text:
Secret of Mana, originally released in Japan as  is a 1993 action role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the sequel to the 1991 game Seiken Densetsu, released in North America as Final Fantasy Adventure and in Europe as Mystic Quest, and it was the first Seiken Densetsu title to be marketed as part of the Mana series rather than the Final Fantasy series. Set in a high fantasy universe, the game follows three heroes as they attempt to prevent an empire from conquering the world with the power of an ancient flying fortress.

Rather than using a turn-based battle system like contemporaneous role-playing games, Secret of Mana features real-time battles with a power bar mechanic. The game has a unique Ring Command menu system, which pauses the action and allows the player to make decisions in the middle of battle. An innovative cooperative multiplayer system allows a second or third player to drop in and out of the game at any time. Secret of Mana was directed and designed by Koichi Ishii, programmed primarily by Nasir Gebelli, and produced by veteran Square designer Hiromichi Tanaka.

The game received considerable acclaim for its brightly colored graphics, expansive plot, Ring Command menu system, and innovative real-time battle system. Critics also praised the soundtrack by Hiroki Kikuta and the customizable artificial intelligence (AI) settings for computer-controlled allies.

The original version was released for the Wii's Virtual Console in Japan in September 2008, and for the Wii U's Virtual Console in June 2013. The game was ported to mobile phones in Japan in 2009, and an enhanced port of the game was released for iOS in 2010 and Android in 2014. It was included in the Collection of Mana release for the Nintendo Switch in Japan in June 2017 and North America in June 2019. Nintendo also re-released Secret of Mana in September 2017 as part of the company's Super NES Classic Edition. A full 3D remake was released for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and Windows in February 2018.

Gameplay

Like many other role-playing games of the 16-bit era, Secret of Mana displays a top-down perspective, in which the player characters navigate the terrain and fight off hostile creatures. The game features three such characters: the hero, the girl, and the sprite, named Randi, Primm, and Popoi outside the initial North American and European releases. The player can choose to control each of the characters at any time; whichever character is currently selected, the other two companions are controlled via artificial intelligence. The game may be played simultaneously by up to three players, made possible by the Super Multitap accessory for the Super NES console. The Virtual Console version of the game supports three-player gameplay via additional GameCube controllers or Classic Controllers.

Each character possesses individual strengths and weaknesses. The hero, while unable to use magic, masters weapons at a quicker rate; the girl is a healer, able to cast restorative and support spells; and the sprite casts offensive magic to damage and impair enemies. Upon collecting enough experience points in battle, each character increases in level and improves in areas such as strength and evasion. The trio can rest in towns, where they can regain hit points or purchase restorative items and equipment. Options such as changing equipment, casting spells, or checking status are performed by cycling through the game's Ring Commands, a circular menu which hovers over the currently controlled party member. The game is momentarily paused whenever the Ring Commands appear.

Combat takes place in real-time. Located at the bottom of the screen is a power bar, a gauge that determines the amount of damage done to an enemy when attacking. Swinging a weapon causes the gauge to empty and then quickly recharge, allowing that character to attack at full strength. The party wields eight different types of weaponry: sword, spear, bow, axe, boomerang, glove, whip, and javelin. All weapons can be upgraded eight times, and repeated use of a weapon increases its skill level to a maximum of eight, unlocking a new special attack with each level. Weapons are upgraded with Weapon Orbs, which are found in dungeons or earned by defeating certain bosses. The player takes each Orb to a blacksmith, located in most towns, who uses it to reforge one weapon.

In order to learn magic, the party must rescue spirits known as Elementals. The eight Elementals represent different elements—such as water, earth, and life—and each provides the player with specific spells. Magic has skill levels similar to weapons, but each magic spell costs magic points to cast.

At the start of the game, to reach a destination, players must traverse an enemy-infested countryside. Travel may be expedited with Cannon Travel Centers, where the party may be launched to faraway destinations via a giant cannon. Cannon Travel usually requires a fee, but is mandatory to visit other continents later on. Later, the party is given access to Flammie, a miniature dragon which is controlled by the player and able to fly freely across the world, represented by an overworld map. These sequences make use of the SNES's Mode 7 capability to create a rotatable background, giving the illusion that the ground beneath Flammie is rendered in three dimensions. While riding Flammie, the player may access either the "rotated map", which presents the world as a globe, or the "world map", a two-dimensional view of the overworld.

Plot

Setting and characters
The story takes place in a high fantasy world, which contains an ethereal energy source named "mana". An ancient, technologically advanced civilization exploited mana to construct the "Mana Fortress", a flying warship. This angered the world's gods, who sent giant beasts to war with the civilization. The conflict was globally destructive and nearly exhausted all signs of mana in the world, until a hero used the power of the Mana Sword to destroy the fortress and the civilization. The world began to recover in peace. As the game opens, an empire seeks eight Mana Seeds, which when "unsealed" will restore mana to the world and allow the empire to restore the Mana Fortress.

The three main characters do not have names in the original SNES release, though their names appear in the manual of the Japanese release; their names were added into the game in the iOS port worldwide. In all versions, the player can choose to name the characters whatever they wish. The , a young boy, is adopted by the Elder of Potos before the start of the game, after the boy's mother disappears. The  is in love with a warrior named Dyluck, who was ordered by the king to attack Elinee's Castle. Angered by the king's actions and by her father's attempt to arrange her marriage to a local nobleman, she leaves the castle to save Dyluck and to accompany the hero as well. The hero meets a  at the Dwarf Village. The sprite lives with a dwarf and goes with the characters to learn more about their family. It does not remember anything about its past, so it joins the team to try to recover its memories.

Story
The game begins as three boys from the small Potos village disobey their Elder's instructions and trespass into a local waterfall, where a treasure is said to be kept. One of the boys stumbles and falls into the lake, where he finds a rusty sword embedded in a stone. Guided by a disembodied voice, he pulls the sword free, inadvertently unleashing monsters in the surrounding countryside of the village. The villagers interpret the sword's removal as a bad omen and banish the boy from Potos forever. A traveling knight named Jema recognizes the blade as the legendary Mana Sword and encourages the hero to re-energize it by visiting the eight Mana Temples.

During his journey, the hero is joined by the girl and the sprite. Throughout their travels, the trio is pursued by the Empire. The Emperor and his subordinates are being manipulated by Thanatos, an ancient sorcerer who hopes to create a "new, peaceful world". Due to his own body's deterioration, Thanatos is in need of a suitable body to possess. After placing the entire kingdom of Pandora under a trance, he abducts two candidates: Dyluck, now enslaved, and a young Pandoran girl named Phanna; he eventually chooses to possess Dyluck.

The Empire succeeds in unsealing all eight Mana Seeds. However, Thanatos betrays the Emperor and his henchmen, killing them and seizing control of the Mana Fortress for himself. The hero and his party journey to locate the Mana Tree, the focal point of the world's life energy. Anticipating their arrival, Thanatos positions the Mana Fortress over the Tree and destroys it. The charred remains of the Tree speak to the heroes, explaining that a giant dragon called the Mana Beast will soon be summoned to combat the Fortress. The Beast has little control over its rage and will likely destroy the world as well. The Mana Tree also reveals that it was once the human wife of Serin, the original Mana Knight and the hero's father. The voice heard at Potos' waterfall was that of Serin's ghost.

The trio flies to the Mana Fortress and confronts Thanatos, who is preparing to transfer his mind into Dyluck. With the last of his strength, Dyluck warns that Thanatos has sold his soul to the underworld and must not be allowed to have the Fortress. Dyluck kills himself, forcing Thanatos to revert to a skeletal lich form, which the party defeats. The Mana Beast finally flies in and attacks the Fortress. The hero expresses reluctance to kill the Beast, fearing that with the dispersal of Mana from the world, the sprite will vanish. With the sprite's encouragement, he uses the fully energized Mana Sword to slay the Beast, causing it to explode and transform into snow. At the conclusion of the game, the sprite child vanishes into an astral plane, the girl is returned home and the hero is seen welcomed back in Potos, returning the Mana Sword to its place beneath the waterfall.

Development

Secret of Mana was directed and designed by Koichi Ishii, the creator of the game's Game Boy predecessor, Final Fantasy Adventure. He has stated that he feels Secret of Mana is more "his game" than other projects he has worked on, such as the Final Fantasy series. The game was programmed primarily by Nasir Gebelli and produced by veteran Square designer Hiromichi Tanaka. The team hoped to build on the foundation of Final Fantasy Adventure, and they included several modified elements from that game and from other popular Square titles in Secret of Mana. In addition to having better graphics and sound quality than its predecessor, the attack power gauge was changed to be more engaging, and the weapon leveling system replaced Final Fantasy Adventures system of leveling up the speed of the attack gauge. The party system also received an upgrade from the first Mana game: instead of temporary companions who could not be upgraded, party members became permanent protagonists and could be controlled by other players. The multiplayer component was not a part of the original design, but was added when the developers realized that they could easily make all three characters human-controlled.

