I hope you have prepared for it! I posted some tips for the event a while ago and so far the estimates are holding their places, at least on a few smaller realms where less people have anticipated the rising demand for the items.
My main realm is a high population server so more people have prepared for this than I'd like, making the vendor item prices a lot lower, but still very much profitable. There's however no supply of eggs so I can freely decide their prices until I get competition.
The event has been going on for only a couple of hours and I've already made about 4000g, mainly from small eggs and mageroyals. Though I've dominated both markets for a while already so there's almost no competition - yet!
Check the supply of the items listed here and start farming while the prices are high!
Northern Eggs seem to be the lowest in supply. I've found Goretalon Rocs to be the fastest source for farming them. Lots of birds, very fast respawn time. As a 85 mage one shotting everything I couldn't kill them fast enough to get to wait for respawns! Took about 10 minutes farming to get 2 stacks of eggs.
The Passion of the Sullivan
I haven't looked in at Homo Superior much lately. He's changed the layout several times, it seems, in interesting but still sometimes confusing ways. On the other hand I've neglected several places I used to visit almost daily, like a chat room where I used to be a contentious regular; I looked in there and found to my pleasure that it's still busy when most chat rooms have dried up. Now that I think of it, though, Homo Superior has been relatively quiet, and today I learned why, from his personal blog, now retitled Rick Has Cancer, which he'll be fighting for some time. I'm rooting for him.
But the main reason I'm writing about him today is that at HSB he posted a response to Andrew Sullivan fussing over a satirical Easter skit by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, mocking the Roman Catholic Church. Sullivan called it "bigotry," while loudly protesting his dedication to free speech and "the right to blasphemy", and then fumed:
Homo Superior mounts his own critique of Sullivan and Christianity. He recalls attending Easter Services with his mother at her Pentecostal church, "a night of theater depicting the Passion of Christ."
HS is making the same mistake so many of my fellow atheists make: he talks about religion as though it were some alien force or structure imposed by a conspiratorial organization on The People. As I've said before, religion is something that people make up (including the conspirators, if you want to see religious leaders and teachers that way), and themes that occur and recur in religion do so because they matter to people. The passion plays wouldn't have endured if people didn't find them affecting. People aren't passive receptacles for the Church to fill with its doctrines: they reject or dodge what they don't like. (A favorite example of mine is the prohibition of fornication -- that is, sexual intercourse between unmarried people, as opposed to adultery where at least one partner is married. The Catholic Church has been trying for centuries to get the laity to agree that fornication is a no-no, with limited success at best.) I believe that the atheists who like to see religion as purely a form of control from above are those who want to be controllers from above themselves.
HS continues with another popular infidel's cliche, a nonbeliever's counterpart of Sullivan's dig about a "Hunky Mohammed contest":
Well, there's no reason non-theists should be any better informed about Christianity than Christians are. But we can't claim to be more rational, or wiser, or more realistic about the world than the religious if we aren't better informed. Homo Superior complains about the passion play he witnessed:
For that matter, what's wrong with "sado-masochistic fantasies"? Again, they play a role in religion because they play a role in many people's lives; they play a highly visible role in gay male sexual iconography, however little they interest me. When antigay Christians fulminate about the disgusting aspects of gay life, we tend to suspect that covertly they find those aspects attractive, even exciting; I have similar suspicions about Homo Superior's (and other nonbelievers') fixation on the Passion drama -- and about Andrew Sullivan's outrage at the Hunky Jesus contest.
But the main reason I'm writing about him today is that at HSB he posted a response to Andrew Sullivan fussing over a satirical Easter skit by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, mocking the Roman Catholic Church. Sullivan called it "bigotry," while loudly protesting his dedication to free speech and "the right to blasphemy", and then fumed:
You want to grow some balls? Hold a Hunky Mohammed Contest on Ramadan. And, by the way, thanks for doing your bit to empower every religious right prejudice about gays.Oh, dear. As though the Sisters and all us trashy radical homos don't have balls already! We were born with them, which is more than can be said about our homosexuality. But Sullivan has very traditional views of gender, as of so many things except his homosexuality. Again: Roman Catholicism is a lifestyle choice, so those who adhere to it had better develop thicker skins, just as we queers, leftists, and atheists have to do. I find the digs many atheists make at religion childish, uninformed, and tiresome, but the defenses made by people like Sullivan are no better. And Sullivan has a long record of ignorant, childish attacks on people he doesn't like; as a First Amendment absolutist dedicated to the right of blasphemy, I defend his right to make them, but I don't have to respect his views.
Homo Superior mounts his own critique of Sullivan and Christianity. He recalls attending Easter Services with his mother at her Pentecostal church, "a night of theater depicting the Passion of Christ."
Oh, dear. The word "passion" in English, in the context of Christianity, means "suffering", specifically referring to Jesus' suffering on the cross. It only came to refer to sexual love in the 1500s, and to strong feeling of any kind a century later. So HS is drawing a false distinction. As he must know, "tableaux after tableaux of suffering and death" have been a standby of Christian imagery and story for centuries, as in the "passion plays" of the medieval church. I think it would be sensible to ask why people are so fascinated by dwelling on the details of Jesus' suffering, but why not? Depictions of tormented human bodies are common and popular in drama and other media for millennia, from the Greek tragedies onward. The problem of suffering is an ancient one: why is the world so ordered that people suffer and die? It's at the core of Buddhism too. Projecting human pain onto a god is one way of trying to come to terms with it, even if it's not one that I find useful. Stressing Jesus' suffering is, if nothing else, a dramatic device to make his resurrection all the more a relief, to make sure the audience knows that their god did really bleed for them. I don't think it's surprising or sinister that ordinary folk like the idea of a god who suffered as they suffer, bled, and died; his triumph over death is a promise that they will triumph over it too. I don't believe that promise, but I think most people want to believe it or something like it.I thought it would be an easy way to assuage my mother’s worries over my backslidden state without having to hear the anti-gay rhetoric so common to churches of this type.
Instead, I was treated to an over-the-top presentation of the Torture of Christ, not his Passion: Tableaux after tableaux of suffering and death. Rather than being edified, I was embarrassed. I felt like my nose was being rubbed in the private, fucked up, quasi-sexual, sado-maschochistic fantasies of a cult; and they were using it to try to indoctrinate me.
The bloodless Resurrection, not surprisingly, got less than 30 seconds.
HS is making the same mistake so many of my fellow atheists make: he talks about religion as though it were some alien force or structure imposed by a conspiratorial organization on The People. As I've said before, religion is something that people make up (including the conspirators, if you want to see religious leaders and teachers that way), and themes that occur and recur in religion do so because they matter to people. The passion plays wouldn't have endured if people didn't find them affecting. People aren't passive receptacles for the Church to fill with its doctrines: they reject or dodge what they don't like. (A favorite example of mine is the prohibition of fornication -- that is, sexual intercourse between unmarried people, as opposed to adultery where at least one partner is married. The Catholic Church has been trying for centuries to get the laity to agree that fornication is a no-no, with limited success at best.) I believe that the atheists who like to see religion as purely a form of control from above are those who want to be controllers from above themselves.
HS continues with another popular infidel's cliche, a nonbeliever's counterpart of Sullivan's dig about a "Hunky Mohammed contest":
Further, it’s my understanding from my brief studies in Bible school that, had Christ been born and died in modern times, a shot to the head from a Kalashnikov would have done the trick just as well as days on the cross. It just wouldn’t have been as much fun for Christians to reenact later.Really? You have to learn that in Bible school? So what? If Jesus had died by some other means, his followers would have rationalized that just as they did the cross. (When the 17th century messianic pretender Sabbatai Sevi converted to Islam rather than suffer execution, those of his followers who didn't fall away imitated his example, converting to Islam but practicing Judaism in secret. They found Biblical passages which they interpreted as prophecies of Sabbatai's apostasy, just as Christians did for Jesus' death and resurrection.)
It’s no accident that the two principal icons of the Catholic Church, and of much of the rest of Christianity, are on the one hand, a nearly naked man in agony and ecstasy eternally dying on a cross, and on the other, a virgin mother in a burka."No accident" indeed, since Jesus was probably crucified (it's not the sort of thing that Christians would have made up, it was too shameful, like, say, dying of AIDS would be now), not killed by firing squad or a bow and arrow. Icons of divine mothers are cross-culturally popular, and it's widely believed that the cult of Mary descends from the cult of Isis/Ishtar. But what does this "no accident" mean? HS obviously think it has some sinister significance, but doesn't say what, except that he thinks it should be "the empty tomb plated in gold and hanging around the necks of believers", instead of a cross. I'm surprised that Calvary Tabernacle dwelt on the Passion so much on Sunday instead of Good Friday, when such things usually are done. Easter, judging by what I hear from Christians I know, means sunrise services in commemoration of the gospels' discovery of the empty tomb at dawn.
