text:
Tag: Final Fantasy 7
This Aeris Life
This morning I was listening to This American Life Episode 679: Save the Girl. The introduction starts out as thus:
IRA GLASS: Of everything in pop culture, what can make a teenage boy cry? That's a very specialized list, right? And we got to talking about this at our office because Lina Misitzis, one of the producers here, remembers how there was this one video game, a PlayStation game, that got her brother and his friends when they were kids.
And I thought, oh man, there can be only one game that they're talking about — Final Fantasy VII. And that delights me because whenever old fuddy duddy podcasts like this talk about old games, it's always with reverence. Because the people who grew up with these games are now making the content. They're making the material. We're out of the days where "Comic Books Aren't Just For Kids Anymore" is a legit headline.
IRA GLASS: And what was it about this character that was so intense?
LINA MISITZIS: Well, OK. So I have no idea. To me, it made no sense. She's like this one-dimensional girl. She's a cartoon. At the time, it was a big deal that she was 3D. So she looked, I guess, believable,
Wait, what? They are talking about Aeris, right?
LINA MISITZIS: The official game description of her is literally, quote, "young, beautiful, and somewhat mysterious."
IRA GLASS: Wait. Could we pause on the word, "somewhat"? That seems so weirdly insulting. Like, well, you're just somewhat mysterious.
LINA MISITZIS: [LAUGHS] OK. Right. And in the game, she really does just two things. She stands next to people and calms them down. Like she'll put her hand on someone's chest in this meaningful way. She's this reassuring presence, this healer. And then the other thing she does is she asks for help.
IRA GLASS: So that's the two basic female functions, right?
LINA MISITZIS: It's like fix and help. Fix and help.
Okay, now I'm pissed off.
I guess I was wrong about what I said before. The fuddy duddy podcasts STILL get it wrong, still manipulate facts to serve their point. It's like coming up with the thesis first, then picking data that proves it. I didn't think fake news was a real thing before, but now I'm less sure…
First of all, Aeris is about as far from a one-dimensional character as you can get. She is funny, light-hearted, kind, compassionate. If you had to call her anything, then yes, she's the healer of the group (because all her limit breaks deal with protection and healing), but in terms of gameplay, she can be just as powerful as anyone because she can have the same materia (magic spells) that anyone can.
You can tell this was written by people who didn't even read the wikipedia page for FFVII. Point the first, THIS is the game's official description, as sourced from the Final Fantasy VII Instruction Manual.
Young, beautiful, and somewhat mysterious, Aeris met Cloud while selling Flowers on the streets of Midgar. She decided to join him soon after. Her unusual abilities enable her to use magic, but she seems more interested in the deepening love triangle between herself, Cloud and Tifa.
That doesn't do her justice (and why is "Flowers" capitalized? Those crazy Japanese). Look the whole point of Aeris is that she's not just another plucky young girl. She's descended from Cetra, an ancient race that could control the lifeforce of the planet. And the reason everyone wants her is because she's the last of her race, and she's got to come to terms with her past. And she does this while still being a plucky young girl from bad circumstances. Yeah, you save her a lot, but it's like saving a Wonder Woman who hasn't developed her powers yet.
Need more proof? How about some of her choice quotes from the game:
"Hey, that's Cloud's line! '…It's too dangerous, I can't get you involved…' Blah blah blah."
"Don't fight here! You'll ruin the flowers!"
"I think they believe I have what it takes to be in SOLDIER!" (offering an explanation for being pursued by the Turks)
"A girl!! What do you mean by that!? You expect me to just sit by and listen, after hearing you say something like that!? Mom! I'm taking Cloud to Sector 7. I'll be back in a while."
"I want to know you. The real you."
Aerith: "Just the same as him."
Cloud: "The same as who?"
Aeris: "My first boyfriend."
Cloud: "You were… serious?"
Aeris: "No. But I liked him for a while."
(in fact, this first boyfriend is Zack, a man who looks just like Cloud except for black hair, and a key figure in Cloud's false memories)
Marlene : "Guess what? Guess what? Aerith was asking me lots of questions. Like what kind of person Cloud is. I bet she likes you, Cloud!"
Cloud: "Let's hope so."
Aerith: "I'm…… alone….. I'm all alone now…"
Cloud: "But I'm….. we're here for you, right?"
Aerith: "I know. I know, but… I am the only…. Cetra."
Cloud: "Aerith declared that she'll show me the way. But if I let her, it seems hard to tell who's the bodyguard.
"I'll be going now. I'll come back when it's all over."
(these are her last words)
And keep in mind, this is among all the other colorful characters — a cat on a puppet, a brooding vampire-thing, a perky ninja girl, a man with a gun for an arm, an ex-pilot who constantly swears. That's just the good guys.
LINA MISITZIS: I mean, she has no personality.
IRA GLASS: Yeah.
LINA MISITZIS: There's a bird in the game that's called like a Chocobo, I think, that has more personality than Aeris does.
Does that look like she has no personality? No. She has a sense of humor, she's not like the kidnapped princesses that Anita Sarkeesian's always railing about (although she does get kidnapped a few times, she's also a playable character who succeeds the Bechdel test). In the game, I would describe her as motherly, in that she's caring, kind, upbeat, and flirty. That she can behave that way from living in the slums is a miracle. And that's why when she's killed, it's so devastating. She's the heart of the team. She's what they're all fighting for.
Another reason is her presence with Tifa, who is the other romantic interest in the game. She looks like this…
So on first glance you might think, "Oh, Tifa's the hot, liberated one and Aeris is the motherly one." She's the F in a game of FMK. (Yuffie is, of course, the K.) Aeris is the Betty, Tifa is the Veronica. Tifa is Ginger, Aeris is Mary Ann. Aeris is the Victorian in The Corpse Bride, Tifa is the lively-but-dead girl. Despite this, they actually spend time together (when they're not fighting alongside Cloud).
LINA MISITZIS: And her death sends them to their actual mission– to save the world. She's just a prop that gets them there. That's her whole function in the game.
IRA GLASS: So basically, it's like she's this barely filled in character, and yet, just, that's enough to work, to make people have all these feelings and to actually cry when she dies.
LINA MISITZIS: All she needs is to seem vulnerable and nice.
Yeah, if you're going to be that semantic, everyone is a prop to get the game moving. Sephiroth is a prop to give them a villain to fight. Cid is a prop to get them a plane that let's them explore more of the game's territory. Calling someone in a story a "prop to get the plot moving" is asinine. Characters need motivation, and reducing her to an object is to ignore all the other character traits she has. If you want to talk about props, talk about Mario and Peach. Now that's a thinly veiled plot mechanic.
But Aeris is not just the ball in the game between Sephiroth and Cloud. That's what made Final Fantasy 7 such a gamechanger, because the graphics and the story were fleshed out enough that it became as dramatic as a movie. A movie you could be in.
I'd say if anyone is vulnerable in this game, it's Cloud, the game's protagonist. He spends a significant portion of the latter half in a wheelchair, having seizures, because his memories are attacking him.
Aeris is not a girl to be saved. She is an independent, fleshed-out character and I'm tired of old media men not doing their due diligence. Sure, just accept whatever reporters spoon feed you to make a good podcast. Stay ignorant of these things. It's no skin off my nose. But Aeris may have something to say about it…
The Final Fantasy VII Remake
Posted on June 17, 2015 May 10, 2018
So they finally announced the Final Fantasy VII remake. Year after year, it's been one of the hands-clasped-in-prayer announcements for E3 as much as the Half-Life 3. And me, being a huge FFVII fan, former writer on the FF Compendium, I asked myself this morning if I'd ever play it. My answer was "Pfft, no."
Look, man, I love Final Fantasy VII. I LOOOOOVE Final Fantasy VII. I love the characters, I love the story, I love the gameplay. My memories of it are nothing but fond. But the fact is, you can't go home again. It's 2015. It's been more than fifteen years since that magic time. I'm married. I have two daughters. I have a career. I'm not the same man I was when I first played that spiky-haired hero. I'm not as forgiving of things like "This guy are sick" or weird fighting houses with no explanation. The stylistic decisions like popeye arms and fuzzy plot lines can't be glossed over anymore.
Not to say Final Fantasy hasn't changed/evolved during the time I have. But that's a large chunk of the problem. Final Fantasy VII has not died in the time I've been alive. There have been related material — Crisis Core, Advent Children, Kingdom Hearts, Dissidia — that are fine avenues and extend the FFVII universe. But they're not good. Not good at all. It's not so much a quality drop as a coherence drop. I played Dirge of Cerberus and it was a load of nonsense story and dull gameplay. Style over substance. And that's been the ongoing modus operandi for Square. As technology improves, Squeenix fills every nook and cranny of every bit, every processor, with graphics and data.
Midgar from PSX Final Fantasy VII
Midgar from PS3 Tech Demo
Midgar from FFVII Remake E3 2015 Trailer
It's now to the point where you have to invest as much time as reading War & Peace to get a full experience. I don't want to play a single-player MMORPG. I don't want to walk down an endless corridor with occasional button mashing when a random monster appears. It's not even fun anymore, it's just pressing the same button. Attack, attack, attack. There's no need for strategy with the smaller monsters. Not when you reach a certain level.
Of course, a remake could change all that. But that is my biggest point. Remember when the Star Wars prequels came out? Everyone was excited not just because of the new stories, but they'd get to see their favorite things without the clunky, boxy robots and rubbery aliens. And then we got a bunch of detailed CG garbage and fifteen minutes of unnecessary pod racing. This is not going to be just a rehash, this is going to be a giant amorphous mass of FFVII gray goo. Remember Cloud as he first was? He helped Yuffie get over her motion sickness, rode a dolphin to the top of a platform, he dressed as a woman in an extended fetch quest. Can you imagine this guy doing that?
