This is the first of a two-part series about common EIFS questions. My Web site www.eifs.com generates a lot of e-mail and phone inquiries. Usually they are basic questions from people looking to learn more about EIFS. Over the last 30 years of working with EIFS I’ve seen or heard of almost anything that can be done with EIFS.

Hard work by Green Globes’ committee—and community—shows it’s only getting better.

The funds will go to support the organisations’ work in tackling food poverty

The findings come from Third Sector’s inaugural Charity Employer Index

WHATSAPP : +1(443) 720-5561 Buy fake usd/aud/cad/JPY/CNY/GBP/euros/pounds/dollarsbuy counterfeit money, Buy fake Australian dollars , Buy fake Chinese Yuan (CNY), buy fake pounds, buy fake euros Buy fake us dollars, Buy fake USD ( WHATSAPP :...

Curated by the Oral History Center, Voices for the Environment: A Century of Bay Area Activism charts the evolution of environmental movements in the region through the recorded voices of the activists who shaped them. From tensions over preservation after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake to demands to address the disproportionate burdens of pollution and illness that some communities faced, environmentalism has long been part of the fabric of the Bay Area. Smartphones and headphones are suggested. The Bancroft Library Gallery

This lecture is the inaugural Berkeley Distinguished Lecture in the Social Sciences (formerly the Moses Memorial Lectures) About this lecture In this lecture, Ted Miguel will present findings from a development economics research project based on a large-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT) in Kenya that he and collaborators have been conducting since 2014. He will start by discussing the rise of experimental methods and open science tools in economics research. Ted will then focus on new results from the Kenyan RCT that investigates the impact of cash transfers on infant mortality, leveraging a unique large-scale census of local households’ birth histories. The findings provide novel evidence on the broader impacts of cash transfers on the health and wellbeing of a poor rural population, and illustrate the value of the experimental approach in development economics for public policy.About Edward Miguel Edward (Ted) Miguel is Distinguished Professor of Economics, the Oxfam Professor of Environmental and Resource Economics, & Faculty co-Director of the Center for Effective Global Action at the University of California, Berkeley. He earned S.B. degrees in both Economics and Mathematics from MIT, received a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University, where he was a National Science Foundation Fellow. Ted’s main research focus is African economic development, including work on the economic causes and consequences of violence; interactions between health, education, environment, and productivity for the poor; and methods for transparency in social science research. He has published over 120 articles and chapters in leading academic journals and collected volumes. Prof. Miguel was elected as a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2020, and awarded the Econometric Society Frisch Medal in 2024.

From their founding, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) educated as many as 90 percent of Black college students in the United States. Although many are aware of the significance of HBCUs for expanding Black Americans’ educational opportunities, much less attention has been paid to the vital role that they have played in enhancing American democracy. Drawing on six years of mixed-method research that informs The Power of Black Excellence: HBCUs and the Fight for American Democracy, this book talk considers the history of HBCUs and the unique role they have played in shaping American political development since 1837. Moreover, it considers the lessons that HBCUs offer the broader higher educational landscape as we consider the essential role that colleges and universities can play in helping to promote democracy.Deondra Rose is the Kevin D. Gorter Associate Professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University, with secondary appointments in the Department of Political Science and the Department of History. Her research focuses on U.S. higher education policy, political behavior, American political development, and the politics of inequality, particularly in relation to gender, race, and socioeconomic status. In addition to her newest book, The Power of Black Excellence: HBCUs and the Fight for American Democracy, Rose is also the author of Citizens by Degree: Higher Education Policy and the Changing Gender Dynamics of American Citizenship, which examines the development of landmark U.S. higher education policies and their impact on the progress that women have made since the mid-twentieth century. A summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Georgia, Rose received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Government from Cornell University, with a specialization in American politics and public policy.

Curated by the Oral History Center, Voices for the Environment: A Century of Bay Area Activism charts the evolution of environmental movements in the region through the recorded voices of the activists who shaped them. From tensions over preservation after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake to demands to address the disproportionate burdens of pollution and illness that some communities faced, environmentalism has long been part of the fabric of the Bay Area. Smartphones and headphones are suggested. The Bancroft Library Gallery

Enterprise software is going beyond the line in matters of size and scalability; small companies depend on custom tailored software to manage their business rules, and large enterprises with onsite engineers, deal in a daily basis with the challenge to keep their systems up to date and running with the top edge technology.

In both cases the investment made in software systems to assist a given business is elevated, regardless if it was purchased from another company or if it was built and maintained by the own, it’s never going to stop being critical to update the current systems and platforms.

            Any enterprise software owner/designer/programmer must be aware of the market tendencies of operating systems, web technologies, hardware specs, and software patterns and brands; because of the raging nature of the IT industry it takes an eye blink to get obsolete.

Let’s recap about VB6 to VB.NET era, a transition with a lot of new technology, specs and a lot of new capabilities that promise the programmers to take their applications where it seems to be previously impossible like web services and remote facilities, numerous data providers are accessible with a common interface, and more wonders were presented with the .NET framework, however all this features can get very difficult or near to impossible to get incorporated in legacy applications. At this moment it was mandatory to get that software translated to the new architecture.

Initially the idea was to redesign the entire system using those new features in a natural way but this implicates to consume large amounts of resources and human efforts to recreate every single module, class, form, etc. This process results in a completely new application running over new technology that needs to be tested in the final environment, and that will impact the production performance because it has to be tested in the real business challenges. At the end, we got a new application attempting to copycat the behavior of the old programs and huge amount of resources spent.

Since this practice is exhaustive for the technical resources and for the production metrics, the computer scientists research about the functionally equivalent automated processes were used to create software that is capable to port one application from a given source platform to a different, and possibly upgraded one. During this translation process, the main objective is to use as much inherent constructions as possible in the newly generated code to take advantages of the target technology and to avoid the usage of legacy components. In case that the objective is to include a new feature found in the target platform, the application can be migrated and then the feature can be included more naturally than building communication subprograms to make that new capability to get in touch with the old technology.

This process is widely promising because it grants the creation of a new system based on the previous one, using minimum human efforts by establishing transformation rules to take the source constructions and generate equivalent constructions in the desired technology. Nevertheless, this will require human input, especially in very abstract constructions and user defined items.

All the comparisons done before to measure the benefits between redesign and migration, points to identify the second practice as the most cost-effective and fast, but now another metric becomes crucial. The automated stage is done by computers using proprietary technology depending on the vendor of the migration software, but how extensive the manual changes will be? Or, how hard will be to translate the non-migrated constructions?

The quality metrics of the final product will be redefined because a properly designed application will be translated with the same design considerations. This means that a given application will be migrated keeping the main aspects of design and the only changes in the resulting source code will be minor improvements in some language constructions and patterns. This makes the new quality metrics to be: maximize the automation ratio, minimize the amount of manual work needed, generate more maintainable code and reach the testing stage faster.

You know the tune... sing along! by Ricky Pee Pee Ricky Pee Pee (@rickypeepee_official)

Dozens of perforated pebbles from an archaeological site in Israel may be early examples of spindle whorls, a rotating tool used in textile making that was a step towards inventing the wheel

Exit polling from the 2024 presidential election shows that parents of children younger than 18 swung to former President Donald Trump as the issue of parental rights in education continues to loom large in American politics.

A shark fisherman and professional roofer has been arrested after being accused of stealing over $194,000 from a church in Kentucky.

Fresh out of the boxed crate ex Birmingham factory, UK, the BSA badge stood out distinctively. In bright White it was pure English,. Especially when it contrasted with the British Racing Green petrol tank. One could already smell the oil and grease that housed the engine and transmission assembly. I did. After the straw packaging had settled, Gino, my Italian mechanic and friend, emerged fresh from the clutter. At that moment, his countenance shone. His voice cracked with joy. “You makka good choice. But not a Moto Guzzi.” Fair enough. He, like all Italians, had a distinct preference for Ferrari Red. That color predilection even extended to their motorcycles. Gino was not finished. He continued his soliloquy. Gino had more to wisdom to convey. “Bruh... Stay off the main highway. You like to race. Take the first country road exit. There’s a good one. About a mile east.”

