text:
The Implications of New Title IX Regulations for Institutions of Higher Education
Anna Shin '24
The establishment of Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools that receive federal funding, has protected students for nearly five decades by holding educational institutions accountable for cases of sexual discrimination. Notably, Title IX has played a significant role in equity in athletics, sexual harassment and violence, and protections for transgender students.
But while this law's foundation was built on sex equality, the specific nuances of Title IX policies have varied among the presidential administrations, most recently the Trump administration. On May 14, 2020, the ACLU and law firm Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP filed a lawsuit against Former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos on behalf of four activist groups: Know Your IX, the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, Girls for Gender Equity, and Stop Sexual Assault in Schools (Know Your IX v. DeVos). The lawsuit was in response to new revisions released on May 6th to existing Title IX policies (otherwise known as the "Final Rule") for sexual harassment on college campuses set forth by the DoE. The ACLU and Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP have argued that colleges and universities conduct sexual misconduct cases from a higher standard than reports of discrimination based on race, national origin, disability, etc. Ria Tabacco Mar, director of the ACLU's Women's Rights Project, called the new rule a "double standard that is devastating for survivors of sexual harassment and assault, who are overwhelmingly women and girls." But Secretary DeVos has stated that the new regulations will secure due process rights for both the accused and the accuser, claiming that the 2020 revisions will allow Title IX officials at colleges and universities to use either a preponderance of of the evidence or a "clear and convincing standard" to prove sexual harassment claims, thereby setting a higher burden of proof. This contrasts from the policy of the Obama administration (2011), which used a "preponderance of evidence" to determine guilt in sexual misconduct claims. This consequently led to many college males filing civil lawsuits based on the claim that they were being unjustly accused of sexual harassment.
There are several issues the ACLU claims violates the due process of sexual violence victims. Firstly, they claim that the Final Rule redefines "sexual harassment" into three distinct traits: to be "so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive" that it denies the person equal access to educational opportunities. This arguably narrows the scope for sexual misconduct claims, because the complaint must meet all three conditions for sexual harassment to be even be applicable. The previous definition used "or" in place of "and." Secondly, any allegations or reports of sexual misconduct can be tossed and not investigated if not reported to the "right" person, or the individual formally in charge of all Title IX-related issues. Thirdly, the alleged sexual misconduct "must have taken place during a school-sanctioned activity, building, or event in which the institution has 'substantial control.'" This disregards locations such as off-campus apartments, study abroad programs, and field trips, all of which should still fall under the school's jurisdiction. Fourthly, it installs a "quasi-judicial system" that allows the cross-examination of both parties, which can further retraumatize victims and discourage them from coming forward about the misconduct. Finally, the current COVID-19 pandemic has heavily impacted universities' budgets and systems, making it difficult for them to adhere to the DoE's August deadline to implement these revisions.
On October 20, 2020, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Bennett dismissed the case on the basis that Know Your IX was unable to prove that the Final Rule was directly reducing reports of sexual misconduct, and that it was creating more work for the organization. Other reasons discussed how the claim was arbitrary and "speculative." Similar cases such as Women's Student Union v. U.S. Department of Education, which made a congruent argument to the Know Your IX case except for high school students, are still ongoing. So far, none of the lawsuits filed against the Final Rule have been successful. So what does this entail for the future of the Final Rule in universities? The answer is still quite unclear, largely due to the fact that it is relatively new. Most colleges have yet to fully recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, both financially and systematically, making it difficult to assess the true consequences of the rule. But Know Your IX and the ACLU have a promising argument — by creating blockades in sexual misconduct reporting and scope, especially during a time where almost everything was conducted within a virtual space, the Final Rule could not have come at a worse time for sexual misconduct claims to go unnoticed or ignored. Universities must continue to stay vigilant on how the implementation of the Final Rule is impacting their prosecution of sexual misconduct cases. Know Your IX v. DeVos, while in itself may not have been successful, is the necessary, groundbreaking case for future lawsuits that will continue to challenge the due process of the Final Rule.
Posted on September 5, 2022 September 5, 2022 Author legaljCategories Civil Rights, Education
Affirmative Action Admissions Regimes are Unconstitutional: Strict Scrutiny Should Mean Something
by Myles McKnight and Benjamin Edelson
Harvard's affirmative action saga continues, or so we hope. After losses in the Federal District Court and the First Circuit Court of Appeals, the non-profit group seeking to do away with Harvard's race-obsessed admissions regime has filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari in our Nation's highest tribunal. Students for Fair Admissions petitions the Court to consider overruling Grutter v. Bollinger, the narrow 2003 decision which held that the University of Michigan Law School's race-conscious admissions program was constitutional because it satisfied strict scrutiny. Grutter's loose reasoning leads us to think that the Court should overrule, so we'll canvass just one reason for believing so here.
Whatever you make of the merits of Harvard's affirmative action program, there are constitutional questions that lurk beneath the operation of any state-sponsored policy which prescribes differential treatment on the basis of race. No one denies this. Policy is one thing, constitutionality another. And when government policy (or the policy of institutions that receive government funding, like Harvard) makes racial classifications, reviewing courts must apply the test of strict scrutiny to determine whether or not those policies meet constitutional muster.1 For the unfamiliar: A race-conscious policy satisfies strict scrutiny if it 1) furthers a compelling (i.e. necessary) state interest, and 2) is "narrowly tailored" such that the policy minimizes, to the extent possible, differential treatment on the basis of race. If a policy discriminates on the basis of race only to the degree necessary to meet a compelling interest, it stands the test of strict scrutiny.
Harvard argues that its policy meets this standard. We think that's wrong. In fact, we don't think an affirmative action regime like Harvard's can ever satisfy strict scrutiny for reasons we'll present below. But first, some preliminaries.
The compelling interest claimed by the law school in Grutter was the procurement of the educational benefits that stem from having adequately diverse classrooms (what Justice Thomas calls "classroom aesthetics").2 In fact, of the interests historically offered as justifications for affirmative action admissions practices, the Court has held that this is the only one that can be compelling.3 Before turning to whether or not this interest actually is compelling, we should point out that there is serious reason to doubt that this interest is truly the one that animates affirmative action policies like Harvard's.
Let's grant, for a moment, that the end to which the policy is tailored is the procurement of the educational benefits that stem from classroom diversity. (The alleged compelling interest is not racial diversity qua racial diversity, but rather the educational benefits that stem from that diversity).
Why limit the diversity to racial diversity? If the interest in the educational benefits that stem from racial diversity is indeed compelling, presumably there are other forms of diversity that would produce similarly significant, and similarly valuable, educational benefits. And those would be compelling too, right?4
We can, in fact, think of other diversity domains wherein composition shifts would shock the academic status quo at elite universities just as much as or even more than adjustments in racial composition, thereby providing educational benefits at least as tangible and significant. Here are a few: political, ideological, and religious diversity among professors and students. Nevertheless, it is no secret that evangelical Christians and conservatives go dramatically underrepresented at institutions like Harvard or, say, Princeton. Can it really be that the educational benefits that stem from racial diversity are compelling interests while the educational benefits that stem from political, ideological, and religious diversity are not? Indeed, in the context of academe, where the cause of truth-seeking through academic discourse is advanced, one would think that the most prized form of diversity would be ideological. There can be little doubt that healthy ideological diversity would have at least as tangible an impact on the ability of students to navigate an ideologically, racially, and religiously diverse world as racial diversity would.
All of this should give us real pause before buying into the notion that the educational benefits that stem from racial diversity are the real interests at play. To us, it seems more plausible that the interest is something akin to the following: the rectification of societal ills and tragedies of minority underrepresentation. We think that this is a laudable interest, but it is not the one once alleged by the University of Michigan Law School or the one alleged by Harvard today. Moreover, the fulfillment of this specific interest by affirmative action was explicitly thrown away by Justice Powell in Bakke.
If you disagree with us so far, you might be tempted to respond: "Ah, well, conservatives and evangelicals are not historically marginalized groups. It's wrong to analogize intellectual and religious diversity to racial diversity in this way!" Well, you've proved our point: Your interest lies in the rectification of historic societal ills.
Let's leave this aside. As a matter of fact, we do have reason to conclude that the asserted interest of procuring educational benefits is not the one that the Court should evaluate here. This is because the phrase "educational benefits that flow from racial diversity" is actually a gross misstatement of the more precise interest motivating Harvard's scheme. We construe it as follows: the procurement of the educational benefits that stem from racial diversity, consistent with the maintenance of prestige and the general standards of the institution.
In our view, that second clause ("…prestige and general standards of the institution") is a necessary component of the true interest to be weighed. Before explaining why this is the case, we should first take care to note that the maintenance of institutional prestige couldn't possibly be a compelling interest. The compelling interest doctrine, as applied to race-conscious policies, provides the courts with a mechanism to smoke out illegitimate racial differentiation in all but situations of total necessity; "compelling" does not mean "preferable" or "laudable." As historically applied to race-conscious policies, strict scrutiny has rejected interests even as important as the "best interests" of children. Race-conscious policies have otherwise typically stood only when they serve interests of such immense necessity as national security, the functionality of government, and safety from violence.5 In any case, should you prefer a looser conception of "compelling interest" than we do, it's still immensely difficult to see how the maintenance of institutional prestige could ever rise to the qualification of compulsory. To quote Justice Scalia: "If that is a compelling state interest, everything is."
So, if we're correct in construing the relevant interest as we do, an affirmative action scheme like Harvard's cannot pass the test of strict scrutiny. And if that is the case, it is unconstitutional. So, why are we correct?
Suppose you were devising an admissions scheme designed to secure the educational benefits that stem from classroom diversity. You're not interested in prestige or maintaining the "high standards" for admission that make your university so elite – you know that those interests couldn't be compelling. So, how do you do it? Your policy will need to be narrowly tailored, meaning it will have to be as race-neutral as possible while still increasing the diversity of your classrooms. If your interest lies only in the educational benefits that flow from increased racial diversity, perhaps you'll come up with a lottery system so that your admitted class will be more reflective of a diverse applicant pool. Or, maybe you'll adopt an approach to evaluating applications that gives less weight across the board to factors that, on average, tend to cut against the admissions chances of disadvantaged minority students (e.g. SAT scores). This would substantially reduce the disadvantage faced by applicants from historically marginalized communities. Because reduced consideration of such factors would apply to all applicants, you might not have to consider racial background at all.
But instead, you opt for a scheme that deliberately favors applicants from some minority groups by applying different standards of admission to students on the basis of their racial identities.6 Anyone can see that that scheme is not narrowly tailored to the interest in the way that the aforementioned alternatives might be; there are more race-neutral ways to attain sufficient classroom diversity than this scheme. Indeed, such a race-conscious admissions scheme can only be narrowly tailored if the interest itself is adjusted to accommodate the claim of narrow tailoring. Thus, an affirmative action admissions regime like Harvard's, which applies different standards to different races in order to produce classroom diversity without sacrificing any degree of prestige, is only narrowly tailored in the context of an interest which includes the maintenance of the prestige secured by exclusive admission standards. And the interest in prestige and exclusivity, as we have suggested, cannot be compelling.
Importantly, we haven't passed judgment on the policy merits of affirmative action. We believe that the rectification of societal ills and tragedies of minority underrepresentation are important and laudable interests. They are, moreover, perfectly constitutional interests. However, this does not mean that the Constitution gives wide latitude to policymakers who wish to realize these aspirations by devising policies that prescribe differential treatment between races. Rather, our Nation's reckoning with its painful history of racial discrimination has led to the application of a rigorous legal safeguard designed to smoke out all but the most indispensable considerations of race. That safeguard is strict scrutiny. For a policy that discriminates between individuals on the basis of race to survive a constitutional challenge, it must do battle with strict scrutiny. The sort of policy we address here loses that battle.
1 Adarand v. Peña, 515 U.S. 200 (1995)
2 Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306, 123 S. Ct. 2325 (2003)
3 See Justice Powell's opinion in Bakke. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265 (1978)
4 It's true that many schools, including Harvard, consider certain other forms of diversity during the admissions process (Harvard also considers geographic diversity, for example).
5 From Justice Thomas in Grutter: "Where the Court has accepted only national security, and rejected even the best interests of a child, as a justification for racial discrimination, I conclude that only those measures the State must take to provide a bulwark against anarchy, or to prevent violence, will constitute a 'pressing public necessity.' Cf. Lee v. Washington, 390 U. S. 333, 334 (1968) (per curiam) (Black, J., concurring) (indicating that protecting prisoners from violence might justify narrowly tailored racial discrimination); Croson, supra, at 521 (Scalia, J., concurring in judgment)."
6 That this is the mechanism by which affirmative action policies achieve their ends is not a subject of debate.
This article was edited on April 27, 2021.
Posted on April 22, 2021 May 5, 2021 Author princetonlegaljournalCategories Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, Education, Jurisprudence