This is the Cloud Squeenix has made now. A taciturn, militant, angsty badass who never sees his friends. He only works in black. And sometimes, very very dark gray. There's no emotion he can't push down. Armband representing memory of dead friend? Check. Using sword of other dead friend? Check. Motorcycle? Check. Short, non-committal responses? Check.
One of the lines from Ernie Cline's "Fanboys" comes to mind, about a group of geeks questing to get their friend to see Star Wars: Episode 1 before he dies of cancer. He's the only one that's seen the cut six months ahead of everyone. "You gotta keep the flaws. Crappy effects, real puppets. That's what makes it so good."
My Top Ten Hottest Women Who Aren't Real (4 through 1)
4. Naru
Naru Narusegawa (such a cute name) is the main character in Love Hina. Love Hina is a "harem" anime where one geeky guy, Keitaro Urashima, is forced to landlord five nubile young women who may or may not be trying to seduce him. It's a typical sitcom if it was written by every high school boy. Naru Narusegawa is the center of this harem — a driven student with no time for the Keitaro's accidental perversion or romantic interests. Except when she starts to realize that he's a nice guy. Which is what we all want out of a girl — to see that after our nervousness and ineptitude, we are caring and devoted.
Her main rival is Mutsumi Otohime, who may or may not be someone that Keitaro made a childhood marriage promise to. She's fun to watch because she has anemia and is constantly falling asleep in compromising positions (it also doesn't hurt that she's got huge… tracts of land). You see, 90% of Love Hina is fan service. They have a hot tub/hot springs out back and they are constantly jumping in for a relaxing dip. Almost every episode has a character in a loosely-wrapped towel, a little sweaty, just waiting for someone to fall on them and accidentally tear the towel off (Also see Theiss Titillation Theory). Naru is the unfortunate victim most of the time.
She's one of the most fleshed-out women on this list (no pun intended). She acts like a girl, but not like a standard anime cardboard cut-out. She's driven to succeed but can collapse in a heap of tears when things get too overwhelming. I love the little self-referential jokes in the series ("This isn't antennae, this is my hair!") and the way Naru responds to her trials and tribulations with equal parts sadness, anger, and fear. All this leads to a believable relationship with a boy she may or may not hate.
3. Malon
All right, I'll admit it. I'm a sucker for red hair. What can I say? It doesn't hurt that Malon is utterly charming. You first encounter her in Ocarina of Time, at either the Lon Lon Ranch or, if it's night, outside Hyrule Castle, singing what later becomes Epona's Song. But that's all storyline stuff. She represents the "what if" for Link, or the one that got away.
I'm not sure why she gets so much fan-worship — she wasn't that particularly important to the plot. Her personality is a little too chirpy and bubbly, and she's looking for a "knight in shining armor to sweep her off her feet". How droll. But somehow she enraptures you. It might be that she's one of the few characters that grows up with you in your seven-year-leap. She has the most bad stuff happen to her — Ganondorf takes the ranch and promotes the lazy, money-obsessed, selfish Ingo to CEO. This allows him to use/abuse the horses for gambling while the good-hearted Malon works like a slave. A Cinderella story if I ever saw one. Malon is like Batman's Alfred — she represents the people Link is fighting for. She brings a face to the stakes.
And what a fanbase she has. Look at all the fan art. Look at all the fan fiction. Look at all the cosplay. Look at her Hyspace page. I think there's something about girls identifying with Malon – a sweet, responsible farm girl with an unrequited crush. I identify with that too.
The interesting thing is that most people don't realize Malon started life as Marin, the girl in Link's Awakening. I loved Link's Awakening, but I think because of its B&W Game Boy console and insignificant storyline (it all takes place in a dream, so none of it really happened), it doesn't get the love it deserves. Marin's quite the cutie too — she loves to sing, she has an idle mind, she has some comic misadventures following Link around — and her romance with Link is just as heart-wrenching. They share some touching moments, and near the end, she's about to admit something to him but gets interrupted.
I find this interesting because the whole game is Link's shared dream with the Wind Fish. In that dream, Marin represents Princess Zelda (admitted conjecture, but in the Oracle series, Marin and Zelda's sprite look very similar), but she's also her own person. And a romantic interest who's really a dream is all the more tragic. So Marin is kind of a cross between Zelda and Malon. Which means Malon is an evolution of Zelda.
Yeah, if Milk & Honey is any indication, I'm a Malon fan. But I'm not a LinkXMalon shipper.
2. and 1. Aeris & Tifa
I apologize for the tie, but the fact is, I can't decide between these two. They both represent the ideal woman, the fun one or the motherly one. The one that will keep you from trouble or the one that will get you into trouble. Let's take them one at a time.
First off, I just love Aeris's hair. I love Tifa's hair too, but Aeris's really communicates what she's about — a simple braid, worn down the back and flowing in the wind, with two little twisties going down the sides of her head and two, crimped "antennae" out the top. It looks natural and ludicrous at the same time. Her eyes are great too — that vital, luminous green. Not sure about the rest of her outfit though. But all points to her earth allegory.
Tifa seems to represent water. She knows martial arts, many of which involve the concept of "flow" at a base level. Two of her moves are named "Waterkick" and "Dolphin Blow". Her hair, in contrast to Aeris's textured look, is a smooth, thick dolphin tail. And this fits with Cloud's name — an entity rising above the planet, looking down on water and earth. Like a triforce.
Okay, let's talk about personalities. Aeris is the motherly one. She's positive, loyal, and has a hint of mystery. Despite her tragic birth and being raised in the slums, she's optimistic and encouraging. She's flirty, stubborn, caring, idealistic. She's timid in combat, but not when it comes to people.
Tifa is shyer about expressing personal feelings, but she'll kick your ass all over Midgar. She's complex, mature, proud, self-assertive, and reflective. She's the one who tries to make connections, like I mentioned in my "writing women" post, probably because of her personal tragedy. Unlike Aeris's, Tifa loses her family and town at fifteen The post-game Tifa adopts Marlene, Denzel, and contacts the group because she's trying to keep the family. She's the badass action girl, but also the girl next door.
I guess that's the reason I can't pick between these two. Aeris seems like she'd be the reserved one, the serious one, the motherly one. Tifa should be the flirty one, the plucky one, the funny one. They mix up the stereotypes so much that each seems like they've both missed and gained something. Like the perfect woman split into two.
And that's probably the reason even the fanbase can't pick one. There is no one right choice because both are good. The creators of Final Fantasy VII really nailed it when they created these two characters. They are exactly what people are looking for.
There. I got through a whole article about Tifa without mentioning her boobs. Oh, DAMMIT.
Featured Fan Fiction: The Complete Set
Posted on December 22, 2011 April 9, 2021
Well, I've finished my Featured Fan Fiction series, so here's the complete set. If you need more to whet your appetite, try looking at the authors and stories I've favorited on FanFiction.net. There's more there than what I've featured, and it's all worth a look.
The Intro
Mortal Kombat: "The Coming of Winter"
Final Fantasy VIII: "Sowing the SeeDs"
Final Fantasy VII: "Sunshine in Winter"
Neon Genesis Evangelion: "EVA-R"
Final Fantasy VII: "Devotion"
Final Fantasy VIII: "Crimson Lies"
Trigun: "When Dreams Change"
Final Fantasy VIII: "Balamb Garden's Yuletide Vacation"
Final Fantasy VII: "Deus Ex Jenova"
Neon Genesis Evangelion: "The One I Love Is…"
Final Fantasy VIII: "Castles in the Sky"
Mortal Kombat/Tekken: "Ashes of the Phoenix"
Featured Fan Fiction: Deus Ex Jenova (Final Fantasy 7)
Posted on November 16, 2011 May 15, 2018
I mentioned this story briefly as an inspiration for Milk and Honey, but that was just the sex part. Deus Ex Jenova is not about sex, though it has sexuality. In fact, it doesn't have that much sex except at the end, as an addendum and a response to the prudish nature of modern American literature, when most classic literature was basically pornography without pictures. They had to make do with veiled metaphors and alluding language.
But I digress. It's much more than just a spot of naughty. It's a full-fledged story that employs several no-no tropes, like resurrecting Aeris (don't worry, that's not a spoiler), original characters that save the day, main character death, and OOC-ness. But everything it does, it justifies. And makes up for it by a rocking story full of action and an illustration of human anguish.
For one thing, it clearly defines the main characters with both plausible old characteristics and new ones. Cloud has become more taciturn (and this was way before Advent Children). Tifa is fun-loving, temperamental, bossy, and closed-off emotionally. Aeris is cheerful, passive, and motherly. These are exactly how I imagined the characters to act after Meteorfall in the story. And best of all, the characters have sexual identities.
Plus, the characters change over time. They learn, they evolve, they make mistakes, and they are not in the same place they started when they end up together. And remarkably, it does all this while staying in the same universe. Even enhancing it by filling some plot-holes the game left (which is common for JP games).
For anyone who played Final Fantasy VII, this is a must read. I don't know what Max Zhang is doing right now, nor his co-creator R. Richardson (who's impossible to Google). IcyBrian lists his site on Geocities, and become fossilized. He actually left me a comment when I posted about Milk & Honey, but I never heard back from him after I e-mailed back. Hit me up again, Max. I'd love to pick your brain about writing and what you're doing now.
Deus ex Jenova
Max Zhang's Website (Internet Archive)
Featured Fan Fiction: Devotion (Final Fantasy 7)
