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You don't have to wait for the holidays to start getting into the giving spirit. Trendy West Loop restaurant The Publican has hosted a food drive every quarter of the year since opening in fall 2008, and its next one is coming up Sept. 17 through Sept. 23 to benefit the Greater Chicago Food Depository.
That means the restaurant has had about 16, more or less, of these under their belts, and thus plenty of insight into how these work and what other restaurateurs might want to know about starting their own. With all that in mind, I gave General Manager Katie Syracopoulos a call.
Why did you decide to hold these drives every quarter?
Katie Syracopoulos: We opened the restaurant in October 2008 and then we began our involvement with the GCFD in early 2009. They actually used to take place on Saturday afternoons. We just kinda had a window of a couple of hours, a two-hour window, generally, from 1:30 to 3:30, that neighbors or people locally could come by and drop off any of their non-perishable goods, and in turn there would be some small snacks and beers and whatnot available that we would provide or that other local sponsors would donate that we could offer as our way of saying thank you. This year we actually incorporated a Saturday brunch service at the Publican, which, unfortunately prohibited us from being able to continue with the same format of having this one Saturday every few months dedicated to these guests and to this opportunity. So, we decided to reformat it a little bit and so now we dedicate one week during the quarter. They run from Monday until Sunday, and any guests who are interested in participating can bring any of their non-perishable goods in at any time that they join us, albeit for dinner service or either of the brunch services. In exchange we actually give them little tickets, and they're just generally just for something along the lines of a complimentary beer, again, just as our way of saying thank you to those guests who come out and participate.
If you've done 16-ish of these, what have you learned over the years?
Katie Syracopoulos: Each one has been different. There were certainly some where the turnout was absolutely completely extraordinary, and there were some that the turnout was lesser than what we would have expected. So, whatever we can do to promote these, and to tell anybody and everybody and promoting it within our own family of restaurants, encouraging all of our staff members who have volunteered to assist us with this in packaging stuff up and so on and so forth -- encouraging them to use all of their social-media outlets in addition to those that are directly affiliated with any of our establishments in order to promote those. We actually took the entirety of the front-of-house staff to the Greater Chicago Food Depository about a year or so ago. We actually spent a day at their facilities, packaging everything up to see where things go from the time that we collect goods, give it to them and how they're ultimately divvying it up and where all of that product is then going throughout the Chicagoland area.
How does it work over there? I have no idea.
Katie Syracopoulos: It is one of the most impressive organizations that I have ever seen. First and foremost, it is mammoth. They have it broken down based upon certain demographics, whether it's children, families, elderly and the size of families. Everything is very, very systematic in terms of -- as you're packaging things it may be one item of cereal, per se, per box and one jar of peanut butter and one jar of jelly. Something along those lines. They give you a list and it's the full assembly. You all work different stations. I may just stand there for hours and just put peanut butter in boxes.
If their challenges are different each time you do a drive, how do you prepare for what's coming up?
Katie Syracopoulos: It doesn't take quite as much preparation as it once did because instead of it being one day that we dedicate where we would have to make sure we had a full team, whereas now we're able to have this work in conjunction with our regular service. It's more coordinating with the Chicago Food Depository with their volunteer services of making sure that we have containers -- we actually keep it out in the restaurant so that people can walk in and be like, "Oh my gosh, there's these huge canisters filled with food. What is this for?" It's another way of intriguing and sparking and keeping people's interests in wanting to participate.
Again, just doing whatever we can to keep the word out. We will dedicate little portions of the menu talking about what the Greater Chicago Food Depository has done for the city. We'll do little excerpts on our menu in preparation for those weeks, so we'll see that run, probably, actually next week. So, about a week prior we'll promote from that area as well.
How does it work logistically to donate all that food?
Katie Syracopoulos: We have a longstanding relationship with the Greater Chicago Food Depository, so at this point and time, it being four years old, with our relationship -- I know it doesn't sound very exciting, but it really almost works itself out. Even just now, it's correspondence: "These are the days that we're looking to dedicate at the Publican for these quarters. Do these dates work for you? Are your then able to utilize your sources for internal promotion as well?" I think it's perceived to be much more difficult to host or to be a part of it than what it is.
I don't know how it's perceived. I think it's just a bit of a question mark or a mystery in people's minds.
Katie Syracopoulos: Yeah. I think it really just takes a few minutes. They are such a tremendous organization, and because they have things down to a science they make it so easy. They primarily do the majority of the legwork. We just look at what we do as just being one more outlet for people to have the opportunity to donate, give back to the community in more of a routine part of life, so that they don't have to necessarily go make a separate trip to go donate. They may have already had plans to have dinner with friends and family and that while they're here they have that opportunity.
I would encourage anybody and everybody to find an organization that interests them and just see what it would take to help participate. I think a lot of people would be pleasantly surprised to know that it virtually takes no effort at all.
David Wolinsky is a freelance writer and a lifelong Chicagoan. In addition to currently serving as an interviewer-writer for Adult Swim, he's also a comedy-writing instructor for Second City. He was the Chicago city editor for The Onion A.V. Club where he provided in-depth daily coverage of this city's bustling arts/entertainment scene for half a decade. When not playing video games for work he's thinking of dashing out to Chicago Diner, Pizano's, or Yummy Yummy. His first career aspirations were to be a game-show host.


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I had planned to write a great post for today about all the things I'm thankful for in life, all the things I'm thankful for in the past year.
But, you know what? It's Thanksgiving. I don't need to be spending time on the computer today writing that any more than you need to be sitting around on Thanksgiving reading it.
In fact, if you're reading this on Thanksgiving Day, just stop, right now, and tell someone thank you. If there's someone around you, tell them something about them or that they've done that you're grateful for. Or just that you're grateful for them. If there's not, send an e-mail. Send a text. Make a phone call. Right now.
You done? Good. Happy Thanksgiving! Now, go enjoy it!
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Friday 23rd – Surgery at the Business HubParish Clerk
Friday surgery will be at the slightly later time of 3.00pm today. Unfortunately we were unable to get a notification out for the change of time and for this we apologise if anyone had popped down to see us!
See you this afternoon for your all Parish needs!


text:
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A baaad, BAAAAAAAD game
Bad Street Brawler - NES - Rating 0
When I first put BSB into my NES system I had high expectations. After all, this game is made by Mattel, a company notorious with high-quality, finely crafted game titles. I hadn't seen this game before and this was well after I had been spoiled by such game classics as Gunstar Heroes, Axelay, and, of course, MC Kids.
I hope you can see the sarcasm spewing from every sentence. When I first started up SMS the first thing I saw was mortifying - a horrendous drawing of some skinny teenage punk kid with blond hair and shades on, meant to look 'tough' but about as threatening as Barney - although psychologically Barney is not one to mess with. After all, he has quite a fierce weapon of torture and mayhem in his song-crafting which, although comparable to someone like Cannibal Corpse (which might put somebody into a rage), Barney music is a hate crime, a form of the most vile punishment which has been used as a means of torture to people who drove around blasting music too loud in their cars, and I'm not even kidding.
I took the game out and threw it against the wall... and who knows? Perhaps I shed a tear or two.
Later, when I put it in to see if it still worked (unfortunately for me, Mattel made this game to last), it still did and that was the beginning of what would later turn into many recurring nightmares where I'd wake up screaming in a pool of sweat, "TURN THE POWER OFF!!!!" I pressed start and the suffering began. There stood the Bad Street Brawler and I was in full control of him. Too bad for me. Some of the most awful visuals that ever devastated me are to be found in this game. I walked around attacking the stupidest looking baddies in existence. The music wasn't making things any better either. This was torture along the likes of Sunday Funday. Perhaps the coolest move ever in a game, there's a button on the system itself called 'power' and if you press that the suffering ends. I pressed it, and it was all over. The pain had left my body and I relaxed, and reflected on life's many ignored pleasures, sitting by a quiet window with the evening breeze making its way through the tree hollows...
Last edited by Icarus4578; 05-09-2004 at 02:24 AM.
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You knew I had to bring this series up sooner or later...
Splatterhouse 2 - Sega Genesis - Rating 6
Before Resident Evil was ever conceived (or Alone in the Dark for that matter) there was a series starring a protagonist named Rick wearing a Jason mask (the 'Terror Mask'), who fought with his fists, scissors, a 2X4, shotguns and chainsaws against the undead, paranormal, and everything in-between to rescue his girl, Jennifer. That game is Splatterhouse by Namco and was successful enough that it got two sequels.
The series began in 1988 and was the first to include a Parental Advisory Disclaimer. The one I've chosen to review, part 2, is probably the best of the bunch.
Let me tell you, this game is a gore-fest. No matter how you kill your enemies (usually Screaming Mimis), from punching to chainsawing, it almost certainly is going to be an gory sight. Your character Rick is one slow-walking character, like he limbers forward moreso than he walks. You have 3 hearts for your health with a maximum allocation of 5 and that is what seemingly makes it all the more challenging -- low health combined with slow movement mean you have to be very careful. Much of the level designs revolve around tricky jumping, memorizing where enemies are gonna come from and when (trial and error) and traps like holes in the ground that lead to an underground dungeon-area. Fortunately you have unlimited continues and can write down a password for whatever stage you die on.
