Years earlier we lost twins. Karen was about three months pregnant at the time. Things were going wrong with the pregnancy and she was bleeding. The doctor said things were not good and a D&C was necessary. This was a decision that was made between our family and the doctor. What if someone from the county or even the Federal Government had to be consulted before the D&C took place? We were obviously miscarrying the babies.
A government official could have delayed the procedure, wanted more information, said no or said yes. I do not believe the Federal Government or any government official should be involved in this process. I do not believe in abortion as a form of birth control. However, I do believe that decisions concerning pregnancies and abortions must be made between the mother, the family, and the doctor.
Women and couples make decisions to abort that are later regretted with more sorrow and emotional scars. For many years I served as a pastor and heard many sorrowful stories from women who had abortions and greatly regretted them.
There are cases that involve the mother's health. There are the cases that involve rape and incest. In these types of cases, decisions must be made between the mother, the family, physician and counselor.
Glenn Mollette is the author of American Issues: Every American Has An Opinion. He is also the author of hundreds of articles, opinions and feature stories. You can hear him each Sunday night on XM 131 radio at 8 EST. Look for his many books on Amazon.com contact him directly at email@example.com


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URBANA, Ill. - California's 26th-ranked team of Campbell Johnson and Christoffer Konigsfeldt lost to Auburn's sixth-ranked Daniel Cochran and Andreas Mies in Thursday's round of 32 at the NCAA Doubles Championship at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex/Atkins Tennis Center. The Cal pair fell, 7-5, 6-1, to close the season for the Golden Bear men's tennis team.
The result also ended the Cal career of Konigsfeldt, a senior co-captain.
One day prior, Johnson - a junior ranked 60th in singles - lost in the NCAA Singles Championship round of 64 to Oklahoma's 58th-ranked Guillermo Alcorta, 6-2, 6-4, and Cal junior Ben McLachlan - ranked 38th in singles - lost to Ohio State's 12th-ranked Blaz Rola, 6-2, 7-6(4).
"It's not a good feeling when the season ends, but I have to say this team had an incredible year," Cal head coach Peter Wright said. "We had injuries and challenges throughout the season, but we rose to the challenge each time throughout the year. These guys gave it their all this year, and I'm so proud of how they competed this year. It's incredibly gratifying to see how hard these guys played together and how close they became as a team."
May 23, 2013, in Urbana, Ill.
Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex/Atkins Tennis Center
No. 6 Daniel Cochran/Andreas Mies (Auburn) def. No. 26 Campbell Johnson/Christoffer Konigsfeldt (California) - 7-5, 6-1
Round of 32

subset: commoncrawl


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Dude Grabs Murda Mook's Neck During Arsonal Vs T-Rex Battle!?
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Jason Collins' Ex-Fiancée Still 'Deeply Hurt' Following His Coming Out; Pens Editorial
So this was the part we hoped we'd be able to skip.
Out NBA star Jason Collins' ex-fiancée, Carolyn Moos, has penned her own editorial for Cosmopolitan magazine detailing how Collins came out to her and the ensuing fallout.
We suppose it's better than a tell-all book and hey, if this is her process for getting over the man she was with for almost a decade--more power to her.
Here's a short excerpt from the top of the piece. Moos writes:
"A MONTH BEFORE I was set to marry the man I loved, he called off the wedding. I had no idea why. He and I had been together for eight years. We had planned to have children, build a family. Nearly four years later, I got my answer. My former fiancé, Jason Collins, a pro basketball player with the Washington Wizards, announced last spring in Sports Illustrated that he is gay.
Jason told me he's gay over the phone on a Monday morning in April, the same day the magazine hit newsstands. However, he didn't mention the article—that came as a surprise when I heard about it from a friend. In his essay, Jason wrote that he'd once been engaged to a woman. Reporters zoomed in on me, thrusting my name into the news. My in-box exploded with e-mails from women saying the same thing had happened to them. I'm sharing what I've learned from my experience in hopes that it might help others."
Moos later acknowledges that she still remains "deeply hurt."
What do you think of Moos' editorial, Instincters? Was there a more appropriate way for Jason to have handled his coming out?
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The diving is good, how is the service, the staff?
Past guests of Blackbird Caye Resort are always willing to write about their experiences with us. Check out TripAdvisor — for our reviews. Below are a few about our attentive, gracious and charismatic staff:
"Staff was terrific. Chris and Joe on the snorkel trips were great. Ian and Jackie at the bar were very friendly. Michael the manager very helpful. Great place to relax and enjoy the beach and water, catch up on your reading." — Earl S
"Emmy & Cardinal were our dive masters for the week. Love those guys." — LaurieC1961
"The crew out at Blackbird are second to none! Thanks for making my stay so wonderful everyone!!!! :)" — gypsygirl32
"Michael is a perfect manager. Cook is genius in making cakes. Our snorkeling master was doing everything to show us sea life. Thank you to everyone at Blackbird resort!" — OlenaChu
"Blackbird Caye Resort is the best vacation we have ever had. The dive masters and the absolute best, they can and are more than willing to answer any and all questions, offer tips to make your diving more enjoyable, nice and so fun. Everyone on staff on the island is so nice and helpful. Anything you need, just ask and you have it. We will be going back again and again. WE LOVE THIS PLACE." — dogynini


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Derby winner 7-5 favorite in Preakness
BALTIMORE -- Street Sense has already defied long odds by winning the Kentucky Derby. The colt will be a short price in Saturday's Preakness Stakes.
"I'm not a gambler and I'm the world's worst handicapper, but this is what I know," Street Sense trainer Carl Nafzger said. "One thing gets you to the winner's circle -- the horse is what gets you there."
Street Sense was made the 7-5 favorite Wednesday, and a victory would set up a Triple Crown shot in the Belmont Stakes on June 9.
A field of nine 3-year-olds was entered for the 1 3/16-mile Preakness at Pimlico Race Course. Street Sense drew the No. 8 post, one spot farther out than Derby runner-up Hard Spun, the 5-2 second choice. In the Derby, their posts were reversed.
"I've always liked the eight post," Nafzger said. "It's outside. You get a good look at the field, and you've got a straight run to the first turn."
Preakness favorites have won five of the past six times.
Street Sense is coming off a 2 1/4-length win in the Derby two weeks ago, thanks to jockey Calvin Borel's brilliant, rail-hugging trip against 19 rivals.
There won't be as much traffic to navigate this time. Should Street Sense win, a Triple Crown bid might be the perfect remedy for racing a year after Derby winner Barbaro's ill-fated breakdown in the Preakness.
Two other Derby horses will try again -- third-place finisher Curlin and sixth-place finisher Circular Quay. Also entered were C P West, Flying First Class, Mint Slewlep, Xchanger and King of the Roxy.
Hard Spun will carry Maryland's leading jockey, Mario Pino, and race from the No. 7 post.
"It was a good number for the Derby, so hopefully it will work for the Preakness," Hard Spun trainer Larry Jones said.
Curlin, beaten for the first time in the Derby after three overpowering victories, was the third choice at 7-2, and drew the No. 4 post. Circular Quay, the Louisiana Derby winner, leaves from the No. 3 post at 8-1 odds.
Pimlico oddsmaker Frank Carulli had an easy time handicapping the field.
"Unlike a lot of races, there is a good one-race gauge," he said. "With the favorites living up to expectations in the Derby, it made the line a lot easier."
Street Sense arrived Wednesday at Pimlico, a day after his final tuneup at Churchill Downs.
"He's here, and he's doing good," Nafzger said of his colt, who has four wins in eight starts and earnings of $2,958,200.
With his Derby win, Street Sense became the first winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, first run in 1984, to take the Run for the Roses. He also was the first 2-year-old champion since Spectacular Bid in 1979 to win.
Now he will give it a go at trying to end the longest stretch between Triple Crown champions -- it's been 29 years since Affirmed became the 11th Triple Crown winner. Previously, the longest stretch was 25 years -- from Citation in 1948 to Secretariat in 1973.
"I think it's like the Derby," Street Sense owner James Tafel said of a Triple try. "It's almost beyond description. It's the aspiration of every horseman."
Todd Pletcher, who trains Circular Quay and King of the Roxy, is 0-for-26 in Triple Crown races. The three-time Eclipse Award winner sent out a record-tying five starters in the Derby, with Circular Quay his best finisher.
Pletcher is 0-for-19 in the Derby, but just 0-for-1 in the Preakness -- Impeachment was third in 2000.
"Clearly, Street Sense is the horse to beat," Pletcher said. "I think what we all have to hope for, those of us who are running against him, is that he's not as good away from Churchill as he is at Churchill Downs."
Can he take to the tight turns at Pimlico, and then the 1 1/2 miles of the Belmont?
"A good racehorse, and he's a good racehorse, should be able to handle Pimlico and Belmont," Tafel said. "I don't see any reason why not."


