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It may seem spaced out, because i copied and pasted. for those who don't know, a 'frag' is a kill in a video game.

 ~ ~ ~

Gamers Frag in games, not in the real world

A few weeks ago, I heard about an incident in Taiwan, in which a 19 year old boy murdered and robbed a taxi driver, because he wanted to see if it was as easy in real life as it was in Grand Theft Auto IV; a game which he was addicted to.

Being a gamer myself, I was interested. A Google search led me to the London Times website, where I found out that the teenager had freely confessed his motives during questioning and had shown no signs of mental problems.

Excuse me? He’s just killed a taxi driver and robbed him in order to get more money for gaming at an arcade; because that’s really normal and people do that all the time, and there’s no reason at all to doubt his sanity!

A glance at the related links column told me that the London Times was just another media organisation that shows prejudice towards gamers; all the links were to articles about the detrimental effects of violent games and making the UK rating system tighter.

I quickly grabbed four articles, but given more time it would have been many more. All four say more or less the same thing; ‘violent video games are turning the children of the world into crazy axe murderers and we have to stop this via legislation and ratings.’ 

Wait a minute, I’m 17 and I enjoy playing computer games when I get the chance (i.e. when I’m not doing homework), and most of the games I play are ‘violent’ first-person shooters, which are supposed to be the most mind-warping if you believe the media, but funnily enough I’ve never had to strain against any inner demons urging me to go on a rampage in a public place, or run down pedestrians while driving, and I’m not the only one. 

Many gamers in their 20s and 30s are making comments similar to my above comment, and I haven’t yet seen a comment saying ‘I tried, I really did, but I lost control of my hand and the old man was annoying me…’

If you look at the demographics of gamers, you will find that every kid between 5 and 13 enjoys gaming of some sort, with the boys preferring more violent games such as Lego star wars (if you kill someone, they break into their individual Lego bricks) to games like Learning To Count With Jeffrey. Funny, that. 

Those that game over the age of 13 are likely to continue to game until they are in their twenties. These gamers will naturally gravitate to the true gaming scene and possibly become hardcore gamers. This means that they will create an alias for themselves which they use all the time, and will prefer one or two genres of games over others. 

I believe that the biggest issues in sorting truth from fact are a) what younger gamers play is not monitored by their parents and b) some older gamers develop unhealthy addictions.  

Many parents are not comfortable with the idea of their young children roaming around outside, and the backyard can be a dangerous place. The solution? Plonk Johnny in front of a gaming console and let him go for his life. The main issue with this parenting mentality is the fact that the parents very often don’t monitor what their children are playing. This is especially an issue with children under the age of ten, who are still in the process of establishing moral and ethical boundaries in their mind. I don’t have to explain much about a game called Resident Evil 4 for you to know that it is probably not ideal for under-tens. 

While damage may be done to children from playing particularly violent games, this may not show itself until they are teenagers and start to experience real stress in their lives *cough* schoolwork *cough*, and they may snap and enact some of the violence that their soul was nourished on when they were younger.

So in this case, the games are not to blame, other gamers are not to blame, retailers are not to blame and developers are not to blame.

Essentially, parents are to blame for not monitoring what their young, impressionable children are playing and seeing, and treating the console as a babysitting device.

As I have stated above, the Taiwanese teenager was addicted to GTA4. Personally, I think that such an addiction constitutes a mental problem, or at least is caused by a mental problem; a video game addiction leads to irrational behaviour in order to satisfy the addiction, and this is what is seen in the Taiwan incident.

However, just because an older gamer becomes addicted doesn’t mean that they are oblivious to their own addiction, and it also doesn’t mean that they will be prone to violence; it may simply mean that they attempt to use a ‘scroll of fireball’ against someone who is inhibiting them. 

Lastly, why do they always seem to pick on video games? What about movies, newspapers even! 

