Source: http://www.centredaily.com/2012/09/29/3352955/penn-state-institute-of-the-arts.html
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Sunday, September 30, 2012
Teens and technology | Dayton Children's Blog
The popularization of the automobile in the 1920s was not universally welcomed. Many raised questions about the safety of this new invention and their concerns were valid. There are about 1.2 million fatalities world-wide associated with car accidents, and another 50 million people injured and billions of dollars in damages. Even so, few are willing to give up the convenience of the auto in spite of these significant costs.
As with many things in life, we try to minimize the risks to enjoy the benefits.
We?re in that same situation today in dealing with the dilemmas presented by kids and technology. Our teens are technologically connected with 68 percent of them sending text messages daily, averaging somewhere between 60 and 100 texts every day. Over half of our teens visit a social networking site daily. Over 80 percent of teens have their own cell phone, and two-thirds have a device that allows them to connect to the Internet.
That means that 67 percent of our kids can visit virtually any website without our guidance or supervision. We are fearful.? We don?t want our children in internet relationships with strangers, addicted to pornography, victims of cyber bullying or sexting, and spending excessive times with screens rather than interacting with real people.
There is a digital abyss between parents and kids when it comes to technology. Kids experience this world very differently than their parents, playing down the risks while applauding the many advantages. While most adults go to the internet for information, kids seek relationships in their digital worlds.
Our kids love technology, and report that the benefits outweigh any risks. For the 75 percent of teens who are involved with social media, they report that use of networks such as Facebook helps them be more confident, outgoing, sympathetic to others, and feel better about themselves. They overwhelmingly report that it has helped their relationship with friends and family members other than adults. About an equal number report it has hurt and helped their relationships with their parents.
Teens are aware of the risks of technology, with 20 percent to 41 percent of them reporting that they feel ?addicted? to their cell phone, iPad, or social networking site, and 28 percent of them feel their parents are ?addicted? to those same devices.
We?ll give up neither our cars nor our computers and so we?ll have to help our children deal with both, in spite of the risks. This means doing two things.
- Educate. Engage your children in ongoing conversations about technology. Learn about Facebook and texting, and talk with your kids about articles like this.
- Supervise. You?ve got to match the degree of supervision with the needs of your child. As with driving a car, apply the simple principle that supervision decreases as responsible behavior increases.
Source: http://blog.childrensdayton.org/are-teens-too-technologically-connected/
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The Brains Behind the Eyes on Mars
This image of the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer on NASA's Curiosity rover was taken by Curiosity's Mastcam on the 32nd Martian day of operations on the surface, or Sept. 7, 2012. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.
Space imaging expert Michael Malin worked at NASA before setting up Malin Space Science Systems, which supplied the Mastcam, Mars Descent Imager, and Mars Hand Lens Imager for the Curiosity rover.
Lisa Grossman: Curiosity landed in Gale Crater, which contains Mount Sharp, in early August and stunning images followed. Any favorites?
Michael Malin: My favorite from the early days is the heat shield view we released as Curiosity descended. I think that will become an iconic image, just as the Saturn V second-stage and trans-stage separations are famous images of the Apollo era.
LG: Beyond aesthetics, what use are the images?
MM: Using MARDI?the Mars Descent Imager, which took photos of the ground below as the rover landed?I've done what I personally wanted, which was to position the rover very accurately. I also want to make a high-definition video of the landing, smoothing out the jerkiness of four frames per second to a smoother 30 frames per second using optical flow techniques. For Mastcam?the twin cameras on the rover's head, about two meters off the ground?my interests are in how the ground got to look the way it does; I'm interested in the processes involved in eroding Mount Sharp.
LG: What can the Mastcam images tell us about how the ground got to look the way it does?
MM: That is the essence of geomorphology. I can't really answer this question in the absence of data, which we have just started to receive. An example might be as follows: We have not yet seen any sand ripples at the place the rover landed, but there are large sand dunes only a few kilometers away. Why aren't there ripples near the rover? Is there no sand moving there, or does it move so quickly it doesn't leave a trace? We don't know but we will keep our eyes open for evidence as we do our research.
LG: What drew you to planetary geology?
MM: Geologists are very lucky: We get to look at beautiful things and figure out how they got to be that beautiful. Such understanding can be used to capture and preserve the beauty for posterity, and to enrich people's enjoyment of these things through better understanding. When I tell people I'm a geologist, they are often full of questions about, and enthusiasm for, what I do. When I tell them I study the geology of Mars, their interest increases. What excites me is solving the mysteries I encounter in how planets work.
Two combined images showing the three left wheels of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, taken by the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager during the 34th Martian day of Curiosity's work on Mars, or Sept. 9, 2012 NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.
LG: There was originally a plan to install zoom cameras, a project involving film-maker James Cameron. Did you want cinematic footage?
MM: We did not intend to take too many sequences not really oriented towards science or engineering, but if we had flown the zoom-lens cameras, I believe we would have taken some more dramatic, cinematic scenes to illustrate the excitement of Mars exploration. This may still be possible with the cameras that flew, but it will be much harder.
LG: Is there any tension between the scientific and public-engagement uses of the cameras?
MM: I am pleased to have the public excited about my experiments and Mars. But I am not happy with NASA HQ requiring me to put out raw images to the public in near-real time, without commentary or context. I think we can engage the public better.
This article originally appeared in New Scientist.
Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=61f672aeedf68d80154fbb3331cd9cd1
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Saturday, September 29, 2012
Montana governor sees big savings with new state health clinic
HELENA, Montana (Reuters) - Montana, looking to cut down on state healthcare costs, has opened the nation's first government-run clinic for state employees in a program the Rocky Mountain state's governor says could ultimately cover a much broader range of people.
Democratic Governor Brian Schweitzer says the primary care clinic in the state capital Helena will keep the area's 11,000 state workers and their dependents healthier while saving the state $20 million over five years.
The move coincides with a national debate over the role of government in healthcare and over President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, under which more than 30 million people would become eligible to buy subsidized private insurance or get coverage through Medicaid, the government program for the poor, in 2014.
