text:
title: What Is ARK?
description: What Is ARK?
name: ARK
author: WeUseCoins
permalink: /what-is-ark/
authorurl: /
published: true
toc:
  what: What Is ARK?
  getting: Getting Started With ARK
  howto: How To Get A ARK Wallet?
  resources: ARK Resources
  buy: How To Buy ARK?
  earn: How To Earn ARK?
  mining: What Is ARK Mining?
  latest: Latest ARK News
img: ark.png
category: appcoin
summary: ARK provides users, developers, and startups with innovative blockchain technologies. They aim to create an entire ecosystem of linked chains and a virtual spiderweb of endless use-cases that make ARK highly flexible, adaptable, and scalable. ARK is a secure platform designed for mass adoption and will deliver the services that consumers want and developers need.
---

What Is ARK?

ARK is a digital currency. It is one of the major contributor that assist in the cryptocurrency universe. The Ark platform has been based over an exceptionally secure center blockchain. Additionally, key decentralized advances have been incorporated and utilize cases have been produced to grandstand Ark's capacity.

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The stage is easy to understand to make blockchain innovation client reception high. With time, this biological system will have the capacity to adjust to all difficulties as it propels.

The organization has a group of qualified workers with interesting aptitudes. The group is comprehensive of Network Engineers, Web Developers, Money Managers, Hardware Experts, Traders, Musicians, Business Owners, and Social Media Promoters.

The ARK group includes 30 individuals. The partners are energetic about their undertaking to team up and build up the ARK people group and biological system.

Why ARK Is Needed

The ARK platform is required on the grounds that individuals need to make income later on and ARK gives precisely that. It gives future income potential by means of spanned blockchains. ARK offers significant administrations to clients using multipurpose information and these associations with make new highlights.

ARK Roadmap

Benefits Of Ark

1. Self-Sustaining

The point of Ark is to make the Ark stage open to customers effectively. This is to a degree that customers don't know that they are utilizing it. The group offers unique administrations that clients comprehend, need, and will purchase with the stage. The ARK group has grown more administrations and stages coming about because of the ARK innovation.

This offers disconnected and online surges of income for ARK. This has prompted snappier innovative work for new and fascinating approaches to expand buyer cooperation, increasing the value of ARK, and instructing clients on blockchain innovation. Consolidation of income streams into this undertaking gives more specific administrations to reception by clients.

2. Privacy

Clients can send ARK exchanges utilizing ARK's Anonymous Network Integration which has discretionary protection. Protection applies to all administrations that have been made for the ARK platform. These administrations can likewise be offered by outsider innovation incorporation organization.

3. Security

ARK comprehends that security is a noteworthy worry to everybody. This is the reason security and cryptographic principals are joined all through the whole framework. This ensures a safe center and meets the desires and prerequisites of the clients. ARK constantly attempts inner repeating entrance tests and hazard examination to offer a framework that meets the elevated requirements required for this sort of condition.

4. Smartbridge

ARK keen extensions connect together exclusive and valuable blockchains to extend the span of the stage. These shrewd scaffolds permit correspondence between blockchains that are approved and spanned.

These blockchains consequently pick up a capacity to perform propelled capacities and assignments. With an end goal to interface the blockchains, keen extensions make a bond that is bringing together among different environments. For example, the ARK group will connect Bitcoin, Lisk, and Ethereum as the principal blockchain.

5. Speed

The center of ARK has an arrangement that produces quick exchanges, having 8 second piece times. The higher throughput is accessible at whatever point ARK requires it because without bounds scaling that is effectively actualized.

6. Decentralization

The voting arrangement of ARK is more decentralized than different DPoS agreement models. Voting weight is spread over all votes as opposed to relegating all weight to one vote. Henceforth the whole system can't be assumed control.

Downsides Of The Product

1. Despite the security features that are incorporated into the system, the money will never be entirely secure. This is due to hacking and hence your funds will never be 100% secure. There is still a risk that you might lose your funds.

2. Adoption of the currency faces a major challenge due to government regulation. The widespread of the technology is limited since not all governments are willing to adopt digital currency fully.

3. The technology consumes a lot of computer power due to a lot of mathematical solutions that are used to validate transactions.

What is the ARK SmartBridge

By now many people want to know the technical details of ARK's SmartBridge but broken down into a less technical and everyday example. That's what this article will focus on. This article will also assume for examples that most blockchains are already SmartBridge compatible.

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SmartBridge is the ability to connect and communicate between blockchains. By connecting blockchains, we can solve the great question of the last few years in the altcoin community. Which coin will replace bitcoin? The answer… none of them, and all of them. Let me explain.

With ARK's SmartBridge Technology every coin becomes even more powerful, every app produced on any blockchain has the potential to reach a greater audience and even bitcoin can gain the functionality of every altcoin through a simple blockchain token called ARK.

Ark's SmartBridge communicates between the blockchains using a special data section called Vendor Fields and special Encoded Listener nodes that comb through this data for tasks that it can perform.

What does that mean?

In order for ARK to become the medium/intermediary between chains, each chain needs a small snippet of code implemented. It is very easy to insert and not harmful to any blockchain, current or otherwise.

Once this tiny code is inserted into the core code of any blockchain, that's it. Now that blockchain is connected to ARK. We make it painless and extremely simple to implement, and will provide very easy to follow instructions with 24/7 support via slack chat.

Ok, so what does that REALLY mean?

It's quite simple. If you want to trigger an event on a blockchain via a different blockchain, you check if that chain is SmartBridge compatible. If it is, then you can issue a SmartBridge transaction to any compatible blockchain via the ark wallet and the possibilities are endless.

Example 1: If you wanted to trigger an ETH smart contract but hold ark, you could just send the instructions through ark SmartBridge, right in the wallet to trigger the event. The code embedded in the ETH chain is always listening for an ark SmartBridge transaction and will collect this info and trigger the function to issue a contract.

Example 2: You want to issue a record entry in Factom, but you only hold ARK. So you would go to your ARK wallet, enter the correct info and instructions for the FCT chain via the SmartBridge tab. Then send it. That's it, now the FCT chain receives the info and acts appropriately.

Example 3: I want to send 10 ARK to my ETH wallet. This would require an encoded listener with a back-end ability to exchange currencies. (ie: Shapeshift, Changelly, or Coinbase) Once I send my 10 ARK to my ETH wallet, the encoded listener sees this TX (transaction) as an exchange function and acts accordingly.

The encoded listener automatically picks up that this TX needs a conversion, so it acts as a relay node picking up the TX, converting it, and rebroadcasting the TX on its way to the ETH wallet. The encoded listener collects a small fee for processing the TX.

(Example 3 would require Shapeshift to be its own encoded listener so that it is always looking for the next SmartBridge TX. Just like ARK, Encoded listener nodes set their own transaction fees. Which can be adjusted by the node operator but not ARK.)

Encoded listeners:

The Encoded listener node is a hub for listening to SmartBridge transactions. This transaction hub can be setup and run by anyone, Shapeshift, Changelly or even Coinbase. Anyone that wants to act as a medium to help the network can. And in exchange for providing this service they will be collecting transaction fees for passing data or exchanging currencies via SmartBridge.

I hope this article made it easier for everyone to understand how ARK SmartBridge technology will work. We will be releasing a more in-depth and technical whitepaper for SmartBridge once we get closer to full SmartBridge release.

Getting Started With ARK

ARK provides users, developers, and startups with innovative blockchain technologies. We aim to create an entire ecosystem of linked chains and a virtual spiderweb of endless use-cases that make ARK highly flexible, adaptable, and scalable. ARK is a secure platform designed for mass adoption and will deliver the services that consumers want and developers need.

Fast - Tired of staring endlessly at your wallet waiting for your transaction to clear? With 8 second block times, ARK's network is one of the fastest in the industry.

Decentralized - ARK utilizes a modified Delegated-Proof-Of-Stake (DPoS) consensus mechanism featuring 51 delegates. These delegates are tasked with running the network and are rewarded with block rewards, much like miners in Bitcoin.

Scalable - Primary goal with ARK is to keep the core blockchain lean and blazing fast. Through the use of our custom built SmartBridge functionality we are able to off-load non-essential functions to hundreds of side-chains. This allows for great scalability while keeping the main ARK blockchain lean and fast.

Collaborative - Our primary goal with ARK is to keep the core blockchain lean and blazing fast. Through the use of our custom built SmartBridge functionality we are able to off-load non-essential functions to hundreds of side-chains. This allows for great scalability while keeping the main ARK blockchain lean and fast.

Bridging - ARK bridges well known blockchains through the use of our custom SmartBridge technology, making an ecosystem of interconnected blockchains possible.

Open Source - Looking for a blockchain solution for your business or project? ARK is your solution. Our ecosystem and projects are completely open-source to help facilitate your needs to launch your very own SmartBridge compatible blockchain. Everything is hosted on GitHub for your ease, and convenience.

How To Get An ARK Wallet?

Ark has it's own official desktop wallet which you can download here. To create your Ark wallet, download the client and click the "Create Account" link a seed consisting of a number of words – copy these down safely somewhere. The client will then ask you type in 3 words from the seed, once that's done your new wallet will be setup and you will have your address to transfer your Ark tokens to.

Desktop Wallet

The ARK Desktop Wallet is natively built for all major Operating Systems. Our full HD wallet meets the top security standards in the industry and supports the Ledger Nano S secure hardware wallet.

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ARK wallets connect to fully synced network peers removing the need to download the full blockchain. With the ARK wallet you are up and running as soon as it's installed, no more syncing! And, with 8 second block times you can actually see your transactions occur in real time! No more checking in every 30 minutes to see if your transactions were confirmed.

ICO Details

The Arc ICO ended on December 11, 2016. The sale raised 1,279.67BTC, ($998,000 USD, at the time) which was below the project's target of 2,000 BTC. After much community deliberation, the team decided to proceed with their roadmap while offering optional refunds to any investors who wanted them.

ARK tokens were distributed at the time the genesis block was forged which was earlier this year. If the funding goal was not reached, the plan was to return investments to participants in the form of a full refund. However, as previously mentioned, a decision was made to simply offer investors the option to request a refund; Ark retained most of the funds raised during the ICO.

24 hours after the conclusion of the token exchange, 20% of the funds were released from escrow to the ARK development team. These initial funds were used to pay for corporate formation fees, early developer hiring, the organization of a legal team, and other business related payments.

The remaining funds have and will continue to be used to build the ARK network, develop SmartBridge links with other blockchain networks, manufacture Smartcards, and promote ARK services.

