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Watchuseek Blog
Monday, August 1, 2011
Off the cuff: ARMIN Strom Racing Chronograph and AMW11
Regular readers of the Watchuseek blog may recall in April we featured the excellent watches from the ARMIN Strom Racing Collection. Read all about it here.
We were so impressed that we got in touch with the guys at ARMIN Strom and told them that we would like our readers to see the watches 'on the wrist' to show off how good they look, and they were happy to oblige.
There was just one problem. If Ernie were to receive the watches in Holland it would have resulted in obscene sums being handed over to the Dutch Customs. So instead, the helpful chaps at ARMIN Strom offered to take pictures of the watches themselves. The model even donned a smart French cuffed dress shirt complete with watch movement cuffs, so ARMIN Strom are spoiling us!
To recap, in 2011, ARMIN Strom began its commitment to Formula 1 as the official timing partner for Marussia Virgin Racing. It is supporting both team drivers: Germany's Timo Glock and Jérôme D'Ambrosio from Belgium.
At the time of the launch Serge Michel, CEO at Armin Strom, commented on the logical collaboration: "Just like Marussia Virgin Racing, Armin Strom is a young, dynamic brand, setting new quality standards and combining high-tech with craftsmanship values. And like Marussia Virgin Racing, we're not afraid to blaze new trails".
The first watches to emerge from the collaboration with the Russian-British stable, are called the ARMIN Racing Collection. The special feature of these watches is that parts of the movement components are made from the materials of the racing cars.
In addition to the ARMIN Strom Racing Collection, the new AMW11, a magnificent looking manual wind watch with a partly open dial is also modelled for your delight and further edification.
ARMIN Manual Collection, AMW11
The AMW11 (ArminManualWinding1) incorporates the famous watch craftsman's tradition of movement refinement. The partly open dial reveals the inner workings of the movement and the beauty of its technology. An unmistakable feature of ARMIN Strom watches is the time display: the hour and minute hands are not centrally positioned, but slightly off-centre horizontally. The designer's objective was to create an exclusive watch with a Manufacture calibre.
This watch is available in four different models, corresponding to the four elements Water, Air, Earth and Fire. Each model is being produced in a series of only 100 pieces. Prices will range from $10,300 to $13,000 for the top of the line Manual Air.
ARMIN Racing Chronograph
Worn proudly on the wrist in this picture is the ARMIN Racing Chronograph, with its black PVD titanium case in an imposing 44.40mm. The components are sculpted from materials used in racing cars. The circles around the various indications on the dial, highlighted in bright red, serve as a clear reminder to mechanical sports enthusiasts of the efforts exerted by brake discs during a gruelling Grand Prix race. Proud owners of an ARMIN Racing Collection watch can opt to have their name engraved on the lip at 6-o-clock. In the case of the DLC case it's engraved first and then DLC coated.
Other watches in the ARMIN Strom Racing Collection and not featured here were limited to 40 pieces and have no doubt long been snapped up by collectors. They included the ARMIN Strom Racing Regulator and the Racing Chronograph Titanium.
What follows is the full set of high res pictures that ARMIN Strom sent us. Click on the images for full effect.
Posted by Michael West at 10:38 AM
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President Bush's support for faith-based initiatives has sparked a raging debate about the separation of church and state. But are we worrying about the right things?
My deeper concern is the prophetic integrity of religious groups who might appropriately receive some government funding. Why? Because those in power often prefer the service programs of faith communities to their prophetic voice for social justice.
In the early days of the Clinton administration, the president expressed support for the work many of us in the religious community were doing to solve social problems. I remember personal notes from the White House and talk about "working partnerships." But in 1996, President Clinton signed a welfare reform bill that lacked crucial supports needed by single mothers and their children to move out of poverty. Some of us spoke out. Police arrested 55 inner-city pastors in the Capitol Rotunda as we read the words of the prophet Isaiah, "Woe to the legislators of infamous laws who cheat the poor among my people."
The personal notes from the White House and discussions of partnerships suddenly stopped. Dialogue with the president apparently didn't include criticism. But in the tradition of biblical prophets such as Isaiah, the religious community is called to speak truth to power. Having had breakfast in the White House and been arrested for protesting its policies, I've learned the former is more dangerous to the prophetic vocation.

subset: commoncrawl


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My friend Rex Nelson wrote a piece titled "The Shame of Hot Springs" and posted it on his blog, www.rexnelsonsouthernfried.com, on Feb. 21. In it he decried the deterioration of downtown Hot Springs, symbolized by the nailing of plywood over the windows of the old Majestic Hotel on Park Avenue.
My friend Rex Nelson wrote a piece titled "The Shame of Hot Springs" and posted it on his blog, www.rexnelsonsouthernfried.com, on Feb. 21. In it he decried the deterioration of downtown Hot Springs, symbolized by the nailing of plywood over the windows of the old Majestic Hotel on Park Avenue.
A week later the hotel burned down.
That's one way to end a historic preservation debate.
I have no reason to believe that Rex's article, or reaction to it, had anything to do with the fire, but it's quite a coincidence.
"It's not just the Majestic. …" Nelson wrote. "It's the other historic buildings that have been empty for years. Rather than being charming relics, they've become eyesores. And they send the message that this once-great American resort is in a tailspin that can't be reversed."
A shorter version appeared in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, and Nelson followed up with another blog post a few days later. The first piece had obviously struck a chord because more than 10,000 people had read it, by far a record for his blog.
As one who was born around the corner from the Majestic in what was then St. Joseph's Hospital and spent the first 20 years of my life in Hot Springs, I had a special interest in "The Shame" article and the Majestic fire.
Like many Hot Springs natives, I've never spent the night in the Majestic, and the same was true about its equally historic sister hotel, the Arlington, until the 40-year reunion of my high school class. I always had a place to stay because my mother lived there.
But for one summer after my sophomore year in college, I spent part of almost every day at either the Arlington or Majestic, or both. My assignment then for the local newspapers was to cover whatever convention was in town, and there was always at least one. Most of them were at the Arlington, which had the facilities to handle a national organization's meetings, but some guests stayed at the Majestic up the street because its Lanai Towers and Suites were newer and nicer.
I did some interviews in the courtyard formed by the Lanai buildings and the 1926 section of the Majestic. The Lanai Towers, standing at the junction of Central, Whittington and Park avenues, overlooking a fountain street divider, became the icon of the Majestic. A steady stream of vehicles has always circled around that fountain and headed back up Central.
That wasn't what burned down last week. Lost was the oldest building of the hotel complex, a U-shaped section that had stood since 1902, topped by a neon Majestic sign.
Firefighters apparently managed to save the Lanai buildings and the 1926 section by pouring tons of water over them. Also saved was the newer but also closed Velda Rose Motel, once a glittering "motor hotel" alternative to the traditional downtown hotels. You could drive right in and park near the lobby or even on the roof.
Its Round Table Restaurant became a popular place for local meetings, including my senior banquet, so I spent a lot of time there, too. Only a few years ago, we still took my mother there for Mother's Day dinner.
That all those buildings in that row are closed and one in the center is now gone is indeed a shame for Hot Springs and Arkansas.
The deterioration of downtown buildings is commonplace. Jonesboro has revitalized its downtown by the introduction especially of a variety of restaurants. Parking has been added downtown, but a parking spot is still hard to find, even on a Monday afternoon.
However, Jonesboro had a special circumstance that worked to its advantage — a change in state laws allowing restaurants to operate a private club in an otherwise dry county — thus encouraging the development of an entertainment district. Without that, downtown Jonesboro might be mostly vacant.
Why those mostly unique, locally owned restaurants congregated in downtown is a matter for debate, but the first ones found interesting old buildings that could be leased or acquired and converted cheaply. Success then breeds more success.
For Hot Springs and many other cities, that just hasn't happened. Despite still being a tourist town, Hot Springs has relatively few downtown restaurants and hotels. The Arlington is still open, but many Arkansas organizations won't meet there because of its deterioration and a somewhat unfair reputation for poor service.
Bathhouse Row is both a blessing and a curse. Though the National Park Service has kept the buildings up, they take up valuable space and, because most are shuttered, add to the "ghost town" feel along Central Avenue. On-street parking is virtually non-existent, and few parking lots are available in convenient places.
When traveling, wife Pat and I prefer to stay in hotels with character and history, rather than the cookie-cutter high-rise complexes. We've found a couple especially attractive in Mobile, and two years ago we stayed at the refurbished Savoy Hotel in Kansas City, where we had two of the best breakfasts ever.
Hot Springs has similar possibilities, including the remaining Majestic buildings and Velda Rose, but it will take money and determination to turn things around. If the Majestic fire is a catalyst for a movement in that direction, all of Arkansas will benefit.
Roy Ockert is editor emeritus of The Jonesboro Sun. He may be reached by e-mail at email@example.com.


