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19:00:09 02/05/12
GOP Debates Exposing Conservative Dislike of Romney, Not So For '08 Dem Field
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 19:00:09 02/05/12
So Romney and his PACmen spent over fifteen million dollars worth of smear ads against Newt Gingrich in Florida to seal the deal of beating him in the third primary. Romney was upbeat afterward, but many movement conservatives were not.
Jonah Goldberg: What is Wrong With This Guy? >
Congratulations to Mitt Romney for his big win last night. It was a win that, Romney supporters hoped, would help bury concerns about his ability to seal the deal to do what it takes. But I’m not so sure. If you’re a straight-laced grown-up with money to burn, burying Newt Gingrich shouldn’t be that hard. Romney talked about the economy, Newt about lunar statehood (which I favor!). Romney drowned Gingrich in negative ads and Gingrich supplied endless fodder for the accurate ones and plausibility for the inaccurate ones. Was that really the test of his political chops everyone is saying?As a bunch of us have been writing around here for a while, the under-emphasized dynamic in this race isn’t that Romney isn’t conservative enough (though that’s obviously a real concern out there) it’s that he’s simply not a good enough politician.
Jonah and many other conservatives are really pissed that Mitt on the next day said that he's ' not very concerned about the poor.' >
“I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there,” Romney told CNN. “If it needs repair, I’ll fix it.
Oh, dear. That wasn't too bright. Bill O'Reilly was trying to downplay this flub on The Factor by saying the Democrats will seize on any single word by Mitt that they can take out of context to smear him. Nice try, Bill. It was a bonehead move. >
But great politicians on the morning after a big win, don’t force their supporters to go around defending the candidate from the charge that he doesn’t care about the poor. They just don’t.
You would think after all the rigorous training Mormons are known to subject their children to when it comes to speaking to large groups of people at a young age and then sending them out on two year conversion missions to hone their craft of convincing people to like them, Mitt is one big flop in that category. Unlike his father, who was legendary for his two years in European mission work, Romney just has a problem with connecting and he's making his base nervous.
A recent Pew Poll shows Mitt's unfavorable rating is up to 47% . I believe the GOP thought that having so many debates would give them a chance to constantly bash President Obama without supplying much substance other than lunar bases, hating the gay, electrocutions and building electric fences against Latinos, but what has happened is America is watching and the GOP is being hurt by the added attention. Many republicans really dislike Romney, but view him as the only one to able challenge Obama. I still am surprised by this poll since the country is suffering from the 2008 global financial meltdown. And before Florida's results were in the GOP elites were freaking out over Gingrich's rise and then his attacks of their anointed one.
I know many progressives are feeling very antsy right now with these GOP circus debates and primary days dominating the news cycles so I did a little research into how our base felt about our candidates to contrast the GOP contest at about the same time. Democratic voters were very pleased with the field of candidates that were running for election.
via Gallup Politics on 02/03/08 >
The new poll indicates that whatever the outcome, Democrats nationwide will be equally satisfied with their nominee. They show equal levels of enthusiasm for the prospects of Clinton and Obama each being on the ballot in November. In addition, they are no more likely to believe one of the candidates is more electable in the fall than the other.
Specifically:
Fifty-five percent of Democrats (including independents who lean to the Democratic Party) say they would vote for Obama "enthusiastically" in November were he the Democratic nominee; 53% say the same of Clinton.
Forty-five percent of Democrats think Clinton has the better chance of beating the Republican candidate for president in November; 43% choose Obama.
By contrast, Gallup finds more lopsided attitudes among Republicans -- working strongly in McCain's favor. Republicans are less enthusiastic about voting for each of the leading potential nominees than the Democrats are about theirs; however, McCain is the clear leader on this score over Romney. McCain also beats Romney handily in perceptions of which of the two has the better chance of winning in November.
In the Florida returns there is another troubling number that was revealed about Mitt and the rest of the current field. >
Another warning sign for Romney: Nearly 4 in 10 GOPers want someone else to run: And this also has to worry Romney and his team a bit, too: 38% of Florida Republican primary voters said they’d like to see someone else run for the GOP nomination, versus 58% who said they’re satisfied with the field. It’s a striking number, because these are Republicans who TURNED OUT and voted.
38% are hoping for a brokered convention I guess. Wow. Things are tough in this country and many on our side have been very disappointed, but if we elect a phony conservative like Romney at this point in time, the middle class may never, ever recover. GOP unrest is a good thing.
4 Views
00:11:41 11/23/11
World's Fastest Car Show 10: SEMA 2011 Las Vegas and a Secret Racetrack Dodge Charger
[LESS INFO] 4 VIEWS | ADDED 00:11:41 11/23/11
We give you an automotive insider's look at the 2011 Specialty Equipment Marketing Association at the Las Vegas Convention Center, where you can find everything from gadgets to technology to paint jobs to customizing and more. We show you the Icon Derelict '52 Chevy Business Coupe created by Jonathan Ward (with an alligator interior), a Local Motors Rally Fighter, the Police DRAGG Mustang (Drag Racing against Gangs & Graffiti), a paint job made entirely out of truck bed liner material. A Mercedes convertible conversion by DropTop Customs jeff Moran of Gainesville Florida, and more. Then we take a classic 1968 Dodge Charger around the old Middle Georgia Raceway, where Justin retraces the steps of former NASCAR greats including Bobby Isaac, who on June 1, 1969 won in a Dodge Charger at an average of 73.7 miles an hour. With no seatbelts on an overgrown track, he's going to attempt to equal that time, contrasting the 2012 Dodge Charger to its predecessor.
Host: Justin Bell
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Running time: 9:34
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21:00:01 11/14/11
Confirmed Serial Adulterer Passes Alleged Serial Harasser in GOP Race
[LESS INFO] 11 VIEWS | ADDED 21:00:01 11/14/11
Here in a nutshell is the state of play in the 2012 Republican presidential sweepstakes: alleged serial sexual harasser Herman Cain is being surpassed by confirmed serial adulterer Newt Gingrich . With Mitt Romney stalled and Cain hemorrhaging support from women voters, polls last week from CBS and Marist showed the former House Speaker had surged into a virtual three-way tie at the top. By Monday, new surveys from CNN and PPP showed Newt vaulting past the fading pizza maker. Nevertheless, that development should be a discomforting prospect for a Republican Party which lost the women's vote by 13 points in 2008. As his public statements and personal life show, the thrice-married Gingrich is hardly a champion for American women.
That starts with Newt Gingrich's belief that marriage is an institution between one man and three women in rapid succession.
In 1980, Newt was separated from his first wife and former high school geometry teacher , Jackie Battley. As she lay incoherent in her hospital bed following surgery for a reoccurrence of uterine cancer, Gingrich paid her a visit to announce he wanted a divorce. As Lee Howell , a Gingrich friend and associate at whose wedding Newt was best man, described it: >
"Newt came up there with his yellow legal pad, and he had a list of things on how the divorce was going to be handled. He wanted her to sign it. She was still recovering from surgery, still sort of out of it, and he comes in with a yellow sheet of paper, handwritten, and wants her to sign it. >
Newt can handle political problems, but when it comes to personal problems, he's a disaster. He handled the divorce like he did any other political decision: You've got to be tough in this business, you've got to be hard. Once you make the decision you've got to act on it. Cut your losses and move on."
He moved on to wife number two, Marianne Ginther . But Marianne fared little better, getting dumped for Congressional staffer Callista Bisek after a six year affair even as Newt was leading the inquisition of Bill Clinton. As Vanity Fair summed it up last year: >
According to Salon, Gingrich and the former Hill staffer (23 years his junior, mind you) would frequently dine in the Supreme Court cafeteria--an unsuspectingly sordid detail. (In 1995, Vanity Fair referred to Bisek as Gingrich's "frequent breakfast companion.") Gingrich stepped down from Congress in 1998 following an ethics scandal, among other things. The two were married two years later.
Gingrich, who swapped his Baptist faith for Catholicism just in time to attack President Obama's 2009 address at Notre Dame University, later explained that his rapid fire infidelities were the actually product of his own patriotism: >
"There's no question at times of my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked far too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate. And what I can tell you is that when I did things that were wrong, I wasn't trapped in situation ethics, I was doing things that were wrong, and yet, I was doing them."
Of course, the things Newt Gingrich was saying to American women weren't any better.
As the New York Times recounted 16 years ago, Newt suggested menstruation should keep women out of essential roles in the American military: >
"If combat means living in a ditch, females have biological problems staying in a ditch for 30 days because they get infections, and they don't have upper-body strength. I mean, some do, but they're relatively rare. On the other hand, men are basically little piglets -- you drop them in the ditch, they roll around in it, doesn't matter, you know."
And for Gingrich, the biggest "infection" of them all - liberalism - caused a young mother to murder her children.
Back in 1994, after dumping his cancer-stricken first wife but before marrying his mistress following the adulterous affair that ended his second marriage, Newt pointed the finger at Democrats for the Susan Smith affair.
It was Smith who drew Americans' initial sympathy - and subsequent scorn - for her invention of a black bogeyman to conceal her heinous crime.
On October 24th, 1994, as the New York Times recalled, Smith killed her young sons, killings for which she was eventually sentenced to life in prison: >
That night, investigators say, Mrs. Smith pulled her car to the edge of a deep lake, stepped out, put the gearshift in drive and let it roll down the boat ramp into the black water. Her two little boys, buckled snugly in their safety seats, died under the lake... >
..."I believed her, right up to the end," said Juliaette Kerhulas, of Mrs. Smith's story that a young black man had ordered her out of her burgundy 1990 Mazda on the night of Oct. 25, then driven away with 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander in the back seat.
