baronage unipolar: October 2012

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Huge fire in Sandy's wake destroys dozens of NYC homes

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A huge fire that erupted as Sandy ripped through New York City with near-hurricane force winds on Monday night destroyed dozens of homes in one of the city's most remote neighborhoods, officials said.

The neighborhood, Breezy Point in the borough of Queens, had been extensively flooded by Sandy's record storm surge, and firefighters were hampered in their efforts to bring the blaze under control, a spokesman for the New York Fire Department said.

No casualties were immediately reported and the cause of the fire was under investigation.

A tweet from the FDNY's official Twitter feed said 50 or more homes were destroyed in the fire. The fire still was not under control by 5 a.m. (0900 GMT), the department said.

Local television showed firefighters wading through waist-deep water to get to the massive fire. Some used inflatable boats to reach it.

Breezy Point is a private beach community in the Rockaway area, a narrow spit of land barely above sea level that thrusts into the Atlantic Ocean southwest of John F. Kennedy International Airport.

It was one of a number of New York City neighborhoods that had been under a mandatory evacuation order as Sandy, one of the biggest storms ever to hit the United States, approached from the southeast.

According to a report from WABC-TV in New York, dozens of residents chose not to obey the evacuation order and as many as 40 had to be rescued by firefighters from homes in the neighborhood as the fire approached, driven by 70 mph (112 kmh) winds. The NYFD spokesman could not verify the television station's report of rescues.

(Reporting By Dan Burns; Editing by Bill Trott)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/huge-fire-sandys-wake-destroys-dozens-nyc-homes-091625706.html

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Monday, October 29, 2012

Carly Rae Jepsen Releases Music Video for "This Kiss"

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/10/carly-rae-jepsen-releases-music-video-for-this-kiss/

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Jackpot! Online Casinos to Drop Billions on Ads | Digital ...

Hey, ad agencies: Feeling lucky? You should be. With online gambling newly legal in Nevada and a host of states looking to follow suit, casinos are expected to flex some major marketing muscle, which could lead to the next boom category for spending.

According to Simon Holliday, director at H2 Gambling Capital, "somewhere between $3.5 billion and $4 billion could be spent by the internet-gaming sector" on marketing over the next five years. That's more than General Motors spent in U.S. advertising in 2011. And if Mr. Holliday is right, by 2017 the online-gambling industry will be spending nearly as much as the entire insurance category did last year.

Illustration by Athletics

Gross value of online gambling market may hit $1 billion in 2014.

The business of online gambling became reality last year when the U.S. Justice Department granted states the power to legalize online platforms connected to bricks-and-mortar casinos. Nevada, the first state to pass a statute legalizing online gambling, is working through kinks in the regulations and its casinos will likely begin advertising in January. Meanwhile, industry executives said 10 additional states, including cash-starved California, as well as New Jersey and Delaware, will likely pass their own laws in the near future.

Mr. Holliday estimates the gross value of the online-gambling market to be $1 billion in 2014 and exceed $13 billion over a decade -- but not without the help of a major marketing spree. "Driving players to their sites is the biggest single cost of these companies," he said. "It is probable that 25% to 30% of company net revenues [20% less than the gross including bonuses] will be spent on advertising and marketing budgets in the initial years, as there is a land grab."

To gain share in this lucrative market, especially if a federal law is eventually passed, casino brands are preparing to boost their marketing budgets. The biggest beneficiaries will likely be digital media and agencies.

"Five years ago, the combined spend of all onsite-based gaming companies in online advertising was very small, limited to SEO for attracting visitors to book hotel rooms online and to come to the website," said Mitch Garber, CEO of Caesars Interactive Entertainment and World Series of Poker. "It's changing dramatically. ... There's no question that as an industry we'll be spending more time and money on interactive advertising."

Coveted Accounts
Caesars Entertainment, which owns Harrah's, Horseshoe, Bally's and others, recently opened a search for a creative agency to oversee digital-media planning, buying and search, Ad Age reported. There's no language directly linking the request for proposal to future online gambling, but existing digital efforts, such as free social games, will likely help casinos like Caesars introduce internet gambling to consumers.

Casinos will continue to target offline media customers -- especially those who pay attention to events such as championship poker, which is broadcast live on ESPN, said Mr. Garber. He said that when he was CEO of an online-gaming company in London (where the practice is legal and gaming is among the most-coveted industries for agencies), "TV was the biggest creator of new customers."

What's more, online and offline gambling are "very complementary," he said. "We're not going to do away with magazine, TV and billboard advertising, but we'll be a lot more creative."

Much of the creativity will be aimed at a younger consumer. An agency executive familiar with the industry said most online gamers are in their early 20s, while the average casino gambler is north of 50. However, states and casinos are still working through some of the technical challenges in being able to detect age (gamers must be at least 21) and ensure that online betting and devices used to participate in it are contained within the state.

The agency executive expects that if online gambling is legalized in at least five states, the big casinos will double their marketing budgets and, in a number of years, casinos could be a top client category for agencies.

You have to be in it to win it, though. Online gambling is costly and time-consuming because agencies must purchase licenses in states in which they're supporting casino advertising. Licenses for one casino client have already cost his agency around $500,000, said the agency executive.