Abstract: The Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library (WEPL) partnered with the Eastlake Police Department, Eastlake Middle School and Outspoken Literacy Consultants to develop a poetry program that brought at-risk students and police officers together through creative writing. A total of 3 Eastlake Police officers and 18 students met with Outspoken Literacy Consultants separately on two occasions where they wrote on the topics of 'My Best Day' and'My Worst Day'. The last meeting took place at Eastlake Middle School where the police officers and students combined their work to create 'Poems for Two Voices'. The students and the police officers took turns standing up together to read their poetry aloud to the class, teachers, school principal and Eastlake Police Chief.
Improve users' ability to converse in community conversations around topics of concern.
Narrative: The Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library partnered with the Eastlake Police Department, Eastlake Middle School and Outspoken Literacy Consultants to develop a poetry program that brought at-risk students and police officers together through creative writing.
Intent: Improve users' ability to converse in community conversations around topics of concern.
At the start of the project, 4 of the students and police officers thought of themselves as writers and at the end of the project, 8 respondents believed they were writers, a 50% increase. Additional questions on the tests included writing about the past and how it may change the way participants respond to a situation in the future and if listening to poetry would help participants better understand another viewpoint. Both had positive outcomes with 7 respondents feeling those statements were true in the pre-test and 12 respondents in the post-test, a 58% increase. Please see the attached documents for full results.
These findings are import to the success of "If These Streets Could Talk' because they show the impact the project had on the future relationships between the students and police officers. Many of the students were overheard talking about how 'cool' and 'funny' the police officers were. One student said he felt like the police officers were 'real people'.
The biggest lesson learned is that more time is needed to conduct the writing workshops. The poetry the students created was incredible but at times, felt rushed due to the time constraints. If this project is done again, extra writing time will be built in.


Once you have found someone that you would like to meet in person, the big question arises "Where should we meet for our first date?".
Please find out a list of great first date ideas to help you choose the best place to meet your date.
One of the things that people worry about when considering where to go on a date, is the potential cost. Some men may feel under pressure to pick up the whole bill and follow tradition. Whilst this may be a very romantic gesture, not every man is possessed with a large bank balance. In today's changing times a woman may also prefer to share a bill (going dutch) and may also be concerned about the potential bill for the date.
Whether you are a man or a woman, it may be worthwhile to try and keep the cost of the date to a minimum, so that neither person will have the worry of paying a large bill at the end of the date. Once you start getting to know each other a little better you can always splash out on a more lavish date venue then.
Everyone likes animals and you will also be meeting them in a public place which we also recommend. As you wander around the zoo looking at the different types of animals you should find it easy to strike up a conversation. There are usually a few handy places to sit down and have a bite to eat. By this time, the ice should be well and truly broken and you can start to get to know each other better.
This is often a popular date venue but it can go wrong if you don't consider a few things beforehand.
1. Try to find out if there is a film that both of you would like to see. If your date doesn't like certain types of films i.e. horrors, sport related etc., they may end up in a very negative mood by the end of the film. If you both have a different taste in films always let your date choose the film. This will immediately give you a few brownie points and put you in a good light before you meet them.
2. When you are watching a film you have to be quiet, so you will not have as many opportunities to get to talk to your date. However, you can overcome this by planning to go for something to eat after the film. How good or bad the film was, will then be a great starting point for you both to get the conversation going and relax a bit more.
Again another great public place to meet your date, with plenty of opportunities to get the conversation going. However, you should only really consider this type of venue, if both you and your date are interested in what the museum or art gallery are displaying.
Restaurants can be a very romantic and intimate place to meet your date. You should make sure that your date likes the type of food that the restaurant provides i.e. Indian, Chinese, Thai etc. If you're not sure what they like, go to a more mainstream establishment that will provide a wide range of food. It's often a good idea to ring the restaurant beforehand, just in case you need to book before you go. If you get turned away because they are fully booked this may be very embarrassing and ruin your date.
Ideally you should try and pick a place you have already been to before and enjoyed the food. This will help to put you at ease and give you a bit of confidence. If you don't know of any good restaurants why not ask one of your friends whose judgement you trust.
A great free date and very romantic. It's worth doing a quick check on the weather forecast as we all know how unpredictable our British weather is. It's a great way to get to know your date as you will have plenty of peace and quiet.
Obviously this one would be difficult to arrange if neither of you life near the sea. However, if the sea is close by, a slow walk along the beach followed by a picnic as you watch the waves come in will go down very well.
A similar date to visiting the cinema. It's a good idea to follow up with a bite to eat afterwards so that you have a chance to chat with your date. Otherwise you may end up spending the evening with your date without having much chance to talk to them.
Wherever you are in the country you shouldn't be too far away from a theme park. With roller coaster rides, dodgems and many other forms of amusement a theme park is sure to get you both smiling and having a laugh. A great way to get to know someone in a fun environment.
Another great public place to meet your date. A good opportunity for you to impress your date with your knowledge of local areas noted for their historical importance.
Whilst this may not be everyone's cup of tea, it should be a fun date if you both see the funny side when you keep falling over each other.
Find more very useful information in the following DatingTop.net sections: Dating Advices, Dating Articles, Dating Tips, Dating Reviews, Chat up Lines, Words of Love.


