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insanityclause · 4 years

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In the longest scheduled extension to date of the blackout of Broadway theaters prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, trade organization the Broadway League announced Tuesday that the 41 top-tier New York theaters that went dark March 12 will remain that way at least through Sept. 6.

That's a full three months beyond the last extension, which bumped back the original April 12 end date for the closure to June 7. However, few pundits are expecting to see theaters open for business Sept. 8, the day after Labor Day, which falls on a Monday when most Broadway theaters remain dark. The situation seems likely to be reevaluated as that date approaches, with producers and theater owners adopting a wait-and-see policy in accordance with state guidelines and other safety and economic considerations.

"No one wants to get too far ahead of the governor on this," said one prominent producer who spoke off the record.

"While all Broadway shows would love to resume performances as soon as possible, we need to ensure the health and well-being of everyone who comes to the theater — behind the curtain and in front of it — before shows can return," Broadway League president Charlotte St. Martin said Tuesday in a statement. "The Broadway League's membership is working in cooperation with the theatrical unions, government officials and health experts to determine the safest ways to restart our industry. Throughout this challenging time, we have been in close communication with Gov. [Andrew] Cuomo's office and are grateful for his support and leadership as we work together to bring back this vital part of New York City's economy — and spirit."

The League's decision follows last week's announcement from the Society of London Theatres, extending the shutdown of live entertainment venues in the British capital through June 28. Like Broadway, that date appears to be a marker rather than a set plan for reopening. West End theaters have been canceling performances on a rolling basis, which seems certain to continue through the summer.

Broadway was the first sector in New York to impose a blanket suspension of operations on March 12, and most insiders expect it to be one of the last to come back.

In a sign that producers are approaching reopening with the utmost caution, the Broadway revival of Neil Simon's Plaza Suite, starring Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker, announced Tuesday that it will be pushed back by a full year, with the limited engagement now scheduled for March 19-July 18, 2021, at the Hudson Theatre. Directed by Tony-winning actor John Benjamin Hickey, the comedy was originally scheduled to begin previews March 13, the day after the Broadway shutdown, and was one of the fastest-selling productions of the spring.

"We remain deeply committed to bringing Neil Simon's Plaza Suite to New York as promised and cannot wait to help welcome audiences back to our beloved Broadway," said Broderick and Parker in a statement. "Until then, everybody please stay safe."

While some have floated the idea of theaters reopening with socially distanced seating plans, few if any producers think that model would work given Broadway's exorbitant running costs. The more likely scenario involves temperature checks for theatergoers along with compulsory masks and gloves, no intermissions and deep-disinfectant cleaning of auditoriums between performances. But many questions remain, including how to provide adequate protection for actors in productions that don't allow for social distancing.

The famous William Goldman quote about the film industry seems especially applicable to post-pandemic Broadway: "Nobody knows anything." But the smart money seems to point to an early-2021 reopening, with anecdotal estimates ranging from January through March.

In what could turn out to be a harbinger of things to come for many of the country's stages, Minneapolis' Guthrie Theater, one of America's largest and most respected nonprofits, last week took the bold step of announcing that operations will resume with a compressed mini-season of just three productions running March-August 2021. That represents a massive reduction from the originally scheduled 11 shows, with a budget slashed from $31 million to $12.6 million. Those drastic measures make necessary allowances for the time required to build and rehearse productions, underscoring the complicated logistics for the theater sector of emerging from lockdown.

A Shugoll Research industry survey this month indicated that only 41 percent of New York theatergoers say they are likely to return when theaters resume activity, while almost 1 in 5 people, or 17 percent, say they are very unlikely. More than half those polled, or 58 percent, said they will wait at least a few months before attending a show.

When theaters went dark, the 2019-20 season was just a little beyond the midway point, with another 16 productions scheduled to open before the April 23 cutoff for 2020 Tony Awards consideration. An announcement was made March 25 that due to the coronavirus shutdown, the Tonys would be postponed to a later date to be set once Broadway resumes activity.

Two Broadway shows that had begun previews when the lights went out — Martin McDonagh's Hangmen and a revival of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? — have already announced they will not reopen after the suspension ends. Other shows from nonprofit producers that were about to begin performances have been pushed back to next season, including Roundabout's Birthday Candles and Caroline, or Change; Lincoln Center Theater's Flying Over Sunset; and Manhattan Theatre Club's How I Learned to Drive.

With Plaza Suite also now postponed, that still leaves nine incoming productions in limbo, some of which had minimal advance sales and muted buzz at the time of the shutdown, even less so now. How many of those will forge ahead with opening plans remains to be seen. Uncertainty also hangs over established shows that had started to see a slight decline in business after the initial boom period — Mean Girls, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and even Disney's Frozen among them.

Many are quietly wondering about the wisdom of coming back to half-empty houses even for long-running behemoths like The Phantom of the Opera, which relies heavily on tourism for the majority of its traffic. Even the most optimistic estimates don't anticipate the return of tourists to New York in sizable numbers before summer 2021 at the earliest.

If most of Broadway's 41 houses do reopen, the likelihood of swift financial casualties and prompt closings could mean many prime venues will sit vacant for the first time since the slump of the 1980s and early '90s. The steady growth since then, which propelled Broadway to a record $1.8 billion in grosses last season with attendance of 15 million, now inevitably seems headed for a major reset. Some industryites are asking whether this will mean renegotiating ticketing price scales, landlord percentages and union rates to bring down the prohibitive costs that put Broadway off limits to many entertainment consumers.

Losses to the sector are difficult to calculate, especially with no certainty about a reopening date, but 2019 box office grosses for mid-March through Labor Day totaled $915 million. Industry analysts generally estimate that factoring in the losses to theater-district businesses fed by the Broadway economy — hotels, restaurants, bars, parking garages, taxis and car services — means multiplying total ticket sales by three. That would peg the overall financial blow for the six-month period at a staggering $2.7 billion. At any rate, the impact on one of New York City's principal economic drivers and job pipelines will be devastating, with the fallout sure to be felt for years to come.

As for the Tony Awards, there are two principal schools of thought about which way to go.

Some are lobbying to put a cap on the partial season and present awards for the shows that opened before March 12. This, however, would handicap recent openings like West Side Story and Girl From the North Country given that not all of the Tony Nominating Committee will have seen them and certainly not the majority of voters. Shows that opened early in the season, on the other hand, like Moulin Rouge! and the limited-engagement, Tom Hiddleston-led revival of Harold Pinter's Betrayal, would have an advantage.

The alternate plan is to combine the truncated partial 2019-20 season with any shows that open between the resumption of Broadway operations and the late-April cutoff for 2021 Tony consideration, presenting the double awards at a ceremony in June next year. That option also has clear disadvantages for some, however, given that voters have notoriously short memories and shows like Betrayal or The Inheritance that have long closed will be ancient history by then.

Whichever route the Tonys choose to go, there are sure to be disgruntled players. But even a partial ceremony of outstanding Broadway artistry right now could serve as a much-needed morale booster to a sector facing unprecedented challenges.

#Broadway #Tonys #Tom Hiddleston #Betrayal

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cincinnatusvirtue · 4 years

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December 7th: Attack on Pearl Harbor, America enters WWII

December 7th, 1941, famously referred to by then US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as a “date which will live in infamy” became the rallying cry for America’s official entry into the then two year running Second World War. Though in the case of Japan, the war had really been raging with its conquest of East Asia and China in particular since 1937 or even 1931 depending on your definition. Imperial Japan’s attack on the US naval fleet docked at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii really was the culmination of a longstanding rivalry between the two nations over the course of the preceding decades.