Well, there's no reason non-theists should be any better informed about Christianity than Christians are. But we can't claim to be more rational, or wiser, or more realistic about the world than the religious if we aren't better informed. Homo Superior complains about the passion play he witnessed:
Rather than being edified, I was embarrassed. I felt like my nose was being rubbed in the private, fucked up, quasi-sexual, sado-maschochistic fantasies of a cult; and they were using it to try to indoctrinate me.Why would anyone be "indoctrinated" by this spectacle? Wouldn't an outsider -- a genuine outsider, I mean, not a lapsed Christian -- simply be repelled by it? (This complaint reminds me of antihomosexual Christians who raise the alarm about how homosexuals are trying to recruit ("indoctrinate") outsiders with our disgusting sexual practices and our leather daddies, which I would think an odd way to entice potential converts. For all that Pentecostals are eager to make recruits, I'd take that performance as something for the already converted. (Much like the "Hunky Jesus" contest: it wasn't supposed to win bigots over, or to counter bigots' stereotypes about gays -- it was an event for the already "converted.")
For that matter, what's wrong with "sado-masochistic fantasies"? Again, they play a role in religion because they play a role in many people's lives; they play a highly visible role in gay male sexual iconography, however little they interest me. When antigay Christians fulminate about the disgusting aspects of gay life, we tend to suspect that covertly they find those aspects attractive, even exciting; I have similar suspicions about Homo Superior's (and other nonbelievers') fixation on the Passion drama -- and about Andrew Sullivan's outrage at the Hunky Jesus contest.
The Passion of the Sullivan
I haven't looked in at Homo Superior much lately. He's changed the layout several times, it seems, in interesting but still sometimes confusing ways. On the other hand I've neglected several places I used to visit almost daily, like a chat room where I used to be a contentious regular; I looked in there and found to my pleasure that it's still busy when most chat rooms have dried up. Now that I think of it, though, Homo Superior has been relatively quiet, and today I learned why, from his personal blog, now retitled Rick Has Cancer, which he'll be fighting for some time. I'm rooting for him.
But the main reason I'm writing about him today is that at HSB he posted a response to Andrew Sullivan fussing over a satirical Easter skit by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, mocking the Roman Catholic Church. Sullivan called it "bigotry," while loudly protesting his dedication to free speech and "the right to blasphemy", and then fumed:
Homo Superior mounts his own critique of Sullivan and Christianity. He recalls attending Easter Services with his mother at her Pentecostal church, "a night of theater depicting the Passion of Christ."
HS is making the same mistake so many of my fellow atheists make: he talks about religion as though it were some alien force or structure imposed by a conspiratorial organization on The People. As I've said before, religion is something that people make up (including the conspirators, if you want to see religious leaders and teachers that way), and themes that occur and recur in religion do so because they matter to people. The passion plays wouldn't have endured if people didn't find them affecting. People aren't passive receptacles for the Church to fill with its doctrines: they reject or dodge what they don't like. (A favorite example of mine is the prohibition of fornication -- that is, sexual intercourse between unmarried people, as opposed to adultery where at least one partner is married. The Catholic Church has been trying for centuries to get the laity to agree that fornication is a no-no, with limited success at best.) I believe that the atheists who like to see religion as purely a form of control from above are those who want to be controllers from above themselves.
HS continues with another popular infidel's cliche, a nonbeliever's counterpart of Sullivan's dig about a "Hunky Mohammed contest":
Well, there's no reason non-theists should be any better informed about Christianity than Christians are. But we can't claim to be more rational, or wiser, or more realistic about the world than the religious if we aren't better informed. Homo Superior complains about the passion play he witnessed:
For that matter, what's wrong with "sado-masochistic fantasies"? Again, they play a role in religion because they play a role in many people's lives; they play a highly visible role in gay male sexual iconography, however little they interest me. When antigay Christians fulminate about the disgusting aspects of gay life, we tend to suspect that covertly they find those aspects attractive, even exciting; I have similar suspicions about Homo Superior's (and other nonbelievers') fixation on the Passion drama -- and about Andrew Sullivan's outrage at the Hunky Jesus contest.
But the main reason I'm writing about him today is that at HSB he posted a response to Andrew Sullivan fussing over a satirical Easter skit by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, mocking the Roman Catholic Church. Sullivan called it "bigotry," while loudly protesting his dedication to free speech and "the right to blasphemy", and then fumed:
You want to grow some balls? Hold a Hunky Mohammed Contest on Ramadan. And, by the way, thanks for doing your bit to empower every religious right prejudice about gays.Oh, dear. As though the Sisters and all us trashy radical homos don't have balls already! We were born with them, which is more than can be said about our homosexuality. But Sullivan has very traditional views of gender, as of so many things except his homosexuality. Again: Roman Catholicism is a lifestyle choice, so those who adhere to it had better develop thicker skins, just as we queers, leftists, and atheists have to do. I find the digs many atheists make at religion childish, uninformed, and tiresome, but the defenses made by people like Sullivan are no better. And Sullivan has a long record of ignorant, childish attacks on people he doesn't like; as a First Amendment absolutist dedicated to the right of blasphemy, I defend his right to make them, but I don't have to respect his views.
Homo Superior mounts his own critique of Sullivan and Christianity. He recalls attending Easter Services with his mother at her Pentecostal church, "a night of theater depicting the Passion of Christ."
Oh, dear. The word "passion" in English, in the context of Christianity, means "suffering", specifically referring to Jesus' suffering on the cross. It only came to refer to sexual love in the 1500s, and to strong feeling of any kind a century later. So HS is drawing a false distinction. As he must know, "tableaux after tableaux of suffering and death" have been a standby of Christian imagery and story for centuries, as in the "passion plays" of the medieval church. I think it would be sensible to ask why people are so fascinated by dwelling on the details of Jesus' suffering, but why not? Depictions of tormented human bodies are common and popular in drama and other media for millennia, from the Greek tragedies onward. The problem of suffering is an ancient one: why is the world so ordered that people suffer and die? It's at the core of Buddhism too. Projecting human pain onto a god is one way of trying to come to terms with it, even if it's not one that I find useful. Stressing Jesus' suffering is, if nothing else, a dramatic device to make his resurrection all the more a relief, to make sure the audience knows that their god did really bleed for them. I don't think it's surprising or sinister that ordinary folk like the idea of a god who suffered as they suffer, bled, and died; his triumph over death is a promise that they will triumph over it too. I don't believe that promise, but I think most people want to believe it or something like it.I thought it would be an easy way to assuage my mother’s worries over my backslidden state without having to hear the anti-gay rhetoric so common to churches of this type.
Instead, I was treated to an over-the-top presentation of the Torture of Christ, not his Passion: Tableaux after tableaux of suffering and death. Rather than being edified, I was embarrassed. I felt like my nose was being rubbed in the private, fucked up, quasi-sexual, sado-maschochistic fantasies of a cult; and they were using it to try to indoctrinate me.
The bloodless Resurrection, not surprisingly, got less than 30 seconds.
HS is making the same mistake so many of my fellow atheists make: he talks about religion as though it were some alien force or structure imposed by a conspiratorial organization on The People. As I've said before, religion is something that people make up (including the conspirators, if you want to see religious leaders and teachers that way), and themes that occur and recur in religion do so because they matter to people. The passion plays wouldn't have endured if people didn't find them affecting. People aren't passive receptacles for the Church to fill with its doctrines: they reject or dodge what they don't like. (A favorite example of mine is the prohibition of fornication -- that is, sexual intercourse between unmarried people, as opposed to adultery where at least one partner is married. The Catholic Church has been trying for centuries to get the laity to agree that fornication is a no-no, with limited success at best.) I believe that the atheists who like to see religion as purely a form of control from above are those who want to be controllers from above themselves.
HS continues with another popular infidel's cliche, a nonbeliever's counterpart of Sullivan's dig about a "Hunky Mohammed contest":
Further, it’s my understanding from my brief studies in Bible school that, had Christ been born and died in modern times, a shot to the head from a Kalashnikov would have done the trick just as well as days on the cross. It just wouldn’t have been as much fun for Christians to reenact later.Really? You have to learn that in Bible school? So what? If Jesus had died by some other means, his followers would have rationalized that just as they did the cross. (When the 17th century messianic pretender Sabbatai Sevi converted to Islam rather than suffer execution, those of his followers who didn't fall away imitated his example, converting to Islam but practicing Judaism in secret. They found Biblical passages which they interpreted as prophecies of Sabbatai's apostasy, just as Christians did for Jesus' death and resurrection.)
It’s no accident that the two principal icons of the Catholic Church, and of much of the rest of Christianity, are on the one hand, a nearly naked man in agony and ecstasy eternally dying on a cross, and on the other, a virgin mother in a burka."No accident" indeed, since Jesus was probably crucified (it's not the sort of thing that Christians would have made up, it was too shameful, like, say, dying of AIDS would be now), not killed by firing squad or a bow and arrow. Icons of divine mothers are cross-culturally popular, and it's widely believed that the cult of Mary descends from the cult of Isis/Ishtar. But what does this "no accident" mean? HS obviously think it has some sinister significance, but doesn't say what, except that he thinks it should be "the empty tomb plated in gold and hanging around the necks of believers", instead of a cross. I'm surprised that Calvary Tabernacle dwelt on the Passion so much on Sunday instead of Good Friday, when such things usually are done. Easter, judging by what I hear from Christians I know, means sunrise services in commemoration of the gospels' discovery of the empty tomb at dawn.