One joke that has been going around amongst gamers after the media has gone crazy about this kid in Taiwan is: 

“I wish someone would commit a murder and say that they did it because they saw it on the evening news; the look on the journo’s faces would be priceless as they tried to spin that!” 

So my advice to the media is this; stop picking on video games when you spoon-feed everyone violence every single day in the newspaper, the news on TV and your websites. Also, treat games like every other mode of entertainment; what about violent movies affecting people? I never hear about that.

  ~ ~ ~

There was an image, which didn't copy. i'll try get it up here later. i had 4 or 5 other blogs to post both here and elsewhere, which have unfortunately left my mind. they will no doubt come back over the next few days WHILST (dont worry if you dont get it...) i am away, during which i shall write them down. 

Eric, bcmcb, and many other randoms.

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Dear Guest,
For every serious-problems or unforseen events call the number below
-first 0 (for take the line);
-second #
You will find a person that will help you.
Please advice us if you live before the breakfast.

Engrish Photo By: Jennifer V

The guest was a Chinese woman older than us, that came to train here for a while. She never trained Taijiquan in her life, but she decided to try it and came here to do it. She is a very nice lady, and we all enjoyed her company here. I wouldn't mind that she stayed longer, but she has to follow her own life. Her departure was the cause of the "sadness" on that day, but at the same time, I'm happy for her and I understand that she has to leave. Maybe one day she will come back again, when we are already older and more mature.
She has a very special touch of innocence and joy in her. The way she enjoyed the presence of animals and the way she "communicates" with them, makes her seem crazy for those that are watching her, but at the same time, it makes me feel that she has a pure heart. She's a pianist, and maybe as most of the artists, she has a special sensitivity to some things that other people don't have, and that's why I see her that way.

Her journey here, crossed with my personal path in a very positive way... I was assigned the complex and challenging mission of being her Taijiquan personal teacher. This was definitely a hard task. I happily accepted this mission with gratitude and strong will to do the best I could in the short time we had. She only had, three weeks to train and learn the basic patterns of Taijiquan. This experience proved to me, that this program is really the best way to get to the higher levels in a shorter time, with the proper level. In three weeks she learned the first part of the Classical Yang style Taijiquan form, and I would dare to say, with more quality than some people with which I trained for more than six months.
My personal opinion on why that happened is simple:

1- We train 5 days in a row every week. In Portugal I trained 3 days a week with intervals between. To have the same number of days as here, in Portugal, I needed to train 5 weeks instead of 3.
2- We train more time here, three hours. One hour Qigong and two hours Taijiquan. In Portugal, we had 1h30 to train both Qigong and Taijiquan.
3- Qigong and the Basic Taijiquan training was taught by Master Yang, a very important factor.
4- We do more internal training here than in Portugal.
5- We also have to count with her personal ability to learn.

The only thing that I taught her was the first part of the form. She learned it in about one week and a half, and the rest of the time was just refinement. She was a fast learner! She got right away the rotation of the feet movement, that normally gives so much trouble to everyone on the beggining. Most of the postures were also fairly accurate for a beginner. Of course, the form was bad compared with someone who trains for years, and I had to correct some stuff, but I never thought that it was possible to learn so fast as she did. Maybe her background in Ballet also contributed a lot, because from that, she gains body coordination.

It was a very good experience for both of us, I think. It contributed to enhence my teaching skills and for her personal experience of Taijiquan.

Since I've never gotten around to writing about my history and fascination with peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, it's good to know that Peter Timony, a man of similar PBJ tastes and convictions, has.

For those who don't know Peter, he is one half of the sibling team currently dominating Zuda Comics with their excellent Night Owls comic strip. I highly recommend checking out this nifty comedy-adventure series, along with all the other online goodies Zuda has to offer.

Take it away, Peter!

PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME

When I was a kid, I would go to school with a brown paper bag that had my lunch in it. Most of the time it was Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches, and I HATED them.

