The New Bra Sizing System Is Invasive, Uncomfortable, and Unnecessary

In the name of women who don't fit traditional yet frustratingly restrictive bra sizes, Jockey has boldly created a more inclusive "volumetric" system ? a noble effort that doesn't seem likely to lift off since it still forces women into one of 10 "new" normal shapes... in the middle of the mall. Forgoing the oft-rapped-about sizes featuring numbers and letters, the underwear giant has introduced 55 new fits with two numbers per tag ? 1-30, 7-36,?9-42, for example ? and at first the Volumetric Fit System?sounds simpler than the already confusing and inconsistent?34-D situation, except it isn't. Just like OG boob-fitting measurements, one of Jockey's numbers stands for the inches around the rib cage ? that's the second, thirty-something figure ? but it's that first, other number that makes all the difference. While standard cup letters represent the bust-to-ribcage difference, Jockey has thrown those out for numbers that represent the different "shapes" breast most often come in. And that's where things get confusing and uncomfortable.

RELATED: Stop Putting Words on Girls Clothing

Because of Jockey's esoteric system, it's impossible to know that second number without trying on corresponding cups. To get your new and improved bra-size, Jockey outlines a "simple" two step process in this press release:

Choose a Cup: Select a cup that looks closest to your size and place over the breast. Make sure there is full coverage with no gapping or spillage. Document your new cup size (1-10)

Measure Under the Bust: Take a direct measurement of your body's under-bust measurement using the color-coded, double-sided measuring band (reverse side is legible in your mirror). Choose from?seven different band sizes?(30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40 or42). Document your band size.

For most people, that second part already corresponds to your current bra size, but that first part! Imagine heading into your local Macy's to place one of 10 cup shapes over your boobs, in hopes of finding the perfect fit ? in public. (Warby Parker's breakthrough at-home try-on business model this is not.)?And, then, of course, there is a good chance that none of the 10 sizes perfectly?encapsulate your boob shape, because even the 800 women Jockey scanned to get "data points" for its new system might not look just like you.?

RELATED: Please, No More Clothing That Hugs You for Getting Facebook Likes

Most women don't wear the right bra size ? 8 out of 10, according to bra maker Wacoal ? in part because A, B, C, and D only give vague measurements of the snowflakes of body parts. But everyday underwear discomfort also stems from a measurement process that's uncomfortable and constantly in flux. After you've had the Victoria Secret sales lady feel you up once, you never want to do it again. And if you did do it again, another fitter would probably tell you you've been wearing the wrong bra size all along. Having already gone through the demoralizing fitting process, do you really want to head to the department store and put cups up to your boobs just because Jockey's marketing team plants a story on the front page of The New York Times? The many thousands of women using the more intimate online bra-fitting tools probably don't.?

RELATED: The New Powerlessness of the Evening Newswoman (or at Least Her Outfit)

Then there's another problem: scalability. Many people have loyalties to a particular bra company ? once you've found something that works, it's worth sticking with. Of course Jockey has created this whole system to pry women from other companies. But if we're going to get a whole new measurement system, all companies will have to adopt it, which will only happen if Jockey's sizes get so popular that other bra-sellers feel the need to jump in. Would Jockey give up that unlikely competitive advantage??

RELATED: Are You Ready for Gatsby Overload?

None of which is to say that Jockey isn't on to something: There is clearly a market for the right bra for you. But, this should be getting simpler ? and more hands-off.?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bra-sizing-system-invasive-uncomfortable-unnecessary-145933824.html

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Windows 8.1 First Look: Little Fixes, Same Big Ideas

The good news: If you liked Windows 8, its first major update is going fix a ton of the little things that bothered you. The bad news: You might not like Windows 8. And there's nothing here that will change that. At least there's a Start button!

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/eLuc0lfvuqI/windows-8-1-first-look-little-fixes-same-big-ideas-510444639

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U.S. households still feel the recession

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The average U.S. household has a long way to go to recover the wealth it lost to the Great Recession, a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis concluded Thursday.

The typical household has regained less than half its wealth, the analysis found. A separate Federal Reserve report in March calculated that Americans as a whole had regained 91 percent of their losses.

Household wealth plunged $16 trillion from the third quarter of 2007 through the first quarter of 2009. By the final three months of 2012, American households as a group had regained $14.7 trillion.

Yet once those figures are adjusted for inflation and averaged across the U.S. population, the picture doesn't look so bright: The average household has recovered only 45 percent of its wealth, the St. Louis Fed concluded.

That suggests that consumer spending could remain modest as many Americans try to rebuild their wealth by saving more and paying off debts.

The number of U.S. households grew 3.8 million to 115 million from the third quarter of 2007 through the final three months of last year, the report said. As a result, the rebound in wealth has been spread across more people and reduced the average wealth for each household.

In addition, though inflation has averaged just 2 percent over the past five years, it's eroded some of the purchasing power of Americans' regained wealth.

The St. Louis Fed's analysis noted that the rebound in wealth hasn't been equally distributed. As a result, many households are even further behind than the average.

Nearly two-thirds of the increase in household wealth since 2009 is due to rising stock prices, the authors note. Stock indexes reached record highs this month. Those gains disproportionately benefit affluent households: About 80 percent of stocks are held by the wealthiest 10 percent of the population.

For middle- and lower-income households, home values represent the biggest chunk of total wealth. And home prices remain about 30 percent below their peak, even after jumping nearly 11 percent in the past year.

The analysis was written by William Emmons, an economist at the St. Louis Fed, and Ray Boshara, who directs its new Center for Household Financial Stability.

"It's like the economy is this airplane and not all the engines are firing," Emmons said.

Still, wealthier households account for a disproportionate share of consumer spending: About 20 percent of Americans account for about 40 percent of spending.

Consequently, the rise in stock prices should provide some lift to spending, Emmons said.

The average household had a net worth of $539,500 at the end of last year, according to a separate paper the St. Louis Fed released Thursday. That was up from $469,900 in the first quarter of 2009. But it was sharply below the peak of $641,000 in the first quarter of 2007.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/average-us-household-far-regaining-wealth-192240969.html

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Mars-Bound Astronauts Could Face Higher Risk of Cancer

Astronauts who travel to Mars one day could be exposed to dangerous levels of radiation during their trip, even if shielding techniques are used, a new study shows.

When the Mars Science Laboratory launched on Nov. 26, 2011, it began a 350-million-mile (560 million kilometers) trip to the surface of the Red Planet. During its voyage, a group of researchers, including Southwest Research Institute scientist Cary Zeitlin, monitored exactly how much radiation a piece of science hardware on the?Mars rover Curiosity was exposed to over the 253-day journey from Earth to Mars.