A new book, Nurses' Extraordinary Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic: There was Something in the Air, offers a poignant and firsthand account of the challenges and triumphs faced by nurses during the most devastating pandemic of our generation.

A new book, Nurses' Extraordinary Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic: There was Something in the Air, offers a poignant and firsthand account of the challenges and triumphs faced by nurses during the most devastating pandemic of our generation.

University of Central Florida's A Team with A Dream wins the 2024 CyberForce Competition(r). The mission of the competition is to equip the next generation of cybersecurity professionals with hands-on experience defending critical infrastructure.

The nation of Mexico is home 130 million people across 31 states (Mexico City is a separate entity but not a state in itself, similar to Washington, D.C. in the United States). Unfortunately due to a variety of factors, Mexican cities are often host to a violent crimes including homicide. Here, we'll detail the most dangerous cities in Mexico and give some info about their history.

[Politics] :
A court has ordered a fine of one-point-five million won, or around one-thousand-100 U.S. dollars, for the wife of main opposition Democratic Party(DP) leader Lee Jae-myung upon convicting her of violating the election law during the 2022 presidential primaries. In its ruling on Thursday, the Suwon ...

[more...]

The title compound [systematic name: 1,10-phenanthrolinium 6-hydroxy-5-(oxidoimino)-1,3-diazinane-2,4-dione–6-hydroxy-5-(hydroxyimino)-1,3-diazinane-2,4-dione–water (1/1/5)], C12H9N2+·C4H2N3O4−·C4H3N3O4·5H2O, is a co-crystal salt hydrate comprising 1,10-phenanthrolinium cations, violurate anions, free violuric acid as co-former and five water molecules of crystallization per formula unit. The violurate and the violuric acid residues each form distinct N—H...O hydrogen-bonded tapes with a common R22(8) hydrogen-bond motif extending parallel to (103). Solvent water molecules connect the tapes to form a tri-periodic hydrogen-bonded network with channels extending parallel to the a-axis direction, which accommodate the N—H...Owater hydrogen-bonded 1,10-phenanthrolinium cations. Direct N—H...O hydrogen bonds between the 1,10-phenanthrolinium and violurate ions are not encountered.

4 awesome discoveries you probably didn't hear about this week -- Episode 31

AI-enabled global payment network Klarna has announced that it...

David Rolf, International Vice President of the Service Employees International Union, stands in his downtown Seattle office. Rolf led the campaign to bring a $15 minimum wage to Seatac, Washington in 2013.; Credit: Ben Bergman/KPCC

As Los Angeles mulls a law that would raise the minimum wage above the current California minimum of $9 an hour, it's the latest city to jump on a trend that started as the by-product of a failed labor negotiation in the state of Washington.

The first city to enact a $15-per-hour minimum wage was SeaTac, Wash., — a tiny airport town outside Seattle. "SeaTac will be viewed someday as the vanguard, as the place where the fight started," the lead organizer of SeaTac's $15 campaign, David Rolf, told supporters in November 2013 after a ballot measure there barely passed.

Rolf never set out to raise SeaTac’s minimum wage, much less start a national movement. Speaking from a sparse corner office in downtown Seattle at the Service Employees International Union 775, which he founded in 2002, Rolf told KPCC that his original goal in 2010 was to unionize workers at SeaTac airport.

When employers – led by Alaska Airlines — played hardball, Rolf put the $15 minimum wage on the ballot as leverage. “We had some polling in SeaTac that it could pass, but it was not at all definitive,” Rolf said.

That proved prescient: In a city of just 12,108 registered voters, Rolf's staff signed up around 1,000 new voters, many of them immigrants who had never cast a ballot. The measure won by just 77 votes.

It's an irony that the new law doesn't apply to workers at the center of the minimum wage campaign: The airport workers at SeaTac. That's because the Port of Seattle, which oversees the airport, challenged the initiative, arguing that the city's new minimum wage should not apply to the nearly 5,000 workers at the airport. A county judge agreed. Supporters of the $15 wage have appealed.

Still, Rolf said, "I think people are proud that that’s what happening. There are leaders of the movement in Seattle, including our mayor, that said shortly after the victory, 'Now we have to take it everywhere else.'"

The $15 minimum wage spread to Seattle last June and to San Francisco in November. 

Why $15 an hour?

The $15 figure first came to people’s attention in a series of strikes by fast food workers that started two years ago in New York. 

“I think it’s aspirational, and it provides a clean and easy-to-understand number," Rolf said. "You can debate whether it ought to really be $14.89 or $17.12, and based upon the cost of living in different cities, you could have a different answer. But in the late 19th and early 20th century, American workers didn’t rally for 7.9 or 8.1 hour working day. They rallied for an eight-hour day.”

“What’s really remarkable about social protest movements in American history is that the radical ideas of one group are often the common sense ideas of another group in a matter of a few years," said Peter Dreier, professor of politics at Occidental College.

Rolf is hopeful the $15 minimum wage can spread to every state. But Nelson Lichtenstein, Director of the Center for the Study of Work, Labor and Democracy at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is skeptical.

“I don’t think having high wages in a few cities will mean it will spread to red state America,” he said. 

Lichtenstein said cities like L.A. have become more labor friendly, thanks largely to an influx of immigrants, but that’s not the case in the South. Oklahoma recently banned any city from setting its own minimum wage, joining at least 12 other states with similar laws, according to Paul Sonn, general counsel and program director at the National Employment Law Project.

In November, voters in four Republican-leaning states — Alaska, Arkansas, South Dakota, and Nebraska — approved higher minimum wages, but they weren’t close to $15.

A $15 dollar wage would have a much greater impact in Los Angeles than Seattle or San Francisco because the average income here is much lower than in those cities. Post-recession, income inequality has become much more of a concern for voters, which has made $15 more palatable, Sonn said.

This fall, the Los Angeles City Council enacted a $15.37 minimum wage for hotel workers that takes effect next year. A similar law has been in effect around LAX since 2007. 

But even though California cities have been allowed to set their own minimum wages for more than a decade, L.A. has never come close to doing so.

Until now.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

“Union members and non-union members have a strong interest in seeing our economy grow," said Rusty Hicks, the new head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, which represents over 300 unions.; Credit: Ben Bergman/KPCC

Labor unions have led the fight to raise the minimum wage in several American cities, including Los Angeles, where the City Council is considering two proposals right now that would give raises to hundreds of thousands of workers (to $13.25 an hour by 2017 and $15.25 an hour by 2019).

But few of the unions' members have benefited directly from the initiatives. So why do unions care about a $15 wage for non-union workers? 

It’s part of a long-term strategy to protect the interests of their members, labor leaders say. They also see an opportunity to raise the profile of unions after years of falling membership.

"We can’t be the movement that’s just about us," said David Rolf, an international vice-president of SEIU, who led the first successful $15 minimum wage campaign in SeaTac, the town in Washington that is home to the region's similarly named airport. 

“We have to be the movement that’s about justice for all," Rolf added. "The labor movement that people flocked to by the tens of millions in the 1930s wasn’t known for fighting for 500-page contracts. They were known for fighting for the eight-hour day, fighting to end child labor.”

The idea that workers should earn $15 dollars an hour first came to the public’s attention during a series of fast food strikes that started in New York City in late 2012. Those workers didn’t just walk off the job by themselves. They were part of a campaign organized by unions, led by SEIU, which is made up mostly of public sector and health care workers.