Install ARK in Ledger

The Ledger Nano S manages Ark token. It works on Windows (7+), Mac (10.8+), Linux. It requires one USB port to plug your Ledger Nano S or your Blue. it doesn't work on Android and iOS. Be careful, this application doesn't work with a Ledger Wallet application but with the Ark Client software you need to install.

The Nano, the Blue and the HW.1 don't support Ark.

To create and launch your Ark wallet:

1. install the Ark Client software on your computer

You need to have installed at least the version 1.3.2 or to update the Ark client if you already have it in a lower version by clicking on "New version available" in the upper left corner.

A security warning may prompt from your Windows or Mac system stating that they do not know the publisher. Click on "more information" to go on installing the software.

2. install the Ark application on your device via the Ledger Manager

Launch the Ledger Manager (click to see how to install and use it if you don't have it installed yet)

Connect your Nano S, enter your PIN, and stay on the dashboard.

Click on the green bottom arrow icon near the Ark logo. Do not hesitate to scroll down if you do not see the application. If you still do not see it, please update your device.

Confirm the installation when required on your device.

Quit the Ledger Manager

These 2 first steps are only required once. Now everything is ready to manage your Arkaccount.

3. Once these apps are installed, open your Ark wallet:

Launch the Ark Client software on your computer

Open your Ark application on the device itself

Check that the "Browser support" setting of this Ark application is disabled

Ark> Settings > Browser support

ON A NANO S

- scroll with the right button to find the "settings", press both buttons to open them

- scroll with the right button to find the "browser support", press both buttons to open it

- select NO by pressing both buttons to disable the browser support

A new wallet shows up

Click on the title of the wallet or on the address to see the wallet details and use it

For each sending transaction, the Ledger device will ask you to verify the details of your transaction (amount, fees, address) before confirming. Press right button on the Nano S, tap on the Blue.

The following guide has been pusblished by the ARK team (https://blog.ark.io/full-ledger-nano-s-hardware-wallet-guide-for-ark-7bf7bfff4cef) :

3.1 Sending ARK to another ARK address

In order to send your ARK from your Ledger Nano ARK address, click on the send icon at the top right of the desktop wallet. Then input the address you are sending to and enter the amount of ARK you would like to send.

After you are done click on 'Sign with ledger' button (notice: since we are using Ledger now, there is no need to input your passphrase as this is now handled inside your Ledger device).

After you click on 'Sign with Ledger' check your Ledger device, a text will be shown. Operation: 'Transfer' the Ledger will now show you where you are sending to. To authorize the transaction click on right Ledger button, to reject the transfer click on left Ledger button.

If you click on the right button, you will authorize it. Now looking back at the desktop wallet you will notice the summary of the transaction. To execute it just click on the 'Send' button and that is it!

3.2 Voting With Your Ledger Wallet

In order to vote from your Ledger Nano ARK address, click on VOTES from the ARK address you wish to vote from inside the desktop wallet. Then click the 'ADD DELEGATE' button.

Now you have 2 options, you can either choose from a drop down menu (the 1st line, a list of currently forging delegates) or write the delegate name you wish to vote for (2nd line).

Now a delegate will be added to the voting list. But we still have to verify and sign a voting transaction to confirm your vote. Click on the 'VOTE' button.

Now we need to sign the transaction with Ledger. A popup will now show in the desktop wallet. Click on the 'SIGN WITH LEDGER' button, and look on your Ledger device where it will say, 'Vote' with an overview of the voting TX. Click on right button to authorize or left button to deny voting TX.

Once you confirm on the Ledger device, you will see an overview of the voting transaction in the Desktop wallet — click on the 'SEND NOW!' button to confirm voting TX — that is it!

3.3 Changing Vote (Unvoting) With Your Ledger Wallet

If you want to change your vote from your Ledger ARK address, the steps are the same as voting with your Ledger. Click on an ARK Ledger address you wish to change your vote for, and click on the VOTES tab, then untick the box next to the delegate you are currently voting for, then click on the 'VOTE' button.

Now a popup will show in the desktop wallet. Click on the 'SIGN WITH LEDGER' button, then confirm on your Ledger device using the right button.

Now you will see an overview of the un-voting transaction on the Desktop wallet — click on the 'SEND NOW!' button to confirm your vote removal TX.

Now if you want to change your vote wait for 10–15 seconds, and click on your current Ledger ARK address in the left menu (the one you were un-voting from) to update the view of the voting list — it should be empty now. If still not visable, simply restart your wallet. If you want to vote again, just follow the steps for voting under 3.2 of this section!

3.4 Multiple Ark Ledger Addresses

As you will notice, once you first start using your Ledger with Ark you will see on the main screen of the desktop wallet, '1 Accounts' listed.

After you start using the 1st Ledger Nano ARK address (sending transactions out/voting/sending to another address) and you quit or restart the ARK desktop wallet, the next time you open your wallet with the ledger connected you will now see '2 Accounts'.

You might be wondering what is that? Do not worry, this is normal. ARK and Ledger support BIP44 proposal, meaning your one Ledger device can have thousands of ARK addresses derived from 1 master passphrase.

So you can have and use as many ARK Ledger addresses as you want — if you want more, start using the 2nd address (after one transaction out). Once you start your ARK desktop wallet again, there will now be '3 Accounts', and this continues for as many accounts as you want!

To send from any of the Ledger ARK addresses click on 'Ledger Nano S' and on the left you will see a list of current ARK Ledger Nano S addresses.

That is all for now! If you have further questions check the FAQ in the section below.

HOW DOES IT WORK

The Ark Client is an account manager, where you can send and receive Ark transactions, vote and check your balance.

This application is published by the Ark team.

Using a Ledger Nano S to manage Ark means that your private keys and sensitive operations are protected inside the Secure element of the device. They are not exposed online.

For each sending transaction, your application will ask you to verify it on your device: your device will display the amount, recipient address and you will have to manually sign by confirming everything is alright on the device.

The Ark Ledger support is a Beta one. You'll find more details on the Ark blog to use it and understand everything about it.

ARK Resources

ARK Official Website

ARK Blog

ARK Forum

ARK Shop

ARK Facebook

ARK Twitter

ARK Youtube

ARK Reddit

ARK Github

ARK Slack

How To Buy ARK?

Buy ARK in Bittrex

To buy Ark with Bittrex, first create a Bittrex account. If you already have one, skip this step. Next, deposit some Bitcoin or another coin you have into the Wallets tab on the top bar (near the left side.)

To do this, search the coin you are wanting to deposit, and push the + button alongside it.

You may need to push "Generate New Address". After that is done, deposit the desired amount by sending to that address. Wait for it to confirm. If you have deposited a coin other than Bitcoin, sell that through Bittrex before continuing.

Navigate to the Bitcoin Markets Tab on the top left.

In the search box, type ARK and click it. You should see a page like this appear.

Scroll down and you should see a BUY ARK and a SELL ARK.

Go to BUY and click MAX (or type in how much Ark you would like). For Price, this is what you would buy the Ark at. I recommend putting Last for the fastest and cheapest option. After you have purchased it, go back to the Wallets tab you were at before, and you should see your shiny new Ark! For withdrawal, push the - and paste in your Ark address from your wallet.

How To Earn ARK?

Ark's main appeal and the reason it could potentially revolutionize the cryptocurrency market and, more specifically, the blockchain technology which underpins it, is its ability to link the various competing blockchain networks together and bridge the gap, so to speak, between them.

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This is a big deal because, without projects like Ark, coins such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Lisk, to use three notable examples, cannot be interoperable on the same blockchain because the technology is incompatible.

Ark changes that by utilising SmartBridges, making an interconnected ecosystem of blockchains possible. It also opens up a whole world of other possibilities such as being able to trigger events on other blockchains, to give you an idea of how big this could be and what could be done with it, the Ark blog lists the following examples:

If you wanted to trigger an ETH smart contract but hold ark, you could just send the instructions through ark SmartBridge, right in the wallet to trigger the event.

You want to issue a record entry in Factom, but you only hold ARK. So you would go to your ARK wallet, enter the correct info and instructions for the FCT chain via the SmartBridge tab.

I want to send 10 ARK to my ETH wallet. This would require an encoded listener with a back-end ability to exchange currencies. Once I send my 10 ARK to my ETH wallet, the encoded listener sees this TX (transaction) as an exchange function and acts accordingly.

One of the key attributes of Ark is the speed at which transactions are processed on the blockchain. The website claims Ark's Core is configured to produce ultra-fast transactions with eight second block times – this is well above what Bitcoin, Ethereum or pretty much any other altcoin on the market can achieve and, as such, gives Ark a strong advantage over many more established coins.

Additionally, Ark is highly scalable meaning higher throughput is available whenever ARK needs it so as Ark becomes more popular and more transactions are taking place per second, the infrastructure can still maintain its impressive processing speed.

Another innovative feature of Ark is the democratic way in which the project is run. ARK provides a more decentralized voting system than other DPoS (Delegated Proof of Stake) consensus models. Voting weight is divided across all votes instead of assigning 100% weight to each vote, making it nearly impossible for a takeover of the entire network.

The rewards process in Ark works as follows:

Accounts vote with their Ark for delegates.

The delegates with the most votes (the top 51) are allowed to forge new blocks.

For each forged block a delegate gets a reward

The delegate can decide to pay forward some rewards to his voters

Read here about the delegation process and here about the forging process.

We think Ark is a very promising project with a strong core team of developers which has the potential to revolutionise the cryptocurrency market.

Where To Spend ARK?

You have to obtain ARK on an exchange or from a current holder of ARK tokens. The current exchanges ARK is listed on are:

Bittrex

Cryptopia

Litebit

Coss

Coinspot

Coinswitch

The main exchange with the most daily volume is Bittrex. You will have to obtain Bitcoin (BTC) first and send it to Bittrex. After that you can trade your BTC for ARK. Other exchanges like Cryptopia and Coss offer other token pairings such as ETH-ARK and USDT-ARK.

What Is ARK Mining?

There is no mining in ARK but you can vote for delegates.

How To Vote or Un-Vote an ARK Delegate

ARK uses DPoS (Delegated Proof of Stake) consensus in order to produce / confirm blocks (read ARK voting explained to learn more).

You can use your ARK to vote or un-vote a delegate. In this short guide we'll show you how you can vote (cast a vote towards the delegate you choose — whether it is yourself or another community member you wish to support, like projects, pools, or a friend, or to un-vote a delegate you are already voting for in case you decide you want to change the vote to someone else.

