text:
The Augmented Newsroom: How AI/ML Can Amplify Your Reporting
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes and 30 seconds
So many stories, so little time. In this era of 24 hour news cycles where news breaks more often on social media than on the front page, newsrooms and journalists have been able to work more efficiently to stay on top of important stories by using Artificial Intelligence. AI has long been seen as away of relegating the more mundane, time-consuming tasks away from the man to the machine, allowing journalists more time to do the thing we rely on them for: reporting. But things are changing, and AI is developing with an aim of doing more to the newsroom than helping achieve maximum productivity.
Some early adopters in the AI efficiency space were technologies like the BBC News' Juicer Project. Juicer launched in 2012 with the aim to "provide a source of tagged News content to power prototypes." Juicer, which has since been folded into BBC News Labs, is able to capture the power of machine searching, quickly scanning through new articles and pulling out trending content. This fast, automated process ultimately streamles media workflow. The same goes for Reuter's News Tracer, a technology that tracks breaking news and allows for reporters to identify and then substantiate their stories in real time.
Even newspapers like the New York Times have taken a shot at using AI to help simplify the reporting process. Their Editor app scans articles to then extract relevant data at superhuman speed. "As the journalist is writing in the text editor, every word, phrase and sentence is emitted on to the network so that any microservice can process that text and send relevant metadata back to the editor interface." The Times even uses AI to help moderate their popular comments section. Manpower only allowed for them to moderate comments on 10 percent of articles. The Perspective API tool developed by Jigsaw, is "creating an opportunity to encourage constructive discussions online by using machine learning to increase the efficiency of comment moderation."
In 2015, The Washington Post launched Knowledge Map with the aim to give "readers an easier way to catch up on ongoing stories by quickly and seamlessly providing relevant background, additional information or answers to frequently asked questions, when the reader wants it." AI tools such as this are not only enhancing the reader experience, they're empowering journalists first and foremost by pointing them in the direction of timely story ideas, helping them analyze pertinent data, and ultimately assisting them on how best to adapt those stories to their audience.
And how does a reporter find their way to the perfect story for their readers? The entire process begins when, for example, journalists use services like Dataminr. Dataminr uses AI to augment newsrooms in multiple ways - most importantly by delivering high-impact events and breaking news directly to journalists as it happens. From the outset, this saves time by reliving journalists of having to research by using hashtags, usernames and keywords. Best of all, Dataminr works especially well for newsrooms on a budget, as Dataminr provides information faster than traditional sources at a fraction of the cost.
Looking ahead to the AI of tomorrow, there are some new, forward-thinking AI solutions currently in development in Europe, many of which are focusing on applications that can help journalists better report their stories and allowing for more time to focus on facts. Rossum, for example, founded by a publisher and data scientist, focuses on deep, contextual analysis of documents. This kind of work can save a lot of time when reporting on a data intensive story. But there's more. Rossum is taking extract to a whole new level. Rossum "sees" semantics "the way a human mind does." So this isn't data just for the sake of data, its data with context.
Factmata is another company that is developing technology to "deal with hate speech, propaganda, fake news, and clickbait. Our goal is to be able to provide a real time quality and credibility score to any piece of content on the web."
Furthermore, there are some technologies, like Exponenta.io, that are simply looking to help optimize content for maximum virality. These technologies are about efficiency and finding the fastest way to the facts, but they're also there to make it easier for the creators of content to find out and understand who is actually consuming their content.
No matter which way you look at it, when it comes to AI and Machine Learning the name of the game is optimization. AI in the newsroom has changed the way journalists work, and new and burgeoning advances in technology will only continue to move the world toward an even more augmented newsroom - one that strives gives its readers the best possible stories at the exact moment they need them.
How New Tools and Technologies Are Shaping Journalism School Programs
How to Fight Information Overload and Find Signals in the Noise
How Journalists Stay on Top of Breaking Stories, Wherever They Surface
5 Tips for Teaching Journalism in the Age of Social Media


How do you find a good concrete contractor?
Concrete contractors pave driveways, build foundations for homes, install retaining walls, create hardscaping for front and back yards, build concrete steps, and so much more. When searching for a driveway contractor, read reviews from previous customers and ask for referrals. Ask the contractor for photos of examples of their work that's similar to what you want. Confirm they will get the proper permits so your driveway is up to code. Hiring a driveway contractor to install concrete can average $5-$6 per square foot, or more, depending on where you live, the slope and grade of the driveway site, and regional labor costs. For a new asphalt driveway, the cost could average from $3-5 per square foot. A standard concrete driveway of 500 square feet averaging $5-$6 per square foot would cost $2,500-$3,000 — so it pays to research someone who will do quality work. Excavation and grading work can increase your cost per square foot significantly. Ask whether the contractor provides a materials and labor warranty for their work. Some cracking of the concrete may occur as it settles, but you should talk with your contractor about any structural or aesthetic concerns you have. When hiring a concrete contractor, check out our tips for smart hiring on Thumbtack.
How long does it take to install a hardwood floor?
Hardwood floor installation can take anywhere from a few days to more than two weeks, depending on demolition, wood type, the condition of your subfloor, total square footage of the project, and installation method. Demolition is necessary if you have existing flooring you want to replace with hardwood floors. New-construction homes do not require this step, as the subfloor is primed and ready for floor installation. During demolition, the flooring crew may find that your subfloor has damaged wood, uneven surfaces or other problems that must be addressed before the new wood can be laid down. Crews may charge on an hourly rate for subfloor repair, and the work can take a few hours to several days, depending on what's hiding underneath your floor. The wood for your new floor generally arrives a few days before any work begins. This allows the wood to acclimate to the relative humidity in your house, which prevents it from shrinking or expanding after installation and causing gaps or buckling. The actual wood installation may take several days or more, depending on the size of your home and what type of custom cutting and designs are desired. If your flooring is not prefinished, the unfinished wood must then be sanded and stained in the home to treat and protect your new investment. Typically, stain takes a full day to dry, and multiple coats are applied. Baseboards and trim must also be installed. With all these variables at play, you can see why it's important for a wood installation pro to provide an estimate only after seeing your home.
What do paving contractors do?
Paving contractors can be hired to install a concrete or asphalt driveway at your home, office or property. They can also repave an asphalt or concrete driveway that has been damaged by time, weather or heavy loads. When you are looking for a driveway contractor, request quotes from at least three professionals who are in good standing and have great customer reviews. They should do a site visit and write you a bid, detailing the work involved, materials needed, approximate length of the project and estimated cost.
The site for your new driveway will determine costs and the work required for your contractor. First, the ground must be excavated to lay a clear path. This means removing any trees, bushes and stumps. Next, the driveway contractor will grade the area, making a level surface for the concrete or asphalt. To ensure proper drainage, driveway contractors should install a sub-base of compacted gravel (or similar) 4 inches-8 inches deep, depending on your soil type. Then the concrete or asphalt may be poured and smoothed over the top. Your driveway contractor should recommend an appropriate sealant for your climate and advise you on curing time. When hiring a paving contractor, check out our tips for smart hiring on Thumbtack.
How much does it cost to redo a concrete driveway?
The national average cost to hire a concrete specialist is $2,750, but that price can vary greatly depending on the work needed to repair and resurface your concrete driveway, the square footage of the project, current costs of concrete, and regional labor rates.
Driveway contractors average $2-$3 per square foot to smooth and resurface your asphalt driveway.
Resurfacing concrete driveways averages $3-$10 per square foot. Pricing can depend on repairs needed, project size and geographic location.
Nationally, the average cost for resurfacing a 500-square-foot driveway ranges from $2,000 to $5,000.
Sealant for a concrete drive can cost $20-$80 per gallon.
Sealant for an asphalt drive averages 25 cents per square foot.
How much does it cost to install hardwood floors?
The cost of hardwood floors will depend primarily on the total square footage of flooring, the type of wood you select, the cost of labor in your region, and any preparation or repair work that needs to take place before installation. Selecting exotic woods, such as teak, will result in a higher cost for the project than a more affordable wood such as oak. The national average cost of hardwood floor installation is $5,750. Here are some examples of different woods and their average costs; actual costs will vary depending on the factors listed above.
Basic wood floor installation: $3 per square foot from a wood floor installation company.
The product cost for hand-scraped ¾-inch oak planks: $7 per square foot.
Residential installation, total project cost: ~ $2,400 with five days of labor.
¾-inch dark stained maple installed on top of new concrete in three rooms, a hallways, and a staircase.
Cost for total project: ~$3.87 per square foot.


