In order that my back log of games, that thing we all have whether we admit to it or not, doesn't continue it's alarming rate of growth I've decided to dedicate one night a week to ensuring I make at least some progress in a classic title from our collection. My first target is the original Assassins Creed, which I tried to play originally with all the HUD elements turned off. Apparently this created an experience closer to what was originally intended and indeed ones experience of the game world is far different when you aren't just following the GPS to the next critical point, instead finding your way about the streets and roof tops of Jerusalem or Acre. However it is much slower going, and for this reason I fell behind in my playthrough, whilst Linda went right past me and completed the game some time ago.
So I've readjusted and re-enabled all the gizmos and instead am just planning on getting myself through the story and ready to take on the sequel which we've owned pretty much since release but lies unused in the game drawer. It's still a great looking game, which given how early a 360 title it was and just how good some of the recent releases have been is quite remarkable. Clearly Assassin's Creed laid the way for what was going to be possible on this current generation and whilst the finesse with which this can be pulled off now has increased the vision is clear to see when traversing the cities and landscape of the game world here.
I'm not 100% sure where I am in the story as it has been quite a while since my initial play, however things do seem to be falling into place for the end game to begin so I would guess a few more Monday night sessions and I will be able to mark another title off the pile of shame.. I should plan out which game will be next on the list, or maybe a selection so I have some choice.. will look into that.
Gaming together and now blogging together.
So over the coming months you might well see a few failed ideas, but hopefully also some good ones that will show us the way to produce a readable blog with some interesting insights into gaming from the perspective of a gaming couple. For information on us you can check out the About page.


text:
Turkey's Reluctance to Help Against ISIS Should Be a Red Flag
by Ivan Eland Posted on October 21, 2014 October 20, 2014
The questionable continuance of the NATO alliance after the Cold War ended is demonstrated by Turkey's reluctance to help against the rampaging group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The alliance was originally supposed to defend NATO members against a Soviet attack but in the post-Cold War era has expanded in territory and mission (power projection to other parts of the globe). In the current "crisis," ISIS has been attacking close to Turkey in Kurdish areas along the Turkish-Syrian border and in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq. Although the NATO allies, ever led by the United States, have pledged to defend Turkey against ISIS, as NATO's governing treaty requires for a member state, Turkey has done nothing to help the desperate Kurds fighting the group to keep the town of Kobani on the Syrian side of the Turkish-Syrian border. As usual, the NATO alliance – which long ago became an end in itself to demonstrate U.S. power and prestige, rather than providing the United States any real security – seems rather one-sided. Of course, Turkey, with a huge and capable army deployed along its border with Syria, does not need much help in defending itself from the ragtag ISIS group with only 20,000 to 30,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria – and far fewer along Turkish borders. Finally, the United States has had difficulty coercing Turkey into at least letting allied aircraft use the large air base at Incirlik to bomb ISIS in Syria and Iraq.
One-sided and outdated alliances aside, Turkey's seemingly strange reluctance to see the danger from ISIS should be a red flag to the United States. During the Cold War and after, the hyperactive U.S. superpower has constantly seen local threats as more severe than the countries in that particular region do. Yet one would think that regional actors would have a better idea of threats to themselves than a distant colossus, which often behaves like a nervous Nellie. They often do, and thus the United States has leaped into what turned out to be the quagmires of Korea, Vietnam, Pakistan/Afghanistan, and Iraq – in which the threats to the United States turned out to be vastly exaggerated. Turkey's reluctance to dive into a seeming threat right on its border should be a wake up call to halt the U.S. slide into another bog in Iraq and Syria.
Turkey is not helping the desperate Kurds against ISIS across the border in Syria, because it fears the Kurds more than it does ISIS. For decades, Turkey has been fighting a civil war with its own Kurdish population that has killed 30,000 people. The Kurds are a stateless people in Turkey, Iran, Syria, and Iraq, although they have an autonomous region in Iraq and want one in Syria – both of which the Turks also fear could embolden their own Turks to want the same, or even independence from Turkey. The bad news for Turkey and the United States is that the most effective fighting force against ISIS has been the Kurdish PKK fighters from Turkey and its YPG Syrian affiliate – not the Peshmerga militias from the Kurdish region of Iraq or the Iraqi Army, both of which had trouble against the group. However, the PKK has also fought the Turks for years, is Marxist, and is on the U.S. terrorism list.