The bosses are awesome and include things like a massive squid, a group of fetuses hanging from a ceiling (while scissors and a chainsaw chase after you ) and a huge blue head that appears in the dark. Some of them are tough and require you to get it down to the point of being cynical about everything that is going to occur. The last boss in particular is such a pain, and if you have to continue from dying to him, it's back to the damn elevator...
The music is very fitting of the game and helps bring the atmosphere alive all the more, though I wouldn't consider sitting there listening to it for enjoyment. The sounds are very impressive for the Genesis (especially those Mimis) with every splash and squirt fully represented. My only gripe is that the shotgun and chainsaw sounds are a bit weak.
All in all, yet another enjoyable classic series that should keep you interested to the end. It's just a little aggravating in parts.
Just in case you want it, here's the end-level password~
Until next time...
(Special thanks to Western Mansion: The Splatterhouse Homepage for the info about the parental advisory disclaimer and the Screaming Mimi's name. Be sure to check out their web page at ~ http://www.classicgaming.com/splatterhouse/trivia.html for lots of cool info regarding Splatterhouse series)
Last edited by Icarus4578; 05-09-2004 at 02:26 AM.
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The Time Machine II
Chrono Trigger - SNES - Rating 7
What a treat SNES owners got in 1995 with the release of Chrono Trigger, a dream-game project which included the likes of Hironobu Sakaguchi (the father of the Final Fantasy series), Akira Toriyama (who did the designs for Dragon Quest series and Dragon Ball Z) and Yuji Horii (who isn't as well known in the states as in Japan; he's the scenario writer for DQ series). Never before had such a dream team worked on one game before, and as a result the game received some of the biggest hype of any game ever made. I was always looking in my EGMs and Gamefan Magazines for anything related to CT before it was released. All everybody would talk about was how incredible this game was so of course that put me over the edge, waiting and waiting for the day this game would finally be released.
That day finally came and was an event the likes of Street Fighter II finally coming home on SNES. It was massive. I remembered how I sat there staring at the finest-looking RPG ever made, wondering how anybody could top it. It had everything an RPG gamer could ever dream of... awesome time-traveling ability with multiple maps, awesome character designs, incredible graphics, and some of the best music any system has ever produced, even still to this very day. The soundtrack is composed by Yatsunori Mitsuda (who also did other soundtracks later like Chrono Cross) as well as sporting pieces of music here and there by Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy series).
As I said before, this game was an event. The game boasts one of the best quests in an RPG and Square has yet to equal it to this day. You just can't come across quality gaming nowadays similar to this. The controls are fluid and intuitive, and features a great battle system unique to this game alone (however that one battle song always playing throughout the entire game wasn't that good). All of the characters and enemies animated which is in stark contrast to the FF series static drawings which I for one wish would animate. What really made this game stand out, however, are all of the awesome side-quests, the sense of exploration, and its unique presentation. There's so much that you can do, so much stuff to find that you have to go through it at least twice to get everything (thanks to another feature unique to this game, New Game +, which allowed the player for the first time ever to restart the game with all their belongings and power). There's 10 endings depending on when you finish the game but I only cared for about 2 of them - the ones which require that you go through the entire game.
There's no way I'm going into this review without mentioning the music. I've always loved the music to DQ and FF (except FF8 through 10) and this game is remembered for its stellar soundtrack moreso than anything else. Don't care what you say; the music is what made this game as great as it was. From Secrets of the Forest to Dreams Far Away it delivers in such a way that even if the game is dull in a part, if the song is good then it just doesn't matter. I often found myself stopping myself from engaging an enemy or leaving an area just so I could hear a song cadence -- that's how good it was. I bought the 3-CD soundtrack to the game (because I'm smart) and don't regret it in the least.
The game's not without flaws though. Some of the battling can get pretty dull at times and there's quite a lot of it, not a tremendous amount of variety in enemies, some things animate jerky/poorly, etc.
Virtually every RPGamer knows this game by now. And it's usually up there on most of their lists for best RPG of all time. For me, that's a tough call: I'd say that FF4, 6 and 7, most DQ games, both Lunars, and Phantasy Star 2 and 4 are among the better RPG experiences out there. That's my opinion though. Those games have more lasting value and challenge. But CT is undeniably a solid RPG experience that boasts some of the nicest visuals ever on SNES and certainly some of the best music.
All gimmicks aside, though, and it's really an average RPG with a fine polish.
Last edited by Icarus4578; 04-29-2004 at 02:21 AM.
Watching liek a Hwak
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Thumbs up dude, keep those reviews coming. Try to get some reviews of GameCube titles.
When life gives you melons, STFU and eat your damn melons.
Sky is gone; 12 is HERE!
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Yeah Icarus, great job. You're a writer, I see. Want to write reviews with me at a webpage trying to get their feet off the ground? Send me a personal message if you do. You seem to have a good retro knowledge and we need that.
Poet-Gamer XII
Deal with it.
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And now presenting my first review of an import title that never got the worldwide release it so deserved...
Monster World IV - Mega Drive - Rating 8
I must say, having enjoyed previous installments of Monster World, this one is the best by far (3 was great, but way too easy). If you don't know the MW series that's ok; just another thing that's Sega of America's fault. Well sorta. I'm actually disappointed in a lot of Genesis owners for not reacting strongly enough to Sega's decision at the time to not bring us the quality gaming that is this masterpiece.
Anyway, this is perhaps the most highly polished action/adventure game for the Genesis/Mega Drive. Everything is crystal clear, colorful and animated wonderfully. Think of Zelda - A Link to the Past's colorful, vibrant world making a transition to side-scroller, put in a female protagonist named Asha and her sidekick pet Papalog, and make the characters and enemies bigger, glossier and more anime-ish in look. Put this all together and add one of the coolest quests ever to grace any console and viola! You'd have Monster World IV!
First things first, if you don't understand Japanese you're going to be playing a guessing game most of the time. Though for the most part it's rather easy to figure out what you need to do, sometimes it's just a pain, especially once you reach the Ice Pyramids. If you're desperate there should be some walkthroughs on-line that you can use to help.
The game looks absolutely beautiful, like it should've been on SNES (no, I'm not exaggerating; this game looks beautiful, with some of the very best use of color ever in a game). Everything alive has animation to it, and most of it is nice and smooth. As a result, the control is excellent and there's just so much Asha and her pet can do, it's almost staggering. You must learn how to coexist with Papalog because the key to solving many of the game's puzzles and avoiding punishment is a direct result of how well you cooperate. Fighting plays an important role as well. As with all action/adventure games you will get better weapons, shields and armors as you progress and the usual healing herbs and potions. Like Zelda you're give hearts for life and every time you collect 10 of these shiny blue things (no, I don't know the name so don't get all over my case) you gain another heart in your life meter.
The enemies and bosses are all very well done, especially the bosses, and almost all have a unique manner in which they attack. Some bosses are very cool, like the big red blob near the end of the game that sticks its tongue out at you while smaller, yellow electrically-charged blobs keep jumping out after you. I like stuff like that.
The puzzles can be very difficult later on and some are frusturating. To me though, it was more difficult dealing with all the booby-traps and enemies. After all, they're what kill you. ;) Especially near the end, when you no longer have the convenience of Papalog around and you're on your own. That level, by the way, is more like Super Mario than anything else (complete with coins floating around in the all too familiar Mario-esque patterns) and is perhaps the most aggravating stage, though I was very impressed with the ride to Aegis Island on the magic carpet (very cool). What was sad was how they tried to create a zoom effect on Genesis as you're entering Aegis, which isn't built to do it as you'll see if you play through it. It just doesn't work. At least they tried...
The music is very good and melds with the game's visual appeal pretty well. Some is enjoyable, some is just there. The sounds are good also. It's nothing amazing though.
The most similar game to this that I've played is Popful Mail on Sega CD which was released in the US by Working Designs and has perhaps the best voice acting and writing of any game I've ever played. HIGHLY recommended, so if you don't want to go through the effort to play a great game like MWIV you can't go wrong with Popful Mail. They're very similar.
Just so you know, if you don't know Japanese, there's a VERY difficult part in the game (at the Ice Pyramid) which requires you to place statues you find in a particular order. Not only that, you have to do this 3 TIMES. Because I rock so hard I've decided to tell you all 3 put the statues into the slots in this order~
Ice Temple #1 Turtle - Dog - Owl - Bird - Angel
Ice Temple #2 Bird - Angel - Owl - Dog - Turtle
Ice Temple #3 Owl - Angel - Turtle - Bird - Dog
Before you can even enter Ice Temple #3 the statue at the door throws questions at you in Japanese at random and you have to respond with a "yes" or a "no" to each question. If you make a mistake, it tries to drop you onto a pile of spiked ice (which can be avoided simply by holding a direction right as you're falling and then you have to exit the screen, come back, and try again) and this part I can't really help with. But I can say that whenever you get a question with a 3 in the dialogue select "no" but that's about all the help I can be. Good luck and happy memorizing.