US-based aluminium producer Alcoa will invest R$100m ($40m) to increase production of speciality foils for aseptic and flexible packaging at its rolling mill located in Itapissuma in Pernambuco, Brazil.
Aseptic and flexible packaging made with speciality foil allows liquid food products to retain nutrients and taste. Alcoa claims that food items offered in aseptic packaging remain ready for consumption for up to one year, even if unrefrigerated.
The Itapissuma packaging facility currently employs nearly 700 people, and the expansion would add a further 50 new jobs at the plant when production ramps up. Initial work for the expansion is in progress, while the commissioning is expected to start in 2016.
Alcoa Latin America and Caribbean president Aquilino Paolucci said that the company's aluminium foils are used in the manufacture of speciality packaging in the Latin American market. "A growing number of consumers prefer this type of packaging because it keeps products fresher longer, and our expansion will enable Alcoa and our customers to capture that rising demand," Paolucci added.
Alcoa manufactures aluminium sheet and foil for use in a variety of packaging applications, including food and drinks containers. The latest investment is part of the company's ongoing transformation to build its midstream and downstream businesses to capture profitable growth.


Deadline: Entries must be posted by the midnight on Monday the 31st of December. (Please bear in mind that due to the new year voting may be delayed slightly as Charlotte will obviously be drunk). VOTING ENDS ON THE 9TH OF JANUARY.
Last edit: 10 Jan 2019 14:25 by Banj.
So i didn't want to spend any longer on this. Mostly because I'm getting fed up of overworking things but also because I'm lazy.
Happy New year all and this is dedicated to all those we lost in 2018.
And a hulking great Christmas card.
I'm gonna go for Atto this month.
Credit and Kudos to oaktree though, for that humungous amount of work. Putting together an entire story, expressing it across all those dynamic panels and then combining them into a successful single composition is impressive ambitious, and imaginative. After all your recent improvements it seems like you're on a roll. Don't let your wacom stop that momentum.
But I'm still a sucker for a good portrait, and Atto's pic is a damn good portrait. That is definitely "The Man" himself. Recognisable in likeness, expression and presence.
It has solidity of form, variety in texture and edge, along with a credibility and poignancy as he gazes off into that bright distant light that we can't directly see. And what a terrific ear too! I also have a weakness for good ears and this has the perfect amount of warmth and specularity.
Yes, I know that's not the most famous equation you can think of but it's the most relevant at the moment.
So for me it was hard to make a vote The portrait of the great man was defiantly who it was supposed to be really well produce Atto but for me I could not see the end of year link as requested in the challenge brief. So my vote goes to Valence for the Hulk another of my favorite characters.
I now have a new wacom so should be OK for Jan.
Just realised I hadn't voted - sorry all!
This month I really struggled to pick a winner.
I've gone for Val in the end because I think his final result was a lot more finished than Oaks. I'd never vote for the other guy as I know for a fact he only spent about 6 hours on it.....in a month! A MONTH! I mean come ON!
Saying that I think Oak should deserve a special mention for the sheer amount of work he put in - it was a monthly challenge and it would take me about 3 months just to get the idea and choose a suitable layout. Excellent stuff Oak - long may you continue with this kind of commitment.
Oh yeah thanks for the tip Charlotte I'm gonna try that at some point.
Last edit: 09 Jan 2019 00:16 by Atto.
It does appear that voting is over (even though the polls not closing properly suggests otherwise). And it does appear that Valence has won this challenge. And it appears that congratulations are in order.
 Wait a minute... I'm early by several whole hours. There could be a massive influx of votes suddenly appear. Ignore me, pretend you didn't see anything and nothing actually happened.
Last edit: 10 Jan 2019 14:23 by Banj.


The availability of aquatic and aerial invertebrates as potential foods for Anatini (dabbler) ducklings was explored during the summers of 1998 and 1999 in eastern South Dakota. Two study areas, the Oakwood Lakes complex and Mickelson Memorial Wetland, were chosen for this research during the summer of 1998. In 1999, a third area, Redetzke Game Production Area (GPA), was added. Wetlands within the preselected study areas were classified as either high-use or low-use by dabbler (Anatini) duckling broods according to brood observations. Aquatic and aerial invertebrates were collected from these wetlands using funnel traps and sticky traps, respectively. Aquatic and aerial invertebrates were sorted and identified to family. Total and taxa abundance and volume displacement were measured. Additional habitat characteristics were also measured at each sampling site. Simple correlation revealed no similar trends in invertebrate abundance and volume during 1998 or 1999. In 1998, there was no apparent association between aquatic and surface invertebrate abundance (r=0.022, P=0.197) or volume (r=0.003, P=0.655). Similar results were found for aquatic and surface invertebrate abundance (r2=0. P=0.995) and volume (r=0.001, P=0.850) in 1999. Mean aquatic and aerial invertebrate abundance and volume were compared between wetlands receiving high- and low-use by ducklings. In 1998, aquatic invertebrate abundance was greater in high-use areas compared to low-use areas (P=0.027) while it was statistically similar between areas in 1999 (P=0.337). High- and low-use areas had similar aquatic invertebrate volume in 1998 (P=0.283). In contrast, 1999 low-use areas had greater aquatic invertebrate volume compared to high-use areas (P=0.069). Aerial insect abundance was greater in high-use areas compared to low-use areas in 1998 (P=0.097) whereas aerial insect abundance in 1999 was similar between areas (P=0. 337). Low-use areas had greater aerial insect volume than high-use areas in 1998 (P=0.038) while no differences were detected between surface insect volumes in 1999 high- and low-use areas (P=O. 126). Adult chironomids, a favorite food of many ducklings, were more abundant in high-use areas compared to low-use areas (P=0.001). In contrast, 1999 low-use areas had greater adult chironomid abundance than high-use areas (P=0.007). The influence of habitat variables on invertebrate abundance and volume was also explored. Aquatic invertebrate abundance was positively associated with high air temperature .in 1998 and 1999. During both years, an increase in aquatic invertebrate volume was associated with an increase in submerged vegetative cover. There was also a positive relationship found between the volume of aquatic invertebrates and their distance from emergent vegetation. Surface insect abundance increased with an increase in the surrounding air temperature, as well as an increase in submerged vegetative cover. Wind speed was the predominant variable positively associated with surface insect volume during 1998 and 1999. The absence of association between aquatic and aerial invertebrates helps illustrate the importance of knowing both invertebrate communities before assessing the suitability of a wetland for brood-rearing. Data from 1998 high- and low-use areas imply that numbers of invertebrates may have been the major determinant of habitat used by dabbler broods. High- and low-use areas in 1999 had similar invertebrate abundances, suggesting other factors played a role in habitat selection. Protection of wetlands with an abundance of both aerial and aquatic invertebrates in addition to adequate emergent escape cover is warranted. Additional research reinforcing the importance of aerial insects as duckling food may provide more insight into their role in suitable brood-rearing habitat.
Copyright © 2000 Rebecca L. Ramussen. All rights reserved.
Rasmussen, Rebecca L., "Availabilty of Potential Invertebrate Foods for Anatini Ducklings Above and Below the Water Surface of Eastern South Dakota Wetlands" (2000). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 372.


text:
Matthew Davis
From the age of three, I've been a student of music trivia building up my knowledge of punk and Australian alternative music. (Thanks Mum). Punk has always played a big role in my life and inspired me to play the guitar. I work as a stagehand in the music and theatre industry and now run my own podcast, The Techie and The Talon Show.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Narodna zaštita osnovana je 15. srpnja 1941., a zadaća joj je bila rad na smanjenju ratne štete ili štete uzrokovane prirodnim nepogodama. Bila je pod zapovjedništvom Ministarstva domobranstva. Pripadnici NZ služili su i kao vatrogasci, pričuvni redarstvenici, čuvali su važne javne objekte, bili su kuriri i sl. Nakon 1944. orijentiraju se na popravak i obnovu nakon zračnih napada. Usklađivala je rad vatrogasne, tehničke, kemijske, zdravstvene i veterinarske službe, te nadzirala pripreme za evakuaciju, provedbu zamračenja, izgradnju i uređenje skloništa i proizvodnju, uvoz, prodaju i upotrebu zaštitnih sredstava. Postojalo je 40-ak pričuvnih satnija i tri glavne pukovnije. NZ je služila i kao mjesto za izbjegavanje aktivne vojne službe, jer se služba u NZ smatrala ispunjavanjem vojne obveze.

Izvori

Oružane snage NDH

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Michel Françoise, né le  à Hammam Bou Hadjar en Algérie est un auteur compositeur interprète, guitariste et réalisateur artistique résidant à Nérac dans le sud-ouest de la France. Sa production discographique personnelle comprend sept albums solos : quatre albums édités entre 1988 et 1996 par des majors (Sony, EMI), puis trois albums auto-produits entre 2009 et 2014. S'y ajoute en 2016 un album avec Datums, groupe dont il est l'un des fondateurs.