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Other Haunted Homes
Other Haunted Homes Besides haunting the Hollywood Forever graveyard, Clifton Webb, who hated smokers and cats, has made life difficult for any new resident of his Rexford Drive home who enjoys either. For years, George Reeves, who played Superman on TV and was portrayed by Ben Affleck in Hollywoodland, haunted his Benedict Canyon home after his death, which was ruled a suicide in 1959. And on the old Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet TV series, Ozzie Nelson was always at home. And he still is at his old mansion Camino Palermo Road in the Hollywood Hills (pictured).
Copyright © 2018, Daily Press


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EditWelcome to the Fable II wiki guide.
Magic or pistols, swords or hammers, skills or strength, male or female, good or evil—the choices are yours to make. But no matter how you decide to tackle the challenges ahead, your goal is the same: vengeance.
Whatever fate brings you, our Fable II guide will help you sort it out. With combat tips and walkthroughs for the main quest and side quests, plus silver chest, gargoyle, demon door, and silver key locations, our guide to Bowerstone and beyond is the ideal adventurer's handbook. Next to your trusty dog, we're your best bet against evil... or good.
EditContributor AssistanceIf you're unfamiliar with editing our wikis, this simple How-to Wiki guide shows you how to get started. If you are unsure about something, do not hesitate to ask the staff or flag the page you are having trouble with (please don't forget to tell us about the problem or reason).
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This Digi-Elements Download features a wealth of papers in both Square and A4 sizes, designed by Michelle Jackson-Mogford.
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Today is election day! Did you get out and vote? Here are some election day fun facts that you can read while you are waiting in line at the polls.
The finish line is almost here. Americans have weighed a plethora of questions in choosing their presidential candidate.
But amid the quadrennial explosion of political ads, bumper stickers and debates, some questions still baffle: Why is the Republican mascot an elephant? Why are Democrats linked to the color blue? And what happens if the candidates tie?
Below, a voter's guide to such perpetually confounding riddles:
Q. Why are presidential elections always in November, and always on Tuesdays?
It all comes down to weather, harvests and worship.
Back when voters traveled to the polls by horse, Tuesday was an ideal day because it allows people to worship on Sunday, ride to their county seat on Monday and vote on Tuesday - all before market day, Wednesday.
And the month of November fit nicely between harvest time and brutal winter weather -- which can be especially bad when you're trudging along by horse and buggy.
But since many voters now travel by horsepower instead of live horses, some people -- like the group Why Tuesday? -- are pushing to move election day to a weekend day to increase the country's historically dismal voter turnout. According to the group, 15 states do not allow early voting, and 27% of non-voters said the main reason why they didn't vote was because they were too busy or couldn't get time off to vote.
Q. Why do Republicans have an elephant and Democrats have a donkey?
Back in 1874, cartoonist Thomas Nast used an elephant to depict the Republican vote in his drawing "The Third-Term Panic." The cartoon was published in Harper's Weekly after the owner of the New York Herald reportedly criticized the notion of Republican President Ulysses S. Grant running for a third term. (Grant didn't end up running in the next election).
In the drawing, an "ass" -- depicting the New York Herald -- scares away other animals in a forest as the elephant -- or the Republican vote -- looks like it's about to stumble into a pit.
But that cartoon isn't where where the Democratic donkey came from. In 1828, Democrat Andrew Jackson's critics called him a "jackass" because of his populist views and his slogan, "Let the people rule." Jackson decided to run with it -- even using images of a donkey in his campaign ads. Later, Nast also used a donkey to depict the Democratic party.
Q. Why are Democratic states "blue," and why are Republican states "red"?
There's nothing magical about this color scheme. Essentially, the media made it up.
Sure, there are logical reasons to use red and blue -- both are colors in the American flag, and they look sharp on infographics because they're pretty much on opposite ends of the color spectrum.
But the seemingly arbitrary color assignments have actually flip-flopped over the years. In 1980, states won by Republican Ronald Reagan were colored blue; Democrat Jimmy Carter's states were colored red.
Even as late as 1996, major media outlets were divided on how to color-code the parties. But in 2000, when Americans were subjected to weeks of news about recounts, pregnant chads and electoral infographics, everyone seemed to get on the same page and shaded Republican-leaning states red and Democratic-leaning states blue.
Q. What happens if candidates tie in electoral votes?
It's possible that Barack Obama and Mitt Romney snag the exact same number of electoral votes. In that case, the 12th Amendment says the House of Representatives gets to pick the president. And since analysts expect Republicans to maintain control of the House, Romney would likely win the presidency.
In the same scenario, the Senate would get to choose the vice president. And because Democrats are expected to keep control of that chamber, senators could select incumbent Vice President Joe Biden to form a split administration.
Q. Why do presidents have to wait all the way until January 20 to assume office?
It used to be a lot longer. Until 1937, presidents didn't get sworn in until March 4 because it took so long to count and report ballots, and because of the winner's logistical issues in moving to the capital.
But then better technology kicked in, and the 20th Amendment moved presidential inaugurations to noon on January 20 -- allowing presidents to start taking care of business sooner.
For more information see KDBC.


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Live at Feinstein's/54 Below, produced for a YouTube channel.
Our Best of 2018 lists are here! Kevin Smith stops by to give his take on the films IMDb users loved, including the Mission: Impossible - Fallout, Black Panther, and more!
See what the IMDb editors are excited to watch in November, check out our guide to horror, streaming shows, superheroes, and more.


