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1. To deprive of life, animal or vegetable, in any manner or by any means; to render inanimate; to put to death; to slay. Ah, kill me with thy weapon, not with words ! (Shak)
2. To destroy; to ruin; as, to kill one's chances; to kill the sale of a book. To kill thine honor. Her lively colour kill'd with deadly cares. (Shak)
3. To cause to cease; to quell; to calm; to still; as, in seamen's language, a shower of rain kills the wind. Be comforted, good madam; the great rage, You see, is killed in him. (Shak)
4. To destroy the effect of; to counteract; to neutralize; as, alkali kills acid. To kill time, to busy one's self with something which occupies the attention, or makes the time pass without tediousness.
Synonym: to murder, assassinate, slay, butcher, destroy.
to kill, murder, Assassinate. To kill does not necessarily mean any more than to deprive of life. A man may kill another by accident or in self-defense, without the imputation of guilt. To murder is to kill with malicious forethought and intention. To assassinate is tomurder suddenly and by stealth. The sheriff may kill without murdering, the duelist murders, but does not assassinate his antagonist, the assassin kills and murders.
5. A kiln.
6. A channel or arm of the sea; a river; a stream; as, the channel between Staten island and Bergen neck is the kill van Kull, or the Kills; u
sed also in composition; as, Schuylkill, Catskill, etc.
Origin: oe. Killen, kellen, cullen, to kill, strike; perh. The same word as cwellen, quellen, to kill (cf. Quell), or perh. Rather akin to Icel. Kolla to hit in the head, harm, kollr top, summit, head, Sw. Kulle, D. Kollen to kill with the ax.


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Welcome to the cure for 'Stinkin Thinkin'
You already possess the SKILLS... to discover your own greatness!
(Click on any image to enlarge.) #2-142-Tuesday
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The biggest secret of all is... We become what we THINK about. (Napoleon Hill)
At any moment in time.. the very next decision you make has the power to change the course of your life forever.
Radical wisdom for a company, a school, a life
workers report their vacation days (they don't have to). It's a vision that rewards the wisdom of workers, promotes work-life balance — and leads to some deep insight on what work, and life, is really all about. Bonus question: What if schools were like this?
Believe in Yourself!
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Two more short "Build-A-Better-Life" videos from "Peak Performance Experts"
Want to live a very long life?
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subset: commoncrawl


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Digitalized artworks of Frederick Catherwood
We provide the 25 most famous paintings of the explorers Maya expeditions in high quality for free download. The rights are public domain.
10 Motifs for Supersize Prints in Maya Exhibition
For the 6‑month exhibition in Russias capital we refined several of our reconstructions and rendered them in ultimate resolutions for 5‑meter-printings. Besides we created a first look of Tenochtitlan and its sourrounding chinampas.
Video Rights by Vasily Sklyar
"TimeTours: Palenque"- 3rd part of the Maya-App-Trilogy launched
It took us more than one year to develop the latest digital travel guide to the "Versailles of the Maya". But it's worth every day!
Immerse yourself into the most beautiful Mayan city in the heart of the Jungle of Chiapas.
Again, you can experience the magnificent and mystic architecture by animated, photorealistic reconstructions, Now&Then-Sliders and "In the middle of it"-panoramas.
MAYA3D — The Mayan Architecture Reconstructed
Our first book includes 100 pages full of our most popular reconstructions for tv, museum and mobile apps in a softcover-edition. It faces the three sites Chichen Itza, Uxmal & Palenque and their famous structures and temples. Now&Then-Comparisions with explaining texts as well as large 180° panoramas provide a lively impression, how this former metropolises may looked like.
Our best Reconstructions for the App "TimeTours: Uxmal"
In cooperation with TimeTours we developed the second iPhone/iPad-App reconstructing the ancient Maya's world.
This time it's the fantastic Uxmal near Merida in Mexico.
The Now & Then-Slider and animations are even more impressive than in TimeTours: Chichén Itzá and we integrated 3 FullDome-Panorama for the first time.
The 3rd app, facing Palenque will follow in June 2013.
Codex Dresdensis — 3D Reconstruction of the Maya Codex in Dresden
Animated 3D-Model of the Dresden Maya Codex showing its current condition and blending to a refined version of the Kingsborough-replicat from 1826. Feel free to ask us for a copy of rendered codex-animations or even the 3d model including the accurat HiRes-textures of the current condition, the 125 years old Förstemann-Edition and the Kingsborough-replicat. read more
All rights of animation and music are strictly reserved.
Full-HD-Animations of Palenque for ROM-Exhibition in Toronto
Maya — Secrets of their ancient World
In 2 month of work we designed 6 animations showing Palenque at its bloom for the Royal Ontario Musuem in Canada. The exhibition contains many unique artifacts and faces topics like sacrifices and the end of the calendar.
One part are visual reconstructions like the major structures of Palenque, which we did with lots of attention to detail. This includes the Palace, Temple of the Inscriptons, Cross, Sun and for the first time, a depiction of the inner chambers and sarcophagus of the Red Queen-Temple…All in FullHD. However the most impressive view should be a 45-second-flyover the city!
Visit Website of the Exhibition
Models and Animations for "2012: Mayan Prophecies" in Houston/Texas
The Maya World in 360 degrees and 3D.
Since May this year, the show "2012: Mayan Prophecies" in the Burke Baker Planetarium in Houston/Texas offers visitors a unique perspective on the architecture and astrononomy of the ancient Maya.
We created more than 10 minutes of 4K-fulldome-animations. For that we reconstructed the Cities of Chichen Itza and Uxmal completely and Palenque and Tikal in parts. Furthermore we designed over 10 authentic characters and animated them from lip-sync to fullbody.
3D Reconstructions for the App "TimeTours: Chichén Itzá"
TimeTours is not just a typical guidebook. Instead, this virtual trip through time aims to bring the past back to life using our modern 3D reconstructions. In Cooperation with TimeTours we developed an iPhone/iPad-app, which offers a wealth of images and animations about the Site Chichen Itza. It also includes comparing "Now&Then-time windows" of all major structures, 360°-Panoramas as well many information.
"TimeTours: Chichén Itzá" is the first part of at least 3 Apps also featuring Uxmal and Palenque. Uxmal is the almost finished and will be released around September 2011
About Us
We are a small group of professional Media Designer specializing in 3D animation and web design from Berlin and Cologne in Germany. Because the common interest in Mesoamerican culture and its architecture connects us and we consider this topic to be a hobby of us, a few years ago, we decided to combine our job and hobby by reconstructing Mayan and Toltec buildings in Chichén Itzá with modern 3D-software to visualize the former brilliance of this architecture.
Because achieving this with existing photographs of the ruins alone was a major challenge, we relied mostly on old plans and drawings by different archaeologists, and of course, a great deal of fantasy for recreating the colorful facades.
Furthermore, using other temple constructions, such as the pyramids of Tikal and El Mirador, we have attempted to develop methods for modeling different styles of architecture in an accurate and time-efficient manner. The highly detailed reliefs and sculptures of the Mayan constructions are an especially difficult challenge which require big effort, however, this was made possible with good drawings and photos as guidelines.


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by Waseem Altaf
Commodore Irfan-ul-Haq said that since they came at night hence they could not be effectively countered. Earlier on, the Air Chief complained that during Abbotabad operation the US choppers entered our airspace at night, hence could not be engaged. Well our armed forces should issue a communiqué to all our possible adversaries that all enemy incursions should take place during daytime so that they can be effectively intercepted.
One of the most memorable dialogues of the 1975 blockbuster Sholay was "kitnay aadmi thay" and in reply the bandit ashamedly says "do aadmi thay", this response turns Gabbar Singh the gang leader, in a fit of rage, who then shoots the three cowardly dacoits.
The outlaws of "Sholay" faced two; the lead pair Veeru and Jai, while the fantastic four who conducted the Rambo Class operation on the night of 22nd May 2011, at Mahran air base were facing elements of 25th mechanized infantry division, navy commandos (SSGN), navy marines, Zarrar battalion of the SSG, rangers, elite force and the police, both deployed and in reserve.
The ground forces also enjoyed support of choppers from above. However those four guys whose average age was 20 mocked a brigade plus strength of the sixth largest army of the world for a good 16 hours. The planning, determination, execution and the level of motivation was simply superb. Two of them fought till death while the other two blew themselves up. None tried to flee and none surrendered. However before being liquidated they had transformed two P-3C Orion surveillance aircraft into pulp. The two machines cost rupees six billion while 10 personnel of the security forces were eliminated. Damage to any other installations is still being kept a secret. This was at the tactical level.
Read more : ViewPoint
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– YouTube


