Summer Overlord: Startopia ? Bits 'n' Bytes Gaming: Videogame News ...

Summer Overlord:?Startopia

Posted by Declan Burrowes on August 6, 2011 ? 1 Comment?

Waiting patiently for his final year at college, Declan is in the midst of a four-month?summer holiday. He is quite bored. Unemployed and at home, to stave off insanity, he is playing through fifteen management/tycoon games from the last decade in a series of articles in which he will attempt to become the ultimate Summer Overlord, master of routine and efficiency and pro hirer of vomit-sweeping janitors. Join him every Saturday on a journey which will take you through some of the best and the worst that the obscure genre has to offer.?

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Bask in its glory.

The Classic Quadrant

I find it rather challenging to write about Startopia. Why? It?s just too damned good. In case you hadn?t noticed, Summer Overlord has been an outlet for my immense, perhaps clinical cynicism, where I can rage about life, the youth of today, social ineptitude and occasionally, rubbishy, bargain-bin management games. It?s a remarkably negative column, but I maintain that a furious expounding of rage cleanses the soul and de-ices the heart and I do hope my dark tendrils have massaged the bitter pleasure centre of at least one person. But the space-station builder Startopia really doesn?t belong here. While I?ve written about the virtues of SimCity 3000 and Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis, this depressingly overlooked title is undoubtedly one of the best in the genre; I?d even go as far as calling it one of the best games ever made, and I?m not the only one to say it, either. (As if you?d trust anyone else, anyway.)

Here is where I interrupt with personal history: Startopia is, curiously, one of the last memories I have of my paternal grandfather. He was a grand fellow, full of Irish vigour and a classical manliness we pasty, twenty-first-century internet Neanderthals can only dream of. ?At 98-years-old, he was getting on a bit, too. On one of the last occasions I saw him, he gave ten-year-old me ?20 (which was of course a small fortune, considering purchasing PC games in 2001 didn?t require taking out a mortgage) and told me to spend it wisely. Well, Granddad, I damn well did just that: I bought Startopia, and to this day, I?m happy that two wonderful things can be remembered together.

However, there is some tragedy. Despite Startopia being a masterpiece of management flawlessness, it lives on in history as one of the PC?s most underrated games. Selling a pitifully small amount, all hopes of a sequel were dashed when developers Mucky Foot closed their doors in 2003. Some went on to re-join Peter Molyneux at Lionhead (for? Mucky Foot?s founding members had all worked with him back in the Bullfrog days of Theme Hospital and Populous) and are now presumably struggling with suicidal thoughts as they are tasked with designing another way to interact with a virtual dog in the next outing of Fable, while others began the awfully named Mucky Baby, a small development company that made a dull casual game no one ever played. They are missing, presumed dead.

?I Wish You Luck, Speed and Freedom from Stupidity.?

All that, however, is neither here nor there. The game, in all its splendour, lives on, and by the end of this article, I hope to have convinced you to part with a smidgen of your cash for a fantastic experience, even if it means embarking on an Indiana Jones-like adventure to find it.

The Technical Deck houses rooms and buildings like the Berth and the Stardock.

Startopia tasks you, a humble administrator, with rebuilding a network of ?waystations?, doughnut-shaped space habitats left abandoned after a galaxy-wide war. At its core, it clings to the management formula of ?build, earn, build some more? complete with litter bins and benches, but the whole process is executed so masterfully, to nit-pick at the fundamentals would be to completely miss the point.

Each space-station is comprised of three decks: the Technical Deck serves as the industrial and transport hub where alien visitors will arrive, sleep, research, trade, heal or spend time in lockdown should they be dastardly enough; the Pleasure Deck is the loud, bright and incredibly camp nerve-centre of all things debaucherous, where bars, ?love nests?, hotels and all manner of bizarre entertainments are found; the pi?ce de r?sistance is the Bio Deck, a glass-roofed parkland which can be fully terraformed with a simple interface to create jungles, deserts, lakes and mountains and is maintained by a purple-skinned race of alien hippies, the Karmarama, who will farm and harvest crops for trade.