Google's policy in the U.S. is another hurdle. The search giant "doesn't allow advertising for internet-based games where money or other items of value are paid or wagered in order to win a greater sum of money or other item of value." It's unclear at this time whether Google will amend its policy on a state-by-state basis, if at all.

And while search is a key piece of the puzzle, the greatest obstacle for agencies will be revising their local marketing approach [from one focused on designated market areas to one focused on a state-by-state basis] said a media-agency executive. Any adjustments are worth the extra costs, this executive noted, as the payout should be significant.

Though he's reluctant to estimate how much online gambling could add to marketing's pot, John Schadler, founder and managing partner at Las Vegas-based SK&G said, "there will be a rush at the inception of the online sites to gain market share and notoriety. ... That requires initial branding efforts and initial media spend at a pretty strong level.

"It becomes an exercise in brand awareness," he added. "We're inventing a category."

Source: http://adage.com/article/digital/jackpot-online-casinos-drop-billions-ads/238012/

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Sunday, October 28, 2012

House fire displaces family | CharlotteObserver.com

Investigators are working to determine the cause of a Saturday afternoon house fire that has temporarily displaced a Charlotte family.

The family was away when fire broke out at the one-story home at 3413 Statesville Avenue, and no one was injured. But the smoke and flames left behind about $50,000 worth of damage, the Charlotte Fire Department estimated.

A passing motorist alerted authorities to the fire shortly after 3 p.m. The 27 firefighters who responded had the flames under control within 38 minutes, the fire department said.

Ames Alexander

Source: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/10/27/3626309/house-fire-displaces-family.html

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PFT: Dolphins wallop Jets? |? Rex backs Sanchez

Getty Images

Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith made plenty of plays Sunday, but Tim Jennings made the one that counted.

Jennings? interception for a touchdown was a crucial turning point in the Bears? 23-22 comeback win, and Smith took the blame.

?I slipped, sir. I slipped,? Smith said, via Sean Jensen of the Chicago Sun-Times. ?The ball was thrown. He picked it. That what-if game, and this and that, that requires energy that I just don?t have right now to go through.?

Smith had seven catches for 118 yards Sunday, continuing a run of good games against the Bears (averaging 149 per game entering the day).

And since Jennings was on him all day, Smith?s praise was, shall we say, muted.

?That was the best play he made all game on me,? Smith said. ?But it was a key moment in the game, changed the momentum. I know you want to pump him up. But I?ve been kicking his ass every time I come up here. And today wasn?t no different. Do you disagree??

Jennings took the high road (which isn?t hard when Smith?s coming off a loss), showing respect to his 1-6 opponent.

?It?s very important when you got a Pro Bowl receiver like that?s been playing the game at a high level like that his whole career,? Jennings said. ?He?s going to make some plays. But I had to have the mentality that I got to stay up and stay playing aggressive and minimize his playmaking ability.?

While they didn?t minimize Smith, they kept it from making a difference.

And that?s the difference in their responses.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/10/28/dolphins-roll-over-jets-after-losing-tannehill/related/

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US Superstorm threat launches mass evacuations

SHIP BOTTOM, N.J. (AP) ? Forget distinctions like tropical storm or hurricane. Don't get fixated on a particular track. Wherever it hits, the rare behemoth storm inexorably gathering in the eastern U.S. will afflict a third of the country with sheets of rain, high winds and heavy snow, say officials who warned millions in coastal areas to get out of the way.

"We're looking at impact of greater than 50 to 60 million people," said Louis Uccellini, head of environmental prediction for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

As Hurricane Sandy barreled north from the Caribbean ? where it left nearly five dozen dead ? to meet two other powerful winter storms, experts said it didn't matter how strong the storm was when it hit land: The rare hybrid storm that follows will cause havoc over 800 miles from the East Coast to the Great Lakes.

"This is not a coastal threat alone," said Craig Fugate, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "This is a very large area."

New Jersey was set to close its casinos this weekend, New York's governor was considering shutting down the subways to avoid flooding and half a dozen states warned residents to prepare for several days of lost power.

Sandy weakened briefly to a tropical storm early Saturday but was soon back up to Category 1 strength, packing 75 mph winds about 335 miles southeast of Charleston, S.C., as of 5 p.m. Experts said the storm was most likely to hit the southern New Jersey coastline by late Monday or early Tuesday.

Governors from North Carolina, where heavy rain was expected Sunday, to Connecticut declared states of emergency. Delaware ordered mandatory evacuations for coastal communities by 8 p.m. Saturday.

New Jersey's Chris Christie, who was widely criticized for not interrupting a family vacation in Florida while a snowstorm pummeled the state in 2010, broke off campaigning for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in North Carolina Friday to return home.

"I can be as cynical as anyone," the pugnacious chief executive said in a bit of understatement Saturday. "But when the storm comes, if it's as bad as they're predicting, you're going to wish you weren't as cynical as you otherwise might have been."

The storm forced the presidential campaign to juggle schedules. Romney scrapped plans to campaign Sunday in the swing state of Virginia and switched his schedule for the day to Ohio. First lady Michelle Obama canceled an appearance in New Hampshire for Tuesday, and President Barack Obama moved a planned Monday departure for Florida to Sunday night to beat the storm.

