Hello everyone ^^ Uhm well to start I used to role play on a forum long ago before it died out, and decided to come back into role playing on forums.
I have one main character I'd prefer to use and am considering starting my own RP thread, but because the setting is actually one I'm using for a story I'm writing I'm thinking of trying to to find another place where she may fit in. But I do also have alot of character ideas that I could use from previous RP's as well as short stories I've done in the past.
I'm looking forward to being a part of this community and am sure I'll enjoy being here :)
The last Saturday in September. Plenty of games for you morons, here's the top ten lineup, all times EDT (the Official Time Zone for AoSHQ):
Alabama (1) vs. Ole Miss (9:15pm), and I expect Alabama will have no trouble after Texas whacked Miss like they did), Oregon (2) and Wash. St. - 10:30pm, LSU (3) vs. Towson - 7pm, Florida St. (4) and South Florida - 6pm, Georgia (5) vs. Tennessee - 3:30pm, South Carolina (6) and Kentucky - 7pm, Kansas St. (7) gets a weekend off after upsetting OU (also off), Stanford ( was upset by Washington 17-13 on Thursday night, West Virginia (9) hosts Baylor in their first Big 12 game, Notre Dame (10) off. I hear Morgantown has a pretty nice Motel 6. If you're an NFL picker get your picks in for tomorrow. And remember, if you don't think too good, don't think too long. Have a great weekend morons.
As Owen Good often reminds us, not every Gaming App of the Day is a good one. For every Bad Piggies, The Room or Bar Story 2 there are a dozen NFL Pro 2013s, and he seems to wind up playing them all.
Oftentimes we'll play gaming apps for our daily spotlight based on our own personal preferences. We'll see something that catches our eyes (like fishhooks) and we'll dive right in. Sometimes, however, we are assigned them, as I kind of did with Owen this week. I mean, he's our sports guy! It's a sports game!
I'm so sorry, Owen.
If it helps, there are at least three picks on this week's list that are spectacular! The Room is one of the best puzzle adventure games I've played in forever, Bad Piggies has those pigs in it, and Kirk's pick has anime people mixing drinks in a bar!
That's what you should do. Go to a bar. Bring your iPhone.
If you have a suggestion for an app for the iPhone, iPad, Android or Windows Phone 7 that you'd like to see highlighted, let us know.
Sometimes A Game About Opening Boxes Is More Fun Than A Game About Shooting, Driving or Jumping
There is a box, and you must open it. The iPad game The Room is as simple as that and is more fun than Christmas morning. More ?
Lucky Battle is a Massively Multiplayer Online Fighting Game, Only Without the Fighting
True to its name, no fighting skill is required to rise through the ranks of Nine Waves' colorful anime fighter Lucky Battle - blind chance, diligent weapon upgrading and a bit of backstabbing are the keys to success here. More ?
Is Bad Piggies The New Angry Birds? Watch Closely.
Pigs might fly in the new game from the creators of Angry Birds. But only if you build them a helicopter, a plane or whatever you call a crate that's tied to a balloon and propelled by a house fan. More ?
A Sexy, Soapy iPhone Game That Also Teaches You To Make Drinks
Bartenders get all the good stories. People often go to bars simply to talk-we need a drink sometimes, to get away from it all, and we hope to find a bartender who will listen long enough to let us get it off our chest. More ?
Like the Saints' Bounty System, NFL Pro 2013 is Also a Pay-for-Performance Scandal
Unfortunately, this is not one of those App of the Day writeups where the selection is meritorious and the title is an honor. I'm here to dispense consumer advice about NFL Pro 2013, which provides a lot of enticement given the fact it's free and it has NFL licensing. My advice is to walk around NFL Pro 2013 like it was a swamp. More ?
Students, some as young as 14, will now have access to Plan B contraception ? more commonly known as the ?morning after? pill ? without parental consent.
It?s a progressive pilot program being introduced in 13 New York City public schools.
Parents do have the right to opt out of the program at the beginning of the school year.
The program, titled CATCH (Connecting Adolescents to Comprehensive Health) is part of a wider effort to lower the rate of teen pregnancy, as some 7,000 New York residents under the age of 17 get pregnant each year.
CATCH provided Plan B contraceptives to more than 1,000 students, and gave them access to Depo-Provera, an injection form of birth control.
Not surprisingly, some have expressed fury over the program.
But a 2009 Associated Press poll reported that more parents ? 67 percent of respondents ? support distribution of contraceptives in schools.
I?m always in awe over the number of people that object to greater access to birth control by teenagers.
I understand that as a parent you would prefer your kids not be sexually active until they are 1) married or 2) mature enough to understand both the complexity and the consequences of a sexual relationship.
I?d actually prefer my kids were 30 before they become sexually active, but according to the Kinsey Institute, the average age of first intercourse by males is 16 and?17 for females.?By the time they are 18, 70 percent of females are sexually active, compared to 62 percent of males.
Girls between ages 14-17 only use condoms 58 percent?of the time and even less, as they get older.? That?s a recipe for an awful lot of teenage mothers.
It?s shocking to me that some parents are willing to insist on abstinence.? Or worse yet, are burying their heads in the sand about the probability that their own children could very well be among the almost half of the teenage population, who are having partnered sexual relationships.
It?s also shocking that people complain about who?s going to pay for Plan B, which costs between $10 to $70. Compared to the $235,000 on average, it now costs to raise a child, I?d say the state of New York is being ?fiscally responsible.?
From the New York City?Department of Health, the statistics for teenage pregnancies are as follows:
7,000 girls under age 17 got pregnant last year citywide.
90 percent of those pregnancies were unplanned
64 percent were aborted
2,200 became moms by age 17, and approximately 70 percent drop out of school
I?m almost positive the proper and widespread use of birth control would have a staggering effect on those statistics.
To me, it?s absolutely imperative to discuss sex and your wishes for abstinence with your children, if that is your position. I also think it?s irresponsible to withhold contraception from sexually active high school students because you?d prefer they didn?t have sex in the first place.
After all, isn?t it possible that open and honest communication about sexual relationships, birth control, pregnancy and its consequences could encourage your children to wait anyway?
Amy Grace is married with two children. You can read her every Friday on momaha.
The Associated Students of the University of Wyoming voted unanimously Tuesday night, with the exception of one abstention, on three bills and two Recognized Student Organization funding requests.
Following an announcement from ASUW President Joel Defebaugh to ?tread lightly? in regards to shortcomings of the finance policy, the Budget and Planning Committee recommended that the senate suspend the finance policy in regards to the 30-day requirement.