The real-time battle system used in Secret of Mana has been described by its creators as an extension of the battle system used in the first three flagship Final Fantasy titles. The system for experience points and leveling up was taken from Final Fantasy III. According to Tanaka, the game's battle system features mechanics that had first been considered for Final Fantasy IV. Similarly, unused features in Secret of Mana were appropriated by the Chrono Trigger team, which (like Final Fantasy IV) was in production at the time. According to Tanaka, the project was originally intended to be Final Fantasy IV, with a "more action-based, dynamic overworld". However, it "wound up not being" Final Fantasy IV anymore, but instead became a separate project codenamed "Chrono Trigger" during development, before finally becoming Seiken Densetsu 2. Tanaka said that it "always felt like a sequel" to Final Fantasy III for him.

Secret of Mana was originally planned to be a launch title for the SNES-CD add-on. After the contract between Nintendo and Sony to produce the add-on failed, and Sony repurposed its work on the SNES-CD into the competing PlayStation console, Square adapted the game for the SNES cartridge format. The game had to be altered to fit the storage space of a SNES game cartridge, which is much smaller than that of a CD-ROM. The developers initially resisted continuing the project without the CD add-on, believing that too much of the game would have to be cut, but they were overruled by company management. As a result of the hardware change, several features had to be cut from the game, and some completed work needed to be redone. One of the most significant changes was the removal of the option to take multiple routes through the game that led to several possible endings, in contrast to the linear journey in the final product. The plot that remained was different from the original conception, and Tanaka has said that the original story had a much darker tone. Ishii has estimated that up to forty percent of the planned game was dropped to meet the space limitations, and critics have suggested that the hardware change led to technical problems when too much happens at once in the game. Secret of Mana was announced as being released in July 1993 as recently as that April, marketed as a "Party Action RPG", before eventually being released in August instead for the Japanese market. In South Korea, it was released the same month in August 1993.

The English translation for Secret of Mana was completed in only 30 days, mere weeks after the Japanese release, and the North American localization was initially advertised as Final Fantasy Adventure 2. Critics have suggested that the translation was done hastily so that the game could be released in North America for the 1993 holiday season. According to translator Ted Woolsey, a large portion of the game's script was cut out in the English localization due to space limitations. To display text on the main gameplay screen, the English translation uses a fixed-width font, which limits the amount of space available to display text. Woolsey was unhappy that he had to trim conversations to their bare essentials and that he had so little time for translation, commenting that it "nearly killed me". The script was difficult to translate as it was presented to Woolsey in disordered groups of text, like "shuffling a novel". Other localizations were done in German and French. The Japanese release only named the three protagonists in the manual, while Western versions omitted the characters' names until the enhanced port on the iOS.

Music

The original score for Secret of Mana was composed and produced by Hiroki Kikuta. Kenji Ito, who had composed the soundtrack for Final Fantasy Adventure, was originally slated for the project, but was replaced with Kikuta after he had started on other projects, such as Romancing SaGa. Secret of Mana was Kikuta's first video game score, and he encountered difficulties in dealing with the hardware limitations of the Super NES. Kikuta tried to express in the music two "contrasting styles" to create an original score which would be neither pop music nor standard game music. Kikuta worked on the music mostly by himself, spending nearly 24 hours a day in his office, alternating between composing and editing to create a soundtrack that would be, according to him, "immersive" and "three-dimensional". Rather than having sound engineers create the samples of instruments like most game music composers of the time, Kikuta made his own samples that matched the hardware capabilities of the Super NES. These custom samples allowed him to know exactly how each piece would sound on the system's hardware, so he did not have to worry about differences between the original composition and the Super NES. Kikuta stated in 2001 that he considered the score for Secret of Mana his favorite creation.

The soundtrack's music includes both "ominous" and "light-hearted" tracks, and is noted for its use of bells and "dark, solemn pianos". Kikuta's compositions for the game were partly inspired by natural landscapes, as well as music from Bali. Hardware limitations made the title screen to the game slowly fade in, and Kikuta designed the title track to the game, "Fear of the Heavens", to sync up with the screen. At that time, composers rarely tried to match a game's music to its visuals. Kikuta also started the track off with a "whale noise", rather than a traditional "ping", in order to try to "more deeply connect" the player with the game from the moment it started up. Getting the sound to work with the memory limitations of the Super NES was a difficult technical challenge.

An official soundtrack album, Seiken Densetsu 2 Original Sound Version, was released in Japan in August 1993, containing 44 musical tracks from the game. An English version, identical to the Japanese original aside from its localized packaging and track titles, was later released in North America in December 1994 as Secret of Mana Original Soundtrack, making Secret of Mana one of the first Japanese games to inspire a localized soundtrack release outside of Japan. An album of arranged music from Secret of Mana and its sequel Seiken Densetsu 3 was produced in 1993 as Secret of Mana+. The music in the album was all composed and arranged by Kikuta. Secret of Mana+ contains a single track, titled "Secret of Mana", that incorporates themes from the music of both Secret of Mana and Seiken Densetsu 3, which was still under development at the time. The style of the album has been described by critics as "experimental", using "strange sounds" such as waterfalls, bird calls, cell phone sounds, and "typing" sounds. The music has also been described by critics as covering many different musical styles, such as "Debussian impressionist styles, his own heavy electronic and synth ideas, and even ideas of popular musicians". The latest album of music from the game is a 2012 arranged album titled Secret of Mana Genesis / Seiken Densetsu 2 Arrange Album. The 16 tracks are upgraded versions of the original Super NES tracks, and Kikuta said in the liner notes for the album that they are "how he wanted the music to sound when he wrote it", without the limitations of the Super NES hardware. Critics such as Patrick Gann of RPGFan, however, noted that the differences were minor. Music for the 2018 remake, which features remastered versions of the original soundtrack, was overseen by Kikuta and arranged by numerous game composers, such as Yuzo Koshiro and Tsuyoshi Sekito. The soundtrack was released as an album, also titled Secret of Mana Original Soundtrack, shortly after the remake's release in February 2018. A rendition of the soundtrack was commissioned for the first ever BBC Proms gaming music concert in 2022.

Re-releases
In 1999, Square announced they would be porting Secret of Mana to Bandai's handheld system WonderSwan Color as one of nine planned games for the system. No such port was ever released. A mobile phone port of Secret of Mana was released on October 26, 2009. A port of the game for iOS was revealed at E3 2010, and released on Apple's App Store on December 21, 2010. The port fixed several bugs, and the English script was both edited and retranslated from the original Japanese. The enhanced port from the iOS version was released on Android devices in 2014. A port for the Nintendo Switch was released with ports of Final Fantasy Adventure and Seiken Densetsu 3 as part of the Collection of Mana on June 1, 2017, in Japan, and June 11, 2019 in North America. The game was released as one of the games included on the Super NES Classic Edition on September 29, 2017.

In August 2017, a 3D remake of the game was announced for PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and Windows and was released on February 15, 2018. The remake was developed by Q Studios for Square Enix.

Reception and legacy

Sales
The initial shipment of games in Japan sold out within days of the release date. Dengeki Oh magazine ranked it the second best-selling video game of 1993 in Japan, where  units were sold that year, just below Street Fighter II Turbo. In South Korea, it was the top-selling game from November to December 1993.

Edge reported in November 1993 that the game was "the most widely covered game of the year in Japan" with a high number of sales, but was initially released in North America "completely un-hyped and mostly unheard of". Despite this, Secret of Mana went on to become the second top-selling Super NES game on the monthly US Babbage's chart in October 1993, below only Mortal Kombat, with Secret of Mana remaining in the US top ten SNES game charts for a year up until October 1994. It was also a success in Europe, where the game introduced many players to console role-playing games. In the United Kingdom, it was the fourth top-selling game in November 1994, and the second top-selling SNES game that month (below Donkey Kong Country).

According to Next Generation magazine, it was surprisingly popular for a role-playing game, contributing to the genre's growing popularity in the West. Next Generation reported in 1996 that the game had sold more than 500,000 copies in the United States alone. According to Square Enix, Secret of Mana had shipped  copies worldwide as of 2003, with  shipped in Japan and 330,000 abroad.

Contemporary reviews
Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine's reviewers heavily praised the graphics, music, and multiplayer gameplay, saying that it had "some of the best music I've ever heard from a cartridge". They hoped that other companies would take the game's lead in adding multiplayer modes to role-playing games. Diehard GameFans review of the game named the multiplayer as the game's best component, with reviewer Kelly Rickards saying that while the graphics were nice, the multiplayer "made the game". GamePros review praised the graphics, plot, "first-rate gameplay" and "positively massive" world "dwarfing even Zelda", while stating the gameplay and multiplayer were "rough around the edges", concluding it to be "one of the finest action/RPGs" on the SNES. Nintendo Power called it an "enthralling epic", praising the "wide variety of sites and terrain," music, "Beautiful graphics and great depth of play" but criticizing the "unnecessarily long" sword powering-up and "awkward" item selection method. SNES Force magazine praised the game's "superb" graphics, "fantastic" sounds and "revolutionary three-player mode."

Secret of Mana was awarded Game of the Month in December 1993 and Best Role-Playing Game of 1993 by Electronic Gaming Monthly. In its annual Megawards, GameFan awarded it Best Action/RPG (SNES). GamePro gave it the award for Role-Playing Game of the Year, ahead of Lufia and Shadowrun as runners-up.

