text:
Fola took a drag of his smoke, letting the euphoria wash over him in waves. He wasn't sure what was in the wrap his cousin handed him, but he was certain it was the best thing he had ever smoked in his life; all 23 years of it. He sat back in his chair as the world swirled around him; he had found peace at last. Hardly had the thought been fully formed in his head when the birds came flying out of nothingness, chirping happily like a scene from a Disney fairytale. He chuckled as they swerved around the room in unison singing happily and took another hit of his smoke for good measure.
The floor melted around him and he suddenly knew it all; the secrets of the universe. It was right there, at the front of his brain and he felt like he could grab it, but for some reason, it seemed out of reach. He was certain he had discovered the secrets of the universe, but what were they?
The room shimmered and disappeared, leaving him floating above an island. He was at peace, but there was also the discomfort of knowing secrets he did not know, yet knew. In his state, he could not know confusion, for all was well in the world; the sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and then there was the cool breeze from the ocean.
A fresh wave of pleasure danced across his brain and he sank deeper into it.
"Another one?" Dr Stella asked.
"Yes ma, it's our fifth case this week alone." The nurse replied, a small thin woman with large eyes and a bosom to match, clad in a white well pressed nurses' uniform.
"What on earth are they smoking?" Stella asked no one in particular, staring as the mad boy in restraints, smiling and shaking his head vigorously, was wheeled into the hospital.