In Ship Bottom, just north of Atlantic City, Alice and Giovanni Stockton-Rossini spent Saturday packing clothing in the back yard of their home, a few hundred yards from the ocean on Long Beach Island. Their neighborhood was under a voluntary evacuation order, but they didn't need to be forced.

"It's really frightening," Alice Stockton-Rossi said. "But you know how many times they tell you, 'This is it, it's really coming and it's really the big one' and then it turns out not to be? I'm afraid people will tune it out because of all the false alarms before, and the one time you need to take it seriously, you won't. This one might be the one."

A few blocks away, Russ Linke was taking no chances. He and his wife secured the patio furniture, packed the bicycles into the pickup truck, and headed off the island.

"I've been here since 1997, and I never even put my barbecue grill away during a storm. But I am taking this one seriously," he said.

What makes the storm so dangerous and unusual is that it is coming at the tail end of hurricane season and the beginning of winter storm season, "so it's kind of taking something from both," said Jeff Masters, director of the private service Weather Underground.

Masters said the storm could be bigger than the worst East Coast storm on record ? the 1938 New England hurricane known as the Long Island Express, which killed nearly 800 people. "Part hurricane, part nor'easter ? all trouble," he said. Experts said to expect high winds over 800 miles and up to 2 feet of snow as well inland as West Virginia.

And the storm was so big, and the convergence of the three storms so rare, that "we just can't pinpoint who is going to get the worst of it," said Rick Knabb, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Officials are particularly worried about the possibility of subway flooding in New York City, said Uccellini.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to prepare to shut the city's subways, buses and suburban trains by Sunday, but delayed making a final decision. The city shut the subways down before last year's Hurricane Irene, and a Columbia University study predicted that an Irene surge just 1 foot higher would have paralyzed lower Manhattan.

Up and down the Eastern Seaboard and far inland, officials urged residents and businesses to prepare in big ways and little.

The Virginia National Guard was authorized to call up to 500 troops to active duty for debris removal and road-clearing, while homeowners stacked sandbags at their front doors in coastal towns.

Utility officials warned rains could saturate the ground, causing trees to topple into power lines, and told residents to prepare for several days at home without power. "We're facing a very real possibility of widespread, prolonged power outages," said, Ruth Miller, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.

Warren Ellis, who was on an annual fishing pilgrimage on North Carolina's Outer Banks, didn't act fast enough to get home.

Ellis' 73-year-old father, Steven, managed to get off uninhabited Portsmouth Island near Cape Hatteras by ferry Friday. But the son and his 10-foot camper got stranded when high winds and surf forced the ferry service to suspend operations Saturday.

"We might not get off here until Tuesday or Wednesday, which doesn't hurt my feelings that much," said Ellis, 44, of Amissville, Va. "Because the fishing's going to be really good after this storm."

Last year, Hurricane Irene poked a new inlet through the island, cutting the only road off Hatteras Island for about 4,000.

In Maine, lobsterman Greg Griffen wasn't taking any chances; he moved 100 of his traps to deep water, where they are more vulnerable to shifting and damage in a storm.

"Some of my competitors have been pulling their traps and taking them right home," said Griffen. The dire forecast "sort of encouraged them to pull the plug on the season."

In Muncy Valley north of Philadelphia, Rich Fry learned his lesson from last year, when Tropical Storm Lee inundated his Katie's Country Store.

In between helping customers picking up necessities Saturday, Fry was moving materials above the flood line. Fry said he was still trying to recover from the losses of last year's storm, which he and his wife, Deb, estimated at the time at $35,000 in merchandise.

"It will take a lot of years to cover that," he said.

Christie's emergency declaration will force the shutdown of Atlantic City's 12 casinos for only the fourth time in the 34-year history of legalized gambling here. The approach of Hurricane Irene shut down the casinos for three days last August.

Atlantic City officials said they would begin evacuating the gambling hub's 30,000 residents at noon Sunday, busing them to mainland shelters and schools.

Tom Foley, Atlantic City's emergency management director, recalled the March 1962 storm when the ocean and the bay met in the center of the city.

"This is predicted to get that bad," he said.

Mike Labarbera, who came from Brooklyn to gamble at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort, thought the caution was overblown.

"I think it's stupid," he said. "I don't think it's going to be a hurricane. I think they're overreacting."

Ray Leonard disagreed, and has a famous storm survival story to back him up.

Leonard rode out 1991's infamous "perfect storm", made famous by the Sebastian Junger bestseller of the same name, with two cremates in his 32-foot sailboat, Satori, before being plucked from the Atlantic off Martha's Vineyard, Mass., by a Coast Guard helicopter.

The 85-year-old former sailor said Saturday that if he had loved ones living in the projected landfall area, he would tell them to leave.

"Don't be rash," Leonard said in a telephone interview Saturday from his home in Fort Myers, Fla. "Because if this does hit, you're going to lose all those little things you've spent the last 20 years feeling good about."