For one thing, my mother, though an excellent cook, made terrible sandwiches. When we didn't have Peanut Butter and Jelly, we could look forward to a solitary slice of stinky wet liverwurst, one measly slice of processed cheese-like-food, and a squirt of yellow mustard, often thrown haphazardly between two slices of gritty whole wheat bread. You would think that with this as the alternative, opening the lunch bag to find Peanut Butter and Jelly would be GREAT!

However, Mom made the worst PB&J ever.

To be fair, there were seven kids, so she didn't have a whole lot of time to make lunches; she would just slap them together. She also made lunch for Dad.

What could be so bad? Well, for starters, the peanut butter was obviously to much of a chore to spread, so the majority stayed in the middle, leaving the edges dry. The jelly was unceremoniously lumped on top, and Mom's unending supply of whole wheat bread held it all together. Also, I don't know if this is true, but I suspect Mom liked to pound the sandwiches flat after wrapping them in plastic and before putting them in the lunch bag. Whenever lunch time rolled around, and we reached into our bags to pull out our sandwiches, we would discover a wafer thin mess, with Welch's grape jelly oozing out of every pore. This was especially distressful when we would see the other children that had PB&J pull shiny white sandwiches out of lunch boxes and bags. Why is their bread so soft and fluffy and white? Why is mine crunchy and brown and flat and soaked? And look! Their sandwiches have the crusts cut off! Can you imagine?

After I got out of school, it was years before I ate peanut butter and jelly again.

These days, however, I've rediscovered the joys of PB&J! It's a great way to quickly sate one's hunger, and it's cheap too. I've come to realize that the only reason Mom's PB&J sammiches sucked so hard is because she didn't put any thought into it. She bought the biggest cheapest bucket of peanut butter and the biggest cheapest vat of jelly. More care should go into your ingredient selection, I think.

Here are some tips towards improving your Peanut Butter and Jelly experience.

1. KNOW THY PEANUTS

It is largely believed that George Washington Carver invented peanut butter, although that isn't technically true. He did come up with over 300 uses for peanuts, and that was just one of them. He was like that shrimp guy in Forrest Gump, if you were to substitute peanuts for shrimp. He did help popularize peanuts as a southern crop that could reinvigorate soil that had been depleted by cotton crops. He was also big on sweet potatoes.

With the rise in popularity of the peanut came the rise in popularity of peanut butter. Other nuts, such as almonds and cashews, didn't have a George Washington Carver to speak up for them, and so their butters aren't as popular.

When I buy peanut butter, the first thing I do is look at the ingredients. For example, the list of ingredients on a jar of Jiffy read like this: PEANUTS, CORN SYRUP SOLIDS, SUGAR AND SOY PROTIEN, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: FULLY HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OILS (RAPESEED AND SOYBEAN), SALT, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, MOLASSES, NIACINAMIDE, FOLIC ACID, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE, MAGNESIUM OXIDE, ZINC OXIDE, FERRIC ORTHOPHOSPHATE, AND COPPER SULFATE.

I don't know what half of that stuff even is. I'm sure it's all safe, but seriously, is there any reason why my jar of peanut butter should have a list of ingredients that looks like a bottle of shampoo? Zinc Oxide? Really? What the hell is a Rapeseed? The peanut butter I buy, whether crunchy or smooth, has an ingredient list that looks like this: PEANUTS, SALT.

Incidentally, if you're going to buy the all-natural peanut butter, some separation of peanut oil may occur. You may be tempted to create some low-fat peanut butter by dumping out the oil, but don't do it! If you do, your peanut butter will become hard and un-spreadable. The best thing to do is to mix it all up with a butter knife.

There are other types of butters out there too, and I would recommend at least trying some of them. Almond butters, cashew butters, hazelnut (or as the British call them, Filberts) butter. For those afflicted with severe peanut allergies or know someone who does, try Sun Butter, which is made of sunflower seeds and is completely safe, and delicious!