Republican opponents of that law better known to the public as "Obamacare," which also requires most Americans to have some form of health insurance, say it amounts to government intrusion in the private lives of individuals.
Under Montana's separate program, state employees were quickly booking slots for the privately operated clinic, which the state expects to generate savings by reducing duplicate testing for patients and by paying doctors by the hour rather than by the procedure.
"We're completely full," Schweitzer said on a recent tour of the facility ahead of its opening, the first of three scheduled to open this year.
Since starting up late last month, the clinic has seen more than 1,000 patients and was operating at 98-percent capacity, his office said.
Employees who use its services will see no change in coverage for visiting doctors outside of the clinic, although it is only at the new health clinic where they will be charged neither a co-pay nor a deductible.
"I can afford this," patient Sarah Yancy said with a laugh.
"There are a lot of times I didn't go to the doctor when I wanted to go to the doctor because I knew I'd have to pay for it," said Yancy, who works in administrative support with the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.
Schweitzer has been critical of Obama's healthcare overhaul, saying it did not do enough to control costs, while stopping short of outright opposition. He unveiled his own plan for opening state health clinics in February and then set an aggressive schedule to have the first one open by late summer.
The state hopes to start two other clinics in cities such as Billings, Missoula or Bozeman later this year.
The program is not designed to serve the state population as a whole. But if successful, the clinics could be opened to recipients of Medicare, the government health program for the elderly, as well as Medicaid, Schweitzer said.
"This is a game changer," said healthcare consultant Mike La Penna, who has been studying the on-site clinic industry for the last decade and recently published a book on the subject. "Other states will be watching this closely."
Counties and cities in other parts of the country have opened similar clinics serving municipal or county workers, but never before on the state level, La Penna said.
PRIVATE CONTRACTOR
The state is contracting with the private Tennessee-based Care Here to operate the clinic. Physician assistant Cassie Springer says she wanted to work at the center because she liked the preventive care model.
"We're looking at bringing in patients regularly, staying on top of their healthcare," she said about the clinic, which focuses on primary care services and nutrition counseling.
The state, which already pays workers' healthcare costs directly to providers through state coffers, saves money if this prevents more expensive treatments or emergency room visits down the line. Staff are also paid salaries or by the hour, not by the procedure, which officials say should cut down on redundant or unnecessary procedures.
An analysis of the health clinic plan shows Montana saving $100 million over the next five years "based on full implementation for all clinics across the state," according to state Health Care and Benefits Division Administrator Russ Hill.
The funds for the clinic come from the same pot that Montana already uses to cover healthcare costs, and Schweitzer's administration says the Helena clinic should pay for itself in the first year.
Schweitzer has asked U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for permission to import lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada for the clinic. Similar requests he has made on a statewide basis have not been approved.
Schweitzer, who will be leaving office at the end of this year due to term limits, has been getting criticism from opponents of Obama's Affordable Care Act, the president's signature healthcare reform that has been assailed during the campaign by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
"The only thing this has to do with the Affordable Care Act is we are challenging expenses here in Montana because they didn't challenge expenses in Washington, D.C.," Schweitzer said of his program, which is patterned after on-site clinics used by some private sector companies for their employees.
State Republican leaders, however, have expressed mixed feelings about the effort. Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Hill said he does not believe it will save the state money, and he is opposed to asking state employees to leave their doctor for a government-run clinic.
Republican State Senator Dave Lewis said his problem was not with the clinic itself.
"The issue is whether or not a governor unilaterally has the authority to make that kind of policy change," Lewis said.
He is working on a bill for the next legislative session that would prevent the governor's office from having that ability in the future. (Additional reporting by Jonathan Weber in San Francisco; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Xavier Briand)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/montana-governor-sees-big-savings-state-health-clinic-204012377.html
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Video: The Plot Thickens, Part 6
Dateline NBC
'Dateline NBC,' the signature broadcast for NBC News in primetime, premiered in 1992. Since then, it has been pioneering a new approach to primetime news programming. The multi-night franchise, supplemented by frequent specials, allows NBC to consistently and comprehensively present the highest-quality reporting, investigative features, breaking news coverage and newsmaker profiles.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032600/vp/49219469#49219469
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The Dynamics Of Being Unfriended On Facebook - AllFacebook
It takes only a couple of clicks to break off a Facebook friendship, often causing an irreparable rift in a real-life relationship. Dr. Jennifer Bevan, an associate professor of communication studies at Chapman University in Southern California, wanted to explore this in more detail. She teamed up with two Chapman undergraduate students for a study, discovering what happens emotionally when someone is unfriended.
Bevan worked together with undergrads?Jeanette Pfyl and Brett Barclay for the study, which digs deeper into why people unfriend others and what happens in the unfriendee?s mind. Taking a group of 547 participants, they found that the closer the connection (i.e., significant other or a relative), the more strife the unfriend action caused. While grievances such as posting objectionable content or rude comments received the most negative responses, the researchers found that most people were unfriended because of something that happened offline.
The study also found that the dynamics of unfriending changed depending on who made the original contact. If the person who initiated the Facebook relationship discovered that it was severed by the other person, they felt greater negative emotion and dwelled on the action more.
Bevan discussed with AllFacebook?the power dynamics at play of friending and unfriending:
It?s kind of a power thing. You put yourself out there, and there are very clear markers. In relationships, there?s not a clear marker. If you ask me who started my friendship with my best friend in the entire world, I don?t know what I would say. But on Facebook, you can say, ?She friended me,? or ?She unfriended me,? and it?s a very clear marker. I think that?s where sometimes the emotions and the thoughts can get really elevated because you have these clear indications. Your number of friends goes down, literally, instead of not even realizing that the friendship has faded away.
But why do people unfriend each other? Among the 547 participants, 167 believed that the Facebook relationship likely vanished because of an offline event, 100 said it was because they really didn?t know each other that well or there was minimal contact, and 84 people didn?t know why. Only 11 said the online friendship was severed because they posted often about polarizing topics.