Ms. Kerhulas wasn't the only one who believed in her. None other than future House Speaker Newt Gingrich rushed to the defense of Smith, whose step-father ironically happened to be a prominent Republican fundraiser and member of the Christian Coalition. Even after her confession, Gingrich insisted the Smith murders showed the decay of American society under Democratic Party rule : >
Enter Newt Gingrich, who rushed into action on election eve with another reliable generic culprit: society. He said the double murder "vividly reminds every American how sick the society is getting and how much we need to change things," expediently adding that "the only way you get change is to vote Republican."
As Frank Rich recounted in August 1995: >
Asked later by Tom Brokaw to elaborate, the Speaker-to-be cited "a direct nexus between the general acceptance of violence" and "the pattern that the counterculture and Lyndon Johnson's Great Society began in the late 60's."
Of course, the 1960's also happened to be the time when the women's movement rose to prominence. The victories it achieved for women's political equality, economic independence and reproductive rights transformed American society and helped move the nation closer to a "more perfect union."
Apparently, those epochal changes escaped Herman Cain's notice. And while Cain's is being punished in the polls for it, he is being replaced atop the GOP field by Newt Gingrich . While that may be a good thing for Tiffany's bottom line , it's a sad development for American women.
5 Views
21:00:01 11/14/11
Confirmed Serial Adulterer Passes Alleged Serial Harasser in GOP Race
[LESS INFO] 5 VIEWS | ADDED 21:00:01 11/14/11
Here in a nutshell is the state of play in the 2012 Republican presidential sweepstakes: alleged serial sexual harasser Herman Cain is being surpassed by confirmed serial adulterer Newt Gingrich . With Mitt Romney stalled and Cain hemorrhaging support from women voters, polls last week from CBS and Marist showed the former House Speaker had surged into a virtual three-way tie at the top. By Monday, new surveys from CNN and PPP showed Newt vaulting past the fading pizza maker. Nevertheless, that development should be a discomforting prospect for a Republican Party which lost the women's vote by 13 points in 2008. As his public statements and personal life show, the thrice-married Gingrich is hardly a champion for American women.
That starts with Newt Gingrich's belief that marriage is an institution between one man and three women in rapid succession.
In 1980, Newt was separated from his first wife and former high school geometry teacher , Jackie Battley. As she lay incoherent in her hospital bed following surgery for a reoccurrence of uterine cancer, Gingrich paid her a visit to announce he wanted a divorce. As Lee Howell , a Gingrich friend and associate at whose wedding Newt was best man, described it: >
"Newt came up there with his yellow legal pad, and he had a list of things on how the divorce was going to be handled. He wanted her to sign it. She was still recovering from surgery, still sort of out of it, and he comes in with a yellow sheet of paper, handwritten, and wants her to sign it. >
Newt can handle political problems, but when it comes to personal problems, he's a disaster. He handled the divorce like he did any other political decision: You've got to be tough in this business, you've got to be hard. Once you make the decision you've got to act on it. Cut your losses and move on."
He moved on to wife number two, Marianne Ginther . But Marianne fared little better, getting dumped for Congressional staffer Callista Bisek after a six year affair even as Newt was leading the inquisition of Bill Clinton. As Vanity Fair summed it up last year: >
According to Salon, Gingrich and the former Hill staffer (23 years his junior, mind you) would frequently dine in the Supreme Court cafeteria--an unsuspectingly sordid detail. (In 1995, Vanity Fair referred to Bisek as Gingrich's "frequent breakfast companion.") Gingrich stepped down from Congress in 1998 following an ethics scandal, among other things. The two were married two years later.
Gingrich, who swapped his Baptist faith for Catholicism just in time to attack President Obama's 2009 address at Notre Dame University, later explained that his rapid fire infidelities were the actually product of his own patriotism: >
"There's no question at times of my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked far too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate. And what I can tell you is that when I did things that were wrong, I wasn't trapped in situation ethics, I was doing things that were wrong, and yet, I was doing them."
Of course, the things Newt Gingrich was saying to American women weren't any better.
As the New York Times recounted 16 years ago, Newt suggested menstruation should keep women out of essential roles in the American military: >
"If combat means living in a ditch, females have biological problems staying in a ditch for 30 days because they get infections, and they don't have upper-body strength. I mean, some do, but they're relatively rare. On the other hand, men are basically little piglets -- you drop them in the ditch, they roll around in it, doesn't matter, you know."
And for Gingrich, the biggest "infection" of them all - liberalism - caused a young mother to murder her children.
Back in 1994, after dumping his cancer-stricken first wife but before marrying his mistress following the adulterous affair that ended his second marriage, Newt pointed the finger at Democrats for the Susan Smith affair.
It was Smith who drew Americans' initial sympathy - and subsequent scorn - for her invention of a black bogeyman to conceal her heinous crime.
On October 24th, 1994, as the New York Times recalled, Smith killed her young sons, killings for which she was eventually sentenced to life in prison: >
That night, investigators say, Mrs. Smith pulled her car to the edge of a deep lake, stepped out, put the gearshift in drive and let it roll down the boat ramp into the black water. Her two little boys, buckled snugly in their safety seats, died under the lake... >
..."I believed her, right up to the end," said Juliaette Kerhulas, of Mrs. Smith's story that a young black man had ordered her out of her burgundy 1990 Mazda on the night of Oct. 25, then driven away with 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander in the back seat.
Ms. Kerhulas wasn't the only one who believed in her. None other than future House Speaker Newt Gingrich rushed to the defense of Smith, whose step-father ironically happened to be a prominent Republican fundraiser and member of the Christian Coalition. Even after her confession, Gingrich insisted the Smith murders showed the decay of American society under Democratic Party rule : >
Enter Newt Gingrich, who rushed into action on election eve with another reliable generic culprit: society. He said the double murder "vividly reminds every American how sick the society is getting and how much we need to change things," expediently adding that "the only way you get change is to vote Republican."
As Frank Rich recounted in August 1995: >
Asked later by Tom Brokaw to elaborate, the Speaker-to-be cited "a direct nexus between the general acceptance of violence" and "the pattern that the counterculture and Lyndon Johnson's Great Society began in the late 60's."
Of course, the 1960's also happened to be the time when the women's movement rose to prominence. The victories it achieved for women's political equality, economic independence and reproductive rights transformed American society and helped move the nation closer to a "more perfect union."
Apparently, those epochal changes escaped Herman Cain's notice. And while Cain's is being punished in the polls for it, he is being replaced atop the GOP field by Newt Gingrich . While that may be a good thing for Tiffany's bottom line , it's a sad development for American women.
0 Views
20:09:33 11/03/11
Why Higher GDP Does Not Equal More Wealth for the 99%
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 20:09:33 11/03/11
Why Higher GDP Does Not Equal More Wealth for the 99% Compass Summit - Terranea Resort THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE OF JOBS AND THE WORKFORCE Race Against the Machine: How the Digital Revolution Irreversibly Transforms Employment and the Economy Erik Brynjolfsson, Director, MIT Center for Digital Business Compass Summit, a forum for true interaction and exchange, examines some of today's most pressing problems through the lens of global citizenship, recognizing that human ingenuity is an unlimited resource. Guided by NPR's Ira Flatow, an intimate group of some of the world's best thinkers and doers convened along the rugged Palos Verdes coastline on Oct 23-26, 2011 at Terranea Resort to engage in meaningful conversation, ask questions, and challenge ideas -- we invite you to join in the conversation.
0 Views
22:00:55 11/01/11
Iowa Special Election Much More Important Than the Media Is Telling Us
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 22:00:55 11/01/11
On November 8, Iowa is holding a special election for a state senate race, something that wouldn't usually have national implications. Usually. This time, a small election with candidates not known much outside the state could help decide not only the future of the state, but could be a sign of a larger trend.
The election begins with a dirty trick from Republican Gov. Terry Branstad , doing his best to follow in the steps of Wisconsin and Ohio: >
The Republicans have mounted a sneak attack - trying to send Iowa down the same terrible road as Wisconsin and Ohio. Democrats were clinging to a 26-24 majority in the State Senate, but the Governor appointed a Democratic senator to a statewide board, just so he could call a special election that could allow Republicans to take control of the State Senate and the entire Iowa state government1.
This snap special election will be held in less than two weeks on November 8. If Republicans win, there'll be a 25-25 tie, which would be broken by the Republican Lieutenant Governor. The super-thin Dem majority in the State Senate is our only protection against all kinds of evil Republican schemes.
The Republican candidate is Cindy Golding, the co-chair of the Linn County Republican Party , and if you have any doubt about the importance of the election, the line-up of conservatives supporting her should put those doubts to rest. Pumping money into the race are Rick Santorum , the Team Iowa PAC, the Concordia Group, the National Organization for Marriage and the Family Leader (which is connected to the Family Research Council).
The Democrat is Liz Mathis, who is described as a progressive by bloggers and Netroots activists at Daily Kos and elsewhere. Mathis has outraised Golding in the short election cycle and Democrats have a 2-1 advantage in absentee ballot requests . Those interested in supporting the campaign can join Progressive Kick and Working Families Win via ActBlue. You can read her bio at her website to learn more.
If Golding wins, a host of important issues are in the balance, including marriage equality, collective bargaining, increasing use of nuclear power and numerous others. A conservative victory could boost fund raising and encourage conservatives in other states, widening the battlefield that has dominated a number of swing states this year.
You can follow the election at Blog for Iowa and Bleeding Heartland .
5 Views
22:00:55 11/01/11
Iowa Special Election Much More Important Than the Media Is Telling Us
[LESS INFO] 5 VIEWS | ADDED 22:00:55 11/01/11
On November 8, Iowa is holding a special election for a state senate race, something that wouldn't usually have national implications. Usually. This time, a small election with candidates not known much outside the state could help decide not only the future of the state, but could be a sign of a larger trend.