Well, there's no reason non-theists should be any better informed about Christianity than Christians are. But we can't claim to be more rational, or wiser, or more realistic about the world than the religious if we aren't better informed. Homo Superior complains about the passion play he witnessed:
Rather than being edified, I was embarrassed. I felt like my nose was being rubbed in the private, fucked up, quasi-sexual, sado-maschochistic fantasies of a cult; and they were using it to try to indoctrinate me.Why would anyone be "indoctrinated" by this spectacle? Wouldn't an outsider -- a genuine outsider, I mean, not a lapsed Christian -- simply be repelled by it? (This complaint reminds me of antihomosexual Christians who raise the alarm about how homosexuals are trying to recruit ("indoctrinate") outsiders with our disgusting sexual practices and our leather daddies, which I would think an odd way to entice potential converts. For all that Pentecostals are eager to make recruits, I'd take that performance as something for the already converted. (Much like the "Hunky Jesus" contest: it wasn't supposed to win bigots over, or to counter bigots' stereotypes about gays -- it was an event for the already "converted.")
For that matter, what's wrong with "sado-masochistic fantasies"? Again, they play a role in religion because they play a role in many people's lives; they play a highly visible role in gay male sexual iconography, however little they interest me. When antigay Christians fulminate about the disgusting aspects of gay life, we tend to suspect that covertly they find those aspects attractive, even exciting; I have similar suspicions about Homo Superior's (and other nonbelievers') fixation on the Passion drama -- and about Andrew Sullivan's outrage at the Hunky Jesus contest.
James Turk - no resistance as Silver nears uncharted territory
James Turk : we almost touched $50 /oz silver in Asia , then we backed off a little bit , the markets today are closed in Europe for the 4 days Easter holiday so it will be interesting to see what happens when they come back tomorrow , given the amount of the buying power that we are seeing in the market you have to assume that we will be seeing higher prices in the weeks ahead , once we are over $50/oz there is no resistance as the way I see it says James Turk , go back and look at the DOW when we went over a thousand back in 1982 it just kept going and going and going , the same thing could be happening here with silver for the next couple of years , because the supply /demand picture is very good and everybody knows the problems with the US dollar ...silver is still a cheap form of gold on historical averages and that's attracting a lot of people into the market ...
Fifteen.....Alto's Lucky Number
Hey folks! Having a great start to the weekend? Well, for some, it's about to get better!
As most of you know, my gold guide has been out for two weeks now. Today marks the fifteenth day of it's availability, and it has already been updated with the latest and greatest for 4.1.0. Not even live for two weeks and already an update? You bet!
This isn't just a one time purchase for my guide. Once patch 4.1 went live, I updated with all the latest and greatest gold making tips for my "inner circle", information that has not been published on my site.
Now in it's fifteenth day, and since fifteen is my lucky number, I am dropping the price to $15 bucks for 15 hours, then we will be holding constant at the original $25 price tag. So if you have hesitated on purchasing, do so now!
In case you were wondering where to purchase this guide, you can use one of the "BUY NOW" tabs with the Visa/Mastercard logo.
It will direct you to my ebook page, sponsored by EJunkie (funny name, great company) and secure payment through paypal's 100% safe "sister" site.
For my new readers that don't know much about me, I have hit the gold cap back in Jan/Feb of this year, and was recently interviewed on WarcraftEcon for hitting a million gold. What other gold guide out there actually has proof they know the game and not just cutting and pasting what they find on the interwebs? What other guide seller has proof they can walk the walk and not just talk the talk?None. Take a look at some of my old posts, they tell the tale....
If you are familiar with Markco and his 20K Leveling Gold Guide, he recently posted giving props to my guide (see his article here) "Afterwards, and if you haven't done so yet, you should take a look at Alto's blog as well as his gold making mini-guide which is actually an excellent complimentary guide to 20k Leveling."
For another "gold guide" owner to say something of that magnitude, and to say buy someone else's guide, well, it's says how great my guide is. And the information isn't even touched on any guide that is currently available. You can only get it here!
The information I give in my guide is all about the AH. How to's, how to's, how to's. What you need to do, what to look for, what addons to use, how to read information on your competitors, you name it, I cover it. I teach you how to read your AH. I don't have my guide filled with junk about farming, what items are moving quickly on the AH, thats for my blog (however, the update hits on 4.1, so that's a bit off kilter, but you get my point).
The great thing about my guide? You have me personally to answer any specific question you have or issue you are running into. Hop on Skype, tell me your order ## from your purchase, and BAM! Gold Guru at your fingertips! No waiting and hoping for a post on what you need, you can ask me direct! Nice, huh? I thought ya'll would like it!
Enough with the Bla, bla, bla, buy my guide, bla, bla, bla. I always hate when a blogger goes on and on about buying something, but in this case, love it or leave it. I am offering a great deal on a great product, and if you aren't game, cool. If you are, holler!
As most of you know, my gold guide has been out for two weeks now. Today marks the fifteenth day of it's availability, and it has already been updated with the latest and greatest for 4.1.0. Not even live for two weeks and already an update? You bet!
This isn't just a one time purchase for my guide. Once patch 4.1 went live, I updated with all the latest and greatest gold making tips for my "inner circle", information that has not been published on my site.
In case you were wondering where to purchase this guide, you can use one of the "BUY NOW" tabs with the Visa/Mastercard logo.It will direct you to my ebook page, sponsored by EJunkie (funny name, great company) and secure payment through paypal's 100% safe "sister" site.
For my new readers that don't know much about me, I have hit the gold cap back in Jan/Feb of this year, and was recently interviewed on WarcraftEcon for hitting a million gold. What other gold guide out there actually has proof they know the game and not just cutting and pasting what they find on the interwebs? What other guide seller has proof they can walk the walk and not just talk the talk?None. Take a look at some of my old posts, they tell the tale....
If you are familiar with Markco and his 20K Leveling Gold Guide, he recently posted giving props to my guide (see his article here) "Afterwards, and if you haven't done so yet, you should take a look at Alto's blog as well as his gold making mini-guide which is actually an excellent complimentary guide to 20k Leveling."
For another "gold guide" owner to say something of that magnitude, and to say buy someone else's guide, well, it's says how great my guide is. And the information isn't even touched on any guide that is currently available. You can only get it here!
The information I give in my guide is all about the AH. How to's, how to's, how to's. What you need to do, what to look for, what addons to use, how to read information on your competitors, you name it, I cover it. I teach you how to read your AH. I don't have my guide filled with junk about farming, what items are moving quickly on the AH, thats for my blog (however, the update hits on 4.1, so that's a bit off kilter, but you get my point).The great thing about my guide? You have me personally to answer any specific question you have or issue you are running into. Hop on Skype, tell me your order ## from your purchase, and BAM! Gold Guru at your fingertips! No waiting and hoping for a post on what you need, you can ask me direct! Nice, huh? I thought ya'll would like it!
Enough with the Bla, bla, bla, buy my guide, bla, bla, bla. I always hate when a blogger goes on and on about buying something, but in this case, love it or leave it. I am offering a great deal on a great product, and if you aren't game, cool. If you are, holler!
Silver climbing over 30% and will continue
Gold and Silver Will Stay Positive the fundamentals are good we will see new all time highs in both gold and silver says Analyst Torsten Dennin whether the FED decides to raise interest rates or not ..."We are still positive, looking at year-to-date performance on the precious metals side," Torsten Dennin, commodity fund manager at Altira Group He added that the outlook for precious metals will stay positive even if Bernanke decids to raise interest rates .
Talking Trash- Solo Farming ZG in 4.1.0
Jeez. Alto's at it again. Bringing up soloing. But no biggie, we aren't talking ZG bosses, we are talking non elite mobs...level 85's.
Before I get into the gunk, I do want to mention you might want to take your Jewelcrafter there, if for nothing but the "rare" quest that drops. It is not a BiS by all means, but it does have some decent stats if you need to fill a slot. It is Bind on Pickup, but free gold and a free (kinda) trinket isn't a bad deal. A few Elementium Bars (5), a few Obsidium Bars (5) and Demonseye (2). Although it's still sitting in my bags, I figured I would hit on it for ya'll.
*EDIT - April 29th, 8:33pm - As of hotfix posted at Blizz, the gurubashi's no longer drop epic loot, however there is still word that the needlers are producing them.... =)
Before I get into the gunk, I do want to mention you might want to take your Jewelcrafter there, if for nothing but the "rare" quest that drops. It is not a BiS by all means, but it does have some decent stats if you need to fill a slot. It is Bind on Pickup, but free gold and a free (kinda) trinket isn't a bad deal. A few Elementium Bars (5), a few Obsidium Bars (5) and Demonseye (2). Although it's still sitting in my bags, I figured I would hit on it for ya'll. 
Ok, ready for some information? Now depending on how lucky you are, and how much Blizz and the RNG loves you, I have heard you can get 3 EPIX per run of trash, but I received one with two runs (just shy of an hour). What I did was run around the "circle" of ZG (don't forget to reset the instance for 5 man heroic before entering).
If you see the map I posted, follow the outskirts of the circle. The mobs you are looking for are:
*EDIT - April 29th, 8:33pm - As of hotfix posted at Blizz, the gurubashi's no longer drop epic loot, however there is still word that the needlers are producing them.... =)
Like I mentioned above, the mobs are non elite, and they are "yellow" (other than the Venomtip, you can aggro them). The are usually in packs of two or more for the Guru's, and the Needlers are soloists (although they do hang out near each other).