Of the participants who said they knew which of their friends broke off the relationship, 116 said it was a former friend, 95 said it was an acquaintance, 54 claimed they were unfriended by a former romantic partner (only two said they got Facebook dumped by a current romantic partner), 33 said it was a friend of a friend who they had met but didn?t know well, and 20 said they were unfriended by a family member.
Readers: How do you react to being unfriended?
Image courtesy of?Shutterstock.
Source: http://allfacebook.com/unfriend-chapman-study_b100882
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Friday, September 28, 2012
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Source: http://lasvegascondosandlofts.blogspot.com/2012/09/brand-new-move-in-ready-las-vegas.html
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Why there is an Electoral College and how it works
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Presidents are elected not by national popular vote but by an 18th century constitutional compromise called the Electoral College.
HOW IT FORMED:
When framers were drafting the U.S. Constitution, there were two competing ideas on how to elect the president. One group said Congress should do it; the other said it should be a national vote of eligible citizens. There also were disputes over how much slaves should count in representation in Congress and over how power would be distributed between small and large states.
The compromise became part of the second article of the Constitution, although the words "Electoral College" are not included. The electors pick the president and vice president.
VOTE TOTALS
Each state gets one electoral vote for each of its representatives in the House and Senate. The District of Columbia gets three votes. All told, there are 538 votes in the Electoral College. A candidate must have at least 270 to win.
Except for Maine and Nebraska, states award all their electoral votes to the candidate who wins the state. In Maine and Nebraska, votes are apportioned by congressional districts. So in 2008, even though John McCain won Nebraska's statewide popular vote, Barack Obama won the 2nd Congressional District and earned one of the state's five electoral votes.
HOW IT WORKS
Each state's electors will meet on Dec. 17 in their home states and cast their votes for president and vice president. Congress will meet on Jan. 6, 2013, to conduct an official tally of the electoral votes. Vice President Joe Biden will preside and declare the winner.
PROBLEM AREAS
If no candidate gets at least 270 electoral votes, the election goes to the newly elected House of Representatives. Each state delegation in the House gets one vote, and a candidate must win a majority of the states to be elected president. This happened in 1824, when Andrew Jackson won the most popular votes and the most electoral votes, but four candidates split the electoral votes and no one received a majority. The race went to the House and John Quincy Adams, who came in second, was chosen as president.
Three other times, candidates won the Electoral College even though they lost the popular vote ? in 1876, 1888, and 2000.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/why-electoral-college-works-184138906--election.html
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Thursday, September 27, 2012
10 Home Based Business Ideas That You Can Start Even If You ...
Posted on February 25, 2011 by American Diversified Publications
Okay, we?ve all dreamed of making over 30K a year while working from the comfort of our homes. But like most people, knowing where to begin is half the battle. Now I've been in the work-at-home industry for over 30 years. And what I'm about to tell you in this article will teach you everything you need to know to change your life and start making a great income from the comfort of your home. Earning money from home is actually very easy and doesn't require any startup fees in most cases.
My wife and I have a variety of successful work at home businesses. Some of which we've done for over 30 years most of which we started for free. I can show you how to start your own work from home business today and start earning money within days and the best thing about it is, I can show you how to do this for free, so if you have already spent countless hours and lots of money looking for legitimate work from home job's, then please spend five minutes to read the rest of this article
KNOWLEDGE IS KING
Working from home has become such an attractive lifestyle , most people like being able to work from their home while still spending time with her family. So please, let me tell you the first and most important step in achieving your goal of financial independence from home has got to be knowledge. That?s right, knowledge! Not cash, not some fancy bunch of tools, but knowledge that's king, that's right knowledge will be the most powerful tool you have in your arsenal to avoid the work at home scams and apply yourself in the most profitable areas.
START A 30K BUSINESS FREE
We?ve all seen the ad?s ?Be your own boss,? ?Fire your boss,? ?Make $463 a day? ?Make $500, each night while you sleep? While they all sound good. I can asure you that some of them actually are great work at home opportunities. But, it?s sorting out the good ones from the bad ones that can be such a frustrating process. Not to mention very costly. So again, I say knowledge is king! With the right knowledge you can have your business up and running within hours. That?s the number one reason why I suggest that you start your research with our leading publication, the "HOME WORKER'S DIRECTORY". Our directory will give you turnkey business strategies to get your business up and going in a snap. With our years of valuable research & inside knowledge of the work at home industry, we'll have you making money in no time without any startup fees.
AFFILIATES CAN EASILY MAKE OVER 30K
Now, I already know what you?re saying, how can a homeworker directory make me 30K a year. Well that?s simple knowledge, as we discussed earlier, knowledge will be the most powerful tool you have in your arsenal to avoid the work at home scams and apply yourself in the most profitable areas. That?s where our leading publication the "HOME WORKER?S DIRECTORY" becomes your most valuable tool in starting your own home business or gaining legitimate home employment. Our dedicated research staff has spent countless man-hours & many years thoroughly researching every opportunity out there, everything from making an extra $300 a week assembling beaded jewelry or CD cases, to earning $3000 a week working from home as an affiliate for a Fortune 500 company. We also offer a wealth of small business startups, along with hundreds turn key franchise opportunities not to mention hundreds of freebie websites. So whether you want to make $300 a week or $3000 a week it?s best to start with a lot of research and knowledge.
WHY OUR DIRECTORY IS THE LEADER
ONE: Our directory contains complete and detailed listings of every company which includes: company name, physical address, telephone number, fax & e-mail addresses along with a detailed description of the type of work you will be doing and how you be paid for that work.
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MSI makes AMD-laden GX60 gaming laptop official with A10 heart, Radeon HD 7970M graphics
We can't say that there's a huge cross-section of buyers who want a gaming laptop but refuse to touch Intel components. Whatever the size, MSI likely has that group sewn up with the official unveiling of the GX60 following a stealth appearance at Computex. The 15.6-inch portable is built as showcase for AMD's latest mobile technology: it revolves around a 2.3GHz, quad-core A10-4600M processor using the Piledriver architecture as well as a Radeon HD 7970M to feed its 1080p screen at full speed. Thankfully, the PC is more than just a marketing vehicle and carries some of the gamer-tuned parts that we've seen in other MSI rigs, such as dual SSDs in a RAID stripe, a low-lag Killer networking chipset and a heavy-duty SteelSeries keyboard. Buying a GX60 may prove to be the real obstacle -- in keeping with most MSI introductions, there's no mention of a price or ship date, and none of the usual suspects have it in stock as of this writing.