$10 million fast-food strikes

The Service Employees International Union spent $10 million dollars on the fast food strikes, according to The New York Times. But none of those restaurants have unionized, and because it’s been so hard to form private sector union these days, they probably never will, said labor historian Nelson Lichtenstein.

“In effect what you have now is the SEIU – its hospital membership or its members working at the Department of Motor Vehicles – helping to raise the wages of fast food workers, but not their own wages,” Lichtenstein said.

That's because unionized workers earn far more than the current or proposed new minimum wages, in L.A. an average of more than $27 an hour, according to UCLA's Center for Research on Employment and Labor. 

The spread of the $15 minimum wage from SeaTac to Seattle to San Francisco — and now possibly Los Angeles — is a huge victory for labor unions, but it’s unlikely most of the people getting raises will ever be part of organized labor.

Still, the rank and file seem to support their unions' efforts.

“I personally support using our organization as a way to advocate for those who don’t have a voice," said Rafael Sanchez III, a teacher's assistant at Bell High School who's a member of SEIU Local 99. 

A challenging time for the labor movement

In the 1950’s, about one in three American workers belonged to a union. Last year, just 11 percent did – or 6 percent of private sector workers – the lowest numbers in nearly a century.

Rolf says the minimum wage campaigns mark a change in tactics for organized labor; Rather than the shop floor, the focus is on the ballot box and city hall.

“Since at least the 1980s, winning unions in the private sector has been a Herculean task," Rolf said. "The political process provides an alternative vehicle.”

And an increasingly successful one. It was voters who approved the first $15 wage, in Washington state in 2013, and another one in San Francisco last year.  

In Los Angeles, the issue is before the city council. Mayor Eric Garcetti opened the bidding, proposing a raise of $13.25 on Labor Day before six council members countered with $15.25.

The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor – lead by Rusty Hicks — is pushing for the higher option.

“Union members and non-union members have an interest in seeing our economy grow," said Hicks. "You can’t continue to have a strong, vibrant economy if in fact folks don’t have money in their pockets.”

Other benefits for unions: A safety net and a higher floor

Some union members see a higher minimum wage as a safety net.

Robert Matsuda is a studio violinist represented by the American Federation of Musicians, part of the AFL-CIO. Even though he’s not working for the minimum wage now, he worries that may not last: He’s getting fewer and fewer gigs as more film and TV scoring is outsourced overseas.

“I might have to take a minimum wage job in the near future, so it might directly affect me,” said Matsuda.

There’s also a more tangible benefit for unions, says Nelson Lichtenstein, the labor historian: A higher minimum wage means a higher wage floor to negotiate with in future contracts.

“It’s one labor market, and if you can raise the wages in those sectors that have been pulling down the general wage level – i.e: fast food and retail – then it makes it easier for unions to create a higher standard and go on and get more stuff,” said Lichtenstein.

On Friday morning, union members will rally in front of Los Angeles City Hall, calling on the council to enact a $15.25 an hour minimum wage as soon as possible.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Video of the B9 robot from "Lost In Space" and his most famous catchphrases.; Credit: timtomp (via YouTube)

Robert Kinoshita, the Los Angeles native who designed the iconic robots from "Lost in Space" and "Forbidden Planet," has passed away. He was 100 years old.

Konishita died Dec. 9 at a Torrance nursing home, according to the Hollywood Reporter, citing family friend Mike Clark. His creations included "Forbidden Planet's" Robby the Robot, the B9 robot from "Lost in Space," Tobor from "Tobor the Great" and more. Kinoshita also created "Lost in Space's" iconic flying-saucer-shaped Jupiter 2 spaceship.

Kinoshita built the original miniature prototype of Robby the Robot out of wood and plastic by combining several different concepts, according to the Reporter; the Rafu Shimpo reported that he struggled with the design.

"I thought, what the hell. We’re wasting so much time designing and drawing one sketch after another. I said to myself, I’m going to make a model," Kinoshita told the Rafu Shimpo in a 2004 interview. "Then one day, the art director sees the model. He says, ‘Give me that thing.’ He grabbed it and ran. ... Ten minutes later, he comes running back and puts the model back on my desk and says, ‘Draw it!’"

Watch Kinoshita and his colleagues talking about the construction of Robby the Robot:

Robby the Robot's construction

The 1956 classic sci-fi movie "Forbidden Planet" — based on Shakespeare's "The Tempest" — went on to be nominated for a special effects Oscar.

Kinoshita later served as art director on the 1960s sci-fi TV series "Lost in Space," creating the arm-flailing robot — named B9 — who delivered the classic line "Danger! Danger, Will Robinson!" That robot received as much fan mail as the actual humans on the show, according to the Reporter.

Watch the robot's feud with "Lost in Space's" Dr. Smith:

The robot vs. Dr. Smith

The "Lost in Space" robot even inspired a B9 Robot Builders Club, featured in Forbes. Kinoshita sent a message in 2000 to the club, thanking them for their support for the robot he originally nicknamed "Blinky."

"I'm truly flabbergasted and honored by your support for 'Blinky!' It's a well-designed little beauty," Kinoshita wrote. "Your thoughtful remembrance is something we designers seldom are lucky enough to receive."

Kinoshita described the thought process behind its design in a 1998 interview.

"You're laying in bed, and something comes to you," he said. "Until, finally, you get to a point where you say, 'This could work,' 'OK, let's see what the boss man says.' And you present it to him."

He told the Rafu Shimpo that he tried to create his robots to disguise the fact that there was a person inside. "I tried to camouflage it enough so you’d wonder where the hell the human was," he said.

Both the Japanese-American Kinoshita and his wife, Lillian, were sent to an Arizona internment camp during World War II, though they were able to get out before the end of the war and moved to Wisconsin, according to the Reporter.

While in Wisconsin, Kinoshita learned industrial design and plastic fabrication, designing washing machines for the Army and Air Force before returning to California, according to the Rafu Shimpo.

Kinoshita said that he had to overcome racial prejudice to break into working in Hollywood.

Kinoshita attributed his long life to clean living — along with daily doses of apple cider vinegar, family friend Clark told the Reporter.

Kinoshita also worked as a designer and art director on numerous classic TV shows, including "Kojak," "Barnaby Jones," "Hawaii Five-O," "Bat Masterson," "Sea Hunt," "Tombstone Territory," "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry's "Planet Earth" and more, according to his IMDB. His last TV show was 1984's "Cover Up."

Kinoshita grew up in Boyle Heights, according to the Reporter, attending Maryknoll Japanese Catholic School, Roosevelt High School and USC's School of Architecture. His career began with work on 1937's "100 Men and a Girl." Kinoshita graduated cum laude from USC, according to the Rafu Shimpo.

Watch Kinoshita speak at his 95th birthday gathering with the B9 Robot Builders Club. He said he hoped to make it to 100, and he ended up doing so.

Kinoshita's 95th birthday speech

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Announcement cards and envelopes by designer Marc Friedland which are used by presenters at the Oscars to announce winners are on display at the food and decor preview Feb. 4, 2015 of this years Governors Ball, the post-Oscar celebration which follows the 87th Oscars ceremony on Feb. 22 in Hollywood.; Credit: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

Ready for your 2015 Oscars party? We've got printable Oscars ballots and the bingo cards you need to prove your superiority over your movie-loving friends during your Academy Awards viewing party. Here are the party printables you'll need to play along with Sunday's show, with TV coverage kicking off at 4 p.m. Pacific. (Get caught up on KPCC's 2015 Oscars coverage right here to have more fun and help make your picks!)

Printable official Oscars ballot

• Download, print, and play at home. Listen to "The Frame's" preview of the Academy Awards, see what "FilmWeek's" critics have to say about who will win, then make your own decisions on Sunday. Our crystal ball Oscars predictor/awards tracker can also help the prognostication efforts with a rundown of nominee buzz, awards already won, official trailers, photos and more.
• You can also play along with friends online on the official Academy Awards site or with the New York Times. (If you want to see KPCC's Mike Roe's picks and play against him in either online game, go here for the official site and here for the New York Times.)