According the wording in the finance policy, many of the RSOs applying for funds would not be eligible due to a 30-day notice requirement. The Budget and Planning Committee recommended the suspension until legislation can be drafted that fixes the issue.
The senate voted unanimously to suspend the finance policy, 28-0.
The policy suspension allowed the senate to fund two campus events that did not have the funding applications submitted 30 days in advance.
The Chinese Scholars and Students Association was awarded $6,400 for the mid-autumn festival. Organization Vice President Ziyu Lu said the mid-autumn festival will host workshops on writing Chinese letters with calligraphy and opportunities meant to foster communication between countries. Lu also said karaoke had been eliminated this year.
?While I am really sad that Chinese karaoke has come to an end, I am very excited for this event,? Sen. Jaymie Sheehan said.
ASUW awarded Alpha Epsilon Delta $5,240 toward a drive focused on recruiting people for bone marrow donations. The money will be going toward lab fees that test for preliminary matches, which normally cost about $100 per person. The UW president?s office also has donated $5,000 toward the effort.
Both funding board requests passed unanimously, with Sen. Jaryd Unangst abstaining on the bone marrow registration event.
With minimal discussion, the senate passed three bills unanimously. One bill modified election dates in the case of a holiday. The second bill updated procedures in case an office position becomes vacant and there are no obvious replacements. The third established an ex-officio seat for UW Faculty Senate at ASUW meetings.
?I think this would be highly beneficial and I highly appreciate that faculty senate has taken such an interest in attending these meetings,? Unangst said.
Australia?s Cover-More Travel Insurance has appointed Beijing-based interactive shop Digital Jungle to handle its search marketing and social media?activity globally.
The insurance brand, which has operations in Australia, New Zealand, the US and China, has also entrusted Digital Jungle ? which has a Sydney office ? with its content marketing strategy and analytics.
Carole Tokody, global e-commerce director of Cover-More Travel Insurance, said in a press release: ?We are a specialist travel insurance and medical assistance group with increasing traction in the online channel, for us and our partners, and we wanted to appoint a world-class digital agency that could take our brand marketing to the next level.?
?We believe that Digital Jungle?s expertise and solid track record driving search and social campaigns will be key to taking our efforts a step further, leveraging the innovative nature of both our brand and social media/content channels generally,? she said.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who underwent genital cutting as young girls may be at increased risk of physical, sexual or emotional abuse from their husband, a study of women in Mali suggests. The study, of nearly 7,900 women, found that 22 percent of those with genital mutilation said they'd been physically abused by a husband or male partner. That compared with 12 percent of women who'd never been subjected to the procedure. It's estimated that more than 130 million women worldwide have undergone genital mutilation, also known as female "circumcision. ...
SAN FRANCISCO?? New Yahoo Inc CEO Marissa Mayer laid out broad goals for the Internet giant in her first companywide address Tuesday, and received an enthusiastic reception from a workforce that has faced years of uncertainty and management turmoil.
Mayer mainly sketched broad visions rather than concrete details for her turnaround strategy, according to several people familiar with what was said in the tightly controlled meeting.
But her personal credibility as a long-time senior Google Inc executive, combined with some recent morale-boosting moves such as providing new iPhones and free food for employees, have had a dramatic and positive impact on the "vibe" at the company, one of the people said.
Speaking at Yahoo's Sunnyvale, California headquarters, Mayer stressed the importance of personalizing Yahoo's Web services and adapting the company's products to mobile devices, AllThingsD reported. Although her speech touched on frequently mentioned industry themes, Mayer's delivery nonetheless won spontaneous applause from the workforce, according to a second person with knowledge of the company meeting.
"It was some of the same types of lines that had been said before, but people believe it now," said the person, who declined to be identified because the information is private.
After a steady stream of occasionally embarrassing reports, Yahoo in recent months has clamped down firmly on leaks to the press. Attendees at Tuesday's assembly were instructed to shut their laptops during Mayer's address.
Yahoo declined repeated requests for comment.
Mayer first presented her strategy to Yahoo's board in meetings last week, outlining plans to bring back advertisers and expand the company's user base, said a third source, who declined to be identified because the information was not public.
Yahoo also announced that it appointed as its new chief financial officer Ken Goldman, formerly CFO at cybersecurity software firm Fortinet.
The appointment comes two months after Yahoo's board tapped Mayer to restore a household Internet name overshadowed by rivals like Facebook Inc and Google in recent years.
Yahoo remains one of the world's most popular websites, with more than 700 million monthly visitors who use products like its email service and read its news pages, according to the company. But Yahoo's revenue has stagnated as online display advertising prices have fallen and as it faces competition from Facebook and Google.
Mayer, Yahoo's third CEO in about a year, arrived after a tumultuous period in the company in which former CEO Scott Thompson resigned after less than 6 months on the job over a controversy over his academic credentials. Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang had also stepped down as CEO, and an internal reorganization eliminated thousands of jobs.
Mayer's latest hire, Goldman, replaces Tim Morse, who served last year as interim Yahoo CEO while the company underwent another episode of leadership turmoil.
Boost morale, scant details Since taking the helm, Mayer has sought to boost morale at the nearly two-decade-old Internet company, eliminating corporate bureaucracy and introducing perks such as free cafeteria food and state-of-the-art smartphones for employees that are standard fare at other Silicon Valley Web companies.
But Mayer has so far offered scant details about her plan to revive revenue growth and to expand its audience - a challenge that has frustrated a string of her predecessors as well as countless shareholders.
Many analysts and investors believe Mayer will renew Yahoo's focus on Web technology and products rather than beefing up online content, as appeared to be the mission during interim CEO Ross Levinsohn's brief tenure.
That has raised concerns among some investors that Mayer will embark on an expensive acquisition spree.
Mayer assuaged some of those fears last week when Yahoo closed the sale of half of its stake in Chinese Internet company Alibaba Group. Yahoo said it would give shareholders $3 billion of the deal's $4.3 billion in after-tax proceeds.
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Check for restrictions at: http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
Contact: Michael Bernstein m_bernstein@acs.org 202-872-6042 American Chemical Society
New American Chemical Society podcast
WASHINGTON, Sept. 26, 2012 The latest episode in the American Chemical Society's (ACS') award-winning Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions podcast series concludes that the larger the wind turbine, the greener the electricity it produces. The study could solidify the trend toward construction of gigantic windmills.