robert stomski: "I had so much fun staying here, the wood stove kept the whole yurt hot during a snow storm and the location is perfect for a private place to relax after some amazing off-roading! Highly recommended, would return and hope that I get a chance"
Laura Perneski: "Glamping in the luxury tent was fun! Our view from the deck of our tent was great, we sat on the Adirondeck chairs for early AM coffee and our personal happy hour. And we had all the conveniences we needed even being "off the grid" including WIFI. The mattress on the bed was amaing, I wish I had checked the brand. The showers however required a lot of playing around to get hot water, a bit of an art that we did not master on our one day stay."
Christiana Van Bree: "We stayed here while visiting Mesa Verde, which is not too far from the site. Matt was a wonderful host. The tent was beyond our expectations. It was very clean, nicely decorated and had a spectacular, yet private view of the surrounding landscape. Complete with coffee in the morning, we couldn't ask for much more. The bathrooms were also new and clean. We would definitely stay here again! Thanks again, Matt!"


Do you want worry free moving with a local Utah Moving Services company with a proven track record? Think Moving Connections.
Would you like to use a professional moving service that has its roots in Utah? Once again, that's Moving Connections.
Would you prefer to use a professional Utah Moving Services company that is federally licensed, bonded, and insured? Moving Connections is federally licensed, bonded, and insured for your security.
If you would like to hire a company that has all of the above qualities and still has affordable, up front rates and responsive service, then Moving Connections is your local moving company.
Moving Connections is in the business of moving families and individuals. That's why we work closely with you to coordinate a seamless transition to your new home.
Of course, we also move businesses, whether it be just a small office move or a large corporate relocation.
If Moving Connections is moving you to South Jordan it's a perfect time to begin to utilize the many resources and bounties of South Jordan. For example click on the picture to the left to go the Moving Connections 'Support - Advice - Assistance' page and discover South Jordan for the first time. Once you are on the 'Support - Advice - Assistance' page go ahead and open the .pdf link found there and tape the list of emergency and useful phone numbers on your refrigerator. Moving Connections has gone to great pains to find those links and connections to integrate you quickly into South Jordan life.


The monsters have found Percy, but at least they had the courtesy of allowing him a nice year of quality education before they pounced, right? Oh, and Annabeth is back! But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Dramatization of my own junior high "deserted island" experiment. Not pictured: flare gun.
I was sorry to discover that my thinking Percy was having a good year wasn't quite accurate. Sure, it was better than years before, but he's a social pariah with only a single friend (Tyson) that everyone makes fun of him for.
Speaking of Tyson, right from his introduction I was suspicious of him being something other than a normal human. Perhaps that was insensitive of me to assume based only on him being homeless, huge, misshapen and scared of everything, but this is a Percy Jackson book. Have we met anyone who was out-of-the-ordinary and NOT a regular human?
The whole dodgeball incident pretty much solidified that theory for me. Percy seems a tad slow at picking up on it himself, but I suppose when Laistrygonians are throwing incendiary grenades at you, it doesn't really create the best environment for deductive reasoning. I figured he was someone sent to watch over Percy, but the whole "scared of everything" deal would seem to make him ill-suited for that. Unless, perhaps, he's simply scared of doing anything that might accidentally hurt a non-monster?
Where were teachers like her when I was in school?! My high school chemistry teacher, Mr. Bond, always scoffed at my friend Matt's suggestion for "blast-radius prediction labs" and insisted we—get this—be CAREFUL when handling chemicals. No fun at all. Then again, he did show us the thermite reaction (see below for example), so at least that was something.
The Laestrygonians were in the Odyssey; they attacked Odysseus's crew by throwing rocks.
Also, if there's ever anything else you want to look up without being spoiled, theoi.com is a good Greek mythology website.


