Monday, August 5, 2013

STARTING THE R.P


RolePlayGateway is proudly powered by obscene amounts of caffeine, duct tape, and support from people like you. It operates under a "don't like it, suggest an improvement" platform, and we gladly take suggestions for improvements or changes.

The custom-built "roleplay" system was designed and implemented by Eric Martindale as of July 2009. All attempts to replicate or otherwise emulate this system and its method of organizing roleplay are strictly prohibited without his express written and contractual permission; violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

? RolePlayGateway, LLC | with the support of LocalSense

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/aDNTZtuBUUc/viewtopic.php

Cop Shoots Dog independence day Nicole Murphy Riley Keough Franz Kafka Homer Bailey Being Mary Jane

After turmoil, Texas cancer agency gets 2nd chance

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ? Gone are the large conferences, big pharma funding, Nobel laureates and lavishly paid state officials who vowed scientific breakthroughs from Texas' unprecedented $3 billion crusade against cancer.

What's left of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas isn't flashy, but that's precisely the goal for an agency regaining its footing after a year of turmoil and an ongoing a criminal investigation.

"When this started off, when we had Lance Armstrong and all the other advocates, it was ballyhooed," said Wayne Roberts, the interim executive director of the agency. "Publicized. Promoted. Listen, $3 billion for something like cancer ? it's going to have to really be in trouble before they don't support it."

A Texas grand jury is still weighing criminal charges against former officials, and rebukes from some of the nation's top researchers have sullied the agency's reputation. But CPRIT, like the cancer patients it was created to help, is getting a second chance.

Skeptics still aren't convinced that lessons were learned. Some nationally acclaimed scientists who severed ties with CPRIT last year say they haven't bothered keeping up with the sweeping reforms and housecleaning that are supposed to right an agency that hands out $300 million in taxpayer dollars every year.

Others mindful of dwindling research money are willing to put their disappointment aside.

"I guess it's like when the Dallas Cowboys have a down season," said Dr. Ian Thompson, director of the cancer and therapy research center at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, which has received more than $23 million from CPRIT. "Do you walk away from the Cowboys? Absolutely not."

Before packed abortion-rights protests at the state Capitol this summer caught even the attention of President Barack Obama, few issues dominated the Texas Legislature in 2013 like the fate of CPRIT. The agency controls the second-biggest pot of available cancer research dollars in the nation, behind only the National Institutes of Health, which has suffered with government cutbacks.

CPRIT launched in 2009. The public paid little attention to the agency after a celebrated rollout while researchers and private companies eagerly lined up for a shot at the taxpayer dollars.

Then the national attention CPRIT craved arrived, but for all the wrong reasons. Lucrative grants had been awarded without vetting; elite researchers levied allegations of "hucksterism"; state auditors uncovered mismanagement and questionable spending. One grant recipient spent more than $100,000 on office furniture.

By December, lawmakers froze the agency under a moratorium, and public corruption prosecutors began pulling CPRIT records. Big-shot lobbyists in Capitol hallways bet that "CPRIT is not going to live," Roberts said he later learned.

Lawmakers instead cleaned house and put the agency on a tighter leash. The entire 11-member oversight board was ousted. A nonprofit foundation that solicited money from donors and pharmaceutical giants such as Novartis and Pfizer Inc. ? partly to help two state officials take home a combined $1 million in salary ? dissolved and won't be replaced.

Now, after being effectively frozen for eight months, the agency hopes to begin taking applications for new grants by October. Leading the way is Roberts, a former aide to Gov. Rick Perry and budget wonk who is deliberately pushing CPRIT ahead with all the pizazz of the state's insurance department.

None of the three founding executives of CPRIT, which included a Nobel laureate and executive of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, had experience running a state agency. Roberts said it became clear to him after taking over that was part of the problem.

Cathy Bonner, who helped hatch the idea for CPRIT, agreed.

"You run a boring state agency by the books, and you're a careful steward of the public money," said Bonner, an aide to former Texas Gov. Ann Richards. "You don't have that corruption. And I think they didn't have enough people who knew how to run a public agency with public money. It would thrill me completely if this was a boring state agency that does remarkable, boring research."

What's next for CPRIT is the appointment of a new governing board and the restocking of peer-review panels that were left bare as waves of scientists resigned. Roberts said some who resigned have approached the agency about coming back but declined to name them.

"We got a pretty direct message ? you're getting a second chance," Roberts said. "You ain't getting a third chance."

___

Follow Paul J. Weber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/pauljweber

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/turmoil-texas-cancer-agency-gets-2nd-chance-151437463.html

Zero Dark Thirty Academy Awards 2013 Django Unchained jennifer hudson jennifer garner jennifer garner daytona 500

Sunday, August 4, 2013

94% Still Mine

All Critics (48) | Top Critics (20) | Fresh (45) | Rotten (3)

Writer-director Michael McGowan covers all the bases here -- the long-standing romance between the aging couple, the hovering concerns of their son and daughter, the constant head-butting with the building inspector -- with well-paced confidence.

Writer-director Michael McGowan (Saint Ralph) shows affinity for the subtle undercurrents of a long, happy marriage, but the friction between Cromwell and the government bureaucracy stays one-note.

Bring a handkerchief, or possibly a bedsheet, to "Still Mine"; this fact-based, beautifully acted drama could wring tears from a brick.

[A] tough-minded tearjerker, based on a true story ...