Based on a report by Marloes Caduff in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology, the new podcast is available without charge at iTunes and from www.acs.org/globalchallenges.
In the new episode, Caduff, a graduate student, and Stefanie Hellweg, Ph.D., her advisor, explain that wind power is an increasingly popular source of electricity. It provides almost 2 percent of global electricity worldwide, a figure expected to approach 10 percent by 2020. The size of the turbines also is increasing. One study shows that the average size of commercial turbines has grown 10-fold in the last 30 years, to nearly 500 feet today. Although their study only investigated land-based wind turbines that were up to 300 feet in diameter, super-giant turbines approaching 1,000 feet in diameter might exist someday.
Caduff, Hellweg and colleagues wanted to determine whether building larger turbines makes wind energy more or less environmentally friendly. Their study showed that bigger turbines do produce greener electricity for two main reasons. First, advanced materials and designs permit the efficient construction of large turbine blades that harness more wind without proportional increases in their mass or the masses of the tower and the nacelle that houses the generator. Second, over time and with more production, manufacturers gain knowledge on how to efficiently build big wind turbines. That means more clean power without large increases in the amount of material needed for construction or fuel needed for transportation.
###
Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions is a series of podcasts describing some of the 21st century's most daunting problems, and how cutting-edge research in chemistry matters in the quest for solutions. Global Challenges is the centerpiece in an alliance on sustainability between ACS and the Royal Society of Chemistry. Global Challenges is a sweeping panorama of global challenges that includes dilemmas such as providing a hungry and thirsty world with ample supplies of safe food and clean water, developing alternatives to petroleum to fuel society, preserving the environment and ensuring a sustainable future for our children and improving human health.
For more entertaining, informative science videos and podcasts from the ACS Office of Public Affairs, view Prized Science, Spellbound, Science Elements and Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions.
The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 164,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Contact: Michael Bernstein m_bernstein@acs.org 202-872-6042 American Chemical Society
New American Chemical Society podcast
WASHINGTON, Sept. 26, 2012 The latest episode in the American Chemical Society's (ACS') award-winning Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions podcast series concludes that the larger the wind turbine, the greener the electricity it produces. The study could solidify the trend toward construction of gigantic windmills.
Based on a report by Marloes Caduff in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology, the new podcast is available without charge at iTunes and from www.acs.org/globalchallenges.
In the new episode, Caduff, a graduate student, and Stefanie Hellweg, Ph.D., her advisor, explain that wind power is an increasingly popular source of electricity. It provides almost 2 percent of global electricity worldwide, a figure expected to approach 10 percent by 2020. The size of the turbines also is increasing. One study shows that the average size of commercial turbines has grown 10-fold in the last 30 years, to nearly 500 feet today. Although their study only investigated land-based wind turbines that were up to 300 feet in diameter, super-giant turbines approaching 1,000 feet in diameter might exist someday.
Caduff, Hellweg and colleagues wanted to determine whether building larger turbines makes wind energy more or less environmentally friendly. Their study showed that bigger turbines do produce greener electricity for two main reasons. First, advanced materials and designs permit the efficient construction of large turbine blades that harness more wind without proportional increases in their mass or the masses of the tower and the nacelle that houses the generator. Second, over time and with more production, manufacturers gain knowledge on how to efficiently build big wind turbines. That means more clean power without large increases in the amount of material needed for construction or fuel needed for transportation.
###
Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions is a series of podcasts describing some of the 21st century's most daunting problems, and how cutting-edge research in chemistry matters in the quest for solutions. Global Challenges is the centerpiece in an alliance on sustainability between ACS and the Royal Society of Chemistry. Global Challenges is a sweeping panorama of global challenges that includes dilemmas such as providing a hungry and thirsty world with ample supplies of safe food and clean water, developing alternatives to petroleum to fuel society, preserving the environment and ensuring a sustainable future for our children and improving human health.
For more entertaining, informative science videos and podcasts from the ACS Office of Public Affairs, view Prized Science, Spellbound, Science Elements and Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions.
The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 164,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
ScienceDaily (Sep. 26, 2012) ? Enslaved worker ants kill the offspring of their parasites and thereby improve the chances of survival for their neighboring relatives.
Ants that are held as slaves in nests of other ant species damage their oppressors through acts of sabotage. Ant researcher Professor Dr. Susanne Foitzik of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) in Germany first observed this "slave rebellion" phenomenon in 2009. According to the latest findings, however, this behavior now appears to be a widespread characteristic that is not limited to isolated occurrences. In fact, in three different populations in the U.S. states of West Virginia, New York, and Ohio, enslaved Temnothorax longispinosus workers have been observed to neglect and kill the offspring of their Protomognathus americanus slavemakers rather than care for them. As a result, an average of only 45 percent of the parasite's offspring survived. This presumably reduces the strength of the parasites in the area and thereby increases the chances of survival for the neighboring colonies populated by the slave ants' relatives.
More than half of all animal species live in parasitic relationships, i.e. they exploit their so-called hosts. From the perspective of evolutionary history, the American slave-making ant Protomognathus americanus is an old social parasite that is entirely dependent on other ant species for its survival. Slave workers have to care for the brood in parasite nests, bring food to their masters and feed them, and even defend the nest.
These ants become slaves when workers from the slave-making ant colony attack the nests of the host species Temnothorax longispinosus, kill the adult ants, and steal the brood. Back in the masters' nest, which can be located in hollow acorns, nutshells, or twigs, the brood care behavior of the emerging slave workers is exploited to the advantage of the slavemaker species. As Susanne Foitzik and her work group have shown, the enslaved worker ants feed and clean the larvae, thereby raising the offspring of their social parasite -- but only up to a certain point.
"Probably at first the slaves cannot tell that the larvae belong to another species," explains Foitzik. As a result, 95 percent of the brood survives the larval stage. But the situation changes as soon as the larvae pupate. "The pupae, which already look like ants, bear chemical cues on their cuticles that can apparently be detected. We have been able to show that a high fraction of the slavemaker pupae are killed by slave workers." The pupae are either neglected or actively killed by being attacked and torn apart. Several slaves at once may assault a pupa, which is unable to move or defend itself during the pupal stage and is also not protected by a cocoon.
In parasite nests in West Virginia, only 27 percent of the pupae survived, and in the New York colonies, only 49 percent. In Ohio, the survival chances of the American slave-making ant was a bit higher at 58 percent, but this figure is still well below the survival rate of 85 percent for host pupae in their own free-living nests. "The enslaved workers do not directly benefit from the killings because they do not reproduce," explains Susanne Foitzik. But, through the killing of slavemaker offspring, their neighboring relatives -- which might very well be the sisters of the worker slaves -- indirectly benefit as their chances of survival are increased. Slavemaker colonies damaged by slave rebellions grow slower and smaller slave-making colonies conduct fewer and less destructive slave raids.
