#Jen Horsey

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

David Horsey

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

June 11, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

JUN 12, 2024

“We’re producing more energy than ever before in this nation. We have the strongest economy in the world, and we are beating China for the first time in decades. More people went to work this morning in America than at any other time in our nation’s history. So I’ve got a message to Donald Trump and all his negativity and his whining: Stop sh*t talking America. This is the greatest country on earth, and it’s time that we all start acting like it.”

Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro’s words to Jen Psaki on MSNBC yesterday illustrated that Democrats are flipping the script on the MAGA Republicans. 

Since he decided to run for president in 2015, almost exactly nine years ago, Trump’s narrative has been that the United States is in terrible decline and that only he can “make America great again.” In his speech announcing his candidacy on that June day in 2015, he claimed that “our country is in serious trouble” and complained that China, Japan, and Mexico were all “beating” the U.S. and “laughing at us, at our stupidity…. The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems,” he said before launching into the idea that Mexico was sending criminals and rapists across the border. “Our enemies are getting stronger and stronger…, and we as a country are getting weaker,” he said. “Even our nuclear arsenal doesn’t work.”

Trump claimed—falsely—that the nation’s gross domestic product was below zero, that the labor participation rate was “the worst since 1978,” that unemployment was between 18 and 20 percent, and that while Obamacare was “amazingly destructive,” he would replace it with something cheaper and better. 

Trump continued this theme of decline and what he called “American carnage” in his inaugural address. He described “[m]others and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities; rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our Nation; an education system, flush with cash, but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of all knowledge; and the crime and the gangs and the drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential.”

Trump initially seemed to blame inept politicians and bureaucrats for what he claimed was America’s decline, assuring the audience at his 2015 campaign announcement: “Well, you need somebody, because politicians are all talk, no action. Nothing’s gonna get done. They will not bring us—believe me—to the promised land. They will not.” But when then–FBI director James Comey refused to drop the investigation into the relationship between Russian operatives and the 2016 Trump campaign, Trump and his loyalists began to warn of a secretive “deep state” that was working to undermine Trump and, with him, the nation. 

Trump’s narrative that he is the true defender of the United States, under attack by dark forces, maps beautifully over white evangelical narratives of religious decline. Trump continued that storyline even after voters turned him out of the White House, insisting that a nefarious conspiracy of Democrats, undocumented immigrants, and foreigners stole the election from him. 

The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol estimated that Trump raised $250 million in donations from supporters for an “election defense fund” to pay the legal fees to overturn the results of the 2020 election. But the Trump team never actually set up that fund. Instead, the money went to the Save America political action committee founded and controlled by Trump, and from there the money went to Trump loyalists and pro-Trump organizations.

And therein lies a key reason for Trump’s story of an apocalyptic America: describing the nation as a hellhole that only he can fix also maps over a common pattern of American grifters. So long as supporters send him money, he claims, they will be able to defend the country against dark forces: communists, Marxists, atheists, immigrants, pedophiles, feminists—just what the dark forces are matters far less than that they are a foil for the grifter. 

When Trump made that argument in 2015, it was not all that far-fetched. Economists estimate that the supply-side economics of the past 40 years had shifted $50 trillion dollars from the bottom 90% of Americans to the top 1%, hollowing out the middle class. Schools had been chronically underfunded, and the opioid epidemic, which began in 1999, was claiming more than 10,000 Americans a year (a number that has continued to rise ever since). And by weaponizing the filibuster and gerrymandering states, Republicans had made it extraordinarily difficult for Congress to accomplish anything that would address these issues.

When Biden took office, he was in the unusual position of signing executive orders to establish policies that were not unpopular, like Trump‘s, but that were extraordinarily popular. This began the process of showing that the government could, in fact, represent the people. 

Then, thanks to the election of Georgia senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in a runoff election on January 6, 2021—that was the seismic shift of January 6, 2021, that is often forgotten—the Democrats continued to demonstrate that the government could work for the people. They passed the American Rescue Plan to shore up the U.S. economy after the pandemic shutdowns, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act to rebuild roads and bridges and improve broadband access, the CHIPS and Science Act to promote semiconductor manufacturing, the Inflation Reduction Act to invest in climate change mitigation and permit the government to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies over drug prices, and the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to close loopholes in gun purchases.  

Those changes have created a roaring economy with an unemployment rate that has just last month ticked up to 4% after 27 months below that number, with wages growing faster than the inflation that plagued the U.S.—and the world—after the pandemic eased. The highest wage growth has gone to the lowest earners, helping to cut the nation’s extreme wealth inequality.

That booming economy might be partly what’s behind another significant change: for all that Trump and MAGA Republicans still talk about Democratic cities as hellholes, the FBI yesterday released a report showing that violent crime in fact dropped by more than 15% in the U.S. during the first three months of 2024.  As Jim Sciutto of CNN pointed out today, “Murders fell 26.4% and rapes decreased by 25.7%. Aggravated assaults decreased by 12.5%, according to the data, robberies fell 17.8%.” In his own assessment, Biden attributed those dropping numbers to “putting more cops on the beat, holding violent criminals accountable, and getting illegal guns off the street.” 

On June 1, top sports talk host Colin Cowherd anticipated Shapiro’s pro-American stance when he pushed back on the Republican idea that the country is a dystopian nightmare. “[Trump’s] trying to sell me an America that doesn’t exist,” he said. “Stop trying to sell me on ‘everything’s rigged, the country’s falling into the sea, the economy’s terrible,’” he continued. “The America that I live in is imperfect. But compared to the rest of the world, I think we’re doing okay.”

Today, Biden pointedly illustrated one more difference between Trump and the real world. In the wake of his own conviction on 34 criminal counts, Trump has amped up his insistence that the Department of Justice is rigged against him and must be purged of nonpartisan civil servants and repopulated with his own loyalists. Biden today underscored his own respect for the rule of law. 

This afternoon a jury found Biden’s 54-year-old son Hunter Biden guilty on three charges of lying on a form required to purchase a gun in 2018 when he checked the “no” box that asked if he was “an unlawful user of, or addicted to,” drugs. That lie permitted him to buy the gun that he owned for 11 days. His lawyer argued that he did not consider himself an addict because he was trying at the time to end his drug dependence. 

The news made the Trump team rush back to their narrative. “This trial has been nothing more than a distraction from the real crimes of the Biden Crime Family, which has raked in tens of millions of dollars from China, Russia and Ukraine,” Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said. Echoing the false allegations MAGA Republicans have made about President Biden, she added: “Crooked Joe Biden’s reign over the Biden Family Criminal Empire is all coming to an end on November 5th, and never again will a Biden sell government access for personal profit.”

But there is no Biden family business, and Hunter Biden is not in the administration. President Biden has kept his distance from the case. Today he said, “I am the president, but I am also a dad. Jill and I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today. So many families who have had loved ones battle addiction understand the feeling of pride seeing someone you love come out the other side and be so strong and resilient in recovery. As I…said last week, I will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal. Jill and I will always be there for Hunter and the rest of our family with our love and support. Nothing will ever change that.”

—

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[thezombiechimp]

Dirt 4 PS4 Review

Dirt 4 is a mixture of simulation and arcade rally racing game available from retail stores and for download from the PlayStation Store for the PS4. Codemasters’ Dirt series originated in 1998 when the first game in the Colin McRae Rally series released, while the sequel Colin McRae Rally 2.0 released on PS1 in 2000 before making a debut on PS2 in 2002 with Colin McRae Rally 3 followed by two…

[pghbabesonbikes]

Frigid Bitch 2019 Results

Frigid Bitch - back for year 6!