I did this on a i347 rogue, so no biggie for most classes, other than the stealth that I used. The best way that I got to the area is when you first enter the instance, take a sharp left, and follow the "rock ledge". You might aggro the fishies there, but keep going, as they cant follow you (they are fish after all). With a little bit of stealth (or a pot if you dont have the ability) you can get to where the mobs are (starting at about 11 o'clock on the map above).
Now just farm to your heart's content, when you kill the mobs, go back to the front, do a "soft" reset to get the "trash" back, and farm again.
I am not going to cover my GpH, as it will be completely different depending on how many drops you get, and what the going price is on your server, but if you are more of a "solo" player, it is a fun thing to do, and you just might get a few drops. Happy Farming!
Jet Airways runs Flight of Fantasy for Kolkata children
An Indian airline has run a special charity flight for local underprivileged children.
Indian airline Jet Airways has laid on a special charity flight for underprivileged children from the city of Kolkata.
More than 100 local kids were given a once-in-a-lifetime chance to fly onboard a Boeing 737-700, with in-flight entertainment provided by magician Maneka Sorcar.
Furthermore, the lucky children got to meet well known actress Koyel Mallic and enjoy free refreshments during the hour-long round-trip flight, which gave them great views over the country's east coast.
Upon their return to Kolkata, each child was given a hamper of treats, including biscuits, sweets and snacks, as well as useful school stationery.
For more information visit here
Indian airline Jet Airways has laid on a special charity flight for underprivileged children from the city of Kolkata.
More than 100 local kids were given a once-in-a-lifetime chance to fly onboard a Boeing 737-700, with in-flight entertainment provided by magician Maneka Sorcar.
Furthermore, the lucky children got to meet well known actress Koyel Mallic and enjoy free refreshments during the hour-long round-trip flight, which gave them great views over the country's east coast.
Upon their return to Kolkata, each child was given a hamper of treats, including biscuits, sweets and snacks, as well as useful school stationery.
For more information visit here
Farming gold in Blasted Lands
You may have noticed that especially rare monsters in Blasted Lands drop unique loot, called Imperfect Draenethyst Fragments and Flawless Draenethyst Spheres. These are turned in to a quest giver who will give you a loot bag in turn. Depending on the quality of the returned item, you will either receive a Emerald Encrusted Chest (For Spheres) or a Kum'isha's Junk (For Fragments).
Junk bags contain only greenies, but Emerald Encrusted Chests will contain a greenie and a blue quality item. Sometimes even epics! They are all BOE so you can make some nice gold if you're lucky and get a rare profession recipe or a cool looking epic.
Most of the greenies disenchant into Illusion Dusts and Greater Eternal Essences which are quite valuable usually. Some of them DE into Dream Dusts instead which are worthless and way too easy to obtain, so it's wiser to AH the items instead. To find out what item DE into what, use an addon like Enchantrix.
I can has my loot bags nao?
Here you can find a map that shows all rare monster locations in Blasted Lands so you can easily pay a visit to them all. Some of them like to patrol around the skull, so circle around a bit if nothing is there. Some of them are found inside caves or flying above you so pay attention!
Once you are familiar with the spawn points, you can get even 14 spheres in less than 10 minutes!
Rares are easy to spot for a few different reasons. They either look different than the other mobs in the area or have a unique name. The silver dragon portrait may also give a hint! 8)
Most rares here have a spawn timer of about 6-12 hours. To make sure you're not wasting time, check these spots early in the morning. It's a lot harder to find rares during peak hours!
Once you have fragments or spheres, you can either sell them in the AH or try your luck and return them to the quest NPC called Kum'isha the Collector (48,31)
I usually sell the Spheres for about 100g, blue items for 100-300g, rare recipes 4000-15000g and greenies for 15g. Some items are worthless though, but there's always a buyer if you reduce the price enough!
ProTip: Do this with a level 55+ toon to make use of the exp rewards rares give. It's like completing a quest!
Junk bags contain only greenies, but Emerald Encrusted Chests will contain a greenie and a blue quality item. Sometimes even epics! They are all BOE so you can make some nice gold if you're lucky and get a rare profession recipe or a cool looking epic.
Most of the greenies disenchant into Illusion Dusts and Greater Eternal Essences which are quite valuable usually. Some of them DE into Dream Dusts instead which are worthless and way too easy to obtain, so it's wiser to AH the items instead. To find out what item DE into what, use an addon like Enchantrix.
I can has my loot bags nao?
Here you can find a map that shows all rare monster locations in Blasted Lands so you can easily pay a visit to them all. Some of them like to patrol around the skull, so circle around a bit if nothing is there. Some of them are found inside caves or flying above you so pay attention!
Once you are familiar with the spawn points, you can get even 14 spheres in less than 10 minutes!
Rares are easy to spot for a few different reasons. They either look different than the other mobs in the area or have a unique name. The silver dragon portrait may also give a hint! 8)Most rares here have a spawn timer of about 6-12 hours. To make sure you're not wasting time, check these spots early in the morning. It's a lot harder to find rares during peak hours!
Once you have fragments or spheres, you can either sell them in the AH or try your luck and return them to the quest NPC called Kum'isha the Collector (48,31)
I usually sell the Spheres for about 100g, blue items for 100-300g, rare recipes 4000-15000g and greenies for 15g. Some items are worthless though, but there's always a buyer if you reduce the price enough!
ProTip: Do this with a level 55+ toon to make use of the exp rewards rares give. It's like completing a quest!
Gold : ninth record high in nine sessions
A record high for gold and the decline of the dollar : Gold prices increased 2.4% in first quarter : The sharp decline of the dollar boosted gold's gains
Gold prices continued to break record highs on Thursday, benefiting from the steady decline of the U.S. dollar at its lowest level since July / July 2008, after it became clear that the United States will keep its monetary policy as is.
Gold in the spot market Has reached the highest level ever at U.S. $ 1532.91 per ounce (ounce equals 28.25 grams), which is a ninth record high in nine sessions, before easing slightly to the price of $ 1530.80 an ounce.
These developments have prompted many central banks in Asia to stop buying the U.S. currency down to adjust the rise in the value of domestic currencies, the euro has reached its highest against the dollar since recorded 16 months to up to $ 1.48.
An increased investor confidence in the precious metal in the light of the continued political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, and rising global inflation due to the increase in the prices of food and fuel, two factors prompted investors to employ their money more and more in gold . The price of gold increased by 360% in the last ten years
Gold prices continued to break record highs on Thursday, benefiting from the steady decline of the U.S. dollar at its lowest level since July / July 2008, after it became clear that the United States will keep its monetary policy as is.
Gold in the spot market Has reached the highest level ever at U.S. $ 1532.91 per ounce (ounce equals 28.25 grams), which is a ninth record high in nine sessions, before easing slightly to the price of $ 1530.80 an ounce.
These developments have prompted many central banks in Asia to stop buying the U.S. currency down to adjust the rise in the value of domestic currencies, the euro has reached its highest against the dollar since recorded 16 months to up to $ 1.48.
An increased investor confidence in the precious metal in the light of the continued political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, and rising global inflation due to the increase in the prices of food and fuel, two factors prompted investors to employ their money more and more in gold . The price of gold increased by 360% in the last ten years
DAYS GETTING LONGER. SKIRTS GETTING SHORTER.
Having trouble expressing just how much you're loving this amazing spring weather? Worry not, as our favorite Prince-a-like Gordon Voidwell has teamed up with New York MC Iron Solomon on the perfect ode to springtime living with their new single "Spring Fever". The brilliance of this song is that it plays out a whole lot like the days we've been having. It starts out with a sunny blunted-out stroll around the city - bells chiming, dudes rhyming, big synths vibing... that sort of thing - before spiraling into a warped slow jam that feels like that perfect burnt out post-day-drunk-at-sunset moment we're all no doubt familiar with once the sun comes out and the mercury starts rising.As sir Iron Solomon so aptly puts it "I'm talking about the first Thursday of spring", and guess what? SO ARE WE. May rears its beautiful head next week and we've got that first Thursday on lock, as Gordon Voidwell takes the stage at Popshop (alongside Futurecop, NewVillager and more) to help you usher in the fairest season with some serious dancefloor heat. Tickets available here and going fast, get involved.
MP3: "Spring Fever" (ft. Gordon Voidwell) - Iron Solomon
Darkmoon Cards- Good Enough to Go All In?
With the Darkmoon Faire hitting this weekend, we are once again seeing the prices of both Decks and Single Cards go to the "normal" rate. You know what that means, right? Yeah. If you are a Scribe, don't skim. Take the time to read thoroughly, as you might learn something. =)
With the prices of Herbs on most servers seeing a definite drop from a month ago, they are starting to stabilize around the 30-40g mark per stack (Cata level herbs, Obviously). What does this mean to us? Alot. Ready for some Alto math? Don't worry, there's no tests involved....with most folks having finals coming up, thats the last I want to toss at you.
1:1- Cinderbloom, Stormvine, Heartblossom and Azshara's Veil
1.5:1 - Twilight Jasmine and Whiptail
Ok, here we go. What I mean with the ratio's above is Inferno Ink: Stack of Herbs. So if you are snatching up Cinderbloom at 30g per stack, you are "Alto Approved" through the RNG to get one Ashen Pigment, and 5 Blackfallow Inks (you can turn 2 Burning Embers into a Inferno, and you can turn 10 Blackfallow into an Inferno). Now if you grab a stack of whiptail for 40g, then you are expecting 3 Pigments, and 5 Blackfallow Inks. Make sense? Good.