MSI makes AMD-laden GX60 gaming laptop official with A10 heart, Radeon HD 7970M graphics originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Sep 2012 23:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Avoiding Costly IRA Blunders ? Investing Daily
IRAs are among the most valuable assets most people own, and they become more valuable after receiving 401(k) rollovers. But they aren?t the vehicles they seemed when people were opening them.
There are many misunderstandings about IRAs. These misunderstandings frequently result in taxes and penalties that easily could be avoided. IRAs aren?t the simple vehicles they seemed to be when people were opening them.
Mistakes about the tax rules on IRA distributions can be very expensive. The IRS is on to how valuable IRAs are and how many people make mistakes with them, so it?s been stepping up enforcement and penalties for IRA mistakes. Be sure you don?t make any of these classic blunders.
Fixing rollover mistakes. Most people know the basics about rollovers. All or part of an account can be transferred tax free from a qualified retirement plan (such as a 401(k) plan) to an IRA or from one IRA to another. There is no deadline for a trustee-to-trustee rollover, when the balance is rolled over directly from one trustee to another. If the account owner receives the money, however, he or she only has up to 60 days to get the same amount deposited in the same or another retirement account to avoid taxes.
Custodians handle a lot of IRA transactions. Even the best occasionally make mistakes. The mistakes can be fatal to the IRA, triggering substantial taxes and penalties.
Often, the mistakes can be corrected if action is taken quickly. If a custodian incorrectly issues a check instead of transferring an IRA directly to another custodian, there is no penalty if the check is deposited in a new IRA within 60 days. If a custodian incorrectly transfers an IRA to a taxable account instead of another trans-action that the owner intended, there also is no penalty if it is corrected within 60 days.
The key is to open promptly and study account statements and transaction notices. Don?t look simply at the changes in your investments and balances. Look at the transactions and the account title. If the custodian made a mistake, have them reverse it quickly.
The IRS does have a procedure for waiving penalties when IRA mistakes were inadvertent and not the account owner?s fault. The IRS has discretion to grant waivers of the 60-day rule, allowing additional time for the owner to deposit the funds in a qualified retirement account. The IRS explained the process for obtaining a waiver in Revenue Procedure 2003-16. The procedure also states that a taxpayer gets an automatic extension of the 60-day rule without having to apply to the IRS when the financial institution was the sole cause of the problem.
But the penalty often is not waived if the account owner did not act promptly and do all he could to meet the deadlines in the tax law. Some people use the 60-day rollover period as a no-interest loan. They often don?t realize how strict the 60-day rule is and that there are no waivers when missing the 60-day deadline was the account owner?s fault. Miss the deadline and the amount taken from the IRA will be taxable and there will be a 10% penalty if the owner was under age 59?.
Taking required distributions. Traditional IRA owners over age 70? are required to begin required minimum distributions (RMDs). A surprising number of people don?t know about this rule or implement it incorrectly. The IRS is cracking down on missed and incorrect RMDs.
The RMD requirement applies to all qualified retirement plans, though we?ll focus on IRAs in this visit. The first RMD must be taken by April 1 of the year after the owner turns 70?. Subsequent RMDs must be taken by Dec. 31 of each year, including the year that the first RMD was required by April 1. That means if you delay taking the first RMD until early in the year following the year you turned 70?, you?ll have to take two distributions that year. You take your initial RMD, and the RMD for that calendar year.
Distributions for a year always can exceed the minimum amount.
To compute the RMD amount, total the balances of all IRAs on Dec. 31 of the previous year. Then, consult the IRS?s life expectancy tables. These can be found on our members? web site or in IRS Publication 590, Individual Retirement Arrangements, available on the IRS?s web site at www.irs.gov. Find your life expectancy in the table and divide that into the total of all IRA account balances. The result is the RMD.
When you have multiple IRAs, the RMD is calculated as though all the IRAs were one. You then choose to take the RMD from the IRAs in any combination you want. You can take an equal amount from each IRA, take it all from one IRA, or take different amounts from each. The only rule is that the total has to equal at least the RMD for the year.
Which account to take the RMD from is a key decision for many IRA owners.
Periodic investment rebalancing is one consideration.? Investments do not often move together, so the markets change your investment allocation from the planned allocation. It is a good idea to rebalance back to your target allocation every year or so. Reduce the investments that have appreciated the most or add to those that have declined or increased less.
The RMDs can help rebalance the portfolio. Take distributions from the investments that have appreciated until they are back to your target level.
Another issue is the time or the year to take the RMDs. From an investment view, it normally is best to leave an appreciating investment in a tax-deferred account for as long as possible. Since stocks appreciate more often than not, a general rule is to let stocks appreciate in the IRA until near the end of the year, then take the RMD.
T. Rowe Price did a study that revealed that from 1993 to 2003, an IRA owner who waited as late as possible in the year to take RMDs accumulated a bit more money than an owner who took RMDs at the start of the year.
Delaying the RMDs is an advantage when the portfolio is appreciating. In bear markets, it is better to take RMDs early in the year. In fact, in the Price study, the late-distributing IRA owner was far ahead of the other IRA owner through 1999. After that, the early-distributing IRA owner rapidly caught up. Only the bull market of 2003 pushed the late-distributing owner back into a clear lead.
A conclusion many will draw from the study is that RMDs should be taken late in the year unless early in the year the owner has a reason to believe the portfolio is likely to decline. Of course, if the owner had such foresight he would change the portfolio allocation and reduce the stock holdings.
A more important conclusion to draw from the study is that your IRAs should be diversified and invested with a margin of safety. The key to long-term investment success is to avoid large losses. The IRA owners in the Price study kept their IRAs invested in the S&P 500 even when the index clearly was at a high valuation and was declining rapidly.