"In space, it's between a 100 and 1,000 times higher dose rate [of radiation] than on Earth," Zeitlin told SPACE.com. "It's highly uncertain what the health risk is from these exposures." [Could Radiation Harm Astronauts Traveling to Mars? (Video)]

Zeitlin, whose study is detailed in the journal Science this week, collected the data with his team by turning on the Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) instrument while Curiosity was in flight. The instrument was active from 10 days after launch until about three weeks before landing.

Shielding from cosmic rays

By monitoring the variety and strength of each of the energetic particles entering the Mars Science Laboratory's hull, Zeitlin and his team were able to accurately track which particles of radiation got through and which were blocked by the ship's shielding.

If they were to travel to Mars, astronauts would be exposed to two forms of cosmic radiation?that don't pose a serious risk on Earth. One of those sources of radiation ? galactic cosmic rays ? are difficult to shield against and regularly fly through space-faring vessels. On the other hand, the second source of radiation ? solar energetic particles ? can be at least partially blocked by robust shielding used to protect spaceflyers.

"The rover itself during the trip was surrounded by the equipment used for the entry, descent and landing," Zeitlin said. "RAD was very unevenly shielded. About half was lightly shielded. The heat shield below didn't really provide very much in the way of shielding. But above, there was quite a bit, and on a human inhabited vehicle, you would want it much more uniform."

Worth the risk?

The research could have implications for future NASA missions to Mars. If space agency scientists expect that radiation exposure over the course of a mission will increase an astronaut's risk of developing fatal cancer over his or her lifetime by at least 3 percent, NASA deems the mission too dangerous, Zeitlin said.

Certain people are at higher risk of developing these kinds of radiation-induced cancers: Young women are most at risk, while older men are in less danger. Even with the margin of error built into Curiosity's new results, however, the dose rate of the radiation that any astronaut would receive during the initial and return flights would probably put them over the 3 percent limit, Zeitlin said. [Missions to Mars: Human Occupation of the Red Planet (Infographic)]

Zeitlin and his colleagues estimate that astronauts would be exposed to about 0.66 Sievert (Sv) ? the unit scientists use for measuring radiation ? of galactic cosmic ray radiation during the round-trip to Mars, not including their time spent on the surface of the Red Planet. About 1 Sv of radiation exposure is usually associated with about a 5 percent bump in fatal-cancer risk later in life.

The dose rate of radiation that the planetary explorers would be exposed to on the surface of Mars would be lower than the amount of cosmic radiation in space. However, it could still be significant, Zeitlin said.

Although this level of radiation might not make astronauts immediately ill, it still could impair their ability to conduct research from Mars. "There is some concern that there could be damage to cognitive ability that would manifest itself in the short run," Zeitlin said.

Future of space travel

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station are exposed to both galactic cosmic rays and solar energetic particles during their six months in orbit, but an astronaut flying to Mars would get a higher dose over a longer period of time.

"Scientists need to validate theories and models with actual measurements, which RAD is now providing. These measurements will be used to better understand how radiation travels through deep space and how it is affected and changed by the spacecraft structure itself," Donald Hassler, a program director at the Southwest Research Institute and principal investigator of the RAD investigation, said in a statement. "The spacecraft protects somewhat against lower-energy particles, but others can propagate through the structure unchanged or break down into secondary particles."

The new findings will allow scientists to use hard data in computer models set up to investigate just how much radiation astronauts could encounter on their journey to another planet. This kind of research could be particularly important for NASA in the coming years, as officials from the space agency gear up to possibly send humans to Mars by the 2030s.

Scientists from the Christian Albrechts University of Kiel in Germany, the German Aerospace Center and NASA also contributed to the new study.

Follow Miriam Kramer on Twitter and Google+. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Google+. Original article on SPACE.com.

Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mars-bound-astronauts-could-face-higher-risk-cancer-180740401.html

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Strong Guidance For Finding The Right Health Care Insurance To ...

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Source: http://55.mascombd.net/uncategorized/strong-guidance-for-finding-the-right-health-care-insurance-to-suit-your-needs/

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University of Central Florida Arena getting new name

Thanks to a $3.95 million donation to the University of Central Florida over the next seven years, the UCF Arena will now be known as the CFE Federal Credit Union Arena.

Thanks to a $3.95 million donation to the University of Central Florida over the next seven years, the UCF Arena will now be known as the CFE Federal Credit Union Arena, or just the CFE Arena.

The credit union also will have a branch on campus.

What?s more, that gift ? as well as significant gifts from an as-yet unnamed Universal Orlando executive ? have brought the capital campaign over the $100 million mark. Robert Holmes, UCF Foundation CEO, told trustees they hope the gifts will spur more donations from the theme parks.

Click here for a look at the campaign, which hopes to raise $400 to $500 million. And click here for a series of stories looking at the capital projects that could benefit from the campaign.

Covers health care, higher education and technology

Source: http://feeds.bizjournals.com/~r/bizj_orlando/~3/-P7J2Uno-UE/university-of-central-florida-arena.html

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Minister slams department as Chinese meat embargo ends

Published: 4:45PM Thursday May 23, 2013 Source: ONE News

• 

  Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy talking to ONE News. - Source: ONE News

The Minister for Primary Industries is not ruling out job losses after an administrative error from his own department led to exports of New Zealand meat being held up on the Chinese border.

Meat exports have been blocked from entering the country since the end of April, and the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) made resolving the issue its "number one priority".

Minister Nathan Guy revealed this afternoon it was a mistake in MPI that led to the confusion.

"It provided certification in a format which AQSIQ (Chinese importation officials) had not yet approved, and in doing so caused confusion for Chinese inspectors," he said.

"I am very disappointed in the Ministry for Primary Industries for its mistakes in certification which have caused this delay.

"Accurately certifying exports of New Zealand agricultural goods is a core function for the Ministry and this mistake should never have occurred."

Complying export certificates are now being issued following negotiations with Chinese officials, and Guy said the meat should be allowed into China from next week.

However, he said the way the issue has been handled by his own staff was not satisfactory.

"The Director-General of MPI first informed Food Safety Minister Nikki Kaye and I of this issue on Tuesday 14 May. However, the size of this issue was not made clear until I began receiving calls from the meat industry on Friday 17 May," he said.

"After making my own inquiries it became apparent the issue was bigger than what officials had been telling me so I called the officials in for an explanation on Saturday morning.

"I'm disappointed it has taken so long to get to the bottom of this problem and for the Ministry to come up with a proper explanation. This has been frustrating for myself, the public and meat exporters."

'We will be apologising to meat exporters'

MPI releases around 7000 meat and seafood export certificates a month and acting director-general Andrew Coleman said it is critically important they can rely on the documentation.