Continuing tradition as probably the biggest ladies/non-binary bike race in the universe with over 100 riders, this year’s Frigid Bitch expanded with first-time-ever-offered pre-registration and MORE PODIUMS. Held at Threadbare Cider in Spring Garden, at 10am on Saturday, February 16th, 2019, racers started flooding in to stock up on gear, check out the competition, and pick up their maps & manifests.

As always, there is a one hour window for racers to frantically plan their routes, forge alliances, and make friends. A few local ladies’ racing teams showed up in force, and some veteran Frigid Bitch ride-or-die gangs side-eyed up their matching kits and focused efficiency with determined fuck-it, let’s-do-this attitudes. New racers met riding partners on-site, and a handful of volunteers showed up to take in the crowd before heading out to their no-longer-secret positions.

A quarter to go-time, everyone was hustled outside to unlock their steeds and gear up for the start line.

THE CHECKPOINTS

Grandview Overlook Every year, for the out-of-towners, suburb queens, commuters who never stray from the beaten track - there’s always one checkpoint that everybody knows how to get to. Not that we’d make it easy! Pittsburgh’s famous overlook is a slag up Mt Washington, and with the main thru way closed, racers had to either bump it up via shattered sidewalks, or find away around. Volunteers were ready with a toast at the top!

Fineview Overlook In a city of hills and bridges you’re gonna have a lot of overlooks … Grandview’s much lesser known cousin on the Northside had racers figuring out how to find their way above the ballfield. Anyone who actually followed the map to this checkpoint found themselves climbing one of the toughest Dirty Dozen Hills….oh, did we do that? Whoops!

Herr’s Island Keep following the map in the other direction, and it’d take you down Rialto St (another Dirty Dozen Hill! Who drew this?!) and across the 30th St Bridge to Herr’s Island, haven of local crew teams and isolated Pgh elite. Everyone knows it’s there; most cyclists have zero reason to ever trek over. On the far end of the island, through some woods & down some steps to a gravel lot in a crumbling wall, volunteers were waiting with a camp fire to check off numbers of the racers who hiked-a-bike or threw down and hustled on foot.

5 Points Speaking of hike-a-biking, the furthest checkpoint from the start was tucked away in Pgh’s mountain biking mecca, Frick Park. There’s only one spot in the woods where 5 trails spike together in a star formations, colloquially known as…. FIVE POINTS!!! Entering the trail from Beechwood Blvd in Squirrel Hill, anyone who made it this far had to off-road their ride down dirt paths and over exposed roots. But hey, there was hot chocolate at the bottom! 

Murray Hill Not far from 5 points, Murray Hill Ave gave everyone the opportunity to experience off- roading on a one of the most quintessential Pgh urban this-is-actually-still-a-road terrains (second only to massive potholes): brutally steep cobbles!

Iron Eden Metal Works Oh, but there were potholes. Snaking the back way up & down bombed-out Sassafras St, nestled in the shadows of the Bloomfield Bridge, lies a two-tiered & strange-looking structure. ~By night!~ a times-past underground venue in the woods, ~by day!~ a rustbelt relic: Iron Eden!

Bonus checkpoint feature:  ~ * g l a m o u r   s h o t s * ~

The Hot Metal Bridge It’s a classic. Need we say more?  

The Boob Mausoleum Probably the most infamous tomb in the Allegheny Cemetery, the WHITE mausoleum features a bafflingly intense commitment to full-blown Egyptian theme&decor. Stationed just outside the crypt’s brass-cast pillar-flanked doors, 2 ~prominent~ sphinxes stand guard over the venerable (?) White family portal. Stationed just outside the sphinxes….Frigid Bitch BEACH PARTY!!

Mohawk St Finally, last in line but top of the list as far as checkpoint shenanigans go; bomb down Fifth Ave from Pitt campus and right before you hit the Birmingham Bridge, there’s a set of city steps that ascend into the woods of West Oakland. They spit out at Landslide Community Farms and a pink jersey barrier where volunteers waited with a camp fire* and a case of PBR. They’d set up a beer chute along the top of the stairs and stood in suspense while racers ran up the steps, not taking the bait. Finally, the vet bitch gang of Alex K, Katherine J and Frankie M threw their bikes over their shoulders, rushed the chute, grabbed a beer, cracked it with their teeth and chugged on the way up.

*if you missed the campfire, it’s because the fire dept showed up to put it out. See? Shenanigans!

Once the clock struck 2, everyone had 1 hour to race back to Threadbare. Bikes were slammed into the temp parking, road shoes clacked across the parking lot, the doors were thrown over and spoke card numbers hollered at the waiting table-side officials.

P A R T Y   T I M E

Pizza was eaten, cider was drunk, war stories were exchanged! Multi-year Bitch Queen Elise R regaled audiences with a story that started as a complaint that she couldn’t run any red lights on the North Side because there were too many cops around, then perked up with details about bombing down towards an intersection from Mohawk, where a white SUV veered into the corner of the intersection, blocking traffic for Elise & her crew to blast their way through, waved them past and yelled “YEAH FRIGID BITCH!!!”

Podiums

For the first time, the Frigid Bitch podium split into multiple categories. Singlespeed, Mountain Bike, Masters, and Out-Of-Town were added in addition to the all-encompassing Women & Nonbinary Open Field. Check back next year; more are comin!

Fixed/Singlespeed 1. Alexandra Korshin 2. Rachel Thompson

Masters 1. Louanna Bailey 2. Frankie Montenegro 3. Kelly Haderly 4. Monica VanDieran 5. Jen Damon 6. Suz Falvey

7. Christa Ross 8. Stacie Truszkowski 9. Barbara Jensen 10. Sarah Crawford 11. Simone Riddle 12. Suzanne Kinsky 13. Athena Marsh 14. Cynthia Billisits 15. Suzie Silver 16. Heather Mccracken 17. Jolynn Gibson 18. Kelli Jones 19. Dorothy Voelker

Mountain Bike 1. Suz Falvey 2. Vincent Zeng 3. Nikki Turner

Out Of Town 1. Jane Hodge 2. Caitlin Woodson 3. Sara Khalil Open Field Results! 1. Elise Rowe #10 2. Shaena Ulissi #18 3. Caryn Willis #73 4. Anna Bieberdorf #114 5. Katie Webber-Plank #93 6. Julie Grove #91

7. Louanna Baily #15 8. Lydia Yoder #50 9. Lindsay Dill #28 10. Alyssa Crawford #62

11. Jessie Appleman #87 12. Ania Jaroszewicz #6 13. Amy Wincek #111 14. Emily Palmer #54 15. LaurynStalter #79 16. Mary-Wren Ritchie #86 17. Alexandra Korshin #69 18. Frankie Montenegro #44 19. Katharine Jordan #78 20. Lan Tran #89 21. Naomi Anderson #107 22. Alexandria Shewczyk #29 23. Jaime Martina #26

24. Megan Andrews #43 25. Cansu Ozen #39 26. Sara Horsey #75 27. Shequaya Bailey #7 28. Kelly Haderly #84 29. Megan Sybeldon #46 30. Allison Glick #104 31. Acadia Klain #37 32. Robyn Brewer #34 33. Anna Barensfeld #52 34. Kelsey Kradel #83 35. Monica VanDieren #4

