Dude, it's the mouse's fault. I'm 27, I swear.

apocalex: Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. was the next game that came out in 2009 and it was much hyped.  Following in a genre that hasn’t seen a great game since Ace Combat 6, it had decent standards to live up to, but still lived in a niche category.

And tried to leave that category, disappointing fans of the genre and confusing outsiders.  The “advanced” (Assistance OFF – which to me seemed the OPPOSITE of what it was, it was in many ways giving you extra assistance in flying) control system involved jumping a few hundred yards outside of your plane – I suppose attempting to simulate the future of air combat – where pilots have giant computer generated 3D, 3rd person views of the combat airspace projected directly on their HUD, making navigation more akin to an early Tomb Raider 3D platformer than an aviation sim.  What’s more, this mode was the ONLY way to execute certain maneuvers, totally sidelining the cockpit view.

The story itself was typical of Clancy video games, apparently Clancy has taken his research into the military to his storytelling, as his only tactic is shock and awe, the bigger and badder the better.  Over what felt like a woefully short campaign (which did have very good coop however), the plot followed a couple mercenary pilots who end up not being mercenary at all, one wonders why they became mercenaries at all fighting against an evil that is funded by – well who cares, my foggy memory seems to indicate the enemy was Brazil or something, because Brazil has the powerhouse economy and stalwart hate of the US – but really, it didn’t matter, what did matter was patriotism, and by god, there’s nothing like a double turncoat who runs back to his original employers when the going gets tough.

Gameplay wise was interesting until the jamming took down all your advanced weaponry and HAWX (High Altitude Warfare. . . X) and what once was the pinnacle of the modern air combat genre turned into a WWII flight sim without lock-ons, radar, or missiles.

The requisite canyon mission, attack the base mission, escort mission, and ohmygodthat’swashington/newyork/losangeles/etc. are all there, and it’s a decent game, just very short and awkward – oh and by the way, as a fan of many things technological and military – the models were off on certain planes.

Recommended for:

Fans of the genre (only because the genre is quite desolate)

Fans of Clancy games (they all follow pretty much the same formula?)

Fans of 3D platformers who always wanted to see a 3D platformer without platforms and gravity.  Uh.  Yeah.

The 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act allocated about 1.1 billion dollars for comparative effectiveness research, with some $300,000,000 dedicated to the agency. Learn what Comparative Effectiveness Research is and what AHRQ’s role is in pursuing this research and the priority conditions undergoing such research.

Learn about what is quality in healthcare.

Listen to Dr. Clancy tell us about the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, otherwise known as AHRQ, within HHS.

En la mañana del 11 de septiembre de 2001 parte del mundo se despertaba con una noticia que nos shockeaba mucho, dos aviones se habían estrellado en el mayor símbolo del capitalismo del mundo, el Word trade center, o como la gran mayoría conocía, las torres gemelas…

A 8 años del atentado a las torres como lo llamaron todos los medios, se conmemora la muerte de casi 3000 personas, más exactamente 2973.

Entre las víctimas se contaban 343 bomberos del departamento de bomberos de Nueva York, 23 policías del departamento de policía y 37 policías de la autoridad portuaria de Nueva York y Nueva Jersey. Hoy aun quedan 24 personas en calidad de desaparecidas!?

Según las cifras que presentó el departamento de Salud en enero del 2002, 247 eran latinos, entre los que había 25 de la Republica Dominicana, 18 de Colombia, 13 de Ecuador, 6 de Cuba, 4 de Argentina y 1 de Chile.

Siempre he tenido mi visión de los atentados, en ese momento el Dólar comenzaba a devaluarse con respecto al euro, para mí, en lo personal, y son los delirios de una persona, el atentando nunca fue hecho por la gente de Al Qaeda. Pero esa es una percepción personal. El hecho de que Tom Clancy, conocido estratega creador de personajes como Jack Ryan, haya escrito un libro exponiendo un ataque terrorista casi igual a los del 11-S, me resulta extremadamente raro.

Pero este recordatorio, aunque un par de días después por cuestiones de tiempo, no intenta ser una exposición sobre la política, ni nada que se le parezca, simplemente es la forma que tengo yo de homenajear a ellos.

No a los hombres y mujeres que perecieron mientras transitaban por la calle, que estaban trabajando en las torres, o que iban en los aviones.

Esta entrada, es para homenajear a los 343 Bomberos que se fueron con las torres.

Cuando miro las imágenes de lo que otrora fuera el WTC, ahora conocido como “ground Zero”, se me achica el corazón… aun no puedo creer que en el nuevo milenio codicia, odio, ira e intereses sean alicientes más que importantes para acabar con la vida de otro o para llevar una guerra adelante.

Lo que más me impacta como hermana de un bombero, es saber que ellos están preparados para todo y arriesgan su vida por ayudar a los demás… pero no están preparados para que se les venga un edificio encima.

Ellos estaban ahí por vocación, esa que a veces me parece un poco imposible de explicar, pero es lo que aman, es por lo que viven y sé que se les llena el pecho de orgullo de poder servir a su comunidad.