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Doctor Who: The Complete Specials (US - BD RA)
Gabe enjoys the last four adventures of the Tenth Doctor, some of them in HD...
After three seasons David Tennant, the 10th Doctor, and possibly most wildly popular Doctor, announced his intent on leaving the Doctor Who series. His tenure ended with a series of five television specials – The Next Doctor, Planet of the Dead, Waters of Mars and The End of Time parts one and two. These specials were aired over a year period, from Christmas 2008 to New Years day 2010, basically equating a brief fourth season with Tennant. Unlike DVDActive's resident 'Who-perts' (that's supposed to be a mix of Doctor Who and 'experts'), The Wilson Brothers, I am only a passing fan of the series, and my attention to the Tennant run on the series is speckled at best. Fans of the show should read these reviews of the specials with this in mind, and see my point of view as that of a barely educated outsider.
The problem I have with the specials on the whole is that they don't feel like movies, which goes against what I think the producers lead viewers to expect. As a five episode season this collection is pretty darn good, but the specials aren't particularly 'special'. Not to say Doctor Who has overstayed its welcome yet, but there are definitely better, and more theatrical episodes throughout the David Tennant and Christopher Eccleston versions of the series. Like Star Wars, Doctor Who gets away with some of its larger plot holes and unoriginal moments simply because it's generally referential nature. Doctor Who thrives on what the audience knows about classic genre storytelling, in the same way standalone episodes of X-Files, Supernatural, or even Futurama do. Unlike Star Wars, however, the whole of the various Doctor Who series also succeed thanks to a potently cheeky sense of humour. Along with the less serialized nature of each episode, this keeps me coming back to the series above more 'high-brow' sci-fi television like Battlestar Galatica, which is so dead serious it kind of hurts. At the same time, this latest incarnation of the series has an uncanny ability to raise real emotion when needed, something that does not go missing from this collection.
The Next Doctor
The Doctor (David Tennant) lands happily in London on Christmas Eve, 1851, where he hears a woman named Rosita (Velile Tshabalala) calling for his help. Much to his surprise another man appears claiming the title of the Doctor as well (David Morrissey). Intrigued, the 'real' Doctor tags along on the 'other' Doctor's little adventure, which leads them to an elaborate plot involving the Cybermen, and a surprising human ally, Miss Mercy Hartigan (Dervla Kirwan). The Doctor now has little time to figure out who this other Doctor really is before the Cybermen's plan comes to fruition.
The Next Doctor feels like a proper Christmas special in that it's both warm, fuzzy, charming and entirely disposable. The good news is that it's a good standalone episode, and with the exception of a few amusing callbacks shouldn't catch the uninitiated out of sorts. I suppose the specifics of the science of the series (a term I use very loosely) are kind of lost to assumption, but there is a lot of explanation for the noobs, which cleverly enough comes out of the basic thrust of the story (the Doctor has to fill in the other Doctor on quite a bit). As a character piece it's successful, because the real Doctor could very easily be more mean-spirited about the entire mix-up. The mystery aspects definitely lose quite a bit on a second viewing, but the comedy and goofy last act action scene actually improved for me this time around. This episode has a pretty strong artistic streak, leaning towards the gothic, specifically the scene where Mercy Hartigan and the Cybermen attack a snowy funeral. The imagery is almost black and white except for Hartigan's bright red dress and umbrella.
Planet of the Dead
After a slight miscalculation in an otherwise successful robbery, cat-like thief Christina (Michelle Ryan) hops aboard a double-decker city bus to make her less than stylish escape. As the bus is about to leave one more passenger hops aboard—it's the Doctor (David Tennant), and he's looking for temporal rifts (or something). The bus driver, paid off by Christina, leads the cops on a chase, and drives right into a dimensional portal, and onto a desert planet. Trapped, Christina, the Doctor, and the rest of the passengers begin looking for a way back to London. Meanwhile, an alien species watches their every move, and some kind of desert storm rockets towards them.
Planet of the Dead starts with the basic classic plot kicker of protagonists trapped somewhere desolate with a broken vehicle, a trope that probably traces back to Flight of the Phoenix, but which has seen regular use throughout Star Trek, and in films like Pitch Black (the monster designs in PotD are also similar to those of David Twohy's picture) and Enemy Mine. I personally found myself ahead of the story throughout, but still generally enjoying the experience. Planet of the Dead is generally more satisfying than its predecessor, at least in the sense of serious sci-fi, which was emotionally endearing, but only sporadically charming or funny. Tennant pulls some fantastic faces, lets loose some great one-liners, and has some palpable chemistry with episode co-star (a pseudo-companion) Michelle Ryan. Correct me if I'm wrong (I know you will), but from what I see here, based on my limited knowledge of the series, these two have more sexual tension sputtering between them than perhaps any other Doctor/Companion pairing. We're not talking the 'oh my God let's do it on the floor' brand of tension found on Torchwood, it's more like the 'wink, wink, nudge, nudge' brand featured in classic screwball comedy.
Waters of Mars
While happily and aimlessly wandering face of Mars, the Doctor (David Tennant) is captured and detained by the inhabitants of the human colony Bowie Base One (no Major Tom is aboard), under the command of Captain Adelaide Brooke (Lindsay Duncan). During his gun-point interrogation, he learns that the date is 21 November 2059, and recalls the date as the day BB1 was destroyed in an explosion, and Brooke and her crew were all killed. Realizing the event is 'fixed in time', and that he should not meddle, the Doctor decides not to interfere, and tries to leave. But the events work against him, and soon crew members are finding themselves taken over by some kind of living water, which transforms them into water leaking monsters.
Waters of Mars is a smashing little alien/body horror story, but like Planet of the Dead it is very, very derivative. Part classic Red Scare Sci-Fi story, part Twilight Zone episode, Waters of Mars unravels a time travel mystery tale that is also perfectly tailored to the Doctor Who universe (or, you know, the Star Trek universe, with shades of First Contact). The majority of the episode is devoted to the somewhat disposable little Invasion of the Body Snatchers on a space station (it's about as gruesome as the family friendly series gets), but the last act is a surprising emotional feast of desperation and redemption, capped off with the first 'game changer' of the specials, which leads nicely into the two part finale. Strangely enough I'm tempted to label this one both the weakest and strongest special in the collection. Perhaps with a little more time to fully develop the characters Waters of Mars would've made a fine theatrical release. It's definitely better than Mission to Mars or Red Planet.
The End of Time Part One and Two
Following the events of Waters of Mars the Doctor (David Tennant) is visited by the Ood, who warn him of the return of his strongest adversary – the Master (John Simm). The news is further soiled by the promised arrival of 'the end of time'. Following a botched ceremony, the Master is indeed resurrected, with new powers that threaten to drain his life force to nothing. Driven mad by ravenous hunger he begins feeding on homeless people. Meanwhile, Wilfred Mott (Bernard Cribbins), grandfather of Donna Noble (Catherine Tate), and his 'Silver Cloak' (a group of his elderly friends with nothing better to do) set out on a mission to find the Doctor, while the Doctor looks to confront the Master.
The problem with the final episodes is that people like me have a lot of trouble keeping up. I had a friend on my right giving me most of the back-story, but these episodes didn't hold the appropriate weight for me, and I'm not the best judge of its closure, having missed a great deal of the David Tennent episodes. The first act of the first part fills in a lot of back-story, but I had no emotional attachment to the events, which I'm pretty sure hurt the whole experience. Plot aside, the final special does feature some show-stopping special effects, and a fine mix of tonal elements from the epic and serious, to the intimate and quirky. Probably the tastiest morsel in the entire collection is Timothy Dalton's performance. It appears that the producers handed him a robe and a metal glove and told him to 'go forth, and eat scenery'. The Timelords' return is a bit of a Deus Ex Machina moment, but you have to adore its almost literal translation of the classical storytelling concept. John Simm's performance is another highlight, giving real weight to what could've (and by all accounts should've) been a very silly final arch, as is Tennant, who's final action is dulled a bit by an over-sentimental coda.
Things begin with The Next Doctor, which was not filmed in high definition. The special has been up-converted to 1080p, and the effect is better than expected. There's quite a bit of edge-enhancement, specifically during the snowy wide-shots, and the brighter reds are definitely bleedy and compressed, but the details are pretty sharp (at least in close-up), and the colours are quite bright (even though they aren't always entirely clean). The high definition episodes are basically as perfect as can be expected, which is an occasional shortcoming of sorts, as the utter clarity of the hi-def images does tend to make the show look even cheaper than it is. Of course, on the other hand, the kind of cheesy look is a lot of the charm, so it's not really a problem. The colours are positively delectable, from source lit oddities, alien make-ups, silly costumes, and digital special effects. Greens, reds and blues are all especially pressing, and with a few exceptions (mostly the brightest reds) they're clean and free of digital grain. The 1080p details are just as lavish, though the whole affair is a bit too smooth, like a live HD broadcast rather than a movie. This is a matter of taste, I suppose.
The look is pretty consistent throughout the HD episodes, revealing the same strengths and weaknesses. Planet of the Dead features the most unfortunate HD side effect, which is its apparently real Dubai backgrounds, which appear mighty fake in all heir clean redness. It's a pretty and richly coloured backdrop, but it really doesn't look like a real desert. Waters of Mars is the fuzziest and darkest of the HD transfers, but things are still quite detailed, especially those not quite amazing creature effects. The End of Time is especially sharp, eschewing some of the minor problems that affected the BBC's Tourchwood Blu-rays, like blooming light sources and minor compression noise. You can really see the difference between the high definition and the older episodes can be fully appreciated during the brief flashbacks, which feature flatter, blobbier details, and thick white edge-enhancement.
Every disc in this set features a lossless DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track. These specials really pull ahead of the regular show in the aural arena, especially when it comes to music, which is just as full-bodied and impressive as major motion picture release scores. Often the music is mixed quite wide, and the rear channels regularly acquire their own discrete instruments and beats. Sometimes the music cuts out or downs volume too quickly to make way for dialogue, but it's mostly a consistently impressive score. The sound effects are delightful, equal parts exciting and goofy, in true Doctor Who fashion, and hearing them used in such an immersive environment is nearly as entertaining as re-living Star Trek or Star Wars in a good 5.1 remix. The less stylized effects are occasionally quite artificial, likely from a sound effects CD, but this usually just adds to the silly charm.
