Nintendo Wii U review

Nintendo Wii U review

Nintendo's new console is an anomaly in the game console ecosystem, but not for Nintendo. The company that -- in just the last decade -- popularized stylus-powered gaming, microphone-powered gaming and motion-based gaming, is once again pushing game control inputs forward. And just like its previous consoles, lessons learned from past hardware build the foundation of its latest effort: the Wii U and its bizarre-looking, but conventionally named, "GamePad."

The Wii U console itself, for instance, looks almost exactly like the original Wii. It's longer (10.6 inches vs. 8.5 inches for the Wii), a bit rounder on the edges, and there's an HDMI port out back, but overall it's quite similar to its squatter predecessor. It's enough that you'd get the two confused if they were sitting in the same entertainment center. Naturally, the beefed-up internals and Wii backwards compatibility mean you'll likely be replacing the ol' virtual tennis machine should you choose to pick one up.

Of course, the GamePad is the real star of the show here, bolstered by Nintendo's ambitious "TVii" experiment. Everyone's favorite Italian plumber looks super in HD, no doubt, but how software employs the multifaceted touchscreen tablet / traditional game controller hybrid is what really matters. So, how does the Wii U fare? Find out below.

Note: Nintendo delayed TVii into December, and the majority of promised functionality was not made available to reviewers ahead of the console's November 18th release date (including crucial components like online infrastructure, the Miiverse social network, Nintendo Network, Nintendo TVii, and Wii backwards compatibility). As such, we're updating our review as we use those features, post-launch.

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Nintendo Wii U review originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 18 Nov 2012 00:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/wii-u-review/nintendo-wii-u-review/

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Healthy gourmet: having a healthy holiday season | Tasty Tufts

by tastytufts on November 18, 2012

Thanksgiving-Turkey-Recipes

Healthy Gourmet is a series dedicated to nutritional advice on eating well while keeping fit, especially as a college student. The advice given here is based on nutritional research but is not the advice of a medical professional, and should not be treated as such.

Between Thanksgiving and the winter holidays, the next two months are really a time for serious enjoyment of food and family. However, they can also be an issue for people who want to keep healthy?it?s easy to eat as much as twice your normal calories, and the infamous holiday binge can leave you with some unwelcome weight.

However, there is no reason you can?t have a great holiday without feeling the bloating, ?food coma,? and post-holiday diet stress. This doesn?t mean ditching the turkey or nixing the eggnog. You can enjoy all your favorite holiday foods with these simple tips and suggestions:

  1. Take yourself back to the original purpose of feast days. Feasts were originally celebrations of prosperity and abundance during periods of scarcity. Eat less in the days leading up to the event. Consider skipping breakfast on the day of the feast. Not only will you appreciate the taste of the food more, you?ll be able to appreciate more of it without feeling full, and the extra calories will be taken care of.
  2. Even if you don?t have an old family recipe, don?t turn to the supermarket, especially for easy staples like stuffing or cranberry sauce; make your own?it?ll taste better and be better for you. Look online or in cookbooks for recipes. If you want delicious and healthy Thanksgiving fare, EatingWell has dozens of great recipes that will fill you up without sticking around: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes_menus/collections/thanksgiving_collection_1
  3. If you?re not helping make the meal, enjoy the holidays outside. While throwing the football around with your family may seem clich?, exercise is a great way of reducing the impact of a big meal as well as building up your appetite, and if you can?t wait to dig in, it?s a fun way to pass the time.
  4. Drink water with dinner. Apple cider, milk, and other typical beverages enjoyed around the holidays can be an easy way of adding 200-600 calories to your meal. If you?re thirsty, pour yourself a glass of water and wait until dessert for milk or eggnog.
  5. Limit the alcohol. While alcohol is often a big part of the holiday celebrations, studies show that drinking alcohol, especially when you?re eating a lot of fatty foods, can increase the likelihood of storing those calories as fat. If you want to keep those pounds off your waistline, limit your alcohol consumption or drink the hard stuff?spirits and dry wines with higher concentrations of alcohol have less of a tendency to lead to fat storage.

