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Old and New Video Games with Michael Devine, from Ziggurat
Categories: Abylight, Prison Tycoon
Michael Devine (Ziggurat Interactive) and Eva Gaspar (Abylight's CEO) spent some quality time on Abylight's Twitch channel, talking about video games and Michael's long career in the industry. From his beginnings in 3DO, to his current position as SVP of Ziggurat Interactive.
Ziggurat's motto says: an old and new video game company. Not only retro games though, but re-imagined classic IPs, which is what brought about the collaboration between them and Abylight to develop the reboot of the Prison Tycoon franchise. A rewarding partnership based on mutual respect and a shared devotion for an industry that cannot be understood without passion.
The whole interview is available on Abylight's Youtube Channel, where you'll be able to consume the hour-long video like a normal person in the year 2021. That is: in a tiny window on a corner of your screen, at 2x playback speed, while you are focusing on other stuff.
But if you are like me, played a ton of text adventures and the written word doesn't scare you, here's an old-fashioned article for your enjoyment.
Let's read!
The Begginings
The further you go through life, the more you realize how much of it it's about perspective and learning to find the right balance between the new and the old.
It just so happens that, many times, it's the mundane moments that define your path.
Imagine being struck with a life-changing epiphany over beer and pizza with a friend, one Friday afternoon. Trying to decipher the mysteries of the latest software for your Mac. Looking at the glow of the screen and realizing that, yeah, that's what you want to do with your life. Video games. What are they? how far can they go?… So many questions! But you'll find out.
Michael found out. But it took a couple of years of knocking on doors until he could finally get into the game business, working for a game distributor.
A couple of years out of school I decided that I needed to get a computer to help me with my horrible typing skills. The Mac had just game out so I thought, "why not?" and got it. Rather than typing, I played video games and became fascinated with it.
I started playing things like Zork, interactive text adventures, and racing games. I guess you could say I was obsessed. Those games were the wildest thing I'd ever seen in my entire life.
He jumped at the chance. It was around 1990, the infancy of the Sega Genesis, Neo Geo, Phillips CDi… Michael grabbed all of it, and from working with just a couple of software people with the NES, he was suddenly immersed in everything in the game business, working with 60 people for multiple platforms.
I loved every second of it – the business, the marketing, all of it. For me to go higher in my career, I had to get out of distribution and into game publishing.
Five years later, in 1995, he got an offer to join 3DO as their Western Regional sales person. It was just a couple of years after the launch of the hardware.
For those too young to remember, the 3DO was a video game console developed in 1993 by the 3DO Company, founded by Trip Hawkins (yes, the man from Electronic Arts). The hardware was impressive for a home console at the time. It was one of the first CD-ROM consoles and received ports of arcade and PC games, like Road Rash or Alone in the Dark, which other home systems couldn't handle.
Interestingly, The 3DO Company didn't manufacture the console themselves. The specifications were licensed to third-parties like Panasonic, Sanyo or Goldstar, which released different models of the system.
Even though 3DO's technology was cutting-edge for the time, it struggled to compete with existing consoles. Licensing the hardware to other manufacturers made the console very expensive and they didn't have the money to sell it at a loss, like some of its competitors, who expected to make up for that with software sales.
The 3DO system was fantastic. I mean, we were very involved in the proliferation of MPEG for video compression. Actually, 3DO built one of the very first 64-bit game systems called the M-2 that never wound up getting done.
The technologists at 3DO were literally some of the best in the world, but 3DO never had the manufacturing capability.
Eventually, specially after the launch of the PlayStation, 3DO had to abandon the hardware business and focus on multi-platform software development.
Amazingly, the company reinvented itself and 3DO became not just a game system company, but a software development company. We wound up having over a thousand employees and most of them were in development. In a two year period, we went from publishing only the 3DO, to doing about $80 million in the software business.
As a third-party developer, 3DO acquired studios like New World Computing, and had franchises like Heroes of Might and Magic and Army Men as some of their biggest hits. But in the end, it wasn't sustainable.
There isn't a single day in that 7 years that I regret. I loved every second of it. I was not only surrounded by Trip (Hawkins) and a great team, but was also surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of people who went to work daily with an utter passion for gaming, the company, and all that they produced.
And more than anything else, that was my takeaway from this experience – surround yourself with people that are so passionate and happy to be where they are and do what they do. That's one of the recipes for success, in your life and in business.
The key ingredient is passion
As it happens with any creative endeavor, you need that level of craziness and love for your job that will make you endure all the hardships that will come during the creative process. Because everything will be worth it in the end. In Abylight we also believe in that, and that's why we look for that passion in everything we do and in every person that becomes part of our team.
The bigger the environment, the less passion survives because it becomes more about the money than the drive. One of the reasons I chose a more independent path going forward in my career is that I need to feel that passion. I want to feel it the minute I walk in the door and at every desk I pass and in everyone I speak to. I want an environment where everyone does the best possible job we can to get that gaming product out the door.
Michael believes that nowadays, anyone who is really passionate can just start making games. Something that used to be much more difficult.
One of the things over the last twenty-five years that really changed (for the better I'd say) is the access to tools in this business.
The entry barrier has lowered and you don't necessarily have to be part of one of the big companies, with a huge budget and a team of 40 people. The scope of the games might be different, but if you have the passion… you can start.
I mean…there's a lot of pitfalls. It's not easy. But, it used to be that you had to work for a big company to get the tools you needed. Now, they are readily available and a lot of them are actually available for free.
So now passion is the true motivator to get started. The business side can kill you. The distribution side might kill you, but now you actually have a lot of control on whether you can get a foot in the door in this business.
And in those small indie teams, driven by passion and free of the weight and constrains of a big, established IP and the control of a corporate leviathan, is where you can still find the creativity and feel the heart and soul of what makes video games great.
When you take a lot of elaborate tools away, (and that's what happens with a lot of indie development) you get back to that really unique feeling of telling the story you want in gaming. That's what feels genuine, and that's what's amazing about the indie game movement. It's not a 30 million dollar development. Because when you build a monolith for that amount of money, you're a slave to that. You're a slave to not breaking any internal rule that you've created in how that particular game or brand works.