2015 Oscars ballot

Printable Oscars bingo cards

• Download, print and play at home. Use our custom generator to create as many cards as you need for your party.
• How to play: Mark off each block when you hear these words or see these things happen during the Oscars telecast on Sunday. When you get five blocks in a row (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally) stand up and shout "OSCAR!!" Alternate rules: Play as a drinking game and for every block, take a sip. Finished a row? Finish your scotch.

Interactive Oscars bingo cards 

• WNYC pays tribute to the annual exercise in entertainment award show parody with a portable, computerized bingo. Play on your phone, iPad, computer or print a card. Refresh for new combinations.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

A Nintendo Entertainment System.; Credit: Mark Ramsay/Flickr Creative Commons

There have been plenty of video game movies over the years, but there have been far fewer actually good ones. "Ready Player One," based on the 2011 video game-inspired novel, has the chance to be a great one thanks to the announcement that Steven Spielberg has signed on to direct.

That book was inspired by classic video games, and was written using classic video game cheats to play parts of classic games and write them into his book, author Ernest Cline said in a recent talk. That got us thinking about the classic video game cheats and secrets that stuck with us from our younger days playing classic video games — here's our top 11.

1. The Konami Code

Up up down down left right left right B A start! This code became such a part of video game culture that it got its own name. It was popularized in various games made by Konami, particularly Contra, leading to it also being known as the "Contra Code" for its ability to give you 30 lives in the game. Before the Internet, it was spread through gaming magazines and word of mouth — it was so influential that there are still developers who put it in their games. (There's even an entire Wikipedia page of games, both from Konami and others, that use the Konami Code. It's even been used on some websites.)

What is the Konami Code

2. Street Figher II Turbo's turbo

The game that I actually used a code for the most as a kid, the Super Nintendo code down, R, up, L, Y, B on the second controller didn't give you any advantages — it just kicked the speed up. By default, you had a few selections for how fast the game would be, but you could multiple that several-fold with this code, letting you and your friends battle at what at the time felt unbelievably fast.

3. Super Mario Bros.'s Minus World

This one doesn't involve a code, but players managed to discover what was deemed a glitch in the game that put you into a messed up version of another level, dubbed by fans the Minus World due to just "-1" instead of a full level number appearing at the top of the screen. There was no way to escape the glitched level, no matter how hard you might try, sending you to play it over and over again until your time ran out or you were killed by enemies. Still, modern players have found that you can go on thanks to various computer emulators and the like; see some of the worlds beyond below:

Minus World video

4. Metroid and Justin Bailey

Fans early on discovered that the password JUSTIN BAILEY allowed you to start with all of the available weapons along with plenty of life and ammo. Fans didn't know whether Justin Bailey was a reference to an actual person, just a code coincidence or something else, but that didn't stop them from eagerly playing through with this code. It also removed lead character Samus Aran from her armor, allowing players to discover that the game's star was an early female lead character, even if her armor didn't clue players in before the end of the game without the code.

Justin Bailey video

5. Doom's God mode

By typing the letters iddqd in PC game Doom, players could enable God mode, making them essentially invincible and letting them power through the early first-person shooter. The code had been available in developer id's earlier game Wolfenstein, but hadn't been quite as easily accessible. So, if you ever need a power boost when you're fighting on Mars, Doom has the answer. (Unfortunately, we don't believe this provides any extra protection for NASA's Mars rovers.)

6. Mortal Kombat's Reptile

The developers of Mortal Kombat made a battle against Reptile unbelievably hard for Mortal Kombat fans, including putting some randomness into whether doing what you were supposed to do to unlock the character would even work. Still, players happily pumped in extra quarters for the chance to face off against Reptile, a character with a look that mirrored that of characters Sub-Zero and Scorpion, just with a different color. Players had to achieve a Double Flawless victory on the Pit level, finish the match using their fatality move, and there also had to be a silhouette flying past the moon in the background — which only happened every sixth game.

Mortal Kombat: Reptile

7. The Legend of Zelda's Second Quest

The Legend of Zelda was a pretty challenging early adventure game, one of the first releases for the Nintendo home video game console. When you beat the game, you were given the option to go on a "Second Quest," which was a tweaked version of the game you just played except waaaaay harder. However, if you thought you were the coolest kid on the block and were so awesome you didn't need a warmup, you could name your character "ZELDA" (in one of the more obvious cheats in video game history) and skip ahead to that Second Quest from the start. You would then likely cry from how hard it was and start another new game with a different name.

8. NBA Jam's celebrity secret characters

A variety of celebrities from sports, music, and even politics were available by putting in various initials combined with buttons on the controller. These included then-President Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Warren Moon and more. That tradition has been continued in more recent NBA Jam games, with President Obama and others available for your video gaming pleasure.

9. GoldenEye's extra modes

There were a wide variety of cheat codes for GoldenEye, widely considered one of the all-time great first-person shooters. Sure, you could use codes to unlock different levels, but the reason these codes are remembered is because it gave you all sorts of new ways to play against your friends. The game also had an actual cheat menu that would appear if you accomplished one of a variety of goals, and from that menu you could cheat extra hard by using your controller to unlock things like a paintball mode, turbo mode, modes with both giant heads and teeny-tiny James Bonds and more.

10. Sonic The Hedgehog 2's Debug Mode

The Sonic debug mode is the perfect example of why so many games included cheats back in the day: They were often for the developers to be able to more easily play the games while looking for bugs and doing other testing. Sonic 2 let you get to an actual debug mode by playing various sounds from the level select screen (1, 9, 9, 2, 1, 1, 2, 4, for your reference), then pressing start and holding the A button. Developers later put them in for fun and intended them for the players to discover, but some of the early cheat codes were just meant for developers — but players proved more intrepid than they may have anticipated.

Sonic debug mode

11. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out: Go straight to Mike Tyson

There was actually a password mode in this game — before games had the option to save, plenty of games gave you codes that let you get back to where you were before. This is one of the examples from that darker time, where whether you played through opponents like Glass Joe and Bald Bull or not, you could try your changes against Lightning Mike (at least until the video game's license ran out and he was replaced in future editions with the way less exciting "Mr. Dream"). You better have had a pen and paper ready when your friend started yelling at you 007 373 5963 for you to use on your own copy of the game — no sharing. The game is hard enough that even Mike Tyson had some trouble fighting himself:

Mike Tyson vs. Mike Tyson

Let us know in the comments the classic video games — and the classic cheat codes and secrets — that inspired you.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Jerry "The King" Lawler with Jim Ross.; Credit: WWE

Jim Ross is the most famous pro wrestling play-by play commentator of all time. He's a native Californian, but grew up in Oklahoma and took his trademark drawl into doing commentary. He's worked in wrestling for more than 40 years, calling matches on shows seen by millions of people around the world.

This weekend, he's in the Bay Area for Wrestlemania weekend (the first Wrestlemania in Northern California, and the first in California in 10 years). Ross no longer commentates for WWE, but he's still a storyteller, online and in person. He hosts regular live storytelling shows with stories from his decades-long career and a bit of comedy, along with a live guest, and he also has a huge online presence including a podcast that went to number one in sports its first week out.

Ross has been watching wrestling since he was a kid.

"My dad wasn't a big fan of it. He missed the point. The point is not whether it's real or if it's staged. The point is, are you entertained by it, or not? And I was," Ross said.

He's been at ringside for numerous historic matches, helping the wrestlers to tell their stories ever since he got his first job in wrestling out of college at 22.

"The greater the star, the easier it is to tell their story," Ross said. "Those participants make music. They make different kinds of music, and the announcers, the broadcasters, have to be able to provide the adequate lyric to the competitors' music."