Each episode has its own extra special thing to add. The Next Doctor, which is the overall quietest of the five specials, ends with a pretty massive wall of sound as the Doctor does battle with the Cyberking. It doesn't exactly engulf the surround channels, but it's certainly loud. Planet of the Dead features a nerve-jangling racket of the flying steel stingrays, which whip about the channels with affecting frequency, and the flying double-decker bus, which bolsters the LFE with whirring motor sounds, and leads to a few cool directional effects. Waters of Mars, which features my favourite score in the collection, has the strongest bass presence, specifically concerning the massive rocket ship explosions, and the constant rumble of rushing water. The End of Time starts with the Master's resurrection is a feast for the system's speakers, including aggressively wrapping wind effects and the Master's echoing voice, which is later repeated throughout ever channel as he laughs at the end of the first part. The lasers vs. nukes scene in part two features some of the coolest directional effects in the collection.
The Next Doctor starts with a five part ' Doctor Who Confidential' featurette (55:30, HD/SD). These making-of featurettes actually fill out every disc in the set pertaining to each episode, and cover things through set footage, episode footage, and before and after interviews. Things start with a look at the some of the stunts, the casting, specifically of a 'new Doctor', but mostly the focus stays on the story, and it's full of spoilers. From here we cover the stunts and production design of the funeral attack scene, and the casting of Dervla Kirwan, along with scenes from the original Cybermen episodes throughout the series. The middle section covers the other Tennant Christmas specials, some of the more beloved series spoofs, the redressing use of the Torchwood set, and dealing with children, before everything is wrapped up with a look at the overall themes and the casting of Velile Tshabalala. The first disc also features 'Dr. Who at the Proms: 2008' (59:10, SD), a live concert experience featuring the music of the latest series reboot, set to a mix of video sequences, and live costumed performers.
Planet of the Dead features a solitary ' Doctor Who Confidential' featurette (57:00, HD). Focus leans towards location shooting and production design. The desert itself was shot in war torn Dubai, and a full sized double-decker was sent to the site. Even if the bus hadn't been damaged in transit this seems like a risky proposition (though the damage to the bus was written into the story, which likely saved them the money they got back from transit insurance. The filming of the opening heist sequence and the subsequent escape are then covered with more of a look at the actual filming process, and focus on the new pseudo-companion, Christina. Things wrap up with glances at the process of filming the interiors of the bus, the hell of the Dubai desert, making fly-man prosthetics and digital stingrays, and working with Lee Evans.
Waters of Mars also features a single ' Doctor Who Confidential' (58:00, HD). This one starts with footage from a script meeting, intercut with interviews concerning the episode's inspiration, and the usual behind the scenes footage from the sets. There's a lot of attention lobed at the production design here, from the practical to the fantastical. I quite enjoyed the discussions of the creature effects in this section, the balance of scariness is interesting, as are the practical make-up solutions. The staging of all the water effects is another highlight, specifically the difficulties of keeping some cast consistently wet, while others are left entirely dry. Other subject matter here includes the design and production of the episode's robot sidekick, casting, and the chances they took with the episode thematically.
The End of Time Part 1 starts with a commentary featuring Tennant, actress Catherine Tate, and episode director Euros Lyn. The track features some decent bits of behind the scenes knowledge we couldn't have known otherwise, but is more of a fun-time track than an informative track. Tate hasn't seen the episode, and there are a few sweet moments where Tennant quizzes her (she doesn't get that Brian Cox is the lead Ood). Next up is another ' Doctor Who Confidential' (57:00, HD). This time the usual mix of behind the scenes and interviews cover the difficulties of faking a helicopter stunt, the reintroduction of the Master, along with his history (very valuable to people like me), bringing back Donna and Wilfred, along with a little past explanation (thanks again), the creature designs, the digital and practical Master effects, the sets, and the Timelords casting, costumes, and history. This is followed by 'David Tennant's Video Diary: The Final Days' (40:41, SD), which follows the process from Planet of the Dead. This is rather endearing look behind the scenes of both the episodes and the chaos of selling the product, without the produced and edited veneer of the 'Confidentials'. Tennant singing with the Proclaimers is the brief highlight. The disc is completed with Tennant's Christmas promos for BBC One.
The End of Time Part 2 also starts with a commentary track, this time with Tennant, actor John Simm, and director Euros Lyn. This track is a hair more informative than the first part track, but about equal on general entertainment value and time filling. There's a lot of time devoted to the oddness of the multiple versions of Simm for the 'Master Race' sequences, and a few enjoyable jabs at the new Doctor, but like the other extras there's a major focus on the sentimentality of the final moments. The final ' Doctor Who Confidential' (57:00, HD) is pretty sentimental, understandably, with a big focus on Tennant's final days, for better or worse. I especially appreciate the explanation of the multiple codas, which meant very little to me as someone that had missed almost all the episodes they reference. The rest of the special focuses on the usual – sets, locations, casting (specifically Dalton, who was a fan), the story elements, along with looks back at the series elements that crafted the episode. ' Doctor Who at Comic-con' (21:00, HD) is a sort of travel log of the crew's trip to the huge geek event, including general behind the scenes footage, and scenes from the panel. The disc, and set, is wrapped up with a series of deleted scenes (17:20, HD), with introductions from writer Russell T. Davies. These are from all five episodes.
I'm not the ideal candidate to review this collection, but I enjoyed myself enough, and am looking into catching up on the David Tennant run of Doctor Who, even if the finale has been 'spoiled' for me. The collection is a little silly from the standpoint of disc space, as the first four specials are only an hour a piece, and the fifth one is 75 minutes, and it could probably fit onto two Blu-ray discs with room to spare, but the overall quality of each disc is pretty consistent. Even the non-HD episode, The Next Doctor, looks pretty good in its up-converted state, while the full HD episodes are next to perfect, with a solid collection of extra features, and full-bodied DTS-HD soundtracks. Fortunately for collectors there's nothing here unavailable in the single disc release versions, so there's no need to repurchase the first few specials, unless you really need to see The Next Doctor in officially up-converted 1080p.
*Reviewer Note: The images on this page do not represent the Blu-ray release.
Review by Gabriel Powers
Harker Studios Member Join Date: November 2005 Location: Canada Posts: 174
Being a huge Doctor Who fan the specials, while entertaining, were a bit of a let down to me. I liked them because I love Doctor Who but I thought most of them could have been more....special. With it being David's final "season" I guess I expected all of them to be as good as the best episodes of the series (Midnight, Blink, Last of the Time Lords) Don't get me wrong, they all had fantastic moments and some top notch acting (End of Time) from David Tennant and Bernard Cribbins. They just felt that they lacked the heart of the last few seasons (more Planet of the Dead then the others).
I will admit I did tear up at the end of The End of Time Part Two while seeing my Doctor regenerate. David you will be missed.....
I will admit I did tear up at the end of The End of Time Part Two while seeing my Doctor regenerate. David you will be missed.....
Krishna Jaipersad Member Join Date: October 2003 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 166
Thanks for the memories David! You will be sorely missed!!!
scratch Member Join Date: August 2008 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 84
As Specials go, none of these were.
Wilson Bros Reviewer Join Date: August 2004 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 1,183
"Who-perts", Gabe?
Well, at least you didn't refer to us as "Whovians", then we would have been offended! Lol!
Well, at least you didn't refer to us as "Whovians", then we would have been offended! Lol!
Chris Johnson Member Join Date: October 2005 Location: United States Posts: 1,465
Tennant is a lucky son of a b***h for being kissed by Michelle Ryan. I would love to have been in his place then.
Worst Nightmare Senior Member Join Date: July 2002 Location: Australia Posts: 6,716
I do enjoy this Doctor Who series.... Ta for the review.
This product has not been rated
Disc Details
Release Date: 2nd February 2010
Discs: 5
Disc Type: Blu-ray Disc
RCE: No
Video: 1080p
Aspect: 1.78:1
Anamorphic: No
Colour: No
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 English
Subtitles: English SDH
Extras: Cast and Crew Commentaries, Doctor Who Confidential, Doctor Who at the Proms, Deleted Scenes, David Tennant Video Diaries, BBC Christmas Indents, Doctor Who at Comic-Con
Easter Egg: No
Feature Details
Director: Various
Cast: David Tennant, David Morrissey, Michelle Ryan, Lindsay Duncan, John Simm, Bernard Cribbins
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Drama and Sci-Fi
Length: 311 minutes
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Both coaches and players needed some time to find an escape from thoughts of the basketball court for a couple of hours.
Players and coaches were going their separate ways in picking films to see with coach Frank Bennett and assistant coach Billy Snell choosing to see "True Grit". The title is a fitting one as the Lady Bisons have to find a way to play with more grit in the final stretch of the regular season.
They face Jacksonville Saturday at noon at Swisher Gym in an Atlantic Sun game. The Lady Bisons haven't had much luck with teams from Florida, losing 58-46 Thursday night at North Florida, 78-53 to Stetson Monday night at Allen Arena and 62-51 Saturday against Florida Gulf Coast.
Jacksonville stopped its consecutive losses at two games with a 68-57 win over Belmont Thursday night.
The Lady Bisons are 8-15 overall. 5-9 in the A-Sun. Jacksonville is 10-11, 5-7 in the conference. The Lady Bisons beat Jacksonville 74-69 at Allen Arena Jan. 8.
Bennett is quick to point out that his team showed some grit in the second half of the North Florida game.
"We had a really good practice Friday morning which I was glad of," Bennett said. "We had a strong comeback against North Florida."
After being down 32-19 a the half the Lady Bisons outscored North Florida 27-26.
"We played a really good second half and got the lead down to six," Bennett said. "We showed some fight in coming back."
One area where the Lady Bisons need to improve is the way they start both games and second halves.
"We are building too big of a hole," Bennett said. "Our tempo starting games and halves as far as moving the basketball and making cuts is not where we need it to be to be effective. We have to be in a crisis mode to get what we need on that sometimes."
The Lady Bisons are led by guard Jenna Bartsokas with 15.5 points per game, fourth best in the Atlantic Sun. Guard Anna Bowers is 10th in the conference overall with 13.6 points. Center Brittany Duerk leads the Lady Bisons in rebounding with 5.7 per game.
Jacksonville is paced by Taneskei Richardson with 11 points per game. She also leads with 9.8 rebounds per game, second best in the conference overall.
Also in double figures are Lynsey Paschal with 10.4 points per game, Gigi Thomas with 10.3 and Crystal Bell with 10.2. Paschal is averaging 7.5 rebounds per game.
The Lady Bisons shot 30 percent from the field against North Florida. Bennett is happy with the quality of the shots his players are taking.
"In the first half we didn't shoot threes very well," Bennett said. "In the second half we had a better percentage but we didn't take a lot of shots.
"We are getting good shots in the post. We just have to finish those."
The Lady Bisons will get an extended rest period. They will not return to action until Feb. 14 when they visit Campbell.
Written by Mark McGee, Senior Publisher/Director of Media Relations.