Voting with your ARK can provide you with extra ARK due to the forging rewards that are processed by delegates. Rewards are awarded to 51 top ranked active delegates.

First if you haven't, you will need to download and install the Ark Desktop Client from here : https://github.com/ArkEcosystem/ark-desktop/releases , and then import and access the wallet you want to vote from.

If you want to register a delegate yourself, you should follow this guide first :

https://blog.ark.io/how-do-i-register-as-an-ark-delegate-133ed2bf218

Some basic voting info :

- 1 ARK ADDRESS CAN VOTE FOR ONLY 1 DELEGATE AT A TIME (if you wish to vote for more than 1 delegate, split you wallet in more ARK addresses and repeat the vote process — for example, send the amount you wish to vote from the second wallet to the second wallet,

- 1 ARK EQUALS A VOTING WEIGHT OF 1. The more ark you hold, the more weight you hold in your possession — but note that if you split the wallet your voting splits with it. For example, if you have 1,000 ARK your voting power is equal to 1,000 ARK, if you split that in to 2 equal wallets each having 500 ARK the voting power of the 1st wallet will be 500 ARK and the 2nd one 500 ARK.

- EACH VOTE OR UN-VOTE COSTS 1 ARK. When you vote for a delegate it costs 1 ARK. When you un-vote, the cost is the same 1 ARK.

Latest ARK News

ARK Attending and Sponsoring JSHacks

ARK is proud to be a sponsor of JSHacks "Bucharest Blockchain Edition", a JavaScript hackathon in Romania — Bucharest, running from the 20th through the 22nd of October 2017.

This is the second large hackathon that ARK has sponsored and attended. The ARK team members that will be attending consist of Lars, Francois, and Stefan.

One of ARK's main goals of this event is to present a blockchain workshop. François-Xavier Thoorens, ARK's Head of Development, will be running the workshop and giving developers an insight on blockchain technology. This workshop encourages developers to become part of this fascinating technology, and make ARK more well-known in developer communities.

ARK's vision in the long term is a vibrant community of developers and ARK core developers that work on open-source projects together, while growing the ARK Ecosystem and aiming to improve our everyday lives.

The New ARK Website

The website has been totally redesigned & re-coded. The previous version used Wordpress for CMS. The current version does not rely on any CMS or DB. It is simple, minimalist, and clean HTML5 / CSS3 / JS, for a totally new look which is more inline with what we are, and what we aim to achieve.

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Simple SVG animation on the front page background gives a bit of dynamic Web 3.0 presence without becoming distracting. The inner-pages sport a slight graphic animation also.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


A Safe Space is in place at Sydney Square and in Kings Cross to help vulnerable young people who may be intoxicated or affected by drugs on Friday and Saturday nights.
Residents, workers and visitors have a right to enjoy safe streets within the City of Sydney, regardless of the time of day.
We are committed to making our streets as safe as possible.
Part of our commitment is the installation of street safety cameras, which is traditionally a State Government responsibility but due to a lack of funding over the past 10 years the City has instead ensured their installation. The Federal Government rejected the City's appeal for new camera funding.


Grace Cottage is situated in Universitas Ridge, easily accessible from the N1 - the University, Medi Clinic, Universitas Hospital, Sports Stadiums, Mimosa Mall and the Waterfront.
Grace Cottage offers luxury self catering units. The double unit has a double bed with a couch, table with chairs, TV with full DSTV and a bathroom with a bath and a fully equipped kitchen. The family unit is luxurious with a "queen size" double bed and an adjoining room with 2 single "bunk beds", comfortable chairs and a table, TV with full DSTV. The unit has a bathroom with a shower and a fully equipped kitchen. Braai facilities available. Secure under roof parking with an electric gate.


With millions of Aussies playing sport every year, and the most popular sports being those of high impact, sporting injuries are extremely common. But which sporting injuries are the most common, and how do we treat them once they happen on the field?
*All information was sourced from St John Ambulance.
For more information and advice, please visit St John Ambulance.
Please visit Sports Medicine Australia to find First Aid courses in your area.


text:
package com.ctrip.zeus.service.model.handler.impl;

import com.ctrip.zeus.dao.entity.*;
import com.ctrip.zeus.dao.mapper.SlbArchiveSlbMapper;
import com.ctrip.zeus.dao.mapper.SlbSlbMapper;
import com.ctrip.zeus.dao.mapper.SlbSlbStatusRMapper;
import com.ctrip.zeus.exceptions.ValidationException;
import com.ctrip.zeus.model.model.Slb;
import com.ctrip.zeus.service.model.VersionUtils;
import com.ctrip.zeus.service.model.handler.SlbSync;
import com.ctrip.zeus.support.ObjectJsonWriter;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Component;

import javax.annotation.Resource;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.List;

/**
 * Created by zhoumy on 2015/9/29.
 */
@Component("slbEntityManager")
public class SlbEntityManager implements SlbSync {
    @Resource
    private SlbSlbMapper slbSlbMapper;

    @Resource
    private SlbArchiveSlbMapper slbArchiveSlbMapper;

    @Resource
    private SlbSlbServerRMaintainer slbSlbServerRMaintainer;

    @Resource
    private SlbSlbStatusRMapper slbSlbStatusRMapper;

    @Override
    public void add(Slb slb) throws Exception {
        slb.setVersion(1);
        SlbSlb record = parseSlb(slb.getId(), slb);
        if (slb.getId() == null || slb.getId().equals(0L)) {
            slbSlbMapper.insert(record);
            slb.setId(record.getId());
        } else {
            slbSlbMapper.insertIncludeId(record);
        }

        slbArchiveSlbMapper.insert(SlbArchiveSlb.builder().
                slbId(slb.getId()).
                createdTime(new Date()).
                version(slb.getVersion()).
                hash(VersionUtils.getHash(slb.getId(), slb.getVersion())).
                content(ContentWriters.writeSlbContent(slb)).
                build());

        SlbSlbStatusR target = SlbSlbStatusR.builder().
                slbId(slb.getId())
                .offlineVersion(slb.getVersion()).
                        onlineVersion(0).
                        build();
        slbSlbStatusRMapper.insertOrUpdate(target);
        slbSlbServerRMaintainer.insert(slb);
    }

    @Override
    public void update(Slb slb) throws Exception {
        SlbSlbStatusR check = slbSlbStatusRMapper.selectOneByExample(new SlbSlbStatusRExample().createCriteria().andSlbIdEqualTo(slb.getId()).example());
        if (check.getOfflineVersion() > slb.getVersion()) {
            throw new ValidationException("Newer slb version is detected.");
        }

        if (!check.getOfflineVersion().equals(slb.getVersion())) {
            throw new ValidationException("Incompatible slb version.");
        }

        slb.setVersion(slb.getVersion() + 1);
        slbSlbMapper.updateByPrimaryKeyWithBLOBs(parseSlb(slb.getId(), slb));

        slbArchiveSlbMapper.insert(SlbArchiveSlb.builder().
                slbId(slb.getId()).
                createdTime(new Date()).
                version(slb.getVersion()).
                hash(VersionUtils.getHash(slb.getId(), slb.getVersion())).
                content(ContentWriters.writeSlbContent(slb)).
                build());

        slbSlbServerRMaintainer.refreshOffline(slb);

        check.setOfflineVersion(slb.getVersion());
        slbSlbStatusRMapper.insertOrUpdate(check);
    }

    @Override
    public void updateStatus(List<Slb> slbs) throws Exception {
        if (slbs.size() == 0) return;
        Long[] slbIds = new Long[slbs.size()];

        SlbSlbStatusR[] dos = new SlbSlbStatusR[slbs.size()];
        for (int i = 0; i < dos.length; i++) {
            slbIds[i] = slbs.get(i).getId();
            dos[i] = SlbSlbStatusR.builder().slbId(slbs.get(i).getId()).onlineVersion(slbs.get(i).getVersion()).build();
        }
        Slb[] array = slbs.toArray(new Slb[slbs.size()]);
        slbSlbServerRMaintainer.refreshOnline(array);
        slbSlbStatusRMapper.batchUpdateSlbOnlineVersion(Arrays.asList(dos));
    }

    @Override
    public int delete(Long slbId) throws Exception {
        slbSlbServerRMaintainer.clear(slbId);
        slbSlbStatusRMapper.deleteByExample(new SlbSlbStatusRExample().createCriteria().andSlbIdEqualTo(slbId).example());
        int count = slbSlbMapper.deleteByPrimaryKey(slbId);
        slbArchiveSlbMapper.deleteByExample(new SlbArchiveSlbExample().createCriteria().andSlbIdEqualTo(slbId).example());
        return count;
    }

    private SlbSlb parseSlb(Long slbId, Slb slb) throws Exception {
        return slb == null ? null
                : SlbSlb.
                builder().
                id(slbId).
                name(slb.getName()).
                status(slb.getStatus()).
                version(slb.getVersion()).
                createdTime(new Date()).
                content(ObjectJsonWriter.write(slb)).build();
    }
}


Profile Response – Wayne Beck, Dr. Bob's House Akron, OH | How Will We Live Tomorrow?
Dr. Robert Smith is one of the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, which began in Akron in 1935. Dr. Bob died in 1950, and his home turned over twelve times, eventually becoming a fraternity house, until a non-profit foundation purchased the house in 1984 to preserve it. Dr. Bob's House received National Historic Landmark designation in 2012.
The house is open 364 days a year. Volunteers do all the maintenance and provide 15 to 20 tours a day. During Founder's Week, in early June, 20,000 people visit Akron to participate. When I ascended the twelve steps to the house on a hot Friday afternoon, a group of volunteers were landscaping the garden. Inside, Wayne Beck gave me a private tour.
Wayne, 59, is a graphic designer with a trio of sparkling earrings who's been a volunteer for the past five years. He lost permanent employment prior to recovering from alcoholism. Volunteering helps him focus on the program and gives him valuable experience while he seeks a full time position.
Dr. Bob's house was built in 1915, on a brick paved side street when Akron was emerging as the Rubber Capital of the World. It is a straightforward two-story structure with wide front porch, Mission-style gumwood trim, and well-proportioned, modest rooms. In the Inglenook end of the living room, the Bible on display is open to Annie Smith's favorite Bible verse, James Chapter 2, verse 17: Faith without works is death.
Wayne augments Dr. Bob's story with personal vignette, which seems appropriate since AA is a confessional program. People learn to trust others and lean on them rather than their addiction. "My brother came to me and asked 'Am I an alcoholic?' His four-year-old daughter had given him shot glasses as a Christmas gift, which he took as a hint. "Of course, I said, 'it's not for me to say, but if you have to ask the question, you probably know the answer.' Alcoholism is genetic, it runs in our family." Wayne's grandfather died from alcoholism, and his nephew recently got his second DUI.
Another bedroom is known as the surrender room, where visitors often recite the third step of AA's 12 steps: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him. Wayne stepped away. I spent a few minutes contemplating how alcoholism has affected my own family: alcoholic grandparents whom I never met, an alcoholic father who was so vital and generous, expect when he wasn't. Dr. Bob's brilliant program has helped millions directly, and even more indirectly.
This entry was posted in Responses and tagged AA, Akron OH, Dr. Bob's House. Bookmark the permalink.
Very well written article except for one easily made mistake. The co-founders are Bill Wilson and Dr. Robert Smith. No such person as Robert Wilson associated with the home.
Oops! Thanks for the correction. I edited it.
Wayne – Glad that you liked the article. As you know I am on the road. Unfortunately I don't have any way to get you a printed copy.