text:
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Strange that nobody noticed
The background graphics are quite obviously broken in the top left corner! Strange that nobody reported this bug.
Anyway, I've fixed it now.
I've also been studying what the MCU does in that game, and the programmers made some interesting choices.
First of all, the MCU can return data stored in its internal ROM. This is done with short tables that are needed at the beginning of a level, and when you die. More interestingly, the text needed for the continue screen is stored there, and since you can't continue until level 8, it would take some time for a bootlegger to notice the problem. Even more interestingly, the endgame text is stored there, so one would have to play all the 101 levels to get to the protection.
Another wicked part of the MCU protection is that before action starts in a level, the game takes three bytes, performs complicated calculations on them to convert them into an 8-byte number passed to the MCU, and the MCU then performs more complicated calculations, recovers the original bytes and sends them back. A lot of work to essentially do nothing.
Finally, during the final level, the MCU is used to calculate and update the trajectory of the dragon's fireballs. Without the MCU, the dragon doesn't fire. I just have to wonder: why bother? How many people would have reached the final level in the arcades? And would bootleggers have bothered anyway? Figure some player going to the arcade owner and asking for her quarter back because the ending was too easy :)
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
Snowball effect
This was an interesting case of pieces falling into place rapidly one after another.
The first piece was the decryption of Calorie Kun, thanks to a decrypted bootleg which was recently found. This didn't look like a particolarly interesting breakthrough at the moment: the encryption algorythm was already known, the key would have been difficult to find by hand but with the reference of the bootleg it could be derived automatically in a few minutes - just the time to write a program.
This renewed my interest in the remaining Sega encrypted games that use this algorithm, in particular Gardia. David Widel revealed that he had decrypted a portion of it months ago, but got stuck and put aside the results without publishing them. Believe it or not, he decrypted most of the code by comparing it with My Hero - even if that's a completely different game, it shares a lot of almost identical code with Gardia.
The data David provided was very useful to get started. Another really useful coincidence was that we have two sets of Gardia (one supposedly being a bootleg, but still encrypted). The two sets are different versions, with code shifted by a few bytes in places. This is an ideal situation when decrypting games that use simple algorithms like this one. When you have decrypted a portion of code in one set, you can use it to decrypt the same portion of code in the other set; but this way you also automatically decrypt some more code in the second set, which is still encrypted in the first set, so you can go back to the first set and decrypt even more code, and so on - you slowly build up the two keys in parallel.
While I was doing this, I rapidly noticed that the key used by the second set for opcodes was identical to the one used by the first set for data. Shortly afterwards, I also noticed that the key used by the second set for data was identical to the one used by the first set for opcodes - just shifted by one byte.
At that point I was on the lookout; I have to admit that I didn't notice it immediately, but eventually I discovered that the keys were actually the same as Calorie Kun, apart from the shift. When I found that, I just copied the whole Calorie Kun keys and I was almost finished - Gardia booted but had some problems. I just had to find a few more bytes at the end of the key to fix them.
Space Position was the easiest of all. At that point I was almost sure it would have used the same key. I checked some bytes of the partial key I had manually derived years ago, matched them with the known key, copied over the data with the appropriate shift, launched the game, and it was already working, on the first try - apart from the emulation issues which Haze later fixed.
This completes the decryption of all currently known Sega games using the "easy" Z80 encryptions. Unfortunately there are a few encrypted Z80 games left, using the suicide MC8123 CPU, which might be lost forever: all boards using the CPU seem to be dead, and the key is just about impossible to find without an hardware attack.
Friday, April 22, 2005
Easier than expected
I have isolated the variations in just two numbers, a 16-bit one for the address scrambling and an 8-bit one (or two 4-bit ones) for the data bits permutation and xor.
Fine tuning the values to correctly decrypt data in Diet Go Go was easy enough.
Double Wings required a little more works, but it was still easy. I just needed to brute force the 16-bit parameter. Doing that was easy because I just had to decrypt the ROM using each possible value for the parameter, and count how many zeros were in the decrypted data. When their number rised from a couple of thousands to tens of thousand, I had a "good enough" value for the parameter, which I could later tweak by hand.
So, data was decrypted in all four games (the other one is Boogie Wings which decrypted with the same parameters as Pocket Gal Deluxe), but opcodes were still encrypted.
However, most of the work was already done. Even if the opcodes are encrypted differently from data, the address scrambling must of course be the same, otherwise there wouldn't be a 1:1 correlation between logical address and physical address. Therefore, only the data bits permutation and xor changes.
The obvious candidate for that variation was the 8-bit parameter. A brute force search was even easier in this case. I just had to try all possible values and count how many times 4E75 (the opcode for RTS) appeared. When it increased from a couple of times to several hundreds, I had the key.
So all four known games using this CPU (Pocket Gal Deluxe, Diet Go Go, Double Wings and Boogie Wings) should now be fully decrypted.
Non of them is working; for that, the driver will have to be finished, and possibly some more protection worked around. But the first hurdle has been overcome.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
It is now confirmed that the CPU is a 68000.
Thanks to the bootleg, I was able to figure out the decryption algorithm. It is quite straightforward, and it involves:
- Address scrambling. When the CPU wants to read a word from logical address N, it fetches it from ROM space at address N'. The scrambling of the address requires 16 conditional XORs with 16-bit values.
- Data bits permutation. After reading the word from ROM, the order of its bits is altered. There are 16 possible permutations; which one to use depends trivially on the logical address.
- Data XOR. After changing the bit order, the value is XORed with one of 16 other values. Which one to use depends trivially on the logical address.
While working on Pcket Gal Deluxe, I was hoping that the DE102 would use a fixed key, which would have emant free decryption of a few other games. Unfortunately, this turned out to not be the case. The algorithm surely is the same, but the key is different.
Determining the key without having a decrypted version to compare with is a lot more difficult, as you can imagine. Also, it seems that at least one of the other games encrypts data and opcodes differently, which makes things a lot more complicated.
In the next days, I'll see if I can find a way to break the key somehow.
Monday, April 11, 2005
Great Swordsman colors
It was hardly noticeable, because a manually crafted lookup table had been crafted in the driver, so colors looked ok.
Finally, thanks to Kold666's invaluable help, the emulation is now perfect.
As you can see in the shots, the difference is subtle but it's there. It is probably most evident on the pulsing logo, whose color changes are now slightly smoother.
The way how I achieved this is worth of mention. Kold kindly provided some pictures of the pcb (parts side and solder side). I x-flipped the solder side, overlapped them in a gfx editing program, and carefully aligned them so I could see both layers at once. Then started tracing from the color lookup PROM, to see what the board does with the data.
In the end, it turned out that the sprite palette data comes from a row of the character palette, the tricky part being that the order of the 4 bits coming out from the lookup PROM is reversed. This is something that could have been noticed before, but it always eluded me.
Sunday, April 10, 2005
Panic Road
This time I decrypted the graphics for Panic Road. The encryption is just a simple data and address lines swap, so it wasn't particularly hard to do - but it took some time nevertheless.
I don't have time to finish the driver, this will be a job for someone else.
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
How to dump a NMK004
The NMK004 cannot be dumped directly using the common methods, but the way it operates can probably be used to extract the internal ROM data in another way.
The external ROM contains data tables used to play the samples and music; but not only that, it contains pointers to those tables.
By changing those pointers, we can make the NMK004 use its internal ROM as if it was one of the external tables. In particular, this can be done with the table that contains the sample numbers to be played by the two OKI6295.
We can then log the commands sent by the NMK004 to the OKI6295, and this will allow us to determine which sample it is attempting to play - and therefore the value of the internal ROM byte it has just read.
So in theory there shouldn't be problems - unfortunately the hardware setup needed to get it all to work isn't trivial. But I'm confident that in due time it will be done.
Thursday, March 17, 2005
NMK004 update
All NMK004 games have sound, though in some of them it's better than in others. Mustang is possibly the worst one - I have doubts about the sound ROM being a bad dump.
There were a few major problems - music stopping shortly after starting, or games completely freezing MAME. I have found a bug in the loops handling which should have caused most of these problems. Here is the fix. It doesn't improve Mustang, though.
Sunday, March 13, 2005
Digital Fortress
I really don't have much time to read, as you can imagine working on MAME eats up most of my spare time. However I try to read something even if it means just a couple of pages per day.
I had read the bestseller The Da Vinci Code previously, and didn't feel any urge to read another book from the same author, especially after I noticed that all bookstores are now prominently displaying his previous works, which had went entirely unnoticed until the success of The Da Vinci Code.
Digital Fortress in particular was written in 1998. The publisher must have been unable to find any positive review to reprint on the back cover, because they resorted to quoting "Praise for The Da Vinci Code". However I was intrigued bu the theme of the book, which is cryptography - and I was able to borrow it from a friend, so I gave it a try :)
The problem with fiction is that you must be able to suspend disbelief to immerse in the story. This isn't easy if what is being thrown at you makes no sense at all. This was also a problem with The Da Vinci Code, of course, but not knowing much about art history it was easier to fool me. Mathematics is supposed to be my field, so fooling me gets a little bit harder.
Right at the beginning of the book, on page 29, the author introduces Julius Caesar as "the first code-writer in history", and talks about a "'perfect square' cipher box" he supposedly use. This is a transposition cipher, which consists of arranging the cleartext in a square and reading it by columns to get the ciphertext.
Well, I had never heard of this "Caesar's box" cipher. The encryption commonly associated with Caesar is the one called "Caesar's cipher", and it is a substitution cipher: replace every letter with the one k places after it in the alphabet, so e.g. A becomes D, B becomes E, and so on.
A transposition cipher similar to the one mentioned by Dan Brown was used in Sparta, a few centuries before Caesar's birth.
OK, never mind. After all, I might just be ignorant not knowing about the Caesar's Box. Unfortunately, on page 34 Dan Brown talks about public-key encryption, and what he says makes little sense.
The comment that modern codes are "computer-generated has functions that employed chaos theory and multiple symbolic alphabets" was also funny - it reminded me of this :)
Monday, March 07, 2005
Almost good enough
At this point, I'm more worried about the protection in some games than by the sound, which is coming along nicely.
It has to be said that this simulation I've written was mostly for personal education and for reference. I am 99% certain the the NMK004 internal ROM can be extracted, using a technique I thought of. Theoretically it's very simple, but the process will require some hardware work.
And of course, once the ROM is extracted, we'll have to see if it can be ran in MAME. It supposedly is a TLCS-90, which is one of the few CPUs not yet supported by MAME, so an emulator for that CPU would have to be written. Which would be a good thing because it would also allow to support Mahjong If and sound in Rapid Hero.
Having the simulation code available might help while writing the CPU emulator.
Sunday, March 06, 2005
The PSG part sounds quite good now. Only the FM part is missing...
The NMK004 state machine supports:
- Six FM channels; each pair of them shares one of the three YM2203 voices.
- Three PSG channels, each one using one of the PSG voices of the YM2203.
- Eight Effects channels, which can use the total eight voices provided by the two Oki M6295 to play sample-based sounds like drums (but they are also sometimes used to play effects not music related).
- Direct triggering of Oki M6295 samples (this is not strictly part of the state machine)
Current simulation status is as follows:
- Not done yet.
- Partially done. The state machine works and seems to play notes at the correct speed. However, the pitch of the notes is way off.
- Seems to be ok.
- Is mostly ok but there are some strange things here and there - difficult to say if it's a simulation error or just how it's supposed to be.
I am growing more and more convinced that the internal ROM of the NMK004 is the same in all games. A few of the games in the driver have additional protection issues, but at this point I don't think they are related to the NMK004.
Friday, March 04, 2005
Sounds Promising
The main command table and the sample tables are slightly different, and the music tables look very similar if not identical.
It would probably be possible to modify the Z80 program to use the different tables, but I think I'll take the longer route and rewrite the program in C - so I'll learn how a program like that works in detail, which can always be useful knowledge :)
Thursday, March 03, 2005
NMK Sound
Those games use an custom CPU, labelled "NMK004", to drive the sound. It is still not known what kind of CPU it is, what's known is that it has 8 or 16kB of internal ROM which cannot be directly dumped, and which contains the whole program. The external ROM only contains data.
I am convinced that that the program contained inside the NMK004 is either always the same, or it has minor difference to handle protection - but the format of the data in the external ROM is always the same.
What I'm trying to do at the moment is understand the format of the external data. I have started with the easy part, that is the Oki 6295 samples control. I have found the command table, and the mappingd from command to 6295 sample number. This allowed me to make the games play the correct samples at the correct time so e.g. in Vandyke I hear a "swoosh" when I swing the sword and a "uumph" when I jump. I still haven't understood all of the control bits, so it isn't perfect yet, but it's a good start for a night's work.
I'm hoping that other games that use a standard Z80 instead of the NMK004 will use similar logic to drive the sound (though I have already verified that they don't use the same data format as the NMK004).
Of course the YM2203 part will be much harder since it won't be just a matter of playinga few samples here and there, but I will have to fully understand how the data translates into music and drive the YM2203 accordingly. However there's nothing stopping it in principle, so I am confident that eventually I or someone else will be able to add full sound to these games.
Saturday, February 26, 2005
Child's Play
Thursday, February 24, 2005
Raiden Fighters Jet is the only one left. It uses a different encryption, which might be similar to the one used by Raiden Fighters 2 2000.
Almost Done
I still have many things to fix, especially for sprites with (tileno&0x4000) , but most of the work is done now.
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Getting There
There is still a lot to do. Part of it is simple and just requires trying various combinations until the correct one is found; I should be able to do it the next night I dedicate to the encryption. The rest is less simple and requires finding the remaining (and therefore less obvious) correlations between bits. However, the closer I get to the goal, the easier it is to see if a certain formula is correct or not.
Sprites are finally good enough to show a screen shot.
Sunday, February 20, 2005
13 1/2 done, 34 1/2 to go