The election begins with a dirty trick from Republican Gov. Terry Branstad , doing his best to follow in the steps of Wisconsin and Ohio: >
The Republicans have mounted a sneak attack - trying to send Iowa down the same terrible road as Wisconsin and Ohio. Democrats were clinging to a 26-24 majority in the State Senate, but the Governor appointed a Democratic senator to a statewide board, just so he could call a special election that could allow Republicans to take control of the State Senate and the entire Iowa state government1.
This snap special election will be held in less than two weeks on November 8. If Republicans win, there'll be a 25-25 tie, which would be broken by the Republican Lieutenant Governor. The super-thin Dem majority in the State Senate is our only protection against all kinds of evil Republican schemes.
The Republican candidate is Cindy Golding, the co-chair of the Linn County Republican Party , and if you have any doubt about the importance of the election, the line-up of conservatives supporting her should put those doubts to rest. Pumping money into the race are Rick Santorum , the Team Iowa PAC, the Concordia Group, the National Organization for Marriage and the Family Leader (which is connected to the Family Research Council).
The Democrat is Liz Mathis, who is described as a progressive by bloggers and Netroots activists at Daily Kos and elsewhere. Mathis has outraised Golding in the short election cycle and Democrats have a 2-1 advantage in absentee ballot requests . Those interested in supporting the campaign can join Progressive Kick and Working Families Win via ActBlue. You can read her bio at her website to learn more.
If Golding wins, a host of important issues are in the balance, including marriage equality, collective bargaining, increasing use of nuclear power and numerous others. A conservative victory could boost fund raising and encourage conservatives in other states, widening the battlefield that has dominated a number of swing states this year.
You can follow the election at Blog for Iowa and Bleeding Heartland .
0 Views
22:00:19 10/12/11
Walmart Is Improving Its Environmental Policies, But Still Ignoring Worker Concerns
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 22:00:19 10/12/11
Walmart is proudly proclaiming its progress towards its goals to become a better company . They tout their advancements in the areas of environmental impact and support for local farmers and local food. But they still have significant problems in the treatment of their workforce and the impact their stores have on local businesses.
The retailer is attempting to open a store in Burbank, Calif., and is facing opposition from local residents who fear the negative impact the story would have on the community. Walmart's recent expansions have been less controversial because the chain has begun to open new stores in existing, vacant big box stores abandoned by other retailers suffering from the weak economy.
Workers are still facing a company not interested in giving them fair wages. A recent study showed that Walmart could pay its entire workforce $12 an hour without seeing much, if any, loss of profits.
Activist group Our Walmart, which is made up of employees of the company, has a list of changes it would like the company to make to improve workers rights: >
One of Sam Walton’s rules for building a successful business was, “Listen to everyone in your company and figure out ways to get them talking.” We are following that winning philosophy. However, too many of us do not have a true voice at our stores. Our concerns about providing the highest quality customer care and about making our jobs, quality jobs are ignored. Walmart should listen to OUR Walmart, celebrate our initiative, and follow our recommendations.
We are the foundation of the quality service and value Walmart provides its customers. Walmart should honor the hard work and humanity of Associates by living up to Mr. Sam’s promise of “respect for the individual.”
Associates who assert their freedom of association frequently face retribution from the company. Walmart should allow Associates to freely join OUR Walmart without fear of negative company action.
Associates who have tried to utilize Walmart’s Open Door have found that their issues are not resolved and confidentiality is not respected. Walmart should ensure confidentiality in the Open Door and provide in writing resolution to issues that are brought up and always allow associates to bring a co-worker as a witness.
Walmart publicly claims that pay for full-time Associates averages more than $13 per hour in some communities, when in truth most of us work for less than $10 per hour and are only scheduled for part-time hours, making it difficult to support our families. Walmart should follow through on its public statements and pay at least $13 per hour and expand the percentage of full-time workers.
Our schedules are often irregular and inflexible making it difficult to care for our families. Walmart should make scheduling more predictable and dependable.
Too many of us are unable to access Walmart’s health care because it is too expensive or we lack the hours to qualify. Walmart should expand health care coverage and continue to work to expand coverage when health reform goes into effect, rather than taking advantage of loopholes in the law to deny coverage.
Too often Associates are faced with retaliation when speaking out about issues at work. Walmart should honor our constitutional right to freedom of speech and adhere to company policies that support dialogue and resolution.
Walmart’s management often chooses to enforce written policies only when it is in their own interest, leaving Associates guessing proper protocol. Walmart should do more to ensure managers are properly trained on how to evenly and equitably enforce Walmart’s written policies at all times and to provide all Associates with a policy manual.
Too many of us have been denied equal treatment. Walmart should adopt affirmative policies that secure full access to opportunity and equal treatment to all Associates regardless of gender, race, disability or age.
We know our company has an impact around the globe in terms of its standards and practices. Walmart should require that suppliers and stores around the globe operate with the highest standards and ensure that workers’ freedom to associate is respected.
0 Views
15:22:35 09/29/11
And They're Off - Clip - Dusty and Dee Before Their First Race
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 15:22:35 09/29/11
Sean Astin and Cheri Oteri star in the indie comedy "And They're Off…," the story of a losing thoroughbred horse trainer (Astin) whose only chance to save his career and get back into the winner's circle is to hire his erratic ex-girlfriend/jockey (Oteri), who is equally as desperate to get back into HIS circle.
4 Views
11:19:26 06/06/11
Racial Integration in Corporate America: New Girl in the Office
[LESS INFO] 4 VIEWS | ADDED 11:19:26 06/06/11
Racial integration, or simply integration includes desegregation the process of ending systematic racial segregation. In addition to desegregation, integration includes goals such as leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of race, and the development of a culture that draws on diverse traditions, rather than merely bringing a racial minority into the majority culture. [...]
86 Views
00:30:00 04/27/11
drive it!: The Motor Magazine
[LESS INFO] 86 VIEWS | ADDED 00:30:00 04/27/11
The days when German carmakers sent their excess stock to China to get rid of it at a profit are over. Nowadays, to make a splash at the Shanghai Motor Show, manufacturers need to make cars exclusively for the Chinese market.The three convertibles from BMW, Maserati and Jaguar featured in this week's Drive it! would be just the ticket. And we delve into the auto hall of fame to take a look at Volkswagen's compact but robust rallye-beetle. Examine it! The Shanghai Auto ShowThe Shanghai Auto Show takes place every two years, alternating with Beijing's Auto Show.This year manufacturers will premiere their latest products at the show for the fourteenth time. The Chinese car market is not growing quite as quickly as in previous years, but it's still way ahead of Europe. German carmakers are well represented in China and they have plenty of world premieres in Shanghai too. Drive it! takes a look at the latest car trends on display. Compare it! BMW 6er Cabrio - Maserati GranCabrio - Jaguar XKR CabrioThe BMW 6-series convertible, the Maserati GranCabrio and the Jaguar XKR Cabriolet are models that offer exclusivity at equally exclusive prices.The Maserati will set you back the most - at least 132,000 euros, but you may never tire of the music its engine makes. The Jaguar is the most powerful. With 375 kilowatts, it does 0 to 100 km/h in just 4.8 seconds and hits a top speed of 250 km/h. The cheapest is the 6-series convertible, BMW's new flagship model. At 4.9 meters in length and 1.90 wide, it's also a big car. Test it! Skoda Greenline models under the microscope"Greenline" is the badge Skoda puts on the most fuel-efficient models of its various products. Greenline models have been tweaked in various ways to reduce fuel consumption as much as possible.Those tweaks include the use of diesel engines tuned for maximum efficiency, automatic start-stop systems and systems that recover energy lost in braking. Drive it! shows how drivers can get the most out of the Skoda Superb Kombi Greenline. Spot it! How Important is a Wheel Balance When Changing Tires?When spring has sprung it's time to exchange snow tires for summer ones (high-performance ones). That's quickly done with a visit to the garage, but many people prefer to change their car's tires themselves.Still, do-it-yourselfers can't balance their wheels themselves. Drive it! shows what happens when wheels are poorly mounted or out of balance. Tire blowouts can result, as well as damage to the vehicle's suspension and drive train.Vintage! The VW BeetleIt sounds a bit strange for a popular family car like the Volkswagen Beetle to be outfitted with a roll bar, bucket seats and a racing harness. But the first souped-up VW Bugs hit the roads in Germany as early as 1951.Drive it! got a chance to take a specially-tuned, vintage rallye Beetle out for a spin - and discovered that roll bars, bucket seats and racing seat belts are more than welcome in a Bug that can do 170 km/h.
