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Tag Archives: sim city
Origin X
I don't understand Origin X. That's not to say I don't comprehend how the game is played or what I'm meant to be doing, but even as I carefully strove to ensure the survival of my planet I found myself continually muttering "I don't get it". To be understood and yet remain deeply confusing is quite an achievement, but not of the sort that pings and awards you points.
The idea of Origin X is to populate planets in a solar system. This is simple enough to grasp. Having selected a planet, you place housing for people to live in, build mines so they can work and earn you money, and construct food supplies and storage so they don't die horribly in the grim throes of starvation. This is no sim game, though. You won't build and carefully manage your colonies in Origin X. It's all very simple, just plonking down one from a list of half a dozen structures, and watching the population and food numbers at the side of the screen. Disappointingly, the colonists themselves aren't represented by anything beyond their figure on the HUD.
Considering other Xbox indie games, such as Lexiv, at least represent the population as scurrying dots, it's a shame that Origin X doesn't make the effort. It leaves the colonies feeling dead and sterile, and when you absent mindedly allow people to starve to death there's no sentiment about it at all. You don't see fewer and fewer dots wandering around the houses and mines; you just notice a number diminishing. This might be more excusable if the game engaged with the player in other ways, but this indifferent detachment is pervasive throughout.
Gigantic fireballs are bad for your miners
Privation and exposure to the savage cosmic winds that flay the surface of these barren planets aren't the only dangers for the colonists. Surprisingly enough, bone-melting heat and Plutonian frigidity also aren't very good for their health, so you have to make sure none of your inhabited planets drift too close to, or far from, the sun. The mechanic for maintaining a comfortable temperate environment is one of the most awkward in the game, and yet perhaps the one you will use most. This is where the already slightly stale Origin X starts to become Irritation X.
Unlike many sim, management or strategy games, Origin X doesn't cast you as an invisible overlord guiding events from afar. Instead you control a comet that flies around the solar system, and you must physically visit any planet that you want to manage. As a celestial body you exert a gravitational force that affects any planet you approach, pulling it towards you. This is the means by which you must ensure planets stay at the ideal distance from the sun. Unfortunately it is so imprecise and unreliable that it's more harmful than helpful. Bear in mind that you must physically fly to a planet in order to build anything on it – with your comet's gravity in constant effect, visiting a planet immediately dislodges it from its position. You can't perform any management tasks without endangering the entire world as you accidentally start it plunging into a star or drifting into deep space. Nor can you simply stop its movement by positioning yourself on its opposite side. That could cause it to reverse its direction towards equal danger, or twist it off to one side, or not have much of a noticeable effect at all. This tiresome ordeal is exacerbated by a map that occasionally takes it upon itself to be completely black for no reason, so you have no idea where you and your wayward world are in relation to the sun.
I once played a game of Origin X in which I spent three quarters of my time chasing around after my main planet, trying to drag it back to a safe position, only to make things worse and worse until everyone died. It wasn't lack of skill that caused the demise of an entire civilisation; no amount of dexterity could suffice to wrangle a manageable effect from the erratic and uncooperative gravity-steering system.
Xx5ithVaderzzz misunderstood the game
Although this planet positioning nightmare ordeal is the main cause of defeat in Origin X, it's not the one that officially ends your game. Even after everyone is killed off by living half a mile from the surface of the sun, your game will continue trundling along. There's no hope of regaining lost ground; no matter what I try, I've never managed to start a new population once the original one has died out. You're not a deity, and can't create people from thin air. The title Origin X is a little ironic, not to mention inexplicable, since originating anything is completely beyond your power.
The thing that will actually finish your game is alien attacks that steal all of your cores. Cores are glowing white blobs that orbit one of your planets, and aliens periodically try to steal them. That's all I can tell you about it, as that's all I know. The game doesn't explain any of this – what the cores are, what they do, why aliens want them, or why losing them all is the end of the game. All it tells you is that you must protect the cores. In fact, it's entirely possible to continue defending the cores without any colonists at all, through a combination of ramming them yourself and building automated turrets on the planets to shoot for you.
At first that makes the whole management/strategy side of the game seem redundant. The problem is that reaching a population goal seems to be the only way to complete a level. The success and failure criteria are unrelated, and that just adds another unwholesome globule of frustration to an already awkward and confusing experience.
Origintown was populated entirely by agoraphobes
Notice that I said reaching a population goal seems to be the only way to complete a level. That 'seems' can be applied to everything I say about Origin X. I'm all in favour of doing away with condescending tutorials that laboriously steer you through every element of a game down to the most obvious basics, but some guidance would be nice. The only things Origin X tells you are that you have to protect the cores and make sure the planets stay at a safe distance. Everything else has to be figured out as you go. What are cores? Why do they only orbit one planet? What are these buildings? What do they do? How do I get money? How do I move the planets? How do I fight off the aliens? How do I succeed or fail? What the hell is going on?
That is Origin X in a one-word nut shell: "What?!" Nothing is explained or even outlined, there's no tutorial or instructions of any sort, and you are left alone to work out the entire game on your own. Even now, I might be missing something. I've put multiple hours into Origin X and think I finally understand how it works, but I can't be certain. It's also worth noting that, uncomfortable though it is for me, I haven't got past the first level. I don't like to review a game when I haven't at least played most of it, but however many hours I put into Origin X I just can't keep the planets in a safe orbit for long enough to sustain population growth. Sooner or later everyone dies, and then I just sit and let the aliens steal my cores to bring on the blessed relief of a game over.
George W Bush longed to press 'A'
When a game is so confusing and poorly realised that it takes hours to feel remotely confident that you even know what's meant to be happening, and on top of that is so poorly designed that hours and hours of play are too little to enable a 25-year gaming veteran to complete level 1, I think "back to the drawing board" is a dizzying display of understatement. I like the idea of Origin X – part simple management sim, part basic real-time strategy, and part alien-ramming minigame. Sadly the whole package is such a mess that I can't possibly encourage anyone to play it. Between the totally absent game information and the scream-inducingly unmanageable mechanics, Origin X totters right to the very brink of being effectively unplayable, and has the cheek to affront us with bleak presentation and a glitch map while doing so.
Weep for the missed potential if you care to, but make no mistake: the only thing that Origin X originates is its own deletion.
4 Comments Posted in 80 Microsoft points, XBLIG reviews Tagged 360, digital candy, fun factory, fun factory entertainment, fun factory games, fun factory studios, funfactory, game, games, gaming, indie, origin x, review, rts, shooter, sid meier, sim city, strategy, tower defence, videogames, xbl, xbla, xblig, xbox, xbox 360, xbox live
MegaCity
There have been a few interesting Sim City-inflected hybrid games, combining city-building elements with parts of other games. In recent months, Lexiv spliced Sim City and Scrabble to surprisingly enjoyable effect. Prior to that, City Rain and Megalopolis offered puzzler gameplay with some city/landscape management flourishes. Now we have MegaCity.
Like the other games I've mentioned, MegaCity is more a puzzle game than a sim. You are presented with a grid of empty grass squares in which to place buildings. You can't choose your buildings; they're queued up in a randomly assigned order to the left of the screen. Each game starts with five houses at the top of the queue, but after that it's anyone's guess.
The idea is to gain a certain number of points along the leftmost edge of the grid. In the first few minutes the target will be four points, but this increases as you progress. When you reach the target number of points, that column will slide off the screen and a new one will appear to the right. This is how you gain more space to build and avoid filling up the grid – which would be game over.
It definitely has a 'SimCity on the Super Nintendo' look to it
The key buildings are the residential ones – houses and apartments – as only these can generate the points you need. They can't do it alone, though. Other types of buildings have effects on the spaces around themselves, causing any residential tiles to either generate or lose points. Some buildings, like landfills, only have negative effects and have to be kept out of the way. Some, like hospitals, have only good effects. Others have bits of both. Each building has its own pattern for the effect it has around it.
This probably sounds very confusing, but once you sit and play it, it's quite simple. Like many puzzle games, simple doesn't mean easy. The queue of randomly selected buildings reminds me of Tetris and, like Tetris, the luck of the draw can ruin your game. Many times I've had a pretty good run, then found myself drawing nothing but landfills and factories from the queue when all I want is a single house. And that's that: game over.
Blue = good effects, red = bad effects. Colour coded for kiddies of all ages, or something.
Aside from this main mode, where the main aim seems to be to get a high score, there are also challenge modes. I haven't managed to pass even the easiest one, but they at least mix up the gameplay. The challenge modes place certain buildings on the grid before you start, and always give you the same tiles in the same order. It's not entirely clear what the aim is though, and the game itself doesn't tell you. These modes certainly add variety, but it's hard to enjoy them when you don't know what you're meant to be aiming for.
I recommend MegaCity, but not without reservation. It's very much a puzzle game rather than a city management game, though it does have some SimCity touches in the way buildings affect each other. It's easy to learn and addictive, but the main mode gets repetitive after a while, particularly when you have to keep restarting because you happened to draw some bad buildings. The challenge modes could alleviate that, but instead they're just confusing.
Not a game that will keep you playing for weeks, but a lot of fun for a little while, and there's nothing else quite like it. Well worth 80 Microsoft points – just don't expect perfection.
2 Comments Posted in 80 Microsoft points, XBLIG reviews Tagged 360, 80 MSP, city rain, cole powered, game, games, gaming, indie, lexiv megalopolis, mega city, megacity, puzzle game, puzzler, review, sim city, simcity, tetris, videogames, xblig, xbox, xbox 360, xbox live
Oil Magnate
This review was written for The Indie Mine, though I bought it with my own Microsoft points. Please take a look. Reproduced here with permission.
Oil Magnate has a lot going for it. For a start, it's one of painfully, worryingly few indie (or mainstream, for that matter) management/strategy sims on the Xbox 360.
The premise is pretty straightforward. You are an aspiring oil baron who must assess different prospective drill sites, buy the land and then fill your drums with black liquid gold, all while three rivals do the same and try to outdo you by fair means or foul. If that sounds exciting, this game is for you. If not, it might still be for you as long you don't fall asleep during the tutorial. Although there's still the matter of… No, I don't want to mention that.
At the outset you can choose from four 'missions', which are basically definitions of the victory conditions. In one you must invest a specified amount of money over time, in another you must drive all your competitors out of business, and so on. The details of these missions can be tweaked, allowing you to make the game is easy or as difficult as you choose. You can adjust how much money you start with, how long you have to achieve the objective, and just how high the target figure is.
So far, so good. It's all very professional. You can even choose the appearance of your office from a few options. This attention to detail is reminiscent of the classic management sims, the Sim City and Civilization series.
'Firmness'... I'll leave that one to you, dear readers.
Traditionally, sim-type games don't fit very well with consoles thanks to the clunkiness of navigating menus and maps with a controller. Playing Sim City 2000 on the Super Nintendo was like trying to eat noodles by gripping one strand at a time between a pair of fresh haddock. I'm not a fan of controlling games using a mouse and keyboard, but strategy/management games and MMORPGs are the exceptions. Here, though, it all controls quite well with the Xbox pad. The menus are simple groups of buttons that are easily negotiated with the left stick or d-pad, while the minigames that arise during certain tasks arguably handle better here than they would with PC controls.
These minigames are among the most notable features of Oil Magnate, serving to prevent the game becoming a boring stat-fest. Most commonly you will have to hold a twitching dot in the centre of a circle while drilling for oil, to represent keeping the drill on course. Should one of your wells catch fire, either by chance or thanks to sabotage, you have to run around the area using dynamite to kill the flames before too much damage is done. There's also another minigame, but I don't want to talk about it. No really, I'd rather not. Leave me in blissful denial for a while longer.
You'll notice I mentioned sabotage. This is a nice feature that adds a bit of mischief to proceedings. Tired of buying, selling and drilling like a good little millionaire? Feeling pressured by your superhumanly astute business rivals? Go all Donald Trump on their asses and hire a terrorist to burn down their rigs and storage tanks, or deflate oil prices in their chosen market to cut down their profits. Oil is a dirty business, and don't think for a moment that your rivals will be able to control their own barbaric fiscal impulses. On the other hand, you run a very serious risk of having your wells confiscated if you're found out, so maybe you'd be better off sticking to the straight and narrow after all. The price of endorsing terrorism is being made slightly less rich. Who says indie games can't be realistic?
Logical divisions of the world, there.
Oh alright. Alright. I'll tell you about the other minigame. I suppose I have no choice.
The third minigame is demonstrated in the game's tutorial video, which makes it look simple. Unfortunately, as with everything else it shows you, the tutorial video is being slightly less honest than an East End market trader enticing you with his 'nearly new' plasma TVs.
I was all set to award Oil Magnate a 4 out of 5, maybe even leaning towards a 5 out of 5 depending on its longevity and replay value. The third minigame made me, in my darker moments, want to give it a 1 out of 5 and tell it to be grateful for my merciful nature. If I could punch a collection of digital information in the face, I would swing a haymaker at Oil Magnate with careless disregard for the state of my knuckles every single time I see the word 'pipeline'.
I'm getting angry just thinking about it. This minigame is simple in principle, but ferociously difficult in practice. Sometimes when you try to sell your oil stocks, a message will appear telling you that your workers need help laying a pipeline. Presumably this is how they transport the oil to the buyer, though frankly, constructing mile after mile of entirely new pipe every time you make a sale doesn't seem like efficient retail practice. When I order a new game online, I don't find Amazon or Gamestation building a monorail to my doorstep.
For reasons we will never understand, this is how your oil is moved in the confused world of Oil Magnate, and like any good corporate fat cat you done your scruffiest trousers and wade in to help the plebs yourself when they're shorthanded. You must connect the end of a pipe in the bottom right of the screen to another pipe-end in the top left. You extend the pipeline in any of four directions by pressing the corresponding face buttons, making sure you weave around hillocks and the corpses of other oil barons who did this once too often. Probably.
Parachuting in to personally extinguish fires. Business as usual for a billionaire tycoon.
Simple, right? The problem is that you're racing against an opponent who is trying to connect the other two corners for his own nefarious oil-retail purposes. Still doesn't sound too bad; a bit of healthy competition to keep you on your toes. But your opponent is flawless; it will lay its pipe without hesitation in the perfect route, without the slightest error or pause to draw breath. You must avoid any sort of delay, since even half a second will cost you the ability to sell your oil this month.
Add to this the fact that some of the obstacles don't seem to be obstacles at all, looking instead like just part of the ground. Further add to this the fun quirk of control that has pipes extending forward before turning; if you press X to extend left, it will go forward then left, resulting in running into obstacles that you thought you should be clear of.
I've played Oil Magnate for somewhere around six or seven hours so far, and out of the dozens of times the pipeline minigame has arisen, I've succeeded once.
You might think I'm over-emphasising one small problem, but this is very nearly a game-ruining flaw. You see, if you fail at the pipeline game and can't sell oil that month, you haemorrhage money. Only this afternoon, one single pipeline game moved me from almost pole position to a miserable near-ruined mess in one month. I managed to slowly get out of the red (though still very much trailing behind the competition) over the course of the next few months, only to be hit by another two pipeline games in a row, utterly finishing off my oil business and costing me the game.
This has happened more than once. A lot more than once.
Compared to the pipeline fiasco, my other complaints – no save game facility and an unhelpful tutorial – are mere niggles. Oil Magnate had been a 4, maybe even a 5. Now it's a 3, holding on by the skin of its teeth thanks solely to everything else about it being well executed.
Fast cars and immolated models. Not really representative of the content.
As I said, Oil Magnate has a lot going for it. Mostly I quite enjoy it, and maybe you will too. It has enough management sim aspects to appease an anally retentive streak, but is simple enough to be reasonably accessible to management dunces such as I. The vampire of statistical tedium is warded off by the garlic of minigame diversions. Though the tutorial misses out most of the important stuff, and the inability to save your game if you realise your dinner is burning detracts from the experience, they're just inconveniences.
The ill-conceived pipeline minigame, though, almost derails the whole thing. It can drop you from triumphant front runner to abject game-over in a matter of seconds, not because it demands skill but because it tricks you with poor visual design, confounds you with bizarre movement control, and demands computer-like perfection to defeat the eternally flawless CPU opponent. As someone who has been playing video games on a regular basis for 25 years, I have skills. But I can't beat the pipeline problem, and sadly Oil Magnate itself can't quite overcome it either. A fun game, but every moment is a countdown to inevitable disaster.
Maybe it really is going for realism.
13 Comments Posted in 240 Microsoft points, XBLIG reviews Tagged 360, civilization, game, games, gaming, indie, management sim, review, rts, sid meier, sim city, strategy, tycoon, videogames, xbla, xblig, xbox, xbox 360, xbox live