RMDs don?t have to be in cash. Most IRA custodians allow you to set up a taxable account. Then, to comply with the RMD rule, you can have specific shares or other property transferred from the IRA to the taxable account. You still will owe taxes on the distribution as though it had been cash. But you won?t have to liquidate an investment you like or incur expenses to buy and sell and investment just to make the RMD.
Fixing beneficiary designations. Too many IRAs designate no beneficiary or the wrong beneficiary. (See our August 2011 visit for examples.) The result can be either the wrong person inheriting your IRA or beneficiaries being required to empty the IRA faster than they?d like.
You should review beneficiary designations regularly as part of your estate plan and whenever there?s a change in your family. You also should consider having your estate planner draft a customized beneficiary form instead of working with the limited form provided by the custodian.? You or your estate planner should communicate with the custodian to be sure there won?t be problems with your beneficiary designation, and be sure your beneficiaries know their options and responsibilities.
Source: http://www.investingdaily.com/15713/avoiding-costly-ira-blunders
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Wednesday, September 26, 2012
NAACP takes bid to ensure US ex-con voting to UN
GENEVA (AP) ? The NAACP is taking to the U.N. its effort to ensure that all former convicted felons in the United States can vote.
A delegation from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was holding meetings Tuesday at the United Nation's Geneva office in part to press the world body to send observers to the U.S. for this year's elections.
The diplomatic push comes against the backdrop of a related ? and vigorous ? debate about requirements in some states for would-be voters to provide proper identification before they can cast ballots.
The NAACP says nearly 6 million U.S. citizens are barred from voting because of previous felony convictions. According to The Sentencing Project, an advocacy group that seeks policies to make it easier for felons to vote, the United States has the world's largest prison population ? 2.2 million ? and more than 60 percent of inmates are ethnic or racial minorities.
In a statement, the NAACP said it sent a first delegation to the U.N. Human Rights Council in March "in the face of a mounting attack on voting rights in the United States." This week's visit followed up on that trip.
Hilary Shelton, a NAACP vice president, said the issue of voting rights could affect the outcome of the election between President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
"The reality is that you're seeing two candidates who are going back and forth with slim leads between each other," he told The Associated Press in a vast conference hall. "A voting bloc like those who are formerly incarcerated ? like racial and ethnic minorities ? can make a tremendous difference."
According to the nonpartisan National Conference of State Legislatures, most states and the District of Columbia automatically restore the right to vote to felons once their sentences are finished. Five states either require a waiting period or require ex-detainees to apply to recover their voting rights.
Four states ? Florida, Iowa, Kentucky and Virginia ? bar former felons from voting for life unless they receive pardons from the governor, said the NCSL. Maine and Vermont don't strip voting rights from felons at all.
"Our overall end goal is that there is really no good reason to strip the vote away from anyone," the NAACP's Shelton said. "We have some shining examples of states in the United States that don't take your vote away at all when you're in prison."
___
Suzanne Gamboa contributed reporting from Washington.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/naacp-takes-bid-ensure-us-ex-con-voting-203254588--politics.html
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Animal Fun: Spanish and English for Kids-New iOS App Makes ...
Soybean Street, a company dedicated to bringing fun, interactive and intuitive educational games that promote bilingualism to kids of all ages, today announced the launch of Animal Fun: Spanish and English for Kids, a new language-based gaming application that makes it fun for children to learn new languages. Available now for all iOS devices, the app introduces kids to Spanish and English through a series of cute, lovable characters based on globally recognizable animals.
Ideal for preschool and elementary-level children, Animal Fun encourages kids? progress through positive reinforcement and helps them pick up new languages quickly and easily. Featuring flash cards, memory games, matching challenges and more, the game also includes more than 100 vocabulary terms using native accents, as well as the unique ability to record in your own voice on the go. If French, Hindi or Mandarin is your native language, your kids can learn it along with English and Spanish through a simple, one-tap recording feature.
?Creating a bilingual environment for your kids can give them an edge in today?s competitive world because it enables them to communicate with more people, develop a better understanding of other cultures, and primes their minds for a lifetime of increased cognitive flexibility,? said Helen Chan, Founder of Soybean Street and mom of three preschoolers. ?For many parents, myself included, having their kids learn a new language is also about cultural heritage and family value. We founded Soybean Street because I had searched for a language application to help immerse my kids in their heritage, and I had a difficult time finding a good one. So instead we built one?
Features:
- 101 adorable animals in their natural habitats
- Spanish and English vocalized by native speakers
- Record your own language option ? easily add a third language of your choice
- Beautiful flashcards that connect sight, sound and meaning
- Fun and interactive games including: Pick the right animal, find the shadow, match the animals and pop the balloons
- Simple and intuitive navigation designed for kids
Animal Fun: Spanish and English for Kids 1.0 is currently available on the iTunes store in the Education category for the low-cost of $1.99 and has already been downloaded globally in countries such as Mexico, Japan, Germany, China, Chile and the United States.
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Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Quickstart Tennis (Ages 11-12) | Gig Harbor Sports & Recreation ...
Gig Harbor Athletic Club Indoor Soccer Center, 2002 36th St NW, Gig Harbor, WA | Get?Directions??
$40.00
QuickStart Tennis an exciting new play format for learning tennis, designed to bring kids into the game by utilizing specialized equipment, short court dimensions and modified scoring, all tailored to age and size. Learn to play tennis by having fun with specialized equipment, short courts, and modified scoring. It's the fast, fun way to get kids into tennis and keep them playing.
Wear athletic clothes and shoes, bring a water bottle.
There are multiple classes at various times, visit our website for more information.
