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Having survived Battletop's "World Cyber Game Challenge" London Preliminary at the Millenium Dome with lives and sanity more or less intact, EuroGamer ventured across the pond to visit the Big Apple itself for the New York Preliminary. EuroGamer's tech team were on hand with their new TOAST software to manage several of the competitions for Battletop, while I watched the action to bring you full reports on all the key matches from the two day tournament...
As with the London Preliminary, the NYC Preliminary would cover several games rather than just the usual Quake 3 Arena duel, free for all and clan matches. Unreal Tournament was also on the cards, along with Age of Empires II, and soccer game FIFA 2000, which seemed to rather baffle the Americans, to whom the word "football" usually means guys in helmets and heavily padded suits running around a field chasing a funny shaped ball. And as the Battletop events are all leading up to the massive $300,000 World Cyber Games Challenge event in South Korea, there was also naturally a Starcraft tournament. After all, we have to let the Koreans win something at the grand finals next month! Starcraft is inexplicably popular in Korea, with millions of copies of the real-time strategy game sold in what is a relatively small country, and the top gamers there play it on a professional level, much as people play Quake 3 for a living here in Europe and America. The NYC event itself was taking place in an arcade just next to Time Square in the middle of Manhattan. When we arrived on the night before the tournament was due to kick off, the staff were still moving around arcade machines like Gauntlet, Star Wars Pod Racer and the rather intriguing sounding "Emergency Ambulance" game. Downstairs was a laser tag arena, while metal spiral staircases led up to a gallery which looked down over what was to become the main gaming area during the tournament. With most of the computers and hardware still to arrive, we headed off to check into our hotel and have a quick shower to freshen up after the long flight over from the UK. After grabbing a quick drink in the hotel bar, we headed out to a diner for some traditional American cuisine - 12oz steaks with fries the size of a small third world country hit the spot. There was still no sign of anything much going on at the venue though, so we headed back to the hotel to get a few hours sleep before the real fun started...
After an early morning breakfast at a nearby café (coffee, fresh orange juice, and artery clogging toasted sandwiches containing ham, fried eggs and cheese) we headed back down to the venue again, to discover that the computers had arrived but there were still no tables to put them on. The tables finally appeared just before we opened registrations at 10am, with the venue looking like a construction site as people scampered around setting up tables, putting up banners, assembling computers and getting everything set up ready for the first matches, due to begin in four hours time at 2pm. EuroGamer's TOAST admin system handled all of the registrations for the event as it opened, building up a list of everybody at the event and which competitions they were taking part in. With everything still in chaos, I headed out to do some shopping for a couple of hours, and came back to find the computers now set up on their tables, but without power or network connections. Things soon came together though, and although the event started a couple of hours late we were soon back on schedule again, with TOAST keeping track of the results from all of the competitions and uploading them to the web at regular intervals throughout the tourney, allowing everyone to follow the action as it happened. After the anarchic start, Friday went off amazingly well - we got down to the last two or four players in all of the competitions running that day (Unreal Tournament, FIFA 2000, Age of Empires II and Starcraft), and actually finished an hour ahead of schedule. Now there's something you don't see very often...
The Usual Suspects - Volume One
Photographs from Friday at the NYC Preliminary.
The Quake 3 competitions and the finals of the other competitions all took place on the Saturday, and that was when Battletop rolled out the VIPs and the press descended on the event en masse. Former heavyweight boxing champion Joe Frasier, supermodel Kylie Bass and VH1 presenter Madison Michelle (a self-confessed Q*Bert addict) were on hand to add some glamour to the event, along with a singer who is currently appearing in the "Saturday Night Fever" show on Broadway. Pity the poor people playing their first round of Quake 3 duels as the woman belted out "If I Can't Have You" on stage with ear-piercing volume... There was much back-patting, and plenty of photo opportunities for the benefit of the press, while the early stages of the competitions kicked off. There were some upsets, as the competitions were all single elimination, and sadly the seedings on the Quake 3 duel competition were just random. As a result c3 and Zero4 found themselves facing off in one of the early rounds, with c3 ending up watching the rest of the tournament from the sidelines. c3 had picked up the first frag on DM13, but Zero4 shafted his way into the lead in the fourth minute and never looked back, going 4 : 2 up at half time and never conceding another frag as he dominated the map. Final score, 10 : 2 to Zero4. Meanwhile the Quake 3 clan competition was underway, with the favourites cK and Stickmen winning their places in the final as expected from a starting group of just four teams. The other competitions had mostly taken place on the Friday, with the last few games finishing off on the Saturday morning and into early afternoon as the event reached its climax...
The first of the finals to take place was for the Starcraft competition, with Pillar and [usa]Jolly competing for the big prize of $3500. Pillar seemed to be at ease, joking with the event's hosts on stage before the game. "So, what do you do?" the presenter asked. "Oh, I just sit around", Pillar replied. Throughout the competition Pillar played as the Protoss, with Jolly as the Zergs in a battle of the aliens. The first game kicked off with both players gathering up crystals and Jolly sending out one of his overlords to scout out the map as he started to build up his base and spread to a second site. Pillar had soon found him though, and the battle commenced. A big group of Protoss were soon cascading into Jolly's base, but Jolly managed to fight them off and launch his own counter-offensive, leading to a big scrap in the middle of the small map. Jolly set up a forward base, spreading his "creep" outwards as he built his forces for a new attack. Pillar launched another attack, but Jolly's mixture of land and air forces fought it off as he scouted out the rest of the map, setting up more creep wherever he found an open space. Both players soon launched another attack, the two forces running into each other as Jolly battled his way to the edge of Pillar's base, breaking their way in. It was already looking terminal when a swarm of zerglings emerged from Jolly's base and rushed into Pillar's base, his defences already crippled after the previous attack. It was game over. The second game got going quickly, with Pillar finding Jolly's creep early on and assembling a few troops to harrass his base. The damage was beginning to mount, with Pillar knocking down Jolly's buildings as fast as he could grow them. Jolly fought back with a small force of zerglings about five minutes into the game, but Pillar had soon built up some more troops and attacked again. Fighting off Jolly's last attack, Pillar broke into his base and began to systematically obliterate it, throwing more and more troops at it until it was all over. The two players had each one a game, so it was time for a decider... Jolly got together a group of zerglings and charged in early on, but Pillar managed to fight him off and launched his own little counter-attack. Jolly was soon back on the offensive again though, and kept hammering Pillar with a steady stream of troops, starting to cause some damage to the northern end of Pillar's base. Pillar's managed to keep fighting off the attacks though, preventing Jolly from getting deeper into his base, and neither player had the strength to make a decisive move. In the end it was Pillar who managed to launch a "big push", with his huge mixed force crashing into the northern end of Jolly's base and then pushing its way southwards, running battles continuing all the way in. Jolly managed to fight them to a standstill eventually, but by now he was in bad shape and Pillar was on a roll. The game was soon over, with Pillar taking the match and the $3500 first prize.
The Unreal Tournament duel competition came down to a match between clanmates DD_Destrukt and fifteen year old DD_XSJ_Pain, one of the youngest competitors at the event. A technical hitch with Destrukt's computer led to a lengthy delay, but in the end things got underway... The first game was played out on Grinder, with Pain grabbing the rocket launcher at the start while Destrukt found his way to the flak cannon. After a short exchange in the hallway, Destrukt chased down Pain and perforated him with his chaingun. He soon picked up a second, but Pain came back strong to pick up two chaingun kills in quick succession and equalise the score on 2 : 2. For a while things calmed down a little, with running battles as the two players lobbed rockets and shrapnel at each other, but it was all very hit and run with no casualties. Eventually Destrukt took the initiative to recover the lead, but just seconds later Pain's flak cannon had equalised the game again, and a flak cannon kill near the armour gave him the lead for the first time. For a while Pain settled down there, pitching his tent near the armour, setting up a nice little campfire, and toasting some marshmellows. Each time the armour respawned Pain was back there to grab it, but after a while of this he started to stray out further into the level, finally meeting Destrukt in the ripper room. The two players duked it out around the crates with their chainguns, with Destrukt coming out on top to equalise the game again, only for Pain to respawn, grab the bio rifle, and dollop some of the green stuff on to Destrukt to retake the lead. With five minutes left to play he started to extend his lead, but after a series of running battles Destrukt managed to claw one back with his chaingun. Time was running out, but that wasn't about to stop Destrukt, as he pulled back to within a single frag of Pain. Surely it was too late? Pain picked up a couple more frags, but Destrukt fought on and clawed another back, with Pain narrowly escaping a second time as he respawned nearby. With just a minute left Pain picked up one more frag, securing his lead. In the dying seconds of the game the two players met again in the lava hall, firing rockets at each other but unable to make it stick. The game drew to a close, with Pain 11 : 8 up. The second game was on Tempest, and this time Pain picked up the first frag, chasing Destrukt down ramps and stairs with his chaingun. He got a second with his rocket launcher a minute later, but soon became rather defensive, lobbing rockets at Destrukt across a room and then backing off again, grabbing health, armour