In some ways the story dates back to the start of American-Japanese relations when a US fleet under Commodore Matthew C Perry arrived in Japan in 1853 and ending the longstanding period of isolation Japan had followed for centuries under the Tokugawa Shogunate. This forced open diplomatic and trade relations, which was soon followed up by European powers and brought Japan into the modern era. Over the next century, Japan saw rapid modernization, with the Meiji Restoration of the Japanese Emperor from ceremonial figurehead to absolute ruler, the true expansion of the new Japanese Empire began after this time period Rapid social and internal reform combined with gradual imperial expansion. Japan famously defeated China in the 1894-1895 First Sino-Japanese War, which gave Japan control over Korea in it’s sphere of influence and Japan’s subsequent invasion and occupation of Taiwan. This was followed by victory over the Russian Empire in 1904-1905s Russo-Japanese War. However, the peace for this war brokered by then US President Theodore Roosevelt, limited Japanese gains to a few ports and islands, but effective greater political influence in the region. Japanese nationalists however, saw this as the first US attempt to limit Japan’s influence in the Greater Asia-Pacific region, suspicious that America was clamoring to gain its own influence here.

America for it’s part had indeed expanded into this region with the 1898 annexation of the Republic of Hawaii, which in turn was a largely American sponsored effort to overthrow the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1894. After 1898 it was the US Territory of Hawaii (statehood of Hawaii occurring in 1959). American influence in the region further expanded with the 1898 Spanish-American War, which saw the US destroy the last elements of Spain’s longstanding overseas empire, occupying/liberating Cuba and annexing Puerto Rico in the Caribbean. Also occupying and annexing Guam and most importantly the Philippines in the Pacific. America would also acquire the island of American Samoa in this period.

These two parallel examples of imperialism and expansion sowed the seeds of conflict that would emerge in World War II. Both the US and Japan were technically on the same side during the First World War in opposition to the Empire of Germany. Japan got limited territorial gains from German Pacific islands and German colonies in China. Japan also pressed during the Treaty of Versailles conference for a clause supporting racial equality, it saw limited support and was ultimately not included.

Japan and the US also sided with other Allied nations in an intervention in the Russian Civil War to end the Communist rise leading to the Soviet Union. Japan occupied parts of Siberia but due to objections from the US was forced to scale back its occupation and eventually withdrew altogether along with all other Allied nations.

The 1920′s saw Japan enter an economic recession while America was experiencing an economic boom. Both sides were signatories of the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty which saw to limit the navies of the US, Britain, France, Italy and Japan from escalating into an arms race. Japan would withdraw from this treaty in 1934.

1931 saw both sides come to loggerheads even more with the Japanese invasion of Manchuria (Northern China) with Japan’s military taking increasingly a nationalist tone and exerting control over the Japanese government. The invasion lead to the establishment of a Japanese puppet state, Manchukuo. This invasion lead to condemnation of Japan and its withdrawal from the League of Nations. 1937 saw the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, which saw Japan invade China in the middle of a civil war between Nationalist and Communist elements. This would interrupt the civil war for the duration of World War II with almost all Chinese parties fighting united against the Japanese invaders, despite friction and some fighting between both sides. Japan initially pushed back the Chinese in eastern parts of the country and was to commit well known atrocities against the Chinese populace, most famously in Nanjing in 1937-38. Meanwhile, Japan had drawn closer ties to Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy during this time, culminating in the 1940 military alliance, the Tripartite Pact committing the Axis Powers to mutual defense, its main target was the United States.

1939 saw the start of the Second World War with Germany’s invasion of Poland and the subsequent British and French declarations of war. Japan monitored the war but was committed to defeating China at the time. With the fall of France to Nazi Germany in 1940, Japan took this chance to overtake French Indochina (Vietnam) and this lead to the US, Britain the Netherlands declaring a trade embargo. Effectively this cut off Japan’s oil imports, 80% of which came from America and vital to its war efforts. Seeing this as further evidence of America and Britain’s attempts to curtail Japan’s influence and project for a “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere”, a euphemism for Japanese imperialist control of East Asia and the Pacific, Japan began to develop plans for an attack against the US, Britain and the Netherlands.

The plan for war was developed under Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, the Japanese military and approved of eventually after much discussion by the Japanese Emperor and his council. The goals were to launch simultaneous attacks against American, British and Dutch interests in the Pacific. Namely, removing America from the Philippines, Guam and elsewhere in the Pacific Islands, conquering British Hong Kong, Malaya and Singapore and the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) for its oil supply. The attack was meant to be overwhelming and fast, crippling the naval capacity of America especially and making a rapid peace thereafter. The plan for the attack of the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii would be executed in surprise fashion without declaration of war, influenced by Japan’s attack in 1904 on Imperial Russia’s naval base at Port Arthur. It was also influenced by Britain’s successful plane oriented bombing of Italian ships at Taranto in 1940. The goal was to sink and destroy as many ships as possible so that’s America’s naval capacity would be diminished to the point it couldn’t fight an effective naval war in the Pacific.

Americans polled at the time by Gallup were in the majority thinking war with Japan was imminent and there had been warning signs of war breaking out, but nothing conclusive. The Japanese plan called for the use of aircraft carriers sending warplanes and small submarines from a great distance to launch in successive waves with the hopes of destroying American aircraft carriers docked at Pearl Harbor. The attacked commenced at 7:48 AM local time with 183 Japanese warplanes launching from north of the island of Oahu, US radar detected the planes incoming but mistook them for US planes on maneuvers from the US mainland, the planes began bombing and strafing runs of US ships right away. The US returned fire with its own planes and anti-aircraft guns. Subsequently a second Japanese wave of planes attacked in quick succession. These were coupled with midget submarine torpedo attacks.

The battle was over in 90 minutes and was a tactical Japanese victory. US casualties included 2,200+ military personnel killed and 65 civilians and hundreds wounded. Half of the casualties occurred with the explosion of the forward magazine of the American battleship the USS Arizona. Four American battleships were sunk, four damaged along with damage to numerous other ships, 188 aircraft destroyed and 159 damaged. Japan lost 64 airmen and sailors in the attack, 29 planes destroyed, 74 damaged and 4 midget submarines sank, one was grounded and a single sailor taken prisoner, becoming the first Japanese POW of the war with America. Japan delayed its declaration of war on America by three hours. America declared war by vote of Congress the next day, after President Roosevelt’s speech. Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy also declared war on America and the US responded mutually by December 11th. The US would now have to fight a two front war in Europe and the Pacific. Japan’s surprise attacks elsewhere against other American, British and Dutch targets were also mostly successful. However, fate worked against Japan at Pearl Harbor in one crucial aspect, American aircraft carriers (their primary target) were not present, having been out at maneuvers at sea and this combined with American industrial output in the coming months were to have grave consequences for Japan’s war effort, especially as its navy would be decisively destroyed at the Battle of Midway in June 1942, thereafter putting them on the defensive and the road to final defeat...

#pearl harbor #world war 2 #military history #usa #japan #on this day

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theliberaltony · 5 years

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via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

I argued in a piece published earlier this week that the “Super Progressive” bloc of the Democratic Party was largely losing its fights with the party’s Progressive Old Guard wing. Big ideas pushed by more liberal Democrats like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — such as the Green New Deal, the impeachment of President Trump and single-payer health care — just aren’t getting much traction right now in the House, which Democrats control.

In particular, it seems like the most progressive wing of Democrats is not as influential under Democratic control of the House as the Freedom Caucus — the bloc of the most conservative House Republicans — was when the GOP controlled the chamber. So why are the Super Progressives struggling? I don’t think that there is one simple explanation. But here are a few theories, based on my own thinking and that of some congressional experts.

The Democrats’ base is more moderate than the GOP’s

The number of Democratic voters who identify as liberal has been increasing for some time, but the party is still about equally split between people who call themselves “liberal” and people who call themselves “moderate” or “conservative.” In the GOP, by contrast, people who say they’re “conservative” outnumber liberals and moderates. And you can see this difference in how elected officials behave. Polls suggest that more aggressively liberal positions (like impeachment) garner a fair amount of opposition1 among Democratic voters. This makes it easier for House Democratic leaders like Speaker Nancy Pelosi to sideline those ideas.

Instead, Pelosi is pushing forward proposals that are nearly universally popular among Democrats, such as allowing Americans to register to vote on Election Day.