Definitely worth the invested time because it is so damn fun and challenging to play that it becomes an addiction, just like all of the greatest games out there. My only gripe is that SMB-esque stage because it's trial and error.
Oh, and I'll put this here so you can check out the game and see how cool it looks for yourself. http://www.shininglair.com/mw4/mw4.html
I'll finish simply by saying it looks as good as it plays.
Walkthrough ~ http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/genes...r_world_iv.txt
Last edited by Icarus4578; 03-22-2004 at 08:39 AM.
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Super Mario Sunshine - GameCube - Rating 5
Well, well, well... Nintendo makes another Mario. And it follows Miyamoto's trend to always change up the mechanics in drastic and, often times, revolutionary ways. And as much as I like the concept of Mario having a water pack on paper, I can't help but think hey, maybe it would've been a better idea to create a brand new character with this concept in mind rather than automatically stick Mario's mug on the cover to generate $$$. At least Nintendo proves it can still come up with new concepts and implement them often flawlessly into games. However, I couldn't help but feel that this was Mario 64 with an added gimmick.
Mario has been accused of vandalizing the Island of Delfino and I won't bore you with the game's background, needless to say it's always the same (Princess Peach gets kidnapped by Bowser eventually) so I'll jump right to the play mechanics. It's Mario 64 with the added gimmick of a water pack called Fludd which Mario uses to clean up the island, hover, propell himself into the air, etc. Mario can do everything he could in Mario 64 so if you've played that then this is more or less an extension to that. Some stages are plaqued with boring tasks which you must do to collect 'Shines' (which is just like collecting stars in Mario 64), and later on this gets aggravating because of all of the ridiculous jumps that you have to do. So boring! The town in Delfino (the overworld) is more fun to collect shines in than most of the stages. And, just like in Mario 64, the later stages are more boring, uninteresting than earlier ones. I must mention the special stages which play like the Bowser levels in Mario 64, albeit much tougher. You cannot use Fludd in them and it's basically Mario up against the odds. These stages I enjoyed the most because they were challenging and fun. I hated the Pachinko machine stage though where you collect 8 red coins to get the shine - it was trial and error, plain and simple.
The graphics are much improved from Mario 64, with often so much going on you can't keep track of it all. Very generous use of colors, lighting and effects. Of course, the water looks great. However if you look at every game's 'water physics', you begin to notice how much more the water reacts like water in a small pool than in an ocean or the like (which would be just too much for any of these current systems to handle; that's really all there is to it). No matter. The enemies are standard Mario fare with very few new additions to the mix, which is disappointing to say the least. In some levels I was amazed at the sheer LACK of enemies more than anything else. The landscapes are often very well done, with the time of day often changing depending on which shine you're going after on whatever level. Some textures seem weak, however, and other things too plain. But overall it looks okay.
The music is typical Mario. In other words it gets the job done, but I could care less. Koji Kondo (Nintendo's main in-house composer) has written some of the most brilliant, memorable pieces ever in gaming (Super Mario Brothers, Zelda, etc.). At least most of this stuff fits the visuals. No track really stands out in my mind though.
Overall, I felt that this whole water gimmick was just what Nintendo needed to start up something new. Instead, they just threw it together with the Mario 64 game engine, and although Mario 64 revolutionized the way I see 3D gaming this just doesn't cut it with me. There were times when I didn't want to finish the game because I was so bored and uninterested that I shut it off. I never got all the shines --- never bothered. There are far superior Mario games to this, including Yoshi's Island which was so intelligent, I got perfect scores in every stage and hidden stage just because it was so good. Granted I opened nothing extra for all that effort but at least I had a great time doing it.
Unfortunately I can't say the same for Mario Sunshine, as highly polished a game as it is.
Last edited by Icarus4578; 03-22-2004 at 08:42 AM.
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Double Dragon II - Sega Genesis - Rating 3
The first time playing Double Dragon was a religious experience; I hadn't actually played a side scrolling beat 'em up beforehand. For the first time I was walking around being badass, beating the crap out of street thugs, girls with 80's hair-dos wielding whips and huge, bulky guys that bust out of stone walls, with heads as big as their bodies. What an experience that was and its formula was only furthered with titles like Adventures of Bayou Billy, River City Ransom, Crime Fighters, either TMNT Arcade, the 6-player X-Men Arcade, Final Fight and Streets of Rage which, although kinda dumbed down from repetitious sequels and every spinoff imaginable, still has a personal charm that hasn't been replicated. They even had a Sailor Moon arcade beat-'em-up which made it home on the Mega Drive/Super Famicom and were extremely fun to play (very stylish, with addictive music).
I have played through every Double Dragon on NES and the SNES version. So when I set out to play it on Sega Genesis I was expecting more of the same. And indeed it is. Anybody who has played any number of beat-'em-ups knows the name of the game. Walk around, beat up thugs, avoid holes and harmful objects, pick up weapons and use them, etc. It's all the same as ever.
This Double Dragon has the best start of any yet. Remember the beginning to part 1, when the thugs sock your girl in the gut and take her hostage? Well this time, right at the very beginning the first thing they do is blow your girl away with a machine gun and walk away casually, like nothing even happened!!!
Needless to say, you're PO'ed. The game starts on top of a building, and what follows is the usual 'beat X number of enemies before the screen advances a little, repeat' stuff you all know. Except this time, you have more weapons at your disposal, including axes, chain whips, big wooden crates and huge steel balls(!) The graphics are kinda plain with nothing that stands out. The characters are pretty small, and there's slowdown in parts. Enemies are fun to battle with for a while but it gets repetitious. The bosses are alright, though the second boss is one of the stupidest I've yet seen in a fighting game. I actually wanted to mess him up all the more because of how pathetic he looked (I guess Tradewest knows a little about psychology). And funny enough, after you beat bosses they appear in further levels as enemies, often in groups of 2, and sometimes even with another enemy with them! This doesn't make too much of a difference; they can all be taken out rather easily with repetitive jump kicks and spin kicks, etc.
Like the first one, there's 4 levels (missions) that include (in order) the rooftops, a factory, a farm area (!?) and the enemy headquarters. They all look plain, except a few nice touches here and there in the final level.
The music is just sorta there with the usual sounds you'd expect out of a title of this stature. Nothing special.
Overall, it's not really a BAD game. But what's the point in playing this one when you've got so many better beat-'em-ups out there?
FYI ~ This is not the same Double Dragon II that was released for NES. The NES version is entirely different and gets a 4 for being a slightly better game overall, but it's nothing special. Besides, you gotta respect a game with stage names like "Forest of Death" and "Mansion of Terror"
Last edited by Icarus4578; 03-22-2004 at 08:45 AM.
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Rock on...
Axelay - SNES - Rating 9
Axelay, released not too long after the SNES came out, is still the best shooting game I've played on the system (Gradius III was great, but not quite as great). It had everything: incredible gameplay, awesome designs on EVERYTHING, cool effects and phenomenal music. It was such an unexpected treat from Konami, such a marvelous game, I have yet to play a better shooter from Konami (or most everybody else, save for a few like Darius on Saturn).
Even if you put the game in and play it today it still looks impressive. You begin by arming which weapons you'll equip on your ship (Axelay) which, at the start, is limited to just 3 but opens more as you progress and it's always important to know which weapons are best suited for the area (or your personal style of play). And you're off.
I must mention the game's layout. There're 3 mode-7 stages and 3 on the standard side-of-the-ship perspective. Both come off impressively and what is especially cool is the generous variety of enemies you have to deal with. You come across many types of enemies in just one particular part of a stage and afterwards you are almost certainly not going to see them again, like they're custom-made for the particular stage you're on. The bosses are, once again, extremely cool (this is Konami we're talking about) and are generally massive is size. In contrast, some of Gradius III's bosses are cool, but they just don't stack up.
The gameplay is virtually flawless; you shoot and dodge as with every shooter (duh) but, unlike most shooters, you select between weapons at any time (from those you selected before each stage) and each weapon has its advantages/disadvantages. By the way, there's no shield in the game so if you get shot you lose a weapon and that leaves you with two. Get shot twice more and you're almost helpless. One more shot and you're dead. Also, it's worth note to tell you that if you make contact with an enemy, chances are, you're dead no matter what. Fortunately if you die you will be right where you left off, unlike Gradius which made things much harder by forcing you to return to a pervious spot in the stage. However, lose all your lives and it's back to the beginning of the level, and you only have so many continues. On easy it's just that: easy. But you won't see the full last boss nor ending unless you play through it all the way on hard.... yet another feature typical of Konami games.
The soundtrack makes this a shooter like no other. I know there are a lot of shooting game fans who love Zuntata soundtracks, but I personally think this is the best music ever in a shooting game. It just rocks from start to end. Too bad there's no sound test in the game. The sound effects are all done to Konami perfection.
