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Fair Work Ombudsman - Fair Work Ombuds in California

Fair Work Ombuds in California

The California Ombudsman investigates Fair Work complaints, details findings, and seeks resolution of fair settlements between individuals, group of individuals, businesses and/or organizations. The Fair Work Ombudsman is trained in dispute resolution and understands how to resolve situations before that become harmful confrontations. A business or individual can resolve, and gain justice using the services of the Fair Work Ombudsman in California.

Fair Work Ombudsman Services in California provide an opportunity for informal confidential discussion of problems and complaints outside formal channels. The California Ombudsman helps to clarify the issues, complicated situations, and prioritize concerns. The Fair Work Ombudsman may suggest a range of feasible complaint settlement options and help evaluate the pros and cons. Ombudsman can perform neutral fact-finding investigations to protect against unfair treatment and help resolve complaints. With permission, the Fair Work Ombudsman in California can act as an intermediary to initiate problem-solving, including facilitating a mediation session. Taking steps to reduce the risk of litigation is a smart decision.

The California Fair Work Ombudsman is employed or works as independent consultants in many California corporations, non-profits, and government agencies. The Fair Work Ombudsman listen to complaints and recommends conflict resolution strategies to resolve conflicts between parties.

Find California Fair Work Ombudsman Services - California Fair Work Ombuds in the California Ombudsman Directory


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Lock Trust, Inc. Reinvents Payment Processing

LONDON and SALT LAKE CITY, May 15, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Lock Trust announces a proposal to the Trump administration for automated tax collection for all e-commerce sales. Lock Trust would act as a portal to all online transactions with patents pending in both the United States and European Union. Lock Trust disrupts the payment industry with innovative technology.

Lock Trust, Inc. envisions closing the digital gap by making the internet universal, affordable, and safe; and strengthening stringent regulations that are hindering the growth of the digital economy, and nurturing accountable institutions. Clients will benefit from features such as recurring billing, and multi-currency transactions in addition to governmental needs to regulate and collect tax on real-time transactions.

Lock Trusts’ technology has the ability to track and monitor transactions such as gaming and Medical Marijuana; we can decline transactions to stop cross border risk and mitigated with real time monitoring of transactions instead of using outdated BIN databases of issued cards to stop these illegal transactions.

About Lock Trust, Inc.
Lock Trust, Inc. was founded in 2013 by a 25 year vet in the industry. The company was born in Florida, with offices in London, UK. and now head-quartered in Salt Lake City, UT. Lock Trust is a streamlined technology and payment processing firm providing the frame work to Banks and governments.  We  serve individual consumers, small to large-market institutions, and governments with customizable suites ranging of banking, automated taxing, and other financial and risk management products and services.  Our vision is that Lock Trust technology will move the world into a one world market; securely combining both physical and digital channels.

Lock Trust, Inc.
Gina LeBlanc
Tel.: +1 407 520 9731
Email: Gina@LockTrust.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

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Home KYC – KYB

PayNow UK, LTD
1st Floor (North) Devonshire House Devonshire Street
London, UK W1W 5DS

All LT registered members and commercial accounts receive a LTA™ upon successful registration and commercial account approval. Each account is unique to each member and commercial account. All financial transactions relevant to a member or commercial account occur in that member’s LTA. A member or commercial account can have only one account.

When you register with LT, you are automatically creating an international bank account number (IBAN) with LT; you have 20 business days to verify your information otherwise your account will be closed. If you attempt to create multiple accounts without the prior written consent of LT, we reserve the right to report you to the local or regional jurisdictional authorities as a potential risk under the PATRIOT ACT, FAFT, OFAC, MLAT, FACTA, United Nations or other authorities as required by LT’s compliance guidelines.
The creation of a LTA account requires the following steps and procedures, which are subject to change without notice:

1.   Photograph Approved LT ID,
2.   Scanned Utility Bill no older than 3 months
3.   Scanned Phone Bill no older than 3 months

If you require larger transaction amounts refer below to Increasing Transaction Default Limits.

1.   Confirm email link.
2.   Login and Go to – MY PROFILE – upload Certified or Notarized utility or phone bill with your current address.

LT may ask for the following documentation to satisfy the KYC policies required by banks:
1.   Proof of address – Several options may be used to triangulate the validity of the address
2.   Two more certified and Notarized photo ID’s
3.   Two bank reference letters
4.   Two business reference letters
5.   Police report
6.   Credit score report
7.   Source of funds declaration
8.   Skype, Twitter, LinkedIn & Facebook cross referencing
9.   Credit check

The above items are used in our weighted value points system to determine what documents are required to increase the limits to satisfy the services required by the customer and at the same time LT KYC policy.

Business accounts include the above, plus:
1.   Web site reference
2.   Directors information and backgrounds – Directors must be registered as members
3.   We may request a business plan or executive summary – rare circumstances
4.   Articles of the business and business registration information
5.   LT may ask for a signed declaration to be made in front of a lawyer, bank officer or both if required

Financial Institution accounts include all of the above, plus:
1.   Public listed exchange Quote: Code
2.   Directors top 10 shareholders information and backgrounds – Directors must be registered as members
3.   A letter from the financial regulatory body to confirm good standing and financial liquidity that meets the jurisdictional requirements
4.   Source of funds declaration – large amounts exceeding the defaults
5.   Any other documents as required by LT Compliance.

Note: LT will not conduct business in countries banned or under financial sanction by the United Nations (refer to our Excluded Jurisdiction List).


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From Lockwiki
Jump to: navigation, search

Decoding is the process of determining the correct position of components in a lock through manipulation, disassembly, measurement, and observation of keys or lock components. While it does not necessarily open the lock, decoding provides the information necessary to create a working key. In this respect, decoding is the middle ground between lockpicking and impressioning techniques.

Decoding techniques are quite varied and leave a wide range of forensic evidence. Most lock-centric decoding techniques are considered covert because of the invasive manipulation required. In contrast, most key-centric techniques are forms of surreptitious entry because they focus on observation and measurement.

Add to me!

Decoding via manipulation focuses on invasive manipulation and analysis of the locking components to determine their correct positions. A wide range of tools and techniques exist to determine the number, size, shape, and position of components. In some cases, lockpicking or impressioning is a prerequisite to the decoding process.

  • In pin-tumbler locks, a tool may be used to determine bottom pin sizes once the lock has been picked. The tool measures the distance each pin can be raised until it gets to the top of the plug. Tools resemble pin-tumbler picks placed on a lever.
  • Sophisticated scales to weigh components to determine their size. Generally, heavier components signify lower depths because of the additional material.
  • Tools to count or identify characterstics of components to identify their code.
  • Some lockpicking tools, namely axial/tubular picks and the Sputnik tool, automatically decode or impression the lock while it is being picked.
  • Impressioning, in a general sense, is a form of manipulation-based decoding that directly produces a working key.
  • In combination locks, manipulation of the dial(s), handle, and shackle can be used to determine the correct combination.

Disassembly of the lock will allow direct counts and measurements of internal components. These can be compared with manufacturing data to produce a working key. In some cases, disassembled components are imprinted with their sizes or codes, simplifying the process.

The key is measured to decode the values of the bitting cuts and the keyway profile. Various tools exist for specific locks, such as key gauges, but a ruler or micrometer is equally effective in most cases.

Optical, Photographic, and Visual

Visual observation of a key or lock allows for various forms of decoding.

  • Key bitting pattern. This process is known as "sight-reading" a key.
  • Key codes on the bow. Can also be used to identify the keyway of a lock.
  • Presence and position of secondary locking mechanisms such as sidebars.

In the case of colored lock components, a borescope or similar tool may be used to look inside the lock and determine component positions. Many pin-tumbler rekeying kits use colors to symbolize different bottom pin sizes.

In wafer locks, a borescope or similar tool can be used to look at the position of each wafer as it rests in the lock.

In lever locks, a borescope or similar tool can be used to look at the shape of each lever, but requires that a secondary tool (called a "setup key") be used to move other levers out of the way.

Radiological imaging uses penetrating radiation (X, beta, and gamma rays) to see inside the lock or safe, revealing the proper positions of components. This is most often used against combination locks to determine the position of each gate in the wheel pack. This is a surreptitious entry technique unless the use of such a device can be detected. In many cases, even if the ability to detect this form of entry is available it may be considerably expensive.

The use of low-density wheel materials (such as Delrin) combats this attack. Group 1R safe locks are specifically designed to defeat various radiological attacks as well as provide manipulation protection.