“Progressive media and activists would not reward the most aggressive tactics,” said Gregory Koger, who is a political science professor at the University of Miami and studies Congress. “In 2013, there were conservative groups and media arguing sincerely that they could repeal the ACA by shutting down the government. If a super-progressive House member tried to argue on MSNBC or on Daily Kos that the House Democrats could force the Republicans to overturn the 2017 tax cut if Nancy Pelosi had the ‘courage’ to hold the debt limit hostage, he or she would be heckled.”

The Democratic moderate wing is powerful too

The Congressional Progressive Caucus is bigger than ever; it boasts 96 of the 235 Democrats in the House as members. But the New Democrat Coalition, a bloc of more moderate members, is bigger than ever too, and it now includes 101 members. Many of those members are not particularly excited about single-payer health care, the Green New Deal or other lefty stances. And while most of these members don’t have the same national profile as rising liberal stars such as Ocasio-Cortez, they have the same one vote that she does. Perhaps more importantly, many of these members are in swing districts — and Pelosi is focused on making sure these members can get re-elected in 2020.

“Pelosi is clearly keeping her eye on the prize of a Democratic Congress and White House,” said Matthew Green, a political science professor at Catholic University who specializes in congressional politics. “Her strategy is very similar to the one she followed as speaker in 2007 and 2008 — bring up bills popular with the base that also force moderate Republicans to break with their party, while staying clear of polarizing issues that could galvanize the opposition or alienate moderate voters.”

Green predicted that, if Democrats have control of the House, the Senate and the presidency after 2020, Pelosi might be willing to push more liberal goals, as she did in 2009 in embracing Obamacare and a cap-and-trade environmental bill.

And speaking of Pelosi …

Pelosi is a powerful speaker

The Freedom Caucus — perhaps because they are more closely aligned with GOP voters than the Congressional Progressive Caucus is with Democratic voters, and because Fox News and Trump are able to galvanize the party’s activists — was often able to run roughshod over the speaker, overpowering John Boehner or forcing Paul Ryan to bend to its will.

Pelosi, in contrast, seems fairly willing to ignore her party’s left wing — and as the speaker, she ultimately has the power to determine what bills come up for votes in the House. But Green argued that Pelosi’s power does not come just from her role as speaker.

“I don’t think Pelosi’s formal power alone explains why she is more immune to her party’s extreme wing than Boehner or Ryan, who also had substantial formal power. Her informal power is probably more important. She commands the support of committee chairs, whom she had substantial say in appointing,” said Green.

The Super Progressive bloc may be too big

You would think having more members would make a congressional bloc more powerful, but its broad membership might be having the opposite effect. “The Congressional Progressive Caucus is far larger than the Freedom Caucus, making it harder for them to reach agreement on strategy,” Green said. (The Freedom Caucus does not publicize its membership, but estimates in 2017-18 put its number at around 30.)

The progressive bloc includes some members of Congress who are more closely allied with Pelosi than with Ocasio-Cortez, for example. Indeed, she has floated the idea of creating a smaller, closer-knit group outside of the formal Progressive Caucus. I think that might be a more effective way for the most liberal members to pursue their goals.

The Super Progressives won’t blow things up

Cohesiveness aside, though, the Freedom Caucus members were influential in part because they were willing to engage in very aggressive tactics (opposing must-pass bills to fund the government and to increase the nation’s debt ceiling, for example). That approach gave them a lot of leverage. There is no indication at this point that the Democrats’ liberal wing will take similar steps — they are part of the pro-government party after all.

“The ties that bind the Freedom Caucus together seem to be more ideologically-oriented or value-oriented than to be about specific policies,” said Jennifer Victor, a political science professor at George Mason University. “The fact that the Progressive Caucus is more policy-oriented suggests they may be more willing to negotiate within their party than the Freedom Caucus was.”

Add all this together, and you get a Super Progressive bloc of Democrats that, at least so far, is struggling to push the Democratic Party to the left. I’d emphasize so far, however. Remember that in 2009 it was considered a fairly left wing position to propose including a public option — a Medicare-style plan Americans could opt into — as part of the health insurance choices offered through the Affordable Care Act. Now, the public option is considered a more centrist position, and many Democrats are going a step further and backing single-payer health care (in which Americans would get their coverage through a government-run system). So the progressives may, over time, push the party left. But the first months of 2019 suggest that progressives won’t be successful immediately — and maybe no one should have expected them to be.

#IFTTT #Politics – FiveThirtyEight #politics #538 #Perry Bacon Jr.

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matthew-poll · 4 years

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daytradeforgood · 4 years

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brookstonalmanac · 3 years

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Events 3.31

307 – After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine marries Fausta, daughter of the retired Roman Emperor Maximian. 1146 – Bernard of Clairvaux preaches his famous sermon in a field at Vézelay, urging the necessity of a Second Crusade. Louis VII is present, and joins the Crusade. 1492 – Queen Isabella of Castile issues the Alhambra Decree, ordering her 150,000 Jewish and Muslim subjects to convert to Christianity or face expulsion. 1521 – Ferdinand Magellan and fifty of his men came ashore to present-day Limasawa to participate in the first Catholic mass in the Philippines. 1717 – A sermon on "The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ" by Benjamin Hoadly, the Bishop of Bangor, preached in the presence of King George I of Great Britain, provokes the Bangorian Controversy. 1761 – The 1761 Lisbon earthquake strikes off the Iberian Peninsula with an estimated magnitude of 8.5, six years after another quake destroyed the city. 1774 – American Revolutionary War: The Kingdom of Great Britain orders the port of Boston, Massachusetts closed pursuant to the Boston Port Act. 1854 – Commodore Matthew Perry signs the Convention of Kanagawa with the Tokugawa Shogunate, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade. 1885 – The United Kingdom establishes the Bechuanaland Protectorate. 1889 – The Eiffel Tower is officially opened. 1899 – Malolos, capital of the First Philippine Republic, is captured by American forces. 1901 – Rusalka by Antonín Dvořák premiéres at the National Opera House in Prague. 1906 – The Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (later the National Collegiate Athletic Association) is established to set rules for college sports in the United States. 1909 – Serbia formally withdraws its opposition to Austro-Hungarian actions in the Bosnian Crisis. 1913 – The Vienna Concert Society rioted during a performance of modernist music by Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, Alexander von Zemlinsky, and Anton von Webern, causing a premature end to the concert due to violence; this concert became known as the Skandalkonzert. 1917 – According to the terms of the Treaty of the Danish West Indies, the islands become American possessions. 1918 – Massacre of ethnic Azerbaijanis is committed by allied armed groups of Armenian Revolutionary Federation and Bolsheviks. Nearly 12,000 Azerbaijani Muslims are killed. 1918 – Daylight saving time goes into effect in the United States for the first time. 1921 – The Royal Australian Air Force is formed. 1930 – The Motion Picture Production Code is instituted, imposing strict guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion and violence in film, in the U.S., for the next thirty-eight years. 1931 – An earthquake in Nicaragua destroys Managua; killing 2,000. 1931 – A Transcontinental & Western Air airliner crashes near Bazaar, Kansas, killing eight, including University of Notre Dame head football coach Knute Rockne. 1933 – The Civilian Conservation Corps is established with the mission of relieving rampant unemployment in the United States. 1942 – World War II: Japanese forces invade Christmas Island, then a British possession. 1945 – World War II: A defecting German pilot delivers a Messerschmitt Me 262A-1, the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft, to the Americans, the first to fall into Allied hands. 1949 – The Dominion of Newfoundland joins the Canadian Confederation and becomes the 10th Province of Canada. 1951 – Remington Rand delivers the first UNIVAC I computer to the United States Census Bureau. 1957 – Elections to the Territorial Assembly of the French colony Upper Volta are held. After the elections PDU and MDV form a government. 1958 – In the Canadian federal election, the Progressive Conservatives, led by John Diefenbaker, win the largest percentage of seats in Canadian history, with 208 seats of 265. 1959 – The 14th Dalai Lama, crosses the border into India and is granted political asylum. 1964 – Brazilian General Olímpio Mourão Filho orders his troops to move towards Rio de Janeiro, beginning the coup d'état. 1966 – The Soviet Union launches Luna 10 which later becomes the first space probe to enter orbit around the Moon. 1968 – American President Lyndon B. Johnson speaks to the nation of "Steps to Limit the War in Vietnam" in a television address. At the conclusion of his speech, he announces: "I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President." 1970 – Explorer 1 re-enters the Earth's atmosphere after 12 years in orbit. 1980 – The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad operates its final train after being ordered to liquidate its assets because of bankruptcy and debts owed to creditors. 1990 – Approximately 200,000 protesters take to the streets of London to protest against the newly introduced Poll Tax. 1991 – Georgian independence referendum: Nearly 99 percent of the voters support the country's independence from the Soviet Union. 1992 – The USS Missouri, the last active United States Navy battleship, is decommissioned in Long Beach, California. 1992 – The Treaty of Federation is signed in Moscow. 1993 – The Macao Basic Law was adopted by the Eight National People's Congress of China to take effect December 20, 1999 1995 – Selena is murdered by her fan club's president Yolanda Saldívar at a Days Inn in Corpus Christi, Texas after accusations emerged of Saldívar embezzling money from Selena's fan club. 1995 – TAROM Flight 371, an Airbus A310-300, crashes near Balotesti, Romania, killing all 60 people on board. 1998 – Netscape releases Mozilla source code under an open source license. 2004 – Iraq War in Anbar Province: In Fallujah, Iraq, four American private military contractors working for Blackwater USA, are killed after being ambushed. 2018 – Start of the 2018 Armenian revolution.