___

Breed reported from Raleigh, N.C. Contributing to this report were AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein in Washington; Emery Dalesio in Kill Devil Hills, N.C.; Karen Matthews in New York; Glenn Adams in Augusta, Maine; Randall Chase in Lewes, Del.; Rodrique Ngowi in Boston; Ron Todt in Philadelphia and Nancy Benac in Washington.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-10-27-Superstorm/id-80ec6dd6ad7c48f0ab3aa04b1f4c3508

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Saturday, October 27, 2012

Stormy weather on the horizon for Washington, DC [VIDEO]

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stormy-weather-horizon-washington-dc-video-202012890.htmlrory mcilroy Fatboy Slim Rio de Janeiro Shark Week London 2012 closing ceremony Shark Week 2012 evelyn lozada

AccuWeather launches for Windows 8, lets you know if it's dry outside the Metro

So you're finally getting that Surface tablet (or a Windows 8 PC of choice) and have decided that a basic weather app just won't do it justice. AccuWeather agrees with you -- after months of supporting the Windows 8 preview editions, it's formally launching a weather app that takes advantage of Microsoft's completed ~~Metro~~ Windows 8 interface in all its widescreen glory. The title both provides near-obsessive detail about the climate as well as the requisite live tile for an at-a-glance check. You also won't have to resort to the web to find out if it's raining in your neighborhood: a Bing Maps radar overlay shows if it's safe to leave the umbrella at home. The app is free to download, which makes it entirely too easy to check the weather through Windows instead of the window.

Continue reading AccuWeather launches for Windows 8, lets you know if it's dry outside the Metro

Filed under: Software

AccuWeather launches for Windows 8, lets you know if it's dry outside the Metro originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Oct 2012 07:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/26/accuweather-launches-for-windows-8/

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L. Byron Culver to speak Sunday of family and Irvine history | culver ...

For most Irvine residents, Culver Drive is a main transportation artery that crosses the city from the Santa Ana Foothills to UCI.

For L. Byron Culver, it's personal.

Culver Drive was named for Fred Culver, one of the most successful farmers on the Irvine Ranch. Even though he was a hunchback, he was one of the most skilled mule handlers on the ranch.

THE CULVER FAMILY COLLECTION

The busy road was named for his family, specifically his great uncle Fred Culver who was one of the most successful farmers on the Irvine Ranch. Long before Irvine was a master planned community of more than 200,000 citizens, it was an agricultural powerhouse. In 1918, there were 11 members of Byron Culver's family farming there.

"My Dad always had a great love for Orange County," Culver said recently. "He didn't talk much, but when he did, he shared his stories with me."

Culver along with his cousin Dottie Haskell will tell stories about their family from their book "The Culver Family: Then and Now" from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Irvine Historical Museum, 5 San Joaquin. There is a suggested $30 donation for the lecture which includes membership to the Irvine Historical Society.

Born in 1926, Culver was part of a large, extended family. Money was tight on the Northern California farm where his family had settled.

"As soon as there were children in the family, we started getting together; for birthdays and holidays, for everything."

During these family gatherings, Culver was treated to stories from his many relatives, stories that remained with him for life.

He learned about his Great Uncle Fred who, despite being a hunchback, was one of the best mule handlers on the Irvine Ranch. Fred "Humpy" Culver treated his mules like beloved pets and was never happier than when he was harvesting lima beans behind a 30-mule team. He farmed more than 3,000 acres on the ranch, and when he died at 31, he left behind a sizeable inheritance.

In those days, Fred Culver's impressive home and windmill was known as Culver's Corner, a local landmark that could be seen from as far away as Tustin. Today, Culver's home would be near the intersection of the 5 Freeway and Culver Drive. Culver's Corner was a notoriously dangerous crossing. Many collisions occurred in front of the house which acted as a makeshift hospital for the injured.

Then there were the stories of Byron's own grandfather, Fred's brother Willard, who bravely joined a local posse in 1912 as they chased after the Tomato Springs Bandit. Nearly 200 men followed drifter, Joe Matlock, into the foothills north of today's OC Great Park. When the gun battle ensued, Deputy Sherriff Robert Squires became the first Orange County law officer killed in the line of duty. Willard Culver lost his leg below the knee. For the rest of his life, Willard "Gimpy" Culver was remembered for his part in one of "Orange County's bloodiest battles."

Willard Culver ran the blacksmith shop on Central Avenue, now known as Sand Canyon. There he kept farm machinery in good repair and made horseshoes and wagon wheels. He lived nearby with his wife and nine children, including Byron, Culver's father.

"My aunts and uncles told me all of the old Irvine Ranch stories," Culver explains. "And since I seem to remember everything since I was 3 years old, I decided to write them down."

With the help of his cousin Haskell, Byron Culver embarked on a 3-and-a-half-year journey to preserve his family's history in California. His relatives helped him on this quest by providing pictures and memorabilia from their various family cedar chests. The most valuable treasure was a meticulous diary kept by the first Culver to come to California, Byron's Great, Grandfather Francis.

Transcribing this lengthy document was both a challenge and a joy for Haskell.

"I came to love my Great-Great Grandfather Francis." She explains. "He never complained; he was never judgmental. He was a nice man. I feel like I know him now."

The result of their hard work is an 820-page hard cover book, "Culvers: Past and Present." This impressive volume is filled with Culver stories, images and family trees. But interspersed among the personal material is the rich history of California itself, making it a valuable research resource for anyone; even if their last name isn't Culver.

This Sunday, before Culver and Haskell speak at the Irvine Historical Museum, they will have lunch with three generations of their family at Knowlwood's Restaurant in Old Town Irvine. It's only fitting after all, since the historic building was originally Willard Culver's blacksmith shop.