It is about a husband and wife, partners through six decades, grappling with issues of aging, and how to spend what time together remains with grace and dignity.

While this slight Canadian film has limited appeal for general audiences, seniors and families affected by Alzheimer's will find much to identify with.

An Occupy Wall Street supporter is part of the most conservative indie film you'll see all year. Still Mine is a heartbreaking classic no matter your ideology, though.

The man-against-the-system story is good and hopeful, but the love story between senior citizens is the reason to watch "Still Mine."

Like his character, Cromwell has the timber to build great things and make it last.

Still Mine mourns days gone by without being mawkish and meditates on age without being maudlin.

It's a tender, sharply observed drama.

Hits the high notes even though the tone of sorrow and frustration does not vary.

For those who thought "Amour" too sadistic or the recent "Unfinished Song" too sentimental, here's a senior love story with the realities of aging that falls right in the middle.

This movie does not work without Cromwell; plain and simple.

Etches a moving portrait of the enduring love of a couple whose life together only appears to be ordinary.

At its best, Still Mine gives off that feeling that we're watching something private, something genuine between two people who absolutely adore each other and have for decades.

Handled with care and patience by McGowan, proves mightily compelling, and deftly sidesteps sentimentality and cliche.

... has a sincerity and an authenticity that creates a bittersweet portrait of aging and lifelong devotion.

No quotes approved yet for Still Mine. Logged in users can submit quotes.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/still_mine/

brandon lloyd celtic thunder fabrice muamba collapse prometheus trailer patrice oneal shamrock slainte

In the Animal Kingdom You Have to Work For it

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DatingFails/~3/n_dTbETEqwo/7702233856

ncaa final four 2012 uk vs louisville university of kansas buckeye west side story final four 2012 bridesmaids

Forget the PLA, Taiwan?s Military Threatens Itself The death of a conscript has...

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.facebook.com/diplomatmagazine/posts/10151620908532979

tri international criminal court ios 5.1 apple tv update new ipad release pregnant jessica simpson international womens day

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Chris Christie, Rand Paul Feud Reveals Deeper Republican Party Rift

As New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul sparred very personally over policy issues this week -- including privacy concerns, government spending and national security -- Yahoo asked GOP and conservative voters to discuss their merits of the two Republicans' arguments.

COMMENTARY | The dust-up between tea party libertarian Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and traditional conservative Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey is a godsend for Republican voters. The fact that it coincides with Arizona Sen. John McCain's criticism of obstructionist tea party members of the House is even more heartening.

What started as a debate over national security versus civil liberties and evolved into one about government spending and pork-barrel legislation has revealed a deeper philosophical rift within the GOP, one that needs to be publically addressed, and now.

The age-old ideological question at the heart of the matter is this: What is the appropriate role of government in a democratic society? None other than Adam Smith, himself a believer in limited government, postulated in his Wealth of Nations that the role of government should be to maintain defense, keep order, build infrastructure and promote education. Contrary to the beliefs of some, he was no champion of laissez-faire.

Not only does the tea party's growing influence threaten the very existence of the Republican Party, it has led to arguably the most dysfunctional Congress in recent history. Its no-compromise, no-government philosophy has resulted in a "do nothing" legislative strategy. If the Republican Party cannot debate and resolve the future strategic direction of the party, its relevance will likely devolve to the point of extinction.

GOP chaos may not have a significant impact on the midterm elections because congressional districts have been gerrymandered in a way that supports incumbents. But the 2016 presidential election, absent a miraculous mending of fences, is a lock for the Democrats.

One final prediction: Rand Paul will fare no better in his quest for the Republican nomination for president than his father Ron did. Thank God.

Michael Gonyea is a lifelong conservative voter. He lives in Rockwood, Mich.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chris-christie-rand-paul-feud-reveals-deeper-republican-200100678.html

holocaust remembrance day chesapeake energy dick clark death yom hashoah yolo liquidmetal gsa scandal

Friday, August 2, 2013

China Celebrates the People's Liberation Army with Glorious Mission Online

On Thursday the People's Liberation Army (PLA) released a video game commemorating the founding of the powerful group developed by Giant Interactive Group. The game (revealed by this Reuters report) is called Glorious Mission Online and lets players put on the uniform of the PLA as it defends contested islands in the East China Sea called "Diaoyu" by the Chinese and "Senkaku" by the Japanese.

The first-person online action game lets players fight against the Japanese forces and yell "patriotic" phrases like "You will not violate our sovereign territory!'" and call the invaders "guizi," a derogatory Chinese term for the Japanese occupiers during World War II. Other messages flash on the screen as players fight Japanese forces like "the guizi are coming!" and "the guizi have been obliterated!" when a mission has been completed.

The game was developed by Giant Interactive Group, a company that operates a number of popular online games in China including the ZT Online 1 Series, ZT Online 2, Elsword, and Allods Online.

Richard Chiang, a spokesman for Giant Interactive, told Reuters that the military fully supports the game and wanted to give Chinese citizens a game that celebrates the Chinese military.

"The military was 100 percent behind this game," he said. "Rather than playing the same foreign games like Call of Duty and being American Marines shooting Russians or whatnot, Chinese can actually play as Chinese soldiers."

Source: Reuters

Source: http://www.gamepolitics.com/2013/08/01/china-celebrates-peoples-liberation-army-glorious-mission-online

Laura Elizabeth Whitehurst al jazeera Armie Hammer Aaryn Gries Cop Shoots Dog independence day Nicole Murphy