Exactly one week ago tonight I sat in the stalls of the Edinburgh Playhouse (Row J : seat 17 with Mrs Villain beside me in seat 16) and witnessed what I reckon must be my 20th or so show by Nick Cave. While every single one of those love shows has been a standout in one way or another, thanks in part to his willingness to rotate the Bad Seeds who go out on tour and thanks in part to each show being about 50% new material and 50% from the now extensive back catalogue, there was something truly wonderful about this latest show. It wasn't a full Bad Seeds back-up nor was it a solo show – the five-man line-up ensured it pitched itself somewhere in-between. I came away thinking that it may even have been the best show I've ever seen from the great man – he was in fine voice, great humour and the arrangements he had made to some of the old classics had to be heard to be believed. I came away determined that he would be next up in the compilation album series but only after I'd recovered from the ordeal of whittling The Clash down to ten songs.
I always knew it would be a tough task choosing just ten songs for a best of Nick Cave compilation. It was never what to include, more what to leave out. That's why I expect so many "you should have included…" and "I would have had…" comments, but that's the fun of doing it, right?
I'm a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge Cave fan, but I came to him rather late. I'd heard bits and pieces of his work over time, but it wasn't until 'Murder Ballads' in 1996 that I began to engage with his music properly. Now I can't get enough of the guy.
So for better or worse, here's my contribution to JC's excellent series – ten brilliant tunes by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, a studio side and a live side. This was tough and the result is controversial (nothing from Let Love In – set the flame wars alight!) but I don't regret a single one of these choices.
'Henry's Dream' is one of my top 5 Bad Seeds albums, and this is one of the best opening tracks of any record. It's dark and menacing, but poetic and stirring. Nick's an amazing storyteller and few songs illustrate this better than Papa Won't Leave You, Henry. A great way to start.
Talking of dark and menacing, how about the tale of Elvis' birth delivered Cave-style? A fine example of how a rock band can create an uncomfortable atmosphere and mood. Nick's growling vocals, Barry Adamson's ominously brooding bass, Blixa Bargeld's scratchy guitars and Mick Harvey's pounding drums combine to create a song that's blacker than black.
But it's not all fire and brimstone, sometimes Nick writes the most beautiful and touching ballads. Here's one of his very best and one of my all-time fave songs of his.
'Murder Ballads' is equally disturbing and hilarious. It's also ridiculously misunderstood by people who don't get what Nick Cave is about. I loved this track on first listen and it still rates as my fave on the album.
The Grinderman project undoubtedly had an effect on Nick and his cohorts. 'Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!', the first Bad Seeds album following that side-project was altogether rougher, tougher and meaner than anything they'd done in a long time. Really hard to pick a single track from it, but I went for this one because I think it sums up the whole record. And the lyric "I feel like a vacuum cleaner/A complete sucker" cracks me up every time!
Cave has done countless versions of this track and each one is absolutely TERRIFYING. It's the first of his tracks I ever heard and I felt really uneasy on hearing it, but utterly intrigued at the same time. This version, from the 'Live Seeds' album, is very probably the best version of all.
Ridiculously upbeat song in which our Nick laments the loss of his muse and the onset of writer's block. Hard to believe Nick Cave made a gospel (or should that be 'gothpel') record, but here's proof that he can turn his hand to anything. I love this track so much.
As cutting comments on gated communities and the God-fearing citizens who populate them go, this song has to be the best, doesn't it? I remember he did a quite extraordinary rendition of this on Jools Holland's show around the time of its release. At the end of the show, Jools asked a few of his guests who their favourite act on the show was, and a soul singer I've forgotten remarked: "Oh, Nick Cave. So spiritual." She had completely missed the point. But isn't that Nick all over?
'Push The Sky Away' was/is an absolutely remarkable album. It's like Nick has found a new wave of creativity of late, you feel he could go on forever and always remain unique and relevant. Jubilee Street is as good a song as he's ever written.
I suppose if Nick Cave is going to be remembered for just one song, this will probably be it. It has become like an unofficial Australian National Anthem, but it's live that it takes on a new life and at times it's spine-tingling.
This will, I'm sure spark as lively a debate as last week's on The Clash. I'm gearing up to make my own contribution to the debate. I'm with The Robster on the particular live version of The Mercy Seat that he has selected….but only until the point when, and I really hope it is a when, the version being played on the current tour is given a release.
Big thanks Robster….and without giving anything away to T(n)VV readers, feel free to throw in that further contribution you mentioned in your e-mail.
Just watched 20000 days on earth. Strange to think of the king of southern gothic living in Brighton.
It's almost impossible to collect all the good songs on one record (remember last week). The Robster did a very good job – especially the live version of Mercy Seat. On my list would be his version of In The Ghetto and more from Kicking Against The Bricks, Stagger Lee, John Finn's Wife ….
I look forward to that Walter….
I was lucky enough to be at Nick's Edinburgh Playhouse gig too; I loved his story of how he wrote one of my favourite tracks ('From Her To Eternity') in bed with Anita Lane; that would have to feature for me. Also 'I Had a Dream Joe', (I love the lines "Where did you go, Joe, all dressed up in your ridiculous seersucker suit"). And I agree with Walter about In The Ghetto being on there too. But don't ask me what I'd take out, it's just too hard to decide!
another impossible artist to collect just 10 songs from, and i won't even try. but if i would try, however it would end every attempt would have "Watching Alice" on it. impossible without.
Stagger Lee. All I'm saying.
Great job! Love to see a track from Live at KCRW — T(n)VV material is usually very UK- if not Scottish-based, and KCRW is down the street from my house! One of the very best college/public radio stations in America, I'm proud to say.


When your long-term disability benefits are denied or terminated, this can cause severe financial hardship for you. In addition to having your benefit check not arrive each month, you are going to have to find an experienced long-term disability attorney to appeal the denial or file suit.
That attorney will cost money.
You will almost certainly suffer emotional distress over the loss of expected benefits.
What about a "bad faith" case against the insurance company? Can you file one?
If the policy is governed by ERISA, (most employer-sponsored policies are), then there is no chance of recovering anything other than what the insurance company already owes you. You may also be able to recover attorney fees, but that is discretionary with the judge.
So the answer is "no," you cannot recover "bad faith" damages in Virginia for a denial of long-term disability benefits that are governed by ERISA.
If the policy is an individual policy or a group policy not governed by ERISA, you can sue for "bad faith" in Virginia.
The bad news is that if you win, the only damages recoverable are your attorney fees; plus, it is a very high bar that you must reach to recover bad faith damages.
The bottom line is that the disability insurance companies have a huge economic advantage over you in these cases. They know that on their worst day the most they usually face in court is having to pay you what they owed you in the first place.


This certificate is designed to provide study in programming mobile devices such as the iPhone, iPad, Droid phones, and Microsoft phones. The certificate is open to all undergraduates. Students must maintain good academic standing in the university, achieve a minimum grade of C in each certificate course, and complete all certificate course work within six calendar years. All course requirements for the certificate must be completed at NIU. Depending upon a student's prior programming background, successful completion of deficiency courses may be required before the student is allowed to enroll in any certificate courses. With department approval, some or all of the certificate courses may be applied toward undergraduate degree requirements in the department. The Department of Computer Science reserves the right to limit enrollment in any of the certificate courses. Students should consult with the undergraduate certificate advisor prior to registering for any courses.


text:
Q: Differentiate and Integrate Further to my last question about the history of calculus terms, I am wondering about

*

*the etymology of differentiate

*the etymology of integrate

*why we speak of a "derivative", but we "differentiate" instead of "derive"

Please note that by "etymology" I mean the mathematical history of these terms.
This may get answered en route, but I am specifically interested in what (if any) relationship there may be between the ideas of "differentiating" (breaking apart) and "integrating" (putting together), and the fact that these two operations do in fact "undo" each other in mathematics, which is the essence of the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus.

EDIT: It just occurred to me that while "derivative" would seem to go with "derive", "differentiate" would go with "difference", and in fact "difference equations" were used by Leibniz when he developed calculus (although I don't know if he called them as such) - can anyone verify this?

A: Differentiate comes from the Latin calculus differentialis [differential method], coined by Gottfried Leibniz:

1684   G. Leibniz Acta Eruditorum 3 469   Ex cognito hoc velut Algorithmo, ut ita dicam, calculi hujus, quem voco differentialem, omnes aliae aequationes differentiales inveniti poſſunt per calculem communem, maximaeque & minimae, itemque tangentes haberi
[Just by knowing the algorithm, as I call it, of this method, which I call differential, all other differential equations can be solved by a common method, and maxima and minima, and tangents too, can be found]

The name comes from the infinitesimal differences (dx, dy, etc., in Leibniz' notation, also introduced in the 1684 paper) which are the basis of the method.
In English, the differential calculus was known at first as the method or doctrine of fluxions (Newton's terminology). Thus the OED's first citation for differential in English is:

1702   J. Ralphson Math. Dict. at Fluxions,   A different way..passes..in France under the Name of Leibnitz's Differential Calculus, or Calculus of Differences.