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Want to avoid a heart attack or stroke? In addition to well-known risk factors like diet and exercise, you may want to keep an eye on your vitamin D levels too.
Small amounts of vitamin D is available in food, such as fish, cod liver oil, and fortified milk and juice.
Low levels of the "sunshine vitamin" -- so nicknamed because we get most of our vitamin D from sunlight -- may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, according to a report published Monday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
About 30 to 50 pecent of American children and adults don't get enough vitamin D, says coauthor James O'Keefe, M.D., cardiologist and director of preventative cardiology at the Mid America Heart Institute, in Kansas City, Missouri.
"Society has been slow to respond to the pleas of vitamin D experts for years," O'Keefe says. "People say, 'Well, I go outside,' but the truth is we just aren't outside enough -- or when we are, we're using sunscreen or wearing protective clothing."
Small amounts of vitamin D can be consumed through food, such as fish, cod liver oil, and fortified milk and juice. But to achieve the daily 1,000 to 2,000 international units (IUs) that most people need, a dietary supplement is almost always necessary, according to the report. Oral doses of up to 2,000 IUs a day are considered safe and are available over the counter. Watch more on vitamin D recommendations for children »
People with vitamin D levels below 15 nanograms per milliliter (deficiency is defined as less than 20 ng/ml) are twice as likely to have a heart attack, stroke, or other cardiovascular event within the next five years as those with higher levels, according to the Framingham Heart Study, a large, ongoing study of heart risk factors.
Because the Framingham Heart Study is not a randomized controlled trial, it's still not clear if vitamin D is the real reason for the link (the vitamin's levels could drop in unhealthy people for other reasons), or if taking a supplement would lower the risk. However, experts agree that a connection is likely. Vitamin D appears to regulate insulin production in the pancreas, and a deficiency could raise diabetes risk. Low levels of vitamin D can also raise blood pressure and increase inflammation in the arteries, "a recipe for disaster," says O'Keefe.
"These are the fundamental disturbances that predispose us to blood clots, strokes, and cardiac deaths," he says.
Susan Harris, D.Sc., an epidemiologist in the Bone Metabolism Laboratory at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts, agrees that there's little harm in assuming that vitamin D may help the heart. "It looks like vitamin D is important in very basic physiological functions like appropriate immune responses and inflammation, which play a role in cardiovascular disease and other chronic illnesses," she says. Health.com: How the financial crisis could break your heart, literally
While placebo-controlled studies are still needed to define vitamin D's real relationship with heart disease, "it is such a safe and possibly preventive treatment, there's not really any reason to wait until that research is conducted," she adds.
O'Keefe and his colleagues at the University of Alabama, the Mayo Clinic, and the vitamin D laboratory at Boston University recommend that people with cardiovascular disease or related risk factors -- such as smoking, obesity, diabetes, or a family history -- have their vitamin D levels checked by a doctor. Health.com: 7 Causes of High Cholesterol
To restore normal vitamin D levels, deficient at-risk patients should be supplemented with 50,000 IUs of prescription vitamin D2 or D3 (vitamin D comes in two forms) once a week for 8 to 12 weeks, according to the report's authors. They should then maintain these levels with either 50,000 units every two weeks, 1,000 to 2,000 IUs of vitamin D3 every day, or approximately 10 minutes of sunlight a day between the hours of 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Health.com: Vitamin Guidelines: Easy Ways to Double Your D
Harris agrees with most of these recommendations, although she warns that sun exposure in the northern United States during the months of November through April tends to be an inadequate source of vitamin D.
The bottom line, says O'Keefe, is that adequate vitamin D levels are a necessity for overall health -- and they probably improve heart functioning as well.
"Deficiency really wreaks havoc on long-term health," he says. "And so even though [the cardiovascular benefit] is still theoretical, we have a mandate to normalize levels in heart patients -- and really in all patients -- just for the good it will do the rest of their system." Health.com: How I survived a heart attack at 43
O'Keefe is an unpaid consultant for CardioTabs, a supplement maker, and the group practice where he works uses the supplement company's funds for marketing and patient education.
Try a FREE TRIAL issue of Health - CLICK HERE!
Copyright Health Magazine 2009
All About Vitamins and Supplements • Heart Attacks • Stroke


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If you've never heard of Bettye LaVette, she's well aware. The R&B singer's new book, A Woman Like Me, chronicles her decades-long career as singer on the fringes of the Motown greats and soul legends, so close to breaking out so many times before things kept falling through or, as she says, "my sugar turned to shit." LaVette, who had her first hit at age 16 ("My Man—He's a Loving Man"), scored a hit album four decades later with I've Got My Own Hell to Raise. Grammy nominations, TV appearances, and a slot singing at Barack Obama's inauguration concert followed.
A Woman Like Me details the long journey to success, but is also filled with frank gossip and stories told about the star singers LaVette met on her way. (There's a handy index in the back if you want to skip to the dish on your favorite legends.) From her sexual exploits with Otis Redding and Ben E. King to Diana Ross's real talent, here are the juiciest bits.
1. She Was Briefly a Prostitute Any doubts that LaVette's rise to the top was glamorous are dispelled in the first sentence of A Woman Like Me: "A vicious pimp was precariously holding on to my right foot as he dangled me from the top of a twenty-story building at Amsterdam and Seventy-eighth Street." What follows is a brief summary of her affair with a charming pimp who convinced her to start turning tricks. She only managed to bring in one steady client: Johnny Desmond, the popular crooner then starring opposite Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl on Broadway. She finally tried to get out of the trade, a decision that led to her being dangled from a roof and beat up. She ran away through the streets of Manhattan wearing just a bra and a pair of shorts.
2. She Slept With Otis Redding and Ben E. KingWhen LaVette was just 16, she was introduced to a Detroit producer, who she says she seduced for his connections in the music business. He helped her record her first single, "My Man—He's a Loving Man," which quickly burned up the charts. While touring the country, she encountered a talented singer from Macon who flirted with her. She took a shine to him, even though "he wore mohair suits and red socks. Tacky!" The singer was Otis Redding, just before he broke out himself. To LaVette, their affair was a tryst, but Redding wanted to marry her, even though his girlfriend at home was pregnant. It wasn't LaVette's only fling with burgeoning stars on that tour. She also had a brief affair with "Stand By Me" singer Ben E. King, though he "had both a home wife and a road wife."
3. She Slept With Aretha Franklin's HusbandIn 1963, LaVette had an affair with a pimp named Ted White, who also happened to be Aretha Franklin's husband at the time. LaVette says she and Franklin were friends, and she's not sure if she ever knew that she was sleeping with her husband. "Either way we didn't have problems getting high together and shooting the breeze." White shepherded Franklin to the top of charts, but, writes LaVette, "When it comes to the history of Aretha, Ted has been unfairly maligned." He was an abuser. But LaVett, in her characteristically nonchalant (perhaps even naive) way, claims, "In the context of the Detroit showbiz culture of the sixties, men slapped their women around … But without Ted's grooming, Aretha would never have been a superstar."
4. Tina Turner Tolerated Ike's BeatingsEven more controversially, LaVette claims the situation was the same with Ike and Tina Turner. "Hundreds of men would have whisked her off in a hot minute," but she claims she stayed because she wanted to learn the lessons his beatings taught. "Those lessons resulted in her becoming a millionaire many times over."
5. Marvin Gaye Knocked on Her Door For all her conquests—and LaVette admits to being the pursuant in many cases—Marvin Gaye was the one who got away. "Like nearly all the women who knew him," she writes, "I'd been chasing Marvin and getting nowhere." During one standing engagement in Chicago, she repeatedly invited Gaye up to her room after dinner, and each night he stood her up. Fed up, she threw a party one night. Gaye knocked on her door. "Oh, I thought you'd be alone," he said, and walked away. "Marvin had finally come for me, and I blew it. I'd lost a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I'm still kicking myself."
6. Stevie Wonder's Deflowering Party When Stevie Wonder was 16, some people in the industry wanted to throw him a party in LaVette's basement apartment. The occasion: he was to lose his virginity. Lavette says she was first approached for the honor, but she suggested that her more sexual friend Marrie Early would be more "unforgettable." When Early never showed, a beaming Wonder quickly became woefully dejected.
7. 'Diane' Ross Is a 'Stuck-Up Bitch' How did Diana Ross make her way to the top? "She slept her way up the Motown command," writes LaVette. Throughout A Woman Like Me, LaVette refers to Ross as "Diane," and does little to hide her disdain for the star. "Most of the female singers felt the same way about Diane as I did," she says. "We saw her as a stuck-up bitch with a small voice and big ambition." One night, while Ross was in the midst of an affair with songwriter Brian Holland, Holland's wife showed up at a club, beat Ross up, and tore off her clothes. "America's Supreme sweetheart was left standing in her slip, panties, and bra."
8. Making it BigIt wasn't until 2005's I've Got My Own Hell to Raise that LaVette, though boasting legions of devoted fans, finally had a hit record, one that outsold all of her previous efforts. She landed a plum gig on the televised Kennedy Center Honors concert to pay tribute to The Who and show off in front of Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand, and Beyoncé—all the women she had long hoped to best in the industry. "I wanted to demonstrate to them that I was their equal, and then some," she writes. And she did. "I saw that Barbra was spellbound. Aretha did not let me out of her sight. Beyoncé held her breath." A YouTube clip of her impressive performance made the rounds, and soon after, she was invited to sing "A Change Is Gonna Come" with Jon Bon Jovi at President Barack Obama's inauguration concert.