25 Views
00:30:00 04/27/11
drive it!: The Motor Magazine
[LESS INFO] 25 VIEWS | ADDED 00:30:00 04/27/11
The days when German carmakers sent their excess stock to China to get rid of it at a profit are over. Nowadays, to make a splash at the Shanghai Motor Show, manufacturers need to make cars exclusively for the Chinese market.The three convertibles from BMW, Maserati and Jaguar featured in this week's Drive it! would be just the ticket. And we delve into the auto hall of fame to take a look at Volkswagen's compact but robust rallye-beetle. Examine it! The Shanghai Auto ShowThe Shanghai Auto Show takes place every two years, alternating with Beijing's Auto Show.This year manufacturers will premiere their latest products at the show for the fourteenth time. The Chinese car market is not growing quite as quickly as in previous years, but it's still way ahead of Europe. German carmakers are well represented in China and they have plenty of world premieres in Shanghai too. Drive it! takes a look at the latest car trends on display. Compare it! BMW 6er Cabrio - Maserati GranCabrio - Jaguar XKR CabrioThe BMW 6-series convertible, the Maserati GranCabrio and the Jaguar XKR Cabriolet are models that offer exclusivity at equally exclusive prices.The Maserati will set you back the most - at least 132,000 euros, but you may never tire of the music its engine makes. The Jaguar is the most powerful. With 375 kilowatts, it does 0 to 100 km/h in just 4.8 seconds and hits a top speed of 250 km/h. The cheapest is the 6-series convertible, BMW's new flagship model. At 4.9 meters in length and 1.90 wide, it's also a big car. Test it! Skoda Greenline models under the microscope"Greenline" is the badge Skoda puts on the most fuel-efficient models of its various products. Greenline models have been tweaked in various ways to reduce fuel consumption as much as possible.Those tweaks include the use of diesel engines tuned for maximum efficiency, automatic start-stop systems and systems that recover energy lost in braking. Drive it! shows how drivers can get the most out of the Skoda Superb Kombi Greenline. Spot it! How Important is a Wheel Balance When Changing Tires?When spring has sprung it's time to exchange snow tires for summer ones (high-performance ones). That's quickly done with a visit to the garage, but many people prefer to change their car's tires themselves.Still, do-it-yourselfers can't balance their wheels themselves. Drive it! shows what happens when wheels are poorly mounted or out of balance. Tire blowouts can result, as well as damage to the vehicle's suspension and drive train.Vintage! The VW BeetleIt sounds a bit strange for a popular family car like the Volkswagen Beetle to be outfitted with a roll bar, bucket seats and a racing harness. But the first souped-up VW Bugs hit the roads in Germany as early as 1951.Drive it! got a chance to take a specially-tuned, vintage rallye Beetle out for a spin - and discovered that roll bars, bucket seats and racing seat belts are more than welcome in a Bug that can do 170 km/h.
4 Views
14:00:02 12/15/10
C&L Opening Bell: Mitt Romney's Ass-Tastic Idea for Unemployment Insurance Edition
[LESS INFO] 4 VIEWS | ADDED 14:00:02 12/15/10
enlarge Happy Wednesday, campers! Mitt Romney yesterday engaged in a pathetic pander to Dittohead Nation by honoring their time-honored tradition of trashing the unemployed. Let's take a look at what our pal Mittens had to say : >
The system is also not designed for a flexible economy like ours in which some employees move from job to job for short periods, and are therefore ineligible for unemployment compensation when they are faced with a protracted spell without work.
To remedy such problems we need a very different model, perhaps establishing individual unemployment savings accounts over which employees would exercise direct control when they lose their jobs, or putting in place financial incentives for employers to hire and train the long-term unemployed. One thing is certain: While we cannot rebuild our flawed system overnight, we are surely not required to borrow the funds to pay for it. In spending $56.5 billion to extend benefits, the deal is sacrificing the bedrock Republican principle that new expenditures be paid for with offsetting budget cuts.
That last sentence is the most hilarious pile of horses*** I've read in a long, long time. Let's go through some of the wonderful Republican initiatives over the past decade and see if they were offset by budget cuts:
* The cost of extending the Bush tax cuts for the rich for the next two years will be $79 billion , or more than $20 billion more than the cost of extending unemployment benefits. Mittens sees no need to pay for these.
* The Iraq war has cost us close to $750 billion. Did the GOP try to offset those costs with tax increases or budget cuts? Pffffffft!
* And then there's TARP, the $700 billion bank bailout that had no guarantee of seeing any return on investment. Again, did the GOP insist on making cuts or raising taxes to pay for this? Nope.
So in Romney's world, government spending is only reckless if it benefits people who have lost their jobs. If it involves pointless wars, bank bailouts or tax cuts for Paris Hilton, though, it doesn't need to be offset by anything since all of those things are free. Why anyone takes this clown seriously -- or why Useless, Eh? Today felt the need to print his scribblings without the least bit of fact checking -- is beyond me.
Let's look at the rest of today's economic news:
* First, some happy news : >
New government data released Tuesday bolstered retailers' hopes that consumers are shaking off the recession and pulling out their wallets just in time for the most critical sales months of the year.
The Commerce Department reported a 0.8 percent increase in retail sales in November from the previous month, with big gains at clothing stores, sporting goods chains and department stores. It also revised its estimate for October upward, from a 1.2 percent gain to 1.7 percent.
The strong results, combined with the recent stock market rally, prompted an influential industry trade group to raise its holiday sales forecast Tuesday. The National Retail Federation said it now predicts that November and December sales will grow 3.3 percent compared with last year, one percentage point higher than its original estimate.
"It's been a while since we've really seen the retail industry drive strong economic growth," NRF spokesman Scott Krugman said. "Pent-up demand is meeting discounts, creating better than expected results for the holiday season.
I'm skeptical that this can last beyond a one-month blip but any good news is more than welcome. It's nice to write about the economy without sounding like a Leonard Cohen song every day, you know?
* More good news -- the lead AG on the Fraudclosure investigation wants to throw some of these SOBs in jail: >
The lead Attorney General of the 50-state foreclosure investigation, Iowa’s Tom Miller, said “We will put people in jail,” in response to questions during a meeting Tuesday with more than 100 people from 15 states representing community, faith, and labor organizations, foreclosure victims and struggling homeowners from across the country.
Miller also agreed that principal reductions, loan modifications, and compensation for defrauded homeowners are necessary to clean up the mortgage mess created by the big banks.
“One of the main tools needs to be principal reductions, just like in the farm crisis in the 1980s. There should be some kind of compensation system for people who have been harmed. And the foreclosure process should stop while loan modifications begin. To have a race between foreclosures and modifications to see which happens first is insane.”
To me the practices of the banks and the mortgage industry have been so clearly fraudulent that I will be somewhat shocked if some of these clowns didn't go to jail. Forging affidavits is typically not something the government looks fondly upon and I hope it's no different in this case.
* And hey, since we're on a happy news roll today, let's take in another one: Larry Summers has given his farewell speech ! That means he's no longer working in government!
The downside, of course, is that Tim Geithner's still there and I'm sure Obama will tap someone equally odious such as Roger Altman to replace him. Gotta get those Wall Street campaign donations back in line relationships with the business community in a better place, after all.
And that's about it for today, class, I'm letting you go a little early. And since my posting of Mendelssohn's violin concerto yesterday seemed to bring us some happier news, let's see if we can extend it by posting more cheerful classical music. This cheerful melody from "The Marriage of Figaro" is what I'll be humming on the first day the government makes arrests in the fraudclosure scandal:
See you tomorrow!
11 Views
21:23:18 11/23/10
Patch 4.0.3a and more
[LESS INFO] 11 VIEWS | ADDED 21:23:18 11/23/10
UPDATE: Title fixed. Sorry for the confusion. Grrr...
I didn't want to post anything about the new patch until I was absolutely sure Blizzard will release it this week. Now is time to speak about it since they already start "breaking" the US live realms.
This is the patch responsible for breaking the whole Azeroth. After this goes live the world wont be the same again. This is NOT Cataclysm yet. Most of the Cataclysm features are going to be added on December 7, when the new expansion will be launched.
A while ago a player compiled the features of this patch and Cataclysm and grouped them so we can know what we can do in 4.0.3a and what we can no until Cataclysm.
If somehow you have misses our Cataclysm reviews and our Cataclysm Exploration episodes you can still find them over here and read them while you download the patch and wait for your realm to go online.
Plus, do not forget to check out the Blizzard store . If you want to make a game present or you miss any wow expansion this is the moment to buy them: WoW $5, BC $5, WotLK $10... until Nov 30th.
What IS in:
* Portals in Dalaran Removed (you have trainers instead)
* New race-class combinations (except worgen/goblin)
* Race Changing to new class combinations (check the wowhead table for them)
* New Gnome/Troll starting areas
* Changes to existing zones (the world that you know it will change forever)
* New cata load screens, cinematic, music and login screen
* City Quartermasters, with rep tabards for championing
* Class balancing and bug fixes
* Druids, paladins, priests, and shaman will have their talent trees reset
* Experience required to gain levels 71 through 80 is being reduced by 20%
* New tamable hunter pets (monkey, fox, dog, and beetle) as well as new skins for existing pet classes. (check more on wow-petopia )
* A steam powered auctioneer, similar to the engineering only one in the Like Clockwork store, has been added next to the justice point vendors in Dalaran. They are now usable by all non-engineers.
* Some mounts other items are being removed (check this for details) (thanks WarcraftPets )
What IS NOT in this patch:
* Creating worgen/goblin characters
* Worgen/Goblin start zones
* Archeology profession
* Professions past 450 (Illustrious Grand Master)
* Guild leveling
* Guild achievements
* Eastern Kingdoms/Kalimdor flight skill
* New Zones (80+)
Official 4.0.3a Patch Notes
In the frigid wastes of Northrend, the final battle against the merciless Lich King ended in victory for Azeroth's defenders. Upon returning home, veterans of the unforgiving conflict against the Scourge were showered with praise for their valiant sacrifices, while the honorable dead were mourned. Yet as hope flared anew in the wake of the Lich King's fall, Azeroth's native elemental spirits grew confused and erratic, setting off a series of deadly natural disasters. Horde and Alliance leaders scrambled for clues about the troubling state of the world, but nothing could have prepared them for what was to come.
Without warning, the corrupted Dragon Aspect, Deathwing, erupted from the stone heart of Deepholm, the domain of earth within the Elemental Plane. Jagged fissures were torn across the earth, and monstrous waves pummeled coastal regions. From Thousand Needles to the Blasted Lands, the surface of Azeroth was reforged through violent upheavals. Now, the Horde and the Alliance must defend their homes against Deathwing and his minions, burdened by the unsettling fact that the world as they know it has changed…forever.