Most important, of course, is having a great time. Whether or not you?re eating healthy should be a minor concern, and you should never have to pass up good food for the sake of avoiding a few calories. Even if you don?t follow these tips, keeping fit around the holidays is as simple as having a healthy diet the rest of the year. Look forward to more of Healthy Gourmet for advice on living healthy and eating well.

-Edmund Brennan?

Source: http://tastytufts.com/2012/11/18/healthy-gourmet-having-a-healthy-holiday/

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Bucs beat Panthers for 4th straight win

By STEVE REED

AP Sports Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 5:37 p.m. ET Nov. 18, 2012

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are starting to look and talk like a legitimate playoff contender.

The Bucs had to work a little extra to keep their playoff surge alive Sunday. Josh Freeman threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Dallas Clark in overtime to cap the Buccaneers' 27-21 comeback win over the Carolina Panthers.

It was Freeman's third touchdown pass of the game for the Bucs (6-4), who have won five of their last six to pull into playoff contention.

But rather than celebrating their dramatic win, Clark talked afterward about learning from it.

"We learned a lesson today that we can't just show up and win a game," Clark said. "I hope guys will get it. We're lucky it's not a loss. I hope we go back and look at the film and say, `Hey we didn't play well.' Sure, we played well enough to make some plays to win at the end, but to get where we want to go, that's not good enough football."

Meanwhile, the Panthers (2-8) would love to have a win any way they can get it.

Carolina has lost seven of its last eight. The Panthers held a fourth-quarter lead in five of their last six defeats before fading in the final seconds.

"It's been the story of our season," said Cam Newton, who threw for 252 yards and a touchdown to fall to 8-18 as an NFL starter.

When asked where this loss ranked among this season's meltdowns, Newton snapped, "I'm not answering no more questions about where this one ranks."

Carolina appeared to have the game in hand when Newton connected on a 29-yard touchdown strike to Brandon LaFell to go up 21-10 with six minutes left in regulation.

But after a 40-yard field goal by Connor Barth, the Panthers' offense couldn't put the game away and had to punt.

Freeman quickly led the Bucs 80 yards on seven plays in 50 seconds, despite not having any timeouts. Along the way, the Bucs benefited from a personal foul penalty on linebacker Thomas Davis for hitting a defenseless receiver.

Freeman finished the drive with a perfectly thrown 24-yard touchdown pass to Vincent Jackson between three defenders with 12 seconds left. He went back to Jackson for a 2-point conversion on a slant route to send it into overtime.

In overtime, the Bucs won the coin toss and moved quickly down the field with Freeman finding an open Clark on a wheel route along the left sideline for the winner.

"You've got to love it when the linebacker swears as you're heading up field," Clark said with a laugh.

Freeman said it was a play the Bucs worked on all week and he's glad that was the call.

"When we got to overtime we stepped into the huddle and everybody was ready to go and we started talking like, `Hey let's just execute one play at a time and do our jobs and try to get out of this thing with a touchdown,"' Freeman said.

The Bucs came in as one of the hottest teams in the league, having scored an average of 35.6 points per game during the past five games. Freeman had thrown 13 touchdown passes and only one interception in those games.

But after Tampa Bay jumped to a 10-0 lead the Panthers' defense shut them down for most of the remainder of the three quarters, forcing three turnovers. A 74-yard interception return for a touchdown by Captain Munnerlyn and a key fumble by rookie Doug Martin on a fourth-and-goal at the 1-yard line loomed large.

Trailing 14-10, the Bucs appeared ready to take the lead after driving 15 plays to the Carolina 1.

But on fourth down, coach Greg Schiano went for the touchdown instead of the field goal and linebacker Davis plowed into Martin, forcing the ball out near the goal line. Fellow linebacker Luke Kuechly, the team's first-round draft pick, recovered in the end zone for a touchback.

Officials reviewed the play to see if Martin got in, but the call stood.

The Panthers seized the momentum when Newton led the team 80 yards for a score to build a 21-10 lead.

But once again, the Panthers couldn't finish.

Second-year coach Ron Rivera, whose seat only grew hotter after the loss, said the game was all about missed opportunities. Rivera said the loss "is right up there at the top" in terms of toughest ones to swallow.