Alien bios provide humorous insights into homeworlds and hobbies.

Indeed, Startopia?s aliens are its highlight. Hailing from a vast array of humorously titled planets ?and systems and sporting equally chucklesome names, the likes of Doctor Gigascope and Rumpy Gooliesmate travel to your station as potential employees and come in a variety of different shapes, sizes and flavours. The blobby, green Polvakian Gem Slugs are a particular favourite of mine, purely because they come to your station to be entertained, refuse to work and when made particularly happy, egest a curious crystalline substance called a ?turdite? which I like to place around my more desirable areas to prove how capable I am of delighting the most demanding of the galaxy?s species. I?m also continuously surprised by the secret nature of the Zedem Monks, a spiritual, ascetic folk responsible for setting up a religious conclave on the Bio Deck: though dressed in sack cloth and with hands always clasped in prayer, recently, I saw one arrested and thrown into lockdown for ?sending enormous lizards or dinosaurs as emissaries?. It?s always the quiet ones.

The Pleasure Deck is a vast sea of neon lights and space discos.

Charmed, I?m Sure

Startopia positively brims with humour and specialises in the grim, sarcastic kind. Aliens will come aboard looking for cures to the uncommon cold and hyperactivitis, whilst a dirty station risks attracting parasitic space cats (and if that hasn?t sold you, nothing will) which will innocently loiter around your dine-o-mat food vending machines attracting all sorts of cooing and doting passers-by before exploding into a monstrous and genuinely terrifying chitinous abomination, the Skrasher. Have four of them rampaging about your decks at the same time and you will know trouser-soiling fear.

Startopia is littered with cult sci-fi references, but nods most heavily towards Douglas Adams?s Hitchhiker?s Guide to the Galaxy. In fact, it nods so heavily that its head nearly falls off, for William Franklyn, voice of The Book in the BBC Radio series, takes on the role of your world-weary AI companion VAL, a delightfully sardonic character who makes even the most mundane of station announcements hilarious. Arona Daal, however, provides the most giggles. Also voiced by Franklyn, the alien trader will frequent your station with goods and blueprints that ?fell off the back of a trolley? and attempt to flog them to you at an outrageously high price. His con artistry is made all the more entertaining by his deep alien-cockney voice, his sleazy attempts at reminding you how close your friendship is and how it is you alone whom he always offers ?first refusal?. Arona is the galactic answer to Only Fools and Horses? Del Boy: if the parasitic space cats didn?t sell you, that really should.

Hours can be lost to the Bio Deck's simple terraforming tools.

All of this wit and charm combines into a scarcely conceivable mass of fun. With Franklyn?s regular interjections as a cynical AI and rogue trader, your space station?s buzzing atmosphere of lights, colours, sounds and personalities combine in such a fantastic way that placing basic amenities like ?lavotrons? and ?slumber pods? isn?t the banal affair that similar management games reduce it to. Startopia is one of those rare gems that you wish you could beam yourself into, even for a moment, just to experience its magical richness. I can just imagine sitting down with Arona with a bottle of his ?vintage diesel wine? in one of my seedier bars. In fact, I think I?m genuinely in love with Startopia and were it not socially frowned upon, I would propose.

Save or Delete?

If by some sort of unfortunate cataclysm the entire management genre were to be wiped out (actually, I suppose that wouldn?t be too unfortunate), I hope it would be Startopia bursting its hand out from the rubble as the sole survivor. It contains a rare humour that is unfortunately lacking in the vast majority of games and as such, it must be revered and worshipped as a god. How it has still not appeared on Steam or GoG is beyond me.

Though its trade system is rudimentary and its combat often muddled (sometimes, rival administrators will set up shop on the same station, but it is a rare occurrence in the campaign and can be disabled in the sandbox), Startopia is a compelling experience from start to finish. A worthy spiritual successor to Bullfrog?s Dungeon Keeper, if you have yet to lose your virginity to the genre, lose it to Startopia. I promise you?ll have a fantastic time.