"When this issue has been sorted out we will be taking a very hard look at our processes to find out how this happened and make sure it never happens again," he said.

"We will examine why the scale and seriousness of this issue wasn't made clear to Ministers sooner, and the timeliness of our updates. We have apologised to Ministers, and we will be apologising to meat exporters, and the Chinese authorities about the confusion and frustration this issue has caused."

China was the largest buyer of New Zealand's sheepmeat by both volume and value in the first quarter of the year and according to Beef Lamb's latest figures, China took 61,000 tonnes of New Zealand sheepmeat worth $276.8 million in 2011-12.

Copyright ? 2013, Television New Zealand Limited. Breaking and Daily News, Sport & Weather | TV ONE, TV2 | Ondemand

Source: http://tvnz.co.nz/politics-news/minister-slams-department-chinese-meat-embargo-ends-5446308?ref=rss

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HTC reportedly in ?utter freefall?

Nearly four months ago, Oklahoma Senators Tom Coburn and James Inhofe both voted?against?H.R.152, the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act that eventually sent $50.5 billion in relief to victims of Hurricane Sandy. And in the flurry of last night's devastation in Moore, Oklahoma. it was impossible not to forget that fact, knowing the federal government would soon rally to the cause.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/htc-reportedly-utter-freefall-124535193.html

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Sony's 13.3-inch Digital Paper prototype sports E Ink's Mobius flexible display, we go hands-on (video)

Sony's new e-ink prototype is getting the test-drive treatment at Japanese universities, but SID provides a perfect opportunity to give the North American market a demo. We found the Digital Paper slab parked at E Ink's booth -- fitting, as the company's new Mobius flexible display is the device's biggest selling point.

At 13.3 inches, the panel is larger than your typical e-reader's, but it weighs just 60 grams. That light footprint comes courtesy of E Ink's TFT tech, which allows for larger, more rugged devices without the extra weight. The Digital Paper's form factor matches the size of a sheet of A4 paper, and the on-board digitizer lets users scrawl notes on the electromagnetic induction touchscreen. Naturally, this is just one implementation of the E Ink's display, but it's neat to see a prototype in action nonetheless. Head past the break to do just that.

Gallery: Sony 13.3-inch E Ink Digital Paper hands-on

Filed under: Displays, Tablets, Sony

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/21/sony-13-inch-digital-paper-hands-on/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Colangelo out as Raptors GM, still president

TORONTO (AP) ? Bryan Colangelo is still president of the Toronto Raptors, but he's no longer the club's general manager.

The Raptors announced Tuesday that while Colangelo's contract as team president is being extended, a new general manager will be hired within the next 30 days.

The changes were announced by Tim Leiweke, who is the incoming CEO of team owner Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. Leiweke also said he is moving up his start date from July 1 to June 3.

"We have a lot of work to do in this organization," Leiweke said. "We're not good enough. I believe Bryan can help in a lot of those areas."

The Raptors were 10th in the Eastern Conference this year, finishing out of the playoffs for a franchise-worst fifth straight season.

"There is accountability here and we need a new set of eyes and a new thinking," Leiweke said.

Leiweke was hired last month after a successful period in charge of Anschutz Entertainment Group, owner of the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers, the NHL's Los Angeles Kings and the Los Angeles Galaxy of MLS.

Leiweke said Colangelo fought "like heck" to keep his role as general manager.

"Bryan's probably ticked off at me," Leiweke said, then paused to chuckle. "There's no probably. He's ticked off at me. This isn't his perfect world, either. But to his credit, he accepts it."

Colangelo said he was "a little disappointed," but denied being angry at Leiweke.

"It's a unique situation for me to be in," Colangelo said. "Not an ideal situation but I'm going to embrace it and make the most of it."

Leiweke addressed concerns that keeping Colangelo around would complicate things for any new hire by stressing that the new GM will have complete authority on basketball matters and will report directly to Leiweke, not Colangelo.

"If anyone ultimately disrupts that process, then I'll clean it up," Leiweke said.

Colangelo said he understood the message from his new boss.

"The bottom line is, if I get in the way, I'm not going to be around," he said.

Leiweke said he is handling the search for a new GM himself and has a list of about a half dozen "very specific" candidates, adding that he's been turned down in some requests to talk to candidates currently with other teams.

One of the candidates will be current Raptors assistant GM Ed Stefanski. The former GM of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Nets was hired by Colangelo in October 2011.

"There's no doubt that Ed is a very solid basketball man," Colangelo said. "I'd be happy for him to get a legitimate look at the job."

Leiweke said the future of coach Dwane Casey and all other coaching and front office staff would be decided by the incoming GM.

Leiweke said he wants Toronto to celebrate its 20th anniversary as an NBA city by hosting the All-Star Game for the first time in 2016, calling the game "a must-have."

He also said he wants the team to build a new training facility and hinted at changes to the Raptors' brand, acknowledging "specific" conversations with the NBA about potential changes.

"We absolutely have had conversations about the color and the makeup of our brand, our uniforms and our image," he said. "To me, we should be all about the Canadian flag and Canada.

"We are Toronto's team but I think we have to learn how to be Canada's team."

Colangelo, 47, joined the Raptors in 2006 and was named the NBA's executive of the year in 2007 when Toronto won its only Atlantic Division title. He also won the league's top executive award with Phoenix in 2005.

"I don't believe I'm being pushed off into a corner somewhere," Colangelo said. "I think I'm going to be utilized in a fashion that my 18 years of experience, and quite a bit of success along the way, is going to be tapped into."

That starts tonight, when Colangelo will represent the Raptors at the NBA draft lottery at Times Square in New York.

"It's not a great place to be," Colangelo said of being in the lottery. "Hopefully it's the last time this team is there for a long time."

Toronto has a 0.7 percent chance of winning the top pick. If Toronto's selection falls outside the top three, it will belong to the Oklahoma City. The Thunder picked it up from Houston, who acquired it in the trade that sent guard Kyle Lowry to Toronto last summer.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-05-21-BKN-Raptors-Colangelo/id-fc5e85fed7a34dca86bbadbcdbef566d

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Chinese premier visits India to boost ties

NEW DELHI (AP) ? Just weeks after a tense border standoff, China's new premier visited India on Sunday on his first foreign trip as the neighboring giants look to speed up efforts to settle a decades-old boundary dispute and boost economic ties.

China says Premier Li Keqiang's choice of India for his first trip abroad since taking office in March shows the importance Beijing attaches to improving relations with New Delhi.

"We think very highly of this gesture because it is our view that high-level political exchanges between our two countries are an important aspect and vehicle for our expanded cooperation," said India's external affairs ministry spokesman, Syed Akbaruddin.