À son activité musicale s'est ajoutée la qualité de producteur artistique pour, en particulier, les albums de Francis Cabrel : Des roses et des orties en 2008, Vise le ciel en 2012 et In extremis en 2015, un album de Souad Massi sorti en  et d'autres artistes comme Stéphane Mondino, Serge Lopez, Gagarine ou Daguerre. Ainsi qu'un album pour enfants, « L'enfant Porte » réalisé en collaboration avec Francis Cabrel.

Biographie
Ses débuts discographiques se font sous l'égide du groupe Kremlin (punk/rock) qu'il fonde à Nérac après diverses expériences musicales en région parisienne où il a passé la majeure partie de son enfance (à Evry dans l'Essonne). Cette expérience de groupe s'interrompra aussitôt après la sortie d'un seul et unique album : Anna color édité chez Phonogram en 1982. Commence alors sa carrière d'auteur compositeur interprète entre rock et chanson française qui lui vaudra de participer à toutes les plus grandes émissions de télévision de l'époque ainsi que la diffusion de plusieurs de ses chansons sur les ondes radiophoniques (« Un jour », « On s'était dit »...).
Parallèlement, il participe comme guitariste à plusieurs albums de Francis Cabrel et co-écrit pour lui la musique de C'est écrit. Au début des années 2000, il s'oriente vers la production artistique et crée avec Sébastien Bramardi et Francis Cabrel, le label 3label afin de produire des artistes issus de rencontres artistiques. Il produira des albums pour Eric Ginhac, Le Manège Grimaçant, Daguerre, Stéphane Mondino, Duo-Grim, Sorel, Gagarine ou Serge Lopez.
Ses réalisations artistiques les plus notoires et les plus récentes sont les trois derniers albums en date de Francis Cabrel Des roses et des orties, Vise le ciel et « In extremis » (direction musicale, coproduction artistique et musicien) et celui de Souad Massi : Ô Houria (réalisation, écriture ou co-écriture de plusieurs chansons, arrangements et musicien).

En 2014, il compose et enregistre la musique du film « Alexis Masbou, la fureur de vaincre » réalisé par Fred Astié. Il réalise également quelques clips personnels (Mobile Home - L'Hôtel Borgne - Devant Mes Jolis Yeux (avec la participation de quelques amis comme Daguerre, Gagarine, Alexis Masbou ou Francis Cabrel)).

En 2009 un premier album personnel auto-produit « En surface » voit le jour, suivi en 2013 par « Deux Mondes » et par « Le troisième hémisphère » en 2014, toujours en auto-production (La Vision Du Périscope).

2016, DATUMS, un « side-project » avec Daguerre voit le jour. Projet très rock et électrique. Daguerre compose les musiques, Michel Françoise écrit les textes. Tom Françoise (le fils de Michel Françoise) est à la batterie, Michel Moussel à la basse, Daguerre (chant et acoustique) et Michel Françoise (chœurs et guitare électrique) complètent le line-up du groupe DATUMS. Projet éphémère... un album « AMOURS TERRIENNES » (voir www.datums.fr) et quelques concerts.

2018, LULA, un livre-disque pour lequel il écrit les chansons et réalise les photos, Bruno Garcia écrit les nouvelles. Ce projet multi-artistes avec Francis Cabrel, Daguerre, Stéphane Mondino, Hinamé, Justine Dalle, Lori Périna, Bruno Garcia, Roxane Krief, Eric Ginhac, Gille Guérif, Julien Régnier-Krief, Lucas Rizzotti, mixé par Sébastien Bramardi donnera lieu à un unique concert fêtant la sortie du livre-disque en .

En 2019, pour l'album de Daguerre "107218 km/h", sur la lancée du projet Datums, Michel Françoise écrit les textes des chansons et sera sur scène -à la guitare- aux côtés de Daguerre pour défendre ce livre-disque paru chez LamaO Editions (www.lamaoeditions.fr).

En 2020, co-réalise "A l'aube revenant" avec Francis Cabrel.

2021, réalise l'album "Trobador Tour", album live tiré de la tournée du même nom.

Discographie
 1982 (avec Kremlin) : Anna Color (album 33 tours)
 1986 : Tout va bien (45 tours, face B : Au ralenti)
 1988 : Un jour (45 tours, face B : Drôle d'idée. CBS 652 976-7)
 1988 : Bienvenue A Bord (LP album. CBS 462 497-1 et CD)
 1989 : On s'était dit (45 tours, face B : Drôle de bruit. CBS 654 913-7)
 1990 : L'Amour Bleu (CD, album. CBS 467 515-2)
 1990 : Toute ma vie (45 tours)
 1993 : Parties gratuites (CD, album)
 1996 : 4 (CD, album)
 2009 : En surface (CD, album. La Vision Du Périscope)
 2013 : Deux Mondes (CD, album. La Vision Du Périscope)
 2014 : Le troisième hémisphère (CD, album. La Vision Du Périscope)
 2014 (musique de film) : Alexis Masbou, la fureur de vaincre
 2016 (avec Datums) : Amours Terriennes (CD, album - www.datums.fr)
2018 (multi-artistes) : LULA (livre-disque - www.lamaoeditions.fr)
2019 (avec Daguerre) : 107218 km/h (livre-disque - www.lamaoeditions.fr)

Bibliographie
 2010 : Entre le cœur et l'écorce - textes de Michel Françoise, photos de Patrick Batard (La Vision Du Périscope). Le livre contient un CD bonus 2 titres ("Vendredi" et "On nait cri").

Productions artistiques
 "L'In Extremis Tour" - Francis Cabrel (Smart - 2016)
 "Sou-Ko" (2016)
 "Rue de Siam" - Gilles Guérif et Yann Quefféléant (2015)
 "In extremis" - Francis Cabrel (Smart - 2015)
 "Le Réveil" - Cri-Primate
 "Un jour de juillet" - Stéphane Mondino
 Vise le ciel - Francis Cabrel (Columbia - 2012)
 "365 jours" - Gagarine
 « 1975 » - Stéphane Mondino (La vision du périscope - 2012)
 L'enfant-Porte - Conte musical pour enfants (avec F. Cabrel)
 Des roses et des orties - Francis Cabrel
 Ô Houria - Souad Massi
 Au fil de l'horizon - Serge Lopez (Sony)
 S - Sorel
 Dans le vide - Duo-Grim
 Roll-Over - Stéphane Mondino (La vision du périscope - 2012)
 Ô Désirs - Daguerre (3label)
  des tours - Le Manège Grimaçant
 Chien seul - Eric Ginhac

Notes et références

Liens externes
 Site officiel

Chanteur français du XXe siècle
Guitariste français
Auteur-compositeur-interprète français
Naissance en août 1957
Chanteur français du XXIe siècle


text:
Important, but complex stories are difficult for even the best mainstream journalists (a vanishing breed). And when those stories involve arcane financial transactions coupled with the everyday bribery that we call "political donations," they can become a minefield. But only if the principals and the recipients are prominent Democrats, and a full explication of the story will reflect poorly on the Democratic party and at least some of its donors. BTW, in every story like this, there is collateral damage—little guys who invested with the best of intentions get crushed and lose everything. Even more sophisticated investors (e.g., who thought they had done due diligence take a beating, but they should have understood the risk.
The story I'm referring to is the growing FTX scandal and the machinations of its founder, Sam Bankman-Freid (a.k.a. SBF). Om Malik compares FTX's travails to the Enron scandal, writing:
Internet magic money (aka crypto) billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, better known as SBF, is the man behind FTX, a crypto exchange. He seems to have angered fellow magic money billionaire and fremeny, Changpeng Zhao, better known as CZ and CEO of the rival exchange Binance. It might have to do with FTX cozying up to regulators to get the regulations beneficial to the FTX but not its rivals.
Last week, the FTX balance sheet was leaked to crypto news site Coindesk, which effectively caused a run on the exchange by exposing the financial ties between FTX and Alameda Research, a crypto trading firm also owned by SBF. The balance sheet showed that FTX's finances were a paper tiger and ripe for plundering.
There followed a jujitsu move by which the Binance chief created a market run on FTX. His firm dumped the FTX tokens they were holding, essentially telling the market they had no faith in them. "CZ outsmarted SBF, plain and simple," a friend who is deeply involved in this industry told me of the clashing egos. "CZ helped SBF create FTX, let him grow it, and then when it got too big, he destroyed it."
That's the financial side, but there is also a political side to this story, which main stream media outlets are treating gingerly because ... you know the rest.
Tyler Durbin notes:
Leading up to Sam Bankman-Fried's spectacular implosion - in which his firm FTX evaporated billions in wealth after the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange allegedly commingled client assets with his trading firm into a liquidity crunch - he became the sixth-largest donor in this year's midterm election cycle, giving some $40 million to mostly Democratic candidates and causes ...
Why the largess? Let's tale a look at what was happening. Again from Durbin:
FTX allegedly loaned Alameda Research - a trading firm founded by Bankman-Fried - roughly $10 billion in client assets, which has landed him under federal investigation by the SEC, CTFC, and the Justice Department - the latter of which already had been working on a months-long investigation, according to the Wall Street Journal. The CTFC, meanwhile, is tasked with regulating certain elements of the crypto markets - including digital assets that are as commodities, and crypto exchanges and clearinghouses.
So, SBF was under investigation. If he could help the dems, then he could, I suppose, cash in his chips and get the Biden Administration—no stranger to corrupt prqactices (think: Hunter and Joe) to call off the SEC, CTFC and DoJ watchdogs or at lest, put a muzzle on them.
Durbin continues:
Bankman-Fried 'heavily courted' the CFTC, "and funded several key lawmakers charged with overseeing the agency, pouring cash into their campaign coffers," as the Daily Caller notes.
The CFTC is charged with regulating certain elements of the crypto marketplace, including digital assets that are commodities as well as crypto exchanges and clearinghouses. The agency is overseen by the Senate and House Agriculture Committees, with the former tasked with approving CFTC commissioners nominated by the president.
The former FTX CEO personally donated to the Senate committee's chairwoman, Democratic Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, contributing over $20,000 to the Stabenow Victory Fund and $5,800 to her campaign for Senate. Bankman-Fried donated roughly $6,000 to the committee's ranking member, Republican Arkansas Sen. John Boozman, as well, and $5,800 to the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Commodities, Risk Management and Trade, Republican Montana Sen. John Hoeven. -Daily Caller
Others have connected dots and concluded that FTX may have been a money laundering operation.
Welcome to the D.C. swamp.
There's much more, but the real question is whether the average voter will care? Given the results of mid-terms, it's very likely that the answer is "no."
A Postscript:
Odd that the FBI, a law enforcement agency that has recently had a penchant for raiding residences of conservatives who have the audacity to dispute the prevailing narrative, marching them out handcuffed in their pajamas and putting them in jail, allows SBF to fly his private jet on a "vacation" to Argentina, where he now reportedly sits. BTW, there is a weak extradition treaty between Argentina and the United States that could tie a case up for years. Heh.
Wave GoodBye
Threat to Democracy
Chief Twit
Three Rules
Iran—2022