The large differences in the death rates in colonies from different regions fits to predictions derived from the geographic mosaic theory of co-evolution. This theory claims that populations differ because they are subjected to different local selection pressures and because they possess different attack or defense traits originated through mutations, which in turn means that evolution can go in different directions in different geographic areas. While the host ants in New York are very aggressive and often successfully thwart slave raid attempts, the hosts in West Virginia profit more from the slave rebellion behavior because, as genetic analyses have shown, the neighboring colonies are more often close relatives to the rebelling slaves.
This study on the evolution of slave rebellion has been financed since October 2011 by the project "The evolution of resistance and virulence in structured populations" funded by the German Research Foundation.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Universit?t Mainz.
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Journal Reference:
Tobias Pamminger, Annette Leing?rtner, Alexandra Achenbach, Isabelle Kleeberg, Pleuni S. Pennings, Susanne Foitzik. Geographic distribution of the anti-parasite trait 'slave rebellion'. Evolutionary Ecology, 2012; DOI: 10.1007/s10682-012-9584-0
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
These days it is hard to leave your house without getting unsolicited advice on how to sell your real estate. Sometimes it is difficult to determine whether the information provided is of any value to you, and whether or not it is even accurate. If you need reliable guidance in the process of selling property, the following article has been compiled with you in mind.
Have the relevant information that a potential buyer may ask about at hand when selling your home. For example, be able to provide the details of contractors who have worked on the home and what work they have done. This kind of information helps the buyer see how well you maintained your home while you were living there.
Only consider a total home remodeling when the house is totally unusable. A lot of real estate investors, especially those that don?t have much experience, tend to waste their money on a remodel that really isn?t worth it. Try to make the best of the interior you have to increase your profit margins.
TIP! Complete unfinished spaces in your home to appeal better to buyers. It could cost just $5,000 in order to finish a basement and transform it to a game room.
Before ever having an open house or showing your home to anyone, take the time to make the place look fresh. Apply a fresh coat of paint, clean the carpets and consider hiring a professional cleaning company to give the entire house a thorough cleaning. The investment in sprucing up your home is definitely worth the cost.
FSBO sellers should hire a real estate lawyer to help draw up the contracts and close the sale. An attorney like this can help individuals avoid issues or surprises that could happen with the final paperwork.
Don?t stick around while buyers are viewing your home. If you follow them around, pointing out what you think is important, they won?t be able to focus on things they think are important. When you leave a buyer on their own, they form an unbiased opinion.
TIP! Have your home?s heating and air conditioning systems checked for proper working order before you put the home on the market. Buyers will avoid a house that needs immediate and costly maintenance, such as buying a new furnace.
Sellers of real estate often try to avoid listing their property in the winter. Take you own situation into consideration, however, weighing the financial costs of holding the property until the weather is more seasonable. For instance, the longer you retain ownership of the property, the greater your property tax bill will be. Also, if you keep your home during the winter months, your sizable energy bills may eliminate any profits you may have made by waiting to sell in the spring.
Clutter should be cleared from your property to make it more attractive to potential buyers. Purge, clean, and organize closets, leaving behind only a few necessary items. Kitchen cabinets will also make the best impression when they are cleaned out and left with only a few gourmet packages to create a sophisticated feeling.
When you put your home up for sale, offer it at a reasonable price. A great way to do this is to compare other similar homes around the neighborhood, town, county, etc, and find out what they?re selling for. Placing an overinflated value on your house could force you to eventually lower it anyway.
TIP! Do some improvements before you sell your home. This will raise the value.
Try to leave the house when a prospective buyer is coming to check it out. You want to make your buyer feel that your house can be his future home. If you hang around, your buyer will not be able to envision himself and his family living in your house. This might kill a potential sale.
Organize all your closets, drawers and cabinets so they look clean and spacious. Since buyers will be looking everywhere in your home, you want to be sure to clean out every single place possible, which include these trouble spots.
Set up a page on Facebook for your agency and update the public on Twitter as well. You can post or tweet information on new properties in the area, upcoming promotions, or even home improvement and real estate buying tips.
TIP! Using lots of options is imperative when you are trying to sell some real estate. Using every avenue available to you, from the Internet to your agent, you?ll be better able to market your home widely.
Prior to getting involved in a real estate investment, consider the risks involved in a venture of this type. A beginner normally learns the hard way about the downside of this topic. Do invest in learning the business previous to spending any money on properties.
Get the buyers? attention with an inviting home. It can significantly affect how many people come inside for a tour of your home during open houses.
Spruce up the loo before you think about listing your house on the market. Add new lights or fixtures. If you can create a spa-type atmosphere in the bathroom then your prospective buyers will want to linger and enjoy it.
TIP! Don?t be tempted to use fragrances or light incense prior to a home tour. Many people do not like strong scents, while others could be allergic to them.
Wipe down the windows from both the inside and outside to make your home sparkle. The natural sunlight really opens up dark spaces, and clean windows can hide the fact that the actual hardware may be a little outdated. Potential buyers will certainly perceive the change although they won?t realize that it was accomplished by two or three hours of window washing.
In conclusion, it can be trying to listen to so-called experts give you their opinion on selling real estate. The tips and tricks in this article have been widely proven time and time again. Hopefully this article will help to either clear up what you were unsure about, or give you some new
Annually, folk of all non secular backgrounds visit holy landmarks to explore their non secular roots. Others trip to appreciate the classy beauty, design and history of these sites. For those seeking the best of these features, a tour of the religious sites of Austin is the perfect excursion. For any one arranging a holiday, long weekend or day trip, the non secular sites in Austin have everything to offer holiday makers of many interests.
St. Mary?s Cathedral
Established in 1884, St. Mary?s Cathedral is one of the most visited spiritual landmarks in Austin. Located in Central Austin, this Catholic church serves a diocese of more than 450,000. The church is designed to inspire by divine natural beauty and features naturalistic themes within the refuge including tree like pillars, ivy stenciling, and a blue dome ceiling complete along with stars to represent Heaven. Mass is conveniently held 18 times per week to accommodate the enormous congregation and visitors.