But in indie, you know, you might look at it and think, "wow, that's really simplistic," but when you start playing it you think, "God, this is really fun." It's because they nailed the concept. They nailed the narrative. They nailed what they're doing. And that's the heart of it, right? That's why I gravitated most of my career towards the smaller companies, where that creativity can really shine.
TDK Mediactive
After 3DO went away, Michael landed in a gaming company named TDK Mediactive. The electronics corporation famous for their film and magnetic tape products bought a small development studio and stepped into the video game business.
Their whole model was based on licensed products, unlike 3DO. There, Michael was working with properties from Disney, Dreamworks, Marvel…
In fact, their CEO was able to get the licensing for a famous green ogre, after companies like EA or Activision passed on it. They published the first Shrek game to a great success.
We sold more of that game, I think, than any other game we ever produced combined. It was a huge hit for us and it made our company sustainable for an entire year.
On the other hand, other properties didn't do that well… and TDK decided to focus on the tape business and sold TDK Mediactive to Take Two.
It was a short run, but super interesting and honestly taught me a lot about licensing development that I didn't know.
And it was actually kind of fun. I learned a lot and even working with Ziggurat today, all these years later, some of the lessons I learned in licensing just from that little stay at TDK have stuck with me. So everywhere you go, every stop along the way, there's something new you can learn and something new you can take away.
TDK started with a big indie feel, but by the end of its run it had gotten way bigger. Michael spent some years working outside of game development, and then got his teeth into a true indie environment when he joined Tommo.
Working with Tommo
Tommo is a video game publisher based in California. At that time, they had just launched the Neo-Geo Mini game system, and Michael came in as a marketing consultant.
It was really interesting actually. Right at the end of it, the owner of the company came to me and said, "Hey we just made a major purchase from Atari." This was when they were going through bankruptcy and had acquired… I can't remember how many titles. It was a ton…over a hundred titles.
He wanted to create a business model from it because he felt the future would be digital. Instead of trying to figure out how to get this stuff on game systems and making physical copies, we could do it digitally.
During his 6 years at Tommo, Michael worked in a division called Retroism, dedicated to publishing classic games into digital distribution channels.
It was pretty successful. We got some people to do publishing with us through the Retroism brand, but then the other thing (and it's one of the things I'm most proud of in my career) is we acquired the rights to virtually all of the Humongous Entertainment games.
At that time, all Humongous titles were almost forgotten in the hands of Atari. They were just catalog to throw away as an extra in distribution deals. Tommo reinvented the brand in collaboration with Night Dive Studios, whose CEO, Stephen Kick, had absolute passion for Humongous' games.
They were able to bring Humongous Entertainment games to Steam, and the response from all the nostalgic 80s and 90s gamers was incredible. They became some of their best selling titles.
That's just how in love people were and still are with the Humongous brand and the Humongous roots. You know, truth be told, I've been in the business a long time. I'm closer to the end than the beginning. Dealing in the retro space and bringing people back to the things that they knew and loved, and giving them the best version of it, is now something I'm really passionate about.
And finally… Ziggurat Interactive
Michael's passion about bringing back those memorable experiences, transports us finally to current times and his work with Ziggurat Interactive. That passion is present in the company's vision, which is more than just publishing old orphaned games… is to resurrect them in the best version possible, enhance them for modern systems, with higher resolutions and fixing issues that couldn't be fixed back then in the original.
To achieve this, they try to work with the original developers whenever it's possible, but they also have internal production. And of course, they listen to the community, to make sure they offer an experience as close to the original as possible, while enhancing it to current standards, with modern tools.
Even though it's still a young company, Ziggurat already has more than a hundred titles published on Steam. Not a small feat by any means. Among their recent releases we can find improved reissues of classics like Bloodrayne or A Boy and His Blob, on which they are working together with Wayforward and Terminal Reality.
These all come from a very singular place of believing in retro gaming and believing in the worth of these games to their players. These audiences love, care, and revere these games that have been a part of their gaming experience, sometimes for a generation, and we are trying to give them (within reason), the best possible experience we can.
They even go beyond revamping old games and dare to completely re-imagine IPs that they own. That's how the collaboration between Abylight and Ziggurat started, thanks to Prison Tycoon: Under New Management.
That was a popular brand that was dealing with very hard and sensitive topics, that might've been acceptable back in the day, but needed a new approach for current audiences.
If we were going to do a game based on incarceration or prison, it really had to be fundamentally different. It had to speak about that experience in a way that made sense for where people are today with this really important and sensitive topic.
The reason that we went to Abylight with the project is because of how creative and passionate you are. A lot of people say they are passionate, but there is a very important reason we brought Prison Tycoon: Under New Management™ to you: because your passion has honesty.
We knew you wouldn't just make the game to make the game. We knew you would only make a game you felt good about, that had the right messaging, and felt was worth of both your brand and our brand. If we couldn't do that, we weren't going to make the game.
The future is bright
At Abylight we can say that we feel the same way. Which is good, because finding good partners is as important in business as it is in life. For us it took a long career to find a partner that really respect us and understand us, and who also shares the same goal.
And the question is… what's next for Ziggurat Interactive? Are they working on bringing back more classic titles? Are they working on new games too?
We are working on all of it! Remember, we're only two years old. We just learned how to walk. You just have to give us some time. But these new versions are a process to where as long as we're getting support from the fans and we're seeing the right path and development, you will see more and more from us.
Just like Prison Tycoon was a re-imagining or an all-new version, expect you're going to see more of that on our top IPs. And also expect that the relationship between Ziggurat and Abylight is going to continue into the foreseeable future, because we love working with Eva and Abylight and we plan to continue.
For more information about Ziggurat Interactive, you can visit their website.
Don't forget to check out Prison Tycoon: Under New Management! The new DLC, Maximum Security, is OUT NOW on Steam! It has a whole new set of tools to tighten your prison's security to deal with the most rebellious inmates yet.
And for more interviews, gameplay and talks about game development and publishing… we are waiting for you in our Twitch Channel 🙂
Don Ramiro is back! Cursed Castilla release date for Nintendo Switch is up!
Making the Terrain System for One Military Camp
Ask us anything this Thursday 28th at 10:00 AM (EDT)!
50% off: Cursed Castilla and Super Hydorah on Lunar New Year Steam Sale
One Military Camp: Designing the Spy Training Building
Best wishes to KnapNok Games and Nifflas for the Nordic Games Awards!