"there was a pet shop on the corner. it had a parrot outside and the kids used to tease it..."
"the school crossing to Clarendon Road was on the corner by the station....a policeman used to see you across..."
"I remember my Dad taking us to the shoe shop just opposite....."
"I remember going to Blackpool on the steam trains... we used to crowd up to the windows to pretend that the compartment was full so we could have it to ourselves..."
" the sounds, the smells...."
"The Whit walks always used to go past the station..."
"there was an electrical shop up there. It used to take back radio batteries - the sign said 'BRING THEM BACK ALIVE'. There was another sign threatening 'BURGLARS WILL BE ELECTROCUTED'"
"we thought that if you dropped a stone into the funnel of a train as it went under the bridge that the train would explode. We all dared each other to do it...not really believing it was true, but worried in case it was. You got filthy from leaning over into the steam as it came out of the trains...."
"I worked in the booking office for about 6 months when I left school - happy times"
"One of my friends worked in the newsagents that was in the station. She loved it..."
"I had the estate agents in the station building. When it burned down it did me a favour really as I wanted to close the business...."
"there was a nice sweet shop - I can't remember if it was part of the station or just next door...."
"the station must have had about a dozen staff: in the booking office, porters and so on. there were usually about 6 staff on at any one time, and they were all very friendly..."
"the porters used to look after the station gardens. Well-off people from Worsley used to give plants from their gardens when the trains from Bolton stopped at Eccles Station...."
"when we were courting we used to look in all the shop windows on Church Street down from the station. Everybody did it. We didn't have the money to get a bus anywhere else..."
"there were some lovely shops. I liked looking in Fryers the furniture shop and there was a lovely jewellers..."
"we used to go to dances. At Christmas everyone used to give you a kiss in the street to wish you a Merry christmas..."


According to the new tourism law that came into effect on Tuesday, Chinese travel agencies could be fined 300,000 yuan ($49,000) or more if they force clients to go shopping during a tour.
According to the new tourism law, unless clients have agreed to or want to go shopping, and their shopping doesn't disrupt the agenda of others in the tour, the agency is not allowed to ask its clients to shop in certain places. Besides, a travel agency is not allowed to attract clients by organizing tours at an "irrationally low price" and later having them go shopping in order to get kickbacks from the stores.
What's more, the law regulates that guides must not ask for tips from their clients or force tourists to pay extra money for activities they don't want to take part in, and tourists have the right to refuse services they don't want.
Yet the law can help improve the tourism industry from vicious price competition, and tourists should stand up for themselves when they are forced to pay.