Before Dirge of Cerberus came out, Vincent Valentine was Japan's representative brooding tragic figure with a mysterious past. Before Edward and Angel made the fangirls swoon, there was one dark-haired, brooding, vaguely urban fantasy hero who let his gun do the talking while tresses of his ebony hair whipped before his mask.
The problem was that Vincent was an optional character. So his additions to the story are minimal to say the least. He doesn't even get a character-building sidequest like Yuffie, the other new character. His contributions are more to gameplay, as he has a long-range weapon and a decent limit break. His history is only ever hinted at in a few scenes, mostly relating to Hojo (the mad scientist). When you finish the game, Vincent's story remains ambiguous at best. So you're left wondering exactly how did this introverted former Turk (a special agent/bodyguard) become a morphing monster?
Fortunately, ambiguity is a friend to fan fiction writers everywhere. Next to the "Aeris or Tifa" plotline, Vincent Valentine is probably the most used fan fiction character for FF7. It should be fairly obvious why, but my point is that lots of writers have tried to fill in Vincent's back story. But only one has done it well, and that person is Sarah Bua (A.K.A. Sarah the Boring).
It's really too bad Dirge of Cerberus came out, not just because it was a horrible game more concerned with style over substance and didn't even deliver close to a coherent narrative. But it also negated a lot of prequel fan fiction, most of which was better written than the game. In Devotion, Vincent has a tangible personality, Hojo is given an air of legitimacy instead of the cackling mad scientist he's usually portrayed as, and Lucretia/Lucrecia is an actual woman instead of a fawning lab assistant. The story of how they met, fell in love, and were betrayed becomes a story you could see happening in the Final Fantasy 7 universe, and it tugs at your heartstrings, much like Sunshine in Winter
Sarah the Boring hasn't been active since 2002, but her story lives on.
Sarah the Boring's Blog
Sarah the Boring's not-so-functional website
Featured Fan Fiction: Sunshine in Winter (Final Fantasy VII)
Posted on December 1, 2010 January 3, 2021
Sunshine in Winter, written by Guardian1, is nice because it's short (40,000 words) , but it's packed to the brim with humor, pathos, passion, and drama.
The story is about Yuffie, an extra, but beloved, character from Final Fantasy VII, who fills in the requisite "spunky tomboy" role in all JRPGs and most animes. Her romantic pairing is Vincent Valentine, the "dark, brooding lone wolf" character. Through a silly accident, Selphie's leg becomes poisoned. Rather than amputate, since she's a ninja, and leglessness doesn't contribute to her line of work (there's no workman's comp for ninjutsu), she maintains an obstinant attitude that she can be cured. Vincent wordlessly takes care of her as she resists impending death.
The best thing about this story is the humor, thanks to the informal style. Guardian1 captures Yuffie's voice perfectly and Vincent's characteristics are plausible within the context of the story. I say the context because there is some interesting characterization here. It goes deeper than the game does, as you'd expect to with extra characters. It's as if she's painted the world with bright crayons and watercolors, far brighter than the original material, which is fine. I think this was the author's intention, and she does it well.
Guardian1 hasn't made any updates to her FanFiction.net profile since 2008. Her homepage link is defunct. So I don't know what she's doing now. She's got 40 stories up so you're bound to find something you like. All of her stuff is good. I just wish I knew what she was doing now.
Guardian1's Profile Page
It Wasn't Me
Well, I've done something I said I would never do again. I was bored, and really, idle hands are the devil's playthings. It's not my fault, it's that I was waiting on everyone. I needed something to do. I was afraid I was going to lose my skill. I didn't want to get fat and lazy.
I started a fan fiction.
I'm not proud of it, but I finished Alien Boxing Story, and it needs to incubate. Now all my stories are waiting on critiques, being submitted, or (in the case of Mermaid Story) are waiting for extenuating circumstances (i.e., waiting for Black Hole Son to be complete). So where does that leave me? Well, Gun vs. Sword I've got plenty written on, but the story is still coming to me. It's hard to describe what's happening here, but it's a unique composing process that I've never tried and is coming quite naturally. I don't want to ruin it by interrupting it by starting to compose me.
And no ideas for other stories, so now what? Well, I figured I'd write something fun, something that lifts the pressure off getting published. I'm not spending a great deal of time with pre-writing (I already had a clump of ideas written down, and basic story structure), so I'm diving right into composing.
It's actually kind of fun. The writing comes fast and furious, the plot is developing naturally. It helps a great deal when you have the world already made for you. The only thing I'm worried about is that the tension is not high. It's a character development story. You're not going to find Shadow Creepers or Sephiroth here. So what are they doing? They're playing baseball.
A fan fiction with Final Fantasy VII characters playing baseball.
I just got to keep telling myself, "It's just an exercise."
Video Game Memories #20: Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VII (1997)
Some of the greatest things in my life came from things I didn't like at first. Then as time went by I started to appreciate them more and more, like a wine that gets better with age. Except this is a wine that never runs dry. Also, I'm not really a connoisseur – I drink my wine like pop. Anyway, one of those things was Final Fantasy 7. It's probably a good thing I got into it, or I'd be left out of a hundred inside jokes on the Internet. Plus some great fan art and fan fiction.
Final Fantasy 7 has been taken into a thousand different lives of their own. On one hand, Square still keeps a tight hold on it, dangling little meat chunks for the fans every once in a while. The other hand is the fans that make it their own, that create and continue the final fantasy legacy. The difference is the 5% of the world holding 95% of the Final Fantasy and 95% of the Final Fantasy fans responsible for 5% of the legend.
But we're not here to talk about them. We're here to talk about me. My first memory of Final Fantasy 7 is seeing some friends playing it. A teeny characters was running up and down some roller coaster tracks and then the screen would periodically swish to a battle where the graphics weren't much better. Weird monsters, little teeny SD characters, and the kiss of death – turn-based gameplay. I thought, huh, this looks like a goofy game.
But my friends couldn't stop talking about it. They played it periodically when we all got together. I watched the ending before I ever played it. I saw a lot of important parts like Meteor's coming to Junon and the final battle with Sephiroth + ending, before I played it myself. I didn't have any idea what was going on, except I knew well in advance that Aeris died. I didn't quite know who Aeris was though.
How does she keep her hair like that?
But when I played it, and I don't remember how I got my hands on it or why I was motivated to – maybe everyone was talking about it and I caved, this affected my gameplay. All the time, I'm wondering, when is Aeris going to die? When is Aeris gonna die? I wish I hadn't known, because it affected my user experience. She was the black sheep of the team because I knew I was going to lose her at some point, and Cloud was supposed to end up with Tifa. So that's how I played it. When her death came, it was more like, eh, that's too bad. It wasn't as devastating as it should have been, and that's one thing I always regretted.
What I didn't know was how big an impact that this game would have on the world, or on me. I wasn't stupid enough to think that the FMVs that composed the commercials were the game itself. In fact, I think FF8 was already well out by the time I played FF7, and FF9 was on the horizon. But FF7 somehow became part of my life, downloading fan art and reading fan fiction. I didn't even care that most of it was crappy, I wanted to return to these people. I wanted to hear the rest of their stories, or their stories if the timeline had gone in a different direction. FF7 is filled with all the components of drama – heartache, war, alienation, family, life, death. As with most things I get interested in, I started to glom onto any bit of information I could find about FF7 – timelines, characters, plotlines, environmental aspects. An encyclopedia, if you will.
I don't really have any distinct memories of playing this game, except maybe for taking on the weapons. I did everything in the game that I could, so I would have EXP and then took on the Emerald Weapon and Ruby Weapon. I didn't think one was harder than the other – they both had different kinds of strategies. Emerald Weapon was more of a regular battle, and my companions – Cloud, Yuffie, and Barret – were chosen based on their limit breaks and physical attacks. I'm quite the brawler. Ruby was more frustrating, because, after several unsuccessful attempts with a Phoenix, I had to base my strategy around one character beating him up, because the other two would inevitably get taken out of the battle. Basically, each character had to be able to stand on their own. This made some very interesting characters that eventually made the final fight with Sephiroth a joke.
"I'll whack you with my pointed stick!"
Most of my love for FF7 came from the fan fiction I read. It really inspired my love, and led to my eventual decline in interest. Too much Sturgeon's Law. But it also led to me becoming part of the FFCompendium for a year. I think I've already discussed my trials and tribulations here, so I won't go into that, and believe me, that nutjob didn't know how good I was, but it was a pleasure to use my knowledge of final fantasy to enhance and deliver information, as well as shoot people down about their ideals and theories (its Aeris if you're in FF7 land, and Aerith if you're in Kingdom Hearts land). Now I just shoot people down doing beta-reading for fan fiction. Which is still fun.
The nice thing about being a FF7 fan is that you understand when someone says "kweh?", or seeing in-jokes in Robot Chicken, or all the hot Aeris-on-Tifa cosplay… oh, I wasn't supposed to talk about that. I believe we'll see a FF7 remake in our lifetime, but I'm hoping for one on the PS4, when the technology's really good. Probably right around the time Duke Nukem Forever is released.
Why I Quit Final Fantasy
Posted on December 6, 2007 May 7, 2018