When asked if he minded that his family's memories are part of a restaurant, Byron Culver responded,

"I think it's wonderful. I blow up like a balloon when I walk in there. I'm very proud of my family's history, and I love to see that it's being maintained."

Information: 949-786-4112

Source: http://www.ocregister.com/news/culver-375799-family-irvine.html

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Friday, October 26, 2012

Alicia Keys Picks Up Eddie Murphy's Manse in the Suburbs - Curbed

Thursday, October 25, 2012, by Amy Schellenbaum

Grammy-collecting R&B singer-songwriter Alicia Keys and her producer husband Swizz Beatz have apparently had enough of the concrete jungle where dreams are made, having just dropped about $12M on the opulent (if flinchingly over-designed) New Jersey estate of comedian Eddie Murphy. Bubble Hill, in Englewood, N.J., is a seven-bedroom estate with all the benefits of being rich and in the 'burbs; the 25,000-square-foot manse boasts a recording studio, two-lane bowling alley, indoor pool, billiards room, spa, and tennis court. Murphy had been trying to sell his 30-room mansion for nearly eight years before a mystery buyer (mystery until now, that is) made an offer in May. Keys, who was born and raised in NYC, seems to be rather fond of star-studded real estate, having picked up Lenny Kravitz's SoHo duplex penthouse more than two years ago. (She recently listed it for $17.95M.) That connection may come in handy nonetheless, as Kravitz is a known design-dabbler and Keys will need as much help as she can get expelling that "Real Housewives"-esque vibe from her new home.

? Alicia Keys buys Eddie Murphy's $12 million New Jersey estate, complete with bowling alley and indoor pool [NYDN via Real Estalker]
? Eddie Murphy's Bubble Hill Party Palace Finally Finds a Buyer [Curbed National]

Source: http://curbed.com/archives/2012/10/25/alicia-keys-picks-up-eddie-murphys-manse-in-the-suburbs.php

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Defending Yourself: Effective Self Defense | Jackie's Women's ...

Related eBooks

The most effective self defense is automatic, and you don?t have to think about it, because chances are, when you are attacked, especially if you don?t have any self defense training, your response will be to get away, ?flight,? instead of stay, ?fight.? This so called ?fight or flight? reaction occurs every time a person is in danger?

Source:Defending Yourself: Effective Self Defense

Supernatural Lovers

Four humans. Four creatures. Four years. One type of love. Can they withstand a war that could tear them apart, possibly forever? [More info inside.]

Owner:

Game Masters:

This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?Supernatural Lovers?. Anything posted here will also show up there.

Topic Tags:

Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.

Again, I have more requests for this roleplay to be tried again. So, I'll give it another shot since I'm giving my other ones second chances.

? She was a cunning and brave human. He was a quiet and mysterious vampire. They fell in love.?

? He was a smart and timid human. She was an intelligent and sassy witch. They fell in love.?

? She was a sassy and gorgeous human. He was an aggressive and brawny demon. They fell in love.?

? He was a kind and loving human. she was a strong and protective werewolf. They fell in love.?

Four humans. Four supernatural creatures. This can only create Supernatural Love.

But what happens when these four creatures suddenly are at war? What will this do to their relationships, and the friends they've known for almost their entire years of high school?

Can they protect their supernatural love?

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Basic run down. 8 characters. Four are a vampire, a demon, a witch, and a werewolf. Then we have four humans. Each supernatural creatures has a human mate that they have been with for four years. All of these characters are friends and know about eachother's lovers, they are aware. What happens is... not specifically, but a war breaks out between these four creatures. We can make it small, or something so big it affects all the species. I'm thinking more towards species which eventually causes tension and maybe some fights between these creatures but we can brainstorm that together once we have everyone.

I've given each creature a loose form of personality. If you didn't understand it in the little intro, I'll explain it once more time.

Human # 1: She's very cunning and very brave. She can be a trickster and isn't one to back down from things.
Human # 2: He's intelligent, more of a nerd like his mate, and can be extremely shy and quiet.
Human # 3: She's very sassy and has attitude, and is one of the more popular females.
Human # 4: He is kind, and sweet and sensitive. He loves to help others out. Very romantic.

The Vampire: He is mostly quiet around everyone except his mate, and is quite mysterious and dark.
The Witch: She's extremely smart, and has attitude like human number 3. She isn't afraid to defend.
The Demon: He has bad temper and can be quite aggressive. He also is more buff in stature.
The Werewolf: She is very strong and brave, and very protective of her mate. She can be vicious.