#Events

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orbemnews · 3 years

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74 of Our Favourite Information for 2020 Every day, our editors acquire probably the most attention-grabbing, putting or pleasant information to look in articles all through the paper. Listed below are 74 from the previous 12 months that have been probably the most revealing. By Instances Insider Employees Illustrations by Clay Hickson Dec. 30, 2020 January 1. Japan’s authorized system has a 99 % conviction fee.Carlos Ghosn, at Dwelling however Ready for the Subsequent Transfer 2. Fishing stays the US’ second most harmful career, after logging.Overtaken by Frigid Seas, Hours From Assist, There Was Little Likelihood of Survival 3. McSorley’s Outdated Ale Home, established in 1854 within the East Village, served beer to Abraham Lincoln and John Lennon.After 190 Years, the ‘Most Well-known Bar You’ve By no means Heard of’ Avoids Final Name 4. The Lehigh Valley in Jap Pennsylvania is inside an eight-hour drive of one-third of American shoppers.What the Rebirth of This Outdated Metal Middle Means for Trump 8. In Thailand, the navy has staged 18 coups for the reason that finish of absolutely the monarchy in 1932.Thai Soldier in Mass Taking pictures Had Enterprise Conflict With His Commander 9. About 95 % of Egypt’s inhabitants lives on about 4 % of the land, a inexperienced belt roughly half the dimensions of Eire that follows the Nile because it snakes via the desert, then followers out into the Nile Delta.As Egypt’s Inhabitants Hits 100 Million, Celebration Is Muted 10. Twice a day, the low tide of the River Thames drops the water stage in some areas by as a lot as 20 toes.Mudlarks Scour the Thames to Uncover 2,000 Years of Secrets and techniques 11. Within the Sixties, concertgoers on the rock promoter Invoice Graham’s Fillmore theaters in New York and San Francisco have been greeted with barrels providing free apples.In Trippy Instances, Invoice Graham Took Care of Actuality 12. For many years after the start of contemporary pictures in 1839, one of the vital widespread makes use of of the know-how was a professionally shot {photograph} of a lifeless member of the family.The iPhone on the Deathbed 13. The Scott Paper Firm was the primary firm to introduce bathroom paper with cardboard rolls, again in 1890.My Tireless Quest for a Tubeless Wipe 14. Fearing they might face a scarcity of wooden for coffins after the primary aerial assault on London in World Struggle II, officers within the British Dwelling Workplace believed they must bury hundreds of individuals in cardboard and even papier-mâché.How Churchill Introduced Britain Again From the Brink 15. In accordance with a 2008 examine by the US Institute of Peace, almost 90 % of ladies in Afghanistan will expertise some type of home abuse of their lifetime.They Killed Their Husbands. Now in Jail, They Really feel Free. March 16. At one live performance in Vienna in 1808, his final public look as a pianist, Beethoven unveiled the Fifth Symphony, the “Pastoral” Sixth, the Fourth Piano Concerto and “Choral Fantasy.”Evaluation: Beethoven’s Greatest Live performance, Now With Warmth 17. One examine, printed in Nature Local weather Change in March, discovered that greater than half of the world’s sandy seashores might disappear by the tip of this century.The Authentic Lengthy Islanders Battle to Save Their Land From a Rising Sea 18. Within the 24 years since they appeared collectively in “How you can Reach Enterprise With out Actually Attempting,” Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick bought engaged, married and had three youngsters, however didn’t act collectively.Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker Spend the Evening Collectively 19. The summit of Mount is Everest is in regards to the measurement of two Ping-Pong tables.After Lethal Jam on Everest, Nepal Delays New Security Guidelines 25. Some 42 % of American adults — almost 80 million folks — dwell with weight problems.Weight problems Linked to Extreme Coronavirus Illness, Particularly for Youthful Sufferers 26. King Saud, Saudi Arabia’s second king, fathered 53 sons and 57 daughters with quite a few wives and concubines.After a Yr of Silence, a Jailed Saudi Princess Appeals for Assist 27. Earlier than the Industrial Revolution, the principal sources of noise have been thunder, church bells and cannon hearth.Loud, Louder, Loudest: How Classical Music Began to Roar 28. Off the coast of the Bronx, Hart Island, now house to a cemetery for the homeless and for unidentified our bodies, was as soon as the location of metropolis jails, a Civil Struggle jail camp and an insane asylum for girls.How Covid-19 Has Pressured Us to Have a look at the Unthinkable 29. Rats should gnaw, and consistently, as a result of their sharp, onerous incisors develop constantly all through their lives — round 4 or 5 inches a 12 months.Oh, Rats! Lastly Shifting Your Automotive? You Could Get a Shock. 30. George Washington survived smallpox, malaria (six occasions), diphtheria, tuberculosis (twice) and pneumonia.What the Historical past Books Received’t Inform You About George Washington Could 31. In the event that they have been a rustic, cows would rank because the world’s sixth-largest emitter of methane fuel, forward of Brazil, Japan and Germany.The Enterprise of Burps: Scientists Odor Revenue in Cow Emissions 32. Disney’s eight film studios managed 40 % of the home field workplace in 2018.For Walt Disney Co., a Stricken Empire 33. In Could, Elon Musk and his girlfriend, Claire Boucher, the musician generally known as Grimes, had a toddler and named him X Æ A-12.Tesla House owners Attempt to Make Sense of Elon Musk’s ‘Pink Capsule’ Second 34. Richard Scherrer, the engineer listed first on the patent for Lockheed’s F-117 stealth plane, had moonlighted within the Fifties to design a few of the rides at Disneyland, together with Dumbo the Flying Elephant.Taking a look at Struggle Throughout 2,500 Years 35. Fungi might be educated to eat cigarette butts, used diapers, oil spills and even radiation.Whether or not You’re Making a Meal or Cleansing an Oil Spill, There’s a Fungus for That 36. In March, because the coronavirus pandemic intensified, People purchased two million weapons, the busiest month for gross sales since January 2013.Father of College Taking pictures Sufferer Takes On Smith & Wesson June 37. There could also be trillions of species of virus on the earth. Of them, just a few hundred thousand sorts are identified, and fewer than 7,000 have names.Monster or Machine? A Profile of the Coronavirus at 6 Months 38. Brooks Brothers, which Henry Sands Brooks based in Manhattan in 1818, is the oldest attire model in steady operation in the US.Brooks Bros., ‘Made in America’ Since 1818, Could Quickly Want a New Calling Card 39. Black girls, on common, earn 64 cents for each greenback a white man earns, based on analysis from the Financial Coverage Institute.The Stark Racial Inequity of Private Funds in America 40. A examine on voting habits by the economist Enrico Cantoni discovered {that a} quarter-mile enhance in distance from a polling sales space lowered voting by 2 to five %.For Racial Justice, Workers Want Paid Hours Off for Voting 41. “Gone With the Wind” continues to be the highest-grossing movie of all time, adjusted for inflation.The Lengthy Battle Over ‘Gone With the Wind’ 42. Over the previous 5 years in Minneapolis, the police have used drive in opposition to Black folks at seven occasions the speed it has been used in opposition to white folks.Policing in America Is Damaged and Should Change. However How? 43. Solely a sure peanut bred for the correct measurement and the look of its shell makes the minimize for the ballpark commerce. It’s known as the Virginia, grown in that state but in addition within the Carolinas, Texas and, to a lesser diploma, New Mexico.Ballpark Peanuts, a Traditional Summer time Pleasure, Have Been Benched July 44. Ghulam Sarwar Khan, the Pakistani aviation minister, instructed Parliament in June that of round 860 pilots working for Pakistani air carriers, 260 had fraudulent licenses.Suspension From European Airspace Is Newest Blow to Pakistan’s Troubled Airline 45. The phrase “homosexuality” was coined by the Austro-Hungarian author Karl-Maria Kertbeny in 1869.Neglected No Extra: Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, Pioneering Homosexual Activist 46. “Courageous New World,” Aldous Huxley’s 1932 science fiction novel, is ready in a future with chemical contraception, temper stabilizers, genetic engineering, videoconferencing and tv.‘Courageous New World’ Arrives within the Future It Predicted 47. We breathe roughly 25,000 occasions a day.Breathe Higher With These 9 Workouts 48. The self-storage trade bought its begin within the Sixties, when swelling consumerism led People to purchase extra stuff than that they had room for.People Hunker Down, Threatening the Self-Storage Business 49. At 17, Lucille Ball left her upstate New York highschool for Broadway, solely to be instructed: “You simply don’t have it. Why don’t you go house?”The ‘Wildcat’ Episode, or, Did Broadway Love Lucy? 50. Bayes’s theorem is a tool for rationally updating your prior beliefs and uncertainties based mostly on noticed proof.How you can Assume Like an Epidemiologist August 51. After getting swallowed by a frog, the beetle Regimbartia attenuata can scuttle down the amphibian’s intestine and drive it to poop, rising dirty however alive.There Are Two Methods Out of a Frog. This Beetle Selected the Again Door. 52. Penicillin, which was found in 1928, would have vanquished the pneumonia that killed many individuals through the 1918 influenza pandemic.In N.Y.C.’s Coronavirus Surge, a Horrifying Echo of the 1918 Flu 53. The fist bump was apparently popularized by Fred Carter, a high-energy N.B.A. participant of the Nineteen Seventies.Will We Ever Contact (Professionally) Once more? September 54. Earlier than taking what would turn into a well-known {photograph} of Florence Owens Thompson generally known as “Migrant Mom” in 1936, Dorothea Lange drove 20 miles previous the camp the place Ms. Thompson was staying earlier than deciding to show round.America at Starvation’s Edge 55. The seashores of Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago, are coated with “blubberstones” — gravel mingled with rendered fats, vestiges of the mass killings of seals and whales.Grief and Geology Each Take Time in ‘The Ebook of Unconformities’ 56. Martha Stewart, who has a line of CBD merchandise, together with pâte de fruit, was launched to the palliative results of hashish by Snoop Dogg, a pal, at Comedy Central’s 2015 “Roast of Justin Bieber.”Martha Stewart, Blissed Out on CBD, Rides Out the Pandemic 57. In the US, jail life sentences have quadrupled for the reason that Nineteen Eighties.Making Artwork When ‘Lockdown’ Means Jail 68. Sports activities groups first visited the White Home in 1865, when President Andrew Johnson welcomed baseball’s Washington Nationals and Brooklyn Atlantics.Even With a New President, Sports activities on the White Home Received’t Be the Similar 69. As soon as uncommon off Southern California seashores, nice white sharks are starting to indicate up extra typically. The newcomers are principally juvenile sharks, which favor the nice and cozy waters nearer to shore.When Sharks Turned Up at Their Seaside, They Referred to as in Drones December 70. Many tales have been instructed over time in regards to the inspiration for the music “Lola” by the Kinks. The group’s singer, Ray Davies, stated it got here from an encounter on the Castille Membership, a Paris nightspot the group frequented.Ray Davies on 50 Years of ‘Lola’ 71. Underground, bushes and fungi kind partnerships generally known as mycorrhizas: Threadlike fungi envelop and fuse with tree roots, serving to them extract water and vitamins in alternate for a few of the carbon-rich sugars the bushes make via photosynthesis.The Social Lifetime of Forests 72. The Olympic observe star Rafer Johnson was a daily in Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential marketing campaign entourage in 1968. Johnson helped to deal with Sirhan Sirhan after the murderer shot Kennedy on the Ambassador Lodge in Los Angeles.Remembering Rafer Johnson in a Lengthy Yr of Misplaced Sports activities Legends Supply hyperlink #Facts #favorite