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Home Culture Culture News
'The Dropout': New Podcast Dives into Elizabeth Holmes' Alleged Theranos Fraud
She was supposed to be the next Steve Jobs. But when it turned out her tech didn't work, her lies were exposed — and her company imploded
Amelia McDonell-Parry
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Elizabeth Holmes, founder and CEO of Theranos, speaks at the Fortune Global Forum in San Francisco in 2015.
Jeff Chiu/AP/REX/Shutterstock
Only a few short years ago, Elizabeth Holmes, a Stanford University dropout turned technology startup CEO, was the youngest self-made female billionaire in the world and heralded as "the next Steve Jobs" by Silicon Valley's elite. Theranos, the biotech company she founded in 2003, at age 19, raked in nearly $1 billion in venture capital funding for the development of affordable single-drop blood tests that Holmes promised would revolutionize the healthcare industry. Now, Holmes is facing 20 years in prison for wire fraud, accused by the federal government of scheming to defraud investors, doctors and patients with false claims about "the company's technology, business, and financial performance." Today, ABC News and Nightline released the first episode of The Dropout, a new six-part podcast hosted by Chief Business, Technology and Economics Correspondent Rebecca Jarvis, who, according to a press release, spent three years investigating "the twists and turns of Elizabeth's rise and fall." The story will also be told in a forthcoming documentary of the same name, which will be previewed on tonight's episode of Nightline.
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While Holmes successfully wooed high-profile investors like Rupert Murdoch and Betsy DeVos, and partners like Walgreens — resulting in Theranos being valued at $9 billion in 2015 — behind-the-scenes, the company's technology didn't actually deliver. As first revealed by John Carreyrou of The Wall Street Journal in 2015, Theranos' patented blood tests gave inaccurate results, and secretly, the company used commercially available machines for most testing. The podcast and documentary include audio from never-before-released deposition tapes tied to lawsuits brought against Theranos — which was formally dissolved in late-2018 — by the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the state of Arizona, where Holmes lobbied for legislation that allowed residents to acquire the blood tests without a prescription, all while misrepresenting their accuracy and effectiveness.
In the first episode of The Dropout, Jarvis explores Holmes's privileged childhood in Washington D.C., where her father worked for Enron and then several government agencies and her mom was a Congressional aide. Holmes excelled at school and expressed her ambitions from an early age, telling her dad she wanted to "discover something new, something that mankind didn't know was possible." Phyllis Gardner, Holmes' former professor at Stanford University, recalls when Holmes first explained that she wanted to develop a patch that could both sample blood and deliver antibiotics, an idea which Gardner told her repeatedly wouldn't work.
Holmes was undeterred by the criticism, and ultimately found a mentor in another professor, Channing Robertson, who introduced her to several venture capitalists and supported her decision to drop out of school to focus on launching Theranos. In an interview with Bloomberg Business Week at the height of the company's supposed success, Robertson compared Holmes to Mozart, Einstein, Newton and Da Vinci; he was later deposed in several lawsuits against the company.
Holmes wanted Theranos to be the next Apple, and she recruited several early hires directly from their ranks, including product designer Anna Areola, who tells Jarvis that Holmes was "obsessed with Steve Jobs." Not only did Holmes begin wearing a signature black turtleneck just like Jobs, but several sources tell Jarvis that she also lowered her voice several octaves, speaking in a distinctive baritone.
Both the podcast and documentary also feature interviews with numerous former Theranos employees, patients who used the company's products, members of Holmes's inner circle, and other central figures, including attorney Jeff Coopersmith, who represents Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani, the former Theranos President/COO, Holmes' one-time boyfriend and current co-defendant in the government's criminal case. (Both have pleaded not guilty.)
"This is a story that I've been deeply researching and investigating for years," Jarvis said in a statement. "I've been covering business for more than a decade, from the Housing Collapse to the fall of Bear Stearns, to the Bernie Madoff Scandal. But none of these comes even close to the mystery and intrigue of Elizabeth Holmes."
In This Article: Crime,	Podcasts