Ross's voice is so powerful that it's become a meme online to pair his voice with another dramatic footage, from sports and beyond — you can even find it paired with dramatic moments from shows like "Breaking Bad" and "Game of Thrones." Ross says that the first time he saw someone do that was with a hit by Michigan running back Jadaveon Clowney, a video which went viral and sparked others to do likewise.

The JR Treatment

"I get sent these memes all the time. 'Hey JR, check this one out.' Or people will say, somebody will make a great dunk at an NBA game, and somebody will say 'I can't wait to see this get the JR treatment.' And now there are major sports websites that will send out a tweet, 'Here's a great play from Sunday's 49er-Charger game that's got the JR treatment.' So now it's got a name. 'The JR Treatment.'"

Those viral videos have even helped him land new commentating roles since leaving WWE. He did a call of a fight between NASCAR drivers for the Daytona 500 for a special pre-show video, and it's led to him having opportunities in traditional sports.

"It's been done in boxing, and MMA. Believe it or not, I've gotten feelers that we're entertaining now from a variety of combat sports entities that actually heard what my call would sound like doing their product," Ross said. "It had my tone, had my inflection, had my level of enthusiasm."

Ross also played a huge role behind the scenes, working as WWE's executive vice president of talent and signing future stars like the Rock, Mick Foley and more. He says that Mick Foley's match against the Undertaker in 1998's Hell in a Cell match was his most memorable to call.

"I have people walk up to me and start quoting my commentary when Undertaker threw Foley off the Hell in a Cell, this massive cage with a roof on it, that was about 17 feet high from the roof to the floor," Ross said. "It looked like no human being, quite honestly, could survive that fall. You don't practice falls like that in wrestling school."

Ross has managed to stay relevant with the help of a popular podcast and 1.3 million followers on Twitter, where he regularly dispenses his thoughts on wrestling and beyond. He started doing that podcast after being lobbied to do it by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, and continues to try new things.

"I was very reluctant to engage in social media, and primarily because we sometimes get set in our ways, especially the older we get," Ross said. "But change, for any of us, in any walk of life, whether it's your diet, it's your relationships, the way you approach your job, or any changes that you need to affect, whether it's on doctor's orders, your significant other's suggestions — change is not always a negative thing. So I got on Twitter, and then Twitter connected me to so many people."

While some may feel that pro wrestling, given its predetermined results, doesn't need real athletes, Ross disagrees and says there are plenty of reasons to want real athletes.

"They're competitive. They don't want to be on the second team. They want to be in the game. And they've been in that mindset since some of them were in little league, or Pop Warner football, or elementary school wrestling, or whatever it may be."

He says they also understand how to be coached and how to play well with others, as well as handling the bumps and bruises that come with the territory and the difficult travel schedule.

"I don't know that anybody in any entity, unless you're the most well-traveled comedian or entertainer, has that. Because the thing about pro wrestling is it doesn't have an off-season, so you don't get a chance to really go recharge your batteries. You've got to maintain that competitive edge to survive."

Ross says there's one match he wishes he had another shot at calling: Ric Flair's retirement match against Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 24 in Orlando at the Citrus Bowl. While Ross has traditionally been a play-by-play commentator, that night he was assigned to be a color commentator, which gave him some different challenges.

"I thought I had great stories to tell because of my relationship with Ric — I've known him for 25 years — and I didn't think that I contributed as much to that match from an emotional standpoint as I could. I was obligated to get in soundbites and get in, get out," Ross said. "That's the biggest match at the biggest stage, and I love both those guys, and I really wanted to be extra special that night, and I just don't know in my heart that we got there."

He says California has its own wrestling legacy to be proud of. The California Wrestlemania match that Ross says he'll always remember: Bret Hart versus Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 12 in Anaheim, where two now wrestling legends wrestled for more than an hour.

He also thinks the economics of Wrestlemania make a lot of sense for whichever city hosts it, thanks to the travelers it draws in from around the world. Cities now bid to try to bring in Wrestlemania, Ross says. With Los Angeles gearing up to build a new stadium, Ross has a Wrestlemania prediction for that stadium.

"I will bet you money — I will bet you some of my barbecue sauce — if L.A. builds a stadium, that Wrestlemania will be one of the first non-football events in that stadium. And they will sell it out. They'll fill every seat. And it'll be great for the city, and the businesses of Los Angeles.

Ross says that what made him a great broadcaster is the same thing that can make someone a success in wrestling or anywhere else — most importantly, don't talk down to your audience.

"You have to be a fan of the genre, or a fan of the game, and you have to be willing to prepare and be ready for your broadcast," Ross said. "You have to be willing to tell the story that the average fan — not the hardcore fan, but the average, casual fan can understand and relate to. ... You know, we're storytellers, and some people are just natural-born storytellers."

Ross plans to continue telling stories for the foreseeable future, on stage, online, calling matches in the legit sports world and wherever else his life takes him. He's even gotten into acting — you can see him in the new film "What Now."

"I think retirement is overblown. How many days can you go fishing? How many rounds of golf can you play?" Ross said. "I had the idea when I left WWE after 21 years, I'm going to reinvent myself. I'm not going to become a trivia answer. ... I don't think you're going to read anywhere, anytime soon, that Jim Ross has finally retired — until you read my eulogy."

Listen to the audio for the full hour-long interview with Jim Ross, talking his career past, present and future — along with the origins of his signature barbecue sauce.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Brock Lesnar after losing his championship in the main event of Wrestlemania 31.; Credit: WWE

World Wrestling Entertainment held their annual Wrestlemania show last weekend in Northern California, the culmination of another year's worth of spectacle. According to the company, it was their highest grossing event of all-time, drawing $12.6 million, with an official attendance placing it fifth on their list of all-time crowds for the event. The show was headlined by former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar going up against up-and-coming star (and a relative of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) Roman Reigns.

WWE Network

It comes at a time when the company has embarked on a new way of making money: their over-the-top online programming provider, the WWE Network, where fans can pay $9.99 a month to see programming including what formerly used to cost $45 for most shows and $60 for Wrestlemania. They're one year in now on gambling that enough fans will want the Network that it will ultimately make them more money in the long-term, despite losing that pay-per-view revenue. Wall Street doesn't appear to be buying it — after announcing the day after Wrestlemania that they'd hit 1.3 million subscribers, WWE's stock took a significant loss.

"The point is not whether it's real or if it's staged. The point is, are you entertained by it, or not?" former WWE announcer Jim Ross told KPCC in an interview. WWE is looking for more fans to be entertained enough to plunk down $9.99 for all the pro wrestling content they want.

NXT

They're also in a transitional period with their audiences. They've launched a new show that's only on the Network called "NXT," turning their minor league into a program targeting hardcore pro wrestling fans with a different style of show than the more family-targeted "Raw" and "Smackdown." It's also where they groom potential future stars, many of whom seem to break the mold of some of the traditional stars on WWE's main roster.

They're signing up talent that's been getting buzz on the independent circuits, trying to create their own underground movement that hopefully spells money, and taking the NXT brand on tour for the first time. On the Raw after Wrestlemania, several NXT stars made their debut on the main roster. That follows a sell-out crowd (albeit at a smaller 5,000 seat venue) on the Friday night before Wrestlemania for a non-televised NXT show.

Give Divas a chance

WWE also faces cultural forces pushing them in new directions, including a difference in how society deals with gender. When WWE executive Stephanie McMahon, daughter of the famed Vince McMahon, tweeted in support of Patricia Arquette's speech calling for greater equality for women at the Academy Awards, one of their own wrestlers, AJ Lee, responded by publicly calling Stephanie McMahon out on Twitter for not promoting the women in her own company equally and paying them less than the male stars.