General
* Azeroth Shattered
* Deathwing's return has had an immeasurable impact throughout the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor. Players will notice drastically altered terrain, thousands of new quests from levels 1-60, and updated level ranges for some zones to improve the questing flow.
* New Race/Class Combinations
* In the wake of a world on the brink of destruction, members of the Horde and Alliance have taken to new cultures and studies, mastering crafts previously foreign to them. Many existing playable races now have new class combinations. Check the official World of Warcraft: Cataclysm website for a breakdown of the new combinations.
* The World of Warcraft: Cataclysm cinematic trailer and login screen have been added to the game.
* Experience required to gain levels 71 through 80 has been reduced by 20%, which increases leveling rate by 25%.
* Many quests in zones on Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor have been removed from the game to make way for new adventures. These quests have been automatically removed from players' Quest Logs.
Classes: General
* Due to several talent revisions for select classes, druids, paladins, priests, and shaman have had their talent trees reset.
* The damage and healing done by players from levels 1-79 has been retuned, with the base points of almost all spells and abilities reduced. This was done to bring combat times at low levels to a more reasonable length. For most abilities that deal weapon damage, the weapon damage percent now rises per level until level 80, and starts at a lower percent.
* Healing Rain, Efflorescence, Holy Radiance, Holy Word: Sanctuary now have a diminished effect when healing more than 6 players at once.
* Mortal Strike, Furious Attacks, Wound Poison, Widow Venom, Permafrost, Improved Mind Blast, Monstrous Bite, and Legion Strike now reduce healing by 10%, down from 25%.
* Effects which are broken from taking too much damage (Fear, Frost Nova, Entangling Roots, etc.) now break automatically from about half as much damage taken as before.
Death Knight
* Death Pact now heals for 25% of maximum health, down from 40%.
* Death Strike now heals for 25% of damage taken in the last 5 seconds, down from 30%, and will heal for a minimum of 7% of maximum health, down from 10%. The tooltip may not yet be updated to reflect this change.
* Icebound Fortitude now provides 20% damage reduction, down from 30% (now 50%, down from 60% when talented), and has a 3-minute cooldown, up from 2 minutes.
* Talent Specializations
* Blood
* Rune Tap now heals for 10% of maximum health, down from 15%. The tooltip may not yet be updated to reflect this change.
* Glyphs
* Glyph of Rune Tap now heals for 5% of maximum health, down from 10%.
* Bug Fixes
* Frost Fever critical strikes now apply the correct amount of bonus damage.
* Horn of Winter will once again provide runic power when used while another Attack Power buff is already present on the death knight.
Druid
* Bear Form now provides 10% bonus health, down from 20%.
* Nourish no longer consumes Omen of Clarity.
* Rejuvenation has had its mana cost increased by 30%.
* Soothe now has a 1.5-second cast time.
* Swipe (Cat Form) can now be used even if the druid does not have a primary target selected.
* Thorns: beginner tooltip revised to no longer imply the spell could be kept up at all times. In addition, Thorns damage has been reduced by 60%.
* Talent Specializations
* Balance
* PvP set bonus redesigned. While not in an Eclipse state, critical attacks against the druid restore 5 Solar or 7 Lunar energy, whichever is more beneficial. This effect can only occur once every 6 seconds.
* Feral
* Brutal Impact now increases the mana cost of spells on the victim by 5/10% for 10 seconds, down from 15/30%.
* Leader of the Pack now heals for 4%, down from 8%.
* Survival Instincts now provides 50% damage reduction, down from 60%, and its cooldown has been lowered from 5 minutes to 3 minutes.
* Swipe (Bear Form) damage has been reduced by 20%.
* Vengeance is no longer cleared on exiting Bear Form, and instead is cleared upon entering Cat Form.
* Restoration
* Empowered Touch now procs from Healing Touch as well as Nourish.
* Heart of the Wild: the Bear Form Stamina bonus from this talent is now 2/4/6%, down from 3/7/10%.
* Malfurion’s Gift no longer has Fury of Stormrage as a prerequisite talent.
* Natural Shapeshifter now also increases Tree of Life duration by 5/10 seconds.
* Revitalize is now a 2-point talent, down from 3. It provides a 20% chance to return 1/2% of the druid's total mana on periodic heals from Lifebloom or Rejuvenation. This effect cannot occur more than once every 12 seconds.
* Swift Rejuvenation is now a 1-point talent, down from 2. The global cooldown reduction this talent provides to Rejuvenation remains 0.5 seconds.
* Symbiosis: heal-over-time spells (Rejuvenation, Regrowth, Lifebloom) can no longer benefit from this Mastery merely by refreshing themselves. A different heal-over-time spell must be present.
* Glyphs
* Glyph of Healing Touch now reduces the cooldown on Nature's Swiftness by 10 seconds after using Healing Touch, up from 5 seconds.
* Glyph of the Treant (new) allows druids to keep the original treant Tree of Life look... if they must. Must they?
* Bug Fixes
* Blood in the Water now refreshes Rip to the correct value.
* Flight Form now properly appears in the trainer window before Expert Riding is learned.
Hunter
* All special attacks based on weapon damage (except Scattershot) are now normalized.
* Scare Beast is now available at level 36, up from level 14, and has had its training cost updated.
* Deterrence is now available at level 78, up from level 36, and has had its training cost updated.
* Disengage is now available at level 14, down from level 78, and has had its training cost updated.
* Glyphs
* The level requirements for glyphs that affect Scare Beast, Deterrence, and Disengage have been altered to correspond with the level changes of these abilities.
* Bug Fixes
* The Core Hound pet ability Ancient Hysteria now places its own unique debuff on affected players that has the same effect as Sated and Exhaustion.
* Certain pets should no longer forget how to Dash.
Mage
* Arcane Blast now increases damage of the next Arcane Blast by 10% per stack, down from 20%, reduces cast time by 0.1 seconds per stack, and increases the mana cost by 150%, down from 175%. In addition, the base cast time of Arcane Blast has been lowered to 2.35 seconds.
* Arcane Explosion now costs 15% of base mana, down from 18%.
* Arcane Missiles damage has been increased by 5%.
* PvP set 4-piece bonus changed to increase damage by 5% instead of providing 5% Haste.
* Talent Specializations
* Arcane
* Arcane Barrage damage has been increased by 5% and its cooldown is now 4 seconds, down from 5 seconds.
* Arcane Concentration: Now has a much higher chance (13/27/40%) of entering a Clearcasting state. This effect cannot occur more than once every 15 seconds. The tooltip still states that there is a 3/6/10% chance, as it averages out to approximately the same chance with the internal cooldown applied.
* Arcane Specialization again increases arcane damage by 25%.
* Fire
* Blazing Speed no longer dispels movement slowing effects (it still dispels effects that totally stop movement).
* Fire Specialization again increases periodic fire damage effects by 25%.
* Molten Shields now also causes Blazing Speed to dispel movement slowing effects in addition to its current functionality.
* Pyroblast base mana cost is now 17%, down from 22%.
* Frost
* Deep Freeze: the cooldown on this ability is no longer reduced by Haste.
* Early Frost now reduces Frostbolt cast time by 0.3/0.6 seconds, down from 0.35/0.70 seconds.
* Fingers of Frost proc chance is now 7/14/20%, down from 10/20/30%.
* Frost Specialization again increases all damage against frozen target by 25%.
* Reactive Barrier is now triggered by any damage which causes the mage's health to be below 50%, even if the mage was already below 50%.
* Shatter now also increases Frostbolt damage by 10/20% against frozen targets.
* Shattered Barrier duration is now 2/4 seconds, down from 3/6 seconds.
* Glyphs
* Glyph of Evocation now heals for 40%, down from 60%.
* Glyph of Deep Freeze now increases damage done by Deep Freeze by 20% (no longer increases Frostbolt damage against Deep Frozen targets).
* Bug Fixes
* Improved Polymorph now correctly shares diminishing returns with controlled stuns.
Paladin
* Exorcism damage has been increased by approximately 50%.
* Holy Radiance now has reduced effectiveness on targets over 8 yards away from the paladin.
* Seal of Truth: periodic damage from Censure reduced by 25%.
* Talent Specializations
* Holy
* Beacon of Light now lasts 5 minutes, up from 60 seconds.
* Blessed Life: the effects of this talent cannot occur more than once every 8 seconds, up from every 2 seconds.
* Illuminated Healing absorb shield now absorbs 10% of the total amount healed, up from 8%. Each point of Mastery increases the effect by an additional 1.25%, up from 1%.
* Light of dawn has been redesigned. It no longer has an enforced cooldown, now costs Holy Power instead of mana, and scale in direct proportion to the amount of Holy Power used. In addition, it now heals the 5 most injured group targets (including self) in a 30-yard frontal cone.
* Protector of the Innocent no longer triggers from self-heals.
* Protection
* Divine Bulwark now grants 2.25% less block chance per point of Mastery, up from 2%.
* Holy shield no longer increases chance to block. Instead, it increases the amount blocked by an additional 10%, for a total of 40% damage blocked.
* Shield of the Righteous: Contribution of attack power halved (now 60% with full Holy Power) and base damage brought up so that a level 85 paladin in Heroic dungeon gear deals the same damage with no Vengeance, but Vengeance has less impact.
* Shield of the Templar now reduces the cooldown of Guardian of Ancient Kings by 40/80/120 seconds, down from 1/2/3 minutes.
* Wrath of the Lightbringer now increases Crusader Strike and Judgement damage by 50/100%, up from 30/60%.