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Sheesh--if they lock out the mod we know we are in serious shape!Is there anyway to make bigger pics?
Quote from: georgiapeach on February 06, 2007, 12:39:46 PMSheesh--if they lock out the mod we know we are in serious shape!Is there anyway to make bigger pics?I couldn't post! lol ! It was telling me my session ran out? anyway ....We are waiting on an answer from CBS about the pictures. .
There was an isolated bout of high winds and rain on the 27th so if that was the day they wanted to go to Antactica it may have had to been cancelled.
My annoyance with the Miami airport continued the next morning as I attempted to find American's international check-in line. That proved to be roughly a mile from the ticket counter where the hotel van had dropped me off. Once I actually got in line, things were fairly quick, leaving me plenty of time to discover just how mediocre the selection at the airport bookstore was. (I had plenty of reading matter with me, so this wasn't a real problem. It just deprived me of the pleasures of bookstore browsing.)
How long would it take by BOAT from Punta to Ushuaia? Too long, right?Darn, can't even say they crossed the Strait of Magellan...
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Overcome with joy and inspiration after watching GSL1 Champion Cool (aka Fruit Dealer) battle his way to the top, the StarCraft II team would like to introduce some new concept art for the zerg race based on his tactics. We're pleased to introduce the Grapeling, Applelord, and Bananalisk, and hope you will join us in congratulating Fruit Dealer!
The StarCraft II Development Team


