balletic supersonic

Sunday, August 4, 2013

What Games Are: The Win Imperative

Many readers will be familiar with the idea that games and reward go together. Yet reward by itself isn't rewarding. The reason is that it's not the reward that's interesting, but rather what it signifies: satisfaction of a job well done, a stroke of luck, a problem solved, a situation overcome, an enemy defeated. In short, it's about winning. All games are played to win.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/62Ylz6PqBHM/

George Jones Farrah Abraham Tape amber heard Google Now Jason Collins White House Correspondents Dinner 2013 NHL playoff schedule

Time Warner blackout of CBS goes into 2nd day

This image provided by CBS shows a CBS advertisement in Times Square in New York on Friday, Aug. 2, 2013. Three million Time Warner Cable customers in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas lost access to CBS programming in a fee dispute Friday, threatening their ability to watch popular shows like "Under the Dome" or see Tiger Woods pursue his 8th win at the Bridgestone Invitational. The nation's second largest cable operator said that CBS refused to have productive negotiations, which were repeatedly extended after their previous deal expired at the end of June. (AP Photo/CBS)

Time Warner Cable's blackout of CBS continued Saturday, and neither side indicated a resolution of their dispute over fees is imminent.

Time Warner dropped CBS Friday in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and several other cities, leaving three million customers without the network's programs. The issue is fees that the cable company pays CBS to air its programs.

Each has accused the other of making unreasonable demands. On Saturday the two sides even seemed to disagree on the status of negotiations. A Time Warner spokeswoman said Saturday afternoon that negotiations are ongoing. CBS said it expects talks to resume soon, but the decision rests with Time Warner.

Without a deal, Time Warner customers were missing Tiger Woods' attempt at his 8th win at Firestone Country Club near Akron, Ohio, in this weekend's Bridgestone Invitational. Woods held a lead of 7 strokes as he played Saturday. CBS fans also won't see programs such as "Under the Dome" or "60 Minutes."

Time Warner cut off the CBS shows as well as cable networks Showtime, TMC, Flix and Smithsonian. The cable company's customers are caught in the middle, and the stakes will only go higher. CBS will air the PGA's final major tournament starting Thursday, and its preseason National Football League coverage begins on local stations next week.

Late Friday night, Time Warner posted a message to subscribers on its website from CEO Glenn Britt saying that CBS has been "uncompromising" by making demands that are inconsistent with deals made with hundreds of other broadcasters. If Time Warner gives in to CBS' demands, he said, then other programmers will ask for more as well.

"Cable TV bills would skyrocket. You'd be mad. We'd be mad. It won't end well for anyone," Britt wrote.

Time Warner charges about $20 monthly per subscriber for broadcast channels. One industry analyst estimates that CBS got 75 cents to $1 per Time Warner subscriber in the contract that recently expired.

CBS said this is the first time it's been dropped by a cable system, and it has successfully negotiated deals with Comcast, Cablevision, Charter, DirecTV, AT&T, Verizon and other companies.

"CBS programs are among the most popular in the industry, and yet there are many cable networks - with considerably less viewership - that receive more money for their programming from Time Warner Cable than we do," CBS CEO Leslie Moonves said in July memo to employees.

The fight could be a long one with CBS trying to gain revenue from retransmission fees to buffer against cyclical swings in advertising revenue and Time Warner caught in a competitive environment that limits price increases to pay for rising programming costs.

Research firm SNL Kagan estimates retransmission fees paid to programmers will reach $3 billion industry-wide this year and double to $6 billion by 2018.

Earning revenue from pay TV subscribers is crucial to CBS's growth prospects, analysts say. Even though CBS sends its signal out over the airwaves for free to anyone with an antenna, about 85 percent of its viewers watch TV through a pay TV provider.

Time Warner spokeswoman Maureen Huff said the company is not worried about customers switching to a different TV-service provider to get CBS. Programming fee disputes are common in the industry and could happen to other providers in the future, she said, adding that the number of such disputes has risen in the last few years.

Indeed, a competitor, DirecTV, came to Time Warner's defense on Saturday, issuing a statement that praised the cable company. "In trying to protect our won customers, DirecTV has certainly had its share of these battles, so we applaud Time Warner Cable for fighting back against exorbitant programming cost increases," the statement said.