and the jump boots. Meanwhile Destrukt was getting happy with the old shock rifle combo, massive electric blue explosions going off all around. Neither player could make a kill though, and this dragged on for three minutes before Destrukt got over-enthusiastic with his chaingun, and Pain took him down with a well placed rocket. Things were starting to heat up again, with Pain taking a beating during a close battle in the shock rifle room, withdrawing to find some health and barely escaping with his life. Then, about six minutes into the game, Destrukt finally scored his first frag of the game! Pain came back at him with the chaingun to make it 4 : 1, and went on something of a rampage. He couldn't make another kill though, and pulled back to regroup. Then, with just five minutes left, Destrukt picked up a second frag. Pain was keeping his distance to hold on to his faltering lead though, and it was going to be tough for Destrukt to pull back... That didn't mean he wasn't going to try though, and a minute later he picked up his third frag, promising us an exciting climax. Pain's entire body was shaking from nerves as Destrukt equalised with just two minutes left to play! He managed to hold it together though, creeping up on his opponent on the upper level as Destrukt approached the edge, violating him from behind with a rocket. The blast threw Destrukt off the ledge on to the ground below, and Pain finished the job with his chaingun. Pain picked up a second frag soon afterwards, but with just thirty seconds left to go Destrukt scored again to narrow the lead to a single frag. That's all it takes though, and Pain managed to stay clear of him for the last few seconds to take a hard earned victory, 7 : 6.
Quake 3 Clan
As expected, the finals of the 4 vs 4 Quake 3 clan competition at the NYC Preliminary was between cK and the Stickmen. Both teams include star players - Razer-CPL winner Fatality is in cK, while the Stickmen have Wombat (playing under his real name, Larsen). Unfortunately I missed the first match, a closely fought game on Q3DM6 which ended with the Stickmen just five frags up, taking it 144 : 139. The second game was on DM7, and after a very long warm-up they finally got it on... Stx's Ranger picked up the first frag, melting Fatality with his plasma gun, and his team began to pull out a decent lead, reaching 8 : 1 at one point. cK were soon fighting back though, and by the end of the first minute they were only two frags behind. The two teams seemed evenly matched, but cK overhauled the Stickmen and gradually pulled out a slim lead. cK bedded down for the night at the red armour, helping them to build up a 25 : 19 lead by the third minute. Both teams were being rather camp, and the game was starting to look like something of a non-event as the two teams settled down at opposite ends of the map, aiming to control either the quad or the red armour. cK's resident Spook got hold of the quad at five minutes, but he couldn't make it count, and the score was still just 32 : 27 at this point, with cK still making themselves at home in the red armour courtyard. Finally, seven minutes into the game, the Stickmen managed to over-run the red armour. It wasn't to last long though. Fatality with a quad is not a pretty sight, and having tooled himself up with a plasma gun he charged into the courtyard, cutting down most of his opponents and clearing out the room. By the eighth minute cK were back in residence at the red armour, with a 53 : 38 lead. The Stickmen managed to force them out again by half time, but cK were still 15 frags up, and all four Stx players were now at the red armour. Just past half time cK re-took the red armour courtyard, and there was some heavy fighting around there as Stx tried to grab it back. With at least three of their four players in there at once though, cK had the room locked down, with the rest of the action centering around the quad. cK's lead mounted, and it looked like it was all over for Stx. As yet another battle broke out over the quad, seventeen minutes into the game, cK were 108 : 85 up. The Stickmen put up an incredible fight in the last minutes, but with just a minute left to go Stx were still 14 down, and cK players weren't bothering to respawn, typing "gg" as the clock ticked down. In the end they took the victory by just eight frags, 114 : 106. With both clans now having won a game, a decider was needed on DM14. cK picked up the first quad and took the early lead, 11 : 7 up after two minutes. The quad was, as usual, the center of attention, and as it came up again Fatality was there to grab it in the midst of a shaft battle. Slowly his clan teased out their lead to 30 : 18 in the fifth minute, and the game seemed fairly uneventful, with cK apparently with the upper-hand. Little did we know... Stx had managed to peg cK's lead at 17 frags by half time, with Ranger pummeling cK's Ouija, and a quad run from another of the Stickmen all helping the cause, as Fatality took a stumble and toppled into the red mist. A couple of minutes later Stx started to turn the game around, closing in on cK rapidly to cut their lead to 59 : 52. Fierce battles erupted around the quad again as the game came alive, with the score closing to 67 : 64 with just five minutes to go. Stickmen's Billings grabbed the next quad and let rip, railing cK's czm to equalise. Then, just seconds later, Stx took the lead! cK weren't about to throw the game at this late stage though, and fought back hard to equalise again, taking the score to 79 : 79 with just three minutes to go. Ouija grabbed a battle suit, but then dived headlong into the red mist, helped along by a rocket blast. With two minutes left the score was back at 79 : 79 again! It was nerve-wracking as the two teams matched each other frag for frag, with cK eventually coming out on top, taking it to 85 : 81 in the final minute as Wombat took his turn to fall in the red stuff. In the final seconds of the game cK sealed their victory, with Fatality grabbing the last quad and going on a rampage to secure the win. Stx tried their best to recover, but with little time left and cK once again refusing to respawn, it was all over. ck took the game 95 : 85, and the match 2 : 1. They certainly had to work for their money!
Quake 3 Duel
Perhaps the biggest competition at the NYC Preliminary (in terms of prize money and public interest) was the Quake 3 duel contest, although sadly it was a single elimination competition with random seedings, meaning that many good players were knocked out in early rounds. The grand final was far from an anti-climax though, with Canadian Dy Syng putting up a strong performance against the better known American player Zero4, who had already won a trip to Korea at an earlier Battletop event. The first game was on DM13, with Dy Syng getting a good start, picking up the megahealth and the yellow armour in front of it before grabbing the shotgun. Running into Zero4 he blew him away, then picked up a rocket launcher and earned himself a second frag with it soon afterwards. Zero4 fought back hard, pulling one back only to catch a rocket from Dy Syng as they both headed for the ever popular megahealth. With the first frantic minute over, the score was 3 : 1 to Dy Syng - something of an upset! Zero4 managed to get another frag back, chasing Dy Syng out from above the megahealth and on to the bridge across the main courtyard, and eventually catching him with his shaft. Dy Syng was soon back in action though, taking down Zero4 with a rocket launcher again to go 4 : 2 up in the third minute. There was some controversy though, as Dy Syng's domination of the megahealth in the early stages of the game was no doubt helped by his use of a timer to allow him to tell exactly when the power-up was about to respawn. This is something which is illegal in many Quake 3 competitions, but as the rules of the Battletop event were somewhat vague there was nothing to stop him using it. After a couple of minutes of megahealth hoarding by Dy Syng, a rocket battle broke out in the main courtyard, with the players battling their way down through the teleporter below the red armour, into the pentagram room, and then up the bounce pad to the grenade launcher before Zero4 finally managed to finish off the Canadian player. He soon scored another frag to close the score to 5 : 4, and Dy Syng was beginning to get frustrated, shouting out "that's right, I'm your daddy" as he sent Zero4 scurrying for health. Zero4 was on a roll though, and took the lead five minutes into the game, 6 : 5 ahead. It wasn't to last long - Dy Syng went through the teleporter into the pentagram room with Zero4 in chase. Laying down a few grenades, Dy Syng waited for the inevitable, and a few seconds later Zero4 emerged from the teleporter amidst a blossom of explosions, a well-placed rocket finishing him off to even up the score at 6 : 6. Dy Syng recovered the lead after another rocket battle through the teleporter soon afterwards, but Zero4 respawned nearby and finished off the wounded Canadian to make it 7 : 7. Just past half time Zero4 regained the lead after a brutal shaft and rocket battle in the courtyard, and started to pull out a small margin, getting another shaft kill and following it up with a flurry of rockets as he took control of the game, going 10 : 7 up by the ninth minute. It was all over, and Dy Syng's game collapsed. With five minutes left Zero4 was comfortably ahead by 15 : 7, and even though Dy Syng managed to claw a few back, Zero4 managed to stay in front throughout. In the last minute the two players clashed in a corridor round the back of the courtyard, their rockets blowing each other in a shower of gibs. Zero4 took the victory 21 : 14. The second game, on Q3Tourney4, followed much the same pattern, with Dy Syng starting strongly and then fading towards the end of the match. He picked up the first megahealth and then took out Zero4 with his rocket launcher at the bottom of one of the bounce pads. Zero4 soon got one back, but Dy Syng picked up another frag to make it 2 : 1 at the end of the first minute. He soon took Zero4 down with his rocket launcher again, but by now he was down to just four health! Managing to escape, he restocked with health and armour and got to the megahealth just ahead of Zero4, but with only a shotgun to defend himself he decided that discretion was the better part of valour, and legged it. A couple more kills took Dy Syng 6 : 1 ahead at one point, but Zero4 had found his stride and started to come back, getting a run of four frags with his rocket launcher and shotgun to close the game right up again, 6 : 5. He was on a rocket rampage now, projectiles flying in all directions as he overhauled Dy Syng and began to pull ahead, finishing up his run with a plasma gun kill to take him 8 : 6 up after five minutes. Dy Syng managed to get one back with a nice railgun shot, but Zero4 took another three kills to extend his lead to 11 : 7. The game was far from over though, and Dy Syng fired off a mid-air rail, catching Zero4 perfectly. Two more rocket kills closed the score right up again, with Zero4 just ahead on 11 : 10. A series of bad spawns ended the game for Dy Syng though, with Zero4 picking up a string of relatively easy kills to take him 15 : 10 up just past half time. Dy Syng picked up the next red armour though and gave chase, blasting Zero4 clear off the top balcony that runs around the outer ledge of the level, then reduced him to gibs with a second rocket as he hit the ground. It was pretty much all over bar the shouting at this stage though, with Zero4 recovering to go 18 : 12 up after ten minutes, depth charging Dy Syng through the flimsy metal walkways, the blasts damaging the Canadian through the thin ledge as the rockets hit the underside. Dy Syng wasn't about to give up, but it was all starting to look futile. "Zero4 has an eight frag lead", the announcer called out over the loud speakers, to which Dy Syng replied "not for long". He could talk the talk, but unfortunately he couldn't walk the walk as Zero4 clung on to his lead. The two players matched each other almost frag for frag during the closing minutes of the game, and Dy Syng could do nothing to recover. Two minutes from the end Zero4 was still seven frags ahead, but on the run now. Dy Syng managed to pluck him out of mid-air with a well timed rail shot, but Zero4 came back to extend his lead to a safe margin again. With just a minute left and still seven frags behind, Dy Syng knew it was all over, typing "gg man" as the two players traded shots in the final seconds of the game, taking the score to 29 : 19 at the end. "You're buying me a beer", joked Dy Syng as the players shook hands after the match. With another king size cheque for $10,000 under his arm, Zero4 could afford to...