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Speech-to-speech translation is one of the most difficult language-related activities you can engage in. I study English in Amsterdam, and a part of that study is of course spent on translating Dutch material to English; even though we focus on text-to-text translations, we've been given glimpses of speech-to-speech translation as well, and this has made me aware of the incredible knowledge and mental agility required to do this. You need to know both the source as well as the target language inside-out, and especially when the translating is done 'live', you need to be able to keep up with the speakers. Despite all this, translating can be a very soothing activity; I find almost nothing as comfortable as sitting behind my computer, with several paper dictionaries scattered around my keyboard, stumbling from fixed expression to fixed expression, from saying to saying.
According to ICT Results, the TC-STAR project, "the first project in the world addressing unrestricted speech-to-speech translation", needs to perfect three key technologies in order to operate properly: Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) transcribes the spoken words to text, while Spoken Language Translation (SLT) translates the source language to the target language. Text to Speech (TTS) finalises the process by turning written words into speech.
While none of these technologies are new, none of them are anywhere near perfect. In order to optimise the output of each of the three technologies, the TC-STAR project combined several ASR and SLT systems, which made the output considerably more accurate. The system translated speech between Spanish and English, as well as radio broadcasts from Chinese to English (which is probably all the more impressive).
The system obviously still cannot match human translators, but the TC-STAR project states that within a few years, a commercially viable automatic speech-to-speech translator might become available. Until then, the components of the project have been released under an open-source license.


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Sunday, January 03, 2010
Lest You Forgot, 2009 Retrospective.
Not much going on here. Let's just say pins don't fall as fast as miles around this quartet.
Congrats to Ian on winning the La Sportiva Oregon Hill Climb Series. Other fast performances followed like TRT and JFK but we gotta say you embraced the steep creep and I'm sure you're not going to miss that.
I now know Leland is better at foreshadow than beer miles. The look on his face, pre-run, told the tale of imbimbification and ultimately projection. Chris, you certainly made your strides at Cascade Crest 100, nice job peaking after the beer mile.
If you've ever run with Ian you know this is where he has to stay, behind you! Perhaps the ultimate motivation at WS this year.
I believe this is Skaggs way of letting Max know he can kiss his course record good bye.
"So you think you can dance?" Well Darcy certainly tore up the Rockies this year and benefited by throwing her own benefit, kudos. A stellar first 50 miler also preceded a close to 2009. Nice work gal.
Erik Skaggs best job of foreshadow, sorry.
Nick Lewis, in his first 100 miler, climbed his way to a stellar 2nd place finish at the Leadville Trail 100. His boss has two second place finishes there but Nick better not be shouting any finishing times if he wants that raise in 2010.
Nice work for our designer, she followed some vague advice and completed arguably the toughest 100 mile debut.
Pretty Ultra Impressive!!!
5 comments:
- Rennaker said...
New year, new decade, new goals. Many of us are in Western States as well as other events. This will no doubt be another impressive year for the juggernaut that is Rogue Valley Runners!
- Friday, January 08, 2010 1:37:00 PM
- Darcy said...
Nice work all! Good luck in 2010.
- Friday, January 08, 2010 3:57:00 PM
- joerunner said...
you guys and gals rock at R.V.R.
Too bad there is a chip out of that rock.I am so sad to see that Ian is gone.Reminds me of the old saying LET THE CHIPS FALL WHERE THEY MAY. Have a great year everybody
- Saturday, January 09, 2010 3:21:00 PM
- Ian said...
Nice wrap-up Hal! You can rest assured that I'll remember all the good times; the first just as clearly as the last...and, I believe, the last hasn't happened yet! On to 2010, but always remembering how I got to where I am today! Thanks man!
Cheers and congrats everyone!
- Sunday, January 10, 2010 2:40:00 PM
- Speedgoat Karl said...
Love the first shot, with looks on those boys' faces, they didn't break 100 rolling that ball. Time to head to Coyote Two Moon and get in some practice.
Carly should have a few votes for 100 mile debut, it was very impressive!
- Tuesday, January 12, 2010 5:57:00 AM


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Have an Alpha Juno One which I originally bought in 1985. Has not had much use. Just cleaned the key contacts because some keys were not playing. Reassembled, but some keys still not working. If I switch the instrument patch, say from elec piano to violins, keys that did not play start playing again, but a different set of keys stop! Weird..usually the keys are a tritone apart, like all the Es and all the B flats. If I change to another instrument, the Es and B flats work, but the C s and the F#s are all not working.
I did not touch the battery, and have never changed it. The keyboard has been sitting in storage for about 12 years.
Can you help?
Thank you,


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Kanye Omari West born June 8, 1977 is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. Kanye West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and Janet Jackson. His style of production originally used pitched-up vocal samples from soul songs incorporated with his own drums and instruments. However, subsequent productions saw him broadening his musical palette and expressing influences encompassing '70s R&B, baroque pop, trip hop, arena rock, folk, alternative, electronica, synth-pop, and classical music.
Kanye West released his debut album The College Dropout in 2004, his second album Late Registration in 2005, his third album Graduation in 2007, his fourth album 808s & Heartbreak in 2008, and his fifth album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in 2010. West released a collaborative album, Watch the Throne, with Jay-Z on August 8, 2011, which is the duo's first collaborative album. His five solo albums, all of which have gone platinum, have received numerous awards and critical acclaim. As of 2011, Kanye West has won a total of fourteen Grammy awards. All albums have been very commercially successful, with My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy becoming his fourth consecutive No.1 album in the U.S. upon release. West has had 5 songs exceed 3 million in digital sales as of July 2011, with "Gold Digger" selling 3,086,000, "Stronger" selling 4,402,000, "Heartless" selling 3,742,000, "E.T." selling over 4,000,000 and "Love Lockdown" selling over 3,000,000 placing him third in overall digital sales of the past decade. He has sold over 25 million digital songs in the United States placing him second for solo male artists on the list and sixth overall for best selling digital artists.
Kanye West also runs his own record label GOOD Music, home to artists such as John Legend, Common and Kid Cudi. Kanye West's mascot and trademark is "Dropout Bear," a teddy bear which has appeared on the covers of three of his five albums as well as various single covers and music videos. About.com ranked Kanye West No.8 on their "Top 50 Hip-Hop Producers" list. On May 16, 2008, Kanye West was crowned by MTV as the year's No.1 "Hottest MC in the Game." On December 17, 2010, Kanye West was voted as the MTV Man of the Year by MTV. Billboard ranked Kanye West No. 3 on their list of Top 10 Producers of the decade.