Luckily, having decrypted Raiden Fighters 2 makes things easier because the first few sprites in Raiden Fighters are identical, so I can compare them and see where pixels should go. However, the process isn't easy because the SPI sprite encryption is quite more complex than the tile encryption. Of the 34 1/2 bits still left to do, 16 will be particularly hard because the encryption scrambles them more aggressively. The others shouldn't be too hard to do, given enough time and patience. I have plenty of the latter, but never enough of the former.
Sunday, February 13, 2005
First results
The game looks good now, though there are still some graphics issues - most notably priority and alpha blending. I will probably not look at those when I've finished with the decryption, leaving to someone else to finish the driver.
Saturday, February 12, 2005
And now comes the hard part
That should be significantly harder to fix than the tile encryption, I haven't even looked at the current algorithm yet so I haven't devised a strategy.
All RISE!
On the other side, however, it wasn't that easy because a couple of pixel didn't want to decrypt correctly. Eventually, it turned out to be a carry that wraps around from bit 23 to bit 0. Nasty!
So I have finished decrypting the tile graphics in all Seibu games. What I will have to do next is fix how the tiles are rendered on the screen in the RISE games, because currently the tilemap layers show garbage most of the time. The above shot is pretty much the only place without graphics errors (caused either by tile banking, or sprite encryption).
Friday, February 11, 2005
Yesterday I spent much of the night fixing the tile decryption for the RISE10 chip, which is used by Raiden Fighters 2. With the experience gained on the earlier version of the chip this was much easier, and I could fix most of the problems reasonably quickly. However, there was one bit in one layer that just didn't want to work.
The algorithm, now that it's understood, is really clean and simple, following intuitive patterns, but that bit didn't fit - to partially decrypt it, I had to use the wrong bits from the tile code, and pick a carry from the wrong bit of the encrypted data. It just didn't make sense.
I decided to leave it alone for the night, but literally a few seconds after turning off the monitor and going to bed, the obvious answer came to me: that bit had to belong to a different plane! I must have been fetching the encrypted data from the wrong place. And indeed, this morning I checked, and bit 16 of the source data was used twice, while bit 15 was not used at all. Fixing that was all that was needed to completely fix the tile graphics.
There aren't many screenshots that I can take because the driver also has problems selecting the tile bank (this is an emulation problem not related to the encryption). Plus of course, sprites are still not decrypted correctly.
I still have to decide what to do next - I could either look at the RISE11 encryption, used by Raiden Fighters Jet, which will be a bit more work than the others because the current driver only decrypts two of the six planes (for the other games, the decryption was already very close). However, now that I have a good understanding of the algorithm it shouldn't take long to do it, even starting from scratch.
The other thing I could do is fix the tile banking problems in Raiden Fighters 2. I haven't looked at the driver yet, it might be something simple.
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
SPI progress
This encryption is used by Senkyu, E-Jan High School, Viper Phase 1 and Raiden Fighters. I will look at the other versions of the tile encryption next. Sprites are harder to do and will be done last.
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Seibu SPI encryption
Most of the work has already been done on the tilemap layer, but there are some mistakes. I have understood while they are happening and already fixed one of them. It's clear how the algorithm works, it's a bitswap + arithmetic calculations (additions instead of simple XORs - this is not common). Replacing the lookup table with formulas and fixing the remaining bugs is just a matter of time and patience at this point.
Sunday, February 06, 2005
F3 sound
These games all use essentially the same sound program, with minor variations, which appears to be a generic MIDI player.
The hardware is capable of driving a large amount of ROM data - more than the ES5505 is capable of, so the ROMs are banked, in 4 or 8 banks depending on the player version. The ROMs are actually half the amount of banks, because every ROM contains two banks (apart a couple of exception games that use smaller ROMs).
At the beginning of each bank, the ROMs contain a standard header that the program reads on startup to see what samples are available. Therefore, the order how the ROMs are loaded isn't strict - if you swap two of them, the program will still know which one is which and play the correct samples anyway.
However, there's a catch. Most of the games have one ROM containing standard samples (the same in all the games that have them) and those samples are stored differently from the others (there is no header), so the program cannot recognize them. The program just expects those standard samples to always be stored in the last bank.
Discovering this was important to fix sound in a few games - for examples Space Invaders DX, which was missing music.
However, it still wasn't enough to fix all the problems. For some reason, ROMs loaded in bank #4 were not recognized properly, so they were ignored by the program. After some studying of the ROM detection function, I finally found the not-so-obvious cause.
Usually, 68000 programs have ROM starting from address 000000, because that's where the reset vector is located. This program, however, for some reason works differently, and ROM is located higher in memory while RAM is at 000000.
The 68000 also has a special instruction to move data in its address registers, called MOVEA. It is different from MOVE because a MOVE.W will just affect the bottom 16 bits of the destination register, while MOVEA.W will sign extend the result to 32 bits. Therefore,
will put #$00007FFF in A0, while
MoveA.W #$8000,A0
will put #$FFFF8000 in A0.
What was happening with the program was that the data read from the ROMs went to a buffer starting at around #$006000, and continuing onwards until it crossed the magic #$008000 boundary. When it did, the program would begin writing data at #$FF8000, but read it back from #$008000. This is what is called a "mirror address" - different addresses that map to the same chip on the board. The FF8000-FFFFFF area was mapped in the driver, but not as a mirror of 000000-00FFFF. Once that was fixed, the program started properly recognizing all of its ROMs.
I have checked all the games, looking at the ROMs to make sure they were in the order expected by the game, and playing them to look for obvious problems, and I couldn't find any, so now all of the F3 games should be sounding pretty good.
In the process, I also discovered that Quiz Theater was missing sound because of a bad ROM. I was able to partially repair it because most of the damage was in a portion which is common to other games, however there are still some parts missing so some sounds willnot play as they should. Ring Rage and Riding Fight still have no sound, however in this case I believe it's an emulation issue. Both of these games use a very old version of the sound program, possibly the earliest revision, so it might behave a little differently from the later ones.
Thursday, February 03, 2005
Universal, part 2
The interesting thing is what the main CPU sends it. It's not just 9 bytes as with the second CPU. It is 0x200 bytes, and it's the sprite data. So essentially what the third CPU does is sit there, wait for the sprite data from the main CPU, and pass it over to the video hardware.
Why couldn't the main CPU just send the data to the video hardware by itself? That's the difficult question. I haven't an answer yet.
Even the style of the schematics drawings is unique and instantly recognizable - albeit not the easist to follow.
There is a long standing problem with the games Mr. Do's Castle and Do! Run Run, where the dip switch settings are not read by the game. The problem has been reported to happen even on real boards, so it is probably a timing issue (small deviations from the nominal rates of the components could throw the timing off enough to break it). For now, we'll fix it in MAME by just changing the CPU clock rate by a small amount. Kind of black magic, but it works.
Anyway, while studying the schematics I finally understood one thing that had eluded me until now: how the CPU communication happens on the real board. The two CPUs exchange bursts of 9 bytes, but there is only a single bidirectional buffer between them. How could it possibly work? Well, the Universal designers took advantage of the Z80 WAIT input. When the main CPU reads or writes the buffer, the WAIT line is asserted, so the CPU is put on hold. When the sub CPU reads of writes the buffer, the WAIT line of the main CPU is cleared, thus making it resume execution. So when the main CPU writes to the buffer, it will put the data there and pause until the sub CPU has read it. When it reads the buffer, it will pause until the sub CPU has written data to it, and resume execution (reading that new data).
Very cheap and effective. However, I wouldn't want to fly on a plane that uses this technique. :)
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
I wish they were all like this...
One wonders why did they even bother to encrypt it, if it was so trivial to break (moreover, surely a PAL based encryption would have posed no problem for any bootlegger).
Anyway, I don't have time to write new drivers these days, so my job is done. Hopefully the hardware won't be difficult to figure out, so we'll soon be able to revive another nice and rare game (as I'm told).
Monday, January 31, 2005
Chain reaction
In this case, while looking at TNZS, I noticed that some games, e.g. Insector X and Plump Pop, were quite obviously running at 30 fps instead of the normal 60. This makes a lot of difference in the smoothness, strange that nobody ever noticed. Anyway, this was caused by missing support for sprite banking, a feature of the hardware which was already supported by seta.c (the games running in this driver use Seta custom chips). It's now fixed so Insector X looks better than ever :) The improved emulation also fixed the various gfx issues with Kabuki Z.
Sunday, January 30, 2005
Some bugs never die
There had been two bugs plaguing emulation of The New Zealand Story:
- A hanging bug, which would make the game simply stop, while music was still playing. This happened randomly at some key points, typically the end of a level when you touched the cage. This was caused by a bug in the original program (a RET NZ instead of RET Z), which would cause no apparent problem on the real hardware, but could be deadly in MAME.
This bug had been fixed for a long time, 0.91 contains a cleaner workaround but the behaviour is the same.
- A crashing bug, happening at different times in the three different versions of the game. For example, in the current main set, it would happen when the cannon-firing sheep was on the screen. This was caused by a known limitation in the MAME handling of banked ROM areas. It is not a big problem, and we know how to deal with it, and there was code in the driver to do that. Unfortunately, the code was copying the wrong data! It has been like this forever, and nobody ever noticed. But at last it has been discovered, so I can promise you, from 0.91u2 TNZS will no longer crash :)
Saturday, January 29, 2005
Kram is working!
An interested thing I found out when hooking up the tables in the driver is that for two-byte opcodes, only the first byte is encrypted, the second is unencrypted. This wasn't the case with the Konami-1 CPU, where both bytes are encrypted. Odd.
Reaching a brick wall
Manual decryption of the game, instead, is proceeding. I'm at about 80%, I think. The service menus are working, while the game is still booting to a black screen.
Friday, January 28, 2005
Kram hurdles
The manual decryption by comparison with the other sets is almost complete, CPU #2 is 100% while CPU #1 is maybe 75%. The code is different in a few places because this version doesn't have the MCU, and actually there seems to be a large chunk of code in the encrypted version that isn't in the others, so I might not be able to do a complete decryption if I don't break the encryption algorithm.
One interesting thing to note is that the code has been reassembled with a different assembler, which generates different (but equivalent) instructions in some cases. Here is an example:
not encrypted version:
D08D: CE B8 D3 LDU #$B8D3encrypted version:
D082: CE B8 D3 LDU #$B8D3the middle instruction does the same thing but with a different opcode.
Yesterday I verified that bytes at the same address are decrypted in the same way, and that in that case changing one bit in the encrypted value changes one bit in the decrypted value. Tomorrow I will try pairs of addresses only differing by one bit, and see if there is a similar regularity. From what I could see, however, I'm not very optimistic.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Kram progress
Not only that but, at a given address, if N bits change in the encrypted value, then N bits change in the decrypted value. This proves that the encryption consists of a bitswap and a xor.
That was the good news. The bad news is that the encryption changes with the address, and there isn't much data to analyze. For most addresses I have only one encrypted-decrypted pair, for a few I have two. There is no way to obtain more than what I have without physical access to the CPU.
Of course, since for now we have to assume that the encryption consists of a free bitswap + free xor, this means that given a single pair it could be decrypted correctly with any of 8! = 8*7*6*5*4*3*2*1 = 40320 different keys: just pick any of the 8! possible permutations of the bits, and then select the 8-bit xor that fixes the result.
What I need to do now is try to figure out the relation between address and key, which isn't obvious at the moment. The total possible keys are 8! * 2^8 = 10321920, which isn't too much. What I plan to do is check how many values are decrypted correctly by each one of them (or better, by a subset of them). If we are lucky, some keys will show a significantly better success rate, meaning they are "good" ones. If we are not lucky, it will mean that bitswap and xor are independently affected by the address.
Kram encryption
This is unusual because it's possibly the only time that Taito used encryption instead of MCU protection (off the top of my head, I can't think of any other encrypted Taito game). It is also a rare example of an encrypted 6809 game - again, the only other 6809 encrypted games that come to mind are the ones using the Konami-1 CPU.
I had looked at this encryption other times in the past, with no success. There probably isn't enough data to figure it out, but comparison with the other version of Kram will at least be enough to decrypt it, even if it will mean using a large hardcoded table - and who knows, in the process I might discover something new.
The encryption only works on opcodes, leaving data decrypted, which is good because you can easily align code from the encrypted and unencrypted versions of the game. Unlike the 68000, where everything that is fetched in the process of executing an instruction (plus PC-relative indirect memory accesess) is considered program space, and only memory accesses caused by an instuuction are considered data space, in the 6809 only the first byte of an instruction (the opcode itself) is encrypted, while the other bytes of a multibyte instruction are left unencrypted. This means that when comparing encrypted and decrypted blocks of code you have plenty of reference to align them perfectly.
The encrypted version of Kram should actually be almost identical to the other two, minus the MCU handling which isn't present in that version since it was protected in another way (Sega, anyone?). I should be able to do most of the decryption automatically and fill a couple of holes manually in the places that are different. Since both 6809 are encrypted, my hope is that they use the same encryption, so I might discover something more about it by comparing encrypted bytes at the same address on the two CPUs.
Fix one thing, discover another
Looking at the schematics surely was interesting, for example I discovered that the video ROM bank latch (which is a late addition only present in Zookeeper) is mapped on a mirror address of the diagnostic LED / palette bank latch. This explains why they oddly mapped the ROM banking bit on data bit 2, instead of the more obvious bit 0. That's because bits 0 and 1 are the ones that control the palette bank, and since the ROM bank latch is at a mirror address of the palette bank latch, whenver the former is written to, the latter is affected as well. So whenever the game wants to set the ROM bank, it also copies the palette bank in bits 0 and 1 to avoid unwanted side effects.
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
The driver is already very well written and documented, but I'm checking the schematics again to verify that everything is correct, then I'll try to fix the Electric Yo-Yo hang during attract mode.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Rocks-Off Fuzion Xchange (pleasure panel review)
Cara Sutra runs the pleasure panel, which you may have seen on twitter, where regular people like you and me get to review adult products for Cara's website.
The latest item that Cara selected for me to review was the brand new butt toy from Rocks Off. It's called the Rocks-Off Fuzion Xchange, and features both a butt plug and a prostate massager that are interchangeable with the power unit. It's a rather good idea if you ask m.
You can read the full review of the Rocks-Off Fuzion Xchange here.