Congregation Beth Israel
The Congregation Beth Israel is one of the preferred spiritual landmarks in Austin and is found in the center of the city. Established in 1885 as the first Jewish church in Austin, this church offers a community outreach support programme for neighbors who are suffering from Alzheimer?s illness.
Chapel Dulcinea
One of the most treasured Austin religious landmarks is the Chapel Dulcinea. This Spanish designed, open air chapel is perched on a cliff at the end of a traditional Texas walking trail. Located 20 minutes from the city, this chapel is world famous for hosting free marriages to people all over the world. The chapel is open to visitors from 8 am to 8 pm seven days every week.
Our Lady of Guadalupe Church
As one of the oldest spiritual sites in Austin, Our Lady of Guadalupe Church is the foremost Hispanic relic in the city. This church was initially built in 1907 and rebuilt after a fire in 1951. Our Lady of Guadalupe church is feted for its annual Banquet of Guadalupe held every December 12th to honor the patron saint.
First United Methodist Church of Austin
One of the most highly visited Austin non secular landmarks is the 1st United Methodist Church. Established in 1853, The 1st United Methodist Church has an engaging history stepping out with the civil war. Today, the Church prides itself on being opening and welcoming to folk of all kinds of life. The church is found in the western part of Austin and offers normal sermons on Sunday Mornings and Wednesday evenings.
Rachel Rosen has been interested in Non secular Sites in Austin for a number of years. She has written op-eds and editorial pieces for many online publications. For more info about landmarks in Austin please visit her site.
Tags: austin church, Austin Religious Landmarks, Austin Spiritual Sites, religion
This entry was posted on Saturday, September 15th, 2012 at 8:34 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
While I hate to disappoint, this isn't going to be image porn of awesome notebooks. I figured I'd get that warning out of the way right up front. Not that a post like that wouldn't be the best thing ever and probably about as useful as anything else I write here. It's just, you know: bad lighting right now, and I need the instant gratification of hitting the 'post' button as soon as I finish, etc. etc.
So, warm ups. A year or two ago I stumbled across a discussion via Metafandom (and why don't I ever save those links? Whyyyy?) about how to 'warm up' to a writing session, which I thought was pretty interesting. Freewrites are what I usually associate with warming up: spend fifteen minutes writing about bug-eyed sunglasses, or something that makes you angry, or someone you saw on your commute today. These were a staple of my creative writing program. I hated them all, across the board, not least because we always had to read aloud to the class afterward. The only thing I hate as much as public speaking is its close cousin, reading out loud from whatever is in front of you.
The OP came from a different background though: music. She said that a serious musician would practice four hours a day, and spend the first hour warming up with scales, the second hour doing something I don't recall, on and on until you get to the piece you're supposed to practice for a performance. (I may be getting this slightly wrong, but I don't have a link to go back to and check, sorry.) I do recall following a similar model when I was in music, but truncated, because I was not a professional and did not have the patience for four hours a day. Couldn't that model be adapted to writing? she asked, and went on to discuss what kinds of exercises or writing projects might constitute 'warming up' as compared to whatever your real project is.
Good question. For a while I was giving myself prompts inspired by the five things meme I've posted here a few times, in which I ask for a song quote, book title, color, emotion, and animal. It yields something like this:
1. I chased while I was young / Singing sweetly and faintly / A sadness of bright green / My fairytale 2. Eye of the Heron 3. slate 4. bitterness 5. Siamese cat
I keep a text file of these, and make new ones on occasion. Sticking to a theme is a huge challenge for me. I can usually use these two or three times and come up with completely different stories. Ideally, I should work on something like this for fifteen or twenty minutes, and then, once I'm over the hurdle of starting (which can be extremely hard some days), I can get to my real work.
That never happens. I spend so much time on the warm up that it becomes my project. And this isn't a bad thing, exactly; it means I have more stories to work with, refine, squish together, and play with. It also means I never get back to what I was supposed to be doing in the first place. The project I'm supposedly working on these days is on draft six, but it's been a while since I looked at the thing because I became obsessed with a dragon story spawned during one of these warmup, and then another idea after that, and another one. So I tried going back to old assignments. That's always a winner, right? You get to practice specific skills and stuff! But that gets boring fast - or it's just time-consuming, because most of those exercises involve taking the time to read something twice before even starting to write. I have to be in the mood for that. Or desperate.
Then, magically, I was reminded of something: notebooks! Natalie Goldberg sings their praises throughout Writing Down the Bones. Most of my stories are typed, so I didn't give it much thought.
However, about two weeks ago, an old college friend stayed with us, and this topic came up. He's an artist, trained in animation and illustration in the same program my husband attended. Naturally, he had sketchbooks with him. But the interesting thing was, he'd decided to designate topics to his sketchbooks: this one is for mermaids, that one is for aliens, the green one is for animal sketches. He had a stack of them in his luggage - Moleskines, if you're interested, all clearly labeled and stacked in a crate.
For some reason, I never thought about doing this for writing warm-ups. Writing by hand takes longer and eventually makes my hand hurt, so I prefer to type instead. But wouldn't that be perfect for warming up? Writing by hand involves bending over the table (or a pillow, or the nightstand) and generally doing things bad for my back or neck. I can't work too long if I don't want something to start aching, because I'm old and decrepit. Built-in time limit, woo!
The date at the front of my current notebook is 08.11.09. I've been jotting down notes, outlines, and ideas in the same spiral-bound notebook for three years - an SF State 2-subject notebook that I probably purchased just after I graduated. That's a long time to be hanging around the same stack of paper. Maybe I should try to go through at least four between now and next September. At least. Apart from this project, I mean.
Right now I'm debating how to theme my notebooks, because I like that idea. Picking one up and realizing I can only write about mermaids today cuts down on time wasted making decisions about what to write, which is stupid to linger on when you're supposed to be warming up. You know what you want to write: Real Project #3. This freewrite nonsense is supposed to loosen you up so the white space on the page doesn't scare you, or something.
I usually don't have problems with blank pages or text files. My issues start way before that stage of the process. :P
Anyway, I don't know how I want to split it up. Genre, in the fanfic sense? (eg. action/adventure, romance, historical.) Or maybe type of inspiration - Japanese mythology, Jewish tales, Norse mythology? Or types of subjects, like our friend did: angels, elves, and all that, in my case. Or SF/ fantasy / steampunk / myth-based. I CAN'T DECIDE. I think the first set might not work very well because "genre" is too big to be encompassed in a fifteen minute scribble, but the effectiveness of the others depends on how much I want to restrict my choices when it's time to write.