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Samsung Introduces 8.9- and 10.1-Inch Galaxy Tabs Coming This Summer
Samsung wants customers to have a choice, and to that end, it unveiled two new tablets today at CTIA in Orlando.
What is the right size for a tablet–7 inches? 8? 9? 10?
Now, you don't have to decide. Well, except that you do.
Samsung introduced the 8.9-inch and the 10.1-inch super-thin tablets, which will release this summer. The 10.1-inch tablet will be available June 8. A sixteen gigabyte Wi-Fi version will cost $499. The 32GB version will cost $599. The 8.9-inch version will cost $469 for 16GB, and $569 for the 32GB. No word on when this size will launch, except that it is coming this summer.
In the end, there will be a mind-boggling number of options.
Both models will also have the option of 4G connectivity, WiMax or LTE, which is promised to be priced very competitively, according to Samsung Mobile's SVP Omar Khan.
The announcement, which was made at CTIA this morning in Orlando, included a few user videos, featuring ideal users for the different sized tablets. The filmmaker preferred the larger screen to view video, and the travel writer preferred the more portable size to stay in touch with friends while on the go.
The hardware, which is both insanely thin and lightweight, is also robust. Both Samsung Galaxy Tabs have a 1GHz dual-core processor, a long-lasting battery and cameras in the front and back.
The tablets will also come with Samsung's entire array of software, including Readers Hub, Social Hub, Music Hub, and its Touchwiz 4.0 software overlay, which will include live panels that can be customized on the home screen. They both will be running Honeycomb, Google's latest Android operating system.
The topic of tablet size can be quite polarizing since Apple believes that the iPad's nearly 10-inch screen is the ideal size.
Apple's CEO Steve Jobs went on a tirade back in October, saying that the seven-inch screens that Samsung and other Android vendors originally launched were going to be dead on arrival.
He went as far as to say that users will have to sand down their fingertips in order to use the touchscreen effectively. "Apple has done extensive testing on how close you can put elements on the touchscreen, and 10 inches is a minimum size to create great tablet apps," he said.
It appears that Samsung took Apple's user research to heart.
"Samsung has always been about choice, and building products that fit the unique needs of our consumers," Khan said.


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This is not an offer for credit and should be used for estimation purposes only based on the information you provided. You should not base your decision on this estimate alone. Title, registration, tax and other fees, and personal circumstances such as employment status and personal credit history, were not considered in the calculations.
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A momentous event in the history of emancipation in the United States occurred at the end of August 1861, as a result of the initiative of one man: John C. Frémont, the recently appointed commander of the U.S. Army's Department of the West. Frémont issued a martial law declaration that among other actions freed the slaves of Missouri's disloyal slaveholders. The key passage of the document read:
The property, real and personal, of all persons in the State of Missouri who shall take up arms against the United States, and who shall be directly proven to have taken active part with their enemies in the field, is declared to be confiscated to the public use; and their slaves, if any they have, are hereby declared free.
It was a bold move from a man with an already legendary and often controversial career. As an officer in the antebellum U.S. Army, Frémont's explorations of the American West gained him from the press the title "Pathfinder." During the Mexican War, he played a key role in the U.S. seizure of California, serving for a time as its military governor (for which he was court-martialed) and later one of the first two U.S. Senators when it achieved statehood. He also was the first presidential nominee of the infant Republican party in 1856, losing the election to James Buchanan. At the start of the Civil War, his military experience and political prominence won him a commission as a Major General and in July 1861, President Lincoln appointed him commander of the Department of the West, with its headquarters based in St. Louis, Missouri.
While a natural choice for commander of this department, given his experience and connections in the region, John C. Frémont's bold and impetuous nature was not a good fit for the unstable and increasingly violent situation that existed in Missouri by Summer 1861. The state by then was experiencing a civil war within a civil war as irregular pro-Confederate forces fought a bitter guerilla war with the state's unionists backed by the federal government. This conflict reached a crisis point after the Union defeat at the Battle of Wilson's Creek on August 10 threatened to open Missouri to Confederate invasion. The weakened position of Union forces led Frémont to declare martial law in Missouri at the end of August (some sources date it August 30, others August 31).
The question is why did John C. Frémont try to free the slaves of Missouri's disloyal slaveholders in his martial law declaration?
Part of the answer was although a Southerner, Frémont detested slavery. Born in Savannah, Georgia and raised in Charleston, South Carolina, young Frémont did not grow up as part of the plantation elite, but as the son of a widowed mother living in often straightened circumstances. Gifted at attracting the interest of powerful and influential men, Frémont became the protégé of Joel R. Poinsett, who imparted to him his quiet skepticism of slavery as well as making his military career possible (Poinsett was Secretary of War in the Van Buren administration). By the 1850s, Frémont's dislike of slavery had grown and helped him win the nomination as the first presidential candidate of the Republican Party in 1856.
Another part of the answer was Frémont's exalted sense of his own importance and impetuous nature, which had gotten him into trouble in the past. As commander of the Western Department, he quickly surrounded himself with an unusually large staff, including Owen Lovejoy, the pro-abolitionist Illinois Congressman featured in the July 9 edition of Civil War Emancipation for his successful House resolution absolving the Union army of capturing fugitive slaves. Lovejoy had finagled a colonel's commission and joined Frémont in the Department of the West. Under Owen Lovejoy's influence and that of other radical Republicans in St. Louis, and with the crisis atmosphere in Missouri after the federal defeat at Wilson's Creek, John C. Frémont evidently decided there was a need to strike hard at the state's disloyal element. His martial law declaration not only freed the slaves of disloyal owners, but also threatened with death any person taken in arms fighting Union forces.
In retrospect, Frémont's action was obviously foolish overreaching. But as a politician of long national standing, and an independent power in the Republican party, he felt he could make his proclamation stick, especially against a president like Lincoln that many people early in his first term were prone to underestimate because he had only recently achieved national prominence and was still seen by many Republicans as a second-rate compromise candidate likely to become a mediocre President. John C. Frémont would pay dearly for misjudging Abraham Lincoln and the power of his own position, but his action in Missouri in late August 1861 would be emulated by other Union field commanders and a year later Lincoln himself. Fremont's emancipation proclamation though impetuous was merely ahead of its time.
Source: Harpweek, http://tinyurl.com/3uhuldy.