36. Jen Damon #80 37. Suz Falvey #88 38. Christa Ross #82 39. StacieTruszkowski #102 40. Greta Daniels #60 41. Elizabeth Salesky #33 42. Barbara Jensen #41 43. Sara Madden #92 44. Vanessa Jameson #110 45. Jane Hodge #112 46. Sarah Crawford #90 47. Rachel Dingfelder #59

48. Mary Kate Minnick #27 49. Caitlin Woodson #13 50. Simone Riddle #64 51. Sara Khalil #94 52. Suzanne Kinsky #71 53. Taylor Wescott #35 54. Kathleen Blackburn #49 55. Athena Marsh #57 56. Riesa Lirette #14 57. Vincent Zeng #32 58. Anna Faber #47 59. Erin Potts #51 60. Molly Orzechowski #666 61. Jenna DeVivo #23 62. Laura Watson #99 63. Ngani Ndimbie #108 64. Rachel Thompson #113 65. Alexandra Falk #81 66. Cynthia Billisits #48

67. Sarah Martin #97 68. Laura Everhart #53 69. Bonnie Weibel #61 70. Mary Jackson #65 71. Leah Nicolich #103 72. Charlie Eddington #106 73. Catherine Armbruster #42 74. Paula Zamora #16 75. Ramona Stanley #38 76. Morgan Sulik #21 77. Anusha Simha #119 78. Yvette Aban #58 79. Hwa Han #63 80. Sarah Scherk #101 81. Hayes Indigo #1

82. Milo Spiders #100 83. Jenna Geiman #22 84. Hannah Berg #31 85. Suzie Silver #56 86. Julie Mallis #36 87. Morgan Tunstall #30 88. Heather McCracken #45 89. Shannon Frishkorn #115 90. Jamie Parke #66 91. Kate Bechak #105 92. Jaclyn Sternick #74 93. Jolynn Gibson #40 94. Maureen Duncan #9 95. Kelli Jones #12 96. Sarah Pearman #96 97. Lauren McKenna #17 98. Jennifer Ross #20 99. Kimberly Garrett #98 100. Chen Li #55 101. Rachel Shockey #25 102. NickyTurner #95 103. HEather McClain #109 104. Emily Voelker #24 105. Nicole Toney #68 106. Jenny Bender #67 107. Shelby Schmidt #72 108. Dorothy Voelker #19 109. Elizabeth LeDonne #77

Prizes

Were there enough prizes to go around? Were people bugging the f out over how awesome they were? We’ll let these photos speak for themselves.

The Best Part

The Frigid Bitch has always been a race to promote empowerment in the cycling community, to show that underrepresented groups of people can kick just as much ass as the status quo, and to support organizations that in turn provide for  others in need. To that end, funds raised via registration fees and anonymous pledges have always been given to the Greater Pittsburgh Women’s Center & Shelter. Over the past year, another organization has provided immeasurable support for the founders of the Frigid Bitch in their hour of need. This year’s race raised $730 for the Women’s Shelter and $400 for the Women’s Law Project. It couldn’t be done without the support of our racers & our community.

THANK YOU for another great year! To all of our sponsors, who are solely responsible for the joy fest you just witnessed above! To all my lovely volunteers, without whom this race would never get off the ground, and who pull out all the stops to make this the funnest goddamn alleycat in the whole universe. Thank you to my photographers, without you no one would ever know how fucking awesome this event is! Thank you to my little brother, who always finds the time to churn out another amazing race flyer! THANK YOU TO MY TEAM OF LADIES who helped me throw this race! Without you, Frigid Bitch #5 would have been the last of its kind! Thank you Di-ay, Elise #1 & Elise #2, Kat, Mattie, & Kaylin! Thank you Pittsburgh for being the only city I’d ever wish to be from! I’LL BE BACK!

SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!

[secotm]

Carl Garoudy Jean-Louis > Matt Bors, Ben Garrison, David Horsey, Nomi Kane, Jen Sorensen, Matt Lubchansky, Rob Rogers, Mike Luckovich, Nick Anderson, Jerry Holbert, Chip Bok, A. F. Branco, Dan Wasserman, Robert Ariail, Lisa Benson, Gary Varvel, Tom Toles, Arend van Dam, Steve Kelley, Clay Jones, Gary McCoy, Bob Gorrell, John R. Rose, Bruce Plante, Tom Stiglich, Joey Alison Sayers, Mike Lester, Dana Summers, Bob Englehart, David Fitzsimmons, Nikola Listes, Jeff Darcy, Jeff Stahler

You have a wonderful day, bro, and I’ll see you later.

[fyeahfantasticfour]

Do you have any favorite moments between Sue and her kids, especially her and Val? While I love the moments Reed shares with them I think that writers often overlook moments between the kids and Sue, usually giving her the usual things you see from Moms in media. I think they are usually not as good or focused on as Reed's are unfortunately. I would love to be proven wrong!

I genuinely don’t think that giving too little attention to Sue as a mom is a problem in canon at all. The exact opposite, really. Until very recently, most if not all of her solo storylines revolved either around her relationship with Reed or with Franklin – i.e., her roles as wife and mother. In the 1960s, there were far too many moments where Reed, Ben, and Johnny would ride off into danger and get to be heroes while Sue was left home minding the baby. That definitely started shifting in the 1970s, but I’d say that even in more recent runs there tends to be more of a focus on Sue as a wife and mom and less on her as explorer, adventurer, and CEO. There needs to be a balance between the two, and not many writers have managed to strike it. Reed receives the opposite treatment – there’s more of a focus on-panel on him as a scientist and less on him interacting with his kids, even though we know he regularly puts them to bed, reads them bedtime stories, goes to all of Franklin’s Little League games, homeschools his kids, takes them on fun family trips, took turns feeding Val when she was a baby, etc. Personally, I would like it if they switched that around in future FF books and Sue’s life outside her family got more focus — she runs Fantastic Four, Inc, and numerous charities and is the Queen of Old Atlantis, after all — and Reed as family man got more focus. He homeschools all of his kids — he spends A LOT of time with them. Arguably more than Sue does, since she’s busy running a company and financially supporting everyone. 

But there really are so many storylines, going all the way back to the 1960s, that focus on Sue as a mom.

Fantastic Four v1 #94, where Reed and Sue name Franklin after Sue’s recently deceased father:

This is really just here because I think it’s hilarious that it took Reed and Sue maybe like ten issues to come up with a name for Franklin…AFTER he was born. I mean. Guys. You had nine months to come up with a name. You couldn’t have done it BEFORE he was born? It’s not like he popped out of Sue with no warning.

And then there are forty issues or so featuring a lot of cute moments between Sue and Franklin when he was an infant and also Sue’s growing suspicion that he was not exactly unsuperpowered. 

Sue notices that Franklin might have powers before anyone else does – although Agatha repeatedly tries to throw her off the scent. Why Agatha did that, I could not tell you. Sue and Reed deserved to know the truth about their own baby, Agatha. Definitely they deserved better than finding out from Annihilus when he trigged Franklin’s powers prematurely and turned him into a living battery/solar-system-destroying bomb. Those were not fun times.

Cut for length.

Fantastic Four v1 #107, where Sue walks up to baby Franklin while invisible, planning on surprising him, and he somehow knows she’s there:

Fantastic Four v1 #111, where Franklin mysteriously knows his dad’s in trouble:

Fantastic Four v1 #134, where Sue and Franklin are abducted by Dragon Man and she gets very overprotective – this is the first time, I think, that we see Mama Bear Sue make an appearance, although later on Sue as fiercely overprotective of her kids becomes a thing:

Then there’s Fantastic Four v1 #181-187, where Franklin is kidnapped by Agatha and later Agatha’s son, Nicholas Scratch, and Sue is the one who moves heaven and earth to get him back.