The dispute may bring some government action. In New York, the City Council announced Saturday that it would convene hearings Thursday on the spat, demanding answers from both companies. "Television service should not be dependent on the whims of a bitter corporate standoff," said the council's speaker, Christine Quinn, who is also a leading candidate for mayor.

Time Warner is fighting to hold the line on costs as it struggles to keep subscribers. It lost 191,000 cable TV subscribers in the most recent quarter, ending with 11.7 million at the end of June.

Still, both companies posted healthy quarterly earnings this week. Time Warner Cable grew its net income 6 percent to $481 million, or $1.64 per share, as revenue rose 3 percent to $5.6 billion. CBS grew net income 11 percent to $472 million, or 76 cents per share. CBS's revenue also grew 11 percent to $3.7 billion thanks in large part to the fees that are in dispute with Time Warner Cable.

The CBS stations that went dark are WCBS and WLNY in New York; KCBS and KCAL in Los Angeles; KTVT and KTXA in Dallas; WBZ and WSBK in Boston; KDKA, WPCW-CW in Pittsburgh; KCNC in Denver; WKBD-CW in Detroit and WBBM in Chicago.

About 2.5 million Time Warner Cable customers lost access to Showtime, the premium channel that carries shows such as "Dexter."

Time Warner said it would temporarily replace lost programming with shows from Starz Kids and Family.

___

Krisher reported from Detroit. David B. Caruso contributed from New York.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-08-03-CBS-Time%20Warner%20Cable/id-bbabe6d088984f88818ee9ccc159cbdf

Happy Easter Game Of Thrones Season 3 campfire Kordell Stewart cesar chavez Wichita State hbo

RE: Taken With Force

Reputation:
Words written:
Words per post:
Joined:
Last visit:
Location:
Website:

Two girls and two guys are kidnapped and held hostage in a dreary cellar without knowing why and without knowing where. Can they survive on their kidnappers whims of insanity and violence?

Owner:

Game Masters:

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

Topic Tags:

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

First post: ? 1 post ? Page 1 of 1

Ok, I finally have a post up guys I'm really sorry if it's not much to go off of but at least it's something.

honeybee1442: Member for 0 years

First post: ? 1 post ? Page 1 of 1

Post a reply

RolePlayGateway is a site built by a couple roleplayers who wanted to give a little something back to the roleplay community. The site has no intention of earning any profit, and is paid for out of their own pockets.

If you appreciate what they do, feel free to donate your spare change to help feed them on the weekends. After selecting the amount you want to donate from the menu, you can continue by clicking on PayPal logo.

Our Sponsors

RolePlayGateway is proudly powered by obscene amounts of caffeine, duct tape, and support from people like you. It operates under a "don't like it, suggest an improvement" platform, and we gladly take suggestions for improvements or changes.

The custom-built "roleplay" system was designed and implemented by Eric Martindale as of July 2009. All attempts to replicate or otherwise emulate this system and its method of organizing roleplay are strictly prohibited without his express written and contractual permission; violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

? RolePlayGateway, LLC | with the support of LocalSense

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/8ksV2Mm0_OE/viewtopic.php

derek jeter Yasiel Puig The Bridge Fx Grown Ups 2 Taste Of Chicago Terry Smith khloe kardashian

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Study: Chinese Herbal Medicines are Safe and Effective for Vascular Dementia

A recent study published in the Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 8, No. 18, 2013) evaluated the efficacy and safety of Chinese herbal medicines for vascular dementia, using efficacy, Mini-Mental State Examination score, Hasegawa Dementia Scale score, and adverse reactions as evaluation indices by performing a meta-analysis. The results suggested that Chinese herbal medicine appears to be safer and more effective than control measures in the treatment of vascular dementia. Chinese herbal medicines for vascular dementia exert characteristics of syndrome differentiation of traditional Chinese medicine, and have good potential in the clinic.

Source-Eurekalert

Source: http://feeds.medindia.com/~r/allhealthnews/~3/m0ww0GpklF0/study-chinese-herbal-medicines-are-safe-and-effective-for-vascular-dementia-122547-1.htm

happy thanksgiving Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade 2012 Turkey Cooking Times Butterball mashed potatoes Apple Black Friday how to cook a turkey

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Miriam compares PNoy's SONA to a lengthy college paper

(Updated 3:56 p.m.) For Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, President Benigno Aquino III's fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) was like the work of a college student who has nothing much to say.

In a television interview Wednesday, Santiago lamented how Aquino's speech failed to focus on issues affecting ordinary Filipinos, such as poverty and unemployment.

