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A novel role for the Hox gene Deformed in the control of a motor system required for feeding in Drosophila
Friedrich, Jana
URN: urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-heidok-239571
URL: http://www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/archiv/23957
Animals interact with their environment based on stereotypical movement patterns, such as those performed during running, breathing or feeding. Hox regulatory genes had been known to be essential for establishing coordinated movements, but the molecular underpinnings of feeding behaviour were not well understood. Using Drosophila melanogaster as a model system, the present work demonstrates that a specific Hox gene, Deformed, controls the establishment of a motor unit in the fly's head during embryonic development. This unit comprises a muscle and a set of stimulating neurons and enables feeding-related movements. The loss of functional Deformed caused severe defects in the formation of the feeding motor unit and subsequently led to death. Furthermore, inactivation of Deformed at the end of embryogenesis, once the motor unit was successfully assembled, uncovered a novel role for Deformed in maintaining the functionality and integrity of the motor unit later in life. Finally, perturbations in motor behaviour were pinned to the role of Deformed in the control of molecules essential for synapse stability at the junctions between neurons and muscles. One of the identified direct targets of Deformed is Ankyrin, a molecule previously shown to be involved in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. Hence, the results presented here suggest that Hox genes might have a neuroprotective function and once this function is gone, the neurons degenerate, a hypothesis that will be of interest to study in the future. Interestingly, Deformed is co-expressed in muscles and neurons forming the functional feeding motor unit, pointing at its role as a master regulator of feeding behaviour. In support of this hypothesis, Deformed was shown to act as one of the negative upstream regulators of Connectin, a molecule essentially required for the correct matching between the two partners. Is the function of Hox transcription factors in the establishment of feeding motor units conserved across the animal phylogeny? This work uncovered a fly neural regulatory element of Deformed, which contains highly conserved Hox-binding sites, to be active in neurons located within the hindbrain of the vertebrate fish model Oryzias latipes, suggesting that the transcriptional network controlling the assembly and function of the feeding unit in fish and flies is conserved.
Wittbrodt, Prof. Dr. Joachim
The Faculty of Bio Sciences > Dean's Office of the Faculty of Bio Sciences
Service facilities > Centre for Organismal Studies Heidelberg (COS)
590 Zoological sciences
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CLICK HERE TO SECURE YOUR MARDI GRAS TICKET
Private Party Info
Historic Soulard Neighborhood
1860 Saloon, Game Room & Hardshell Café is proud to be in the heart of Historic Soulard, a St. Louis neighborhood gem.
This neighborhood is vibrant and thrives today for many reasons.
The people who live and work in Historic Soulard take pride in their home. Soulard attracts friendly souls who are comfortable with themselves and make others feel the same. The neighborhood is oozing with acceptance and casualness. It’s evident as “Soulardians” drive their golf carts, take time to chat, and participate with neighbors and visitors alike in the many local events. Even with their fur-babies. The locals don’t walk the dog as a “chore”, they are on a stroll to experience the parks or stop by the outside tables for a drink and conversation with whomever comes by.
The Historic Soulard neighborhood stays strong with locally owned stores which meet the needs of both Soulardians and visitors. The Porch is a go-to place in St. Louis for unique gifts, many that share our sense of humor! And it’s a relief to walk in an old-world hardware store, be greeted by a smiling face and asked if help is needed.
Edele & Mertz Hardware doesn’t need a website, but their Yelp reviews are stellar! Soulard Farmers Market is the oldest continually operated farmer’s market west of the Mississippi River. It’s architecturally significant, as the design is based on a Renaissance era hospital in Florence, Italy. The market is open year round from Wednesday to Saturday. While picking up produce on a Saturday morning, many have a tradition of stopping by Julia’s Market Café for a Bloody Mary! Around the corner there is a lovely flower shop, Riley’s Florist, to pick up flowers for window boxes. And reliable neighborhood grocery store founded by one of thousands of early 20th century immigrants, Vincent’s 12 St. Market.
Fortunately, St. Louisans respect and embrace its 18th French style architecture. Soulard is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which helps protect its integrity and keep strict building standards for the oldest thriving residential neighborhood in St. Louis. There are several restored churches and brick homes built generations ago using old-world craftsmanship with (now) cost prohibitive materials. During the popular walking tour of the local dining scene with Eat St. Louis one learns why some houses have big granite blocks next to their curb. (Answer: To step in to the horse drawn carriage. How cool is that?)
Convenient and Historical – Soulard Has it All
Soulard is also attractive to both residents and visitors for its convenient location. One mile south of Busch Stadium, within quiet tree-lined streets, there are beautifully maintained homes, apartments and lofts. Restaurants and businesses are mingled among them, just like over 100 years ago when everyday living was within walking distance. But right outside neighborhood, there is easy access to the highways. Several local businesses help residents with options for living accommodations, including Soulard Lofts (previously a baby carriage factory), 1400 Russell , and Red Brick leasing. And there is a cozy short stay option called Geyer House.
Two active non-profit neighborhood organizations embody the pride of ownership and belonging in this community. The Soulard Business Association and the Soulard Restoration Group work year round to support businesses and residents, as well as welcome visitors with open arms. Some events, promoted on their social media, include the Holiday Parlour Tour, Summer Concerts in the Park, June’s Sample Soulard Sunday and Oktoberfest. Both groups are very involved with the annual Mardi Gras events (stlmardigras.org).
Visit Historic Soulard and 1860’s!
Come and visit the Historic Soulard neighborhood, park free in the lot across from 1860’s and experience lunch or dinner with us. 60’s (as the locals refer to the place) has three separate rooms, each with a bar and the same Cajun/Creole-influenced menu (paying homage to the French Louisiana settlers). The 1860 Saloon hosts live blues, classic rock, soul and R&B performers 365 days a year.
The Game Room is a great gathering spot for playing Golden Tee, darts, shuffle board and more. It’s a wonderful atmosphere for private parties Monday through Thursday. (Call or email for availability at 314-231-1860 or info@1860saloon.com.) Finally, the Hardshell Café has a New Orleans Mardi Gras vibe and sidewalk cafe seating. Be sure to take a selfie with the 10 foot tall Mardi Gras jesters.
Before or after your meal and drinks we offer a stress-free complimentary shuttle downtown to Cardinals & Blues games. Visit our website for more information, including history, directions, the menu, music schedule, and more at 1860Saloon.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@1860soulard).
Gift Cards now online!
Horse Hooky with 1860s!
Shuttle to Cardinals Games!
Private Party spot is 1860s Game Room
A Win on the Ice & Lunch is 1/2 Price!
1860 Saloon, Restaurant, Bar, and Live Music Venue
St. Louis, MO, 63104
Mon – Sat 11 a.m. – 1:30 a.m.
Sun 11a.m. – Midnight
Kitchen open til 10 p.m. (Fri & Sat 11 p.m.)
We do our best to accommodate but cannot take reservations. For large groups, see our Private Party Info page.
Food & Drink Specials
Happy Hour: M-F 3 to 6 p.m. 1/2 price on select appetizers, specials on locally brewed beer & liquors, $3 wells.
Mondays: 1/2 price pizza from 7 to 10 p.m.
Wednesdays: Neighborhood Night in the Saloon! Complimentary Appetizers 6 to 8 p.m.
Lunch Specials: Weekdays 11 to 2 p.m.
Blues, Classic Rock, R&B
Mon – Sat 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Sun 7:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.
Weekends 2 to 6 p.m.
Wed, Thurs & Fri 6 to 8 p.m.
Enjoy free parking here & shuttle to Cardinals & Blues Games!
Raging Reviews
I always have a good time and consistent great service.
Lisa G.
Best live music in Soulard.
Kenneth J.
Great staff! Fast service and wonderful food!
Bryant J.
The absolute go to place great prices excellent food great bands live music on the weekend great place to bring someone that's in town for a visit hands down one of my favorite places in Soulard.
Best chicken strips in the city and you can't beat the price for happy hour! M-F 3 to 6! You gotta get to it!
Copyright © 2019 1860 Saloon, Game Room, & Hardshell Café. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy
Thank you for your interest in applying to 1860 Saloon, Game Room, & Hardshell Café. We’ve proudly served in historic Soulard over 35 years and earned a reputation for friendly service, great food, and a fun atmosphere. We hire and reward team players that “do what they say and say what they do,” show up with a positive attitude, and have a strong work ethic.
If you are interested in joining our team on an hourly basis, please stop by Tuesday thru Friday between 2:30 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. to fill out an application. Most days we are available to discuss employment opportunities at that time.
References (Please list two references )
Length of Employment
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‘This Was My Night’: A Document Of Latter-Day D.C. Punk, Strictly For The Fans
By Mike Paarlberg
D.C. hardcore hit peak nostalgia years ago and just kept going. The endless supply of documentary films, books, curated art shows and band reunions still manages to draw an audience, happily, despite critics’ warnings that we’ll eventually get sick of it. No, D.C. will never get tired of documenting itself, and that’s especially true of D.C. punks, whose most lasting institution, Dischord Records, was founded for that very purpose.
Hardcore, and D.C. hardcore in particular, has a rep for being stuck in the past. But it stays fresh by continually creating new pasts to draw from. A few years back, bands like Coke Bust brought the early ’80s thrashy style of hardcore back into vogue. But there are others reviving the mid-’80s melody of Dag Nasty, the late ’80s aggression of Swiz and the late-’90s chug of Damnation A.D. Soon there will be late ’00s tribute bands to Coke Bust, too. The logical endpoint is to be, to paraphrase The Onion, nostalgic for bands that don’t exist yet.
This Was My Night & This Was a Lot of Other Nights is another chapter in the scene’s love affair with itself, though an entertaining and necessary one. Editors Tim Follos and Hussain Mohammed compile show reviews and interviews from Follos’ blog Day After Day DC, covering the past decade — the most recent era of harDCore. It reads like a blog, in good ways and bad: The energy of the house shows reviewed (though “lovingly described” is more accurate; Follos has hardly an unkind word for anyone) is palpable, and he draws from a depth of knowledge and eye for detail only a true fan could.
At the same time, the long personal asides, shout-outs and inside jokes (most involving Sick Fix‘s Pat Vogel) remind you this was written by and for a small group of friends who all hang out and play in bands together.
This Was My Night isn’t so much about a particular city or era, but rather a particular crowd of 20-something, group-house-dwelling, radical politics-having, dog-walking, (ex-)vegan straight edge punx dedicated to putting on shows in makeshift spaces on shoestring budgets.
So the 12-page review of the 2013 Damaged City Fest that opens the book is kind of overkill. And for a book aiming to document an era that produced hundreds of local bands, a lot of the same ones show up again and again — Ilsa and The Max Levine Ensemble, both terrific bands, but reflective of the authors’ personal preferences.
There are a lot of others from that period that don’t appear, either for taking a different punk-derived trajectory, or just being in different social circles. They include Deathfix, Mass Movement of the Moth, The Apes, The Shirks, The Cassettes, Medications, Imperial China and the whole Sockets Records roster. Today, as always, there isn’t one D.C. punk scene, there are many scenes, and they don’t always communicate well with each other.
‘This Was My Night & This Was A Lot of Other Nights,’ back cover
This Was My Night isn’t so much about a particular city or era, but rather a particular crowd of 20-something, group-house-dwelling, radical politics-having, dog-walking, (ex-)vegan straight edge punx dedicated to putting on shows in makeshift spaces on shoestring budgets. And in that sense, it’s really about one band, Coke Bust, whose members and fellow super-promoters Chris Moore and Nick Candela (aka Nick Tape, who’s since moved to Brazil) held this scene together mostly by themselves through sheer force of will.
Thus one of the best pieces in the book is by Nick Tape, in which he describes the benefits of booking shows at the Corpse Fortress, the famously filthy, hot, dilapidated Silver Spring house that put on memorable shows until the neighbors finally got sick of the ruckus and got them all evicted.
“As a promoter, access to a venue with no rules and no set fee is enormously helpful,” Tape writes. “The lack of a fee allows promoters of shows with mediocre turnout to still pay bands somewhat respectable amounts at the end of the night.”
The second half of the book is made up of interviews with familiar punk figures, some of which are more lucid than others (Bad Brains’ H.R. is, predictably, in another world). There’s a bittersweet chat with the now-deceased Dave Brockie of Gwar. There’s a theological discussion with Positive Force co-founder (and fellow scene historian) Mark Andersen. There’s the requisite Ian MacKaye interview — a surprisingly unique one given the man must give dozens of interviews a month — in which he takes a deep dive into the history of Georgetown.
Follos is a skilled interviewer, able to draw out rich personal stories without being too much of the fanboy that he is (and most of us who read the book are). He can also be mischievous, asking Brian Baker, “Why is it necessary for Bad Religion to have three guitarists?” and getting Ian Svenonius to accidentally agree with conservative columnist George Will.
It’s fair to wonder whether a book like this needs to exist, especially for a genre saturated in self-documentation — and especially today, when many of the bands documented still exist, and a lot of the material is already accessible online. But I’d say it does. Given the book’s ultra-insider perspective, the target readership seems to be the 50 or so people who already appear in the book.
But only an insider could tell the story of the Bobby Fisher Memorial Building, another DIY space that the Borf graffiti collective jury rigged and briefly put on art installations and punk shows before it inevitably got shut down: “Towards the end, they cut our power, because we were stealing power from a neighbor who was also stealing power,” writes Chris Moore. “We ran over 15 shows on generators. Cops never shut down the shows… Seeing 20 people installing soundproofing and insulation… that’s awesome.”
The authors of This Was My Night & This Was a Lot of Other Nights host a book-release party Monday, April 25 at Black Cat with Scanners and Mirror Motives.
Tags Bad Religion, Book Review, Brian Baker, Chris Moore, Coke Bust, Corpse Fortress, D.C. Music History, Damaged City Festival, Deathfix, DIY, Hardcore, House shows, Ian MacKaye, Ilsa, Imperial China, Mass Movement of the Moth, Medications, Nick Candela, Punk, Sockets Records, The Apes, The Cassettes, The Max Levine Ensemble, The Shirks
Featured, Local
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Articles Home » B7 Cast and Crew » Lynda Bellingham 1948 - 2014
Lynda Bellingham 1948 - 2014
To Blakes 7 fans, she was 'Muller's lady' in Headhunter.
To Doctor Who fans, she was the Inquisitor in Trial of a Time Lord, with Colin Baker. She also appeared with Peter Davison in All Creatures Great and Small and At Home with the Braithwaites.
However, to millions of UK TV viewers she was best known as the Oxo Mum in a series of gravy commercials that ran for 16 years. The mini-dramas that played out in the various advertisements broke new ground as the first soap-style commercials, pre-dating by several years the Nescafe romance of Anthony Head and Sharon Maughan.
Lynda's acting career spanned five decades, and she was rarely out of work, appearing on stage, on television and in movies. Her stage roles included Shakespeare and comedies, and she considered her starring role in the 2008 touring production of Calendar Girls as one of her greatest triumphs. On TV, she appeared in dramas, comedies and sit-coms; playing leading roles, regular characters and guest characters in a wide range of series.
She joined the panel of ITV's Loose Women in 2007 and continued as a regular panellist until 2011. "At the end of the day, I am a failed sex goddess," she once said. "I have never quite cracked it. I am still hopeful of winning an Oscar for best newcomer, aged 85."
Lynda was awarded an OBE in the 2014 New Year Honours for her charity work.
In 2013 Lynda was diagnosed with cancer. In August 2014 she decided to cease chemotherapy treatment, but hoped she would survive to see her final Christmas. Sadly, she passed away on 19th October, in her husband's arms.
Lynda's final interview on Loose Women was screened on 22nd October and is available to view on ITVPlayer.
You can see some of her Oxo commercials on YouTube
Her second book of memoirs, There’s Something I’ve Been Dying to Tell You, in which she writes about her illness with honesty and humour, was published on 9th October, and is availabe from Amazon. Amazon
· Posted by Travisina on 22 October 2014 3249 Reads ·
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Doel van deze site
Mashriq / Arabia / Iraq
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Mashriq / Arabia / Iraq | Imperialism / War
Recent articles by Khaled Aboud
Requiem for Rojava 0 comments
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Recent Articles about Mashriq / Arabia / Iraq Imperialism / War
Benjamin Netanyahu’s Other Charges: Crimes Against Humanity in Gaza Mar 07 19 by Chiara Cruciati
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The naked emperor and the new Syria
mashriq / arabia / iraq | imperialism / war | debate Tuesday September 18, 2018 23:12 by Khaled Aboud
The so-called Syrian Civil War is Syrian in name only. It has seen combatants from scores of countries flooding into the jihadist fanatic armies, while Israel, Turkey, the US, France, the UK, Iran, Russia, the Arab monarchies, they all have meddled, bombarded, funded their own armed proxies and contributed in many ways to destroy the country. Syria is a shame on humanity, seen by everyone as an opportunity to flex their muscles and test each other’s red lines, limits and capacities. And we’ve been surprised to see the Russian emperor come out absolutely naked in this power-game.
The conflict in Syria has, above all, demonstrated the limits of the military power of Russia. All the jingoistic rhetoric of Putin-loving elements about Russia’s military might have been exposed to the world for what it is: a sham. The emperor is naked –Russia is nothing but a rundown state with pretentions of being a super-power, which may be able to bully the Georgians, but south of the Caucasus, it is others who run the show. And the war in Syria has proved just that. Despite the massive success of the operations to defeat jihadists in Syria and to boost the government of Assad –the only leader of the only country who would be willing to give them a military base in the Mediterranean-, Russia has clashed against a formidable military force which tests the limits of its hard power. This was demonstrated by Erdogan time and again, but particularly with the Sochi meeting which made partition of Syria official, showed that Turkey wouldn’t back down to Russia’s threats and showed its willingness to protect the most back-warded jihadists imaginable. It is Erdogan, not Putin who sets the agenda and who determines what is acceptable and what is not in Syria. Russia was humiliated, proving that getting into a course of conflict with a NATO country is no option for them. Their limits were exposed for everyone to see.