I'm thinking either the mythology or sub-genre sets. Maybe I can set aside a folder for each sub-genre (SF, fantasy, steampunk, myth) and then keep the different mythological inspirations as secondary prompts? Write a steampunk ficlet with a side of Norse gods! Or something.
It might be only the difference of making a few easy tweaks in your branding and image. But exactly what is branding, anyway? Think of branding as defining what a company is all about in the minds of its clients. Good branding differentiates your products and services in a positive way that really sticks in the minds of potential customers.
Let?s say you have been traveling around town without your morning coffee and are getting just a little cranky. Quick! What?s the first coffee shop chain that comes to mind? Chances are, you thought of Starbucks. Why?
* Attractive and easily read logo; * Consistency of product, d?cor, signage, and interior; and * A great product
Assuming your product is fabulous, it all comes down to image. Graphic design can play a huge part in that image. But what are some key things to consider?
A great logo is key.
You have already given a great deal of attention to your company name and believe that it speaks to who you are and what you do. Great! Now you need to wrap a graphic image around that name to carve out a prime piece of real estate in the mind of your target customer. That is exactly what a great logo can do.
Whether or not you eat fast food and regardless of your opinion as to what might constitute the best in fast food, my guess is that the name McDonalds conjures up an immediate image of the golden arches. Those golden arches really work as a logo!
The McDonalds logo is a good example of merging a symbol with a letter in the company name. It is also a good example of simplicity, another key element to great logo design.
A good logo also:
* has a strong, balanced image with no little extras that clutter its look; * is distinctive and bold in design, making it easy to see at a glance; * has graphic imagery that looks appropriate for your business; * works well with your company name; * is done in an easy to read font; * communicates your business clearly; and * looks good in black and white, as well as in color.
Consistent visual identity is also key.
If you are going to capture that prime piece of real estate in the customer?s mind, you must provide not only a compelling image, but a consistent one. Use one logo and image and repeat in on everything. Don't try to mix and match similar items; it just dilutes your branding. For instance, if you sell golf equipment and use golf clubs in your logo and brand, don't use golf balls on your cards, and golf tees on your website, etc. It's confusing.
Each of the three images has its own distinct personality. You may be tempted to give your stationery, website, business card, brochures, and other marketing materials different visual personalities.
All of the materials that represent you, from business cards to brochures, need to have image consistency in order to be immediately recognizable by your customers?and potential customers?as being related to the unique brand that is your company.
Logo, color scheme, fonts, and layout that are consistent from letterhead to business card and from envelope to ad suggest credibility and stability, in addition to taking up more of that prime mental real estate by virtue of repetition. Inconsistency of graphic elements among materials not only suggests uncertainty and sloppiness, it is just plain forgettable.
Creating a great logo and maintaining consistency among all your marketing materials will take you a long way towards creating a memorable brand that just might make your competitors mutter, ?What does she have that I don?t??
Chinese students in major cities say they spend more time using technology in school than American and German students
Global poll respondents believe that technology gives students a more personalized experience that they value, but technology needs are not being met in schools today
Teachers feel less comfortable using new technologies and social media than their students and want more professional development
New Dell Education Challenge will find and implement transformative ideas to solve for technology access, training and collaboration gaps in K-12 education
Students, teachers and parents say that technology needs are not being met in school today, according to an opinion poll commissioned by Dell. Supporting respondents believe technology makes learning easier, makes teachers more accessible and can give students a personalized learning experience. Dell today issued the Dell Education Challenge to university students worldwide, asking for their inspiration, imagination and innovation to re-engineer today?s learning environments, both in and outside of the classroom.
?We heard from secondary school and university students, parents and teachers that they are familiar and comfortable with technology, but don?t think it?s playing as large a role in the classroom as it should,? said Steve Felice, Dell?s president and chief commercial officer. ?Adults would like to see technology more integrated into learning. And, perhaps most importantly, many teachers do not feel as comfortable as their students do in using technology.?
In nearly 1,600 interviews with students, teachers and parents in China, Germany and the U.S., 71 percent of students said they have access to more advanced technology at home than they do at school. Parents said they would be willing to provide the technology their kids use at school, but believe they should have a stipend for the purchase. Despite this, a majority of students surveyed (51 percent) feel technology can serve as more of a distraction rather than an enabler. But they also said the benefits of technology to learning outweigh the potential distractions. This stands in contrast to parents and teachers who believe there should be more technology in the classroom, even though a majority of teachers, including 63 percent in the U.S., say their students know how to use technology better than they do.
Respondents view a personalized approach to learning as the most effective approach to education. Eighty-three percent said technology allows them to create a more personalized learning experience. However, most students in the U.S. and Germany indicate they spend two hours per day or less using technology at school, highlighting an opportunity to integrate technology into more curriculum areas and provide professional learning for teachers to achieve truly differentiated instruction.
?What we are seeing is that people around the world are increasingly understanding that digital learning will be critical to boosting every child's achievement,? said Michael Horn, Innosight Institute?s executive director. ?To unleash the power of technology, the important thing is to build new educational models or leverage existing proof points that allow us to rethink how school works and put the individual student at the center.
Dell Education Challenge to Support and Fund Innovative Learning Approaches Dell is asking university students, the most recent participants in today?s education system, to help develop solutions to today?s biggest issues in education, including those identified in the poll. Continuing its commitment to inspiring innovation, the Dell Education Challenge is a spotlight challenge extending the partnership with the Dell Social Innovation Challenge (DSIC), managed by The University of Texas at Austin.
The Dell Education Challenge will identify and invest $30,000 in promising projects by university students working to transform and innovate learning in today?s primary/K-12 schools. Solutions can address in-school or out-of-school learning, the learning environment for both students or educators, or systemic issues with infrastructure, policy or administration.
Dell will provide students who submit ideas with access to a global community that provides valuable feedback and encouragement on their projects to help make their ideas a reality.
Twenty semi-finalists will receive one-on-one mentoring from a DSIC-certified mentor to perfect their pitches. Finalists will be invited to Dell World this December to compete live in front of our judges for cash awards and support to advance their educational innovation.
Highlights from the Dell Education Poll
Who is using technology at school most and for what? Chinese students in major cities say they spend more time using technology in school than American and German students. In China cities, respondents say technology is integrated into more curriculum areas than in the U.S. or Germany where respondents say technology is most often used for research. Without this integration, technology in the classroom can be a distraction. According to Dell, this highlights an opportunity to more effectively and broadly integrate technology into learning in the U.S. and Germany.