Since I seem bored with writing about writing these days, let's talk about video games. Specifically Final Fantasy. I was a big fan of the games since FF7, and from my first exposure to it in high school, I was hooked on anything with two F's in the title and someone holding a funky sword on the cover. I loved the characters, the rich and epic story, the experience systems, and the hybrid style of future and fantasy.
So why did I have to quit?
Well, "have" is a strong word. Somewhere in the Venn diagram where "have to" and "want to" cross over is where the truth lies. Let's look at each of these in turn.
Why did I have to quit Final Fantasy? Well, the big reason is the games are too long, too expensive, and too advanced (that's apparently three reasons, sorry). I'm a 26-year-old with a wife, mortgage, and .8 of a kid. The time I have to play video games any more dwindles sharply. I can barely dedicate my time to the short games like DDR and Guitar Hero. Trying to start a new FF game would be like trying to read War and Peace a chapter per week. By the time I get to the end, I will have no idea how I got there, who the people are, and how they met in the first place. So the significance is lost on me. Now imagine reading War and Peace and having to grind Warthogs in the Thalassian Valley.
New releases are expensive too. I picked up Dirge of Cerberus for $50, and it was a 10 hour game I played only once. The real reason I picked it up was because, like many others, I just wanted to find out what happened in the FF7 world. I could have played it twice (since I usually do, one without help, and one finding everything), and thought about it, but I didn't see what the point would be. I already knew what was going to happen, and the game made feel like I was playing army with an air rifle or pop gun. There was no impact, no fun in the journey.
Dirge of Cerberus was part of the "Compilation of FF7" which is a fancy way of saying "we released a bunch of stuff related to FF7". This and the Advent Children (the short movie) were the only real things that made it America-side within a reasonable time (is Crisis Core out in the U.S. yet?). Apparently, Square thinks this is the way to go. FF10 had a sequel on the same system, which was all right, but then FF11 needs you to pay a monthly fee, since its a MMORPG. FF12 has Revenant Wings which is a… what? Spinoff? Sequel? Anyway it's on the DS and I don't have one, and I'm not gonna buy a system to play one game. Likewise with Crisis Core and PSP. And now we've got this Fabula Crystalis Whatsis for FF13? Isn't this supposed to be like this 10 year dedication to one single FF world, released on multiple systems? How expensive is that gonna be? I can't even get a Wii. So if I want to get the whole story of FF13, I'm going to have to take out a small loan and freeze myself cryogenically. No thank you.
Which leads me into why I wanted to quit Final Fantasy. Dirge of Cerberus brought to us a very complicated weapon system, with many combinations and permutations of guns, so that you would get nervous purchasing even a key chain, lest you have buyer's remorse. The game was linear, and mostly composed of movies. Simply put, the game wasn't very fun.
None of the games have been very fun. Since FF7, there's been a steady decline in the 'fun' factor of Final Fantasy (lots of F's in that sentence). FF8 I loved — great characters, but the magic system made you nigh invulnerable. FF9 was cute and had memorable animation and story, but the characters and magic just didn't click like the last two games. FF10 brought voice acting, which was both good and bad. The sphere grid was interesting, but like Dirge of Cerberus, you worry about buyer's remorse and end up never using it to its fullest potential (maybe I'm too hoardy with the rare items). But the characters were bland and lifeless (I never even used Kimahri), the enemies repetitive, and the environment was neither cyberpunk nor swords n' sorcery. When you started FF10, you thought "aw great, here's this cool world that looks like Las Vegas in the future, and they're playing soccer in a ball of water. And there's a giant alien monster that I can't even see attacking. This is gonna be awesome." And then you find out it was all a dream. And you have to go on a journey with a beach bimbo and a daddy's girl. I couldn't identify with Tidus, couldn't inject myself into him. The same with Zidane. But I could with Cloud and Squall.
Then in FF10-2, who knows what they were smoking when they made that. It was an okay game, especially since I wanted to find out what happened to the characters I had a meager investment in. It certainly wasn't a FF game though. And after a while, it just wasn't fun. The mini-mission style and my completist personality just didn't mesh, I was always afraid I was missing stuff. Plus its nature led to the story not being very engaging. Eventually, I was just playing it to get through it. To get ready for the next playthrough, I leveled up my character's jobs so everyone was expert in everything, thinking this would be fun. I did the 'rubber band a quarter to the button' trick, but it still took a few weeks. When I got there and restarted, the game was even less fun than I remembered. The battles were dull and repetitive. It felt like I was watching a movie that I had just seen. Not to mention there's no way to complete the game at anything beyond the most basic level besides getting a game guide or FAQ. Seriously, there's no way you could know that dodging 200 lightning bolts would get you Kimahri's ultimate weapon, unless you looked it up online. That's not fun. There should be at least a clue somewhere, otherwise reality intrudes.
Let's clear up something with linear first. Most FF games are linear up to a certain point, then you get free reign to explore the world. The trick here is to make a game that doesn't feel linear. FF7 and FF8 didn't feel linear – you skipped around on the map, your primary mission changed, you went to a variety of places, you revisited places frequently. FF10, you could see the path you were going in a dotted line, and you only ever had one mission – get to Zanarkand – it never changed as you went.
I loved FF7 for the hybrid style. You started in a big futuristic metropolis… that sucked a mysterious chemical out of the ground for power… right next to a farm for yellow ostriches you could ride… past a gigantic snake… to an ice cavern… to go after a samurai… who was genetically engineered… with DNA from an alien. See? It's got something for everyone. FF9 though, had knights, and castles, and airships, and while it was all gorgeous, it was also predictable. FF10 was the same way, very little that was vibrant and jumped out. It was very calm, and there was nothing that made me want to play just to see what happens next. There was no puzzle.
I don't know what happened to FF. Maybe all the talent trickled out slowly. Three big players have already formed their own studio, so who's left at FF? Maybe it's all the marketing guys making massive games. But once I saw the plan for FF12: Revenant Wings, I knew I had to quit. I didn't want to stay in FF with only half-assed knowledge, and I didn't want to play games that weren't fun, just for the sake of being a fan.
At this point I do have to make a confession. I used to write for the FF Compendium. I was brought on as a maintenance person, but I basically took the place over. It was like trying to clean up after a fire — the place looked like a geocities website. I diligently neatened everything, made updates, and piece-by-piece, took apart the back log of things that needed to be added.
Then I started improving everything. Tables, anchor tags, frames — that was all hot shit in 1998, but it was making the site horrible and archaic. For Christ's sake, the site still played midis. I was the only one ever doing things on that site, and the webmaster didn't much care for my improvements. He thought I was moving too far too fast, he said from his horse-drawn carriage. I'd like to say we split over creative differences, but he didn't like that I was making minor changes without telling him, like deleting faulty entries. I wrote him a nasty letter telling him the sheer magnitude of maintaining the website, and everything that still needed to get done, and to back his ass off. In truth, I was half-trying to get fired. The fact is the guy hired me to do a job, and I was doing it, and doing it well. Then he thought I was making too many changes that he didn't like/approve, so bye-bye. In my experience, if you're going to be a webmaster, then you should be the person who's on your site the most, that you should have just a little ambition.
As I understand it, he hired a whole new staff after I left, like five people in five departments. Wow, you'd think you'd really get stuff done with all those people. Let's look at his last update – "Well, our server move is complete! I've finally conquered my e-mail backlog, which is a start. 😎 There are still more things in the pipeline though." Hmm, not promising. What was the update before that. "Just reminding everyone that I'm still alive. I did a quick update a week or so ago to get up to date on my e-mail backlog." Well, gee, there sure was no e-mail backlog when I was working there. Where's his famous team that was supposed to help him? The last update made by someone who was not the webmaster was in June (and there's a delightful sql error on the update history page).
Frankly, my leaving couldn't have come at a more opportune time. FF12 was about to be released and I had A) no desire to play it and B) no time to play it. Not to mention more games were coming down the pipeline on systems I didn't own, and I didn't feel I could live up to the job if I didn't keep up with the games. Plus I'd started a new job, and wanted to put more energy into my writing. And I was sick of dealing with his prideful crap, and limiting what the site really could have been. Crash and burn. Well, enough gloating. Back to Final Fantasy.
I must say I'm a little sad. FF13 looks like its going to compare with FF7 at least with style – cyberpunk and swords. The girl looks like a winner, no Yunas or Rosas (and she's got a weather-related name, and a funky sword). It also promises fast-paced battles and cool summons. But this Fabula Crystalis Nova thing? Three games on three different systems? And none of them have to do with each other. Kingdom Hearts is going the same way – another franchise I like. But KH2 was too heavy on cutscenes and the buffs to the main character made it too easy. Plus they're making three new games on three different systems, and none of them are a sequel. Not compatible with my life style. And who wants to play all that? I simply can't invest my time anymore, and the games just aren't as fun as they used to be.


