Not too many years ago, hydronic floor heating systems were all the rage with the hip-green crowd.

Hot water—practically for free.

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.

There are still a couple dozen tickets left for one of the most interestingly-cast performances of H.G. Wells, Orson Welles and Howard Koch's "War of the Worlds." On Saturday, Jan. 17,  generations of Star Trek actors will take on the world's most famous radio show.

The cast — directed by Jim Fall — features: René Auberjonois (“Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”), Michael Dorn (“Star Trek: TNG”), Dean Haglund (“The X-Files”), Walter Koenig ("Star Trek"), Linda Park ("Star Trek: Enterprise"), Jason Ritter (“The Event”), Tim Russ (“Star Trek: Voyager”), Armin Shimerman (“Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”) and Wil Wheaton, playing... Orson Welles.

The performance is a fundraiser for Sci-Fest LA, the new annual science fiction play festival, so tickets aren't cheap — but they're scarce, and this looks like a memorable night.

KPCC and "Off-Ramp" celebrated the 75th anniversary of the broadcast last year by distributing the original 1938 performance, and a new documentary, internationally... introduced by George Takei, another original Trek actor you might have heard of.

War of the Worlds: Sat., Jan. 17,  8 PM; The Acme Theatre, 135 North La Brea Ave. LA CA 90036

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

The L.A. Philharmonic will be the new operator of the John Anson Ford Theatre, the smaller outdoor venue near  the 101 Freeway across from the Hollywood Bowl, under a plan approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.  

L.A.  funding sustains the Ford, and the county recently spent $80 million renovating the 1,200  seat amphitheater.  But attendance has been lackluster — and Supervisor Sheila Kuehl hopes the L.A. Philharmonic can change that. 

“The Ford will be able to take advantage of the natural synergies in marketing, capacity-building and program resources that simply haven’t been available to the Ford as an independent institution," she  said.

The move by the L.A. County  blindsided many local artists.  They say the Ford is an important incubator for diverse talent.  They also worry ticket prices will increase.  Prompted by their criticism, the Supervisors will require the Phil to meet with artists and annually review the diversity of the Ford’s shows with county officials.

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

Heat and Control offers a sneak peek at its latest equipment developments for frying, oil filtration, conveying, weighing, seasoning, packaging, and inspection.  

Heat and Control offers a sneak peek at its latest equipment

Freeze protection without antifreeze.

Indiana's largest microbrewery embraces the sun.

Solar thermal systems have plenty in common with traditional hydronic heating systems.

Which hydronic heat emitters work bestwith solar thermal systems?

Working displays educate dealers and consumers.

Manufacturers are reducing costs of systems to remain competitive with other energy sources.

How an Upstate NY school now heats with locally produced wood chips.

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham appointed Heather Jordan as the new director of the Workers' Compensation Administration, effective immediately. Heather Jordan Jordan succeeds Robert Doucette, who will serve as cabinet…

The FireBird Fury features 750 CFM of airflow for a safe temperature rise and maximum heat circulation. With its integrated 12” inlet and outlet duct connections and included remote thermostat, the Firebird Fury can effectively deliver heat and control temperature even into remote or inaccessible spaces.

Looking for what to see in theaters? Our feature, updated weekly, highlights our top recommendations for films currently in theaters, from new releases to restorations receiving a proper theatrical run. While we already provide extensive monthly new-release recommendations and weekly streaming recommendations, as distributors’ roll-outs can vary, this is a one-stop list to share the […]

The post The Best Movies Now Playing in Theaters first appeared on The Film Stage.