It is not the first time that Turkey slaps Russia in the face. They downed a Russian fighter; their ambassador Andrei Karlov was assassinated in Turkey by a policeman whom jihadists in Idlib parade as a hero; and what does Russia do? Some economic measures against Turkey only to be back a couple of months later with a stronger than ever relationship. They drum-beat like King Kong and then do nothing. Not because they are sensible, or hold the higher moral ground, or because they try not to escalate things. They don’t do anything because they can’t. Simple as that. The outdated Russian army is efficient enough to carpet bomb –they lack capacity for precision targeting- gangs of armed jihadists who spend most of their time reading the Q’uran as opposed to military theory anyway. But confronted to a real army, such as Turkey, they will back. Sergey Lavrov, their minister of foreign affairs, yelled from the top of his lungs that the territorial integrity of Syria was out of question and they would bomb the terrorists in Idlib. In Tehran Putin was saying that a cease-fire was out of question. But Turkey only needed to move its military forces into the region to convince Putin to sit in the negotiating table one week later and accept a de-militarised zone; indeed more than what Erdogan had originally asked for. And what about the territorial integrity of Syria and the fight against Al-Qaeda? Well, now Syria has been officially partitioned and the Al-Qaeda gangs will be well looked after by their Turkish sponsors.
To add injury to insult, that very night a number of targets in Syria, including Latakia where Russia has its military base, came under attack by Israeli fighters. The highly inefficient Russian air-defences not only didn’t manage to stop most of the bombs to hit target, but they actually managed to down a cargo place with 15 Russian soldiers behind which the Israeli fighter jets had taken shelter to attack Syria. The Russian Minister of Defence comes out to say that Russia reserves the right to take appropriate measures against hostile Israeli actions… and what will happen? Guessed right. Nothing. This is just bluffing. Putin already came out to say that the Israelis didn’t mean it and in a couple of days everything will be back to business as usual. Israel will keep bombarding Syria as the please, and Putin will declare that his love for Netanyahu is eternal and that a dozen dead Russians are not that big a deal at all. They will come out of this with a relationship stronger than ever. The harder you hit Putin, the stronger the relationship will be after the blow.
But if you give him what he wants, then he will trample all over you. Look at Assad, renewing the Russian military base until 2049, when Putin accepts the partition of Syria, and actually coordinates with Israel their bombardments so they don’t hit Russians but ‘kill as many Syrians as you like, sir’ –what kind of strange alliance is that? But it is not only that Russians will not stop Israel from bombing their supposed ally –they actually can’t do anything about it. The Latakia bombings demonstrated that Russia can’t even defend the surroundings of their military bases. Let’s see if anyone would dare to bombard jihadists even miles away from the Al-Tanf US military base in Southern Syria! If Russia can’t protect even its own bases and their own military personnel, what can Assad expect in terms of protection from future bombardments and interventions?
As for poor Syria, its future looks grim as hell. Assad has been left with a partitioned country and nothing much of a say in the future of it. The Kurdish have been increasingly turned into a proxy army for the US and their dependence on them was tested with the Turkish invasion of Afrin: it fell like a house of cards. Their enclave will be turned into a US protectorate in exchange of oil and military bases –which sooner rather than later will be officially sanctioned by the US, which will never allow a Turkish military incursion where their military bases are. Erdogan’s limits are not set by Russia, but by the US and Israel. Thus, all the transformative and emancipatory potential of the experience of Rojava, the only honourable page written in this senseless conflict, will come to nothing. The US will never allow any serious challenge to ‘capitalist modernity’ in their protectorate. They will possibly allow women co-chairs all over the place to prove the world how progressive Rojava is, same as Israel and their gay parade marches, proof that they are a “progressive” country, nevermind the plight of Palestinians. But to question class relations and imperialism in Rojava? To be serious about self-government? That is really difficult to happen under US sponsorship. Possibly far more pressure will be put on them to distance from the PKK which is getting shattered in Turkey and Northern Iraq. The Kurdish are prisoners now of US presence in Syria, and no amount of PR exercises will change the fact that if your autonomy depends on the presence of a foreign empire, it is empty chatter.
Was there another possible outcome? Yes. A pragmatic alliance between Assad and the Kurds, which would have allowed for Assad to remain as president and the Kurdish to get a degree of autonomy, stood a real chance of defeating Turkey and its proxies, while keeping a certain autonomy from their foreign patrons. A far cry from the scenario every party would have wished for, but no doubt the best possible scenario that could have come out of this absolute humanitarian disaster called Syrian Civil War. But precisely the proxy nature of the conflict didn’t allow anyone to see this chance. The Kurdish thought, and still think (surprisingly, even after Afrin), that the US is their friend. The Assadists thought that Russia was their friend. Imperialism has no friends, only interests. Whether it is the proper US imperialism, or the pathetically hallucinatory Russian imperialism, they only looked for their interests. Israel has won a weak neighbour unable to defend itself and under constant threat from the jihadists pockets kept live by Turkey. Turkey will manage to keep the Kurdish at bay and annex new territories in Idlib, Al-Bab, Jarabulus, and Afrin through proxies to feed the neo-Ottomanists dreams of its caliph. The US won oil and 14 military bases Russia keep their only military base in the Mediterranean, one which they can’t even defend. But there it is. And the Arab or Kurdish Syrians? Irrevocably partitioned into protectorates and unable to have a say in their own future. What a prospect!
Welcome to the New Middle East that Bush foresaw back in 2001.
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Saudi support
by Ahmet B. Wed Sep 19, 2018 23:27
The Kurds are becoming more compromised now that the Saudis have offered money for reconstruction, are recognizing them as legitimate rulers east of Fırat and they share intelligence and military cooperation. Revolution will not last long.
#DeirEzzor
A Saudi intelligence delegation met today with #SDF Civil Council and many of tribal sheikhs of North Euphrates, and the delegation pledged unlimited financial support in case of cooperation with #SDF beside recognition of their rule of the region.
#Sou_and_Pic
Related Link: https://twitter.com/soundandpic/status/1042119372314226689
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ATLAS Blog
Tags: Physics Results, ATLAS Collaboration, CERN, Higgs boson, Run 1, Outreach
Tweeting live #Higgs boson updates from #CERN
By Andreas Warburton, 11th February 2012
My view of CERN's auditorium, 2:15h before seminars began. (Image: Andreas Warburton/ATLAS)
“If it’s just a fluctuation of background, it will take a lot of data to kill.”
Dr. Fabiola Gianotti, spokesperson for the ATLAS collaboration, made this statement on Dec. 13, 2011 during a special seminar I attended at CERN. Within the minute that followed, I hurriedly concocted a tweet, tacked on #Higgs and #CERN hashtags, and sent Fabiola’s weighty comment out onto the WWW.
CERN, where the WWW was invented, is the main European particle physics laboratory. I was at the lab for a week to discuss physics and the performance of the ATLAS detector, a 7000-ton apparatus used to examine remnants of high-energy proton collisions delivered by CERN’s 27-km Large Hadron Collider (LHC), straddling the Franco-Swiss border.
This turned out to be no ordinary week. The 2011 LHC program had yielded a fecund data sample, and we needed to take stock of our most promising new-phenomena searches. By far the most anticipated were those of the Higgs boson, hypothetical pieces in the emerging puzzle of the tiniest known subatomic particles. Signal rumours had been swirling around the planet in blogs and other media. I was asked by the media relations department at my home institute, McGill University, to live tweet the Higgs update event. I already knew our ATLAS measurements, but was keen to see results by our competitors, the CMS collaboration, running a complementary detector on the opposite side of the LHC. Exciting times!
We owe much of this excitement to Ernest Rutherford who, while a McGill professor of Experimental Physics early last century, unwittingly helped to kick off the Higgs hunt through his Nobel Prize work on radioactivity. Modern theories that posit the existence of one or more types of Higgs particles seek to unify – into a more symmetric and fundamental theory – two basic forces: 19th-century electromagnetism and Rutherford’s 20th-century radioactivity. As if that weren’t enough, observing Higgs particles would also help to reveal a mechanism by which various fundamental particles are endowed with their non-zero mass values. This gets at the very essence of the physical universe.
More recently, my McGill colleagues and I have taken part in the search for Higgs bosons using the Fermilab Tevatron matter-antimatter collider near Chicago. Just last summer at McGill University, Dr. Adrian Buzatu defended a PhD thesis using Tevatron data to set the world’s best limits on Higgs boson production in the low-mass region that is now revealing hints at the LHC. Adrian recently took up a postdoctoral position in our ATLAS collaboration, working with the University of Glasgow group.
In December, I entered CERN’s auditorium three hours before the seminar was to begin. Within about 30 minutes, all available seats and aisles were jammed. A mob formed outside the auditorium door, but security guards were able to maintain control. Unable to work in all the nervous energy and jostling, I tweeted, “You’d think it was John Lennon coming to CERN today.”
You'd think it was John Lennon coming to CERN today. #Higgs #CERN — Andreas Warburton (@AWarb) December 13, 2011
At long last the ATLAS and CMS talks began. Both collaborations had searched extensively for several different signatures, scenarios by which a Higgs particle could be created from LHC collision energy before disintegrating into lighter particles.
Given our detectors’ sensitivities, and the colossal Higgs-mimicking backgrounds, we knew in advance that our samples wouldn’t suffice for a statistically robust 2011 discovery. Nevertheless, both ATLAS and CMS showed suggestive traces in a variety of Higgs signatures. Enticingly, both collaborations ruled out overlapping mass ranges and recorded hints at similar masses.
These indications are thrilling. In this kind of science, discoveries take time and are often preceded by whiffs. We’re also cautious. Our 2011 results could be chance background fluctuations, tantamount to tossing six coins and getting tails every time. Only when our observations are flukier than tossing 20 tails in a row will we claim a discovery.
The 2012 data will likely enable us to observe or rule out the Higgs boson. Either of these outcomes would constitute exhilarating, 21st-century science. I look forward to tweeting about it.
For the event’s archived tweets, which contain links to further information, go to this page.
The above blog posting was adapted from an outreach article requested by the McGill Reporter newspaper. The ATLAS and CMS experiments have now submitted their Higgs search papers based on the 2011 data set.
Andreas Warburton
Andreas Warburton tweets as @AWarb and is an associate professor in the Department of Physics at McGill University. For information about his research and other interests, see http://twitter.com/#!/AWarb.
Disclaimer: The views expressed do not represent the official position of ATLAS but the personal views of the author.
ATLAS News - 27 Jul 2011
ATLAS results revealed at EPS HEP 2011 conference in Grenoble ATLAS News - 21 Jun 2011
A Search for New Physics Processes using Dijet Events ATLAS News - 24 May 2011
Is Nature Supersymmetric? ATLAS Profile - 15 Dec 2010
Martin Rybar
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Education sector leaders debate latest NZ Initiative research
Education sector leaders met in Wellington last night to welcome the release of new education research which says student data is ready and waiting to be used by schools to help improve student achievement.
The research, Amplifying Excellence: Promoting transparency, professionalism and support in schools, is the final report in a three-part series by New Zealand Initiative researcher, Martine Udahemuka. It argues that data on students' backgrounds should be used to contextualise schools, so that a school's achievement is compared with that of similar schools and its teachers' performance is compared with teachers teaching comparable students.
In her reprt, Udahemuka claims that pass rates alone shouldn’t define a school’s achievement.
“NCEA rankings unfairly stigmatise as failures schools with students from low socioeconomic communities, while schools with affluent students sometimes earn undue praise.”
Udahemuka recommends implementing a fairer measure that takes into account students’ out-of-school social factors and compares similar schools. She suggests the Education Review Office should also report a school’s performance in the context of similar schools.
The report makes a similar argument for managing teacher performance. While it stops short of linking performance with pay, it suggests that teachers should be appraised on their measurable impact on student achievement compared to other teachers teaching similar students, otherwise “good teachers with challenging cohorts can look ineffective if their students do not meet national achievement targets”.
Education Minister Nikki Kaye welcomed the research, saying that although there wouldn’t be agreement on every single recommendation, there is broad alignment between the report and the current direction of education policy.
Kaye agreed there was a need to “really get under the hood of disadvantage” and that there was more work needed to better reflect what defines a school’s success.
“We do have to have a national conversation around what progression looks like.”
Kaye said the emphasis needed to change from assessment occurring at a point in time to looking at what leads to learning growth. She heralded Auckland’s Stonefields School as exemplary for the way it measured student progress.
PPTA president Jack Boyle agreed the focus needed to move from constant assessment to students’ improvement. However, he was critical of the report’s recommendations for linking teachers’ performance to achievement data. He was also wary of placing too much emphasis on data.
“Data is not the be all and end all,” said Boyle, “Do we think that only what the data captures matters?
“Some children won’t achieve, even with amazing teaching. We need to focus on improving out-of-school factors.”
Former Wellington deputy mayor and educator Ian McKinnon agreed. He gave the analogy of a triangle around a young person with the three sides being family, community and school.
“It is too easy to focus on the school. Let’s try and strengthen all sides of that triangle,” he said.
However, Udahemuka’s report suggested that data on out-of-school factors was ready and waiting to be used to assist schools.
“We have data collated by Statistics New Zealand on student and family characteristics to better measure school performance. But because parents, principals and board do not know it can be done, nobody demands it.”
Forsyth Barr managing director Neil Paviour-Smith said that in his capacity as chair of a school Board of Trustees he liked the idea of using data to inform decisions on student achievement.
“Providing this information to schools would be very powerful,” he said.
“I don’t think implementing these recommendations would take a lot of courage or money,” he said, “I strongly encourage getting on with it.”
In forthcoming reports, the New Zealand Initiative will look at how the recommendations outlined in Amplifying Excellence would work in practice.
Careers NZ now part of Tertiary Education Commission
Part-time secondary teachers seek equal pay
Report compares NZ and European qualifications frameworks
Manurewa Intermediate shines at PM's Education Excellence Awards
Digital fluency investment marks biggest change to curriculum in a decade
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Remembering anti-communist protester who set himself ablaze 50 years ago
PR dla Zagranicy
Grzegorz Siwicki 10.09.2018 07:30
Media reports have noted the death 50 years ago of a former Polish Home Army soldier who doused himself in paint thinner and set himself on fire in protest of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.
Ryszard Siwiec. Photo: National Institute of Remembrance/Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)
On the night of August 20, 1968, Soviet-led Warsaw Pact forces invaded Czechoslovakia to put a stop to liberal reforms.
Less than three weeks later, 59-year-old Ryszard Siwiec protested the move by setting himself ablaze during an official harvest festival in central Warsaw, where some 100,000 people had gathered.
Before setting himself on fire on September 8, 1968 – an idea he may have borrowed from monks protesting against the Vietnam War – he wrote his will and recorded an anti-communist manifesto which ended with the words: “Hear my cry, the cry … of a man who loved his own freedom and that of others more than anything else, more than his own life.”
A fierce opponent of the regime in Poland, he left his wife a letter in which he said: “Forgive me, it could not have been any other way.”
Siwiec died in hospital four days after later.
But his protest went largely unnoticed. The authorities said Siwiec was mentally ill and film footage of Siwiec in flames did not emerge until after the fall of communism.
He was posthumously awarded Czech, Slovak and Polish state distinctions.
(gs)
Source: TVP Info
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Tag Archives: Mundane Intervention Team
September 8, 2018 Artemis Greenleaf
Buffalo Bayou, near the burned out ruins of Harrisburg, Texas
“I don’t think this is a good idea, John,” Quinn said.
“Of course it is, my good man. Sam Houston is the toast of Texas. A town named after him can’t help but succeed. Especially if I can get my fellow representatives in the Congress to make it the capital of the Republic of Texas – indeed, we’ve already started construction on the capitol building! The Texas government is clamoring for settlers, who will, of course, need a place to live. If we dig out this stagnant old stream, we’ve got the makings of a grand port,” John Allen replied. He gestured to the sluggish bayou in front of them, moving just fast enough to keep the mud churned up in the water and scent the air. A perch glinted silver at the surface as it grabbed a water strider that had ventured too far away from the bank, then disappeared into the murk.
Quinn looked at a pair of yellow eyes floating just above the surface of the opaque water and shrugged. His companion thought it was a basking alligator, a common enough beast in the Gulf Coast swamps, but he knew better.
“Isn’t the capital already set up in Galveston? And there’s already a major port there, too. Why would any ships come all the way up here?”
“Galveston is the interim capital. We are going to make Houston the permanent one. As for ships coming this far, that’s easy. Rail, my good man. This spot is fifty miles closer to existing railways than Galveston. They don’t even have a causeway to the island to run a rail line.”
“But there isn’t any rail here,” Quinn said. The yellow eyes in the murky water at his feet stared balefully up at him.
“Not yet. But it will come. The plans are already in the works.” John slapped at a swarm of mosquitoes buzzing around his ears.
“You’ve taken leave of your senses, John, you and Augustus both.”
John laughed loudly, and a snowy egret fled the water for the safety of the trees. “No one thought General Houston could beat Santa Anna, now did they? After the massacres at Goliad and the Alamo, and being outnumbered almost two to one at San Jacinto, only a fool would have bet on Sam Houston. Ha! It’s Manifest Destiny, my friend, the will of the Almighty.”