Characters: [Taken and available]

Human # 1: Reserved
Human # 2: Open
Human # 3: Open
Human # 4: Open

The Vampire: Open
The Witch: Open
The Demon: Open
The Werewolf: Open

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Character Forms;

Code: Select all: [b]Basic Information;[/b][size=150]"Your character's favorite or personal quote here."[/size] [size=85] [b]Name:[/b] First and last [b]Age:[/b] Teenagers must be between 17-19. [b]Race:[/b] Human [b]Ethnicity:[/b] Caucasian, Asian, ect. [b]Role:[/b] Are you a human or a creature? [b]Orientation:[/b] Bisexual? Gay? [b]Status:[/b] Who is your companion [b]Best Feature:[/b] What makes them so special? [b]Appearance;[/b] A picture here. Anime or real, though I prefer good drawings or real life. Need help finding one? Come to me. A paragraph describing your character. Include hair color, skin color, eye color, height, weight, body build, fashion sense, makeup use, ect. Must be at LEAST 5 sentences long. I am more likely to accept your character sheet if it has quite a bit of detail. [b]Personality; [/b] Describe your character's personality here. Include how they usually are, what they act like when they are sad or angry, include things they enjoy doing and things that irritate them, all that stuff. Everything about them is important. This paragraph must be at least 6 lines in order to be accepted. [b]Likes;[/b] At least 5 [b]Dislikes;[/b] At least 5 [b]Hobbies;[/b] At least 5 [b]History[/b] Here, type a summary of your character's past. A childhood event, some events that make them who they are, anything that stands out and gives more insight on their back story. This must be at least 6 lines. [b]Extra[/b] If you have anything you want to add, here would be where to put it. Theme song, ect. [/size]

DarlingRapture: Member for 0 years

I'd like to reserve human number 3 please!!!!!

We all have a story to tell!

cosmopolitanlove: Member for 0 years

May I have the Witch please?

?Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.?
? Andy Warhol

MaliceInWonderland: Member for 4 years

May I reserve the Vampire please

ceh12: Member for 0 years

Not so sure right now. I have a friend who informed me they are interested about ten minutes ago. Do you want to reserve a different one instead?

DarlingRapture: Member for 0 years

May I reserve the DEMON if no one has taken it?

arteech0kee: Member for 2 years

Crap okay if they want it Ill take boy 2# if not Ill gladly have him

ceh12: Member for 0 years

Alright. Done with both.

If he doesn't, it's fine Ceh. You can have boy number 2 c: Those are harder to fill.

DarlingRapture: Member for 0 years

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Free Wedding Dress From A Bride Who Wants To 'Pay It Forward': Winner

When Ren?e Stroinski first learned she would be receiving a gorgeous wedding dress for free, she reacted the way any self-respecting bride-to-be would under the circumstances: she freaked out.

"I screamed! I was so happy -- I couldn't believe it!"

The 25-year-old Fairlawn, NJ-based student is planning to marry her boyfriend of five years, Zac Follmer in the fall of 2014, but thanks to their collective student debt (he graduated with an MBA from Seton Hall in South Orange, NJ in June; she is set to graduate with a five-year accounting degree in the spring of 2013), her dream of a perfect wedding -- and the dress to go along with it -- seemed totally out of reach. "I had conceded to the fact that I wasn?t going to wear an actual wedding dress. I was shopping for an evening dress," Stroinski told HuffPost Weddings.

That's why she was intrigued when she read the Huffington Post Weddings story of a Washington, D.C.-based newlywed who had decided to give away the $800 Cambodian silk wedding gown she'd worn for her September nuptials to a deserving bride-to-be. The generous bride -- who initially chose to remain anonymous but has since revealed her first name, Alissa -- initiated the giveaway in a bid to "pay it forward," asking brides-to-be who felt their wedding experience would be "truly transformed" by the dress to send in their stories.

Stroinski didn't hesitate when she came across the dress, which she realized would fit her 5?5 ?, size 4 frame perfectly, even though, she says, "It was almost too good to be true."

She, along with dozens of other women around the country, sent her story to Alissa via Huffington Post Weddings in a bid to walk down the aisle in the dress.

In her note to Alissa, Stroinski detailed the "leap of faith" she had taken with the help of her now-fiance to leave her retail job to pursue a college degree full-time ("He helped me muster the strength to leave my job in a recession," Stroinski later told Huffington Post Weddings. "That was totally out of character for me. Nobody has ever inspired me to be that strong.")

She went on to describe how she longed for "that special 'moment,'" when her husband-to-be and her father -- who recently underwent a kidney transplant -- would see her for the first time in her gown. "That memory is one of the few things that I know will last long after the wedding," she wrote, even though she knew the couple's extremely lean financial circumstances would probably make that impossible.

While Stroinski's story was moving, Alissa says she knew she'd found the right bride for her dress when she read about Stroinski's desire to give the dress away after she'd worn it: "I would definitely continue the bride's tradition of offering the dress for free," wrote Stroinski.

"Ren?e, perhaps more than anyone else ... seemed to embrace the spirit and the vision of 'paying it forward,'" Alissa told The Huffington Post. "It was clear from her letter that the impact of the dress won?t stop just at her.?

Alissa's instincts were bang-on.

"I don?t know what made me feel happier," Stroinski told Huffington Post Weddings, "that I?m gonna get to wear the dress or that I?m gonna give it to someone else after I wear it!"

Alissa will be on NBC's "TODAY" Show on Monday, Oct. 29 to pay-it-forward and hand off the beautiful gown to Renee!

For images of the dress and to read Alissa's story, click here. Below, click through photos of Stroinski and her fiance.