Jasjit Singh, a defense analyst and director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in New Delhi, said last month's border standoff was unlikely to overshadow Li's three-day visit, the first stop of a foreign tour in which he will also visit Pakistan, Switzerland and Germany.

Singh said Indian and Chinese leaders are likely to review border talks that have failed to produce a breakthrough despite 15 rounds of discussions over the past 10 years. The two sides also will probably discuss working together in Afghanistan after next year's U.S. pullout and cooperation with Southeast Asian countries, he said.

But tensions run high between the two nations. China already sees itself as Asia's great power, while India hopes its increasing economic and military might ? though still far below its neighbor's ? will eventually put it in the same league.

While China has worked to shore up relationships with Nepal and Sri Lanka in India's traditional South Asian sphere of influence, India has been venturing into partnerships with Southeast Asian nations.

Other irritants remain in the bilateral relationship. China is a longtime ally and weapons supplier to Pakistan, India's bitter rival. Also, the presence in India of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and the self-declared Tibetan government-in-exile is a source of tension. China accuses the Dalai Lama of wanting to split Tibet off from the rest of China, but he says he seeks more autonomy for Tibetans, not independence.

Unresolved border issues between the two nations have flared as well.

In last month's incident, India said Chinese troops crossed the countries' de facto border on April 15 and pitched camp in the Depsang valley in the Ladakh region of eastern Kashmir. New Delhi responded with diplomatic protests and then moved its soldiers just 300 meters (yards) from the Chinese position.

The two sides negotiated a peaceful end to the standoff by withdrawing troops to their original positions in the Ladakh area.

Gautam Bambawale, a senior external affairs ministry official, said Saturday that India and China are negotiating a Border Defense Cooperation Agreement, but declined to give details. Indian media reports said the agreement proposes a freezing of troop levels in the disputed border region as the two countries make efforts to settle the issue.

Bambawale also said Indian and Chinese officials recently held talks in Beijing on the future of Afghanistan. China, India and Russia have discussed the matter trilaterally with the idea of giving full support to Afghanistan's government as it makes the transition following the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 2014.

Li was to meet with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh later Sunday and attend a dinner hosted by Singh.

Delegation-level talks between the two sides are scheduled for Monday. Li is to attend a business summit in Mumbai, India's financial capital, among other activities.

The border spat last month prompted the Indian opposition and media to pressure the government to take on China and call off Li's visit. The government, however, chose to go ahead with the trip, highlighting its policy of trying to widen areas of cooperation with China while attempting to resolve key differences.

China has become India's biggest trading partner, with two-way trade jumping from $5 billion in 2002 to nearly $75 billion in 2011, although that figure declined to $61.5 billion last year because of the global economic downturn. Trade remains heavily skewed in China's favor, another source of concern for India.

India and China have had chilly relations since they fought a brief but bloody border war in 1962.

India says China is occupying 38,000 square kilometers (15,000 square miles) of its territory in the Aksai Chin plateau in the western Himalayas, while China claims around 90,000 square kilometers (35,000 square miles) in India's northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh.

Dorjee Tseten, director of Students for a Free Tibet, said Sunday that New Delhi police had declined permission for Tibetans to hold a demonstration against Li's visit.

"Tibetan activists are currently on the run evading imminent police arrest," he said in a statement, complaining of a heavy police presence in a New Delhi area where a large number of Tibetans-in-exile live.

Police detained a Tibetan man as he tried to burn the Chinese flag near China's embassy in the Indian capital.

Police, however, allowed about two dozen members of Shiv Sena, a Hindu right-wing political party, to demonstrate near India's Parliament, where they burned an effigy of the Chinese premier.

"Go back, go back," chanted the protesters, who also carried placards urging the Indian government to respond toughly to China's alleged border incursion. The powerful regional party held power in Mumbai from 1995 to 2000.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chinese-premier-visits-india-boost-ties-101859231.html

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WiFi Site Survey by WiTuners (Android)

WiFi Site Survey by WiTuners is an app designed to help wireless networking professionals and power users optimize placement of their access points, get details on wireless networks in range, and help select the best channels on which to set their APs. With the ability to load floor maps, view heatmaps, and import and export data? this wireless networking utility is obviously the result of considerable thought, but the touch interface and UI in general, needs work.

Availability and Install
WiFi Site Survey is a free app available from Google Play. I installed it on a Samsung Galaxy Note running Android 4.1.2.? Needed permissions to run include full network communications access, the ability to connect and disconnect from Wi-Fi, and the ability to view network connections.

WiFi Site Survey in Use
Upon opening the app, you see a display of numbers of wireless networks and access points in range, helpful information for understanding your wireless environment. Even better, the app shows the strongest AP in range.

You also get detailed information on all wireless networks in proximity. These are represented by a router and access point icons onscreen. Each network's authentication method, channel, radio band, signal strength, and encryption is shown. If you are connected to a wireless network, that access point's IP address, link speed, and RSSI are also displayed.

The app features an upper right-hand menu with a few cool options. One is "Advised AP." Tapping it opens a list of the best Wi-Fi networks available for connection. I did notice that listed first was a network with a signal strength of -73 dBm and that down the list as a third choice was a network that had a stronger signal at -43 dBm (lower is better). The developers informed me that the app does not always take into factor signal strength as "best." Rather, if the strongest AP shares a channel with another, the app will advise you to connect to a third AP, even though its signal may be weaker. There is obviously intelligence in the underlying algorithm for selecting the best AP for connecting.

Another menu choice is "The channel you should set to." This gives guidance for those setting up a new Wi-Fi access point on which channel is the best choice for the AP.

Visualizing Your Network
WiFi Site Survey gives you three different ways to view your network. The first is "Wi-Fi" which shows all AP and their information. Next, is "Heatmap view." Heatmaps provide visualization on wireless coverage and signal strength. The third view is "Rogue Aps." This feature compares the MAC address of an AP against a list of user-defined non-rogue APs.? You can import this list using "Set Rogue Aps" under another "Settings"?also on the upper right menu. The list gets updates when you set APs as rogue or non-rogue.

The app also allows you to upload a floor map which. I uploaded a sample map which was placed behind all of the AP in range displayed on screen. You can tap on the "Survey" menu option and then tap in the floor plan to set survey points for analyzing wireless traffic.