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Carter's Quest
[Read on for a description of every Mega Man classic game ever released in the US, and my completion of them all in 2013.]
2013 is going to be an exciting year. Now that I know you guys enjoy reading my Quests, I'm going to make an effort to do even more of them from here on out.
I hope that you have learned a bit about the franchises I've covered so far, as my plan is to inspire others to share their thoughts and feelings with the series of their choice as well (which many of you have done!).
In addition to Metroid, I also have another one ready to go for 2013: Mega Man Classic.
Why Mega Man?
Mega Man is my favorite franchise in gaming. Period. Although I'm not a giant fan of every single sub-franchise (Star Force comes to mind), I can't think of a bigger Mega Man fan on the web outside of Destructoid's own Tony Ponce. Specifically, my forte is what I refer to as the "Classic" series, consisting of the properly named Mega Man games, like 1–10, and Rockman & Forte.
My Mega Man fandom isn't something recent, however. I still remember to this day the very first time I played Mega Man on the NES. Funnily enough, I was almost turned off by the goofy cover, but I'm glad I braved it anyways, as I would rent every single game in the series after that day.
But the fandom also doesn't stop there. When I was in seventh grade, I learned HTML, and started a Mega Man fansite with a friend of mine. He did most of the coding, and I provided the content. I wrote boss strategies for every robot master and Wily stage, for every Mega Man game that was currently released.
Every year for many years, my friend and I would beat Mega Man 1–8 in marathon form. When that friend and I grew apart, I met someone else who indulged my Mega Man fanaticism. We would constantly play Mega Man X speedruns (with two TVs and two SNES units) — both full upgrade and non-upgrade runs. One day we even ran Mega Man 1 all the way through X5, which was greatly assisted by the Mega Man Anniversary Collections.
Mega Man often emphasize music through and through, and it's not just because of the meticulously created soundtracks in each game: the entire series is rooted in music. Rock Man, Mega Man's original and Japanese moniker, is literally a play on Rock and Roll (which is his sister's name).
There are characters named Blues (Proto Man in the US), Gospel (Treble), Forte (Bass), Tango, Enker (named after a style of Japanese music), Beat, and many more facets of music. Series father Keiji Inafune really put a lot of heart into the series, which shows.
I'm also a huge Bass (known in Japan as Forte) fan. As in, he's one of my top five favorite characters of all time. If you're ever looking for a gift for me, I'd accept anything Bass related (hint hint).
Since there are many more Mega Man games out there to play, I will be doing a separate Quest for the X series, including Command Mission, the Zero series, and the ZX series.
Everything else will most likely be lumped into a third quest, including Legends, Battle Network, and Star Force. At the end of this, there will be three Quests, and I will own every Mega Man game ever released in the US.
Also, the Game Boy games are in a weird state of kinda sorta remakes, but they're still technically considered in the Classic era, so I'm including them here.
If you haven't joined me on my Quests before, the way they work is pretty simple. It's kind of like a retrospective, but rather than just give you an overview of a franchise, I'll generally let you know what I thought of the game when it was released, and what I think of it now.
If I didn't provide a complete vision of what the game is like before I replay it, I'll provide an "extended thoughts" section below each applicable entry. I'll update my progress in real time through my blog, and after I finish the entire Quest, I'll share it with you guys on the front page.
Mega Man – NES, Wii Virtual Console [Owned], GameCube (Mega Man Anniversary Collection), PSN (PsOne Classics Import) [Owned], PS2 (Mega Man Anniversary Collection) [Owned], Xbox (Mega Man Anniversary Collection)
I've had an affinity towards platformers ever since I played the original Mario Bros., but it wasn't until Mega Man that said affinity really came alive. The non-linear nature of the game (that allowed you to select which stage you wanted to do in order), which was pretty much unheard of at the time, took my little brain quite a while to wrap around.
The concept of earning new abilities (essentially RPG elements inside of a platformer) blew my mind, and having to "figure out" the correct order of bosses to exploit their weaknesses was like a mini puzzle game.
I also think it's one of the hardest games in the whole franchise — entirely due to the difficulty of the Wily levels. While it's not always my first choice for constant replays, the impact the original Mega Man had on the industry is well known even today.
Mega Man 2 – NES, Wii Virtual Console [Owned], GameCube (Mega Man Anniversary Collection), PSN (PsOne Classics Import) [Owned], PS2 (Mega Man Anniversary Collection) [Owned], Xbox (Mega Man Anniversary Collection)
The second entry in the franchise is often regarded as the best in the series by most fans. If you ask people what their favorite Mega Man game is, nine times out of ten they'll probably say "2."
Having played it many, many times, I can see where they're coming from, even if it wouldn't be my own personal choice. It hosts one of the best soundtracks of all time, the level design is top notch, and the robot masters included in the game are wholly more interesting than the first time around.
I really can't say much about Mega Man 2 that hasn't been said a million times already. It's platforming gold. You need to play it.
Mega Man 3 – NES, Wii Virtual Console [Owned], GameCube (Mega Man Anniversary Collection), PSN (PsOne Classics Import) [Owned], PS2 (Mega Man Anniversary Collection) [Owned], Xbox (Mega Man Anniversary Collection)
Mega Man 3 is my favorite of the NES series. I know, it's not a popular opinion to enjoy it over 2, but screw it. I think the robot masters are more interesting, the levels are more varied, and the introduction of Rush helps add more character that would really let Mega Man come into its own as a series.
Also, for the first time ever, Mega Man could slide, which added a lot of depth to core gameplay. It was at this moment that I became a fan — not just someone who played Mega Man casually — but a hardcore fan who couldn't get enough of it.
Mega Man 4 – NES, Wii Virtual Console [Owned], GameCube (Mega Man Anniversary Collection), PSN (PsOne Classics Import) [Owned], PS2 (Mega Man Anniversary Collection) [Owned], Xbox (Mega Man Anniversary Collection)
Ah, Mega Man 4. Although it wasn't really remarkable in that it didn't do a whole lot to change the face of platformers forever, I still enjoyed it, and it's a solid entry in the franchise that still holds up today.
Pharaoh Man is my favorite robot master ever, and the level design is fairly top notch. Although I wouldn't mark it as a "must play" entry, any platforming fan owes it to themselves to at least try it out.
To add on top of his fancy slide move from 3, Mega Man could now use his charge buster, which allowed him to store up energy and unleash a more powerful blast. The adorable Eddie was also introduced.
Mega Man 5 – NES, Wii Virtual Console [Owned], GameCube (Mega Man Anniversary Collection), PS2 (Mega Man Anniversary Collection) [Owned], Xbox (Mega Man Anniversary Collection)
I never really had that deep of a connection to Mega Man 5. I don't know what it is — the lack of robot master characterization, or the lack of innovation in general, but I kind of just slept-walk through it a number of times.
Even still, Star Man, Wave Man and Gravity Man are three of my favorite robot masters to date, and the inclusion of Beat added a lot of enjoyment to Mega Man 5.
Although I've played it a ton, I'm double checking my memory banks here with an extended section after I've completed it.
Mega Man 5 has some swarthy Robot Masters (Star Man is one of my all-time favorites), but there's literally no "wow" factor involved. It enhances the "locating secrets" mechanic in the form of finding the letters "MEGAMAN V" to unlock Beat, but that mechanic isn't truly fleshed out until 6.
As a result, it feels a bit bare-bones, and almost forced in. On top of that, it has the slide from 3 and the charged shot from 4 — as a result, nothing is really unique to 5. It isn't a bad game by any means, but it's not really special, like most other Mega Man games are.
Mega Man 6 – NES, Wii Virtual Console [Owned], GameCube (Mega Man Anniversary Collection), PS2 (Mega Man Anniversary Collection) [Owned], Xbox (Mega Man Anniversary Collection)
I've always had a love/hate relationship with Mega Man 6. The music was rad, the level design was great in that it added more secret exits, and the suit-switch mechanic was pretty fun.
Still, the selection of robot masters was fairly dull, and although it was a solid platformer, it kind of just lacked heart — even after playing it close to fifty times.
I know Tony will kill me, but that's ok. Stay tuned for a closer, fresher look at what I think of Mega Man 6.
I never realized how great 6 really was until I beat it twice for this Quest. It just feels so…clean. I don't really know how else to describe it aside from the fact that it's a blast to play from start to finish, and it doesn't really drag like some other games do.
Once you unlock the Rush Jet and Power adapters, you can basically play the game the way you want to play it. As a more versatile yet weaker Mega Man (Jet), a stronger but bulkier Mega Man (Power), or a balanced version.
Changing your boss order to net these powers even earlier makes it even more fun, and the addition of the very welcome Energy Balancer item (which automatically refills weapon energy even if you don't have a weapon equipped) is something that would be carried into nearly every game following it.
It also expands upon the "secret location" mechanic in 5, and adds full-fledged additional paths and exits, rather than a mere few secret rooms. These secret exits truly make the game feel less linear, on top of the fact that you already have the non-linear choice of your order of the stages.
Mega Man 7 – SNES, GameCube (Mega Man Anniversary Collection), PS2 (Mega Man Anniversary Collection) [Owned], Xbox (Mega Man Anniversary Collection)
Fan reaction was not good when Mega Man 7 was released. Graphically it wasn't that big of an upgrade, and mechanically, it felt a bit sloppy. Sound wise, although the music wasn't bad at all, the sound effects felt tinny and a bit cheap. Although it was a solid effort, the damage had been done, as many people (even myself at one point) swore off of Mega Man 7.
It took me a few years to really gain respect for it. The introduction of Bass was a highlight for me, as adding a new "main" character helped increase the fresh factor a bit (it was tiring to keep staring at Mega Man, Proto Man, and Wily), but the secrets are what really got me eventually.
Even though there were only a few real meaty extras in the game, they were fairly mighty. An entire 1v1 fighting game was part of the package, as was the ability to earn the flying rush module from Mega Man 6, and Proto Man's shield.
It may not be one of the best Mega Man games to date, but I can still play it to this day and get some enjoyment out of it.
Mega Man 8 – Sega Saturn, PlayStation [Owned], GameCube (Mega Man Anniversary Collection), PS2 (Mega Man Anniversary Collection) [Owned], Xbox (Mega Man Anniversary Collection)
8 is entirely underrated. Yeah I said it! If you haven't played 8 yet, you absolutely need to: ignore everything else you've heard about this game (as long as you skip the "Dr. Wiwy" terribad dub).
Animation wise, it's superb. Although the actual gameplay doesn't stray too far from classic entries, the new anime style in-game graphics all help forge a brand new experience that feels more like a Treasure game than a Mega Man game — and I can dig that.
The Mega Ball trick is something I figured out fairly quickly (probably on my third playthrough or so), which increases the enjoyment of the game tenfold as you search for hard to find bolts and secrets. This was also the first Mega Man to break levels into multiple sections, complete with their own loading screens.
It also adds a new character named Duo. While he isn't the most interesting character in the franchise, his addition isn't really offensive, and he's pretty fun to play in the Arcade fighting game, Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters.
Rockman and Forte (Mega Man & Bass) – Game Boy Advanced [Owned]
This is my favorite Mega Man game, plain and simple. No, it's not just because I can finally play as Bass — it's because of the solid level design, the insane amount of collectibles, and the amazing replay value you get with both Mega Man and Bass in tandem.
While the storyline isn't award-winning material, there's enough here to trump pretty much any other Mega Man game before it. Graphically everything was clean, and the compromise of old and new ended up with a much better visual presentation than Mega Man 7.
The sad part is, not many people have played it. It was a Japanese-only SNES release, so the Game Boy Advance version is the only way to play it in America (as a side note, the Wonderswan had an exclusive sequel: Megaman & Bass: Challenger from the Future). If you can swing it, I highly recommend picking up the GBA version — this is an unsung hero of the Mega Man franchise.
For years, fans thought the unofficial title for the game was "Mega Man 9," and that it bridged the gap into Mega Man X [10]. That is, until Mega Man 9 actually came along and turned that theory inside-out.
Mega Man 9 – PSN [Owned], XBLA, WiiWare [Owned]
Mega Man returned to his roots in Mega Man 9 — and boy was it a comeback. Featuring some of the best level design in the entire series, MM9 was near platforming perfection. I can't tell you how many times I replayed level after level in the game's time trial mode just to top my previous score by a few seconds.
Every time I made a new attempt, I learned something new about the level I never knew before: that's staying power. When you add in the "endless mode" DLC, the possibilities in MM9 are literally endless, and allow for more constant play than any game in the entire franchise.
Everything worked out fairly well for Capcom. It was on nearly every platform, it sold really well, critics adored it, and they could sell DLC for it without too many people complaining. So far so good right? Why not make another one and keep these good times going?
About that…
Mega Man 10 – PSN [Owned], XBLA, WiiWare [Owned]
Things didn't work out so well for our blue friend this time. Capcom pretty much forgot everything that made Mega Man 9 magical, and "10" didn't do very well at all commercially or critically.
As a result, we haven't had any announcement of a possible continuation — instead, we're left with fan games to fill the void.
Since I've only beaten Mega Man 10 twice, I'll provide some extra thoughts below to help you in your potential purchasing decision somewhere down the line. I can pretty much say with certainty though that this is a "miss."
Mega Man 10 presents a whole lot of ancillary ideas, like a playable Bass (DLC), and awesome challenge levels that pay homage to the Game Boy games (DLC), but the core package is wholly uninteresting.
The Robot Masters feel dull, levels lack the spark that made Mega Man 9 so well designed, and after it's all said and done, you don't really feel compelled to play it again.
Unlike Street Fighter X Tekken, which would be the next "official" classic release, 10 doesn't really set out to shake the franchise up, and I think that's why so many people kind of wrote this one off.
Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge – Game Boy, 3DS eShop Virtual Console [Owned]
The Game Boy Mega Man series would introduce a lot of elements that would either be incorporated, or paid homage to in later games.
The characters of Enker (Mega Man I), Punk (Mega Man III), and Ballade (Mega Man IV) would later appear in DLC for Mega Man 10. Elements of the Game Boy games would make their way into the NES titles, like the concept of a shop, for instance, which would become a heavy part of the series from 7 onward.
Despite the fact that some of them were outsourced projects, most of them were decent titles that augmented the Mega Man Classic series — even if the first three didn't fundamentally change the formula in the slightest.
This one uses elements from Mega Man 1 and 2 on the NES, including an improved Item-1, called "Carry." It also uses passwords, which Mega Man 1 didn't utilize.
Sadly, after the cancellation of Mega Man Mania (which would have collected all five games on one GBA cart), it's pretty tough to find these outside of the 3DS eShop.
Mega Man II – Game Boy [Owned]
Mega Man II was sort of a disaster, and a dark highlight of the Game Boy games. Unlike the first game, which had a project leader that Inafune referred to as a "huge Mega Man fan," this one was outsourced to Biox, which did an all-around terrible job.
In fact, I'd probably outright make the claim that this is the only "bad" game in the Mega Man Classic franchise. Let's see if it's as bad as I remember it.
Mega Man II uses elements from Mega Man 2 and 3 on the NES, including Rush Jet, Rush Coil, and Rush Marine (like MM3).
Yep, this is one of the worst games in the entire franchise. Not only is the level design sub-par, but the game really doesn't try to do *anything* different on top of some weird design choices.
It also features Quint, one of the worst original characters in the series, and probably one of the worst in all of videogames. How did Quint come about you ask?
Wily goes forward in the future and captures a peaceful Mega Man, only to reprogram him for war. The kicker? He gives him a pogo stick as a weapon.
Yep, this is a real thing that happened. I'm glad Quint only made a cameo in Mega Man V, and was erased from franchise canon forever.
Mega Man III – Game Boy [Owned]
Everything past Mega Man II on Game Boy is kind of a haze. I remember playing them, but they were so hard to find (even back then), that I didn't know anyone else who really liked them.
As such, it was hard to get into them. Despite my hazy memory, I do remember Punk being pretty cool. Expect some extra thoughts after I tackle it.
In terms of recycling, this one uses elements of Mega Man 3 and 4 on the NES, including Rush Jet and Rush Coil.
Mega Man III is the definition of "alright." Like Mega Man I, it's not a bad game per se, it just doesn't really do anything different. Back in the day as a kid, having Mega Man on the go for family road trips was one of the coolest things ever.
Today, I don't see much of a reason for playing the first three Game Boy games. Mega Man IV and V on the other hand…
Mega Man IV – Game Boy [Owned]
See my experience for Mega Man III.
I'm at a loss for this one, although I'm aware of Ballade's impact on the franchise, as well as the in-game shop, which was included for the first time in a Mega Man game.
You'll find parts of Mega Man 4 on 5 on the NES in IV, including Rush Coil, Rush Jet, Beat, and more, in addition to the Energy Balancer found in 6. Half of 5 and all of 6's Robot Masters (NES) would never be incorporated into a Game Boy game, as the last GB title, V, had a wholly original cast.
As previously stated, Mega Man IV makes little tweaks that fundamentally change the feel of the series, even if it reuses assets and bosses. It has a new stage-select screen, a shop, new items like Mini Energy Tanks, a new kickback mechanic for the Mega Buster, and the ability to pick up P-Chips for the shop (P-Chips would later become screws).
Mega Man V – Game Boy [Owned]
One major reason why I love this Quest series so much is because I'm able to rediscover some of my favorite franchises all over again.
Beating Mega Man V for what I think is the first time is no exception. As far as new elements go, this one added Tango, and it was Super Game Boy compatible (remember that?).
Despite how great Mega Man IV was, V really shook things up, because it had a completely original story, and completely original Robot Masters.
In fact, V kind of exposes the fact that Capcom had been reusing assets and bosses, because of how original it is. Robot Masters (called Stardroids) are named after planets, such as Mercury and Mars, and their levels are all new.
You also fight Enker, Quint, Punk and Ballade at the end, and it's one of the only games in the entire franchise where Wily is *not* the final boss (!).
It's a wonderful game that highlights how much of a shame it is that Capcom stopped producing classic style portable games outside of Rockman & Forte. This was outright one of my favorite games of the Quest.
Mega Man Soccer – SNES [Owned]
I'm not a huge fan of soccer. But what about a soccer game that lets you turn balls into giant death traps? Or fireballs? Yep, long before Mario Strikers came along, there was Mega Man Soccer.
I'll tell you outright: I would not recommend "Soccer" to pretty much anyone out there but the most dire of Mega Man fans. All in all, the controls get in the way too much for it to lend itself to a quick pickup and play affair.
Often times you'll be fighting the controls to get them to do what you want, and after a while, a lot of the robot masters tend to blend together in their play-styles.
If you like soccer in general, you'll get more out of it, because you can strategize each position by choosing certain Robot Masters for the job (such as the quick Gemini Man as a Forward, or the hefty Wood Man as an OP Goalkeeper).
In fact, I actually brushed up on my soccer knowledge just to play this game again, which was a pretty cool unintended experience.
Mega Man Battle & Chase – PlayStation, PS2 (Mega Man X Anniversary Collection) [Owned]
Capcom really took some chances with the franchise — with a sports game, a racing game, and two fighting games, Mega Man really tried to spread his wings, to mixed success.
I've only played Battle & Chase a scant few times, making it one of the only games in the franchise I don't have a vivid recollection of. Still, it does take place in the classic universe, so I opted to include it in this Quest.
The reason being, it was only released in Japan and in the PAL region until Capcom opted to randomly include it in the Mega Man X Anniversary Collection. Although the X games aren't included in this particular quest, I also happen to own that very same collection, so Battle & Chase is good to go!
Stick around for extended thoughts below.
There's not a whole lot I can say other than the fact that it's a serviceable, yet ultimately "meh" kart racer. If you can pick up the X Collection still, it's a worthy free addition to the set that is basically a cherry on top of the already stellar X series.
Graphically, it isn't terrible looking for a PS1 game, and it's a nice little "what if" side distraction for fans of the series. A remake on a system like the 3DS would be a great way to reintroduce people to the Mega Man franchise.
Mega Man: The Power Battle – Arcade, GameCube (Mega Man Anniversary Collection), PS2 (Mega Man Anniversary Collection) [Owned], Xbox (Mega Man Anniversary Collection)
A Mega Man fighting game? Yep, it happened. It was also really, really fun. It wasn't a fighting game in the sense that Mega Man, Proto Man and Bass kicked and punched their way to success — you still use your trusty blaster abilities — but it worked surprisingly well.
But yeah, it had Bass in it, which means I had to get my hands on it at some point. I love the Power Battle/Fighters series, and it's even more enjoyable with a friend.
Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters – Arcade, GameCube (Mega Man Anniversary Collection), PS2 (Mega Man Anniversary Collection) [Owned], Xbox (Mega Man Anniversary Collection)
Power Fighters is pretty much the same as the last game — just with different robot masters and bosses. It adds Duo from Mega Man 8 to the mix, and attempts to vaguely explain the connection between the Classic series and the X series, with a special ending involving Wily's plans to create Zero.
Like the first game, it's also really enjoyable, and a nice way to spend a quaint afternoon. If you can find a way to acquire the Anniversary Collection, pick it up, if only just for these two games.
Mega Man Powered Up – PSP [Owned], PSP (Powered Up and Maverick Hunter X Double Pack) [Owned]
I can't say enough good things about Powered Up. It's everything that's right about the Mega Man franchise, distilled into a contemporary portable.
Naturally, Capcom had to kill it. Although many fans would be content to eat up Mega Man Powered Up 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, there are currently no plans to develop the Powered Up series further. Low sales in America contributed to this decision, despite the extremely solid reception it received.
It's a shame, because a lot of love went into creating this Mega Man game that not only fit the current market, but also had elements of tradition, and tons of content to boot.
Not only can you select from an Easy, Normal, or Hard mode like Mega Man 10, but you can also play as robot masters, create and share brand new levels (two years before LittleBigPlanet), tackle 100 challenges, and play both the "New" and "Old" style versions of the game.
Time Man and Oil Man would be added to make the original game's six Robot Masters a full cast of eight. Both had serviceable levels that felt like they would have fit into a classic style game.
Street Fighter X Mega Man – PC [Owned]
Due to my obligations to cover contemporary games as much as possible, I couldn't wait the two required weeks to play this game — so I beat it — twice.
While I do have mixed feelings about it (no save or password system, a few hiccups, and a few uninspired levels), overall, I think this is a really solid release with some quality boss fights. Expect more thoughts as I beat it in 2013.
I really enjoyed this very well made fan game. The bosses are challenging, their animations are stellar, and although a few sections could use some work, the fact that this was made by basically one person is amazing.
With a few tweaks and an XBLA/PSN/eShop release, this could be a classic entry into the series.
Collection Photo:
Final thoughts:
This is probably my most enjoyable Quest so far, because it allowed me to rediscover my favorite franchise all over again. I was able to experience a new game (SFxMM), play a few games I missed in the process (Mega Man IV and V), and learn to appreciate a few ones I didn't like as much before (4 and 6). I even went back and beat a few of them again (namely 4 and 6), directly after I completed them. It was a pretty enlightening experience to say the least.
What was really interesting is seeing the evolution of tiny nuanced mechanics throughout the franchise. Like how the Rush Jet changes its functionality from broken (MM3) to useful (MM4) to balanced (MM6).
Or how the brief invincibility frame from hitting enemies or bullets doesn't spare you from insta-kill spikes in the first game, but works in subsequent titles. Obvious changes include things like the introduction of the slide in 3, and the charge shot in 4 — having to cope with that and constantly up your game as you play each title is really fun, and something that's fairly unique to the Mega Man franchise
Overall, I feel like my knowledge of Mega Man is much stronger, and I'm looking forward to seeing what the future holds. Now, my near future holds Mega Man X and Mega Man Spinoff Quests, but outside of that, perhaps there will be a new Capcom game in the cards!