It starts in Fantastic Four v1 #181 when Agatha kidnaps Franklin, and Sue unsuccessfully tries to stop her:

In Fantastic Four v1 #186, Reed and Sue track down Franklin, but Scratch takes him again, and Sue goes berserk:

Then there’s a sweet moment in Fantastic Four v1 #203, where Sue makes Franklin chocolate chip cookies, and Johnny complains that Franklin will never find a woman to equal her:

Marvel Team-Up v1 #88, where Franklin is kidnapped and Sue teams up with Spider-Man to get him back, and let’s just say she isn’t particularly happy with the kidnappers when she finds them:

Fantastic Four Annual v1 #14, where Franklin helps Agatha save his parents and uncles from Scratch and the Salem Seven:

Fantastic Four v1 #222 has some very adorable moments between Franklin and Sue where they’re playing horsey and hide-and-seek, although it all goes wrong when Franklin is possessed by Nicholas Scratch:

I’m not the only one who thinks Franklin is WAY too enthusiastic about watching his parents kiss, am I?

And Sue goes berserk when Scratch possesses Franklin, and she even threatens to kill him if he doesn’t give her baby back:

Fantastic Four v1 #245, where Franklin’s powers go haywire and he turns himself into an adult – with no memory of who he is – and Sue is the only one who recognizes him:

In Fantastic Four v1 #268, Sue miscarries Valeria, and she’s devastated – there’s actually quite a lot of focus given to Sue’s grief over the loss of her child:

Again in Fantastic Four v1 #269, working through her grief and the devastating news that she can never have another child:

Fantastic Four v1 #270, where Franklin comforts her after she destroys Reed’s lab in a burst of anger and frustration:

Again in Fantastic Four v1 #274, where she walks into the nursery that was meant for baby Valeria and collapses in grief:

Mephisto Vs… #1, where Sue takes on Mephisto after he abducts Franklin and leaves Reed a mindless vegetable:

Fantastic Four v3 #22 revolves around Sue’s relationship with a teen version of Valeria who mysteriously appeared out of the blue and is seemingly the child of Sue and Doom (she’s actually Reed’s – it’s complicated). Sue doesn’t want to accept that Valeria is her daughter, and Valeria is hurt at the rejection:

Until Val is attacked by Crusher Creel, Titania, and a mind-controlled Ben and Jen, and Sue rushes to rescue her daughter:

And then Sue finally accepts Val as her daughter:

There’s a cute moment between Sue and Val in Fantastic Four v3 #24 where they talk about Aunt Marygay, which is maybe the only time anyone has ever talked about her:

Fantastic Four v3 #54, where Sue finally successfully gives birth to Valeria, which is very difficult and extremely painful for Sue. I mean, she almost dies and Doom delivers Val…and Sue does not like Doom very much. And after reading Secret Wars I, can I just say that I’m very sad that Reed missed Val’s birth, because he wanted very desperately to be there for it (he was abducted by rogue Inhumans and JUST missed it):

Fantastic Four v1 #501-502 is GREAT – Sue tries to help Franklin work through his trauma after being thrown into Hell by Doom and tortured by demons. He refuses to talk and keeps drawing the horrible things he saw while he was in Hell, over and over:

On my list of truly awful, unforgivable things Doom has done, tossing an innocent, 6yo boy into Hell just to hurt his parents is definitely pretty far up there…although it isn’t like this is the first time he tried that. 

Fantastic Four v1 #527-532 focuses on Sue trying desperately to keep Child Protective Services from taking her kids away:

The Pulse #11, where Carol arranges a lunch between Sue and Jessica Jones, who’s about to give birth to her own superpowered child, so that Sue can give her advice and talk about what being a superhero mom is like:

In Fantastic Four v1 #558-562, we see an elderly Sue from hundreds of years in the future interacting with Val, who is the only one who realizes who she is. This is also the moment when we discover that Val inherited her father’s genius:

In Fantastic Four v1 #565, where Sue’s just the tiniest bit upset with a tentacle monster who tried to eat Val:

Dark Reign #4, Sue defending Franklin and Val from Norman Osborn:

Fantastic Four v1 #581-582, where an adult, future version of Val visits her mother to warn her and give her advice about the dark days that are fast approaching – this is right before Johnny’s death:

Fantastic Four v4 #1 – this is a cute moment, where Sue checks in on all of her sleeping kids and comforts Franklin, who’s been having prophetic nightmares:

Fantastic Four v4 #4, where Franklin has another nightmare, and Sue ends up comforting both her kids:

Fantastic Four v5 #1, where Val’s in Latveria because she’s angry at her parents, and Sue misses her:

And then she has to deal with her supergenius kids who have made a ray that turns things into chocolate:

Fantastic Four v5 #5, where all of her children are taken away by court order, which she doesn’t handle well:

Fantastic Four v5 #6 and #8, where she takes out her anger over the loss of her kids on the Avengers:

Then there’s Fantastic Four Annual v5 #1, where Sue travels to Latveria to get her little girl back and ends up fighting Doom and all of his armies for her:

But Val refuses in the end:

Until she decides to go back home in Fantastic Four v1 #642:

And there’s a very sweet story at the end of Fantastic Four v1 #645 that shows Sue comforting Franklin:

As you can see, I was not exaggerating. There are A LOT of stories about Sue being a mom. 

[the-voice-of-hell]

The Septagram

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***

Jen had given up on her futile assault, brought Amduscias to the edge of the magic circle and set him to work there.  The unicorn planted his horn in the invisible magic shield, creating a point of conflict.  His energy was white ripples across the surface, the magic circle was orange fiery sparks.  She had to step back to avoid being singed, and patted his rump affectionately.

Park stood between the praying civilians and the demon show.  He couldn’t see Infante’s face in that blur and it disturbed him intensely.  How could anyone live through that treatment?  His brain would be one big blob of blood from all the burst vessels.

Rocks and water fell from the roof over the flaming wheel and sputtered away as nothing.  Was it a collapse, coming to destroy them all?  A dark shape came down from the roof, like an angry oversized mosquito with broken wings.  It also crashed into the fire and was thrown to the ground behind the demon.

Park and Jen came around for a closer look, while Amduscias kept stabbing the shield and Maddy and Daddy kept praying.  Abalaam laughed and told them what was happening before they had a chance to figure it out for themselves.

“Welcome Iphigenia, the Hammer of Doom.  Now, Jennifer, you must decide where you will stand.”

Jen looked at the crumpled pile of bloody sticks and rags in between her and the cop.  She couldn’t believe the frail-looking thing was a superhero like herself.  “Iphigenia?  Are you OK?”

Park was appalled.  She was in horrible shape again - clothes ripped up, soaked with water and dirt and blood.  Big swollen knots had formed on her arms in a few places and on the left side of her chin.

The beaten creature blinked, became human again, as she stretched up to a sitting position.  She looked at Jen and Park.  “Yeah, yeah, I’m OK.  Is this..?”

“Abalaam’s wheel,” Park said.  “Listen, he has hostages in there.”

“Huh?”

Jen said, “He has my friend Sergio, and another guy trapped in his wheel.  I have my unicorn working on this magic shield thing, man…  I don’t know.”

Iphigenia staggered to her feet, helped by the others.

Park said, “You heard the offer?  From Bymaan?”

Jen said, “Abalaam too.  It’s like a cartoon angel and devil on your shoulder, but they’re both devils.”

Park said, “All I heard was Abalaam.”

Abalaam said, “I told you, she doesn’t care about mortals.”

Finally the Queen spoke.  “That’s not true!  I love all of you.  But the nephilim will decide our battle, that is clear.”

The break in her concentration was enough for Abalaam to make a move.  He lurched to his feet, and all the little people behind him had to scramble out of the way of the big flaming wheel.

Abalaam struck out with his huge red arms, as if to strangle her.  Bymaan grabbed his hands with her own, clutching them, locking with them.  They pressed on each other - her from below, him from above.  She got one knee off the ground and bared her gritted teeth.  A lion’s snarl was in her breath.  Sparks and fire flowed from his body, the vents in his flesh belching like volcanic gas.

 Iphigenia raised her hammer to attack the wheel, and Jen and Park both got in her way.  She let it fall back.  “What the hell?”

Park said, “That wheel is made out of people, dammit!  Think!”

“I don’t know them,” she said with a snarl.

Jen said, “You shouldn’t have to!  Let’s just go hit him in the head or something.”

She groaned and dragged the hammer around to look at the giant grapplers in profile.  “Kinda hard to reach his head.”

“Well-”

Abalaam interrupted.  “If you defeat me without killing her first, you’ll never stop her!”

Park said, “I believe him, and I can see the future, so just, keep that in mind.”

Ippy looked at him through narrow eyes.

Jen said, “I’ll give you a piggyback ride, and you can hit him with the hammer!”

“I could just ride the unicorn.”

“No, he’s mine!”

“What?”  Now she had narrow eyes for Jen.

“I mean, well, he can’t get inside the magic circle like we can, so you couldn’t reach him anyway.”

The grappling demons shifted and everyone had to hustle out of the way again.

On the other side of the battle, the Hommes’s prayers were interrupted by the demons finally breaking their stillness, the alarming mounting energy around them.  Maddy shuddered and Jason felt like it but didn’t have the energy.

She said, “Daddy, I’m afraid.  When I pray I don’t feel Jesus in my heart, don’t see a light, or anything.  Is it real, or was it just dumb luck I found we both lived?”

“That’s why they call it faith, kiddo.  I don’t feel it either, but maybe if we try hard enough, things work out for the best, right?”

“God!”  She bit her fist in terror at the display of the giant grapplers.

“I got you, Baby.  I’m never gonna let you go again.”

Iphigenia said, “Yeah, I’ll kill him.  You’ll get your boys back.”  She started walking past the fight, for whatever her plan was.  Jen and Park stopped her.

Jen said, “Wait.  We don’t want any kinda demons ruling Seattle, do we?  Maybe we get we kill Bymaan first, like the detective said, and then get Abalaam.”

“Really?  I don’t care who runs Seattle.”

The wheel slowed enough for Jen and Park to see their men dangling within.  They moaned in torment.  Jen gasped and Park fell to a knee.  “JAMIE!”  Infante picked up his head just long enough to look at him sadly before the wheel sparked to life again.

During the slow moment, Bymaan had gained an advantage.  As soon as the motion began again, Abalaam shoved her back down.  Iphigenia took their reactions as license to move.

She went back to the camel and clambered up the saddle to its hump.  It cocked its head, as if in understanding of her plan, to make a perfect ramp.  She ran up its neck, over its head, and leapt over Bymaan’s crown - bringing the hammer down on Abalaam’s face.

The claw stuck in one of his eyes, and she hung there, feet on his chest.  Then he smiled and opened his eye - unharmed - releasing the hammer.  She fell down between the fighters.

Abalaam said, “Did I say you could harm me?  I might have exaggerated.”

Bymaan said, “Stop tormenting her!”  Her voice was like a lion’s roar.

Park went to the flaming wheel and tried to reach inside.  His hands were battered away, his sleeves caught fire.  Jen pulled him away and patted out the flames.  “C’mon, officer man!”

He looked at the blurred wheel.  The center was easiest to make out - a bare stomach and navel, spinning in place so fast.  “What do we do?”

Clark was sliding down the rocks on his dance shoes, angling his feet just so to minimize the friction damage.  There was a light down there in the darkness - he had to imagine it was the Queen’s hell powers.

He came out through the crack into an open cavern, lit by all kinds of magical weirdness.  But he was landing feet first on a giant flaming wheel, which was no good.

There was heat, sparks, and then a soft feeling on his heels.  He was running down the side of the wheel.  Time didn’t slow, but his mind and body went faster than he would ever have imagined possible.  Step one - realize that feeling below his show was a human body.  Step two - realize nobody would want to be inside a flaming wheel.  Step three - felt firmer, like he was touching a shoulder, or somewhere more center mass.  Step four - bend at the waist for more power.  Step five - push against that body with both feet, and all your strength.

The kick sent him sprawling toward the floor.  He doubled into a little flip and landed on his feet, sliding to a stop in front of some scared cowering people with a little flourish.

“Did somebody ask for a little razzle dazzle?”

The lady said, “God?”

A demonic roar snapped his attention to the scene behind him, before he could make sense of that bizarre question.

Infante and Sergio came spilling out of the wheel onto Park and Jen, and they all got tangled like Twister.  Amduscias snickered in horsey amusement at the spectacle, or maybe in satisfaction that the magic circle had weakened.  He pressed in harder with his horn, even more white sparks spraying out all around it.

Jen got Sergio free and took him into her lap, pieta-style, wiping his face with her hand.  “Are you…  Can you..?”  He was too dazed to respond - but he looked like he was going to live.  She smiled, even though she still had no idea what the hell was happening.

Park cradled Infante, kissed him once, passionately.  Jamie shed a tear, embarrassed for needing to be saved again, but appreciative.  From across the scene, Clark saw the kiss, and realized his snap decision had worked out famously.  Was it even possible for him to do something wrong at this point in his life?

Both demons were on their feet now, fists gripped, pushing against each other.  Clearly if one broke the circle, it was bad news.  But while they were still inside, they could do some damage to each other.

Abalaam opened his jaw too wide, and his eyes and mouth began to glow intensely, pouring terrible light over the Queen’s face.  She bowed her head and squeezed her eyes, some blood running out.

Then she opened her own mouth too wide, and her tongue lashed out - now excessively long, metallic, sharp as a razor.  It slashed at the meat of his face, neck, and chest.  Fiery orange-yellow blood began to flow from him, and more red blood from her, as her hair caught fire and skin blackened and split there.  They lost their grips on each other’s hands and crashed into each other, grasped and clawed to do their worst.

Jen said to Iphigenia, “We can take them now!” and nodded toward the demons.  Iphigenia nodded back, then went to work.  The two nephilim stepped into the magic circle ready to do some damage.

Jen did a flying double kick to Bymaan’s right leg and she slipped down to one knee, roaring in pain.  Abalaam tried to take advantage, but Ippy leapt off the ground and sunk her hammer claw into the back of his hand.  His roar was less like a lion and more like thunder, but either way, these were signs of weakness.  The fallen angels were in a bad situation.

Clark had wanted to give that Queen the business, but seeing her wounded, being stomped on by the young lady, it gave him pause.  And why was she fighting another demon, when she clearly had bigger things to worry about?  His instincts were failing him in that moment.

Bymaan grabbed for Jen and caught nothing.  The little dynamo ducked her big slow hands and sprang off her thigh to crash shoulder first into the side of her chin.  The move caught the Queen like a right cross, and she was dazed.