See also

Personal tools


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Random Perl ... rant

Nigel Rantor wiggly at wiggly.org
Wed Apr 2 22:11:36 BST 2008

Peter Corlett wrote:
> On 2 Apr 2008, at 13:09, Nigel Rantor wrote:
> [...]
>> I love Perl, but after using Ruby I might not be using it for my own
>> projects anymore, it may become a £ only language, like Java...which
>> is sad (to me).
> Please Sir, where is the £££ in Perl?
> What I mainly see are tinpot numeeja firms that have heard of LAMP and
> want to pay tuppence a week for their staff.

I write perl for cash currently, I have written perl for cash in the
past, I'm sure lots of people here write perl for cash...I fail to see
what your problem with my statement is.

More information about the london.pm mailing list


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Waterloo East Apartment For A Family Vacation

The Waterloo East Apartment consists of 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, of which one bathroom is a part of the master bedroom. The bedrooms, with two queen-sized beds, can accommodate 6 people in the apartment at once.

The capacious living room has 6 chairs around a dining table, a coffee table, and 2 sofas. The kitchen is fully equipped with modern appliances, such as a microwave, washing machine, and dishwasher, and other kitchenware that include pans, pots, and crockery.

In this apartment you can always stay connected. It is Wi-Fi enabled, and has a television, a telephone through which you can receive calls, and other conveniences.

The apartment has everyday kitchen items such as oil, sugar, tea, coffee, pepper, and salt. The cream-tiled

Putney And Wandsworth Apartment Near River Thames

This apartment is ideally located. In addition to River Thames and the riverside park, a number of restaurants and shops are situated just a few minutes away. The area around this apartment is quiet and peaceful. You can find adequate transportation around the area, with buses connecting popular places such as Trafalgar Square, Chelsea, and Victoria.

The house incorporates the contemporary style of design, and contains many artsy objects. It has a single bed, and can accommodate 4 people. The terrace in this apartment is ideal for al fresco dining, and the kitchens are fully equipped with modern facilities and appliances, such as the dishwasher, microwave, dryer/washer, and stove.

On entering the apartment you’re given a welcome pack and a starter pack,

Riverside Apartment Located In The City Center

This 2-bedroom apartment is located in the city center, and has around it such fantastic views as the Big Ben, the River Thames, the London Eye, and the Tate Britain, making it a perfect fit for exploring London. It has been designed thoughtfully, and is therefore equipped to a very high standard.

The living space is spacious and airy, and hosts comfortable seating, a double sofa-bed that can be used for seating as well as sleeping, and a dining area for 6 people. There are numerous digital entertainment options available to you in terms of CDs, DVDs, and TV.

The balcony in this apartment gives you a chance to take in the lovely sights of London, as it’s a waterfront front balcony

Luxurious Apartment Near The Heart Of The City

This one-bed apartment is suitable for couples and professionals who are staying in London only for a short duration. The apartment is private and comfortable, and has an ultra-modern design. It’s located in a quiet area just a few minutes away from the Oval cricket ground. The area is well connected to the main city area, and has restaurants, bars, and shops in the vicinity. And for couples in love, there is a lovely park nearby.

The apartment space is sunny and light, and the flooring is made of maple wood. The living space is large, and contains a dining table and a cozy sofa. You’ll find plenty of gadgets here, including a large flat screen TV that comes with a

Spacious Wembley And Brent Apartment

This is a newly renovated apartment that is bright and spacious. There are 2 large bedrooms, in which 6 people can stay. Each of these bedrooms is fitted with a wardrobe, a bathroom with a bathtub, shower, a separate shower cubicle, a washing machine, and a tumble dryer

The kitchen in the apartment is fully equipped with a dishwasher, fridge-freezer, microwave, and a large oven. The kitchen area also has a dining table at which 6 people can comfortably dine. The kitchen area extends on to the sitting room. This room has a corner lounging chair, Freeview color TV, and a 3-sitter leather sofa.

The two bedrooms have windows that extend from floor to ceiling, allowing you to view the beautiful leafy

Beautiful Earl Court Square Garden Apartment

This apartment located in Earl Court Square is a home away from home. It’s an unusually designed home situated in a convenient location. The house is capacious and beautifully decorated with rich and sumptuous colors. The rooms that make up this house are large in size. They emanate a sense of peace and calm, and are perfect to come back to after having spent an entire day sightseeing.

There is a long hallway that leads you into an area with a desk, and a lovely and spacious living room. From the living room, you enter into the dining room, which is enclosed in a glass conservatory. Beyond the dining room is the charming, lush garden.

There are two bedrooms in all, one

Immaculate Notting Hill Apartment

This apartment situated in Notting Hill is spacious and stylish. It’s a first floor home that displays a modern quality. The area in which it’s located is quiet, helping you relax and unwind completely. Although it lies in the trendy Notting Hill area, the bustling and world renowned Portobello Market is only a short walk away.

There are four bedrooms in this apartment, each of which has a built-in wardrobe and full-length mirror. The master bedroom with a king-sized bed is located opposite another bedroom that has a double bed and a flat screen television. Two more single-bed bedrooms are found in this apartment.

There are three bathrooms, each with a wash basin and heated tower rail. The primary bathroom has a

Luxurious Holiday Apartment in Canary Wharf

This lavish apartment consists of 2 double bedrooms, each having its own attached bathroom, and a single bed. Through this apartment you can absorb spectacular sights of the towering Canary Wharf skyline.  It’s a penthouse apartment that oozes style and comfort. It has recently been renovated and redecorated, and is located in the peaceful area of Docklands.

This apartment consists of 2 double bedrooms that have their own attached bathrooms. These double bedrooms are spacious. An extra single bed is provided if need be.

Off the hallway you’ll find a guest washroom that has a washbasin and toilet. The kitchen in this apartment is fully equipped with an oven, electric cooker, fridge-freezer, and microwave. The dishwasher and dryer/washer are recent additions. Pans,

Beautifully Furnished Bloomsbury Mews Apartment

Situated in the center of London, this apartment is a holiday home stay that lets you truly absorb the London experience. Most of the restaurants, shops, and popular places are found at a walking distance. Despite being close to the city center, your stay here will most certainly be enveloped in peace and calm, as the apartment is located in a cobbled mews that has no thru-traffic.

The apartment consists of 3 bedrooms, 2 of which are king-sized rooms, and 2 bathrooms, all on the floor above. It’s furnished beautifully and updated with modern facilities.

The beds in the rooms have comforters, linens, and high-quality mattresses to ensure that you enjoy a good night’s sleep. The apartment also has 2 shower rooms,

Tower Bridge Apartment At The Riverfront

Tower Bridge Apartment, located in Southwark and South Bank, is a luxurious one-bedroom holiday apartment located by the side of River Thames. The location of this apartment is a plus point, since out through the windows you can see the city of London, Canary Wharf, and the Tower Bridge. Outside the apartment, you’ll have access to the many happening restaurants and bars situated in and around Shad Thames.

The apartment has a terrace, through which you can absorb the sights of the beautiful river, a reception room, fully equipped kitchen, a luxurious bathroom with modern facilities, and a fitted wardrobe. The apartment, in general, has underfloor heating and mood lighting.

The kitchen has all the regular modern appliances, such as the washing


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Tag Archives: FPS

Necrovision: A subgenre No Man’s Land

This post was made possible by my backers on Patreon. Thank you! Backers currently get access to all funded posts at least one week, but sometimes several months early. You can back me here.

Help me out here, readers. I’m not entirely sure what to say about the state of shooters today. There’s no feature or setting that really defines the era. What qualifies as old-fashioned (I’m not saying “skool”, hit me all you want) varies from person to person, and we’ve far too much history of games, even post-internet, to split any genre into such broad ages. Just look at the inevitable argument about RPGs on every forum in the world for proof.

I say this because Necrovision (2009) invites comparisons to Painkiller, a game long considered a celebration of The Old Ways, and now itself a pretty old game. But even aside from the disingenuity of cutting down history so, dismissing Necrovision as just another throwback FPS would be unfair. It’s more novel than that.

A solid kicking option is absent from too many shooters.

We “Be” American soldier Simon Bukner at the Battle of Verdun, where he immediately sees everyone (surprise) slaughtered , and must fight through “German” soldiers to safety. Note that this is no period drama – I enquoted above because those soldiers are absurdly Nazi-esque, uniformly evil sadists or at best violently insane. A few buck the trend, but are invariably killed off in scripted events. It’s basically too hammy and stupid to be offensive or insulting.

Things take a turn towards Deathwatch territory as undead monsters show up to shake their manky bits around and shriek – you know what monsters are like. Naturally, it falls to Simon to re-massacre them, then push on to fight phantoms, ogres, and eventually an underworld of warring vampires and demons. And that’s all very 90s FPS, right?