Edges review said that Secret of Mana was better than contemporary role-playing games Ys I & II, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, and Landstalker: The Treasures of King Nole. The review stated that Secret of Mana "includes some of the best game design and features ever seen: simultaneous threeplayer action, the best combat system ever designed, the best player interface ever designed, a superb control system, and yes, some of the most engrossing and rewarding gameplay yet". They concluded that the game was one of the best action RPGs or adventure games. Game designer Sandy Petersen reviewed the game in Dragon, and described the game as much like Zelda but with conventional role-playing game features. He predicted that the game would be regarded as a classic. Peterson concluded that Secret of Mana was one of the best SNES role-playing games and that it was "a much larger game than Zelda, with many more types of monsters, character options, and fortresses to explore". Nintendo Magazine System also compared it favorably with A Link to the Past; one reviewer stated that "even the magnificence of Zelda III seems stale in comparison to the incredible features found within this refreshing, exhilarating adventure" while the other stated that it "comes the closest yet" to surpassing Zelda, concluding that Secret of Mana was "one of the greatest graphical RPGs in the history of the world".

Computer and Video Games said in 1994 that Mana was "doing for adventure games now what Zelda did several years ago" and that Mana is "one of the best games for the SNES this year and more playable than" Donkey Kong Country. Next Generation said in 1996 that many players considered it "the RPG equivalent of Lord of the Rings."

Retrospective reception

In 2008, Lucas Thomas of IGN reviewed the Virtual Console release of Secret of Mana and stated that it was considered one of the best video games ever made. Eurogamer's Dan Whitehead described it as "essential" and as the formative game of the Mana series. The iOS version of the game was praised by Nadia Oxford of Slide to Play for its improved graphics and computer-controlled characters. She also praised the quality of the touch controls relative to other role-playing game phone versions, though she disliked that the multiplayer mode had been removed.

In 2009, Official Nintendo Magazine ranked the game 82nd on a list of the greatest Nintendo games. In 2014, Edge magazine described Secret of Mana as "one of the high points of the 16bit era". A writer for the magazine noted that, 20 years after Secret of Manas release, its reputation as a SNES action RPG had been surpassed only by that of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Review aggregator site GameRankings lists the game as the 13th-highest rated SNES game. In 1995, Total! rated Secret of Mana 12th on their "Top 100 SNES Games of All Time." The following year, Super Play ranked it eighth on its list of the best 100 SNES games of all time. It took 42nd place on Nintendo Power magazine's 2006 "Top 200 Nintendo Games of All Time" list, and the magazine called it the 86th best game on a Nintendo system. IGN's "Top 100 Games" list ranked the game at number 48 in 2005, number 49 in 2006, and number 79 in 2007, and their 2017 "Top 100 RPGs" list had it as number 7. In 2006, Famitsus "All Time Top 100" audience poll ranked it number 97. In 2023, Time Extension included the game on their "Best JRPGs of All Time" list.

Impact
In 2006, Level magazine claimed that Secret of Manas rocky development was Square's main inspiration to move their games, such as the Final Fantasy series, from Nintendo consoles to Sony consoles in 1996.

Secret of Mana was an influential game in its time, and its influence continued into the 2010s. Elements such as its radial ring menu system, described by Edge as "oft-mimicked", were borrowed by later games such as The Temple of Elemental Evil. Its cooperative multiplayer gameplay has been mentioned as an influence on Dungeon Siege III.

Notes

References

External links

Secret of Mana at MobyGames

1993 video games
Action role-playing video games
Android (operating system) games
Christmas video games
Cooperative video games
IOS games
Mana (series) video games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Nintendo Switch games
PlayStation 4 games
PlayStation Vita games
Post-apocalyptic video games
Role-playing video games
Super Nintendo Entertainment System games
Video games developed in Japan
Video games scored by Hiroki Kikuta
Virtual Console games for Wii U
Virtual Console games
Windows games


text:
var pub_key = "pub-c-913ab39c-d613-44b3-8622-2e56b8f5ea6d";
var sub_key = "sub-c-8ad89b4e-a95e-11e5-a65d-02ee2ddab7fe";

//Constants
var BUTTON_TXT_TREND = 'Trend';
var BUTTON_TXT_COUNTER = 'Counter';

//Counter Display State , to indicate if the current state of display is counter or trend
var counterDisplayState = {
    'EUR'   : true,
    'AUD'   : true,
    'CNY'   : true,
    'INR'   : true
};

var trend_graph = {
    'EUR'   : null,
    'AUD'   : null,
    'CNY'   : null,
    'INR'   : null
};

//YOUR PUBNUB KEYS - Replace the publish_key and subscribe_key below with your own keys
var pubnub = PUBNUB.init({
    publish_key: pub_key,
    subscribe_key: sub_key
});

//OnCLick trigger for Trend/Counter Button
var sendRequest = function(p_name,p_status){
    pubnub.publish({
        channel : 'appRequestChannel',
        message : '{\"name\":\"' + p_name + '\",\"requestType\":'+ p_status +'}'
    });
}

var valueChange = function(p_name,p_direction,p_magnitude){
        p_delta = p_direction + p_magnitude
        displayDeltaDirectionArrow(p_name,p_delta);
}

var updatePrice = function(p_rcvmessage){
    var p_message = JSON.parse(p_rcvmessage);
    if(p_message.responseType == 0){
        if(counterDisplayState[p_message.name] == true){

            $('#' + p_message['name']).html(parseFloat(p_message['value']).toFixed(2))
            valueChange(p_message['name'],p_message['direction'],parseFloat(p_message['magnitude']).toFixed(5))
            var date = new Date(p_message['time'] * 1000);
            var timeString = date.toLocaleTimeString();
            $('#' + p_message['name'] + '-time' ).html(timeString);
        }
        else{
            if(trend_graph[p_message.name] != null){
                valueChange(p_message.name,p_message['direction'],parseFloat(p_message['magnitude']).toFixed(5))
                trend_graph[p_message.name].shift();
                trend_graph[p_message.name].push(p_message.value);
                $('#'+p_message.name).sparkline(trend_graph[p_message.name])
                var date = new Date(p_message['time'] * 1000);
                var timeString = date.toLocaleTimeString();
                $('#' + p_message['name'] + '-time' ).html(timeString);
                $('[data-index='+p_message.name+']').text(BUTTON_TXT_COUNTER);
            }
        }
    }
	else if(p_message.responseType == 1){
        if(counterDisplayState[p_message.name] == false){
            trend_graph[p_message['name']] = p_message['value'];
            $('#'+p_message.name).sparkline(trend_graph[p_message.name])
            $('[data-index='+p_message.name+']').text(BUTTON_TXT_COUNTER);

        }
    }
};

var displayDeltaDirectionArrow = function(p_name,p_delta){
    //Update Delta Direction
    if('+' == p_delta.charAt(0)) {
        if( $('#' + p_name + '-dir' ).hasClass('triangle-down')) {
            $('#' + p_name + '-dir' ).removeClass('triangle-down');
            $('#' + p_name + '-dir' ).addClass('triangle-up');
        }
        if(! $('#' + p_name + '-dir' ).hasClass('triangle-up')) {

            $('#' + p_name + '-dir' ).addClass('triangle-up');
        }
    } else if ('-' == p_delta.charAt(0)) {
        if( $('#' + p_name + '-dir' ).hasClass('triangle-up')) {
            $('#' + p_name + '-dir' ).removeClass('triangle-up');
            $('#' + p_name + '-dir' ).addClass('triangle-down');
        }
        if(! $('#' + p_name + '-dir' ).hasClass('triangle-down')) {
            $('#' + p_name + '-dir' ).addClass('triangle-down');
        }
    }
    //Update Delta Value
    $('#' + p_name + '-delta' ).html(p_delta.substr(1));
};

$(document ).ready(function() {
	pubnub.subscribe({
	    channel: 'exchangedata',
	    message: updatePrice
	});

    sendRequest("EUR",0);
    sendRequest("AUD",0);
    sendRequest("CNY",0);
    sendRequest("INR",0);

	$('button').click(function(){
        if($(this).text() == BUTTON_TXT_TREND){
            //If the Button text is 'Trend' , send request to fetch historical values
            $(this).text('Loading..');
            sendRequest($(this).data('index'),1);
            counterDisplayState[$(this).data('index')] = false;
        } else if($(this).text() == BUTTON_TXT_COUNTER) {
            //Change the text
            counterDisplayState[$(this).data('index')] = true;
            $(this).text(BUTTON_TXT_TREND);
            sendRequest($(this).data('index'),0);
        }
    });
});