Quinn frowned. John Allen squeezed his shoulder. “I’ve business in Nacogdoches that I must attend to. You won’t go wrong buying a parcel of land here, I can assure you. My brother will be most delighted to assist you with the deed while I am away.” With that, he mounted his horse and trotted off, crashing noisily through the underbrush.
When the commotion of his passing had quieted, and the twitter of birds and occasional grunting snarls of alligators resumed, the eyes that had been fixed on Quinn rose out of the bayou water. The creature that belonged to the yellow orbs stood upright. Her skin was so dark green as to appear black, unless the sun struck it a certain way, and it was marked by small, vaguely square striations. She was a sobek, and while the ancient Egyptians had painted her kind as alligator-headed people, Quinn knew that modern humans had long ago lost the skill of discernment – they would see nothing but a reptile when they looked at her.
“They must not stay here,” she growled, water dripping from her large, re-curved teeth.
“I’m trying to discourage them,” Quinn replied.
“Try harder,” she answered.
“If you think this is so easy, why don’t you have a go?” Quinn snapped.
“Swamp fever has kept humans away for many years with– it was a gift they gave us themselves when they brought others of their kind here in chains to labor in their fields. The fever arrived with them. They come, many die, the survivors leave. So it has been, but I fear that not enough of these invaders will perish if they come in great numbers.”
“Perhaps not,” Quinn replied.
He was in two minds about humans. His mother had never forgiven them for killing his father, and yet, he’d had a human foundling child named Virginia who was as kind as she was beautiful. He did not know, however, if she was the exception or the norm. His work often brought him into contact with people. Although, they were typically involved with demons, so they were perhaps not the best representatives of their species. Still, he couldn’t help but like John Allen.
“It was my understanding that you were here to provide assistance,” the sobek woman said.
“I am. I’m just not sure I can accomplish your request.”
The alligator fay snarled at him before she slipped back under the murky water of the bayou.
Quinn didn’t appreciate being dismissed so harshly, but he didn’t fancy going in after her – no telling how many others of her kind were lurking in the muddy water. Besides, the rest of his Mundane Intervention Team – Siobhan, Eoin, Aleksei, and Malik – were waiting for him in Galveston. They had arrived to broker an agreement between the burgeoning human population and the merfolk, who had used the island since it was little more than a sandbar. He shook his head. He hated diplomatic missions, and here he was on not one, but two concurrent ones.
He shifted into the form of a great black horse, and galloped along the waterway. If the bayou was deeper, it would have been faster for him to take his natural kelpie form and swim down to Galveston Bay. Even so, this was not the place to dive in – water fae were notoriously territorial, and the last thing he wanted to do was cause an incident, especially since he was on his own.
Moonlight made the waves shimmer like cut glass, and glinted off the breakers that foamed white before they rolled up onto the beach. The fresh sea breeze was a welcome relief from stifling heat that had oppressed them during the day. Quinn and his team, with the addition of one human in the personage of a Montreal transplant named Michel Branamour Menard, waited at the furthest point on Galveston Island from the busy port, hoping the representative of the West End Sea Tribes Union would arrive soon. She was already late.
Quinn looked at Menard, then at his MIT. Except for Eoin, they could all assume human form, and no one was the wiser. Eoin had his own tricks, however. It would seem that the urisk, who looked human from the waist up, but goatlike from the waist down, would garner a fair amount of attention from panicked humans. But they could stand in front of him and never notice he was there. Unless he desired it. Aleksei, the blue-skinned Lesovik, is what people see when they catch movement out of the corners of their eyes and feel they are being watched in the woods. Unless they look straight at him, in which case he appears to them as a large bush. Even if sighted, recollection of him is slippery, and slides out of the pool of memory like silk over skin. Malik was a djinn, and could take any shape, including none at all, and often did for the sole purpose of amusing himself with pranks against humans. Siobhan could not be readily be distinguished by mortal eyes from a comely young lady of the homo sapiens species. The tips of her ears were perhaps a little more pointed, and her eyes were slightly larger than the typical human.
On the beach, the tide had risen substantially, and warm water encroached on their gathering.
Quinn looked around and shook his head. “It would seem the merfolk have changed their minds. It is half an hour past the designated time, and their representative has not arrived.”
“What does this mean?” snapped Menard.
“It could mean several—” Quinn was cut off by an exquisite and ethereal singing.
Somehow, they had completely missed the approach of the mermaid, because now she sat on the beach not twenty yards away. Her long hair skimmed the sand, and was the same golden brown as the sargassum seaweed that blanketed the beaches in spring. She did not glow, as such, yet even Menard could see her plainly in the dark.
Quinn’s team was immune to her song’s spell, but they could still appreciate the aching beauty of it while they waited for her to finish. Mr. Menard, on the other hand, was utterly mesmerized.
“Greetings,” said Quinn, after the song had stopped.
“Felicitations. Are you the ones that have come to chaffer with me?”
“Indeed,” Quinn replied. “And we have brought with us one Michel Menard, who has ambitions of founding a city on your island.”
He shook Menard’s shoulder, which pulled him out of his trance, then pushed him toward the mermaid. Siobhan rolled her eyes and shook her head.
“B-b-bon soir, m-m-madame,” the man stammered.
“I am called Zara,” the mermaid said, casting her silver eyes up and down the quivering human in front of her. “We have no quarrel, in general, with humans. The Karankawa people lived here for many years in peace.” When she spoke, her sharp teeth flashed in the moonlight.
“B-b-but there are no Indians here now,” Menard said.
“Do you know why that is?” Zara asked.
Menard shook his head. Quinn was unable to determine whether Menard was fearful of Zara, or just dumbfounded by her bare breasts.
“Have you heard tales of the criminal Jean Lafitte?” Zara asked.
Menard nodded.
“Lafitte and his band of miscreants took over the island. They had been here some years when they captured one of our people. She was, of course, reported by the humans to be a Karankawa woman. But when our friends, the tribesmen, tried to free the captive mermaid, they were massacred by the pirates. My people raised the storm that obliterated all of the human habitations and drove them from the island.”
Menard took a step back. “Mon dieu! You claim to call storms?” His voice had lost its nervous stutter and now contained an edge of skepticism.
“You doubt our abilities? Do not force me to disabuse you of your misapprehensions, sir. As long as your people do not harry or harass my people and do not take more than your fair share of fish, we will not be in conflict. It would be ill-considered for you to do otherwise, Mr. Menard.” One of Zara’s eyebrows arched as she spoke. “We are fond of this island, and do not wish to damage it, but we will not be mistreated.”
“Equinoxes cause the big storms, that is common knowledge – that is why they are called ‘equinoctial storms,’ after all,” Menard said, crossing his arms over his amply-padded chest, as if he had suddenly been injected with a massive dose of courage.
“Is that so, Mr. Menard?”
Suddenly a great howling, as of wind screaming around the corners of a building, rose from the sea and swirled around them. Quinn saw the faces of dozens of merfolk bobbing in the surrounding waters. Aleksei and Eoin chattered nervously together, probably making a contingency plan, given that Aleksei couldn’t swim.
Clouds scudded in and smothered the moon. Lightning flashed in the distance. A few fat drops of rain splashed lazily on the group standing on the beach.
“Is it the equinox, Mr. Menard?” Zara asked. Her voice was not loud, but it could clearly be heard over the keening of her people and the howling of the wind.
“Oui. Perhaps. The autumnal equinox is in two weeks.”
The howling increased. The wind got stronger. Menard’s pomaded hair flapped wildly in the squall, and he squinted against the blowing sand. Water ran up the beach and poured over his feet. A clap of thunder boomed above Menard, nearly knocking him to the ground. The force of its rage rippled through the sand. Rain began to torrent down, blown nearly horizontal by the wind.
“Arrêter!” Menard shouted. He dropped to his knees and covered his face. “Please stop. I believe you,” he whimpered.
The howling ceased and the wind went dead calm. The downpour became a sprinkle, and the lightning stopped flickering across the horizon.
“Do we have an agreement?” Zara asked.
“That my people will leave your people alone, and not overfish? Is that all?”
“That is enough. Break this contract at your peril, Mr. Menard.”
With a flick of her tail, Zara pushed herself off of the beach and into the surf.
“That was easy enough,” Quinn said. “Now, what are we going to do about the Allen brothers?”
The Mundane Intervention Team had opted to stay in Mrs. Reynaud’s boarding house for the few days they’d be in Galveston.
“Bon matín, mes amis!” the widow sang at them as they filed into the dining room for breakfast. The smell of fresh-baked bread made Quinn’s stomach protest having to wait another moment for food.
“Good morning,” they all responded, but far from in unison.
Mrs. Reynaud disappeared into the kitchen, and moments later, she returned with plates of food. A young lady of African descent helped serve. Quinn could not help but notice that about half of her left ear was missing. When she noticed him looking, she looked away and turned her head. He felt a twinge of guilt for staring at her.
The MIT was famished, the baguettes were hot, and the cheese was delicious. Their hostess even flaunted tradition and provided a jar of fig preserves, probably from the immense fig tree that shaded her front porch, and a large portion of her yard.
A loud banging on the front door interrupted their meal. Mrs. Reynaud’s assistant fled, bumping into Siobhan in her haste.
“Open up, Miss Rayno. I believe you got some property of mine,” called a loud voice.
“Monsieur, I have no property in this house that does not belong to me.”
Quinn could see the shadows of three men on the front porch against the lacy curtains.
“Now, Miss Rayno, we don’t want to have to break down your door, but we know you got a colored girl in there. She’s a runaway slave. Did you not know that, ma’am?”
“I do not know what you are speaking about. Go away. You are disturbing my guests.”
Quinn looked around at his team, and his lip twitched into the ghost of a smile. “Invite them in,” he said.
“Je ne comprends pas. This makes no sense.” Mrs. Reynaud replied, shaking her head. Her expression implied that death was both preferable and likely if she complied.
“Your secret is safe with us.” Quinn gestured toward the door. “Invite them in.”
Cautiously, Mrs. Reynaud opened the door. Three heavily armed men pushed their way inside.
“Jim Bowie, God rest him, always said you were gonna be trouble,” the man who had done the shouting at the door said. “Now, if you will kindly turn over our property, we’ll be on our way.”
“What property is that?” Quinn asked.
One of the men knocked over a porcelain vase filled with flowers. It smashed on the hardwood floor, scattering water, blossoms and fragments of delicate delft blue floral tracery. It was difficult to tell whether the act was deliberate or accidental. He grinned like an oaf either way.
“Colored girl, ’bout so tall…” He raised his hand, palm down, to his chin.
“What color is she?” Siohbhan asked. “Blue? Orange? Green?”
The three men looked at each other, perplexed. “She’s the same color as your tea, ma’am,” replied the one who had shattered the vase.
“What would you want with her? If such a girl was even here?” Siobhan answered.
The spokesman took a step forward. “Women ought to know their place.”
Quinn glanced at Malik. A grin spread over the djinn’s face, and his eyes glowed metallic green. A breeze blew across the room, and swirled, faster and faster around the three men. They seemed to be frozen, then disappeared for a few seconds. When they re-appeared, they were not at all themselves.
Instead of three armed white men, there stood three black men, shackled and chained together by iron collars. They started to talk to each other, and discovered, to their obvious horror, that they could only speak Swahili.
Aleksei laughed out loud. “There are three slaves who now look like men that were here, yes?”
Malik nodded.
“I would suggest, Mrs. Reynaud, that you quickly get these three to the auction house. Eoin and Aleksei will help you.”
“Non. I would not wish that on even these men. Would you set them free? I’d rather to turn them loose, and let them make their own way.”
Malik nodded, and the chains disappeared.
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Siobhan said.
Mrs. Reynaud smiled. “Moi aussi. Me, too.”
The clock struck eight.
“We must be on our way,” Quinn said.
Once outside the boarding house, they strolled to the back of the building, away from prying eyes. Six feet pounded by on the sidewalk as the three slavers-cum-slaves fled Mrs. Reynaud’s boarding house. Malik waved his hand over the MIT. In an instant, they stood just outside of the building site that was quickly turning into the City of Houston.
“I don’t think there’s any way to stop the Allen brothers,” Quinn said.
“Agreed,” replied Eoin.
“You could always eat them,” said Malik.
“I’m assuming that was sarcasm,” Quinn said. Malik knew full well that, although he was quite capable of dining on humans, they gave Quinn terrible indigestion.
Malik shrugged. “People flow to this place like sand through an hour glass. One grain, more or less makes no difference.”
“But what about the sobeks in the bayou?” Siobhan asked.
“Would they consent to being relocated?” Eoin asked.
“Probably not,” Quinn replied.
“Yeccchh!”
A man came around the corner, spitting and wiping his mouth on his sleeve. He clutched an empty tin cup in one hand and a roll of papers in his other.
“Are you alright?” Siobhan asked.
“Fine, fine. This milk has gone off. Doesn’t last long at all in this heat.” He wiped his hand on his pants and extended his hand to Quinn, who was nearest to him. “Gail Borden, surveyor. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”
“I believe we’ve met,” Quinn said. “John Allen is an acquaintance of mine, and I call upon him from time to time.”
“Ah! So we have. You’re that fellow he’s been taking around town, aren’t you?”
“Yes. These are my associates.” He gestured to the rest of his team, but did not go to the trouble of introducing them to Mr. Borden.
Malik pulled a glass bottle from a pocket in his roomy pants and removed the wax seal from the stopper. “Perhaps you should cook it first,” he said, taking a drink from the bottle.
“Cook it?…Oh, yes the milk! Grand idea, that. Yes. I shall have to look into it. Now, were you looking for Mr. John Allen?”
“I believe he’s gone to Nacogdoches,” Quinn replied.
“Augustus is about, somewhere.”
“We will locate him, should we require his presence. Thank you.”
Borden carried on with his perambulation, and the MIT continued down to the bayou. They had to walk some distance to be out of sight of the construction operations. After calling to the sobeks for nearly an hour and getting no response, Quinn returned his team to the Mundane Activity Monitoring and Intervention Center (MAMIC) in Blackthorne, in the realm of Faery.
MAMIC authorized Quinn to buy a number of plots immediately along Buffalo Bayou to help delay the inevitable conflict between the sobeks and swelling population of the new capital of the Republic of Texas.
Quinn found himself back in Houston two years later, at the sweltering apex of summer.
“You know, my good fellow,” John Allen said to him, as they walked along the water front, “Those plots you bought are highly coveted. Shall we build on them for you? I’m sure you could put a fine house and a business or two on them. Even with no improvements, they’d still sell for a pretty penny.”
“I don’t wish to sell them right now,” Quinn replied.
“I see.” Allen leaned in and lowered his voice. “Confidentially, I’ve had a change of heart. I have told no one yet. But instead of a port, I believe that the bayou should be filled in.”
“We had one steamboat come upstream last year. One. And the bayou is so shallow and choked with weeds, that it was a slow and miserable trip. No, I think it will take too much work to make it of any use. Best to fill it in and rid ourselves of these cursed mosquitoes.” John slapped one of the offending insects on his arm, and it left a bloody smudge on his arm.
Quinn caught a glimpse of yellow eyes in the murky water, but they were gone so fast he wasn’t sure he’d even seen them.
“They seem to be especially bad this summer,” John continued.
Quinn noted small red welts, some scratched bloody, on the man’s bare forearms. He also noted that John looked thinner and paler than the last time they’d met.
“Well, here we are,” John said.
They had arrived at a makeshift tavern, which fit right in with the mostly shanty-town section of city.
“I think it’s a terrible idea,” Quinn said.
“Having a drink? Surely not.”
“No. Filling in the bayou. Are you alright?”
John Allen had crossed his arms over his chest and was rubbing his upper arms as if they were cold.
“I’m, fine,” he replied, perhaps with too much emphasis the last word. “Just a little fever. It comes and goes.”
As they entered the saloon, John’s knees buckled, and Quinn only just caught him before he hit the floor. Quinn laid him out on one of the rickety tables, and the town doctor was called. His office was only next door, and he arrived within minutes, black bag in hand.
The doctor reeked of cheap whiskey, and Quinn wasn’t particularly confident in his abilities. But his diagnosis fit.
“Congestive fever,” he said, nodding his head. “This is the third round of it. Every two days he gets a fever, and he’s sicker each time.”
John Allen, mumbling in his delirium, was carried to his house, but he never woke up.
He died the next day.
Quinn stayed for the funeral. John was only twenty-eight, and had no wife to mourn him. He was laid out in his own parlor, and his mother sat beside the open casket, veiled and dressed in black from head to toe. Quinn shuddered inwardly as he approached to pay his respects – Mrs. Allen wore a large locket with some of John’s hair fixed in a basket weave pattern inside. It was a morbidly peculiar habit, these humans had, he thought.
A tall woman, face disguised by a heavy black veil, stood near the back of the room.
“One Allen down, one to go,” she said as Quinn got near her. He recognized her as the female sobek from the bayou, although none of the humans seemed to notice her.
“I don’t think you’ll be able to stop the humans from coming. There are already too many of them, and more arrive every day. For your own safety, I’d like to help relocate your people.”
There was little point in arguing. He sighed softly. “As you wish.”
“I’m very sorry about your mother,” Quinn told the young sobek. He had not yet lost the blotchy cream stripes of a juvenile, and leadership had been thrust upon him by his mother’s untimely and fatal interaction with a steamboat.
“Thank you. She never gave up on trying to reclaim our territory from the humans.” He looked down and sighed. “Even though many in our tribe had long believed it was a lost cause.”