Now to figure the rest. We need 10 Inferno Inks per Card. At the above numbers, 10 stacks of Cinderbloom means 300g (10 Inks). With Whiptail producing the 1.5 on average, we can get our 10 with only 7 stacks. Math? 280g. So in this case, more profits, albeit 20g, with Whiptail.
Now for Volatile Life. Not much you can do here to change the prices that are in the AH. And per Card, we need 30. So if you hit them up at 10g per, 300g there. At 5g? 150g. Easy, quick math. Now you want to know if they are profitable...
What I look at is my own little RNG (random number generator) when figuring out if Cards are profitable. Since there are 32 options made from the Darkmoon Card of Destruction proc, once again, easy math. The number I use currently use is 1600g (average sale price per card). Take the cost of above (to get your mats) and subtract. There is your estimated profit per card.
Now you want to know how I get my average sale price? Easy. Take the highest and lowest card in your AH right now (mine is 325g and 2875g) add em, and divide by two.
Hope this helps out the folks that are getting into this market, and remember, the week before and week of are "normally" the highest returns, and the most volatile as well, so watch your times and values in the AH. I see that Friday nights and Sunday days are the highest sale prices, but this may vary server to server.
Have fun, and make some gold! Oh, the Faire is outside Shatt this month...Starting Sunday!
With the prices of Herbs on most servers seeing a definite drop from a month ago, they are starting to stabilize around the 30-40g mark per stack (Cata level herbs, Obviously). What does this mean to us? Alot. Ready for some Alto math? Don't worry, there's no tests involved....with most folks having finals coming up, thats the last I want to toss at you.
1:1- Cinderbloom, Stormvine, Heartblossom and Azshara's Veil
1.5:1 - Twilight Jasmine and Whiptail
Ok, here we go. What I mean with the ratio's above is Inferno Ink: Stack of Herbs. So if you are snatching up Cinderbloom at 30g per stack, you are "Alto Approved" through the RNG to get one Ashen Pigment, and 5 Blackfallow Inks (you can turn 2 Burning Embers into a Inferno, and you can turn 10 Blackfallow into an Inferno). Now if you grab a stack of whiptail for 40g, then you are expecting 3 Pigments, and 5 Blackfallow Inks. Make sense? Good.
Now to figure the rest. We need 10 Inferno Inks per Card. At the above numbers, 10 stacks of Cinderbloom means 300g (10 Inks). With Whiptail producing the 1.5 on average, we can get our 10 with only 7 stacks. Math? 280g. So in this case, more profits, albeit 20g, with Whiptail.Now for Volatile Life. Not much you can do here to change the prices that are in the AH. And per Card, we need 30. So if you hit them up at 10g per, 300g there. At 5g? 150g. Easy, quick math. Now you want to know if they are profitable...
What I look at is my own little RNG (random number generator) when figuring out if Cards are profitable. Since there are 32 options made from the Darkmoon Card of Destruction proc, once again, easy math. The number I use currently use is 1600g (average sale price per card). Take the cost of above (to get your mats) and subtract. There is your estimated profit per card.
Now you want to know how I get my average sale price? Easy. Take the highest and lowest card in your AH right now (mine is 325g and 2875g) add em, and divide by two.
Hope this helps out the folks that are getting into this market, and remember, the week before and week of are "normally" the highest returns, and the most volatile as well, so watch your times and values in the AH. I see that Friday nights and Sunday days are the highest sale prices, but this may vary server to server.
Have fun, and make some gold! Oh, the Faire is outside Shatt this month...Starting Sunday!
My Country, Right or Far-Right
It occurred to me again today that, much as they like to pretend to be patriots, right-wingers really hate the US government. It was RWA1's latest antics on Facebook that reminded me of this: he linked an article at the Washington Examiner, which laments that
But back to RWA1, whose comment on the story was: "Uncle Sugar giveth and Uncle Sugar taketh away." The implication being that, because Boeing executives and employees had not only donated to Obama's campaign, but the company has benefited from federal subsidies and loans, they are reaping what they sowed. As the Examiner writer put it, "And Boeing has pocketed even more taxpayer loot under Obama than it did under George W. Bush." (Maybe he thinks that the Bush administration would never "'use public office to make winners into losers and losers into winners' and 'bend, break and make the law to help their friends and punish their enemies." He's quoting an Examiner "colleague" on the special wickedness of the Obama administration there.) If they had not collaborated with the State and helped a Socialist into the Oval Office, Boeing could have violated federal labor law with impunity. I mean, it's so unfair! Corporations are supposed to be above the law! It's in the Constitution, along with "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"!
Let me remind my readers that I don't pretend to be a patriot; nor do I think there's anything wrong with hating America. RWA1 and others of his ilk do. Ronald Reagan, for example, notoriously declared that the most frightening words in the language are "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help." Of course, when disaster strikes, the same right-wingers are first in line demanding to be frightened with government help. And you'd better not criticize a Republican President (unless, just unless you're a Republican yourself): the cult of personality around Reagan and George W. Bush belies the conservative claims to distrust government. (RWA1, like many other American rightists, believes that Julian Assange of Wikileaks should be executed -- perhaps summarily -- for treason, even though Assange is not an American citizen and owes this country no loyalty. I'd be surprised if I hadn't already noticed that many Americans think that "patriotism" means loyalty to the United States, no matter what country you happen to be from.)
The same conservatives are infuriated at any recognition of imperfection in the US government's conduct, unless it's conduct they dislike; I'm near the end of History on Trial now, and its account of right-wingers' insistence that school history classes avoid anything that reflects badly on the US and its past government officials was another inspiration for this post. The authors quote a letter printed in the November 8, 1994 issue of the Wall Street Journal, attacking the standards for American history classes:
As I say, I'm not a patriot, and I certainly don't object to criticism either of the United States, of its government, or of the officials in that government. I am bemused by the doublethink of my right-wing fellow citizens, their ability to demand abject adoration of America and its government from everyone else while making hatred of its government a basic postulate of their own political discourse. I believe that this doublethink, and the cognitive dissonance it entails, may explain some of their fury when anyone else fails to genuflect before America -- or when they simply suspect someone else of insufficient reverence before the idol of the American State. (Balint Vazonyi's letter, quoted above, is a textbook case.)
At the same time, I'm conscious of analogous tensions in my own stance toward my country, my government -- hell, toward my species. I'll try to write more about this before too long.
Boeing is not free to make its jets at the factory of its choosing, according to the National Labor Relations Board -- it must make them in Washington state, using union labor.As it happens, I'd just read another article on the same story, by Andrew Leonard at Salon. The National Labor Relations Board had ruled against Boeing's move to South Carolina, a "right-to-work" state, to avoid the kind of strikes it had faced in its Washington plant. Leonard quotes a New York Times article on the case:
It tells you something about today's corporate arrogance, nurtured through years of pro-business administrations, that Boeing executives thought they'd be safe making such open declarations about their reasons for the move. Against the Washington Examiner's writer, I'd say it was Boeing, not the NLRB, that "overreached." The case isn't settled, though, and it will be interesting to see how it turns out.Boeing executives had publicly said they were making the move to avoid the kind of strikes the airplane maker had repeatedly faced in Washington; Lafe Solomon, the labor board's acting general counsel, said the company's motive constituted illegal retaliation against workers for exercising their right to strike ...
Mr. Solomon, who has worked for board members of both parties, said this case was straightforward: Boeing had retaliated against workers for exercising their federally protected right to strike. "They had a consistent message that they were doing this to punish their employees for having struck and having the power to strike in the future," he said. "I can't not issue a complaint in the face of such evidence."
But back to RWA1, whose comment on the story was: "Uncle Sugar giveth and Uncle Sugar taketh away." The implication being that, because Boeing executives and employees had not only donated to Obama's campaign, but the company has benefited from federal subsidies and loans, they are reaping what they sowed. As the Examiner writer put it, "And Boeing has pocketed even more taxpayer loot under Obama than it did under George W. Bush." (Maybe he thinks that the Bush administration would never "'use public office to make winners into losers and losers into winners' and 'bend, break and make the law to help their friends and punish their enemies." He's quoting an Examiner "colleague" on the special wickedness of the Obama administration there.) If they had not collaborated with the State and helped a Socialist into the Oval Office, Boeing could have violated federal labor law with impunity. I mean, it's so unfair! Corporations are supposed to be above the law! It's in the Constitution, along with "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"!
Let me remind my readers that I don't pretend to be a patriot; nor do I think there's anything wrong with hating America. RWA1 and others of his ilk do. Ronald Reagan, for example, notoriously declared that the most frightening words in the language are "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help." Of course, when disaster strikes, the same right-wingers are first in line demanding to be frightened with government help. And you'd better not criticize a Republican President (unless, just unless you're a Republican yourself): the cult of personality around Reagan and George W. Bush belies the conservative claims to distrust government. (RWA1, like many other American rightists, believes that Julian Assange of Wikileaks should be executed -- perhaps summarily -- for treason, even though Assange is not an American citizen and owes this country no loyalty. I'd be surprised if I hadn't already noticed that many Americans think that "patriotism" means loyalty to the United States, no matter what country you happen to be from.)