Soy plenamente consciente de que hoy están y mañana no, que no les importa el peligro porque su tarea es noble, llena de valor, coraje y fortaleza.

Una entrada en un blog sé que no es mucho, pero acá está, los medios solo se acuerdan de las torres, de la política y la cara de Bush cuando se enteró de las torres… se acuerdan de ese avión que se estrello en el pentágono, o el que bajaron/estrello y que se supone estaba rumbo a la casa blanca.

Yo elijo acordarme de que hace 8 años, que en este mundo faltan 343 hombres de coraje y valor.  Yo elijo hacerles llegar la imagen de ellos, los bomberos de Nueva York. Para ustedes, es mi tributo y mi recuerdo siempre.

Fotos del aniversario N 1 del 9/11

Las fotos fueron extraídas de la página oficial del Departamento de Bomberos de Nueva York

NYFD

Y a todos los Bomberos de acá y de allá que día a día salen a combatir fuego y lo que se les ponga adelante…

¡MUCHAS GRACIAS!

Home – I’m still in search of it. Home
Eludes me as, pro adult, I walk
From house to house from time to time.
Falling, fainting, begging – I’m pleading.
Till I find her I will be. Deceiving.

Twelve years ago, or more, before
Getting to know that earthly pleasure really meant
Life, life, like a movie which got watched and returned
From a club for rent, was always assured
Of coming back home at the end of it.

Reality were simpler, the world was bigger,
Happy in that laid-down routine, Man was
A little twig afloat. Much fresher.
Played Cricket in the rain. Got bowled through the defense
Again. And again.

Didn’t pay the bus from school to town.
When Clancy Fernando was bombed,
We got around the TV, watched the snap of his
White beard and face. Felt as if the worst calamity
Had just hit the darn mortal race.

We were, by all means, half-ticket patriots.
In our little way we gave. Organized a
Clancy memorial Cricket match
In the close of our yard. Cousin, attempting
A return catch, landed on two blobs of dog shit.

That yard remains. The yard remains.
I look from an improvised seat on a slab
And I follow with my eyes where
The flowers grow. Cousin is now a leasing-man.
Dogs don’t seem to shit no more.

In the trash cans where we dumped our toys
With which we played no more we let the memories
Go where the memories go.
Getting to know desire and the response to touch
Were not necessarily the same. The yard remains.

It is this world that I want you to share.
In the arms of that man who claims to love you,
Being held, looking into his eyes, I don’t want to
See you there. This is where I am. This is where I’ll be.
I love you. Yes. I love. Come, if you dare.

Years later, when Clancy’s came up,
My first thought was that it was a
Memorial tribute, too. Not really, I mean.
But as rumour had it I was convinced it was.
Or, maybe it was just my sense of humour

Today, Black Pearl Capital’s Chief Executive Officer, Reza Irani-Kermani announced that the company was in discussion to acquire the rights of distribution of Paul Frank Industries (www.paulfrank.com) clothing and accessories for the United Kingdom. In a statement Reza said I am very pleased that we are at the final stages of negotiations and look forward to making a formal press release within this week. Paul Frank is an extremely well known brand and we look forward to resuming its distribution by mid September. For Black Pearl Capital, this is a new and exciting challenge and I am sure we will make a success of it.

Victoria Hervey – Black Pearl Capital

I love to read. I’ve already read most of John Grisham and Tom Clancy novels. I’ve read several history books. I also love movies. Action movies. Harrison Ford, Russell Crowe, Gene Hackman, Bruce Willis…those kinds of movies. And of  course,  Grisham and Clancy movies.

Writing is not really my thing but here I am trying to express my ideas. Hopefully I will be able to express them clearly and sensibly. I’ve read a lot of blogs from different kinds of personalities. Most of them had me thinking and re-assessing my life. And I want to be able to do just the same to other people.

All these for now. Hopefully I’ll be able to write my first blog within the week.

See you!

Submit your captions for this week’s caption contest in the comments below. Winner will be praised next week.

First place: CLANCY! It was the little addition at the end of her comment about the tiny shovel. That was the punch line that brought out the guffaws. High five, Clanc! Note on Clancy: she’s the coolest blogging, landlording, raising childrening, Idahoan I know.

Second place: Janet. In the words of Seinfeld, coming in as 2nd place means that you’re the #1 loser. But at least you’re a funny one! Jarv even read your comment with the right pirate-y accent. Note on Janet: I miss diet coke breaks.

Third place: Emily. The good, former stake president (my dad) chuckled the most at this once, referencing the parable of the mule. Note on Emily: She’s a great blogger, too, so check her out, mmkay?

Enter the CAPTION CONTEST now!

The Sciolist Cell Phone Pic of the Week^not-™ is published each week with the intent to entice readers to comment. This is accomplished with a CONTEST! The winner will receive a blog nod in the following week’s post-what a TREMENDOUS prize. Entering is easy. Just click on Comment below, fill in the identification information requested and enter your caption for the above picture as your comment. You have until Larrie posts the following Wednesday’s pic to enter.