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Killer Klowns Wiki
Curtis Mooney
Magori
Mike Tobacco
Debbie Stone
Dave Hanson
Rich Terenzi
Mr. Myers
Paul Terenzi
Farmer Gene Green
Klowns
Female Killer Klowns
Chiodo Brothers
Stephen Chiodo
Edward Chiodo
Charles Chiodo
The Chiodo Brothers
Welcome to Killer Klowns Wiki, a fan-created database about the 1988 Chiodo Bros. sci-fi horror-comedy film Killer Klowns from Outer Space! There have been 98 articles since December 13, 2009!
1 About the movie
2 Summary Plot
3 Plot Story
5 Prop Objects
8 Followed by
11 General Rules
12 Behavior
13 Content
14 Latest activity
Killer Klowns From Outer Space is a 1988 sci-fi horror-comedy film made by the Chiodo Bros. and starring Grant Cramer, Suzanne Snyder, John Allen Nelson and John Vernon, about the invasion of a small town by murderous alien creatures who strangely resemble circus clowns.
The film has gained moderately positive reviews from critics and has earned a 75% rating on the film review website Rotten Tomatoes. The special effects, visual design, and suspense of the film were praised while several critics have stated that the plot was simple, reminiscent of several monster movies between the 1950s to the present (often called B-movies) that on average receive mixed reviews.
Summary Plot
The Official Poster for Killer Klowns From Outer Space
Students Mike (Grant Cramer) and Debbie (Suzanne Synder), on their first date at "The Top of The World", a local "Make-Out" Point, are quite intensely conducting their own anatomical studies when they're distracted by what appears to be a falling star plummeting to Earth. Curious, Mike and Debbie investigate, and after driving to a spot a few miles outside of town, they discover... a weird, glowing circus tent?! Unknowingly, Mike and Debbie have stumbled upon the site of an incredible phenomenon; the "circus tent" is in fact the home of a strange alien breed - Killer Klowns from outer space. But these clowns are no laughing matter.
Plot Story
An army of sadistic alien forms who resemble clowns land their circus tent ship in the sleepy American town of Crescent Cove, (Watsonville/Santa Cruz, California). An old man, named Farmer Gene Green discovers the spaceship, but, while investigating, he and his dog, named Pooh Bear, are quickly executed by one of the alien Klowns named Jumbo. A young couple, Mike Tobacco and Debbie Stone Snyder, who are out for a romantic evening, encounter the Klowns' spaceship and goof around for a while until they enter a room with a few cotton candy cocoons and a few giant balloons. They find the old man's corpse in one of them, and barely escape capture. They are chased by the Klowns, while the remaining teenagers are quickly killed by the aliens. Mike and Debbie rush into town to warn Officer Hanson of the impending danger, while the Klowns follow them into town. The Klown Army harvests the unsuspecting population, blasting random victims with a ray gun that cocoons them with a cotton candy-like substance, with lethal results. The Klown Army uses a variety of seemingly innocent methods to ensnare their victims, such as killer shadow puppets, bloodhound-like balloon animals, and a ray gun that looks like a child's toy. Since the methods themselves appear whimsical, the townspeople don't realize they are in danger until it's too late.
One Klown invades a drug store, knocking over everything in sight, and then kills the clerk, while a group of Klowns pretend to deliver a pizza to a girl's house, and a small Klown jumps out of the box and kills her with his cotton candy ray gun. Another Klown in the park puts on a puppet show that lures a guy to his death, as, downtown the little Klown, Shorty, drives up on his tricycle into an alley full of biker thugs, and one of the bikers decides to pick on the little Klown by smashing his tricycle. Shorty gets mad and punches the thug's head clear off while the rest of the gang flees. Another Klown goes to "Big Top Burger" hut and tries to lure a little girl into its trap, but fails infuriating the Klown. A tall Klown (who has the ability to float on the highway) has a demolition derby with a guy on the road, resulting in the Klown ramming right into him and plowing him off the road over a ledge to his death.
The police keep getting calls from everyone in town about the Klowns, but the officer on duty, the abrasive Sergeant Mooney, just thinks the whole town is in on the prank. At the same time Jumbo plants popcorn, which can grow into clownish serpent-like creatures, that drag an employee to his doom. Finally, police Sergeant Mooney discovers the truth when Jumbo appears at the police station, taunting him with practical jokes until Mooney orders him into the jail cell, then hitting him on the head with his club. Jumbo gets angry and ambushes him, but Mooney thinks it's all an elaborate hoax until it is too late. Meanwhile, Mike and Officer Hanson drive to the spot where the spaceship had been, (it had moved to another spot), and discover evidence of Joe Lombardo's death, Mike and Hanson drive back to the town, when Officer Hanson sees a Klown use a Tyrannosaurus rex shadow puppet to capture a group of townspeople waiting for a bus, and is finally convinced of the danger. Mike and Debbie have also recruited the Terenzi brothers, a pair of local goof-offs who drive an ice cream truck. Hanson later arrives at the police station and discovers the dead bodies of the teenage prisoners, (that Mooney had arrested earlier), splattered to the wall with cotton candy. Hanson sees a strange multi-colored footprint that leads to the room where Hanson discovers Mooney dead and being used as a puppet by the Klown that slew him, Jumbo. A horrified Hanson shoots the Klown several times with no effect until he shoots the Klown's nose; at that point, the Klown dramatically spins around until it eventually explodes, becoming the first Klown to be killed by a human.