Iphigenia hauled herself up onto Abalaam’s arm as he tried to get a grip on her, and used it as a springboard to drive her hammer down into his skull.  She put her entire being into the move, left no energy or thought in where she would fall in the aftermath.

His face caved in like a paper bag, spraying yellow-white blood from top and bottom like a volcanic eruption.  His body staggered back to knees, then bent over backward, shooting sparks and flames like a geyser.

Everyone was too weak or confused to do a thing.  Amduscias lowered his horn and studied the battle between Jen and the Queen.  Only Infante managed to say something.

“Don’t trust...”

Park looked at him with wet eyes.  “What?”

Jen was on back of the Queen’s neck, knocking off her crown.  “Iphigenia!  We gotta get her now!”

Iphigenia looked over at Jen slowly, the bursting molten remains of Abalaam lighting her from behind.

Five minutes before, in a graveyard chamber above, the pink paper grew heavy in Iphigenia’s hand.  ...Bymaan prepareth good familiars, can raiseth the dead for a time of seven years…  What does this mean, lady?

She was in a magic circle, above the Queen looking down.  The fallen angel was small, human sized.  Some humans off to the side looked like hobbits, a unicorn like a pony.  Iphigenia understood she was in Abalaam’s place - and as giant.

The Queen looked up at her and smiled, eyes gentle, sparkling.  “You lost somebody.  Who was it?”

“She was just some kind of monster.  I don’t know.  I wish...”

“That’s even better.  Don’t you understand?”

She looked at the soft white lady in confusion, her chest heavy with feelings.  “No!  I don’t understand anything!  I’m so fucking tired.”

The Queen reached out to touch her face.  “If the person you lost was human, my resurrection powers would be useless.  Humans have a divine soul that a fallen angel cannot seal.  But a monster… She was a vampire?”

Ippy swallowed hard.  “Yeah.”

“I can restore her for a time - and you have the power to make that last.  Forever.”

Jen looked at Iphigenia wildly.  “Come on!  You can do this!”

Iphigenia said, “I want my dolly,” and leapt up, shoving Jen off the Queen’s shoulders with the flat of her hammer.

Infante screamed, “NOOOO!”

Park realized what the vision was about - too late.

The camel picked up Jen by the scruff of her shirt, and tossed her aside.  She landed roughly on the bricks by Sergio and the cops.

Clark still couldn’t bring himself to give the ladies a proper rollicking.  He shook his head in confusion, even as he came to understand what he was seeing.  Maddy reached out from behind him, her father restraining her.

“You have to do something!”

Bymaan nodded to Amduscias, smudged a line out of the magic circle with her big palm.  The unicorn stepped into the circle and laid his horn on Iphigenia.  Dark blood ran out of her contusions, lightened to bright scarlet, then nothing, as her flesh smoothed out.  She reached up a palm and shoved her jaw back into place, wincing.  The inflamed tissues immediately healed under the tender ministrations of unicorn magic.

Jen cried out, as she shook off the daze.  “Et tu, Amduscias?!”  Sergio held her back.

Bymaan’s forehead sealed and smoothed over, the burned skin falling away like scraps of paper, the blood congealing to black powder and disintegrating.  She reached out a hand to Iphigenia.  “My greatest knight.  The Cherry Hill Citadel is yours, and your prize within.”

Iphigenia choked down a sob and smiled, tears in her eyes.  She knew it was real.  Queen Bymaan had no reason to lie at that point.  She accepted the giant hand on the side of her face, and held it there.  “Thank you.”

Infante rolled his eyes up and moaned in defeat, still too weak from his captivity, not a weapon in sight.  Park held him and felt his pain.

Madison felt foolish for imagining the old man might have been god, but she recognized he was one of the super weirdos.  She yelled again, “You have to do something!”

Clark grabbed his head in frustration.  “What in heck should I do?”

Jason gently pulled Maddy back to him.  “It’s Chinatown, Baby.  There’s nothing you can do.”  Goatish angels began to pour in from above, and Maddy knew once again with a certainty - Jesus didn’t give a shit about her.

***

NEXT

-

[editorialcartoonists]

Editor & Publisher takes a long hard look at the divide between cartoonists and online news outlets: Why, E&P asks, when political cartoons are more popular than ever are editors not taking advantage of this for their news sites?

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/columns/digital-publishing-why-newspapers-need-to-invest-more-in-political-cartoons/

[gamereviewinfo]

Dirt 4 – Review

Jika Dirt Rally 2015 adalah Codemasters yang membalik bantal couch dan memperoleh kunci untuk satu hal yang istimewa, Dirt 4 adalah studio yang membuka pintu gudang dan memperoleh balik lagi semua mobil. Dengan mode profesi yang benar-benar besar, game balapan seru yang tiada akhir menghibur anda sebab panggung yang dibuat dengan prosedural, dan suara dan visual terbaik yang pernah digabungkan Codemasters, Dirt 4 telah menggambarkan lagi apa yang perlu kita berharap dari game reli present day.

Bagian yang Mempesona Dari Dirt 4

Adalah pembuat panggung kustom barunya, yang oleh Codemasters dipanggil 'Panggung Anda'. Ini alat yang betul-betul sederhana untuk digunakan. Hanya ada dua slider - satu untuk panjang dan satu untuk kompleksitas. Itu dia. Prosesnya instan dan mudah, dan waktu serta cuaca dapat cocok untuk tahap apa quip yang Anda buat. Tingkatan bisa raih 12 km. dan batas respawn off course telah didorong keluar sampai waktu Anda crash, Anda bisa crash besar.

Perangkat Your Stage memberi suport lima negara di Dirt 4 - Australia, Amerika Serikat, Wales, Swedia, dan Spanyol - yang masing-masing menawarkan medan yang betul-betul berbeda dan menuntut banyak hal berbeda dari kami di belakang kemudi. Australia berbasiskankan kerikil, dengan gabungan region yang makin luas dengan pinggiran yang tidak amburadul dan zona yang makin rapat yang berliku-liku melalui semak-semak. Cepat dan bisa sedikit maafkan, kalau Anda punya ruang untuk buat kesalahan. Spanyol betul-betul berbeda; ini adalah kebutuhan berbasiskankan aspal yang dilapisi dengan trotoar, pagar, dan dinding batu dan batu yang tinggi. Cepat , karena ada makin banyak cengkeraman, tetapi ada sedikit edge untuk kesalahan di sini. Saya telah turun semakin daripada beberapa lereng bukit Spanyol yang berbelok ke tikungan pada serangan maksimal.

Anda tidak dapat tingkatkan atau turunkan bit trek kustom Anda sendiri, Anda juga tidak dapat gerakkan dan menarik bagian-bagian detil untuk cocokkan produk akhir, tetapi dampak memiliki tahap unik yang dikuratori untuk setiap acara profesi (dan stol yang tidak ada dasarnya di ujung jari Anda di luar mode karier) tidak dapat dikecilkan. Anda bisa taruh yang withering Anda sukai dan membaginya dengan kawan-kawan. Hal yang cemerlang.

Tiap Sisi Dipadukan Dengan Prima

Yang withering mempesona dari semua, tidak ada apa-apa tentang training Panggung Anda yang membuat jelas mereka dibikin oleh satu algoritma dibandingkan beberapa kumpulan manusia. Fragmen di gabung dengan mulus. Detail trackside bermacam dan catatan kecepatan permainan - yang disediakan oleh pemain Wales Nicky Grist dan Canadian Jen Horsey - masih pas.