(If you have more of these kinds of question, you'll find Jeff Miller's site "Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics" a very helpful resource.)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
612 God Emperor Body
 Countless people in other regions could sense how terrifying and intense the battle at the main battle region was. Just the aura that they felt made them feel incredibly shocked. They all felt that they would not be able to deal with such terrifying power, and only Great Qin's Legatee would be able to face such a thing.
After sensing this incredibly terrifying power, Liu Ye's gaze became incredibly serious. He also felt a trace of worry as to whether Great Qin's Legatee would be able to resist it.
If he couldn't, they would lose this battle. Even though he used to be Great Qin's enemy, Great Qin was standing on China's side, so if he lost, things would be quite bad for China.
Back at the main battlefield, the world seemed to have gone dark, and all creatures seemed to have fallen silent. There was not even the sound of wind; there was only a five-colored pillar of light standing between the heavens and the earth, giving off an ocean-like aura.
"Skreeeeee!!" A massive bird's cry sounded out from within the pit, seeming to tear apart the heavens. Following this, a peacock giving off a five-colored divine light flew out of the pit. The five-colored divine light covered the entire land, and the massive aura seemed to cover the entire region, shaking the heavens and the earth.
This peacock was thousands of metres big, and seemed to be made of glass. It was incredibly beautiful, and on top of the peacock, Shama was standing there covered with blood, looking at Zhao Fu with eerie killing intent.
Shama had never expected that he would be forced by Zhao Fu to use his Clan Armament, the Divine Peacock Statue. Shama was not thinking about much and was just filled with fury, wanting to kill off Zhao Fu as soon as possible.
Looking at Zhao Fu, Shama once again attacked. The five-colored peacock flapped its wings, and a five-colored aura swept towards Zhao Fu like an ocean.
The five-colored ocean filled the entire sky and looked both beautiful and terrifying, and it seemed like it would disintegrate anything it came into contact with. The space around it continuously crumbled, and whenever the aura touched things like trees, the parts of the trees that were touched would instantly disappear as if they were wiped from existence.
The five-colored ocean quickly descended and inundated the land. Many people were caught in it, and they were killed before they could even cry out.
At the same time, Zhao Fu was also covered by this five-colored ocean, and such a monstrous attack was not something that an ordinary person could withstand; it was enough to decimate an army.
On the Chinese side, seeing that Zhao Fu had been covered by the five-colored ocean without any resistance, the Chinese players' hearts sank. Could it be that Great Qin's Legatee had died and that China had lost?
"Roar! Roar! Roar! Roar..."
Nine massive dragon roars rocked the heavens and the earth, and a golden light shot everywhere, dyeing half of the sky golden. Zhao Fu stood in the air above the five-colored ocean with nine golden dragons surrounding him. The five-colored ocean could not touch him at all, and Zhao Fu looked like a supreme emperor.
Even though Zhao Fu was unable to use his Nation Armament, he could use the Clan Armament. After all, the Clan Armament represented all of China, and he could use all of China's Fate.
Of course, the prerequisite was that he had to have the majority of the support of China, and that power had to be used against foreigners instead of against other Chinese people.
"We, Great Qin Legatee, request for China's Fate to be added unto Us to expel the foreign invaders!"
As Zhao Fu spoke, the entirety of China spoke, and all Chinese people received a system announcement. They immediately all consented, and countless traces of Fate flowed out from China's territory, madly gathering towards Zhao Fu.
The traces of Fate soon formed an ocean that flowed into Zhao Fu's body, while Zhao Fu automatically rose into the sky and gave off a brilliant golden light. He looked like a golden sun shining down on the earth, and the aura he gave off seemed to be able to destroy the heavens and the earth.
Seeing this, Shama understood that Zhao Fu had come prepared. However, he was not afraid as he could utilise India's Fate, and following this, the Fate from the various regions in India also gathered into an ocean and entered Shama's body, causing the five-colored divine light that the peacock gave off to become even more intense.
The terrifying auras of the two people covered the entire Midland Continent, and all countries and races could feel this immense power, causing people's bodies to tremble.
Everyone held their breaths. They had all been paying attention to this battle, as it was not just a battle between two large nations but also between two great ethnic groups. Both sides had unleashed their full power and gathered all of their countries' Fate for a final clash!
Zhao Fu and Shama stood facing each other in the sky, and the world seemed to be divided in half: one side was filled with a five-colored light while the other was filled with golden light.
Clang, clang, clang...
Zhao Fu moved first. The Sword Mark on the back of his hand flashed as five swords appeared around him. They were the Sky Demon Sword, Slaughtering Ghost Sword, Royal Wood Sword, Sin Dragon Sword, and Seraph Sword.
Under Zhao Fu's control, the five swords gave off thousand meter long sword light, filling the world with boundless sword qi. Everything around Zhao Fu was annihilated by the sword qi, with the ground below him being covered with sword gashes.
Boom!!
Zhao Fu controlled the boundless sword qi as he rushed at Shama. The five swords stayed beside him and also flew towards Shama. The massive amount of sword qi caused the surrounding air to explode, rocking even the surrounding regions.
Shama stood on the massive five-colored peacock and showed no signs of weakness as he charged over. He brought the terrifying five-colored ocean with him, giving off a shocking aura.
Boom!!!
A gigantic sound erupted as the five-colored ocean and boundless sword qi collided, and it was as if two worlds had collided.
The sword qi was incredibly sharp, being able to cut anything, and the five-colored aura was powerful enough to disintegrate anything it touched. As they clashed, there was no definite winner as the sword qi continuously shattered the five-colored aura, while the five-colored aura also disintegrated the sword qi.
Zhao Fu waved his hand, and the five swords beside him shot out a large amount of different-colored sword lights as they flew towards Shama and started to attack.
The swords turned into rays of light ad attacked the five-colored peacock from different positions at different times, drawing out sword gashes in the air.
Shama controlled the five-colored peacock to give out a five-coloured divine light to block those sharp swords. The peacock mainly used its claws and wings to continuously block the swords or send them flying back.
The resulting shockwaves were incredibly loud and caused the sky to continuously shake.
Seeing that only some light injuries had been dealt to the five-colored peacock, Zhao Fu narrowed his eyes and exuded a cold aura.
Roar! Roar! Roar...
Dragon roars sounded out as the nine golden dragons around Zhao Fu roared as they rushed towards the five-colored peacock. After leaving his side, they turned into 1,000 meter long golden dragons and madly attacked the five-colored peacock.
The golden dragons either used their bodies to slam into the peacock, sending it flying, or used their mouths to bite it, though such attacks were not too effective. Some other dragons wrapped around the peacock and constricted it.
Adding on the five swords that continued to attack, the five-colored peacock was now at a disadvantage and became covered with wounds.
Shama's expression became quite ugly, and he immediately yelled, "God Emperor Body!"
"Skreeeeee!!" the five colored peacock gave a loud cry and suddenly spread its wings, giving off an intense five-colored divine light and forcing the golden dragons and swords to retreat.
Following this, the gigantic five-colored peacock turned into a five-colored wave of light that entered Shama's body.
A world-destroying power exploded out, causing the surrounding 10,000 meters to collapse and disintegrate. The area around Shama became pitch-black as if he had turned into a black hole.
At that moment, a five-colored divine light burst out of the black hole, and a terrifying figure appeared at the center of the black hole. The figure gave off a majesti, holy aura, and it was wearing five-colored feather clothes. There was a five-colored eye on his forehead, and his body was surrounded by a five-colored glow. There was a two meter long stone staff in his hand, and he looked just like a god.
Zhao Fu looked at Shama and felt quite shocked - Shama's power was now many times more powerful than before, and he was using the Pillars of Ashoka as well.
Shama coldly looked at Zhao Fu and swung his stone staff. A five-colored light shot out, blasting the golden dragons and swords away.
Zhao Fu looked back at Shama and grabbed at the air, causing the five swords to fuse into one and the nine golden dragons to enter the sword, ultimately forming a golden dragon sword. It looked quite like the Sin Dragon Sword, but it was completely golden and was covered with dragon scales.
The sword also gave off a world-destroying aura, and it seemed as if a single trace of sword qi from it could split the world in half. It was now like a peerless god's sword.
As Zhao Fu held the sword, his aura became more powerful until it was not inferior to Shama's at all. The true battle had begun.
Shama took the initiative to attack, turning into a ray of light and rushing before Zhao Fu. He raised the stone staff and swung it at Zhao Fu, while Zhao Fu slashed with his sword in response.
Explosions continuously sounded out in the sky, and the destructive aura made countless people feel incredibly shocked. This completely surpassed a battle between humans, and it was like a battle between gods.
Zhao Fu held an advantage, as China's Clan Armament was stronger than India's Clan Armament, and China also possessed an advantage in terms of Fate. Thus, as they fought, Shama became more and more at a disadvantage.
Shama understood this, so he decided not to continue on like this, instead gathering all of his strength within the five-colored eye on his forehead.
The eye continuously spun within its socket and shot out a five-colored light. Even though it was incredibly beautiful, an aura of destruction and annihilation accompanied it, filling the western side of the Midland Continent. Everyone felt a chill as if they had fallen into an icy cavern. This eye was a forbidden eye.
Zhao Fu could sense the immense danger, and his hairs stood on end as he also felt a chill within his heart.
At that moment, the golden dragon said seriously, "Zhao Fu, give your body to me and let me control it!"
Zhao Fu quickly thought about this before agreeing. Following this, the golden dragon's consciousness entered Zhao Fu's head, and Zhao Fu's eyes had four pupils: a pair of blood-red pupils and a pair of black pupils. Even though there was no change to his power, his aura greatly changed.
Shama unleashed his attack and yelled, "Ashes to Ashes!"
The entire world trembled, as if in terror, and the five-coloured eye stared at Zhao Fu and gave off massive amounts of five-coloured light. Everything around Shama was obliterated, and anything that this eye hit would be completely erased. Even gods would stand no chance.
"Heaven and Earth Slash!" At that moment, Zhao Fu, or rather, the golden dragon, roared and slashed out.
The attack looked just like an ordinary person swinging the sword, and Zhao Fu felt quite surprised, not understanding what was going on.
However, the world soundlessly seemed to have been split in two. The sky and earth were split into two: there was a straight line cutting through the sky, while there was a bottomless gash on the ground that extended for as far as the eye could see.
Shama stared in shock - his body had been completely split in two.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Food fair raises £1,300 for hall makeover
A FESTIVE food fair in Goring raised £1,300 towards improving the village hall.
The 10th annual event, which took place at the hall off High Street, featured 22 stalls by local suppliers including Pierreponts café, the Goring Grocer, South Stoke Community Shop, the Ridgeway brewery in South Stoke and the Hempen organic hemp farm at Goring Heath. Organisers said the takings were strong despite a slightly reduced footfall compared with previous years.
The proceeds will go towards a long-running refurbishment of the building.
The hall stage, lighting and sound systems have just been upgraded and other improvements include the addition of a garden room at the rear and the renovation of the clock on the roof. Hall trustee Sally Wicks said: "The food fair went extremely well. We had a healthy turnout and the stallholders were very pleased with sales while visitors enjoyed the variety on offer.
"It has proven popular over the years and we're proud of how many of our sellers have grown their businesses. We'd like to thank everyone who supported us this year."