"This is about as bad as it gets," he said. "The bad part is when you have opportunities to close someone out with a four-minute offense, but you can't take negative plays. That's a tough one."

NOTES: Freeman has now thrown 16 touchdown passes in the last six games. ... Wide receiver Steve Smith injured his hand and defensive end Charles Johnson his head during the game, but both returned. ... Martin had 138 yards rushing for the Bucs. ... Carolina had 97 yards rushing after being held to 10 in the last meeting with the Bucs in the season opener.

---

Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP-NFL

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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??Jacoby Jones had a 63-yard punt return for a touchdown and Justin Tucker made two of his three field-goal attempts to give the Baltimore Ravens a 13-10 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in their AFC North showdown Sunday night.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/49877191/ns/sports-nfl/

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NCAA II PLAYOFFS: BULLDOGS TRIPPED UP BY MISSOURI WESTERN 57-55 IN TRIPLE OVERTIME

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Chase Vogler set a career high with 379 all-purpose yards in his final collegiate appearance Saturday afternoon.

Chase Vogler set a career high with 379 all-purpose yards in his final collegiate appearance Saturday afternoon.

For the remarkable career Chase Vogler has had at the University of Minnesota Duluth, the way it ended? Saturday afternoon was just plain heartbreaking. Vogler stumbled and fell as he rolled out on UMD?s two-point conversion in the third overtime, and watched as Missouri Western State University celebrated a 57-55 victory in the opening round of the NCAA Division II playoffs Saturday afternoon.??

Vogler, who finished his career with a staggering record of 46-6 (7-3 in the NCAA II playoffs), set a single-game career high for total offense in his final collegiate game. The second team All-Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference quarterback accounted for 379 all-purpose yards (195 passing, 184 rushing) on his way to moving into fifth place among Bulldogs in career rushing yards.

Typically dominant in the opening frame, UMD fell behind 7-0 early in the first quarter on a 21-yard scoring strike by Missouri Western. The Bulldogs chipped away at the lead on a 27-yard field goal by freshman kicker Andrew Brees, which cut the lead to 7-3. The Griffons continued to move the ball and scored through the air once again (completing a 91-yard drive) on their next possession before a Brees' second three-point try of the afternoon put the Bulldogs down 14-6 at the end of the first quarter. In 11 regular season games, UMD outscored the opposition 132-20 in the first quarter and hadn't allowed a point in the opening 15 minutes of play since surrendering a field goal in week three.

The Bulldogs hit pay dirt for the first time on the afternoon five minutes into the second quarter when Vogler slashed his way into the end zone from 15 yards out for his 16th rushing score of the season. UMD would take its first lead of the afternoon moments later when sophomore tailback Austin Sikorski darted up the middle for a 12-yard touchdown, giving the Bulldogs a 20-14 lead at the half.

Missouri Western grabbed the lead right back on its opening possession of the second half and tacked on a two-point conversion to put the hosts in front 21-20. The back-and-forth affair continued, with Vogler giving UMD the lead on a quarterback sneak from a yard out. The Bulldogs carried a 28-21 lead into the fourth quarter, but surrendered a Griffin rushing touchdowns on both sides of a one-yard plunge to the end zone by Sikorski, creating a 35-35 deadlock in the latter portions of regulation. Vogler engineered a drive deep into Griffin territory in the final two minutes, but UMD was stopped inches short of a first down, turning the ball over and allowing Missouri Western to force overtime.

The shootout carried on throughout the extra sessions, with both offenses gaining the end zone in all three overtime periods. Sikorski capped all three extra-session drives with rushing touchdowns, finishing the day with five scores on the ground. The Bulldogs racked up 608 yards of total offense on the afternoon, including 408 via the rush. Sikorski joined Vogler as the UMD's second 100-yard rusher with 139 yards on 26 carries.

Saturday marked the final appearance for 10 other Bulldog seniors in addition to Vogler. Since this class first arrived on campus back in 2008, they have been part of the most prolific run in the 80-year history of Bulldog football. That run has included a 62-6 overall record, two NCAA Division II national championships, a record four straight NSIC titles (2008-11), two separate 17-game winning streaks, and five NCAA II playoff appearances.

Return to all news.