Are teachers knowledgeable about technology? Many teachers in the U.S. and Germany said they don?t receive enough professional development opportunities focused on technology. Their students agree. Only 40 percent of students in the U.S. and 26 percent in Germany say their teachers know how to use technology better than they do. This suggests an opportunity for increasing and improving professional development opportunities for teachers to more effectively use technology in learning in and out of the classroom.
Is there a place for social media in the classroom? Social media is playing an increasing role in the classroom according to respondents. One in four students say they access social media in the classroom on a daily basis. However, most teachers in the U.S. and Germany say they never access social media in the classroom. Chinese respondents are the most positive about the prospect of using social media in the classroom. Approximately six in 10 U.S. respondents say they disapprove of students using social media in the classroom to share what they are learning, while most respondents in China say they would approve of social media for this purpose. This demonstrates a growing need to find a role for social media in learning.
How is technology bridging between home, school and life? Just half of students say they interact with their school online outside of school. Most students in Germany indicate they do not interact with their school online, while a majority of Chinese students say they do. However, students report that they use technology at home for school work more than any other activity, indicating an opportunity for more collaboration between home and school.
Are parents willing to pay more so their children can have access to technology? Most respondents said parents should receive stipends to ensure their children have up to date technology for educational purposes. Additionally, parents across Germany, China and the U.S. said they would be willing to pay for the technology their children use in the classroom.
Join Us for a Day of Innovation in Learning on Thursday, September 13, 2012 Students, teachers, parents and education and community leaders will come together to discuss technology?s influence in learning and how to cultivate new, innovative learning models at two events at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT): an Innovation in Education Think Tank at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and a Technology in the Classroom Town Hall at the MIT Media Lab, co-produced by NBC News? Education Nation and NBC Learn and sponsored by Dell. For details on how to join the conversations visit www.dell.com/innovateedu.?
Join the Innovation in Education Think Tank via livestream from 10:00 a.m. ? 1:15 p.m. EST
Watch the live Town Hall webcast at 3:00 p.m. EST at www.educationnation.com and www.nbclearn.com
Join the conversation at #DoMoreEdu and #EdNatMIT, and follow @DellEDU for updates
About DELL Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is committed to helping students develop the knowledge and skills they need to learn and succeed in an increasingly digital world and a globally competitive workforce. As a top provider of technology and services to schools, Dell listens to and works with students, educators, administrators, parents and community members around the world to deliver innovative technology and services that give them the power to do more in and out of the classroom. Learn more about Dell in Education at www.dell.com. Follow us on Twitter @DellEDU.
Beetles might precede blowflies (not vice versa, as forensic entomology has long suggested), a finding that could change time of death and other calculations made by crime-scene investigators
By Alaina G. Levine
Maggots consume a pig carcass.Image: Erin Sims
When a human body calls it quits, it can take as few as 30 seconds for blowflies to begin feasting on it. For the next several hours to days, a carnival of blowflies, other flies and beetles make the departed their personal bed-and-breakfasts. A determination of that succession of insects is one of the tools that crime-scene investigators (CSIs) use to estimate the postmortem interval (PMI), or the time elapsed since death.
Since the dawn of modern forensic science in the 19th century, the general belief has been that the order in which carrion-attending arthropods descend starts with blowflies, proceeds to maggots (from the fly eggs) and then moves on to beetles and other predators. Now a 27-year-old graduate student has determined that this is not always the case. Her research could represent a fly in the ointment (we could not resist) for the still burgeoning field of forensic entomology, in which scientists use bug evidence to help them solve crimes.
Entomologist Amanda Fujikawa of the University of Nebraska?Lincoln made her discovery while analyzing how the decomposition of mammal carcasses affects nearby ecosystems in Valentine National Wildlife Refuge in the Sandhills region in Nebraska, a unique prairie environment with grass-anchored sand dunes. She chose the area for its limited access. With only a few roads leading into the area, she was confident her experiments would not be interrupted. In late spring and midsummer, she placed dead rabbits and roadkill in various areas around the refuge and then set up traps to collect carrion insects as they were attracted to the carcasses. She soon noticed that beetles led the parade, not flies.
"It's too early to say if it's a game changer, as it could just be a geographic anomaly,? Fujikawa says, but "the fact we saw it and don't know why is most important." Fujikawa?s optimism that the research is noteworthy is shared by biologist Jeffrey D. Wells of Florida International University, who was not involved in the research. "It's quite a surprise from the standpoint of carrion ecology," he says. "This is the first example I've seen of carrion beetles behaving according to a different physical scale compared to the typical pattern. Carrion beetles, burying beetles in particular, often win the race to find and monopolize a very small mammal carcass such as a mouse. I've never seen this happen with a rabbit or larger dead mammal. For the forensic entomologist, this raises the possibility that beetles can delay or even eliminate the typical pattern of fly maggots on a corpse. One danger is that if this goes unrecognized, the entomologist might significantly underestimate the time since death."
Fujikawa's advisor Leon Higley, an insect ecologist, echoes this sentiment. "Amanda's work shows there's a lot more variability in insect succession issues" than previously thought, he says. "She is shaping our perceptions of how events actually occur with regard to decomposition."
The evidence also suggests that some postmortem interval estimates may be wrong. There is still much to learn and confirm in the discipline, Fujikawa says, adding: "We still don?t have a basic understanding of the biology of maggot development on a carcass: how they respire, how their role in decomposition affects the ecosystem and what they are doing when they are not feeding."
Fujikawa is starting to fill in some of the field's blanks. Her master's thesis demonstrated that adult blowflies can alter the morphology of blood stains at crime scenes. When flies feed on blood, they change the dispersal pattern of the original pool. In addition, they may regurgitate the blood and defecate in a different location. If crime-scene investigators do not know what those little critters are up to, they might interpret a stain as part of the blood spatter when, in fact, it is insect regurgitation and defecation. This could lead them to make false assumptions relating to the scene and crime itself, such as angles and trajectories associated with the death.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? An elite Marine rapid response team has arrived in Yemen's capital in the wake of violent protests at the U.S. Embassy over a film critical of Islam, the Pentagon said Friday, as a nervous Obama administration watched anti-American demonstrations spread across the Middle East and North Africa.
Pentagon press secretary George Little said the decision to dispatch about 50 Marines to Sanaa was partly in response to the violence and partly as a precautionary measure.
The Marines are members of a platoon from a Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team, a specially trained and configured group that makes short-notice deployments in response to terrorist threats and to reinforce security at U.S. embassies.