A couple of fellow apprentices who are in that class with me and – and they – they're female, and they've found it hard to approach the lecturer, and they found it hard to approach anyone else except me, because from the day we met I sort of acted like their brother or, you know, whatever, just being a clown and, you know, but being part of – of their life sort of thing and integrating myself with them. And they approached me, "Oh, how do I get a tutor?" So I – I'm helping them in – in that sense, and I've also let them know, and now they know, that once they made a phone call like, "Oh, they're all there to help". And they're doing heaps well now, like they – and they – they're coming to class more because they skipped a few classes because they're a bit unsure of whether they were doing studies right and couldn't ask the lecturer, they were a bit shy and shame job. And the shame and shyness type of things is a – is a big one, and it's hard to get over that. The only way I've learnt to is by being – the personality I have is – is up front and I'll, you know, if I see you being shy in a corner I'll come and confront you and – and tell you my name and who I am and what I do, and just let me know your name. And generally that breaks the ice. And I think that's where the lecturer has failed with these girls, is she hasn't made her – she is approachable from my point of view, but from those girls' point of view they haven't met her in a – in a formal sense of meeting, and have a – haven't had that. You know, so for them to come and ask this person they don't know .
So they haven't built a relationship?
A relationship, yeah, yeah. And I think that's the only way to get over that shame job shy stuff is to build a rapport, a relationship, is from day one don't have students come into class and it's not until six weeks later that you finally go over and say, "Karen is it? Karen? Yeah, yeah, Karen". Like it's six – already – I've been coming to your class for six weeks and now you just know my name? Like that's how they – that's how we feel. It's like, yeah, "You don't know me, I don't know you, so why would I ask you anything?" And it's hard. So – but, that being said, that's – that's their experience, and this is what I've witnessed. I'm lucky to have the personality that I have and just do what I do. But the experience here has been great.


text:
Władimir Nikołajewicz Czerniajew, ros. Владимир Николаевич Черняев – radziecki skoczek narciarski, na arenie krajowej reprezentujący Kazachską SRR. Piętnastokrotny mistrz ZSRR w skokach narciarskich, wielokrotny reprezentant ZSRR w konkursach Pucharu Świata i Turnieju Czterech Skoczni, uczestnik mistrzostw świata w narciarstwie klasycznym w Oslo i mistrzostw świata w lotach narciarskich w Oberstdorfie i Harrachovie. Jego brat, Anatolij, również był skoczkiem.

Życiorys
Pochodzi z Ałmaty. Był wychowankiem szkoły sportowej "Rezerwy pracy" w Ałmaty, utworzonej w roku 1974. Uczestniczył w edycji Turnieju Czterech Skoczni 1977/1978, zajmując w klasyfikacji końcowej 34. miejsce, które okazało się najlepszym w historii startów Czerniajewa w TCS. Najlepszy wynik uzyskał w Garmisch-Partenkirchen, zajmując 23. miejsce. 8 lutego 1978 zajął 4. miejsce w konkursie Uniwersjady w Szpindlerowym Młynie. W tym samym roku zdobył złoty i brązowy medal na 4. Zimowej Spartakiadzie narodów ZSRR.

Dobrymi wynikami popisał się w Turnieju Czeskim 1981, gdzie zajął 9. miejsce w klasyfikacji cyklu. Szóste miejsce uzyskane w konkursie w Libercu okazało się najlepszym w historii startów Czerniajewa w Pucharze Świata. Występy w sezonie 1980/81, zwieńczone zwycięstwem w 8. Spartakiadzie Armii Zaprzyjaźnionych, pozwoliły mu wystartować w mistrzostwach świata w lotach w Oberstdorfie. Uzyskał on końcową notę 840 punktów, zajmując 20. miejsce. W rozgrywkach Pucharu Świata 1980/1981 zakończył w klasyfikacji generalnej na 24. miejscu. W sezonie 1981/1982 Czerniajew obniżył swoje notowania. Wystartował na mistrzostwach świata w Oslo uzyskując 13. miejsce w konkursie na skoczni dużej i 52. lokatę w konkursie na skoczni normalnej. Zajął 59. miejsce w klasyfikacji generalnej PŚ. W sezonie 1982/1983 wystartował w mistrzostwach świata w lotach w Harrachovie, zajmując 28. miejsce w turnieju.

Po sezonie 1983/1984, zwieńczonym występem w Turnieju Czterech Skoczni i zwycięstwem w Pucharze Europy w Neustadt, Czerniajew rzadziej występował na arenie międzynarodowej. Na krótko powrócił do Pucharu Świata w sezonie 1986/87, występując w próbie przedolimpijskiej w Calgary i w konkursach na kontynencie amerykańskim. Ostatnimi wystąpami międzynarodowymi Czerniajewa okazały się zawody Pucharu Europy w Neustadt i Schoenwaldzie.

Puchar Świata w skokach narciarskich

Miejsca w klasyfikacji generalnej
 sezon 1979/1980: -
 sezon 1980/1981: 24. miejsce
 sezon 1981/1982: 59. miejsce
 sezon 1982/1983: -
 sezon 1983/1984: -
sezon 1986/1987: -

Mistrzostwa Świata
 Indywidualnie
 1982 Oslo (NOR) – 13. miejsce (duża skocznia), 52. miejsce (normalna skocznia)

Turniej Czterech Skoczni

Miejsca w klasyfikacji generalnej

 sezon 1977/1978: 34. miejsce
 sezon 1978/1979: 50. miejsce
 sezon 1979/1980: 69. miejsce
 sezon 1980/1981: 51. miejsce
 sezon 1981/1982: 40. miejsce
 sezon 1982/1983: 41. miejsce
 sezon 1983/1984: 48. miejsce

Mistrzostwa świata w lotach narciarskich

 1981 (Oberstdorf): 20. miejsce
 1983 (Harrachov): 21. miejsce

Ciekawostki
Nazwisko Władimira Czerniajewa widniało w rubryce klubu Dmitrija Czwykowa, byłego skoczka z Kazachstanu, reprezentującego kirgiskie barwy.

Przypisy

Linki zewnętrzne
 Profil na oficjalnej stronie FIS

Radzieccy skoczkowie narciarscy

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Our world has seen a technological explosion in the last decade and a half. We can connect in new and exciting ways that only the most devoted Trekkies could imagine. In half a minute any of us could be talking to someone on the other end of the world. It is truly amazing!
As so many of us are tethered to our phones, many of us worry about negative affects technology might be having on our brains and our ability to connect in real life. Is our digital connection diminishing our connections in real life?
We are not surprised to learn that the answer is yes. A study done by sociologists Thomas Brinall and Thomas Van Valey discovered that due to the pervasive use of the internet in education, communication and entertainment, face-to-face interaction among youth has decreased significantly. They went on to suggest that the decrease in the amount of time youth spend interacting face-to-face may eventually have "significant consequences for their development of social skills and their presentation of self." It might be affecting kids more than adults, but we can also see a loss of social interaction in our own lives. Several years ago, if we were waiting for a bus or at the DMV, we were more inclined to interact with other people around us. Now, we all immediately go straight to our phones. Even at parties with friends, when we feel a little awkward or out of place, we reach to our phones instead of reaching out to another person.
The average American spends about 24 hours a week on their phone (2017 Digital Future Report, USC Annenberg). This can sound dire, but there are several things we can proactively do to start reconnecting deeply with others.
Get a group of friends together and try something new in your city – like a nature hike, a new local restaurant, a community theater. Start a book or movie club where you connect others by discussing ideas and themes that come out from the story.
Consider volunteering in your community. This will help you connect with others with similar interests and help you give back to others—both of which help build up your connection with others and your community.
Asking open-ended questions can help us connect with others. Open-ended questions are those that cannot be answered with a yes or a no. Ask someone what their thoughts or emotions were after an event; ask them to clarify what they mean when they give an opinion; what life situation is bringing them the most joy right now; what life situation in bringing them the most stress right now. Asking open ended questions helps us dig deeper into each other's lives.
If you or someone you love is experiencing social anxiety as they try to connect with people in real life, it might be time to consider getting help. Therapists trained in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Mindfulness can help change their patterns of thinking and how to monitor emotions.
We are made to connect and with technology we have some new and fantastic ways to connect digitally with the world. But we need to make sure we are still maintaining our real life connections. A little intentionality goes a long way!


When I turn on my phone, the screen icons and fonts have are enlarged? I have tried powering down a couple of times and when I power up everything is enlarged.
You have accidentally turned on Zoom mode, which is an accessibility feature for people with poor vision.
He asked how to do a reset and I told him. You might want to use those downvotes a little more judiciously.
The subject of the question doesn't match with what he asked in the body -- should we edit it so that it matches up? From the body, he already reset it ("I have tried powering down a couple of times"), so I don't think that's actually what he's trying to ask.
Thanks guys. The three finger tap trick did it for me! Wish I had known this hours ago!


Published: Sept. 1, 2018 at 04:08 p.m.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have a youth movement at the backup quarterback position behind starter Ben Roethlisberger.
The Steelers on Saturday announced the roster moves to establish the initial 53-man roster, and veteran backup signal-caller Landry Jones was among the cuts.
With Jones no longer on the roster, the Steelers are counting on second-year pro Josh Dobbs and rookie Mason Rudolph, the team's third-round pick.
Pittsburgh is taking a calculated gamble by leaning on youth over experience, as Jones was a capable fill whenever Roethlisberger missed time. Since joining the Steelers in 2013 as a fourth-round pick, Jones has appeared in 19 games with five starts, going 3-2 when thrust in a starting role. He finished his time in Pittsburgh passing for 1,310 yards and eight touchdowns with seven interceptions.
The Steelers are likely to rely on Dobbs as Roethlisberger's primary backup as Rudolph continues to develop in his rookie season.