Source: http://www.umdbulldogs.com/news.php?id=6957

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Sunday Shows: Who Changed Rice's Talking Points?

On today?s Sunday shows: Lawmakers debated how the talking points given to U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice before her television appearances on the terrorist attack in Benghazi may have been changed; Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Israel might have to invade Gaza to protect itself; and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said she was optimistic about talks over the fiscal cliff?but not without tax increases for the wealthiest Americans.

Republicans: Who Changed Rice?s Benghazi Talking Points?
Republicans say they want to find out who removed language in the talking points given to U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice that suggested al-Qaida may have been behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attack in Libya that killed four Americans.

Chambliss: Israelis May Need to Invade Gaza
Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Israel might have to invade Gaza to protect itself from further rocket attacks.

Pelosi Optimistic on Deal to Avert Fiscal Cliff
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said she was optimistic that talks between the president and congressional leaders could produce a deal to avert the fiscal cliff, but said she would not accept a deal that does not include tax increases for the wealthiest Americans.

Levin: Obama Deserves Credit for Israel?s ?Iron Dome?
Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the Obama administration deserves some credit for Israel?s ?Iron Dome? missile defense system, which has protected Israelis during recent rocket assaults.

Lieberman: Select Committee on Benghazi Not Needed
Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., separated from his Senate allies John McCain and Lindsey Graham on Sunday, saying he did not think a special committee was needed to investigate the terrorist attack in Libya.

McCain: Benghazi Didn?t Fit Obama Narrative
Sen. John McCain continued his criticism of the Obama administration on the terrorist attack in Benghazi, suggesting the president mislead the public to support his narrative that al-Qaida?s influence is diminishing.

Blunt Says Administration Misled on Benghazi
Sen. Roy Blunt said the Obama administration mislead the public on the terrorist attack in Libya in order to improve President Obama?s chances during the election.

Former Treasury Secretaries Clash Over Cliff
Two former Treasury secretaries from Democratic and Republican administrations on Sunday disagreed over the path Congress should take in negotiating the so-called fiscal cliff. Robert Rubin, who served under President Bill Clinton, agreed with President Obama, while Paul O?Neill, who served under President George W. Bush, took a different approach.

Durbin Hears ?A Perceptible Change in Rhetoric?
If you pay attention, you can hear the sounds of negotiation on the fiscal cliff, says Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin. ?You've got to listen closely,? he said. ?What I hear is a perceptible change in rhetoric from the other side.?

Lieberman: FBI Should Have Notified Congress About Petraeus Investigation
Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., said he is not satisfied with the FBI withholding information about the investigation into former CIA Director David Petraeus.

Jindal: GOP Should Stop Saying ?Stupid Things?
In the wake of Mitt Romney?s failed presidential bid, and subsequent comments about President Obama?s ?gifts? to minorities and students, Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal said the GOP needs to stop saying ?stupid things.?

Podcast: Drones and Data Mining
On this week?s Political Landscape, National Journal?s weekly podcast, how U.S. drone strike policy will move forward with leadership changing in the CIA and the Department of Defense. And, for all the talk of data mining during the campaign, did knowing that a potential voter shopped at Burlington Coat Factory actually help on Election Day? We'll discuss with?Atlantic?writer Conor Friedersdorf and?New York Times?writer Charles Duhigg.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sunday-shows-changed-rices-talking-points-130516976--politics.html

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Employee Victorious in Breach of Contract Claim After Demotion Over Facebook Comment

By Alexandra Sandacz
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe?

LONDON, United Kingdom ? Adrian Smith, a Christian man, was demoted from his job for a Facebook comment that denounced gay marriages as ?equally too far.? After facing a 40% salary cut, Smith won a breach of contract action against his employer.

Adrian Smith demoted after leaving anti-gay marriage message on Facebook. (Photo Courtesy of The Huffington Post)

Smith faced disciplinary action after he wrote an opposition to gay marriage comment on Facebook in February of 2011. In addition to his religious comments, Smith also listed his place of work on his Facebook page. His employer, Trafford Housing Trust, feared Smith?s comments could be viewed as representative of his employer.