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ESSAY- Gideon's strumpet: The move to a room with no view
It's a standard part of the hospitality industry: to make guests feel pampered, cared for, at home on the road, hotel operators grievously overcharge them for hardcore pornography. The hotels make a modest but effortless profit on these transactions. The bored and lonely guests who rent on-demand porn feel even more bored and lonely after watching it– and thus stay in their rooms and out of trouble.
Naturally, because it's a win-win proposition, someone wants to end it. Recently, representatives from Focus on the Family, Citizens for Community Values, and assorted other professional American finger-waggers met with the top brass at Marriott International in an effort to persuade the hotel chain to banish porn from its properties. The decency advocates have been engaged in the campaign for nearly a decade now; this was the first time Marriott agreed to sit down with them.
According to Tom Minnery, senior vice president of government and public policy at Focus on the Family, pornography is "especially dangerous in hotels because it can become addictive and create a sexualized climate that puts men, women and children at risk."
Those with a taste for squalid adventure might want to ask Minnery for his itineraries; it sounds as if he's had the misfortune of staying at some unusually sleazy hotels. According to the latest SEC filings from LodgeNet Interactive, the company that provides on-demand TV, movie, and Internet services to nearly 2 million hotel rooms, including those owned by Marriott, movie rental revenues averaged $16.51 per room per month in the first quarter of 2008. And that $16.51 wasn't just generated by porn alone, but also by Hollywood movies and TV shows.
Given that hotel porn costs $10 and up per video, this suggests that maybe once a month or so– but certainly not twice– a porn video gets rented and played in the average hotel room. Which no doubt means that hotels– or at least those hotels that don't yet offer complimentary high-speed Internet access– are some of the most porn-free places in America.
Ultimately, though, Focus on the Family and its allies aren't interested in such real-world trivialities. For them, the fight is symbolic. The fact that one can order Spring Break Pantyhoes in more hotel rooms than one can smoke is a cigarette is unbearable evidence of porn's mainstreaming. Until such fare becomes at least as hard to procure as an edible room service cheeseburger, how can the decency advocates accomplish what they truly hope to accomplish– to eradicate porn from video stores and the Internet and your living room?
For the Marriott and other hotels, the battle over porn is largely symbolic too. While it costs the company nothing to offer adult movies to guests, it doesn't make much from them either. Third parties like LodgeNet provide all the necessary equipment and perform all the maintenance, and simply give the hotels 10-15 percent of the revenues they collect. Or to put it another way, most hotels appear to be making around $1.65 per room per month in movie rental fees– which means it's possible some hotels are actually making more money from the loose change guests leave behind than they are from porn.
Thus, while Marriott made no concessions in its first meeting with the decency advocate dream team– except to schedule a second meeting a month and a half from now– who knows? In time, perhaps, Marriott may simply decide that the minimal revenue they derive from porn is just not worth having to sit through repeated meetings with Focus on the Family.
If the finger-waggers do triumph, however, their symbolic victory will contain a note of symbolic defeat as well. After all, on-demand porn isn't the only media choice that enjoys quiet ubiquity in the hospitality realm. In at least as many hotel rooms as X-rated fare is available, the Bible is too, courtesy of the good people from Gideons International.
And thus, for the last 20 years or so, hotel rooms have presented their occupants with a quintessential test of free will: the spirit or the flesh. The contest isn't exactly a fair one, because the Bible is free and the porn is ridiculously expensive.
But even with that advantage working in the Bible's favor, the decency advocates apparently have so little faith in Western culture's most revered book they don't believe it can hold the average person's attention– at least when pitted against the likes of Spring Break Pantyhoes. That may not be the greatest blasphemy one can commit, but surely it's among the saddest.
Greg Beato penned the "Drop dolls, not bombs, on Iran" essay in our May 22 issue. He writes regularly about pop culture, and his work has appeared in more than 70 publications worldwide.


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Leslie McGrath, Head, Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books will present a talk on the programs for children run by the Toronto Public Library from Boys and Girls House on St. George St., and Lillian Butovsky will talk about growing up above the family grocery store at 45 Bellevue Avenue, the youngest child and only daughter of Joe and Sadie Winemaker. Lillian will share memories of growing up in Kensington Market with her five older brothers in the 1940s.
Information is available at http://www.kmhs.ca
The Toronto Public Library has an on-going series of lectures Finding Your Roots at the Library, as well as Grace: A Teacher's Life, One Room Schools, and a Century of Change in Ontario on March 19th, 2014 at 7:30 p.m. at the North York Central Library, Room 1.
Join Millie Morton as she talks about her book. Hear about how it was to grow up on a farm, teach in one-room schools, and live in small rural Ontario communities
Go to the Toronto Public Library genealogy website at http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/programs-and-classes/categories/history-genealogy.jsp


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Dak here again, to provide my not-a-longtime-player-of-GW1 perspective on a big explodey thing that's popped up.
It seems that Jon Peters' blog post on how the new system of traits and attributes work has caused quite a stir among the… shall we say, powergamers? Complaints about everything from the fee for respeccing to the fact you require Trainers to the trait lines themselves, and how mathematically speaking this system will make GW2 RUINED FOREVER.
Now… it seems like a lot of these complaints come from the view of having played the first game for a while, so can I just ask all the angry people to breathe calmly for a second while I explain my thoughts on it?
First, why the complaints about a respec fee, and going to Trainers? From a game design perspective, small fees like this serve a two-fold purpose: Helping the game economy, and instilling a sense of worth to your build. The first part is self-explanatory, but the second: If you can switch your traits at any time, with no repercussions, then do your trait selections really matter? Who needs to think about it; just drop 'em in wherever and don't worry about it until you come up against something too strong. Then you might as well just pump all those freely "respecc-able" points into whatever trait will maximize your usefulness against that particular mob, and then do it all over again on the next one. But… we've kind of lost the "RP" part of the RPG there, and instead have adopted a ruthless "numbers killing numbers" game which happens to have pretty graphics.
Instead, the fee adds weight to your trait choices. Is your Mesmer's playstyle better suited to Dueling, with its high-spike criticals, or should you perhaps add that next point to Illusions, the better for Shattering effectively? When you know that these choices are relevant, you'll most likely end up playing smarter, and since you'll have to live with those choices (unless they're really not working for you, in which case that small fee probably won't look so bad to rework it, eh?), you'll learn how to use them more effectively and you'll end up playing better, too.
Going to Trainers is, speaking design, another way of controlling respeccing so that there's further weight to your choices, but I look at it more from a story perspective. GW2 is a very heavily story-oriented game, so from a plot perspective what makes more sense: Magically getting better at something right when it's convenient, or going to a master to learn a new fighting style in a time of extreme need? Since GW2 is by all evidence a well-written story, I think we all know the answer to that.
And the traitorous trait lines themselves? Clearly there won't be one particular trait that makes the most effective Guardian across the board; if there is, it's a balance issue that will need fixing. The traits are so that, like your well-adjusted face and build, your personal backstory, your highly customized armor, even how you fight can be uniquely tuned to how you want to play the game. Don't believe that impression? Play around with the trait calculator for a bit and see how you feel about the system.
So just… don't freak out over something you haven't had a chance to play yet. If you get into the beta, then you can freak out (you just can't tell anyone). Until we've gotten to play, let's just not assume the worst yet.
Gah, "trait" no longer looks like a real word…