The same conservatives are infuriated at any recognition of imperfection in the US government's conduct, unless it's conduct they dislike; I'm near the end of History on Trial now, and its account of right-wingers' insistence that school history classes avoid anything that reflects badly on the US and its past government officials was another inspiration for this post. The authors quote a letter printed in the November 8, 1994 issue of the Wall Street Journal, attacking the standards for American history classes:
The first [letter], by Balint Vazonyi, senior fellow at the Potomac Foundation, likened the standards to "an amnesia-inducing drug to be administered on a national scale without hypodermic needles." The standards writers, wrote Vasonyi, had taken a page out of the book "developed in the councils of the Bolshevik and Nazi parties and successfully deployed on the youth of the Third Reich and the Soviet Empire. The recipe called for schools that dispense not knowledge but a compendium of selected events, personalities and interpretations. More important, knowledge was eliminated of such events and personalities as were deemed to have no usefulness by the ideologues of the Nazi or Bolshevik party (which also gave us the concept of political correctness) ... [188-9].The remarkable thing about this rant is that it perfectly describes the demands of the right-wing ideologues who were attacking the history standards: they wanted students to be taught a compendium of selected events, personalities and interpretations (Columbus, the Pilgrim Fathers, our glorious Revolution, the Founding Fathers, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the glorious march to the Pacific, etc.) while eliminating events and personalities as were deemed to have no usefulness by the ideologues of the Republican party (the Injuns, the slaves, Harriet Tubman, the Seneca Falls women's suffrage convention of 1848, working people that nobody has ever heard of). I'm being just a wee bit unfair there -- some well-known Democrats, like Arthur Schlesinger Jr., have made the same complaint, demanding that American history classes should leave white American children feeling good about themselves, presumably on the assumption that their self-esteem would trickle down to children of color. Or something.
As I say, I'm not a patriot, and I certainly don't object to criticism either of the United States, of its government, or of the officials in that government. I am bemused by the doublethink of my right-wing fellow citizens, their ability to demand abject adoration of America and its government from everyone else while making hatred of its government a basic postulate of their own political discourse. I believe that this doublethink, and the cognitive dissonance it entails, may explain some of their fury when anyone else fails to genuflect before America -- or when they simply suspect someone else of insufficient reverence before the idol of the American State. (Balint Vazonyi's letter, quoted above, is a textbook case.)
At the same time, I'm conscious of analogous tensions in my own stance toward my country, my government -- hell, toward my species. I'll try to write more about this before too long.
My Country, Right or Far-Right
It occurred to me again today that, much as they like to pretend to be patriots, right-wingers really hate the US government. It was RWA1's latest antics on Facebook that reminded me of this: he linked an article at the Washington Examiner, which laments that
But back to RWA1, whose comment on the story was: "Uncle Sugar giveth and Uncle Sugar taketh away." The implication being that, because Boeing executives and employees had not only donated to Obama's campaign, but the company has benefited from federal subsidies and loans, they are reaping what they sowed. As the Examiner writer put it, "And Boeing has pocketed even more taxpayer loot under Obama than it did under George W. Bush." (Maybe he thinks that the Bush administration would never "'use public office to make winners into losers and losers into winners' and 'bend, break and make the law to help their friends and punish their enemies." He's quoting an Examiner "colleague" on the special wickedness of the Obama administration there.) If they had not collaborated with the State and helped a Socialist into the Oval Office, Boeing could have violated federal labor law with impunity. I mean, it's so unfair! Corporations are supposed to be above the law! It's in the Constitution, along with "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"!
Let me remind my readers that I don't pretend to be a patriot; nor do I think there's anything wrong with hating America. RWA1 and others of his ilk do. Ronald Reagan, for example, notoriously declared that the most frightening words in the language are "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help." Of course, when disaster strikes, the same right-wingers are first in line demanding to be frightened with government help. And you'd better not criticize a Republican President (unless, just unless you're a Republican yourself): the cult of personality around Reagan and George W. Bush belies the conservative claims to distrust government. (RWA1, like many other American rightists, believes that Julian Assange of Wikileaks should be executed -- perhaps summarily -- for treason, even though Assange is not an American citizen and owes this country no loyalty. I'd be surprised if I hadn't already noticed that many Americans think that "patriotism" means loyalty to the United States, no matter what country you happen to be from.)
The same conservatives are infuriated at any recognition of imperfection in the US government's conduct, unless it's conduct they dislike; I'm near the end of History on Trial now, and its account of right-wingers' insistence that school history classes avoid anything that reflects badly on the US and its past government officials was another inspiration for this post. The authors quote a letter printed in the November 8, 1994 issue of the Wall Street Journal, attacking the standards for American history classes:
As I say, I'm not a patriot, and I certainly don't object to criticism either of the United States, of its government, or of the officials in that government. I am bemused by the doublethink of my right-wing fellow citizens, their ability to demand abject adoration of America and its government from everyone else while making hatred of its government a basic postulate of their own political discourse. I believe that this doublethink, and the cognitive dissonance it entails, may explain some of their fury when anyone else fails to genuflect before America -- or when they simply suspect someone else of insufficient reverence before the idol of the American State. (Balint Vazonyi's letter, quoted above, is a textbook case.)
At the same time, I'm conscious of analogous tensions in my own stance toward my country, my government -- hell, toward my species. I'll try to write more about this before too long.
Boeing is not free to make its jets at the factory of its choosing, according to the National Labor Relations Board -- it must make them in Washington state, using union labor.As it happens, I'd just read another article on the same story, by Andrew Leonard at Salon. The National Labor Relations Board had ruled against Boeing's move to South Carolina, a "right-to-work" state, to avoid the kind of strikes it had faced in its Washington plant. Leonard quotes a New York Times article on the case:
It tells you something about today's corporate arrogance, nurtured through years of pro-business administrations, that Boeing executives thought they'd be safe making such open declarations about their reasons for the move. Against the Washington Examiner's writer, I'd say it was Boeing, not the NLRB, that "overreached." The case isn't settled, though, and it will be interesting to see how it turns out.Boeing executives had publicly said they were making the move to avoid the kind of strikes the airplane maker had repeatedly faced in Washington; Lafe Solomon, the labor board's acting general counsel, said the company's motive constituted illegal retaliation against workers for exercising their right to strike ...
Mr. Solomon, who has worked for board members of both parties, said this case was straightforward: Boeing had retaliated against workers for exercising their federally protected right to strike. "They had a consistent message that they were doing this to punish their employees for having struck and having the power to strike in the future," he said. "I can't not issue a complaint in the face of such evidence."
But back to RWA1, whose comment on the story was: "Uncle Sugar giveth and Uncle Sugar taketh away." The implication being that, because Boeing executives and employees had not only donated to Obama's campaign, but the company has benefited from federal subsidies and loans, they are reaping what they sowed. As the Examiner writer put it, "And Boeing has pocketed even more taxpayer loot under Obama than it did under George W. Bush." (Maybe he thinks that the Bush administration would never "'use public office to make winners into losers and losers into winners' and 'bend, break and make the law to help their friends and punish their enemies." He's quoting an Examiner "colleague" on the special wickedness of the Obama administration there.) If they had not collaborated with the State and helped a Socialist into the Oval Office, Boeing could have violated federal labor law with impunity. I mean, it's so unfair! Corporations are supposed to be above the law! It's in the Constitution, along with "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"!
Let me remind my readers that I don't pretend to be a patriot; nor do I think there's anything wrong with hating America. RWA1 and others of his ilk do. Ronald Reagan, for example, notoriously declared that the most frightening words in the language are "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help." Of course, when disaster strikes, the same right-wingers are first in line demanding to be frightened with government help. And you'd better not criticize a Republican President (unless, just unless you're a Republican yourself): the cult of personality around Reagan and George W. Bush belies the conservative claims to distrust government. (RWA1, like many other American rightists, believes that Julian Assange of Wikileaks should be executed -- perhaps summarily -- for treason, even though Assange is not an American citizen and owes this country no loyalty. I'd be surprised if I hadn't already noticed that many Americans think that "patriotism" means loyalty to the United States, no matter what country you happen to be from.)
The same conservatives are infuriated at any recognition of imperfection in the US government's conduct, unless it's conduct they dislike; I'm near the end of History on Trial now, and its account of right-wingers' insistence that school history classes avoid anything that reflects badly on the US and its past government officials was another inspiration for this post. The authors quote a letter printed in the November 8, 1994 issue of the Wall Street Journal, attacking the standards for American history classes:
The first [letter], by Balint Vazonyi, senior fellow at the Potomac Foundation, likened the standards to "an amnesia-inducing drug to be administered on a national scale without hypodermic needles." The standards writers, wrote Vasonyi, had taken a page out of the book "developed in the councils of the Bolshevik and Nazi parties and successfully deployed on the youth of the Third Reich and the Soviet Empire. The recipe called for schools that dispense not knowledge but a compendium of selected events, personalities and interpretations. More important, knowledge was eliminated of such events and personalities as were deemed to have no usefulness by the ideologues of the Nazi or Bolshevik party (which also gave us the concept of political correctness) ... [188-9].The remarkable thing about this rant is that it perfectly describes the demands of the right-wing ideologues who were attacking the history standards: they wanted students to be taught a compendium of selected events, personalities and interpretations (Columbus, the Pilgrim Fathers, our glorious Revolution, the Founding Fathers, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the glorious march to the Pacific, etc.) while eliminating events and personalities as were deemed to have no usefulness by the ideologues of the Republican party (the Injuns, the slaves, Harriet Tubman, the Seneca Falls women's suffrage convention of 1848, working people that nobody has ever heard of). I'm being just a wee bit unfair there -- some well-known Democrats, like Arthur Schlesinger Jr., have made the same complaint, demanding that American history classes should leave white American children feeling good about themselves, presumably on the assumption that their self-esteem would trickle down to children of color. Or something.