Trafford Housing Trust alleged Smith breached the code of conduct for its employees, and acted ?contrary to the Trust?s equal opportunities policy.?

In his breach of contract action, Smith claimed that Trafford Housing Trust acted unlawfully in demoting him. Furthermore, he also claimed that the trust breached his human rights.

Judge Michael Briggs determined that although Adrian Smith opposes gay marriage for religious reasons, his comment on Facebook ultimately did not demonstrate misconduct in relation to his contract with Trafford Housing Trust. Judge Briggs continued to explain that Smith was demoted because of his ?long record of loyal service? and ?was taken to task for doing nothing wrong.?

In response to Judge Briggs decision, Smith stated, ?Britain is a free country where people have freedom of speech, and I am pleased that the judge?s ruling underlines that important principle. Something has poisoned the atmosphere in Britain, where an honest man like me can be punished for making perfectly polite remarks.?

Matthew Gardiner, chief executive at Trafford Housing Trust, responded, ?We fully accept the court?s decision and I have made a full and sincere apology to Adrian. At the time we believed we were taking the appropriate action following discussions with our employment solicitors and taking into account his previous disciplinary record.?

Gardiner continued, ?We have always vigorously denied allegations that the Trust had breached an employee?s rights to freedom of religious expression under Human Rights and Equalities legislation.?

Sarah Henchoz, an employment lawyer at Allen & Overy LLP in London, advised that British lawmakers should create brighter guidelines on the relationship between employers and employees when it comes to personal comments on social media websites, such as Facebook and Twitter.

Henchoz believes social media has ?grown and the law around it hasn?t grown as quickly. Employers are regulating that themselves internally, but there?s not going to be consistency.?

For further information, please see:

BBC News ? Facebook gay wedding comment man wins demotion case ? 16 November 2012

Bloomberg Businessweek ? U.K. Man Wins Case Over Anti-Gay Marriage Facebook Comment ? 16 November 2012

The Huffington Post ? Christian Adrian Smith, Demoted For Opposing Gay Marriage On Facebook, Wins Legal Fight ? 16 November 2012

The Independent ? Christian demoted for posting his opposition to gay marriage on Facebook wins breach of contract action ? 16 November 2012

Source: http://impunitywatch.com/employee-victorious-in-breach-of-contract-claim-after-demotion-over-facebook-comment/

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How BP's historic Deepwater Horizon fine will be paid by the US military


An?explosion Friday on a rig in the Gulf owned by Houston-based Black Elk Energy?has reportedly injured several workers, with four missing, two possibly killed. This latest incident -- just a day after the US department of justice's historic settlement with?BP?over the Deepwater Horizon disaster -- highlights the risks of offshore oil-drilling, and the need for tougher regulations on one of America's most hazardous industries.

British Petroleum has agreed to pay $4.5bn in damages to the US government, the largest criminal fine in US history. BP agreed that its corporate negligence had been a factor in causing the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

In?a settlement negotiated with the US justice department, the company pled guilty on 14 counts, including manslaughter charges against two of its supervisors who had failed to act on problems revealed during earlier safety tests. In a separate indictment, BP's former vice-president and incident commander for the disaster, David Rainey,?pleaded guilty?for lying to Congress and concealing documents about the rate and seriousness of the spill.

The explosion on the BP rig on 20 April 2010 killed 11 crewmen and created a fireball that was visible 35 miles from the scene. The explosion was sparked by a blowout on the floor of the ocean, which poured crude oil into the Gulf for the rest of that spring, and continued to leak more slowly during the summer until it was declared "effectively dead" five months later.

This was?a disaster for the record books: the offshore exploratory well was the deepest drilling ever, plunging over 30,000 feet through ocean and seabed strata, and the spill was the largest in US history, spewing 206m gallons of oil -- nearly 20 times what?the Exxon Valdez had dumped into Prince William Sound in Alaska?a decade earlier.

Speaking of the historic financial settlement with BP,?Attorney General Eric Holder Jr told?a news conference in New Orleans, Thursday:

"I hope this sends a clear message to those who would engage in this wanton misconduct that there will be a penalty paid."