2. GRAPE ISN'T THE ONLY TYPE OF JELLY

As for jelly, why buy the econo-sized barrel of grape jelly when there is so much variety out there? I've had peanut butter sandwiches with grape, raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, apricot, gooseberry, fig, mango, cloudberry, currant, pear, apple, pomegranate, blueberry lime, strawberry kiwi and even jalapeño. I've even used marmalades. Some tasted better than others, but it is amazing what mixing up your jellys can do.

3. IT AIN'T A SANDWICH WITHOUT BREAD

Even though I didn't like the whole wheat as a kid, some people might appreciate it. Potato bread, sour dough or even hamburger rolls are all great for PB&J. For peanut butter and jelly, I like a bread that isn't too thick, but if you go too thin, it can make a mess. Take for example, the Peanut Butter and Jelly Burrito! Take one warm flour tortilla, spread peanut butter on it, top with jelly and roll it up.

4. PREVENTING SOGGY SAMMICHES

Pay attention, because I am about to reveal the ultimate secret towards making the best possible PB&J sandwich. It is so simple and so easy, and you'll never have to worry about the jelly leaking through the bread again!

First, spread a thin layer of peanut butter on BOTH pieces of bread. Then add the jelly to one piece of bread and place the other on top, peanut butter side down, natch. TA-DA! The peanut butter acts as a moisture barrier, preventing the jelly from leaking into the bread.

5. DON'T EAT IT YET!

There are ways to dress up the sandwich a little bit. You could cut the crusts off (if you have time and don't need to prepare seven lunches). You could cut them into pleasing little wedges and serve them with tea, or arrange them on a plate and serve them as hors d' oeuvres.

Have you ever cooked a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? The result will AMAZE you. The peanut butter becomes warm and soft and liquidy. Whenever you cook a PB&J, you intensify it's flavor. This Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich goes to 11!

Try grilling it, the same way you would make a grilled cheese sandwich.

Or, here's a fun idea… mix a batch of funnel cake batter, cut your sandwich into wedges, dip the wedges in the batter and deep fry them until golden brown. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar and now you have deep fried Peanut Butter and Jelly! So delicious… so decadent!

In these uncertain times, when money is tight and the pantries are mostly bare, you may find that you have to survive on cheap foods like Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches for example. But we might as well enjoy ourselves while we're at it!

The Great Guzman and the WBA's weight of responsibility

By Andrew Mullinder

The WBA announced on Wednesday that it would not punish Joan Guzman for failing to make weight for his WBA, IBF and WBO lightweight title fight against Nate Campbell on September 13^th.

Guzman was pilloried for coming into the fight overweight. He arrived at the weigh-in more than three and a half pounds over the lightweight limit and claimed he was so drained by his effort to lose weight he could not fight. His failure was not a result of ill fortune - he apparently arrived weighing 180lb at his training camp for a fight slated to take place at 135lb - it was simply a monumental display of professional negligence.

Many felt the same way about Guzman as the narrator of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby felt about the eponymous character: "[He] represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn."

But this is not the first time a boxer has caused the collapse of a high-profile match by failing to make weight apparently unbeknown to anyone until the moment he stepped on the scales. How many more times must fans, sponsors, and television companies put up with this in the Lightweight division alone?

In this context, serious questions must be asked of the sanctioning authority. The WBA has, with its usual ladle of spurious magnanimity, decided not to punish Guzman. Of course not: the Dominican could still draw big sanctioning fees. Perhaps it also believes punishing his lack of professionalism would lead to questions of its own role in the whole debacle. It would be easy to argue had the situation was entirely avoidable had the WBA acted in the manner analogous to the governing body it purports to be.

To be sure, much responsibility should ultimately fall on the shoulders of Guzman and his management team for not submitting to the inevitable in a timely manner. Had they revealed the flabby truth, even relatively late in the day, the fight could have been reconfigured at a weight above that which rendered Guzman unfit to box. Campbell, did after all, agree to fight Guzman regardless of his weight.

Yet exactly the same could be said of the WBA. Arethey not, after all, self-appointed arbiters and guardians of the sport?