text:
ALIENS (ARCADE)
I was thinking about starting today's article with "in space, no-one can hear you repeatedly dump quarters into an arcade machine," but then I thought about it and realised that, like, we're always in space, man. Instead, I'll say hey, did you sort of enjoy the movie Aliens but thought it could have done with being more colourful and featuring more super-special xenomorphs with a variety of bizarre powers, like a terrifying version of the X-Men who procreate through chest explosions? If so, then boy do I have the game for you - and a rolled-up newspaper to whack you with if you ever publicly voice those terrible opinions - with Konami's 1990 arcade they're-coming-outta-the-god-damn-walls-em-up Aliens!
There's no franchise that I've investigated more thoroughly in my years writing VGJunk than the Alien universe, and they have been a wildly inconsistent bunch of game so far, ranging from the truly excellent to the simply mediocre to the utterly bizarre. We'll see about the gameplay as we go along, but that first paragraph should have clued you in that Konami's Aliens arcade game is not going to the the most faithful adaptation of the source material.
I trust we're all familiar with the source material, yes? It's the story of a species of acid-bleeding, human-impregnating, double-mouthed space monsters and the unfathomably stupid corporation that wants desperately to catch them, sacrificing dozens of innocent lives in their twisted take on the antics of Dastardly and Muttley. It's also the story of Ellen Ripley, mid-level officer aboard a commercial mining vessel and top-level badass who gets into all kinds of wacky scrapes with the xenomorph menace. I don't know why I'm telling you all this, though, because the Alien franchise is still hugely popular today and has been parodied and referenced a hundred thousand times. I mean, it came within a hair's breadth of getting its own kid's cartoon, for pity's sake (and that might come up again later). All you really need to know is that this game is based on Aliens, the second movie in the series. That's the one where lots of aliens kill a bunch of people, as opposed to one of the films where one alien kills a bunch of people.
The game starts with a scene that's almost like one from the movie, with the Colonial Marines landing on LV-426 to investigate the planet's doomed colony. The major differences are that everyone involved is fully aware that the place is crawling with aliens before they've even opened the front door, and that the special marine task force is comprised of two people, one of whom isn't a marine. Those Smart Guns must be really smart if they just hand them out to civilians with no combat training.
The game begins, and it's in the run-n-gun genre, although that title suggests more haste than is apparent in Ripley's fairly measured pace. A walk-n-gun game, then, where the Konami's commitment to the "gun" part of that equation extends to having two fire buttons. One makes you fire in the direction you're facing, and the other makes you fire in the direction you're facing while crouching. You can move while you shoot, but other than that Ripley's movements are limited to climbing the occasional ladder - no jumping or combat rolling in this one, just a left-to-right saunter through a horde of xenomorphs so densely packed it implies that the colony of Hadley's Hope had a population roughly equal to metropolitan Tokyo.
Right from the word go, it's clear that things are a little off with Konami's take on the world of Aliens, as though the designers has it explained to them by someone who'd watched an edited version of the movie during a boozy transatlantic flight a long time ago. It's just little things, at first: Ripley is blonde now, presumably so the headset she's wearing stands out a bit better. The aliens in this first stage are fuschia-coloured and shiny, as though they were carved from Turkish Delight, a far less menacing look than their usual dark colouring. You can see Newt, only survivor of the colony and owner of a scream so painful and high-pitched you could use it to drill through solid rock, in the background. Newt is carrying a toy rabbit, despite the movie containing several scenes showing that her preferred companion through this litany of nightmares is a severed doll's head. It is perhaps a indication that I have seen Aliens too many times that I know that doll's head is called Casey. I think I might end up getting more aggravated by the changes from the movie than the average person, which is a shame because there's a lot of them.
Those of you who aren't fully paid-up members of the Aliens Nerd Brigade need not feel left out, though, because soon enough there are such wild deviations from the (ugh) "canon" that even a casual viewer will notice them. For example, here are some aliens being birthed from grotesque and veiny amniotic sacs. You know, just like how aliens aren't born. The xenomorphs have a very specific life cycle: a facehugger latches onto a host's head and slams it's ovipositor down their through without so much as buying them a drink first. It lays an alien embryo in the hosts's chest, the baby alien jumps out of the host's chest, causing irreparable shirt damage and certain death. Ta dah, one new xenomorph. This horrific forced insemination is kind of the alien's whole deal, so to replace it with these boil-in-the-bag space monsters feels more than a little pointless.
There are facehuggers in the game, mind you, and plenty of them. Here they have formed a sort of honour guard welcoming me to the first boss fight. The thing is, the facehuggers can't hug your face. All they can do is scuttle through your feet. Well, they're not called foothuggers, are they? Sure, you lose a bit of health if a facehugger runs over your toes but it's better than unplanned parenthood.
Then the boss shows up, and if it wasn't clear before that Konami were going to take xenomorph design in bold new directions then this end-of-stage encounter makes it clear. It's a big purple... thing. An alien, I guess? I was going to call it a Super Facehugger or something but on closer inspection is has very little in common with a facehugger. It doesn't have much in common with anything. I am at a complete loss to describe it, other than to say that despite it's deviation from the usual xenomorph body plan it keeps the phallic aspects of their physiology with it's stretchy pink neck and eyeless head. That's how it attacks, by poking Ripley with it's engorged head. It's kinda gross.
You might have noticed that the gameplay has changed from a horizontal to a vertical layout, but what does that mean for you, the player? Bugger all, really. You have one less plane you can walk in because you can only move left and right, and once the boss takes some damage and switches to firing balls of energy at you, you might as well be playing Space Invaders. So, not the most engaging boss fight in videogame history, but this is only stage one so there's plenty of time for things to improve.
I can't stop to chat now, though - my ride is here! I don't know how it got here when the intro clearly showed Ripley leaving it parked outside, and if it managed to drive this far into the colony then it seems terribly reckless to have gone through the first stage on foot, Maybe Ripley just wanted to break in her admittedly very cool new shoes.
Stage two sees Ripley standing atop the APC as it thunders down one of the colony's tunnels, shooting the massed aliens with her Smart Gun rather than using the ruddy great cannons attached to the front of the vehicle. There's a point where these things go from "badass" to "deeply stupid," Ripley. The APC is driving towards Newt, who has managed to get to the other end of this tunnel without dying somehow, a task I couldn't manage even with a gun in my hand and a military vehicle under my feet. You can see how close you are to your destination by looking at the bar at the top of the screen. Newt seems to be eyeing the oncoming APC with a degree of trepidation, as though she is unconvinced by the viability of a rescue effort involving a woman with no military experience surfing an armoured personnel carrier.
Newt is right to be wary, because just as Ripley reaches her a flying alien swoops and and steals her away, causing Ripley's sprite to do a "shocked" motion that makes it looks as though she's slow-dancing with the invisible man.
Stage three begins with Ripley entering the air ducts, where the movie's iconic motion tracker comes into play. Unfortunately, the motion tracker is completely useless. It shows which direction the alien threat is coming from and when they'll be close enough to shoot, but because you're in a narrow vent and the alien attacks are constant, you already know the answer to those questions - they're coming from the left or the right, all the time, making Aliens' motion tracker the most pointless piece of equipment in the franchise since the stun-rods from the first movie that never get used.
We're on an express elevator to hell, going down. That's a quote from the movie, you see. It's not hugely relevant here because this elevator is far from being an express, trundling slowly into the bowels of the colony while aliens leap onto it from all sides. I brought in Corporal Hicks, the player 2 character, here, both so that you get a chance to see him and also to serve as an expendable distraction while Ripley concentrates on shooting the aliens that have climbed to the top of the elevator and are trying to snap through the cables. If they manage to sever all three cables, the elevator falls to the ground and your character immediately loses a life. Of course, this being an arcade shooter you can return to life in the spot where you fell, although I have to admit in this situation it felt even less reasonable than usual. I'm not sure why - being slaughtered by a xenomorph and then immediately carrying on from where you died is equally ludicrous on the face of it, but there was just something about seeing Ripley fall five storeys, crash into the ground at a fatal velocity and then spring back to her feet that made me stop and think, "huh, that looks weird, even for this game."
A plus point in Aliens' favour - incinerating the aliens once you've picked up a flamethrower is intensely satisfying, thanks to their detailed "burning to a crisp" sprites. Say what you like about the weird xenomorph designs and the inappropriate colour scheme, but there is no denying that this alien is definitely, one hundred percent on fire.
There are a few other weapons to pick up along the way thanks to the occasional power-up object that cycles through the available firepower options, allowing you to pick which weapons you'd like to use. The power-ups always cycle in a set order, however, so as you shoot them out of their containers and dash forwards to collect them you are much more likely to end up with the homing rockets than any other weapon, because they're the first power-up in the queue. That's not such a bad thing, though, because the homing rockets are probably the best weapon, allowing you to keep moving forwards without having to turn around constantly to shoot the aliens sneaking up behind you. The other available weapons are a three-way spread gun that isn't much cop thanks to the narrowness of most of the game's play areas, and a rocket launcher that doesn't home in but which is still preferable to the basic Smart Gun.
This boss is an alien who has evolved two combat adaptations of wildly differing usefulness. On the one hand, it has grown a coating of bulletproof plates all over its body, allowing it to curl up into an impenetrable ball and roll around the screen like a deadly pill bug with a well-used gym membership and a deep hatred of humanity. On the other hand, it's projectile attack is to release fluffy little cotton wool balls. If you crouch, I don't think the cotton wool can even hurt you. This makes figuring out tactics for the fight a breeze: move away when it's in ball mode, crouch and fire while it's pollinating the area dandelion-style. It's not a difficult fight, and it does rather bring to mind the phrase "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" when it comes to alien physiology.
As if the aliens weren't bad enough, now I've got humans trying to kill me. That one up the top even has the twin advantages of possessing both a gun and the bottom half of his body, making him something of a priority target.
These "possessed human" type enemies pop up in a fair few Aliens games, although I'm never really sure why. There's no precedence for them in the Alien movies, and if I wanted to shoot humans with guns I'd play any other shooter. I'd say it's an effort to introduce more diversity into the pool of things you're killing, presenting the player with an enemy that can fire projectiles back at you, but the xenomorph in Aliens are such a varied bunch that it seems unnecessary to include these poor unfortunates at all.
Then Ripley falls into the sewer - trust me, she's behind that explosion somewhere - because even in deep space you can't get away from sewer levels. The floating corpses are a nice touch, as chestbursters leap out of them when you get close, but the spider-aliens populating the top of the screen look more like something out of The Thing or, appropriately enough, the Aliens toy line. In 1992, toy manufacturer Kenner decided that the extremely violent, nightmare-inducing Alien universe would be a great basis for a collection of children's toys and honestly they were not entirely wrong - I had a lot of them as a kid and I loved them (and I still have the Power Loader and Bull Alien within ten feet of me as I write this). They were apparently intended to tie in with an Aliens-based kid's cartoon, of all the wonderful, mind-boggling things. The cartoon never surfaced but the toys did, and a lot of the aliens in the line feel like they could have taken some inspiration from this very game. One of the toys featured an alien "parasite" that was just a xenomorph head with little wings, much like the enemies in this game that attack you in the air ducts. There was an Arachnid Alien that bore some similarity to the first boss, as well as a flying alien kinda like the one that abducts Newt. I don't think there was any cross-over of inspiration between this game and the Kenner's toy line - the toys were mostly "what animal can we make a xenomorph version of?" including a Mantis Alien that must have started out as one teeny-tiny facehugger - but it's interesting that even in the early nineties, the aliens were losing a lot of their horrific mystique.
And then bang, out of nowhere you get to ride in the Power Loader, smashing aliens with your big metal claws and making mechanical whirring noises with your mouth as you do so. Well, you do that last bit if you're me, at least. So far Aliens has been a thoroughly generic side-scrolling action game that's trying to cruise by on the strength of it's movie license and a few half-arsed and feebly-implemented twists to the formula like the motion tracker and the APC stage, but giving me the opportunity to stomp around in a Power Loader means it's sins are all but forgiven, sins such as making some of the xenomorphs bright orange and giving them face tentacles. If the xenomorphs take on some of the characteristics of the host they emerge from, then these freaks must have impregnated and hatched from the cast of a children's TV show like Sesame Street. It'd explain the garish colours and occasional fuzzy aliens.
Ripley wades through the alien hive. There are colonists cocooned in the walls. Ripley knows full well that this means they are doomed to an agonizing end coupled with the disturbing knowledge that their death means one more xenomorph in the world. Ripley completely ignores these poor souls, not even taking a moment to grant them a quick death. Good work, Ripley. Real neighbourly.
Once again, words fail me as I try to describe one of Aliens' bosses. It's the Nemesis from Resident Evil 3 in a biomechanical skirt, it's a xenomorph whose arms were replaced by stretchy tendrils that boop Ripley on the head rather than clawing her to death, it's head can be retracted into an unpleasantly anal-looking sphincter, it's, it's... oh, I don't know. It's in my way, that's what it is, so I have to shoot it a lot before I can move on to the next area. The regular side-scrolling parts of the game aren't up to much but these vertically-oriented ones are even less interesting, limiting the player to two possible actions, like a stripped-down version of the similar parts of Contra. That's actually what Aliens feels like more than anything else: an inferior version of a Contra game with none of the fluid movement or exciting boss battles.