Geneva, 22 Sep 2017 – ACT Alliance joined with other NGOs today in presenting a statement at the UNHCR Standing Committee session. The statement calls upon governments in the Global North to be more active in addressing the global refugee crisis and emphasizes the importance of civil society participation and inputs from the regions in the formulation of the Global Compact on Refugees. The NGOs' statement praises the progress in implementing the UNHCR's Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) in Africa and Latin America.
The consultations for a Global Compact on Refugees are a direct outcome of last year's summit on large movements of refugees and migrants at the UN General Assembly, which resulted in the New York Declaration. This declaration committed states to develop a Global Compact on Refugees and a Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. ACT Alliance, the largest protestant and orthodox network engaged in humanitarian, development and advocacy work in the world, has been at the forefront of coordinating global advocacy from its members and faith-based allies, as well as ensuring representation of inputs from regional and national levels.
ACT Alliance has a strong presence on the ground in Ethiopia, Somalia, Guatemala and other African and Latin American countries where pilot programmes are feeding into the CRRF process. ACT fully endorses the NGO statement, which noted the pilot programmes' contribution to legal reforms allowing refugees greater freedom of movement and access to education, work, and services, most notably in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania. However, the statement also highlighted the "pronounced regional imbalance […] in the design and implementation of the CRRF framework, which continues to focus on less-developed countries of first asylum.", and called upon developed states to assume greater responsibilities for refugee protection in order to ensure a truly comprehensive response.
The UNHCR Standing Committee meetings are convened in Geneva three times a year, examining thematic issues, as well as UNHCR's activities and programmes regionally and globally. They are attended by member states and other stakeholders, including NGOs active in refugee protection around the world. The International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA), of which ACT Alliance is a member, is a network for increased collaboration and coordination between NGOs and other humanitarian actors. ICVA coordinates the drafting of statements through a wide consultation with NGOs. Those statements are delivered at UNHCR events such as the Standing and Executive Committee meetings and aim to reflect the diversity of views within the NGO community.


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KeyForge to gra karciana autorstwa Richarda Garfielda wydana przez Fantasy Flight Games w 2018. Jest to pierwsza tzw. "unikalna" gra karciana, gdyż każda talia składa się z niepowtarzalnej kombinacji dostępnych kart.

Wydanie polskie ukazało się na początku 2019 nakładem wydawnictwa Rebel.

Gra zdobyła zarówno nagrody Fanów, jak i ekspertów Akademii, wybrane w konkursie Origins Awards 2019 za najlepszą kolekcjonerską grę karcianą.

Rozgrywka
Celem gry jest zbieranie Aemberu, surowca umożliwiającego wykucie klucza. Gracz, który zrobi to trzykrotnie jako pierwszy, wygrywa grę. Każdy z graczy rozpoczyna rozgrywkę z unikalną talią składającą się z 36 kart różnego rodzaju: postaci, artefaktów czy akcji.

W przeciwieństwie do gier takich jak Magic: The Gathering wystawianie kart z ręki do gry nie wymaga płacenia żadnego kosztu.

Serie kart
Gra Keyforge jest wydawana seriami:
 Zew Archontów (ang. Call of the Archons), 2018
 Czas Wstąpienia (ang. Age of Ascension), 2019
 Zderzenie Światów (ang. Worlds Collide), 2019
 Masowa Mutacja (ang. Mass Mutation), 2020
 Mroczny Przypływ (ang. Dark Tidings), 2021

Źródła

Kolekcjonerskie gry karciane
Gry fantasy
Gry fantastycznonaukowe


Chase Thomas is joined by sports writer Mike Piellucci to talk about the current state of the WWE product, what makes NXT or Smackdown Live the best program, the issues with Drew McIntyre as the top heel on RAW, the New Daniel Bryan as WWE World Champion, Becky Lynch vs. Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair at TLC, and what makes Johnny Gargano so good as a pro wrestler (1:00). Then, The Rich Eisen Show's Chris Brockman returns to talk about their love for Chilis, the Patriots coming out of the AFC this season, what is so scary about the Chargers, Kyle Shanahan for COTY, the issues with the Steelers, what makes the Broncos and Ravens fun down the stretch, Russell Wilson's MVP case, Aaron Rodgers' future in Green Bay and much more (60:00). You can follow Chase on Twitter, like him on Facebook, read him on his website, and even email him at chasethomaspodcast@gmail.com if that is something you would like to do, too.
Listen to WWE With Mike Piellucci of The Ringer and The Outline and NFL Hot Takes With Chris Brockman of The Rich Eisen Show (Ep. 230) now.