AJ tweet 1

AJ tweet 2

Of course, the women in the company aren't given the same prominence as the men in part because it's felt that they won't make the company as much money. Still, it forced WWE's hand and Stephanie McMahon and the company as a whole publicly embraced the idea of giving the women (who WWE brands as "divas") a chance with the Give Divas A Chance movement (and accompanying trending hashtag).

What's next

The women have been promoted nearly equal to the men in that underground NXT league, but only time will tell if it continues to trickle upward. Wrestlemania didn't seem to show huge promise of that happening, with the one women's match of the show only getting a few minutes in the ring. However, the show also included a high-profile storyline with UFC female fighter and champion Ronda Rousey alongside the Rock, going up against Stephanie McMahon and Triple H, so there appears to be the room for women in prominent positions when they have the right storyline.

Whether WWE is able to wade through these forces of change to make more money — and perhaps regain some of the cultural currency that they've lost since becoming a monopoly and purchasing their top competition in 2001 — remains to be seen. They've stayed relatively steady despite a challenge from UFC, which many see as being what pro wrestling would be like if WWE didn't present fictional  They'll have to hope that giving new stars, including "divas," a chance will take them to another level.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

A cosplay gathering in the Anaheim Convention Center's Grand Plaza during WonderCon Anaheim 2014.; Credit: Kevin Green/SDCC

For all the sad comic book and pop culture fans who weren't able to get tickets to San Diego Comic-Con, we've got good news for you: They run another convention, and it's closer to Los Angeles. Their little brother WonderCon Anaheim has been growing, with some comparing it to the Comic-Con of old — before it got way too crowded. It's this Friday through Sunday, April 3-5. They're starting to have big stars and lots of great panels, so if you want to get your geek heart sated, here are some of the events you won't want to miss.

Warner Bros. Presentation: San Andreas, Mad Max: Fury Road

San Andreas trailer

The most highly anticipated event at this weekend's convention, Warner Brothers is putting on a special presentation with footage from these two upcoming action films. They haven't announced which stars will be on hand, but these panels often surprise with star power, so you may get a visit from stars like "San Andreas's" Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson or "Mad Max: Fury Road's" Tom Hardy or Charlize Theron. At the Comic-Con panel last year for the "Mad Max" flick, the director talked in detail about the film, so you'll probably at least get his take on the franchise and its resurrection.

DC Comics TV shows: The Flash, Gotham, iZombie

The Flash trailer

While Marvel has been dominant on the big screen, DC has put out a diverse slate of TV shows, with "The Flash" being the biggest hit among them. It's among those getting a spotlight at WonderCon, with creators and stars dishing on the programs that have captured the imaginations of TV fans and comic fans alike. All three shows are also getting special video presentations, likely showing clips of what you can expect the rest of this season. And in case you didn't already know, "iZombie" comes from "Veronica Mars" creator Rob Thomas, so come find out about his latest project.

World Premiere: Batman vs. Robin

Batman vs. Robin trailer

It's become a tradition at both WonderCon and San Diego Comic-Con for DC Comics to debut their latest animated movie, and the new one is based on the critically acclaimed "Court of Owls" storyline by writer Scott Snyder. (Be sure to check out our previous interviews with Snyder — he's even an NPR fan.) The original story is based on how Batman thinks he knows everything there is to know about Gotham City and faces the discovery that there are deep secrets about the city that he had no idea about, and the film also emphasizes him fighting his son Damian.

Sing-alongs: Dr. Horrible & Batman's The Music Meister

Batman: The Brave and the Bold: Drives Us Bats

People go to comic conventions to geek out, and what's geekier than a good old-fashioned singalong? In addition to one for geek god Joss Whedon's much loved Web series "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog," they're also doing one for the musical episode of animated series "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" — which, just like "Dr. Horrible," features singing by the one and only Neil Patrick Harris. In the Batman cartoon, he plays the Music Meister, a Batman villain who makes both heroes and villains sing, as he drops some tunes of his own.

Superman: The Richard Donner Years Celebrity Super Reunion

Superman: The flying sequence

There's a reunion of stars from the first two of the classic Christopher Reeve Superman movies, including Lois Lane herself, Margot Kidder. You can also see the actors who played characters like Jimmy Olsen, several of the villains and more, as well as two of the producers. Find out what you don't know about the movie that broke ground when it came to depicting flight on-screen and, like the ads promised, made you believe a man could fly.

TV writing panels

Two panels will give you a peek into the world of the writers who write some of the hottest shows on TV: "TV Guide Magazine's Fan Favorites Showrunners" and "Inside The Writers' Room: Earth's Mightiest Writers Re-Assemble Redux." The first of those includes legendary TV showrunners like Dan Harmon of "Community" and the minds behind shows including "Orphan Black," "The Goldbergs" and more. Meanwhile, at the writers room panel, you'll get writers who've worked on shows like "Lost," "Firefly," "Heroes," "The Big Bang Theory," "Agent Carter" and more.

Fan culture programming track

This includes a lot of different panels, but it's a sign of the way fandom is shifting — it's a lifestyle that's far more diverse than it used to be, with a lot more gender parity. This track includes panels on topics like body confidence in cosplay, fashion, fitness, race and more. See what sparks your interest and might invite you into having an identity as a fan being a bigger part of your life while not letting anyone make you feel excluded.

There's so much more, like Will Forte doing a panel promoting his new show "The Last Man On Earth," the annual cosplay masquerade and so much more. Tickets are sold out for Saturday, but at press time, tickets were still available for both Friday and Sunday at WonderCon.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Life is already hard enough, but with teen daughters—  of which I have two, ages 15 and 16 -- well, let's just say that, what with everything going on these days, my mind is a bit addled. And my latest TV obsession isn't exactly helping.

"I have such a sense of dystopia," I complained to my friend Carol. 

She replied: "Maybe you should stop binge-watching The Handmaid's Tale!

It's true.  I've watched so many hours of The Handmaid's Tale, I've started to involuntarily greet people with, "Blessed be the day," "Blessed be!"  If that's not  familiar to you, you're probably not aware that in the oppressive futuristic society depicted here—?   Fertile young women are farmed out to "commanders" and forced to have sex with them between their wives' legs, in order to birth mutant babies. . .

I'm old enough to remember "Happy Days."  Do you remember the sitcom "Happy Days"?  What was it about?  Days. . . that were Happy!  Teens hanging around the jukebox!  With poodle skirts!  The Fonz!  Having shenanigans! 

So I resolve to turn off the news—  Except for the headlines that actually leap out of the radio—  And maul you, like a wolverine—   Ever seen that?  Anyway—

I also take a break from The Handmaid's Tale—  I turn instead to the comedy Grace and Frankie, with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin!  I embrace their comforting presences like the stylish pashmina throw either might wear—  If The Cheese Nun was still on?  I would binge-watch that!  Very reassuring.  The Cheese and the Nun.

But then I start getting emails -- the Concerned Parent E-Blasts I don't recall ever signing up for, a la—?  "Does your teen get enough sleep?"  No.  "Is your teen ready for the SAT?"  No. "Does your teen eat too much sugar and waste a lot of time?"  Yes.   Apparently that's abnormal behavior and there's medication for that.  Good to know!

 Well—  The truly alarming news is that—  Often unbeknownst to their parents— All of our teens are secretly watching this new TV series called "13 Reasons Why."  As in, 13 reasons why this teenage girl commits suicide.  She leaves behind the reasons in a box of tapes.  One reason is rape.  Shown on screen. 

It's a long way from Happy Days.

As a responsible parent, I need to talk to my daughters. . . about this show.

 Next week: A Visit with Dr. Mom.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Life is stressful enough.  And now—?  I've been getting all these alarming missives from parenting organizations about the Netflix series "13 Reasons Why."  As in, 13 reasons why this teenaged girl commits suicide—  Which is depicted on screen, as is a rape!  Yikes!  Apparently all teens are secretly streaming it, so we parents need to open up the conversation.