Before there were the sacred waters, there was sacred air. This Druid could not be truly fascinated with nature work, without having a fascination for the origins of nature, the cosmogony of our solar system. In the aftermath of the Big Bang, imagine the scene as clouds of gases swirled about and bits of space dust and star stone merged together. Millions of years later, a primordial atmosphere appeared and it was filled with greenhouse gases.
Imagine this air that leaves our noses goes right to our neighbors' noses. And the longer we live, the more likely we are to share argon atoms that were breathed by actual ancestors, and ancestral nature entities like woolly mammoths as well. Imagine sacred air. This concept would then make every breath magical in nature, and symbolically connect us with others. Imagine with each breath, we may connect with not only the nature spirits, the ancestors, but also each other without regard for personal differences.
How aware of your breath are you? Do you feel the rise of your diaphragm? Your abdomen as it expands? This type of feeling is at the core of mindfulness training. It's important to mention that there are at least two more types of sensing beyond the typical five senses, and these are proprioception and interoception. The first of these is the awareness of your body position and includes equilibrium. We know posture certainly affects breathing awareness. Interoceptive awareness is feeling your lungs expand, regulation of your breath, and other internal functions of your body.
The practice of MBSP (mindfulness-based stress reduction) has been around the medical community since at least 1979 when it was introduced at the stress reduction clinic of the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. It has been used to help people process difficult emotions and experiences. It can be used to help trauma survivors begin to reclaim their lives by working through difficult emotions without reacting to them as strongly.
The skill of MBSP is not automatic, however, and does require discipline to learn. Read that again; mindfulness is a learnable skill. When someone learns to control their breathing, and ultimately reduce their reaction to stress, they gain control over their narrative. When we gain control over our narrative, we gain influence on how we react to our past and how we can add new shape to our future. We also increase our ability to deal with interpersonal stress.
There is an important Buddhist belief that nothing is permanent. Everything changes. Just like the Goddess chant, "everything she touches changes" (insert appropriate pronoun she/he/they). Therefore, mindfulness can change how we react and respond to others in our community. If we consider the idea of marginalized people, then we can utilize mindfulness to help us control how we respond to their situation. If we ARE the marginalized people, it begins to help us comprehend why we may have been marginalized and perhaps open a dialogue to reduce divisions. This idea takes us to another aspect of the mindfulness training – deep listening. Sometimes this is referred to as active listening.
Deep listening may start with listening to your breath as it passes out your nose, but as a discipline it extends to listening without judgment, involving patience, and releasing your mind from personal goals underlying your listening. It involves seeing another person without also seeing the stereotypes or archetypes, and listening with compassion. If we can learn to show empathy for someone reeling from loss, then we can learn to show empathy for someone exploring their gender expression, or coming to terms with out of the ordinary emotional and/or health obstacles.
Mindfulness training, as well as further increasing our awareness through deep listening, re-creates an intimate connection to the world and the environment surrounding us. This includes our social environment as well as the natural. This training can also help transform limiting thoughts and feelings. When we open ourselves to an understanding of others' experiences, we are doing the work to decrease divisions among us.
A community describes a broad generalization of people gathering together, and there is usually some structure but not necessarily a common purpose. Communitas typically begins without structure but the people involved have closer connections or shared purpose. In some definitions, communitas is the next level which a community can aspire to. If we look at the attributes of community, one of the first characteristics we encounter is social status. Status is created when there are differences including but not limited to, available resources, ideology, ability, and likely includes social culture as well. Far too often, when conflict in life is being discussed, it involves differences of social status.
Marginality, as a common ground for many, creates communitas. People who exist at the fringes of different forms of social status also may share a bond of being marginalized through their restriction of status. Just one example of this is the LGBTQIA community. This commonality originates as something called spontaneous communitas. This is term deeply explored by anthropologist Victor Turner. If communitas gains some structure, whether it is to mobilize resources or gain social control, it then becomes a form of "normative" communitas, and may loosely resemble a tribal society without the familial ties. Some attributes of the normative communitas include a more equal division of labor and responsibilities, moral density, and placement of value on personal dignity.
Emile Durkheim, pioneer in sociology, focused a portion of his work on the things that hold society together, such as laws, division of labor, religion and lifestyle. He expressed concern that when modern society failed to bond people together on topics like these, that which we now call liminality or "marginality", would be manifested.
Durkheim is credited with coining the term "collective consciousness" which is defined as a set of shared beliefs, ideas and moral attitudes which hold a society together. Ironically, when liminal conditions create the spontaneous communitas, a "new" collective consciousness is formed of shared beliefs, ideas and moral attitudes, over time. A normative communitas of bonded yet theoretically marginalized people is born. As the new structure gains strength, new cracks of liminality will appear in this and the process repeats itself. As one group of people rise in status or rank, another will appear on a lower rung.
When we gain awareness of how marginalized communities are created, we are beginning the important discussion of limiting the expansion of division between people which leaves many of us with feelings of exclusion and isolation. Marginalized people may belong to their own sub community but the division that is created weakens the "whole" of community. The larger community may or may not be aware of limiting thoughts as well as unintentionally creating "myths" and inaccurate stereotypes of marginalized people such as the LGBTQIA community. A connection is thus lost.
The first step to having a constructive discussion about resolving division starts with simply having some kind of discussion period. When we stop communicating with each other, nothing is gained. Fences only make great fences; a wall is just a wall. Bridges, doors, windows, and open discussion are what connect the microcosm and the macrocosm, thereby bridging the smaller, insulated or isolated world to the outside world.
When group dynamics become oppressive or challenging, people affected are more likely to become reactive. Feelings of superiority and inferiority fluctuate. When one group starts to feel inferior, or superior, there is likely a group that feels the opposite. This is when judgments may occur. Patience becomes depleted. People could start to dismiss others, or themselves. As status shifts, feelings of being intimidated, or unkind intimidating of others, begins to occur. Even if opinions aren't voiced there may still be silent labeling that goes on. Passive aggression appears in avoiding eye contact, and ignoring people when they speak up or show up.
Remember the MSRB we discussed? No one is immune to loss in their lives, though some handle it better than others. No one is invulnerable to needs of self-identity and self-acceptance. Everyone struggles with some thing. Some of us cope with different kinds of stress more efficiently, but that doesn't mean the stress isn't there. When we begin to identify the challenges that others face, we have taken an important step in mindfulness training by being open to the emotional experiences of others. Our situations of stress don't have to be identical to realize a struggle of some nature exists, and in that common struggle, regardless of the outcome, we develop a common ground, a spontaneous liminality where we can connect. A doorway through the wall.
Far too often, marginalized people have learned to cope with the unkindness in their lives by using a mechanism of repression. Repression is a learned form of apathy that involves fleeing or detaching from the current situation emotionally. This is why starting a discussion is so valuable as an action to decrease division. If we are to heal the separation in society, we need to stop thinking in terms of "us and them" because "we" all share the same planet, the same sacred air, the same argon which our Ancestors shared.
In the past couple years, this writer has heard this phrase used often in the media, but no one ever really mentions what the table looks like? So I have decided to "set my own table" and this is what that process looks like to me.
First off, what is the purpose of our shared meal? If the table is a vision of a more united community working towards the spirit of communitas, then we can not bring judgment to the table. We can not set a place for assumptions and labels. We can not invite elevated social status to share our meal.
Mindfulness aids us in accepting people just as they are, as a whole person whether that person may feel whole inside or not. It assists us in leading with compassion. This not only heals what occurs between us but within us as well. Looking within ourselves, it is far easier to see our strengths than it is to witness strengths in people we have given silent labels to. If we can let go of these assumptions, we can learn to see the value that everyone brings to the table.
To use a term from Carl Rogers, a pioneer in the field of psychotherapy, when we see people as equally worthy of support and respect regardless of where they are in their lives, we are offering them "unconditional positive regard". This doesn't mean we have to agree with them, or like them, but we do have to respect their right to dignity, and this lack of criticism at the table will bring more potentiality for a constructive outcome.
There are many people in our various, shared communities that suffer from feelings of marginalization. One method of allaying these feelings is to connect with nature. This next method involves connecting with others. It will take an investment of work and time from both sides of the threshold. We already have much in common whether we acknowledge it or not, and we all breathe the same sacred air.
Before we can accomplish that vital work, we must learn to stop further harm and unkindness to ourselves. The process must start at home before it is extended outward. Just as the Hippocratic oath states, "Primum non nocere," First, do no harm. We must become our own healers in tune with our own bodies, thoughts and feelings, and perception of others. Then we must expand our awareness outward.


OH NO! Check out this stop motion video by Tilles Singer, in which he cuts sequences out of skate magazines and puts them to work in home-made environments…SO good! See more of his work at his Vimeo page, here.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged animation, art, artist, creativity, definitelynoteffortless, ew, inspiration, patterns, photos, video on April 17, 2010 by admin.


text:
Q: Is there a difference between "I saw him going..." and "I saw him go..."?

*

*I saw him going to city.

*I saw him go to city.

First one refers to gerund.
Second one refers to infinite.
Do they have the same meanings or different meanings?

A: The meanings are different.
In the sentence with the ing-form, the speaker saw only a part of the action of going to the city. He did not witness the person going from his starting point all the way to the city.
In the second sentence, however, the speaker witnessed the whole action. He saw the person leave home and also saw him doing the whole travel to the city. In this context this may be a bit weird, but here's an example where the difference is more easily explained:

*

*A. I saw him cross the street.

*B. I saw him crossing the street.

In the first sentence here, the speaker saw him move from one side of the street and make it across to the other side.
In the second sentence, however, the speaker saw him while he was already in the act of crossing the street or he saw him start, but did not see him finish crossing the street.
If that person crossing the street was hit by a car, sentence A would indicate that the speaker also saw the accident happen, while in B, the speaker may not have seen that person getting hit by a car.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Switch off autoplay facebook videos at time is extremely important, as videos autoplay can be frustrated a long time and too awkward as it take in More of our information. Facebook Disable Autoplay: As well it may cause reduce connection and dead time in loading a page, this could also make it a bit dull being used facebook at this time.
Most notably when working in an atmosphere with extremely inadequate network, consequently every customer will intend to stop autoplay videos on Facebook account in other to appreciate it facebook page at a specific time.
Meanwhile, almost everyone making use of facebook could wish to turn off autoplay facebook videos and other social networks so regarding have complete control on haw videos display on their pages. Agreed that your facebook friends love to share great web content, yet not those lengthy videos that compete greater than 10 minutes.
Faucet on More menu, search for 3 horizontal lines in the bottom right edge. After that scroll down and touch on Settings. At the click of setting, a menu will certainly pop up containing various alternatives like Account Setup, Information Feed Preferences and also Activity Log.
The third action in turn off autoplay facebook videos require you to click or touch account setting as shown above.
From step 3 you will certainly be come down on a screen to do step 4 procedures. At this action you pick videos as well as photos.
When you are through with this setting, you will be entrusted to three various choices in which you are to SELECT YOUR OWN AUTOPLAY setting. These choices are: Use Cellular Data and also Wi-Fi, Usage Wi-Fi Only, and also Never Play Videos Automatically.
Facebook has actually presented the very same function for web also; let's have a look at how to switch off autoplay facebook videos on web. For web it's fairly simple as compare to apple iphone application.
Click on Down Arrowhead at the upper right corner of the screen as well as click on Settings.
Click videos (last choice in left navigating.) the outcome that turned up when you click on the Settings on action 2.
The last step on how to quit autoplay videos on Facebook, Just Click Off in Auto play videos.
I assume this huge blue company thinks that if you obtain utilized to autoplaying videos on your newsfeed today, you will not worry much when there are autoplaying video clip advertisements later on. This is simply the straightforward however full steps on the best ways to shut off autoplay facebook videos.