Interface
I did upload a sample floor plan and attempted to plot survey points. This is where I ran into trouble with the app. The swipe gestures indicated in the user manual to zoom in and out the floor map, just didn't want to work on the Galaxy tablet. Also, you are supposed to be able to tap on and move access points around and to the edge of the screen if you want them to disappear off the floor map. Tying to precisely touch the access point icon to try to pick it up and move it, proved an exercise in futility?absolutely frustrating. Maybe a stylus would work better (I didn't have one on hand for my testing tablet, but it really shouldn't be necessary to use one) but even swiping to zoom in and out was awful. The map would render too large or show up half-way on screen?there was no consistency between using gestures and the action.

This is a problem because for this to be a really useful app on an Android tablet the touch interface has to work a bit better?at least that was my experience on a Samsung Galaxy Note?tablet. There's a lot of great information that this networking utility gives, but the interface needs to be more responsive, or there has to a more robust interactive menu that allows you to send commands that correlate to touch.

The strongest capability in WiFi Site Survey is its wonderful advisement on best APs to connect to and channels to operate an access point on. The floor map upload needs work, although I do love the ability to import and export survey data to .CSV, SQLlite, and PDF.
Wolf WiFi Pro handles floor mapping better?invaluable for Wi-Fi professionals. Wolf WiFi Pro also did not have the wonky performance I noticed with WiFi Site Survey?which crashed twice during my testing.

Still, it's clear that lot of thought went into WiFi Site Survey; I am sure the developers are working hard on clearing up the issues I noticed in my testing. I'll be interested to take another look at the next iteration of the app. For now, WiFi Site Survey earns?3 stars and for wireless networking utilities for Android. Wolf Wifi Pro remains our Editors' Choice.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/q8NL7F12hvg/0,2817,2419213,00.asp

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'Chuck' and 'Smash' stars head to Broadway

NEW YORK (AP) ? A couple of stars from TV's "Chuck" and "Smash" will soon be dating on Broadway.

Producers said Monday that Zachary Levi and Krysta Rodriguez will headline the new romantic musical comedy "First Date" by "Gossip Girl" writer Austin Winsberg.

The music and lyrics are by Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner.

"First Date" centers on an uptight young investment banker who meets a serial-dater at a local bistro. A chorus of diners become various characters ? family members, clergy and old lovers.

The show will be seen at The Longacre Theatre beginning July 9 with an opening set for Aug. 8.

The rest of the cast includes Sara Chase ("Arrested Development"), Kristoffer Cusick ("Wicked"), Blake Hammond ("Sister Act"), Kate Loprest ("Boardwalk Empire," and Vicki Noon ("Wicked").

The show, co-produced by The 5th Avenue Theatre, played at A Contemporary Theatre in Seattle last year. It will be directed by Bill Berry, the producing director of The 5th Avenue Theatre.

Levi, who will be in the film "Thor: The Dark World," follows fellow "Chuck" alum Yvonne Strahovski to make his Broadway debut. She made a strong impression in the Lincoln Center Theater revival of Clifford Odets' "Golden Boy."

Rodriguez, who plays Ana Vargas on "Smash," was last on Broadway in "The Addams Family," originating the role of Wednesday Addams alongside Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth. She also was in the original Broadway casts of "In the Heights," ''Spring Awakening" and "Good Vibrations."

___

Online: http://www.FirstDateTheMusical.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chuck-smash-stars-head-broadway-153017801.html

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'Space Oddity'? First rock video sung and shot in space wows David Bowie. (+video)

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield performed and recorded the David Bowie classic 'Space Oddity' aboard the International Space Station, eliciting praise from Major Tom himself.

By Pete Spotts,?Staff writer / May 13, 2013

Chris Hadfield records the first music video from space on Sunday. The song was his cover version of David Bowie's 'Space Oddity.' Hadfield and astronaut Thomas Marshburn are scheduled to return to earth on Monday.

NASA/AP

Enlarge

Forget the Hollywood Bowl or Lincoln Center. The space age has opened a new venue for rock music, jazz, even a brief rumble or two from a homemade didgeridoo ? the International Space Station, whirring vent fans and all.

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And you thought it was just an orbiting national lab!

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield is the latest in a line of astronauts dating back to the NASA's Gemini program in the 1960s to display considerable musical talent in space.

On the eve of his departure from the station Monday, the lanky, guitar-plucking Canadian unveiled a slick rendition of David Bowie's "Space Oddity," Major Tom's launch and farewell to Earth ? the first rock-music video sung and shot in space.

Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford would be proud.

Back in December 1965, the duo treated ground controllers to a rendition of Jingle Bells as their Gemini 6A capsule orbited Earth. Schirra played a tiny, eight-holed harmonica, and Stafford had the sleigh bells ? both instruments cosmic contraband at the time because space was so tight in the two-seat capsule. The Smithsonian Institution has dubbed the event the first live-music performance in space.

These days, the ISS boasts an electronic keyboard, and crew members are free to have small instruments sent up ? from guitars and flutes to saxophones. It's all in the name of crew morale. Crew members spend six-month stints on the station. With down time from about midday Saturdays through Sundays, the crew has time to keep honed whatever musical skills they bring along.

And if you don't have an instrument? Cobble one together. During his most recent tour on the ISS, which ended July 1, 2012, NASA astronaut Don Pettit needed a didgeridoo as part of a science demonstration involving sound waves and water droplets.

No 'doo? No worries. He commandeered a length of hose from the station's vacuum-cleaner system. Nothing, if not inventive, he. Dr. Pettit also is credited with inventing a stabilizer that takes the station's jitters out of photos the astronauts take from the station. He also crafted the first coffee cup the crew could use in microgravity that didn't require a straw.

Other noteworthy performances include NASA astronaut Cady Coleman's duet with Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson in February 2011 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's historic mission as the first human to orbit the Earth. Dr. Coleman led off in zero G with Mr. Anderson performing his intricate riffs in 1 G.

But for sheer productivity and production values, Commander Hadfield is hard to beat. In "Space Oddity," he teams up with Emm Gryner, who was a member of Bowie's band for a couple of years. In her blog, she describes how the effort came about.

Nor is this the first time the crooning commander has collaborated with earthbound musicians. In February, he released a video complete with a youth chorus and musicians from the group Barenaked Ladies performing "I.S.S. (Is Somebody Singing)," a tune he and co-writer Ed Robertson began collaborating on while Hadfield was still training for the mission he leaves today.

But for raw impact, "Space Oddity" is hard to beat.

Just ask Mr. Bowie. After Hadfield's video appeared on the web, Bowie posted to his Facebook Page: "It?s possibly the most poignant version of the song ever created...."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/nYKda6_6N-o/Space-Oddity-First-rock-video-sung-and-shot-in-space-wows-David-Bowie.-video

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Powerball jackpot lures last-minute players

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) ? It's all about the odds.

With the majority of possible combinations of Powerball numbers in play, someone is almost sure to win the game's highest jackpot during Saturday night's drawing, a windfall of hundreds of millions of dollars ? and that's after taxes.

