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Knights of the Order, Holy Defenders of the Faith and sword arm of The Five. The Five are deities comitted to only a Lawful Good allignment and those who follow the path of justice. The Knights are respected and hold a high status all throughout the known Kingdoms of Lore. They serve in a Law Enforcement role as well as spiritual leaders and advisors to many royal families. Due to the high respect the religion of The Five holds in Lore as well as the equally well respected status of the Order itself the Knights hold the ability to superseed all known forms of law and order in any country. Many times nations and holds will call upon the Order to handle it's problemed criminals or dangerous creatures. The decision of the Order has in the past dethroned tyrant kings and dismanteled entire holds who have offended the tenants of The Five. The Order is based out of Light Bringer Keep far to the frozen North. The Keep was named after the first of the order, the fabled hero Paladin Arthorius Light Bringer.

Divisions of The Order

Knights of the Stag- Lowest rank within the order and banner of the newest knights initiated into the order. Knights of the Stag never are dispatched alone and are always sent out under the command of more experienced knights. Members under the Stag banner deal with the lowest level of dangers such as town defense and celaring out troll dens in force.

Knights of the Eagle- The second rank and one of the most widely populated banners within the order. Knights of the Eagle are the first rank in which knights are allowed to recieve the Justicar designation. Those who march to the Eagle standard are experienced warriors and defendors of the faith. These knights operate alone for the most part and are sent out to deal with threats such as necromancers and evil war lords.

Knights of the Sword- The largest and most active of all the banners, Knights of the Sword boast the largest number of Justicar. Holy bounty hunters of the faith Justicar seek out threats all over the known kingdoms. Justicar have no limits to their jurisdiction and those who are under the Sword banner are by fa among the most dangerous. Second only to their higher ranking brothers the Knights are the sword are the first rank to be allowed the designation of Paladin.

Knights of the Rose- The highest rank within the Holy Order Knights of the Rose are the most experienced and the home of every headmaster of the order. Only the most devout and honorable reach the rank of Rose and are known across Lore as the wisest holy warriors alive. Holders of the vast knowledge of the scriptures of The Five and bane to darkness. The mighty Paladins of the Rose are the greatest of their kind and are juggernauts of holy power on the battlefield. The only rank that holds knights who have ascended the rank of Elder, Elder's are spiritual advisors of the world and are the most experienced of the Order.

Special rankings
*Knight- First accolade recieved by members of the order and the most well respected. The designation of knight is the oldest in tradition and is held until death or disbarrment.
*Justicar- Justice seekers of the Order, Justicar are dispatched all across Lore to hunt down the most dangerous criminals and evils.
*Paladin- Described as Warriors of the Holy Light, Paladin's are the most magically powerful of all the warriors within the order. They do not practice spells or carry components like wizards but instead draw their power from their unwavering faith and blessings from The Five.
*Elders- Most experienced of the knights and spiritual and advisors of the knighthood. Every headmaster of the order was pulled from those holding the Elder status. Elders hold the strongest connection to The Five and are said to speak for The Five on Lore.

There are members of the faithful who serve the Order in capacities other than the armor wearing bastions of justice known the world over. Civilians work for the order as a profession as they serve their chosen gods and promote law and order throughout the realm. From standard tradesmen to healers civilians of all varieties are welcomed within the warm light of the Holy Order.

*Unique Profession of the civilian sector of the order
Inquisitors- Freelance detectives of the Order. Made up of men and women who for one reason or another never underwent the rigorous and arduous trials and tests needed to become a knight. These individuals are trained sleuths who are dispatched to assist local law enforcement with difficult criminal investigations that do not necessarily require the power and skill of a Justicar.

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Don't miss the pictures from the Washington Chapter's Holiday Social

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Source: http://www.asmconline.org/2013/01/dont-miss-the-pictures-from-the-washington-chapters-holiday-social/

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Computer Scientists Measure How Much of the Web is Archived ...

Museums and libraries have long attempted to preserve cultural artifacts for future generations. Given that the internet?is a cultural phenomenon of extraordinary variety and influence, it?s no surprise that archivists are turning their attention to preserving it for future generations. ?

That?s no easy task given the rate at which new pages, pictures, videos and audio recordings appear and disappear from the online world. So an interesting question is how much of the web they?ve so far managed to save.