Your website is your window to the world and a very important marketing tool. Website maintenance is labour intensive and complex. Don't have the budget for the services of an in house Webmaster to manage your website? Don't have the time or the technical skills to keep your website content updated and fresh looking? Our website maintenance and website update service allows you to change your content and images at any time so you can keep your website fresh and up to date.
By out-sourcing your Webmaster needs, not only does your company save money, but your website is properly managed and current too. We would be happy to discuss your Webmaster needs with you. Contact us for a price quote - we're certain that you'll find our Webmaster services rates very affordable.
Represents 10 hours of miscellaneous text revisions, content updates or additions to your existing website. Advance payment required. Based on minimum of 30 minute increments.
Starting at 20 hours per month for website promotion, miscellaneous text revisions, content updates or additions, and text link advertising services. Ongoing revision of optimization code and re-submission as required. Purchase of Search Engine Optimization Package required. Advance payment required.
Internet Public Relations is an emerging and exciting field. The internet has changed the PR landscape forever. In the not so distant past, traditional media (print, TV, radio) had a strangle hold on publicity. That is no longer the case. Now, an internet savvy business can post their search engine optimized PR materials on the internet, and reach thousands more eyeballs for a fraction of the cost.
Another great way of getting your message out there is by industry related articles. These, too, can be optimized for search engines, and there are a vast number of Article Directories on the web today. The benefits of submitting your articles to directories are numerous. You can read more about press releases and industry related articles here.
Every Company is different. At Meade Internet, we understand this, and can customize a service package for you, based on your company's needs and budget.
Contact us at info@meadeinternet.com and we would be happy to discuss your needs with you.


text:
'Free Weddings that Honor God:' This Pastor's Amazing Strategy to Help Couples Make the Right Choice
Charlene Aaron
CBNNEWSWATCH061319CC_HD1080_791.866_1061
Pastor Bryan Carter of Concord Church has a message to unmarried couples who live together – get married or move out.
It's a message Carter says comes at a time when traditional marriage seems unattractive.
"Cohabitation has really become an alternative to marriage and so, so many people, about 60 to 70 percent of people live together before they're married," Carter said in an interview with CBN News. "And we just believe that a covenant marriage is a much better alternative to just living together."
He went on to say, "Our goal and desire is to call people to honoring God in their relationships, to not just live together, but really choose a covenant marriage. You can be committed to each other and be committed to God. We just want to help people honor God in their relationship."
Carter shared some of the reasons he has heard from couples who choose to live together instead of getting married.
"A number of people, they have a fear of divorce, a fear of breaking up," he said. "So, they decide to test out the relationship. So a lot of people believe if I can try the person out first, then it helps me to know whether or not I really want to marry or commit to them. Some do it for financial reasons. Some do it because they haven't seen healthy models, and so they're just trying different ways to try and achieve a healthy relationship."
He added, "We believe that, not only do we want to teach people that marriage is much better than just me testing you out. Marriage is a commitment. It's a covenant relationship between two people and God. And so for us, we believe it's the best alternative."
For couples who say yes, Carter and his congregation offer some sweet incentives.
"We offer three options," he said. "The first option is we said, 'hey, we want to encourage you to move away from this being an option in your relationship. Just take it off your list.'"
"The second option we give to people was to move out, and we would pay your first month's rent. The reason we do that is that most people, when it comes to living together, they don't decide to live together, they slide into living together. So, one day becomes a week. A week becomes a month. One month becomes six months. And so sometimes you can get stuck in a relationship that you really don't want to be in, nor doesn't honor God. So we wanted to pay your first month's rent to help you transition out into a relationship or to move out so that you can begin to honor God in your walk with him."
"And then finally, for some couples that are together, know they want to be committed, we said, we'll have you married in the next 90 days. I want you to meet me after service and we'll put you on the path to marriage," said Carter.
"We'll put you through 11 weeks of relationship classes about how to be a husband, a wife; how to work through conflict; how to manage money; all the basics. And at the end of that journey, we'll give you a free wedding, free tuxedo, free dress, free rings, free flowers. We'll take care of all the wedding while you focus on the relationship so that you can step into a path of honoring God in your life."
And for Carter, encouraging couples to marry is nothing new.
"We've been doing this for 10 years now," he explained. "Every three years we do it again. And we've married close to 60 couples that have been part of this journey. And our recent invitation, we had close to 50 couples come forward and say we want to join the marriage challenge and they're in counseling now and so potentially in September we could have a large wedding celebrating their journey as they step into a God-honoring marriage."
In the end, he said his mission is much more than getting couples down the aisle.
"Our hope is that we believe in building strong marriages and strong families," said Carter.
"And we believe a strong marriage gives a great foundation for your family and your future. So, our hope is to lift up a high view of marriage; that marriage is so much better than me testing you out, just me living with you for a season without a commitment. We believe that a strong marriage can bring about a strong family and strong families help transform strong communities," he said.
Lesbian Ponies for Kids: 'My Little Pony' TV Show Joins in Gay Activism for Pride Month»
«Hezbollah's Secret Weapon Exposed: Israel Destroys Massive Iran-Backed Terror Tunnel