As I say, I'm not a patriot, and I certainly don't object to criticism either of the United States, of its government, or of the officials in that government. I am bemused by the doublethink of my right-wing fellow citizens, their ability to demand abject adoration of America and its government from everyone else while making hatred of its government a basic postulate of their own political discourse. I believe that this doublethink, and the cognitive dissonance it entails, may explain some of their fury when anyone else fails to genuflect before America -- or when they simply suspect someone else of insufficient reverence before the idol of the American State. (Balint Vazonyi's letter, quoted above, is a textbook case.)
At the same time, I'm conscious of analogous tensions in my own stance toward my country, my government -- hell, toward my species. I'll try to write more about this before too long.
Gold: new record at $ 1,522.80
Gold : new record at $ 1,522.80 on this 27th of April - Gold sets a new record at $ 1,522.80 an ounce on the New York market, where prices have marked a rise of 1, 3%. the gold price surge come after the FED's chairman Ben Bernanke press conference
THESE THINGS ABOUT ME YOU NEVER CAN TELL.
Don't be surprised if your heart pops out of your chest on this one, folks. "Whirring," one of our favorite tracks from The Joy Formidable's, um, formidable debut album The Big Roar, has been graced with the fiery touch of Innerpartysystem's sensational "this is just the way God made me" remix skills. Fortunately they're using their powers for good rather than evil here, and the result is nothing short of IMMENSE.We've always thought of Ritzy Bryan and The Joy Formidable as Wales' answer to Karen O and the YYYs, and with this remix's sincere respect for rock 'n roll it can only be concluded that the Innerpartysystem feel the same. The same kick-drum-kick-off that amped up the original remains prominent, only now it finds itself alongside distorted face melting synths and the faint but effective sound of grenade pins hitting the floor, as if to warn the listener of the explosive climaxes that lie ahead. Throughout it all remains the same racing heartbeat tempo that provided the backbone of the original, only now you're panting and just trying not to throw up from excitement.
MP3: "Whirring" (Innerpartysystem Remix) - The Joy Formidable [exclusive]
Treat mum to a second Mother's Day down under
Mums visiting Sydney are in for a treat as the Australian city celebrates Mother's Day next month.
Mother's Day may have come and gone in the UK, but those booking flights to Australia have a second chance to show their mum how much she means.
Aussies have Mother's Day on May 8th, so if you forgot to celebrate in March and want to make amends, or simply want another chance to pamper her, then Swissotel Sydney can help.
The hotel is offering a special Mother's Day High Tea buffet, featuring a spread of desserts, a chocolate fountain and other classy high-tea treats.
Executive chef Justin Zammit has put together a luxury menu at the Crossroads Bar on Level 8 of the hotel, which is priced at $60 (£39) each, including a glass of champagne.
For more information visit here
Mother's Day may have come and gone in the UK, but those booking flights to Australia have a second chance to show their mum how much she means.
Aussies have Mother's Day on May 8th, so if you forgot to celebrate in March and want to make amends, or simply want another chance to pamper her, then Swissotel Sydney can help.
The hotel is offering a special Mother's Day High Tea buffet, featuring a spread of desserts, a chocolate fountain and other classy high-tea treats.
Executive chef Justin Zammit has put together a luxury menu at the Crossroads Bar on Level 8 of the hotel, which is priced at $60 (£39) each, including a glass of champagne.
For more information visit here
4.1.0 - Whatcha Need to Know.
Alto rhymes? Don't quit your day job...Finally. 4.1.0. It's here. Was it worth the wait? I am still wondering. There have been quite a few changes, and others that, although expected, haven't hit home just yet.
Of course there is the Obsidium Shuffle, or Obsidium Le Soufflet as we might as well call it. The vendor prices took a significant loss, 9g to 5g. So what we knew as a 45g floor is now a 30g baseline.
Those that read and keep tract of my blog know that I follow my 6/36 rule. If your Hypnotic Dust is 6g, and your Greater Celestial Essence is 36g, you are sitting on a near "break even" profit with purchasing the ore at 50g per stack (that includes the price of the Jeweler's Settings). So invest accordingly.
Did you go and get your Panther Cub yet? There is a bit of a questline in STV (Some good will come is the name of it) that allows you to get a nice little companion pet, make sure you take some time and visit "down south". Who doesn't like questing? Ok, you got me. This guy. But for a pet, I am down.
Speaking of pets, did you buy your Winterspring Cub yet? The "pet" vendor in Everlook, Michelle DeRum, sells one of these cute little pets for 50g. Check your AH, and getcha some sales!Did you all take my advice? All of my previous 4.1 posts are bearing nature right now:
"Blue Gems" and the Upcoming Patch 4.1.0
Archaelogy Updates and AH Tank Sales
Yeah, Alto is posting on the Obsidium Shuffle
4.1.0 Jewelcrafting Recipe: The Punisher's Band
If you haven't checked them out, click away. Some good reads covering what we are running into now. Oh, and don't forget the 4.1 Rare Mobs with the "better" gear droprates. Who needs an addon when you have Alto to find em for you? Shh. Don't answer that...
The 4.1.0 Rare Mob List/Locations/Screenies
Alto! What about the rares? Did you get your drop? Yeah, you all are gonna hate me for this, but I didn't even get out to hit up Poseidus for the mount....
You want a few more hits on 4.1.0? Okay. Here's a few other things I am doing:
With the “Call to Arms” in full swing (basically for Tanks and Priests), you will see the flasks and pots fly off the AH. Don’t forget your buff food as well.
Keep an eye on your “cut” blue gems. These will be a hot seller for some time. Depending on your server, you will see and influx of Inferno Rubies, Demonseye and Ember Topaz selling in quantities. Make sure you have them posted, as if they sit in your bags or bank, so will your gold.
Keep those pets up in the AH. There are added Achievements in this patch, and folks will be looking for the more “rare” companions. This is where you come in. Whether they are old school Lil’ Smoky or the newer Personal World Destroyer, get em up to sell!
With the new iLvl “recruitment” for the ZA and ZG, folks will still be needing your crafted PvP gear. Now the sales aren’t gonna make you a millionaire, they will supply you with some income for the near future.
Check out your prices on enchants. With the new gear comes the need for Enchants. Make sure that you utilize your “old school” Wrath enchants, as they will continue to have a need and a want at your local auction house.
If you read around the blogsosphere lately, you might know I am in the middle of a few projects here and there....I have been working on getting my .com going (sneak peek here on my guide page), just updated a great guide for 20K (as well as my own) and countless other things behind the scenes (you will hear about them soon enough!). Speaking of Alto's Guide, did you get your Achievement?
If you haven't already, make sure to sign up for my RSS feed (posts available in your email- easy to read for mobile users or you ipad'ians)
Peter Schiff Silver is Unstoppable
Is there anything that can stop silver's ballistic rise? The precious metal flirted near the $50 mark yesterday. Peter Schiff, of Euro Pacific Capital gives his insight .
Peter Schiff : if you look at the amount of silver in the earth versus gold and I think the ratio there is about 17 to one , I think silver is going to continue to gain on gold as this bull market continues to unfold , I think we have many many years left to go , I ultimately think that you will see a gold / silver ratio below 20 ,right now is more like about 35 , but when this bull market started I think the ratio was about 60 , now I have been buying silver for about ten years when I started buying it it was 5 dollars an ounce at the time gold was about 250 , 260 dollars an ounce both the precious metals have gone up , but silver has gone up more and if i am right and this bull market continues I expect silver to keep outperforming at my metals company I have been recommending people would have two third gold one third silver for long time obviously people that did that right now they might have fifty fifty because silver has gained on gold even though both metals have risen , and the reason that's happening is because Ben Bernanke is debasing the value of the dollar , r i fact central banks all around the world are too loose they are creating too much money and so people all around the world are buying gold and silver as a store of value and I think that that will continue ....
Peter Schiff : if you look at the amount of silver in the earth versus gold and I think the ratio there is about 17 to one , I think silver is going to continue to gain on gold as this bull market continues to unfold , I think we have many many years left to go , I ultimately think that you will see a gold / silver ratio below 20 ,right now is more like about 35 , but when this bull market started I think the ratio was about 60 , now I have been buying silver for about ten years when I started buying it it was 5 dollars an ounce at the time gold was about 250 , 260 dollars an ounce both the precious metals have gone up , but silver has gone up more and if i am right and this bull market continues I expect silver to keep outperforming at my metals company I have been recommending people would have two third gold one third silver for long time obviously people that did that right now they might have fifty fifty because silver has gained on gold even though both metals have risen , and the reason that's happening is because Ben Bernanke is debasing the value of the dollar , r i fact central banks all around the world are too loose they are creating too much money and so people all around the world are buying gold and silver as a store of value and I think that that will continue ....
