ZenGems is a standard color-matching game that was released by FreshGames on August 9, 2007 where the player has to make combinations of three or more spheres of the same color. The game screen is a grid with a mouse-controlled ball shooter at the top that moves horizontally.
Former LucasArts game designer Hal Barwood known for several Star Wars and Indiana Jones titles of the early to mid 1990's designed several of the levels of ZenGems.
The game has three modes: Arcade, adventure and strategy. In the arcade mode the bottom half of the grid is underwater. The goal is to eliminate all the balls, obstacles and jewels that are over the water line.
Adventure mode is the only one with a storyline. A boy called Hoshiko must retrieve the medallions of virtue, stolen from the temples and hid inside puzzles by magician thieves. After solving the puzzle by eliminating all the spheres from the grid, a gold piece is put in its place, slowly rebuilding a complete medallion.
Strategy mode has no set goal, it is a resistance mode where the player can choose any of the worlds of adventure mode as the starting point and play until it is impossible to keep up with the game pace.
Besides the colored spheres, the grid is filled with other objects and power-ups. Jewels break when falling down two spaces or more, and crack when falling down one. Some balls are encased in boxes and immobile, they need to be matched to be released. Stones can only be broke with the fireball power-up. The fireball destroys three pieces in a row, but is ineffective against jewels. A ball with a curved arrow pushes a line of spheres before resting in its place. ColorBursts, jars with colored liquid, change the surrounding balls to its own color. Energy balls clear from a column all the spheres and boxes that have its color.
The grid is constantly refilled with balls. If they reach the top, the game is over.
Reception
Top Casual Games site GameZebo gave ZenGems a perfect 5 star score stating that, "It never ceases to amaze me that developers can keep finding new and interesting ways to re-invent three-in-a-row gameplay. ZenGems, a simple yet addictive Asian-themed puzzle game from FreshGames, happens to be a particularly spectacular example."
Former LucasArts game designer Hal Barwood known for several Star Wars and Indiana Jones titles of the early to mid 1990's designed several of the levels of ZenGems.
The game has three modes: Arcade, adventure and strategy. In the arcade mode the bottom half of the grid is underwater. The goal is to eliminate all the balls, obstacles and jewels that are over the water line.
Adventure mode is the only one with a storyline. A boy called Hoshiko must retrieve the medallions of virtue, stolen from the temples and hid inside puzzles by magician thieves. After solving the puzzle by eliminating all the spheres from the grid, a gold piece is put in its place, slowly rebuilding a complete medallion.
Strategy mode has no set goal, it is a resistance mode where the player can choose any of the worlds of adventure mode as the starting point and play until it is impossible to keep up with the game pace.
Besides the colored spheres, the grid is filled with other objects and power-ups. Jewels break when falling down two spaces or more, and crack when falling down one. Some balls are encased in boxes and immobile, they need to be matched to be released. Stones can only be broke with the fireball power-up. The fireball destroys three pieces in a row, but is ineffective against jewels. A ball with a curved arrow pushes a line of spheres before resting in its place. ColorBursts, jars with colored liquid, change the surrounding balls to its own color. Energy balls clear from a column all the spheres and boxes that have its color.
The grid is constantly refilled with balls. If they reach the top, the game is over.
Reception
Top Casual Games site GameZebo gave ZenGems a perfect 5 star score stating that, "It never ceases to amaze me that developers can keep finding new and interesting ways to re-invent three-in-a-row gameplay. ZenGems, a simple yet addictive Asian-themed puzzle game from FreshGames, happens to be a particularly spectacular example."
Dallas Texans Soccer Club is a youth soccer club based in Dallas, Texas. The club is one of the top youth soccer clubs in the United States, and one of the largest in Texas. The club has affiliates in Houston, San Antonio, and Austin along with its base in the Dallas-Fort Worth region. Additional teams are located in Pensacola, FL and Ottawa, Canada. Founded in 1993 by Hassan Nazari, the club has produced many players who have played professionally at various levels in the U.S. and overseas, including United States men's national soccer team captain Clint Dempsey and players Brek Shea and Omar Gonzalez. The club's teams have found success in many major tournaments in the United States, including state titles, regional titles and more than eleven USYSA National Championships. The club has also experienced great success in some of the most prestigious tournaments in Europe, such as the Gothia Cup.