Saxophonist Justin Chart is known for his cinematic, entirely improvised, live sessions. A stalwart of the Los Angeles, and Southern California, jazz scene, Chart has several superb albums to his credit. His 2024 record, Night Heat, maintains the same level of sophistication and spontaneity. It is culled from two separate appearances with different sidemen and consists of ten, relatively short, tracks that focus mainly on the intricacy of the melodies and the dynamic ensemble sound... [ read more ]

TROIKA Bermuda will be hosting their fourth Performing Arts Master Class Workshop entitled ‘Bermuda to Broadway’ on Saturday February 21st, 2015 at The Berkeley Institute. A spokesperson said, TROIKA Bermuda invites you to Sing, Dance, Act and Engage in All Things Musical Theatre at our “Bermuda to Broadway” Theatre Workshop Series Event. “TROIKA Bermuda is […]

As part of the Bermuda Festival of the Performing Arts 40th Anniversary, Walnut Street Theatre will be presenting two performances of A Life in the Theatre. This funny yet touching play provides a behind-the-scenes peek at the challenge of two actors battling for the spotlight. One experienced and the other a newcomer, they are forced […]

Latest scorecard from the Women's Big Bash League match between Sydney Sixers and Brisbane Heat at North Sydney Oval.

Erik Spoelstra, who is widely known as one of the NBA's top coaches, shouldered blame for a brutal timeout infraction, calling it a "serious mental error" in the final seconds of a Miami Heat loss to the Detroit Pistons.

Canada-based Alimentation Couche-Tard isn't the only retail giant proposing to buy the 7-Eleven stores from its Japanese owner.

Canada-based Alimentation Couche-Tard isn't the only retail giant proposing to buy the 7-Eleven stores from its Japanese owner.

Elegant cloaks and capes worn by theatre-goers more than 100 years ago are on display at the Costume Museum of Canada in Winnipeg.

At the conclusion of the fall semester, Penn State will once again institute a Holiday Heat Reduction Program at University Park, aimed at lowering building temperatures during the holiday break. This annual energy savings initiative saves the University energy costs and has proven to be an important factor in helping the University pursue its energy conservation and greenhouse gas reduction goals.

Wouldn't it be nice if you could go out for a run without fear of being harmed? Technology has a way of making us both safer and at greater risk while out and about, but a new tool from Strava might help with the former. Strava has announced Night Heatmaps, a feature that shows which areas have more activity — or "heat" — between sunset and sunrise. Yes, Heatmaps is the feature that accidentally revealed the location of US military bases. 

The update is a welcome one with sunset getting very early in some areas of the world, while night seems to last late into the morning. It also comes alongside a new Weekly Heatmap, which shows heat levels in an area over the last seven days. Again, this can help you know which paths will have the most people, but at all times of the day. While this added awareness is great for knowing where to go, some people might also purposely choose to avoid the busiest times, for fear of unwanted attention (there's no winning here). 

In either case, the Night and Weekly Heatmaps are only available on subscriber accounts (a membership will cost you $12 monthly or $80 annually). It's also worth noting that Heatmaps pull solely from public activities on Strava, so you're not getting the full story of how many people go where. 

Night and Weekly Heatmaps join the Global Heatmaps (also subscriber exclusive) and your Personal Heatmap. You can access any of them through the Map tab and filter the Heatmap by activity type. 

We take a look at the various political alliances in the Maharashtra ahead of the Assembly elections in the State.

They allegedly promised the victim a windfall through online trading

The first concert on November 15 will feature tunes from Tamil and Hindi films, followed by tributes to Coldplay, Mozart, Queen, and Abba in the upcoming months

Formula 1 is to introduce a device to cool drivers when conditions become too extreme in hot weather, in response to scenes at last year’s Qatar Grand Prix.

A family in need receives free firewood and, for the first time, understands that God is bigger than their needs.

Dutch parliamentarians clashed on Wednesday in a heated debate to discuss the attacks on Israeli fans after a football match last week, with some lawmakers pointing fingers and others urging unity.

The Netherlands is still dealing with the political fallout from last week’s violence in Amsterdam, when fans of Tel Aviv Maccabi were assaulted by men on scooters in several parts of the capital.