“I understand.” Quinn said. Miles of rail lines linking Houston to parts north, west and east were already in operation, and grew longer every day, snuffing out any flicker of hope the sobeks might have had about eradicating the human interlopers from their ancestral home. “A place has been cleared for you, about thirty miles to the southwest of here. There was a human river landing built there, but it has been removed. The Brazos River is slowed by many bends in this area, so it should meet your habitat requirements.”
The young sobek nodded slightly and opened the door to what human eyes would perceive as a garden variety stagecoach. It was actually a spatial bubble, which would expand to fit as many as necessary on the inside, but remain the same on the outside.
Quinn held the carriage door open, and the young leader stood opposite him, calling to his people in the croaking, booming language of the sobeks. In small family groups, they rose from the bayou and made their way to the carriage. Heads down, defeated, they walked slowly, and it took longer than Quinn had anticipated to collect them all. When the tear-stained face of the last one disappeared into the inside of the coach, their young leader took one final, sorrowful look around, and climbed in, pulling the door closed behind him.
Quinn climbed into the shotgun seat, and the driver shook the reins and clucked to the horses. Actually, they only looked like horses. In reality, they were a hitch of kelpies – one was even Quinn’s cousin – who could do twice the work of a mortal horse in half the time.
It was late afternoon when the coach arrived at its destination, and twilight was already creeping in on this shortest day of the year. The driver pulled up under an immense, Spanish moss-draped live oak tree on the banks of an oxbow lake, formed by a looping bend in the Brazos River. Tall clumps of Texas giant cane shaded the opposite banks and waded partway into the lake. Sabal palms were sprinkled among the oak, hackberry, and pecan trees. A bull alligator, sunning himself just out of the water, looked up cautiously at them.
Quinn opened the stage coach door, and the young leader was the first to emerge.
“It’s beautiful!” he exclaimed. “It certainly seems a natural park.”
“We’ve got a live one,” Quinn said to his team.
They sat around an oaken table in a conference room at the MAMIC headquarters.
“What is it?” Aleksei asked.
“There’s a demon, possibly two, who’ve helped some humans capture a mermaid. We’ve got to free her, acquire the demons, and neutralize the human witnesses. The method depends on how much they know.”
“Where are we off to, then?” Eoin asked.
“Texas. Again,” Quinn answered.
“Seems to be a lot going on down there,” Siobhan added.
It was still dark when Quinn, Siobhan, Aleksei, Eoin and Malik stepped through the portal onto Galveston Island. Again, they were in the far west section of it.
“It’s about time,” Zara growled.
“I’m sorry for the delay,” Quinn said. “We have been advised that one or more demons is holding one of your tribe captive. Can you apprise us of the situation?”
Anger flashed in Zara’s eyes. “Enough talk. You will do something, and do it now, or I will!”
“I understand that you’re upset. We will do everything we can to rescue the mermaid. But we’ve got to contain the demon. Or is it demons? If we don’t, this will just recur.”
“There are two of them. They’ve shown some of the humans our abode. But our sister. They’ve put her on display at the docks.”
Quinn and Siobhan exchanged looks. “That complicates things. How many of the towns people have seen her?”
“Most. Perhaps all.”
Aleksei swore in Ukranian.
“Do what you will, but know this: a storm has already been called. It is on its way, and is far too big to be stopped,” Zara said. “And we would not do so, even if it were possible. These human vermin have been infesting our island for too long. We have been too patient. No more. They have broken the pact, and they will suffer the consequences.”
“How long do we have before the storm arrives?” Quinn asked.
“It will arrive this afternoon. The sooner, the better.”
“Eoin – I need you to relay this information to Dame Rowan at MAMIC. Aleksei, you’re with him. Guard the portal. Go now.”
The urisk and the Lesovik headed back to the portal, leaving little goat tracks and odd two-toed footprints in the damp sand.
“Take us to where they are holding your sister,” Quinn said to Zara.
The docks heaved with people waiting to pay a nickel each to see the captured mermaid, who was being held in one of the warehouses.
Quinn shook his head. “This makes it much more difficult,” he said, surveying the crush of people.
He, Siobhan, and Malik stood at the edge of the crowd. Quinn spotted the first demon right away – it was the one collecting money from the people waiting in line to gawk at the poor captive. Humans, of course, couldn’t see that he was a demon – he looked like any other bow-tied salesman to them. But Quinn and company could see its bulging yellow eyes, with their vertical slits, and its grass-colored scales. It hadn’t locked onto them yet, but it did pause and wrinkle its nose as if it smelled something offensive.
“Malik, you’ll be the hardest for them to detect. Go through the line to check on the mermaid and see if you can find the other demon. If there is an unobtrusive way to free her, do it, but do not call attention to yourself.”
“And take this trap with you.”
Quinn handed over a clear quartz pyramid, the base of which was a little larger than the palm of his hand. Malik tucked it into his voluminous pocket and joined the queue.
“Shall we move to the exit? I think this fellow’s a bit suspicious of us,” Siobhan said.
They strolled around to the other side of the warehouse to wait for Malik. When he finally emerged, his face was grim.
“She looks very unwell,” he said. “Her skin is quite grey, and she is gaunt, as if she has not been eating. I doubt she will survive the night if she’s not released.”
“What’s the layout of the place? How is the mermaid being held?” Quinn asked.
“There is a warehouse with a trap door in the bottom so a barge bearing cargo can pull underneath it and offload the freight directly into storage. The mermaid is secured in a fishing net which dangles through the trap door, half out of the water, so she can be observed. There are other offices and storage areas throughout the building. I tried to slip the rope holding the net and at least lower her into the water, but it is fixed in place with a spell. “
Quinn scowled. “Any sign of the second demon?”
Malik grinned and retrieved the crystal pyramid. A red liquid swirled furiously around inside of it.
“Outstanding,” Quinn said. “Take that back to MAMIC for safekeeping, then return here.”
Malik left.
Quinn wished the circumstances were different. It was perfect beach weather, warm and sunny. It would have been nice to stroll around with Siobhan and enjoy the day. The breeze had started to pick up, and the water was a little choppy. Although the seagulls were conspicuous by their absence, there was no other hint of what was coming. Something grabbed Quinn’s shoulder, hard, and he winced.
Apparently, there was a third demon.
Siobhan pulled a crystal trap out of her handbag, but before she could activate it, the demon whirled around, Quinn still in its deadly grip, and kicked it out of her hand. It landed in the water with a plop and a splash, then sank out of sight.
“Run!” Quinn yelled.
He shifted just enough that his eyes turned black from edge to edge and his teeth went from flat human to sharp kelpie. He spun under the demon’s grip and bit down hard on its arm. The beast yowled and let go of Quinn’s shoulder. Quinn wiped the demon’s black blood off of his face as he fled, following Siobhan.
Demons are not fast runners, and Quinn and Siobhan quickly outpaced it. However, what demons lack in speed, they make up for in stamina. It would hunt relentlessly until it found them.
“Back to the portal. Need reinforcements,” Quinn panted as he leaned against the side of a dilapidated wooden house. He brushed against a large rosemary bush, thick trunk gnarled and twisted, and it released its resinous aroma profusely.
“Where is it from here?” Siobhan asked.
“Hello? Who’s there?” called a female voice, cracked with age.
Quinn and Siobhan rounded the corner and discovered an elderly woman with coffee-colored skin and white hair sitting on a porch swing. She wore a pearl earring in her right earlobe, but most of her left ear was missing.
“Sorry ma’am, didn’t mean to disturb you,” Quinn said. “We’ll be on our way now.”
“Wait,” the woman said. She tilted her head and furrowed her brow. “I know you. It’s been a very long time. You look…exactly the same. How can that be?”
“I don’t believe we’ve met,” Siobhan answered.
“Yes. We have. I’m sure of it.”
“I don’t think so,” Quinn replied, although there was something vaguely familiar about her. He could hear the slap-slap-slap of the demon’s leather boots on the boardwalk, and it would be on them any second now. “We really have to go.”
The woman stood up and hobbled the few steps to her front door. “Come inside. Please.”
Siobhan nodded to Quinn, and they both ducked into the house. The woman entered behind them and closed the door. She raised her gnarled index finger to her lips, commanding silence. The demon’s footsteps were loud now, outside the house. They could hear it snuffling around, trying to catch their scent. Frustrated, it ran on.
“I hate those things,” the woman said.
“What things?” Siobhan asked.
“Lizard men. Nasty creatures. That’s why I have all the rosemary outside – they hate the smell, and it keeps them away.”
Quinn nodded. “Most people can’t see them. Odd that you can.” Only happens to humans who have been touched by fae. “Thank you for saving us,” Quinn said. “But I don’t believe I know you.” He was only half convinced now that this was true.
“I’ve waited over sixty years to pay back this debt. I was in Ms. Reynaud’s house when the slavers came for me. You stopped them. Both of you.”
“You…were the girl?” Siobhan asked.
“Yes. Lucy is my name.”
“Lucy, it is so good to meet you again. There isn’t much time. You have to gather any friends and family that you care about, and get off the island. Today. Now. There’s a storm coming, and it’s going to be a bad one. We have to go. So do you,” Quinn said.
Lucy nodded. “I guess Dr. Cline was right about his hurricane warning, then.”
By the time that Quinn and Siobhan made their way to the portal and rendezvoused with Eoin, Aleksei and Malik, the afternoon shadows were just beginning to lengthen. The wind had kicked up and the tide was high, higher than normal. To the east and south, the sky was black with rain. Away from the town, they could hear the wrothful howling of the merfolk, calling the storm, making it stronger, pouring their rage into it. They were almost out of time to capture the remaining two demons.
With a blink of his eye, Malik took them back to the docks. The earlier crowds had dispersed, no doubt battening down their hatches, for all the good it would do them, against the approaching storm. Cautiously, expecting a trap, they neared the warehouse. What they heard was someone crying, wailing in grief. Inside the warehouse, they found Zara underneath the dock, clinging to the netting that held the captured mermaid. The captive lay limply on the bottom of the net, arms and hair drifting in the current. The rising water had floated the corpse nearly up into the trap door, and the high swells occasionally pushed her partially through it.
Zara’s head jerked up as they entered. “They have killed her! They will pay for this. They. Will. Pay.” She turned and dove into the water, splashing them with a contemptuous flick of her tail.
A door slammed behind them, in the depths of the warehouse. They all ducked behind wooden crates or bales of cotton, whichever was closest to each.
“Talco?” a demon’s gravelly voice called.
Malik eased a quartz demon trap out of his pocket and handed it to Eoin, who silently twisted the top half of it open.
The demon never knew what hit him as he came through the door. By the time he realized he’d been ambushed, it was too late, and he was locked inside the crystal. Malik tucked the pyramid away.
“Nooo!” screeched a deep, raspy voice.
The demon that had been collecting money to see the mermaid came roaring up at them.
Malik tried stunning it with a spell, but the demon swiped his magic to the side. Aleksei put his head down and drove his shoulder into the demon’s midsection with enough force to knock the wind out of him. As he staggered back, Eoin grabbed one of his arms, while Aleksei wrapped his own arms around the demon’s opposite leg. Demon claws raked Aleksei’s back and head, and deep blue blood oozed from the scratches. Malik grabbed at the flailing claws as the demon lifted Eoin off his feet with the arm that the urisk was attempting to control. The demon would not be laid down on the floor, so Quinn grabbed his foot. He was rewarded with a kick in the face hard enough to bloody his lip, but he and Aleksei were able to yank its feet out from under it. Taking Eoin and Malik with him, the demon thudded to the floor with a loud “Ooof!” Finally, they pinned him to the floor, barely.
Rain pounded the windows, increasing in fury. Wind moaned across the roof, pelting the building with small, forsaken items. Surging water splashed through the open trap door, pushing the cargo net with the dead mermaid onto the warehouse floor.
“We’ve got to get out of here. Who has a trap?” Quinn asked, wiping blood from his mouth.
No one, it turned out.
“I really hate doing this,” Siobhan said, She pulled a golden dagger from her belt. The demon fought – it knew what was coming. “I’m so sorry. If there was any other way…” she said. Then she raised her hand and drove the dagger deep into its heart. The demon bellowed, then exploded in a cloud of noisome ash.
“Go, go, go! We have to get to the portal, now,” Quinn called.
The five fae raced out of the warehouse. The furious wind ripped shingles from the roof, and planks from the walls, and hurled them after the MIT with a vengeance.
Behind them, in the collapsing warehouse, a boy began to wail for the father whose slaughter he had just witnessed through a crack in cargo area door.
“Shhh, Balcones. If you want to live long enough for revenge, we have to go,” his scaly mother called to him.
The seeds of vengeance took root then, in what passes for a demon’s heart, and demanded to be watered with the blood of his enemies. Pain and anger fused into incandescent rage, burning him from the inside out, just like malaria that had consumed John Allen.
“Yes, Mother,” he answered, his yellow eyes fever-bright.
Allen BrothersBlackthorne UniverseGail BordenGalveston 1900houstonJean LafitteKelpieMermaidsMundane Intervention TeamsobekTexas History
Artemis’ Odyssey
I turned on the back yard lights. The open grassy area was lit up like a Friday night football field, but the trees cast eerie shadows that moved and flickered in the night breeze. Not even the halogen penetrated the thicket at the edge of the property, and I felt uneasy, as if I was […]
It’s a Smashing Good Time!
I’ve got a new activity book out, featuring Smash and his friends! I wanted to give you a sample stereogram from the book – this one’s in full color. If you are having trouble seeing the hidden picture, this article has seven different methods to try!
September, 1836 Buffalo Bayou, near the burned out ruins of Harrisburg, Texas “I don’t think this is a good idea, John,” Quinn said. “Of course it is, my good man. Sam Houston is the toast of Texas. A town named after him can’t help but succeed. Especially if I can get my fellow representatives […]
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Cleveland Cavaliers expect Kevin Love for upcoming road trip
By : Andrew Freeman
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 11 points but shot 3 for 11, including 0 for 2 from the 3-point line. “That’s definitely great ingredients for a victory”.
The Cavaliers’ 44 points tonight in the first quarter is their second-highest scoring quarter of the season.
Game notes * The Pistons’ two key cogs offensively, Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson, combined for 14 points on 7-of-25 shooting.
“I stepped away from the game for a little bit, and I know everyone thought it was for marijuana, but I had to develop some things on the personal side”, he said. James played 28:24, the fewest minutes he has played in a triple-double.
Kyrie Irving scored 26 points for the Cavs, who had lost four of their previous five.
Victor Oladipo added 21 points for the Thunder, who won their third straight game. It was the quickest triple-double he has recorded this season. Cavs general manager David Griffin indicated that possibility after Love took part in a three-on-three scrimmage on Tuesday. “But If he gets through everything, I would anticipate he’ll play sometime on the road trip”. Portland won five of its last six games, but shot 30.3 percent and finished far below their 108.6 points per game average.
James said he was surprised to see Irving in his path.
Cavaliers forward Kevin Love suffered a knee injury in a Feb, . “We had bodies moving”.
Love is averaging 20 points a game and 11.1 rebounds and was selected to the Eastern Conference All Star team, but was unable to participate. “A lot of times the comeback stories are harder than our initial journeys to the league”.
Iman Shumpert went 8 for 13 and wound up with 18 points.
“It’s up to my guys to make shots”, James said. He also called it a chance to “get my legs back and get some good minutes and get myself back to prime shape”.
“It looks like he wants another opportunity and hopefully if we’re the team, hopefully we give him an opportunity”, James said.
Sanders is on board with the plan and said he and team came up with it together.
During the Cavaliers’ game against the Pistons, James collided with Kyrie Irving and knocked Irving to the ground.
Manchester United vs. FC Rostov: Jose Mourinho’s Key Pre-Match Presser Quotes
Radamel Falcao explains red-hot AS Monaco form
Cardi B Gets Some Love From Lil Kim After Grammy Win: Will Nicki Minaj Do The Same?
Why Was Drake’s Speech Cut Off At The Grammy Awards? Here Is Why He Won The Night
Rasheeda Frost Debuts Neon Green Hair While Sending A Message To Fans Together With Karter Frost – Watch The Video
Kid Buu Shades Blac Chyna And Tells Her, ‘You Did Invite The Devil Into Your Home’ – She Responds
Tiny Harris’ Daughter, Zonnique Pullins Shares A New Look And Fans Are Here For It – See Her Recent Pics
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Thesis statement video games. Thesis Statement on Video Games 2019-01-07
Thesis statement video games Rating: 6,8/10 201 reviews
thesis statement on video games » #1
By December 8, 2006, it had completed its launch in four key markets. Essay Questions: Why have computer games caught the attention of Mass Media nowadays? Almost all game industries would say it does not make a child more aggressive, but of course it benefits them for this to not be true. Come up with a great thesis statement? People of all ages can and do enjoy video games as a way to spend their free-time. Abuse, Bullying, Child abuse 1535 Words 5 Pages Effects of Violent Video Games on Children The use of video games has become tremendously popular among children and adolescents in the past decade. You know all those kind that told you that aimless instances are bad for you?. The player imagines himself the hero of his favorite games, and starts to grow into this role, confusing the real and virtual worlds.
Effects of Video Games: 15 Articles for a Compelling Essay
Also,is this a thesis due in the next month or so,or is this something you intend to start in September? Negative Effects Article 2: Jeff Grabmeier of Ohio State University discusses and provides links to a study and other useful information in this article that shows new research linking increased play time of violent video games to increased aggressive behavior. One perfect example where violent video Doom. But how can you get into this rising segment and turn your interests i. When did video games start to become popular? Go back through your free written work and underline ideas that you think might make the basis of a good thesis statement. The electronic systems used to play video games are known as platforms; examples of these are personal computers and video game consoles. Societies also model a few of brain stores, including decision-making. Free Passage Catchy hesitations have been submitted about for children.
Cable News Pundit The Agitator nbsp; I ve previously written about the peculiar merit system that governs cable news punditry. Both of the men were constantly being picked on and bullied. There are many types of games that affect the brain in different ways. In order to better understand this; social scientists are conducting studies on whether violent video games contribute to this cycle of violence or are they just a tragic coincidence. Some of the titles of these games are Doom, Grand Theft Auto, Warcraft and Manhunt.
Formulate Questions/Thesis
I'm sorry, but I don't have the link anymore. The Bad The War of 1812 came before the Civil War. Remember that your thesis paper should guide you as you write, so you want it to be strong and clear. There are cases that demonstrate how violent video games affect negatively a child's life. Video game design is c onstan. But, it was never proven.
Thesis Statement On Video Games And Violence
Every year, new games and game systems are being established. Mentioned throughout this paper will be results from specific studies that both support and oppose the theory that violent video games increase aggression in adolescents. In the world, more and more people are attracted to video games which are about shooting or other violent actions like Call of Duty. Aggression comprises hostile verbal behavior and hostile physical behavior. What the beginning feasts is that according distinctions have many writers we havent found in any other college. The nasty Video Gamers vs. Although mine was going to be on the psychological benefits.
Free Examples of Thesis Statements: Tips on Writing a Great Thesis Statement
These games do influence human behavior, which is not always positive, but this does not mean that they should be banned. In which way does it need to have power over Congress? If there is an effect, it would vary greatly on how long you play such video games and there. Should the government regulate violent video games? Carey is not a researcher or scientist but is a veteran writer of neuroscience, neurology, and psychology. Thesis statement benefits of video games of comparable The road to hell case study solution Chapter. In 1979 a game went out called Texas Chainsaw Massacre, in which the object of the game was to chop up as many people with a chainsaw as you could. Physical symptoms: carpal tunnel syndrome the nerve trunks in the hands, associated with prolonged muscle tension , dry eyes, headaches according to the type of migraine, back pain, irregular meals, skipping meals, neglecting personal hygiene, sleep disturbances, changes in sleep patterns.
News stories are only anecdotal, but a psychological experiment indicates a legitimate trend. Thus, in connection with these consequences, a lot of child psychologists recommend for parents to limit access to the computer for their children or completely block that access. Do violent video games cause kids to be aggressive or are aggressive kids attracted to violent video games. So playing video games has certain effects is something that has. The excessive use of the computer games can lead to psychological symptoms.
Thesis on Video Games
Therefore, video games cannot be the blame for kids and teens acting more violently if studies show crime has gone down. While some psychologists and researchers argue that it has not been proven that violent behavior in children and. The early video game creators would be making something that would seem clunky, and somewhat crude at first. Arcade game, Atari, Entertainment Software Rating Board 2439 Words 7 Pages between Violent Video Games and Reality Children and adolescents are the actual victims of violent video games, not their characters. Aggression, Graphic violence, Media violence research 1429 Words 5 Pages The Effects of Violent Video Games on Adolescents Kacy Romero University of Louisiana at Lafayette Abstract In this paper, the effects that violent video games have on adolescents will be discussed.
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Posts Tagged ‘postsecondary’
The New Fact Sheet on the Role of CTE in Statewide Attainment Goals
More than 40 states have set statewide attainment goals for the percentage of adults holding postsecondary degrees or credentials by a certain year. These efforts have been sparked by Lumina Foundation’s 2025 national credential attainment goal – 60 percent of Americans holding a credential beyond a high school diploma by 2025.
Some states have involved Career Technical Education (CTE) from the onset and others are now looking to ensure CTE is part of their overall strategy. The new fact sheet released by Advance CTE explains why and how CTE can be a major driver of postsecondary attainment across the country.
What States Should Do
Count ALL Credentials of Value towards Attainment While many learners in CTE programs do go on to earn two- and four-year degrees, many others earn industry-recognized credentials, many of which have great labor market value. States should recognize these credentials in their attainment targets.
Leverage Secondary CTE to Meet Statewide Attainment Goals: Increasingly, high school students taking a concentration of CTE are just as likely to go on to postsecondary education as their non-CTE peers – and are more likely to enter with workplace experiences and/or industry-recognized credentials. States should include the expansion of CTE pathways and meaningful college and career advising systems as part of their attainment strategy.
Support Postsecondary CTE as a Platform for Credential and Degree Attainment: Postsecondary students enrolled in CTE programs have an average attainment rate of 56.8 percent (counting credentials, certificates and degrees at two-year institutions), well above the average graduation rate for two-year institutions.
Bring CTE to the Table as a Partner: A statewide attainment goal can and should serve as the driver of a state’s economic and workforce vision, of which CTE must be a part.
Read more about how Oklahoma, New Jersey and Tennessee have connected the dots between CTE and statewide attainment goals in the new fact sheet.
Kate Kreamer, Deputy Executive Director
By Kate Blosveren Kreamer in Advance CTE Announcements, Advance CTE Resources
Tags: credentials, New Jersey, Oklahoma, postsecondary
New Fact Sheet Encourages Integration between CTE and Postsecondary Student Success Efforts
The typical college experience has been described by the Community College Research Center (CCRC) as having the structure of a cafeteria – though there are many programs, services and activities available, it is often left to the learner to make the choices that will lead them to successful program completion and entry into the workforce. This structure has led to an environment where, even with increased access to postsecondary education, learners, particularly those considered “non-traditional,” are not set up for success. Graduation rates for four-year universities are currently at 59 percent, and for community colleges at a dismal 28 percent.
In response to these results, many community colleges have worked with national organizations like CCRC and the American Association of Community Colleges, among others, to develop student success initiatives, focused on increasing equity and degree completion. These initiatives include numerous reforms of college advising and student support services to ensure that postsecondary learners undergo a seamless journey throughout their experience and complete college with a meaningful degree.
Unfortunately, too often these initiatives happen in silos, separate from postsecondary CTE initiatives. Today, Advance CTE released a new fact sheet describing how CTE and student success efforts can support each other. For example, a big part of student success initiatives focuses on helping students choose pathways and meta majors – the National Career Clusters Framework has for many years served as a way to group similar pathways together and help students narrow their choices. Additionally, the role of strategies like career advising and employer mentorship have long been crucial parts of CTE programs of study.
For more information on how these initiatives can help each other, read the fact sheet today.
Ashleigh McFadden, State Policy Manager
By Ashleigh McFadden in Advance CTE Resources
Tags: guided pathways, postsecondary, student success
Leaders in Data Analysis Discuss Improving Student Outcomes in Higher Education
In light of Congress’ work towards reauthorizing the Higher Education Act (HEA), Results for America, Knowledge Alliance and America Forward hosted an event on March 22 about the role that data and evidence can play in improving student outcomes in higher education. This event also came after Results for America released their bipartisan report, “Moneyball for Higher Education,” which outlines recommendations for how state leaders should use data and evidence in the financing of colleges to improve student outcomes.
The event began with remarks from U.S. Representative Grace Meng (D-NY) about the importance of evidence and innovation in higher education. Meng discussed the City University of New York’s (CUNY) Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP), which provides financial, academic and financial support to assist students in earning their associate degrees within three years. Meng highlighted the data-driven nature of ASAP, as the program tracks metrics that include advisors’ contact with students and student outcome trends to determine what is working in the program and where improvements can be made.
While ASAP costs CUNY more per student initially than students not involved in ASAP, by graduation, CUNY spends less per ASAP student compared to students not in the program because the students in ASAP graduate at a faster rate than students not in ASAP. Graduation rates for students in ASAP have increased to 40 percent, compared to 22 percent for CUNY students overall.
The event ended with a panel that featured experts in the field of education and data analysis. James Kvaal, the President of the Institute for College Access and Success, outlined what he would like to see come from a reauthorized HEA: investing in ways to measure critical outcomes, sectioning off one percent of the higher education budget for evaluation and systemically channeling resources into programs that work. Michael Weiss, a senior associate from MDRC, mentioned the need for more comprehensive, long-lasting interventions, such as the ASAP program, that address multiple barriers to education across an extended period of time.
The panel concluded with the panelists discussing what they would change about the education system. Greg Johnson, CEO of Bottom Line, advocated tying Pell grants to an advising requirement. Kvaal emphasized the importance of colleges deciding what outcomes they want to produce and then investing the necessary resources so that those outcomes can come to fruition. Weiss expressed his desire for the use of a funding model that would allow for experimentation on the lowest level and an investment in data driven programs like ASAP on the highest level.
While the panelists recognized that the current education system is inequitable and touched on ways that data can be used to improve student outcomes in higher education, it would have been great to hear more on how data could be used to align labor market needs with student outcomes, as well as how data from the secondary system can be used to create higher-quality postsecondary programs.
Brianna McCain, Policy Associate
By Brianna McCain in Uncategorized
Tags: Data, Equity, New York, postsecondary
Two Surveys Examine Perceptions of and Concerns about Postsecondary Education
The Princeton Review recently released the findings of their annual survey of college applicants and parents discussing their perspective on the admissions process. When asked about their biggest concerns about college, the biggest worry was the debt students and their families will take on to pay for a degree. Parents and students prioritized overall “fit” and a match with the student’s career interests when choosing a college. These results fit with the perceived biggest benefit of a college education – a better job and higher income. Given this information, communications about the opportunities CTE provides in these categories would be very beneficial as students begin to plan for their futures.
New America also just released national survey data about perceptions of higher education. This survey contains some promising data for community colleges. 64 percent of respondents believe that two-year community colleges “are for people in my situation.” More people (80%) believe that two-year community colleges prepare people to be successful. This is higher than four-year public (77%) four-year private (75%) and for-profit (60%). Additionally, 83 percent of respondents believe that two-year community colleges contribute to a strong workforce. This is higher than four-year public (79%) four-year private (70%) and for-profit (59%).
U.S. Teens Fall Behind International Peers in Financial Literacy Exam
The results of the 2015 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) exam on financial literacy have been released, and the results are less than promising. The financial literacy exam has been administered twice now to a select number of participating Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. US teens scored an average score of 487, two points below the international average. In 2012, American students received average scores of 492, while the OECD average that year was 499.
Though the U.S. has scored close to the OECD average in both exams, the results are still concerning, given that an average score signifies that one in five American teens do not meet the financial literacy benchmark, and are therefore unprepared for the complex financial decisions that come with choosing postsecondary and career options. This data becomes more concerning when examined through the lens of socioeconomic status. Students from lower-income families were less likely to score high marks on the exam, indicating that schools are not doing enough to close gaps in knowledge.
What is a community college degree worth? A research brief from CAPSEE aims to answer that very question. The report examines independent state evaluations and finds that, on average, the quarterly earnings for men and women earning associate degrees are $1,160 and $1,790 higher than non-completers respectively. Further, the study finds that degrees earned in vocational fields, as opposed to arts and humanities, yield higher earnings, with degrees in health-related fields the most lucrative.
Speaking of skills learned in college, a recent Gallup poll — conducted for the Business-Higher Education Forum — finds that, while 69 percent of employers will prefer candidates with data science and analytics skills by 2021, only 23 percent of college and university leaders say their graduates will learn those skills. The report provides eight strategies educators and employers can use to help close the skills gap.
By Ashleigh McFadden in Uncategorized
Tags: Financial literacy, PISA, postsecondary, postsecondary cte
CTE Research Review Part I
It’s been a while since we’ve brought you an update on relevant research from the field. There’s so much to cover we’ve broken it into two parts.
A Look at Postsecondary Education
From the New America Foundation, researcher Mary Alice McCarthy challenges the artificial distinction between education and training and calls for “upside-down degrees†to reinvent the outdated concept of what the postsecondary education experience can be.
McCarthy offers reforms to state and federal education policies to create this flipped paradigm. She also points to states and institutions that are building pathways to four-year degrees that start with a career-training program. Others are developing “applied†bachelor’s degrees to help students build on and extend their technical expertise.
Other postsecondary-focused research:
The New York Federal Reserve has a report taking a closer look at unemployed college graduates and found that those who major in more technically oriented, occupation-specific fields have much lower underemployment rates than their peers in more general fields.
Columbia University’s Community College Research Center looks at institutional and state effectiveness in helping students transfer from community college.
Research from the Center for Education and the Workforce
New from Georgetown University’s Center for Education and the Workforce (CEW), you can take advantage of their new State Initiative, which is a portal to help states use data more effectively to inform policy and planning around education and careers.
Don’t miss CEW’s other new reports:
The economic value of college degrees in Pennsylvania as well as a look at the Iowa workforce, where 68 percent of all jobs by 2025 will require postsecondary education and training.
The lingering pain of the Great Recession and an examination of how the labor market’s recovery.
Tags: Iowa, Pennsylvania, postsecondary
Spring Meeting Recap: HEA and Other Postsecondary CTE Initiatives
While a long-needed update to the federal law governing U.S. elementary and secondary education winds its way through Congress, advocates are hoping the next critical reauthorization on lawmakers’ agendas will be the Higher Education Act (HEA).
Or perhaps it should be said – advocates are hopeful but not optimistic about HEA’s chances of reauthorization during the 114th Congress. Advocates and an Obama Administration official shared their perspectives about postsecondary education with NASDCTEc members during the 2015 Spring Meeting.
David Baime, senior vice president for government relations and research at the American Association of Community Colleges, called the reauthorization of HEA “of critical importance to vocational and training programs.â€
Baime said the law primarily focuses on student financial assistance, which includes the ever-important Pell grants. Baime said 20 percent of revenues for community colleges – roughly $11 billion a year – are tied to students who receive money through Pell grants. AACC’s HEA policy recommendations include a call to expand the list of institutions eligible to receive Pell funds, including some short-term postsecondary CTE programs.
In fact, HEA – a $130 billion program – is really more of a job training bill rather than a higher education law, as it has historically been considered, said Mary Alice McCarthy, senior policy analyst from the New America Foundation.
In a 2014 policy brief, “Beyond the Skills Gap,†McCarthy argues that five policy gaps within HEA “make it too easy for institutions to provide high-cost, low-quality CTE programs while also making it too difficult for institutions to build the partnerships and programs that will facilitate student transitions to jobs and careers.â€
Of the five gaps, three are related to how institutions are accredited – an important marker for being eligible to receive Pell funds. Other gaps include a focus on enrollment rather than outcomes and paying for time rather than learning.
McCarthy argued that Congress can fix these issues five ways:
Ensure policies support students going to school for careers;
Make accreditation reviews transparent;
Demand quality assurance for credentials – and right now there is too little;
Encourage innovation and experimentation in postsecondary education; and
Align HEA to other bills with overlapping missions such as the Perkins Act and the Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act.
However, Congress’ minimal activity around HEA isn’t stopping the Obama Administration from putting forth bold proposals for postsecondary education. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Community Colleges Mark Mitsui laid out the Administration’s proposals from the 2016 budget, which included:
The American Technical Training Fund
America’s College Promise
Be sure to check out NASDCTEc’s previous coverage of these proposals to learn more!
By Andrea Zimmermann in Advance CTE Spring Meeting
Tags: community college, HEA, OCTAE, postsecondary
As postsecondary institutions work to ease students through higher education with an increasing number of interventions such as statewide articulation agreements and common course numbering systems, students moving from one postsecondary institution to another still find that their earned credits often will not move with them.
Against the backdrop of increasingly complex transfer patterns, the National Center for Education Statistics has taken a closer look at a crucial piece of the transfer process – postsecondary credit transferability. This report focuses on transfers between postsecondary institutions not the high school-to-college credit transfer through dual enrollment and other agreements.
This new study examines how often, and under what conditions, students transfer from one postsecondary institution to another and how many of their earned credits will transfer with them. The study also considers to what degree institutional and student characteristics affect credit transfers. It should be noted that the study captures only first-time, full-time students.
Analyzing data from the 2009 Postsecondary Education Transcript Study, NCES found that 35 percent one-third of first-time beginning undergraduates transferred at least once in six years, and more than 10 percent of students transferred more than once.
The study found two factors consistently contributed to successful credit transfers – academic performance prior to transfer and the direction by which a student was transferring. Overall, when a student transfers in a way that the higher education system is designed to accommodate, a student’s credit was much more likely to transfer. More than half of transfer students started in community colleges, and were more likely to have successful credit transfers than “reverse or horizontal transfers,†when students move from a university to a community college or between institutions of the same type.
Be sure to check out the full 60-page report to take a closer look at the student transfer experience.
Tags: Articulation, NCES, postsecondary, transfer credit
Legislative Update: ED Continues Program Integrity Negotiations, NASDCTEc & IBM Host Briefing on CTE, Perkins
Beginning this past Wednesday and ending today, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) reconvened a panel for a third round of negotiated rulemaking on program integrity and improvement. Negotiators are discussing a number of proposed regulatory changes for postsecondary institutions including clock-to-credit-hour conversions, state authorization of distance learning programs, remedial coursework, cash management and — most contentiously — how to define adverse credit history for the purposes of certain federal financial aid eligibility.
Since a preliminary consensus had already been reached on clock-to-credit-hour conversions during the last round of negotiations, the panel moved quickly on a second draft of proposed regulatory language. The proposed changes maintain the existing conversion formula, but significantly improve the clarity of the regulation. The intent of this particular rule is to ensure that postsecondary students enrolled in programs which provide instruction based on clock hours rather than credit hours receive equivalent amounts of federal financial aid for the same amount of coursework. It is important to note that for a formal consensus to be completed, the panel must also reach consensus on the other issues currently under discussion.
A newly drafted set of rules governing state authorization of distance programs was also heatedly debated this week. These proposed regulations determine the legal authorization of postsecondary education programs provided by institutions that are not physically located in the state. These proposed rules would primarily affect online, distance and correspondence education programs. Such programs would need to meet the various legal requirements imposed by individual states to offer distance education programs in each state where an enrollee resides if 50 percent or more of a course can be completed remotely. Among many other proposed changes, an institution would not be eligible for federal financial aid for its students if its graduates are not able to receive a certification or complete a licensing examination required for employment in that state after program completion, unless the program obtains prior acknowledgement from the student.
A fourth and final round of negotiations is expected on May 19-20, 2014. As this process unfolds, NASDCTEc will continue to monitor these negotiations and gauge any potential impact on postsecondary Career Technical Education (CTE) programs. More information on these negotiations and additional supplemental information can be found here.
NASDCTEc & IBM Host Briefing on CTE, Perkins
Yesterday the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc) and IBM hosted a briefing for stakeholder groups interested in learning more about CTE and the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (Perkins). NASDCTEc’s Executive Director Kimberly Green and Stan Litow, IBM’s Vice President of Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs and President of IBM’s Foundation, provided a joint briefing on these issues in an effort to prepare these groups for the reauthorization of Perkins.
While no official timeline has been laid out by Congress for the reauthorization of the law yet, employers and other stakeholders groups in the education and workforce communities have taken a significant interest in CTE and the Perkins Act over the past year as the law has come due for renewal. As both the House and Senate take steps to reauthorize Perkins, the briefing provided important background information on the 2006 reauthorization process, emerging themes and major changes occurring within the CTE enterprise over the past several years, employers’ growing interest in CTE, IBM’s P-Tech initiatives in New York and Connecticut and finally what to expect in the upcoming legislative process surrounding Congress’ consideration of the law.
NASDCTEc would like to thank IBM for hosting the event and for those who participated in the briefing. As the reauthorization process gets more fully underway in the coming year, NASDCTEc looks forward to working constructively with Congress, employers and other stakeholder groups to thoughtfully renew the law which constitutes the primary federal investment in CTE and our nation’s high schools.
OCTAE RFI Update
Earlier this week, NASDCTEc shared an announcement from the Departments of Education, Labor, and Health & Human Services (HHS) regarding a request for information (RFI) on career pathway systems. This multiagency RFI is soliciting information from a diverse group of stakeholders from both the public and private sectors, as well as from state, regional, tribal, and local entities on how to develop and improve career pathway systems. Specifically they are seeking information on effective career pathway models, best practices, barriers to their development and implementation, and also ways in which federal agencies can more effectively support these types of systems. Responses collected through this RFI will help inform future departmental career pathway strategies, policies, and investments.
Responses are due June 9th, 2014, and the official notice can be found here. The departments have also announced a webinar to provide an overview of this RFI and to provide instructions on how to respond. More information on that, including how to register, can be found here.
Steve Voytek, Government Relations AssociateÂ
By Steve Voytek in News, Public Policy
Tags: Neg Reg, Perkins, postsecondary
New Poll: Employers Value Skills & Knowledge Over Institutional Prestige
Today Gallup and the Lumina Foundation presented the findings of two polls gauging employer and the public’s perceptions of America’s higher education system. The results, presented this morning at Gallup’s D.C. headquarters, found that a vast majority of employers value occupationally relevant skills, technical competencies, and knowledge gained through a postsecondary education much more than where a student went to school or what their major was. In fact, only 9 percent of employers reported that a job candidate’s alma mater was “very important†for their hiring purposes and a mere 28 percent reported that a candidate’s major was a “very important†factor in their hiring decision. Tellingly, 84 percent of employers said that the amount of knowledge the candidate has in a particular field was “very important†and 79 percent responded to the poll saying that applied skills were of the same value.
Overall the two polls, conducted in late 2013, provide five main insights:
Employers value relevant skills and knowledge much more than where a degree, certification, or credential was conferred.
A large perception gap persists between employers and academic institution leaders— 96 percent of chief academic officers said they were “extremely or somewhat confident†that their institution prepares students for the workplace, while only 11 percent of business leaders shared this view.
The value Americans place on postsecondary education continues to grow. 43 percent of Americans without a postsecondary education have reported researching their options for further education, yet 77 percent of Americans say that higher education remains unaffordable to everyone who needs it.
Confidence in the value of online degrees and educational programs continues to grow among both the American public and employers. 59 percent of business leaders say they would be more to likely hire a candidate with an online degree over a candidate with the same degree from a traditional postsecondary institution.
There is a need for greater transparency when assessing the quality and value of a postsecondary education. Faculty quality, job placement after graduation, program costs, and graduation percentages are among the most important criteria to the American public when selecting a program or assessing its quality. However, Americans report that finding this information is often difficult.
These results have come as a surprise to many. A panel discussion followed the release of these findings which provided a forum for how best to redesign America’s higher education system to respond to these findings. Among the many proposals offered, greater employer engagement and an increased role for community colleges emerged as two important pieces to solving what Gallup has now termed the “work preparation paradox.†Panelists argued that community colleges are an underutilized bridge between colleges, high schools and the world of work and should be used more to promote access to other forms of postsecondary education outside of a traditional four-year degree. Other recommendations for better employer engagement included providing more experiential learning opportunities to students and also increasing the role employers have in faculty professional development.
The full survey with further analysis from Gallup and the Lumina Foundation can be found here.
Tags: Gallup, postsecondary
In case you missed it….
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) recently released Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002): A First Look at 2002 High School Sophomores 10 Years Later, a report  literally ten years in the making. The ELS:2002 followed a cohort of sophomores over the last decade, out of high school and into their next steps. The report has some fascinating findings, largely around post-high school outcomes. A third of students earned a bachelor’s degree or higher (33 percent), 9 percent earned an associate’s degree, 10 percent a postsecondary certificate, and another third (32 percent) had or were still enrolled in postsecondary without having earned a credential. The remaining students either only had a high school diploma or equivalent (13 percent) or less (3 percent).
What’s truly striking is the impact of enrolling immediately in postsecondary education had on completion: among those who began their postsecondary education within 3 months of graduating, 53 percent had earned a bachelor’s degree or higher by 2012. Comparatively, among those who began their postsecondary education 13 or more months after graduating, only 7 percent had earned a bachelor’s degree or higher, although students did become more likely to earn a certificate or accrue postecondary credits without a degree or certificate.
Another, not-very-surprising, but disheartening piece of data from the report is the attainment gap between income-levels. Over 70 percent of students from the highest income quartile had a postsecondary certificate or more by 2012 compared to just 35.5 percent of students from the lowest income quartile.
Finally, the report reinforces the concern over high unemployment for young adults – as well as the notion that education and training beyond high school is critical for career success. While about 18 percent of 26-year olds are unemployed or out-of-the labor force, this figure jumps to 37 percent for individuals with less than a high school diploma and 24 percent for high school graduates, compared to 11 percent for those with a bachelor’s degree or higher, 14.6 percent for those with an associate’s degree and 18 percent for those with a postsecondary certificate. For this cohort, more education does equate to greater job stability.
This report offers a wealth of self-reported data on job conditions and benefits, debt and aspirations and is well worth a read.
MDRC released Beyond the GED: Promising Models for Moving High School Dropouts to College  this month, a review of research-based strategies for increasingly GED test-taking and success for the millions of Americans without a high school diploma. Specifically, the report focuses on three types of reforms: (1) efforts to increase the rigor of adult education instruction and the standards for achieving a credential; (2) GED-to-college “bridge†programs, which integrate academic preparation with increased supports for students’ transition to college; and (3) interventions that allow students to enroll in college while studying to earn a high school credential. Indiana and Washington are two states highlighted for their comprehensive approaches to adult education and training.
Finally, Education Commission of States has a new brief – Career/Technical Education, Not Your Father’s Vocational Education – which explores  some state approaches to increasing career readiness, including offering CTE endorsements, tying scholarships to career assessments, building career readiness into accountability systems,  integrating academics and CTE content, and increasing dual enrollment. However, much of the discussion around scholarships, endorsements and accountability is limited to the use of WorkKeys, which only measures a slice of a students’ career readiness.
Kate Blosveren, Associate Executive Director
By Kate Blosveren Kreamer in Research
Tags: college and career readiness, GED, postsecondary
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DeepVogue AI: The Era Of AI Design – Farewell Human Karl Lagerfeld?
AI Creativity, AI driven design, AI4Fashion, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Transformation, Fashion Business, IBM, Machine Learning, Made in China, Product Design, Recommendation Engines, Style Transfer
The Era Of AI Design – Farewell Human Karl Lagerfeld, Welcome ‘Digital’ Karl Lagerfeld
The times we live in! ‘DeepVogue’, a ‘deep learning’ AI design created by Shenlan Technology has managed to take the 2nd place at the China International Fashion Design.
The Era Of AI Design – Is AI The Future?
Its often-charismatic enthusiasts have always hyped the future of Artificial Intelligence. But now, it seems that the hype has become real. Media pundits, technologists and the broader public no longer argue if the rise of artificial intelligence is inevitable or not. AI is here.
Companies with mass data fed into AI systems such as Google, Facebook, Badoo, Alibaba, and many others, make daily headlines with technological successes that were SCI-FI movies a decade ago.
Nowadays, we ask an AI assistant on the smartphone for recommendations personalised to our interests. We ride around in cars driven by AI algorithms, and trust AI to find better ways of curing genetical diseases. The world has changed, and AI is a big part of why.
Most experts talk about the AI ‘revolution’ in glowing terms. The latest advancements in computer technology are now seen as advances in humanity; better standards of living, instant access to knowledge, improved hearing and vision – not only for the impaired, cheaper manufacturing of goods, and even better recommendations from Amazon, and Netflix.
Artificial Intelligence is progress, but technological progress cuts both ways. That is why, despite the excitement around artificial intelligence, there is a growing cautionary voice about its potential downside.
The Era Of AI Design – Early Warnings
Back in 2000, Bill Joy, former CTO of Sun Microsystems, wrote ‘Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us’, putting together one of the most famous apocalyptic rants about the threat of AI to humanity.
Sadly, Bill’s message was drowned out by the closer and more tangible problems, such as the attacks of 9/11. Almost two decades later, his anxiety over robots taking over humanity made possible by rapid advances in AI, has become more current than ever.
Three years later, ‘The Artificial Intelligence Revolution: Will Artificial Intelligence Serve Us or Replace Us?’ was launched by Louis Del Monte, a former IBM researcher. In the book, Del Monte expresses his concern that AI is happening so fast that humanity won’t be able to cope with the changes.
A year later, ‘Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies’, a bestseller penned by Nick Bostrom, warned us again of the potentiality of AI spelling the end of humanity.
William Barrat, a National Geographic writer and filmmaker, also joined the fray in a full-apocalyptic mode in ‘Our Final Invention: Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era’, worrying over the AI’s influence in the societal construct.
The Era Of AI Design – Can We Coexist?
According to Bostrom, ‘AI could become an existential threat to humanity’. A threat that’s eclipsing previous (and ongoing) concerns about climate change, accelerated pollution, wars, or even nuclear disasters.
Luminaries like Bill Gates and Stephen Hawking have also revealed potential problems that could arise with the emergence of Artificial Intelligence.
Moreover, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk, has often insisted in the past that humans will be reduced to “pets” by the next super AI if we don’t take action now. Musk has donated $10 million to the ‘Future of Life Institute’, in a bid to help to find a way to coexist peacefully.
However, most of those concerns were focused on the so-called crossover point in the affairs of man and machine. At the point where the AI passes human intelligence and creativity, and humans cease to be the most powerful beings on the planet.
The Era Of AI Design – AI Creativity
Yes, creativity. In November 2014 the article ‘Artificial Intelligence as a Threat’ was published by The New York Times in the Fashion and Style section. As an omen of what’s coming, the author was suggesting the idea that machines are the future creators.
An idea supported by Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson of MIT’s Centre for Digital Business and the Sloan School of Management. According to their claims, AI will soon begin assuming roles that were once the sole purview of humans.
Their book, ‘The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies’ reads: “From manufacturing to customisation and arts, AI will change the landscape of the new world.”
But not everybody sees AI the same. In ‘Who Owns the Future?’ Jaron Lanier, a pioneer of virtual-reality software, expresses a profound doubt regarding the coming of a super AI.
Lanier’s views align with Nicholas Carr’s, a former Harvard Business Review editor and writer of a 2007 article, ‘Is Google Making Us Stupid?’, in their belief that AI is a misnomer as ‘true intelligence’ comes only from human minds.
The Era Of AI Design – Welcome Deep Vogue
Fast forward to 2019 and today’s news. A creative algorithm designed by Shenlan Technology has managed to take the second place, after the winners Valentina Cosenza and Giada Petrolini, at the China International Fashion Design. Creativity?
DeepVogue was the only ‘non-human designer’ among 16 teams from all over the world. The ‘machine’ defeated Iris van Wees, a graduate of Amsterdam Fashion Institute, and many other human designers, before a panel of 50 judges, thanks to – let’s be honest – some absolutely magnificent creations.
DeepVogue AI design not only won the runner-up prize but also the ‘People’s Choice Award.’
The Era Of AI Design – What’s China Got To Do With It?
Back in 2017, the ‘Next Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan‘ was launched by the government, seeking to make China a world leader in AI innovation by 2030.
Nowadays, led by Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent, at least another 15 Chinese AI companies are worth over 1 billion USD while almost 85 per cent of Chinese companies are testing some forms of AI.
The data shows a level of adoption and implementation considerable higher than the US, in second place with a modest 51 per cent.
China dominates the global AI industry. The country ranks number one for the quantity of AI funding, research papers, and granted patents and with over 2,000 AI companies already operating.
The Era Of AI Design – What’s Next?
Thanks to ‘DeepVogue’, it has become evident that algorithms can create original fashion designs. Once again, I expect the news to reignite speculations on AI design and its potential impact on creative jobs this time.
Nevertheless, I feel that an interesting paradox has emerged: As our technological innovation has become the crowning enlightenment of humanity, it seems that the fast-changing narrative of the contemporary world leaves no room for us, humans.
Or simply put, our creativity is directing us out of existence.
SOURCE: wtvox.com
Tags:AI algorithms, AI Assistant, AI Creativity, AI Design, AI innovation, AI4Fashion, Alibaba, Artificial Intelligenc, Badoo, Bill Joy, China, creative algorithm, deep learning, Deep Vogue, Elon Musk, Facebook, fashion design, Google, IBM, Iris van Wees, Jaron Lanier, Karl Lagerfeld, Louis Del Monte, mass customisation, Nick Bostrom, non-human designer, Shenlan Technology, Sun Microsystems, Superintelligence, Tencent, William Barrat
Aiming to be the Amazon of On-Demand Manufacturing – Digital Engineering 24/7
Microfactories, Automation, Talent, Investment: Building microfactories to cater to on-demand shopping
3D Avatars, 3D Configurators, 3D Printed, 3D scanning, 3D visualization, Additive Manufacturing, AI Creativity, AI driven design, AI Ethics, AI for fashion, AI-based recommendations, AI4Fashion, Apparel Manufacturing, Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, Azure Cloud, Blockchain, CAD CAM, Cognitive Intelligence, CRM strategy, cryptocurrency, Custom Manufacturing, Customer Experience, Customization MTM, Customized footwear, Deep Learning, Digital Transformation, DIY & AI, e-commerce, ELSE People, ELSE Research, ELSE.ai, Experiential Retail, Fashion Business, Footwear Industry, HoloLens, IBM, IBM Blockchain, IBM Watson, In-Store Experience, Industrial IoT, Industrial Robots, Industry 4.0, Internet of Shoes, Luxury Brand Marketing, Luxury Retail Market, Machine Learning, Made in Italy, Made in Russia, Made to Measure, Microfactories, Microsoft, Microsoft Russia, Mixed Reality, News, no stock retail, On Demand Manufacturing, Predictive Analytics, Predictive Maintenance, Press, Product Design, Real time Fashion System, Real-time Fashion System, Recommendation Engines, renewable materials, Retail Tech Innovation, Smart Factories, Smart Products, Smart Retail, Start-ups, Style Transfer, Supply Chains, Sustainable Fashion, sustainable manufacturing, transparent supply chain, Virtual Couture, Virtual Couture Fashion, Virtual Reality, Virtual Shopping, Virtual TryOn, Visual Recognition
(ru) Чипы и сенсоры под вашей кожей: «Горький» в «Лабиринте»- не пропустите эти книги
3D Avatars, 3D scanning, 3D visualization, Advanced Manufacturing, AI Creativity, AI driven design, AI for fashion, AI4Fashion, Apparel Manufacturing, Artificial Intelligence, Azure Cloud, Blockchain, CAD CAM, CRM strategy, Custom Manufacturing, Customer Experience, Customization MTM, Customized footwear, Deep Learning, Digital Transformation, DIY & AI, e-commerce, E.L.S.E., ELSE People, ELSE-ware, ELSE.ai, else.shoes, Experiential Retail, Fashion Business, Footwear Industry, IBM, IBM Watson, In-Store Experience, Industry 4.0, Internet of Shoes, Luxury Brand Marketing, Luxury Retail Market, Machine Learning, Made in Italy, Made in Russia, Made to Measure, Microfactories, Microsoft, Microsoft Russia, News, no stock retail, On Demand Manufacturing, Powered by ELSE, Predictive Analytics, Press, Product Design, Real time Fashion System, Real-time Fashion System, Recommendation Engines, Retail Tech Innovation, Smart Factories, Smart Products, Smart Retail, Start-ups, Style Transfer, Supply Chains, Sustainable Fashion, sustainable manufacturing, transparent supply chain, Virtual Couture, Virtual Couture Fashion, Virtual Shopping, Virtual TryOn, Visual Recognition
A Book by ELSE Corp CEO: Artificial Intelligence for Fashion (in Russian)- Andrey Golub, #AI4Fashion
Digital Transformation, Industry 4.0, Opinion
Will Technology Save or Subvert Civility and Society?
AI driven design, AI-based recommendations, AI4Fashion, Artificial Intelligence, Deep Learning, Machine Learning, Recommendation Engines, Style Transfer, Visual Recognition
What AI Can Do for Luxury Brands?
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Net Yaroze on PS1 – we need YOU
The Net Yaroze project started in March 1997 and was Sony’s attempt to allow bedroom coding for the PS1, making it something of a predecessor to Microsoft’s Xbox Live Indie Games. And it worked, because on many months in the UK there was a free full Yaroze game given away with the demo of Official PlayStation Magazine, and some were astoundingly good – almost commercial quality (almost). Sadly it only came to my attention after the fact that Sony closed the official servers and members forum in July 2009, destroying all the archives of what had been created. Worse still, I’ve discovered that dozens of quality games, which never found release on OPM’s demos, have potentially been lost forever. Our only hope to archive this slice of history in its entirety, is if former members happen to have downloaded and still have some of these files... And so I present to you an incomplete list of every Yaroze game ever. Much like Derboo's entry on Korean doujin, we need to expand awareness of this before it vanishes.
The Official PlayStation Magazine with demo was too expensive for me to buy when at high-school, but luckily a friend had a subscription. Every month it became our ritual that he would get his mag, play the demo extensively for a few days while regaling classmates about its content, and then he would lend it to each of us in turn – the main draw of this was never the actual game demos, but the Yaroze games, since if you were lucky you’d have a full game sometimes on par with a NES or even SNES title. Many were also multiplayer! Sometimes the Yaroze wasn't very good, but it was still fun to discuss. I’m told the US never had Yaroze games on its OPM demos, which is a shame since you were really missing out on something awesome.
It’s important to understand the atmosphere of the era, a time a when games were changing rapidly. Previously this kind of bedroom coded content was limited to home computers such as the C64 or Amiga, or perhaps even further back the Famicom with its version of BASIC.
To see homebrew on the leading console was quite exciting. Universities were ordering Yaroze kits to teach game design courses, while teenagers with coding experience could order one for home use. The quoted price was a fairly high barrier to entry (about $750), especially since you also needed a decent PC and internet connection, but I heard reports from more than one person that after sending the cheque and receiving their Yaroze, Sony never bothered to deposit the money, meaning they essentially got to make games for free.
From what I can tell Yaroze members had access to a private server and forum to trade creations as they were being worked on, and when a game was completed, and if it impressed Sony, it was selected for European demo distribution. Not every game made it, and so there were plenty which were exclusive to this private forum. Speaking with former coders it appears to have been a fun little club, with members trying to outdo each other and sometimes sharing assets. For a full list of the OPM demos and their Yaroze contents (plus scans of the demo covers), this website appears comprehensive.
The above is only a fraction of the games which were actually developed though. Several years ago when I first dabbled in Torrents I found a download for a 53-in-1 Yaroze compilation, obviously hacked from what was available. The title proudly proclaims: Fixed by Freefall of Paradox. Considering how several of the games within weren’t on the demos, Freefall must have had access to games which had only been privately distributed. At the time I’d wrongly assumed it contained all Yaroze games.
A few years later I stumbled across another download, this time for 83 games. It contained many missing from the previous collection, but it also lacked three which were previously available: a Legend of Zelda clone, a program titled Goomba Bros which wouldn’t load, and a vertical 2D shmup called Rayfire.
In recent months I contacted some former Yaroze members, and it became evident that even the 83 compilation was missing a lot of games, some of which ended up on the final send-off demo on issue 108 of OPM. After several months of searching and begging, someone finally donated me a copy of this demo, allowing me to compile a reasonable list of all Yaroze games.
Numbers in brackets after the name indicate which issue of OPM they were featured in, though this isn’t 100% comprehensive. The selection of games which repeatedly ended up on demos is strange, since Incredible Coneman isn't that great (it's an extremely slow polygon Pacman clone). Whereas games like Hover Racing (not to be mixed up with Hover Car Racing) don’t appear to have ended up on a demo at all, despite being an extremely competent F-Zero / Wipeout clone. Many games are also not so great, so I’ve put (!!!) next to my favourites in case you’re keen to try some. Not that I want to criticise the users, since managing to complete a game is an tremendous achievment - and for many, this would have been their first major project.
On hacked 83 compilation:
3D Breakout Game
3D Demo
Alien Looter
A Bob
(!!!) Adventure Game (44, 77, 108)
Appointed Station
Bendy Demo
Between The Eyes (42, 87, 92)
Blitter Boy Operation: Monster Hall (40, 42, 92, 108)
Blockz (77)
Bouncer 2 (supposedly 29 but actually 30, 42, 92, 108)
Car Demo
Cat Game
(!!!) Clone (27, 42, 87, 92)
Combat3d
(!!!) Decaying Orbit (49, 108)
(!!!) Dog Tale (28)
Fatal Fantasy VII
Feedback Demo
Flag Demo
F-Racer
Funky Beans
GasGar
Gas Girl
Gikadiver
(!!!) Gravitation (34, 42, 86, 92, 108)
(!!!) Haunted Maze (38, 42, 83, 92)
(!!!) Hover Racing (aka: Hover120, different to Hover Car Racing, more like F-Zero)
(!!!) Hover Car Racing (not to be confused with the above; 35, 42, 92)
Incredible Coneman (32, 42, 92)
Invaders From Mars!
Jagot
(!!!) Katapila (107)
Laydion Limit Breaker
(!!!) Magic Forest
Mah Jongg (39, 42, 79, 88, 92)
ManicX
Nana Tan
Net Yaroze Intro
Opera Of Destruction (48, 77)
Pandora's Box (45, 77)
Ping Ping (107)
(!!!) Psychon (37, 42, 92)
Pune Yaroze
Pushy 11b (37, 42, 87, 92, 108)
RC Race
(!!!) Robot Ron (82, 86, 108)
(!!!) Rocks 'n' Gems (33, 42, 77, 82, 86, 91, 92)
Roller (108)
Sam The Boulder Man
Second Offence Demo
Snave
Snowball Fight (77, 108)
Sound 2 Light
Sphere (83)
Squeak (106)
Super Bub (43, 77, 81, 91, 108)
Super Ramp Skater
Tan Tank
TankX (49, 108)
(!!!) Terra Incognita (31, 42, 88, 92)
(!!!) Time Slip (48, 106, 108)
Total Soccer (41, 42, 83, 86, 92, 108)
Tunnel Demo (26)
(!!!) Ver.T (awesome 2D shmup)
Video Poker Simulator (46)
Yaroze Rally (77)
Exclusive to older 53 compilation:
Rayfire (2D shmup)
Super Goomba Bros (doesn’t work)
Zelda (a simple Zelda port/clone)
Games on OPM Demo 108
(!!!) Down
(!!!) INVS (also OPM 88)
(!!!) Samsaric Asymptote
Yarozians (also OPM 82)
Samsaric Asymptote
ENTIRELY MISSING:
Banjo Invaders
Break 3D
Car G1
DX1 (hori shmup by Marc Lambert)
Hipower Battles
HSFK
Kamix+ (previously Tetixx)
Pssst (OPM 77)
Sandstorm (Omar Metwally)
Stars Wars (beat-em-up by Marc Lambert)
STG01
Surf Game (OPM 77, 91)
Tokui Waza (Omar Metwally)
Tokui Waza 2
Track N No Field (Steven Lewis)
Yakata (aka: Super Mansion, released 18/4/97, by ~hecpsx / Sato)
And these are just the games which I know exist but aren't available, the number which I don't know about is theoretically infinite. Do you know of a Yaroze game which exists but isn't on this list? Post in the comments!
As you can see there are at least 20 games which cannot be played. These definitely existed, since there are clips of them on Youtube, and I’ve managed to find archived TXT files pertaining to their distribution on the private Yaroze forum. The most annoying omission for me is Yakata, aka Super Mansion, since it appears to be a polygonal Resident Evil clone, without the combat. It looks great anyway, and it was distributed among members, since I managed to find an internet archive of the accompanying text file for the game, complete with instructions for loading it on Yaroze hardware. But not the game itself!
So here is my plea. The world of Net Yaroze is on the brink of being forgotten and lost forever. Sony closed all archives of it. Universities in recent years have been selling off their Yaroze equipment complete with all discs. Few websites talk about it and those that did are now dead – a lot of stuff I had to get via the Wayback machine! And despite the valiant efforts of hackers, there are still titles not included in the compilations. Beyond the tragedy of losing unique data, is the sad fact that we’re not praising or discussing what it represented. People criticise Sony for so much, and yet here they were, allowing anyone to create games for their leading hardware. Sure it was limited compared to the official dev kit, but it was something.
If you’re a Yaroze coder and you’ve got the games in the missing list, talk about them. Take screen grabs. Archive them online. Talk about the games not on the list! Let the world know about them. Even if you’re a curious bystander to all this, play some of the games. Write about them. Make blog entries. Preserve the knowledge online. I’ve started by compiling a list, so make use of it, expand it, add to it, help it to grow (at the very least somebody add it to Wikipedia, because their page as per usual Wikipedia standards, is woefully inadequate).
Save the Yaroze.
I had considered writing a major HG101 article on every Yaroze game, with three screens for each and a mini-review, since there exists nothing like that currently, but seeing this huge list, and the many titles I’m missing, I don’t think I’ll be able to do this. It’s just way too much for one man.
I did find a series of forum topics attempting this, but it seems to have pattered out before completion (only 5 of 8 parts were completed) and for the most part lacked images. Sadly, the author is also extremely and unnecessarily negative – he appears to hate Yaroze with extreme prejudice, and so I’m not going to link to his AVGN-style ramblings. Yes, a lot of games are bad, but a lot are awesome and have some great ideas.
For those who’ve never experienced the Yaroze, I recommend it. The hacked compilations are online, hosted by Megaupload, and work fine on a chipped PS1 and reasonably well via emulator after some plugin tweaking. It’s now perhaps not as easy to appreciate their low-budget charms as it was back in 1999, but some of them are still worthwhile. Terra Incognita plays like a 3D Landstalker clone and is all kinds of awesome – it’s also now available for iPad for like a dollar. Haunted Maze is something I’d pay $6 for on PSN today it is so good (make sure to use an analogue controller!). Timeslip I’d also pay for - it’s the best time travel game ever made, and I’m not BSing (it’s now been ported to XBLIG and I highly recommend everyone check out at least the trial version - they even updated the visuals!). Samsaric Asymptote has a weird name but is a super cool retro shooter. Decaying Orbit takes planet landing to an all new level, while Down is more addictive than it should be (all you do is drop down a tunnel avoiding the descending spiked ceiling, but damn, it works!).
For more info check out Yaroze Scene:
http://www.yarozescene.co.uk/
It’s a dead website, but the owner kindly links to the Wayback archived version of it, with many of the images still available.
I should add... If any hackers feel capable, I'm willing to provide the files for the games missing from the 83 compilation (that is from the 53 compilation and 108 demo) in order to create a new and definitive compilation. They seem to be stored in a mixture of EXE and FPC file formats. In an ideal world we would be able to find the games from the rather large MISSING list, and create the ultimate compilation containing absolutely everything.
Labels: doujin, homebrew, indie, PS1, XBLIG, Yaroze
I remember yaroze from those demo disks. none of the game were any good though, downloaded an iso of all the games made (probs same you played) and struggled to find anything good (3d pacman, baulderdash, a micromachine racing type game).
xbox arcade is a bit like a sequel to it i guess (or the games section of newgrounds).
noiseredux February 9, 2011 at 12:11 PM
wow Sketcz, what an amazing post. Thank you so much for this. I've been interested in the topic for a long time, but never did any extensive research. Living in the US, those UK OPM demo's weren't something I was fully aware of -- at least not to such an extent.
Snarboo February 9, 2011 at 3:21 PM
I first heard about Net Yaroze a year ago thanks to a (scathing :P) Something Awful LP. It's definitely an interesting slice of gaming history, and one worth preserving given the explosion of indie gaming in the last few years. It's almost unbelievable to me that there was a thriving community of developers given the indie scene was virtually unheard of at the time. How far we've come since then!
Admittedly the only game that really interests me is Terra Incognita, a clear Landstalker clone. I have a huge soft spot for isometric action RPGs, so I'm glad to see it's been re-released. I could have sworn there was a PC release of Terra Incognita, too, but I can't seem to find it now.
Thermoptic February 9, 2011 at 3:21 PM
Great article! But i did not quite understand where these games where included? Can i find them on some demo discs? What is this "hacked 83 compilation" that you listed first. Is this disc released?
Sketcz February 9, 2011 at 4:19 PM
There was a PC version - I managed to grab it off the Wayback archives by checking out the team's now dead website (they were all hired by Square I believe and one now works on FF Crystal Chronicles I think). If you can't find it, I can put it online when I'm back on my regular PC, assuming I remember.
Terra was probably the most accomplished of all, but others are pretty slick too. Rocks n Gems is another really good one.
I'm sure there's dozens I've missed off those lists.
Xander February 9, 2011 at 4:27 PM
I remember Blitter Boy, the robotron style arena-shooter/baby rescuer. That was incredibly well put together.
@thermoptic
In the list, if a game has a number next to it in brackets, you can find that game on that number of Official PlayStation Magazine. For example Katapila is on the demo given away with issue 107.
If you can't get hold of the demo discs (and many games were not on the demos), you can download a hacked compilation. Basically someone took all the games from various demos and from the private member's server, and made his own custom ISO which you can burn and boot in a PS1 system.
Type the following in Google to get what you need:
"83 in 1 net yaroze"
Download the file off Megaupload. Load the ISO via PS1 emulator, or burn and boot on a modded system.
I don't know where the 53 compilation is these days (I got that nearly a decade ago?). And disc 108 of the Euro Demo is extremely rare. My favourite was Official Playstation Magazine issue 42, which had about 12 really great Yaroze games on it. My friend actually gave me that disc for free!
If any hackers feel they're capable, I can provide the standalone files for the Yaroze games exclusive to disc 108, and the 53 compilation, so we can create a new, updated compilation.
Mattgaimz February 9, 2011 at 8:58 PM
This is an awesome post on an amazing blog! I'm going to subscribe :]
http://mattgaimz.blogspot.com/
John February 9, 2011 at 9:30 PM
Well Now we have XBOX Live Indie Games
Epic post Sketcz, god how I wanted a Net Yaroze back in the day! I was too young to care that you could make your own games with it, I just saw that it was a black Playstation and I had to have it! That Terra Incognitio game looks hella awesome.
Eirik February 10, 2011 at 3:08 PM
Complete overview / reviews of every game would be so amazing! Even if you can't really do it all at once or alone, just start with a few games and have it snowball.
Nate123 February 10, 2011 at 8:25 PM
About that Ver.T game you have I think its just a test game so any one know if there was full release its from japan and has a Japanese title be for the ver.t in the name.
Sketcz February 11, 2011 at 4:05 AM
Good point regarding Ver.T. When I first looked for it, the font was garbled on several websites, but a quick google brings up the following - not sure how accurate it is.
にゅ－ろでふぁじ－なシュ－ティング
New Rodefajeena Shooting
No idea what the middle word is.
Sketcz, archive all of those into a rar file and upload it to filevo. Link it here so others can archive it, you can also try posting it on snesorama for somebody to turn into a working PSX disc.
More people need to have this stuff.
Apparently there's a program called ISO Buster that will turn them into an PSX ISO.
MP83 February 11, 2011 at 11:10 PM
Nice post, Sketcz. I remember playing some Yaroze games from a few OPM demo discs that I had back in the day (mainly Terra Incognita). Interesting times.
By the way, the Windows port of Terra Incognita used demo MIDIs from some Sound Blaster card instead of the original soundtrack. Any idea why?
Here is a RAR with the files mentioned by the author, from the two different discs. It would seem the 53 disc had games not accessible from the menu when booted, such as HSFK, which is in the entirely missing list. Plus it has others not even listed here. Hopefully these can all be made use of. No mention of Yakata though.
Spread it around, pass it to the left hand side, share it with your mates, post it anywhere you please, just make sure it's archived.
Filename: Yaroze Extras.rar
http://deurl.me/3OKN6
http://filevo.com/de046tdv6na8.html
Hope Paradox find this rare games soon :(
Great to see that Yaroze is getting the love it deserves - my story is almost the same as the OP's. I got my issue of OPM every month, and rushed home to play the Yaroze game straight away.
Rocks n Gems was the all-time greatest, in my humble opinion.
noiseredux March 16, 2011 at 10:21 PM
Sketcz, I know you have my email man. If the DEFINITIVE Yaroze compilation is ever completed... please send my way.
This is code for gameshark to get past the keycard check on the net yaroze boot disc :)
8006FF90 0000
8006FF8A 0000
Sketcz, great post. The euro demo 42 has some great yaroze games, but i love the 86. Robot ron, Gravitation, Total soccer, Between the eyes(yaroze on euro demo 87), Pushy 2(i love this game. euro demo 87)and Rocks n Gems. i love them.
RAWTalent August 9, 2011 at 4:09 PM
Just about to start developing on the Yaroze myself, a little late I know but for nostalgia's sake!
Guys you can get my complete Net Yaroze Games Collection Here: http://snesorama.us/board/showthread.php?t=64399
The ENTIRELY MISSING some one have it, but i don't have it.
Have fun ^^
Lee September 24, 2011 at 6:28 PM
This takes me back... I had a letter printed in OPM 40 extolling the virtues of Net Yaroze. Frightfully embarrassing to read my 13-year-old self writing a letter, and as with many retro games, modern tech makes them almost irrelevant, but I stand by what I said - they were great, and that they were free made them even better. I still never completed Terra Incognito though. Mind you, I still have that on disc...
i have a complete archive of the official UK,US and JAP sony memebers sites, took a dump of it before the forums were closed..
AnimalBear June 29, 2012 at 9:00 AM
Hi man can you please share to use the complete archive please?
We need that rare games!
AnimalBear December 8, 2011 at 6:28 PM
Can you send it?
Pix3l December 16, 2011 at 4:32 PM
Hello to everybody, some years ago i found the original source of psychon on a web site, i think it was the author's site.
Since i can't find that site again, I paste it here:
http://pastebin.com/TduDxU0h
KazViPo January 10, 2012 at 8:12 PM
My little yaroze-gameplay on yt: http://youtu.be/XUyDtzwDtto
ignore my post before... ctl+c and ctl+v... its so difficult.....
Okay I have a question, I am a huge fan of Net Yaroze and Tan Tank is one of my favourite games, I understand the 83 Compilation is a hack, So can I burn the hack onto a Blank CD or is there already an official Playstation disc with the 83 on it. If I could find one, I would pay you happily!
And on my last post, The Main Games I require are Hover Car Racing, Tan Tank, Snowball Fight, Haunted Maze, Adventure Game, Psychon and Rayfire. Those are my favourites but the best are Hover Car Racing and Tan Tank!! :-)
SmudgedCat January 28, 2012 at 5:58 AM
Just a note to say that the updated version of Timeslip is now available as a free download for Windows. There's a download link here:
http://www.smudgedcat.com/timeslip.html
yaroze-vid from me ... if u want u can present here
its from a german opm:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUyDtzwDtto
Thelongtimemagic March 3, 2012 at 12:09 PM
I have also been looking for information regarding Net Yaroze games I've been looking for Super Mansion and found information of it possibly being published on Volume 1, Issue 4 of Playstation Underground as listed here: www.game-rave.com/demos/ps_ug_4/ and with possible screenshots here: www.giantbomb.com/playstation-underground/92-993/issue-4/52-110343//?page=1&order=comment_count
Sketcz March 8, 2012 at 6:35 AM
Found it!!!
Super Mansion can be downlaoded from here:
http://yokoya.aist-nara.ac.jp/~tomoka-s/backup/gameb.html
So can several others.
Doesn't work in emulators sadly.
Pix3l March 9, 2012 at 5:20 AM
I think you need siocons, a Net-Yaroze compiler for run it.
I saw it was called in the file YAKATA.BAT
http://quequero.org/psx/tute/faq.html
siocons is the tool to upload files over the serial connection on a yaroze.
use eco2exe to patch and convert the game to run on an emulator/burn on a disc.
oh, forgot about libps.exe - you need that from the yaroze boot disc and it should be loaded into memory first at 0x80100000 if i remember correctly. I'm sure one of the available emulators will let you do such things, but I have no idea really.
It's Japanese name is:
館ぷらす
館ぷらすをダウンロード（プレステエミュレータとかでできるかもしれません）
館タウンズ版の移植。
ＳＴＯＲＹ等に変更は無い。
ネットやろうぜのコンテストで金賞Ｇｅｔ！
ＰＳ版の特徴
６４０ｘ４８０ドット、６０ｆｐｓ（インタレース）の高解像度画面。
テクスチャ追加。
メモリーカードへの対応。
「ネットやろうぜ」の黒ＰＳ
現在までに収録されている場所
プレプレＶｏｌ．６
電撃ＰｌａｙＳｔａｔｉｏｎＤ２
ＨＹＰＥＲ ＰｌａｙＳｔａｔｉｏｎ ＲＥＭＩＸ ８月号
開発時期 １９９６年１１月
ChrisW April 27, 2012 at 10:12 AM
Hi there, I just stumbled upon this post having followed a link from Kotaku to your new "15 years later" post on Gamasutra. I made Breakdown (in your missing games section). I haven't looked at my yaroze stuff in a while but I think I still have the files (I spent a little time trying to get it running on the PSP emulator, though it didn't play too will without analogue support!), and may even have some of the others sitting on an old hard-drive somewhere, I will take a look when I get home.
AnimalBear June 2, 2012 at 12:11 PM
I have that demos. But it don´t have all. We miss a lot!
ScottC April 26, 2012 at 8:54 PM
Hey, found my way here via the recent Gamasutra article about Net Yaroze. I'm the creator of Decaying Orbit. Great stuff and brings back a lot of memories. I still have my Yaroze sitting in my closet. Some day it would be fun to get it up and running again.
Eric May 20, 2012 at 5:42 PM
I used to be a suscriber to PlayStation Underground in the U.S. (SCEA's official on-PS1-CD magazine, something like a digital version of Nintendo Power with demos), and I can tell you that they definitely included Net Yaroze games. I remember the hovercar one, that 3D shmup, Funky Beans, and Super Mansion pretty vividly, but I can't remember if it's something that they did across multiple issues or not. For all of the active European development on the Net Yaroze, I don't remember many European games being included on ours.
Sketcz, if you want, I can dig out my copy of Vol. 1, Issue 4 to see if Yakata/Super Mansion is playable on an emulator in its PS Underground incarnation.
I remember Super Mansion being pretty fun, but a bit confusing to play between the controls and the text being in Japanese.
does anyone have access to all the archives from snesorama now the site is dead?
Someone have but don´t wanna share, by permission from the authors.
Sigh#
AnimalBear July 5, 2012 at 6:08 PM
What do you think about the release of those games without asking the authors? They care about or as been forget it? Can someone answer me this question?
does anyone got 'haunted maze' to run without a glitch under the bbs3 emulator?
http://youtu.be/Afvq_-HXuBo?hd=1&t=7m17s
got the same problem but glitches start on lvl 1.
Eric July 8, 2012 at 5:36 PM
Super Mansion runs fine in emulators from the PS Underground issue, BTW. Now that I actually know a little Japanese, that helped me a little, but I still got stuck about 20 minutes in.
Jon Prestidge August 23, 2012 at 5:34 PM
E-motion (kinetic puzzle game) is still available for mod-chipped PS1 or emulator at properbostin.co.uk/emotion.
Wow, is this ancient post still getting replies? I should probably try to convert it into a forum topic on the HG101 forums, to make it a bit easier to find.
Hello to all the Yaroze authors who stumble across it - and thank you, for the work put into these great games.
If anyone wants to dig out disks and share them, by all means feels free. You don't need to ask if I'm interested, since I'm sure there are many others out there with an interest in Yaroze.
As for sharing author's Yaroze games without permission, the general view I got from all the interviewees is that they're just really happy that people are still interested in their games. Only TimeSlip and a couple of others are actually being sold on modern systems, so I don't think there's any harm in sharing what were basically free games anyway.
Remember, these games were originally shared on the Yaroze servers, and everyone involved was always keen to get wider attention beyond their private group, so share away! I'm confident most Yaroze authors would be pleased at such a thing.
ConsolefanUK September 6, 2012 at 9:04 AM
I've a question regarding those Net Yaroze games working on stock PS1 consoles.
Is it possible to write new Net Yaroze games and burn them on a disc, so they may be played on a modded PS1 console?
Dave Owen June 13, 2013 at 6:27 AM
A message for Sketcz - I'm a freelance writer looking to put together a major article about Net Yaroze games. I'd love to talk to you about the project. Is there an e-mail address I can contact you at? Mine is dnjowen@gmail.com
Sketcz June 13, 2013 at 7:09 AM
Just replied to your email. :)
AnimalBear January 3, 2014 at 7:02 PM
We miss only 11 games :P
http://s21.postimg.org/91sqqms87/Sem_T_tulo.png
I forget Connect 4!
http://www.theisozone.com/downloads/playstation/psx-homebrew/net-yaroze-collection-2012/
I wish Sony would contact the owners of these games and see if they could make a free Yaroze pack downloadable from the PS3 store. I've got the old OPSM disks, but it'd be better if I could just install the games direct on the PS3.
In a similar vien, what about YABASIC? There was quite a scene for that back in the day on the PS2.
AnimalBear July 14, 2014 at 3:52 PM
Soon or Later we have the final version of Net Yaroze, but a few games are not added, because some dev's are already deleted or missed from the old sony dev. website.
It's a shame but we can´t do better then this...
Very soon the latest CD-ROM with...
These are screenshots of Jeff and Yaroid...
http://s29.postimg.org/tgnss7ziv/23uzwia.jpg
http://s17.postimg.org/ekzz92run/vgiy4i.jpg
AnimalBear August 11, 2014 at 6:16 PM
http://www.epforums.org/showthread.php?93396-Homebrew-More-Net-Yaroze-games-NTSC-amp-PAL
Missing ZX-1 on this list, and a few are obscure from the devs still not released.
100 new games and demos!
AnimalBear August 12, 2014 at 10:16 AM
List Missing 80 Games, Press Select button in the menu to acess the list.
1 File Missing
36 are missing
35 Never Released
5 Works only on Yaroze PSX
3 need a tiny fix.
If you have it, please don´t be afraid to send it.
ChrisW August 3, 2015 at 4:23 PM
Hey all, for those that might still check in here, I did eventually find an old "working" version of Breakdown.
http://www.lucidweb.org/download/BreakDown.rar contains a PSX-EXE that will run in ePSXe 1.2.0 if you play around with the plugins a bit.
http://www.lucidweb.org/download/BreakDownPSP.rar contains an eboot for the PSP emulator. (With no analog stick, its not all that playable though).
I never managed to get my other "game" Drum 'n' Race working on emulators, but maybe I will find the time to look into it one day.
I remember quite a few of those games.. mainly from OPM demo discs. Some where actually quite addictive despite there lack of graphics, i remember a game called 'Adventure Game' by Robert Swan, that game was very basic, blocky.. slightly annoying but funny & it could of been an amazing game if 'tweaked' a little (the music was good tho).
http://www.superinternetfriends.com/interviews/net-yaroze-interviews-6-robert-swan
is quite good interview that tells us a lot about the 'legendary', 'Fabled' & expensive Net Yaroze.
Sean-Paul March 13, 2016 at 11:38 PM
From PSM issue 3. Has a few pictures and description of:
The Appointed Station
https://archive.org/stream/PSM_Issue_003_November_1997#page/n16/mode/1up
Sean-Paul March 14, 2016 at 6:38 PM
Terra Incognita - PSM issue 1
https://archive.org/stream/PSM_Issue_001_September_1997#page/n11/mode/2up
TERRA INCOGNITA review
http://www.geocities.ws/richard_is_cool/terra.html
yaroze games list
http://www.geocities.ws/gamemasterquilpue/Yaroze_Games.html
I got my NY out since the 90s and Im working on a 3d game in my spare time.... Its still a bitch to do 3d on... If you don't know... Imagine a 386 with a 1st gen 3d card!
But that's all part of the fun...
As of the games on the server... I would call most of them games but more demos.. But most just uploaded a screen shot of what they're doing.. And never completing it..
gwald @xpcoin
Pizza Man August 27, 2016 at 10:48 AM
Thanks to google we have less information from the pass including wayback machine.
Dan from http://www.superinternetfriends.com ie interviews let the domain expire and deleted his tweeter acc.
They were on archive, until his domain was squated by a reseller with a robot.txt, removing it from archive and search cache everyone.
I contacted archive.org for a copy, I got a reply but then nothing.
I eventually came back and I made a copy, since then archive.org haven't put it back so I uploaded it here:
http://netyaroze-europe.com/
Pizza Man May 23, 2017 at 9:10 AM
Thanks! We need more :D
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During my lunch breaks at the museum, myself and a colleague volunteer in the Division of Insects recurating some of the collections. Recurating means we take inventory of a specific species like our long-horn beetles or our lace bugs, and then we have a researcher look over our inventory and update our list with any new information. From there, we enter the updated information into a database shared with scientists around the globe, so that they can have access to our digital collection. We print our new, organized cards for the insect's unit trays, and alphabetize the specimens for future scientists to find them easily.
Being that it is a lot of hours to count all of the specimens (sometimes as many as 100 small insects in a single unit tray!) the museum simply doesn't have the staff to digitize all of it's collection. Being a volunteer on lunch breaks and weekends is one way that I can help contribute to something I feel very passionate about.
Recently, I learned about a Collections Club, where volunteers get together and over the span of a weekend tackle some tasks that the Botany division needs help with. My colleagues and I participated in Collections Club this summer and were tasked with repacketing plant specimens and transcribing field notes from an Anthropology expedition in the early 1900's!
The Collections Club is part of a larger program called WeDigBio. It's a global effort to digital the vast collections of natural history museums so that researchers and scientists everywhere can have access to the information. One of my favorite things about WeDigBio is how it allows for Citizen Science, getting the general public interested in the collections of natural history museums, and engaged with how these collections are contributing to the world around us.
At Collections Club, we spent a lot of time working through plant specimens collected in the 1970's, still wrapped up in their dated newspaper and cartoons. We transferred the specimens to new, uniform museum packets, for neat storage, and ensured that the labels were appropriate for each specimen.
We even worked with some of the museum's older collection of botany specimens, and repacketed them into the contemporary, uniform pockets. Going through the old packets, we found some specimens dating as far back as 1915 and 1939! The script handwriting was especially beautiful, and we took great care to make sure that both the specimens and their original notes made it into the new packets intact.
The last thing we did was spend a little bit of time transcribing field notes from an old Anthropological expedition. It was definitely hard to read the handwriting, scribbled into the notebook in the field. But it was interesting to read the descriptions of the climate and environment where they were exploring. The notebooks are like little time capsules, almost poetic like a non-fiction book. Transcribing the shorthand notes is not something that a computer can do, which is why volunteers and Citizen Science is more important that ever before.
Volunteering in Citizen Science at Collections Club
museumthe field museumweekend recap
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Artist: Down With Webster
Genre: Pop Rock, Rap, Rap/Rock
Reviewed by: CT
Label: Universal Canada
Released: October 31th 2011
After much anticipation from the fans, Down With Webster finally released the new album following Time To Win Volume 1, released two years before. This time, the boys put out a full length album. Time To Win Volume 2, includes 13 songs on the regular CD and 15 on the Deluxe Version from iTunes.
The fans who have been around for a long time all noticed DWW brought back new versions of some oldies like ‘’Big Wheels’’ and ‘’Grind’’. With this new album the band has definitely not lost their ‘’winning’’ motto and party anthems. However, Volume 2 has been said to be “a little more grown up than the previous album”. “I think on this album we kind of knew a little more of what we wanted in the studio and how to get it whereas the first album was a little more of a dry run… This one we wanted to make a whole album that was a little more cohesive… the first one maybe showed a little of our diversity, rock, hip hop, pop. This one we tried to make it so that all songs had a little bit of that in them” says singer/guitarist Pat Gillett.
As they were recording, the label got the release date pushed back because the boys had so much new material this time around. They definitely had time to bring this album to perfection. The tracks still involve an undetectable style… a mix of different genres including rock, rap and pop. It is one of those albums where finding a favorite song becomes a hard task because every track is epic.
The album starts off with up tempo songs like “Go Time” and “Professional”, then two radio hits (“She’s Dope” and “Big Wheels”). Next comes “Grind” an older song of theirs and one of the many fan favourites. Tracks ”Staring At The Sun”, “I Want It All” and “So Positive” are inspirational to say the least. Royalty and White Flags, which have a little dubstep in them, will have you singing along to the catchy choruses. Jessica, their one ballad, is extremely catchy as well. The song ‘Work’ featuring the band “Far East Movement” will make you want to get up and dance! The band also collaborated with Boi-1da for ‘’Professional’’ and “I Want It All”.
With some singles out already, the band continues to expand their fan base and never fail to impress us with their talent, creative music videos and explosive performances.
After two volumes filled with winning anthems, we wonder what Down With Webster will come up with on their next album!
By: Elodie Trudeau, Chloé Charbonneau, Delphine Bissonnette
Juno FanFare
Coeur De Pirate – Concert Review
Nightbox Performs in Montreal!
A Brief Walk Through Canada’s Musical History
What’s your favourite music video?
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The New Cities
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Five Alarm Funk Interview
"[...] series Kenny vs. Spenny, and AMC’s Breaking Bad. Bordchert and Walsh have also worked on Light�..." - Holy Fuck | Canadas Talent
"Ohmygod! I love that interview! These guys are just too awesome!! :)" - xmissnewcitiesx
"[...] the spirit of celebrating Simple Plan’s Get Your Heart On tour last winter, we held a contest ..." - Simple Plan Fans Get Their Hearts On! | Canadas...
"I love the album Storms - particularly Invincible and One Life. Hedley puts on an amazing show in concert ..." - JCMyers
"I have played this album to death and think it is awesome! Current fave song is Desperate Measures and the ..." - JCMyers
"Made my day hearing that I won this! Thank you Canadas Talent!! Happy Friday 13th!" - JCMyers
"AWESOME contest!!! Sending eemail now! :) you guys are the LUCKIEST girls EVER!!!" - perfectporcelain
Pop Rock Reviews
Indie/ Synth Pop
Artist: Tegan and Sara
Genre: Indie/ Synth Pop
Artist: Grimes
The Review 4.5 / 5 - Excellent
Artist: Simple Plan
The Review 5 / 5 - Excellent
Artist: Coeur de Pirate
Genre: Indie Rock, Pop
Artist: Hedley
Genre: Pop Rock
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