Not-nazi zombies. How novel.

But while it’s related to (and developed by The Farm 51, founding members of which worked on) Painkiller, it feels less… artificial. The initial historical setting lends it more weight and structure, so it’s less like being locked in a series of fake rooms to mechanically circle strafe around and herd nasties like bloodthirsty anti-sheep (though this does become necessary later, and immediately in the Challenge Room mode, where success at dispatching monsters in specific ways adds bonus weapons to the campaign). There’s some of that from the start, but it’s often about peering down rifle sights and taking cover between potshots. A curious bridge between two styles.

Most human guns disappear early on, disappointingly.

Though the core of Necrovision is absolutely about storming messily through swathes of enemies, it plays more like an experiment in taking some Medal of Honor eggs and breaking them into a drunken Serious Sam omelette. Soldiers use cover and careful aiming pays off, even as you’re encouraged to build up your “rage” by laying into enemies with combined shooting, booting, and uh… bayon-ooting attacks. There are bosses with big health bars and secret areas to ferret out, right alongside partially regenerating health, iron sights, and soldiers’ miserable, despairing letters to serve as audiologs. The opening third in particular could be mistaken for an early CoD campaign mixed with a fleshed out Nazi Zombie mode. But it’s never serious, and the methodical xenophobic Whack-a-Mole style (which is only systematic, with none of the military cheerleading) gradually gives way to gory, over the top hack and slash crowd management as your weapons are replaced by bladed gauntlets, fireballs, stakes, and freezing attacks, and chaining enough combinations regenerates health and energy to power them, turning you into a perpetual murder machine who gains bonuses for taunting enemies.

“Hello, sign my petition?”

What’s surprisingly apt is how the protagonist’s story mirrors what the player is doing. As Simon descends into the depths his outbursts become increasingly gutteral, sadistic, and inhuman. His horror and confusion in the opening give way to fatalistic wallowing in hatred and carnage as it becomes increasingly clear that he’s no mere man with a gun, but an unstoppable force of death. The narrative never soars, but it pulls the game along well. It feels more like a journey than being told outright that you’re special for no particular reason, or it never being clear why you, a regular human, are able to tirelessly rampage through hundreds of battles. You have to earn it, you know? Starting out as a regular guy makes the power you gain more appreciable, and to players who are otherwise left cold by games like Painkiller, serves as a comfortable introduction rather than dropping them in and just assuming constant carnage is enough of a draw on its own.

While it might prove unpopular to say it, that latter point has always stuck for me. I don’t like games based around combo attacks or building chains. I find it distracting and proscriptive. But with Necrovision, once I adjust to its strange pace and style, I find the combos coming naturally, because they tend to correspond with useful attacks anyway. Jabbing an enemy with the rifle’s bayonet, then papping a bullet in while they’re recoiling? That’s not just a fancy combo move; it’s a practical way to use the weapon.

Ooh, it’s a skaven! KILL IT WITHOUT MERCY.

That’s not to say it’s outstanding. There are rough edges and confusing plot points, and while Simon’s earnest, likable Southern delivery is fitting more often than not, much of the voice acting is poor (although in the case of the Not-zi soldiers, this works in its favour as they’re more cartoon villains than anything resembling real victims of war). Cut scenes have a bizarre habit of repeating a conversation with slight variation, sometimes not precisely reflecting events in-game, and worse, for a game dependent on melee attacks, there are collision detection issues with some enemy/attack pairings, and one or two misaligned sights.

“Okay girls, let’s really throw into that degagé, and… er, FOOLISH MORTAL!”

This is hard to excuse, particularly in the Challenge Mode, as are the controls, which are a little uncomfortable, and at times reluctant to respond, an effect which is exacerbated by the way many weapons are grouped together under one button – switching from a shotgun to a flamethrower requires cycling through every weapon in between for no good reason. This becomes a major source of frustration late on, when most of the weapons look very similar.

But none of this is ever distracting enough to ruin the experience, and Simon’s oddly inconsistent attitude – one minute he’s recoiling at the horrors of war, the next he’s snarling “death and death and death and DEATH!” or flippantly mouthing off to immortal spirits – epitomises the reason Necrovision feels like more than either a themed, demi-realistic shooting gallery or a tongue-in-cheek arena shooter: its tone.

Cut scenes are narrated stills, not unlike the early Thief games.

In an age where neither po-faced military shooters nor campy arena larks, not to mention strongly themed genre pieces are particularly dominant, Necrovision bears the strange distinction of being very secure in its identity. It’s neither serious nor flippant, and it’s simultaneously grim and campy. Somehow, the devs captured a real sense of horror and doom without sacrificing the tongue-in-cheek humour or destructive goresplosion fun of yer Bullet Sams and yer Serious Storms. Tonally it should be a mess, but it’s dark enough to be atmospheric, and exactly silly enough to be fun. It’s all a bit nebulous, and purist fans of either subgenre may find that it flatters itself with contrarieties of pleasure, but Necrovision offers a valiant attempt at occupying a seldom-breached middle ground.

“High fi-oops! Shit, sorry. Are you alright?”

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Filed under Games, Patreon funded

It is SWAT it is

First Person Shooters have been a mainstay of video games since their Doom clone ancestors overthrew the tyranny of the platformer in the mid 90s. While the form has developed enormously in just about every regard since then, and genre-bending has become practically mandatory since Deus Ex etched itself into the minds of a generation in 2000, the pace of innovation has slowed drastically in more recent years, and there are few examples that deviate from the concept of “shoot all the dudes to win”.

Simple shooters are fine, of course, but have their limits, and if thought about for long enough lead to some awkward philosophical and ethical ponderings. Just how justified is it, exactly, that this generic avatar of player action is allowed to rampage around another oil refinery, New York subway, or plane of existence, gleefully annihilating every living thing in sight? After all, even the real people we charge with fighting our wars or policing our streets would be hard pressed to explain a body count half of that of a typical FPS. Real police, and even soldiers, would much rather their antagonists simply stop shooting at them and give up.

Fortunately for me, and for you too unless you like completely pointless posts, there’s a whole series of games that confront this exact discrepancy.

The “blazing guns” cover is an outright lie.

SWAT, or to give its full clumsy title, Daryl F. Gates’ Police Quest: SWAT, was spun off from Sierra Entertainment’s maddeningly fussy Police Quest series of the late 1980s. These were adventure games based on real (US) police procedures, and were comprised almost entirely of design decisions so cruel and hamfisted that they might as well have come round your house and called you a useless prick.

However, the Police Quest games did have the distinction of being designed by real police officers Jim Walls and (duh) Daryl F. Gates, and it’s this authenticity that explains much of the appeal to its fans, although personally I would prefer the even more authentic police experience that would result from lunging wildly at a constable. I am not a fan.

If you enjoy hating people you’ll love this guy. He’s a total dickhole.

A common trick in Sierra’s adventure games was to punish you the player at every turn for any deviation from their set list of actions, leaving zero room to take the slightest chance. As a hypothetical example, chasing a suspect to a fork in the road might give you a choice between going left, going right, or checking the ground for footprints. In a Police Quest game, whichever direction you chose would be wrong and result in a game over screen, until you checked for footprints first, even if they led in the direction you chose first.

Distressingly, this very notion was ported faithfully to the first game in the SWAT series, released in 1995 as an FMV interactive movie, before everyone had realised what a god-awful format that was for anything.

For those lucky enough to live in ignorance of these interactive movies, they consisted largely of watching grainy video clips broken up by point and click screens, and apparently dug writers and actors from the same lead-lined trough as Hollyoaks, then spent an hour or two gently concussing them. SWAT was no exception, although the acting is unusually competent for the genre. That is to say, you couldn’t simply replace the actors with life-sized crayon drawings without losing something.

The guy on the left, meanwhile, is the safest guy in the game.

The player takes on the role of a new recruit to the Los Angeles SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics) team, condescendingly referred to as “pup”. You’re introduced to some of the ranking officers, given a few speeches, and then take part in several training excercises while waiting for a call-up. You’re also expected to read up on SWAT procedures for entry tactics, radio discipline, proper escalation of force, and so forth. But most of the time you’ll be training.

It’s not very good. It’s awful in fact. The first SWAT game combines the awkwardness and tedium of sitting through mandatory FMVs (you’re even chewed out by your boss if you attempt to skip some of these – the game takes itself as a serious simulation, so you’re not skipping a cut scene, you’re some idiot cowboy walking out of a life-or-death briefing) with the horrible all-or-nothing procedural puzzles of the Sierra back catalogue, with a horrific UI thrown in for good measure. While the training rifle ranges are relatively forgiving, the punishment for the slightest mistake or hesitation in a mission is either instant death or dismissal.