Why did the WBA, WBO or IBF not know that a man due to fight shortly as a lightweight had waddled into camp as a cruiserweight? Were they really three blind mice? Did the three of them combined not have the resources to carry out spot weigh checks? If they did, why did they not act on the evidence that Guzman had little chance of making weight? In short: why did all three sanctioning bodies act in such a perfunctory manner?

Of course, we know all know the answer: it is in their nature; it is the way all sanctioning bodies invariably act. They provide few services beyond handing out gaudy belts, compiling ratings that seem to be as influenced by lobbyists as US energy policy, and perform most diligently in dispensing to whom promoters should direct cheques. They seem to hold only a distant interest in actually 'governing'; in the commonly understood meaning of the word.

Properly monitoring the weight of fighters in the run up to title fights they sanction - and making bold decisions on those outside acceptable benchmarks - would be simple and have two significant benefits. First, the health of fighters would be protected, and second, fights would not be cancelled at the eleventh hour.

Fighters should be preemptively withdrawn from fights and punished if they have too much weight to shift in the remaining time before a fight. This way, late withdrawals, when television companies and sponsors have invested in a fight and fans have traveled, can be avoided, and an alternative opponent can be found for the man who has acted professionally and does not deserved to be robbed of his fight purse. He could at least be afforded equal time to adjust to any revised limit. Furthermore, boxers would have greater incentive to stay in shape between fights, lose weight responsibly and fight in their proper division.

But this is simply another basic responsibility which sanctioning bodies shirk like a teenager unwilling to tidy his bedroom, and it becomes just another item to add to their litany of misdemeanors.

Joan Guzman, like Jay Gatsby in Fitzgerald's novel, was in the end a victim of simple human frailty. Gatsby could not control his love for Daisy; Guzman could not suppress his appetite for food. But if sanctioning bodies had acted with even a remote conscientiousness or sense of duty, he could have been saved from himself, and boxing fans, television companies, sponsors and Nate Campbell could have been saved from Guzman.

Until this time, their role in boxing will always be akin to that which the narrator in The Great Gatsby assigned those who could have forestalled Gatsby's demise: "They were careless people... they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made."

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While not perfect, this enjoyable sequel improves nicely on the original time management game. If you're ready to check into your room, dear reader, here's what you need to know about Jane's Hotel: Family Hero.

Beginning in the Canary Islands, hotel patrons arrive at the hotel and greet you at the main desk. After you give them keys to the room they settle into one of the four rooms and begin to ask for some amenities such as fancy drinks, souvenirs, telephone use or a newspaper. As the manager, you will first click on the appropriate amenity, such as an espresso maker, and then on correct door that pops up with the request - as indicated by a pop-up speech bubble of sorts. There are a wide variety of guests, each with its own animation and voice, but they don't seem to act any different from one another (such as the teenager with headphones being more impatient than the cane-using senior).

Unlike the original game, Jane now has two handy assistants who will help fulfill a guest's needs. For example, you will likely see a picture of a small vacuum cleaner in the speech bubble, meaning the guest would like their room cleaned. By clicking on the maid button and the room she needs to tidy up, off she goes until the task is completed; you can chain more than one room together for bonus points, therefore you simply need to click on multiple rooms (with vacuum cleaner icons) in succession and the maid will go from one to the next.

The maid helps with other jobs as you begin to advance through the hotels, such as watering plants, bringing clean sheets to a room, dry cleaning services, and more. The other assistant is a porter who is great for odd jobs such as fixing broken-down machines, such as the espresso machine that always seems to go on the fritz. As with the maid, the porter will pick up other duties the more you advance throughout the game's 50 levels.