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Fast forward to 2012, and the whole family history game has changed. It is possible to do vast amounts of research in Washington, DC-area repositories without ever leaving your home town. The Researching in Washington, DC without Leaving Home course at Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy in January shows you how in a week of in-depth classes by leading experts. Learn how to navigate the massive National Archives website to find the very record you need, how to find just the ancestor you're seeking in government records of the past, and where to locate the perfect period map for your ancestor's area. We'll even show you how to find a historic map of nineteenth-century Germany in a Library of Congress collection and obtain a high-resolution print or digital copy.
This course delves into little-known repositories in the Washington area that hold gems most people never discover, and it introduces you to new ways of accessing resources at old familiar institutions such as NARA, the DAR Library, and the Library of Congress. Hands-on computer labs help ensure that you'll be able to do this research yourself when you get back home. You'll also learn how to obtain the records you need through interlibrary loan or microfilm loan at your local Family History Center.
Let's be honest. There ARE records that you'll only be able to see if you do travel to the particular repository in Washington, DC; it isn't all online. But if you invest in this one-week workshop in Salt Lake City, you'll learn to use online resources to their fullest capability, locate a lot of sources online right now, and find the most economical way to make a trip to Washington, DC by preparing in advance.
There are still a few seats left in the Researching in Washington, DC without Leaving Home Course at Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy in January 2013. Register now for an exciting learning experience with like-minded individuals in the beautiful Salt Lake City area, just a stone's throw from the largest genealogy library in the world (where you can spend your evenings).
To register for this course click here.


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COLDWATER � For the past 14 years Skyler Anderson, 26 of Coldwater has been raising cattle, working on a farm and participating in cattle competitions.
In 2012 Anderson worked on a farm in Scotland caring for Highland cattle for three-and-a-half months.
Anderson's family owns Skye High Farms, located on Dayburg Road. The farm is famous for�its Highland cattle, which the farm sells for breeding and beef purposes.
The breed originated in Scotland.
"We have about 45 cattle on our farm," Anderson said.
The farm, established in 1999 by Marion Belding and Jim and Skyler Anderson, utilizes both artificial insemination and embryo transfer techniques in addition to live cover breeding.
Anderson currently serves on the American Highland Cattle Association board of representatives as an elected Midwest regional representative.
"I am the 'color man' who announces the sale and introduces animals into the ring, pointing out pertinent pedigree information to potential buyers at the National Sale in Denver that follows the show," said Anderson.
Over the years, Skye High's cattle have won numerous top honors at local and national shows, most recently receiving top honors at the National Western Stock Show in Denver Colo.
"It's like the Super Bowl of cattle shows," Anderson said.
With 11 cattle in tow, Anderson and friend Pat White represented their farms at the show. There were approximately 130 Highland cattle exhibited with 45 farms being represented at the 2013 NWSS.
The cattle are judged on certain criteria, namely structure, growth and muscling. Skye High Farm's honors at NWSS included National Grand Champion Bull, National Reserve Grand Champion Female, National Get of Sire Champion (three head sired by the same bull), Champion Pair of Heifers and Champion Best Three Head.
"It was very exciting. We watched the show live online," Belding said.
In 2011 the farm was also awarded with National Grand Champion Bull. In addition, Anderson has shown the farm's cattle at the Northern American International Livestock Exposition in Louisville, Ky. Honors at the NAILE included first in division three Senior Heifer Calf, first and second in division five Jr. Yearling Heifer and second in division 11 Intermediate Yearling Bull.
More information about Skye High Farms can be found at www.skyehighfarms.com.
Cattle farm earns awards at NWSS


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By Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas
One in a series
Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2012
VATICAN CITY — The preacher for today's prayer opening the synod's day was Bishop Edward Hilboro Kussala, the first bishop of the new country of South Sudan. There was much joy at the establishment of South Sudan and the beginning of a time of peace in an area torn by war and violence.
Regretfully, the enthusiasm of that day that marked a new free state has been dampened by continued violence, Bishop Kussala spoke of courage, a quiet courage that continues to work confidently and to live joyfully despite obstacles, despite setbacks, despite forces that disrupt and destroy. Bishop Kussala witnesses such courage in his service in South Sudan. Some of the bishops present in the synod hall live in danger, serve amid violence, struggle to minister in a local church in tension and in turmoil. We admire them. We learn from them. We pray for them.
Final interventions were made today, some by auditors. Auditors are men and women, religious, a deacon, lay women and men who have been invited by the Holy Father to participate in the synod either because of their founding or involvement in organizations focused on evangelization or because they bring a particular pastoral focus to the gathering.
One clear emphasis of the auditors and the intervention today by Bishop Winston Fernando of Sri Lanka was the important role of the laity in the new evangelization. The laity need to be empowered to transform the world. Clergy on their own cannot realize this new evangelization.
Manoj Sunny, founder of Jesus Youth, was an engineer by profession but for a number of years has devoted his life to evangelization. Yesterday he called for catechesis of the laity so they can be sent forth to bring the Gospel to all. He asked for the formation of full-time lay missionaries.
Sister Mary Lou Wirtz, president of International Union of Superior Generals, spoke of people who are alienated from the church, hurting, and on the margin. They need pastoral care and support. The church must become more pastoral and less judgmental. "Can we enter into the pain of our people?" She reminded the synod of the role of religious in serving the needy, bringing back the alienated.
It struck me that the few auditors who spoke communicated with a different kind of language, accessible and concrete. They spoke from specific examples and life experiences, including their own experiences that connect with the listener. The laity can help us learn how to communicate better and to get our message across more effectively. It was clear that the auditors are laity who care about and love the church and want to assist the church in its new evangelization. We should feel very blessed by their presence among us and strive to find ways to empower them to lead in the new evangelization. It was disappointing that more of the auditors could not speak because of a lack of time, but they will engage with us in the small groups.
Again today synod fathers spoke of the relationship between Islam and Christianity. It has been a recurring and troubling theme that preoccupies many bishops from Muslim nations. While at times the religions work together, value and respect one another, at other times Christians feel they are second-class citizens in Muslim countries. They are merely tolerated or are persecuted. Sometimes Christians feel Muslim states wish they would leave and move to the West. Yet this is their home, a place where they have lived for generations. The question was raised whether evangelization is possible in Islamic countries where conversion is against the law. Bishop Kyrillos William of the Catholic Coptic Church in Egypt emphasized the need for Christians to live their faith and to be proud of their contributions to the society. They can witness the values of their faith which can inspire others to embrace Christ.
This theme of the relations between Muslims and Christians needs serious attention, intensified dialogue between the two faiths, and a concerted effort to address fundamentalism and violent elements in both faiths.
Bishop Paul Desfarges of Algeria the other day quoted the Emir Abdel Kader, the son of a patriarchal chief of an Arab tribe in Algeria. The emir was born in 1806 in Mascara near Algeria. His family was Muslim and his father took him to Mecca when he was 8. His Muslim faith was deep in his heart. He said "fear that man who fears not God." Although he fought against Christians he was concerned for his Christian prisoners and called upon a priest to attend to them spiritually. Bishop Desfarges mentioned that the emir's understanding of conversion of Christians or Muslims should be seen as going from God to God from the embrace of God to the embrace of God. Clearly this stands in opposition to some attitudes toward conversion and the importance of freedom of conscience.
Today provided an opportunity for Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington, relator general for this synod, to draw together the varied interventions that marked the substance of our time together so far. He has been listening carefully, taking occasional notes, organizing the messages into categories, forming an outline of what contributes to the new evangelization. The summary is presented in Latin and a bound copy is given to each participant. This document guides the formulation of propositions that will be the work of the small groups that begins tomorrow. He has taken the various individual broad brush strokes made by the synod fathers and drawn them into a portrait of what, we pray, will realize a new evangelization.
In his presentation Cardinal Wuerl recalled experiences the synod fathers have had from the liturgies we celebrated with the Holy Father to the moving words of the pope at the opening reflection on 'confessio' and 'caritas' during morning prayer. At this synod we have already had a number of shared experiences that have given direction to this synod.
He reflected on four themes that became apparent in the interventions:
- The Nature of the New Evangelization.
- The Context of the Church's Ministry Today.
- Pastoral Responses to the Circumstances of the Day.
- Agents/Participants of the New Evangelization.
He raised questions for the synod's further work on realizing a new evangelization. He underlined that "it is God who speaks and acts in history" and that "evangelization is at the very heart of the church." He underscored the "vital participation of every Catholic … in the mission of evangelization." While we say this, the challenge is how to bring this into the consciousness of every Christian, that they bear a responsibility to evangelize, to care for the poor, the sick, those with disability, to be Christ in the world today.
In our Diocese of Tucson as in so many dioceses, most Catholics are at best Sunday observers. They do not bring their faith into daily and active involvement in proclaiming Christ in their homes, places of work, and in the community. How can we engage them in their responsibility to make their faith central to their lives? How can we get Catholics more engaged in the social mission of the church?
A challenge for the synod fathers is to understand how we might better catechize the people, deepen their knowledge of the faith and their understanding of what it means to be a disciple of Christ. All of us struggle with this challenge. So few people take part in adult faith formation. We have so little time with young people in religious education classes and in our Catholic schools. Can we find more effective ways of communicating the faith, especially with the young?
Cardinal Wuerl reminded us of what we know so well, that "parishes … are the recognized place where … the life of the church unfolds." Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk wrote a book in which he said the parish is the place where our people live. I see this in our diocese. Some feel their faith is deeply nourished by their parish and some feel their spiritual lives are left barren in their parish. If only we could make every parish alive and thriving.
Within the parish, the role of the catechist, the family, the laity and the priest are preeminent. Cardinal Wuerl raised the question whether this is the time to give the catechist an instituted, stable ministry in the church? "How might the church better support and guide the family in its crucial ministry in their responsibility for the transmission of the faith and human values?" "How can the church more fully integrate the laity in the organization of the local church?" "How can the church foster a renewed missionary imperative to the ministry of priests?" How can seminaries form a generation of priests intent on evangelization?
In the open discussion following Cardinal Wuerl's presentation, bishops identified several areas that were not sufficiently addressed in the summary, namely the role of religious, the role of theologians, the importance of liturgy in evangelization, reviving the sacrament of penance, the need for an exact definition of evangelization, the place of prayer in realizing the new evangelization, the need for the conversion of the church, the importance of beauty and contemplation as a means to evangelization, the positive role of the world in evangelizing, the benefits and blessings of Islam and the participation of ecumenical bodies.
Now the most important work begins, finding strategies to address these biting questions and move the church to a new evangelization.
– – –
Bishop Kicanas, of Tucson, Ariz., is chairman of the board of Catholic Relief Services and is a former vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Also a former chairman of the U.S. bishops' Communications Committee, he is blogging from the world Synod of Bishops this month by special arrangement with Catholic News Service. He was elected an alternate delegate to the synod by the U.S. bishops and became a full delegate when Cardinal Francis E. George was unable to attend.