* Retribution
* Crusade now also has a proc on kill to increase the healing done by the paladin's next Holy Light by 100/200/300% for 15 seconds, in addition to its current effects.
* Divine Storm: This ability has been redesigned. It no longer consumes Holy Power and instead costs 5% of base mana. It shares a cooldown with Crusader Strike and hits all nearby enemies for 60% weapon damage.
* Pursuit of Justice now has an 8-second internal cooldown, shared with Blessed Life.
* Rebuke no longer initiates Auto Attack.
* Sanctity of Battle now also causes Divine Storm’s cooldown to be reduced by Haste effects.
* Zealotry no longer consumes 3 Holy Power, but still requires 3 Holy Power to use.
* Glyphs
* Glyph of Beacon of Light now makes Beacon of Light free, instead of increasing the duration by 30 seconds.
* Glyph of Divinity has been redesigned. It now grants the paladin 10% of maximum mana upon use.
* Glyph of Light of Dawn now increases the total number of most injured targets healed by 1.
Priest
* Binding Heal now provides roughly double the amount of healing.
* Prayer of Healing has had its mana cost reduced by nearly 30%, and its base points and Spell Power coefficient increased by 20%.
* Talent Specializations
* Discipline
* Divine Aegis is now always triggered by Prayer of Healing, in addition to critical heals from all other spells.
* Grace has been increased to 4/8% stacking 3 times, up from 2/4% stacking.
* Inner Focus now works with Binding Heal, but no longer works with Heal.
* Power Word: Barrier has been redesigned. It no longer acts as a shared absorb shield. Instead, all affected friendly targets take 30% reduced damage for the duration of the shield, which is now 10 seconds, down from 25 seconds.
* Shadow
* Shadow Orbs: redesigned slightly. The Shadow Orbs continue to increase damage done by Mind Blast and Mind Spike and stack up to 3 times, but now when the priest casts Mind Blast or Mind Spike (consuming the orbs), the priest gains a 15-second duration buff (Empowered Shadow), which increases the damage done by all Shadow periodic spells. Empowered Shadow does not stack. Mastery increases the damage bonus of Shadow Orbs and Empowered Shadow by the same amount, 10% with the base 8 Mastery, and an additional 1.25% per Mastery.
* Vampiric Embrace healing to the caster has been reduced to 6%, down from 12% (there was a tooltip error which stated that the self-healing amount was 15%). Party members still receive 3% healing.
* Bug Fixes
* Dark Archangel now correctly increases the damage done of certain abilities by 4%.
Rogue
* Deadly Poison base damage and attack power coefficient have been increased by 30%.
* Recuperate now restores 2% of maximum health, down from 3%.
* Venomous Wounds base damage and attack power coefficient have been increased by 30%.
* Talent Specializations
* Combat
* Aggression now increases damage of Sinister Strike, Backstab, and Eviscerate by 7/14/20%, up from 5/10/15%.
* Bandit’s Guile now gives 10/20/30% increased damage as the rogue gains greater insight, up from 5/10/15%.
* Subtlety
* Executioner no longer affects Recuperate.
* Bug Fixes
* Bandit's Guile now applies more consistently to all of the abilities it's supposed to modify.
* Player guardians and temporary pets now stop attacking when a rogue uses Vanish, but city guards will not.
Shaman
* Chain Heal mana cost increased from 17% to 20% of base mana.
* Earthliving Weapon now only has 25% of its full chance to proc from a single hop of Chain Heal.
* Talent Specializations
* Elemental
* Elemental Reach now also increases Searing Totem range by 7/15 yards.
* Fulmination now has a Spell Alert visual associated with it, which appears when the shaman gets to 9 Lightning Shield charges.
Warlock
* Bane of Agony damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
* Bane of Doom damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
* Corruption damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
* Death Coil damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
* Drain Life damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
* Drain Soul damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
* Immolate damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
* Incinerate damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
* Rain of Fire damage has been increased to be more comparable to other area-of-effect abilities.
* Searing Pain damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
* Seed of Corruption damage has been reduced to be more comparable to other area-of-effect abilities.
* Shadowbolt damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
* Soul Fire damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
* Talent Specializations
* Demonology
* Hand of Gul'dan damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
* Destruction
* Chaos Bolt damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
* Conflagrate damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
* Shadowburn damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
* Bug Fixes
* Drain Life: The Soulburn version of this was charging 17% of base mana instead of 12% like the normal version. This has been corrected.
Warrior
* Cleave damage has been reduced by approximately 17%.
* Execute damage has been reduced by approximately 17%.
* Heroic Strike damage has been reduced by approximately 17%.
* Overpower now does 125% weapon damage, down from 150%.
* Rend base damage has been reduced by approximately 17% and percent of weapon damage per tick lowered to 25%, from 30%.
* Shield Block now only increases block chance by 25%, but excess block that pushes avoidance plus block to over 100% is now converted to critical block chance.
* Slam now costs 15 rage, down from 20, and now does 125% weapon damage, down from 150%.
* Victory Rush damage has been reduced by approximately 17%.
* Whirlwind now does 65% weapon damage, down from 75%.
* Talent Specializations
* Arms
* Mortal Strike now does 150% weapon damage, down from 185%.
* Second Wind now heals for 2/5% of total health, down from 5/10%.
* Strikes of Opportunity now does 100% weapon damage, down from 115%.
* Fury
* Blood Craze now heals for 1/2/3% of total health, down from 2.5/5/7.5%.
* Bloodthirst damage has been reduced by approximately 17%.
* Raging Blow now does 110% weapon damage, down from 150%.
* Unshackled Fury now gains approximately 50% more benefit per point of Mastery.
* Protection
* Critical Block now grants an equal amount of block chance and critical block chance (1.5% each per point of Mastery).
* Devastate no longer provides bonus threat.
* Shield Slam: Contribution of attack power reduced to 60%, down from 75%, and base damage brought up so that a level 85 warrior in Heroic dungeon gear deals the same damage with no Vengeance, but Vengeance has less impact. In addition, Shield Slam no longer generates 30% bonus threat from its damage.
* Vigilance no longer provides 3% damage reduction, but still refreshes Taunt and provides Vengeance.
* Glyphs
* Glyph of Bloody Healing increases the healing received from Bloodthirst by 40%, down from 100%.
* Glyph of Intimidating Shout no longer causes targets to flee slowly, but roots them instead.
* Glyph of Shield Wall increases damage reduction to 60%, but increases the cooldown from 2 minutes to 4 minutes (talented).
* Bug Fixes
* Taste for Blood should once again proc on every other tick of Rend.
Achievements
* The Gladiator reward mounts now award Master Riding.
* What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been now awards Master Riding.
Items
* Mysterious Egg now takes only 3 days to turn into a Cracked Egg and has a slightly greater chance of awarding the Reins of the Green Proto-Drake.
* PvP set bonuses now provide 70 of stats such as Agility, Intellect, and Strength (down from 100) at 2 pieces, and 180 of these stats (down from 300) at 4 pieces.
Professions
* Perfect Gem Cutting and Mixology have been removed as trainable skills and are instead passives profession abilities. When players reach the appropriate skill levels, they will start getting bonuses from Mixology (they must know the recipe to gain the benefit) and/or cutting perfect gems (depending on their profession, of course).
* Alchemy
* Alchemy recipes now require Crystal Vials. Deathwing broke all the others because he’s mean (or because he didn’t want alchemists to carry 5 different vials around with them).
* Engineering
* The Engineering Tinkering enchants will no longer provide their bonus stats, but the activated effects will stack with other enchants. In 4.0.1 the stats were there (but hidden) and are now removed.
* Bug Fixes
* Several epic gem transmutes that were missing from the trainer have been added back.
Bug Fixes
* Certain area-of-effect abilities are no longer ignoring the area-of-effect damage cap.
* Mobs and NPCs should no longer appear to randomly gain or lose health during combat.
* Re-summoning pets in Battlegrounds should no longer count towards a player’s total healing done.
Known Issues
* Some tooltips may not reflect the most recent changes to certain abilities.
* Worgen hunters are currently unable to learn Dual Wield.
* The achievement Explore Tol Barad will not be possible to complete upon release of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.
17 Views
01:38:35 11/19/10
Wintergrasp - Rated BGs - BestBuy DevChat
[LESS INFO] 17 VIEWS | ADDED 01:38:35 11/19/10
Wintergrasp queuing changed in 4.0.3
In patch 4.0.3, Wintergrasp queuing was changed so that each battle attempts to match the factions at a 1-to-1 ratio. This is the exact system being used for Tol Barad in Cataclysm. While we understand that this inflates queue times for factions which are vastly overpopulated on select realms, we prefer this system over using Tenacity. In addition, the new system at least encourages playing on a faction that's better balanced against the opposing faction. With the old Wintergrasp functionality, players were almost encouraged to be on an overpopulated faction, further contributing to realm balance issues.
That said, we'll review realms with significant faction imbalances on a case-by-case basis in the event we need to take further action.
Rated Battlegrounds FAQ
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is just around the corner -- and that means Rated Battlegrounds will soon be available. While Rated Battlegrounds will only be open to level-85 characters, we know many of you may still have some questions about this new system, so we’ve put together an FAQ to help address some of the more common inquiries we've seen.
Q. What are Rated Battlegrounds?
A. Like the Arena system, Rated Battlegrounds are an alternative way for players to battle against opponents of similar skill levels and accrue rating to purchase powerful PvP gear. Instead of competing in a 2v2, 3v3, or 5v5 bracket, though, you'll be testing your mettle in familiar environments like Arathi Basin and Eye of the Storm, as well as all-new Battlegrounds set to release in Cataclysm.