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
US struggles in bid to regain Arab trust. Jordan's King to visit US only if it backs peace conference
By Mary Curtius and Paul Van Slambrouck Correspondents of The Christian Science Monitor
King Hussein, still angry with the United States over its secret sale of arms to Iran, may decline a recently extended invitation to visit Washington, according to a senior Jordanian official. The King's reluctance illustrates the problems facing the Reagan administration as it seeks to restore its credibility with moderate Arab leaders, Jordanian officials and Western diplomats say.
Officials in Jordan and Egypt, the two states regarded as key to restarting a Middle East peace process, now say they no longer trust US diplomatic initiatives in the region. The Egyptians are more conciliatory than the Jordanians, who seem to view the US deal with Iran as an almost personal betrayal.
Prime Minister Zaid Rifai said in an interview with the Monitor that the King will go to Washington only if the US makes new proposals for convening an international peace conference. Israel and the US are reluctant to hold such a conference, which the Arabs see as the only forum for negotiating an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Mr. Rifai curtly dismissed as ``not good enough'' US assurances that the option of a peace conference is being explored with interest by an administration convinced it needs a new Mideast policy. Jordan needs a clear US commitment to the principle of calling such a meeting before it can believe the US administration is sincere about pursuing Mideast peace, said Rifai, who is to scheduled to visit Washington next week.
``The US has a lot of work to do if it really wants to limit the damage and regain some of the credibility that was lost,'' Rifai said. ``Nobody accepts words and promises anymore. We've reached a point where only actions are judged, and we're not seeing much action.''
His talks with US officials next week will cover a range of subjects, Rifai said, including the administration's decision to ask for reduced aid to Jordan in the 1988 budget and the extent of US support for Jordan's development program for the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Ultimately, he said, the US's flexibility on convening an international conference will probably determine whether Hussein believes a visit is warranted.
Jordan, Syria, Egypt, and the Palestine Liberation Organization want an international conference composed of the parties to the conflict and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. They want a conference that will grant powers to the plenum to participate in negotiations between Israel and each of its neighbors.
The US says that if a conference is held, only states with diplomatic relations with Israel may participate and the conference should serve only as a curtain raiser for direct negotiations between Israel and the Arab states, with Palestinians represented in the Jordanian team.
Israel's leadership is divided on the issue. Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir rejects a conference as a venue for negotiations; Foreign Minister Shimon Peres supports the kind of conference the US is considering.
Western diplomats in Amman say Jordan is now so suspicious of US policy in the region that it is stiffening its concept of what type of conference should be held. If Jordan's position does not soften, the diplomats warn, it is possible the US may decide to shelve diplomatic initiatives in the area for the last two years of Reagan's presidency.
``The Jordanians right now think they can make the administration pay for Irangate. They are asking more than the other major parties are willing to do,'' says a senior Western diplomat, speaking on condition that he not be named. ``If they keep this up during the Rifai visit to Washington, it will knock them right off the agenda.''
The tension evident in US-Jordanian relations since the Iran-arms deal broke last November is understandable, diplomats here say. There already were strains last year when the administration shelved a Jordanian request to buy arms it wanted to upgrade its undersupplied Army. Faced with congressional opposition, the White House decided not to fight for it.
Jordan is vulnerable to Arab criticism because it is the most openly pro-American Arab state besides Egypt. Jordan has unequivocally supported Iraq since the Persian Gulf war began. It was deeply embarrassed to learn that the US, with Israel's help, had supplied arms to Iran - a state Jordan views as a threat not only to Jordan but to the rest of the Arab world.
``It was the deception, the double dealing,'' a Jordanian official says. ``Four days before the scandal became public, we had a very high-ranking American delegation briefing his majesty for 2 hours on the so-called Operation Staunch [the US State Department's effort to persuade governments not to sell arms to Iran that went on while the US itself sold arms]. They were seeking our cooperation. We had mentioned to them [rumors] about the Israelis [selling] arms and they had always denied it.''
Rifai's sense of bitterness was echoed by another senior Jordanian official who spoke to the Monitor yesterday.
``It is very difficult to be a friend and an ally of the United States now,'' said Gen. Zaid Bin Shaker, commander in chief of Jordan's armed forces, in a rare on-the-record interview.
``We would like to be close to the United States,'' the soft-spoken general said. ``We train our officers in the United States. Ninety percent of our equipment is from the United States.''
But the United States, General Ben Shaker said, has consistently reduced military aid to Jordan and refused to sell it modernizing equipment. As a result, he said, ``we have now to look for alternatives. Obviously, our alternative is Western Europe.''
Jordan is seeking to buy a new air defense system from either France or Britain, he said, and may even decide to buy one from the Soviet Union. He noted that the same mobile Hawk anti-aircraft units Jordan sought unsuccessfully to buy from the US were later sold to Iran.
On Jordan's East Bank, Palestinians grasp at old idea for statehood
In Trump peace conference, a perilous balancing act for Jordan
As public cries for vengeance, Jordan talks of wider intervention in Syria

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Lake Gaston RE/MAX Agent Barney Watson Earns Lifetime Achievement Award
Barney Watson with RE/MAX On The Lake has been presented with the prestigious RE/MAX Lifetime Achievement Award, which honors highly successful agents who have earned more than $3 million in gross commissions and have completed a minimum seven years of service with the company. Six percent of all active agents in the RE/MAX network have achieved this prestigious award since its inception.
Barney's tireless dedication to serving his clients, consumers and community has allowed him to achieve this high honor. Winning this award is a significant accomplishment and we're extremely proud that Barney is a member of the RE/MAX team.
Barney Watson has been working in the real estate industry for 20 years and has extensive experience in Resort & Second-Home Sales. He has consistently been one of the top producing real estate agents in the lake area. In 2013 he received the RE/MAX Hall of Fame Award. That prestigious award honors successful agents as a lifetime achievement award during their career with RE/MAX.
Barney also serves as the State Director for the Roanoke Valley Lake Gaston Board of REALTORS. He can be reached at 252-532-3274, e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or thru his website at https://www.lakegastonrealestate.com


We have opened up a new training facility in Falkirk to deliver a selection of courses to support our Wind Energy business (AWES). The centre is the first of its kind and will deliver courses to support our commitment to safety and sustainability in the wind and energy sector.
We are partnering with Siemens Wind Energy to deliver courses on their behalf as a Siemens Accredited Centre – the centre also has accreditations from Renewable UK and Global Wind Organisation (GWO). The purpose-built facilities will support employees and external clients when they train under the guidance of our training manager, Damian Napper.


If you're wondering why I haven't updated Pud.com in a while, it's probably because I've been writing on Twitter so much lately.
With Twitter you can even get SMS text updates to your phone with my latest posts. Hope you enjoy it!
Come on dude, give us some fun content!
First, I must say that I think what John had said. This blog is great! And I would love to read more from you and your stories. And of course, your music.
But I must say I'm also interested in Twitter, so I would sign up and follow you. Perhaps that's the way to get familiarized with this service and understand why are you "twitting" so much.
By the Way, greetings from Madrid, Spain.


Ball mill rock crushing plant,jaw crusher,sand maker,mobile ball mill is the key ball mill can. ... Kaolin manufacture machine there is calcined kaolin powder grinding ... in johannesburgmobile crushers for hire in south africa. mobile crushers.
40-100 ton /h stone mobile crusher manufacturer,for sale in Indonesia .... Crushing Plant and Mobile VSI crusher suppliers in South Africa ... Kaolinite Mobile Crusher for sale,Kaolinite Crusher Manufacturer Zambia | Mobile Crusher Philippines.
We offer mobile and fixed crushing and screening plants and conveyor systems. ... the Johannesburg-based manufacturer has received from Petra Diamonds. ... operations in South Africa, and these have proved themselves over the years.
... mill germany make Crusher Plant in Germany *Ball mills for sale South Africa. stone grinding ... Kaolin crusher Kaolinite mobile crusher Hammer Kaolin Crusher Hammer Kaolin Crusher ... clay bricks manufacturing equipment price in india.
25169 Results ... Stone Crusher In South Africa, Buy Various High Quality Stone Crusher In ... Contact Supplier .... mobile stone crushers in south africa less than 30tph ..... Application: feldspar, calcite, talc, barite, clay, tombar thite, kaolin, gypsum.
Apr 5, 2015 ... Rotary Kiln Calcination Plant Manufacturer and Exporter of Rotary Kiln, Rotary Kiln Calcination Plant and ... Kaolin Crusher Plant - Mobile Crushing and Screening Plant,Crushing Plant . ... roller crusher sale in south africa.


The western part of Cambridgeshire has a varied range of fen types, from deep peat through marine deposits to the coarse silt fen at the north of Manea. There is a scarp of 37m on the western edge and low islands to the east; between them runs the main pre-Flandrian channel of the River Ouse. This took most of the upland water until the post-Roman period. Freshwater lakes were notable in the Middle Ages, Whittlesey Mere being the largest inland lake in England after Windermere.


Wedding dresses on sale stacees luxurious designs is just one of the many collections of images or photos on this website. There are approximately 259429 images that exist in our database associated with this post. This post of "wedding dresses on sale stacees luxurious designs" was uploaded by chester on 24-08-2018 and posted on the meishop.co website with category Wedding Dresses On Sale and has been viewed some 810,118 times.
This is a pic related to wedding dresses on sale stacees luxurious designs, there are approximately 259429 background related to this wedding dresses on sale photos gallery. Please see the details below and click on the title for more information..
Wedding dresses on sale stacees luxurious designs is background about Wedding Dresses On Sale was uploaded by arthur on 24 September 2018.
Wedding dresses on sale stacees luxurious designs is images about Wedding Dresses On Sale was uploaded by ramon on 24 August 2018.
Wedding dresses on sale stacees luxurious designs is pic about Wedding Dresses On Sale was uploaded by sidney on 04 September 2018.
Wedding dresses on sale stacees luxurious designs is wallpaper about Wedding Dresses On Sale was uploaded by warren on 01 September 2018.
Wedding dresses on sale stacees luxurious designs is photo about Wedding Dresses On Sale was uploaded by donald on 11 August 2018.
Wedding dresses on sale stacees luxurious 2016 designs is wallpaper about Wedding Dresses On Sale was uploaded by dale on 25 September 2018.
Wedding dresses on sale stacees luxurious 2016 designs is image about Wedding Dresses On Sale was uploaded by chad on 06 October 2018.
Wedding dresses on sale stacees luxurious designs is images about Wedding Dresses On Sale was uploaded by francisco on 22 September 2018.
Wedding dresses on sale stacees luxurious 2016 designs is image about Wedding Dresses On Sale was uploaded by philip on 21 September 2018.