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After Harvard visit, dozens injured in bus crash
- Charter bus was heading from Harvard University to Pennsylvania
- 34 people injured when bus struck bridge in Boston
- State Police said the driver %22failed to heed signs%22 warning of the height limit
BOSTON (AP) — The scene could hardly have been more frightening for a Pennsylvania high school student just returning from a tour of Harvard University when the bus she was on slammed into an overpass, injuring dozens of passengers.
She did what most kids would do. She called her mother.
"She was screaming and crying and saying that the roof was caving in and that she couldn't see anything, and she hit her head and she hurt her arm," said Teresa Merrigan, describing the call from her daughter Alana.
Alana and the 41 others on the Calvary Coach bus had just begun the hours-long journey back to the Philadelphia area late Saturday. The driver, Samuel J. Jackson, was trying to navigate Boston's confusing maze of roads and rotaries, famously challenging to out-of-towners. He looked down at his GPS and looked back up and saw the bridge but was too close to avoid hitting it, Ray Talmedge, owner of the Philadelphia-based bus company, told WCAU-TV.
Thirty-five people were injured in the crash, Massachusetts state police said. One remained hospitalized in critical condition, four were in stable condition, one was in serious condition and one was awaiting discharge on Sunday night, they said.
The students were part of a Destined for a Dream Foundation group, based in Bristol, Pa.
"We're really, really blessed, because it could have been much worse," Erica Waller-Hill, who created the foundation, told WCAU-TV on Sunday.
Some passengers were trapped for more than an hour as rescue crews worked to free them, Massachusetts state police said. Firefighters stood atop the bus, part of its roof crumpled, and used boards to extract passengers, fire department photos showed. The bus suffered significant damage in the crash.
"There was a lot of glass, a lot of screaming, a lot of crying," foundation vice president Gregory Harris told WCAU-TV.
Authorities said the bus did not belong on Soldier's Field Road, a major crosstown street where a 10-foot height limit is in place and oversized vehicles are not allowed. Signs warning of the overpass' height restriction are "all over the place" on the road, Steve MacDonald, a spokesman for the Boston Fire Department, said Sunday.
Jackson, who was uninjured, "failed to heed signs" warning of the height limit, state police said, and he will likely be cited for an over-height violation. State police said they'll also investigate how long Jackson was driving on Saturday, and the probe will determine whether he faces more serious charges.
Talmedge, who said he didn't know anything about the road restrictions, said Jackson also drives a school bus. No one answered the phone Sunday at a number listed for Jackson in Philadelphia.
Neither federal nor Pennsylvania state records show crashes involving Calvary Coach over the past two years or complaints filed against the company.
The Facebook page of the Destined for a Dream Foundation said the trip to Harvard was to "visit the campus, sit with the office of cultural advancement, followed by a tour of the campus … followed by Harvard Square (shopping, eating, site seeing…etc…) This should be a fun time for all!"
Transit officials sent buses to pick up other passengers and get them out of the frigid temperatures.
The accident caused only cosmetic damage to the bridge and road, state police said. The road was reopened Sunday.
The crash recalled a similar accident in Syracuse, N.Y., in 2010 when the driver of a double-decker Megabus missed his exit and was using a personal GPS to find the bus station. He passed 13 low-bridge warning signs, some with flashing yellow lights, before hitting an overpass. Four people were killed. The driver was acquitted of homicide charges.
In December, a driver who prosecutors said was nearly asleep at the wheel was acquitted of the most serious charges in a crash that killed 15 gamblers returning to New York City from a Connecticut casino in 2011.
Federal officials stepped up enforcement of bus safety regulations last year, closing more than two dozen operations that mostly ferry passengers in the busy East Coast transportation corridor. It was the largest single federal crackdown on the industry.