"Kulang ang trabaho. Unemployment rate is very high. Yan ang pinaka importanteng problema na nakaharap ngayon sa taong bayan, hindi problema sa foreign affairs kundi problema saan kukuha ng kakainin nila," Santiago said in an interview over GMA News TV's News To Go.

In the same interview, Santiago said Aquino's speechwriters should have used bullet points to sum up the administration's accomplishments in the past year.

"Nagkamali ang kanyang media adviser na ipaliwanag lahat ng detalye tungkol sa isang taon lang na buhay ng bansa. Walang tao who can keep up with this for 2 hours. Mali talaga ang media operations nila sa Malaca?ang," she said.

Due to this, Santiago said the President's SONA seemed like it was written by a college student who might get scolded by his professor.

"Kamukha 'yan sa college na lahat na lang pati footnotes nilagay mo sa paper mo. Lagay mo sa likuran, sa end note. Wag mo lalagay sa main page kundi magagalit propesor mo at maghihinala na wala kang masabi," she said.

Santiago failed to attend the President's SONA last Monday due to chronic fatigue.

'Speechless'

Later in the afternoon, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda wondered what Santiago was complaining about.

"What more can she not see in the State of the Nation Address? I am speechless," he said during a press briefing.

Lacierda explained that Aquino's SONA topics addressed in detail how they plan to solve poverty and unemployment in the country.

"The President has enumerated the things that we are going to do. We are going to increase manufacturing. We are going to increase tourism. We are going to increase agriculture. We are going to expand the economy so that we?ll have fiscal space to provide for our less privileged," he said.

"It was 55 pages. Fifty-five pages long and, if you can?t find any word there on generating employment; if you can?t find any statement there addressing poverty, then you must be reading another SONA or another speech?definitely not from the President," Lacierda stressed.

Silent on 'pork'

Aquino's fourth SONA

?focused on his administration's accomplishments in the past year. He also used his speech to praise some of his Cabinet members, and to criticize erring agencies.

But Santiago noted that Aquino failed to mention anything about the recent controversy on the use of the priority development assistance fund (PDAF), commonly known as the "pork barrel."

"Dapat sana pinaliwanag ang napaka iskandaloso na pork barrel... There should have been a specific discussion on corruption and telescope it to the anomalies connected to pork barrel," she said.

Last week, the Philippine Daily Inquirer ran a series of reports detailing the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)'s ongoing probe on a supposed racket, allegedly masterminded by businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles, to defraud lawmakers and various government agencies. Napoles has denied involvement in the anomaly.

Santiago said the President should have tackled this issue since his administration has an anti-corruption agenda.

"Bakit wala tayong imik doon? Ang tema ng administrasyon na ito ay daang matuwid, laban sa korupsyon," she said.

Santiago had earlier called on her colleagues who were linked to the controversy to file a leave of absence pending investigation on the supposed anomaly.

Majority solons satisfied

Meanwhile, members of the House of Representatives aligned with the majority bloc were satisfied with Aquino's fourth SONA.

Pangasinan Rep. Rosemarie Arenas described the President's speech as "fantastic," since it managed to "capture all aspects of what the President wanted to tell the people."

"The President was forceful and at the same time he delivered his SONA gently. ?It?s really his style," Arenas said in a separate statement.

For ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Samuel Pagdilao, the President's SONA last Monday was already "comprehensive."

"The President touched on a lot of things that were actually put into concrete terms. Example is our economic growth as assessed by foreign entities, he presented concrete examples in many areas, which are indicators of our rising economy like more housing projects, additional CCT recipients, more jobs, more focus on education," Pagdilao said. ? with Andreo Calonzo and Kimberly Jane Tan/RSJ, GMA News

Source: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/318910/news/nation/miriam-compares-pnoy-s-sona-to-a-lengthy-college-paper

lauryn hill teacher appreciation week Jodi Arias trial cinco de mayo Mike Jeffries Abercrombie Charles Ramsey Interview Limo Fire

Black Book Says Pickup Trucks and Full Size ... - Automotive Fleet

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.automotive-fleet.com/channel/remarketing/news/story/2013/07/black-book-says-pickup-trucks-and-full-size-cuvs-will-see-strong-retention-values-during-next-12-to.aspx

Shakira Amanda Berry Farrah Abraham Sex Tape Met gala lauryn hill teacher appreciation week Jodi Arias trial

Obama: Washington Took Its Eye off the Economic Ball

By: Associated Press

President Barack Obama will use a series of back-to-back speeches over two days to sell the public on his vision of a thriving economy. He gave the first of those speeches Wednesday at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill.