Joy Creek Photo Archive (c) all rights reserved A 2013 Joy Creek Introduction. This is the second "flaired" penstemon we have released and joins our earlier introduction, 'Raspberry Flair'. Here, the extra large flowers have coral pink lips and broad dark raspberry guidelines in their throats that remind us of "flairs." The flowers are arranged in somewhat triangular, one-sided racemes that often contain up to forty flowers per stem. Like all of the garden penstemon, Penstemon `Coral Flair' wants good drainage, occasional summer water and sun.
Summer to early autumn. 2.5 ft. x 2.5 ft.


Arcade Kitchens was established in 1982 and has been responsible for providing outstanding service and products ever since. We can supply and install most makes of kitchen appliances and have on display various makes and models.
Artichoke specialises in unique interiors projects including bespoke kitchens and fine architectural joinery for fitted furniture commissions in London and UK country homes.
The Bathroom & Kitchen Warehouse is specialized in designing, supplying and fitting bathrooms and kitchens in Worksop, Nottingham and surrounding areas.
British Standard makes affordable, off-the-shelf cupboards for kitchens, larders and utility rooms, by hand in its Suffolk workshop.
Cambridge Kitchens & Bathrooms is a family run business, we have been designing and installing kitchens and bathrooms in the Cambridge, Newmarket and Bishops Stortford areas since 1978.
Chandler Stoneworks offers bespoke kitchen worktop and flooring design services as an independent business with over 10 years experience throughout the South East.
Stockists of the renowned Naifu range of chef knives, the Chef's Knife Store offers a quick and enjoyable shopping experience with a range of secure payment options.
With experience creating bespoke kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms and furniture since 1987, Classic Interiors are committed to working with clients throughout to create the perfect living space. Book a free design consultation today to discuss your ideas.
David Haugh has been manufacturing interior furniture and bespoke kitchens for over 25 years, providing a wide range of traditional, contemporary and modern styles.
Designer Kitchens are specialists in high quality designer kitchens from contemporary to classic kitchens. We only use the best quality materials, highest standard of construction methods and skilled craftsmen in our workshop.
Our kitchen company was established in Leicester in 1957 and since then we have built up a wealth of experience and expertise within the industry specialising in high quality kitchens, bedrooms and appliances.
Eclipse Property Services are a construction company based in Portsmouth who offer a range of professional home improvement services such as new kitchens and bathrooms, electrics, plumbing and extensions.
Halcyon Interiors are a team of professional interior designers specialising in providing beautiful, timeless kitchens to all clients.


De Hoogewerff Lezing 2014 werd dit jaar gegeven door Dr Georg Grossmann tijdens NPS14 op woensdag 5 november 2014. Het congres, dat dit jaar het thema "Fundamentally Innovative" had, vond van 3 tot 5 november plaats in DeFabrique in Utrecht. De titel van zijn lezing was: "Challenges of developing large scale industrial biotechnology in a chemical company".
Dr Georg Grossmann was born in 1953 in Heidelberg, Germany. He started to study chemistry at Heidelberg University in 1972 and earned the Diploma in 1978. He finished his doctoral studies at the Institute for Applied Physical Chemistry at the same university in 1982, with a thesis on the properties of biopolymers in solution. He then worked at the Nuclear Research Center Karlsruhe on process development for recycling of nuclear fuels. After joining BASF as a process research chemist in 1984, he held different management positions in manufacturing, strategic planning and technology evaluation. Beginning in 2003, as Vice President Corporate Engineering, he was responsible for engineering and execution of large capital projects globally. In 2012, he took over his current position as Vice President Process Development, actually returning to the research organization where he had started his career in BASF.
Driven by portfolio additions, customer interest and sustainability considerations, the importance of biological production of chemicals has increased substantially in the last years. Although successful R&D efforts and implementation of bio-based production had started in BASF more than 30 years ago, having to deal with living organisms, nature derived feedstocks and low concentrations of valuable products in water still defines challenges to the existing process engineering knowledge. Methods, boundary conditions and optimization strategies learned over decades of chemical development and manufacturing have to be adapted and expanded. Beyond the development of the own expertise, combined efforts of manufacturers, equipment vendors and universities are needed to further improve the basis for competitive, large scale production of biologicals.


By faith Moses left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen (Hebrews 11:27).
Four hundred years had passed since the Hebrew people had moved to Egypt to seek relief from famine and reunite with Joseph. At the time, they were welcomed by the Pharaoh and honored as the family of Joseph, who had been appointed to the most powerful position in Egypt (Genesis 41:33). But four hundred years later Joseph was dead and the new Pharaoh did not remember Joseph at all. In fact, the new Pharaoh had come to fear that the rapidly growing Hebrew population would soon outnumber the Egyptians. He had relegated the Hebrews to heavy labor and in their misery they called out to God for relief. God heard their cries and raised up Moses to lead the Hebrew people to freedom. But it would not be an easy task for Moses. His faith and endurance were tested over and over again, but Moses obeyed God and took his stand before Pharaoh. He did not allow himself to be overcome by the power of Pharaoh or circumstances surrounding him, but rather looked to God and trusted Him to keep His promises (see Genesis 46:1-4).
Have you ever taken a stand for something you knew was right and then met opposition on every side? If you have, then you have had a taste of how Moses must have felt when he followed God's command to confront Pharaoh and demand he let the Hebrew people go. Repeatedly, in spite of God sending nine plagues upon Egypt, Pharaoh continued to harden his heart; he mocked God and refused Moses' requests to let the people leave. Not only that, Pharaoh retaliated by placing an increasingly heavy burden upon the Hebrew people - so they turned against Moses too (Exodus 5).
A few months ago, I wrote a letter to my state senators urging them to support a certain upcoming bill. I knew that Biblically I was right in my position, and I felt compelled in my heart to write. A few weeks later I received a form letter from one of the senators. I received no response at all from the other senator, and it was obvious from the form letter that my letter had never been read. When I shared this with a couple of friends, I discovered that their views radically conflicted with mine. To me, this did not make a difference in our friendship, but it did to them. I no longer hear from them. It made me understand in a small way how Moses must have felt, and that encouraged me to continue to stand up for my moral, godly convictions even when it is unpopular and uncomfortable.
When Moses faced opposition, he didn't buckle under pressure from power or people. By faith, he kept right on doing what God had called him to do. He kept right on pressing on for what he knew was God's will. He endured. He never gave up, even when it was hard and lonely. Moses obeyed God rather than give in to Pharaoh and the pressure of his own people. Ten times Moses went before Pharaoh to demand that he let the people go, and finally after the tenth time and God's tenth plague upon Egypt, hard-hearted, angry Pharaoh relented and let the people go. Because Moses had faith in God and never gave up, the Hebrew people marched out of Egypt as a free people, no longer slaves but as the seedling nation of Israel. Of course, Pharaoh had a change of heart soon after, and that led to another crisis for Moses, but Moses pressed on.
The lesson for us as Christians is that we need to take the faith of Moses to heart. His boldness, courage, and endurance should be an encouragement and inspiration to us. God's Word calls us to stand for what is good and true and right, and we need to obey His Word by faith - all the time. Like Moses, we need to endure, even in the face of adversity, and never give up. And when Christian leaders stand up for the Word of God, we need to support them. We need to read and study and meditate on God's Word until it becomes a part of us, until it becomes a compulsion within us to obey and stand up for Biblical principles in an increasingly secular world. Will you embrace God's Word with me? Will you read and study the Bible daily so it can sink into your heart and mind and become a part of you? Christians should stand together as God's people for what is good and right and true. Moses did and God was with him. God never let him down. He is with us too, when we are with Him. Like Moses, we need to endure, keeping our eyes, not on the circumstances but on Him who is unseen.


This study aimed to investigate the clinical application of the treatment of peripheral vascular disease, following the Traditional Chinese Medicine theory, the use of pure Chinese medicine, efficacy, and animal studies conducted on peripheral vascular incurable diseases, based on the original research gained, the in-depth study to explore standardization of Chinese medicine treatment of peripheral vascular disease, the treatment effect of standardization research, treatment, the mechanism of action, and side effects. Medicine, research and development of new drugs.
In ten years, the depth of chronic kidney disease, chronic renal failure, renal purport, IgA nephropathy clinical and experimental studies have improved. According to "righting Xuzhou", "Warming spleen," "balance of yin and yang" principle of treatment, has assumed the provincial, prefectural research, the elimination of chronic kidney disease, chronic renal failure, proteinuria, serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen high indicators, IgA nephropathy hematuria unique treatment for chronic kidney disease, the material basis for the treatment of chronic renal failure, conducted in-depth research, the scientific group, rational treatment. In oral medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine enema, colon dialysis chronic kidney disease, chronic renal failure has some originality.
In 21 years, aspects of the use of Chinese medicine diagnosis and treatment of digestive diseases has accumulated rich clinical experience, especially as chronic gastritis, ptosis, mucosal prolapse, gastric ulcer, ulcerative colitis, cholecystitis, viral hepatitis, fatty liver, cirrhosis, chronic pancreatitis, etc.
(3) The formation of interdisciplinary teams bring together a team, have a higher education and a research, clinical ability.
In the University Hospital, First Affiliated Hospital is clinical base; there is a large number of clinical peripheral vascular disease, renal disease, and digestive disease patients. In nearly five years, 50 papers have been published, edited seven monographs and textbooks.