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It's kind of like running into a wall—that feeling you get when, after a few months on a weight-loss program, you suddenly stop seeing results.
This is called hitting a plateau and it is not uncommon. In fact, unless you continually update your program to reflect the changes your body has already experienced, you can almost be guaranteed to plateau at some point along your journey toward reaching your goal weight.
Weight-loss Woes
The first thing you should do upon hitting a plateau is try to determine the cause. Could you be eating more calories than you think? Research shows that most people under-report the number of calories they eat—it's not that they're lying; they just don't know how to make an accurate assessment of how much they're eating. And even if you're eating fewer calories than before you lost the weight, you could be eating just enough to maintain your current weight at your current activity level.
Unfortunately, people's bodies adjust their metabolism to resist weight change. This means that you burn fewer calories when you start consuming fewer calories. So, while a diet of 1,800 calories per day helped you lose a certain amount of weight, if you've hit a plateau, it could be that 1,800 calories is the exact amount you need to stay at your current weight.
Exercise Your Options
This leaves you with two options: Lower your caloric intake further or increase the amount of time you spend being physically active.
The first option is less desirable because you may not be able to get sufficient nutrients from a diet that is very low in calories (e.g., below 1,200 kcal in women and 1,500 kcal in men) and it is difficult to stick with it for very long. It is much better to moderately reduce calories to a level that you can sustain when you reach your goal weight.
The same is true for exercise. Trying to exercise for several hours per day to burn more calories is a good way to set yourself up for failure. Not only does this type of regimen require an enormous time commitment, it is hard on the body, making you more susceptible to injury and overuse syndromes.
Instead, aim for 30 minutes of moderate activity most of the days of the week and, as you become more fit, gradually increase the intensity and duration of your exercise sessions. Choose activities that you find enjoyable, whether that be in-line skating, step classes or even mall walking. The most effective exercise is the one you will do consistently.
Another means for getting you off the plateau is strength training, which has been shown to be very effective in helping people manage their weight because the added muscle helps to offset the metabolism-lowering effect of dieting and losing weight. Muscle is much more metabolically active than fat; therefore, the more muscle you can add, the higher your metabolism will be.
To help balance the intake with the expenditure, a good rule of thumb is to multiply your goal weight by 10 calories per pound, and add more calories according to how active you are. For example, if your goal weight is 145 pounds, then multiple it by 10 to reach 1,450 kcal as a baseline, adding calories as needed to account for increased activity. Check out the ACE Fit Fact titled "Calories Burners: Activities That Turn Up the Heat" to estimate the caloric demand of your workout. Again, be realistic. Don't attempt too much in an effort to burn more calories.
Get Off the Plateau
If you've stopped losing weight, the key to getting off the plateau is to vary your program. The human body is an amazing piece of machinery, capable of adapting to just about any circumstance or stimulus. By shaking things up a bit and varying your program by introducing some new elements, you'll likely find yourself off the plateau and back on the road to progress in no time.
Additional Resources
ACE Fit Fact: "Calorie Burners: Activities That Turn Up the Heat"