But Tyson Slocum, the director of the activist group Public Citizen's "Energy Program", characterized the settlement -- which requires the payment over five years of just a fifth of the company's 2011 profits -- as "a pathetic slap on the wrist" for what he called "the largest corporate crime in US history". Slocum told me that the company had already been placed on criminal probation by federal courts for two earlier incidents, including an oil refinery fire in Texas City, Texas that killed 15 workers and injured more than 170 others in 2005.

BP is the largest fuel supplier for the US department of defense, with contracts worth $2.2bn a year,?according to the Wall Street Journal. Slocum points out that a convicted felon in the US is disqualified from receiving government contracts, yet BP, which he calls a convicted corporate felon, continues to receive more from the?US military?in yearly profits than it will be required to pay out in fine instalments over the next five years.

In a statement issued yesterday by Public Citizen,?Slocum said:

"Any settlement must allow for full recovery of the Gulf Coast region and its communities; deter other companies from putting profits before safety; and involve the disclosure of all information gathered by the government, so the public has a complete understanding of the wrongdoing that killed workers and continues to wreak havoc on the environment."

Other environmentalists reacted more positively to the BP settlement. Larry Schweiger, president of the National Wildlife Federation, said in a statement that the record criminal penalties were "a good down-payment". But?he added that the company needs to pay billions more?in civil damages under the Clean Water Act to help those whose health or livelihoods have been damaged by the spill and to continue restoration in effected habitats.

Under the Clean Water Act, fines could be as high as $4,300 for every barrel of oil spilled if the company is deemed to have been "grossly negligent" in the disaster. This could amount to $21bn in additional fines,?according to the New York Times.

The true cost of the spill to the Gulf ecosystem and surrounding communities remains difficult to assess. Environmental scientists say that it will be a generation before we know the full impact of the disaster. But for those who have lost their lives or their livelihoods -- and for the ecosystems like coastal marshes and fish spawning grounds that may never come back -- the cost is already beyond recovery.

Published originally in The Guardian, UK

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.

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Source: http://www.opednews.com/articles/How-BP-s-historic-Deepwate-by-Richard-Schiffman-121116-868.html

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Why Bond avoids the world's trouble spots | Stuff.co.nz

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The first on-screen Bond was actually American Barry Nelson, playing Jimmy Bond in a TV episode of the show Climax!, but the first Bond of the famous film series was the Scottish Sean Connery. Between 1962 and 1967 he starred in Dr. No, From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, and You Only Live Twice, then returned for Diamonds Are Forever in 1971 following George Lazenby's departure.

George Lazenby starred in only one Bond film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service in 1969. He announced his departure from the series prior to its release.

Roger Moore starred in seven Bond films between 1973 and 1985 - Live and Let Die, The Man with the Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, and A View to a Kill. The longest serving Bond actor, he is remembered for the humour he brought to the role.

Timothy Dalton starred in only two Bond films, 1987's The Living Daylights and 1989's License to Kill.

Irishman Pierce Brosnan was next in line, playing Bond between 1995 and 2002 in GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day.

Daniel Craig, the current Bond, is contracted on for two more films after the three he has starred in, 2006's Casino Royale, 2008's Quantum of Solace, and the soon to be released Skyfall.

0?of?0 ? Previous? PreviousNext ?Next ?

In the opening scenes of Skyfall, the latest instalment of the James Bond mega-franchise, the world's favourite MI6 operative chases bad guy Patrice across Istanbul on motorcycles, through the city's Grand Bazaar and over its minaret-backed rooftops.

Bond jumps and weaves such verve and ease that it's like he knows his way around the city. Has he been here before? Well, no. But: yes.

Skyfall hits the cinemas exactly half a century after the first Bond movie, Dr. No (1962).

It is the 23rd official Bond movie, and the third one starring Daniel Craig, the sixth man to play 007 on the silver screen.

Craig plays a decidedly muscular Bond, less of a gentleman and more of a street-fighter than previous incarnations - an attempt to align the slightly time-worn gentility of the series to grittier espionage oeuvres like the Bourne Trilogy.

Bond is a protean character, both by the secretiveness of his trade and through the succession of actors that have portrayed him. Thus, while Craig's Bond has never been to Istanbul before, two of his predecessors did visit the metropolis on the Bosporus.