text:
I managed to break my sales this year from the 2014 TLP X SAM Night Fest Market and reach new heights I never thought I could reach. This year's [Yokai] Project received such a great response! "Neko" Tees and the new "Okami" Tees were sold out. [Mortality] & [Blessings] Tees were also a great hit and sold out for that night. I truly feel so grateful to you guys.
With this, I'm pouring it back in to improve on my service, packaging and merchandise; I'm really excited to do so! Sarah Thursday can only surge on to be bigger & better with your support. Rest assured I'm not a spendthrift (ask my friends!), and all my earnings are saved for the future of this amazing dream I'm living and to constantly provide new merch for you guys.


text:
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
trees near runnels
first on the hill
ghosts of trees from ski years past
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
My photos are on the SayWA Site!
The Washington State Tourism's Experience Washington web site licensed some of my photos - my first paying gig as a photographer! The agency that designed and launched the web site found my work through Flickr. After many weeks of discussions and a round of contract negotiations,at least one of my photos is featured on the home page of the site, whereas the others are inside. What a thrill to see my photos on the live SayWA site! And, in other good news, I have another photo going into a gallery expo later this May. More about this later.....
Posted by seawallrunner on Wednesday, April 19, 2006 1 comments
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
there's always a way out
Posted by seawallrunner on Tuesday, April 11, 2006 1 comments
Sunday, April 09, 2006
maybe a reflection... maybe not
Posted by seawallrunner on Sunday, April 09, 2006 0 comments
my wandering ways
Posted by seawallrunner on Sunday, April 09, 2006 0 comments


text:
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)(Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Tachylite (also spelled tachylyte) is a form of basaltic volcanic glass. This glass is formed naturally by the rapid cooling of molten basalt. It is a type of mafic igneous rock that is decomposable by acids and readily fusible. The color is a black or dark-brown, and it has a greasy-looking, resinous luster. It is very brittle and occurs in dikes, veins and intrusive masses. The word originates from the Ancient Greek takhus meaning swift.
Tachylites have the appearance of pitch and are often more or less vesicular and sometimes spherulitic. They are very brittle and break down readily under a hammer. Small crystals of feldspar or olivine are sometimes visible in them with the unaided eye. All tachylites weather rather easily and by oxidation of their iron become dark brown or red. Three modes of occurrence characterize this rock. In all cases they are found under conditions which imply rapid cooling, but they are much less common than acid volcanic glasses (or obsidians), the reason being apparently that the basic rocks have a stronger tendency to crystallize, partly because they are more liquid and the molecules have more freedom to arrange themselves in crystalline order.
Geographic occurrences[edit]
Scoria sources[edit]
The fine scoria ashes or "cinders" thrown out by basaltic volcanoes are often spongy masses of tachylite with only a few larger crystals or phenocrysts imbedded in black glass. Such tachylite volcanic bombs and scoria are frequent in Iceland, Auvergne, Stromboli and Etna, and are very common also in the ash beds or tuffs of older date, such as occur in Skye, Midlothian and Fife, Derbyshire, and elsewhere. Basic pumices of this kind are exceedingly widespread on the bottom of the sea, either dispersed in the pelagic red clay and other deposits or forming layers coated with oxides of manganese precipitated on them from the sea water. These tachylite fragments, which are usually much decomposed by the oxidation and hydration of their ferrous compounds, have taken on a dark red color. This altered basic glass is known as "palagonite"; concentric bands of it often surround kernels of unaltered tachylite, and are so soft that they are easily cut with a knife. In the palagonite the minerals are also decomposed and are represented only by pseudomorphs. The fresh tachylite glass, however, often contains lozenge-shaped crystals of plagioclase feldspar and small prisms of augite and olivine, but all these minerals very frequently occur mainly as microlites or as beautiful skeletal growths with sharply-pointed corners or ramifying processes. Palagonite tuffs are found also among the older volcanic rocks. In Iceland a broad stretch of these rocks, described as "the palagonite formation," is said to cross the island from south-west to north-east. Some of these tuffs are fossiliferous; others are intercalated with glacial deposits. The lavas with which they occur are mostly olivine-basalts. Palagonite tuffs are found in Sicily, the Eifel, Hungary, Canary Islands, and other places.
Lava flow sources[edit]
A second mode of occurrence of tachylite is in the form of lava flows. Basaltic rocks often contain a small amount of glassy ground-mass, and in the limburgites this becomes more important and conspicuous, but vitreous types are far less common in these than in the acid lavas. In the Hawaiian Islands, however, the volcanoes have poured out vast floods of black basalt, containing feldspar, augite, olivine, and iron ores in a black glassy base. They are highly liquid when discharged, and the rapid cooling that ensues on their emergence to the air prevents crystallization taking place completely. Many of them are spongy or vesicular, and their upper surfaces are often exceedingly rough and jagged, while at other times they assume rounded wave-like forms on solidification. Great caves are found where the crust has solidified and the liquid interior has subsequently flowed away, and stalactites and stalagmites of black tachylite adorn the roofs and floors. On section these growths show usually a central cavity enclosed by walls of dark brown glass in which skeletons and microliths of augite, olivine and feldspar lie imbedded. From the crater of Mt. Kilauea, thin clouds of steam rise constantly, and as the bubbles of vapor are liberated from the molten rock they carry into the air with them thin fibers of basalt that solidify at once and assume the form of tachylite threads. Under the microscope they prove to be nearly completely glassy with small circular air vesicles sometimes drawn out to long tubes. Only in the Hawaiian Islands are glassy basaltic lavas of this kind at all common.[1] A small outcrop at Spring Hill in Victoria, Australia[2] has tachylite which has been exploited as a material for making Aboriginal flaked stone implements.[3]
Dike and sill sources[edit]
A third mode of occurrence of tachylite is as the margins and thin offshoots of dikes or sills of basalt and diabase. They are sometimes only a fraction of an inch in thickness, resembling a thin layer of pitch or tar on the edge of a crystalline diabase dike, but veins several inches thick are sometimes found. In these situations tachylite is rarely vesicular, but it often shows very pronounced fluxion banding accentuated by the presence of rows of spherulites that are visible as dark brown rounded spots. The spherulites have a distinct radiate structure and sometimes exhibit zones of varying color. The non-spherulitic glassy portion is sometimes perlitic, and these rocks are always brittle. Common crystals are olivine, augite and feldspar, with swarms of minute dusty black grains of magnetite. At the extreme edges the glass is often perfectly free from crystalline products, but it merges rapidly into the ordinary crystalline diabase, which in a very short distance may contain no vitreous base whatever. The spherulites may form the greater part of the mass, they may be a quarter of an inch in diameter and are occasionally much larger than this. These coarsely spherulitic rocks pass over into the variolites by increasing coarseness in the fibers of their spherulites, which soon become recognizable as needles of feldspar or feathery growths of augite. The ultimate product of decomposition in this case also is a red palagonitic substance, but owing to the absence of steam cavities the tachylite selvages of dikes are more often found in a fresh state than the basic lapilli in ash-beds. Many occurrences of basaltic pitchstones have been reported from Skye, Mull, and the western part of Scotland; they are found also in connection with the intrusive diabase sills in the north of England and the center of Scotland. In the Saar district of Germany similar rocks occur, some of which have been described as weisselbergites (from Weisselberg).
Other localities for tachylites of this group are New Providence, Silesia and Sweden.
See also[edit]
- ^ KILAUEA VOLCANO (MT. KILAUEA), James St. John, OSU-Newark, Geology
- ^ 'Unusual Newer Volcanics trachyandesite cones in the Gisborne-Woodend and Kyneton-Trentham areas'
- ^ Clark, V. 2004. Calder Highway Kyneton to Faraday: Sub-surface Archaeological Investigations for Aboriginal Cultural Heritage in Sensitive Areas PAS1, SA1, SA4 and at Site AAV7723-0125, Near Malmsbury, Victoria. Report to VicRoads
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Flett, John S. (1911). "Tachylytes". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 344–345.


text: The contents of this site are for information purposes only, and represent the personal views of the authors. It is not intended in any way as a recommendation to trade, nor does it construe advice whether to buy or sell. No responsibility can be held arising from any loss following consideration of this information.


text:
Competitor's Creed from FCA on Vimeo.
"How can I get more involved?"
FCA Softball needs eager and faithful servants, just like you, to help impact the Softball world for Christ. If you would like more information on how you can help, simply fill out the form below. Be sure to include your location and particular service interests or talents (outreach, fundraising, etc).
"I'd like to do some DEVOTIONALS with my team. Where can I find good, sports-related material?"
Devotionals are a GREAT way to start a tournament, end a practice, or just provide some solid team-bonding. You can find TONS of sports-related devotionals here.
"I'd like to do some BIBLE STUDIES with my team. Where can I find good, sports-related material?"
Like devotionals, Bible studies provide awesome team-bonding experiences. They are usually a little longer and more in-depth than devotionals. Think of them as spiritual workouts! You can find TONS of sports-related Bible studies here.
© Copyright 2020, FCA Softball. All Rights Reserved. Login. Site Map.