Lakeside Country Club is a first rate country club with all the golf components. Our 9 hole course features small greens that challenge golfers of all abilities. Measuring over 4500 yards the tight tree lined course is a challenge for golfers of all abilities. Don't let the length fool you as we are a proponent of the Tee It Forward Campaign and have multiple tee boxes to accommodate the beginning golfer as well as the most accomplished players. We utilize 10 minute tee time intervals which result in a pace of play of a maximum of 3 hours. Our course opens at 7:00 a.m. everyday.
Although the seeds for Lakeside Country Club were cast on June 27, 1916 it wasn't until 1923 that they blossomed into Lakeside Country Club. An association was formed with trustees appointed to purchase real estate "to establish a country club to encourage outdoor sports and athletics". The Association established 50 shares, with 40 shares already sold at $250.00 each. Armed with a treasury, the unincorporated association purchased the property from Edgar and Ida Haefer for $16,000.00.
In 1928 a youth swim team was established. Lakeside Junior Golf flourished under Pro Matt Melville in 1943 and is still going strong under the current Pro Tim Hezlep. Lakeside's women golfers registered with LCC Pro Harry Nelson for the 1958 Women's City Golf Tournament. With a surplus in the treasury of the LCC Women's Golf Assoc. it was decided in 1959 that there would be a day reserved for women only. It was named Doe Day. It was the first such event in Bloomington. Other area country clubs have followed the practice. Another first in the same year, Louise Landry and Peg Steppe formed the LCC bowling league, which still takes place every Wed. during the fall and winter.
Did you ever wonder when the "Best Position" Golf Tournament started in Bloomington.-Normal? Well it started at Lakeside in 1962. Ed Weaver had breakfast with a man from St. Louis who talked about a new tournament at his club. All the members would hit their drives, but they would all go to the "best position" drive before hitting their 2nd shot. Ed suggested this format for our 4th of July Tournament, and it was adopted. The first year it was only 2 man teams, the second year we went to 4 man teams and the rest is history! This tournament soon spread to the other clubs, as well as throughout the country.
A new club house was built in 1972. For the first time since its existence the membership class was expanded in 1980 to include social memberships.
The year of 1991 was a year of big changes. Thanks to the foresight of Don Lettner and Frank Niepagen the club added a pool and the families came. And those families brought other families. We hope you and your family will consider joining Lakeside, and help to enrich our history even more!
Lakeside is always looking for new staff members. Send your resume to Josh at manager@lakesideblm.com.
We are looking for experienced food and beverage servers for our Fall & Winter season. Must be 21 years old (for beverage serving) to apply. Email your resume to manager@lakesideblm.com.


text:
PEP SAYS YEP
Pep Guardiola is ready to hand Yaya Toure a new one-year deal at Manchester City to extend his stay at the Etihad Stadium
The 33-year-old has forced his way back into the Citizens side after being exiled for the opening period of the season due to issues with his agent and Guardiola
By Ken Lawrence
YAYA TOURE could be offered one more year in a shock change of heart by Pep Guardiola.
The Manchester City boss effectively exiled the midfielder for the first few months of the season.
Yaya Toure could yet stay at Manchester City after forcing his way back into the sideCredit: Getty Images
Pep Guardiola could hand the Ivory Coast midfielder a new one-year deal to keep him at the Etihad StadiumCredit: Getty Images
The 33-year-old did not play in a Premier League game until November 19 - when he scored both goals in a 2-1 win over Crystal Palace.
Keep up to date with all the latest news, gossip, rumours and done deals in SunSport's live transfer blog
Before then Pep suggested that the Ivorian star lacked the required levels of fitness.
But following a knee injury suffered by new signing Ilkay Gundogan in December Toure was given regular appearances again.
And only last week Guardiola described his form as "outstanding."
Yaya Toure in action in the recent FA Cup semi-final loss to Arsenal at Wembley last weekCredit: Getty Images
The 33-year-old was not involved in the squad at the start of the season after issues with his agent and Pep GuardiolaCredit: PA:Press Association
Yet Toure had still begun to fear that he would be leaving the Etihad when his current contract expires this summer despite insisting he believed he could play on for at least two more years.
What is more it was Guardiola who sold him to City in the first place.
His £24M switch from Barca in 2010 was one of the shocks of Europe at the time.
And their relationship was further strained early this season when Toure's agent Dimitri Seluk claimed Guardiola had humiliated his man by leaving him out of City's Champions League squad.
The powerful midfielder has had a hugely successful stay with Manchester City since he joined from BarcelonaCredit: Reuters
The Etihad boss demanded an apology – made in the end by Toure on behalf of Seluk – and returned for the Palace clash.
Until recently Toure had thought that despite his perfomances and after making up with Pep he would be forced to move on.
It appeared that Toure would become part of a cull also likely to include Pablo Zabaleta, Jesus Navas, Aleksander Kolarov as Pep prepares for a huge summer of spending.
Instead he is likely to be given the chance of remaining after building bridges with his boss.
Manchester City transfer news
Yaya Toure


text:
Attack Prevention
What Is Password Spraying? How to Stop Password Spraying Attacks
Password spraying attacks can cause major data breaches. Here's how to prevent them from doing so.
Diego Poza
Head of Content
Password spraying is a type of brute-force cyberattack where a cybercriminal tries to guess a known user's password using a list of common, easy-to-guess passwords such as "123456" or "password." This process is often automated and occurs slowly over time in order to remain undetected.
Password spraying is a common method that cybercriminals use to gain unauthorized access to computer systems. For example, IBM's/The Ponemon Institute's 2020 Cost of a Data Breach Report found that 19% of all data breaches were the result of weak or compromised credentials. Verizon's 2020 Data Breach Report found that over 80% of all hacking-related breaches involved brute-force methods like password spraying.
Below is everything executives need to know about how to protect their organization from password spraying attacks — how password spraying works, the risks associated with it, and how to eliminate the opportunity for an attack altogether.
How Password Spraying Works
Cybercriminals are able to use password spraying to gain unauthorized access to your systems because people often secure their accounts with obvious passwords (ones that are easy to guess). Here's how obvious passwords make this possible.
1. Cybercriminals Build or Buy a List of Usernames
There are "over 15 billion credentials for sale on [the] dark web" right now. So to start a password spraying attack, cybercriminals often start by buying a list of usernames stolen from other organizations.
However, quite often, cybercriminals also build their own list using the patterns that company email addresses follow (for example, lastname.firstname@yourcompany.com) along with a list of people who work at that company (from LinkedIn, for example).
2. Cybercriminals Procure a List of Common Passwords
The most common passwords are also easy for malicious actors to find. For example, common password lists are often published in reports or studies each year. Wikipedia also has a page that lists the top 10,000 most common passwords.
Cybercriminals can also build a list of common (but less obvious) passwords with a little bit of extra research. For example, if an organization is located in New York, they could try variations of "Yankees" or "Knicks" or something else New York-related that people often love to use as a password.
3. Cybercriminals Try Username Password Combinations
Once a bad actor has a list of usernames and passwords (U/P), cybercriminals try them together to find a U/P combination that works. They'll often do this using an automated system that tries one password with every user and then repeats this process with the next password in order to avoid being blocked by account lockout policies or IP address blockers that restrict login attempts.
The Risks Associated with Password Spraying Attacks
The risks associated with a password spraying attack depend on the role of the person within your organization whose account was breached.
If the compromised account belongs to an end user (or multiple), for example, their personal data is at risk of being breached, which could impact them in a variety of ways, depending on what information a bad actor was able to access. But if that account belongs to a system administrator, a cybercriminal could steal business-critical information like the intellectual property that was stolen from Citrix in a password spraying attack.
It may seem unlikely that anyone in your organization would use a password such as "123456" to secure their account. But a 2019 study by the National Cyber Security Centre found that over "23.2 million victim accounts worldwide used 123456 as password."
Below are several methods you can use to stop password spraying attacks regardless of user behavior, as well as several cybersecurity best practices that will help you reduce the opportunity for (and effects of) a breach.
How To Stop Password Spraying Attacks
Although password spraying attacks are common, they are preventable. The technologies below will eliminate a cybercriminal's ability to use password spraying to breach the systems of any organization.
Passwordless authentication eliminates passwords altogether and instead authenticates a user using biometrics, a magic link that verifies ownership of an email account, an SMS message that verifies possession of a device, etc. Some experts believe passwordless authentication is the future of authentication because it eliminates common unsafe password behaviors that create the opportunity for credential-based attacks like password spraying.
MFA uses an additional factor of authentication (such as those used in passwordless authentication above) to verify a user's identity in addition to a username/password (U/P) combination. So even if someone uses an obvious password to secure their account, unauthorized access would be prevented in the event of a password stuffing attack because that cybercriminal would not be able to fake a user's identity with the second authentication factor.
How to Reduce the Impact of a Password Spraying Attack
The methods above are effective in eliminating cybercriminals' ability to use password spraying against your organization. However, there are also additional approaches you can take that won't eliminate the opportunity for password spraying attacks altogether but will reduce it.
Follow NIST Password Guidelines
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) password guidelines are considered the strongest set of password best practices in the world, and following their recommendations can help reduce the potential for credential-based attacks like password spraying.
One of NIST's requirements, for example, is that every new user password is checked against a backlist of breached passwords. This helps organizations enforce stronger password policies and reduces the opportunity for other credential-based attacks like credential stuffing.
The NIST guidelines also explain that length is more important than complexity because it's harder for cybercriminals to crack. So encouraging users to create longer (but easy-to-remember passwords) is better than requiring an increase in password complexity. This also reduces other unsafe password behaviors like password reuse.
Limit Access to Critical Systems
The more people in your organization who have access to sensitive data or systems, the more opportunities a cybercriminal has to gain access to those systems with a password spraying attack. So it is best to regularly review and reduce the number of people who have access to those systems.
Passwords Can be a Vulnerability
A 2020 study by NordPass shows that the average person has 100 passwords to remember. As a result, many people engage in unsafe password behaviors (like using weak passwords or reusing the same password for multiple accounts) to make their lives easier, even though these behaviors put organizations at risk of a data breach.
Password managers can help, but they still require users to adopt a new behavior or spend money to keep an organization safe. Eliminating passwords altogether eliminates the risk of credential-based attacks like password stuffing and creates a better user experience (a competitive advantage for any business).
Auth0 can help your organization implement passwordless authentication quickly and efficiently — learn more about Passwordless here.
System Engineer, geek, foodie, technology lover, speaker.
What Is Passwordless Authentication?
How to Use Psychology to Increase MFA Adoption
5 Ways Your Login Box Is Not Living Its Best Life


MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Divers in New Hampshire are searching for a kayaker who they say fell into a river and didn't resurface.
Police in Manchester say they got a call about a missing kayaker on the Piscataquog River at about 9 p.m. Thursday.
Dive teams are aiding New Hampshire Fish and Game conservation officers and the Marine Patrol.
WMUR-TV reports officials said a 32-year-old woman was kayaking with three friends when she fell out of her kayak, went under the water and never resurfaced.
Two divers and boats combed the water for about an hour Thursday night.


text:
Oriol Mitjà Villar
Assistant Research Professor Malaria Elimination, Malaria, Chagas oriol.mitja@isglobal.org
Facebook profile of Oriol Mitjà Villar
Dr. Oriol Mitjà is a researcher and consultant physician in Infectous Diseases with expertise on strategies for the eradication of Skin Neglected Tropical Diseases. He currently works at both the Lihir Medical Centre in Papua New Guinea and the Barcelona Institute for Global Health. He is also technical advisor for the World Health Organization.
For the past 6 years he has conducted breakthrough research on the diagnosis and treatment of yaws, a chronic and debilitating treponemal disease. His work has been published in prestigious scientific journals and he has been awarded several scientific prizes including the Prince of Girona 2013 Award.
He graduated from University of Barcelona School of Medicine (2004), completed a residency in Infectous Diseases (Barcelona, 2010), a Diploma of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (London, 2010) and a PhD in Medicine (Barcelona, 2012).
Clinical development of new tools for the diagnosis of endemic treponemal infections (yaws).
Development of integrated surveillance and management strategies for skin Neglected Tropical Diseases such as leprosy, Buruli ulcer and yaws.
Main Publications
Mitja O, Houinei W, Moses P, et al. Mass treatment with single-dose azithromycin for yaws. New England Journal of Medicine 2015; 372: 703-710. [IF:54.42]
Mitja O, Marks M, Konan DPJ, et al. Global epidemiology of yaws: a systematic review. Lancet Global Health 2015; 3:e324-331. [IF:54.42]
Mitja O, Lukehart SA, Pokowas G, et al. Heamophilus ducreyi as a cause o skin ulcers in children from a yaws-endemic area of Papua New Guinea: a prospective cohort study. Lance Global Health 2014; 2: e235-241.
Ayove T, Houinei W, Wangnapi R, Mitja O. Evaluation of a rapid dual point-of-care assay for targeting antibiotic treatment for yaws eradication: a comparative study. Lancet Global Health 2014; 2: e415-21.
Mitja O, Hays R, Ipai A, Penias M, Paru R, Fagaho D, de Lazzari E, Bassat Q. Single-dose azithromycin versus benzathine benzylpenicillin for treatment of yaws in children in Papua New Guinea: an open-label, non-inferiority, randomized trial. Lancet 2012; 379: 342-7.
Mitja O, Asiedu K, Mabey D. Yaws. Lancet 2013; 381: 763-73.


Tonight we hopped on twitch to raid some random streams. We had some fun watching them and chatting, before heading off to another streamer. Don't forget to comment if you attended!
Thank you to all who attended, and once again don't forget to comment down below if you attended!


text:
Suprise me
Mediterranean Gull
Merganser
Mergus merganser
Widespread throughout the northern hemisphere, the common merganser is the largest of the saw billed fish eating ducks. There are three sub-species with the Eurasian variant frequently known as the Goosander.
Goosander, Common Merganser
Ducks, geese and swans
Wingspan:
900g to 2.1kg
What does a Common Merganser look like?
What does a Common Merganser sound like?
What does a Common Merganser eat?
Signs and Spotting tips
How long do Common Mergansers live for?
Similar birds to a Merganser
Other birds in the Ducks, geese and swans family
The adult female is a large diving duck with a rufous brown head. It has a long rufous coloured, downward pointing crest on its crown and a well defined white throat with a brown collar on the neck below. The lower neck is white as is the belly and the flanks. Overall the remainder of the bird is a blue grey to slate grey across the breast, wings, back and tail. The legs and bill are red. The bill is long, narrow and hooked with serrated edges enabling the bird to hold on to its preferred prey of fish. During the summer months the adult male is similar to the female, although the crest is normally shorter, but this appearance changes in the autumn to reveal a winter plumage of a green black head with a round crest and bright white neck and underparts which may be tinged with a pinkish hue. Secondary flight feathers are also white whilst the back and tail are a light grey. The upper wing area, apart from the secondaries is black resulting in a large white wing patch in the centre of the wing which is prominent in flight. The bill and legs are as the female and both sexes have dark brown eyes. Juvenile mergansers are similar to the adult female with a lighter colour to the head and a shorter crest.
Male and Female Merganser
Common mergansers are generally silent unless courting or alarmed. The female will often hiss when protecting her young or issue a high pitched 'cru – cru – cru' sound when calling her young to her. The general alarm call is a low to medium pitched 'guk – guk'.
Common Merganser call
Lars Edenius, XC475545. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/475545.
Female Merganser
Whilst usually seen diving from the surface in order to catch fish, its main source of nourishment, the merganser will also take, crustaceans, frogs, worms, insects and even small birds and plant matter. In the past they have been targeted by commercial fish farms following their penchant for trout and salmon although more commonly they will feed on the more abundant species of fish available within their immediate habitat.
Common Mergansers in flight
The three sub-species are located as follows:
Common merganser (North American)
Mergus merganser americanus (monotypic)
The north American variant breeds from Alaska eastwards to Newfoundland, south to northern California and in a south westerly direction into New Mexico and northern Pennsylvania. When northern rivers and lake freeze over during the winter the birds migrate south to south western USA and northern Mexico.
Common merganser (Eurasian)
Mergus merganser merganser (polytypic)
The Eurasian variant occupies the largest of the world's biographic ecozones known as the Palearctic. This particular zoogeographical region includes Eurasia, together with north Africa and the temperate areas of the Arabian Peninsula. Within its borders it encompasses the Mediterranean Basin, west, central and eastern Asia, the Sahara and Arabian deserts and the Euro-Siberian region. Breeding occurs from Iceland westwards to the far east of Russia on the pacific coast, south and central Europe, northern regions of Japan and north east China. Birds migrate south to over winter on the Atlantic coasts and also from central Europe eastwards to Iran, Korea, Japan and China.
Mergus merganser orientalis (polytypic)
Breeding in central Asia from Afghanistan through Tibet to the Himalayas and western China, this sub-species of the common merganser may over winter in the north west Indian sub-continent and from the foothills of the Himalayas across to south east Asia.
Common mergansers prefer the fresh water surroundings of rivers, lakes and large pools but during winter will often occupy salt water estuaries and occasionally inland seas. They are superb fish catchers and their long slim bodies can often be seen gliding through the water with their head submerged hunting for food. The distinctive white throat patch on the female is an excellent aid to identification.
Female Goosander
The female alone chooses a nesting site and constructs a bowl shaped nest which is lined with her own downy breast feathers. The nest is often located in the hole or crevice of a tree close to water. Breeding females may visit and utilise then same nest year upon year. A single clutch of between 8 – 11 creamy white coloured eggs is laid annually with the north American variant laying between June to July and less frequently from May and the two Eurasian sub species producing eggs from April through to late July. Incubation by the female only, averages thirty two days and the chicks are lured from the nest by the mother to the water, approximately forty eight hours after hatching. Young are able to fly from the age of two months and may be abandoned and left to fend for themselves by the parent as early as one week after hatching although more commonly at around a month old.
Merganser with chick riding on back
The life expectancy for the common merganser averages eight years.
Articles featuring the Merganser
Can Ducks Fly? (All You Need to Know)
What is a Group of Ducks Called? (Complete List + Why?)
Whooper Swan
This large bird arrives on our shores from Iceland to overwinter in late September, returning northwards to breed from mid March onwards.
White-Fronted Goose
Velvet Scoter
Larger than the Common Scoter this elegant European diving duck spends much of its time at sea and is often seen in company with mixed flocks resting on the water's surface far out from land.
Tundra Bean Goose
A type of diving duck, distinguished by its mohican-like feathers at back of head.
Taiga Bean Goose
Smew
Shoveler
Red-Crested Pochard
During the winter the population of this rare resident breeding duck increases by 55 times to that of the summer, with the influx of many thousands of others overwintering, having arrived from Russia and Eastern Europe.
Pink-Footed Goose
A native of Japan and China, the mandarin duck was first introduced into the UK in the 18th century and started populations in the wild in the 1930's following escapes from captivity. The UK population is estimated to be in the region of 7,000 birds.
Greylag Goose
Garganey
Regarded as being sacred by early Egyptians, this native goose of the African continent was introduced into Europe and elsewhere as an ornamental wildfowl species in the late seventeenth and eighteenth century.
Common Scoter
The word scoter is often used to define northern sea ducks. There are six different species of scoter, all of which are monotypic and three of which are confined to North America. The Common Scoter like the Velvet Scoter can only be found in Europe and Asia whilst the Stejneger's Scoter is a native of Asia alone.
This large bodied goose is both adaptable and social having been imported into Europe and Asia from its native lands in North America. A monogamous bird which pairs for life, it is considered a pest in some areas as being both messy and aggressive, particularly within urban environments.
Brent Goose
Bewick's Swan
Winter visitors to the UK, formerly considered a full species, but now considered a sub-species of the Tundra Swan.
Barnacle Goose
A highly sociable and unmistakable member of the goose family, often seen and heard flying in long, noisy packs and lines.