Q. How are Rated Battlegrounds structured?
A. Rated Battlegrounds are broken down into two brackets: 10v10 and 15v15. These brackets rotate weekly and can be viewed in-game via the calendar by activating the Battleground holiday filter.
Q. What Battlegrounds are eligible for Rated Battleground matches?
A. Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin, Eye of the Storm, Strand of the Ancients, Battle for Gilneas, and Twin Peaks.
Q. What happened to the 25v25 bracket?
A. We decided to remove this bracket. We don't feel it's feasible to ask players to coordinate a group of 25 players for Rated Battlegrounds. If any player happens to drop group just before a match begins, the raid group would not be able to enter the battle. We anticipate most players or guilds will stick with fairly dedicated 10-player groups, and making the jump to 15-player groups shouldn't be too difficult.
Q. How can I queue for a Rated Battleground?
A. Before entering the queue, you must first create a raid with the full number of players required for the weekly bracket (10 or 15). Any level-85 player on your realm and of your faction may participate in the battle regardless of guild association.
Once you have a raid of the appropriate size, simply open up the PvP window, click on the Conquest tab, highlight "Rated Battleground," and then click "Join Battle."
Q. Can I queue up solo and just be matched with a Rated Battleground team?
A. No. You will need to first join a raid of the appropriate size and level before you can queue up for a Rated Battleground. Individual queuing will not be available for Rated Battlegrounds.
Q. Do all players in the raid group have to be from the same guild in order to queue for a Rated Battleground?
A. No. So long as the raid group size matches the weekly bracket and is comprised of level-85 players, you can queue up for a Rated Battleground no matter what guild you are in. Guild membership has no effect on the formation of Battleground teams.
Winning a Rated Battleground with a team composed of at least 80% guild members, however, will result in the additional benefit of guild experience gain for that guild.
Q. How can I tell if my Rated Battleground team meets the minimum guild requirement?
A. If you join a Rated Battleground with the minimum number of required guild members, a special guild banner will appear in the upper-left corner of the in-game mini-map. This will let you know if you are eligible for the bonus guild experience.
Q. What are the normal benefits of winning a Rated Battleground?
A. When you win a Rated Battleground, you will be rewarded Conquest points, up to your weekly cap. Weekly caps are individual for each player and are based on your highest single PvP rating from the previous week (the cap resets on Tuesdays). This rating can be derived from your 2v2, 3v3, or 5v5 Arena rating or your Rated Battleground rating.
Q. What Rated Battleground rating do players start out with?
A. Players start at zero Rated Battleground rating and progress upward from there. If you lose a battle, your Rated Battleground rating will only be reduced if that rating is currently higher than your Match Making Value (MMV). For the most part, a rating only goes up.
Q. What’s MMV?
A. Match Making Value (or MMV for short) is our best measure of an individual player's skill. MMV is the skill rating per format (2v2, 3v3, 5v5, Battleground) and per character that is used for matchmaking. It exists to help the matchmaking system create great matches as quickly as possible for all players. It's generally not a rating we show, with the exception of an average MMV for Arena teams.
Q. Will my MMV go down in the event of a Rated Battleground loss?
A. Yes; however, unlike Arenas, all players in a Rated Battleground team will win or lose the same amount of Rated Battleground rating per match depending on its outcome.
Q. Does MMV for Rated Battlegrounds function the same as it does in Arenas (i.e. does it go up more when you beat a higher-rated team, and go down more when you lose to a lower-rated team)?
A. Yes. Your MMV will go up faster if you defeat a Rated Battleground team with a higher average MMV.
Q. What’s the plan to prevent your Rated Battleground rating from skyrocketing at high win ratios? If your rating only goes down when it is above your MMV, it seems that ratings will just be high on average (compared to Arena).
A. If your Rated Battleground rating gets inflated much beyond your MMV, you’ll only receive a minimal amount of points when you win. Similarly, you’ll lose many more points after a defeat, until your Rated Battleground rating gets back in line with your MMV. This will prevent inflation.
Q. Can consumables and engineering items be used in Rated Battlegrounds?
A.Yes, but they will follow the same rules and restrictions as Arenas.
Q. Will Rated Battleground teams only be matched against other teams in their Battlegroup?
A. No. Rated Battlegrounds will be region-wide, meaning that when you queue for a Rated Battleground, you will have the opportunity to be matched against a team from any of our North American World of Warcraft realms.
Q. Are there any plans to reward players with the highest Rated Battleground rating, similar to Arenas?
A. Epic ground mounts will be rewarded at the end of each season to the top 0.5% of players according to Rated Battleground rating. Titles are also available as you gain rating in the system. The titles are rewarded directly from achievements earned from gaining the required rating.
Developer Chat Hosted by Best Buy (transcript)
Will the heirloom items scale to 85?
The current plan is to have heirloom items stop at level 80 at the moment.
I was wondering what new and exciting mounts there will be and what your favorite so far is?
Not surprisingly there are all kinds of new mounts, we have spectral wolf/horse mounts, a dark phoenix, a camel, the new alchemy mount that turns you into a drake can ride, among others. Also a scorpion for the horde and a lion for the alliance. My favorite has to be the camel though... i mean really, who doesn't want to be a camel jockey?!
Has Blizzard considered adding a "Tabards Tab" to the UI, so that tabard collectors can switch out tabards more effectively without having to take up bank and bag space? --Thanks! Deathunholy of Galakrond
We have talked about adding a tabard tab. We've talked about doing a closet tab to handle it. It isn't something we are adding for Cataclysm though.
Will it be as long of a wait to fight Deathwing as it was for Lich King?
Hopefully not, we definitely have a goal to get our content patches out more quickly than we have in the past, without sacrificing quality of course, we plan for deathwing to be the most amazing encounter we've ever made! =]
Are there any plans to potentially add queueing to the rated battlegrounds instead of it having to be a pre-made raid team? I was really excited when I first heard about this feature, but after reading the FAQ i was a bit disappointed with that design.
We're currently looking into the possibility of having players in the honor battleground queue be able to be called to action by groups that aren't quite full, but we're going to see how the current queue'ing works out first so, that isn't something that would be available just yet
Will you allow players to fill their quest log with say, 25 dailies, and then turn them in right after Midnight on December 7th to get a quick boost towards 85? This is how it worked in the beta, but some players are confused on whether it will work on Live. Thanks!
Regarding 25 daily quests to turn in when the expansion goes live, this is something players have been able to do for the last 2 expansions and we aren't talking about changing it now.
I understand the decision from an economic perspective but I was wondering if the deveopers were disappointed in the decision to allow race changes immediately following the release of the expansion.
Regarding allowing race/faction change on day one. Actually this wasn't an economic decision at all. This was a decision that the leadership team made. Our priority as a dev team is to allow players to play the game with their friends, the way they want too. We also talked about the fact that this is a week one problem. So we made the decision not to restrict anything.
Will Darnasus be re built to be a real tree or will it always look like a dead stump with trees at the top?
...but now that Deathwing is doing his thing it makes much more sense than it used to! ;]
Deathwing hates trees.
A lot of players I know are trying to plan out what characters to roll for the new expansion, and the big question is: Will there be ANY new realms tagging along with the release of Cataclysm? Some point to low pop realms as a reason against, but surely with the redux'd 1-60 experience and the droves of returning players desiring clean slates, there has never been a better time for a fresh realm or two?
We haven't decided exactly what the new realm decisions are yet, but we open new realms when there is player demand for them. One thing we can't do is plan all realms for day one. The goal is for realms to have good concurrency so everyone has a great game/matchmaking experience.
Could you comment on the plan for raids in Cataclysm? If i remember it was said that there would be smaller raids in cata but more of them. Would that mean like two small raids per patch or more patches in total?
The idea is that we'll have more raid environments, but fewer bosses in each environment, but a similar total number of raid bosses overall... if that makes sense. =] so, for cataclysm launch we have the skywall environment, the twilight bastion environment, and blackwing descent, versus having almost all the bosses in one environment like we did with naxrammas.
With the changes to the game environment itself, what new computer requirements will be optimal to run the game smoothly?
One of the things that is really important to us is a great gaming experience regardless of your hardware. While the system requirements do go up over time, we do want the experience on slower machines to be great. We do this by trying to add a lot of graphical options to allow players to control the experience from "runs fast" all the way to "looks great".
Will there be more than one Legendary weapon in Cata? Will there be a Caster DPS legendary? Any info or plans would be awesome =) Thanks!
It's likely there will be more than one legendary weapon, although it's too early to say for sure. We do, however, have a plan to do a caster dps staff soon.
Where did Uldum come from?
Egypt ;]
The idea with Uldum is that it has always been there, cloaked from the eyes of the players. The emergence of Deathwing has damaged some of the technology that kept it hidden. There is a story in the zone that explains this and what has been happening in the player absence.
With resource systems now broadened to include focus, rage, energy, and runic power as well as mana, and there being conditionals like enrages, holy power, combo points and runes, will classes that just use mana be getting similar treatment or remaining as they are?
Really that decision is made on a class-by-class, talent tree-by-tree basis. If we feel like the talent spec in question needs a broader resource management then we do it, but we don't like to unnecessarily complicate a spec's resource management if it isn't absolutely necessary.
Why is it that we are not able to use Archaeology before the expansion? I thought it was really cool how you guys released Inscription last time and would love to have the opportunity to level it before the expansion drops.
Using archeology before the expansion was something we talked about, but ended up adding everything about the profession to the "post sundered" world. Thus, you won't be able to use archeology before the sundering happens.
The first tier of Cataclysm raiding has 3 separate instances to tackle. Are you guys planning on keeping with the Burning Crusade model (SSC/TK, BT/Hyjal) and having multiple instances per raid tier? Will Deathwing have to share the spotlight with some other instance?