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2013 has been a very busy year for the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). With the release of revised regulations regarding veterans and persons with disabilities in September and the agency's changing procedures for investigating potential compensation disparities, federal contractors and subcontractors are spending much of their time focusing on these areas. Even with these significant changes, though, companies need to realize the importance of having good affirmative action plans. read more
As attendees at any ILG National Conference can tell you, the OFCCP routinely reiterates its expectation (sometimes rather forcefully) that federal contractors know and comply with the regulations. Well, here is a case that contractors can use to remind the OFCCP that what is good for the goose is good for the gander!
An Administrative Law Judge recently handed the OFCCP an embarrassing defeat in OFCCP v. VF Jeanswear Limited Partnership, 2011-OFC-00006 (ALJ Aug. 5, 2013). read more
Addendum A to Chapter 8 of the revised OFCCP Federal Contract Compliance Manual (FCCM) dated July 2013 is a "Model Conciliation Agreement for Compensation" (hereafter, Model CA). Chapter 8H01 entitled, "Contents of A Conciliation Agreement" discusses the standard text conciliation agreement that has been the template for all OFCCP conciliation agreements for years. read more
Last month, Medtronic and the OFCCP settled pay discrimination allegations in OFCCP v. Medtronic Inc. and Medtronic Interventional Vascular Inc., Case No. 2013-OFC-0004. Many of you may know the basic facts: the OFCCP alleged that Medtronic discriminated against 78 Hispanic entry-level Senior Production Associates at its Danvers, Massachusetts facility, by paying them less than they paid Caucasian employees, performing the same or similar jobs. read more
Punch line: It's all about documentation, just when you have fired and transferred all of your document clerks.
Weldon Rougeau, the Carter Administration OFCCP Director, forever changed OFCCP and laid the foundation bricks for the building Pat Shiu and the Obama Administration are now constructing on Director Rougeau's foundation. read more
The OFCCP Digest is a complimentary resource for those who do business with the Federal government. Industry leaders throughout the country share their expertise on a range of topics including affirmative action, equal employment opportunity, and government compliance.
We hope you find the information in this newsletter helpful. To subscribe to The OFCCP Digest, send your email address to email@example.com as well as your comments and feedback.