Worse still, it’s often unclear what exactly you did wrong, even if you’ve read all the relevant training documents. I repeatedly failed the first mission for saying “Level one side two”, indicating that I was on the ground floor, left side of a building, when it was a bungalow, so stating the floor I was on, while accurate, was considered enough of a deviation from the script to cancel out everything else I said, causing my CO to call me a twat and leaving me sat there helpless until I failed the mission.

Or until I passive-aggressively let the inevitable happen. Get ’em, Gladys!

Every mission is like this. It’s killed stone dead by a terrible user interface and rigid adherence to the One True course of action, punishing you mercilessly at every turn, but seldom explaining why. Worse still, this is during the highlights of the game – call-ups comprise maybe half an hour of play in total, with the rest being endless repeats of the same training excercises, and a brief but quite pleasant section before some missions where you’ll question witnesses and relay information to your boss.

Most of the time though, you’ll be repeatedly training, and while there is a little variety here (you can cross train as a marksman, which I’d recommend simply for the sake of variety), it’s neither challenging or fun.

Get used to this view, is what I’m saying.

Having said all this, I do have a strange sort of respect for SWAT. It’s clear that authenticity is its single priority, and SWAT teams surely do spend most of their time training. The campaign is extremely short, but does make some effort to randomise outcomes should you be mad enough to play it through again. The attempt at immersion is fairly strong, and while simple, the brief sections where senior officers applaud or criticise your efforts are quite convincing. The confusion and anger from fellow officers if you fart around would be excellent if they weren’t so inevitable thanks to the horrible controls, and there’s a wealth of information in the training/background sections, giving a brief history of the SWAT outfit, a summary of its goals and principles, and some details on its methods. It’s surprisingly interesting, although admittedly this may only be in contrast to the game itself.

It paints a portrait of the SWAT outfit as very much a policing one, repeatedly emphasising that their and your purpose is to save lives, not kick in doors and kill people. Indeed, the first time I shot someone (well, aside from a confused old woman when the game pissed me off), I was placed under investigation, even though it was a clean shoot and saved the life of a hostage. I didn’t resent this at all, and it’s handled professionally by the NPCs. This is done well – SWAT and their ilk aren’t there to kill scores of cartoon villains like in other games, but rather, as in real life, to train for 300 hours so they’ll know how to exhaust every possible option before firing a shot at anyone.

In explaining what SWAT is and does, and what it’s not, the game is quite a success. Everywhere else, it’s terrible.

Of course, I can’t recommend anyone plays SWAT, as even if you’re interested in police procedures, it’s nearly 20 years out of date and can all be found online now anyway. It’s a frustrating game in a clunky format, sunk completely by plain bad controls, interface, and feedback. The acting and writing is merely okay too, so there’s no comedy value to be had either (although hurling a flashbang at the confused old woman did make me laugh a lot more than I should probably admit). It seems that 1995 agrees with me too, as the game was not a great success.

“You think reading the manual is enough, kid? Ha!”

Have you ever had a weird ‘twang’ in your neck?

So what happened next? Well, nothing for a few years. Developer-publishers Sierra had a lot on their plate at the time, including a bid to break into the Japanese market, a sale of the company and subsequent restructuring by CUC International, and the release of crap-but-profitable Phantasmagoria, which perhaps put SWAT’s lukewarm reception into a rather poor perspective.

Along with just about everyone with a functioning cerebrum, Sierra wisely dropped the FMV format and released a follow-up in 1998 under the name Yosemite Entertainment.

Still carrying the Police Quest name, SWAT 2 nonetheless moved radically away from both its FMV and adventure game roots, instead presenting the player with an isometric tactical strategy game. Rather than playing a specific character, the player takes on a more abstract commanding role, tasked with selecting, training and equipping a team of SWAT officers over a series of linked missions. There are some puzzle-like elements involving communicating with suspects over killing them, again emphasising the life-saving aspects of the operation, and you’re rated based on the number of live suspects and hostages you get safely out of a mission. Each officer is rated on various weapon skills, as well as miscellaneous abilities like dog handling, explosives, and medical know-how. Training and equipping anyone costs money, and this must be managed over the course of the campaign.

There’s also a counterpart in the terrorist mode – this is a full campaign, only here you take on a commander in a charicature of some kind of extremist hippy cult, bent on a campaign of terror and destruction because THE MAN is keeping them down and hemp is like, totally a superfood, dude. Naturally, terrorists are not penalised for killing, but they’re poorly equipped and trained, and their options more limited than their lawkeeping enemies’.

Their profiles are wonderful, however. Whiteboy Jesus Squad: Assemble!

It all sounds quite promising, doesn’t it? The concepts are sound, and the campaign structure could have worked well, but unfortunately SWAT 2 is utterly ruined by bad controls and a terrible interface. Better than its predecessor’s, admittedly, but the faster-paced nature of the missions render the control problems far more serious. The interface is almost entirely mouse-driven, with simple, vital actions such as firing a gun requiring that the player drag the mouse across to a menu, click a gun, then drag back and click the target, and then repeat the process if they want to do something other than stand still and shoot all day.

Want to arrest a guy, but then he opens fire, so you have to shoot? Well, you’ll have to move the mouse back to your gun, then move it back to the suspect… you’re in the open and want to take cover before he shoots you? Welp, you’d better unselect your gun again, then click into cover, then select your gun again, point at the suspect and shoot… but wait, did you leave the “arrest” icon ticked? Because now instead of shooting, your officer will run back into the open to arrest him. It’s pretty close to unplayable.

Can’t see anything? Get used to that.

The tiny graphics make line of sight difficult to judge, and combined with the fairly primitive animations, leave the mission areas lacking any interesting features or character. The terrorist campaign is a welcome addition and is delivered with humour, but feels under-developed compared to the more varied Good Guys one. Player voices are adequate, but flat and unmemorable, and the sound effects are similarly bland. Finally, the AI might as well not exist, so dependent are your team on your constant clicking.

It’s far too cumbersome to effectively control a single character, so carrying out the kind of co-ordinated maneouvres either side relies on is an excercise in futility and soon invites an RSI. It’s not even the kind of micromanagement that fans of early Rainbow Six titles would enjoy, as forward planning is kept to a minimum. Indeed, the overall impression is of a game that’s built like a 2D Rainbow Six, but is controlled like a poor man’s Syndicate.

I can’t help but feel that it would have been far better served in turn-based portions. It would still be a little stale and underwhelming, but missions would at least feel manageable. As it stands, I really couldn’t recommend SWAT 2 to anyone, much as I respect the bravery of such a drastic genre shift. It’s a terrible game, and perhaps modern interface standards have rendered this judgement far harsher, but it’s just not deep or rewarding enough to warrant the time it will take you to get used to its quirks.

Terrorists fail due to player apathy. Poetic.

So what next? Well, onwards, to SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle! The third game in what was now a bona fide series of its own was developed by Sierra Northwest, another subdivision of Sierra, whose ever-changing structure and ownership in the late 90s could be the subject of its own migraine-inducing article. Released in November 1999, less than 18 months after SWAT 2, SWAT 3 took an isometric strategy game, and made it… a first-person shooter.

“Mans spotted! Shoot the mans! All the mans!”

No no, stop that. The pitchfork thing is just so passé, and more importantly, this was absolutely the right choice. Whether the transition was down to sinister executive types insisting that all the kids wanted in 1999 was another Half-life we may never know, but the result was a much better game, and as a bonus, one that was even more effective at delivering the message of “cops are supposed to save lives”.

Works in theory.

Again, the player is offered a campaign comprised of a series of missions. This time, however, instead of managing finances and training your team, you directly control the leader of a five-man “element”, and over the course of the campaign must earn the respect of your colleagues by completing missions and making smart decisions. Medals may be granted for particularly good performance, and better still, the campaign has a story, involving increasing terrorist activity in the buildup to a United Nations conference. Each mission also has its own story, with many being plausible real-life scenarios rather than dramatic showdowns with cartoon villains. Named civilians and suspects are common, with many unique character models appearing, often with a little backstory both for flavour and to indicate what to expect from them.

Mission briefings are interesting and should be listened to carefully, as they can clue you in on what to expect from a suspect. Missions are semi-randomised, with enemies, hostages and bystanders appearing in different places or numbers, and even attitudes altered – the suspect who shot you on sight once might surrender the next time. All this plus the necessarily limited first person perspective makes the game highly tense and far more unpredictable and involving than earlier games.