text:
import contextMenu from './context-menu';

registerListeners();

/**
 * Registers event listeners.
 */
function registerListeners() {
    chrome.runtime.onInstalled.addListener(onInstalled);
}

/**
 * Fired when the extension is first installed, when the extension is updated to a new version, and
 * when Chrome is updated to a new version.
 */
function onInstalled() {
    contextMenu.init();
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Shagufta Ejaz Celebrates Her Anniversary
Shagufta Ejaz is a popular Pakistani actress who never planned to be an actress, but she was purely on luck and chance that she became one. She went to PTV, just to introduce her friends for a TV job, but she was seen and selected there by Director Kazim Pasha for his drama serial Jangloos. Shagufta Ejaz started her career in showbiz industry in late 1980s. Currently she is being seen at different TV channels in different drama serials. She won the 'Best Supporting Actress' at the Hum Awards. She found the beauty salon, Envy by Shagufta Ejaz in Karachi.
Shagufta Ejaz got married to Yahya Siddiqi and is blessed with four beautiful daughters.
Recently Shagufta Ejaz shared a picture with her husband, celebrating their anniversary.
Shagufta Ejaz thanked her husband for always supporting and appreciating her.
We wish many more years of happiness to the lovely couple.
Mahira Khan Revealed Her Secret Talent And Biggest Pet Peeve
Zaid Ali And Yumna Give Tour Of Their Aesthetically Pleasing House

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Table of Contents: Introduction -- Results and discussion -- Components of Gaillardia pulchella -- Incorporation studies with 2-¹⁴C-Mevalonic acid -- Isolation and identification -- 2-¹⁴C-Acetate labelling studies -- Conclusion -- Experimental methods -- Appendix -- References.
The flowering plant, Gaillardia pulchella, contains sesquiterpene lactones which act as anti-tumor agents. Biosynthetic studies were undertaken to elucidate the metabolic pathway to these compounds and to find other potential anti-tumor agents or compounds for structure-activity relationship studies. Compounds which showed incorporation of radioactivity from 2-¹⁴C-mevalonic and 2--¹⁴C-acetic acids were isolated and identified. It was found that incorporation of both 2-¹⁴C-mevalonic and 2--¹⁴C-acetic acids into the sequiterpene lactones was extremely low: less than 0.7 percent of the total plant-contained radioactivity with mevalonic acid and less than 1.5 percent with acetic acid. Incorporation into phytosterols was much higher, approximately 10 percent for both mevalonic acid and acetic acid. The results indicate that sequiterpene lactone biosynthesis is compartmentalized into structures impermeable to exogenously fed mevalonate and acetate.


Equity's share in the country's household assets increased to 4.6 per cent in FY18.
Total household assets were $8.5 trillion (around Rs 595 trillion), about three times India's FY18 GDP and grew 9.3 per cent year-on-year.
The share of equity investments in India's household assets has reached a decade high following rising acceptance of mutual fund investments among retail investors. Data from RBI, AMFI, IRDA and MOSPI, compiled by CLSA, show that equity's share in the country's household assets increased to 4.6 per cent in FY18, the highest since FY08. It had dropped to 2.2 per cent in 2014 and has been gradually improving since then.
While the proportion was similar to that in FY08, what has changed is the route of investment. A decade ago direct equity investment was the chosen path. In FY18, investors opted for the systematic investment plans (SIPs) of mutual finds. The direct retail holding in the BSE 500 index stocks dropped to 11.7 per cent in March 2018 from 13.1 per cent four years ago. On the other hand, the equity assets under management of the mutual funds increased four times to Rs 7.5 lakh crore boosted by inflows of Rs 3.5 lakh crore during the period. SIP monthly inflows reached Rs 8,200 crore in December 2018 from Rs 3,122 crore in March 2016. In addition, mutual fund inflows in the four years to FY18 were four times higher than that in the 10 years prior to the period.
However, the trend does not necessarily mean an overbought situation, according to experts. "If we consider the peak market valuation scenario, we still have room to reach a proportion of 6 per cent for equities in the household assets," said Sailesh Raj Bhan, deputy CIO, Reliance Mutual Fund. Equity's share may reach 8-9 per cent in the next five-seven years following stable inflows and rising percentage of financial assets, says A Balasubramanian, CEO, Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund.
Total household assets were $8.5 trillion (around Rs 595 trillion), about three times India's FY18 GDP and grew 9.3 per cent year-on-year. Of this, $391 billion (Rs 27 trillion) were parked in equities.


text:
Sharon L. Browne
Principal Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation
https://fedsoc.org/contributors/sharon-browne
Sharon L. Browne is a principal attorney in Pacific Legal Foundation's Individual Rights Practice group. She is an accomplished trial and appellate lawyer. Her practice focuses on litigation at all court levels to prohibit government from utilizing race or sex based discrimination or preferences in public contracting, employment or education. She was actively involved in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District and Meredith v. Jefferson County, Ky Board of Education as an amicus and sat second chair during oral argument before the United States Supreme Court to assist the attorney arguing on behalf of Crystal Meredith.
Ms. Browne was named a California Lawyer of the Year in 2004 for her achievements in defending and implementing Proposition 209, the California Civil Rights Initiative, which ended race- and sex- based discrimination and preferences in public contracting, public employment, and public education. A few of her cases include Hi-Voltage Wire Works v. San Jose, 24 Cal. 4th 537 (2000), a unanimous judgment of the California Supreme Court interpreting Proposition 209, the voter approved initiative, which amended the California Constitution to prohibit race- and sex-based discrimination and preferences in public education, public employment, and public education; Crawford v. Huntington Beach Union High School District, 98 Cal. App. 4th 1275 (2002), the first case to apply Proposition 209 to K-12 public education; and C & C Construction v. Sacramento Municipal Utility District, 122 Cal. App. 4th 284 (2004), the first case to interpret Proposition 209's federal funding exception.
J.D., McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific
Jul 6 2009 Podcast
SCOTUScast 7-6-09 featuring Sharon Browne
Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One v. Holder
On Monday, June 22, the Supreme Court announced its decision in Northwest Austin Municipal Utility...
May 21 2009 Podcast
SCOTUScast 5-21-09 featuring Sharon Browne
On Wednesday, April 29, 2009, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Northwest Austin Municipal...
One Year Later: A Reflection on Parents Involved in Community Schools
A little more than a year has passed since the U.S. Supreme Court issued its...
Sponsors: Civil Rights Practice Group
Oct 4 2005 Publication
Colwell v. United States Department of Health and Human Services: Feds Order Physicians and Health Care Providers to Provide Free Language Translation Services to Limited English Proficient Patients
For 2,400 years, society has been confident that properly trained, competent, and compassionate physicians will...


text:
Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.
After appearing in the Mad Max and Lethal Weapon series, Gibson went on to direct and star in the Academy Award-winning Braveheart. In 2004, he directed and produced The Passion of the Christ, a controversial yet successful film portraying the last hours in the life of Jesus. In recent years, remarks by Gibson have generated accusations of homophobia, antisemitism, racism, and misogyny; he has apologised repeatedly for the statements and denied that they represent his real opinions.
Birthday: January 3, 1956
Jack of Spades Life Path: 25/7 Attitude: 4
Mel Gibson Quotes
"Acting is like lying. The art of lying well. I'm paid to tell elaborate lies."
More Mel Gibson Quotes Jack of Spades Quotes
Mel Gibson Personal Life
Mel Gibson and Oksana Grigorieva were together for 2 years (from 2008 to 2010). They have one child together.
January 3 Famous Birthdays
See all January 3 Famous Birthdays
Jack of Spades Famous Birthdays
Michael C Hall
See all Jack of Spades Famous Birthdays
If everyone is thinking alike, then no one is thinking. - Benjamin Franklin


text:
Q: Flex: Skinning menuBar - is it possible? I wish to skin MenuBar, and change it's itemSkin to something else, like different background color for each menu item.