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
XCOM 2: War of the Chosen Alternatives
XCOM 2: War of the Chosen
XCOM 2: War of the Chosen provided by 2K Games and developed by Firaxis Games is a Turn-based, Tactics, Single-player and Multiplayer video game. The game introduces a DLC pack that can alter the campaign structure and bring lots of characters, enemies, and even some modifiers to let the player get different experiences… read more
ActionGames
Steam Win Mac One
All (21) Android (4) iOS (4) PC (19) Linux (4) Mac OS (8) PS Vita (2) PS2 (1) PS3 (3) PS4 (2) PSP (2) Xbox 360 (2) Xbox One (1) Steam (8)
19 XCOM 2: War of the Chosen Alternatives & Similar Games for PC
1. XCOM: Enemy Unknown
XCOM: Enemy Unknown is an Adventure-based, Tactical Role-playing, Turn-based Strategy, Single and Multiplayer video game developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K Games. The game takes place in the era of the Global Alien universe where the game allows the player to control a technically advanced organization called XCOM and the rescue the humanity. In this game the ultimate task of the player is lead his XCOM team in the field, eliminate alien force, create research labs and find new technologies in order to progress. It also allows the player to expand his organization manage his resources, monitor enemy activates and complete numbers of tasks. It is an excellent game that offers different campaigns with action-packed gameplay, stat of art visuals and high detailed animations. The game includes core features such as well-programed enemy creatures, different weapons, units, and modes etc. XCOM: Enemy Unknown is an excellent game Turn-based Strategy game to play and enjoy.
2. Xenonauts
Xenonauts attracts greatly on the sci-fi universe of the original X-COM to make a very familiar turn based tactical adventure. The video game isn't only a clone though with lots of enhancements that permit it to stand own feet and never lean too seriously on the reputation of X-COM. Just like the original smash hit the game-play is divided between two key elements; the tactical turn based combat and also the global management where you will improve your troops and very carefully consider your ongoing strategy while ensuring you maintain air superiority.The enhancements to the worldwide security aspect of the game are well welcomed in Xenonauts with improved systems making it simpler to handle the world defenses through randomized occasions which players are alerted to rather than being saved in the dark about the events around the world. The opportunity to battle against incoming UFOs with your personal fighter jets in real-time combat is another great addition and provides players more control over this aspect of Xenonauts.
3. Battle World: Kronos
Battle World: Kronos is a Turn Based Real-Time Strategy (RTS) game along with a battle structured video game the game enables you to participate into campaigns, skirmishes and wars to your opponents with the Yerla Faction. You are able to manage your current troop units, teach them and workout the most advanced weaponry against your enemies. This game allows you to explore the game world. You can play the video game on the web with your friends in multiplayer gaming mode. Battle World: Kronos provides two such campaigns, one where you'll struggle for the Yerla faction and yet another for the Rebels in that play out very differently. All up you may expect 40-50 hours of gameplay well above most advanced day games which ensures excellent value for money before you even take into account the multi-player. Battle World: Kronos is a video game for the veterans of the genre that don't mind a top difficultly bar and a really lengthy game which throws situation after situation at you.
4. Invisible, Inc.
Invisible, Inc. is a Turn-based Tactics, Strategy, Stealth, and Single-player video game inspired by X-COM. The game is developed and published by Klei Entertainment and offers the combination of Cyberpunk, Rough-like, Sci-fi, Adventure and Isometric elements. The plot is set in the futuristic year 2074 after megacorporation has dominated the national government of the world and take over. In the game, you can take control the protagonist who is an agent of Covert Corporation and has maximum three days to ready for his final mission. In the beginning, the corporation compromised and handled the headquarters. The game focuses on teamwork, stealth, and precision elements. The corporation's important document being lost with only two agents and agency leader. The protagonist and his AI companion escape and incognita can survive up to 72 hours because he is hosted in extremely powerful systems. Now the task of the agency to use that time to get ready for the final mission. Invisible, Inc. includes key features such as Character Selection, Fully Customization, Procedurally Generated World, Animated Cut Scenes, and more. Invisible, Inc. is the wonderful game as compared to other turn-based tactics games.
5. Silent Storm
Silent Storm is a Turn-based Tactics, Sci-fi, Role-playing, Strategy, and Single-player video game developed Nival and published by THQ Nordic. The game takes place in fictional WWII with Sci-fi elements.
According to the story, THO (Thor's Hammer Organization) is an evil organization and wants to dominate the whole world. The organization knows that the goal is much tricky, and some powers are able to challenge them. The game lets the player get into the role of the protagonist and allows him to control a team of more than six elite soldiers to complete a series of missions.
Once the player starts his campaign, he can create and customize his own character to lead an elite team. As the player completes the introduction, he gets access to a base filled with the armory, medical station, and personnel. Each character in a team has a unique role from grenadier, engineer, sniper, medic, scout or soldier.
Silent Storm includes core features such as Turn-based Gameplay, Team-Management, Twenty-Four Missions, Multiple Options, Destructive Environment, Stunning visuals, and more.
6. Hogs of War
Hogs of War is an Action-Adventure, Turn-based Tactics, Strategy, Single and Multiplayer video game published by Alternative Software. The game allows the player to take control of a squad of hogs to engage himself into the turn-based tactical combat system. In each turn, the player can control a single member of his squad in a third-person view to moving around the map in given numbers of times. The game offers four different character classes such as Medics, Heavy Gunner, Engineers and Espionage. The player can choose his class and start his epic adventure. It is an excellent game that immerses himself deep into the fantastic game world. It includes core features such as Explosive twenty-five single-player levels, unique Weapons, Customization option, six different pig armies and much more. With brilliant game setting and control, wonderful storyline, enjoyable soundtrack, and stunning visual details. If you like turn-based tactics games, Do try it out, Hogs of War is one of the best game as compared to the lots of other same genres.
7. Laser Squad Nemesis
Laser Squad Nemesis is a Turn-based Tactics, Single and Multiplayer video game developed by Codo Technologies and published by Got Game. In this competition, the player takes the command of an alien force with the excellent turn-based isometric combat system. Each turns the player can give the order for his squad to complete the game object with a view to progress. The game offers multiple missions, and each mission of the game is more difficult of the last one. It includes core features such as regular Updates, World League Ranking, different Modes, Online Campaigns, tournaments and much more, etc. With beautiful storyline, fantastic game mechanics, immersive and quite addictive gameplay. Laser Squad Nemesis is a brilliant game to play and enjoy. Do try it out, you'll definitely enjoy it.
8. Frozen Synapse
Frozen Synapse mixes turn based tactics, cyberpunk as well as real-time turns together for one of the very most unique games you'll play in the genre. Using a huge single player campaign to coach you in the mechanics and offer lots of challenge combined with the lots of multiplayer options the strategy never stops. The historical past of this tactical experience is a dystopian cyberpunk long term where gamers are the strategic leader assigned to an increasing faction of opposition fighters. These fighters battle against the oppressive government regime that plays out around a story based campaign with unique missions where your goal is generally to get rid of the enemy units which are existing. Having a wealth of multi-player game settings, options as well as rankings to increase the life of Frozen Synapse well behind the first campaign the challenge, discovery and also enjoyable simply never stops.
9. UFO: Alien Invasion
UFO: Alien Invasion is an Adventure-based, Strategy, Turn-based Tactics, Single and Multiplayer video game created by UFO: Alien Invasion Team. According to the story of the game the deadly alien force attack on the earth, try to rule the land and destroy the humanity. The game allows the player to take on the command of the secret X-Com team and start his epic adventure against the alien force. At the start of the game, the player can choose his characters, place his character in the right location and start his battle. The game offers excellent squad-based tactics strategy combat system that immerses himself deep into the fantastic, fast-paced, action-packed game world. It includes key features such as new Technologies, Simple Controls, various Mode, creates his own units, a huge range of Weapons and Upgrades, etc. UFO: Alien Invasion offers content rich story plot, stunning graphic details, enhanced game mechanics, and exciting gameplay.
10. Shadow Watch
Shadow Watch is a Tactical Role-playing, Combat, Turn-based Strategy and Single-player video game by Red Storm Entertainment. The game is a based on the Tom Clancy's Power Play Novel in which the player can control the six characters each character has its own unique abilities and skills. The player can also upgrade his character's ability by using his experience points. According to the story of the game, the evil force attack on the international space station and try to rule on it. The game allows the player to take the command and kill and the enemies. It offers different kinds of challenge such as defending a location, stealing a package, and kill enemies, etc. During the gameplay, the characters have a certain amount of actions such as Shooting, opening doors, and weapons, etc. If all the characters, injured in that case, the game will restart mission again. Shadow Watch offers excellent storyline, beautiful visuals, dynamic background music and cool game mechanics.
11. Massive Assault: Phantom Renaissance
Massive Assault: Phantom Renaissance is an Action-Adventure, Turn-based Strategy, Tactical, Single and Multiplayer video game developed and published by Wargaming.net. It is a sequel to the popular Turn-based game of Massive Assault that offers the same storyline with more advanced gameplay, new exciting campaigns and lots of new challenging missions, etc. According to the gameplay of the game the player can control robotic characters and the only task of the player is eliminate each member of the opposing force in order to progress. The game offers brilliant turn-based tactics combat gameplay. It includes key features such as six new planets, different Modes, creates ten new units, enhanced 3D engine and unique battle system, etc. With excellent gameplay, improved mechanics, superb music, and brilliant visual details. Massive Assault: Phantom Renaissance is one of the best Action-Adventure, Turn-based Strategy, Tactical, Single and Multiplayer video game to play and enjoy.
12. Fantasy Wars
Fantasy Wars is a Fantasy-based Turn-based Strategy and Tactical video game by 1C Company. The game offers four playable races such as Human, Orc Clans, Elven forests and Dwarfs' citadels. The game allows the player to choose his class and get into the fantasy 3D game world. It allows the player to take the command of his armies, create military units, and protect his castle against the powerful enemy creatures. The game offers both single and Multiplayer mode. In single-player mode, the player can engage himself to play more than seventy challenging missions in which the player can create the units and save his village against enemies. In Multiplayer Mode the player can play his friends again. Fantasy Wars provides three story campaigns. In each campaign, the player can create his armies, upgrade his units, learn magical spells and start the battle. It is an excellent game that offers fast-paced, action-packed thrilling gameplay that engages himself deep into the fantastic game world. Fantasy Wars includes prominent features such as advanced military Upgrades, Simple Controls, more than seventy Units, nine different kinds of armies, and much more, etc. It offers brilliant game setting, fantastic game mechanics, a content rich game story and a genuinely very interesting and quite engaging gameplay with excellent graphics.
13. X-COM
X-COM is a Science-Fiction, Turn-base Tactics, Strategy, and Single-player video game series developed by Mythos Games and published by Microprose. UFO: Enemy Unknown is the first entry in the series of X-COM.
The series offers a combination of Real-time Strategy, Resource Management, Turn-base tactics, and Simulation elements. In the series, you can get into the role of the commander of X-Com, who is a hidden and a member of an international paramilitary organization fighting against alien invention to protect the Earth.
The main objective is to orders the troops of X-Com and completes a set of turn-based missions. You must build the base, gather resources, and expand it by building and upgrading units. Discover new technologies, earn rewards, and unlock additional content. X-COM video game series contains four main games, such as UFO: Enemy Unknown, X-COM: Terror from the Deep, X-COM: Apocalypse, and X-COM: Interceptor.
The series focuses on turn-based combat and space combat flight simulator. X-COM includes core features such as Space Exploration, Tactical, Strategy, Ships, buildings, Alien Invasion, and more. With the stunning visuals, addictive gameplay, brilliant mechanics, and a superb story, X-COM is a beautiful video game series to play and enjoy.
14. Syndicate Wars
Syndicate Wars is a Single and Multiplayer, Turn-based Tactical video game created by Bullfrog Productions and published by Electronic Arts. The game offers an isometric view and allows the player to take the command of the group of the agents who start his epic adventure against the opponent force. According to the gameplay, the player can set his agent in the different location and get an attack on the enemy creatures in order to win the game. The gameplay of the game consists of several areas and each mission of the game offer different and challenging gameplay. During the gameplay, the player must collect all the items that will help the player to improve his health. The section of the weapons is almost same just like previous installments, being principally an array of arms weapons. Syndicate Wars offers most prominent features such as different Modes, extreme game environment, different weapons, Upgrades, Power-ups an Unlockable Achievements, etc. With quite addictive gameplay, enhance game mechanics, objective storyline, and beautiful graphics details. Syndicate Wars is one of the best Turn-based Tactical game to play and enjoy.
15. Jagged Alliance 2
Jagged Alliance 2 is one of the older tactical role playing games. Set in a little fictional country the sheer quantity of choices along with randomized components guarantees greater than a single play through. Your adventure will give you across Arulco, a tiny location ruled by a ruthless master. As you may expect your task in this game is to dump the master for good by using the local citizens and militia. The tools at your disposal in this fight are the huge selection of variants of mercenaries that you can recruit as well as equip them with all the necessary weapons and skills. Unlocking all of this equipment and also the choice to hire new and more mercenaries is in your hands and that actually makes the game more interesting and it includes an excellent flow in the play as you go from rag-tag team to well-equipped deadly team. Personality stats and skills also play a huge role that slowly develops as your mercenaries perform actions during the gameplay. With all the fantastic drama and hardcore battles, Jagged Alliance 2 is a wonderful game to play and enjoy.
16. X-COM: UFO Defense
X-COM: UFO Defense is an Adventure-based, MMORPG and Turn-based RTS video game that takes place in the era of Global Alien Invasion. In this game, the player can control a unique team named as XCOM, and the ultimate task of the player is defending the earth form the dangerous alien force. It allows the player to lead his force in the game world and kill all the aliens in order to progress. During the gameplay, the player can create research labs, build new technologies and expand his organization. The game offers the brilliant combination of the Strategy and role-playing with different campaigns. It offers various missions, and each mission of the game offers different and more challenging gameplay of the last one. X-COM: UFO Defense includes key features such as huge range of weapons, upgrades, unique characters and much more. The game offers well-written storyline, quite immersive gameplay, dynamic background music and brilliant visual details.
17. Unity of Command
Unity of Command is an Adventure-based, Turn-based Strategy, Combat and Single-player video game created by 2*2 Games and published by Dvaput. In this game, the two nations Wehrmacht and the Red Army fight with each other in order to rule the world. The game allows the player to choose his one of two force and get into the game world and start his journey against the opposite force. The player has different kinds of weapons, units, and resources that will help the player in during the gameplay. It consists of the series of levels, and each level of the game offers more complex gameplay of the last one. Unity of Command offers most prominent features such as different resources, Upgrades, unlockable Achievements, unique combat and fast-paced gameplay. With quite addictive gameplay, well-written storyline, dynamic background music and brilliant visual details. Unity of Command is one of the best game as compared to the other same genres.
18. Jagged Alliance: Back In Action: Shades of Red
Jagged Alliance: Back In Action: Shades of Red is an Action-Adventure, Role-playing, Strategy and Single-layer Simulation by Coreplay GmbH. It is a downloadable content pack of the of the original game of Jagged Alliance: Back In Action offers new missions, weapons, and upgrades that make the game more enjoyable. The gameplay of the match is almost same that takes place in the country of Arulco where the player can command rebel and his force while using economic, tactical and diplomatic tools. It is an excellent game that offers educational gameplay to immerse himself deep into the brilliant game world. The game includes core feature such as all dialog has audio, create his own units, and unlock more resources and additional playtime. With quite addictive gameplay, enhanced game mechanics and brilliant graphics details. Jagged Alliance: Back In Action: Shades of Red is an excellent game to play and enjoy.
19. Breach & Clear
Breach & Clear is an Action, Role-playing, Turn-based Strategy and Single-player Simulation developed by Mighty Rabbit Studios and published by Gun Media. In this game, the player can control four Special Forces units who enter an area and defeat all the deadly enemy creatures in it. At the beginning of the each level, the game allows the player to plans the actions of all the characters in advance and the turns determined simultaneously. It also allows the player to customize his special operation team from around the world as the player can take on the mission that has been planned out the member of the community. Breach & Clear includes core features such as build his own team, different weapons, upgrades, guide his team, customization option upgrades, and unlockable achievements, etc. With superb game controls and setting, excellent graphics, and great game mechanics. Breach & Clear is an excellent simulation to play and enjoy.
More About XCOM 2: War of the Chosen
XCOM 2: War of the Chosen provided by 2K Games and developed by Firaxis Games is a Turn-based, Tactics, Single-player and Multiplayer video game. The game introduces a DLC pack that can alter the campaign structure and bring lots of characters, enemies, and even some modifiers to let the player get different experiences.
A new set of aliens called the Chosen is available that allows a set of three warriors to defeat the XCOM and attempt to capture the commander by various Elders, including the Hunter, and the Assassin. Each of them has different personalities, skills, and even abilities. The Assassin lets the player make use of several kinds of stealth elements and abduct different soldiers, while the Warlock utilizes various psionic powers and attempts to summon massive waves of enemies.
The Hunter permits the player to use long-range rifles and kill his targets. There is an enormous variety of quests and missions, and each of them requires the player to complete multiple objectives to progress through the whole map. As the storyline advances, the player has to access a new kind of skills, abilities, and some additional desired content.
Lots of factions are there, and the player must select one of them to get powerful instruments and other equipment to complete different missions. XCOM 2: War of the Chosen offers some key features such as Smooth Controls, Strategy Layers, Customization Options, New Environment to explore, Several Mission Objectives, Lots of Challenge Modes, and more.
Battle World: Kronos
Invisible, Inc.
1001 Attempts
Maildrop