Today, Scott Ainsworth and a few pals from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, give us an answer of sorts. They say it depends on how and what you count because different online sources seem to be archived in wildly different ways.

These guys begin by explaining that it?s simply not possible to gather data on every online object that ever existed. ?Discovering every URI that exists is impossible,? say Ainsworth and co.

Instead they take a statistical approach by gathering a sample of online addresses and then seeing what percentage of them have archived copies. ?Ainsworth and co sampled 1000 web addresses from the Open Directory Project (DMOZ), from the Delicious Recent Bookmark List, from the URL shortening service, Bitly, and from the search engines Google, Bing and Yahoo.

They then looked for archived versions of all these addresses using Memento, an aggregator of internet archive sources such as the Internet Archive, Archive-It, The National Archives and so on. (Ainsworth is one of the developers of Momento).

Finally, they counted the percentage of addresses that have been archived, the number of times each had been archived and how far back the archives went.

The results show some interesting variation. The Internet Archive clearly has the best coverage and depth say Ainsworth and co. That?s not surprising given that it is the oldest and best known of the web archives.

?Search engines also keep cached versions of every page they index but only for a month or so. The other archives tend to be specialist facilities which keep good archives but only for a small subset of the internet. For example, The National Archives is the UK government?s official?archive.

The amount of archiving also depends on the source. Addresses taken from DMOZ and Delicious are all relatively well archived, particularly in the recent past when search engine caches record up to 90 per cent of these sites.

The same cannot be said of addresses taken from Bitly or search engines where the archiving is woeful. Ainsworth and co say the difference probably arises from the fact that people have to submit addresses to DMOZ and Delicious, whereas addresses from search engines are gathered automatically, leading to various biases.

Bitly is particularly bad with less than a third of addresses being archived.?Just why it performs so badly is a mystery. ?The low archival rate leads us to think?that many private, stand-alone, or temporary resources are?represented,? suggest Ainsworth and co.

So the answer to the question: ?how much of the internet is archived?? is mixed. The proportion of the web that has at least one archived copy varies between 35 and 90 per cent depending on the source. Clearly some parts of the web are being preserved at an impressive rate. And yet other parts are being lost, presumably forever.?

Of course, it?s not possible to know how serious this loss will turn out to be. But if future generations are to be given an insight into the cultural forces at work on Earth in the early 21st century, archivist will have to be ever more vigilant in recording our online existence.

Ref: arxiv.org/abs/1212.6177?:How Much of the Web Is Archived?

Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/view/509411/computer-scientists-measure-how-much-of-the-web-is-archived/

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Indian police charge 5 in New Delhi gang rape

NEW DELHI (AP) ? Indian police have filed rape and murder charges against five men accused in the gang rape of a woman on a New Delhi bus last month.

Police say they plan to push for the death penalty in the case.

A sixth suspect is believed to be a juvenile and is expected to be tried in juvenile court.

The five were charged Thursday with raping the 23-year-old woman for hours and beating her companion as the bus drove through the capital. The woman died Saturday in a hospital in Singapore from massive internal injuries.

The case has sparked outrage and protests across the country demanding greater protection for women.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/indian-police-charge-5-delhi-gang-rape-121546826.html

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Angola: Stampede kills 13 at religious gathering

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? The death toll in a stampede on New Year's Eve at a sports stadium in Angola has risen to 13, and some of the victims were children, Angolan media reported Wednesday.

Officials said about 120 people were also injured in the incident, which happened when tens of thousands of people tried to enter a stadium in the capital, Luanda, for a religious gathering, according to Angop, the Angolan news agency.

Faustino Sebastiao, spokesman for the national firefighters department, said those who died were crushed and asphyxiated.

The event in the southern African nation was organized by the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, an evangelical group founded in Brazil.