*

*Is it possible ?

A: I found the solution
the main idea is to create a class overriding MenuBarItem.
Then - about the background - i have create one Image to store the color, and i switched it's position with the label of the menu item.
So far it is sufficiently good solution. :)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Top 10 consultancy services in Delhi NCR, Om sai group consultancy is a global management consulting firm located in Delhi that serves Indian clients in all sectors such as Accounting, Advertising, Interior Design, Banking sector, Call Centre/BPO/KPO/ITES, Construction, Courier services, Data Processing Services, Engineering Services, IT Sector, Pharmaceuticals, Telecommunication, Transportation & Freight Forwarding, Warehousing and other sectors.
Explore Top 10 consultancy services in Delhi NCR, Top Manager staffing consultancy at PAN India. We have multiple job openings with leading organizations at a mid and senior level across India. Apply online jobs for overseas placements.
Om Sai Group consultancy is under top 10 rated company. We will provide the Delhi NCR staff to our clients as priority basis. Delhi is a very huge industrial area so staff is very requiring at all sector such as Accounting, Advertising, Interior Design, Banking sector, Call Centre/BPO/KPO/ITES, Construction, Courier services. So will remove the problems of employers and provide the Delhi NCR staff. Om sai group consultancy is under Rank 01 on 10. Therefore, Om sai group provides Top 10 consultancy services in Delhi NCR.


Enable your transmitters for your gate to activate other devices (like your garage door).
Can be added to garage door operators, other brands of gate operators and various other pieces of automation equipment to enable your transmitters for your gate to activate other devices (like your garage door). Read more here.
– SPXPTX10 4-Button Radio Transmitters (Remotes).
– SPXPDK50 PIN Activation Digital Keypads for Entry/Exit.
– SPXPWPB1 Dummy Keypads (single button press).
– SPXPPB-RAD-1 Wireless Weather-resistant Entry/Exit Push Button.
– SPXPPB-RAD-2 Wireless Weather-resistant Entry/Exit Push Button with 2-position Key-Switch.


text:
You are here: Home / Crime / Courts / Des Moines man accused of sexually abusing woman at care facility
Des Moines man accused of sexually abusing woman at care facility
A Des Moines man is accused of sexually abusing a woman who lives in a care facility where the man worked. Des Moines Police spokesperson Sergeant Lori Lavorato says 41-year-old Napoleon Mbonyunkiza was arrested Monday – three weeks after it was discovered that a resident of Mosaic was pregnant.
"This client was 32-year-old at the time, is wheelchair bound, has no means of communication and suffers from cerebral palsy," Lavorato said. The pregnancy was terminated at 22 weeks.
Lavorato says around 25 male staff workers at Mosaic provided D.N.A. samples. The D.N.A. from the child matched that of Mbonyunkiza. He is charged with third-degree sexual abuse, neglect of a dependent person and dependent adult abuse.
Mosaic is a faith-based nonprofit organization which serves around 180 adults in more than 40 locations. The Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals is helping police investigate the case.


A microblade tool looks similar to an exacto knife, but instead of there being one big blade, there is a series of micro needles. The microblade is dipped into a selected color of pigment and then used to make a fine cut, or microstroke, in the skin. This process results in the pigment being implanted into the skin, which is known as micropigmentation. With the proper technique, microbladed eyebrow results look beautiful and completely natural.
We also offer Fusion Brow, Powder Brow and many other techniques including correction with the machine.


text:
New PDF release: Catholicism (New Study Edition, Completely Revised and
By Richard P. Mcbrien
Publish 12 months note: First released in 1980
A new examine variation of the vintage that has bought over 150,000 copies.
Read Online or Download Catholicism (New Study Edition, Completely Revised and Updated) PDF
Similar catholicism books
Download e-book for kindle: The American Catholic Almanac: A Daily Reader of Patriots, by Brian Burch, Emily Stimpson
WHAT DO BUFFALO invoice , JOHN F. KENNEDY, VINCE LOMBARDI , DOROTHY DAY, FULTON SHEEN, AND ANDY WARHOL HAVE IN universal?
They're all Catholics who've formed the USA. during this page-a-day heritage, 365 inspiring tales have a good time the ancient contributions of yank women and men formed by way of their Catholic religion. From recognized figures to lesser-known saints and sinners, the yankee Catholic Almanac tells the interesting, humorous, uplifting, and not going stories of Catholics' impression on American historical past, tradition, and politics. Spanning the scope of the progressive struggle to Notre Dame soccer, this special choice of tales highlights the transformative position of the Catholic Church in American public existence over the past four hundred years.
• the 1st immigrant to reach in the United States through Ellis Island used to be a 15-year-old Irish Catholic girl?
• Al Capone's tombstone reads "MY JESUS MERCY"?
• Andrew Jackson credited America's victory within the conflict of recent Orleans to the prayers of the Virgin Mary and the Ursuline Sisters?
• 5 Franciscans died in sixteenth-century Georgia protecting the Church's teachings on marriage?
• Jack Kerouac died desirous to be often called a Catholic and never basically as a beat poet?
• Catholic missionaries lived in Virginia 36 years prior to the English settled Jamestown?
Pilgrimage - download pdf or read online
Get A history of philosophy PDF
The Roman Inquisition: Trying Galileo by Thomas F. Mayer PDF
Few criminal occasions loom as huge in early smooth heritage because the trial of Galileo. often solid as a heroic scientist martyred to faith or as a scapegoat of papal politics, Galileo absolutely stood at a watershed second within the political maneuvering of a strong church. yet to totally know how and why Galileo got here to be condemned by means of the papal courts—and what position he performed in his personal downfall—it is important to check the trial in the context of inquisitorial legislation.
Additional resources for Catholicism (New Study Edition, Completely Revised and Updated)
This theology defined faith as an intellectual assent to divinely revealed truths as taught by the Roman Catholic Church. Faith was described as a supernatural act based on the motive of the authority of God, and, as such, it possessed a certitude that went beyond all human acts of certitude. As a supernatural act, grace was understood as giving a new inner structure to the faith-knowledge of the believer. At the same time, faith was held to be a reasonable act based on rational evidence. Reasoning to a judgment of credibility was a necessary condition for the reasonableness of faith.
Arianism, a fourth-century heresy named after its leader Arius, taught that Jesus did not have a divine nature and therefore was not God. The Council of Nicaea, 325, which condemned Arius, taught that Jesus had the same nature as God. This is the view accepted by Rome. A compromise group known as the semi-Arians taught that Jesus had a nature that was similar to the divined nature but was not exactly the same. The ghost of the Monophysite analogy returned again, this time in the form of Arianism.
31 But, gradually Newman came to reject the rationalism of Whately, because it subjected the truths of faith to the proof of Newman's Theology of Faith 17 reason. Newman did not think that faith could be completely subjected to reason; to do so would reduce faith to a rational conclusion to a syllogism. In reacting to this type of rationalism, Newman's purpose in the University Sermons was to find a way of explaining how the response of faith can be an act that is compatible with reason without being reduced to a purely rational act.
Catholicism (New Study Edition, Completely Revised and Updated) by Richard P. Mcbrien
Hotels in Berhampur Book Archive > Catholicism > New PDF release: Catholicism (New Study Edition, Completely Revised and
Read e-book online Stationary Stochastic Processes. (MN-8) PDF
Lamésche - Mathieusche - und Verwandte Funktionen in Physik by M.J.O. Strutt PDF


text:
Q: How to use Application.Intersect Method Good evening to everyone,
as the title suggests, I have a problem with the Application.Intersect method  in excel vba.
This is my situation:

Example: is A18 conteined in A1:A7? is B18 conteined in A1:A7? .... Is I18 conteined in A1:A7? Write the result and then move on to the next column.
To do this, I wrote the following code:
Sub Macro1()
Dim column As Range
Dim val As Range
Dim table As Range
Set table = Range("A1:C7")
Dim result As Range
Set result = Range("A9:C9")
Dim b As Integer
b = 0
Dim i As Integer
i = 1
Dim control1 As Range
Set control1 = Range("A18")
Dim control2 As Range
Set control2 = Range("B18")
Dim control3 As Range
Set control3 = Range("D18")
Dim control4 As Range
Set control4 = Range("E18")
Dim control5 As Range
Set control5 = Range("G18")
Dim control6 As Range
Set control6 = Range("H18")
Dim control7 As Range
Set control7 = Range("I18")
For Each column In table.Columns
    Set isect1 = Application.Intersect(control1, table.Columns(i).val)
        If (Not (isect1 Is Nothing)) Then
            b = b + 1
        End If
    Set isect2 = Application.Intersect(control2, table.Columns(i).val)
        If (Not (isect2 Is Nothing)) Then
            b = b + 1
        End If
    Set isect3 = Application.Intersect(control3, table.Columns(i).val)
        If (Not (isect3 Is Nothing)) Then
            b = b + 1
        End If
    Set isect4 = Application.Intersect(control4, table.Columns(i).val)
        If (Not (isect4 Is Nothing)) Then
            b = b + 1
        End If
    Set isect5 = Application.Intersect(control5, table.Columns(i).val)
        If (Not (isect5 Is Nothing)) Then
            b = b + 1
        End If
    Set isect6 = Application.Intersect(control6, table.Columns(i).val)
        If (Not (isect6 Is Nothing)) Then
            b = b + 1
        End If
    Set isect7 = Application.Intersect(control7, table.Columns(i).val)
        If (Not (isect7 Is Nothing)) Then
            b = b + 1
        End If
    Set isect8 = Application.Intersect(control8, table.Columns(i).val)
        If (Not (isect8 Is Nothing)) Then
            b = b + 1
        End If
        i = i + 1
        If b = 8 Then
            result(i).val= "ok"
        Else
            result(i).val= "no"
        End If
Next column
End Sub

The problems are:

*

*the Application.Intersect method return Always the same result there

*is probably a simpler way to do this, but I could not find it

*every time I set isect gives me an error: "necessary object"
Thank you all for your help!
EDIT: I tried to change Set isect1 = Application.Intersect(control1, table.Columns(i).val) with Set isect1 = Application.Intersect(control1, table.Columns(i))  but so it is always not intersected
EDIT2: Resolved thanks to the help of TimWilliams!