While the town is being ransacked, Debbie is attacked twice in her home, first by the popcorn serpants in her bathroom, then by the Klowns who come for her, and she is taken away by the Klowns in a yellow balloon to their "Big Top" circus tent-spaceship. There a police officer is killed by acid pies that melt his body (that the Klowns throw at him multiple times). Mike, Officer Hanson, and the Terenzi brothers pursue the Klowns, and go into the spaceship. The Terenzi brothers are captured by the female Klowns without the others noticing. They go to the same room they were in before, but it is now filled with far more cotton candy cocoons and giant balloons than before. Suddenly, they saw a Klown, Chubby, coming in to eat. Hanson and Mike hide behind the cocoons without the Klown seing them. They discover why the Klown Army has been capturing people. By cocooning them inside their cotton candy, the Klowns gelatinize the humans' bodies into a liquid that is digestible. Vast numbers of victims (a majority of the town's population) are being stored aboard The Big Top. Chubby inserts a crazy straw into the cocoon holding the Mayor of the Crescent Cove, sucking out the deceased Mayor's gelatinized body.
Debbie is eventually freed, and she, Mike, and Dave are chased through the spaceship until they find a large room where the Klown Army stalk and surround them. Then the Terenzi brothers crash through the wall in their ice cream truck and use it's mascot, the clown head Jojo, to fool the Klowns into backing off. Suddenly, The giant klown monster, named JoJo, a 30 ft. tall leader of the Klown Army appears from the ceiling, cranking down like a stringed puppet, which makes the Klown army flee. Jojo destroys the ice cream truck, then tosses it away, where it explodes. Mike and Debbie escape to get help, leaving as a showdown between Hanson and Klownzilla ensues. While Mike and Debbie run for help, the spaceship starts to get ready to takeoff. Hanson repeatedly shoots at Jojo's nose, but keeps missing it. Suddenly, he runs out of bullets, and, he was about to refill the gun, Jojo grabbed him, brought Hanson to his face and stared at him. The spaceship starts taking off back to outer space. The police arrive, and Mike and Debbie run to them. They all watch the spaceship leaving Earth. Just as Jojo is about to eat Hanson, the human defeated him by using his police badge to stab the Klown's nose, causing Jojo to drop him and dramatically spin around until he eventually explodes, blowing the entire spaceship to smithereens and spreading fireworks in the sky. Mike and Debbie are upset, thinking the Hansen has been killed in the explosion. The Klown Kar then fell from the ship and crashed to the ground, in front of the cops. The Kar door begins to open, and, fearing Klowns may be inside, the cops get ready to shoot. They then see Hanson coming out of the car. Mike and Debbie are happy to see him alive. Despite everything, the Terenzi brothers survive with only minor injuries, in a shower of confetti, they think it's all over. Then non-acid pies fall down on their faces to the sound of the Klowns' laughter.
Main Article See: List of Killer Klowns From Outer Space Characters
Prop Objects
Giant Refrigeratore Room
Klown Kathedral
Klown Kar
Cotton Candy Cocoon, Balloon-Holding Vacuum Cleaner
Cotton Candy Cocoon Guns
Popcorn Bazooka
Balloon Ray Guns
Acid Pies
Klown Package
The Bubble Gum Pistol
The Kotton Kandy Bazooka
Main Article See: The Gallery of The Killer Klowns from Outer Space
The Return of The Killer Klowns From Outer Space
Despite rarely getting any credit, Killer Klowns from Outer Space is believed to have inspired a new generation of horror movies featuring evil clowns such as All Hallows' Eve, Stitches, Zombieland, Clown (2014), 31 and Wrinkles the Clown. The 2019 reboot of Child's Play featured a poster for Killer Klowns from Outer Space in Andy's bedroom.
As a community we at Killer Klowns Wiki value our contributors and have managed to build a sizable following, however as with all communities there are a small minority of contributors who either do not wish to play nice or are having difficulty understanding what this Wiki is all about.
These rules will serve to try and help contributors who are confused or needing a little help while also discouraging contributions that are not in the spirit of this Wiki:
Command: Although we are a friendly community we have a "command" with the admins making rules, enforcing rules and keeping order: users contribute and have fun but need to remember admins are not democratic, neither are they tyrants - Admins should be approachable and not completely insane with power but at the same time users must treat admins with the respect you give any authority or expect punishment. It's much like the real-world, you can not walk up to an authority figure and force them to do as you say, empty threats and outright stupidity will only serve to alienate you from the community as a whole - This system may not suit everyone but much like any community we need to acknowledge the fact that contributing is a privilege, not a right and like all privileges it can (and should) be removed if abused.
Plagiarism: Whenever possible only post original content - copying directly from other wikis or online sources is plagiarism and is frowned upon by the community as it gives a bad name not only to yourself but to us and can cause copyright dilemmas. Just because something is on the Internet doesn't mean its right (or even legal) to claim it as your own - Articles that are obviously taken from other wikis will be deleted as a matter of principle.
Language: Contributors should be aware that this wiki is PG-13 at best, we do not allow excessive profanity or offensive language - We are a community of mixed age groups and some profanity/offensive terms will crop up but users should not make a habit of using them. It is never acceptable to use extremely offensive language however and users who do so will face punishment. As a general rule the same applies to articles, do not litter articles with offensive language - even articles listed as mature. This may be hard when dealing with extremely controversial media (such as exploitation films or some of the Japan-exclusive manga/anime) but with such things common-sense needs to come into play: Do not go into detail about the gruesome aspects of the character and don't quote their most offensive lines. Try to make the article as "clean" as possible - that way it doesn't come across as being what is known as a "shocker".