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If you don't feel people pay enough attention to your Facebook status updates, here's some news you've been waiting for. Facebook is reportedly testing a scheme which will allow any user—not just businesses—to promote their status, in exchange for cold, hard cash.
The new feature, called "Highlight", lets a user pay a few dollars in order to have a single post appear more prominently in the news feeds of friends, reports TechCrunch. Currently, the pay-for scheme is apparently only available for a small pool of users while it undergoes testing. In an official statement, Facebook said:
"We're constantly testing new features across the site. This particular test is simply to gauge people's interest in this method of sharing with their friends."
Whether Highlight will ever turn into a fully-blown feature is difficult to tell. Given how much people enjoy talking about themselves, it's certainly not impossible to imagine that the feature could generate a steady trickle of cash for the Big Blue.
It's even easier, however, to imagine how irritating it could become. [TechCrunch]
Image by west.m under Creative Commons license


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I hope you are enjoying your weekend. It may not have been very warm and sunny so far this spring but the birds are busy building their nests and the blossoms are beginning to show in my garden – a promise of things to come.
Here is another post following my seven day theme of May Day/Beltane. I hope you find it as interesting as I did.
If you'd like to read more posts about this wonderful time of year, just search the tag #Beltane at the bottom of the page or click on the Sabbats category on the right.
Creiddylad, Welsh Goddess of Flowers and Love by Judith Shaw
Creiddylad, Welsh Goddess of Flowers and Love, is celebrated at this time. (Her name is pronounced cree-THIL-ahd) She is the eternal May Queen, always seeking peace and stability. She remains eternally constant in the face of all change. She is the promise of love, golden glowing moon-flowing love, enduring through all hardship and despair. Creiddylad also shows us the necessity of self-love. Only by truly loving ourselves can we love another.
Creiddylad is mentioned only briefly in The Mabinogion but her symbolism reveals that she is surely an ancient and important Goddess, whose original stories have been lost to the mists of time.
Creiddylad, the daughter of Lludd Silver-hand, was promised in marriage to her heart's desire, Gwythyr ap Greidawl. But before the marriage could be consummated she was abducted by Gwyn ap Nudd, who possessed many dark aspects akin to the Lord of the Underworld.
Gwythyr gathered together his warriors and set out to rescue his love, Creiddylad, from Gwyn. A fierce battle ensued, during which Gwyn, who emerged as the victor, committed horrendous acts of brutality and butchery.
King Arthur, hearing of this brutality, marched off to Gwyn's lands to settle the matter. He declared that neither man could marry Creiddylad and returned her to her father, Lludd Silver-hand. An arrangement was made forcing the two men to battle each other in single combat for the hand of Creiddylad every year at Beltane/May Day. Creiddylad's destiny was set; she would remain an eternal maiden, living with her father, until the final battle on Judgement Day revealed the victor.
Her father Lludd Silver-hand doesn't enter into Creiddylad's rescue from Gwyn – not the usual response for a lord whose daughter has been abducted. He waits calmly while her two suitors fight over her. This is a clue that the story is more than it appears. In fact Cryeiddylad's tale is the origin of the Celtic love-triangle pattern of a beautiful young noblewoman who loves a virile hero but is pursued and/or married to another, often darkly driven, suitor. It's the Oak King – May Queen – Holly King literary theme, a metaphor for the mythic motif of the cyclical nature of time. This theme is repeated in Celtic legends such as Tristan and Isolde, Blodeuwedd and Lleu Law Gyffes and Arthur and Guinevere.
The oak tree, revered by the Welsh Druids, was a symbol of the chief and his protection of the people. The oak tree majestically reveals its strength and beauty in the spring and summer, sprouting leaves and growing acorns, which all fall to the ground in the autumn. It symbolizes the growing time, the cycle of sowing, reaping and harvesting, represented in part by a young, virile God.
The holly tree, whose leaves remain bright green with red berries in the cold winter months, is a tree of death and resurrection. It's a reminder that new life will emerge from the depths of winter, a symbol of death, reincarnation and continuing life.
Over the years these trees were personified as the Oak King, representing the green growing half of the year, and Holly King, representing the dark half of the year, with its promise of rebirth. And they battle each other every year, on Beltane, when light and life are victorious and at Samhain,when the veil between the two worlds is thinnest and the forces of darkness win.
The May Queen, honored on May Day is represented by the ivy plant, symbolizing the power of life. She is the ever-fertile maiden, whose power births new life. She is the ground, the source from which the ever turning cycle of sowing, reaping, dying and being reborn emerge. She is the symbol of love, herself symbolized by the ivy plant, whose natural vein structure forms two hearts .
Gwythr has the role of Oak King, Gwyn ap Nudd is the Holly King and Creiddylad is the beautiful May Queen. The triangle is complete and now love and the sacred feminine are again part of the ongoing cycle of death and rebirth.
Every Beltane we are reminded of the wisdom of Creiddylad, the eternal May Queen. A Fertility Goddess, She emerges when the earth is filled with flowers opening in sweetness to receive kisses from the sun. She bestows her gifts of abundance on us all. In the land of our mythic dreams she becomes the Earth Herself, the very heart of the home from which we all emerge and to which we one day return. Her story reminds us that we come from and return to love, an eternal love, crossing all boundaries of time and space. And as she loved and honored herself in choosing her own destiny to be with Gwythr, we are reminded that all love begins with the love of self. By embracing self-love and acceptance we grow into a state of abundance. Not only does Creiddylad gift humanity with an abundant earth, She gifts us with the ability to accept and receive that abundance. Creiddylad's gifts take us out of a consciousness of fear and into a consciousness of love. She is a beautiful reminder to trust in ourselves, the universe and the power of love to provide.
Judith's deck of Celtic Goddess Oracle Cards is now in the world. The first run has sold out and more decks will be available by January 10, 2018. You can Pre-order your deck from the second run on Judith's website. Experience the wisdom of the Celtic Goddesses!
Judith Shaw, a graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute, has been interested in myth, culture and mystical studies all her life. From a college paper on Beauty and the Beast to a much later series of paintings on Beauty and the Beast…From a student painting of circles to her current fascination with the interlocking circles of sacred geometry…From reading When God Was A Woman in the early 70′s to her ongoing visual exploration of the role of the Goddess in our modern world…From her very first oil painting of a tree to her ongoing series of trees— her early influences of Jackson Pollack's abandon, and Van Gogh's emotionality are evident. Originally from New Orleans, she has traveled in Mexico, Central America, China, Europe and Greece and lived in Mexico and Greece. The passion and bright colors of many of these places have affected her palette and style. Judith makes art, dances with abandon and experiences the world through travel and study. Her work, which expresses her belief in the interconnectedness of all life, can be seen on her website at http://judithshawart.com
Source: Creiddylad, Welsh Goddess of Flowers and Love by Judith Shaw


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Police search for white SUV in fatal 2012 triple shooting in Dorchester
3 women killed, 1 injured near Franklin Park
Nearly a year after the shooting deaths of three Dorchester women, police in Boston are once again asking for the public's help in finding a white SUV.
On Aug. 12, 2012, police found four women suffering from gunshot wounds at 9:20 p.m. They had been sitting in a parked car on Harlem Street, near the Franklin Park Zoo.
Two of the victims were pronounced dead at the scene. A third victim died the next day.
They were identified as Genevieve Phillip, 22, of Milton, Kristen Lartey, 22, of Hyde Park and Sharrice Perkins, 22, of Dorchester.
A fourth victim was shot in the leg and suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
"The one thing I miss -- just seeing her every day and talking with her," said brother Chris Perkins. "She was the definition of a great big sister. One of those things where you don't realize what she meant to you until she's gone."
Sources told police the shooting was believed to be retaliation for an incident involving drugs and gangs that happened about a year earlier and that one of the women in the car was a target.
Family and friends said they still feel uneasy every time there's another crime in the area.
"It's strange when you hear gunshots. It's strange when you see yellow tape," said friend Danielle Bennett.
"Every time I hear a siren or something like that -- it just brings it back to this time a year ago," Chris Perkins said.
Police said they have identified several 'persons of interest' but have not made any arrests.
Nearby surveillance video captured a white SUV with a black top and halogen lights that was near the scene at the time of the shooting. Authorities said the vehicle appeared to be a newer model Saturn Vue or Chevrolet Captiva.
Police said before the shooting, the victims had attended a gathering at Shattuck Picnic Grove in Franklin Park. Authorities are interested in speaking with the estimated 100 people at the gathering.
Anyone with information on the shooting or the SUV is asked to call the homicide unit at 617-343-4470 or drop an anonymous tip to the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 800-494-8477.