Another APC-based stage now, where as well as the aliens Ripley must also be wary of fly-tipping. There are boxes of junk along the path and you have to shoot them out of the way lest they bounce up and hit you in the face, a problem that could easily be solved by, oh, I don't know, riding inside the armoured vehicle? I know I'm belabouring this point, but come on.
If you really don't like the APC sections - and no-one would judge you harshly if that's the case - then I suggest you play the Japanese release of Aliens because they were completely removed for that version, or possibly added in to bulk up the overseas versions. There are a few other changes in the Japanese version, too - some things are different colours, each stage has a title shown before it starts and the final boss has a couple of different moves - but the lack of the APC sections (and the complete removal of Newt from the game) is the biggest, and it cuts down an already-short game to something you can finish in fifteen minutes.
Konami really put a lot of effort into capturing Newt's likeness, huh? "Yeah, yeah, I watched the film. The kid? Yeah, I can draw her. She looks like every other kid in the world! Blank, smooth skin for a face with two black dots roughly where their eyes should be. What do you mean? That's what my kids look like, pal. Are you saying my kids are ugly?"
After the second and thankfully final APC ride, there's an extremely short stage to negotiate, and by "negotiate" I mean "run through as quickly as possible." Having played through Aliens a few times now, I have learned that the easiest and most hassle-free way to get through the game is to move right as fast as as you can while holding down the fire button, especially if you've managed to collect the homing missiles. It speaks to the game's lack of quality that forging ahead, only veering off course to walk around the occasional facehugger, is a completely valid tactic, because it allows you to both clear out the aliens ahead of you before they can get themselves set while also allowing you to just walk away from the stragglers, who soon get bored and lose interest.
I'm going to say that this boss' mass is supposed to be mostly brain, because if science fiction has taught me one thing it's that having a massive brain means powerful psychic abilities and telekinesis is my explanation for how this xenomorph is controlling the facehugger-filled bubbles that surround him. The facehuggers don't pop out of the bubbles and attack you or anything, they just get in the way, making it difficult to shoot the boss itself. My solution to this, a solution that I admit was partly born of a growing sense of boredom with the game, was to park Ripley right inside the boss and keep firing. She'll take damage, she might even lose a life, but it's by far the fastest way of killing the boss and you'd probably take the same amount of damage if you tried to fight it "properly" anyway.
Another stage, mostly the same as the others. I'm showing this otherwise uninteresting screenshot because if you look in the background there's a little poster depicting a Moai head, the sometime Konami mascot. Also in this screenshot: the alien looks like it's getting ready to give Ripley a boost, possibly as part of an ill-advised gymnastics routine.
Sometimes in Aliens you get the choice of walking along an upper or lower level, although once you drop down to the bottom you usually can't climb back up. My advice to you is to take the top route wherever possible. I think this screenshot provides a good visual aid as to why this is the best course of action. I don't think it'd be in-character for Ripley to say "so long, suckers," but by god that's what I'm imagining her saying.
By the way, notice there are genuine alien eggs down there. So what the hell was with those flesh-sacs that the fully-grown xenomorphs were popping out of earlier? Were they actually sleeping bags, and the aliens near the colony entrance were fast asleep when Ripley arrived?
A boss with the power of rudeness now, as these leaping aliens refuse to look Ripley in the eye even as she's shooting them. That's just bad manners. Okay, so their real power is that they start off small (like the one standing on the floor) and keep getting bigger and bigger as you shoot them. Of all the weird alien abilities in this game it's the one that I can most easily accept, given that the aliens in the movies go from chestbusters to full-grown warriors very quickly without ever seeming to stop for a snack. The problem I do have with this fight is: how did Ripley know that the aliens were going to stop growing? She starts shooting and they start getting bigger, so she shoots them so more and they get bigger still. Eventually they do explode and die, but there must have been a moment during the battle when Ripley thought to herself "hang on, I think I might just be making more problems for myself here" as visions of four skyscraper-sized aliens pop into her head.
Despite their gimmick, these aliens don't pose much of challenge. The stages themselves being harder than the bosses is a bit of a theme in Aliens, and the difficulty curve in general is all out of wonk: aside from the final one I think the first boss is the most difficult, and because the difficulty of each stages is mainly based on how short it is there's no consistent gradient of challenge.
Oh look, a platter of delicious health-giving meat laying on the floor of a sewer and within clawing distance of an alien who thinks he's hidden underneath the floor but who is, in fact, easily visible. You know what, I think I'll skip that particular meal, all the same. I don't trust any videogame meat that I didn't find under a dustbin or hidden inside a castle wall.
I've been giving Aliens some stick for it's aesthetics, but I do honestly like the look of some of these later areas. While they may not bear much resemblance to an official Weyland-Yutani-constructed colony, they've got that "arcadey" feel to them, and especially now that I've reached the colony roof the aliens have more license to scuttle up walls and along ceilings like any self-respecting xenomorph should be doing.
Roll up, roll up, come one and all to witness the miraculous powers of the Electrical Alien Brothers! Gasp in amazement as Ripley shoots they while they pass 50,000 volts between their weird furry heads! Shriek in delight as their attacks are easily avoided through the tactic of not standing right between them you big idiot! Demand your money back as one of them dies and the other just sort of stands around doing nothing!
Okay, between the spider aliens, the gargoyle-looking aliens and this electrical double act I have come to the conclusion that Konami got their wires crossed and thought they were working on a Gremlins 2 game before realising their error and hurriedly altering the graphics.
In the depths of the infested colony, there is an alien queen. I'm sure you are not surprised to learn this, as an Aliens game without an alien queen is like a civilised discussion on an anonymous internet forum - I think it may have happened once, but it's vanishingly rare. Queenie herself isn't much of a threat, tethered as she is to her pulsating egg sac, which is the target you should be aiming for. It's segmented, and each time you do her enough damage one of the segments falls off so it acts as a disgusting, monster-spawning health bar, which is pretty neat. The real danger here comes from all the eggs and the facehuggers they produce. You can't even clear out the eggs, because as fast as you destroy them they are replenished. Not by the queen laying them - she has egg shyness and can't deposit her genetic material while someone's looking at her - but by other aliens who carry the eggs into the chamber like skeletal butlers. You'd think they'd want to take a more direct approach in dealing with the woman shooting their matriarch, but they must not be getting paid enough to take those kinds of risks and so you're free to plunk away at Her Highness until her egg sac explodes, something which I'm sure has definitely killed the queen once and for all and we won't be seeing her again, say, at the very end of the game.
Wow, look at that cyberpunk megalopolis down there. Those colonists must have been damn hard workers. Seems a shame that it's all going to blown up soon. Normally I'd call this the usual Konami Ending, but that is what happens in the film so for once it makes sense.
By coincidence (I wasn't expecting to get it for Christmas), I've been playing Alien: Isolation recently, and it makes for an interesting contrast with Aliens. In twenty-four years we've gone from an overly-familiar action game with a xenomorphic coat of paint and none of the elements that made the movie great to a fastidiously accurate recreation of the Alien universe that tries it's utmost to restore the alien's terrifying reputation. I don't have any deep or insightful comments into what this means, beyond the obvious observations on the advances in gaming technology and possibly that videogames are "maturing" ever so slightly. I just think it's fascinating, is all, especially as I've been playing videogames long enough to see both ends of the spectrum.
Before you can finish this stage, there's a boss fight against the same big-brained, orb-carrying boss that you fought before. It's just as tedious as it was the first time around, but I thought I should mention that just before that rematch you can see the queen walking past in the background, eliminating any chance of the final fight taking you by surprise. It's not like the suspense was killing me or anything. but really?
This is final fight, by the way. Konami stuck pretty closely to the queen's movie design for this sprite, so it's no surprise that it's the best-looking creature in the whole game. Why, I was so busy admiring it that I neglected to move away from her deadly tail attacks. I tried a few more times, and while I was managing to shoot the queen it didn't seem to bother her much and she kept killing me. What I need, I thought to myself, is a big yellow friend.
Yes, that'll do nicely, and thus the queen versus Power Loader fight from the movie is recreated. If I'm being honest, this is not a good boss battle. It's pretty terrible, actually - it seems impossible to tell when the queen's attacks are going to hurt you and the Power Loader is too slow to dodge them anyway, so the fight devolves into tapping the fire buttons to swing the Loader's arms around until the queen gets bashed enough times for you to win. The thing is, I don't care. I'm in a Power Loader, fighting the alien queen, and sometimes that's all you want out of life. The arcade cabinet could shoot a live hornet up my trouser leg every time I pressed attack and I'd still be enjoying myself, especially when the queen is low enough on health for you to pick her up, carry her to the airlock and chuck her out into space like a huge robot bouncer minding the doors of the worst nightclub in the Solar System.
There she goes now, falling into the vacuum of space. Let's hope she burns up on re-entry when she drifts close enough to a planet to be caught by its gravity. Imagine how pissed off she'll be if she survives the trip.
I don't know what an alien's flung is - a specially adapted lung that allows them to breathe in hostile environments, perhaps - but whatever it is it's in timeless space now and Aliens: The Movie: The Videogame is over. I'm kinda glad it's over, because I was just getting more and more disappointed as it went on, Power Loader sections excluded. Take away the Aliens-flavoured coating and you're left with a sub-standard - especially by the standards of what Konami could produce in the arcades at this time - run-n-gun game that half-heartedly tries a couple of gimmicks that don't work very well. The whole thing feels like a rush job, a licensed product that Konami carelessly knocked out so they could get back to work on better titles. The graphics are okay but not amazing, the alien designs are strange but not in an especially interesting way and even the music - something that Konami coin-ops can normally be relied upon for excellence - is underwhelming. It's not a bad soundtrack per se, but it's not nearly as good as something like the Turtles games.
I can still just about recommend it, though, especially if you are an Aliens fan. It's a very short game that doesn't demand much attention, so if you're after a brainless shooter to knock through in twenty minutes, it's not too bad a bet. Just try to to waste too much time trying to figure out what animal those electric aliens must have hatched from in order to give them both lightning powers and a mop-top hairdo.
Death lurks behind every rock in Spelunker!
The 2014 VGJunk Review!
Ape saliva adventure Toki!
Labels: alien, aliens, Arcade, konami, run n gun
Bryan Ochalla 8 January 2015 at 20:55
Sigh. I remember desperately hoping as a teen that this game would be ported to one of the consoles. Of course it never was--unless I totally missed the boat on it? Anyway, great write-up as always! Your comments about Aliens: Isolation has me feeling even more curious about that title. I can't imagine I'll be able to play it anytime soon, but maybe I'll watch a YouTube playthrough or something...
VGJUNK 9 January 2015 at 12:58
No, this one never came to consoles, as far as I know - which is odd because it seems like it would have been a guaranteed seller. Maybe the horrific nature of the source material put publishers off.
As for Alien: Isolation, I think by watching videos of it you'd lose a lot of the tension that really is the game's key characteristic but it'd be better than nothing!
ArugulaZ 9 January 2015 at 02:21
I just kinda wonder how H. R. Giger (may he rest in peace) responded to Konami's take on his monster designs. To say Giger was a huge influence on Japanese video game artwork in the 20th century would be an understatement of mammoth proportions.
Man, I wonder if Giger ever knew just how thoroughly he was ripped off by video game developers in the '90s? Hopefully he wouldn't have minded too much. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and all that.
I've noticed the possessed humans are not uncommon in these types of Alien-influenced games as well (I'm sure you're familiar with SAR) and I think it's partially because of how popular and easily accessible low-budget sci-fi and horror was in Japan in the 80s and early 90s. As an aficionado of both games and trashy horror and sci-fi, I feel like a lot of these games are heavily influenced by a lot of the knock-off movies as well (QV, movies like Creature and Forbidden World), so you end up fighting not the "xenomorph", in a sense, but an amusing blend of all of the xenomorph clones from that era.
I think there's probably a lot of truth in that idea.
As an afterthought, there was a good video place in Shinjuku even in to the early 2000s that still had tons of old trash horror and sci-fi... ah, memories.
Regular GeoX 9 January 2015 at 05:13
Oh man, I remember playing this in the arcade when I was small. I pumped a bunch of quarters in, but could not quite beat it. For me, at least, there was a tendency to not exactly think critically about arcade games--they often developed a kind of mystique regardless of whether they were especially good, objectively speaking--but I loved this one. The flamethrower was the best. Of course, I had never seen an Alien movie, so I had nothing to nitpick. Years later I finally beat it on MAME, and it was a very edifying experience.
I know exactly what you mean about arcade games sometimes taking on an almost mythical feeling, especially if, like me, you very rarely got to play them as a kid. Had I first experienced Aliens in my youth (as opposed to via emulation in around the year 2000) I think I might have gone a bit easier on it here, ha ha.
Marko Cavius 11 January 2015 at 12:36
You'd think that Konami would have tried a little harder with the license to what was essentially the progenitor of one of their most famous series.
(Also, why is it that out of all the cartoons made out of franchises wholly inappropriate for children, THIS one was the one that got shelved? I'd trade Aliens for RoboCop: The Animated Series any day.)
ArugulaZ 12 January 2015 at 13:45
The first Robocop cartoon was pretty daring for the time, with Officer Lewis desperately trying to find Murphy's humanity until all that metal and OCP programming. It's the later show, Alpha Commandos, you have to avoid.
Alex Cohen 17 January 2015 at 10:09
Alien vs. Predator by Capcom was so much better...
MAD SHOW (AMIGA)
CISCO HEAT (ARCADE)
KART FIGHTER (NES)
DANGER FREAK (COMMODORE 64)
MAD MOTOR (ARCADE)
SPELUNKER (ATARI 800)