The problem, of course, is those same odds just about guarantee the lucky person won't be you.

The chances of winning the estimated $600 million prize remain astronomically low: 1 in 175.2 million. That's how many different ways you can combine the numbers when you play. But lottery officials estimate about 80 percent of those possible combinations have been purchased, so now's the time to buy.

"This would be the roll to get in on," said Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich. "Of course there's no guarantee, and that's the randomness of it, and the fun of it."

That hasn't deterred people across Powerball-playing states ? 43 plus Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands ? from lining up at gas stations and convenience stores Saturday for their chance at striking it filthy rich.

At a mini market in the heart of Los Angeles' Chinatown, employees broke the steady stream of customers into two lines: One for Powerball ticket buyers and one for everybody else. Some people appeared to be looking for a little karma.

"We've had two winners over $10 million here over the years, so people in the neighborhood think this is the lucky store," employee Gordon Chan said as he replenished a stack of lottery tickets on a counter.

Workers at one suburban Columbia, S.C., convenience store were so busy with ticket buyers that they hadn't updated their sign with the current jackpot figure, which was released Friday. Customer Armous Peterson was reluctant to share his system for playing the Powerball. The 56-year-old was well aware of the long odds, but he also knows the mantra of just about every person buying tickets.

"Somebody is going to win," he said. "Lots of people are going to lose, too. But if you buy a ticket, that winner might be you."

The latest jackpot is the world's second largest overall, just behind a $656 million Mega Millions jackpot in March 2012. The $600 million jackpot, which could grow before the numbers are drawn at 10:59 EDT Saturday, currently includes a $376.9 million cash option.

Charles Hill of Dallas says he buys lottery tickets every day. And he knows exactly what he'd do if he wins.

"What would I do with my money? I'd run and hide," he said. "I wouldn't want none of my kinfolks to find me."

Clyde Barrow, a public policy professor at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, specializes in the gaming industry. He said one of the key factors behind the ticket-buying frenzy is the size of the jackpot ? people are interested in the easy investment.

"Even though the odds are very low, the investment is very small," he said. "Two dollars gets you a chance."

That may be why Ed McCuen has a Powerball habit that's as regular as clockwork. The 57-year-old electrical contractor from Savannah, Ga., buys one ticket a week, regardless of the possible loot. It's a habit he didn't alter Saturday.

"You've got one shot in a gazillion or whatever," McCuen said, tucking his ticket in his pocket as he left a local convenience store. "You can't win unless you buy a ticket. But whether you buy one or 10 or 20, it's insignificant."

Seema Sharma doesn't seem to think so. The newsstand employee in Manhattan's Penn Station has purchased $80 worth of tickets for herself. She also was selling tickets all morning at a steady pace, instructing buyers where to stand if they wanted machine-picked tickets or to choose their own numbers.

"I work very hard ? too hard ? and I want to get the money so I can finally relax," she said. "You never know."

Officials will conduct the drawing live Saturday night from Tallahassee, Fla.

___

Associated Press writers Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, S.C., Betsy Blaney in Lubbock, Texas, Russ Bynum in Savannah, Ga., John Rogers in Los Angeles and Verena Dobnick in New York contributed to this report.

___

Follow Barbara Rodriguez at http://twitter.com/bcrodriguez .

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/last-minute-fortune-seekers-buy-powerball-tickets-185535895.html

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Ghosts of incinerator bond deal haunt Harrisburg election

By Hilary Russ

(Reuters) - In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's cash-hungry capital city, local political battles are waged much as they are across the United States: with big personalities and bare-knuckled verbal brawls.

But unlike most cities, Harrisburg's financial troubles have thrust it into the national spotlight, most recently with a slap from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for fraud. Financing for a single incinerator has been driving the city toward insolvency since 2009.

The $3.7 trillion U.S. municipal bond market will be watching on Tuesday when Harrisburg, a poster child for mismanaged public finances, holds its Democratic Party primary for mayor. There is no Republican mayoral primary.

Whoever leads the city of nearly 50,000 will play a role in how Harrisburg struggles to shrink a mountain of debt while maintaining basic services and paying - or not paying - bondholders.

The mayor must be "willing to work through the problems and get to the next step. In order to do that, you need a certain amount of charisma, a certain amount of cooperation, and a fair margin of public support," said John Hallacy, head of municipal research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. "Given the severity of the situation, that's a lot to ask for."

The ghosts of a questionable 2007 bond deal haunt Harrisburg, which is at least $340 million in debt - some reports put the figure at $370 million - thanks largely to the municipal bonds it guaranteed to finance upgrades to its problematic waste-to-energy trash incinerator.

Harrisburg also faces a cumulative deficit of at least $13 million, including more than $9 million of debt service payments that went unpaid in March and September, according to a March 28 status update from William Lynch, the state-appointed receiver.

CONTROVERSIAL MAYOR FACES RIVALS

Two candidates hope to unseat Mayor Linda Thompson, an outspoken and controversial first-term Democrat. The victor in Harrisburg's Democratic primary is also expected to win November's general election, although at least one challenger, Independent Nevin Mindlin, will run in the fall.

Thompson is African-American and has a strong base of support in Harrisburg's black community, which makes up 52 percent of the city's population.

But beyond her base, "she's got very fragile relationships with almost every constituent group you could imagine," said Terry Madonna, director of Franklin & Marshall College's Center for Politics and Public Affairs, who has conducted polls of Pennsylvania politics for more than a decade.

Receiver Lynch, the only person with the power to send Harrisburg into bankruptcy, has so far said he sees that option as a last resort. But even the threat of bankruptcy can be enough to bring different sides to the bargaining table.

Lynch attempted to negotiate borrowing money through a tax anticipation note during late 2012 and early 2013, but financial institutions still "have concerns" about Harrisburg's credit worthiness, he said in his March update.

None of Wall Street's three big credit rating agencies currently rate the city of Harrisburg's debt.

The mayor must work with Harrisburg's state-appointed overseer, the City Council and a host of other players to push ahead a court-approved recovery plan. The plan includes the sale and lease of city assets, but so far no deals have been finalized.

The mayor also helps negotiate with police, fire and public employee unions on labor contracts that, if altered, could save the city money on health care and other costs.

BOND DEAL HAUNTS POLITICIANS

One of Thompson's two top rivals, independent bookstore owner Eric Papenfuse, hopes that the 2007 bond deal will haunt both Thompson and challenger City Comptroller Dan Miller.

Thompson and Miller were on the City Council when it approved the bond financing, and both got there because of support from former Mayor Steve Reed who had served 28 years.