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Kayhan London.
Kayhan
Majid Mohammadi
OPINION: What Are IRGC's Plans for Iran?
By Majid Mohammadi
If the Islamic Republic's domestic and foreign policies remain unchanged, we will witness three developments in Iran in the coming year:
The Majlis (Iranian Parliament), which is now controlled by Islamist hardliners, will lend its unequivocal support to the military. It will be an ineffective institution if it does not align its efforts with the vision of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. So, it is more likely that the Majlis will expedite the leader's plans.
President Hassan Rouhani's government will probably be replaced in 2022 with hardliners from the military and their supporters (young and devout people as the leader has described them).
The economic crisis will worsen in the country as the regime loses its financial power.
According to a report by the Majlis's Research Center, up to six million people will lose their jobs in the country because of the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, the vast majority of Iranians believe that many government officials are incompetent and corrupt. Both political factions and even the leader agree with the public. Mr. Khamenei has repeatedly complained about the regime's failure to fight corruption and achieve its goals.
An Iranian lawmaker wears a protective face mask, as he attends the opening ceremony of Iran's 11th parliament, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in Tehran, Iran, May 27, 2020.
REUTERS./
These three points show that the military has the power and the means to crush any unrest when the time comes. However, those in power may face challenging economic situations. What would they do under such conditions? What is the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) plan for Iran?
It is inconceivable to think that the IRGC does not have a plan for Iran's future, given that it controls the country's political propaganda machine, the Judiciary, the ballistic missile program, the security, and the intelligence agencies, and is also arguably the most oppressive organization in the entire Middle East. If cornered, the IRGC may reveal its violent nature fully.
We can expect the IRGC to act in four distinct ways as it becomes intrinsically fused with the state:
The IRGC's primary goal is to drive U.S. forces out of the region and strengthen the Islamic Republic's influence in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf (including Yemen, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates) and the Gulf of Oman and the Mediterranean Sea (Oman, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon). The regime has developed ideological centers, religious schools, and terrorist cells in these countries in the past four decades.
The Islamic Republic does not plan to invade and occupy Riyadh, Dubai, Oman, Kuwait City, Muscat, Doha, and Amman, but rather to strengthen the militias under its control in those cities and ensure the governments in those capitals do not come to power without Tehran's approval. Militia members have been studying at seminaries in Qom and the IRGC's training camps for the past 40 years.
Even if the Islamic Republic is forced to sell its entire natural resources and gold reserves and get hit by the exchange rate of 300,000 rials to a dollar, it will not stop supporting the militias under its control in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen. The regime would not abandon its plans even under the most challenging economic situations. Countries with large armies such as Russia, Turkey, and Israel can create problems for Iran.
The Islamic Republic believes that without nuclear weapons, it would be in the same predicament as Iraq was under the late President Saddam Hussain, but having nuclear bombs would put it in a similar position to North Korea. The IRGC is convinced that not having nuclear weapons will embolden foreign powers to plot the regime's overthrow through military actions. As a result, Iran's nuclear program has always included a military component.
The regime has always tried to buy components for its nuclear weapons program through various illegal channels. The harder the circumstances, the more eager the IRGC would be to test nuclear weapons. The regime's entire missile and satellite programs reportedly are aimed at making a nuclear bomb. Russia, North Korea, and Pakistan are happy that Iran's nuclear program has been a source of concern for the U.S. They could probably help Iran achieve its goals.
The IRGC is allegedly involved in the international drug trade and money laundering. Sanctions and international political pressures have reportedly prompted the organization to expand its criminal enterprise. As its power grows inside Iran, the IRGC is extending its alleged criminal activities to the five continents. No one inside Iran can hold the organization accountable for anything.
The IRGC has probably played a role in the anti-Israel protests in Germany and Britain. Shia religious centers, schools, and mosques around the world can supposedly not operate without financial support from the IRGC. However, these bits of help are not free. For instance, why should the IRGC own a $10 million cultural center in Canada? Financial difficulties will not stop the Islamic Republic from supporting these institutions, because their existence is a priority to the regime. Tehran would deprive Iranians of their livelihood to fund these centers.
To meet its financial needs, the IRGC could resort to sea piracy in the Persian Gulf. The organization has supposedly been the primary culprit in the arrest, detention, and imprisonment of dual nationals in Iran as a way of extorting money from their adopted countries. The IRGC relies more on its independent sources of revenue inside and outside Iran than on its share of the government budget. Governments and military and security analysts should not take the Islamic Republic's official budgetary allocation to the IRGC on face value. The IRGC's budget is as complicated as the organization itself.
The IRGC's alleged terror network would become more active if the regime were to fall apart. The IRGC knows that although the regime's opposition is not large, it poses a genuine threat to the Islamic Republic, in the same way that a small group of people toppled the Pahlavi dynasty when it was at its weakest. That is why the organization will most likely unleash its terror if it feels threatened.
The IRGC might have access to the methods and means allegedly used by the Russian President Vladimir Putin to silence his opponents. Opposition groups make an easy target for the IRGC if they assume that the organization is weakening, and let their guards down. Iranian Foreign Ministry officials, Shia centers, and supporters of the regime outside Iran could be willingly or unwittingly cooperating with the IRGC in its efforts to target opposition figures.
The current situation in Iran serves the IRGC's aims. The organization would welcome attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities by the U.S. and Israel because they escalate tensions. The IRGC knows that it can develop and expand its political and economic powers by promoting conflict. The IRGC has morphed into a dangerous monster with many heads, and those attacked by it will have no choice but to confront it.
This article was translated and adapted from Persian by Fardine Hamidi.
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#Corruption
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Orcon general manager Mike Shirley says he's surprised at the lack of support for the Gigatown launch from Vodafone and Spark but is quite happy to offer their customers Gig services.
Orcon has been the first ISP to connect Gigatown customers to the fastest internet in the country as Chorus enabled gigabit speed internet in the winning Gigatown, Dunedin.
"Spark announced they won't have Gig services available until around the middle of the year, and Vodafone is yet to announce any Gigabit plans," Shirley says.
"We have over 600 pre-sales for our Orcon gigabit plans and we're really excited to be hooking up customers right across Dunedin."
Orcon announced its Gigatown plans in November last year which include personal account managed installation support.
The residential Orcon 1Gbps plans start at $85 per month for 100GB and $95 a month for Unlimited.
"Part of our pre-sales 24 month plan offer included a free Roku 3 which proved popular," Shirley adds.
"Over half (53%) of our pre-sale customers opted for this plan, showing people are keen to experience streaming services on gigabit speeds, one of the many benefits of having super-fast internet.