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dailynewswebsite · 3 years

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Joe Biden’s win shows the clout of senior citizens in America

President-elect Joe Biden stands on stage after making his victory speech on Nov. 7, 2020, in Wilmington, Del. (AP Picture/Andrew Harnik)

A chorus of American politics is the shortage of illustration of girls, Blacks and Hispanics within the political area. However nearly as placing in 2020 is the exclusion of younger individuals.

These on the highest ranges of the American authorities have by no means been older: Joe Biden, the following president, is presently 77 and can rejoice a birthday later this month. Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the Home of Representatives, is 80. Senate majority chief Mitch McConnell is 78. Supreme Court docket Chief Justice John Roberts is younger by comparability at 65, however 4 of his eight colleagues are older than him.

Speaker of the Home Nancy Pelosi talks to reporters concerning the affect of the election on the political panorama in Congress on the Capitol in Washington on Nov. 6, 2020. (AP Picture/J. Scott Applewhite)

It hasn’t at all times been this manner. John F. Kennedy, Invoice Clinton and Barack Obama started their phrases of workplace whereas of their 40s. In distinction, Donald Trump was 70 when he assumed energy in 2016 and Biden might be 78.

The age of these holding government, legislative and judicial energy in Washington, D.C., sends a warning. American politicians are far more beneficiant to the previous than they’re to the younger. In spite of everything, the nation does have public well being care, however just for these 65 and older.

Social Safety retirement advantages are the third rail of politics that few politicians dare contact. Among the many most feared, fierce and well-funded foyer teams in Washington is the American Affiliation for Retired Individuals, generally known as AARP, which advocates for the pursuits of these 50 and over.

Banned obligatory retirement

The growing old of the political class illustrates how (previous) age is now accepted in workplaces and extra typically within the public area. The U.S. was the primary nation to ban obligatory retirement at age 65. This ensures that employees are judged not on their chronological age however, fairly, on their efficiency.

Like politicians, the overwhelming majority of Individuals now work within the companies sector the place most jobs place a premium on social competencies, data and the power to proceed studying, fairly than on bodily energy.

On this December 1972 picture, Biden, the newly elected Democratic senator from Delaware, speaks in Washington, D.C. (AP Picture/Henry Griffin)

Whether or not in politics or outdoors it, lengthy careers additionally imply extra expertise, connections and alternatives to name in favours. Biden ran for president in 1988 and 2008, served for 36 years within the Senate and was Obama’s vice-president for 2 phrases. McConnell was first elected to the Senate in 1984, and Pelosi to the Home of Representatives in 1987.