With the Quake 3 duel over and the 6.30pm deadline looming, the players were cleared off the stage to make way for the closing ceremony, which managed to be both spectacular and somewhat ridiculous. To kick things off, the smoke generators over the stage let rip a big cloud of white smoke. Earlier in the day they had been tested during the grand final of the Age of Empires II competition, and one of the players had been forced to pause the game while the smoke cleared, because he couldn't see his monitor clearly! A man stumbled on to the stage through the haze, dressed in black trousers, a silver apron, silver swimming cap, goggles, and what looked like black velvet boxing gloves. Things went pretty much downhill from there as the "Gotham City Boxers" took to the stage. The man keeled over and lay on the floor as four women wearing tight black PVC trousers, little antennae and fake breasts wandered on to the stage, gathered around him, and then did a bit of kick boxing, followed by a dance routine as the man got up again and boogied down with them before being shoved around and collapsing again. Quite what all this was in aid of, we have no idea, and the rest of the audience seemed just as baffled. It was kind of funny in an unintentional sort of way though. With that out of the way, the stage was cleared and everybody backed away from it. "Get behind the black line!" the bouncers shouted at us, making sure everybody was at a safe distance before a fireworks display (yes, fireworks inside the venue!) was set off, with sparks flying high into the air and flash-bangs going off along the edge of the stage. It was bright, noisy, and no doubt something of a fire hazard, with the two PCs used in the finals still sat at the back of the stage, and a huge banner hanging over it. Nobody seemed too concerned though, and everything went to plan with no casualties. All that remained was for the table full of trophies and giant cheques to be handed out to the appropriate players, a process which took quite some time with seven competitions completed and as many as four prize winners for each of them. And so it was all over, stumbling out into the daylight again...
Extra Curricular Activities
It wasn't all hard work though, and the EuroGamer crew had time to relax and take in the sights of New York while we were over there. Our web designer Jay Adair had ventured out to the Empire State Building with me on the way to the venue on the Saturday morning, and the view from the top was truly stunning. On the way back towards XS, the arcade where the NYC Preliminary was taking place, Jay picked up a mini-scooter. These things are all the rage amongst the yuppie population in London, although in New York they seem to be more aimed at kids. Either way, we found a souvenir shop selling them for just $60 including tax, half what they cost in the UK, and Jay just couldn't resist. Neither could Yoo Sup Oh, the President of ICM, the Korean parent company of Battletop, who saw Jay skating around the venue on his scooter and asked if he could borrow it. The next thing we knew the multi-millionaire was speeding up and down the sidewalk outside the venue on the scooter, apparently having the time of his life. The real highlight of Saturday for the EuroGamer posse was dinner though, as we headed out to Morton's for the mother-of-all steaks. The restaurant has a "show and tell" menu, and it was soon obvious where Douglas Adams had got the inspiration for the talking cow at the Restaurant At The End Of The Universe from the "Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy". The waiter wheeled out a tray smothered in chunks of meat and bits of vegetable, and proceeded to introduce us to all the various culinary delights the restaurant had in offer, in their raw uncooked form. It was rather overwhelming, and luckily there was a printed menu (referred to as "the crib sheet") to consult after the presentation. It was all too much for poor Jay Adair though, who had drunk a few too many bottles of the high caffeine drink "Bawls" at the NYC Preliminary earlier in the day and was feeling rather ill by this point - he decided to head back to the hotel to recover. Rupert Loman whimped out and went for the smallest steak on the menu, while I settled for a Cajun Ribeye steak, an impressive hunk of cow, marionated in spices for two days before being cooked. Meanwhile our resident Australian Mat Bettinson decided to brave the Porterhouse, which was described as two steaks in one, and weighed in at 24oz. There was a 48oz version of the Porterhouse on offer as well, but we all decided that this was rather over the top. Strangely, when the steaks arrived they were twice as big as the ones we had been shown, and the people who had been suckered into ordering a hot dessert started to regret it as the sheer size of the meal overwhelmed them. The vegetable platter alone could have fed an entire family, the lobster was massive, while Mat's Porterhouse steak seemed to still be alive, oozing blood when prodded and apparently growing new meat as fast as he could eat it. There was still half of it left when he finally gave up after an hour of hacking away at the damn thing. What with six steaks of varying sizes, a vegetable platter, a lobster, and various types of potato on the side, as well as oysters, shrimps, smoked salmon and a salad for starters, and glasses of beer and wine to wash it all down, it was certainly a feast fit for a king. It came with a price tag to match as well ($600 including the tip!), but it was worth every penny in my opinion. Of course, I wasn't paying for it...
Sunday, Bloody Sunday
We were planning a night out for after the meal, but within minutes of getting back to the hotel both Nick Loman and TOAST co-programmer Mark had fallen fast asleep as the blood rushed to their stomachs to try and deal with the sudden influx of beef. We were also hoping for an early start the next morning, as we weren't due to leave the city until mid-afternoon, and wanted to do some more shopping and sight seeing while we were there. Unfortunately the Lomans all slept in, and so we finally staggered out of the hotel to the Starbuck's across the street just before lunchtime. Meanwhile Jay and myself had been subjected to the Wing Commander movie, which was showing on one of the hotel's 78 cable TV channels that morning. I feel very, very sorry for Jurgen Prochnow, star of classic World War II submarine movie "Das Boot" back in the 1980s, and now reduced to being one of the flight officers in this piece of tripe. The FMV in the Wing Commander computer games had better acting, dialogue and plot than the movie, which is truly an abomination. Avoid at all costs! Having escaped from the awful movie, we recovered in Starbucks and then split up to explore the Big Apple. Jay, Mat and myself headed off down towards Time Square and Broadway, venturing into an HMV along the way only to discover that everything was just as expensive as in the UK. Something's wrong there. Luckily we found a huge video shop down the road, and while Jay sat around looking bored stiff, we proceeded to spend a couple of hundred dollars on cheap DVDs. Then it was a quick hop across the road to TGI Fridays for a round of beers and lunch in the form of combo Fajitas. Mmm... More beef - just what we needed after Saturday night's meal. Ahem. Anyway, we survived that somehow, and headed on to Central Park to chill out for an hour or two, and to mess around on Jay's scooter again, whizzing down hills and scaring the kids. Actually, the kids all had their own scooters, and were even more inept at controlling them than I am. Which was really frightening. Eventually it was time to head back to the hotel to meet up with the rest of the EuroGamer crew and head out to the airport. Little did we know that we were about to leave the joint in style, as Paul Loman had hired us our own stretched limo to carry us to the airport! With seven hours on a plane in front of us, we took full advantage of the ample leg room, and sat back to admire the view as we whisked out to Newark airport in air conditioned, mood lit luxury. Aw yeah.
All in all the NYC Preliminary had been something of a success, and a massive improvement on the rather chaotic London Preliminary which had taken place at the Millenium Dome in England just a week earlier. We were rather worried when we arrived at the venue on Friday morning to find all of the computers still in boxes just a few hours before the first game was due to take place, but in the end everything came together, and although things got started an hour and a half late we were actually ahead of schedule by the end of Friday! There were problems of course, with a few complaints about the Unreal Tournament competition, most of them hardware related. As I only really saw the finals, I can't comment on whether those complaints were justified or not. Other than that, the only big problem was the random seedings in the Quake 3 duel, which upset some of the top players at the event, many of whom found themselves knocked out in the early stages after coming up against Zero4 or one of the other highly rated players. The Age of Empires II and Quake 3 clan competitions which EuroGamer was in charge of were seeded, as were some of the others, so quite why the Quake 3 duels weren't I don't know. Hopefully this is something that Battletop will learn from for their future events though - they have already raised their game significantly just in the last week. Otherwise everything went fairly smoothly, and our TOAST admin system, just a couple of months old at this stage, did a good job of managing the brackets, registration and results for all of the competitions (apart from the Unreal Tournament one). We were all kept fairly busy, both covering and helping to run the event, but we also enjoyed our stay in New York.
The Usual Suspects - Volume Two
Photographs from Saturday at the NYC Preliminary.
The Usual Suspects - Volume Three
Photographs from Saturday and Sunday at the NYC Preliminary.