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**Please see my TURNER SYNDROME AWARENESS BLOG HOP post for details on how to enter for prizes and learn what it's all about!** – ends Feb 7th!
Hello friends! With the cold weather and ice around my area, I thought it would be nice to turn my attention towards the month of May with my creation today:
I have used this gorgeous new February digital stamp set from Sparkle N Sprinkle called May Day Floral Nosegay. I have printed out the pre-colored floral images and fussy cut them out for this card. The sentiment in the center of the wreath is also from this same set which I've printed out as well and then cut it out with the Tonic Scalloped Squares Basic die set and sponged around the edges with some blue ink.
For the wreath, I've used the Tonic Rococo Fern Garland die and cut it out once in green cardstock and another in white cardstock. For the white one I cut the ribbon area only and covered this piece with VersaMark ink which was heat embossed with some Sweetheart EP. (This is such a pretty EP with lots of sparkle! See below!)
I also heat embossed this same Sweetheart EP along the edges of a white cardstock that I cut out to layer behind the wreath panel. The heat embossed bow was glued over the green wreath and then the entire wreath was centered over the sentiment panel. I also then layered these panels onto a piece of black cardstock. I also put some craft foam behind this panel for some dimension on my card.
For the tiny flowers behind a couple of the white flowers, I took my Clear Mark Embossing Pen and heat embossed the very tips with the same EP as above. All of these cut flowers were attached with the SnS Dimensional Glue onto the wreath with a couple popped up for dimension. I also took some Nuvo Honey Gold Glitter Drops for the centers of the flowers as you can see in the photo above.
Lastly, for the base of my card, I cut a piece of A2 sized top folding card base with a light blue cardstock. I also used this same cardstock color to cut out a couple of pieces using the Tonic Elegant Columns die set…so pretty! I sponged some white ink around the edges of them and attached them to the card base. I cut off the edges that were sticking out with my scissors. (You can see the die I've used in the photo above.)
If you get a chance, hop on over to the Sparkle N Sprinkle website to check out the entire new Release for February! – CLICK HERE! (It's the first 8 sets shown.) Also don't forget if you go shopping, you can get 10% off your entire order by using my special code below:
Hope you've been inspired by my creation today and I thank you so much for stopping by!! See you soon!
- 4 Crafty Chicks – Anything Goes
- CRAFT – Anything Goes
- Moving Along With the Times – Add a Sentiment
- A Perfect Time to Craft – Anything Goes
- Crafty Catz – Anyting Goes + optional: Lots of Layers
- Papercraft – Something New (new stamp set, dies, EP, flowers)


text:
Release Date: 2013 |
Album Rating: 4.0The video for "Celebrity Touch":
Album Rating: 4.0gotta get on this
Album Rating: 4.0It really grows on you. I thought it was a 3.5 on my first spin, but then I realized I can't stop listening to it.
Album Rating: 4.0nice, better than ADHD? thought that was a fairly weak effort after their first 3 which i loved
Album Rating: 4.0I enjoyed ADHD just fine, but I slightly prefer this to it. Their first two records were really good. The third one not so much imo.
getting this now
Album Rating: 3.5Definitely looking forward to listening to this.
Album Rating: 4.0Great review, I definitely need to listen to this asap. I'm glad to hear they brought back some of the subtlety of the early albums, that's what I was hoping for the most with this album.
Album Rating: 4.0Yes, also, Feature this. Been jamming this for a couple of days now. about a 4.5er. Gregs right it does grow on you.
Album Rating: 2.5Feel Like Falling is so good. Great review too.
Eh, I ain't getting the same vibe as you, Greg.
Album Rating: 4.5Heeeyyyyyy dis is good newz!!!
Album Rating: 4.5man when "escalator shrine" really picks up, things get a little sexy!
Album Rating: 4.0Thanks guys. Feel Like Falling, Escalator Shrine and Celebrity Touch definitely rank among their very best tracks imo.
I was very skeptical at first, but this won me over in time. I suggest giving it some more spins.
Album Rating: 3.5"bluesy, often psychedelic riffs become an integral part of the quartet's sound"
Got me interested there, their earlier albums always seemed impressive but I never ever listen to them. Your comparison with DT seems correct bcos it all seemed a bit dry and soulless. Wasnt going to bother with this but will give it a try after reading your review. Pos.
Album Rating: 4.0I have a feeling you'll like it man. It has some really cool psychedelic and blues influences on top of art rock ingrained in their first two albums.
congrats on the feature
Album Rating: 3.5Eh, I ain't getting the same vibe as you, Greg. [2]
And dammit you beat me to the review
Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound OffLooking forward to hearing this
Album Rating: 3.5"Your comparison with DT seems correct bcos it all seemed a bit dry and soulless"
Ouch mena, ouch
Glad to see a Riverside review featured, props Greg
Bands: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z


text:
Tag Archives: healthcare
Two Predictions: Wearable Devices and Driverless Cars
There's been a ton of advancement in sensors in the last several years. Low-power cheap processors and battery technology has advanced to allow for things like Nest, FitBit, Zeo, Wahoo Fitness and other devices to become viable. While neither is … Continue reading
Posted in Technology Tagged autonomous cars, driving, healthcare, sensors, wearable devices Leave a comment


text:
Sydney storm brings strong winds to Qld
Severe storms have swept through Sydney and up the New South Wales coast, bringing down trees, cutting power and causing localised flooding.
The storm cell the moved into south-east Queensland where it hit the state with 90kph winds.
Earlier at Sydney Airport, a Qantas plane arriving from Cairns escaped damage when it was struck by lightning.
Domestic and international flights were delayed for up to an hour, with some cancellations due to the wild weather.
There were also delays across the bus and rail networks.
The State Emergency Service received more than 320 calls for help, mainly for minor damage.
"We are getting reports of trees and branches down as well as some localised flash flooding, but so far no significant property damage," spokesman Phil Campbell said.
Mr Campbell says the SES also conducted a successful operation to get a stranded resident of Yamba on the north coast to her 80th birthday party.
He says it began when an SES operator, named Paula, was told that people from all over Australia were waiting for the woman in Sydney.
"Paula was able to arrange for some flood boats to able to transport the lady to the nearest place where she could be flown - that was at Maclean," he said.
"She was then transported by helicopter into Grafton where the local SES were able to drop her at the railway station, and she was given a first-class ticket to Sydney to be able to join her family and friends."
The number of people isolated by floodwaters on the north coast has now dropped from 7,000 to 2,000, with access to Yamba now open.
Meanwhile, a clean-up is underway in the state's central west after storms earlier this afternoon brought strong winds, heavy rainfall and hail to parts of Orange and Bathurst.
The SES has responded to more than 30 calls for help in the region and expects that number to rise tonight as people get home from work and discover the damage.
A spokesperson says the damage includes flooding, leaking roofs and trees and powerlines down.
The same weather system also affected southern Queensland, bringing damaging winds but little rain.


text:
Hey, did you hear the makers of Vibram FiveFingers settled a class-action lawsuit to the tune of $3.75 million? You didn't? That's strange. It's only been covered by every blog and news organization from NPR to Outside Magazine to The Wall Street Journal to The Christian Science Monitor to … um … The Omaha World Herald. Not to mention the dozens of time it was posted and re-posted in my Facebook news feed.
Some modest Googling informs me Runner's World has the best summary of the actual lawsuit and resulting settlement.
What I find most striking is the celebratory, "I told you so!" tone in most of these articles (and ALL of the Facebook posts). It's as though critics of those creepy shoes with the individual toes have busted Vibram deliberately trying to deceive its own customers with LIES and FALSE ADVERTISING. Some even posit the very logical argument that agreeing to settle a lawsuit while not agreeing to any wrongdoing means their products ACTUALLY WRECK YOUR FEET.
The best response I've read from the FiveFingers advocacy camp is similar to what is usually the best response in kerfuffles like these: There is no cut-and-dry, black-and-white answer, rather, this situation is choked with nuance, complexities at the individual user level, and a whole lot of unknown/unproven/non-definitive science. Justin over at Birthday Shoes has an excellent analysis of a lot of the subtleties in this story.
The most concise way I've found to phrase what I think is the correct thesis goes something like this: The health of your feet (and ankles, shins, knees, quads, hammies, glutes, back, neck, face, and hair) has less to do with the shoes on your feet and more to do with how you approach your exercise regimen, and, more specifically, how you transition to minimalist running.
Confession(s): I am a 200+ pound non-athlete, I've been running modestly for the past 2-3 years, I read Born To Run, and my running configuration definitely skews minimalist. I started running in Nike Frees, and then moved on to an assortment of New Balance Minimalist and Merrell Bare Access kicks. I also own a pair of Vibram FiveFingers.
When I first started running, I enjoyed it, but with an ever-present sense of foreboding that injury was all but inevitable. As such, I listened intently to my body. One of the core tenets of minimalist running is the acutely increased amount of feedback you get from your body. Honestly, what could be better for a beginner? You are getting maximum feedback from the road/trail/track/treadmill. If something doesn't feel right, I don't know, MAYBE STOP DOING THAT THING. Through a long, careful ramp my body got stronger, and last year I ran a half-marathon in a pair of NB MT110, a shoe with a 4mm toe drop (almost flat) and minimal cushioning. (Side note: New Balance appears to be hard at work ruining the MT110.)
So how does one reconcile the supposed health benefits of minimalist shoes with the supposed uptick in running related injuries? I played in a band with a surgical podiatrist, Alan, about 18months ago and I asked what he thought. This is a guy, by the way, who said, "Born To Run and Crossfit are making me rich." Regarding the scientific claims around biomechanics and evolution made in Born To Run, Alan did not dispute them. In fact, he agreed that a forefoot-midfoot strike and a shorter stride are very likely the way we evolved to run over the past 2 million years. The problem, he said, is that you and I have not evolved running around in our barefeet over the past however-old-we-are. Additionally, our ancestors didn't evolve running around on pavement and sidewalks, nor did they sit in front of computers for ten hours a day. It's all in how you approach training your own body, not unproven health claims made by a shoe manufacturer.
Which brings us back to the shoe manufacturer. Vibram was sued for making unsubstantiated claims about health benefits offered by their shoes, false advertising, essentially. It is worth noting that Vibram's website has an entire section devoted to education about their product and barefoot/minimalist running. [I don't know if this section existed before the lawsuit.]
So here's why everyone is wrong:
- Was Vibram wrong to advertise unsubstantiated health claims? Yes.
- Were the plaintiffs wrong to assume that a shoe, all by itself, could 'strengthen feet' and 'reduce injury'? Yep.
- Were the plaintiffs wrong to sue the shoe company claiming the shoe company received a windfall from the plaintiffs under false advertising pretenses? This one is more complex, but I'm going with yes because I believe it could have been resolved without a lawsuit.
- Are minimal/barefoot running advocates wrong to blindly preach health benefits without also preaching the importance of a slow, careful transition, you know, just like any new physical activity? Mm hmm.
- Are VFF haters really just deflecting some other insecurity about their feet? Aren't they all deeply curious to slip on a pair of VFFs and walk around in the cool grass? You betcha.
I mean. It's a foot. How could you hate a foot?