Class ID# 788, 789
47.291122
-122.566375
primary
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1701116
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Source: http://gigharbor.patch.com/events/quickstart-tennis-ages-11-12
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Source: http://mark413.typepad.com/blog/2012/09/quickstart-tennis-ages-11-12-gig-harbor-sports-recreation.html
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Source: http://oratorio-palladium.blogspot.com/2012/09/quickstart-tennis-ages-11-12-gig-harbor.html
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Source: http://starvation-foulard.blogspot.com/2012/09/quickstart-tennis-ages-11-12-gig-harbor.html
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how to make extra money online ? 60 seconds | Arquitectosfca.org
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Source: http://www.arquitectosfca.org/how-to-make-extra-money-online-60-seconds/
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Plight of 2 baby gorillas raises fears in Congo
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) ? The plight of two infant gorillas, rescued after being kidnapped from their wild families, highlights the dangers confronting the endangered Grauer's gorillas that have become victims of ongoing violence and a new rebellion in eastern Congo.
A decision to allow oil exploration in a national park there may put the gorillas at greater risk.
Virunga National Park said Monday that wildlife authorities rescued two baby gorillas in the space of a week this month.
"Baby gorilla trafficking is terribly damaging for endangered gorilla populations because many members of the gorilla's family will probably have been killed to obtain the infant," said the park's director, Emmanuel de Merode.
Fighting between rival militia groups is making it impossible for wildlife authorities to find out how many of the Grauer's gorillas have been killed. Grauer's, also known as eastern lowland gorillas, exist only in eastern Congo. Experts estimate that fewer than 4,000 remain, down from about 17,000 in 1995, de Merode said in a statement.
The poaching comes as the park itself faces oil exploration. Congo's Hydrocarbons Minister Crispin Atama Tabe announced Monday that the government is authorizing the British firm SOCO to explore for oil in the park, Africa's oldest created in 1925 under Belgian rule. Virunga National Park, declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in the 1970s, is the only place on Earth that boasts all three African great apes in addition to elephants, buffalo, hippos, larges antelopes, lions, leopards and a plethora of smaller animals and birds. Virunga and the SOCO concession encompass Lake Edward, one of the Central African great lakes, that provides a livelihood for some 40,000 fishermen.
Atama Tabe told The Associated Press that oil exploitation could help bring security to volatile east Congo, although mining of the region's massive mineral riches has had the opposite effect with various armed groups vying for control of revenues the minerals bring.
Monday's permission contrasts with the Environment Ministry's decision last year to suspend oil exploration in an area of Virunga that is home to more than 200 gorillas. Environment Minister Bavo Nsamputu said he was unable to comment on Monday's news as he had been out of the country.
Park officials say Congo's law protects national parks from any kind of exploitation, including logging of timber for charcoal that is a lucrative business for armed militias, or even farming by peasants. That argument persuaded the French oil group Total to promise last year that it would not exploit the one-third of its concession that falls in Virunga.
SOCO, with 58 percent of its concession in the national park, argues, among other things, that the Nature Conservation law allows "geological research for scientific purposes."
SOCO also quotes exemptions in the Nature Conservation law for "research work, such as sampling materials, digging, excavations, surveying, and all other work that may change the look of the land or vegetation."
Virunga park rangers have shed blood to protect the park and its animals: 11 were killed last year in armed confrontations; this year one has been killed and several wounded, according to de Merode.
He said the first baby gorilla, a 9-month-old female now named Isangi, was brought to wildlife authorities Sept. 13 by a community conservation group that said it had rescued the infant from a local militia group called Raiya Mutomboko, which means Angry People in Swahili.
On Sept. 20, rangers and local officials acting on a tip-off carried out a sting operation and rescued a 4-month-old female who has been named Baraka, which means Blessing in Swahili. Baraka's captors claimed to have rescued the infant gorilla from the Walikale area where several armed groups compete for control of mines.
Isangi is in good shape after six weeks in captivity, veterinarian Eddy Kambale said in a statement, but Baraka is weak and dehydrated after two weeks' captivity.
On Monday, she appeared much better, Kambale said: "She is eating and drinking and appears to be stable. She is crying a lot like a normal baby."
The two infant gorillas are being cared for in a sanctuary at Virunga that is home to three mountain gorilla orphans whose parents were killed in the park in 2007.
Virunga has a small family of Grauer's gorillas. Most live in Kahuzi Biega national park and forests, including the Walikale area.
---
Faul reported from Johannesburg.
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Monday, September 24, 2012
T.J. Grant takes a really bloody decision over Evan Dunham (PHOTO)
UFC 152 featured a bloody, bloody fight during the preliminary bouts. During T.J. Grant's decision win over Evan Dunham, Grant opened a cut right down the middle of Dunham's forehead. Blood poured from Dunham's forehead for much of the fight. Keep reading for another look at the cut.
Related UFC 152 coverage on Yahoo! Sports:
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BryanDFischer: Nevada RB Stefphon Jefferson tied an NCAA record by scoring seven TDs against Hawaii. Seven.
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Source: http://twitter.com/BryanDFischer/statuses/249762980638638080
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AP Exclusive: Philadelphia man Nazi probe target
BERLIN (AP) ? Germany has launched a war crimes investigation against an 87-year-old Philadelphia man it accuses of serving as an SS guard at the Auschwitz death camp, The Associated Press has learned, following years of failed U.S. Justice Department efforts to have the man stripped of his American citizenship and deported.
Johann "Hans" Breyer, a retired toolmaker, admits he was a guard at Auschwitz during World War II, but told the AP he was stationed outside the facility and had nothing to do with the wholesale slaughter of some 1.5 million Jews and others behind the gates.
The special German office that investigates Nazi war crimes has recommended that prosecutors charge him with accessory to murder and extradite him to Germany for trial on suspicion of involvement in the killing of at least 344,000 Jews at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in occupied Poland.
The AP also has obtained documents that raise doubts about Breyer's testimony about the timing of his departure from Auschwitz.
The case is being pursued on the same legal theory used to prosecute late Ohio autoworker John Demjanjuk, who died in March while appealing his conviction in Germany on charges he served as a guard at the notorious Sobibor death camp, also in occupied Poland.
The conviction was not considered legally binding because Demjanjuk died before his appeals were exhausted. But prosecutors maintain they can still use the same legal argument to pursue Breyer. Under that line of thinking ? even without proof of participation in any specific crime ? a person who served as a death camp guard can be charged with accessory to murder because the camp's sole function was to kill people.