Miller was the only City Council member to vote against the bond financing.

It was during Reed's administration that the incinerator deals were cut and, later, that some of the more troublesome financial disclosure problems occurred, leading to the SEC's fraud charge earlier this month. The city paid no penalty in the settlement and no individuals were named.

Thompson has made a number of problematic statements since taking office in January 2010. She once referred to Miller - Harrisburg's first openly gay elected official - as a "homosexual, evil little man," according to local media reports. In subsequent stories, she did not deny the comment.

She also lost several close staffers during her first year in office. Five of them told the central Pennsylvania newspaper The Patriot-News that she created a toxic, abusive atmosphere.

Papenfuse is no stranger to local politics. In February 2007, the City Council appointed him to the board of the Harrisburg Authority, which owns the incinerator. Papenfuse opposed additional funding for the incinerator upgrades and later quit the board.

Thompson and Papenfuse have said they do not want the city to file for Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy. Miller, however, believes bankruptcy is inevitable, and that it should be done before the city's assets are sold off.

The only poll of the race so far, published on May 13, found Thompson, with 13 percent of the vote, losing to Miller and Papenfuse, who would be tied at 30 percent each. Some 23 percent were undecided. Fifty-seven percent of those polled strongly disapproved of Thompson's performance on the job.

The poll, conducted by Susquehanna Polling and Research for the local ABC News station, surveyed 300 Harrisburg Democrats by telephone and has a margin of error of 5.6 percent.

(Reporting by Hilary Russ; Editing by Tiziana Barghini and Leslie Gevirtz)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ghosts-incinerator-bond-deal-haunt-harrisburg-election-131127087.html

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iSlayTheDragon | Board Games, Board Game Reviews, and a ...

In the land before time ? because early man?hadn't?yet invented swatch watches ? our knuckle-dragging ancestors lacked many things like bows, baskets, and trapper-keepers.? Indeed, you may wonder how the species survived without Tupperware, pedometers and koozies, but times were even darker than that - literally.? Until, that is, one momentous, undocumented moment.? Now, Rio Grande sends you back in time ? way back ? to be a part of arguably the greatest achievement in human history: the discovery of fire!? Can you lead your small tribe of cavemen to grow and prosper, being the first to patent the roaring flame?? Can you do better than our distant cousins?? Well, let?s hope so, considering that their IQ was smaller than the number of fingers you have on one hand. ?And s'mores-eaters and Kumbaya-singers throughout history will memorialize you forever more!

How it Plays

Cavemen: The Quest for Fire is a card-drafting, tableau-building game of prehistoric inventing, with a smattering of bidding and resource management.? As leader of a band of hunter-gatherers, you will recruit tribesmen, provide shelter, hunt and forage for food, and better your little clan?s lives by developing the bow & arrow, baskets, and other labor saving devices in a golden era of convenience not seen again by anyone until 1950's housewives. You begin as a small, close-knit band with your leader, one hunter, a cave, and some food and teeth (the game?s two resources).? These are laid out in your personal playing area.? The starting player is determined randomly and she takes the conch token ? an integral component of the game.? Then a number of cards from the deck are placed face-up within reach of everyone.? Cards are cavemen, beasts, caves, or inventions.? On your turn you will have the opportunity to draft a card from this central pool or collect resources.
While even a Neanderthal can understand the cards, they do have several icons to get used to.? Cavemen are classified as hunters, thinkers, elders, or explorers.? Each category is identified by a unique symbol at the top of the card.? The cost in food or teeth to recruit that caveman is specified at the right.? Finally, the left of the card indicates how many points that caveman adds to your tribe?s scores in hunting, inventing, foraging, and/or exploration, which also all have a distinctive icon.

Beasts provide food and teeth.? The right of the card states how many hunting points your tribe must possess in order to take down the creature.? The left of the card stipulates how much food and teeth you collect for doing so.? Caves increase your tribe?s maximum size. ?Your starting home is only big enough to house four cavemen.? Inventions round out the card variety.? These developments require certain inventing scores to acquire and then provide your tribe with permanent, special abilities or benefits.

Turns are very structured and simple.? After replenishing the central card pool, everyone gets a chance to bid teeth for the conch.? The player with the conch gets to take two actions every round.? You also must hold the conch in order to invent fire, so this phase can be an interesting one in the late game as everyone gets closer to acquiring enough inventing points to build fire.? The main drawback to possessing the conch is that you must pay one food per tribe member during the next phase ? feeding.? Meanwhile, all others need only spend one food total.
After feeding your people, the action phase is next.? Beginning with the conch holder, each player gets one action with the potential to draft a card or collect resources by hunting or foraging.? You can recruit a caveman by paying the indicated cost in food or teeth and adding her to your tribe ? presuming that you have enough space in your cave(s).? You can hunt a beast for food and/or teeth as long as your current hunting score allows it.? Be careful though. ?Hunting is dangerous work and you may lose a tribe member as a casualty.? A safer way to gather food is to forage simply by collecting an amount of food equal to your tribe?s combined foraging score.

You can also explore to add a cave if one is available.? If you have an explorer, it?s free; otherwise you?ll need to pay teeth.? The final action you may perform is to invent.? If there is an invention card available and you have the required aggregate inventing score, you may pick that up and add it to your tableau,?benefiting?from its effect when applicable.

When all players have taken their action, the conch holder gets to perform one more.? Then someone, usually the player to the conch-holder's right, will discard down to three cards in the central pool and re-stock it based on the number of players.? Rounds continue in this fashion until the fire card is available and the conch holder has the requisite inventing score to obtain it for the win.? At that point, you may want to continue until the invention of?aloe vera, silvadene, and bacitracin.
Roaring Flame?? Or Cooling Embers? There's an old saying, "Don't play with fire!" ?It can be dangerous. ?After all, some of histories greatest tragedies involved fire: the Burning of Rome in 62 AD, the Great London Fire of 1666, the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, that time when Michael Jackson's hair ignited when filming his?1984 Pepsi commercial.? But as long as you can deal with the moral and ethical conundrums of the destruction you're just about to unleash upon the world, it's totally safe to play Cavemen: The Quest for Fire - and even fun.

Perhaps the most important thing to know about Cavemen is that it's kind of like when you throw a log on a campfire and sparks fly everywhere.? It is quite random.? As a card game, of course, that's not surprising.? While you can still work towards a general strategy, it is way more tactical in nature.? You have to be ready to take advantage of the cards that come up, rather than wait around for one or two that you may actually desire.? While the luck element can be frustrating for serious strategy gamers, it's appropriate for this title.? Namely because Cavemen is light-hearted, relaxed, and very accessible to more casual gamers.