Older politicians have a bonus on the polls as a result of their fellow older residents are more likely to solid a poll than the younger. For presidential elections, greater than 70 per cent of the citizens age 60 and older casts a vote, however lower than 50 per cent of these 18 to 29. This sample didn’t change in 2020. Though youth turnout was increased for the 2020 election than in 2016, it’s estimated that solely half of these aged 18 to 29 solid a vote.

Ballot employees assist a senior citizen check in to vote on election day in New York. (AP Picture/Mary Altaffer)

Not solely are older residents extra prone to vote, however there are extra of them in the US than ever earlier than. Half of those that vote in elections are over 50.

As such, the abundance of highly effective older politicians in Washington comes as no shock.

‘Sleepy Joe’ slur did not take maintain

Maybe as a result of older individuals have been so profitable in politics, ageist stereotypes have been largely absent from the latest presidential election. Though Trump sought to painting Biden as “Sleepy Joe,” this by no means gained traction amongst many of the citizens.

If 65 is the brand new 55, then in politics, 75 appears the brand new 65. The very notion of “previous,” the truth is, is underneath revision and reconstruction. In spite of everything, ladies usually give beginning of their 40s and in some circumstances even later.

However intergenerational battle could nonetheless develop in America within the post-pandemic period when tough choices and trade-offs should be made. Older voters will struggle to guard Social Safety and Medicare entitlements, and extra typically, the well-being and security they’ve earned. Reforms that older voters demand are sometimes gradual in nature.

Biden takes a query from Raiana James, 20, as he excursions the Youth Empowerment Challenge that targets at-risk youth and younger individuals in New Orleans, La., in July 2019. (AP Picture/Matthew Hinton)

Youthful voters have totally different political pursuits and are much less loyal to established traditions. Younger persons are far more affected by political choices surrounding drug use, abortion and crime and need to see fast reforms. America’s younger adults will demand motion on creating and defending jobs, making certain instructional alternatives and coping with injustice.

It stays to be seen if Washington’s gerontocracy, headed by Biden, will be capable of reconcile the priorities of the younger with these of the previous. The president-elect has efficiently enticed extra younger individuals to take part in politics, however it’s removed from sure that he’ll serve their pursuits.

Thomas Klassen doesn’t work for, seek the advice of, personal shares in or obtain funding from any firm or organisation that may profit from this text, and has disclosed no related affiliations past their tutorial appointment.

from Growth News https://growthnews.in/joe-bidens-win-shows-the-clout-of-senior-citizens-in-america/ via https://growthnews.in

#Growth News

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crasherfly · 3 years

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Weekly Update

Welp, this aint Tuesday.

Tuesday, Tuesday Tuesday.

Imagine it already being almost Tuesday.

I know better than to think my pithy life updates will be worth the space come Tuesday, so here I am, on a Monday, keeping my appointment ahead of time.

I don’t have much life experience. Growing up in a small town in Iowa, I was shielded from pretty much anything consequential- very much by design. So I have a hard time relating to the potential rising storm on the other side of tomorrow.

Best context I can come up with is when I was in Florida for Hurricane Matthew. It was a storm that came out of nowhere, suddenly forming and then threatening the state on a scale best described as apocalyptic. I had about 24 hours warning that it was coming but still made the trip south anyway.

The night before landfall I stood in line at my hotel’s pizza place for 4 hours to order food. I rushed a shelf for what was left of the water and beer. I prepared to hold up in my room for days, if necessary, armed with these laughable supplies and my playstation. Had an actual crisis arisen, I would have been doomed. But I guess one ends up in this kind of position when they never believed in the crisis to begin with.

Walking back to my room, two giant pizzas and a pack of beer under arm, I listened to ROCK YOU LIKE A HURRICANE by The Scorpions. I tweeted the experience when I’d returned to my room, still seeking brevity in the face of very real danger.

I got lucky. The hurricane ended up being a non-factor for my inland location. By the afternoon of landfall I was out and about, snapping photos and enjoying the brisk breeze. Many other hotel patrons were doing the same. Within 24 hours my vacation was back on schedule as though nothing had happened.

I felt profoundly silly for waiting in line for pizza and beer, of all things. I felt a wave of banal regret as I considered the time I lost agonizing over whether or not to cancel my vacation outright. Once again, my midwestern sense of I TOLD YOU SO was reinforced- Midwesterners hate nothing so much as overreacting- you could tell your average bible-belt dweller that the sun is going to swallow us whole tomorrow morning and their reaction would be “oh, that’s just speculation”.

For us of the insulated interior, nothing seems real or consequential. A hurricane won’t touch us. We’ll never experience an earthquake. Forest fires and drought rarely reach our state lines. An army would never survive the march to our fields. Our cities are too small to house the stark disparity and disfunction of coastal cities- that’s not to say they’re well run or that such disparity doesn’t exist- it simply gets passed over, hidden more readily. And with each national crisis that passes us over, we become more and more hardened in the belief that none of this really matters, after all.

In 2016, I didn’t believe Donald Trump could be elected. I still remember going to my polling station Election Day morning, voting for Hillary Clinton, and returning to my car in all of 10 minutes. I had my voter sticker. I felt like I’d done my part to help maintain sanity for another 4 years. My favorite writers were braying and crowing of the pending landslide, a promise that we wouldn’t just beat Donald Trump, but that we would bury him. I, in my midwestern sensibility, believed it without question. I didn’t check the web or tune in to the news. I simply assumed things work out.

The morning after Election Day, of course, I learned otherwise, and for the first time in my life, my midwestern sense of security was not just challenged but shattered. Something consequential had happened, something that could reach me where I lived.

And of course, since then, things have continued happening- things that are impossible to ignore, impossible to fend off with pizza and beer and The Scorpions. In my own city, I’ve experienced Covid, economic shutdowns, business closures, protests both peaceful and violent, military-enforced curfew and more. We all joke about every year being it’s own special hell, but for many Midwest-bred folks, 2020 really has been the first year that we couldn’t just ignore.

Even so, others in more isolated parts of the midwest found a way to reason past it. I still remember two days after the election, talking to my dad on the phone, asking him how he’d dealt with past consequential political swings.

“Well, you just have to remember the sun will keep rising, and the president is just one person. Things likely won’t change much, and good people will stand up to him if things get too bad.”

Yeah uh. That advise...sage-like as he probably thought it sounded...didn’t...uh...hold up...very well.

It’s four years later and my dad is asking me if he should expect me to drive down to Iowa in the next week, concerned my city might become unsafe. I tell him that I’ll only leave if federal-backed boots are on the ground. My mom tells me in a conversation earlier this week that she believes a coup is possible and that the military will side with the current president. She says if that happens, she’s made her peace with god and expects the Rapture at any given moment.

It is wild how big a difference 4 years can make. I tell them both that they should certainly pray if it makes them feel better- but before they pray, they should vote.

Come the day after Tuesday, there will be no such thing as being too inland. And there will be no vacations to return to for a long, long time.

So here’s something I’m doing- I’m not drinking until Thanksgiving.

I started November as I had started it almost every other year- with a massive fucking hangover.

I woke up with cotton mouth, gagging for water and with a headache that is STILL hounding me on November 2nd. It was a nasty, ugly, full six pack IPA hangover. It was awful. Worth it, ‘cuz I had a fantastic night of friends and gaming, but also....ugh. I felt like death. I barely got out of bed. I didn’t work out. I ate a shit ton of Italian takeout. It was a waste of a day-after.

Now, we all know that clinically speaking, I’m at least a borderline functional-alcoholic. Anyone who’s been reading along with these blogs knows it, and I’m not shocking the world by admitting it. I’ve been tracking my drinking habits since JUNE and the numbers don’t lie. I drink. A. Lot.

And as I continue to strive for a healthier life- where I’m making wiser choices that allow me to both look and more importantly feel my best- it’s hard to ignore the elephant in the room- that drinking, by and large, has held me back from doing this. I have almost always traded the progress I’ve made from working out and eating well for far too many bottles of beer and sake.