Now if you?ll excuse me, I must hurry back to my waystation. VAL?s informed me that sensors have detected an explosive device somewhere on the Technical deck. Curse those spies! That, and the Gem Slugs aren?t happy with the new cocktail bar: I knew that robot pianist was tacky! And damn it, where did those space cats come from?!

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<- Last week: SimCity 3000 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Next week: Tycoon City: New York ->

Filed under PC, Summer Overlord ? Tagged with Arona Daal, bullfrog, gaming, Mucky Baby, Mucky Foot, news, Peter Molyneux, Stardock, Startopia, Summer Overlord, VAL, William Franklyn

Source: http://bnbgaming.com/2011/08/06/summer-overlord-startopia/

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dating for ba boomers | Baby Boomers Travel in Style

dating for ba boomers

Article by Jermaine Fleming

Persons of any age can think quite powerful romantic adore. Individuals through age 45 express each and every bit as substantially romantic passion as people under age twenty five. You can certainly drop in like at any age, even in your 90s. Senior dating is generally like junior dating-full of exhilaration and euphoria when it goes well, and despair when details fail. With the baby boomers entering the senior dating scene, marketers have labored very difficult to make them feel welcome. It seems only logical that seniors would accept the implicit invitation. Ultimately, absolutely everyone ends up confronting a dating support website, and questioning, ?What if??Most likely the most attention-grabbing factor about senior dating is that now, men and women are living very long ample to do it. Unconfirmed reviews have claimed that seniors are being much healthier total as a immediate end result of searching for like in afterwards in life. And quite a few senior citizens are much additional active than preceding generations, and are taking to the World wide web to discover a companion or a appreciate spouse.With half of all persons around fifty single, it makes sense that dating web pages for all those in their latter several years are cropping up across the entire world. It is particularly well-known in Canada, wherever 42% of the entire population is dating on the internet, senior dating there has become a quite appropriate and normal point. A brief lookup on Google for ?Senior Life? reveals what most seniors are confronted with daily: details about their declining health and lifestyle expectancy prices, it can make feeling that they?d lookup elsewhere for a little something new to feel about. On the internet dating supplies the perfect distraction!They applied to use much more classic venues of cruise ships, bowling clubs and churches searching for other senior cuties. The ease of Web correspondence has saved them time and income, and even regular traveler miles. This can be specially advantageous for those who don?t have access to transportation, and moreover, it is really not important to wander the streets or the clubs to obtain a spouse. And many really don?t feel comfortable hitting the senior citizen singles bars.Seniors are entering the dating world in droves to uncover companionship and just to have someone to on a regular basis communicate with. A recognized senior organization reports that two-thirds of their respondents are dating on-line (between the ages of 50-64). They have noted that on typical, singles are spending a whopping 0 million for each 12 months on dating solutions.Older men and women are much much more computer system literate than you think. As with more youthful persons, seniors are clicking something on-line to stay entertained. With each passing yr, a lot more and additional members of the pc age enter retirement, doing the elderly an ever more technological bunch. Senior citizens currently ended up in their 40?s when the Pc gained attractiveness. In actuality, both equally Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are just a mere nine a long time from qualifying for Social Protection. Thanks to touch-display know-how and scaled-down hardware, new desktops are remarkably straightforward to use, even for individuals who in no way owned a single whilst they were of working age.



About the Author

I am a board-certified plastic surgeon. I grew up in Raleigh wherever my father, Reverend Thomas Law served as pastor of St. Paul?s Christian Church for 30 years. Dr. Law attended Broughton High School. I then attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in which I earned a Bachelor of Science degree with honors and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.w.a.g.g., yes pheromones, w.a.g.g.

Source: http://makeitwithjohn.com/babyboomerstravelinstyle/dating-for-ba-boomers

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Fusion diagnostic sheds light on plasma behavior

ScienceDaily (Aug. 4, 2011) ? An instrument developed by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) has enabled a research team at a fusion energy experiment in China to observe--in startling detail--how a particular type of electromagnetic wave known as a radiofrequency (RF) wave affects the behavior of hot ionized gas.