We'll evaluate that on a tier by tier basis. When we have awesome ideas that we can successfully make happen we'll do multiple environments, but it won't necessarily always be the case. We do have a super cool idea for the deathwing tier though... ...or at least so we hope. =]
What happened with the Worgen district in Stormwind?
We decided it didn't really fit very well, it was looking kind of awkwardly forced into the city. Plus deathwing would have destroyed it anyways.
As the world of Azeroth is changing I was wondering if the Death Knight zone will stay the same or will it also be affected by the cataclysm?
The death knight zone doesn't have any changes for Cataclysm.
I have been confused from the different posts for tier gear. Will there be three levels within each tier still or just heroic and normal and in either case will u just be getting them with points or will u still have to get certain things off drops off certain bosses to get the higher more heroic version of the tier gear?
There is still just normal and heroic difficulty for the raid and dungeon content, and the heroic gear has a higher item level than the corresponding normal gear
Do you feel faction imbalance is a problem at the moment? My queue is around 10-15 min at prime time as a member of the Horde and I know this is the case on at least two of the battlegroups. If so, do you think Worgen will fix the problem? And if they do not, will free faction changes ever be a possibility in the future on battlegroups or servers with a major problem?
We are working on some technology to further combine the PVP queues at server sites. This has been going on behind the scenes for a few weeks now in preparation for Cataclysm. Queue time is one of those things that gets a lot of attention and time, but will change significantly post Cata. Really good question.
What would you say was the hardest and/or easiest parts of developing this expansion? After all, many are saying this is the best expansion to date... So, what was the biggest challenge/easiest feat in creating it?
There have been huge challanges with this expansion, unlike any we've seen in the other two expansions. The scale of Cataclyms is huge for us, and something we didn't really expect when we started development. But we certainly feel like the effort has been worth it, and feel it's our best expansion so far.
Why does it seem the scorpion guild mount doesn't have a guild flag where the lion does? I was hoping to see Hordes of scorpions from our guild walking around with our tabard hanging from the tail like a flag behind them.
When riding a scorpion mount, your character displays holding a large standard with your guild symbol on it.
Why did you decide to make 310% mount speed purchasable in 4.0? It's a huge price for such a tiny speed upgrade, and used to work well as a just-above-vanity perk for people who completed the toughest achievements.
The primary reason was to equalize the awesome vanity mounts players had, and change the mechanic to one where you used the mount you were most excited about using. We wanted players to be able to see the mount players want, without considering the speed differential as a factor.
Will you allow players to change their login screen? I'd love to be able to use the Classic login screen, the unreleased one that was shown at Blizzcon, or perhaps a login screen of a previous expansion.
Players are not able to change their login screen.
How would a person get a Guild Mount? Would it be guild rep? If so how would that be calculated or obtained?
Once your guild gets to a high enough level and unlocks the guild mount, any player in the guild with a high enough guild reputation is able to buy the mount.
Will heirloom items work for goblins and worgens leveling from 1-80 at release?
Heirloom items will work perfectly for Worgen and Goblin characters! Enjoy!
Has there been any discussion of changing the heirloom items to true "Bind on Account" instead of the bind on server limitation that it has currently?
That is something we would like to do. Currently the servers mail carriers refuse to work together, and haven't worked out the economic terms from transferring mail from one server to another. One day we hope to resolve the union issues.
Will the option ever be available to change ones class, contingent upon what's currently available to the race restrictions at the time?
Never say never, but we don't currently have plans to do that.
There's any through about making account wise achievement, like Starcraft ones? It a reason for many players to not reroll/change mains since its look like a lot of work wasted when you switch your main char. Even changing to another char to help with one fight look a bit wrong now, if you are after achievements.
We do have plans to solve this problem, as it is limiting people from re-rolling for sure. This is something we want to solve, but don't have a good solution on how to do it at the moment.
Was there anything you guys regret not being able to include at launch? Possibly something that didn't have enough polish to it that me way see in the future? (You don't need to mention the Dance Studio at this point, really, it's okay)
Well... there is the dance studio. ;] There are of course always things we'd hoped to get into any patch/expansion that get pushed out until later. One example would be the idea to have a built-in atlas that details every encounter in each dungeon/raid. We're not super happy about the fact that the first time anyone encounters a new boss, the only way to learn about it (other than looking up strategies on the web) is to charge in and die a lot.
We'd love to give players some idea of what they're about to fight before they engage the boss. =]
Do honor points and Badges roll over into CATA, or do they reset to zero?
Yes, honor points and justice points carry over into cataclysm. Stock up now!
Is there any talks of maybe some faction cooperative campaigns? Since the cataclysm is threatening to destroy all life of azeroth, to me a logical response from the heroes of azeroth would be to set aside their differences and be able to work together in a raid. An Idea to maybe lessen the frequency of such groups is make the raid difficulty increase by choosing to work with the other faction, a sort of Heroic mode. Possibly even dual faction specific raids. Has there been any talks of such poss...
This is a common request, but not something we are looking to do. While there is a singular main bad guy in this expansion, the Horde and Alliance have their own unique challenges and agendas, and typically don't look to team up. After all it's the World of Warcraft, not the World of Peacecraft.
When designing expansions and content patches, do you have a list of new features to choose from that are planned out in advance or is there more of a brain storm session?
The feature set for each patch is determined by a combination of doing things (or finishing things) that we've been wanting to do for a while, along with completely new ideas that emerge as a result of the immediate needs of the game
The primary things you won't be able to do if you don't have Cataclysm are create a new Goblin/Worgen, level to 85, and fly in the orld world.
We like to stay as flexible as possible, so it's important to us to make sure that we aren't "over planned" into the future even though the real needs players have are changing
With the previous two expansions, the new content was actually on other continents, so if you didn't have the expansion, you just couldn't visit the continent. Since Cata is largely reworking of old-world content, however, how do you differentiate between someone with or without the xpac? What kinds of things will and won't be available to players don't have the upgrade?
See my answer above!
Will the 80 to 85 experience be closer to the 18hr mark or the 5 day mark that was 70-80?
That totally depends on the player to be honest, you'd be amazed by the differences in play patterns. That being said, somebody usually finds a way to level up very quickly.
What new feature(s) in WoW: Cataclysm are you guys most proud of?
I would have to say the 1-60 revamp, it's a ton of fun to play through the zones and an incredible amount of new content.
I'm most happy with the new Worgen and Goblin starting experiences. I think they are the best starting experience we've ever done, and that includes the death knight.
I have is why not have this latest expansion as a new territory like a Southrend similar to Northrend or a Moon body like Outlands instead of destroying Azeroth and Kalimdor? Were there limitations to expanding outwards or was this just to facelift the original game?
We make decisions like this on a case by case basis.. again depending on the needs of the game. In the case of Cataclysm, the world was due in for an overhaul, and we wanted to make everything fly-able, so it was important to flesh out any areas that were originally unfinished.
Can you clarify and confirm what will be available to players when 4.0.3a hits and what will be unavailable until 7th Dec?
4.0.3a will be the patch that actually causes the world to shatter and change forever. At that point you will be able to experience the new 1-60 leveling experience, as well as the new race/class combinations.
Is there an alternative mount for worgens that other races can ride
Worgen can ride the other mounts in the game, if that's what you're asking. They're not limited to their feral run.
With the level 1-80 Heirloom items, when Cataclysm is released will the xp gain work while leveling until you hit level 81? Or will XP gain be disabled for those on release?
They will not. Heirlooms stop granting their XP bonus at level 80. Not level 80.999999.
Will achievement points ever be able to be used to purchase any perks?
We have no plans to allow this. Achievements are a badge of honor only.
Druid
Is the Moonkin form for troll and worgen on the beta and ptr the final form or is it just a placeholder?
Final!
Mage
Right now, up to 50% of Ignite damage disappears due to the technical limitations of spells critting within certain timeframes. This has implications for Mage dps and the value of Mastery as a stat. Is overall damage being balanced to compensate and can we expect a solution in the near future?
We're resolving that by rolling up any "lost" ignite damage into the next ignite that overwrote it
Warlock
Are there any plans for a new Lock mount? I would love to see a possible flying mount for Locks..
One of the things we look at with mounts is broad appeal. While we do specific class mounts from time to time, most of the time we look to have mounts that all classes can use.
Warrior
Is Hit rating intended to tramp all other stats but Str for Fury till the 27% hardcap? Seems excessive
Generally speaking, we do balance hit rating to be the "best" stat until you're at the hit rating cap
62 Views
19:03:23 10/06/10
Cynthia Nixon: Gays Don't Want to Redefine Marriage
[LESS INFO] 62 VIEWS | ADDED 19:03:23 10/06/10
Complete Premium video at: http://fora.tv/conference/new_yorker_festival_2010
"Sex and the City" star Cynthia Nixon weighs in on the gay marriage debate. "Gay people who want to marry have no desire to redefine marriage in any way," she says. "When women got the vote, they did not redefine voting."
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This excerpt was taken from a program titled "Love and Obstacles: The Case for Gay Marriage." It was recorded in collaboration with the New Yorker Festival, on October 2, 2010.
The New Yorker Festival, now in its eleventh year, brings together a distinguished group of writers, thinkers, artists, and other luminaries, and covers topics including film, music, politics, economics, architecture, fashion, and literature.
Cynthia Nixon is an actress who has won two Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and a Grammy Award. Last spring, at a gay-marriage rally in New York, she announced her engagement to Christine Marinoni. Last fall, she spoke at the National Equality March, in Washington, and this year she has devoted much of her time to Fight Back New York, a political-action committee whose sole purpose is to unseat New York State senators who have voted against marriage equality.