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Universal Flooring Systems, Inc. » Services » M.A.R.S.
© 2019 BOWE Company, all rights reserved.
Cracked Floors? Powdering Floors? Deteriorating Substrate? Carpet or Flooring Need Replacement?
Universal has trademarked a revolutionary installation process that brings office down-time during installation to the absolute minimum. Installation using M.A.R.S., or "Modular Alternative Replacement System," will have only a minimal impact on your office's normal operation. Universal's M.A.R.S. system literally levitates office furniture, fixtures and electronic and automated equipment while a new floor surface is installed in the unidirectional phasing.
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M.A.R.S., is a sensible and cost-effective method of repairing substandard floors without the conventional inconveniences, such as relocation, systems furniture breakdown and setup, office disruption and lost productivity. Your office will be back on line in a fraction of the time, and a lower cost than the conventional competition.


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Ariana Grande Used Cocaine at Party Claims Perez Hilton
By Destiny Dukes	 On Feb 20, 2014
Did another Nickelodeon star fall prey to the industry's ever-present supply of drugs? Ariana Grande, former start of iCarly, and now a recording artist who is also known for her role on Sam & Cat is the subject of cocaine rumors shared by Perez Hilton.
Perez and Ariana have had some history of bad blood and some say the recent tweets from Hilton to Ariana, her brother, and Nickelodeon about reported drug use by Ariana are simply retaliation for Ariana not using Hilton as her manager after he approached her about it, and in response to her neglect for not reprimanding fans after they tweeted Hilton mean comments about his son.
Might sound arguable, but we need to look at some of the facts. First of all, Hilton has pretty thick skin. Not so sure he'd be that broken up over comments from Ariana's teeny-bopper fans. Secondly, Ariana recorded "The Way" with mac Miller, who has been accused of using cocaine dating back to 2012, when the rumors of his alleged drug use were at a high (no pun intended) and it has been reported that the two got very close, with some even saying Ariana hooked up with Miller. Lastly, petite Ariana seems to be getting thinner and thinner and has been keeping some dangerous company. We know this after she had been spotted out partying with Bieber.
So could the pressures of Hollywood, a music and acting career be the blame for her caving under pressure? It seems Perez believes her career could have something to do with it, tweeting Nickelodeon, "If it's true that @ArianaGrande has a drug problem, hopefully you guys can help her before it's too severe!"
Ariana, who her sources say is scared to even use over-the-counter Tylenol (yes, seriously), of course has her rep denying any allegations of drug use and is now claiming she's hired litigators to sue Hilton for slander. Until they have attorneys willing to litigate for "the truth hurts" don't expect her case to get too far. Her rep is simply providing the textbook response to drug allegations…that it never happened and that lawyers are already drawing up documents to sue. We've seen this one too many times.
Tell us your thoughts! Is Ariana dabbling in cocaine to stay stick thin? Did Mac Miller, who has been rumored to have a cocaine problem, get Ariana hooked on the drug? Or is Perez simply out for revenge? We want to hear from you!
Destiny Dukes
My name is Destiny Dukes, and I first got into soaps in 2013. I started watching General Hospital and The Bold and the Beautiful. I felt a connection with the characters and loved the stories as well. I even became interested in older storylines from before I started watching. I eventually picked up The Young and the Restless in 2016. I love writing as well and have been writing since I was in elementary school.


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Belmondo Before "Breathless" and the Comeback of Jean Gabin
Posted on the 05 October 2021 by Lady Eve @TheLaydeeEve
Tributes to Belmondo and Gabin Kick Off a 17-Film Noir Series
One Sunday near the end of February 2020 I spent a sunny afternoon in the dark at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco watching the first two films in what was to be a monthly program featuring French, American and British screen adaptations of the fiction of Georges Simenon, one of the fathers of film noir. The program, curated and produced by Don Malcolm and his Midcentury Productions, was called "Simenon 2020" and, as fate would have it, the series began and ended on that day, a day that also marked the last time I was inside a movie theater. Covid 19 was about to change everything.
But that was then. Now, this month, French noir returns to the Roxie when Midcentury Productions resurrects its groundbreaking annual series, The French Had a Name for It. Seventeen films made over five decades, most of them rarely seen outside of France, will be shown in three installments, on October 24, from November 12 – 14, and on December 12.
Bernadette Lafont and Jean-Paul Belmondo in A double tour
The program for Sunday, October 24, celebrates two undisputed icons of the French cinema, Jean-Paul Belmondo (1933 - 2021) and Jean Gabin (1904 - 1976). Each will be celebrated with a double feature. The Belmondo films were made just before his rise to worldwide fame in Breathless (1960). Web of Passion/Á double tour (1959) is an early film of Hitchcock aficionado Claude Chabrol; The Cheaters/Les tricheurs (1958), is one of Marcel Carné's later works. Both films are emblematic of their era and reveal Belmondo as he forged his now familiar screen persona.
Jeanne Moreau and Lino Ventura in Touchez pas au grisbi
Jean Gabin will be showcased with one of his best known films of the 1950s along with a much less familiar picture. Touchez pas au grisbi/Hands Off the Loot! (1954) was one of two films (the other was Marcel Carné's L'air de Paris/The Air of Paris) that brought Gabin the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the 1954 Venice Film Festival and revitalized his career. Grisbi was directed by Jacques Becker and stars Gabin as an aging gangster, a smooth operator who's pulled off one last great heist and is about to retire; a youngJeanne Moreau and Lino Ventura, in his film debut, have key supporting roles. People of No Importance/Les gens sans importance (1956) presents, in Don Malcolm's words, "a totally different Gabin, in a darkly poignant love tale. I think people will find the contrast to be both surprising and illuminating."
Since 2014, when the festival debuted at the Roxie, The French Had a Name for It has showcased more than 100 films. I came upon the festival in 2016 and can say without hesitation, it never, ever disappoints. At "French 3" (Nov. 2016) I was introduced to Le dernier tournant (1939), the first screen adaptation of James M. Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice, and at "French 5-1/2" (May 2019) I finally saw Jean Renoir's Night at the Crossroads/La nuit du carrefour (1932), one of the first film renderings of Simenon's venerable "Inspector Maigret." These are but a very few of the gems and rare nuggets the festival has returned to the spotlight. And now it's time to begin again, it's time for "French '21." As Don Malcolm puts it, "It's been a long siege for all of us, but we're all ready to resume our journeys on the lost continent of classic French film noir." Yes, we are.
Tickets for the Belmondo/Gabin "prelude" program are on sale now. Click here for details and ticket information. Here's the full October - December schedule:
Note: Health and Safety Precautions are in place for all screenings at the Roxie.
Legends, 1969: Belmondo (left) and Gabin (right) with Alain Delon (center)
Lady Eve 664 shares View profile
Holiday Movie Memories: 3 Favorites from the Vault
What a Character! The Everlasting Imprint of Conrad Veidt
FRENCH NOIRVEMBER RETURNS: The French Had a Name for It 2021
To Be Or Not to Be (1942), a Daring Mixed-Genre Satire from Ernst Lubitsch