In western Africa, a crowd in Ivory Coast stampeded after leaving a New Year's fireworks show early Tuesday, killing at least 60 people and injuring more than 200.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/angola-stampede-kills-13-religious-gathering-160626476.html

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APNewsBreak: Google exec chairman to visit NKorea

FILE - In this Sept. 28, 2012 file photo, Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt arrives for a seminar at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea. Schmidt is preparing to travel to one of the last frontiers of cyberspace: North Korea. He will be traveling to North Korea on a private trip led by former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson that could take place as early as this month, sources told The Associated Press on Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2012. The sources, two people familiar with the group's plans, asked not to be named because the visit had not been made public. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 28, 2012 file photo, Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt arrives for a seminar at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea. Schmidt is preparing to travel to one of the last frontiers of cyberspace: North Korea. He will be traveling to North Korea on a private trip led by former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson that could take place as early as this month, sources told The Associated Press on Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2012. The sources, two people familiar with the group's plans, asked not to be named because the visit had not been made public. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)

FILE - In this April 10, 2007 file photo, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, third left, and Anthony Principi, former U.S. veterans affairs secretary, third right, and top White House adviser on Korea, Victor Cha, second right, pose for a photo with Kim Yong Dae, vice-president of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly, center, in Pyongyang, North Korea. Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt will be traveling to North Korea on a private trip led by former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson that could take place as early as this month, sources told The Associated Press on Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013. The sources, two people familiar with the group's plans, asked not to be named because the visit had not been made public. (AP Photo/Foster Klug, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 20, 2012 file photo, a North Korean woman sits in a computer room near portraits of the country's late leaders, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, at the Kim Chaek University of Technology in Pyongyang, North Korea. Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt is preparing to travel to one of the last frontiers of cyberspace: North Korea. Schmidt will be traveling to North Korea on a private trip led by former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson that could take place as early as this month, sources told The Associated Press on Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2012. The sources, two people familiar with the group's plans, asked not to be named because the visit had not been made public. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? Google's executive chairman is preparing to travel to one of the last frontiers of cyberspace: North Korea.

Eric Schmidt will be traveling to North Korea on a private, humanitarian mission led by former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson that could take place as early as this month, sources told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The sources, two people familiar with the group's plans, asked not to be named because the visit had not been made public.

The trip would be the first by a top executive from U.S.-based Google, the world's largest Internet search provider, to a country considered to have the most restrictive Internet policies on the planet.

North Korea is in the midst of what leader Kim Jong Un called a modern-day "industrial revolution" in a New Year's Day speech to the nation Monday. He is pushing science and technology as a path to economic development for the impoverished country, aiming for computers in every school and digitized machinery in every factory.

However, giving citizens open access to the Internet has not been part of the regime's strategy. While some North Koreans can access a domestic Intranet service, very few have clearance to freely surf the World Wide Web.

It was not immediately clear who Schmidt and Richardson expect to meet in North Korea, a country that does not have diplomatic relations with the United States. North Korea has almost no business with companies in the U.S., which has banned the import of North Korean-made goods.

Schmidt, however, has been a vocal advocate of providing people around the world with Internet access and technology.

As Google's chief executive for a decade until 2011, Schmidt oversaw Google's ascent from a small California startup focused on helping computer users search the Internet to a global technology giant making inroads into mobile phone markets as well as mapping.

Google now has offices in more than 40 countries, including all three of North Korea's neighbors: Russia, South Korea and China, another country criticized for systematic Internet censorship.

After being accused of complying with China's strict Internet regulations, known as "the Great Firewall of China," Google pulled its search business from the world's largest Internet market in 2010 by redirecting traffic from mainland China to Hong Kong. The company maintains other businesses in China, but a recent transparency report shows Google's services there sporadically are blocked.

Since stepping aside as CEO, Schmidt has served as Google's executive chairman, largely responsible for the company's external relationships with policymakers, business partners and governments around the world.

And in recent months, Schmidt had been working with Jared Cohen, a former U.S. State Department policy and planning adviser who heads Google's New York-based think tank, on a book about the Internet's role in shaping society. "The New Digital Age" is due to be published in April.

Schmidt's message: The Internet and mobile technology have the power to lift people out of poverty and political oppression.

"The spread of mobile phones and new forms of connectivity offer us the prospect of connecting everybody," he said in commencement speech at Boston University in May. "When that happens, connectivity can revolutionize every aspect of society: politically, socially, economically."

The Richardson-Schmidt trip comes at a delicate time politically. In December, North Korea defiantly shot a satellite into space on the back of a three-stage rocket last month, a launch Pyongyang has hailed as a major step in its quest for peaceful exploration of space.

Washington and others, however, decry it as a covert test of long-range ballistic missile technology designed to send a nuclear-tipped warhead as far as California. The U.N. Security Council quickly condemned the launch, and is deliberating whether to further punish Pyongyang for violating bans on developing its nuclear and missile programs.