Five Macabi fans were briefly hospitalised after being beaten up following a match with the local Ajax team last Thursday, in what Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof termed an incident of “unadulterated anti-Semitism”.

After the match, groups of men on scooters engaged in “hit-and-run” attacks on Maccabi fans in areas of the city.

Police said the attackers were mobilised by calls on social media to target Jewish people.

Far-right MP Geert Wilders, leader of the biggest party in the coalition government, said the perpetrators of the violence against Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were “all Muslims” and “for the most part Moroccans”.

The anti-Islam Wilders called for the attackers to be prosecuted “for terrorism.”

“For the first time since the Second World War there was a hunt on Jews,” Wilders said, adding “I am sick of being criticised when I tell the truth.”

But the firebrand MP drew the ire of opposition parties, who accused him of “adding fuel to fire”.

‘Dividing the country’

While unanimously condemning the violence, left-wing parties have called for dialogue with the Muslim community instead of “dividing the country”.

“I share the condemnation of the violence in Amsterdam and yes, there was indeed anti-Semitic violence,” left-wing opposition leader Frans Timmermans said.

“You are simply stoking the fires while this country has a need for politicians to unite people and find solutions,” Timmermans told Wilders.

Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema on Tuesday called the attacks a “poisonous cocktail” of anti-Semitism and hooliganism.

Events ahead of the match heightened tensions, including anti-Arab chants by Maccabi fans, who also set fire to a Palestinian flag on the city’s central square and vandalising a taxi.

After the match, which passed off peacefully, reports emerged of social media calls to attack Jews, Amsterdam police said.

The violence took place against the backdrop of an increasingly polarised Europe, with heightened tensions following a rise in antisemitic, anti-Israeli and Islamophobic attacks since the start of the Gaza conflict.

The Dutch PM indicated that the government would present concrete steps to tackle antisemitism on Friday.

Eight people remained in custody over the violence.

Leather seats add a touch of luxury to any vehicle, but maintaining them in extreme heat can be challenging. In India, where temperatures often soar, protecting your leather seats from cracking is crucial. This guide offers practical tips for cleaning and

With grain availability no longer an issue, it is time to move away from input intensive HYY varieties by tweaking subsidies in favour of environmentally friendly local varieties

Acreage is higher in Punjab, Haryana, UP but slips in MP, Rajasthan

How does cheating affect a divorce? It’s a question we get asked often, as it’s a situation that unfortunately happens quite frequently. We have a lot of literature on this site on this topic already but this article will specifically focus on what happens to the partner who has actually engaged in the extra marital […]

(EMAILWIRE.COM, October 25, 2024 ) The global wheat protein market is expected to expand from $2.5 billion in 2023 to $3.2 billion by 2028, achieving a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.9%. This growth is driven by the rising popularity of meat-free diets, increasing obesity rates leading to...

wget github.com

gunzip cheat-linux-arm64.gz

chmod 770 cheat-linux-arm64

./cheat-linux-arm64

mv cheat-linux-arm64 /usr/local/bin/cheat

#use cheat tar or cheat wget to get more info

PGA DFS Expert Shawn Childs put together a massive Masters cheat sheet to help you win the big bucks on DraftKings!:

Scott Linder, a former projectionist in Tulsa movie theaters, tells inside-the-booth stories with the encouragement of TTM readers in just-archived GroupBlog 321.

Photo of OKC's Continental Theatre (a duplicate of Tulsa's) in GroupBlog 325.

Tulsa World story about retiring Brook Plaza barber Joe Reeves also features Leon Meier, who was "Hornstaff" on KOTV's 1950s horror movie show, "Shock Theatre". Story link and TTM "Shock Theatre" link in GroupBlog 327.

The last newspaper ad before the theatre closed, courtesy of Wesley Horton.

Josef Hardt gave me an audio tape that answers long-standing questions, raises new ones. Link at top of original Fantastic Theater page.