Experts estimate that at least 80 former camp guards or others who would fall into the same category are likely still alive today, almost 70 years after the end of the war.
Authorities in the Bavarian town of Weiden, who have jurisdiction, are currently trying to determine if the evidence is sufficient for prosecution. A German official working on the case confirmed that Breyer was the target of the probe; he spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
Breyer acknowledged in an interview in his modest row house in northeastern Philadelphia that he was in the Waffen SS at Auschwitz but that he never served at the part of the camp responsible for the extermination of Jews.
"I didn't kill anybody, I didn't rape anybody ? and I don't even have a traffic ticket here," he told the AP. "I didn't do anything wrong."
He said he was aware of what was going on inside the death camp, but did not witness it himself. "We could only see the outside, the gates," he said.
Breyer said he had recently suffered three "mini-strokes." But he was cogent and clear as he talked about his past for more than an hour, sitting in his living room.
For more than a decade, the Justice Department waged court battles to try to have Breyer deported. They largely revolved around whether Breyer had lied about his Nazi past in applying for immigration or whether he could have citizenship through his American-born mother. That legal saga ended in 2003, with a ruling that allowed him to stay in the United States, mainly on the grounds that he had joined the SS as a minor and could therefore not be held legally responsible for participation in it.
Breyer testified in U.S. court that he served as a perimeter guard at Auschwitz I, which was largely for prisoners used as slave laborers, though it also had a makeshift gas chamber used early in the war; it was also the camp where SS doctor Josef Mengele carried out sadistic experiments on inmates.
But he denied ever serving in Auschwitz II, better known as Auschwitz-Birkenau, the death camp area where the bulk of the people were killed. He also said he deserted in August, 1944 and never returned to the camp, though eventually rejoined his unit fighting outside Berlin in the final weeks of the war.
A U.S. Army intelligence file on Breyer, obtained by the AP, calls that statement into question.
In 1951, American military authorities in Germany carried out a background check on Breyer when he first applied for a visa to the U.S. The file from that investigation lists him as being with a SS Totenkopf, or "Death's Head," battalion in Auschwitz as late as Dec. 29, 1944 ? four months after he said he deserted. The Army Investigative Records Repository file was obtained by the AP from the National Archives through a Freedom of Information Act request.
The document is significant because judges in 2003 said Breyer's testimony on desertion was part of what convinced them that his service with the Waffen SS after turning 18 might not have been voluntary, further mitigating his wartime responsibility.
Also weighing in Breyer's favor with the judges was his testimony that he refused to have the SS tattoo; he does not have such a mark today or evidence that one was removed.
Kurt Schrimm, the head of the specials prosecutors' office in Ludwigsburg, which carried out the Breyer probe before it was turned over to Weiden prosecutors, said he felt there was sufficient evidence to bring charges against Breyer, although he declined to discuss details.
"All of these guards were stationed at times on the ramps (where train transports of prisoners were unloaded), at times at the gas chambers and at times in the towers," he said.
Weiden prosecutors, who were chosen because the office is nearest where Breyer last lived in Germany, say it could take several months before deciding whether to file charges.
A former prosecutor in Schrimm's office, Thomas Walther, said he had known of the file on Breyer from his time there. He is now already representing, pro bono, a woman who lost her two siblings in Auschwitz at the time that Breyer is alleged to have been there. The woman will join any prosecution as a co-plaintiff as allowed under German law. Walther said he has established the email address auschwitz.coplaintiff(at)gmail.com for other victims' families.
"Time is swiftly running out to bring Nazi criminals to justice," Walther said. "I hope that prosecutors in Weiden will act soon on this case."
The Breyer case was handled in the U.S. by the Justice Department's Office of Special Investigations. Eli Rosenbaum, who previously headed the office, would not comment on any details of evidence that had been collected against him, nor say whether American agencies were involved in helping with the German probe. Rosenbaum is now with the Justice Department's Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section, into which the OSI was merged.
Breyer was born in 1925 in what was then Czechoslovakia to an ethnic German father and an American mother, Katharina, who was born in Philadelphia. Slovakia became a separate state in 1939 under the influence of Nazi Germany. In 1942, the Waffen SS embarked on a drive to recruit ethnic Germans there and Breyer joined at age 17. The fact he was a minor at the time was critical in the 2003 decision to allow him to stay in the United States.
Called up to duty in 1943, Breyer said he was shipped off the same day to Buchenwald ? in Germany ? where he was assigned to the Totenkopf.
By treaty, the U.S. can extradite its citizens to Germany. But Breyer said he would fight any attempts to take him away from the U.S. and his wife and family.
"I'm an American citizen, just as if I had been born here," he said in his Philadelphia home. "They can't deport me."
_____
Herschaft reported from New York, Moore from Philadelphia
_____
David Rising can be reached at http//www.twitter.com/davidrising; Matt Moore at http//www.twitter.com/MattMooreAP; and Randy Herschaft at http://www.twitter.com/HerschaftAP
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-exclusive-philadelphia-man-nazi-probe-target-105432319.html
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Sunday, September 23, 2012
I'm Scared of Resident Evil 6, But - Video Game Blog, Video Games ...
The argument between the gameplay of classic RE and modern RE that began upon RE4?s release in 2005 is almost as tiresome as the casual/hardcore gamer debate since the Wii released in 2006. However, now that the franchise has changed so drastically, its difficult not to at least acknowledge and mention the split between both gameplay styles.
This week, GamerSyndrome?s Greg Butcher reviewed the newest Resident Evil 6 demo, praising the game?s visuals, gore and gameplay. While I?ll agree that the presentation is great and highly detailed, Greg saw the demo in a much more positive light than I, as I?m far less enthused with the demo overall.
In recent years, Capcom has decided to demote the series from the king (and arguably, the birth of) of the horror genre to just another average third-person shooter.?Ironically, what scares me about Resident Evil 6 is that it won?t scare me at all.