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ENRIQUE IGLESIAS Biography - Theater, Opera and Movie personalities
Biography » theater opera and movie personalities » enrique iglesias
Following in his father's footsteps as a sensual Latin vocalist, Enrique Iglesias became the most popular Latin singles artist during 1996, with five immense hits – "Por Amarte," "Si Tu Te Vas," "No Llores por Mi," "Experiencia Religiosa" and "Trapecista" – from his self-titled debut album, released in late 1995. The LP sold over one million copies.
He resurfaced in 1997 with Vivir; two years later, he scored an international smash with the single "Bailamos," followed by the release of Enrique. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide Enrique Iglesias was born 8 of May of 1975 in Madrid, Spain, though being yet very young, to the age of seven years, was went to live to Miami, Florida, where was educated, and learnt his second language, the English, through which already he has composed some of his songs. Enrique Iglesias is benefitted of has adopted the European culture and the English culture from his childhood, and takes advantage that fact to the maximum to give to his songs something that causes that like in both continents, which enchants to him, because he likes the idea of making music that it arrive to all the ears.
In 1995, to the 20-year-old age, edits his first disk, "Enrique Iglesias", which he had been preparing since he was an adolescent. The disk was a great success, and in few weeks got to be gold disk in Portugal. In total, his first disk has sold almost 6 million of copies around the world. With his second album obtained a great success too, and arrived to sell more than 5 million copies around the world.
Furthermore, Enrique has written some of the topics that he sings in his disks, which makes to him to express exactly what he wishes. In 1997 made his first world tour, "Vivir", with the one which traveled 13 countries, and in 1999 made the second, in the one which traveled Europe, Asia and America. All this has validated to him to obtain in 1996 the Grammy to the better Latin artist, and be nominated to the same premium the following year. It has obtained a great number of gold disks and platinum, and he has been deserved the title of be the more international Latin artist.
This is the album that is the most like me," says Enrique Iglesias. "I know it's a gamble but I have faith. If you want to be a success in anything, you have to take that big step." Escape (Interscope Records), to be released November 2001, will no doubt surprise his hardcore fans who made him the biggest-selling Spanish-language artist in the world as well as those who sent his first English-language album, 1999's Enrique, to double platinum (six million worldwide) and two of its singles to #1 on the pop chart. Why? Because other than on the album's first single, the intimate ballad "Hero" (to be released September 25, 2001), Enrique rocks with stadium-sized songs that reflect his love for the music he grew up with.
"I wasn't thinking of a trend. It was spontaneous. I didn't know where this album was going to go. I wrote 'Hero' first but what changed the direction was 'Don't Turn Off The Lights.' Suddenly Steve (Morales, co-producer/co-writer) and I were playing around with a drum machine and then we picked up guitars and what came out was so far from what I'd done before that we both said, 'What the hell is this?'" It was rock 'n' roll–big and intense. From "Don't Turn Off The Lights" (and its Spanish version, "No Apagues La Luz") to "Making Love For Fun," "I Will Survive" and "World Crashes Down," Iglesias challenges expectations, while displaying his prowess as a songwriter.
"I'm Latin and always will be but my music is not. Even when I sang only in Spanish, it was still pop. What made it Latin was that I was the guy singing. I've always said my influences are the musicians of the '80s: Dire Straits, The Police, U2, even Bruce Springsteen. What I like most about that music is that it was made to be played in a huge arena. I'm going to enjoy singing the songs on this album in concert more than any others because I can see thousands of people singing along. These are songs I imagine someone playing driving their car and just going nuts, beating on the wheel and singing out loud and having fun."
For Iglesias to take a big, new step forward would not astonish anyone who has studied his career. His fiercely independent streak and fearless nature stretches from shopping his first demos under a pseudonym to his Spanish-language triumphs which blazed the trail for others to follow to being one of the few pop artists in any language who writes most of his songs to a notorious radio and television appearance with shock jock Howard Stern. Even the choice of "Hero" as the initial single from Escape cuts against the grain; the rule is that a ballad is never an album's first single. Each of the releases from Enrique–the #1 hits "Bailamos" and "Be With You" (a.k.a. "Solo Me Importas Tu"), Top 30 "Rhythm Divine," his cover of Springsteen's "Sad Eyes" and his "Could I Have This Kiss Forever" duet with Whitney Houston (also on her 2000 Greatest Hits album)–were uptempo. "But there's something special about this song," Iglesias notes. "It feels so perfect. It's like a whisper in the ear directly from the heart. I want guys to say, 'That's what I wish I could say to my girlfriend' or a woman to say, 'I wish my guy would say that to me.'"
While "Hero" satisfies the romantic balladeer side of Iglesias, the rest of the album fuels his rock 'n' roll heart. "This was the most fun I've had doing an album. I felt something in the studio I'd never felt before–magic. It all clicked. I was so into it I practically lived in the studio. At one point I didn't leave for three days straight and I just slept on the sofa," he says, adding with a laugh, "I didn't even take a bath." For Escape, Iglesias again worked with dance beat masters Paul Barry and Mark Taylor ("Bailamos," "Be With You" and "Rhythm Divine" and now "Hero," "One Night Stand," "She Be The One" and "Love To See You Cry"). Also returning was Lester Mendez (who produced "Sad Eyes" and now co-wrote/co-produced "World Crashes Down"). But while many might have attempted to duplicate a previous success, feeling the pressure of a follow-up, Iglesias chose to follow his own instincts. One result was the selection of highly respected but little known Morales as collaborator on five tracks on Escape.
Iglesias, who co-wrote and co-produced nearly every song on Escape, applied a unique litmus test to judge whether a song would make the album: "If you can play it in any style and it still sounds good. The test on 'Don't Turn Off The Lights' was doing it acoustic. We made 'I Will Survive' sound like anything from Run-DMC to disco. We took a lot of time mixing each song. Without a doubt, this is the most detailed album I've ever done." Escape is also the album Iglesias hopes will finally allow him to jettison stereotypes from the "Latin lover" tag ("I hate it; it's tacky and embarrassing") to "crossover" success ("I crossed over when I was 8 years old and came to America"). Born May 8, 1975, in Madrid, Spain, Enrique is the third child of international superstar singer Julio Iglesias and Philippines-born ex-model Isabel Preysler. His parents, however, divorced when he was three years old. At age 8, his mother sent him to live with his father in Miami.
Other than spending summers in Spain with his mother, he appeared to be a typical jet-skiing, windsurfing Miami teen. "I wasn't raised in show business," he says. "I knew what it felt like to be a teenager. I knew what it felt like to not get a date for my junior prom." What his family did not know was that Enrique was writing songs and dreaming of stardom. "I used to picture myself in an arena singing in front of a lot of people. I'm not talking about just normal dreaming. I'm talking about where every single day that's all you think about, that's all you want. This is the only thing I know how to do, the only thing I really love." After a year studying business at the University of Miami, he decided to follow his passion. In 1995, he sang in person for his soon-to-be manager, who at Iglesias' insistence first shopped his demos as an unknown Central American singer named Enrique Martinez. It wasn't until he earned a record deal with Fonovisa that he told his father and mother of his aspirations. Then he flew to Toronto, where no one knew him and he could concentrate just on music, to record for five months. Enrique Iglesias (1996) sold more than a million copies in three months (he earned his first gold record in Portugal in a scant seven days) and to date has sold more than six million worldwide. Vivir (1997) has enjoyed global sales of more than five million discs and launched his first world tour backed by sidemen for Elton John, Springsteen and Billy Joel.
The critically acclaimed road trip was an immense commercial success as well–78 venues, including 50,000+ seat stadiums, in 16 countries, among them the U.S. His second world tour in 1998, with more than 80 performances in support of Cosas del Amor (which has sold almost four million copies), was the first ever sponsored by McDonald's. In a mere three years, Enrique had sold more than 17 million Spanish-language albums, more than anyone else during that period.
The U.S. was his biggest market: Enrique Iglesias and Vivir are each RIAA-certified platinum, with Cosas del Amor gold and nearing platinum. "Si Tu Te Vas," "Por Amarte," "Experiencia Religiosa," "Trapecista," "No Llores Por Mi," "Enamorado Por Primera Vez," "Solo en Ti," "Miente y Revolucion," "Esperanza" and "Nunca Te Olvidare" reached #1 on various charts in the U.S. and 18 other countries. He also won the 1996 Grammy for Best Latin Performer, 1996's Billboard Artist of the Year, Billboard's Album of the Year for Vivir, two American Music Awards, a World Music Award; eight Premio Lo Nuestro Awards; two ACE Performer of the Year Awards, and ASCAP prizes for Best Composer of 1996 and 1997, in addition to countless accolades around the world.
In 1999, the European version of "Bailamos" (pronounced "By-LA-Mos," translated as "We Dance") quickly became the most-requested radio track in the largest U.S. markets, including Los Angeles, New York, Miami and Dallas. Will Smith caught an Iglesias show in L.A. and asked him to contribute it to the soundtrack for "Wild Wild West." That summer, "Bailamos" hit #1–and co-writer Iglesias won another ASCAP award. Then came Enrique, his first Interscope album and first in English.
The double platinum album, which has now sold more than two million copies in the U.S., has sold more than four million copies outside the U.S., bringing his global album sales to a total of more than 23 million. Enrique was a spectacular success in countries as diverse as Canada (quadruple platinum), Poland (triple platinum), India (double platinum) and Taiwan (gold). Enrique achieved gold or platinum status in an incredible 32 countries.
Its "Be With You" hit #1 pop in summer 2000 for three weeks and also #1 on Billboard's Dance Club chart. After being seen by hundreds of millions during the 2000 Super Bowl halftime extravaganza, Iglesias followed with another world tour, playing venues in places as far-reaching as Turkey, Russia and the United Arab Emirates. An international artist who has recorded in four languages–Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and English–he was named both Favorite Latino Artist at the 2000 Blockbuster Entertainment Awards and Male International Artist of the Year at the CCTV-MTV Music Honors in Beijing, China.
His talent and looks have also forced Hollywood to pay attention. Enrique recently landed his first feature film role in Robert Rodriguez' "Once Upon A Time In Mexico," alongside Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek and Johnny Depp. The Miramax feature will be released in 2002. For this star who admits to being shy in private, music is indeed an escape. "What I want when I listen to music is what everyone wants–that it take me someplace else, make me happy or sad or remember a feeling. Music changes you." And Enrique Iglesias just may change the borders people have put around pop music.
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FBT plays the video game adaption of Cool Guys Don't Look at Explosions Just Cause 3 is not only a retread of the previous JC games, it ticks every open-world box that's been ticked before – Far Cry meets GTA meets Borderlands meets Saints Row. Yet for all its seen-it-all-before, meet a really good game. The Just Cause series has always been the underdog. Constantly overshadowed by bigger Open-World experiences, it didn't help itself stand out by dropping Rico, a Che Guevara meets El Mariachi gun-for-hire, into the same situation over and over; in JC he helped rebels overthrow a dictator who's taken over a peaceful island to produce WMD, in JC2 he helped rebels over throw a dictator controlling a peaceful island's oil wells; but this time he's going home. To help rebels overthrow Di Ravello, a dictator mining his peaceful island's natural reserves. Rico heads home in style - from the top of a plane while firing rockets. This is not a subtle game; JC3 is a shower not a grower. The place is huge, and calls to mind Far Cry 3 if Jase had lasted long enough to westernise it. Made up of several islands, each has multiple areas Rico must disrupt to weaken Di Ravello's hold, allowing the rebels to move in and flush out his troops. Although the islands are generally similar there's a lot to them, and it has a really beautiful, detailed and realistic feel to it; open roads, quaint little villages, you can see why Rico wants it returned to its former glory - by destroying all the concrete checkpoints and military installations. Not sure wanton destruction adds to the beauty, and maybe the rebels could have used the infrastructure but hey, let's not sweat it. Rico, much like the plot, hasn't changed a great deal, we're an adrenaline junkie, too-cool-for-school Antonio Banderas dude. With a saviour-like reputation amongst his fellow Medicians (they're often excited when he jacks their car or ask for autographs when he swaggers by) Rico is the islander's poster-boy and rallying call. And the game makes damn sure you live up to that legend. Heath replenishes as you'd expect from someone this heroic and while he can manage a sidearm, main weapon and explosive weapon, if he's caught short, unlocked weapons or vehicles can be airdropped - a shipping container will fall out of the sky and open (with confetti) to reveal whatever insane thing he's requested. While every open-world game nowadays features a delivery service, it works well in JC3; getting a helicopter dropped in a container doesn't make a great deal of sense, but at least it arrives intact unlike Saints Row or Sleeping Dogs where you'd watch an overzealous NCP destroy your vehicle on-route, leave it somewhere inaccessible then get run over. In order to drive Di Ravello's army off, Rico has a bunch of insane tricks up his double-denim outfit. The wingsuit and parachute make a return and they're a lot easier to use, calling to mind Saint Row 4's flying dynamics and it's great to have a game that wants you to fling yourself off buildings and cliffs. All the vehicles can be stolen including tanks, boats, helicopters and planes, and when you're not making like it's GTA you're making like Batman – Rico has his trusty grappling hook and this thing never gets a rest once you get the 'hang' of it. It's so handy, using it to grapple along the streets to get somewhere quicker, leaping onto or off cars, from ground to roofs and up the side of buildings, hang upside down, latch onto passing helicopters, make your way up cliffs, just about everything is traversable, including gravity itself; fall out of a plane or off a high-rise and just before hitting the ground a quick grapple onto the pavement will leave Rico unscathed somehow. The grapple gun can also let you tether things together and once you nail that, there's nothing left standing. Gas canisters are conveniently everywhere and latching one to people or passing cars provides hours of sky-high fun as do later explosive upgrades while tethering cars to cars, or people to cars or boats or helicopters or anything to anything brings out the ridiculous in you. Not unlike Red Faction or Stranglehold, absolutely everything is destructible, and you will destroy it. In fact it's a mystery how the island is still standing. It's one of those games were you emerge from the rubble and think 'Am I actually helping or making things worse?' Taking out the army strongholds calls to mind Far Cry (again) but instead of outposts we liberate suppressed villages, army-controlled infrastructures and utilities by destroying various items; propaganda in the villages or supply dumps in the installations. The outposts also include SAMs – if you attempt to attack via the air they'll make short work of your whirly-bird unless you reprogrammed them. While every liberation is great fun, including the troops calling in increasingly powerful support that can force you to retreat (Rico retreat? Never! Vive Medici!) the liberation missions are all the same; it's usually fatigue or boredom that pushes you back to the main mission. But that's a little boring too. As is often the case in Open-World games, the biggest failing in JC3 is reason we're there; the main mission. You should be constantly torn between a gripping main mission and the fun stuff, but JC3 doesn't pull it off; this being Rico's homeland isn't really a compelling enough reason to get stuck in and the dictator is the same confidently evil guy we're always facing; the missions while bombastic aren't that whoa to play, and Rico himself doesn't seem that invested; he's too cool for that, he just smoulders and cracks Arnie one-liners as he destroys everything in sight. Medici itself can get a bit disorientating, leaving you struggling to recognise one place from another, and it doesn't come across as a place that really needs saving; it's lovely looking, with the rolling fields full of sunflowers, coastal roads, clear warm water and winding villages – I'd be quite happy to be oppressed here. But it does heat up; it ends in a helicopter fight over a volcano. There are niggles; the ground vehicles are easy to crash compared to GTA V or Saints Row's smooth, intuitive rides – you never keep a car for long - while battling in the choppers or boats means you'll not be in them for long due to the lack of free-look, so you can't anticipate attacks and the aiming is impossible - and everyone is a better shot than Rico is. One of the biggest annoyances is Chaos rewards you get - rather than XP unlocking upgrades, it's adds to a pointless leaderboard score; who cares if I'm blowing up more crap than some kid halfway around the world? Upgrades are gained via a score system tied to challenges, which is another annoyance – Rico, hero of Medici can't even precision aim until he's unlocked it by winning a few races. Huh? And there is an argument that Medici is beautifully generic; if you've seen one island you've seen them all, it looks like the kind of thing Crysis aced a decade ago and what you do on one, you explode on another so nothing really changes. But grumbles aside, and despite feeling like it should be dismissed as derivative, JC3 works. It throws so much freedom and possibility at you, the sense of fun saves it. The challenge isn't in saving the island, it's finding hilarious ways to muck about in it. There's so much of everything you've done before it's like a Best Of compilation but somehow, it's not a cash-in, it's fun. We've still not had a good guerrilla game; Boiling Point tried and failed while Homefront The Revolution just failed. One day they'll get it right but JC3 isn't aiming for that; it has a rideable pogo-stick, that's what it's aiming for and it aces it. 2015 | Developer Avalanche Studios | Publisher Square Enix Platform Win | PS4 | XO
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