In the experiment at EAST (the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak located at the Institute of Plasma Physics in Hefei, China), scientists employed a high-resolution, X-ray imaging crystal spectrometer (XICS) to observe how an RF wave changed the way a hot ionized gas known as a plasma moved in a vacuum vessel. Radiofrequency waves are similar to microwaves and are used to heat and drive current in plasma.

The experimenters already knew that the RF wave, also called a lower-hybrid wave, drives current in the plasma. What they found was that the lower-hybrid wave also caused the plasma to flow as a whole and at high velocities through the vacuum vessel, a property they refer to as toroidal rotation. The spectrometer provided a two-dimensional look at the plasma, recording data at a rate of about 50 frames a second. That's important because not all parts of the plasma move uniformly. For example, if the inner part of the plasma near the vessel's core is moving at a different rate -- or even in a different direction -- than the rest of the gas, researchers want to know those details. Understanding the plasma flows is vital because it could lead to better approaches to confinement.

The results were published in the June 6 edition of Physical Review Letters by researchers from the EAST team and PPPL's Manfred Bitter and Kenneth Hill. Bitter and Hill are experimentalists who have collaborated for more than 35 years.

"With plasmas, you are dealing with very high temperatures and flow velocities," Bitter said. "Those must be determined from the radiation emitted by the plasma." The spectrometer designed by Bitter and Hill measures both the plasma temperatures and flow velocities, and it appears to offer a window onto the world of fusion plasmas.

The observed plasma flow could be beneficial to progress in fusion research, according to the PPPL scientists. "ITER and future reactors cannot rely on the injection of neutral beams to impart momentum to the plasma and control the toroidal flow," Bitter said, noting that this is due to the scale of the experimental reactor presently under construction in France. ITER must rely on self-generated or RF-driven flow, meaning that this research is highly relevant to those projects.

The new spectrometer allows researchers to study self-generated and RF-driven flow with the goal to control it in future reactors so that plasmas can be more carefully contained.

The DOE Office of Science supports the spectrometer collaboration between the U.S. and the People's Republic of China (PRC) through the U.S.-PRC Fusion Cooperation Program. The spectrometer project includes researchers from EAST, PPPL, and the National Fusion Research Institute (NFRI) in Korea. Bitter and Hill helped design the instrument, which was installed on EAST.

X-ray crystal spectrometers measure the frequencies and intensities of X-rays emitted by plasma impurities. Researchers can identify the impurity by the pattern of frequencies, or spectrum, of the X-ray light emitted to help them determine the plasma ion temperature, as well as the rotational velocity of the bulk plasma, from the Doppler broadening and Doppler shift of an X-ray peak. "This Doppler shift or change in frequency is exactly the same phenomenon as the change in the pitch of a train horn as the train passes by an observer," Hill said.

The spectrometer designed by Bitter and Hill is made up of several components. It includes a "spherically bent crystal," a tiny piece of quartz that has been molded into a sphere. It also contains a two-dimensionally imaging X-ray detector and a beryllium window. EAST scientists have installed a second spectrometer on the tokamak based on the first spectrometer's design. Similar spectrometers designed by Bitter and Hill have been installed on experimental fusion machines in Korea and Japan, and at the Plasma and Fusion Science Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well.

Researchers at PPPL, managed by Princeton University and funded by the DOE's Office of Science, collaborate with scientists around the world to develop fusion as an energy source for the world. Fusion is the process that powers the Sun and other stars. In the interior of stars, matter is converted into energy by the fusion, or joining, of the nuclei of light atoms to form heavier elements.

Email or share this story:


Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by DOE/Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.