text:
Head out to the Nautical Mile for some fun, sun and great food this season! It's the perfect time of year to sit waterside and enjoy a dinner while watching the sunset. Bring some friends or a special loved one and cheers to the warm weather! As you walk Woodcleft Avenue you'll pass plenty of restaurants. But All Island Transportation knows exactly where to find some of the best restaurants on the Nautical Mile.
Restaurants on the Nautical Mile
E.B. Elliot's
You can't miss E.B. Elliot's Waterfront Dining & Bar as you walk down the Nautical Mile. The two story restaurant and outdoor patio and bar is as inviting as the aroma of food coming from the restaurant. E.B. Elliot's incorporates a wide variety of American cuisine and fresh and local seafood. E.B. Elliot's offers live music on weekends, open mic on Wednesdays and The Witches Brew every Thursday.
Hudsons on the Mile
If you're looking for pure summer fun, look no further than Hudsons on the Mile. This restaurant and bar has great food, drinks and music. Hudsons specializes in seafood specialties like Pan Seared Salmon and their popular Seafood Fra'Diavolo. Make sure you stop by for their summer special, Rock Lobster Tuesdays. Have a delicious dinner then head to the back bar where live bands perform on stage.
River House Grille
River House Grille is located directly on the water with outdoor seating, in both the front and on the canal. It's a dockside restaurant with perfected dishes, such as steak, seafood and pastas. River House Grille is a neighborhood fixture of restaurants on the Nautical Mile. This restaurant isn't just known for their food, River House Grille has great bands perform every week. Whether you're looking to dance or enjoy a meal, River House Grille is the place.
Nautilus Café
You might have guessed it, right on the Nautical Mile there's another seafood restaurant just as delicious as the others. It's Nautilus Café, a staple of the mile. Bring your significant other for a night of simplicity yet elegance. The waterside restaurant brings out authentic nautical features including scenic wood paneling and an old fashioned bar. You'll find fresh seafood, including lobster claws the size of a plate and try the daily homemade soups and chowders.
Hurricane Harry's
This restaurant guarantees good times. Hurricane Harry's on the Mile is casual and fun for both adults and kids. Their raw bar serves fresh little neck clams, oysters and sushi. While enjoying this fare, check out the great live music on the patio. Performers playing top 40 hits, jazz, reggae, calypso, classics and more will have you dancing in no time. And with a name like Hurricane Harry's, you're sure to get some great drinks!
Grab your flip flops and sunglasses and head out to the Nautical Mile. Many come by boat, but All Island Transportation can get you there too! Call us at a location near you or make a reservation online and enjoy the fresh air and seafood!


text:
What to Wear with White Pants
May 10, 2014 | Fashion | No Comments|
White pants are super chic and stylish but wearing them and keeping them clean and crisp all day can be a bit of a challenge. White pants are super versatile. They're sure to go well with anything and everything in your wardrobe. It's the perfect thing to wear if you have a top that's bold and loud with colors and prints as it will surely make it pop. it's also great if you want to pull off the minimalist fashion trend. Check out these outfit ideas on what to wear with white pants.
- Chambray shirt – this outfit combination is simple but it's fool-proof and it's very easy to pull off as well. it's perfect for casual wear or if you want to achieve a polished street style look. It has a crisp, summery feel to it but it sure will fit well into your spring wardrobe just as well.
- Crop top – crop tops tend to always give you a casual / street style kind of look but if you want to look posh and elegant, simply pair it with white pants and see how the latter can instantly transform your crop top into a sexy but classy piece.
- Black – the combination of black and white is such a classic and timeless one and if you're unsure about what to wear with white pants, anything black is always a great go-to piece to match your white pants with. Black and white gives off a sleek and chic look that anyone can surely use every now and then.
- Bright colors – a great way to make a chic statement with white pants is to pair it with bright colors like red, teal, yellow and the like. White makes the bright color that's paired with it pop and really stand out and it makes the color look more vibrant and intense. For a springtime appropriate look, try wearing your white pants with neon colors.
- White – white monochromatic outfits always look sophisticated and elegant. To keep your white monochromatic outfit from looking boring, play with textures. Mix and match different kinds of fabric to get an interesting texture combo that will keep your monochromatic outfit interesting.
- Neutrals – if you want to get in on the minimalist fashion trend, a pair of white pants is the perfect piece to get started with. Simply pair your white pants with a few neutral pieces to create a simple and fuss free look that is the minimalistic style.
- Prints – another way to create a fashion statement with white pants is to wear them with pieces that feature chic / interesting prints or patterns. White makes such a great backdrop for showcasing amazing prints and patterns so they really stand out and shine.
- Lace – if you want to go with a full on feminine look, try wearing your white pants with a lacy top. it's a romantic outfit combination that you can wear to a daytime date with your man or to an outdoor spring / summer wedding. You can also wear this on days when you simply want to feel dainty and girly.


text:
I've got a mini farmer squid tending to my veggie patch out on the balcony, and he was pretty excited to show me the first little strawberries of the year are starting to grow. Its the first time I've tried growing strawberries, so I'm pretty happy to see those little fellas sprouting already. Has anyone else grown these before? Got any tips?
Archive for July, 2010
Farmer squid spots some babies!Sunday, July 18th, 2010
Slam MagazineFriday, July 16th, 2010
Heres an illustration I did for Slam Magazine (issue 170) last month. It was about a guy (Dom Kekich) who had a bobcat push him down the Nirto Circus mega ramp in one of those giant Zorb balls. Only problem was the bobcat punctured the ball and snapped his leg! Poor dude, sounds super painful, hope hes made a full recovery.
Alibi RoomMonday, July 5th, 2010
After having spent the last few months behind my computer screen animating, I jumped at the chance to do some actual painting today at a local bar (the Alibi Room, New Farm). Now I know I've got a long way to go with using aerosols, but I figured this space was a pretty good one to try my hand at them again. The colours that flow out of a can (I was using Ironlak and Kingz Cans paint today) seem to be some much more intense and vibrant than anything that comes from a tube. The down side was that my wrist really didn't enjoy it. I've been battling tendonitis in my right wrist since Christmas (probably a lot longer really) and today really gave it a beating. I was pretty happy with how it all turned out and I look forward to playing around with cans some more, just as soon as my wrist permits it.
Sunday DrivingSunday, July 4th, 2010
Heres a little animation I was playing around with today in Flash.


text:
Serving Greater Boston, Georgetown, Beverly, Andover, Danvers, Ipswich
Chain link fencing: Temporary chain link fence is an affordable solution if you're looking for fast installation and an effective barrier.
Keeping your job site secure and enclosed can be a challenge, and temporary fencing is the best solution for your problem. Patriot Fence Crafters can install temporary fencing to secure your construction site or provide crowd control for your special event.
We offer cost-effective fencing that allows for fast installation and removal while providing a sturdy barrier. We install a wide range of temporary fence options including in-ground chain link fence, free-standing fence panels, barricades, and gates. Our specialists will help you choose the best solution for your needs.
Call us today at 1-855-236-0978 to discuss your project with one of our specialists and we will provide you with a custom quote. We are your expert fence company in Andover, Beverly, Danvers and nearby areas.
"You have done a great job and we will be calling again…" Read Full Testimonial
"You guys do a great job and I was very happy with the results... Couldn't ask for more." Read Full Testimonial
When you rent a temporary fence from Patriot Fence Crafters, our service includes delivery, installation, and removal. We also have temporary fencing solutions available for purchase, along with fence supplies including feet, couplers, gate wheels, safety mesh, bracing, post caps, and more. We have the solution for every fencing problem you have, and our experts will make sure you get exactly what you need.
Call us or fill out our online contact form to request an estimate for temporary fence installation or rental. We provide commercial fencing solutions in Lynn, Ipswich, Manchester, Marblehead, Lynnfield and many surrounding towns and cities.
Looking for a price? Get a no cost, no obligation free estimate.
our service area


text:
Yesterday was a crazy day for all the Nintendo Switch fans. The launch of a new console is always a big thing, and social media got submerged by BigN fans showing their joy of having the new system. Once again, Nintendo is taking the gaming industry a step further by introducing new ways to play.
Both Xbox & PlayStation were of course looking at this launch, how people reacted to an hybrid console and if this is going to be a revelation for their future strategies. But aside from that, both showed the "good game" face on Twitter and congratulated Nintendo on this big achievement. Of course, the Xbox and PlayStation teams will get their hands on the Nintendo Switch. As always, it's not a war here, the common goal is to create fun stuff!
.@NintendoAmerica It's not every day you get to throw the #Switch on a new console. Congrats! #NintendoSwitch @Nintendo pic.twitter.com/d0JNCCM6Wd
— Xbox (@Xbox) March 3, 2017
Today's a big day for @Nintendo! Congratulations on launch, we can't wait to play. 💙
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) March 3, 2017


text: A story as unique as yours deserves dramatic flair served up with a few unexpected details. Let our wedding venue in Mountain Brook take your story beyond the ordinary, transforming one of the most anticipated days of your life into a timeless memory. This is your moment—bring it to life with an inspiring backdrop that sets the stage for a day that's not only beautiful, but beyond what you have ever imagined.