After you make your daily cash quota and move onto the next day, dozens of upgrades can be purchased to increase the skills of the three workers (manager, maid and porter) such as faster shoes for Jane, a better vacuum cleaner (the "Turbo 4000") for the maid or a digital camera for the porter. Furniture that's relevant to the hotel can also be purchased to spice up the place, including nice paintings for the French hotel, a medieval knight statue for the English castle or floral trimmings for the resort in the Canary Islands. You can also buy places for guests to lounge in the lobby, which increases the number of guests you can handle at once, and therefore making you more cash at the end of each day.

One issue, however, is you can't save your cash for a more expensive luxury because your money doesn't carry over between levels. For instance, say there's a $400 crystal chandelier you want but you only have $200 left after paying for staff upgrades (which are arguably more important). Problem is, that $200 doesn't carry over because you start each day with $0. Other minor niggles include graphics that are average compared to today's casual games and only one game mode to play.

Shortcomings aside, Jane's Hotel: Family Hero is an enjoyable hotel management game that is sure to provide many hours of increasingly challenging fun. Multi-taskers especially will relish in the furious mouse-clicking required to juggle all the guests' requests at once. We enjoyed our stay here, and we hope you will too!

Review by Gamezebo, Inc.

This is the first guest mixtape I've gotten, of course from the lovely and talented Andrew Tan, currently residing in San Diego. This mixtape is awesome even for works of his caliber, though. I absolutely love it.

Here is the preface he sent with it:

"A couple times in my life I’ve been told, “You meet a nice girl in a church.” While I’m not sure I totally agree with the phrase, I’m fascinated that the two people who told me this could not have been more different. One was a girl, the other a guy. One went to church, the other not so much. One knew me since the start of college, the other, a few hours.
I had this phrase in my mind when I made this mix, and looking at it now, I’m not totally sure what it’s about, but I suppose if it went to college, it majored in loneliness and minored in unrequited love."

“You Meet a Nice Girl in a Church (Not a Bar)"

1. “All the Pretty Girls Go to the City”-Spoon
2. “Tell Her Tonight”-Franz Ferdinand
3. “I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You”-The Black Kids
4. “(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes”-Elvis Costello
5. “Let Down”-Radiohead
6. “Say Yes”-Elliott Smith
7. “I Hope That I Don’t Fall in Love With You”-Tom Waits
8. “How to Fight Loneliness”-Wilco
9. “How Soon is Now?”-The Smiths
10. “Black Cab”-Jens Lekman
11. “Anybody Wanna Take Me Home?”-Ryan Adams
12. “Be Sweet”-Afghan Whigs
13. “Closing Time”-Semisonic
14. “Ooh La La”-The Faces
15. “Busby Berkley Dreams”-The Magnetic Fields

Hide in plain sight
the wondrous orbs that fly,
the face that holds
a message in a bottle,
or a lonely tree
in a cemetery,
to stance
a fore-going shadow-
to visit once more
from the vastness of time.

What now
my shadow dancer?
The will to see
is but my energy
of innocence,
or the mastery of mystic,
my imagination gone wild.

What now
my shadow dancer?
From the essence of my soul
you reach for me,
and hold the trust
of my salvation.

If ever there were a soul
who would indeed be,
granted,
you are the one
who seeks-
beyond immortal time.

Dance Fair Shadow.

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]]> http://threehundredwords.wordpress.com/?p=259 Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:00:08 +0000 threehundredwords http://threehundredwords.sv.wordpress.com/2008/09/30/now-you-know-music-builds-tour-review/ Guest Bloggers: Evan and Marie

(This is a collaborative review of the Switchfoot/Third Day/Robert Randolph/Jars of Clay "Music Builds" tour show on September 19 in Atlanta... Evan's words are standing tall, and Marie's are in italics.)

=======

We arrived at the Lakewood amphitheater (south of Atlanta) early enough to get a free parking space near the entrance, eat dinner before the bulk of the crowd arrived, and claim a spot in the middle of the Lawn section.  After a brief introduction by some local radio personalities, Jars of Clay came on stage and started things off promptly at 6. They started off the show with one of their oldest singles, "Flood" which was a familiar tune to most in attendance.