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Q: JAVA RMI to make a calculator I am trying to use JAVA RMI to make a calculator. This calculator is based a "Calculate" method which is taking a "Command" object as parameter. This command objects has two double variables(numbers to be operated) one char variable(the operation"+, -, *,/") . Below are the actual codes:
The definition of the Command class:
   import java.rmi.RemoteException;
   import java.rmi.server.UnicastRemoteObject;

public class Command extends UnicastRemoteObject{
   public Command() throws RemoteException
   {

       super();
   }

private double Num1;
private double Num2;
private char Operator;

public Command (double Num1, double Num2, char
 Operator) throws RemoteException
  {
    this.Num1=Num1;
    this.Num2=Num2;
    this.Operator=Operator;
  }

 public double getNum1(){
    return Num1;
 }

  public double getNum2(){
    return Num2;
 }
 public char getOperator(){
    return Operator;
 }
 }

`
Definition of the "Calculator" Interface:
  import java.rmi.Remote;
  import java.rmi.RemoteException;

    public interface Calculator extends Remote

  {

public double Calculate(Command C) throws
RemoteException;

  }

Implementation of the calculator interface:
import java.rmi.RemoteException;
import java.rmi.server.UnicastRemoteObject;

 public class CalcuImplem extends UnicastRemoteObject
 implements Calculator
{
private double result=0;

public CalcuImplem() throws RemoteException

{
   super();
 }

 public double Calculate(Command C) throws
RemoteException

 {

switch (C.getOperator())
{
case '+' :
    result=C.getNum1()+C.getNum2();
    break;
case '*':
    result=C.getNum1()*C.getNum2();
    break;
case '-':
    result=C.getNum1()-C.getNum2();
    break;
case '/':
    result= C.getNum1()/C.getNum2();
break;
default:
    result=0;
}

return result;
 }
 }

The server:
import java.rmi.Naming;

public class CalculatorServer {

public CalculatorServer() {
    try {Calculator c = new CalcuImplem();
    Naming.rebind("rmi://localhost:1099/CalculatorService", c);
    }
    catch (Exception e) {System.out.println("Trouble: " + e);}

}
public static void main(String[] args) {
    new CalculatorServer();

}

}

The client:
import java.rmi.Naming;
import java.rmi.RemoteException;
import java.util.Scanner;
import java.net.MalformedURLException;
import java.rmi.NotBoundException;

 public class CalculatorClient  {

     public static void main(String[] args) {
        char operation = 'f';
        Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);
        System.out.println("Please input the first
      number");
        double n1= sc.nextDouble();
        System.out.println("Please input the second
       number");
        double n2= sc.nextDouble();
        System.out.println("Please choose the
        operation:");
        System.out.println("a. Add");
        System.out.println("b. Substract");
        System.out.println("c. Multiply");
        System.out.println("d. Divide");

        char oc = sc.next().charAt(0);

        switch (oc)

           {
            case 'a' :
                operation = '+';
                break;
            case 'b':
                operation = '-';
                break;
            case 'c':
                operation = '*';
                break;
            case 'd':
                operation = '/';
                break;
            default:
                System.out.println("What you has
        input is meaningless.");

            }

         try {
             Command cm = new Command(n1, n2,
          operation);

             Calculator c =
                     '(Calculator)Naming.lookup("rmi://localhost/CalculatorService");
               double r = c.Calculate(cm);
              System.out.println( r );

         } catch (MalformedURLException murle) {
             System.out.println(murle);
             }
         catch (RemoteException re) {
             System.out.println(re);              }
         catch (NotBoundException nbe)
         {
             System.out.println(nbe);
             }
         }
     }

'
My files can be compiled and the RMI registration works fine. The problem is everytime I got the error of IllegleArgumentException:argument type mismatch.
Can any of you help me to find out the issues of my code ?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Learn how to speak in front of a group, tell a story, inspire an audience, and have fun doing it! Rainbow Toastmasters is a public speaking club for the LGBT community and friends, where you'll meet casual, creative people committed to supporting each other in overcoming the jitters, building their self-confidence, polishing their presentations, and expanding their technique. We pride ourselves in fostering a casual and fun environment, one that is completely open to your personal stories.
Founded in 2005, Rainbow Toastmasters is the San Francisco Bay Area's largest communication skills training resource for the LGBT community. We welcome everyone, regardless of sexual orientation. Pay us a visit!
For more about us, including speech videos and upcoming events, visit our website (http://rainbowtoastmasters.org/).


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Whiplash is a common injury, whether you've been involved in a collision or another form of accident.
How you treat this whiplash is of the utmost importance.
Despite many people being able to "walk off" their whiplash, nearly 5/10 people will suffer from ongoing problems as a result of their injury.
This is due to whiplash still being an unknown to medical professionals, meaning there isn't a conventional treatment available.
But chiropractic is an effective and highly-sought-after option.
Even though all of these signs may start to wear off following your injury, this doesn't necessarily indicate that you're not in need of treatment.
Rather, if you leave it untreated, you may be running the risk of suffering from ongoing complications – as one study demonstrated. This found that, when people had been involved in an accident and were noticing lack of motion in their neck, there was a 3 out of 4 chance of them still noticing this problem 12 months later.
Why Is Chiropractic a Revered Whiplash Treatment?
Whiplash is now a highly recommended treatment that's suggested as the first port of call by many healthcare professionals.
Research shows that over 9/10 people feel immense relief after visiting their chiropractor for whiplash treatment.
What's more, it's a drug-free, non-invasive, and natural approach toward your health, removing the potential side effects associated with surgery and/or medication.
Your chiropractic treatment plan may include manual adjustments and spinal decompression, helping improve mobility in your muscles and joints while reducing pressure in your spine. This will also help reduce pain, restrictions, and tension, too.
Whiplash cases differ from person to person and will depend on your individual injury. However, your chiropractor will carry out in-depth examinations beforehand to suggest the best treatment for you. And they will also recommend lifestyle and dietary changes you can make, as well as at-home exercises that you can do to help boost your recovery period.
Boasting years of experience, your health is in the best possible hands when you choose our Doctors of Chiropractic. Book your appointment with them today at 780-432-1400.


text:
Home / Community Pulse (Page 8)
St. Kitts & Nevis Travel Advisory Update for Travelers from Brazil, India, South Africa & UK
June 07, 2021 in Community Pulse
St. Kitts & Nevis has extended the travel advisory for travelers arriving from the U.K., Brazil, India and South Africa as of June 5, 2021, until June 12, 2021. Persons from the aforementioned destinations are advised not to travel to St. Kitts & Nevis at this...
Guidance to Employers Re: Staff Members in Quarantine by Order of The Chief Medical Officer, Ministry of Health
May 31, 2021 in Community Pulse
In light of the current situation regarding the cluster of Covid-19 cases in our Federation, the Department of Labour is appealing to all employers to be considerate and empathetic towards workers who have been ordered by the health authorities to enter quarantine. The Department of...
Notice from The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education
The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health have made a proactive decision to close all schools in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis in an effort to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus. All public and private schools in St. Kitts...
PAM Constituency #5 Meeting
All Parishioners of St. Anne, Residents of Sandy Point and Constituents of Constituency#5 are all invited to dialogue with your Parliamentary Representative Deputy Prime Minister Hon. Shawn K. Richards at a Town Hall Meeting slated for Wednesday 19th May 2021 at the Sandy Point Community...
Taxi and Tour Bus Operators Meeting: Phased Approach to Restarting the Cruise Sector
Dear Taxi and Tour Bus Operators, You are invited to a meeting with the Minister of Tourism The Hon. Lindsay F.P. Grant at 10:00am on Wednesday 12th May, 2021 at the Royal St. Kitts Hotel Conference Room. This meeting will focus on the phased approach to restarting...