text:
We're bringing the Food52 community a little bit closer by sharing your food stories. Want to contribute? Send it to us at [email protected]
Today: Food52 Head Recipe Tester Stephanie Bourgeois sounds off on why science is cool -- and why food science is even cooler.
Everyone talks about memories of cooking family recipes with mom, memorable meals with their family, or culinary adventures on exotic travels. But while food can certainly be the tie that binds, there is so much more to it. For me, food has an incredible ability to express the magic of the world through science.
These days chefs can play with the flavor, texture, and temperature of food by using unconventional, science-based methods. Molecular gastronomy sounds like something that requires a PhD, but I like to think I was a forerunner in the field, paving the way for careful, scientific experimenting with my fifth grade science fair project about cupcakes.
More: Into food science miracles too? We think you'll like this chocolate mousse.
Science fairs everywhere are filled with the standard projects designed to demonstrate that hot air rises and that mixing vinegar and baking soda produces a gas. I didn't want to do something that kids had been doing for decades. I didn't really care about any of those projects, but, like most kids, I did care about cupcakes and cookies. My teacher suggested that I do a project about baking.
Maybe science fair projects usually didn't involve cooking, but the marriage of science and cooking is, and was, not at all strange: Cooking and baking are chemical transformations for food.
To design the experiment, I had to start with a question. I had lots of questions about cupcakes. Did chocolate and vanilla take different times to bake? Was there a difference in the taste of store-bought, cake mix, and homemade cupcakes? What happened if you didn't follow the recipe correctly? The cake mix package said to mix for four minutes. I wondered what would happen if I mixed for only one minute. For six minutes? I had found my question: "Will variable mixing time affect the height of cupcakes?"
The research and hypothesis came next. There weren't many books about the science of baking or even cookbooks in my elementary school library, so I ran with my intuition: The longer the mixing time, the more air incorporated into the batter, the higher the cupcakes would be.
Of course, there were variables to consider. I had to control the ingredients, the baking temperature, and the mixing technique of the cupcakes. Essentially I had to follow a recipe. Suddenly, the simplicity and beauty of a well-designed experiment was clear: Controlling variables meant that you could get the same results every time, just like with a recipe. And if you changed one thing, you knew that any differences in your end results could be attributed to that one thing. You could mess around with whatever you wanted -- and discover amazing things.
More: Crazy about cupcakes? So are we.
I did my experiment in the teacher's lounge -- the one place in the school with an oven. It was terrifying. I could feel teachers staring at me as I mixed my chocolate cake mixes, carefully timing myself with a stopwatch. Perhaps they thought I had lost my mind; perhaps they were just attracted by the aroma of cupcakes baking.
I went through my carefully-designed procedure, taking fastidious notes and observations as I baked trial after trial of cupcakes. I meticulously measured the height by inserting a wooden skewer straight through to the bottom of the cupcake, marking the top of the skewer, pulling it out, and measuring the length from bottom of skewer to the mark with a ruler. I used the same ruler every time. The teachers and I loosened up after we started to eat the results.
Once I had all my data, I compiled the results and did calculations of average height across different mixing times. The results were conclusive: The longer mixing times resulted in cupcakes with greater height.
Naturally, I made a giant, fold-out poster board with a decorative cupcake border for the results. It had lots of photos of cupcakes cut open and laying next to a ruler. I made colorful graphs of mixing time versus height.
Putting science in the kitchen taught me that really, it's all about adventure and discovery. Experiments are just playing with things so that you can figure them out -- just like cooking. It's like trying a new recipe, or throwing a bit of this and a bit of that together to see what you get. Science makes the controls and measurement more explicit, but chefs do the same thing with their recipes. As I came to learn, kitchens are really just laboratories with more delicious results.
See what other Food52 readers are saying.


text:
- Home
- Shop
- Stationery
- Encouragement
- Keep On Stepping No Matter What
Product Description
Sometimes it's a song, a storyline in a movie, or a sermon on Sunday morning. From time to time we all need to hear the message loud and clear, "keep it moving".
Includes 4x6 note card (s) & matching envelope (s) and is printed on 130 lb. Natural White Paper.


text:
REVIEW: Golden Plains – March 12th-14th, Meredith Supernatural Ampitheatre
The Meredith Supernatural Ampitheatre
I attended last year's Golden Plains festival on a whim. I knew a few people who were going, the line-up looked intriguing, and the last wave of tickets had just been released. It was one of the best spontaneous decisions I've ever made; Golden Plains 2010 was hands down the best music festival I've ever attended.
This, of course, meant that I had pretty high expectations for Golden Plains 2011 – and even though it didn't quite live up to the standards of last year's festival, it was still pretty damn awesome.
We camped in Hong Kong – nice and close to the action
For most of Saturday afternoon, I sat myself under a tree in front of the stage, with a good book and some cider. Before the music started there was a game of cricket, which anyone was welcome to take part in. This is just one example of the friendly and laid-back Golden Plains atmosphere.
The music began at 2pm, with some nondescript rock. None of the acts really stood out until Justin Townes Earle took the stage. There's nothing wrong with a bit of country music, especially when the musician providing said sounds is rather attractive and decides to remove his shirt – prompting many of the female punters to raise their shoes in the air. Yes, Justin Townes Earle was the first act of the festival to receive The Boot [a Golden Plains tradition involving holding your shoe in the air during the act that you perceive to be the best of the festival].
Later in the evening, after sampling some food and trying my first ever Pink Flamingo cocktail at the infamous bar of the same name, I dragged a friend into the crowd for The Hold Steady. He'd never heard them before, but was quick to announce that they were "like Weezer, but less shit." They put on a great performance, with the setlist varying from their HiFi show the night before. I fought my way towards the front at one point, only to discover that everyone in the moshpit was ridiculously tall. After being accidentally bashed in the head [twice], I realised the error in my ways and moved back to safer ground.
Although I would have loved to keep partying on all through the night, I was quite exhausted by this point, so I decided to retire back to the tent, and listen to Wavves from the comfort of my sleeping bag.
The lovely Miss Flavia Browne
On Sunday, Flavia and I enjoyed Jerry's famous vegie burgers, while Graveyard Train charmed their audience with lines such as "I was bitten by a dog, and now I think I'm a dog", and songs about how we're all going to die. The two of us headed down the front for Boy & Bear, whose cover of "Fall at Your Feet" was breathtaking.
The Middle East were quite bland, but The Besnard Lakes, who played after them, had an excellent reaction from the crowd, and were rather confused s to why people were waving shoes at them.
Pulled Apart by Horses' set was a surprising highlight, not so much for their music, but their on-stage banter, featuring lines such as: "Let's shit on sawdust!" [about the compost toilets], "This song is about being punched by a gypsy!" and "You all smell like a bunch of rapists!".
I'm not too big a fan of Best Coast's music, but it was absolutely adorable when Bethany invited a little girl from the side of the stage to dance and sing with her.
Sunday afternoon in the sun
Rangapalooza took place on Sunday afternoon, by the red tree. All the redheads at the festival gathered together and sang songs such as "I See Red". It was quite a bizarre spectacle, but good fun [even though they almost shunned me for my unnatural colour].
Everyone went wild for Belle & Sebastian; people were dancing and singing along and holding their shoes above their heads. It was beautiful, particularly when they played "The Boy with the Arab Strap".
I retired back to the tent after Architecture in Helsinki, exhausted once more. I wish I'd had the stamina to stay up all night [the music continued until 6am], but I was utterly exhausted.
And then it was all over. Only a little bit of rain, and a tiny bit of sunburn. Monday morning, it was time to go home. But that's okay, because I'll be back to do it all again next year.


text:
No Desire for Poison
Wow it is end of January already! What about the new year's resolutions? Did you make any or have they already been accomplished? Last year research reported that alcohol causes cancer, did you hear that? It seems to me that eliminating alcohol from our lifestyle would be the immediate response. If research has found the reason for cancer then great, let's follow the advice and avoid its usage. Just think there is no longer a need to fund cancer research so that means no more fundraising runs, walks or polar bear events to earn money for cancer research. We also learned how dangerous sugar is to our health from another piece of research that brought this to our attention.
Ever wonder what it is about the alcohol that causes the cancer? I think it is the fermentation process which involves sugar and a fruit or grain to react to make the alcohol and its flavours. The fermentation process is really one of rotting or souring a normal food. The body does not deal well with fermented foods because of the breakdown of its molecular structure. Sugar is considered a poison as is alcohol, that's a double hit on the body. It directly attacks the frontal lobe altering one's ability to think clearly and impairs the judgment plus all the rest of the body.
Alcohol affects how we communicate with each other in a detrimental way. I teach anger management classes and the majority of people in attendance had been using alcohol at the time of their arrest and being charged. If alcohol played no role in the incident they probably would not have been charged or have to attend an anger management class, which the court or a lawyer recommends.
As a Registered Psychotherapist, addiction counsellor and Registered Practical Nurse I know that obtaining a correct diagnosis is difficult because alcohol and drugs mimic each other's symptoms. Some eventually are diagnosed with a dual diagnosis meaning they have an addiction and a mental illness. The professional argument of whether a mental illness or an addiction comes first has been ongoing. Abstaining from drugs and alcohol helps professional make the correct mental illness diagnosis.
Let 2017 be a turning point in your life, free of alcoholic beverages and drugs. Remember, if you do not buy it you will not drink it or use it. Choose to save your money for a better use and send all the sellers of mind altering substances a very clear message that there is no demand for poison in our society.Leave a reply


text:
In this video Tom Lewis of Sony Med LLC discusses non-toxic cancer therapy using chlorophyll and ultrasound. Edited by Ashraf
Channels: Others
Tags: chlorophyll and ultrasound in cancer therapy
Uploaded by: Edison ( Send Message ) on 13-11-2010. Dnatube suggest users to have interest in drug testing, mesothelioma, insurance, medical lawyers.
Duration: 6m 23s