It’s remarkably humanising, too – a suspect could be a violent extremist with body armour and an AK47, or he could be a confused and frightened clerk in the midst of a tragic breakdown. I’ve a screenshot of a civilian I had to shoot once that still makes me feel sad and a little guilty every time I see it – I knew full well he wasn’t one of the terrorists, but he was armed and panicking, and the angle forced me to shoot him in the head to protect myself. The game acknowledged this as a clean shoot, too.

Pink shirt dude, I am so sorry.

Instead of the icon-heavy mess of SWAT 2, or the arbitrary context-sensitivity of SWAT, you now control your teammates with quick and simple keyboard commands, listed in the corner for ease of use. A typical mission will involve choosing an entrance to a building or area and methodically sweeping every corner of it for suspects, civilians, and sometimes specific equipment or evidence. While you’re free to use whatever tactics you see fit, you will soon find that SWAT’s standard procedures, as outlined to you by the game, are chosen for good reason – they work. Carelessness costs lives, frequently your own, and while the game is tremendously difficult, it’s mostly fair, and frustration is minimal as it’s almost always obviously your own fault for being reckless or letting a situation get out of hand.

You’ll use your optiwand (a camera on a stick used for peeking round corners) constantly, you’ll flashbang and gas everything that might even theoretically be large enough for a gunman, you’ll cover and be covered by a teammate constantly, and you’ll feel like a champion among mortals when you save the day.

The optiwand reveals a gunman lurking round the corner (top right).

Points are deducted for injured officers (who are also out of circulation while they heal up), lives taken, objectives failed, and frustratingly, for any bad orders you issue. The exact system is a little unclear at times, and it can be very annoying to come through a long mission that you thought went well, only for your reputation to suffer for some unknown calls that your team decided weren’t good enough.

Despite these complaints, it’s an excellent twist on the FPS genre, and even with its limited armoury and rather primitive shooting mechanisms, it remains one of the most tense and immersive games I could name. Being forced to consider gunshots as a very last resort transforms the experience. The fear when a door opens and an unknown man walks in is palpable, and the screaming and shouting as hostages panic and your team yell at suspects to surrender are more effective at establishing drama and excitement than any big budget explosion-and-cutscene fest. SWAT 3 does tactics well, and it does escalation wonderfully.

Equipment is rather limited, but it’s not a problem.

The friendly AI is impressive, and will respond to most situations competently, although they can be a little gung-ho, and annoyingly, they mark you down even if they themselves kill a suspect, but it’s a small price to pay. They’re also easy to control for the most part, with a clever windowed camera mode showing you their point of view in a corner for easy co-ordination and commanding, and they will even show a little initiative in handcuffing suspects and securing weapons if you’re busy or can’t be arsed.

The terrorist campaign has been dropped entirely, but the payoff is a varied, challenging, and highly rewarding experience quite unlike any other.

That is, until the next game in the series.

By 2005, Sierra had been through several staff layoffs, been bought by Havas S.A, which was renamed to Vivendi Universal Publishing, and its development arm was no longer putting out very much worth talking about. After a long break, the SWAT series fell into the hands of Irrational Games, rightly famed for 1999’s venerable System Shock 2, and under-celebrated for the marvellous Freedom Force series. Working from the same engine built for Tribes: Vengeance, Irrational took the rather bold step of not drastically altering the entire genre of the game, and instead released another first-person tactical shooter, SWAT 4.

Shock! Tasers are highly effective, but short ranged, and you only get one shot.

It is magnificent.

SWAT 4 dropped the story and reputation elements of SWAT 3, and lost a little of its thematic variety, but in return it delivered satisfying shooting mechanisms, more tactical options, and ramped up the tension to a sometimes unbearable degree. Again, the player leads a team of five SWAT officers, who can be split into groups and ordered remotely using an efficient and flexible context-sensitive menu, into a series of crisis situations, and again, the player must subdue everyone present with as little bloodshed as possible. Causing too much damage or failing to report significant events back to HQ will lower your score, and if too low, you’ll fail to progress.

This would be a clean shoot.

This would not.

This time the NPC AI is much improved, and terrifyingly unpredictable. Suspects will wander about a level, and if they see you they might open fire, surrender immediately, or run away and hole up with a friend somewhere. Suspects who’ve heard you coming might lie in wait and open fire as soon as they see the door move. They might attack if they see one cop, but give up if five of you kick the door in and scream at them. Even civilians can cause havoc by refusing to submit to arrest, or running in a blind panic.

Or just generally getting in the way.

To compensate for this, you can equip your team with a wider variety of less-lethal items such as tasers, pepper spray and horrendously painful “stinger” grenades. You’ll lose points for any kill (although far less if a suspect is shooting at you or threatening a hostage), so taking full advantage of these is mandatory on higher difficulties.

Just another few incredibly tense stand-offs.

The shooting itself is improved, with two ammunition types having significant pros and cons – hollow points will do less damage against body armour, but full metal jacket ones might go straight through your target’s arm and kill a hostage on the other side of the room. A shot or two in the arm could disarm a suspect, and taking hits yourself will impair your movement or accuracy.

Most of all though, what you’ll remember about SWAT 4 is the shouting. It would not be a gratuitous pun to call it a first-person shouter, such is the importance of yelling warnings and threats at anyone who crosses your path, and they’re not shy about returning the favour. As with SWAT 3, it’s an effective tool and works wonders for the atmosphere, with much more effective voice acting across the board.

Less complex than Rainbow Six, mercifully, but planning is important.

Impressively, there was even an active multiplayer presence, at least until late last year, and a quick and easy mission maker allows you to populate any map with a variety of NPCs, and even remove the embargo on killing, should you be tired of playing nice.

All in all, SWAT 4 is the pinnacle of a series that’s taken more genre shifts from game to game than just about any other. It might be ironic advice to any publisher out there who’s already convinced that the FPS is the only viable genre in existence, but SWAT only got there after trying other approaches first, realising that the core of the series was its completely different attitude to shooting, and then finally refining the process. Both it and SWAT 3 are excellent games in a disappointingly small niche, and ones which deserve a place in any game collection.

My team secure a hostage while I remotely direct another team. SWAT 4’s command menu system has never been matched.

Sadly, with its publisher Sierra absorbed into the Activision blob and subsequently closed, and its last developer not interested in a follow-up even after being explicitly asked, it also looks like it’s the end of the line. What’s the moral of the story? Well, I guess there are two. Firstly, in a time of a million games about shooting, the best one considered shooting to be an admission of failure, and secondly, don’t break the law, because as any cop worth their salt knows, creeping up silently to pepper spray you and scream in your ear is goddamn hilarious.

Filed under Games

I Fought the Door and the Door Won – E.Y.E: Divine Cybermancy

Let’s face it, E.Y.E:Divine Cybermancy is a terrible name. That the developers were not native English speakers doesn’t really explain it, unless there’s some kind of EU subsidy involved; I’m quite sure that the French also have a phrase for “What the hell did I just play?”.

For this is the question I am still asking. My pad is scrawled with over four thousand words written while playing, and I’ve recorded more videos than my hard drive will ever forgive me for. And still my brain is overflowing with things to say.

I’ve completed it. Except I haven’t. I finished the story, except that I didn’t, and if I tell you what that means, it’ll spoil the ending. Except it isn’t the ending, and aaaaaaaaargh.

“We don’t know any more than you, frankly.”

EYE is an indie FPS with a heavy dose of stat-side RPG, casting you in the role of an amnesiac warrior-monk-alien-human-hybrid-samurai-assassin with psychic powers and cybernetic implants. And yes, that does sound like something a 7-year old would breathlessly exclaim while playing in the garden, but it actually works in context. It is an inbred, bastard descendant of Deus Ex, Half-Life, Warhammer, Painkiller, and Doom. It grew up with The Matrix, Blade Runner, and Syndicate, and had intrepid sex with Aliens, Groundhog Day, Flashback, Total Recall, and The Dark Tower, and you now fully understand it, so I can knock off for the day.

Oh, fine. But we’ll have to separate the game’s structure and story parts first, or we’ll be here all night.

My, what a relevant screenshot.

You’re given objective-based missions stretched across a variety of very large and open levels. They’ll mostly involve shooting things, hacking them, or talking to them. You start with several stats that govern skill at shooting, running, hacking, using psi powers et cetera, which manually increase when you level.

In addition to stats, you can upgrade your robotic body parts, which grant bonuses to stats, protect you, help you run faster or hide better or refill energy, and so forth. On top of this, there are optional cybernetic implants that give you the power to cloak or use echolocation or resist gunfire. These function very much like Deus Ex‘s augmentations. As well as implants, you’re offered psionic powers that act as spells, allowing you to create clones of yourself or teleport into an enemy, bursting them messily open. In yet another feature, the player can collect briefcases of data from fallen enemies and research them in a sort of X-COM/System Shock 2 crossover, which will further augment your powers, or unlock more spells, abilities, and implants.