Let?s rewind a little bit. As a lover or the original PlayStation trilogy, I will openly admit that playing RE4 was one of the best gaming experiences of my life. This was the game that brought in the big changes, but it still served its purpose in scaring the player. Traditional jump-scares were replaced?more tense and panic-inducing gameplay, and it certainly worked. My heart would pound as Leon reloaded his shotgun, as the relentless chainsaw maniac came running towards him to score an instant kill. As reluctant as I was initially to embrace such change, RE4 stands as one of my favourite in the series.
So while RE4 marked the beginning of the new era, its actually RE5 that disappointed me as a fan.?By no means a terrible game, but it seems the most far-removed entry in the franchise so far to me. RE4 brought the big changes in, sure, but it was still a survival-horror game. It still maintained that sense of loneliness, and really delivered on bringing death around every corner. In RE5, this had all disappeared in favour of the addition of co-op. There?s nothing to be afraid of when Sheva is constantly beside you to heal you, revive you or kill enemies for you. You don?t even get a chance to feel threatened. If you compare this game to the original, aside from the characters the only similarity is the use of healing herbs.
And now Resident Evil 6 is a mere two weeks away from release. There?s no way to know for certain how the game will be yet (unless you?re a lucky customer in Poland), but since we?ve been given two demos, five or more trailers and a hell of a load of screenshots, I think its fair to give some initial impressions.
In theory, the game is everything every type of fan could want: for the the traditional fans there?s zombies, Sherry Birkin, and a seemingly invincible stalking Nemesis-type boss; for newer fans, there?s Plagas-type enemies, Leon AND Chris, rolling around, taking cover and always-available melee attacks. But all of these ideas collide into something that doesn?t really know its own identity anymore.
My first issue is the plotline structure, which is split into three stories so that you alternate between three character pairs. What captivated me in the older games was the sense of claustrophobia, being secluded and surrounded, which doesn?t translate quite as well when you?re constantly moving across the globe. Still, Revelations followed this gameplay structure and that did manage to scare more than any other RE game in the last seven years.
Jumping into this new demo, instantly I was faced with the same problem in the previous demo. As I was lining up a headshot in my first zombie encounter, Helena was already blasting away the enemy herself. Not only is the game not scary, its seems so damn?easy. Leon may only be armed with a pistol, but its accompanied by bucketloads of ammo. Where in the first four games I?d have to strategically fire each round sparingly, hoping I?ll have enough to survive, here I can just spam the fire button and still never run out. And if I don?t fire away, my partner will just do it for me. Leon is supposed to represent the horror side of the campaign, but as he?s still free to run, jump and roll around, its the enemies that should be scared of him.
What really removes any sense of difficulty more than anything though is having a button for melee attacks on command. It removes the clever strategy that RE4 presented, because you had to carefully shoot a specific limb or body part in order to stun an enemy before punching or kicking. Not only did this require accurate shooting under tense circumstances but it also required good timing, as you had to run towards the enemy to attack. And if you didn?t get there quick enough, you?ve just put yourself right in the enemy?s clutches. Now that kind of tense and strategic element is gone as Chris swings his tree trunk arms around as he pleases.
Speaking of Chris, the sense of empowerment is even worse than Leon?s. The second demo opens with Chris literally inside a tank. He has three or more of his fellow soldiers to watch his back, and is armed ridiculously with all manner of machine guns and explosives. The enemies all have guns too and the cover system is vital, making it feel sadly like a Gears of War clone. The reward for killing an enemy used to be that you get to survive, but now it feels like killing is just a competition between you and your co-op partner to gain the most skill points.
I was disappointed that Jake?s gameplay was just more of the same from Chris? in the second demo, with the huge stalking boss?Ustanak ?nowhere to be seen this time around. I was excited when I found out we?d get another relentless Nemesis-like boss for this game. Then again, when the hulking mass was ran towards me in the first demo, I just felt safe in the knowledge that I could dive out the way. You can now sprint in this game too, so it rarely feels like the monster will catch up to you.
There?s no complaints in the visual and controls department. Both demos consistently felt solid and, dare I say, fun. It just doesn?t quite seem to be even close to the same game I fell in love with back in 2005. Should I expect another RE4? Perhaps not, as I?ve come to terms with the fact that there?ll almost never be a game to match such a masterpiece. Still, I wish Capcom would realise what it was that made that game so great ? the unique atmosphere and sense of loneliness.
They still have the ability to create that feel again too with hints of greatness showing in the demos, but they let their marketing strategies get in the way of that. They have said outright that there is simply no market for horror games anymore, but how can that be true? Amnesia and Penumbra are incredibly popular horror games and PC, and with Silent Hill games arguably on the decline in terms of quality, Capcom are given a huge space to fill in the console market.
Maybe Capcom really believe they?re creating a superior game with the addition of co-op, online play and ?improved? third-person shooter and cover mechanics. On paper, that is a superior game: build on the formula of a successful game and include new features. But these added features obstruct the game?s potential, rather than improve it. The old games had fixed camera angles, limited inventory, limited ammunition and revisits of previous areas, which have all been phased out in favour of modern conveniences in the current generation. But it?s these very things, these restrictions on the player, that make Resident Evil so fantastic and engrossing. The ability to sprint, roll, take cover with bucketloads of guns and ammo means that there?s nothing dangerous to fear in RE6. As Walter White once said, ?I am the danger?.
I hate being ?that guy? who?s negative and judging a game on simple demos, but I already know in my heart that including co-operative gameplay and single-player AI partner again will repeat RE5?s mistakes. I wouldn?t be so harsh on the series if I didn?t love this franchise, and if I didn?t know it was capable of being something so much better. I hope I?m wrong. I hope Capcom can pull it off and make me scared again, but I?d be very surprised.
Right now, the only thing I fear is being disappointed again. That said, I will eagerly?await my copy of Resident Evil 6 and see how it turns out, and I will control my expectations and be as optimistic as I can. If it has to be an over-the-top action game, then it can at least be a fun over-the-top action game. Hopefully the ammunition availability and partner dependence will be toned right down, while the difficulty and ferocity of enemies are boosted way up. If this really doesn?t turn out to be the game that I loved to be scared of when I was young, then I hope one day Capcom can recreate my childhood and realise that they had a great thing going.
Article from Gamersyndrome.com
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