A similar team was dispatched to Tripoli, Libya, on Wednesday in response to the deadly consulate attack in Benghazi that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stephens and three other Americans.
Little said no other such teams had been sent to Cairo or other Arab capitals, such as Tunis and Khartoum, where protesters have been demonstrating over the video that mocks the Prophet Mohammed.
A senior U.S. official said that since the attack on the consulate in Benghazi, U.S. intelligence services have deployed extra surveillance equipment over Libya's populated areas. That equipment was added to the surveillance drones that have flown over the region at least since the Libyan revolution last year.
The official would not confirm the type nor which U.S. agency was running them.
The deployment to Yemen came as that Arab nation's security forces were firing live rounds and tear gas into the crowd of about 2,000 protesters trying to march to the U.S. embassy.
At the State Department, another senior official said the agency was "working with our personnel and missions overseas and host governments to strengthen security in all locations and to respond effectively where protests have turned violent." Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
U.S. diplomats were in particularly close consultations with the governments of Tunisia and Sudan to ensure that American lives and property are protected, the official said, adding that the Obama administration appreciated statements from leaders in the region who have spoken out against violence and called for calm.
Meanwhile, the official said, the State Department has set up a round-the-clock crisis monitoring team to coordinate information and responses to developments on the ground. The official said the department was also working with diplomatic missions abroad to protect Americans and warn them if violence is imminent or expected.
___
Associated Press writers Matthew Lee, Robert Burns, Kimberly Dozier and Lolita Baldor contributed to this report.
Research is important in order to gather information about real estate before making final decisions for relocation. There are many sources through which a complete research could be done and a lot of information could be obtained.
Network of friends and family members is helpful in getting information about the new place. There are many people in knowledge of a particular person which can be used for getting information about real estate before relocation. In this manner you are able to get latest information about the new place through a person who is residing there.
This process will be helpful for you in making a new friend as well and you can invite the person helping you in relocation process to dinner after the successful completion and your transfer to your new real estate. Personal meetings with those who are well aware of the new place are of much importance as you are able to get the detailed information about the new place from reliable sources. When you are referenced through your friends and family members then you can get accurate information without any types of tricks which could lead you to make better decisions.
Online modes of getting details about the new place for relocation are high in demand. There are many websites through which information about real estate could be obtained at any time. Many professionals are available for the assistance of users through which communications can be started about the real estate at a new place for relocation.
People are posting their experiences about different places on the internet which could be used for getting information. Companies have their sites on internet which are providing up to date information about many places. In fact, there are many sites in the relocation market that offer long distance moving quotes to help with the foreseable total cost of moving expenses. News about different places keeps on adding to the websites for information of people. It is easy to check the details about crimes in a new place before making decisions of relocation through net.
Information about educational institutes is also available on internet through which people can make sure that their kids will get better education at the new place. Trends of people are shared on internet for information of new people who are in search of real estate for relocation.
Images as well as details about prices of apartments could be found online in order to make better relocation decisions. Management of new real estate could be checked through internet and contacted for dealings for relocation. You can communicate with an agent through online modes and have a deal through which you can relocate to a new real estate in an effective manner.
Phone calls could be made during the research process for getting details about new real estate. These calls will lead you to talk to real people who are helpful in getting details about new place and making useful decisions. You can get good idea about the supports of agents and managers on calls and make your decisions about the correctness of information.
These are some modes of making research about a new real estate before relocation. If you are using them properly then you are able to prepare yourself for relocation and have a good decision as well. So if you are moving across state lines, it makes sense to always request cross country moving to help with the total expenses of a possible move.
This week may belong to Amazon and whatever information the mega-retailer decides to drop on our heads tomorrow at its press conference in Santa Monica, but Barnes & Noble's apparently won't be letting the Kindle maker hog the spotlight for too long. We've been tipped off from a reliable source that there is, in fact, a successor to the Nook Tablet heading our way this fall. The device is said to be "super light," while packing an "incredible display," rocking 243 ppi. Industrial design on the apparently forthcoming tablet will be handled by Barnes and Noble favorite, Robert Brunner of Ammunition, who's already got some Nook design under his belt. All of this is said to coincide with a brand new video store from the company, in an attempt, no doubt, to take advantage of the aforementioned "incredible display."
That's about all we've got for the moment, but we're told more information will be forthcoming from more official channels soon.
Oracle has been ordered to pay Google $1,130,350 in legal costs following the broad failure of its long-running patent and copyright infringement lawsuit over Android. Google had originally asked for more than $4 million to cover the total costs of the quixotic suit, including significant fees for a third-party e-discovery service paid to surface and copy relevant documents. While the payment was cut back by Judge William Alsup, he was unequivocal in declaring Google the "prevailing party" in the case, and used the ruling to criticize Oracle's lawyers for "craft[ing] broad, and ultimately overreaching, claims of copyright infringement."
Judge Alsup also put an end to his controversial investigation into the use of paid bloggers, noting that the court "will take no further action regarding the subject of payments by the litigants to commentators and journalists and reassures both sides that no commentary has in any way influenced the Court?s orders and ruling herein." When the court originally asked the parties to disclose any payments, Oracle revealed a long-suspected relationship with the patent blogger Florian Mueller, while Google flatly denied any similar arrangements. Google later admitted to retaining Stanford professor and commentator Mark Lemley as outside counsel on "unrelated cases."
was upset by Washington 17-13 on Thursday night, West Virginia (9) hosts Baylor in their first Big 12 game, Notre Dame (10) off. I hear Morgantown has a pretty nice Motel 6. If you're an NFL picker get your picks in for tomorrow. And remember, if you don't think too good, don't think too long. Have a great weekend morons. 
As Owen Good often reminds us, not every Gaming App of the Day is a good one. For every Bad Piggies, The Room or Bar Story 2 there are a dozen NFL Pro 2013s, and he seems to wind up playing them all.
Sometimes A Game About Opening Boxes Is More Fun Than A Game About Shooting, Driving or Jumping
Lucky Battle is a Massively Multiplayer Online Fighting Game, Only Without the Fighting
Is Bad Piggies The New Angry Birds? Watch Closely.
A Sexy, Soapy iPhone Game That Also Teaches You To Make Drinks
Like the Saints' Bounty System, NFL Pro 2013 is Also a Pay-for-Performance Scandal
Australia?s Cover-More Travel Insurance has appointed Beijing-based interactive shop Digital Jungle to handle its search marketing and social media?activity globally.![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 26-Sep-2012
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