domain: hobby


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The February moment remains. On a back field with no outsiders visible, Mike Hargrove observed a fundamentals drill among a group of young players become a farce.
No longer willing to watch silently, Hargrove stalked onto the diamond, turned the air blue and ordered the players and those coaches running the drill off the field. The offending parties were later informed they would return and do the drill correctly or else spend the entire day repeating it.
"That," says first baseman Will Clark, "hasn't been done before."
Today officially makes last season a memory for the Orioles and their new manager. Hargrove follows Ray Miller by bringing five consecutive American League Central titles and two World Series appearances out of Cleveland. Today, the Orioles are willing to trust the manager's office.
"You have to have confidence in the manager to put you in the best position to succeed," says today's Orioles starter, Mike Mussina. "With Cleveland, he did that, and for the first six or seven weeks I've been around him I believe he's done it over here. He understands the length of a season, what it's like to play every day or pitch out of a bullpen. You can't live and die for one particular game if it's going to jeopardize the rest of the season or even the next two days to do it."
Starting his 14th pro season, Clark has seen all types, and Hargrove already has sold him.
Clark first played for the fatherly Roger Craig with the San Francisco Giants, followed by the more outgoing Dusty Baker. Before coming to the Orioles last season, he played under the administrative Johnny Oates. In Hargrove, he recognizes a plan and the confidence to install it.
The back-field reprimand was unusual only because Hargrove typically prefers a less open setting. A tunnel leading from the dugout or an unruffled moment in the outfield during batting practice can accomplish much while drawing little attention.
"Unless the guys in here are looking, they can't see it done, either," says Clark, who easily possesses the clubhouse's sharpest antenna. "That's the way it should be. I've told him, 'You've got all the respect in the world, not only from me, but from all the players because of the way you treat everybody.' It's not public. It's the way it should be. It's the way it was done 10 or 15 years ago."
Whatever edge Hargrove can derive from the change he represents, he'll take. Hargrove's Orioles open the season with their most durable starting pitcher, Scott Erickson, on the disabled list, projected No. 3 starter Jason Johnson in the minors, Mussina's contract status uncertain and several position players coming off injury-abbreviated springs. The Orioles are again a veteran team usually described as old.
Vice president of baseball operations Syd Thrift has presented Hargrove a renovated bullpen that may be significantly improved over the '99 version, but Thrift also has his skeptics.
"I think, based on the last two seasons, those perceptions are legitimate. But based on the personnel we have on this ballclub, our expectations and perceptions of ourselves are higher -- and not unreasonably so," says Hargrove. "We're going to go as far as our pitching will let us. Scott Erickson is ahead of schedule. I think our bullpen -- as maligned as it is -- has a chance to be a very good bullpen. It never bothers me when people have lower expectations."
Hargrove arrived from a front office environment in which reaching the postseason became a formality and winning a World Series expected. Ultimately, the front office perceived the performance as drab and believed Hargrove its personification; hence the need for a fresh "voice" within the clubhouse, according to team president John Hart, after October's upset loss to the Boston Red Sox in the Division Series.
Hargrove held his tongue after October's firing, but offensive/defensive coordinator Brian Graham, who first coached for Hargrove in 1987 at Single-A Kinston, perceived the dismissal as "weak" and at least partly because of the manager's disdain for clutching for credit.
"He doesn't want to be in front of the parade," says Graham. "He wants to be the driving force behind the parade. That's never changed."
The scheduling coincidence that pits Hargrove's former team against his current one today doesn't escape the Orioles manager. He's not crazy about it but says: "The only way it would be more ironic is if it was in Cleveland. I'm glad we're in Baltimore, not Cleveland."
Still, if Hargrove walks a little slowly to home plate today, it is because some deep bruises have yet to heal. "I don't think anybody ever gets over when they get hurt. You take it and put in a spot and let it heal over for a while," he says.
"Every now and then the scab comes off. But as far as me being an Oriole as opposed to me being an Indian, when I think of Mike Hargrove, I think of Mike Hargrove as an Oriole. I've turned the page. I've got a lot of fond memories, but that's what they are -- memories."
If he was viewed as part of a problem in Cleveland, Hargrove represents a needed link to credibility for the Orioles, who emerge from consecutive fourth-place finishes picked to finish last in their division this season by as many prognosticators as project them third. Without significant renovations to the game's most veteran roster since a 78-84 finish, no one considers them playoff-worthy.
So what can a manager do?
"A manager makes a difference, but we still have to play no matter what he does," says outfielder B. J. Surhoff. "If he took Moose out after five innings with a perfect game, we'd still have to perform. Whether he brings in a lefty to face a lefty, we still have to perform."
Last season's constant speculation regarding Miller's future assumed its own momentum. An infamous April tirade in which Miller questioned players' character while citing the team's overstuffed payroll permanently damaged his standing within the clubhouse. Bolstered by general manager Frank Wren's recommendation to majority owner Peter Angelos, some players thought Miller's ouster inevitable after a 6-16 April. They then became mutinous after Miller instead received Angelos' backing.
Surhoff, last season's team MVP, acknowledges the issue "became a bit of a distraction but then I think most guys figured out he was going to be here. Some guys never figured it out, and it became an issue of him using them wrong. It became an alibi."
Therein lies Hargrove's instant value, according to many players. Excuses have been removed. Accountability is once more in vogue.
"This time around, the questions aren't about the manager," Surhoff says. "A manager in his first year feels pretty secure about himself and his job. Those questions aren't there."
Hargrove's manner is a subtle one sometimes mistakenly confused with passivity, even lethargy. He cements himself to the same spot on the bench so that he may be easily located by fielders or his catcher. Confrontations are reserved for his office, not a dugout camera.
"An excitable manager makes for an inconsistent ballclub. I try to be consistent in what I do," Hargrove says. "People who really know me know that I'm even-tempered but that I've also got a real bad temper."
At one point this spring, Hargrove privately blistered the club for lackadaisical play and later presented pitchers Matt Riley and Johnson with tough love.
Riley's goofball antics, repeated tardiness and altercation with police outside a beachfront nightclub cost him a start and sent him on his way to minor-league camp in Sarasota. Johnson learned the dangers of assuming too much when he entered camp as No. 3 starter then was optioned to Triple-A Rochester.
"What I was able to do with the Indians brought some automatic respect from the players. But I think my major hurdle was to let the players see that respect was deserved," he says.
Without pandering, Hargrove used camp to develop professional relationships. Before implementing a package of relay and bunt plays different from previous regimes, Hargrove sought input from Cal Ripken and Clark, among others. Ripken, who once chafed under a new system imported by the doomed Phil Regan, offered his input, then his acceptance. As a result, the Orioles now employ the same wheel play that foiled a critical rally in their six-game loss to the Indians in the 1997 AL Championship Series.
"I'm not about trying to reinvent the wheel," says Hargrove. "There are too many people in baseball who fall into that trap. I don't know of any geniuses in baseball. Every time they try to reinvent the wheel, it comes out square instead of round."

domain: sports


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Dr. Susan S. Wilder
Concierge Care Physician
Special Interests: Functional Medicine, Family Medicine, Evidence-Based Nutritional and Lifestyle Interventions, Hormone management, Advanced Nutritional and Genetic Testing
A Word from Dr. Wilder
"LifeScape's Concierge Care provides a completely different kind of healthcare. One that focuses on the totality of you. Our award-winning practice puts the patients first. We go well beyond simply throwing prescriptions at a problem, and look at the root causes of illness. We invite you to experience the difference Concierge Care can make. We’re committed to ‘whole health for a whole life’ for you at LifeScape."
Susan Wilder, MD, IFMCP, DABFM is the founder and CEO of LifeScape. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Psychology from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri and her medical degree from The George Washington University in Washington, DC. She completed her specialty training in Family Medicine as a commissioned Air Force officer at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland and then remained there as a faculty member and Assistant Chairman of the Department of Family Medicine. Dr. Wilder deployed to Africa during the Somali conflict as part of UN-sanctioned peacekeeping forces.
Following her honorable discharge at the rank of major, Dr. Wilder relocated to Arizona where she joined the Mayo Clinic, founding its Family Medicine residency program and serving as its first Director of Clinical Genomics Education. In 2003, Dr. Wilder left the Mayo Clinic to launch LifeScape.
Dr. Wilder is Board-Certified in Family Medicine and a Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner. She earned a Certificate of Added Qualifications in Sports Medicine, has advanced training in Clinical Genomics, completed a fellowship in Faculty Development at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and attended the Air Force’s School of Aerospace Medicine. She studied meditation with Deepak Chopra, brain health with Dr. Daniel Amen, human motivation with Tony Robbins, and Functional Medicine with the Cleveland Clinic’s Dr. Mark Hyman. Dr. Wilder has served on the faculty of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, and the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. She currently teaches medical students from The University of Arizona and Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine & Health Sciences.
Dr. Wilder practices full-spectrum Family Medicine including well-woman, men’s health, pediatric and adolescent care, and geriatrics. She has written several textbook chapters and journal articles with specific emphasis on “patient centered” medicine and addressing the underlying causes of illness while reducing reliance on medications. Dr. Wilder has special expertise in evidence-based nutritional and lifestyle interventions, hormone management, and advanced nutritional and genetic testing. She emphasizes collaborative, transformative care striving to make chronic disease obsolete.
In the Media
Dr. Wilder is a renowned, national speaker, and media guest. Known for her forthright views on healthcare, she has been dubbed the “Medical Maverick” and is a regular guest on ABC15’s “Sonoran Living.” She has been a consultant to DreamWorks Television and a medical referral for several film and television productions, provides parenting advice on BabyFirstTV, is a member of Phoenix’s KPNX-TV Channel 12 “Health Team,” and is regularly sought out for her medical and healthcare policy opinions by national news outlets.
Awards and Leadership Roles
Dr. Wilder served as President of the Arizona Academy of Family Physicians, National Medical Director for Concierge Choice Physicians, and a Board Member of the Arizona Foundation for Women. Concierge Medicine Today lists her as one of only 21 “Top Doctors in Concierge Medicine” nationally while the Consumers Research Council, The Center for the Study of Services, and Best Doctors lists Dr. Wilder among the nation’s top Family Physicians. She is a manifold recipient of Phoenix magazine’s “Top Doc,” 101 North magazine’s “People’s Choice,” Arizona Foothills Magazine’s “Best of our Valley,” and Ranking Arizona’s “Best Family Doctors” awards. Phoenix magazine describes Dr. Wilder as “the active leader in her specialty.”
Dr. Wilder has received Arizona Business Magazine’s “Healthcare Leadership Award” and is one of Phoenix Business Journal’s “Outstanding Women in Business,” Entreprenista’s “Phoenix Women Entrepreneurs You Should Know,” and MASK’s “Women of Influence.” She is a member of Conscious Connections’ “2% Club” and was a Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce ATHENA and eWomenNetwork’s national “Made it to a Million” finalist and named Phoenix/Scottsdale “Mom Entrepreneur of the Year.” Arizona Foothills Magazine has named Dr. Wilder the “Most Influential Woman in the Valley.”
Under Dr. Wilder’s leadership, LifeScape participated in the ATHENAPowerLink Program and was named one of only fifteen facilitated “Future of Family Medicine” sites nationally, a Healthe Clinic model practice, a Center for Health Design show site, and one of bizAZ magazine’s “Top 10 Up-and-Coming Women-Owned Businesses.” LifeScape is the only medical practice to ever receive the Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce Sterling Award.
Get to Know Dr. Wilder
Dr. Wilder grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii, the sixth of seven siblings. She attended Punahou School with a young Barak Obama, does a lovely hula, surfs poorly, and was a triathlete until blindsided by a wayward Golden Retriever. Dr. Wilder met her husband on her first day of college and has three beautiful daughters, including twins. Dr. Wilder revels in inspirational books and recently published her own, “Mouths of Babes: Everything I Learned in Medicine, I Learned from My Kids.” When not working (never), Dr. Wilder enjoys yoga, hiking, healthy cooking, and singing to the car radio. She is passionate about transformative healthcare.