Grammar: In the same way, remember that articles are meant to be read by people so try making them clear, concise and readable. Few people will frown upon one typing error or two but having hardly readable messes instead of articles is not very enjoyable for anyone.
Trolls: We have a zero-tolerance when it comes to trolls, whether it be for humor or for harassment - there are plenty of troll sites for that sort of behavior - this is a wiki about Killer Klowns, not a chan site.
Vandalism: Vandals will be banned on sight - much like trolls, we don't really need to explain why. Vandalism is just that.
Harassment/Cyberbullying: Any user who harasses or bullies another will be liable to punishment by admins as they see fit - If your foolish enough to pick a fight with an admin you'll likely be banned.. we are a good-natured wiki but nobody likes a bully.. we are no exception.
Editwar: Any users who engage in editwars will receive a warn and possible ban, and the article will be locked. Any user can call an admin if another user is undoing his edits for no reason.
Category Spam: Adding categories for the sake of it is counter-productive and considered a charge. When adding categories, users must add them all in one edit. Users who add one category per edit can get in trouble, especially when they do nothing else to contribute to the wiki and add many categories one by one.
No Categories on Userpages: Categories are meant to classify articles, they're not tags that you put on your social profiles.
Only add official information: Any media have more than enough information that you may need for creating an article. Do not make stuff up and especially do not add things that have nothing to do with the character in question. Fan-theories and mass guessing can go into a separate trivia section.
No "One-line" articles: There is just no excuse for laziness. Articles with little to no content (only a single paragraph or just a picture without any text) will be deleted on sight. If a user only makes articles like this he will be called out of it.
Check Categories Beforehand : We have many categories on this wiki and as stated above, creating new categories is now forbidden. Categories are meant for dozens, if not hundreds, of pages, twenty at the very least. Also, DO NOT add a page to a category that does not correspond or has been deleted. Finally DO NOT add categories that are already on the list. Do check the category page and then the article's list before doing anything. Users who disregard this rule are likely to be banned on sight.
Do Not Recreate Deleted Articles / Categories: As a general rule when an admin deletes an article or category it cannot be recreated without admin approval. However if you can provide a valid reason to do so you may proceed - users who recreate deleted articles/categories without a valid reason however risk punishment.
Links, Pictures & Misc. Items: We allow users to post links, funny pictures and "fun" items but within reason - Do not provide links to pornographic sites (rule 34 counts, just so you know) and do not upload pictures that are overly offensive. "Fun" items should only be posted into userpages or talkpages - Do not add them to main articles unless you have a good reason to do so.
No Foreign Language
More Killer Klowns Wiki
1 Shorty
3 Jumbo
Killer Klowns Wiki is a FANDOM Movies Community.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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How Can I Stay Motivated and Finish My School Work?
Dear Lifehacker,
Recently, I've been too bored or unmotivated to do my school assignments. No matter how hard I try to actually focus on it, after a half hour, my mind tells me, "No more! Let's take a break!" I'm not sure why these productivity techniques aren't working for me. Is there a way to actually get past this "not wanting to work" mentality?
Fun Motivated
Dear FM,
A lack of motivation to finish school work (or just work in general) is a tough nut to crack, and there are all kinds of possible reasons why you might struggle with staying motivated after you start. A lot of different things can kill your motivation, so let's take a look at a few possible ways to diagnose and fix the problem.
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Before we say anything else, we're going to say the obvious: get enough sleep and eat well. This isn't anything new, but we know students are particularly bad about these points (we were students once too), and they can really wreak havoc with your productivity.
The good news is that you don't necessarily need more sleep, you just need better sleep. Once you get that, the rest falls into place nicely. Likewise, you also need to eat well. Chances are you don't have a lot of money to do that, but it's possible for just a $1 a day and learning to make a few dishes at home can save you a lot of money. Even if you hate cooking, you have options for healthy foods.
How to Get Better Sleep (and Need Less Every Night)
Many of us struggle to get enough sleep every night, but is the sleep we get any good? While it's…
Recalibrate Your Daily Routine
We all have a limited amount of willpower and once that's used up, we have a hard time staying on task. If you're trying to study and finish school work after a day of classes or a job, you might need to change up your schedule so you can work on homework during a time when you can concentrate.
You've Got a Limited Supply of Willpower, so Use It Wisely
The New York Times examines why it's more difficult to exert willpower today than it was for our…