text:
Tyler, Tex.
LAST week, Teresa Braziel bought her "first Greenberg of the season," a nine-pound turkey, nestled in a white cardboard box, printed with the slogan "The Holiday Aristocrat."
Like many residents of this 100,000-person city in the piney woods of Texas near the Louisiana line, she claimed her spice-rubbed and hickory-burnished bird from the front counter at the Greenberg Smoked Turkey headquarters, a squat complex of interconnected cinder block and sheet metal buildings, shrouded in a seemingly perpetual shawl of gray-green smoke.
"This is my nibbling turkey," Ms. Braziel said. "We'll eat on this one — turkey and mustard with crackers, turkey salad, turkey chili — while we get ready for the parties." In the coming weeks, she will buy three more, for a holiday open house, for Thanksgiving and for Christmas. And she will ship 20 more to friends in Dallas, Houston and beyond.
Greenberg Smoked Turkey, founded in 1938 by Samuel Isaac Greenberg and now run by his grandson Sam Greenberg, will sell about 20,000 turkeys to walk-in customers this season, priced at a little more than $4 a pound. Beginning on Monday of Thanksgiving week, a line will snake down the street and into the working-class neighborhood that surrounds the plant. To alleviate parking squabbles, Greenberg employees will shuttle customers about in golf carts.
For an independent producer that has built a reputation on pit-cooked poultry and personalized service, that may seem like a lot of turkeys to smoke and a lot of logistics to manage. But local sales are just the tip of the wing.
By the time Sam Greenberg closes for the holiday season on Dec. 24 and hands each of his 200 employees a free bird, more than 200,000 turkeys will have emerged from the company's 20 brick-lined, hardwood-fired pit houses. Packed frozen, they thaw in transit and land two to three days later on doorsteps across the nation.
From New York to California, customers — some of whom claim three and four generations of patronage — will build family meals around Greenberg turkeys that, thanks to a daylong swirl in smoke, deliver the succulence that eludes most holiday cooks.
Samuel Isaac Greenberg was 17 in 1903 when he came to the United States as a Jewish immigrant from Poland. Disembarking in Galveston, Tex., he made his way north to Tyler at the invitation of the congregation Ahavath Achim. According to Hollace Ava Weiner, an author of the book "Lone Stars of David: The Jews of Texas," he was recruited to serve as a religious leader.
As the hazan, he led prayers and chanted from the Torah, Ms. Weiner said. As the mohel, he circumcised male babies. And as the shochet, he butchered animals, including geese and turkeys, following Jewish rituals.
By the 1930s, when Tyler boasted more than one shochet, Samuel Greenberg was selling smoked kosher turkeys to Jews and non-Jews alike.
He rubbed those birds with a spice mix attributed to his mother, Jennie Greenberg. Working in a metal shebang with a sand-covered floor, tucked in a back corner of his milking barn, Greenberg and Elva Cole, a black colleague who probably stoked the pits, hung the turkeys from a nested pair of ceiling-mounted wagon wheels and smoked them over hickory logs.
Few records of the early days of the business remain. But every Greenberg tells the story of the six turkeys ordered in 1938 by a Dallas customer. Purchases were traditionally picked up on the farm, so they had to figure out how to get the turkeys to Dallas, about 100 miles west. Zelick Greenberg, a son of Samuel, packed the turkeys in a candy store box, added straw for cushioning, and shipped them by rail from Tyler.
Word of Samuel and Zelick Greenberg's work spread by mouth. And by rail. And soon by mail. The birds that arrived on the other end were not typical smoked turkeys. "What my father did was not a casual smoke," said Sam Greenberg, a ruddy-faced 52-year-old, who may never have met a stranger.
"Those turkeys weren't honey-colored, they were really, truly smoked," Mr. Greenberg said, his voice rising to a shout, as if an increase in volume could convey the intensity of the charred hickory fog that permeates his family's turkeys, rendering the birds a color best described as burnt umber with a black licorice wash.
"There is no magic here, just hard work," Mr. Greenberg said, as he stepped down into the rectangular shed where Tony Wallace, a 27-year veteran of the company, loaded hickory logs in one of the three rolling fire boxes that fuel each of the 20 pit houses. (A typical East Texas barbecue man must stoop to fire a pit with a long-handled shovel. Here, pit masters like Mr. Wallace push webbed iron conveyances, loaded with smoldering coals, back and forth on an ingenious track-mounted system devised in the 1950s by Zelick Greenberg.)
Like many East Texas pit masters, Mr. Wallace is black. And like many who work at Greenberg, he is a seasonal employee. During the nine months when the pits are not in regular use, he does carpentry work. Ray Wallace, his brother, an eight-year veteran, drives a dump truck in the off-season.
In Tyler, jobs with Greenberg are hard won. Despite the fractured nature of employment, the company boasts two staff members who began working at the plant before Sam Greenberg was born. The Greenberg approach runs contrary to the heritage poultry movement of the last decade. "I buy the same birds you would buy in a grocery store," Mr. Greenberg said. As a smile creased his face, he claimed never to have heard of heritage turkeys, the much-fetishized breeds rescued from the agricultural past, that live cage free and promise, when roasted, a more robust flavor than a typical grocery store bird.
"You don't want a scrawny, long-legged bird on your Thanksgiving table," said Mr. Greenberg, seated in his office behind a one-way mirror that faces a call center bullpen where, at the peak of the season, 40 or more operators swivel beneath bright fluorescent lights and peck turkey orders into terminals. "You want conformity in your bird. And that means a turkey with a big breast and short legs."
To achieve that conformity, Greenberg sources broad-breasted white turkeys, the commodity market standard, from Norbest, a Utah cooperative. "They come out good on the other end," Mr. Greenberg said, implying, as barbecue pit masters do hereabouts, that excellence in smoked-meat cookery is determined by human resources, not natural resources.
Sam Greenberg has made a number of adjustments through the years. Unlike his father and grandfather before him, he no longer smokes kosher turkeys. In 1981, he stopped handwriting gift cards. Last year, Greenberg started accepting credit cards via its Web site, gobblegobble.com. (Previously turkeys were shipped, and invoices were paid on the honor system.)
He prefers, however, to focus consumer attention on his company's hidebound ways. With the cadence of a salesman, he trumpets an aversion to change that would give pause to the most conservative Texas legislator.
On plant tours, visitors learn that Greenberg employees still hand-trim every bird, cutting the wing tips and neck flap from the carcass. And they knife-jab each turkey at least six times, so that the spice mix, which is robust with ground black pepper, can permeate the flesh. They hand-truss each pair of turkey legs, too, before hanging the dressed bird in its pit house berth.
"I want to be known as the guy who didn't mess up Greenberg Smoked Turkey," Mr. Greenberg said, leaning from the window of a swooping black Mercedes with license plates that read "GIBLET."
"If I mess things up, I'll be messing with people's holiday tradition, and I'm not inclined to do that."


text:
Apologies are often a natural response to conflict, even if you weren't at fault for something. While saying "sorry" to another person when you step on their foot may be a nice gesture, it is not the best thing to say after an auto accident. That's because apologies and something as simple as saying "sorry" can potentially have a negative impact on your personal injury claim, and can create complications that hinder your ability to secure the compensation you need for the preventable injuries and damages you suffered.
As a proven Houston personal injury attorneys, our legal team at Stern Law Group is dedicated to protecting the rights of injured victims and families across Texas, and have handled many cases involving all types of car accidents. Because taking the right steps after an accident is crucial to your personal injury case, as is avoiding certain mistakes, we wanted to take the time to educate local residents about why it is best to avoid saying sorry.
- You don't have all the facts – After an auto accident, you don't have all the facts regarding what happened and what led to the crash. Even if you think you might be at fault or contributed to the wreck in some way, there could be factors you are unaware of that truly led to the crash (such as another driver who was texting or distracted at the time, or who was driving under the influence). Remember, you do not have all the facts surrounding the accident to know who for sure is at fault. It is best to leave investigations into fault and liability up to police, insurance adjusters, and the attorney you choose to guide you through the personal injury claim process.
- It can change the way others view what happened – By apologizing immediately after an accident, you can actually shape how others view and interpret what happened. When another driver hears "sorry," they may take that as an admission of fault, which can not only lead them to believe you caused the wreck (even if you did not) but also shape how they discuss the accident with law enforcement officers who compile police reports or their insurance representatives.
- The Insurance company can use it against you – Insurnace companies who represent their policy holders in personal injury cases are first and foremost corporations. This means they all too often prioritize profits over people – even if those people are innocent victims harmed by their customers. When they have evidence of an apology that was made after a wreck, they may be quick to highlight this to support their claims that you caused or contributed to a collision somehow. The same is true of any apologies or admissions of fault you may make, even erroneously, during a recorded statement – which is why you should also avoid making any recorded statements with insurance companies, and let your attorney handle these communications on your behalf.
Whether you said "sorry" after your accident or not, it is still crucially important to bring your case to the attention of trusted attorneys. Our legal team at Stern Law Group has helped more than 40,000 clients during some of the most difficult times in their lives, and are prepared to do the same for victims and families who reach out to us for help. With over 150 years of combined experience, we can help investigate your accident to determine who is at fault and who can potentially be held liable for your damages, including any medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering you experienced as a result of your injuries, among other damages. Contacting a lawyer from our firm as soon as possible after the crash can ensure that the most appropriate steps are taken from the very beginning.
Learn more about our award-winning lawyers and what we can do to help you protect your right to financial compensation after being harmed by the negligence of another. Contact us for a free consultation.


text:
"Cows Do Not Belong in Fields" - UK Mega-Dairy Renews Application
Image credit: Compassion in World Farming
When I reported on a planned 8,100 cow super-dairy in the UK, I noted that many dairy farmers were concerned that these industrial-scale operations would expose the public to the fact that even most smaller dairy farms in the country keep their cows indoors for 5 or 6 months of the year. Those concerns may be coming true, because as the mega-dairy resubmits its application, its owners are coming out in the open and stating their position - "cows do not belong in fields." I'd be interested to know what our readers think.
While some farmers appear more concerned about what these giant operations will reveal about their own practices, there are of course many activists that oppose the mega-dairies on basic sustainability and animal-welfare grounds. It is, they say, inhumane for these large dairies to increase the amount of time cows spend indoors even more than is already standard practice.
Compassion in World Farming reports that as Nocton Dairies resubmits its planning application for a 3,770 cow farm (with a stated objective of building up the herd to the original 8,100 as soon as it is practicable ), it represents a very real and damaging stepping up of the trend toward permanent indoor confinement, and all the problems that this entails:
"Research shows that this type of 'zero-grazing' system is associated with increased risk of many health problems including lameness, mastitis, reproductive problems and a number of bacterial infections."
Meanwhile a Nocton Dairies representative told a BBC Radio Humberside interview (linked to from the Compassion in World Farming post above) that he sincerely believes cows do not belong in fields. With so many cows spending at least 5 or 6 months indoors anyway, due to it being too wet to graze, the Nocton representative argued that a longer period of confinement allows for increased efficiencies, greater milk production, and a more cost-effective approach to investing in the infrastructure that the cows "need" to ensure their welfare.
This seems like another one of those debates between those who see "efficiency" as being synonymous with sustainability, and those who argue a more holistic, integrated, land-based approach is the way forward. It's an argument that will run and run.
Either way, I can't help feeling that the public believes that cows do, indeed, belong in fields. Why else do we have cows all over our milk carton labels? (No matter how the cows are actually raised.)
More on Industrial Agriculture, Dairy and Animal Husbandry
Is Industrial Monoculture the Real Path to Sustainable Farming?
8,100 Cow 'Super Dairy' Threatens (the Image of) British Farming
Study Finds Meat and Dairy Farming Create More Emissions than Miles