In From Russia with Love (1963), Sean Connery dives into Istanbul's so-called Sunken Palace: ancient Byzantine water cisterns, supposedly located beneath the Soviet consulate. A quarter-century later, Pierce Brosnan thwarts an attempt to blow up a nuclear submarine in Istanbul's harbour in The World is Not Enough (1999).

Maybe Craig's Bond, through some form of cinematic transfiguration, was able to benefit from those previous visits - different actor, same muscle memory.

Bond producer Barbara Broccoli claims that Istanbul was Bond writer Ian Fleming's favourite city, but it is not the only foreign city to feature prominently in three different Bond movies - Venice and Hong Kong share the accolade.

In those 50 years and 23 movies at Her Majesty's Secret Service, James Bond has seen a lot of the world. The man not only has a license to kill, but also a travel allowance to kill for. Which is understandable: You can't conference-call your way out of some madman's diabolical plot to wreck the planet.

Taken together, the sum of Bond's 23 erratic itineraries reveals something of the cinematic imperative behind the franchise - Bond movie locations need to be exotic, spectacular and/or glamorous. But there's also the lingering geopolitical motive. After all, Bond's mission is to preserve, protect and promote British influence and interests in the world.

In all, Bond has visited just under 50 countries [see note at end], many of those multiple times. Around 20 are in Europe, with about a dozen each in Asia and the Americas. With a mere four visits, Africa scores pretty low on Bond's priority list.

Only two of those were in sub-Saharan Africa - Madagascar and Uganda, both in Casino Royale (2006) - which obviously did its best to fill in a blank on Bond's world map. The other two were Morocco, in The Living Daylights (1987), and Egypt, twice: in Diamonds Are Forever (1971) and The Spy Who Loved Me (1977).

Mentioning those Arab countries touches upon a defect of the Bond franchise: He doesn't really go where the action is - in fact, he seems to positively avoid the world's trouble spots.

Four Bond movies have been released in the post-9/11 era, but none of them deals even obliquely with the supposed clash with (or within) Islam that has been animating newspaper columns and battlefields ever since.

Apart from an unconnected, brief foray into Pakistan in Casino Royale, Bond never comes near the giant, throbbing conflict zone that spans from Israel all the way to Kashmir.

This is quite in character. In previous decades, Bond never was the West's fiercest Cold Warrior. Although the Red Menace is a theme throughout the early oeuvre, with forays into Yugoslavia (From Russia with Love, 1963) and East Germany (Octopussy, 1983), Bond only infiltrates the Evil Empire itself in its final years - merely retrieving a microchip in Siberia in 1985's A View to a Kill.

In those three movies, however, it's never the Communist establishment that is the enemy, but rather rogue elements within it.

It's a fantasy world in which the moviemakers have the luxury of choosing the United Kingdom's enemies; ones that bear only the slightest resemblance to its real-world opponents.

Forget Islamic fundamentalist terrorists blowing up public transport on the streets of London. Instead, it's cartoonish geniuses that practice evil for its own sake, or for monetary gain.

This takes the politics out of global conflict, and allows Britain to assume the mantle of high morality. The Bond franchise has created over two football teams' worth of villains, with such memorable characters as Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the head of SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion) - the criminal organization which crops up in six Bond movies - and Raul Silva, the ex-MI6 operative gone rogue in Skyfall.

But let's get back to geography. Essential to the crime syndicate/supervillain set-up is the enemy's lair: a secluded, secret and sophisticated base bristling with high-tech weapons and teeming with underlings (most of whom won't survive the bloody finale).

Of these, the island lair may be the best. There's one in the very first movie: Crab Key, the Jamaican base of Dr. No, and Skyfall introduces an unnamed island off the coast of Macau, Raul Silva's sanctuary. In between, there are Blofeld's lair inside an island off Kyushu in You Only Live Twice (1967), his oil rig off the coast of Baja California in Diamonds Are Forever (1971), and the Thai island where Bond kills the assassin Francisco Scaramanga in The Man With the Golden Gun (1974).

Thematically in opposition to these locations of violence and terror, but often serving as Bond's introduction to them, are the pleasure resorts frequented by the international jet set, in which 007 so easily mingles. The standard location is the casino, thanks to the prominence of Casino Royale in Bond World.