domain: medical


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Posted by barbara on November 30, 2012
I have nothing but admiration for the way that South African-born Australian novelist Bryce Courtenay - the author of the Power of One and many other novels - 'faced down' his imminent and irrefutable death sentence after being relatively recently diagnosed with inoperable stomach cancer.
Where was Bryce coming from in making this decision?
In his own words he consulted five specialists and came away with the impression that opting for the usual often aggressive suite of cancer treatments (chemo/radio therapy) would at best give him a few months more of life while at the same time subjecting him to the hard to the adverse side effects that would 'dog' his last days.
Anyone who has read author Lionel Shriver's rivetting assessment of the US medical system, So Much For That, would be giving a big shout early and often to Bryce for his choice to leave the world without electing to undergo medical intervention.
In the week of Courtenay's death, the Australian Broadcasting Commission's Radio National's Health Matters went to air with a program that used the word 'futile' early and often.
What was the take home message from the Health Report's program, delivered by Dr Norman Swan? In short 'Many doctors want to lift the lid on a phenomenon they say is worsening the suffering of many dying Australians. It's called 'limited benefit' or 'futile medical treatment', where patients with a poor prognosis are given aggressive drug therapy or surgery.'
Of particular interest was the fact that a survey of the medical profession revealed that when it came to their own health, the majority of doctors refused the kind of treatments they readily urged on their patients in the knowledge that the adverse side effects far outweighed the benefits and decreased the quality of life of their remaining days.
In his last months it appears that Bryce maintained his lifelong 'live each day to the max' maxim and took control of the circumstances of his 'going out'. All power to him.
Last updated 4 April 2017.


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My News and Reviews
Last week was the CLAMP Manga Moveable Feast, hosted by the Manga Bookshelf. As part of my contribution to the Feast, I reviewed the omnibus edition of Clover which is one of my personal favorites when it comes to CLAMP's work. Next month's Feast will be focusing on Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service written by Eiji Ōtsuka and illustrated by Housui Yamazaki. Eeeper's Choice Podcast will be hosting. The scheduling of future Feasts is currently under discussion in the MMFeast Google Group if you'd like to jump in and have your say.
On to interesting things I found online! Deb Aoki has posted the notes from the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con best and worst manga panel. I always look forward to seeing the resulting lists each year. Also at the San Diego Comic-Con, JManga announced the Manga Translation Battle, which has now officially started. JManga also recently started a new blog--JManga Poi Poi. Over at Okazu, Erica Friedman posted some excellent food for thought Why Yuri Cannot be Financially Successful...The Gospel According To Fandom.
Also! The most recent manga giveaway here at Experiments in Manga has been posted. The winner will be announced on Wednesday, but you still have time to enter to win the Love Hina Giveaway.
Aftershock: Artists Respond to Disaster in Japan edited by Adam Pasion. Although I only recently learned about it, Aftershock is one of several comics anthologies that were released in response to the 2011Tōhoku earthquake. Aftershock is a fairly slim volume but packs in works from over thirty-five contributors hailing from all over the globe. The comics capture the artist's personal responses to the earthquake in Japan and how their lives and works have been influenced by Japanese culture. A few of the selections relate the experiences of some of the creators who were in Japan at the time of the earthquake. Overall, I found Aftershock to be a great collection. (Proceeds go to various relief agencies.)
Crimson Snow by Hori Tomoki. While I wasn't blown away by Crimson Snow, I did enjoy Tomoki's debut collection of boys' love stories. The the anthology includes the titular "Crimson Snow" about a yakuza rescued by a tea ceremony heir, "At First Sight" in which two university students admit their feelings for each other, "Cry for the Sun" about a young man's relationship with his father's lover, and "Galance" which is a continuation of "Crimson Snow." Although there are certainly a few intimate scenes, Crimson Snow focuses more on the characters, their histories, and their emotions than it does on sex. The majority of the encounters feel like natural extensions of the developing relationships rather than being included just because they're an expected part of the genre.
Deadman Wonderland, Volumes 2-5 written by Jinsei Kataoka and illustrated by Kazuma Kondou. I was very intrigued by the first volume of Deadman Wonderland. However, as much I thoroughly enjoyed parts of the subsequent volumes, there were other parts of the manga that frustrated me immensely. For one, major plot twists are dramatically revealed only to be forgotten for volumes at a time. I also have a hard time believing that the Deadman Wonderland inmates are given so much free reign within the prison. But there are still aspects of Deadman Wonderland that I enjoy. I particularly like Kondou's artwork and most of the character designs. And even when it doesn't make a lot of sense, the story is frequently engaging.
Sanctuary, Volumes 5-9 written by Sho Fumimura (Buronson) and illustrated by Ryoichi Ikegami. Sanctuary is one of the best manga series that I've read recently; it's really a pity that it's long out of print. The juxtaposition of organized crime and politics is fascinating. Each are cutthroat and dangerous in their own ways, the players in each realm working within strict codes of conduct. At times, the mafia seems more honest and honorable than the politicians. I'm not even particularly interested in modern-day politics but nonetheless found Sanctuary to be incredibly gripping. The story of Hojo and Asami's relationship and their struggle to change Japan together after surviving the killing fields of Cambodia is intense to say the least.

domain: artistic


As if being poor in New York City weren’t enough of an indignity — affordable apartments are nearly impossible to find, your kids go to schools with no classroom supplies because the parent associations can’t afford to foot the bill, and nobody wants to buy your $7 cupcakes — add “trapped in a bureaucratic hellhole with no escape” to the list. That’s the conclusion of “Guilty Until Proven Innocent,” a new study out today from the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies that finds that at any given time, nearly one-quarter of New Yorkers receiving welfare benefits are in the process of being “sanctioned” — having their benefits cut for perceived infractions of city rules — and that when the city is challenged, most of the time it either backs down or has its decision overruled by a judge.
City officials have long insisted that the sky-high number of New Yorkers stuck in sanction status — about one in four welfare recipients at any given time — is due to its tough enforcement of rules requiring that any “able-bodied” aid applicants either find a job or enter a city-approved job search program. In the FPWA report, however, Columbia University researcher Vicki Lens counters with numbers that seem to indicate some excessive zeal on the city’s part: When individuals apply to a judge to challenge their sanctions for violating work rules, the city withdraws the sanctions 63 percent of the time, versus 29 percent statewide; and when the case goes to a judge’s decision, the city won its case just 23 percent of the time, versus 66 percent statewide.
So what kinds of violations has the city been cracking down on? Lens provides anecdotes plucked from the state’s own database of hearing decisions, including:
The FPWA report places a fair share of the blame for excessive sanctioning on the process of “autoposting,” a much-derided HRA practice in which people have their benefits automatically cut off unless a city worker makes an electronic note that they’ve jumped through all of that month’s required hoops. On top of that, says Lens, the massive workload being dumped on HRA workers (and the non-profits that the city contracts out to for job placement and other services) helps encourage “creaming,” where caseworkers focus their efforts on the applicants who are easiest to place.
“It’s much easier to sanction someone who really needs help,” says Lens, “because you don’t have the resources to help them, and it takes too much time. You would discourage people who give you a hard time — you want them to go away, because they’re going to reflect poorly on you.”
All of these sanctions have resulted in a mountain of paperwork, and a cottage industry in adjudicating all the cases that get appealed. The FPWA report estimates that the city spent $18 million last year on holding 57,704 fair hearings to review people’s sanctions — about three-quarters of which were either withdrawn or overturned.
“The withdrawals, oh, we would see them all the time,” says Ed Pearson, who retired last year after a long career as an administrative law judge overseeing fair hearing cases. The title of the FPWA report couldn’t be a better description of the city’s approach to sanctions, in his view: “They take the view that everybody’s lying unless they can prove otherwise.”
HRA wouldn’t comment on the as-yet-unreleased report, but has noted that the persistently low numbers of people receiving welfare in the city, despite soaring poverty and unemployment figures, should be considered a success. “HRA’s work first philosophy has led to thousands of job placements with high retention rate in industries such as health care, education services, leisure and hospitality, and retail sales,” said an agency spokesperson, adding that “clients who comply with HRA’s employment activities are helped along their path to self-sufficiency and long-term financial outlook.”
For Lens, though, the issue isn’t those who are able to comply, but those who can’t, at least not to HRA’s satisfaction. “I’ve seen such crazy results of people who get cut off and lose their support services,” she says. “They could be in, like, a GED program and then they can’t finish it. It’s constantly having to reset and start over again, even if you’re making strides. That’s the bigger problem — ultimately it interferes with people’s attempts to get off welfare and to get employed.”