Again, I’ve been tracking this since June- and the numbers tell a story that is frankly infuriating- huge gains in miles run, reps lifted, fruits and vegetables consumed, hours meditated- only to be marred by alcohol consumption habits that would leave me two steps back after a very difficult single step forward.

I don’t think I need to quit drinking forever, because that isn’t sustainable. But I do think that I need to rethink my relationship with alcohol. I need to consider why I drink it when I do. I need to think about why I drink as much of it as I do. I need to interrogate whether the benefits are really as necessary as my guts tell me they are.

So, with this in mind, I’m taking some time away from the bottles. I’m not doing anything fancy to keep myself on track- just an extra box on my excel sheet that asks me if I drank today or not. A little x and I go on with my night.

I look forward to reporting how I feel after Thanksgiving. Maybe nothing will change! Or maybe I’ll have some profound insights. If nothing else, I’m sure my organs will thank me. Here’s to trying something new and potentially healthy!

So now that the personal update is over, let’s talk some games and stuff.

Here’s what I’ve been playing this past week.

Valkyria Chronicles (Switch)

I had a serious turn-based strategy itch this week, so I finally reloaded Valkyria Chronicles with a goal of finishing it. Six-ish hours later, I’m still not done, having only completed two missions. But I’m having a blast, and that’s what’s important.

Valkyria Chronicles is a turn-based strategy game where you take control of a squad of anime soldiers who fight in a sort of sci-fi alternate World War 2. You control the action from an overhead map, zooming in to individual soldiers as you select them. After selecting a soldier, you can move them freely across the map and direct them to attack targets or take cover. You get a set number of “commands” per turn. After you run out of commands, the enemy takes their own turn. This continues until one side is wiped out or the win condition is achieved.

This is still my first run with the game, so I don’t have a full clear under my belt just yet. What I’ve played is deeply enjoyable, although slow. The AI’s turns take forever and often are difficult to parse out, filled with pointless moves for the sake of making moves. A number of missions contain objectives that just straight up aren’t fun, but still take a ton of time to accomplish. Many involve avoiding an unkillable enemy or chasing an incredibly fast target before it exits the map. These missions are a drag and often leave me feeling too fatigued to play more than one mission at a time.

The story doesn’t hold much impact for me, and occasionally I’m reminded that the cute anime soldiers are in fact putting a deeply attractive face on the horrors of war, and that dissonance occasionally takes me out of the experience. The characters are all well designed and the Squadron 7 troops were clearly rendered with the intent that everyone would be able to find a handful of favorites to roll with throughout the game. Even so, there’s nothing so deep as the systems later TBS games like XCOM2 or Fire Emblem: Three Houses would implement

That said, there’s just enough going on here to keep me engaged. And I deeply appreciate the lack of bloat- there’s no grinding or farming required to finish Valkyria Chronicles, which makes it feel lean and efficient compared to other titles. And although the story doesn’t do much for me, personally, I can see how others would find it very endearing. I look forward to finishing it soon enough.

Luigi’s Mansion 3 (Switch)

As you’ll see, this was a big weekend for my Nintendo Switch. I recently upgraded my memory card, which allowed me to finally download my entire library back onto my system. So I was able to finally revisit some unfinished projects, including Luigi’s Mansion 3.

The gist of Luigi’s Mansion 3 is that you’re Luigi, you’re in a haunted hotel, your pals are missing and there are ghosts to be caught. There’s some puzzles to be solved here and there, but a huge portion of your time will be spent holding down the vacuum button as you suck up anything that isn’t literally tied down.

As I spent some more time with Luigi across two floors, I was immediately struck by just how lovely the level design is. Each room is its own little shadowbox, holding surprises and hidden treasures for its players. Everything is just so...fun, so pleasing to look at and absorb...in a vacuum. You can tell that a lot of love and brevity went into building of this game, and every time I play it, it just makes me feel really...nice.

Luigi’s isn’t a particularly challenging experience, although occasionally I’ll run across a puzzle that I’m just too dull to figure out. I tend to tackle it at about a floor per play before going to something else.

Pikmin 3 (Switch)

I haven’t made it far through Pikmin 3, but what I’ve played has been very lovely.

In Pikmin 3 you play as a crew of space explorers who get separated after an accident. In their efforts to repair their ship and locate each other, they harness the powers and abilities of the Pikmin, native creatures with special powers who work together to accomplish tasks. Each mission takes place under a daily timer that works against you. When the timer runs out, day turns to night and your Pikmin run the risk of being devoured by predators. Because the Pikmin are adorable, you will often find yourself working equally hard to accomplish your mission tasks while striving not to lose even one solitary Pikmin.

I never caught this game on the Wii U, so I’m glad that it’s finding a second life so players like myself can enjoy it properly. I know a lot of people complain about all these remakes, but I think we all forget just how silly and limited the Wii U’s run really was. Even if the price for these years old games is steep, there’s still an audience out there who will find these experiences worth it. I guess count me among them.

Among Us (PC)

I’ve watched the girls of Hololive (EN) play this, but never had a chance to play it myself. It seemed fun, but I was never quite able to suss out just what exactly was happening. Gawr and Ame are lovely, but sometimes they lack on explaining just how what they’re playing works.

For Halloween I had the chance to play this game with 9 of my friends and it was an absolute blast.

The quick primer for those not familiar- you’re part of a crew that is scrambling to fix its ship. Human crew members get a list of tasks to finish. Impostor crew members get a list of fake tasks- and can also sabotage the ship and kill humans. If a body is discovered or a panic button pressed, every living crew member confers and debates on whether or not to airlock somebody. This is decided by popular vote. If too many humans bite the dust, the Impostors win. If the humans kill all the impostors or finish their tasks, they win. So, think like, the Press the Button game from Jackbox, or Battlestar Galactica.

Safe to say this is a game that will be a party mainstay for years to come. At five bucks and with cross-platform compatibility, it is also incredibly accessible.If you haven’t had the chance, get a few folks together and give it a shot. You might just love it.

NeoGeo Arcade Stick Pro

I have a deep love for mini-retro consoles. There’s this dream that I’ll hoard all these up and then someday be able to share gaming history with my little nephews and nieces, should they ever be allowed to look at screens. (debate pending on that one). To date, I have the NES Mini, SNES Mini, Sega Genesis Mini, and the Turbografx-16 Mini.

And now I have the NeoGeo Arcade Stick Pro. With 40 pre-loaded games and a heft bit of plastic, it is one of the most tactile mini-consoles in my collection.

Ever since joining Spriteclub, I’ve gained a new appreciation for retro-games, specifically fighting games like King of Fighters. It occurred to me that I’d never played with a home arcade stick before, so I did some research on what a good starting option would be. Sure enough, SNK had my back, and I found the Arcade Stick Pro.

With 40 games, half of which being 2D fighting games, you’ll not only gain a solid, multi-platform fight stick, but you’ll also have a good number of games to practice with. If you ever wanted ALL of King of Fighters or Art of Fighting, well, here they are.

There are a few quirks with this machine, however. 20 of the games have to be loaded separately via a USB stick for...reasons. Some of the games appear to be totally untranslated, and I have yet to figure out how to add more credits beyond the base number given. I’ll continue to tinker, but it seems like a shame that the fight stick would lack these features, whereas collections like the ACA releases on Switch feature translation options and unlimited credits. To say the least, being left at the mercy of the game’s difficulty level can be daunting, at best.

The stick itself is well constructed and the pad has a good weight that will feel secure on your lap or a tabletop. It does require an additional accessory if you wish to use it for your PS4, but otherwise should be ready for use with your PC or Switch without additional hassle.

The Arcade Stick Pro is a deeply cool peripheral with a few tradeoffs that would make an awesome gift for someone who loves retro-fighters or for a younger person who is looking to learn more about retro-gaming in general. It’s also a cost-effective solution for SNK fans who aren’t keen to spend $500 on SNK’s pending home arcade machine, but still want an at home stick experience.