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Femetres Gray
Professional Development Coordinator
Educators assess and predict student performance with precision
Memphis City Schools improves instruction and student achievement with SAS® EVAAS® for K-12
Tennessee is well known as the birthplace of popular musical genres such as country, blues and rock and roll. And in the field of education, it can add a new claim to fame as the place of origin of the SAS® Educational Value Added Assessment System (EVAAS®), which has helped state educators blaze new trails in the area of academic achievement and growth – for students and teachers alike.
SAS EVAAS for K-12, known locally as the Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS), collects student, teacher and school data, providing a view into the academic progress and projections for students, while delivering insight and guidance for instructional decisions and changes that better support individual academic achievement plans.
According to Femetres Gray, Professional Development Coordinator with Memphis City Schools – the 23rd-largest US school district, with 105,000 K-12 students and twice selected as a National No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon recipient – if more states used SAS EVAAS for K-12, America would have no trouble in reaching its goal of becoming the most educated country by 2020.
With TVAAS data, the numbers don't lie. It tells the true story of what's happening in the schools and in the classrooms. It's something educators needed a long time ago to truly push instruction.
Femetres Gray
"I definitely believe that TVAAS could play a role in moving us toward that goal," says Gray. "If the tool is used the way it's intended – to improve instruction, share best practices between grade levels and schools, make modifications for student interventions and get teachers to look at their true instructional practices – that's definitely an advantage of TVAAS."
Gray – who recently created a series of professional development modules to help principals, teachers and guidance counselors better utilize TVAAS to improve instruction and student achievement – says the system provides a full academic picture, with the ability to drill down to individual students, classrooms and teachers.
"Sometimes we don't see the full value of a school due to perceptions or opinions," she explains. "With TVAAS data, the numbers don't lie. It tells the true story of what's happening in the schools and in the classrooms. It helps teachers to really think about their practices; what they do each and every day with students. You have to look at the data and you have to be honest with yourself. It's something educators needed a long time ago to truly push instruction."
Gray adds that educators are very pleased with the centralized, Web-based system that they can access to find everything they need to know about the educational status of a child.
"For example, when students come into a teacher's classroom at the start of school year, the teacher can access the classroom roster and pull data on each student," she says. "They can see the students' past history, see their projections and then make some preliminary decisions on how best to educate individual students.
"At the district level we have 78 elementary, middle and high schools that we're responsible for.. We can look for trends or patterns at schools and figure out where we need to focus our support. For example, if an elementary teacher is consistently weak in a particular subject, we could recommend a departmentalization at that grade level, allowing educators to teach to their strengths – then the whole academic program is successful at the same time."
Required a system to track student academic progress and projections and deliver insight and guidance for instructional changes to student achievement plans.
The SAS solution supports instruction and student intervention best practices; projects student achievement and growth; and provides a centralized, Web-based platform to access students' educational status.


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Brockton chief says, "three hours really would be too long for a person who thinks there is a police car coming"
BROCKTON – After waiting over three hours for Brockton Police to come to her house, Samantha Jacobs said she got fed up and drove to the station herself.
Her car had been broken into and the window was smashed out. She called police around 10:30 a.m., Saturday and waited three hours for the police, who never showed up.
"I ended up not waiting for them to come. I drove my car to the police station because they didn't respond," Jacobs, 20, said. "When I got there the officer that was there told me I should have waited."
Her car was parked outside her house on Grove Street when the break-in occurred. Inside the 2001 Chevy Impala her new stereo was gone, part of the dashboard had been torn off and her wallet was missing.
In the meantime, the thief had used her debit card to try and make three purchases in the city, two of which were declined after she called her bank to cancel her card.
She said called the department twice while she waited but was told police were responding to other calls.
Jacobs said she understands her situation would be low on the list of priorities for Brockton Police, but she feels that three hours is too long to wait for someone to come take a report.
"My mom made it all the way from Weymouth and waited an hour with me," she said. "I have things to do. I can't wait around all day for them to come and take a report."
She was also upset about the reception she got when she went to the station.
She said a female officer went out and "looked at the car for two seconds" and then told her to pick up the police report on Monday.
Jacobs said she contacted Attorney General Martha Coakley's office about the incident.
Police Chief Robert Hayden said he began investigating the matter Thursday and would continue to do so on Friday.
"The preliminary review that I've done on this incident, I find that the police have done nothing wrong. Brockton is a very busy city and other calls have to be handled first," Hayden said.
He did say that, "three hours really would be too long for a person who thinks there is a police car coming" and that he would be willing to meet with Jacobs to discuss the incident.
Hayden also defended the officer who took the report at the station.
"She's the officer that you would want to come to your home and take a report. She's top-notch," he said.
Lt. Paul Bonanca said Thursday he did not know about incident involving Jacobs but said emergency calls are prioritized over non-emergency situations.
"Domestic violence, crimes of violence, car accidents with injuries, etc., are calls that take time to complete and contribute to delays," Bonanca said.
"Delays do occur depending on whatever situations are occurring in the city at that time," he said. "Residents have historically been accepting of delays when they are notified on the phone of such a delay, which call takers attempt to do."
Jacobs' window has not yet been fixed. She said the window would cost about $120 to replace and her insurance company wanted a $500 deductible to cover the loss.
Jacobs, a student at Massasoit Community College, is currently unemployed and her boyfriend is working to save money to pay for a new window out of pocket. In the meantime, she using tape and plastic to cover the open space.
"I know it's not someone dying, but it is still a crime," she said. "They should have come and taken the report a lot faster (and) not tell me that they had better things to do because that doesn't make you feel safe. It makes you feel like the police don't even care."
Benjamin Paulin may be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
The Sour on Sugared Drinks
CUDA: Most convenience stores have an entire wall of refrigerator cases lined with drinks– all high in sugar and low in nutritional value. Coke, Pepsi, Snapple, Red Bull an assortment of sports drinks, sweetened teas, energy drinks and ever flavor of soda imaginable. And for good reason, according to Kelly Brownell who directs the Rudd Center for food policy and obesity at Yale University.
BROWNELL: The consumption of sugared beverages in the United States has skyrocketed and surpassed the consumption of milk in the 1990s – and that's true for both adults and children. The average population consumption in the United States is now about 50 gallons of these sugared beverages a year.
CUDA: That's the rough equivalent of a 20 oz. bottle every single day. One study showed that more than two thirds of American's consume more calories from sugared beverages than any other food.
Ok, so Americans drink a lot of sugary drinks. What's wrong with that? Public Health professor Kelley Brownell breaks it down.
BROWNELL: The problems are as follows: the beverages are the single greatest source of added sugar in the American diet. Second, the body doesn't seem to recognize calories very well when they're delivered in liquids. And third, the marketing of these products is so relentless, so powerful and so persuasive, that people think these are things that they should drink all day
CUDA: Brownell and other health advocates say sugared drinks are making us fat and its time to call in the "food police." They want legislation that restricts marketing of sugary beverages, and would impose a special "sugar tax" on soda, 20 cents for every 20oz bottle, arguing that just like cigarettes, sugared drinks are a public health hazard.
Advocates also claim a sugar tax could reduce consumption by nearly 25 percent – enough, they say, to cut obesity related health care costs by 50 billion dollars over a 10-year period. The Obama Administration has signaled it might look favorably on such a tax. Diet drinks would not be subject to the tax.
The food industry, not surprisingly, is fighting back. Take this commercial by a group called American's Against Food Taxes
COMMERCIAL: Families round here are counting pennies to get through this economy, so when we hear about another tax it gets our attention. Washington is talking about another tax on juice drinks and soda. They say it's only pennies, well those pennies add up when you're trying to feed a family. Washington, if you're listening, what doesn't seem like much to you, can be a lot to us. Tell congress. No taxes on juice drinks and sodas.
CUDA: The group describes itself as a coalition of concerned citizens, though the members listed on its website are almost exclusively supermarkets, restaurant and marketing associations. But taxing food –a basic human necessity—is a tough sell for many Americans. Currently, most states don't have a punitive tax on foods or beverages that are considered unhealthy, but 33 states, including Ohio, do apply sales taxes to soft drinks – which are not defined as food. In fact, Ohio did pass an additional tax on soda nearly 2 decades ago that was a fraction of what advocates are calling for today – only to have it overwhelmingly overturned by voters a few years later.
Sweet drinks, of course, are hardly alone in contributing to America's weight gain and that's why some health experts aren't sold on a sugar drink tax. Eileen Seeholzer directs the weight loss management center at Metro Health Medical Center
SEEHOLZER: Sugary drinks are difficult to tease out with weight gain because usually people having a lot of sugary drinks are also eating chips, are also eating fast food, are also eating French fries. One of the things we cannot say is that absolutely in all people soda pop with sugar in it leads to obesity.
CUDA: Seeholzer also doubts a sugar tax would change behavior. Here's a case in point from a Lakewood convenience store.
SOT:// Drinks clanking
CUDA: Excuse me, that drink has sugar in it right?
CUSTOMER: Yes - tons.
CUDA: If that cost you an extra 20 cents would that change your decision to buy it?
CUSTOMER: Not one bit. I'm still going to drink it.
CUDA: How much would it have to cost before you would buy diet instead?
CUSTOMER: I'm a fat guy for life, I'm not going to be buying diet anything. I don't think a tax on the sugar is going to make me try and be healthier.
CUDA: But if a tax won't work, what will?
SEEHOLZER: What we know about people is that people do what's easiest. So a lot of people feel that the approach needs to be making convenient the healthier choice, and making it less convenient the unhealthy choice.
CUDA: But in order to do that, local and national obesity experts agree: popular opinion has to change. Apples and bottled water won't be the grab-n-go foods of choice at the convenience store if people would rather have a bag of cool ranch Doritos and a Pepsi. And Brownell says that's where the marketing dollars have public health out-gunned.
BROWNELL: Right now the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is the single greatest funder of research on childhood obesity. They are spending at the moment, 100 million dollars a year to address this problem. That's a lot of money. The food industry spends that much ever year by January 4th; just marketing, just unhealthy foods, just to children.
CUDA: Both adults AND children are victims of marketing and calculated convenience. It's no accident that at amusement parks and sporting events salty foods like popcorn, nuts, hot dogs and hamburgers are sold alongside 32 ounce sodas –they taste good together, and the profit margin on a little sugared syrup and carbonated water is enormous. Even grocery stores know that pairing foods sells more. Lauren Melnick, a dietician with the Ohio State University Extension School cites a study in the Journal of Marketing.
MELNICK: They found when soda was facing chips or pretzels or any of the snack items, that sales increased by about 9%.
CUDA: Experts say it will take the heft of the federal government to match the food industry's influence on America's love affair with soft drinks – and tax or no tax-when it comes to children, the government may be poised to do just that. Just last month, the same day first lady Michelle Obama urged food companies to put less fat, salt and sugar in foods and reduce marketing of unhealthy products to children, Pepsi, the world's second-biggest soft-drink maker, announced it would remove full-calorie sweetened beverages from schools in more than 200 countries by 2012. Coca-Cola changed its global sales policy earlier in the month to say it won't sell any of its drinks in primary schools world-wide unless parents or districts ask.
Both Pepsi and Coca-Cola, adopted voluntary guidelines to reduce sugary drinks in U.S. schools in 2006, and according to a recent report by the American Beverage Association, sales of full-calorie soft drinks in U.S. schools fell 95% between 2004 and 2009.
//SOT : Sound of can cracking open, and soda being poured into a glass.
If health advocates have their way, sugar in Coke, Pepsi and other drinks will be the nostalgic taste of a "past" generation. Gretchen Cuda, 90.3
Music tail: " I'd like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony… I'd like to buy the world a coke and keep it company …..
HOST BACK-ANNOUNCE: You can find links to all the reporting on obesity by ideastream, the Plain Dealer and WKYC-channel three at our website: wcpn-dot-org Just look for "fighting fat."