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© David Loftus
quick sausage meatballs with a tomato and basil sauce, spaghetti and sweet raw peas
This is a fantastic recipe that completely celebrates everything I love about peas. Even though they only make an appearance right at the end, it’s a star performance. I like to serve a pile of unpodded peas in the middle of the table so that everyone gets to pod some over their own plate. It’s also an incredibly fast recipe – you can be sitting down to eat within a minute of the pasta being done. The key to getting it right, though, is to buy really good-quality sausage.
Heat a large saucepan and add a few glugs of olive oil. Snip the sausages apart, then squeeze and pinch the meat out of the skins so that you get little meatball shapes – don’t make them too big or they will take too long to cook. Try to get at least three balls out of each sausage. Don’t worry about rolling them into perfect balls and making them look all fancy – rough and rustic is good! Put them into your pan. Keep frying and turning the meatballs until they’re golden brown and cooked through.
Meanwhile, put the spaghetti into a large pan of salted boiling water and cook according to the packet instructions until al dente.
To make your tomato sauce, heat a separate pan and pour in some olive oil. Add the garlic and the chopped basil stalks and move them around the pan for a couple of minutes. Put some small basil leaves to one side for later, and sprinkle the rest into the pan. Add the tomatoes and season carefully to taste. Bring to a simmer, break up your tomatoes a bit more with a spoon and add a swig of balsamic vinegar – it’s lovely for adding sweetness to the sauce.
Add the herbs to the pan of sausage meatballs, tossing everything in all the lovely flavours. Cook for around 30 seconds. When your spaghetti is cooked, drain it and divide the pasta and meatballs between four bowls. Spoon over the tomato sauce. Sprinkle over the reserved basil leaves and serve with a handful of fresh peas per person in the middle of the table, so that everyone can have a go at podding their own, and a little Parmesan for grating and shaving over the top.
• from Jamie at Home
• olive oil
• 8 good-quality pork sausages
• 500g spaghetti
• 300g fresh peas, in their pods
• a block of Parmesan cheese, to serve
• a few sprigs of fresh marjoram, thyme or rosemary, leave picked
for the tomato sauce
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
• a small bunch of fresh basil, leaves picked, stalks finely chopped
• 2 x 400g tins of good-quality plum tomatoes
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• good-quality balsamic vinegar

domain: food


SHANGHAI — General Motors Co. plans to launch 10 electric and gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles in China by 2020 as automakers speed up the rollout of alternative vehicles under pressure from Beijing to promote the industry.
GM will start production of a pure-electric model in China within two years, Matt Tsien, president of GM China, told a news conference during the Shanghai auto show. He said GM expects annual sales of 150,000 electric and hybrid cars in China by 2020 and possibly in excess of 500,000 by 2025.
Ford Motor Co., Volkswagen AG, Nissan Motor Co. and other automakers also have announced aggressive plans to make and sell electric vehicles in China, the biggest auto market by number of units sold. On Tuesday, GM unveiled a hybrid version of the Chevrolet Volt to be manufactured in China and sold under its Buick brand.
China’s communist government has the world’s most ambitious electric car goals, hoping both to clean up smog-choked cities and to take a lead in an emerging industry. Regulators are pressing foreign brands to help develop the industry.
Regulators jolted the industry by proposing a requirement that electrics account for at least 8 percent of each brand’s production by next year, rising to 10 percent in 2019 and 12 percent in 2020. Automakers say they may be unable to meet those targets and regulators have suggested they might be reduced or postponed.
Beijing also is due to enforce what auto executives say are the world’s most stringent emissions standards. They say that is likely to require all manufacturers to include electrics in their lineup to meet targets for average fleet emissions.
GM, which competes with VW for the status of China’s top-selling automaker, reported its 2016 sales rose 7.1 percent to a record 3.9 million vehicles.
The government is expanding China’s network of charging stations to reduce “range anxiety,” or buyers’ fear of running out of power. The Cabinet’s planning agency announced a goal in February of having 100,000 public charging stations and 800,000 private stations operating by the end of this year.
Electric cars are also exempt from sales tax and license plate quotas that Beijing, Shanghai and other cities use to curb congestion and smog. Still, sales of electric and gasoline-electric hybrids fell 4.4 percent from a year earlier in the first quarter to 55,929 vehicles, while SUV purchases rose 21 percent to 2.4 million.
Tsien said manufacturers will need to develop vehicles that appeal to customers.
“The industry has to work very hard to educate customers with regard to the merits,” he said.


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A driver last night told how he tried to revive Bedroom Tax victim Stephanie Bottrill after she jumped in front of a lorry.
Mike Wallis braved traffic to reach her stricken body, but his efforts to resuscitate the mum of two failed.
And he begged David Cameron to scrap the tax to prevent any more householders taking their lives as Stephanie did because she could not afford to pay.
The 27-year-old said: “It’s disgusting. I only found out yesterday she had committed suicide over the Bedroom Tax.
"It’s so shocking that it has put someone up to do something so extreme. These politicians sit in cushy offices in London not realising the impact they have on people’s lives.
“They should have given it more thought.”
Stephanie left a suicide note blaming the Government for her dire financial plight after she was hit with an £80 Bedroom Tax bill.
Her children had left the council house in Solihull, West Mids, leaving two spare rooms.
The 53-year-old had the crippling muscle disease Myasthenia Gravis and was too weak to work.
Stephanie was already struggling to get by.
But Mr Cameron’s hated tax tipped her over the edge and she killed herself in the early morning of May 4 on the M6 near her home.
First aider Mike, of Birmingham, spotted her lying on the road as he drove to work.
The Waitrose shift manager said: “The lorry driver was in the cab. She was on the ground.
"I gave her chest compressions to try to bring her back but there seemed to be a lot of internal injuries. She didn’t say anything. I think she had gone.”
The boss of the firm whose lorry hit Stephanie told how the driver, a man in his 50s, was left traumatised by the incident.
Ray Bartram, of Ely, Cambs, said: “He’s a good guy and this has been horrible for him. People shouldn’t forget the driver in this.”

domain: news


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Foundations grant will spur temporary ’placemaking’ art works.
Public works officials hopeful delays in first closure of Parkway East will be rectified in next weekend’s closure.
The statement by the executive committee of Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania counters calls to restrict Syrian Muslims.
The Goodfellows Fund raises money for the Marine Corps Reserve’s Toys for Tots and the Salvation Army’s Treasures for Children programs.
Alfonso Costa faced a trail of lawsuits as he built around Pittsburgh.
Forty-three families live in Housing Authority units despite making too much money to qualify.
Some dogs were quarantined as a precaution Nov. 6, and six died from the virus, the shelter director said.
Also, the Parkway East will close for one more weekend to prepare for the Greenfield Bridge implosion.