text:
Chinese Declaration of Independence
This is a story I don't know enough about
Farmers from 18 households in Xiaogang signed a secret life-and-death agreement ending collective farming with their thumbprints. (From Cowen and Tabarrok, Modern Principles: Macroeconomics)
The Great Leap Forward was a great leap backward – agricultural land was less productive in 1978 than it had been in 1949 when the communists took over. In 1978, however, farmers in the village of Xiaogang held a secret meeting. The farmers agreed to divide the communal land and assign it to individuals – each farmer had to produce a quota for the government but anything he or she produced in excess of the quota they would keep. The agreement violated government policy and as a result the farmers also pledged that if any of them were to be killed or jailed the others would raise his or her children until the age of 18. [The actual agreement is shown at right.]
The change from collective property rights to something closer to private property rights had an immediate effect, investment, work effort and productivity increased. "You can't be lazy when you work for your family and yourself," said one of the farmers.
Word of the secret agreement leaked out and local bureaucrats cut off Xiaogang from fertilizer, seeds and pesticides. But amazingly, before Xiaogang could be stopped, farmers in other villages also began to abandon collective property. In Beijing, Mao Zedong was dead and a new set of rulers, seeing the productivity improvements, decided to let the experiment proceed.


text:
© Copyright 1998 The Perl Journal. Reprinted with permission.
One of the most important new features in Perl 5 was the capability to manage complicated data structures like multidimensional arrays and nested hashes. To enable these, Perl 5 introduced a feature called `references', and using references is the key to managing complicated, structured data in Perl. Unfortunately, there's a lot of funny syntax to learn, and the manual is not as clear in this area as it usually is. The manual is quite complete, and a lot of people find that a problem, because it can be hard to tell what is important and what isn't.
Fortunately, you only need to know 10% of what's in the manual to get 90% of the benefit. This article is going to show you that 10%.
One problem that came up all the time in Perl 4 was how to represent a hash whose values were lists. Perl 4 had hashes, of course, but the values had to be scalars; they couldn't be lists.
Why would you want a hash of lists? Let's take a simple example: You have a file of city and state names, like this:
Chicago, Illinois New York, New York Albany, New York Springfield, Illinois Trenton, New Jersey Evanston, Illinois
and you want to produce an output like this, with each state mentioned once, and then an alphabetical list of the cities in that state:
Illinois: Chicago, Evanston, Springfield. New Jersey: Trenton. New York: Albany, New York.
The natural way to do this is to have a hash, whose keys are state names. Associated with each state name key is a list of the cities in that state. Each time you read a line of input, split it into a state and a city, look up the list of cities already known to be in that state, and append the new city to the list. When you're done reading the input, iterate over the hash as usual, sorting each list of cities before you print it out.
If hash values can't be lists, you lose. In Perl 4, hash values can't be lists; they can only be numbers or strings. You lose. You'd probably have to combine all the cities into a single string somehow, and then when time came to write the output, you'd have to break the string into a list, sort the list, and turn it back into a string. This is messy and error-prone. And it's frustrating, because Perl already has perfectly good lists that would solve the problem if only you could use them.
Unfortunately, by the time Perl 5 rolled around, we were already stuck with this design: Hash values must be scalars. The solution is references.
A reference is a scalar value that refers to an entire array or an entire hash (or to just about anything else.) Names are one kind of reference that you're already familiar with. Think of the President: a messy, inconvenient bag of blood and bones. But to talk about him, or to represent him in a computer program, all you need is the easy, convenient scalar string Bill Clinton.
References in Perl are like names for arrays and hashes. They're Perl's private, internal names, so you can be sure they're unambiguous. Unlike Bill Clinton, a reference only refers to one thing, and you always know what it refers to. If you have a reference to an array, you can recover the entire array from it. If you have a reference to a hash, you can recover the entire hash. But the reference is still an easy, compact scalar value.
You can't have a hash whose values are arrays; hash values can only be scalars. We're stuck with that. But a single reference can refer to an entire array, and references are scalars, so you can have a hash of references to arrays, and it'll act a lot like a hash of arrays, and it'll be just as useful as a hash of arrays.
We'll come back to this city-state problem later, after we've seen some syntax for managing references.
There are just two ways to make a reference, and just two ways to use it once you have it.
$aref = \@array; # $aref now holds a reference to @array $href = \%hash; # $href now holds a reference to %hash
Once the reference is stored in a variable like $aref or $href, you can copy it or store it just the same as any other scalar value:
$xy = $aref; # $xy now holds a reference to @array $p[3] = $href; # $p[3] now holds a reference to %hash $z = $p[3]; # $z now holds a reference to %hash
These examples show how to make references to variables with names. Sometimes you want to make an array or a hash that doesn't have a name. This is analogous to the way you like to be able to use the string "\n" or the number 80 without having to store it in a named variable first.Make Rule 2: [ ITEMS ] makes a new, anonymous array, and returns a reference to that array.
$aref = [ 1, "foo", undef, 13 ]; # $aref now holds a reference to an array $href = { APR => 4, AUG => 8 }; # $href now holds a reference to a hash
The references you get from rule 2 are the same kind of references that you get from rule 1:
$aref = [ 1, 2, 3 ]; @array = (1, 2, 3); $aref = \@array;
The first line is an abbreviation for the following two lines, except that it doesn't create the superfluous array variable @array.
What can you do with a reference once you have it? It's a scalar value, and we've seen that you can store it as a scalar and get it back again just like any scalar. There are just two more ways to use it:USE RULE 1: If $aref contains a reference to an array, then you can put {$aref} anywhere you would normally put the name of an array. For example, @{$aref} instead of @array.
Let's see some examples of that:
@a @{$aref} An array reverse @a reverse @{$aref} Reverse the array $a[3] ${$aref}[3] An element of the array $a[3] = 17; ${$aref}[3] = 17 Assigning an element
On each line are two expressions that do the same thing. The left-hand versions operate on the array @a, and the right-hand versions operate on the array that is referred to by $aref, but once they find the array they're operating on, they do the same things to the arrays.
Using a hash reference is exactly the same:
%h %{$href} A hash keys %h keys %{$href} Get the keys from the hash $h{'red'} ${$href}{'red'} An element of the hash $h{'red'} = 17 ${$href}{'red'} = 17 Assigning an element
Most often, when you have an array or a hash, you want to get or set a single element from it. ${$aref}[3] and ${$href}{'red'} have too much punctuation, and Perl lets you abbreviate.
USE RULE 2: ${$aref}[3] is too hard to read, so you can write $aref->[3] instead.
${$href}{red} is too hard to read, so you can write $href->{red} instead.
If $aref holds a reference to an array, then $aref->[3] is the fourth element of the array. Don't confuse this with $aref[3], which is the fourth element of a totally different array, one deceptively named @aref. $aref and @aref are unrelated the same way that $item and @item are.
Similarly, $href->{'red'} is part of the hash referred to by the scalar variable $href, perhaps even one with no name. $href{'red'} is part of the deceptively named %href hash. It's easy to forget to put in the ->, and if you do forget, you'll get bizarre results when your program gets array and hash elements out of totally unexpected hashes and arrays that weren't the ones you wanted to use.
Let's see a quick example of how all this is useful.
First, remember that [1, 2, 3] makes an anonymous array containing (1, 2, 3), and gives you a reference to that array.
Now think about
@a = ( [1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6], [7, 8, 9] );
@a is an array with three elements, and each one is a reference to another array.
$a[1] is one of these references. It refers to an array, the array containing (4, 5, 6), and because it is a reference to an array, Use Rule 2 says that we can write $a[1]->[2] to get the third element from that array. $a[1]->[2] is the 6. Similarly, $a[0]->[1] is the 2. What we have here is like a two-dimensional array; you can write $a[ROW]->[COLUMN] to get or set the element in any row and any column of the array.
The notation still looks a little cumbersome, so there's one more abbreviation:
In between two subscripts, the arrow is optional.
Instead of $a[1]->[2], we can write $a[1][2]; it means the same thing.
Instead of $a[0]->[1], we can write $a[0][1]; it means the same thing.
Now it really looks like two-dimensional arrays!
You can see why the arrows are important. Without them, we would have had to write ${$a[1]}[2] instead of $a[1][2]. For three-dimensional arrays, they let us write $x[2][3][5] instead of the unreadable ${${$x[2]}[3]}[5].
Here's the answer to the problem I posed the the beginning of the article of reformatting a file of city and state names:
1 while (<>) { 2 chomp; 3 my ($city, $state) = split /, /; 4 push @{$table{$state}}, $city; 5 } 6 7 foreach $state (sort keys %table) { 8 print "$state: "; 9 my @cities = @{$table{$state}}; 10 print join ', ', sort @cities; 11 print ".\n"; 12 }
The program has two pieces: Lines 1--5 read the input and build a data structure, and lines 7--12 analyze the data and print out the report.
In the first part, line 4 is the important one. We're going to have a hash, %table, whose keys are state names, and whose values are (references to) arrays of city names. After acquiring a city and state name, the program looks up $table{$state}, which holds (a reference to) the list of cities seen in that state so far. Line 4 is totally analogous to
push @array, $city;
except that the name array has been replaced by the reference {$table{$state}}. The push adds a city name to the end of the referred-to array.
In the second part, line 9 is the important one. Again, $table{$state} is (a reference to) the list of cities in the state, so we can recover the original list, and copy it into the array @cities, by using @{$table{$state}}. Line 9 is totally analogous to
@cities = @array;
except that the name array has been replaced by the reference {$table{$state}}. The @ tells Perl to get the entire array.
The rest of the program is just familiar uses of chomp, split, sort, and print, and doesn't involve references at all.
There's one fine point I skipped. Suppose the program has just read the first line in its input that mentions the state of Ohio. It's on line 4, $state is Ohio, and $city is Cleveland. Since this is the first city in Ohio, $table{$state} is undefined---in fact there isn't an Ohio key in %table at all. What does line 4 do here?
4 push @{$table{$state}}, $city;
This is Perl, so it does the exact right thing. It sees that you want to push Cleveland onto an array that doesn't exist, so it helpfully makes a new, empty, anonymous array for you, installs it in the table, and then pushes Cleveland onto it.
I promised to give you 90% of the benefit with 10% of the details, and that means I left out 90% of the details. Now that you have an overview of the important parts, it should be easier to read the perlref manual page, which discusses 100% of the details.
Some of the highlights or perlref:
If you ever see a string that looks like this, you'll know you printed out a reference by mistake.
A side effect of this representation is that you can use eq to see if two references refer to the same thing. (If you need to do that, use == instead; it's much faster.)
You might prefer to go on to the perllol manual page instead of perlref; it discusses lists of lists and multidimensional arrays in detail. After that, you should move on to the perldsc manual page; it's a Data Structure Cookbook that shows recipes for using and printing out arrays of hashes, hashes of arrays, and other kinds of data.
Everyone needs compound data structures, and in Perl the way you get them is with references. There are four important rules for managing references: Two for making references and two for using them. Once you know these rules you can do most of the important things you need to do with references.
Return to: Universe of Discourse main page | Perl Paraphernalia | Just the firstname.lastname@example.com