Journal Reference:

  1. Yuejiang Shi, Guosheng Xu, Fudi Wang, Mao Wang, Jia Fu, Yingying Li, Wei Zhang, Wei Zhang, Jiafeng Chang, Bo Lv, Jinping Qian, Jiafang Shan, Fukun Liu, Siye Ding, Baonian Wan, Sang-Gon Lee, Manfred Bitter, Kenneth Hill. Observation of Cocurrent Toroidal Rotation in the EAST Tokamak with Lower-Hybrid Current Drive. Physical Review Letters, 2011; 106 (23) DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.235001

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110805135806.htm

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[OOC] Rising Hearts

For now the only question I have regards the WarpWeapons; I'm guessing projectile weapons like guns or lasers are available, right?

Okay, I'll admit to having another question. When will the RP start? Before the airship robbery, right? If that's the case, I bet that my character would be just the sort of person to set off that particular chain of events! XD

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/XTT7pa5eQFQ/viewtopic.php

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My Hobbies Blog ? Web Based Business Versions ? How to put ...

Posted By ALNUSER on August 4, 2011

Launching websites is incredibly most likely and probable, due to minimal investment purchase. Do you possess any serious blueprints yet? There are numerous chances on the internet, and you will probably even want to create a little something fresh. Without blueprints yet, you would like to look at these 3 business online models.

Online Ourite-Guide Shop

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Web Internet hosting Business

Web web hosting services come in massive need. With raise quantity of online surfers, going your internet web hosting business is sensible and it may deliver unaggressive persistent salary for yourself. There?s no need to get a real server for this function. You?ll find reseller blueprints that enable you to build website hosting solar cells for your customers. You?ll be able to virtually only target front-end Firefox marketing and advertising and sales. Even if you?re not technician-knowledgeable, you are able to however start an online web hosting service easily.

Online Public auction Sites

If you could have some unused merchandise or stable offer for stocks, selling them on the internet through auction websites can be hugely straightforward. You can also make money on the internet basically by selling points you don?t want at home on amazon. However, you don?t own treating trades due to web site involvement. In return for working with auction service, you should also have to spend on record expenses and purchase expenses, that may equal to a big sum. darmowy Adobe Reader If you are planning to sell an array of merchandise, going your own personal website may be more price-helpful.

On the top of above several pointed out profits models, you can find undoubtedly a lot more you can look at to benefit on the internet. Blogs is usually a proven procedure to make money on the internet with very little investment purchase. When you?ve got particular skills, you are able to search for private work opportunities at on the internet private sector. Computer programming and design and style work opportunities can easily be bought everyday of these sites. Always attempt to differ than the relaxation, and you will uncover your home achievement making harming.

Source: http://fondasyonkroma.org/web-based-business-versions-how-to-put-together-your-own-web-business-with-no-proceeding-broke/

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Replacing Old Hood With Over-the-range Microwave - Electrical ...

So I just bought a nice new over the range microwave and installed it myself with some help.

Everything went relatively smoothly except for when I wired the outlet.

The old hood was hardwired so when I took it down I shut off the breaker, drilled a hole in the cabinet above, and ran the wires up. I figured when I was done installing the microwave, I'd simply mount a box inside the cabinet and hook the wires up to an outlet so that I could plug in the new microwave.

I did all this, plugged the microwave in and went downstairs to turn on the breaker. My wife said that when I flipped it back on, a shower of sparks came from the outlet and the microwave did not turn on. If I run an extension cord to power the microwave elsewhere it works fine. Based on what shut off when I turned off the breaker, this ciruit is shared with one outlet in the kitchen plus (off all things) the washing machine in the basement. Neither of these things was being used at the time, nor did the breaker re-trip. Just sparks and no power.

I'm at a loss. What did I do wrong?

Source: http://www.diychatroom.com/f18/replacing-old-hood-over-range-microwave-112905/

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Effective, Efficient and Durable Emergency Dash Lights | Submit ...

[unable to retrieve full-text content]If you are looking for high performance, durable and bright lights do not overlook the option of emergency dash lights that can serve various purposes. Learn in.

Source: http://www.submitarticles-free.com/automotive/car-detailing-customization/effective-efficient-and-durable-emergency-dash-lights/

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