3 Comments on The 'Syn-ket' (or 'Synthesiser-Ketoff'). Paolo Ketoff & John Eaton, Italy. 1963.
The 'Fonosynth'. Paul Ketoff (Paolo Ketoff), Julian Strini & Gino Marinuzzi jr, Italy. 1958.
The Fonosynth was a large analogue valve and transistor based studio synthesiser designed and built by the Polish-Italian sound engineer Paul Ketoff (with musical input from the Italian composer Gino Marinuzzi jr) and was created specifically for the new electronic music studio at the American Academy in Rome.
(Alvin Curran. Soundings No. 10, Soundings Press, Santa Fe, 1976).
Artists involved with the American Academy, Rome included flutist Fritz Kraber, clarinettist Jerry Kirkbride, sopranos Joan Logue and Carol Plantamura, violist Joan Kalisch, pianists Joe Rollino and Paul Sheftel and composers such as William O. Smith, John Eaton, Richard Trythall, John Heineman, Alvin Curran, Frederick Rzewski, Richard Teitelbaum, Allen Bryant, Jeffrey Levine, Joel Chadabe, Jerome Rosen and Larry Moss, Larry Austin.
The Fonosynth was completed in 1958 and was used throughout the late fifties and mid sixties by a number of expat American electronic musicians and composers (including Otto Luening, William O. Smith, and George Balch Wilson, Richard Trythall, Alvin Curran amongst others) as well as for film soundtrack sound effects for the Italian film industry. The Fonosynth now resides at the at the Museum of Musical Instruments in Munich, Germany.
The Fonosynth's sound was generated by twelve sine wave oscillators and six square wave oscillators (each matched with individual band-pass filters). This audio signal could be modulated and coloured using audio filters (2 octave filters, 2 selective resonant filters, 1 self oscillating filter, 1 threshold filter) two LFOs, an impulse generator and white noise generator, two ring modulators and a wave shape generator to determine the ADSR of each sound. The resulting output was fed into an 18 channel mixing console and amplified to a stereo or mono audio output.
The whole instrument was controlled by an unusual keyboard made up of 6 rows of 24 keys allowing for Enharmonic, microtonal performance and composition.
Soon after, Ketoff built a successor to the Fonosynth in 1963 called the Syn-ket (Synthesiser – Ketoff) which was designed as a portable performance instrument – with musical input from John Eaton (and others).
Biographical Notes Gino Marinuzzi Jr.
Gino Marinuzzi jr. was the Son of the conductor Gino Marinuzzi and was born in 1920 in New York, USA, while his father was touring in the United States. He studied piano and composition at the Milan Conservatory. Before graduating in composition, piano and conducting. Marinuzzi jr wrote his first early work: Concertino (piano chamber orchestra) and various compositions for piano at the age of sixteen.
Marinuzzi became the assistant conductor at the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome from 1946 to 1951. He made his debut as a conductor in Spain in 1947, during a tour of the Ballet of the Roman theatre; then chooses to devote himself exclusively to composition. Marinuzzi made the numerous film soundtracks during this period and was very active in the field of electronic music. In 1956 he founded the 'Studio of phonology for the Roman Philharmonic Academy' and later was a founding member of the experimental study group R7 with Paolo Ketoff, Walter Flocks, Franco Evangelisti, Domenico Guaccero, Guido Guiducci and Egisto Macchi.
Marinuzzi spent two years – 1943 to 1945 – in a Nazi concentration camp, (prisoner 50914 Stalag XII F) an experience from which he created the 'Lager lieder', in which he elaborated on popular Russian, Ukrainian and Gypsy themes learned from his fellow prisoners.
In the 1960s and 70s Marinuzzi devoted himself mainly to film scores, theatre, radio and television, and only resumed composing for orchestra in the 1980s. He was particularly involved and played a pioneering role in research and musical experimentation in the field of electronic music since the 1950s.
He is the father of the singer and guitarist Joan Marinuzzi.
Marinuzzi's film works include: 'Romanzo d'amore' (1950), Jean Renoir's 'Le Carrosse d'or' (1952) and Vittorio Cottafavi's Ercole alla conquista di Atlantide (1961). 'I castrati' (1964),Mario Bava 's 'Terrore nello spazio' (aka Planet of the Vampires, (1965), ' Matchless' (1967). 'La piovra' (1984) (aka The Octopus).
L. Pizzaleo, Il liutaio elettronico: Paolo Ketoff e l'invenzione del Synket, Aracne Editrice, Roma 2014 (Immota harmonia, 20), pp. 31-38.
Paolo Ketoff e l'invenzione del Synket, Aracne Editrice, Roma 2014 (Immota harmonia, 20), pp. 31-38.
2 Comments on The 'Fonosynth'. Paul Ketoff (Paolo Ketoff), Julian Strini & Gino Marinuzzi jr, Italy. 1958.