A well-rounded, wonderful shooter that never got the sequel it deserved. Anybody who likes shooting games will love Axelay. It's one of my absolute favorite shooting games of all time, and it's easy to see why.
Here, see why for yourself ~ http://www.classicgaming.com/shmups/...lay/axelay.htm
Last edited by Icarus4578; 04-29-2004 at 02:25 AM.
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Let's see if you're any good
Gaiares - Sega Genesis - Rating 7
Wanna know whether or not somebody is any good at shooting games? Ask them to beat Gaiares. I did.
This 8-MEGA-powered killer shooter will put the K in KILL for you.
One of the toughest shooters ever (and that's just on the normal setting) Gaiares was one of the most extraordinary shooting experiences. Or massacre, depending on your skill level. And you'd better have skill of extraordinary proportions. That's because Gaiares is such a kill-fest, you'll have to keep retrying, a lot, because there's NO WAY you're going through this your first, second, or probably even third sitting because you're gonna get wasted. Many times.
The graphics are pretty nice for a Genesis, although kinda plain in comparison to something like Thunder Force IV. Then again, this game really isn't about looks; it's about challenge. However, the bosses are usually well done, and a couple of stages look nice. The enemies are the generic stuff you'd expect in a shooter, with a few big ones here and there.
What makes this shooter unique is its weapons system. You have a special enemy analyzer satellite-type thing that's always hovering nearby your ship (the TOZ system). Instead of shooting enemies to reveal weapon power-ups and such, you shoot your satellite into an enemy and it latches on for a second, and it returns to the ship and you get different weapons with different enemies. Not only that, but you can keep locking onto enemies to keep making the weapon stronger (as long as it's an enemy with the same weapon for its power-up) until it's maxed out. You can change the speed of your ship's mobility at will and this may become a factor later on. There is a total of 8 stages and they get progressively harder the further in you get.
The music isn't all that impressive, though I enjoyed the song at the very end of Stage 2 (where the water fills up the screen and you fight a boss). The sound effects are fine for a shooter on Genesis.
Wanna go to the options screen? At the title screen just hold A, B, and C on the controller and press start. You can select difficulty (but you can only select between normal and something like 'super difficult'. So now, I have the option to die even more than I already do? Where do I sign up??) and there's a sound test for all those people who wanna get their groove on to Gaiares' music. Errr. I'll just pray there's no such thing. But hey! the song I liked is there, at least.
So if you want to test your shooting skills to the breaking point, get Gaiares by Telenet-Renovation. It's surely the epitimy of hard shooters on Genesis. There aren't many as difficult as this; few come to mind... Pulstar or Viewpoint particularly (both on Neo Geo). And Thunder Force IV is a better game overall. But if you have the opportunity, give Gaiares a chance. It deserves it.
Last edited by Icarus4578; 03-22-2004 at 08:48 AM.
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A very special classic
The Legend of Zelda ~ A Link To The Past/Four Swords - SNES/GBA - Rating 10
Before SNES came out, I was so obsessed with it, I'd carry around all my Nintendo Power magaines and EGMs which were the best (and only) sources for any game related news. I even taped all the SNES commercials (!) and still have them on tape to this very day. The first game I ever played on SNES was Mario World. I was astounded -- the first time I played it was over my cousin's house, and it was a religious experience. That and Final Fantasy II (in the US) were my entries into SNES land when I got my brand spanking new shiny SNES for Christmas.
It wasn't until my birthday the following year that I finally got Zelda ~ A Link to the Past. Since then, it has become a classic game in every respectable gamer's life. And with very good reason. It has been the most influential action/adventure title ever made, whose formula would be replicated in dozens of other (usually high-quality) titles. Landstalker. Crusader of Centy. Alundra. Illusion of Gaia. Legend of Oasis. All of them were inspired by Zelda. Neutopia may have come before this Zelda, but even that and its sequel are inspired by the original Zelda.
Whether on SNES or GBA (with the added Four Swords quest by Nintendo/Capcom) it is flawless not only in the virtue of its design but every aspect which one can associate with quality. There's simply nothing at fault with it: great visuals, a nice story (this is actually the prequel to the original), flawless control mechanics, inspired and inspiring game and dungeon design, cool bosses, an excellent soundtrack by Koji Kondo.... just flawless. It rewards the curious/explorative gamer with many hidden places and items, and even rewards the experimental gameplayer with small little quirks that only Nintendo seems to know how to do best. This game does no wrong.
I won't make this a long review, simply because everybody has played Zelda at one time or another, and I just want to show respect to Miyamoto and the fine workers/thinkers at Nintendo for inspiring a gamer like myself to raise my standards as to what makes gaming so great to begin with. Everybody who owns a SNES or GBA should feel obligated to own Zelda, one of the greatest moments in gaming history.
Here's a GREAT Zelda site ~ http://www.ganonstower.com/lttp.shtml
Last edited by Icarus4578; 03-22-2004 at 08:51 AM.
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Nature calls? It's in the back...
Devil May Cry - PS2 - Rating 8
If you own a PS2 then it is essential that you purchase the Capcom goodness that is Devil May Cry. It is, without question, the closest a 3D action game has ever come to having gameplay as good as any great 2D classic. Right from the opening you can tell this game is killer.
Dante is the coolest new character I've seen yet on any new system. He just rocks hardcore and if you disagree, tough. He plays similar to how you'd probably have wanted a Belmont to in a 3D Castlevania, except Dante uses (mainly) swords and guns. And, a little later in the game, nice BIG guns. The controls are superb with lightning fast (and high) jumps, double-jumps and wall-jumps, attacks, and TONS of combos (you can 'uppercut' an enemy with a sword, blast away with whatever firearm, then catch 'em coming down with more sword-attacks, for example). You can buy more moves and powers between stages, and later on you'll even be able to transform into a devil which can use magic. Awesome. There's tons of puzzles to solve and items to acquire and, in fact, many are utilized in a similar manner to Resident Evil which works well. As a matter of fact, I think Shinji Mikami (creator of the Resident Evil series as well as this) originally had RE in mind when he made this game engine and somewhere along the line changed it into this, effectively creating a new, refreshing series. I'm all for it.
The graphics are, in a word, spectacular. Even if you put something beside DMC like Panzer Dragoon Orta, I'd still think DMC has a better 'look' to it, because it's more interesting to look at aged victorian, elegant and sometimes gothic sceneries than Panzer's cold, grey and brown 'lifeless' organic sceneries which fluctuates between fitting the game's unique representation of foreign sceneries and BORING, seemingly devoid of personality environments. Everything in DMC is rendered exceptionally well, too. This is similar to how I'd want Castlevania to look in 3D (though Konami better always keep it alive in 2D as well). The enemies are superb and often challenging, although, like Rygar on PS2, the total enemy count is in the lower digits. The bosses demand attention. These are among the greatest bosses ever conceived for a 3D game (or 2D for that matter). They're more like 'villians' in their own way, and they even converse with Dante before rampaging around the area, often causing absolute MAYHEM trying to turn you into a pile of blood. Plus they're often difficult, with a great deal of activities (patterns) that you must watch and build an effective strategy around to avoid getting hurt. This game reminds me of Konami's 16-bit days in a way, and that's definitely a good thing. Wait until you see the final boss...
The music is often the Resident Evil-style thing, along with the high-octane rock/metal stuff typical of many games nowadays. Nothing in particular makes me want to run out and buy the soundtrack, though it really, REALLY fits this game well. The sound effects are flawless and the voice acting is actually pretty well-done (certainly better than Castlevania - SOTN's horrendous excuse for 'acting') especially Dante, who rocks hardcore, like I already said. He makes the game as 'cool' as it is.
Capcom must really love us gamers. They make some of the greatest games on the face of the planet (Street Fighter, Mega Man, Strider, Ghouls N' Ghosts, etc.) and now they go and make the best 3D action game thus far along with Ninja Gaiden (X-Box). If you own a PS2 and you DON'T own DMC, go out to the nearest retailer who sells it and say to them "I'd like to behold the might that is DMC", take it home, and enjoy. If not, you should punish yourself by watching Kangaroo Jack followed by back-to-back reruns of Rhinestone starring Sylvester Stallone. That should serve you right.
Last edited by Icarus4578; 03-13-2004 at 03:05 AM.
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Space Harrier - Arcade - Rating 8
"Welcome to the Fantasy Zone! ...Get Ready!"
Who can forget those words? Yu Suzuki (legendary arcade/game designer/producer/director) was the king of the arcades along with Capcom and Konami during the 80's and is still going strong with such gaming experiences as Shenmue 1 & 2 and Virtua Fighter 4. And if you talk to anybody about the arcades' golden years you're going to hear titles like Out Run(ners), Virtua Racing, Altered Beast, Fantasy Zone, After Burner, Hang On, and the game I've chosen to review, Space Harrier.