It is also as durable as a general rule other patio materials. It needs very minimal maintenance. In addition , stone veneers are much easier to discover in the market. Plain concrete usually also known as cement is probably the best material in terms of upkeep and maintenance. Plain concrete is the most affordable material available. You could start with plain concrete for your patio and when you are ready from here on out, you can basically lay new patio materials over the existing the concrete flooring. Therefore, you can treat it merely to be a foundation layer for other patio materials discussed in this particular page. Furthermore, plain concrete floor can be a strong foundation and certainly prevent surface damage.
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text:
The BigLaw Firms Fighting For Transgender Rights
July 11, 2016, Law360
Jeff Bozman and Alan Pemberton are quoted in a Law360 article that features Covington as a leader among law firms fighting to end discrimination against transgender men and women. Bozman, commenting on Covington's work with the ACLU to end the military ban on transgender people serving openly says, "What we were able to do was bring a lot of the Covington resources to bear to help the ACLU, not only to think strategically about how to achieve the objective of open service by transgender service members but also to work through the legal research that would be involved and to try to pass forward on what was going to be the most effective engagement strategy."
According to Pemberton, the team, led by Carolyn Corwin, considered litigation, but it never progressed to that level. Instead, the firm told the military both why and how the ban should be lifted.
As a former U.S. Marine Corps administrative officer, Bozman adds that it's "tremendously satisfying, from a personal perspective, to be able to give back in some small way to pay forward the work people did on my behalf."
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Homepage > Columnists > Christy Barritt > In the World -- March 17, 2013
March 17, 2013 | By Mike
In the World — March 17, 2013
By Christy Barritt
Marriage Declines in America
According to The State of Our Unions, a joint publication of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia and the Center for Marriage and Families at the Institute for American Values, 44 percent of children born in Middle America are born outside of marriage.
The term Middle America applies to those who have completed high school but do not have a four-year college degree. This group makes up approximately 60 percent of Americans.
Many are concerned about the statistic because most experts agree that children do best when raised by their married, biological parents.
"Marriage in Middle America is at a tipping point, with unwed childbearing threatening to become a new norm," the report's coauthor Brad Wilcox wrote.
The State of Our Unions has been published annually since 1999 and offers a picture of the health of marriage and family life in America.
Islamic Extremism Killed 11,000 in 2012
A new report by "The Religion of Peace," a Jihadist-monitoring site, said that in 2012, 11,267 people were killed in 2,459 different terror attacks by Islamists.
The group chronicled each attack on their website, including the siege on the American outpost in Benghazi where Ambassador Chris Stevens, two Navy SEALs, and another civil servant died.
Those primarily targeted in the attacks include Christians, Jews, rival sects of Islam, and those of other religions.
Only attacks that resulted in deaths were documented. Other attacks by Islamic extremists where no lives were claimed were not listed.
Israelis killed by Hamas rocket attacks and suicide bombings were also included on this list.
Banished Words of 2013
Lake Superior State University has released its annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Misuse, Overuse, and General Uselessness.
The 2013 list was compiled by the university based on nominations submitted from around the world. The list began as a public relations ploy. Since then, it's generated tens of thousands of nominations.
A dozen words or phrases made the list, including fiscal cliff, passion/passionate, YOLO (You only live once), spoiler alert, bucket list, trending, and superfood.
Last year's list included amazing, man cave, occupy, ginormous, and the new normal.
Hammers Killed More People Than Guns
With talks of gun control following the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, a new report from the FBI shows that guns may not be the most dangerous or most used weapon in America.
According to the FBI's annual crime statistics, the number of murders committed each year using hammers and clubs is greater than the number of murders committed with a rifle. This statistic has remained consistent for the past seven years.
In 2011, 323 murders were committed by rifle, while 496 murders were committed with hammers and clubs.
Also according to the statistics from the FBI, nearly twice as many people are killed by hands and fists each year than by rifles.
The FBI did note that the "murder by rifle" numbers could be adjusted slightly higher when taking into account murders with non-categorized types of guns.
Christy Barritt is an award-winning author, freelance writer, and speaker living in Chesapeake, Virginia. She and her husband Scott have two sons.
www.christybarritt.com
Banished Words Hammers Kill Islamic Extremism Marriage Declines
Previous StoryThe Lesson and Life — for March 17, 2013
Next StoryGod's Unchanging Nature


Day 2 - Sunday Amazon River - Yanayacu of Yacapana- Amazon Birth Place - Pirana Creek- Nauta Creek - Maranon River.
Suites (16): 21 m2 / 226.04 ft2.
Panoramic view with floor to ceiling windows, 8 with private balcony overlooking the Amazon River. 4 interconnected suites ideal for families.
Up to 38 passengers with private facilities. With the ability to accommodate a child in each cabin.
24, including Cruise Director and 3 naturalist bilingual guides (EnglishSpanish).
During the next seven days the Zafiro will sail the Amazon, Ucayali, and Maranon Rivers and their amazing tributaries that are bountiful in wildlife.
Board our comfortable excursion skiffs for your expedition on the confluence where the Maranon and Ucayali Rivers join together forming the mighty Amazon River. Nature here appears especially dramatic: birdsong accompanies your morning excursion as you glide past river banks inhabited by large-billed terns, laughing falcons, gray tanagers, and sandpipers, five kinds of parakeets, the exotic short-tailed parrot, and countless other colorful birds. We will explore the first river into the Pacaya and Samiria National Reserve named: piranha creek, in searching of wildlife; this area is known as the parrot-parakeet paradise. Return to the Zafiro at 11:30 am, followed by lunch. Enjoy Peruvian inspired midday flares in our air-conditioning dining room, while we start to sail up the Maranon River. Amazonian Philosophy Lecture. One of our naturalist guides will introduce you to the idiosyncrasy, beliefs and deep thoughts of the Amazonian people, such as the spirituality that is everywhere and not only in human beings.
Late Afternoon excursions to Nauta Creek within Pacaya-Samiria Reserve which is known as the mirrored forest, which makes perfect sense as you gaze upon its glistening black water lagoons. Our naturalist guides use their eagle eyes to help you spot toucans, parrots and macaws overhead and iguanas, sloths and monkeys among the soaring trees. On the way back to the Zafiro, the glorious sunset is reflected in these glistening waters. Return to the Zafiro.
Yanayacu of pucate and Yanayaquillo exploration, followed by delicious breakfast aboard the skiffs. Early in the morning you will start cruising through the Yanayacu and Pucate Rivers, peeking into different creeks and lagoons. This is one of the best preserved and protected zones of the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve. Your guide will use his expert eye to pinpoint all the biodiversity of this region. This is also a popular dolphin feeding spot so we won´t be the only one enjoying our happy meal here. Return to the Zafiro at 11:00 am to enjoy a delicious lunch followed by heartwarming siesta. If you want to interact directly with the waters of the Amazon, go out on one of our paddle boards. You will even have the opportunity to swim in the river along with the famous pink dolphins!
San Regis (Parque Natural Amazónico) Expedition. On this late afternoon excursion, you will take a short walk through the forest and over hanging bridges in this beautiful park full of colorful birds that are native to the area. Following this, you will have an experience with a native shaman and partake in a tree planting ceremony. Return to the Zafiro for dinner.
Night excursion into Tiger River to a place called Nahuapa. Tiger River is one of most important tributaries that flow into the Maranon River owning hundreds of other small rivers flowing into the main Tiger River. We will explore one of those small rivers called Nahuapa to look for caimans, snakes, tarantulas, night monkeys, nocturnal birds such as boat billed herons-great potoos and more. Wildlife is always active early in the morning, late afternoon and night, turning out into an amazing experience.
Samiria River expedition. After breakfast our skiffs skim the Samiria River and its tributaries, where an abundance of wildlife hides in the deep rainforest, such as blue and yellow macaws, scarlet macaws, toucans, umbrella birds, monkeys, river others, capybaras and more. Return to the Zafiro at 11:00 am, followed by lunch. Amazon lecture. Learn about where the Amazon´s name comes from, and the flora and fauna that inhabit it.
Of course, no one has to interpret these kids' bright smiles and wide eyed curiosity for you. This visit also offers an excellent opportunity to buy easy to pack artisanal handicrafts, from painted coconut bowls to surprisingly chic seed bead jewelry.
Tipishca Lake formed over 100 years ago by the Las Piedras River Cutting through the neck of a sharp meander. Lake Tipishca harbors good fish stocks, including piranha and catfish. Bird life on the lake is plentiful, the lake attracts many species which include, blue and yellow macaw, grey-necked wood-rails, putrescent tiger herons, wattle jacanas, amazon and pygmy kingfishers, green ibis, black –collared hawk, blackcapped mocking thrush and yellow-rumped caciques. You might also spot hoatzins; red capped cardinals, and ringed kingfishers.
When the night falls, you will listen to the second movement of the Amazon rainforest symphony, as nocturnal animals send their piercing calls across the canopy tree. As we take the skiffs back to the Zafiro, special spotlight torches help our naturalist guides to locate caimans, owls and capybaras.
In route to Iquitos airport, you will visit the Manatee Rescue Center, where biologists and volunteers care for endangered Amazon manatees that conservation authorities have rescued. See how the manatees are cared for, and prepared for re-introduction into their natural habitat.