"In 2006, I was working in retail and also going to school and I decided to become friends with one of my co-workers," says Stroinski. "Zac and I met through him. He was in a grad program and he urged me to go back to school. I wanted to leave the workforce because I wanted more. He gave me the strength to do it. And so for the last 3 years that is what I have been doing."
The two started dating officially in 2007. "We're New York Giants fans. That's how we remember the transition to when we actually became a couple because it was the year the Giants won the superbowl!" How'd she know he was The One? "I just knew I couldn't be without him," she says.
The marriage conversation was very "organic," says Stroinski. "We started planning our lives together. I don't think there was ever an actual decision. We talked about it more and more as the years went by."
As far as a proposal, there hasn't been a formal one--yet. "We can't afford a ring right now. He's proposed, but after my graduation he said that's when he would do it for real."
The couple's wedding --a small affair for about 50 of their family members and closest friends--will take place at the Crystal Springs Resort in New Jersey in the fall of 2014.
When Follmer learned Stroinski would be the recipient of the dress, she says, "He went and found the Huffington Post Weddings link to look at it right away. He loves it!"
"I saved all the emails he sent me, all his encouraging words" says Stroinski. "I have them printed out and in shoeboxes--one for every year that we've been together. It has all the emails, and the events we go through--baseball ticket stubs, concerts, everything. I'm gonna print this Huffington Post Weddings article out and put it in there!"

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/25/free-wedding-dress_n_1962129.html

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Life after a divorce

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Thursday, October 18, 2012

Heterosexuality's not the norm: apparently! Miranda Devine, The ...

So now it?s a thought crime to regard heterosexuality as the norm in human relationships. This is called ?heterosexism?, joining racism and sexism as the new no-go zone, and the Proud Schools pilot program rolled out to 12 Sydney and Hunter high schools over the past two terms is aimed at stamping it out.

The program defines ?heterosexism? as the practice of ?positioning heterosexuality as the norm for human relationship?, according to the Proud Schools Consultation Report. ?It involves ignoring, making invisible or discriminating against non-heterosexual people, their relationships and their interests. Heterosexism feeds homophobia.?

So there it is. If you think the vast majority of people are attracted to the opposite sex and that heterosexual human relationships are the norm, you are feeding homophobia. ?The state government would prefer you?didn?t?know about its Proud Schools program against homophobia, ?transphobia? and ?heterosexism?.

It features professional learning for teachers, ?celebrations of diversity for students? and ?embedding discussion of sexuality and gender diversity into the classroom?. ?Education Minister Adrian Piccoli wants you to think it is all the work of his predecessor Verity Firth, who started the whole project in the dying days of the Labor government.
But Piccoli kept the program, which cost $250,000, despite the fact that there is no evidence that homophobic bullying is a big problem in NSW schools and despite the fact anti-homophobia elements are already incorporated in the existing PDHPE syllabus.
At least a dozen MPs, from the Coalition, Labor and independents including Fred Nile, have discussed their concerns with Proud Schools in recent weeks.

One has provided The Daily Telegraph with extensive information about the program obtained under freedom of information or in questions on notice to Piccoli in Parliament. ?From 175 pages of material, including a Proud Schools consultation report produced by Family Planning NSW and in minutes of meetings of the Proud Schools Steering Committee, a disturbing picture emerges of a program that appears designed more for indoctrination and propaganda than to eliminate bullying.

In Victoria a similar program, the ?Safe Schools Coalition? to ?support sexual diversity? in schools, holds that gender and sexuality are not fixed but fluid concepts. Students are taught not to think about gender and sexuality in a ?binary? way, as in male/female or gay/ straight, but as part of a continuum of choices. ?What are pubescent children supposed to make of that?
The assumptions which underpin the Proud Schools program seem questionable, at best.

For one thing, a position paper produced for the project by Latrobe University claims there is ?strong evidence in 2011 that approximately one in 10 young people are sexually attracted to people of their own sex, or are unsure?.
It also quotes another figure of ?between 7 and 9 per cent? who are same-sex attracted.

This paints a picture at odds with figures around the world which put homosexuality at 2-3 percent of the population.
In fact the most comprehensive survey of sexuality in this country was also by La Trobe University, in its 2003 Sex in Australia report which found 1.6 per cent of Australian men identify as homosexual and 0.9 per cent as bisexual. For women the figures are 0.8 per cent who identified as homosexual and 1.4 per cent as bisexual. ?Another LaTrobe study which informed the Proud Schools consultation report, ?Writing Themselves 3?, found that 80 per cent of homophobic abuse and violence for young people occurs at schools and that ?violence and abuse is sustained and embedded in school culture?. ?It claims homophobia, ?has increased rather than decreased over the past five years and that there are strong and significant links between the experience of homophobic abuse and self harm?.

Yet this is not the experience of the principals quoted in the Proud Schools Consultation report.
?There?s not a great deal of overt homophobia? says one.
?Not many cases of overt discrimination but there is name calling?, says another.
?I haven?t had any issues of homophobic violence at this school?, says another.
One principal said: ?We have some openly gay male students. Some are embraced but some are bullied. If they?re popular they?re OK but if they?re not they get bullied.?
Another said: ?We have one obvious transsexual student who doesn?t associate well with other students. Not because of his gender but because of other family issues. He does struggle with his identity. He gets sympathy from staff but gets ignored by students.?
A teacher is quoted in the Proud Schools report saying: ?The problem is language rather than overt discrimination. Gay is still used as a derogatory term. What I see is language that is inappropriate, ?That?s so gay?, etc.?