But then I'm thinking: What if my two teen daughters are the only teens not watching it?  And then my raising the topic would be—what do you call it?  A trigger?  It's so confusing these days!  College campuses are full of "safe spaces"—  But middle schoolers can stream suicide shows!

And my younger daughter?  She's already fluttery, like a leaf.  Sample text—and I can't convey how terrifying these words look on one's phone: "Mom.  Mom.  Mom.  Please!  I'm so scared.  I don't know what to do!  Help me!"  Situation?  She was in the bathroom at Starbucks and the toilet wouldn't flush.  Fortunately Dr. Mom was right outside the door.

So with this one, driving home from school, I just ask, with an odd vague heartiness: "So. . . What movies or TV shows are all the kids watching these days?"

"All the kids?" she says.  "What are you talking about?  What kids?"

"You kids!" I say.  "You!  You and your peeps!"

"What?" she says.  "Nothing."  She goes on instead to describe her traumatic field trip.  Instead of studying tide pools at a nice quiet museum, her class went to the actual beach!  She slipped on a rock and all these kids from the Medical Magnet too-eagerly stormed her with gauze and bandages! 

Okay.  I'll let that fragile kid be.  Now it's on to my older, more sophisticated daughter.  The one with the nose ring—at least it's fake.  I ask her bluntly: "So, what's the deal with this '13 Reasons Why' show?"

 She groans.  "I already read the book back in sixth grade."
 

"In sixth grade?" I exclaim.

Apparently at her old middle school, everyone was reading books about teen suicide—  Which appears to have been an actual cottage industry, possibly it's own Young Adult genre.  Sheesh!  What happened to Nancy Drew?

She says she did watch the show but stopped during the rape scene, which was a bit much.  In fact, now, on social media, the show's premise had surfaced as a joke meme.  As in, "I asked to borrow a pencil.  You said you didn't have one."  Ominous pause.  "It's one of the 13 Reasons Why." Ba-dum-bum.

In the end, Dr. Mom felt a bit out of her league.  I guess I'll just have to trust that the teens are going to be fine.  And to be on hand to flush the toilet.}
 

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

"Sailor Moon" cosplayers at Anime Revloution 2014 in Vancouver, Canada.; Credit: GoToVan/Flickr Creative Commons

Japanese animation — anime — offers very different visions from its American counterparts, and it's extremely popular with college and high school students. They can be extremely difficult for well-meaning parents, uncles and aunts to shop for, so here, in no particular order, are some titles that can transform an adult’s image from clueless doofus to knowing friend. Plus, we have a few suggestions for younger children (who can also be a pain to shop for).

Cardcaptor Sakura: Complete Collection
NIS America: $249.99; 9 discs, Blu-ray, plus book
When cheerful fourth-grader Sakura Kinamoto opens an odd book in her father's study, strange lights fly out. Kerberos, who looks like a plushie of the lion on the book's cover, explains that she's inadvertently released a deck of magical cards. Despite her protests that’s she just an ordinary little girl, Kero insists Sakura must become a Cardcaptor and retrieve them before they work mischief on the world. Many American series talk about empowering girls — in this one, the viewer sees Sakura grow stronger and more confident as she learns to master the magical cards.

Cowboy Bebop: The Complete Series
Funimation: $59.98; Blu-ray, 4 discs
The sci-fi action series "Cowboy Bebop" redefined cool in animation when it debuted in 1998. Twenty-first-century bounty hunter Spike Spiegel is an anti-hero in the tradition of '40s film noir detectives. Spike is a tough guy; a crack shot, an ace pilot and a skilled martial artist. But his cynical exterior conceals a never-healed wound left by the woman he loved and lost. Seventeen years later, "Cowboy Bebop" is so popular that two special editions of the series for holiday gifting have already sold out (!). But it’s available on DVD and Blu-ray.

Dragon Ball Z: Battle of the Gods
Funimation: $34.98; DVD/Blu-ray combo pack; 3 discs
The first new "Dragon Ball Z" animation in 17 years, "Battle of the Gods" (2013) proved how popular the franchise still is, selling over 1 million tickets in just six days in Japan. The filmmakers keep the animation flat, limited and hand-drawn, so "Battle of the Gods" looks like the classic TV series and delivers the mixture of slapstick, friendship and over-the-top battles Dragon Ball fans remember and want to see again — especially guys in their 20s who grew up watching it.

Naruto Shippuden: Road to Ninja: The Movie 6
VIZ: $29.99 DVD/Blu-ray combo; 2 discs
The title hero of the long-running "Naruto" and "Naruto Shippuden" series is a come-from-behind hero whose world centers on magical ninja techniques, outrageous fights, slapstick, friendship and ramen. "The Road to Ninja" incorporates these well-loved elements, but stresses the lonely, compelling side of the title character. Audiences would quickly weary of Naruto if he were just a knuckleheaded prankster. His dedication to overcoming his weaknesses and achieving his goals makes him heroic, as well as comic — and one of the most popular animated characters of the new millennium.

(A scene from "Ranma 1/2," an anime series about a 16-year-old boy who's transformed into a girl whenever he's splashed with water.)

Ranma 1/2: Sets 1, 2, 3 & 4
VIZ: $54.97 each, Blu-ray; $44.82, DVD: 3 discs
Because he once fell into a cursed spring, black-haired high school martial artist Ranma Saotome turns into a buxom, red-haired girl when he’s hit with cold water. (Hot water restores his proper gender.) Ranma and his father Genma are freeloaders in the home of Suon Tendo. To ensure the continuation of the family dojo, the fathers have decided that the loutish Ranma and Suon’s hot-tempered daughter Akane are engaged. "Ranma 1/2"  supplies the slapstick insanity animation can provide in abundance. The filmmakers carefully sneak in just enough grudging affection between Ranma and Akane to keep the series from feeling mean-spirited.

Pokémon: Indigo League (Season 1): Complete Collection
VIZ: $54.98  9 discs          
"Pokémon" is no longer the trend du jour it was 20 years ago, when it swept America. But the games and the animated series remain popular. Although it's product-based and sometimes cloying, "Pokémon" is an agreeable show for elementary school children that stresses friendship, perseverance, fair play and good sportsmanship. These early adventures take the main characters through the first part of the game in its original Red/Blue versions. With his friends Misty and Brock, aspiring master Pokémon trainer Ash Ketchum defeats other trainers, captures wild Pokémon and outwits the inept comic villains of Team Rocket.

Princess Nine Complete Series
Bayview Entertainment: $39.99 DVD
Ryo Hayakawa inherited her late father’s talent as a pitcher, but she works as a waitress in her mother’s tiny cafe. Determined to overcome sexist opposition and create a girls’ baseball team that can compete in the national championships, Ms. Himuro, the head of prestigious Kisaragi High, gives Ryo a scholarship. She must recruit players and build an effective team. Ryo is a very likable character — she’s proud of her abilities, but surprised at where they take her. "Princess Nine" ranks among the better girls’ series of recent years, with characters who are strong, capable individuals but who exhibit human weaknesses.

Short Peace
Sentai Filmworks: $29.98 Blu-ray
For "Short Peace," Katsuhiro Otomo ("Akira") and three other directors made short films in personal styles they felt suited the stories they’d chosen, two of them evoking the look of 19th century woodblock prints. In Shuhei Morita’s Oscar-nominated "Possessions," a wandering tinkerer seeks refuge from a storm in a remote forest shrine. Inside, he  must pacify umbrellas, bowls and other household objects that resent being thrown away after years of devoted service. Otomo’s "Combustible" focuses on childhood sweethearts Owaka and Matsukichi, the son and daughter of wealthy merchants in 18th century Edo (Tokyo). The climactic blaze that brings the star-crossed lovers together — only to separate them forever — is stunningly beautiful.