Your body has optimal times throughout the day where you're more focused and able to work than others. The trick here is to figure out when you're most productive with schoolwork and then program your day around that. When your day is scheduled properly you should be able to focus on your work a little easier.
Schedule Your Day Around Your Body's Optimal Times
Between the workday, commutes, and social events, it's incredibly hard to organize your life into a
It'll likely take a little trial-and-error before you're comfortable with your schedule, so don't expect it to work overnight. We're all a little different, so your most productive times of the day might not be what you expect. Once you've figured it out, you can schedule your classes and study times a bit better.
Change Up Your Learning Styles
At some point in your career at school, you're bound to get a little too comfortable with your learning or note taking techniques.
We've talked before about the importance of knowing how you learn best and that transfers over equally to working on your homework. You want to make sure the work you're doing is relevant to your interests (as much as it's possible in school) and try to learn by doing whenever possible.
How to Stick with It When You're Learning Something New On Your Own
Most of us have a passion to learn something new—whether it's advancing our skillset, picking up a…
If you're struggling to get through your homework, it might simply be because you're not making it worthwhile to yourself. For example, if you need to write an essay, make sure you choose a topic that really matters to you. If it's not working, don't be afraid to ditch it entirely and try something new. Doing so should help motivate you a little more.
Likewise, knowing exactly how you learn can help you find new methods to try to motivate yourself. Change up your style based on the class, subject, and even assignment until you find a method you can really focus with.
The Science Behind How We Learn New Skills
Learning new skills is one of the best ways to make yourself both marketable and happy, but…
Play Around with Different Productivity Methods
There's no such thing as a one-size-fits-all productivity system, but if things aren't working out for you then it's beneficial to keep messing around with different productivity systems until something clicks. You don't necessarily have to adhere to one method specifically, but remixing your own system is easy to do. Since you're having trouble concentrating for longer than 20 or 30 minutes, the Pomodoro technique sounds right up your alley. It uses a timer and gives you short, 25 minute bursts to work through. When you finish, you take a short break before starting again.
Do I Really Need to Learn a Productivity Method?
I've heard of productivity systems like Getting Things Done or the Pomodoro Technique, and everyone
The real trick here is to avoid wasting time on over hacking everything. Find the tools and tricks that work for you, and stick to them. In your case, nothing is working, so you'll need to keep searching until something clicks. Don't be afraid to try completely different things. If working from home isn't doing the trick, try a coffee shop or even outside.
Confessions of a Recovering Lifehacker
I used to be a lifehacking addict, and in some ways I still am. I have a perverse love of systems…
Assess Your Level of Burnout
If you're feeling unmotivated to do everything and it's not just a few homework assignments here and there, then it's a good idea to think about potential burnout. We've talked a lot about burnout before and while it seems like a lazy complaint, it's a very real problem that you have to consider.
Burnout Is Real: How to Identify and Address Your Burnout Problem
Most demanding careers practically guarantee stress, but if you're feeling completely exhausted,…
Burnout can come from all kinds of sources. From school itself to a move into a new dorm room, you're going to get exhausted at some point. If there's an obvious source of the problem, do your best to eliminate it. If not, try and pinpoint where you might be getting burned out from. With something like school, you don't have a lot of options to change the situation, but you can at least acknowledge that you need to take a break in some way.
For a student, burnout comes from all kinds of places, and it's hard to really pinpoint the problem. US News has a number of great tips for dealing with study burnout, including scheduling in socializing, finding alternate sources of income, and finding classes that fit your schedule better. However, their big takeaway is that most students really need to know when to call it a day:
While the correlation between sleep and productivity is different for all, a consistently low baseline could catch up to you at some point. Far from a night owl, Galvin notes that once 10:00 p.m. hits, he's reached his limit. "If you're going to be doing work that's very important on very low sleep, you're going to be careless," he says.
So, if you're feeling overwhelmed and burned out with school, it's probably time to take a break of some kind. As counter-intuitive as it might sound, the more distance you give yourself from your school work the more productive you'll be in the long run.
Essentially, you need to accept the fact that things aren't working for you, and try something new. Whether it's a new learning style, a new notes system, more sleep, or a whole new productivity method, you're in need of some kind of change. Unfortunately, it might take a little while before you figure out exactly what you need, but once you do you'll hopefully settle back into a productive schedule. You're already getting past the hardest step, which is just getting started. Now you need to keep that momentum going.
The Best Techniques for Taking Notes
We don't stop taking notes after we graduate: it's something many of us do in some capacity…
Photo by Andry Shadlin (Shutterstock), Mike Coughlin, wouldpkr, Sadie Hernandez, Deb Stgo, and Andy Roberts.