Personal finance blog articles on retirement.
In recent times, it has become increasingly difficult for people to save towards their retirement. Here are a few tips to help you on your way.
Can your Employer help you to Plan your Retirement?
Workplace pensions provide a way to save for the golden years. But can employers do more to help their staff plan more effectively for retirement?


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Not Only, Sonam Kapoor, Even Anand Ahuja Changed His Name on Instagram
Within few hours after the wedding, with longtime beau Anand Ahuja, the glamorous actress Sonam changed her social media with her name as 'Sonam Kapoor Ahuja'. You can see her twitter and instagram feed where her name is now Sonam K Ahuja.
Well, the decision of changing the surname did not attract her fans as The neerja actress is well known to be feminist. But what's interesting is not only the bride but groom Sonam too changed his name on social media.
Anand Ahuja is now 'Anand S Ahuja' on Instagram
Now, when a wife can take his husband's surname then why can't husband could take his wife's name? Well, we are no one to judge anyone's choice. In a recent interview, the actress Sonam Kapoor hit her haters who were judging her name change by saying –
"I've always maintained that I'm a feminist. I have a choice to change my name when I want to do it. The fact is that Kapoor is also my father's surname. So, I chose to keep both. And just to be a part of our family, Anand has also changed his name. But nobody wrote about that! My husband or his family has not asked me to do anything. Likewise, he did it on his own. We anyway take our father's names, so if we can give that respect to them, we can give the same respect to our husbands, too. It's my personal choice and somebody judging me for it is ridiculous"
She even said that it's a matter of choice how people take it.
She further added –
And if people don't understand the concept of feminism, they need to go online and look at the description. And how do you know Anand has not changed his name.
Well, the wedding is done now and they are happy together, so can we just stop interfering their choices?
You Won't Believe How Much Shahid Kapoor Demanded For Arjun Reddy Remake
Race 3 is All Fired With Action Sequences and Smashing Dialogues: Trailer Out


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Q: Relaxation Times in Quantum Optics I am studying laser physics and in in the lecture we defined the transversal and longitudinal relaxation times as the relaxation times of the coherent/ population states of the density matrix. The longitudinal relaxation times I understand but what physical meaning do the transversal relaxation times have?
I'd just like to grasp the physical meaning of all of this.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


I took a break this afternoon from my garden tour prep to go get some dinner with Greg. As we were driving down 61, he asked if I had noticed this. I hadn't been down this road in a while and had not.
This is right along the main highway coming into Hutchinson. We'll be hosting the US Men's Senior Open at the Prairie Dunes Golf Course July 3-9. They start arriving on Monday the 26th. Some will be coming into town this direction I'm assuming.
There are actually two trailers painted, but this is the one with the welcome message. Plus, it's situated right in front of the grain elevator. Isn't that a Kansas site?
Of course, I guess if you're really worried about your town's image, you don't situate a trailer park right along the main highway coming into town. Frankly, if you're a Kansas town, you really shouldn't have anything zoned for a trailer park. It's not a good idea in Kansas, aka Tornado Alley.
My favorite Beavis and Butthead exchange ever was when they're watching TV and it's announced a tornado is about to hit. They, of course, want to go see it. The dialogue is brilliant in its simplicity.
"Where," asks the always clueless Beavis.
Until recently, on every main road coming into town from all directions there was a billboard for a Bail Bonds place. It was sort of like saying, "hey, come to Hutchinson and commit your crimes here." But, I notice those have disappeared.
I wonder how long this will last. And I wonder if it was a response to being told to put some paint on the building or something. I don't know the story – just that it made me smile.