(Oscar-winning Japanese animator and film director Hayao Miyazaki walks past an advertisement following the release of his film "Ponyo.")

No figure in contemporary animation is more admired than Hayao Miyazaki. Walt Disney Home Entertainment has just released to DVD/Blu-ray 2-disc sets of three of his major films at $26.95 each:

Kiki's Delivery Service
A charming coming-of-age story, "Kiki's Delivery Service" (1989) follows the very human ups and downs of an adolescent witch who must leave her family for a new city where she’ll discover her special talent. Kiki copes believably with tight budgets, self-doubt and the awkward attentions of a flight-obsessed boy. The late comedian Phil Hartman gave his final performance as Gigi, the sardonic black cat who provides a running commentary on Kiki's misadventures.

Princess Mononoke
The ecologically-themed "Princess Mononoke" (1999) was the first of Miyazaki’s features to receive a major theatrical release in the U.S. The problems posed by rampant development and consumerism figure prominently in the film. “If you want to discuss any aspect of the problems we face as humans, you cannot ignore ecology,'' he said. Miyazaki juxtaposes visually and emotionally intense scenes of the characters, with quiet images of clouds, streams and forests. When rain begins to fall, he lingers on a stone that darkens as it absorbs moisture.

(A screenshot from Japanese director and animator Hayao Miyazaki's "Princess Mononoke.")

The Wind Rises
In "The Wind Rises" (2013), Miyazaki carries the viewer through rapturously beautiful fantasies, hard-won pleasures and poignant sorrows in this biopic of Jiro Horikoshi, who designed the A6M Zero Fighter for Mitsubishi during World War II. "The Wind Rises" isn’t focused on speed — Miyazaki concentrates on the magic of flight. Instead of launching the viewers on a CG rollercoaster ride, he enables them to savor the magic of escaping gravity in a way that approaches visual poetry. "The Wind Rises" may be Miyazaki’s last feature, but the director is still clearly at the height of his powers; although premature, it’s a glorious exit.

Death Note: The Complete Series

Light Yagami, the hero of the dark fantasy-adventure "Death Note" (2006) is brilliant, alienated— and murderous. He found the Death Note: the notebook of a Shinigami (god of death). If anyone writes the name of a human in the book, that person dies within minutes. Light launches a vigilante campaign to rid the world of criminals and create his vision of a perfect society. But the unexplained string of deaths attracts the attention of the police, who turn the case over to the secretive master crime solver known only as L. Although it begins slowly, "Death Note" gets better with each installment, as the stakes grow higher in the macabre duel of wits between Light and L.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Enjoy a festive and relaxing holiday shopping experience at the Garden’s Holiday Pop-Up Shop. Browse a curated selection of unique nature-themed gifts in the charming, historic Julia Morgan Hall. Find the perfect gift for everyone on your list from these vendors and more!Bird vs Bird: Whimsical bird theme gifts from Oakland artist, Pess Petty Coyote Brush Studios: California native plants + wildlife prints, cards and stickers Dana Gardner: Original paintings and ceramics featuring birds Inna Jam: Emeryville based artisanal jams + cocktail mixers Juniper Ridge: Natural fragrance products + teas Oaktown Spice Shop: Delicious spice mixtures + gift sets Young America Creative: Posters featuring seasonal fruits, vegetables + wildflowers

Enjoy a festive and relaxing holiday shopping experience at the Garden’s Holiday Pop-Up Shop. Browse a curated selection of unique nature-themed gifts in the charming, historic Julia Morgan Hall. Find the perfect gift for everyone on your list from these vendors and more!Bird vs Bird: Whimsical bird theme gifts from Oakland artist, Pess Petty Coyote Brush Studios: California native plants + wildlife prints, cards and stickers Dana Gardner: Original paintings and ceramics featuring birds Inna Jam: Emeryville based artisanal jams + cocktail mixers Juniper Ridge: Natural fragrance products + teas Oaktown Spice Shop: Delicious spice mixtures + gift sets Young America Creative: Posters featuring seasonal fruits, vegetables + wildflowers

Enjoy a festive and relaxing holiday shopping experience at the Garden’s Holiday Pop-Up Shop. Browse a curated selection of unique nature-themed gifts in the charming, historic Julia Morgan Hall. Find the perfect gift for everyone on your list from these vendors and more!Bird vs Bird: Whimsical bird theme gifts from Oakland artist, Pess Petty Coyote Brush Studios: California native plants + wildlife prints, cards and stickers Dana Gardner: Original paintings and ceramics featuring birds Inna Jam: Emeryville based artisanal jams + cocktail mixers Juniper Ridge: Natural fragrance products + teas Oaktown Spice Shop: Delicious spice mixtures + gift sets Young America Creative: Posters featuring seasonal fruits, vegetables + wildflowers

Enjoy a festive and relaxing holiday shopping experience at the Garden’s Holiday Pop-Up Shop. Browse a curated selection of unique nature-themed gifts in the charming, historic Julia Morgan Hall. Find the perfect gift for everyone on your list from these vendors and more!Bird vs Bird: Whimsical bird theme gifts from Oakland artist, Pess Petty Coyote Brush Studios: California native plants + wildlife prints, cards and stickers Dana Gardner: Original paintings and ceramics featuring birds Inna Jam: Emeryville based artisanal jams + cocktail mixers Juniper Ridge: Natural fragrance products + teas Oaktown Spice Shop: Delicious spice mixtures + gift sets Young America Creative: Posters featuring seasonal fruits, vegetables + wildflowers

Enjoy a festive and relaxing holiday shopping experience at the Garden’s Holiday Pop-Up Shop. Browse a curated selection of unique nature-themed gifts in the charming, historic Julia Morgan Hall. Find the perfect gift for everyone on your list from these vendors and more!Bird vs Bird: Whimsical bird theme gifts from Oakland artist, Pess Petty Coyote Brush Studios: California native plants + wildlife prints, cards and stickers Dana Gardner: Original paintings and ceramics featuring birds Inna Jam: Emeryville based artisanal jams + cocktail mixers Juniper Ridge: Natural fragrance products + teas Oaktown Spice Shop: Delicious spice mixtures + gift sets Young America Creative: Posters featuring seasonal fruits, vegetables + wildflowers

Garden Members enjoy a special evening preview shopping experience including light nibbles and refreshments. Enjoy a festive and relaxing holiday shopping experience at the Garden’s Holiday Pop-Up Shop. Browse a curated selection of unique nature-themed gifts in the charming, historic Julia Morgan Hall.  (Registration required for timed entry beginning at either 4:00 pm or 5:30 pm) We currently have 2 arrival time windows to choose from: 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm and 5:30 pm - 7:00pm. Please enter the number of people in your group for selected entry time and plan on arriving during that timeframe. Each member is allowed two additional non-members.Special Event Give-Away!If you register and attend, you will be entered into our $50 Garden Shop gift certificate give-away!Learn more and register here

The hyper-detect^® from tna and Safeline is the world’s first non-symmetrical balanced coil metal detector with a conical aperture into the detector.

Educational sessions, networking opportunities and a robust exhibition featuring ingredients, products, equipment, services and more are in store at the biggest event in snacks.

Great Plains Holdings Inc. will acquire 51 percent of Bonjoe Gourmet Chips LLC, as well as have to option to acquire another 20 percent interest in the gourmet chip maker.

How the Pipe Trades Giants happens.

Contractors are working on internal processes to prepare for an improving economy.

Contractors focus on marketing, sales training and business diversification to get more work.

Housing sales gain ground and green construction continues to grow.

Just over a third of respondents reported increased revenue last year from 2012.

KMZ last updated Thu, 14 Nov 2024 11:49:32 GMT

Track, Points, and Wind Swath. Shapefile last updated Thu, 14 Nov 2024 11:49:32 GMT