GALESBURG, Ill. -- President Barack Obama said Wednesday that Washington has "taken its eye off the ball" as he pledged a stronger second-term commitment to tackling the economic woes that strain many in the middle class nearly five years after the country plunged into a recession.

Obama returned to the college campus where he gave his first major economic address as a U.S. senator, and he chided Congress for being less concerned about the economy and more about "an endless parade of distractions, political posturing and phony scandals."

"I am here to say this needs to stop," Obama said in a speech at Knox College. "This moment does not require short term thinking. It does not require having the same old stale debates."

The president's attempt to refocus on the economy comes amid some hopeful signs of improvement, with the unemployment rate falling and consumer confidence on the rise. But looming spending and budget deadlines this fall could upend that progress if Washington spirals into contentious fiscal fights like those that plagued Obama's first term.

"I believe there are members of both parties who understand what's at stake," Obama said. "But I will not allow gridlock, inaction or willful indifference to get in our way."

Even before the president spoke, Republicans panned his pivot back to the economy as little more than vague, empty promises.

"It's a hollow shell, it's an Easter Egg with no candy in it," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

The president announced no fresh policy proposals, though he promised new ideas in a series of speeches he plans in the coming weeks. They will focus on manufacturing, education, housing, retirement security and health care.

On education, the president promised to outline "an aggressive strategy to shake up the system, tackle rising costs, and improve value for middle-class students and their families." He renewed his call for increasing the minimum wage.

Despite pressing public concerns over jobs and economic security, the economy has taken a back seat in Washington to other issues in the first six months of Obama's second term. That's in part due to the White House's decision to focus on other agenda items following Obama's re-election, most notably stricter gun control measures and immigration.

Some distractions also have thrown the White House off balance, including revelations that the Internal Revenue Service targeted political groups and the Justice Department's seizure of journalists' phone records. Foreign policy crises, particularly in the Middle East, have competed for Obama's attention, too.

The president said that while he will continue to press for his other agenda items, there will be few resources and little resolve for solving other problems without a strong economy.

Perhaps more than any other issue, the economy will also be central to Obama's legacy as president. The deep economic troubles that accompanied his first inauguration have eased and the stock market has soared. But at 7.6. percent, the nationwide unemployment rate remains high and millions more Americans are underemployed or have seen their wages stagnate.

"This growing inequality isn't just morally wrong. It's bad economics," Obama said. "When the rungs on the ladder of opportunity grow farther apart, it undermines the very essence of this country."

The economic themes Obama spoke of Wednesday were strikingly similar to address at Knox College eight years ago as a young Illinois senator. White House advisers say Obama has frequently harkened back to that speech throughout his two runs for the White House and nearly five years as president.

The economy in the surrounding Galesburg, Ill., community reflects much of the underlying economic concerns facing Americans. A Maytag plant in the town shuttered its doors in 2004, leaving hundreds of people unemployed. Today, the factory still sits vacant. Galesburg's unemployment rate is just under 8 percent and nearly one-quarter of its population lives in poverty.

"Those old days aren't coming back," Obama conceded. He said the proposals he will outline in speeches later this summer will be aimed at adapting the U.S. economy to an increasingly competitive and interconnected world.

Among the initiatives Obama will tout in the coming weeks is pre-school for all 4-year-olds and training tailored to the jobs of the future, along with a strategy to tackle the rising cost of higher education.

The president also promised steps to encourage homeownership, make it easier for people to save for retirement and to continue to put in place the elements of his unpopular health care law in the face of efforts by Republicans in Congress to repeal, delay or eliminate funding for its various parts.

He also pledged new efforts to help manufacturers bring jobs back to America and to create jobs in the energy sectors of wind, solar and natural gas.

From Galesburg, Obama planned to travel to neighboring Missouri for a similar economic speech. He was also scheduled to visit a port Jacksonville, Fla., on Thursday to call for increased spending on infrastructure.

Source: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/07/obama-washington-took-its-eye-off-the-economic-ball.html

Debbie Rowe Bruins score State of Decay michelle obama florida lottery Cassadee Pope MLB Draft 2013