A: You should use a COUNTIF method for this:
Dim sht, col, c, v

Set sht = ActiveSheet
For Each col In sht.Range("A1:C7").Columns
For Each c In sht.Range("A18:H18").Cells
    v = Application.CountIf(col, c)
    Debug.Print c.Value & IIf(v > 0, " is ", " is not ") & _
           "contained in " & col.Address()
Next c
Next col


text:
package nz.gen.geek_central.unicode_browser;

import android.util.SparseArray;
public class TableReader
  {

    public static class UnicodeTable
      {
        private final byte[] Contents;
        private final java.nio.ByteBuffer ContentsBuf;
        public final int NrChars, NrCharCategories;
        private final int NrCharRuns;
        private final int CharCodesOffset, CharNamesOffset, CharCategoriesOffset, AltNamesOffset, LikeCharsOffset;
        private final int CategoryNamesOffset, CategoryOrderOffset, CategoryCodesOffset, CategoryLowBoundsOffset, CategoryHighBoundsOffset, CharRunsStart;
        private final int NameStringsStart;
        private final int AltNamesStart, LikeCharsStart;
        public final String Version;

        public UnicodeTable
          (
            android.content.res.AssetFileDescriptor TableFile
          )
          {
            final int ContentsLength = (int)TableFile.getLength();
            Contents = new byte[ContentsLength];
            try
              {
                final int BytesRead = TableFile.createInputStream().read(Contents);
                if (BytesRead != ContentsLength)
                  {
                    throw new RuntimeException
                      (
                        String.format("expected %d bytes, got %d", ContentsLength, BytesRead)
                      );
                  } /*if*/
              }
            catch (java.io.IOException Failed)
              {
                throw new RuntimeException(Failed.toString());
              } /*try*/
            ContentsBuf = java.nio.ByteBuffer.wrap(Contents);
            ContentsBuf.order(java.nio.ByteOrder.LITTLE_ENDIAN);
            CharCodesOffset = ContentsBuf.getInt(0) + 4;
            NrChars = ContentsBuf.getInt(CharCodesOffset - 4);
            CharNamesOffset = CharCodesOffset + NrChars * 4;
            CharCategoriesOffset = CharNamesOffset + NrChars * 4;
            AltNamesOffset = CharCategoriesOffset + NrChars * 4;
            LikeCharsOffset = AltNamesOffset + NrChars * 4;
            CategoryNamesOffset = ContentsBuf.getInt(4) + 4;
            NrCharCategories = ContentsBuf.getInt(CategoryNamesOffset - 4);
            CategoryOrderOffset = CategoryNamesOffset + NrCharCategories * 4;
            CategoryCodesOffset = CategoryOrderOffset + NrCharCategories * 4;
            CategoryLowBoundsOffset = CategoryCodesOffset + NrCharCategories * 4;
            CategoryHighBoundsOffset = CategoryLowBoundsOffset + NrCharCategories * 4;
            NameStringsStart = ContentsBuf.getInt(12);
            CharRunsStart = ContentsBuf.getInt(8) + 4;
            NrCharRuns = ContentsBuf.getInt(CharRunsStart - 4);
            AltNamesStart = ContentsBuf.getInt(16);
            LikeCharsStart = ContentsBuf.getInt(20);
            Version = GetString(ContentsBuf.getInt(24));
          } /*UnicodeTable*/

        private String GetString
          (
            int Offset
          )
          /* extracts the string at the specified offset within the names table. */
          {
            try
              {
                return
                    new String
                      (
                        /*data =*/ Contents,
                        /*offset =*/ NameStringsStart + Offset + 1,
                        /*byteCount =*/ (int)Contents[NameStringsStart + Offset] & 255,
                        /*charSetName =*/ "utf-8"
                      );
              }
            catch (java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException Huh)
              {
                throw new RuntimeException(Huh.toString());
              } /*try*/
          } /*GetString*/

        public String GetCategoryName
          (
            int CategoryCode /* must be in [0 .. NrCharCategories - 1] */
          )
          /* returns the name of the category with the specified code. */
          {
            return
                GetString(ContentsBuf.getInt(CategoryNamesOffset + CategoryCode * 4));
          } /*GetCategoryName*/

        public int GetCategoryNameOrdered
          (
            int Index /* must be in [0 .. NrCharCategories - 1] */
          )
          /* returns the category code with the specified alphabetical index. */
          {
            return
                ContentsBuf.getInt(CategoryOrderOffset + Index * 4);
          } /*GetCategoryNameOrdered*/

        public int GetCategoryCodeOrdered
          (
            int Index /* must be in [0 .. NrCharCategories - 1] */
          )
          /* returns the category code with the specified index. Indexes are
            assigned by increasing code block range start. */
          {
            return
                ContentsBuf.getInt(CategoryCodesOffset + Index * 4);
          } /*GetCategoryCodeOrdered*/

        public int GetCategoryLowBoundByCode
          (
            int Index /* must be in [0 .. NrCharCategories - 1] */
          )
          /* returns the lowest character code in the category with the specified index. */
          {
            return
                ContentsBuf.getInt(CategoryLowBoundsOffset + Index * 4);
          } /*GetCategoryLowBoundByCode*/

        public int GetCategoryHighBoundByCode
          (
            int Index /* must be in [0 .. NrCharCategories - 1] */
          )
          /* returns the highest character code in the category with the specified index. */
          {
            return
                ContentsBuf.getInt(CategoryHighBoundsOffset + Index * 4);
          } /*GetCategoryHighBoundByCode*/

        public int GetCharIndex
          (
            int CharCode,
            boolean MustExist /* throw exception instead of returning not-found index */
          )
          /* returns the index within the character table of the entry with the
            specified character code, or -1 if not found. */
          {
            int Result;
            for (int i = 0;;)
              {
                if (i == NrCharRuns)
                  {
                    if (MustExist)
                      {
                        throw new RuntimeException
                          (
                            String.format("UnicodeTable: undefined char %#X", CharCode)
                          );
                      } /*if*/
                    Result = -1;
                    break;
                  } /*if*/
                final int Base = CharRunsStart + i * 12;
                if (CharCode >= ContentsBuf.getInt(Base) && CharCode <= ContentsBuf.getInt(Base + 4))
                  {
                    Result = ContentsBuf.getInt(Base + 8) + CharCode - ContentsBuf.getInt(Base);
                    break;
                  } /*if*/
                ++i;
              } /*for*/
            return
                Result;
          } /*GetCharIndex*/

      /* following routines return information about a character given its index
        as returned by GetCharIndex, not its character code */

        public int GetCharCode
          (
            int CharIndex
          )
          /* returns the character code. */
          {
            return
                ContentsBuf.getInt(CharCodesOffset + CharIndex * 4);
          } /*GetCharCode*/

        public String GetCharName
          (
            int CharIndex
          )
          /* returns the character name. */
          {
            return
                GetString(ContentsBuf.getInt(CharNamesOffset + CharIndex * 4));
          } /*GetCharName*/

        public int GetCharCategory
          (
            int CharIndex
          )
          /* returns the character's category code. */
          {
            return
                ContentsBuf.getInt(CharCategoriesOffset + CharIndex * 4);
          } /*GetCharCategory*/

        public String[] GetCharOtherNames
          (
            int CharIndex
          )
          /* returns the alternative names for the character. */
          {
            final int Base = AltNamesStart + ContentsBuf.getInt(AltNamesOffset + CharIndex * 4);
            final int NrOtherNames = ContentsBuf.getInt(Base);
            final String[] Result = new String[NrOtherNames];
            for (int i = 1; i <= NrOtherNames; ++i)
              {
                Result[i - 1] = GetString(ContentsBuf.getInt(Base + i * 4));
              } /*for*/
            return
                Result;
          } /*GetCharOtherNames*/

        public int[] GetCharLikeChars
          (
            int CharIndex
          )
          /* returns the codes of other, similar characters. */
          {
            final int Base = LikeCharsStart + ContentsBuf.getInt(LikeCharsOffset + CharIndex * 4);
            final int NrLikeChars = ContentsBuf.getInt(Base);
            final int[] Result = new int[NrLikeChars];
            for (int i = 1; i <= NrLikeChars; ++i)
              {
                Result[i - 1] = ContentsBuf.getInt(Base + i * 4);
              } /*for*/
            return
                Result;
          } /*GetCharLikeChars*/