I didn’t even realize they had begun because this version of “Flood” started off at the same level as the background music had been playing. But once I looked up long enough to see that there were people onstage, I figured I would take a few pictures and settle back down onto the blanket for some easy listening. But in the middle of the performance the lead singer reminded us that the Gospel was not intended to make us comfortable… and then encouraged us to get on our feet. So, with a good-humored groan, I stood up to enjoy the remainder of their stage time.

After he made that statement, they closed with two of their more recent popular songs: "Work" and "Dead Man."  I enjoyed listening to Jars of Clay while they were on stage, but not for long because after they finished with "Dead Man" I looked at my phone to check the time and discovered that their total stage time was approximately 30 minutes.  The next band scheduled to go onstage was Robert Randolph and the Family Band. If you've never heard of them, you can check them out here.

Of the four groups, this was the one I had never before seen in a live performance. What entertainment! Not only were they all very talented musicians, but they also displayed a high degree of showmanship. I got the impression that even if no one came to see them, they would have simply held a gospel jam session onstage and invited the rest of the family over for a revival meeting. I loved it so much that I called my dad (who, like me, loathes loud noises but enjoys good music) and let him have an earful of it.

I enjoyed this show the most and wished they could have continued playing for much longer than they did.

Next, Switchfoot entered the stage area. I saw them earlier in the year, so I knew what to expect from their show. The thing I like most about Switchfoot’s concerts is their display of emotion. Jon Foreman always conveys that he means each word he says. He also does a great job of explaining the meaning of each song so the audience understands where the band is coming from.

I did not have much to say during this segment of the night; I was too caught up in the experience of hearing familiar lyrics with fresh inflections. Up until that evening I had been at the mercy of the radio disc jockey and my sister’s stereo—that is, all I can ever remember hearing of them was pre-recorded and predictable. It was so refreshing, then, to be a fly on the wall as Jon Foreman essentially poured his heart out on the stage.

After Switchfoot ended their great show, Third Day came out to close the evening. Third Day's show was decent, but not nearly as good as the previous two acts in my opinion. They aren't as talented musically as RRFB and weren't as emotional as Switchfoot so I didn't mind leaving during their last song of the evening to beat the crowd.

I don’t even remember what songs Third Day performed. Honestly, I was sleepy and cold by that time, which usually makes for an unpleasant evening if the conditions persist. But even though this part of the concert wasn’t that memorable, I would still like to point out that I think Mac Powell has an amazing voice. Of the male vocalists in the “Christian” genre of my library, he stands out as an individual I always enjoy listening to.

All in all, I enjoyed the evening immensely with my only complaints being that I would have liked to see longer performances from Jars of Clay and RRFB. Other than that, it was a great show put on for a good cause and I would recommend giving any of these bands a listen.

On standalone servers

gpedit.msc > Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options, In right pane edit the following policy setting:

Network access:

1. ENABLE: Let Everyone permissions apply to anonymous users

2. ADD SHARE NAME: Shares that can be accessed anonymously"

3. ENABLE (default): Restrict anonymous access to Named Pipes and Shares"

Default settings you should check just in case they were previously edited:

gpedit.msc > Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Local Policies\User rights assignment: "Access this computer from the network" >> Everyone group must be in there

On domain controllers you need to use *Domain Controllers Security Policy* snap-in to enable this access as long as Domain Controller computer account is in "Domain Controllers" OU.

Group policy->local policy->Security Options->"Let Everyone permissions apply to anonymous Users"

Psje Tello 241 - Miraflores (back block 4 Larco Av.

e-mail: reservas@hotel-marialuisa.com

You’ll notice at least 5 new signs up.  They’re temporary for now, so we need your help.  Is something missing from a sign?  Did we miss an obvious location for a sign?  Try looking at our church as if you’d never walked in before.  What confuses you?  Our goal is to be a church that’s as easy to navigate as Google.

You’ve got 2 weekends to help us finalize the signs and then we place the order.