Phew, eh?

Options include a cyber-thyroid. I’d settle for a functioning one, myself.

You’re sent off to a series of maps, on which you’re given several tasks to complete as you see fit. There are usually sub-missions from NPCs. Once you’ve finished a map, you can go back there for randomised missions to grind for cash and XP, or if you just want to mess around and kill things for a while. We’ve all been there.

Though it’s up to you how to achieve objectives, you absolutely will be in a lot of gunfights. Cloaking your way through trouble is sometimes an option (though more to change position and choose when to open fire), and you can also attempt to hack your enemies via a fast-paced and often tricky mini-game that sees you balancing three power levels against your opponent’s, be it another cyberbrain or a simple door. Most hostiles themselves can be directly hacked, wirelessly, allowing you to take remote control of enemy agents and make them gun down their friends. It’s worth noting that when you attack something thus, it will hack you back, with the result ranging from harmless through annoying right up to they will make your fucking head explode. Even the ATMs and doors fight back.

Interaction with NPCs is very basic, sadly. The outcome of conversation can vary a lot – most will pay you for a favour or help you out if you sweet-talk them, but may turn hostile if you annoy them. Calling it “conversation” is generous, really – you’re given a list of badly written, poorly translated responses, and picking the right one too often feels like pot luck. Occasionally you’ll be asked to make a big decision, but this is where I have to step across to the story section. Back in a bit. Enjoy some clips while you wait.

This is what your base has instead of corridors. Because why not?

Oh, God help me.

You’re part of E.Y.E, an organisation ostensibly trying to investigate and stop a mysterious force of monsters that’s popping up all over the galaxy, but secretly trying to overthrow the Federation, a government spread over hundreds of planets. Meanwhile, E.Y.E. itself is split into two factions, with your leader ordering you to wipe out the other faction, but your mentor urging you to work with them. It’s a fanatic holy order, so this isn’t the kind of rivalry that will be settled with a cup of tea and lengthy chat. You’ll have to decide what to do about the other faction, how to deal with your conflicting loyalties, and, perhaps overthrow a galactic empire. Easy, right? Oh, you’re also an amnesiac troubled by a recurring dream in which you’ve just killed your Mentor. Or not. Or it’s a premonition. Or a warning. Or not. Um.

Let’s go back to structure, shall we?

Screw you, Phil. Our dystopian future has a pool.

So, there’s a Big Decision there, and it’ll come sooner than you expect. I can’t tell you how much the plot diverges because I’ve only seen one path. I’ve only seen one path because this game has the worst save system I’ve ever seen. You can’t save the game. Ever. It autosaves whenever you change your character, complete an objective, or die (death lasts a few seconds, after which you resurrect on the spot – which often will mean you die three or four times in a row. Every time you die, there’s a chance your stats will suffer. Yeah). Quit the game before leaving a map and you’ll have to do it all over again, but you’ll keep your stats and gear. Essentially, it saves whenever you don’t want it to.

Interceptors are a nightmare, but an open invitation to a hacker.

Once I’d made that Big Decision and seen the result play out, I realised why the game does this. It helps that before this, I ran out of “resurrections”, but instead of getting a game over, my resurrections topped up, and my recurring dream now featured a strange man who told me everything was just a premonition of how I might fuck up. Then I was sent back to where I’d just left, with a slight stat loss and hopefully some cool scars.

So yes, that save system. And that “resurrection” thing. It’s not explicitly stated, but by the end of the plot thread I saw, I realised that it’s tied to the story. You can’t save because you’re not supposed to see ahead via the magic of saving. It’s a choose your own adventure that forces you to actually choose, and not just eschew the dice altogether because seriously, screw dice. You’re supposed to live with your mistakes. To understand what it’s all about, you’re meant to keep trying until you reach an ending and get another chance to do it again the right way. All with the same character, getting stronger and better the whole time.

Some objectives must be searched for manually. Good luck with that.

This is structure stuff, but I’m writing it under story because it was the story that (eventually) explained the absolutely insane save system. This is arguably a spoiler too, but it’s worth it because, well, there’s a point to it. EYE Cap’n Sah isn’t well written or anywhere near as fleshed out as it deserves to be, so instead of spelling things out for you, it’s the way it plays that gives it meaning. And that isn’t clear until the end, and even then, all you know is that you’ve found the wrong way, bringing you closer to the right one. It’s all rather Zen (or Samsara, or Moksha, or … look, I was raised Catholic, okay? You’re lucky I even know Zen is a thing).

Is this Zen? This doesn’t look like Jesus. It might be Zen.

I’ve never played a game like this. Not the “play it over” thing – God no – I’ve played and resented many games that expected me to play 300 times before I can do anything fun (hi Japan!). By contrast, EYE: Bovine Hyperdancey lets you have tonnes of fun right away, however your real potential will never be reached if you don’t try again. And of course I’ve played games that tried to be about something, or had a twist, or a moral, or some face-punchingly awful fourth-wall breaking twattery (hi Kojima!), but this really caught me off guard. It’s nothing spectacular, and the plot remains rather simple and poorly told, the characters barely there, the world an untapped mystery, but the fact that I’m now defending the save system that I’ve just spent two weeks constantly swearing a blood oath to destroy is remarkable. It’s absolutely about the bizarre and sometimes thrilling experience above all else, and the older I get, the more appreciation I feel for that.

I’d still like a save option, mind. I could have reviewed this in half the time with that.

Miniguns, blimps, cyberbrains, amoral sinister agents. Bliss.

EYE, Invisible Killer Robot Priest With a Minigun has many other flaws. You’ll get used to the UI, but it’s still bad. The hacking minigame is neat but imperfect – it’s sometimes far too tedious to hack multiple targets when a bullet ballet would sort them out in seconds. The possession script is wonky. The AI is rather simple. The difficulty forms less of a curve and more of a strip-mined mountain range. There are long stretches (and the entire “special missions” bit, as far as I can tell) that are not possible to complete without being Robocop’s less subtle cousin, and you get no indication when this is about to happen. Character generation is an esoteric mess. There are bugs, most notably one that switches around weapon hotkeys; you’ll frequently draw the wrong weapon because the keys have changed again. The translation really is awful, and the writing can’t have been much better in the original French. There are no interesting or memorable characters at all.

Hacking is easily understood once you try it, but can be laborious.

All this plus the ballsed up save system that only makes sense if you’ve played the game for dozens of hours should add up to a game I loathe. But I just can’t. This game pisses me off, but I love it. It’s ambitious. It’s original. It’s insane. It evokes countless games and films and books without being a clone or rip-off of any (although the Aliens-inspired level cuts it close. It’s a homage, really). The game is awash with references to other works, both explicit and thematic, but remains independent.

The gunplay is enormously exciting, and combat dances you back and forth wonderfully over a fine line between being a total badass cutting a path through dozens of mooks, and being a desperate man with his back against the wall, fighting for his life. Mooks go down with a shot or two, but armoured toughies are a bloody nightmare. You start the game with free access to shotguns, sniper rifles, dual swords and miniguns. The levels are intricate and frickin’ huge.

The levels! Some of them are wonderfully realised. There’s a whole map that is more Syndicate than anything we’ve seen for 15 years. It oozes atmosphere. You can hack into a man’s mind. Bite off more than you can chew and the trauma can leave you paranoid and hallucinating. You can wield a pistol and sword at once. You set people on fire with your mind. You can counter an ambush by leaping thirty feet in the air and attacking it from above with a rifle. You can hack into a gunship and watch it strafe rockets all over your enemies. Have a look at this:

See what happened there?

Land. Jason Bourne can eat my hole.

Trapped on a staircase with the feds coming, I suddenly remembered I’d invested in cybernetic legs. So, I leapt off the stairs, and spun around 180 degrees in the air and shot a man in the head before landing and killing another. Because I could.

I still haven’t finished EYE: Sublime Fillerpantsy. I’ll be back to write about it again. It is rough, weird, confusing, needlessly fiddly, and at times infuriating. There’s a lot that will put people off, and frankly, they’re right to be. I wouldn’t blame you if you thoroughly hated this game. I’m honestly surprised that I like it so much, and there’s still a chance I’m completely wrong about the “keep doing it” thing.

But it’s so utterly unique, and the combat is such a damn joy. If you’re at all interested in games that are odd or ambitious, and you’re not troubled by some major flaws or mechanics and a plot that keep you in the dark, you might enjoy it too. Go into this one with gritted teeth and both eyes open, and you’ll find something that reminds you what games are all about, and what incredible potential they have in the hands of people with a little imagination, and the lunatic force of will to do something with it.