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Frank Lampard's first season as Chelsea manager: The good, the bad & the ugly
Published: 21:59, 8 August 2020 | Updated: 10:07, 10 August 2020
Chelsea's 4-1 defeat to Bayern Munich in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 has brought their 2019/20 campaign to a close.
Any hopes of a shock were quickly put to bed as Bayern took a 2-0 lead inside 25 minutes thanks to goals from Robert Lewandowski and Ivan Perisic. Tammy Abraham pulled one back for Chelsea just before half-time but Corentin Tolisso and another from Lewandowski wrapped up Bayern's comprehensive win.
The 2019/20 campaign was Chelsea's first under club legend Frank Lampard, who replaced Maurizio Sarri last summer and was given a tough task of leading the Blues through a transitionary period.
Having lost star man Eden Hazard in the same summer they were unable to make any new signings due to a transfer man, there was always going to be slightly more lenient expectations of Lampard in his first season. But how did he get on?
Signed from Borussia Dortmund for £58m under Maurizio Sarri last January, but sent back to Germany on loan, there was a lot of excitement when Christian Pulisic finally linked up with his new teammates. Any expectations that came with the transfer fee for the then 20-year-old were only made higher by the hopes of having him replace Hazard.
Things started positively for Pulisic, starting four of Chelsea's first five games across all competitions, including an impressive performance in the Uefa Super Cup against Liverpool. But the American soon found himself out of the team, only getting minutes in a Carabao Cup tie against Grimsby. Reports of a loan move in January were quickly squashed by Lampard, who insisted the club had to protect Pulisic.
October brought cameo roles, but Pulisic was making the most of his time on the pitch, recording two assists including one in the 1-0 win over Ajax in the Champions League.
His first league start for almost two months brought a hat-trick against Burnley, breaking Tammy Abraham's record as the youngest to do so in the Premier League for Chelsea, and two more goals in the next two games followed. By the end of December, spirits were high and fans were happy with how Pulisic had done.
Then 2020 rolled in and Pulisic found himself out of the team once more. Innocuous injury reports combined with poor form had some fans questioning why the American was not in the team, and he remained out until football returned from its break in June – having recovered from his injury problems and had time to get back to fitness.
And the break worked wonders, as Pulisic was arguably Chelsea's best player post-break, scoring five goals from open play and recording two assists – as well as winning various dangerous set pieces that led to goals.
He was absent from the trip to Bayern due to injury, but when he returns next season, Pulisic can be Chelsea's best player – and Lampard has to take some praise for his patience and use.
Chelsea's academy graduates
For some time, Chelsea's failure to use their excellent youth academy coupled with their loan system has been used as a brush to tar the club. But that cannot be the case any longer.
Although some rival fans and even Chelsea's own may point at the circumstances that may have forced Lampard to use their younger players, being unable to sign anyone knew, the 42-year-old has kept faith in them, even during the tough times.
When Lampard was without the likes of N'Golo Kante, Mateo Kovacic and Jorginho, Billy Gilmour was given the opportunity to start in the FA Cup and Premier League. And he was even picked ahead of Jorginho later in the campaign, testament to the trust Lampard has in his abilities.
Tammy Abraham was trusted to lead the line from the start of the season and only came out of the team due to injury, and later the form of Olivier Giroud – which also proves that Lampard isn't completely blinded by the academy and is rightfully treating them as any other player. And Reece James' run in the team both at right-back and wing-back, making him almost first-choice at times.
Arguably the biggest success story, however, is that of Mason Mount. The start against Bayern Munich on Saturday was Mount's 53rd appearance of the 2019/20 campaign, more than any other Chelsea player. Of those 53 appearances, 42 have been starts, while he's only missed two matches.
Mason Mount is the first Chelsea academy graduate to earn his first-team debut and play 50+ games in the same season.
It's not because he's LaMPaRd'S sOn… he's a Chelsea Player of the Year contender. pic.twitter.com/YvQVNepS4p
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) August 1, 2020
And just one look at the bench on Saturday, even though none of them made it onto the pitch, Lampard gave an unforgettable experience to Lewis Bate, Dynel Simeu, Henry Lawrence, Ian Maatsen and Armando Broja – all of whom will be looking to be the next academy graduates to break through.
Securing Champions League football for 2020/21
If you compare Chelsea's 2019/20 campaign to their 2018/19, the without context you may come to the conclusion that they have regressed. After all, Sarri secured third and a Europa League trophy. But Lampard's fourth-placed finish should not be sniffed at, as it is so much better than many expected of him.
This was his first season as a manager in the top flight, and Chelsea had so many cards stacked against them. A Europa League spot may have been a more achievable goal according to those outside the club, as this would surely be a transitional season.
But Lampard secured a top four finish, though he left it late, and got Chelsea to the FA Cup final and through what was a tricky Champions League group.
OFFICIAL: The 2019-20 Premier League Manager of the Season nominees:
❍ Jürgen Klopp
❍ Frank Lampard
❍ Brendan Rodgers
❍ Chris Wilder#PLAwards
— Squawka News (@SquawkaNews) August 7, 2020
These accomplishments haven't gone unnoticed, as Lampard has been nominated for the Premier League's Manager of the Year award and Bayern boss Hansi Flick was complimentary of his opponent ahead of Saturday's game.
He said: "I can say that Lampard has been doing an extraordinary job at Chelsea because they have managed to qualify for the Champions League next season via the Premier League.
"They were pretty successful after the restart and I watched the last matches of Chelsea of course and I like the way they play and how they performed. It was a difficult situation of course with difficult conditions, conditions before the start of the season when he first started.
"But when you look at the end of the season and what he achieved, how he performed, he really had an extraordinary season with his team."
The bar will undeniably be raised for next season, but Lampard should be recognised for the good job he has done so far.
Losing too many big games
Not everything was rosy at Stamford Bridge in 2019/20, however. As highlighted across the campaign, in the FA Cup and particularly the two Champions League last-16 legs against Bayern Munich, Chelsea just weren't good enough in the "big games".
Across the campaign, in all competitions, Chelsea played other members of England's so-called Big Six on 15 occasions. They won six of those, but lost eight including league doubles against Manchester United and Liverpool, the FA Cup final against Arsenal and Super Cup against Liverpool once more.
In the Champions League group stages, there was that 1-0 defeat to Valencia in the opener and 2-2 draw with Los Che when victory would have secured qualification instead of leaving it to the final day.
Then, against Bayern Munich in two legs, Chelsea shipped seven goals goals, bringing their 2019/20 campaign to an end with a whimper – bizarrely waiting until the 80th minute to make their first change.
Lack of clinical finishing
Another problem for Chelsea, something that has plagued them for a few years, but Lampard has so far been unable to remedy, is their wastefulness in front of goal.
Despite 69 Premier League goals in 2019/20, a tally bettered only by Manchester City and Liverpool, Chelsea often lost games or dropped points because they couldn't finish their chances.
Again only Manchester City and Liverpool created more Big Chances in the Premier League than Chelsea's 106, however, the Blues missed an incredible 70 of them. Only four teams – Brighton and Hove Albion, Norwich City, Burnley and Sheffield United – had a worse Big Chance conversion rate in the Premier League. Abraham was Chelsea's biggest culprit, missing 22 of his 31 Big Chances, with only Gabriel Jesus (24) missing more in the division.
Chelsea will be relying on new signing Timo Werner to change their fortunes next season
Against Bayern, it took Chelsea 25 minutes to have their first shot, with Emerson testing Manuel Neuer and they were unfortunate to have Callum Hudson-Odoi's strike ruled out for offside. Tammy Abraham did find a way past Manuel Neuer just before half-time, though it came via an error from the German.
Chelsea started the second half brighter and had two decent chances in the opening five minutes but were let down by their ruthlessness, first Mount's shot being too tame before Barkley was unable to finish after Abraham's good hold up play.
In total, Chelsea had 10 shots to Bayern's 18 but hit the target on just four occasions, while their hosts scored with four of their seven efforts on target.
A positive for Lampard and Chelsea is that they have already moved to fix this problem, signing Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech – two players that will add to their bite in front of goal. Werner has been known to miss chances of his own, but the German striker is also capable of creating a goal from next to nothing.
And finally, the problem everyone knows Chelsea have, and the one that has arguably cost them most: their defending.
Chelsea may have scored the third-most goals in the Premier League, but they also let in the highest in the top half of the table. The 54 goals conceded was Chelsea's worst since 1996/97 when they conceded 55, and across all competitions they conceded at least two goals in a game 23 times.
Kepa Arrizabalaga has taken most of the blame, for his poor shot-stopping record, saving just 53.47% of the shots he faced – the lowest of any goalkeeper in the Premier League to have made more than five appearances. However, Lampard isn't completely innocent.
At times, the Blues have looked lost defensively, and played into their opponents' hands. Focusing on Saturday's second leg, Lampard returned to a back four having used a three-man central defence in Chelsea's previous four games – bringing two wins and two defeats. But it took Bayern just eight minutes to break through Chelsea's defence, with the back four beaten by a simple ball from Serge Gnabry into Robert Lewandowski. The Polish striker was able to run into the box unmarked and was brought down by Willy Caballero, and the penalty confirmed by VAR after an initial offside call. Unsurprisingly, Lewandowski tucked the ball away calmly – his 52nd goal of the 2019/20 season.
Bayern's second was almost as easy as their first, with Mateo Kovacic dispossessed in midfield and Chelsea wide open, allowing Lewandowski to play in Ivan Perisic to double the hosts' lead. Despite showing more defensive competency in the second half, Chelsea still allowed their hosts chances to extend their advantage, particularly when Thomas Muller was left open inside the six-yard area from a cross and a free header for Thiago from a corner within minutes of each other. Bayern wouldn't pass up a third opportunity, with Corentin Tolisso scoring from close range, again unmarked. And a fourth wasn't too far behind, to complete the humiliation.
The four goals conceded at the Allianz means Lampard statistically has the worst defensive record of any Chelsea manager during the Roman Abramovich era.
While it may be unkind to compare Lampard's record to that of Jose Mourinho's first stint (0.63 goals conceded per game), Avram Grant (0.65), Luis Felipe Scolari (0.67) and Carlo Ancellotti (0.85) as they had the far superior options, the difference between the 42-year-old and Antonio Conte (0.96) and Maurizio Sarri (0.92) are still damning.
Having largely the same defensive personnel, particularly with Sarri, Lampard's Chelsea are conceding at a significantly more frequent rate than his predecessors. A high line used in the FA Cup final against Arsenal drew comparisons to a style Andre Villas-Boas once donned, with players not fast enough to actually make it effective.
Chelsea are also being linked with signings to shore up their defence, but Lampard may also need to rethink his tactics and coaching to get the most out of them next season.
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Kingdom Hearts Complete Package Arrives in March
Perfect for those that do not own any Kingdom Hearts game.
In the far off time of late 2018, Square Enix released a couple of different package deals for the Kingdom Hearts franchise. Specifically, they released a package deal called Kingdom Hearts - The Story So Far - that included Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5+2.5 ReMIX and Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue.
Essentially, this deal included nearly all of the content leading up to Kingdom Hearts 3. It cost you just $39.99...
Square Enix Offers Discounts on Final Fantasy Mobile Games
Tis the season, the season for SAVINGS!
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You can save on games like Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, Mobius Final Fantasy, and Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omn...
Kingdom Hearts 3 Re Mind DLC Officially Announced
You probably already saw the leaked trailer though.
Square Enix officially announced Kingdom Heart III Re Mind DLC for a January 23, 2020 release on the PlayStation 4. It will hit the Xbox One platform on February 25, 2020.
This DLC will provide a new playable episode for those that have completed the base Kingdom Hearts III game. A new trailer, officially revealed today, shows off some of the Final Fantasy characters that will appear in the DLC. This includes a look at...
Final Fantasy X and XII Coming Soon to Nintendo Switch and Xbox One
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Kingdom Hearts Event Begins Today in Final Fantasy Brave Exvius
Today is the day that some of you were probably (maybe?) waiting for. Today marks the start of the limited-time Kingdom Hearts event for Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. From now until January 11, players can now get Sora and Cloud from the first Kingdom Hearts game through a new featured summon.
Square says you can find more information about this event on the Final Fantasy Brave Exvius Facebook page. You can also check out the new trailer showing off the event in...
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Final Fantasy Brave Exvius Collaboration Event Announced
Square Enix sure does love its crossovers and collaborations. The latest is a collaboration between Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Final Fantasy Brave Exvius that will see some augmented goodies showing up in the popular mobile app.
During the event, players can join the elite Task Force 29 and take on the fearsome Mechanical Ogre raid boss to earn fabulous rewards. Viktor Marchenko will also test players to earn additional rewards. Iconic characters Adam Jensen, Viktor Marchenko, Vaclav
Lara Croft Coming to Final Fantasy Brave Exvius
Square Enix continues their trend of announcing cross-over content with today's announcement of Lara Croft being added to Final Fantasy Brave Exvius (audio warning) starting on March 9.
From March 9 through March 22, all players will be able to add Lara Croft from the action-adventure video game, Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris to their roster. Players must complete the first event stage or collect daily login bonuses to obtain the playable heroine. The daily login bonuses will
Shawn Zipay started a topic Lara Croft Coming to Final Fantasy Brave Exvius
Square Enix continues their trend of announcing cross-over content with today's announcement of Lara Croft being added to Final Fantasy Brave ...
Earn Prizes All Month as Final Fantasy Brave Exvius Celebrates 30 Million Downloads
Square Enix is holding a special giveaway raffle in Final Fantasy Brave Exvius to celebrate hitting 30 million downloads worldwide. All players need to do to be entered is complete a celebratory quest that looks like it will run from March 22 until March 31.
Shawn Zipay started a topic Earn Prizes All Month as Final Fantasy Brave Exvius Celebrates 30 Million Downloads
Square Enix is holding a special giveaway raffle in Final Fantasy Brave Exvius to celebrate hitting 30 million downloads worldwide. All players...
Dissidia Final Fantasy NT Out Now on PlayStation 4
Square Enix has released Dissidia Final Fantasy NT today on the PlayStation 4. This game pits classic Final Fantasy characters against each other in a tense 3 vs 3 battle. Square Enix seems quite proud of this one because they say that the game includes "entertaining story clips with your favorite characters, gorgeous visuals, and a stellar soundtrack."
Developed in partnership with veteran fighting game studio Team NINJA from KOEI TECMO GAMES, DISSIDIA FINAL FANTASY NT is a unique
Shawn Zipay started a topic Dissidia Final Fantasy NT Out Now on PlayStation 4
Square Enix has released Dissidia Final Fantasy NT today on the PlayStation 4. This game pits classic Final Fantasy characters against each other...
Open Beta Begins Today for Dissidia Final Fantasy NT on PS4
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Shawn Zipay started a topic Open Beta Begins Today for Dissidia Final Fantasy NT on PS4
Starting today, PlayStation 4 owners can hop into the Dissidia Final Fantasy NT. This game is a team-based brawler that features a ton of characters...
Square Enix Mobile Holiday Sales are Live
Square Enix has its own round of sales for the Holidays, specifically for the mobile market. In addition to their games being on sale through your favorite desktop digital etailer, Square Enix has a sale going on through places like the Apple App Store, Google Play, and the Amazon Appstore.
$17.99 → $14.99 (App Store) | $17.99 → $15.99 (Google Play)