The stature of Yu Suzuki in arcade gaming is one that hasn't been equalled to this very day. He is a famous person in Japan: if he took a walk on the street, people would KNOW who he is. He revolutionized gaming in general by being a visionary, and he always stood at the forefront of technological advancements in gaming. One can identify this unique quality in virtually every one of his works -- it is always one in which efficiency and technology work cohesively in order to maintain a quality that can only be described as 'virtuosity in excellence', a startling effectiveness that never wanes and is only exhibited by a select few (including esp. Shigeru Miyamoto).
Onto the game. I remember when I first played Space Harrier in the arcade. It was a magical moment, to say the very least. Space Harrier was innovative (gee, how many times do you hear that word nowadays?), an instant classic in its most bare, broad form. Games back then just didn't play, look, INSPIRE like this. A fully realized 2D-3D world that has never truly been equalled (though others have tried, such as Square's NES title 3D World Runner, as well as the Mega Drive Cotton game, of which there were only around 5,000 copies made, sadly). One thing I must mention is the freedom of movement. Games back then, particularly shooters, had a greater degree of freedom than today's 3D graphic-fests like Panzer Dragoon Orta. And that's what games like PDO lack... FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT (though PDO is an on-rails shooter and SH isn't; advantage - Space Harrier). Controls are simple yet flawless. You are the hero Space Harrier who must save Dragon Land from the invading forces. You fly/run 'into' the screen with your hero hovering/running in full view of you at all times, and you can shoot anything and everything in sight though not everything can be harmed. The object is simple - destroy all the baddies, avoid getting hit/shot and stay alive. You'll need lightning-fast reflexes later as stages can get to blistering speeds and since you're moving into the screen you have to beware not banging full force into whatever might be sticking out of the ground, as well as enemy fire at the same time.
The graphics vary depending on which version you play. I remember the Christmas when I first played Space Harrier on Sega Master System.... what a wondrous thing to behold that was. Space Harrier has been released and re-released so many times I can't even count. You can even play it in Shenmue at the arcades and at home if you buy the Saturn and the game.
The bosses were the coolest back at that time and are still pretty cool today (the two-headed dragon, when it comes up to the screen and flies away with both heads still focused on the screen just makes me feel strange). Dragons spewing fireballs at you, a strange 'head' with other 'stone heads' circling like a shield, multitudes of mech-like robots flying all over the place firing lightning fast missles directly at you... you get the picture. There are 18 zones total, and the latter stages are amongst the most difficult. The bonus stages are awesome. You ride a white, furry dragon and slam him head-first into everything coming into the screen to rack your score up higher.
The music is great too. From the 80's-style motivational Main Theme, to the up-beat Battle Field which plays in bonus stages, to all the strange, urgent boss themes: Squilla, Ida, Godarni, Syura, Valda, and Stanrey... and of course the ranking and game ending songs Lake Side Memory and White Summer. That's it, but hey, at least these songs have personality unlike the stuff in most games made today. I enjoy it and if you don't like the music, just think, at least they didn't hire Mr. Big to do any of the tracks like they did with that Daytona Remix on Saturn Or, just as bad, you could've been playing this game while having to endure the 80's suffering manifest aurally that goes by the names Winger and Trixter . The sound effects are cool with all the bangs and explosions done well, and of course there's all that cool game speech.
These days revolutionary games are non-existent and developers are taking 3D and doing nothing new with it. Well, back then, Yu Suzuki was taking 2D and making a 3D world with it. How's that for innovation? And, unlike too many of today's games, this game doesn't need no added gimmick like graphic power to disguise any insufficiencies because Space Harrier has character, ingenuity, is an original, and, most importantly of all - it's very fun to play. It definitely wasn't more of the same when it was released; it was more 'virtuosity of excellence' that Sega and Yu Suzuki are so adept at.
FYI, they released a sequel for Genesis, Space Harrier II, which is pretty good, although not quite on the original's level. However, it's still a game worth owning, if you can find a copy.
Until next time...
Break out the nostalgia
Last edited by Icarus4578; 04-29-2004 at 02:35 AM.
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Panzer Dragoon Orta - X-Box - Rating 4
PDO, developed by Smilebit, is probably Sega's biggest game yet for any of the new systems. Featuring graphics that make the other Panzers look bad in comparison (what did you expect between an X-Box and Saturn?) and level designs which range from the astounding (Stage 7 - Forgotten Dreams) to the cold and lifeless (a lot of others like Stage 5). There's so much to shoot at that it's insane, with enemies that almost never repeat between stages. However, here is where the game's major flaw comes into play: on hard you're almost fighting with the enemy fire moreso than the enemies themselves (try Stage 4 on hard and tell me I'm wrong). However, in some stages this isn't as big an issue as with others.
Your dragoon can morph between 3 forms, and all of them can level up, thus, changing into a more powerful form. There's the standard offensive form which can accelerate and slow down, dash, shoot, and lock-on to multiple enemies at once (in the area of 8 or so). Then there's defensive form which cannot accelerate or slow down but can shoot, and its lock-on shots, while small in number, deal the most damage. And then there's the speed form which can evade better than any other form due to smaller size and faster movement, accelerate and slow down, and shoot rapid fire out faster than any other form (useful for taking out enemy fire and multiple weaker enemies), however, it has no lock-on. All forms have a berserk attack which really punishes the enemies/bosses, with the defensive form's berserk being the most lethal. You can turn the camera 90 degrees in any direction with either L or R on top of the contorller, and if you press them simultaneously it turns 180 degrees. With so much to control, things can get a bit confusing, especially under heavy enemy fire and/or fast speeds (and this game gets pretty fast). I would've preferred one dragoon form that transforms as seen in PD Zwei because this allows for one to focus more on what's going on on-screen rather than the dragoon all the time. You'll need to learn how to transform effectively and speedily, especially versus some of the bosses. Speaking of bosses, half of them are rather dull to fight, like the statue in Stage 4 which keeps putting up a defensive shield (it's horribly designed). However, some bosses are a treat (Stage 5 for one).
There's a tremendous amount of stuff that can be unlocked in the pandora's box. If you play the game for 20 hours most of the stuff opens, including the original Panzer game (that's right). However, in order to open EVERYTHING you'll have to get an S ranking on every stage on the hard setting, so I hope you've got a lot of spare time... Most of the stuff you can open, like the side missions, I felt were pointless and even boring. Others, like the cinema and art galleries, are more worthwhile and you can open a lot of that stuff on easy/normal setting.
The music is good in parts and bad/boring in others; it's almost as good as PD Zwei's soundtrack and probably better than the PD Saga's soundtrack, which was a letdown. None have equalled the original Panzer's soundtrack. The sound effects are very good, as you would expect them to be, with Maaya Sakamoto (a popular guitarist/singer from Japan) providing the voice of Orta, the game's low on self-esteem, devoid of feeling (at first) heroine. She (Maaya) also did the lead voice in PD Saga, the Saturn RPG I fortunately have a copy of.
And that's basically the game. It's not as fun as Starfox (in my opinion) but once you get to know the game, you'll find it to be rewarding in some ways and quite a bit lacking in others. I still think PD Zwei is the best in the series, but then again that's just me. PDO is pretty fun on easy but aggravating on hard.
Last edited by Icarus4578; 03-22-2004 at 09:02 AM.
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Gauntlet's illegitimate son...?
Dungeon Explorer - TurboGrafx 16 - Rating 5
The first thought that entered my mind when I first laid my eyes upon Dungeon Explorer was Gauntlet. That's because both games play and look very similar to each other, and Hudson Soft was clearly influenced by the design of Gauntlet.
DE is a top-down dungeon crawler game that is more action than adventure. You begin by selecting which kind of character you'd like to play as: fighter, thief, dwarf, etc. just like Gauntlet, each with his/her specific means of attack (swords, knives, axes, etc. all are projectiles) and each character has their own unique starting stats. You build up stats by finding the appropriate items (i.e. the shoes increase agility). The only way to level-up is to get the ORA stones that the bosses leave behind when you defeat them, and leveling-up is the only means of increasing your max HP -- there's no MP meter. You can collect potions that you can use anytime to double your defenses temporarily, and skulls which do the same to your attacks. Oh, and it's also 1-5 players at once, though I suggest you max out at two or three because this game will slow down to a crawl and that's not gonna be much fun.
Basically you get briefed by the king to return all the ORA stones and it's off you go on a killing spree. You head south from the castle and you're right at the first dungeon. And from there the game pretty much goes from dungeon to brief visit in the town (there's only one town really, aside from a few houses scattered around here and there), back to a dungeon, etc. The game isn't long either, but what it does it does well enough. Each dungeon has its own design which isn't ever anything too impressive, its own enemies and boss (sometimes more than 1), and each has its own piece of music. Some pieces of music are well-done, or at the very least interesting. The TurboGrafx sound is crystal clear and is superior in many ways to the Genesis, though the TG16 is actually an 8-bit system with a 16-bit graphics processor.
There's a password system so you can always resume from where you left off, but on the downside all your powers (aside from level and HP) go back down if you use one.