text:
Man sues Burger King for revoked "free food for life" promise made after bathroom mishap [UPDATED]
Allison Shoemaker
Filed to:Fast Food
Photo: GABRIEL BOUYS / Contributor (Getty Images)
Updated Feb. 12, 2019: Willamette Week is reporting a satisfying, juicy, Whopper-of-a-conclusion to this story: The lawyer for Curtis Brooner announced that Burger King has agreed to settle the lawsuit with his client for $9,026, or the cost of a Whopper meal every week for the next 22 years. According to WW, Portland lawyer Michael Fuller—who represented Brooner—said of the resolution: "Our long national nightmare is over."
Original Jan. 3, 2019 post: Curtis Brooner has not had it his way, and he is not lovin' it. So now, he's suing.
Inc. draws our attention to this story from The Oregonian, and to Brooner's suit, which the paper posted online. The lawsuit alleges that that a Wood Village, Oregon BK promised Brooner free meals for life on December 15, and that it has since revoked that promise. The reason for the generous offer is this: Broomer was trapped in the King's bathroom for more than an hour, during which he was told to try to break out using a fly swatter. It didn't work, and he cut himself in the process.
The 50-year-old is seeking damages totaling $9,026.16, the estimated cost of one Whopper meal a week for the next 22 years.
Here's his experience on December 15, as detailed in the suit:
When Mr. Brooner pulled on the door handle to leave the bathroom, the door would not open. After repeatedly pulling hard on the door handle without success, Mr. Brooner took out his phone and called the Burger King number listed on his receipt. Burger King employees repeatedly tried pushing on the bathroom door but were unable to open it. Burger King employees eventually slid a fly swatter under the bathroom door and told Mr. Brooner to use it to pry the bathroom door lock open. Despite eventually cutting his hand attempting to use the fly swatter on the lock, the bathroom door would not open. Mr. Brooner could hear Burger King employees and customers laughing while he remained locked inside its bathroom for well over an hour before a locksmith finally came and broke him out. Burger King provided Mr. Brooner a Band-Aid and ointment for the cut on his hand, and offered to settle in exchange for a lifetime supply of Burger King meals at no cost.
Per The Oregonian, Brooner, who said he visited Burger King nearly every day prior to the incident, took advantage of the pledge until December 28. With the exception of December 24 and 25, he ate there daily from December 15-28, and ate both breakfast and dinner on two separate occasions. But when he arrived on the 28th, he was informed that the promise had been revoked by "district management."
Brooner is asking that the restaurant reinstate the promise or pay for his one meal a week for 22 years (which, we assume, is his best guess as to how long the 50-year-old will be able to stand to eat Burger King daily). The suit argues that the restaurant was negligent, in that the restroom "showed signs of damage caused by other people who had previously been locked inside the bathroom."
As Brooner told The Oregonian, "They created an unsafe environment... Someone could have had a medical situation. You could have had a fatality. You could have had a child locked in there, someone elderly. They are lucky it was me."
The Oregonian's well-reported story concludes with this:
Court records show Brooner was convicted in 1994 of first-degree sexual abuse and first-degree sexual penetration for crimes committed in 1992 in Multnomah County. He was sentenced to about 6 1/2 years in prison and a requirement to register as a sex offender, which he says is for life. Brooner said the convictions are 25 years old and he's lived a law-abiding life with no convictions since then.
Not a fun note on which to end. Regardless, one should probably avoid promising free food for life to anyone, even somebody who got trapped in a smelly bathroom, if one has not checked with one's district manager.
Crap thief makes off with toilet fixtures from New York fast food chains
Man jumps Burger King counter armed with chair
Burger King's one-cent Whopper deal throws its rival the shadiest of shade
Burger King explains its gibberish stunt, tweets at Pornhub
Contributor, The A.V. Club and The Takeout. Allison loves television, bourbon, and dramatically overanalyzing social interactions.


Posted in: Montgomeryville Nissan News | Tagged: 2012 Nissan Murano, 2012 Nissan Murano Philadelphia, Nissan Murano Philadelphia, Used Nissan Murano Philadelphia.
If vehicles were given points for just good looks, than based on the 2012 Nissan Murano reviews pouring in, this crossover SUV would win the prize.
However, cars don't run just on looks and thanks to an impressive 3.5-liter V6 and continuously variable automatic transmission combined with sport-tuned suspension and comfortable five-passenger interior, the 2012 Nissan Murano continues to impress new car shoppers worldwide.
And if you live in the Philadelphia area, no single dealership has a better selection of Murano's to physically review than the experts at Montgomeryville Nissan.
Let's be honest – the crossover SUV market is flooded with a tremendous amount of cars that look like boxes on wheels.
Each manufacture has their claims to fame on why their crossover SUV is great or better than the rest however, the Nissan Murano simply out performs the competition in several categories.
It also earns points for its attractive styling, high-quality materials and many standard features.
The midsized, five-passenger 2012 Nissan Murano crossover SUV is available in four trim levels: S, SV, SL and LE.
The base 'S' model is anything but plain and is delivered well-equipped with 18-inch alloy wheels, variable intermittent wipers, deep-tinted rear privacy glass, keyless ignition & entry, dual-zone automatic climate control, cloth upholstery, a height-adjustable driver seat, a reclining 60/40-split rear seat, a 7-inch monochrome screen, cruise control, a tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel and a six-speaker stereo with a six-CD changer and an auxiliary audio input jack.
The SV adds automatic headlights, fog-lights, a panoramic sunroof, roof rack side rails, power front seats, a 7-inch color display, a rearview camera, a leather-wrapped steering wheel with audio controls, Bluetooth and an upgraded audio system with satellite radio and iPod integration.
The SL model includes rain-sensing wipers, heated outside mirrors, a power lift-gate, leather upholstery, heated front seats and steering wheel, driver seat memory, an auto-dimming rearview mirror and a nine-speaker Bose audio system with digital music storage.
Finally, the LE edition adds 20-inch alloy wheels, bi-xenon headlights, heated rear seats, a power tilt-and-telescoping steering column and wood interior trim.
Optional on SL and LE models is a navigation system that includes voice recognition, real-time traffic and weather, Bluetooth streaming audio and increased digital music storage.
Those two trim levels can also be had with a twin-screen headrest-mounted rear DVD entertainment system. New for 2012 is a Platinum Edition option for LE models that bundles exclusive 20-inch alloy wheels, a special Sapphire Black paint color and the navigation system.
As we mentioned above, the power-plant that propels the 2012 Nissan Murano is very impressive.
Powered by a 3.5-liter V6 which boasts 260 horsepower and 240 pound-feet of torque, the Murano has the power to drive past other crossover SUV's while still maintaining great fuel economy. The power from the V6 is applied by the CVT with a choice of standard front-wheel drive or an available all-wheel-drive system for Murano buyers.
Safety is not compromised either as every 2012 Nissan Murano features standard antilock brakes, traction and stability control, active front head restraints, front-seat side-impact airbags and full-length side curtain airbags.
The bottom line on the Murano is that this crossover SUV is tops in its segment. A great place to check out a wide-selection of Murano's is the Nissan leader in the Montgomeryville area, Montgomeryville Nissan.
For a limited time, the dealer is offering a special $500.00 instant discount on the MSRP of any new car purchased at the dealership.
People living in the Montgomeryville and Philadelphia PA areas would be best advised to visit Montgomeryville Nissan today to physically see what the 2012 Nissan Murano reviews are boasting.