Ready… GO!*

There are so many places to start when one begins talking about drugs, spirit and creativity.  Is it true that all those who fulfil their creative potentials are alcoholics and/or drug addicts?  Most definitely no.  Ben Pullar, the sage compositor of ‘Frog Riders’ is not into medicine.  And nor are all addicts brimming with creative abilities.  Some come into drugs in order to be numbed, others are just plain dumb.  Personally I see little creative value in the use of drugs and alcohol.  My best writing has all been done stone cold sober.  Drugs just seem to be away of occupying the spirit while it is otherwise under the stress of a test, bored, forgotten or worse.  Spirit is what inhabits the great works.  A creative work, I would define, is a work that has been through a concrete, demonstrable spiritual process as part of its rise into existence.  What do I mean by spirit, then?  The daimons of turmoil, my friend.  Those mechanisms of one’s heart that have a voice in one’s karmic journey through life; the guiding principles of any given being’s incarnation.  You are here for some fucking reason or another.  Find your purpose, because that is your where your spirit is!  Any work that has been divorced from the spirit of its author is necessarily devoid of any meaning and therefore not an act of creation.  It is derivative, barren, sterile.  I can list many examples of this.  And I will.  Dan Brown’s ‘Da Vinci Code’, anything by Tom Clancy, Woody Allen etc etc.

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Rainbow 6 by Tom Clancy

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6 is an excellent military thriller. Its beginning is a bit dry, but once you get past the military jargon and exposition, you can’t stop reading.

Summary:
In this book, the USA, Great Britain, and other NATO nations work together to create the ultimate multinational counter-terror team, which is codenamed “rainbow”. This team is managed by star of previous Clancy books, John Clark. Clark’s son-in-law, Domingo “Ding” Chavez leads a strike team across the world, from England, to Switzerland, to Spain, to Australia and beyond to curb a series of seemingly unrelated terrorist attacks. These attacks however are all part of an overarching threat to mankind, coordinated by Dmitry Popov, an ex-KGB intelligence officer who has no idea what he has gotten himself into. While Ding leads “Team-2” across the world, Clark and Popov fight through military intelligence.

Long review:
This is one of those excellent books that many people won’t read past the first 100 pages. Admittedly, I picked it up at a book sale, read 20 pages, got bored, and put it in my bookcase to collect dust for a year. I only picked it up again after a conversation on the strategy of the video game Counter-Strike, when someone recommended I read Rainbow 6, along with any other book by Tom Clancy.

The book’s formula goes something like this:

P. 0 – 100: Exposition
P. 100 – 200: Combat
P. 200 – 300: Exposition
P. 300 – 400: Combat
And so on.

After reading 200 pages, I loved the book. By the last 200 pages, I couldn’t put the book down.

My recommendation:
Read it. The beginning is a bit boring; however, you will love it after the 200 page mark.

Also, reading this book will dramatically increase the reader’s skill at strategic squad based shooter games like Counter-Strike, Rainbow 6, Call of Duty etc.
~Dennis

Enter the CAPTION CONTEST now!

The Sciolist Cell Phone Pic of the Week^not-™ is published each week with the intent to entice readers to comment. This is accomplished with a CONTEST! The winner will receive a blog nod in the following week’s post-what a TREMENDOUS prize. Entering is easy. Just click on Comment below, fill in the identification information requested and enter your caption for the above picture as your comment. You have until Larrie posts the following Wednesday’s pic to enter.

Ready… GO!*

Wow. I just realised I had not featured my daughter Tasha on my blog as yet! How naughty of me! Here’s a recent shot I took of her – also featured on the walls of 2902 Gallery when I did my “Shades of Pink” Exhibition. This was actually very unexpected as I was actually photographing the lovely Clancy for the exhibition when Tasha spotted her in my studio. Tasha then ran off and got her pink fairy dress which I then was told to dress her up in. This was the result! Can you see the love???

I believe that sex is one of the most beautiful, natural, wholesome things that money can buy.

- Tom Clancy

I’ve known cats to like some odd edibles. Old Dodie-cat and her love of cantaloupe was one fine example. Clancy’s fondness for high-end ingredients is another. But this, I didn’t expect.

I’d set out a few raw green beans on a plate; something to nosh on while supper cooked in the oven. I wasn’t alone in my interest. Clancy came close, full of that intent, determined look he gets when I have something that promises to be really, really good. I don’t encourage him to eat what he’s not been invited to share (like the shrimp after raw shrimp I’ve watched him surreptitiously pick out of the strainer where I’d been cleaning them.) But a green bean?

He approached carefully. Looked over the unfamiliar bounty, then delicately chose one; picking it up so carefully that none of the others were disturbed. I waited for him to eat it. But Chef Clancy was in no hurry: He carried the bean happily around the house, talking to it, laying it down then picking it up again.

After a goodly while, he began to play with it–again, gently. A pat here, a nudge there. I started to think that this was some sort of a mouse-tail substitute for him, but no. No tossing or chasing. No aggression. Just a happy half-hour with his newest possession.

He never did eat the damned thing. After a while, when he’d lost interest, the other two cats came to have a look at the rapidly withering thing. But not an ounce of interest from either of them. It was Clancy’s Green Bean. I’ll never understand why. And I’m happy enough not to know.