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Friday, June 12, 2009
Innovation in MMOs
It's funny that we hear so many complaints from the MMO pundit class (of which I myself am a member,) to the effect that almost all MMOs are basically the same, and then when titles which are different are pointed out, they're dismissed for putative 'barriers' set up against fun. D&D Online and EVE Online are two examples of this – both titles varying from a much inveighed-against paradigm, and both criticized for not matching expectations.
I think he really hit the nail on the head. What big budget MMOs have come along recently that were well and truly innovative? I would argue that AoC, EVE, DDO, MxO, Tabula Rasa, and City of Heroes all contained at least some major innovations. And all but two of those MMOs fell flat on their faces in the marketplace soon after launch. In many cases the very factors that set them apart are the features that many players complained about (e.g., the "link system" combat in MxO, the boggling complexity of EVE, or the heavy use of instancing and reliance on teamwork to progress in DDO). The main reason that MMOs are so rarely innovative is that publishers believe that there is little market for experimental MMO designs. And based on the behavior of most MMO gamers I'd be forced to conclude that they are right.
What I find even more frustrating is that there are a ton of games that really push the MMO design envelope, and that get almost completely ignored. Many of the commentators whining about a "lack of innovation" in MMOs have likely never even tried one. Below is a rundown of some of the ones I'm aware of (and I'll happily add in more). I will allow that many of these games stray so far from the design of a standard MMO that it's debatable whether they should even be considered MMOs. However, all of them are online multiplayer games that have the ability to support hundreds of simultaneous users.
If you are currently playing Everquest, Everquest II, World of Warcraft, Warhammer Online, or Lord of the Rings Online and aren't willing to try at least one or two of the following MMOs, you are part of the reason why big budget MMOs aren't generally innovative. You are therefore a giant hypocrite if you complain about it.
A Tale in the Desert: there is no combat. Players collaborate to "build a society." Myrmecology, raising ants, was recently added as a core system (no, really!).
Endless Forest: a social MMO where you are a deer. You can communicate with other deer only via sounds and body language.
Arden: the World of Willian Shakespeare: an MMO designed to teach you about the works of Shakespeare. Requires Never Winter Nights to play (designed with the NWN modding tools). Development was stopped because testers deemed it "not at all fun." But an interesting experiment nonetheless.
Wizard 101: it gets a lot of flack for being a semi FtP tween focused MMO. However the card based combat is like nothing I've seen in any other MMO, it has one of the better housing systems I've seen in an MMO, and the idea that you earn health/ mana potion refills by playing arcade and puzzle games is downright bizarre.
Cities XL: an upcoming MMO where you build cities. Entering closed beta in a few days, one to keep an eye on.
Puzzle Pirates: sword fights, crafting, ship to ship combat, and other systems are all resolved by playing puzzle mini games. Interesting "grouping" / social mechanics that many MMO designers would do well to examine.
Sports MMOs: there are way too many to list. The one I've spend some time in is Shot Online, which is based on golf. You play golf games with other players to gain levels and improve stats that affect things such as your accuracy or how far you can hit a ball. However, it's sufficiently skill based that a level one newbie can beat a vet if they are a better player. Others off the top of my head include Fantasy Tennis and Project Torque. You couldn't get any further from a swords and sorcery Diku MUD MMO than these games.
MANGBAND: a multiplayer version of Angband (a Tolkien themed rogulike). Rarely has more than three or four players on, but I've found the (minuscule) community to be quite friendly. The hard mode server is also the only perma-death MMO that I am aware of.
Planetside: the original, and currently only, MMO FPS. Still alive and kicking.
Asheron's Call: an older MMO that I personally have never gotten around to trying. However it still does a lot of things that few other MMOs have attempted, including ongoing updates that continually alter the world and push forward the game's narrative. This game is nearly as old as Everquest, and still more innovative than 95% of the MMOs on the market.
Those are all off the top of my head, I'm certain there are more that could go on that list. I didn't even get in to Diku MUD style MMOs that explore non fantasy settings, of which there are an increasing number. Innovative MMOs are out there. If you really want to see publishers take more risks with experimental MMO designs, seek these games out and at least try them.
7 comments:
I dunno... I think your idea is essentially correct (I have very little respect for MMO players as a whole), but I'm not sure your approach to support really shows anything.ReplyDelete
The failures of several of the high-profile games you list has nothing to do with people liking or disliking the innovations. Matrix, DDO and Age of Conan especially suffered more from their incomplete, buggy launches than the innovative nature of systems nobody wanted. City of Heroes has done quite well for itself, essentially earning a sequel with Champions Online.
It's also important to remember that just because something is innovative doesn't mean its good. I could propose a new MMO which would include a blood glucose test in the box, connected to your USB port, which would sync your character's energy level to your own once an hour (pricked finger required). Is it innovative? Yes. Is it likely to be popular? No likely. Is that lack of popularity due to players who just don't want innovation? Doubtful.
Again, I'm not disagreeing with your premise, just your reasoning.
I agree with you, Armies. innovation is not the same thing as fun. And I also think that's why Diku MUD style MMOs are the most popular. That's what the bulk of players find fun. WoW is fun to a lot more players than most MMOs.ReplyDelete
Certainly certainly AoC, MxO, and TR all had serious issues at launch, and so aren't really very good test cases for whether players want "innovative" MMOs.
However, the main issues that DDO had at launch was a lack of solo content and the lack of any outdoor areas. Those were not "shipped too soon" issues. That was Turbine trying an experimental design and getting stung for it in the market place. I think it's one of the major reasons LoTRO is such a "by the numbers" standard fantasy MMO. Turbine couldn't afford to take any more risks.
Asheron's Call was also much more innovative than EQ back in the day. EQ was a fairly standard MUD with 3D graphics, and it completely trashed AC in the marketplace.
What are the most successful gaming franchises currently? EAs sports games, Halo, Grand Theft Auto, and the Sims are likely all way the hell up there. Innovation from one iteration to the next? Practically none.
What about film? What generally does better in theatres? Paint by numbers popcorn or thought provoking art house cinema? How about books? Music? Television?
Innovation that does well in the marketplace is a very rare exception. That's why most products from big producers/ publishers aren't very innovative. MMOs are no exception.
Again, not really disagreeing with you, just expressing some quibbles.ReplyDelete
MMOs exert a great deal of inertia on their players. Abandoning powerful, equipped characters and established relationships is difficult. It's harder to move from EQ to AC than it is to try an artsy movie.
Still lacking decent support, I find myself a bit skeptical. Chicken and the egg, and all that. Summer boom-boom movie sequels are definitely the order of the day, but how much of that is the consumer and how much is the producer? I knew some people involved in the development of Auto Assault, and after seeing an early look at the game commented on how much of a WoW clone it was. I was told that was intentional, that they were trying to make it comfortable for existing players. I thought they were completely failing to set their game's unique setting apart. Given the results of that one, I'll claim victory ;)
There is certainly a challenge in innovation - you have to overcome the learning curve, in addition to just being fun. But (and mostly just keeping an interesting debate going) I think it's still up for grabs how much of that should be pinned on the players (which I still don't respect).
Thanks for the comments!ReplyDelete
I'll definitely agree with you on one point regarding Auto Assualt. Designing it as a WoW clone was a huge mistake. We were all expecting an online sequel to Autoduel (please for the love of god someone steal that idea...I want to play it). Instead we got WoW, with cars (and a totally arcane nearly broken crafting system).
However, I'd argue that the failure of AA was as much about trying to jam a square peg into a market opening that was round as refusing to innovate. Why did they think anyone wanted to play WoW...but with cars? Did they do any market research?
The game also ran somewhat like ass on average gaming PCs of the day. Being an early adoptor of a physics card that almost no-one owned was not only a tactical mistake, it was also very likely a huge waste of development resources.
Regardless, I don't think we are too far apart on the main issue. In the long term I think it's only a matter of time before something well and truly innovative comes along and does really well. I suspect it will be something that emerges from micro transaction MMO space at least initially. Pretty soon after it starts getting noticed Blizzard will copy the core design, polish the hell out of it, and make enough money selling it to the masses to buy a small country (perhaps Maldives).
Not to trivialize the issue, but every style of game is innovative at least once. Tony Hawk might not have changed much over a gillion sequels, but the first one came out of nowhere and took the console scene by storm. I'm still waiting for something like that to happen in MMO space.
Actually, I think something did - World of Warcraft.ReplyDelete
I'm not a huge fan of the game, and I certainly think it's very debatable whether or not it will eventually be a good thing for the MMO market, but it was quite innovative in a single major way: polish and playability.
I remember my first time playing EQ - an Erudite wizard. It was cool until it got dark, then I couldn't see anything. When I wanted to train I had to hunt through a maze to find the trainer, and then spend money on spells that I knew nothing about but the name. A friend who tried a necromancer found out the hard way that the guards on the docks were KOS for him, as we both followed quests that involved me uttering one word triggers to a quest giver, if I was lucky enough to find one.
I expect most people had much the same experience. WoW took a genre which was arcane and inaccessible, where decent web sites were not cheats but mandatory documentation, and created something anyone could play. MMOs had certainly been moving that direction - City of Heroes was the first to have a really decent interface - but WoW blew the doors off it.
IMHO, it was an innovative game-changer. However much damage I think they've done to the community since, misusing the power they gained from that, I don't think you can take that accomplishment away from them.
That's an argument I've certainly made on message boards. Even in a post here if you dig around. When WoW came out polish, accessibility, and being able to solo well regardless of what class you picked could in themselves have been considered innovations.ReplyDelete
However, in terms of core mechanics, WoW did very little that was new. The game was overall what Blizzard always seems to do. Taking the best ideas from an existing genre, and putting them in a product that is polished and engaging enough to go mass market. Say what you will about Blizzard, but it's a winning strategy that very few (if any) other gaming studios could pull off.
Since WoW launched, I would characterize the newer games as a mixture of safe bets that payed off reasonably well and experiments that fell on their faces (though whether due to their core designs or to a general lack of polish is debatable in many cases).
New MMO falling through in the market, besides their own problems in design/content/performance, is because it takes many failures to have a successful new thing.ReplyDelete
All of our modern comforts are distrusted back in their heyday, or were curiosities that no one care about.
It's the same thing with entertainment. A certain genre of films will fall through until one signature film come out and all films are make in that genre.
One positive point for MMOs is that unlike most other products, it can change, and can improve in aspects that they are previously deficient in. Hopefully the forerunners are still around when that "next big thing" comes.


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Glaudio snarled at the ghost, but he knew he couldn't harm it so he remained silent but when the ghost ran at Esiphas he stepped in, broad back facing him, while Glaudio knew he could take a few more impacts Esiphas was still living so needed to be protected while they tried to talk down the ghost.
Fixing her with his blank, dead gaze he said in his rasp "What do you want from us? he isn't running cause after some of the things we've seen a ghost is positively cute, I didn't come back from death to argue with a dead with an inferiority complex." Voice rising like a storm as he spoke, fury burning in his guts.