Curiously, this Casino Royale is eminently movable: in Fleming's book, it is based on the casino of Deauville, in northern France; in Never Say Never Again, it has migrated to Monte Carlo, on the French Riviera, and in Craig's Casino Royale (2007), it has moved to Montenegro.

That 007 visits Macau twice, and a casino on both occasions, was perhaps prescient: it is undoubtedly the new gambling capital of the world. (Bond visits Las Vegas only once, in Diamonds Are Forever.)

Other high-society locations wafting in an air of sufficiently Bond-like decadence include the Bahamian gambling resort of Paradise Island, featured both in Thunderball (1965) and Casino Royale.

Or Sardinia's Emerald Coast, host to much of Europe's elite during summer, developed in part by a consortium financed by the Ismaili Shiite spiritual leader Aga Khan - and featured in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). Also in Italy, there's Cortina d'Ampezzo, an Alpine resort that serves as winter residence to the moneyed few, which features in For Your Eyes Only (1981).

The roll call of Bond locations worldwide would make an ideal bucket list for die-hard fans, if only some places weren't so hard to visit - from the remote Icelandic ice palace in Die Another Day (2002) to the Soviet air base in Afghanistan from The Living Daylights (1987). With the advent of space tourism, the out-of-this-world setting of Moonraker (1979) might be in reach soon, though only of the wealthiest of Earthlings.

However, nobody will be able to visit the Caribbean nation of San Monique, the Central American Republic of Isthmus or the African state of Nambutu (Bond never visits this African-sounding country, but manages to blow up part of its embassy in Madagascar).

All three are fictional countries, featured in Live and Let Die, License to Kill and Casino Royale, respectively. This might be prudence or diplomacy on the part of the writers. Each is an unflattering caricature of real places: San Monique, run by a crazy dictator, resembled any number of Caribbean island nations; the Republic of Isthmus, a narco-state modelled on Panama; and Nambutu sounds an awful lot like the easily mocked mini-state Lesotho.

Where will the resorts and the lairs of future Bond movies be situated? Bond 24 and Bond 25, as yet unnamed and perhaps still non-location-scouted, are rumored to be set for release in 2014 and 2016. Craig, one of the few people who have peeked at the plot for the upcoming movies, has opined that he would like to shoot some of the new material in Australia.

That would make sense, as neither Australia nor New Zealand has seen any Bond action, despite being former outposts of the British Empire. Other blind spots on the Bond world map include Scandinavia, the Arabian Peninsula and most of Africa and China: aside from the former Western colonies of Hong Kong and Macau, Shanghai is the only bit of mainland China that was featured in a Bond movie. Nor has Canada ever had the pleasure of welcoming 007 to its chilly shores.

Wherever they will be set, based on previous experience we can safely predict that Bond 24 and 25 won't take place in China. The West's current No. 1 threat is too hot to handle for Bond, who is after all an agent for a power in decline.

One could argue that Bond's suavity is a sort of childlike compensation for Britain's past arrogance as the world's only superpower, his go-it-alone attitude a symbol for a homeland bereft of colonies and groveling allies. But Britain, even in its reduced circumstances, is not without recourse to the ebbing tide of global relevance. Indeed, the movie franchise itself quietly achieves the goals that Bond purports to pursue on the silver screen.

As global cinemagoers root for Bond, millions around the world unwittingly subscribe to the idea of the British hero, of Britishness as heroic, and of Britain forever on the side of good, and against evil.

Those are valuable assets for a medium-sized power, and they won't be squandered in a direct confrontation with China or any other of the world's up and coming heavyweights - not even a fictional one. So yes, maybe Bond will be boxing with kangaroos in the next instalment. . . .

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I count 46, but the tally varies, depending on how you count the USSR, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and their post-communist successor states; whether you count Scotland as a separate country or not; whether to include the fictional countries; and other such complications.

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Jacobs is a London-based author, journalist, and blogger. He writes about strange maps, intriguing borders, and other cartographic curiosities.

-The Washington Post

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/7968357/Why-Bond-avoids-the-worlds-trouble-spots

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