This teacher?s comment, concludes the report, ?highlights the way in which some teachers continue to fail to recognise homophobic language as a form of violence and discrimination?.
But the report seems to want to find a big problem with little evidence that one exists. ?Over the past seven years The Daily Telegraph?s education reporter Bruce McDougall has been monitoring NSW Education Department ?safety and security? incident reports of violence and other problems at schools. He has not seen one report relating to homophobia.

Yes, bullying and violence occurs at schools and every effort should be made to prevent it. But it does not primarily relate to sexuality, and false claims that it does could promote a backlash or even send the message that bullying for other reasons is not as bad.
The report also described as ?worryingly simplistic? and ?out of line with contemporary ideas of sexuality? the question raised by some teachers and students of whether people are ?born that way or exercise choice with respect to same sex attraction or gender diversity?.

The contemporary view, according to the report is: ?Spectrums of attraction and complex interactions with the social world influence sexual and gender identity.? ?Whatever. It?s not up to academics to dictate attitudes to society via indoctrination of captive children in classrooms, and it?s irresponsible if politicians allow them to do so.

Parents expect their children to go to school to learn basic skills, and become socialised. They expect a safe environment in which everyone is treated with respect and without bullying, whether they are gay or straight. ?But they also don?t expect that their values should be subverted by homosexual or any other sort of propaganda. ?And they don?t expect that widespread acceptance of heterosexuality as the most common human experience would be demonised.

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Source: http://australianchristians.com.au/heterosexualitys-not-the-norm-apparently-miranda-devine-the-telegraph/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=heterosexualitys-not-the-norm-apparently-miranda-devine-the-telegraph

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The Internet of Things will transform our everyday life, experts say

ScienceDaily (Oct. 17, 2012) ? The next ICT revolution will have a profound impact on our lives and the economy. Ubiquitous computing and the Internet of Things are experiencing remarkable growth. The effects are becoming more and more apparent wherever you look: in housing, transport, health care, and retail, as well as the security and energy industries. VTT has developed key technologies for ubiquitous computing. These include situation awareness for portable devices, mixed and augmented reality, and interoperability solutions enabling devices made by different vendors to share information.

Information technology and electronics are becoming entwined with our everyday lives in industry, the service sector, transport, logistics, health care, housing, education, and our leisure time, almost without our noticing it..

The changes are already apparent to consumers in the energy sector, for example: remotely readable meters are rapidly becoming more common, enabling developments such as new pricing models that encourage the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. The remote control of machines and devices is experiencing substantial growth and spreading to smaller and smaller appliances. Smart buildings use building automation to control their own functions to an ever greater extent, and remote health care applications are increasing apace with the aging of the population.

"VTT is developing uID (universal Identification) technology with our Japanese partner, the University of Tokyo," says VTT Research Professor Heikki Ailisto. "This technology enables the identification and tracking of individual products, components, and food products. With uID, information on origin, manufacture, and history can be attached in the digital world to the most commonplace items over their entire life cycle. A timber plank, for instance, can be tagged with information on which forest the timber was cut from, where it was sawn, how many times it has been painted, and with what paints."

"Three big waves can be identified in telecommunications in the past century or so. First, the telephone connected 500 million places. The mobile phone then connected 5 billion people. The Internet of Things will connect 50 billion devices, machines, and objects. Objects and packages that do not require an actual data connection can also be named and connected to background systems with the help of identifiers," says Ailisto.

Objects converse with each other, mobile phones identify our movements

Ubiquitous computing (ubi) and the Internet of Things (IoT) will revolutionise technology and business. VTT sees an opportunity in this revolution; an opportunity that it wants to grasp together with the industry and other actors. The goal is to create a technological operating environment and to build business on it.

VTT has been developing ubiquitous computing applications and basic technology in the OPENS (Open Smart Spaces) programme. The programme's achievements include the implementation of the interoperability platform Smart M3, which enables various appliances and objects in the home or office to "converse," understand each other, and share information. This interoperability platform, created for devices produced by different manufacturers for a variety of purposes, is based on so-called semantic technology, which defines a common "language" for devices and applications. The interoperability of devices promotes energy saving, comfort, and safety at home and at work. The solution was developed together by VTT, industrial partners, and universities in various national and European projects.

One way to make appliances and services feel "smart" for the user is to make them situationally aware. Situation and location awareness has already been put into practice in mobile communications devices and other appliances. VTT has brought a new dimension to awareness with the solutions it has developed to enable additional recognition of the user's activities -- is the user sitting, walking, or running? -- and his or her method of travel -- is the user travelling by train, bus, car, or bicycle? In this way the user can be offered the most appropriate services for the situation.

One example of interaction technology between man and machine is mixed and augmented reality, an area in which VTT has achieved globally significant results. Such applications include motion sensing input devices and 3D cameras for games and practical applications. Mixed and augmented reality as an interface for mobile phones, for example, is just breaking into the market and entering consumer consciousness.

The worth of business related to IoT technology and applications is rising by 30% each year, and by next year will reach EUR 300 billion. VTT is helping Finnish companies reap their share of this growth. Research in the field is continuing strongly, with a particular focus on the Internet of Things.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT).

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/computers_math/information_technology/~3/Lb0HH-lOllM/121017091728.htm

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