The visit also follows North Korea's announcement that an American citizen of Korean descent has been jailed in Pyongyang on suspicion of committing "hostile" acts against the state. Conviction could draw a sentence of 10 years of hard labor under North Korea's penal code.

Kenneth Bae, identified in North Korean state media by his Korean name, Pae Jun Ho, is the fifth American detained in North Korea in the past four years. The exact circumstances of his arrest were not clear. The Korean Central News Agency said he was taken into custody in Rason, a special economic zone in the far north near China and Russia, while on a tour of the area.

Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who often serves as an envoy to countries that do not have diplomatic relations with the United States, will try to meet with North Korean officials, and possibly Bae, to discuss the case, the sources said.

Richardson has been to North Korea at least a half-dozen times since 1994, including two trips to negotiate the release of Americans detained by North Korea. His last visit to Pyongyang was in 2010.

Also leading the trip is Kun "Tony" Namkung, an Asian affairs expert who has made numerous visits to North Korea over the past 25 years. Namkung also serves as a consultant to the AP.

North Korea and the U.S. fought on opposite sides of a brutal, three-year battle on the Korean Peninsula before signing a truce in 1953. The Korean Peninsula remains divided by a heavily fortified border, and the U.S. stations 28,000 troops in South Korea to protect the ally.

However, even before late leader Kim Jong Il's death a year ago, North Korea indicated interest in repairing relations with Washington.

Last year, a group of North Koreans even paid a visit to Google headquarters in Mountain View, California.

___

AP tech writer Youkyung Lee contributed to this report. Follow AP's Korea bureau chief at www.twitter.com/newsjean and AP Seoul's tech writer at www.twitter.com/ykleeAP.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-01-02-NKorea-Google/id-f5a3fd7b2f59424c8da741ca1ccf50d9

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Chavez suffers new complications in cancer fight

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ? President Hugo Chavez's new complications after cancer surgery prompted his closest allies to call for Venezuelans to pray for him on Monday, presenting an increasingly bleak outlook and prompting growing speculation about whether the ailing leader has much longer to live.

Vice President Nicolas Maduro looked weary and spoke with a solemn expression as he announced in a televised address from Havana on Sunday that Chavez now confronts "new complications" due to a respiratory infection nearly three weeks after his operation. He described Chavez's condition as delicate.

The streets of Caracas were abuzz on Monday with talk of Chavez's increasingly tough fight, while the news topped the front pages of the country's newspapers.

"He's history now," said Cesar Amaro, a street vendor selling newspapers and snacks at a kiosk in downtown Caracas. He motioned to a daily on the rack showing side-by-side photos of Maduro and National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello, and said politics will now turn to them.

Amaro said he expects a new election soon to replace Chavez. "For an illness like the one the president has, his days are numbered now," he said matter-of-factly.

In Bolivar Plaza in downtown Caracas, Chavez's supporters strummed guitars and read poetry in his honor on New Year's Eve. They sang along with a recording of the president belting out the national anthem.

About 300 people filled a Caracas church for a Mass to pray for Chavez.

"This country would be terrible without Chavez. He's the president of the poor," said Josefa Carvajal, a 75-year-old former maid who sat in the pews. "They say the president is very sick. I believe he's going to get better."

The president's aides held a Mass at the presidential palace, while government officials urged Venezuelans to keep their president in their prayers.

Political analyst Ricardo Sucre said the outlook for Chavez appears grim, saying Maduro's body language during his televised appearance spoke volumes.

"Everything suggests Chavez's health situation hasn't evolved as hoped," Sucre said. He said Maduro likely remained in Havana to keep close watch on how Chavez's condition develops.

"These hours should be key to having a more definitive prognosis of Chavez's health, and as a consequence make the corresponding political decisions according to the constitution," Sucre said.

Sucre and other Venezuelans said it seems increasingly unlikely that Chavez would be able to be sworn in as scheduled on Jan. 10.

The Venezuelan leader has not been seen or heard from since undergoing his fourth cancer-related surgery Dec. 11, and government officials have said he might not return in time for his inauguration for a new six-year term.

If Chavez dies or is unable to continue in office, the Venezuelan Constitution says that a new election should be held within 30 days.

Before his operation, Chavez acknowledged he faced risks and designated Maduro as his successor, telling supporters they should vote for the vice president if a new presidential election were necessary.