text:
This is a simple hackernews app implemented by [RiotJs](https://muut.com/riotjs/), it uses official hackernews api provided by firebase.

This app is converted from vuejs' [example](http://vuejs.org/examples/hackernews.html), to show that riotjs can also complete such task.

Features:
* use npm and script as dev work flow, no gulp or grunt.
* organize the code into views and components.
* use browserify to pack all the js files into one single output.
* support source map so that debugger in browser can be used.
* use riot's native routing feature.

**Online demo:** http://git.io/riot-hn

## Building and running

1. Make sure node and npm are installed

2. Clone the repo:
  ```
  git clone https://github.com/txchen/riot-hn.git
  ```

3. Install npm dependencies:
  ```bash
  cd riot-hn
  npm install
  ```

4. Start to develop, it would watch the source code and auto rebuild.
  ```bash
  npm run dev
  ```

5. Open your browser at http://127.0.0.1:9090

6. Or manually run the build, the output will be generated in ./build folder
  ```bash
  npm run build
  ```

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team enters the FIM EWC 2022 alongside Champion Lubricants.
Munich. BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team takes on the FIM Endurance World Championship 2022 with a strong partner at their side; Champion Lubricants is the new Technical Partner of BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team in the FIM EWC. Going forward, the Belgian company will join the crew of Team Manager Werner Daemen at the track whenever they compete with the #37 BMW M 1000 RR. Champion Lubricants providing the team with innovative lubricants is one aspect of the new partnership.
#37 BMW M 1000 RR
Champion Lubricants is a brand of the Belgian company Wolf Oil Corporation, one of Europe's leading independent manufacturers of high-performance lubricants with over 65 years of experience and expertise. With a portfolio of over 450 products and an extensive range only dedicated to motorcycle (engine oils, care products, fork and transmission oils), Champion is bringing products to the market that are developed in the own research & development centre and tested in the most demanding and extreme conditions, both on the track and off. This allows the company to guarantee solutions of the highest quality, during each individual manufacturing step and as final products.
Everything is in place for successful collaboration both on and off the racetrack.
Marc Bongers, BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director
"Welcome to the BMW Motorrad Motorsport family, Champion Lubricants," said BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director Marc Bongers. "This season we are eager to continue the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team success story. We celebrated the first FIM EWC win with the new BMW M 1000 RR in 2021, and the team finished the season in second place. Now it is all about taking the next step forward – which is only possible with strong partners such as Champion Lubricants. Everything is in place for successful collaboration both on and off the racetrack."
"We are delighted to welcome Champion Lubricants on board as Technical Partner in the FIM EWC," added Uwe Geyer, Head of BMW Motorrad Motorsport Marketing. "You can see how passionate, enthusiastic and dedicated Champion Lubricants are when it comes to motorsport. It is a pleasure for us that the company is now getting involved in motorcycle racing as our partner in BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team. The plans for the variety of collaborative activities show how close this partnership is."
We are proud and excited to have been selected as an official Technical Partner of the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team.
Yves Decat, Global Brand Manager at Champion Lubricants
"We are proud and excited to have been selected as an official Technical Partner of the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team," explained Yves Decat, Global Brand Manager at Champion Lubricants. "Collaborating with incredible teams across motorsport, Champion Lubricants is the brand that racers turn to when performance on the world stage relies on the power within. Our lubricants are designed with advanced innovations – like our Adaptive Shield Technology – that use specialised additives to protect the engines and keep them operating at maximum performance under extreme conditions. We are eager to see this bold new partnership evolve and grow throughout three exhilarating seasons of outstanding motorcycle racing."
"We are very enthusiastic about our partnership with Champion Lubricants," said Werner Daemen, Team Manager BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team. "Being able to work alongside global experts in lubrication technology will translate directly to our race performance. Racing is all about pushing performance to new levels – we needed a reliable partner that could take on ambitious challenges with us. We found this dedication in the Champion Lubricants team."
The 2022 season of the FIM EWC kicks off with the 24 Hours of Le Mans on 16th/17th April, followed by the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps on 4th/5th June, the 8 Hours of Suzuka on 7th August and the 24-hour race Bol d'Or at Le Castellet on 17th/18th September. As part of pre-season preparations, BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team is planning further extensive test rides with their four riders Markus Reiterberger, Ilya Mikhalchik, Jérémy Guarnoni and Kenny Foray, including at Cartagena, Spain this coming week.


text:
American Carbon Society--美国碳学会
来源: 美国碳学会
http://www.americancarbonsociety.org/
The American Carbon Society, formerly the American Carbon Committee, was established in 1957 with the express purpose of organizing U.S. conferences on carbon. Today, the aims and scope of the American Carbon Society are considerably more diverse than those envisioned by its founders. The Society promotes interdisciplinary research on the fundamentals and applications of carbon materials. Moreover, the Society organizes and/or sponsors the triennial International Conference on Carbon (" Carbon 20XX" ), the world' s most important meeting of researchers in all areas of carbon science and technology.
In the intervening years, the society organizes and/or sponsors workshops which provide a forum for reporting and discussing single-topic carbon research in a more focused manner than that afforded by the triennial conferences. The Society also promotes carbon science and engineering through its Graffin Lecture series, and recognizes excellence in carbon research through the Carbon Medal, SGL Carbon (Skakel) and Pettinos Awards. Student participation at Society-organized conferences is recognized through the Mrozowski and Walker Awards.
The Society is managed by an elected executive committee and an elected advisory board. Various sub-committees exist (e.g., awards, long-range planning, communications) to further the aims and scope of the Society.