The Texans are only American club to have won the Dr Pepper Dallas Cup supergroup.
History
The club was founded by Hassan Nazari in 1993 and is based in the populous Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. In 2007, the club opened the Ross Stewart Soccer Complex as their home base of operations. The complex contains six full-sized, lighted fields, a clubhouse, as well as the recently completed Embrey Family Training Center. The 15,000-player club made history in 2008 by winning four national championships and the prestigious Manchester United Premier Cup U.S. finals trophy. Later that year, the Texans joined the prestigious USSF Development Academy as part of the Texas Division, and sent their U-18 all the way to the Finals in their first year. In addition to the Development Academy and Select teams, the Texans are very active in the Pre-Select ages, which the club calls their Youth Academy. The Youth Academy teams are divided into four age divisions - Under 10, Under 9, Under 8 and Under 7. The club recently announced the addition of a Residency Program, which will open up this fall. The Dallas Texans are a Nike Premier Club and partner with THE Soccer Corner where they get their uniforms and spirit wear. They are the host club of the Dallas Cup and are also the only American club to have a partnership with Manchester United. In 2011, the Texans hosted the first ever Dallas International Girls Cup, which in its first year featured more foreign teams than any other girls tournament in the United States.
Relationship With Manchester United
In 2009 the Dallas Texans teamed up with Manchester United to offer their players the chance of a lifetime - to train with Manchester United at its world class Carrington training centre. Each year, the club sends a group of players, accompanied by Dallas Texans coaches, to train with United's youth teams, experience their facilities and share the latest coaching techniques. In addition, every summer coaches from Manchester United travel to Dallas to help identify players and offer their advice and expertise in the youth team's coaching sessions. Brian McClair, Director of the Manchester United Academy said, “This is a great opportunity for the Dallas Texans. We are looking forward to welcoming them to Manchester and putting them through their paces." Hassan Nazari, Founder and Technical Director of the Dallas Texans, agrees: "Soccer is a growing sport in America, and it is a great honor to learn from the best. We appreciate Manchester United's expertise in helping our players develop into not only great soccer players, but great young men and women."
Another perk from the partnership saw the prestigious Manchester United Soccer Schools come to Dallas for the first time, hosted by the Texans at their Ross Stewart Soccer Complex in 2010. The camp is coming back in 2011, and in addition to Dallas, the camp will be hosted by the Texans affiliates in Tulsa, Austin and Houston, throughout the summer.
In 2013, Manchester United youth teams reached the finals of the Dallas Cup, facing the Texans in a competitive fixture for the first time. The Texans lost 3-1.
Notable alumni
The following former players in the Texans organization have gone on to earn senior international caps:
* Anthony Ampaipitakwong
* Clint Dempsey
* Nick Garcia
* Omar Gonzalez
* Emerson Hyndman
* Alejandro Moreno
* Lee Nguyen
* Ramón Núñez
* Brek Shea
The Texans are only American club to have won the Dr Pepper Dallas Cup supergroup.
History
The club was founded by Hassan Nazari in 1993 and is based in the populous Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. In 2007, the club opened the Ross Stewart Soccer Complex as their home base of operations. The complex contains six full-sized, lighted fields, a clubhouse, as well as the recently completed Embrey Family Training Center. The 15,000-player club made history in 2008 by winning four national championships and the prestigious Manchester United Premier Cup U.S. finals trophy. Later that year, the Texans joined the prestigious USSF Development Academy as part of the Texas Division, and sent their U-18 all the way to the Finals in their first year. In addition to the Development Academy and Select teams, the Texans are very active in the Pre-Select ages, which the club calls their Youth Academy. The Youth Academy teams are divided into four age divisions - Under 10, Under 9, Under 8 and Under 7. The club recently announced the addition of a Residency Program, which will open up this fall. The Dallas Texans are a Nike Premier Club and partner with THE Soccer Corner where they get their uniforms and spirit wear. They are the host club of the Dallas Cup and are also the only American club to have a partnership with Manchester United. In 2011, the Texans hosted the first ever Dallas International Girls Cup, which in its first year featured more foreign teams than any other girls tournament in the United States.