Aside from the unpredictable nature of when certain cards appear in the central pool for?availability, the more impactful arbitrary element is with hunting. ?After taking a beast card and collecting the food and teeth, you must resolve for casualties. ?To do so, you simply draw the top card from the deck. ?All cards, other than fire, have a stone count from 1-5. ?If the stone count on the card you drew matches that of anyone in your tribe, you lose a caveman. ?It does not have to be the tribe member whose count matches the card - you may choose anyone except your starting leader. ?However, this luck is two-fold. ?Not only is?casualty?resolution itself completely random, but the card you drew to determine that is discarded. ?If it's one of the nifty invention cards that could prove really handy, it's now out of play until you exhaust the draw deck and have to reshuffle the discard pile to begin again.

While Cavemen: The Quest for Fire may be random, there are still opportunities to pursue a general plan and experiment with some different combinations.? The biggest contingency you must prepare for is feeding your tribe.? You will frequently discover food supplies are not always in abundance.? And if you can?t feed your people, one of them starves to death.? Now, sometimes that?s not a bad option, despite how heartless it may sound.? This is a dinosaur-eat-man world, after all.? However, utilizing forced starvation as a regular practice?isn't?a wise plan, as you won?t be able to accumulate enough inventing points which are required to make fire and win the game.

You have two choices in acquiring food ? hunting or foraging.? Therefore, you can go after hunters who kill for food.? Not only can you score some savory brachiosaurus baby back ribs, but you?ll often gain much needed teeth, as well.? But while you can potentially earn more food through hunting, you also risk losing a tribe member during the heat of the chase.? But hunters don?t contribute anything else, so instead you may want to concentrate on recruiting explorers and elders to forage.? While you may not collect as much food as you can with hunting, elders and explorers provided other skills to help your society.? Plus foraging is much safer ? as long as you watch out for the dark red berries.

Thinkers also provide an interesting decision.? With an inventing score of +2, they?re very attractive options (necessities), considering you only need 7, 8, or 9 points to obtain fire (depending on the number of players).? However, if you load up on too many of them - especially early on - you?ll find it difficult to get food and teeth as all of their scholarly matriculating proves of little practical benefit for day-to-day survival.? Basically, they?re Neolithic liberal arts grads.

These choices are fun to experiment with in discovering which classes of cave people work best with others and in what ratios. That said, there are two potential issues. First, you?ll likely find yourself locking into a formulaic combination. That is, if the cards cooperate. Therefore secondly, when they do, many times there is an obvious or optimal action that you really need to take. ?Especially when you're running low on food, you'll need to hunt or forage.

Overall, you can?t ignore food, so hunters will be an early priority. You have to have a least one or two thinkers to form a solid inventing base. An early explorer could prove critical to find a free cave so that you can expand the size of your little clan without spending precious teeth. Then Elders are solid late game additions to acquire food and help with inventing. Yes, there can be some slight differences and you may develop a varied preference, but you?re likely to lock in on that for most games when you find it works.

Consequently, inventions bring the spice to Cavemen. ?These cards provide neat effects that can really boost your hunting, foraging, and inventing scores so that you don't have to rely completely on cave people for everything. ?In fact, maximizing combinations of these benefits are usually the key to victory. ?There's one that gives you +2 inventing if you have one of each cavemen type. ?Another gives you immunity from hunting casualties. ?Yet others give you food during the feeding phase, double the value of your teeth for bidding, and even the ability to sacrifice a tribe member for teeth! ?The tableau-building component really shines with the use of invention cards to accentuate not only your tribe's current make-up, but to chain upon each other, as well.

Indeed sometimes one player can do so well that the others will not be able to stop her when fire shows up in the central pool. ?While this kind of runaway leader issue may sound odd in a card game of this nature, it nonetheless can pop up. ?If someone is able to efficiently engineer their tableau with the necessary invention score, generate just enough food to avoid starvation, and gain two or more teeth every round, the endgame will be a lackluster conclusion played on autopilot. ?We've had a couple games in which the winner was obvious several rounds before the end. ?One player would have enough teeth, in addition to earning more every turn, to ensure he would win the conch as soon as fire appeared. ?Yes, that's the goal of the game and reveals the skill (and luck) of that player, but it makes for an anti-climactic experience - and not very fun when it happens. There's simply no way to stop a leader in such a position, nor are there any catch-up mechanisms.

Other than the runaway leader element (which does not happen every session), the other characteristics mesh well together for a nice family style game. ?The randomness, formulaic tendencies, and lack of interaction will limit Cavemen's replay value for more seasoned and/or serious hobby gamers. ?But for more casual audiences, it's just right. ?Its mostly straight-forward and individual turns move quickly so that there's little downtime. ?It can go a bit long for what it is with a fifth player, so I personally recommend playing with two to four. ?The only scaling element is with the number of cards available in the central pool, and it works fine with two, three, or four players.

The production quality is solid, as I would expect from Rio Grande. The cards are sturdy. Unfortunately they have those black borders which tend to take, and subsequently show, wear easier. The conch, teeth, and food tokens are a nice weight. I do question the design of the food tokens, however; they are shaped like drumsticks with a protruding, skinny bone "handle." I will be surprised if one or two aren't broken off over the course of playing the game. By far the most striking feature of this title's components is the unique artwork. ?All of the cards feature clay models that are then photographed in a mini-panorama. ?To save on time, each beast, cave, and caveman type have standard models and poses which are then colored and/or dressed individually to create variety. ?But the various inventions are all original. ?The result is fresh and comical, engendering a certain playfulness which only adds to its family accessibility. ?All in all, the game's lower-end price point, along with the amount and quality of its components, make for a good value.

Cavemen: The Quest for Fire is a nice, family-style card game.? Despite tendencies to have obvious plays, there are still opportunities to make some tough and tense decisions.? Just be aware that randomness is a significant factor.? ?While there a few ways to experiment in this title, you will likely discover an ideal strategy that works best after a few sessions.? To be sure, this is not uncommon in many card games.? In any event, there is some fun in the challenge to create a balance of tribesmen and inventions in which you can adequately feed your people, allow for growth, and gain ?science.?? Cavemen is a light, pre-historic romp that still offers choices and shines best when bringing gamers together with their families, kids, and casual friends.

Pros:

Simple and accessible

Quick and well-paced

Offers some tactical decisions

Fun and unique artwork

Good value

Cons:

Lower replay value

Can tend toward optimal or scripted plays

Luck plays a large role

Can have a runaway leader problem

iSlaytheDragon would like to thank Rio Grande Games for providing a review copy of Cavemen: The Quest for Fire.

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Source: http://www.islaythedragon.com/2013/05/feel-burn-review-of-cavemen-quest-for.html

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