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So, I still haven’t made any New Years resolutions. Or, for that matter, entirely admitted that I’m back at school…maybe I’m lagging a little behind, but time is flying by, luckily bringing with it an upsweep of glorious music. Right now what I’m digging the most is also a little behind the current times: Caribou’s 2010 album Swim, which takes me to new levels of electronic bliss. It’s upbeat, but still atmospheric: the beats are basic but never feel sparse, and are rounded out with layers of synthesizers and crooning vocals.
Daniel Snaith, the wizard behind Caribou, builds his songs from an eclectic array of sounds; “Bowls” samples the coppery twang of metal bowls over a deep, crawling bassline. I can hardly stop myself from blasting “Odessa,” the thumping, undeniable first track, at least 5 times a day (the only reason why I might restrain myself is out of consideration for the people who live next to me). In all the commotion of a new semester, Swim feels perfectly balanced. It’s fast-paced but not overwhelming: while it doesn’t feel like a racing vortex of drums and synthesizer, it is rhythmic and captivating. The whole album has a textural sound that never feels too cluttered, but is just weird enough to sustain your interest. I’m not usually a big fan of instrumental music, but I find myself so lost in Swim that I fail to notice which tracks have words and which don’t. Basically, this album is the perfect start to a semester—it’s engaging when you need to crack down and actually get work done, but it’s totally danceable when you need to take a break and release all that school-induced angst…I mean, not like I have any of that.
Review by Julia MacNelly

domain: entertainment


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BLUE PETER LAUNCHES DOCTOR WHO COMPETITION
Blue Peter and Doctor Who have revealed details of a competition for young viewers to win a unique money-can’t-buy experience.
Launching on Blue Peter this Friday (28 April) viewers aged between 5 and 15 will be asked to draw Doctor Who fan art and say why they would love the opportunity to win an exclusive set tour. CLICK HERE TO ENTER.
One talented winner will go behind the scenes to discover how the iconic series is made and find out all about the work of the Production Design team. The winner will also receive a rare collectable Doctor Who 60th Blue Peter competition winner’s badge. The limited-edition badge will be revealed on Blue Peter on Friday 28 April and will be awarded to the top 500 competition entries.
To enter The Blue Peter Doctor Who Competition, you’ll need to draw some amazing fan art to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who and tell us why you would love the chance to win an exclusive VIP tour of the top-secret Doctor Who set and be one of the first members of the public to see the new era TARDIS.
Gold Blue Peter badge holder, David Tennant, is returning as the Fourteenth Doctor later this year for three special episodes to coincide with the 60th anniversary. In a message to fans, he mentions the “brand new Blue Peter competition for Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary, the show that is – we all know The Doctor is well over 900 years old!”
Editor of Blue Peter, Ellen Evans, says: “We’re celebrating two 60th anniversaries this year, for Doctor Who and for the Blue Peter badge. The two programmes have collaborated many times over the years so I’m thrilled to be able to offer such a unique and exciting experience.”
The competition is open for entries from 5pm on Friday 28 April when full details of how to enter, including rules and privacy notice, will be on the Blue Peter website at www.bbc.co.uk/bluepeter. The competition closes at 5pm on Monday 15 May 2023.
The competition winner and top runners up will be announced in a Doctor Who takeover on CBBC and BBC iPlayer later in the year to mark the return of the iconic show which promises to be a must-see for all young Doctor Who fans.
New episodes of Blue Peter are on CBBC and iPlayer every Friday at 5pm.


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Microwaving chips before you fry them can reduce acrylamide levels, according to researchers at the University of Mersin, Turkey.
Their study, published in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, showed that microwaving potato chips prior to frying helped reduce levels of acrylamide - a potentially carcinogenic substance formed during frying, baking and roasting - by up to 60%.
“Microwaving French fries before cooking takes little time and in fact,microwave pre-cooked samples appeared to have a more acceptable colour [after frying], probably due to the more gentle heat treatment they experienced during frying,” said lead author Koray Palazoglu.
While food manufacturers had worked hard to reduce exposure to acrylamide from processed food, with more than 200 research projects launched in recent years to tackle the problem, there was no single solution, said the Food and Drink Federation.
However, “considerable progress has already been made by the industry in reducing acrylamide levels in, for example, potato crisps (by 30-40%), potato chips (by 15%), and crispbread (by 75%),” said a spokeswoman.
Acrylamide hit the headlines in 2002 when scientists at the Swedish Food Administration first reported high levels of acrylamide in processed foods cooked at high temperatures.
Acrylamide is believed to form as a result of a reaction between amino acids and sugars found in foods reaching temperatures above 100°C during cooking.


Last week I made an executive decision as captain of my own writing ship. I decided to indie publish a romantic short story of mine, Tree Love. This story was previously published a year ago in the Taste of Romance anthology along with other stories from authors in my writing group, the Melbourne Romance Writers Guild.
Tree Love is a short and sweet story about first loves reunited, emails to trees, art, nature and taking chances. It’s now up for pre-order, ready for release on 13 February, just in time for Valentine’s Day.
Here’s the cover for Tree Love. I designed it myself with a gorgeous stock illustration (copyright warawiri) sourced from 123rf.com. Isn’t it pretty? Well, I think so.
Tree Love story inspiration
I was actually inspired to write this story after reading a wacky newspaper article about something that happened in my home city of Melbourne, Australia.
Under a new environmental plan, the city assigned email addresses to trees. And people started emailing, not just to report on the condition of the trees as had been expected, but they wrote to the trees. Letters, poems, confessions. This was pretty hilarious to me, but also sweet. So a story idea was born!
The original article is on the News.com.au website — People around the world have been emailing trees in Melbourne to confess their love.
In Tree Love, I imagined my heroine, Natalia, was the admin person working for the Parks and Gardens department tasked with answering the Tree-mails. It’s entertaining but also baffling at times.
If your first love fell out of a tree. . . would you catch him?
Natalia Bianchi is a botanical artist, who finds herself accidentally working for the city’s Parks Department in admin and also accidentally engaged to her boss. It’s not what she had planned.
One day she checks on ‘her’ tree in the botanical gardens, and her first love, Dan “The Man” Mancini falls at her feet. Literally. Almost like it was meant to be. But that’s what she thought ten years ago when they were friends at university.
Should Natalia shake up her entire safe, convenient life to climb Dan like a tree? Could this be her second chance at love that could last forever?
You can pre-order Tree Love now from Amazon, iBooks, Kobo, Barnes & Noble and Google Play Books. It’s only 99 cents or 99p.
Check out my Tree Love Pinterest board for some great pics of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Melbourne, and some character inspiration too.
P.S. join my newsletter list if you’d like to know more about my writing and receive a free novelette, Chocolate Truffle Kiss!


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LEXINGTON, Ky. — Tempur Sealy donated 40 medical mattresses to the Hope Center Emergency Shelter clients who are staying temporarily at Transylvania University’s Beck Center and 100 mattresses to the Ball-Quantrell Jones Recovery Center for Women.
“Two of Tempur Sealy’s core values are ‘We care about each other,’ and “We do the right thing,’” said Rick Maynard, senior manager of public relations for Tempur Sealy. “We appreciate the opportunity to support the fine work the Hope Center is doing in our hometown of Lexington during this unprecedented and challenging time.”
The men previously had been sleeping on older mats from the shelter.
“We would like to thank Tempur Sealy for supporting the care and comfort of our men staying at the Transylvania University Beck Center by graciously donating 40 new mattresses,” Hope Center Interim Executive Director Janice James said. “Our clients were ecstatic. And the women in the recovery program are equally excited about this donation. We thank Tempur Sealy for this amazing gift and for being a caring community partner during this challenging time.”
The Hope Center also continues to seek donations of:
- Washable laundry bags
- Toiletries such as razors and shaving cream, shampoo and deodorant
- Swipe thermometers
- Hand sanitizer
- Cleaning supplies to help with the increased cleaning, which occurs at least four times per day
- Over-the-counter medicine such as Tylenol and alcohol-free cough syrup
- Bottled water
To drop off a donation, please put items in a box or bag and bring it to the Privett Men’s Recovery Center at 250 West Loudon Avenue between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Call 859-225-4673 when you arrive, and a staff member will retrieve the donation from your car. There is no need to enter the building.
In addition, monetary donations can be made by visiting https://www.hopectr.org/donations/.


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Located in the heart of Overtown, Red Rooster serves comfort food celebrating the roots of American cuisine and the diverse culinary traditions of the neighborhood.
At Red Rooster they want to share the story of Overtown with their guests, and offer a platform to celebrate local artists, musicians and culinary talents. They embrace today’s Overtown with a spirit of inclusiveness and community by hiring their family of staff from within the community; inspiring better eating through buying from local purveyors.
Overtown is a unique and historically rich neighborhood that they are honored to be a part of. They invite you to please join them and share in the spirit of Overtown at Red Rooster, where Chef Marcus Samuelsson brings his passion for food to the neighborhood.


Square Enix have announced they will be releasing Hitman: The Complete First Season on Xbox One, Playstation 4, and PC on January 31, 2017. The game will cost $59.99 on PS4 and Xbox One while PC owners will get it for $49.99 via Steam.
Hitman will include the Prologue, Paris, Sapienza, Marrakesh, and Bangkook locations and the following DLC…
- 3 Bonus Missions Pack – Includes “The Icon” and “A House Built on Sand” missions, plus the brand new upcoming “Landslide” mission.
- Original Soundtrack – Featuring the original game score.
- The ‘Making of’ Hitman Documentary – Charting the journey from showing the game to our fans for the first time before E3 2015, through to the digital launch in 2016.
- “Requiem Blood Money Pack” – Includes the signature Blood Money white suit, white rubber duck and chrome ICA pistol.
- The PlayStation 4 version includes the six additional exclusive “The Sarajevo Six” missions.