      } /*UnicodeTable*/;

    public static UnicodeTable Unicode;
    public static SparseArray<CharInfo> CharsByIndex;
    public static SparseArray<String[]> CharNamesSplitByCode;

    public static void Load
      (
        android.content.Context ctx
      )
      /* must be called before using anything else in this class. */
      {
        if (Unicode == null)
          {
            Unicode = new UnicodeTable(ctx.getResources().openRawResourceFd(R.raw.unicode));
          } /*if*/
      } /*Load*/

    public static String[] SplitWords
      (
        String s
      )
      /* returns the components of s split at spaces, and converted to lower case. */
      {
        final java.util.ArrayList<String> Result = new java.util.ArrayList<String>();
        StringBuilder CurComponent = null;
        for (int i = 0;;)
          {
            if (i == s.length() || s.charAt(i) == ' ')
              {
                if (CurComponent != null)
                  {
                    Result.add(CurComponent.toString().toLowerCase());
                    CurComponent = null;
                  } /*if*/
                if (i == s.length())
                    break;
              } /*if*/
            if (s.charAt(i) != ' ')
              {
                if (CurComponent == null)
                  {
                    CurComponent = new StringBuilder();
                  } /*if*/
                CurComponent.append(s.charAt(i));
              } /*if*/
            ++i;
          } /*for*/
        return
            Result.toArray(new String[Result.size()]);
      } /*SplitWords*/

    public static class CharInfo
      {
        public final int Code;
        public final String Name;
        public final int Category; /* index into CategoryNames table */
        public final String[] OtherNames;
        public final int[] LikeChars; /* codes for other similar chars */

        public CharInfo
          (
            int Code,
            String Name,
            int Category,
            String[] OtherNames,
            int[] LikeChars
          )
          {
            this.Code = Code;
            this.Name = Name.intern();
            this.Category = Category;
            this.OtherNames = OtherNames;
            this.LikeChars = LikeChars;
          } /*CharInfo*/
      } /*CharInfo*/;

    public static CharInfo GetCharByIndex
      (
        int CharIndex
      )
      {
        CharInfo Result = CharsByIndex != null ? CharsByIndex.get(CharIndex) : null;
        if (Result == null)
          {
            Result = new CharInfo
              (
                /*Code =*/ Unicode.GetCharCode(CharIndex),
                /*Name =*/ Unicode.GetCharName(CharIndex),
                /*Category =*/ Unicode.GetCharCategory(CharIndex),
                /*OtherNames =*/ Unicode.GetCharOtherNames(CharIndex),
                /*LikeChars =*/ Unicode.GetCharLikeChars(CharIndex)
              );
            if (CharsByIndex == null)
              {
                CharsByIndex = new SparseArray<CharInfo>(Unicode.NrChars);
              } /*if*/
            CharsByIndex.put(CharIndex, Result);
          } /*if*/
        return
            Result;
      } /*GetCharByIndex*/

    public static CharInfo GetCharByCode
      (
        int CharCode,
        boolean MustExist
      )
      {
        final int CharIndex = Unicode.GetCharIndex(CharCode, MustExist);
        return
            CharIndex >= 0 ?
                GetCharByIndex(CharIndex)
            :
                null;
      } /*GetCharByCode*/

    public static boolean CharNameMatches
      (
        int CharCode,
        String[] MatchWords /* as returned by SplitWords on your search string */
      )
      /* does the character with the specified code have a name matching
        the given strings. */
      {
        String[] NameWords =
            CharNamesSplitByCode != null ?
                CharNamesSplitByCode.get(CharCode)
            :
                null;
        if (NameWords == null)
          {
            if (CharNamesSplitByCode == null)
              {
                CharNamesSplitByCode = new SparseArray<String[]>(Unicode.NrChars);
              } /*if*/
            NameWords = SplitWords(GetCharByCode(CharCode, true).Name);
            CharNamesSplitByCode.put(CharCode, NameWords);
          } /*if*/
        boolean Matching;
        for (int i = 0, j = 0;;)
          {
            if (i == MatchWords.length)
              {
                Matching = true;
                break;
              } /*if*/
            if (j == NameWords.length)
              {
                Matching = false;
                break;
              } /*if*/
            if (NameWords[j].contains(MatchWords[i]))
              {
                ++i;
              } /*if*/
            ++j;
          } /*for*/
        return
            Matching;
      } /*CharNameMatches*/

  } /*TableReader*/;


text:
/ Modified jan 4, 2016 11:40 a.m.
US Parks Draw Record Crowds Ahead of 100th Anniversary
Visitation to 409 National Parks estimated at 300M last year, even bigger in 2016.
by Vanessa Barchfield TWEET SHARE
More people visited the country's national parks in 2015 than in any other year in the last century.
Final statistics will not be out until February. When they are, officials expect that overall visitation will have hit 300 million last year, about 7 million more than the previous record, set in 2014.
The Grand Canyon is the second most visited park in the country, behind the Great Smoky Mountains. Through November, more than 5.3 million people peered over or climbed down the canyon's steep walls.
Park Service spokesman Jeffrey Olson said one reason visitation has been growing is the anticipation of the national parks' centennial this year. But that's not all.
"There has been a growth in visitation at national parks that's been kind of creeping along for the past few years," Olson said.
Free admission to parks on certain days through the year have helped, as have programs such as Every Kid In a Park, an initiative that provides every fourth grader with a free family pass to all federal parks and national lands that charge admission fees.
As visitation climbs in environmentally sensitive areas, so has the need to protect and preserve the lands.
"Courtesy to other park visitors, picking up after yourself, those things go a long long way to helping us make sure that parks are in good shape for the next visitors," Olson said.
And more visitors are coming. Olson said the service is "holding its breath" for another record year in 2016.
MORE: Arizona, Environment, State & National Parks, News
Bird Watchers Look to Arizona Skies for Annual Count Proposals Would Regulate Grand Canyon Backcountry How Old Is Grand Canyon? 'Only' 6 Million Years


Use this form only if you are not a landlord or a tenant of the subject rented premises, but claim sufficient interest in the tenancy The agreement between a landlord and a tenant for the rental of a property. agreement to be allowed to apply.
You must send a copy of this completed application to all other parties to the proceedings.
If you do not understand any of the questions on this form call the VCAT Customer Service on 1300 01 8228.
For any other tenancy advice and assistance contact the Consumer Affairs Helpline on 1300 558 181.


100 watts of pure, in-your-face guitar tone in a modern, midi controllable, 3 channel amp. Dedicated to Modern sounds, from crystal clear Clean, through a classic punchy Crunch, to High Gain Nirvana. Finally the best of the MZero and the Z Series in a single amp that offers the full range of the incredible tones available from Mezzabarba.
This channel is all about tonal definition and is a perfect balance between our Z Series and the MZero. It produces a transparent, authentic clean tone that is both warm and brilliant at the same time and with harmonic overtones to die for. With the boost engaged you can go for American/British classy crunch, with tons of dynamic and punch.
What stands out the most is the explosive dynamics this channel offers. This channel can range from a "bitey" mild distortion to that sought after vintage, harmonic rich crunch a là AC/DC that is so hard to find anymore, until a brutal hot-rodded tone you can have with the boost engaged.
Hot, defined and ballsy is the only way to describe it. Fluid, saturated distortions that are dripping in harmonics. From a perfect crunch to a searing lead tone, this channel features a boost switch for two different voicings, one for Rhythm definition, one for smoothest and fullest Solo Parts. The 3rd channel will take you to distortion bliss.
• 3 channel head: Clean, Drive and Overdrive – for 24 different sounds + FX Loop, all programmable.
• Tube effect loop, serial or parallel.
• Power tubes: 4xEL34, 100W.


text:
Home / What we do / Supervision of prison licences
Offenders receiving a custodial sentence of more than one day and less than two years serve half of their term in the community. This process is called being on prison licence.
Offenders on prison licences are supervised by either ourselves or the National Probation Service, depending on the severity of risk that they pose. We supervise people who are considered to pose a low or medium risk of committing a serious crime.
The post sentence supervision is linked to the Through the Gate initiative, which involves people being released from prison being supervised by probation.
There are six standard prison licence conditions, which include individuals having to:
be supervised by probation
live at a specified address or an Approved Premises (historically called a bail hostel)
comply with an order which prevents them from travelling outside the UK
Additional licence requirements can be added, which then must be agreed by either the prison governor or the Parole Board. These will take a victim's considerations into account, and may also include:
a curfew
exclusion from a specific area
Private: Programmes & services