text:
Before we detail the rationale behind this decision, let's make it absolutely clear that this decision does not mean GNOME will be removed from the installation routine. All it means is that in the desktop selection screen of the installer, KDE will be selected by default, with GNOME as the other option.
Michael Löffler of Product Management announced the decision on the opensuse-project mailing list. "After consideration of the project discussion I discussed the feature request further with the openSUSE Board and other leaders within the openSUSE project and came to the decision to follow the request: we will default the radio button to KDE in the DVD installer," he writes, "Therefore, with openSUSE 11.2 release, the KDE desktop will be installed if the user accepts the default setting. Users can also choose the GNOME desktop at this stage."
He further adds that GNOME will still be treated as a top-class and equal citizen, and that they will continue to strive to offer a top-notch GNOME implementation. "We want to make clear that both desktops are considered equal citizens within the openSUSE Project, and this will not have any impact on the quality of the GNOME desktop within openSUSE."
A good decision, and there was really no way around this one for the project. It was quite clear that KDE is the preferred desktop of a large majority of the openSUSE community, so it only makes sense to make it the default.


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Joined: 07 Mar 2007
Posts: 21
Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 11:11 pm
Post subject: How it all started
Okay, we all know that both of the TSE games are great, no question about that. The question, however, is what inspired Mark Pay to create such games in the first place, along with how he came up with the settings for both titles?
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Mark Pay
Site Admin
Joined: 09 Aug 2006
Posts: 624
Location: Margate, UK
Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 5:44 pm
Post subject:
The Spirit Engine 1 was inspired by Seiken Densetsu 3. At the time I was working on a platformer which failed for a reason I can't recall, and I was also playing SD3 on an emulator. I was disappointed that the real-time combat system in SD3 still had to be interrupted every half second to scroll through several menus and activate an item/spell.
I thought perhaps I could combine the two genres, and remove a lot of the pausing. TSE1 was made without any other plan and it shows. It's a mix of fun, random settings ( The Wild West, Transylvania, South America, The Middle East, a skyscraper ), a meaningless plot, a combat system that is a prototype at best and some awful coding.
The Spirit Engine 2 was an attempt to improve on TSE1, with some forward planning and the lessons learnt from the first game.
The setting is vaguely based on England and France in the English ( technically British ) Civil War and Napoleonic periods. They're fantastic sources of inspiration and I regret that I was not able to devote more time to research and world-building.
Geographically - Lereftain is equivalent to the United Kingdom/Great Britain in the 1700s/1800s, Amara is equivalent to Scotland/Ireland and Yaegara is France, though the same relationships exist in so many other parts of the world.
I like science fiction a lot, and not much fantasy, so the underlying foundation and destination of the story became a science fiction one. I think it's fun to form fantasy worlds out of unsual premises.
The major themes are, I suspect: history and memory, real or fictional, individual or cultural, and how our thoughts and futures are shaped by them. The conflict between unionism and separatism. Nationalism, propaganda, immigration, imperialism, colonisation.
As a young, white Englishman living in the 21st century these are issues of the past, present and future which seem both very relevent and yet easily ignored. The legacy of the British Empire is so enormous and means so many things to so many people, most of them negative and many of them still a current concern. It was especially interesting, several years after I wrote the script, to be living and working in Ireland, where I had a good time and was made welcome.
On a per-chapter basis:
Chapter 1 is derived visually from the purple forest in Seiken Densetsu 3.
Longreach in Chapter 2 is based on Napoleonic era fortifcations, but a lot taller ( and hence defeating much of the point of those earthworks
). We have several good examples near where I live at Chatham and Dover that I visited when I was small.
Chapter 3 probably draws inspiration from my trips to Welsh slate mines and canals as a child, with some Hellboy ( and by extension Lovecraft and folklore ) thrown in.
Chapter 5 could be considered an uneasy mix of Hiroshima, Pearl Harbour, September 11th and War of the Worlds.
Chapter 6 is the second half of Chapter 1 of TSE1 redone, with added vampire. Count Cristoff was going to be an optional side-quest, but in the end I could not justify spending so much work on such a large diversion when the rest of the game is so linear.
Chapter 7 was originally going to be a far more traditional European/Japanese woodland, with lots of magic and mystical nonsense. I did a lot of backpedalling to normalise the setting and remove many of the magical elements, but I think that the narrative in this chapter suffered for the change in direction.
Chapter 8 came from a visit to the London Aquarium. Fish are great, and pretty much anything floating around in our seas is wierd and alien.
Per character:
Kaltos is a retired mobster. I really wanted to do more backstory for him, go more 'Road to Perdition' and 'Cowboy Bebop'. Alas, so little time.
Ionae was partly intended to be a cheerful mockery of all those smouldering, goth, part-demon bad-asses that turn up so often in anime and bad sub-Tolkien fanfics. She is in contrast a physical coward and hypochondriac, and pities the fanboys who follow her around. In practise, I think it was impossible to entirely deflate the attraction of the original concept. I'd like to think she gets the best of both worlds.
Mericious is a more nuanced version of Clemetas from TSE1. I love righteous, ass-kicking clerics.
I also wanted to write a sincerely, positively religious character because religion is usually treated so badly by RPG writers. I'm not religious myself, but I admire many rational Christians and wonder how they reconcile their faith with reality.
Ferwin was an attempt at a traditional fantasy, perhaps almost Jane Austen-esque romantic lead. I'm terribly unromantic myself, so I found it difficult! I really enjoyed writing his Chapter 7 stuff though, and wish I'd been able to keep Marie around for longer.
Charlotte is a little like a failed Pop Idol contestant, who chased celebrity without talent instead of an education and has to live with the consequences. Current social commentry ahoy! Visually, she's a mix of Chun-Li and a Jim Lee Rogue.
PyanPau is clearly modelled on a Buddhist monk, the problem being that I still know almost nothing about Buddhism.
His side story comes from my frustrations trying to find an original project topic for the third year of my Computer Science degree.
Denever is modelled ( visually and in spirit ) on a fantastic WWII British commando veteran I saw on a documentry, who even in his old age was cheerfully re-enacting his raid on a town in Holland.
Grace is a little bit of a female Oliver Cromwell, without any political or religious motivations. Perhaps also some commentary on the push for equality in some unpleasant professions having a more positive effect on the institutions involved than the individuals who are supposed to benefit.
Enshadu is based on the main character from the episode of Babylon 5 - 'Passing Through Gethsemane', a murderer who is mindwiped and becomes a priest.
Jaques is a mix of James Bond and Kenji Murasame, the french agent from the Giant Robo series who cannot die.
Clay 13 is a lot of Lennie from 'Of Mice and Men' That was the only good book I read at school.
I hope this was of some interest. I enjoyed writing it, since I haven't done a proper post-mortem of the game yet.
If you have any specific questions, I would be happy to try and answer them.
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Joined: 18 Nov 2006
Posts: 103
Location: Black Forest, Germany
Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 8:19 pm
Post subject:
Thanks a lot! It´s all very interesting indeed
I´d like to learn more about your inspiration/concept /approach (whatever) on creating "your" flora (especially trees and forest)- is it an important issue to you?
My experience with computer games is that I hardly if ever take any pleasure in the design of trees or plants - it´s noteworthy that TSE 1+2 are big exceptions. I remember my very 1st TSE-playthrough: I got stuck badly in the Mango Republic Jungle but never got bored of the scenery. And TSE2 Chapter 1 Night Forest is breathtaking (I missed it in chapter 2 and was reminded of that in Chapter 8 - that´s the biggest drawback in this great beautiful game for me)
So it´s funny that you name another computer game as source of inspiraion - I´ll try to find some...what was it?... Seiken Denetsu screenshot
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Mark Pay
Site Admin
Joined: 09 Aug 2006
Posts: 624
Location: Margate, UK
Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 9:48 pm
Post subject:
This is the best image I can find right now:
I love drawing rocks and moss and plants. There's something very pleasant about them and the strange, random, crazy movements you have to make with a mouse to try and simulate natural textures on a pixel level. I often wish that I was able to concentrate just on the art.
I didn't use any direct photo references because I find it boring, but the work usually suffers as a result. :/
I keep buying wonderful natural photography books in clearance sales at bookstores which I mean to use for reference. In the end I just enjoy looking at the pretty pictures! There's nothing more beautful than nature, you just can't beat it
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Joined: 28 Jan 2008
Posts: 49
Location: Australia
Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 11:38 am
Post subject:
I do love all the artwork you've put into TSE & TSE 2 so breath taking. i always liked the jungle scenery always so lush green hehe. I like grass fields a lot just want to just lie down in one. Should go to England sometime for a holiday, just to lie down in the grass fields.
i would like to ask what was your inspiration for the sky children, and the rakari ??? one more thing why didn't we get a chance to kill any keepers ??? , those guys would have been great to fight.
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Mark Pay
Site Admin
Joined: 09 Aug 2006
Posts: 624
Location: Margate, UK
Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 11:04 am
Post subject:
You would have to hurry monsoonasiian. Our beautiful little island is being slowly smothered in concrete and asphalt.
I can't recall any direct reference for the Cloud Children. They're mostly a bunch of tentacles crossed with a sunflower. The rough face shape for the Rakari was inspired by a piece of art I saw on conceptart.org, long ago.
The Keepers ended up victims of a common RPG trope - build up a villain in the expectation of a climatic fight, then have them killed off by an either bigger threat.
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Joined: 09 May 2008
Posts: 109
Location: Bulgaria
Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 6:33 pm
Post subject:
I've finished the game some time ago and I really like the man kind's ancient history.Do you get some inspiration for it, or you wrote it on your own?
You would have to hurry monsoonasiian. Our beautiful little island is being slowly smothered in concrete and asphalt. Sad
What do you mean?
Trust in wisdom.
Live in peace.
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Joined: 28 Jan 2008
Posts: 49
Location: Australia
Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2008 3:03 am
Post subject:
i would like to say sorry for not sticking to the forum rules i should have wrote my comment in detailed spirit engine talk, it was a spire of the moment thing hehe
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Joined: 14 Jul 2008
Posts: 3
Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 5:14 am
Post subject:
I have a dream that Mark will one day create a RPG for xbox live arcade...it's desperately needing one
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Mark Pay
Site Admin
Joined: 09 Aug 2006
Posts: 624
Location: Margate, UK
Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 5:22 pm
Post subject:
You would have to hurry monsoonasiian. Our beautiful little island is being slowly smothered in concrete and asphalt.
What do you mean?
There's a lot of building work still going on here. Shopping malls and housing estates thrown up in an area that already suffers from unemployment. It's not really a new phenomena - like most of Western Europe, South-East England used to be covered in forests until people found that wood makes rather nice boats and houses.
I'm glad that I live next to the sea. It's much harder to build on that.
Hopefully the recession will put a temporary stop to this reckless growth.
I have a dream that Mark will one day create a RPG for xbox live arcade...it's desperately needing one
I'd like to. The console publishing process is rather more complicated though.
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Certified Home Buying Advisors Give Home Buyers a Competitive Advantage
The National Association of Expert Advisor®s (NAEA®) is an organization dedicated to providing the highest standards in specialized knowledge, skills training and advisory counsel to Real Estate Agents. They have done tons of research to find out what the perfect "recipe" for finding home buyers the perfect home at the perfect price. Certified Home Buying Advisors® have trained rigorously to position themselves as Experts in the Real Estate field.


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Round 4
Bulls - Warhead
The Bulls fire the catapult at a knight, but he withstands the damage.
Marnix's feat succeeds and the Bulls make a fighting retreat...
... leaving behind a dead spearman here...
... and a defeated chariot rider here.
The crossbowmen also killed two crossbowmen here.
The icons fail rather devastatingly at helping out the avatar, so it doesn't quite get where it's supposed to go.
Imperials - Scratch
The crossbowmen focus fire on Marnix...
... but their bolts are met with a testudo of raised shields.
The cavalry tries to go around.
Cales tries a feat, but the horses (too) are like 'fuck you Cales' and refuse to move.
The cannons roll to the side of the river and, since they're still (only just) out of range, prepare to cross.
The ribault tries to get into a better position to fire from.
Imperial infantry seizes the catapult. The officer fires it personally, but damage is insufficient.
The infantry advance but hold back their attacks for now (since the situation changed so much, I wasn't sure if you wanted them charging at a deadly formation).
Drakhirri - NPC'd
The Drakhirri crossbowmen try to focus down a heavy, but he's just too tough.
Fed up, the slayers kick their mounts into gear and charge the heavies, but they stand their ground, even wounding a dragon.
Aware that frontally charging the phalanx while outnumbered is probably not the best idea, the last of the Drakhirri infantry seize the chariots, turn them around and start charging them towards the enemy phalanx while two soldiers use them as some sort of makeshift mounts for a charge...
"These Bulls aren't giving up, bring forth the artillery!"
A strange, noisy contraption rolls onto the battlefield, along with some soldiers that haven't been seen in the Kingdom for years... Starkeepers!
Lord Malagram: "You thought we died? Most of us did when the Kingdom left us to rot and be overcome by the undead, but like Cales those of us that remain have been biding our time, and now it's time for all of you to pay!"
Drakhirri Champion 0/3 HP
Dragon 1: 1/2 HP


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Burbidge, C and Oliver, C and Moss, J and Arron, K and Berg , K and Hill, L and Trusler, K and Furniss, F and Woodcock, K (2010) The association between repetitive behaviours, impulsivity and hyperactivity in people with intellectual disability. Journal Of Intellectual Disability Research, 54. pp. 1078-1092.