EYE summarised in one image: Lofty heights with broken stairs.

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text:
Sunday 6th September

Running at the weekend or away from the Club? Let people know when, how long & how fast - you might get some company
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Sunday 6th September

Postby Sheila » Fri Sep 04, 2015 6:34 am

10 miles of trails from sandiacre lidl at 8am. Anyone?
My name is not really Sheila, or Iris. It's just plain old Laura.

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Re: Sunday 6th September

Postby elizl » Fri Sep 04, 2015 11:57 am

Yes should be able to make it.

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Re: Sunday 6th September

Postby Little Tyke » Fri Sep 04, 2015 6:29 pm

me and Daisy might.....
Bringing up the rear since 1969

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Re: Sunday 6th September

Postby Woolly » Wed Sep 09, 2015 7:54 pm

I'm away this weekend, have fun out on those trails
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text:
Those who have written off last July’s Hague Arbitral Tribunal ruling in the South China Sea as a dead letter should keep an eye on Scarborough Shoal.

Late last week, reports surfaced on Twitter, showing the AIS signals from a flotilla of Vietnamese trawlers close to the shoal. Significantly, Vietnam Coast Guard vessels are also present.

The focus of a bilateral territorial dispute between the Philippines and China, Scarborough Shoal is an isolated rocky outcrop surrounding a lagoon rich in marine life, strategically situated 130 miles west of Luzon – and a long way from Vietnam.

The shoal has been under Beijing’s de facto control since tensions flared in 2012, patrolled by Chinese law enforcement vessels and fishing boats. China’s widely trial-ballooned ambitions to develop Scarborough Shoal as another artificial island and potential military base have attracted strategic attention. An uneasy calm has descended around the feature since the ruling. Chinese and Philippine vessels co-exist in close proximity, while Beijing has pared back its law enforcement presence to a handful of patrol vessels.

President Duterte has repeatedly downplayed Scarborough Shoal as a friction point in Philippines-China relations; recently declaring 'We cannot stop China from doing its thing. Even the Americans were not able to stop them'. Duterte’s officials have proposed a marine reserve prohibiting fishing within the lagoon at Scarborough Shoal, as a means to reduce frictions as well as to conserve the fragile fishery.

The Hague award is considered binding only on the Philippines and China. Questions of sovereignty lay outside its purview. However, the panel judges concluded that Scarborough Shoal is above high water and therefore entitled to a 12-nautical mile territorial sea. Since the award also affirmed that it lies wholly within the Philippines 200 nautical-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ), this presents a highly unusual situation, given Scarborough Shoal’s potential to generate an exclave territorial sea within the EEZ, if the Philippines does not hold sovereignty.

Although the Hague ruling did not directly address third parties, one of the judges’ most interesting findings, in paragraph 807,  is that ‘Scarborough Shoal has been a traditional fishing ground for fishermen of many nationalities, including the Philippines, China (including from Taiwan), and Vietnam'.

Separating government-driven motivations from the commercial pursuit of fish in the South China Sea is notoriously difficult, given far-ranging fishing fleets and general stock depletion. Vietnam has one of the region’s biggest fleets and its fishermen have a reputation for illegal fishing, as far as Australia. However, there is also the interesting possibility that the Vietnamese state is putting fishing rights deliberately to the test at Scarborough Shoal for wider reasons.

By asserting traditional fishing rights at Scarborough Shoal (though one might ask how ‘traditional’ trawlers are), Vietnam has inserted itself directly into the post-ruling narrative. A third-party intervention serves to keeps the Hague award alive, by internationalising it, while making it more difficult for Beijing and Manila to seek an accommodation in ways that could undermine Vietnam’s position more broadly in the South China Sea. Manila recently announced a bilateral coordination mechanism on the South China Sea, with Beijing, due to commence in May. This may have raised Vietnam’s diplomatic concerns.

Vietnam stands to gain considerably from the Philippines’ arbitration verdict, especially its consummate rejection of China’s dashed-line claims, which intrude far into Vietnam’s EEZ. Hanoi has an active interest in upholding the Award. The Hague judges’ recognition of multi-nation fishing rights at Scarborough Shoal gives Vietnam an ‘in’ to help ‘implement’ the ruling.

On the face of it, Duterte has reasons not to welcome Hanoi’s intervention. First of all, for bringing Vietnam’s broader dispute with China to the Philippines’ doorstep when his priority is rapprochement with Beijing. Second, Vietnamese fishermen are no strangers to Scarborough Shoal, but their presence in such numbers may upset their Filipino counterparts. Third, the presence of Vietnamese maritime law enforcement vessels could be construed as reviving a latent claim to Scarborough Shoal’s sovereignty.

But in the current climate it makes no sense for Vietnam to isolate itself on the South China Sea by alienating its fellow ‘frontline’ claimant. Particularly so, when Manila sits in the ASEAN chair and presides over the Code of Conduct negotiations with Beijing. That would be handing a strategic gift to China.

It is much more likely that Vietnam consulted with the Philippines in advance. The defence and security relationship between Hanoi and Manila is close. Duterte reaffirmed the strategic partnership on his visit to Hanoi last September, including a strongly worded joint statement upholding 'freedom of navigation and overflight as well as unimpeded commerce in the region, particularly in the South China Sea'. Defence Minister Delfin Lorenzana recently voiced concerns about China’s intentions at Scarborough Shoal that appeared at cross-purposes with his boss’ public nonchalance. In fact, Duterte may even tacitly approve of Vietnam’s action for added leverage over China ahead of May’s bilateral negotiations: a ‘bad coast guard’ to complement the Philippines continuing ‘good cop’ act.

As long as the Philippines recognises the rights of Vietnamese fishermen in accordance with the tribunal ruling, and Vietnamese fishermen stay out of the lagoon, the latter can claim legitimacy from the Hague award. As well as encouraging Manila to keep the Award in play diplomatically, this move puts the burden of escalation at Scarborough Shoal onto China, a risk that Vietnam proved it was willing to take during the 2014 oil-rig standoff. Hanoi could be calculating that China is currently unwilling to risk inflaming tensions with ASEAN.

Viewed through this lens, the arrival of Vietnamese fishermen off Scarborough Shoal is an imaginative way of regaining the initiative lost to China since last July. If China can be nudged into compliance with the Hague Award, by permitting Vietnamese fishing at Scarborough Shoal (as apparently it did, even in 2012), Hanoi may not only help to forestall the construction of a new artificial island, it could build on this precedent in the Spratly Islands and Paracel Islands, where the harassment of Vietnamese fishermen is a perennial, high-priority concern. Since the Hague ruling, Hanoi has noticeably emphasised the protection of fisheries and fishermen, including legal measures under consideration. It also regards its coast guard’s activities as exercising freedom of navigation, albeit broadly defined.

If this is indeed a coordinated action between Vietnam and the Philippines, it speaks to a growing security bilateralism among certain ASEAN members, offsetting the grouping’s institutional drift on the South China Sea, and perhaps as an insurance policy against Duterte using his role as ASEAN/East Asia Summit host this year to act as spoiler. Uncertainty about the US’ willingness, under President Trump, to push back against China in the South China Sea is a further forcing factor.

The appearance of a Vietnamese fishing flotilla near one of the South China Sea’s most remote flashpoints is not just about catching fish. Hanoi’s legal and diplomatic motivations run deeper. It will be interesting to see if China reacts. The Hague tribunal ruling, meanwhile, remains in play.


text:
Database on admissions of films released in Europe
[European Audiovisual Observatory] [Presentation of the LUMIERE Database] [Other search]
Film Information
Die freudlose Gasse (DE) [Original title]

Link to IMDb

Directors :
Georg Wilhelm Pabst [IMDb Info]

Producing or Co-producing country : DE
Production year : 1925
Market Distributor 2016 Total since 1996
SE SFI-Cinemateket 134 134

© European Audiovisual Observatory

The data base LUMIERE provides a systematic compilation of available data on admissions of the films released in European cinemas since 1996. The data base is the result of the collaboration between the European Audiovisual Observatory and the various specialised national sources as well as the MEDIA Programme of the European Union.


text:
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2012 Daily Bible Reading Chart

The 10-12 year old boys in my Bible Class really blessed me a few weeks ago when they excitedly announced they had begun daily Bible reading - ALL BY THEMSELVES! Can you believe that? I asked them who's idea it was first and they said their 15 year old brother! Marvel again! They couldn't wait to each tell me where they were in their reading. I was bowled over!