British gay activists urge both marriage for same-sex couples and civil partnerships for different-sex couples
Gay activists in Britain are urging William and Kate to announce their support for marriage for same-sex couples. But at the same time they are advocating access to civil partnership for different-sex couples. At the moment, only same-sex couples can enter civil partnerships. Truncated news coverage has described the marriage equality plea without noting that advocates also back different-sex civil partnerships.
Although recent civil union legislation in Illinois and Hawaii both allow access for different-sex partners, Delaware's bill, which awaits the governor's signature, extends civil union status to same-sex couples only. Newspaper coverage noted than an effort to add different-sex couples was seen as an attempt to "undermine" the bill. That's a way of thinking that I do not follow. What civil union for different-sex couples undermines is the preservation of marriage as the one and only way straight people can announce their commitment. We are more likely to get to a greater recognition of the many ways that people form relationships that matter if we knock marriage off its pedestal. Given straight people options other than marriage is one step in that direction.
Although recent civil union legislation in Illinois and Hawaii both allow access for different-sex partners, Delaware's bill, which awaits the governor's signature, extends civil union status to same-sex couples only. Newspaper coverage noted than an effort to add different-sex couples was seen as an attempt to "undermine" the bill. That's a way of thinking that I do not follow. What civil union for different-sex couples undermines is the preservation of marriage as the one and only way straight people can announce their commitment. We are more likely to get to a greater recognition of the many ways that people form relationships that matter if we knock marriage off its pedestal. Given straight people options other than marriage is one step in that direction.
Egypt holiday offers from Red Sea resort
Scuba diving, golf and hotel discounts are all on offer at the Egyptian resort of El Gouna.
British travellers heading to the Red Sea for a luxury getaway this summer can take advantage of some great value offers at El Gouna resort.
Ideal for those arriving on flights to Hurghada, the resort is currently offering 28 per cent off scuba diving, so you can make the most of the scenic coastline nearby.
Alternatively, if you're looking to try your hand at something new, then the Golf for Beginners package may be appealing.
For just £228, a pair of keen golfers can enjoy five lessons on the 18-hole Gene Bates and Fred Couples designed championship course, with all balls and equipment included in the price.
For more information visit here
British travellers heading to the Red Sea for a luxury getaway this summer can take advantage of some great value offers at El Gouna resort.
Ideal for those arriving on flights to Hurghada, the resort is currently offering 28 per cent off scuba diving, so you can make the most of the scenic coastline nearby.
Alternatively, if you're looking to try your hand at something new, then the Golf for Beginners package may be appealing.
For just £228, a pair of keen golfers can enjoy five lessons on the 18-hole Gene Bates and Fred Couples designed championship course, with all balls and equipment included in the price.
For more information visit here
Egypt holiday offers from Red Sea resort
Scuba diving, golf and hotel discounts are all on offer at the Egyptian resort of El Gouna.
British travellers heading to the Red Sea for a luxury getaway this summer can take advantage of some great value offers at El Gouna resort.
Ideal for those arriving on flights to Hurghada, the resort is currently offering 28 per cent off scuba diving, so you can make the most of the scenic coastline nearby.
Alternatively, if you're looking to try your hand at something new, then the Golf for Beginners package may be appealing.
For just £228, a pair of keen golfers can enjoy five lessons on the 18-hole Gene Bates and Fred Couples designed championship course, with all balls and equipment included in the price.
For more information visit here
British travellers heading to the Red Sea for a luxury getaway this summer can take advantage of some great value offers at El Gouna resort.
Ideal for those arriving on flights to Hurghada, the resort is currently offering 28 per cent off scuba diving, so you can make the most of the scenic coastline nearby.
Alternatively, if you're looking to try your hand at something new, then the Golf for Beginners package may be appealing.
For just £228, a pair of keen golfers can enjoy five lessons on the 18-hole Gene Bates and Fred Couples designed championship course, with all balls and equipment included in the price.
For more information visit here
POPSHOP005: GORDON VOIDWELL + FUTURECOP!
Oh shit, Popshop: Cinco de Mayo Edition coming right at you. It's been four straight sell out shows and we're not planning on slowing down anytime soon, so without further ado, here's what you'll be breaking it down to at Tammany Hall May 5th. Headlining we've got the Bronx's finest in the inimitable Gordon Voidwell and his floor-filling brand of electro-funk, as well as UK partystarters Futurecop! and support from bi-coastal tribal pop duo NewVillager. Then, rounding out the lineup we've got some VERY SPECIAL TOP SECRET GUESTS providing main support to Voidwell, and though we can't reveal their identity, they're pretty much our favorite new band of 2011 and we can assure you they'll be bringing the party in spades.Absolut will once again be hooking up the 2-for-1 drinks from 8-9pm and The Knocks will be on the decks as our resident DJs all night long, so bring your sombrero and your party pants, because we're going IN on this one New York. As always, it's all going down at Tammany Hall the first Thursday of the month, and tickets are available HERE. By now you should know the deal - these all tend to sell out in advance and fill up early - so get your tickets now before it's too late.
09:00pm: NewVillager // DOWNLOAD: "Lighthouse"
10:00pm: SECRET GUESTS
11:00pm: Gordon Voidwell // STREAM: "Ivy League Circus"
12:00am: Futurecop! // STREAM: "N.A.S.A."
01:00am: The Knocks (DJ) // DOWNLOAD: "Pumped Up Kicks" (The Knocks Remix)
Regime Change
There's a good op-ed in the Boston Globe, containing this poignant line:
Someone, I can't recall who, pointed out that despite the official rejection of "violent protest", the only protestors against the Arab dictatorships who've gotten US support have been the violent Libyan rebels. Nonviolent protestors have been on their own, and the US has stood complacently by while Bahrain imported foreign mercenaries to kill its own people. (How sad -- the Crown Prince of Bahrain will not be attending the Royal Wedding because of the unrest in his country, and perhaps coincidentally because "Human rights campaigners had petitioned against his attendance because of his government's treatment of protesters." There's so much hate in the world, isn't there?)
On March 31, NATO formally warned the rebels to stop attacking civilians.Now, in fact the rebels had been attacking civilians even before they attracted US attention. Doesn't that mean that President Obama has a moral obligation to bomb the rebels? (Yes.)
Someone, I can't recall who, pointed out that despite the official rejection of "violent protest", the only protestors against the Arab dictatorships who've gotten US support have been the violent Libyan rebels. Nonviolent protestors have been on their own, and the US has stood complacently by while Bahrain imported foreign mercenaries to kill its own people. (How sad -- the Crown Prince of Bahrain will not be attending the Royal Wedding because of the unrest in his country, and perhaps coincidentally because "Human rights campaigners had petitioned against his attendance because of his government's treatment of protesters." There's so much hate in the world, isn't there?)
Regime Change
There's a good op-ed in the Boston Globe, containing this poignant line:
Someone, I can't recall who, pointed out that despite the official rejection of "violent protest", the only protestors against the Arab dictatorships who've gotten US support have been the violent Libyan rebels. Nonviolent protestors have been on their own, and the US has stood complacently by while Bahrain imported foreign mercenaries to kill its own people. (How sad -- the Crown Prince of Bahrain will not be attending the Royal Wedding because of the unrest in his country, and perhaps coincidentally because "Human rights campaigners had petitioned against his attendance because of his government's treatment of protesters." There's so much hate in the world, isn't there?)
On March 31, NATO formally warned the rebels to stop attacking civilians.Now, in fact the rebels had been attacking civilians even before they attracted US attention. Doesn't that mean that President Obama has a moral obligation to bomb the rebels? (Yes.)
Someone, I can't recall who, pointed out that despite the official rejection of "violent protest", the only protestors against the Arab dictatorships who've gotten US support have been the violent Libyan rebels. Nonviolent protestors have been on their own, and the US has stood complacently by while Bahrain imported foreign mercenaries to kill its own people. (How sad -- the Crown Prince of Bahrain will not be attending the Royal Wedding because of the unrest in his country, and perhaps coincidentally because "Human rights campaigners had petitioned against his attendance because of his government's treatment of protesters." There's so much hate in the world, isn't there?)
Part IV- Farming The New 4.1 Rare Mobs List/Locations
Well, here it comes. The updated list of the "Newish" Rare Mobs in WoW. Now before your feathers get in a bunch, realize that they have been around, but this list gives focus on the "new" droprates on them for Patch 4.1.0.
Before I get started here, I want to remind you that there is a new Glyph, Glyph of Frost Armor out there, and although we are not sure where it comes from (trainer, Book of Glyph Mastery, Research), get it before anyone else does, and get it up on the AH!
I also want to hit on the new Jewelcrafting Ring- The Punisher's Band. Use up a few of those Jewelcrafter's Tokens and craft em. Up on the AH too, remember, if you aren't first, you are last. Well, in racing and the gold game at least. Kinda. Now, onto my post!
Loot will be updated at a later time, so make sure and toss this on your favorites (or hit up my RSS feed) for an easy later search. You might notice that in this extension of my Rare Mob series (Part I, Part II, and Part III) I have added pics so you know who/what you are searching for.
Hope this helps you on your quests to gets the drops (was that hillbilly enough for you?). Remember, Poseidus is dropping a BoE mount, I know there is a huge todo list when you login today, but passing up a "sellable" mount is just crazy to not try....Good luck today!
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