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Catastrophic to halt Brexit, PM May warns
Jeremy Corbyn appears on BBC TV - AAP
British Prime Minister Theresa May has warned MPs that failing to deliver Brexit would be catastrophic for democracy, two days before parliament is expected to reject her deal with Brussels.
May, who postponed a vote in parliament on her deal in December after admitting she was set to lose it, said MPs must not let down the people who backed Brexit in a June 2016 referendum.
"Doing so would be a catastrophic and unforgivable breach of trust in our democracy," she wrote in the Sunday Express.
"So my message to Parliament this weekend is simple: it is time to forget the games and do what is right for our country."
May has so far refused to retreat from her unpopular deal, which envisages close trading ties with the EU, but without any say on policy as Britain has now, when it exits on March 29.
May's deal has come under fire from all sides -- with opponents of the EU seeking a cleaner break and many pro-Europeans pressing for a second referendum. May is expected to suffer a big defeat when parliament votes on Tuesday.
Brexit minister Stephen Barclay told BBC TV that persuading enough MPs to support the deal would be "challenging" but that even if it was rejected, he suspected parliament would ultimately support something "along the lines of this deal".
Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said leaving the EU without a deal would be catastrophic and his party would do everything it could to prevent that outcome.
However, Corbyn's priority is to force a national election and he said he would propose a vote of confidence in the government "soon" if May loses on Tuesday.
After a week in which parliament forced the government to promise to come back with a plan B within days if May's deal is rejected, Barclay said the risk of parliament acting in a way that frustrates Brexit had increased.
The Sunday Times reported that rebel MPs were planning to wrest control of the legislative agenda away from May next week with a view to suspending or delaying Brexit, citing a senior government source.
Vince Cable, the leader of the pro-EU Liberal Democrats, said parliament would act to prevent a no deal Brexit, and could ultimately seek to prevent Brexit altogether.
Cable said this could be done by revoking Article 50, the mechanism which triggered the exit process, or by holding a second referendum.
Asked about the prospect of another referendum, Corbyn told BBC TV:
"My own view is that I would rather get a negotiated deal now, if we can, to stop the danger of a no-deal exit from the EU on the 29th of March which would be catastrophic for industry, catastrophic for trade."
Corbyn said that if he forced a national election and his party won, Brexit may have to be delayed while they negotiated a new deal with the EU.
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SKorean leader slams Japan export curbs
South Korean President Moon Jae-in has criticised Japanese export curbs and urged Japan to refrain from pushing the situation to a "dead-end street."