Lima lingkungan peluang adalah Codemaster least yang diperlukan (beberapa ciri yang dibawa oleh Dirt Rally di Finlandia, Monako, dan Jerman ke pertandingan ini terlewatkan), tetapi kami pasti mendapatkan makin banyak dibandingkan yang hilang di sini. Tidak ada tingkatan mundur yang kurang partially open atau bagian trek bersama berulang-kali, dan tidak ada belting naik dan turun pada tahap yang sama persis sewaktu berbulan-bulan; Panggung Anda adalah gamechanger untuk game reli.

Sampai sekarang ini, game motor Codemasters 'Sense of self masih nampak sedikit diredam. Bukan Kotoran 4. Pencahayaan adalah yang terbaik yang pernah keluar dari Codemasters, mulai dari cara mainkan beberapa type feline dan permukaan mobil sampai cara sinar matahari yang rendah hidupkan kabut tebal dalam kabut oranye jelas.

Visual masih kurang sedikit ketajaman beberapa beberapa partnernya di ruang balap (dan beberapa bayangan jadi sedikit berombak) tetapi ada banyak detail besar di sini. Kabut panas melayang di atas jalan lurus yang lebar di acara Landrush yang berbasiskankan di stadion; permukaan tanah yang padat memanggang di bawah cahaya matahari. Serasah daun yang melapisi jalan yang tidak tertutup di Michigan, turun-naik dan menari-nari di sungai-sungai kecil. Lumpur baru yang gelap ditimbun di atas debu pucat kering sewaktu beberapa pemanasan acara Rallycross. Efek percikan air yang mempesona bagus.

Ulasan Game Play

Saya juga suka cara mobil Dirt 4 sering terlihat betul-betul lelah, dan tidak cuma setelah kejadian waktu mereka bawa serta kerusakan. Beberapa mobil pelatihan mengemudi mobil Rally adalah contoh yang bagus; mereka tidak seperti nampak baru saja selesai. Mereka seperti nampak mobil yang telah dikasih hukuman dan diinjak setiap hari, dengan kaca kotor dan boycott lewat waktu, dilapisi dengan tanah.

Lalu ada suara, yang cemerlang. Meledakan kisi-kisi ternak terdengar seperti sendawa seorang minigun, dan knalpot yang manis dan manis terus menerus terdengar seperti Setan yang 1/2 tersedak pistachio. Kadang saya bermain di pursue cam supaya saya bisa lebih baik dengar suara knalpot yang keluar, tapi itu hidangan yang riil di kabin. Satu simfoni decitan dan thumps dan bodiwork berdesing diputaran tinggi, desain suara mainkan fungsi penting dalam membuat mobil Dirt 4 terasa seperti mesin riil didorong ke batas mereka.

Earth 4 memiliki dua mode fisika - Simulasi dan Gamer - dan papan ranking serta halangan brave memisahkan keduanya. Simulasi adalah pilihan saya karena itu membuat semua pengalaman bergulat dengan roda. Perkembangan berat dinaikkan, seperti perasaan air hold pada kecepatan yang makin tinggi. Jika Anda kuatir tentang Dirt 4 kehilangan ujung fierce Dirt Rally, jangan lakukan itu.

Pengaturan yang Prima

Tetapi jangan kuatir tentang Dirt 4 demikian sulit buat Anda, karena dengan pengaturan fisika Gamer dan beberapa pertolongan yang ada, itu semakin ramah. Saya memperoleh pengaturan Gamer terasa baik dengan bantuannya tetapi keseluruhannya menghilangkan kepentingan untuk letakkan berat pada bagian depan untuk turn-in dan dapat terasa cukup demikian responsif pada saya. Tetapi memiliki pilihan itu tingkatkan formasi aksesibilitas ke pengalaman tanpa pernah melumpuhkan sim reli serius pada intinya.

Mode profesi adalah langkah besar dari Dirt Rally, , menyempurnakan pengalaman dengan fasilitas tim dan peningkatan untuk butuhkan uang Anda. Fasilitas dan sumber daya yang Anda punyai akan tetapkan berapakah efektif dan berguna insinyur Anda dan staf lain buat Anda. Ada sedikit manajemen mikro yang terjerat - terutamanya waktu datang selalu untuk jadi yang teratas dalam kesepakatan suport - tetapi ini ialah peningkatan besar dari Dirt Rally yang diakui tidak berjiwa. Anda juga didorong untuk bikin naval force mobil yang dipersonalisasi untuk masuk sebanyaknya kejuaraan dan seri. Saya suka demikian gampangnya mengimplementasikan tema yang konsisten di semua mobil Anda, tetapi saya pikir supervisor uniform dapat kerjakan makin banyak fungsi; karena banyak yang sudah diatur awalannya dan setelah itu menghasilkan mobil yang terlihat cukup amatir berbaris di samping mobil yang dihiasi dengan hati profesional yang ada. Satu hal yang sederhana, seperti kontrol penempatan lambang yang lebih baik peluang sudah cukup; makin banyak elemen vinil (seperti garis-garis dan semacamnya) dapat jadi penghargaan yang bagus.

Gabungan mobilnya bagus, mencakup semua time reli. Kelompok-kelompok memiliki populasi yang betul-betul baik, walaupun beberapa tidak. Ada barang-barang retro yang bagus, dengan tahun '80 - a dan '90 - a cukup terwakili. 2000-a tidak dibahas; lemari Grup N/R4 kontemporer sedikit telanjang, dan kelas 2000CC sedikit aneh, menjadikan satu Subaru Impreza WRC 2001 dan Ford Fokus WRC 2001 dan mengadu mereka dengan juara dunia WRC yang memenangkan Fokus dari 2007.

Pilihan Mobil yang Beragam

Yang patut jadi perhatian adalah mode Kejuaraan Rallycross Dunia Resmi, yang tiba dari Dirt Rally dengan sebagian besar Supercar Dunia RX, RX Lites, reli B Grup, dan beberapa trek lagi (walau tidak semua trek dalam seri dunia riil adalah termasuk, jadi rasanya cukup terpotong). Ini adalah position balap yang hebat untuk permainan video; trek pendek, group unik, dan beberapa mobil yang betul-betul kuat mengarah pintu ke pintu. Ada juga Dirtfish Rally School, yang disebutkan territory terbuka yang mempesona yang digunakan untuk bersenang-senang, ujian, pelajaran reli, dan beberapa acara serangan waktu yang benar-benar menyenangkan. Dan ada kembalinya acara komune reguler Dirt Rally, tetapi kesempatan kali ini dengan tingkatan yang masih baru buat kesemuanya orang yang berpartisipasi, ditambah mode multiplayer berkompetisi PvP yang sesuai dengan dan cocok untuk lobi sampai delapan (tapi tanpa monitor-lebar).

Artikel Terkait : Need for Speed: Most Wanted iOS Review

Multiplayer berdiri dengan cara baik sewaktu pengujian dengan pemain yang ramah, walaupun saya sepenuhnya berharap ciri-ciri relicross dan jarak dekat yang tidak mengenali setuju dan Landrush (model balap rough terrain pendek model Amerika, TORC) peluang jadi kuali yang membuat frustasi untuk mereka yang coba balapan bersih (ish ).