Chavez said at the time that his cancer had come back despite previous surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation treatment. He has been fighting an undisclosed type of pelvic cancer since June 2011.

Maduro said on Sunday that he had met with Chavez. "We greeted each other and he himself referred to these complications," Maduro said, reading from a prepared statement.

"The president gave us precise instructions so that, after finishing the visit, we would tell the (Venezuelan) people about his current health condition," Maduro said. "President Chavez's state of health continues to be delicate, with complications that are being attended to, in a process not without risks."

Maduro was seated alongside Chavez's eldest daughter, Rosa, and son-in-law Jorge Arreaza, as well as Attorney General Cilia Flores. He held up a copy of a newspaper confirming that his message was recorded on Sunday.

"Thanks to his physical and spiritual strength, Comandante Chavez is facing this difficult situation," Maduro said.

Maduro said he had met various times with Chavez's medical team and relatives. He said he would remain in Havana "for the coming hours" but didn't specify how long.

Maduro, who arrived in Havana on Saturday for the sudden and unexpected trip, is the highest-ranking Venezuelan official to see Chavez since the surgery in Cuba, where the president's mentor Fidel Castro has reportedly made regular visits to check on him.

Before flying to Cuba, Maduro said that Energy Minister Hector Navarro would be in charge of government affairs in the meantime.

"The situation does not look good. The fact that Maduro himself would go to Cuba, leaving Hector Navarro in charge only seems understandable if Chavez's health is precarious," said David Smilde, a University of Georgia sociologist and analyst for the Washington Office on Latin America think tank.

Smilde said that Maduro probably made the trip "to be able to talk to Chavez himself and perhaps to talk to the Castros and other Cuban advisers about how to navigate the possibility of Chavez not being able to be sworn in on Jan. 10."

"Mentioning twice in his nationally televised speech that Chavez has suffered new complications only reinforces the appearance that the situation is serious," Smilde said.

Medical experts say that it's common for patients who have undergone major surgeries to suffer respiratory infections and that how a patient fares can vary widely from a quick recovery in a couple of days to a fight for life on a respirator.

Maduro's latest update differed markedly from a week ago, when he had said he received a phone call from the president and that Chavez was up and walking.

The vice president spoke on Sunday below a picture of 19th century independence hero Simon Bolivar, the inspiration of Chavez's leftist Bolivarian Revolution movement.

Maduro said that Chavez had sent year-end greetings to his homeland and a "warm hug to the boys and girls of Venezuela."

The vice president expressed faith that Chavez would "successfully fight this new battle." He concluded his message saying: "Long live Chavez."

On the streets of Caracas, images of Chavez smiling and saluting are emblazoned on campaign signs and murals. One newly painted mural reads: "Be strong, Chavez."

State television played video of Chavez campaigning for re-election, including a speech when he shouted: "I am a nation!"

A new government sign atop a high-rise apartment complex reads: "YOU ALSO ARE CHAVEZ."

Chavez has been in office since 1999 and was re-elected in October, three months after he had announced that his latest tests showed he was cancer-free.

Opposition politicians have criticized a lack of detailed information about Chavez's condition, and last week repeated their demands for a full medical report.

Information Minister Ernesto Villegas defended the government's handling of the situation, saying during a televised panel discussion on Sunday night that Chavez "has told the truth in his worst moments" throughout his presidency.

He also referred to a new surge of rumors about Chavez's condition and called for respect for the president and his family.

Chavez's daughter Maria, who has been with the president since his surgery, said in a message on her Twitter account: "Thank you people of Venezuela. Thank you people of the world. You and your love have always been our greatest strength! God is with us! We love you!"

Chavez's son-in-law Jorge Arreaza, who is the government's science minister and has been with the president in Cuba, urged Venezuelans in a Twitter message Monday night not to believe "bad-intentioned rumors" circulating online. "President Chavez has spent the day calm and stable, accompanied by his children," Arreaza said in the message.

Some who stood in the Caracas plaza on Monday night held pictures of the president. Speaking to the crowd, lawmaker Earle Herrera said that Chavez "is continuing to fight the battle he has to fight."

"He's an undefeated president, and he'll continue to be undefeated," he said.

___

Associated Press writer Christopher Toothaker contributed to this report.

___

Ian James on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ianjamesap

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chavez-suffers-complications-cancer-fight-062704401.html

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