There's a hidden character you can play as by imputting a specific password given to you at one point in the game, though it's nothing to get too excited about. There's also a trick you do with a password that will let you start not only beyond full-power -- you can even walk through walls, on roofs, water, or pretty much anything (except for some gates, which you can simply walk around) and that means you can go straight to the final boss right from the start! Coolness!
Hudson Soft released a sequel for the PC Engine CD (also plays on TurboDuo, at least on mine) which pretty much looks and plays the same, albeit with cinemas and CD-quality audio.
In the end, DE plays, looks and sounds decent. So I guess that's what this game is: decent. Not bad, but not excellent. Decent.
Here's every code ~ http://www.gamewinners.com/TG/DungeonExplorer.htm and this just happens to be a very useful site as well so check it out. ;)
Last edited by Icarus4578; 03-22-2004 at 09:04 AM.
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Summer Cycling Camp
Summer Sessions
One week long, from 9am-noon. Open to all 10-14 year-olds. Only $150 for the full week of camp! Space is limited, so register early.
Get ready
- Get your bike in good working condition; review this form to check your bike the week before camp so you can fix it if needed.
- Complete and sign the Waiver, en Español aquì; to be completed & signed by parent/guardian on Day 1.
- Wear a helmet, comfortable clothes, and shoes (no flip flops).
- Each day bring water, a snack, and sunscreen.
During daily field trips, our certified League Cycling Instructors are always looking for experienced riders who can be role models and "extra eyes" for our campers. Volunteers are required to take our Confident City Cycling class (FREE for educators or volunteers). If interested in riding with youth, contact our Education Director.
Scholarships Available
To apply contact the Education Director or call 805-699-6301; to register in Carpinteria, call the Carpinteria Children's Project: (805) 566-1611.
Thank you to everyone involved with this wonderful program! After completing the camp, I am confident that my son, Chris, has all the tools necessary to make him a safe cyclist. He had a great experience and made some new friends. Anyone considering having their child bike to junior high should enroll in this program. —Amy Abbott
My daughter enjoyed the camp a lot. No problems getting her up in the morning for the camp which says a lot in my family and she had lots to talk about when she came home. I hope you continue this camp next year for my son to enjoy. Thank you! —Lena Kang-Birken
Thank you for the fantastic opportunity for my daughter! Each day, she looked forward to meeting her friends at Bike Camp. They learned the importance of safety and awareness on the road from fabulous instructors while building confidence, physical stamina, and friendships at the same time. I highly recommend the camp to all students in our community. —Lisa Vance


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Article by Kristian Lexell
Yesterday we visited Robert Drysdale BJJ. We joined a great SW-class. Drysdale is a great instructor and, off course, a super grappler.
We did drills and sparring drills for two hours and the general level was really skilled.
What we also managed to do yesterday was get to one of those giant supermarkets to fill our home with food. That was necessary cause most of the food we've found in Vegas so far is really bad. It sucks having a hard time finding something worth calling nutrition to eat when training 3-5 hours every day.
But now we're getting settled in and soon our routines will be set.
Today first class we will be sparring at Wanderleis gym. That will be nice.
I'm looking forward to the weekend now. Hopefully we'll get to see more of Vegas than.
Aight folks / Lex
About Kristian Lexell
Kristian Lexell will be blogging for MMA Viking during his trip to Las Vegas. He is a veteran of fight sports, with MMA bouts going back to 2001, plus boxing and Muay thai experience. The Swede returned to the cage in 2011 after a four year absence, and has since collected two wins with one loss. Known as "Lexâ€, the powerful middleweight trains at Stockholm's Nexus Fight Center. The Gothenburg native won MMA Viking's KO of the Year in 2011 with his KO of Allan Love at Battle of Botnia 4. Lex most recently won a Muay Thai match at Söderslaget in December at Nexus Fightcenter, and will be announcing his next MMA bout soon.
For more information visit www.kristianlexell.net. Lex is sponsored by OMPU and Sthlm Shoot.


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As the day-to-day point of contact with clients, account managers are tasked with supporting and nurturing your company's most important relationships. Building those relationships takes time, patience, and like all facets of life, the more you work at it, the better the results will be. Here are my top five tools and tricks to sharpen your account management skills.
- Do your homework – Whenever I am told I may be put on a new account, the first thing I do is as much research as humanly possibly on the company and their competitors. Visit their existing website. Read their vision statement, their values, goals, why they exist. Your potential (or existing) client will be looking to you for your expertise and how it can specifically help their business. If you don't understand their business, then how can you be the strategic partner they will need to accomplish their goals?
- Build the relationship – While landing a new client takes work, maintaining and building the relationship takes even more. Take the time to personalize your service. For example, instead of communicating back and forth with emails, opt for a phone call. The back and forth associated with emails can become frustrating and lack the personalized touch a good account manager needs to have. Often times, you will be able to answer additional questions the client may have, be privy to other potential opportunities, and just continue to build the rapport with your client.
- Be honest, be fair, be upfront – While exploring your clients' needs, you may find additional opportunities to improve their products and processes. Providing efficient, effective and sound recommendations is key to gaining trust and growing your business with clients. Being a strategic partner means having their bottom line in mind. Period.
- Work on your communication skills – Listen, listen, listen – then speak. You will be the go-to person for all client requests. You are also the representative for your company for any communication that goes back to the client. Drink from the fire hose as best you can; the more information you have from all parties, the better. Your internal team will want as much information as possible. Conversely, clients will primarily want just the key updates that impact their bottom line or timetable.
- Look at the results – Any successful account manager knows how the KPIs are performing for a specific client. While you don't need to be an analytics guru, your goal is to help the client drive results and make recommendations based off those results. Stay as knowledgeable as you can by frequently reviewing any metrics, stats, and analytics and making recommendations accordingly.
Account managers nurture and maintain your company's most valuable business relationships. Following these five guidelines is a good step toward becoming more than a goodwill ambassador for your brand. You will also become a valued strategic partner on key accounts, helping to ensure your client's ongoing satisfaction and success.


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At 11:49 AM 2002-02-28 , Paul Davis wrote: >Interesting conundrum here, I have been approached by Wandsworth social >services to produce a website for people with severe learning disabilities >(as opposed to cognitive ones), most of which it seems at first glance >involves the use of images and sounds instead of words, I suppose the >position could be taken that the website would only be of interest to the >targeted group in question and as such, is it then a required need to be >accessible in the normally accepted terms? > Yes, in your architecture and tecnology you should be looking to use generic 'universal' methods to the maximum extent possible. But you can still make your first goal some mode of operation that deals with just your service and your clients, on a subscription basis. In the sense that if you can't reach that goal, you just won't do it. If they aren't going to turn it on or tune it in, there's no point building the thing. And that anchor may be an "inside" thing. The first thing to identify is the service to be enabled, described in the language the clients would use to describe why they would use it again. Then one can progress to worrying implementation such as the pictograph vs. phonemail medium that will pass through the system. I haven't heard enough to know that a website is what you need, never mind how to realise such a website. You need to meet some need in the clients' lives that is not being met today. That may revolve around socializing with their peer clients that they wouldn't be able to chat with without the server. But as soon as you have them engaged, you need to be looking at things like: how do the clients communicate with the rest of the world? This includes the Wadsworth as an institution, web grocers, news, sports and weather, people with other disabilies and the like. Let me put the "other disabilities" in a parable. When I returned to the U.S. from two years living abroad, I discovered that there was a bond of understanding among people who had lived outside their native cultures that those who had not had this experience did not share. Call it the expatriate shibboleth. It did not matter if the other person was from another land and living in the U.S. or from the U.S. and had lived (not just visited) elsewhere. It was a surprise to me that it didn't matter where else they had lived. Africa, Poland or China, it was the same difference. It marked someone else's ability to resonate with my life experience, separating them from the perpetual homebodies. I suspect that among people with disabilities there is something of the same effect. Although people that share the same disability are the easiest to relate to as peers, just the general cussedness of life dealing with a world that by an large ignores your needs is a common experience that marks a person and colors how we perceive one another as an "us" or a "them." So even if precipitating social communication within the circle of the subscribed clients is the first goal, it can't be the only goal. If that works, you want to make your service an engine that helps them get on with real life in the real world, too. If they are "LD but not CD" they probably have a rich range of services on their shopping list. What is it that the conventional mode of delivery cuts them off from? Does TV work for them? If it does, have you considered using WebTV as your client? Or if it doesn't, do you need to be thinking of how you are going to work a CNN or BBC feed through your site? You need an operational concept for the requirement on capabilities of the service, first. This can be in usage scenarios. Then as you sketch your technical architecture you should review it with people with broader Web and disability access backgrounds to see where you can base your techniques on stuff that is both adaptable and cheap (available as a commodity or at least a product or service already on the market). Make each biggie that you partner with a sponsor. Look at the role of AT&T in Freedom Box. This is a risky, researchy topic. We need to know more about two things: - what operational user scenarios that Wadsworth wants to enable [got one: exchange messages among subscribers] "A website" covers a multitude of sins. What are you really trying to achieve, here? - what computer-hosted interfaces the target