text:
The knowledgebase is a categorized collection of answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ) and articles. You can read articles in this category or select a subcategory that you are interested in.
BankTree Personal Finance 3.0 - Uncleared, Cleared and Reconciled
What is the difference between Uncleared, Cleared and Reconciled transactions
Uncleared: These represent transactions you have entered but have not yet checked with your bank
Cleared Funds: These are transactions that physically exist in your account.
Reconciled Funds: These are transactions that physically exist in your account, which have also been checked against your statement.
Article details
Article ID: 31
Category: BankTree Desktop 3.0 Personal Finance
Views : 1320
Rating (Votes): (46)
Related articles
BankTree Personal Finance 3.0 - Account Reconciliation
BankTree Online Personal Finance - Reconciliation
Run time Error 339 - Component MSChrt20.ocx is missing or not registered correctly
All entries in the Paid In columns and/or tblCategory.Sign can not contain a null value while amending categories
Powered by Help Desk Software HESK, brought to you by SysAid


text:
Monthly Archives: March 2016
#Giveaway Blood and Fire by R. Brennan #comingsoon
Sign up for an eARC of Blood and Fire 🙂
Roane Publishing is giving away THREE
eARCs ofBlood and Fire!
eARCs ofBlood and Fire!
Blood and Fire
by R. Brennan
Release Date:April 18, 2016
Publisher:Roane Publishing
Keywords:Erotic, Romance, BDSM, Paranormal, Master/slave, Erotic Horror
College student, Francesca Morgan has finally met the Dominant man of her dreams. Kevin Stevenson is sexy, sure of himself, and knows just how to make her knees quake.
When he takes Frankie to her first fetish party, she is reminded being collared means her Master can do what he wishes with her, including offering her "services" for the evening to a sexy Dominant business associate he is trying to impress.
It doesn't take long for Frankie to realize their host, Bartholomew Andrews is nothing like any Dom she has ever served. Aside from his devastating looks and heaping financial fortune, Bartholomew can read her thoughts, and knows just how to make her body react.
View original post 93 more words


text:
Autumn is a wonderful time of year and is a great time to sell a home. Help make your listing sell faster with these 4 staging ideas.
- Include autumn scents. A subtle scent of apple pie, pumpkin and cinnamon, or something autumny can help make your home inviting. When using scents in your home, be mindful of how strong the smell is as it may turn potential buyers away.
- Lighten up. Take advantage of natural light by opening drapes and blinds and letting sunlight brighten your rooms and make them inviting. If more light is needed, you can use floor and tabletop lamps to add more light into a room.
- Groom your yard. Great curb appeal is important when selling your home and, with the leaves falling from the trees, it is important you take some time to rake up leaves and trim any overgrown or dead plants. Especially around your home's windows and porches as they may distract and overshadow your home's beauty.
- Decorate for the season. Right now mums and other fall decor are excellent props to brighten up a porch or deck. Pumpkins can add a fun seasonal touch and color to your outside; however, remember not to go overboard on the decor.
If you have any other staging questions, talk with your realtor for more tips and tricks to help make your home more appealing to potential buyers.


text:
I'm sure you could ask any video game developer in the world what they think of used game sales and they would most definitely have negative thoughts on the subject. The selling of used games today is killing the industry slowly, but surely and the creators of the games feel it. The problem is the 100% of the profit from the sale of used games goes to the retailer selling them, not a penny goes to the people who actually made the game. Now it could be argued that at one point the game was new, so the developers and producers got money for it when it was originally purchased and so what if it gets sold as used after that? The reality is that if the game is bought once, then basically passed around from person to person with no money going to developers, it's still a big loss. It would be like if you made a movie and one person bought it, then lent it to 10 different friends to watch meaning that now they wont buy it so you just lost 10 sales. 10 sales is small time, imagine losing thousands upon thousands of sales, and the money associated with those sales – it adds up.
It costs somewhere between $10 and $80 million to make a AAA title game, so it's not cheap. In the United States, a new game runs you about $60 without tax and a used game will cost you anywhere between $5 and $50. The biggest loss is the newer games, we've all been into stores like GameStop and have seen the used game next to the new game. If it's a new release the used version is only $5 to $10 cheaper than the game brand new. So the industry is losing almost the entire cost of the game new when the used version is sold, and the retailer makes a large profit. You can see how the retailers win in this situation, they get large profits for doing almost nothing except having employee's push the used game sale hard. I used to work at GameStop, so it's not mere assumption when I say that employee's are supposed to push the used game over the new game. It's easy – you tell the customer that the used copy is cheaper, and also that it can be easily returned if the customer doesn't find it to his/her liking, unlike the new game. As an employee it doesn't bother you because your managers like that you sell the used games and you are still getting paid regardless. Retailers like GameStop even have deals in which you buy two used games and get one free, get discounts on used games, or even get rewards such as 10% off anything in the store after buying 10 used games. All the while the game developers are hurting, and in the long run it will hurt the consumers. It's also hurting you now, what do you get for trading in (selling back) a brand new game, $30 tops? Is it very fair that you paid $60 for a game one week ago then turn around and get $30 back for it? If the game is more than a month or two old you'll get even less. The retailer can turn around and sell that game they bought off you for $30 and charge $55 for it, meaning they get a huge profit and it all goes straight to them. It seems like everyone but the retailers lose in this case.
Richard Browne, former Eidos developer and former VP of Core Studios at THQ and Universal Interactive, made this statement earlier this year in an interview:
"What on Earth was the point of taking the completely single-player experience of Uncharted 1 and bolting on an entirely new game to Nathan Drake's second adventure? The multiplayer game – brilliantly executed as one would expect of the Naughty Dog team – had absolutely nothing to do with the single player experience, and from my perspective had absolutely zero interest from me as a consumer, and I'm not alone in that, take a look at the most recent Ninja Gaiden game. Why does that multiplayer mode exist? What effect did having to build it have on the single-player experience? There is no reason for the multiplayer game to exist; it makes no sense in NG's universe. I'm not singling out Ninja Gaiden here, as the number of games that have gone the same route over the past couple of years is substantial. But is it good for the consumer? Absolutely not – in general they're getting a poorer single-player game. But again that's the tip of the iceberg."
We all see the amount of DLC being released, the uprising of online passes, and the sheer amount of multiplayer games out there. These are all ways in which the developers are trying to get some money back and fight against used game sales. Releasing DLC means that the consumers will have to give money directly to the developers, you cannot buy used DLC. The online passes make is so that the consumers will be prompted to buy a game new so that the online pass (allowing the game to be played online) is basically free. If you choose to buy the game used but wish to play online, you will have to purchase the pass which again gives money directly to the developers. Multiplayer games open up a whole new world for the developers, since the DLC is easily released and it's even easier to hook people into playing it. All of these things are the topic of complaints for cosumers. It's annoying to constantly have DLC thrown at you, it's irritating to have to worry about that online pass, and it's just plain stupid that every game just has to have a multiplayer mode which arguably takes away from the single player of the game quality wise. This is the unfavorable future of gaming, the sad truth of the the gaming industry, and what we will have to expect from gaming as long as used games are being sold as aggressively as they are today. These changes wont happen tomorrow or even next month, but over time we will most definitely see a decline in single player quality and and incline in repetitive multiplayer games ridden with random useless DLC.
I could show examples and site sources all day, so let's get down to the main point: What can we do to stop used game sales and change the direction that the industry is forced to go? One simple way is to not buy used games, and tell your friends not to as well. I know that seems tough when you aren't sure of a game is good or don't have the money to buy a game new, but if you choose to buy used games repeatedly then you forfeit the right to complain about the downsides mentioned above. It's hypocritical to say "I hate these stupid online passes" when you are solely buying used games. Another way you can do your part in halting used game sales is to spread the word. Do some research and let others know what is happening to the gaming industry and why, knowledge is power and if more people out there know the facts then more people can continue to spread the word. Now I am not foolish or naive, I know that used game sales will most likely never go away completely but I also know that I'm not going to contribute to them any more. I have personally decided to never buy another used game, and to be honest it's not only because of how it hurts the industry, I just hate how disgusting most of the used games look. The cases are cover in scratches and some kind of sticky stuff, the disc looks like someone cleaned it with sandpaper, and the smell of the thing is repulsive. That may be just exaggeration, but it's not gross exaggeration. I like my games to look nice, and if it's helping the industry as well then it's a win win for me. In the end, we cannot expect things to get better by just sitting around and talking about it – if this issue means anything to you and if you wish to see the gaming industry thrive as opposed to crashing and burning in a menagerie of multiplayer madness then do something about it. Stand up for what you believe in and if games mean anything to you, stand up for what is right.
Food for thought:


text:
Amazing Designer Cups
People & Places of Pakistan: A Photo Album
Some Facts from Guinness Book of Records... Highest, Longest, Heaviest, Biggest!!!
Unusual - Spy Cameras: Now Be Bond ;)
Friendship never dies...
Nice Wordings on Life, Living and Loving
Political Correctness: How To Speak About Men/Women And Be Politically Correct:
How to prepare for married life: From an actual 1950s Home Economics textbook intended for High School girls. And the updated current version!
Dry Cleaners... They make you really happy & ***
What are you doing to Go Green. Every step, however small, counts. Try these everyday tips...