And there's more bad news for the U.S. war effort. In Iraq, the best hope for the United States is to turn the Sunni tribes from supporting Sunni ISIS to fighting it – just as the those same tribes were turned from supporting Sunni al Qaeda in Iraq to supporting the United States during its occupation. The problem is that this trick will be difficult to achieve a second time because before, the United States promised that the U.S-backed, Shi'ite-dominated government in Iraq would allow the minority Sunnis back into the Iraqi military and government bureaucracy. Those promises were broken, and instead the Iraqi Sunni tribes received nothing but oppression from the Iraqi government. Thus, in general, the tribes fear and loathe that government more than they do ISIS. ISIS is so effective largely because of the support from Sunni tribes. Even the few tribes that have partnered with the Shi'ite government have done so very warily.
Finally, the Sunni groups battling the Alawite (a branch of Shi'ite Islam) government of Bashar al Assad in Syria hate and fight each other as much as they do that regime. The Free Syrian Army – which is the United States's only hope for a ground force it can use against ISIS in Syria – is pathetically weak compared to the other groups, such as ISIS and the al Qaeda-affiliated al Nusra.
If this all seems to be a complicated morass, it is! Since ISIS is only a threat to the region, not the United States, the United States should avoid taking ISIS's bait and limit its involvement in the conflict, thus denying the group a tool to recruit added fighters and garner greater monetary contributions. As for Turkey, if the United States does not want to abrogate the NATO alliance (which would be wise but unlikely), the U.S. military should help defend the country with airstrikes if ISIS attacks it but otherwise wish Turkey good luck in dealing with the threats to its region from the Kurds and ISIS.
Author: Ivan Eland
Ivan Eland is a senior fellow at the Independent Institute and author of Recarving Rushmore: Ranking the Presidents on Peace, Prosperity, and Liberty.	View all posts by Ivan Eland
Previous Previous post: Bombs and Battles Kill 243, Wound 139 Across Iraq
Next Next post: A Decent Respect for the Opinions of Mankind
Ivan Eland's Latest Posts
Real Patriotism on Memorial Day Means Losing Fewer Soldiers in Meaningless Wars
Why Can't Right-Wing Leaders Support Smaller Government?
Potential Savings in the Defense Budget
An Answer to Trump: Could the Civil War Have Been Avoided?
If Trump Wants China To Pressure North Korea, He Must Also Compromise

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
HomeAsia
SportBusiness goes global with opening of Asia office
SportBusiness, the leading provider of data, analysis, news and insight to businesses working in the $600bn sports industry, today announces the next stage in its rapid global expansion with the opening of an office in Singapore.
The office will be the headquarters of SportBusiness's Asia operation, which will provide a new level of service to sports sector businesses in some of the world's fastest-developing economies.
The office and team will be managed by Managing Director, Edwin Yuen, and the Chief Commercial Officer, Asia, Alfred Waring and will serve clients in markets including China, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore, India and the Indian subcontinent.
With dedicated editorial and commercial staff supported by a network covering Asia's major sports markets, SportBusiness will provide a unique dedicated news, data and analysis service for the region to complement its long-established and highly-regarded international service.
SportBusiness has served the international sports sector since its launch in London in 1996. Singapore becomes the third SportBusiness hub following the opening of a US office last year, creating a truly global service designed to support sports sector businesses.
Commenting on the announcement, SportBusiness chief executive, Roberto Dalmiglio said:
"The opening of an office in Asia means that SportBusiness is now a truly global business, with teams in the UK, the US and now Singapore. Our aim is to become indispensable to professionals in the business of sport in Asia by providing valuable insight, data and knowledge through our team of experts."
SportBusiness Group is a part of the Silva International Investments portfolio which invests in businesses across global sectors including media, sport, entertainment, art and real estate. The Chairman of SportBusiness Group is Marco Auletta. For more information please visit www.silvainternational.com.
Read press release in Chinese
All eyes on Tokyo for judo
Dallas Mavericks end jersey sponsor search with Chime deal
The Dallas Mavericks NBA basketball team has signed a jersey sponsorship deal with US-based financial services company Chime
Uruguayan Football Federation 'receives two bids' for domestic rights
The Uruguayan Football Federation (AUF) has received two bids for the domestic broadcast rights to its national team's qualifying games for the 2022 World Cup, according to media reports in the country.
Russian Premier League president re-elected as clubs approve expansion plans
Sergey Pryadkin has been re-elected as president of the Russian Premier League, while plans have also been outlined for the expansion of the top-tier club football competition
Flamengo signs up Total in two-year deal
Brazilian football club Flamengo has agreed an official sponsorship deal with multi-national oil and gas company Total
Teams in prime US travel destinations mine tourists for ticket sales boosts
Rick Snider looks at how pro teams in key US markets are engaging tourists in order to boost attendance numbers.
The appointment of adidas' former director of global marketing Robin McCammon to the role of chief commercial officer at UK-based esports organisation Excel Esports, announced in January, appeared to b…
Winter Youth Olympic Games
Lausanne is home to dozens of sports organisations but, until recently, its event-hosting capabilities and ambitions have been relatively modest. How will the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games change the landscape? Bradley Rial reports.