Relationship With Manchester United
In 2009 the Dallas Texans teamed up with Manchester United to offer their players the chance of a lifetime - to train with Manchester United at its world class Carrington training centre. Each year, the club sends a group of players, accompanied by Dallas Texans coaches, to train with United's youth teams, experience their facilities and share the latest coaching techniques. In addition, every summer coaches from Manchester United travel to Dallas to help identify players and offer their advice and expertise in the youth team's coaching sessions. Brian McClair, Director of the Manchester United Academy said, “This is a great opportunity for the Dallas Texans. We are looking forward to welcoming them to Manchester and putting them through their paces." Hassan Nazari, Founder and Technical Director of the Dallas Texans, agrees: "Soccer is a growing sport in America, and it is a great honor to learn from the best. We appreciate Manchester United's expertise in helping our players develop into not only great soccer players, but great young men and women."
Another perk from the partnership saw the prestigious Manchester United Soccer Schools come to Dallas for the first time, hosted by the Texans at their Ross Stewart Soccer Complex in 2010. The camp is coming back in 2011, and in addition to Dallas, the camp will be hosted by the Texans affiliates in Tulsa, Austin and Houston, throughout the summer.
In 2013, Manchester United youth teams reached the finals of the Dallas Cup, facing the Texans in a competitive fixture for the first time. The Texans lost 3-1.
Notable alumni
The following former players in the Texans organization have gone on to earn senior international caps:
* Anthony Ampaipitakwong
* Clint Dempsey
* Nick Garcia
* Omar Gonzalez
* Emerson Hyndman
* Alejandro Moreno
* Lee Nguyen
* Ramón Núñez
* Brek Shea
The Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social Sciences (JAPSS) is the journal in Sociology and other social sciences established in September 2008 by a group of scholars from around the world gathered into the International Academy of Social Sciences (IASS), originally the Guild of Independent Scholars.
The goal of the journal is to give voice to independent scholars and practitioners from around the world. JAPSS favors a multidisciplinary approach to social problems and strives to provide an open forum for the deliberation of ideas by the international community of scholars and practitioners.
As an open license publication, JAPSS is distributed for free electronically and for a nominal fee in printed form through the print on demand system. Articles for publication are chosen by double blind review in the case of research articles, by invitation for the opinion/reflection section, and by consensus of the editorial board in the case of book reviews and critiques.
IASS is a Non-Profit Organization (NGO) and a learned society registered in Florida (Delray Beach), Texas, and Costa Rica. Its structure is a based on an international network of original founders from countries as diverse as Japan and Costa Rica. It should be noted that all active officers of JAPSS/IASS are voluntary and driven by the guiding principles of the organization. JAPSS/IASS has representatives (including editorial and advisory board) in the following countries: Thailand, Japan, Costa Rica, India, the United States of America, Canada, Spain, Norway, France, Peru, India, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Rumania, Morocco, Indonesia, Taiwan, South Africa and Australia.
IASS recently (2015) received the prestigious President's Volunteer Service Award at the Gold level for Education.
IASS also publishes the Journal of Asia Pacific Studies with aim to serve as an outlet for research dealing with the interdisciplinary field of Asia Pacific Studies.
Today JAPSS is quoted reference literature and it is present in over 500 libraries worldwide (WorldCat).
The Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social Sciences has been indexed and catalogued by:
Journal Scholar Metrics, Google Books, OALIB, EBSCO, OpenJGate, E-journals.com, Getcited/Google Scholar, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), SunCat (journals union catalogue for the UK research community) Ulrichsweb: Global Serials Directory, SocioSite, Course Hero, Nigerian Bibliographical Database in Social Sciences and the Humanities, European Library.
The goal of the journal is to give voice to independent scholars and practitioners from around the world. JAPSS favors a multidisciplinary approach to social problems and strives to provide an open forum for the deliberation of ideas by the international community of scholars and practitioners.
As an open license publication, JAPSS is distributed for free electronically and for a nominal fee in printed form through the print on demand system. Articles for publication are chosen by double blind review in the case of research articles, by invitation for the opinion/reflection section, and by consensus of the editorial board in the case of book reviews and critiques.