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Music lessons aren't actually about music. No-- music lessons are about so much more.
When you push through a hard spot and don't give up, you're learning perseverance and tenacity.
When you show up every week for mentoring from your teacher, you're learning consistency, keeping your promises, and how to show up on time.
When you practice, you are developing discipline skills that will last you a lifetime.
When your knees are shaking and you climb the steps onto the stage and perform, even though you're scared, you're learning that you can do things scared. And succeed.
When you play music in front of a large audience, you're learning how to get up in front of people and stay poised and confident.
When you totally mess up, you're learning how to dust yourself off and try again.
When you master a song, you're learning how to stick with something and conquer it!
When you drop your backpack every day and head to practice your music, you're learning time management skills.
When you hear a song on the radio and you know how hard it is, you have learned music appreciation.
When you go to a concert and admire the talent on stage, you have learned what it means to be a musician.
I have to admit. It's never been about music lessons at all. It's about all the LIFE lessons that you are learning along the way.
Parents, thank you for giving your kids the GIFT of music and life lessons!
Article written by Jen Hickle


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CBD Eliminate Breast Cancer Symptoms and kills cancer cells
Cannabidiol (CBD) — a non-psychoactive phytocannabinoid derived from the cannabis plant — is gaining traction in medical circles and the public eye as increasing amounts of scientific literature confirm its medicinal qualities. These include CBD’s ability to stave off inflammation, curb anxiety, depression, PTSD, psychosis, and seizures.More astonishingly, and perhaps more urgently, CBD is proving to be a powerful anticancer agent (as recently acknowledged by the U.S. government’s National Cancer Institute). A paper published by the American Association for Cancer Research found that CBD inflicts programmed cell death (PCD) in breast cancer cells.“Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in women in the United States.Thickening of the breast tissue,nipple discharge,redness or scaling of the nipple,a nipple that retracts or turns inward and unexplained redness are the Breast Cancer Symptoms .
Conventional treatment options are often limited by toxicity or acquired resistance, and novel agents are needed. We analyzed the effects of the Cannabis sativa constituent, cannabidiol (CBD), a potent, natural compound with reported activity in breast cancer cell lines, and elucidated its effects on key neoplastic pathways.Later on in the paper, they write: “We found that CBD inhibited the survival of both estrogen receptor-positive and estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer cell lines and induced apoptosis in a concentration-dependent manner. Moreover, at these concentrations, CBD had little effect on MCF-10A cells, nontumorigenic, mammary cells. These data enhance the desirability of CBD as an anticancer agent, because they suggest that CBD preferentially kills breast cancer cells and Eliminate Breast Cancer Symptoms, while minimizing damage to normal breast tissue.”If CBD continues to shine in the laboratory as research continues, it holds the potential to augment or replace conventional treatments, such as chemotherapy, which often cause significant harm to healthy cells and may catalyze undesirable and potentially devastating side effects.

domain: literature


text:
The company gauged consumer attitudes by approaching non-farming visitors to the recent Royal Show, and has interpreted its findings as meaning labelling and promotional activities with major retailers must be sustained.
Alison Clarke of MMP reported 71% of the total sample said they always bought British beef when shopping, "but this drops to 63% among women, who are most responsible for household food purchasing".
The survey also indicated commitment to home produced beef was much weaker when consumers were eating out.
The survey suggests the industry had achieved some success in using animal welfare and food safety arguments against imports.
Three-quarters of the sample knew British cattle had passports, and only 20% believed cattle reared in other countries were treated as well as British beef animals, though surprisingly few of those questioned realised hormone growth promoters were banned in this country.

domain: sociology


text:
Four Seasons made big waves in the Russian capital when they opened a luxury hotel in 2014. (Formerly known as the Hotel Moskva, the 180-room property has a prime location on Manezhnaya Square.) Now the Four Seasons Hotel Moscow is taking it up a notch with a brand-new spa—the largest in the city.
Situated on the fifth floor of the hotel, the Amnis Spa sprawls across 28,000 square feet. There are 14 treatment rooms (including three couples suites), and the relaxation and wet areas are extensive; think Finnish saunas, steam baths, cold plunge pools, and hydrotherapy baths. There’s also a glass-covered pool, a nail bar, and the Kérastase Hair Spa Institute. Fitness buffs will appreciate the 24-hour gym with Life Fitness Equipment.
A range of treatments utilize high-end skincare products from THÉMAÉ, Omorovicza (inspired by Hungary’s thermal baths), and Dr Burgener (the Swiss anti-ageing line). Signatures include the Gold Hydrating Facial Ritual by Omorovicza and the Diamond Dermabrasion by Dr Burgener.

domain: travel


text:
|標題：Pharmacologically Upregulated Carcinoembryonic Antigen-expression Enhances the Cytolytic Activity of Genetically-modified Chimeric Antigen Receptor NK-92MI Against Colorectal Cancer Cells|
|作品名稱||Pharmacologically Upregulated Carcinoembryonic Antigen-expression Enhances the Cytolytic Activity of Genetically-modified Chimeric Antigen Receptor NK-92MI Against Colorectal Cancer Cells|
|著者||Masayuki Shiozawa; Chuan-Hsin Chang; Yi-Chun Huang; Yi-Ching Chen; Mau-Shin Chi; Hsu-Chao Hao; Yue-Cune Chang; Satoru Takeda; Kwan-Hwa Chi; Yu-Shan Wang|
|著錄名稱、卷期、頁數||BMC Immunology 2018 3(19), p.1-13|
The natural killer cell line, NK-92MI, is cytotoxic against various types of cancer. The aim of this study was to develop chimeric antigen receptor-modified (CAR) NK-92MI cells targeting carcinoembryonic antigen-expressing (CEA) tumours and increase killing efficacy by pharmacologically modifying CEA-expression.
We generated anti-CEA-CAR NK-92MI cells by retroviral vector transduction. This genetically-modified cell line recognised and lysed high CEA-expressing tumour cell lines (LS174T) at 47.54 ± 12.60% and moderate CEA-expressing tumour cell lines (WiDr) at 31.14 ± 16.92% at a 5:1 effector: target (E/T) ratio. The cell line did not lyse low CEA-expressing tumour cells (HCT116) as they did their parental cells (NK-92MI cells). The histone deacetylase-inhibitor (HDAC) sodium butyrate (NaB) and the methylation-inhibitor 5-azacytidine (5-AZA), as epigenetic modifiers, induced CEA-expression in HCT116 and WiDr cells. Although the IC50 of 5 fluorouracil (5-FU) increased, both cell lines showed collateral sensitivity to anti-CEA-CAR NK-92MI cells. The cytolytic function of anti-CEA-CAR NK-92MI cells was increased from 22.99 ± 2.04% of lysis background to 69.20 ± 11.92% after NaB treatment, and 69.70 ± 9.93% after 5-AZA treatment, at a 10:1 E/T ratio in HCT116 cells. The WiDr cells showed similar trend, from 22.99 ± 4.01% of lysis background to 70.69 ± 10.19% after NaB treatment, and 59.44 ± 10.92% after 5-AZA treatment, at a 10:1 E/T ratio.
This data indicates that the effector-ability of anti-CEA-CAR NK-92MI increased in a CEA-dependent manner. The combination of epigenetic-modifiers like HDAC-inhibitors, methylation-inhibitors, and adoptive-transfer of ex vivo-expanded allogeneic-NK cells may be clinically applicable to patients with in 5-FU resistant condition.
|關鍵字||Natural killer cell;NK-92MI;Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR);Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA);Cellular immunotherapy|


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domain: library


A Tibetan monk has died after being tortured in police custody amid accusations he put up pro-independence posters in a restive Tibetan county in China’s Sichuan province, according to an exile source.
The posters were put up after a series of mass public protests in January and February challenging Chinese rule in Nyagrong (in Chinese, Xinlong) county in Sichuan’s Kardze (in Chinese, Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.
“In May, posters calling for Tibetan independence appeared on the walls of a Chinese government building in Nyagrong,” Yeshe Sangpo, a Nyagrong native now living in India, said, citing contacts in the region.
“Consequently, on May 25, Chinese security forces detained a 32-year-old monk named Khawang,” who came originally from the Tapewa nomad group in Kardze, Sangpo said.
“Upon his detention, the authorities tried to force him to confess to having put up the posters,” Sangpo said, adding that when the monk refused to confess, he was “severely tortured and beaten.”
“A few days later, on or around May 28, he died in detention,” Sangpo said.
Khawang was denied medical attention while he was being held, and following his death his family “repeatedly requested” that Chinese authorities return his body to them for prayers and cremation, Sangpo said.
“When his body was returned, the authorities also paid a sum of 28,000 yuan [U.S. $4,425] to his family in compensation.”
“The Chinese never proved that the monk had put up the posters, and he never admitted to having done so,” Sangpo said.
Meanwhile, Chinese security forces continue to hunt down Nyagrong-area Tibetans involved in mass protests held at the beginning of the year.
On March 25, authorities detained four Tibetans, including two monks, during their search for key protest participants.
The protests were held in conjunction with the Tibetan New Year, during which participants complained of lack of freedom and called for the return of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
Reported by Tenzin Wangyal for RFA’s Tibetan service. Translations by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Richard Finney.


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SDLP Foyle MLA Mark H Durkan has welcomed the establishment of the Child Funeral Fund.
It will provide a one-off payment of £3,056 to help families with funeral costs for a child under 18 or a still-birth after 24 weeks.
Mr Durkan paid tribute to campaigners who had been working to establish support for bereaved parents.
Foyle MLA Mr Durkan said:
“I welcome the announcement that the Child Funeral Fund is now operational and that every family across the North who loses a child will now receive this support. I know campaigners have been working hard to have this provision introduced in the North for a number of years and I commend them for their efforts, this will make a real difference to many families in the most difficult of circumstances.
“I cannot begin to imagine the pain that someone goes through upon losing a child and the last thing they should have to worry about is financial pressures while they are dealing with their grief. Funerals are very expensive and many families simply won’t have that kind of money available to them, this fund will ensure that no family is placed in the position of struggling to pay for their child’s funeral after becoming bereaved.
“Going forward we need to ensure that families are aware that this help and support is available to them and that the application process is as straightforward as possible so that it is easily accessible by all.”