Bradley Rial
'Our ambition is to have the two best teams in the world' – why OL Groupe has taken over Reign FC
The NWSL is entering a new era in 2020 following the takeover of Reign FC by OL Groupe, the parent company of French women's soccer team Olympique Lyonnais Féminin. Bob Williams spoke to new Reign FC COO Vincent Berthillot about the strategy behind the move.
Bob Williams, US office


text:
Do you make enough money to be living in some of the U.S.'s biggest cities? (Getty)
Analysis: Here's how much you'd need to make to 'live comfortably' in Austin
by: Addy Bink, Nexstar Media Wire
Posted: Mar 8, 2022 / 01:37 PM CST
Updated: Mar 10, 2022 / 10:35 AM CST
Editor's Note: We have updated this story to accurately reflect the 50/30/20 rule to "live comfortably" in Austin.
(NEXSTAR) – Do you feel like you make enough to cover your bills, buy the things you want, and set some money aside? A new analysis has found how much it takes to be able to afford to live in some U.S. cities.
Using data from the MIT Living Wage Calculator and a common budgeting method, SmartAsset has calculated the salary a single person needs to earn to "live comfortably" in the 25 largest metro areas in the country.
The MIT Living Wage Calculator estimates the living wage needed to support individuals and families using "geographically specific expenditure data related to a family's likely minimum food, childcare, health insurance, housing, transportation, and other basic necessities." Living wages have been calculated for each state, the District of Columbia, and multiple counties and metro areas throughout the U.S.
Using the required annual income after taxes estimated by the living wage calculator, SmartAsset determined how much you need to make to "live comfortably" in the nation's largest cities using the 50/30/20 rule.
A common budgeting technique, the 50/30/20 rule allocates your after-tax income to three categories: basic living expenses, discretionary spending, and saving or paying off debt.
SmartAsset used MIT's estimated living wage salaries as the "needs," or 50% of one's budget. They then doubled that salary for their analysis, allowing for an individual to spend the rest on wants, saving, and paying off debt.
For example, the calculator says an individual living in the Houston metro area would need to earn $25,574 after taxes. Assuming that covers the basic living expenses, SmartAsset says an individual living in the Houston area would need to earn $51,148 to be comfortable following the 50/30/20 rule.
In Austin, the study found that a single adult would need to be making $55,186 after taxes. If you were in a couple and only 1 adult worked, you would need to make $87,314. The income increases per child and per partner situation. If you were a two-adult household, with both adults working, and have one child, you'd have to make $121,490 to live comfortably.
In its analysis, SmartAsset found cities along both the East and West coasts require the greatest post-tax income to live comfortably. Nine of the top 10 metros fall on one of the seaboards.
Topping out the list, unsurprisingly, was a California metro: San Francisco-Oakland-Berkley. SmartAsset found a single working person would need an annual post-tax salary of $74,282 to live comfortably in and around the City by the Bay.
Coming in second was Boston-Cambridge-Newton, where a single individual would need to make $68,630.
Ultimately, the most affordable metro area was St. Louis, where a salary of $46,864 is enough to satisfy the 50/30/20 rule. St. Louis edged out the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn area, where a salary of $46,914 is considered enough.
How much a single person would need to make to live comfortably in the 25 largest metros in the U.S. (SmartAsset)
Cities throughout the South and Midwest also make an appearance on SmartAsset's list. In 22 of the 25 cities on the list, a post-tax salary of more than $50,000 is considered adequate to live comfortably.
The average salary needed to live comfortably across all of the major metro areas is $57,013, according to SmartAsset.
Rally for Life expected to bring thousands to Austin


There are many solar systems on roofs these days and I made a post yesterday about solar systems and today I see there is a great article in the NY Times about the value owned solar systems are for homes, as much as a 15% jump on the price of the home! It is very important to get a solar system, however, one must be very careful not to get a solar system which is leased. A possible buyer buying your home may not qualify for the system and it may even not be easy for the buyer to get a mortgage if it is a leased system. It makes sense that if a homeowner were to install purchased solar panels on their roof, and when they then go to sell it, that it will be a HUGE bonus for a potential buyer. They could save hundreds of dollars a month on their electricity bill. We are especially fortunate in San Diego to have lots of sun all year round and therefore a lot of free electricity. I highly recommend it. I bought solar panels a year ago and my average monthly bill was $350 a month. I just received the final bill for the year from SDG&E and it is ONLY $356.00 for the whole year! It is so easy to use as you get a website that your system is plugged into and you can track how much electricity you make daily. Please check the following news article in the New York Times.