Ketetapan

Peluang simbolis bila Codemasters telah masukan co-driver lama Colin McRae di Dirt 4 untuk pertama kalinya dalam diantaranya permainan reli sejak Colin McRae Rally 2005, karena Dirt 4 sangat terasa seperti kembali lagi di saat dahulu yang baik dari seri. Dengar catatan kecepatan Grist lagi - satu suara mengalir ke otak saya di akhir tahun 90-a dan awal 2000-a melalui konsumsi semua permainan yang dengan diawali individualized structure 'Colin' - telah bawa serta saya balik lagi hampir 20 tahun. Saat itu permainan reli Codemasters adalah tolok ukur untuk hitung semua pembalap lain dengan ide rough terrain (minimum sampai sebagian orang seperti Richard Burns Rally dan WRC: Rally Evolved). Nah, hari-hari itu balik lagi. Dapat dibuka tapi kuat dan kotor tapi indah, Dirt 4 putuskan standar baru dalam balap reli - dan mode profesinya yang telah diakui dengan cara baik serta tingkatan tanpa akhir menyuntikkannya dengan stamina yang mempesona. Benar-benar cemerlang.

[ihtspirit]

Adidas ZONE Wearable Fitness Tracker Designed For Schools Unveiled

Adidas ZONE Wearable Fitness Tracker Designed For Schools Unveiled Adidas has today unveiled a new wearable fitness tracker that has been created in the form of the Adidas ZONE, that has been specifically designed to help young students stay fit and healthy during physical education classes in school. https://ihtusa.com https://ihtusa.com/adidas-zone-wearable-fitness-tracker-designed-for-schools-unveiled/ Adidas has today unveiled a new wearable fitness tracker that has been created in the form of the Adidas ZONE, that has been specifically designed to help young students stay fit and healthy during physical education classes in school. The wrist worn wearable fitness tracker is equipped with a heart rate monitor that uses cloud technology to share the students personal fitness data with teachers. Enabling teachers to tailor workouts to individual students rather than use a one size suits all approach. Adidas explains that the ZONE Britain’s tracker has been created to provide schools with an alternative solution to track individual students health and can also offer NFC synchronisation technologies as well as providing enough memory and power to last a busy school schedule, say Adidas. Jen Ohlson, co-founder and president of Interactive Health Technologies explains more about the new device and the IHT Spirit System :

During the 2015 school year, 600,000 children were connected to the IHT Spirit System, a 140 percent increase in student engagement year over year. With the help of the new Adidas ZONE for IHT Spirit, IHT is on track to hit their 2016 target of daily interactions with one million students nationwide.

For more information on the new Adidas ZONE wrist worn wearable fitness tracker designed for students jump over to the official Adidas website for details. Posted on Geeky Gadgets April 5, 2016 By Julian Horsey

[megadarkbouquettidalwavethings]

Li takes slim lead over McIlroy in Dubai

(Reuters) – China’s Li Haotong carded an eight-under-par 64 on day three of the Dubai Desert Classic to reach 20-under for the tournament and open up a one-shot lead over two-times champion Rory McIlroy at Emirates Golf Club on Saturday.

Four-times major winner McIlroy started shakily with two bogeys before the turn, but scorched the back nine with a score of 32, including an eagle on the par-five 10th, to end on four-under for the round and stay within touching distance of Li.

”I’ve never been in this position before so it’s going to be fun out there tomorrow,“ said Li, who is gunning for his second European Tour title. ”Hopefully I can do my best out there and have some low scores.

“I just want to play by myself and play my game. I thought if I just stayed patient, I’ll play good. So I just stayed patient all day.”

Alexander Levy and Haydn Porteous were tied in third place at 17-under, a shot ahead of Andy Sullivan, who set the clubhouse target with a round of 63.

Early pace-setter David Horsey was then in sixth place on 15-under, ahead of a clutch of eight players by a single shot, including fellow Englishman Tyrell Hatton and South Africa’s Dylan Frittelli.

McIlroy, who returned to complete his second round in the morning and started his third with a two-shot lead, was pleased with the fight he showed to shrug off bogeys on the fourth and eighth holes.

“I showed that even whenever I didn’t have my best stuff today I was able to battle around and get in at a decent score. So hopefully I have a bit of a better game tomorrow,” he said.

“The back nine’s been good to me this week. I just need to figure out how to play the front a bit better.”

Reporting by Simon Jennings in Bengaluru, editing by Pritha Sarkar

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The post Li takes slim lead over McIlroy in Dubai appeared first on dailygate.

[howtallcelebrity-blog]

All about Jen Horsey : height, biography, quotes

How tall is Jen Horsey

See at http://www.heightcelebs.com/2016/03/jen-horsey/

for Jen Horsey Height

Jen Horsey's height is 5ft 7in (1.7 m)Jen Horsey is an automotive journalist, TV personality and motorsport competitor with a specialty in rallying and rallycross. Horsey is a longtime contributor to ESPN’s digital and television programming.Best Known For Movie: JonovisionHeight: 5ft 7in (1.7 m...

[christopherleone-blog]

A More Refined Version Of My Twitter Rant On GRC Coverage

I've been doing my best to temper myself about ESPN3's Global Rallycross Championship coverage from Las Vegas on Saturday night. But watching the "outtakes" again via Deadspin gets more frustrating every time I press play.

Our commentary crew—in this case, longtime X Games commentator Tes Sewell and esteemed rally co-driver Jen Horsey—should know a lot more about the sport than they've been letting on in the broadcasts all season. I have some serious concerns, both to that end and toward objectivity, about the ESPN broadcasts. I think we need to move forward in both categories.

My goal with US Race Report all year has been to keep my finger on the pulse of the GRC by getting stories straight from the horse's mouth. Sometimes that means talking to folks who aren't stars. I've managed to develop good professional relationships with drivers like Samuel Hubinette (third in points), Stephan Verdier (fifth), and David Binks (seventh), among many, many others. The majority of drivers in the series have talked to me, or know who I am, and are very comfortable with speaking to me. And as far as presenting the entire story of the season goes, moving beyond the two or three "stars" of the series, I like to think that my coverage has been some of the best anywhere.

I want to give kudos to pit reporter Alyssa Roenigk—who admitted early in the broadcast that rallycross isn't her forte—for tracking down lead mechanic Greg Frechette after his driver Richard Burton crashed into the base of the gap jump at Las Vegas. That was a step forward as far as the TV coverage goes. But there have been many instances of incomplete or subpar TV coverage this season.

For example, where was ESPN at X Games after Travis Pastrana and Andy Scott wrecked in the first turn of their heat race? They got an interview from Travis, of course, as he tried to convince series officials to let him take over the second Pastrana199 Racing car. But they didn't even go after Andy to get his view on the situation. In my opinion, that's a glaring omission in coverage. And, besides Andy's own public relations squad, I was the only person to track down that interview and get Andy's opinion on the wreck.

To be blunt, doing hasty Facebook research and going on about Richard's executive job in the "Royal Bank of Canadia" and "super-ghetto housing" on the air wasn't exactly a step forward. Yes, I understand that this race was an anomaly, in that ESPN3 would be covering it live online and the best stuff would be edited down for TV on Sunday. (If you were watching at the end, you saw Tes and Jen redo the race recap portion three times.) But with microphones hot over the entire course of the broadcast, the anchors should have been a lot more careful with what they were saying. They didn't seem to take Richard, and by extension their jobs as reporters, as seriously as they should have.

Don't get me wrong—the folks in the booth are likable people. They really are! I know for a fact that Jen is close to numerous drivers in the series, and she knows these cars from the co-driver's seat as well as anyone that ESPN can find. I just think they need to step up their game in a big way. That's all.

And if they're not able to do it, I'll be happy to submit my demo reel.

- Chris