clients use now with success [are these AAC device users? AutoCAD? Excel? Draw/Paint? Super Mario Brothers? Myst/Doom? What mode(s) of user interaction are candidates for binding into your system?] >Nearly all accessible websites take for granted that: > >1. The surfer is naturally English speaking. >2. They can read. > >This is often inaccessible to these particular groups. > >Suppose it was a requirement that a series of images could be used to convey >a message which could then be cut and pasted onto a server generated and >based email so that individuals could then effectively email each other with >their own messages. It would make life easier if Java applets and rotating >gifs could be used, but this comes with it's own set of difficulties. Where >does the line get drawn accessibility wise, or do you just ignore the line >altogether and go for it? > This hints that the primary objective of the site is community building by facilitating socializing through electronic communication. Instant Messaging with Picons and Bliss, so to speak. Picons being personal icons and Bliss being an ideographic language. You may be able to do something that will win devoted users with an all-email solution and never touch the Web. If this is the anchor service, one approach is that of creating a shared virtual world. Technologies to review are MOO and Virtual Classroom and X3D if you have the resources to roll your own world. I heard a briefing at a RESNA conference a year or two back on a pilot study that was run in a children's ward in a hospital. These children were dialysis patients without other particular functional impairments. But they were confined to bed in hospital. They were socially deprived of peer contact just as they were emotionally stressed and in heightened need of social contact to help them through the emotional stresses. The working medium had scene building components the kids could pick and place to compose a personal spot in the shared virtual world. This was art therapy with a social turn because there was community view of one another's constructions etc. Social norms including limits on artistic expression were worked out through dialog in the community among the child patients with professional team facilitation. Partly I am challenged by your characterization of the target group as "with severe learning disabilities but not cognitively impaired." My knowledge of the roadmap through this terra incognita is so weak that this does not evoke an image of what they _can do_. Now: email and offline processing may be a key piece of what you wish to do. But this involves tradeoffs with respect to leaving one another messages on the server a_la BBS systems vs. exchanging email. In the latter case you will probably be sending MIME messages bearing attachments that are objects from some toolspace [I've been warned that 'ontology' is off-putting] that is friendly to their abilities. Much after the fashion of the much-hated worm HTML mailgrams that attempt to launch the script that wipes your disk. How good are your clients going to be a screening out rogue messages? You may need to put this traffic on a security platform to make the neighborhood safe enough. It sounds as though you are a possible candidate to be exploring a 'portal' solution as are Carlos Velasco and his team at the Fraunhofer Institute. You should be aware of the two-tier model where the front tier is webservers that uses technology that the clients will typically have anyway (the web browser, of some definition) and this front tier talks with a back-office tier for wholesale services. The communication between the front tier and back tier is conducted in the 'web services' pattern of practice. The point is that the back-office services are relatively well posed as logic engines, defined by schemas and business rules. You are quite likely a candidate for web services communication with the back-office services anyway. You may well wish to create a peculiar custom client, either built on retail web protocols for communication, or going straight to SOAP for the communication. [policy and politics] Yes, if this is a group for which the 'universal' recipes of today simply do not make the service you want to offer workable, go for a targeted solution. If you follow the "universal design" process macro you may well find that there are common core technologies that will make your job easier and make what you produce support interworking between the particular clients you optimized this view for and others, with other disabilies and with none. At which point we are getting to where we are delivering on the W3C mission. Al >Any opinions please? > >smiles >Paul Davis > >-----Original Message----- >From: firstname.lastname@example.com [mailto:firstname.lastname@example.com]On >Behalf Of Charles McCathieNevile >Sent: 26 February 2002 13:17 >To: firstname.lastname@example.com >Cc: firstname.lastname@example.com >Subject: Re: People with cognitive disabilities as a group > > >Hi > >As a group, people with cognitive disabilities are diverse - more so than >people with Visual disabilities (who are a diverse group) and more like >people with motor disabilities (who are a very diverse group). > >I think that trying to find a single solution that suits all of these people >really involves finding multiple solutions that each provide for some >specific problems, and then unifying these solutions (which includes working >out how to deal with cases where there are apparently conflicting >needs - for >example some people need not to rely on images, others need not to rely on >text. HTML provides for this to some extent with its ability to include both >images and text as equivalent forms of the same information). > >cheers > >Charles >Received on Saturday, 2 March 2002 12:13:29 UTC
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Friday, 17 January 2020 20:36:07 UTC


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by NRA Staff -
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Q: What size does buckshot come in, and what's the best size for hunting?
A: Buckshot ranges in size from No. 4 (.24 caliber) to 000 (.36 caliber). Generally speaking, the smaller the size of the buckshot pellet, the more pellets loaded in a shell. For example, the 12-gauge, 2 3/4-inch Hornady Varmint Express No. 4 buckshot load contains 24 pellets. The company's 12-gauge, 2 3/4-inch Superformance 00 buckshot load contains just eight pellets. The smaller buckshot pellets are normally used for hunting varmints like coyotes, while the larger sizes are better suited for deer. In any size, buckshot loads are best used at short ranges.
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Why Accountants Should Embrace Automated Payments
The traditional process of manual invoices, where accountants endlessly document and detail slips of paper which indicate payment, is slow, inefficient, and harms small businesses everywhere. Businesses delay paying their suppliers as long as possible to hold onto cash, and suppliers are often reluctant to press for payment as they fear annoying their customers. According to The Guardian, a 2014 survey of small and medium British businesses found that they "currently face up to £40bn in unpaid invoices," which amounts to an average of £38,186 per firm. Similar problems exist in the U.S. as well.
Businesses should pay promptly not just because it is the ethical thing to do, but because it creates good relationships with their suppliers who will sometimes offer discounts for early payment. Unfortunately, even businesses who are sincere about paying can be delayed by invoice errors and problems in the process.
Automated payment technology often known as financial process automation (FPA) is the answer to these problems. Many of us already automatically pay our utility bills or insurance monthly, and businesses should try to do the same thing with the bills they have to pay. Combine fast payments with automation technology which lets accountants become advisors, and the result will be a net benefit for everyone.
The Importance of Automated Payments
The general benefits of using FPA is that invoices become less expensive and easier to process since they are no longer being done by hand. In a system where manual invoices take time to process, businesses cannot get a real-time perspective on their financial situation. A small business may see that they have $30,000 in funds, but how much of that is needed to deal with upcoming payments?
The problem in that scenario is a lack of information, which is precisely what FPA can provide. And since small businesses can have an easy way to view how much they are paying suppliers, it makes it easier to make decisions and ensure regulatory compliance. And with FPA, the data becomes centralized and interconnected instead of spread out on countless invoices and Excel spreadsheets.
Your business will win through a faster, cheaper invoice process which gives businesses more information. Your suppliers will win because they know that they will get paid on time which will foster good relations and ethical behavior.
Best of all, this will remove a great deal of stress from your office employees. A lot of HR departments employ anti-stress measures in the work place, such as light exercise or going for a walk. This can clear your mind and release stress ready for when you start work again. However, with automated invoicing, stress itself need not be a problem.
Digital and Manual Labor
A business may look at automated payments and dream of a system where everything becomes automated. But FPA alone cannot fulfill that dream. Accountants still find themselves trapped under piles of menial work like data entry, which take up hours and prevent them from fulfilling their true potential.
The solution to this is digital labor, otherwise known as robotic process automation (RPA). A 2016 survey from PwC found that 57 percent of financial service companies have done one or more proof of concepts in regards to RPA, with an additional 17 percent further along in the process. From an accounting perspective, RPA essentially fulfills the task of human workers, capturing and connecting data from one program to another.
Cloud technology has already made it so that accountants can have all accounts on a centralized, easily accessible ledger instead of multiple ledgers on multiple computers. RPA takes this a step further by reconciling data between different systems. While a workers before may have to take an Excel spreadsheet and retype all the data into another system, now RPA can do this. This saves accountants thousands of man hours and is a major benefit for the business.
We Will Not Be Replaced
Everything listed above should make it clear how businesses can benefit from an automated payment system. But some accountants worry that robots and automated payments will end up replacing them and so may be reluctant to recommend adapting the process.
These fears are unfounded. The reality is that accountants are overworked, especially during the busy tax season. This results in mental illness as Going Concern points out, as well as countless young bright accountants leaving the profession to go into a less stressful field. Accountants need less work, not more, and technology removing that work is a good thing.
Furthermore, while RPA and FPA handle grunt work like data entry and processing invoices, accountants are free to use their judgment to become financial advisors and use their unique insights to actually help the company. These technologies will complement accountants, not replace them.
Instead of fearing how automation could cause accountants to lose their jobs, accountants should embrace these new changes and take on a new role where they are creative producers of insight and not just rote data entry grunts. By accepting these new technologies and letting automation handle payment and data entry, the end result will be good for everyone, whether we are talking about accountants, businesses, or suppliers.