Oculus Quest 2

I’ve long looked at VR as just barely a step up from mobile gaming, with gimmicky technology and a library bloated with shovelware.

So it was a delightful surprise when I booted up the Oculus Quest 2 and found myself responding with a simple “woah”.

And that was just the setup screen.

The Quest 2 is a surprisingly immersive device with a big long list of caveats.

First, we’ll address the most obvious concern- yes, facebook activation is required, unless you’re a particularly clever sort.

Second, the VR tech itself is impressive. I have bad vision, worse than most, and yet I was able to mostly acclimate to the headset with little issue. But the picture was rarely fuzzy or out of focus and the experiences I partook in were immersive and satisfying. The base audio is a bit quiet, but does the job, and the lens focusing isn’t as big of a hassle as I figured it might be. Replacing parts on the Quest is easy enough, and the set doesn’t feel too heavy on my face.

Now for the caveats. The battery life on this thing is incredibly short. Maybe a couple hours at best. The controllers use AA batteries, so that’s worth considering as well. Everyone will be able to hear what’s blaring on your headset speakers, so investing in earbuds may be a need depending on your household. Finally, purchasing the infamous Elite Strap is a necessity- the straps included on the Quest 2 are woefully insufficient for securing the headset to your face. There are also additional fitted faceplates that might be of necessity as well, depending on the shape of your face.

The game library is also seemingly smaller than I’d ever guessed. There are ways to link this thing to your PC, but it requires a bit more fuss than most people will want to bother with. Even then, word on the street is that it is the sort of solution that is deeply reliant on a strong wired internet connection and an able-bodied PC. Those will be deal-breakers for many people.

I’ve played Tetris Effect, Superhot, VR Chat, and spent a great deal of time with various streaming apps including Amazon Prime, Netflix and Mozilla Firefox.

Tetris was a bit too intense for me. Lots of flashing lights, a pulsing soundtrack and vibrating controllers became a near overload for me. Superhot was really, really cool. I felt like I was in The Matrix, and the uncanny sense of grabbing and holding objects was a real “wow” moment for me. As far as shooters in VR goes, it appears to be the obvious winner. VR Chat is a deeply strange and silly world that seems to be populated exclusively by drunk and stoned men in their mid 20s who just need somewhere to scream problematic shit. But it’s occasionally good for a laugh and the worlds are tailor-made for VR.

The Amazon and Netflix apps are good stand-ins for people who genuinely miss the theater experience. The digital theater and lighting effects are nice touches and make you feel as though you’re having your own private screening. However, the stream quality is often a bit rough- you will likely not experience a 4K film any time soon- and the Quest’s battery life makes it unlikely that you will finish a film in one sitting.

Luckily, Mozilla’s app is here for those of us who want to watch things like Funimation, Crunchyroll or other services who don’t have an official app. With easy to scale windows and no registration fuss, the firefox app is perfect for VR browsing and a low-fuss stand-in streaming sans apps. I’ve watched everything from Twitch to Spriteclub to Crunchyroll in the Mozilla app with no trouble, and even found it deeply enjoyable, though I still might prefer my IRL television.

Ultimately, the Quest 2 feels like the first real “open door” that VR has ever had. More important than its pricetag is how simple it is to use. A short setup and you can just jump into an experience. Anyone from child to elder could acclimate to its simple to use UI. It leaves me hoping that it will catch, because although the experience feels a tad bare to me at the moment, I can see the potential for a vibrant and motivated community should enough people go through the door.

Outer Worlds (XBONE)

I didn’t mean for this to happen. When I booted up Outer Worlds, it was on my Samsung Galaxy Note. I was just testing the XCloud and wanted to see if a FPS could viably work on such a device. The answer was “barely”. But I was also intrigued by the remote download option- where I could direct my Xbone to wake up and download the game- all from my phone. I gave it a shot.

A week later I’m playing Outer Wilds, a game I don’t really like, yet holds my attention through sheer force of will- it’s too much like other games I loved- specifically, Fallout: New Vegas, so like it or not, I end up playing on and on.

I had remembered the devs crowing that Outer Worlds would let you kill anyone. Remembering and groaning at many of the game’s inconvenient side quests (hello, Parvati, and like, ALL of Monarch), I decided to put that claim to the test.

Why would I do this? Why play a game with the intent of killing every NPC? Isn’t that kind of dark? And...yeah. Kinda! I would like to say IRL, I’m not that kind of person. I’m deeply nonviolent. I believe in weapons control and demilitarization and I’m super conflict avoidant. But that’s the neat thing about games- you can be or do anything, explore any option, and it’s fine- it’s just a game. I still can’t get over how few people played the renegade storyline in Mass Effect. Like. Y’all. Seriously. Get out of your own heads and explore the dark side!

So from the minute my escape pod smacked down onto Terra 2, I carried out my senseless vengeance on anything and everything that crossed my path. What I learned was both surprising...and a bit annoying.

First off, you absolutely can kill everything you meet. I walked right into the Edgewater and cleaned that town out with nothing more than a pistol and some careful cover use. I then headed on over to the Botanical Labs and did the same exact thing. When all was said and done I headed to Groundbreaker and continued the rampage.

It was about at this point that the game starts to get really, really aggressive about you actually picking a side other than your own. First Phineas starts blowing up your DM’s. Then the Board. Then pretty much anyone else you encounter.

I didn’t stop to listen to most of them until I encountered the Board’s office on Groundbreaker. I had already laid waste to most of the Groundbreaker, but despite this, the guards from the Board’s embassy didn’t consider me an enemy, ‘cuz the board is their own faction with their own reputation system.

So instead of firing on them, I walked inside, a trail of dead Groundbreaker crewmen in my wake, and talked to the Board rep. Turns out the Board had watched me solve every problem I had with the barrel of a gun- and they approved of my methods.

For the first time in my playthrough, I was actually intrigued by the story. So I went with it, agreeing to run with the Board and play as the left hand of the Chairman. Maybe the evil story would be more intriguing that my first clear as the liberating hero.

Initially, it was. I went on an assassination mission on Byzantium and inadvertently bypassed a second mission, because, as the Chairman’s assistant so aptly put it- I “took care of the Emerald Vale problem prematurely”, meaning I had killed every mission relevant NPC up to this point.

But then the expected kicked in. The Board wanted me to go to Monarch, and surprise! -the mission the Board wanted me to do was the same damn thing as what Phineas would have had me do. I was tempted to start the shooting once again, but instead I just shrugged and went with it. I had played about 8 hours at this point, might as well see it through to the end. So my total kill intents petered out with me selling out to The Man. Go figure.

The surprise is that the game does acknowledge your efforts when you do go on a spree. After destroying all of Edgewater and the Botanical Gardens, the game gifts you a black skull and a short message congratulating you for chucking its story in favor of slaughtering everyone.

The NPCs who do get a word in edge-wise continually note previous locations and characters you take out. One of the most humorous moments is when ADA, the ship’s computer, tells you she is activating “EMERGENCY CONTINGENCY: THE CAPTAIN IS A PSYCHOPATH”.

The other surprise I had was at how little I missed...anything about the story. I recall very little about the initial side quests offered in my first run. I also felt very little in the way of remorse as I blasted away my rejected companions. A million years, we all fawned over Parvati and Max and Felix, among others. But...did they ultimately stand the test of time? I’m not so sure. All I really remember of them now is how they basically just made me do a billion fetch quests. And lord did opting out of those make me feel good.

And that was my main take away from my attempt at a total kill run- much of Outer Worlds felt deeply unnecessary- so much so that intentionally thwarting the game’s story and design felt deeply satisfying in a way I’m not sure the creators intended.

And that’s it!

If you haven’t already, please get out and vote.

And when you finish voting, go do something kind for someone you care about. Buy ‘em a pizza or write them a nice message or gift them a cheap game or offer to go on a walk with them. You can do anything, but at least do something. We are gonna need each other if we’re gonna get through this thing.

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