When your Chapter 13 plan pays less than 100%, in Western Kentucky, you must by May 15th of each year turn over a budget, copies of your tax returns and the income tax refund to the Trustee. This is required for the last four years of the plan in a five-year Your first year you normally keep it. You cannot keep the Federal Child Tax Credit. You can keep the Earned Income Credit (EIC) and the amount paid to prepare taxes. If you receive a refund from the Feds and owe the state, you may deduct from one and pay the other. You can't pay your taxes ahead. Look at your schedule I and J you filed with the court. It should be similar to your current budget. If your wages increase 10%, your food probably increased 10%.
Your creditors will file claims. We file a schedule of allowed claims, and these claims are paid if you don't object to a claim. You should review claims with us when we do this about 60 days after the 341 hearing. If you don't, you may pay debts you don't owe. We may have to increase payments or lower the plan percentage based on the claims filed.
Your 341 hearing will be in about 30 days after you file. You must bring your photo id, social security card and first payments to court. If two months have passed since you filed, you owe two payments. If you don't pay these payments, your case may be dismissed. You owe your first plan payment and mortgage payment the day you file.
If you had a prior case within the last six months, we need to file a motion to extend the automatic stay or impose the stay if two or more cases were filed.
Where you have a consumer auto loan and it is over 910 days old, you can pay the value of the auto to the lender as secured and the remainder as unsecured. If the auto was for business or the loan refinanced the vehicle, or the loan had an additional purpose you don't have to wait 910 days to cram down the loan.
When your income is less than average, you can have a 36-month plan But plan payments may go up because it has to pay secured and priority expenses. Plan which pays 100%, can have a shorter plan 24, 12 or 1 month is possible. But plan payments go way up. You are required to use your best efforts to repay. 70% or more Chapter 13 plans are not reviewed by judge Lloyd. 50% and higher plans are not normally reviewed by judges Fulton or Stout. You can pay off a plan early but not before 36 months unless you repay 100%. Early Hardship Discharges are available when you become disabled or otherwise cant repay due to no fault of your own.
If you have a judicial lien, you need avoided tell us at the start! Sometimes you have been sued, and a judicial lien may have been placed against your home. It is an extra cost to avoid this lien. But if you don't pay the 500 to delete this lien now, you may have to pay thousands later to remove it and wait 30 days to get it done delaying a home mortgage or closing.
If your second or third mortgage has no equity, you must file a motion to strip the second mortgage at the start of the case. Stripping may more than pay your Chapter 13 costs. If you don't the mortgage survives.
Why payroll deduct the plan payments? Your employer can be sued for discrimination if they fire or otherwise punish you for filing a Chapter 13. If the payments are not deducted you are less likely to finish your Chapter 13 successfully.
Attorneys are all paid the same fee. You can hire a cheaper or less qualified lawyer. The court pays the same 3750 to whoever you hire.
If it doesn't work out you can always dismiss your Chapter 13. You may or may not be able to dismiss a Chapter 7. You can lose property in a Chapter 7. People don't lose property in a Chapter 13 unless they fail to pay for it. You can convert to a Chapter 7 if you meet the income and other guidelines for a 7.
Life happens. Your income can go down, expenses can go up, or you can become out of work. It is possible to lower, or suspend plan payments. But you often must make it up later. There is a floor the payment can't go below. You have to pay the required secured and priority expenses catching up a mortgage or paying priority taxes.
Leases this is where you want to get rid of your bad cell phone contracts and go to Wallmart. Judge Lloyd will not confirm any budget which gives over 5% of your income to telecommunications. (Telephone, cable, internet and cell phone expense are telecommunication expenses).
Your budget is your income minus expenses. This becomes your plan payment. Include your autos if your interest rate is over 5% in the plan, priority taxes & mortgage arrears. High-interest rates can be reduced.
If you do not make plan payments, the Chapter 13 Trustee will file a motion to dismiss. If you do not make mortgage payments, the lender will file a motion to terminate the stay. You may be able to cure the motion to terminate the stay. But the mortgage company court costs and attorney fees often have to be paid which are often over 1,000.00 dollars. This hurts!
Inheritances, personal injury cases, lottery winnings and unusual incomes have to be reported. These windfalls may make your plan 100% and require turning over funds to the court. If you need to purchase or refinance a home or auto that must also be approved. Same for insurance proceeds. You can qualify for a mortgage or refinance a mortgage after 12 on time plan payments. Bet you didn't hear that from other attorneys did you. It is possible.
You have to take the final class and request the discharge to get it. There is a simple one-page form to request the discharge. You might not need this permanent court order if the only reason you filed was to catch up the mortgage.
Why do I have to list/notice the person I pay child support? Answer It has been the law since 2005.
Go to the hearing early listen to the questions they ask the same questions over and over. If you or your attorney arrives slightly late, they will recall the case. Don't panic.
The Trustee does not accept cash. If you bounce a check, your plan payment will either become payroll deducted, or they won't accept a check that is not certified.
If your plan has a problem, it will not be confirmed. You will have a chance to correct it, and you will have to come to a second hearing. It is best to do it right the first time.
Here is this post as a Chapter 13 checklist for Debtors. This is the Chapter 13 office Best Practices Guide for attorneys explaining much of this in 12 pages.


Annie Prudhomme left her home of Marietta, Montana with big dreams but finds herself returning to town after a divorce. Her family turns their backs on her and she settles in to remodel a home she's inherited. Carson Scott still carries a torch for Annie but he has responsibilities he didn't before she left town to think of and isn't so eager to put his heart on the line. Is Annie ready for something serious or is she just looking for Christmas company?
Annie's story is pretty typical. As a teenager she hated her hometown and counted the days until she left it behind and part of leaving it behind meant leaving her teenaged boyfriend, Carson. She moved, she got married, she got divorced and now she sees where she grew up with new eyes but returning and admitting that it was never as bad as she always claimed is not something she's sure that she's ready to do. Without that correction to the outlook of the past, Carson isn't sure he's going to put himself on the line again.
The hallmark of a great romance is likability and both characters lack in that department. Carson is a good guy who moved on with his life after Annie left and got married and had kids but he's grating and passive aggressive to a point that, at times, makes him somewhat uncomfortable to read. Annie is extremely locked up in her own pride so that she's stymied to an extent in the story. The reader knows what is going to happen in A Cowboy for Christmas, it's a romance after all, but I can't say that I didn't think these two people wouldn't be better off just going their own ways. Carson has a child, which complicates matters and puts a greater emphasis on him on the surety of the outcome, but as much as we hear about it, does he really consider his ultimate responsibility in the final balance? They're dancing around the obvious with one nagging and reminding the other of the problems they had and the lack of consideration which does not bode well for a lasting connection. That time she left will always be at the forefront in arguments.
Let's be real, though. This does not have to be a realistic read. It's a romance novel and an escape so how does it measure on the enjoyment scale? The answer would be middling. A Cowboy for Christmas is mostly well written and could experience a better flow with some paring down of fillers. At 104 pages, it should be a light and fast read but doesn't feel quick. If you like the end of a romance novel, pick A Cowboy for Christmas up. If you're looking for story, you'll find better but also worse.
For more information about Kirsten James, visit her website. You can connect with her on Goodreads, Facebook and Twitter @writerkristenj.


Overseas reprint variation. Paperback. released in China. Contents in ENGLISH and completely related as US variation.
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This means that even if you've upgraded to the latest Jet service pack (see the "Installation Checklist" section in the Appendix), the Packaging Wizard will use the old version. Your users will have to do the service pack upgrades themselves. 22. Getting Lost in Datasheet View THE ANNOYANCE: I like using datasheets, because they provide a familiar, spreadsheet-like view of the data in a table or query, and because I often consult other records while I'm entering data. The only problem is that if I scroll too far to the right it's easy to lose track of exactly which record I'm editing.
Network issues Access is known to be unstable on some networks, and network dropouts are one of the chief causes of database corruption. See "That Darn Corruption," later in this chapter. Corruption If your database is corrupted, all bets are off. Until it's fixed, you may as well give your data to a drunken sailor on a leaky ship. ") Bad application design If you're running a custom database that was poorly designed, this can also be a source of instability. For example, if your design requires you to keep adding fields to your tables, Access may misbehave long before you hit the 255-field limit.
If you need a line break in what you're typing, press Ctrl-Enter instead. Figure 1-7. Shift-F2 opens the zoom box, which is very handy for seeing the whole expression as you type. 12. " It doesn't even ask! I don't mean "THE," I mean "TEH," short for Tetrahedral Elevator Handles. ) This is driving me crazy. Make it stop! THE FIX: From a database designer's standpoint, this is one of the most ridiculous things that Access does. Databases shouldn't tamper with what a user enters, but Access does, applying the same AutoCorrect settings Word uses.


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