You might also be interested in
Cost accountant with major focus in SAP/General Fund Enterprise Business System (GFEBS). Also, main functional inspector for accounting/finance audits for internal reviews as well as the Statement of Budgetary Resources audit initiative.


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Blue Geronimo detains suspected insurgents
KHOWST PROVINCE, Afghanistan — Paratroopers from Task Force Blue Geronimo detained two suspected insurgents near the Pakistan border, south of Matun district.
The three-day mission was conducted by members of 1st Platoon, Comanche Company.
The platoon's mission was to travel to Matun district, in the eastern half of Gorbuz to conduct reconnaissance and biometric operations.
The platoon's mission was not without its challenges. While traveling through the mountainous region, the platoon put their Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicles to the test, causing one of their vehicles to lose bolts to its front right tire and nearly the tire itself, while in route to the Afghan Command Outpost Lakkan.
"That first day we drove through some pretty rough terrain. That truck had been broken before. One of the disc's brakes came loose and at no fault to anybody, the tire [as well]," U.S. Army 1st Lt. Connor Flaherty, platoon leader for 1st Platoon, Comanche Company, TF Blue Geronimo, hailing from Salem, Ore., said. "We torqued them down as best we could and drove it back here to the AFCOP and had it picked up. We actually had a truck ready at Forward Operating Base Salerno and we ended up picking it up a day early," said Flaherty.
That same day, the unit's air support, a Kiowa type helicopter known as Bam-Bam, had taken small-arms fire.
On day two of their mission the platoon traveled farther south toward the border up to the village of Spunky-Dory to investigate the area of where it was reported that the small-arms fire had occurred.
"That area is known to have a lot of enemy combatants," said Flaherty. "We went up there to investigate and look for a suspected cache site since that was the area where Bam-Bam had taken fire."
Flaherty and his platoon also made use of the attached female engagement team in order to conduct a proper search of the village and gather biometric data.
Chicago native U.S. Army Pfc. Maeya Barnes, a military police member with 425th Brigade Special Troops battalion, TF Warrior, who serves as a member of the Platoon's FET said, "Working in the FET is cool because you get to interact with the people other than just pulling security and sometimes you find out really cool information from the females if they're cooperative."
Flaherty spoke highly of the FET as a cultural asset, saying it's good to use every resource available when gathering intelligence.
After all intelligence gathering was completed in that village, the platoon mounted their MRAPs and continued their mission toward the Pakistan border to conduct reconnaissance and gather biometrics data.
"We know a lot of the terrorist training camps are right over the border and they use the rat lines and the roads that come between the border-check points as their infiltration routes," said U.S. Army Sgt. Christopher Alford, a team leader with 1st Platoon, from Greenwood, Ind. He added that his team conducting missions in the vicinities of these infiltration routes is preventing the enemy to maneuver freely.
On the final day of the mission, Flaherty and his paratroopers left the AFCOP to inspect a report from an Afghan National Army soldier. He spoke of a suspected improvised explosive device in a culvert on Route Crowbar.
"The bag was indeed there," said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Peter Yanez, a squad leader for 1st Platoon, from San Dimas, Calif. "ANSF (Afghan National Security Force) verified that it was an IED. At that point we saw a suspicious individual south of Crowbar in a field. Once we dismounted he began to run."
The Afghan Border Patrol fired a few shots in his direction as elements of the platoon began pursuing the individual on foot.
"My element flanked along the right side, pretty much going around the entire village trying to cut off his route of escape to the southwest," said Alford.
When the platoon was unable to locate the suspected individual, the ground elements began a door-to-door search of the qalats.
"We were unable to locate the individual because he ran around a corner. We asked some farm hands and they gave us different locations. So with the ABP we started searching qalats," said Yanez.
As the platoon conducted their search, Alford and his team came across a qalat that was heavily fortified. After speaking with the individuals there, they were led to another qalat where his team found a cache of weapons and one suspect who tested positive for explosive materials.
"When we got to the qalat that was fortified, I spoke to one of the military age males who live in the qalat. He told us that him and the qalat that we found all the weapons; their two tribes are fighting against each other," said Alford.
The gentleman also told Alford and his team that the other tribe is trying to get the Americans to kill their tribe because of a dispute that they had where a girl ran away from their family and married his brother, which has now led to a feud between the two tribes.
Alford added that the man had also told him that they're probably the ones who are planting the IEDs. He went on to say the other tribe wants the Americans to go over and either detain or kill his people. "Upon hearing that, we went to the other houses and discovered all the ammunition and the guy who tested positive for explosive materials," said Alford.
As Flaherty and his platoon were gathering intelligence and evidence, an explosive ordnance disposal team came on scene and blew the surface IED in place, rendering the area safe.
The platoon then mounted back up with the two detainees and the cache of weapons and returned to FOB Salerno to begin processing the detainees and resupply for their next mission.


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A couple of months ago, Steve and I decided we wanted to do one more camping trip this year. I have very fond memories of camping at Devil's Lake when I was a kid, and I thought it would be beautiful to go in the fall. This past weekend we headed up on Friday evening. We got there around 6:30, checked into our site, and got set up. I don't have any pictures of the first night because it was dark and I was trying to feed Kai a quick dinner while Steve was setting up the camper. It always takes a while to get everything set up, but we eventually did, and I think we put Kai to bed around 8:45 that night. He has always slept great in his pack n play and in the camper, which is awesome. Steve and I roasted weiners on the fire for a late night dinner because we are super classy like that. We followed it up with s'mores as camping law requires.
Saturday morning we all slept in a little bit (for me at least) and I think we all woke up around 7:30-7:45. I made pancakes in the camper and Kai and I ate them all up (Steve is not a breakfast person, which I will never pretend to understand).
After breakfast we all took a walk down to the camp store for a trail map.
Devil's lake is surrounded by bluffs and is known for it's awesome hiking trails. By the time we left for our first hike it was probably almost 10am. We decided to start at the north end (where we already were) and headed up the East Bluff Trail.
I carried Kai on my back because I knew I wanted Steve to carry him on our more difficult afternoon hike.
We stopped at a few look out points and snapped some photos. It was so pretty up there.
We didn't hike too long because before long it was time for Kai to eat lunch and take a nap. We headed back to the campsite and I made Kai a sandwich. Kid loves dining al fresco.
Steve got to work setting up the new to us screen room on the camper. Not really necessary on this trip, but we wanted to try it out. Verdict – love it!
Kai went down for his nap, and Steve and I enjoyed a beer by the fire. Yes.
We also made pudgie pie sandwiches for lunch.
Kai slept for about an hour and a half and then he was ready to party. He loved walking around the campsite (and into the road, silly boy). Good thing we brought his
cage play enclosure along.
For our afternoon hike, we drove around to the south shore of the lake to do the Balanced Rock Trail. Let me just say that since it has been years since I hiked this trail, I did not recall exactly how difficult and treacherous it is. Thank goodness Steve was carrying Kai and felt confident in his footing, because there is no way I would have felt comfortable with him on my back. The trail is all steep rock steps that are uneven and slippery, and some of them move. One wrong step or slip and you could literally tumble down the bluff.
On the way up we somehow missed the off chute of the trail that leads to the balanced rock itself. The views however, were amazing.
On the way back down we did find the balanced rock and stopped for a photo op.
I took this shot on the way back down so you can see how steep and technical the trail is.
Once we reached the bottom I stopped having a heart attack and spotted a giant rock that I knew I must pose atop of.
After the hike we stopped at the concession stand and I got ice cream, obviously. We let Kai loose to play on the playground there for a while before heading back to the camp site. I should have snapped a pic of the playground because it was pretty cool. Instead of wood chips, the ground was covered in ground up tires so it was nice and soft and bouncy.
Back at the campsite, I put Kai in his snuggly suit because it was kind of cold and windy, and because it is adorable. I made him a quesadilla for dinner which he would not touch (even though it is one of his favorite foods at home).
Kai was pretty worn out and I think he went to bed around 7:30 this night. Steve and I made tacos for dinner and sat by the campfire. The wind was a little ridiculous and was blowing the smoke every which way, but we finally figured out where to put our chairs to get the least amount of smoke in our faces. I practically fell asleep in my camp chair before calling it a night. I slept horribly this night due to the wind being obnoxiously loud and a pole above our bed in the camper falling on me no less than five times (yes, the parts have already been ordered to fix this little problem for next time). Kai was up around 7am Sunday morning, and I made pancakes again. We all felt lazy and hung out in the camper for a long time before getting motivated to start packing up. Kai made himself useful in rearranging one of the cabinets.
I chased Kai around the campsite while Steve popped the camper down.
Turns out our little man is very handy like his Daddy and helped get the trailer hooked up, no problem.
We tried to stop at the nature center on the way out because I thought Kai would enjoy it, but turns out it was 300 yards straight up a steep trail from the parking lot. After all of our hiking the day before, Steve vetoed that plan immediately. It turned out ok, because Kai was asleep with in three minutes of leaving the park.
And with that, Claudette is safely stored away, ready for the camping adventures that await us next year.


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