Obviously I want to do all I can to encourage this MOST worthy endeavor that has life long blessings. As human beings, and BUSY ones at that, I know how hard it can be to stick to something like this. I have often shared here how wonderful it was to read through the Bible last year, CHRONOLOGICALLY for the first time. It's like a new book! For me, having it all in order made such a difference on my understanding and I have loved it so much that I'm still doing it. I use reading programs at which allow you to pick what you want to read, how and what translation, also when you start. It's fantastic. Hope you try it!

Ok, back to the topic... so, knowing how hard this would be for them, first I offered my phone number for the many difficult words they would encounter and just to help in general. I also offered that they can write the words down and bring them to class if they prefer.

I wasn't surprised Sunday when I asked how they were doing to hear sad boys say they had let it slip. I told them that making ANY new good habit is difficult and takes a lot of effort, not to be discouraged. I recommended they read starting at Matthew instead of Genesis as it's easier. I hadn't said that when they began, because that's where they chose to start and I wanted to be 100% supportive. Again I invited phone calls.

I don't believe in bribery, but this is such a wonderful thing they are wanting to do, that would bless their entire lives, that I sat and brainstormed with my husband last night. This is what we came up with.

  • A way to keep track of our progress keeps people encouraged. Just like the chart in class for attendance and doing their memory work, they need a chart they can tack up on their bedroom walls at home to keep track of their progress and keep encouraged. I personalized every chart for each child and printed ones with the name blank for any adults who would like to join us. I'm sharing the blank one with all of you today! To keep it cheap, they print in black and white on two 8.5 x 11 pages. You could print it on neon paper to make it more fun. God bless your efforts to get to know Him and how to please Him even more than you already know.
  • Understanding they are young, have school and also weekly memory work for Bible class, I wanted it to be "doable". The requirement will be to read 5 verses of their choice each day and it can't include their memory work. If they do that, they can mark the box for that day on their chart. The boxes are the perfect size for small stickers or stamps or just check them off.
  • I will design a poster to prominently displayed in the church. We are a very small fellowship, so I'm thinking right next to the door everyone comes and goes by. I wanted to call it, "Daily Bible Reading Challenge", but my husband says it will be called, "Honor Roll", so people will be motivated to participate and be on it.
  • The first Sunday of each month, anyone who has marked off at least HALF the days in the month will bring their chart to church and be recognized from the pulpit. It's sad to make it only half the days and only five verses a day, but again, the important thing is to get people into reading daily. The rest is up to them and God. They will also get to add their name to the poster for that month and their names will be printed in an article about the project in the local newspaper each month. (So far, the newspaper will print small articles of special church events for free.) Encourage, encourage, encourage!!!
  • Feeling that a year is too long for a child...LOL and many adults!...we decided that we would then divide the year into two six month sections. Anyone who had met the daily and monthly requirements for five out of six months of that period would then get to choose any Christian CD they want (that's available) and the church will award it to them in front of the assembly. We chose CDs because this really is about the young people and that's what they want. Most are from families where that is a luxury. It's also a good way to increase how much of their listening time is building up their walks with God.
So, next project is to design the poster.

I hope you will pray with me that God will touch hearts in our little fellowship, that many people, young and old, will participate and our relationships with Him will prosper this year. There is nothing to equal the value of having the Word of God living in you so that the Holy Spirit can bring it to your mind when you need it, whether for your own help or to help another. And there's no way to get the Word inside you other than reading it and hearing it.

How sad when people are satisfied with only the word or two from the Bible they get each week from a sermon. We don't live our lives seeing how little food we can survive on...why do we try to see how little of God's Word we can survive on, how little time spent with Him, how thin a relationship with Him? Remember, He has told us that He demands first place in our lives or we are not worthy to follow after Him. Matthew 10:37 It's something to think about, and pray about. Now go snag this great freebie!
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Before this passage God was condemning His people for rebelling against Him, not obeying His law, for worshiping other gods and this is His punishment for the unfaithful people:

“Behold, I am bringing a nation against you from afar, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD.
“It is an enduring nation,
It is an ancient nation,
A nation whose language you do not know,
Nor can you understand what they say.
16 “Their quiver is like an open grave,
All of them are mighty men.
17 “They will devour your harvest and your food;
They will devour your sons and your daughters;
They will devour your flocks and your herds;
They will devour your vines and your fig trees;
They will demolish with the sword your fortified cities in which you trust...‘As you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’ " Jeremiah 5:15-17, 19

I was happy to see this product offered as I’m one of the people who’s physical condition makes peeling eggs very difficult and painful. I have learned to NEVER order anything from the TV or their internet site after several horrible experiences. They did a lot more than send me the product and it took months to resolve. So I waited till I could find them locally. I got them at my Bed, Bath & Beyond today and couldn’t wait to try them out as my husband loves hard boiled eggs.

The first negative I encountered was that each egg has FOUR parts. As I washed and dried all four parts for the 12 eggs (2 sets) I’d bought, my drying rack was full of pieces. No – I don’t have a dish washer. LOTS of pieces to clean.

The second negative I encountered was reading that you have to grease the pieces – every use…and you can’t use spray directly on them.

The third negative I encountered was when I went to put my raw egg in an Eggie. Since there is a cooking chart for the different size eggs, you’d expect to be able to put them in the Eggie. No. I buy large eggs. The yoke alone is too large to fit through the opening and made a huge mess. I then opened the Eggies to just the bottom half. One raw egg filled the half to the brim. I could not have added additional ingredients as advertised. I did add some after reassembling the Eggie.

The fourth negative I encountered was that the cooking chart said to cook 15-17 minutes for large eggs and said to start with “warm water”. I started with boiling water and cooked for 17 min. and though they were mostly cooked, they weren’t completely done.

The fifth negative I encountered was that though I washed the mess off the outside of the Eggies that was caused by my eggs being too large to go in, somehow egg still got in my pan and made a horrid mess in the pan to clean up.

The sixth negative I encountered was that even though I carefully greased every part with oil as directed, NOT ONE OF THEM would release from the bottom cup even though I had greased, cooked according to their directions and was squeezing the bottom cup all around as they said. I had to scoop every egg out with a spoon and it left egg stuck to the inside.

The sixth negative I encountered was when I IMMEDIATELY hand washed them. The egg didn’t want to come off the surfaces. It was a LONG job working diligently with washcloth and nylon bristled tool to get all the junk off the Eggies.

The seventh negative was that the bacon bits and seasonings I added through the top to some of the eggs, did not mix in. They stayed in a chunk. I guess you’d have to mix it all up in advance and then pour it into the Eggies.

It was a good idea, but a monumental amount of work and time. Possibly those with dishwashers would fair better, but I think if they didn’t immediately wash them, that egg gunk would be very hard to remove even in a dish washer. All told, it was MUCH MORE demanding of my hands and my time than just doing it the normal way.

I hope this helps someone.

Today's gift for you is the Stamped Alpha I recently gave away, just in case you missed it.
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Two People Walk On The Water and freebie

Most people don't realize that TWO people have walked on the water, not just Jesus. We focus only on the fact that at some point after Jesus called Peter to come to Him on the water, Peter's faith grew weak and he began to sink, yet his faith was still strong enough to realize that Jesus could save him and he called out to Him for help. The fact we seem to always ignore is that he DID walk on water. Not one of the rest of us has had the faith to walk on water for even one step - but Peter did. Why on earth do we disrespect him so for sinking? Jesus can still save us today, He's worth seeking.Please support this blog by shopping my PayPal store. God bless you!Download here. Check out my TERMS OF USE here.The password is jesuschristislord.Digifree CraftCrave CraftCrave

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Delicate Floral Kit and a freebie

23 "Thus says the LORD, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; 24 but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD. " Jeremiah 9:23

There are 64 pieces to my Delicate Floral Kit, including 25 pages - enough to make a book! $4.99 in my PayPal store. Click the image to enlarge. Click "Buy It Now" button below to purchase it.
This two page layout was made with Delicate Floral, Glossy Frames, Meadow Life, Jasmine & My Favorite Things:

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Snowflakes Kit and a freebie

Everything snowflakes you could ever want is in this Snowflakes Kit. It has transparent snowflakes, delicately embroidered snowflakes, snowflake stamps, brushes, patterns, overlays, cards, papers, an alpha, borders, frames, patterned snowflakes, grungy snowflakes, embossed papers and more! 104 pieces - way more than can show in these previews in both grunge, subtle and bright and happy designs. Click the images to enlarge. Click the Buy It Now Button below the images to purchase from my PayPal Store for $5.99. Today I'm giving you an absolutely gorgeous card from this kit to try out. Enjoy it and come back for the kit!

String by Freebie uses background from Skelletalmess.

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