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"A wish is not a goal, and hope is not a plan."
I have a friend, a very close friend, who says that whenever I speak of the future, I already know what's going to happen. One year. Five years. Ten. Every step and every stage, all mapped out, in my head and then, into words. Thoughtful. Methodical. Concise.
Except I swear that, every time it happens, I have no conscious idea that what I've just said is, in fact, a plan.
So unbelieving am I that, after my friend who hears recites my future future back to me, I am left scrunch-faced, my head shaking, saying, "What are you talking about? That wasn't a plan, that was just wishful thinking." And yet, in the two years of our friendship, apparently, I've never been wrong.
And it pisses me off every time.
It would seem that I hate being right.
If I were to put it in terms that I could understand, I would call myself, "The Accidental Prophet".
Over the last year alone, I called my shot about creating a job out of two other jobs so that I would have all the time in the world to sit undisturbed and, on company time, with the boss' blessing, write another book. That happened. Before that, I called my shot about taking ten years of chicken-scratched poems, and publishing a first book. That happened, too. Somewhere in between the first book and the job, I said something about creating a publishing company and, yeah… yeah… whatever.
Now, says my friend, I've been saying things again. Future kind of things. The kind that, if you were to ask me, I wouldn't call anything more than a few nice ideas. A wish here, a hope there. Just spitballing into the wind. And if I didn't have the big-eared friend with the over-developed sense interpreting irony in all its forms, I might dismiss these, too.
Except now, I can't. Because I know better than to argue with a plan, even when I don't know it's a plan until comes true.
And all I can say right now is, if it's true, 2017 is going to be a hell of a year. And if none of it comes true, well like I said, I hate being right, so I'll be the first to tell you I was wrong. But if by accident I was right, I'll be writing another one of these next year.
Complete with the "I told you so" from my friend who hears.
© Copyright 2017 William S. Friday


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- This event has passed.
Seniors play Farkle
Aug 16, 2018 @ 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
|Recurring Event (See all)
Weekly on the same day until Dec 27, 2018
Event Navigation
Seniors meet at Santa Cruz Elementary from 9 a.m. to noon for farkle every Thursday.
Take the third driveway into the school and proceed to the back of the school building where the chain link fence is. Door are at the back of the school rooms.
Lynn Bernier 602-377-2284 or Barb Schmidt 864-630-7355


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11am: 27-08
4pm: 21-08
9pm: 24-19
These are the EZ2 RESULT December 2, 2018 (Sunday) updated after each draw today. The PCSO EZ2 prizes and draw summary can also be found below. NEXT: See the EZ2 result history here for the past 30 days as well as the latest Swertres Result as of this moment.
You can also add your comments regarding the above EZ2 lotto result December 2 2018 in the comment box at the bottom of this page. Meanwhile, you can now access here the Swertres result December 2, 2018.
The following is the complete summary of the ez2 result today for the morning, afternoon and evening draws:
EZ2 result December 2 2018 Sunday Summary
|Winning Numbers
|No. of Winners
|EZ2 Result 11 am
|EZ2 Result 4 pm
|EZ2 Result 9 pm
|Note: Your EZ-2 number combination must be in exact order to win the first prize Php 4,000.00.
UPDATE: As of 9pm today, the PCSO lotto results December 2, 2018 are now available for your checking.
Prizes for EZ2 as of 12/2/2018
|2 winning numbers in exact order
|2 winning numbers in any order
|Please also see the complete PCSO payout chart for more information on other PCSO Prizes.
If you are one of the winners of the EZ2 draws today, make sure to check this page to learn how to claim your prize.
- SWERTRES RESULT May 28, 2020 (11am, 4pm and 9pm updates)
- EZ2 RESULT May 28, 2020 (11am, 4pm and 9pm updates)
- LOTTO RESULT May 28, 2020 (9PM draw updates)
The latest EZ2 Result is published daily, every 11am, 4pm and 9pm. Aside from EZ2 results, you can also check here other lotto result from PCSO.
This post is about lotto result dec 2 2018, ez2 result dec 2 2018, lotto result december 2 2018 and much more!


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These links will leave our school district site. These linked sites are not under the control of the district, and the district is not responsible for the contents of any of these linked sites or any link contained in a linked site, or any changes or updates to such sites. The district is providing these links to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement of the site by our district. We have no control over which sites are blocked by your school's network filter.
Jefferson County Schools


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Vector Art 3D supplies high quality artistic dimensional models. These can be used as individual machinable components or can be imported in Rhino and added as decoration to Rhino surface models. All our models are available as individual downloads for immediate purchase from the website. We are constantly adding new content and are happy to receive requests and custom commissions.
James Booth,
Vector Art 3D
416 686 4591


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MarkStanley necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 47 diseños de 20 diseñadores freelance.
Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting http://www.pulitzercenter.org/ is an innovative non-profit leader in supporting the independent international journalism that U.S. media organizations are increasingly less able to undertake. The Center focuses on under-reported topics, promoting high-quality international reporting and creating platforms that reach broad and diverse audiences.
At a time of dwindling audience for traditional news outlets, the Pulitzer Center bridges traditional and new media and engages the public across as many platforms and at as many levels as possible – from print and broadcast outlets to face-to-face community discussion and interactive web-based technology as well as education initiatives. Pulitzer Center projects – stories that without Pulitzer Center support would have gone untold – have been featured in such media outlets as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Economist, Newsweek International, The Washington Post, and many more.
Our desired audience are people who are interested in international affairs and seek out international news online, including online print, photo and video. These audience members could range from the casual international news consumer to people looking for in-depth international reporting on specific issues. Our logo will be featured prominently on our website, but also at events the Pulitzer Center sponsors and has a presence at. We want to convey to our audience that we are deeply involved in engaging and reporting on global affairs, and that we do this across multimedia platforms.
Attached is our current logo, which can be seen on the top of our website at http://www.pulitzercenter.org/.
We would like to keep the blue background (hexadecimal color code is #002b50), as well as the white text, i.e., have blue and white be the ONLY colors in the logo.
We are open to new font styles.
For the words, we would like to give "Pulitzer Center" the most prominence.
We would like to have an icon in the logo, in white, that conveys "international reporting" as well as "crisis" (crisis connotes that the reporting projects we sponsor and help produce deal with systemic crises, such as global water sanitation issues or food insecurity). One idea we have for the icon is a rose compass. We are certainly open to other images for the icon, but we would prefer not to see globes or pens, as we consider these a bit cliché.
Also, it is important NOT to use our acronym "PCCR" anywhere in the logo.
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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Now showing items 1-1 of 1
Surface properties of dental zirconia ceramics affected by ultrasonic scaling and low-temperature degradation
(Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2018-09-13)
Zirconia (3Y-TZP) dental prostheses are widely used in clinical dentistry. However, the effect of ultrasonic scaling performed as a part of professional tooth cleaning on 3Y-TZP dental prostheses, especially in conjunction with low-temperature degradation (LTD), has not been fully investigated. The present study aimed to evaluate the influence of ultrasonic scaling and LTD on the surface properties ...


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It's just a few sentences, but it's still exposure.
NYT wrote: At the University of South Carolina, in Columbia, 19 students showed up for a recent evening meeting of the "Pastafarians," named for the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster — a popular spoof on religion dreamed up by an opponent of intelligent design, the idea that living organisms are so complex that the best explanation is that a higher intelligence designed them.
Andrew Cederdahl, the group's co-founder, asked for volunteers for the local food bank and for a coming debate with a nearby Christian college. Then Mr. Cederdahl opened the floor to members to tell their "coming out stories."
Andrew Morency, who attended a Christian high school, said that when he got to college and studied evolutionary biology he decided that "creationists lie."
Josh Streetman, who once attended the very Christian college that the Pastafarians were about to debate, said he knew the Bible too well to be sure that Scripture is true. Like Mr. Streetman, many of the other students at the meeting were highly literate in the Bible and religious history.
In keeping with the new generation of atheist evangelists, the Pastafarian leaders say that their goal is not confrontation, or even winning converts, but changing the public's stereotype of atheists. A favorite Pastafarian activity is to gather at a busy crossroads on campus with a sign offering "Free Hugs" from "Your Friendly Neighborhood Atheist."