IASS is a Non-Profit Organization (NGO) and a learned society registered in Florida (Delray Beach), Texas, and Costa Rica. Its structure is a based on an international network of original founders from countries as diverse as Japan and Costa Rica. It should be noted that all active officers of JAPSS/IASS are voluntary and driven by the guiding principles of the organization. JAPSS/IASS has representatives (including editorial and advisory board) in the following countries: Thailand, Japan, Costa Rica, India, the United States of America, Canada, Spain, Norway, France, Peru, India, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Rumania, Morocco, Indonesia, Taiwan, South Africa and Australia.
IASS recently (2015) received the prestigious President's Volunteer Service Award at the Gold level for Education.
IASS also publishes the Journal of Asia Pacific Studies with aim to serve as an outlet for research dealing with the interdisciplinary field of Asia Pacific Studies.
Today JAPSS is quoted reference literature and it is present in over 500 libraries worldwide (WorldCat).
The Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social Sciences has been indexed and catalogued by:
Journal Scholar Metrics, Google Books, OALIB, EBSCO, OpenJGate, E-journals.com, Getcited/Google Scholar, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), SunCat (journals union catalogue for the UK research community) Ulrichsweb: Global Serials Directory, SocioSite, Course Hero, Nigerian Bibliographical Database in Social Sciences and the Humanities, European Library.
AutoUncle is a web search engine founded in 2010 by the two brothers Johan and Niels Kristian.
The valuation technology
AutoUncles business is centered on a valuation technology for used cars, that differs from many other existing used car valuation technologies. The algorithm calculates the cars price statistically based on current market for the particular car. This is different from many other technologies which is typically based on a depreciation model based on the cars sales price "as new", deprecated by age, milage, and wear. The valuation technology has proven to be accurate enough to be used by the Danish TAX authority ()
The name
AutoUncle’s name is a concatenation of "Auto" and "Uncle". The first part references the fact, that AutoUncle is a vertical search engine for cars. The second part of the word Uncle symbolizes the notion of a "helping uncle (relative)" that would guide you in the process of buying a used car. Together they also references the idea of AutoUncle being an "auto"-mated Uncle. A computer that helps you in an unbiased way, stripped from feelings and precautions.
The logo
The logo resebles the front of a car mixed with the notion of a smiling face.
History
AutoUncle was founded in 2010 by the two brother Johan and Niels Kristian. The idea sprung out of their interest for both cars and statistics. AutoUncle was meant to be the a help for the consumer ″clear the way through the used-car jungle″ as the companys tagline says. AutoUncle participated in Startupbootcamp in Copenhagen back in 2010. AutoUncle has received several rounds of funding. The first was an angel funding back in 2011
Countries
* Denmark (2010)
* Sweden (2011)
* Germany (2012)
* Italy (2012)
* Autstria (2012)
* Poland (2013)
* Spain (2013)
* Portugal (2013)
* Finland (2014)
* Romania (2015)
The valuation technology
AutoUncles business is centered on a valuation technology for used cars, that differs from many other existing used car valuation technologies. The algorithm calculates the cars price statistically based on current market for the particular car. This is different from many other technologies which is typically based on a depreciation model based on the cars sales price "as new", deprecated by age, milage, and wear. The valuation technology has proven to be accurate enough to be used by the Danish TAX authority ()
The name
AutoUncle’s name is a concatenation of "Auto" and "Uncle". The first part references the fact, that AutoUncle is a vertical search engine for cars. The second part of the word Uncle symbolizes the notion of a "helping uncle (relative)" that would guide you in the process of buying a used car. Together they also references the idea of AutoUncle being an "auto"-mated Uncle. A computer that helps you in an unbiased way, stripped from feelings and precautions.
The logo
The logo resebles the front of a car mixed with the notion of a smiling face.
History
AutoUncle was founded in 2010 by the two brother Johan and Niels Kristian. The idea sprung out of their interest for both cars and statistics. AutoUncle was meant to be the a help for the consumer ″clear the way through the used-car jungle″ as the companys tagline says. AutoUncle participated in Startupbootcamp in Copenhagen back in 2010. AutoUncle has received several rounds of funding. The first was an angel funding back in 2011
Countries
* Denmark (2010)
* Sweden (2011)
* Germany (2012)
* Italy (2012)
* Autstria (2012)
* Poland (2013)
* Spain (2013)
* Portugal (2013)
* Finland (2014)
* Romania (2015)