text:
Manchester United Youth
Otten Cup 2016-17
2016-17 otten cup
Manchester United confirm Otten Cup participation - Official Manchester United Website
Manchester United's Head of Academy Nicky Butt has confirmed the club are entering an Under-19 team in the Otten Cup in Eindhoven at the start of next season.
The Reds will join Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Chivas, Red Bull Brasil, Anderlecht, Borussia Monchengladbach and hosts PSV for the eight-team tournament between 5 and 7 August.
In an exclusive interview with ManUtd.com at the announcement of a new global partnership with Gulf Oil International, Butt explained his goal is to obtain more continental experience for the young players under his tutelage.
"We feel, as a club, our next step is now trying to get more international experience for our young boys and that's one of the tournaments we're going into," he said of the Otten Cup. "We're looking at a few more as well. It's important we invite some teams across here as well and do some in-house tournaments.
"We're still at that point at the moment where it's one of those stepping stones we're going to go along to plan for the next few seasons."
Butt also stressed, while the schoolboys are often gaining international experience, it can drop off when the youngsters progress through the age groups.
"They do get a lot of international football, two or three tournaments a year abroad, right down to the 10 to 14-year-olds," he said. "When it gets to the next stage, the Under-15s, Under-16s and up to the youth team, there are so many games in the Youth Cup and different tournaments, it's hard to get them abroad as much as we'd like. It's something we're looking at. Like I say, it's a planning exercise we're doing at the minute and it's something all the coaches and all the staff are involved in."
Former midfielder Butt is getting to grips with his new role and is busy making further plans for the 2016/17 season and beyond.
"Settling in has been quite easy as I've been here a long time and knew all the people who work here," added Butt. "It's quite easy in that sense but there is a lot of stuff that is a bit outside of my comfort zone.
"There a lot of people in the background who work alongside me helping me out on that side. I tend to concentrate a lot on the football side and I've got to do a lot of preparation for next season now. We're having lots of meetings and doing lots of planning and hopefully I'll be getting onto the pitch a lot more. That's my plan."
United drawn in Group B of Otten Cup - Official Manchester United Website
Manchester United have been drawn in Group B of the Otten Cup as the Under-19 competition gets under way in the Netherlands on Friday.
The Reds are up against hosts PSV Eindhoven, German side Borussia Monchengladbach and Mexican outfit Chivas Guadalajara. The other four teams involved are Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Red Bull Brasil and Anderlecht.
Nicky Butt confirmed the club's participation in the tournament in March and it should provide excellent experience for the youngsters with Tommy Martin (pictured above with Butt) set to take charge. The games are being staged at De Herdgang and this is the 70th edition of the popular youth event.
Friday 5 August - PSV Eindhoven v United, 16:40 BST
Saturday 6 August - United v Borussia Monchengladbach, 11:20 BST
Saturday 6 August - United v Chivas Guadalajara, 14:00 BST
The semi-finals take place on Sunday at 10:00 BST with the final matches held later in the day.
Squad:
Ilias Moutha-Sebtaoui
Max Dunne
Regan Poole
Luca Ercolani
Tyrell Warren
Thomas Sang
Callum Whelan
Callum Gribbin
Angel Gomes
Indy Boonen
Ethan Hamilton
Max Johnstone
Zac Dearnley
Jake Kenyon
George Tanner
Aidy Barlow
Jake Barrett
Joshua Bohui
United v PSV: Johnstone, Dunne, Poole, Warren, Sang, Whelan, Chong, Gribbin, Hamilton, Dearnley, Kenyon
Result: PSV 1-0 United.
United v Borussia Monchengladbach: Moutha-Sebtaoui, Hamilton, Poole, Warren, Sang, Kenyon, Whelan, Chong, Dearnley, Gomes, Gribbin.
Latest: United 1-0, Gribbin penalty.
Result: United 1-0 Borussia Monchengladbach
United v Chivas: Moutha-Sebtaoui, Hamilton, Tanner, Bohui, Warren, Whelan, Boonen, Gomes, Barlow, Gribbin, Poole.
Result: United 1-1 Chivas.
Goal: Barlow
United will play Barcelona in the semi's on Sunday.
Semi-final: United v Barcelona: Moutha-Sebtaoui, Hamilton, Sang, Tanner, Whelan, Warren, Gomes, Chong, Poole, Dearnley, Gribbin.
Result: United 2-1 Barcelona.
Goals: Dearnley, Gribbin.
Final: United v Anderlecht: Moutha-Sebtaoui, Hamilton, Sang, Tanner, Whelan, Dearnley, Poole, Chong, Barlow, Gomes, Gribbin.
Result: United 0-0 Anderlecht.
Anderlecht win 8-7 on penalties.


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text:
Q: JavaScript global variable becomes undefined inside function For some reason a JavaScript global variable becomes undefined inside function. Can't figure out why. You can copy and run the code. As you can see the global variable 'target' is defined in the first alert, but then become undefined inside the function.
Here is the code:
<!doctype html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>Colors</title>
</head>
<body onload="do_game()">
<script>
var target;
var guess_input;
var finished = false;
var guesses = 0;
var colors = ['blue','brown','gold','gray','green','orange','pink','purple','red','yellow'];

function do_game() {
    var random_number = Math.random() * 10;
    var index = Math.floor(random_number);
    var target = colors[index];
alert("target = " + target);
    while (!finished) {
        guess_input = prompt("I am thinking of one those colors:\n\n"+ colors +
                                  "\n\nWhat color am I thinking of?").toLowerCase();
        guesses += 1;
        finished = check_guess();
    }
}
function check_guess() {
alert('guess_input=' + guess_input +',  target=' + target);
return true;
}
</script>
</body>
</html>

A: You are declaring the variable again inside the function. var target = colors[index];. If you want to assign colors[index] to the global target then don't use var, otherwise it will be assigned to a local variable inside the function.

A: Agreed, removing the var will fix the problem.  The main issue though is that you are not assigning anything to the global target.
When you did "var target = colors[index];", you made a new local variable called target that is visible only in do_game function.  So now you had two target variables, one local and one global.  When you tried to access it in check_guess(), you accessed the global target which was still not assigned.  But if you remove the code from check_guess and put it in do_game, it would actually work.
Just wanted to explain the question of why it was happening.

A: if you define any variable using var key word or without var , outside of function it will automatically become the global variable.
If variable has been defined in the body of any function without var keyword it will also work as global variable but if you define it using var it will become  local variable for the particular function

A: You should add the return value of 'guess_input' to the parameter of check_guess function
function do_game() {
    var random_number = Math.random() * 10;
    var index = Math.floor(random_number);
    var target = colors[index];
alert("target = " + target);
    while (!finished) {
        guess_input = prompt("I am thinking of one those colors:\n\n"+ colors +
                                  "\n\nWhat color am I thinking of?").toLowerCase();
        guesses += 1;
        finished = check_guess(guess_input);
    }
}
function check_guess(target) {
alert('guess_input=' + guess_input +',  target=' + target);
return true;
}

check this out - https://jsfiddle.net/sdqyqx21/

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange