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Seeing and hearing deeper on the RV Celtic Explorer for Galway 2020's Aerial/Sparks project
As part of Galway 2020's Aerial/Sparks project, artist Robertina Šebjanič joined scientists on board the Marine Institute's RV Celtic Explorer for a biodiversity survey exploring shelf sea habitats from 27th April to 12th May 2019.
Robertina Šebjanič, a Slovenian artist based in Ljubljana, is one of seven international artists taking part in Aerial/Sparks, a Galway 2020 project by artist Louise Manifold taking place in collaboration with the Marine Institute. Aerial/Sparks explores connections between the ocean wilderness, marine science and radio communication, and how art might contribute to current scientific debates. The commissioned artists will create compelling stand-alone art works for radio broadcast in Ireland and Europe in 2020.
Robertina joined scientists on the Marine Institute's RV Celtic Explorer for a 15-day research voyage in the shelf seas around the north coast of Ireland as part of the Backscatter and Biodiversity on Shelf Sea Habitats (BaBioSSH) Survey. Led by Dr. Chris McGonigle of Ulster University with a team of multidisciplinary scientists from institutions across the UK and Northern Ireland, the survey focused on the use of emerging and novel technologies to improve knowledge of species diversity in marine ecosystems, particularly in marine protected areas and special areas of conservation. The survey included the deployment of Baited Remote Underwater Video Cameras at sampling sites, and collecting video footage using the Marine Institute's ROV Holland 1.
For Robertina, she didn't think twice when she was invited to be part of Aerial/Sparks as she admits, "I'm just obsessed with bodies of waters, oceans, seas, rivers, everything that is water-related." Robertina's research-based artworks are predominantly concerned with the cultural, (bio)political and ecological realities of human imprint on the aquatic environment, its consequences and challenges.
"In my work in general, I combine arts and science, and technology also. What I think is very important to bring out, especially in these kinds of art-science combinations, is that the artistic part is not just an interpretation of scientific data, we're not simply illustrating what we're getting, but we are trying to bring together the artistic philosophy also," Robertina said.
This is Robertina's first time on a research vessel on seas bordering the Northern Atlantic, and the longest time she has spent at sea. She was particularly keen to join the BaBioSSH survey because some of the research merged with her own areas of interests, including the study of sediment communities and the use of the latest sonar technology to map the seabed. Robertina felt it was important to approach the residency without preconceived aims and to be open to the new knowledge, experiences and sounds that would be coming her way: "It's like scientific research, you know what you are looking for but you don't know what the result will be. And it's the same with art also. If you have a particular idea, you block yourself to everything new that you will experience."
The survey employed non-invasive remote sensory technology to gain a better understanding of species diversity which has given Robertina a new perspective on aquatic life: "I'm grateful to the science team for letting me be part of this work. I have had the amazing opportunity to 'see and hear' deeper - to the seabed and marine life that is there through remote sensory technology such as the Multibeam EchoSounder (MBES), drop down video cameras and the ROV Holland 1 (remotely operated underwater vehicle)."
During her residency, Robertina spent the days recording sounds, reading, writing, watching basking sharks, gannets, seagulls, and the jellyfish encountered on the surface of the ocean. She found the survey team, which included engineers, the drivers of the ROV Holland I and a marine technician from 2G Robotics, both supportive of her work and great company. She in turn helped with water filtering for future analysis in the lab and investigated water samples.
Following the residency, Robertina is taking time to reflect on her research and exploring the possibilities of building a collaboration with the scientists from Ulster University.
Kate Howard, Cultural Producer of the Aerial/Sparks project for Galway 2020, remarked: "The Aerial/Sparks project created by artist Louise Manifold is using the medium of radio to explore ocean landscapes. Having renowned artists such as Robertina begin their residencies on the vessel is a significant step in the development of this project. We are excited to see the outcomes of these residencies and ultimately the series of acoustic projects that will be produced next year."
To learn more about the research undertaken as part of the BaBioSSH survey visit https://scientistsatsea.blogspot.com/
Robertina Šebjanič is a Slovenian artist based in Ljubljana. Her art-research focus for the last several years has been on cultural, (bio)political, chemical and biological realities of aquatic environments, which serves as a starting point to investigate and tackle philosophical questions on the intersection of art, technology and science. Her ideas and concepts are often realized in collaboration with others, through interdisciplinary and informal integration in her work.
Šebjanič is a member of Hackteria Network and Theremidi Orchestra. She was awarded Honorary Mention at the Prix Ars Electronica 2016, and has been nominated for the STARTS Prize 2016 and the White Aphroid Award. She was the SHAPE platform 2017 artist and a resident artist at Ars Electronica (EMARE / EMAP) in 2018.
Šebjanič has exhibited / performed at solo and group exhibitions as well as in galleries and festivals including Ars Electronica Linz; Kosmica Festival; Laboratorio Arte Alameda, Mexico City; La Gaîté Lyrique, Paris; Le Cube, Paris; Art Laboratory, Berlin; ZKM, Karlsruhe; re:publica, Berlin; Mladi Levi, Ljubljana; Centro de Cultura Digita, Mexico City; Piksel, Bergen; OSMO/ZA, Ljubljana; Device art 5.015 at Klovičevi dvori, Zagreb; Eastern Bloc, Montreal; Eyebeam, New York; PORTIZMIR#3, Izmir; Kiblix Festival, Maribor; Spektrum, Berlin; KIKK festival, Namur; +MSUM (Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova), Ljubljana. http://robertina.net/
Aerial/Sparks
Created by artist Louise Manifold for Galway's European Capital of Culture programme, Aerial/Sparks is an interdisciplinary art collaboration with the Marine Institute that explores radio connectivity and its relationship to ocean space.
As part of the project, European artists are developing work based on their experience of time spent at sea with the Marine Institute's research vessel RV Celtic Explorer, one of the few marine research vessels with sonic capabilities. The commissioned artists will create compelling stand-alone art works for radio broadcast in Ireland and Europe.
The collaboration has opened up exceptional opportunities to foster connections between art and science as the artists work side-by-side with the scientists who are undertaking the surveys.
In September 2020, Aerial/Sparks will present a series of broadcasting experiments that will inspire, arrest, and fascinate audiences on both a grand and intimate level. It will invite us to engage with wireless imagination to reconnect to our ocean wilderness - one of the last remaining unknowns.
Aerial/Sparks is funded by the Galway European Capital of Culture 2020 programme and previously received funding through an Arts Council of Ireland Project Award 2017.
https://www.aerialsparks.org/


Zombie television
Netflix confirms casting for Korean high school zombie series, 'All of us are Dead'
By Chris Post on February 11, 2021 • ( Leave a comment )
[L to R, T to B : Yoon Chan-yeong, Park Ji-hu, Cho Yi-hyun, Lomon, Yoo In-soo | Photos courtesy of each talent management]
Netflix has confirmed the casting of Yoon Chan-yeong, Park Ji-hu, Cho Yi-hyun, Lomon and Yoo In-soo for All of Us Are Dead, an upcoming original series that follows a group of students trapped in a high school who find themselves in dire situations as they seek to be rescued from a zombie invasion of their school.
Yoon Chan-yeong will play Cheong-san, an ordinary student at Hyosan High School who tries to save On-jo, a girl he likes, from the rampant zombie virus. Yoon made a strong impression with his performance in the drama series Mama. Since then he has performed in a wide variety of shows, including Six Flying Dragons, Still 17 and Doctor John. He also starred in the films Birthday and The Fault is Not Yours.
Park Ji-hu will play the cheerful and down-to-earth On-jo, the most popular girl at Hyosan High School. Park has gained a following since her 2019 debut in House of Hummingbird, which won her the Best Actress in an International Narrative Feature Film Award at the 18th Tribeca Film Festival.
Cho Yi-hyun will play Nam-ra, the class president and the school's top-ranked student. Cho has shown exceptional acting skills through her performances in the 2019 film Metamorphosis and in the recent drama series Hospital Playlist.
Lomon will play Su-hyeok, a student who has recently decided to focus on his studies with the dreams of becoming a soldier. Park first gained attention through his performance in the drama Bleak Night. He also played the lead role in Lookism, a Chinese series based on a popular Korean webtoon.
Yoo In-soo will play Gwi-nam, a returning student who may be even more dangerous than the zombie invasion. Yoo debuted in the drama series Strong Girl Bong-soon and has built a filmography through several shows, including School 2017, Avengers Social Club, My ID is Gangnam Beauty, and Mama Fairy and the Woodcutter.
All of Us Are Dead, which is based on the highly popular webtoon Now at Our School, will be directed by Lee JQ (Beethoven Virus, The Legendary Police Woman, Intimate Strangers) and written by Chun Sung-il (The Slave Hunters, 7th Grade Civil Servant).
All of Us Are Dead, produced by Film Monster by JTBC Studio, will be available exclusively on Netflix.
Categories: Zombie television
Tagged as: All of Us Are Dead, Korean zombie, Netflix
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From the Frustration & Chaos a New UFT Group Emerges
By Francesco Portelos September 20, 2014 September 17, 2015 Uncategorized
There are roughly 200,000 members in the United Federation of Teachers. If you were to ask those members what a "caucus" in their union is, I bet 90% would not know or not be able to name them. I know I certainly didn't just threeyears ago. In fact, not only did I not know what a UFT caucus was, but I didn't know what a District RepandBorough Rep was and I routinely missed UFT meetings in my school entirely.
"Am I going to the union meeting You mean that where everyone complains about the administration early Friday morning No thanks. I'm going to sleep in a little later. Besides, I'm a great teacher and theadministration loves me. The union can keep taking care of my dental and medicine. That's what the union can do for me." –A very naive Francesco Portelos circa February 2011
I first learned about caucuses in March 2012, after I was targeted and when Edu-blogger activist Norm Scott of ednotesonline.com first heard of my story. We started speaking about it at a robotics competition. His question wassomething like "Is Chapter Leader Rich Candia, who threw you under the bus, fromUnitycaucus" I had no idea and I was the chapter delegate at the time. I laterfound he was Unity even though he ran on the New Action Caucus slate in the 2010 elections.
<PAUSE!> At this point the 90% of readers, not involved in union politics, might be asking"Unity New Action What is Francescotalking about"
Well, it turns out that the United Federation of Teachers is not asunited as it should be. It is comprised of several caucuses, but most of the members areindependents, with no caucus affiliation.
Caucus Definition:a group of people with shared concerns within a political party or larger organization.
Now you would think that we should all have the same "shared concerns," so there should be no need for internal factions or caucuses. That's whatI thought, but apparently thatis now how the world works. Egos and ideology play a major role here.
Since then I learned that Unity caucus (Mulgrew/Weingarten) runs the UFT and several other caucuses have unsuccessfully attempted to usurp Unity's 50 year control. At some point there was a riff and members of New Action decided to back Unity's Weingarten and Mulgrew even though there were major givebacks and attacks on our members.From that riff othercaucuses and groups formed, such as ICE, theIndependent Community of Educators.
Against the recommendation of some of its founders, ICElaterform a new caucus in 2012. The new caucus was called MORE.
Are you following with all the acronyms
In May 2012 I attended a meeting at a coffee shop with some members of this new caucus called MORE or theMovement of Rank-and-file Educators. MORE is the group I joined afterI was aware of thepolitics and thefight for public education. Again, things I didn't know existed before. As I sat in the rubber room then I researched and even emailed New Action, but never received a response. You'll come to find that New Action is actually pretty bad when it comes to technology.
While a member ofMORE Idecided to run for chapter leader of my school even though I was exiled and banished to a basement two boroughs away.
I wound up winning the election.
Exiled teacher elected to be union chapterchair– Staten Island Advance
Rubber-room teacher voted in as union rep– NY Post
Not bad for a guy who couldn't care less about the UFT a year before. I also wound up surviving several recall attempts through the next two years of educator exile. Thus my new passion emerged..unionism. I have never looked back since then. Moving forward.
Since 2012 I wasvery active in helping build and spread MORE, especially since my Unity caucus lead union had continued to leave me for dead and to rot in the rubber room. My activism within MORE fluctuated as I continued to be attacked and had hearings and was arrested blah blah blah…. you know the story. As I watched and helped MORE grow I also spoke to New Action caucus here and there thinking that bipartisan coalitions were theway to go. Jonathan Halabi, Mike Shulman and Greg Distefano attempted to intervene and assist me. I spoke at the UFT Executive Board and New Action told me they tried to follow-up with theleadership. New Action had asked about rallying outside my school whereas MORE members told me Staten Island is "too far." I thanked them for trying as I continued to be left for dead by the UFT.
The issue that MORE and ICE members hadwith New Action is that although they say that are very critical ofUnity, since the union has been going down hill, when it comes to elections they endorse Michael Mulgrew and other Unity leaders. I can see where this isa problem and can also see where this is a strategic political move for New Action to acquire executive board seats. Strong critics of New Action should rent House of Cards from Netflix.
The UFT has a governing body that has about 82 members. That is theExecutive Boardof theUFT. Unity caucus holds about 83 seats and New Action holds 8. How many seats does MORE hold MORE actually holds zero seats on the board despite some large votes in the last election and a lot of attempts at organizing.
Back to MORE and I.
As I continued to increase my fight back and hone in on skills and methods I was acquiring to do so, I continued to share and learn with MORE. I was active on several of their email groups, ran on their slate for middle school executive board seats in 2013 and the NYS United Teachers election in 2014. My online Dropbox file storage has a folder called MORE that is chock full of documents, videos and pictures I helped work on to promote MORE.
What was I really promoting though What was MORE
There was something missing from themovement.MORE continued to grow in Twitter followers, Facebook "likes" and email subscribers, but so what What was that doing for the member who needed help and was left for dead by the UFT There is a very large void of representation left by the UFT and MORE was not really filling it. My email box was full of educators asking for help and in almost each one they wrote "the union has not helped." As far as social justice issues, that is a different story. MOREworks hard on those issues. MORE calls themselves "The social justice caucus of the UFT", but what is social justice
Social Justice is defined as "justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society."
So this growing group continued to focus mostly on social justice, but what about Tenured Teacher A, B, C, ATR J and Probationary Teacher K What about Teacher Q who spends hours on lesson plan templates she doesn't agree with and doesn't have the required curriculum for MORE wasn't and still does not fight for the UFT member in trouble.
I decided to run for the steering committee of MORE in thefall of 2013. The steering committee is a group that is elected to make quick decisions for thecaucus that would require too much time to get a vote from the larger membership. It turns out there was no real election that took place for steering as all members who were nominated got in.
I joined the "steering" committee to literally try to "steer" the caucus in a direction that better served the UFT members. I found that it was like pulling a boulder with shoelaces. They just would not budge.
I'm going to summarize what I experienced that caused concern for me :
MORE members, like Peter Zucker, would start calling me telling me "We need to create our own caucus."or "They are not in touch with theday to day plight of theaverage educator and too distracted with social justice. We are a trade union." I ignored these comments for over a year and thought they can be steered back to themembers here.
I would propose things like Educator Defense (DTOE.org) to steering and it would get tabled at meetings to instead be replaced with agenda items like "Teaching members about caucus history."
I would raise concerns about upcoming chapter leader elections and general elections two years away and that would get tabled as well.
In March 2014 I was on steering and a MORE candidate for the New York State United Teachers election. That month I was also falsely arrested by the NYPD based on false claims by the NYC DOE. After a few days of not hearing my "social justice caucus" make a peepover my wrongful imprisonment by our employer I sent this email out:
Subject: MORE and Social Justice
To: MORE <more-discussion@googlegroups.com>
I'm concerned about MORE. That's why I got on the steering committee.
A member of MORE….a steering committee member…a NYSUT candidate was falsely accused and imprisoned and the Social Justice caucus he belongs to is silent Not a tweet…not a discussion….not a mobilizing of anything
I know some bloggers wrote, but what is MORE really Just talk…no walk
This isn't about me…this is bigger.
DOE's Workplace Bullying Continues – My 33 Hrs Behind Bars – http://wp.me/p31ecs-Tm
Francesco Portelos
Then there was some discussion and apologies and we found that another teacher was wrongfully arrested the week before at thesame 84th precinct. MORE thencalled for a resolution to defend members against abusive administrators. It was voted down by Unity and that was that. MORE alsodidn't want to name abusive administrators on their website and nothing about it was ever mentioned again.
I continued to build my other group, Don't Tread on Educators (DTOE.org), to defend educators under attack since UFT and MORE were not doing enough in that aspect. I and other MORE members spoke about not really sending attacked members to MORE meetings, because we weren't convinced that it would get them anywhere. MORE has a low retention rate and although they might get 60 people to a meeting, it isn't the same as before. Several UFT members told me they "…will never waste time at another MORE meeting again." Edu-blogger Arthur Goldstein shared thesame sentiments here in his blog postNYC Educator: MORE and the Mission from God
We continued to try to steer MORE in a direction many of us believed was needed. It was tough and they were not budging. Social Justice First and nothing else.
In May 2014 they were very involved in criticizing the new proposed contract. I joined in that as did many others. I tried to create a forum for all issues on thecontract called www.uftcontract.com. I gave it the MORE logo and it was approved by steering in a democratic way, but undemocratically vetoed by a non steering member Mike Shirtzer. No one said a word about the veto. What do the MORE bylaws say about that Wait, it was two years and MOREhad no governing bylaws Mike Shirtzer could ignore the whole steering committee You call this organizing
In June steering was up for reelection and despite a busy schedule I decided to take another crack and getting MORE to defend and represent the membership. Again, no election was had. Not enough were interested.
As my name continued to be spread in a synonymous way to fighting back, the emails from members coming in increased. Many non-tenured teachers, who were discontinued and terminated, were contacting me and I tried to help. I saw that New Action also had this issue on their agenda whereas MORE did not. I reached out to New Action caucus to try for a bipartisan push to the DOE and UFT and possibly help these over 600 terminated teachers. Thereaction from some MORE members was ridiculous. You would think I threw a burlap sack of kittens into theriver.Julie Cavanaugh responded: "Our caucus, our members, have made it very clear their feelings and policy about collaborating with NAC [New Action Caucus]. This was an official outcome after the last meeting with them, discussed at general and sent to discussion where several folks weighed in."Normechoed the others' sentiments with: "I am very disturbed that you took it upon yourself to take this action. It is one thing as an individual – but when you are part of steering you give up some of that individuality as a MORE official. Thus you have no right to take unilateral action and reach out to New Action as a MORE rep (and as a member of Steering that makes you a MORE rep). I think you cause a good deal of harm in doing that. That is counter to basic MORE policy and to decisions we have made to not reach out to New Action- in essence undoing a lot of work we have done to isolate NA. In essence you allow them to use that against us in the elections next year. We have gone through the political scenario numerous times."
I was really blown away but these responses. Reaching out for support on a common cause was frowned upon by MORE. I researched the meeting Julie wrote about. Basically MORE and New Action met in October 2013 to discuss possibly working together. Julie shared her notes from the meeting with the MORE membership and a few chimed in to say in sum and substance "forget New Action." That was that. No vote and no more discussion.
This crazy "What was I thinking" outreach to New Action caused a behind the scenes discussion by non steering members and a phone call to me that invited me for a "chat" this past August. The chat was supposed to be about me constantly bringing up working with New Action, yet thesteering members were unaware of said "issue." Then who was Who is that select group in MORE that makes decisions and vetoes the steering committee
This chat request overlapped with the Al Sharpton March for Justice in Staten Island against police brutality. Being on MORE's steering I can tell you that in a two week period there was a lot of discussion about endorsing or not endorsing this and posting articles by Julie on our MORE blog. Between August 16 to present day, there was more discussion on the March for Justice than there was on teacher trade union issues combined in thelast two years. Again, please comment below if I'm wrong.
I was outnumbered on steering and thearticles went out. This despite extreme chaos on the UFT Facebook page where members were against a union endorsement. My own personal stance revolved around thebasic principle of "Hey! Let's march for teachers and school communities first before we march against police brutality." I thought that since it was a heated topic, it was best for MORE to quietly sit this one out. How could they though It was a social justice issue and they jumped in. The outcome was that MORE was too left for the right and not left enough for theleft. MORE won nothing or at the minimum very little new support.
I became so aggravated that my last weeks of summer vacation were being involved in phone conferences about theMarch for Justice andcountless emails, that I decided to step down from MORE steering.
The straw that broke thecamel's back came from Harris Lirtzman, a MORE member and largest donor, and his email to a select few asking that the issue of me speaking against UFT involvement in the March on Facebook be curbed. In addition, I was forwarded a text by someone that was from Harris stating "He [Portelos] is nothing but trouble for thecaucus and is about self promotion." Let me be VERY clear that I am still in this game for whoever needs my help. I have proven time and time again that I will defend myself against any and all attacks and any self promotion is really for promoting that spirit of fighting back.
The chat The chat never happened as it appeared useless. I then resigned from steering.
In September, New Action had a press conference for discontinued teachers. DTOE.org members were there and a few MORE members, but MORE chose not to promote theevent. Remember, it was a good cause, but again it was from New Action, so MORE was not going to promote their event.
There is more, but basically that is where I, and others, started really discussing moving on. We even briefly discussed talking to New Action, but again that Unity endorsement would be a problem for many.
Now coincidentally, around this time, I was asked to go to lunch with Randi Weingarten, President of theAmerican Federation of Teachers, the end of August. I am going to write the word COINCIDENTALLYagain in bold, capital letters and italicize it. This is because I have integrity and I assure you that it was just…coincidental timing. My decision to step away from MORE had nothing to do with a conversation with Randi, an avocado toast and a cappuccino on Lexington Ave with the president of the largest union in the United States. By the time we met I had already stepped down.
Sharingthe details of my meeting with Randi is not necessary. We had lunch, we spoke about different issues, I explained my criticisms of the union and backed them up with evidence. I called Norm Scott, who she is not a big fan of, my godfather who when all others left me for dead, he pulled me in to teacher activism. Her assistant came in to tell her to check her email as there was an emergency. She pulled out a flip phone and I cracked a joke about it. Since Randi is also part of the Unity caucus, our lunch has caused some speculation, but sharing private conversations doesn'tmake me great lunch company.
We have aUFT membership frustrated with its UFT leadership. A membership that feels sold out and unprotected. One needs to go no further than the UFT Facebook page and read thethousands of comments to see that the members are pretty upset.https://www.facebook.com/uftny
We have members in need with no strong enough caucus to support them. Why aren't more ICE members active in MORE. Why aren't there more Badass Teachers in MORE Why aren't there more minorities in MORE What about many NYC edu-bloggersOut there we have countless teacher activists with no real home. We have young members of Unity frustrated with their obligatory voting on agenda's that are against the membership's best interest.
Can we create a place for all of them
I personally have a school system that doesn't want me and continues to make attempts to attack me. I have aUFT leadership that left me for dead and won't accept my resume for any job at the union despite my fearless and creative ways tofight back. I had a caucus that ignored me and whose concerns did not echo mine nor that of the rest of the membership.
So, taking all this in and assessing the situation, I spoke to a growing number and we created a new caucus. If the UFT won't lower the draw bridge to 52 Broadway then we are going to build a tunnel. We are mobilizing and we are growing since just this past Thursday.
"If you lead, they will follow. "
No longer can we sit by as educators are blamed for all of societies problems and are systematically attacked. No longer can we sit by as UFT member after UFT member continues to go home unhappy with thedignity and respect sucked out of their work environment. We CANwork together to improve our profession in solidarity.
Visit our website and sign up or fill out theform below. We are looking for both active members and retirees that can bring in their experience and support . We are also looking for non-activist members who are looking for support. We will be here for you.
www.UFTSolidarity.org
Twitter: @UFTSolidarity
Facebook: Facebook.com/UFTSolidarity
I wish MORE caucus success in all their endeavors and will work more with them when it aligns more with teacher centered unionism and when they need people for any overlapping social justice issues. Solidarity Caucus will not be void of social justice issues that affect our students, but our profession will be our primary concern.
Join The New UFT Caucus – Solidarity, Where Mainstream Teachers Have A Real Voice.– Chaz's School Daze
About Francesco Portelos
Parent and Educator fighting for the student and the teacher.
View all posts by Francesco Portelos →
Tagged 84th Precinct, :, ATR, Betsy Combier, discontinued teachers, doe, DOI, Don't Tread on Educators, DTOE, educator exile, michael mulgrew, more caucus, norm scott, nyc doe, nypd, NYSUT, osi, Portelos, raise, randi Weingarten, recall, rubber room, SCA, tenure, uft, united federation of teachers.
« @NYCSchools attacks @UFT and attempted to fire almost 3,000 members – FOIL Friday Edition
A Video of the Most Naive Teacher »
You provide every minute detail of every damn thing that's happened to you during the past 2-3 years but you don't want to share any details from your discussion with AFT President and reason for so much union member discontent, Randi Weingarten Come on Francesco, you're kidding right Until I know what was discussed and what role Randi had in the creation of this new caucus I don't want any part of it.
But why would anyone want to invite me out if there is nothing private Not really leaving out much.


Category: Coming Up
Thursday, July 4, 2019: American Landscapes
We travel through American Landscapes on the next Echoes. On this July 4th week we hear the sounds of ambient Americana and music born from the landscapes of the country.
Wednesday, July 3, 2019: New Music London Grammar
New music from London Grammar teaming up with electronic producer Flume. We've also got something from Plaid, and their dynamic approach to electronic music from latest album, Polymer.
Tuesday, July 2, 2019: Guitarist William Tyler Live
Guitarist William Tyler performs the inventive music of his latest album, Goes West. Tyler is a musical child of Takoma and Windham Hill Records guitarists, but he goes in a new direction.
Monday, July 1, 2019: Lamb CD of the Month
The Secret of Letting Go by the electronic duo Lamb is an essential album of dream pop, with occasional blasts into angst, centered on the voice of Lou Rhodes. It's the July CD of the Month.
Weekend, June 29 & 30, 2019: Best of 2019, So Far
This weekend on Echoes we count down The Best of Echoes 2019, So Far as we reach the midway point of the year. We've also got a live performance by the post-rock band, I Think Like Midnight.
Friday, June 28, 2019: Music from Lamb and "Roma"
It's music by Lamb, the electronic pop duo from England and their latest album, The Secret of Letting Go. We'll also hear from an album of music inspired by the Netflix film, "Roma."
Thursday, June 27, 2019: Slow Flow Echoes
On a Slow Flow Echoes it's music from Brian Eno's, Music for Installations, a 5-CD set of his music for artworks across the years. We'll also hear music from a collection called Maui Chill.
Wednesday, June 26, 2019: Saul Stokes Interview
Saul Stokes used to make his own electronic instruments and when he plays live, he doesn't use any computers. That's a few of the things that make Stokes a unique musician on the electronic scene.
Tuesday, June 25, 2019: I Think Like Midnight Live
I Think Like Midnight is enigmatic name of a Philadelphia instrumental rock group that includes members of the punk band, The Dead Milkmen. It's a bitchin' post-rock sound live on Echoes.
Monday, June 24, 2019: Best of 2019, So Far
It's the midway point of the year which means it's time for The Best of Echoes 2019, So Far. I've got our top 25 albums of 2019's first 6 months and you'll hear them counted down.


DECEMBER 7 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY
Gestapo-NKVD Conferences: From December 6 to 7, 1939 the Gestapo and Soviet NKVD held conferences in Krakow, located in the General Gouvernment in central Poland (Nazi-German administrative center). The second round of conferences were held from December 8 to 9, 1939 in Zakopane, a resort town in the Tatra Mountains of southern Poland. Top officials from the Gestapo and NKVD met to discuss mutual cooperation the tactics to use for dealing with Polish resistance and the exchange of prisoners of war. There were seven Gestapo-NKVD Conferences; the first was held on September 27, 1939 in Brzesc, and the last in March 1940 in Krakow. The German-Soviet alliance was established with the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact on August 23, 1939. On September 1, Nazi Germany invaded Poland on three fronts, and on September 17, 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east.
Nazi German Commander of Chelmno Death Camp. On December 7, 1941, Herbert Lange became the first commandant of the Chelmno, a Nazi German Death Camp. He organized this camp by orders of Himmler and Greiser. According to some sources, it was Lange who selected Chelmno as the location. The Death Camp was situated about 50 kilometres (31 miles) from the Polish city of Lodz, which the Nazi Germans renamed Litzmannstadt. It operated from December 8, 1941, coinciding with Operation Reinhard during the most deadly phase of the Holocaust, and again from June 23, 1944 to January 18, 1945. Up to 340,000 men, women, and children were gassed at Chelmno. On January 17, 1945 Russian troops captured the town of Chełmno but by then, the Nazi Germans had destroyed evidence of the camp's existence, leaving no prisoners behind.
Pearl Harbor Attack: On December 7, 1941, without any formal declaration of war, the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service launched a suprise attack on the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor. Twenty-one American ships were attacked and either lost or damaged during the attack. Of the 402 American aircraft stationed in Hawaii, 188 were destroyed and 159 damaged, 155 of them on the ground. Hardly any aircraft were ready to defend the base except for eight Army Air Forces pilots. They succeeded in getting airborne during the attack and each of them were credited with downing at least one Japanese aircraft during the attack: 1st Lt. Lewis M. Sanders, 2nd Lt. Philip M. Rasmussen, 2nd Lt. Kenneth M. Taylor, 2nd Lt. George S. Welch, 2nd Lt. Harry W. Brown, and 2nd Lt. Gordon H. Sterling Jr. Sterling was shot down by Lt. Fujita over Kaneohe Bay and is listed as Body Not Recovered (not Missing In Action). Lt. John L. Dains was killed by friendly fire returning from a victory over Kaawa. Of 33 PBYs in Hawaii, 24 were destroyed, and six others damaged beyond repair. (The three on patrol returned undamaged.) Friendly fire brought down some U.S. planes on top of that, including five from an inbound flight from Enterprise. Japanese attacks on barracks killed additional personnel. American casualties were 2,335 killed, and 1,143 wounded. The next day the United States and Great Britain declared war on Japan, and the US entered WWII.
Treaty between West Germany and Poland: On December 7, 1970, the Treaty of Warsaw was signed by Chancellor Willy Brandt of West Germany and Prime Minister Jozef Cyrankiewicz of the People's Republic of Poland. (It was ratified by the German Bundestag on May 17,1972.) West Germany and Poland agreed to the stipulations of the Warsaw Treaty, that is, the acceptance of the existing border between Germany and Poland - the Oder-Neisse line, which was imposed on Germany by the Allied powers after the end of World War Two at the Potsdam Conference. The subject had been a very sensitive topic since 1945, as Poland was concerned that a German government might attempt to reclaim some of the former eastern territories. Willy Brandt was vehemently criticised by the conservative CDU/CSU opposition, who preceived his policy as a betrayal of German national interests, but were consoled with the belief that the Treaty was not a final arbiter. According to Article IV of the Warsaw Treaty, it stated that previous treaties, such as the Potsdam Agreement, were not superseded by this latest agreement. Therefore the provisions of this treaty could be changed by a final peace treaty between Germany and the Allies of World War II—as provided for in the Potsdam Agreement.
Warschauer Kniefall: On December 7, 1970 German Chancellor Willy Brandt visited the monument to the victims of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. After Brandt laid a wreath at the monument, he surprised everyone present when he knelt before the monument, and remained silent (for about half a minute). During the Nazi German occupation, Willy Brandt had actively resisted the early Nazi regime, and had been in exile most of the time. Brandt's visit to Poland at the time was for the signing of the Treaty of Warsaw between West Germany and the People's Republic of Poland, guaranteeing German acceptance of the new borders of Poland. The treaty was one of the Brandt-initiated policy steps (the 'Ostpolitik') to ease tensions between West and East during the Cold War. At the time positive reactions may have been limited, but his demonstration of humility was an important step in bridging the gaps World War II had left between Germany and Eastern Europe. Brandt's act was remarkable and thought to be one of the reasons he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1971.
Labels: December 7 Daily Chronicles of History, German-Polish Treaty, Gestapo-NKVD Conferences, Nazi German concentration camp, Pearl Harbor Attack, Polish Greatness, Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Willy Brandt
DECEMBER 31 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY
DECEMBER 25 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY (CHRISTM...


You are here: Home / Work / the nightmare room / projections and ideas
'The Nightmare Room' is a multi-platform projection work originally commissioned for the 2012 Blinc Digital Arts festival in Conwy.
It uses site-specific material, animation and augmented reality to examine ideas of transformation and the power of myth.
The 3-channel triptych was projected onto Conwy Castle from 26th to 28th October, 2012.
The Nightmare Room: Background ideas
The Blinc 2012 festival was dedicated to the centenary of Alan Turing, who is well known as the cracker of the enigma code and for his groundbreaking work in computing and artificial intelligence. Turing also produced an equally seminal body of work concerned with mathematical biology and pattern formation, specifically morphogenesis and the occurrence of Fibonacci numbers in plant structures.
These studies provided the initial inspiration for the project, and through research, gradually a narrative emerged that I wanted to explore in the work.
Turing was also an athlete, nearly qualifying for the 1948 Olympics. Around 1950 he encountered another runner out training (which was fairly uncommon at the time) and the two teamed up to become regular jogging partners, this was the young classical scholar Alan Garner.
Writing in 2011, Garner recalled how Turing obviously ran to think, talking endlessly about mathematics and biology. As they chatted they discovered a shared common experience; both had been traumatised at an early age by the Witch's transformation scene in Disney's Snow White. The 3-year-old Garner had been dragged screaming from the auditorium, and Turing regularly gave seminars on the psychology of the film at Cambridge.
Garner remembers Turing's obsession with this story, "He used to go over the scene in detail, dwelling on the ambiguity of the apple, red on one side, green on the other, one of which gave death…… We discovered that we had both realized independently that quite often life and death are the same thing, beauty and evil are the same thing."
In 1952 Turing was found guilty of 'Gross Indecency' i.e. homosexual activity, he lost his security clearance and was forced by the state to undergo a years course of hormone 'treatment' with synthetic oestrogen.He died two years later from cyanide poisoning, ending his life with a half eaten, possibly poisoned, apple by his bedside.
Garner went on to produce numerous striking works of fiction, rooted in place, myth and language. Among them is 'The Owl Service', a modern updating of the Blodeuwedd myth:
The original story from the Mabinogion tells how Gwydion uses the flowers of the Oak, Broom and Meadowsweet to conjure the maiden Blodeuwedd as a wife for Lleu Llaw Gyffes. She falls in love with Gronw Pebwr and they conspire to murder her husband, Gwydion punishes her by transforming her into an Owl.
In Garner's work the three protagonists find themselves trapped in a remote Welsh valley and forced to play out roles from the ancient tale.
Central to the plot is a dinner service on which the intricate floral pattern can be seen as either owls or flowers, depending on your viewpoint, the chosen perspective determining destruction or salvation. This duality echoes Turing's musings on the apple – one half giving life and the other death.
Still from Castle projection
The Nightmare Room: Process
While working on 'Lament ' I had reacquainted myself with Garner's work, his psycho-geographic essays about Alderley Edge particularly resonating with the sense of place and belonging I feel for the Shropshire border landscape. And just as Snow White disturbed Turing and Garner, I was equally haunted as a child by the TV dramatisation of The Owl Service. A strange adaptation shot on location in North Wales, Garner himself suffering a breakdown during the filming.
It struck me how reoccurring themes of pattern and transformation seem to wind through the narrative arc of Turing and Garner's life and work.
In an attempt to make sense of these different ideas I started to combine them in 'The Nightmare Room.' This was Turing's name for the tiny space in his Wilmslow home where he conducted chemical experiments, including the gold electroplating of spoons – a process that requires a solution of potassium cyanide.
Bryn, Llanymawddwy
I travelled to Llanymawddwy where Garner wrote the original novel, also used as the filming location for the Owl Service TV series. Here I gathered materials to work in the studio: audio, photos, video and Meadowsweet from the banks of the river.
Inspired by Turings work on phyllotaxis I used a mixture of stop motion and digital animation to breathe life into my found objects. I let shifting patterns evolve, as if mapping out the binding threads that form the narrative fabric of our lives.
Animating Meadowsweet in the studio
Whereas Turing's equations can explain the complex shell patterns generated by molluscs as a chemical memory, this theoretical web of connectedness is too vast and complex for us to describe with current mathematical models. In his paper 'Computing Machinery and Intelligence' Turing pondered how knowing the initial state of the universe could enable us to predict all future events, but cautions "The displacement of a single electron by a billionth of a centimetre at one moment might make the difference between a man being killed by an avalanche a year later, or escaping."
This proto-chaos theory leads on to his discussion of discrete state machines, and theoretical computing. Again, how things are perceived initially can mean the difference between survival and ruin, or as Huw Halfbacon says in the Owl Service:
"She wants to be flowers but you make her owls, you cannot complain then if she goes hunting"
The Nightmare Room: Production
The project presented another welcome opportunity for collaboration with Steve Knight, and for us to build on the Augmented Reality work we had produced in Lament.
We decided to create a number of site-specific AR interventions that would be visible through a smartphone AR browser. Referencing Garner's and Turing's joint fascination with Snow White, we built giant 'virtual' animated apples, one half green and one half red, all in various states of decay.
While I assembled flowers and feathers frame by frame in the studio, Steve experimented with generative sounds driven by the Fibonacci sequence.
These were combined with recordings we'd made of musicians Ceri Rhys Matthews, Ceri Jones and Christine Cooper.
The soundtrack was then rearranged so that, together with some clever coding, we could use it to 'drive' parts of the animated stop-motion movements, directly linking them to values in the audio waveform.
After a site visit to Conwy I realized that the subtle images we had been using would be lost when projected onto the rough stone façade of the castle, so we decided to create a high-contrast monochrome version of the work.
This was projected onto the Castle as a triptych and alongside it we placed our site -specific augmented reality intervention, we did the same with our work-in-progress piece at Conwy Chapel. This let the viewer interact with the AR work whilst simultaneously viewing the projection pieces, so that the two elements combined into one.
Augmented Reality and Castle projection as viewed through smartphone
The work was designed so that each element could also be experienced separately, this was essential for accessibility as not all the audience would possess a smartphone or they may have encountered the AR during the daytime when the projection wasn't running.
The Nightmare Room: Work in Progress
The project has continued to develop and expand and these ideas will be developed into a new moving image work in 2013
The Nightmare Room: Work in progress still
The Nightmare Room Links
BBC Arts Blog Alan Turing's Nightmare Room re-imagined
BBC News report
blinc digital 2012 festival site
Ceri Rhys Matthews musician and producer
Mission Gallery
The Space Video and interview on the BBC / Arts Council web channel
© Copyright - Sean Vicary


Submission #5517: Omnigamer's A2600 Dragster in 00:08.49
Judge : feos Publisher : Fog
For Publication Class : Moons
BizHawk 1.12.1
Frame Count
ROM Filename
Dragster (1980) (Activision, David Crane) (AG-001) ~.bin
Rerecord Count
Omnigamer
Submitted by Omnigamer on 5/21/2017 5:01:36 AM
Download Discuss and Vote Back to Queue All by this submitter
Submission Comments
This movie is a movie for Atari 2600 "Dragster." The game itself is incredibly short and fairly straightforward, but it has some historical significance for gaming and speedruns in general. The primary goal is simple: clear a quarter-mile track by holding your engine in red-line and shifting at opportune times. This was among the first games to emphasize speed as a primary metric for success as opposed to score.
(Link to video)
Game objectives
Emulator used: BizHawk 1.12.1
Aims for fastest in-game time (Player 1, top half)
Secondary goal: aims for maximum distance
Aims for track completion with fewest input frames (Player 2, bottom half)
Sacrifices time for entertainment
Does not early start or blow up (disqualifications)
Inputs should be compatible with all known releases of Dragster
There's quite a history for this game. It initially released with a challenge in the manual to beat "Activision's Best" by matching or beating a time of 5.74. The actual time an Activision employee achieved prior to launch was a 5.64, but they wanted to advertise a more generally achievable time. In 1982, player Todd Rogers claimed a time of 5.51, which was supposedly verified in front of Activision staff and received wide acclaim. To this day, that time has not been beaten or tied.
I took interest with the game based on this story and the fairly suspicious fact that nobody beyond Rogers has ever achieved better than 5.61. Clearly there must be some obscure bug that he used to gain such a significant advantage, right?
Thus, I disassembled and reverse engineered the entirety of Dragster. This was key in understanding the major pieces of the speed and distance system, but also gave me a chance to check for what shenanigans you might be able to pull off with oddball inputs or otherwise.
And I came up with nothing. The game has some very strict checks for inputs, and on every reset and boot will completely clear all memory related to any of the interesting values. Checks related to major mechanics are all fairly straightforward, and errant inputs have no sway in most of them. Player 1 and 2 inputs are handled on opposing frames, and they each have their own distinct memory addresses for each mechanic. So there's not a whole lot you can do outside of just playing normally. Mechanics explained in more detail below.
Based on all this reversing, I built a model of the speed system so that I could easily identify impacts of shifting at certain times. The inputs can be directly used in emulator, and I verified that they give the correct times and behavior.
This movie covers both the best solution we've developed so far in terms of in-game time and distance on Player 1, as well as the minimum number of frames of input to reach the finish on Player 2. Both were theorized in the spreadsheet and later verified in BizHawk.
Relevant Addresses
0x01 Global frame counter
0x0D Countdown timer
0x0F Active player
0x28 Tachometer value
0x33 IGT Seconds (BCD)
0x35 IGT 0.xx digits (BCD)
0x37 IGT 0.00xx digits (BCD)
0x3A Distance
0x40 Speed
0x42 Subdistance
0x4C Shift state & current gear
Add 1 to any of the above addresses for equivalent Player 2 address.
You complete the track as soon as your distance exceeds 0x60. If you shift into first gear before the countdown is 0, you are marked as "Early" and disqualified. If you push your tachometer value too far into the red, your engine will blow out, and you'll also be disqualified.
You have only two gameplay-related inputs: the gas (button) and clutch (left on stick). You can also reset at any time, but it just starts from the countdown. There is a second mode where you also must steer with up/down, but that mode isn't used in this movie. You start in gear 0, and every time you engage and then release the clutch the gear value increments by 1, up to a maximum of 4. You can rev your tachometer up to a maximum value of 0x1F; at 0x20 or higher, you will blow out.
Speed and Distance Mechanics
The game sets up a moving "speed limit" of sorts based on your tachometer value and current gear. On every active player frame, the game checks if your current speed is less than the current "speed limit;" if the speed is less than, it increases speed by 2. If equal, no change. If the limit is less than your speed though, speed decrements by 1. Additionally, if the clutch is currently engaged, speed does not decrement or increment.
The speed limit itself is equal to the tachometer value rotated left by the current gear value minus 1. If the tachometer is in redline condition (value equal or greater than 0x20), an extra 1 is also rotated in, giving you an extra limit overhead of +1 at gear 2, +2 at gear 3, and +4 for gear 4.
Every player frame, the current speed is added to the subdistance. If subdistance overflows, the distance value is incremented.
Tachometer and Shifting Mechanics
Since the tachometer is the lone direct influence on your maximum speed, it's important to maintain as high a value as possible throughout play while avoiding blowouts. However, the game has a fixed acceleration window for the tachometer based on the difference between the current speed and the speed limit. If the current speed is more than 0x10 below the speed limit, the tachometer value is decremented by 1, affecting the speed limit for the next player frame. This mechanic discourages shifting up too quickly.
The tachometer value will change based on a frame rule to check whether the gas is currently engaged. As the gear increases, the frame rule for checking whether the gas input is held also increases. At gear 1, it checks every player frame. 2 is every other player frame; 3 every 4th; 4 every 8th. If the gas is held when the frame rule is engaged, the tachometer value increments by 1. If it is not held, the value will decrease by 1. This frame rule occurs based on the global frame counter, which means that the frame counter value itself influences the incrementing pattern of higher gears.
The tachometer also behaves differently while the clutch is engaged or in gear 0. In either case, rather than incrementing or decrementing by 1, it will instead change by 3. This is still dependent on whether the gas is also held during the frame that the clutch is engaged. This activity occurs instantly regardless of the frame rule.
The general strategy is to maintain as high of a tachometer value for as long as possible, and then shift after reaching the maximum possible speed for your current gear. However, since the distance between your max speed and the current speed affects tachometer increments and decrements, it is sometimes better to shift earlier and maintain a higher entrance value to a particular gear. Additionally, once in gear 4, successive shifts are used to re-raise the tachometer value once speed reaches a point it can no longer increase. This temporary rise in the speed ceiling allows for optimal progression.
Shifting as late as possible without affecting speed is beneficial to the subdistance; for every frame earlier that a shift occurs, 2 subdistance units are lost. Removing a shift entirely would save a lot more than that, but you generally can't remove a shift without losing speed incrementing opportunities elsewhere.
Until you reach the speed ceiling, there is no benefit to letting the speed fall by 1 unit during a player frame. The loss of an effective 3 speed cascades throughout the rest of play and makes a huge difference in distance. At the speed ceiling, however, you can briefly lose 1 speed in order to gain 2 and then lock in your max speed of 253 instead of 252. This helps a fair bit as soon as I reach 252 for the first time, but is detrimental any time before that.
Finally, since the frame counter influences the tachometer increment pattern, it's key to play around with all of the 8 possible seeds to find an optimal shifting pattern. A different seed alone can have a significant influence on end time; getting a 5.57 is not possible under all seeds.
For completing the game in the fewest frames, the goal was instead to get to a fast enough speed and rev the tachometer to max before stopping all inputs. This allowed the speed to continue advancing for a dozen or so frames before the tachometer had gone down far enough to force the speed into decreasing. Then it was just enough to have it limp across the finish line under its remaining momentum.
Closing Comments
I opened these comments with mentioning Rogers's claimed 5.51. Over the course of this investigation, I've pretty well determined that a 5.51 is not possible according to the available game model. Since there are no details on what actually happened when he claimed it or who might have witnessed it, there's no way to say if it was cheated or a result of a hardware problem or if it even happened at all. Either way, this research and model should be enough to show that it's not possible on normal conditions. Even with some types of cheating (starting in gear 1 without shifting, starting with 2 speed, etc), a 5.51 is not possible.
As for the movie itself, this is the best I've been able to find that maximizes the remaining subdistance after crossing the finish line with a 5.57 (this specific solution originally pointed out by Reddit user Kragnir). In this case, you end up with 98 units of "spare" subdistance; still about 158 units away from the next best timer value of 5.54. The inputs for this are demonstrated by the Player 1 slot, and the last input frame is 508. Note that there is a delay at the beginning in order to align the correct frame rule.
As a secondary goal, I went for the typical TASVideos goal of least frames of input to finish, regardless of in-game time. This is demonstrated by Player 2, and the last input occurs on frame 343. Note that this could be improved by 2 frames but would require a different frame counter value than the IGT goal, so this tradeoff was made to be able to show off both at once.
There might be room for improvements, but I've checked all of the obvious alternatives that follow the general strategy rules. Even if improvements are found, I expect that they would only provide small amounts of additional subdistance on the shown 5.57; 5.54 is a long way off, yet. The number of possible positions for 9-10 shifts over the course of all ~250 optimizable frames is tractable, so it is possible to brute-force a true optimal solution. Until then, feel free to toy around with the spreadsheet model and see what you can come up with.
~Omni
feos: Judging...
feos: Updated the movie file.
feos: This is a great movie in so many aspects.
First, it deconstructs this advertising myth that lived for so long.
Second, it includes extremely elaborate research, to the point of full simulation.
Third, it showcases 2 types of goals in the same run: fastest real time and fastest in-game time.
Fourth, in optimizing in-game time, it uses a special goal: achieving farthest distande and subdistance in the shortest time. So by that it beats the known run by Samsara, who likely hasn't set such a goal, so the runs are probably not very comparable. They are probably also not comparable due to heavy emulation improvements of the A2600 core that has happened since that run was made. Though Samsara's run stops sooner while getting the same in-game time, it doesn't reach the subdistance reached in this run, so basically it's overall speed is lower.
If someone reimplements that movie to reach farther subdistance than this run does, in the same amount of time, or to reach the same subdistance sooner, it might obsolete this run. Finding the perfect formula for real time movie length against farthest subdistance might be a challenge, if we default to getting the same in-game time for fair comparison.
But since we're not here to make and publish only unbeatable movies, especially when the improvement is only potential, I'm accepting this gem to Moons.
Fog: Processing.
Last Edited by admin@tasvideos.org on 1/1/2022 6:13:40 PM
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Man who tackled, groped women charged with attempted rape, assault: Salisbury Police
Salisbury Police say Jonathan Kelechi Mbagwu of Hanover, Maryland faces several charges, including attempted first- and second-degree rape.
Man who tackled, groped women charged with attempted rape, assault: Salisbury Police Salisbury Police say Jonathan Kelechi Mbagwu of Hanover, Maryland faces several charges, including attempted first- and second-degree rape. Check out this story on delmarvanow.com: https://www.delmarvanow.com/story/news/local/maryland/2019/10/29/salisbury-police-arrest-man-attempted-rape-assault-charges-johnathan-kelechi-mbawgu/2494771001/
Rose Velazquez, Salisbury Daily Times Published 10:44 a.m. ET Oct. 29, 2019
Allen Mitchell of Salisbury, Maryland, a former James M. Bennett High School counselor, pleaded guilty to 4 charges, including sex abuse of a minor. Wochit
A man who tackled one woman on a Salisbury street in the middle of the night and groped another faces attempted rape, sex offense and assault charges, according to police.
A Tuesday news release shows Salisbury officers responded to the 200 block of Milford Street just before 3 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 27, for a report of attempted rape. Individuals involved immediately flagged them down and directed them to a man fleeing the area.
Officers then pursued the man on foot. Police said he refused to stop when requested, but was eventually detained and identified as 25-year-old Jonathan Kelechi Mbagwu of Hanover. The subsequent investigation revealed he'd been involved in two separate incidents involving women in the area.
The first involved a 21-year-old woman who had been walking in the area of South Salisbury Boulevard, according to police, when Mbagwu approached her and put his hand in her rear pants pocket.
Jonathan Mbagwu (Photo: Salisbury Police Department submitted image)
The release states Mbagwu tried to start a conversation with the woman, but because she didn't know him, she stopped walking with him and stayed in a well-lit area. Once he was out of sight, she continued on to her destination.
But she spotted Mbagwu again, police said, while walking in the area of South Salisbury Boulevard and Canal Park Drive. He began walking toward her at a fast pace, and she took off running.
Mbagwu tackled the woman in the South Salisbury Boulevard median, according to police, and his statements and actions led the victim to believe he was trying to sexually assault her. A passerby then stopped to help the woman and Mbagwu fled toward Canal Park Drive.
In the second incident, police said Mbagwu approached three 18-year-old women in the area of Canal Park Drive shortly after the first assault. He started a conversation with the women while walking them to Milford Street.
More crime: In Shore Stop gunpoint robbery, Salisbury man convicted
During this encounter, the release shows Mbagwu took something from one of the women and refused to return it. He also slapped one of the women on her buttocks, grabbed her from behind and groped her outside her clothing.
The women started to call 911, according to the release, which prompted Mbagwu to start walking away, but that's when Salisbury officers arrived in the area in response to the first incident. Investigators identified him as the suspect in both incidents.
Mbagwu was arrested and charged with attempted first- and second-degree rape, third-degree sex offense, two counts of fourth-degree sex offense, first-degree assault, two counts of second-degree assault, failure to obey and disorderly conduct.
Online case records show he is being held in the Wicomico County Detention Center without bond.
Ongoing investigation: Woman's body found near vehicle at Accomack campground: Sheriff
Read or Share this story: https://www.delmarvanow.com/story/news/local/maryland/2019/10/29/salisbury-police-arrest-man-attempted-rape-assault-charges-johnathan-kelechi-mbawgu/2494771001/
Perdue's Family Farmhouse to be open for tours
Upgrade sought for road into Chincoteague


Home > Nation > Jairam's sos to PC: Release Rs 7,600 crore more for MNREGA, PMGSY
Jairam's sos to PC: Release Rs 7,600 crore more for MNREGA, PMGSY
Sujit Nath16 Jan 2014 12:47 AM GMT
On Wednesday, Ramesh, through an official letter to the union finance minister, mentioned that he fully appreciate your concerns regarding the need for fiscal consolidation and optimum utilisation of the limited resources available with the government'.
'Even though it has proved difficult, we will ensure that the expenditure under the two flagship schemes of Indira Awaas Yojna (IAY) and National Rural Linelihood Mission (NRLM) remain within the approved reallocation,' he said.
On the context of fund allocation for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY), which is facing severe resource crunch because the budget estimate figures were reduced steeply from Rs 21,700 crore to Rs 9700 crore, he said: 'If additional funds are not made available immediately for PMGSY, the field mobilsation for construction and upgradation of rural roads, particularly in the poorer and backward regions would be adversely impacted and this would have a long-term effect on the GDP. As you are aware the next five-six months are the peak working season for PMGSY.'
Having an argument through his letter over Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (MGNREGA), the rural development minister said: 'The coming three months are the peak working season for this scheme and all the states are coming forward with huge demands for additional funds while the fund with the department is meager Rs 1,000 crore. We are demanding an additional Rs 2,000 crore keeping in view the resource constraints.'
Ramesh further wrote, 'I would like to assure that the ministry is fully geared to optimally utilise the available funds in the next few months. It is therefore critical that in order to maintain the physical targets mandated for this department, the budget estimates in respect of MGNREGA be restored and an additional amount of Rs 5,600 crore be made available for PMGSY.'
Ramesh, expressing his annoyance, said: 'The uncertainty on the funds position is hampering the implementation of both MGNREGA and PMGSY and the blame is falling on the UPA government.'
Sujit Nath


August 8, 2018 leonard4
New Market Wins Valley League Championship
It just sounded different.
Bottom of the 7th inning, two outs, bases loaded, Tom Sox desperately clinging to a 5-4 lead while hoping to send the series to a 3rd game. Adan Fernandez at bat. Fernandez took the first Antonio Menendez offering and smoked it out towards right center field, where the ball disappeared into a tree well beyond the outfield fence. With that one loud smack of the bat, the Rebels were 2018 Valley League champions.
Charlottesville had fought back from a 2-0 deficit with a run in the 3rd when Zac Ching slid around the tag at the plate to score on an error, and tied the game when Nickolas Oar scampered home on a wild pitch. The big blow was later in that same inning, when third baseman Nick Bellafronto drove a three-run home run over the left center field fence.
The Rebels got one back with what appeared to be a safety squeeze from Chase Sudduth scored Kobe Lopez, and another run in the 6th when Cris DeGuzman singled home Andrew Kasiski, but Tom Sox center fielder Jack Morris cut down Austin Bogart at the plate, and Menendez came in to stop the threat.
And then Fernandez hit the slam. "I was just trying to help my team out somehow. I just wanted to make them happy, after all we've been through, the rain and everything," Fernandez said after the game, with a huge grin.
But if Adan Fernandez was the hitter of the game, Peyton Millirons was the pitcher. Peyton entered the game in the 6th inning with the Rebels down 5-3, and proceeded to strike out an astonishing 8 out the 11 batters he faced. "Really, I just wanted to go home," Millirons said. "I knew if we could get a lead or tie it up I could hand it to the bullpen and we could take it from there. I just wanted to throw strikes and make them hit it, but obviously they didn't, so I got a little lucky." (Didn't look like luck from where I was sitting.)
The Rebel bullpen, in relief of starter Nick Cottone, overall did an amazing job. Matthew Mercer, Millirons, and closer Trevin Eubanks collectively struck out 12 batters in 5 2/3 total innings.
So the New Market Rebels won their first Valley League title since the 2002 season- 16 seasons ago. Coach Zac Cole said, "It'll sink in more tomorrow as I'm driving home. It's an accumulation of a lot of manhours- not just from myself, but from our staff, and the people in New Market, and our players. These guys invested a lot for this to happen… we challenged them off the field while they were here to get better, and I'm just proud that they bought in…. but right now it's just goosebumps."
Your 2018 Valley League Champions- the New Market Rebels!
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Rise Up and Strike Back
Homefront: The Revolution is an open-world first person shooter where you must lead the Resistance movement in guerrilla warfare against a superior military force.
A living, breathing, open world responds to your actions – you and your Resistance Cell can inspire a rebellion on the streets and turn Occupation into Revolution, as oppressed civilians take up the fight.
But your enemy has the advantage – superior technology, firepower, heavy armour and air support. You must learn the art of guerrilla warfare – ambush, sabotage, infiltration, deception – and fight a running battle through the war-ravaged suburbs of Philadelphia.
And the single player campaign is just the start – in Co-Op you and your friends can form your own Resistance Cell and become renowned as Heroes of the Revolution
Windows PC, Xbox One, Playstation 4
Suggestive Themes
Explore a living, breathing open world – experience true open world gameplay in a first person shooter, brought to life with astonishing CRYENGINE-powered visuals
Wage Guerrilla Warfare – this is no linear shooter; learn the art of guerrilla warfare and use ambush, infiltration and hit and run tactics against your foe in thrilling un-scripted firefights
Build the Resistance – recruit revolutionaries to the cause, establish bases and safehouses, capture and customise a deadly arsenal, and build improvised, homebrew weapons for your Guerrilla Tool Kit
Ignite the Revolution – from oppressed citizen to revolutionary leader, an epic single-player campaign tells the story of the second War of Independence. The dynamic, evolving world responds to your actions as an oppressed nation rises up in defiance against the occupation
Online Co-Op – take the battle online, form a Resistance Cell with your friends and earn your reputation as Heroes of the Revolution
SELECT PLATFORM
Windows PCPlaystation 4Xbox One
GAME EDITION
11/06/17 | Homefront: The Revolution
XBOX ONE X ENHANCED UPDATE
Xbox One X users will benefit from improved visual and performance when playing Homefront: The Revolution. The update includes: The game is rendered in 3200 x 1800 which is a four times increase over the standard Xbox One version. This resolution will provide superior image quality on 4k TVs...
THE TIME HAS COME TO GO BEYOND THE WALLS
This week, Deep Silver and Dambuster Studios released the Spring Update for Homefront: The Revolution. This includes a generous free Trial version of the game for Xbox One and PlayStation 4, the third and final piece of additional single player content, Beyond The Walls, and a dedicated patch for...
THE REBELLION HANGS IN THE BALANCE
Aftermath is set in the days after the Battle for Philadelphia, when the fledgling rebellion hangs in the balance. The inspirational Resistance figurehead Benjamin Walker has been broken by the KPA, and is now broadcasting counter-revolutionary propaganda for the enemy. Support for the embattled...
INFILTRATE OCCUPIED PHILADELPHIA
The Voice of Freedom casts the player as Benjamin Walker, legendary figurehead for the rebellion and the KPA's most wanted man, as he tries to infiltrate Occupied Philadelphia and meet up with Jack Parish's Resistance Cell. This tense, story-driven prologue will test your stealth and combat...
STEAM FREE WEEKEND
This weekend, we are offering PC players the chance to play Homefront: The Revolution FREE! From 10 AM PT (6PM BST, 7PM CEST) Thursday 08th September until 1PM PT (9PM BST, 10PM CEST) Sunday 11th September, players will be able to download and jump into both the Single Player and Resistance Mode...


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Valley Transportation Planners 'Imagine' Another Sales Tax Extension
Posted on December 7, 2018 by Amanda Murray in Budgets & Funding, Local News, Local Projects // 0 Comments
Courtesy of ADOT
By Adrienne St. Clair for Arizona Builder's Exchange
Transportation planners for Maricopa County are getting an early start on plans to extend Prop. 400 – a 0.5 percent sales tax increase approved back in 2005. Not only did they unveil their new "Imagine" proposition at the December APA/ASLA Networking Event Wednesday, Dec. 5, but they delivered the preliminary planning presentation nearly seven years before Prop. 400 will actually expire.
Leading the presentation was Audra Koester Thomas from the Maricopa Association of Governments. She said the deadline for the new extension isn't far away at all, but "really overnight for us."
Thomas is the transportation planning program manager at MAG, the metropolitan Phoenix area planning agency that led the development of Prop. 400 almost fifteen years ago.
The upcoming plan to extend the sales tax increase has been informally known as Prop. 500 in keeping with the naming convention of its predecessors Prop. 400 and 300. However, according to Thomas, the name "Imagine" is meant to convey the possibilities of the future of transportation in the Valley —and also work around bureaucratic red tape where the name Prop. 500 is concerned.
The details of "Imagine" are, in every sense, yet to be determined. But Thomas and her team don't actually have until 2025 to figure it out. Federal statutes require agencies like MAG to design regional transportation plans with a 20-year lifespan, but they also require these plans to get on the ballot in an election year. So, while Prop. 400 still has years left in play, Thomas and her team are preparing to get its extension on the November 2022 ballot. And though they've technically got November 2024 if the 2022 vote doesn't go well, Thomas doesn't think of it like that. She's completely focused on what happens four years from now.
"If we fail [in 2022], we've failed," she said.
And she and her colleagues at MAG don't want to fail. Thomas outlined a four-year plan of research, analysis and development to determine what the Valley needs and what its residents want. Thomas and her colleagues started running focus groups back in October and have set a goal to conduct a survey with more than 50,000 participants.
She hopes the resulting "Imagine" proposition will be a plan that provides residents with multiple choices for transportation, and said that increasing options is the way to avoid congestion, as new freeway space is limited and the Valley continues to sprawl.
There are metropolitan planning organizations all across the country, but Thomas said MAG is the second largest planning organization in geographical size. The area is larger than the state of Maryland, she said.
The area's size and continued fast-pace of growth are what inspired the original sales tax increase to fund transportation efforts. In 1985, the area was growing so fast that several mayors realized federal funds alone wouldn't provide for the much needed freeways. As a solution, the county passed a local sales tax increase to provide more money for transportation infrastructure. According to Thomas, Prop. 300 was one of the first local sales tax increases passed in the country to fund transportation, even as it's now a common practice across the U.S.
When Prop. 300 was set to expire in 2005, Prop. 400 was passed in November 2004. Prop. 400 promised to finish the freeways, add transit and improve streets.
However, several projects haven't begun since they were promised in 2005. Thomas blames this on a loss of almost 10 years in revenue during the Great Recession. In 2014, The Arizona Republic reported that revenue was $1B less than expected.
Carol Ketcherside, deputy director of planning at Valley Metro and one of just more than a dozen attendees Wednesday morning, echoed that, saying, "Of the things we promised, we lost 40 percent because of the Great Recession."
Thomas also said that when the economy finally bounced back, the revival brought unpredictable market conditions. Even as revenue began to increase, costs rose, too — by 50 to 70 percent in some cases.
"We have a really great story to tell in terms of the Great Recession," she said.
Thomas can't guarantee that "Imagine" will include projects promised in Prop. 400. However, lawmakers just decided to pursue a $68M project on Loop 101, and they will be deciding on two more projects in January. According to Thomas, the plan for what to do with remaining Prop. 400 projects will be completely evaluated by Summer 2019.
Thomas said they will use the next few years as a time to really reevaluate the future of Valley transportation. The Valley has changed since 2005 when Prop. 400 was first passed, and regional planners want to use the money for what the area needs. And according to Thomas, that will be tricky.
"I'm telling you right now, we have more needs than funding will allow to support," she said.
Thomas anticipates the new "Imagine" will have less tangible projects than Prop. 400 and will focus more on public health, economy and safety and include things like operations improvements and maintenance — things she called "soft" measures. Planners may also explore the possibility of regional bus rapid transit or even implementation of a commuter rail to make it easier to travel between Valley cities.
Thomas wonders about who will support the new "Imagine" proposition, as Prop. 400 had contractor and developer support largely due to the new freeway construction. She says it's too soon to tell.
"Champions will be largely colored by what the plan has in it," she guessed.
But Imagine's success will ultimately depend on whether Thomas and her colleagues will be able to communicate their vision to Maricopa County voters.
"At the end of the day, the public has to vote for this plan," she said.
Maricopa Association of Governments
Gilbert EDV Efforts Foster Continued Growth
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Arizona Builder's Exchange
1690 N McClintock Dr.


Senate Republicans Block Equal-pay Measure
In a bizarre ruling, a narrow Supreme Court majority decided last year that Americans who face wage discrimination only have 180 days to challenge the
By Steve Benen — April 23, 2008
In a bizarre ruling, a narrow Supreme Court majority decided last year that Americans who face wage discrimination only have 180 days to challenge the initial discrimination in court. In other words, if your employer is paying you less money for equal work, and you don't find about the discrepancy until seven months after the problem began, you can't contest this in court.
The House already passed a measure to improve workers' rights in this area, and the Senate was poised to do the same. A bipartisan majority supported the legislation, but they couldn't overcome Republican obstructionism.
Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked a measure intended to overturn a Supreme Court decision limiting pay discrimination suits in a politically charged vote certain to be replayed in the presidential and Congressional campaigns.
By a vote of 56 to 42, the Senate fell four votes short of the 60 required to begin consideration of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, named for an Alabama woman who lost a case against the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company when the court found she not did file her complaint in time. Ms. Ledbetter had been paid as much as 40 percent less than her male counterparts doing the same job, according to her allies.
Looking at the final roll call, the measure had the support of 57 senators (Harry Reid switched his vote for procedural reasons, giving him the ability to bring the bill back to the floor before the end of the session). Every Democrat and both independents (Lieberman and Sanders) supported the measure, along with six Republicans, four of whom (Coleman, Collins, Smith, and Sununu) are facing tough re-election fights this year.
What a remarkable coincidence — Republicans sure do get more moderate on good legislation when they're worried about losing their seats.
As for the rest of the Republican caucus, they relied on some pretty ridiculous arguments to oppose the bill.
This one was especially striking.
…Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and other Republicans said the bill, which is opposed by the business community and the Bush administration, could create a flood of lawsuits.
"We think that this bill is primarily designed to create a massive amount of new litigation in our country," said Mr. McConnell, the minority leader.
Well, actually, yes. But therein lies the point — if American workers are facing unjust wage discrimination, they should be more lawsuits. Those are worthwhile lawsuits, challenging an injustice. Ideally, employers would stop discriminating, and in turn, there'd be fewer lawsuits. It's about creating an incentive.
As for the politics of this, both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama came back to the Senate to vote for and speak out on behalf of this legislation. And what about John McCain? He didn't show up for work (again), but he made a point of telling reporters he's against the legislation: "In New Orleans today, McCain explained his opposition to the bill by claiming it 'opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems.' He added that instead of legislation allowing women to fight for equal pay, they simply need 'education and training.'"
It's almost as if he doesn't want women to vote for him.
One last thought: was this bill really worth filibustering? Was the legislation so offensive to the Republican minority that they couldn't even allow an up-or-down vote on a measure to protect pay-equality in the workplace?
Or did a bunch of corporate lobbyists show up at Republican lawmakers' offices, demanding that they shut this down?
John McCain, The Senate
Senate GOPers Filibuster Equal Pay For Women (Again)
Dave Johnson — Sep 17th, 2014
Exploring The Data On Hollywood's Gender Pay Gap
The Conversation — Dec 21st, 2019
Pay Transparency Alone Won't Eliminate The Wage Gap Between Men And Women
The Conversation — Mar 31st, 2019


Gravity Rush is the brainchild of Keiichiro Toyama, a director and writer who previously brought us the original Silent Hill on PS1 as well as the unusual horror series Siren. His aim with the new game was to buck the trend for photorealism that most Western developers were going for at the time — and still are, in most cases — and instead produce something that evoked the distinctive feeling of French cartoonist Jean Giraud's work and the broader Franco-Belgian bandes dessinées tradition.
Toyama's desire to combine European influences with quintessentially Japanese anime and manga styles was an attempt to give Gravity Rush a sense of global appeal and ensure that the characters were "accepted" outside of Japan.
Indeed, the final result of the team's work was so successful in this regard that it's hard to pick fault with it even from the strictest and most unforgiving of modern "progressive" perspectives: the game features a protagonist who is not only female but also dark-skinned, and the overall narrative sees her demonstrating her capability in the face of adversity without sacrificing her innate femininity or indeed her most endearing traits and flaws.
Kat, as we'll explore more later, is an immensely appealing heroine, and one of the most compelling reasons to check out Gravity Rush. But let's look a little more generally at the game first.
Gravity Rush began life as a PlayStation 3 project called Gravité — the original French title and numerous French-inspired aspects of the game's overall aesthetic are almost certainly references to Toyama's desire to produce something evocative of 20th century Franco-Belgian comics — and actually hasn't changed a huge amount from its original incarnation. Cancelled and prototype game archiving site Unseen64 has a good series of screenshots and scans that show the recognisable figures of central characters Kat and Raven, the distinctive comic-style cutscenes and the game's strong use of signature colours fully intact.
The shift to Vita came about partly due to the game's unusual control system and the platform's inherent suitability for Toyama's overall vision for the game. Speaking with Gematsu in 2012, Toyama described the Vita as being perfect for creating "the impression of a different world existing beyond the screen" through its motion controls; indeed, the augmented reality-style way in which you can move the game's camera by simply pointing the Vita in different directions made for a surprisingly effective illusion that the device was a "window" to another world that continued far beyond the direction in which you happened to be looking at the time.
The newer PS4 releases still support motion controls, but the effect is not quite as convincing on a static screen that you're not holding in your hands like a camera viewfinder; it's a shame that the series, at this time, doesn't support PlayStation VR.
Speaking with Siliconera in 2011, Toyama noted that Gravity Rush had been a long time coming, with his desire to create a game of this type predating even his work on PS1 classic Silent Hill. Toyama claims that Gravity Rush was actually the first game he wanted to create, but the fact the fledgling survival horror genre had become fashionable at the time thanks to Resident Evil led Konami to suggest he work on a horror game first. "After that I was labeled as the horror game guy," mused Toyama, reflecting on the fact he followed up the original Silent Hill with three titles in the disturbing Siren series. "Finally, the opportunity to show people I can make something different came up and I got to make Gravity Rush."
It's clear that Toyama used some of the lessons he learned in producing Silent Hill for Gravity Rush, though. Both games incorporate a semi-open world, for example, though Gravity Rush's greater freedom of movement thanks to protagonist Kat's ability to simply "fall" through the air in any direction doubtless made it a much greater challenge to design in a way that will still tax the player and "gate" areas of the game until a suitable amount of progress has been made. In Gravity Rush's case, this gating is handled as a plot element; part of Kat's overall quest is to bring back missing segments of town that have been pulled into otherworldly, surreal "rift planes", with various areas and challenges being inaccessible until this rescue mission is complete.
Perhaps a more important lesson learned from Silent Hill, though, is the matter of making the protagonist a very "human", relatable sort of character. The whole Silent Hill series has primarily been based around very mundane, non-heroic protagonists with no real special powers and a certain reluctance to get involved with the events unfolding around them, and this makes it easy for the player to relate to them — "normal people can be heroes too", is one message you can take from it, although in the case of Silent Hill's numerous tragically flawed characters from over the years, "hero" might not be quite the right word here.
Gravity Rush, meanwhile, adopts a somewhat different approach by making Kat inherently "special" thanks to her abilities, but it also humanises her immensely through her distinctly immature, girlish personality and the strong impression that she's neither entirely comfortable with her powers nor sure that she actually wants them.
Rather than gracefully flying through the air like a superhero, she twists, turns and tumbles, arms and legs flailing, and typically lands rather heavily, sometimes even falling flat on her face. Couple this endearing clumsiness with her distinctly upbeat personality (and disproportionate obsession with obtaining approval and validation from everyone around her) and you get the impression of someone who has been suddenly provided with powers that they don't quite understand, but are willing to explore and experiment with.
Kat is a character filled with the optimism of youth and a strong desire to do the "right" thing despite not being quite sure of her place in the world, but she never crosses the line into overblown melodrama; she's simply an immensely likeable, relatable young girl who happens to be able to fling herself through the sky in whatever direction she pleases thanks to her magic gravity-shifting cat.
In terms of actual gameplay, Gravity Rush and its sequel are both quite challenging to define neatly using established genre descriptors, and this fact is one of the many things that makes them so appealing. They have elements of open-world games, for example, but don't litter their map with excessive amounts of "theme park" activities just there to pad out the game length. Similarly, they have elements of role-playing games in that Kat gains in power over the course of her adventure, but they're not games in which you can "grind" easily, nor do you need to.
There's a bit of character action gameplay in there, too, but combat is relatively infrequent rather than the main focus. And the collectibles and timed challenges scattered around the game world give a feeling of classic platform games ranging from Rare's collectathons of the N64 era to slightly more recent titles such as Naughty Dog's Jak and Daxter.
Ultimately, it's probably counter-productive to attempt to define Gravity Rush and its sequel in terms of existing games, because although they both have common elements with many different genres, they're distinctive experiences in their own right — even from each other. Gravity Rush is Gravity Rush, in other words, and that's what makes these games so interesting: they have a clear vision of what they want to do, even if that happens to be bucking the trends and laughing in the face of gaming's conventions.
Next time, we'll look in more detail at the various influences on the series' aesthetic, ranging from Jean Giraud's comics to broader cultural influences drawn from both European and Japanese sources.
In the meantime, Gravity Rush is available now for both PlayStation 4 and Vita, and Gravity Rush 2 is available for PlayStation 4. Both are eminently worth your time, so if you've been looking for a way to occupy yourself this summer you could do far worse than jumping head-first into this series and promptly forgetting which way is "up".
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