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Joyent is determined to catch Amazon. Wasik said the Joyent cloud was initially equipped with a basic set of 10 virtual server selections. On Thursday, the company introduced 13 instance types that closely align with Amazon's most popular virtual server types, from AWS Micro up to Standard Extra Large and Quadruple I/O Extra Large.
"As people move off of Amazon [Web Services], we want them to be able to slide over to the equivalent instance" in Joyent, said Wasik.
Joyent is actually increasing its virtual server selection with additional choices, 71 in all, to make its cloud service more attractive to customers. That means Joyent now has a match for AWS Store Eight Extra Large and AWS High-CPU Extra Large, along with many other options.
[ Want to learn more about Joyent? See Joyent Cloud Competes With Google, Amazon. ]
It also adjusted its pricing so a given instance type is a near match to its AWS equivalent. In some cases, the price appears to be less than Amazon's, but Wasik said Joyent in some cases offers a slightly smaller resource, either in memory or storage, than Amazon and sought to maintain equivalent, not lower, pricing.
Joyent has added "reserve" pricing to its server instance pricing structure to match Amazon's Reserved Instance pricing. As with AWS, reserve pricing will commit the customer to a designated amount of use of a server type for either a one-year or three-year period, in exchange for a lower price.
Joyent's expansion of server types coincides with Dell's decision, announced Monday, to abandon the infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) market. Instead, it will resell Joyent's cloud services. "We're pleased with Dell's selection of us," Wasik said. Out of three named partners, Joyent is "the partner to be the public cloud provider," he said. Until Monday, Dell said it was operating two IaaS facilities of its own, planned to add more and expected to be a major converged hardware supplier to cloud service providers. The latter is still the case.
Even as a Dell partner, Joyent can't quite match Amazon Web Services' global spread. It operates data center facilities in Emeryville, Calif., Ashburn, Va., Las Vegas and Amsterdam, serving what Wasik termed "thousands" of customers, including large enterprises.
Wasik joined Joyent as CEO in November. His former company, Force10, was acquired by Dell in August 2011, and Wasik for a time served as head of Dell Force10 unit. With Joyent's designation as a prime Dell partner, it's clear he still maintains his connections inside Dell.
Joyent is known in some ways as the residual brain-trust of Sun Microsystems' Solaris expertise, where the open source version of Solaris operates as SmartOS. It's also known for employing the authors of and sponsoring Node.js, the increasingly popular server version of JavaScript that shows up in mobile applications. But Joyent also hosts workloads running Linux and Java, and thus is in a position to substitute for Amazon's EC2, if customers choose to switch allegiance.
"We're really oriented toward giving the customer a lot more choices," said Wasik. In other words, watch this space for how effectively Joyent IaaS competes with Amazon IaaS.


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ftape driver
ftape crashes on me when I do `...' - is that a bug?
No, that is a feature
Seriously, reliable software do not crash. Especially kernels do not
or rather should not crash. If the kernel crashes upon you
when you are running
ftape, and you can show that it is
ftape that is messing things up, regard it as a Bug That Should
Be Fixed. Mail the details to the maintainer
<email@example.com>) and to the tape list.
First, make sure you can reproduce the problem. Spurious errors are a
pain in the ass, since they are just about impossible to hunt down
:-/ This is a quick check list:
ftape version
ftape.o file. I might want
you run try some patches out or run a different test on your system.
Increase the tracing level to 4 or 5 and run the command that caused
problems again (don't do it if your fear that you loose data or damage
your hardware, there is absolutely no warranty for neither data loss
nor hardware damage caused by
ftape, remember this). Increasing
the trace level beyond 5 probably doesn't make any sense as it affects
the timing of the driver in a way that it doesn't work well any
more. Get the tracing data from the kernel log or
depending on where you harvest your error messages. Try to look at
ftape spews out at you. It may look in-comprehensible to
you at first, but you can get valuable information from the logfile.
Most messages have a function name prepended, to make it easier to
locate the problem. Look through the source, don't just cry
``WOLF!'', without giving it a try. If your version of the kernel (or
ftape for that matter), is ``old'', when compared to the newest
version of the kernel, try to get a newer (or even the newest) kernel
and see if the problem goes away under the new kernel. When you post
your problem report, include the information about ftape version,
kernel version, expansion bus type (ISA, VL-bus, PCI or EISA), bus
speed, floppy controller, and tape drive. State exactly what you did,
and what happened on your system. Some people have experienced that
ftape would not run in a PCI based box, but ran flawlessly in a
normal ISA based 386DX machine (see section
Getting PCI motherboards to work with <tt/ftape/ on PCI
machines above)
Also, please think of the poor souls who actually pay the
their Internet access (like me): avoid posting a (huge) log from the
ftape run, without reason. Instead, you could describe the
problem, and offer to send the log to the interested parties.
Send your bug report to
<email@example.com>. You
might also want to mail the bug to


text:
Why you better Cut the Crap: Service is the Old & New Gold.
April 9, 2012 5 Comments
I agree. It's been way too long since I pressed down another story here. Not without a reason though. I've been crazy busy visiting companies from about eight industries to perform in-depth interviews about their business and their future. It has been a wonderful experience so far. And it shouldn't come as a surprise that I generated tons of insights from this qualitative market research period. I want to share my main insight today:
"Cut the crap and stop pushing it on to people. Be real, bring value, show respect and be helpful to every customer. In brief: stop screaming, start whispering."
Service is the Old and New Gold.
Loads of consumers became disappointed in companies, products and services. As a result, corporations and organizations are sometimes seen as "evil". I believe this is the result of what I call "the old marketing". Most brands and organizations still rely on 20th century marketing principles: manufacture something against the lowest cost possible and consequently pay much money for advertising to create a positive image so that consumers buy your product. The only thing that matters is short-term profit, not a long-term sustainable contribution to society. I've always revolted against these types of companies. They are indeed "no good". They don't contribute to a positive society and consequently a better world. They do not "serve" their customers through good products, honest communication and real value.
I truly believe (and hope) the days of "high churn because we produce crap is solved by acquisition campaigns" are over as social peer-to-peer technologies became mainstream and leverage Word of Mouth on a huge scale.
What is Service? Think long-term reputation vs. short-term profit.
If one states that service is key, he needs to define what exactly is service. Based on my interviews, I'd say service is about small things, but things that can make someone's day and stick in their memory. It's about going the extra mile, about doing something you actually didn't have to do. It's about the goal to serve in order the make life (or businesses) easier and better. It's the social aspect, it's the human touch. It's not about social media. Those only give large-scale opportunities to foster on this service behavior.
Research details
As stated above and in the introduction, the above isn't just a gut feeling. It's inspired by real-life (analog) talks with leading people within several industries. Below is a small overview of my data sample. Please allow me to just recycle one of the original research presentation slides. It's important to realize that within this sample some of the companies were active on social media – which was the drive to act more service-wise – and others who were completely inactive on social but have always put the customer in the center of its existence.