3/01/2012�� The thread owner talks about using it with skype and has updated the file for beta 2. Skim through it to the 10th post and follow all instructions and updates up to 10th post and you should be good to go! resvr32 is a program for registering dlls and filters and makes his filter in the thread above make the kinect appear as a camera.... Xbox 360 - Xbox Live Arcade and Marketplace I'm wondering if it is compatible with the Xbox 360 so I can take pictures, video chat, etc. I'm using a logitech webcam.
By hooking up a webcam (we tested with a Logitech C922), the Xbox One will automatically set up the device for use across various apps. To get started, simply connect a webcam to your console's... Using your Xbox Kinect as a webcam for Skype on Windows. 23 September 2012 Hardware Microsoft Xbox. Thanks should go to ScottOrange on the MSDN forums however it�s along thread that has lots of pieces to pick out and try.
3/01/2012�� The thread owner talks about using it with skype and has updated the file for beta 2. Skim through it to the 10th post and follow all instructions and updates up to 10th post and you should be good to go! resvr32 is a program for registering dlls and filters and makes his filter in the thread above make the kinect appear as a camera.... 13/06/2018�� XBox 360 Kinect as Webcam Is it still possible to use an xbox 360 kinect as a web camera in windows 10? I used to use it in windows 8 (i think) and it worked perfectly fine but now all of the applications like the browser, and the camera app show that I have no camera connected.
Hi guys so now topic about the Xbox 360 controller we are all game lovers or fans are waiting to the how�s the new game and so extra power on life but we are first tips about the how to connect Xbox 360 controller to pc and you can any Xbox controller for pc to use every steps to noted.
In this how to video, you will learn how to dismantle an Xbox 360 vision camera. First, take off the sticker on the bottom with a knife. Next, unscrew the the screws on the bottom.
18/06/2015�� Watch video�� NEW GTA 5 easy $10,000 money glitch to do when your lazy as phuk. after patch 1.25/1.27 (Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4) 12:39 How to Record "Xbox One" Voice & Game Chat with MIC or HEADSET on Xbox Live and Ghosts.


text:
Aerospace is an independent, nonprofit corporation that operates the only federally funded research and development center for the space enterprise. The Aerospace Corporation performs objective technical analysis and assessments for a variety of government, civil, and commercial customers.
Aerospace had two primary goals for building its new flagship site:
Permeate the space industry with thought leadership: Aerospace produces industry-leading content, but needed to ability to easily publish content for all site visitors to see and experience.
Increase recognition of the Aerospace team: Aerospace's best differentiator is the technical expertise of its highly-experienced and diverse team. The accomplishments of the Aerospace team needed to be the number one focus on the website, even above the services.
Aerospace pushes the envelope with its innovative solutions, but its website looked like it was built when astronauts first landed on the moon. The new site need to have a modern look that matched the organization's brand guidelines. Additionally, Aerospace was upgrading its site from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8 for an improved content editing experience.
In partnership with digital agency Third and Grove, Aerospace developed a digital strategy that prioritized making the amazing content the organization was already making as discoverable as possible in the customer journey. However, what started out as a redesign evolved into a complete restructuring of the site, in addition to building new functionality that would create a content-first experience that would captivate audiences and keep them coming back for more.
The Acquia Platform was a critical part of the success of this strategy. With Drupal 8, the Aerospace team can easily control what content is featured on the homepage, from blogs to the latest research paper. Additionally, Acquia Search made it easy for Aerospace to easily create a compelling search experience for website visitors. Finally, the Aerospace engineering team took advantage of Acquia's suite of developer tools to make development, testing, and deployment more efficient and less error-prone.
Aerospace successfully upgraded its site from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8, enabling Aerospace to develop a future-proof content strategy.
The Aerospace team has more flexibility when uploading and editing content, which has improved their ability to execute a content-first experience which ties to the main business goal of the project.


So after reading about that solo Sabre guy on TMC, an amazing coincidence happened last night.
We were running the C5 sites in our home hole with a medium sized fleet. We were on the second escalation when our scout (who is a very new player and can't shoot red crosses with us, but is super awesome at still wanting to get involved) spoke up over comms to tell us that a Cheetah had just jumped through into our hole.
With caps on field, and not yet that close to the end of the site, this was not very welcome news. A Cheetah can easily be a scout for a large T3 blob sat a few jumps away, and with the amount of ISK we had on field, this was a tiny bit worrying.
Our static was the only signature at the time, so I knew that if he was going to leave, it would be from whence he came.
I was duel boxing, on one account a siege boosting Loki, and on the other a triage Chimera. The triage Chimera is under a resonable amount of pressure during a capital escalation as the battleships hit rather hard.
I decided that this Cheetah was not going to survive, and I quickly warped the Loki down to my SMA and reshipped into a Sabre. I warped straight to the static and as I landed, so did the Cheetah. I jumped immediately and put my bubble up (I actually was a few seconds late doing this as I always forget that I can't laucnh it until I've broken my natural jump cloak). The little finger on my left hand is holding the CTRL button down, whilst the index finger on my right hand is applying light pressure to my mouse button, who's pointer is hovering anxiously over the overview waiting for the Cheetah to decloak.
In retrospect, I can only imagine he paniced a little bit and didn't execute the cloak+MWD trick quite fast enough. The other possibility is that he spawned too close to the hole and was not able to cloak or maybe my finger was that little bit faster than his.
Either way, I caught him and he was quickly dispatched, along with his pod that was worth three times more than the ship.
I've been flying a Sabre for quite a long time, but I'm normally with some sort of fleet, whether it be big or small. This is the first time I've ever killed something solo with a Sabre, and I can add it to my very small list of all the solo kills I've ever had.
Talking of TMC, I'm apparently no longer a proof reader. This is not a bad thing as I didn't really have the time or inclination to put as many hours into it as they "require".
I really wish people would stop moaning about new mechanics. The more and more I play this game, the more I realise that there's a lot of people who just love to moan. Nerf something? Moan. Buff something? Whine. Not pander to your particular playstyle? Moan. Change something that you didn't want to be changed? Whine.
I'm sure that it's a very small minority of actual people doing all the moaning, but those people seem to be the most vocal. The most vocal seem to be a couple of high ranking Goons who seem to have a ~toxic~ opinion on every little thing. Maybe this is observer bias, but I swear these two pop up somewhere in whatever I'm reading.
Hopefully that will help in some small way.


RINGO was a 6-8 mo. old Mal /Hsk that was picked up by Catoosa County Georgia AC. He was badly infected with Demodex and Staff, and requires long term rehab.
week 1 , small improvement.
After 2 years here Ringo is doing well. He still requires continuous meds and cannot stay out in extreme cold weather. Ringo is a great house dog and would do much better in a forever home, but will require lifetime care.
July 2011, Ringo is struggling with another bout of Demodex. His meds and Vet visits are adding up. Each time we get him well, it's worth it to see him happy again. So far we are $1800.00 in the red.